PC Gaming News Message Board older than one year ago

Firmly in the category of Mr Timothy Stone and his acolytes is Iron Cross, a new multiplayer strategy from indie Croatian developers, Panzer Division. Focusing on the North African element of Mega War II, you can play as the Goodies or the Baddies, and it’s free. It’s also now in open beta, which makes it ultra-free. Being in beta, the developers explain, “you can expect game upgrades and occasional problems. Come on, download it and have fun!” You can get the beta from right here.

I recently played through the excellent Portal 2, and as I was enjoying the game, and specifically its soundtrack, I started musing on the ways in which games deliver a musical score to the player. You may never have given it any thought, but - examining the wider genre of first person shooters - there are two main musical directions that can be pursued, and they're fundamentally different. What am I talking about? Let's kick things off with a couple of examples from Portal 2...

Writing articles about video games is so much fun that we often have to stop, wipe the manic grins off our faces and find something really boring to do. Sometimes we stare at a blank white wall and recite the Declaration of Independence under our breath, other times we watch Lost in Translation. Now we have a new option: We can play The Artist is Present, a game about waiting in line at New York's Museum of Modern Art created by Pippin Barr.

Unfortunately for us, the game's backstory is pretty entertaining. Contemporary artist Marina Abramović held an exhibit in 2010 that had people waiting hours in line for a chance to look into her eyes for as long as they wanted, and Barr used that idea to make a hilariously serious game about the contemporary art experience. In the game, you enter MoMA, buy a ticket and -- surprise -- wait in line to stare into Abramović's eyes. The game mimics MoMA's hours in real life, meaning when the real museum closes, the game kicks you to the curb and you can wait until it opens again IRL to get back in line. Or you can leave and grab a slice of pizza. Not in the game; in reality.

We haven't made it to the front yet, but already we feel enlightened. And bored.

Sundays for Jim are for holidaying. You can easily imagine Jim’s holiday destinations. Him, backpack over-shoulder, wandering a desolate wasteland, poking at decaying iron superstructures or even sitting my a drying pool tainted with radioactive waste. He’s having the time of his life, wandering nonlinearly in a place where any sane being would just want out of. Meanwhile, I sit and arrange a reading list of (mainly) fine game-related readings that crossed my path across the week and try not to do the *crag*ing obvious and link to a new Los Campesinos! record or something.

• You’ll be aware of the Gizmodo Ugh!-I-was-tricked-into-a-date-with-a-Magic-Player furore recently. I just rolled my eyes, thinking it basic click-bait and knew that other people – like the always-good Sarah Jaffe – point out the obvious. So Geordie Tait’s extended piece To My Someday Daughter was fascinating. While the conceit may be a note mawkish – I’ll admit, it almost lots me with the first couple of paragraphs before getting to the first of the very many things it’s about – it’s an interesting analysis of a culture’s response and geek culture in general. Take time to read this one.

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Whether it be constant or considered, motion is arguably the last word on how a game rolls and if the seventh generation is to be believed, turn-based is out. It's the HD DVD to your Blu-ray; the swiftly fading 3D to your indomitable 2D. Or, in this case, the X-Com to your XCOM. This is what X-...

GOG.com has released Star Control 3 on the digital distribution service -- the sequel to the Toys for Bob strategy classics isn't quite as well-remembered as the other games in the series, but completists who want to finish off the story of the Precursors can pick up the title for $5.99. If you want some quality 4X space gaming, Master of Orion 1 and 2 are available for the same price -- just sayin'.

And speaking of negotiating with aliens in old-school games, all of the Tex Murphy titles are also on sale this weekend, from the original games up to 1998's Tex Murphy: Overseer (which itself is actually a retelling of the first story in the series). If you're up for some interactive mystery in a sci-fi setting, GOG's got you covered.

Hello youse.

I had a column all ready to go for you today, but then something amazing happened.

So, let’s take a look at a freshly announced Games Workshop game and come to a decision on whether or not we’re all going to pre-order Dreadfleet.(more…)

Oh dear. I’m going against doctor’s orders here. I was told to take some time off work after having two of my wisdom teeth out yesterday, but I don’t think the doctor realised that my job is just pressing buttons on a keyboard in the right order. Still, I am feeling a bit ropey, and my head isn’t quite straightened out after my general anaesthetic, so if I’ve missed anything obvious, or said anything that doesn’t make sense: That’s probably why. SavyGamer is still going, so that’s a web site you maybe want to visit. Here’s this week’s best value downloads: (more…)

Right then. Another week done and another host of words written. This wrapup column, or omnibus if you will, should be here for your perusal before every week’s end. That’s the plan. If you’ve been sensible and read every last letter we’ve daubed across the internet this week, feel free to continue with your weekend as normal. My pithy summaries are not to be considered entertaining or particularly informative in and of themselves. But if you’ve managed to miss any of our special stuff, you’ll find it listed and linked below.

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If you know Bossa Studios at all, it's likely for lead designer Mike Bithell who made the thoughtful Thomas Was Alone and conceptualized a Source Code game. But after today, the studio will likely be synonymous with its first project: A Facebook release called Monstermind that goes into open beta today.

In a concept that had to have been borne of frustration with Facebook game tropes, Monstermind lets you build a town with its own thriving businesses, homes and citizens. Then, it lets you buy a monster and lay waste to the towns of your friends until they're less thriving and more writhing in agony. It's a heck of an idea, and one that we've had trouble pulling away from long enough to write this post.

Considering how well its first game works out of the gate, it's understandable that Bossa was purchased by News Corp, who says it'll keep the developer focused on social games. Judging from how long we've been tormenting one another in Monstermind, it seems like a wise choice.

IndieCade kicks off on October 6th and that’s as good a reason for October the 6th as any I can think of. If you’re not aware of it, IndieCade is a festival, in its fifth year, that aims to celebrate all that is good in the world of indie games. Creators submit games and a roster of finalists is chosen for the event, at which they get lots of helpful exposure, such as these words that I’m writing at this very moment. Now that the 35 finalists have been announced, I’m going to take a look at the most interesting ones. By which I mean most of the ones that aren’t iOS games.

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Dead people aren't especially interesting. But the minute they stand up and start shuffling around, gurgling for brains, they become absolutely fascinating...

I’ve been playing the alpha version of a new shape-popping game called Rotion. When I read that it was a shape-popping game I expected it to be like Pang or Bubble Bobble. It’s actually more like flOw crossed with one of those buzz wire games that used to scare me as a child because I thought I was under threat of severe electrocution. Rotion doesn’t scare me but it does frustrate me a bit, though not always in a bad way. It’s up on Desura, with a demo, and a £3.49 preorder gives access to every build right up until release. There’s a trailer after the jump along with some thoughts.

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You may remember we exclusively revealed Size Five Games’ The Swindle all the way back in July. Details have been scarce on it ever since, but I managed to sneak into the Size Five blog, where I found Dan sharing fresh news of the engine that The Swindle will be running on. Here he is, in his own highly quotable words: (more…)

More than a bit in fact. Quite a lot, but “Quite a lot” wouldn’t fit in the headline. So here’s the deal with Toys Vs Nightmares: It’s mechanically heavily inspired by Popcap’s wonderful gardening tower defence, Plants Vs Zombies, but instead of using flowers and vegetables to fight off hordes of the undead, you command an army of children’s toys against all sorts of nightmarish monsters. It doesn’t quite match the level of polish that you get from Popcap’s games, but the art is really nice, and it’s certainly got better presentation than most free webgames. There’s even a simple game to play whilst the main game is loading: I’m only sorry I couldn’t include a game for you to play whilst reading this post.

The difficulty seems to be a bit steeper than PvZ, perhaps it’s designed with veterans of the games that inspired it in mind. Play it on NewGrounds here.

Lucasarts made many of my favourite games of the ‘90s, a time when I was a very happy gamer indeed. There were all the classic adventure games and then there were the space sims, X-Wing and TIE Fighter. I sometimes forget just how good they were and then I get confused about the fact that I’m not playing a brand spanking new version right now. It really has been a while, hasn’t it? But perhaps the wait is over because Lucasarts are looking to hire developers to work on three new titles, one of which is an aerial combat game. Speculation, ho!

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Blackwell Deception, the fourth game in the ghostly point and click adventure series – The Blackwell Trilogy – has just been announced unto the world. And crikey, what an announcement it is. Wadjet Eye Games have dropped us a line to let us know that Blackwell Deception has a release date of the 12th of October. Also! There’s a trailer, embeded below for your viewing pleasure. Also, also! There’s a demo available right now, just click here to get it. (more…)

Rocksteady has yet to announce its DLC plans for Batman: Arkham City, but Gamestop may have let the cat out of the bag...

2K Games announced today that a "Game of the Year Edition" for Civilization 5 will enter the annals of retail history on September 27. The $50 bundle includes the core game, soundtrack and previously released add-on content that was sold to Civ addicts for between $5 and $10 a hit.

Civilization 5, as expected, was one of the best strategy games of the past year. The GOTY edition also includes all the mega-patches the game received since its launch a year ago. We've listed the included DLC for the GOTY bundle after the break.

With not so much as an official release window from Blizzard, fans have learned to be patient when it comes to all things Diablo 3. That's why the availability of the game's "Skill Calculator" will likely be met with a disproportionate amount of interest. It's simple really: You go to the Skill Calculator page, select a class (get a refresher on the various classes here), choose six "active skills" and augment each with its own runestone, choose three passive skills.

When you're all done crafting what you consider to be Sanctuary's most powerful Wizard, you can copy that in the form of a link which you can bring back here and share with your peers (and by share, we mean rub their noses in it). By the time you're done rolling one for each class, maybe we'll have a date ... actually, we're not going to get your hopes up. But the complete and total absence of a date shouldn't keep you from playing make-believe with the Skill Calculator. Look, a Wizard!

Methinks the extended stress and strain of game development has made the good folks of Tripware interactive get just a little bit crazy. But in a nice way. After finally being able to buy and install Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad, some fans over at Reddit noticed that there was a few humorous additions to the electronic user license agreement – traditionally the most vast and boring all the documents in gamingland. It’s all quite sweet, and clearly in good fun: It’s nice to have a story about EULAs that isn’t about publishers trying to further restrict your rights for once. The whole thing has been snapped and had the appropriate bits highlighted here. (more…)

Sometimes it’s hard to write about a game because of its complexity, or because I admire so much about a project but know that I’m probably one of the few people in the world who will really love it. Other times I’ve spilled coffee all over my keyboard. And then there are times like this. The only reason it’s hard to write about Forget-Me-Not is because it means I have to stop playing it. And I want just one more go.

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Surprise! The company that is responsible for the operating system what runs on most of our computers are planning a new version. Following on from the success of Windows 7, comes Windows 8. Major changes are afoot in the world of Windows, and some of those changes might even be relevant to us. Microsoft is currently holding its Build conference, for developers to get clued up about what’s going on with their latest OS version, and if you’ve got a spare couple of hours, why not fill them with Microsoft employees talking about Windows 8 by viewing the Keynote presentation from the conference here? Or don’t, because it’s a bit dry. Here’s my summary of the game-relevant bits: (more…)

In one minute I’ll be announcing the announcement that the new demo of FIFA 12 will be being announced in a few minutes. That’s a new demo for FIFA 12 that I will tell you has been released just as soon as I’ve announced that I’m announcing its imminent announcement. There’s a FIFA 12 demo out! Wait, damn, that was too soon.

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Arcen Games have been busy tinkering away with their experimental procedural explore-and-survive ‘em up A Valley Without Wind, and they’ve got news for us. Last month they teased us with footage, flaunting its newly reinvented sidescrolling makeover. This month Chris Park of Arcen games has taken to his blog, to unveil a whole host of new details about the game’s design, and features that they are including. Shall we take a look? (more…)

It’s been over a year since we last heard anything about the fabulous broom-toting, wall-hugging platformer – Dustforce – but the developer, Hitbox team, have just put out a pair of screenshots, and the game’s intro video, to remind us that they still exist. And what a pair of screenshots and intro video they are… (more…)

For some people, there’s nothing better than watching eight Arma 3 videos in a row. Those people are going to be extremely disappointed, for today I am only able to bring then seven Arma 3 videos in a row. I have let you down. I am so sorry. Those of you with less exacting tastes will hopefully be able to draw some small measure of pleasure from the following 10-ish minutes of footage culled from presentations made at GamesCom last month. Includes a whole lot of undersea action, including what I’m prepared to guess is the most realistic flipper physics consumer videogames have ever before offered. Also, includes discussion of how much time they spent convincingly recreating soldiers’ underpants. PRE-ORDERED.

Nicely laid-back and chatty videos, given Arma’s steely-eyed nature, these – worth a watch whether or not you’re into soldier sims. (Er, you probably shouldn’t load the below post on a Netbook or anything else that has itself a cry when presented with Flash videos.)(more…)

Here’s a micro-platformer for you to have a bit of fun with. Platforming isn’t all rescuing princesses from castles and saving the world: Sometimes it’s just about cold hard business. Saving the Company is a devious tale of corporate rebellion in the face of plummeting stock prices, and it sees you attempting to enact a company rescue & recovery strategy, through puzzle solving platforming. Sort of. (more…)

Monaco! There’s a game I’m very excited about. Hopefully we’ll have a ton to say about it very soon. Meantime, creator Andy Schatz is working on enfleshening his co-op, semi-free-form heist game, and one thing he’s decided upon is making sure any hacking language and terminology used in it (i.e. when a character is hacking an in-game computer) is relatively convincing. That’s where you come in.(more…)

Tired of video games that just reinvent the way you shoot a bunch of guys? Well then say hello to Defiant Development's Warco: The News Game, which lets you ... shoot a bunch of guys -- but wait, it's not what you think! Unreal-based Warco casts you as a war correspondent covering a rebel conflict in fictional Benouja, Africa. So you're shooting soldiers and vehicles for posterity, not, you know, for heaven.

Also, if you ever wanted a video game that showed you what it's like to work for Joystiq during PAX, it's basically exactly like this.