Rock, Paper, Shotgun

So it seems that Atari are going to insist that side-scrolling action platformers are a thing that can happen, by announcing Blade Kitten. Atari say: “Players will jump right in and easily begin exploring and fighting their way through 19 levels, including three exploration levels with Noot (a rideable alien mount). Blade Kitten also features straight forward gameplay mechanics, intuitive “scramble style” exploration, fully voiced dialogue, dramatic narrative and powerful visual direction.” Powerfully pink, anyway. The game is out in September. Trailer below.

(And I’m wishing there was some way we could track exactly how many RPS readers pick this up when it is released.)
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Defense Grid, you might recall, was one of our favourites from yesteryear – read about it here – and it’s being promised “resurgence” by a bunch of new content now up on Steam. There are going to be four new map packs for Defense Grid, one for each week of june, and each going for $0.99/£0.79. Each release will have two new maps and “for additional modes” alongside the normal campaign settings. The first pack is here.

Hi-Rez’s MMOFPS MMOTPS (phew, lucky we got that one right, my credibility was in danger!) Global Agenda is getting a hefty patch today, with loads more PvE missions, new PvP maps, and a totally refurbished world-conquest system designed to bring the agency vs agency war onto a single global map. All servers will, apparently, be down today due to the upgrade. Full patch notes are here. People wanting to check it out for no pennies can get on the free trial here.

Anyone still playing this? How is it coming along?

As Kieron so cleverly speculated, the new Total War game is confirmed to be Shogun 2: Total War. As Earth’s leading authority on strategy gaming news I can inform you that Shogun was of course the very first in the TW series, released ten years ago this month. Since then there’s been Rome, Napoleon, and Evil Space Mice: Total War, but now it’s time to head back to Japan. There’s some details below.

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Update – all done!

I’ll fix this into a nice and tidy post later, but for now keep refreshing to see my thoughts on City of the Daleks as I play. I make no apology for typos, gibberish or nerdery.…
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Super quick link ‘em up post, as I’ll hopefully be bunging up some impressions a bit later tonight. BUT the first episode of the free Doctor Who Adventures, City of The Daleks, has mysteriously turned up for download already, despite officially not due until Saturday. UK only for now, however.

Kieron is stood behind me as I write this, and insists I write “Knock, knock.” “Who’s there?” “Doctor.” “Doctor who?” “Yes!”

That is all.

That’s this coming weekend, the 4th-6th. There’s a reason why I am pimping this one, however, which is that lots of people were interested by our recent examination of Shattered Horizon‘s maps and weapons updates, and this provides you an opportunity to actually try the astronautical zero-G fancy shootin’ game out for free. It’s also 50% off the normal price, which is precisely half as much as it normally costs. That, I insist, is science.

Might as well get an RPS contingent on there, eh?

Courtesy of Leigh: A game for the days when you think that Valerie Solanas kinda had a point.
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New Star Games – who foot-to-ball fans will know from New Star Soccer – are releasing their new foot-to-ball game today. It’s not out at the time of writing. Will it be out by the time of posting? Only clicking will tell. It’s basically a world-cup-themed 2D game, aiming to be between Sensible Soccer and their original Sensational Soccer. He explains more on his blog, though fails to give us a video. VIDEO! WE NEED VIDEO! Anyway – the only way you’re going to find out whether it clicks or not is playing the bally thing. Luckily, there’s a demo available to allow such things. Go get the PC one here. Alternatively, get Macintosh-PC demo here. Oh – you can also get the full version of the original Sensational Soccer if you sign up to the New Star Games mailing list. This must be what they call a Free Kick (Fired – Ed).

This is one for all you who call out after videogame journalism. Johnny Minkley takes EGTV to look at the Rating debate in the UK. Everything from the PEGI vs BBFC slanging match to the problem of self-interest is covered, with all the key figures interviewed. Sterling stuff. You can watch it here, which includes a much longer over-view of its content. A half-hour documentary with serious intent and only minor diversions into discussions of labial display – and brilliantly features Minkley going through GAME’s training procedure for spotting minors then working behind the till. It’s like staring at all our dark futures. Watch immediately.

Marco Weigel noted we haven’t actually written anything about this. This is no longer true, a disease cured by writeitude. In short: it looks like they’re going to be two options for a free Star Wars MMO this year. Firstly, you can pirate a copy of The Old Republic and hack someone else’s account. Secondly, you can play Clone Wars Adventures. It’s a free-to-play MMO based around the Clone Wars animated malarkies, featuring pets, housing, mini-games and all that sort of thing. You can also choose to play a Jedi, a Padawan or a Clone Trooper. Why would anyone play a Padawan? It’ll be like a racing game giving you an option between playing a driver or someone learning to drive. Anyway, it’s out in fall this year, and here’s the trailer…
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