Rock, Paper, Shotgun

2K bossman Christoph Hartmann has been talking to MCV, and has been defending the decision to make XCOM into a manshoot:

“The ‘90s generation of gamers all love Xcom and we own the IP, so we thought OK, what do we do with it? Every studio we had wanted to do it and each one had its own spin on it. But the problem was that turn-based strategy games were no longer the hottest thing on planet Earth. But this is not just a commercial thing – strategy games are just not contemporary.”

So that clears that up, eh? I am sure there will be a lively discussion of this. Can a game genre really get old enough to be abandoned? Should we consigned turn-based games to the past? If the 90s generation love it and that’s a reason to remake it, why try making it “contemporary”? Surely the challenge should bring to bring the game to a new generation, not the IP? Why do publishers think game and IP are somehow unrelated?

We’re in a for heck of a show today, ladies and gentlemen. It’s done eight minutes! It’s done twelve minutes! But can it go thirty whole minutes of in-game footage without stopping? We haven’t seen a promotional campaign like this before, ladies and gentlemen – Deus Ex: Human Revolution is trying to go all out, all the way to the top, to show you so much footage that your bruised and battered corneas weep for mercy. Here it is now, ladies and gentlemen, our new heavyweight contender, striding confidently to the ring to the accompaniment of a bombastic little number from Vangelis – it’s the one, the only Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and we’ve got thirty huge minutes of hiding and hitting to look forward to….
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Half-Life – Singularity Collapse is an impressive Half-Life 2 fan movie which you can see below. It’s a first-person movie, and features quite a bit of the protagonist looking at his hands, for some reason. Fortunately it’s also heavy on the action, including a Highway 17 style buggy driving sequence, which is particularly awesome. It’s not short on the special effects, either, with a bonkers hi-tech reactor sequence, explosions, HUD weirdness, and lots of explosions and gunplay. Worth a watch, I would say.
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While SOE don’t seem ready to reveal the exact business model for Planetside 2, they have said that the game will have a “free component” and also a cash shop. Speaking to Planetside Universe Smedley said:

There will be a cash shop for the game however the goal is not to sell power. For example we would sell things like customization because we would like there to be a massive amount of ways to customize your characters. So people could recognize you or your outfit out of a group. We will not sell a more powerful gun or vehicle.

Quite what this means isn’t clear, although it sounds promising. I am hoping it will mean that we get free reserves to keep the numbers up and a premium option for the more dedicated players.

Further proof that you should believe every rumour you read comes with the non-shock news that EA have bought PopCap. Perhaps the real shock here is for how much: $750 million.

Man, Simon PopCap and family are rich tonight!

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Free to play – and frankly fairly okay – space shooter MMO Black Prophecy has expanded today. The expansion is called EPISODE 1: INFERNO IN TULIMA, and I think it is called that to make it sound exciting. The trailer, which you can see below, is also clearly designed to make it seem exciting. I don’t know what is going on here, but it seems like the company who make this game want you, and all of the rest of us, to think their game is exciting. Anyway, the expansion adds a new sector to explore, but perhaps more importantly it does a lot of general tweaking to the game, including new missions, new weapons, new skills, and overhauled communications system, and a customisable UI.

The game is now also available in North America, apparently. Isn’t that right, North Americans? If it is not right, then I am sorry.
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For a trailer claiming to be about conspiracy, there’s an awful lot of punching in the latest of over seven hundred million trailers for Deus Ex: Human Revolution. I think if you strung all the trailers together it would last longer than playing the game. But it matters none, as this is once again very intriguing. Oh, if this game isn’t good I’m going to Montreal and I’m going to pinch the arms of every single person at Eidos. EVERY SINGLE ONE. You’ve been warned, Eidos Montreal.

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Promising build’n'bash’n'badger game Stronghold 3 has moved first from a Spring then to a Summer and then September release date and now to a nebulous ‘Autumn’ release date – which is bad news for anyone who, like me, is currently reading A Dance With Dragons and was hoping for a bit of brutal castle sieging afterwards. However, the change in date brings with it a shiny new trailer, and news that it bears a whole new publisher.
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Also in new screenshot news come these images from Red Orchestra 2: Heroes Of Stalingrad. Due out 30th August, the sequel from Tripwire boasts improved multiplayer, and a Stalingrad campaign using the multiplayer maps, which will let you play as either the Germans or the Russians – two sides that don’t get much attention in first-person gaming. You can see the latest images below, along with a peak of the Rising Storm mod that Tripwire are sponsoring.

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