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Gears of War and Fortnite dev Epic Games is getting back to its roots with a PC-exclusive project, creative lead Cliff Bleszinski and president Mike Capps announced today during a PAX East panel. "We might be working on a PC-only title," Capps teased, before Bleszinski picked up where he left off: "Let me say that again: we are working on a PC game."

The panel is still going on, but we'll be sure to chat to the Epic folks as soon as it's over.

Are you in the mood for buying a game for not very much money? Well you’ve come to the right place. Welcome to the bargain bucket, wherein I catalogue the finest cut-price electronic entertainment software for your computer-box every weekend. If you’re craving for gaming value isn’t satiated by this lot, get yourself over to SavyGamer.co.uk for regular updates on what games are cheap across all platforms. (more…)

I… I don’t… Um. OK, let me start again. Vidiot Game is far-and-away the strangest thing I’ve ever played. It’s kind of like Nintendo’s madcap WarioWare series I guess, but things just happen and the floating face asks me all these questions and I fuse with bees to gain their powers and I killed a space-time void with a backflip. Also, a three question multiple choice prompt randomly asked me where I was from, and the one non-fictional option was my actual, incredibly obscure hometown. So I’m pretty sure Vidiot Game is also magic. It’s a spastic, nonsensical trip through utter silliness that probably counts as a hallucinogenic drug in whatever terrifying rainbow moon dimension it’s from, but I couldn’t stop. Also, it’s free! So try it and uh… I… words and stuff. Thanks, Free Indie Games. I think.

This is a weekly column focusing on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity. Last week's column on changes in role-playing combat systems through history ruffled a few feathers, so I thought it would be a good idea to discuss what, in my opinion, makes for good RPG combat systems. I had no intention of sounding like I hated turn-based combat (since my two favorite RPGs use it!), or that every new game was better than old.

Responsiveness may be the single most important component of a good combat system. I mean "responsive" in a broad fashion, specifically encompassing four different forms of responsiveness that can all work together: pace, information, animation, and sound.

Responsive pace means that when you press the button to have something happen, that thing happens quickly. In Jagged Alliance 2, one of the greatest tactical RPGs of all time, you click your mouse and you immediately see what happens. Your choices register instantly. Or, in games like The Elder Scrolls: Arena and Daggerfall, your sword follows your mouse when you hold the attack button, and you see the effect instantly. On the other hand, there are games like Anachronox, a fascinating Ion Storm homage to Japanese classic Chrono Trigger. Anachronox does extremely well at setting a tone for the game with interesting characters and narrative, but its sluggish combat is a major drawback and renders the game extremely frustrating in battle-heavy areas.

Here's the one big question everyone is directing at Runic Games CEO Max Schaefer about Torchlight 2: When is it launching?

"Well, I'm sure you've noticed Diablo has announced a date. So, we don't want to fall right on that," Schaefer said when we met at PAX East today. "The real answer is when [Torchlight 2] is finished, is Diablo 3 right now? Then we'll wait."

Schaefer said the launch date will "ideally" be shortly after the one occupied by Diablo -- and optimistically it'll be a month later. He noted that Runic isn't going to rush to beat Blizzard, however. With the two products selling alongside one another, he feels it's best to polish the game as much as possible. He doesn't want to be the "cheap" alternative, simply the less expensive one at a $20 price. He also noted the game would have an offline mode, modding, LAN support, and that its pacing would separate it from the competition.

Does he have something to communicate directly to fans waiting for Torchlight 2?

"Be patient. Our total development time on this game is going to be about two year, which is not unreasonably long for this type of game. We're going as fast as we can. It'll be worth the wait, it'll totally be worth the wait. In the long run, people will be happy we took this extra time."

I’ve been celebrating Easter by watching hundreds of cute ickle yellow chicks die horribly. And in the game. By which I mean Kyle Pulver’s avian-abusing puzzle-platformer Offspring Fling.

Fifteen or twenty years ago, this would have been on a magazine cover. Several magazine covers, in fact. People would have forked out £40 or £50 for it. It would have been the creation of sizeable team, with a corporation’s annual finances resting on its shoulders. In 2012, a game of Offspring Fling’s cleverness and completeness is $7.99, made by one man and snuck onto the internet with little-to-no fanfare. This isn’t news to anyone, I realise, but occasionally I glance back at how things have changed over the last few years and shake my head in happy disbelief.

Offspring Fling, then, is a puzzle platformer of the sort that used to abound in the early 90s, of the sort where you’re there to rescue the helpless alongside dodging danger yourself. You’re in the feather frame of a mother-bird, collecting her scattered chicks from around cartoon levels occupied by platforms and assorted vicious wildlife then fleeing to the exit.(more…)

Being an adventure fan isn’t always easy. Only the other week, I had to endure Pendulo Studios’ Yesterday – a game of dark mystery and devilry whose general quality is probably best summed up by this tweet. Luckily, for every low, there’s a high, and while I’ve only played the opening act of Wadjet Eye/xii’s upcoming Resonance, it’s more than washed the bad taste out of my mouth. Here’s a few reasons for your mouse finger to look forward to it…

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With the Easter weekend coming up and the baked goods-bearing mass of my family poised to descend upon me, I realise with a heavy heart that I won’t have much time for games in the next few days. That’s okay, though, because I know I’ll make time soon. I’m also comfortable in the knowledge that I live a relatively charmed existence, blessed with leisure time and technology, always poised to flip open an electronic hatch and escape into something pixellated.

Looking back, I realise that I’ve dedicated the best part of a life to precisely that. And it is a strange joy.

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Did you know that Flare Path had an older brother – an older brother that met an untimely end? Tarquin Flare Path hated change and hatched a plot to purge it from the world. If it hadn’t been for a vigilant off-duty bobby, a faulty Schottky transistor, and an escaped circus tiger, you and I would dwell in a perpetual June 14th 1997. Poor old Tarquin. Perhaps it’s a good thing he’s not around today. Watching as wargame devs flirt with new platforms, and Joseph Mangan plans the reinvention of civilian flight simulation, even the most progressive progressive could be forgiven the odd flicker of unease. (more…)

When I awoke this morning, I could feel a certain electricity in the air. The animals near my home tensed and mewed restlessly, and my left shoulder blade pulsated with a dull ache. I knew these signs. This day, I realized, would be very, very Witchy. Predictably, CD Projekt trotted out Geralt in all his finest freebies, and I figured – short of, perhaps, a minor fluctuation in Wichita, Kansas – that was it for the day. Then I came across this Digital Spy bit detailing a new project from former CD Projekt senior producer Tomasz Gop called “Project RPG.” Today, it turned out, would also be very Project-y. What’s it about? Check out this:

“The world is set 1,000 years after the death of a God, whose corpse is a mountain that splits the world into two sides, each with their own philosophy.”

Ooh! More below.(more…)

And in the game etc, etc. Anyway, while I do desperately hope for an apocalyptic clash of the divines to shake up the dull summer months, I imagine I’ll have to settle for an expansion to the latest entry in that most revered of strategy, an expansion that addresses a god-ton of player concerns: Civilization V: Gods and Kings is headed to the US on June 19 and everywhere else on June 22 – because apparently even deities and demi-deities aren’t more powerful than arbitrary limits from the mighty game-publishing Powers That Be. At any rate, you can read all about the new features – including religion, espionage, and a special “Victorian science-fiction” scenario (!) – here.

In what may be a first for humanity since the (admittedly fictional) film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Good Old Games de-aged. Out with the “Old,” in with the GOG, as no one’s said until now. Or, if they have, people just looked at them funny and told them to go lie down. Anyway, seeing as change is afoot and GOG’s trying very hard to make us pay attention, I briefly spoke with managing director Guillaume Rambourg about why the site’s taken an abrupt turn toward a new direction, why Steam sales are hurting the industry, and — with even Ubisoft removing its ponderous yolk — whether or not DRM is finally dying.

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At this rate, I’m beginning to think the only way to halt Kickstarter’s charging bull stampede of success stories is to start a Kickstarter with the express aim of stopping Kickstarter. Kickstopper, as John calls it. Maybe I’m exaggerating a teensy bit, but Shadowrun‘s not-so-shadowy run right past $400,000 in 28 hours is – as these things typically are – absolutely incredible. As of writing, it now sits at $517,170, which basically guarantees a Mac version, among other things. Jordan Weisman and co are, of course, pleased as punch that’s pleased about passing an insane Kickstarter goal. See Weisman and his Harebrained cohorts say so in a video after the break.(more…)

Just in time for Easter, Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw of Zero Punctuation and the Chzo Mythos games, has released his new game Poacher, in which a man from Yorkshire kills hundreds of rabbits. Some of them fight back and I like to imagine the Easter Bunny would be one of those, a snarling thing of myth, born in the imagination of a child but now made flesh, fur and fearsome claw. As my headline clumsily attempts to inform you, Poacher has a bit of Castlevania about it, with powers gained to allow access to new areas of the underground worlds Derek Badger discovers beneath the estate he is raiding at the game’s start. Download here.

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Time traveling dimension hoppers from a universe of electrical storms and VHS recorders have unearthed footage Warren Spector’s next game, Epic Mickey 2: The Power Of Two and brought it into our… sorry? It’s Wii footage? Oh, that explains it. I’m usually not snobbish, and I’m sure Youtube’s compression doesn’t do the Wii any favours, but jagged edges and about four colours really don’t show the multiplatform platformer off in the best light. With that warning in mind, try and look past it and into the really lovely art design in the platform sections, and the lovely flat art in the third-person sections. I did make an ‘aww’ when Mickey and whatever the hell the other thing is teamed-up with Mickey as a helicopter. I’m a sap for cute co-op.(more…)

If you've grown up with games then you're probably done a bit of competitive gaming. Whether it be destroying our friends at Halo, jumping in exultation as we annihilate our siblings in Street Fighter, or laughing with friends as our enemies fell before us in Counter Strike, we played our hearts out and strove to be better, faster, and more skilled than our fellow combatants...

GOG is hyping up its massive overhaul/relaunch by making the original Fallout free for the next 48 hours. Available for XP, Vista and Windows 7, the free version includes the game itself, Fallout-themed wallpapers, a 205 page "Fallout bible" and the soundtrack.

Originally released in 1997, Fallout will feel familiar and yet dramatically different to anyone whose history with the series begins with Fallout 3. For a total investment of zero dollars, however, it's hard to do much better.

Not enough things are inspired by 1980s action movies. And I write that knowing a quite a lot of things actually inspired by that apex of stupidity, and I should probably shut up, but I only have one day as a regular updater left on RPS and I’m demob happy. So I’m demanding more things that explode, more quips about death, and rocket launchers for everyone. Luckily I have a game directly inspired by all those things in my sights: The Showdown Effect. Magicka developers Arrowhead Games have taken everything I like in the world and dragged the camera out and to the side, so it’s viewed from a side on perspective. This revolutionary positioning of the camera makes everything easier to see. Proof of this can be found in the half-hour demonstration that Paradox hosted and have now uploaded to the internet. It’s probably too long to just sit and stare at, so the inclusion of the developer commentary and the Q&A make are welcome.(more…)

After yesterday’s discussion of the perceived/imagined dangers of video gaming, and so many before it, it’s good to take a look at what good gaming can do. That’s what ‘Frugal Dad’, Jason White, has done on his finance blog. You can see it below.

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Civilization 5's "Gods and Kings" expansion is set to enter the timeline on June 19 and 22 in North America and internationally, respectively.

At GDC, developers gave us a better idea of the changes in the expansion pack, which will add 27 new units, 13 new buildings and nine new Wonders and civilizations. The big changes will include the addition of religion and espionage, along with tweaks to diplomacy. We're still looking forward to hearing more about the game's additional scenarios, including the "Victorian science-fiction scenario."

My wrestling credentials are top notch. I may not be able to fight my way out of a paper bag or open a bag of crisps, but given that my every relationship relies on the keeping of kayfabe, I’m more in tune with the mental processes of the mountainous men who grapple in the squared circle than an onlooker might think. Given that I also have an aptitude for both pointing and clicking, I am the perfect man to tell you wot I think of Da New Guys: Day of the Jackass.

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I’m amazed that no-one’s managed to really nail the space combat genre since Freelancer. Ships and explosions, then more and bigger ships and bigger explosions. It’s not astrophysics… okay, a bit of it is astrophysics. So hire an astrophysicist, but one that allows you to have fiery explosions and lasers. Sheesh. Newly Kickstartered space combat sim Starlight Inception probably doesn’t have an astrophysicist working on it, and for that we’ll have to give it some slack. But at least it has a heart-shaped crosshair pointed at all the right inspirations: Freelancer, X-Wing vs TIE Fighter. The now traditional self-deprecating Kickstarter pitch is hovering below.(more…)

Cyanide are getting another crack at converting boardgames to the PC (having already done so with Blood Bowl) with their version of miniature tabletop game, Confrontation. It’s out today. I’ve had a brief look at this earlier in the week, but haven’t played enough for a critical verdict. I can certainly report that some fantasy dudes get killed right up, in a real-time strategy fashion, if that’s your sort of thing. Check out more of that sort of thing in the launch trailer, below.(more…)

E-sports are complicated – and not just because they involve phrases like “300 actions per minute.”  Planet Earth, you see, is broken up into these colossal rocks – oft-believed to be kept afloat by a colorful assortment of giant sea turtles – called continents. And within these continents are countries, states, cities, and provinces, each with their own rich cultures and unique perspectives. Which is terrible, because that makes it nearly impossible to answer the most important question of all: Who’s best at StarCraft? Happily, Blizzard’s proposed a solution.

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The latest in the ever-growing line of Kickstarter-funded games is Shadowrun Returns, a sequel to the original game which hit PC back in 1989. Jordan Weisman, the creator of Shadowrun, secured the license for a sequel on the PC and iOS and Android tablets, and is hoping to raise $400,000 for the project.

Shadowrun Returns is planned to be a "graphically rich 2D turn-based single player game" in the vein of classic Shadowrun. Harebrained Schemes will also release the PC level editor alongside the game, so players can craft their own stories and missions within the universe and share them online -- either with all players or only your friends.

As of right now, Harebrained Schemes is pretty much halfway to the desired goal with 24 days left to go.

[Thanks, Chad.]

The Game: You Have to Burn the Rope Genre: Satirical Platformer Platform: Browser (Flash) The Scoop: You Have to Burn the Rope is a silly little Flash game released around 2008. In fact it's less of a game, and more like the playable video game version of a single short joke...

Excuse me… sorry, coming through… pardon me… hi, sorry, can I just get past… Uughhh, phew. Hello, gosh, sorry about that – just trying to get past all the Kickstarter projects to drink my coffee. Hang on, what’s that sound? Oh no. Oh God no! It’s a Kickstarter AVALANCHE!

Can anyone still hear me? I’m typing through this tiny hole in the piles of Kickstarters, to try to tell you that there’s another one for a sequel to Shadowrun. Wait, no, sorry Jane Jensen, I’m trying to talk about Jordan Weisman’s project. No, Al Lowe, I’m talking to you later tonight. Come on guys, get back in line.

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Looking for some awesome Adventure Game Studio titles with which to while away your time? Lewis Denby rounds up a bunch of the best, whether you’re after something silly, serious, or not even an adventure game at all.(more…)

Torchlight 2 developer Runic Games is diverting attention from the game's lack of launch date with some assets featuring the upcoming dungeon crawler's pets. Although we're partial to the bulldog, there's something about the panther rolling over for belly rubs that's too cute to deny.

With Diablo 3's May launch just around the corner, we don't hold out too much hope that Torchlight 2 will launch with significant breathing room between it and Blizzard's behemoth. Guess that gives the team at Runic, which has put on a strong face in light of recent events, time to develop a few more pets.

The Penny Arcade games were, perhaps, not all of the good in the world in one place. But there’s some rather splendid news afoot. What had clearly been abandoned is to return, but now in the hands of the rather brilliant Zeboyd Games. They who made the utterly fab Cthulhu Saves The World. They’ve been put in charge of the ever-hideously named Penny Arcade Adventures: On The Rain-Slick Precipice Of Darkness, episodes 3 and 4.

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