Rumour: THQ in Trouble?

There have been a number of tweets going around today noting that THQ are apparently offering themselves up for sale, have cancelled work on all their 2014 line up (including the Warhammer 40k MMO, Dark Millennium Online) as well as having returned IP to Disney.

THQ’s share price has falled to $0.65, the lowest it’s been all year, with a total market value just under $50 million.

UFC: Undisputed 3, Darksiders II, Metro: Last Light, South Park: The Game and WWE Brawl are scheduled for 2012, with inSANE and Devil’s Third scheduled for 2013.

Gabe, Knives.. and a Half Life 3 Logo

This image of Gabe and his knives appeared on Reddit:

Valve have previously shut down rumours about a Half Life 3 release announcement via a secret message in the Portal 2 video at the VGAs, and said that the community is “trolling itself”, but they haven’t actually denied working on the game or the long-awaited Half Life 2: Episode 3.

More Geomon

I wrote about Loki Studios‘ Geomon a while back.. it’s actually become my bedtime and waking up game, as it’s fairly easy to grab the iPod and have a battle or two.

Unfortunately, I can’t make full use of the game as I’m playing on an iPod Touch: for the most part, I’m limited in location to a few wifi points.  As well as appearing in certain weather conditions, and at different times of day, Espers appear in certain locations, such as in parks, near graveyards, and so on.. so I know I won’t be able to fight all Espers, or therefore be able to complete certain missions.

However, that still leaves enough missions to be getting on with, and with the game having been updated to version 0.7.1, the Bounty system has now been added.  Bounties are simple tasks for quick reward.. collect three of a particular sample, defeat a set number of Espers, or train a particular Esper up a few levels.  I like this task the best, as it gives me a new Esper and new abilities to try out.

I also finally caught an ‘Iris’ Esper!  I had my eye on this particular Esper since I first browsed the website and saw the image.

Yes, I named her Rainbow Dash.. this one’s for a brony friend! 😀

Cut The Rope

Cut The Rope is an iOS physics puzzler developed by ZeptoLab and published by Chillingo back in 2010 for both iOS and Android, and later for the iPad.

I’m very late to the party with Cut The Rope, I know.. but I finally got to play it after I saw on RockPaperShotgun that a browser version had appeared!

The object of the game is to feed candy to a cute green monster called “Om Nom”.. said candy being attached to ropes which you must cut so the candy falls into Om Nom’s waiting mouth.  After the first few levels, this means cutting the right ropes in the right order so you can get the candy into his mouth.

As well as guiding the candy to Om Nom, there are stars to collect on each level, which can mean swinging the candy away from Om Nom.. going for the stars means thinking then cutting 😉

If you drop the candy rather than getting it to Om Nom, he’ll be sad..

Later levels require more planning and timing, as you have to use bubbles and bellows to help move the candy, while avoiding spike traps, and other hazards.  These include spiders.. good because they snare the candy and swing it into stars, but bad because they then start reeling in the candy too!

There’s also a Behind the Scenes section on the site for those wanting to know a bit more about HTML5 and the development of games such as this one!

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City – Multiplayer Gameplay!

Slant Six Games and Capcom have released the first multiplayer gameplay video for Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B–_y6PhT0]

Multiplayer modes shown in the video include the usual Team Deathmatch, as well as Biohazard mode, where players must ensure samples of the G-virus are returned to their base, a Survivors mode, where you must survive until the rescue helicopter arrives, and finally a Heroes mode, where you must fight as and defend iconic Resident Evil characters such as Leon S. Kennedy, Hunk or Jill Valentine!

Castle Empire Online – Open Beta

Ubisoft and Blue Byte‘s browser-based strategy MMO Castle Empire Online (formerly known as The Settlers Online) is now in open beta in Europe, with registration available through either Facebook or Ubisoft’s UPlay system.  The game has been available to players in the US, Germany, France and Russia for some time, but is now available in the UK.

In Castle Empire Online, players gather resources, build and expand their city and raise an army.. you can group up with allies and join guilds, and trade.. or simply conquer all who stand in your path!

Minecraft 1.1 is out!

Mojang have just released the latest update for Minecraft, bringing us up to Minecraft 1.1!

This update adds new features and makes a few tweaks to existing features, as well as the usual bug fixes.

Amongst the new features are bow enchantments, new recipes for golden apples, language settings, world type options, and for creative mode, spawn eggs.  Tweaks have been made to the biome generator too, meaning smoother transitions between different biomes.. beaches, smoother hills and so on.

Spawn eggs come in different colours to represent different mobs and villagers, and by placing one as you would any other block, this allows you to place mobs and villagers into your world.  Note that you will need to be on a mode other than ‘Peaceful’ for the hostile mobs to appear.

Mists of Pandaria – Pet Battle!

As well as adding the Pandaran race, a new continent, the new Monk class, and an overhaul of the Talent Calculator, the Mists of Pandaria expansion also brings with it a pet battling system.

There’s a review of the system on MMO Champion.. collection, levelling and training of pets, battling and stats, which sound a little like Pokemon and Geomon, two ‘pet’ collecting and battling games I’ve been playing a bit of recently.

Pets will now be tradeable, even once trained.  Some pets will only be out in the wild during certain seasons or weather conditions, so trading will be a nice option for those pets you can’t find yourself.  This reminds me rather a lot of Geomon, where I’m a little frustrated by the idea I can’t collect all the Espers myself.. and I like to aim for a full collection once I start!

I particularly like the idea that pets will become account wide.. I have a great collection on my main character, Kirria, including many which were gifts from friends, and I wouldn’t fancy my chances at collecting them all again.  I look forward to trying the system out for myself when I eventually get enough spare time to make it worthwhile re-subscribing to WoW.. but I’m not sure about naming all the pets I’ve collected!

Resident Evil

I’m a little surprised about the possible player choices, or repercussions of those, in the campaign of Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City.  Causing the death of Leon breaks canon, especially as this game is set in the middle of the series’ timeline.

I think I’d choose to avoid Leon’s death anyway, regardless of canon 🙂

I spent a happy week playing Resident Evil 4 on the Wii some years ago.. my first Resident Evil game, and one of few games I’ve played through without being distracted onto other things.

The controls took a little bit of getting used to.. movement being handled by the stick rather than the pointer.  I loved the game.. the detail put into the surroundings, the strange villagers erupting into tentacle-headed zombies, the scary encounters.. the fact that this was a horror game on the Wii, when all I’d seen till then was very child-friendly and cartoon graphics.

I remember being shocked at Leon’s death at the hands of a chainsaw-wielding crazy guy.. he cut me in half and I was shocked for both the brutality and the fact that it had happened so quickly.  Cue reloading, a good search of the house for more ammo, and going back outside ready for his attack!

I also loved the Merchant, lurking in dark corners with his shady deals.. when I first saw him, I nearly fired at him, thinking he was a bad guy! 😉

Ashley irritated me a little at first, as the incapable female in need of constant protection or rescue.  No weapons.. really?  When it came to playing as her later in the game I thought it was a nice change of pace, avoiding enemies instead of fighting, but even so.. surrounded by things trying to kill you, wouldn’t you pick something up for protection?

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City is the latest installment in the Resident Evil series, under development by Slant Six Games and Capcom.

The campaign places you in the role of an Umbrella Security Services soldier, having been sent in to Raccoon City to destroy all evidence of the T-virus.. including any survivors.  Here, you will face US soldiers come to find the source of the outbreak, and Umbrella’s bio-organic ‘weapons’, as well as the usual zombies!

The latest video shows off some of the action..

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar-qKACbnkg]

During the campaign, the player will be able to make decisions which may go against the series’ canon, such as causing the death of Leon S. Kennedy or Claire Redfield!  The campaign mode can be played alone, or with others in the four player co-op mode.. there’s also a multiplayer mode with USS soldiers versus the Government’s Spec Ops.

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City is set for release on 23rd March 2012.