Review: Rollers of the Realm (PC)

Posted on November 17, 2014 by geelw

Platform: PC (also on PS4, Vita)

Publisher: Atlus

# of Players: 1

ESRB Rating: ?

Score: A- (90%)

While it may seem like a super-easy casual game at first glance, don’t let the either the art style or offbeat hybrid concept fool you one bit. Rollers of the Realm offers up a serious challenge to pinball aficionados and is one of the bigger indie surprises of 2014. However, you really don’t need to be a pinball wizard to fully enjoy what’s here. The game offers up enough fun to get pretty much anyone who picks it up pulled into its unusual blending of genres. Developer Phantom Compass gets some decent mileage from its medieval fantasy epic setting, dedicated voice actors and yes, the all-important element of making the gameplay both fresh and rewarding… Continue reading →

The Marvellous Miss Take Trailer: Consider Your Heart Stolen!

Posted on November 17, 2014 by geelw

“Wits not Fists” is the name of the game in The Marvellous Miss Take, the upcoming game from indie developer Wonderstruck, a small team of ex-Lionhead Studios developers and other industry veterans. It’s not the only non-violent stealth game on the way (Mike Bithell’s intriguing Volume springs to mind as an upcoming contemporary worth a look), but it’s looking like a more (and most likely the most amusing) one I’ve seen.

Rising Star Games is on quite the roll with these fun indie titles, but I hope this slick lady thief and her two friends show up on a few other platforms and isn’t stuck on PC forever. This is exactly the type of game I’d love to play on the road on a Vita or some mobile whatever and not seeing it there would be a (wait for it) Miss Take. Ba-dum-bum! Yeah, yeah – corny as hell, but it’s raining cats, dogs, squirrels and frogs outside and I need to make myself chuckle on this dreary Monday…

Anyway, The Marvellous Miss Take is out on Steam November 20. We’ll need to take a peek at this one soon once the backlog has been cleared up a bit.

Busy Bee-ing Busy. Results to Follow Shortly…

Posted on November 16, 2014 by geelw

Up for air and still buried? How about that? Anyway, just a quickie note to note that I;m working on some content for this and another site today and into the coming week, so keep an eyeball peeled for updates. I suppose I could tell you what’s coming, but I like to toss a surprise or three at you and see if you can juggle a bit. Anyway, let me get back to knocking out what I need to knock out, and I don’t mean myself. It’s a wee bit warm in here and it’s a wee bit cold outside, which is normally a good thing. Except I’ve not been out all day thanks to my needing to catch up on stuff. Speaking of catching up, still no new kitchen ceiling and wall, which has gotten old already. I think they’re waiting until after the 19th when the wall in the home office gets taken care of to kick off phase two. I suppose I’ll need to take some before and after photos as a document of some sort, but I’m expecting these clowns to just make the place look exactly as it looked before they busted it up.

(Thanks, dodgybizkit!)

Well, with a fresh coat of paint on the new walls they’re putting in, of course.

You’ll Find Out: Yet Another Oddball Film I Need to See!

Posted on November 15, 2014 by geelw

(Thanks, Sleaze-O-Rama!)

Ha. I’d never heard of this 1940 comedy until about a month ago when someone asked me if I’d seen it. I hadn’t, noted to myself to look it up and forgot about it thanks to the stupid time I’ve been having on a few fronts keeping me from being very much entertained. Anyway, in my inbox this afternoon was the trailer above and I got pulled right into wanting to know more.

What a cast! Boris Karloff, Béla Lugosi, Peter Lorre… and Kay Kyser & his band? Yeah, I laughed a lot at the casting here. And if I’m not mistaken, the band and bandleader are the heroes here. Oh, this one’s going on the “gotta watch it!” list for sure. Well, I’m gathering I’ll need to haunt TCM and see when it turns up again. It’s usually the case when I hear about an oldie like this they have in their library that it runs less than a week or so later. Mood lightened considerably? You betcha.

Holiday Gift Guide 2014: A Few Fun Things From the UK…

Posted on November 15, 2014 by geelw

For me, there’s something really cool about a lot of products made in the UK that makes them quite desirable. No, it’s not got anything to do with my current Doctor Who fascination, folks. I think it’s the fact that you can look at them and right away see exactly what they’re used for. I call it a form and functionality sense of design and in the case of well-made gear, it’s always fun to look at items and have that “click” thing happen in your head and a smile appear on your face.

Bayan Soundbook GO

Bayan Soundbook

Bayan Soundbook X3

Meeting Bayan Audio’s Cameron Wilson and Taylor Whittamore at the #getgeeked show a few weeks back was one of the highlights of my trip downtown. As soon as I saw their Soundbook line of wireless speakers, I smiled because they nailed the form/functionality thing perfectly right down to the name. Each model (Soundbook, Soundbook GO and Soundbook X3) features a simple open to play design and all are portable and ready to get your favorite music just about wherever you want it.

While each unit sounded fine up close and personal, it was a bit tough to hear how they performed at range thanks to the cacophony of noise from attendees and other exhibits (including a few competing speakers blasting away nearby). Still, what I did hear made me grin because I could only imagine how they sounded in a quieter room or outdoors on a fine day where they could be played at the perfect volume…

While it wasn’t at the event, Bayan also makes the Streamport Universal, a nice and compact device that allows users to turn any audio system with a 3.5mm or RCA audio input into a wireless audio system. I’ll just let you consider the possibilities there for a minute…

My finding out about this little wonder while poking around the Bayan Audio site really made me want to give one a try at some point. But we’ll see what the review deities say in a bit, I suppose… Continue reading →

Oh, My Aching Saturday…

Status

Well, today was the big moving day… but not for me. I’d be posting up a storm right about now, but I had to assist in the “getting a ton of stuff out of the elevator” part of a big move and I’m just about BEAT. I’m actually polishing up a quick post from yesterday evening now and it will hopefully get up in about half an hour or so, but if I decide to pass out on top of my keyboard, you’ll all hopefully forgive me. Okay, enough stalling – off to tweak and post. Someone want to pour a cup of coffee on me (room temperature, of course). Eh, I guess it could be worse… a LOT worse (cue the over-obvious movie clip):

(Thanks, Henrique Tomé!)

Uh-huh. We don’t need a bigger boat, that’s for damn sure. Unless it’s coming to store some of the stuff that’s packed in here, ha and ha…

Hikari Friday: Transform Your Collection With These Transformers!

Posted on November 14, 2014 by geelw

Okay, so you’re a bit lazy this week for whatever reason. You COULD go shop online or hoof it out to your nearest Funko retailer to pick up one or both of these new Hikari Sofubi Transformers figures, but nope. You want to take a BIG chance on just clicking around to WIN one. No worries, I’ve got you covered. Well, Funko actually has you covered… but only for ONE of these two limited edition collectibles. Enter now on one of Funko’s social channels:

http://www.facebook.com/OriginalFunko
http://www.twitter.com/OriginalFunko
Instagram @OriginalFunko

and you just might win either this cool Metallic Optimus Prime Hikari Sofubi Figure (#1 of 2000):

OR this Metallic Bumblebee Hikari Sofubi Figure (also #1 of 2000):

If you want those OG G1 paint schemes in the house, or at least the chance to win one of these beauties, you know what to do, correct? Go get lucky and add one of these to your collection!

All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy. Therefore…

Posted on November 14, 2014 by geelw

This is about to happen. Well, later this afternoon once I get a few updates in. Yup, Rollers of the Realm on the Vita will be my savior for this rather crap-tastic week with the asbestos and the yucky kitchen situation and other stuff that’s still unresolved. And that’s not all, ladies and germs. I also have the PC version of RotR here as well as this to dive into for a bit:

I got home last night and played Adventure Time: The Secret of the Nameless Kingdom for about 20 minutes, which definitely helped lighten my mood considerably. So, that’s also going to get reviewed but good shortly. Okay, that’s my fast “what the heck am I doing?” update, minus a few other recent games and books I need to cover. Back in a bit. I’ve got to poke through my inbox and whittle down the pile of requests, review codes, news and other potential work making stuff. Back in a bit…

Almost Back on Track… Well, Almost…

Status

Well, the kitchen is still a mess and next week another room is getting a wall repaired, but at least I feel a but better thanks to the folks at Pepcom and CES Unveiled this week. I saw some fun stuff to wrote about and you know I’m needing to get some proper work when the most exciting things I’ve seen in a while were a VERY cool raincoat, a baking scale, some lovely plant-growing kits and a phone from a company most Americans probably haven’t heard about but need to check out for a really cool phone that won’t break their wallets (or itself by bending into improbable banana shapes). Back with some plugs later today.

So, How Was YOUR Day?

Posted on November 12, 2014 by geelw

Fine? Good for you, then! Oh, how was MY day? Hmmm, let’s see now… I hung around at home all day because the kitchen needed to have a little issue dealt with. I was planning to head out early this morning to go to an event because this stuff was supposed to take place tomorrow. Boy, was I surprised when there was a posse outside with all sorts of fancy and not so fancy tools and such. Well, phase one is complete, but there’s still a long way to go as you can probably gather. The asbestos cleanup seems to have gone fine, but now I need to wait for the wall and ceiling to be completed by the plasterer and painter. Of course, with the other renovation work that’s going to go on here next week (and probably into next year), I’ll be wanting to sleep under my bed instead of ON it. I was a wee bit too stressed to write up anything entertaining, but I think I’ll be okay tomorrow.

Of course, tomorrow I have a press event downtown in the evening, which will be great for two reasons. Seeing cool stuff to scribble about and there’s going to be food there, which means since I can’t use the kitchen here for a bit, I can at least get out and get a meal and not need to worry about paying for it. Not that I’m cheap, mind you. I’m just trying to save a bit of money over the next few months…