Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Remember this spurt of controversy back in January when we heard that the Bulletstorm demo would be gracing the Xbox Box and Sony Playingstation only? Turns out the PC will be getting a demo after all. Epic vice president Mark Rein has tweeted that the PC demo is in the works, and should be available “shortly after” the game’s release this Friday. Strong!

Just to keep score, we’ve now whipped away concerns that People Can Fly couldn’t be bothered releasing a PC demo for Bulletstorm, that the game causes rape and that it might be crap. All we need now is for a press release to come pinwheeling in through the window that the game’s dropped Games For Windows Live. Ah, a man can dream.

Who’d have thought it? EA is pregnant with the manshoot baby once again. Joystiq brings words of a blog post from MoH executive producer Greg Goodrich saying that “Yes, Danger Close is currently working on the next Medal of Honor.” He also says “Medal of Honor was a big success with over 5 million copies sold,” and, you know, all sorts of things about medals and honor. Read the full announcement after the jump.
Read the rest of this entry »

News reaches my nightmare fortress tower of an update to Company Of Heroes Online. There are two new maps to play, the 4-player Road to Montherme and an 8-player map called Hill 331. Of course this new terrain won’t be around for long, because the service is shutting down on March 31st. Play ‘em while you got ‘em, I suppose.

Bit Battalion send word that their new browser game, Pathos, is ready to play. That said, it’s more of a story with a few clicks from us than a game. It’s short and dark, and worth a few minutes. Not, perhaps, as inventive as a few other games we’ve seen doing this kind of thing, but there are some fun ideas in there, and it was made in just 48 hours. Not bad work. Go take a look.

Sundays aren’t, as you might expect, for compiling the Sunday Papers. No, instead they are for resting my cadaverous frame somewhere in the bowls on London, safe in the knowledge that I had already compiled The Sunday Papers and scheduled it to appear on the day of rest. Clever! But not as clever as the writings contained therein. These are they:

• So here’s a piece by Wired’s Chris Kohler talking about how the mainstream games industry fears that mobile gaming will undermine the success of the blockbuster. “The surprising popularity of casual games among even the hardest of the hard-core foreshadows a sea change for an industry that over the years has grown to resemble Hollywood, complete with star directors, creaking franchises and budgets that dwarf the annual operating costs of a small city. As indie and casual titles lure gamers away from powerful consoles, some big gamemakers are scrambling to imitate the success of Facebook and iPhone games.” It goes on to talk about how big publishers are folding social and mobile elements into their big games in order to make them more attractive. And here’s a piece from Bill Harris saying that we need to understand that the process could go even further.

Read the rest of this entry »

Hello! Gaming Made Me is a new weekendly series that continues the theme of our previous Gaming Made Me excursions, which is a theme about the games that made people who they are today. In this new and fresh series various RPS chums will be invited to talk about their formative gaming experiences. This is the first one, with an Ages Of Empires II retrospective from Brendan Caldwell. Take it away, Mr C!
Read the rest of this entry »

Have you been paying attention? You must know the drill by now. Here is your weekly serving of the cheapest and best games that the internet has to offer this weekend, click on the following links, and you get to swap not very much money for a lot of game. Check SavyGamer.co.uk whenever you want to know what games are cheap right now across all formats. Here’s this week’s selection.
Read the rest of this entry »

Why am I posting about zombie browser game Rebuild? Because RPS reader Captain Sqweky sent me a link and I played it, that’s why. If I’m honest, it’s more serious than that. It’s more like “Because I sat down with a cup of tea, loaded the game, then when I remembered my tea it was ice cold, thus requiring I make a second cup of tea.” But I did not have the energy to make another beverage. No. I’d probably have to wash up a spoon, and get the milk out of the fridge and pour the milk into the mug and everything. You know what I’m saying. Total disaster.
Read the rest of this entry »

Wow, just looking at the above screenshot has bumped a cache of memories up into my conscious mind, memories containing lovely sound effects and tense wars. Is Civ V still installed? I need to hear that button-click sound effect again. “Bink,” it would say. “That’s a good idea, menu button,” I would reply. “I should exerminate the infidels.”

Anyway, Gamer’s Hell has noticed a post over on the 2K forums detailing the upcoming February patch for Civ V. “Significant balance adjustments” are coming designed to make both thinly-spread and highly condensed Empires viable styles of play. Full, monster patch notes after the jump.
Read the rest of this entry »

For a wonderful second I was convinced this was the fourth episode of the unofficial King’s Quest fan-game The Silver Lining, and was all braced to use the headline “Four Ever Cloud.” Imagine how clever and funny that would have been. Just. Imagine. Instead, you’re stuck with whatever the heck I’ve written up there instead. I haven’t even decided what it is yet, I’m just hoping inspiration will somehow strike as I’m typing this.

So, The Silver Lining – a free game made by devout enthusiasts of the old Sierra adventure series (the ones that some people keep complaining we didn’t cover in The List, which spans the last two decades; as I said in comments somewhere, an 80s appendix strikes me as a good idea for the near-future). Episode 3 here now, and its trailer is below.
Read the rest of this entry »

It becomes clear that the PC gaming faculty at Rock, Paper, University is going to require a consult from Simulated Professor Stone, who occasionally visits us from his laboratory in the woods. We must thank him for this appendix to our round up of the greatest PC games, just as we must thank Intel and their AppUp Developer Program for sponsoring the whole thing.

And now, to the details of war and sims…
Read the rest of this entry »