Edge Magazine - Games

Bohemia devs say arrest in Greece is "a completely absurd misunderstanding"

Nathan Brown — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 13:01:37 GMT

Studio insists detained pair were on holiday, not researching ArmA 3.

The two members of staff at ArmA developer Bohemia Interactive arrested on the Greek island of Lemnos last week have spoken for the first time about the situation, saying they are being treated well but that their arrest was the result of "a completely absurd misunderstanding."

Still Playing: Hero Academy

Craig Owens — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 11:55:02 GMT

Craig Owens on how fine a fit Team Fortress 2's mercenaries have proven in Robot Entertainment's iOS strategy game.

We tend to stop writing about games when you start playing them. We cover the announcement, we write previews and reviews, but by the time you unwrap a new game we've moved on. Still Playing is our bid to address that.

World Of Warplanes: free-to-play dogfights from the creator of World Of Tanks

Edge Staff — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 10:15:58 GMT

Developer Wargaming on taking its free-to-play fight to the skies.

World Of Tanks was a freak success. Not even developer Wargaming could predict it setting, and then smashing, its own Guinness World Record for the most players online simultaneously earlier this year. When the game was first released, Wargaming’s server engineers spent long nights frantically slotting new blades into burning server farms as the world caught on to the moreish appeal of online, free-to-play, tactical team-based tank warfare.

Joe Danger 2: The Movie review

Edge Staff — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 09:45:08 GMT

Hello Games' sequel layers on the polish without losing the original's scrappy small-team charm.

At first glance, Joe Danger might look a bit like the younger, quirkier brother of RedLynx’s Trials

Sleeping Dogs tops UK chart again

Nathan Brown — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 09:04:42 GMT

Time Extend: Super Metroid

Edge Staff — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 09:00:00 GMT

"The last metroid is in captivity. The galaxy is at peace." Thankfully, that's just about the only thing Super Metroid ever got wrong.

If you carefully pick them apart, it becomes clear that many games fall over when it comes to the basic underlying principle of structure. Sometimes even a simple arc such as ‘clear beginning, involving middle, satisfying conclusion’ is missing. In gaming, that beginning is perhaps the most important aspect to get right: plunge the player into something unfamiliar and they’ll reject it; handhold excessively and they’ll resent it. Then there are other considerations: how do you set the tone, the mood?

The Making Of: Spacewar!

Edge Staff — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 09:00:00 GMT

The first ever videogame ran on a $120,000 piece of hardware - we go back to the summer of 1962.

It's a computer lab as we know all computer labs to be: whitewashed concrete-block walls; linoleum floor; a long row of blinds that are, of course, always closed. A group of long-haired coders in their mid-20s are gathered around the bright light of the screen. It’s 3am, but no one wants to go home: they’re all clamouring to play next. The two lucky enough to have the controls are holding their arms up, their elbows sore with repetitive strain injury from playing the game. “No!” they shout. “Turn! Fire! Argh…”

Tokyo Jungle review

Edge Staff — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 14:35:55 GMT

Bold and strange, Crispy's underdog adventure daringly attempts to upset the natural order of things.

Novelty is perhaps Tokyo Jungle’s strongest card, though that isn’t to damn it with faint praise, even if the word tends to conjure ideas of the faddish and the frivolous. As you witness a Pomeranian rushing, teeth bared, into a herd of sheep, it feels emblematic of the game itself: a plucky little underdog daringly attempting to upset the natural order of things.

Treasure Park: Vita's social Minesweeper

Chris Donlan — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 10:34:53 GMT

Chris Donlan finds that Vita’s latest downloadable treat is well worth exploring.

Defining the meaning of 'game'

Tadhg Kelly — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 10:13:37 GMT

Conflating the likes of Dear Esther and Call Of Duty under one banner is unhelpful, says Tadhg Kelly.

Although we tend to casually use the term ‘game’ to mean several inter-related ideas when discussing them in the pub, there is a difference between that and a more formal setting. When getting into the subject of the components of games, what makes them work or why they are played, the language and the ideas behind them become important and show a need for (or lack of) clarity pretty quickly.

Equivocation is a bane. It’s the debating tactic of adopting all meanings of a word as equal. Academics equivocate on narrative and play

Huebrix review

Nathan Brown — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 09:41:34 GMT

A subtle, sedate puzzle of a mobile game from Yellow Monkey.

A videogame called Huebrix from a studio named Yellow Monkey sounds brash, but forget the title. Huebrix is a game about colour, yes, but it’s mostly white spaces, mathematics and methodology.

Still Playing: Sine Mora

James O'Connor — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 09:04:07 GMT

James O'Connor on why Grasshopper Manufacture's punishing XBLA shooter is his gateway game to an entire genre.

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate confirmed for Wii U and 3DS

Nathan Brown — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 16:23:32 GMT

Capcom's Ryozo Tsujimoto confirms simultaneous western release next March; transferrable saves but no cross-platform multiplayer.

Nintendo gave Wii U's western prospects a further shot in the arm this afternoon with the announcement that Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate will be released simultaneously for Wii U and 3DS in March.

The news was revealed during this afternoon's Nintendo Direct broadcast, hosted by the company's European president Satoru Shibata. Capcom's Ryozo Tsujimoto appeared on screen to reveal the game and the compatibility between the two versions.

Nintendo Wii U UK launch line-up revealed

Ben Maxwell — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 15:20:43 GMT

New Super Mario Bros. U, ZombiU and Mass Effect 3: Special Edition among day one games.

Nintendo has revealed the games that will launch alongside its Wii U console in the UK on November 30.

Presented by European president Satoru Shibata during a Nintendo Direct web broadcast earlier today, the full line-up includes two firstparty games in the form of New Super Mario Bros. U - which will allow players to bring their Miis into Mario's world - and Nintendo Land, the asymmetric multiplayer minigame collection.

Bayonetta 2 a Wii U exclusive

Nathan Brown — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 14:53:55 GMT

Nintendo's pitch to core gamers given huge boost by surprise announcement of Platinum Games sequel.

Bayonetta 2 has been announced for Wii U. The long-rumoured sequel to Platinum Games' masterful action game is being published by Nintendo and will be exclusive to the new console.

The game was the biggest surprise from this afternoon's Nintendo Direct broadcast, hosted by the company's European president Satoru Shibata. It follows reports that Sega had cancelled production of the game earlier this year in response to its financial woes.

Qrth-Phyl review

Edge Staff — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 11:29:43 GMT

Memory meets metaphor in Hermitgames’ richly textured arcade game.

Qrth-Phyl isn’t a 3D version of Snake. It’s a 3D version of Blockade, the all-but-forgotten arcade game that provided the basic design for the omnipresent cellphone classic. The distinction might seen unimportant at first, but it’s vital to Matt James of Hermitgames, who’s spent the last few years of his life peeling Blockade from its flat plane before setting it free in a wonderfully lurid world of translucent colour and flaking, plasticy light.

Does the App Store need publishers?

Neil Long — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 09:57:52 GMT

Snowbolt Interactive director Matthew Simper on the biggest choice facing mobile games developers.

App Store games don't ship to retail in boxes, and can be promoted in myriad new ways - so is the idea of a publisher on mobile an irrelevance? Chillingo’s rampant success would suggest otherwise, but it remains a choice facing every mobile game studio in its route to market: to self-publish, or not to self-publish?

The Designers Republic to auction off best work next month

Ben Maxwell — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 09:21:09 GMT

TDR Car Booty Affair – Nothing Is Forever a retrospective and art sale celebrating 26 years of the studio's iconic output.

Sheffield-based The Designers Republic, the design consultancy responsible for Wipeout's distinctive branding, will be holding an auction of some of its best work next month.

iPhone 5 revealed, "full console quality" graphics promised

Nathan Brown — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 17:40:20 GMT

Apple's new smartphone and new A6 processor revealed at San Francisco event; Real Racing 3 shown off.

Apple has unveiled the long-rumoured iPhone 5, proclaiming the latest version of its all-conquering smartphone, which this time is constructed entirely from aluminium and glass, as "the best product we've ever made."

Keiji Inafune reveals new zombie game Yaiba

Ben Maxwell — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 15:36:28 GMT

Comcept's latest promises the walking dead, ninjas, robots and, least surprisingly of all, action.

Former Capcom producer and Comcept CEO Keiji Inafune has revealed that he is working on a new zombie game titled Yaiba.

The designer announced the project via a press release which promises that it will contain not only the walking dead, but ninjas, robots and action - examples of which you can see in the teaser trailer below.

LittleBigPlanet Vita review

Edge Staff — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 15:01:50 GMT

A chance to see Media Molecule’s staggering achievement afresh, and one of the best versions yet.

With every year that passes, Sony’s backing of the original LittleBigPlanet seems increasingly bold. It eschewed military greys and browns in favour of antique wallpapers and cotton reels for the course of its campaign; it chose depth and flexibility over friendly immediacy when it came to the level creation toolbox.

NaturalMotion: From GTA's physics to App Store success

Edge Staff — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 14:49:51 GMT

How a budding middleware developer suddenly became one of the biggest deals in mobile gaming.

Back in 2008, NaturalMotion’s profile was skyrocketing, helped in no small part by its work on GTAIV. The software developer’s procedural animation technology, Euphoria – which enabled dynamic animation on the fly of multiple 3D figures – ensured that the population of Liberty City felt as alive as the city itself.

Steam Greenlight's first successful games include Project Zomboid, Black Mesa

Nathan Brown — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 11:49:41 GMT

Long-awaited Half-Life remake heads list of first ten games to clear crowd curation service.

Valve has announced the first ten games to pass muster on Steam Greenlight, the crowd curation service launched late last month.

Among those chosen for release on Steam are some familiar names, including sandbox survival game Project Zomboid, and the long-awaited Black Mesa, a remake of the first Half-Life in the Half-Life 2 engine.

On board Modern Warfare's AC-130 gunship

Edge Staff — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 11:16:21 GMT

Why Call Of Duty’s greatest power fantasy leads to its most disturbing scenes.

Modern Warfare’s mission briefings might be pornography for hardcore military fetishists – all bristling gun barrels and intimate exhaust port close-ups – but there’s really only one vehicle that makes an impact deserving of Infinity Ward’s near-reverential treatment.

Terry Cavanagh on making fewer, more ambitious games

Edge Staff — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 10:21:11 GMT

Is the creator of Super Hexagon, and one of indie development’s flightiest talents, starting to settle down?

Terry Cavanagh’s probably the closest thing the indie development scene has to its own Mark Rothko. The 28-year-old designer makes brooding, claustrophobic, and rather stark games, using simple tools and limited palettes – and they all seem to hinge on a single idea. It’s a surprise, then, to learn that his favourite game of all time is Final Fantasy VII, Square’s 1997 rambling RPG.