Rock, Paper, Shotgun

So it turns out that Microsoft aren’t the only company with a body-tracking technology in their pocket. Israel-based Omek Interactive also showed a PC-based body-tracking motion control system at CES, although it should be stressed that this is a software solution. Omek claim their system will work with “any depth camera”. That sounds good except – and I could be wrong – I can’t say I’m aware of any cheap depth cameras on the market, other than a certain MS one. (John points out that ASUS have one coming.) Anyway, it functions… as you might expect. See the video below for shakycam footage.

Cheers to Dan for the link.
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UPDATE: Proxy send of some multiplayer competitions – with prizes! – they are running for this. Check here and here for details.

Hey, you there! Yes, you. You look like you might enjoy a moderately challenging simultaneous turn-based strategy. If that’s true then you might get along with Conquest, which is such a game. It has hexes. And it has a demo. It’s fast and somewhat furious – the games can be over in just a few minutes and are extremely simple in terms of unity types and so forth – but it’s rather elegant, and all about balancing the speed with which you deploy forces against keeping your opponents from using the fog of war against you. Try it out! The multiplayer scene seems dead, but there’s offline AI fun times to be had, plus the tiny men make awesome battles-speak noises when you command them to do stuff.

Related, can anyone think of anything else that plays like this? It seems like a bit of an outlier to me. Video below!
Yes, here is the video >>

So you remember how we keep saying that Funcom’s next MMO, The Secret World, will probably be a bit of a big deal? Well, it seems that Electronic Arts agree, because they’ve signed up “to co-publish” the game. The Secret World, which is based around the machinations of secret societies and supernatural beasties in the modern world, is being directed by Ragnar “The Longest Journey” Tørnquist, and certainly raised Quintin’s eyebrows when he saw it at GamesCom. It’s due in 2011, probably, but might just slip into 2012.

We’ll have a closer look at the game for you pretty soon, we hope.

GameSetWatch has posted the list of finalist for the IGF Student showcase, and like everything else in the IGF this year it is STRONG. Nominees include the resplendent Octodad and the stylish Fract. Full linky list below, for your pleasure.
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Sundays are for pulling apart a sickly PC and swapping out components until we finally figure out what is causing that problem. If only all things in life could be fixed through such trial and error element-swapping. Inevitably, in the moments between these tinkerings, we will take some time to cast our gaze over articles written on the subject of computer games, for they are many.

• Interesting argument of the week goes to Craig Stern writing a piece “against narrow design”. He explains: “I want to address an unfortunate intellectual current I have seen coursing through the indie community as of late. It generally appears under the moniker of “gameplay vs. narrative,” advanced in articles asserting the fundamental incompatibility of narrative and gameplay and suggesting (usually with little to no analysis) that we should discard one (always narrative) in favor of the other (inevitably, gameplay).” There’s a response to some of Jon Blow’s theses, and to other suggestions that non-gameplay elements of design should be discarded in favour of “interactivity”. It’s an argument I totally agree with and have made elsewhere myself. Great games are almost always a presented in a way that is coherent with and best expresses the way in which they play. Often “graphics versus gameplay” arguments are spurious and make no sense at all, because the graphics and gameplay are, as an experience of the player, all part of the same continuum. Anyway, go have a read.

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According to Joystiq’s extensive report from CES, a new PC motion controller from Razer, the Hydra, will get its own version of Portal 2. The device will apparently be bundled with a special version of Portal 2 which will specifically support the Razer. Joystiq say: “That Portal 2 bundle will include a special version of the game, that includes not only native support for the Hydra controllers, but new maps and puzzle mechanics built exclusively for Hydra.”

The device should, it seems, be released around April, the same time as Portal 2, for less than $100. I’ve posted a shakycam demo of Portal 2 being played with the device below.
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Some magazine or other has details about The Elder Scrolls V, and they’ve appeared on the internet! Unprecedented, I know, but now that it’s happened we can totally discuss them and stuff. I’m too lazy and it’s too The Weekend to bother summarising all the details myself, so fortunately for us VG247 have done it all for me. Salient points: quests are defined by how you create your character, skills have been cut down to just 18, level-scaling will behave more like Fallout 3 and less like Oblivion (with dynamic quests in the world generated to the appropriate level by how you play), you can remove the HUD, and conversations are “natural” and in the world, not zoomed in. Dual-wielding! Tree-branches moving in the wind! Woo!

There will also be better faces, which is good, but there’s no word on modding the PC version. (Not quite sure what all this suggests about the engine being “all new”, either.) Thoughts, internet?

Are you ready to kickstart another year of cheap games? I hope so, because the bargain bucket is back, and 2011ier than ever before. In case you’ve forgotten, I also have a website called SavyGamer.co.uk that tells you about all of the cheap games all of the time. Here’s this weeks, admittedly slightly underwhelming, selection of cut price digital fun. Read the rest of this entry »

I can pepper my flight sim reviews with as much talk of retreating blade stalls, snap rolls and skip bombing as I like, but until I get round to building a simpit and joining a virtual combat squadron, my hardcore flight simmer credentials will always look a tad suspect. John Nation, a chap I’ve been swapping emails with for a while, is the real deal. In the Q&A that follows, he waxes lyrical on a range of subjects including his splendid Spitfire-shaped sim throne, long career with the Tangmere Pilots and ambitious Ultimate Goal. Read the rest of this entry »

There’s a new Bulletstorm trailer, in which, Cliffy ‘Don’t Call Me CliffyB’ B describes his hopes, dreams and aspirations.

Good grief.

(Probably NSFW)
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Amnesia might put a chill into the heart of many gamers, but it has nonetheless generated a rather heart-warming story for its developers. With nearly 200,000 units sold, the team are now hoping that that their minds haven’t actually been eroded by a Lovecraftian monster: “This is a tremendous amount and more than we ever thought we would. Our “dream estimates” before release was something around 100k, and to be able to double that feels insane,” says the latest blogpost. It also says: “The sales that we have had (and are having) are more than enough to motivate developing a game with the PC as the main (and even only) platform. Based on what we have seen, the online PC market is just getting bigger and bigger, and we are convinced we are far from the end of this growth. We think that other developers that consider making their game exclusive to a console might want to think again.”

There’s much more through the link.