Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Say what you like about the dangers and problems of Steam’s digital distribution hegemony. Grumble about the lack of Half-Life 3. Point out that Valve are currently just making remakes. But interviews like this one remind us why Valve are where they are: “Premature monetization is the root of all evil,” says Gabe. “I think not sucking is way more of an important thing to pay attention to first.” That Valve business plan? Apparently just an enthusiasm for games: “Dota 2 is really a result of Erik and a couple other guys being huge fans of IceFrog. So that’s not like this incredibly, deeply reasoned business strategy.”

Lot’s more gems through the link, such as how Portal 2 sold more on PC than on the consoles, or how they love to talk “enemy design or user generated content” with Doug Church, but totally haven’t said what the Looking Glass veteran is working on… (Although he got a credit on Portal 2.)

The delayed beta sign-ups for The Secret World are now open. You can sign up here. But wow, who put the beta sign-up behind a trailer? Obviously if I have clicked “sign up for the beta” I already decided I am interested! Anyway, you should be interested, not because of the trailer, but because of this RPS preview of the game. The game is out in April, so either the beta itself isn’t going to kick off for a while, or it’s going to be a very long beta.

Notch has been writing about why Minecraft hasn’t appeared on Steam. I assumed it was because it wasn’t finished, but apparently not. It’s because of those pesky terms of service: “Being on Steam limits a lot of what we’re allowed to do with the game, and how we’re allowed to talk to our users. We (probably?) wouldn’t be able to, say, sell capes or have a map market place on minecraft.net that works with steam customers in a way that keeps Valve happy. It would effectively split the Minecraft community into two parts, where only some of the players can access all of the weird content we want to add to the game.” (Were we expecting a vanity items shop in MC?)

Also, remind you of anything? Discussions with Valve are apparently ongoing.

This just came in from Valve: “The PC version of the product will be powered with Steamworks for both the digital and tangible versions of the game and, as with all Steamworks titles, offline play will also be supported along with Auto-Updating, Achievements, and more. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will also support dedicated servers on day 1.”

Better, I suppose. The game is out November 8th.

Come on now, you must have had some time to play DXHR by now? If so, head below and tell us what you thought of it. Let’s assume SPOILERS for this comment thread, shall we?

If you want to know our thoughts, check out The RPS Verdict, John’s thoughts on the game, my own story of lethality versus non-lethality, and Alec’s explanation of why he is not Adam Jensen.

Anyway, how are you getting on with it?

Paradox are totally making a new game! There’s no stopping those crazy Swedes as they announce that Warlock will be a “turn-based strategy game set in the fantastical land of Ardania, popularized in Majesty franchise.” It seems like it’s going to be a game of empire-building and army-gathering, with players battling against rival wizards for (turn-based) control of the land.

The game is scheduled for “Q2 2012″, but there are no real images or details other than the fact that it will contain units, races, and spells. Vague teaser-type trailer below!
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An announcement on the Torchlight II site confirms that the game will ship for $20. Here’s the kind of statement that you would think more company bosses releasing PC games would include in their press release: “It’s always been our goal to provide exceptional value for the price,” says Max Schaefer, CEO of Runic Games. “Everyone who wants to play Torchlight II will be able to comfortably afford to do so, and they’ll be able to play with their friend online or via a LAN, or play single player offline, all with no further purchases.” Ha.

The Embermage page (the final class to be revealed and inevitable ranged spellcaster) is here.

UPDATE: PAX trailer added.
And what a handsome trailer, below. (That bit at the start with the cliff! You’d better be able to do that…) Information about the beta can be found here, and there’s a sign up here. I remain pretty excited about this, even in light of Planetside 2 possibly being awesome. It’s going to be fascinating to watch some prime MMOFPS candidates duke it out in the coming year or two.
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I had a fun weekend blowing the minds of distant relatives by showing them that the PC can actually run games better than the Xbox. They were pretty sceptical, but a brief trip through hi-resolution land later and they were nodding along amiably. I tried to show my teenage cousin the stealthy, choice-rich excitements of DXHR, too, but he wasn’t convinced. “I just use my laptop for Facebook games,” he said. Sigh. But that reminded me that that I wanted to ask you lot if there are actually any good Facebook games now. Stuart has been insisting that gaudy retro-remakes of games like Pacman-S and New Rally-XS are actually worth visiting Facebook for, and he’s probably right, but I suspect there’s probably some more RPSy games out there.

I mean there has to be, right? Anyone?