Eurogamer has penned an editorial about the history of Fallout. Of course, it starts with Wasteland from 1988:

It's more focused on science-fiction concepts, such as robots and problematic AI, and has its tongue planted much more firmly in its cheek. The first town, Highpool, offers such delights as packs of wandering juveniles and a river that's easy to slip in while exploring.   

After some lengthy explanations we're arriving at Fallout:

The box asked "Remember Wasteland?", but it wasn't long before the original was pushed firmly back into the vaults by its spiritual successor - a much deeper world, a far better skill system and, most notably, a level of maturity that allowed for a villain who could be talked out of their plan, and one of gaming's most notable downer endings. 

Enter Bethesda's Fallout 3:

The 50s atmosphere was present in the music and occasional encounters, but Bethesda's wasteland was a far less restored world than Fallout 2, despite being set centuries after the war. Corpses everywhere, broken mirrors, trash piled high; everyone just seemed to be stumbling around in denial, with few attempts to build anything more than a scavenger civilisation in the generations since. Love or hate it though, its style (and console release) made it the first huge success for the series. It outsold the prior games almost immediately, shipping 5 million copies in 2008. 

Eurogamer's Jeffrey Matulef posted a new article about the Dark Souls console only predecessor Demon's Souls, and he calls it better the new games.

As much as I've been enjoying Dark Souls 2 and its add-ons, I can't help but feel that ploughing through its colossal landscape feels a little workmanlike. The combat is still rock solid and the world remains interesting, but it doesn't have that unconventional spark of Demon's Souls. That NPC who you think you'll be rewarded for rescuing only to discover that he starts murdering the game's most essential characters; the boss who respawns infinitely unless you do something else to make her mortal; the boss that's actually another player plucked from their world and summoned into yours with the sole objective of killing you... These are the flourishes of legend. It makes Hideo Kojima's madcap meta sensibilities look tame, and while the Dark Souls games tried to capture this spirit, neither successor quite nailed that impermeable feeling that Demon's brought to the table over five years ago.

Dan Whitehead of Eurogamer has written a new article about crowd-funding, and talks about when the funding is not enough to make the game.

Kickstarter is back in the headlines again, and for all the wrong reasons. Yogventures has fallen to pieces, taking developer Winterkewl with it and leaving a trail of passive aggressive recriminations in its wake. Meanwhile, nobody knows what the hell is going on with Areal, which has just had its successful Kickstarter cancelled and has launched another campaign. Vladimir Putin may be involved. It's very dark and confusing.

As always with Kickstarer controversies, it's easy to throw up your hands and cry foul at the whole concept. I certainly have my misgivings, but that hasn't stopped me backing over 60 projects. The idea of crowdfunding is still great, in theory, but the execution is harder than it seems. Dig beneath the juicy headlines and it soon becomes clear that the worst case scenario for some developers isn't a failed campaign but one that is wildly successful.

EuroGamer has a new article about Rob Pardo leaving Blizzard, and takes a look at his long legacy at the developer. As usual here is a small snip to read.

There's not much useful speculation to be done about his resignation. Conspiracy theorists were quick to point to last year's departure of Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street, a senior WOW designer, to Riot Games and League of Legends as a harbinger of dark clouds over sunny Irvine, the nondescript Southern California suburb where Blizzard has its HQ. Despite the unified front it presents, Blizzard is certainly a political place to work. But Pardo had been elevated to its highest cadre, seemingly beyond the reach of such concerns - and at any rate it's hard to imagine what could have dissatisfied either him or his colleagues so seriously as to cause a rift.

Titan has reportedly gone back to the drawing board, but it would hardly be the first Blizzard project to go through that process; WOW is in decline, but even as it approaches its tenth anniversary is almost 10 times more popular and profitable than any other MMO; Diablo 3's troubled launch caused a painful bust-up with fans, but with failures like this - 15 million copies sold and a successful re-entry into the console game market to boot - who needs successes? Finally, if there were any doubts over Blizzard's creative health and ability to move with the times, Hearthstone has put those to rest.

Yet even if you enjoy every success in the world, 17 years is a long time to stay in one place, and it's as likely as any other explanation that Pardo just felt it was time to move on. Hopefully his acuity is not lost to the art of game design forever and he will pop up somewhere else: still tinkering wisely, still questioning assumptions, still solving small problems with big consequences.

EuroGamer has a new article about another Polish developed Witcher game that was never finished before CD Projekt released The Witcher.

In all the hubbub at E3 surrounding The Witcher 3 - many people's game of the show - it was surprising for me to discover that there was another Witcher game, a long time ago, that I had no idea existed. It wasn't made by CD Projekt Red - in fact it didn't have anything to do with CD Projekt - but it was being made in Poland.

It was being made by Adrian Chmielarz, the developer best known for leading People Can Fly and Bulletstorm. Long before the PCF days he worked at another studio that he co-founded with a school friend - a studio called Metropolis. And it's here that in 1996 and 1997 - six years before developer CD Projekt Red was founded - a game called The Witcher was being made.

EuroGamer has a new article with a few quotes from Fallout: New Vega Lead Designer Josh Sawyer who talks about what he would like to see in Fallout 4.

Eyes were on a Spike Video Game Awards reveal in December, which was where Skyrim was revealed two years earlier, but the show came and went and only rumours of Fallout 4's setting - apparently Boston - emerged.

Naturally eyes then turned to 2014 and to the annual summer video game Mecca, E3. But now Bethesda has shot down rumours of a reveal there, too - company mouthpiece Pete Hines tweeting recently that "BGS will not be talking about its next game for a long time". Teasing may be another matter, however, as pictures of the entrance to Fallout's Vault 101 emerge from just-released shooter Wolfenstein: The New Order (via Reddit)."

Sulk.

Still, it brings to the surface the topic of what we'd like a new Fallout game to be. And who better to share their thoughts than Josh Sawyer, lead designer and project director of that other - and most recent - Fallout game, New Vegas.

"Ho! I don't know! My concerns are usually about a couple of things," he told me on Skype earlier this year (I've been saving the quotes for a rainy day).

"Fallout games are best when the choices are - and this applies to role-playing games in general, but Fallout is a more desperate world - more agonising. They feel more appropriate to the post-apocalyptic genre. So I hope that whatever twists and turns the story takes, it's more nuanced than a black-and-white choice."

EuroGamer has a short interview were Square Enix says their interested in bringing more Final Fantasy games to the PC.

While MMO Final Fantasy games Final Fantasy 11 and Final Fantasy 14 are available on PC, none of the Final Fantasy 13 trilogy of games are, and Final Fantasy 15 is confirmed for release on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One only.

It's a series whose heritage is on console, but according to Final Fantasy producer Yoshinori Kitase, that may change.

"Let's not forget, when we developed the Final Fantasy 13 series, all three titles, at the early stages of development we were working on PC," Kitase told Eurogamer.

"Then we had to port it to the consoles. As far as the technology is concerned, it would have been possible for us to make a PC version, but we decided against it for two reasons: we looked at the market situation and we didn't think it would be a good idea, and also it would have involved lots of complex issues like security. So we decided not to do it this time around.

"But we see potential in it and there are lots of regions and countries where PC is very strong. So in terms of our hope of being able to deliver our games to every single country in the world and to as many gamers as possible, yes, we would definitely be interested in pursuing that route in the future."

Eurogamer had the chance to interview Gameplay Designer Maciej Szcześnik, and Gameplay Producer Marek Ziemak about leaving CD Projekt.

Two key members of The Witcher 3 team officially departed CD Projekt Red last week: lead gameplay designer Maciej Szcześnik and gameplay producer Marek Ziemak.

They left for another developer in Warsaw, Poland, called 11 bit studios, known best for Anomaly: Warzone Earth. Their given reason for leaving was to make smaller, more creative games.

But it didn't take long for concern to creep in. Losing a lead gameplay designer months from release - was Witcher 3 development OK? Were there deeper rifts within the team? Why didn't CD Projekt Red say anything?

That's why I phoned Maciej Szcześnik and Marek Ziemak this morning for a chat.

"We did everything to make sure nothing bad happens," Szcześnik assured me of the transition, "there is no bad blood. Other people took our responsibilities and it was quite smooth."

"It wasn't a surprise for the company," Ziemak added, telling me there had been at least a couple of weeks of slowly backing out of the door. Szcześnik nodded. "It wasn't like ... we were gone the next day," he said.

Also, the pair reminded me, The Witcher 3 is made by many. The gameplay isn't just Szcześnik's work, however senior his role. "We were designing this game together," he stressed. And, as Ziemak pointed out: "Most of the stuff is done."

EuroGamer has a new article that talks about the thrill of old-school D&D games.

A few weeks into January and I've already had what could well be the most exciting, enveloping gaming experience I'll have all year. It will certainly be hard to top, at any rate. I've been introduced to this weird, underground tabletop game that's unlike anything you've ever played before: a little thing called Dungeons & Dragons.

Eurogamer has written an article about the 10 most anticipated games in 2014;
Obsidian's Pillars of Eternity is number 10, while Dark Souls 2 comes in second place. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is the Eurogamer's reader's most anticipated game this year, a comment from one of he the readers:

"Previous Witcher games showed that in the world of cliche RPG choices there is still a beam of light. No press button in the end to choose your fate, no good or evil ending. Just gorgeous graphics, wide and interesting fantasy world, interesting combat system, an exciting story and now an open world with an end to this epic trilogy."

Eurogamer did a thing where people could write in and tell them about their best games of the 2013 gaming year. A few highlights: Diablo 3 on console got a 27th place, Beyond Two Sould became no. 19, Tomb Raider was number 4 and Bioschock: Infinite came in third.
Best game of the year became: Last of Us.   You can view the whole ting here. 

A quote:

At a time when blockbuster action games are sinking into a mire of desperate overproduction, shallow gameplay and broken narrative logic, The Last of Us is a deeply impressive demonstration of how it can and should be done. It starts out safe but ends brave; it has heart and grit, and it hangs together beautifully. And it's a real video game, too. An elegy for a dying world, The Last of Us is also a beacon of hope for its genre.

EuroGamer has a new article comparing the console release of Diablo 3 to the pc version.

There's more than one elephant in the room when it comes to the console release of Diablo 3 - Blizzard's first venture from PC since developing Lost Vikings 2 back in 1997. The main one, in a surprise turn, is to question why it took so long, given just how comfortable the pairing is between the series' hack 'n' slash gameplay and the direct character controls possible with the PS3 and 360 pads. Skill and equipment menus are mapped to a convenient rotary dial, while combat is spiced up via a rolling dodge mechanic that feels very natural. Blizzard's custom engine also arrives in full force on both current-gen platforms, but with a PS4 release inbound for 2014, are there any drawbacks here which might warrant holding out for a next-gen version?

EuroGamer posts that EA will be publishing a new free-to-play Dragon Age game for mobile phones.

Dragon Age publisher EA has announced Heroes of Dragon Age, a new combat-focused free-to-play mobile spin-off set in the world of BioWare's RPG series.

Heroes of Dragon Age is being developed by EA Capital Games, one of the publisher's mobile-focused studios.

You'll be able to build a party of heroes and monsters from (presumably random and paid-for) packs of new fighters.

These characters and critters will "span Dragon Age lore", EA has promised - so look out for familiar faces from the console games so far.

Other Heroes of Dragon Age details such as a release date or launch platforms are still scarce. EA describes it as a "cross-platform" title though, so releases on at least iPhone and Android look likely.

Eurogamer has an interesting interview with Chris Avellone. Topics include canceled projects such as Dwarves, and Aliens: Crucible.

Chris also lets it slip that Aliens: Crucible featured base building, and that the gameplay footage that leaked was apparently from an earlier build.

"It was third-person, obviously over-the-shoulder [perspective], you create your own avatar in the Aliens universe, you guide a squad of - it's not like a Marine squad, it's a whole mix of different individuals who happen to be in this one location at this one time, which allows for a lot more variety," explained Chris Avellone, Obsidian's creative director, speaking to me at Rezzed 2013.

"If you're dealing with a ship repair mechanic who may have no combat experience whatsoever, that obviously would serve a vital function in surviving in this predicament. So it's more of a third-person, two companions with you survival game, but it had a lot of the RPG trappings in terms of you could set up your own stronghold and base and build that up over time, explore more of the environment, figure out how you get all of the resources and stuff to survive."

It may not have been the most up to date video of Aliens: Crucible, either. "There was a vertical slice of it and I don't know if the video that was released was the actual vertical slice that we had," he said. "One of our designers mentioned that it was actually a milestone build from like a month or two before the actual vertical slice.

"There was a lot done with it," Chris Avellone rued, "and man I'm really sorry that I didn't get a chance to do it, but things just didn't work out."

Chris also commented that publishers seem to be interested in old-school RPGs again after the success of recent Kickstarters like Wasteland 2, Project Eternity and Torment: Tides of Numenera.

"We've been contacted by more than one publisher about doing that style of game because financially it makes sense for them and they realise the interest level from backers and players also works for them," he said. "I couldn't comment on the specific publishers, but it was just gratifying to see that they actually were interested in that style of game, when previously I thought it wouldn't be a good fit for any publisher.

"But that sort of model did seem interesting to them and it seemed like it would work for them. What's even more gratifying is the publishers we've talked to are ones that aren't afraid of having a very reactive storyline or a deep storyline, or really deep mechanics.

"They're not interested so much in accessibility because they recognise the people [who] support these games like those kind of mechanics and depth, and like worlds set up like that - that's the market that we would like to cater to. And I think that's admirable and that's awesome."

Eurogamer has an article and interview with Jennifer Hale. Most of us know her as the female version of Commander Shepard, but she has done far more than that.

Jennifer Hale has appeared in 142 games in a career that stretches back to the 16-bit era, a time when voice acting in games was just a scratchy novelty. She's had a major role in games that have defined this generation (including one of its most spectacular trilogies), and is half of an unforgettable double-act in one of 2013's most thought-provoking games, BioShock Infinite.

Yet despite her ubiquity, and despite her indisputable talents, fame has come slowly to Hale, a native of Labrador, Canada. At a time when established names like Nolan North are starting to edge out the Hollywood talent that publishers used to sloppily attach to their products, it took nearly half of the 20 years that Hale has lent her voice to games for her to garner any acclaim.

The seeds of her career were sown at the Alabama Fine Arts High School, where she joined the theatre department and would do occasional voice work for commercials while working as a production assistant. After graduation, she moved to Los Angeles, and started receiving calls about voice acting in games.

Working on Metal Gear Solid as Naomi Hunter (and later Emma Emmerich) brought Hale to the attention of gamers at large, but it was the relationship that began with Baldur's Gate that would go on to bear the most fruit with Mass Effect. BioWare's space opera trilogy was a spectacle on the grandest of scales in terms of story and blockbuster action, and one of Hale's favourite aspects of working on the series is that BioWare didn't change a word Shepard said, regardless of the gender chosen by the player. Hale wishes more writers chose that option.

"I challenge all writers out there to have a look at your lead character and unless they're specifically talking about their anatomy, that character could be a woman. Just change the name if you have to and try it. Because the time is here," she says.

"Look at Commander Shepard, you look at awesome characters like, looking at Game of Thrones - Brienne of Tarth, what a great character she is. Arya Stark, Daenerys Targaryen, these characters breaking the gender barriers in the way they're behaving in their worlds. And that can happen anywhere. I challenge you writers to do it because, frankly, the audience is starving for it."

EuroGamer has a new retrospective article based on Final Fantasy 7.

Final Fantasy 7 was at the start of a golden era on the PlayStation, but it was also the beginning of the end for the company. The western success, and what it was attributed to, were surely the key factors behind the disastrous formation of Square Pictures and production of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, a $137 million CGI movie released in 2001 - which it's fair to describe as an overlong cutscene. It flopped so hard that it finally forced and indeed almost scuppered Squaresoft's long-mooted merger with Enix in 2003.

This is the nadir of the obsession with filmic storytelling. I adore Final Fantasy 7 when I'm waxing nostalgic, but feel murderous when considering its legacy. It's an exceptional production, a game born of extraordinary vision and deeply ingrained RPG talent, a near-faultless Trojan horse bearing all the seeds of Squaresoft's self-combustion. Even now, when suffering through Final Fantasy 13s linear, cutscene-heavy slodge, the dead hand lingers. Square Enix still believes Final Fantasy's defining qualities are narrative and non-interactive cutscenes. So does much of the series' fanbase to be fair, yet they're an albatross.

When will we see the next Final Fantasy game that is, first and foremost, a game? A parallel universe perhaps. One where Final Fantasy 7's influence came from the depths rather than the surface. One where Final Fantasy 7 was celebrated for its overworld design and interlocking systems rather than the flower girl. One with more perspective, of a sort, than our own; where whole generations of games will go on chasing a dead end to the grave.

Rich Stanton at Eurogamer has penned a editorial about becoming The Dark Soul, the game's ultimate and crowning achievement. Here's an quote about New Game Plus:

One of Dark Souls' defining characteristics is what is known as New Game Plus (NG+). After completion the game restarts from the beginning, except you keep almost all of your equipment and the enemies become tougher. This Groundhog Day structure is the key to Dark Souls' longevity, its narrative threads and endless depths of incidental detail. You are literally playing the same game - and yet, in practice, doing anything but. The most important thing of all has changed. You. The game's crowning Achievement plays on this, and has the description 'The Dark Soul'. It doesn't just demonstrate the depths of Dark Souls' branching paths and many hidden secrets, but also how these odd little prizes should be used.

And a quote about becoming The Dark Soul:

Which brings us back to that personal quest, becoming the Dark Soul. This is the reason why, on PC, I have killed Sif three times. I had to. The act may have made me feel bad, but the simple fact is I needed her soul to craft three different weapons. Sure, she got tougher every time. But I'm a killing machine, and got a LOT tougher. There was no contest. And that's not all I did. I've Gravelorded for hour after hour, sending huge NPC phantoms into the worlds of other players, and slaying those who dared to come face me. I've invaded the worlds of so many people I couldn't count, struck them down with Sunlight Blade and returned with their sweet humanity....... I have sworn fealty to everything, and been loyal to nothing. I have become the Dark Soul, and to do that you must be everyman.

Eurogamer has an article where they mention that gamers in the EU are now allowed to resell their downloaded games - so has the European Court of Justice decided in a ruling:

The ruling means that gamers in European Union member states are free to sell their downloaded games, whether they're from Steam, Origin or another digital platform - no matter what End User License Agreement has been signed.

And a quote from the ruling by the European Court of Justice:

Where the copyright holder makes available to his customer a copy - tangible or intangible - and at the same time concludes, in return form payment of a fee, a licence agreement granting the customer the right to use that copy for an unlimited period, that rightholder sells the copy to the customer and thus exhausts his exclusive distribution right. Such a transaction involves a transfer of the right of ownership of the copy. Therefore, even if the licence prohibits a further transfer, the rightholder can no longer oppose the resale of that copy.

According to Gamebanshee there's an article over at Gamer/Law that looks at this verdict:

Essentially, the court held that, under EU law, the right of software developers to control distribution of a piece of software – whether stored physically or digitally –  is "exhausted" (i.e. lost) once the developer has been paid for it (known as a "first sale").  This means that developers lose the ability to prohibit any second hand sale. 

However, if a second hand sale goes ahead then the first purchaser must stop using her copy of the software and render it unusable, because the developer's right to control reproduction of software is not exhausted on a second hand sale.  In order to make sure that the first purchaser stops using the software she has sold on, it is permissible for the software developer to use "technical protective measures such as product keys".

The  closing thoughts on this issue from Gamer/Law:

As you can see, this is a pretty big case (and probably one of the longest posts I've written on G/L!).  I think it will have a sizeable short term impact, with a whole range of software businesses considering how it affects them.  However, looking beyond that it seems clear already that the CJEU has posed more questions than it has answered and, in any event, nothing stays still in the world of tech and software.  Will this case seem so epic in a year or three's time?  Watch this space…

With Thief 4 unveiled this week, John Walker has penned a nice, timely Thief: The Dark Project retrospective for Eurogamer:

But here's the thing: On the Normal setting you're charged with successfully breaking into the building and finding the sceptre. Hard raises the stakes in more predictable ways such as having to escape the manor once the prize is stolen, and asking you to loot 350 gold pieces worth of items while you're there. But it's the final requirement that's significant. "Don't kill any of the servants; they're harmless." Bring it up to Expert and now you're tasked with getting 700 gold, but also: "Don't kill anyone while you do the job. No servants, no guards, no pets... no one."

It's this that captures the spirit, the essence of this most extraordinary game. This is a game where turning the difficulty up reduces the number of enemies you have to kill. Certainly it also increases the number of guards (but slightly and smartly, never feeling unfair or unrealistic), and repositions them into more strategic patrol routes. But it doesn't make your weapons less effective, or raise enemy hit-points, or artificially hinder you in any 'gamey' way. It simply asks you to be a better, subtler, smarter thief.

Eurogamer take a look at what's in store for the year ahead in RPGs and MMOs including the likes of: Borderlands, Rise of the White Wolf, APB, Champions Online and Jumpgate Evolution.

This week we've already guided you through the coming year's hot picks for Indie and Esoterica and Sports and Music games. Still to come are Fighting, Strategy, Action, Adventure, Shooters and Racing. But today we're looking at two sectors with the same dice-rolling roots that are heading in more than two different directions in 2009 - role-playing games (RPGs), and massively multiplayer online games (MMOs).

RPGs

You could argue, without much difficulty, that the role-playing game has never been more influential. RPGs' core of customisation and character-building now informs everything from sports games to deathmatch shooters, hybridisation abounds, and Fallout 3 and Fable II stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the biggest and bravest blockbusters of 2008. Yet RPGs' heartlands are under threat; Japanese console RPGs suffer from a lacklustre run of form and dwindling home audience, while their Western PC cousins are cannibalised by the massively multiplayer monster. 2009 is all about reclaiming home turf for role-players.

Eurogamer wraps up their yearly multi-genre,multi-platform Top 50 list with it's Top Ten, amongst which are two games we actually cover here. There are multiple opinions from multiple editors on each game, so I'm just giving a sample snip for each:

4. Fable II

Microsoft / Lionhead / Xbox 360
...Dan Whitehead: Fable II thoroughly deserves top marks. At least, it does in principle. So many of the ideas at play here are so brilliant and obvious that you wonder why games haven't latched onto them earlier. The fact that experience is a more valuable commodity than health in a genre driven by quicksaves and healing potions, for example. Yet the game never quite gets the balance right, making it far too easy to build up massive reserves of gold and XP. For every step forward, Fable II takes two sideways. It's also glitchy and buggy and only starts to get interesting once you reach the end of the main story. I'm happy to call it one of my favourites of the year, but my affection is ultimately based on empathy for what it attempts rather than inspiration from what it actually does.

And the other game? No surprise:

2. Fallout 3

Bethesda Softworks / PC, PS3, Xbox 360

...Alec Meer: Enjoyed this a whole lot more second time around, when I stayed away from the shonky core quest and focused on unchecked exploration of the endless wasteland. It's a shame the production values are so woeful and that it defaults to vaguely unsatisfying combat too much of the time, but that we get a vast, fascinating world to explore that isn't either yet more high fantasy glades'n'caves or gritty, hooker-filled urbanscapes is something we should all be celebrating. I can't help but feel Bethesda made some unbelievable cock-ups with it, but at the same time they've created an incredible structure for modders to run wild with. I can't wait to see what Fallout 3 PC has been made into in about six months.

For those who are curious, the PS3 platformer Little Big Planet gets the Number One spot.

Eurogamer begins their usual Top 50 of the Year countdown covering all platforms and genres with games ranked 50-41, with comments on each by their various editors.  This is not a strong PC list, but  Mass Effect comes in at #49:

John Walker: I'm shocked to see this so low. PC bias! Rawr! Eh? Oh wait, it came out on 360 last year, didn't it? It was number eight then wasn't it? Well, I'm still angry anyway, for some reason, about something. A properly good time, this. And the combat wasn't nearly as bad as they're telling you. And it was better on PC!

Kieron Gillen: It's rare you see a game that enters two Eurogamer Top 50s in a row, and Mass Effect's twin versions are good enough to manage the trick. The PC version was a splendid conversion, and its galactic world-building has a level of class which frankly embarrasses pretty much everyone else.

Looking ahead at the coming gaming year, Eurogamer has a roundup of some of 2008's RPGs.  It's a little heavy on the spiky-haired variety but Fallout 3, Fable 2 and Rise of the Argonauts make it in:

New from Codemasters comes an action RPG featuring Jason and his magic fleece and a better frame rate than the Harryhausen film. Playing as the king of Iolchis himself you get to fight alongside great heroes of mythology such as Atalanta, Achilles and Hercules (not played by Sorbo, sadly).

As lead designer Charley Price told us last year, Rise of the Argonauts is all about storyline, character development and decision-making. There's not too much menu fiddling and inventory management, basically.

We're also promised "real-time, lethal combat unlike any you've ever seen in an RPG". No more stabbing enemies 20 times before they fall over; stick a sword through someone's heart and the consequences will be as immediate as you'd expect in real life. Or Lewisham.

Rise of the Argonauts is out later this year on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

For those who cherish a secret desire to interrogate Peter Molyneux (Black & White, Fable, currently Fable2) Eurogamer  presents the opportunity coming up this Friday:

"To get tough and frank questions from gamers is what I am looking forward to this Friday," he told everyone in our fancy press release. "I don't mind whether they are about Fable 2, Lionhead's other games or the industry in general."

For those who missed out the first time around, Eurogamer's LiveText interview system sees you lot typing in questions that we then submit to the victim using magic. If you turn up a bit before the allotted time, you also get the chance to submit questions in advance.

As for what to ask about, Molyneux has worked on games like Black & White, Populous, Magic Carpet and of course Fable, and is one of the UK's best-known developers, so you could start off in that area.

The interview is scheduled to take place on Friday, November 30th, 3 PM GMT. 

Eurogamer has a brief feature article up, talking with Paradox Interactive producer Johan Anderson about how consoles can enlarge the gaming base and draw in new gamers to the PC platform. Though the genre in question is strategy, the conclusion is: 

"Generally we feel it is good for the industry as a whole that more and more people are finding their way to gaming," said Andersson.

"People have been saying for years that the PC market is declining; yet we've seen massive growth and success in our niched PC segment instead.

"I don't want to predict where PC gaming in general is going, but for us, the increase in consoles has made the market more segmented, and consequently made it easier for us to reach our target audience and vice versa," he added.

For those following the technical issues of Vista as a gaming platform, this article from Games Industry.biz posted at Eurogamer may be of interest:

Microsoft has announced that it plans to release the first major update to its Windows Vista operating system early next year.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed that the Vista update should address virtual memory issues with certain games.

Specifically, many games use more virtual memory address space under Windows Vista than under Windows XP, with high-end graphics cards making the problem even worse. When these games cause the 2GB virtual memory limit to be exceeded, they can crash the user's computer.

"As developers harness the new graphics capabilities in Windows Vista, some changes in how Windows Vista manages video memory have resulted in sporadic issues in graphically taxing games with high-end video cards," a Microsoft spokesperson told GamesIndustry.biz.

"Working closely with our hardware partners, we have developed a fix which is currently available online."

Microsoft published the fix on August 23 but classified it as a "hotfix," which means that it may still be undergoing testing and is not officially recommended unless a user is severely affecte

 

EuroGamer casts an eye over the upcoming MMOG market with an article titled Eye on 07.  The article is essentially a brief overview of their top picks, which consists of Age of Conan, Lord of the Rings Online, Tabula Rasa, Vanguard, WoW: The Burning Crusade and then a further list of "honourable mentions".  Here's the intro:

Expect this year's MMOG landscape to continue to be dominated by, and to some extent defined by, World of Warcraft - whose first expansion will also probably be the biggest game of the year in this genre. However, there are plenty of other very promising games on the horizon, and with millions of new players switched on to MMOG play by WoW's success, the floor is open for rivals to Blizzard's dominance to emerge in 2007...