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Every year I fall for one April Fool, usually on April the 2nd because the internet has undermined the transience and therefore the entire freaking point of the day. This year it was this awesome hoax by Braid artist and A Lesson Is Learned But The Damage Is Irreversible hero David Hellman. Curse you, David Hellman! Your pictures were so alluring that I skipped the highly suspicious intro paragraph and totally sent the link to Tim before I realised it was a big pile of fat blue lies! Check also out what happened in Guild Wars, if you missed it in my Flickr box down there on the right. | ||
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Man Raised By Puffins: Hehe, the nipple tassels are a nice touch.
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I celebrated April Fool’s day over at the PC Gamer blog by recounting five of my favourite games industry pranks of the last decade. | ||
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Iain "DDude" Dawson: warning: laughing at any Valve release-date pun may have an adverse effect on the TF2 update.
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What the hell is going on with that photo? Did somebody hit her with a copy of Dead Rising so hard that it stuck five inches into the flesh of her shoulder? Is some previously unnoticed fold of unctuous fat obscuring the tops of the rest of those game boxes? (Via Craig) | ||
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Seniath: The Daily Mail aren't they only ones who can do awesome photoshops (Courtesy of dartt):
http://www.darttweb.... ...iamond.png | ||||
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It turns out dogs aren’t very good at stuff. Most of these are funnier if you don’t think about how their owners put them in these situations, whereupon they become kind of disturbing. Except the chess one, which just gets funnier the more you think about it. I’m pretty sure that’s the fewest possible moves you can get checkmated in. (Thanks Ross.) | ||
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The_B: Please read the following in the style of Richard Nixon. For added comedy effect. (Bonus for picturing the Futurama version)
"I am not a dog." | ||||
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Soulstorm’s developers, Iron Lore, have shut down since they made this game. Which seems ridiculous, given the spectacular number of copies it’s going to sell. It’s also sad, because while this wasn’t as brave or interesting as Dark Crusade, Iron Lore were talented guys who had a rare gift: they could see what made another game great, and mimic it. Even if that wasn’t their intention, they were one of the only developers who gave the impression that they truly knew the nuts and bolts of what made games fun. I had plenty of complaints about Soulstorm, but for weeks I couldn’t stop playing it. Now I’ve moved on to their previous game, Titan Quest, and it’s far better than I’d been led to believe. It’s convinced me that we really have lost a great team in Iron Lore, and if you’re interested in an insider’s perspective on why, and how, a THQ guy has posted his thoughts over at Quarter to Three. | ||
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Pentadact: I see the endless scope for cheap-ass tactics in Dawn of War as the essence of the game: it's almost like a puzzle game. Unlike other RTSs, where each killer tactic has some counter, Dawn of War is just about figuring out which tactics have absolutely no counter and guarantee you a win.
I'm going through with Tau at the moment, and with my invisible jetpack commander and his entourage of Stealth Suits, I don't actually have to build anything on most maps. Only Chaos have withstood this technique so far, because their basic Cultists can see infiltrated units. Their stronghold mission is about destroying shrines to dispel a pink cloud over their base which kills you if you go in it. Instead I spammed Skyrays and parked them outside the miasma, jetpacked a suicide Stealth Suit into the thick of it to reveal the location of their HQ, then bombarded it from outside until it broke. | ||||
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 I guess I knew devs teams were this big these days, but still: wow. Next time I pan a major game, I’m going to imagine that many people simultaneously bursting into tears. I’ll still to do it, I’m just going to feel bad.
More Far Cry 2
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Pentadact: Heh. I'm sure if you talk to an actual Ubisoft dev they'll say "Oh yeah, for each one of us there's ninety-nine catering and pampering staff."
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There are days when I’m particularly proud to work for this magazine. To paraquote CJ from the West Wing, “This is fire like we used to throw.” | ||
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Rob: I and most others agree with Tim when he talks of game criticism being anything it wants to be. The best of it always has been. But like Greg says, there are those pieces that don't offer any constructive analysis or subjective opinion, and merely attempt to create a list of features, or whatever, and then grade things and draw a conclusion about it being a decent product. I don't agree that there's a place for writing that does nothing more than this. Or at least, there is, but it's not going to be at all progressive and useful.
Then there are criticisms which do all the lovely freewheeling things we've grown to love about videogames journalism, and yes, some of them can be buyers' guides by virtue of this fact. That doesn't mean there's no distinction between the two styles. | ||||
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Damn, I was in the middle of composing an eloquent post that phrased with restraint and reason why I found it hard to imagine this having a positive net effect on the game. Now it’s not going to look like I’m prescient. | ||
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Jason L: Didn't TF Original have a slow-moving, arcy Syringe Gun which killed slowly but inevitably after one hit? Seems somewhat similar to a Leech Gun, although making Uber work with it might be difficult. Actually, I bet it has at least a conceptual similarity to Action Quake Knife...?
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Don't Make Me Play Football Manager
Team Fortress 2 Weapon Ideas
First Night, Second Life
A Stab At Meet The Spy
Plan B
Impression Of A Buddy
GalCiv 2 War Diary
Murder Inc.
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