Free Music Alert Plus: Download Dishonored’s Tune, Win Big By Making Your Own Remix

Posted on September 14, 2012 by geelw

Hey! Free stuff is ALWAYS great, right? Right! But, add in a chance to be creative with that free stuff in order to get MORE free stuff and we’re in mind expanding territory here. Well, not really – I just have a word count to meet and this sort of cheery banter fills that up quite nicely. Er, anyway… this IS a really cool contest for you creative types out there who like to tinker with tunes. Go check out the Drunken Whaler MP3 over at the Bethesda Blog, download it and get with the remixing, mateys. Come up with a suitably stunning slice of DJ delivery, enter the contest and guess what? If you win, you walk away smiling with a copy of Dishonored for your efforts. Get cracking fast, Cap’n Hook (or is it Cap’n Crunch?), as you all need to submit your shanties by September 28. YES, 2012. Geez, some people…

Dishonored is in stores October 9 for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. Yes, you need to buy it. There’s a very deadly assassin on the cover who just may find time for some extracurricular field work if you don’t.

(Disclaimer: Bethesda makes no endorsements about thinly veiled threats from fictional video game characters towards readers of this blog about the non-existent potential for bodily harm if they don’t buy their upcoming Arkane Studios-developed game. That’s my job.)

Dishonored Developer Documentary Part 3: Experience And Choice Make A Big Game Bigger…

Posted on September 14, 2012 by geelw

As I’ve been saying for months now, DIshonored is going to blow you away on many fronts from the stylized visuals to the great gameplay to the amount of choice you have while playing. This latest video shows how to kill with skill and in quite a few ways. Amusingly enough, my two favorite upcoming titles that use player choice as key to the experience are this game and Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of 2 – you can’t get more opposite ends of the gaming spectrum than that, I’d say!

Resident Evil 6 “Cries for Help” TV Spot: Capcom Brings The Horror Home…

Posted on September 13, 2012 by geelw

Speaking of kids and perilous situations, I love this TV spot, as it’s not only well shot and acted, it really makes me want to dive into the game and play more than the demo sections I had so much fun with. Granted, Capcom’s kitchen sink approach to creating Resident Evil 6 might not please some gamers who want ONE type of gameplay and the same old stuff as in the first four numbered games. Fortunately, I’m one of those people who got what the dev team was working at right away and saw that each segment of the game will be its own mini-epic rushing to collide with the other parts to create the biggest and possibly best new RE game this console cycle. I’ve been holding back impressions on the game because I want to dive into the entire disc and experience the stories as they’re meant to be played, so like many of you, I’m eager to see how it all meshes by the end credits. If anything, I’m betting it’s the most talked about game in the franchise’s history for all the content it’s bringing players new and old…

Sigma Team’s I Am Weapon: Send in the Clowns (And Towers To Defend Against Them)…

Posted on September 13, 2012 by geelw

Once again, I thought I was all done with tower defense games but here we go again. First it was Orcs Must Die! that got me interested again (Hey, Robot Entertainment? Where’s the Vita version?) and now, the folks over at Sigma Team are making me want to dive in again with their offbeat take on the familiar genre. Granted, if you’re freaked out by clowns, blood, oddball game descriptions an/or indie games in general, just break out a deck of cards or something. On the other hand, heading to their website will hook you up with some free games from Sigma Team’s back catalog as well as allow you to check out demos of their other titles in the Alien Shooter and Zombie Shooter series. I’m a fan of both because they’re two non-stop isometric action games with light RPG elements and hundreds of enemies onscreen simultaneously. It would be cool to see these guys get more respect for their work, but hey – that’s partially up to you, you know.

Pro Pinball Kickstarter: Bringing Back The Digital Silver Ball Classics Once More

Posted on September 12, 2012 by geelw

While the goal of $400,000 may seem high to non-pinball fans out there, here’s another case where a healthy combo of nostalgia and pure common sense can win big for fans of classic video gaming across the globe. Granted, the Pro Pinball series is originally a 90’s creation, but the excellently designed tables whipped up back then were pretty solid and quite memorable, recalling the days of amazingly creative tables popping up in arcades on a regular basis.

Anyway, check out the pledge page here, as there’s a VERY nice freebie on the page in the form of a download of Big Race USA just for visiting the page. Even better, a mere two dollar pledge will net you two more free tables should the project make its target. Drop a few more quarters into that coins slot and score some really awesome bonuses such as boxed copies of the games for PC and the opportunity to have lunch in Chicago with some of the folks behind the project. Nice! OK, you know what to do – make this thing a reality!

F1 2012 Demo Gameplay: Coming Up Fast, Hoping To Take The Lead…

Posted on September 11, 2012 by geelw

Codemasters is finally dropping that demo of their latest racer this week, so definitely give it a go if you’re a F1 fan or want to try something completely different from other racers on the market. From what I’m seeing so far, this might be one of the best console F1 games to date, but we’ll see when the final drops, as sometimes even the best demo builds aren’t exactly showing off the quality of the final product. A little more salt to the soup or too many cooks spoiling the broth? As always, we shall see, we shall see…

Urban Chaos Hits GOG.com (Or: Awesome Game You Probably Never Played Alert)

Posted on September 11, 2012 by geelw

I recall having to review the PC version of Urban Chaos way back when it was initially released and being really surprised at how much fun the game was. At first glance, new players will note that US is highly reminiscent of Grand Theft Auto III in that you get a (mostly) open world to play around with, hand to hand combat, driving and lots of shooting action. However, the game was released two years before Rockstar’s magnum opus and despite positive reviews and being ported to two consoles soon afterward (to mixed results), the game never really got all the recognition it deserved. Developer Mucky Foot (primarily made up of members from Bullfrog Productions) cooked up an intriguing mix of action, driving and mission based gameplay that started as a straightforward cop saga and turned into a wild post-apocalyptic mash-up that’s weird and a bit creepy (well, it was at the time for me). In a way, the game was/is also a bookend to Core Design’s 2001 action/puzzle/sci-fi/horror hybrid Project Eden, another game that started out as one thing and ended up somewhere dark and bizarre.

Continue reading →

Dishonored Developer Diaries 1 & 2: Creating Style, Immersion & Illusion In A Solid New IP

Posted on September 11, 2012 by geelw

Here’s why Arkane Studios’ upcoming game will be so fantastic – a team with a ton of experience that loves what they do inventing a whole new game world to explore while giving players freedom to mess around almost any way they like. By the way, that “almost” isn’t too limiting, as you’ll see in the videos and even more so when you’re actually playing the game. Sleeper hit? yes, Deserves to be much bigger than it’s going to be? Absolutely.

Why Steam’s Big Picture Interests Me Not One Bit (Mostly)…

Posted on September 10, 2012 by geelw

Actually, I’m positively thrilled at the leap Valve is making, but like a “few” forgotten ones out there, a cold reality sits heavier here than it does where the folks who cook up these products live and work. For the record, I do have a Steam account but barely use it (no high speed internet), so obviously, I’m not at all intrigued about bringing an expanded (and YES, helpful) service I can’t currently use to my living room. Maybe if Valve designed that potential Steam Box so that folks like me could transfer some or all of our PC games (no matter the age) into memory and play those games on a bigger screen somehow? That would get me more into this news. Granted, the millions of Steam users who fall over backwards praising the service will be pleased, but for me, it’s yet another digital divide in an industry grabbing money where they can without heed to every consequence. Yes, EVERY. If you don’t even bother to think about what could happen (no matter how far-fetched), then you’re only caught pants-down when it DOES happen, I say.

Continue reading →

Random Indie Game of the Week: Fable of Heroes: Legendary Edition

Posted on September 8, 2012 by geelw

Yep, another week, another really cool RPGmaker.net game. This time, it’s the fun and challenging throwback by user Dustsoft, Fable of Heroes: Legendary Edition. Although it’s got a pretty basic plot and characters straight out of RPG central casting, that’s exactly what makes it work for me. Amusingly enough, the game is noted as a throwback to the NES and SNES days, but many of the art assets used from the RTP look straight out of Shining Force in terms of the color palette, buildings, map tilesets and even the light, happy music in the starting village. Granted, the Genesis was lousy at decent fog and transparency effects as seen in some areas here, but I had a big Sega smile on my face while playing this one, that’s for sure…