Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Coo, at last, the completely excellent Lara Croft & The Guardian Of Light has online co-op. Quite how it didn’t ship with this feature – something pretty essential to its core design – is a mystery. But it’s finally there now, and since you’ll have bought it via Steam it’ll automagically update the next time you load the grey gaming window. This’ll let you play the game with a chum, which I’d rather like to do now please. There’s also a few other tweaks, including graphical and audible improvements, refining of both mouse/keyboard and controller input, and general stability. So good!

As Minecraft fever still possesses the internet, we grabbed creator Markus “Notch” Persson to ask him about the experience of going from hopeful indie developer to ruler of the gaming universe. What’s it been like to go through all those changes that accompany success? He tells us what difference (or lack of a difference) money has made, the experience of starting a company, and plans for in-game video recording. And why he’s not ready to retire just yet.

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This weekend I found myself on the RPS BFBC2 server – as part of our rather oversubscribed RPS Game Club – and I began to remember why I have played more of that game than any other this year. Despite its flaws there’s a big bag of What Is Right About Multiplayer Manshoots in there, and I love it. Having done that and then taken a look at this new excellent new video for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam I began to get rather more excited about the upcoming historical expandalone than I had been up to this point. I’m starting to understand how Vietnam will change the dynamic – bringing the combat in even closer – and it’s looking pretty fantastic.

I notice there’s still no release date for this, despite it being slated for “Winter 2010″. I guess that must mean it’s out in December. It’ll be download only, initially only in the EA Store. I will be downloading it.
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Jim posted about upcoming 2D browser MMOG Glitch at the start of the year. Back then, it all sounded deeply enigmatic. Developers Tiny Speck (a collection of ex-Flickr founders) stated that the game would see you exploring and growing the minds of 11 giants,and would be targeted at “people with above average intelligence and sophisticated tastes, in their 20s or early 30s.”

Now, there’s a video out. A video that doesn’t shed light on the game so much as spray you down with words and images like you’re nothing but a misbehaving dog. There’s also a song. A song which walks you through the game between chimes of “And that’s what this game is!” What is the game, Tiny Speck?! I don’t understand…

Watch the video for yourself below. In all seriousness, it could be the best trailer I’ve seen all month.
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What do you do when Terry Cavanagh, creator of VVVVVV, sends you an email telling you about a 7 year old browser game that’s only recently been updated? I’ve just found out. You squeak, you listen, and then you play that game from start to finish.

The Infinite Ocean by indie dev Jonas Kyratzes is a deliciously dark slice of future-terror presented as a kind of wandering escape-the-room game, although Terry points out that this game was made long before escape-the-room was a genre. Your character wakes up in an empty room where everybody’s left very quickly. The coffee is still hot, the chairs are tipped up and discouraging messages flicker on all the computer screens. They’re trying to tell you what to do. But who are ‘they’? Narrative exposition then comes from System Shock/Marathon style computer terminals, each providing a blast of thought-provoking information like the world’s most enjoyable electro-shock therapy. But let’s not spoil anything. Go play. It’ll take you perhaps 40 minutes from start to finish.

This is hyperold. This is pre-RPS old. Which, according to my calculations, makes it so retro it’s new, to spoonerise Tricky. Tupper prodded me to playing these, and they’re simply cut-to-the-bone space-shooters which I dig to hell. Battle For Yavin comes first. Battle for Endor comes second. They’re based on some obscure cult-classic science fiction films, apparently. You can get them here. There’s a fancy texture and music pack you can get here too – oh, and I had a problem with white textures on Windows 7, which I solved by installing it to C:/Programs rather than the Programs-86-whateVVVVA! Win7 wanted to. There’s a couple of videos below, but this is highly atmospheric, lightning fast and captures the panic of a sky full of starfighters more than anything else that leaps to mind. I think you’ll dig ‘em a lot.
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We don’t know much, but there are some clues. The most recent of these was bagged by Eurogamer.dk (via VG247) which suggests that the new game is not only in development, but is a direct sequel to Oblivion. An Elder Scrolls game had previously been touted for a reveal at this year’s E3, but did not show. Of course that doesn’t mean it’s not already a long way into development. Bethesda boss Todd Howard has already mentioned that two new games are in the works and we’re going to speculate that one of those has to be an Elder Scrolls game. The big question for many people has been whether the technology would move away from the Gamebryo engine – the recent id acquisition probably wouldn’t have provided time enough to base the game on id tech 5, but we can still dream – and a quote in this interview suggests that it is that familiar engine: “That’s our starting point – the Fallout 3 tech,” said Howard. “The new stuff is an even bigger jump from that.” Perhaps we’ll get something concrete about the release in the new year.

So, engine aside, what would you want from a new Elder Scrolls game?

Codemasters are slowly pushing the hype machine into higher gears for the release of Operation Flashpoint: Red River, which is due in the second quarter of next year. This is the first chance we’ve had to see of the revamped engine in action. It’s looking rather pretty – vast, lavish landscapes being the thing that the previous Operation Flashpoint did best. We hear word that Codies learned from some of the mistakes of that game, however, and are working hard to make missions more interesting this time around. Anyway, go take a look. The trailer below is all in-engine, although generally not actual game footage, and features some peculiar narration. Notice how it starts off as some kind of speech about brothers in arms, and then veers off into pseudo-political commentary. Odd.
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I’ve decided that I’m going to keep posting videos of Kinect hacks for as long as it takes Microsoft to publish a completely awesome game for their little motorised Eye of Sauron. I appreciate that this may be some time, but I’ve got a two litre carton of orange juice here. No danger.

Today, you can watch a man wielding a sword made entirely of light. It looks pretty cool, and even makes a sort of warbling noise.
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Polish RPG developers CD Projekt recently announced that their next game, The Witcher 2, would ship without DRM, and there was much rejoicing. But that doesn’t mean they’re going to be all Mr NiceGuy about it. Speaking to Eurogamer, CD Projekt co-founder Marcin Iwiński said that the company would be pursuing legal action against those net users illegally downloading the game.

“Of course we’re not happy when people are pirating our games, so we are signing with legal firms and torrent sneaking companies… In quite a few big countries, when people are downloading it illegally they can expect a letter from a legal firm saying, ‘Hey, you downloaded it illegally and right now you have to pay a fine.’”

Of course the policing of downloaded content is a highly contentious area in which the legislation is still being proven – and fought against in the courts – but it does suggested a renewed interest by games companies in directly combating piracy on the PC. DRM doesn’t work, we all know that, so it’s hardly surprising that companies like CD Projekt will look to other methods to protect their work. Personally I think low prices and swift digital downloads have been the best weapon.

Way back in 2007, when the world was still a baby, we mentioned the peculiar, gruesome Flash game, The Visitor. Playing as an alien worm-like creature, you had to eat, mutate and mutilate your way through some simple point-and-click challenges. At the time I said that there was a larger project in the works, and now there’s some evidence of it. The Visitor: Massacre At Camp Happy. It’s a genre change for the worm, now a third-person top-down mutilate-em-up, as you chomp your way through a campsite. The new trailer is below, and it’s well worth watching until the people start popping.

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