Archive for August, 2011
By Jim Rossignol on August 26th, 2011.
Sanctum, the ludicrously pretty first-person tower defence game which we exposed to our critical bits just here, can be won right here, right now! Yes, a dozen lucky RPS-reading webnodes will be able to plug themselves into the game by emailing us the answer to this question: the word “sanctum” means holy site. What is your holy site, readers? You know, the one you would defend with towers. Tell us, and the most interesting answers, as judged by an RPS editor, will win Steam codes.
Usual rules apply. Closing date is midnight of 30th of August.
Coffee Stain Studios, Compo, Sanctum.
Heavens Above
By Adam Smith on August 26th, 2011.
Before I get into the nitty-gritty, yes, we do know when long-zoom 4X indie spectacle Star Ruler was originally available to buy. However, anyone who has followed the game can tell you that what you get for your money now is a different beast to what you got at that nascent time. What could be regarded as the actual launch is now here. We are all familiar with the terror of unfinished games and the horror of 0-day patches. It is easy to believe the entire global computing infrastructure has been put in place so that developers could ship as soon as they got tired and wanted a holiday. Star Ruler did turn up in that sort of unsatisfactory state, but the developers admitted that and they put out a representative demo as well. Since then, their support of the product has been exemplary. While I may not agree with everything they’ve done, the fact that they continue to listen and improve the game is exactly what we so often demand and so rarely receive. But the play’s the thing, so here’s wot I think.
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4X, Blind Mind Studios, feature, review, space, Star Ruler, Strategy, wot i think.
By Adam Smith on August 26th, 2011.
Bah. There’s always something to grumble about. This time it’s the not entirely unexpected news that Skyrim DLC will have at least 30 days timed exclusivity on them thar three hundred and sixties. Two pieces of DLC have been announced and this mini-delay is almost the sum total of what we know about them. We don’t even know when they are released at all. It’s a timed delay to announced but undated DLC for a game that comes out on November 11th. Words on the internet speak of their size as being “substantial” so maybe it’s best that they don’t arrive too soon. After all, the game itself is rumoured to be supersubstantial and we’ll all need to get through that first. On the bright side, at least this means they are definitely confirmed for PC and we don’t have to worry that we’ve been abandoned, even temporarily, as we were made to with New Vegas.
bethesda, Microsoft, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
That's the id talking
By Alec Meer on August 26th, 2011.
Immediately after sitting down for a surprising hour with id’s forthcoming shooter Rage, I collared creative director Tim Willits for a quick chat. Covered: how close to finishing the game id are, how they hope to do DLC right, how people are playing the game in different ways, how… noteworthy he found some of the game’s female voice actors, and Rage’s ‘imperfect is good’ approach to character design.
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feature, Id, interview, RAGE, tim willits.
Verdict: Hacked
By RPS on August 26th, 2011.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution is out in the UK today! Jim, Kieron, Alec, and John have assembled to pass judgement on it. They like it. They like it a lot. But not without reservation. Read on to hear about why a wall is a man’s best augment, and why Kieron is feeling all dirty after kissing Geralt.
SPOILER WARNING: There are minor plot spoilers within. Endings and plot twists are not discussed, but there are a number of narrative elements mentioned as well as a few mechanical spoilers. Just beware. You know. As usual.
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Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Eidos Montreal, feature, review, Square Enix, The RPS Verdict.
By Adam Smith on August 26th, 2011.
A potentially habitable planet has been discovered outside our solar system and, right now, the eXoplanetary Research Institute is looking for volunteers to explore the surface. You’d be controlling a rover and gathering data on the planet and its inhabitants, whether flora or fauna. Sound good? That’s the premise of the new game from Lazy 8 Studios, makers of Cogs. It’s called Extrasolar and it’s nigh on impossible to figure out how it’ll play at the moment since the marketing takes the form of a fictional website for a fictional company. We’re promised a narrative experience and it sounds like players will work together to unveil the planet’s mysteries over time. The website is a good read and there’s at least a polite nod toward actual space science history. Hopefully that will carry through to the game. Trailer/recruitment video below.
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cogs, Extrasolar, lazy 8 studios, Space Science.
MMO money, MMO problems
By B Caldwell on August 26th, 2011.
A long, long time ago last Wednesday, I got a message from Jim. I enjoy Jim’s messages because they come with the promise of coin. [We call this the "the editor called me" intro in the business. War, eh? What's it good for. Don't RTS names sound the same? Is the adventure dead? Is the PC Dead? Etc. - Ed] And he is not one to waste his breath, like a lot of people. He simply asked, “Age of Empires Online: review?” I wrote him back 15,000 words on ‘How much I would like to review Age of Empires Online.’ He replied: “Sounds good.” And now here we are. I will now tell you what I thought about the game. Because that is how these things go.
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Age of Empires Online, feature, free, Gas-Powered-Games, Microsoft, review.
By Jim Rossignol on August 26th, 2011.
Charlie Knight got in touch to let us know he’d created a demo version of his game, a rather splendid-looking arena shooter called Scoregasm, specifically for RPS. He explains: “The demo contains the first 5 sets of levels in the main part of the game, which should take most people about 30 mins to an hour to see all of, and get a taste of how the game plays.” You can get it here: Windows / Mac / Linux. Video of the game in action below.
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Charlie Knight, demo, free, Scoregasm.
By Jim Rossignol on August 26th, 2011.
Two versions of the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive trailer are below – an “online edit” and what appears to be a fuller version of the trailer, possibly from Gamescom. It really is a hi-fi remake of the Source game, judging by the movement and combat physics in this trailer, but there are a few changes evident. There’s also a bit of a feature list, including “cross-platform play”, which brings back memories of Sega getting me to play against Dreamcast owners at Quake III, when I was on a mouse and keyboard. Goodness me.
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Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Valve.
By Jim Rossignol on August 26th, 2011.
2K Games have released the full twenty minutes of the XCOM E3 2011 demo, with the developers narrating what is going on. It explains some of the background and story, shows off the underground base, the agent selection process, the mission selection, the squad combat, and elements of the problem solving involved in the “battlescape” the game sets up. This is the most detail we’ve seen of the tactical elements of the game, and it’s definitely worth watching.
Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
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2K games, 2K Marin, xcom.
By Adam Smith on August 26th, 2011.
If you’d asked me three days ago, “how many bars in America do you think screen live games of Starcraft II?”, I would have said “none of them”. Then the Wall Street Journal ran a story about Starcraft II matches being shown in sports bars “across the country”. That makes it sound bigger than it is, like some sort of craze sweeping the nation. In reality, as the article later makes clear, there are “more than a dozen” bars screening live games. More than a dozen probably means thirteen but it’s still a lot more than “none of them”. I don’t think this sort of thing happens on these British Isles yet but it did make me think about the different ways we enjoy this grand old hobby.
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barcraft, bars, drinking, random musings, Starcraft II.
