Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Twenty-two minutes! That is longer than some wars. It’s a big watch, but I have to admit I am 67.34534% more interested in this fantasy RPG combat game now, having seen a little more of what it offers outside combat, combat, combat. I mean let’s not be tricky about this: there’s a lot of killing beasts going on in the breadth of these twenty-two minutes, but there’s some other stuff within its heaps of character customisation and wandering about in the hub sections of the game. It is also lavishly pretty in places. Possibly even a bit too much lipstick, some would say.

Full thing below, courtesy of the great beast of IGN.
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It’s interesting to see how much one man can do with an engine like UDK. Rob Hale has taken a while to get his twin-stick shooter Waves into a shape that he’s happy with, but the end of the road is close now, and I think it’s actually one of the more interesting UDK projects out there. You can see it in action below. It’ll also be making an appearance at the Eurogamer Expo later this month. The game should be out later this year.
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The order in which information arrives is very confusing. Everyone heard about Deus Ex: Human Revolution’s The Missing Link DLC earlier this week, and today Square have officially announced it. But that means we also get pictures and a video. I’ve augmented the post with the details below. Do you see? I said “augmented the post”. Because in Deus Ex you augment yourself with augments, and so in saying “augmented the post” I’m applying that theme to a piece of writing about the game. It’s a bit of wordplay.

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To be honest, I don’t know all that much about Wurm Online, other than some people of my acquaintance are obsessed with it. One of the things the obsessed said was that really it needed more non-PvP support, and that seems to be what’s happening. The Wurm team have sent word that they are launching “a second server in its Non-PvP Freedom series. This new land, called Deliverance, is smaller than Independence, and is a gentler land ideal for the new explorer.”

Sounds ideal. However it is still the intention of Rolf, Wurm’s creator-overlord, to make the game about combat, as they explain: “Wurm Online will be launching a new combative server strain called Epic, probably in October. Rolf, Wurm’s creator, is keeping the details of the new servers close to his chest, but he has been working for a long time to make these a very special game.” Epic wars will, apparently, be another option alongside the hefty crafting and landscaping options. There’s a trailer of some of the latest stuff below.
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It’s often the case that companies release one trailer that gives away more about how a game will actually play that all the other trailers combined. I get the feeling this might be the one for Rage, which really does seem to convey a lot about how the game is going to look and play, present its UI, and everything else. Perhaps it’s something to do with being able to see a player’s viewpoint and at the same time seeing him from the perspective of his buddy, but I’m getting a really good sense of how the game will deliver itself from this. Take a look and see if you agree.
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Bearded and/or bald bodyguard/cop simulation Max Payne 3 has a release date of March 2012. I suppose that’s a release month rather than date. But the month isn’t the exciting part; the exciting part is that the release date is for both consoleboxes and PC. Hurrah! This is Rockstar, remember, so they might have kept us waiting until 2018. There will also be a multiplayer mode, more details of which below, and there are two new screenshots to look at. It’s a veritable trenchcoat pocket full of details!

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UPDATE: See below for SOE’s comment.
I hadn’t really considered PlanetSide 2‘s payment model. I just assumed it would be the same as PlanetSide. For I am a fool. Speaking to the efficiently named Chinese site 17173.COM, translated somewhat on the equally perfunctory title MMO Site, SOE president John Smedley gave a few hints about how it’s all going to work. And inevitably, it’s some form of Free To Play. But what form?

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It’s becoming increasingly common for ambitious indie projects to invite people into their unfinished worlds, for a price, so that developers can gather feedback and funding. The latest title I’ve spotted that’s hoping to take this approach is Kenshi, a single player “free-roaming squad based RPG” that plonks the player into the sandals of an everyman samurai. It’s at a very early stage but Lo-Fi Games are hoping to release a playable version next month so that people can have immediate access while helping with development. Reading the planned feature list was actually more enjoyable than playing some games and I’d strongly recommend taking a peek at the trailer below. It’s probably not the most cinematic video you’ll see today but it makes its point well.

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I’d planned to have a review of Men Of War: Vietnam up for its release tomorrow, but I won’t be able to. The reason is it has taken the majority of my time for this review getting past the first level. I know, I know, games journalists are terrible at games, but I’ve long taken sad pride in being a bit more hardcore in my tastes and abilities than my peers, and I absolutely love the Men of War games. This time, however, I am slamming my tiny fists down on the table in indignation. I won’t admit defeat, of course, but there it is: this one is too hard, and I am cross. I’ve been chatting to Tim Stone (who is also playing the game for another publication) and he’s long past that first level, leaving me in his dust. Nevertheless he too admits that the difficulty of the full game is “mad”, which does not bode well for my overall consternation. And I envy the brain that could get through this baffling exercise in frustration. Let me explain a bit more about it, below.
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