Rock, Paper, Shotgun

The time when I get really envious of game developers is usually when they get down to the full sweep of world building. In this latest video Bioware talk about the making of the city-planet of Coruscant in The Old Republic, and explain how they’ve had to build a planet entirely without terrain – a purely urban setting, miles deep – while also getting across a spectrum of political power and corruption via the gradation of environments through layers of the capital of the Republic. Ooh, there’s also some boasting! This is an unprecedented city environment, they claim, with the kind of infrastructure that would be required for a sort of endless Manhattan, which dwarfs any city environments in other games. From the shiny surface mega-structures of the senate and the spaceport, down to the endless dereliction of the lower levels. It’s a kind of architectural encyclopedia of Star Warsian styles all on its own. And what is going on with Robert Chestney’s t-shirt? Ah, the many mysteries of Star Wars…
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Dragon Age designers talk architecture, history, archaeology in the latest Dragon Age trailer. There’s a lot of discussion of level design, world design, and the way that the game was prototyped in the Neverwinter Nights engine. That makes for an interesting “compare and contrast” for tech and design between the two games. This is the kind of trailer we were expecting, I think? That said, it’s an odd choice of trailer title with “Making A Living World,” because it’s definitely not making a living world in the sense we understand it as gamers. I’ve also posted a bunch of the new (and old) images EA released earlier today, and you can click for big versions.
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Or even BANGBANGBANG! Battlefield: Bad Company 2 has many best things, as you’ll see in this trailer of the multiplayer aspect of the game, below. We’ve heard only good things about the game so far, better things, indeed, than the previous game. It’s good to see some of that confirmed in a riot of game footage. Destructible scenery, vehicles, beautiful animation and particle effects… all splendid in the virtual violencing. I’ll stop prattling, I’m almost delirious with exhaustion. Go watch.
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Twelve years of Ultima Online (twelve years!) are being celebrated by EA by allowing old players to return and play for free until the 16th of October. You can download the client for your glorious return here, which is also where newbies can access the 14-day trial. The most recent expansion for Ultima came out back in August, with a load of new content including a playable Elven race.

Read about Alec’s adventures in the aged MMO just here, and tell us if you’re going to return to Ultima in the comments below.

Bioware’s fantasy epic is trundling towards us like a siege tower made of conversation trees and noisy metal, and we’re starting to get a few glimpses of the characters in detail. One such glimpse, a video show-casing Zevran The Asssassin, possibly Dragon Age’s stabbiest character, sits below the click. I’ve also posted a small gallery of the latest screenshots, which you can click upon for embiggenment.
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The most recent version of Need For Speed, precariously titled one consonant away from profanity, “Shift”, now boasts a PC demo. There aren’t many mirrors up yet, so I’m going to suggest you get it from here. It’s 1.13gb, and features racing cars, and the tracks that love them. I’ll update that link when a more sensible mirror list can be found. UPDATE: UK mirror here.

Vrooom, etc. Need For Speed is like some kind of proper racing game again, with Shift recreating the great and the good of motor-racing tracks from around the world. One of the most famous in the UK, Donnington, is trailered below, and the game footage does look pretty extraordinary. That said, we’ve yet to actually get our hands on a copy of this 13th NFS game, so perhaps anyone who has picked up can make appropriate critical noises in the comments section?
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The Battlefield series is a bit patchy (HA! DO YOU SEE!) Heroes is a little too “lite” for my tastes, and the rather more realistic-looking 1943 has been delayed into after Christmas. We’re due Bad Company too, but I wonder if the focus on environmental destruction will dilute the multiplayer manshoot. Personally Battlefield 2 was always my favourite, but I must admit I’ve not picked it up in a while. Nevertheless I suppose there must still be some kind of community playing, because DICE have just released a patch for it. A patch first promised in June last year. The words from Battlefield blog:

As part of Update 1.50 we are glad to announce that not only is Highway Tampa now a required install included in the update but Euro Forces (Great Wall, Taraba Quarry and Operation Smoke Screen) and Armored Fury (Midnight Sun, Operation Harvest and Operation Road Rage) is now FREE for all Battlefield 2 players. Including the brand new map, Operation Blue Pearl this brings EIGHT new maps that everyone can play and will be added to ranked Battlefield 2 servers world wide. The Booster Pack content is included in the update and has made the file just over 2Gb in size.

2Gb. Oof. Here’s a list of mirrors.

So Dungeon Keeper may be returning, as evidenced by not one but two trademark applications on EA’s part. My feelings on the matter are the very definition of ‘mixed’.
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After our last rather cynical few comment thread chats about Dragon Age, a source from within EA (who will have to remain anonymous) got in touch to say that the cynics were wrong, and that the game really is the modern equivalent of the famed Baldur’s Gate games. It is, our source insists, one of the great RPGs. Do we believe them? I mean, it’s all within towing their company line, isn’t it? Well, despite some scepticism induced by terrible marketing, I do hold out that this is going to be a thoroughly enjoyable RPG. Bioware aren’t exactly short on talent, and this game has been years in the tweaking. That said, I’m kind of looking forward to both Alpha Protocol and Mass Effect 2 more, because they’re both looking bold and non-fantasy. But then again, the collector’s retail edition of Dragon Age comes with a cloth map (see below). And that kind of changes things… Terrible map-lust.

Anyway, GamesCom trailer below. It’s good. And Darkspawny.
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