Rock, Paper, Shotgun

By Craig Pearson on February 10th, 2012 at 12:49 pm.

Eek. We might be about to find out if Tim Schafer’s crowd-funding of a game is one-off lightning in a bottle, or a viable alternative for developers to work outside of publishers. Chris Avellone, the lead developer of isometric RPG classic Planescape Torment and current creative director of Obsidian Entertainment, responded to Michael Antonelli’s suggestion on Twitter that “I’d kickstart $500 for an old school isometric RPG. For Planescape 2? $1000” by stating:

Hmmmm. I admit, I’ve got Kickstarter fever now. I feel like a bunch of doors suddenly appeared in game development.

I took his temperature, readers, and he was boiling hot.

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By Craig Pearson on February 10th, 2012 at 12:10 pm.

Subliminal message warning: Ubisoft have just announced the closed beta of Ghost Recon Online kicks off next month. That month? March. See how I snuck it into the headline? You already knew before you got to the story. The first raft of Ghosts will be let into the secretive world of the closed beta on the fifth of next month. You can sign up here and pray you’re chosen. I’m quite looking forward to running around pretending to be a ghost. Bagsy Slimer! There’s a video to run alongside the announcement. I’m about to watch it for the first time, so do join me.
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By Richard Cobbett on February 10th, 2012 at 11:54 am.

You may not know Adam Adamowicz’s name, but if you’ve played either Fallout 3 or Skyrim, you’ll have seen masses of his work. His job was to produce the vast and imaginative collections of concept art that made their worlds so exciting to explore, from characters to weapons, to the jaunty hats your hero could opt to wear while slaughtering deathclaws and daedra alike. Very sadly, Adam passed away on February 8.

Find out exactly what he contributed to your adventures with this fantastic eulogy and collection of his works from a fellow concept artist over at Awesome Robo.

By Richard Cobbett on February 10th, 2012 at 10:29 am.

They say you should always be prepared to kill your darlings. Darwinia creators Introversion have taken it one step forward, creating nothing short of a Darwinian snuff movie to mark their transition from little computer people to… prison architects. Yeah, that’s still a little weird. But never mind. Help them celebrate this glorious new age of Not Darwinia by enjoying 2:36 minutes of burning, shooting and stabbing that really puts the ‘aaaaargh!’ into ‘carthasis’.

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By Craig Pearson on February 10th, 2012 at 10:00 am.

Uh-uh they did-uhnt. Valve did not just add a boombox to Team Fortress 2 that plays sounds whenever a Scout taunts… I think they did. Just let me check the server over here [opens server door] WELL, NOW I CAN’T HEAR AND I NEED TO CHANGE MY PANTS. BUT I CAN CONFIRM THAT THEY WENT THERE. They’ve released a paid for (£6.99! – too rich for my roots) community item called the “Boston Boom-Bringer“. Whenever the Scout taunts, it’ll play one of four phat beats. If you want to prepare yourself for the aural wreckage that the game’s about to throw at you, there’s a video below.

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By John Walker on February 9th, 2012 at 11:43 pm.

Double Fine’s Kickstarter (currently wobbly under the weight of money), the planned month-long fund raise for $400,000, has just crossed $1,000,000 in the first 24 hours. One. Million. Dollars. In a day.

I know it’s crazy, but it kind of makes me a bit teary-eyed.

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By Jim Rossignol on February 9th, 2012 at 6:09 pm.

There’s a bunch of new content appearing in the Firefall beta, and Red 5′s bossman Mark Kern has been wheeled out to explain precisely what is going on in a new dev diary video, which you can see below. Basically signing up gives you a chance to sign up, and then to invite others. Kern also does some clever stuff with a map made of lasers. I’m genuinely interested to see how the PvE world works, which is what Red 5 are beginning to roll-out properly now. If there game can give players a genuine sense of urgency in fighting the NPCs, rather them just being a conveyor-belt of MMO-style targets, then it could make for an interesting proposition. I’m a bit less interested in the PvP because, well, Planetside 2, or Tribes Ascend. Anyway, there’s some new footage in there, so take a look.
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By Craig Pearson on February 9th, 2012 at 6:07 pm.

Hard Reset: Extended Edition is the original, singularly focused FPS from last year about shooting donkeys. The full game now comes with an additional four new creature types, a new boss monster, five new levels that sicks up three extra hours of play, and two additional survival mode levels. They’ve also prettied up the engine. But don’t take my word for it, for I am a notorious liar and billionaire. To make sure you’re totally convinced, publishers Kalypso Media have invented Youtube and placed the trailer up on there. Did I make that up as well? The only way to find out is to click and see.
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By John Walker on February 9th, 2012 at 5:19 pm.

Everyone has at some point taken a pop at the first G of GOG’s acronym. Megarace? Postal 2? Alone In The Dark 4? Then just when you want to campaign they should just call it “Old Games”, they bring us a Syndicate, a Thief, a Deus Ex. So today’s announcement? Which way will it go? Up or down? Great or hate?

Pllrrrrrbbbbbbbbb. The 7th Bloody Guest.

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By Jim Rossignol on February 9th, 2012 at 4:34 pm.

Take On Helicopters is going to getting some big fat Russian helicopters in its first DLC. Like this: “Highly detailed models of the Mi-24 V, Mi-24 P and Mi-35 Super Hind helicopters across a range of over 25 different liveries.” That is some Cold War helicopter sex, right there. It’s also going move away from the commercial helcopterings of the base game, and allow you get back to Bohemia’s more traditionally shooty territories. They explain: “after launching the game, we felt there was room to complement Take On Helicopters with a more ‘action-packed’ experience. Our Hinds DLC is perfect for those who are seeking the adrenaline rush of flying a classic military gunship and getting into combat.” It’s coming out on the 15th of March and it’ll cost €12.99. There’s some kind of crazy bundle order deal, too, which you can read about over here.