Anyway, I ask because Priston Tale 2 is coming to Europe and I do love a good MMORPG. Have a quick look at the official Priston Tale 2 website and then come back.

Seen it yet? It looks pretty, right? Thing is, all the nice artwork is hidden behind mystery meat navigation. If you roll the mouse over invisible hot-spots on the site, you get a bit of art, or a gameplay trailer. Or a mildly-disturbing wallpaper showing a warrior-woman who has huuuuuuuuge breasts and not enough armour. No, I’m not telling you where that particular hotspot is. Look at some nice concept art instead:

I get what they’re trying to do - engage the visitor by giving us a bit of a challenge. I just don’t think it’s necessary or fun. I found a nice bit of male character concept art earlier but I’ve been looking for the hotspot for 10 minutes now and can’t find it. Aren’t pixel-hunting puzzles in games almost as universally derided as the quick-time event?

Her name is Violette Summer and she is supposedly inspired by a Special Operations Executive agent named Violette Szabo. The real Violette fought and died for the liberation of France in 1944. I’m guessing that the game inspiration was so loosely-based that they felt the need to change her name. Head on over to Wikipedia and read about Violette Szabo.

Going by the promo stuff on the official Velvet Assassin website, it looks like you’ll be able to choose how to approach missions, so I’m enamoured already. I know that I blither on about choice in games. I was a huuuge fan of the old Eidos Commandos games where you would kill guards, or hide their bodies or just sneak around them. I loved working out a guard’s vice, throwing cigarette packets or wine bottles to get him and then bopping him over the head and stealing his uniform. Every mission, I left behind a little room with a pile of tied-up guards in their underwear. The thought of doing it all over again in a high-res third-person game is enough to make me go *squeeeee!*

Then again, I could be sorely disappointed. I wait eagerly for more information.

In the meantime, here are some rather brown screenshots and a teaser trailer, just for you.

Since it’s release last year Valve have already enhanced the Medic class with new weapons and achievements. Now Valve have decided to tweak the Pyro class. This tweaking involves 3 new toys (flare gun, the backburner and the axtinguisher) and 35 new achievements. These new weapons can be unlocked by earning 15, 20 and 25 of the new achievements respectively. These sound like fun:

• Dance Dance Immolation - Kill 3 enemies while they’re taunting
• OMGWTFBBQ - Kill an enemy with a taunt
• Makin’ Bacon - Kill 50 Heavies with your flamethrower
• Next of Kindling: - Ignite an enemy, and the Medic healing him

If this wasn’t enough, Valve are also releasing 2 new user-created maps for lots of flamy fun:

• CP_Fastlane - A 5 control point make in the style of Badlands

• CTF_Turbine - A capture the flag map set inside a large industrial compound

Both these maps were built using the Source Engine SDK. If you fancy building some awesome maps simply follow the TF2 level creation guides contained in the Valve Software developer Wiki.

See you all at the TF2 bbq this weekend!

Update 22nd Jun 08: Valee have launched a Team Fortress 2 blog. It’s a bit post lite at the moment. Valve say they intend to update the blog with information about the state of the game and the reasoning behind development decisions. This could prove to be an interesting portal into how Valve is evolving TF2.

According to the competition page on the forums:

Procedural generation, or procedural content generation, is a term to describe the creation of content algorithmically “on the fly” (i.e. after the software executes, rather than before). In video games it is generally used to either generate “random” content (like graphics or levels), or to reduce file size. This competition is focused on the former, but you may choose to apply the theme however you see fit.

Tikipod’s entry is called Laser Bunny - Adventures in the Alien Death Mines and can be found here. It’s only a 4mb download. Think Bomberman with bunnies and very long levels and you’re just about there. Oh, and replace the bombs with lasers. Yeah, that covers it! Enjoy….

Did anyone actually test this prior to release? Truly shocking UI design.

Whilst the demo was fun whilst it lasted, I’m just not enough of a high score Nazi to want to buy it. I appreciate what Bizarre are trying to do and bring the whole style of killing as something else to try and perfect. Whilst this does add quite of bit of extra spice to running down a corridor and shooting people it does get a little dull after a while. When it comes down to it, I like to play and complete games, rather than to just obsess over high scores. Mostly.

Like all the Project Gotham Racing games, The Club will probably keep you happy for a while before you just can’t be arsed any more.

The Club will be released on 8th Feb 08 for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360

The competition theme is Ancient Civilisation and the rules are simple and unrestrictive:

• The game must be created with Game Maker, version 6 or later (Pro or Lite).
• The game must comply with the terms and conditions of YoYo Games as indicated on the website.
• The game should be your own original work and you should own the rights to all resources used in the game.
• The game should run through the Instant Play mechanism at the YoYo Games site.
• The game should not change the screen resolution and should run in a window (rather than full screen).
• You can submit a game you created in the past but only if it is not already published on YoYo Games.
• The game must be submitted by an individual member, who will receive the entire prize in the event of a win. Please note this does not exclude team entries. Entrants may accept assistance from a team, but any prizes will go only to the submitting member.
• A member is allowed to submit at most two games in each competition.

So far, only 2 games have been entered and there’s plenty of time left. The competition deadline is April 27th. Their previous competition had over 200 entries, so plan your game carefully. There’s more info at the competition page. Check out the YoYoGames Winter Competition Winners to see what you’ll be up against. You’ll find some great casual games to play.

(One side comment: I am more than a little perturbed that the YoYoGames player cannot be closed using the X button in Windows Vista.)

According to Codemasters this event will:

showcase all the current and upcoming titles that Codemasters Online have to offer. With exclusive announcements, competitions, Developer Q&A sessions, community meets and many exciting events, Codemasters Online Connect is set to be one of the most exciting gaming events of 2008!

Ticket prices (available to buy here):

• Friday only - £30
• Saturday only - £30
• Weekend pass - £55
• VIP Weekend - £100

Also this event will see the unveiling of Codemasters latest “blockbuster” MMO to be released at the end of 2008. Connect 2008 also has its own myspace group and facebook page.

* It’s a Friday. Also known as a workday! What’s wrong with holding it on a Saturday and Sunday then?