Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Jane McGonigal thinks that gaming can save the world. We currently spend three billion hours a week playing online games. McGonigal says we need to raise that total to twenty-one billion hours a week by the next decade, if we want to address the world’s problems. Counter-intuitive, yes. I thought there were only 168 hours in a week… Watch her talk below.
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Okay, this is absolutely brilliant. My affections are always available for the high price of a really good gag, and EA/DICE just bought mine for Bad Company 2 with their fantastic spoof of Modern Warfare 2′s painfully awkward Fight Against Grenade Spam video. The original video featured heroic Phillies (baseball) pitcher Cole Hamel presenting a PSA-style advert about the problems of grenade spamming in Modern Warfare. It was a cute idea, made hideous by the astonishingly ill-advised decision to use the acronym “FAGS” – as if there isn’t enough of that word being screamed over Xbox Live already. With a deft touch, DICE continue their PR assault on Activision’s cash-cow (following on from their announcement they’d be releasing free Bad Company 2 DLC on the same day MW2′s first DLC map pack appears) with this piss-take. See both below.

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I’m never sure what to make of mods that make changes to the original game’s mechanics or image, rather that create an experience that exists separately from it. Things like putting trees in Fallout 3 just strike me as stuff that doesn’t need to be done. So I’m always wary of mods that purport to make big alterations to the best game of a given year so far – like, say, Call of Pripyat.

That’s what one of this week’s picks is doing, though, and while I’m dubious, plenty of people are likely to be glad of it. There’s also – ooh – lots more stuff below the jump.
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Arrowhead Games – whoa, a strange “arrowhead” theme – showed off their isometric multiplayer Diablo-like action adventure Magicka at GDC, and so we’ve snaffled the video to post below. It’s looking like a fun time: you play as wizards and you can combine and mix spell powers to suit your tastes. There’s some really lovely detail on the monsters and environments, too. Also, it does seem to have a sense of humour and has friendly fire on all the time, for comedy happenings. The game will be out Q3/Q4 2010. Go take a look.
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AH-64 Apache gunship, M2A3 Bradley IFV, MH-6 Little Bird… I confess I know as much about these things as I do about the mating habits of giant grasshoppers, but many people are greatly enamoured of them. The tanks and aircraft I mean, not the rutting insects. Such enthusiasts will be duly pleased by this really very pretty trailer for Operation Arrowhead, the upcoming standalone expansion for ARMA 2. Interesting that it’s standalone, given ARMA’s audience is something of a fixed one and thus surely most potential purchasers of this will own ARMA 2 anyway, but I guess it’s a sensible way to try and reach beyond its niche.
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You heard the lead designer’s take on the final chapter of the Tiberium saga this morning, and now here’s what I, a man who plays too many videogames, think of this RTS do-ever. Well, it’s over on Eurogamer rather than here, but it’s always a pleasure to see you splendid gamery types pop back to RPS to share your thoughts. Having seen what an evidently lovely and thoughtful chap Mr Bass is, I can’t help but feel a little bad about some of my observations about the game, but y’know, I say what I see (though some of that is in line with he and his team’s stated intentions). That said, EG have understandably chopped the piece back a little from the overlong version I sent over, which particularly means the full extent of my great disdain for the unlock system is perhaps not conveyed. There was originally a naughty swear and everything.

Anyway, token link and token quote:

On the one hand, it’s important to look at this as its own game rather than through change-fearing spectacles. On the other, it’s called Command & Conquer 4, and that bald bloke who keeps waving his arms and talking about ascension is all over it.

Dragon Age: Awakening is out today in the US, and Friday in the UK, because the European internet is three days slower or something (PLEASE STOP DOING THIS). And it’s fantastically good. To find out more you can use either or both eyes to read my review of the 25 hour expansion over on Eurogamer. You may be assured it contains passages that look like this:

Let’s remove any confusion from the start. Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening is not another piece of crappy DLC following the dismal inclusions we’ve seen since the BioWare RPG’s release last November. This expansion is 25 hours of full-scale new content, essentially an entire new game, that picks up the story however you may have left it. It has a new setting, a (mostly) new crew of companions, new abilities, skills, spells and talents, and most importantly, a re-imagined approach that’s appropriate to a shorter format while still achieving the necessary sense of scale.

Then carry on here.

The Intel Troll (pictured) dropped us a line to announce their new Level Up competition, and it’s looking fairly shiny. There’s a couple of tiers to the competition, with pros/hobbyists and students judged separately. The lowdown is that the grand prize for professional/hobbyist level entries is an all-expense paid trip to the Tokyo Game Show. The prize for the student-level competition is a pass to GDC San Francisco 2011, as well as marketing support for their game from Intel and “a marketing firm”. There are also “Best Game For Desktop, Laptop, and Netbook” categories, each with their own $5000-plus-big-fat-PC prizes, and more for “judges choice” awards. Thousands of dollars worth of stuff, basically. So that’s probably worth looking into if you’re in the game-making business. Details on how to get in on it below.
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Isn’t it nice when gaming brings everyone together? And other stuff too, like books, films and fashion. But especially games. A cross-party initiative has seen the leaders of the big three British political parties (growl, SNP fans) gritting their teeth and pretending to agree about how simply excellent Britain is when it comes to creating stuff. And so we have the British Inspiration Awards, which aim to celebrate just how jolly good we are. And we mention it because, rather splendidly, it’s to include videogames. It’s significant, not simply that they weren’t forgotten, but that they genuinely are being recognised alongside their peers when it comes to entertaining ourselves. You can see the full press release below.
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It’s over! 17,000 words later and at last we have a victor for this, the most miserable and guilty of all AARs. Will the galaxy enter the rule of Kieron’s glittering red Empire? Or will it be empurpled by the all-powerful, all-duplicitious Graham? Or perhaps blue underdog Jimothy Rossignol will at last spring his winning gambit. Read the grim and salty conclusion to our game of Neptune’s Pride after the jump (or read it over at the PC Gamer blog here here).

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Command & Conquer 4 arrives this week to the tutting of sceptics. The new game is different: no base-building, no economy. It’s also the end of the Tiberium saga. What does it all mean? The man responsible for concluding Kane is Samuel Bass, and last night we spoke to him about the end of the Tiberium saga, experimental RTSs, the value of the PC, King’s Bounty, and the dreaded DRM. Read on for international interview interest.
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