I wanted to snarkily write '3D Realms' in the title, but when I added the apostrophe it looked like '3D Realms'' and everyone would have thought I'd just forgotten what type of speech mark I was using. Anyway! The 3D Realms name is indeed back, even if it's currently somewhat unclear as to whether it's anything more than a name at present. The Duke Nukem dev closed its doors after too many years and too much money spent creating the horrible piss-mountain that was Duke Nukem Forever, but owners including Scott Miller and George Broussard kept some intangible measure of it alive afterwards. And so it is that 3D Realms' name is attached to crowd-funded, post-apocalyptic shooter Earth No More.
]]>Poor old Firefly are looking a bit beleaguered after the disappointing release of Stronghold 3, to the point where the top thread on their forums is titled "We are listening and we are working". Anyway, some of that listening and working seems to have gone into yesterday's patch, which has added a "free-build panel" to allow players to experiment with their fortifications a little more: "Although Stronghold 3 wasn't designed with a skirmish mode in mind," announced Simon Bradbury, lead designer, "we have listened to what the fans have been saying, so beefed up the Free Build mode to give players lots more flexibility and the ability to have increasingly powerful invasions attack their castle." Quite why it wasn't designed with what seems like the most obvious possible mode for a castle-building game is beyond me, but at least they're having a crack at it now, eh readers?
]]>Castles are amazing. Even their ruins are mightier than the tallest and most robust of modern buildings, and they have dungeons, which are like cellars but with skeletons instead of a toolbox that I never get around to actually using. Yes, castles are amazing, but that doesn’t mean running one in Stronghold 3 is the best job in the world. Sadly, it's far from that. Here’s wot I think.
]]>After peasant-pleasing and/or poking comes castle crashing. Firefly promised to show more of the militant aspect of Stronghold 3 and here’s a video which does just that. See castle walls crumble and tiny men topple from them, reduced to nothing more than ragdolls. Hear a polite British man explain that the medieval era is an ideal showcase for physics. I was hoping they’d be using a Buridanian impetus model but they’ve gone for Havok. I’m more interested in the castle building than the castle destruction, some of which is briefly shown at the end. Have a gander.
]]>Stronghold 3 isn’t that far away now and I’m as excited as a peasant with a new pitchfork. Much has been said of the fancy physics and the way they’ll affect traps and breaches, and much more has been said about diseased badgers. To remind us that it’s not all pestilent wildlife and siege warfare though, Firefly have lifted their portcullis to let a new trailer slip into the world. It concentrates on the economic side of the game. That means maintaining the castle and the village around it. It also means listening to the demands, hopes and fears of your people, which, like a British weekend, mainly revolve around ale, wolves and the ever-present possibility of being placed in the stocks.
]]>Buy three Strongholds, get one free? No, no, that's not right at all. It's 'buy Stronghold 3, get Stronghold 1 free.' Because that's what happens should you pre-order Stronghold 3 on Steam: you'll get to re-dabble in the beloved 2001 castle sim. But when does it happen, I hear you ask? (I didn't hear you ask anything,actually. I'm not a psychic or a madman who hears voices. I did hear a seagull go 'qwaaaark' in the distance however, and I'm pretty sure he meant 'but when does it happen?' Then he insulted my mum.)
This is when it happens: it happens RIGHT NOW.
]]>Promising build'n'bash'n'badger game Stronghold 3 has moved first from a Spring then to a Summer and then September release date and now to a nebulous 'Autumn' release date - which is bad news for anyone who, like me, is currently reading A Dance With Dragons and was hoping for a bit of brutal castle sieging afterwards. However, the change in date brings with it a shiny new trailer, and news that it bears a whole new publisher.
]]>I went to see Firefly's long-awaited strategy sequel Stronghold 3 last week. It's a game about constructing some castles and destroying others, and it looks rather jolly. But jolly in a 'squalid medieval life and constant war' kind of way. Here's some details, impressions and even some trailers for you...
]]>The Stronghold news is twofold:
]]>Financial squabbles between Southpeak Interactive and CDV had made some people wonder what would happen to the games being produced by the corporate couple, and somehow we missed the confirmation last week that Stronghold 3 is unaffected, and will still hit its 2011 release slot. Eurogamer have the news, and some affirmation by Southpeak's CEO that they have confidence in the title. And they should have confidence, because it's one of Germany's biggest selling strategy titles and as such is likely to sell half a squajillion copies. No major details on the game yet, but a smattering of screens show a new 3D engine, which should make for spangly castle-construction when the game arrives next year.
]]>2011 will bring a second sequel to the castle-management series which famously outsells GTA in Germany, publisher Southpeak Interactive has announced. Firefly Studios return to the development chair for a title about which little has yet been revealed, bar "a significantly improved graphics engine and new gameplay elements." This is presumably in addition to the previously announced MMO, Stronghold Kingdoms. If you don't know anything about Stronghold, enlighten your brain with Kieron's Making Of feature from a couple of years back.
Press release below, not that it's super-illuminating. So I've thrown in a Stronghold Crusader Extreme video for good measure.
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