Pc Gamer - March 2010

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6

MARCH 2010

THE PLAYLIST0310

E D I T O R ’ S N O T E

I

believe that a translation error ledus to think that Hell is a hot, ﬁerypit, when really it’s cold.

Freezing

cold. Heat may be uncomfortable, butcold is a vicious beast with icy talonsthat ﬂail at us and tear ragged holesinto our ﬂesh. I’m reminded of this because San Francisco is cold rightnow.

Nightmarishly

cold—I suspectthat if I were to trip and fall right now,I’d probably shatter. [

Evan—Boo hoo.Signed: Former Residents of Michigan.

]But there is one advantage to winterdays like these, because there’s nothinglike coming home on Friday night, slip-ping into a warm, freshly microwavedpair of pajamas and playing gamesuntil Sunday evening. Ah, the decadentsatisfaction of sitting down and actuallyplaying a game all the way through—allat once! I imagine this is what PC gam-ing used to be like back in the coveredwagon days.This winter, by the by, we’re seeinglots of ﬁne reasons to be bundled upin front of your PC. See for yourself—check out our

Mass Effect 2

reviewextravaganza on page 42 (and asyou can see from our cover image of Shepard and Subject Zero, the gamehas a distinctively zesty new ﬂavor).We also review—at last!—

BioShock 2

on page 68, and on page 55 you’ll ﬁndour annual tribute to the best gamesand the best gaming moments of 2009(a year that did not lack for them).Tragically, as I write this it is not yetFriday so insteadof braving thecold and goinghome to play the biggest gamesof the seasonfor myself, DanFitzpatrick and Ihave been stay-ing late at theofﬁce, drinkingroom-temperature beer, and giving themagazine a fresh coat of paint. I think you’ll dig the new skin; it’s a little lessfrantic, and gives screenshots and thegames themselves more room to beawesome.Don’t forget that you can catch thedaily musings and thought-bombsof the

PC Gamer

staff by becominga fan on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pcgamermagazine,and you’re free to wonder what I wassmoking when I posted something bizarre to my Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/arocklegend.

PC Gamer (ISSN 1080-4471) is published 13 times a year, monthly plus a Holiday issue following the December issue, by Future US, Inc., 4000 Shoreline Court, Suite 400, South San Francisco, CA 94080. Periodicals Postage Paid atSouth San Francisco, CA and at additional mailing offices. Newsstand distribution is handled by Time Warner Retail. Subscriptions: One year basic rate (12 issues & 12 CDs: U.S.:$29.95. Canada: $49.95. Foreign: $69.95. Canadian priceincludes postage and GST (GST #128220688). For customer service, write PC Gamer Customer Service, P.O. Box 5158, Harlan, IA 51593-0658. Phone: (800) 898-7159. Online: www.pcgamer.com/customerservice. Subscriptions do notinclude newsstand-only specials. Postmasters please send change of address to PC Gamer, P.O. Box 5158, Harlan, IA 51593-0658. Corporate, advertising sales, circulation, editorial and production offices: Future US, 4000 ShorelineCourt, Suite 400, South San Francisco, CA 94080. Phone: (650) 872-1642. Fax (650) 872-2207. Website: www.futureus.com. Editorial information should be addressed to: Editor, PC Gamer, 4000 Shoreline Court, Suite 400, SouthSan Francisco, CA 94080. Overnight delivery parcels should be addressed to: PC Gamer, 4000 Shoreline Court, Suite 400, South San Francisco, CA 94080. Unsolicited manuscripts cannot be returned or acknowledged. Future USpublishes Guitar World, Mac|Life, Maximum PC, Nintendo Power, PlayStation: The Official Magazine, Pregnancy, Revolver, Windows: The Official Magazine and The Official Xbox Magazine. Entire contents copyright 2010 FutureUS. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Reproduction on the Internet of the articles and pictures in this magazine is illegal without the prior written consent of PC Gamer. Productsnamed in the pages of PC gamer are trademarks of their respective companies. Future US is not affiliated with the companies or products covered in PC Gamer. IPM# 0781118. Produced in the U.S.A. Ride-along Enclosures in the following edition(s): B1, C1, C2,C3, C4. Standard enclosures: None. Publications Mail Agreement #40043631. Returns: 4960-2 Walker Road, Windsor ON N9A 6J3.

This globe ain’twarming fast enough

LOGAN DECKER,EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Playing through

Mass Effect 2

and

BioShock 2

have mademe a very happy, very sleep-deprived gamer this month,but they also left me cravingsomething without a numberon the end of its name.How did I miss

Dawn of Discovery

? I’ve been so busywith shooters in ’09, I missedthe year’s best “peace sim”

—

trading ﬁsh, building settle-ments and harbors within

DoD

’selegant graphics is calming.

I’ve been playing

Tiger WoodsPGA Tour Online.

You canpause a round at any time andcontinue later on another PC.I don’t get why dozens of hotblondes follow you around,though. Must be a bug.

I’ve saved Ferelden as ado-gooder casteless Dwarfarmed with shield and smile.Now it’s time to torch the placeas a pissed off Elven Mageﬁlled with blood lust and oh-so-scathing retorts.

I have done a bad thing.A very bad thing. I startedplaying

WoW

again, and withthe 3.3 patch out, I don’t seemyself stopping anytimesoon. Blizzard’s new LFGsystem is pure genius.

Nightly

Arma 2

sessions withEvan and the usual gang haveproved that I am utterly inca-pable of piloting a helicopterwithout crashing and killingour entire team in a ﬁeryexplosion of incompetence.I’m ﬂipping between thepastie-free European Cinemamode in

Saboteur

and desper-ately trying to catch up withthe rest of the world and ﬁnish

Mass Effect,

so I can begin

Mass Effect 2

in style.

DAN STAPLETON

REVIEWS EDITOR

EVAN LAHTI

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

DAN FITZPATRICK

LEAD DESIGNER

JOSH AUGUSTINE

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

ERIK BELSAAS

INTERN-NATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY

PRENTICE GEDE

FROM HERE TO INTERN-ITY

LOGAN DECKER

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Shocker!

Fair, informed game reviewsthat help parents choose gamesappropriate for their kids—writtenby people who like games!

http:// www.commonsensemedia.org/ game-reviews

Snack Rounds:

If you’d like to sendgames, cigars, or cookies to oursoldiers, this site hooks you upwith their wish lists and tells

POKING AROUND

S ha k i n ’ baco n!

you how to get your packages tothem.

www.anysoldier.com/ WhereToSend/

Bacon Watch:

The hostiletakeover of our taste budscontinues with Bacon Pop—delicious bacon-ﬂavored micro-wave popcorn from the mightymen who brought us Bacon Salt!

www.jdfoods.net

P C G 0 3 1 0

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