Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Sundays are for prodding listlessly at a pretty-much-completed-script, considering getting dressed and compiling a list of the fine (mostly) games related writing that caught your eyes this week, while trying to resist linking to some glorious Ukulele-abuse.

• Taekwan Kim writes for Gamasutra about Validation theory. From the simple core idea – “Today, I’d like to propose a very basic idea: a consequence is a reward whenever it validates the player. Conversely, and more importantly, a consequence is a punishment whenever it invalidates the player” – it spins out extensively and elegantly. The stuff about regressive attachment is particularly good.
• The RPS Forum Writer Hive turned up this lovely meditation on meaning in games from Miles of The Machination. Specifically, wondering whether “art” indie games are wandering into an untenable, limited hole.

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So there’s no Bargain Bucket. Oof. Perhaps we can have a go at filling in between us. Er, I will go first: there’s 75% off Mirror’s Edge on Steam. I mean I wasn’t a huge fan of the game, but that seems like one of those price-points were I can say “okay, I don’t care about the combat or dodgy story, just *look* at that visual design”. The running and jumping is quite good, also.

Anyone else?

I’ve written about this already, so I’ll just leave it as a link for you fine people and let nature take its course. But yes, the saga continues: the notorious Tim ‘Edge Games’ Langdell is trying to arrange an injunction against and damages from EA’s Mirror’s Edge.

That he’s after the biggest of all targets this time – well, it’s either proof of just how far he’s willing to take his feeling that he can lay total claim to a commonly-used English word, or it’s a last gasp in the hope of a Go Away fee. Let’s just hope it doesn’t cost us Mirror’s Edge 2.

OK, let’s do some catching up. PC news at E3 got pretty swamped by the various console hardware announcements and a rather nasty case of multiplatform sequelitis. But with the bulk of the shouting out the way, I can cheerfully mix my metaphors and wade through the dying embers of this oncoming storm where angels fear to tread.

By which I mean “here are the trailers you should probably watch.” To start off, here’s Battlestar Galactica Online…
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Good news for all those who are annoyed with 2k’s moving XCOM away from XCOM. They’ve backed down completely, made a strategy game and released it for free on the Internet… yeah, sorry, that hasn’t happened. But popular open-source freeware spiritually-derived UFO: Alien Invasion has just released its two-years-in-the-waiting latest edition. I swear we’ve written more about this before, but I can only find Jim’s linkblog from a couple of years back, so possibly not. Improvements here include Alien Activity altering depending on player behaviour, fancier rendering, Assaultable Alien Bases, Crashed UFO Missions and – oh! – lots of stuff. Like tweaks. Nothing like a well tweaked game, I always say. Any fans in the audience excited by the update?

My comrades failed to observe my prompting about this bizarro-world gem earlier, so now I am out of my day job skin, I shall do it. Hmmph. Wasters.

So: there’s going to be a Pac-Man TV show, all CGI and 3D and whatever else is buzzwordy.

It’s not going to be a simple tale of a yellow orb eating pills and running away from ghosts, oh no. This is about human interest and social messages. Pac-Man. Human interest and social messages. Pac-Man. Y’okay.
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You may wonder why we haven’t written anything about Tron: Evolution yet, considering it was announced late last year. Why, because we’re incredibly lazy, of course. Like, obv. But the sudden onrushing on E3-malarkies have raised me from my lethargy. The full game’s out by Christmas, apparently. It’s about living programs in a OHYOUALLKNOWWHATTRONIS! Anyway, the trailer follows, plus 3 enormous videos courtesy of the Ant to our Grasshopper, Gametrailers…
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Flicking through videos, the second I hit the enormous logo – presented above – glinting, I knew I had to Cyanide’s Pro Cycling Manager 2010. It amazes me on several levels. Firstly, it solves the management-games-don’t-look good problem, by i) making the race engine really nifty and ii) never showing anything in the trailer which isn’t the aforementioned nifty panoramas of gently swaying male buttocks. Secondly, it brings to mind the idea of a spin-off – Amateur Cycling Manager, which is based around a very demanding parent shouting at local children who are wrestling with stabilisers. Joking aside, the foot-to-pedal game does feature this really neat course editing tool, which is impressive even to my unprofessional eyes. No demo yet, but it’s available to buy from Cyanide’s shop. Self-propelled bicycular fellas follow…
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Well I’ll be, I’m mentioned on Jaunty RPS Tribute Blog PCGamer.com. They’ve posted up a feature about the endings of the original Deus Ex, which apparently I contributed to. For someone who doesn’t drink or take drugs, I have a really shocking amount of my past that I can’t remember. But wow, do I sound smart and interesting and handsome. It’s a lovely feature, going through the three possible endings (and one rather silly extra one), and their consequences in Deus Ex 2. You’re allowed to read it if you want. And then share with the class which ending you picked, and why. Show your working.

Also looking awesome this week: the next game from the Chilean team who gave us weirdo biff ‘em up Zeno Clash. It’s called Rock Of Ages and it appears to be a mixture of strategy game and, er, bowling? Two opposing castles attempt to crush each other in surrealistic rock-rolling warfare with defences constructed turn by turn to defend against the heinous stone attack. If that wasn’t enough, Ace Team explain: “your boulder will crash through different periods of classical art, introducing the player to a variety of authentic art styles and music from throughout much of human history.” Response from RPS Hivemind? “Oh Wow.” “VIDEOGAMES! VIDEOGAMES!” “Yay!” Yeah, that’s the stuff. It’s out next year via digi download outlets.

And you are going to want to watch this particular trailer…
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So, Gothic 4 trailer, then? I’m ten seconds into this before the voice-over mentions – without any visible trace of irony – “an island under attack by an ancient evil”. I can imagine the debate in the Spellbound office – “Isn’t this completely clichéd nonsense?” “No – you see, this is an island under attack from an ancient evil. Not a land, country, world, etc, etc. We’re actually the new Planescape Torment we’re being that original” “Wait… how big is this island? Because a lot of islands are tiny. Are we talking Australia or are we talking the Isle of Man? Some Islands would be threatened by the average rowdy stag-do.” “Stop worrying! We’re golden! And we’re called ArcaniA! That’s some original typography right there, man.”
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