Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Right, to keep you up to date on Magicka, a hefty patch has already appeared. That’s swift. And Paradox tell us the developers are already hard at work on a second patch to catch what they haven’t crammed into the first one. And, they tell RPS, there will be new patches every 24 hours fixing whatever may have arisen. For the angrier denizens of the internet, let’s remember that while it’s obviously massively frustrating to spend money on a game and then not be able to enjoy it, this is an £8 game from a small developer that’s working its arse off to fix everything as fast as it can. Not ideal, no. But not, let’s say, not patching your billion dollar selling AAA blockbuster for months. To apply the patch you’ll need to restart Steam, whereupon the 522MB of fixes will begin downloading. The long list of patch details are below.

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I took at look at indie plane game Venus Patrol during IGF judging, and meant to duly nudge the good ship RPS its way. Alas, I was distracted by the dread onset of Winter, huddling away from the terrors of cold and darkness and entirely forgetting that I had played a beautiful, minimalist flight sim made only of pastel colours and mouse control. Such sunlit tones and airy freedom seemed so long ago.

With the game now reaching release status, creator Neil Thapen (creator of Stalker/Tetris mashup STACKER and one of the chaps on the receiving end of Quinns’ biscuit quest) sent us a timely reminder of its existence.
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Beyond Black Mesa turned up to a mixed reception last week, and due to taking a few… liberties led to internet troubadours suggesting what they felt were superior fan-films. Here’s one of them, set in the Fallout 3 universe. As well as being built on a whole lot of love, attention to detail and – gasp! – decent acting, it starts with a heartfelt plea that Bethesda doesn’t sue them, which I think we can all get behind. Recreated weapons, costumes, crumbled bridges and 50s ad reels await…
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You’re old. Your wife’s plotting your downfall. Your son’s a dribbling imbecile. Your father-in-law hates your guts. And I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking “Yes, that is certainly my life. Why would I want to play a game like Crusader Kings 2, which models all of this in a medieval environment?” Well, I’ll tell you why. It’s because you can cheat on your wife, kill your idiot son, raise a bastard child as your heir and send your father-in-law to rot in prison for the rest of his days.
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We’re very excited about Magicka at RPS, and I’m currently trying to begin an adventure for part of our coverage. But the keyword at this point is “trying”. The game has just gone live on GamersGate and Steam, but rather a lot of people are having trouble. Of the bugs reported, two have rather got in my way in the first two minutes, and an attempt to play a co-op game has already collapsed into an exchange of, “Can you connect now?” instant messages.

However, pleasingly, Paradox tells us that a patch is already in the works. And even better, new patches will be appearing every 24 hours to address any other issues that may arise.

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The year is 2018. The world has been flooded due to man’s irreparable damage. In this bleak future of Grand Mer only one activity can save mankind…

Fishing.

Cue music.

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So I was just having a look at the customization trailer for Test Drive Unlimited 2 (because in my soul I am actually dude in a hoodie driving around my neighbourhood in a noisy hatchback with bucket seats) which you can also see below. And the cars look good. But that’s not what got my attention. It was more that, well, the environments – and particularly the roads – look terrible. Don’t you think? For other, more incisive observations you might want to read John’s full-length hands-on preview, rather than my attention-free prattlings… But anyway, enough random sniping about car games, back to silently watching the timer tick down on the download of Dead Space 2. (Thanks for sending me the 360 version by the way, Electronic Arts! That will find use in a parallel world, I am sure.)
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There’s a huge article on the combat system Bethesda have proposed for Skyrim over at Game Informer. The biggest changes seem to be that the animation system is now combined with PHYSICS so there’s possibilities for knocking people off balance and then taking advantage of that, but also that blocking is timed, so that a shield doesn’t behave as a permanent barrier to hide behind. There’s a whole bunch of stuff about magic and other abilities, too, but I think the most interesting ranged-combat change is that to bows, as they will now take longer to string arrows on and ultimately have a bigger damage payoff – which is something I’ve often thought should be reflected in fantasy MMOs. Putting a couple of arrows in someone should probably end them. Anyway, go read the big blathering for further insights. Skyrim is sounding more and more interesting!

You may remember that Alec was very taken with the Artemis Spaceship Bridge Simulator. Designed to recreate the experience of being in charge of a Star Trek-like ship, it’s installed on a group of networked PCs, and you nerd out flying through space as a team. Today they’ve revealed a big update for the project, which includes overhauling all the art, lowering the price, and most importantly, no long requires LAN.

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And now, a story of betrayal, perseverance, a fetus, and a bear that is a computer and who goes by the name of Computer Bear. suteF by indie developer Rotten Tater is the most admirably messed-up game I’ve played in ages. It’s also an inventive, clever and strikingly competent puzzle game. You want to play this. I’ve amassed a thought-cache after the jump.
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Or more accurately: you will see him. But you can understand why I went for that headline, right? World Of Love is happening for the second time on Friday, and we’re going to be there. We were at the last one, too. In fact, former RPS editor Kieron Gillen even talked about how indies should use and abuse the games press while he was there, and there’s a wobblecam video of the event for you to see. It also features my face six feet high.
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