Features

29Jan

By StuartNo Comments

Thumb Culture Retrospective – Prey

For gamers of a certain age, the names Shodan and Xerxes are likely to trigger the urge to smash the nearest computer with a wrench. Long before Amazon’s Alexa was around to remind us to buy toilet roll, the megalomaniacal Artificial Intelligence of System Shock and its sequel ran amok in deep space, causing sleepless nights and the occasional nervous twitch for the players who stood against them. Xerxes did not care about your bathroom essentials; Xerxes wanted to eject you from an airlock and laugh as you crystalized in space. Not only a masterclass in sci-fi survival horror and storytelling, the System Shock games are also the spiritual predecessor to games such as Bioshock, Alien Isolation and Bethesda Softworks’ 2017 blockbuster, Prey. To say that Prey’s creation has been influe...

9Jan

By JohnNo Comments

Features

Yakuza: Going Back to Move Forward?

I hope you all enjoyed the holidays, and enjoying a good start to 2018. With Yakuza 6 due out in March, I decided that my Christmas play-through this year was going to be Yakuza Zero. A game which id been dying to play all year but never quite found the time (as I have been a fan of the series since I first played it back on PS2). Well, I finally finished it, and upon discussing it with a few friends I found that the same question kept being asked… ‘Should I play the others on previous-gen consoles?’ Since it’s a question I have been asked by a number of people, I thought I’d put my opinions out there for all in the hope that it helps. It doesn’t look like we're going to be getting a Kiwami 2 (remake of the 2nd game) here in the west, and the price tag of the original western release ...

The Indie Dev Showcase Templarius Studios – Don’t Die

23Oct

By StuartNo Comments

Features

The Indie Dev Showcase Templarius Studios – Don’t Die

Welcome to the first in the series of the Indie Dev Showcase, where we aim to help Independent Developers get their games out there for people to see. What we will be doing is asking a series of questions and bringing you their answers, as well as a short video to give you a glimpse of what their game is all about. So without further ado, let's move onto our first game! Knowing Me, Knowing You Name - Michael Cox Age - 21 Lives - USA Studio Name - Templarius Studios Website - https://harbingersoc.org/templariusgames Time Being A Dev - Coming up on 5 years. Digital development for 2 years. Previous Work - Completed several prototypes, but putting out my first commercial release Game Name - Don't Die Explain what your game is in 15 words - A challenge of extraordi...

EGX 2017 – Interview with COO of Slightly Mad Studios Rod Chong

5Oct

By StuartNo Comments

Features

EGX 2017 – Interview with COO of Slightly Mad Studios Rod Chong

So whilst at EGX I got the opportunity to ask Rod Chong the Chief Operating Officer a few questions about Project Cars 2. So here for your reading pleasure is the transcript of that interview. Stu: This game feels a bit more raw, its different, its definitely more realistic. I play with a Fanatec wheel and its ridiculous. Rod: The philosophy behind the tyres in particular has changed, it was a couple of months after project cars 1 was out and we sat down with a couple of Bentley racing drivers (Guy Smith), put them in their cars and they were going around Bathurst and going up the hill and the back end stepped out, he corrected as you would a real car and spun. He looked at us, "that's not real, i would have been able to catch it" and then we stuck David Brabban in the simulator,...

23Sep

By StuartNo Comments

Features

EGX 2017 Daily Summary – Day 2

If you haven't read the EGX day 1 summary then head over to here and have a quick read...go on it's ok, I can wait.... Welcome back! Now it's time for the summary of Day 2, as the previous article it will be a short summary of the days events, purely so that you get a flavour for what EGX is all about. So let's get stuck in with the first game... Raging Justice When I received the press release for Raging Justice is instantly reminded me of classic side-scrolling beat em ups such as Street Of Rage and Double Dragon, but with a really nice claymation style to the game. You can imagine my excitement when I took control of the game and it was EXACTLY what I expected. MakinGames is made up purely of Anna and Nic and after speaking to them both you can see exactly why they wanted to ...

22Sep

By Stuart1 Comment

Features

EGX 2017 Daily Summary – Day 1

So it's that time of year again and rather than bombarding you with tens of other articles, like you would find elsewhere, we at Thumb Culture thought it might be best just to give you a bit more of a personal account of the day. So that if you have never been to an EGX show before, you will get a taste of what you might expect. The day started with a bit of a wild goose chase trying to determine where you pick up press passes from, if only we knew that its the same place as EVERYBODY ELSE! Rather than being sent all the way to the other end of the Birmingham NEC. Once we picked up our press passes, we were straight in and faced with the familiar low light setting, noise heavy playground for gamers' to try out the newest and latest games. Having made a few appointments it was time fo...

1Jun

By JasonNo Comments

Features

Exclusive Interview with Battle Chaser’s Joe Madureira

Following on from my Battle Chasers article that I wrote the other week (which can be found here), fellow Thumb Culturist Jason was lucky enough to meet the creator of the comic book come computer game Joe Madureira while he was at the THQ Nordic London ShowCase. Enjoy his interview! Jason: Hi Joe, I’m Jason and I’m from Thumb Culture and the guys have come up with a list of questions for you. One of our guys Glyn, really wanted to come down but couldn’t unfortunately. Joe: Did you guys just do a write up, like a preview? I feel like I may have read something. Jason: Yeah, Glyn did a write up and absolutely loved the game. Joe: Yeah it was a glowing and positive preview, it was really cool. Jason: He said the soundtrack was really amazing. I was listening out for it and it...

1Jun

By JasonNo Comments

Features

THQ Nordic – Exclusive London Showcase Event

Last week I was lucky enough to be invited to THQ Nordic's Showcase Event located within a dark eerie crypt deep below St Andrew's Church in Holborn, London. Having made my way via land and rail I was excited to be one of the first to have a play at the latest builds of their forthcoming titles; Battle Chasers: NightWar, Elex and SpellForce 3 and also get to interview the team behind them. As I descended into the cool and dimly lit dungeon-like crypt I was greeted by the PR crew, Dead Good Media, who enthusiastically led me to the 3 banks of neon lit gaming PC's where I would be spending as long as I wanted playing each of the games. I seriously couldn't wait. Battle Chasers: NightWar was the first game on my list to play, especially after the feedback from fellow ThumbCulturis...

Exclusive Interview with THQ Nordic’s Reinhard Pollice

1Jun

By JasonNo Comments

Features

Exclusive Interview with THQ Nordic’s Reinhard Pollice

As part of the THQ Nordic London ShowCase last week (click here for the event details), one of our writers, Jason, was lucky enough to meet SpellForce 3 & Elex Development Director Reinhard Pollice. Having played both of the games he was keen to have a chat and answer a few questions that we had for him. Enjoy! Jason: Hi Reinhard, so you’re one of the developers behind Spell Force 3? Reinhard: Yeah sort of, I take care of all the projects at THQ Nordic and Grimlore Games which is an internal studio for THQ Nordic, I am their studio manager and development director. I’m wearing a lot of hats! Jason: So a lot of pressure. Reinhard: Yeah, ha ha. Jason: So I’ve had a go on ELEX and SpellForce 3, which I’ve really enjoyed. My first impressions of SpellForce 3 are a cross b...

Call of Duty World War 2 – Can it Save the Series

19May

By JasonNo Comments

Features

Call of Duty World War 2 – Can it Save the Series

Returning to World War Two, have the developers of the Call of Duty series done enough to save and return the series to its former glory or has too much been broken in terms of fan loyalty over the years that not even a return to the series glory days will be able to save it With the recent success of Battlefield 1 which headed back in time to World War One and therefore taking a different approach on Call of Duty last year, which decided to venture even further into the future with even more futuristic and out-there technology, Activision look like they’ve decided to take a different path this year and return to the days of old with this year’s instalment of Call of Duty. Call of Duty has totally lost its place with me and I know it’s lost its place with a lot of you as well...