Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Good Morning! I hope you’re all in the mood for some cheap games, because as usual I’ve been scouring the internet, looking for discounted downloads worthy of being poured into this here Bargain Bucket. Grab a cup, and read on to see what the best download offers are this weekend, and hop along to SavyGamer.co.uk if you want more. Read the rest of this entry »

Now that is an efficient headline. But just to unpack it a bit: Interplay and Overhaul have remade offbeat 3D action-adventure MDK2 with modernised graphics. They’re going to be releasing it next month for $14.99, and it will only be appearing on Beamdog. Seems like a bit of an odd decision to me, but I suppose the smaller games portals have to find some way to drive traffic to their sites.

We’ll take a fresh look at the game when it comes out. I wonder if it will cling on to the same problems as the original.

Remember dieselpunky web-based airship defence game Guns Of Icarus? Well it turns out there was more to that project that we might have imagined. Developers Muse Games have announced that they are developing an MMO based on the idea, with players able to enter a post-apocalyptic world in which airship combat is the norm, and where sky-bandits threaten to plunge you into the barren world below. Players take on the roles of various crew archetypes aboard the airships. Sounds intriguing! There’s a website here, although no in-game shots yet, and it talks about airship PvP and exploration of the wider world. There’s also a cinematic trailer which I’ve posted below. Lovely stuff.
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It’s GamesCom next week in Cologne, and that means we’re about to be engulfed in a torrent of news. A few early trailers and so on have started turning up, and he first of these to attach to our GamesCom 2011 tag will be this: Jagged Alliance Online (not to be confused with Jagged Alliance: Back In Action). Gamigo’s MMOG take on the tactical squad-combat game is going to be properly revealed at the show – having been announced at the show last year – but today we get a bit of a glimpse of it in action. Developer’s Cliffhanger are producing an isometric combat game that is reminiscent of the original series, even if not quite the same sort of turn-based affair. Go take a look, and we’ll round up some more details next week.
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As rumoured this morning, there really is a new Counter-Strike coming. And it’s not some side-project: this sounds like a major sequel-come-relaunch of Counter-Strike for a new generation of manshoot fans. Valve have just solemnly and officially declared its existence to the world – Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, aka CS: GO, is indeed its war-lovin’ name. It will feature new maps, modes, weapons, characters and social gaming features such as matchmaking and leaderboards, on top of assorted updates to tried and tested stuff like de_dust.

It’s due on PC and on the two fatter consoles. Which, I think, means this is Valve looking Call of Duty square in the eye and telling it to step outside.
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If you’re the kind of chap who wants to talk to other chaps about redstone and biomes, you’ll be glad to hear that it’s full steam ahead for MineCon 2011, the first official Minecraft convention. It’s to be held in Vegas on November 18-19 (which means RPS won’t be there. How about a Britlander one too?) and tickets will cost you $99. That’s a lot of money, but it does mean you’ll be in the company of all manner of like-minded sorts as Minecraft finally, fully launches. There’ll also be keynotes from Notch, contests, folks in costumes, folks with foam pickaxes and merch. Of course there’ll be merch.

More details and ticket purchasing here.

We’ve just had word from the electronic beak of Ubisoft. It says: “You’ll need to register online once when you install the game. You’ll then be able to play without an online connection.” So there you have it: Trackmania 2 is free from always-on tyranny! The game is out on the 14th. I am gonna race so fast.

Anyone else got any exciting DRM news? I’m all out.

The moves! They are becoming clearer. As many of you speculated, it seems that the retail version of Battlefield 3 will indeed require Origin to be installed on your computer in order to play it. Oh Twitter, how did we find out brief snippets of information (or organise anarchic uprisings against the grim hegemony of shoe shops) before you existed?

This admission by EA probably goes some way to explaining why the game won’t appear on Steam, because it would basically entail two Steam-like systems being folded around the game, and they would inevitably fight like giant sperm whales versus kraken in the magnetic depths of your hard-drive. Such a conflict would undoubtedly cause electronic terribleness to occur, and no-one wants that. That’s my understanding of the technical situation, at least. I suspect there are also overriding commercial monsters pulling the levers behind the scenes. This is the game could spread Origin about in the game-o-sphere, just as Counter-Strike and Half-Life 2 propagated Steam.

Anyone have any thoughts on this? I am betting that you do.