ALIEN: Isolation Nostromo Edition DLC Packs Bring Back The Cast From The Past (But There’s An Pesky Modern Catch).

Posted on July 9, 2014 by geelw

Okay, the BEST gaming news I’ve heard all day also happens to kick me in the tender bits (ouchie!) because it’s a blast of sci-fi nostalgia mixed with the modern retailer insanity many gamers despise that shuts them out of bonus content. Anyway, the good., no, GREAT news is the announcement on the official site (and over on IGN, which ran a brief video announcing the news) of some incredible DLC for Alien Isolation that bumps the standard edition up to the Nostromo Edition and allows for players to dive into an enhanced mission based on the first film.

Even better, this mission has the voices and faces of all but one of the actors from the original film. Sigourney Weaver (Ellen Ripley), Tom Skerritt (Dallas), Veronica Cartwright (Lambert), Harry Dean Stanton (Brett), and Yaphet Kotto (Parker) are all on board in the “Crew Expendable” DLC, with Ian Holm’s Ash being portrayed by a sound-alike.

So far, so good, right? But of course, here comes the claw to the throat… Continue reading →

Abyss Odyssey Asks You To Beat Time (and Plenty of Bad People) On PC, PS3 & Xbox 360

Posted on July 9, 2014 by geelw

ACE Team’s games have ranged from the extremely strange (Zeno Clash, Zeno Clash 2) to the somewhat stranger (Rock of Ages), so it’s a fine thing indeed to see them making a more straightforward game in Abyss Odyssey, set to hit PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on June 15 for $14.99 (or 9.99 if you pre-order the game on Steam, you lucky PC owners you!).

According to Atlus, the game is “a new side-scrolling action adventure game featuring a complex fighting engine in procedurally generated levels”, which means no two players should see the exact same levels as they play. Gameplay will seem familiar to fans of Dragon’s Crown on the PS3 and Vita, but like that VanillaWare instant classic, AO owes a lot to gaming’s past on a few fronts.

As you can see above, the art style here is certainly gorgeous, as is most of the animation, going for a mix of realism in the character models and lush fantasy elements in those lovely environments and enemies. Additionally, making a female one of the playable characters from the outset is a smart move, as a game such as this will have a wider appeal with the addition of a lady who can hold her own with the tough guys here.

That said, it’s too bad this isn’t on a disc, as I know a few folks who aren’t fond of digital all that much who’d LOVE this game to death. Oh well – I suppose one day Atlus will gather all of ACE’s games up and stick them onto a Blu-Ray for a limited retail release at some point. Or at least realize that not everyone prefers the “convenience” of not owning a physical product you can lend to someone without having to rely on the internet to make that loan or trade possible. Anyway, this one looks like an instant BUY in my book.

Bundle Stars Has TOO Many Good Deals. Please Take A Few Off Their Hands…

Posted on July 8, 2014 by geelw

SERIOUSLY. I’ve bought a few inexpensive game bundles from them over time, but in looking at their page recently, I’m amazed at the rather wild deals they have there. You can pretty much click on any bundle in that link and get something amazing you’ve never played previously or may have played in the past and want to revisit. If I had to pick ONE bundle to snap up, it would be a VERY hard choice, but I’ll have to defer to the awesome Aftershock Bundle because of the spectacular classics it has. One of the best first-person games ever made, System Shock 2 is more than worth the $2.99 this deal will set you back, but you also get Wizardry 6 & 7 plus Wizardry 8, The creepy (and bloody) old horror adventure Harvester, the X-Com inspired strategy games UFO Aftermath and UFO Aftershock and the fantasy strategy game Ascension to the Throne. Finally, this particular bundle EXPIRES in just over 24 hours, so JUMP. ON. IT. and keep it from running away, I say!

I have most of these games already on disc, but this is a fantastic jumping off point for any gamer looking to update their library and get a bit of gaming history under their belt in a few cases. Something tells me I should do something silly here with one of these bundles for a lucky few of you readers, but we’ll see what I can come up with… soon.

The Monster of the ID Is Keeping Me From My Research!

Posted on July 8, 2014 by geelw

(Thanks, Crosscheckmate!)

NO, not THAT Monster, you. I’ve been a bit occupied today in getting some expired ID’s renewed, so it’s been a bit of a hassle today in terms of a few things. Anyway, the balls are rolling on some stuff, so that’s good. I’m going to go take a nap after this hot day of running about and waiting and maybe pop up later to post something that’s actually worth reading. I see my inbox is PACKED TO THE GILLS (*blub!*) with stuff. Eh, what else is new? Other than people making a damn mist for potato salad from strangers who should know better (and send that money to me because I’d put it to much better use. Art doesn’t spoil, folks… unless it’s made from stuff that spoils, of course)…

DESTINY Collector’s Editions: Get That Ghost (Or Whatever Else You Want) Soon!

Posted on July 7, 2014 by geelw

While I’m not sure how supremely high interest is in Bungie’s first new project since the blockbuster Halo days (that’s a bit on an in-joke, kids – people seem to want this all-new IP quite a lot), the hype around Destiny is certainly huge enough that the game is getting a few collector’s editions as you can see and read below:

That’s the Limited Edition above and there’s the Ghost Edition below:

And of course, DLC is along for the ride in this online-only experience. Here’s what’s coming down the early part of that long road Bungie and Activision have planned for the future:

Now, I’m not big on the whole Expansion Pass thing, but it’s one of those accepted practices that should work here quite well should the game have legs and Bungie wants to give its fans more as they burn through all the content in the main game. I just KNOW there will be some really enterprising players who team up to blow through the game world and its story content as quickly as possible, so I’m hoping the developer can at least keep up with those people and address any “complaints” they have. Granted, you’re not “supposed” to stay up for what, 20 hours straight (or however long it takes to see everything) playing ANY game. but try and stop someone with too much time on his or her hands and prepare to get slapped when they get a free hand.

Monday Blues? Let Indiegala Give You Too Much To Do Today!

Posted on July 7, 2014 by geelw

Hmmmm… SIX games for a buck forty nine for a mere twelve hours means “GO!” today, if you want some unusual games to make your manic Monday go down easier. I gay get this just for the insanity that is Into the Dark: Ultimate Trash Edition, a game so full of strangeness that even the bugs and glitches are fun to experience. It’s not for the kiddies at all, but hey, Mondays are generally adults only in one’s head when you find yourself cursing at the coffeemaker out loud or your boss inside your head at some point. As the old jingle goes, “You deserve a break today, so get up and get awayyyy…”. Um, of course, as these are digital games, you’re not getting up to go anywhere but to the bathroom or kitchen at some point to take a break. Anyway, make yourself happy and make Indiegala happier with that purchase why don’t you?

Review: End of Serenity

Posted on July 7, 2014 by geelw

Platform: Sony PSP/Vita

Developer: World Wide Software/Kemco

Publisher: Natsume

# of Players: 1

ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10 & Up)

Official Site

Score: B (80%)

Are you jonesing for some old school JRPG bliss but find yourself pressed for time? Are you one of those folks new to JRPGs (Japanese Role Playing Games) and want to dive in headfirst without much fuss and bother, just a fun and simple adventure to last you maybe a few days if you play on and off to and from work`? Well, Natsume has a little something for you in End of Serenity, a slightly enhanced “port” of an iOS/Android/mobile game from 2013 called End of Aspiration. No, I don’t know why the title was changed other than to guess that since “Aspiration” (which in the case of the game means “a hope or ambition of achieving something”) can also mean “the action or process of drawing breath”, some sarcastic smarty pants out there might think the title could also be read as “End of Breathing”, which isn’t a good name for a game.

Anyway, what’s here is a quite easy to get into game that can be played three ways. You can blow through the game in under nine hours total (a single sitting for those used to blocking out longer stretches of time for more epic length games), missing out on some bonus areas, items and skills. You can easily more than double that time by “farming” up fish to earn ESP (End of Serenity Points) that unlock those extra areas and goodies, or you can simply pay a few dollars more than what you just spent on PSN to buy as many ESP as you need, allowing you to access everything right from the beginning. No, this isn’t a “pay to win” game at all, as even if you’re lazy (crazy? not frugal?) enough to buy up enough ESP to bring the cost of the game up to what a JRPG would cost circa 1990 or so, you still have to play the game to see what you paid for. For my review, I decided to tackle two of the three methods at the same time, but I’ll explain that a bit more below the jump… Continue reading →

Back on Track (Sort of)…

Status

Okay, I’m back from my self-imposed exile. Actually, I was working on a second and third Sunday post, but I got caught up in the gap between slow home internet and discovering something unusual in a game I was playing that I had to see through to the end to make sure it was a legitimate thing and not some oddball glitch that went nowhere. Anyway, off to catch up to my brain, which is already somewhere in Thursday plotting and planning away.

(thanks, Tolis1989!)

I hate it when it does that, as that means it’s going to get me trouble before I know it. But I think I can keep up with it this time if I toss a few distractions its way (some bad movies usually do the trick)…

File This Faux Foodie Kickstarter Under “Now I’ve Seen Everything…”

Posted on July 7, 2014 by geelw

Hey, I just LOVE a great potato salad, folks, but this made me laugh a lot and cringe a little. Yes, you can actually throw some money at this Kickstarter if you like, but I’d be curious as to why you did and not send it to me instead because I don’t tell people I’m making potato salad when I do make it and I don’t ask for any cash to make it. Of course, I could just be annoyed that I didn’t think of this first AND because i haven’t made potato salad for a while. Hmmm… well, I do make a decent mushroom noodle soup with baby bok choy and other fun stuff in it. So maybe I’ll steal this idea at some point and see what happens. I need some creative ways to make money legally anyway, as times are bumpy around these parts. Still, I did make some money from a few freelance gigs, so I can get back to the process of getting a bunch of paperwork processed and some somewhat important stuff I need to take care of taken care of.

Hmmm… now I want some potato salad. But I’ll save that for after I get this other stuff taken care of…

A Day Off, A Day Late…

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Okay, I hadn’t taken a day off in AGES, but Saturday I decided to do just that after making a few mistakes that meant I just NEEDED to get out of the home office. I did finally wrap up End of Serenity earlier in the day (actually VERY early Saturday morning) and started my review, but I was feeling a bit burned out from playing until Z o’clock, there was also a small freelance gig I needed to wrap up and I also had to rewrite a product review I’d started a while back that I accidentally deleted and turned into another post thanks to copying and pasting a document into the wrong Edit Post tab not realizing I’d overwritten the wrong post until I closed all the tabs and remembered that I was working on three things at the same time, not two as usual. Bleh.

So, I decided to tackle the easiest thing (the proofreading gig) and close up shop for the day. I ended up going to see X-Men: Days of Future Past at an overpriced theater in NYC close to a spot where I used to live and afterward, poked around some shops and into the old neighborhood to see what’s changed since I left so many years ago. Quite a lot, it turns out… but there were also some things that stayed pretty much the same. One constant: a LOT of tipsy people roam the streets on a Saturday night. I wasn’t one of them, however. Anyway, I’m back and will have a few posts up later today. Off to sleep for me now. I needed that little break!