PC Gaming News Message Board older than one year ago

“Large number” of new staff brought onto DayZ, claims Bohemia Interactive.

The PC beta for Warhammer 40k: Storm of Vengeance launched on Steam this week for $9.99, translating the Warhammer universe into a game of defending lanes. Aside from serving as a chance to play the game early, purchasing the Storm of Vengeance beta works as an early purchase of the final build once it's finished.

Storm of Vengeance involves a disagreement between Grand Master Belial and Ork Warlord Ghazghkull Tharka on the planet Piscina IV. Players can guide either character's army through its respective group of 50 missions, progressing through a skill tree as they earn victories.

As with any beta, the listing reminds us that this isn't representative of the final Storm of Vengeance build, and developer Eutechnyx is welcoming feedback on the game's forum. If you'd rather play this on the go, iOS and Android versions are planned for the first quarter of this year, which the Steam listing notes will be compatible with cross-platform multiplayer against PC players. [Image: Eutechnyx]

Indie skater OlliOlli will clear the gap from Vita exclusivity to combo tricks on PC, according to a post for the EGX Rezzed convention. Developer Roll7 also responded to a fan's inquiry on Twitter, confirming that Mac and Linux will be among OlliOlli's new grinding grounds.

The EGX Rezzed post states that, in addition to the PC version of OlliOlli, Roll7 will debut a new, yet-to-be announced game on the showfloor. We're in the dark as far as details go, but with EGX Rezzed opening its door on March 28, we can't be too far away from learning more.

OlliOlli launched as a Vita exclusive on January 21 and was funded, but not published, by Sony. Prior to its launch, John Ribbins told Gamasutra that there was "something quite nice about being an exclusive." It's surprising to hear of porting plans a little over a month after the game's Vita debut, but letting more people grind their pixelated faces off from botched tricks certainly isn't a bad thing. [Image: Roll7]

Danish developer Interceptor buys the House That Duke Nukem Built amid Gearbox lawsuit.

Constructing a fantasy to escape reality is no game - unless that game is Oscar by Team Sharkeye. In Oscar, players take on the role of a young girl - Oscar - who explores a bright and colorful dream world with her stuffed elephant, Flynn, held tight in her arms. As Oscar's journey progresses, the hint of a real world pain creeps into her fantasy. Oscar, in other words, is a game about how we use created worlds - not unlike those we experience by playing video games - to escape real-life pain.

Of course, before it can teach us how to deal with our problems, Oscar has its own obstacles to overcome - specifically, the fact that it needs $40,000 on Kickstarter to be funded. It also appears that lead designer Josh Long hasn't chosen a release window: "As with any project it can be hard to pinpoint a release date," Long wrote on the game's Kickstarter page, "but shipping something imperfect is something you come to accept as an experienced developer; I treat Oscar as the beginning of a career-long pursuit of games that convey mature human experiences. The game is intensely personal but at a certain point you learn more from shipping a title and applying what you learned on the next one."

Oscar is planned to release on PC, Mac and Linux. The game will be available on tablet devices as well - iOS "for sure," while Android support is "up in the air." [Image: Team Sharkeye]

Abstract virtual pet meditation. Flappy Bird + Earthbound. Move the doll’s legs to progress through the level.

… [visit site to read more]

Sundays are for losing my edge. I’m losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every Amgia developer from 1987 to 1991. I hear that you and your blog have sold your PCs and bought Ouyas. But have you seen my collection of the week’s best (mostly) game’s related scribbling?

• Over at Eurogamer, Donlan says thank you to the sadly departed Harold Ramis, and muses on how to say thank you to the anonymous people who make the things we love in videogames. “In truth, if you’re like me, you’ll have little idea of who was responsible for many of your favourite moments in many of your favourite games – and that’s a crying shame, since a lot of games are their best moments, living on in your memory, playing over and over and getting sharper and more distinct each time. To me, Arkham City is the grapnel boost. Batman has the best ropes! Look at it go, unspooling from the end of the gun with a puff of smoke, first a coiled Slinky of wire, then a taut black line connecting you to your destination.”

… [visit site to read more]

Sony Online Entertainment explains how it plans to keep free-to-play fair.

... and now there's a countdown to something new.

It’s that time of week again, the strange, giddy twilight between the new week and the old. It gives me strength, allowing me to briefly evolve from my larval news slave form into a full-blown human being with thoughts and feelings and a face. “What should I do with this incredible yet oh-so-fleeting window of opportunity?” I wonder aloud. “Fight crime? Raise money for good causes? Escape from RPS’ dank news basement and finally start a family?” But usually, I just end up playing videogames with a camera on my face. Yes, we’re rather late with this week’s episode due to various complicating factors, but shhhhh, shhhh, it’s all going to be OK now.

This time, Floorlord Hayden Dingman and I are going to jump between Thief, Resident Evil 4 HD, and maybe a little Warehouse and Logistics Simulator because I don’t even know why. We’ll kick off at 6 PM PT/2 AM GMT. Tune in below!

… [visit site to read more]

If the Oscar party you've got planned for tomorrow night is less about drinks and dresses and more about the undead and brain-bashing, boy does Sega have a deal for you: meet the Silver Screen Lexicon Pack DLC for Typing of the Dead: Overkill, where the game's words and phrases have been replaced by some of cinema's most quotable quotes.

Unlike a box of chocolates, you know just what you're gonna get here: film references up the wazoo for $2.99. You'll need to type in phrases like "life finds a way" and "Houston, we have a problem" in order to take out those damn dirty zombies. If you can't keep up, not only will we have a failure to communicate, but *whisper voice* you'll see dead people; lots more than you would otherwise.

So carpe diem; seize the day, zombie-hunter-slash-typing enthusiasts. Go out and win one for the Gipper. [Image: Sega]

Twitch has announced the final statistics for cultural phenomenon Twitch Plays Pokemon, which came to a dramatic close earlier today. And while only one pokemon trainer can be the very best, more than 1.1 million people tried. The actual number of TPP "players" - as in, those who entered commands in the game's chat - totaled 1,165,140, according to the Twitch official blog. As if that weren't quite ridiculous enough, here's some more rare candy to chew on:

• Total time: 16 days, 7 hours, 45 minutes and 30 seconds
• Peak players: 121,000
• Commands issued: More than 122 million
• Onlookers: More than 9 million
• Total views: More than 36 million
• Total minutes watched: More than 1 billion

For reference, the total number of views is more than twice that of Shanghai, the city with the highest recorded population in the world. Granted those aren't all unique views, but that's still a freaking lot of views.

Unofficial stats have also been collected by the community, for those who'd like to know just when each magical moment transpired. According to one account, it took Twitch Plays Pokemon 22 tries to beat the Elite Four. It only took them two tries to beat Blue, the game's archenemy. Two!

The weight of TPP cannot be overstated - aside from the various memes and religions it's created, there's even a petition to have the US government officially recognize March 1 as Helix Day. Praise Helix. [Image: The Pokemon Company]

Hello! I bet you were worried there’d be no bargains (plushies) this week. Sorry about that. Family tends to want to monopolize your time when you haven’t seen them in a while. Anyway, it looks like the year is slowly beginning to ramp up. New games and announcements seem to pop up every time I turn around. GDC is barely weeks away. All around me, I hear games journalists sharpening their metaphorical blades, ready to engage in a gladiatorial write-to-the-finish. Or something. This week’s plushie, which looks like it might sorely be in need of larger living accommodations, is courtesy of one Jason Kruta, who failed to include their RockPaperShotgun username and, as such, must be referred to by name. … [visit site to read more]

Same-y MOBAs that can’t quite manage the raw mechanical majesty of League of Legends and Dota 2 are an epidemic. So how do we cure that pestilence of painful mediocrity? Well, Techland and Stunlock Studios are suggesting we fight an epidemic with an epidemic – a Dead Island: Epidemic, to be precise. It ups the ante with another of the gaming industry’s more rampant diseases (zombies) but also puts some fresh meat on the genre’s bones with a three-team dynamic and more open maps. Also ramshackle weapons galore, because that is – in the parlance of our time – how Dead Island do.

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Cosmo-Nautica is Elite by way of The Sims. No, scratch that. Apart from having toilet and food needs, the crew of my vessel have more in common with Redshirt’s sci-fi caricatures than Maxis’ consumer-dolls. I’ve had a brief dabble with an early build of the Stuttgart-built indie game, and it’s exactly what the ‘Elite meets life sim’ beermat description suggests. The player’s ship is a rustbucket the size of a large townhouse and various rooms can be bolted onto its empty compartments. Living quarters, vending machines, cargo bays, weapons, engines…toilets. At present, there’s not much to do beyond trading basic commodities, but ground missions and enhanced combat are due before release. Take a look.

… [visit site to read more]

How the DC-themed MOBA is setting itself apart from those that came before it.

According to a recent slate of rumors, Microsoft may release a free or low-cost version of its latest operating system.

Orbital Gear? ORBITAL GEAR?!?!?! If you read that in a Solid Snake voice, you get a cookie. In reality, however, Orbital Gear has nothing at all to do with Metal Gear – except, I suppose, in the sense that both include mechs of some sort. But honestly, Orbital Gear has more in common with Mario Galaxy or Gravity Ghost than it does with Hideo Kojima’s quietly creeping fever dream. It’s a sidescrolling multiplayer shooter with an anti-grav twist. You and your opponents bounce around – right-side-up and otherwise – between planetoids while blasting away until smoking craters are all that remain. It’s still a bit early, but it already looks like high-flying, head-spinning fun. Trailer below. Or maybe above. I’m not really sure how it works anymore.

… [visit site to read more]

New promotional materials suggest an announcement may be around the corner.

Steam's library sharing feature has left beta and is now officially available.

Let’s take a moment to appreciate the mere existence of Renegade-X. It’s a fan-made re-make and successor to Command & Conquer: Renegade, the short-lived first-person spin-off from Westwood’s real-time strategy series. It was released first as an Unreal Tournament 3 mod in 2009, and on Wednesday it was re-born as a free, standalone, open beta, made with the blessing of Electronic Arts. I’ve spent a few hours fighting for the GDI and Nod, and it’s crazy how much game is here. It’s a delightful thing that it was all made by a group of volunteers, as an expression of love for a nearly forgotten game from twelve years ago.

Right. Moment over. Now let’s talk about why I haven’t had any fun with it in those hours I’ve spent playing.

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Undead Labs next dose of digital content turns the tables, entrenching you in a military fighting force.

With a big tournament set to begin, fans can draft pro Dota 2 players and compete with other teams.

The second I finished watching Gravity and firing the contents of my stomach out of my mouth’s airlock, I knew someone would turn that experience into a game. The movie, I mean. Not the projectile vomiting. I did not, however, think base-building strategy would be the first to make me think, “Hey, that reminds me of the part where it felt like my heart took a jackhammer to the inside of my chest!”

But here we are. Habitat is a space city builder about hurriedly constructing a near-orbit home from floating garbage. It melds Gravity’s “Gee, I sure could fall into the atmosphere at any given moment” tension with physics-based disasters and… oh jeez, I’ll just let this description do the talking: “It’s kind of like SimCity, if the cities were in space and you could crash them into one another and blow them up!”

Alright, you have my attention.

… [visit site to read more]

In a year potentially chock full of amazing classic-style RPGs (Wasteland 2, Pillars of Eternity, the beginnings of Torment, etc), it’s easy to overlook Divinity: Original Sin. That, however, would be a tremendous mistake given that the Ultima-VII-inspired Kickstarter darling looks to have depth and personality in spades.

I corralled Larian in my very own (adoptive) hometown of San Francisco, and we played the opus-in-the-making’s latest build. I had to pre-record this one sans a camera, unfortunately, but Larian head Swen Vincke showed me nearly two hours of late-game (read: not in the alpha) gameplay and discussed how players can kill every NPC and still progress, non-violent approaches, how Larian *wants* us to break its systems, how it plans to avoid another disastrous Divinity II: Ego Draconis-style launch (despite some rather pressing bugs in the current version), comedy in a normally self-serious genre, talking to animals, and gobs more. This one is now near the top of my most-anticipated list. Tune in below.

… [visit site to read more]

The Yawhg is a one-to-four player adventure game, by Damian Sommer and Emily Carroll, in which you try to direct the fate of characters plucked straight from a fairy tale that never was. It’s been out for almost a year, and also arrived on Steam yesterday.

In six weeks, something terrible is going to happen. The characters you play as don’t know this, but you do. And so you guide their lives, and their destinies, with that knowledge, trying to build them into people who can make the most of what’s left after the disaster. All of this has happened before, and will happen again. But hey, maybe you’ll be a doctor rather than the town drunk this time around. … [visit site to read more]

Jazzpunk occupies a crossbreed universe of 1950s Americana and modern convenience. It's an alternate-history exploration of the Cold War era: The world is occupied and run by machines in a society that appears to be equal parts Russian, Japanese and American. The construction workers are robots. The sushi chefs are robots. The police force is made up of robots. Pretty much everyone is a robot - except for you.

In this PC, Mac and Linux adventure, you are a crooked-fingered, human detective who accepts secret missions by popping psychedelic pills. You're a spy in the oddest interpretation of the most romanticized espionage era ever. Buried in Jazzpunk's dissonant settings and puerile puzzles lies a bucket of laughs at the expense of Russians, Americans, islanders, Japanese, Scots, robots and humans - everyone.

Nothing is off-limits in Jazzpunk, and everything is funny.

I haven’t played a skating game since the last Tony Hawk that was actually a skating game rather than a modern American soap opera. The plot synopsis for a skating game should never be more than a thousand words long and it certainly shouldn’t contain sentences like this: “Gaining their approval, he is let into the ranch, and meets the leader of the group, Iggy VanZant, a very rough type guy who isn’t fond of outsiders. He agrees to let him crash at the ranch if he obtains some wood for a half-pipe he is building.”

Thank the skate lords for OlliOlli then, a side-scrolling burst of speed and trickery that pleased owners of Playstation Vital Systems when it was released on the handheld last month. The trailer below is rather spiffy and the PC version will be playable at EGX Rezzed, where developers Roll7 will also unveil their next game.

… [visit site to read more]

While, clinically speaking, everyone has at least one wargame in them, not everyone has the patience, skill and obstetrical forceps (don’t Google) necessary to extract that wargame. My Monmouth Rebellion TBS? It breaks my heart to admit it, but I suspect it will never see the light of day. Then again, South African strategy-smith Johan Nagel has been gestating Vietnam ’65 for nigh-on 30 years, so perhaps it’s a bit early for defeatism. … [visit site to read more]

Games have become a mainstream thing. Nearly everyone plays them, talks about them, and interacts with them in some way on a semi-regular basis. But here at RPS, we have this violence in games tag that occasionally gets use, and not usually for good reasons. While I’m a strong advocate for examination of how exactly we’re affected by cultures that glorify violence, I absolutely do not believe that throwing a singular “bad” blanket over a very nuanced issue helps anyone. And yet, despite gaming’s slow ascent out of the cultural gutters, people still blame it for all of society’s ills from time-to-time. John quite frequently holds people accountable for that fear-mongering mentality, and I personally think that’s important given what can happen when people let it warp their worldview.

Case in point: the US Government’s Republican party is suggesting a tax reform that would give sizable tax breaks to companies who create new technologies and practices in their respective fields. Unless they are creators of “violent videogames.”

… [visit site to read more]