Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Sundays are for bloodily bursting from the guts of an enormous Kieron-eating monster because not even death itself can stop me from compiling a weekly list of interesting (mostly) game related reading from across the week while trying to avoid linking to a pop-song. I am your Games Journalist Mesisah. [Do we edit this, or is it funnier just to leave it? - The Rest Of RPS]

• Quinns doesn’t just write for us, mores the pity. Here’s a piece he did on the joy of being confused for Eurogamer – as in, when you go Off The Map. Secondly, here’s his regular column for Game Set Watch. This time, it’s on Red Orchestra.

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As excited as I am at the prospect of scrambling through the fetid interior of a fully-modelled U-boat, a small patriotic part of me is sad that Silent Hunter 5, like its predecessors,  won’t be flying the White Ensign. It was our turn, dammit! It didn’t have to be British subs – a single captainable RN corvette class would have sufficed. Hunting the hunters now and again can be a barrel of fun as Enigma: Rising Tide, recently released in free, StarForce-stripped iso form, proves.

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Hullo. Feeling a little gassy today, which is no fun whatsoever. But I suppose I did eat Kieron in such a horrific rush. I’ve only myself to blame, as my dear departed mother would say. Well, myself and the deal she made with dark powers to warp my form. Still, I did eat her first. Anyway! I’ve decided to blog this turn-based strategy game (See – The Ye Olde Games Journalist book gives me all the lingo), not because of any merits, but because I found the e-mail its creator Craig Stern of Sinister Designs sent along with it. You can get the demo or buy the full version from here and see the letter (plus footage) below.
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It’s that time of the week again. That time when you can help yourself from buying games because they are cheap and you might want to play them at some point. That can only mean it’s bargain bucket o’clock. A mix of indies, oldies, and games that are not even finished being made yet are on offer this week. Bargains from the future if you will. For more cheap electronic entertainment, check out SavyGamer
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Hullo! These e-mails keep on coming. Some highly-edible-sounding chap called Stephen mails news with news that Interactive Fiction Competition 2009 has started judging. That means that the – oooh! – upwards of 20 games can be downloaded by anyone, and then voted on by anyone with fingers still able to interact with a computer keyboard (i.e. Not Kieron, whose fingers were amongst the first things to go. They’re so moreish!). If you’re looking for opinions on them… well, last time around, Kieron linked to Emily Short’s blog as a good source for that kind of thing. So I’ll do it too. Seriously, this games journo thing is as easy as taking candy (and their tiny, defenceless heads) from babies. Toodles!

(They don’t do nothing – I just wanted to make the gag).

NVIDIA’s current big deal is true 3D gaming – a funny pair of specs that blesses on-screen worlds with depth and pop-outery, just like movies from the 80s or late 00s. Which one of those two it is most akin to depends on the spectacle technology you use – old fashioned red/blue sillies or complicated and expensive stereoscopic shutter thingers. I’ve been having a poke at the former which – in theory – works with most every 3D game, so long as you have a recentish NVIDIA card.
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Hullo! Still me. I’ve eaten most of Kieron now, and we’re down to his increasingly manky looking torso. Well, I always like ribs, though they make my fingers messy. Lucky the room is covered in gore. He keeps on getting e-mails though, like one from Jack de Quidt who talks about BunniBunni, which has been all over the forum (Apparently. I don’t really know what a forum is. The last forum I was at was when I emerged in the centre of Rome around 101AD and went on a blood-curdling rampage. Ah, those were the days). Anyway, I decided to have a play.
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Hullo! Me again. I’m still lolling around Kieron’s room, taking a break from gnawing. I see the last game Kieron played before passing, and starting to pass through my guts, was something called Astro Tripper. There’s some notes which I can just about read through the blood stains:
“After Gridrunner Revolution, a fine time for premium PC shootage”, “Early-00s Edge-beloved classic, rebooted”, “Derived from Defender-Derived Braybook classic Uridium”, “No demo yet, but original Space Tripper demo still out there“, “Why am I so lonely?”, “brutally punnishing” and “£9/$15“. Oh – look! There’s a video here of it.
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Hullo. I just killed Kieron. He was typing quietly in IM trying to avoid my attention, but John Walker did something in capitals, so I heard it. I have now killed him. He’s lying on the floor, and I’m having the occasional nibble. Nothing quite like New New Games Journalists to chew on. He appears to have left a half-done post here, so I’m going to do it, before pressing on and hunting down Walker. I can smell his spoor, so he can’t escape me. Apparently, PC Gamer twittered this quiz which categorizes what sort of gamer you are. Apparently you’ll find it fun. And here’s a list of what assorted gaming luminaries have got…
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Huzzah! The lunatic primary madness of RunMan: Race Around The World is out, and it’s super-fun. You play little yellow blob RunMan, and you, well, run. Mostly to the right, smashing through obstacles and bouncing around the scenery. All displayed in child-like scratchy drawings that make my mind happy.

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Well, 10-and-a-bit. We’re a couple of days late with this, but that’s only so we can look fashionably nonchalant. Landmark strategy game is a decade old, you say? Yeah, whatever. We’re too busy listening to Dizzee Rascal records and calling LaRoux the new Dido.

No, of course we’re just tardy – Homeworld is a game to be celebrated if ever there was one. Ten bloody years! Yet it still seems so fresh and modern in many ways. And, thanks to its creators, it looks as though it’s not going away just yet. (That isn’t a tease for Homeworld 3, I’m afraid – but the news is still good, honest guv).
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