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GDC was jam-packed with brilliant talks, and I missed far too many of them because infinity appointments beckoned. One of the absolute best I *did* see, however, was Mass Effect 4 designer Manveer Heir making an impassioned plea to developers for more diversity in games. He gave a talk equal parts well-reasoned and resolute, arguing not that all games should change their icky ways, but that our industry’s predominate pattern needs to shift away from generic leads and hurtful stereotypes. ”I sincerely hope that you are ready for that challenge, because I sure as hell am!” he bellowed before being mobbed by fellow designers. I caught up with Heir afterward to discuss some of his talk’s finer points and how BioWare’s become more sensitive to these issues as time has progressed.

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Writing about Spirit is a rare pleasure, not only because it looks like a lovely riff on the same ideas that Sword & Sorcery EP lovingly explored, but also because it has a Kickstarter campaign which has already met its goal. And there’s a demo (Win/Mac). The pressure is off, although there are stretch goals, including the rather grand promise of a world double the size of that originally planned and an entire spiritual sequel. The player controls a man who has retired to a remote mountain village but he cannot rest. Beyond a nearby valley lies an ancient temple and he sets out on a journey to visit that temple. The journey may be spiritual. The temple may contain zombies.

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It’s a bold claim, I know, particularly when the opposition on the ‘Best Free Game’ field includes the likes of Planetside 2, Dwarf Fortress and Dungeon Keeper. Nevertheless, Lamp And Vamp is the best free game that I’ve played today and the best new free game that I’ve played since Tuesday. Created as part of the Procedural Death Jam, and taking first place, it’s a puzzle game in which you play a vampire who is trying to return to his coffin. Pesky townspeople and priests block the way but using your powers (BAT-FORM, MIST-FORM, BLOODSUCKING), you can navigate the streets and find your way home. It’s absolutely splendid.

… [visit site to read more]

Riot Games' Christina Norman details the challenges and rules for integrating narrative into competitive titles like League of Legends.

The 11th Annual Games for Change Festival kicks off in New York on April 22, shining a spotlight on video games and developers pushing the medium not just as quality entertainment or educational tools but as venues for social justice. On Tuesday the organization announced its finalists for the Games for Change awards, honoring eight games for their gameplay, innovation, and their impact in highlighting specific issues from underage drinking to the dangers faced by migrants crossing the US-Mexico border. At least two nominees were amongst Joystiq's favorite games of 2013.

The RPS family has grown once again! Please, people of our internet, it’s time to welcome and hello at our brand new News Editor, Alice O’Connor.

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Those sunlovers at Fippfly are once again turning their faces skywards seeking life and sustenance. While procedural racer Race the Sun was a frantic rush to stay in the loving gaze of our grossly incandescent father, its next game is a bit more downtempo. The developer yesterday announced Hexarden, a garden ‘em up which it describes as “a puzzle game about growth and harmony.” … [visit site to read more]

If you’re still somewhat incredulous at the fact that Goat Simulator is actually a thing, don’t worry: you’re not alone. But as a connoisseur of dumb jokes taken too far and also RPS’ official Goatitor-In-Chief, I must say that I’m impressed with this one’s dedication to cloven-footed shenanigans. For one, it’s basically Just Cause with a goat, which is literally all I’ve ever wanted from games, and for two oh goodness just watch this exceedingly silly launch trailer. It riffs on one of the most renowned/infamous game trailers of all time, and it is just fantastic.

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Bethesda has released concept art for its upcoming MMO The Elder Scrolls Online, and it's fair to say it's pretty breathtaking.

The infinite flanks of RPS are bringing a unique brand of revelry to Britain’s major cities this weekend. One day, RPS Social Clubs shall sprout up in every town, village and hamlet, but for now we’re limiting our good times to Birmingham and London. The former is host to Rezzed, where Graham and I will be seeking the popular vote by shaking hands with babies and kissing local dignitaries on the jowl. If you are visiting on the Saturday, or happen to be in the vicinity of Birmingham, do join us for drinks. As for London, it’s the monthly meet-up at The Blue Posts. More details on both below.

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Tickets are now available for the comedy show in London, with all proceeds going to charity.

Learn all about the new Batmobile, Batman's new suit and moves, and find out how big Gotham City is in Rocksteady's latest adventure.

The free-to-play shooter is now available for Xbox Live Gold subscribers.

Studio returns fire at Gearbox, insists Duke Trademark “remains the sole property of 3DR.”

Dungeon of the Endless is out now on Steam Early Access and it's getting some extra features - at GDC, Amplitude Studios told us that the roguelike dungeon defense game is getting four-player co-op and a visual log that tracks player progress with a series of collectible, digital cards.

The latest trailer includes a lineup of pixelated pugs, for no reason we can think of except that they're immensely adorable. Check out Twitch for our livestream of some Early Access Steam gameplay, and check out the game for yourself on Steam. This one is looking better and better.

Two companies unassociated with Oculus VR see stocks soar from undiscerning investors.

Titanfall cheaters should now prepare for something else entirely as Respawn enables anti-cheat measures.

Unlike the overwhelmingly negative fan reaction, small indie devs remain bullish on Oculus.

Oculus VR co-founder Palmer Luckey highlighted the differences between his company's Oculus Rift headset technology and Sony's recently announced Project Morpheus in an interview with GamesBeat, predicting that the majority of Rift software would never see release on Sony's closed platform.

"Most developers that are currently making things for the Rift don't really have that same option to make something for Project Morpheus," Luckey told GamesBeat. "We're an open platform that lets anyone develop anything. Sony is not [open]. There are hundreds of experiences already available for the Rift, and I would bet the vast majority of those would not make it onto a PlayStation 4."

During the interview, conducted before Facebook revealed its $2 billion purchase of Oculus VR yesterday, Luckey also stated that Project Morpheus is a net positive for the burgeoning industry. "I think it's a good thing for virtual reality when more people come into the market," he said. "Especially a big player. It shows that VR really is something that is gonna have traction."

Luckey additionally believes that the VR headset market will be large enough to support both Oculus and Sony. "This market is not even close to saturation, and the Sony thing is just for their console," he said. "Our thing is not on their console, so we don't even cross paths."

[Image: Sony]

It’s only been a month and a half since I wrote my mega-preview of Age Of Wonders III and spending around fifteen hours with a review copy of the game hasn’t done a great deal to change my mind about its many merits. It hasn’t extended its tendrils to tickle any deeper fancies either, although I’ll concede that the world is a little weirder and more wonderful than my initial expeditions suggested. I’ve spent many hours with the long-awaited strategy sequel and here’s wot I think.

… [visit site to read more]

When RPS heard the news that Facebook had bought Oculus, makers of virtual reality headsets, we had much the same reaction as everyone else. “What is Facebook? Who are they? What do they do?” After brief investigation, it seems it’s a confusing website in which humans observe one another without the need for physical exposure to the putrid strench of their wraith-like husks.

As PC gaming’s oldest and most suppurating website, we’d like to get in on that. Which means the Rock, Paper, Shotgun Facebook page is now a regularly updated source of links to our news and articles. You can follow it, if you like.

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Everyone at RPS has their niche, they tell me as I start my first day. We’re hyper-specialised predators feasting upon our own corners of the gaming kingdom. Clearly, I suggest, a new adaptation of a Games Workshop wargame would be news for Kieron to sink his grooved fangs into. They nod sagely and turn back to their gilded plates, then remember. Ah no, another mutters, it’s for the flaying claws of Quinns. I wait patiently. Say, new kid, they hiss, what do you know about toy rats?

Mordheim: City of the Damned, then, is the latest of publisher Focus Home’s licensed adaptations of vintage tabletop wargames–Games Workshop’s Mordheim, in this case. Announced today, it’s due to launch later this year.

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Plague Inc: Evolved, an unfinished but solid version of which is out on Steam Early Access now, is a strategy game about wiping out humanity.

At first I felt terrible, as the red dots denoting infection spread across the United Kingdom, into France, across the sea to Norway, and then the deaths began to roll in.

Then I grew annoyed at Iceland’s panicked closing of its airports. I frowned as my bacterial infection withered in the African heat.

Then I smiled as migrating birds carried the plague to the other side of the world, as the lights gradually went out in Canada, as Germany’s infrastructure collapsed in the wake of the mounting fatalities, and as China’s extinction dealt a savage blow to global research for a cure. … [visit site to read more]

Lead designer Edmund McMillen also says the remake is nearly finished.

I liked everything about the Shadow Warrior reboot, except for the wang jokes. But to prove that there are no hard feelings, I’ve slipped a wang in right there at the top of the post. The reason we are returning to Shadow Warrior, as the headline makes clear, is to herald the unexpected (though far from premature) discharge of a demo. This coincides with a 75% discount so you can take a test ride and then settle on the full package for £7.49. That massive discount won’t last for very long – you know how it is – and the deal ends on March 28th. Important details below.

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Mike Bithell, creator of Thomas Was Alone, knows a lot about Robin Hood. As we sat in a Starbucks five thousand miles from either of our homes, his tank-like laptop greedily drinking electricity from the coffee store’s wall, I find myself scribbling notes not about his upcoming stealth puzzler Volume, but about how it wasn’t until King Henry VIII took a shine to the story that the behooded thiefster became a noble character. In fact, the whole myth was an excuse to see a few fights during the May Games festivities. He didn’t even give to the poor until the 17th century! “So when are you making a Robin Hood game?” I ask him. “This is it,” says Bithell, waving at the screen.

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No matter how spooky a spooky game’s rocks may be, it’s always comforting to know they can’t really hurt you. Unless, that is, they’re actually real rocks scanned into the game with fancy technology, and the original is still lurking out there somewhere in the mist, waiting to trip you. That’s the true terror of The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, the non-combative horror walk ‘em up from Bulletstorm veterans The Astronauts. The gang are showing off their mastery of the arcane science of photogrammetry, or smooshing loads of photos together to make a 3D model.

The big idea is that with a game world built of scanned real objects rather than the same handful of repeating and tiling hand-made art, they say, players will “stop seeing assets and start seeing the world.” Which is presumably helpful when trying to scare the kecks off visitors to it. … [visit site to read more]

Extrasolar is a browser-based game about controlling a lunar rover as it explores the surface of an island on a far-off planet, poring over the photographs it returns, and inadvertently uncovering a conspiracy as you do. It’s out now, and while paid upgrades are available it can very be much played for free – as such the below is a discussion of the experience, not the value proposition.

For the last fortnight or so, I’ve been playing a game for approximately three minutes every hour. (I’d like to say ‘apart from at night’, but thanks to my living on a noisy street and having a baby in the next room, that would be a barefaced lie.) I didn’t do much, myself, though the small amount of clicking and reading at my end did result in a remote-controlled rover travelling vast distances across another world, light years away from our own. So, in a way, I did a great deal. … [visit site to read more]

Getting the gist of Goat Simulator isn't that hard, even if the title conjures the image of cute, semi-evil livestock munching on a tranquil mountaintop. What we have here is a misappropriation of computational cycles - not to mention the Unreal engine - to render an obnoxious, destructive beast that lives to ruin a generic suburb.

But there is a game in there, not just a joke. Developer Armin Ibrasagic of Coffee Stain Studios (Sanctum) explained his design inspiration to us during the Game Developers Conference, ahead of Goat Simulator's wide release through Steam on April 1. Based on our dumb video above, the argument goes something like this:

1) Goat Simulator depicts and encourages the ram-ifications of being near an insane goat.
2) Since all animals are goats - just watch the video - it follows that all animals are simulated here.
3) Hawks are animals.
4) Pro skater Tony Hawk is part of the Hawk family and is therefore an animal.
5) It follows that Goat Simulator is simulating Tony Hawk, "except instead of a skater you're a goat, and instead of doing tricks you make people angry."

Move over Skylanders! We go hands-on with a new kind of collectible figurine game.