Now, paying UNDER four bucks for this nifty set of games may seem like a good idea for you cheaper-skates out there, but that just means you’re NEW to how this Humble Indie Bundle thing works. If you pay MORE than the average price of four dollars (and yes, how much more is entirely up to you), you end up getting MORE games as they unlock when other like-minded smarties fill the pool. And remember, it’s a public pool, so don’t to peeing in there! Er, anyway, the more people ponying up pennies past the price point, the faster those unlocks unlock, it seems. Don’t see anything you like in that bundle? No biggie – poke around the Humble Store and/or check out the Humble Weekly Sale and perhaps you’ll find something to suit your fancy?
Remember, 10% goes to charity so you can buy up and veg out knowing you’re doing some good even if you’re just sitting on your behind for too long racking up a virtual body count, racing around at full speed on some fancy track or simulating something you wouldn’t normally do in real life.
Thanks to this year being SO packed with new games and a LOT more new indie games popping up on anything that can play them, Dead State nearly dropped off my radar. Thankfully, the folks at DoubleBear Productions seem to be at least part psychic as they’ve dropped that new video above on their YouTube channel that shows some nice progress on an upcoming demo version. The game’s Kickstarter backers and anyone who pre-ordered the game will get first dibs, of course, but I’m hoping there’s something for us media folk to dink around with at some point because this is the sort of game that needs some love from those of us who love games like this. I’m getting a heavy X-Com meets Jagged Alliance meets Fallout vibe from this one, all of which were (and still are) truly stellar tactical RPG experiences. Granted, some of those gamers who think this is a fast-paced kill-fest along the lines of a Left 4 Dead or Dead Island will be shocked (shocked, I say!) at the more deliberate pacing and need to think before you take any action here. But if this game makes some of that crowd learn to appreciate this style of game and gameplay, all’s the better, I’d say…
They’re baaaaaaack! The last time I reviewed a few products from KontrolFreek, they ended up disappearing from the home office when some friends popped over, checked them out and decided that I owned them some freebies for making the trek all the way up here or something. Yeah, guess who’s not getting invited back, chumps? Anyway, fortunately, Casi over at KontrolFreek was kind enough to shoot over a set of the new FPS Freek Phantom (MSRP $19.99) and after playing through Call of Duty: Ghosts and a few other FPS and non-FPS games, it’s safe to say that they perform exactly as expected. Which would be pretty darn fantastic.
As noted in my earlier review, the FPS Freek series of analog stick toppers adds height to those sticks and precision to your movements, allowing you to use LESS pressure when moving normally, sprinting or shooting in games, allowing for more accuracy and less funny looking thumbs after extended play sessions. It’s all ergonomics, people – that’s all you need to know and even if you’re the most skeptical buzzard on the block, one try should convince you within seconds that this is the way to go if you’re a big shooter fan. I’d say you club-fisted gamers will NEED to learn to not jam those sticks around because you might occasionally pop one of the Freeks off an Analog stick (they’ll snap right back on). But other than that, this is money well spent if you’re a fan of those high-action shooters and want that extra edge in solo or online play. Anyway, go boogie on over to the KF site, check out what they have to offer and feel free to check out their upcoming PlayStation 4 and Xbox One lineup, as they certainly aren’t going to forget about you next-gen owners one bit. yeah, you KNOW you want that extra edge…
Well, now. That wasn’t hard or annoying after all except for two things. One quick download of an emulator, some fast configuring and popping in the demo disc I have here and boom – pictures of the first of three Omega Boost demos that appeared on Japanese PlayStation Club discs from 1996 to 1999. The game went through some major changes in those three years, but even as a 30% complete version in these shots it’s pretty darn interesting from a technical standpoint.
I believe the demo runs at 60 frames per second, it has three selectable viewpoints (first person/cockpit/third person), a full 360 degrees of freedom and is pretty fun overall for what it is. Granted, I took these screenshots at the library while dinking around on a keyboard because I didn’t bring a controller with me (oops) or else there would have been about 30 more images here. I also didn’t tinker with the visual settings on the emulator to make the game prettier because I like the look of many early PlayStation games.
Finally, I need to find out who made up Cyber Head, which seems to be the development team behind the first two builds. Based on some other games I’ve played, it seems that in the early days of PlayStation development, a few studios didn’t mind sharing talent to help each other out as the new hardware was being explored to see what it could really do. Hmmm… I smell a longer story here at some point. I wonder if there’s anyone still around from those days with some helpful info?
BOOM. Yeah, you thought you were going to get away clean, huh? Nope and nope. If you’re a JRPG fanatic or an anime nut, well… the NISA Online Store wants your money and they’ll do all they can to take it from you while you smile and click away. Some stuff is already SOLD OUT, but there are plenty of cool game and DVD deals plus some other cool stuff worth your while to check out. As mother says… “Knock yourself out!” and “Don’t spend it all in one place!”
Okay, second chances time! In case you missed STL Ocarina’s Black Friday deal, you can still score a discount TODAY in their Cyber Monday Sale! All you need to do is click on over to the official site, stick a thing or eight in your cart and use the Coupon Code: “cybermonday” to receive 10% off everything you buy!
Of course, this is valid on TODAY, Dec 2, 2014 only! And guess what? YOU can STILL get a whopping 40% off these ocarinas:
Somewhere before and in between Gran Turismo and Gran Turismo II, members of Polyphony Digital (seemingly working under the name Cyber Head) worked on a little game called Omega Boost which was released for the PlayStation in Japan in April of 1999, the US that August and in Europe a month later. Japan got the awesome and hilarious TV ad above for the game (the US ad was amusing, but not as nuts as the Japanese one) and when the game arrived at the small indie game shop I worked at, it spent a decent amount of time in the store play stack. Back then, the game was impressive to me and many others right away thanks to the opening movie that still packs a punch:
Thankfully, other than the slightly unwise replacing of the Queen-style rocker that opens the import with some alternative tune that’s OK in terms of it’s title (“Fly” by Loudmouth) but lesser than the original theme music in terms of impact, the US version got the same explosive intro:
By the way, note the “Marilyn Monroe/Norma Jean” autograph reference – I loved that tiny bit of fluff because it was a little detail only a film buff would latch on to right away and smile at. As far as the gameplay went, it was an arcade-style space shooter with 19 stages, some cool planetary and tunnel missions along with a number of intense boss battles and a ton of cool bonuses for the dedicated players out there. Some game critics unfairly compared it to Sega’s Panzer Dragoon games, which only made sense as a frame of reference if you were a PS owner who also happened to have a Sega Saturn in the house. There were some minor similarities, but Omega Boost was more a technical showcase for the PlayStation hardware than Panzer Dragoon ever was on the Saturn.
The game was actually in production as early as 1996 (or perhaps sooner), as a series of Japanese demos I have here shows the early work on the game back then was making for a very different-looking experience running at 60fps with simpler polygon visuals and a few more viewpoint choices. Oh, you want some videos of that for proof? Well you’ll need to come over if you want to see them, silly. I’d thought someone would have posted them on YouTube already, but nope and nope so far. Get on it collectors who never open your stuff, I say!
Oh, all right. One day I’ll get off my butt, dig out those PlayStation Club demo discs and have someone shoot footage of me playing them, but I just haven’t had the time to get onto that and some other projects. As usual, I digress. Anyway, the game wasn’t exactly a “blockbuster” in terms of sales or review scores, but it’s definitely one of those side projects where you could see the quality right from the beginning. Of course, with Polyphony so darn occupied with the vastly more popular Gran Turismo series of games, it’s hard to even think of a new OB rolling out from them any time soon. That’s not to say that is SHOULDN’T be done at all, folks. I’m just hoping that if there is a follow-up or remake, it gets the attention it should on a few fronts the original certainly didn’t.
Eh, perhaps I’ll bite the bullet, download a PlayStation emulator from somewhere and figure out how to record some gameplay. It shouldn’t be that hard to do, although I generally dislike using emulators over an actual console…
Oh, the di-lemma, boys and girls. I’ve been holding off posting more stuff about Lars Von Trier’s upcoming two-part epic just because I was holding out to see what sorts of trailers would get run and perhaps maybe hear some impressions from people online who may have seen some of the final version of the film. Well, in the former case, the super NSFW Red Band trailer (SERIOUSLY, don’t click that link if you’re a prude, please) kicks off with a not so subliminal insert shot for the ages before it goes into gasp-worthy territory and in the latter case, I may as well wait for the overseas premiere on Christmas Day (yup, that’s riiiiight) and see what’s said about part one. I have the feeling that it’s going to not be a happy flick about pleasure along the lines of Shortbus at all. But when you sit down for a Lars Von Trier film, you kind of know you’re not getting something with a (wait for it…) happy ending… Continue reading →
I live in an area that’s not too hard to figure out if you live here and spend time walking around on a semi-regular basis. However, on occasions where people who drive here to visit friends or relatives, they often run into trouble with one particular spot where an oval splits into four different directions and streets that need to be followed to their destinations or else you end up driving in some rather oddball directions only to find yourself maybe back where you started or worse. This evening as I’m walking home, a car pulls up beside me and as the passenger side window rolls down, I know exactly what’s coming. Sure enough, a woman pops her head out the window and asks which way a certain street is because she and her husband had been driving around for a good fifteen minutes looking for the building.
Nice guy that I am, I point them in the correct direction and of course, the missus is all “See, I told you it was THAT way” while the hubby is getting a case of the “Yeah, yeahs”. As they both turn to thank me, the husband asks “I suppose people get lost around here a lot?”, to which I respond “Well, it’s not so bad here – you could be in the Pine Barrens”. I do believe the husband happened to get what I was referencing, because he burst out laughing so loudly that his wife jumped in her seat and did a double take before asking what the heck was so funny. As she closed the window back up (I’m assuming no one “rolls” a window up any longer) I waved goodbye, turned and left them alone and walked away with a smile knowing the mister would have to do some fast talking to stay out of the perceived doghouse he just cracked himself up into. Thankfully, that episode of The Sopranos is a pretty darn funny one and I’m glad someone actually got a joke I’d made without having to explain it. Victory!
I’d heard of 1A4STUDIO and their hilarious 60-second remakes of classic genre films, but only got around to watching a couple today. Yes indeed, it’s ABSOLUTELY worth your minute or three to check these out before you waste the better part of your day watching and re-watching the rest of their output on YouTube. The other movie speedruns they’ve done are also priceless, but some require you know every bit inside and out, as you’ll laugh harder when you see how some scenes are handled.
I don’t have a “favorite” yet, but this trio made me crack up the most because I’ve seen all these way too many times to count. Still, I think the Aliens clip was the most amusing to watch, but T2 below? Yeah, they nail the big action scenes perfectly in record time. I can’t wait to see these guys handle some of the more recent blockbusters for sure, but given that many ONLY have about a minute of actual plot (ha ha, but I’m not kidding either), I’m wondering if we end up seeing thirty-second speedruns sooner than later.
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 