Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Paradox’s next Hearts Of Iron game is going to be called East vs. West. As the name suggests, it takes a long hard look at that point in history when East and West peered at each other through expensive binoculars and fondled both over-engineered tanks and over-proliferated nuclear weapons. The game allows players to players to take control of a nation and guide them through that tricky period, with the inevitable counter-factual possibilities of starting World War III when you actually just wanted to store your missiles on a lovely hot tropical Caribbean island.

This is the first developer diary in a new series, with the devs talking about the scope of the new game, and how the Hearts Of Iron model fits a Cold War scenario.
Read the rest of this entry »

Argh: Double posted. I am the worst. I’ve posted my apology video below to make up for it.

Paradox send word of a new Hearts Of Iron this game, called East Vs. West. As you might be able to guess, it’s about The Cold War. They explain: “Little known fact, the Cold War was so named because it was very, very cool, and East vs. West: A Hearts of Iron Game is shaping up to be the coolest Cold War game ever made. Players will be able to take control of ANY nation in those nerve-wracking decades in a strategy game with a host of tense features, from taking issues in front of the UN Security Council to nervously watching the game’s Doomsday clock.”

Trailer below.
Read the rest of this entry »

I love maps and I love horror, but is it possible for a map to be frightening? Defcon says ‘yes, they most certainly can’, and then the next thing it says is a a sequence of numbers, a countdown, a terrible unnerving countdown. Maps communicate events and some events, nuclear war being a notable example, are certainly the stuff of horror. Today, Paradox announced a new Hearts of Iron game, East Vs West, which takes place between 1946 and 1991. All nations are playable and there are “a host of tense features, from taking issues in front of the UN Security Council to nervously watching the game’s Doomsday clock.” The horror. Large words and historical footage make up the trailer below.

Read the rest of this entry »