Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Whoah! RPS reader Oak sends words that US game retailer GameStop has acquired both Impulse, Stardock’s independant digital distribution service, and Spawn Labs, a cloud gaming service, all with the aim of developing GameStop’s “growing suite of digital game products and services”. This press release on the subject says that Impulse’s digital download services will be fully integrated with GameStop “within the next few months”.

What does this mean for PC gaming? At the moment, all it means is that control of one of the biggest digital distribution services has been passed from a games developer that’s expressed an interest in the rights of gamers (you can read Stardock’s “Gamer’s Bill of Rights” here) to an enormous corporation that owns Game Informer, the single biggest video games magazine on the planet (with a circulation of 3.5 million copies each month, it reaches almost 100 times more people than any single UK games mag). We’ve contacted Stardock to find out more, though they’ve posted a simple FAQ about the acquisition here.

Minecraft‘s beta enters version 1.4, and has brought with it some new bits and pieces. I’m most excited about the idea of a tameable wolf, who can trot about with you, and can even be summoned if he gets too far away. The other big headline in this update is that beds, as we exclusively revealed, will now act as spawn points. I think that’s probably the biggest fundamental change the game has seen in many months, and will certainly dramatically effect how the game is played by many. The full list of changes is below. Oh, and be sure to check out the new Minecraft Store, for in-game items, which I think may have opened a day early.

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There are two games coming out this summer featuring swordplay and templars with beards. One of these is The Cursed Crusade, the other is The First Templar. I would you like you to compare and contrast these videos: here and here.

Alternatively, use this. That is all.

The developers of Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, a game universally hailed by critics (including myself!) as “fine”, are making a sequel entitled Spider-Man: Edge of Time. It’s hard to know what’s more remarkable- that the press release says it’ll be set in two different timelines at once in a Day of the Tentacle style, or that they’re turning it around in under a year since the previous game. No screenshots just yet, so as a placeholder I’ve embedded a decent episode of Baman Piderman after the jump.
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You may have noticed the lack of a full Dragon Age II review on RPS. This has nothing to do with slacking. I’ve been playing the game almost every day since my WIT of the first few hours, now on my second play through, just trying to get my head around what it is they got wrong. That’s what I’ve tried to process here. As such, the below contains information that could spoil the story of the game.

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Paradox send word that the mages of Magicka will be killing goblin-cong in Vietnam next month, and this exciting gameplay opportunity will cost a straightforward $4.99. It’s a new campaign setting, but “also contains a new survival challenge map with increased difficulty in direct response to the request from the community.” There is also a spell that calls in an F-15 napalm strike.

I’ve posted the announcement trailer below, again, because it is among the “best things” that are on my list.
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But who? But what? I’ll explain! So it seems that Category 6 Studios are made of up the remnants of the recently exploded Pi Studios. BigDownload had a chat with them, and it turns out it’s a new deal being led by Kenn Hoekstra, who worked on just about everything at Raven up until 2008. ANYWAY, Blackout is “a survival horror themed first person shooter” being developed in Unreal engine. And that’s all the information we have for now.

Reliable human person Dartt pointed me toward this news story on the internet. It explains that the offbeat Bitmap Brothers RTS Z will be remade for release this summer. It will now be called Z: The Game, and is being published by Kavcom. Tony Kavanagh, speaking on behalf of Kavcom, said: “Fans of this classic strategy title are in for a real treat – everything is in there, from the terrific comedy cutscenes to the frantic multiplayer mode, and with a much friendlier, intuitive interface. This is going to be the definitive version of Z.”

Definitive.

Excitement is literally in the air! Bohemia Interactive (Czech developers of Operation Flashpoint and Arma II fame/infamy) have announced Take On Helicopters, a new simulator focusing on the rewarding challenge of flying helicopters as well as “beautifully rich landscapes”. I will admit to some disappointment that Take On Helicopters is not a game about taking on helicopters mano-a-mano, nor is it a game about taking on helicopters like you might take on an adopted child, having to then tutor your fledgling helicopter in the ways of right and wrong. “Well done, baby helicopter! It was RIGHT to chew up that taxman in your small yet deadly rotor blades!” And you could stroke its grille and listen to its silky purr.

What can you do, eh? The announcement trailer follows…
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The free-to-play space MMO Black Prophecy is out in the EU, and there’s a beta underway for North America. I decided to take a look over the past couple of days and have written up a little about my experience. Read on for sparkling wit and space-insight.
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Here is a game announcement: DEAD HORDE is announced. This new game, by DnS Development, is an intriguing co-op shooter concept in which dead people come back to life to get in the way of normal, alive people, who have to make them re-dead, so that they can just get on with whatever it was they were doing. Presented in a top-down format, this game will surely shake up our understanding of what it means for people to be alive, then dead, then alive, and then finally dead again. Ah, this is the kind of exciting stuff that makes it worth being alive, right here, right now, for just a few brief years between two endless forevers.

(If i ever make a zombie game it’ll be called DEAD INSIDE. Or maybe DEAD RIGHT, if it was good. Or DEAD MEET if it was like a casual social game of some kind. Or DEAD PAN: ZOMBIE CHEF, for some kind of Wii cooking game. Christ, there’s so much potential for these zombie game things! Why aren’t people making them?)