Since I Missed Some Bundles, You Get All Of Them To Buy At Once!

Posted on January 16, 2015 by geelw

Yes, I’ve been busy elsewhere and here and over there, too. So I haven’t been letting you all know of too many bundles to keep you warm this winter. Or something like that. Anyway, keeping up with all of these deals is a fool’s errand, I know. But I’m a fan of spending as little money as possible on some games and feel you should be as well. Let’s get to it, shall we?

First up, IndieGala is re-running its Hostile Reaction and last Friday’s Friday Special Bundle, both with Happy Hour status in full effect. “What’s Happy Hour?” you ask? Well, it’s FREE gifts (more games!) if you buy a bundle at a higher than average price. All that PLUS there’s a FREE Steam game waiting for YOU in the IndieGala store if you have a Steam account. All you need to do is pass them your email and Flump Studios‘ arcade shooter Super Killer Hornet Resurrection is all yours!

Meanwhile, Bundle Stars has a couple of cool deals this week. If you love racing games, tons of destruction and even mini-games where your poor driver gets used as a projectile in faux “sports” events, get the FlatOut Complete Bundle NOW. $5.99 gets you all four games in the series, and while FlatOut 3 is the black sheep of the lot, it’s still interesting to compare it to the three other games to see where it went off the rails. I blame the different dev team (as did everyone else who played the game, it seems), but once you spend some time with it, it’s not the worst racer ever made. Don’t forget to poke around the site for still hot deals on the Bloodshed Bundle, the Abstract Bundle and more!

Over at the Humble Store, this weekend, you can score some awesome Games Workshop titles for a song or two. Also, this week’s Humble Weekly Bundle is all BRAWLERS, with seven games for eight bucks (or five games for a lot less if you’re a total cheapskate). There’s also some cool Humble Book Bundle deals on digital comics (and a free daily digital comic just for dropping by the site). Let me cease here and post this. There are a few other deals in my inbox, but I’ll let you digest these and add dessert at some point tomorrow.

Robot Roller-Derby Disco Dodgeball: Welcome to the Hype-erdome!

Posted on January 10, 2015 by geelw

I tend to avoid promoting many Early Access games because you never know if they’ll actually be completed and there’s nothing worse that getting thrilled over vaporware. Still, after my eyes rolled back in my head when my inbox showed me an email about Robot Roller-Derby Disco Dodgeball, I checked out the YouTube video and nearly fell off my chair laughing. But that’s actually a good thing in this case…

This one’s an instant classic because it’s pure insanity made by ONE guy and seems to have taken Steam by storm. This is what happens when you have time and talent to spare plus a great deal of focus on getting things right. I still dislike multiplayer gaming for a number of good reasons, but I’ll now need to try this out just for the new Arcade mode that’s just been added. The game is being constantly tweaked and according to the press release I got yesterday, has dethroned the mighty Counter-Strike as as the best rated multiplayer game on all of Steam.

Of course, I also have too many painful memories of playing dodgeball in grade school and junior high, so I’d gather my initial hesitation was warranted. I’m not averse to disco, although when it’s in a videogame, I get really awful flashbacks of Cyberdillo, an atrocious wreck of a game for the late, lamented 3DO. Fortunately, Disco Dodgeball plays like a faster-paced version of BattleSport mixed with multiplayer Quake set to some danceable tunes. If you’re bouncing up and down in your seat to the beat of those beats, ten bucks gets you in the door, there’s a no drink minimum and you can hang out as long as you like. If you do decide to grab this one, you may or may not run into yours truly. I still dislike playing online games, but this is one that may make me change my mind for a few minutes at least…

Some Cool Bundles Because You Need A Winter Break…

Posted on January 9, 2015 by geelw

Okay, I’m behind in stuff thanks to this week’s repair shenanigans, but let’s play catch up for a bit, shall we? First off, IndieGala is now running Friday bundles! Awesome. This first one of 2015 just so happens to contain some really great games all at a can’t pass it up price. Did you miss out on the Five Nights at Freddy’s craze last year? Well, you can now get that one-room horror game plus one of Scott Cawthon’s excellent role-playing game hybrids, The Desolate Room. There are also some other cool titles in this bundle, but I’ll let you see them for yourselves…

Meanwhile, over at Bundle Stars, there’s the Bloodshed Bundle to keep you warm on this cold weekend (and a lot more cold weekends, as there are a lot of games here!). I’d say Blood Knights and The Dark Eye: Skilltree Saga are worth the $3.49 alone, but you also get To The Moon (which is a bit of an odd choice for this theme, but it’s a great game nonetheless), Volition’s flawed but decent old RPG Summoner and a few others make this one a total steal.

Okay, you know what to do. It’s going to be freezing this weekend (hell, it’s freezing now at the library I’m in typing this post up) and you don’t want to be caught off guard with nothing to occupy your time except TV Land reruns. Get to it, then!

Buy This! Bundle Stars’ Abstract Bundle Makes The Odd Oddly Comfortable…

Posted on January 6, 2015 by geelw

Bundle Stars, you rascals. Getting out another great deal on this cold and snowy day and me, too damn busy to play anything thanks to poring over CES news. I shake my press release filled fist at thee, then realize this deal goes on for two weeks. Oh, okay. Well, for the rest of you with time enough at last on hand, if you have $2.49 burning a hole in your digital wallet, you should get the Abstract Bundle not because it’s dirt cheap, but because of the nicely weird mix of games this time out. Me, I’d drop that loot just for the chance to play Vangers again after too many years. This 1998 open world driving/sci-fi RPG hybrid is just too offbeat to describe other than to say it’s like a cerebral version of Mad Max as re-imagined by some talented Russian developers who worked in a free-form style of storytelling and gameplay that’s still unique. Intentionally tough at the outset and vague if you’re not reading dialog and thinking about what was said, the game is strangely addictive and those voxel graphics give the game a strangeness that still works in its favor.

The other game well worth that money is Knights of Pen and Paper, a double throwback that references the good old days of Dungeons and Dragons plus some of the classic console RPGs from the 1990’s. This one’s less tricky to describe but still going to be weird to some new to the experience. I’ll let the game page description take over here:

Take on the roles of in-game players taking on the roles of their characters in a traditional pen and paper RPG session in the ultimate meta role playing experience.

Yeah, it’s that quirky, but quirky is good in this case. There are eight other fun games in the bundle from “old” reliable hits like the two PixelJunk games to more recent oddities that will bring a big grin to your face once they click with your smarter parts. Anyway, I’ll shut up now and post this so you can grab this deal and get your own game on. Play a little for me, please. I may not be coming up for air in a while…

DmC Devil May Cry: Definitive Edition – Dante’s Return-O…

Posted on January 6, 2015 by geelw

Oh, I kill me with these puns, don’t I? Um, don’t answer that. Anyway, both Capcom and the supremely talented development team at Ninja Theory took a tremendous deal of grief and worse from some gamers when DmC was announced and that very different Dante graced that mockup mugshot poster. While the fanboy ire raged and internet fires blazed up on message boards, the game’s development continued as developer and publisher pretty much ignored the haters as they made the game they wanted to make. For the most part, the new game was solid, fun to play and like every other game out there, not without its flaws. Still, it must have moved enough copies to warrant a major upgrade to new consoles as PS4 and Xbox One owners are soon going to see DmC Devil May Cry: Definitive Edition smash onto those consoles in March.

For some gamers who’ve already played this one on the older consoles, the idea of shelling out $39.99 to play it again may seem like a not so hot idea. However, Ninja Theory and Capcom intend to deliver to old and new players buying in a game that’s vastly improved over the previous version… Continue reading →

January’s PS Plus Lineup (Provided PSN Is Working!)

Posted on December 31, 2014 by geelw

Poor Sony has been through the wringer this year. Between “hackers” hitting a few of the company’s entertainment divisions and among other things, knocking PSN offline for a bit over the last holiday weekend and a truly crazy class action lawsuit allowed to proceed, all of 2014’s successes seem so very far in the past. Nevertheless, PlayStation Plus subscribers will still be getting a bunch of free games as usual. January’s list of freebies is a nice one indeed, but at this point, it’s all up to whether or not PSN will be running properly so gamers can actually get all of that content. The privileges of membership, indeed…

Persona 5: Last Gasp on the PS3/First Breath on the PS4…

Posted on December 31, 2014 by geelw

Atlus’ long running Shin Megami Tensei: Persona series of games has always been a reliably sturdy franchise for fans, surviving a few major artistic and gameplay changes some dislike while providing deep and generally well written plots as well as some interesting characters. The company has been teasing Persona 5 for a little while now as the game is still in development in Japan, and as this latest teaser shows, some of the familiar elements are back. Expect high-school age kids finding out they’ve got hidden powers called Personas, Japan at the brink of some sort of apocalyptic destruction, and dozens of hours of gameplay not counting plenty of side-quests. Demon fusion, teen angst, maybe a bit of romance options and a number of returning good, evil and neutral NPC’s to chat with will no doubt also be par for the course.

This second teaser trailer reveals not much at all other than some of the new cast of characters and their names. Additionally, as this will be the first Persona game for next-gen (or current gen if you’ve already made the switch), it will be interesting to see the differences between the PS3 and PS4 versions of the game. I’d imagine the more powerful PS4 will run the game at a steady frame rate and probably feature ore detailed environments. But outside that fighting game, the series has never been about super flashy visuals or lightning paced action. We’ll keep an ear to ground for more on this one, but let’s just say a chunk of time is being carved out in order to dive deep into this one and play it at length.

Unmechanical Extended Edition: Get A (nother) Grip Games Goodie in 2015!

Posted on December 31, 2014 by geelw

Grip Games is at it again with a cool enhanced update to one of its popular titles. Unmechanical Extended Edition is coming in 2015 for PS3,PS4, Xbox One courtesy of Grip and developers Teotl Studios and Talawa Games. Given that the original game was a critical success on multiple mobile platforms and PC, a console version with a bit more content was pretty much a no-brainer. Exclusive to the console versions is a new chapter that allows playing of the puzzle/adventure/platormer hybrid as a new character. Grip has also announced the Vita version of the game has been canceled, at least for the time being. The press release notes this, however:

While it is possible that this version will eventually be released, it definitely won’t be simultaneously with other versions.

Ouch. If speculation must be made, I’d imagine that getting Unreal to play nice on the Vita is probably trickier than expected. That or there are other issues keeping this one from its Vita debut. In any event, if Grip and company manage to work things out and get the game up and running, an update will be posted as soon as any news arrives in the inbox here. In the meantime, here are five screens to check out.

Right now, sometime in January 2015 looks like when we’ll see Unmechanical Extended Edition land safely on home consoles. Stay tuned for more on this one…

Some Monday Year End Bundle Deals to Scoop Up…

Posted on December 29, 2014 by geelw

if your year-end plans involved spending as little money as possible on games so you can afford an extra few bottles of bubbly stuff, well… you’re in luck this week.

Like fast cars? Got a fast computer? Great. For a dollar (and ONLY for the next 24 hours!), Bundle Stars is offering up a stupendous deal in the form of the Born 2 Race Bundle. Seven racing games plus a bunch of expansion packs for such a low price that you’d be off your rocker if you passed this deal up. There’s a mix of realism here with a few more fanciful games to dink around with and more than enough content to make this one of the best deals of the year.

If driving around at high speeds isn’t your thing, how about some story-driven adventures on the cheap? Well, the IndieGala Every Monday Bundle has got you covered and then some with eight games for a mere $1.89, which is yes, nuts. Fantasy, fake historical, sci-fi and horror genres are represented here in this nice variety of brain-bending games. There’s even a dash of humor here if you like your games with a comical bent to them.

Whaddaya mean you ONLY play mobile games? Okay, okay… I got you covered. Well, the Humble Noodlecake Studios Mobile Bundle has you covered. Sure, you need to spend a little bit more to get these games. Nevertheless, like the other bundles here it’s worth it because you’re helping support charity. That and you get thirteen games for eight bucks and MORE content that unlocks as more people buy the bundle and break the different targets noted on the game page.

Finally, you may as well check out Indie Royale for more cool stuff for low prices. Or to be more precise, The Debut Bundle 23 gets you eight indie games for $2.58 with a ninth to be unlocked later. I think that should take care of your gaming needs for the end of this year, right? Well, I kind of hope it does. Don’t forget to get out and get some air every now and then, okay? We don’t want people to think you’ve gone and pushed up some daisies somewhere…

Dark Horse Comics Blows Out Its Star Wars Line With a MEGA Sale!

Posted on December 26, 2014 by geelw

With Dark Horse Comics having to give up its successful Star Wars license for good as of 2015, what’s a comic company to do but blow out everything they currently have in a big sale of epic proportions? Well, other than rent a small moon-sized space station with the ability to destroy planets in order to try and keep that license going, of course. Anyway, from now until 11:00 p.m. (PST), Wednesday, December 31, you can get twenty years of Star Wars digital comics at half price. That’s a LOT of books, folks. Well over 500 issues (568, I believe) of different comics totaling over 28,000 pages of stories and art. Yikes. Anyway, you can buy these digital issues singly at half off or just say “What the Force?!” and just get every single issue for $300. I wonder if your favorite reading device will creak and groan from the strain of all that content? Will it weigh more if you happen to have enough storage space to fit every book on a hard drive or other storage media?

However great this deal sounds, remember this, Padawans: The internet can indeed be more dangerous than Mos Eisley spaceport. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy than you can online. You must be cautious. Granted, you can and should save all that reading material to “the cloud” in order to access it any time you like. But I’d also suggest a home storage solution just in case that cloud goes all Alderaan one day. Hey, in space, no one can hear you scream… unless you lose all your stuff you thought was safe because you didn’t have a safer home backup. Then, it’s all “I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.” as you see that money well spent vaporize into nothingness. Get this deal, for sure – but make sure you stick it somewhere safer than online with the rest of the stuff that seems to get swiped on a regular basis. Given that these books will never see the light of day again (thanks, Disney!), it’s best to stock up, even on those issues that you wouldn’t read.