By Kieron Gillen on August 29th, 2010.
Sundays are for praying it doesn’t rain while you’re standing in the open air watching Shakespeare and rapidly compiling a list of the fine (mostly) games related reading from across the week, while trying to avoid linking to some piece about pop music about superheroes.
By Kieron Gillen on August 29th, 2010.
Yes, I was right to be suspicious. The previously reported Serial Killer Rogue-like was a total fake. It was initially apparently claimed to be some manner of university project but very rapidly reduced down to a plain shoulder-shrug and admission of trolling. Why did he do it?
Because I can? Do trolls need legitimate reasons to do what they do? It was fun and I was bored. I didn’t use an existing game as a template and I made the videos using flash. Didn’t take that long, maybe an hour for the first game play footage. Much less for the other one. The response was extremely positive though. Didn’t expect that. I figured I’d run with it anyway, throwing out possible game play elements. Why not?
Of course, pinch of salt. You can trust his words about as far as you can trust a serial killer’s. One thing’s for sure, I fear. Expect to see someone to do it.
By John Walker on August 28th, 2010.
Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond our control, we were not able to get Mafia II review code before the game was released. So I’ve not slept much in the last 24 hours to complete the game, in order that I can tell you my thoughts. It’s a game I’ve been hoping to play for eight years, and have followed extremely closely during development. The reviews so far have been confusingly mixed, even the Eurogamer Network giving both a 4 and a 10. Below I’m finally able to tell you Wot I Think.
By Quintin Smith on August 28th, 2010.
As the only member of RPS who’s actually playing StarCraft 2 multiplayer, it falls to me to snatch my withered, claw-like hands from their actions-per-minute training freeware to write that details on the 1.1 patch have been released, with the patch itself arriving in September. There’s some stuff in their about additional mod support, map editor improvements and 3D support, but if you’re anything like me then you’ll only care about the balance changes. Well, it shakes down like this:
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By Kieron Gillen on August 28th, 2010.
Lauri was the first to mail us with news that Telltale are teasing us furiously via the medium of Gametrailers. A short footage stating “Bet you never thought these guys would get together”, followed by silhouettes of Him from Penny Arcade, Him from Sam ‘n’ Max, Him from Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People and – unless our eyes deceive us – him from Team Fortress 2. Holding – er – cards? They seem to be cards. What could it be? A videogame, that’s what. It’s not going to be a fridge decoration. We’ll know on September 2nd and the teaser trailer follows…
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By Jim Rossignol on August 28th, 2010.
UPDATE TWO: Oh dear. Problems with the server for this means we’re going to have to postpone. Again. I know, apologies! I’m going to have to get RPS its own games box for these kinds of eventualities! Sorry about this. We will get our Arma 2 game soon. More details later.
UPDATE: Apologies for lack of information! I’m having some last minute problems with the server for this. If you have a private OA server, now would be a good time to speak up. More information soon!
Just a quick reminder for folks who won copies of A2OA in our recent competition that we have having a little multiplayer event tomorrow from 2pm BST. I will be editing the server details into this post a bit closer to that time, so come here for organisational whatnots.
Also! If you are an A2OA owner and want to come along, there will likely be additional spaces to play with us later on, and we’ll probably open it up on the Steam Group once the winning posse are all connected. Needless to say, everyone should get the latest patch, and places for non-winners can’t be guaranteed.
By Kieron Gillen on August 28th, 2010.
Exciting news for people being scared out of their tiny fucking wits. Frictional – the maker of the Penumbra games – have just finished their new game, Amnesia: The Dark Descent. It’ll be available on September 8th, from most of the direct download places or their own site. In short, story and atmosphere heavy first person game where you’re pretty much defenceless. Have a nose at Walker’s impressions of early code here. John is currently playing it for your edification, and I believe Quinns is reviewing it for Eurogamer, so expect to have their opinions emerge between now and then. In the mean time, here’s a Going-Gold-gameplay-footage trailer…
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By Kieron Gillen on August 28th, 2010.
Well, not with me. I’m playing with Elemental. But GameRanger noted that the Conquerors expansion pack turned ten this week, and trying to organise people to come online and play it tomorrow. “GameRanger is inviting everyone to a day of online gaming on Sunday, August 29 from 9am PT / 12pm ET / 4pm GMT onwards” they say in their little press-release. If you don’t own the game, there’s still demos of both the original Age of Kings and Age of Empires II: The Conquerers which allow 4 player multiplayer, all via (and here’s where GameRanger’s self-interest comes in) the GameRanger client. An interesting thing to note was they had 1.1 million (Count ‘em!) games played in the last month, which is impressive for a decade old game and more explanation why Age of Empires Online is coming. Anyway – it’s a rare change to jump into a mature-community RTS without just being beaten up by people who’ve been playing for ten years. More details here.
By Kieron Gillen on August 27th, 2010.
A lot of people have mailed us about this, mainly after GSW posted about it, thinking that it’s our sort of thing. I could be hurt, if I still had any human emotions left. Anyway, it’s a serial killer rogue game. As in, you play a serial killer and cut people up. It’s the logical philosophical extension of Dwarf Fortress’ devotion to individually modelling body parts, I suppose. I’ve been holding off on posting about it, as I assumed I’d be able to look at its alpha but… well, now I’ve gone and actually looked, nothing’s been released yet. This both surprises me (rogues seem to release early and often) and sets off alarm bells, as Rogue-like footage isn’t exactly tricky to fake. With that proviso, you’ll find some more details and the videos showing off interaction and character creation below…
By Alec Meer on August 27th, 2010.
No time2play? Try Time4Cat. It’s an over-in-minutes, single-mechanic flash game that’s about as much like a flash game as you could ever imagine, at least in terms of controls. It’s also about a cat eating untold amounts of food on a busy crossroads and helplessly controlling time as it does, so you’ll want to play it anyway. The faster you move, the more you score from each food-munch – but the faster the pedestrians storm about the place and the more danger you end up in. But what does it all mean? Well, it’s a metaphor for a time-controlling cat eating icecreams in the middle of road, silly.
It makes no sense whatsoever but it’s charmingly-drawn and, as Kyle Orland observed, it’ll devour your afternoon. Not quite this month’s Robot Unicorn Attack – no Erasure, for a start – but definitely sporting some of the same brain-cuddling compulsion.
By Quintin Smith on August 27th, 2010.
The The Secret World reveal at GamesCom began with a video that rapidly confirmed a heaving mass of conspiracy theories. “Stonehenge is a portal!” flashed the text. “The Dead walk the Earth! Noah’s was not the only ark! The Merovingian bloodline is pure!” After 30 seconds of these, I was laughing. After a minute and a half, I realised Funcom’s point. In making a setting where absolutely everything is true, you immediately get a world as rich and fantastical as any fantasy setting, but one that everybody’s already familiar with.
With this over, Ragnar Tornquist and Lead Designer Martin Bruusgaard cheerily talked me about The Secret World, and explained everything they’re doing with combat, character progression and the contemporary setting. This game’s been thrown wide open. Squeeze yourself down the rabbit hole of the jump for our preview and a video of the first 30 minutes of the Templar faction.
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