Gallery: Niten

Posted on April 22, 2016 by geelw

“Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world”
– Miyamoto Musashi

That quote from Musashi’s classic The Book of Five Rings is seemingly what Edinburgh, Scotland-based indie developer Donald Macdonald is aiming to convey with Niten, an upcoming first-person exploration game currently available for backing on Kickstarter that blazed through the Steam Greenlight approval process in a mere ten days. Created with Unreal Engine 4 and Speedtree assets, MacDonald’s interactive adventure looks absolutely glorious with an open world beckoning to be fully explored as the story plays out:

In search of the past and the present find yourself lost on a remote island off the coast of Japan. Uncover the mystery where ancient Japanese culture meets breathtaking scenery, blossoming cherry trees and a sky that tells a story in its self. Watch the weather turn and see the sun go down, feel the chill of the morning mist and let the glowing fireflies guide you as you search to uncover the truth of the island.

As for that island, let’s take a look at some gorgeous screenshots below the jump. Passports ready? Good. We’re off: Continue reading →

House Shark: Become A Chum, Help This Indie Horror Comedy Get Made

Posted on January 30, 2016 by geelw

House Shark Poster

A killer “B” in the making, House Shark caught my eye (ow!) with its intentionally cornball “Jaws in a house” plot and liberal doses of humor and primarily practical effects work. SRS Cinema and veteran indie director Ron Bonk (there needs to be a cartoon sound effect here) is looking for like-minded horror fanatics to help him fund his latest venture with a mere $15,000 target between those who donate and the completed film. There are 22 days left to get this show on the road (or back on the road), so if you’re a fan of low-budget gore and spirited film making in a jugular vein, you know where you’re clicking next.

(Thanks, SRS CinemaLLC!)

In English: Check out the Indiegogo campaign here and take note that contributing at least $60 to funding will net you (among other rewards) House Shark on one of three formats (VHS, DVD or Blu-Ray), you’ll also get a copy of his upcoming homage to female revenge flicks of the 1970’s, She Kills (that trailer isn’t for the kiddies, folks!). You can also choose to dive into the shallow end of the pool and get less perks or belly flop into the ocean as a high roller and actually be an EXTRA or even one of the film’s producers if you’re willing to travel.

Hmmm… does anyone want to ring up a certain wealthy, wild-haired egomaniac running for office and get him off the trail for a few weeks? Sharking in a house in upstate NY just may be more up his alley than stirring up all those hornet nests all over the place. Better to have him in the real entertainment business than making a “reality” show out of more serious stuff, I say.

System Shock 3: It’s About Time For A New Shodan

Posted on December 14, 2015 by geelw

Well, this is a nice surprise for a Monday (or any day, for that matter): OtherSide Entertainment is currently working on two projects I just found out about and am terminally thrilled to see come to life. System Shock 3 and Underworld Ascendant, two games that NEED to be completed before the world goes belly up. The great thing is both projects are being worked on by teams that worked on the original games and a whole lot of other classics for PC and console, meaning the dedication to quality is there and will make for two spectacular titles well worth the wait. At least to my nostalgic eyeballs and ears. Also, you can help directly fund Ultima Ascendant if you like by clicking on that link above. If you remember the first two titles well enough (warts and all), reading the game page should make your wallet magically appear in your hand before you get past 1/8 of what’s there.

More on both of these when info pops into the inbox.

Get Trekz Titanium to 1000% Funding & Maybe Win Big

Posted on October 15, 2015 by geelw

While the Indiegogo campaign is already funded, the fine folks behind Aftershokz: Trekz Bone Conduction Headphones want to go for the gold by reaching 1000% before the day is done. Therefore, they’ve added a nice new perk I’d call “Bribery by Chocolate”, but they call a Titanium Ticket. Here’s the deal:

Pledge $10 and get a SHOKZ Chocolate Bar (which will ship out in December) which not only gets you into a drawing to win a fantastic prize, it may make you an INSTANT winner if that bar has one of five Titanium Tickets inside. Shades of Willy Wonka with a slight delay, folks! The more bars you buy, the greater your chances, although if you’re a total chocoholic who needs that fix NOW you may want to sock away some Halloween candy while you wait for your SHOKZ to arrive.

The five Titanium Ticket winners will get one Trekz Titanium plus one of the following prizes (winner’s choice): Apple Watch, iPad Mini or Next-Gen Gaming Console (Xbox One, PS4, Wii U).

As for those headphones, the words “Bone Conduction” got my interest piqued, so here’s what that is (because it’s always good to learn something new every damn day):

Trekz Titanium™ use bone conduction technology to transmit audio waves to the inner ears through the skull, bypassing the eardrums completely. Place them on your cheekbones, just in front of your ears. This leaves your ear canals open, allowing you to remain alert and aware of ambient sounds while you enjoy your music or tune in to calls.

Get it? Got it? Good. Now, go help these guys and gals make their over-target goal and maybe you’ll be a big winner of some awesome stuff while you’re at it.

Indivisible: Lab Zero’s Beautiful ARPG Makes My Monday

Posted on October 5, 2015 by geelw

In case you were wondering what Lab Zero (the team behind Skullgirls) has been up to, well click on over to the Indivisible game site and check out their incredible looking and still in early development stages Action/RPG that just so happens to also be an Indiegogo campaign you can participate in. The currently PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One only game set to be published by 505 Games once it’s all completed sure looks like a winner in the early video below. If you want a bit more incentive to whip out that wallet, there’s a free downloadable prototype demo you should try out as soon as possible.

In addition to the gorgeous artwork, animation and fun gameplay reminiscent of titles such as Prince of Persia, Valkyire Profile, Metroid and other influences, gamers who love great music can expect a solid soundtrack from renowned composer/producer Hiroki Kikuta (Secret of Mana, Koudelka, and Sōkaigi among other works). That prototype certainly brightened up my Monday considerably and it looks as if the game’s seemingly somewhat hefty (but reasonable considering it’s coming to PC, consoles, Mac and Linux) funding goal of $1.5 million won’t be a pipe dream for the dev team or publisher.

Anyway, go give that demo a try and if you find your boat floated, let your fingers do the walking and drop a pledge into that fun(d) bucket.

OMNIS – The Erias Line: Elyn Studios Needs You To Back Their Dark 2D RPG

Posted on September 9, 2015 by geelw

Some crowd-funded game projects tend to be hit or miss affairs when it comes to getting backers. Get enough (or too much) buzz for a silly little meme game that’s got an much depth as a broken pencil point and you can rake in money like as if the wind is blowing it fiercely through your front door.

On the other hand, work hard at a bigger but not hugely promoted game in a familiar but quite packed genre and you get a slight breeze of contributors that drift in at not a quick enough pace to make that funding target.

Newcastle upon Tyne-based Elyn Studios is hard at work on a pretty cool game called OMNIS – The Erias Line, and you should probably go check out the demo over on Indie DB because while still a work in progress (there’s a fair amount of placeholder art), the game is coming along really nicely.

Continue reading →

Back to the Future: What’s Old Is New Game News @E3 2015

Posted on June 16, 2015 by geelw

(thanks, magicalmotionmuseum!)

It’s a good news/bad news thing today. The good news: time travel DOES exist, ladies and gents. Final Fantasy VII is finally getting a remake for the PS4 and possibly PC. The Last Guardian is now a PS4 exclusive (as I predicted a while back) Shenmue 3 was announced yesterday evening at Sony’s E3 event as a surprising show-announced Kickstarter project for PS4 and was COMPLETELY funded in about twelve hours (breaking a Kickstarter record). Even King’s Quest and HITMAN are making comebacks (and sooner than you’d think).

Microsoft’s formerly forward-looking only Xbox One gets Xbox 360 backward compatibility and legendary developer Rare is releasing 30 of its classic arcade and console games for $30 in a crazy must-have bundle this August (exclusively for the console, of course). Between this and the return of DOOM, the acceptance of indie retro games as necessary for part of a console’s success and other interesting developments, it’s a huge win-win situation for gamers with a good deal of disposable income. And no, I didn’t forget Nintendo in all this. I’m just holding out for a separate post on their always nostalgic ways and means of getting loyal fans continually hooked in. Give me a bit of time on that as it’s still construction central here with more to come.

Now, the bad news: In reality time travel DOESN’T exist at all. With all those new games coming (and this post doesn’t count the VR games invasion happening soon), no one will actually any free time to play them all unless their Doctor has a certain “timey-wimey” prescription that allows them to have their fun and return to reality not having missed much sleep or even a day of work. Oh well…

CHIP: Anyone Want a $9 Computer? Oh, You ALL Do? Fine, Then!

Posted on May 12, 2015 by geelw

Well, wow. Of course, it’s not REALLY a $9 computer if you have no idea it requires more than taking it out of its tiny box and plugging it in before you realize that you probably need a monitor, keyboard and a decent connection to use it. Also, Bluetooth controllers aren’t cheap the last time I checked. So if you get this for game playing purposes and haven’t an idea of what a decent controller costs, look that up first before you grab your own Chip.

But there’s little doubt that a LOT of those 20,000+ backers on this Kickstarter project know these facts. That and there are a few Chip models that cost a bit to a lot more than $9 that come with that screen, keyboard and monitor. I’m highly intrigued by this particular project, but as I’m always broke, I won’t be nabbing one of these until it’s ready for retail and all the bugs are flattened out. It’ll likely be used for games and maybe learning to program stuff (something I’ve always wanted to do because I have game ideas not thought of or done right yet). Anyway, these are exciting times aren’t they? Unless you’re lazy and want everything handed to you on a silver platter, of course.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance – Thy Wow Be Done (and Then Some)…

Posted on November 26, 2014 by geelw

So, I’ll probably need to buy a new PC after all thanks to Polish developer Warhorse Studios and their incredible-looking (and still in development) game, Kingdom Come: Deliverance. That trailer below says and shows it all and the “Dungeons… and No Dragons” tagline made me laugh out loud because I thought of it as I was watching the footage and picking my jaw up off the floor. Crytek’s versatile CryEngine 3 is really getting a workout here and that realistic medieval setting is even more intriguing. The game was a successful Kickstarter project that got a great deal of attention and over $1.7 million in pledges. The game is still being funded by new backers on the official site and to date, almost $2.2 million has been raised, meaning people REALLY want to see this game come to a PC or next-gen console near them next year…

Continue reading →

Convoy: Top-Down Tactical Vehicle Combat? Yes, You NEED This Game!

Posted on November 3, 2014 by geelw

Sometimes stuff lands in one of the inboxes here that makes me laugh for a few reasons from good to bad to “Ruh-Roh!”. Convoy Games’ Kickstarter project, Convoy falls squarely in the former hearty chuckle category. That was thanks to playing a demo build linked with that email that made me laugh because the gameplay was something I’d not seen previously and everything clicked right away. I happen to love when developers decide to tackle familiar genres in unique ways and Convoy does just that. Sure, it’s basically the space combat from games like FTL and other sci-fi classics translated to top-down rogue-like road action out of the Mad Max movies. But so far, it all feels just right and while in need of more tweaking, it’s clear the dev team is on the right path.

Anyway, go check out the project video above, click on over to that KS page and whip out that wallet. A mere $13 gets you the final version of the game when it’s all done and ready to go in February 2015. Currently, the game is just under a third funded with 25 days to go, but it needs to get more love. Um, financial love, people. Don’t go proposing to Convoy or anything silly like that, now. I’m not sure the dev team wants to let go of their game before they’re all done with it. It’s a great Monday when you see an indie game that’s more exciting than a bunch of AAA titles screaming for your attention, that’s for sure…