Archive for October, 2010
Q.U.B.E – What happens when Portal and TAG make a baby?
TAG : The Power of Paint by DigiPen is one of my favourite games, ever. It’s a first person shooter, but with a paint gun and puzzle based gameplay rather than killing people, a fun puzzle, not a tear your hair out puzzle. You’ve probably not heard of TAG, it was just a small student project, an ‘indie’ title. I say small, but was clearly big enough to come first in the Independent Games Festival, and then big enough to get noticed by Valve, who decided to hire the makers DigiPen and incorporate the ideas into the yet to be release Portal 2.
I’m babbling a bit, after all this post is supposed to be about Q.U.B.E, which is the evil child spawned from the depths of TAG and Portal’s loins (ed. that sounds gross). Q.U.B.E, which stands for ‘quick understanding of block extrusion’ (not a very catchy line but the acronym is cool) is a first person platformer/puzzler similar to TAG and more well known Portal.
It’s another student project, which according to their website is turning into a fully-fledged single player game. Personally, I can’t wait. This game is totally fresh, taking the first person platformer another step forward. The scientific white wash walls may resemble Portal and TAG, but that is a good thing. The brightly coloured controllable objects stand out and with nothing else to distract you, you’ll quickly make progress through the increasingly more difficult challenges. With nothing but WASD, left and right click, anyone familiar with FPS will find their way instantly, and anyone with half a brain will progressively work through the puzzles only to discover time (in the real word) has disappeared.
Currently in beta (v1.3), Q.U.B.E can be downloaded for free here, the two important words to remember here are ‘beta’ and ‘free’. Other than choosing a resolution, there are no other options at present (it is beta after all). No changing controls or adjusting sound, infact once ingame there is no save either, so don’t do what I do by quitting to write this article only to go back in and realise your hour or two of progress is gone and you need to start again.
So team Q.U.B.E, please add a save progress option in the next release, and maybe a VSYNC option as I found tearing a bit of a problem, obviously not your fault but a known issue with any Unreal Engine 3 game. Speaking of which this game was made using the Unreal Development Kit, which is free to everyone and anyone who wishes to try and make their own game. Unreal Engine powers nearly everything out there, from Gears of Wars to the latest Medal of Honour, XBLA hit Shadow Complex to next gen iPhone games, so it’s great to see such cool titles being produced by people who wouldn’t have the funds or time to create there own engine. So hats off to Toxic Games for Q.U.B.E and also a big cheer to UDK for enabling titles like this to be produced. Long live PC, and long live indie.
Deus Ex Human Revolution at Eurogamer Expo 2010
Some more videos from day 1 at Eurogamer Expo, this time the Eidos Montreal team showing Deus Ex Human Revolution on PS3. I must admit I was seriously impressed with this presentation. The world seems so alive, the city feels like a real hustle and bustle metropolis, with NCP’s a plenty going about doing their own thing, each one with a different look (not repeats ala GTAIV). I think this game will be the one to look out for in 2011, the atmosphere is so deep just watching this demo felt like watching a big budget movie. Enjoy
Fable 3 at Eurogamer Expo 2010 with Peter Molyneux
Yesterday was a busy day at Eurogamer Expo. I managed to capture the Fable 3 presentation by Peter Molyneux but only now am I getting the videos online.
Eurogamer Expo 2010 – Liveblog Day 1 Earls Court 1st October
18:23pm – Well that was RAge, no filming allowed so no content apart from this one picture. The day is over so chilling out with Starcraft 2. Will upload all my videos shortly.
16.36pm – Ok we are back waiting for the ID Software RAGE presentation. My android device is dead, so I’m relying on the shaky wifi up here in the conference rooms. Patiently awaiting Tim Willits.
16.00pm – Checked out Starcraft 2 in 3d, it works, well done Nvidia, but I won’t be buying into the tech.
14.05pm – Wow, Deus Ex looks amazing, living breathing city, NCP’s everywhere.
1.59pm – Deus Ex is up, the presenter from Montreal looks alot like the main charachter
1.44pm – Nvidia 3d demo is live
1.15pm – PS3 booting up the Deus Ex demo, and Nvidia 3D demo slides setting up.
1.15pm – 3D Nvdia glasses going around for everyone.
1.08pm – The Fable 3 crowd has gone, mass rush too setup stage for Nvidia and Deus Ex.
12.54pm – Show is over.
12.49pm – Ico, greatest game of all time per Peter. Setting inspired by Oliver Twist.
12.40pm – Women in game, aparantly Peter cannot convince his wife to play Fable 2.
12.38pm – More inspiration, from another film, Peter watches too many films? Robin Hood this time.
12.34pm – Kill Bill inspired the fighting in Fable 2. Peter talking about how important one button combat was for him.
12.31pm – Inspiration from Mad Max 2
12.28pm – Talking about Fable and transition to Fable 2, lots of concept art.
12.14pm – Peter is on stage talking.
12.10pm – Wireless signal is totally dead here, relying on 3G. The show is up, video to follow.
12.02pm – Seated at the front row, Peter Molyneux walked straight past me, surreal.
11.59am – Just spotted Peter Molyneux walking around, no time to photo him, they are letting us in to get seated.
11.30am – In the queue for the 12pm Fable 3 showing with Peter Molyneux.. So far checked out Killzone 3 in 3D, which was pretty impressive. Spent most of the short time I had before the 11am crowds arrived on Crysis 2 for PC. It looks amazing, especially compared to the Xbox 360 version which was blurry as hell, and running at a poor frame rate. Even the guy running the Crysis 2 PC stand said to go check out the difference between the two, and how much better PC looked.
10.45am – Ok made it in!
9.30am – The day is starting well, stuck on the Piccadily Line 1hour 30mins late for the press queue. More updates to come through the day so bookmark this post for my live blog.
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