I am really busy at work, which makes me sad. But developed-by-one-dude-in-Finland Sweden procedurally generated MMO Love was released today, which makes me happy. Even though I don’t play MMOs. Eskil Steenberg made Love all by his lonesome. He’s just one little guy! That’s pretty impressive. Part combat, part collective base-building, Love’s unique visual style and dreamy atmosphere – not to mention the fact that it was made by one little tiny person, have ensured …
EA Digital Illusions CE (DICE) have been around for a while. Since the days of Benefactor on the Amiga, and the first of the Battlefield series, they have carved out a name for themselves in an industry flooded with militaristic games. With ten Battlefield games (including expansion packs) across three platforms under their belt, many critics were wondering how far DICE could continue to develop the sub-genre of team based warfare…
For those of you not in the know about British politics, the Chancellor to the Labour Party, Alistair Darling (that’s the guy who controls all the money), has today announced the budget for 2010. Alongside a raft of half measures to cut our one trillion pound deficit (the government will borrow less than we expected this year, down from the £178 billion we expected- hurrah!) he has also announced, and acknowledge that: “the creative industries, …
Players have come to expect much more from a modern frag-fest since the early days of LAN parties, late night marathons and reams of cable underfoot. As the foundation of multiplayer gaming for an entire generation, Quake, Unreal Tournament, Counter-strike and Team Fortress have permanently scarred the industry’s landscape with their impact. Even now, developers strive for the success that heralds from these synonymous titles, and yet, in over ten years the principal foundations put …
Adelaide Now reports that South Australia Attorney General and game-hater Michael Atkinson has announced that he will leave Parliament in 2014, the time of the next election. Apparently the international outrage over Atkinson’s proposal to require – under penalty of a fine – that any Australian posting anything to a comment, blog, or forum be required to provide his or her true name and physical address prompted him to “fall on his sword,” as the …
A quest for revenge. Blood spilled on the cliff sides of Mount Olympus. Betrayal from an ally. Untold numbers of casualties slain by the Blades of Athena, etched into Kratos’ flesh and chained to his arms. A boss battle. The slaying of a God at the hands of a vengeful Spartan and the resulting condemnation to the depths of Hades. At that point, the opening hour of God of War III draws to a frenetic …
You would not believe how many people – on a daily basis – assure me that videogames are no longer in serious jeopardy of being censored, content regulated, or banned outright. Tell that to Australia. Or, if you prefer, you can now tell it to Switzerland, which today passed long-feared legislation allowing Parliament to ban games that require “cruel acts of violence against humans and humanlike creatures for game success.” These are nations with free …
It’s mortifying to be cheated and robbed by a hooker in a videogame. I mean, sure, if it happens in real life, I guess it’s to be expected. But when you’re playing a game where survival is a daily challenge, where ammunition is money and money is scarce, knowingly paying a whore for some sweet loving is kind of like inviting failure. It’s not my fault, though, I am a sucker for Russian accents. I …
True story: since playing Heavy Rain I have heard the name “Jason” so many times that it has lost all meaning. It now registers simply as a blurred noise in my head, like the distant ringing of somebody else’s telephone or a car alarm down the street. Now, I loved Heavy Rain, but some of the voice acting was just awful. Press X to Jason pays homage to that with this simple flash game, which …
I should probably start this piece by laying my cards on the table right away. I am a self-certified, unashamed Apple fanboy. One who will make no apologies for being so. I have bricked up all of the windows on my house in an effort to rid myself completely of the dirty “W” word, I have more of those cute Apple stickers than I now have non-Apple items to falsely re-brand, and when Steve Jobs …
Mortal Online, currently in Open Beta, is a new massively multiplayer online RPG by the Swedish video game developer Star Vault. Inspired by Ultima Online, the game places significant emphasis on sandbox-style game design. Unlike other MMOGs, MO proposes to offer the player a level of freedom yet to be experienced in the current generation of World of Warcraft clones…
In an odd and eerie parallel to the recent Activision/Blizzard-fueled enema of Infinity Ward, Gamasutra reports that Quest Online, developer and publisher of the MMO Alganon, fired President/Founder Dave Allen for “insubordination” and now has new leadership. In the form of Derek Smart.
Beautiful, gripping and powerful. These are all words you wouldn’t associate with Stephen ‘increpare’ Lavelle’s Starfeld, a strange, miniaturised space oddity. I played this a few weeks ago and had a good giggle but after all the talk of RPGs, freedom and linearity here recently it seems only fitting that I throw this one out there now. You Mass Effect players may appreciate the satire here more than I did. I just appreciated the line …
So in the wake of their bosses getting fired under increasingly suspicious circumstances, analysts ranging from me to Michael Pachter have predicted mass departures from Modern Warfare developer Infinity Ward. Yet no one has left. A guy I know who’s in a position to be the bearer of such news tells me that the reason no one has left is because owner Activision/Blizzard still hasn’t paid Infinity Ward any royalties – not a dime – for the …
Mat and I were talking about this just the other day, but the poor fellow had work then a soccer game, which doubtless delayed him. I’m hoping to see his first impressions of Square’s latest epic soon, but you know how those football fans are…