PC Gaming News Message Board older than one year ago

Ludum Dare 23, get your Ludum Dare 23 here! I’ve gathered together eleven of my favourites from the recent 48 hour compo/jam, although that’s not to say I’ve played all 1,402 of the entries. The theme was ‘Tiny World’ and below you’ll find a musical, an existential microjaunt, a personbreeding simulation and a space cat trader, with other delights sprinkled about. There are also unconventional marks out of ten, based on number of graphics, similarity to Tetris and inclusion of comical readme file.

(more…)

Any developer working on a mascot kart racing game knows that there's one title their game will always be compared to. That isn't to say that Mario Kart is untouchable; merely that it represents the genre benchmark, the standard that all others have to aspire to. Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing made...

I’ve just been reminded of the time-sundered joy of looking through the chunky boxes in my local Electronics Boutique. Back then so many games were a mystery. With no internet connection a boy only had the fading print of a magazine to guide his hand and his limited supply of Sterling. The stranger the better was the motto and I bought some absolute stinkers purely because I couldn’t resist a cyberpunk game wot had vampires in it or a well designed piece of cover art. It’s Scott Cawthon’s The Desolate Hope that reminded me of those days because it looks like a glorious artifact from the nineties, hand-crafted, bizarre and out of step with the very concept of ‘drum’. It’s free and I think I love it a little bit.

(more…)

Quick update for all you hardware chappies – Intel’s NDA for the new Ivy Bridge generation CPUs lifted earlier this week and the lawyers are back in their cages. The first reviews are out and it’s just as I predicted. Ivy Bridge is positively stultifying.(more…)

Mother Nature’s angry wrath spent the weekend attempting to tear many trees and buildings from the surface of England through careful application of furious winds and lashings of rain, which led to me spending the entire weekend indoors, occasionally peering through a trembling pane of glass. It is imperative that this week begins with merriment and what better way to bring cheer than to watch the developers of Shadowrun Returns celebrating their Kickstarter success, clearly exhausted, clearly passionate and perhaps still vaguely bewildered as to what has happened in recent times. It’s a useful reminder that for all the talk about this model of funding, the ‘ifs’, ‘buts’ and ‘far too manys’, it’s still OK to be excited from time to time.

(more…)

The first Diablo 3 TV commercial has come. It brought with it Tyriel, Leah Cain and the Lord of Terror himself. Like the spot says, Evil is back. It comes for your money.

Sundays are for quiet regret. Don’t spend too long on that maudlin stuff though, because you’ve only got a limited time to make the most of what you love. And if you are reading this site, then you probably love videogames. Let’s see what’s been going on with them.

• True PC Gaming interviews Arcen’s Chris Park: “What we do run afoul of, however, is that exact same problem but with complexity instead. During alpha the game grew enormously complex, and we still thought it was too simple. Turns out we had the opposite problem of what we thought. During early beta in particular, one of our big challenges was to streamline the ideas of the game so that they were more accessible to players. And the other challenge throughout beta was making the game adequately explain itself to players as they progress.”

(more…)

There's good news and bad news for Zynga's financials. The good news first: Thanks to its purchase of Draw Something developer OMGPOP and some strong releases, the social game publisher beat quarterly revenue estimates from Wall Street, growing its year-over-year revenue to $321 million from $243 million. Zynga says it expects to make from $1.425 billion to $1.5 billion this year in total.

But the bad news is that outside of that big purchase, the company isn't showing the growth that Wall Street would like. Total monthly active users were up 24 percent, but analysts would prefer to see even more, and claim that Zynga only had a good quarter because of the acquisition.

Zynga also lost $85 million for the quarter. "They had to acquire to raise their numbers, but you're not going to be able to do that too many times," said Arvind Bhatia at Sterne Agee.

So Zynga will need to prove that it can sustain its growth outside of major acquisitions if it wants to keep stock prices up. We don't know much about the financial world, but would planting more corn help?

The world of PC ports is a dark and treacherous place. DRM, 30 FPS framerate locks, and preset graphical options? Oh goodness, I need to go hide under a warm blanket while clutching my stuffed animal representations of anti-aliasing and V-sync. And yet, within those seedy alleyways, there’s corner so pitch-black that most PC gamers dare not even utter its name: iOS ports. They are, the legends say, rife with snooze-worthily simple mechanics and graphics one slight step up from an Etch-A-Sketch.

Don’t tell that to Camoflaj, though. In Republique, it aims to create an iOS game capable of going toe-to-toe with triple-A gaming’s heaviest hitters. And now, the stealth-focused Metroidvania with a “symbiotic relationship” between the player and main character, Hope, is coming to PC. But how, exactly, will a game intended to leverage iPhone’s, er, phone-ness make the jump to our very un-phone-like platform of choice? Well, if Republique lead Ryan Payton has his way, all the talk of “ports” will die the second we start playing.

(more…)

So Survarium – the pre-apocalpytic project that’s emerged from the ruins of STALKER 2 – is an MMOFPS. In spite of that, Vostok Games told us that it’s the STALKER franchise’s “next evolutionary step.” The results of a recent Twitter Q&A session, however, have me wondering if fans will soon be cursing evolution in much the same way I do every time I remember that I don’t have wings, eagle vision, or every power conferred to honey badgers. Don’t get me wrong: a lot of this stuff sounds incredibly interesting and – at least, in my eyes – goes quite a way toward putting the ghost of STALKER at peace. There are, however, some major structural changes that you might find tough to swallow.

(more…)

The Game: Escape from the Underworld Genre: Non-Linear Angelic Platformer Platform: Browser (Flash) The Scoop: Indie developers seem to absolutely love making freeware non-linear 2D platformers, in the vein of Super Metroid or modern Castlevanias. Which is awesome, because gamers with goo...

When Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter isn't busy keeping it real, he's got an empire to run. That means everything from his bread and butter (music production - it's perpetually Jay's "final album") to his assorted business ventures (everything from clothing to pro sports teams). And this week he added one more job to that list: game developer. Er ... not exactly. You see, Jay-Z has conscripted "high-end brand service" company Happy Giant to craft a Facebook game, entitled (fittingly enough): Empire.

The game left closed beta this week, and we grabbed its creator, Happy Giant's Michael Levine, to discuss the game's famous progenitor, its mobile aspirations, and keeping it real. We're told that last one is pretty important to Mr. Carter.

"This is anything but a typical licensing deal," Levine said. Apparently, former Sony Music chairman Tommy Mottola is a partner in Levine's other business venture, a kid-focused virtual world known as "Planet Cazmo," and he proposed a meeting with Jay-Z's former lawyer. "A guy named - and this is his real name - Michael Guido," Levine said.

From there, Guido introduced Happy Giant to Jay. "We really worked closely with them for the last nine months, with Jay and his team, just trying to make everything as authentic as possible." How authentic, you ask? Apparently to the point of contention over which rule set the cee-lo minigame would contain. Again, we're told Jay likes to keep it real.

The dynamic, strategic multiplayer European campaign at the heart of Heroes & Generals ensures that scripted events aren’t necessary, but let’s pretend the headline is at least vaguely appropriate. John provided millions of details on how the first person shooting, cycling and strategising will work together, but if you refuse to believe a word that comes out of his keyboard you could watch the developer diary below instead. Campaign selection, faction choice and spawning are all covered, as are the number of graphics being added as development progresses, and the uses for purchasable credits.

(more…)

On the cold floor, a summoning circle has been drawn and, around it, several Paradox employees sway, their forms disguised by wizard’s robes. A susurration builds to a roar, like the scratching of the pebbles at Dover Beach, the air trembles, twisting into new intangible forms, and then a demo version of Warlock: Master of the Arcane appears. Unnatural, I know, but it’s just the way things are done in that neck of the woods. Bet you didn’t know that Crusader Kings II was actually built by a blacksmith, hammering away in his forge? Fact. The Warlock demo can be found on Steam and it includes the tutorial, a preset map, two enemy mages and one to play as. The full game allows customisation of both mages and maps. My thoughts on the beta are here and we’ll have more on the game as the May 8th launch approaches.

Ryan Payton's Camouflaj studio and Logan Games are planning to bring République, an elaborate stealth adventure intended for iOS, to the PC and Mac as well. The game is still in the midst of a Kickstarter funding round, during which backers and fans will determine the viability of Payton's passion: putting a cinematic, story-driven "AAA" game on touch-based devices.

In pledging to support PC and Mac, the designers aim to revisit elements of the République's interface and story, as much of the original concept and fiction hinges on the use of a smartphone. As an outside entity viewing the situation through security cameras, you indirectly guide and communicate with Hope, a girl attempting to escape a heavily monitored installation.

If all goes to plan (the Kickstarter is about a fifth of the way to $500,000, with 14 days left to go), you'll meet her in Summer 2013. The PC and Mac versions should follow "shortly after."

Thomas Was Alone first came to my attention while I was trying not to watch the GTA V trailer six thousand times to work out if one of the character models was a fatter, older version of an important bloke from a previous entry in the series. I wasn’t sure whether a platform game about quadrilateral quandaries was all that interesting but David Housden’s music decided me, mysterious and melancholy it brought about a quivering of the lip and, having just listened again, definitely reminds me of The Postal Service more than a bit. It’s something of a shame then that the music now has to fade out to make room for narrator Danny Wallace, who you may know from radio, television and books.

(more…)

Stop reading. Start Googling. Just try to take out a few of the little buggers before you're overrun, okay?

THQ has sold off ValuSoft, its budget PC game publisher, to fellow budget PC game company Cosmi. The newly combined entity, Cosmi reports, will be the second largest US retail publisher of PC games in terms of units sold, and the top retail publisher in the "value software category."

"With the transition of the 'Value' PC business to Cosmi, our internal resources are now focused on our core video game portfolio where we can drive the highest quality performance and execution for our games," said THQ CEO Brian Farrell in the announcement. Though the sale price was not revealed, we can at least be confident that THQ has some internal resources to focus for a while, thanks to the Cosmi money.

Game jams are proving to be one of the most fruitful phenomena of the current era of gaming. Ludum Dare constantly throws up a bunch of fascinating stuff, and it’s tough to keep track of it all. So much of what is created – the window for making is just 48 hours – is so small and unassuming that it is likely to be missed. Tinysasters is one such microcosm, but it’s a beautiful, perfectly formed gem of an idea: terraforming an 8 tile based grid, while natural disasters roll in every thirty seconds to undo your work. Worth a look, if just for a moment.

The scent of parquet wax and trapped sunbeams greets you as you prise open the heavy glass door and step inside. This has to be the place, and yet, if it is, where are all the books? Noticing your baffled expression, a librarian, all tweed and twinkling eyes, approaches. “You were expecting more books? Everyone expects more books. At present we’ve only got the two – down there in the WW2 section (he gestures towards a shelf-lined alcove watched over by a large ceiling-mounted model of a Short Sunderland). Additional volumes should be arriving soon. Assuming, of course, visitors like yourself are willing to do their bit.”

(more…)

Occasionally – just occasionally, mind – games choose to add some of our real-world bodily functions to the characters we control in them. Hunger, thirst, even nausea and sewage creation. For some reason, this is peculiarly satisfying, and as such is almost always popular with players: as most strongly evidenced by the popularity of The Sims, with its filling bladders and exponential human smelliness. But it is not just in the human-petting genre that we find such earthy processes: from Stalker’s insatiable hunger for bread and sausages to San Andreas’ hilarious obesity problem, games occasionally deign to amuse us with the things that we wrestle with every day.

(more…)

Republique is an iOS project on Kickstarter. Wait, don’t run! I’ve surrounded the entire area with landmin– urgh. Well, I was going to tell you that it’s also a very intriguing idea from brilliantly talented folks who worked on Metal Gear Solid, Halo, and FEAR, but then you rudely went and exploded. But, while I gingerly sweep still-smoking bits of you off RPS’ world-renowned lawn, I’ll tell no one in particular that Republique’s bringing its highly cinematic blend of stealth and a “symbiotic relationship” with a character named Hope to PC. This won’t be a simple port, either. If you weren’t so obnoxiously dead right now, you could find out why in a video after the break.

(more…)

Having watched Battlefield 3′s Donya Fortress map trailer, I have to imagine that bulls in, on, around, or stealthily tunneling under China shops are feeling a bit miffed. All of their meticulous plotting and planning – their years of drawing maps and diagrams, of learning how to draw with hooves – were rendered moot the second Battlefield 3′s Close Quarters map pack burst onto the scene. It is no simple manshoot – for that would imply that it only shoots men. Walls, floors, stairs, bridges, pillars, and ceilings crumble into tiny bits of ballistic debris, and then that debris crumbles into smaller debris. And yet, a single US flag continues to billow in the center of it all, probably shedding the fabric equivalent of a single tear. Stirring stuff, that. Be stirred – perhaps into some form of reverent casserole - after the break.

(more…)

The Game: Warlock Bentspine Genre: Scoliosis Platformer Platform: PC (Windows) The Scoop: Very similar to yesterday's free game Ninja Senki, Warlock Bentspine is a greats 80s-style action-platformer in the vein of Mega Man. Gamers play as Jacob Bentspine, out to save Stinker City from th...

I am at once intrigued and concerned by the announcement of a new project from Lexis Numérique. Alt Minds plans to be a “transmedia” game (basically, an ARG in high heels), launching this Autumn, that will take place on websites, smart phones, and presumably in the real world too. The concerns? Well, first, it’s created by Orange, and although some of the best ARGs have been sponsored, that’s not normally something you learn up front. And second, it thinks it’s doing something wholly original. Which is rarely a good sign.

(more…)

We may not know exactly when Torchlight 2 will be released, but at least we know how much it's going to cost. Developer Runic Games has begun taking pre-orders for the dungeon crawler via both Steam and Perfect World Entertainment. Just like the original Torchlight, the sequel will set you back $20, with Steam also offering a 4-pack for $60, essentially netting you a copy for free.

Whenever it comes out, that is.

What is it with games and classic literature? Ever since I’ve been doing this ridiculous job, I’ve been plagued by the utter nonsense of companies who take a 19th century novel, then tear half the pages out and replace them with a child’s home-made comics about aliens. It’s as if there’s a wanton conspiracy to ensure that anything that might be a serious work of literature be allowed nowhere near a game. Although of course, perhaps I’m letting myself get a bit too worked up over a hidden object game based on Sherlock Holmes. You could also argue that it’s an excuse to link to a Kickstarter at the bottom of the post, just because I want to play the game, but if you did I’d punch you square in the nose.

(more…)

EA has released more details of upcoming DLC for Battlefield 3. New footage of the DLC can be seen in the video below...

Aircraft carriers are odd and brilliant. I rarely think about them but the trailer for Air Conflicts: Pacific Carriers just sent me into a tailspin of questioning. Who first had the idea to build mobile artificial islands that are, as I understand it, motels for murderous planes? Check in, fuel up, admire the cheesecake nose art on the 22nd’s B-24s, then back to the business of battle. The Pacific was strewn with carriers, as well as the ruined parts of men and machines, and Air Conflicts has plotted a course to the heart of it. Trailer below.

(more…)

The Game: Ninja Senki Genre: 8-Bit Shuriken-Tossing Platformer Platform: PC (Windows) The Scoop: Ninja Senki is a little bit like Mega Man, but instead of jumping through stages as the Blue Bomber with a Mega Buster, gamers play as a ninja with an unlimited supply of shurikens. The experi...