Now, paying UNDER four bucks for this nifty set of games may seem like a good idea for you cheaper-skates out there, but that just means you’re NEW to how this Humble Indie Bundle thing works. If you pay MORE than the average price of four dollars (and yes, how much more is entirely up to you), you end up getting MORE games as they unlock when other like-minded smarties fill the pool. And remember, it’s a public pool, so don’t to peeing in there! Er, anyway, the more people ponying up pennies past the price point, the faster those unlocks unlock, it seems. Don’t see anything you like in that bundle? No biggie – poke around the Humble Store and/or check out the Humble Weekly Sale and perhaps you’ll find something to suit your fancy?
Remember, 10% goes to charity so you can buy up and veg out knowing you’re doing some good even if you’re just sitting on your behind for too long racking up a virtual body count, racing around at full speed on some fancy track or simulating something you wouldn’t normally do in real life.
BOOM. Yeah, you thought you were going to get away clean, huh? Nope and nope. If you’re a JRPG fanatic or an anime nut, well… the NISA Online Store wants your money and they’ll do all they can to take it from you while you smile and click away. Some stuff is already SOLD OUT, but there are plenty of cool game and DVD deals plus some other cool stuff worth your while to check out. As mother says… “Knock yourself out!” and “Don’t spend it all in one place!”
And who DOESN’T like a sale? Dark Horse Digital is going to be running a BIG one come Cyber Monday and yes, both you and your money are invited. Two people walk in, one person leave (that is, if your money were a person, but you get the drift). Take a whopping 50% off your order, sir or madam? “YES, PLEASE” is your response, you get to roll away with another instant library (well, I bet you lose an hour or so choosing from the virtual pile of books there) and everyone’s happy. Except maybe for Laser Kitty who had to have those contacts put in. Everyone hates those contacts. Fortunately I hear he got a hunk of fresh tuna later for his troubles. So yeah, set your time machine for Monday, boogie on over to the Dark Horse site, redeem that 50% discount with the coupon code dhdcyber2013 and fill up whatever your reading device of choice is with some choice comics! By the way, this offer is good for 24 hours beginning at midnight (PST) on Monday, December 2 with a $20 cart minimum, but you KNOW you’ll blow through that roof pretty quickly once you start clicking around.
Hmmm. And wouldn’t you know it, Dark Horse Comics does indeed have the droids you’re looking for. And the Wookies, and the Ewoks. And yep, even far too many stormtroopers who can’t see through their helmets well enough to shoot straight. Yes indeed, for three days ONLY (Friday, November 29 to Sunday, December 1, 2013), the publisher is offering up a whopping 150 issues of assorted Star Wars comics for a measly $100 courtesy of a special sale at Dark Horse Digital. I suppose I should tell you you’ll need to click that link, sign up for an account and boogie on back to the site when that sale begins (credit card in hand), but you probably figured that out already. More info on the sale can be found HERE, so go click away if you feel the Force surging through assorted body parts right about now…
Well, well… I’d heard a PC version of Renegade Kid’s Nintendo DS game was in the works for some time, but I’d forgotten all about it until I saw news of the game on another site. Here’s the trailer for Dementium II HD, set for a Steam launch on December 17. If you haven’t run off to change your underwear yet, you’ll want to know that DII is a very creepy first-person horror game that combines exploration, adventure and combat elements in a single player experience bound to creep you out of whatever chair you’re sitting in and under it for a spell. Nope, it’s not using ANY of the original Nintendo DS assets, silly – that would be scarier than the game seeing that sort of stuff happen.
If you’ve played the original you can clearly see that developer Memetic Games has taken Renegade Kid’s original game and redone it from the ground up, adding some Steam-specific content in the process. It would be lovely to see this creepy gen get MORE press, as the DS game got a tiny print run and seems to be tough to come by these days. Nevertheless, I’m betting once genre fans find out this exists (or will exist in less than two months), they’ll be beating a path to their computers to grab a copy. Actually doing so NOW will net you a nice discount of 35% off the already cheap $14.99 list price. That’s a measly $9.74 if you’re lousy at math (or can’t find that Calculator on your computer). OK, my good deed is done for the evening ladies and germs… good night and have the rest of a super Saturday.
So, let’s talk American Science and Surplus. Established 1937. Sells overstocks, surplus science gear, military ephemera and all sorts of other stuff you may not have thought you’d NEED but will find a use for once you have it in your hot little hands. Yup, they’re STILL around! I used to get their hilarious catalogs for a few years and bought quite a number of inexpensive items I used in many a shenanigan, as emergency gifts and even as parts of assorted costumes when I used to traipse out of the home base on Halloween. I’d forgotten all about them after a few moves and not renewing my catalog subscription, but when talking to a friend recently about how kids taking science in school don’t have access to actual chemistry sets OUTSIDE of the classroom, a light bulb went off and I immediately thought of A.S.S (or A.S. & S. if your ears are burning or grinning too much right about now).
Anyway, I’d ramble on about all the great deals they have and how you need to boogie on over to check out their site for a laugh once you start reading about some of their items (and clicking the optional hand drawn pictures of each, which adds another layer of fun to things) as well as how you should sign up for a catalog yourself. However, I’ll let you do just what this paragraph says at your leisure, as I hate telling people what to do. Unless it’s something like “Please give me some money so I can buy stuff from A.S.S. (oops, A. S. & S.) and maybe buy something for YOU as well!” Or something like that. It’s been a long day already for me (but you still need to check out that site!)…
With so much other stuff going on here I’m having a stupidly difficult time keeping up with all the deals going on in the indie game space, so I’ll just list what’s in my inbox here in a single post and let you all have at it. There are some REALLY great titles in these bundles, so definitely check one or all of them out, especially since (with the exception of all those Square-Enix/Eidos titles if you buy them all) you’re basically able to get the bulk of these titles NOW for much less than the cost of a AAA title at retail or via a digital download service.
If you’re big into DRM-free classic and indie games, you should already know by now that gog.com is the place to poke around for your content fix and yes, they continue to add some great old as well as new titles well worth checking out. Here’s a quick peek at two from this week’s batch:
The Chaos Engine was a fantastic Amiga game from The Bitmap Brothers that was so good it was ported to both the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo (and retitled Soldiers of Fortune in North America). It’s a top down shooter that’s not a simple run & gun at all, but a game that takes practice and patience (in large doses) in order to succeed. Nice 16-bit visuals with a steampunk vibe working away, challenging gameplay that keeps you on your toes, a cool soundtrack and plenty of surprises await in this solid little blast from the past. It’s ten bucks, supports co-op play (break out that second controller) and will most certainly test your skills at dealing with sudden alien surprises. And teleports that bring in MORE alien surprises. This game doesn’t play when it comes to making you sweat that small stuff.
With its intentionally stylized chunky polygon visuals, Shelter may look like an old PlayStation era game buffed up a bit, but it’s a really cool indie title from indie developer Might and Delight that’s got a simple premise that should get non-gamers to want to try this out. You play as a mother badger who needs to try and keep her five cubs alive as long as possible during a series of linear levels where nature is your biggest enemy. Feeding them is key, but keeping an eye peeled for that hungry eagle while traveling through the forest adds a layer of tension, as does rainy weather, darkness and a few other elements you’ll soon see. Think of this as playing through an episode of Nature or some other PBS documentary and you sort of get the idea.
Replay value seems high here, as there’s going to be that time you lost ALL your cubs and you’ll want to do better the next time. That circle of life stuff can be a bitch, but I sort of wish humans needed to go through the same stuff these days, as whittling the pack down to the smartest over the strongest might make some things better off. Anyway, if your maternal urges are swelling right about now, you know what to do. No, not THAT (this is a family show!)… I meant go snap up some Shelter of your own for a mere $8.99 and keep your cubs out of harm’s way!
Four games for four bucks might not seem like a stellar deal to some of you used to Bundle Stars‘ usual crazier deals, but three of the four here are nearly endless in what they have to offer and the fourth is an interesting take on a famous historical character. This new deal, dubbed Strategy Classics, nets you Capitalism, Seven Kingdoms II: The Fryhtan Wars, Warlords: Battlecry III and Wars & Warriors: Joan of Arc.
As noted Joan’s game isn’t as deep or “classic” as the others, but if you like Koei’s long-running Dynasty Warriors franchise with a bit of RTS action thrown in, it’s not that bad. Granted, Koei’s later Bladestorm: The 100 Years War did this much better, but for a dollar you get an interesting (and yes, visually dated by today’s standards) 3D action game that’s a funk and funky solo play diversion.
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 