Spotted this today : http://www.reghardware.com/2010/09/03/duke_nukem_forever/

For those not in the know, Duke Nukem 4Ever was first announced waaaay back in 1999. Since then it has languished in development limbo, occasionally spewing out screenshots in an attempt to let us know it was still in development. Then last year 3D Realms (the developing studio) went under and it was finally laid to rest, much to the relief/consternation of the gaming public (see this link for a look at what I mean)

So after all that it appears Gearbox (the guys behind Borderlands and Brothers In Arms) have taken on the mantle of the game and aim to release in 2011. Surprised? Yes very. Will it be any good tho? Doubtful. As Yahtzee points out in his review (see above link) the original DN series did well as it was a sign of the times. I suspect this new game wont do so well as the world has moved on. Sure it will have that nostalgic twing and should be reasonably amusing to play, but I don’t think its going to be a world beater. I certainly don’t think it will be as ground breaking as the original was (which although didn’t feature true 3D gameplay was the first FPS to allow players to stand in rooms above one another – which just pipped Quake to the title by a couple of months if memory serves)

We will see

Been playing a lot of PC games recently. Could be for a number of reasons but escapism springs to mind.

Anyway the two which have caught my attention are Borderlands and Warhammer Online. Now yes I did work on the old Warhammer Online many years ago (and left before it got canned I hasten to add) so its been amusing to see what they’ve made of this version… and its pretty much a shifting of the World of Warcraft model. Yes there are significant differences and things I really like (such as different ways to get XP etc).

It falls down slightly given that this kind of game demands a high userbase. Realm vs Realm (or massive PvP to put it another way) only works when you have a large player base online at the same time which is not usually the case I’ve found. So much so that they seem to have lumped all the races on the “Destruction” side into the same newbie area (Chaos). This fails to work for me playing an Orc, but you are given a nifty scroll to teleport you to the right area. Sadly its not actually explained when the best time to do this is and as a consequence I’ve now done nearly 2 newbie areas!

Its a pity as there are some really nice touches but it seems … lacklustre in a way. Also of note is how on earth Paul Barnett (a man brought in to the original WO project as an advisor but his CV only listed text based games as his experience) landed the job of “Creative lead” on the project after he had a hand in the originals demise…. Suspicious? I think so. Bitter? Nah I would have liked to see my stuff come out but the project had more than one issue

ANYWAY the other game of Note is Borderlands (by Gearbox). A nice little meld of RPG and shooter with some 4 player coop action thrown in. I quite like it. Sure it has its quirks and some things are a little broken but its good fun (which is all you can ask from a game). I’ve not tried the online content yet but the single player is gripping enough to warrant continued play. I love the characters in the game and theres some great humour and film / game references in there.

Ok the quick quick version.

Length of the land trip went fine. Painful but fine. Had to leave the bike in Scotland as I injured my hand and was unable to ride it back. I now have it back but am having to sell it as I don’t have any cash for the next insurance injection. More info on the Length of the Land Website (I think).

I am ok. Cold but ok. Work is … work.

Got back into wargaming recently (egged on by the interesting Blood Bowl game on the PSP, which forced me to dust off my BB models). Im currently trying to encourage a friend to assemble and paint a new army he’s just started by assembling miniatures of my own. So far its 20 to “a sniff inside the box” (in my favour). Doesn’t bode well. Would like to post progress here but you know how these things go.

Other than that, not much else to report. Some little things brewing but we’ll see what they produce.

OH almost forgot. Thanks to the Financial Ombudsman, Paypal have agreed to credit and restore my account after that fiasco months ago. Nice to find some small justice in the world of mega corps. Now hopefully those debt collections agencies that Paypal set on me (oh yes) will finally piss off.

I recieved my copy of UT3 yesterday (after about 3 months of pre-order) and played it a little yesterday. My first impressions are… its a little disappointing. Sure the nice new DX10 graphical effects look pretty and ooo nice new ragdoll physics.. but … I found myself feeling disappointed and wanting to go back to my old UT2004.

I guess its pretty hard to inject new life into a game format thats been going since 1999 and theres only so much you can do but there are various additions to this iteration that I simply find annoying. Top amongst this is the inbuilt online system tied to Gamespy. I find this ultimately frustrating as it reminds me of the terrible system that goes with Battlefield 2, whereby if you’re not connected 24/7 and play online all the time, you’re penalised for having the game! Ok its not that bad with UT3 but it irks me. The primary reason for this is my internet connection is fragmentary due to poor wireless signal in the house and crappy connection anyway due to living in the styx.

I guess I feel annoyed that Im being pushed into a way of playing a game that I dont particularly enjoy that much (certainly not so much with the twitchy shooters).

However I understand a patch is already in testing (quick considering it came out in Europe yesterday) so that will hopefully lighten my mood

Not entirely sure why but Valve have chosen to release a Headcrab hat. The headcrabs were one of the small enemies from the companys Half Life series of games and have kind of become a cult icon amougnst PC gamers. Personally I think its a cool idea but not sure I would walk down the street wearing one

Bah. I had a game on pre-order from Sendit for aaaages now and it is due out tomorrow. I suddenly get an email this morning saying “Sorry but our suppliers have let us down and as this is a limited edition one we probably won’t get any in”. (paraphrase)

Waaaaaah! That was the whole reason I pre-ordered in the first place.

So then began a quest to find Elder Scolls IV : Oblivion Collectors Edition. I soon found out that this was the case pretty much everywhere. Play, BlahDVD and even HMV all had problems. Finally I found it at Game. Now I hate buying from Game as their prices suck but I had no choice. So its now cost me £10 more than I originally intended but at least I (should) have it.