Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Skyrim has now patched on PC, after the 360 and PS3 saw their version of 1.2 appear earlier in the week. But is it good news? 1.1 managed to break lots of the patches modders had created to fix so many of the tiresome issues Bethesda had left in the epic game, which didn’t win favour. And then today the news broke that the console patch had had some rather unfortunate side effects. Like all defensive buffs no longer working, and the dragons flying backward. No, really. So below you can see what’s meant to be in 1.2 – including a fix for that daft audio crash, mouse improvements, and at flipping last Esc backs out of menus – and then you can let us know if you’ve seen anything strange since the update.

Oh, and dead bodies will no longer show up to your wedding.

Read the rest of this entry »

If you were lucky enough to receive a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive beta invite (and we weren’t) then you’ll be pleased to learn the beta has just begun. We don’t care, because we don’t have an invite, so it’s pretty irrelevant to us. The beta, that arrived via Valve Time a touch late, will scale up (when perhaps we’ll be invited, maybe), aiming for a release “early 2012″. Which could mean any time between now and the eventual entropic destruction of the universe. Apparently it’s only a teeny weeny bit of the game, so doesn’t even require a pre-load for excited people who are able to play it, which we aren’t.

On seeing the news that there was to be a golf game made with the CryEngine3, my heart went a-pitter-pat. I’ve never been a golf game player, beyond the utterly wonderful Mario Advance Golf for the GBA (WHY NO SEQUEL, NINTENDO? WHYYYYYYYY?!), so it’s not like I’m craving playing this generation’s Links. It’s just, well, I’m craving looking at this generation’s Links, I think. Remember when that game came out, with its confusion of photographs and videoed humans made of seventeen pixels? It was like looking at real golf, if you squinted to the point of closing your eyes and imaging real life golf. And while the sport holds no interest for me, I still find it utterly calming, that expanse of green, the satisfaction of seeing the ball fall in the hole… Imagine it. And carry on imagining, because the enigmatically named Tour Golf Online (crappy Facebook page instead of real website, unfortunately) seems to think all the detail should be far, far in the distance.

Read the rest of this entry »

What? What? It can’t really be just me who thinks of A-ha’s finest hour whenever Bohemia’s Take On Helicopters is mentioned, can it? Hmmph. Perhaps I can break the association by writing about the chopper sim’s new demo, which is out now. At 3.6GB it’s faintly monstrous, but the contents sound highly generous. You should take it on, take it on. It’ll be gone, in a day or twooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

(It won’t be gone in a day or two). Full contents and moving images below.
Read the rest of this entry »

Seems like the Activision bossman thinks that Electronic Arts aren’t going to be printing spacebucks with their forthcoming Star Wars MMO, and said as much to his investors. As reported over here by Reuters, Kotick poured scepticism onto the up and coming MMO, saying: “Lucas is going to be the principal beneficiary of the success of Star Wars. We’ve been in business with Lucas for a long time and the economics will always accrue to the benefit of Lucas, so I don’t really understand how the economics work for Electronic Arts.” He went on to say “”If you look at the history of the people investing in an MMO and achieving success, it’s a small number.” And his company are, of course, one of that number, and must be a little nervous about possibly losing subscribers to the enormous Star Wars project. EA, meanwhile, claim that SWTOR will be a success if it hits just 500k subscribers, a figure that looks to be well within their reach.

Magna Mundi sounds like a chewy candy bar from 1980s to my ignorant ears, but no synthetic toffee substitute here: it’s an impending grand strategy game from Paradox, based on the Europa Universalis III engine. ‘Grand’ is not a word bandied about casually, for Mega Munchies boasts no less than 400 playable nations politicking and warring across 300 years. One of them had better be Wales. The game’s due for release early next year, but a closed beta will usher lucky applicants through its Epic Door Of History next month.

But before you can reach lucky applicant status, you must reach applicant status, which you can achieve by popping over here and telling Paradox horrifyingly private details such as when you lost your virginity, your mother’s home telephone number and whether you’ve ever killed an animal. Oh, wait, sorry, I’m thinking of something else. This one just wants name, email and system specs. You also need to sign up for the Paradox forums, mind.

Magna Mundi footagey stuff below, too.
Read the rest of this entry »

It’s almost December now, and even though I’ve checked my hard drive thoroughly, again and again, there is no trace of Jagged Alliance: Back In Action on it. Which doesn’t make any sense, given the game was supposed to be out on October 18th. Let me just check again.

[Checks]
Nope, there’s half of an Alanis Morrisette album an ex left on there years ago, but that’s all the Jagged I’m getting. Wha’happened?

[Checks]
Read the rest of this entry »

Activate the rumour siren! Bee-WOOP! Etc. Kotaku have posted saying that an “insider” has revealed a multiplayer Dragon Age game in the pipeline. Here’s the vague heart of the rumour: “The insider wasn’t sure if Dragon Age multiplayer was going to be part of a full, stand-alone title (ala Dragon Age 3) or available separately as a downloadable game. It is apparently being developed on DICE’s Frostbite 2 game engine (used for Battlefield 3), and even early-on the game apparently looks stunning.” Apparently! Apparently dragons will be playable, too. Take that, other dragon-based gameplay experiences! It does make a lot of sense, though – a dragon’s tail whipping through a destructible building as you mill about with chums trying to kill it with hammers. We’ll find out of if this is a true thing soon enough.

The other day I was arguing that all new game trends trend toward adventure. What I’m saying is, adventure gaming is the natural form of game, to which all games aspire. And so it is that the infinitude of the casual gaming market is all gradually forming itself from a void into a desire to be adventures. They’ve just got to take that one leap of realising that adventures are really hard work. Another step closer for the hidden object genre is Elementary My Dear Majesty!, for which a demo is now available.

Read the rest of this entry »

Roving gangs of clever internet-users have tracked down the first Prison Architect video (below) thanks to the clues provided in Introversion’s treasure hunt. The video shows sped up footage of a prison being constructed, with prisoners and guards milling about at high speed. The Introversion-dominated Humble Indie bundle has also been updated so that you get the additional games, now including the excellent Dungeons Of Dredmor, if you beat the average offering for the pay-what-you-wantness, which is currently $3.96.
Read the rest of this entry »