Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Apropos of what Medal of Honour developers Danger Close are calling “Feedback from friends and families of fallen soldiers,” (as opposed to feedback from all over the place) the side fighting the US Army in the game’s multiplayer is being renamed from Taliban to Oppposing Force. Executive Producer Greg Goodwich went on to say that there would be no changes to the multiplayer itself, meaning the character models are staying unchanged and IEDs will remain a weapon of choice. Full statement after the jump.
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A recent presentation of Duke Nukem Forever to an audience in Amsterdam has been glimpsed by the electronic eye of the internet, and now cannot be forgotten. The clip is introduced and narrated by Gearbox’s Randy Pitchford, and it shows Duke looking in fine shape after his recent ill health. There’s some shooting! There are quips! In first-person! There’s also some footage of more esoteric features, such as emptying Duke’s bladder, drawing on a whiteboard and… is that a crudely drawn penis? It is. Watch the events as they unfolded, below.
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We’ve not heard much from The Old Republic lately, but they’re still chattering away on a regular basis, most recently talking about their “advanced classes” system, in which players get to choose how to specialise as they progress within one of the existing classes. The example that Bioware use in their blog post on the subject is the smuggler class, and they show how their system makes the various permutations of smuggler folk familiar from the Star Wars universe available within the game. Here’s the bit that interested me: “We identified roles for our game that are unique to the Star Wars experience: While the idea of a ‘ranged tank’ is hard to realize in most MMO environments due to the prevalence of melee combat, the ‘Vanguard’ Advanced Class for the Trooper is perfectly viable in the Star Wars setting where blaster fire and ranged combat dominate the majority of engagements.” Certainly could be interesting, and I am unable to guess how that combat is going to feel, despite all the previews and videos. It’s going to something I want to get my hands on, I think.

So, I’ve been a games journalist for 15 years. First work was in 1995, when I did my first work for Amiga Power which has been long since lost. I joined PC Gamer in 1998, where I was for five years. I don’t own the copyright to my work of that period, bar the occasional reminisced-about exception I was given permission to lob online, so that’s kind of out of bounds. But I’ve left enough traces online since going freelance in 2003 to make me think it worthwhile compiling a short list of what I think is my best work – or, at least, the best work which other people seemed to like – and try as hard as I can to avoid linking to the review which people still haven’t quite forgiven me for…
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Sundays are for doing this one last time before Jim takes over next week. Well – one last time and a little self-indulgent extra later today you’ll have to wait for. Fine (mostly) gaming reading, collated from across the week, with a desperate attempt to avoid linking to some piece of pop music and then a “Failed” when I inevitably don’t, in a joke I fear most people still don’t get.

• You know Arcen’s financial current troubles? Well, PC Gamer have printed with permission an e-mail from Chris with their financial breakdowns. If you want to see the cold hard graphs which ultimately make a developer solvent or not, it’s essential.

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Hello, youse.

I hope you all bought some new and very expensive board games this week, and then didn’t bother reading the rules.
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Ooh, looks like everyone, including Mr P, is at the Expo. It’s just me at the controls. Hmm. What to do? We’ll need some kind of bargain-collating effort from everyone to fix the aching gap in our spending. Okay, let’s start with this: controversial classics site GoG has 50% off a load of games, including the Rossignol-pleasing Psychonauts, but sadly excluding Outcast, which is the 57th best game of all time, according to the objective reality of the universe.

Post other purchase suggestions below! (Indies, you could totally pimp your wares.)

We have another official server, courtesy Multiplay, who have just launched their own Minecraft service. It’s a virgin landscape! Go, despoil the rolling hills of 85.236.100.199:25565, and all feedback will be welcome. Meanwhile the original home of Castle Shotgun, 64.120.46.101:25565, is now a chaotic playpen, the evidence of several weeks of mad building. Castle Shotgun itself lies in ruins (pictured) due to an incident with several mischievous gentlemen and some TNT. Perhaps it’s time to reset that particular landscape and start afresh? Lend me your thoughts.

Also, I think we now have several unofficial and community-run servers. If you are running one, post the IP below for RPS visitors!

Earlier this week Lara Croft’s latest adventure, an isometric action platformer The Guardian Of Light, was released. Unfortunately, despite being assured, we did not receive review code in time. So rather late, having completed it about twice over, I can tell you Wot I Think.

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“An RTS MMO,” says the Trion Worlds Senior Producer Chris Lena, and “MMORTS”, says I. It’s important to get these things established at the start, I think. These sequences of letters that stand for other things are significant, right? No, don’t just fall asleep face-first on your keyboard! There’s certainly some import in what Lena is actually showing, which is a big old PvP battle in End Of Nations, which is going to support huge old school RTS tank-popping with numerous players per side, which will then be tied into a global campaign for territory. We had a look at this at GamesCom and found it to be moderately interesting, but this extra few minutes of game footage is worth taking a look at. So go. Take a loot. At it.
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Land Of The Free is an ongoing look at the state of free-to-play gaming.

It begins with the crackle of gravel as the tracks roll onward, running over that initial, hesitant silence. The sound slows, before stopping completely, and that’s when the low whine of the servos in the turret start to sing. There’s a clunk as it stops to regard its target. The pause, here, would seem be to provide space for a pithy action one-liner, and it lets you be the one to come up with one: “Tanks for the memories!” Then there’s a sound like broken thunder as it sends a shell towards whatever unfortunate was under the barrel of that particularly wide gun. The explosion, then, is distant. It sounds somewhat anti-climactic. If you’re where the tank is. Alternatively, if you’re where the shell is, I think that’s going to be a little more climactic. A little more final.

That’s a tank, to me. But that’s not a tank to World of Tanks.
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