Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Ready? I’m going to spam at you, right at your face. A few quickfire news stories we didn’t manage to cover during the week, just so you fine fellows and fellowettes have a place to discuss them. The ever-pleasingly erudite RPS comments threads are (for the most part – can the more regular bickerers please relax?) one of the shining jewels of this here website, after all.

So, gobbet the first – is Fable 3 coming to PC, despite the second one skipping our hallowed platform? Box art (above) says yes, Microsoft says “shuddup, shuddup!” Or, more precisely, “”We have not made any official announcements beyond ‘Fable III’ for Xbox 360 at this time.” Hmm.

Denby described this Half-Life 2 total conversion as “totally and utterly rubbish, and one of my favourite mods so far this year” which, when paired with its name, pretty much guaranteed I’d go take a look. You’re probably expecting it to be a game about shooting zombified animals. You’d be wrong. It’s a game about punching zombified animals.
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When I was over at Retro Remakes earlier linking to Dracula Cha Cha, I noticed Peter Hanratty has recently completed his remake of Ultimate’s classic spectrum game Knightlore. It’s a straight rework, with new-style visuals, and you can get it from here. It is absolutely Knight Lore. As in, an undeniably all-time-classic that’s close to unplayable today. Which is interesting, and a few thoughts on that below…
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They’re all at it! All of them! It’s a conspiracy! They’re going to subvert global finance! They’re going to make a fortune without paying a gigantic tithe to price-fixing publishers! It’s wrong! It suggests traditional models of capitalism are outdated and near-sighted! We’re doomed! I’m worried not even a single sentence of this post won’t end with an exclamation mark!

Oh, there you go. Yes, the latest indie game to jump aboard the high-speed pay-what-you-what bandwagon is Jason Rohrer’s splendid 2-play storytelling game Sleep Is Death. He’s set a minimum spend of $1.75, but apart from that, lob him whatever you think the game’s worth in return for two copies of the splendid thing. The RPS Hivemind will have to decide how frequently we cover these sort of deals if we’re to avoid every other post documenting bargains, but as this one is so soon after the game’s release, it’s definitely An Awesome Thing. Get to it.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about Zeropoint Software’s unity-powered FPS Interstellar Marines is the way they’ve packed a website with tidbits leading up to release. You’ve been able to check out a bunch of the game models within the Unity plugin, and even test out some of the weapons. Folks who pre-order will now be able to play a test version of the game, called Running Man. All placeholdery stuff of course, but even that has a sense of style, and it looks as if Zeropoint have crafted the most solid shooter I’ve seen in Unity itself. I’m genuinely interested in seeing how this is going to turn out. Fancy trailery stuff below.
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This is in the words of comment-thread bores everywhere OLD!!!! but who could resist beginning the day at RPS with this splash-screen looming over our palatial headquarters? Alec, probably. Or Jim. Or Walker. But not me. Dracula Cha Cha a one-button game of gleeful madness, being the logical collision between Canabalt and the wonderful Feel the Magic: XY/XX/Project Rub/I Would Die For You (i.e. Tomena Sanner! Doh!). Plus Green Door as a soundtrack. It literally can’t get any better. Go gets, or watch a video of it and – presumably – its in-progress sequel below…
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O frabjous day. For the first time in some three years, we’re treated to brand new words from the world’s second-favourite homicidal AI (SHODAN still has the edge, right?), Portal’s GLaDOS. Her lilting synth-tones narrate a lovely animated ad pimping yesterday’s free release of the original Portal, returning us to the heady days of Aperture Science motivational videos. That’s not at all. The deceased (OR IS SHE? (she isn’t)) robocrazy slips in a little tease for Portal 2 at the end, confirming that co-op play will be front and centre in the next round of physics-abusing adventures. Welcome back, missus.
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Alpha Protocol is so close that if you go outside and look to the horizon you’ll just see the tip of its hat. In a strange reversal of fortunes it reaches Europe on the 30th May, not making it to its native US until 1st June. We grabbed this chance to talk with producer Matt Hickman about the development, balancing role-playing and combat, and moral ambiguity.

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I would have called it ‘Islands of DEATH’ myself, but then I’ve always been of the opinion that suffixing or prefixing names with ‘DEATH’ improves them tenfold. Gaiadi is Kyle Pulver‘s sketchbook-like contribution to the most recent Ludum Dare game jam. He designed and programmed it on his own within just 48 hours, and despite his claim that “this is super rough, and probably not very playable in it’s current state”, he went on to win the contest. Rightfully so – a lot of most excellent gamettes were created as part of Ludum Dare 17′s Islands-themed challenge, but Gaiadi really feels like its onto something. Something half-RTS, half-shmup…
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Looks like Destructoid got the scoop on the Bulletstorm video, and thanks the magic of sharing we’re able to post it for you lot below. People Can Fly’s next game, which was announced only recently, is a manic-looking FPS with lots of floating people kicked in the face. Dudes get kicked, people get shot. It’s the magic formula. The co-op shooter is still a way off, being scheduled for Q4 2011. Looks actiony, anyway. Go take a look.
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I forget who mentioned this at GameCamp, but I’ve finally tried it out. It’s Tweet Trumps! As in, it’s Top Trumps… but with twitter. Basically, it looks at any given username and works out who is mutually following who, and then presents the statistics about those accounts in the Top Trump format. I’m pleased with my ability to work out which of my friends are actually sweariest. Go try.