PC Gaming News Message Board older than one year ago

I think The Other Brothers, soon to star in their own “family friendly adventure”, may be distant relatives of The Great Giana Sisters. I thought I’d written about the game before because I know for sure that I’ve watched the teaser trailer a few times and hoped that, despite the Mario connections, the game was going to be pointy and clicky rather than runny and jumpy. The footage just released to /The Indie Game Magazine suggests there will be no pointing or clicking at all, which makes me sad, but perhaps you enjoy having handsome lip furniture, and jumping up and down while being assaulted by giant rats in abandoned warehouses?

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I was recently pointed in the direction of Symon, a free experimental point and click adventure from Singapore-MIT’s game laboratory, Gambit. The idea behind it is to see if it’s possible to create a procedurally generated narrative adventure, with unique puzzles. Which is quite an ask. The results, they’re an interesting combination of cheats and potential.

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OFF could be this year’s Space Funeral, except that it wasn’t released this year. It’s an RPGMaker 2003 game made by a group going by the name Unproductive Fun Time and everybody at all interested in the wonderfully weird world of bizarre and creepy SNES-style RPGs should have played it already. The only barrier to entry was the Frenchness of it all, which isn’t a way of referring to a certain Gallic oddness, but rather the fact that it was written by French people in the French language. A heroic group have now finished their translation so it is surely time to play. Listen to the battle music below and then see if you can resist downloading.

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Carmageddon Reincarnation has been successfully funded! Which could have been a headline over a year ago, as the bally project was happening anyway, but having just reached its Kickstarter goal that means it’s double-funded. Stainless’ driving and murder simulator currently sits on top of a $425,000 cash-throne with nine days left on the Kick-clock.

I’d be very surprised if it didn’t reach half a mill before closing, and if there wasn’t some sort of concerted push (new rewards etc) to make that happen. They’ve already claimed Mac and Linux versions will be on the cards if $600,000 is dinged. So, yeah. Hopefully this hugely increases the odds of Reincarnation being a great Carmageddon game rather than merely an adequate one. Well done, chaps, and best of luck. We’ll see you at Rezzed.

Below: lots of developers saying thank you, and some com-ed-dee outtakes from their initial KS pitch vid.(more…)

It’s Monday morning and the British summer continues to be nothing at all like a British summer by the very act of continuing. It’s hotter than the devil’s trouser press out there and after two days of waltzing about in the great outdoors, I’m about ready to sit in a dark room and write about PC games. First up is Legends of Dawn, an RPG that “liberates from class restrictions unlike real life”. That’s official. In real life, if you excel in mathematics at school you’re locked in until the end of your days. You’re a Mathemancer and there’s no way to change that. Apart from a lack of class restrictions, Legends of Dawn also offers a wide open world to wander in, with deviation from the main storyline an option for all. Let this trailer enter your mind.

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Indie developers are the starving artists of the video-game world, often brilliant and innovative, but also misunderstood, underfunded and more prone to writing free-form poetry on their LiveJournals. We believe they deserve a wider audience with the Joystiq Indie Pitch: This week, Ballin developer Derek Gallant describes his epiphanies relating to gravity and gaming.


What's your game called and what's it about?

Ballin is a challenging, charming physics-puzzle game. The main character, the ball, is trapped in Block World, and must escape. You advance through the game by reaching the portal keys in each stage, but you can't control the ball directly. You must move around the stage by altering the pull of gravity itself.

Why develop independently, rather than work for an established company?

For me it was more of a circumstance than a personal decision. As I am currently in my final year at college, working for an established company really wasn't an option at the time. That being said, regardless of where I end up after graduation, I always want to work independently in some regard, whether that be as my full-time job or on personal projects away from work. The freedom of independent development is really attractive to me; it allows developers to really think outside the box and come up with something really unique and fun. I hope independent development is always a part of my career in some aspect.

Sundays are for sitting inside, avoiding the boiling sun. You’ll probably want to shut the curtains so that you can concentrate on important writings about videogames, like the ones below.

• This is kind of breath-taking: “For Superlevel, I went on a quest to test all 1.402 games of the Ludum Dare #23 – yes, every single one. I’d like to give you an overview over particularly innovative gameplay, wonderful ideas and exquisite digital entertainment. Have fun!”

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And now it is a regular. Below you’ll find the latest on the PC Kickstarters that have caught our eye over the last week, including many that people have contacted us about. Want to let me know about your/a vital Kickstarter? There’s no promise of being included at all, but send an email via the link in my name above, and it’ll go in the pot. I think the theme that really comes out this week is just how much money half a million dollars is. When Schafer pitched at $400,000, he thought he was being crazy. That he made $3.5m I think made it look too easy. A few aren’t going to make it, because the numbers are simply too high for the accompanying interest. On the other hand, smaller indies looking for more modest targets are reaching their totals this week. Which opens up the next question of whether these modest targets are unrealistically low… I think there are going to be a lot of interesting tales told in six to eight months time. So as usual, please understand that our listing games here doesn’t mean we endorse them, or think they’re definitely worth your money – it’s your gamble to back anything.

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Is it sunny where you are today? It’s a gorgeous day here at Savy Towers, with a bright blue sky and beaming hot sun. What better weather could there be to stay inside and play some cheap computer games. None, says I. None whatsoever. If you’re in the mood for buying some new slices of digital fun, here’s your handy weekly guide to the very best offers available this weekend. I’m off to find some cider and sit in the sun, but you can find my regular gaming bargain hunting exploits chronicled over here, if you like. (more…)

Civilization 5 is free to play on Steam this weekend and is only $7.50 ($12.50 for the Game of the Year edition) if you decide to invest in your future's lost time. Fans of the previous installment knock the game for not being as deep, but some of those rebels may be silenced by the upcoming Gods and Kings expansion on June 19.

What's everyone playing this weekend?

Who's in the mood for a career change but, like, doesn't want to completely change their life? We have an easier solution for you aspiring soldiers of war, city planners and mob bosses out there.

For this weekend, GOG is knocking half off the price of twelve different games. Highlights include Guilty Gear X2 #Reload, Soulbringer and entries in the Commandos series - all games aside from the Commandos 2 + 3 bundle will set you back a pittance of $2.99.

This sale ends on Monday.

While it’s still at the ‘sign-up for info’ stage, Fallen London creators Failbetter Games are getting ready to launch a cool sounding set of tools that could let you beat them at their own game. It’s called StoryNexus, and with it anyone will (eventually) be able to create their own card/text based adventures. There’s also going to be a new game based on the technology, described with the company’s ever-erudite panache as “kind of a musketeer noir thing”.

I’m really looking forward to seeing this in the flesh, for a number of reasons…

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The best part of Flare Path’s day? Probably dawn. That’s the time he goes out and checks all his Simulation & Wargame News traps. This morning in the treadle cage by the old pig-sties he found 400 words on a rather promising FSX add-on. The snares in the plantation were empty, but saucer-eyed and struggling in the one in the Chalk Lane culvert was the prettiest little HistWar: Les Grognards snippet you ever saw. Even without the Over Flanders Fields communiqué almost bitten in half by the 7” gin under the Cottonworth bridge, it would have been a good bag. (more…)

Gnoblins is called Gnoblins and that’s pretty much all I needed to know to convince me that downloading the freely available alpha version might be a very good idea indeed. That it turns out to be a first person RPG, with roguelike features such as random levels, lots of items to equip and mysterious dangers to discover. The Gnoblins themselves are minions, to be added in a future release, that will apparently provide an RTS element to the game and there’s even mention of developing areas of the dungeon for your own use. Dungeon Keeper plus roguelike plus Ultima Underworld? Let’s hope so. It’s tremendously exciting, even if the early version is obviously missing lots of planned features and content. Try the alpha and if your name is Richard Cobbett, click more.

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Blisteringly fast gamers are currently racing their way through top games in front of a live audience to raise money for autism research. It’s the Speed Demos Archive Summer Games Done Quick event, running from the 24th to the 28th, and you can watch it live. There are prizes to be won, games to be played, and large generous donations to be made.

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The Providence Journal sat neatly presented on the counter at the Dunkin Donuts across the street from 38 Studios in Rhode Island, its headline clear as day: "Loan-guarantee fallout costs EDC chief his job." Further down the right column of the page was the other harbinger headline: "Too little cash to cover the check."

This was last Friday, May 18, the day after the head of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, the quasi-government group responsible for co-signing the $75 million loan to 38 Studios, was fired. It was also the day after the state couldn't deposit a $1.12 million check the studio delivered as a payment because the company's chief financial officer called to say there were insufficient funds.

A man walked up to the counter for his morning caffeine fix. I guessed he worked at 38 Studios because he had 'the look.' The lady working the counter confirmed my egregious profiling by asking, "How are things going over there?"

I recently got to see Ron Gilbert’s latest slice of adventure platformer mania, The Cave, in action. It was pretty great. I mean, characters walked and jumped and moved - as though propelled ever onward by the invisible hand of fate or the very visible hand of someone holding a controller. You should’ve been there. But since you weren’t, I desperately struggled to find a way to best relay that experience back to you. At first, my preview was a bunch of screenshot cut-outs glued to popsicle sticks, and then I fiddled with tiny felt finger puppets. Alas, however, it just wasn’t the same. But then Double Fine released this trailer. Madness, I thought. How could a mere video beat the fully 3D, impossibly high-def and immersive experience of a finger puppet? But you know what? It sort of works. Given time, these things might even catch on.

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Or at least, it is right now. Developer “ArenMook” has big plans for the isometric high-seas shooter, but for the moment, there’s a free, fully playable alpha demo that’s already nicely polished – especially given Windward‘s scant three months of development time so far. Basically, though, if you’ve played the 2004 Pirates revamp, you’ll be confidently row- row-rowing enemies’ boats gently down the river Styx in no time. But, if not, it’s a quick formula to pick up, requiring only a deft sense of timing and position from players. Aiming and cannon fire, meanwhile, are automatic.

It’s excellent fun in a 4v4 point capture setting, too. I almost immediately found myself engaged in a lighting quick back-and-forth that saw my opponent and I narrowly darting in and out of firing range. When it became apparent that my faithful Titanic Two was looking a bit more like Swiss cheese than their ill-gotten cruiser, I decided to charge straight into them. Unfortunately, my hull wasn’t nearly as thick as my incredibly suicidal resolve, so I harmlessly exploded mere inches away. I bet it would’ve been even more intense if my fearsome foe’s name wasn’t “Fartzilla.”

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"Because We May" is a brand new video game sale put together by a whole gang of indie game developers, who say they want to promote both their games and the online stores that let them control pricing. To that end, they've placed almost every great indie game from the last few years (no kidding) on sale, on the various app and game stores that you see above. Whether you're looking for games direct from their developers, on iOS or Android, or on the Mac App Store or Steam, there are tons of great sales for you to take advantage of, and probably more coming.

Let's spend $15, for example: Buy Bit Trip Runner from the developers for $3.99, pick up Waking Mars on the iPad for $1.99, grab Psychonauts on the Mac for five bucks, and pick up both Penny Arcade titles for $3.99. That's five great games for less than the price of a movie ticket.

Blizzard has made a quick update on its forums for Diablo 3 today, saying a post-launch patch could be ready as soon as next week. The patch, along with a number of server updates and other incoming fixes, will "further address client issues and apply additional bug fixes." One of the biggest issues is that, while the servers were bobbing up and down like buoys in the ocean last week, lots of players weren't able to earn achievements. Blizzard says it's still working on a solution.

Meanwhile, the real-money auction house has yet to be given a release date. It was supposed to be online earlier this week, but was pushed back after launch last week, and is now delayed indefinitely. "More information soon," says Blizzard.

Finally, Blizzard claims it's following the security concerns of players closely. According to the company, there is no "server spoofing" going on, official Blizzard servers themselves haven't been compromised, and Blizzard Authenticators are still the best way to keep an account secure. There's no word on the PvP update or any post-launch content yet - Blizzard's main goal at this point is to make sure the game is running steadily and securely.

In incredibly bad news, it’s been announced tonight that 38 Studios, and its wholly owned subsidiary Big Huge Games (Age Of Empires III, Rise Of Nations), are laying off their entire workforce. The Curt Schilling-owned enterprise was in a noticeably shaky state earlier this month when it was unable to make a repayment for a massive $75m loan it had taken from Rhode Island state in 2010, despite decent sales of Kingdoms Of Amular, and great promises of an MMO to come. Having just managed to make this repayment, staff began to notice that something was still up as paychecks failed to arrive in bank accounts, and health insurances were running out. And now, in a rather unpleasantly brisk email, they’ve learned that all 379 of them are immediately out of a job.

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In one of the most extensive discounting operations I’ve ever come across, a [insert appropriate collective noun, 'liberation' perhaps] of indie developers have decided to offer their games at prices so low that Crazy Al Trumpet, car and sofa salesman extraordinaire, would condemn them to Bedlam rather than follow their lead. The sale, Because We May, is also a statement of sorts.

We believe that developers should have the freedom to price their games how they like, without interference from the online stores that sell the games. Why? Because it allows us to promote our games more freely, as we are doing here! We rely on the ability to promote our games for our livelihood and control over pricing is an important tool for this purpose.

Click through for the list, with titles available direct and through various stores, including Steam, or check below for my recommendations.

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Described I can only assume erroneously as an “action-RPG”, DARK is seemingly actually a first-person RPG, in a horror setting. Focusing on stealth, you’ll be playing as a vampire fighting against the GeoForge Corporation, using all your vampiric specialities to uncover their evil. You can see a somewhat predictable trailer below.

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Gamer Mom is a rather lovely browser game about games, although not in some sort of complex metagaming metasense. Instead, Gamer Mom is a conversation between a mother and her family, at a dinner table, and the topic of discussion, skirted around, flanked and finally approached, is World of Warcraft. She loves it, it’s her social life and her escape, but her family don’t really understand. It’s about people really and the great divides between them. As player, you guide the conversation and, unnervingly, perhaps the family’s future. It’s sad, sweet and short, with plenty of branches to discover. Click here to see.

My previous posts on Day Z have largely been about driving home the kind of situations it generates, but I want to step away from that to look a bit more close at the systems it uses, and why it creates such powerful responses in the people who play it.(more…)

Johann Sebastian Joust developer Die Gute Fabrik deliberated over its response to inquiries about the similar iOS app Papa Quash for more than a day, delivering a comprehensive response on its blog last night. "To be clear, we've never given anyone permission to make a derivative version of any of our commercial products - existing or forthcoming," DGF said. "That said, the definition of 'derivative' is elusive. We generally don't believe that game mechanics themselves can or should be copyrighted or otherwise protected."

"We've also never requested any studio to pull any of its products," the studio added, referring obliquely to Papa Quash's removal from the App Store. "We believe that game developers have the responsibility to decide for themselves what is "over the line" in terms of cloning vs. innovating (separate from legal obligations regarding copyrights, trademarks, patents, and other intellectual property rights)." As for the specific case of Papa Quash, Die Gute Fabrik demurred from outright calling it a clone - while still expressing disappointment about cloning in general.

In an email to Joystiq, Die Gute Fabrik lead game designer Douglas Wilson provided clarification about the email conversation that took place between Papa Quash creator Sam Pepper and DGF.

"Sam Pepper did email me back in January," Wilson said. "However, I never gave him 'permission' to develop Papa Quash. In his emails, he told me about his general plans to make a motion control game, which he indicated was different from J.S. Joust. He never provided a well-formulated game/design, and as such, there simply was nothing to 'approve.'"

According to Wilson, the decision to pull Papa Quash was not his. "I spoke with Steve Bittan from Ustwo last night, and I made it clear that the determination was theirs (and potentially Sam Pepper's) to make as to whether the game is "different" enough (separate from legal obligations regarding copyrights, trademarks, patents, and other intellectual property rights). I don't harbor any animosity towards Ustwo or Sam Pepper."

The area around my computer is full of tiny post-it notes with the names of Kickstarter projects scrawled onto them. Everytime a funding deadline is missed, the note peels from the wall and falls to the ground, wilting like a flower on a grave. Kinetic Void’s name has been there for a while but I didn’t have time to look at the bewilderingly ambitious space game until last night and now there are only six days remaining until it joins the scattered thought-petals at my feet. Of all the genres that are in need of a kick in the rump, space combat is one that I’d like to see kicked so hard it actually ends up escaping orbit and drifting to sectors unknown. Kinetic Void isn’t just hoping to be a space combat game though. It wants to build galaxies.

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Really, there are only two things you need to know about Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion mastermind Ron Gilbert‘s The Cave: 1) It takes place inside a talking cave. 2) The cave is mysterious. And a bit sultry. “Welcome,” the Cave said as the demo began. “Don’t let my sultry and mysterious voice startle you.” Meanwhile, when asked about the titular magic rock formation’s overall role in the game’s proceedings, Gilbert chimed in: “He’s kinda mysterious. Sultry, too,”

OK, maybe there’s a bit more to it than that. Here are the basics: there are seven characters, each of whom has ventured to a time-and-space-transcending cave to “learn something about themselves and who they might become.” So yeah, Mr Cave (whose last name is hopefully not “Johnson” – that could get confusing) gets top billing, but this is a game first and foremost about those seven – with backgrounds ranging from Medieval knight to time-traveler. So you pick any three, descend into the depths of their respective madnesses (and, you know, a cave), and leap between them to advance through an interconnected Metroidvania-style world. Appearances, however, can be deceiving, so here’s the bit that should have you jumping for nostalgic joy: “It is an adventure game,” said Gilbert, quickly pocketing an entire bucket in-game. “You want to pick up everything you can.”

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RPS was recently in desperate need of somebody who knew a thing or two about Formula One, so they could cover Codemasters’ new browser-based management sim, F1 Online. And since my very favourite palindrome is ‘racecar’, they immediately thought of me. Here’s how I got on.(more…)

You will recall that one of Comrade Gillen’s many, many, many returns from retirement included this Unity Of Command review, in which he reported a strategy experience that was “accessible yet deep, attractive and with an AI which teaches you the core of the game by beating you around the head.” Despite that kindly recommendation some folks thought it was a little pricey to take a gamble on. And yet now there’s a sale, and also a demo. So there’s really no excuse for you not to take a look, is there?