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Sundays for waking up in Luton. Luton? Really? Yes. Luton is actually nicer than you remember. At least 67% nicer. I mean it. Anyway, Lutons aside, it’s time for some words on videogames and things.

• PopSci on Sniper Elite V2′s gory killcam: “And that’s part of the what makes Sniper Elite V2 so interesting. It is easily the most graphic, violent video game I’ve ever seen, but the violence is relatively realistic, not cartoony. The game has the dubious honor of humanizing Nazis more than any of the scores of WWII-era games, films, and books that came before it: these are not anonymous targets, dispatched from far away with the tug of the R-trigger: once you see testicles exploded, fingers severed, an artery slashed open by the force of your bullet, that you shot, from your own gun, you feel the effects of your actions in a way I didn’t expect. The original idea might well have been to create the most extreme, violent period shooter ever made. Blood! Guts! X-rays! But the effect is the complete opposite. You’re not yanking a cartoon ninja’s spine out of his body with your bare hands, or stabbing a shrieking purple alien with a glowing light-sword. You’re killing people. And that’s a messy business.”

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Facebook went public yesterday, and its unexpectedly less-than-stellar performance on the trading floor has had powerful ramifications for its social soul sister Zynga, which finished the day's trading at a record low of $7.16 a share.

It's possible that Facebook's unimpressive IPO, closing out Friday at $38.23 a share - four dollars less than its $42.05 opening price - caused Zynga's value to drop in tandem, as the two platforms are inexorably intertwined in the public mindset. It's also possible that Zynga share holders jumped ship in favor of that new Facebook hotness, no longer having to settle for social second best.

Regardless, the severe downturn in value lead to two trading halts on Zynga shares over the course of the day; once after reaching $7.17 a share, and once again after a slight increase in market value. Despite this, share values eventually dropped to as little as $6.93 before finally settling at $7.16.

This weekend, as every other, I’ve had a poke around the internet to find you the best deals on PC game downloads. Read on to investigate my findings. There’s all sorts of things on sale right now, including some of my absolute all time favourite games. For notification of gaming bargains across all platforms throughout the week, hit up SavyGamer.co.uk. (more…)

I think I’ll annoy some Arma fans when I say that Day Z is a better showcase for that game than the original game’s campaign or multiplayer missions. But I have my reasons, and I’ll explain some of them below. I’ll also continue the story which we began the other day, which will serve to illustrate a bit more about why both Arma 2 and this modification are something singular and brilliant in the landscape of gaming.

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Gas Guzzlers: Combat Carnage is sort of a 3D Death Rally, or at least that’s what it looks like and that’s reason enough for me to be quite eager to see if that’s what it plays like. Customisable cars with guns on top drive around and pretend to race each other while actually only really caring about exploding one another. It’s out in just four days today if the press release that just landed is to be believed more than the official website. Apparently it’s a “fast-paced addictive combat racing game”. A shame then that the trailer below spends two or three minutes adjusting its mirrors before actually igniting into anything that could be described as “fast-paced”.

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Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafee told attendees of a 38 Studios-related press conference that the long awaited 38 Studios MMO - only known currently as "Project Copernicus" - is set to launch in June of 2013. Chafee said, "What I understand is Copernicus is June of '13."

Considering we've literally never heard any information on the Amalur-based MMO (aside from the fact that it's an Amalur-based MMO), it's a bit hard for us to believe that the game will arrive by next year. "I said from the beginning that it was a risky enterprise," Chafee told press of the troubled business deal between 38 and Rhode Island.

38 Studios is supposed to start paying back its $75 million loan - facilitated by the state of Rhode Island and supported by bond investors - by the beginning of 2013. It's unclear how 38 will afford those payments, but Chafee repeatedly pointed out 38's intention to seek private capital (read: more money from private investors - and not from the state). Said private capital has yet to be secured, Chafee said.

At its best, King’s Bounty took Heroes of Might and Magic on in its own castle courtyard, stormed the battlements, kicked the po-faced paste out of the venerable old king who sat there wheezing through his life, and then married a zombie and rode off on a spider-steed with the vocal inflections of a country gentleman. Overworld exploration and basic strategic army building, turn-based combat, levelling and loot – it had all those things, but at its best it also had all the bonkers stuff. Legends of Eisenwald aims to be a similar game but takes its theme and atmosphere from a different place, dropping the fantasy cliches of smug elf and bearded dwarf, and aiming instead for a truly gothic late medieval experience.

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"As the Americans learned so painfully in Earth's final century, free flow of information is the only safeguard against tyranny. The once-chained people whose leaders at last lose their grip on information flow will soon burst with freedom and vitality, but the free nation gradually constricting its grip on public discourse has begun its rapid slide into despotism. Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master" - Commissioner Pravin Lal ... and there's never been a game quite like Alpha Centauri since.

This weekend, GOG has Alpha Centauri, Dungeon Keeper 1 and 2, SimCity 2000 and Populous 1 and 2 for $3 apiece.

If dated graphics don't bother you, we expect you to be done extracting the fun out of these games sometime in 2015.

In celebration of stores like Steam and the App Store that allow developers to price their games at whatever they feel like, a group of indies are putting their games on sale next week for ... whatever they feel like.

The "Because We May" sale will run from May 24 through June 1, and will feature sales on the iOS and Mac App Stores, Steam, Google Play, direct downloads from developers, and assorted other venues. The participating games include World of Goo, Osmos, Eets, Bit.Trip Beat and Runner, Canabalt, Waking Mars, Super Meat Boy, Cave Story, the Double Fine Bundle ... basically, you'll find something to buy. As for the prices, it would appear nobody has decided yet.

Cliffski’s complex take on the tower-defence genre has arrived on Steam (and can still of course be purchased directly from the developer) and that event has been celebrate with a bombastic new trailer, which you can see below. Well, I say bombastic, and that’s true of the battle bits, but it is also honest, showing you a quiet bit where Cliff is clicking through the many menus that allow you to endlessly customise the titular tank battles. Anyway, it’s out, and you can read a bit about what Tim Stone made of the game over here.(more…)

We don't want to spoil the discovery of Diablo 3's secret world for you - unless you willingly volunteer to be spoiled, in which case follow us after the break. The rest of you: move along.

The mud on the T19 was always bad, but that Spring it had to be seen to be believed. Bergmann, TransGlobus, Hipponaut… everyone was losing two or three vehicles a week. Even with jug-floats and plutos fitted, you didn’t stand a chance. Which is why all of us barons eventually got together and bought The Matriarch. She arrived on three special trains from Port Hendy. Took a week to assemble. Your Uncle Fergus won the driver ballot. It was only because he went down with appendicitis at the last minute, that the second-place man, Canter Spriggs, took the reins. I can still see Canter up there in that cockpit, grinning like a pookaduke. The poor bastard had no idea what he was heading into.

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Clever things can be acknowledged in a myriad of ways. A knowing nod. A brief chuckle. A loud groan followed by social ostracization and self-loathing if it’s so-bad-it’s-good-no-wait-it’s-still-bad pun. This Is A Tab transcends all of these things. Designed as part of Ludum Dare 23 – whose theme was “tiny world” – it’s, er, a pretty literal interpretation of the theme. It’s also incredibly brief, but so, so worth the time. Admittedly, this thing’s a bit of a one-trick pony, so saying much more would ruin the surprise. But gosh, you still get a figurative pony. I’ve been asking for one of those for years, and all I’ve gotten are figurative sweaters and socks.

Hey, you there. Yes, you! Do you have eyes? Do you enjoy looking at things? Well then, your precious peepers might’ve crossed paths with Epic’s Unreal Engine – for instance, in every game ever. Eyes, though, are perhaps the most treacherous of all face real estate tenants. They sight a new object of affection, cause your heart to palpitate and your mouth to transform into a sloppy stew of saliva, and then – five minutes later – it’s all old hat. Fortunately, then, there are always new graphics, as Epic explained…

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Double Fine's Ron Gilbert isn't content with random websites leaking his own studio's work: he'll leak his own stuff, thank you very much. Gilbert posted the above two photos on Grumpy Gamer, his personal game industry blog.

His first post was a link to the monk. Apparently, no, it's not fanart for Diablo 3, unless developer JP LeBreton, who tweeted he'd been working on the related Monk link for nine months, has a lot of down time at Double Fine.

Gilbert later posted the hillbilly, a character we recognize from the puzzle Double Fine sent the press last week as an announcement of a new, spooky-tinged title. Now the age-old question returns: What do a monk and a hillbilly have in common? Besides mystery, of course.

Filed under: Features, PC, Retro, Adventure, RPGsThis is a weekly column from freelancer Rowan Kaiser, which focuses on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity. Last week, when GOG.com announced that Quest For Glory was the newest addition to its collection, I was delighted. In fact, I'm not sure that there's a game series that could have induced as much joy. I think some others, like Wizardry or a collection of old SSI games, might have been better and more important, sure. But I have more love for Quest For Glory than those other games. I'm not the only one, either: The Quest For Glory games are great games, yes, but they're also special games.

Quest For Glory is a five-title series of adventure/role-playing hybrids, with the first release in 1989, and the last in 1998. They were published by Sierra - a company whose fate was recently detailed to Joystiq by Leisure Suit Larry creator Al Lowe - and used similar interfaces and graphics as other adventures, such as King's Quest or Gabriel Knight, combined with combat systems that varied from game to game.

Being a genre hybrid is one of the surest ways to become a beloved game. Panzer General, Deus Ex, and Mass Effect are all crossover hits, thanks in part to combining role-playing with other genres. Quality hybrids manage to feel both fresh conceptually and comfortable to actually play, a winning combination.

The auction house in Diablo 3 won't debut on May 22 as planned. Blizzard's community manager Micah "Bashiok" Whipple posted on the Blizzard forums saying the recent server woes have forced the studio's hand. We'll hear later when the new auction house launch date is.

If you were trying to log into Diablo 3 yesterday, you may have been unable to - the same errors experienced on launch day seemed to have resurfaced in North America and Europe. Whipple called out the achievement-earning bug - which either didn't unlock achievements for players or didn't carry earned achievements over multiple logins - as the culprit, and said Blizzard is working on a fix, though servers are all go right now. "We greatly appreciate everyone's support, and we want to sincerely apologize for the difficulties many of you encountered on day one," he concluded.

Mr Cobbett has already offered an opinion on the first act of Wadjet Eye’s upcoming point and click adventure Resonance. Despite some backtracking and irritation due to a limited inventory of sorts in the handling of memories, he was full of praise for the dialogue and characters declaring “I can’t wait to play the rest of it”. He’ll have his chance soon enough. Preorders are now open, with a $24.99 boxed version (with Steam key) available, or a digital download through GOG for $8.99. The game will actually be released on June 19th and there’s a trailer below.

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It’s been a long time since I got properly stuck into some un-MMO’d space combat, and I think it’s about time. Skyjacker could be the one, with some spectacular visuals and giant asteroids with lava boiling out of them. All space games need those. So few remember to include them. To give you some sense of the ambition that the team are attaching to their project, it’s worth noting that they’ve taken it to Kickstarter with a target of $200k. It’ll be interesting to see if they hit that, what with space combat fans so often complaining that the genre is neglected.

What more do we know? Well, there’s even a demo for you to play. That should answer a few questions. Also colourful space-biff video below! Jolly good.(more…)

I had a jolly good time with Crysis, mostly just watching things fall over and cooing with delight, but if I could have changed one thing about it I would have made it less about wearing a nanosuit and punching people through buildings and more about being STALKER. Nothing against Crysis, it’s just my way of looking at things. In my least impressive moments I’ll rabidly argue that Peggle should be more like STALKER. Turns out I’m not alone, on the Crysis front at least, as a group of Russian modders by the name OWL Game Studio have been working on a Zone-based anomaly-ridden bleakness of an experience called CryZone: Sector 23. The stabilisers are coming off and it’s going to be a standalone game.

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I like cute things. Scratch that. I begrudgingly like cute things. They mesmerize me with their widdle squeaks and giant eyes, and my ability to pay attention to anything else melts right alongside my dumb, easily swayed heart. I could’ve written a novel or been a doctor. I really could’ve. Instead, I spent the past who-knows-how-long playing Balloon, because I found myself gripped by a nigh-primal urge to hear my tiny blob creature avatar blurt out a doughy “Yay!” after I solved puzzles.

Balloon is, however, admittedly a neat little game. It’s more or less a point-and-click adventure, but with nary a hint of dialog or instruction. You just sort of have to fiddle with the world and make things happen. I’ve come across a few fairly devilish puzzles, though, and many solutions inspire equal numbers of “ooooohs” and “ooooooos.” Currently, I’m stuck, which is why I’m able to write this post at all. Will I ever hear that sweet, delicious delivery of “Yay!” ever again? Because even if I give up and become a doctor, I’ll never be able to mend a broken heart.

When I saw the title “Offensive Combat,” I got really excited. Would I be offending my foes until their poor hearts became physically incapable of taking it any further – relentlessly barraging them with all manner of incredibly personal insults and hatefully ignorant comments about the things they hold dear? No, as it turns out. I’ll be doing nothing of the sort. But I will be shooting them! I suppose that’s a fairly offensive action, isn’t it?

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Somehow, I doubt Dragon Age 3 is going to reuse levels at every all-too-familiar turn. And while BioWare still isn’t mentioning the next swords ‘n’ sorcery sequel by name because ours is a silly, silly industry, it’s now launching an official monthly “series of questions and discussions around Dragon Age” with the goal of getting a feel for what fans want. Do not, however, expect your fanfic simply titled “Anders: Lion Rider” to ride a red carpet right into series canon. “We’re not making promises,” emphasizes BioWare. “We’re talking about ideas.”

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This is an editorial based on Dave Hinkle's personal experiences with 2000's Diablo 2. Joystiq's review of Diablo 3 is still forthcoming.
It's not because I lack the requisite memory blocks and quantum computers to run Blizzard's latest, Diablo 3 - it's personal. You see, I'm genetically predisposed to Diablo. It's something I think about each and every day.

Diablo is a proper addiction to me. Diablo 2 is something I associate with the darkest moments of my life, when I skipped showers and seriously lived on Pop Tarts. My only comfort back then was the dim glow of the monitor and the random piece of treasure the game would occasionally drop for me as I toiled away hours doing nightmare-level Meph runs.

I have an addictive personality, as many of those who have met me in real life can attest. I eat horribly, can't seem to quit smoking cigarettes and have drunk to excess on occasion. The Diablo experience is like some kind of magical talisman created by the wizards of southern California that is meant to poke and prod that dark place inside me I actively ignore and deny every day of my life. Diablo brings out my greed and disdain for everything other than myself in the worst way.

But again, these are just words. They don't mean anything without examples, so I'm going to take you back to when I was in college and Diablo 2 ruined my life.

It's not because I lack the requisite memory blocks and quantum computers to run Blizzard's latest, Diablo 3 - it's personal. You see, I'm genetically predisposed to Diablo. It's something I think about each and every day.

Diablo is a proper addiction to me. Diablo 2 is something I associate with the darkest moments of my life, when I skipped showers and seriously lived on Pop Tarts. My only comfort back then was the dim glow of the monitor and the random piece of treasure the game would occasionally drop for me as I toiled away hours doing nightmare-level Meph runs.

I have an addictive personality, as many of those who have met me in real life can attest. I eat horribly, can't seem to quit smoking cigarettes and have drank to excess on occasion. The Diablo experience is like some kind of magical talisman created by the wizards of southern California that is meant to poke and prod that dark place inside me I actively ignore and deny every day of my life. Diablo brings out my greed and disdain for everything other than myself in the worst way.

But again, these are just words. They don't mean anything without examples, so I'm going to take you back to when I was in college and Diablo 2 ruined my life.

One day there will be a tag, ‘indie games that Adam honestly intends to play for hours and hours but hasn’t had a chance to yet’. It’d cover all the hundreds of exciting projects people write to me about, or that I discover on my many nocturnal voyages around the internet, but never quite find the time to become properly acquainted with. I’ve played Warbarons, a browser-based strategy game inspired by Warlords, but I’ve certainly not explored Warbarons. Maybe it’d be easier if I didn’t insist on enjoying this sort of thing and plumped for games that have a more obvious and concrete narrative route instead. Maybe now and then, but here’s to all the stories that are mine and mine alone. Warbarons might provide a few.

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Browser-based FPS Offensive Combat is the new game from U4iA, a studio formed last year by Activision expats. It's an FPS with a mobile/tablet sidearm, described as working together "unlike any game before," though no further details beyond that were provided. The only other aspect U4iA revealed is customization, which we figure is the awesome lizard hat seen in the screenshot above.

U4iA was founded by Chris Archer and Dusty Welch, former Activision and Call of Duty vets. With Offensive Combat, the two hope to deliver "the most competitive multiplayer action ever seen within a browser." A beta for Offensive Combat kicks off this summer.

I spent most of last night and this morning punching things so hard that their skin had no option but to fall off. Most of the time I don’t actually want to play the murderous hero though, even when that hero is a monk who thinks the path to holiness is a fist-inflicted form of trepanning. Sure, that guy’s got chutzpah, but I’d rather be watching him go about his business, perhaps tactically teasing the best out of him instead of steering him around in a more hands-on fashion. If you like the idea of visiting Tristram but don’t have an internet permanently plugged into your face, or simply don’t care for Diablo III, it’d be a fine idea to play Towns instead.

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The expanding popularity of an Arma 2 mod, Day Z, might have surprised all of us, but imagine the surprise felt by the chap who created it, Dean “Rocket” Hall. There are nearly 48,000 characters now registered in the game’s stats, when he imagined there’d be just a few hundred. His motivation to make the ultra-bleak multiplayer zombie survival mod might not surprise any of you, though, when you read his take on what games should be, and why the kinds of stories experiences like Day Z produce are so important. There were a couple of times in this interview where I hooted in agreement with what Rocket had to say. See if you can spot them.(more…)

Project CARS creative bossman Andy Tudor has dropped us a line to say that the company has raised €1,000,000 for their crowd-sourced racing game. As we explained previously, the game is relying on community commitment to making the racing game work for its funding, and for some of its creative content. Tudor says: “We wouldn’t have been able to do it without the passion, enthusiasm, and dedication of the gaming community so this is also a big thank you to all those that have contributed so far, and an encouragement to others with big ideas for games and want to see them get created.”

It’s interesting to note that there are plenty of community-driven projects, where large sums of money are being raised, which have no link to Kickstarter. The internet’s direct-funding revolution has many forms…