GP reports that Philadelphia newspaper The Bulletin has published an article warning parents of the Morningstar’s recent involvement in videogame development. Apparently Lucifer has decided that games are a great way to slurp up tender new souls, what with all the angel killing and stuff in games like Bayonetta. The article warns against pacts with the devil, explains why it’s mean to kill angels, alerts us to The Adversary’s new tool, and calls out various …
Having still not plucked the courage up to brave Penumbra: Black Plague, I was pleasantly surprised to see that horror masters, Frictional Games, have released a new and really quite brilliant teaser trailer for their upcoming cack-your-pants-fest, Amnesia: The Dark Descent. I’ve been following their (very interesting) blog for a few months now and this is looking and sounding very promising indeed. If Penumbra: Overture is anything to go by, I’m scared already. Full details …
So Oles Shishkovtsov, CTO of 4A Games – the new Ukrainian developer behind the upcoming Metro 2033 – has reiterated his insistence that S.T.A.L.K.E.R.’s (proprietary) X-Ray engine is not being used, in whole or in part, on Metro 2033. Of course, Shishkovtsov created the X-Ray engine, and left GSC Game World just before the first STALKER game shipped. And I hate to say it, but Metro 2033 looks a lot like STALKER. A lot. Not …
Cipher Prime, the two-person indie responsible for the hypnotically beautiful Auditorium, have announced their newest musical puzzler creation, Fractal. They haven’t revealed much yet, but Auditorium was so elegant, so special, that I can only hope/assume the best for the company’s ongoing work. If you haven’t yet played it, check it out – more to come on Fractal as it’s revealed.
Meet our new mascot. This Snork is now officially owned and branded by Tap-Repeatedly, and will represent us at several major functions in the coming months. It was a rigorous interview process, but ultimately this Snork – Edgar – won out over Zombie #14 from Deadly Shadows’ Shalebridge Cradle mission. None of the above is true. Actually, this Snork graces our front page because today is a day of days, my friends: it is STALKER: …
Hear ye! Hear ye! Spencer Halpin’s 2007 documentary Moral Kombat is currently viewable for free over at Babelgum for a limited period. It highlights the issues surrounding videogame violence from the first amendment and the industry’s freedom of expression through to the implications that it may have on the next generation. I spotted this over at GamePolitics.com and although it covers a lot of familiar ground it’s definitely worth a look if you’ve not seen …
As we all know, a terrible earthquake struck Haiti early this week, and there’s been an outpouring of support for the beleaguered country. Gamers have done their part too, with PopCap games donating 100% of all sales to aid in Haiti on Saturday 1/16. Other companies are also helping: Bungie is selling a limited t-shirt, all profits going to Haitian relief. Other developers and publishers, large and small, are trying to help as well. Kotaku …
But YES. Maybe. O Fortuna that Rock, Paper, Shotgun reports this interesting piece of news… 2K Boston, formerly known as Irrational Games (System Shock 2, Bioshock, Freedom Force, etc) is no longer 2K Boston. It is formerly 2K Boston! It is now known as… Irrational Games. Apparently 2K realized that there’s a bit of a legacy from Irrational, and simply naming all its wholly-owned studios after their home cities is dumb.
Far Cry 2 was one of the biggest disappointments in gaming history. Anyone who disputes this is… wrong. And yet Ben Abraham, an unassuming gamer, chose to play through the shitgasm that is this game with a caveat: die, and he’s done. His goal was to get closer to the relativistic experience of a game, to suffer with his character for real rather than through the lens of a monitor. Ben’s been blogging about this …
GamePolitics reports that a Danish anti-domestic-violence Flash game allows users to beat a woman, I guess as a way to teach dudes why it’s wrong to do so. In fact, if you have a webcam, your swings and backhands will be interpreted by the model as real strikes! Is it just me, or is this plain wrong? Look, I applaud the concept of games that deal with mature, heartrending themes like violence. But when the …
The International Game Developers Association announced on Monday that it is launching a health care program through an alliance with Association Health Programs, a service reserved for members – and one of the goals founder Ernest Adams dreamt of way back when he created the organization, only to be (along with a bevy of subsequent leaders) thwarted by the global nature of the organization and the immense legal complexities involved. While details of the program …
A sad update to a story from the other day: contrary to early rumors that owner EA was simply going to slash staff at Pandemic Studios, news comes in now that the ten year old studio will be shut down entirely and all 200 staff laid off. This is the first of what’s sure to be many casualties, as EA has committed to reducing its workforce by 1,100 people in order to offset a nearly …
Tapper Emeritus Old Rooster was first to announce Alice’s return, and I followed on with a rambling but love-laden panegyric to the underappreciated game. Now we have a trailer, a date, and a rawther minimalist new teaser site. Only two years remain to find out of American McGee still has his mojo, or if blunders like Bad Day L.A. and Grimm are all we can expect from him now. UPDATE: Aieee. It looks like that …
So IndustryGamers and others are reporting a new controversy surrounding Infinity Ward’s upcoming Modern Warfare 2: it looks like, for at least a small portion of the game, you will play as a terrorist, with the objective of gunning down civilians in an airport terminal. It’s sparked quite the little inferno. I’m okay with this, and I’ll tell you why. But I do worry about the mainstream kneejerks… and I’ll tell you why.
Looks like the joint publishing venture between THQ and Russian 1C company is about to come to fruition: 4A Games’ Metro 2033, based on a Russian novel series of the same title, is nearing completion and will find its way to Westerm shores (hopefully with that great voice actor narrating) sometime in 2010. Metro 2033 tells the tales of a postapocalyptic Moscow, where citizens hundle in the subterranean Metro system, and hints at a game …