Rock, Paper, Shotgun

I awake at 6 am, fully-clothed, drool-covered hands on drool-covered laptop keyboard, nonsense half-sentences on the screen. I brush the sleeping cat off my feet, I rub my agonisingly cricked neck, and I cursecursecurse my decision to go drinking with Kieron and his comics friends rather than cook myself a sensible supper. I also realise I am at least six hours late for Thursday’s posts on RPS. I must do them now! But about what? I scour my boozy dreams for inspiration. One in which a PR agency was circulating an image of Felicia Day with a badly Photoshopped-on beard and claiming it was their new hiring, Dave. Something about birds fighting. No, I can’t tell you that one. Ah yes, F.E.A.R 3. I actually dreamed about sodding F.E.A.R. 3.
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The Special Edition of Monkey Island 2 has produced a collection of new screenshots. They’re the compare-and-contrast types, so you can see the original, then tut about some aspect of the new ones that aren’t precisely as you want them, most likely involving someone’s hair being a tiny bit wrong. Meanwhile no one complains about the controls being awful, and then gives it 100% because they remember enjoying the original when they were seven… Oh dear, I appear to be venting some frustrations in an inappropriate manner. Of course, we don’t know about the controls for MI2: SE at this stage, and I super-hope they’ve been fixed. So, to the new pics. They look rather good. Have a peek below to see what once was, and what will be.

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Tonight’s good news: The Misadventures Of P.B. Winterbottom is finally arriving on PC, via Steam and 2K Play. It’s due to appear on the 20th April, when we’ll be able to enjoy the self-cloning, pie-consuming puzzles. It’s one of those games that would take a squillion words to explain, but two minutes to watch the video that lays it all out nice and neatly. So that’s below.

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Point: If only computer RPGs could match up to Pen and Papers RPGs. You know – real RPGs.

Counterpoint: Piss-right off.
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The bill was opposed by the Liberal Democrats and some Labour MPs, but it has essentially been forced through by Labour and the Conservatives in around two hours of the final reading. Although Clause 18 – which gave the government extensive powers to block sites across the net – has been removed, it has been replaced with powers for the secretary of state for business to block “a location on the internet which the court is satisfied has been, is being or is likely to be used for or in connection with an activity that infringes copyright”. That means an unelected peer, Lord Peter Mandelson, now gets final say over content on the internet, albeit mediated by the courts. Forty-two other clauses were considered in just five minutes.

If you are British, please make sure you are registered to vote in the upcoming general election. As James Graham points out in the Guardian today, only a vote for the Liberal Democrats will do anything to fix the broken political system that allowed this to happen in the first place.

After the really rather splendid job Croteam did with remaking Serious Sam, it’s good news to see Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter coming along so soon. You can see a frenetic trailer of the action action action below, and begin salivating over a co-op play-through of the second game’s manic scenes.

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As announced on the cover of the super soar-away Sun, the BBC are to release four Doctor Who adventure games. Online. For free. PC Gamer tease their feature on it here and Develop tease theirs here. The PC Gamer one’s mine – the “one last gig” that I mentioned in my twitter a while back – which is in their new issue. If PCG stick it online, I’ll be sure to link to it. Short details: 4 episodic, in-series-canon short action/adventure games produced by Sumo Digital, exec produced by Steven Moffat, with Who writers scripting, Matt Smith and Karen Gillan voice/body-acting and guided by the hands of uncle Charles Cecil. For free. Exciting stuff, both on the game, cultural improtance and business model sides. Full press-release follows…

EDIT: PC Gamer put up some quotes from Sumo’s Sean Millar, Uncle Charles and a big one from writer Phil Ford. As well as the article, I handed in a mass of transcription which I believe they’re going to be leaking onto the blog slowly.
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Back in September last year we told you about the really rather excellent Clockwords. It’s now back with a new act, an improved version, and just as much fun to play.

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Non-gaming news now, gamers. Ish. You’re probably aware of Samorost and Machinarium, the gorgeous (and gorgeously strange) point and click adventures known for reducing grown men to tears. (Well, Walker. But then you can also do that by mentioning puppy dogs with itchy ears to him.) If you were holding out for Machinarium 2 or Samorost 3, you’ll need to hold out a fair bit longer, because Czech developer Jakub ‘Amanita’ Dvorský has now turned his attention to a movie instead. This is far from sad news, as he’s bringing his distinctive twisted-beauty character design ethos to the upcoming semi-stop-motion animation Kooky’s Revenge. It looks spectacular, as you’ll see below…
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You know what’s cheaper than paying for something? When it’s free. But no, don’t immediately leap upon this philosophy and turn to a life of crime inspired by my simple question, thus implicating me in your spree and dragging my good name into the mud. Instead why not play Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 this weekend, starting tomorrow, on Steam? Because you might be busy, that’s why not. But otherwise, it seems like a good plan.

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Aron Persson brings news that Open TTD – the 6+-year-in-making Open Source clone of Chris Sawyer’s Transport Tycoon Deluxe – has reached that ever-alluring 1.0. Well done them. It’s far more than a straight copy, featuring a hefty list of additions, from maps 64x as big, 255-player multiplayer and… oh, just go have a look at the list. If you’ve got any interest in planes and trains and automobile and – er – cargo, it’s got to be a must-download, surely? You can get the 1.0 from here. And now we celebrate their achievement by linking to some user-footage from last year inappropriately soundtracked with a eurodance version of the Final Countdown.
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