Feature: Sharp enough for me
Right, Strikers Edge is a multiplayer masterpiece that at least several hundred of you should have heard of. It simply won't do that I reckon in reality I could count you on one hand. Let's change that.
Matt Cox
3 weeks ago
Feature: Read more
Sundays are for figuring out what to do with yourself on your one, jet lag-addled free day during a press trip to LA. I've already visited The Getty. Suggestions are appreciated. Here's the best writing about videogames from the past week. For The Verge, Lewis Gordon got twelve indie developers to talk candidly about how they finance games development. It doesn't exactly surprise me that…
4 weeks ago
Spooky season is upon us. I know this, in part, because someone has already covered the treehouse windows in cheap cobwebs and I can't gaze broodingly at the completely normal, not at all unsettling events of the outside world in 2019. But the real clue is Team Fortress 2's Halloween event, back once more with two new maps, a buncha hats and a temporary re-opening…
Feature: Successful experiments
From falling sand to Falling Everything: the simulation games that inspired Noita
"Ants. Cover them in ants." The RPS treehouse is gathered around my screen, where several dozen stickmen are currently duking it out in a blank 2D void. This is not nearly violent enough for Sin, who has seen the Ant button. I obligingly sweep my mouse across the screen, summoning a haze of insects. Some of the stickmen jump into them, and get stuck there.…
Oh, the possibilities. Late night TowerFall tournaments, no longer restricted to the too-rare occasions when I'm in the same room as my internet friends. I might get to finish Overcooked 2, this time with a pal who finds efficient cooking more entertaining than winding me up by pretending to mistake fire extinguishers for lettuces. Multiple developers have revealed Valve's plans for "Remote Play Together", which…
Feature: Don't Tumble
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PSA: Pathfinder can fly in Apex Legends using Crypto’s drone
I'm trying to figure out how best to convey the satisfaction of the video below. It's a bit like that "Things Fitting Perfectly Into Other Things" Tumblr, a soothing sort of energy I find enhanced by video. A sense of seamlessness, a compelling facade that the pairing of unrelated objects can somehow be correct. In this case, it's Pathfinder from Apex Legends grappling onto Crypto's…
Blizzard ban pro Hearthstone player over support of Hong Kong protests
Blizzard have temporarily banned Hearthstone pro Chung "Blitzchung" Ng Wai for saying "liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our age!" during a post-match interview, expressing his support of the Hong Kong protests. This happened last Sunday, during the Hearthstone Grandmasters tournament. In addition to removal from the rest of the tournament and a one year ban, Blizzard will not pay out the prize money Blitzchung is…
Feature: I can cardly believe it
This is the one that stings the most. The commercially-unsuccessful game that most makes me want to stand in front of unwelcoming crowds, pound on my chest and scream about how wrong you all are. Artifact doesn't deserve to be the butt of people's jokes. It doesn't deserve to be the butt of anything. It's one of the best card games out there.
*Pop*. That's the sound of a can of worms springing open, the contents of which are now swarming across my face as I grapple with this story. A Montreal law firm has requested authorisation to launch a class-action lawsuit against Fortnite for being too addictive. They're doing this on behalf of the parents of two children, aged ten and fifteen. Core to Calex Legal's suit…
1 month ago
Feature: Droning on
As I flew our helicopter towards yet another near-identical slice of Ghost Recon Breakpoint’s drone-infested, “libertarian utopia” turned hellhole, RPS vidbud Matthew pointed out something much more interesting than anything in the game. There was a time, he observed, when Breakpoint’s vast, meticulously-crafted jungles and mountains would have been gob-smacking. We’d have rejoiced in the possibilities offered by a seamless open world, merrily meandering between…
PS4 cross-platform multiplayer reportedly now available to all developers
I know statements like this are tantamount to heresy and that there can be no escape from Horace's ursidaen omniscience, but on this occasion I'm going to throw myself on His mercy. Consoles can be quite good. I like having a box by my telly that doesn't force me to solve an arcane tech problem every few months. More saliently, I know others who feel…
Feature: Sometimes, anyway
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It's a lively day in box news. In the one corner, we have Rocket League developers Psyonix laying out their plans to get rid of 'em. Crates will be replaced with "Blueprints" for specific cosmetics, which you can leave laying about your inventory until you forget about them or choose to cough up. In the other corner, we have Valve, changing how CS:GO loot crates…
Feature: When r u gonna?
If you like running and or jumping and haven’t yet played N, sort yourself out. It’s right here in your browser. You’ve no excuse. I’ll wait for you after the jump.
Feature: A noit t' remember
I am in no way prepared to say that Noita is as good as Spelunky. They're both platforming roguelikes that fizz with the emergent problems and solutions of physics-driven cavern-exploring, but Noita only released on early access last week. This is exciting, because the main reason I'm not prepared to declare even this early form of Noita on par with one of the best roguelikes…
Overwatch matches to flood with Bastions attempting chandelier jumps
I'm not a sports-watcher. Generally, looking at people play games just leaves me with the wriggly, uncomfortable sensation that my time could be better spent playing a game myself. Every now and then, though, I see a clip of a pro pulling off something wild and get a glimpse of what I'm missing. Like Bastion yeeting himself up to a chandelier and raining fiery canon…
Hang on, stop reading, give me a minute to wipe all this egg off my face. Last week I dismissed a conspiracy theory about Apex Legends getting a new map. Tomorrow, that is in fact happening. I am overjoyed. Just let me remove this last bit of yolk. We already knew Season 3 was due to kick off on Tuesday, but it wasn't until Saturday…
Feature: Read more
Sundays are for questioning the fundamental tenets of reality, thanks to a real good book called Schlid's Ladder by Greg Egan. Here's the best writing about videogames from the past week. Daniel Mallory Ortberg's marvellous embodiment of gooseness is required reading.
Rage 2's wasteland is riddled with ghosts, thanks to its first whack of DLC. Sadly, though, the rising ghosts in Rise Of The Ghosts are not spectral nasties, but a bandit clan from the first game. Someone has taken over and experimented on everyone until they've got superpowers though, so that's good. More importantly, yesterday's DLC added a new Nanotripe ability that lets you telekinetically…