The Call Of Duty: Ghosts‘ – which I don’t think actually features any ghosts, sadly* – single-player trailer (below) has gone all a bit Shattered Horizon, by way of Gravity (and doesn’t that look awesome). Yes, it’s briefly in spa(aaaa)ce, and the astronauts have assault rifles. You knew they would. Don’t worry though, it’s soon back to men with sunglasses and helicopters. It’s Business As Usual, Dammnit.

The game is out on November 5th, just in time for Alec’s yearly CoD fix. (more…)

I was extremely disappointed to miss last year’s GameCity. Everybody I’ve spoken to who was there speaks about it in reverent tones. Actually, scratch that, there’s no reverence at all. It’s happiness, the remembered joy of sharing a splendid, creative, social hobby with a wide array of pleasant people. I won’t make the same mistake this year, although I’ll probably only visit for one or two days. The event runs October 19th-26th and it sounds like a very different beast to traditional/commercial gaming gatherings. Indeed, it’s billed as a festival rather than a convention, with family-friendly events that involve both play and discourse. It’s my personal mission to count the number of free energy drinks and dubstep assaults. Confirmed events are listed below, including an intriguing week-long headliner.

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I’ve not seen the third Riddick movie yet, but oh boy do I plan to. Obviously Pitch Black is a great action movie – how could anyone question a film with the opening line, “They say most of your brain shuts down in cryo-sleep. All but the primitive side, the animal side. No wonder I’m still awake,”? But then comes The Chronicles Of Riddick – a film that’s so ludicrously under-appreciated. Yes, it’s unintelligible madness from beginning to end, but it’s also a true epic>, in a way that even the biggest, most expensive films just aren’t any more. And Judi Dench has never been better miscast in her career. Bloated, nonsensical, and utterly glorious, today I laud this hated film before you. And then get around to mentioning that hideously, I’ve never played Escape From Butcher Bay. I’ll put that right soon enough, especially with the news that Vin Diesel says he’s pulled the creative team back together for another title.

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The Fall, currently aiming to raise CAD$17,000 on Kickstarter, is the first Canadian Kickstarter we’ve featured. It’s the work of a solitary ex-Relic developer and is an impressive title to have waiting in the wings as the crowd-funding service arrives in the other True North*. Taking inspiration from both Super Metroid and Monkey Island, it’s a story-driven adventure, with tense combat and point and click-like puzzles. Rather than dragging a cursor across every pixel on the screen, seeking interactive elements, The Fall makes the protagonist’s flashlight the tool of discovery. Shine a light on an item and its functionality is revealed. Oh, and the player does not control the main character but rather an AI inside that character’s suit.

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While we seem to spend our time reading and reminiscing, we’re actually a site about playing games, and not just alone in a room in the dark, but alone in a room in the dark connected to the internet of people! Yes, there’s loads of them, and they play things as diverse as Dominions 3, and Mechwarrior Online. Yes, there are subforums and threads for many things – games you can join in on. Games like Guild Wars 2, or Battlefield 3, SWAT 4, or even racing games. Yes, even them. There are many others. So jump in. Join in. We’ll be waiting.

(There’s even a Steam group!)

Of all the things that my PC needs right now, another Assassin’s Creed game is somewhere near the bottom of the list, right near the Bing Toolbar, the Bing Desktop and Bing. I enjoyed the second game, playing it as a bonkers historical tourism simulator, but I didn’t find the time or the energy to trot through the entire thing. Even people who liked playing II three times didn’t tend to like playing III once, so I ignored that one. Black Flag did catch the outermost tendrils of my interest when a man appeared to punch a shark in one of the trailers, but there will probably be a hundred hours of not> shark-punching. That’s a lot of Ass Creed and there’s more to come. Liberation, a Vita spin-off, will be coming to PC in a highly defined version.

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There’s at last an actual official trailer for the new Tex Murphy game, Tesla Effect. It’s lots and lots and lots of FMV hammy acting, which is EXACTLY RIGHT. Hammier than a four hundred mile high pig that’s exploded over a city. Perfect.

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Tetrapulse looks like it might be rather wonderful. Developers The Amiable explain that it’s going to be “a two to four player, single screen co-op game where you and your friends join forces to battle a swarm of alien robo-bugs using the only weapon you have left: your own life-force. Every shot of your laser drains your health as you work together to protect the Heartstone, an ancient battery that powers you and your friends.” The announcement trailer (below) makes it look like a great deal of fun, and I notice that they’re currently asking for just $15k on Kickstarter to get it finished. Seems like they should get that, eh? (more…)

Joining Steam’s Early Access program is Delver, a first-person roguelike that wants you to go deeper. Into its dungeon. But at this point, is that enough? I’ve had a play.>

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Dreadchase developer Stephen Wheadon feels like his game needs to be explained in a little more detail. To that end, he’s sent us a video, which you can see below. He also explains that his 6DoF space game – in which the player has a stealthed space base and sneaky combat ship thing at his disposal – is a cautious mix of stealth and violence: “You can infiltrate hostile bases via hacking, unlocking doors and disabling security systems etc. Alternatively given that you are armed with deadly weaponry you can simply blast through everything, as a rocket launcher acts as a pretty good keycard replacement. The entire environment is fully destructible.” The trade off, Wheadon explains, is scarcity – if you go in shooting you might destroy the stuff you need to steal.

Dreadchase is looking colourfully awesome, and should appear a little later this year. Go watch the video. Or even play the demo. (more…)