[Most Recent Entries] [Calendar View]
Wednesday, August 21st, 2024
| Time | Event |
| 9:25a | Dune Awakening will burst out of the early access sands in "early 2025"  Lo, a ripple in the release date sands. Stand still a moment while we study this phenomenon. Yes, yes, it is the unmistakable rumble of a large survival MMO pondering its release date. Dune: Awakening is having a think and has decided "early 2025" is a good non-specific time period to come out in early access. That could mean January or February. Or March, I guess. April? Now don't be silly, that's spring. Not April, surely. This beast seems hungry. It will eat before then. I have foreseen it. Mostly by watching the trailer that dropped at Gamescom. |
| 9:34a | In first-person Myst-alike Looking For Fael you’re stuck in a surreal apartment maze, but you do get a Game Boy Advance SP  If you have experience of the London rental market, there is but one way you can react to a game – a French game, no less, the cultural product of a country where two-bed apartments apparently grow on trees – that promises to maroon you in a sprawling labyrinth of flats. “Haha, alright for some!” you chortle despairingly, after freeing yourself from the laundry basket and retrieving your trousers from the fridge. “I bet labyrinths have more than one window,” you sob, as you yet again tackle the problem of opening the front door without becoming part of the wall. If you have have experience of the London rental market, you are probably reading this and thinking: “He’s got a front door? Such extravagance. I live in a folded umbrella.” Touché, my friend. I guess it’s just as well we have spaciously proportioned first-person puzzle adventures to console us in our time of compound elbow bruises, rising damp and preposterous financial debt. On which note, Looking For Fael seems fun. |
| 10:09a | Netease gloatingly note that Overwatch-like Marvel Rivals won't make you unlock heroes, unlike Overwatch 2  Marvel Rivals, Netease' free-to-play Overwatch wannabe comprised of superheroes from the Marvelverse, is set to launch on December 6th. And in a "hah, take this Overwatch!" way, they've also announced that all of its heroes will be unlocked for everyone straight off the bat (man). Oh no wait, he's DC isn't he. To be fair, I've only watched one Avengers film, two Captain Americas, and Thor: Ragnarok (without seeing the other Thors). All of which I have zero recollection of. Anyway, yes, Marvel Rivals. |
| 1:00p | Splitgate 2 remains a portal-hopping FPS delight, but it really needs to lighten up  Now, I never played quite as much as our Brendy did of the original Splitgate. But I had a fun time with its mixture of Halo-esque trigger pulling and portalling around! So I was intrigued to give the alpha version of Splitgate 2 a go and see if it had a little more substance to it than its initial reveal, which gave off a, "it's Splitgate but with more money" feel. Well, I think it's… a bit serious? It certainly has more polish and some extra additions, yet I didn't come away from it thrilled by its more competitive, class-based FPS leanings. I think it just needs a bit more time, perhaps, for a portal to open and some silly rocket launchers and baseball bats and zombies to come tumbling out of it. |
| 1:29p | Dire comedy bloodsport King Of Meat should have been called King Of Meme  I genuinely don't like sucker-punching video games the second they're announced, but playing Glowmade's King Of Meat is three hours of my life I won't get back, and every second I spend writing about it extends that total, dragging me closer to a regretful demise. Here's the stuff I'm more positive about: buried at the core of this spurting interactive snarkfest there is a moderately OK third-person dungeon-crawler for groups of up to four. |
| 1:46p | Saber boss explains Space Marine 2's microtransactions: “People don’t want to be sold horse armour anymore"  Our James recently stormed off to Cologne after having one too many kills stolen by Edwin in Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2. “I’m never even going to look at another videogame again!”, he declared. Unfortunately for James, he accidentally walked straight into Gamescom. “I’m starting to think that there are a lot of video games” he informed us yesterday. Horrifying if true. Still, it does sound like he’s managing to have some fun there, mainly by hitting up Saber Interactive COO and former id Software co-owner Tim Willits for some top tips on how to avenge Edwin’s thieving ways. Tips about kill-stealing aside, James found time to ask Willits about Space Marine 2's microtransactions, and whether there was any nervousness returning to a cult hit series… especially one a lot of people had almost given up on ever seeing again. “Even the “push forward” combat of the original was part of [id’s] inspiration when we created Doom 2016,” answered Willits. “So for me personally, it’s this huge circle. It’s always intimidating working on a franchise that people love.” But, with the right team, technology, and vision he says, “it just comes together.” |
| 2:15p | Wielding Black Myth: Wukong as a culture war cudgel is a disservice to this very shiny and cool cicada  I’ve only managed to carve out the time for about two hours of staff-bonking simian action in Black Myth: Wukong thus far, but it’s been enough that I’m already quite enamoured with just how consistently novel and creative it’s been. I’m enjoying it enough to wish I’d encountered it in a vacuum. |
| 3:40p | Cupiclaw wants to do for claw machines what Balatro did for poker  Gamescom is exploding all around us, but there is still time to lower a pincer into the pile of Steam indie game announcements and reel up the occasional treasure. In this case, it's the demo for Cupiclaw, which is possibly the first ever "roguelike deckbuilding claw machine game". You know how Balatro made you feel about Joker cards? Well, this game wants to make you feel the same about claw machines. It's a terrible turn of events, frankly. I'm sorry for inflicting yet another potential bingeplay upon you. Here's a trailer. |
| 4:40p | BioWare detail Dragon Age: The Veilguard's PC-specific graphics features and controller options  I've never really understood the charm of ultrawide monitors. I dare boldly to maintain that there is such a thing as Too Wide, a point beyond which the extra visual estate becomes a waste of electricity, unless you watch the screen in pairs. I can only assume people who use ultrawide monitors live in constant terror of flanking manoeuvres and demand the maximum amount of peripheral vision. Mind you, I tend to play games with my nose about 10 centimetres from the screen. Forget being flanked - it's the prospect of snipers up ahead I'm worried about. If you're among the people who fret excessively about flankers, I've got great news from Uncle BioWare. Forthcoming RPG Dragon Age: The Veilguard will support 21:9 ultrawide monitors. The ultrawide functionality extends to cinematics - you can disable "cinematic aspect ratios" to switch off the black bars that otherwise hem in the view. It's one of several PC-specific flourishes they've just blogged about. Have a look. |
| << Previous Day |
2024/08/21 [Calendar] |
Next Day >> |