Rock, Paper, Shotgun

The all-seeing vid-eye of GameTrailers has nabbed some more Modern Warfare 2 footage, with explanatory chatter from the devs. It focuses on Spec-Ops mode, which is the co-op mode which consists in a whole bunch of independent missions that boast a modicum of internal variation. Not sure I quite understand what this chap is saying about alternative difficulty setting, however. He says the difficult effects the AI most, and yet you can both select different difficulty levels in the same co-op game? Hrm.
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Wow. I’m failing even quicker than I thought I would. It’s taken me three attempts to even press the right button to insert a picture in this post. Anyway! I’ll press on before I start posting total gibberish – or rather, more total gibberish than usual. Ben Johnson dropped us a line, saying he’s got a free top-down indie shooter to play, by the name of Subvein. It looks neat actually – it me of Smash TV and – more importantly for AP veterans – the immortal Extreme Violence (I met Simon Green last year randomly, and pretty much hugged him. This is totally what we did before Doom.) It looks like this…
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I admit, I haven’t looked closely at RTS-MMO World of Battles yet, but a release of a new Beta caught my attention today. Partially, because last night’s GMAs have destroyed 50% of RPS so any images you put in front of us provoke staring, but partially because a big old Free MMO RTS… well, that could be cool, right? You can download the just shy of 800Mb client from their site if you want to try, but since the site’s currently doing maintenance, you won’t be able to make an account and play until later. And here’s a fan video to show what it looks like…
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There’s still a week until the thing goes on sale, but seems Gearbox/2K are confident enough in their impending shooty-bang-bang/looty-grab-grab game that they’ve already confirmed its first DLC.

You’ll never guess what it’s about. I mean, it’s not like it could be zombies – that undead horse has already had a brutal flogging everywhere else.

It’s zombies.
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Design Reboot is a site that pitches hypothetical reboots, redesigns or sequels for games, along with descriptions for how it might work, accompanied by some beautiful concept illustrations. It’s the work of independent games developer Jack Monahan, who is both a level designer and a concept artist. What would Half-Life have been like if Valve had stuck with their first protagonist, Ivan the Space Biker? How could Unreal be reimagined today? And who exactly is Deus Ex’s Gunther?

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The long awaited adventure Machinarium is finally available today. After staring in wonder at the artwork and trailers for months I was able to play through a finished version this week in order that I could tell you Wot I Think.

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Lead & Gold, a reds vs blues multiplayer shooter inspired by hoodlum-headshotting antics in the Old West, is looking like it might be a tolerable amount of fun. And I mean that, because the trailer really isn’t anything to write home about, although it might make for an unusual missive if you do ever actually write home about anything. (“Dear Mother, today I saw a trailer for an unexceptional-looking multiplayer shooter trailer on Rock, Paper, Shotgun. I mean, it doesn’t seem like it’s anything we haven’t seen before, but it might just prove to be fun, and the Wild West environments certainly look well-conceived. Well, that’s all I have time for. I hope you’re okay. Love, Steve”) Better not do that. Write to mum about your feelings instead. Then go watch the trailer and open the sluice gates of opinion into the comments threads below. We’ll be panning for nuggets.
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Lord Of The Rings Online doesn’t seem to be getting a huge amount of press these days, but it’s nevertheless trundling onwards, with Turbine seeming to put a huge amount of work into expanding the game. The attitude of the few LOTRO players I know seems to reflect that: they’re not talking up their game to any great degree, but they seemed pleased enough with how it has been handled, and how Turbine have delivered more stuff since launch. Siege Of Mirkwood is the second expansion, which apparently concludes the quest arcs set in motion by last year’s Mines Of Moria. It’s also supposed to introduce randomised, scaleable instances, which sounds like a useful notion, as well as doing the obligatory level cap raise, this time to 65. It’s due for a December 1st release, and the official trailer sits under the nether-click. It’s got elves in, and a Ring Wraith fortress. Spooks.

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I’m going to assume there’s an achievement for getting through the entirety of Splinter Cell: Conviction by breaking people’s necks. Anyway, this walkthrough trailer is extremely detailed, showing off loads of the new takedowns, an interrogation function, the sticky cam, Sam’s goggles with their new cheaty wallhack feature, and some other man-violence. Oh, Sam, you sure know how to deal with a faceless enemy thug. Swoon. The game is apparently out in February.
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The news that spy-RPG Alpha Protocol has been delayed has been around for a while now, but official word of a spring release has just arrived from Sega. “Alpha Protocol, Obsidian Entertainment’s much anticipated RPG, will be moving to a Spring 2010 release date,” says the release. So no firm date, but it’s looking like around March for the game. lan Pritchard, European Managing Director at Sega said: “By pushing Alpha Protocol to Spring 2010, we can ensure that the game will be released in the best commercial release window possible and will also receive the focus this true AAA titles deserves.” And that’s probably for the best, as the game had a bit of a poor showing at E3, and John was pretty cautious about it in our coverage. Still, we’re all hoping for the best on what looks like one of the most interesting RPGs on the horizon. If this delay can give Obsidian the time they need to pull it off then we’ll be happy.

I’ve just returned from a trip to see Pandemic’s just-around-the-corner open world alterna-World War II game for another publication (I do so like to dance with the devil in the pale moonlighting), and was faintly surprised to realise whilst there that it was due on PC. This is because I never read any of John Walker’s earlier posts about the game, due to a dark, ancient prophecy that states existence as we know it will meet a horrific end should I ever read anything written by him.
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