Rock, Paper, Shotgun

We saw the Gamescom trailer from forthcoming MMORTS End Of Nation last week (although reposted below), but there’s also a piece by Petroglyph talking about the metagame (also below) – which is the whole conquering-the-world thing that the game has going on. They talk about how you can deploy anywhere on the map to help friends out in the their conquests, and talk a bit about how that wider conflict will play out. We also learned last week that the game will indeed be free-to-play and so if Dan’s message about the game from Gamescom (which read simply “strong”) is to be believed, then we might be in for a cheap treat of RTS persistence.
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If you want to see the demonstration that was shown to journalists at Gamescom over the past couple of days then you need look no further than the crypt in the foundations beneath this post. Nine (count ‘em!) minutes of the next Assassin’s Creed game in action. There is snow, sneaking, and some stabbing. It looks lovely, but then I always think that about the AC games, and then I play them and oh.
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The Gamescom* Planetside 2 trailer is below. There is SOMETHING familiar about it. It doesn’t show much of the new bases, or more than a couple of vehicles, sadly. Just a lot of pew-pew sidearm action. That said, there’s plenty to suggest that this is going to be very like the original, with the tower under siege, a torrent of gunfire and a flight of reavers to finish things off. There are a few glimpses of familiar weapons, too. Familiar indeed.
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Greetings from Germany, frauleins. I’m out here at Gamescom, in theory in the historic city of Cologne but in practice spending my days intermittently staggering and sprinting across a labyrinthine convention centre the size of a small moon.

I’m here to see games: a lot of games. My laptop’s hard drive is littered with half-incomprehensible Word documents hamfistedly touch-typed as I gazed upon demos of exhaustingly noisy big-budget shooters, intriguingly odd Euro-strategy games, and an aerial combat/RPG/turn-based strategy/boardgame hybrid in which you can marry a lipstick-wearing skeleton.
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Update: Lo-Ping are claiming that Steam is offering discounts to those who apply. Edit: A claim which is increasingly proven to be false.

Astonishing. Ubisoft have yet to respond to our questions today, when we asked why From Dust was requiring an internet connection to launch despite their making it very clear it would not. They also have yet to respond to our queries as to why it hasn’t been properly ported, despite the weeks of last-minute delay for the PC version. And now, incredibly, rather than apologising to the huge numbers of people who had been deceived by the previous untrue claims about the game’s DRM, they’ve instead just deleted the post, and put up a new one. From Dust requires an internet connection to launch, and tough shit if you bought it when they were saying otherwise. (Edit: They’ve now somewhat confusingly edited in the original post to the new post.)

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It’s tough to make Paradox’s glacial but intricate historical strategies look interesting in a trailer, but those plucky chaps have had a go for their Gamescom flag-waving attempt. Crusader Kings II, which puts you at the controls of a medieval European dynasty, is really all about the menus, and the trailer doesn’t deny that, but it does editorialise a bit and try to show how the game is telling the story of the 1066 Norman invasion. It doesn’t quite go for the big finish, but that’s history. The game is still a way off, too, as it’s due early 2012.

Right, so anyway, I’ve actually run out of trailer reblogging juice today, so this will have to be the last one, ‘lest my glands need replacing. I’ve got Red Orchestra 2 and Trackmania 2 betas to wrestle with, too. So serious business ahead, indeed.
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This looks a bit lovely. Frozenbyte have joined in on the “Let’s put out a new video for Gamescom” party, and have got a lush new trailer with a first proper look at their Trine sequel, which is hopefully due some time next month. Have a good old gaze at this: Read the rest of this entry »

Planetside 2′s developers were apparently abroad at Gamescom 2011, and our own sinister agents arranged a furtive rendezvous for discussion of the game. We’ll report back on what happened there soon. Meanwhile some images have escaped, and I’ve posted them in a little gallery for you to see, below. Click for full size, obviously.
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Square Enix appear to have reversed their decision on region-locking the retail copies of Deus Ex: Human Revolution in Europe and the UK, which we’d noted yesterday. An Eidos forum post by Square Enix “mastering manager” Jason Walker says: “We’re aware of some discussion regarding the planned region-locking of boxed PC versions of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and after careful review we have decided not to implement this in the UK/Europe. Please note, this plan only related to PC boxed games, and not digital or console editions.”

I’ve not been paying enough attention, but I don’t remember the Facebook vote for what the Female Shepard should look like being in multiple stages. Perhaps it always was, or perhaps it was a reaction to the phenomenon of this article by Kim Richards, but either way the process is now extended to include a choice for Shepard’s hair colour. Yes, it really has come to this. It’s interesting to note that the blonde hair that was thought to have motivated much of the first round win is currently very far behind. I’m very pleased to report that red hair is currently far ahead, with black hair in second place, far ahead of blonde and brown. (Now I’m just going to build a fort around me to protect myself from my blonde fiancée.)