Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Quintin got rather excited about Fate Of The World, and you can read that excitement here. To celebrate Earth Day, which is some kind of general celebration of the planet we are hopelessly stranded on, the game is getting two new missions (one of which is mercifully stuffed between the introductory challenge and the hard-as-nails second one, thus making for a significantly more accessible game) and also a 33% discount. That’s going to last a week from day. You can get the game here. And you probably should. It’s great.

If there’s one thing that horses are good for, it’s glue. But before glue had been invented people used them as cars. You might be surprised to learn that they are superior to cars in a number of ways, and the best of those is that they’re perfect for swinging a sword from back of as you attempt to trample your enemies. Videogames have seldom managed to portrayed this positive and healthy activity in a useful way, so we are glad that one game manages to do that: Mount & Blade. This horsey melee game series has been been around for a while now, and is about to ride again with a third title: Mount & Blade: With Fire and Sword. I decided to have a quick chat with TaleWorlds’ producer Mikail Yazbeck about what this new game means, and where it came from.
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Ah, Arma II. The game that reminds me we need to be doing more games night stuff. Yes. We shall. But also an email from Bohemia that reminds me that the combined expandalone – Reinforcements – is out, and has actually been so for a week, I think. This new pack includes the British Armed Forces and Private Military Company expansions as one, and does not require the original game to play. There’s also a bunch of tweaks and enhancements that Bohemia have been making as the games developed. Fancy simulatory men being shot below, in a healthily footage-heavy trailer.
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As seems to be common practice in these cyber-times, Croteam have released a single new Serious Sam 3 screenshot. That’s it up there. Click for bigger, but be sure not to look at it all at once! Quick, look away! Now, look back! Away again! Back again! Away again! Back again! Away again! Back again! Away again! And finally back again*.

* Rock, Paper, Shotgun does not accept responsibility for any personal injuries or crushed household pets incurred during the screenshot elongation procedure.

Sorry, I’m really tired. But not as tired as DOTA-type gamers are going to be if they bother to play all the DOTA-inspired games that are coming out. Yes, another one has been announced. This time from Hi-Rez Studios. It’s called SMITE. Todd Harris explains: “”With SMITE, we draw inspiration from DoTA-style RTS titles, but leverage the Unreal 3 Engine to introduce original action oriented combat mechanics, great graphics, and a mythology-themed setting. These session-based games depend upon balanced class design, sophisticated stat-tracking, and matchmaking functionality.”

Not a whole lot more information that than right now. But wow, people really are trying to cash in on the DOTA audience. I am not sure what it is about it. Is it purely down to companies recognising that there’s a decent size number of players interested in this stuff? Or do all game dev CEOs secretly love DOTA? I suppose it’s the same as all the Counter-Strike clones a few years ago. But still, there’s a lot of stuff you could be inspired by to make new games. Truck Simulator, for instance.

Sooo, here’s a thing (not of legend, but of PC gaming distribution news): Microsoft have decided to ship Fable III simulataneously on Steam and Games For Windows Marketplace. That says something about who is boss in the digital download market, I think. There are even bonus things for both: preorder via Games for Windows Marketplace and you receive Fable: Lost Chapters for nowt, and if you purchase it on Steam, you’ll get the “Rebel’s Weapon & Tattoo Pack”, which is a collection of uh… weapons and tattoos? Look, over there! A inverted bee!

And yes, the game is out on May 20th on both platforms. Any reason to be excited? Check here to find out.

What we’ve seen of Daggerdale so far hasn’t quite gripped us, but there’s a new trailer out today that sports a bit more than some rare bare looking combat. It does, in fact, have a story, and this one introduces it. It’s something to do with a bad man who likes showing off his right nipple.

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That headline is short for “The Witcher 2 Character Development Developer Diary”. Yes. If you’d like to watch some guys from CD Projekt talking you through all the different ways you can develop protagonist Geralt, and all the different ways you can play and he can fight, they’re waiting for you right after the jump.

The Witcher 2 is going to be great. We know this because ever since Jim played the preview build, we here at RPS have had to put up with his near-constant pining for the finished game, which sounds like a cross between a lupine whimper and an Amiga 1200′s boot noise. May 17th can’t come soon enough.
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Last week we had a look at Roland, playable character #1 in upcoming co-operative swordstravaganza The First Templar. This week it’s the turn of Celian, who I think I prefer for much the same reasons as I liked Isaac in the first Dead Space; a grim kind of practicality. Celian seems to spend as much time stabbing people as he does kicking them, grabbing them, pushing them over or just belting them with his shield. If he just had a move where he picked up a nearby stone and chucked it at their eye I’d be in love. See what I mean after the jump.
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How can I resist posting about this? An art project by Jeffrey Kam and Cody McCabe, Meatcraft, saw a real world version of Minecraft on display at San Jose State University in March, in which visitors were encouraged to build from the little cardboard Minecraft blocks. And rather brilliantly, this was all within a large Minecraft-themed set, guarded by a life-size Creeper. There’s pics below.

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Only two new screens? Hardly news, is it? Well, no. If I’m honest, I’m really only posting about this as a collective reminder that Mass Effect 3 is coming at the end of this year. Eee! It’s going to be amazing. I hope there’s going to be another bit where one of Shepherd’s crew flirts with him and you can press a button to bark “WE KEEP THIS RELATIONSHIP PROFESSIONAL,” crumpling her romantic intentions in your space-bastard fist. That was my favourite bit. Now, where did that second screenshot get to?
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