Dev Links: Explosive Results
“One thing lacking in game design, especially when it comes to interactive storytelling, is a proper set of terms.
Presenting players with dilemmas, nailing down a set of terms for your game and more in today’s Developer Links.
Nailing Down Terminology(Frictional Games)
“One thing lacking in game design, especially when it comes to interactive storytelling, is a proper set of terms. While I do not think having a precise terminology will directly aid in making games better, it will help us communicate better. As proper communication is crucial for progress, proper terms are indirectly an important part of making better storytelling games. Because of this, I am going to go over some terminology that I find essential, what I mean by them and why I define them in a certain manner.”
The Beautiful Dilemma(Berlin Game Design)
“One of the main goals of game design is to present the players with dilemmas. Without them, player decisions–if there are any–will seem too obvious, and the game will lack tension.”
Too ugly? Keep stirring the baby until the lumps disappear(Dejobaan Games)
“This week was B-U-S-Y! We brought the Ugly Baby team in, shackled them to their chairs, and asked everyone to crunch. The goal was to launch our next amazing build, but we wanted to give it another week to bake it to perfection. Here is how the week went… in pictures and video, ’cause words are lame-o.”
Good Morning Gato # 121 – Lawn Bag Throne(Ska Studios)
“XBLA Fans posted an in-depth article last Friday, “For indies, working with Microsoft is a horrifying mess…right?” covering multiple sides of the hot topic of what it must be like to work with Microsoft. They included our view and linked to James’ Blood of the Indies post, which was nice.”
Shooting Spirit(Electron Dance)
“Cinema and literature have shown they can weather the storm of time: The African Queen can make contemporary audiences laugh, Nosferatu is still disturbing and Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice remains a favourite. But videogames are cursed. The cutting edge corrodes with frightening speed and the once-pioneering designs of yesteryear give way to frustration when compared to leaner, smarter modern work.”
Spider bait(Auntie Pixelante)
“SPIDER BAIT is a transcript of a back-and-forth email role-play between me and my luna that we wrote / played between the last time she visited me in february (around my birthday) and may (her birthday). i play two spider-queens and she plays a very unlucky girl. it’s of course totally explicit, and is mostly about tickling and fucking and spider-queens salivating over captive girl-meat. nasty & gross stuff from a couple of real perverts.”
Jack Lumber hacks his way onto the Mac App Store!(Owlchemy Labs)
“That’s right, we branched out and have sunk our roots into the Mac App Store.”
SDCC 2013 – Preview Night(The Behemoth)
“Whew! Finished up our booth 229 just in time for the Preview Night crowd last night. We had visitors come by to check out our custom built arcade cabinets, get some merchandise from the Gift Shop and even had a special visit from Hatty Hattington!”
New Year’s Wishlist: Nick Cescon
2014 was definitely an interesting year for games.
2014 was definitely an interesting year for games. Much like A Tale of Two Cities , it had extremes of some of the best title launches, and some of the worst; but overall the indie game community came out of 2014 on top, and it’s looking like we’re going to be heading into 2015 very strong. There are a lot of titles that I cannot wait to get my paws on over the next year, from story-crafting beat ’em ups to traversing galaxies with nothing but a space suit, 2015 promises to hold some of the most innovative indie games yet!
Moon Hunters had an extremely successful Kickstarter campaign in mid-September, and now this ultra stylized, pixel-art inspired cooperative beat ’em up is in development full force, with the eyes of the entire indie community tentatively waiting to see if they can deliver on their bold promises. However, if the gameplay is even half as good as the design or music, it’s going to be extremely successful. Blowing past their original backing goal, Moon Hunters was able to hit enough of their stretch goals that the content should far outweigh the price for the game, with additional features ranging from more playable classes, to more game content, to more consoles.
For anyone who’s missed playing with LEGOs, or has fantasized about the day they could attach guns to their favorite toy, be on the look out forin the New Year. A mix between LEGO crafting and Command and Conquer ‘s base building, Terra Tech has shown proof of concept through two episodes of Average Giants with their extremely original and well thought out game. You take the role of a commander, as member of one of a few different factions vying for control of an open landscape. Your goal is simple: Build, collect, destroy, collect. Not only will you hand build every vehicle in the game, you’ll also oversee your own base and its production of new parts and vehicles that you can assign the AI to control. There are so many crazy and interesting ideas that if executed properly, Terra Tech could easily be the most unique game of 2015.
Much like the last two games, Lost Orbit has style and design in droves. The player takes on the role of Harrison, a stranded astronaut whose only chance of making it home is literally flying through galaxy upon galaxy in nothing but his space suit trying to get back. It sounds slightly dreary but who says space has to be sad, or boring, or colorless. Lost Orbit has one of the most beautiful and intricate color palette’s I’ve ever seen in a space-based game. The gameplay is most easily described as a top-down endless puzzle runner, however you will definitely spend more time staring at the scenery than actually playing the game. It also has heavy RPG elements, as you level up and customize Harrison during the journey, and has one of the most touching and humbling fully-voiced stories that I’ve heard in an indie game. This is a must have for anyone; I think everything about the game is perfect, and I cannot wait for its Steam and PS4 launch next year.
League of Legends - PC Gamer UK's free game of the year
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Do you remember the tail end of 2010?
Do you remember the tail end of 2010? We all wore rags and lived in dirt-floored shacks, dinosaurs ruled the Earth, and 'free to play' was still a dirty set of words. 2011 saw those words climb into the word shower and wash themselves clean, courtesy of League of Legends.
Developers Riot Games released player figures for their five-on-five Defence of the Ancients interpretation in November 2011. The numbers were, frankly, dazzling. League of Legends now has more active players than World of Warcraft – yes, World of Warcraft – sporting a population of 11 million. More impressively, over four million people play LoL every day, and 1.5 million of those are on at the same time. To put that in context, all of Steam has 2.5 million concurrent users.
But capturing the short term attention spans of children, idiots, and child idiots was easy enough for the terrible free to play titles of the past. Craftily, League of Legends snared their monstrous userbase by bucking that trend, and by being crisp, clear, and blessed with thousands of ways to play. No wonder it's done so well – it stands out like a golden pin in a shed full of pigswill.
I play as Caitlyn. I stand in the bushes, peppering creeps with shots from my comically oversized sniper rifle. My basic attack is a single shot. My ultimate attack, gained after fifteen minutes of play and souped up over the next half an hour, is a bullet wider than Caitlyn's waistline that travels a quarter of the length of the map and slams a third out of its target's health bar. I kill people from a distance, and never let myself near other players.
Tim plays as Leona. She's a holy paladin, kitted out in gleaming golden armour and armed with a repertoire of incredibly earnest sayings. Leona's pure tank – she steams into combat, drawing attention and aggression from everyone, leaving other players free to escape or level their weapons on their stunned foes.
Owen plays as Teemo. He runs around behind the AI creep scuffles, watching and waiting for his moment to drop traps. Teemo's stealthy: he hides in plain sight, supporting his team and sneaking shots against any weakened foes. Well, he's as stealthy as he can be, at any rate, considering he's dressed as a fluffy white rabbit, and the traps he lays are easter eggs.
I always play DPS characters. Tim's tanked for years. Owen… Owen really likes dressing up as fluffy animals. That League of Legends lets us all play different games inside one title is impressive. That it let us play them even when it had one game mode and one map is amazing. That it's a free to play game with a level of polish, community, and developer support unseen outside of studios like Valve is utterly unheard of.
Highly recommended: Team Fortress 2, World of Tanks.
Light Fall Shakes up the Platforming Genre with its Shadow Core
Fans of platformers such as Limbo and Super Meat Boy will quickly take to Light Fall ‘s art style, with its use of predominantly dark-colored silhouettes.
‘s art style, with its use of predominantly dark-colored silhouettes. While there’s a lot that feels familiar in the background, the foreground focus is on platforming mechanics that make use of a Shadow Core.
Bishop Games uses a dark box that can be summoned on command as the centerpiece of Light Fall . The player can use the magical artifact in a multitude of ways to overcome any obstacles encountered throughout the game. The most obvious one is to use it as a jumping point in open spaces, but it can also work as shield against projectiles and dangers. At specific times, it serves as a key to opening doors, disarming traps, and solving puzzles. The creators want to encourage players to be creative and to use the Shadow Core as they see fit to progress.
Light Fall ‘s world is one enshrouded in darkness, taking place on the Forgotten World of Numbra. The main character embarks on a quest to uncover secrets about their past as well as the truth behind the mysterious disappearance of some inhabitants. While searching for clues, players venture through areas like the Lunar Plain, the Marshlands of Sorrow, and Vipera’s Forest, meeting friendly and hostile creatures alike. Stryx the Night Owl accompanies the main character throughout the game and narrates the story.
Light Fall recently went up on Kickstarter, asking for $20,000 (CAD) to fund its development. Donating $10 (about $8 USD) grants an “early bird” Steam key of the game for Windows or Mac, estimated for delivery sometime in June 2016. Linux platform support is a $30,000 stretch goal, and PlayStation Vita support unlocks at $40,000.
Check out Light Fall ‘s Kickstarter campaign page for more details about reward tiers and the game’s storyline. Visit Bishop Games’ Facebookand Twitterpages to stay up to date.
iOS Game Developers Breath A Sigh Of Relief With iPad Mini Announcement
Earlier this morning Apple had their (out of the norm) press conference where they announced a new Macbook, Mac Mini, iMac, and most importantly the iPad Mini and unexpected iPad 4.
Earlier this morning Apple had their (out of the norm) press conference where they announced a new Macbook, Mac Mini, iMac, and most importantly the iPad Mini and unexpected iPad 4. Leading up to the conference was speculation on what size the iPad Mini’s screen and resolution would be and whether developers would have to update their games so it would be compatible with the device.
The iPad Mini has been unveiled and it’s touting a 7.9 inch 1,024 x 768 resolution display. That’s the exact same resolution as the iPad 2 slimmed down into a 7.9 inch size meaning their won’t be any work for developer’s apps to run at the correct resolution. For the consumers, it was bad news as many were hoping for a Retina Display, but instead were met with a low-resolution device priced significantly higher than competing Android tablets at $329.
With game developers rushing to pushto support the new iPhone 5 screen size, the announcement today was a huge sigh of relief. In fact, many developers voiced their content on Twitter as the conference went on. DemonStudiosasked the community “How many other devs gave a sigh of relief that the # iPadmini isn’t an all-new resolution :) Great price too, think it will do well.” While Nexus Game Studio, developers of Infinitewhich releases tomorrow, said “Thank god for us not needing to redesign our apps for iPad Mini.”
With Apple looking to push more products out yearly, as shown by the announcement of the iPad 4 just six months out from its predecessor, the sigh of relief is understandable.
Battlefield 3 - PC Gamer UK's online game of the year
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Launch bugs and connection problems can't dent Battlefield 3's sense of ambition.
Launch bugs and connection problems can't dent Battlefield 3's sense of ambition. Call of Duty might have bagged the 'modern warfare' label, but Battlefield 3 shows us what a modern online shooter can really be. Developers DICE have tapped into the potential of modern PCs to create online battles on a massive scale, and with technology that makes its competitors look years out of date.
A 64 player scrap on one of Battlefield 3's largest maps creates a tapestry of war stories. Your experiences as a lone footsoldier form just one strand in that overall picture. You can spend half an hour in a tense sniper battle for control of an important ridge, while another player can spend that time in an AA vehicle hunting choppers in the skies above.
Battlefield 3 is at its best when these stories intersect. Fighting for control of a hilltop in the middle of the sprawling Caspian Border map, I found myself lying in a bush, taking fire from an attack chopper. There was a sudden hefty CRUNCH, and the flaming corpse of the helicopter crashed to the ground, only six feet from my head. A friendly jet blasted overhead, barrel rolled to celebrate the kill and then flew off to become part of someone else's story half a click down the road.
Battlefield 3 only fails when it tries to force these moments. The single player campaign's linear progression of scripted street battles disappoint somewhat, but online, the moments of drama the designers try so hard to shoehorn into the story mode happen organically, and they happen all the time. It's co-op on a massive scale. Quite reassuringly, the smart XP bonuses dish out the same rewards for supportive play and teamwork as they do for aggressive actions like shooting lots of men and blowing up objectives.
The squad system works beautifully, it is more important than ever on the biggest maps. Squadmates provide mobile spawn points that all but eliminate spawn camping. Squad experience bonuses encourage teams to stick together and fight as units, providing useful focus on maps that could all too easily become overwhelming.
They also give friends a way to stick together. It'll be hard to forget the fantastic round I spent with Graham, Owen and Rich riding around Tehran Highway in an armoured personnel carrier we dubbed the “battle bus.” We skidded up to each control point in turn, diving out, tearing apart defenders, capping the objective and then vanishing into the night. You can never single-handedly win a game of Battlefield 3 for your team, but there's just enough room to be a hero. In those moments, those rare, joyful, exhilarating moments, Battlefield 3 is better than anything else online.
Read our Battlefield 3review for more.
Highly Recommended: League of Legends, Minecraft.
IGM Forum Find: Viktor is a Pig on a Mission…for Himself
Point-and-click adventure games are one of the classic stand-bys of PC gaming, but may also be one of the most diverse, style-wise.
Point-and-click adventure games are one of the classic stand-bys of PC gaming, but may also be one of the most diverse, style-wise. From the Sam and Max series to Night of the Rabbit , the animation and stories are spread throughout so many preferences that many people can find at least one that they enjoy. Another contender is our newest Forum Find, Viktor by Studio Spektar, the tale of a boar who fancies himself to be a future king, if only he can get past his shortcomings. From a street-sweeper in Austria-Hungary to a potential royal, players help Viktor to realize his dream through puzzle-solving and creative reasoning.
There is a playable demo of Viktor for those interested, and it can be found on Studio Spektar’s Kickstarter, where they are asking for $10,000 to complete the game. With 16 days to go, they’re only 10% of the way there, but if you’re interested in supporting it, visit that link and pledge a contribution. The game’s initial release is to be on PC, but they’re hoping to receive enough funding to release it on Android and iOS devices, as well. If you’re unable to support the game’s production financially, you can always vote for it on Steam Greenlight.
It has references to Tesla. What more could you want?
For more information on Viktor and Studio Spektar, visit their website. You can also follow them on Twitterfor up-to-the-minute updates on production. If you’d like to interact with the developers directly, and see updates as they post, check out the original forum post. You can ask questions about Viktor directly, and give feedback!
Have an indie game you’re working on, and want to show it off directly to fans and other devs? Join the Indie Game Mag Forumsand Tell Us About Your Indie Game! You could be featured right here on IGM Forum Finds!
Total War: Shogun 2 - PC Gamer UK's strategy game of the year
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We elevate the Total War games beyond simply being good strategy games because we believe they're story-engines: that not only do they offer deep and difficult decisions about how to paint the map your colour, but they also entertain you with your own genius.
Shogun 2 is a spectacular return to form. Partly, it's the period: a time in Japanese history when heroes and villains rise and fall. Partly, it's the technology: there's little in PC gaming that can match the drama of a full speed cavalry charge. But mostly, it's because the game creates interesting drama. The time when you had to rush an army home to fend off a betrayal from your neighbour clan. The time when you hid an army and engineered an ambush. The time when your veteran clan leader dismounted, and held the line while thousands of peasants rolled into the front gate. That time when… you've got the stories. You remember.
Highly recommended: Frozen Synapseand Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty.
Pale-faced Action RPG Ashen Coming to Xbox One
One of the lesser-known dangers facing humanity is ash.
One of the lesser-known dangers facing humanity is ash. Not the trainer, but simple, flaky ash. The various supervolcanoes around the world have the potential to cover the entire world in ash, effectively cutting off most sunlight, and turning our world into a largely unbreathable wasteland.
There is a rumble in the distance, and then a light.
Through leaking eyes you make out a peak on the horizon,
choking the land in a cloud of ash.
Nothing ever shone so bright.
Ashen and its developer, Aurora44, take this threat seriously, and adds into it the fear of monsters, magic, and the unknown. The world is covered in ash, and players must choose whether those few refugees that they find in the gray dust are worth trying to help, or if their best chances for survival are alone.
Ashen is a third-person action RPG which the developer says is about “forging relationships” and involves exploration and survival in a world overcome by ash, swarming with magical creatures who wish only to consign players to a gray and white grave. The game features Passive Multiplayer, which suggests something along the lines of Dark Souls’ multiplayer, and of course, takes place in an open world.
Aurora44 is bringing Ashen to both the Xbox One and PC, with no mention of other platforms at the moment. You can learn a bit more about the game from its website, and you can check out the trailer up above.
Northern Lights Fall into Shadow
Imagine a once powerful kingdom, conquered at the hands of an unknown enemy, and crying out for a hero.
Imagine a once powerful kingdom, conquered at the hands of an unknown enemy, and crying out for a hero. No, they’re not looking for Hercules, who is far too much of a vagabond for their liking; they require someone who can raise their own kingdom from the ground up, negotiate complex trade agreements with neighboring lands, and put your expertise with spells and weapons to the test in order to defend your people when under siege. They require someone like you.
Such is the epic plot behind Northern Shadow, a text-based strategy RPG that gives you the power to rebuild an empire, or watch it crumble. Whether or not the game is somehow indirectly referencing the Aurora Borealis is unknown, but we can speculate. What we do know, is that Northern Shadow will be split up into an overworld and underworld, the latter being a network of caves, underground cities, and mazes. Furthermore, different cities within your kingdom can concentrate on different and unique areas like mining or food production, and there will also be an optional main story players can follow. One thing that the Northern Shadow creators emphasize is that ultimately, it is player skill, not raw strength or stats that will contribute to triumphs in combat.
Northern Shadow is scheduled for release during Summer of 2014 for PC, Mac and Linux.
The Humble Bundle guys - PC Gamer's community heroes of the year
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To give you some idea of how indie Wolfire games are, the rabbit-based kung fu game they're making is not the first rabbit-based kung fu game they've made.
To give you some idea of how indie Wolfire games are, the rabbit-based kung fu game they're making is not the first rabbit-based kung fu game they've made. It's called Overgrowth, and it looks great, but it probably won't change the indie scene forever. Their other project has already done that.
They launched the first Humble Indie Bundle last year, to enormous success: it's just a bunch of great indie games, you pay what you want for them, and a cut of the money goes to charity. At first it doesn't exactly sound like commercial genius – people generally pay about $5 for games worth at least $20 – but the good cause, slick presentation and friendly attitude created a perfect storm of goodwill.
These games have no DRM, they all work on Windows, Linux and Mac, and if you have any trouble with them the organisers offer quick, friendly and efficient support. The result: the bundles have now taken a total of more than $10 million in under two years.
But one of the main reasons these guys are our community heroes this year is what they've done with that success: they've used it as a platform to launch (or relaunch) a range of great indie games that deserve a broader audience. Four times this year, they've released new bundles that showcase a particular game or developer: Trine, Frozen Synapse, Voxatron, and most recently Introversion's whole catalogue. Each one has taken more than $700,000, a vast success for games that genuinely deserve it.
The latest, Humble Indie Bundle 4, launched on December 13th and made $500,000 within its first few hours. The final total will be divided between the organisers, at least seven game developers, and two charities. But the sheer popularity of these bundles, the latest in particular, makes each of those shares substantial. In many cases, the bundles guarantee that a lot of great indie developers are able to continue making new games for us to enjoy.
The Humble phenomenon is the latest stage of an ongoing revolution in indie games. First, tools like Game Maker, Unity and a free version of the Unreal engine made it dramatically easier for anyone to make a game with no startup cash. Then Steam led a charge for digital distribution that left the indie-friendly platform the dominant player in PC gaming. Now, small developers have a new channel to get enormous exposure and sales for great games, without either a marketing budget or the need for a mainstream publisher.
It's a huge catalyst for getting great and interesting games to the populace at large, and it's making PC gaming better for everyone.
Highly recommended: DJ Wheat and Tastosis.
Greenlight To Announce Games In Smaller Batches, Quietly Approves Three New Games
From this point onward, Steam Greenlight will release “greenlit” games in smaller batches, according to a on the official Greenlight blog.
“We have decided to Greenlight a smaller batch this time, so we can move more quickly,” the post reads. “There are lots of titles getting attention, so we are likely to continue Greenlighting titles in this quicker, but smaller batch fashion.”
The post goes onto explain that the four titles (three games, one program) were selected using the same criteria, despite the smaller amount of time in between Greenlight release announcements, as has regularly been used to select the chosen titles.
Edge of Space, Papers, Please, and Veneticawere the three games released with this batch.
Steam users can continue to browse through the massive catalog of games attempting to become verified on Steam through Greenlight, on the official Greenlight website. All games which are “greenlit” will become available on Steam when completed, or through Steam’s new Early Access program, for development build releases.
Review: ‘Bin-Glo’ Does Not Glow
The premise behind Bin-Glo , which was posted to the App Store back in June of 2011, is that you pull a spring back to shoot a ball at a bunch of numbered bubbles in order to hit the bubbles listed on your “card”.
, which was posted to the App Store back in June of 2011, is that you pull a spring back to shoot a ball at a bunch of numbered bubbles in order to hit the bubbles listed on your “card”. Add in a number of different modes, some dance music, a dull neon-ish UI, and there’s your game. Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? Well, the irony is that the game’s concept isn’t really that bad. It’s just the execution that is.
From the start, I knew there were going to be problems when the game prompted an Open Feint login screen. The Open Feint service was shut down in December of 2012, and prior to that, all developers using the service were asked to remove the API from their games to avoid confusing their players. After skipping the now defunct Open Feint options, I continued on my path of disenchantment as I perused the game’s menus. It’s clear not a lot of thought was put into the colorful yet very simple pseudo-neon looking user interface. The addition of dance music only adds to the banality of the experience.
Confusion settled in when I tapped the Play button and was presented with the mode select screen. There are two main game modes, Classic and Maze, and then there are about 20 “Crazy Modes” that modify the gameplay of the two primary modes. Fortunately, only the default Normal mode in the Crazy Mode list is available from the start, so I only needed to choose between Classic and Maze with the Normal mode modification. Still with me? Actually, after looking at it for a minute, I realized how it was set up, and the confusion dissipated. However, in general, it’s a good idea to ensure your players are not confused at all when first starting to play.
The only real difference between Classic and Maze is that Maze adds some walls to the playing field, making it more difficult to achieve the goal. Thus, Classic is the better mode with which to start. Unfortunately, because of poor controls and a major bug with said controls, neither mode is desirable. You’re provided with a spring on the left side which, when pulled back and released, shoots a ball at a handful of numbered and colored bubbles (yes, the game labels them as bubbles, though they look more like glowing buttons). The first and most noticeable problem is that the farther you pull back on the spring, the closer your thumb gets to the pivot point of the spring, and the more difficult it is to aim precisely. As you may know, the closer an actor is to the pivot point of a rotating object, the less movement is required to rotate that object. However, the sensitivity of the spring does not adjust, so small thumb movements close to the pivot point result in sudden wide angle changes. To add frustration on top of frustration, if you pull back so that your thumb is just at the edge of the screen, you will often encounter a game-killing bug that causes the spring, ball, and all bubbles to disappear. You then must restart the level. The upside of all of this is that you don’t have to pull back that far to shoot adequately. But that doesn’t mean people won’t. In fact, it’s easier to see the ball’s projected path if you do. Simply put, leaving such a serious bug in the game is a big no-no.
Even if you can manage the control issues, the gameplay is still lackluster. Out of the handful of bubbles in the field, one or two of them are ones on your list at the top of the screen and thus ones you want to hit. Each time you hit one, it disappears, and a new bubble appears. A timer tries to keep you from being too methodical, but many times I completed a level without even paying attention to where I was shooting. Later stages add fire bubbles that reduce the time left, and every fifth level is an entirely different game in which you compete against an AI “shadow” opponent in seeing who can pop specific bubbles the fastest. A series of numbered bubbles scroll along the top, and the one that’s highlighted is the one you need to find and pop amongst about 10 other bubbles on the field. This mode broke the bank for me. The AI was always faster in general than I, scoring twice as many bubbles. After trying a few times, I finally gave up and moved on to try the other modes.
Maze mode (a misnomer as the walls do not really create a maze – they’re just barriers laid out perpendicularly to the path of the ball) was mentioned above, and the rest of the modes simply add or change one element of the game, such as increasing or decreasing the bounce of the ball or causing the ball and bubbles to move erratically. One other feature is barely worth mentioning, as it’s used only once in a while: shaking the device will cause bubbles to move slightly, allowing you to more easily hit one bubble sitting behind another. Finally, if you get tired of hearing the dance music (which is easy since it’s one song repeated over and over), your only option is to disable all sound, thus turning off the sound effects as well. And of course, playing your personal music library is not an option. All just icing on the cake.
Whether you’re a fan of bingo or pool or even of games in general, I recommend staying away from this one. But if for some reason you feel the need for some masochistic gameplay, at least Bin-Glo is at the popular price of free.
[review pros=”Numerous game modes
Colorful graphics
Easy to pickup gameplay
Free” cons=”Major control bug
Controls are not user friendly
Lackluster gameplay
Very difficult player vs. AI level
Repetitive music” score=20]
Portal 2 - PC Gamer UK's co-op game of the year
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In most co-operative games, players don't work together so much as work beside one another.
In most co-operative games, players don't work together so much as work beside one another. The closest you'll get to real teamwork is pulling the trigger at the same time. Portal 2 doesn't work that way. Its co-op problems are impossible without a friend, and each reality-twisting solution forces you to share a brain.
My brain is neurotic, and though he hopefully never noticed, playing with Tom was competitive, too. Every time he worked out the solution first, it stung. Every time my suggested solution turned out to be wrong, I was convinced he thought I was an idiot. The problem is that you're never just wrong in Portal 2, your idea is stupid, deadly and physically impossible.
Thank god it's also funny. In singleplayer, Portal 2 is a finely scripted sitcom starring a woman, a robot and a potato. In co-op, it's a slapstick buddy comedy, with both players as comic foil and GLaDOS as your straight man. When either of us would screw up, Tom and I wouldn't yell or criticise one another – we left that to Owen and Tim, who were playing at the same time. Instead, we'd laugh, sometimes make P-Body and Atlas high-five, and leave my brain to find reasons to be paranoid on its own.
Having a friend along cancels out all the loneliness you feel in Portal 2's singleplayer. It's a deliberate part of that experience that Chell is isolated amidst the world of test chambers, but it's not always a relaxing way to spend a few hours in the way the co-operative mode can be. Once you've completed both, you're also far more likely to return to the co-op mode a second time than you are the singleplayer. Even knowing the solutions while playing with someone who is on their first run through is fun, as you get to step back and play shepherd to someone else's enjoyment.
As much as acting out the solution is kinetic and wonderful, it was the thought process I enjoyed most. Tom and I would walk in to a new challenge and think: “Um, wait, how do we do this?” We'd both stand still, playing the level through in our mind, once, twice, wait, I've got it! If I place a portal here – foont! – and then another here – pshoon! – then I can cover that floor with slime. Then, if I place two new portals at either end – foont! pshoon! – and now you run between them. Woosh. Woosh, woosh, wooshwooshwooshwoosh. And now I place the exit portal here – pshoon! – which will – Wheeeeeeee!
Read our Portal 2 reviewfor more.
Highly Recommended: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Fifa 12.
Apple’s App Store Approval Process Called into Question
If you’re a game developer, you might think that the process of publishing a game and making it available for people is exceedingly difficult.
If you’re a game developer, you might think that the process of publishing a game and making it available for people is exceedingly difficult. And why not? It’s fair to assume that the people making money on this would want to avoid incomplete work, and avoid any kind of false advertising. But, at least for Apple, this might not be the case.
An anonymous source lead the Indie Game Magazine team to an app that is currently available for download in the app store with a ridiculous title. Here’s the name of the game: Flappy Bird: touch on the white piano tiles angry candy go boom beach tile don’t temple surfers step tap quiz up star crush hit saga 2 family wars guy farmville 2048 subway run farm heroes heads sim-s hbo spotify horde of pandora birds free games. This isn’t a joke by the way, the app is available right here.
The game is essentially a copy of the popular game Flappy Bird with slightly different graphics. But the actual name of the app once downloaded is Fly Bird: speed. But that’s not the real issue here. The real issue is, how and why did Apple allow this game to be put up on the app store? It’s obvious that the game is just a Flappy Bird copy. It’s also obvious that none of the other tags in the title relate to the game at all. This developer is simply using terrible Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques to force it to the top of the list of any search. But there it is, apparently since May 16 of this year.
The Making Of Metal Gear: part four
The Making Of Metal Gear: part four The Making Of – Metal Gear: Ghost Babel Metal Gear: Ghost Babel is the most unfairly overlooked of the Metal Gear family. Released in the UK simply as Metal Gear Solid, it’s often lumped in with other budget handheld tie-ins of the day but is actually a fantastic stealth game that plays like an evolved sequel to the original MSX titles. It’s also mysterious, since
Orcs Must Die! Unchained announced, is a multiplayer lane-pusher
Has anyone stopped to consider why orcs must die?
orcs must die? No? Well, okay then. As long as we're blindly following that statement, we can at least take advantage of new ways to dispatch the green-skinned irritants. Gameforge and Robot Entertainment have announced Orcs Must Die! Unchained, a multiplayer adaptation of the third-person tower defence game.
Judging from the announcement and its trailer, the game does look a bit MOBA-ish. That said, there is some of the old OMD DNA on show, leading to the hope that this will be an interesting angle on the idea, rather than another me-too grab at the genre's massive audience. For one thing, there's also a card-collecting element.
It's a 5 vs 5 game (naturally), in which you pick from a roster of varied heroes (naturally), escort your minions (naturally), and attempt to destroy your opponent's fortress (naturally). The addition of the Orcs Must Die! trap template provides the potential for more divergent tactics, but this is perhaps not the most exciting return for the series.
The game will be free-to-play when it launches later this year. As is the way of these things, a beta is currently running, but requires the purchase of a founders packto access.
Terra Tech Preview – Kickstarter Launch
The team at Payload Studios is hard at work developing Terra Tech for Mac and PC users, and has just recently launched their Kickstarter campaign in order to help fund and quicken the development process.
for Mac and PC users, and has just recently launched their Kickstarter campaign in order to help fund and quicken the development process. Along with this, they’ve provided a pre-alpha demo of the game for interested gamers.
Terra Tech is a physics-driven, vehicle-building, combat and planetary exploration game. The demo currently includes the normal mode, and two different build modes that test a player’s creativity and the limits of their vehicle.
The building mechanics are simple but also allow for customization in the aesthetic look and the functionality. It uses a block-based building system, where each side represents a grid or area that can attach to another block. Each player vehicle has a cockpit that needs to remain attached for the vehicle to stay together, and cannot be destroyed or the game ends.
The game starts with single cube blocks with six attachable areas and gradually offers longer blocks with eight areas, to even larger construction vehicle-sized blocks. There are also several attachments that add to the capabilities of vehicles besides weapons. These include wheels, wings, hover engines, jet thrusters, and radar.
The normal game mode provides what is likely only a part of the experience that gamers can look forward to. At the start of the game, players run through a quick tutorial that leaves them with a small, two-block vehicle, with four small wheels and a machine gun on the top. They then enter a fight with a similar vehicle almost immediately, allowing players to start getting used to the controls for movement and combat. When a block that makes up a vehicle takes enough damage, it falls off, and when the cockpit is destroyed, the entire vehicle falls apart.
Players can quickly use these different blocks and attachable features to enhance and upgrade their own vehicle. This must be done quickly, as there are enemies consistently spawning nearby. Players will need to take into the account the balance of the vehicle, since the game physics are realistic. The game cannot be paused in order to spend time building, meaning that players need to think of their ideas ahead of time or on the spot.
The other two modes in the demo are vehicle building modes. One is called Rocket, and provides players with themeans to create vehicles that can fly for a short period of time with the aid of rockets and thrusters. Players are then challenged to see how far they can make their vehicle travel while it’s off of the ground. The other build mode is called Checkpoint Race, and offers two different maps, each with a different set of blocks to use. One offers a land-based challenge that tracks how long the player takes getting from the first checkpoint to the last with their newly built vehicle. The second map is the same, except that the vehicle constructed will be an aircraft and the different checkpoints must be reached without touching the ground at all. It should be noted that flight is an interesting beast altogether within this game.
Terra Tech offers an interesting feature in which players can tweet their vehicle creations, which can then be loaded and used by other players. As there is an option to see tweets from all users, it’s not necessary to be friends with people who have the game.
Terra Tech will offer some multiplayer options, though it was not currently within the Mac demo. Payload Studios promises to provide resource gathering and AI drone creation as part of the normal gameplay. To learn more about this fascinating game, please visit Terra Tech ’s Kickstarterpage. Gamers can also follow Payload Studios on Twitter @TerraTechGame.
“Rockstar left me enough rope to hang myself”, says L.A. Noire dev
“Rockstar left me enough rope to hang myself”, says L.A. Noire dev As ex-Team Bondi chief Brendan McNamara reveals Whore of the Orient, he reveals a few nuggets of gossip to gamesTM about the true nature of those ugly rumours about conflict between Bondi and Rockstar’s creative vision for LA Noire. When the GTA developer joined the project, McNamara reveals, there were some new decisions made on casting
Today's other news: Resident Evil 6, Borderlands 2, Orcs Must Die! 2, and more
Today's helping of news we didn't post includes a shiny Resident Evil 6 trailer and a quip montage from a truly deranged little girl in Borderlands 2, among others.
Today's helping of news we didn't post includes a shiny Resident Evil 6 trailer and a quip montage from a truly deranged little girl in Borderlands 2, among others. Also, Gangnam Style synchronized Skyrim dance. Enough said.
The official Tokyo Game Show trailerfor Resident Evil 6 how things went tentacled-pear-shape. At first glance, Tiny Tina seems like a displaced unfortunate in Borderlands 2's cutthroat world of Pandora. That's when she starts talking. Just Cause 2's mayhem-filled multiplayer mod helped along a " brighter future" for the franchise, according to developer Avalanche. Contrary to what dwarves tell you, orcs just don't pop out of the ground, and Orcs Must Die! 2's $5 Family Ties DLC(releasing tomorrow on Steam) proves it with the biggest orc matriarch wielding an even bigger spiked ball of death. Watch a cop-evading sportster slowly trade rubber for mud in Need for Speed: Most Wanted's latest trailer.SUPER OBSTACLE BOY – 8-Bit Princess in Peril
A little while back we covered an iOS game called Impulse , by Matthias Falk , which seemed positively charming in its own 8-bit kind of way.
which seemed positively charming in its own 8-bit kind of way. Now, Matthias is ready to announce his upcoming game, SUPER OBSTACLE BOY , which means we’re ready to tell you all about it, too.
Now, you’re probably thinking that the title, SUPER OBSTACLE BOY , reminds you of something, and I’m just going to come right out and say it. It’s Super Meat Boy . Not only does its name bear a striking resemblance, but the game’s concept is also quite similar; an unforgiving puzzle-platformer in which the protagonist has to rescue his girlfriend by running, leaping and often dying his way through the levels. Ironically, the girl – or rather, as it’s a retro-styled 8-bit game, female block with legs – is called ‘Rescue Girl’, so maybe she’ll end up coming to your rescue at some point. If not, I’d suggest she think about legally changing her name.
Anyway, SUPER OBSTACLE BOY will contain over 100 levels at its release, and each will feature different styles of gameplay, graphics, collectibles and secrets. That makes it even more amazing, then, that this game is embodying the entire concept of ‘independent’, and is being developed solely by Matthias with absolutely no budget whatsoever. That includes design, graphics, the soundtrack, and even any new dresses that Rescue Girl demands during development.
As someone who never got to play Super Meat Boy – I don’t have XBLA and I can’t be messing around with controller support on Steam – I am excited by the thought of SUPER OBSTACLE BOY , which looks set to bring the game’s essence over to iOS platforms. And, though there isn’t yet a trailer available, the screenshots make me think that variety will be this game’s specialty. You should be able to see if my prediction is right later this month when the game is set to release for $2.99 on the App store.
L.A. Noire review
L.A. Noire review Why is there an ‘e’ on the end of ‘noir’? Why does Cole tackle every single crime scene with all the subtlety and grace of a curious chimp? And why is he able to perform forward rolls without damaging his lovely hat? Why, in a city full of aspiring actors and actresses, can nobody stray from the truth without suddenly needing to scratch a chronic neck itch or without trying to look
TF2 Halloween Update adds hats, maps and an evil boss monster
Team Fortress 2's new Halloween update has landed, adding new maps, a Saxton Hale mask, Halloween hats, and the Horseless Headless Horsemann - an axe wielding boss monster.
Team Fortress 2's new Halloween update has landed, adding new maps, a Saxton Hale mask, Halloween hats, and the Horseless Headless Horsemann - an axe wielding boss monster. Full details below.
The pumpkin headed maniac will be guarding Mann's Manor, one of two new maps decorated by the winners of the Art Pass competition. He's a new game mode unto himself: stray to close to him and you're 'It' - his primary target. He kills in one hit and has at least 3000 hitpoints (more on busy servers). But you can hit other players with a melee attack to make them 'It' and get him off your back.
Apparentlyif you hit the Horsemann himself with a melee weapon and survive until he dies, and you'll be rewarded with some Unusual Haunted Metal Scrap. You can use that to craft some of the new hats, or the Horsemann's enormous axe for the Demoman - see herefor the recipes. It looks amazing, but doesn't seemto have any positive bonuses over the Eyelander.
Fight for long enough on the new map and you might just find a Haunted Halloween Gift: a box that can include any of 9 new Halloween masks, one for each class. To craft the coveted Saxton Hale mask, for which there's an achievement, you have to combine all 9 class masks.
The other new map is Mountain Lab - not very Halloweeny but beautifully made. Some shots of both:
The Mann Co store now sells Noise Makers: devices that will let you blast spooky sounds to the server you're on. The noises on offer include "banshee", "crazy laugh" and a bunch more. They wear out after 25 uses, though, so you won't be able to forever fill the map you're on with the sounds of "stabby".
The new hats include a Frankenstein's monster style forehead for the Heavy called the Cadaver's Cranium, and a meat cleaver that sticks out of your head as though you've been involved in a horrible cooking accident. Those two are in for good, but The Spine-Chilling Skull mask and the Voodoo Juju hat will only be available to buy during this Halloween event - but you can wear them all year round. At £7 each, that's an expensive temptation.
See Valve's own Scream Fortress pagefor more - and click on the gravestone for a slice of Mann family history. And let us know what you think of the update in the comments. Is it evil to sell hats for a limited time only?
InDepth with IGM: Guns of Icarus w/ the IGM Armada Stream Team
IGM Presents… InDepth with IGM!
IGM Presents… InDepth with IGM! In this weekly webseries we take some of our favorite indie games, then dissect and analyze them to find out what makes them fun, what makes them horrible, and what makes them successful! Come watch (and “follow”) the show live on our hitboxchannel every Tuesday night at 9:00pm EDT.
This Segment: Guns of Icarus Online
Host: Nick Cescon (@Avg_Gmr)
Original Air Date: May 13, 2014
Test Drive Unlimited 2 free DLC hits this weekend
Upon release, Test Drive Unlimited 2 was a bit of a mess.
Upon release, Test Drive Unlimited 2 was a bit of a mess. Thankfully Joystiqhave reported that an update hitting the PC this weekend adds new content and irons out some of the bugs, and is available for free.
The Exploration Pack adds new cars, events and outfits. There's also a stereoscopic 3D mode added should you have the set-up and wish to race in all three dimensions. The complete patch list can be found after the jump.
New content
20 new events 2 new events types Extreme convoy: one mistake and the mission is over Timed convoy: it is a convoy mission...but with a timer! Each completed event gives access to a new wreck 20 new wrecks give 2 new cars (10 wrecks = 1 car): Lancia Stratos version Rallye Dodge charger 1969 3 new discovery levels 1 new set of clothes (explorer) Male/Female 2 new MP Races (Specifically for the Lancia Stratos version Rallye) 3D on PC & PS3 TV Media: Help Channel (to explain new features and content)The update includes the following Gameplay improvements:
Players can sell their cars in the used car dealer (including cars won in duels) Effect of collisions with rocks and trees is now less severe Instant challenges have been tweaked to exclude very short or very long races Cruising as a passenger now unlocks roads Lower car-road impact sounds New restrictions on MP races (to stop the prevalence of top end cars in all races) Session lost messages are now more descriptive Koenigsegg CCXR performance tweaked to be competitive with Bugatti Veyrons Y axis inversion option added Additional race restrictions added to avoid Bugattis having complete dominance Lobby: Club cars are now allowed in multiplayer and solo modes We scrutinize savegames for specific hacks and take measures when they are detected Nat info text displayed on the Start screen if a potential network configuration problem is detected Lobby: « With/Without collisions » info added Lobby: « Inner club » & « club vs club » info icons added Players can now cancel on the search games loading screen Chat window moved and positioned according to the game modeThe update includes fixes for the following documented bugs:
Cars can be launched into the air by glitches in the road Cars can end up in the sky if the player goes to the map while their car is falling Possible to get through walls/scenery by going in and out of map mode Unable to enter sessions with a co-driver Cars sometimes turn invisible Unable to start a multiplayer race with the Caterham Superlight R500 Unable to play club races with club cars The Final Cup can be repeated to earn the grand prize an unlimited number of times Missing car door interior when switching to some low-res models Stickers not appearing when in a friend's garage Invisible avatars immediately after a club upgrade Hawaii - collision problem on the "Hydro House" Collisions problems in many sectors Infinite loading in sticker shop when no more storage space is available Crash when loading a photo in MyTDUHouse Crash at the end of chase mode online Crash at end of a duel Crashes in chase mode & freeride Crash when exiting a championship challenge Other random crashes Sticker shop: Matt paint available twice, replacing metallic as an option Mylife Info : Incorrect number for clothes (collector box) & road unlocked (cruising box) Pause menu: MyLife and Player info incorrect for levels higher than 60 Gameplay icons not removed when you press start on the results screen Wrecks: Instant Challenge invites still active when opening wrecks popup Map : Players sometimes displayed at the top-west corner of the map, in the sea News: Not possible to delete news items Club member list not updated when the president fires someone (members not notified) Disappearing GPS road sections on Hawaii Logitech on-wheel LED not accurately representing RPM and engine danger zone Unable to sell pre order and DLC cars in game Casino: Rankings not appearing correctly Casino: Roulette exploit Casino: Crash on slot machines when another player wins a jackpot and leaves the room Casino: Crash at level 10 cut-scene Casino: Crash when you use back on track at the entrance to the Casino in Hawaii Casino: Changing profile when you win a car makes it impossible to win or purchase carsOmori Kickstarter is Black and White and Bleeds Rainbow
I’ll give you a minute to watch the trailer and pause on the bits with text.
Omori began as a blog narrative and short-lived online comic series back in 2011, but writer, illustrator, and developer Omocat saw a bigger vision for her characters: A surreal, psychological-horror RPG – heavy on the surreal – which is up now on Kickstarter. In the game, a “depressed otaku” named Omori travels between two worlds, each one simultaneously welcoming and mysterious, but only one of which is real. A heavily story/character-driven game, Omori promises to offer players over 60 NPCs to relate with and become attached to, as well as the ability to select the name and gender of every character in the player’s party.
Omori will make use of some RPG conventions, such as turn-based battling and dungeons, but Omocat and her team of developers are incorporating their own intriguing twists. Instead of ‘burned’ or ‘poisoned’, battles will have “statuses and states based off real human emotions and conditions.” It’s these quirks, and the game’s utter zaniness, that make Omori so intriguing. Early screenshots show some levels that are entirely black and white, which Omocat calls the “White Space”, while others are so full of color that it feels like a different game. Surreal and intriguing in its art design, Omori is a Kickstarter to keep your eye on.
Just over 30 hours after launch, Omori hit its $22k base funding, and has since made over $50k, 9 days later. The current stretch goal ($65k) is to add additional mini-games playable via in-game arcade machines, and you can pledge towards the game now to make it happen.
E3: MotionScan set to change games forever
E3: MotionScan set to change games forever One of our E3 highlights was one of the most unexpected. In a nondescript meeting room at the back of the LA Convention Centre’s West Hall, we saw what we could only be described as the future of games. It was a brief, but breathtaking, look at the tech that’s powering LA Noire’s facial animation system, MotionScan. Created by Depth Analysis, itself an offshoot
Test Drive Unlimited 2 patch fixes login issues, free DLC incoming
Atari have released a patch to fix some of the major issues with Test Drive Unlimited 2.
Atari have released a patch to fix some of the major issues with Test Drive Unlimited 2. Disappearing friends lists, invites, Clubs, save file corruption and login issues are all tackled in the update. As a way of saying sorry for the launch problems, Eden Games will be releasing the first chunk of premium DLC to all players for free.
The patch notes were posted on the Test Drive Unlimited 2 forums. Sadly there's no mention of a fix for sunglasses getting stuck on racer's faces.
Friends list should no longer disappear Login issues should be resolved Friend invites should now consistently work Club issue should be fixed. Clubs are now online. Further enhancements to prevent file corruption have been added. Additional back-end functionality to recover previously corrupted save files has been aded.Eden Games have made a statement explaining their decision to release the Exploration Pack DLC for free. "Our community has been amazing and helped us quickly identify a number of issues, which we have made significant progress in addressing in the upcoming patches. We really appreciate your patience in this matter and we would like to announce that we will be making the first premium DLC for the game free for everybody as a way of saying thank you."
The exploration pack adds new wrecks to the game that will let players discover and unlock the Lancia Stratos version Rally and the 1969 Dodge Charger.
Yoshio Sakamoto discusses Metroid 64, Metroid Dread and the 3DS
Yoshio Sakamoto discusses Metroid 64, Metroid Dread and the 3DS Metroid: Other M is released in Europe today. Have you read many reviews? Unfortunately I haven’t been able to see the reviews from the gaming press yet. I’m very interested to read them, of course, but I’ve been having problems with internet access while on my European tour. So, maybe you can tell me what the critical reaction has been
Test Drive Unlimited 2 trailer takes racing to Ibiza
The original Test Drive Unlimited was a free roaming open world racer set on a Hawaiian island.
The original Test Drive Unlimited was a free roaming open world racer set on a Hawaiian island. You could cruise around looking for races and earning money to buy new cars and houses, and it was a promising precursor to games like the excellent Burnout Paradise, with an MMO-slant that's still unique today. Test Drive Unlimited 2 is looking to usurp Criterion's street racer with a sequel that boasts bigger and prettier locations, showcased in the latest trailer, embedded below.
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Our Verdict
Fascinating, fast, and friendly but far too forgiving.
Fascinating, fast, and friendly but far too forgiving. Wait for the patches and iron man/lady mods.
My ministers are looking at me like I've lost my mind. The country is an economic basket case, we're trailing in the polls, and my next policy decision is... tougher abortion laws. I pause for the gasps to subside, then, like a political Poirot, explain.
Restricting abortions will mollify the religious component of the party membership in preparation for next turn's ban on teaching creationism. Returning Darwinism to its rightful place in the curriculum, together with a boost to science funding, will help address the 'technology backwater' situation that is doing so much damage to GDP. A healthy GDP together with some canny VAT and corporation tax changes, should, in the long run, equal prosperity and – pause to sip water and anticipate imminent applause – the voter support necessary for victory in the next election.
Welcome to the splendidly tangled world of government sim Democracy 3, a game where electorates are complex entities comprising over 21 overlapping social groups, and economies are vast cat's cradles of cause and effect.
The web of intertwined factors would be overwhelming if it wasn't for one of the most ingenious interfaces in strategy gaming. Using an overview screen through which all policy impacts, voter motivations and national indicators can be surveyed simply by moving your cursor onto the appropriate icon, overseeing your nation – Canada, France, Germany, Australia, the UK or the US – is a doddle.
Disappointingly, winning elections is also dead simple at present. Anyone prepared to put personal principles aside and play a popularity-chasing pragmatist is likely to experience Robert Mugabe levels of political longevity within their first day of play. Electorates feel much too tolerant, parties too malleable, and economic crises too easily weathered. In my current game I'm PMing Britain at high difficulty, and have swept to victory with more than 90% of the vote in two general elections.
Once Positech have adjusted the challenge level (something they seem eager to do), hopefully they or the warmly welcomed mod community will turn their attention to national flavour. Without country-specific events, political systems and minister names, after a year or two it's all too easy to forget which ship of state you're captaining. Elections and oppositions feel similarly skeletal. For no apparent reason, the preelection promise mechanism from Democracy 2 has been abandoned, meaning national ballots now involve no interaction whatsoever.
Lacking difficulty and definition at times, Democracy 3's secret weapons are its pace, topicality and moral mischievousness. Generating popularity often means Judas-kissing deeply held personal beliefs. Which reminds me... I've got fracking and death penalty bills to approve.
Expect to pay £20 / $25 Release Out now Developer Positech Publisher In-house Multiplayer None Link www.positech.co.uk/democracy3The Verdict
Democracy 3
Fascinating, fast, and friendly but far too forgiving. Wait for the patches and iron man/lady mods.
We recommend By Zergnet
Metroid: Other M review
Metroid: Other M review In any series that’s already been through one bold reinvention, you have to admire those creators who elect to go through it all again. Yanking Metroid away from the Texas based Retro Studios and handing the property over to the very Japanese Team Ninja is about as dramatic a change of direction as you could expect. And, as a result, certain sectors of the Metroid fanbase have
Men of War complete catalogue gets bundled up and sold for cheap
Here's another casualty in the internet's extended and ferocious war on prices.
Bundle Stars, one of the many hundred financial death squads that roam the digital battlefield, have rounded up the Men of Wars and are holding them to ransom. Of course, because they're a bundle seller, that ransom is exceedingly reasonable, and gets you every game in the RTS series and their collective DLCs.
Men of War Men of War: Assault Squad Men of War: Red Tide Men of War: Condemned Heroes Men of War: VietnamAnd here's what it costs: £2.30/$3.59/€2.72
All of which will set you up nicely for Men of War: Assault Squad 2, which was announcedback in July.
There's just under 14 days left in the bundle, giving you plenty of time to plan your purchase strategy. 5% of the package's profits will go to the ace gaming charity SpecialEffect.
Stardock CEO confirms Star Control reboot is a prequel, will include multiplayer
Waiting for a reboot of one of your favorite franchises can be emotionally draining.
Waiting for a reboot of one of your favorite franchises can be emotionally draining. Will it reignite an old flame like XCOM: Enemy Unknown, or defile your memory of it like SimCity? Stardock CEO Brad Wardell knows you're probably really stressed out about the Star Controlreboot he's been working on for the past six months, but it's cool—he said a bunch of things in an interview with Ars Techincathat should calm you down. Most importantly, he said that reboot will be a prequel and that it will include a multiplayer mode. "We plan to start the game around 2112 with aliens first contacting the Earthlings and the formation of Star Control," Wardell says.
Wardell says he has a lot of respect for the creators of the Star Control series, Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III. The two can't officially work on the reboot because of their commitment to Activision (where they're working on Skylanders), but Stardock is "talking to them" about the story, so as to better respect their vision. However, even with their support, Stardock isn't quite prepared to meddle with the future of that universe, which is why it's taking the series back in time.
Wardell also says that the multiplayer will bring bacc ship-to-ship combat. It will include the Super Melee mode from SC2, and maybe completely new, "more sophisticated" modes that Wardell says resemble Dota.
As he explained when he first announced the project, Stardock's reboot will draw its inspiration from Star Control 2. Its unique mix of role-playing, space combat, and adventure gameplay is commonly considered the high point of the series, and the reboot aims to hit the same notes only with much improved presentation provided by Oxide's impressive Nitrous engine.
Wardell doesn't expect to even consider a release date until late 2015, but he does expect PC to be the lead platform, and that that the reboot will be available on all platforms that the Nitrous engine supports.
Men of War finds time for one more WWII campaign - Assault Squad 2 out now
If I was in charge of Digitalmindsoft - and when the Zoltar machine finally grants my wish, I will be - I'd ditch all the subtitles and dub every entry in their apparently quite good RTS series simply 'Men of War', perhaps in an increasingly bold font in order to emphasise just how perfect a title it is.
RTS series simply 'Men of War', perhaps in an increasingly bold font in order to emphasise just how perfect a title it is. Men of War. Men of War . It tells you everything you need to know not just about Digitalmindsoft's squad-based strategy game but also about all the Battlefields, and all the Call of Duties. Of course, my plan would unravel when it came to actually buying those games, so perhaps it's for the best that the great Zoltar hasn't emBiggened me quite yet. Anyway. Men of War : Assault Squad 2is out now on Steam, its Early Access periodhaving come to a close.
Men of War's evolution over several expansion packs, standalones and semi-sequels has been a gradual one, and it's a development that will (hopefully) culminate in the series' "true successor" Call to Arms, which will take place in the modern day. I say "hopefully" because its crowdfunding effortsdon't appear to have progressed all that smoothly since they were started back in 2012 - according to that page, only 25% of the needed funds have been raised. Regardless, the project appears to still be on track, and doubtless this latest Men of War game will help matters financially (if it sells well), even though the devs have deniedthat Assault Squad was made in order to fund Call to Arms. Incidentally, Assault Squad 2 was built using the Call to Arms engine, so it's getting a trial run at least.
Men of War: Assault Squad 2 can be begotten on Steam, for €29.99/$34.99/£24.99. Here's a video of what you can expect:
Ryozo Tsujimoto talks Monster Hunter Tri
Ryozo Tsujimoto talks Monster Hunter Tri What are the differences between this and previous iterations in the Monster Hunter series? Overall, the Wii version is a brand-new game, built from scratch. The single-player mode is a story mode, so there’s a story unfolding, which casual gamers on the Wii will be able to pick up and play very easily. This is different to the orientation players experienced
Mirror's Edge 2 will also be "focussing on first-person combat", says DICE general manager
If you've played Mirror's Edge, the idea of a sequel that focuses more heavily on its combat probably sounds like the nightmare by-product of a dark, alternate timeline.
If you've played Mirror's Edge, the idea of a sequel that focuses more heavily on its combat probably sounds like the nightmare by-product of a dark, alternate timeline. In fact, according to DICE general manager Karl Magnus Troedsson, it's the real future of our existing timeline. It's not all bad, though, as the studio are looking to refine and improve upon the first game's awkward fisticuffs.
"What I can say is that if the last game focussed on first-person movement, it was definitely shown in the movie here that the DICE team will be focussing on first-person combat as well, to really nail and refine that," Troedsson told CVG.
DICE's E3 trailerprovided an early look at Mirror's Edge 2 development. Largely centred around the game's combat, we see a much quicker set of takedown moves, suggesting that engaging with enemies will be less harmful to the momentum and flow of the game's free-running.
"Fans of the game will just have to wait and see until we talk more about the actual game is and the vital mechanics of it," Troedsson said. "We've shown the combat and movement now, but there's so much more to talk about. What I can say is, this is not just going to be the same game as the last one. We're building Faith for a new generation."
More combat wasn't exactly the direction I was hoping for the sequel, but if DICE can more effectively integrate it into the parkour, there's every chance that it could fix some of the first game's problems.
How do you feel about ME2 targeting fight over flight?
YouTuber replaces every Dark Souls 3 texture with Nic Cage and Shrek
YouTube chap Limit Breakers recently wowed/shocked/disgusted us by replacing every Dark Souls 3 texture with crabs , and it appears he’s at it again—this time at the behest of viewers.
, and it appears he’s at it again—this time at the behest of viewers. After putting it to a vote and thereafter rounding up the most popular suggestions, Limit Breakers’ latest peculiar Dark Souls proclivity lets you swap out single textures from the action role-player for the likes of Shrek, the word ‘Poise’, and Hollywood star Nicolas Cage, among other equally bizarre characters and monikers.
“Just some guy who likes taking dumb ideas to the limit,” aptly reads the Aboutpage of the Limit Breakers channel, which evidently translates to something that looks like this:
With that, I can't help but wonder: why would someone be inclined to do this? Who knows, but in the event you’d like to try it yourself, Limit Breakers has provided a handy ‘how to’ guide.
When the crab video first surfaced, Andy suggestedit might be “some kind of psychological payback for a bad encounter a Great Crab” in the past. Nic Cage and Shrek, on the other hand? Again, who knows. A strange Monday morning discovery, indeed.
Mirror's Edge 2 looking sexy (but early) at E3
Were you worried that EA was planning to turn Mirror's Edge 2 into something a bit more gun and a bit less run?
Were you worried that EA was planning to turn Mirror's Edge 2 into something a bit more gun and a bit less run? You should have had faith, my parkour-loving friend. EA has just shown off new prototype footage from the follow up to DICE's critically-acclaimed but commercially-ignored game of futuristic rooftop shenanigans. You can see it for yourself below…
The headline message is that, phew, the game looks a lot like Mirror's Edge. Which is to say minimalist and stylish and unique. The devs also seem to have take onboard criticisms of the at times frustrating shit-or-bust nature of the traversal in the original game, because the video makes specific reference to being able to take longer, safer routes or opt for quicker, more aggressive options.
Hopefully that results in less eye-watering frustration as Faith falls betwixt the same two skyscrapers for the millionth time, her bones smashing like a wicker chair being stamped on by an elephant at the bottom. Bad times. The video also highlights the help developer has had from actual parkour practitioners, before going on to talk about the work being done on combat.
According to DICE Faith is like a projectile moving through the environment. Certainly building a more robust combat system will be key to elevating the game's appeal beyond hipsters who like running around in an Ikea catalogue (of whom I count myself among their number). This footage—though clearly still super early—has plenty of promise.
games™ Issue 88
games™ Issue 88 Reviewed All the latest videogame releases: – Halo 3: ODST – The Beatles: Rock Band – Guitar Hero 5 Previewed The biggest upcoming games revealed: – Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – Monster Hunter Tri – Star Wars: The Old Republic Features Discover the very best in videogame culture: – Enslaved: Ninja Theory reveals its Heavenly Sword follow-up – Building Blocks: We look at how user-created content will change gaming – A Storm’s Comin’: Blizzard’s VP shares his thoughts on the future
DICE on Mirror's Edge 2: "There's definitely a market" for it
Oh DICE, you tease.
Oh DICE, you tease. Stop it, you! No seriously, stop it. My heart can only take so much. You say one thing, then you say another thing, and then you say another thing. That's, like, three whole things! And now, we have DICE producer Patrick Liu chiming in as well.
"Yeah, definitely," he said to SPOnG. "I think it's something that people are ready to get into again. We see that there's a huge fan following, it's almost like a cult! And we know what strengths we had, and what weaknesses we had in that game. If we were to release a new game, we'd know what to improve and how to reach a broader audience. So I definitely think there's a market there."
Please, I'm begging you, just announce it already. I mean, this comment - more so than perhaps any of the others - pretty much puts it in "Duh" terms. There's money to be made. Giant gaming companies like money. Everybody wins. Except people who didn't like Mirror's Edge. But then, if you didn't like Mirror's Edge, you don't deserve to win.
Game of Thrones diary part one: surviving Westeros
Welcome to the Game of Thrones diary, in which Rich plays as Ned Stark and tries to stay alive in the excellent Game of Thrones mod for Crusader Kings 2 .
. The diary may contain spoilers for Game of Thrones book one and season one of the TV show. This is part one. Once you're ready, use these links to make your way to part two, part three, part four, part fiveand part six.
Crusader Kings IIis a game about scheming, plotting and advanced nefariousness in a medieval setting. It has a cast of hundreds of characters with observable traits, from tactical geniuses to lackwit blunderers, via lustful philanderers and chaste holy men.
George R R Martin's Song of Ice and Fire books are about scheming, plotting and advanced nefariousness in a medieval setting. You can probably work out the rest. The two sync up so well, it only was a matter of time before Martin's low-fantasy setting was ported into Paradox's strategy game. Pleasingly, that time wasn't very long: the Game of Thrones mod was released in beta by a group of industrious CKII fans just eight months after the main game. It's now stable, comprehensive and easy to install. It's what I'll be using in this diary, and I heartily recommend you pop over to www.ck2agot.wordpress.comif you're interested.
A quick note: this series will contain spoilers for the Game of Thrones' TV series and books. I'll keep major revelations from the first book onwards under my helm, but if you've somehow managed to avoid the novels (first released in 1996, you layabout), and also the HBO series, then pick them up and gobble them down like a juicy capon leg before reading on.
Valar Morghulis. All men must die. I'm OK with that, but do all men have to die right now? There's a whole world to be seen, the continent of Westeros rendered in beautiful patchwork colours on Crusader Kings II's map screen. There's Dorne, jutting out into the sea in the south: sandy and warm, and split by culture – Dornishmen of sand, stone and salt. There's the greenery of the Reach and the Riverlands, filling the heart of the country. Highgarden's vineyards and Riverrun's, um, rivers, which one day I'd like to visit, be welcomed as a guest and a friend. To the west, Casterly Rock and Lannisport; to the east, the imposing crags of the Vale. I roll my mousewheel down and zoom in on the highest peak: the Eyrie, home of house Arryn. It's dusted white, like one of George's laboriously described cakes.
And then there's my (pretend) home: Winterfell. Westeros's north is big, more expansive but more empty than the continent's other regions. I'm expected to govern it alone, to manage a host of squabbling vassals and underlings, all while dealing with the seemingly inevitable: my own death.
I'm playing Crusader Kings II as Ned Stark, head of the Stark household, and boss of the north. The aGoT mod gives players a choice of starting period, and thus, their cast of characters. I chose to climb into Ned's armoured boots just after famous fatty – and Ned's best pal – Robert Baratheon has claimed the throne. It's supposed to be a time of peace after the loopy rule of mad King Aerys II, but George R R Martin doesn't make things easy for his characters
There's that morghulis thing, for one. Robert, after successfully rebelling against an incumbent king, loses a fight with a boar and unceremoniously dies in bed with his guts falling out. Ned doesn't even make it through one book before he has his head lopped off by his pal's son and kingly replacement: Joffrey Baratheon.
"Ned is naïve and unflinchingly honourable – to his own detriment."
In the books, Ned is naïve and unflinchingly honourable – to his own detriment. It's what gets him killed, and it's a trait I don't intend to take on myself. Crusader Kings II simulates all the intrigue of thousands of power-plays moving and interlocking across a vast political landscape. It lets you start plots against people, build spy networks, even kill your own wife. I'm not going to be like Ned. I'm going to scheme and sneak, backstab and betray. I'm going to take in the big picture, and play the pawns against each other.
One small problem: bar some minor dabbling, I've not played much of Crusader Kings. Its game mechanics are to me as courtly deceit and diplomacy were to Ned.
I must start small. Objective #1: not to die.
I spend the first year of Robert's reign jumpy. I'm not sure quite how much of aGoT's fiction is hardcoded into the mod, and I'm expecting Robert to die at any moment. If CKII had a letter-writing feature, I'd be sending him constant telegrams saying “FOR GOD'S SAKE STAY AWAY FROM PIGS” like a porcophobic weirdo.
I want to keep Robert on-side. He is, as king, the biggest presence in all Westeros. He's also got some seriously impressive claims. Claims are your ticket to more land in CKII: get a claim, and you can invade a territory without some higher power smiting you for your insolence. As Ned, I've got lordship of Winterfell – and therefore, the north – but nothing else. Robert has dibs on the southeastern Storm's End, as well as another four territories.
Fortunately, Robert likes me. Each CKII character – from king down to courtier – has two numbers on their character sheet. The first details how much they like you, the second how much you like them, dictated by a set of variables. Robert wishes Ned was a bit more hedonistic, knocking ten points off the score, but their shared bravery, battle history, and affinity for stabbing the shit out of things makes them fast friends. I could call Rob a fat bastard and he'd still share his capon with me.
games™ Issue 81
games™ Issue 81 Reviewed All the latest videogame releases: – Resident Evil 5 – MadWorld – Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost And Damned Previewed The biggest upcoming games revealed: – DC Universe Online – God Of War III – Monster Hunter Tri Features Discover the very best in videogame culture: – Army Of Two: The 40th Day: the action-packed sequel is revealed – Score Wars: how game reviews are being used to manipulate the industry – The games™ Bible Guide: discover all you need to know about sandbox gaming
EA 2011: Mirror's Edge 2 to be powered by Frostbite 2?
In a Game Trailers interview at E3, president of EA Games, Frank Gibeau all but confirmed that EA is planning to make Mirror's Edge 2, adding that it will likely be powered by Battlefield 3's Frostbite 2 engine.
"We haven't killed Mirror's Edge," Gibeau told Game Trailers. "We're actively looking at how to bring it back in the right way. We love that franchise. The DICE guys really created something I think special the first time around. You've got to have a big idea to be able to do the next one and that's what we're working on."
When asked whether Mirror's Edge 2 could use Frostbite 2, Gibeau said "you'll see that combination, I'm sure."
Gibeau has spoken publicly before about the possibilities of a Mirror's Edge sequel. He's previously saidthat a lack of multiplayer and problems with pace and difficulty held the first game back. On the matter of lessons learned from the first game, he had this to say:
"If you're going to be bold with that kind of concept, you need to take it as far as it can go in development. You have to execute, you have to spend more time on a game to ensure it's polished, and you need to have the depth and persistence of an online game.”
Talk of Mirror's Edge 2 will be music to the ears of fans of the first game. Mirror's Edge's startling cityscapes are still some of the most memorable locations in gaming. The idea of seeing them reincarnated in the Frostbite 2 engine lights up a huge neon "YES" sign deep in my soul.
games™ Issue 89
games™ Issue 89 Reviewed All the latest videogame releases: – Uncharted 2: Among Thieves – Forza Motorsport 3 – Brutal Legend Previewed The biggest upcoming games revealed: – Assassin’s Creed 2 – Mass Effect 2 – Red Steel 2 Features Discover the very best in videogame culture: – To Hell And Back: Blizzard reveal all on Diablo III – Time For Tea: American McGee chats about Grim and Alice – Smaller Bytes: We look at the future of the iPhone
The Art Of Sound Design
The Art Of Sound Design There are many wonderful touches in Left 4 Dead 2, but the experience is best summed up by a single element, a single sound. In every play session, at some point, an eerie, mournful sobbing will rise out of the silence, accompanied by the most sinister musical cue in videogames. Suddenly, the atmosphere thickens, your palms begin to sweat; there’s a witch out there somewhere
Battlefield 3 played in a virtual reality dome
"Screw the practicalities, let's build a huge virtual reality dome and use it to play Battlefield 3!" That's the admirable attitude shown by the folks at the Gadget Show in this video of the Ultimate Battlefield 3 Simulator, spotted on Reddit .
. An "omni-directional treadmill" monitors the players movements. A wireless gun is used to aim and paintball markers attached to the player's body let him "feel the enemy gunfire." It puts the graphics card I just bought to shame. Now all I want is a huge VR dome in my living room. Damn you, Gadget Show! The episode featuring the win-dome is set to air in the UK on Monday at 8pm on Channel 5.
Oculus Rift store games will need be approved and rated for comfort
The Oculus Rift is going to come with its own Apple-like app store—with its own Apple-like restrictions limiting what can be on there.
The Oculus Rift is going to come with its own Apple-like app store—with its own Apple-like restrictions limiting what can be on there. Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe revealed to TechCrunchthat software will need to be reviewed and pre-approved before it's allowed on their store, and that approved titles will then be rated for 'comfort'. (Note that you will be able to release games/software outside of the Oculus Store, without suffering any of these restrictions.)
“We are going to monitor the content and make sure that it fits the policy we put up which is this safe and clean environment that everyone can know, and love, and trust just like other popular app stores…You’re going to need to be approved first.”
'Comfort' is obviously a bit of an open term, but it appears that games that will make you feel dizzy, scared or otherwise stressed will receive low comfort ratings. Here's a seemingly mocked-up image of how that will look:
“Something can be comfortable from a disorientation standpoint," Iribe explains, "where it doesn’t make me feel bad…it doesn’t have crazy locomotion like a roller coaster. But if it is really, really super intense, we do want to give people warnings about that.”
“Having bullets fly at you in VR is actually really, really intense and the more real it gets, the more it’s going to feel like real life, and you don’t really want to be shot at in real life.”
“We’ve gotten really used to it on the 2D monitor because our brain is saying ‘don’t worry, don’t worry, it’s safe.’ As soon as you put on VR and your brain’s not saying that anymore, it’s not necessarily the comfortable experience that it is on a monitor, and we’ll have warnings around that.”
Ta, VG247.
Battlefield 3 multiplayer maps revealed
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A recent post on the Battlefield blog has outlined five of the nine maps that will ship with Battlefield 3 when it's released next week.
has outlined five of the nine maps that will ship with Battlefield 3 when it's released next week. As well as the now familiar 64-player Caspian Border map, Kharg Island introduces some massive desert environments and Grand Bazaar stages a tight infantry fight in the streets of central Tehran.
Read on for an overview of each map along with a few screens. For the sake of completeness I've thrown in the other four maps previous detailed by DICE, which includes a mountainous arena that lets attackers base jump onto defenders half a kilometre below.
Grand Bazaar
"Shotguns tend to be favoured" in this tight map sent in a Tehran shattered by two weeks of warfare, say DICE. It's a very short range map that's unlikely to support many (or any vehicles). The layout should be roughly symmetrical, however, which could make this a good map to start with. Like all of the multiplayer maps, the background fiction has US and Russian forces battling for control of the ancient city.
Seine Crossing
This map is split in two by the great river Seine, and will provide violent close quarter combat in the stairways and alleys that link the major roads, which themselves will be patrolled by tanks and, no doubt, snipers. DICE say that third floor buildings will be accessible to infantry, but the facades of each building can be brought down by concentrated explosive fire. That should be a fantastic showcase for Frostbite 2's destructible terrain tech. The final stage of the Rush version of Seine Crossing will take place in a bank, the largest indoor environment of the map, say DICE.
Noshahr Canals
The Noshahr Canals could prove to be the bleakest of Battlefield 3's nine maps, set as it is in a heavily industrialised harbour area, packed with cranes and shipping crates. It could be an interesting one for attackers, especially in Rush, when offensive forces start out on a boat, and must leverage a sense of suicidal bravery to attack the harbour using a fleet of smaller boats. DICE say the map expands as you play to feature "a mix of infantry, land vehicle, and boat" action.
Kharg Island
Kharg Island (or "Khaaaaarg!" if you prefer), is one of the few Battlefield 3 maps with boats. The island itself is a small, industrialised blob of earth off the coast of Iran. Rush battles will have attackers securing a beach on the mainland ahead of a wider assault on the island itself. The worst thing about coastline maps in Bad Company 2 were the snipers who crouched neck deep in the shallows like well-armed crocodiles, shooting players on islands hundreds of metres away with cold , lizardy dispassion. I'd expect more of the same in Battlefield 3. Snipers never change.
Caspian Border
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Caspian Border opened up to everyone for a weekend as part of the open beta recently, so many of you will have already sampled the strange feeling of being lost beneath dogfighting jets, and then occasionally killing the odd man you happen across. The size of the map is almost overwhelming, initially, but really shows the sense of scale the Frostbite 2 engine can manage. "Caspian Border is one of the obvious map choices if you are after the full vehicle experience, as base distances are generally too long to cover by foot," say DICE. It's sound advice. You can find yourself running for an age on a map that size.
Operation Metro
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Beta testers will be familiar with every inch of this tight, urban map set in the centre of Paris (including all those blank grey bits several metres under the floor). Operation Metro has many players worried that Battlefield 3 will lack the scale of Battlefield 2's maps. The frenzied grassy knolls of the opening section and the claustrophobic concrete metro sections felt too scrappy and opportunistic at times, though the the final areas in the wide open inner-city streets of the Paris Stock Exchange, were much stronger.
Tehran Highway
A night-time map set in the approach to Tehran, Rush encounters will start in the wide open hills, with plenty of vehicles, but grow gradually tighter as the fighting moves deeper into the city. Expect flashlights to play a big part of the inner-city fighting, while no doubt they'll only be good for attracting snipers on the long inward approach. The constant barrage of rockets firing across the sky should make for some spectacular views.
Operation Firestorm
One of Battlefield 3's biggest maps. DICE boast that it's three times the size of Battlefield: Bad Company 2's biggest map, Atacama Desert. It's a sprawling desert arena set in the burning oil fields of Iran, full of construction sites and a crane that acts as a perfect perch for snipers. Skilled jet pilots should be able to take out these elevated campers with a well aimed strafing run. The video above from IGN gives us a good sense of the map's ridiculous scale, though it looks easier to navigate than the Caspian Border's leafy forests. DICE also mention that there's a sandcastle hidden away in one of these multiplayer maps. As the sandiest candidate, it could well be Operation Firestorm.
Damavand Peak
A mountainous map with the highest elevations to be found in any Battlefield map so far, say DICE. In Rush, attackers start at a peak overlooking a mining installation. A 500 metre descent is required to reach the lower structures, where fierce infantry fighting in the mining tunnel network will be complimented by an increasing number of vehicles in the external areas, which promise to widen up as the fight progresses.
Updated: Umbrella Corps releasing June 21
As suspected, Umbrella Corps is delayed everywhere, but now we have a firm release date to share: June 21 is the day things get messy in the West.
Original: Umbrella Corps, the entry-level competitive shooter from the makers of Resident Evil, has been delayed in Japan according to a report by Famitsu ( here, if your Japanese is up to the task). Originally due May 12, Japanese players can now expect it June 23 as Capcom applies more polish.
The West never had a release date beyond 'May', but as it will be more than a month late in the mother land, I wouldn't be surprised to see our release window shoved well back too. More time to get our heads around the concept of a Resident Evil team shooter, I suppose. Tom was keen on the pace and ease of entry during his hands-on, but the to me the inclusion of zombie cannon-fodder felt more like a Resi reskin than a necessary mechanic.
games™ Issue 86
games™ Issue 86 Reviewed All the latest videogame releases: – Wii Sports Resort – Cross Edge – Tales Of Vesperia Previewed The biggest upcoming games revealed: – Guitar Hero 5 – Forza Motorsport 3 – Borderlands Features Discover the very best in videogame culture: – Ubisoft reveals all on Splinter Cell Conviction – Find out what kind of gamer you are – How well do videogames tackle the subject to love?