I wanted to quickly share with you a video that has me geeking out. This is a video of a Lunar Lander Challenge in which Armadillo Aerospace competes with TrueZer0 for a prize of $350,000. Armadillo Aerospace is a private aerospace group that was founded in 2000 by John Carmack. Carmack is co-founder and lead programmer at id Software, a pioneer in the gaming industry which has developed such games as Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake and are currently developing Rage. I’m no rocket scientist (har), so I’m not sure how unique an accomplishment this actually is in the world of privatized aerospace, but I still think it’s pretty damn cool to watch.

It’s that time again. To snort lederhosen and call 911, you ask? Nay, it’s time to look into the future of gaming. Outside of the comic we don’t actually write much about current and future games here. This is the specially reserved segment, last posted three months ago, to unleash our lists of anticipated PC titles. (obvious ones excluded) As you see, it’s my turn.

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Painkiller is a first-person shooter created by Polish developer People Can Fly (now a subsidiary of Epic Games), and released in 2004. In November of that same year, the Painkiller story continued when an expansion titled Battle Out of Hell was released; it would later be bundled and sold with the original game as Painkiller Gold Edition and Painkiller Black Edition.

Painkiller has all the qualities one would expect in a worthy successor to games like Doom and Quake: a constant sense of urgency driving the player forward; a powerful and satisfying arsenal including such mainstays as the shotgun and chain gun, as well as such exotic, proprietary creations as the Electrodriver and (my personal favorite) the Painkiller itself. With this adherence to tradition in mind, it’s only natural that Hell (and its denizens) would play a part in Painkiller’s narrative. The game opens with a cut scene showing the game’s protagonist, Daniel Garner, driving with his wife to her birthday dinner. It’s raining heavily, Daniel looks away for a moment, and they’re killed in a head-on collision. Although his wife was admitted to Heaven, Daniel has been relegated to Purgatory. After spending some time there, he is approached by a messenger and is given an opportunity for atonement, an opportunity to reunite with his wife. Here, the objective of the game is revealed: kill the four generals of Lucifer’s army, and on the way, “destroy everything that moves.”

Painkiller also has a strong multiplayer component that, for a while, was a pretty big deal in the competitive scene. Its popularity waned, however, so while sparsely populated servers can still be found, it can’t be counted on. Regardless, the singleplayer campaigns of Painkiller and its expansion are worth the $9.99 to Steam or Good Old Games.