PC Gaming News Message Board older than one year ago

MMOs are that peculiar genre, that everyone loves to hate, and also loves to play. And with a new clutch entering their betas at the moment (most notably Neverwinter and Wildstar), they’re not going anywhere. So which are you currently throwing your subs or incremental payments at?

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The Organ Trail: Director’s Cut is a zombie pastiche of the old favourite edugame, The Oregan Trail, where you had to get a family of settlers to Portland, Oregon, past the perils of the unconquered western USA. In the Organ Trail, players must get themselves and up to four friends all the way to Portland Oregon without losing any of their innards to rampaging zombie hordes. They’re both mainly asset management games, with bastard-hard minigames included. The previous chapters are here.

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Independent developer Bryan Lunduke, creator of what is almost certainly the world's only Linux distribution sim, raises eyebrows again this week with the release of The Lunduke Experimental Artificial Intelligence Terminal (or "L.E.A.I.T."), a text-based game for Windows, Mac, and Linux starring Ruby, a friendly, lovable AI engine.

You won't have long to bond with your new pal, however. Shortly after the game begins, Ruby goes nuts and starts infecting your files with a virtual virus. The only way to stop Ruby's rampage is to track its activity through your computer's actual file system, deleting infected documents and cornering it between emptied directories.

It's worth noting that you won't damage your personal files while playing L.E.A.I.T. - Ruby's in-game destruction is fictional, and players don't risk losing or infecting real files. Still, the game may still inspire a twinge of panic whenever it pops up a notification that Ruby's infection has spread to, say, your work documents, or your collection of kitten .gifs.

You can download a demo of L.E.A.I.T. at Lunduke's site for free, while the full version will set you back $3.

Metroidvania meets Gradius sounds like the sort of thing you could only wish for, chin leant your your interlocked fingers, elbows on the windowsill looking out into a rainy day. But by crikey, that’s what Gamesbymo are up to with A.N.N.E. A 2D pixel art hybrid of ship-flying shoot-em-up and physics puzzles, and on-foot platforming that promises Metroid-like progression. Wants.

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A small study has found the tile-matching puzzle game trains the eyes to work together, and could be better than patching.

Look at that screenshot for a moment.

Anyway, Dark Quest looks – as Blue notes – not unlike resplendent board-game classic HeroQuest. Something familiar about those fonts (see below)… Anyway, it’s currently on the Apple FingerScreen, and heading PCwards as we speak. You can see it in action below. It’s like a boardgame made all electronic, or something.(more…)

Lionhead Studios has appointed its new Studio Head, lending fuel to the flames that a Fable MMO is on the way.

As prophesied by the saintly words of the Very Reverend Adam Smith last week, Jagged Alliance is about to make its eighty millionth comeback, this time in the charge of Full Control, they of the new Space Hulk game, and via the medium of Crowdsourcing. I can only advise you to read that interview in the pursuit of fulsome details on the turn-based strategy remakequel, but today the actual Kickstarter goes live. This means more details, and also a video which affords me the opportunity to see the face of a man I have only ever spoken to on the phone before. It’s quite a nice face, really.(more…)

Relic has hinted that the franchise isn't done just yet, though it remains unclear what THQ's bankruptcy means for the license.

By way of example, a recent specimen from the light blue segment:

Soldier. There is some job for you. You will receive further orders from your commander Kate. But you must to know – this will be not so easy. You’ll need to deliver some secret weapon, save wounded soldiers and all this must be done as fast as possible. So get your Ural Truck and go.(more…)

The final chapter of Guild Wars 2's Flame and Frost event launches next week; we discover how it plans to go out with a bang.

Turns out Bethesda have done the smart thing, and announced a crossover between the Elder Scrolls and Dishonored. Redwall will bring the Redguard to the city of Dunwall, as the warriors of Hammerguard use roof-based exploration to uncover a slightly incoherent conspiracy. Pre-order now for the exclusive Pinky Demon character skin.

Just wishful thinking, alas. No fantastical universe crossovers for you, young fellow-me-lady! Perhaps, though, it’s no less preposterous a concept than making a game based on Brian Jacques’ long-running series of children’s books about mice vs rats (and other talking beasts too) in an abbey-based war. Soma games, an Oregon-based developer who specialise in Christian videogames, have the license, third-person action is the apparent genre, and Kickstarter will provide the funding.

Wait a minute. Something’s a little unexpected in that last sentence.(more…)

My favorite thing about Jurassic Park was how dinosaurs always somehow managed to end up in the absolute worst places. Right on the brink of a gigantic, car-devouring abyss? Yep. In a cramped generator room where everyone could’ve sworn they left the rest of Samuel L Jackson? Naturally. Oh, and how about the kitchen? I was half expecting to find raptors dressed in full chef regalia just going about their business when the kids fled in there. Dinosaurs On A Spaceship, however, is a “retro-styled futuristic top-down survival horror game” that’s looking to take that idea a couple million steps further. Yes, yes, that obviously means space, but how the prehistoric ultra-lizards managed to get there is a story that actually sounds kind of – dare I say it – interesting?

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The producer of the first two Witcher games is working on a "challenging" RPG for next-gen, listing Dark Souls as "a strong reference".

Here at RPS, we are not shy about our support for gender equality in the gaming industry, both in terms of the representation in the games we play and at the various companies that make them. It’s a tremendously important matter from just about every standpoint imaginable, from so-called “practicality” (read: business) to common human decency. Nothing, however, beats a firsthand account of the problem at hand – not even a cheeky gallery of StarCraft II’s most cheek-ridden bits. And so, I highly, highly, highly recommend GDC’s absolutely excellent #1ReasonToBe panel. You can now view the entire thing online for free, and even in itsy bitsy box-shaped form, it’s a truly moving, important thing. The experiences Brenda Romero, Robin Hunicke, Leigh Alexander, and co outline - alienation, sadness, rage, doubt, loneliness, discomfort, fear – are why equality matters, and their continued love of gaming becomes all the more powerful in light of that. This is, in my opinion, required viewing. I very much hope you’ll agree.

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It’s been one of those days. And by that, I of course mean what everybody does when they say that: a day during which basically everything you read somehow relates to THQ’s slow, withering dismemberment at the vulture-like beaks of hungry publishers. But that goes without saying. Some things, however, aren’t quite as simple as months and months of studio and license sales, culminating in more questions than answers. For instance, what happens if a series gets tangled up in the crisscrossing webs of multiple owners? Sure, THQ’s now history, but that still leaves Relic, Sega, and Games Workshop to figure out the logistics of bringing Dawn of War back from the brink. And yet, while it won’t necessarily be the easiest thing in the world, Relic game director Quinn Duffy is confident that it can – and probably will – eventually happen.

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It's a darkly entertaining way to cut, explore, and appreciate the incredible skill of real surgeons.

Sir, You Are Being Hunted, but you should really take a break and watch this gameplay video. It won't only give your tired body a moment of rest, but the tactics demonstrated could save your life in Big Robot's tweedpunk, procedural stealth game, Sir, You Are Being Hunted. It's a win-win, as far as "being hunted" goes.

This is the first video in a new series, and it demonstrates strategies behind fleeing, healing, hiding and, occasionally, shooting at the enemy AI. Take a peek and if you like what you see, pre-orders for Sir, You Are Being Hunted are live now via the Humble Store.

Hello youse.

With this being a recommendation column, you very rarely hear me being negative about a board game. I try to keep this a positive little place – one corner of the internet that is always happy. But I don’t want you to think that every board game I play is a joy. I think it’s important that you understand how easy it is for a board game to fail.

I’m a guy who tries to see the best in stuff. I try to overlook little niggling flaws if the overall experience is a fun one. But sometimes, in board games, one little thing can be enough to *crag* over the whole deal. It’s DIFFICULT to make a good board game. Believe that.

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Seems unlikely, but it is apparently true. The rumour that the announcement would be today turned out to be true! The Borderlands developer said: “Brian Martel, Gearbox Software’s Chief Creative Officer, has great love and respect for Relic’s brilliant, fun and innovative game and personally spearheaded the acquisition. Brian intends as first priority to direct Gearbox’s interest to preserve and assemble the purest form of the original acclaimed and beloved games, Homeworld and Homeworld 2, with the intent of making them accessible on today’s leading digital platforms.”

So that’s a remake or re-release. But what about that sequel? Gearbox have opened discussion on their forums.

Gearbox has acquired the rights to Homeworld, with plans to make Homeworld and Homeworld 2 “accessible on today's leading digital platforms.”

What is this? Developers Duangle explain: “NOWHERE (formerly known by its working title name “Project Ginshu”) is an independently produced surreal sandbox exploration game we are building. It will feature elements of strategy, construction, farming, puzzling and adventure set in a post-singularian universe. Witness the unraveling of a visual acid trip through an impossible space, filled with exotic shapes, geometric patterns and appropriate soundscapes, cocooned by the people who brought you Masagin.”

Okay. Watch the videos.(more…)

According to a new report, Microsoft is planning to return the Start button to its rightful place in Windows 8 with the release of a new update in June.

Fit Tony Stark's head in the palm of your hand with this neat little accessory.

The turn-based Japanese-style RPG isn’t dead on PC, it’s just put down the controller and wandered off to buy a can of delicious 7up during one of the battles. One man who wants to pick that pad up again is Simon Mesnard (maker of similarly nomenclatured ASA: A Space Adventure), who is making an RPG like the console epics of old, called TBT: The Black Tower. Mesnard explains that they’re a small team making lots of progress, but there’s a long way to go: “We didn’t show anything about the battle system yet, and we’re working on it. I don’t know when we will have something interesting to show, it could take months. However, I think we have a good idea with the 3 fighters + 3 supporters in the same battle, even if it wasn’t that “new” for some people (because indeed, maybe that already exists in another RPG, I don’t know them all !). What I can tell about the gameplay is that we will work hard on it in order to create a good battle system of our own, but based on classical turn-by-turn battles systems.”

Nevertheless there’s a non-battle gameplay video below, but also a bit of CGI stuff, just in case you thought this game was going to skip that glossy animation stuff because it was indie…(more…)

The Realm is being developed by Atomhawk Design, a studio that specializes in art production. Having worked on several well-known games - including Mortal Kombat, Dead Island, Injustice and Enslaved, among others - Atomhawk is now trying its hand at an internal project, The Realm.

A point-and-click adventure game that draws inspiration from Monkey Island, Machinarium and Ico, The Realm tells the story of a girl, Sarina, and her stone golem, Toru. Controlling both characters, the player solves environmental puzzles using the abilities of each. From the sound of things, Toru's immense size and strength will probably come in handy.

Atomhawk is seeking £195,000 ($297,000) to fund The Realm on Kickstarter. The goal is to put the game on PC, Mac and tablets within approximately eight months.

Gadgets are clearly the best things there are. And it is they that Tom Francis highlights in the latest trailer for Gunpoint, accompanying the news that the game is going to be available on Steam. When? He still isn’t saying, the scamp. But he will tell you all about the gadgets.

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A purely hypothetical scenario. I announce that I’m writing a new feature on RPS and, if you so desire, you can buy a physical edition of the post. Naturally, it will be printed on a bloodied replica of a woman’s trunk, limbs lopped away, but bikini and breasts thankfully intact. I say ‘naturally’ because the story is about a game with zombies in it and I say ‘thankfully’ because the chest is more important than the zombies. Discerning readers can pop the disfigurement on their mantle. If the notion disappoints or offends people I’ll apologise, but I won’t change my ways because I certainly don’t want all of these torsos sitting in my basement. People might get the wrong idea! So, please buy my bloodied figurines and their contents. NINETY POUNDS IS ALL I ASK!

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Regular readers of the Sunday Papers, among others who have suffered my music tastes, will be unsurprised to learn that I am extremely interested in nightmarishly ambient first-person experiment NaissanceE. Developed in UDK, this is a sequel to a previous mod series with a deeply worrying aesthetic. The game is “an adventure taking place in a primitive mysterious structure,” and will appear some time this year. It’s creator says: “the game mainly consists to explore and feel the deep and strong ambiance of this atemporal universe but platforming and puzzles sections will also enrich the experience. Loneliness, confrontation to gigantic architectures and imagination provided by philosophical journey in this lost area should enjoy players waiting for this kind of disturbing trip, lead by contemporary meditative music.”

A disturbing trip. It goes all a bit End Of 2001 In A Tomb, below.(more…)

The original lounge lizard returns this summer. It even has a new score by the composer who worked on Journey.