Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Deus Ex: HR came saddled with a selection of preorder incentives, a phrase that tastes like a little bit of sick in my mouth. The upshot is that if you didn’t buy the game from a grid coordinate during the correct lunar sequence, you may be missing little bits of content. No longer. Now, everything can be yours, provided you’re willing to reach into your digital wallet once more. There are two packs available, neither of which I have any experience with so don’t expect an informed opinion. Personally, I haven’t found the game to be lacking any of the things that are listed below. Have you?
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Okay, here it is: the first Syndicate trailer. Heavy on the dubstep and men in trenchcoats. Gosh, this makes me realise that the original Syndicate came out in the era before there were generally trailers for games.
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This is entirely anecdotal, of course, and entirely unscientific, but 2011 has been the first year since we started RPS that I’ve really noticed a rise in the number of you guys talking about upgrading PCs, or building entirely new PCs. The main reason for this seems to be Battlefield 3, but it’s also been true to a lesser extent for The Witcher 2, and to some degree just for the general upward trend in PC gaming performance.

So then: hands up if you bought a graphics card in the past year! (So since September 2010.) And also let me know how much you spent.

o/ (£199)

The highly anticipated (by me) Might and Magic Heroes VI is out October 11th and, look here, a new trailer has emerged. I was hoping it’d show some detail about the blood and tears reputation system, which might shake up the turn-based gathering and killing, but instead it’s mostly earnest humanoids spouting gubbins like: “You have served your emperor and your dragon.” I’m going to refer to it as HOMM VI, in keeping with tradition, since the new topsy-turvy title shortens to MAMH. HOMM is a happy if somewhat placid noise, resplendently conjuring mountaintop monasteries and lotus-drenched pools by which archers train in the midday sun. MAMH is how certain northern tribes refer to their mothers. Watch this and decide which is more fitting.

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Atlus’ fancy-lookin’ medieval melee-combat game The Cursed Crusade has been delayed until October 25th. I have to admit that I’m definitely interested in playing this one as the swordery looks just right. That said “looks” just right could be very different to the actuality when we get our hands on it. The output from devs Kylotonn Games has, let’s face it, been a bit variable.

A fresh story trailer below sets things up for us, and it features a lot of unsmiling men in armour, doing their thing, as well as some demons.
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Blimey, I just thought I’d have an idle gander at the Signal Ops announcement trailer (below), and I was quite taken aback. You see, well, if any of you remember Hired Guns (primitive FPS with four screens simultaneously), it’s a bit like that but with real-time stealth espionage. There’s shades of a bunch of stuff in there, actually, like a caricatured take on the old squad-infiltration games. The indie team behind the game, who are trying to raise funds for its development, have said: “Signal Ops draws inspiration from classic games such as Commandos, Syndicate, and Deus Ex. We like to call it a multi-perspective shooter. While playing you are able to simultaneously see what your entire squad of agents see.” The game is all about sabotage and suchlike, therefore demanding planning and cunning, and all those other things that we are all the hell over.

Really, this looks promising. I mean it. Go watch the trailer. Fascinating stuff.
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The ‘Humble Bundle’ tag by this point surely guarantees that any indie games blessed with it have the money hose turned on ‘em. Latest is Mode 7 Games’ most excellent tactical strategy affair Frozen Synapse, which has just now gone pay what you want under the trusty Humble banner – but only for the duration of the next 14 days. If you don’t have FZ already, then I thumb my teeth in your general direction. And also suggest you swoop right now.

Beat the average price- currently a genuinely humble $4.17 – and you’ll get the earlier Frozenbyte bundle (comprising Trine, Shadowgrounds, Shadowgrounds Survivor, a preorder for Splot and a prototype of Jack Claw) thrown in for free. Frozen Synapse normally costs $25, so this is a splendid deal from a punter’s point of view. Celebratory announcement video below!
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Release dates and system specifications: least entertaining of all the PC game-related facts. Oh well, it’s worth stating, given this is Rockstar’s first PC game in a while. Ambitious but oddball detective puzzle/action saga LA Noire is coming to PC as ‘the Complete Collection, which includes all the DLC release to date. In terms of PC-specific features, all we’re promised is “increased resolution and graphical detail along with keyboard remapping and gamepad functionality.” Plus NVIDIA 3D Vision support, but whatever.

When’s it due and what kind of PC will it need? I’m totally going to make you click Read The Rest Of This Entry to find out. SUCKER.
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