Tim Schafer says he’d “love to do” Psychonauts 2, Notch offers to fund it
Did you love Psychonauts? Have you often wished for a sequel that would continue Raz’ adventures? You’re not alone. Psychonauts creator, Tim Schafer mentions to Digital Spy that he’s pitched Psychonauts 2 several times to different publishers, but “no-one has taken the bait so far.”
“I’d love to do that game,” he says. “But I’d have to convince someone to just give me a few million dollars, that’s all.”
A few million dollars? If only there were some sort of successful indie developer. One who loved the original, someone with the kind of dosh to prop up development on a sequel. Perhaps someone with a nice hat and a name that rhymes with “scotch.”
Minecraft video shows lovely 3D-printed Minecraft village
A little while ago we threw a spotlight on this gorgeous model of a Minecraft village, ported from Minecraft into a CAD program, and then built with a 3D printer. Now, there’s a video. A well-placed coin shows just how tiny the model is. It’s total dimensions are just 360 x 250 x 60 mm. D’aww.
If only 3D printing wasn’t so expensive, we’d find a way to carve a model of the glorious constructions on the PC Gamer server. We could stick some cogs in it, add some tilt-shift and shoot a pretty good reconstruction of the Game of Thrones intro, only with more Nyan cats. The model above was created with the Zprinter 650.
You can find plenty more images of tiny Minecraft worlds on the post apocalyptic research institute flickr account. Here are a few more choice picks from the recently uploaded sets.
Hawken will be free to play, out in December, sign up for the closed beta now
“I’m throwing my wallet at the screen but nothing is happening!” is a common reaction to the trailers for stunning indie multiplayer mech-war project, Hawken. According to a blog post on the Hawken site, you won’t need your wallet at all. It’ll be released as a free to play game on December 12 this year.
Total War: Shogun 2 average user plays “for about a hundred hours”
Lead designer of Shogun 2, James Russell, knows just how much fans love Total War. The series typically produces enormous games capable of generating epic storylines across decades of war. Even then, it’s surprising just how much time players spend building their empires. Russell says that “the average” Total War campaigner “plays for about a hundred hours.” That is a lot of war.
The process of managing your empire from the strategic view and then fighting hour-long battles can eat up a lot of time, but “the real crux of it,” according to Russell, is that “Total War has great replayability.”
The First Moments of Minecraft
On May 17, 2009, 04:24:07 AM, Markus Persson posted an alpha version of Minecraft to the Feedback forum on TIGSource.com. The image above was the screenshot, and there was a link to launch the in-browser Java applet. “The main inspiration for this game is Infiniminer, but it’s going to move in a more Dwarf Fortress way, gameplay wise. =)”.
You’ll often find articles that tell the “oral history” of something, with direct quotes from those involved telling the story of a band’s success, or a TV show’s creation. With Minecraft, to begin with, there was just Notch and the internet. Instead of an oral history, you have a messageboard history, as the game was rapidly updated and players commented.
When Notch posted that first Minecraft link, the game was only at version 0.0.11a. It took 7 minutes and 57 seconds for someone to post the first response: “Their animations pretty crazy,” said forum user Schtee. Over the next 24 hours, 4 pages of comments were posted. Looking through the full thread, it’s remarkable how quickly the game seemed to capture player’s imaginations.
We’ve quoted some of these comments below to try to tell the story of those first few moments with the game, including the first screenshot shared by a player, where the Minecraft name came from, and two game modes that were planned but never made the cut.
Skyrim Creation Kit to be released tomorrow with “special surprise”
A tweet from Bethesda’s VP of PR, Pete Hines, on Friday announced that the long-awaited Skyrim Creation Kit will be out tomorrow. TOMORROW. The tools will let modders create their own campaigns using the same tools that Bethesda use to create their environments. Take a look at last week’s Creation Kit trailer for an idea of what’s included.
Champion Roundtable: Ziggs, the Hexplosives Expert
Every two weeks, we give you our verdict on whether or not the latest League of Legends champion is worth buying. Take a seat at the table with Josh, Lucas, and Hollander Cooper as they wax poetic on the joys of blowing people up with magical bombs as a maniacal Yordle. Could Ziggs be the diminutive demolitions expert you’ve been looking for?
Star Wars: The Old Republic data-mined updates hint at future features
The tireless chaps at TORhead have been pulling clues out of the Star Wars: The Old Republic files, and have found evidence of many of the features Bioware are planning to add over the course of the coming year. Their round-up contains features that we could see in patches 1.2 through to 1.5.
As a wise talking cabbage once said. “If spoilers you wish to avoid, click “Read and Comment” you must not.”
Natural Selection 2 trailer shows “gorilla” alien and jetpacks, is awesome
Natural Selection 2 has evolved with the addition of a massive “Gorilla” patch to the beta. The update adds the fifth and final playable alien creature, The Gorilla, an enormous ape-like alien that looks a bit like a Triceratops. Alien players will be able to “toss marines with his Gore attack, smash structures and Stomp on the ground, sending a shockwave that disables marine structures for 5 seconds.”
According to the BBC, the best way to survive a giant ape attack is to “stay calm, try not to scream and avoid running away.” Not especially useful for the marines who have to fight the new alien, but they get a new toy to help them get the hell away: jetpacks. The update also adds a new map and makes a ton of bug fixes. Grab the full patch list from the Gorilla release notes.
Team Fortress 2 top secret project to be revealed this year, Meet the Pyro on the way
A new post on the Team Fortress 2 blog sketches out Valve’s 2012 plans for the shooter, which include mention of not one, but two secret projects. We can so far confirm that the first will not be a hat, or a map, or as the blog post suggests, a freakish map-hat hybrid. The second will have something to do with this year’s Saxxy Awards, which rates the community’s best video replays.
Ubisoft server switch to render always-online DRM games unplayable next week
Ubisoft are having a bit of a hardware reshuffle next week, according to Eurogamer, which means major disruption to their DRM servers.
Games that use Ubisoft’s always-online DRM system ping these constantly to reassure the publishers that you’re not a pirate. That means that next week’s switchover will render Tom Clancy’s HAWX 2, Might & Magic: Heroes 6 and The Settlers 7 unplayable for an unknown period of time. The servers are set to go down on February 7. Ubisoft don’t say when they’ll be back up again.
Origin is doing quite well: 9.3 million registered users, $100 million revenue since launch
Yesterday’s EA financial report turned up plenty of big numbers for Star Wars: The Old Republic. Some of that success seems to have rubbed off on their new digital download service, Origin, which now has more than 9.3 million registered users. That’s about a quarter of the number of users as Steam. Not bad for a service that’s only seven months old.
EA’s Financial Results report also mentions that Origin has generated “more than $100 million in non-GAAP revenue since launch.” Origin-only pre-order deals and Origin digital exclusives like Star Wars: The Old Republic and the Battlefield 3 beta will have helped the service enormously in its early months. Its future prospects are none too shabby, either.
Skyrim patch 1.4 optimises performance, fixes Wabbajacks
Wabbajack-loving Skyrim players will know that there’s nothing worse than a Wabbajack you can’t equip, which is why it’s vital that Skyrim players log into Steam immediately to download the full release of patch 1.4. It fixes a “rare issue” in “The Mind of Madness” that would leave players burdened with a Wabbajack that they’d be unable to wield. A fate worse than death.
Now we’ve won search ranking for the Word “Wabbajack,” we can move on to the full list of patch notes, which will be familiar to those who road tested the beta version. The patch will apply automatically through Steam, and adds some behind the scenes support for the incoming Skyrim Workshop. According to yesterday’s Skyrim Creation Kit trailer, that’ll be arriving soon.
Channel 4 launch Sims 3 web TV series
The SuperMes is a Channel 4 reality TV show about virtual housemates. The series has been created using the Sims 3, with plotlines based on the unchoreographed actions of the house’s four inhabitants. Gamasutra mention that the first episode is online now, and you’ll find it embedded above.
It’s interesting to see a major broadcasting house using taking advantage of procedural storytelling. Anyone who loves the Sims games already knows how good they are at generating ridiculous tales, and the SuperMes feels like a professionally produced after-action report. Chief creative Paul Brennun describes it as “a true collaboration between humans and robots” over on Televisual, adding “this is one of the most exciting projects we have made yet and points to the future of interactive storytelling.” What do you reckon?
Skyrim Creation Kit trailer shows mod tools in action
Here’s a video Bethesda just sent over showing off the Creation Kit for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The video mentions extensive wiki documentation written by Bethesda staff and shows how Skyrim mods will integrate with the Steam Workshop. It’s exciting to contemplate the astonishing things that modders will make with the kit in the coming months. They’ve already been hard at work making massive changes to the game, as you can see in our round-up of the top 25 Skyrim mods.
But what’s this at 1:12, on the left of the centre row? Mudcrab armour? A familiar sight for readers who reached the back page of PC Gamer UK issue 232, drawn by the lovely Marsh Davies. The mod tools are due to arrive soon, which isn’t soon enough.
