I keep reading the name Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet as one word in my head, delivered in breathless American advertising fashion. Whoever stole the spaces from those words in my thoughts, I truly hope you’re putting them to good use. If you’re using them to add double spaces after full stops, then I will hunt you down. Erm, things went a little surreal there. Back on track: the attractive adventure shooter thinger is maneuvering its way to the PC, with its co-operative DLC coming as an added bonus. (more…)

Eurogamer has news that THQ’s MMO project, Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online, has been refocused as a single-player and multi-player online game. The game had previously been rumoured to be cancelled. THQ boss Brian Ferrell said: “Based on changing market dynamics and the additional investment required to complete the game as an MMO, we believe the right direction for us is to shift the title from an MMO to a premium experience with single and multiplayer gameplay, robust digital content and community features.” Around 120 people across the Relic and Vigil studios have been laid off as a result of the change, which is depressing news. Hopefully we’ll firm up exactly what sort of game we’re left soon. A 40k RPG with online bits? Could be… And that would be okay by me.

With Legend Of Grimrock coming up soon, my thoughts turned back to the original Dungeon Master. Released in 1987, a year I mostly spent aged 9, it was for me one of the most defining games of my childhood. Smart, enormous, and terrifying, it was such a stride forward for gaming. But I was pretty certain getting it working on a Windows 7 box was going to be something of a fiddly nightmare. Not so!

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Co-operative, open-world sci-fi dinosaur hunting game Orion: Dino Beatdown is strapping into its jetpacks for an April the 20th release date. After watching the trailer below I just hopped onto Google Calendar and made sure I had nothing planned for that day – just some lump thing in my brain needed removal on that day. I soon got rid of that. What smells of burning, btw? Anyway: I also added “Sleepover with the Timothy Olyphant” to my girlfriend’s calendar to make sure I’m not disturbed. I love Trespasser and I take my dinosaur hunting VERY seriously. I am the Bob Peck of RPS. (more…)

Here’s a thing that looked fake but isn’t. The notorious Mass Effect 3 ending – could it have really been hinted at in Mass Effect 1? A post on Reddit showed a planet description that seemed to describe, well, that’s a spoiler I’ll put below. But apart from the picture that had been rather hastily added, that planet is really there. I’ve flown there myself. Take a look below.

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I took to the role of Death with great aplomb when I played Darksiders II recently and later that same day I had the chance to speak with game director Marvin Donald. Although we didn’t question the nature of Death in an existential fashion, we did discuss how he feels about his game being compared to The Legend of Zelda, the stranger worlds through which Death walks, whether this will be a four game series and how much we both like collecting loot.>

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I’m a lapsed football fan, so I’m writing this not knowing a) where Euro 2012 is being held, b) if any of the British teams have made it to the finals, and c) if goalies are paying much attention to the ten-step rule. I have heard of Lionel Messi, though. But even as a missing link in the Mexican wave of foot-o-ball trivia, I knew that there would be an EA Euro 2012 game released this year, just like I knew the sun would be up this morning. What’s surprising is that EA Sports UEFA Euro 2012 (that’s a mad name) will be DLC for Fifa 12 game and not sold in the shops. (more…)

The Battlefield 3 patch rolls out today, bringing some excellent tweaks as well as adding “shortcut items” that allow players to buy items rather than putting in the hours to unlock them – “If you’re new to the game, this is the perfect way to gain some ground on the veterans online.” Or maybe you’re just a lazy man-/vehicle-shooter with money to burn? If so, these are the items for you, with an ultimate bundle that unlocks everything and smaller collections available. Some people are predictably furious, whether due to price or due to the fact that newcomers can jump to the top of the tree straight away. Personally, as I gibbered about earlier, I’m increasingly disinterested in these multiplayer unlock systems. Other changes listed below.

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2012 will be the year of the gamejam: there’s only a few hours left to pop over to the Indie Buskers website and drop an idea into their requests box. Five developers will be picking five game ideas and live-streaming the creative process for 48 hours. Why? Because they are poor and want to make something from their skills. Doing game busking on the street probably wouldn’t have the same effect as signing ‘No Woman No Cry’ for three hours, but the internet is the perfect place for strangers to watch their code spill across the screen and offer up a few coins in appreciation. (more…)

One of the images that will be forever burned into my mind is the expression on the faces of Kieron Gillen and the brave lady who is now his wife when witnessing my first ever attempt to play Guitar Hero. I just didn’t get it. I tapped and hammered without logic or rhythm, to the extent that any sane onlooker would have presumed there was something terribly wrong with me. In time, I became at least competent at that short-lived plastic guitar fad, but today’s attempts at mastering free browser game Epic Sax have taken me right back to that humiliating square one. (more…)