single-player posts

The release of Worms Reloaded is just a few days away, and although there's a lot of fun to be had blasting away the at friends, fans might also be interested in playing through the single player mode. Players have a chance to hone their skills against a variety of AI opponents in the campaign, in addition to unlocking new gear and showing off your score on the online leaderboard. Worms Reloaded releases on August 26th on Steam.

Download HD Worms Reloaded 'Single Player' Trailer (69 MB)
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Raph Koster, author of "A Theory of Fun for Game Design", has famously said "The single-player game is a strange mutant monster which has only existed for 21 years and is about to go away because it is unnatural and abnormal." He makes the claim early on that we all learned to play games with other children, and that such play is inherently social and "normal".

But what about those times when we played alone? When we entertained ourselves with a puzzle, or building blocks, or happily invented our own games with our own rules, playing against ourselves for the sheer imaginative force of it? I don't for one minute believe that the single-player game is either unnatural or abnormal ... nor do I believe it's doomed.

ThQ has released a single player demo for the role-playing/real-time strategy hybrid game, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2. The demo places gamers in the role of elite Space Marines engaged in furious combat across the dark recesses of space, battling the heretic Eldar, the pillaging Orks, and the ravaging Tyranid threats.

Owners of the the full game can enjoy the recently released 1.2.1 patch (available only through Steam), which brings a list of balance changes and enhancements to the game. Continue reading after the jump for the full list of changes.

Download Dawn of War 2 Single Player Demo (333 MB)
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This demo for Codename: Panzers Cold War gives players a chance to try out some of the single player gameplay from this historically themed real-time strategy game.

"During the Cold War conflict, the status quo between the occupying Allied and Soviet forces rests on a knife edge, when an aircraft accident over Tempelhof Airport during the Berlin Blockade threatens to tip the scales towards full-blown conflict. The tragic collision of an American cargo plane with a Russian fighter costs not only the lives of both crews, but proves to be all the encouragement Stalin and his Red Army needs to wage bloody war against the NATO forces."

Download Codename: Panzers Cold War Single Player Demo (909 MB)
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Since it's the day before Christmas where I am (with a nod to those of our readers who do not celebrate Christmas -- congratulations on escaping the seasonal guilt), I thought I'd take a step back and get a meta-level look at life as it relates to video games. Well, to be honest, that's what every installment of Big Ideas is, an exploration of some meta-idea or another. But this time around, let's personalize it just a bit further. To wit: If life is a game, is it single-player or MMO? The answers may shock you!

Or you'll just skip the whole piece as ridiculous after the first few paragraphs, in which case consider it my gift to you. In the spirit of the holidays, then, read on!

This narrated trailer for Damnation goes through the single player campaign and discusses the unique, vertically designed levels along with a number of other gameplay features. The alternate history steam-punk action game is scheduled to release this winter for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Download HD Damnation Single Player Campaign Walkthrough Video (119 MB)
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Despite Infogrames president Phil Harrison's belief that single-player gaming has seen its day, Ben Mattes, producer on the upcoming Prince of Persia reboot, believes that single-player still has a lot of relevance to our industry. In fact, Mattes believes that there are certain design paradigms that are best accomplished -- or even exclusively achieved -- via the single-player model.

Mattes told Eurogamer that he has read Harrison's comments but simply does not agree. "I certainly see a lot of the industry moving in the direction of more multiplayer," Mattes said. "But in my opinion, there are things you can do in a carefully crafted single-player game ... that you're not going to reproduce in the uncontrolled environment of multiplayer."

Mattes (rightfully) believes that for some, the wild, untamed world of multiplayer gaming holds little to no appeal. Single-player, he believes, is ideal for people who "don't want to be distracted by griefers and high scores, and dealing with the stuff not everybody loves about multiplayer games."

Eurogamer's Kristan Reed followed up on Epic Games' recent flurry of XBox 360 Unreal Tournament 3 announcements by speaking with VP Mark Rein yesterday. They covered a wide variety of Epic-related topics. Not the least of those: speculation about a third single-player title in the Unreal franchise.

"I'm sure that at some point in our future we will make another single-player, story-driven Unreal game," said Rein. "I'm sure at some point there will be one. There are no plans to do one today." So it's coming, but not any time soon! Other info from the interview: there are no specific plans to release the 360 exclusive content on the PC but "who knows," more downloadable content is on the way, Epic is working on new IPs, and Gears of War 2 is (of course) going to be awesome.

The rest of the interview covered subjects related exclusively to the Epic's console work.