I waited specifically for today to do that title even if it is getting a little late. It’s a timed rhyme yo. Actually that’s a lie, today is the first chance I’ve had to mention that Frictional Games, developers of the much lauded Penumbra trilogy, are tomorrow releasing their much anticipated next title Amnesia: The Dark Descent. If you haven’t heard of it then I heartily recommend you go and take a look at the …
UPDATE: the consequences referred to below have begun. A round a layoffs at Stardock, alongside the termination of an upcoming (unannounced) game project, may just be the beginning.
UPDATE UPDATE: Mr. Wardell has posted a “final” remark on the Elemental flap here at the Elemental forums. One of the things I appreciate most from him on this one is that he recognizes how hard it can be for journalists to harshly criticize a game created by developers they consider friends. But it has to be done sometimes.
For those who’ve followed the 24-hour firestorm that erupted in the wake of Elemental: War of Magic’s botched Day Zero release, you’ll know that whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stranger.
“A guy at work created this using facebook images of people from work… me included! Its epic!” I’ve got a friend. A very tall and lanky friend. That friend is called Simon, and he’s awesome. But yesterday he somehow became more awesome thanks to a certain Steve Cutts who has created the rather special Shoreditch of the Dead using Adobe After Effects and a load of his work mates’ Facebook photos to render the characters. …
In joy, that is. As part of my wake-up ritual, I was slogging through the Internet when I bumbled onto a piece of news so exciting it caused me to call my wife into the room. The conversation went something like this: JASON: OHMYGOD! COURTNEY (from the bathroom): What? JASON: Oh my God, Oh my God…come in here! COURTNEY enters the living room with a make up brush in hand: What. JASON: Look at this! …
When was the last time you heard anything about the PSP Go? Introduced last year, Sony’s digital only experiment has been conspicuously absent from monthly sales reports and the mainstream media’s attention pretty much ever since. Even Sony themselves have kept quiet, barely mustering the courage to dare show the doomed device amongst its promotional materials at this year’s game shows. Not even bundling it with 10 – yes TEN free games in the UK …
This last week my family and I were camping in the woods at Farragut State Park in Idaho. We had planned to go check out the shopping for house stuff in nearby Spokane and take the kids to Silverwood amusement park to give them a taste of a real roller coaster. The land is very similar to the terrain around where we live and since the water in Pend Oreille is very cold and immediately …
“We’re off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz!” one merry man sings as he gallops around me dizzyingly. I’m in the Land of the Dead (an appropriate title for a desert filled with skeletons and token scorpions) and I’ve joined a party lead by a rough looking Warrior Priest. ‘Sigmar’ is scrawled across his forehead. I’m unsure whether its carved into his skin, or written on in blood, but either way he’s …
Review by Steerpike Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty Developer Blizzard Publisher Activision/Blizzard Released June 27, 2010 Available for PC (version played), Macintosh Time Played Finished (single player) – about 20 hours Verdict: 3/5 Middlin’ “Perhaps the most important question: will I buy the next game? I will not. And neither, I suspect, will the vast and quiet majority of gamers out there who have no interest whatsoever in Starcraft 2’s multiplayer. The single player game… …
A few weeks ago I finally decided to buy the Alien Breed: Impact double pack for myself and a friend. For those of you who aren’t aware, Alien Breed: Impact is the PC version of Alien Breed: Evolution which in turn is a reboot of a classic franchise by Team17 originating on the Commodore Amiga in 1991. The main reason I purchased Impact was simply because of one thing: Alien Swarm. Actually make that two …
Summer. It’s a beautiful time of year, isn’t it? Well, on the northern slice of the planet, I should say– sorry Aussies, et al. It’s a time to hear the laughter of children playing in the streets (well, not in the city; I hear drunkards in the streets, mostly), a time to visit beaches and canyons (must confess I haven’t done much of this either), and a time to sample summer beers at your local …
Ouch. As strategy buffs may know and others should learn, Stardock Systems’ Elemental: War of Magic was released upon the earth yesterday. And apparently, it’s a disaster. PC Gamer has described it as “broken to the point of being unplayable,” and urges gamers to “stay well away.” RPS goes a bit further, accusing Stardock of violating its own Gamers Bill of Rights (now removed from the Stardock website) – specifically Right #2: “Gamers shall have …
Sexually-charged or erotic horror lurks with its brethren among the thousand offspring of the horror genre, that monster umbrella that gives us everything from slasher’s teenage morality to torture porn’s revolting screams and arterial sprays. All in all horror is the most diversely subgenrefied (and among the most studied) categories of fiction. And among the least commonly used subgenres within it is erotic horror, because it’s hard hard hard to do. So we’ll have to …
Valve has a history of slurping up talent from the fan/mod community – Adam Foster, creator of MINERVA, now gets his paychecks from Valve. So does the team that created the popular Warcraft 3 mod Defense of the Ancients, a game I never really got into. Also scribe Erik Wolpaw. And we’d be remiss not to mention the jewel in their recruitment crown, the DigiPen Institute student team that created Narbacular Drop, a senior project …
“Has anyone got any Golden Scarabs spare?” I ask mid battle, as we bound across Dragonwake from Eataine. Our band of merry men plough through the lush green fields as one hulking mass of armour and death. In ancient times Dragons would heed the call of Princes to defend the lakes, but I get the impression it is their day off today and it’s down to us, instead…
I’ve been playing more co-op games recently than I ever have and when you’re playing with the right people they’re the most fun you can have with your clothes on. If you play with your clothes off then that passion could have no boundaries, so be careful. I’ve got two words to sum up my thoughts on this Portal 2 video posted over at RPS this morning: Oh my.