Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Full scream ahead! Ahem. Actually, I think they’re mostly diesels, but that should not distract from the fact that Trains Vs Zombies has just been released as DLC for Railworks 3. My mind is still boggling because I only just discovered that this is a thing that now exists. But it is true and to prove I am not deluded, observe the visual evidence below! You could also just follow the link above, but stick with me AND ENJOY THE RIDE BECAUSE THERE IS ALWAYS A POSSIBILITY THAT IT COULD BE YOUR LAST RIDE!

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With all the talk of genuinely blood-curdling experiences over here, I bring you something else in the build up to Halloween. Lego. This short trailer for Lego Harry Potter Yrs 5-7 doesn’t actually show any gameplay, but it does capture one of the things I like about the Lego games; they don’t buckle under the occasional self-importance of the franchises they depict.

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Arrowhead and Paradox have announced a new expansion for Magicka. It’s called The Stars Are Left, and it’s taking things a bit Lovecraftian. They explain: “Designed for players who love to craft the hundreds of different spells available in Magicka, this new campaign will pit up to four wizards at once against a horror-mystery inspired by the popular Cthulhu Mythos. The Stars are Left will boast a much requested feature from the players – a new adventure campaign, including several terrifying new enemies, bosses awakened from the depths of insanity, and several other miscellaneous Miskatonic minions.” Only the host of a game will need the DLC for others to be able to play, apparently. So that’s good.

Fairly pointless teaser trailer below. Hooray!
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Earlier today I mentioned, via the tweetohorn, that I was having trouble launching Battlefield 3′s single-player because the Battlelog website was offline or something. My confusion came about because the game’s single player directs you to a web page to launch itself. But it turns out that actually you just have to switch Origin to “offline” mode to get it running. Ha. Yeah. It’s a feature, you see.

Sigh.

It should also be mentioned that while all the stat tracking and stuff is a-mazing, Battlelog also the server browser, for some reason. Yep. The server browser for the game, is in your internet browser, and is a website. Not that we’re unused to external apps, but… well it’s no All-Seeing Eye, I tell you that. I miss you, All-Seeing Eye.

They’re coming out of the great steaming vents in the floor! They’re waiting around every corner, scuttling in the shadows! They’re standing nonchalantly in the middle of empty rooms waiting until we open the door. ‘They’ are the assorted xenonasties that must be xenocided by your XenoSquad in XenoSquad. XENO. Free, turn-based tactics, aliens exploding into meaty chunks. All these things and not a great deal more! But who needs more? Play it here.

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It’s an uphill struggle to convince those outside the games industry that it is, in some ways, a mature medium for mature, thoughtful people. Clearly the most difficult element of that hill is the incredible immaturity and thoughtless nature of so much of the games industry. You need not look far in any direction to see examples of sexism (the PC has yet to be blessed with Arkham City’s delightful attitude toward female characters), misogyny, racism, and of course homophobia. Something, for reasons inexplicable, Blizzard chose to feature on the main stage of their World Of Warcraft-based celebrations at this year’s BlizzCon. Via whoever’s extraordinary decision, edited clips from a homophobic diatribe were broadcast to the crowds (albeit loosely bleeped out) which encouraged those who play Alliance characters to kill themselves. Followed by a song.

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Here’s the story so far. Interplay are developing a Fallout MMO title and Bethesda are attempting to block further development through application of The Law. When their previous injunction failed, Bethesda took things all the way to the United States District Court of Appeals, claiming that the previous court had “misapplied the law”. If it was indeed a misapplication, the very same slip up has occurred once more. Stop misapplying Law, courts, you’re getting it all over the drapes.

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It’s Satan’s birthday on Monday, which means it’s time to sit inside and pretend no-one’s home while the neighbourhood kids prowl for candy. But what games should we be playing while we make absent? It seems to me like Costume Quest is the thematically cute suggestion, and Amnesia is the Actually Scary suggestion. But what else? Your thoughts, please, folks.

We’re receiving reports that new Darkspore players are unable to play the game, and haven’t been able to play for over nine days, due to an error with the online authentication system. There’s an ongoing thread about the issue here, dated from October 18th. There’s currently no word on a fix.

Of course EA’s position on Darkspore was that it was an online game, and that it wasn’t DRM so much as how you played with other players, if you wanted to play with them. That means solo play is online, even though (as a Diablo clone) there was no reason for it to be. Diablo III will be using a similar system. I do not understand why any company thinks it’s acceptable to fail to provide an offline option for a game that can (and will) be played offline and solo by the people who purchased it.