Microsoft's Xbox boss says it's time to "talk about gaming on Windows"

Microsoft's history of supporting gaming on Windows is what you might call "spotty." At this point it's not even clear what it plans to do with Games for Windows Live, which earlier this year the company said it would continue to support , mere days before it was expected to be shut down.

, mere days before it was expected to be shut down. But it's not giving up! In fact, Phil Spencer, the head of Microsoft's Xbox division, said we're going to be hearing more about the company's plans for Windows gaming early next year.

In response to an inquiry on Twitter about seeing footage of the Windows 10 UI on the Xbox One, Spencer wrote, "I'll be focusing more on what we are doing on Win10 in January, it's time for us to talk about gaming on Windows."

It's expected that Spencer will talk about gaming at a recently-announced eventbeing held on January 21, where he and other Microsoft executives will discuss the "Windows 10 consumer experience." That experience will rely largely on the capabilities of DirectX 12, which promises a significant performance increaseover DirectX 11, but he'll hopefully address more gaming-specific topics as well—like, maybe, what's actually going on with Games for Windows Live.

Steam Greenlight's $100 entry-fee: indie devs respond

Indie devs seem to be divided over the recently announced Steam Greenlight $100 entry-fee.

Indie devs seem to be divided over the recently announced Steam Greenlight $100 entry-fee. The idea's well-intentioned: it's to stop fakes, trolls and overenthusiastic members of the community filling the crowd-promotion service with games that aren't theirs to develop. But others say such a figure is too much for struggling indies to afford and a dangerous gamble on a service which promises the submitting dev nothing solid in return.

Is the fee a good idea? A necessary evil? Will it crush aspirations or filter out the dross? We asked a number of indies and Steam hopefuls what they thought.

Chris Delay, Introversion (Darwinia)

“I think the $100 fee is a thoroughly sensible idea. Greenlight has already been flooded by a ton of fake entries, which completely drown out the developers genuinely trying to use the system. By setting this fee they will put a stop to that. I don't think any serious indie developers will consider $100 unaffordable – it's certainly a worthwhile investment for the chance to be listed on Steam. However this fee will be enough to stop pranksters filling up the listings with Half-Life 3.”

Chris “Lemmy” Simpson, The Indie Stone (Project Zomboid)

“To be honest since we're doing well on Greenlight, and would be able to afford the $100 ourselves should we have to pay it, it's difficult to be completely objective on the subject. I will say that the fee move was predicted and even championed by numerous Steam users and indie devs because of the ridiculous amount of spam and joke games that were very quickly eroding user faith in Greenlight and risking the future of the entire system. I certainly don't disagree with it in concept.

“On the other hand $100 does seem pretty steep, and the worry is that perhaps misguided young hopefuls (think round one of X-Factor) who are destined to get shot down by the community will stump up money they can't really afford for the privilege.

“I'm still of the belief that you need to foster a community prior to Greenlight to have success on there, and think we'd likely be bottom of the pile if we hadn't already done that. So I don't really think it'll crush any indie dreams that wouldn't have been crushed by the old system anyway. It frustrates me when a lot of devs say there is no money to be made outside Steam.

“While obviously there is a clear chasm of difference between being on Steam or not, when we're talking about $100, if you're not capable of drumming up support to that figure via a donate button then maybe your game isn't at the stage of development it should be on Greenlight in the first place. I just wouldn't like to see some naive but enthusiastic ten-year-old kid getting his money off his granddad to pay the fee and get it up there, to be torn apart.”

Jonatan “Cactus” Söderström, Dennaton (Hotline Miami)

“I think the fee is good, although I think it could be lowered so that developers who aren't in a good financial situation can still afford to submit their games. I'm a little bit surprised that people are upset by it, though. If they believe they have a game that is good enough to be on Steam, they should be able to figure out a way to pay the submission fee. Pre-orders or sales should be able to generate that much outside of Steam if you think you have a legitimate chance of getting your game approved through a process which resembles a popularity contest.

“Overall, I don't really like the idea of Greenlight, I may be a bit pessimistic now, but to me it seems it will only serve to streamline indie games into marketable products and rob them of any kind of unique personality. I really hope that developers won't focus too much attention on what traits proves most successful in helping you pass the Greenlight screening when designing their own games. Then again, I like Valve and have some faith in that they know what they're doing with the whole thing, and I have no idea what the final steps of the Greenlight process might be like. Maybe something great will come out of it?”

Eskil Steenberg, Quel Solaar (Love)

“My main problem with Steam is that I like to be able to update my game several times a day and any kind of friction in doing that is bad for me. Indie game development is becoming more and more a lottery where it's all about getting noticed by buying yourself into contests - and now Steam. For someone like me who'd rather spend my resources on making a better game it's a worrying trend.”

Dave Johnston, Smudged Cat Games (The Adventures of Shuggy)

“I think $100 is far too much. The whole point was to prevent spam appearing on the system - $10 would achieve that. $100 is enough that I feel it could put off legitimate developers with a great game that just don't have enough money. Indie developers are generally pretty strapped for cash so this could affect quite a number of people. I agree that something needs to be done about junk appearing on the system but this seems like a knee-jerk reaction that hasn't been thought out clearly.”

Mark Burvill, Aardman Digital (Home Sheep Home 2)

“I was a bit disappointed with Greenlight at first as it looked as though they hadn't given a lot of thought to a few things such as the discoverability issue. Plus, I thought the downvote button encouraged negativity and trolling a bit too much.

“However, I'm encouraged by the changes Steam have made today, in particular the fact that they've changed the labelling on the voting buttons to make it a bit clearer what your vote actually means.

“As for the $100 charge, I can understand how some people are a bit upset about it, but I don't think it's that big a deal. I think people who are serious about their game are unlikely to think twice about paying the fee, and it should discourage some of the more pointless clutter. It looks like Steam are committed to getting it right so hopefully we'll see some further changes over the next few weeks.”

Evan Greenwood, Free Lives (Broforce)

“We fortunately missed the $100 fee for Greenlight. So I can't comment from a position of having paid such a fee. But I feel that's quite reasonable. Steam are certainly doing it because there has been quite a bit of noise in Greenlight due to people posting fake games.

“An Apple developer license costs $100 as well. Submission into the IGF costs $95 dollars. I think if you believe in your game and intend seriously working on it $100 that goes to charity is a non-issue. We expect to be spending so much more money than that anyway. And Greenlight has been really, really beneficial to us already. It would have well-earned a $100 fee already in marketing, even though we haven't nearly been Greenlit yet.

“I think the only people it may affect negatively are those who have a really cool idea and no money to spend on it. If they got Greenlight they'd be able to better pursue getting funding. But then again that is what Kickstarter is for.

“I feel the pros of charging the money far outweigh the cons. If people had used Greenlight responsibly from the start this wouldn't have happened, but sadly people can be dicks. I really don't like legitimate developers being charged that money, but I'll be glad that the scammers are kept out.”

Unravel gallery: Yarny's journey at 3840x2160

We recommend By Zergnet

Spin the Wool of Fury in Kung-Fu Sheep

Every sheep was kung-fu fighting, those hooves were fast as lighting… Players join the fray in Kung-Fu Sheep, testing their kung-fu prowess as the legendary sheep, BaaLee.

testing their kung-fu prowess as the legendary sheep, BaaLee.  So why is this sheep dishing out roundhouse kicks? He’s on a quest to defend his honor and earn all seven colored belts in order to become a master of martial arts.

Players can leap, kick, and tumble through the levels. When they engage in a duel, they will have to hit the correct sequence of colored buttons within the allotted time to knock out their opponent. There are multiple enemies to square off against, like Tiny Rabbit Mad Hopper, and Fatty Cow Fluffy Tail, just to name a few. While they may look all fluffy and innocent, their intentions are wicked. Players can collect coins and complete several achievements along the way, earning points towards becoming a master of Kung-Fu. There are also different costumes to unlock like the Big Sheepowski, Kung-Fu Swan, and Ninja Sheep.

Kung-Fu Sheep is out now for free on the App Storeand Google Play. It will also be released at a later date for Windows phones. To learn more about the game visit the websiteand “like” it on Facebook. To learn more about the developer, Actalogic, visit their website.

DirectX 12 will not be supported by Windows 7

[Update: AMD has issued a statement disavowing Huddy's "speculative" comments.

[Update: AMD has issued a statement disavowing Huddy's "speculative" comments. "Richard Huddy does not speak for Microsoft, and he was unfortunately speculating from Microsoft’s publication of key dates and milestones for Windows 7 lifecycle and mainstream support policy," the company told GameSpot. "Richard has no special insight into Microsoft’s Windows or DirectX roadmaps."]

DirectX 12promises both dramatically increased performancein games, thanks to reduced CPU overhead and better support for multithreading, and significantly reduced power consumption, a real boon for owners of gaming laptops. It will of course be built into Windows 10and compatible with Windows 8 as well, but the news isn't so good for Windows 7 diehards.

Speaking at a PDXLAN presentation earlier this month, AMD's Chief Gaming Scientist Richard Huddy said Windows 7 remains Microsoft's most popular operating system: 52 percent of all Microsoft OS users are still on Windows 7, and that number is actually growing. "It's a very, very popular operating system," he said in comments starting around the 20:30 mark of the video.

But in spite of that, or perhaps because of it, he continued, "One thing that's not going to happen to it is DX12. Yup, DX12 is not coming to Windows 7."

The Steam hardware surveyconfirms the popularity of Windows 7—47.8 percent of users run the 64-bit version, compared to 21.4 percent for the second-place finisher, Windows 8.1 64-bit—but the lack of compatibility isn't entirely surprising. It's getting a bit long in the tooth, and as we noted in its announcement, Microsoft isn't shy about using new, better APIs to "encourage" people to upgrade to a new version of Windows. Let us also not forget that Microsoft announced this past spring that mainstream support for Windows 7 will come to an endin January 2015.

Windows 8 obviously hasn't caught fire and at this point obviously isn't going to, so I would expect Microsoft to be more aggressive in pushing Windows 10. But if DirectX 12 can actually deliver on its promise, I'd be willing to bet that a lot of us Win7 laggards won't really mind.

Project Zomboid to get new lighting system, improved NPCs and carpentry

Project Zomboid developers, The Indie Stone have enjoyed more than two months of development time in which nothing has caught fire or exploded.

Project Zomboid developers, The Indie Stone have enjoyed more than two months of development time in which nothing has caught fire or exploded. A robberyin October wiped out weeks of progress, but the team is back on track and have been teasing some new features that players can expect to arrive in upcoming updates, including a new lighting engine and new ways to interact with Zomboid's NPCs. Also, carpentry!

Carpentry is a surprisingly useful skill in a zombie apocalypse, it seems. The video above shows how you'll be able to construct entire structures, letting you create your own zombie-proof fortress. Developer, Lemmy points out that crafting defences in-game will be much harder than the video suggests, but it's a good way of showing what's possible with the upgraded engine tech.

Lighting has also been overhauled ahead of the next update. According to a recent blog post on the Project Zomboid site, players will still be able to use the old tile-based lighting system if they like, but the new look means softer shadows and an even darker tone. "Find yourself in an unlit alleyway or in the woods and you'll be in trouble. Unless armed with a flashlight, survivors will need to stick to lit areas to have any hope of seeing where they are going," say the devs.

Lighting will be affected by lunar cycles and weather. If there's a full moon out, you'll be able to see further without the aid of a flashlight. Torches will be more important than ever with the new lighting tech in place, and occasional power plant outages mean you won't be able to rely on electric lighting all the time.

NPC AI has also been improved, and you'll be able to interact with them via a new radial menu. You'll be able to ask them to join your team, give them orders and ultimately trade. Keeping them on your side will be important. New tone controls will give you different moods that you'll be able to adopt when talking to people. Become too angry or scared, and the friendlier ones won't be available.

Your character will eventually have personality traits that will decide how quickly he calms down when enraged. The devs say that "this will make booze (if you're a happy drunk), reading materials and soon to be reintegrated cigarettes a much prized commodity in keeping you alive if you have a short fuse."

There's no date for the next update, but it looks as though there are pretty major upgrades going on in Zomboid land. Beyond the next update, The Indie Stone are working on implementing much requested saving and map traversal features, female characters and fresh dialogue.

You can buy project Zomboidnow for £4.99 and get access to the latest version. That version will update with every new release from the Indie Stone, too. The story of Project Zomboid's development so far is pretty spectacular, check out our Project Zomboid Special Reportfor an overview.

The Witness gallery: sights from the mysterious island

We recommend By Zergnet

Retro: Volume 3 – The very finest content from games™'s Retro section

Retro: Volume 3 – The very finest content from games™'s Retro section If you love your retro games, this book is for you. With over 250 pages featuring the likes of Mega Man, Donkey Kong, Zelda and a wealth of other classic games and characters, Retro: Volume 3 is the ideal book to transport you back to the golden age of gaming. With in-depth features looking at all the iconic consoles and behind-the-scenes developer interviews from some of the biggest franchises, there’s something for all videogame fans. From the makers of games™, this book is the ultimate retro companion. It is on sale now priced £9.99 from www.imaginebookshop.co.uk.

DirectX 12's new rendering features are coming to DirectX 11.3 too

Shares

Shares

Special Report - Project Zomboid

This article originally appeared in PC Gamer UK issue 231.

This article originally appeared in PC Gamer UK issue 231. Yesterday, a burglary at The Indie Stone HQlost the team two vital laptops that have delayed the latest patch, but Project Zomboid has endured many dramas before then, here's the story so far...

Project Zomboid is a great game born from a passion for zombie fiction, piracy, panic and corporate generosity. Of all the drama indie devs face, little comes close to the police breaking into your flat because a car is about to explode.

Chris Simpson is one sixth of The Indie Stone, the team behind the free-roaming isometric zombie shooter that's about narrative, not headcounts. He explains his game: “We've tried to turn the genre towards the survival aspect and away from the focus on combat. It's not just about seeing how many zombies you can kill. It's holding up in a house, going on raiding missions, trying to trade with NPCs and making friends. It's dealing with trust issues between people. This is the ultimate plan, seeing as it's currently a Minecraft-style alpha tech demo.” His partner in crime, Andy Hodgetts, elaborates: “Basically if you've ever read World War Z or the The Zombie Survival Guide or I Am Legend you've read the blueprint of the game.”

Things didn't go smoothly for the fledgling developer. The team were forced into releasing a 'pre-alpha tech demo' state to avoid eviction from their Hartlepool homes. “We thought we could scrape up enough cash for rent by borrowing money from our parents and announcing the game early,” Andy says. “We had a couple of screenshots, a bit of text, and some bullet-pointed plans. “We were taking shifts through the night to try and get the tech demo ready. We'd be doing it together for a bit, then I'd grab a few hours sleep, then Chris would carry on. We'd gone to bed at six in the morning. A few hours later we were rudely awoken by a policeman looming over our beds. He said, 'You've got to get out man!' We were like, 'What the hell?'”

An uncannily familiar sight for the apocalypse enthusiasts followed. “The thing is we were basically the last people to be evacuated from the building, so when we walked out it was like the opening scene from 28 Days Later. There was like nobody around and police vans and police tape everywhere and it was like, 'Oh my God, what the hell's going on?'”

A car bomb had been left outside the developer's flat. It eventually exploded, killing a 58-year old man. But the team resisted any free publicity and, although mainstream media journalists pestered the team for the name of their game, they refused to give any details. “We felt it would be a bit tacky to try and capitalise,” says Chris.

Such tactics weren't required anyway – the PC gaming community came to The Indie Stone's rescue, purchasing pre-orders in droves, and Andy is still grateful: “We woke up that day scared about rent, but we went to bed with two months of development time in the bag, along with our rent and living costs sorted.”

Will Porter, The Indie Stone's writer and PR-type figure, and former PC Zone editor, offers his theory on the community's passion so early in development: “We're making it for the traditional PC gamer. A lot of people see their first screenshot and say, 'Bloody hell that looks just like X-Com'. They assume it's going to be turn based because of our old school visuals and those sorts of sensibilities. I think that's what a PC audience really likes.”

They were making money from the pre-alpha tech build of Project Zomboid. Enough to cause new problems. Chris is honest about the team's early naivety: “We know how to make games, but we are not born businessmen. We didn't pay close attention to terms and conditions in PayPal or Google Checkout.”

The Indie Stone were selling preorders for a game that didn't exist yet, and PayPal and Google Checkout didn't like that. “Notch had the same problem,” admits Chris. If a lot of people buy the game then we get hit by a bus, PayPal would be liable for the refunds. God bless 'em, a lot of people came to our defence and called out the companies for being evil, but I guess they were only protecting their own interests.”

The team needed a quick fix. One came just in time. To avoid legal issues, The Indie Stone bundled their early Project Zomboid build with what Andy describes as “the world's worst games.” We thought, OK, we'll sell products that do exist and the PZ licence will just be a freebie!” Chris wrote a Rock Paper Scissors console application and sold it for £15.

It was a messy situation. I asked Andy whether the Minecraft model (where initial pre-orders fund early development) is a necessity for today's indie developers: “The reason we're doing indie stuff is that we don't like the separation between studio and players,” he says. “It's an impenetrable wall. When we first decided to do an indie we wanted to have absolute communication. We said we'd have a Twitter account, a forum and an IRC chat; anything we could do to make people feel part of the game they were funding.”

And it's worked. Although the game is still far from final release, there are already fan fiction sites, a dedicated wiki and YouTube tutorials on how to play the soundtrack on piano. A cult following has begun.

But some people still aren't happy about the funding part. Pirate copies of Project Zomboid ended up online. The team were using a cloud service to host their patching process and getting charged every time a player received an update or installed the game. Pirates were not only stealing Project Zomboid, they were driving The Indie Stone into bankruptcy.

Then, in July this year, a troup of digital distribution knights in shinning armour appeared. The team received offers of support from Steam, indie and mod download portal Desura and the digital distribution service FilePlanet. “In the case of Steam, we're getting all their perks apart from being on the store, and it's all via redeem code,” says Chris. “We get to use their servers, we get to update and we get to be in their library.

“As far as I can see they're not getting a penny from this. Perhaps it's in preparation for when we do get on Steam, but they're doing us a huge favour.” Desura and FilePlanet also made similar offers to help the team, solidifying their base infrastructure for future updates.

Visit projectzomboid.com/blogfor more on Project Zomboid. There's a lot of love for The Indie Stone, but we still recommend you bring an axe or chainsaw. And possibly a shotgun.

Crysis 4K gallery: Fresh and lush

We recommend By Zergnet

Teaser Trailer for ‘Shelter’: A New Game from the Developers of ‘Pid’

Many of our readers may remember Pid , a retro-2D platformer with modern graphical elements, wh Might and Delight ich was released late last year.

Our review ofnoted its gorgeous visuals and stylistic charms and noted promise from the developer Might and Delight . Earlier today announced their next game, an adventure title named Shelter .

Shelter focuses on a mother of little cubs, who are forced out of their comfortable surroundings and forced to venture into the wilderness to find a new home. Early screens and video suggest a peaceful experience, dense in nature, with nature being the main enemy of the family. Early art styling is reminiscent of Proteus , with a much more rustic color palette.

In terms of gameplay, all gamers have to go off of is the teaser trailer posted above, which only shows pan-across shots of scenes from the game. All the people of Might and Delight have promised thus far comes from a quote of Andreas Wrangler, lead level and game designer, who claims that “There are no boss fights in this game. No good or evil elements. It’s simply about survival and protecting your offspring.”

Shelter looks to be a promising adventure title with some experimental elements added. Might and Delight are planning for a release in 2013 on Windows and Mac. For more on Shelter be sure to take a gander at the official websiteor at its Facebookfan page. Might and Delight have also posted Shelter on Steam Greenlight. If you like what you see and enjoy Steam make sure to head over there. For more on Shelter and all of your indie gaming news keep it right here with Indiegamemag.com.

Fable Anniversary will support modding with included Unreal Engine 3 editor

Fable Anniversary arrives on Steam on September 12, bringing with it improved graphics, Steam achievements, and a closet full of swanky outfits.

arrives on Steam on September 12, bringing with it improved graphics, Steam achievements, and a closet full of swanky outfits. But there may be even more than that to look forward to, as Lionhead has confirmed that it will also include support for player-created mods.

Users will be able to edit Fable Anniversary's art and animation with a version of the Unreal Engine 3 editor that will be included with the game. "This means that anything our artists and animators can do, the mod community will now be able to do," Producer Craig Oman told Eurogamer.

Unfortunately, the editor won't enable the addition of new content like quests or characters, but Oman added that "we are working with some of the modding community already as part of our beta testing and we will continue to do what we can to support them post-launch."

Fable Anniversary will also add a new "Heroic" difficult setting for experienced players, with increased enemy line of sight, reduced damage on ranged weapons, reduced player armor levels and no Resurrection Phials. Pre-purchases may be made now on Steam, which is offering a 20 percent discount on the regular $35 price until the game goes live.

Project Zomboid's eureka moment: "we started selling the world's worst games"

We recently met up with Project Zomboid developers, The Indie Stone, to discuss their many adventures trying to turn the indie sandbox survival sim into a commercial success.

We recently met up with Project Zomboid developers, The Indie Stone, to discuss their many adventures trying to turn the indie sandbox survival sim into a commercial success. Yesterday we learnedhow help from Steam, Desura and FilePlanet saved the developers from exhaustion and pirates. Today we examine the serious problems the team faced finding a way to sell the game legally in the first place.

The problem was that Project Zomboid was technically an unfinished product, which made it difficult to sell using traditional retail methods. Their solution? To sell "the world's worst games."

"We know how to make games, but we're not born businessmen," explains developer Chris Simpson. "We didn't pay close attention to terms and conditions in PayPal or Google checkout. So obviously we got hit with PayPal limiting our account and we were flapping about that for a few days."

"I think Notch has the same problem where, if lots of people buy the game then we get hit by a bus PayPal would end up liable for giving their money back. So as frustrating as it was, and God bless 'em a lot of people came to our defence and called out the companies for being evil, but I guess they were only protecting their own interests against someone who was a complete unknown."

After a stressful period trying to find a way to meet the terms of Google checkhout and PayPal, The Indie Stone had a eureka moment.

Developer Andy Hodgetts explains the solution. "The problem was selling a product that didn't currently exist, so we thought okay we'll sell products that do exist and the Project Zomboid license will just be a freebie that you get. So we dug out these appalling games that we once did. Chris wrote a Rock Paper Scissors console application…"

The team put three games on sale, ranging in price from £5 to £15, letting buyers decide how much they wanted to support Project Zomboid's development. As part of the joke, the more expensive the option, the worse the game on sale.

"We tried to put in as much irony and satire as possible into it," says Chris. "We tried to make it quite a funny and eye catching thing. Obviously the idea was that on that page there is not indication that you are buying Project Zomboid, but the problem then came from all forum posts around the internet and the angry emails we'd get where people thought it was a disgrace that we were selling this console based rock paper scissors game for £15."

When they started receiving a few complaints, Chris and Andy tried to make it clearer on the sales pages that the real product was Project Zomboid.

"We were making it progressively less subtle, less subtle, less subtle until we were saying it in black and white at the top. And at that point it seemed pointless, because the exact loophole we were trying to make had been undone by us having to explain it so much. Don't get us wrong, a lot of people got it."

In the end, their efforts succeeded. The Indie Stone are keeping a nest egg that will support them as they continue to develop the game. "The more people that buy it now, the more time we're securing and it makes it more and more certain that we will get to these points in the future," says Andy "No-one needs to worry about the game running out of money in four months time."

For more on Project Zomboid, check out the Project Zomboid site, where a free demo is available to download now.

We've got more of the twist-ridden Project Zombie story coming up soon on PCGamer.com, including news of new features the team are planning to add to the game.

Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign- 5K gallery

We recommend By Zergnet

Wake’ Review – A Swiftly Sinking Ship

‘Wake’ Review – A Swiftly Sinking Ship
Courtesy of the devious duo at Boss Baddie that brought us Lunnye Devitsy and Really Big Sky , this week I dove into the high-tension platformer that is Wake .

. A subaquatic adventure like no other, it’s a race against time and rising waters through a labyrinthine ship with a severe sinking problem and a deadly corrupt security system.

The story is simple: you’re on a sinking ship, and you need to get out now . Extra details, including what caused this unfortunate situation in the first place, are revealed via a radio transmitter (provided you’re lucky enough to discover it while making your escape), but it’s difficult to focus on reading backstory when you’re fleeing for your life. Unlike most platformers, progress in Wake is ideally made in the vertical, rather than the horizontal, axis as you run, jump, climb, and even swim from one room to the other in the hopes of reaching the surface before you drown. Along the way, you must also be sure to avoid lasers, guns, fires, and electricity, all while collecting vital tools like keys, flashlights, flares, axes, and more.

Of course, both exploration and escape would be a little easier if the keyboard configuration was a little less broken. An irritating flaw in an otherwise enjoyable and well-crafted experience, the PC controls are unusual and difficult to get used to. I believe the configuration can be altered, but I can’t personally test this yet since, for some reason, whenever I try to access the configuration options, the game restarts.

However, as expected of Boss Baddie , the look and feel of Wake is utterly unique and utterly wonderful – in a dark, dangerous way, that is. Hazy, pixelated graphics and dim, unreliable lighting turn the cold steel geometry of the ship into something grim and threatening, reminding you with every brief, heart-stopping power failure that it might soon become your watery grave. The unnerving tilting of the ship as it sinks just adds to the gravity of the situation.

The soundtrack is a perfect fit, in that it is perfectly chilling. A fast-paced chase theme accompanies your race to the surface, ratcheting up the pressure with each pulsing beat. But the composer’s ingenuity shines brightest in the dark – when the lights go out, the music winds down to a low, ominous hum, like the slow whir of dying machinery. It is in these small, quiet moments that your isolation is most acutely felt. No one is coming to save you, and if you die here, you die alone.

The funny thing about the gameplay in Wake is that progress isn’t as linear as it sounds. Yes, in general you want to be going upward, but – as you’ll see when you look at the map – the layout of the ship makes heading straight up impossible. Instead, you must navigate not only up but back and forth as well through a maze of rooms, making split-second decisions between right or left, this door or that ventilation shaft.This isn’t strictly a beat-the-clock sort of mission, either. While the water level is steadily rising, the game purposely gives you just enough time to look around (quickly) before advancing to the next area.

Aside from collecting stuff, exploration is rewarded in the form of points and achievements. While points are mostly based on how fast and how far ahead of the water you escape, making discoveries and item collection may add extra points, and some achievements (such as collecting all the keys) can only be attained by searching every nook and cranny on your way out. The option of submitting scores to an online leaderboard adds a competitive element to the game, giving players yet another reason to come back for more.

Though there doesn’t appear to be a free demo, the high-quality gameplay and design and the intense atmosphere of Wake are more than likely to make it worthy of the $3.99 price tag. Available on both Steamand Desura, Wake is also currently available as part of Boss Baddie ’s Lunar Pack, which includes Lunnye Devitsy as well.

[review pros=”Intense atmosphere, varying and randomized level layouts ripe for exploring, creepy soundtrack, tense and challenging gameplay with 3 difficulty levels, 18 different achievements to unlock, online leaderboard competition” cons=”Keyboard configuration is flawed, radio transmissions take up screen space and are more distracting than enlightening” score=85]

Fable Anniversary farting its way to Steam next week

There's a lot to love about the original Fable and its sequel, only one of which ever made its way to PC.

There's a lot to love about the original Fable and its sequel, only one of which ever made its way to PC. We still haven't seen the sequel, and after so many years it's unlikely we ever will, but after a delay of just over six months we're about to get the remastered versionof the original game, which hit Xbox 360 back in February. Spruced-up graphics, Steam achievements, and a bunch of additional outfits are the biggest changes here, but it's the same farty, tongue-in-cheek, fairytale action RPG underneath.

The header image to this post reveals the game's new outfits, which include the "Jackarse Dead Fish Weapon". Aside from those, the new visuals, and an apparently "slick new interface", there doesn't appear to be much in the way of new content here, given that the original PC game already shipped with expansion The Lost Chapters. That's still on Steam, by the way.

Fable Anniversary, meanwhile, will be released on Steam on the 12th of September, exactly a week today. Here's a trailer:

Project Zomboid robbery delays latest update, Zomboid "will come back stronger" says dev

Another setback has hit Project Zomboid developers, The Indie Stone.

Another setback has hit Project Zomboid developers, The Indie Stone. Over the weekend a burglary at the Newcastle home of two of the developers saw two laptops stolen. Months of work on the latest build of Project Zomboid were lost.

Project Zomboid writer Will Porter broke the news officially on the Project Zomboid blog. "We are gutted, we are despondent and - most of all we are sorry that this has thrown yet another bump into the road towards PZ completion," Will writes.

"We also REALLY want to wring the neck of the arsehole that did this to us," he adds.

The blog post mentions that the only two machines that held the work on the latest update were both stolen. "Project Zomboid was regularly backed up from machine to machine, but rarely – sadly and infuriatingly – externally. We have lost an awful lot of work."

"This will clearly severely delay the next update, which was very near completion. I personally only just finished my work on it today (one of the final things on the 'to-do' list) and had it ready for input tomorrow."

This is the latest in a long series of setbacks for the indie developers. Project Zomboid was taken offline by pirateswho hacked auto-updating versions of the software that threatened to bankrupt the Indie Stone. They've also had problems with Paypal, and at one point had to resort to " selling the world's worst games" to distribute their Zomboid.

The Indie Stone have been resilient in the face of all of those setbacks. Hopefully this latest stroke of terrible, terrible luck won't derail them either. Will Porter assures fans that Project Zomboid "will come back stronger." Hopefully, it does. The procedural zombie-apocalypse survival sim is incredibly promising. Read our Project Zomboid previewto find out why.

Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen 4K gallery

We recommend By Zergnet

Search for… ‘X-Orbtek II’

Search for… is a series which champions hidden gems you may not be aware of.

Search for… is a series which champions hidden gems you may not be aware of. Regardless of platform, age, or popularity, if an indie game is worth digging for we’ll feature it. You can find previous entries here.

Game: X-Orbtek II Developer: Oxygen Addict Platform: PC, Xbox 360 Price: Free (PC) / $1.00 (Xbox 360)

X-Orbtek II is one of those games I’ve been meaning to write about for a while, but just haven’t had the chance. When you write about games regularly, there are often very worthy and interesting titles that sadly get lost in the storm — slapped on the bottom of a lengthy to-do list with the best intentions, but ultimately neglected. By the time you find the time to cover them, their very narrow window of ‘relevance’ is over, and it’s difficult to find an angle. Thankfully, Search for… is a flexible enough feature for me to return to some of these games, and give them the coverage they deserve.

And I can think of no game more generous or deserving of that coverage than X-Orbtek II, a game that is an outrageous bargain at $1.00 for Xbox and a literal steal for the free PC version. It’s the sort of game that actually makes me feel guilty each time I play it — I didn’t pay anything for it, I have no right to be enjoying it this much!

Much like the previously covered X-Orbtek II is essentially about dodging. Fast-paced reaction is key as you zoom around arenas tightly packed with enemies and deadly projectiles. The easiest genre comparison here is the shoot-’em-up, and this second iteration into the X-Orbtek series leans further towards that format, with limited bullets and smart bombs on offer. However, just like in the first game, survival is twofold: avoidance and speed. Just as crucial to your survival is chasing down the ever-shrinking blue orbs, which brings to mind the frantic final laps of a racing game. Let the orbs deplete into nothingness, you’re dead. High stakes indeed.

Boasting three game modes and 1-4 player local multiplayer, you won’t find better value than X-Orbtek II , even if you grab the Xbox version for $1.00. The IndieCity versioncomes with achievements, which is a nice extra, or alternatively you can got to Oxygen Addict ‘s itch.iopage for a direct, client-free, pay-what-you-want download.

For more from Oxygen Addict ,  head to his siteor follow him on Twitter.

Jump to Section:Best Price

Comments
Our Verdict
An acceptable, lighthearted RPG thats often too simple, too staid and too black and white to be much fun.

Heavy is the head that wears the crown, and it's obvious from Fable III's opening that it won't be long before it's weighing down yours.

You play the sibling of the current, overly cruel king of Albion, and you're quickly catapulted from the castle into a life of RPG rebellion achieved by winning the support of the general populace. As heir to the throne, there's only one place you're heading with that sort of behaviour.

Yet exposing Fable III's endgame is no spoiler: not only is your fitness to rule taken for granted by everyone you meet, but the game has already been out for half a year on every other platform but ours.

Fable's fights can be approached with firearms, magic or melee weapons, but jumping between the stances is far from intuitive if you're using mouse and keyboard. You have to scroll between styles with the mousewheel, which makes your combat changes the result of planning, not brilliance. Couple that with a strange mouse lag evident on turning the camera, and I quickly switched to an Xbox 360 controller. It made fighting more fluid: whacking a skeleton with a hammer before shattering its bony body with a pistol shot becomes a satisfying process.

But it's a process too often repeated. Combat is Fable III's default state, and it doesn't deviate much. If anything, it gets simpler. I chose to pump my guild seals – collectables awarded for doing most things, from bashing enemies to kissing dudes – into levelling my magical abilities. Once I'd hit rank five, combat was a case of holding my area-of-effect spell until it was charged, then just letting go until the B button was hanging limp.

Lionhead used the time between 360 and PC versions to add a new 'challenging' mode to the game, but I blazed through the final conflicts with one hand free to drum on my desk. The difficulty of tougher fights – werewolves are particularly brutal – is defused by your respawning just a few centimetres from your corpse, the loss of a pouchful of guild seals your only punishment.

In short bursts, the fights are cheerful and rewarding and the quests have a sense of humour and grace that's missing in other RPGs. But you never get either in short bursts. Even the most engaging quests – shrinking down to play a real-life game of Dungeons & Dragons, or chasing a ghost drunk on power (and ale) through a graveyard – seem to panic when they reach their midpoints. Then they throw in a glob of turgid combat against cloned enemies.

My burgeoning aversion to combat led me to Albion's other timesinks. I was able to chat to nearly all of the kingdom's citizens, but beyond the welcome ability to belch in a child's face, I had little to gain from engaging with my soon-to-be subjects. Fable III's approach to morality is regimented: players can be saintly good or cartoon evil, neither of which alters the game in any serious way. Scold your staff, deny your friends or stuff your fat face with pies in front of starving children – you're still set for power.

The only true choice comes at the end of the game, and the outcome can be either utterly mystifying or underwhelming, as a threat from across the seas either kills all your subjects, or doesn't. This in a game predicated on talking to everyone. A little harder when they're dead.

Fable III is pockmarked with kernels of delight and imagination, but they're harder to root out among such a bland backdrop.

The Verdict

Fable 3

An acceptable, lighthearted RPG thats often too simple, too staid and too black and white to be much fun.

We recommend By Zergnet

How Project Zomboid was saved by Steam, Desura and FilePlanet

We recently had the chance to catch up with the developers of procedural zombie survival game, Project Zomboid, to discuss the extraordinary drama of the months following its release earlier this year.

We recently had the chance to catch up with the developers of procedural zombie survival game, Project Zomboid, to discuss the extraordinary drama of the months following its release earlier this year. The team behind the game told us about how they struggled to meet the initial flood of orders, and how charitable acts from Steam, Desura and Fileplanet helped them to stay afloat.

Project Zomboid picked up widespread interest as soon as it was announced. When it eventually went on sale it became a victim of its own success. Initially, there was no automated system in place for taking payment and distributing keys. The two-man team were forced to process every purchase manually.

"Our brains were sort of leaking out of our ears," said dev Andy Hodgetts. "The worst thing was because we were taking shifts we'd be doing it together for a bit and then I'd grab a few hours sleep and Chris carries on doing it and then he gets the sleep and I take over.

"You'd go for a coffee or something and come back and there's thirty more to do. It felt like you couldn't ever leave your desk."

"At the back of your mind you realise it's really good," said Andy's partner in crime, Chris Simpson, "but it's like, “Oh God!” We don't want to sound like we weren't grateful obviously."

To add to The Indie Stone's problems, piratesdeveloped a version of Project Zomboid that would auto-update, putting extra strain on distribution servers and potentially costing the team huge sums of money. The Indie Stone were forced to remove the paid-for version and replaced it with a free demo.

Thankfully, by then word had spread about Project Zomboid, and the team started receiving offers of support from Steam, indie and mod download portal Desura and digital distribution service, FilePlanet.

"In the case of Steam, we're getting all the perks of Steam apart from being on the store, and it's all via redeem code," said Chris. "We get to use their servers we get to update, we get to be in their library, we get all these things. As far as I can see they're not getting a penny from this, so perhaps it's in preparation for when we do get on Steam, but they're doing us a huge favour."

"Desura likewise have made, I'm not sure it's specifically for us, I'm sure they're using it on other games, but they've made a special API for donationware, alphaware development models. So people can opt in at any time and it'll squirt their email address to us so we can add them to our list and then they can get a Steam code. Because to this day we've not trusted PayPal, it gives us a way people can buy it on Desura, send it through to our servers, and then get a Steam code."

FilePlanet also gave the team a helping hand, providing The Indie Stone with extra features to help thwart the pirates. "Even though it's meant to be you can download files that you can use like mods, games, free stuff like demos, we're going to have a version on there that has a username and password so it's completely useless unless you've already bought the game. But they've allowed us to update it and everything."

If you'd like to support The Indie Stone, Project Zomboid can be pre-ordered for £5, though The Indie Stone can't supply up to date alpha builds right now because of piracy issues explained here. Instead, the current version of the game is available as a free demo download now from the Project Zomboid site. For more, check out our preview.

We'll have more on the remarkable development of Project Zomboid, including news of car bomb scares and upcoming game features, very soon on PC Gamer.com.

Fallout 4 5K gallery: post-apocalyptic photographer

We recommend By Zergnet

IGM Aus – In The Community

It’s hard being me.

It’s hard being me. On the one hand, I’m putting all my spare time into IGM and supporting whatever Indie initiatives that I can. On the other, my personal game time has dipped well below one hour a week. Oh the humanity!

But seriously, real life always seems to get in the way of what we love and appreciate the most. We all wish we could make games for a living, or write about them, or just play them for hours on end. Those of us lucky enough to have the talent to create even the simplest of ideas still put in the hard hours at work before returning home to code their most treasured of ideas (sleep need not apply).

So what happens when you get a full weekend to code at your hearts content? The recent Global Game Jam (GGJ) provided just such an opportunity, where teams would build their own ideas within a weekend time frame and based on a chosen theme. Jams are a growing medium, not a week goes by without either a local or worldwide event or, in the case of say Double Fine , an internal Jam to help build new prototypes towards brand new ideas.

Recently I had the opportunity to see the GGJ in person, by visiting my local community group who took part over the last weekend in January. Headed by Let’s Make Games , the community came together at Edith Cowan University and spent the time wisely, coming up with some great concepts based on this years GGJ theme ‘the sound of a heartbeat’.

I must admit, I was well out of my depth when I walked in. Despite the articles I’ve written up here over the past few months, I’m still very much a junior when it comes to game development itself. Having said that, for the brief time that I was there it was a welcome experience. I could tell the folks that I met were really passionate about their work, keen to show their talents to the world by creating some top quality games across many different platforms.

I was impressed not only by the dedication of everyone involved, even those I didn’t meet in person, but also of the high level of both the artists and developers. To create anything in such a short time frame really puts a strain on the old brain cells, yet the results do speak for themselves.

The winning Perth game was Adventricule, a side scrolling platformer that has you controlling a nanobot and jumping from one red blood cell to another in order to progress through each level. Other concepts and prototypes included fellow side-scrollerthe above mentioned tower defense style gamethe reverse zombie survival game Eibmoz (i.e. you begin dead and must be the first to revive fully in order to win), and Doctor Squad M.D. , a multiplayer cooperative game in which each player is given a particular role in order to save a dying patient. That’s just scratching the surface, you can see the rest of the submissions via the Perth GGJ site.

On a personal note, I do hope to spend more time with my local community this year. That’s what IGM Aus is all about, getting out there and seeing the world of indie development first hand, to share with you the stories that I hear and the games that I see. Unfortunately my time is still split between what I love and what pays the bills, but here’s hoping 2013 provides more opportunities for me, and indeed for all of you, to get out there and be a part of something big.

A big thank you and congrats to the Let’s Make Games team and for everyone involved in Perth’s Global Game Jam event. I hope to see you all among many others across our talented country over the coming months! Game on!

Fable 3 is coming to Steam, is available to pre-order now

When Fable 3 hits PC on May 20, it won't just be confined to Microsoft's Games for Windows Live service.

When Fable 3 hits PC on May 20, it won't just be confined to Microsoft's Games for Windows Live service. It will also be available to buy through Steam. The game will be available to buy digitally on both platforms, and will come with different bonuses. Given that Microsoft own Lionhead, the appearance of a game on any service other than Games for Windows Live is an interesting shift.

In a recent interview we spoke with creative director of Microsoft and former head of Lionhead, Peter Molyneux, about his views on Steam and Games for Windows Live. "Steam is such a great service, I use it all the time, they did such a great pioneering job," he says, adding that "with Steam and Games for Windows Live. There's a lot of direct to disc, there's lots of services that mean the PC is really pioneering the way."

We also asked him about the future of Games for Windows Live. "My hope is that things will change around because there's no reason why it shouldn't. It's something that needs a bit more focus, I'm sure there's some very smart people working on it. Fable will definitely be coming out on Games for Windows Live."

We'll be bringing you more from our interview with Peter Molyneux next week, including his take on Alan Wake's PC cancellation, the future of social gaming, and which platforms he considers to be the most exciting to develop for. Fable 3 is available to pre-order on Games for Windows Marketplacenow.

Project Zomboid preview

Spoiler warning: you're going to die.

Spoiler warning: you're going to die. If you're lucky, you'll get to choose how. Torn apart by the undead? A knife in the back? Starvation? How about wrapping your lips around the gun holding your last precious bullet and kissing the world goodbye? Project Zomboid isn't about saving the day. It's about survival, and the decisions you make when you have nothing to lose but your braaaaaaains.

Even as zombies overtake Nazis as gaming's favourite punching bag, Project Zomboidis one of the most exciting indie games on the horizon. The simple graphics hide a fiendish mix of RPG, strategy and even a slice of The Sims, built on emergent action rather than scripted campaigns.

“We've moved away from the action focus of most zombie games to explore other areas, such as dealing with relationships, keeping morale high, depression, paranoia and insanity,” explains Chris Simpson, one quarter of developers The Indie Stone. “For instance, you may be playing as a police officer and stumble on a biker gang. Normally, they'd rob you blind. But maybe this time you have a skill they need – first aid, carpentry, whatever – and they'll let you join them. Every game can play out differently.”

The most interesting part of this is the potential it offers for creating your own narratives, as so often seen in games such as Dwarf Fortress. An AI director is planned, and due to be set to 'sadistic', watching for situations such as you happily barricading yourself into a house with a year's supply of food, and upping the ante with a quick raid or a fellow survivor finally cracking. You'll also have to deal with more predictable threats, including the power going out – making torches worth their weight in other, equally valuable torches. As in the movies, a single zombie is nothing more than gory bubblewrap; a tension-relieving spot of homicide after a long day in a cramped safehouse. A whole horde of them is a different story, especially in the dark.

“Is it safe to use my shotgun to save my house right now, or should I sneak out the back door and find somewhere else?” says Simpson. “I'm starving, but only have one tin of soup left. Should I eat it, or give it to a sick member of my group?” Don't expect a quicksave to make the decision easier.

Project Zomboid is being developed much like Minecraft, and for frustrating reasons beyond the developer's control, is currently available only if you buy one of the Indie Stone's other gamesfor £5. This gains you access to a demo version, albeit a mostly scripted one built to give a flavour of the planned experience, and all future updates. The first proper version is due later this year – likely a relatively slimline game offering the basics, with regular updates piling on new mechanics and content.

It's not the only – or the prettiest – zombie apocalypse game by a long stretch, but that's okay. Doomed nihilism has rarely been so ambitious. If it all comes together as promised, expect many long, dark nights of misery and death. But in a good way.

Fallout 4 gallery: vistas of the Wasteland

We recommend By Zergnet

Why Infinite Warfare’s Space Battles Are More Grounded Than You Think

Military accuracy is usually much more challenging for a design team than it might seem, especially when your game is set on a futuristic space-faring vessel.

But as we found out during our time at Infinity Ward, what appeared to be straight forward sci-fi was actually an intricate balance of NASA technology and Navy customs. Aside from spending time aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier, the team behind Infinite Warfare had Navy SEALs, admirals, and the department of defense as military consultants. Check out the interview below to learn more.

To learn more about Call of Duty's relationship with the military, including their veteran support program check out our feature on the Call of Duty Endowment charity.

Our exclusive coverage on Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare will continue all throughout June, so keep checking the hub for deep dives into the weapons, characters, and interviews as we journey to the stars with Infinity Ward's new take on the longstanding series.

Fable 3 will be tougher and less buggy on PC

Fable 3 will finally be getting a PC release soon.

Fable 3 will finally be getting a PC release soon. Lionhead have been talking about the changes they've been making to the game to get the PC port of Fable 3 just right. We can expect proper mouse support, increased difficulty, and less item gathering for collection quests. Many of the bugs that were found in the console versions of the game have also been squashed ahead of the game's release next month.

Speaking to RPS, Fable 3 lead designer Josh Atkins admits that the game was designed to be easy for a console audience. "On Fable from the beginning I can remember sitting in a room with Peter [Molyneux] and him being very explicit with me that... I believe the direct quote, if I remember correctly, was, 'I want a blind child to be able to win this game with their feet."

Atkins says that their approach to the PC version is different. "When the difficulty came up we were talking about what would PC players want. What would be important to them? The additional challenge, or the choice for additional challenge was something that we thought was important.

"Figuring out how to do that in a way that was both efficient and fair was challenging. We didn't just move sliders around: we actually sat down and looked at the creature types and looked at them as individuals. Rather than just say, "This one now does 10 per cent more damage," we made them a little faster, which gives them the perception of being a little bit smarter."

Other changes to the original game include mouse support that will let you click on objects in the environment and tweaks to collection quest designed to remove the grind from gathering quests.

"Our hope is that people who pick up [Fable III] on PC think, 'Okay, this plays how I would expect it to play, it doesn't play like a half-done port,' which is the danger for PC games," says Atkins. "Not to knock anyone else, but people tend to just rush games out onto the PC; they do the very quickest port they can and they try to do it as a financial model rather than let's try to make something that at least plays like it was designed for this platform, and respects what the platform does."

Fable 3 is out on May 17 in the US and May 20 in Europe. For more on the game check out the official Fable 3 site, and have a read of our Fable 3 preview.

Project Zomboid taken offline by pirates, free public demo now available

Developers of the survival RPG Project Zomboid were forced to take the game off their site over the weekend after pirates developed a version of the game that would use Indie Stone's servers to automatically update their illegal copy, a move that could potentially cost The Indie Stone enormous amounts of money.

In apicked up by RPS, the devs say that "these 'auto updating' versions of the game could screw us completely."

"We have a cloud based distribution model, where the files are copied all over the world and are served to players on request, which means we are charged money for people downloading the game.

"Whether piracy actually amounts to lost sales we're not going to get into. The possibility that it raises awareness and promotes the game cannot be ignored, but the difference is offline versions on torrents, which we've been largely unconcerned about, do not cost us real money, only potential money, and even then we can't really guess at what the net effect is."

Up until now, The Indie Stone have been unconcerned about piracy. In the same blog post they say "we've always turned a blind eye to pirate copies, even on occasion recommending people who had problems with the legit version try a pirate version until the issues are resolved. We realise the potential viral benefits of pirate copies, and while obviously we'd prefer people to purchase our issue is not with those."

To make up for the downtime, The Indie Stone have released a free public demothat everyone can download for a taste of the game. Project Zomboid is a survival game in which you must dig in and survive in the face of an ever-worsening zombie apoclypse. Death is certain, but there's plenty of emergent action to enjoy before your character finally kicks the bucket. The game models factors such as insanity and paranoia in the characters around you, and every playthrough turns out differently. The Indie Stone even plan to put in a Left 4 Dead style AI director to keep throwing challenges your way. Find out more in our Project Zomboid preview.

Far Cry 4K gallery

We recommend By Zergnet

Mighty No.9 Announcement – Animated Series, New Stretch Goals, and Pre-Orders

It was a big day for Comcept USA at Anime Expo 2014 and their upcoming game, Mighty No.9. A project successfully funded by the initial Kickstarter campaign, Mighty No.9 will be released as a spiritual successor to the Megaman series.

series. However, even with a remarkably successful campaign, Comcept USA and Keiji Inafune are far from finished with expanding the features for the game.

To start, Comcept is allowing gamers who hadn’t backed the game during the initial campaign to pre-order Mighty No.9 through their website, thanks to Humble Bundle. $23 will provide the buyer with one code that can be used to redeem Mighty No.9 on one of any of the following platforms: Playstation 4, Playstation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Wii U, 3DS, Vita, or PC. There’s also a $50 option that provides a retro-style game manual, the official soundtrack, and a digital art book/strategy guide, and an $80 option that gives players everything previously mentioned, as well as Early Access to the beta through Steam.

The funds received through these purchases will be put forth to the extended crowd funding campaign Comcept USA is pursuing through Paypal. These funds will be used towards a set of stretch goalsmeant to provide additional features to the game. The current goal is $100,000 to provide Mighty No.9 with a full English voiceover.

Note – This image may not reflect the current stage of the crowdfunding campaign

Finally, and perhaps one of the most interesting announcements, refers to the Might No.9 computer animated series that will be developed by Digital Frontiers. The synopsis states: “The story focuses on BECK, a weak transforming combat robot, who was made to fight in a combat robot league as a part of the MIGHTY NUMBERS, the strongest robots in the world. When Beck is the only robot spared from a virus that forces his teammates to destroy mankind, he has to find a way to overcome his own inadequacies so that he can stop them.”

Feel free to watch the teaser trailer above and leave comments about what you like or don’t like! What kinds of stretch goals are you hoping to see in the extended campaign?

Valve is being sued by an Australian consumer watchdog

Valve is being taken to court by The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

Valve is being taken to court by The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. The ACCC is alleging that Valve has not fulfilled mandatory consumer guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law. While neither Valve or Steam has any physical presence in Australia, the company must observe Australian law when it provides goods or services to Australians.

According to ACCC chairman Rod Sims, Valve has come under the spotlight due to its policy on refunds.

“It is a breach of the Australian Consumer Law for businesses to state that they do not give refunds under any circumstances, including for gifts and during sales,” Sims said. “Under the Australian Consumer Law, consumers can insist on a refund or replacement at their option if a product has a major fault.”

The consumer guarantees provided under the Australian Consumer Law cannot be excluded, restricted or modified,” he continued.

consumers were not entitled to a refund for any games sold by Valve via Steam in any circumstances;

Valve had excluded, restricted or modified statutory guarantees and/or warranties that goods would be of acceptable quality;

Valve was not under any obligation to repair, replace or provide a refund for a game where the consumer had not contacted and attempted to resolve the problem with the computer game developer; and

the statutory consumer guarantees did not apply to games sold by Valve.

According to Valve's Steam refund policy, refunds or exchanges on "games, DLC or in-game items" are not offered unless required by local law. In the case of Australia, those offers are required.

The matter will go to court in Sydney on October 7.

Enslaved 5K gallery: an Odyssey to the West

We recommend By Zergnet

Cyberpunk Jam 2014 Highlights: Day Four

IGM has continued coverage of Cyberpunk Jam 2014 submissions all week long, as we pick just a few of our favorites from a huge selection.

IGM has continued coverage of Cyberpunk Jam 2014 submissions all week long, as we pick just a few of our favorites from a huge selection. Today is Part Four our coverage, and we’ve got three new, interesting games for you to check out. (Be sure to check out the full list of entries hereto find your own favorites, and share them with us in the comments section!)

by Gordon Little

Time to hack and steal some data! As a digital assassin, you are armed with a cyberdeck that can house up to six Intrusion Countermeasure Electronics (ICE). Those are little programs that roam the digital network. Starting off with one, you lower the integrity of other ICE until you decompile them, as in, capture them into your own cyberdeck. The goal is to get to the top of the digital tower.

What do you mean, this sounds exactly like some popular Japanese collectible monster series? Sure, you “capture” them when their “health” is low and they “level up.” You also use various “attacks” that lower or increase “stat values,” as well as travel on a map with a “road.” But Cyber Punkemon has a cool currency called Connection, which is lost when failing a battle or escaping, but used to repair ICE. There are various terminals scattered throughout that get you more Connection or bring up the integrity of your team.

All in all, Cyber Punkemon is a creative take on some popular franchise. It’s robust enough, considering that games are done by small teams for this Cyberpunk Jam. It could use a menu and more explanation for some skills, but those are additions that can be amended in the future. For now, go catch em’ all here.

by rogueNoodle

9.9 is an another hacking game, this time, with a singular interface that will make use of your dexterity and reflexes. By steering a little triangular point along circular, well, circuits, avoid the defensive purple triangles and firewalls while collecting white squares. Doing so adds one to your score and extends your lifeline, limited to just a few seconds.

It’s not exactly like Super Hexagon , but fans of difficult games will surely find something here. It takes some brainpower to get adjusted to the controls. While the little hacker triangle spins, something that can’t be stopped, it is possible to make it go in the other direction. It’s also difficult to pick up the bombs, which take out some obstacles, because they’re on the pink circles, passable only while switching tiers.

If you can score higher than 10 points on this, hats off for you. Let us know how many you got anyway! Play it here.

Infinite Revolve by Kalonica Quigley

This one is a little first-person perspective adventure. The protagonist starts out in a hallway, promptly entering an apartment which presumably he or she owns. In the bedroom, the window is broken; the vast metropolis visible, too tall to even see the bottom. What else is there to do, but throw yourself into the abyss?

And so the trip begins, because if there’s one word to describe this Cyberpunk Jam game, it’s “trippy.” Props for adhering to the theme while creating an exploration-centered FPS. As for the trip itself, it’s fairly short. But mystical, and full of sights and sounds.

What do you get out of this, you may ask? Just try for yourself here.

Featured Image credit: Filipe Andrade, via lightamplification.tumblr.com

New Fable III screens

Four new screens of Fable 3 have spurted out of the San Diego Comic-Con. There's an airship, more kingly people, and some shiny floaty crystal things. Screens below:

New Fable III screens

Four new screens of Fable 3 have spurted out of the San Diego Comic-Con. There's an airship, more kingly people, and some shiny floaty crystal things. Screens below:

Buck is an Aussie Metroidvania adventure about a dog

People love dogs.

People love dogs. It is difficult to dislike dogs because there are many different kinds. Somewhere in the world there is a breed of dog for you. But if you want a dog that walks on its hindlegs like a human, can punch, lives in a desert and is capable of solving mysteries and puzzles, you may struggle.

That's where Buckcomes in. It's a 2D Metroidvania adventure currently in development by Australian studio Wave Interactive. The game asks you to "help Buck discover what happened to his love while encountering the strange and dangerous inhabitants of Cordova Desert." The game takes place in a "hand drawn post apocalyptic" world, where Buck will fend off enemies with all manner of clever bells and whistles, including his fists. Exploration is apparently a core component of the game, as is conversing with many of the colourful characters you encounter along the way.

Most interesting is the 'mechanic' ability though, which allows Buck to build and fix objects throughout Cordova. This will tie into a customisation system which allows control over things like a weapon's reload speed and damage. Overall, Buck looks like a potentially awesome mix of Metroidvania and point and click adventure.

If this sounds appealing you might want to throw your spare change at the Buck Kickstarter campaign, which has currently raised just under $12,000 of its $75,000 goal. The game is expected to release for PC in May 2015. Check out the trailer below.

While you're in the mood for Kickstarter-funded Aussie games, check out this story on Hand of Fate.

Proteus gallery downsampled from 4k

We recommend By Zergnet

Ronnie Robot – Robot Sim City For Kids

Silver Bay Labs LLC just announced the near-completion of their soon-to-be released game Ronnie Robot , meant for children ages 3-8.

, meant for children ages 3-8. The game is a simple form of Sim City with cartoon-like robots, and one particular robot named Ronnie that the kids can control to do different tasks throughout the town.

Ronnie Robot provides open-ended gameplay to children, allowing them to control Ronnie and watch as he reacts to different situations and scenarios. Ronnie can also be used to build different buildings in the city, control and operate certain vehicles, and simply explore and interact with other robots. Kids can learn about cause and effect through the game, as well as real-time problem solving by dealing with the random scenarios that come up, such as a house catching fire.

The game will launch with two worlds for children to explore, The Village and The Farm. The game is free to play and comes with The Village readily available, while The Farm requires an in-app purchase of $1.99. In the future, Silver Bay Labs hopes to extend the game by adding more worlds and scenes for Ronnie to come across as the kids explore. The game also does not use any third party advertisements, regardless of whether parents decide to purchase the extra level or not, making the game even more suitable for toddlers.

Ronnie Robot will be available for iPads on January 15th. Kids can play however they wish, either by interacting with the world or simply watching Ronnie explore. The game also allows for collaborative play, providing a robot for each child as they play on the same device. For more information, gamers can follow the game on Facebookor Twitter.

Fable III preview: a hint of Dungeon Keeper

We can't stay mad at Peter Molyneux.

We can't stay mad at Peter Molyneux. Even though he's prone to making outrageous promises he has no hope of ever fulfilling, and even though the previous game in Lionhead's flagship series, Fable II, never made it to the PC, there's something about the fabulously overreaching development veteran that makes every project he's involved in impossible to ignore.

So while there's a hefty gap between the original Fable and Fable III, which is set to be released on PC before Christmas, we're hugely excited about this next instalment in the series. Not least because it seems to have lost much of its traditional RPG setting and mechanics since we last saw it.

Fable III picks up the story of Albion during a period of tyrannical rule by a dictator named Logan. As a result the world is no longer the cheery Merry Olde Englande flavour of fantasy featured in the first game, and bears much more of a resemblance to Britain during the industrial revolution in the late 18th and early 19th century. Bowerstone, a city that was the largest settlement in Fable and a magnificent citadel, has now become rammed with smoke-belching factories – and the population is well and truly downtrodden. For the first half of the game, your quest will be to overthrow Logan and ultimately ascend the throne of Albion, presumably with the intention of fixing things for the better. But that's where life gets complicated. While the first half of your adventure will be based primarily on traditional questing, you'll need to make promises to the populace in order to gain enough support to usurp Logan. Once you're in the seat of power, it'll be up to you to try and live by those promises, making judgements as supreme ruler. According to Molyneux it won't be as easy as it initially seems to be a completely benevolent monarch. OK, you can shut all the factories and replace them with schools, but then you'll see the royal coffers (which are represented by a Scrooge McDuck-esque money room) become considerably less bloated, and your spouse will start complaining when the castle begins to fall into disrepair. When Albion finds itself at war with an entirely new continent called Aurora, inspired by Morocco and the Middle East, cash is going to be even tighter. You'll also be regularly hassled by your subjects wanting you to pass judgement on the kind of domestic squabbles that even Jeremy Kyle wouldn't touch. It'll be up to you whether you pay off either party, dismiss the case or haul the hapless perp to the executioner's block.

If you do choose to condemn someone to a horrible fate, most of the time you'll have to drag them there yourself. Fable III has what Molyneux is calling a touch system that makes physical contact an important means of interacting with NPCs. If you're going to sell a homeless person to the factory, you'll have to haul them by the hand to the factory gates. As they approach they'll begin to squirm and attempt to escape when they realise their fate – it's an uncomfortable thing to watch and a remarkably effective way of prodding your morals. The touch system will also feature heavily as a positive means of communication in your interactions with your family and the pet dog that serves as a constant companion.

Lionhead are promising an ambitious sounding cooperative mode for the game. For a start, any friend who enters your kingdom will be able to venture to any corner of the map and complete quests without being bound to the host of the game. What this means is that once you're ruling Albion, you can send your co-op buddy out to mop up quests as your trusted first knight. Still sounds pretty standard? Well it's also possible for a co-op partner to become intrinsically involved with your own path through the story, either by going into business with you or, better yet, marrying and having children with you. Just be sure they have enough time for the commitment, or your children's relationship with their absentee parent will sour. It'll be fascinating to see how the game adapts to such major roles in the story being filled by a potentially irrational human character.

Fable III is shaping up to be a sumptuous, richly designed adventure that will play unlike anything else. In fact, Molyneux himself is trying to distance the game from the traditional RPG label by streamlining the interface and abandoning pause menus and lists in favour of a physical series of chambers that contains all your kit. The headline features are exciting enough, but more responsive combat and a more sophisticated reflection of your moral choices in the physical form of your character suggest that even when you're performing more traditional questing, Fable III will be a satisfying experience. Welcome back Peter, we've missed you.

Release: Autumn Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios Developer: Lionhead Link: Lionhead.com

Mike Channell

Buck is an Aussie Metroidvania adventure about a dog

People love dogs.

People love dogs. It is difficult to dislike dogs because there are many different kinds. Somewhere in the world there is a breed of dog for you. But if you want a dog that walks on its hindlegs like a human, can punch, lives in a desert and is capable of solving mysteries and puzzles, you may struggle.

That's where Buckcomes in. It's a 2D Metroidvania adventure currently in development by Australian studio Wave Interactive. The game asks you to "help Buck discover what happened to his love while encountering the strange and dangerous inhabitants of Cordova Desert." The game takes place in a "hand drawn post apocalyptic" world, where Buck will fend off enemies with all manner of clever bells and whistles, including his fists. Exploration is apparently a core component of the game, as is conversing with many of the colourful characters you encounter along the way.

Most interesting is the 'mechanic' ability though, which allows Buck to build and fix objects throughout Cordova. This will tie into a customisation system which allows control over things like a weapon's reload speed and damage. Overall, Buck looks like a potentially awesome mix of Metroidvania and point and click adventure.

If this sounds appealing you might want to throw your spare change at the Buck Kickstarter campaign, which has currently raised just under $12,000 of its $75,000 goal. The game is expected to release for PC in May 2015. Check out the trailer below.

While you're in the mood for Kickstarter-funded Aussie games, check out this story on Hand of Fate.

Legend of Grimrock 2 4K screenshot gallery

We recommend By Zergnet

Dev Links: Resources

In today’s Developer Links , gamers stand up for their rights, a developer stands up for ‘queer games,’ and… there is art of people… standing up.

, gamers stand up for their rights, a developer stands up for ‘queer games,’ and… there is art of people… standing up. Hey, the “rule of three” isn’t always easy.

Are Game Developers Standing Up For Their Rights?(Gamasutra)
“It is cool to work in the video game industry. You get paid work on games , right? This image of the video game industry as a cool, hip, fun place where you get to make cutting edge titles has some truth, but it also hides a dark side. The dark side sometimes shadows the light — like when Erin Hoffman made her now famous post as ea_spouse. And it appeared again with the allegations of Rockstar Spouse, 38 Studios Spouse, the investigative journalism of Andrew McMillen about the making of L.A. Noire, the IGDA press release about KAOS Studios, through IGDA reports about quality of life, and through conference panels, blogs and forums.”

Zeboyd Weekly Art! (1/9/2013): Nemissa, October, Cthulhu!(Zeboyd Games)
“So this week I drew Nemissa from Soul Hackers and I’m sharing some cool art of October (CSTW) and mighty Cthulhu (also CSTW).”

What Happens Next? (2013)(AltDevBlogADay)
“In June 2011 I wrote an article called What Happens Next?, where I had a quick go at peering into a crystal ball and predicting the future of video games. Recently I did a talk for Social Media Cafe, discussing similar thoughts with 18 months worth of additional future taken into account. Parts of what I discussed in the original article still hold true, and I elaborated upon them in my talk. This article is an amalgamation of the original article, the talk, and a few more bits that I realised I could have discussed at the time.”

NS2 Playtesters Wanted(Natural Selection 2)
“[W]e need your help. Many developers have large, dedicated ‘quality assurance’ teams. These teams are paid to find out just how badly the programmers, artists, game designers, and micro-transaction lovers have buggered everything up. At Unknown Worlds, there is no paid quality assurance (QA) team. We were going to hire one, but after paying for all the plants around the office we couldn’t afford it. Besides, there is a better alternative to paid QA. A passionate community. You.”

Useful Indie Resources(Independent Gaming)
“This being my first post here, I want to give something that can be beneficial to everyone. This being the case, I went out to the depths of the internet to find a huge collection of useful resources which will be beneficial to indie game developers, whether they’re professionals or just doing it as a hobby!”

A Crazy Week(Computer Games)
“Now first of all, as you can imagine, I wasn’t able to work on Heileen 3 yuri version. I feel better but not good enough to code, which requires concentration to avoid making lots of mistakes. However, the writers have basically finished reviewing the texts, so I think the beta could start the coming week.”

Now We Have Voices(Auntie Pixelante)
“at indiecadein october, i gave a presentation entitled NOW WE HAVE VOICES: QUEERING VIDEOGAMES. it was recorded, but as i have been unable to get an answer from the indiecade organizers as to when the recording will be online, i present here the text and slides (represented as numbers in brackets – click on them to see the slide) of my speech. what’s missing is the question & answer session following my presentation and the amazing discussion that came out of it.”

Gratuitous Space Battles: The Outcasts Is Released!(Cliffski.com)
“Yup, you noticed I’d gone quiet about the new Gratuitous Space Battles expansion? Well it’s always like that in the days leading up to a release, while a bunch of admin stuff gets done. But lo! The latest expansion pack for my scarily popular space strategy game is now on sale. Here is the official launch trailer (also in HD, view on youtube to see in all it’s glory):”

New Fable III screenshots

These new screens tell us three things about Fable III: that guards are purple, men have beards, and women wear corsets.

In Fable III, you're tasked with overthrowing the government and taking the throne for yourself. According to these screens, you'll be doing that by shooting nothing in particular, standing with a bunch of purple guards, and jumping around with a big shiny sword. Screens go!

Australian Might and Magic: Duel of Champions PC competition winner announced

Remember last month when we asked Australian readers to pitch a setting for a CCG game ?

? Remember how the best entry was going to win a powerhouse custom PC courtesy of Might and Magic: Duel of Champions? Well, we received tonnes of amazing entries, but we've finally decided which tickled our fancy the most.

The winner was Sydney's Marley Hodgman, who pitched us a very unusual CCG game: in Hodgman's game, the game is games . More specifically, his theoretical CCG was set inside the games industry itself.

"[My CCG game is set in] the shiny, sweaty, loud universe of game expos, with the player constructing developer booths and other stalls to attract attention from fans and media.

Collect developer cards of different types to build the show you want to present. The audience of an indie magazine might give you a harsh penalty for playing Booth Babes that you wouldn't get if you were instead playing the corporate mainstream...but is it worth the Innovation bonus?

Choose the game cards each developer displays: go for slow-burning, reliable sports games, expensive but powerful blockbusters, or avant-garde experimental platformers, and combine them with the traits of the developer for unmissable displays!

Pay attention to your opponent. Having trouble with their lineup of indie darlings? No problem; put down Enough Retro, Please to wipe out any game with the pixel art type. Zombie FPSs might be the current fad (roll for this at the start?), but if they stack up too many, hit them with Sequelitis and steal their thunder!

Make the best use of your limited number of Exclusive Stories to help yourself or hinder your rival. Cover your biggest game to give it an even bigger boost, or combine a Prototype Card and your VIP Room to blow away the competition!

Coming next year, the GARME JERNALISM expansion set, with new bribery and integrity mechanics; the IT GAVE ME LEMON-LIME expansion set with new non-game stalls; and the PAPERS, PLEASE expansion set with bouncers, spies and a wider array of Gamebreaking Bug cards."

The prize Hodgman has won totals nearly $2,000 worth of gear, including a motherboard and graphic card from ASUS, processor by AMD, storage by WD, case and power by Cooler Master, RAM by GSkill and the best in gaming peripherals by Steel Series.

Thanks to everyone for the entries, and keep an eye out for future competitions.

Mad Max 5k gallery: Visions from the wasteland

We recommend By Zergnet

Star Fox Zero review

Star Fox Zero review You know what? We’re going to have some fun here before we get into the nasty business of picking through the smouldering wreckage of this Arwing crash-site; the charred remains of Fox McCloud a testament to Nintendo’s inability to properly utilise its own hardware, let alone take command of a franchise that’s had more misadventures than recorded successes in its 23 years of galactic

H1Z1 will hit Early Access in January; won't be better than DayZ on day one

Sony Online Entertainment's entry in the first-person survival canon, H1Z1 , will hit Early Access on January 15.

, will hit Early Access on January 15. It's a little later than expected, but according to John Smedley writing on Reddit, the delay is for the best. The game is still in an early development state, and in a direct reference to the game H1Z1 is referencing, Smedley admits that the game you'll play on January 15 will not be better than DayZ.

"No it won't," he wrote, preempting queries regarding whether H1Z1 will be more feature complete than DayZ. "We'll get asked that question a lot and I wanted to be up front about it. We're not as feature rich and they have a lot of really cool stuff we just don't have yet. That being said, we're also a different game. We're an MMO and our goals are to create a large scale world that gives you the incredible feeling of being a survivor in a zombie apocalypse."

The Early Access edition will have two price points: a base price of $19.99, and a more expensive one which is yet to be detailed. This latter edition will include more server access options in addition to other, yet to be announced perks. The game will launch with 64 square kilometres of game space, with more to be added over time.

"Why did it take longer than we originally thought? It's a fair question," Smedley wrote on the Early Access delay. "The simple answer is once we saw what we could have had earlier it wasn't good enough and we wanted to put something out that we would be proud of.

"What you'll be playing January 15th is a really fun game, but it's early. It's everything Early Access should be - a fun and compelling game that isn't finished. Our goal is to have you help us finish it and have it be a game we can build a large community in over time."

Battlefield 4 China Rising DLC, patch out today

Developer DICE today released a patch for Battlefield 4, as well as the China Rising DLC, which it celebrated with another very explody trailer.

The China Rising DLC includes exactly what the leaked image we reported on last monthrevealed it will: four new maps (Silk Road, Altai Range, Guilin Peaks, and Dragon Pass), five new weapons, new vehicles and equipment, and ten new assignments. China Rising also brings back Battlefield 3's Air Superiority mode, in which two teams of up to 24 players fight over three aerial control points by taking out nearby jets. At the moment China Rising is available only to players with Battlefield Premium memberships, which costs $49.99. It should be made available to everyone else after two weeks.

Unfortunately, players are already reporting trouble staying connected to China Rising matches. DICE said it is aware of the issue and is in the process of implementing a solution. “This fix will take some time to be fully completed, but players should be noticing normal gameplay behavior soon,” it said on Electronic Arts' official site.

The Chinese narrator for the new trailer opens it by literally saying “Confucius said,” and then muses bitterly about China having to make cheap toys and flags for the United States. I cringed at this, but besides what comes off as a little bit of stereotyping and maybe xenophobic, the trailer is quite the spectacle, and manages to get me excited to play BF4. DICE is pretty good at making these.

As we've reported recently, the patch will address some of the key technical issues still present in BF4 a month after launch. The most significant problem that the patch fixes is the one-hit kill bug which made headshots within eight meters occasionally deal more than their predicted 200 percent damage.

Obviously, the other really big problem that DICE needs to fix is the game's tendency to disconnect players from multiplayer matches. Hopefully, this patch will help, but DICE also said today that it is “already working hard on a new update to further increase stability.” It didn't say when that update will be released.

These are the full pre-patch notes from the Battlefield 4 forums:

Removed the blur effect on soldiers that appeared when Commanders were using EMP attacks Fixed the audio bug where audio sometimes randomly dropped out while playing on certain multiplayer maps (typically Golmud Railway and Hainan Resort) Fixed the "one-hit kill bug" where occasionally damage from a single bullet was applied multiple times Fixed a common crash that would occur when exiting from the Single Player Campaign to Main Menu Tweaked the network and computer performance screen to show proper values. Players can now test their computer and network connection and get recommendations if they need to adjust something to improve their gameplay experience.