IndieGala Hump Day Bundle: Your Camel Will Not Work Today If It Reads This Post

Posted on April 29, 2015 by geelw

It’s probably a good thing that camels don’t play videogames for a few reasons. For one thing, that would just be too weird a sight. I’d also imagine monkeys and any other non-human animals with opposable thumbs would be REALLY pissed off. Finally, if they had any work to do today, they’d not get anything at all done because they’d all be downloading today’s IndieGala Hump Day Bundle before camping out at home to play some games. Do yourself a huge favor and keep the camels offline by buying up a bunch of these bundles and gifting them around. Pay a buck for three games or pay $2.89 for thirteen games, your choice.

There’s an odd mix of first-person puzzle games, family entertainment studio stuff, a bit of horror and even some platforming with samurai kitties and a 3D brawler tossed in for good measure. Um, you’re NOT showing this post to your camel, correct?

Anyway, stop reading and start downloading. Well, once you pay up, of course. Just send the camel to the furthest store with a big bill, tell it to buy something for itself with the change and you’re good for at least a few hours. Camels tend to get a bit confused when shopping for themselves (well, that’s what I’ve read).

Konami Kills Silent Hills; P.T. Probably Gone For Good

Posted on April 28, 2015 by geelw

If you own a PlayStation 4, love horror-related games and have yet to play P.T., get ready for a little shock. You only have a few hours before that title (which stands for Playable Teaser and was actually a concept demo for the Guillermo Del Toro/Hideo Kojima Silent Hills project that was to feature The Walking Dead star Norman Reedus as the lead) is probably gone forever.

Konami has canceled the project entirely and will be yanking the demo off the PlayStation Network on Wednesday the 29th. The company still plans to keep creating games in the long running Silent Hill series in the future, but the loss of this demo comes as yet another blow to fans of Mr. Kojima’s work. This latest business decision comes not too long after both Kojima and Kojima Studios’ name were removed from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain after still unrevealed disagreements between the creator and company. Both his name and his studio’s name were also chopped from the P.T. demo site in Japan and it seems that once the free demo is gone, it’ll not even be available to download even if it’s been placed in one’s PS4 queue for play at some point in the future.

As a bit of a gaming historian and big (but sometimes easily rattled) horror fan, this irks me to no end as well as shows how lousy digital distribution really is in terms of preserving content. Pulling a game demo may not seem like a big deal to many of you and it’s not really a huge deal at the end of the day. That said, given that P.T. showed off more creativity and genuinely freaky scares than some completed games, not having the demo around to show off in the future doesn’t bode well for any other demo or full game deemed disposable by companies who want to erase the past. Foo. Hopefully Konami will reconsider and at some point make the demo available at some point down the road. However, given the company’s kicking Kojima to the curb so abruptly after decades of service (no matter the reason, it’s a shame how things seem to be ending), it’s a bad sign of things to come if other games deemed doomed get dropped on the chopping block.

Anyway, if indeed the demo does disappear forever, there’s always YouTube for watching videos of people playing it. Konami’s official P.T. clips on its Japanese channel seem to be already gone, which is annoying because there were some reaction videos featuring gamers and non-gamers that were flat out hilarious. Oh well. Life goes on… but with a little less great scary as hell stuff to share with like-minded folks.

What a shame.

DiRT Rally: Codemasters Kicks It Old School In Its Early Access Racer

Posted on April 27, 2015 by geelw

Awesome. I haven’t even played DiRT Rally yet but I already know it’s going to make a LOT of rally fans very happy. No crazy Gymkhana mode, no “celebrity” drivers, ALL rally all the time and with more realistic controls and car damage? Sign me up, stat! I checked out the Steam page for the game just now and the overwhelming positive response to the game even in its early access state is so positive that it seems Codemasters has gone and made people who are completely new to rally games appreciate the intensity and high difficulty curve (pun intended) not seen in years from the series.

Of course, Codemasters surprised plenty of folks by announcing the game was out now (again, as a work in progress). So I’m betting they’re using all that early feedback to make it a lot better before (hopefully) announcing some console versions. As long as the final version is pure rally and isn’t packing any X-Games style nonsense, I’m in for the long haul.

Godzilla The Game PS4: There Goes The Neighborhood, Toho Style!

Posted on April 25, 2015 by geelw

Sure, it’s all fun and games, but YOU try and get some decent sleep when there are a bunch of over-sized rubber suits banging away on the buildings on YOUR block. BOOM! ROAR! CRASH! “Hey, keep it down!” just doesn’t work on a pair or more of bent on destruction giant beasts like these, you know. Fortunately, all that glorious wreckage is only on the PS3 and PS4 and not for real, as I can see real world property values sinking but also growing back after a short while. You know people would probably move in JUST for the monster battles because humans are dumb and love to watch any sort of fight (provided they don’t get hurt).

Oh, and as for that “Hollywood Godzilla” pre-order bonus, I laughed out loud because for some reason I thought of this film clip when that image and text popped up onscreen. Yeah, I’m a nut. I know, I know. Hey, I didn’t make that old and too loud film. But I did pay good money to see it when it came out (and still want my five bucks back, Mr. Spielberg!).

Project CARS Update: Three Out Of Four Isn’t Bad, Unless You Only Want One

Posted on April 25, 2015 by geelw

Ha. So Project CARS has gone gold and is coming out on my birthday… at least for PC, PS4 and Xbox One owners. For some reason, the Wii U version has dropped off the radar in North America and I was worried that it was being silently killed off. However, thanks to Bandai Namco Europe posting these newer trailers that at least note the Wii U actually exists, my hope meter just coughed back to life. Of course, a careful eyeball or two will see that there’s no box art for the Nintendo version at the end of those trailers. That could be due to the game being a download only eShop title (he noted hopefully). I guess I could bug someone at Slightly Mad Studios to see what’s going on or even one of my PR contacts at Bandai namco here in the US. But I’ll hold off on that and just stay focused on more urgent matters.

Of course, if it IS a download only game there’s the distinct possibility that the game will be larger than the insane 15GB One Piece Unlimited World Red was. Eeek. Given that the only two hard drive sizes for the Wii U are 8GB ad 32GB, I’m predicting a lot of 64GB SD card sales should the Wii U version ever get a release. Well, I’ll keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best, as it seems no news isn’t exactly good news when it comes to some games these days. Delays don’t bother me at all, mind you. It’s just hearing nothing and seeing less that gets me fretting away.

PSN April Flash Sale: Some Decent Deals For All Tastes

Posted on April 18, 2015 by geelw

I guess it’s now a once a month deal or so over at the PlayStation Network when it comes to finding quickie weekend bargains available for a short time. This month’s big deal PSN Flash Sale is a nice lineup of PS3, PS4 and Vita digital games plus a bunch of movies at okay to excellent prices. Don’t forget to poke around the site and look up other deals, as there are some cool titles not part of THIS sale that are part of other promotions. You never know what you might find outside the box, right?

Indie Royale’s Insulin Bundle: Sweet Games Make For A Cheap High

Posted on April 17, 2015 by geelw

Here’s a pretty nice deal on a nicer Friday from the fine folk at Indie Royale. $3.32 for seven Steam games, 6 are DRM-free, 3 run on Macs, 1 on Linux-based systems. Well, you can’t have everything, right? But you do get more than enough in this set of indies.

What, that’s not enough for you? Okay, okay! Head to Humble Bundle and check out the slightly more expensive ($5.00) but well worth the cost Humble Origin Bundle 2 full of over 9 (and counting) Electronic Arts games. or perhaps you’re an IndieGala guy or gal-a? Well, they’ve got you covered with the Evoland Bundle which has eight game for $2.89.. but only ONE is called Evoland. Well, I’d gather that it’s the most popular indie game in that deal, thus the bundle’s name.

Finally, Bundle Stars has an all-multiplayer deal in the Factions Bundle, which will set you back a measly $2.99 for 10 great Steam MP games. As usual, you know what to do next – go support charity and load up your computing device with some fine indies!

Review: La-Mulana EX (Vita)

Posted on April 16, 2015 by geelw

Platform: PlayStation Vita

Developer: Pygmy Studios

Publisher: Rising Star Games

Genre: Archeological Ruins Exploration Action!

# of Players: 1

MSRP: $19.99

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Official Site

Score: A- (90%)

“Welcome to the jungle, we got fun and games…”

Yeah, I see you looking at those handsome La-Mulana EX screens and that exciting trailer and thinking “Oooh, a new ‘Metroidvania’ game to play and beat in a day or two!” Ha. La-Mulana EX laughs at your brimming overconfidence. Let me be the first (or perhaps last, as this review is a bit late) to inform you that going into this game with your dreams of adding a fast notch to your speedrun belt will have you lose that belt and perhaps your Vita right out the nearest window or under a speeding bus or some other method you choose to remove that handheld from your possession.

No, the game isn’t “bad” by any stretch of the imagination. Not at all. It’s just going to be one of the toughest games you’ll play if you’re not willing to read the digital manual and pay close attention to the basic to advanced techniques you’ll learn. In fact, what’s here will hopefully make you remove the word “Metroidvania” from your gaming vocabulary, as it’s a meaningless description that’s also a bit lazy in how it fails to actually describe a game as deep as this one. Continue reading →

Guitar Hero Is Back. Plastic Guitar Gods, Rise!

Posted on April 14, 2015 by geelw

Out with the old…

…in with the new!

1. The new Guitar Hero Live logo looks a wee bit like the original Star Trek TV show logo. That made me laugh a bit because it’s not intentional at all. I’m just really old.

2. Plastic guitars are back after a five year hiatus.It’s hard to say how those who bought the rock games that required real guitars will feel about this. However, it’s entirely possible that both camps will find something to like or not about GHL.

3. There are no colored buttons this time and instead of five colored buttons, you get three buttons set into two rows. This is because testing showed most people play GH using three fingers and never got past the harder modes. The game’s easier modes use only three buttons while the harder modes use all six.

4. There’s an autoplay button on the controller for people who just want to practice the songs or look good cheating. Longtime GH players seem to hate the new controller already, but EVERYONE will need to get used to the new controller should they pick up the game. It shouldn’t take long, though.

Yes, this is ALL actual gameplay.

5. Or: If you owned a PC, Sega CD, 3DO, PlayStation or Saturn back in the 90’s, you’ll be pleased to know FMV games are back (but much better looking). Yeah, that’s right. Gone are the cartoon-like players and now it’s you onstage playing that plastic guitar in front of an actual audience in first person mode. But this time, it’s for PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Wii U and mobile devices. Yes, the crystal-clear FMV can run on any current console out there, so you’ll see all looking exactly the same (like it or not).

6. There’s a music video channel-like online play mode. You can choose from hundreds of videos to battle someone against, there will be a MASSIVE library of songs from classics to indies and overall, this mode may be the bigger deal for some players who love their social sharing stuff.

Guitar Hero Live is coming this fall for those systems noted above. So many changes after five years off, right? Will it be a house band in millions of homes, or is the new look and focus on both simplifying and complicating things be too bumpy a ride for the loyal fan base? As usual, we shall see.

EDF 4.1 Update: Japan Gets It While We Still Wait Patiently

Posted on April 8, 2015 by geelw

Holy cats. While there still no localization news about Earth Defense Forces 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair, the game has been out in Japan since April 2 and is getting played to death over in Japan by some lucky gamers who’ve been dropping some truly incredible videos of the game in action on YouTube. Sure, it’s not packing the best visuals when unfairly compared to more polished games for these new-gen consoles or PC. But developer Sandlot clearly knows how to set the tone for some massive scale battles. Wow. Hey, it’s sure cheaper than buying a bunch of toys and wondering where to to store them all, I say. That said if there’s ever a sequel to Pacific Rim and someone wants a tie-in game, I think I know who should get the call.