Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Codies are apparently working on another F1 game (as distinct from the standard full-priced simulatoryish racing game offering) which will be a free-to-play thingum snappily entitled F1 Online. It is powered by that lovely Unity engine, and as such will appear in a browser, allowing you to manage a Formula One team but do some fancy (what appears to be top-down Micro-Machines style) racing against other online petrolnerds. F1 will, of course, play host to the names (and maybe even the wealthy faces) of the actual drivers, as well as having up to date teams and circuits from this season.

Interested? Well, you can’t play it yet, but you can sign up for news over here. It’s due early next year.

Well, looky-here. Valve’s put out the winners for its Portal 2/The National make-a-video contest – which is a bit of a relief, as people kept mailing us with their videos like we had some sort of judiciary power. We don’t! We only have that over the life and/or death of every sentient being on the planet. We cannot, repeat cannot, decide the winners of other people’s competitions.

So, here are the two victors, which I shall refer to as Sad Puppet and Cut-Up Lab Rat. Warning: watching them will require you to listen to a maudlin piano song that may affect your mood for the worse.
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Kalypso send word that they are going to be publishing a 4X space game by Novacore Studios in Q1 of next year. The description of it makes Legends Of Pegasus sound like every 4X game ever made: “The 4X space simulation will put players in control of the last surviving humans, as they explore space in a quest to expand their galactic empire. Players will conquer and explore an incredibly detailed 3D universe as they use economic, diplomatic and scientific means to expand their empires. Through a deep technology tree, players will unlock new technologies to customize their ships and prepare their fleets for the next alien encounter…” No winged horses to be seen, so far.

But I suppose it might have something neat going on that we don’t know about just yet. Novacore themselves are some kind of German academic spin off from University Duisburg-Essen, so they’ve no previous history of games for us to infer anything from. Feature list below!
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Games about shooting people in the head remain moderately popular, it seems, because Sniper Elite is back, Back! BACK! And baddies are going to get shot in all kinds of locations, but particularly in the head. Not only that, but the new game is being self-funded by Rebellion, whose bossman Jason Kingsley has said they wanted to create a PC-specific version which “will be built specifically for PC to take advantage of the more flexible and powerful hardware, with strong support directly from Rebellion.” So that’s good. It’ll be coming out on Steam, and possibly retail at some point. Assuming the shops are not on fire, I suppose.

505 Games, who have taken on the console version of the game, have celebrated its existence by releasing a grisly cinematic trailer, entitled “One Bullet Can Change History”, which features a cut-away sequence of a Nazi’s head, showing the bullet going through his spine and the base of his skull. Mmm! Lovely.
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A thread on the Steam forums seems to confirm that rumours about a new Counter-Strike game – Counter-Strike: Global Offensive – are true, with commenter “Cliffe” (who is Valve designer chap Jess Cliffe) saying “Global Offensive”. There have been a bunch of other references to it, on Twitter and so forth.

And update on the ESEA Facebook page reads “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive… More info in the morning.” So it looks like we can expect something later today.

Wargame is what Eugen Systems, the chaps behind RUSE, did next. It’s a real-time strategy based on the Cold War, and goodness me, it’s looks hot. The scenario is very similar to World In Conflict, albeit a tiny bit more serious about it. Publishers Focus Home explain: “Wargame: European Escalation pits NATO (USA and Western Europe) against the Warsaw Pact (Soviet and Eastern European countries) in battles that explore “what could have been.” The specter of nuclear warfare loomed large over the real Cold War, but this catastrophic outcome was the ultimate last resort as everyone knew that the first one to start nuclear hostilities would end up wiped out just the same. Large, armored offensives through Europe would certainly have been the core of this hypothetical war; and this is what the game’s explosive campaign takes you through!”

Word is that the game is due in November, but it has also been confirmed for Q1 next year, so I guess that’ll get firmed up soon. We’re seeing it at GamesCom, anyway, so more news then, but I – based on my experiences with RUSE – am excited about this one.
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Nadeo’s excitable racing-game sequel, Trackmania 2, will arrive next month, Ubisoft have announced. Pre-ordering types will be able to get their hands on it before then, however, because the beta – which is accessed via pre-ordering – will start on August 17th. Pre-orders cost $24.99 or £19.99. UPDATE: abhishek notes in the comments below that Nadeo have said the game is “unconfirmed” for Steam, and any news on that will come “later”. A bit of an odd decision there, but it seems to be due to Nadeo’s own launch of Maniaplanet and their own updating software system – a topic which seems to be causing a fair bit of upset for PC titles not making it onto Steam of late.

Anyway, it’s been too long, Trackmania. I can’t wait to go hurtling around your impossible racetracks.

Lovely and yet controversy-collecting cuboid puzzler EDGE has arrived on PC, with a shiny-looking rejigged-for-PC version. There’s also a demo out over on the “Steam” videogame distribution system, which I’ve heard is rather popular. We’ll be writing a little more about this game soon, I should imagine.

Gosh, what a busy day.

There is ONE WEEK LEFT to submit your game for the Indie Games Arcade (aka THE ROCK, PAPER, SHOTGUN INDIE GAMES ACRADE ARCADE), which is talking place from 22nd to the 25th of September at Earls Court, as part of the Eurogamer expo. If you are selected then seventy billion people will see your game! Hell, at least half a dozen of those people will be me. Want some more details? Read the magically extended version of this post for information provided by dashing Indie Games Arcade organiser, David Hayward. He’ll organise you right up.
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