At Battle Academy 2 students study Student, Rag Week is known as StuG Week, and mortarboards are made from actual mortars. I’ve spent a few days sampling the syllabus in Slitherine’s upcoming tactical TBS and, thus far, have found very few reasons to reach for my red biro. If you happen to be searching for a pacy WW2 wargame that won’t weary your mouse hand, offend your eye, or insult your intelligence, then this hex-spurning sequel, due in September, definitely warrants a bookmark. … [visit site to read more]

I have been a terrible host. The RPS Social Club has continued its regular meetings these past months but I have neglected to inform the wider community. Blame inconveniently timed press trips. Blame erratic sleep patterns. Blame the loss of my Debrett’s pocketbook.

The time for revelry and social gaming (of the good sort) has arrived once more, however, and I’m on the case this time. The London RPS Social Club are gathering in their usual haunt tomorrow evening, The Blue Posts, and there is talk of outdoor hijinks in a park beforehand to take advantage of the glorious weather. Discuss the matter within this forum thread. As always, if you’re planning a gathering in your area, let me know and I’ll include it in a round-up of RPS happenings next month.

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Much like Barney and his beatings quota, I am way behind on giant stompy robot explosion-fests. Titanfall has a good shot for my game of the year if I ever find the time to actually play it again. Most likely everyone left on PC at this point are hyper-elite maniacs with actual cybernetic implants to control the game with their thoughts. At least we’ll all be equally unfamiliar with the three maps coming in the second DLC pack, Frontier’s Edge.

It’s also launching a “Black Market” that will sell some cosmetic items and packs of the one-life buff Burn Cards. These are bought with a new in-game currency that’s earned through normal play or by binning unwanted burn cards, effectively letting you trade in a few for one you particularly want.

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A teaser trailer, released without a great deal of context via what appears to be a viral marketing campaign. Not the sort of thing I’d normally bother you all with but what little context there is does capture the imagination. First of all, it’s a BioWare teaser and it doesn’t look like part of an established series, unless it’s a very peculiar Jade Empire reboot. Second point of interest is that it looks like it might be marketing for a horror game about a man wearing a hoodie, which places it in an established genre. Edit: Could these nightmares be the first hint of the Failbetter/BioWare collaboration? Delicious.

The main draw is the tagline though – “What really happens when we sleep?” I posed the question to the RPS newsroom. Answers and video below.

… [visit site to read more]

I don’t think I’ve seen a trailer quite so excited about itself as the one that follows for free-to-play multiplayer tank battler Gear Up. It’s aggressively in your face about how up-beat and colourful it is. Thankfully it also does a good job of showing off the build ‘n’ fight core and the impressively massive selection of customisation options available for your angry house. Like some sort of twisted, awesome future Robot Wars, it has walkers and tank treads and mortars and cannons and, uh, antlers. Yeah. Have a look.

… [visit site to read more]

You can’t keep an old game down, not in this day and age. Kickstarter is our miracle cure, magically reanimating long-dead but fondly-remembered past games and genres. They skip towards us as we squeal in delight, trapped in a group hug between wave upon wave of adventure games and the vast hulks of space-sims. Hark! Another rises, this one gone since before my birth: the ancient golem of Shadowgate, last seen upon these lands in 1987. A bit too old to have had final judgement brought upon it by the juggernauts of RPS, though the slumbering Walker did offer this insight: “Gosh, I must have played it, but don’t remember.” Sound wisdom indeed. See it in its glorious new form below.

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Nvidia has wheeled out its second effort at the obviously-not-actually-a-PC-but-does-interesting-things-with-PCs Shield gaming device. And this time it’s a tablet. Which is what it should have been in the first place. But doesn’t actually mean it’s automatically good idea. Still, it’s hard to imagine Shield the Second doing much worse than Shield the First, which ended up being given away in boxes of Cheerios (ish) and even then only escaped landfills on account of being handed out by the sackful to shameless media types addicted to freebies. Meanwhile, there’s more confirmation that Moore’s Law is really no, er, more, some interesting screens get priced up, another interesting screen turns out to be an epic dud…it was ever thus. … [visit site to read more]

Gratuitous Space Battles was not a game of masterful tactics. It didn’t allow damn fool gambits. GSB was won or lost long before then. GSB is played in the planning, the design and customisation of a huge space fleet and the careful behaviours you order them to follow. Once your ships are ready to launch, it could run the numbers and say if you won or lost, but that would be somewhat against the name. The eponymous space battles are> gratuitous, with cruisers and fighters and lasers and missiles and drones and so many explosions for you to simply watch.

Expect more explosions, as sequel Gratuitous Space Battles 2 is now officially announced.

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This isn’t the informationiest of news stories, I’ll concede, but see, when it’s Pathologic, it gets a pass. It’s Pathologic> news. As Alec reported back in November of last year, Ice-Pick Lodge are planning to remake the 2006 lunatic masterpiece. We’ve just heard today that this will be kicking off in August, beginning with a mysterious, yet-to-be-released ARG, building up to the inevitable Kickstarter campaign in September. And, well, that means it’s time to start being interested in that right about now. And shitting heck, look, that top image – that’s… new Pathologic! Click on it for a full-sized version.

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Deconstructeam’s Ludum Dare entry Gods Will Be Watching is now a fully-realised game, released by oh-so-impish publishers Devolver Digital. Described as a “point and click thriller”, it’s, well, not that. It’s something else. Something… well, here’s wot I think:>

… [visit site to read more]