Deadly Premonition: The Board Game Update (Surprise Swery Edition)

Posted on May 9, 2017 by geelw

Well, oops. I was wrong. But that’s okay this time.

It turns out Swery does indeed have a hand in this particular pie after all. Excellent. So far, Deadly Premonition: The Board Game is still in production, so we’ll have to find out later if it’ll be partially crowdfunded or a fully-funded Rising Star Games project (EDIT: see below!). Either way, much of the game’s fan base is very likely going to be pleased while the rest will need to go make some friends in the real world as opposed to living vicariously through others online unless this board game gets some sort of digital treatment.

More updates to come as news lands in the inbox.

-GW

Well, ooh – news has landed in the inbox, so here’s an update: THE GAME IS NOW LIVE ON KICKSTARTER! Three bucks gets you a Steam code for the bizarre horror/mystery action/adventure adventure Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut, while $30 gets you the board game and that Steam Key mentioned above. The game will come in Standard and Special Edition versions and yes, stretch goals are in the works should the game push way past its initial funding goals.

Press release below the jump – the funding is already over the halfway point ($32K funded with a goal of $50K!)
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Deadly Premonition Returns… Where You’d Least Expect It

Posted on May 5, 2017 by geelw

Wait, what, Zach? Whoa. Countdown clock on the site says three days plus a few hours to go before the big reveal. Suspense mode activated. I’m gathering Access Games signed off on this, as there’s no doubt here that Swery isn’t involved with them or his most popular creation these days. But speculation is for those seeking hits and I’m just here for splits and wiggles. Or something like that.

Color me intrigued and wanting this as soon as it drops. Back in a bit with more on this one.

-GW

Be Chairman of the Board This Cyber Monday With A Few Cool Card Games

Posted on November 28, 2016 by geelw

So. Need a few gift ideas today but you don’t want to move too many muscles treading over the bones of last week’s defeated? I guess that’s why they call this Cyber Monday, huh? Anyway, if you like board and card games or maybe both mashed together, well, good:

Just click on that lovely art above, buy what you like, sit back and wait until your box of stuff arrives, then wrap and place under tree or in back of closet or wherever if you aren’t an indoor tree-hugger.

If on the other hand, you’re feeling REALLY creative, have a great color printer and are very, very good with cutting things carefully and maybe even using a glue stick and a load of acid-free board to mount stuff on, the extremely aptly titled and incredibly fun 5-Minute Dungeon has a hugely successful Kickstarter with a budget reward for those of you who can’t wait ’til 2017 to play this great family game.

While you can (and should!) get a retail copy of the game (set to ship in 2017), a $5 pledge will get you a print-and-play copy of the game in December. That’s where your printing and cutting skills will come in handy. Of course, if you’re terminally lazy, have no scissors or sharp crafting blades and own a crappy dot matrix printer or a Rexograph machine, this reward will be as useful as a whistle on a plow. In that case, just go pay for the big deal boxed version and go take a nap until next May.

-GW

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Crowdfunding of Note 1: November Brings a Number Of Early Winners

Posted on November 1, 2016 by geelw

For those of you fans of crowdfunding, this month has some pretty awesome products you can pledge towards and add to your future gift list even if you’re investing solely for that gift for yourself. Here are some surefire picks from yours truly you should look into:

The Spontaneous Pop-Up Display (SPUD): Alex Wesley is a genius, period. His invention, currently on Kickstarter has blown past its funding target on the first day and still has 44 days to go. SPUD is about to shake up the the words “portable entertainment” in such a big way that Wesley is pretty much assured a place on a few tech award lists for coming up with a portable multi-purpose screen solution. I only saw this a few days ago in a Skype presentation and was absolutely floored that it worked so well.

A 24″ screen that weighs less than two pounds and folds down to book size to fit in a backpack or carry-on bag with a screen made of material that not only provides a sharp image, it doesn’t wrinkle up like you’d expect AND is useful for way too many applications? SOLD. Set to ship next summer, I’m predicting SPUD shows up in a few interesting places as a must-have product including TV and a few movies because it’s a perfect representation of the future as NOW (or sooner than you think).

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5-Minute Dungeon: Success Is In The Cards For This Great Hybrid Game

Posted on October 28, 2016 by geelw

Get ready for one of the most fun games you’ll ever play, folks…

You know a card or board game is going to be a big hit when the only non-gamer who shows up to play wants it as a prize for being the one who “had the MOST fun”. That was one of the hilarious results of my evening with Connor Reid’s wonderfully fun 5-Minute Dungeon, an upcoming Kickstarter project from Ontario, Canada-based game company and two-time Mensa Award winner Wiggles3D scheduled to launch November 1st.

If you’re into any sort of RPG, board games, card games, family fun, and/or friendly all-out mayhem happening on game night (or any night and hey, who said you HAVE to play at night?), keep an eye peeled for this and yep, go drop some cash on your own copy.

Made for 2-5 players and yes, you can (and NEED to) complete a match in five minutes, 5MD can get pretty frantic as players cooperate to blaze though a dungeon to defeat enemies and take down a boss before time expires. No waiting for turns means each match is a speed-run of attempted coordination as enemies and obstacles are taken down on the way to that big, bad boss waiting at the end.

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Mordheim: City of the Damned Lands on PS4, Xbox One

Posted on October 18, 2016 by geelw

“Well, this one looks neat!” said the brain, both halves actually agreeing for a rare change. Focus Home Interactive’s busy year of interesting games I want to play continues with developer Rogue Factor‘s Mordheim: City of the Damned, a really nice-looking tactical RPG based on the classic Games Workshop out of print board game from 1999. Four separate campaigns (a full campaign for each of the four Warbands: The Human Mercenaries, the Sisters of Sigmar, the Skaven of Clan Eshin, and the Cult of the Possessed), online play if you want to compete with like-minded gamers, snazzy visuals, all that good stuff.

While not a “horror” game per se, I do love the visual style chosen quite a lot and hell, imagine wanting to whip up a Halloween outfit based on some of the wilder looking characters? Yep, that would be fun, right down to the people running away from you and into nearby trees or lampposts. Ouch.

Pathologic: Ice-Pick Lodge’s Re-Invention Looks Mysteriously Magnificent

Posted on August 1, 2016 by geelw

Back in 2005, Russian developer Ice-Pick Lodge released Pathologic, an unsettling horror/adventure/RPG hybrid that garnered excellent reviews at home, decent to fair reviews in the west, and gathered somewhat of a “cult” following for its unusual, creative art direction, extreme difficulty and distinctly bleak tone. The game’s fan base grew with its gog.com release and subsequent 2012 HD remastering (both of which come with the purchase of the HD Classic version). With a successful Kickstarter to re-imagine the game in 2015 for PC (and possibly consoles) Pathologic’s new path has added even more fans to this weird game’s potential player base. Ahead of Gamescom, IPL has released a nice set of screenshots that show off some lovely, haunting images from the new version.

Let’s take a look now, shall we?

While gameplay videos have yet to surface, this 2014 Kickstarter video should give you an idea of what to expect. As the game has no set release date, the waiting period between information drops will no doubt keep fans begging for more. It’s a good thing there’s a board game coming to make that wait less frustrating.

Speaking of more, click below the jump for more about the game (in handy cut/paste/corrected form)…

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HoloGrid: A Few Days Left to Get This AR Card Game Funded

Posted on June 4, 2016 by geelw

Up until recently, I didn’t think I’d be a big supporter of Augmented Reality or Virtual Reality, but a bunch of hands-on sessions have me convinced that these are great ways to keep entertained and both are worthy of attention depending on what you’re looking for. AR is a far more affordable and less setup-based solution that’s also (in my opinion) more immersive as a real world thing because you play without your head enclosed in a pair of pricey goggles that require some major horsepower to run out of the box. You can also take an AR experience with you and share it with anyone without lugging around a ton of equipment. One excellent example would be HoloGrid: Monster Battle, from Phil Tippett and developer Happy Giant, now in its final days on Kickstarter. I took the plunge after a demo and if you’re into collectible cards, monsters, stop motion and an all-in-one game package that DOESN’T rely on microtransactons, you probably need this game. I’ll shut up here and let you do some required reading and clicking…

Star Wars VFX Legend Discusses Future of AR for Gaming & Film
Phil Tippett & HoloGrid Designer discuss next gen AR & HoloGrid as a Platform

With only THREE days left, the HoloGrid: Monster Battle Kickstarter Campaign is going strong and has nearly reached it’s funding goal. In a recent conversation with Phil Tippett and HappyGiant President and Lead Designer Mike Levine, the two discussed ambitions for the new game, and the future of AR gaming and film.

“This is just the beginning for HoloGrid, and AR Gaming” said Levine. “We’d love to not only bring other IP into it, like Yu-Gi-Oh, Star Wars, Starship Troopers, and others, but our goal is to have it be one of the first next gen AR games available, as new systems roll out.”

“It’s the Wild West”, Tippett added, “Tippett Studio is excited about the endless possibilities working with augmented reality. We love to play, and this gives us new, fertile ground to play in with HappyGiant.”

“We envision using all the capabilities coming with next gen AR systems”, said Levine. “From 3D motion tracking and depth sensing, hand and eye tracking, and more – the creatures don’t have to just be holograms on a board game-like experience on your table, they can be all across your living room, on bookshelves and counter tops … underneath your desk!”

As new AR tech comes to market (Cast AR, HoloLens and more) HappyGiant hopes to bring the game to new platforms. It was built from the ground up to play today on mobile devices, and to be portable to next-gen AR systems as they emerge.

Below the jump are 5 more things you should know about this game!

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Dimension: You’ll Never Be “Board” With Kosmos’ Challenging Brain Game

Posted on May 16, 2015 by geelw

Two things you’ll absolutely require when playing Kosmos Games’ Dimension would be an absolutely flat level table and friends not prone to elbowing you in the body anywhere while you’re racing to stack colored balls while reading cards that tell you how to stack them. Once you have those all sorted out it’s all fun and games and no one is getting hurt. Dimension is a really interesting hybrid of spatial puzzle and fast-paced ball placement for 1-4 players that will test even the most skilled minds with following a handful of simple rules. All you need to do is stack 15 colored balls as you can while paying close attention to the precise instructions set forth by the rule cards laid out for each session.

Blue can’t touch orange, you can only have two black balls on your tray, none of those colors can touch a white ball and so forth and so on. All of this while a timer is ticking away and someone is probably trying to pull off a cheat that won’t work under any sort of scrutiny because they’re LAME! Yeah, I’m talking about you, you know who. Anyway, Dimension is simple to set up and you can get playing in about five or so minutes. However if you buy this game specifically to play with younger kids, make sure you or some other adult does the assembling. If you just whip out the box on your jaded brood the kids will probably end up just rolling the balls under the couch with the cat chasing after them and call it a day. I say dazzle those kids with some freshly baked cookies or other treats while you put the game together in another room before surprising them with their soon to be new obsession.

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The X-Files is BACK (…As A Board Game This July)!

Posted on March 19, 2014 by geelw

I think I only fooled two people with half that headline, but that’s fine by me. Anyway, this July, IDW Games will be getting fans of the show a new BIG box board game based on the first three (and some would say the best) seasons thanks to Pandasaurus Games, designer Kevin Wilson (Arkham Horror, Descent, Civilization) and comic book artist menton3 (Memory Collectors, The X-Files: Season 10).

That box art is sure mighty pretty (and pretty simple) and if the game INSIDE the box is like that art, it’ll keep anyone with even a passing interest in the show back in deep where they should be. Of course, chain smoking as you play like that Cigarette Smoking Man isn’t required, but if you DO get that far into character, make sure you ask your tabletop buddies if it’s OK. No one likes to get kicked out their friend’s place (or even their own home) even if they bought the game with them.