Once upon time, Legendary Pictures’ long-stalled Warcraft movie had a director. Then it didn’t. In the wake of Spider-Man and Evil Dead maestro Sam Raimi’s mighty battle-leap into Oz, Blizzard’s own heaving epic seemed destined to stall. Surprisingly, however, it’s once again back on track. With David Bowie’s son at the helm, naturally. But Duncan Jones is an excellent creator in his own right, having previously been responsible for the likes of Moon and Source Code, both of which did super interesting sci-fi things with unique settings and characters. Granted, he’s not the first person I’d think of for a preposterously mega-budgeted fantasy swordsplosion, but who knows? I’d have never tagged Chris Nolan for Batman, either.

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Hey tiny ArmA soldier man who’s tiny now, something’s different about you. Something tremendous, but in a comparatively puny package. But what– sorry, WHAT COULD IT BE. Oh, wait, you’re the one who should be shouting to compensate for your newly diminutive stature? Not me? Right, I always get that mixed up. Anyway, I guess I’m just going to give up on guessing now– wait! I figured it out! I’ve become a giant. Now all will cower before me and write melodious odes to my unkempt toenails. Or I suppose Bohemia could be downsizing and XCOM-ifying ArmA’s brand of modern military simulation for Nvidia’s Project Shield gizmo, but no, that’d just be crazy.

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Frankly, I would’ve been utterly dumbfounded if Trion Worlds defied all reason by saddling Defiance with a subscription fee, but TV changes people. Maybe being front-and-center on Syfy would’ve convinced some exec that Defiance is different>. It can have subscription fees and its own three-story trailer-yacht and a special pen on set for its pet orangutan, Mr Screams-A-Lot. And also a rapidly developing coke habit that repeatedly gets chalked up to accidental over-consumption of  ”cough syrup.” But I digress. Happily, Trion’s not fallen into that glitz-and-glamour-laden trap, so the crab-alien-blasting MMO’s going for more of a Guild-Wars-style model. Live-action celebratory trailer for the game – not the show – after the break. Hopefully they’ll do an in-game trailer of the show next. Synergy!

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Oh Medal of Honor. You’ve traveled around the world, through time, and between the hands of countless developers. You’ve seen some things, man. But in recent outings, you’ve lost your way trying to play rigid railroad conductor to ours, and Warfighter clung so tightly to the straight-and-narrow that it ended up careening right into the bargain bin. Also, there was that whole Linkin Park thing. If you want sales, it’s not generally a good idea to turn every living creature with ears against you. So then, what’s next for EA’s creaky, slightly racist World War II vet? Retirement, says EA. And possibly a long one.

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Undead ancient Japanese warrior-themed. indie strategy game Skulls of the Shogun has been in development for four million years, and was finally released yesterday for PC, Xbox and Windows tellingbone. Well, only for Windows 8 PCs. Yeah, controversy/insanity. But what about the turn-based strategy at the heart of it? I’ve only gone and played it so I can tell you.> (more…)

Indie dev Jason Rohrer, creator of Passage, Sleep Is Death, Inside A Star-Filled Sky, The Diamond Trust of London and the near-mythical Chain World is a divisive game designer, because reasons. I personally reckon his stuff is reliably fascinating, bold and often important (including on those occasions that I’ve rather bounced off it), so I’ve been very keen to find out more about his upcoming game The Castle Doctrine. An MMO based around the concept of home invasion and home defence, the nature of the Rohrer’s tenth game has remained cryptic since a guarded reveal last October.

In this first of a two-part interview, Rohrer explains just what this dark multiplayer game of strategy, construction, burglary and cold-blooded murder is, how it works, its amorality and politics, the unenviable living situation and fear of vicious dogs which inspired it, and why the late-in-the-day addition of a wife and kids changed the nature of the whole affair.> (more…)

I spent some time typing experimentally into the headline bar “…Wants You To Founder Its Beta Weekend… Founders Keepers… Beta Found Than Neverwintered” and so on. But none of it made any sense. And that> is what I came up with. You know. Because drow>. Sorry. My powers are gone. Fortunately, by returning to a nest made of shredded RPGs, held together with mucus and bad dreams, those powers can> be regenerated. I’ll retreat there, probably around February 8-10, March 8-10, and March 22-24, which is when Neverwinter‘s beta will take place. With its user-generated content and D&D trappings, it should be a healing sort of environment for discombobulated old nerd-wraiths like me. The more excitable among our kind – and those with wallets full of platinum – will like invest in Founders Packs, which are fashionable pre-order garments of the online-gaming catwalk. Or something.

Trailer can be found in the Underdark below! Giant armoured spider mounts from Menzoberranzan! Look over there! *vanishes* (more…)

Splash Damage’s Dirty Bomb has entered the mystic realms of “closed alpha”. Is that a thing? Surely that’s just “development”? Oh, players are getting in. Then that’s beta, isn’t it? Anyway, whatever it might be, it means those who spent $120 on the game before they knew anything about the game are being sent keys to get in (other price tiers will get in this alpha as time goes on). You could too, if you wanted to pay for a game that will be free to play before you’ve read a review when the game’s nowhere near finished. Everything is weird now. Or you could buy it for $320! Wait, is this a Kickstarter thing then? I DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW TO BUY GAMES ANY MORE.

This all means that the day is heralded with a new trailer, and I bloody dare you to watch it.

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Ed Key and David Kanaga’s Proteus has been floating around for a while, almost finished, almost finished. But now it finally is, and up on Steam, and I’ve been playing it on a loop. A game I really didn’t get the first time I enjoyed its pretty colours on a GDC show floor, now makes complete sense to me. Going in, I had no idea what to expect. Coming out, here’s wot I think.>

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Cognition is a four part psychic serial thriller about the hunt for a psycho serial killer. Episode 1: The Hangman launched in October. Episode 2: The Wise Monkey lands today. That makes this the half-way point, and so the perfect time to take a look and see if this investigation is worth signing up for. We sent Richard to catch some killers. Here’s Wot He Thinks…>

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