What follows is a moment-by-moment recounting of my facial expressions while watching Spec Ops: The Line‘s multiplayer trailer – in ultra-vision>. Exposition-y stuff: an expectant stare followed by an eye roll so hard it nearly detached my retinas at the phrase “This is their war>.” Cover shooty runny ‘splodey stuff: a furrowed brow as if to say, “Is this all?” and “Why waste a slow-mo shot on a reload?” Class-based skills and rewards, etc: drooping eyelids, a hint of spittle dangling from the corner of my mouth. SAND AVALANCHE: Eyes wide-open, mouth creaking into a tentative smile, head cocked in much the same way as a dog saying, “Baroo?” Still though, it’s a bit worrisome that they actually had to spell out “Sand is a game-changer,” as though saying, “No, wait, don’t go! We’re sort of different, see?” And see you shall, if you opt to check out the trailer after the break.

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This is my second time with a pre-release version of Prison Architect. You can read my first impressions right here. This time I’ve played a slightly more advanced version, albeit one that is not tuned for IGF judges. Fresh thoughts stockaded below.> (more…)

The many thousands of you – for it is indeed many thousands> – who relish the management of imaginary teams of real cyclists will be pleased to hear that Pro Cycling Manager, Le Tour de France returns in June for another season of frantic pedaling. The game, which is developed by Cyanide in between the Blood Bowl reboots, looks like it will be getting the standard sort of treatment for a year sports franchise: updated teams and slightly improved visuals. Not that you care about the graphics, eh cycling team managers? It’s all about the er cycling team management> for you, isn’t it?

Mhm.

Yes, one of RPS’ favourite game-related events is happening once again in London, this time on 12th May at Keyworth Centre atrium and its conference rooms at London South Bank University, near Elephant and Castle in central London. The GameCamp “Unconference” is notable for not being about presentations, but rather informal gatherings and conversations sparked off by the speakers. In their own words: “It’s for the designers, coders, artists, writers, thinkers and, above all, the players who are making the 21st century the century of the game. GameCamp is about more than making games: it’s about playing them, thinking about them and how they affect our lives for good or for ill.”

Have a read of Kieron’s account of a GameCamp from a couple of years ago if you want to know a bit more about the event. Tickets are few, so get in there if you want to be involved.

The teams behind TERA must be sighing at the news they’re going up against the Diablo III open beta this weekend, but that’s nevertheless what they’re doing. If you’re not bash skeletons in Blizzard’s forthcoming sequel, then perhaps you might want to nose at the freshly-converted “action” MMO, TERA. Converted, that is, from its natural Korean state, where it has already been running for some time. To sign up for the beta get an account here. I understand the client is a whopper too, so you might want to get downloading.

You’ve probably heard that SimCity will come tethered to a pesky always online requirement. You might have heard that we don’t like it very much. But then – like an absentee father – it’s really only an absolute necessity on start up, so things could be worse. Still, though, I like playing games when I’m thousands of feet in the air, in the middle of nowhere, or punching my incredibly spotty router for yet another hour of downtime.  ”Why,” I’m instead forced to bellow at SimCity, slumping to my knees in defeat. “Why can’t I play you in a car, on a tree, in a box, or with a fox?” “Piracy!” replies the roving Internet peanut gallery. Maxis, however, claims it’s prepared to prove everyone wrong.

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Let’s be prosaic to begin with. Sword & Sworcery EP is the result of a collaboration between Superbrothers, CAPY and musician Jim Guthrie. It’s converted lovingly from its initial Apple phoney-paddy-thing format last year, where it was very well thought of. It’s a graphic adventure which stresses atmosphere and style over traditional puzzles. I like it. You probably will too.

I’m being prosaic, because I’m just about to go off on a 500-word micro-essay tangent. I’ll get back to Sword & Sworcery EP eventually. Trust me. And if you’re interested in the game, you better get used to that. You’re in journey-over-destination territory. (more…)

Mr Florence, known for his mild verse, has been playing Dark Souls on the console boxes, and wants to convey that experience to you now.>

Hi. Rab Florence here. Dark Souls is coming to PC, and so I must talk to you about it. I think that the game is one of the most important designs of the past decade. I’m so glad you’re all going to be able to play it. It doesn’t feel like a console game. Don’t worry about that. Within its dark halls and its vast caverns, there is the ambition and experimentation of the very best PC games. I love it. I love it so dearly that only poetry can properly express that love. I wrote this in a forest last night. Thanks to RPS for publishing this piece, and thanks to you for reading it out loud in your place of work.

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In the real world I am not much of a tinkerer. I can fix a few bits and pieces on a car, and build a PC, but when it comes to actual tweaking and tinkering, figuring out what I can be boosted, what can be overclocked, and what must be tuned, my talents – and my ambitions – are fairly limited. Not so in the gaming world, of course, where I have spent thousands of hours plugging objects into equipment slots and pulling them out again, just to watch the variables shift up and down. Watching the numbers change, it seems, is sometimes enough.>

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The venerable 48 hour game design competition/jam that is Ludum Dare always manages to tickle my curiosity bone but that’s usually when hundreds of games suddenly sprout up across the internet, as if some manner of imagination/caffeine downpour had filtered its way through the digital dirt. This time around, for the 10th anniversary event Ludum Dare 23, I’m writing before the theme has even been announced. It all takes place this weekend, beginning in just over 12 hours, and there’s an interactive keynote to introduce the concept, energise the participants and demonstrate the basics of iterative design.

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