Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Fract is a first-person puzzle game. We like those. We also like things that look insanely awesome, which this does. The beta is out – not quite complete, as is the way of the beta – and quite playable. Well, I say playable, I can’t much past the first puzzle, when the world is revealed to be some kind of exploded musical Darwinia. Creator Richard E Flanagan says: “The player is let loose into an abstract world built on sound and structures inspired by electronic music. It’s up to the player to resurrect and revive the long forgotten machinery of this musical world, in order to unlock its’ inner workings!”

So you should probably do that. Here’s the beta. And there’s a video of it in action below.
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VG247 have been having a good old chinwag with the man from Runic, Max Schaefer, and he’s spilled a few beans from the Torchlight II jar. Most interesting is that they’ve yet to set the limit for co-op party sizes: “The sweet spot, just from playing in the office, is 1-4 players… It’s an ongoing debate right now where we set the maximum number of players in the game. It’ll probably be between four and eight.” He also boasts that the game contains a lot more content, including “multiple hub cities”, and PvP. Interesting stuff. The game is due later this year… presumably before Diablo III.

I mean, “Sandy Bridge?” That’s a euphemism for unwashed undercrackers if ever I heard one. Intel seems to think it’s an appropriate codename for its latest generation of processors, however. Processors apparently so good that they prompted Gabe Newell to say they’re “a game-changer” and will “bring a console-like experience to PC.” This is, apparently, because the CPU includes built-in graphics processing that’s actually up to the job of modern games.

Hmm.
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The Dream Machine is a unique-looking point and click adventure – handmade sets, and animated with claymation – that is being released in chapters. The first two are now out, and I’ve played my way through them, meaning I’m fully qualified to tell you Wot I Think.

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Paradox did a funny when announcing that historical strategy Lionheart: Kings’ Crusade is to be renamed to simply The King’s Crusade:

Richard The Lionheart, the leading historical figure in last year’s immersive real-time strategy game Lionheart: Kings’ Crusade, has undergone a name change. Explaining his decision, the legendary warrior said, “I just felt ‘Richard The Lionheart’ was a bit of a mouthful. I felt I wanted something a little snappier when the little people were addressing me. Therefore, from now on I shall be addressed simply as ‘King’. It’s short, easy to remember, and sums me up perfectly!”

Ha. The game is getting two expansions in early 2011. Arabian Nights will arrive on February 8th full of Saracen forces, the second expansion, Teutonic Knights, will be about Teutonic Knights and related Crusader stuff. No date on that, yet.

Cardboard Computer, indie developer of A House In California an the excellent I Can Hold My Breath Forever has created a Kickstarter page for his next game, Kentucky Route Zero. It looks like another riff on the the theme of companionship, but with a much more confident and heavy-handed use of magical realism. Are you sitting comfortably? Then please, watch the video below. If only all trailers could be this entrancing.
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I don’t know why it should seem weird for DLC to be teased ahead of a game being release, but it just does, okay! It’s like announcing your new haircut before you’re finished growing the current one, or something. It’s just getting ahead of yourself! Anyway, Dragon Age 2‘s Exiled Prince actually comes with pre-ordered versions of the “Signature Edition” of the game, which can be ordered from now until Jan 11th. For everyone else it will be a paid extra. It’s some kind of murder mystery, but the looks of it, and also adds a character to the game. Head over to RPGSite for the trailer.

Courtesy of BigDownload we get to see a little of the history behind Guild Wars in a 15-minute video (below) produced by its creators, ArenaNet. Various members of company talk about their beginnings, their inspiration, motivation, the changes required to become a major studio, and so on. During the talking head interviews they claim to not be a videogame company, but a “community-building company, we just have one of the coolest ways to build a community.” Bold words. There’s a bit of back patting going on, clearly, but it’s worth a watch.
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If you click below, you can watch a six minute walkthrough of Dead Space 2‘s train station level, narrated by executive producer Steve Papoutsis. The environments are certainly looking a lot busier than the original, but Isaac is now also now hallucinating like a man on the wrong side of the 1960s. There’s also a breath-taking tunnel flight sequence, which might be silly and simple and linear, but it looks oh-so awesome.
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Quick, somebody sound the Thief 4 gong! Looks like we’ll be getting a tiny glimpse of the still very much in-development title at GDC, which kicks off on the 28th of February.
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Free to play, but you’re also free to pay! That’s my clever motto. Here’s some good news. Lord Of The Rings Online, since going free-to-play (which annoyingly abbreviates to FTP, which is already used up) has tripled its revenue. That’s madness! Free things make money?! It turns everything in the world all topsy-turvy! Next they’ll be saying piracy encourages sales! Which way is up?

Develop reports that Turbine’s executive producer Kate Paiz is “super-pleased” with the results. That’s like a regular pleased that survived a mysterious nuclear blast, and emerged somehow changed, improved. It’s further proof that this is a sensible direction for MMOs to head in if they want their latter years to prove profitable, with Champions Online going that way very soon. And I’ll make Quintin eat my hat if Star Trek Online doesn’t announce the same at some point in 2011.