PC Gaming News Message Board older than one year ago

A tease from Infinity Ward suggests that Modern Warfare star Captain Price will be coming to Call of Duty: Ghosts in the very near future.

Ascendant looks a lot like Guacamelee at first glance. But its 2D beat-em-up ways are apparently roguelite rather than metroidvania. And rather importantly in that distinction, the platforming environments are randomly generated.

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I’ve been a bit under the weather lately (which is good, because I was expecting to return from Las Vegas dead), so I’m only just now getting around to posting about this videogame trailer from two whole days ago. Oh, the shame. This is the Internet, where time moves at a blinding (and arguably blind) pace, and the phrase “out with the old, in with the new” is already out because we found something new to replace it. While I haven’t checked, I imagine I entirely missed Rain World‘s hype period, Early Access beta, launch, avalanche of glowing reviews, and jumble of “overrated” grumbles in the following e-weeks. Now we’re probably on Rain World VII or perhaps even the massively multiplayer MOBA Surgeon Sim spin-off. But here I am with this ancient video of the original Rain World’s pups and NEVER MIND ALL THAT OTHER STUFF I JUST SAID OH GOODNESS SO CUTE.

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Players encouraged to spend all their in-game before the May closure.

Pillars of Eternity can now be expected by winter 2014, Obsidian revealed in a forum update. The developer announced its delay last week following its initial projected launch of spring 2014. It was delayed due to the increasing scope of the game following its generous funding.

The game formerly known as Project Eternity was funded on Kickstarter in October 2012, earning a whopping $3.9 million. Junior Producer Rose Gomez's forum post this week noted that the developer will not pursue any more stretch goals for the project, which still accepts pledges on the game's site.

Project lead Josh Sawyer also noted last week that the developer wasn't planning on announcing a specific release window after its delay, saying that because Obsidian isn't a publisher, it didn't "have to." He added that "virtually nothing good comes from us releasing a date before we're very confident in it." [Image: Obsidian Entertainment]

Steam now offers community driven categorization for its entire library.

After just 6 months, Microsoft is without a head PC gaming and entertainment strategy.

The Vita version lands in May with the PS4 version a few months behind.

Flappy Bird may have flown the coop, but indie developers are banding together in support of the dangerously addictive app with Flappy Jam, an open-invitation challenge to design difficult, avian-themed games in the vein of Flappy Bird.

One popular entry emerging from the event is Terry Cavanagh's Maverick Bird, a refined take on Flappy Bird's formula featuring aesthetic elements similar to Cavanagh's Super Hexagon. Developer Adam Saltsman joins the friendly competition with Flappybalt, a reworked version of his genre-defining endless runner Canabalt.

An unlikely (and perhaps unwitting) entry comes from pop punk band Fall Out Boy, which plans to release its own version of Flappy Bird for Android and iOS devices later this week, according to BBC News. "Rome wasn't built in a day, but this game was," the band posted on its official website. "We bring you Fall Out Bird. [C]oming this week to Google Play and the App Store (as soon it's approved)."

"Shoutout to the OG Flappy Bird," the band adds. "RIP."

[Image: Terry Cavanagh]

From the distant, waterlogged land of Bath Spa, John Walker sits at a keyboard and dreams of another world. A world by the sea. A world where 95% of its male population are bearded and wear Converse. Untold distances away, in said sea-neighbouring world of Brighton, Alec Meer also sits at a keyboard and imagines a tourist-besieged town made up of yellow buildings and fading magazine publishers.

Somehow, the two writers’ minds reach each other across the gulf of space and time. And they have something they must discuss: Double Fine’s Kickstarted revivalist adventure game, Broken Age, whose first ‘Act’ was released last week. They talk of its two lead characters, they talk of its unfinished nature, they talk of its puzzles, they talk of what they wanted but what they got, they talk of shrunken heads and peaches. … [visit site to read more]

Watching the Kickstarter pitch video for steampunk-themed adventure game Blackmore is like watching your favorite band get back together - if your favorite song by said band was the cyberpunk adventure game Snatcher, that is. Jeremy Blaustein, localizer for Snatcher, Metal Gear Solid and the Silent Hill series, is heading up a new studio called iQiOi in hopes of developing Blackmore, a game he says has been his "dream" since he started working in the industry. His dream has until March 12 to raise $200,000.

Blaustein has tapped several other creators who contributed to Snatcher as well. Satoshi Yoshioka will reprise his role as character designer, while Motoaki Furukawa will handle the game's soundtrack. Blaustein has also recruited David Hayter to voice main character Emma Blackmore's brother, Jonas.

There's no footage or screenshots available yet, though the game's Kickstarter page describes gameplay as "classic point and click" in a isometric-view, 2.5D environment. Players will guide Emma through a gadget-laden, steam-powered vision of 1888 London on a quest to catch a murderer. Those more historically-minded may recognize the date as the year Jack The Ripper began his infamous killing spree.

Should Blackmore pick up enough steam - and money - Blaustein plans to release the game for PC and Mac in spring of 2015.

Jason Holtman has seemingly left Microsoft less than six months after he was hired to head up the company's renewed PC gaming initiative.

According to his LinkedIn page (via Neowin), Holtman left his position at Microsoft in January. Neither Microsoft nor Holtman himself have confirmed the departure.

Holtman previously served as the Director of Business Development at Steam platform developer Valve, leaving his position during a round of layoffs last year. We've contacted Microsoft for confirmation of Holtman's departure, and await a response.
[Image: Microsoft]

More trademark bullshittery is taking place, this time targeted at Oculus Rift. The 3D goggles are being taken to court by a company you’ve never heard of called Oculu, for “false designation of origin, trademark dilution and unfair competition”. So what 3D virtual reality hardware do Oculu make? Oh, wait, hang on – they appear to be a business-oriented video streaming service.

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Nothing T Hide‘s statements on privacy and surveillance aren’t subtle. This is a really interesting puzzle game in which you must dutifully spy on yourself, constantly ensuring that government cameras are able to see you wherever you go. And despite currently being in development, it’s entirely in the public domain, copyright free, for code, art, music, etc. “By giving up ‘power’ on my art,” says creator Nick Liow, “my art can have more power.”

… [visit site to read more]

Broforce is the smartest game with the dumbest name. Eighties action movies are the thematic springboard from which it leaps through the air – in slow-motion, away from an exploding nuclear power station, with a knife between its teeth – but its design is as retro as a 3d printed sculpture of the future. The blocky graphics might suggest otherwise but developers Free Lives have taken the run ‘n’ gun basics of Contra and spliced them with the full force of modern trends and techniques. Along with a gloriously effective arsenal, Broforce contains fully destructible scenery, variable attack patterns, exquisite particle effects and a dash of Spelunky-like compulsion. It’s heading to Steam Early Access this March under the guidance of publisher Devolver and if that news doesn’t make your mullet stand on end, you clearly haven’t played the free Brototype. Do so immediately.

… [visit site to read more]

We tend to think of music as a purely auditory experience, but it's hard to deny the visual aspects of some of history's most iconic musicians. Michael Jackson had a white, studded glove. Gorillaz has animated personas. Daft Punk has robot helmets. KISS had makeup. What we see in our media can be just as important as what we hear, even if it's the music that gets the majority of our attention.

Crypt of the NecroDancer is a game that mixes roguelike structure and design with rhythm-based controls. As heroine Cadence, players move and attack to the beat of a soundtrack by Danny Baranowsky that's so infectious and lovable even the dead can't resist its charms - skeletons, zombies, ghouls and more shuffle to its pulsing beats and wave their hands/bones/tentacles/claws in the air like they just don't care.

The game has earned much attention and praise - Joystiq's own David Hinkle wrote that it "represents everything that I treasure about the indie games scene" - but Crypt of the NecroDancer is more than music and monster-bashing. It has a talented art team behind it, dedicated to giving those who play the game a world they'll want to see as much as they want to hear it.

Ever wanted to see a Wendigo so furious that it is constantly vibrating? I suggest you head to the frozen North and pee onto any particularly bulbous snowdrift that sounds like it’s snoring. For the less adventurous types, the developers of 2D ARPG platformer Chasm have included just such an image in their latest trailer. The music and the sight of a covered wagon at the beginning of the video both suggest a Western, but the game leans toward the fantastic, with spikes and circular saws aplenty. It looks lovely though, combining Metroidvania exploration and progression with procedural generation. Sounds like a tall order. Maybe it’d be better just to micturate on a monster.

… [visit site to read more]

The wait for Age Of Wonders III would have been far more painful if I’d been anticipating a return to the series since the release of the most recent game in 2003. I’d assumed Triumph were otherwise engaged though, following the release of the Overlord games and a period of silence. Last year we discovered that the Dutch developers were returning to the wonders that they knew so well, with a strategic turn-based sequel to the superb Shadow Magic and I’ve been playing a preview build for several days now. Here’s wot I’ve learned.

… [visit site to read more]

When Obsidian put Project Eternity up on Kickstarter in September 2012, they dared to ask for a million dollars to make a classic RPG in the 90s BioWare style. And they hoped they’d be finished in a year and a half, in April 2014. People went and gave them four million dollars, and so accordingly their ambitions grew much larger. A release in April started to seem less realistic, and indeed it’s understandably not going to be anywhere close.

… [visit site to read more]

No, Christ, don’t look to me for an impassioned editorial about Flappy Bird. There’s already an Encyclopaedia Brittania’s worth of bullshit about this now-withdrawn mobile game and its overly-scrutinised creator out there already, as SEO-crazed news sites strain to capitalise on interest in a from-nowhere breakout hit. The trafficks! The precious trafficks! The absolute worst of these are those who retch up hasty, broad essays about how this is a lesson that we all need to be more excellent to each other, a hollow masquerade as empathy to justify and conceal a feverish attempt to wring one more drop from this story’s bone-dry washcloth.

I have seen only one truly convincing show of support for Flappy Bird itself, and it is telling that it is achieved almost wordlessly. Terry Cavanagh’s ‘fan game’ Maverick Bird uses his familiar abstract-minimalist style (as most famously seen in Super Hexagon), but without uttering even a single syllable demonstrates admiration and affection for what its inspiration actually did. … [visit site to read more]

Darkest Dungeon launched on Kickstarter and was immediately funded, which says a lot about how good its pitch is (it was also helped by a $15 price and a low funding target): it’s a handsome looking dungeon crawler, a roguelike in which the player must manage a team of dungeon delver’s psychological stress levels alongside their hit points. The darker it gets, the deeper you delve, the more likely the pressure is going to affect your team. … [visit site to read more]

Jim is not here to talk intelligently and make big wordthinks about the style and architecture of NaissanceE, which is about 90% of of the game. So instead you get a headline with a made-up word in it that I thought up on the toilet*. What can I say? It’s pretty and grey, and the endless and unchanging corridors will probably make me feel physically ill, because it reminds me of my fever dreams. Loves it. … [visit site to read more]

Charming student-developed title expands beyond PC.

Facepunch Studios' CheatPunch tool aims to level the playing field for everyone else.

Report from The NPD Group shows spending on game content is up from 2012.

As we mentioned last week, the Internet loves few things more than fuzzy creatures and wanton destruction, so it comes as little surprise to learn that Goat Simulator has received enough online affection to transform the Global Game Jam entry into a full-fledged game.

"OKAY INTERNET YOU WIN, IT LOOKS LIKE GOAT SIMULATOR IS OUR NEXT IP," wrote Swedish developer Coffee Stain Studios, before delving into what is arguably a description of the game. "Goat Simulator is like an old school skating game, except instead of being a skater, you're a goat, and instead of doing tricks, you wreck stuff. It brings next-gen goat simulation to YOU. WASD to write history."

Pay a visit to the newly-launched Goat Simulator website and at the bottom you'll find a pre-order form asking for $10. There's currently no word on when Goat Simulator will be released, nor any in-depth information on what the game will be like once completed, beyond the trailer's promise that your goat will be able to wield an axe with its tongue. Still, we can't see that mattering much. If the online masses want goat mischief, the online masses will get goat mischief, no matter what form it may take. [Image: Coffee Stain Studios]

[Waves arms wildly]I DON’T HAVE RELEASE DATE FOR YOU DON’T GET EXCITED[/waves arms wildly]

Wolf Among Us isn’t the only recent episodic game playing silly buggers with our expectations: there’s still no sign of when the passenger door episode III to RPS GOTY 2013 Kentucky Route Zero will open and offer us a ride down its strange, whip-smart highway. To some degree I’m less troubled by the wait than I was by WAU’s, as I’m not really in KRZ for the plot – it’s more of an experiential thing for me, as wanky as that might sound. I would like more of it and soon, though.

Devs Cardboard Computer have attempted to allay fears that something terrible has happened behind the scenes, and explained why no KRZE3 date yet. Apparently it will be “significantly more involved than the first two acts.” Maybe that means it’ll have guns! Or a jump button! Or microtransactions! … [visit site to read more]

Any game described “fwooshy” will immediately take up space on my hard-drive, and if it’s also described as a “feel good flight sim” then I am down with it. That’s what Sky Rogue is: a procedurally-generated arcade flight-sim painted in that happy blue that doesn’t exist in nature (the one that Billy Connolly describes as “*crag*in’ BLUUUUUEEE!”), but the blue that I think of when I think of Sega Dreamcast games. In that bluingest of blues you’ll pick your aircraft, kit out its weaponry, and shoot things. … [visit site to read more]

Developer Coffee Stain Studios is finishing the game after alpha footage became viral hit.

Hmm, I worry that it’s ever so slightly less entertaining now it’s a real thing with a pricetag, as opposed to an out-of-nowhere joke. Now it’s got the Snakes On A Plane problem – it has to live up to its concept. Still, we (including I) asked for it, so down Goat Simulator’s rabbit hole we must go. … [visit site to read more]