Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Your cost-free indie curio of the day is a bravura work-in-progress from Alex Austin, the other half of the Gish team. Unlike the surreal ‘toonery of his and Edmumd McMillen’s joint projects, A New Zero is very much straight down the line. A simulation, almost. Austin cites the likes of TIE Fighter and Mechwarrior as inspirations, and they’re certainly there in the combat mechanics. As for the game as a whole, it’s got a definite scent of Battlefield and a dash of Battlezone to it. While there’s bot play in there if you’re scared of strangers, really it’s a team-based multiplayer game: two squads of planes, boats and bigger boats trying to wipe out each other and each other’s base.

Impressively, it’s all the work of Mister Austin on his lonesome. Doubly impressively, it’s only 432k big. Just one 10,000th the size of Left 4 Dead, as Austin points out – hell, it’s less than a 30th of a Peggle.
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Just a quickie – my interview with the lovely chaps at 2D BOY is up on Eurogamer today. We discuss how the game got made, the reasons behind some of the more esoteric decisions, and learn some important facts about the mysterious Allan Blomquist. It’s a fun time.

God, this probably says too much about my priorties. When one of the biggest and more credible sites get gutted in a dumb corporate buy-out, it gets mentioned in The Sunday Papers. When a virtually-unknown outside-of-UK internet videogame TV show calls it a day in their final episode though? Front page post. Like, obviously. I dunno. The slow machinations of advance capitalism leaving human tragedy behind it is just life. Consolevania were unique, and their passing just as unique as their coming. And my short eulogy continues herein…
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A surprise, but a welcome one. I was one of the few reviewers who really enjoyed the ragged-but-enthusiastic Call of Juarez. And it appears that Techland (Ex-Chrome) are getting a second chance in Call of Juarez: Bound In Blood. Very few details are around yet, bar that it’s a prequel, you can play both brothers (hopefully keeping the dual-play structure of the first game) and it ranges between Aztec Ruins in South America and Civil-War era Georgia. We presume that means the American one, rather than the ex-Soviet one (Though that’d be one hell of a twist). Which Ex-Soviet states would you like to see a cowboy game set, readers? And while you think, you’ll find the press release beneath the cut.
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During the night the beaver slaves at Valve have been adding all sorts of fixes and features to Left 4 Dead. At this difficult time of year, we at Rock, Paper, Shotgun are asking you to think of the beaver slaves, held by the tyrannical Valve because of their dedication to hard work and comical teeth. To find out what this cruelty has resulted in for the game, look below.

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Zork lives! The grandpappy of interactive fiction has been slumbering since 1997′s graphical adventure Grand Inquisitor, but it’s due for a surprise, browser-based return later this year. Details? Not a lot as yet, really. Legends of Zork is being handled by Irish outfit Jolt Online Gaming, with some sort of backing from Activision. There’s no word on whether any of the original Infocom team behind the classic Zorks are involved. Oh – just one more thing. It’s an MMO.

[Pauses for screaming and shouting].
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After the jump is the Gametrailers interview slot with DC Universe creative lead Jens Andersen. It’s interesting to see just how like City Of Heroes the game appears, not least with its origins and character designs. Nevertheless the real proof will be in the pummelling, as DC Universe boasts that it is an “action” MMO, with real skill required. I’ll be genuinely interesting to see whether Sony/Warner Bros can really pull that off, and whether they can make the necessary quantum leap to get ahead of both the existing City Of Heroes, and in-progress semi-sequel Champions Online. There’s loads of in-game footage in what follows, so I’ll be interested to hear what you make of it.
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Hi-ho! We’re upgrading the canaries that power the Talk-o-Tron today. Nothing major, but expect some brief outages.

Edit – And we’re back! Should be a few improvements – including a new option to watch topics (the button’s at the bottom of each thread), and forum comments on a topic created from a front-page story appending to the front page comments – but do let us know in the moaning/suggestion sub-forum if you hit any problems.

Just think of all the great games based on TV shows! I mean, imagine what our lives would be like without them. No CSI: Miami, no Law & Order. The world would be a barren wasteland. So it was with heavy hearts when we learned last year that Ubisoft’s Heroes game would no longer be made. Well, turn around that frown, friend, because Ubisoft are instead bringing us a game based on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy!

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[This has been on my blog for a while, but never reposted on RPS. I thought worth moving over her. Originally written for PC Gamer back in the day, and tweaked from my original unproofed version for publication. Oh - and you can get ZanbandTK most easily here]

Valarina was my first. She was a barbarian warrior. Plain, though no-one would ever say that to her face for fear of her tearing off their arm and using it as a particularly bloody stole. But she was confident. Hey – with 18/50 strength you would be too. I had her walk into town, confusedly haggle for a pair of leather gloves then hit the bar, demanding a quest. They gave her one. Danger level 25. Hmmm… Is that bad? I didn’t know. So I marched her in and before she even had a chance to look around, Valarina was slaughtered in a single combat round by a Vorpal Bunny. Oh my.
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This is the biggest award-ceremony welcome surprise since Belle and Sebastian won that Brit award: The WGA’s nomination for RPS favourite Dangerous High School Girls In Trouble. Frankly, it deserves an award for the title alone. We decided it was an opportune moment to talk to Mousechief‘s Keith Nemitz about their sudden brush with mass fame…
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