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What they are doing is like telling the customers WE DON'T TRUST YOU and that ain't the way to run a business.

Actually I feel it sends a much stronger message than that: I interpret this as telling me, "If you give us your business, we will punish you." Well, I can think of better companies to do business with: Ironclad, 2D Boy, GOG.com, Stardock ...

Incidentally, this DRM has pushed Rock, Paper, Shotgun to boycott all coverage of any aspect of the game henceforth, other than DRM.

Incredible. In-cred-i-ble. It’s like someone taking away your food mid-meal because your napkin’s fallen on the floor. It makes us want to pull an expression we’re not physically capable of, like this. It’s also worth noting this is a day on which EA have turned off multiplayer servers for games that are only a year old – so it’s hard to have faith that Ubi’s activation servers will be around for many years hence.

If you're getting journalists that pissed off, you know you're really doing a good job, right?

World of Goo piracy rate near 90 percent. And it's an indie game, which makes it even more sad.

Have a look at this for an interesting view of the same game.

A mod was released for these games which pretty much handles higher resolution. It does that not by up-scaling but rather by showing you a larger section of the hand-drawn pixel-perfect game map, keeping the original crispness.
The mod can be found here.
Nice example screenshots for Planescape: Torment here.

And the actually working link

Steam can tell which region you're currently in and restrict which keys you can use based on that.

Worse yet, they can do it retroactively and deactivate games you've already purchased.

See: Orange Blocked on Rock, Paper, Shotgun.

It's absolutely brilliant, and a hell to survive through. Interesting article about it: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008/04/10/butchering-pathologic-part-1-the-body/

Yeah. I am not willing to play that game. But, based on the review, I wish I was.

This russian gem deserves to be mentioned. It's not fun. It's so depressing I could barely stand playing it for long stretches. 10-15 mins was enough, 30mins was horrible. The unique concept results in a game that *is* a depressive nightmare. It's unique in a way; what other game makes you feel like killing yourself - just to end your own suffering? It's absolutely brilliant, and a hell to survive through. Interesting article about it: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008/04/10/butchering-pathologic-part-1-the-body/

Was looking to see if anyone posted this yet. Looks like an interesting puzzler (not action game AC).

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/09/03/prometheus-unbound-keys-unreal-time-travelosity/

I use it almost exclusively as a digital sketch pad but it works great as a general browsing computer as well.

I think I've found the best possible use for a touchpad: A portal to retro RPG Nirvana. Basically, this guy found that running classic RPGs like Baldur's Gate and Planescape: Torment on a touchpad is bliss. You can do it with a finger since all you need to do is tap on the screen to move and interact with the 2d isometric world. Also, there have been some major mods produced recently that allow you to play Infinity Engine games at widescreen resolutions. It's amazing how gorgeous these old games look when you're not viewing them at 640x480. I'm looking forward to playing through Planescape: Torment and enjoying the story in my RPGs again. Also, being able to do it on a train or bus is just awesome.

I stopped reading gaming mags/sites years ago, too many puff-pieces for vapourware, or people telling me I'd be sooo much more competitive if I just spent loadsamoney on their hardware. Instead; I tried asking real people what games they played, how well it played, and if online play was fun or just a button-twitch fest.

You might find Rock Paper Shotgun refreshing, then.

Tracking that back a bit, the 90% is probably an overestimation and even admittedly (by the guy who made the claim) prone to error. From the orginal thread where the claim was made (Kyle Gabler) :

We arrived at the 90% figure by looking at unique ipâ(TM)s that have contacted our leaderboard server for any reason, at least once. So, this should rule out âoemultiple profiles per computerâ. Of course, there is a lot of opportunity for error, like ipâ(TM)s that change, playing at work/home/wherever, multiple copies being played from the same ip, etc, but it seems like a good enough fast and decent estimate. Then we divided that number into the total number of PC copies sold, giving us the percentage.

So every time a user with a dynamic IP address's DHCP lease expires, zomg! it's a pirate! Avast the swabbing and beat to quarters!
Oh, and playing on a laptop from different locations...Run out the cannon we'll board them in the smoke!

While I agree that piracy is an issue which doesn't present a clear solution, muddying the waters with such bad statistics isn't helping.

When has Valve said they will be adding content constantly? That is just an assumption. If you read http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/06/04/valve-on-l4d2-trust-us-a-little-bit/ aswell, you'll see that Valve is fairly aware that they're taking a new route. Read the rest of the article however, and you'll see they note they will keep supporting l4d1 with new stuff aswell.

So before the thing actually gets released in 6 months, stop making stupid assumptions. Its half an year still and l4d1 will probably see lots of updates before it, and even maybe after that.

PC gaming is in decline

NPD Data Retail sales in the PC game software industry showed signs of growth, with revenues up one percent, exceeding $970 million in 2006

That doesn't include digital download sales: There's twenty million people on Steam now [Feb 2009]. That's 100% year on year growth since 2004.

And none of these numbers include the countless indie developers. I know it's trendy to bash PC gaming but it's not going anywhere any time soon.

crysis ftw!
only on pc

PC gaming is in decline

NPD Data
Retail sales in the PC game software industry showed signs of growth, with revenues up one percent, exceeding $970 million in 2006

That doesn't include digital download sales:
There's twenty million people on Steam now [Feb 2009]. That's 100% year on year growth since 2004.

And none of these numbers include the countless indie developers.
I know it's trendy to bash PC gaming but it's not going anywhere any time soon.

You can't necessarily make a good movie with a handful of guys and some talent.

Have a look at the recent Half Life short movie or movies like The Man from Earth or Primer, you very definitvly can make a good movie with a tiny budget. The only real disadvantage that a movie seems to have is that you need to have all the crew in the same place at the same time, while a game can be developed by people connected via the internet and can recycle lots of content from the parent game. But of course, a tiny movie budget won't give you the next Star Wars any more then a tiny game budget will give you the next Half Life, that however doesn't mean they can't be good in their own way.

including paying or compensating actors.

That's like saying you can't make a game without compensating the programmers and artists, but you very definitively can, because there are plenty people who do it for the fun of it, not the money.

Update: Due to a miscommunication, we had updated the original piece, stating that PC and Xbox 360 Survival Packs would be paid. However, Valve again contacted Edge to say that it hasn't ruled out the possibility of the price being "$0.00." Sorry for any confusion.

From what I understand, Microsoft requires DLC to be for-pay; Valve's stance, reiterated on January 14th, has been that free DLC is a more effective sales catalyst. And then you get the guy on RPS claiming that Gabe emailed saying PC DLC is "free".

I wouldn't be surprised if the increase in Russian sales is linked to their "new approach" towards piracy.

"The pirates were making a lot of money and weren't likely to be stopped easily. They were mass-producing packaged copies that looked like real games, and were competing directly with the actual, licensed publishers for commercial product. 1C went as high as they could: to President Vladimir Putin himself. The man from the KGB soon realised just what value this burgeoning industry would be to his vast, developing country. The punishment for commercial piracy is now up to seven years in prison. A Russian prison. As disincentives go, it's a good one."
Taken from http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/01/05/gaming-in-the-russian-cosmos-part-1/

While I personally don't find Eve the game to be very entertaining, I love to here any new information about it. That's partially because stories like this can only come out of a game like Eve, but also because it's pretty much the only MMO right now that's really doing things their own way and not just following in the footsteps of WoW and Everquest before it.

Because there are reports circulating that Spore actually has five activations.

In any case, "relaxing to five" is still a kick in the crotch, or would be if EA didn't censor that part of my creatures.

Seriously. When do I get my next item/puzzle-based single player game?

Seriously, you can't have been looking very hard? There are oodles of current and upcoming classic adventure, puzzle, action/adventure/rpg games, even if they don't get much attention on mainstream sites:

Two whole Sam and Max seasons by Telltale games, their upcoming Wallace and Gromit game, Deus Ex 3 hopefully, Braid for PS3 or PC, DeathSpank by Ron Gilbert (Monkey Island, Full Throttle, Day of the Tentacle), Machinarium, World of Goo by 2D Boy, "realistic physics horror puzzler" Penumbra:Black Plague, the two classics Vampire:Bloodlines and Psychonauts (available on Steam), the horror adventure game Three Cards To Midnight by the people who made the Tex Murphy games (Under a Killing Moon etc).

There is also the Dracula, Sherlock Holmes games, though I hesitate to recommend them because didn't really connect with them when I played the demos.

Best site to keep track of good indie games and good PC games for the thinking man/woman- here.

Actually, there will be a PC version:

"[...] It's crazy that this isn't already in the wild, but turns out plans for a PC version of heavily-physicsed Star Wars Sith 'em up The Force Unleashed were quietly revealed at NVIDIA's recent NVISION 08 conference. [...]"

(From this linked article.)

Check the link again...a PC version IS planned.

Mod AC up. I saw this from another source this week, too. It's coming to PC.

Nevermind, LucasArts saw that and said it was a misunderstanding.

Check the link again...a PC version IS planned.

Mod AC up. I saw this from another source this week, too. It's coming to PC.

Check the link again...a PC version IS planned.

All the reviews I've read about Spore have said the same thing - great toy, boring game.

An alternative, and well formulated viewpoint at Rock, Paper, Shotgun.

Personally, I'm having a great time with it.

I've got nothing to do with this site... seems safe, but obviously NSFW
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008/06/18/nsfw-a-beginners-guide-to-sporn/

And the the page from the comic where Nikopol encounters Johnelvisson

I love bad reviews, especially those dripping with badly-spelled verbal venom. Here are some choice quotations from random forum postings about my own MINERVA mod for Half-Life 2:

lighting was fucking shit, its just like these other fucking mappers making maps extremely fucking dark

Despite the website that oozes more angst and self-hatred than an emo concert at an emo convention, this is worth downloading.

Was anybody else annoyed by those frequent messages? That pompous, cliche tone gave the sense that a smarmy Brit with two dictionaries, three encylopedias and a latin textbook shoved up his ******* was faxing you orders.

i made a box map with a giant penis that has better lighting that this shit

Besides, the content of the website is overly presumptuous, overloaded with vague metaphors, random big words and allusions to irrelevant Greek myths, as if they were talking about anything but a second-rate Half-Life 2 mod.

Strangely, nobody's yet told me it's rubbish in an email. I must try harder.

Lambda The Ultimate (programming languages): http://lambda-the-ultimate.org/rss.xml

Greg Costikyan (culture): http://feeds.feedburner.com/costik/gXjD

Darius Kazemi (gamedev networking): http://tinysubversions.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Warren Spector (design): http://junctionpoint.wordpress.com/feed/

Tom Forsyth (graphics): http://www.eelpi.gotdns.org/blog.wiki.xml

Christer Ericson (collision detection): http://realtimecollisiondetection.net/blog/?feed=rss2

Erin Catto (physics): http://www.gphysics.com/feed

Duncan Fyfe? (writing): http://www.hitselfdestruct.com/feeds/posts/default

Soren Johnson (design): http://feeds.feedburner.com/Designer-notes

Fun Motion (physics games): http://www.fun-motion.com/feed/

Play This Thing (short reviews & commentary): http://playthisthing.com/allposts/feed

GoGamer (game deals): http://feeds.feedburner.com/Gogamercom48hourMadnessSpecial

CheapAssGamer (game deals): http://feeds.feedburner.com/cheapassgamer

Kotaku (news & commentary): http://kotaku.com/index.xml

Rock, Paper, Shotgun (PC gaming): http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/?feed=rss2

Some decent parody screenshots in the vein of Phriday can be found at Rock, Paper, Shotgun.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/?page_id=1909

My favorite is the Zork one.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/images/june08/limbocompo/JohnLeonard.jpg

Some decent parody screenshots in the vein of Phriday can be found at Rock, Paper, Shotgun.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/?page_id=1909

My favorite is the Zork one.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/images/june08/limbocompo/JohnLeonard.jpg

To paraphrase brutally, Piracy doesn't matter. Only sales matter. ...
That's the problem with piracy. What gets made targets people who buy it, not the people who would never buy it in the first place. When someone complains about "fat borders" on some popular WindowBlinds skin my question is always "Would you buy WindowBlinds even if there was a perfect skin for you?" and the answer is inevitably "Probably not". That's how it works in every market -- the people who buy stuff call the shots. Only in the PC game market are the people who pirate stuff still getting the overwhelming percentage of development resources and editorial support.

Or, in shorter for the people that seem to have trouble reading

Ooer ... there's my own WAD in there too. Five maps of single-player mayhem, for Doom 2. Released over nine years ago, which was pretty late by Doom standards...

If you want something a bit more modern, there's always this for Half-Life, and this for Half-Life 2: Episode One (Liverpool nil). And some reviews!

Aaaand ... some bonus Quake!

Ahem. That's quite enough links, I reckon!

I've got a frickin' shotgun.

I'd definitely check out independent game sites first - the closer to pen & paper it is, the smaller a niche it's in. As an example, check out this Q&A regarding Age of Decadence: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/?p=1028

Also, bear in mind that a big chunk of the beauty of pen and paper is that your imagination is the limit to the possibilities, while on the computer, the designer's BUDGET is the limit to the possibilities.

I feel like D&D was always kind of like a mix of mathblaster and poorly performed improv theatre. If playing the math is what you're trying to do, check out SRPGs. I've always played them on consoles, but I recommend Disgaea or Final Fantasy Tactics as games to go looking for clones of.

Civilization is also an excellent scratch for that math itch, especially Civ IV, since it shows you all of the adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing that it's doing to get to your final number.

People play computer games for different reasons than they play pen and paper games. Look at WHY you want to play games, and then look for the games that will most suit your needs and the medium you're using.

So what do I want instead? Give me environments! Give me worlds! I want freedom to explore, to find out of the way nooks and crannys, and more than one way of getting from point A to B. I want to solve problems using logic, not by playing "guess what the game designer wanted me to do or go next"? Game designers: Create a living, breathing, interesting world, and then let your players enjoy their time here. Stop shoving the player along a conveyor belt.

I wouldn't describe myself as a level designer, rather just a mapper (or map designer if I want to sound posh). But I've made the moderately popular MINERVA single-player mod for Half-Life 2, which people keep claiming is quite good - it's got an interesting world to explore (if you can see it in the distance, you can get there pretty much always), and while it's fairly linear it does have a couple of branches, double-backs and efficient use of architecture. It's definitely not a long, solitary corridor with no turning back...

The book review is interesting because the book sounds like it's managing to focus on things which I've never really thought about - I've never decided to build ' Also in my eyes, parts of the list are the wrong way round - don't take the chapters' ordering as some kind of specified route as to how things must be constructed, rather than aspects to the whole process. Theirs:

• "Defining the Game"
• "Enemies and Obstacles: Choosing Your Challenges"
• "Brainstorming Your Level Ideas" ... "delves into the creation of concept sketches and reference images, the creation of a level's storyline, the drafting of a level description and the design of the puzzles and scripted sequences within the level"
• "Designing With a Diagram" ... "the scope and order of levels within the game" ... "lay it out in diagram format by creating a grid"
• "The Template"
• "Improving Your Level,"
• "Taking It to 11" ... "architectural style, the addition of details like trim and borders, the appropriate use of textures and props, and the like"
• "Ship it!"

My utterly awkward route:

• Think of a setting. Metastasis was basically ISLAND!, while the upcoming Out of Time is CITY! - this helps with...
• Think of an ending. This is the most important part of the whole experience, and will define the beginning. For Metastasis, the beginning is basically the reverse of the ending.
• Think of a middle, and of the whole plotline. This defines what the available enemies will be (the selection needs to be plausible to fit into the plotline - no striders 500m underground, or zombies wandering around a tightly controlled and maintained Combine facility).
• Define and build the architecture. Build it appropriate to the setting and plotline, and with an eye on enhancing details which provide interesting gameplay. You know the beginning and end, so you need something to constantly drive the player towards the ending. Give them something to fight for, and they will. Pull, don't push. Metastasis's architecture changes throughout - and tells a lot of the story though how things are constructed. The game is a result of the architecture, not the other way round. I've got some ideas involving architectural styles imparting major themes and plot-points in Out of Time too - except this time it's borrowed from different areas of the real-world Warsaw...
• While doing all that, add the gameplay! In Metastasis, there was a section which I never bothered adding any enemies to - it was far too atmospheric and interesting just wandering through a seemingly abandoned World War Two-era base to spoil. If I'd decided 'NEED COMBAT-FREE SECTION NOW' before I'd bu

I'd like to point everyone to this article, entitled "The World of Eve-Craft.

Disclaimer: If you check my post history, it's obvious that I am an avid EvE Online player, and even maybe fanboi.

Having said that, to be honest there are some things that EvE really, really does wrong. The 4 year paid beta test is one of them, ISK farmers are another (though that's not specific to any one MMO). Another common complaint is that many EvE players have said they tried out the game and found it wholly unapproachable in the short term, only to have an EvE old-timer correct them and say "a character 2 months old can be very effective". But the reality is that the immediate immersion and new player experience of EvE can be tedious - us old timers think nothing of training a skill for 10 days, but for a player who's been in the game for 2 weeks, that's an eternity. And there are other reasons.

This article seems to take "the idea of EvE", and apply it to "what WoW does right". What the guy says makes for an incredibly powerful game idea, and he's got a lot of really good points. What I'm hoping is that "Darkfall" IS the game that I want. I'm hoping it's the WoW world, minus the grinding and plus the risk/reward and heart-pounding PVP of EvE. "Item requires level X" completely breaks the immersive nature of a role-playing game - you should never be prevented from eating a level 50 cake because you're level 38: What, do you magically learn how to eat better cake? It's stupid. Eve does some of this, but come on - WoW does a shitload of it. Not to mention, death means that your equipment is magically transported to a graveyard with you and takes some damage? What is that about? That's not immersive! Neither is anything where something is left at A and can magically be picked up at B (EvE is pretty good about this: buy stuff in a region with low prices, spend the time to transport it, and sell it in the suburbs or the boonies for profit).

If you want to read more about darkfall, check out:
http://www.lordsofdeath.com/www/?p=12
or the wikipedia entry.

There are a lot of us in the "serious PVP MMO community" that are hoping against hope that Darkfall isn't vaporware, and that it's going to be even 50% of what we dream about.

~Wx

The project lead for Episode 2 said in an interview that they actually use "driver back doors" to take advantage of some DX10 features in DX9.

Got a copy of Episode One, and want some more single-player Half-Life 2 before going all orangey with the Orange Box on Wednesday?

I prescribe my own MINERVA, complete with needlessly cryptic website.

Random games journalist types are quite keen on it. No bribery was involved whatsoever, honest. Other links? Wikipedia! My blog-thing! ... Um ... Valve Developer Community! Even Steam!

Described by random inhabitants of the internet as having: "extremely bad writing", with "some of the most dreadfully boring environments you'll ever see" - the "puzzles and triggers in the game are horrific", and "combat is done exactly the wrong way" - what are you waiting for?