Larian Studios Makes Marriages Merry With A Bit Of Divinity: Original Sin

Posted on February 14, 2014 by geelw

Well, this is a pretty neat Valentine’s Day post for you warm-hearted Kleenex-carrying freaks out there who get all weepy at the drop of a hat. I’ve heard of like-minded gamers proposing in all sorts of online only games and I think I even recall proposals given by game developers for fans of certain titles. However, I believe this is one of the first proposals I’ve seen made by one person for another using a game editor. I still haven’t gotten around to buying or playing Divinity: Original Sin yet (hey, my backlog is killing me!) Okay, I’ll admit it… I’m a kind of (shh!) hopeless romantic at heart (shhhh!), so this stuff makes me grin inside (I can’t let the world see me smile much – it hurts my curmudgeonly image a bit).

Okay, I’m not THAT cranky and this is pretty sweet. LESSON: video games aren’t all about running around and killing each other dead and some are even wonderful at allowing players the freedom to pull off super cool stuff like this. Well, congratulations and best of luck to the happy couple and everyone else who’s going to be hitched because of their love for Larian Studios and their excellent game!

STYX: Master of Shadows Trailer: Cyanide’s Sneaky Goblin Wants To Steal Your Attention…

Posted on February 13, 2014 by geelw

While Of Orcs and Men didn’t light up the RPG scene when it was released, the game’s two leads drew enough attention that developer Cyanide Studios is cooking up an all new adventure starring one of them and based on the teaser trailer above, it looks quite interesting. STYX: Master of Shadows puts that mean-faced but very charismatic little goblin back in the human world and looks to be a stealthy action game along the lines of the Thief series. We’ll see how this one plays out and if the stealth elements make the cut among the fans of the genre who demand perfection. So far, this is PC only, but I’ll hold out a hope it makes it onto consoles at some point just so I don’t need to spend more money upgrading my dinosaur rig that’s still holding its own but is aging in dog years by the day. As always, we shall see, but this one looks like it would fit well on either the PS4 or Xbox One at some point…

Jazzpunk Trailer: Jack Into The Ultimate Crazy Trip From Adult Swim & Necrophone Games

Posted on February 13, 2014 by geelw

Lovely. Jazzpunk is right up my alley, folks. It’ll run on my old PC or laptop, it’s bizarre as hell and manages to cover that 90’s cyber-fantasy stuff much better than most games made IN the 90’s did. Yes, I played plenty of them back in the day from excellent to absolutely putrid and I still have some pretty awful flashbacks about Virtuoso and Cyberdillo on the 3DO and don’t even get me started on those Lawnmower Man games (yes, there were a few of them). Anyway, this one’s on sale for a few more hours on Steam (you save three bucks for another 20 hours), so go check it out if you’re curios after seeing that video above. These posts are coming in short bursts today because of the crappy weather outside and the fact that the library is closing early today thanks to that crappy weather (boo).

Goat Simulator: Is That A Coffee Stain On Your Forehead? Just Say Yes.

Posted on February 13, 2014 by geelw

Are you OK? That cup that sailed across the room and smacked you in the skull knocked you clean out of your chair! And so it goes with games that come out of nowhere. The madmen (and probably women as well) over at Sweden’s Coffee Stain Studios have come up with a pretty wacky game that’s buggy as hell and in their own words, you’d be better off buying something else:

Disclaimer

Goat Simulator is a small, broken and stupid game. It was made in a couple of weeks so don’t expect a game in the size and scope of GTA with goats. In fact, you’re better off not expecting anything at all actually. To be completely honest, it would be best if you’d spend your $10 on a hula hoop, a pile of bricks, or maybe a real-life goat.

But guess what? Out of nowhere, this busted pile of code has become one of the hotter indie games of 2014 and yes indeed, you can pre-order it HERE. I wasn’t even sure if I even wanted to play it when I heard of it last week… and then I saw that video above. Okay, I’m sold on the stupid. And of course, that whacked-out tune in the video stuck in my head so Coffee Stain went and made a freaking 26-plusHumor, Video game minute REMIX of the dang thing (enjoy!):

I bet this takes your mind off that cold, snow and mess outside for a bit. I know I’ll have that goofy tune looping in MY brain until the weekend. Um, thanks, Coffee Stain Studios?

Evolve: 2K Games and Turtle Rock Give The Multiplayer Shooter Genre A Monster Kick…

Posted on February 12, 2014 by geelw

I’ll admit to not being thrilled when I heard of Evolve because, futuristic weapons and cast of four hunters aside it’s yet another multiplayer focused shooter I can’t play because it probably doesn’t have an offline mode. But after seeing a bit of gameplay and getting that it’s a four against one game with that one playing a hunted beast that can evolve into a massive near-kaiju style beast, my interest went up a bit. Now, the ability to play as a monster isn’t a “new” thing in games at all, but developer Turtle Rock Studios is making this the core of the gameplay which requires the four players going after that monster to work together in order to take the player-controlled beastie down as quickly as possible.

Given Turtle Rock’s pioneering work on the Left 4 Dead games, it’s a no brainer that the team would take what they learned from that experience and up the ante considerably. Granted, the AI on that monster isn’t Director controlled and random, but I’m betting that creatures that the monster needs to feed on may be smart buggers who will hopefully spell trouble for the human hunters as they run and plan. I’m gathering that cutting off the food supply will keep that monster from noshing away and getting bigger, but I’ll probably need to ask that question at some point (among others) if and when I get some actual hands on time with this at a press event. Yeah, I may not play this at home, but I’ll certainly play it at a meeting and let you all know if it’s everything it’s cracked up to be. It sure looks like it shall be…

2K Games and Bethesda Team Up For Legendary Reissues

Posted on February 11, 2014 by geelw

And by “Legendary”, I mean you’ll be lost for hours in these digital worlds these two new collections have packed onto those discs. The first bundle features the multimillion selling titles The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and BioShock Infinite and the second bundle features everyone’s favorite FPS/RPG hybrids Borderlands 2 and Dishonored. I’d highly recommend these to new players who’ve yet to play these four modern classics, but collectors may also want to snap these up as it’s a pretty good value for the content you’re getting. Granted, the cheapskates out there who always buy stuff on sale may disagree, but 2K and Bethsoft aren’t targeting you anyway (nyah!). Ah, so many, mnay games… so little time to play them!

Preview: The Witcher – Geralt of Riva Rides the Dark Horse…

Posted on February 11, 2014 by geelw

I’d forgotten Dark Horse Comics was doing a book based on this book and game series, so this was a nice surprise. Paul Tobin (writer) and Joe Querio (art) are on the case here and so far, the preview is not bad at all. It’s hard to step from the realism of CD Projekt RED’s lush and lovely game world to the printed page, but that’s the power of that team’s work that makes such a huge impression on those of us who like Geralt of Riva and his rather interesting adventures. Anyway, everyone’s favorite antihero/monster hunter/ladies man/ is coming to your favorite comic emporium on March 19, 2014 – feel free to bug your retailer or just place an order online at the usual suspects (Things from Another World or Dark Horse Digital).

A few pages and the cover to Issue 2 are below the jump – enjoy!

Continue reading →

Zombeer, Anyone? Moonbite’s Undead Boozer/Shooter Hits PSN Today

Posted on February 11, 2014 by geelw

Okay, it’s Tuesday and I’ve been listening to weather reports saying we’re going to get some more snow dumped on us up here tomorrow night into Thursday morning or so. Wonderful. Just what I needed to hear, especially since there are still mountains of dirty ice that haven’t been tackled yet by the folks who need to do that stuff. So, what’s a guy to do now that there’s going to be a day of being trapped indoors? Well, YOU’LL probably be snuggling with your sweetie… or a box of tissues and some hot soup if you’re already sick. Me, I’ll probably be taking a peek at Moonbite’s goofy Zombeer because it looks like something that would keep me much more interested than MORE stupid snow.

Let’s see now, made in sunny Barcelona (Okay, it’s probably NOT sunny at night there) , features lots of zombies, lots more beer (digital beer – you can get drunk on whatever is in your house on your own time), sexy Zombabes galore (Woo!), silly M-rated gore and probably too many in-jokes to count if that trailer above is any indication. Anyway, Zombeer is on PSN right about NOW, so go grab it, I say!

Oh, Yeah: The Walking Dead Is Back (In A Few Places)…

Posted on February 8, 2014 by geelw

I still haven’t gotten around to playing Season Two of Telltale’s The Walking Dead, but I’ve been a bit busy/crazy lately. Now I’ll have even LESS time to get to it thanks to the second half of Season Four of the hit show popping up tomorrow. Thankfully, it’s not a long half-season, but on the other hand, I’d love it if shows didn’t split into halves where you wait around staring at a wall for months between episodes. I don’t like binge watching too much at all (I save it for shows that are dead and gone), but I do like regularity. I say feed prunes to the writing staff, cast and directors on all these shows so they can grasp the concept of a season starting up and not being over until we get a week to week set of shows without minding the gap.

Yeah, I’m talking to YOU, Mad Men (already shot and done as a series, but keeping us waiting what, a year more for those final shows? Yeesh. I don’t even think I’ll be interested when it kicks off again)…

Crow Pie Chronicles (Or I’m Glad To Be Wrong About): The Lego Movie

Posted on February 7, 2014 by geelw

YUM! I said I’d eat a crow pie if I was wrong about The Lego Movie not sucking and yep, I’m a man of my word, although I had to substitute some of my not yet world famous chicken for “crow” and a few slices of whole grain bread for “pie”. Anyway, it’s good to see this one netting nice notices so now I need to see it at some point and make sure all those critics weren’t sucking in the happy gas WB pumped into those free screenings I didn’t get an invite to (boo!). Since I’ve been ignoring the film for the most part, I’m going in blind other than what I’ve seen on those TV spots popping up all over the place every few seconds. I still think it’ll be well over the heads of anyone over ten years old who won’t get all the references and in-jokes, but that’s probably me underestimating the kids of the hipsters and boomers taking them to see this.

And wait, wha-whaaaat? There’s a video game based on the film as well? I did predict this last year or earlier, but I’m actually surprised that there was one made because that’s just TOO meta at the end of the day. Anyway, you KNOW a movie is going to be worth seeing when Fox News has a shit fit about it for all the wrong reasons. They seem to believe that a movie made to get people to run out and spend money to see it (and the tie in toys AND the game that’s made for the same purpose) is somehow teaching kids to be “anti-capitalist” (wha-whaaaat?)… despite the OBVIOUS hundreds of millions this will rake in for a few big corporations. As the kids say, DERP.

Yeah, they’re quite stupid over there and I wish they’d stop it. But it’s interesting watching them hang themselves by their own rope every day they keep the blood pressure of their viewership headed through the roof over trifling nonsense. Perhaps they all need to chill for a bit and actually go see some of the stuff they bitch and moan about as bad for Amurrrrica? That would be my prescription…