By John Walker on April 26th, 2010.
Crikey, a new one already! I do so love the Hoshi Saga series from Nekogames, as I was saying but only the other day. Part five is available now, and it’s fantastic. Once more there’s twenty-five micro-challenges asking you to find a star within an inventive, cute way. And unlike part four, this time there’s toughies amongst the delightfully simple.
By RPS on April 26th, 2010.
As much as we pretend to loathe one another, the RPS-members do talk to one another. Earlier today, our standard chat broke into something resembling an actual discussion. John, sitting silently by, suggested this chat about Left 4 Dead’s lack of a Director Mode is the sort of thing we should post on the site. So we did. Blame John. Always blame John.
Quinns: The only thing I think I care about is whether they’re going to put in a full blown Director mode. Which I doubt they ever will.
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By Kieron Gillen on April 26th, 2010.
Hmm. Looks like Good Old Games has a competitor in the old-classics/no-DRM/low-price market. DotEmu is basically an old-classic/no-DRM/low-price online retailer who has just gone into open Beta. Currently it’s got a limited range, which leans Francophile with the most obvious deals being the Alec-loved Gobliiins Trilogy for 4.90 Euros and the 16-game Silmarils collection. As an encouragement to sign up, during this beta period, people who do so will apparently be able to download Ishar I, Nicky Boom 1, Metal Mutant and Transartica for free. I say “apparently” because at the time of writing, of the four, I can only find a free download link for Ishar I. Though there is the (freeware) Beneath a Steel Sky and – I have no idea – Draskula. Oh – and some webgames, which just lead me to wasting 10 minutes playing Street Fighter 2 CE. ME BLANKA! STRONG! NO FEAR THIGHS OF CHUN-LI. YOU LOOK LIKE A RUGBY PLAYER, LADY.
By Kieron Gillen on April 26th, 2010.
Oh! Roburky’s gone and done a game, as part of the 205 (Count ‘em!) in Luddum Dare 17. It’s called Isolated, and you play a very nervous Cyclops trying to enter the social world. You interact by (abstractly) asking questions, making statements, and expressing your opinion on the other person. Continue until you’ve pissed everyone off and you have to return to your island, reduced to a nervous, exhausted wreck by the stress of the thing. In other words, a Being John Walker Sim. You can play online or download versions of it. And now, time for some Joy Division.
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By John Walker on April 26th, 2010.
Replaying Another World for Eurogamer, in the form of its 15th Anniversary Edition, I found myself asking questions. Mostly of myself. Do I like trial and error gaming? The question was tricky, because I generally don’t, but I was enjoying Another World a great deal. Apart from when I reached the point where it became all error, and quite a trial. Were you to read it, you’d encounter passages like:
When developers at Valve make a game, from the moment a single room has been crafted in their Hammer editor, they playtest it. Outsiders come in once a week, with no previous experience of the game, and play with whatever’s been created. The developers must watch without comment, and observe how the player encounters the game. This is not how Another World was developed. Released in 1991, Another World was the one-man project from Eric Chahi, a visually striking 2D platform game about a man transported to an alien world after a disaster with his particle acceleration experiment.
By Kieron Gillen on April 25th, 2010.
Sundays are for drumming your fingers until you get your hands on the new Horus Heresy boardgame. Any time now. Any time. Also, compiling a list of the fine (mostly) games related reading from across the week while trying not to link to some pop-music esoterica.
By Lewie Procter on April 24th, 2010.
Running a little late today folks, sorry, chalk it down to my being unprofessional if you like. Three big with a capital B games on offer this week, a relic from years gone by, and a game that manages to keep getting featured in the bargain bucket time and time again. For more savings on your games, head to SavyGamer.co.uk (maybe even check out the recently relaunched SavyGamer podcast whilst you’re there). On to the bargains.
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By Alec Meer on April 23rd, 2010.
Suffering from an acute case of Old Man Shoulder due to schlepping around the country with a fully size laptop in my bag, I’ve invested in a netbook. I hope and pray I’ve done this in timely enough fashion to save myself from tragic hunchbackery. This is important and fascinating news to you all, I’m sure, but the reason for this post is an interest in where low-spec gaming is these days. I know, I know, netbooks are rubbish for games and by buying one I’m condemning myself to a lifetime of soullessly replaying Monkey Island and muttering about those damned kids and their good-for-nothing pixel-shaders. Oh, wait, that’s poppycock.
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By John Walker on April 23rd, 2010.
A strange new trailer for the first Doctor Who game, City Of The Daleks, has appeared. Making a schrworghur schrworghur noise. (I’m fairly sure that’s how you spell the TARDIS sound.) It features a Dalek invasion of Sheffield, and an appearance from lovely Uncle Charles Cecil. And here and there there’s even mention of the game.
By Kieron Gillen on April 23rd, 2010.
Jack de Quidt directs us at Farbs’ (Mr Captain Forever) new project. It’s called Playpen. It’s basically a wiki-isation of a storytelling pixel game. So you explore this pixel-world, clicking on hotspots. If you find yourself inspired, you can click into edit, and add your own pixel art to the design, or other hot-spots. These can link to new locations or just provide a bit of text. I can’t wait to see what results and – as evidenced above – have already contributed to the world. Farbs should feel lucky that I didn’t just do what we used to do on screenshots back in my magazine days and draw an enormous urinating phallus over it. There wasn’t a new screenshot of a much anticipated game which passed through our hands without being emblazoned with some manner of a cock. “Oh no! What are Id thinking? Why have they put a gigantic penis on their latest Quake 3 grab?” we cried. Smartest men in games journalism, us. Er… anyway! Go have a nose around Playpen. It really is delightful.
By Kieron Gillen on April 23rd, 2010.
A Kingdom for Keflings is popular on the 360, so I’m sure it’s exactly the same as Gears of War (Note to self: Please Check). And now it’s on the PC! And there’s a demo of it! Okay, it’s not a Gears of War clone. It’s a city builder game where you play as an enormous giant, constructing a settlement for – oh, I don’t know – Keflings, probably. The full thing costs 20 dollars and you can get the demo from here. Time unlimited but only some access to the features allowed – so very much like being trapped in a loveless marriage where you’re staying together for the sake of the children. Except less soul-crushing.
