Rock, Paper, Shotgun

UPDATE: Capcom appear to be reconsidering certain elements of their DRM plans, but removing GFWL is not on the table, and they say that removing the DRM completely is “not feasible”. They also discuss removing the DRM from legitimate copies of the game in the event of it being cracked.

Here’s a new one. The original Street Fighter 4 sold well on the PC by Capcom’s own admission, but apparently some folk found a way to acquire it without paying for it, so they didn’t bother releasing the PC version of Super Street Fighter 4 that they had already more or less developed. I hope no one tells them that piracy happens on consoles too, or they’ll maybe stop releasing any games, and just produce them for their own amusement. They’ve had a change of heart for the latest iteration though: they’ll be letting PC gamers give them their money if they so choose. Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition is coming to PC, and it’s learnt a few new DRM tricks too.
Read the rest of this entry »

EDIT: Boo! Looks like the patch has been delayed after all, due to an issue with DLC compatibility. “We will update when we know more,” say CD Projekt.

Inbound at some point this evening is a v1.1 patch for The Witcher 2. Anything exciting in there? Ah, not really, it’s all bugfixes and performance upgrades. That said, the patch notes promise an “approximately 5% to 30% better framerate and faster game loading for many users, depending on their individual systems and game versions. Owners of retail versions can expect the biggest improvements.” So, mostly of interest to twitching luddites who insist on owning DVDs and any of you who bought the absurd Collector’s Edition, then.

v1.1 will also bring with it an option to invert the mouse, for those of you who think Geralt is an aeroplane. The developers are promising a second patch next week, and you’ll find the full patch notes after the jump.
Read the rest of this entry »

The alleged Syndicate alleged reboot allegedly being allegedly made by Riddick developers Starbreeze remains only alleged, but more and more alleged signs point to its alleged development. Latest of these is a chuck of script which has found its way to Siliconera. If this is real, Eurocorp returns – but the plot will concern a resistance movement against it, perhaps a la the original game’s expansion, American Revolt.
Read the rest of this entry »

RPS favourite King’s Bounty, as revived by Katauri Interactive, has been providing us with huge amounts of fun over the last few years. It even gave Alec a wife. Albeit a dead one. So it’s with confusion that we meet news that publishers Nival have licensed the game from 1C and had a different team create a Facebook version: King’s Bounty: Legions. We’re genetically programmed to bristle at the thought of Facebook games, but we love playing King’s Bounty. This is a strange feeling.

Read the rest of this entry »

Attention, test subjects. There is a soundtrack to Portal 2, and it is now available for you to download. It is free (FREE!), and comprises 22 MP3s with a bitrate of 320kbps – which is a number than means it doesn’t sound like a man yodelling into a fish tank. Appears to be purely the instrumental soundtrack, not the Coulton or The National songs, but that means it’s full of bleepy, technoid wonder. You can get it from here.

This is but Volume 1, which suggests a further volume to come (edit – two more, in fact). If you’re the sort of person who likes annoying people on the bus, you can also download snippets of some of the tracks as ringtones for your personal communication device.

Dirt 3 slid neatly into its release spot on Tuesday, before accelerating its way onto my hard-drive. Ah, driving metaphors. That’s enough of those. Let me tell you Wot I Think.
Read the rest of this entry »

The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy is not the only game Hothead is currently working on, it transpires. Those man-fellas and lady-fellas are also turning their attentions to a third DeathSpank game. DeathSpank is, you might recall, the creation of former Lucas Arts heroman Ron Gilbert; he’s now reunited with former colleague Tim Schafer at Doublefine, with Hothead confirming to Kotaku that the ‘Spank will be entirely their own work. It is called The Baconing, it is promised to be major improvement upon the first two games, and it features (in fine, crappy superhero comic tradition) The Anti-Spank.
Read the rest of this entry »

2009 saw Kieron writing about something called Creeper World, a tower defense-RTS type indie game where the player was pitted against a huge, disgusting, doomsday blob known as Creeper that was still hungry despite eating three hundred billion humans in the game’s intro sequence. In short, he enjoyed himself.

Today, Creeper World 2 has been released! Where do we go from here? Well, you can read my impressions and watch a video after the jump, download the demo here, buy the full game here for £6.35 or you could just look at pictures of a long-abandoned USSR nuclear shelter. You’re free, you luck dog! The choice is yours.
Read the rest of this entry »

Last month we had Relic talking about the universe of Warhammmer 40,000: Space Marine, putting a positive spin on the fact that Space Marines are basically one-ton fascists who can survive by eating dirt.

This month Relic are talking about combat. What’s the quickest way to regenerate your Marine’s health? By pulling “over the top execution moves”, of course. This builds “fury”, which… ah, I don’t want to give the game away. It’s all waiting for you after the jump.
Read the rest of this entry »

There is Steam, and then there is Direct2Drive, the IGN-owned PC game download service. It perhaps doesn’t get mentioned here as often as does its esteemed rival, despite it having been on scene almost as long and having had a big old slice of the market. I guess it just doesn’t seem to reflect the strange and rapid evolution of PC gaming in quite the same way, even if its catalogue is suitably fat. Perhaps things will change as it moves into the next phase of its seven-year-old life – IGN have just sold Direct2Drive in its entirety off to someone else…
Read the rest of this entry »

Lego Pirates Of The Caribbean came out last week. A bit. I’m most of the way through what’s a very big game, and am ready to sit on the lounge floor amidst piles of plastic bricks, and tell you Wot I Think.

Read the rest of this entry »