WindSlayer Beta Release

Avocado Entertainment is planning a second Closed Beta Test of a 2D horizontal scroll type casual game called WindSlayer, which is being developed by Avocado Entertainment

Lord of the Rings mini-game now playable

The website for Mines of Moria - the first expansion for the rather spiffing Lord of the Rings Online - has been up for a while now, but the first free mini-game on the site has only just been unlocked. King Under the Mountain lets you make like an angry little person and "relive the excavation and building of Khazad-Dûm".

In practice, we couldn't see much excavating going on but King Under the Mountain proved to be one of those fiendishly addictive strategy games that kept us up far too late. Basically, you have a number of territories under your control, and a certain number of dice in each territory. Attack your neighbours by rolling dice and then advancing all but one of your dice into... stuff it, this'd be much easier if you just go and check it out yourself. Sure, it's all a promotional minefield designed to lure you in and ultimately suck gold out of your pocketses, but there are worse ways to be exploited, yes?

R-Type goes turn-based

If we'd sat down yesterday and compiled a list of games we didn't ever expect to see, a turn-based reinvention of R-Type would have been near the top of the list. And yet... here you go. Coming to the PSP on May 6th, R-Type Command will apparently serve up nearly 100 different units which you can wage war in - judging by the screenshots - a horizontally scrolling, yet turn-based, fashion. Whatever will they think of next? We're really going to have to see this one in action before making up our minds, but it's undeniably fascinating.

Tomorrow: we report on Pong: The MMORPG and catch a first glimpse of Grand Theft Frogger...

Trailer Park: Iron Man (Gameplay)

 

Got momentarily excited on seeing this footage of the upcoming Iron Man game. The first ten seconds or so look fantastic, and Mr. I. Ron Man himself is very nicely modelled. And then it gets very familiar very quickly and we remembered that this is, after all, a comic-to-movie-to-game adaptation and we all know how well they turn out. On the positive side, though, the game - and the missile catching in particular - reminds us very strongly of The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, which was one of the best superhero games on the last generation of consoles, so maybe it'll all work out for the best.

The game is due on every platform known to humankind in May 2008, and we're pretty certain the video footage is from either the Xbox 360 or PS3 version.

Trailer Park: Etrian Odyssey 2 (Gameplay)

 

You know how some game trailers are all flash-bang-pow! with lots of exciting music, quick editing, a gravelly voice that booms "Coming this summer!" and a bucket of blood being thrown at the camera before exploding? This trailer for Etrian Odyssey 2 is exactly not that, presenting little more than tinkly elevator music and someone enjoying the gently tedious art of map-making. Which is fine by us.

The first Etrian Odyssey game gained a reputation as a solid, somewhat hardcore and old-school RPG that was very much a love/hate proposition. Having spent a significant portion of our teenage years mapping out The Bard's Tale on graph paper, there's something warmly appealing about repeating the process on the DS. If the monster-smiting, loot-hauling, character-building parts of the game live up to expectation, this'll be a must-buy when the game comes out in July.