Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Oooh, interestinkosity. Let’s go with Destructoid breaking the story. Those who have played Left 4 Dead’s Dark Carnival level (i.e. Everyone but me, as I’ve been Modern Warfare-ing, a week behind the zeitgeist) will have been enamored with its stage-based conclusion. Well, the band who owns the stage in question – The Midnight Riders – have a website. And apparently – from the mouth of hive-mind out-brain Phill Cameron – there’s an achievement for completing all six campaigns. But there’s only five shipped with the game. Is there maths to be done? If so, do the maths. Since there’s no footage currently available of whatever this is – and, Crikey, can you imagine the cry from the forums if it’s paid-for-DLC – here’s the video to Smart Dressed Man by ZZ Top…
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So here’s a discussion I’ve been having on Twitter and elsewhere: do you turn off depth of field and motion blur effects in games? I recently realised, when looking at some Borderlands screenshots, that I now do that by default, and didn’t wait more than a couple of minutes to kill the depth of field in that game. It was most scream-worthy, in my opinion, in Stalker: Clear Sky, where reloading the gun put everything except the gun out of focus – precisely when I wanted to be looking into the distance and judging my next barrage. So I’ve asked about, and opinion is clearly divided on the issue. For some people it’s a clear cut decision, while others see depth of field and motion blur effects as welcome prettiness, and beneficial to their experience. If that’s the case, can any of you point to situations in which these effects are useful, rather than just pretty? And if these things are merely visual spangle, then are they an effect too far? Have we reached a point in graphics where there’s too much extra processing? Or am I just getting too old to deal with these new-fangled visuals with my decrepit visual cortex? Speak your eyes!

Yes, you read with your eyes – those same eyes that are squeezing out a single tear for the lack of a new Hitman game – that Eidos and Io Interactive have confirmed Kane & Lynch 2 for release in 2010. The press release offers an entertaining snippet of hyperbole to go with this news: “Introducing a new visual experience, Kane & Lynch 2™: Dog Days is inspired by documentary filmmakers and the user-generated era. Every aspect of the game has been designed to deliver a fresh perspective to the words ‘intensity’ and ‘realism’ in video games.”

Wow!™ We can hardly wait.

A single-mission demo for Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising has been released, and it can apparently be played single player and online with chums. Codies explain: “As part of a Special Forces squad inserting behind Chinese PLA lines, players must eliminate a strategically critical radar station and missile sites to allow the USS Iwo Jima, carrying the main USMC battalion, to safely approach the island of Skira.” The full details for the demo including mirrors and systems specs can be found here. My thoughts about the game on release can be read here.

Picked up from the relentless, irresistible, magnificent Juggernaut of indie-gaming coverage TIGsource, Harmony is a clear labour of love. It’s a stand-alone game based on the ZDoom code which is – apparently – 8 years in the making. Crikey. My favourite feature is that the enemies are all based on actual creatures moulded from clay. More of that sort of thing, game designers. I want a retro-Trap Door shooter, pronto. BERK! FEED ME! FEED ME BULLETS! Anyway, you can get it from here and the video follows…
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Well, I’d hoped to have loads to tell you by now. Remember the zombie bride, the battle inside my own belt, the dragon with a toothache? Last year’s King’s Bounty: The Legend was splendid at generating absurdist anecdotes. I’m a few hours into its addon/sequel Armored Princess, and I haven’t hit anything like that yet, to my chagrin. I met a drunk guy at one point. And a bartender hit on me, until I threatened to pull his arms off. That’s about it, though. However! I am not having anything like a bad time. Quite the contrary – I’m enjoying myself, and I wish I was playing it now. But I can’t because I’m on a train. Oh look, there goes Battersea Power Station. And the man opposite me has eyes that look in different directions. I need the toilet, but I can’t quite be bothered to get up and trudge over to a small, smelly metal room. And… oh yes. Sorry. Armored Princess may not have given me any anecdotes for you yet, but what it has done is make me enjoy KB’s complicated battle mechanics a fair bit more.
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Having seen a bit of the ship-to-ship and man-to-alien combat in previous Star Trek Online footage, we’re still waiting to get an angle on what will be central to the game: doing diplomacy, managing your crew, commanding a Starship, and all that Federation jazz. No change in this trailer, but it’s starting to look a lot more polished than previous in-game footage. Moreover, I think it’s pretty easy to be cynical towards this, but the truth is this game is likely to light a commercial touchpaper and become very popular indeed. It’s not just a popular licence, but I think it might just be different enough as an MMO to drag people away from established games. There’s a definite thirst for interesting MMOs right now, and this is certainly going to qualify. The site is crammed with new screens, and they’re now taking beta applications.
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There’s been some confusion regarding the UK digital release of Left 4 Dead 2. It seems that those Brits who pre-ordered the game found it unlocked at 5am Tuesday (Valve time) as expected. However, anyone who’s bought it from Steam since has discovered it won’t unlock for them until Friday. Which seemed strange, since the game was announced for a worldwide digital release, the retail dates separate. We contacted Valve to find out why this happening, and it seems to be about the UK being at the back of the queue for retail copies.

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A videogame has been released. Also, the Beatles have split up and Kennedy’s been shot. Hadn’t you heard?

I haven’t hurried, as such, to get my thoughts on this omnipresent game up on RPS, as it’s not like it’s going to affect anyone’s buying decision after all that hype and backlash, is it? But here they are now, after having had some time to digest and absorb now the shouting’s died down – for the singleplayer campaign, at least. Thoughts on the multiplayer will be along next week. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, then. Probably one or two things to say about it, I’d have thought…
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The MMO-encompassing Massively recently spotted that Cheyenne Mountain have finally offered some news on the development of their Stargate MMO, despite weeks of quiet. The silence set in after the news that they were still in grave financial trouble, despite aid from new investors. So grave, in fact, that the company apparently couldn’t even afford to update its website with news of progress. The MMO dev and their investors are still apparently intent on bringing the game out, but the messages from the company still seem to point to gloom. Check out the updated screenshot gallery for overdue proof that the game is still being made.

Mr Smee provided the heads up for Devil’s Tuning Fork. Which is… well, striking, to say the least. It’s an Echo-based first-person indie puzzle game. Get it from here or watch it beneath the cut. When your main influences are the optical illusions of Escher and Dolphin’s echolocation, you know you’re onto something. From a team from DePaul University, this is probably the most striking conceptual indie 3D-puzzle game I’ve seen since… ooh, Narbacular Drop. It’s also profoundly atmospheric and a genuinely unique aesthetic. It’s got “Must play” written all over it. Or, at least, it’s got “Must play” written in a blog-post about it.
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