This week’s Humble Weekly Bundle is a sneaky one for sure, but it’s worth every penny. Six roguelikes for eight bucks is a STEAL, even in this game of gamers devaluing hard work to the point where a buck or two for some games is deemed “too much!” by some cheapskates. Those folks are entitled to their opinions, but not to making developers choose between eating and churning out more games they can only sell for pennies because some think it’s fine to not pay for all that hard work.
Anyway, humorous “rant” over, but there’s some truth in it. These bundles do well because many pay MORE than the suggested amount because they kn ow the deal and they also like helping out the assorted charities who team up with these bundle sites. If you’re suddenly feeling a little guilty about those games you got for about seventeen pennies each, that’s not my fault. I don’t believe in “guilt” at all these days. Just playing fair when you can do so and supporting the arts in any form they come in. Not get crackin’ on that paying what stuff is actually worth part. I won’t judge you either way, but I sure as hell bet YOU feel a lot better about it.
EDIT! The funny thing is, I just re-read (or more precisely, completed reading) an article on this and it seems that Nintendo IS in total creative control on the developement front with their mobile lineup. DeNA is helping out with the behind the scenes backend production stuff. This bodes well for anyone concerned that Nintendo is shifting their licenses to a company that will slap a pay wall around any fun and sap wallets on a regular basis. My mistake! Oops. Well, let’s see what’s coming when it arrives, right? Right.
Yikes, what a big fat news item to wake up to. Anyway, it was pretty much a given that this sort of thing would happen (particularly if you read a few industry sites over the last year or so and started putting pieces of news together), but what does it all mean at the end of the day for longtime fans? More games to play and on platforms they never expected to see them on, most likely. Now, I’m sure Nintendo didn’t “sell out” their franchises to DeNA (or GungHo Online for that matter, see previous post). And I’m sure they’ll have final say in what gets out there. I do know that DeNA’s games, while criticized for their pay walls, happen to do well at getting people to play them and some of the more popular ones emulate gameplay elements found in Nintendo’s Pokemon series (which was created for them by GameFreak). Anyway, I’m just not going to say a peep more about this deal until I see what games are coming and how they’ll get to the fans. I know the most die-hard loyalists don’t want to see the words “free to play” attached to anything Nintendo does. But the sad thing is, this seems to be the wave of the future (yuck) and an unavoidable means of reliable revenue. Ah well…
Leave it to Nintendo to once again do something flat out awesome yet still manage to make me NUTS because they’ve once again forgotten about a slice of their loyal consumers. Sure, it’s absolutely GREAT that the ridiculously popular and profitable Japanese mobile hit Puzzle & Dragons is coming to the Nintendo 3DS soon as Puzzle & Dragons Z this May. And sure, it’s great that Nintendo has wisely realized that many US gamers probably don’t yet know P&D so they’ve had Puzzle & Dragons Super Mario Bros. Edition cooked up just for those gamers as part of the same package. One price, two games? Yup, lovely and double yup, all that is fantastic news. What’s NOT at all fantastic is once again, Wii U owners get stiffed out of a game (or TWO games) a lot off them would probably want to play on a TV with friends, as a standalone product or hell, as something that would connect with one or both of the 3DS games in one way or another.
To me, that kind of forethought makes for a better product, but once again, Nintendo does it halfway. Again, it’s great halfway, but halfway nonetheless… Continue reading →
If you have at least $2.49 burning a hole in your pocket right now and need something fun to do with your PC or laptop, well… yup, it’s that time again. The IndieGala Every Monday Bundle is calling you. Can you hear it? Good. This week’s selection is mostly role-playing games from mostly western indie developers. Some are Japanese inspired old school goodness, some are western style old-school goodness. You’ll figure it all out soon enough because you’re good like that. Or, you just learned it all from me and aren’t as thankful as you need to be.
Whatever. As long as you’re playing more games and enjoying them, it’s all good.
SO. I got to see a fun TV taping today which took up the better part of an afternoon, thus the lack of updates on such a busy day. Eh, I’ll get back on the horse tomorrow. I needed a break, the folks doing the show needed the support and much fun was had. Although, I’d have loved to been able to let them know that I have a crazy amount of knowledge about some of the topis discussed. Oh well, perhaps they’ll ask for input next time. I don’t want to be on camera at all, mind you (my non-ego would faint dead away). But I do have the advantage of age and “wisdom” still working for me. Anyway, back in a bit – I need to dive into my email that’s overflowing onto the carpet here…
If you already own the complete 23-volume set (which I believe is out of print), you probably don’t need Astro Boy Omnibus 1 at all. If on the other hand you’re new to the manga scene or have never read the late, great Osamu Tezuka’s seminal work, Dark Horse Comics is making sure to get your full attention with this 700-page volume. For $19.99, you’re getting quite a deal that won’t take up a lot of physical space. Yeah, some of us still read and buy real books, folks.
Anyway, September isn’t all that far away when you think about it (yeah, time flies, doesn’t it?), so make sure to keep an eye peeled for this one.
Even though I don’t play online games these days, Firefly Online has had me intrigued every since I heard there was an official game underway. Oddly enough, no one from any PR firm contacted me about covering it, so I assumed that was some sort of warning sign or worse, someone not wanting to do the hard work of getting the word out on something they thought was going to be too niche for its own good. Well, I was wrong on both counts as I found out when I bit the bullet and signed up for Firefly Online Cortex, the companion pre-game app currently available on Steam, Google Play and the App Store.
There’s not much to do in Cortex other than collect digital trading cards and points playing mini-games on a map of The Verse or reading news updates. That said, the cards are cool, there’s a second series coming soon and you can also score some even better bonuses by ponying up five bucks to attain Big Damn Hero status. This status will get some some great perks for the main game when it launches this spring on Windows, Mac OS, iOS and Android OS. What kind of perks? Well, exclusive gear for your crew mates, access to items non-BDH players won’t have and some other neat stuff. Hey, they got my five clams without hesitation. I’m not here to babble about anything you can read in the FAQ here other than to add I like where this is all going and if you ever were a Firefly fan at some point in the past, you may want to think about signing up yourself.
What I like about the game based on the descriptions and video above it that it’s NOT at all forced social interactivity. You can play along with your virtual crew as you rise up in the ranks, taking your customized ship into charted and uncharted territories for fun and profit. The game is in fact, a single-player experience that just so happens to have some social elements added in like the ability to create and share quests with others. As it’s also powered by Unity, this means there’s a slim chance it may end up on other platforms (as in consoles) if it does well enough on the initial platforms it launches on (and there’s enough demand for a port in every port, of course).
Right now, my own personal choice will be what to play this on when it does ship. I’ve been eyeballing a few inexpensive tablets recently (primarily for gaming purposes) as well as dinking around on devices owned by a few friends while I decide to make up my mind. I suppose I could just run the game on the laptop just fine. However, I want to keep it freed up to write and have something else dedicated entirely to FFO. So, it may be a mobile platform after all that’s bigger than a phone and smaller than a breadbox. We shall see, but whatever I choose, Firefly Online will be played. At my own pace, of course.
Talking about a horror movie about a huge talking fungus being the least oddball thing about it is tricky business. All I’ll say is Don Thacker’s unconventional psychological freak-out Motivational Growthneeds to be seen to be believed. And even after you’ve seen it, you’ll probably still think you were hallucinating the whole thing. The film is one of those low-budget indies where the pure craft and ingenuity on display outstrip the meager budget and you’ll probably find yourself hooked in right from the start because you’re hit over the head right away with some truly striking, memorable visuals.
All I know is within the first five or ten minutes of fake TV shows I saw what looked like a fake TV commercial for a fake anime adventure/shooter hybrid game called Starr Mazer. My eyeballs did a double-back flip and I wrote that name down in the notepad I keep nearby for reviews. If it was just animation created for the film, it was a genius move on Thacker’s part. If it was an actual game, well… I had to find out what I could play it on. When I looked up that fake game later, I found that there actually IS an anime adventure/shooter hybrid called Starr Mazer. In fact, it’s also one of Thacker’s many side projects.
But let’s keep the rest of this review about this bizarre, near brilliant film… Continue reading →
Okay, you should never be THIS lazy, but if you are, you’ve probably earned the right to be at some point in your life. That said, You probably know some exercise buff who’d get a kick out of this Exercise Block. Or you know one who’d kick you out of their workout cave if you gifted them with one just to push their buttons a tiny bit. Although, if that peson can bench press your current weight, I’d not want to push those buttons so hard.
In any event, if your eyes lit up when you saw that photo, you have to have one and somehow don’t know where to find it, click on over to Bigmouth Inc. for a list of places you can pick one up along with a bunch of other fun to funky novelty items. Once you’re on the site, expect to find yourself chuckling a wee bit too much at their assortment of crude to cool to flat out hilarious impulse items.
As soon as the box art appeared for the Japanese version of Oneechanbara Z2 Chaos, I stuck a .png file in a folder on my desktop to remind me to keep an eyeball peeled in case the game got a North American localization. I didn’t think it would actually happen, mind you. The last two games that made it over from this series didn’t do well critically, so it seemed those entries would be the last we;d see here.
Well, I was wrong, as Xseed Games is getting Tamsoft’s latest game out on the PS4 out in English this year (minus an “e” in the title). I’d gather this one will be a digital-only release, as it’s certainly more of a niche title. We’ll see soon enough, I suppose. Anyway, color me thrilled about this intentionally cheesy charmer that’s not at all for the kiddies.
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 