Rock, Paper, Shotgun

The third Theatre Of War game posits a trip to Korea, and it might be a pleasant excursion for the hefty RTS, which previously made gamers feel tired with its stodgy presentation. This time around it’s looking significantly more dynamic, with a non-linear campaign that adapts to your wins and fails, and lots more toys to direct the carnage with, including the ability to get right down with the vehicles and look around with binoculars to judge line of sight and such. Witness such things in the trailer, below. The game is out on the 25th of March.
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Quintin posted about the latest posing from the Unreal engine last week, but lamented the lack of a video with which to demonstrate this new-era graphical clout. Now we can do that. Behold – the worrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrld of tomorrow!
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Microsoft has today announced that they plan to improve Games For Windows Live. In fact, speaking to CVG, senior-producer-of-Microsoft’s-interactive-entertainment-business, Kevin Unangst admitted that “we had a rocky start.” This apparent act of humility is being widely reported as Microsoft’s admitting GFWL’s faults, and planning to address them. But is it? I’ve had a look at the rest of the quotes, plus those that came before them. I’ve also spent a bit of time with Games For Windows Live Marketplace to see if it’s living up to its promises at launch.

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Aw, bless. I share the below video not because it gives much away in terms of when and if we’ll see Counter-Strike 2 (though it’s certainly not a denial, which is some kind of good news at least), but because of the charming awkwardness of Gabe Newell’s reaction when asked directly in front of THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE whether Valve’s evergreen man-shooter will be sequelised any time soon…
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With John literally ten minutes from the end of the game, Kieron having completed it, and Quintin having reviewed it, it was decided that a gathering of the Verdict for Bulletstorm should be called. The mighty trumpet sounded, and we gathered around the Rock, Paper, Shotgun Reflecting Pool, whereupon we sang our tales of dick-fuelled murdering. Read on.

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Ah, the sweet smell of tower defence in the afternoon. Paradox’s Defenders of Ardania is a fancy-lookin’ take on the genre with one of those “you can also be the attacker” type spins on proceedings that bestrides both a single-player game and 4-player multimangaming. It’s set in the world of Majesty, with all its characteristic overwrought fantasy silliness, and is looking pretty slick. Take a look at the first trailer below.
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Indie action RPG Din’s Curse is often referred to by Kieron as one of the games that got away- an acclaimed, interesting indie title that RPS never found the time to review. UNTIL TODAY. Following the release of the recent expansion, I’ve been spending quite a lot of time with this beauty, and am excited to present Wot I Think.

So, you’re a hero. A tall combine harvester of a man, with a unique knack for rolling forward and crushing and scything everything in your path, and you’re on a quest to rescue a lady, kill some monstrous boss monster and save a town. This tireless plot has been the set-up for a thousand fantasy videogames.

Now, imagine if you could fail at all this. Imagine if the lady could die, the monstrous boss monster could beat a retreat, and the town relying on you could, ultimately, be laid to waste. Imagine if everything mattered. That’s Din’s Curse.
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News bugle VG24/7 reports that Battlefield Heroes, EA’s free to play spin-off of the Battlefield franchise has just hit 7 million registered users. With the game coming out 19 months ago, that’s an average of 368,421 new users each month, which is even more than Kieron’s mum. Of course, free-to-play games always achieve ludicrous user numbers, but even so this is noteworthy. Read Jim’s aging Eurogamer review of BFH here, or read about the in-game 7 million user celebrations and watch an old yet steadfastly impressive trailer-cum-theme-song below.
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In the last of our Mojang splurge for now, comes a revealing discussion of what comes next for our favourite blocky digging game. While visiting Mojang’s headquarters, I took the opportunity to ask Markus ‘Notch’ Persson about his future plans for Minecraft, as well as some more immediate plans for Scrolls.

Below you can find out why Notch thinks Minecraft will sell more copies in 2011 than 2010, what it’s like to have some money, plans for quests in Minecraft and the villages of NPCs who could dispense them, and how a survival mode might work. Oh, and also why Notch doesn’t think he’ll be the one to develop Minecraft 2.

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UPDATE: FRESH KEY FOR ANOTHER 500 USES BELOW!

EDIT: Looks like the key is spent. Thanks for playing!

One of the many smiling faces I saw at GDC belonged to Supercell, the chaps behind browser-based MMO Gunshine. Their Diablo-lite RPG is a quasi-MMO that allows you to quest with your friends’ characters, even if they’re not online. It’s got a bunch of interesting features planned for it, including the capacity for the characters to “learn” to play like their owner. Anyway, this is a bit weird as beta-key thingies go: it’s a speed-based beta-key usage. Basically, the first five-hundred of you to sign up with the key (below) get in. That’s it. Be fast!
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Dragon Age II is available for download today! If you’re American, anyway. If you’re in Europe, a magical temporal vortex of data-sucking horror slap-bang in the middle of the Atlantic is delaying the several gigabytes that comprise the digital version from reaching these shores. I mean, I presume it’s that. There’s no other rational explanation for introducing a gap of 3 days in an age where information can travel between continents within moments. There’s no way it could be a silly retail decision that risks piracy from frustrated fans. No way it could be that.

Regardless, the official texture pack, which is something I wish more games would do, is excellent news. Read the rest of this entry »