Rock, Paper, Shotgun

The rumours are strong. That is like a strong smell, only on the level of ideas. Does that makes sense? No. But still our chums Eurogamer report: “Mass Effect 3 is strongly rumoured to feature a four-player co-op mode. Eurogamer understands this four-player, online-enabled co-op mode is “standalone” and features “competitive elements”.”

This co-op portion of the game is “said” not comprise a portion of “the” single-player campaign, and will be its own thing. But who is doing the rumouring? And why are they rumouring so hard? Is it because they are compensating for something? Eh? Stay tuned for more overheard fragments of data as they happen, Internet fans!

Did you buy the Crysis 2 ‘Retaliation’ map pack last month? Then you’ll probably be pleased to know that a second one, the ‘Decimation’ pack, has just gone on sale. Once again it’ll cost you $10, though this time you’re getting five new maps (instead of four) and two new weapons- the FY71 assault rifle and smoke grenades.

Tell you what, no video game smoke grenade will ever top the ones that were in the unpatched release of legendarily buggy 2004 soldier sim Söldner. Every so often you’d throw one that didn’t run out of smoke. Ever. It would just sit there, slowly filling the entire level with an opaque fog for minutes on end until the rendering engine crashed.
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It bothers me that I am so uptight about the Assassin’s Creed games. They look utterly fabulous, they’re all lovely and open and alive, and then that ridiculous memory-world techno-gibberish claptrap drags me right back out of them. Why did they do it? Why not use that amazing tech to make a perfectly good historical action game? I should grit my teeth and get past it, but I just can’t. Every time I encounter that nonsense I just want to slap someone.

See if you can spot the point at which I did a big sigh in this (otherwise spectacular) Assassin’s Creed: Revelations footage.
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It’s been confirmed. Yesterday Warner Bros released the box art for Batman: Arkham City (due this October), which turned out to be an amusingly back-handed way of announcing that the game would use Microsoft’s less-than-perfect PC gaming frontend, Games For Windows Live, seeing as the GFWL logo is stuck there right at the top of the box like some kind of barnacle of bad taste. (Edit: Arkham Asylum also used GFWL, of course.)

Never mind. At least the box art is nice. Which means nothing in this day and age of digital downloads. NEVER MIND.
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Edit: Unbelievably, Digital Arrow’s beta sign up page was just the victim of a flood attack, and 200 sign ups were lost. If you signed up in the last hour or two, you might want to fill in the form again.

Edit again: The computer whizzes have managed to recover all lost entries. There’s now no need to resubmit.

In Momentum, the really splendid jumpy-bouncy game from indies Digital Arrow, has just begun its multiplayer beta. Lots has changed since I last had my hands on code, with a new HUD, difficulty levels, and rebalancing of the movement. And if you want to experience it for yourself (Windows users only) – and I think you ought – head over here and apply. The twenty testers Digital Arrow deem to have been the most helpful in this process will receive a free copy of the game. And make sure to read our preview of what we think could be a smash.

UPDATE: Looks like the server is struggling to handle a lot of people at once. Might reduce playerlimit a bit.

The handsome server admins of Multiplay have provided us with one of their Terraria (1.0.4) servers to play on. I’ve heard that game is popular, so I am sure some of you lot will find time to fill it. The IP is 85.236.100.109:7877 and the password is: rps

Dig, dig for victory! And stuff like that. Details on Multiplay Terraria servers are here.

Currently I’m writing something about how much I like Vertex Dispenser (as well as offering a couple of criticisms). But I’ve just realised that it will be much easier for people to join in and/or ask questions in the comments that follow if they’ve played the demo. The demo is on Steam. The game is a fairly complex action puzzler that you will probably enjoy. The download is tiny. Play it.

How would you like a game that’s a crunchy blend of Super Meat Boy and 1999 physics pioneer Rollcage, developed by a team of indie devs operating out of Strasbourg, France? How would you like it to have single-screen multiplayer, so you can trash-talk your friends while they’re sitting right there? How would you like it if it was called QuadSmash, and there was a demo, and there was a trailer after the jump? Happy Thursday, noble reader.
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Blizzard have released a very exciting trailer for the upcoming 4.2 patch for World of Warcraft, largely showing off the hot new raid the patch adds to the game. “Hot” being the operative word. In the Firelands you will fight Beth’tilac (big fiery spider), Lord Rhyolith (magma giant), Alysrazor (big fiery bird), Shannox (fiery naga guy with two fiery dogs) and, yes, well, you get the idea. It’s not just this raid, of course. As always, the WoW Insider has a comprehensive feature listing. Look, there are a couple of new quest hubs and a new legendary quest, too.

Me, I’ve never really like lava-themed levels in games. They just make me feel like I’m playing through a heartburn advert.
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The MMO-minded chaps at Massively got the scoop on this one: post-apocalyptic MMO Fallen Earth is going free-to-play, thanks to being picked up by GamersFirst. The model will be “unlimited trial”, so subs will still be in place, but have various tiers that unlock stuff and boost XP gain. The design team will also remain intact, and the game will continue development as planned.

We had fun with this, back in the mists of time, and it’s still the closest we’ve got a Fallout MMO until the real thing comes along. It doesn’t actually seem to be free yet, but there’s a 30-day trial to get you started, and I’d imagine it will be by the end of that…

I love grumpytrousers mumblers The National, so was particularly excited when I found out the band would be contributing a specially written song to Portal 2. And somewhat disappointed when Exile Vilify appeared in the form of the broadcast of a tinny radio in a hidden corner. Then I found this and listened to it eight hundred times in a row. Soon there will be excuses to listen to it many times over again, as Valve have set the challenge of making a video to go with the song. The winner will receive a prize pack, including a guitar signed by the band, and some Portal 2 merch. Videos need to be up on YouTube (tagged “PORTAL2NATIONALEXILE”) by July 15th. Let’s see an RPS reader win this one.