PC Gaming News Message Board older than one year ago

3 Sprockets send word that their tower-defense sequel, Cubemen 2, has arrived on Steam. I rather enjoyed the original so it’s interesting to see what features the guys have produced for their latest offering, including lots of online ranking features, customisable skins for the men themselves, and rather more complex levels. Being able to buy a double pack for instant co-op for just a quid more is a nice touch, too.

Trailer boxed in below. Oddly, I am less of a fan of the look, now. It’s less clean, and less attractive somehow. Hmm.(more…)

T

he not-very-long road to the second Rezzed, the PC and indie games show we co-string-pull with the fine men, women and Bramwells of Eurogamer, continues apace. As well as buying tickets to attend the shindig – in Birmingham, UK on 22nd/23rd June this year, you can now submit your game for consideration in the Leftfield Collection. If you’ve made one, that is. And you are an independent developer. And it doesn’t include any content which will get you arrested.(more…)

Russian hackers have discovered a uPlay exploit that has broken the service's security - enabling them to download the as-yet-unreleased FC3: Blood Dragon.

Larian Studios' Kickstarter for Divinity: Original Sin met its $400,000 goal today, which means the Belgian studio has the funds to increase its dev team and the RPG's content. Nearly 9000 backers took Larian across the finish line, and with 17 days of the campaign left to go, eyes will turn now towards the Divine Divinity prequel's stretch goals.

There are outlined stretch goals from $500,000 to $1 million, with the lower goal bringing a new area to Original Sin, while seven figures introduces impactful day/night and weather systems. The Divinity dev currently divines a November 2013 release date, but access to the game's alpha version, unlocked by a $150 pledge or more, is expected this summer.

Craig send me the video below with the line “this is Garry’s Mod“. After looking at it for a bit, I realised I didn’t understand what that meant, because it looked a lot more like Eve Online. So I browsed my way over to Facepunch for an explanation: “Devinity has been in development for a long time, going through many massive updates and overhauls, so much that you would barely be able to tell the new and old versions used to be the same gamemode. It is a unique combination of gameplay elements from games such as EVE: online and Freelancer, but with many of our own elements added in, further enhancing the player experience.”

Okay! So that means…? Spaceships, space battles, planets, NPC missions, NPC space pirates, asteroid fields, all in a game mode for Garry’s Mod. Clever stuff. Videos below.(more…)

When Christine Love writes, you should probably listen. She’s proven incredibly capable of spinning choice-powered yarns around love and hate, weaving in themes of misogyny, history, the ramifications of technology, and many more with a deft, personal hand. Seriously, if you’re not convinced, go read Kieron (pre-vengeful virtual ghost state) and Alec’s respective write-ups of Digital: A Love Story and Analogue: A Hate Story. Then join me after the break for the first details on There’s Not A Pre-Subtitle This Time: Hate Plus.

(more…)

When indie developer Ryan Creighton (Untold Entertainment) read a review of Bookworm Adventures, he was very excited. A game in which a story was told, with your means of interaction as a grid of tiles, from which words are spelt. He couldn’t wait to play it. And then he realised that wasn’t really what it was.

Bookworm Adventure, as great as it is (and I’ll fight anyone who says otherwise (via spelling)), doesn’t really tell a story. The adventures of a worm called Lex are loosely strung together at best. Creighton realised he wanted to make the game he’d thought it was going to be. And thus Spellirium.

(more…)

As a living, breathing contradiction, my greatest passions in life are combat and pacifism. Seriously, though, stripping away combat has yielded some of recent times’ most interesting games, and Wander‘s brand of collaboration-centric exploration could raise a leafy mutant branch hand in acceptance of that torch. On paper, it sounds serene on an almost primal level, reveling in “exploration and joy.” The main goal, then, is to “explore planets, discovering their history and beauty.” Conceptually, the whole thing almost strikes me as a greener, more freeform Journey. And so far, the first planet looks like it escaped from the explosions and dumbness factory in James Cameron’s brain with natural beauty full intact, so that’s promising. I want to explore! For now, though, both you and I will have to settle for pooling our vast cognitive and spiritual resources to adventure through a couple videos after the break.

(more…)

This is just magnificent. Pippin Barr – he of clever little pieces of interactive braincode like Art Game, Hot Coffee, Pongs, and Epic Sax – has released a gleefully hilarious concept series. Titled Mumble Indie Bungle, the six game set wriggled forth from the following idea: “It’s meant to be this set of crappy indie games that someone perhaps bought for you, mistaking them for the originals. The challenge for me is to make the game that fits the title, and that is also somehow ‘wrong’ and would fit into this odd, misshapen bundle.” From that twisted test tube, then, was born 30 Flights of Loathing, Gurney, Proteas, World of Glue (my favorite), Spy Parity, and Carp Life. Seriously, play these. You will laugh heartily through your anguished sighs.

(more…)

It's not that there are too many indie games; it's that there aren't enough hours in a day to play all of them. The Joystiq Indie Pitch curates the best indies to play now and watch out for in the future. What's your game called and what's it about?

Survival Horror Story: Catequesis tells the story of Daniel, meeting his girlfriend's parents for the first time. His girlfriend, Sophie, confesses to him that her father suffers from an incurable disease and the only way to save him is to perform a religious rite led by her neighbour Isabel. Something turns out badly, weird creatures seize the building and Sophie and Isabel disappear. Fate makes Daniel walk along the floors of that old structure and its core, facing different horrors on his attempt to rescue Sophie and end the curse.

What's the meaning behind the game's name? Do you worry an unfamiliar name might prevent fans from talking about it?

Catequesis is the Spanish word for "catechesis," which in the Catholic religion is education in the faith and doctrine. So imagine how interesting the catechesis can be in a different, horrible and hideous new religion. Anyway, I wanted to put a complete name, more explicit and clear, with "Survival Horror Story," a great definition of our game.

The next-gen version of the cable has blazing speeds and 4K graphics support.

In case you’re wondering what name to call your game, the wrong answer is something like: “A Delicious New Pizza Topping For The Whole Family To Enjoy”. A good name, however, would be “Thunder Wolves“. Sadly you can’t have that one, as it’s already been taken, and by entirely the correct game. Most Wanted Entertainment’s in-development arcade-them-to-bits helicopter shooter evokes olden days arcade cabinet blasters, without hammering on the retro button.

(more…)

Tomorrow watch Greg, Daemon and Creator David Brevik punch Sentinels in the face in Gazillion's Marvelous upcoming MMO.

When Wasteland Interactive announced Worlds of Magic, it was hard not to see the comparisons with Microprose’s stately and delicious fantasy strategy title, Master of Magic. Partly that was because of the echo in the name and partly because the press release said – and I paraphrase – “we would really really like to make a superb modern version of Master of Magic. Really.” All the features seemed to be in place but I questioned whether Wasteland’s game would be packed with quite as much of everything as its spiritual predecessor. Master of Magic was crammed with unit types, races, spells, heroes and artifacts. Now that the Kickstarter page is live, it appears Worlds of Magic is going to be triple-packed.

(more…)

Indie developer Amidos, has just released his latest, a game inspired by a couple of Super things; namely, Super Crate Box and Super Hexagon. Requiring just one button, Atomic is an arcade, score attack challenge that becomes increasingly like a dance on the edge of a knife blade that is poised above a pit full of knife blades. It was designed as part of a 48 hour gamejam and works brilliantly, close enough to Hexagon’s hypnotic masterpiece to earn the comparison but with a precision of its own. With clearer integration between music and motion, this would be worth more time and several pennies, but as it is, if you like this sort of thing you should certainly try it for free right now.

(more…)

“This time we’re going to talk about Rage. You know the feeling, I suppose.”

Anyway! Neocore’s The Incredible Adventures Of Van Helsing (Facebook homepage, argh! Read the devblog instead) is looking increasingly alluring for those of us who wish to explode thronging herds of rabid monsters into clouds of loot and gore. The latest trailer – which explains the rage and power-up system – shows quite a lot of that happening. What is there to explain about those things? Well, it lets you set off and charge up all your abilities at the same time, which I suppose is a little unusual.

ARPG uncomplexities aside, the game is looking quite sparkly, in a gothy sort of way. Go take a look.(more…)

Shoot ‘em ups! I remember those, with the streams of rockets and the videogame physics. Wow, here comes one now, like a hellfire rocket fired from the mid-Nineties. It’s called THUNDER WOLVES and is about helicopters of course, not giant packs of dogs made of storm noise. Thunder Wolves apparently features “thirty combinations” of helicopter and weaponry (which doesn’t actually sound like that many) and will feature co-up ground-rocketing action. Also from the feature list: “Tons of enemies, including terrorist foot soldiers, land vehicles of all sorts, and even enemy choppers.” Imagine!

It should be released “soon”. Explooooooossssiooooooooooooon.(more…)

Drago Entertainment have posted a Kickstarter for Grimlands, a post-apocalyptic MMOFPS that was going to be published by F2P maestros Gamigo, but recently got cancelled. The game concept is one that ticks some of my favourite boxes: “We strive to mix the shooter- and RPG-gameplay inspired by Fallout 3 and Borderlands with the social dynamics and freedom of choice like in Ultima Online.” That’s development director Lucjan Mikociak, who claims that Grimlands is the game he always wanted to play. I think it might be the game a few of you always wanted to play, too.

Just take a look at the videos below and see.(more…)

I already knew that the cars in Distance could fly but it’s a fact worth repeating. Keep in mind that the cars’ doors flip into position and become wings when aerial navigation is required and the situation becomes even more appealing. Following a successful Kickstarter campaign, the sequel-of-sorts to free techno racer Nitronic Rush is due in August of this year and the pre-alpha video below, shown at GDC, is exceedingly easy on the eyes. It’s an all expenses paid holiday to a thumping great futuristic city. For the eyes.

(more…)

That headline from the awkward videogame headline generator, there. What it means is this: the latest Make Something Unreal competition, which had a theme of ‘Mendelian Inheritance: genetics and genomics’ was won by a game developed in UDK (obviously) by ten-man Swedish team Dead Shark Triplepunch. They’ve bagged themselves full licences for the engine, and some hardware. The game, Epigenesis, is a multiplayer future sports game in which the players plant seeds in the map to alter the environment of play each time they score. They’re calling it “a potential e-sport”.

More games should have a SCIENCE page. There’s a video of the team working on their game, below.(more…)

Shortly after Torment: Tides of Numenumenumenuma-BATMAN claimed its title as the most-funded Kickstarter game in the short history of Kickstarted games, Richard Garriott’s definitely-not-an-Ultima sequel, Shroud of the Avatar has raised over two million dollars. The Kickstarter campaign, which had a one million dollar goal, finished just shy of doubling the target but direct pledges through the RPG’s website pushed it to a current total of $2,057,992, a figure which will almost certainly be out of date by the time you click on the link. Understandably, recent updates have been focused on clarifying and altering reward tiers, although as is increasingly common, I find the whole system cumbersome in the extreme. There were details about crafting last week though and some of that information is below.

(more…)

Here it is, folks. The answers to all your AMD questions. Well, not all of them. Dropped some, reworded others, added a few twists of my own. The usual. The senior AMD suit in question is Roy Taylor. His official title is Corporate Vice President, Global Channel Sales. That’s right, Corporate Vice President, Global Channel Sales. Soak up the seniority. He’s been at AMD for 12 weeks having spent the previous 12 years at arch enemy Nvidia. So let’s just say he’s got plenty of insight into graphics, CPUs and gaming. Did I mention he is indeed quite senior? (more…)

Richard Garriott's fantasy RPG project Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues saw its Kickstarter campaign end this morning after having received $1,919,275 in funding support. The Ultima-like game reached a number of stretch goals after its initial $1 million goal was realized, granting the final product a pet system and additional Lost Vale and Mysterious Island content.

Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues is expected to launch for Windows, Mac and Linux in October 2014, and is the first in a five-game series, with each subsequent episode expected to release annually.

THIS WEEK: Four out of four tears. WALKING DOWN THE STREET I GET PUNCHED. Massively multiplayer void of eerily ringing telephones. Feral arcade games.

(more…)

Sundays are for meditating on a mountaintop. By Monday you will be an enlightened warrior, ready to use your perspicacity to fox oafish opponents in medieval China.

• Firstly, I want all of you to visit Shut Up & Sit Down. No excuses! No, not even you Man Who Says He Can’t Play Boardgames Because Of Allergies. The site has been relaunched by former-RPSer Quintin ‘The Boy’ Smith, and bard-like RPS-contributor Brendan Caldwell. Have a read of this article for a taste of what they’re up to.

(more…)

A real high-point of every GDC is the Game Design Challenge. Well, was. Sadly the tenth year of this annual treat was the last, with organiser Eric Zimmerman bringing proceedings to an end. And wow, did it go out in style. With the apposite topic, “Humanity’s Last Game”, some of the biggest names in the industry put forth their pitches for the last game we’d ever need. And one man entirely stole the show. For a second year, that man was Jason Rohrer.

(more…)

There were two sessions in a row on Wednesday afternoon at this year’s GDC. The first was a panel of women in the games industry, discussing the causes and results of the #1ReasonWhy and #1ReasonToBe phenomena – the reasons to be and not be in the games industry. The second was Feminist Frequency’s Anita Sarkeesian, talking about the positive and negative consequences of her Kickstarter campaign, and the way forward from here. I came out of the first – vivid, passionate declarations of purpose from the likes of Leigh Alexander, Mattie Brice and Brenda Romero – feeling certain that the industry and its audience was on a wave of significant change. An hour later I came out of the second – Sarkeesian’s challenging and demanding story of recent horror – re-grounded to the current reality, introspective, and further determined.

There is a clear message: Rock, Paper, Shotgun will never back down on the subject of sexism and misogyny (nor racism, nor homophobia, for that matter) in games, the games industry, and the games journalism industry. Good times are ahead – we can see them.

(more…)

Are you in the mood for exchanging a relatively small amount of currency for a license to download and use some digitally distributed entertainment software? Then you’ve come to the right place. Here’s your weekly bargain bucket, full to the brim of savings on a range of interesting games. If this isn’t enough, you can always rely on SavyGamer.co.uk for the latest discounts on games for all platforms throughout the week. (more…)

$4,188,927. That’s where Torment: Tides of Numenera‘s conquest of Kickstarter ground to a halt, which is pretty good considering it started off asking – nay, begging, clothed only in rags and its own waste – for a pithy $900,000. It’s also apparently pretty good in the grand scheme of every videogame ever, seeing as Torment’s now holds the record for most-funded Kickstarter game of all time. Previously, brother in spirit (and partially in flesh, given Chris Avellone’s formidable intellectual seed) Project Eternity held the top spot at $3,986,929. But enough numbers I can barely count to using my fingers, toes, and a nearby family of millipedes. Let’s delve into what this means for the game.

(more…)

Journal screams intrigue. Not physically, of course. That wouldn’t make for a particularly fun game and would also be existentially horrifying. It does, however, have quite a few tantalizing highlights nestled within its crisp, comfortingly musty pages. For one, Kairo creator Richard Perrin’s on dev duty, but this time around, he’s eschewing gloriously abstract puzzles in favor of the most stultifying brain-bender of them all: human relationships. The adventure, whose story is being penned by Melissa Royall, is about “the difficulties and responsibilities of childhood.” A game starring children who aren’t on a quest to save the world from whomever burned down their village and might be an allegory for the Christian incarnation of god? Will wonders never cease?

(more…)