In the recent days four updates were added to the Indiegogo campaign for Ghost of a Tale, which just requires a little of 10 KEuro more to reach its goal of 45 KEuro in the next 7 days. The updates are about the steps that are required to create a crab from scratch.

For those of you interested in the more technical aspects of the game’s development I thought I would present the method I used to create the crab model. As a side note, I’ll have to spread that presentation over several updates, as Indiegogo only allows for one picture per update.

Before starting to work on the model, I always surround myself with visual references (photographs, paintings) and make mental notes of aspects I will emphasize in order to end up with a model that’ll be interesting enough.

It all starts with a simple cube (within Maya), followed by other cubes to roughly represent all the body parts and get a feel for the overall volume of the limbs. As you can see, it’s all very blocky and I do not worry about details at this stage. It’s best to check that everything looks as expected now (in terms of overall morphology), as it will become more difficult to change things further down the line.

Then I start to work on the body parts in Zbrush (bottom picture), simply refining the broad shapes. Again, not caring too much about details yet; just roughing in the main volumes. Note that at this stage I already know I’ll have to open the arms of the creature so I can get a better look while sculpting. But starting with the arms folded ensured that the crab would eventually be able to get into that pose later on.

 

And the result is this:

Gamebanshee posted a five page review for Eador: Master of the Broken World.

If you are in any way a fan of strategy-RPG games, ranging from Heroes of Might & Magic to Age of Wonders, or even if you enjoy turn-based strategy games such as Civilization, then I think Eador: Masters of the Broken World is just about the perfect game for you. While it is slower-paced than some of these games, and the initial difficulty level is fairly high, the amount of depth all aspects of the game makes it a contender for one of the most interesting and fun strategy games or RPGs that I have played. The game's creator originally made Eador: Genesis as a love letter to his favorite games, and he really did succeed at making a game that combines some of the best aspects of all of them together.

However, the fact of the matter is that the game is still very buggy. It's getting better with every patch the developers release, and I have a feeling in a few months I'll be able to wholeheartedly recommend the game - but as of now, you'll have to make a decision as to whether it is worth putting up with some major bugs and glitches, some of them literally game-breaking, in order to have fun. At only $20 USD, Eador: MotBW is very affordable, and that might be the tipping point for you - but it's also worth considering that the original Eador: Genesis is nearly the same game, lacking only a few additions, balance tweaks, and of course, the updated graphics. It simply might be the better buy for you if you don't mind searching the Internet for fixes on how to get it running smoothly on your new quad-core system.

At the end of the day, Eador: Masters of the Broken World stands as a strong and highly enjoyable strategy-RPG which can easily go toe-to-toe with the best in the genre, provided you are not opposed to spending a large number of hours getting familiar with the game. With lots of replay value, an extensive campaign with multiple endings, and some very well balanced and challenging combat and strategy, Eador is the best of many worlds. It's just a shame it released in the state it did, and I can only recommend the game right now for those who have faith the bugs will be squashed in the coming months, or those who simply don't mind putting up with them.

Dsogaming has an article bringing news that Sonic Augmentation a Deus Ex album is now available to everyone for free. So if you loved playing Deus Ex, and loved the music give it a listen.

“This EP arranges music from Deus Ex, released in 2000 for Windows, and also contains nods to both sequels, Invisible War and Human Revolution. The album features 8 songs from 10 artists that re-envision the original compositions of Alexander Brandon, Michiel van den Bos and Michael McCann in a wide variety of styles and genres while channeling the moods, sounds and imagery of the world of Deus Ex. The album also includes two tracks featuring original series’ composer Alexander Brandon collaborating with BAFTA-nominated composer Jimmy Hinson.”

Take-Two annouced their sale figures.  Borderlands 2 is shaping up to be 2K's best selling title with close to six million shipped and sold.

Borderlands 2 is sneaking up on the 6 million mark for units shipped, and well on the way to exploding 2K Games' sales records. Speaking in yesterday's financials call, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said the rambunctious shooter was the company's biggest earner in terms of digital sales across the fiscal year.

"Building on its extraordinary launch in September, Borderlands 2 continues to expand its audience and remains on pace to become the highest-selling title in 2K's history," said Zelnick. "It has also been the largest contributor to our digitally delivered revenue this year, driven both by strong sales of full game downloads, and high attach rates for the title's add-on content, especially the Borderlands 2 Season Pass."

The Gearbox-developed sequel had shipped over 5 million back in October 2012. While shipments aren't the same as sales, it's worth noting the original Borderlands sold 4.5 million copies as of August 2011.

D+PAD talks about and looks back on the entire Mass Effect Saga.

The first time I played through Mass Effect 2 I was nonplussed; it seemed to have less of the rough and experimental charm of the first game, which seemed to be a haphazard evolution of Knights of the Old Republic into an attempt to create the definitive, ne plus ultra, science-fiction RPG which would encompass everything the genre had to offer. It had aliens, and a planet-hopping plot, and exploration of uncharted worlds, and xenophilia if you liked, and upgradeable weapons with dozens of options. The result was uneven, and often clumsy, but it was quite unlike most games in its attempted scope and as a result I defended it quite vehemently as a good game. The second, by contrast, was more elegant and simplistic – all of the aspects of Mass Effect were present but in a form which worked without any inconsistencies or awkwardness – and as a result at first seemed too clinical and perfunctory.

Disregarding this sleight of hand and playing the games long after the arguments have died down, long after their value and nature have been discussed – their real merits show through. What remains, beneath the promises and the shortcomings, are a series of games that tell a story and allow the player to alter the fine details – the memorable ones. The actual story missions of both of the first two games are quite unremarkable. What I remember of my most recent playthrough are things like my character failing to resolve a row between Tali and Legion just before the final mission, and so I made the decision to keep the one I agreed with by my side and let the other take their chances (with tragic results). Or that my constant pangs of conscience and attempts to do the best for friends while being disdainful of others resulted in my character being neither forceful enough nor conciliatory enough to successfully press their viewpoint in big arguments and having to rely instead on threats and bluster to muddle through.

In conclusion I think replaying the first two Mass Effect games taught me two things about the series. The first is that neither is, on a fundamental level, a mechanically sound game. The first game is over-ambitious in its attempt to be comprehensive and ends up feeling like awkward busywork. The second is far too pared-back and focused on story-telling over providing mechanical choice and so feels superficial. This is where the third succeeded; it found the missing mid-point on a fundamental, behind-the-scenes level and was probably the best game. Yet here is where my second point comes in. Properly seeing where Mass Effect shines relies on understanding what it is – and that it is not what it was described as. The amount of agency that the player has the illusion of was ultimately unsustainable across three games and so the continued claims that it existed ultimately fell through. The result is a story with fixed start and end points and a procession of known events in the meantime – not an open-world RPG with divergent or emergent stories. And this, ultimately, is where the first two entries – mechanically unsound as they are – succeed far more than the third. The illusion of agency is far better presented, the superficial choices far more memorable. The third game overreached in trying to exceed this foundation and as a result the failures in suspension of disbelief – a constant shortcoming around which the early games skirted – became too great.

VG247 has an interview with Harebrained Schemes founder Jordan Weisman to learn more about Shadowrun Returns

“The plot is based on secrets and mysteries, so it’s hard to talk too much about it without giving away something,” he began. “You’ve been hired by a woman to find out who killed her brother and ‘deal’ with them. Along the way, you’ll have to navigate corrupt cops, mega-corporations, body part peddlers, and ancient … OK that’s enough.”

The game’s futuristic Seattle of 2054 is going to be teeming with plot strands, dangers lurking in every alley and an assortment of enemies waiting to be engaged in combat. There will be much to consider, but Weisman stressed the game still won’t hold your hand. This is meant to be a tough experience for dedicated players.

“Call it respect for the audience or call it old-school gamer mentality but we’re honestly not hand-holding people through a bunch of training on the mechanics,” he said. “Once upon a time, there was fun in exploring and experimenting. We hope to give players enough info to get them rolling and understanding the basics.”

Watching the team’s alpha gameplay demo made it clear that combat will take an open-ended approach. There is great scope to adapt to threats the way you feel is best. Do you take a frontal assault approach and stick your team to cover, or do you try hacking and using alternate routes to gain the upper hand?

The possibilities are vast, and Weisman explained that by combining skills and character types you can really hit your enemies hard, “Our mindset is that you don’t need to balance your team’s skills but there are certainly benefits in doing so. For example, a Street Samurai might have a decent chance of hitting an enemy but if the enemy were slowed by a spell, he would be at a greater advantage.

Well seems we have more reviews for Mars War Logs.

Nzgamer- 6.0/10

The annoying thing about Mars: WL is that Spiders have tried to do everything at once instead of delivering a smaller, more polished game. Everything feels half done. Environments look as though they were made at the start of the 360's life cycle, NPCs stand about in what seems like suspended animation, one of the main voices just wasn’t cast well, and the combat system is so clumsy and unresponsive that restarts and frustration are all but guaranteed. What makes all this so annoying is that the game has so much promise, and if there had been a bigger budget, or a smaller concept, it could have been something quite fantastic.

GamesReviews- 6.5/10

War Logs is very close to being a game that’s worthwhile, and a lot about it does work. The $20 price point certainly makes it more approachable, but the up-and-down storytelling, boring voice-acting and cluttered gameplay make it less appealing. It’s a good effort, though, and I’m more than interested in Spiders’ future projects.

ZTGD- 6.0/10

Mars: War Logs is one of the most confusing names for a game in recent memory. I don’t know how many times I have said it wrong. I mention this because it is a tell-tale description for the game. War Logs is a sci-fi RPG that never seems to get its feet on the ground in any area, but still retains enough good ideas to keep it afloat. This ten hour adventure is full of excellent concepts and the occasional moment of brilliance, all locked behind its mediocre exterior. It is the kind of game I wanted to love, the more I played it.

GamepPlanet- 4.5/10

It’s unfair to compare a small downloadable title with similar triple-A productions, but what can be said is that perhaps in crafting such an ambitious title, Spiders Studio simply bit off more than it could chew. While some aspects of Mars: War Logs are outstanding by any measure, it stumbles on the finer points of storytelling, character development, and overall polish. Perhaps more time or a larger budget would have made the difference here.

Mars: War Logs has big ambitions, but it feels like it was rushed out the door – perhaps due to budgetary constraints. The makings of an impressive game are here, unfortunately it just doesn't hold together particularly well.

Ups 

Excellent graphics, sound, and score. Meaningful decisions and dialogue lead to distinct endings.

Downs

There are camera issues, glitches, and a general lack of polish. The voice acting is terrible and the story predictable. Combat becomes frustrating quickly.

Cryptic Studios' Rob Overmeyer has written a new developer journal for MMORPG.com on Neverwinter.

There are very few limitations when it comes to the content an author can make in the Foundry. Whether it is a quick rescue of a drunken dwarf in the Chasm, or a deep delve into the history and lore of the Forgotten Realms, authors can create an array of different quests. We support this creativity with tools that allow you to customize the look and feel of everything, from friendly contacts to the critters players will fight. Our costume editor allows for nearly endless customization of every person or thing you’ll come across in a quest. Within the quests you can really tune the experience for players by having elements of your quest be special for players with specific skills. And this is just the start; there is so much more that can be done with the Foundry.

With the map editor, you can build both exterior and interior maps. Exterior maps come in a few varieties with lots of options to choose from. There are several sizes of detailed and prepopulated maps that are ready to be filled with content and some final details that support your story. There are also “canvas” maps that allow authors to customize every rock, tree, magic portal to Neverdeath, and blade of grass. The interior map editor allows for room-by-room customization of an instanced or interior map. You can build that unique tavern that has a secret door to the sewer that leads to a cave network that attaches to an ancient crypt that is under a castle and leads to the…well, you get the idea! There’s a lot you can build with the interior map editor, and you can add any detail pieces that you prefer, to make your quest feel areas exactly how you like them. In the map editor, you can also set the look of various background elements, like changing the sky or adding fog. You can even select the perfect ambient sounds for your maps to further customize your quest. There is so much you can do to make your world come alive and tell your story.

Every story needs a beginning, middle, and end. In video games, those points are often marked by encountering a contact, someone you might meet on your journey that changes your path. Our dialog editor allows for some truly amazing customization in this storytelling process. If you like, you can build a pretty straightforward dialog, but if you prefer something more complex, you can build an entire game within the contact dialog editor. Even better, this dialog can be ascribed to many more objects than simply a person or monster. You can place your dialog on any object available in the editor and turn your complex dialog into, say, a puzzle or riddle, that could potentially open a secret door. There is a lot of power in the contact dialog editor and we are eager to see what you do with it.

Eidos contributor Adam Badke has a brief interview with Game Director Nic Cantin.

Hey Nic‚ tell us: is Thief a 1st or 3rd person game?

1st person!

Are there any 3rd person elements?

Yes‚ we do have some 3rd person elements – but they’re really kept to a
minimum‚ we don’t have a lot. 3rd person is used to improve your
awareness of your surroundings – for example‚ during vertical
navigation. We’re really taking particular care to make sure that we’re
not jarring players back-and-forth between cameras.

How would you describe the pace of the game?

We want to give the player a choice about pacing. It’s really up to the
player to decide how to use the tools at their disposal to define their
own pace.

Will fighting/combat ever be the best choice to take?

If you do choose to take that kind of approach you’ll be challenged by
both the guards and the environment/level design – people are certainly
going to react to your behavior!

Would you say Garrett is a Superhero/Ninja/Action hero?

(laughs) No. Garrett is Garrett. He’s a thief. He’s THE Master Thief.

Does Garrett’s updated look reflect anything specific in gameplay?

Yeah‚ Garrett is a capable guy and I definitely think that’s reflected
in his costume. But if you look at the old Garrett I don’t think we’ve
changed him that much. He’s still that same dark guy‚ but with more
elements to reflect his new abilities.

What are the “action moves” that have been discussed in past coverage?
How do they work and are you able to fight without using them?

Yes – I think fans will be happy to hear that old school style melee
combat is still there like the classic Thief games‚ and it’s just as
challenging. We’ve also added an extra layer on top of that to empower
the player‚ Garrett has the option to use his Focus ability to give him
a temporary advantage if players choose – but it comes at a cost.

So you’re saying classic melee combat is still in the game?

Yeah – and the blackjack’s back as well!

You read the title right if you ever thought your character needed more colors your in luck. Bioware released a preview video of the dye modules that will be available in the customization update.

Update number 16 of the Jagged Alliance: Flashback Kickstarter ($185K out of an asked $350K) brings us news on stretch goals and a preview of the Diorama scene.

$ 375,000 Mountains, Mines and Pits

The first stretch goal will be an additional themed zone bringing the mines back into the game. We would like to add 10 sectors with mountainous region and at least 2 mines. Each with their own mining town.

We will create an art set themed for mountainous regions where locals have been digging for materials for decades. Riches lie beneath the earth in form of coal, iron and even precious metals.

Several small mining towns exist in the different mountain regions and can be controlled by the player or the enemy factions. So they serve as an income source as well as give interesting opportunities for fighting in the dark pits.

Mountain regions have also been known to have hostile animals like bears and hamsters!

$ 400,000 Map Editor

Keeping in line with wishes for additional modding options we’ve decided to go for the map editor as one of the first stretch goals.

We want to build a level editor that scales with the costs needed, therefore we're starting out with a high level editor (for those of you accustomed to halo's forge editor this is something along those lines). You will be able to pick between different preset terrains where you can start placing buildings and props.

Additionally you will have control of spawn points for NPC’s, hooks for dialogue scripts, triggers that can be linked to e.g. alarms or the faction loyalty system.

And here is video showing the tile editor.

Three days ago I wrote about the release of the REDkit mod tools for The Witcher 2, but those tools were unofficially released back then. CD Projekt RED disabled the downloads. Well this time the REDkit is officially released and you can find it here.

REDkit requires a copy of PC version of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, installed on your HDD. The game has to be patched up to version 3.3. Make sure you have downloaded SQLite appropriate for your system or download this one. Right click on the file and run it as an administrator.

Steam copies of the game will be automatically patched to REDkit (Gamers' Edition). Gamers' Edition allows you to play mods created in REDkit, however, it does not include the editor. Do not install the REDkit patches downloaded from this website on your Steam copy of the game.

It is recommended that you have the latest version of graphics drivers installed.

If you're using Windows Vista or 7, you should try disabling UAC. To do it follow these instructions.

Installing the latest updates for your operating system is always a good idea and can also resolve some of your issues. Same thing goes for shutting down or disabling any non-crucial applications running in the background, especially anti-virus software, as they might interfere with your games. Try it and see if it helps.

Known issues!

We are in the open beta phase, meaning that there are still some known issues that we are currently working on. Two biggest ones are:

Cooking – currently, cooking changes to original Witcher 2 story create rather sizable files. We are aware of this issue and are working on it to change cooking process so the files will be smaller.

Lipsync – right now there’s no possibility to create lipsync for written dialogues. However, we’re working on a patch that should resolve this issue pretty soon.

They will be addressed as soon as possible so please keep calm and keep modding. Don’t forget to check the Mod of the Month section as well – this one is pretty self-explanatory.:)

Also here are a few videos from the avaiable mods.

According to themselves TUG is a multiplayer open-world sandbox-RPG using new technology and social sciences to directly involve players in the game’s design. They are currently trying to get $215K at Kickstarter and are currently at 98K with 18 days to go.

TUG sits at the crossroads where survival sandbox and multiplayer RPG’s meet, offering both elegant simplicity and a world of complex secrets for those who desire to seek them out. From freezing snow capped mountains to dark dreary caves, TUG offers a massive procedurally-generated world to explore, full of mystery and danger -- but what makes TUG truly unique is its ability to help us learn what you as players enjoy about the game, and to use your interactions to make an amazing world even better.

The project draws inspiration from fun, accessible games we love such as Minecraft, Fable, Animal Crossing, and Zelda, as well as games that feature deeply complex worlds, including Eve Online, Monster Hunter, and Dwarf Fortress.

What do we think you’ll like about TUG? Some of the things we’re most excited about include:

• Integrated modding support: we won’t just have support for modding tools hooked in from the beginning -- we’ll be sharing our tools with modders. 
• Pets and Companions will join you in your travels and help along the way.
• Entire Civilizations lie hidden for you to uncover... or create new ones to conquer the world! 
• Day, Night, and Seasonal Cycles with perils and opportunities unique to each. 
• Exotic Wild Beasts to tame, hunt, breed, or ride! 
• Logic Engineering, from simple trap triggers to reprogramming your golem! 
• Dark Mysteries to unearth, and ancient powers to unleash! 
• DRM-Free. That includes the servers, which we’ll also be sharing with you.

Apparently Matt Barton had a really long talk with Neal Halford as we are already at part 3 of his interview with him. This time the main topics are the demise of Cavedog and Neal's book Swords and Circuitry.

Related to this is that unfortunately for Neal Halford, his Kickstarter for the Thief of Dreams book he is writing has failed.

Corey Cole provides us with an update on the development of their Hero-U game, which is now heading more to having a Quest for Glory style of gameplay. This results in more puzzles, more story and the removal of the cartoony character style.

Once long ago, in that bygone era we now call 2012, we set out to create a simple game. It would involve turn-based combat in a dungeon-like setting with a simple plotline overlaid upon it. We would use cartoon-like graphics on a tile-based, flat world that would allow us to concentrate upon the story and game-play rather than upon the engine or graphics.

Then we held our Kickstarter and heard from you - our fans - what you actually want to see.

It was clear that what you really wanted was something more like the Quest for Glory series and less like yet another RPG.

As we read your comments, our vision evolved. We put more story and puzzles into the design. We went away from the cartoony look into a more realistic character style like the best Sierra On-Line characters of the 1990's.

Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption evolved from an RPG/Adventure Game into a modern take on Quest for Glory with turn-based, puzzle-oriented combat. We decided to let the players out-think the monsters in the game rather than out-mouse-click them.

Here are a few previews for the F2P MMO Neverwinter.

Ten Ton Hammer

A game needs to be about far more than combat, especially one sporting “Dungeons and Dragons” in the title. Some of the most important staples of D&D are cool environments, extraordinary monsters, and epic quests. Neverwinter has all of these in spades. As you gain power, you’re given more important quests and missions to investigate. As you progress through the game, you begin to realize that the last dungeon you claimed was the coolest dungeon you’ve ever seen soloing (I’m looking at you Clocktower) is no longer the coolest...because the dungeon you’re in at that moment is now the coolest.

The further you go, the more monsters you encounter, each with their own special ways of dealing as much damage to your poor character as they can. I find myself regularly trying out different power combinations and methods of dispatching just as much pain and agony back at them. As you delve into Neverwinter dungeons, not only will you discover more methods of death, destruction, and dismemberment, you’ll be greeted by some old D&D classics. The Mimic and the enormous Gelatinous Cube that tried to eat me the other day were both brutal and welcome sights. They’re not overused and provide just enough flair and distraction to be a joy rather than an annoyance.

MMORPG.com

Questing in Neverwinter falls on the “kill 10 rats” / FedEx side of the MMO fence. There’s little reason to veer off the shining path except to find hidden caches of potions, enchantments, and money. I suppose that the game would feel much less linear if I turned off pathing but, then again maybe not. The quests and the lack of exploration will remain the same even if the sparkles are gone.

Oddly enough, quests in a party with like-leveled characters are not 'shareable' at times. For instance, Shelassa found a quest in a zone in which we were playing. She tried to share it and was unable to do so. This happened several times. I realize that there are quests that are class-specific but partied players should at least be able to obtain the quest, or simply see it, in order to tag along, if not to benefit.

LazyTechGuys

In this phase for the Neverwinter Open Beta, marked the first time in the game where I participated in an event where I participated in back-to-back Cloak Tower dungeon runs. While the loot from the run was insignificant since other players forgot about the dungeon keys, the fact that I was grinding for Astral Diamonds felt like I had been playing this game for a very long time. It felt like second nature as I immediately picked up daily quests, which also yield some unique rewards. While I haven’t had a chance to really sit down and look at the Foundry, just the initial glance into the way that the built-in feature works is sure to excite die-hard Dungeon & Dragons fans as well as any kind of player wanting to step into the DM role.

Combat in the Neverwinter Open Beta, for the most part felt unchanged as I progressed through the same quests found in previous beta sessions. While quests seemed to have been altered and tweaked for various reasons, it felt easier transitioning through quests as the Guardian Fighter by slowly whittling down enemies by soaking damage. Much of the interface seems to be unchanged, as well as the tree for one’s abilities. While the buddy system still uses the Star Trek Online means of adding friends, it feels like a hurdle that becomes easier after the first time.

Here are a few more previews of the soon to be released ARPG The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing.

GGS Gamer

Almost every skill circle has three abilities linked to it that can also be unlocked – for example, your first skill is a basic melee attack, and linked to it are a stun attack, heavy attack and precise attack. Each of these can be activated in combat in exchange for Rage Points, which are accumulated by being in combat. You can have two active skills that can be activated by left and right clicking, and each sub-skill can have more than one Rage Point attached to it to power it up. Different combinations are subject to different effects, so it’s a system that lends well to extensive experimentation.

That’s probably good because combat quickly seems to come down to Van Helsing being surrounded by a mass of enemies and hacking away at them while Katarina chips in, with no real capacity for diversity. Your ghostly companion can be set to dive into melee combat while Van Helsing holds back picking enemies off with his ranged weapon, or Van Helsing leads the charge while Katarina supports from a distance. There doesn’t seem to be much movement on variations between the two.

Gamercast

It's not just the enemies that are bursting with atmosphere, the land of Borgovia is absolutely full of character, walking through the village of Markovna you can hone in on snippets of conversations, meet strange and interesting npcs and just soak in all the little intricacies that the developers have lovingly added into the game.

Atmospherics and character aside, what makes The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing so appealing is that whilst the main quest of the game is very absorbing, there is a wealth of side quests and exploration to reward those that want to uncover that last bit of fog on the map, and we aren't talking grinding missions where you must talk to some guy, go and kill a bunch of things and bring him back the stuff that is dropped, oh no, we're talking taking down mini-bosses, solving puzzles, locating runestones, convoying merchants and even reuniting a dead man with hi

Edge has new retrospective article that looks back at the classic RPG Fallout.

Fallout’s best stories feel incidental – things that you simply come across one day in the wasteland, or uncover by accident in one of its cities, and that you wouldn’t know existed unless you’d happened upon them. Wasteland encounters like a crashed UFO or a band of ghouls may provide a valuable item or hint, but they point the player in interesting directions, leaving room for the imagination. It works because it’s not explicit, leaving you to draw inferences from the world, to make up and investigate your own quest lines. You might think that Junktown’s sinister Doc Morbid’s extreme rudeness is borne out of caution, just like everyone else in the wasteland – unless you happen to be scavenging his house for ammo at night and find the manhole leading to his secret butcher’s shop, where he and his dwarf assistant prepare their patients for sale as snacks in a neighbouring town. If Doc Morbid’s tongue-in-cheek name isn’t Fallout’s only flash of black humour, then nor is Vault Boy, the cheerfully grinning face of nuclear disaster. Fallout flashes its gallows humour like a wicked grin, elevating the mood without undermining the tone.

Black Isle employed many emergent storytelling techniques in common with Bethesda, of course, which made the developer a good match for the Fallout series upon its resurrection in 2008. But in Fallout 3 Bethesda does, in the end, let you become a superhero, with stats and skills coming out your ears – at which point it immediately stops being so affecting. In Fallout, you never stop being a victim of the wasteland, and you can never control it. It’s always a struggle. In fact, the game frequently lets you get yourself into situations you can’t escape, leaving you to either die of radiation poisoning in the middle of the wasteland or resort, exasperated, to a previous savegame.

Perhaps being completely uncompromising is the price that has to be paid for presenting a world as cohesive and believable as this one, in which so many stories rise spontaneously to the surface. Fallout’s vision is epitomised in the ending image, in which the Vault Dweller is seen alone and stumbling – not striding, but stumbling, shoulders hunched, head down – into the sunset, exiled by the unbearable weight of his experience. There’s no reward for bravery. Not in Fallout’s world.

OXM  has an article from their magizine with Casey Hudson, Mac Walters, Dusty Everman, Mike Gamble and Preston Watamaniuk. One of the topics included more Mass Effect games that might be spin-offs.

The clear favourite for Shepard's replacement appears to be our old Turian chum Garrus, despite his insidious penchant for calibrating things. "There's so much that could be told in the Mass Effect universe," Hudson began. "It'd be cool to do something completely unrelated to the larger storyline, like a story about a private investigator on the Citadel. Or maybe something detailing Garrus' time in C-Sec."

Everman's also carrying a candle for the G-Man. "While being one of Shepard's most loyal friends, Garrus has also had some of the most driven personal goals. He's a hero in his own right, as Archangel and beyond. Who wouldn't want to see the further adventures of the bold, charming Garrus Valkarian (there's a lot of guns out there to calibrate)." Watamaniuk, however, reckons "a game centred on brutal Krogan combat with more of a melee focus could be pretty exciting". I'm sure Grunt would be up for it.

Walters can't make his mind up. "Aria. The Illusive Man. Kai Leng. Any henchman. The list goes on. I think most of them could have successful spin-offs of their own in some fashion." Aria, it's worth remembering, got storefront billing in Mass Effect 3's Omega DLC - on the strength of your adventures together, would you say she's got leading lady potential? And what about Mr Illusive? I reckon he'd do rather well out of a prequel set during the First Contact War.

Gamble, finally, thinks there's more to be told about Javik - the galaxy's sole surviving Prothean, introduced by the From Ashes DLC. "Following the story of Javik a little bit more would be pretty cool. As the last remaining member of a lost race, I think that we could tell a lot of stories about his adventures in the Milky Way, and coming to terms with his place in the new Galaxy."

GamesReviews has an interviw with Systems Designer Lindsay Haven of the F2P MMO Neverwinter.

Some of the biggest MMOs are dropping subscription fees but are taking on a single upfront cost. Can the free-to-play market continue to deliver AAA MMORPGs with no guarantee of money per person? Is there a better way of getting cash coming in?

We at Cryptic feel that free to play games are the future of MMOs, we wouldn’t have released Neverwinter as free to play and free to download if we didn’t feel that way. We also feel that free to play games can be AAA titles, we are looking to prove that with Neverwinter. It’s still too early to tell to if we succeeded or not, but we have a lot of faith in the model.

The battle system in Neverwinter seems so comfortable and intuitive. It seems crazy that it took so long for a developer to get rid of the more traditional 1-0 control system. Was it a big decision to go for something less traditional?

Yes, it was a big decision. We tried a lot of different control schemes, even developing multiple systems at the same time, knowing that some of the work wouldn’t ship with the game. But we don’t consider it a waste. It was important to explore all the options we had because there were many strong and valid pulls in different directions. It would have been easy for us to do the typical MMO style system, but with D&D a top down click systems seems so right, but we’ve been seeing the market move towards this action style combat for a while so it seemed right to explore that as well. In the end we went with what with action combat because we felt that made for a more visceral experience, which is something that players don’t get when playing table top D&D. To us it seemed the more innovative and wish fulfilment option we could take, and those things are a big part of the desire to play an MMO.

Were there things you wanted to do but couldn’t? How limited were you by the Dungeons and Dragons IP?

During development we didn’t feel very limited by Dungeons & Dragons. Like I said before, most of us are big fans of Dungeons & Dragons and so we were happy to work with the IP. If anything, there were things from Dungeons & Dragons we wanted to put in the game, but couldn’t because it didn’t transfer over to an MMO, real time combat, game well. For instance we couldn’t include a lot of the player power triggers and conditions, or use just the ability scores at a D&D scale. Those kinds are the kinds of things we struggled to get in the game, but eventually we felt like it just wasn’t going to work. Overall though, we are very happy with how the game came together.

I felt that the biggest fault of the beta was that the gameplay could become a little repetitive over time. Are you looking to try to eventually capture more general players, or is this one specifically for the folks that love dungeon running and loot?

 While I do think that combat specifically shines in group content (both dungeons and PvP), many people find combat fun for PvE content as well. At lower levels can it feel a little slow because we wanted to give players enough time to get the hang of combat before putting out too many tough challenges, but as you gain levels monsters begin to challenge your reaction skills more and more.

EnixOrigin has a post about Final Fantasy VII&VIII might be released on Steam.

Yes folks thats right‚ Final Fantasy VII is coming to Steam! But wait! Rejoice‚ because it willbe coming with Final Fantasy VIII! Although there has been no official statements have been released by Square Enix themselves‚ the two games have had their logos added to the Steam DB (Steam Database). We’ll be sure to update with a list of achievements and changes as soon as more developments are made on the subject! Be sure to check back with EO!

Shadow of the Eternals has a new video showing over nine minutes of gameplay and cinematic footage. So far, the game has only gathered $143,293 towards its $1,500,000 goal.

Blizzard announces that all profits made by Diablo 3 players who exploited the gold-multiplying bug will be donated to charity.

So, What Happened?

Shortly after we released patch 1.0.8 in the Americas on Tuesday, players discovered a bug that allowed gold to be duplicated via the real-money Auction House. The bug was the result of a coding error that was exposed when we increased the gold stack size from 1 million to 10 million. This resulted in an overflow on cancelled auctions that yielded a greater amount of gold in return. Only a relatively small number of players had the billions of gold necessary to exploit the bug, and only 415 of those players chose to use this exploit for personal gain.

So, What's Next?

Many people bought and sold items and gold on the Auction House on Tuesday. We're making sure that all legitimate transactions go through. This means that if your account was not involved in the exploit, you will get to keep your items and gold, as well as any money you received from sales on the real-money Auction House. We'll also be donating all proceeds from auctions conducted by the suspended or banned players—including all of THEIR sale proceeds that we intercepted as well as our transaction fee—to Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.

Thanks to a forum post by Fenris a mod for NWN2 came to my attention. The mod is called Baldur's Gate: Reloaded, and has a release date of June 1, 2013.

Baldur's Gate: Reloaded is a fan-made tribute and remake of the original Baldur's Gate using the Neverwinter Nights 2 engine.

The project started in November of 2006 and has slowly progressed since then towards completion. Our team size has varied throughout the course of development from as many as 5 members to as little as 1 member.

The planned release date is June 1, 2013. Both expansion packs to Neverwinter Nights 2, Mask of the Betrayer and Storm of Zehir, are required to play.

Contact Drew Rechner (http://www.facebook.com/drew.rechner) for any questions, comments, or concerns.


* This not-for-profit project is in no way affiliated with Bioware or any applicable parties and is a fan tribute to a great RPG experience. Basically, we love Bioware and Baldur's Gate and want to pay tribute to a great developer and a great game!

This new game was brought to my attention in our news box. It's called Cube World, and looks like Minecraft fused with an RPG.

                                           Extended Cube World FAQ

Q: When will Cube World be released?
A: I'm currently tuning and fixing everything but I don't know how long it will take and can't estimate a release date.

Q: How many people are working on this game?
A: I started this as a small hobby project in June 2011. Since May 2012 we are a team of two developers.

Q: Can I help with programming, graphics, sound, music etc?
A: Thanks, but I want to do everything by myself.

Q: Which platforms are supported?
A: Currently just Windows PC. Mac support is planned in the future.

Q: Which games inspired you?
A:
- Minecraft: Endless random world made up of blocks
- Zelda, Secret of Mana, Landstalker, Monster Hunter and more: Style, gameplay, overall feel
- Diablo, World of Warcraft: RPG elements
- And many more

Q: Which features do you still want to add?
A:
- Player customization: I'm planning to add player customization whith different faces, hair styles etc.
- Classes: I'm planning to add a mage class next and more classes in the future
- Different playable races
- Quests: A variety of different quests
- Items: Different weapons, armor and other items
- Building: Different blueprints and materials
- Weapon/Armor upgrading system
- Different pets

Q: Is there multiplayer support?
A: Yes, you can do everything in the game cooperatively with friends. I can't say anything about maximum players per server because it still needs to be optimized and tested.

Q: Will you add mining/building/crafting?
A:
- I'm not planning to add mining or digging.
- House building is supported.
- I will probably add a crafting system that allows you to craft weapons and armor from loot dropped by monsters.

Q: How do you create this game?
A: I've programmed everything with C++ and DirectX (OpenGL for the first version). For the voxel sprites, I created my own voxel editor.

Q: Will the final game still be called "Cube World"?
A: Probably not. It's currently just the project name. I'll have to come up with a new name soon.

Q: Will it be free?
A: No.

Softpedia has a review of M&M: Heroes VI - Shades of Darkness. Word of warning it's not positive. I can't blame though after the release the game became unplayable again.

The game was billed as a standalone expansion and was supposed to be easily downloadable via the much lauded Uplay service from Ubisoft.

As soon as the new content was launched, players who bought it started complaining that they could not access it at all or that it was only playable in its most basic form, with no sound and no cutscenes.

The team behind Might & Magic: Heroes VI – Shades of Darkness announced that all problems would be dealt with quickly but, at the moment, there still are significant issues with the game despite the fact that one patch was launched.

It’s hard to recommend a video game that fails to perform its most basic functions, from a company that is willing to take players' without giving them a quick and simple way of running the purchased product.

If we ignore the launch problems, which might be solved at some point in the future, Might & Magic: Heroes VI – Shades of Darkness fails to deliver any sort of important innovation for the series and delivers a rather bland, over-developed campaign and tactical battles that are spectacular at times but rarely capture the magic of the series.

Heroes of Might & Magic fans should pick up and replay the second and third games in the series and their expansions to get their dose of turn-based tactics and strategy.

Shacknews has a small preview article on the funded ARPG kickstarter Delver's Drop.

What if a Zelda game went on forever? Pixelscopic, the studio behind the indie game Delver's Drop, conceived of a classical action RPG in the vein of the Zelda series mixed with elements from roguelikes. The result is a promising project that, even in its unfinished state, blends familiarity with longevity.

The "drop" in the title references the progression between stages, as your hero travels ever-deeper into the dungeon by dropping through pits in the floor after solving puzzles or battling enemies. Indie studio Pixelscopic showed off the "Endless Drop" mode at PAX East. The studio is working on defined dungeons with exact level layouts, but Endless Drop randomly mixes levels. The feedback was mixed.

Pixelscopic hosted a successful Kickstarter campaign for the game in February and early March, just before it showed the game at PAX East. It ended up doubling its goal of $75,000, shocking the team.

"We set the goal based on what we needed for the base game, but we also thought it would be the upper reaches of reality," Utter said. "You know, we're an unknown studio, none of us have worked on blockbuster AAA titles. So we didn't have a lot of the things in our favor that a lot of the Kickstarter successes have. I thought we could get to 75 [thousand] but I thought it would be a grind."

Now that it's funded, Pixelscopic is being careful not to rest on their laurels. They mentioned that they don't want to go dark until release, so they're keeping active through their Steam Greenlight and the official site and forums. Most recently, it announced monthly streams of the game to be showing on Twitch leading up to the release.

Delver's Drop is aiming for a full release in October on PC, Mac and Linux, with plans for mobile and Ouya in February 2014.

It's time for yet again another update for Jagged Alliance: Flashback. This time it's all about the Economy of the game. Sounds interesting.

World Economy

At the core of the economy we will go with a single currency similar to JA2 - moneh!

Discussion in the team about different options with multiple currencies all turned out to make the game way too complicated and not that much fun at all. Why? Easy one: That’d add a lot of unneeded micromanagement and players would spend way too much time with doing math on how to change this amount of that currency to another one to gain maximum profit. And to be honest: We’re making a game, not a geo-financial simulator.

So we will stay close to what Jagged Alliance 2 did, where you gain perpetual income from controlling sectors, solving missions, selling items and so on. And you will need that cash because your mercenaries need to be paid, militia needs to be trained and your base needs to be fortified. And with that system we are also going to balance the cashflow: Costs of fighting a war versus income gained from your sectors. But we’re also thinking about having some sectors which will cost the player money.

On this tropical island of San Christobal income sources are

• Taxes from controlled villages and towns
• Controlling sectors with production facilities like factories, banana plantations, opium poppy fields, brothels, ice cream trucks etc. These replace the “mines” from JA2
• One-time revenue from missions, intercepting drug traffickers, selling weapons, used condoms and so on

We have the idea of letting faction loyalty have an influence on incomes. If you are in bad standing with the drug lords, then running a drug producing facility will give you lower income as workers will be nervous all the time for retribution. Being good friends with local population will give you a little higher tax from towns as people will like you and work a little harder, therefore generating more money.

Control over a sector is exerted by you starting to train militia and/or fortifying it. The heavier controlled, the more control and the higher upkeep. Although training militia and fortifying the sector won’t be cheap.

Money is also spent on your mercenaries. Similar to JA2 you will hire mercenaries for a given period of time and you have to renew their contracts. Bringing in mercenaries loyal to other factions is possible, but might cost you a little extra. And some mercenaries simply will refuse to join you as long as you a rooting for the opposing faction.

An idea up for discussion:

• We are thinking about making some sectors a money-sink. For example a military base or a hospital. Because these things can become quite expensive in terms of maintenance.
• You can lose control of some sectors if your faction loyalty shifts.
• Roads and otherwise “empty” sectors cannot be controlled by anyone and thus cost no upkeep.

So nothing revolutionary here besides the faction loyalty being an influence. Your decisions about who to support will also be a decision about the money in your wallet.