Review by Lewis B RIFT Developer: Trion Worlds Publisher: Trion Worlds Released: 04th March 2011 Available For: PC Time Played: 50+ hours (and counting) Verdict: 4/5 Thumbs Up! “A well polished and accomplished MMOG that has launched brilliantly. Although there are some minor cosmetic and game issues, it really is a pleasure to play. The class Soul System is a triumph. With fantastic server stability, great instanced dungeons and well balanced player versus player combat, RIFT deserves its good …
I’ve been feeling particularly old within the last week. Maybe it’s down to the harsh realities of adulthood. I’m due to complete the purchase of my first home within the next two weeks and will be a married man in just under three months. As wonderful and exciting as those two events are, they can also be pretty daunting; as I’m sure any married homeowners who read Tap-Repeatedly may attest to. Perhaps however it’s also because the Pokémon …
An exciting and wordy discussion has been wandering across several of Tap’s forum threads, notably here, and also in various comments on articles. Fully grokking a conversation being held by the Tap community requires a certain ability to master the art of tangential crossover.
ANYWAY, to quickly sum up: some of our debaters did not like Half Life 2, some did, but for variant reasons; everyone likes STALKER but some wanted different things from it; System Shock 2 is very scary but may not have aged well; and something to do with Neocron, plus some other stuff.
Another day, another obnoxious PS3 system update. Seriously, since when did my PC become a more convenient system to use than a console? It wouldn’t be so bad if they downloaded and installed in the background but oh-no, merely downloading them requires the full attention of my system locking me out until they’re finished. I’ve got patience, I really have, but when you’ve got a measly 1.2mb connection and just want to sign in to …
Feel free to file this one under Obvious News is Obvious, but the Nintendo 3DS has gone down pretty well after its long awaited launch in Japan. How well exactly? An entire launch shipment of 400,000 units snaffled by hungry gamers in just a few hours. Nom Nom. Predictable as this may be, those are pretty impressive figures. Nintendo are reportedly aiming to shift 1.5 million shiny new 3DS units by the end of March, …
On the 24th February RIFT began its ‘head start’ event. With 1 million Trion registered accounts, it was always highly likely as a result of a popular and successful open beta that RIFT was going to experience large numbers of players flooding onto the servers come head start. And sure enough, queue times to enter certain servers were and still are staggering…
I’m not entirely sure I believe this, but Atlus has announced – rather tersely – that its just-released-in-Japan erotic horror title Catherine will not be wading across any oceans. Specifically, they say this: Catherine is a Japan-only game and there are no plans for a NA release at this time. Sorry about that!
Review by Max “Xtal” Boone Gemini Rue Developer Joshua Nuernberger Publisher Wadjet Eye Games Released February 24, 2011 Available for PC Time Played Completed (7-8 hours, give or take) Verdict: 5/5 Gold Star “Anyone who is familiar with the adventure games that were being made 15 or even 20 years ago will feel right at home here. Gemini Rue is a classic in every sense, one that is definitely set to appeal to enthusiasts of …
Here’s a Culture Clash column I wrote for the January 2011 edition of the IGDA website. I’m happy with it, but less pleased with the fact that our theme does not allow ~ symbols above an N in post titles. So if you were to read it out loud you’d have to say “pinn-nnnnnnaaaaahhtah,” like Winston Churchill.
Who was a great man. No busting on that dude. Won us WWII!
Still, though, tildes would be nice. Also: this is the last old Culture Clash I’ll publish on Tap’s front page (I’ll post the new ones here); the rest I’ll be back-dating so they’ll appear if you look at older posts or if you visit the Content -> Editorials -> Culture Clash section in the main menu (or just click here). This article is actually older than the previous one here on Tap – The Beauty of a Living Thing – and the rest will be older still. Thus, to prevent confusion, the back-dating. You may also note subtle differences between these (my originals) and the one on IGDA (which they sometimes edit slightly). Either one can be considered Canon. In any case, click to read on!
Review by Mat C Marvel vs Capcom 3 Developer Capcom Publisher Capcom Released February 15 (NA), February 17 (JP), February 18 (EU) 2011 Available for PlayStation 3 (version reviewed), Xbox 360 Time Played Long enough to acquire thumb blisters. Verdict: 4/5 Thumbs Up “As something of a novice in the fighting genre, I found the game’s immediate accessibility and accommodating attitude to button bashers a welcome introduction. Once you learn how the game works however, there’s also a deeply engaging …
As Norn Week over at the Guild Wars 2 official blog rumbles on, ArenaNet have just updated the norn racial page with brand new wallpapers, expanded lore, and a brand new video featuring the Shiverpeaks, hunting grounds of the norn. If you haven’t already seen it, you really should head on over and take a look. The desktop wallpapers are absolutely brilliant (made from concept art) but most importantly, the new footage of Shiverpeaks makes me want to …
Have you ever had such a desire to play a video game that to soak up every column inch of information and to repeatedly tap F5 on the developer’s blog is simply not a good enough fix? That need eventually becomes a permanent itch, where the first thing you do at 6am as the alarm sounds isn’t to say good morning to your partner/girlfriend/lover/cat/other, but is instead to leap onto the computer and check the latest forum posts …
“Kill with skill,” advises Bulletstorm’s ad copy. That rhymes so it makes a nice tagline. “Kill as brutally and hideously as you possibly can within only the loosest confines of physics” doesn’t roll off the tongue as easily.
Bulletstorm is exactly what it wants to be: a zany, foulmouthed, crass, absurdly violent fiesta of carnage. And everything about it appears crafted to suit this. Polish developer People Can Fly, working with Epic, have brought their considerable talents for atmosphere, outlandishness, and gleefully gory over-the-topism to bear yet again in a game that really does kind of remind us that “mindless” is not only sometimes a good thing, it can actually be a personality trait.
For those who are not already, please cease current activity and toddle over to our friend Harbour Master’s Electron Dance, and read The Aspiration, in which he is chronicling a game of Neptune’s Pride. At turns hilarious and heartbreaking, even emotionally exhausting, it is always epic and written in a classic Harbour Masterian style that many can emulate but none can match. Preview—— Part 1—— Part 2—— Part 3—— Part 4—— Part 5 It’s not …
Gamesindustry.biz reports that Microsoft and NVIDIA have departed the PC Gaming Alliance, a movement the two organizations helped found. Neither firm offered a reason for departure. The PCGA was founded a couple years ago, if memory serves, to advance the PC as a viable platform for gaming. As consoles grow in market share, and development costs for PC (plus the ever-present threat of piracy) continue to spiral upward, the platform has long been losing its …