Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Just picked up from Richard Cobbett’s twitter, it appears that Interplay are re-releasing Planescape Torment. Its release date is listed as the 30th October and the price is a – not-much-change-from-the-nature-of-twenty-quid – 17.99 of your Earth pounds. In fact, it appears to be a whole load of Interplay other material too. It’s a surprise to see a decade-old game released at a mid-range price… but it’s also one that I find hard to argue against. A game that’s still placing high in all-time lists, that’s been unavailable for years, that goes for full-price when it turns up on eBay and hasn’t been superseded in any way. If the gaming equivalent of the Beatle’s price never going down and this means that Dan Gril has no excuse but to finally return Alec’s copy to him. Hand it back, you bast.

VG247 have been talking to shy and reclusive game developer Peter Molyneux about Lionhead’s ambitions. They want to tell the greatest story ever. The developer said:

“The greatest story ever told? I think it’s going to be in a computer game. And I think that if I play the greatest story ever told in the same game as you play it, your greatest story is going to be different to my greatest story. And that is power.”

Blimey. I hate stories, me. Just give me a box of toys. But what about you?

Jason Schklar and I started talking after I linked to his piece on Left 4 Dead as a proof-of-concept for a DungeonMaster game in a Sunday Papers. We ended up deciding that since what Jason does isn’t exactly what gets brought before the general gamers’ eye that much, an interview would be interesting. Because after working at Big Huge Games and Microsoft Game studios, he’s become a freelance usability and playability specialist. As in, he looks at the absolute fundamentals which makes games easier to get into and harder to put down. That’s unusual, thinks I. Let’s see what that actually means…
Read the rest of this entry »

Well, that’s what you get reading between the lines of Gabe Newell’s keynote at this year’s DICE Summit, which featured the Valve boss speaking about his company’s experience with Steam and how digital-download direct sales are an enormous success. G4 liveblogged the event in loving detail while Gamasutra did an overview of the whole thing. I’d read the whole G4 thing if I were you, if only to have a chuckle at the comment thread at the bottom full of PS3 owners who just won’t let go. However, I’ll pick out the key points – and some exciting percentages – beneath the cut.
Read the rest of this entry »

This is quite interesting, if only because you don’t see many people do it anymore. 1C have released an almost 1-gig Vista techdemo of their forthcoming FPS/Survival-Horror boat-based Cryostasis. It’s a canned demo which walks you through the grin corridors of the boat where it’s set, and shows off some of its fancier engine elements. They’re particularly showing off the water and fabric modeling – the best of which comes towards the end. Download it if you’re the sort who spends a bit too much time staring at textures in FPS games. We know you exist. You’ll find the old trailer beneath the cut if you need an introduction…
Read the rest of this entry »

Well, on other stuff too, but that’s the most headline-worthy. After getting hands on with Fallout 3 last month I had ten minutes or so to chat with Bethesda’s VP of PR and marketing Pete Hines which I’ve finally transcribed. In it, I ask why they’re not initially supporting mods and mention the conspiracy theory that they’re sidestepping them to increase demand for downloadable content. Plus stuff on violence, misapprehensions and 100-post+ comment threads.
Read the rest of this entry »

Towards the end of July, at the Develop conference, we took a much-needed break from listening to design paradigm analysis to have a coffee with Frontier Developments‘ David Braben. He’s one of the living legends of the industry – one word:Elite – and it was a welcome chance to casually pick over the issues of the day. So, yes, the P-word features strongly.
Read the rest of this entry »

The Eyes have it and I have the eyes. Well, I don’t, but Kel Lind of Buttonbasher does. He’s had the full Spore Creator since Friday and has painstakingly provided grabs of all the bits and bobs in the full version. “I figured that your readers might want to check it out, if they’re on the fence on whether to purchase or stick with the demo,” says Kel, figuring correctly. Initial RPS response to them: a tad disappointed by the legs, but bar that, win!

Good news, everyone. Street Fighter IV is to see a PC release. The part of me that wasn’t allowed a SNES or Megadrive when I was young is fair excited by this unexpected prospect of console thrills on my pixel-box of choice, while the sniffy PC snob in me is grumpily WTFing. Striving for objectivity, I’m quite pleased. The PC’s done much to shake off its perceived stereotypes of late, becoming more omnivore a platform than ever – plugging a 360 or other decent gamepad into it and Spinning Bird Kicking away could well feel entirely natural.

More wibble and some screenshots beneath the cut, for people who like wibble and screenshots.
Read the rest of this entry »

After Molyneux earlier in the week, my second interview has gone live over at the Guardian’s site. It’s with Will Wright. In it I talk about stuff, primarily his philosophy of games. Yes.