I certainly doubt that GSC will attempt to develop another proprietary engine. — Me, April 5, 2010 That’s the kind of wisdoms you can expect from yours truly, my friends: completely inaccurate ones. Word comes across the vines of grapes that Ukrainian developer GSC Game World is hard at work on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 with plans for a 2012 release, and will – contrary to all sanity, logic, and sense – be developing a new engine …
Oh, wowzers! A short while ago, Ken Levine (the master behind the original BioShock) and his team at Irrational Games well and truly blew the lid off their next major project. Although we knew an announcement of some description was due, what exactly the world was about to see has remained a mystery. Until now, that is. BioShock is back, but unlike its direct sequel from earlier on this year, the franchise’s true Big Daddy is …
The original Mafia was a game I always wanted to love but never really did. As something of a fan of popular gangster culture in the film industry, I’ve always wanted 1930s gangland Chicago to translate well to video games. As far as the history of the criminal underworld goes, the era’s rather unique blend of quick talkin’, trilby wearin’, suited and booted, Tommy gun totin’ kingpins should really translate well to gaming. For one reason or another however, it never really has. Mafia wasn’t a bad game by any stretch of the imagination, but despite such a rich abundance of source material to pick up on, it was a game which in my opinion lacked an identity or a unique sell.
Despite mixed feelings on the original however, Mafia II has remained firmly on my radar for some time. Thanks to the pre-release demo launched on Xbox Live, PlayStation Network and Steam yesterday, I’ve finally had an opportunity to get my hands on this long awaited sequel.
It’s been eleven months since I last set foot into Warhammer Online. As one of the first to play the game throughout its closed BETA period and launch, I had certainly burnt myself out by late October last year. Playing one class exclusively, and encountering many of the game’s trials and tribulations, a break was certainly much needed…
The tubes are alight with new rumors that Gearbox – creators of Borderlands and one of those WWII games, Medal of Brothers or Call in Arms or whatever – has been tapped to take over development of Duke Nukem Forever, a game that’s been in development since the Paleozoic and finally got canceled in 2009 when 3D Realms, its creator, went belly-up.
Last night I saw The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (oh, sweet sweet Netflix auto-streaming to Xbox, how I love thee). It was pretty brutal – not quite as brutal as the book, which spent pages exquisitely describing sexual torture – but pretty brutal. Michael Nyqvist was great, Noomi Rapace was a revelation; Niels Oplev proves himself to be a solid, talented director. An excellent movie, but not for the faint of heart or those …
The website People of Walmart may be old hat to some. I’m sure many Americans witness scenes like these every week (heck, I assure you some of these fine people would look right at home in the UK’s very own Walmart-owned Asda stores) and I’m fully expecting a call from 2009 to ask for it’s website back, but as an immature Englishman who has only just discovered the site, I’m currently finding People of Walmart …
Review by Xtal Dead Space Developer: EA Redwood Shores Publisher: Electronic Arts Released: 14 October 2008 Available for: PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 [reviewed] Time Played: Completed twice (approximately 25 hours) Verdict: 3/5 Middlin’ “Dead Space had no need to cater to an expected “mainstream shooter” audience. It had enough unique tricks that could have made it a wholly altered experience. Unfortunately it comes out bland and carbon-copied”
As in “things Japanese people are pissed about.” Rock, Paper, Shotgun ran this and I just have to pass it along. Those are Japanese people holding signs written in Japanese complaining about Japanese roleplaying games and how they’re linear and stuff. Whole image follows.
Oh, Bobby Kotick, you rascal you. Your corporate behavior isn’t enough, is it? No, the descent to the Dark Side must be paved with more than just unabashed greed and squicky business dealings. To be truly evil, you have to fire an employee who’s filed a sexual harassment charge. It’s a good thing the courts are less slime-covered than you.
Nihilistic and existential indie Immortal Defense has gone to a pay-whatever-you-want pricing model, provided whatever you want is more than $1.75. This odd, eerie, and emotional game got a lot of positive press when it appeared in 2007, and some gamers have been satisfied with the huge demo rather than investing in the full game. Now there’s no excuse! Contribute to the cause here. Email the author of this post at steerpike@tap-repeatedly.com.
By now, you’re probably aware of Bungie’s much publicised decision to lay down the law on “Rage Quitters” for its upcoming FPS behemoth, Halo Reach. Speaking to Xbox 360 Achievements, Bungie community rep Brian Jarrard outlined plans to detect and punish those who quit out of games early. Reportedly, these “soft bans” could prevent repeated offenders from joining matchmaking servers for up to 30 minutes and could be smart enough to differentiate between Rage Quitters …
Well do I remember the first time I met Ben. I’d written an article semi-attacking Roger Ebert for, you know, being Roger Ebert. And Ben, who’d apparently been a fan of my column, forwarded it to the great man, who in turn wrote me directly, politely agreed to disagree, and CC’d Ben on the missive. Then Ben and I got into email and we had a chance to grab some breakfast together at that year’s Game Developer’s Conference. Since then we’ve made a point to get together at any conferences we’re collectively at; I at least have about 450 pounds of fun when we hang out. Ben started at High Voltage Software, (where he produced Duel Masters), and then to EA (where he served as design director for Def Jam: Icon) to Emergent (where he launched demos showcasing the company’s famous engine GameBryo) to Paramount (where he tried desperately to get Hollywood morons to understand the gaming business), finally to 47Games, where he belongs – which is to say, his own company, a consultancy that will soon hire me focused on maximizing the synergy between games and movies.
I mentioned Ben a couple posts ago, when I wrote about Deadly Premonition. And I meant what I said: never have I known anyone who can disassemble a game experience better. To put it another way, Ben knows what the fuck he is talking about. And while we don’t always agree, one of the many things I love about him is that we both share the slack-jawed glee of loving games, even when we hate them. Ben and I have never had the opportunity to do this, but we could sit at a table, drinking and eating, and talk about games for… hell, 20 hours at least before we lost interest. He’s a good friend and a kindred spirit. You should definitely check out his blog .
Today, he’d like to share with you his thoughts on Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty, a game some of you might have heard of. Take it away, Ben!
For Rock Paper Shotgun god Kieron Gillen, being one of the most highly respected games journalists in the world isn’t enough. OH NO, he has to write his own comics, and also write for Marvel. And now he writes video games. God dammit, Kieron, some of us are lazy. Would it kill you to be lazy? GEEZ. Thus must you check out The Curfew, a cautionary tale (the best kind) about fascism and information management in …
Evil Avatar reports that Blizzard’s just-released Starcraft 2 is getting some heat from consumers, who’ve criticized the game for being “unfinished” – in the sense that this first installment, Wings of Liberty, only represents the human campaign. The Protoss and Zerg campaigns will ship as their own games, at $60 apiece, like this one.