American McGee’s Akaneiro: Demon Hunters was Kickstarted only this February. Squeaking past its goal in the eleventh hour, it’s only four short months later that a playable build is available. For free, if you go to their own site. Or for money, if you get it from Steam. Huh? This whole odd situation asks some interesting questions about such models, and when is the right time to let people start buying your game?

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I had been playing Undertale’s free demo for two minutes when the memory of Space Funeral popped into my mind like a drunken Jack in the Box. Ten minutes later, I was ready to quit and around half an hour after that I’d completed the demo, which is a complete short story, and was glad that I’d persisted. It’s a weird adventure in the style of a JRPG, with random encounters, a silent protagonist, single room puzzles and turn-based combat. Stick with the demo through the alternately bizarre and bland opening minutes, and there’s a tiny world of wonder. If you don’t play until the depressed ghost makes an appearance, you have seen nothing.

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Pro Evo Soccer may have won next season’s foot-to-ball battle before it even begins. During an interview with Polygon, Andrew Wilson, executive vice president of EA Sports, revealed that the fancy new ball-jiggling mechanics of the Ignite engine will not be gracing the PC version of FIFA 14, which will instead be equivalent to the 360 and PS3 editions. Why? Well, PC conversion would be difficult because of the architecture of the next-gen consoles and “how the CPU, GPU and RAM work together in concert in that type of environment.” It’s like an abstract alien factory in there and the conversion wouldn’t be worthwhile because, Wilson claims, using the example of FIFA 11, “the majority of the gamer base that was playing the game on PC did not have a PC spec that would work with that”. Huh.

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I’m going to have a full interview about the strange, sad tale of how/why excellent TBS Skulls of the Shogun so bewilderingly ended up as a Windows 8 exclusive, and how it all went so, so wrong, up on the site tomorrow. Meantime, let’s share the good news – this ace, very funny and tight undead Samurai battler is now free from its Microsoftian chains, and will arrive on Steam & Humble for any PC that can handle it next month. And thank God for that.

It’ll have brand new stuff on its old bones too.
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When I was a small boy, I was very excited about the idea of having my own car. Games had taught me that driving was fun*, whether through the twisting roads of Lotus III, across the ramshackle rollercoasters of Stunt Car Racer, or in the violent competition of Fatal Racing. Then my parents bought me a Nascar game and everything changed. The graphics blew my Spiderman socks off but the tracks didn’t have any unexpected curves, loops or jumps. That’s why I spent most of my time with the game driving the wrong way, trying to cause massive collisions and pileups. I haven’t played a Nascar game since and the impending arrival of Eutechnyx’ latest on July 24th probably won’t change that, but perhaps you are a fan of cars wot go round and round?

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The beta, which was previously flagged up on their forums, has bene much delayed, but is not likely to happen soon, and could be worth keeping an eye on.

Let there be Torchlight. The ARPG’s sequel thoroughly impressed John and the original is free until June 20th as part of Good Old Games’ summer sale. There will be new deals every day until July 5th and the first day’s offerings include Alan Wake and American Nightmare for $4.48, and a massive Dungeons and Dragons pack for $21.10. That one includes Torment, Baldur’s Gate 1 & 2, Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2, and Icewind Dale 1 & 2. Whatever happened to every series at least reaching a lacklustre third part? It’s probably Valve’s fault. Remember, Torchlight is only free until the 20th, so best to download it right away.

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And then, if you want a change of pace, you can play the Space Hulk alpha at the Full Control stand, or Sir, You Are Being Hunted at the Big Robot stand. So come to Rezzed. Okay?

Lifeless Planet had a bit of a slip earlier this year, but there are finally signs that things are moving forward. A new trailer shows features a frustrating amount of the same footage we’ve already seen of the third-person action/puzzler, but there’s also some narration offering some decent voice acting too.

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Currently in beta, Fields of War is “a massive multiplayer third-person-shooter focused on large scale battles, territory control, skill and most importantly team play.” When I read that description, I expected the video to contain tiny computer men running around and shooting at one another but the synopsis conceals the game’s trump card. The tiny computer men are concealed within mechs, with up to a hundred player-controlled war machines on each side. AI bots are also available to fill in any gaps. The closed beta has now finished but you can play in the current version by purchasing the game for $15. Now, let’s look at some combat and customisation.

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A dog. A big, tongue-lolling lug of a beast with dog feelings and adorable, kicky-leg dog dreams is the most exciting thing to happen to the world’s biggest shooter franchise in years. We live in strange times. But let’s face it: the poor pooch probably won’t be around for long, will he? I mean, these types of situations have a way of ending tragically for all creatures with more than two legs – at least, if other action games/movies are any indication. How’s Infinity Ward feeling about Call of Duty: Ghosts, though? Will they stick with the cliche? As part of a wide-ranging (read: dog) interview on a variety of topics (read: the dog), I asked the question (involving the dog) on everybody’s mind.

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E3 happened last week! It was full of glitz and glamour and Z-list celebrities and A-list zombies and TV TV sports and cars and also games sometimes. I was there all by my lonesome, because I hate sleep and love hoarding awful press room box lunches so I can pile their damp, discarded remains into impregnable Journalism Forts. Also, to observe, learn, and then wordpuke forecasts of certain doom for the gaming industry onto this here Internet. You heard me: DOOOOOOOM. OK, actually, we’re probably going to be fine. But I do have some things to rant about, because I’m still sleep-deprived and grumpy. Also, there might be a slight chance of doom.     

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