PC

  • Modding Skyrim: understanding what modders want

    This is an interview with the anonymous modder Vorians, who’s worked on the Unique Landscapes and Better Cities mods for The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion. I was interviewing him to talk about Skyrim for this piece on What Modder’s Want for Gamespy, but he didn’t reply in time, so I’ve posted it here.

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  • Unfinished Symphony: The Hunt for Red Orchestra

    It’s 1941 and Nazi Germany has just invaded the USSR, its erstwhile ally. SS counter-intelligence soon detects a range of radio signals from communist and socialist sympathisers, embedded at all levels of European society. Since the SS call transmitters ‘piano’ and supervisors ‘conductors’, they name this nascent resistance network the Rote Kapelle – the Red…

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  • RPS: Mnemotechnics and Ultima Underworld II

    This is a piece I’ve written for Rock, Paper, Shotgun. I’ve reposted the whole thing below because a) my hits aren’t going to hurt them and b) it’s very personal to me. If you want more information about the game, go read it on RPS – the commenters really know their stuff about Ultima.

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  • Interview: Chris Rippy, Robot Entertainment

    To the tune of: Kraftwerk – The Robots Here’s the transcript of an interview for Rock, Paper, Shotgun I did with Chris Rippy, Producer, Robot Entertainment (formely Ensemble, creators of Age of Empires) about their new game Orcs Must Die; the original preview is here: Why a tower defence game, not another RTS? Good question. In

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  • Cult Games: Minecraft

    To the tune of: Guns N’ Roses – Sweet Child O’ Mine I gone and done wrote something about Minecraft: Gamers, especially PC gamers, give the impression of being more than averagely intelligent. It’s a self-selecting set – a group of people who have the desire for and capability to buy a top-end computer and

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  • The Money Farm

    To the tune of: Money, Money – Cabaret Buy a PC Gamer-approved product every day this week and you get reward points. You’ve levelled up, now you’re a PCG Ambassador, so you get a PCG fan kit. Meanwhile, your health insurance is incentivising you to walk as it’s worried about your heart rate, and a tobacco firm is incentivising you not to read

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  • Solving MMO review problems

    To the tune of: Nina Nastasia – Our Discussion As an MMO reviewer, I’ve felt both privileged (at occupying a niche few are equipped to explore) and also terrified (at a reviewer’s complete inability to perceive the whole game). As Quintin Smith found last week, and Ed Zitron found previously, reviewers, no matter how professional, can’t

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  • That Mordin Moment: The Unusual Case of the Singing Salarian

    To the tune of: The Element’s Song by Tom Lehrer It’s 2010 and my jaw is hanging like it’s been wired open. I can’t believe what I’m watching on screen. The wise-talking pensive scientist / special operative who’s been fighting robots and aliens and stuff at my side, is… singing. And, in the deep darkness

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  • Red Write Hand

    To the tune of Red Right Hand by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds I gone and done wrote something, hic: I’m Big Daddy Delta, terror of Rapture, splitter of splicers, defender of the weak, diving suit fetishist extraordinaire. I’m stuck on one side of a door, there’s a broken window and a yellow glowing

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