One detail I enjoy in the world of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex> is that once cybernetics truly take off, the Paralympics eclipse the Olympics because cyborgs are way cooler. The cybered-up future envisioned in Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 [official site] is a bit more boring. 2028 for the milestone of a lady with robolegs winning a gold medal against two with meatsticks seems unimaginative, not to mention unfair to the lowly meatbags.

Anyway, anyway, if you’re wondering about the path to cyberfuture, cybersoldiers, and genome soldiers that Blops 3 will follow, here, this new trailer’s a spot of speculative cyberfiction that might entertain until this year’s CoD is given its big reveal on Sunday.

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Ubisoft have a fifty page PDF dedicated to TALES OF THE TEN YEAR WAR as background reading for Might & Magic Heroes 7. It’s fine and all, featuring words like “succubus” and “exile” and “decided” and “the”, but I’m far more interested in their stained glass window design.

I’ve always liked stained glass windows as storytelling devices so I’m enjoying looking at this one, unpicking the stories as I see them without reference to the PDF at all to see how well it functions as a lore-based press release. It’s also just a lovely thing to look at so you should look at it.

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Which sort of a wizard would you be? I don’t mean Gryffindor or Hufflepuff or whatnot, no, the cool stuff: do you want to fling fire, summon earth golems, heal people, or skip that hippy junk and draw upon the consuming powers of the void? Perhaps you might find Grimoire: Manastorm [official site] a helpful, and violent, sorting hat.

Though the multiplayer first/third-person arena wizard war is still in Steam Early Access, it’s opening up to let everyone have a look at how that’s working out through a free full trial weekend.

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No man is a Britten-Norman Islander entire of itself; >Every Manston is a piece of the continent, a part of the main plane; >If a CLOD be washed away by the Sea Fury, >Eurofighter is the less, >as Wellington as if a promontory were, >as Wellington as any manor of thy little friends or of thine own were.>Any man’s death diminishes Me 262, >because I am involved in Grummankind. >And therefore never send to know for whom the Bell JetRanger VTOLs; >it VTOLs for thee.>

(John Do 17, 1624/C/3) … [visit site to read more]

Rare’s the day we post about game soundtracks here, because by sheer coincidence every member of RPS was born without the ability to enjoy music at the same time as watching pixels flash, but I’ll make an exception. Why? Oh, a combination of this one being a little bit special and my being hopelessly mired in the past, I guess. … [visit site to read more]

Get a couple of folks from Konami and Nintendo around a table with a few drinks inside them and I’m sure it won’t be long before the argument starts again. “What makes you so damn special?” cries a Konamiac slamming down her flagon (she brings her own) of foamy real ale. “Why do you go first?” A Nintendeer sips cooly from his glowing green cocktail fizzing with dry ice before responding, “Because Castletroid would sound daft.”

Whatever you call ‘em (“action-adventure” seems such a useless term), another’s on its way. Following a debut on PlayThings in March, Axiom Verge [official site] is due on PC on May 14th.

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Kalimba. It’s a lovely word to say and, pleasingly, a lovely game to play so far. I’m working on a Wot I Think but given the game came out yesterday on Steam and the WIT won’t be able to be completed before Monday I thought I’d share some initial thoughts here and now.

Kalimba [official site] is a puzzle platformer (initially on console) where you control two coloured pieces of totem pole, moving them about simultaneously in order to solve problems and reach the larger totem piece at the end of the level.

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Oh. OH! Telltale are working with Marvel.

Almost every time I mention a Telltale game, I go off on a tangent about the next license I’d like to see them working with. Sometimes I’ll say Mad Men or Reservoir Dogs because I think that’s funny and hip, sometimes I’ll say Dr Who because that seems like a thing that actually might happen. Somehow, I’ve never put Marvel Comics forward though – I figured there were probably too many companies involved with their own licensing agreements for that to happen. Ever. But here it is. Or here it will be, in 2017.

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Catharsis comes in many forms. But there’s none so satisfying as a good old fashioned sweary rant. Hell, I’m not even talking about a pseudo-Charlie-Brooker-but-not-nearly-as-witty polemic. More shouting obscenities into the wind. The time has come for me to unload on my top ten most cursed ruses in PC gaming hardware. In truth, the following is not entirely devoid of practical insight. But you have been warned. It ain’t pretty. … [visit site to read more]

Good news: Codemasters teasing a new Overlord game has not lead up to the announcement of a free-to-play mobile game where you build minion hives, harvest fungus, and farm sheep (any Overlord worth their salt steals sheepies, for one thing). Disappointing news: the newly-announced Overlord: Fellowship of Evil [official site] is not the proper Overlord sequel you might be hoping for. Descriptive news: it’s a class-based, co-op-oriented action-RPG more about getting in and fighting yourself than leading armies of minions.

Here, come have a look in the first trailers:

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