By John Walker on June 22nd, 2009.
There are a few bits and pieces from E3 that I’ve yet to write about. I’ve also thoughts on the remarkable-looking Love to come, and details on a few of Paradox’s forthcoming games via Mr Stone. But here’s a few that were left over. Below there’s a few brief comments on Alpha Protocol, Alien Vs Predator and Rogue Warrior.
By Kieron Gillen on June 22nd, 2009.
Check the timestamp on this post. Within the minute from then, Walker will be in my AIM window telling me off for using such a horrible grab-from-you-tube. But it’s too late! Too late! You’ll never catch me and there’s nothing else that can replace it. Ahahahahaha, etc. Er… Parkin forwarded this to me, which has been doing the rounds for the last couple of days. It’s a gent who’s made his own VR gamegun, by tying a motion sensor and a camera to a plastic gun. He turns, the game turns. He shoots, the game shoots. He speaks, he has an awesome accent, but that’s nothing do with the gamegun. You must watch, clearly…
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By Jim Rossignol on June 22nd, 2009.
Empire’s new 1.3 patch is out, and will update via internet fairy dust when you relaunch Steam. The fairly chunky list of changes and fixes can be read here. The patch includes fourteen new units to replace generic unit types for specific factions in the game. There’s also DLC up on Steam, the details of which are here. The micro-expansion unlocks fourteen elite units, including US Marines and Russian Gardes à cheval, whom, it is noted, “were selected not for their soldiering ability but more for their relative attractiveness to Catherine the Great.”
They’re bringing sexy (horse)back.
By Jim Rossignol on June 22nd, 2009.
A couple of weeks ago we got to speak to Cyanide’s Antoine Villepreux, who is the Blood Bowl Project Lead, about some of the features that the ultra-violent fantasy sports game will include. That conversation contains a little elucidation of the real-time mode will play. The game is, of course, based on the turn-based boardgame, and features a core turn-based system that is reportedly faithful to the original. But will the shiny RTS-like mode attract new folks to the sport? Cyanide seem to hope so.
The Q&A also happens to coincide with the release of a fancy new trailer, which shows off the familiar, and spectacularly rendered, Games Workshop fantasy foot-to-ballists.
By Jim Rossignol on June 22nd, 2009.
Via IGN we get a massive Aion trailer (clickwards below), with the world, background, and factions explained by the American development team. Loads of game footage, plenty of action, and a general explanation of how a few aspects of how the game will play out. Looking up and seeing the other half of the world is a neat visual flourish. In fact it’s all looking rather impressive, and I’m now starting to see see why our Aion beta key giveaway was bombarded with over five thousand emails: the flying looks quite good.
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By Kieron Gillen on June 22nd, 2009.
A couple of weeks ago I went to the Greek Island of Hydra. Which was very fancy. Roaming around the airport at 4am, the Lady and I found ourselves buying a 7-in-1 WH Smiths Magnetic Board game set. As we played them, I found myself examining them with my adult, videogame-warped critical mind and thought it would be a good idea to review the lot of them. Writing RPS’ most expansive review of all time for a cheap-ass magnetic box-set struck me as funny, but they became a wide-ranging series of essays about the nature of gaming. No, really. It surprised me too, as I had no idea where I was going with most of these, and was pleasantly surprised they ended up where they did. Here’s the complete index:
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By Alec Meer on June 22nd, 2009.
The Hivemind will doubtless cast its mucus-oozing multi-eye towards this for more detailed discussion soon, but until then do allow me to quickly point out that Time Gentlemen, Please!!!?!!!?!, the sequel to the out-of-the-blue loveliness of Ben There, Dan That!!!?!!!?!, is now available. I’m mostly writing to this to deter yet more people from emailing us about it: most kind, but we do know, honest. It is available for the dementedly tiny price of £3, but if you’ve previously donated to the chaps behind these games, Zombie Cow Studios, you’ll soon be receiving a free copy. Watch that inbox hawk-like, but paradoxically quivering like a caffeinated dormouse. Now that is absurdly kind of them – perhaps the internet really is built upon sunshine and daisies after all.
By Kieron Gillen on June 22nd, 2009.
This caught my eye over on TigSource, for a load of reasons. It’s an adventure game (kinda) version of Les Miserables. You buy the game for 15 dollars, and you get the next two games in the series free (Which are based on the Divine Comedy and Roman poet Lucretius’ “The Nature of things. Apparently). Even more-so, the profits are being put towards his research into popularising Georgist ideas of Land-rent. Oh – and he’s got plans for the next five years. Ideas aren’t in short supply.
Clearly, I had to give a demo a shot…
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By Jim Rossignol on June 22nd, 2009.
When it was announced that Fuel, Asobo Studios’ apocalyptic open-world racer, boasted a daunting 5,560 square miles of terrain (14,400 km²), I immediately made a mental note to go mental, and drive around the entire world. Last week, having received some PC preview code from publisher Codemasters, I did precisely that.
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By Kieron Gillen on June 21st, 2009.
Sundays are pain and a list of reading about games without a pop song. But mainly pain.
By Tim Stone on June 21st, 2009.
Around the age of seven I caught the cartophily bug real bad. Tea cards were my particular passion and one 50-card set fascinated me above all others. Brooke Bond’s The Sea, Our Other World with its haunting images of bathyspheres, coral reefs, and whale sharks, spoke to a part of me that craved adventure and mystery. In those magical scenes I saw a glimpse of my future – a future in diving and marine exploration, a future as a professional… games reviewer? Oh well, with the help of free frogman sim eDiving, I can still dream. Read the rest of this entry »
