I now officially love goo and that is all thanks to World of Goo which I have had the pleasure of playing, it may only be Chapter 1 of the game I have been able to play so far, but some early impressions are in order.

This indie game, currently nominated for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize at the Independent Games Festival has been made by two ex-EA employees; Ron Carmel and Kyle Gabler and their studio 2D Boy. Based on this preview version of the game they have made a piece of magic. Who would have thought that goo and some nifty physics could be so fun? I did actually, after playing Tower of Goo, what I will call the precursor to World of Goo, all those months (…or is it years?)ago I knew that goo was the way forward.

World of Goo is taking the mechanics of Tower of Goo and putting them into something much, much bigger, better and goo-ier. Your goal is simple, build a structure out of the extremely cute looking goo people (are they people? I don’t know!) to the exit pipe of the level to let the goo escape to freedom! It may be a pretty simple idea but it is executed with such great craft that I can’t wait for the full game to experience it all.

World of Goo doesn’t just base itself on the simply delightful core levels, there is a meta-game thrown in for some damn fine fun! For every goo ball over the required number you save in the main game they get thrown here. This is your chance to build a tower up to the sky and get above the clouds of the other people who have played World of Goo and built a meta-game tower.

It is things like this, simple competition which make this game destined for (hopefully) greatness. While this may not end up being the most commercially successful game in the IGF finals (AudioSurf has my money on that, more on that another time)I think it has a great chance of winning, the innovation on sheer brilliance on hand is apparent from the off, monsieur’s Carmel and Gabler should be proud!

The full version will be out soon, and the sooner the better because I really need to see what further exciting goo balls there are and what extravagant levels have been devised for us! Look out for a full review when the full version has been played to death by yours truly! Check out they lads right here for more information on getting your hands on World of Goo.

In an ideal world I would have done this interview face to face, me and Frank one on one discussing anything and everything under the sun. As it is I was lucky enough to do this very nice, very good, very frank interview with Frank. (No pun intended!) We talk about everything from the G.A.N.G awards, the Universe at War soundtrack, working with Petroglyph, Red Alert 3 and much much more..read on my friends!

Chris ’Evo’ Evans -First off thanks for doing this interview with me Frank =]

Frank Klepacki - No Problem!

Chris - Congratulations on the nomination for the G.A.N.G awards, how do you feel about this nomination?

Frank - It’s really nice to know that enough people on the advisory board, who are all pros in their own right, believed that track should be among the nominations. So I’m very thankful for that.

Chris - What are your thoughts on the song that got you the nomination – ‘Divine Intervention’?

Frank - I’m very proud of the track, it’s something different I was able to do for a change, a sort of hybrid of epic meets contemporary sound. It’s the defining song for Universe At War, the rest of the team picked up on that as soon as I wrote it.

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…..that is not what a Far Cry movie should look like…thanks Uwe.

Well as you all know by now EA have confirmed that Red Alert 3 will be released, don’t know when, but it will be! The BattleCast PrimeTime video with some information from the Executive Producer follows with more info after the jump.

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It is Valentine’s so I am going to be busy all day until I go out with my lovely girlfriend. I am off to a hotel tonight so I will be missing the official announcement of (what probably is) Red Alert 3. Anyway, some quick news tidbits!

GameInformer mag in the US has revealed some stuff from the cover of the March issue - the Aliens: Colonial Marines game is straight Aliens with squad combat landing next year. The new Red Faction game is also entitled ‘Guerrilla’

Rock, Paper, Shotgun have an article up on MS, nVidea, AMD and Intel coming together to save PC Gaming.

CVG has very sexy new screens of ‘Blood Bowl’

CVG talks about Cliffy B giving PCs the cold shoudler :(

Think that is it right now, happy Valentine’s everyone, see you soon!

All of us lucky Europeans are going to get Spore two days before the rest of the world according to Kotaku.

Having the release date being announced out of the blue the other day, to hear that we will get it early is just the icing on the cake :D

It seems that I was right about Red Alert 3 as a news post on Shacknews reveals that PC Gamer US has a cover story regarding the game (link)

We can be confident in the PC version appearing then, but what about any 360 version? C&C3 is out on the 360 so it seems plausible that RA3 will be too. EA certainly are keen on Command and Conquer right now with a expansion to C&C3 coming soon, ‘Tiberium’ announced and now RA3.

I will be doing my best to gleam all the info I can from the EA C&C Community Manager.

Check out the Official C&C site here and a thread on the C&C3 forums here revealing that more information will be coming out on Valentine’s Day.

Go here watch the movie, smile. September 7th 2008 is when Spore will fall into our laps. The following message comes with the first newsletter.

While we finish up the game over the next few months, we’ll be sharing more information with you and other fans. As a newsletter subscriber, you’ll be among the first to get new Spore information, screenshots, videos and other cool features from the Spore team. Check out our launch date teaser, and of course you can visit Spore.com for updates anytime.

Spore.

As I take a break from my University work, I stumble across some welcome news that Mass Effect will be coming to the PC this May, thanks to CVG for the low-down.

Optimized for the PC, Mass Effect for the PC incorporates the following features:

* Optimized controls designed specifically for the PC.
* High resolution visuals - Mass Effect for the PC features highly detailed textures, characters and environments.
* Fully customizable controls - PC gamers can re-map the control scheme any way they like.
* Run & Gun Control - Players can assign biotic powers or skills to ‘hot keys’ allowing them to play Mass Effect with a heavier focus on action.
* New decryption mini-game.
* New inventory screen GUI and functionality - The enhanced inventory system makes it easier for players to equip and modify their weapons and armor.

I am quite impressed at the rapid turnaround for this title, and really as long as the system requirements don’t get near Assassin’s Creed - ‘The PC Killing Cut’ levels then I will be happy. I want to see what all the ‘Sex-box’ scandal is all about with my own eyes!

[CVG]

I love Steam, I really do. I think it is a great thing for Valve, for all the people using it to sell their games, for all 15 million users and it is a great thing for the PC. Back in December last year I wrote an article ‘Steampunked.’ What you will read now is a totally new revamped version of that article. This goes into more depth in some areas and hopefully is a better read. Hit the jump below to read about Steam and the PC.

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