Rock, Paper, Shotgun

By John Walker on May 23rd, 2012 at 6:00 pm.

The scarcity of good word puzzles on PC is a SCANDAL I tell you. But coming along to rescue this situation are the two fine men behind Kingdom Of Loathing. Word Realms looks like exactly the right game to exist, an RPG in which you use the magic of spelling to cast spells and magic. With a story! So, it’s a bit Bookworm Adventures, clearly, and that is only a good thing, because PopCap keep making more bloody match-3 games instead of only generating me more Bookworm Adventures, as should obviously be their singular task. Word Realms has been secretly in development for a few years, and is due to be released this October. And there’s inevitably a Kickstarter.

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By Jim Rossignol on May 23rd, 2012 at 4:00 pm.

Promising-looking persistent World War II shooter Heroes & Generals – which offers a hybrid of FPS action and strategic play – is now taking sign ups for its closed beta. It’s an ambitious-looking title, not least because of the way the strategy side of the game is being handled as an over-arching meta-game – there’s even going to be a mobile app that will allow generals to move their resources around in the persistent map part of the game while on the move. It’s a bold concept, one step beyond what we’ve seen from this kind of hybrid previously. Have a gander at the video below for some elucidation on that count.
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By Jim Rossignol on May 23rd, 2012 at 3:00 pm.

Blizzard send word that Diablo III sold 3.5 million copies in the first 24 hours on sale. They also point out: “That number does not include the more than 1.2 million players who received Diablo III as part of signing up for the World of Warcraft Annual Pass promotion.” The upshot of that was 4.7 million people had the game on day one, and after a week that as grown to 6.3 million. That is a lot of copies of a videogame.

And this just in: I am the slowest-levelling barbarian ever. Still only level 16! Rubbish. I have got some excellent scythe-hammer things though, so all is well.

By Richard Cobbett on May 23rd, 2012 at 2:00 pm.

Adventure, ho! In the sense of heading out, of course, not issuing a demand to an unimaginative lady of the night. This latest pay-more-or-less-what-you-want bundle to hit the net is a pretty good deal, with seven games for the usual pay-more-or-less-what-you want, including Gemini Rue and a brand new offering called The Sea Will Claim Everything, a bit of charity, and an interesting way to help kickstart a new developer without spending a penny extra.

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By Nathan Grayson on May 23rd, 2012 at 1:00 pm.

Isn’t this just like Marvel? DC puts the weight of an entire movie on one hero, and Marvel fires back with six (seven, if you count Hulk twice – which you should). Then DC shows off an excellent-looking Lego beat ‘em up with 50 heroes, and Marvel rains on its superpowered parade with 8,000 of its own. That’s Marvel Heroes in a nutshell. Actually, no it’s not. Marvel Heroes in a nutshell is “Diablo II – not Diablo III – slipping into spandex and fighting crime after being bitten by a radioactive MMO.” Also, you’re not playing as some lawsuit-baiting Wolverine wannabe. Rather, you can swap between big names and lesser-known defenders of, er, whatever Squirrel Girl defends on the fly. Get it? Fly. That’s a thing superheroes do.

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By Nathan Grayson on May 23rd, 2012 at 12:00 pm.

I must admit to having never owned any of the Lego <Insert Crucial Portion Of Your Childhood Here> games, but goodness, this Lego Batman 2 trailer makes a persuasive argument – and not in the traditional Batmanner of hurling me off a two story building and breaking my legs, either. Score! Among other things, it touts a rather astounding 500 square mile open-world city, which looks suitably drenched in rain and atmosphere, given the subject matter. But then a man gets hit with a pie, allowing me to handily sum up everything these games stand for in two sentences. Also on display: Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, and the greatest hero of all: spoken words. Also, Superman. Traverse significantly less than 500 square miles to reach the shockingly enticing trailer after the break.

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By Nathan Grayson on May 23rd, 2012 at 10:00 am.

Yesterday, I noted that I haven’t played many god games lately, so I suppose it only makes sense that some RPS-reading deity would start flinging the things at me. “Know my burden,” it seemingly bellows from on high. “With great power… you know the rest.” And hey, remember that neato whizz-bang pow space streaming technology that allowed Bastion to run in your browser – as if by teleporter from Mars and also the future? Well, it’s back to from said future, this time with Ubisoft’s once-DRMed, still poorly ported From Dust in tow. So maybe it could’ve brought a better god game, but still, I can’t entirely knock something of this fidelity when it’s playable in my browser almost instantly.

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By Nathan Grayson on May 23rd, 2012 at 9:00 am.

You may have noticed something amiss in the above image. No? Are you sure? Then you might have Synesthesia: Disco Edition. And though that image and its accompanying video seem silly, they’re actually quite touching – given recent incredibly unfortunate events. It is, then, extremely awkward for me to now transition into discussing Cool Guns in a Rad Videogame, but, uh, here I go. Tribes: Ascend‘s “Staying Alive” update – whose name is all at once right and wrong in so very many ways – focuses on the Brute with two guns, a new pack, and more (!).

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By Nathan Grayson on May 23rd, 2012 at 8:00 am.

Because the universe loves comedic irony, Diablo III’s online infrastructure specifically put in place to keep out cheaters and hackers is currently being besieged by cheaters and hackers. Yesterday, Blizzard acknowledged the issue, and today, the damage control process has officially begun. From where I’m standing, though, it leaves out one very important step: the part where it, you know, actually solves the problem in the long run. Perplexingly, the multiplayer-loving megalith has opted to calm players by pointing out that account compromises skyrocket with new game releases, ala WoW expansions. Fair enough. But why, again, is it supposed to be reassuring if it keeps happening?

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