Embrace the Chaos: X-Com creator Julian Gollop on independence and the trouble with Ubisoft
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Julian Gollop is playing Chaos Reborn, and he’s losing. Badly.
His wizard, both player avatar and font of all spells in this turn-based game of spellcasting, is backed into a hexagonal corner of the map - a charcoal island arena interrupted by jutting rocks and dotted with leafless trees. With an impotent fizz-crackle, his would-be spider goes the same way as a potential unicorn, an intended giant, and a whole host of sentient, violent flora that never quite materialised.
As our eagle and scorpion close in on his position in a pincer movement of Gollop’s own advising, you might even be tempted to feel sorry for him - but you shouldn’t. It’s sort of his fault.
Let us not forget: this man has been driven all his professional life to create strategy games in which every shot, swipe and grenade toss hinges not just on player intent, but on the fickle roll of the dice.
Here’s the thing: Julian Gollop cannot help but make these games. It’s this fact which has driven him to leave security at Ubisoft for unbound creativity, and to roll the dice on the goodwill of X-Com fans on Kickstarter.
Guild Wars 2's April Feature Pack will improve the quality of life in Tyria
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The first season of Guild Wars 2’s living world ended last month, with the death of the conniving Scarlet Briar. It was a narrative a year in the telling, with a plethora of updates pushing the story forward, adding new content and new challenges. But with that over, ArenaNet has moved their gaze to the game’s systems. This has lead to the April Feature Pack - an update focused entirely on balance tweaks, improving existing systems and “quality of life” changes.
The big features of the update, which will be live within the day, include the new wardrobe system, revamped traits and the megaserver. I had a chat with Guild Wars 2 game designer Isaiah Cartwright to get the skinny on what to expect when the patch is rolled out.
Who cares about Facebook? 25,000 second-generation Oculus Rifts sold
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It’s probably better not to make any assumptions about the sales of an item based on angry, online outbursts. When Oculus VR and Facebook announced their plans to unite, with the social network giant picking the VR company up for $2 billion in cash and shares, people plastered forums, comments sections and, hilariously, Facebook pages with predictions about how this deal would ruin VR.
This doesn’t seem to have had an impact on sales of the second generation Oculus Rift dev kit, however. Oculus VR told TechCrunch that it’s sold 25,000 units since March 19th, when pre-orders started coming in. 60,000 original dev kits were sold over its entire lifetime.
The curse is winning: physical version of Dark Souls 2 delayed for a week in the UK
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If you had your eye on a physical version of Dark Souls 2, you might have to wait a little longer than you anticipated. If you’re living in the UK, that is.
Amazon UK has been emailing customers who pre-ordered the game, informing them that the physical version would not arrive through the letterbox in time for the April 25th release date.
Namco Bandai has now confirmed that this will affect all UK customers, not just those who ordered from Amazon. The delay is a week long, with it arrive on May 2nd.
Don't lose your towel: Grail to the Thief is an adventure game for the blind inspired by Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
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Even though the games industry has expanded rapidly and by a gargantuan amount in the last two decades, there’s always room for more expansion. Inclusiveness is a word that’s dropped a lot. Often it’s in reference to the disproportionate number of female, gay or non-white protagonists, and the suggestion is that if games were more representative it would encourage a broader demographic to interact with them.
But there are folk who already want to play games - they aren’t waiting for better writing or more realistic characters, they’re waiting for a way to play them without the things most of us probably take for granted. Things like sight. Grail to the Thief is an interactive audio adventure designed for everyone, but especially for the blind and visually impaired. It’s exceedingly simple - it needs to be - but it opens adventure gaming up to a whole new audience that can’t experience it as a visual medium.
Star Citizen hits $42 million in funding; Chris Roberts brings out the towels
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It must be a special day, because this is the second thing I’ve written in a row that references Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and the stalwart bathroom accessory, the towel. This time it’s because, and you’re probably getting sick of hearing this, Star Citizen has reached another stretch goal.
Yep, the crowd-funded space sim that just can’t be stopped has reached a mind-boggling $42 million. Among the many things that will be added to the game thanks to this milestone is a towel for the hanger of every backer. You never know when you’ll need one.
Spelunky world record broken once again - record breaker plans on topping it
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I am very bad at Spelunky. I have tried to save many, many pugs, and failed many, many times. I’ve given up. Other’s have much more perseverance, as well as coordination and skill. Three things I lack severely. That’s why the world record for the highest possible score has been broken again. You can stare in disbelief at the impressive run from YamaYamaDingDong below.
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