Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Because I was tragically born without a brain, I neglected to include two exciting pieces of Half-Life 2 mod news last week. Whatever could they be? Have a read below the jump to get caught up, as well as survey the most interesting mod-related happenings of the past seven days.
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Forget CODBLOPS. Here’s the news you’ve been waiting for. Digger Simulator 2011 is to be released on December 3rd. From the makers of Digger Simulator, the latest version will let you “learn to excavate like the professionals.” We’ve got screenshots below!

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The next GSC S.T.A.L.K.E.R. project will be… a TV show? Yes, it seems to be real. You can check out the trailer below, and the teaser site here. I’ve contacted GSC for comment. I wish I had something profound to add, but really I am just pleased that it looks like it’s trying to be faithful to the game. Weird. Possibly awesome.
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Some details are emerging about the new Jagged Alliance game. It seems that the devs have elected to move on from the traditional turn-based game, and produce something in real time. In a post on the BitComposer forums they explain at length:

The “Plan & Go” system removes the turn-based structure. If the player wants to react to an incident, he can pause the game at any time or allow the game to pause automatically by carrying out a particular activity (e.g. if a mercenary has run out of ammunition).

Not exactly an XCom level move, but I can still sense the sceptical sighing of the original community.

Comic Book RPGs have released a demo for their cartoon puzzle RPG with supernatural happenings and stuff, Immortal Souls. The game, which features two vampires fighting to save their souls from the legions of Hell, is now available for pre-order, and features a blend of features from a bunch of different turn-based RPGs. Might be worth checking out.
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When I close my eyes, I see exploding limbs. More so than usual, I mean. There’s only been one story in gamesworld today, and while RPS is a site that celebrates and promotes the wildest outliers, it would be remiss of us to ignore this most mainstream of all games. So: after a day mainlining Black Ops’ campaign, I’m ready to KILL YOU SHOOT YOU MAIM YOU DIE DIE DIE. Uh, I mean tell you my thoughts on it. Yes, that’s it.
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As an animal of the Quake eras I should find myself intrigued by Genesis AD‘s claims about intensity and twitchiness, and I am going to take a look. Nevertheless, the micro-paymentised Unreal-powered shooter doesn’t seem to do itself a lot of favours by doing the incongruous thing of marrying machineguns and realistic environments to insane bunny-hopping physics. Click down the the trailer below and you’ll see what I mean.

It’s free to play now, as a beta, apparently.
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A question we’re often asked is: How do you get into games journalism? Well, to put that question to bed once and for all, below is the definitive guide by Howcast.com. Every single one of our trade secrets given away. The industry is going to be inundated. Those without moderate gaming knowledge need not apply.

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Miner Wars 2081 – as it is now known, so as to emphasize its science fiction setting – has one man at the heart of it all. He’s called Marek Rosa, and he developed the game’s destructible environment engine. That’s what allows players to go around burrowing out the insides of asteroids in the game, and jolly impressive it is too. Having come up with this tech, he was inspired to make the game with a small team in tow. And it’s quite the thing: a space-based mining and combat platform from which players can share their levels online, for a game that is single and multiplayer in the same bundle. Remarkably ambitious, you might well think. You can also take a look at the work in progress, what with it being available now (in rudimentary alpha form) for pre-ordering folk. If they can pull it off, we shall be singing their praises. The team are working to keep to a weekly update, which they’re so far hitting. I decided to set them back a few minutes by having a quick chat with Mr Rosa.
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Oh dear, it’s times like this I miss having Kieron around. A new demo shows up for a game called Sexy Adventures On Porn Island, and a Kieron-shaped gap appears in the dungeons of Castle Shotgun. But what to do? Quintin’s too young to be allowed to play games like this. I’ll have to turn my delicate eyes toward it, and find out what manner of filthy excitement is on offer. Oh, it’s Tetris with fucking. Clearly this is not safe for work.

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…which, as Richard pointed out, should be sung to the tune of Rawhide, is set to return. Probably. In a sprawling interview with GamesIndustry.biz, TimeGate bossman Adel Chaveleh said that: “We’re not walking away from Kohan by any means. It’ll see daylight again.” In what form? He wasn’t sure, or able to say, and he wasn’t about to be lured on talking about that Facebook RTS revamp route.

Presumably if the current project, Section 8 – Prejudice, fails to really cement things for the studio, then they will be returning to pastures old. Or perhaps it will get a reboot regardless? Kohan is an old favourite, and its return would certainly be welcome. The other issue that is touched on, which is interesting, is that TimeGate are now moving into self publishing. All the original Kohan games can now be bought from the TimeGate store.