America is now bigger than ever as American Truck Simulator [official site] has officially launched its rescaling, going from 1:35 scale to 1:20. This means longer roads and grander landscapes, and developers SCS Software have rebuilt a lot to be more interesting and varied too, including new landmarks. The new scale “transforms a great game into a sublime one”, our Alec declared after playing a beta version, and I’ve certainly been impressed by it too. The update is now live so it should be waiting for you next time you slip on your “Keep on trucking” cap and crack open a Bud Light. … [visit site to read more]

I’ve never played a game like OneShot [official site]. I’ve played rather a lot of games, too. It’s also been a really long time since I’ve cared about a game’s main character quite so much, to the point where decisions really mattered to me. Which is rather a lot to say of a game made in RPGMaker. But then this is a game that does stuff with that cutesy engine that I would never have thought possible. It does stuff with my PC> that I didn’t know games could do. This is quite the thing. Here’s wot I think: … [visit site to read more]

Time Commanders, the BBC game show where contestants order around someone playing Total War, returns to British screens tonight. Imagine a blind Let’s Play of Rome: Total War directed by teams who didn’t know what Total War was but did between them share a Desmond in classics, a Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, experience leading their university rugger society, and four awful haircuts. After eleven years away, Time Commanders is back tonight with Gregg Wallace off Masterchef pitting board gamers against wrestlers in a recreation of 202 BC’s Battle of Zama. Have a butcher’s at this: … [visit site to read more]

You could open the next door on our calendar, but it might be more fun to find another way inside. Surely there’s a window round the back that someone left open, or maybe you could get in through the cellar. Day twelve of The RPS Advent Calendar, which highlights our favourite games of the year, brings…

It’s sneaky-stabby marvel Dishonored 2 [official site]!

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Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.>

It only took 15 years for the PlayStation 2 game to come to PC, causing thousands of people to turn their heads and say, oh right yeah okay . The Final Fantasies have always been a bit daft, haven t they? … [visit site to read more]

On Christmas Eve in 1966, a New York television station broadcast several hours of a festive fireplace so people in fireless flats could tune into The Yule Log and feel Christmassy too. A modern tradition was born. You might have seen fireplace videos in Christmas shops on VHS and DVD, Netflix has three of ’em (I favour the birchwood fire), one ad has Nick Offerman sipping whisky by a fire for 45 minutes, and of course virtual logs exist too. The latest is Yule Log [official site] from Ice Water Games, the makers of Eidolon and Viridi. It lets you watch nice virtual logs burn. Isn’t that enough? … [visit site to read more]

Astroneer [official site] caught my eye at… GDC? Yes, it was GDC, earlier this year. It’s a kind of planetary potterer where you bimble around doing space exploration and terrain reshaping as you search for crafting/trading resources. I remember I rather liked the polygonal art style and figured I’d probably end up with a bulging screenshot folder when I got to playing it. It looks like my screenshots folder should start preparing itself as Astroneers is popping onto Early Access this Friday, 16 December.

This is something which got announced earlier in the year but which I’d forgotten because CHRISTMAS THINGS! until a dev update landed somewhere in my newsfeeds. … [visit site to read more]

As mentioned last week, it’s been one of those years. Lots of the biggest RPGs that we were expecting decided to spend a few more months in bed, or simply skip 2016. Can’t blame them! It’ll mean an awesome 2017, even if looking back there’s only been a few big names to pick from. Still, tradition is tradition! This week, another year marks another set of the RPG genre’s most fiercely fought-over fictional awards.

(Disclaimer: Actual fighting may also be fictional, all awards are based on the incredibly scientific principle of Wot I Think, awards cannot be exchanged for money, goods or services unless they too are entirely fictional. Please write all questions or complaints onto the back of a Myst CD using a Sharpie, break it into four pieces and bury them in interesting points around the globe for future treasure hunters to encounter, reforge, and then gag “Oh, god, Myst…” Or indeed, not. Completely your choice!)>

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1) Eggggg is a great game name.2) eggg.gg is an even better domain name.3) Eggggg – The Platform Puker [official site] is meant to be pretty fun in its original pocket telephone form.4) Eggggg looks cute for a game full of hurling, honking, spewing, and blowing chunks.5) Eggggg is headed for a PC release next year, hence this list of important points. … [visit site to read more]

There are a lot of interesting games in the world, and I try to look at as many of them as I possibly can, but I spent some time over the weekend looking at interesting games that aren’t in the world. On December 5th, author Nate Crowley offered to write a short description of a fictional video game every time somebody liked this tweet. He’s currently at 300 games and while none of them actually exist (yet; a gamejam is a possibility) they’re beautifully absurd pitches. … [visit site to read more]