Legionwood 2 Volume One Is Getting To The “All Done, Pay Up!” Part (This Is A Good Thing)…

TitleScreenTo me, five dollars isn’t a lot of money for almost any game I like. However (believe it or else), there are many people slaving away on assorted RPG Maker and other simple to complex to use game creation software titles who charge not a dime for all their hard work.

I’m one of those people who feel those who spend even a few spare hours a week working on games to give away should be compensated with funds over mere thanks and praises (and “Hey, where’s that next game? Hurry up already!” comments), so it’s actually great news to see Dark Gaia Productions (aka D. Robert Grixti) finally charging something for the upcoming Legionwood 2: Rise of the Eternal’s Realm. The first game (Legionwood: Tale of The Two Swords) was lengthy, challenging and very fun in that 16-bit manner. Meaning it was worth about $50 or so if it was to somehow appear in a game box between 1991 and 1995.

If you’re waxing on and off in a nostalgic manner, feel free to try the game out in beta form HERE and follow Dark Gaia Productions by clicking one of those two links in the previous paragraph. That was real simple, right? Mondays aren’t always so under-complicated, right? Good. Then my work here is done. Well, just HERE in this post. I think I have another one to three others left in me tonight… we’ll see.

Okay, Max Team… Now You’re Just Messing With Me…

Ha and ha, ha. Massimo and Fernando over at MAX TEAM must really hate me. The just ran a fun new reworked intro to their upcoming Monster World RPG the other day and now here comes a big, fat SPOILER video with the game’s bad ending that they tell you NOT to watch if you don’t want to see it. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED! I still haven’t seen it and I know YOU won’t click that play button either, right? RIGHT? Yeah, I thought so. In fact, I say let’s give them the pleasure of NOT clicking that video and making it become the least popular one they’ve made to date. That should teach them not to go and do stuff like this ever again. YEAH. We showed YOU two what’s what. The fans have spoken! Or have NOT spoken and NOT clicked on your video! So there.

(Okay, so it’s actually a goofy joke that happens about a minute into the game, so it’s not an actual “spoiler” at all, so you can click away at your leisure and not actually “spoil” anything!)

Monster World RPG Update (It’s Creeping Closer)…

Massimo and Fernando (aka MAX TEAM) are still debugging their baby so it arrives all ready to download and play, but Monster World RPG just may be the big (and FREE) ticket Sega fans are looking for when it comes to fan-made JRPG experiences. So much work and love has gone into this project that the game truly looks as if it’s a never released Genesis game. Granted, I’ve only played a few demos over the past year or two, but I’m confident that the end result will be well worth the long wait. I think there’s a month or so to go before this lands, but I say take your time, guys… take your time. I want this one to be perfect when I sit down and lose too many hours in it…

Bundle Stars Wants You To Win BIG (As In $500 Worth of Steam Games BIG)…

store-giveaway 

Wow. Simple entry procedure? CHECK, super prize for ten lucky winners? CHECK. All you need is a PC with enough hard drive space and the appropriate OS and 3D card and you’re good to go. Even if you don’t win a darn thing, you’ll now have a new site to ogle when you’re looking for great game deals where some of the proceeds go to charity. This bundle stuff seems to be the way things are going for many to snap up games of all types at great prices, so get used to it, folks. And if you DO win because you found out about this contest here, remember to put me in your will or something. Or even better, enjoy all those games and say goodbye to being bored for quite some time! And if you’re not a gamer, just pass this post along to someone who is and watch them do something resembling a back flip. Um, if they don’t stick that landing, it’s not my fault… but at least they tried, right?

PlayStation Plus Actually Pays For Itself In January Alone. Wow. (But…)

That said, I think even Sony realizes the insanity of forcing PS4 owners to pay for the “privilege” of multiplayer gaming on their new console. Stick around until the end of this trailer and note how that stupid little thing about paying to play online is shoved in quickly at the end. Granted, they just hit you on the head HARD with the free games mallet and you’re already so dizzy you didn’t even realize you’d whipped out that credit card and signed up. The free games are MORE than worth that $50 and yes, Sony’s not kidding about that “instant game library” thing. The drawback to this is STORAGE space, as even though you get free cloud saves and a nicely sized HDD this time out (which is still small when you consider the size of some new games), you can’t access them should PSN go down for the count for a few days or even a few hours for simple maintenance.

Thankfully, the PS4 will play disc games and anything you have stored locally offline if the game has offline play. Anyway, I think they need to DUMP the requirement to pay to play MP games, as it’s NOT a privilege at all. If a game is made to be played online, any fee should be part of the price of the game, period. Asking people to pony up as part of a package is lame, even if they do get what amounts to a few thousand bucks a year in free content. Granted, having thee time to PLAY all those freebies AND buy and play NEW games requires either quitting one’s day job, renting out a TARDIS so you can go back in time to fire up a game, complete it and go back to start a new one and some other time magic. But hey, who can pass up FREE when the buffet is so tantalizing?

READS: Anyone Want A Big Deal, Big-Ass Movie Criticism Book from 1971?

NYTDOTF (1) Merry Christmas and all that stuff like that there! Okay,unlike the previous giveaway post this isn’t quite a freebie, but more of a trade of sorts. I’m clearing out a closet full of assorted things here and figure someone who loves movies might want this rather thick and heavy old tome. As you can see, it’s the 1971 volume of The New York Times Directory of The Film, which is 1243 pages thick and packed with reviews of the papers top ten films from the years 1924 to 1969 (but I think a few 1970 films get mentioned). Read on for more info!…

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WIN FREE STUFF! Pokemon Book Looking For A Good Home!

UPDATE: ONE DOWN, ONE TO GO! The Capcom book is claimed! The Pokemon Visual Companion book is still looking for a new home! GRAB IT!

Poke-CapFor you breeders with little to teen readers or anyone who’s into either video games, Pokemon, Capcom history or fine (and game-related) illustration, I’ve got some treats to send out to two lucky folks who just so happen to live here in the connected states here in the U.S. of A.! Yes, you can grab ONE of these two excellent DK Books for FREE by simply leaving a comment below with which one you’d prefer. Winners will be chosen randomly on Friday from all responses received and yes, once I make sure you’re who you say you are and you live at an actual address within reach of the US Postal service via Media Mail, I’ll mail the books out to each person either Saturday or Monday depending on how quickly I get a response from the winners. Yeah, yeah, it’s a post-Christmas contest, but hey – any time of the year is a GOOD time to get something for nothing, right?

Sorry, no International shipping on these (yeah, yeah, I know, but books are stupidly pricey to get from point A to Pont Dupont or wherever and I’m pretty broke!), But anywhere in the 48 contiguous states is A-OK. Nope, I won’t sell or give your address to any spammers. I’m not facebook, you know!

Gog.com Makes The World A Temporary Fallout FREE Zone (With An Expected Paradox)…

Which is, amusingly enough, radiation exposure will actually go way UP across the globe thanks to all the new and old people spending too many hours playing Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics once they download them all for FREE as part of gog.com’s fantastic DRM-FREE Winter Sale. Yeah, get this deal NOW and don’t delay, as in less than 48 hours all three titles will be disappearing from the site forever as their rights belong to another huge games publisher who wants more control over distribution of those titles.

Yeah, it’s one more “best deal of the month!” for you, but make sure to check out the other goodies on the sale page (over 600 games means over 600 sales!), as you can walk away with a ton of great games for insanely low prices. OK, get crackin’ and remember, if it’s too busy to download the games today (because a chunk of the planet is crashing gog.com’s servers), as long as you have the games in your gog.com account before the sale ends, you can download them afterwards. I got three hours of sleep and woke up to this news, so perhaps I’m still asleep or something. But I think not…

Monster World RPG Update: Buy, Buy, Birdie!

Another day, another MWRPG update. Actually, two updates so close together (this video actually dropped a few days back) is a GOOD thing, as it means the boys are getting closer to the end of all the bug testing and the game is going to get a release soon. And yes indeed, bug testing is TEDIOUS work. Strong men and women have thrown themselves from low basement windows up to the pavement while doing this thankless task, but if not for their sacrifices and valor, the games you play today would be chock FULL of issues. Er… well MORE games you play would be chock full of issues, as some of these huge AAA titles that ship out with mandatory online play are lousy with the digital pestilence. But, THIS game is s solo old-school JRPG, so I’d say the chances of it NOT running or being unplayable are slim to none. Huzzah!

Monster World RPG Update: Bug Zappers Working Overtime…

Max Team is still hard at work ironing out any problems in their upcoming Monster World RPG. Fans of Monster World IV will get a grin going at this video in particular because it’s based on that a very familiar level in that great little game that never got a US release. Anyway, enjoy the clip, those of you who like what you’re seeing. Everyone else who just doesn’t get it… that’s alright. You’re still cool in my book even if you think we’re all weird or something like that. Hey, everyone needs a hobby, right?