Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Currently a clear winner for Game RPS Gets Sent The Most Press Releases About is Battle of the Immortals, an MMORPG take on Diablo. Somehow, we’ve never posted about it, despite having received 20 emails from the publisher since the 26th of January. Well, let’s correct that – partly because BotI has just entered closed beta testing, but mostly because of what happens at 25 seconds in. DEATH WHEEL. Seriously, that’s all the PR you need. Just show the Death Wheel.
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In our excitement of posting Pat’s shaky-hand-footage of Crysis 2 we didn’t actually post the full thing when it popped up on the 9th. We’d normally rather be never than late, being obsessed by appearances and fearing being mocked by our cool blogger friends, but we’ll make an exception in this case. Basically, because it looks pretty lovely, doing the Gears-of-War-esque SAD SAD SONG OVER RUINED LANDSCAPE thing and featuring shit getting real. I love it when shit gets real. When shit remains fake it’s distinctly inferior. Er… trailer follows.
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Alec has vanished into the Oxford countryside, probably on a mission of some kind, but it could just be he got loose after dark. Either way, his preview of Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is up over here. Here’s a bit that is illustrative and relevant:

All these omni-death abilities mean Ghost Recon is no longer a game of skulking behind rocks, picking people off from great distances. Combat is much more close quarters, enemies far more plentiful and the cover system is far more like the one in Gears of War. While the use of gadgetry and teamwork means it’s not a straightforward corridor-pounder, it’s definitely much more of an action shooter than a tactical shooter.

Read on! Also, what the hell is going on with that dude on the right?

I’m not entirely sure how to dig deeper into this particular drama, as the main source sites are in Korean, and the auto-translations aren’t proving to be particularly useful. Anyway, the story as originated here reports that top Korean players are being named and shamed for throwing matches to make money on illegal betting. It’s apparently been a problem that the e-sports organisers have been trying to stamp out for a while, and it has now reached an impass, with players being outed, or forced to retire. It’s the biggest drama the game has seen in some time, and could shake things up for the leagues as they move ahead to the Starcraft II launch, with sponsorship being put at risk, and so forth.

You are permitted to respond to this article by chuckling to yourself and thinking “ah, e-sports. I remember them.”

Jump! Jump! Hot on the robo-heels of RPS’s interview with Plain Sight developer Robin Lacey, my Eurogamer review has just gone live. For those of you squatting in the mossy swamp of ignorance, here’s an excerpt:

Understand that Plain Sight is a multiplayer indie game for PC, available on Steam, about murderous, explosive, acrobatic robots battling one another with katanas in a web of gravitational fields. It’s part flight sim, part Jedi Knight, part vertigo-inducing spectacle, part experiment and all risk-reward. What kind of a monster would go and break apart a game like that to say whether it’s worth buying? You might as well dissect a woman to determine that yes, she has healthy kidneys and firm, spongy lungs is therefore probably worth going out with.

Kieron informs me this is the “Patented Gillen Dating Method”, but you’re probably best off not thinking about that and just reading the rest of the review instead. I get quite excited.

Shortly after the news of the legal barrage starting, news breaks that the ejected Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella have formed a new company – the wittily named, minimialistically site-d Respawn – which will partner with EA to produce their next game. Eurogamer’s long interview with West and Zampella reveals few facts – there’s much they can’t comment on, either due to legal reasons or because their company hasn’t even offices or staff yet – but manages to entertainingly capture the mood of the pair right now. The key fact is: whatever they create will be theirs, rather than the publisher’s. But what to expect? “Well, we hope that it will be a fresh and new experience that will surprise people, but we’re not going to make Boom Blox or something, it’s going to be a big huge game,” says West. I dare speculate that it’ll involve a weapon sticking out of the bottom right of the screen.

People Can Fly (they of Painkiller) are going to be producing a new Unreal 3-powered shooter called Bulletstorm. It’s the subtle tale of two futuristic mercenaries stranded on a world of flesh-eating mutants. You can expect some fancy shootin’:

Players step into the role of Grayson Hunt complete with an arsenal of over-the-top combat moves and outrageously large guns. Bulletstorm’s array of distinct ‘skillshots’ produces unprecedented levels of frantic gameplay and yell-inducing satisfaction. The skillshot system rewards players for inciting mayhem in the most creative way possible. The more insane the skillshot, the more points players collect to upgrade their character and unlock weapons, which then allows them to execute even more creative moves and exaggerated skillshots.

So yeah, it’s looking Old Skool, like poppa used to play. Bulletstorm going to precipitate in 2011.

Via the venerable BluesNews I spy that Wargaming.net have put out a new game-footage trailer for World Of Tanks. It’s an MMO full of tanks. Will the tanks be able to wear different hats? We just don’t know. What the trailer does confirm is a complex damage model and lots of trundling about blasting the crap out of each other. Go take a look, and then sit back in your chair and wistfully think about your hopes for the future.
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Kieron linked to the Hamlet demo yesterday. It’s a Samorost-style point and click adventure, cute cartoon graphics and, of course, a Shakespearian plot. I’ve been playing the full version for a while, and as is the way of things I have some thoughts about it.

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Choose your own adventure! Only instead of scribbling pencil notes into a paperback copy of Deathrap Dungeon and cheating by keeping your finger tucked into the last page you were on, reflect your decisions by clicking through to different Youtube videos! It’s Dragon’s Lair starring TF2′s Heavy as he attempts to navigate the deadly 2Forts! It gives you the choice of being friends or not being friends with people, just like in real life! It’s very funny! It’s below, if the embedding’s worked properly!
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RPS had a splendid meeting today. Amongst our many conversation topics was the matter of conflicts of interest, and what should we do about them. Well, declare them, obv. And so I’m leaping at this chance to double down by posting this Unity-powered Iron Man webgame. Not only do I scribble comic stories for Marvel, but I’ve worked for Littleloud on another game. Oh noes! Anyway, this rail-shooter ties in with the forthcoming movie, and continues the adventures of Iron Man. He’s an American industrialist who was bitten by a radioactive household tool, and thus gained the proportionate powers of of an iron. This includes, removing creases, burning holes in expensive suits and suffering sexist accusations that using him is women’s work. It’s an efficient enough rail shooter with multiple weapons and a very light upgrade system, and the biggest problem is that the play area is surrounded by buttons leading to other parts of the site, so a misplaced click takes you there and lose your game. While approved by sponsor Dr Pepper, you suspect the delectable Miss Pepper Potts is going to be disappointed on Tony’s annihilation of everything with a barrel or tyres which looks at him funny. Iron Man Go!.