I love how kitschy pulp sci-fi some aspects of Dead Space are. Sure, its exterior may be grimdark and gore-spattered, but this (fairly impressive) digital comic focuses around “Earthgov” and a planet called “Uxor.” That, to my mind, is admirably silly. Granted, that’s hardly the only influence poking through Visceral’s exosuited sleeve here. An overbearingly icy planet? Parasitic monsters crawling from every crevice? A poor, fleshy human struggling to come to grips with it all? A new main character whose name, John Carver, sounds suspiciously similar to John Carpenter? Yeah. I’m thinking the words “Wow, Dead Space 3 is quite the thing” will soon take on a whole new meaning.

Granted, while Dead Space 3 hasn’t had its official reveal yet, this comic sure aligns well with the limb-severing barrage of recent rumors. Also, it’s apparently “just the start of John Carver’s saga in the Dead Space Universe.” So jump past the break and watch as this post’s flesh bubbles and bursts, revealing a grotesque trailer creature not of this world>.

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Remember when Valve and EA didn’t see eye-to-eye last year over certain portions of Steam’s terms of service? First Crysis 2 managed to flub its camo and make a very loud exist from the download empire’s hallowed halls, and then Dragon Age 2 was like “Haha, guys, wasn’t that wild? Well, at least you still have me. Wait, never mind. Bye forever.” Speculation pinned the blame on Origin, but then, people have also been known to blame Origin for premature male pattern baldness and racism. The real reason, however, was never confirmed (though DLC policies were implicated, but not explained), and the controversy slowly died down. Now, though, Crysis 2: Maximum Edition has suddenly reappeared on Steam. So, are the likes of Dragon Age 2, Battlefield 3, and Mass Effect 3 waiting in the wings? Well, it’s complicated.

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There’s to be another beta weekend for Guild Wars 2, the MMO that resolutely refuses to launch. Which means, once again, I won’t be able to play the thing due to weekend plans. Specifically in this case, camping in Sherwood Forest and listening to indie bands. Can’t we have a beta weekday evening or two instead, please?

If you are around for the 8th to 10th of June, you should be able to hop onto a GW2 beta server presuming you’ve either pre-ordered or already managed to snag a beta account from somewhere. The good news of previous beta-barons is that characters from the first weekend haven’t been wiped, so this might be your chance to have a nose at some of the higher-level contentydoodledoo. (more…)

And it so it came to pass that the bickering collective of Walker, Smith, Rossignol and Meer all gathered in one place to discuss their recent oddysseys of violence in Blizzard’s latest offering, the electronic videogame known as Diablo III. Would this brave party come to embrace the high-speed demon-bothering or grumpily sneer at it from the back of the room? Follow me into the Cave Of Mysteries (level 1) to find out. > (more…)

So yesterday I posted about Symon, a procedurally generated adventure game from a couple of years ago. And I suggested that the potential was there to do something on a much larger scale, but they’d need to figure out a way that didn’t involve the ‘cheat’ of using dream logic. Well, one of the creators at Gambit, Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab researcher Clara Fernández-Vara, got in touch to point out that’s exactly what they set out to do last year, with Stranded In Singapore.

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What contains stealth, scares, a rather unique first-person perspective and surreal dreamscapes colliding with recognisable realities? The answer is Among the Sleep, in development at Krillbite Studio in Norway. It could be the most interesting horror game of next year. Here’s why:

Among The Sleep invites you into the mind and body of a two year old child. After being put to bed one evening, mysterious things start to happen.

The trailer below, spotted at Edge, is also why.

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I reckon vertically inclined first-person adventure Against the Wall is one of the most interesting indie projects in development, not only because even in its alpha state its polished and playable, but simply because I’ve never played anything else quite like it. Tasked with climbing a wall upon the side of which entire settlements and ecosystems cling, the player is able to pull out sections of the wall by waving a sort of staff at them. In this way it’s possible to create steps and platforms. It’s a fascinating world with an immediately understandable path and means of progression. The latest version of the alpha adds a fair bit since I first took a look and future plans include randomly placed biomes.

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And most of the rest of a tiger too! Yes, it’s Far Cry 3 footage time, in an excitable and heavily stylised trailer that offers snatches of what to expect on this new island other than shooting dudes. Includes a large tribe of angry-lookin’ natives, Indiana Jones-style temples, swearing, flamethrowers, a lady with a chin tattoo that looks like a beard, boats, more swearing and A TIGER. (more…)

Following Divinity II: Ego Draconis, Larian Studios are returning Divinity to its Divine roots with Original Sin, which may well be the Divinest Divinitude of all. PC Gamer have seen the return to isometric RPGing in action and Larian head honcho Swen Vincke tell them the game is being created to “address frustrations with Divine Divinity”. Turn-based combat is in, as is a story tailor made for co-op play. Sounds good to me.

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In response to our various sightings of Crysis 3, the RPS stronghold is currently flying these flags: blue with green braiding, taupe with a cyan crucifix and burple with vibrant lavender thistle emblems. And we all know what that> says about our opinions on Crytek’s next shooter. Even as we debate the openy worlidiness or lack thereof of Prophet’s latest alien-hectoring rampage, it’s worth keeping in mind that Crytek have, by and large, been good for game technology. Crysis 3 brings assorted updates to Cryengine 3, but it’s the Rig of Rods team that are demonstrating some rather tasty soft body (missus) physics that they’ve pulled off in the new version of the engine. The below is unfinished footage of an unnamed vehicular game, and it’s just about the best pretend car-crumpling and wobbly suspension I believe I’ve ever seen. (more…)