Even though, as my partner commented with no little disgust the other day, I seem to be becoming ever-more geeky as I age, I’ve managed to pass 33 years of life without ever playing/understanding Magic: The Gathering. So it is that the demo of Stainless’ new Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 has been my first experience of the deathless collectible card game. It didn’t take long for me to develop a profound and frightening understanding of just why so many people are so drawn to and sucked into this cardboard crack and its digital variant. (more…)

Edit: Errrrr, also a massive update for TF2. Details below.

So, that Valve/Adult Swim collaboration. As many speculated, it will be the Meet the Pyro video and, yes, ‘will be’>. It was foolish of us to think that the video would just appear without any foreplay, so instead there’s the image above, which tells us that something else will happen on June 27th. I’m guessing that actually will be the video, unless they choose to release one frame every couple of days, some hidden at secret locations around the world, the precise position hidden in Morse code messages transmitted on secret websites that can only be found by reading tea leaves through a specific kaleidoscope constructed in 1924.

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Scrolls, the collectible card game in development at Mojang, will soon be in closed alpha state and once stable enough will switch to a purchasable beta. The alpha will have AI opponents, allowing for the single player to test out his decks, but it won’t include the campaign mode, a world through which the player travels, picking fights to add new cards to his/her collection. Scrolls’ website has also been updated with the first footage of the game in action, which makes me think of a cross between Magic: The Gathering, HOMM and a two player version of Plants vs Zombies without the zombies or plants. It does seem to have tracks onto which creatures and powers are summoned though, and idols to defend at the end of those tracks. Watch it below.

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So I enjoyed The Journey Down, SkyGoblin’s remake of their classic-style point and click adventure. But I was so hesitant about the price. Charging £10 for a game that lasted a couple of hours seemed problematic. But worse, this is the first chapter of an unknown number, meaning it’s impossible to know just how much you’d be investing to see the series through. Rather brilliantly, the developers have just announced they’re halving the price, bringing it to $7/£5, which is exactly where I think it should be. There’s a fun video explaining this below.

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Sometimes I spend my days in the company of mythical creatures, devious kings and diplomats from distant stars. Other times it’s just zombies from dawn until dusk, broken up by the occasional yet-living survivor to exchange words and supplies with. Today is shaping up to be one of those days, with the last half hour having been spent watching videos of Zombox, a sandbox game with crafting, barricading and horticulture. It’s not available yet but the informative development footage has me imagining grotesquely under-appreciated freeware game Survival Crisis Z, except with more of everything. There’s also a bit where an NPC says ‘buzz off!’ in response to being clobbered with a baseball bat.

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I live in fear – true, cold, debilitating terror – of my cat dying, even though she’s surely got anywhere from 5 to 10 years still left on the clock. These strange, joyful, fearful, psychopathic creatures can achieve such a hold on our lives and affections. Maybe it’s just the toxoplasmosis speaking, but young Ripley’s chirruping presence in my house makes for a tangible improvement of my days. So I can offer the most enormous condolences and sympathy to Distractionware’s Terry Cavanagh, whose long-term pet Thomas P. Cat passed away last week. Terry has offered the greatest of tributes to his dearly departed Tom – by swamping his ever-vital FreeIndieGam.es blog with over 20 weird and wonderful cat-based games. (more…)

Twas on Saturday that I found myself boasting on Twitter about how great RPS is, even on the weekends. Because it is! But there was one thing missing. As Thais Weller pointed out, Danilo Dias and Pedro Paiva’s sprite platformer Oniken wasn’t mentioned. It was a gross oversight, and I can only apologise. You have to give this trailer a view.

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Piranha Bytes’ spiritual, Pirates of the Caribbeany Gothic sequel Risen 2: Dark Waters made its somewhat deflating presence known last month, but if one man’s one thousand words on wot he thought about it aren’t enough to cement your buying decision one way or another you can sample a demo now. (more…)

What would a celebration of all things wonderful in PC and indie gaming be without the sensational Day Z mod? Lacking, that’s what it would be. The story of Day Z and its effect on Arma II’s sales is a fascinating one and the experience of playing creates more tension than Alfred Hitchcock juggling chainsaws on a unicycle. Brighton-based Rezzed, powered by Eurogamer and our good selves, shall host Dean “Rocket” Hall and Matt Lightfoot who will run a developer session on Saturday (7th) at 2pm and the game will also be playable on the show floor. Click for tickets and more details.

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I could have sworn I’d already mentioned TRIP, which seems like what would happen if gentle, musical exploration game Proteus poured hallucinogenics all over its cereal in the morning and shovelled the whole lot into its mouth using a delicate crystalline spoon carved out of frozen absinthe. ‘ART GAME’, says the trailer in brightly coloured letters that desire to be taller than buildings, before proceeding to show various creatures slowly jiving in luridly lucid landscapes. Maybe I dreamt that I wrote about it or nearly> wrote about it but assumed I shouldn’t as it had been a dream rather than a PC game. Or I just misplaced a tag or two. It’s out now, on PC and Mac, priced at £7.29. Launch trailer below, impressions when I’ve formed them.

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