The dadification of games continues. So we’re going full Dad this week on the RPS podcast, the Electronic Wireless Show, as we’ve been asked to talk about the games we play with our children.
Alec’s daughter is excited by the unlockable characters in Rayman Legends (and she’s also strangely fascinated by Battletech). John’s son is a bit younger and likes to watch his dad diving in Abzu and Subnautica (but also manages to sneak glimpses of God of War’s quiet moments on the TV – naughty!). Brendan doesn’t have children, only a cat. She can’t stand games and thinks they are a waste of time.
]]>Bit nippy in here, isn’t it? Let’s throw another game on the fire and warm ourselves with some electro-soup. Yes, it’s the RPS podcast, the Electronic Wireless Show, and this week we’re talking about freezing cold city-builder Frostpunk. Katharine lost a third of her people to cold when she forgot to turn the heat on, while Brendan dug up his society’s dead because he "needed the space". Matt is horrified by these tales, but soon proves he’s just as horrible when he completes our Frostpunk-themed ethical dilemma quiz.
]]>Fe is, I'm so pleased to report, utterly wonderful. I've no idea how to say it, whether it's "Fee", "Fey", or maybe even "Iron"? It matters not. It is, perhaps, the most beautiful game I've ever seen. And playing it, swooping, running and leaping about in its world, has been a complete delight. And continues to be, even after I've ostensibly finished it. Here's wot I think.
]]>What happens when iron meets steam? In the real world, clothes get smooth. In the games industry, however, they react and create another entity altogether. Image & Form, the studio behind the SteamWorld games, have amalgamated with the creators of upcoming forest adventure Fe (it actually has nothing to do with the elemental notation for Iron, soz) to create Thunderful. It’s a new company altogether, co-owned by the two head honchos of its constituent studios. The two studios won’t disappear. This new, bigger one will just own them both.
]]>How did I not know about Fe? It's a gorgeous action-adventure type thing that's suddenly become one of the games I'm most looking forward to this year. Fortunately, I don't have long to wait: EA have announced a release date of February 16th.
There's some new footage below in this snippet from the Nintendo Direct Mini presentation thingamy, so I'm afraid you'll have to put up with the voice-over guy wittering about Joy-Con motion controls. It's worth it though, because he's talking about using them to sing in tune with the adorable critters you'll meet.
]]>1. Fe [official site] looks beautiful 2. Is it possible to listen to Dirty Paws by Of Monsters and Men without feeling like you've been shunted so hard into 2014 that you could probably claim whiplash compensation from EA after being involved in a collision that wasn't your fault? 3. It really reminds me of a game I can't place! 4. While I deal with (3) let's watch the trailer and contemplate (1) and (2)
]]>Last E3, Electronic Arts introduced us to a charmingly nervous Swedish chap who introduced us to Yarny and Unravel. This year, they announced a program apparently to help make that an annual tradition. During their E3 doodad, EA announced EA Originals, an initiative to fund and publish smaller games from smaller studios. They've done this a bit before, of course, only now it has a name and one nice-sounding term: "we want the profits from these games to go into the hands of the studios making them," say EA. Anyway, the first EA Original will be the pretty Fe [official site].
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