Edit: cos there are various theories flying around below about my perceived intent in posting this, I shall clarify my own feelings. I would really like to see contracts between publishers and developers more commonly include an arrangement whereby key (and ideally, but rather less plausibly, all) creatives on game projects continue to see some post-release royalties, as is the case in some other entertainment and publishing industries. That so many old games are being (apparently profitably) rereleased lately highlights this disparity. That is all.>

There’s obviously a very good chance you already know this, but just in case: when a developer is bought out by a publisher, it’s usually the case that they then don’t see any ongoing royalties from the games they make for them, or indeed for any existing intellectual property that was swallowed up as part of the studio acquisition. It’s standard practice, knowingly agreed by both parties during the dark deal some studios made to ensure immediate financial viability and larger project budgets. But what it does mean is that a great many of the PC games we regularly celebrate around these parts are no longer bringing in any money for their creators, despite still being on sale. Whenever we excitedly see an old classic appear on Steam or GoG (such as Thief last week), chances are very high that whatever we pay for it goes purely to the publisher and the download service. And while it may well be right that these bodies profit from projects they funded and distribute, it’s sad that the men and women who toiled over that game’s creation won’t see another penny from it. (more…)

Update: new video!>

Adam Jensen’s story (which he never asked for) may be the canon prequel to the cyberpunk conspiracy theorising of the original Deus Ex, but the future-world’s a big place – there’s plenty of room to tell new tales from the time before JC Denton trotted across the globe. 2027 is a massively ambitious, Russian-made mega-mod for Deus Ex 1, the English version of which launched last week. It offers a new, apparently highly non-linear story, levels based on real-world locations, amped-up DirectX 9 graphics with stuff like weather effects added and a slew of new abilities, weapons and spider-bots. Also, new fonts. I do so like a font. Haven’t had a chance to give it a spin yet, but the below in-game footage certainly speaks for the visual upgrade. (more…)

You there! Remember the parody video in which the likes of DLC references, object highlighting and iron sights from Human Revolution were added to the original Deus Ex, and how even-tempered everyone was about it? Well, now you can recreate that past-meets-present, JC/AJ mash-up yourself, as creator Ceski has released the mod he made to achieve the video.

Also includes instant wristblade takedowns (press use when behind an enemy), regenerating health and a surfeit of black and gold. Grab Deus Ex: Unreal Revolution from here.

The more modern values of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, transplanted into the resolutely year 2000 Deus Ex 1. Admittedly, this video occasionally strays into tiresome ‘THE PAST WAS NECESSARILY BETTER AND EVERYTHING IS RUBBISH NOWADAYS’ whingeotron territory, but it’s nanotongue-in-cheek enough to elicit a good few guffaws, I think. What if… JC Denton had elbow swords? And augmented vision? And could only rescue Tracer Tong if he’d preordered? (more…)

With a couple of weeks still on the clock for the release of Deus Ex 3 (it’s still amazing to me that’s really happening), however will we occupy ourselves? Well, we Britishers could start with considering how to help bridge the terrible gulf between rich and poor. Then we could replay the original Deus Ex, but adorned with new, high resolution textures. The New Vision mod repaints DX’s world with pin-sharp new surfaces, which as well as making it look a little less geriatric also makes its world look a little more futuristic. Its 1.5GB of image files claims to increase texture resolution by some eight times. Sharp.>

Don’t expect less cuboid character models, however, but New Vision does play nice with most, if not all, other DX mods, so you may well be able to combo-up for something even better. (Big thanks to everyone who mailed this in).>

Humans! The promised day has arrived. Some said it wasn’t possible. Some said rude, badly-spelled things in capital letters. Others were simply impatient. No matter: it has happened. Deus Ex: Human Revolution, the third game in the series that has an awful lot to do with why an awful lot of us remain faithful, unswervingly loyal PC gamers to do this day, has gone gold. And I’m not just talking about its colour pallete. It is finished, Eidos Montreal have just revealed. Complete. Ready. Well, ready as it’ll ever be – and that means its release date on August 23 is actually happening>.

And that means, hopefully, it’ll be in our hands soon.
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We’re in a for heck of a show today, ladies and gentlemen. It’s done eight minutes! It’s done twelve minutes! But can it go thirty whole minutes> of in-game footage without stopping? We haven’t seen a promotional campaign like this before, ladies and gentlemen – Deus Ex: Human Revolution is trying to go all out, all the way to the top, to show you so much footage that your bruised and battered corneas weep for mercy. Here it is now, ladies and gentlemen, our new heavyweight contender, striding confidently to the ring to the accompaniment of a bombastic little number from Vangelis – it’s the one, the only Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and we’ve got thirty huge minutes of hiding and hitting to look forward to….
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Once there were demos (something I plan to write about soon). Now there’s just promotion, and promotion of promotion. The below video is an attempt to make you preorder the super limited megascloosive ultrobucks version of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and contains lingering, porny close-ups of the various paper’n'plastic’digital goodies therein, to the accompaniment of what sounds like the Battlestar Galactic soundtrack.

Do you want these things? WELL DO YOU?
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Where were you all last week? I turned up and no one was here, honest! What’s that? No, I’m not crossing my fingers behind my back, and you definitely didn’t see him heading off on holiday. What nonsense. Anyway, to make up for it, here’s an extra-long edition of Mod News to cover the past two weeks. This time: Crash Bandicoot, a Warcraft III art mod, a surprising number of trailers and a bizarre remake of Deus Ex…
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Oh dear. Internet rotters have done it again, this time turning their attentions to the official website for Deus Ex: Human Revolution and for developer Eidos Montreal. But their hacking is not yer common-or-garden Denial of Service attack or painting pink moustaches on pictures of Adam Jensen – it’s stealing the personal data of some 80,000 registered users. Thanks so much, hackers.
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