Monte Carlo

This is one of the clever, and utterly awesome, things about Blood Dragon. Just read some reviews, will look into getting it next week.

Yes it's a standalone.

Are there Rust Monsters?

^ The whole 80's akshun moveee schtick has been done with a lot of love. Edit: Thought this quote from the Escapist sums it all up... Hopefully we'll get a game where we get to 'Nuke the site from orbit' (etc).

[bioware Fan] Is that pink teddy marine a potential LI? [/bioware Fan]

Am downloading Wargame: European Escalation on Steam. As I spent a part of the late-eighties digging in on the banks of the Weser waiting for the 6th Shock Army (or whatever). Ah, with my trusty SLR to hand and '58 pattern webbing chafing my back, I thought that this would be agreeably nostalgic (the game is set in 1985).

^ Fully agree with Oerwinde and Ros, this looks like a boatload of fun for a fair price. I might try it out myself, loved the silly trailer.

NWN sucks. My dwarf cleric throws ****ing thunderbolts as a default attack. Everyone is a bloody superhero. When is CoH2 open beta coming? I would imagine within the next fortnight or so. The closed Beta finished on the 30th. Retail release is June 25th. The developers have listened to the feedback and I think the open Beta build will be good fun. I hope they include some more maps, though.

I am suffering from advanced Ostfront withdrawal now that the CoH2 beta has ended for a while. Open beta soon. The vanilla CoH port to steam is still wonky from a MP perspective so I'm looking for another game *sigh* Any ideas? I might try the NWN open beta seeing as you lot are all on it. Although I really like the idea of a RTS.

It wasn't a memo, it was a sort of natural development. You know, like that gobbet of something nasty you catch at the back of your mouth when you see something terrible, unnatural and... wrong.

There is no 'P' in Hamster.

Ice Hockey...

Hockey sticks? Skates? Big plastic helmets? Toys I'm telling you. Toys.

So, in a mash-up worthy of Saturday Night Live parody, Bio might do a WH40K title (the veracity of this intelligence is irrelevant, the idea is too delicious not to explore). Furthermore, it's a FPS. Bioware doing a FPS. It's like Justin Bieber covering Marilyn Manson. Let us consider what a Bioware-helmed WH40K game might look like. How do you shoehorn emo romance into the grimdark WH40K universe? Will the Blood Raven romance-able companion keep his helmet on whilst having diaper sex? Will there be a busty pirate **** somewhere in the game? Will there be a cut-scene every time you kill an Ork? Will they recycle the same level fifty times? Please, help me predict the plot, NPCs and combat (which should be casual-player-friendly). Will Sheryl Chee implement a FPS shooter's first ever no-shooting mode? Let the games begin.

Bioware is like a necrotising disease, it will slowly rot and destroy any franchise it buys with saccharine fan-service, deus ex plotting and interminable cut-scenes of sensitive space marines having energetic diaper-sex. Edit: This comment made me chuckle AnonymousMay 2, 2013 at 4:11 PM I'd prefer my uncle to develop it, he'd do a better job - And he's a ****ing plumber.

An excerpt from the Core Rule Book... The World of Fighting in Tunnels: How to play In Fighting in Tunnels, players taken on the role of intrepid, tunnel-focussed explorers in a world of fantasy and magic. One player, however, must accept the fell task of TUNNEL MASTER (hereafter referred to as TM). The TM is referee, story-teller, tyrant, creative engine-room and all-round facilitator of play. Invariably, the guy who can afford all the splat-books and suffers most acutely from OCD than the others will become TM or the first among equals as we prefer to call him (or indeed her, in about 0.3% of games). You will need: Some players (this isn’t as easy as it sounds) A map of a tunnel (you may purchase pre-prepared Tunnel ‘modules’ from Monte Studies Rules, MSR, do not accept cheap substitutes!) Pencils and paper Markers / figurines for characters (not necessary but fun, especially when drunk and a Lego Darth Vader becomes one of the characters and falls to bits in an ashtray representing a Gelatinous Cube) Several cases of beer and wine, plus a pizza delivery menu to argue over later Tunnel Dice (FiT uses the innovative ‘D6’ system, so all you’ll ever need is a six-sided dice) A room where your wife / partner / flatmate will not disturb you and make disapproving looks when the new player in the group lights an exotic cigarette Cleaning products to deal with wine stains, cigarette burns and all the other carnage one might expect from half a dozen slightly drunk gamers Fig 1. Pizza. An essential gaming aid. Fighting in Tunnels versus Lesser Gaming Systems Lesser gaming systems (or LGS for short) seek to distract you from the essence of fantasy role-plaeying, which is of course exploring dungeons, slaying monsters, getting killed arbitrarily by traps and (of course) looting. The average LGS might concern itself with extraneous oddities like plotting, detailed campaign settings and NPCs who aren’t pointless cannon-fodder. All of this distracts the player from enjoying being the best tunnel fighter they can be! The TM has to be careful of refugees from LGS’ and be especially wary of the following: Fakespearean: The first time any player says verily, forsooth or Milady (unless quoting Monty Python / Blackadder etc) HE MUST BE BANISHED FROM THE GROUP. Personally, I would also anonymously alert the authorities. This is FiT: players should sound like Clint Eastwood or Russell Crowe FFS Emo Bull****: Beware the player who asks “what’s my motive here?” or, even worse, seeks to develop some type of rapport with a non-player character. Tell this guy to scoot back to acting school and leave the Real Gaemers alone! Computer Gaemers: Easily spotted, after each fight this player will want to rest for eight hours so he can get all his powers back before the next skirmish. This miscreant should also be BANISHED back to World of Starcraft 6 or whatever it is he plays Hippies: There are still some left, they lurk in gaming stores and will invite themselves into your home. They will pretend to be interested in the game, but really they’ve only turned up to make rude comments about your music collection, drink all the booze, bitch about the lack of organic pizza toppings, wax lyrical about 1st Edition RuneQuest and cadge exotic cigarettes. Fig 2. A 'computer gamer' do not let this miscreant anywhere near your gaming group.

That looks astonishingly cool.

Wow it looks like a Rift clone... even the fonts.

* is overcome with nostalgia * * cries *

Are people *really* still

I am inclined to agree, and I find the system interesting too, but I think it would be advantageous to factor in newer players. Not dumbing-down, but acknowledging that the more people that get into this project = more revenue = longevity.

Sorry Al, that's me. Not supporting, and thereby perpetuating, crap makes me proud.

I will wait and see... but if I do pitch in it will be $85.00 whereupon I will choose a suitably cheesy response from an 80's action flick.

Company of Heroes 2 Beta, almost exclusively. It's still not grabbed me as much as the first, but then again CoH has been through six years of gruelling balancing and patching. I think CoH2, with some important tweaks, can do it. The weather tech is, frankly, a bastard to get used to. It's very atmospheric, but using it tactically is something I'm struggling with. But ramming enemy tanks with T-34s still hasn't got old. Neither has showering Nazis with Katyusha rockets. Or hurling satchel charges at suppressed Panzergrenadiers. Or strafing badly wounded Ostruppen with aircraft. Or...

Skuldr's gonna Skuld. It needs dreads and a small shoulder-mounted laser gun.