Most of you know by now, but the Collector's Edition of Hellgate: London not only comes with some sweet new box art, a making-of DVD, a map, a comic, and the game's soundtrack (whew!), but it also includes an exclusive in-game pet named the Mantawraith. We've held off showing what it looks like, but we can't wait any longer. Behold, the Mantawraith!




Also, unknown to many, there's another exclusive pet you can get. It's called Cocomoko. Check it out below.



Look a little familiar? If you've been a PC gaming fan for any reasonable amount of time, it should - it's based off of PC Gamer's Coconut Monkey (and not my dog, Coconut)! As you might have guessed, if you pick up the latest issue of PC Gamer with Hellgate: London on the cover (this pet is for both subscriber and newsstand issues), on the included CD is Cocomoko. If you really need another reason to pick up the issue, it will contain an exclusive review for Hellgate: London!

Can you believe it? Hellgate: London's official US release is just several weeks away, and we're getting a little antsy. So antsy that we want to give you guys lots of awesome goodies we have around the office - but you'll have to earn it!


Since Hellgate and Halloween are such a perfect fit for each other, we want this to be the theme for the contest. What you have to do is create something that ties in Hellgate and Halloween together, and whatever we feel best captures this, wins. Sounds a little vague, right? Well, it's supposed to! After all, what's the fun in telling you what to make? We'll narrow it down for you, though. Here are some contest deets:


CATEGORIES

1. Art - Create a visual piece, such as a wallpaper, painting, photo, etc., and send it to us in JPEG file format.

2. Movie - Make a short (or long) movie (live action, machinima, etc.) to send us. So you don't have to email giant files, it's best to upload to YouTube or a similar service and then send us the link.

3. Audio - Songs, music, radio plays, etc.


Remember, this is not a contest of who is the most hardcore fan, or who has more time and money to make something "nicer" - this is about creativity. The only limit here is your imagination. Also remember to make sure no one gets hurt, you don't do anything illegal, and most importantly, that you have fun.


So what's all this hard work get you? Check the list below.


Grand Prize, one per category

* A copy of Hellgate: London Collector's Edition, signed by various Flagship Studios members
* A Hellgate: London Weta figure (our pick, not yours due to supply)
* An official Hellgate: Halloween t-shirt (super limited!)
* An interview with you, featured on the official Hellgate: London site
* Bragging rights for eternity


Runner-ups, two per category

* A copy of Hellgate: London Collector's Edition
* A signed Hellgate: London poster

So what are you waiting for? Please send your entries to info@hellgatelondon.com with "Hellgate Halloween Entry: XXCategory NameXX" as the subject by October 17, 2007. If you don't include the subject, the email WILL NOT BE SEEN! Also, be sure to include your name, email, address, and phone number with your entry. Don't forget to check out all the official rules and legal to make sure you're eligible.

Renowned video game composers Cris Velasco and Sascha Dikiciyan have created the original soundtrack for Hellgate: London, the premiere PC title from Flagship Studios. Furthermore, the complete original soundtrack will be made available within the Hellgate: London Collector's Edition. Both the Collector's Edition of Hellgate: London and the standard retail box will be hitting store shelves in North America on October 31, 2007.

Even without a dominating figurehead, Charing Cross is still well-monitored and patrolled. Templar and Hunter both share duties walking the station's perimeter, ensuring no inhuman trespasser survives. This vigilance on the part of Charing Cross's guardians is necessary, for while Covent Garden may act as their shield in times of crisis, Charing Cross still sits dangerously close to many unsafe zones.

Piccadilly Circus, for instance, has fallen far. Vile creatures stalk the streets and hunt under a permanently darkened sky as the sick taint of Hell tears concrete and steel, venting its fiery rage into our world. And in some sick twist of fate, the area's prominent neon advertisements are still semi-operational, reminding the struggling survivors of London's death of what once was.

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling

Sluggo: To start, it's worth noting that what we're testing is a multiplayer beta. You'll be able to play Hellgate as a single-player RPG, but in this format, it's more like an MMO: you create an account and connect to the beta servers; the actual gameplay and questing areas are instanced, but connected via hubs where you can see tons of other players walking around, interacting with NPCs, chatting with each other or forming parties.

For me, there was little question what class I was choosing. I'd long ago decided I'd be going the FPS route with Hellgate and rolled a Marksman, a hunter-type class that uses guns and other ranged weapons. I started out with a basic cadet rifle, but it wouldn't be long before I had enough cash to pick up an enhanced machinegun to mow down enemies with.

The game starts with an extremely simple tutorial mission that shows you how to do things like kill basic mobs, loot, interact with NPCs and use the automap. In ten minutes, you've reached the first underground hub and started gathering quests, which is where it feels like the game really starts.

"We love randomisation," says Bill Roper, Flagship's CEO. "It adds so much replayability to the game, as there is always the chance that a player will find something new, or emergent behavior will create a new experience. When done right, randomisation doesn't come off as being random - which is kind of an odd way to think about it. Basically, you don't want your environments to feel haphazardly slapped together. You want them to feel cohesive and coherent. This sort of thing is the real challenge and art of creating a highly randomised game, and is why you don't see many of them. If you get it right, it looks really simple. But it's very hard to get right."

YouGamers: Although there is a reasonable proportion of gamers with DX10 compliant graphics cards (and running on Windows Vista), the bulk of users still have DX9 GPUs. Will Hellgate: London target various shader models (e.g. SM2.0, SM2.0b, SM3.0, SM4.0) or just two - SM2.0 and SM4.0?

Thompson: Hellgate: London supports several levels of shaders: SM1.1, SM2.0, SM3.0 and SM4.0. We have worked quite hard to make sure that we allow many people to enjoy the game without having to update their computer.


YouGamers: Since Hellgate: London can use SM4.0, what effects will gamers notice them looking better than in SM2.0?

Thompson: Our DX10 engine has several effects. We have interactive, volumetric smoke which uses the render to volume feature in DX10. We have rain that factors in the direction of the eye and the light direction to read from a texture array. We have a few forms of motion blur. We have soft particles – which helps remove that hard edge that many particle systems display when penetrating the background. We have a better method for computing shadows. We use the improved normal map compression method in the DX10 target as well.

What makes a boss?

Think ferocity. Think size. Think power. Think speed. Think...impressive, challenging, overwhelming, terrifying, and unique.

All the boss fights in Flagship Studios' Hellgate were built around this line of thinking. The game sports a wealth of enemies - nearly 100 monsters (excluding randomized versions, of course). What Flagship needed were the standout champions - the heralds of damnation - to offset the base gameplay. What Flagship needed were unique monsters accompanied by unique set pieces. Flagship needed monsters deliberately built to endure, conquer, crush, and kill all comers.

Hellgate™:London © Flagship Studios, Inc. All rights reserved. Flagship Studios and Hellgate are Trademarks of Flagship Studios, Inc. throughout the world. All rights reserved.