I'm a big fan of artbooks, which is quite lucky since not only are there plenty of them around right now, the quality of them has never been better. Forget the scrappy little affairs that used to be used to bolster out the Collector's Editions of games, much as concept art used to fill in for interesting secrets to unlock. Today's artbooks are typically huge, prestigious affairs, that come hardbound and printed on excellent quality paper. You might not put them on your coffee table, but they certainly look great on the shelf. This week, I thought we'd take a look at a few of the RPG ones that have found their way to mine - not all the recent ones by any stretch, but a few.
]]>I've played Deus Ex: Mankind Divided [official site] and I liked what I saw. A brief visit to just two areas suggested a more confident and open approach to first-person stealth-action. My preview focused on the level design because that's where most of the improvements seemed to be but Eidos Montreal are also determined to improve player character Adam Jensen. That's already evident in the improved control scheme, particularly as it relates to use of cover, but it'll also be felt in his new augmented abilities. You can see some of those in the new trailer below.
]]>Deus Ex: Mankind Divided [official site] is already looking like a worthy follow-up to Human Revolution as well as an inventive prequel to Ion Storm's original cyberpunk classic. When we visited the studio to play the game earlier this month, we also spent time talking to two of the brains behind the game about the inspirations and processes that go into this bleak vision of the future.
First up, here's Jonathan Jacques-Belletête, executive art director at the studio. We spoke to him about collaborative storytelling, fashion, architecture and graphic design. Along the way we learned about content cut from Human Revolution, the places that Deus Ex is going next and why Jacques-Belletête believes that India could be a perfect cyberpunk setting.
]]>Deus Ex: Revision [official site] is a project that overhauls "the environments and soundtrack" of Ion Storm's classic, and it's out now on Steam. The release has the backing of Deus Ex's current publishers and developers (Square Enix and Eidos Montreal), and is designed to work exclusively with the Steam release of the original.
]]>This month, it seems like just about every major RPG out there is getting a major update. Divinity: Original Sin. Wasteland 2. Guild Wars 2. Even Deus Ex! All we need is for someone to announce that they've secretly been upgrading Darklands on the sly and we'll have the whole set. Here's a quick look at what's taking a level up on a PC near you.
]]>The Deus Ex series, with its highest of highs and most middling of lows, is 15 years old. Old men, running the world. But not complicated pre-order schemes. They can't run those, it appears. The anniversary is being used to promote upcoming fourth game Mankind Divided, due out in February (thus I will be a man divided between it and XCOM 2), and so we get this animated trailer which is mostly tease for the new title but does include various shots of characters from the first game. Who ever would have thought glimpses of Bob Page and Walton Simmons could make us feel so warm and fuzzy?
]]>Here’s a thing I love: going back to an involved game after weeks, months or even years away, after life got in the way or you hit a brick wall, and abruptly abandoned that world. Starting a brand new game from scratch can never offer the same delightful confusion, even though you begin it from a place of even greater ignorance.
Without fail, I go back in to an abandoned game convinced I know how to play it, that it’s a simple matter of resumption and I’ll be romping through it as if I’d never been away. Then, crushing reality. It’s not simply that it takes some time to remember the controls, or the flow of combat, or which device is needed for which action. It’s re-establishing the motivation. What was it that drove me onwards?
]]>Level 28! No, the other kind of level. The type that you run around in, shooting people or jumping on their heads and that sort of thing. Adam, Alec, Alice and Graham gather to discuss their favourite levels and/or maps from across the vast length of PC gaming, including selections from Deus Ex, Call of Duty and Quake III. Someone even makes a case for Xen from Half-Life, and means it.
]]>I know it's not really called Deus Ex 4 in any shape or form, but 'Deus Ex: Mankind Divided' [official site] is long and headlines boxes are short. You get the point though: here's the best part of half an hour of Adam Jensen asking for it in Square's upcoming stealth-or-death sequel. On show: new augmentations, purportedly improved combat, 'social boss fight system', a gun which fires swords from your wrist and a new, grumpy pilot who keeps talking about coffee.
Also, it's very pretty, but my graphics card is frightened. Video and my own notes on it below, anyway.
]]>You didn't ask for this. You didn't ask for this because if you know the I Didn't Ask For This meme then surely you already own Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and thus have no interest in it being discounted to £3.99 in a pack also including Deus Ex 1 and Invisible Whatever. What a shame. But if you don't already own Human Revolution, then oh my God this price is the bomb! The bomb!
]]>This took rather longer than we thought. But after five entries, and two weeks, I've come to my conclusions. You can read the whole saga here, if you've not yet caught up, as I chronicle my experience of replaying Deus Ex - a game I've always maintained is the Best Game Ever - fifteen years later. Was I wrong? Is it even possible for me to be wrong? Read on.
]]>My chronicle of returning to Deus Ex fifteen years later, to see if I'm right when I tell anyone who comes near that it's the best game ever, is nearing its end. You can read the whole saga here.
In this fifth part I contemplate the significant change in approach in the last third of the game, and then make my choice for the ending.
]]>And so continues my chronicle of returning to Deus Ex fifteen years later, to see if I'm right when I tell anyone who comes near that it's the best game ever. You can read the whole saga here.
In this fourth edition, I once more fail to save my brother, become increasingly frustrated with the limits of the game's intelligence, and ponder whether real choice is actually usefully conveyed to the player.
]]>As my re-exploration of Deus Ex continues, I find my memories clashing with the reality of the game, as I try to establish if it's still the Best Game Ever™. You can read the whole saga here. It's accusing me of crimes I didn't commit, an in turn, I start committing some crimes.
]]>Here continues my attempt to discover if Deus Ex really is the best game ever, like my brain thinks. Part One is here. Today I yet again struggle to get the game working, then struggle to work within the game. But cheer myself up reading some newspapers.
]]>When asked, “What is the best game ever?” I always give one reply. “Deus Ex.” Back in the days when my passport still allowed me into PC Gamer Top 100 meetings, I would furiously argue that it should be no. 1, and indeed become furious whenever it did not. While I may pick another name if asked for my favourite game, when it comes to “best”, I always say Looking Glass/Ion Storm’s greatest moment.
But what if I’m wrong?
]]>Deus Ex: Mankind Divided has been announced. Adam and Graham decided to activate their social augs and discuss their reasons for being united in excitement for Adam Jensen's return.
Graham: Adam, Adam, get this. I have… great Deus Expectations. The title for this (potentially regular?) feature is already paying dividends.
Adam: Oh lord, give me the augmented strength to bear this load.
]]>Every Sunday, we reach deep into Rock, Paper, Shotgun's 141-year history to pull out one of the best moments from the archive. This week, we re-visit Kieron's Dark Futures series, which spoke to the leaders of the immersive sim. This is part five, an essay written by Clint Hocking.
Clint Hocking's career started with sending his resume into Ubisoft Monreal "on a lark". Six week's later, he's working on the original Splinter Cell, ending up as a designer/scriptwriter. After its enormous success, he rose to the position of Creative Director on Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and Far Cry 2 before leaving this year to chase new horizons. Away from his game design, he's a prolific essayist on his own blog. And in keeping in that, rather than a traditional interview, Clint has wrote us an essay...
]]>Eidos Montreal aren't saying this is a screenshot from the next Deus Ex game, right. Today they announced the shiny new(ish) engine that'll power their next cyberfest, and simply wanted to illustrate that with an image. This here Dawn Engine is based on "a heavily modified version" of Glacier 2, the engine IO Interactive created for Hitman: Absolution. This Dawn demo screenshot is perhaps not Newus Ex, but it is quite Human Revolution-y in its gold-washed technohole with metal walls, metal floors, and so many cables and tube lights, yet incongruously swanky furniture.
]]>Texture packs, replacement models, and post-processing mods can do a lot to pretty a game up, but they can't conceal that jagged old level geometry. It's an awful lot more work to re-do and update levels but by gum, the folks at Deus Ex: Revision are putting in the time. The Caustic Creative team have been tarting up and reworking Deus Ex's levels with more props, more decorative architecture, and fancier lighting.
Version 1.0 of the "re-imagining" mod had been due on May 12 but due a mysterious alluring offer it's pushed back into the nebulous "near future," those PC Gamer chaps have spotted. In the meantime, we'll have to make do with a new video showing off a few of the reworked levels.
]]>News of the now: there is a newish Deus Ex game on Steam. Deus Ex: The Fall is a conversion of the mobile game from a few years back, one that did an okay job of squeezing down to be prodded and poked at by commuters. I warn you, despite being a slice of Human Revolution-esque Deus Ex, the launch trailer below makes it look pretty bad. Better augment your eyes before watching.
]]>If you think about it, space is kind of the perfect setting for a noir-influenced piece of media. I mean, it's perpetually nighttime out there, and even in series like Battlestar Galactica where scarcity of resources was a prime concern, they always managed to have bottomless wells of whiskey handy. Give me some dingy, grease-stained sci-fi architecture and a gravel-voiced hero with a world space-weary slump in his shoulders, and you've got a recipe for, um... a videogame. In this case, that game is the creatively named Space Noir. Well, mostly. Trailer below.
So it continues. It's once again preening season in the gaming industry (Start of the year! Financial results! Losses! Fun, fun, fun!), and big studios are tightening their stylishly arrayed goth belts. 2K Czech, EA's Ghost Games, Irrational, Disney Interactive, and Turbine have all taken their licks on the chopping block, and now reports suggest that Thief and Deus Ex developer Eidos Montreal is up next. Kotaku sources suggested that more than 20 developers are back out on the mean streets of the city after spending eons working on the mean streets of The City. We got in touch with Square Enix, and they confirmed the unfortunate news.
]]>Before Eidos Montreal tore the internet asunder with their Thief reboot, they made Deus Ex: Human Revolution. It was well liked upon release, but I still feel like it doesn't get enough attention. It did, however, get a recent, somewhat crappy tablet spin-off called The Fall.
That spin-off is now coming to PC on March 25th. If it was somewhat crappy, why does that matter? When The Fall is all there is of Deus Ex, it matters.
]]>Against all odds, Deus Ex: Human Revolution was marvelous. It wasn't quite a perfect continuation of the original's legendary legacy (and those boss fights were utterly atrocious), but it let us dissect a rich and, um, very gold cyberpunk world with a surgeon's belt of clever tech toys. Also vents. Just the right number of vents. But what's next? Well, Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Director's Cut is coming out on October 22nd, but that's just tying up some loose ends. Deus Ex: Universe, however, is the future, and it promises to be quite grand in scope indeed.
]]>Activate the windshield wiper augment on your cybernetic eye implants, everyone. It's time to smear away some tears. As was written in the stars (fun fact: RPS has been held aloft by celestial bodies since the dawn of time, aka 1873), Square Enix fully revealed Deus Ex: The Fall today. And now, the sadness: it is siiiiiiiiighhh an FPS siiiiiiiiiighhh exclusively for siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh mobile and tabletsiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh. But hey, these things have a way of migrating over to PC occasionally, so I got in touch with Square Enix about the possibility. Unfortunately, they did not spare my brittle, nanomachine-free flesh feelings.
]]>UPDATE: STAND DOWN. It's an eye-tablet game. Sighs!
Oh, video game marketing, you are the worst of all the marketings. Five seconds! What a shame. Most of said five second teaser trailer is a logo. The rest of which is a voice - is that Bob Page or do my ears deceive me? - saying "are we ready to begin?" Oh, I've spoiled it now. Yes, much internal RPS grumpiness about the paucity of this teaser trailer for what appears to be a new Deus Ex game, subtitled The Fall. Some claimed we shouldn't post it all. Others claimed we should fill the internets with rabid speculation. Then there was me, just trying to fill a bit of space before posting the video.
]]>Edit: cos there are various theories flying around below about my perceived intent in posting this, I shall clarify my own feelings. I would really like to see contracts between publishers and developers more commonly include an arrangement whereby key (and ideally, but rather less plausibly, all) creatives on game projects continue to see some post-release royalties, as is the case in some other entertainment and publishing industries. That so many old games are being (apparently profitably) rereleased lately highlights this disparity. That is all.
There's obviously a very good chance you already know this, but just in case: when a developer is bought out by a publisher, it's usually the case that they then don't see any ongoing royalties from the games they make for them, or indeed for any existing intellectual property that was swallowed up as part of the studio acquisition. It's standard practice, knowingly agreed by both parties during the dark deal some studios made to ensure immediate financial viability and larger project budgets. But what it does mean is that a great many of the PC games we regularly celebrate around these parts are no longer bringing in any money for their creators, despite still being on sale. Whenever we excitedly see an old classic appear on Steam or GoG (such as Thief last week), chances are very high that whatever we pay for it goes purely to the publisher and the download service. And while it may well be right that these bodies profit from projects they funded and distribute, it's sad that the men and women who toiled over that game's creation won't see another penny from it.
]]>Update: new video!
Adam Jensen's story (which he never asked for) may be the canon prequel to the cyberpunk conspiracy theorising of the original Deus Ex, but the future-world's a big place - there's plenty of room to tell new tales from the time before JC Denton trotted across the globe. 2027 is a massively ambitious, Russian-made mega-mod for Deus Ex 1, the English version of which launched last week. It offers a new, apparently highly non-linear story, levels based on real-world locations, amped-up DirectX 9 graphics with stuff like weather effects added and a slew of new abilities, weapons and spider-bots. Also, new fonts. I do so like a font. Haven't had a chance to give it a spin yet, but the below in-game footage certainly speaks for the visual upgrade.
]]>You there! Remember the parody video in which the likes of DLC references, object highlighting and iron sights from Human Revolution were added to the original Deus Ex, and how even-tempered everyone was about it? Well, now you can recreate that past-meets-present, JC/AJ mash-up yourself, as creator Ceski has released the mod he made to achieve the video.
]]>The more modern values of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, transplanted into the resolutely year 2000 Deus Ex 1. Admittedly, this video occasionally strays into tiresome 'THE PAST WAS NECESSARILY BETTER AND EVERYTHING IS RUBBISH NOWADAYS' whingeotron territory, but it's nanotongue-in-cheek enough to elicit a good few guffaws, I think. What if... JC Denton had elbow swords? And augmented vision? And could only rescue Tracer Tong if he'd preordered?
]]>With a couple of weeks still on the clock for the release of Deus Ex 3 (it's still amazing to me that's really happening), however will we occupy ourselves? Well, we Britishers could start with considering how to help bridge the terrible gulf between rich and poor. Then we could replay the original Deus Ex, but adorned with new, high resolution textures. The New Vision mod repaints DX's world with pin-sharp new surfaces, which as well as making it look a little less geriatric also makes its world look a little more futuristic. Its 1.5GB of image files claims to increase texture resolution by some eight times. Sharp.
]]>Humans! The promised day has arrived. Some said it wasn't possible. Some said rude, badly-spelled things in capital letters. Others were simply impatient. No matter: it has happened. Deus Ex: Human Revolution, the third game in the series that has an awful lot to do with why an awful lot of us remain faithful, unswervingly loyal PC gamers to do this day, has gone gold. And I'm not just talking about its colour pallete. It is finished, Eidos Montreal have just revealed. Complete. Ready. Well, ready as it'll ever be - and that means its release date on August 23 is actually happening.
And that means, hopefully, it'll be in our hands soon.
]]>We're in a for heck of a show today, ladies and gentlemen. It's done eight minutes! It's done twelve minutes! But can it go thirty whole minutes of in-game footage without stopping? We haven't seen a promotional campaign like this before, ladies and gentlemen - Deus Ex: Human Revolution is trying to go all out, all the way to the top, to show you so much footage that your bruised and battered corneas weep for mercy. Here it is now, ladies and gentlemen, our new heavyweight contender, striding confidently to the ring to the accompaniment of a bombastic little number from Vangelis - it's the one, the only Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and we've got thirty huge minutes of hiding and hitting to look forward to....
]]>There's a new trailer for Deus Ex: Human Revolution out - hardly a rare occurrence in and of itself, but this one is especially notable in that seems to have crammed in a few quiet nods to DX1. Until now, DXHR has stood relatively apart from its great forefather, but now all of sudden we hear mention of FEMA and... wait, who's that sinister-looking chap at 1:24 and 2:09?
]]>Once there were demos (something I plan to write about soon). Now there's just promotion, and promotion of promotion. The below video is an attempt to make you preorder the super limited megascloosive ultrobucks version of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and contains lingering, porny close-ups of the various paper'n'plastic'digital goodies therein, to the accompaniment of what sounds like the Battlestar Galactic soundtrack.
Do you want these things? WELL DO YOU?
]]>Where were you all last week? I turned up and no one was here, honest! What's that? No, I'm not crossing my fingers behind my back, and you definitely didn't see him heading off on holiday. What nonsense. Anyway, to make up for it, here's an extra-long edition of Mod News to cover the past two weeks. This time: Crash Bandicoot, a Warcraft III art mod, a surprising number of trailers and a bizarre remake of Deus Ex...
]]>Yesterday I got jolly (justifiably) cross about some Facebook-based nonsense "advertising" Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Today I would like to celebrate some really rather excellent nonsense advertising Deus Ex: Human Revolution. The very splendid fake ad below is a gag-free, wonderfully made commercial for Sarif Industries - they behind the beginnings of human augmentation.
]]>Oh dear. Internet rotters have done it again, this time turning their attentions to the official website for Deus Ex: Human Revolution and for developer Eidos Montreal. But their hacking is not yer common-or-garden Denial of Service attack or painting pink moustaches on pictures of Adam Jensen - it's stealing the personal data of some 80,000 registered users. Thanks so much, hackers.
]]>The shimmery outline around key items and interactive objects in Deus Ex: Human Revolution caused a fair bit of consternation amongst Deus Ex fans the other month. Sure, it's useful, but a big glowy yellow highlight around half the stuff in the world isn't ideal for immersion, is it? It's the old 'loot glint' argument all over again... Fortunately, the devs at Eidos Montreal appear to have listened to community feedback - you can now turn the bally thing off if you're so inclined. Below: see what it looks like without glow-o-vision.
]]>Here's some news for you. And not just news. NEWS. Valve Software have just hired a new employee. And not just a new employee. A NEW EMPLOYEE.
Doug Church. Doug 'Thief' Church. Doug 'System Shock' Church. Doug 'Ultima Underworld' Church. Doug 'Deus Ex' Church. Doug 'helped (to varying degrees) design a good dozen of the most beloved PC games of all time' Church.
And now he's at Valve, who have themselves made several more of the most beloved PC games of all time. To don my Hat of Supreme Hyperbole for a moment, Elvis* has joined the Beatles.
]]>To go with the trailer below, there's also a collection of new screenshots to stare at and attempt to decipher. Like they're a message from the Illuminati. Click on each, including the one above, for maximum fullsizement.
]]>Much of this footage has been seen before, but I'm going to post it anyway, as I enjoyed the ludicrous bombast of this clip-mash from the ongoing Tokyo Game Show. Japanese dialogue rather than a clutch of Michael Ironsidealikes seems to add to the gravitas, and the Inception-esque music is so achingly dramatic that I eventually broke down in laughter. Not in a negative way, just in an OH THE INTENSITY way.
]]>Staying calm the face of a new Deus Ex game is tricky. Quintin came back from GamesCom making excited chirping noises, but there's so much at stake. We must remain steady until we're certain. We'll play it and then, only then, we'll decide whether to get to explode in a ticker-tape parade of giddiness. Of course, this steely focus didn't stop me getting in touch with the lead designer, Jean-François Dugas, and seeing what he had to say about the game. Fortunately for us he said many things, including revealing the link with Rainbow Six: Vegas, and explaining that most of the game could be played through without killing anyone. Also, most significantly, we can exclusively reveal that there are no greasels in Human Revolution.
Read the full conversation below.
]]>The rumours are true! Yesterday, clad in black jacket and sunglasses, I rode a train to the Square Enix offices in cyber-Wimbledon to get the latest on Deus Ex 3, no matter the cost. Gaining entrance was challenging- I tried hacking a keypad and going in through the back, with no luck. I'd just started climbing a drainpipe to the roof when a PR came out and asked if I wanted to see Deus Ex 3. I said yes.
Don't worry if you're keen to not spoil a single bit of Deus Ex 3 for yourself. The following is entirely spoiler free.
]]>We've an entire internet's worth images from Deus Ex: Human Revolution for you - a heady mix of screens and concept art, which we've posted below. All the images in this article are clickable for larger versions. Go browse, it's got some serious cyberpunk prettiness going on. Also, some brown. Finally, check back later today for our intricate and edifying preview of the game, written by the handsome, wily, and dexterous Quintin Smith.
]]>Clint Hocking's career started with sending his resume into Ubisoft Monreal "on a lark". Six week's later, he's working on the original Splinter Cell, ending up as a designer/scriptwriter. After its enormous success, he rose to the position of Creative Director on Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and Far Cry 2 before leaving this year to chase new horizons. Away from his game design, he's a prolific essayist on his own blog. And in keeping in that, rather than a traditional interview, Clint has wrote us an essay...
]]>Raphael Colantonio and Harvey Smith are game designers who are currently co-directing an unannounced project at Arkane Studios, working across offices in Lyon and Austin. They've been making games professionally since 1993, with a keen interest in first-person games with detailed environments and RPG features. Colantonio is the founder, CEO and Creative Director at Arkane. Under his direction, Arkane created Arx Fatalis and the PC version of Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. Over the years, he has worked with Electronic Arts, Valve, Ubisoft and 2K. In 2005, Colantonio expanded Arkane, opening a new office in Austin. At Ion Storm, Smith was lead designer of the award winning game Deus Ex, which received a BAFTA ward in 2000, and project director of Deus Ex: Invisible War. He was lead designer of FireTeam at Multitude and studio creative director at Midway Games (Austin). In the early 90's, Smith worked at legendary RPG studio Origin Systems. Both Colantonio and Smith have spoken at numerous game conferences, and are passionate about immersive, highly interactive games with simulation elements.
]]>Jordan Thomas first came to our attention with Thief: Deadly Shadows where he co-designed the Cradle with Randy Smith. Next he was on Bioshock, with his fingerprints over all Fort Frolic. Then, he stepped up to Creative Director at 2k Marin with Bioshock 2. He's highly verbal, scarily optimistic and wants to talk to you about the Immersive Sim as an Anti-genre, the death of seriousness and the growth of snark, Thomas Moore Utopian fiction and what Ion Storm Austin were considering doing with Deus Ex 3...
]]>And just one last one here, unless Obama suddenly mails us to tell us how Deus Ex inspired his political career or something. It's the lovely Ed Stern, Writer at Splash Damage who finds himself thinking about what actually writing these articles says about games...
]]>Emil Pagliarulo started his career this side of the fence, writing for the venerable Adrenaline Vault. Since kicking his way into development, he worked in the twilight years of Looking Glass - where he was designer on the eternal Life Of The Party - before moving to work on Bethesda, where he was Designer on Oblivion (Think "Dark Brotherhood") before becoming Lead Designer on Fallout 3. He's optimistic about the future, will surprise you by how big an influence Deus Ex was on Fallout 3 and has enormous sympathy for Eidos Montreal...
]]>The Ten Year anniversary of Deus Ex has lead to a week of looking back at RPS. But that bothered me a little. Deus Ex was about the future, after all. The question we should be asking is... what now? Hence this series of interviews with some of the brightest minds to have toiled in the field that Ion Storm Austin once called "Immersive Sims". First up is Randy Smith, a designer on the first two Thief games, the Project Lead on the Third, worked alongside Spielberg on an ill-fated EA project and has since released one of the IGF-winning Iphone games the form of Spider: Secret of Bryce Manor. As such, his perspective on the state of the genre is an interesting and - I suspect for some purists - a challenging one...
]]>When Deus Ex debuted back in 2000 it was showered with universal critical kudos. Well... almost universal critical kudos. The exception was Tom Chick, now one of the most respected American games journalists currently writing about the medium, who gave it a sub-50% mark. And no-one's ever forgot it, though it's long since been lost even to archive.org... though the lovely Crumbsucker has unearthed it. I felt I couldn't finish our looking-backwards at Deus Ex without talking to Tom about his infamous running-joke provoking review...
]]>Following on from the first two parts, here's the influence of Deus Ex on two developers in very different places. EA's RTS Lead Designer Saul Bass was in the industry for five years... and then left. Meanwhile, Aubrey Hesselgren was in Tiverton. There's a dark future for you...
]]>Following on from yesterday's first part, here's another couple of developers who were just entering the industry when Deus Ex hit, and the influence it had on them. Both 2k-Mariners of Bioshock 2 fame, Lead Level Designer Jean-Paul LeBreton was starting his career at Human Head when Deus Ex hit while Senior System Designer Kent Hudson was at college making game maps on any SDK he could find...
]]>It's been a decade since Deus Ex. A realisation struck me: the industry will now be peppered with people whose formative experiences were with Deus Ex. For them it was, in one way or another, inspirational. I decided to hunt down a few and talk to them, about what Deus Ex said to them, how it shaped them, what it taught them and how they bring it into what they make today. By which I mean, drop 'em a line and say "Deus Ex, eh? Thoughts?". First up are 2k Marin Designer Steve Gaynor (Bioshock 2) and Ninja Theory Senior Technical Designer Rob Hale (Enslaved: Odyssey To The West)...
]]>The_B's just noticed that RPS isn't the only people doing stupid things on the birthday of Deus Ex. Steam are having a 75% off sale, which ends at 3PST on the 23rd. 75% off is £1.50 each, or three quid for the pair. It's the sort of price which I'd be tempted to spend just to have on my Steam-Account in case I can't be bothered finding whichever box your original DX is in. Go gets. Unless you've got it already. Then don't go gets, unless you want to go gets for a friend.
]]>A quick refresher on the epochal events of everyone's favourite ten-year-old videogame... If you find any inaccuracies in this meticulously-researched document, that's because you're wrong. Spoilers, obv.
INT: A BIG RED ROOM WITH A GIGANTIC CREEPY HAND IN IT BOB PAGE: Underneath this gigantic creepy hand is the perfect place to openly discuss our plans to take over the world. WALTON SIMMONS: Yes. And I seem to have been promoted into a position of immense power despite being incredibly and obviously sinister. No-one would ever suspect me of unleashing synthetic plagues and killer cyborgs. BOB PAGE: Aquinas spoke of the mythical City on the Hill. Soon that city will be a reality, and we will be crowned its kings. Or better than kings. Gods. THE PLAYER: I do hope you're not expecting me to be surprised when you two turn out to be evil later.
]]>It's been a while since we got together to do a verdict. That splendid Deus Ex anniversary seems like the right kind of time to do so. Below we judge the game, ten years on. Does it live up to the legend?
]]>Deus Ex is ten years old today. That's ten years since JC first stormed the Statue Of Liberty in front of a paying audience. Ten years since people really started talking about Best Game Ever status for another science fiction game made in Texas. Ten years since greasels. Ten years since the bit where Gunther Hermann didn't get the right flavour of fizzy drink. If nothing else, it means the all the RPS staff are now basically very old, and should probably have a rest. But we cannot! For we have more Deus Ex birthday things coming up, and we shall not stop until this particular anniversary is well and truly celebrated.
]]>Evidently. However, it seems that some embargo has been passed, as Eurogamer has just gone live with three (count 'em) articles about Deus Ex. The first is a general preview sort of thing, the second is an exhaustive series of questions about fan pleasing elements which will or won't be in the game and the third is a hefty interview with lead designer Jean-François Dugas. This is probably the biggest amount of Deus Ex: Human Revolution info I've seen online yet, and almost certainly worth reading. But for those who really are very lazy, my top-level scan-notes follow...
]]>These leaked last night. Frankly, we're not entirely 100% convinced. Some look like some manner of concept art or render. Some look like either extremely, extremely posed or photo-shop jobs. But at least a couple look pretty feasible. Since these would be the first assets released of the game to illustrate the initial previews, this kind of heightened-reality shot/imagery is pretty much par for the course. Talking personally, I'll believe them, despite the sense that - as Jim puts it - "It looks like some guy's photoshop portfolio rather than a megabucks sequel". Go here to make up your own mind.
]]>And, as promised earlier in the week, the Deus Ex: Human Revolution trailer is on the electric internet. It's over 3 minutes of world-building, cybernetics, riots, conspiracies, robots and gratuitous wearing of shades. It's the sort of thing which I may have to go frame-by-frame another time. Until then, watch it below...
]]>PCG have just put up four screens from the new Deus Ex 3 trailer which will debut on the 4th. As in, Friday. They're also bragging about 21,500 (Count 'em!) words of preview, which hopefully are all different, and not just Tom Francis cutting and pasting the same paragraph again and again and again. As is his wont. Anyway, go look here or skip below to get my initial impressions.
]]>Looks like somebody left the keys in the ignition! And just as well, because even while none of the RPS crew are around you guys still need to know about the new Deus Ex 3: Human Revolution trailer that's being shown at GDC. The 2 minute cinematic can be found after the jump, but be warned: There's still no footage of the game proper just yet.
]]>Thanks to a strange person who loves to go through patent filings, the world now knows that Square-Enix (newish overlords of what once was Eidos) have very recently trademarked a new Deus Ex title. You'll find it beneath the cut... Oh, I'm not that cruel. It's Deus Ex: Human Revolution.
]]>Once we get past early summer things get a little hazy. We enter a nether-realm of shifting dates and unclear prophecies. By then we'll also have a whole bunch of games I haven't previously mentioned show up in the intervening months, stuff that we didn't have release dates for to place them in our line-up. This final post in our preview attempts to survey them all. To the future! (And check out part one and two if you haven't seen them already.)
]]>Update: This all seems to be a matter of crossed wires. So far DX3 has only been announced for PC, but there's no confirmation of exclusivity.
]]>[18:41] bremxjones3: "Square Enix's Tokyo developers are to work on the cinematics for Eidos Montreal's upcoming Deus Ex sequel, the studio's general manager Stephane D'Astous told us." [18:41] Ento: aieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee [18:41] swiss-: noooOOoo [18:41] bremxjones3: Also, Thief [18:42] swiss-: all, is lost
]]>The first panel which was something of a disappointment. There's a tendency for industry panels to turn into a reinstatement of the accepted wisdom (Or, at least, the accepted forward-looking wisdom). Even as someone not actually in development, there was little about the writing process which was new to me. That said, one of the panelists - James Swallow - is a writer on Deus Ex 3, and let out a few minor details on the process, which are worth reiterating.
]]>Larrington mailed us to mention there's some new possibly-real-possibly-not environment shots for Deus Ex 3 online over at the Eidos Forums. There's not much more to say other than that. Er... the second one looks a lot like the concept art?
]]>Well, everyone else is doing it, we probably should too.
The forthcoming issue of videogame bible Edge has a large feature on Eidos Montreal's development of Deus Ex 3. To tease it, Edge Online runs a short story with the headline "Deus Ex was “Kinda Slow” Says Deus Ex 3 Dev" before offering a quote from Lead Designer Jean-Francois Dugas: "There weren’t enough exciting, memorable moments. It was aimed more towards a simulation rather than a game experience.". Internet explodes.
It is only part of the story. In a literal sense.
]]>God bless Future Publishing's bizarre self-cannibalisation. PC Zone might be currently carrying the world exclusive first Deus Ex 3 preview, but CVG has kindly summarised the most important bits for everyone to see. Hooway!
As widely speculated, it's a prequel, which may mean the arguably over-exposed Denton lineage is left well alone. Or alternatively that its backstory is further filled in, as the protagonist's forename 'Adam' is unlikely to have been one chosen lightly. Here's the basic plot setup:
You're cast as average joe Adam Jensen, who works as a private security officer at a technology lab specialising in biomechanical augmentations, a forerunner to the sort of nanotechnology shown in the original Deus Ex. One day the path of his life is unexpectedly altered as a team of black ops commandos break into his company's HQ, and using a security plan from Jensen's own hand, a mass slaughter ensues and the conspiracy begins.
]]>There's been some complaints that games writing is lacking hard-hitting investigative journalism. With the news that PC Zone's forthcoming 200th issue will be the first public unveiling of Deus Ex 3, I saw the opportunity to change all that. I know where PC Zone's London office is. I'm a skilled veteran of many immersive sims. And I have a trenchcoat and can easily buy a pair of shades.
I can break into PC Zone's office and steal their assets!
So I gave it a shot.
]]>Robert Farr forwarded this to me, thinking it interesting, but not RPS worthy. He has fatally over-estimated our standards. Eidos Montreal's Senior Character Artist gave a presentation at SIGGRAPH (No, me neither) which included two slides with Deus Ex 3 relevant details. A gun and a building. We can exclusively reveal that Deus Ex 3 will include guns and buildings. You heard it here first, unless you read it on the Eidos Forums. Then you heard it here second.
]]>A couple of gaming sites are posting this "new" Deus Ex artwork. Which, er, we first posted in April. Get ready - we're going to be smug.
]]>Another interesting one. As well as joining the Thief 4 speculations, the French-Language site Denis-Talbot has scooped the world by showing the first Deus Ex 3 concept art. Well, strictly speaking, there was art in the teaser trailer, but this is a stand-alone image of some kind of future-lab. More analysis beneath the cut.
]]>A few weeks ago, when Eidos Montreal had their open-house, we wondered if any RPSites were going to get the scoop. It seems that one kinda has. Friend of RPS, Matt Kumar popped along for a good nose for official industry Cleverthinks site, Gamasutra.
]]>As readers of our comments threads will know, the day after we had our last - er -chat with Warren Spector, I was heading off to London to have a chat with Real Warren Spector. Luckily, he hadn't seen our previous post. He was, however, in a fine mood. Unable to talk about what he's acually doing for Disney, when asked about what the response will be upon its announcement he says...
]]>1UP have the first proper interview with Eidos Montreal about Deus Ex 3. Phillip Collar talks to their General Manager Stephane D'Astous about the project. It's an interesting interview, with much to think about. I'm sure the details will be picked over by Deus Ex fans. For example, this is fascinating...
]]>Blimey, it's been a busy day for videogame gossip. And there's more.
]]>Develop magazine have reported that Deus Ex 3 will be made in the Tomb Raider engine.
]]>So, we're going to have a Deus Ex 3 then. As our hefty thread suggests, it's something we're all going to be interested in. In fact, with Bioshock 2 at least a couple of years away, this is the next hope for a hefty immersive sim. And we don't know anything about it.
Except that's not true. There's clues out there and I thought a post which actually drags everything together in one place could be useful. From what I can see, there's three major areas, and we'll explore each beneath the cut. One, the absolute surface level. Second, the stuff which is buried a little. And thirdly, what we actually know about the developers - which is more than you may expect.
All beneath the cut, obviously. I suspect this may ramble. Oh - some spoilers for the first two games too.
]]>Well here's some rather big news.
Eidos have announced Deus Ex 3.
Details have emerged on Gamasutra that Eidos' new Montreal studio will be developing the third part in the Deus Ex saga as their first project.
Almost nothing is known beyond that the developers have passed a proof of concept for the game. Stéphane D’Astous, Montreal's general manager told Gamasutra,
""We’re only working on AAA, major titles. We’re going to be developing only major AAA games, using only next-gen technology. We will want to limit our dev teams to a human-sized team of 80 people at the very highest of the peak in the production cycle. We don’t want to become a huge studio where there’s over 100 people on a title. We want a smaller, multi-discipline group that are tightly knit together. But by doing so, we will give them at least 18 to 24 months for the production cycle."
However, it's extremely unlikely Deus Ex's daddy, Warren Spector, will have anything to do with the project, as Shacknews points out. His Junction Point Studios was recently bought by Disney, keeping him tied up in big-money development for the foreseeable future. Nor does it seem likely that designer Harvey Smith will be involved, being all wrapped up with the development of Blacksite 2 down in Austin, Texas.
While opinion was divided over the second game (seriously, if you're in a pub with Alec and Kieron, bring it up: hilarious), our crazed love for the original Deus Ex is enough to have excitement oozing from every pore of the RPS bodymass, even with just a name announcement. Oh, and Eidos? Make sure it appears on PC. We have sticks.
Trailer below the clickileap.
]]>
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