A small collection of reviews are out for Game of Thrones, though it's hard to get a bead on the underlying quality of the gameplay. All agree the title lacks polish, however.

IGN was first out as discussed on our forums with a very low 4/10, though many of the complaints are cosmetic and the combat is "surprisingly robust" :

While Game of Thrones boasts some expertly crafted story beats, complete with moments that will enthrall and shock you, the monotone delivery from poorly voiced characters, constant bugs you’ll wrestle against, and muddy textures that plague the majority of the game will make most not continue through to the end. Realistically, you’ll more likely stop after the fifteenth loading screen appears only to trigger another dryly executed piece of this messy 30 hour long RPG. That’s a shame as the tale told about Mors Westford and Alester Sarwyck has twists and turns that would utterly entertain and surprise were it not surrounded by such mediocrity on all sides.

Joystiq says "broken, bowed, bent", with a score of 2.5/5:

Unlike the strategy title A Game of Thrones: Genesis, the RPG Game of Thrones feels like it was cobbled together by people who have genuine affection for the series. But Cyanide's ideas themselves seem more grand than the company is capable of delivering, showing stitches of the small studio's limitations throughout. It's the intention of the HBO series – with the budget of a SyFy original movie.

ComplexGaming goes against the trend with a score of 9/10. I don't know the site but here is a snip:

Watching the two protagonists get sucked down in an ever more dangerous whirlwind of intrigue, lies and betrayal is easily the game's most compelling aspect. I even found myself returning to previous saves in desperate bids to alter the course of events, like turning back the pages of the books and having things turn out differently.

Unfortunately, besides the five-flavored ending, altering the course of the game's events is about as easy as altering what's in the novels. It makes for a great plot, though ultimately you might feel that your choices are meaningless. Of course, given the source material, that may be the point.

Joystiq reports a meeting to resolve 38 Studios' failure to pay the first $1.125M of their Rhode Island state loan - and 38's request for more money - didn't reach an outcome:

Today's emergency meeting by Rhode Island officials to determine what they are going to do about Curt Schilling's 38 Studios has concluded with officials freezing like deer in headlights. Nothing happened.

Rhode Island's Economic Development Corporation will take no immediate action to aid the developer, following a closed-door meeting attended by Governor Lincoln Chafee and Schilling, who asked for additional help to save the company. Schilling refused to answer press inquiries and officials wouldn't declare how much money the studio is seeking.

"How do we avoid throwing good money after bad?" Chafee is quoted by the Associated Press as saying after the three-hour emergency meeting finished.

Josh Sawyer has kicked up a new version of his F:NV hardcore mod - head over for the changelog.

Yeah, I don't have a good excuse for why it took me this long to update the JSawyer mod.  But the battle.net outage gave me a nice chunk of time to fix up a few things.  Updating the mod should not conflict with your current save games, but what do I know?

As always, it is located here:

http://diogenes-lamp.info/jsawyer_fnv_mod.zip

This Diablo III pre-release interview at Rock, Paper, Shotgun is almost irrelevant now but it features Leonard Boyarsky and gives me the opportunity to link some Diablo III error gags. A snip:

RPS: Just to go back to the world briefly, there was a shift from the first Diablo, which was very claustrophobic, a dungeon full of horrors, and then Diablo II planted a world on top of that. In the third game did you want to continue that progression?

Boyarsky: Well, we tried to open up the world because we want it to feel like a place you’re inhabiting. But we did want to go back to…well, it’s very hard in an action game to get that horror feeling, but we wanted to try and invoke that and get back some of the Diablo I stuff. That’s one of the reasons we have you start in Tristram, besides the story itself. We thought it would be really cool to revisit that area and revisit the cathedral that you were in back then. We really wanted to touch on that and make it part of the experience.

While you're looking at that error screen and waiting to play, you might enjoy (or not) IGN's Best Error 37 Jokes and  Qt3's Beginner's Guide:

After the jump, I bring you the wisdom that can only come from first-hand experience

Error 37 means the server is overloaded and you won’t be able to connect. Error 315300 means that you CTL-C’ed the password from the front end of Diablo III and have been CTL-V’ing in a series of asterisks as a password, and that’s not your password. Error 3006 means the game can’t retrieve the character list you haven’t even made yet because you’ve been getting errors 37 and 315300 for about an hour. Error 3005 is pretty self evident in that it tells you that you’ve been disconnected. Of all the errors, error 3005 is the most newbie friendly.

The Shadowrun second city survey ended with just 1% between Berlin and Hong Kong, so a second survey is away to backers. If you backed the project and didn't vote the first time, make sure you get your choice in this survey.

We haven't introduced Dreadline yet, so let's start with that. A "a Diablo/Freedom Force mashup, but faster and with more blood!" action/RPG from Eerie Canal, formed by ex Irrational and Harmonix devs, the premise is certainly interesting. Check out a teaser here and this early question from RPG Codex's interview covers the core concept:

Dreadline's premise - controlling a group of monsters who travel through time to kill those who are already doomed to die in history's calamities - definitely makes it stand out, as does the look. What were the main inspirations behind the game's unique concept and art style?

BB: Steven is a huge Edward Gorey fan, which explains a lot of the look. We are also trying to bring the creepy look of '70's animation, which I don't think has been represented much in video games. Cartoons like The Hobbit and Watership Down were terrifying!

The concept just came from us throwing around ideas for a few weeks. We all generally have dark senses of humor, and this concept really cracked us up. We knew we were on to something right away.

AD: Yeah, Steve already has a pretty distinct drawing style, mix in Edward Gorey, Quantum leap, and Ancient aliens and I think you'd arrive at the same place.

Stoic points to a couple of Banner Saga updates, with Technical Blog #0 talking about their first programmer hire Victor Ude and his current work integrating sound.

In What is Told, the first of a series of lore updates is provided:

A lot of things were on Hafr’s mind.

Foremost was the ache that had found its way into his feet, unaccustomed as they were to shuffling across hard rock in thin leather shoes. The intricately carved walking stick in his hand had become more of an anchor than an aid. Aside from that, there was the complex pattern he had been failing to memorize for a week, the cumbersome bundle of books and scrolls boring into his shoulders and the irksome memory of a disappointing conclusion to an awkward conversation he had left on the lips of a girl. It chafed, looping over and over in his head with nothing but backcountry paths to distract him from it, and no recourse to be taken. At least, not until he was done with this, another pointless errand.

It appears South Park: The Stick of Truth has been delayed to 2013 according to THQ's recent financials. From Cinema Blend:

THQ announced the delay during their latest earnings report. They expect to release the game during their fiscal fourth quarter. This period runs from January 1st, 2013 until March 31st.

The publisher didn't mention why they're delaying the game. However, it's not hard to guess the reason: polish. They've been adamant about only shipping the game once it's perfect. 

Here's a bunch of Diablo III stuff, starting with the official launch presser:

DIABLO III NOW LIVE

It’s a bad day for demons . . .

PARIS, France. - May 15, 2012 - Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that Diablo^® III, the highly anticipated next chapter in its award-winning action–role-playing-game series, is now available in retail stores throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. Gamers in the regions above as well as in Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Brazil are also able to purchase Diablo III digitally via the game’s official website (http://www.diablo3.com).

In the wake of a Blizzard record of more than 2 million preorders^*, and following more than 8,000 midnight launch events earlier today at retail stores worldwide,gamers across the planet are now storming Sanctuary in hot pursuit of the Lord of Terror.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun reports on an emergency fix for "Error 37-ing":

“We are in the process of performing an emergency maintenance for all Diablo III servers to resolve several issues that are currently impacting the game. This maintenance may cause some interruption in communication, ability to log in, use of in-game features, and disconnections.”

They also have a Three Hours With Diablo III impressions piece, and PC Gamer managed to get 6 hours in.

Eurogamer has the full interview we mentioned yesterday, which covers "replayability and post-launch plans". VG247 says a NeoGAF user claims to have finished the game in 12.5 hours.

CNET asks Is Diablo III Still Relevant? and The Rampant Coyote talks about the importance of the original game.

Today's Dead State update offers a blurb and nice screen of the looting/inventory interface:

We’ve got a pretty simple layout for our inventory. The player’s inventory is on the left side, where the container or body is on the right side. The tabs at the top are toggles to quickly find items by category. You can sort through your entire inventory by advancing each page. Most supply items, thrown items, and ammo will stack. Selecting an item will show a description of the item in the 3x5 at the bottom of the screen.

Your carry weight is determined by your strength. On the whole, when you factor in the weight of your armor and weapons, your own inventory space may not be many pages long, especially if your character isn’t strong and likes to wear heavy armor and carry shields. Allies can hold excess inventory, which can be done in a trade interface outside of combat.

Additionally, we would like to tweak this inventory screen to be used for a barter interface, when we have the time. Essentially, NPCs that want a certain item will weigh that class of items higher than of an item they do not want or have too much of. Bartering isn’t common in Dead State, though you may find a few folks who will trade surplus supplies. 

Game of Thrones has been released in NA - the rest of us have to wait two weeks or so, which is a good way to dilute your launch marketing. From the press release:

ATLUS, a brand of Index Digital Media, Inc., today announced that "Game of Thrones™," the RPG based on the internationally bestselling book series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin and the critically acclaimed HBO® television series, Game of Thrones®, is now available in stores across North America for Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, and PC via download. 

Replete with the authentic political intrigue and complex narrative the acclaimed fantasy series is known for, this captivating interactive adventure gives fans a new and exciting way to lose themselves in the world of Westeros. With an original story written under the watchful eye of George R. R. Martin, who recently stated, "I've sampled the work Cyanide has done, and I'm largely happy with it. I think many of my fans will share that feeling," the "Game of Thrones" RPG is filled with characters and locations straight from the pages of the beloved fantasy novels. Moreover, the game includes the likenesses of fan favorite characters from the television adaptation. "Game of Thrones" promises to deliver the ultimate interactive roleplaying experience for fans of the series and its gritty, sophisticated medieval drama.

Digitally Downloaded looks back at Dragon Age 2, asking Was it really that bad? The answer seems to be "no", according to them:

The thing that a lot of people seemed to find so disappointing in Dragon Age II was how limited the setting was. By focusing almost the entire game on the city of Kirkwall the game did indeed lack the epic scope of Dragon Age: Origins, but was this a bad thing? I’d argue not. The city-based RPG is a staple of the pen-and-paper RPG world of Dungeons & Dragons, but is rarely attempted in the realm of videogames. When it’s at its best, the city-based RPG provides an intricate world of political intrigue to work through, where facing off armies is replaced by working your way through social circles and unravelling labyrinthine plots. 

The Bioblog has a new Dragon Age feature, titled Question of the Month (Discovery and Learning). This is essentially a way to engage fans on the future of Dragon Age - though based on various previous comments, I find it hard to believe they aren't further along with planning than this would suggest:

Beginning today, we’ll do a series of questions and discussions around Dragon Age. Consider this a conversation between fans, the community team, and the developers. Everyone at BioWare is incredibly excited about the future of the franchise but we’re interested in what you have to say. Every month, we will discuss a topic or question about Dragon Age and game development. You will have one week to post your thoughts, desires, and hopes before we close the thread for review. Moderators and developers will pop into the thread to chat every now and again, so keep an eye out.

These questions and discussions are not only for future games, but other potential products like novels, animated features, pen and paper RPGs, and comics – all of which offer us opportunities to expand on parts of the world.

However, it’s worth reminding that we’re not making promises, we’re talking about ideas. We won’t guarantee that things we discuss will materialize and we’re not showing anything until we’re ready. And as a last bit of housekeeping, the purpose of these exercises isn’t crowd sourcing or soliciting your game dev concepts (keep those close in case you want to make a game someday!). This should remain a discussion between BioWare and fans about what you loved about Dragon Age Origins and Dragon Age 2—what this franchise means to you.

BioWare co-founder Ray Muzyka has mentioned that we’d like to open up more in future Dragon Age titles, so now we turn to you: What kinds of things would you like to learn more about? Antivan weddings? Orlesian balls? The remnants of the Tevinter empire? Burial customs among the Chaisind?

What kinds of things would you like to discover and learn about the Dragon Age world?

Let us know your answer here!

Catching up on some news, Rock, Paper, Shotgun has the announcement of a new game from Neocore (King Arthur) - an action/RPG titled The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing, due Q4 2012.

We've covered Smuttlewerk's Companions and Time of Heroes for iOS before, so they let us know of new developments for their TBS game. A second campaign for Time of Heroes has been released and here are the details:

The Wrath Of The Prophet

Features:

- Seven brand new maps

- Two new heroes (Oskar, the iron golem and Runtula, the elven mistress)

- Three new units (iron golems, elven drones and elven archeresses)

- New achievements

- Hours of playtime

-----------------------------

This chapter concludes the story about the arrival of the northern people in Altland:

The servant of the dark god Detexx, the Prophet, has only one wish: to destroy every living being in Altland, especially the insolent humans who dare to defy the power of his insane god. His wrath is inconceivable! His powers terrifying!

The player has to lead prince Minos and the alliance of humans, dwarves and elves into gruesome battles against the “Hordes of Nether”!

-----------------------------

Players who are into turn-based strategy games, will get another round of great battles waiting to be won.

The campaign is available through in App purchase for 2,99$/2,39€.

For those who are unsure whether to buy the game or not, we designed a free “Time of Heroes – Zero Edition”. The first two maps can be enjoyed for free, the rest has to be purchased as IAP just as in the old version of the game. Once a campaign pack is purchased all ads we put in this version get removed.

Check out the video on Youtube.

GameBanshee sends word of their preview of the Torchlight II Beta:

The easiest way to sum up Torchlight II is that it very effectively mimics the transition from Diablo's relatively self-contained dungeon crawling to Diablo II's greater focus on multiplayer, expansive outdoor environments, and of course, the loot slot machine. Where Torchlight was confined to just a couple of dungeon levels, floor after floor, Torchlight II is more structured, with a balance between overland exploration and dungeon-crawling, and a constant stream of new sights to see, monsters to fight and so forth as you progress. Similarly, where Torchlight revolved around hacking and slashing through enemies towards the end boss, Torchlight II puts more emphasis on teamwork in building multiple characters and sending them into online multiplayer (complete with peer-to-peer play and a game browser, just like the good old days).   

The Providence Journal is reporting comments from Rhode Island Governor Chafee that cast doubt on the financial position of 38 Studios. Apparently the Governor met with 38 Studios to discuss the security of a $75M government loan to the studio:

Reached Sunday, the governor said "it has been a weekend of work on this subject."

While the governor would not discuss details of the meetings with 38 Studios officials, he said there is a "tight timeframe we're working under."

"We're doing everything possible, like I would for any Rhode Island company," he said Monday afternoon at the State House, adding that the work at stake is "keeping 38 Studios solvent." 

WPRI.com goes on to look at other sources and also cites NPD data apparently showing 410,000 sales at US retail, a modest but solid number when you consider international and digital sales:

“Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning,” the first game from Curt Schilling’s Providence-based 38 Studios, sold another 80,000 copies in the United States last month, WPRI.com has confirmed.

That brings total U.S. retail sales of “Reckoning” to 410,000 copies during its first two months on the market, according to data provided to WPRI.com by NPD Group, a New York-based research firm.

Those who pre-loaded Diablo III from Blizzard or have the box in their hand can now install the game in anticipation of the release tomorrow. I got as far as the main menu.

Reviewers are apparently as restricted as the public - even IGN's Review in Progress isn't exactly making progress:

As for the Diablo III review, well, I can’t even start playing it until it goes public, because Diablo III requires an online connection to the live battle.net servers. I want to write about what it’s like taking on bosses with my friends, as well as what the experience is like selling and buying items for real money in the auction house, but that's  not possible until after launch.

Over at Eurogamer, lead technical artist Julian Love rejects "dumbing down" accusations, saying the beta isn't representative of the whole game:

Some players claim Blizzard has reduced character customisation in an attempt to make Diablo 3 "casual friendly".

But in an interview with Eurogamer ahead of Diablo 3's hotly anticipated midnight launch, Blizzard said opinions about the game have been skewed by the recent beta, which showcased early areas of the game and limited the level cap to 13.

"I definitely don't see it as dumbing down," lead technical artist Julian Love said. "One of the disadvantages beta testers have is they only see the early portion of the game. That's the portion of the game that really does need to be simple and approachable in order to live up to our mantra of easy to learn and difficult to master. You only get that experience in the beta, and that's the place where we're really trying to get it to be as dead simple and approachable as we possibly can.

"So it's not that we're dumbing the systems down, so much as we're changing the balance of when systems are introduced and how much information is thrown at the user. A lot of those things are just re-prioritised to flow into the proper portion of the game, where you've already gotton used to the early systems and early combat, and now you're ready for more. That's a big part of the process of just getting it to ramp up properly." 

We know CD Projekt Red has two RPGs in development, including a  new IP, so it doesn't come as a huge surprise they are looking for staff for an "RPG in a brand new setting" and one in a "dark fantasy world". The first is apparently "new and different" and a "vast" RPG:

Adam Smith from RPS has penned a Wot I Think for Cthulhu: The Wasted Land on PC:

Despite containing the horror of gas attacks, trench warfare, zombies and shoggoths, the story is more camp than creepy, with echoes of Wolfenstein and Hellboy. It’s serviceable enough, if on the short side. I don’t like to mention price but given that there are only nine missions, it’s useful to know that at $4.99 there’s a few hours of entertainment here. It’d be an uncannily lucky fellow who survived the later missions on a first attempt and even if so, the multiple objectives lead to some tough, drawn out defensive knuckling down.

No gasts will be flabbered by The Wasted Land but it’s a stern challenge with a strong set of numbers and rules governing its combat. As is often the case with this sort of turn-based skirmishing, there’s sometimes a puzzle-like precision needed to achieve victory, but in The Wasted Land there’s usually enough leeway for triumph to feel personal and well-earned, which made every minute I spent testing my mettle satisfying at the very least. And that’s in spite of the rough interface, which insists that the mouse button is clicked and then held for the majority of actions leading to the occasional mad slide around the map in an attempt to target a large man with a machine gun.

They also found the Intel AppUp thingy fairly harmless, so have a read if this is on your list.

Arthur Bruno from Crate has been interviewed at IncGamers, discussing Grim Dawn but also some history about Titan Quest. Interestingly, it seems Amalur sank Iron Lore when THQ decided to purchase Big Huge Games:

IG: Would Iron Lore have looked at creating a Titan Quest sequel or was that never on the cards?

AB: That was actually part of the problem, they were fully expecting to do a sequel and were laying the groundwork for it when THQ basically said they weren’t interested in another PC-only game and wanted to see a new, multi-platform IP.  So, they changed course, started working on a multi-platform ARPG with a 3^rd person, over the shoulder camera and action-style combat.  It was sort of like Oblivion meets Gears of War.  It was actually rather similar to the recently released Kingdoms of Amalur but in a darker, grittier setting. 

Coincidentally, we were all set to begin development with THQ when they suddenly pulled the plug and decided to buy Big Huge Games instead.  They had been talking to BHG about a multi-platform RPG at the same time as Iron Lore and from what I heard, once BHG got Ken Rolston to sign on, THQ basically wet their pants and couldn’t buy them fast enough.  After that, Iron Lore just couldn’t gain traction on a deal with another publisher fast enough and they ran out of money.

Since THQ owned the rights to Titan Quest, Iron Lore couldn’t just shop it around to another publisher, so it was basically dead at that point.

There's also a Kickstarter update, offering new music ($377k, 4 days to go).

Von Paulus points out the Xenonauts Kickstarter poll on stretch goals has already produced results. It seems everyone wanted new tilesets and they can't do all of three, so they decided on a final stretch goals order, which you can see in this update. Interesting to see Mac/Linux ports right at the bottom of the poll.

Svein writes in to say Paradox' TBS game Warlock: Masters of the Arcane is now available. The fantasy Civilisation meets Masters of Magic set in the Majesty universe can be grabbed at GamersGate and Steam for $19.99.

GOG has released the entire Quest for Glory series in one bundle for $9.99:

One of the best series of the 90s--the adventure/RPG hybrid that combines high draw with low humor--the Quest for Glory series is now on GOG.com. Pick up all 5 games in the series for just $9.99! In addition to the manuals, maps, books and other goodies, we're also including the original EGA version for Quest for Glory I as well as the remake!

Thanks, Steve!

There's another Grim Dawn Kickstarter update with Arthur Bruno posting about some new reward tiers but also about the open world design and "dynamic barriers":

I've seen a few questions recently about dynamic barriers, how they effect progression through levels and how open is the open world.

I decided the best thing to do was to take an areal screenshot from the editor and create a little diagram to help explain what it's like.

**SPOILER ALERT** sort of... I don't really think this is a spoiler, you're going to experience it all in the first 10mins of the game anyway and it will look totally different when you're playing. However, if you're super sensitive about spoilers, this map is an overview of the first area outside of town showing all of the potential paths through it, the dynamic barriers groups and the location of breakable doors / walls. If you don't want to know anything about this, don't read any further and don't click on the link.

So, essentially, this map shows all the routes you can take as you exit town and wind your way through the first area, currently named "Lower Crossing". There are three different locations you can progress into and there are multiple different paths you can take to each. Some of the paths will be cut off by dynamic obstacles in different places during different play-throughs. However, there is always a way to circumnavigate the obstacles and get to wherever you want to go via a different route. Level Path Map

I don't often post on user campaigns and polls but UnEpic's author Fran wrote in and asked for help getting the game on Steam. It's a fantastic platformer/RPG mix, so head over to the Steam forums and consider posting in their thread.

Legends of Eisenwald has just inched past their funding target of $50k (currently $50.3k, 9 days to go). There's a new music sample on offer and presumably they'll start looking at stretch goals soon.

Another runaway success with Xenonauts achieving their $50k funding goal in 56 hours (currently $63k, 28 days to go). Stretch goals have been announced and, or course, check out the early demo if you haven't already. Rather than lay out a specific order, the developers have a poll on prefered stretch goals and will try to add them in order of their popularity:

• Mac / Linux port – The game will be ported onto Mac / Linux platforms for release, and hopefully for beta too.
• Female soldiers – We’ll add female soldiers to the game, with 25-30 female portraits and modified Basic Armour soldier art. Battlefield sprites will remain unisex.
• Soviet Town terror tileset ($40k) – the current terror tileset is an American town. To fit with the Cold War theme, we’ll put in an alternate tileset for the Soviet bloc countries using Soviet-style architecture.
• Military Base tileset ($40k) – this tileset would allow us to put military terror sites in the game, where aliens have attacked a military base and you are sent in to deal with them.
• Indoor missions – these would be missions where combat squads are sent into large buildings or into underground bunkers to clear out an alien strike team. We can mostly re-use the Xenonaut Base tiles for this, so this will be a $25k item.
• Reaper (Chryssalid) Hive tileset ($40k) – in addition to the normal alien base missions, we will add Reaper (the Xenonaut equivalent of Chryssalids) Hive missions to the late-game. These would feature “nodes” that spawned infinite numbers of Reapers until destroyed. Yes, I have been playing Space Hulk.
• Tileset-Specific NPC Allies – we do have friendly AI soldiers in the game, but only one type. This would add different variants – police on the Industrial tileset, farmers with shotguns on the Farm tileset, mujahedeen with AK-47s on the Desert tileset etc.
• Vehicle Combat Experience – soldiers level up with experience, vehicles do not. This would allow vehicles to increase their stats (not armour / health) by a maximum of 15% with combat experience.
• Pilot Portraits and Callsigns – at the moment, the aircraft are just aircraft. This would give each aircraft a pilot portrait and a callsign, so they seem less expendable. These pilots will not level up with experience.
• Human Psionics and Blaster Bombs – We’ve removed these from the game due to balance reasons, and we will not put them in Xenonauts. This stretch goal would bundle the game with a developer-made mod that allowed people to put them back in.
• Memorial Screen – This would be a tab on the UI which allowed you to view a list of all your dead soldiers, including the location and time of death, their portrait and number of kills etc.
• Proxy Grenades – These are fun. This would add a secondary fire function to all advanced grenades (Alenium grenades upwards) that allows them to be used as proxy grenades.
• Motion Detector – This would be a one-hand soldier item that, when equipped, will display a coloured overlay on the battlefield to show any AI movement in previous turn within range of the soldier holding it.
• Hire a Level Designer - we will add a lot more map variation to the game before release, but we don’t have a devoted level designer. This will let us hire one.
• Tall Grass – There’s waist-high grass in X-Com. This would put it in Xenonauts too, complete with the ridiculous (yet amusing) fire mechanics from the original.