Hardly gripping
By Adam Smith on October 26th, 2011.
Castles are amazing. Even their ruins are mightier than the tallest and most robust of modern buildings, and they have dungeons, which are like cellars but with skeletons instead of a toolbox that I never get around to actually using. Yes, castles are amazing, but that doesn’t mean running one in Stronghold 3 is the best job in the world. Sadly, it’s far from that. Here’s wot I think.
By Adam Smith on September 20th, 2011.
After peasant-pleasing and/or poking comes castle crashing. Firefly promised to show more of the militant aspect of Stronghold 3 and here’s a video which does just that. See castle walls crumble and tiny men topple from them, reduced to nothing more than ragdolls. Hear a polite British man explain that the medieval era is an ideal showcase for physics. I was hoping they’d be using a Buridanian impetus model but they’ve gone for Havok. I’m more interested in the castle building than the castle destruction, some of which is briefly shown at the end. Have a gander.
By Adam Smith on September 2nd, 2011.
Stronghold 3 isn’t that far away now and I’m as excited as a peasant with a new pitchfork. Much has been said of the fancy physics and the way they’ll affect traps and breaches, and much more has been said about diseased badgers. To remind us that it’s not all pestilent wildlife and siege warfare though, Firefly have lifted their portcullis to let a new trailer slip into the world. It concentrates on the economic side of the game. That means maintaining the castle and the village around it. It also means listening to the demands, hopes and fears of your people, which, like a British weekend, mainly revolve around ale, wolves and the ever-present possibility of being placed in the stocks.
By Jim Rossignol on November 8th, 2010.
The Stronghold news is twofold:
1) You can vote for the type of dead animal ammo for trebuchets to be featured in in Stronghold 3 just here. The choice is between a senile donkey, a cage of rabid otters, a retired dancing bear, or a sack of diseased badgers. Internet: you decide!
2) The Stronghold Kingdoms MMO is now in beta. You can play it if you wish.
Stronghold! I might change my name to Stronghold. “Stronghold Rossignol” has a certain ring to it. That is not news. I am just being flippant.
By Jim Rossignol on August 16th, 2010.
Financial squabbles between Southpeak Interactive and CDV had made some people wonder what would happen to the games being produced by the corporate couple, and somehow we missed the confirmation last week that Stronghold 3 is unaffected, and will still hit its 2011 release slot. Eurogamer have the news, and some affirmation by Southpeak’s CEO that they have confidence in the title. And they should have confidence, because it’s one of Germany’s biggest selling strategy titles and as such is likely to sell half a squajillion copies. No major details on the game yet, but a smattering of screens show a new 3D engine, which should make for spangly castle-construction when the game arrives next year.
By Alec Meer on May 15th, 2010.
2011 will bring a second sequel to the castle-management series which famously outsells GTA in Germany, publisher Southpeak Interactive has announced. Firefly Studios return to the development chair for a title about which little has yet been revealed, bar “a significantly improved graphics engine and new gameplay elements.” This is presumably in addition to the previously announced MMO, Stronghold Kingdoms. If you don’t know anything about Stronghold, enlighten your brain with Kieron’s Making Of feature from a couple of years back.
Press release below, not that it’s super-illuminating. So I’ve thrown in a Stronghold Crusader Extreme video for good measure.
By Jim Rossignol on May 28th, 2009.
Firefly Studios – they of the castle building/sieging series, Stronghold – are making an MMO, Stronghold Kingdoms. The game will encompass medieval Europe and allow players to build a series of castles, and their attendant settlements, in a wide-open strategy game in which crushing your enemies will no doubt play a vital part. Firefly describe the game as “a mix of real time gameplay with long term planning”, in which there will be opportunity to “Build, Besiege, Pillage, Farm, Explore, Research, Vote, Trade, Banquet, Fight and much, much more.” The game is apparently being developed by Firefly Studios independently of a publisher, and is due some time in 2010. There’s a smidgeon more detail on the official site.
