"I'd like to see less violence games out there," Walt Williams, writer on last year's Spec Ops: The Line, told an audience at GDC last week. "Creatively, they're too easy. I think we're better than that."

Inspired by Heart of Darkness, Williams and the team at Yager Development attempted to tell a story of a man that slowly degenerates from hero to an "unhinged killer." And although Spec Ops was a rather standard cover-based third-person shooter, Williams says that embracing the genre allowed the team to create a more challenging narrative.

Read more: Making a game where 'moment-to-moment violence was meaningful' »

Tomorrow's PlayStation Plus update will get a heavy dose of heavy subject matter, with Spec Ops: The Line. The anti-war polemic is joining the Instant Game Collection, alongside a few discounts. Sony has also outlined plans for other IGC games coming throughout March.

Read more: March line-up includes Joe Danger 2, The Cave »

Another morning, Shack, and only one more day until Friday. I'll start the day off with a hearty congratulations to the folks at Uber for getting Planetary Annihilation Kickstarted, and they are closing in on a cool million dollars. I hope they make their stretch goals because the funding stream has slowed a bit from the initial run of pledges, but the good news is they still have 15 days left. If you want to know why I'm excited, look no further than the massive interview we did on the project earlier this week.

And off we go, hitting on a subject that has always frustrated me: forced multiplayer.

Read more: Do your research on multiplayer »

It's no secret that publishers often foist multiplayer modes upon single-player-focused games to make them more attractive to would-be customers, but it's rare to hear a developer speak so openly and contemptuously of this practice as Spec Ops: The Line lead designer Cory Davis does about its bolted-on multiplayer. The box-ticking addition to please 2K Games came out as a "low-quality Call of Duty clone in third-person," he said, which "tossed out the creative pillars of the product."

Read more: "Literally a check box that the financial predictions said we needed" »

If you are one of the few that made it through the depressing litany of war crimes in the single-player campaign of Spec Ops: The Line, there's reason to go back into the game. The promised cooperative scenarios are now available.

Read more: Four objective-based scenarios »

While Yager's decision to take 2K's Spec Ops series into psychological territory was commendable, there's one feature that irked many gamers the wrong way: achievements. After making a crucial decision in the game, the gravity of your actions was immediately negated by the all-too familiar bleep-bloop. An achievement would pop up, essentially rewarding you for some of the atrocities you might have committed.

It's a decision that lead designer Jorg Friedrich wishes he could take back. Speaking at GDC Europe, he admitted: "I really regret that we had achievements on moral choices."

Read more: Team working on new 'large project' »

Garnett and the two Jeffs are joined by regular guest Andrea Rene this week to liven up the summer gaming drought with discussions about a number of games and some recent news. The psychedelic action game DYAD gets praised some more, and some fresh Borderlands 2 details are shared. In the spirit of clearing out summer backlogs, Garnett finally dives into the post-apocalyptic Russian subway system of Metro 2033, and comes away quite impressed. The mild controversy surrounding the Fez patch also gets discussed, before the crew brings it all home with Finishing Moves.

Listen: Weekend Confirmed Episode 122 »

After visiting with its designer last week, Spec Ops: The Line stands for inspection. Adam Sessler and Paul Semel join Jeff and Garnett in the discussion that looks at the game both on its surface as a shooter and its underlying ambitions to seriously address the carnage of a "heroic," one-man rampage. Along with the discussion of violence, the conversation also turns to the sustainability of the big-budget console game. Halo 4's commitment to episodic content and the demise of Radical Entertainment lead the news discussions. And of course, it all wraps up on Finishing Moves.

Listen: Weekend Confirmed Episode 119 »

There's a cliché about real estate that says it's all about "location, location, location." As it turns out, it's true for games as well. Take Spec Ops: The Line, a modern military third-person shooter set in Dubai after that Middle Eastern city has been devastated by a massive (and still recurring) sandstorm. While its gameplay is solid, it's also nothing we haven't seen before. But it's where the game is set, and how that changes the vibe of the gun battles, that make this more engaging than similar shootouts.

Set six months after the initial storm, you lead a three-man squad into the city to find some fellow soldiers who may or may not have survived the storm. But after being ambushed by some refugees who think you're the bad guys, you quickly realize something is amiss.

Read more: How far will you go to complete your mission? »

On this week's episode of Weekend Confirmed, Lead Designer of Spec Ops: The Line joins Garnett and the two Jeffs to talk about the upcoming Heart of Darkness-inspired shooter. There's also some more Diablo 3 discussion surrounding the new real-money auction house, as well as some impressions of Lollipop Chainsaw, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, and Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013, before the crew wraps things up with some Finishing Moves.

Listen: Weekend Confirmed Episode 118 »

Cooperative multiplayer's pretty nice, isn't it. Rather than shooting your chum in the face, you get to join forces with them to shoot other people in the face. Lovely! How nice, then, that publisher 2K Games announced at E3 that co-op is coming to Spec Ops: The Line in free DLC.

Read more: Objective-driven co-op scenarios »

When a demonstrative slice of sandy shooter Spec Ops: The Line drifted onto consoles ealier in the month, publisher 2K promised that a PC demo would follow in June. And indeed it will, on June 19, 2K has now said, along with revealing the PC system requirements and its use of Steamworks as DRM.

Read more: 2.4GHz quad-core CPU recommended »

Star Wars: The Old Republic subscribers see a massive drop. What does that mean for the fate of BioWare and EA's ambitious MMO set in a galaxy far, far away? Then, care for some PS3 games for a dollar? How about some of the best games available on the platform? The PixelJunk series celebrates its anniversary with a dollar sale. Finally, we take a look at Spec Ops: The Line. The demo is now available on PS3 and Xbox 360, and coming soon to PC.

Check out today's episode of Shacknews Daily.

Watch: Shacknews Daily: May 8, 2012 »

[Update] 2K Games has confirmed to Shacknews that a PC demo will arrive in June before launch.

A demo is out today on consoles for Spec Ops: The Line, Yager's face-shooting take on Heart of Darkness. However, publisher 2K Games hasn't released one for the PC, or not yet anyway. As Kurtz said, "The horror! The horror!"

Read more: Two campaign chapters to try »

Sure, Spec Ops: The Line may look like your ordinary third-person cover-based shooter. But 2K Games wants you to think it's more than that. In fact, the latest trailer claims that the sand-based gameplay offered in The Line is a "gamechanger." While we've seen its dramatic effects in single-player, how will it work in multiplayer?

Watch: The Damned versus The Exiles »