Rock, Paper, Shotgun

While it was never going to be a PC game, there’s historical interest in Irrational’s first attempt to make a game before the console. The Lost was a third-person horror game for the PS2 which was trying to put in a mass of the sort of System-Shock-2 RPG-elements into a Dante-esque world. Irrational have been rooting through their files generally, and released some of the concept art and design notes, which are fine to stare at/read. As picked out by Chris Remo, I especially like the contrast between really specific guidelines (like the door hole being precisely 216 x 128 units) to the gloriously foggy (I quote: “Any other cool shit you can dream up”).

Game Informer have been chatting to Dustin Browder, lead bossman on StarCraft 2, and at the end of the interview, when asked about the other installments of the game, he said this: “We’ve got some mods we’ve developed internally that we’re going to put out to get some more art into the hands of the mod makers but also provide what we hope are some polished gameplay experiences for our fans to get more value out of Battle.net.”

A developer releasing its own mods? I’m not even sure what you call that. Creator generated content? Anyway, they had talked up how powerful and flexible the engine is before release, so I guess we will be able to see Blizzard put some of their own muscle behind that notion. Interesting.

We’ve travelled into the distant past of yesterday to discover the news that after the success – 1.6 million downloads for the first three episodes, apparently – of the first series of Doctor Who games, they’ll be doing it all again. Once again, it’ll be by the BBC Wales TV team (including Moffat, et al) and Sheffield’s Sumo Digital. Matt Smith and my squiffy namesake return, but there’s “additional members of the Doctor Who cast”. It’s also said that they’ll be “an integral part of the Eleventh Doctor’s second series.” Whether that means any more than just being “canon” remains to be seen. Brits can still download the first three episodes here, with the fourth and final of series one coming out later in the year. More information when we have it, but no sign that they consider the first games’ formula anything other than a roaring success, which will be a disappointment to the games’ critics like our very own Alec Meer.

Extended experience makes us think that Guild Wars had, in the words of Scott Pilgrim, a sexy phase. But the lingering question of Guild Wars 2′s bi-curiosity isn’t what Arenanet are revealing today. It’s actually more details on how you’ll be able to play Guild Wars 2 when you’re not playing Guild Wars 2. As in, they’re releasing apps for the – deep breath – iPhone, iPad, iPod, and Android smart phones that’ll allow you to interact with the world. We’re not looking at the ability to play the whole game on – say – the Ipad (but never say never, they say), but be able to “do” stuff when you’re not available to play. Oh – and the same functionality will be available via a web-interface for those without a poncy phone thing. More details and a brief interview with Rick Ellis, Arenanet Technical Director follows…
Read the rest of this entry »

As the Supreme Court approaches the Schwarzenegger v. EMA/ Entertainment Software Association case which will rule whether the Californian law banning sale of certain games to under 18s is unconstitutional, the activist Video Game Voters Network have gained a public vote of confidence Stan Lee himself. I’m going to re-print the whole letter below, as it draws some astute lines between what happened to comics in the 50s and what’s happening now…
Read the rest of this entry »

We issue a formal RPS Yay to id’s Tim Willits, and a stern RPS Boo to Microsoft’s Kudo Tsunoda, with regard toward attitudes to the thriving PC gaming market. Tsunoda made the rather unsubstantiated claim to Game Informer a couple of days ago that “hardly anyone plays first person shooters on the PC any more.” Today Willits told Eurogamer that the PC was still the best place to play the FPS, saying, “In my opinion the PC will always be the core of the gaming industry – it is the timeless stable platform that as developers we will always be able to rely on.”

Read the rest of this entry »

What is the job of a games journalist? For me, right now, the job is to be driven crazy mental-potatoes by excellent browser game My First Quantum Translocator, and I urge you to do the same. Made by the same team behind the (in my head) BAFTA award winning Don’t Shit Your Pants, My First Quantum Translocator is a Portal/VVVVVV-style platformer that tasks you with mastering a single, tricky mechanic- in this case, the ability to drop a shadow of yourself, then teleport there with a flick of the spacebar, with any momentum you had prior to the teleport carrying through.

If you’re a member of that weird caste of weirdoes that would rather watch a video of a game than play it, I’ve embedded a walkthrough video of MFQT after the jump. Thanks to Indie Games Blog for the tipoff.
Read the rest of this entry »

The next game from the team that made superb Half-Life mod The Ship, Outerlight, is called Bloody Good Time. It’s another “murder party” Source-engined game, too. This time it’s a game about ambitious teen actors bumping each other off for roles in an upcoming movie, a process which takes place in a comedic first-person battle. Ubisoft have elected to publish the game, and so we put a few questions about to Nouredine Abboud, Ubisoft’s Senior Producer on the project. Read our quick chat below.
Read the rest of this entry »

Update: There’s now no mention of “BioWare” on the ads, instead just “Montreal”. Which could well be EA Montreal, of course. Who, the story now becomes, look likely to be making a military FPS.

The best kinds of PC rumours are the ones based on job adverts. Which is why VG247′s ears pricked up at the sound of BioWare posting for a concept artist to work on a “Military-genre Franchise”. Another ad asks for a Lead “Designer for Military-genre FPS”. So what could BioWare be creating?

Read the rest of this entry »

Harvey Smith flags up Trouble At The ‘Ton, a cell-shaded Deus Ex fan film released back in July, on Twitter. It’s a prequellete of sorts, starring two of DX’s most beloved bitplayers. Seems like a decent start to the day.
Read the rest of this entry »

He calls himself Master Le Cosplay. Going on this, he’s probably right. This gentleman has built himself a frighteningly detailed Crysis Nanosuit, complete with weapons. Super-strength, speed and invisibility TBC. Though frankly invisibility’s going to be nigh-on impossible looking like that.
Read the rest of this entry »