E3 2013: Swery 65’s D4: Episodic Detective Xbox One Exclusive? Well, 2 out of 3 Isn’t Bad…

Posted on June 10, 2013 by geelw

Nope, I’m betting my entire WARP games collection this has no relation to Kenji Eno’s great, languidly paced horror game D or it’s more mature and outrageous follow-up D2, but it’s from one of my favorite game creators, so it’ll get played… provided it eventually comes to a console I can play it on, grrrr. This is the ONE and only thing I despise about this “exclusive” thing, especially in this coming cycle where a lot of games will indeed be VERY “exclusive” as in you can’t play at all unless you meet too many requirements. Bleh. Swery-saaaaaaaaaaaan! PLEASE get this on other systems as soon as possible. ALL your fans deserve to play it – not just a select few!

E3 2013: DARK Trailer: A Modern Vampire Tale Minus The Tween Sparkly Crap…

Posted on June 8, 2013 by geelw

While its protagonist might not be a frightening disease-bringing fiend like the one in W.F. Murnau’s asolute eternal classic Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (which is my ideal vampire tale for the ages thanks to its visually striking villain and zero camp elements), I’ll give DARK props for going against at least SOME of the grain today’s too-handsome teen/young adult vampires are cursed with. Sure, it’s more of a Deus Ex/Thief/Splinter Cell hybrid with an anti-hero who’s probably in deep doo-doo if he runs into a Hot Topic and fries up but good when he runs past all those fake silver goth crosses on display, but that’s OK with me. If the game is well-made (so far it seems so) and fun to play (so far it looks as if it will be) and keeps me hooked in with its story (that’s still to be determined), then it’ll be something that’s played and more than once around here. As usual… we shall see…

Humble Weekly Sale/Humble Bundle 8: MORE Games To Die For, But Act Fast…

Posted on June 5, 2013 by geelw

OK, I’d almost missed this incredible Humble Weekly Sale thanks to some emails getting eaten by my spam folder, but wow. Some of Telltale Games’ biggest hits, including the critically acclaimed episodic series The Walking Dead, is up for grabs for a stupidly LOW price for the next 20 or so hours. If you love adventure games and great stories well told with a few puzzles thrown at your brain for good measure, you NEED this bundle, period.

Oh, did I mention that Humble Bundle 8 has made over $2 million for charity? I didn’t? Well, I just did a sentence ago, silly. Anyway, THAT one’s on sale for a bit longer (6 days) AND now has eleven games and ten soundtracks for under $6!

Anyway, the clock, she is ticking, no? So stop reading here and go HERE to get what’s coming to you. Or else. “Or else, what?” you say? Or else you’ll be kicking yourself in the pants for not getting these games at a great price AND be stuck reading Fifty Shades of What’s Left in the Freezer again this weekend, silly. Seriously – The Walking Dead alone is THAT good a game that slapping down a measly five bucks or more will net you Steam keys for all five episodes

Bundle Stars 8: 12 Games. 5 Bucks. Any Questions?

Posted on June 5, 2013 by geelw

Bundle Stars does it again! OK, maybe they’re not all “great” games, but the variety here is important (and impressive). Besides, I’m betting some of you will play all of these and smile like a pet getting it’s tummy rubbed. Hell, at under fifty cents a pop (!), this is yet another ridiculous deal that makes your wallet happy and your brain happier (but maybe not so happy because you’ll be using it to think up excuses to get out of doing important stuff just so you can get some more game time in!). I was going to say something else, but I looked up and the room has cleared out. Blast you, Bundle Stars! Stealing my readers with another sale, grrrrrr…

Random Indie Game of the Week: DreadOut

Posted on June 3, 2013 by geelw

Amusingly and ironically enough, one of the scariest work-in progress games I’ve played this year comes from a developer named Digital Happiness. Based out of Indonesia, this small studio is in the process of polishing up their first game, DreadOut, a nicely frightening homage to Tecmo’s criminally neglected Fatal Frame series with a modern (and optionally social) twist.

DH is using the extremely versatile Unity game engine, a wonder tool for a number of small to large studios that can pump out some fantastic visuals the can be scaled to run an a wide range of computers and devices. The speed at which this has come together combined with the quality of the work is pretty astonishing. I believe Digital Happiness happens to be in the CG animation business or something, and you can see this in the character art, animation and general pleasingly realistic style of the visuals.
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Random Indie Game of the Week: Bundle Stars Wants YOU To Adopt Lucius (He’s a Hell of a Child)…

Posted on May 31, 2013 by geelw

lucius art

Hey there. Bundle Stars KNOWS how much you love kids, so they’ve got a really special one they desperately want to find a few new homes. His name is Lucius and he’s quite talented. As in VERY talented. As in his birthday was 6/6/66, and it’s six years later and he’s discovered who he really is. As in this is VERY bad for his family in their lovely and secluded mansion. As in if you’ve seen The Omen (the original, not the remake), you’ll find a chilling little horror game with a bit of bite that 85% off for a LIMITED time only. As in if you have a Steam account and about three bucks burning a hole in your pocket (or Lucius has set your purse or pants aflame so that money falls to the carpet), you SHOULD buy this game… NOW.

I mean. look at those sad (read: glowing and hypnotic “adopt me… or I’ll kill you”) eyes… they’re begging you to take him home! And Bundle Stars seems to have a lot of little Lucius to go around. Won’t you please help them out? OK, it’s for the Special Effect charity as well, so now you HAVE to drop that three bucks and get this. Think of the children! And prepare to get scared out of your wits… eek.

Humble Indie Bundle 8: Too Much For Almost Nothing At All (And More If You’re Not Cheap!)

Posted on May 28, 2013 by geelw

How the heck do they do it, I keep wondering. Games like these cost a chunk of time and money to make, but here we go once more – your chance to help out charity by paying what you want to grab some great indie games and awesome bonuses. A buck (cheapskate!) gets you FIVE great games and a nice set of soundtracks, but if you beat the average price and pony up a few dollars more, you unlock two more really cool games (and feel better about yourself, right?). As with most Humble Bundles, this one’s up for two weeks and after that, it’s gone for good. Pop on over to the Humble Bundle site, poke around and see what’s what, then give ’til it doesn’t hurt. The Electronic Frontier Foundation and Child’s Play Charity will thank you kindly and you’ll walk away with a steal and a happier hard drive full of cool stuff to play.

GOG.com Ends A Crazy Week With A 50% Off FPS Fire Sale…

Posted on May 25, 2013 by geelw

It’s been a hell of a good week for fans of classic PC games who happen to have gog.com accounts. Between UnEpic, Wizardry 6, 7 and 8 and the newly announced Xbox One making some people never want to go near a Microsoft console again (heh – little joke there), the team at gog has done it up right (again). Of course, all you want to hear about is what’s on sale this weekend, so… BOOM! here you go. Nothing but shoot-tastic firt-person classics (and not so classics) this weekend, so if you’re into wild action, over the top humor and packing too much heat as you take down alien bastards who stole your ride, crazed undead, assorted futuristic scum and lots of Nazi soldiers, well… it’s your move… but only for the weekend folks, so get busy – your trigger finger needs something to do.

Bundle Stars’ Outlaws Bundle Wants To Permanently “Borrow” A Buck From You…

Posted on May 24, 2013 by geelw

Blast you again, Bundle Stars! These dollar deals are TOO outrageous to pass up for budget-minded gamers looking to score a great deal AND do some charity work without so much as lifting an arm to help a puppy filled basket-carrying granny across the street (you lazy gits, you). Anyway, this week’s awesome deal is The Outlaws Bundle – SIX games from Steam’s huge digital closet from publisher Meridian 4: PAM (Post-Apocalyptic Mayhem), Robin Hood – The Legend of Sherwood, Pacific Storm and all three games in the RIP Trilogy. That’s two strategy games, a car combat game and three arcade style run ‘n gunners for your slightly adjusted to UK rates dollar. As the kids say (well, the kids from 1985 or so), you can’t be that with a baseball bat.

…Well, you CAN beat that with a baseball bat, but if by “that” you’re referring to your PC or laptop… er, that’s kind of a a bad idea because you’ll have nothing to play those games you just paid a dollar and a few cents for. So go beat a couch cushion with a chopstick instead. AFTER you do your good deed for the day and by these games…

Random Indie Game of the Week: The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing Storms Onto Steam…

Posted on May 22, 2013 by geelw

No game is perfect, but the only thing I can see here that I don’t like is the title of NeoCore Games’ great-looking Action/RPG. Call me crazy (please do!), but The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing sounds like a Saturday morning cartoon series that pops up too early to catch on a regular basis. Anyway, snark aside, that video above and screens below show that this one looks pretty awesome. I just need to carve some time into my schedule to play this one and let you know how cool it all is. What? You’re STILL not convinced? OK, OK… here’s another video, you cranky skeptic, you:

Yeah, I thought so – now keep it down back there and check out these screenshots:

Even better, the game has launched today on Steam and is available at a 10% discount ($13.49 instead of $14.99), so I say take advantage of this launch day deal and snap up a copy. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to grab a good knife and go find my cuckoo clock. It was on the wall, but seems to have scampered off somewhere (I think I’ve gone after it a few too many times with sharp objects in an attempt to make more hours in a day)…