Okay, just one more Rezzed announcement, perhaps: Peter Molyneux will be speaking to the assembled Rezzed audience about 22 Cans, the Curiosity app, and likely much more, at 4pm on Friday 6th July. That’s just the hyperbolic cherry on top of all the other superb stuff that’s going on at our event in Brighton, on the 6th and 7th of July. As well as hearing Mr Molyneux talk about his plans now that he’s free of Microsoft, there are tonnes of playable games, and even some core Hivemind nodes wandering about. You should probably be there.

I remember when games used to be obstinate, unyielding creatures. They’d prance through the room, coated in all manner of dust and bugs and glitches, and they just didn’t care>. Now, though, they heed developers’ every beck and call post-launch. The things can practically grow extra arms on command. Case in point: SWTOR’s latest patch, which brings it up to not-quite-light-speed with modern MMOs and, of course, Team Fortress 2′s recent case of Pyromania. So then, let’s have a gander at what’s on the menu.

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Oh the ways in which life imitates art – although I suppose, in this case, it’s un-life. The zombie fad constantly verges on down-for-the-count, only to spring back onto its feet and take a toothy lunge at your clavicle with hits like Day Z and, of course, Telltale’s surprisingly fantastic take on The Walking Dead. The latter, I suppose, is relevant to this discussion, but honestly, I don’t feel like we’ve discussed Day Z enough. Maybe I should just tell you about this one time I… oh fine>. Walking Dead. It’s getting a second episode, because it’d be a pretty miserable episodic game if it didn’t.

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I’ve just sat through around an hour of newly-elongated (no, not changed as such – elongated. Improved? A bit. Hope you like paintings!) Mass Effect 3 endings so I can’t quite bring myself to watch another seven minutes of explosions and other lighting effects right now, but I’m basically just skim-viewing this full-length E3 presentation of PlanetSide 2 then leaving it for myself to come back to properly tomorrow. It’s all been quick clips and devblogs so far, but this seems to be more of an overview of the SOE’s MMOFPS’ scope’n'stuff. (more…)

Codemasters’ cars wot go fast management game, F1 Online, has now entered open beta and since it’s a microtransaction-scoffing online sort of a thing, that means anyone can play it right now without spending so much as a penny, in any sense of the phrase. Ace car-pilot Brendan took a look at the game for us almost exactly a month ago today and found it an enjoyable snack rather than a feast, although not without complaining about how “Facebookey” the whole thing can be. I’m tempted to try it as building a team from scratch sounds like fun, but if it starts trying my patience I’ll probably forget about it, leaving Team Pay To Win languishing in a garage with a half-built car. Sign up or watch the trailer below.

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Oh look. It’s an English demo for Deponia, the new point and clicker from the German developers behind The Whispered World. Weighing in at just over 700 MB, which used to be like an entire bedroom’s worth of space but is now more like a teacup for many, it contains some scenes from the first chapter of the game. It’s a comedy adventure set on a planet covered in garbage and with “one of the most unusual love stories in gaming history”. As unusual as the crossover I will one day create in which Garrett and SHODAN talk dirty in the cybershadows, and eventually elope to a distant star? Grab the demo here.

Cubemen has been out on Desura and Steam for a while, but it’s currently very cheap indeed. >

There’s something pleasing about a cube. And something pleasinger about cubes that go pop when exposed to in-game forces of craft or peril. Cubemen understands this, and that’s why the understated visuals of this clean and precise tower defence game hold a simple allure. Being curiously unable to resist either tower defence or cubes, I was drawn in to take a closer look. A brief summary of wot I think about Cubemen follows. (more…)

Today I paid my bills, considered the pros and cons of renting a nicer apartment, opened a bank account that seemed vaguely exploitative, feared that I was in danger of spending beyond my means and made a squirrel wear hob-nailed boots so that it could kick its athletic opponents in the back of the knee. Then I wondered if squirrels have knees. I’ve actually done all of those things, except the bits about squirrels. UNTIL NOW. International Racing Squirrels, a free browser game developed by Playniac for Britain’s own Channel 4, aims to teach youngsters about financial responsibility and running small businesses. Does it work?

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No, for real! See? Amazing, right? Activision’s indie competition, I think, follows a similar pattern – except with slightly fewer kittens and tremendously less publicity. I mean, I hear about the winners (and their $175,000 prizes) and think “Wow, good on Activision for setting such a cool thing into motion.” Then I remember that, no, this isn’t new. And finally, I remember why I didn’t remember: because Activision does a horrific job of giving these things any promotion. I suppose, though, that some is better than none, and so let’s have a look at the winner’s podium, shall we?

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I worry about dwarves sometimes. While I respect their commitment to digging up all sorts of metals and monsters, I can’t help but wonder if they’re happy or if they turn to drink to kill the pain. Do they have unions? Are there dwarves who live on the surface and lord it over those below? Will there ever be a Thatcher dwarf? A Game of Dwarves may not answer those questions, but it will allow you to explore and exploit randomly generated maps by ordering a gang of the bearded blighters around. Danger, as always, hides in the deep places. A closed beta is set to launch on the 13th of July and you can sign up now for a chance to join it.

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