WiG column regular Hugh Langey has returned, usurping control from Patrick Goss and his radical 7DiG nonsense. Sorry about all that.
You see, for the past two weeks I've been trekking through the wilderness in search of enlightenment - I needed to answer the deeper metaphysical questions of gaming that others are too afraid to ask. What should it become?
Then I heard that a Finnish Hearthstone tournament had banned female players, Lindsay Lohan was suing Rockstar over GTA 5, and that a court order from Microsoft has seen the servers for Chess 2: The Sequel get shut down. So I packed it all in and came home.
IT WAS THE SEQUEL TO CHESS, YOU GUYS.
Dungeon half full
'Hyrule meets Skyrim' was our takeaway impression of Zelda Wii U following the E3 preview. It even got its own "You can even reach those mountains in the distance if you walk far enough" moment.
But Shigeru Miyamoto prefers not to use the term 'open world' when describing the game. In a shareholders address, Miyamoto said he was actually uncomfortable with those two words being put together.
"I prefer not to use the generally used term 'open world' when developing software," he said. "This term means that there is a large world in which players can do numerous things daily."
"In the traditional Legend of Zelda series, the player would play one dungeon at a time. For example, if there are eight dungeons, at the fourth dungeon, some players may think, 'I'm already halfway through the game,' while other players may think, 'I still have half of the game to play.'
"We are trying to gradually break down such mechanisms and develop a game style in which you can enjoy The Legend of Zelda freely in a vast world, whenever you find the time to do so."
Whatever. Shut up and take our rupees.
Maybe not such a far cry away
Whatever label Miyamoto is sticking on Zelda Wii U, Ubisoft isn't afraid to brag about the expansive environs of Far Cry 4 in its latest trailer.
All we're saying is:
Dem elephants
Dem gyrocopters
Dat bear
Dat yellow tuk-tuk
Dem more elephants
Pedal to the Metal Gear
We've debated the ethics of Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes' release, and you've probably got your own opinion on whether it was right to charge a premium for what was essentially a glorified demo. It's brief, sure, but YouTuber Mimalmo has truly stuck the knife in, completing the game in just 3 minutes and 54 seconds.
There are probably faster speed runs out there but this one was completed with an S rank, meaning Mimalmo finished without any mistakes. We suspect that's a world record.
In fact, it's been a pretty good week for speedruns. Another YouTuber completed Fallout 3 in just under 24 minutes, using a series of save exploits. But then some smart alec came and smashed that record (by a few seconds) just hours later. 23:13 is the new time to beat.
Finally, speedrunner 'Blubber' completed Super Mario Bros. in 4:57.69, setting a new world record. Good work, Blubs.
Dag dag
We'll be waiting until September 2 to get our hands on The Sims 4, but Maxis has dished up some new details on the game. Here's what we know about the first confirmed world for the game, Willow Creek.
World: It's not 'open world' like The Sims 3. The world is divided into six playable neighbourhoods, but only one can be played at a time.
Neighbourhoods: Willow Creek has six neighbourhoods. Five of them have up to five lots within them, while the sixth neighbourhood is a park called Magnolia Blossom.
Lots: Each neighbourhood can have up to five lots, but only one can be loaded at one time.
Public spaces: These will be loaded at all times and Sims will be able to freely roam into them
There will be loading screens when switching between worlds, neighbourhoods and Sims on different lots, but these will be typically under 30 seconds long (faster than The Sims 3), says Maxis.
Curious to read more? Go and check out a load more details over here.
