Coming Clean
By Jim Rossignol on July 8th, 2011.
Discovering that this game existed was a moment of perverse joy for me. I knew that it would be deeply boring – it really is – and that I would have to play it extensively for no reason other than to take joy in being quite deliberately boring. It’s the kind of non-challenge I relish, and I gleefully set about compiling a diary of the events – or lack thereof – in the life of a simulatory street-cleaner.
Read on to find out how I got on with that.
By Jim Rossignol on July 8th, 2011.
A sandbox game with real sand. Developers Monobanda explain: “Monobanda has created a sandbox game with real sand, in which up to four players at a time control a ball that can roll around, jump and glide through the Mimicry world. Tiny virtual characters roll around in the sandbox. You can build obstacles for them or create a racetrack.” Yes, you play in your sandpit to create the game’s environment.
This bizarre and extraordinarily clever augmented reality project has a video and a couple more images, which you can see below. (Via the almighty Indie Games.)
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AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH
By John Walker on July 8th, 2011.
Here’s something you’re seeing here first. A new trailer for Serious Sam 3 BFE, following the life of one of the game’s many headless kamikazes. Because that’s the correct way to trail an old-school shooter – a documentary about a headless man with bombs for hands. We’re all agreed on that. So head below to take a world exclusive peek at the new video.
By Jim Rossignol on July 8th, 2011.
The latest DICE blog on Battlefield 3 reveals a few bits and pieces about the game, specifically explaining about the new classes. Medic is gone, as they explain: “all the abilities such as medkits and defibrillators typically found on the Medic class are now incorporated into Assault. It makes sense that the class on the frontline will be able to revive fallen team mates, right?” The class that returns is LMG-toting Support, and that also adds another feature to the game: suppressing fire. “When you lay down fire in close vicinity to an enemy, the incoming barrage will show up as a graphical blur effect on his screen to stress him and let him know it’s not safe to pop out from behind cover. Just as importantly, this mechanic also affects his character’s in-game firing accuracy, making him less of a threat by using real world tactics.” You even get XP for this action. I wonder if that will feel “real” enough to work. I hope so, because it could really make suppressive fire a key tool. I’ll be interested to see it in action.
By John Walker on July 8th, 2011.
3D printing is one of those things that I’m not quite sure if I believe in. I mean, sure, I’ve watched videos of the devices printing, and yes, I’ve held physical objects that have been printed. But still, come on, it doesn’t sound very realistic, does it? Via Alice Taylor, who is currently creating a business around the mystical world of such printing (gratuitous plug for my podcast interviewing her and Cory Doctorow), comes a video of MIT students figuring out a way to print 3D objects created in Minecraft. And via that comes a video of someone printing 3D objects within Minecraft.
By John Walker on July 8th, 2011.
After Daedalic Entertainment’s flawed but appealing The Whispered World, it seemed there was hope for translations from this developer. They even hired an established UK writer (Steve Ince) to redraft the script into English English, adding in new jokes to make it work in this location. From the demo of A New Beginning, no such thing has taken place, making what is already an extremely clunky game feel like a parody.
By Jim Rossignol on July 8th, 2011.
That’s a fourteen minute look at what’s going on in the flying city of Columbia, via GameTrailers. If yesterday’s huge interview with Mr Levine was anything to go by, this is worth paying attention to. The “tears” stuff – where things are dragged through from another reality – are shown off here, and they’re quite the thing. There’s so much in here: combat, airships, the skylines, crazy contraptions, decisions being made in an almost-RPG style, and lots more Elizabeth.
Frankly it looks insane and fascinating, and leaps forward Bioshock. The buildings bobbing up and down is quite a disconcerting thing, though. Hmm.
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By Jim Rossignol on July 8th, 2011.
Last night in Las Vegas SOE officially announced Planetside 2. You can see the trailer and first screenshots below, and then check back at 2pm for more details. It’s set in Auraxis once again, and the three familiar factions are back. It’s looking very much like a straight remake. No sign of the mech things, either, but Reavers zooming about and men shooting each other very much in evidence. We understand it will be PC only.
Go take a look.
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By Jim Rossignol on July 7th, 2011.
I love it when people do stuff like this. In order to celebrate the first eleven weeks (because that’s a nice round number?) of man-death in their downloadable jetpackathon, Section 8: Prejudice, TimeGate have compiled an infographic of their stats pulled from Gamespy. It’s totally disposable, and pure marketing guff, but kind of fun in a “it only took twenty million-man hours to build the Panama Canal and that’s how much time we sink into Windows Minesweeper every day” sort of way. We should totally do an RPS infographic: “57,123,119 Angry Men Angered in the first six months…”
Check it out below.
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By Jim Rossignol on July 7th, 2011.
You might remember that scintillating pretty FPS-tower defence hybrid Sanctum rather tickled our fancy. Quinns said: “It’s the single best tower defense game I can remember playing since Defense Grid: The Awakening.” And it was already co-op, but now it’s 4-way co-op thanks to a new patch. And even more enticingly it’s now 75% off in the Steam summer sale. £2.50! That is only 250 pence more than it would be if it were free.
Watch the trailer below for further elucidation, and go read the Wot I Think if you need further convincing.
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Slow & steady
By Alec Meer on July 7th, 2011.
Continuing a diary of attempts to best free indie MMO Realm of the Mad God
Day two? No, you must be mistaken. There was never any day two, and thus no need to write about it. And if you ever hear that there was a day two, or anything about how many heroes tragically met their end within mere minutes as a result of a reckless player trying to rush their way to the top as quickly as possible, you’ve heard wrong.
(Please don’t tell anyone what I did.)
Day two? No, no. This is day three, sunshine. A day of glittering achievement and untold adventure. This day, surely, will be a good day.
Today, I will not be weedy archer or a cowardly rogue or frail magician: I shall be a warrior. Strong and robust, built for survival. This is his song.
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