It seems every time sci-fi MMO EVE Online [official site] is in the news, it’s because someone has been screwed over in the most spectacular way imaginable. From record-breaking heists and scams to public assassinations and spy infiltrations, New Eden has been home to some incredible tales of espionage, theft, and political intrigue. This month another chapter in EVE’s long and bloody history came to an abrupt end as two players conspired to pull off the biggest political betrayal and theft of assets in the game’s history.

But the real story began over a year earlier, with clandestine discussions between a thief and his spymaster at a restaurant in the capital of Iceland, and it finishes far outside the game world, with threats of real life violence. Depending on who you ask, this is the story of a greedy individual who robbed his friends and ran away, or the spy handler who manipulated his enemy into destroying an alliance, or even the tale of a player trapped with an abusive leader and finally finding a way out. (more…)

I ve got a hookshot. Have you got a hookshot? I bet you don t. I bet you ve just got hands. Borrrring. Despite Steamworld Dig earning John s admiration (so much so that he also used the comedy word aplomb when describing it) I had never played it. But I m glad to have picked up its sequel, Steamworld Dig 2 [official site], in which a friendly robot called Dorothy goes looking for her uncle Rusty, the hero of the first game, in the deep mines beneath a western-style town. To get ever-deeper she has to dig, fight insects, plant bombs, and most importantly, hookshooooot>. (more…)

Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day, perhaps for all time.>

The Great Escape is neither a great game nor a great adaptation of the film of the same name, but it is at least an interesting> adaptation.

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A couple of weeks back – when I also went hands-on with both Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus and The Evil Within 2 – I goggled up and gave the upcoming VR version of 2016’s Doom a spin, as well as bearing witness to other folks’ flailing and giggling in Skyrim VR and Fallout VR. Bethesda’s triptych of 3D ultravision spin-offs are due before the year is out, with Skyrim only available on PSVR at least initially and Fallout and Doom only officially> supporting HTC Vive, for obvious reasons. Their arrival is a pretty big event for a technology that so far has leaned far more heavily on brand new things rather than established names.

Curious about what this means for the technology and for Doom, Skyrim and Fallout, I picked Bethesda VP Pete Hine’s brains about the whys and wherefores, and what it might imply for the future of their own VR efforts. Also below: my own quick impressions of Doom VFR [official site].

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Pyre [official site], the sportsdunking new RPG from the studio behind Bastion and Transistor, has added a tough new difficulty mode in its ‘True Nightwing’ update. Unlocked after completing the main campaign, the new mode is “reminiscent of an ‘Ironman’ mode in other games” according to developers Supergiant Games. In short, it launches you right into the full experience with everything unlocked and no reloading from checkpoint or restarting sportsfights. (more…)

Bluehole Ginno Games, the bit of Bluehole Studio behind the wildly successful FPS Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds [official site], is being expanded into a full-blown subsidiary named PUBG Corp. ‘PUBG’, I’ll explain for readers who might not catch the reference, is an obscure slang name for Plunkbat; its usage is mostly confirmed to several valleys in West Yorkshire. No prizes for guessing Ginno’s focus but exactly what PUBG Corp. will mean for Plunkbat isn’t yet clear. (more…)

There are various ways to make a war game realistic. Battlefront do it with blue-chip ballistics and subtle spotting mechanics, Panther Games with plausible AI and plenty of command friction, Eagle Dynamics with sophisticated flight models and painstakingly reproduced avionics. We Are Muesli built Venti Mesi with the help of real Milanese memories and the free WW2 ‘narrative docu-game’ is incredibly powerful as a result. (more…)

Harry Redknapp is not a wheeler-dealer. The subs bench is not a bed. Transfer deadline day is not suitable for work. Transfer deadline day is your entire existence now.

I’ve been waiting to see what’s new in Football Manager 2018 [official site] since the release of Football Manager 2017. A short transfer window spoof video from Sega and Sports Interactive doesn’t reveal an enormous amount, but overhauled scouting, fancy-looking stadiums and a mysterious ‘dynamics’ system are all teased, along with AI improvements on and off the pitch.

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Autumn is here and Rocket League [official site] certainly has noticed, last night launching its big Autumn Update with new arenas for carball as well as some decent new features. We get to ball around a beautiful new farmyward sportszone, new regulation-shape versions of the Wasteland and Starbase ARC arenas, and day and snowy variants of several other maps. That’s the magic of doing sports in cars under a dome: seasons cannot ruin the sports. Other big bits include local multiplayer support for LAN parties, an AI director for spectator mode, and loads of new cosmetic bits to customise your brum-brum. (more…)

Somehow, the British Summer of 2017 has all but passed now. Beyond making the always-constant British rain seem a little more appropriate, the seasonal change brings about a cavalcade of brand new video game releases as we head into October. Actually looking at October’s release calendar makes my bank account audibly creak and moan. That said, now that RUINER is finally out, I may spend an entire month playing that thing instead. Anyway, it’s the time of the week where we take a look at a big batch of the best deals of the week, so let’s go ahead an do that.

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