Rock, Paper, Shotgun

An micro-inter-RPS debate today was this august publication’s coverage of one W. Spector Esq. Leaving aside issues of platform prissiness, how justified are we in continuing to cover the bepullovered fellow’s words? He has moved to Wii development for the time being (although platforms for Ninja Gold, his still-unseen kicksplode collaboration with John Woo, remain undeclared), but at the same time it’s there’s a big, tall, wobbly chance that RPS simply wouldn’t exist had the games Spector is most commonly associated with never come to pass. He’s a hard man to ignore.

So let’s tip the collective hat one more time, mouse ears or not. Here’s Warren holding forth at the PAX conference, providing entertainments other than Duke Nukem’s thrusting denim-clad crotch. The question of the moment: why won’t gamers accept games for non-gamers?
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Well, not really a tax, more of one-off fee, but it’s still causing no end of problems for South Korean indies. The problem is that the Korean government have decided to set up a ratings agency for games, and consequently all games published in South Korea under any format – and that includes slinging them up on the web – must now pay their own age rating (by the megabyte, illogically) or be classed as illegal naughtiness. Okay for the big corporates, but a nightmare for the indies who are trying to make it on their own, where a couple of hundred dollars is just too much, and frankly ludicrous for the amateur coders releasing stuff for free. There are few sources running with this story, but it seems to have emanated mainly from this post on Reddit, where the facts of the issue are defined for us in broken English. Meanwhile, TIGSource are debating what they can do about it over here. We presume it has knock-on effects for indies outside Korea, selling internationally over Steam and so forth, too. In fact, yes, here’s a story on that. Thanks.

We will add our voices to those saying “Boo, that’s not on. Give those guys a break, please, South Korean Government. Granted, you are a sovereign state and there’s nothing we can really do, but some kind of consideration would be nice. Cheers then, bye!”

You remember Outerlight? Creator of ahead-of-its-time Multiplayer sleuth-assassin game The Ship, who you suspect is influential on both SpyParty and Assasin’s Creed: Brotherhood? Well, their new game Bloody Good Time was revealed at PAX and is bringing its 8-player multiplayer to Steam later in the year. It’s another quirky multiplayer game, where a number of actors compete – murderously – to be cast in a film. As well as weapons (from standard to somewhat stranger – rat-bombs, frying pan) there’s also the promise of environmental traps. It’s even a little progressive, in that there’s 50:50 ratio of male to female characters*. Except all the female characters are hot, so not that progressive really. The teaser trailer follows…
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While the rest of the world seems to have been turning on the axis of Starcraft, I’ve been playing Men Of War: Assault Squad with RPS chums Phil and Dartt. It’s mostly excellent. The game is in beta at the minute, with a busy contingent of testers playing both the co-op and versus modes of this new skirmish-based Men Of War game. That beta test is set to expand very soon, which is an exciting time. (Which reminds me, we will have some beta accounts to give away soon, so watch for that.) I’ve already written a bit about the game here, but I don’t think I really explained how the game feels to play, and why it has take up so much of my attention. Read on and I will try to articulate some of my excitement.
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Amongst the PAX footage collated by VG247 is another gameplay clip from the apparently-out-on-Dec 7th Tron Evolution. It’s looking… well, a little like what I’d imagine the early 10s equivalent of late 80s Ocean would have done if given a Tron licence. Sections of action which hark to the key elements of the film’s iconic resonance (Pardon? – Ed) with a bit of platforming thrown in the side. Footage follows…
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Could these be the worst screenshots ever? Well, no. PCG still talk about the time Kieron handed in a review that included a shot of some sand, with the caption “The game has a lot of sand”, and I once sent a review with a shot of the game’s loading screen. Also, Kotaku poster Stephen Totilo has an excuse other than laziness- he took these shots during a PAX presentation of Aliens: Colonial Marines where he was sat far to the right. The point of all this is (probably) that Aliens Colonial Marines is still coming out, despite Gearbox “halting” its development two years ago. At the time, Gearbox prez Randy Pitchford said that wasn’t the same as cancelling a game. Did you believe him? I can’t remember if I did.

Speaking of Aliens, did you hear that Ridley Scott’s filming a two-part prequel to Alien in 3D? Kieron mentioned it in the channel earlier. Interesting times, for aliens.

Ever since I visited the ill-fated Iron Lore in 2005, I’ve wanted to find the words to talk about a peculiar response I had to their level editor. It’s taken me this long to gain the vocabulary needed to even take a stab at it, primarily gained/cribbed from the essays and thoughts of film theorist André Bazin. (Whom I confess I first discovered through Linklater’s excellent Waking Life, rather than from the half a degree of film studies I slept through in ’98.) And so, smuggled onto the internet in a large wooden retrospective article on Titan Quest, my thoughts on the teleological nature of level editors. I don’t know how successful I’ve been, since I’m massively out of my depth without a useful background in either philosophy or semiotics. The EG commenters appear to have opted for pretending the article was only one page long, which is understandable. I’m nervous of what happens if someone who knows what they’re talking about responds. There’s a quote from it below, since I’ve waffled so much up here.

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Nothing escapes the omniscient eye of the internet, and so it wasn’t long before the hands-on Duke play at PAX was uploaded by winged technologists to our glowing rectangles. You can bear witness to some of the activities of the man in shades, below. It seems to be some kind of action game, focused on the use of firearms. The perspective, sensibly, is set from the view of the protagonist. There doesn’t seem to be any way to talk to the monsters, aside from perhaps making some caustic quips that are basically rhetorical.

So yes. Duke footage.
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Remember Bronzemurder? It was a Dwarf Fortress after-action report told in illustrations by New Zealand artist Tim Denee. You don’t? God, is that smell you? Isn’t it a little early to be drinking? Nevermind. The point is he got commissioned by an Australian mag PC PowerPlay to do another one, Oilfurnace, and it’s now available on his blog. Again, in true Dwarf Fortress style it’s a tale of bravery and ingenunity that nevertheless ends horribly. Go read. And, if you like it, go buy a print. You might as well browse Mr. Denee’s Ten Feats of Ernest Hemingway while you’re over there, too.

It’s the start of the week. Time to warm up your gaming muscles with – perhaps appropriately – a game set in a gym. A GYM OF DEATH. Papa Voodoo pointed us at Treadmillasaurus Rex, where you play the titular dino on a treadmill, dodging spikes rolling towards you. Every few seconds the wheel of awesome spins choosing a complication, from relevant things like speeding up the treadmill or tightening the laser-beams around you to less relevant things like hat-extension and confetti boosts to much craved but elusive things like “win the game”. It’s ultimately a short life for this thunder lizard, but one where his cardio-vascular fitness is never in question. Go play!