Review: Electronic Super Joy (Wii U)

Posted on December 11, 2015 by geelw

Platform: Wii U

Developer: Michael Todd

Publisher: Michael Todd Games

MSRP: $9.99

# of Players: 1

ESRB Rating: Shut Up & Dance!

Official Site

Score: A (95%)

Prepare to dance a lot and die even more in Michael Todd’s excellent retro platformer, Electronic Super Joy, out now for the Wii U. The game is both a throwback and a keeper, one that will test your skills while making your brain bubble and fingers tingle long after you’ve put down that controller. The game is a pixel-packed near-perfect hard as hell and absolutely hilarious as it hits you on the head with assorted wacky text as you’re trying to concentrate on completing a level. The game works on a pure “shut up and PLAY!” level where the music (by EnV) and simple visual style hook you in and you find yourself learning the basics for a few quick stages before all hell breaks loose. Continue reading →

Agatha Christie – The ABC Murders: Kill Some Time With Poirot in February

Posted on December 10, 2015 by geelw

French game publisher Microïds and developers Artefacts Studio are putting the final touches on what’s looking to be a fine mystery/adventure game, Agatha Christie – The ABC Murders, set for release on PS4, Xbox One, PC and Mac February 4th, 2016 in Europe and February 23 in the U.S. on PS4, Xbox One, PC and Mac. Microïds obviously knows the universal appeal of Christie’s work as the game is going to be dubbed in English and French and subtitled in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Polish and Russian. As you’ll see below he jump, the development team is really going above and beyond the call to make Mr. Poirot look and play excellently to a wide variety of gamers interested in the character and story (which happens to be one of Christie’s greats)… Continue reading →

Humble NEOGEO Bundle: Instant Arcade For Your PC? Yeah, That’s a Buy

Posted on December 10, 2015 by geelw

If you just got a nice and nostalgic heart flutter when you ogled that logo above, go pop an aspirin (drink a nice big glass of water with that!) and have a seat. Humble Bundle and SNK/Playmore are teaming up to bring you (at least) 21 NEOGEO arcade games for less than what you’d drop in an arcade during the 90’s on a gaming binge. Seriously. Ten bucks (and you should pay MORE, frankly) gets you those 21 DRM-free games pictured on the page, some excellent game soundtracks you can listen to as you bop down the street or drive around in your vehicle of choice, and the promise of MORE games dropping into your Steam account in a week. $167 worth of games for a tenner is pretty fantastic, but it gets better if you happen to use Firefox or Chrome as your browser. Why? Well, you can sample all but one of the games in the bundle for FREE, that’s why!

Once you’ve had your fill, whip out that wallet and get to the buying and supporting charity part. Humble appreciates the business and you need a ton of fun classics for that backlog you’re growing, right? Yeah, I thought so. If you’re REALLY feeling generous, you can pay $40 or more for all of those games (and games to come) and get an NEOGEO 25th Anniversary Limited Edition METAL SLUG SV-001 T-Shirt sent to you in the mail. Pick your poison and then pick some time out to play with your new games library. Whatever you do, pick quickly as this sale is only running for the next dozen days.

READS: Alternative Movie Posters II Is a Must for Film (and Art) Fanatics

Posted on December 9, 2015 by geelw

Hey. I have an important question to ask you all:

(Thanks, modelcitizen72 and MOVIECLIPS!)

If you do (and even if your name isn’t Joey), Alternative Movie Posters II: More Film Art from the Underground ($34.99) is going to make you smile until our face cracks. Well, okay – there’s only one actual gladiator movie in the book (which just so happens to be a poster variant from Ridley Scott’s 2000 film), but that quote jumped out and bit me as soon as I saw the poster and I had to use it as an opener. Anyway, author Matthew Chojnacki has put together a fantastic collection of 200 more film poster variants done by a wide assortment of artists in many different styles that will make any film fan want this on their gift list. Continue reading →

Earth Defense Force 4.1 Livestream: Bigger, Badder, Buggier (But That’s A Compliment)

Posted on December 7, 2015 by geelw

A little fun from Xseed Games as tomorrow is the BIG day PS4 owners in North America and EDF fans have been waiting for as Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair hits retail and digital (via PSN).

I’ll shut up now and let you watch the video before you bust down your own door in order to run to your favorite game emporium and snap up a copy of the game. And a PS4 because you should have one already. That recent price drop seems to be making Sony pretty happy as more folks make the move from PS3 to PS4 or just grab one for the first time for their entertainment purposes.

And if you’re a Vita owner, guess what? Earth Defense Force 2: Invaders From Planet Space is out tomorrow as well. Retail and digital, just like the above. Yeah, you need this game. Trust me – it’s a complete time eater and a solid action game in its own right. While different in tone (thus the campier titling), it’s a pretty hardcore game on the higher difficulty levels that should test the skills of the best gamers on the planet. Inferno Mode will school you in the many ways of getting chomped on by big bugs, stomped on by giant robots and otherwise probed by assorted spaceships and other enemies is all I’ll say.

READS: Cooking for Geeks Will Make You Hungry For Science

Posted on December 7, 2015 by geelw

Cooking For Geeks 2nd Edition

Yeah, I cook and you should as well. No matter haw daunted you are by the prospect of entering the kitchen to whip up something as simple as a boiled egg, the ability to prepare a meal is not only a necessary survival skill, it’s a series of victories as one overcomes fears and produces some very tasty results. Jeff Potter’s Cooking for Geeks ($24.99) is not only a fantastic read, it’s one of the best cookbooks I’ve ever read. A cornucopia of recipes, food and other science lessons, excellent interviews with far too many chefs and other food experts to list, the book is both a page-turning revelation and a go-to master class in all sorts of kitchen knowledge. Continue reading →

READS: More Scary As Hell Stuff From Dark Horse Comics

Posted on December 6, 2015 by geelw

‘Tis the season to still have some scary reads handy if one likes such stuff and thankfully, Dark Horse Comics has been delivering the goods all year long. I tend to wait until assorted trade paperbacks drop over buying single issues due to cost and space reasons, plus it ends up smarter reading stories in collected form (for me, at least).

One of the better horror comics I’ve read is Harrow County, a nice southern gothic tale from writer Cullen Bunn and artist Tyler Crook. In the first collection, Harrow County – Countless Haints ($14.99), the pair have concocted up a terrifying tale that from the very first page of the very first issue will have you hooked in and turning pages with wider eyes and a growing sense of dread. The amazing thing is as great and chilling as the first issue is, the rest of the stories in this first volume only get better. If you’re prone to nightmares, don’t read the whole book in one shot unless you like sleeping with both eyeballs wide open looking for vengeful witches in the corners.

Talk about killer openings, folks…

Continue reading →

Land of A Thousand Gransys III: How’s Your German?

Posted on December 5, 2015 by geelw

(Thanks, GameStar!)

While I speak not a word of German, it’s not needed at all in this GameStar video preview of the upcoming PC version of Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen. I’m loving the now silky smooth frame rate and upgraded textures quite a lot and am definitely looking forward to diving into the game all over again. While some PC-only gamers may consider this “dated” by current standards, DD:DA has a fantastic sense of atmosphere that brings a solid level of realism to its graphics.

Well, if your description of realism includes a bestiary of mythical beasts trying their level best to kill your user created character dead and many times at that. Look for this one early next year, particularly if you happen to love action-heavy RPG experiences that do a few things differently and quite well at that.

I’m Back!

Posted on December 5, 2015 by geelw

shocker_mp And shockingly so. Well, I was shocked. Anyway, I wasn’t expecting the new laptop to pop up until Monday at the earliest thanks to the vague expected arrival date of between now and next Thursday. But I got the Gomer Pyle reaction as I was walking out the door earlier and the intercom blasted my ears awake. Yup, it was the postman (who sometimes does ring twice!) with my new baby.

Of course, this means I now need to spend a chunk of time setting up the new laptop, deleting apps and bloatware, updating to Windows 10 (eek), and hoping I can recall all of my blasted passwords. Well, I did get into my WordPress, Gmail, Yahoo, Steam, my virus scanner and a few other accounts with not so much trouble at all. But I know there’s going to be some issues with a few other passwords I’ve changed a few times and can’t recall for the life of me as to what they are.

And NOPE, I don’t use a password site because nothing is THAT secure or guaranteed secure online. I’m going to just save all my passwords to an SD card and USB stick and keep one handy and the other one vaulted away, changing whenever necessary. A little paranoia about the right things goes a long way. Hokay, to the bloatcave! Back in a bit (tomorrow) with some posts I did in the interim that need to get up and read.

Land Of A Thousand Gransys II: Daily Dragon’s Dogma: DA Gallery? Sure, Why Not?

Posted on December 1, 2015 by geelw

While I’m waiting for a few important things to iron themselves out (tech and otherwise), I’ve been killing time going back to some older game saves just to see how certain titles have held up over time. Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen is one of those games that keeps on giving since it’s 2012 release, much to the surprise of Capcom I’d bet. Anyway, as the game is finally hitting PC next year, I figured I’d poke through a bunch of screenshots I’d taken while playing the PlayStation 3 version and post one a day until the new version launches. So, here you go. It’ll be a mostly random set of screens taken with the game’s Photo feature with the occasional caption when I find something amusing to say.

Um… that’s it for now. Oh yeah, it’s DECEMBER already. Yikes. If my poor brain doesn’t blow up from having so much to do, I’m going to have quite a busy rest of the year. Back in a bit.