Stand by for a missive from RPS corporate parent ReedPop. Transmission begins! Ah, it's about gaming events. So, Reedpop's EGX expo and MCM Comic Con are joining forces. They'll both take place side-by-side in the ExCel London this year, on 25th-27th October.
EGX, of course, will feature a bunch of classic and upcoming games, while Comic Con is laser-targeted at our respected allies in the world of on-paper image-based storytelling with speech bubbles. EGX's headline partner is TikTok this year, which makes this a perfect nexus of entertainment artforms. All we need is a puppetshow now and possibly a semaphore stand, and the ritual will be complete.
]]>At EGX earlier this month, climate change protestors cosplaying as the Ghostbusters interrupted a Tekken 7 tournament, spraying player screens with orange paint and attempting to make a speech before being hauled off by security. The three protestors, who were later arrested, are members of Just Stop Oil, a British activist group officially founded in February 2022 who carry out acts of nonviolent obstruction and vandalism in the hope of rallying support against the UK government granting new fossil fuel licenses and production agreements. In the case of EGX, which is run by Rock Paper Shotgun's parent company Reedpop, Just Stop Oil were protesting against the sponsorship of one EGX stage by Barclays Bank, who have financed billions of dollars of fossil fuel investments (Barclays have provided some official comment down the page). They were also trying to call attention to oil giant Shell's sponsorship deal with Fortnite, which includes a special themed map "powered by Shell V-Power(r) NiTRO+ Premium Gasoline".
I've written a bit here and there about the overlap between games, video games and protest movements. I've also been on a JSO protest march myself - albeit, slightly by accident (no, I didn't glue myself to anything). I was curious to hear more about the EGX protest, and specifically, whether the group's tactical use of cosplay for both dramatic effect and subterfuge represents any broader understanding of games as a form of protest art. JSO put me in touch with Oliver Clegg, a 20-year-old student who joined the group early on and has participated in some of their better-known direct actions. The below is a transcript of that conversation which has been edited down for length and clarity.
]]>The Alt Controller showing at EGX this year was properly top tier stuff. There was, of course, the Future Of Play booth that our Graham organised for the show (the contents of which you can see right here), but every year the Leftfield Collection houses a couple more custom controller games that are just as illustrative of all the amazing things going on in the world of interactive entertainment these days.
Case in point, there were two games from this year's cohort that impressed me in equal measure over the weekend - and it was perhaps fitting that they were located directly opposite one another in the Leftfield Collection's long, white corridor. One was a mind-bogglingly complex, almost military-grade-looking briefcase stuffed full of switches, nozzles and buttons, and the other was an impossibly cute cardboard flip book and projector combo that let its cartoon hero Bib bound across the 3D paper environments to find a way home. Here's a little look at both of them in action.
]]>I love it when game names do what they say on the tin, but I love it even more when they contain hidden depths behind that initial simplicity. Hermit And Pig is indeed a game about a reclusive old hermit and his truffle-hunting pig, but this charming adventure RPG also has one of the most involving turn-based battle systems I've come across in a while.
Taking place in first person a la Dragon Quest, Hermit must deal with all sorts of mad and angry wildlife as he hunts for his favourite forest mushrooms, and their scowling (and endearingly daft) expressions are just the tip of this excellent iceberg. For you're not just choosing from a list of moves and watching them play out onscreen. Oh no. Each attack also comes with its own three-button fighting combo, and you'll need to input the right one (often at the right time) to deal the most damage. It's a brilliant system, making Hermit And Pig easily one of this year's highlights from EGX's Leftfield Collection.
]]>Silence Of The Siren is a name I'm perpetually going to get mixed up with fellow strategy games Songs Of Silence and Songs Of Conquest over the next couple of years, but there's certainly no mistaking what this sci-fi, tactics explorathon looks and plays like when you see it in the flesh. Made by the same team behind 2018's Project Hospital, Silence Of The Siren is an homage to Heroes Of Might And Magic where several different alien races are fighting to control a distant alien planet. It's a little bit 4X-y, but not massively so, and I had a very fun time indeed with its EGX demo over the weekend, which I think I played for almost a solid hour and completely forgot about the growing queue of folks behind me. Sorry about that…
]]>The EGX demo for magic school adventure Leximan was perhaps only ten minutes long, but that's all it really needed to confirm that this wordy spell-caster is a riotous delight of a thing that should absolutely be on your radar. Built out of a game jam prototype from 2020, Leximan casts you (sorry) as a would-be wizard who's struggling to make an impact compared to his more verbally proficient schoolmates. In this particular demo, he's woken by a friend to go and assist the school cook with preparing breakfast, but things go horribly awry when a pesky fire elemental turns up to spoil it all.
]]>I'll admit I've been a bit sceptical of Loco Motive since it was first announced a little while ago. Any point and click adventure game that makes a bid trying to be funny like the good old days has a very real chance of being painfully unfunny in my experience (looking at you, Deponia), and I was worried that Loco Motive would fall into the same try-hard pile as other so-called comedy adventures that have come out recently (see also Turnip Boy - yeah, I went there, fight me). But having played a timed 20-minute demo of it at this year's EGX, I'll hold my hands up and say, yep, I'm the one who's been slapped in the face with a giant custard pie here, as Loco Motive is genuinely really quite good, folks, and I'm pleased to report the good old days are still very much alive and kicking. Well, except poor old Lady Unterwald, who carks it within seconds of the game starting, and whose murder you end up getting framed for.
]]>Ever since rocks and sticks formed the first proto-drumkits, mankind has understood the uplifting power of a good bop. So too does Billie Bust Up, an upcoming 3D platformer that’s just as much of a Disney-style cartoon musical.
]]>When I see dirt, I know what I must do: clean. Whether it's in my own, real-life home or in a game, I am compelled to scrub, wipe and tidy - and the oily, purple globs of gunk clogging up Loddlenaut's appropriately named region of Flotsam Flats are just begging to be zapped by my little diver's handy laser gun. With just a single squeeze of the trigger, he sets to work, moving his arm automatically to neatly attack each neighbouring blob without any further prompting or manual aiming. All I need to focus on is getting him close enough to the gunge and he'll take care of the rest. Sure, it's perhaps not quite as involved as your PowerWash Sims and other polish em ups, but the combination of Loddlenaut's lo-fi visuals, comforting score and surprisingly soothing controller rumble all work to give it its own kind of zen-like charm - and it was enough to make me forget the surrounding din of the EGX Rezzed Zone for a very enjoyable 20 minutes or so.
]]>Sometimes, the ability to push over a tree was inside you all along. Retrieving woodland traversal skills from the depths of memory is key to Pine Hearts, an easygoing adventure/exploration game that I've spent a very relaxing half-hour with in the EGX 2023 Rezzed Zone.
]]>Pitched as "a racing game for people who don’t like racing games," Resistor shows an immediate disinterest in tracks, time trials, or even really the cars themselves. This racing game, I’m told as I sit down to play a demo in the EGX 2023’s Rezzed Zone, cares about the person behind the wheel – and their burgeoning camaraderie with a roughneck pit crew.
]]>The RPS Treehouse have been roaming the EGX 2023 showfloor over the last couple of days, rummaging through the Rezzed Zone to sniff out more great indie games we think should be on your radar. With over 50 games in this year's Rezzed Zone, we certainly haven't been spoiled for choice this year, and below we've rounded up a selection of what's caught our respective eyes so far, from interstellar trucking sims and neon-drenched cats on skateboards to racing battle royales and dreamy visual novels - some of which you can even play at home right now thanks to some conveniently-timed Steam Next Fest demos.
]]>The next game in RGG Studio’s Yakuza/Like A Dragon series, Infinite Wealth, is a melting pot of old and new. As the bare buttocks of returning Yakuza: Like A Dragon hero Ichiban Kasuga indicated in the reveal trailer for Infinite Wealth, we’re not in Yokohama anymore, but Honolulu, Hawaii. He’s not alone on his journey either. As well as his mates from the first LAD, plus lots more newcomers, mainline Yakuza stablemate Kazuma Kiryu, now extra frosty with his silver hairdo, is also coming along for the ride as well.
Alas, the circumstances in which the two join forces wasn’t covered in my 30-minute demo at this year’s EGX. Rather, we pick up Ichiban, Kiryu and fresh faces Chitose and Tomizawa as they land in Honolulu, in search of a dodgy cop named Roman who's managed to wrong almost everyone in the group at some point in the past. 30 minutes isn’t long in a game like Yakuza, but hey, I still got to screech at restaurant goers in one of its sidequest stories, as well as terrorise the general public on Ichiban’s always-deployable segway, which I’d still call a pretty strong introduction to this latest LAD.
]]>EGX 2023 is upon us, and you may recall that RPS is sponsoring the Rezzed Zone this year. That means we'll be tucking into the 50+ indie games that will be there over the coming days, and we can now confirm the full and final line-up of what's going to be on the showfloor. Most of these are only playable at the show, but you may still find some of them have demos available on Steam thanks to this week's Steam Next Fest. In any case, read on below to come and see what's coming up.
]]>The custom controller space returns to EGX next week, offering a variety of strange, wonderful and one-of-a-kind ways of playing games - including cranks, wheels, a firelighter, a morse code tapper, and dozens of big, glowing buttons. Many of these games and controllers are only available to play at the show, so grab your ticket for EGX now.
If you need more convincing, hop below for a list of the controllers and games we're featuring this year.
]]>The Leftfield Collection is always one of my favourite areas to visit at EGX. Partly because it's regularly stuffed full of interesting indie games with often very neat and unusual controllers attached to them (which in previous years have included actual paper shredders and full-on Morse code machines), but also because they're often so new and hot off the digital presses that I've never even heard of them before, which is very, very exciting to me. It's a great little space to discover what will be the next talking points of video games-to-be, and this year's line-up looks to be no exception. Here are all the games you'll be able to play at this year's Leftfield Collection at EGX 2023.
]]>Mice, keyboards, game pads? You've got those at home. It's only at EGX that you can play games you control with a lamp, or a brick, or with a real morse code tapper. All of those and more were present at the RPS Future Of Play booth at EGX 2022, a curated collection of alternative controllers.
We're bringing it back again this year and this time we're inviting developers to submit their work for inclusion. Do you have a custom controller and one-of-a-kind video game you want to show to the world? Read on.
]]>Frequent EGX goers will know that the Rezzed Zone has always been home to the best and most interesting games at the UK’s biggest gaming show, and RPS will be there on the ground this year, highlighting our favourites, bringing you various audio visual delights and more across the course of the weekend.
EGX 2023 runs from October 12th - 15th at London’s Excel this year, and RPS supporters can get 50% off Early Entry tickets (which is on top of the current 10% off discount available until July 7th for everyone else, I might add). Keen to hear more about exactly what we’ll be getting up to? Read on below for all the details.
]]>The RPS squad has once again made the trek to London for EGX 2022. There was plenty to see at this year’s show and, as always, we ran some of our own booths. The first was the Steam Deck Zone filled with thirty of Valve’s handhelds full of games for anyone to pull up a chair and play. The second was a showcase of weird and wonderful controllers including an incredibly inconvenient pool table, a digital plant that would grow by controlling light, and a game where you use a keyboard as a tie.
Alongside those, the RPS gang were exploring the show floor and here you’ll find highlights of what we saw, who we chatted to, what we played, and just general show shenanigans. Enjoy!
]]>The RPS treehouse is quiet today, with most the gang gone to that London for EGX 2022. We're running a Steam Deck Zone filled with minicomps and have a showcase of games with weird controller experiences, and I imagine they'll also be playing games, chatting, attending talks, loitering, expanding their LinkedIn networks, and other such expo activities. Kindly, they're going to check in across the day, texting us all with updates on what they're seeing, doing, and (I imagine) eating. And Ollie might join in from home with cat photos.
]]>The developers behind fairytale strategy RPG Armello have started to tease their next game reveal today, and RPS will helping to unveil it at EGX London later on this week. "The Infernal Throne sits empty," reads League Of Geeks' cryptic tweet, with the studio promising to "Raise Hell" at 5pm BST this coming Thursday. So mark your calendars, folks. It's going to be a fun one.
]]>EGX, the games show organised by our corporate siblings, returns to London next week and we're returning with it. Once again, we're bringing a load of games with strange and interesting custom controllers or unique physical experiences. Pool on a bendy table! A game about growing a plant by directing light! Morse code! The many buttons of Tenya Wanya Teens! Something involving neckties? You'll find these and more at RPS Future Of Play during EGX London, running September 22-25th.
]]>As the worldwide events machine begins to whir back up again, we and our corporate uncles at Reedpop need your help. In order to make sure the return of events such as EGX are the best that they can possibly be, we'd be very grateful if you could fill out a survey for us. The aim is to get an idea of what you're most interested in, and the things you'd like to see most at an in-person event. You'll be doing RPS a favour as well, as your answers will also help to shape the kind of EGX panels and streams we organise for it, too.
]]>PAX Online and EGX Digital have teamed up this month to bring you PAX X EGX, a joint show we here at RPS have been affectionately referring to as "Pax Eggs". Starting Saturday, you'll be able to feast your eyes on nine days of round-the-clock streams - from live Let's Plays and competitive tournaments, to developer panels and podcasts. We'll be there doing some fun stuff, as will our corporate siblings from sites like Dicebreaker. Oh also, all of the panels are free, and it'll have demos too. So yeah, come hang out!
]]>EGX and PAX will not be physical events this year, replaced by a nine-day joint stream which you could take part in. Submissions for panels, talks, presentations, and other sorts of sessions are currently open for both PAX Online and EGX Digital, which will run concurrently in September as PAX Online x EGX Digital, like some kind of hot collabo or fierce showdown. Making something good to show off? Got something good to talk about? Maybe an idea for something funny? The organisers, our corporate uncles, want to hear from you.
]]>As outdoors continues to be called off, EGX has become the latest event to be cancelled and replaced with an online alternative. EGX Digital will team up with PAX Online, also organised by our corporate uncles, for nine days of 24-hour streams starting 12th September. Yes, nine days. Yes, all day and all night. That's a lot. And it's free. We here at RPS will be joining in to help fill that time, though I couldn't yet tell you what we'll be doing. Online things. About video games. If you bought tickets to EGX 2020, the London games show, you'll get a refund.
]]>EGX, the London games show run by our corporate siblings, has announced dates of September 17-20th for this year's show. It's due to return to the ExCeL London in the Docklands. EGX is the boisterous big brother of EGX Rezzed, the more PC-y and indie-ish games show held at London's Tobacco Dock. I know, the names get confusing. Tickets are not yet on sale.
]]>EGX Rezzed, the London video games show organised by our corporate siblings, will return in March and so will we. We've taken over corners and stages of the show before, and we'll do it again. I can't tell you exactly what we'll be up to March 26-28th, but it will be things about games and with us. Our past efforts have included interviews with developers on stage, a live podcast recording (podcast? what's that?), and hosting a big get-together in a pub. Those all sound good. We should do those again.
But wait, there's more! We have a few pairs of tickets to give away this year.
]]>Indies desperately tweak lines of code. Food trucks heat up industrial vats of chips. A collection of anime body pillows hang on the hooks, like that wall of the punished from The Handmaid's Tale. It can mean but one thing: EGX Berlin is upon us. And if you can’t make it - which you really should try if you can - the RPS Video Team have you covered. Today we’re hosting Indies Uncovered, a seven hour live stream featuring 15 of our favourite games from the show floor.
]]>The day has finally come. RPS has been immortalised in t-shirt form, and you will be able to buy one and wear it exclusively at EGX 2019 later this week. For more details on how to be somewhat less naked, read on.
]]>This time next week, the lovely UK gaming public will be descending on London's ExCeL for EGX 2019, as will many mebers of the RPS Treehouse. As is now tradition, we're holding a party to celebrate: the RPS Mixer powered by Dead Good exists so you can come and chat, prattle and generally hang out after an action-packed day of show-going. The event happens on Friday, October 18th, at The Custom House Pub inside the ibis Hotel just across the road from the ExCel. Come, join us, and read on for details.
]]>Earlier this week, we revealed all the cool secret-spilling talks that will be flooding the Rezzed Sessions stage on the Thursday and Friday of this year's EGX, but now it's time for a weekend double whammy. From designing interactive live action game Erica to what it's like for London studio Mediatonic to work with the chaps over at Square Enix (plus a sneaky peek at their brand new game), weekend visitors to EGX 2019, which runs October 17th-20th at London's ExCeL, are in for a real treat. Here's the line-up in full.
]]>Do you like hearing indie devs spilling the beans about the secrets of game design? Would you also like to see the lovely faces of RPS coaxing said developers to spill those beans at the same time? Well then, you better get yourself over to the Rezzed Sessions stage on Friday October 18th at EGX 2019, as we'll be hogging the stage from 2.30pm onwards as we grill some friendly developers that just happened to walk into our big indie dev net. From the making of NoCode's space horror game Observation to how to make an RPG like Disco Elysium, here's the line-up for the second day of EGX 2019, which runs October 17th-20th at London's ExCeL.
]]>EGX 2019 is almost here, which means it's also nearly time to start preparing our big indie game developer nets so we can trap a bunch of them onstage and get them to tell us all their secrets. That's what EGX 2019's Rezzed Sessions are all about: giving you a glimpse behind the curtain about how games are made and the biggest issues facing developers today, from game subscription services, finding funding, and just what exactly that strange hole shape icon is in Wilmot's Warehouse. All this and more will be coming up on the very first day of EGX 2019, which runs October 17th-20th at London's ExCeL - and you can find the day's full schedule below.
]]>I have historically said that EGX's curated indie showcase, The Leftfield Collection, is my favourite part of the show. I probably should not say that now that we ourselves have been doing more at the show. Leftfield is one of my favourite parts of EGX? Diplomatic, Alice. Nice. Our corporate overlords today revealed the Leftfield lineup for this year's EGX in October and hey, it's good again. Even I don't recognise a fair few, so that's a bonus for me.
]]>[Update: The first day's streaming is done! But you can still watch us kissing the ground hard in Human Fall Flat in the video below.]
That rumbling sound you hear is half of Brighton packing its bags as Gamer Network decamps to Birmingham for EGX 2018. And the Rock, Paper, Shotgun Video Department will be at the show, too. We’ve decided to try our hand at ‘livestreaming’, which is basically video without safety nets. I’ve heard it’s quite popular these days and that someone called Ninja makes a billion pounds a minute from it. So even if we make fools of ourselves, we’ll at least be able to retire on all that delicious green. I can’t believe we didn’t get on this sooner. Anyway, read on for information on what we’re doing and when.
]]>Last month, we partnered with our brothers, sisters, uncles and grannies at EGX to host a game jam. The EGX/RPS Jam invited entries on the theme '11', in honour of EGX being in its 11th year. We got umpteen excellent entries that you can read about and play here, but from that group we've picked one winner that will be playable on a stand at the show itself. That winner is in the title of the post: Fingerolympics.
]]>There's just one week left until a borderline-biblical plague of developers descend upon Birmingham to showcase their up-and-coming games to all. This great gathering shall be known as EGX 2018 and starts on September 20th, running until the 23rd.
There's going to be hundreds of games on show there across all platforms, featuring developers of all shapes and sizes - both physically and business-wise. While I'll be sadly missing out on the fun (someone's got to man the news desk), here's a few choice PC games that'll be at the show, and everyone should be checking out.
]]>Recently, Rock Paper Shotgun teamed up with EGX, the UK's biggest gaming event, and held a game jam. This game jam came with the theme of ‘Eleven’ to inspire developers, in reference to it being the 11th EGX. A winner will be selected from the submitted games to be showcased at EGX in Birmingham later this month, and that'll be announced soon, but in the meantime let’s take a look at each of the 24 games entered. There's lots that's worth your time here.
]]>Update: There are still 10 days left with in which to enter the EGX Gamejam for a chance to exhibit your work at the show. Read all the details below.
Original story
We're teaming up with our corporate siblings behind EGX, the annual games show in Birmingham, to celebrate their 11th birthday with a contest. Like great emperors demanding tribute, they want you to make a game around the enigmatic theme "eleven" in honour of this year's EGX being their eleventh. The winner(s) will get to show their game at EGX in September for free, with the booth and hardware provided as well as a UK train ticket and hotel room for one person. The sheet of paper I've been handed calls this a "game jam" but it sounds like a contest to me. The contest runs for the next four weeks so hop to it.
]]>Hey, you: are you making a neat video game? Submit it to the Leftfield Collection at EGX 2017. Of the noise and colour of the games show organised by our corporate overlords, this curated lineup is always my favourite part. David Hayward, who runs the wonderful Feral Vector events in Yorkshire, always picks a smashing lineup but he, y'know, needs games to pick from. Submissions opened today so if you're making something neat, drop him a line. Me posting this is entirely selfish, cos I want other people to make all the efforts that culminate in a section I can casually saunter into for a good time.
]]>EGX is next week, September 24th-27th, at the NEC in Birmingham. It's the UKs biggest game event and there'll be hundreds of games there, among esports tournaments, cosplay competitions and YouTube celebrities. If you fancy popping along, we have a pair of four-day super passes and three pairs of day tickets to win. Hop below for details on how to enter.
]]>In much the same way that it's okay when it's zombies, retro decapitate-'em-up Slain relies on developer Andrew Gilmour's gorgeous pixel art to make it's gore-splattering slightly less horrifying. It's an action platformer featuring a two stage system of seven levels each comprising a side-scrolling wilderness and vertical-scrolling tower. The outside areas will usually be combat orientated and denser with enemies, while the towers have more puzzles and traps. Hero Bathoryn uses a ludicrously large sword to cleave his way through these and anything else that happens to be in the way. Trailer and thoughts on the EGX demo build below.
]]>Important proviso - all screens and video in this piece show placeholder art. The finished Heat Signature will apparently look very different - there are some hints to its possible final appearance here, however.
"I think the subtitle of the game should be 'You Can Go Inside The Spaceships'," jokes Heat Signature dev Tom Francis as he shows me his follow-up to break-out hit Gunpoint at EGX last week. "I can already tell it's going to have the Gunpoint problem where I say 'I made a game called Gunpoint' and they say 'I don't think I've heard of that', then I explain what the game is and they're "oh yeah, I've heard of that, but I just didn't remember the name because it has nothing to do with what you do in it." A pause. "This does have heat in it, at least."
]]>At any big gaming conference or expo I've been to there's been a strong dividing line between mainstream and indie. Both are awful labels, but for sake of simplicity: the former fills cavernous halls with booths, music, and major publisher money, while the latter normally finds itself a corner of carefully curated darlings, most featuring sprite graphics and other symbols signalling that the game is made by one person or a small team.
What of single persons or small teams making indie games with the tools of the mainstream? Do developers making oddities within Unreal Engine 4 find they fall between two stalls, and so find no stall at all at gaming conferences? Would they benefit from Epic offering them one of eight spots at this year's Eurogamer Expo?
]]>We tell you these video games are real, but what do you know? "Yeah, Alien: Isolation is so scary," we tell you, while tittering behind our hands because we know there's a rocket launcher by the lava pit in level three. "Oculus Rift yeah? It's magic," we say. It's not. It's a miniature head-mounted lunchbox made for people with bad memories who forget their sandwiches the second they're out of sight. What do you know? You don't know any better.
Your own eyes may learn some truths and uncover some lies in September at London's Eurogamer Expo (or EGX London 2014, as it's gone 'cool'). The first part of its lineup is now announced, including the likes of Alien: Isolation, Evolve, Battlefield Hardline, and that handy Oculus Rift.
]]>Comic books eh, who'd be interested in them? Don't even move or nuffin'. You'd have to be a real hardcore nerd to take even the barest interest. Oh, that's all of you, you say? And me as well? Alright then: the fantabulous looking Framed's premise is that by rearranging panels in a noir graphic novel you are given control of the direction and tone of the narrative. This forms a puzzle game where the challenge is to keep the main character alive through changing the context of his and other's actions. It's such a wonderfully simple premise that the fact I've never considered it before, let alone played something like it, is laughable. Potential is dripping from Loveshack Entertainment's idea and there's a trailer in the next frame.
]]>More footage from the weekend's Eurogamer shindig. Crysis 3's 'infection type multiplayer mode, Hunter, is shown in a new video, demonstrating the Museum of Modern Art map. I'm not sure if everyone else already knew this but the Crash Site mode from Crysis 2 is back as well. That's all about reaching and securing a location on the map and made for some interesting use of space in the previous game. Both are explained and shown in the video below. The Hunter mode does seem rather weighted in favour of the hunters, perhaps making it an indictment of the killing of living things for sport. Those poor operatives, fighting invisible enemies, don't stand a chance.
]]>This week marks the Eurogamer Expo at Earl's Court in London, an event at which there will be many delightful videogames to see and play - including a raft of top-notch indie titles. Some members of RPS will be in attendance at the show on the Friday at least, but on Saturday we must all flock to Bath as a last ditch attempt to rescue the lady John has tricked into marrying him that day. However, we will also be lurking in an alehouse in the vicinity of the Expo on Friday night, where we will be in the proximity of copious amounts of alcohol/soft drinks and, hopefully, you.
Wanna come along?
]]>There is ONE WEEK LEFT to submit your game for the Indie Games Arcade (aka THE ROCK, PAPER, SHOTGUN INDIE GAMES ACRADE ARCADE), which is talking place from 22nd to the 25th of September at Earls Court, as part of the Eurogamer expo. If you are selected then seventy billion people will see your game! Hell, at least half a dozen of those people will be me. Want some more details? Read the magically extended version of this post for information provided by dashing Indie Games Arcade organiser, David Hayward. He'll organise you right up.
The Eurogamer Expo has been and gone, but RPS's brain-dumps about the games therein will continue over the days to come. YOU WILL LISTEN AND YOU WILL BELIEVE AND YOU WILL UNDERSTAND.
One of the things we did at the Expo as well as play games, however, was judge some games. Specifically, the 12 splendid titles selected with the help of the good folk of Mudlark to form the Indie Games Arcade. 12 games. A few good-ish men. Security guards who didn't want us to have an awards ceremony at a stand featuring our own logo. Whatever would we do?
]]>It's an important week for the Rock, the Paper and the Shotgun. Not only are we partially lopping off one of the Hivemind's core nodes (/sadface), but we're also presenting our first-ever award.
Specifically, for the best title at the Eurogamer Expo's Indie Game Arcade this weekend. Members of RPS will be performing mystic incantations and inappropriate mental snuggling in order to ascertain which of 12 splendid indie games (shortlisted here) will be presented with a surprisingly large and easily-weaponised trophy.
We've now decided exactly how, where and when we're going to do that, and it'd be just super if you were there.
]]>You may remember us setting up some lovely polls to see whether people wanted to hook up at the Eurogamer Expo. And you do! So, I've OBEYED YOUR WILL and done some phoning around and actually booked a room for RPS' EVIL USES on Friday October 1st. Full details follow, including what I suggest folk do on the other nights.
EDIT: There's a second map with a guide from the expo...
]]>As we've been thinking about the Indie Arcade, the hivemind's thoughts wandered to the whole issue of the Expo. We'll probably be there for a bit. I suspect a load of you lot will be too. We should try and do something, or at least create an easy way for everyone to meet up. Or just select a suitable nearby pub as the RPS CON PUB for people to gather at. So, to try and get an idea about the possibility of this, there's some polls below to try and get a sense of your interest in such things...
EDIT: Right! New polls! Which should work properly and allow everyone to re-vote. GO!
]]>The Eurogamer Expo is taking place at Earls Court in London from 1st-3rd October. One of the enticements there will be the Indie Games Arcade, organised by indie champions Pixel-Lab. They invited submissions for the expo, as we reported here. Those have now been boiled down to a shortlist, which I've posted below. Expo attendees will be able to play a demonstration version of each of those games at the show. Also, splendidly, Pixel-Lab's David Hayward has invited the Rock, Paper, Shotgun team to be the judges of the best game at the arcade, which will win its own special award. So, indie games, we will be judging you. Even more than normal.
]]>Tickets have gone on sale for the Eurogamer Expo. It's from October 1st to the 3rd and features stuff and things. What kind of stuff and things? Well, they haven't announced anything yet. Pah! Still, by all accounts last years was good, and RPS are certainly planning on being there and doing - er - stuff and things. A big weekend for stuff and things, I suspect. Tickets are 8 quid each, but you can get them cheaper if you have an impractically large number of friends. Which means that all of RPS are screwed. And lonely. Oh, so lonely.
]]>Via the Eurogamer Expo, we got some time with Global Agenda. Here's the hands-on experience, complete with some input from the developers themselves.
Global Agenda is a game straddling two worlds. It has two different payment schemes, and two different games within itself, almost. It’s a multiplayer third person shooter, with a class based system and jetpacks. But it’s also a huge sprawling PvE/PvP MMO, with the PvP driven by player Agencies that can form and break alliances on the fly in a bitter battle for territorial zones that grant bonuses and benefits. It’s also got some instanced dungeons thrown in there, for the uncompetitive among us.
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