Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Let me tell you about my dragon.
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It’s bullshit, isn’t it?
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This trailer for Lego Indiana Jones 2 is the best game trailer that’s ever been made. I’m not going to add anything else to that.

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Stardock are an unusual company in a whole load of ways. One of them is that despite being a privately hold company, they do a report to the public. No financials, but there’s a mass of transparency here. The full document is worth at least a skim read, but there’s plenty of information worth picking over for industry watchers. The details on Impulse’s success are fascinating, but the fact which most immediately screamed out was that only 23% of the people who actually bought Demigod even tried to play online multiplayer. I stress tried. If you attempted to log onto the server, you’re part of the 23%, not matter whether you succeeded in actually playing a game or not. I’ve quoted the section below in full…
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I haven’t actually played much Blood Bowl since finishing off the Skaven Blighters’ season, but I’m pleased to hear that Cyanide have finally released the long-promised Dark Elves patch for the game. You may remember that they were unlocked in the game by some modders around release, before being swiftly patched out. Still – good to finally see the bad guys back in play. You can get the patch from here and see their intro video below…
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More news leaking out about Supreme Commander, which is due for a Spring 2010 release now. The new screenshot gallery really does make me say “Crikey” more than I normally do (Normal Crikey rates are about 1.5 per minute. Supreme Commander 2’s screens rise it to a mighty 5.4). I mean, have a look at this bad boy. There’s also a HD version of a video we’ve linked to previously, which really shows off the game to its best. Basically, Supreme Commander increasingly reminds me of hyperviolent lego meets Epic-scale 40K. Fuckyeahosity is high.
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This (below) might well be the prime example of someone sneakily filming a game at a presentation. The result is half what appears to be a door, and the game filmed at a 45-degree angle, largely out of focus. We do, however, get to see a gigantic tentacle monster and plenty of other in-game footage. Not exactly super-illuminating for us Witcher-wanters, but a good covert effort from the cameraman. Polygamia, the Polish games site, has an English summary of the presentation here.
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Kane & Lynch are to return soon, as we mentioned yesterday. Not Hitman. Kane & Lynch. And now there’s a couple of viral videos to celebrate this, perhaps capturing something of the more hand-made documentary style. Well, steal a look for yourself. (Do you see? I said “steal a look”, which is a reasonably common phrase for looking at something, but also uses the word “steal” which relates to the nature of Kane & Lynch. It’s a sort of pun.)

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Oooh, interestinkosity. Let’s go with Destructoid breaking the story. Those who have played Left 4 Dead’s Dark Carnival level (i.e. Everyone but me, as I’ve been Modern Warfare-ing, a week behind the zeitgeist) will have been enamored with its stage-based conclusion. Well, the band who owns the stage in question – The Midnight Riders – have a website. And apparently – from the mouth of hive-mind out-brain Phill Cameron – there’s an achievement for completing all six campaigns. But there’s only five shipped with the game. Is there maths to be done? If so, do the maths. Since there’s no footage currently available of whatever this is – and, Crikey, can you imagine the cry from the forums if it’s paid-for-DLC – here’s the video to Smart Dressed Man by ZZ Top…
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So here’s a discussion I’ve been having on Twitter and elsewhere: do you turn off depth of field and motion blur effects in games? I recently realised, when looking at some Borderlands screenshots, that I now do that by default, and didn’t wait more than a couple of minutes to kill the depth of field in that game. It was most scream-worthy, in my opinion, in Stalker: Clear Sky, where reloading the gun put everything except the gun out of focus – precisely when I wanted to be looking into the distance and judging my next barrage. So I’ve asked about, and opinion is clearly divided on the issue. For some people it’s a clear cut decision, while others see depth of field and motion blur effects as welcome prettiness, and beneficial to their experience. If that’s the case, can any of you point to situations in which these effects are useful, rather than just pretty? And if these things are merely visual spangle, then are they an effect too far? Have we reached a point in graphics where there’s too much extra processing? Or am I just getting too old to deal with these new-fangled visuals with my decrepit visual cortex? Speak your eyes!