Project CARS Halloween Trailer: A Few Scary Things Going On Here Drive Me Batty…

Posted on October 24, 2014 by geelw

You may have noticed that this is the European PEGI-rated trailer for the game and not the North American ESRB one, but that’s because at my current download speed, it will take (looks at timer)… seven hours to download that US trailer (Yaaaah!) We can’t have that, now, can we? The other scary thing? How amazing this game looks, as this is all in-game footage put together by a really talented video editor/player. I guess the third (and perhaps most frightening) thing is I’m now wondering how good the Wii U version of the game will look and how fast it will be. Not that the system can’t do an excellent racing game with real cars, mind you (Need for Speed U is still the pinnacle of realism on the console in terms of visuals). It’s more of a correcting of perception thing among the die-hard skeptics that have been hating on the console before it was launched who still haven’t been convinced even after some recent and great software releases.

Oh well, those folk may never be convinced (and it’s their loss), but as someone who owns and likes his Wii U quite a lot, I’m holding my breath that Slightly Mad Studios blows all those haters out of the muddy water they’re trolling in with a stellar version that wipes the smirks right off their faces.

On Rusty Trails: Black Pants Game Studio is At it Again With the Indie Winner-ness!

Posted on October 22, 2014 by geelw

Well, those five creative guys from Germany (no, not Kraftwerk!) are in the game kitchen cooking up what looks like another awesome game. Yes, Black Pants Game Studio (Tiny & Big in Grandpa’s Leftovers) is hard at work making their new game, On Rusty Trails (Guy Elvis in His Search for a Comfy Place to Stay), which has nothing to do with Jack Kerouac (maybe) and everything to do with fine and dandy platforming and comic art come to life in game for. And stuff.

Oh, and you play as a guy named Elvis. Not the Elvis, mind you, as a lot of people share that name. Or perhaps it IS Elvis in a triangular metal machine suit? I didn’t bother to ask, so Black Pants isn’t telling. That would be absurd, mind you, but hey – I didn’t ask, remember? Anyway, as you can more than clearly see here, the art style is once again amazing and although this one’s a “2D” style platformer, the team’s quirky style seeps in here and makes this one more than worth a look.

Oh, wait – you want screenshots? Okay, here you go. Get ready to study them up close and personal-like, as they’re fairly MASSIVE once clicked on:

Currently in early alpha stage and set for a release sometime in 2015, here’s what to expect in the final version (plus more on the way, I’m betting):

Features
Slip into the Shifty Suit™! Wear these arcane but fine threads to change your appearance whenever there‘s a need to fit in. Avoid confrontation and do not leave your comfort zone!

Still Stepping on the Floor? Get your feet on the walls! Why, even on the ceiling! And then: Go walk there!

A Tale Told in Finest Comic Art. Stimulate your eyes and brains with a story about the loss of a low-rent flat, complicated misunderstandings and a looming war.

Saucy Soundtrack Guarantee! Another great selection of handpicked indie bands to discover!

A true Black Pants Studio experience!

How about some more screenshots? You did look kinda starved there…:

Well, that’s it for now for this gallery, but I’m expecting more from Black Pants soon. Or later. Or whenever they provide updates. This one looks like it’ll be a ton of fun once it’s all done. Hey, that rhymes! Okay, let me stop here before something else falls out of my head. Good games make me giddy.

Monday Bundle Madness Continues: Get Your Deals Here!

Posted on October 20, 2014 by geelw

More bundles of joy galore this week, ladies and germs! The IndieGala Every Monday Bundle this week is a wild one, with eight assorted games about horse breeding in a fantasy setting, an AWESOME Tempest clone (nostalgia alert!), a fun minimalist puzzle game based on Alice in Wonderland’s first glorious chapter, a great little physics-based robot game and more. Yeah, you NEED this. It’s only two bucks for 24 hours (well, $1.99, you nit-picking penny-pincher!) and you’ll never forgive yourself if you let yourself miss this deal. More deals below the jump (look out belooooooow!)… Continue reading →

GetGeeked: Matter and Form Brings Affordable 3D Scanning to the Masses…

Posted on October 20, 2014 by geelw

With 3D scanning and printing being one of the latest new big tech things anyone who wants to do can do if they’ve the money, time, and patience, it’s still a somewhat expensive hobby to leap into for novices. Poke around online and you’ll see some scanners still run well over a thousand dollars and that’s out of the range of potential casual users or those who just want to experiment with 3D modeling techniques or maybe make a small amount of crafty goods as gifts or whatever using any number of 3D printers or printing services cropping up all over the place. Enter the folks at Matter and Form with a cool and affordable solution that does what the more expensive models do at a faction of the cost.

Matter and Form Educational Video from Mike Erskine-Kellie on Vimeo.

The company had a booth at the getgeeked tech show last week and I accidentally picked up the cute alien figure being scanned (oops) because I saw it and immediately thought up an ad for the company I think they should use with that cute little greenish guy. Of course, I put the figure back onto the turntable (heh, sorry!) and picked up some info about the scanner instead to peruse when I returned home… Continue reading →

SAVAGE: The Sword of Goshen Update: Another Indie Retro Action/Platformer Shaping Up as a Nice Surprise…

Posted on October 18, 2014 by geelw

Matt Fitzgerald of Planet Tobor is making what’s shaping up to be a fun retro action platformer you 8 and 16-bit fanatics may want to keep an eyeball peeled for. SAVAGE: The Sword of Goshen is looking pretty cool, and although it’s still deep in development, you can download and try out the alpha and maybe let him know what you think or just hold out for a later build that’s less buggy. But even in the state it’s in in that video above, you can tell it’s a labor of love that’s coming along quite nicely. Anyway, it’s already been funded through Kickstarter, so for me, all that’s left to do is wait for the game to drop onto a download service so I can pay for all this hard work going on…

Graal Seeker Update: Extended Campaign + Some Music Lessons For You Potential Backers…

Posted on October 18, 2014 by geelw

Meanwhile, back in crowd-funding land…

With only 16 days left in its Indiegogo campaign, Lugludum Game Studios’ work in progress tactical/RPG Graal Seeker is jockeying for a Steam Greenlight spot, so help them out with a vote and a pledge if you haven’t yet. This latest devlog is a total educational hoot, as it shows how the music and some of the sound effects were done (go, Guillaume!). You may want to fund the game just so he doesn’t come after you with some of those weapons he has! Then again, that might make for a heck of a stretch goal – get the sound guy to chase you around a room so he can record screams for the Graal Seeker sequel!

Finally, PR guy Thibaut Trampont wants you to bug the dev team on Reddit tomorrow:

Ask Us Anything (AMA) on Sunday 19th October:
We will be on Reddit to answer all questions the 19th October at 3pm UTC with the guys from Battle Brothers, That Which Sleeps and Dungeon Kingdom. This can be a great opportunity to satisfy your curiosity about how indie developers like us make RPGs. The link will be shared on twitter the day of the AMA.

Follow Thibaut Trampont on Twitter here: @ttrampont – and go get this game funded! It looks like it will be quite a bit of fun and certainly a unique experience for SRPG fans who want something more than anime-based fantasy games in their libraries.

Help GOG.com Stress Test Their Galaxy Beta Servers and Get Some FREE Stress to Test You In Return!

Posted on October 15, 2014 by geelw

Here’s a no-brainer if you’ve time, a nice PC gaming rig (or an older one that can run fast-paced games from 14 years ago with no trouble), like being slightly terrified and having a few adrenaline rushes hit you within the space of a few hours. Help gog.com in their Galaxy beta test program and you’ll get Aliens vs. Predator Classic 2000 for FREE. Yup. Sign up and wait for that email that lets you into the beta and your game key. DRM-free, of course. While dated on the visual front, this is a pretty intense shooter that mixes the two franchises up pretty well and makes for some fine jump out of your seat multiplayer action. There’s a solo play Skirmish mode as well, but the folks at gog.com really want to see how many people their Galaxy can hold.

Dungeon of the Endless: Deceptive Depth and Plenty of Death Lie in Wait in This Upcoming Hybrid…

Posted on October 15, 2014 by geelw

Combine the random thrills of a rogue-like RPG experience and a tower defense game and what do you get? Well, a hell of a mess if it’s done wrong, but Amplitude Studios’ Dungeon of the Endless looks to me as if the developer not only nailed this cross-breed about as good as it can get, they’ve pretty much kicked off a new sub-genre for some folks.

Between the beautiful visuals (those sprite graphics with modern lighting look spectacular)and the supremely challenging gameplay in solo or up to four player co-operative modes, this one looks like it’ll be a favorite of those who like thus mega-mix and the very populated little universe Amplitude has created with its other Endless games (Endless Space and Endless Legend). This one’s on PC October 27, but is also Xbox One bound at some point. That short movie-like trailer above should give you a very good idea of what to expect, so keep an eye peeled or just shell out for a pre-order if this one perks you up a bit.

Wait, There’s a Legend of Grimrock II? I Still Haven’t Completed the FIRST One!

Posted on October 15, 2014 by geelw

Gyaaaah. My backlog is a pain in the behind, people. Staring, glaring and leering at me from two hard drives and some USB sticks, knowing full well by the time I finally get to it I’ll be older and grayer and slower and more games will have crept in to fill what little void there is left in that hole they spawn from. Or something like that. Anyway… Hey, Almost Human Games? It’s probably a very good thing whomever is doing your PR hasn’t bugged me about playing this game at all because I’d probably faint dead away knowing there was an amazing looking sequel out NOW and I’m still only about three hours into the first game. Yeah, I suck. Okay, not really – the helper monkey I ordered ran off with a squirrel and I still haven’t recovered all the work it was “organizing” for me, grrrrr!

Actually, I had so many games to play and other things to do that by the time I finally go around to buying and installing the game last year, it didn’t get played as much as I wanted to. Ah, the need for more time to do this is a powerful one. Maybe if I got off the internet and ignored trivial stuff, I’d have more time for these excellent indie dungeon crawlers. Heck, as it is, I’m about a dozen games behind in reviews (which is about to change shortly). Anyway, the game is now live on Steam gog.com and The Humble Store with a limited time 10% discount. Interested? Well, you can check to see if it will run on your own computer using this compatibility test installer and if it does? Well, you probably need a nice adventure/puzzle/dungeon crawler to eat away at your more free time than I have currently. GET IT.

Is The Evil Within Any Good? I’ll Find Out (Eventually)..

Posted on October 14, 2014 by geelw

Shinji Mikami and Tango Gameworks’ horror game The Evil Within is out today, and I know publisher Bethesda Softworks is anticipating good numbers for this psychological/survival horror/action game hybrid. While PC and “next-gen” versions are going to get the critical love or hate, I’m more interested in the older console versions because they’ll be ignored for the most part by critics despite MORE people owning hardware those versions can be played on outside the PC game space where no game is guaranteed to move as well thanks to assorted factors outside the control of the publisher. Mikami’s name will move copies to fans of Capcom’s storied (but bumpy since he left) Resident Evil franchise, but those new to the man’s work will probably play the waiting game until they have enough pals playing to convince them to drop some cash on this new IP.

Sure, I’m betting the PS3 or 360 versions don’t look as good, may have issues with frame rate and/or screen tearing compared to the spiffier new consoles and so forth and so on. But I don’t care about that at all in any game if I like the story, characters and gameplay. We’re at the stage where games are picked apart for too many things that at the end of the day, don’t really detract from the overall experience at all. There are too many amateur internet critics that think because they’ve read other (and better) reviews and have picked up a few buzzwords, they can toss them back at EVERY game like they know what they’re talking about. Sadly, most of the time they’re wrong or just being picky to justify not liking something most others would overlook. As for me, well, I have to hold out for a bit thanks to my disposable income being less disposable of late, but it’s a ride I do want to take at some point…