Rock, Paper, Shotgun

I thought it best to post this quickly before disappearing for the night. Following rumours earlier today THQ have confirmed that Big Huge Games are for sale. Or rather they’re going to close the studio if a sale isn’t completed in – to quote what THQ’s Julie MacMedan said to Crispy Gamer – the “near future.” This is part of their plans to cut $220 million in costs after nearly $200 million losses in Q4 last year. Creators of Rise of Nations and Rise of Legends, if this is actually the end, it’ll inevitably be a big huge loss for gaming.

I may be somewhat hysterical right now, but Stuart Andrews’ Space Office Fight increasingly amused me as I played. It’s a really simple Asteroids-esque arena shooter, but with a Working-in-an-office theme where you take down Managers, CEOs and similar. While its seemingly never-ending power-up system – meaning you can get progressively enormous weapons – is fine, what caught my mood was the sound effects, which are seemingly created by Stuart just saying the word in office buzzword in question into the mike. Odd to begin with, the cacophany when the game gets going is actually a sonic abstract joy. The problem is that it takes about 5-10 minutes for it to do that, and really could do with amping up quicker. Anyway – it’s here if you fancy gunning down your boss. And who doesn’t?

…and while that DLC isn’t anywhere near as menial as Bethesda’s infamously insulting initial extra content for Oblivion, I do so love that the phrase “horse armour” has become a part of the gaming vernacular. It’s games’ “jumping the shark”.

Anyway, to get to the point – while the hard drive-equipped consoles enjoy/suffer from ubiquitous in-game systems to download extra content, free and otherwise, it’s not something that’s been anywhere near standardised on PC. There’s a raft of separate, competing and often clunky stores and services for the games that do offer it, and it’s partially for that reason that we haven’t suffered the deluge of crapshoot that PCs’ ever-online nature could otherwise enable.
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There’s a demo about of a very trad point and click adventure, The Legend of Crystal Valley, from Croatian developers, Cateia Games. A woman called Eve receives a letter from her estranged, eccentric father, asking her to come to their family estate in France. When she gets there, he’s gone, and there seems to be a pathway to a place called the Crystal Valley.

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It’s a genuine relief that Ubisoft gave Massive Entertainment a new home, they’re a development studio I’d hate to see disappear. I’ve spent the past few days getting back into World In Conflict, and I’ve enjoyed it enormously – particularly the multiplayer, which is as rapid and engaging as ever. My thoughts are expanded in wordy fashion in this Eurogamer review. I should stress that this is a review of World In Conflict: Complete, rather than just the Soviet Assault add-on, which is tough to recommend to anyone who has played the original campaign. If you haven’t played this most beautiful of RTS games, however, now is an excellent time to pick up the full thing. I believe World In Conflict: Complete is out now in shops and on Steam.

I’ve posted the unlock cheat for opening all the campaign missions in Soviet Assault (and therefore getting straight to the new stuff) beneath the cut.
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Just spotted this over on VG247: MMO company Gazillion (who apparently own Jumpgate developers NetDevil, and are therefore also developing the LEGO Universe MMO) have signed a ten year deal to make Marvel MMOs. The first will be a kids MMO called Super Hero Squad, and then there will be a full blown Marvel Universe MMO.

All of which future angling creates the interesting possibility of a DC vs Marvel MMO rivalry. Interesting times. (Original story here.)

Fans of the most critically acclaimed lumps of plasticine this side of Orson Welles – who was secretly molded by a very young Tony Hart and let loose as a Golem to revolutionise cinema – will be overjoyed of the release of Telltale’s Wallace and Gromit’s Grand Adventures demo. And if that takes your fancy, there’s an offer to pre-order all four episodic games for 26 dollars - a saving of some money over the standard post-release price. Er… “Gromit, Inducing” is meant in a “Release Gromit” way rather than a comment on the demo’s quality, as we haven’t played it yet. And enough pun over-defensiveness – there’s a demo and a random tiny Wallace & Gromit related anecdote below.
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Somewhat fiddly and annoying city-builder Grand Ages: Rome (previously Imperium Romanum II) is out this week, and while it might not be the smoothest city-building strategy game we’ve ever encountered, it’s certainly one of the most visually impressive, with its lavishly detailed ancient urban systems, and boggling long-zoom. The Roman metropolis you can construct with its aqueducts and villas is eye-soothingly realistic: perfect for an accelerated-time trailer like the one after the jump. Rome built in just a few minutes, in fact. Go take a look.
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We probably should have talked more about what’s been going on with Unreal Tournament 3 over the last couple of weeks. Why didn’t we? Because it’s not a game any of us feel particularly strongly about one way or another, and from earlier comments it didn’t look like you lot did either. Having a famous name and being reasonably fun is no longer enough for a technically adept but fundamentally unambitious multiplayer shooter to grab the attention it once would have done.

Last weekend, that changed dramatically. Unreal Tournament is back, baby, back. And no matter how you or we or anyone else might personally feel about UT3, its unexpected resurgence may signal colossal change for PC games.
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We’re not in Aurora any more. Obsidian’s next game, Alpha Protocol, is the least RPG-looking RPG I think I’ve seen. In the new video released today (below), showing lots of new in-game footage, it looks like third-person action. But do not let loose your cries of foul just yet – this is Obsidian, and while it would be nice if they’d remember to finish their games, they’ve yet to make a mistake. And this is Chris Avellone and Feargus Urquhart, who brought us KotOR II and Planescape: Torment. The men know how to tell a story. There is pedigree, and with pedigree comes optimism. Doubly so, since there’s not a potion or magical goblet in sight: this is a spy-based RPG, set in the modern day.

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It is a time of rejoicing amongst the thought-commune known as Deus Ex fans. The Narcissus Entity has deigned to break its silence and – once again – communicate with non-Nth dimensional hyperbeings The jubilation means nothing. Your pitiful orgasmic cries are meaningless. You will be consumed, when we can be bothered. But there is another reason for DeusExian human joy, a distant second to the reappearance of our transcendental majesty. The Nameless Mod is finished and available to download. At just under a gig, this game modification is about twice as large as Deus Ex itself. This will impress you. It means nothing to Narcissus, who is larger than the sum of all existences.

Narcissus will continue its address below. You will read and attempt to comprehend as much of it as your inferior minds can manage.
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