Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Uh oh. Remember the other week? I promised I had a clear schedule for near future? Well, whilst out searching the land far and wide for the best gaming discounts, I encountered a travelling salesman. He offered me some tickets to Shamabala festival in return for a copy Micro Machines 2: Turbo Tournament on the Mega Drive. I agreed, and as such shan’t be bargain bucketting next weekend. Still, SavyGamer will still be getting updated up until Thursday, and it’ll back to business as usual the weekend after.
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So, the hurrah/bah list for this competition. Hurrah: winners of the Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead competition will be receiving their codes and links this afternoon. Bah: We’re going to have to postpone the actual co-op game until the 29th of August, despite having asked everyone who be available tomorrow. Hurrah: That gives you all some time to practice. Bah: But perhaps some folks will be busy that weekend.

Anyway, read on below for more information and winners.
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Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online is looking like one of the highlights of GamesCom, and we’ll have an interview turning up pretty soon. In the meantime you can check out this new trailer, which details the first playable faction: The Imperium Of Man. Not much of a surprise, granted. But playable Adeptus Mechanicus? That’s my first character already sewn up, then. Lots more footage below, go: behold.
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We have 100 beta keys for the beta of free-to-play MMO RTS Ministry of War to give away today. 100, so it’s going to be a super-fast first-come-first served scenario. The first one hundred people to email compo@rockpapershotgun.com, with the subject line “I’d like to join the ministry” will get a code. And they’re all gone. Thanks for playing, folks.

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We don’t know too much about the robo-chums who make up the characters for Portal 2′s co-op game, but they’ve now got their own brief clip. No real spoilers here, by the way. Go take a look at GT‘s exclusive trailer.
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Stop what you’re doing and play this: Morplee.

It’s a collection of three-second minigames, of which you must complete as many as you can in 60 seconds, at the same time as preventing aliens from reaching the ground. Get a high score, post it below, watch as others mock you because theirs was higher. Go. (Cheers to RevStu for the spot.)

Quintin mentioned this in his round-up of the second day of events at GamesCom 2010, but it warrants a post all of its own. Paradox have announced Crusader Kings II, a sequel to the quietly successful historical grand strategy, Crusader Kings. The success of the original rested on its complexity, and the unusual model of play: it was based around dynasties within Medieval Christian Europe, rather than specific nations. Managing individual characters, the lords of your realm and your own family, were at the heart of the game. This creates quite an open-ended sandbox for management and strategic experimentation, which is something Crusader Kings II should build on fairly significantly, with new depth to the characters, and much more engagement with religion and the church, which is obviously a motive force within the game’s world. Anyway, don’t get too excited because it’s not out until early 2012. We should have more information on this quite soon.

Dedication Games’ Swarm Arena was released on Steam yesterday for seven quid fifty (though ten percent off in the first week). I’ve only had a half-hour with it, but I think it’s actually worth bringing to your attention. It’s a shame that there’s no demo (at least, not yet), for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I think quite a few of you will find it really intriguing. Secondly, it’s a tricky game to describe and the above screenshot is kind of deceptive. You’re probably thinking some manner of Geometry Wars arena-shooter. Well, it is kind of an Arena-shooter, but… well, imagine being a sun and trying to weaponize everything in your orbits. That’s not helping, is it? I’ll say some more beneath the cut, and present the trailer which kind of makes things clearer…
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There was a little – though less than I expected, I’ll admit – naysaying about the announcement of Jagged Alliance Onlne. Well, those who craved a more traditional Jagged Alliance are getting it too. In short, it’s a complete re-make with re-done graphics, a new UI and tutorials to ease us into the world of this turn-based tactical-combat game/management combo. There’s some comparison shots from the remake and the original over at Worthplaying. What’s not yet clear is what it means for the previously announced Jagged Alliance 3. Either this is it or there’s still that to look forward to. I suspect (and hope) for the latter. And – to state the obvious – I suspect there’s many people reading this who’d kill for a X-COM: Reloaded style remake. C’mon 2k! Do both!

It took me eight straight hours to crawl through the sewers, beneath Cologne’s conference centre and then up through an impossibly tight U-bend into a disused toilet somewhere in the North Hall, but finally I was back at GamesCom. The guards had turned me away when I’d tried to enter through the main doors – disgusted by the foul breath that had resulted from eating a sleeping tramp’s shoes and by the rotting pigeon-skin loincloth I had been forced to don once I’d sold my last clothes to afford a cup of frightening grey coffee. I thought of Quintin, and his shoes made of finest unicorn hide. Perhaps he could spare me a promotional t-shirt to cover my filthy body? But not. He would have his minders throw in the Rein on sight. Better to carry on, and to my next appointment. At least the world of this game would mirror my own condition. Onwards, and to the Witcher 2.
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Also at Gamescom was… actually, I’m having trouble writing this. Part of me thinks it’s a good idea not to cover this at all, because of one of the most egregiously awful titles I’ve seen in my fifteen or so years of gamesjournodom. The other part of me really likes the bit where you’re flying through the air on your ATV and flipping between the enormous rotating blades of a wind-turbine. Fuckity yeah, etc. I’m posting about – hnnngh – Nail’d, as I have a terrible weakness for the awesome. It’s out before the end of the year, you can find more details on its site, look at new, oddly grainy shots over at Worthplaying and see the trailer below…
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