Last weekend, a horde of PC gamers descended on Birmingham’s NEC for Rezzed, an annual celebration of all things indie, unexpected and otherwise awesome with regards to PC gaming. I met up with Chris on Sunday, and together we ventured forth to prod, peer and poke at all the show had to offer.
Sun Tzu has very little to say about attacking an entrenched force that holds high ground, consists of greater numerical superiority and contains elephants, chariots and what can only be described as ‘great balls of fire.’ What he does say about the matter basically boils down to ‘don’t bother.’
To cut a long story short, after the monumental bashing that the X-Bone has received over the past month, Microsoft has just announced a complete reversal of pretty much every decision they’ve ever made regarding their new flagship console. Under immense pressure from press outlets, forums, their fans and opponents, they’ve revised their previously-announced DRM, preowned game usage and online check-in policies for Xbox One.
Today Bohemia Interactive, creators of the ArmA series of military simulations, announced their next installment in the Take On series of simulators. Following their 1985 pop sensation and their helicopter sim in 2011, I’ve been eager to see where the series would be going next. Where do you go after helicopters, I ask? Apparently, the answer is Mars.
Back in January I mentioned a little project named Void Destroyer, a Homeworld inspired strategy game set amidst the stars. Half a year further along in its development, VD’s creator has finally seen fit to stand alongside the big boys and brave the hostile, judgemental climes of Kickstarter.
It’s another one of those ‘busy weekends’ for the denizens of Reticule Towers, which generally seem to involve a lot of wrestling and potentially even more alcohol. As a result, you’re stuck with just little old me for this week’s Our Week In Games, but nevertheless, feel free to put your feet up and grab yourself a cup of tea as I tell the tale of one of the last men to walk the earth.
In six weeks, the Yawhg will arrive.
I say arrive, but that might not be accurate. Perhaps it will instead just appear, sidle up, or simply just happen. I’m not quite sure, but all I know is that in six weeks, Yawhg will occur. Apologies for my vagueness, but that’s the rather enigmatic backstory behind Damion Summer and Emily Carroll’s The Yawhg, which will forever be enshrined in my memory as being my most misspelled game ever.
I’m not a fan of machinima – what little I have seen has a tendency to consist of crude jokes and internet memes filmed in the medium of Half-Life and Halo. But this week, however, someone brought my attention to something that completely changed my outlook on what combining filming and gaming can do.
Every few weeks I’ll come across a mod that sparks my interest. Whether it’s for a game I’m currently playing or something I haven’t booted up in several years, it doesn’t matter – within minutes of stumbling across something fascinating, I’ll have downloaded it and be playing the game with as much excitement as the day I first bought it.
Get a piece of paper and a die – Go on, I’ll wait.
Ready? Now write down six of the most generic words you can think of and number them one to six. Now roll the die and write down the word that corresponds to that number. Do it about five or six times. Stick a colon in there somewhere, or a hyphen, both if you’re feeling adventurous. Now look at the result. It’s a better name for a game than Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army, isn’t it? Yes, I thought so.