A Rainy Monday Means It’s Bundle Time…

IndieGala emb 11172014 

Man, it’s pure unadulterated LOUSY outside. I went out early, so I missed the super soaker shower downpour that’s stopped, but is returning later this evening and dropping the temperature about 15 degrees or so. Blech. Anyway, today’s IndieGala Every Monday Bundle is a nice one for two bucks. Seven games in a mix of genres and all of them cheaper than a cup of coffee and a doughnut in most places? That’s a BUY, people. Unless you need that doughnut to munch on and that coffee to keep you awake in that soon to be spending too long in front of the monitor manner. Anyway, I like the kooky Dungeons: The Eye of Draconus in this week’s deal because the music in the trailer made my weary bones laugh:

(Thanks, William McDonald

Ah, Tiny Tim must be spinning wherever he’s at. Spinning, I say! Still, I bet you laughed as well, so it’s all good. Anyway, go get some games and stay dry tonight!

All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy. Therefore…

RotR Vita 

This is about to happen. Well, later this afternoon once I get a few updates in. Yup, Rollers of the Realm on the Vita will be my savior for this rather crap-tastic week with the asbestos and the yucky kitchen situation and other stuff that’s still unresolved. And that’s not all, ladies and germs. I also have the PC version of RotR here as well as this to dive into for a bit:

Adventure Time SotNK PC 

I got home last night and played Adventure Time: The Secret of the Nameless Kingdom for about 20 minutes, which definitely helped lighten my mood considerably. So, that’s also going to get reviewed but good shortly. Okay, that’s my fast “what the heck am I doing?” update, minus a few other recent games and books I need to cover. Back in a bit. I’ve got to poke through my inbox and whittle down the pile of requests, review codes, news and other potential work making stuff. Back in a bit…

The Internet Arcade: Your Monday (and Every Other Day) Just Got A LOT Less Productive…

Internet Arcade (Partial) 

Holy Cats. And here I thought archive.org was a disorganized mess of free movies and music files of assorted quality plus the home the not so perfect Wayback Machine where one can dig up archives for old websites no longer online. Well, the Archive’s Jason Scott has compiled over 1000 classic arcade games running on the MAME/MESS/JMESS emulators (which were cooked up by many other creative folks) and you can lose a week playing as many as you can for FREE.

The catch? Well, you’ll need the latest version of your current browser, meaning you’ll be online when you’re supposed to be working hard on those spreadsheets or whatever. However, be warned that Firefox works the best over anything else, meaning you Chrome and Safari users may have issues with running this perfectly. So, yeah… so much for getting to do important stuff like walking the dog, raising a family or stocking your zombie-proof shelter. Also, a controller is recommended, as keyboard controls are going to be funky on many titles. That’s being tweaked as we speak. Finally, the sounds and music will be a bit garbled on some games. Crank down the volume if you’re using headphones so your eardrums don’t crack when some high-pitched MIDI tune blasts them.

I’ve scanned that list of games and my eyeball popped out of my head a few times. If I had a controller with me here at the away office, I’d be playing some BLASTER, Q*Bert, Crystal Castles, Crazy Climber, The Three Stooges and way too many others to list here. This is a work in progress, so it’ll be fiddled with and fixed as time passes. I’m NOT going to go back to that page today at ALL or else I’ll get nothing done at all. YOU can boogie on over there yourself just to ogle all the awesome marquee art. Consider this your museum trip for this week. Yes, another excuse to call gaming educational is always a great reason…

Nintendo Direct 11/15/2014: A Familiar Mask, Lots of Steam + Many Other Surprises in Store…


 
More eye-popping news from Nintendo in this 33-plus minute Direct video. Seeing The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask return as a 3DS/2DS exclusive was a huge surprise for sure. Still, I’ll say I’m a tiny bit upset that it’s not gotten a proper HD reworking on the Wii U. The again, neither have any of the other N64 Zelda games, which is a shame. Anyway, MM looks spectacular on the 3DS and is an immediate must-buy game. That said, a new F-Zero would be spectacular and I’m still wondering when we’ll see some developer who can do it beg to make a new Earthbound game for the Wii U. It’ll most likely sell much better than the initially under-appreciated SNES game that now has a much more loyal fan base. Granted, that base may not be in the multiple millions, but it would absolutely appreciate a new (or old!) entry in that non-franchise… Continue reading

Far Cry 4 Also Gets The Soundtrack Treatment…

Far Cry 4 OSTCliff Martinez, formerly a member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and composer of some fine film scores (“Traffic,” “Drive, ” “Spring Breakers”) is also the main man behind the tunes to Ubisoft’s upcoming FPS, Far Cry 4. Working with Ubisoft Montreal’s Music Designer for the game, Jerome Angelot, Music Supervisor Simon Landry and Audio Director Tony Gronick, Martinez has created an original score meant to flow flawlessly with the game’s action and cinematic sequences. While the game’s soundtrack won’t be getting the big deluxe box treatment Rockstar is giving Grand Theft Auto V, it’s a more than solid enough set of tunes to add to your own music library (especially if you’re a soundtrack collector).

Of his collaboration on the soundtrack with Ubisoft, Martinez says:

“It was an honor to be asked to write the music for the Far Cry 4 game as my first full-length video game soundtrack,” said Cliff Martinez. “It was exciting for me to be asked to take my usual minimalistic cinematic approach to the immersive game world. Any game where you can ride on a rampaging elephant is a project you can’t turn down!”

Well, I’m listening to the music as I type this post and really feel as if I’m in some very dangerous foreign land about to go on some rather wild adventure. Granted, I’m typing this post in a public place, so the worst that can happen is some old guy bumbles by and drops a hot cup of coffee on my shoe. But hey, I’ll settle for that tiny bit of excitement over dodging digital bullets and rampaging elephants any day of the week. Anyway, the Far Cry 4 Original Game Soundtrack digital edition will release worldwide on November 4, the limited 2-CD edition will release on December 2 in North America and on December 9 in Europe, and the limited 3-LP edition will release in January 2015. Far Cry 4 will be available November 18 worldwide for PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360 and Windows PC.

Some Late Humble Bundles to Keep You Humming…

Well, humming on the road with engines revving or humming a calming tune because you’re playing a scary game with a blanket half over your head from under your bed or couch. Let’s take a peek at what’s up this week (and nope, I’m not intentionally trying to rhyme here – I’m typing off the top of my head quickly so I can pend this post for later today and that happens a lot when I do this):

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The Humble Weekly Bundle Racing has some nice games in its six title deal. Pay what you want for three games, but I say drop the nine bucks down and get all six games, as they’re well worth the money. Real World Racing will probably be the standout for some players thanks to its high-quality aerial imagery used for courses set in actual locations around the world. Take a peek:


 
Humble InDIE Bundle 13 banner 
Meanwhile, the Humble inDIE Bundle 13 features some scary games, not so scary games and a chance to snap up some cool collectibles if you go above and beyond the call in your charity spending. Again, pay what you want for three titles, but spend a bit more and get a load of great stuff as well as six game soundtracks. $12 gets you nine games and if you have a spare $65, you not only get all 11 games, but get a gift box sent your way filled with swag! Everything here makes for a nice way to lose some hours, but I’ll say that Minor Key Games retro first-person adventure/shooter Eldritch got the most of my attention:


 
Even better, just for visiting the page, you can get a Steam code for the awesome Teleglitch: Die More Edition for FREE. This top-down pixel-packed retro shooter manages to be challenging and slightly scary thanks to clever old-school design and some pretty tough enemies in its procedurally generated levels. Anyway, you’re busy – I’m busy! Go get some games for cheap and play them when you can.

IndieGala’s LATE Every Monday Bundle Says “Who Needs Mondays!”

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Ha! And I thought I was losing more of my mind yesterday. Nope, IndieGala just didn’t post any bundle news is all. Then again, a few other places didn’t either, but it’s late and I’m about to get kicked out of the library, so I’ll hit those up in a separate post tomorrow. Well, here you go, six games for $1.89, all unique and pretty hard to pass up at that price. And heck, it even has a game based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet for crying out loud:


 

Yeah, you KNOW you want this deal now. Buy games, get educated! What a top-shelf excuse to kill some time, huh?

Ember: N-Fusion & 505 Games Bring a High-Quality RPG to the Mobile Masses

EMBER logo ember_01 New Jersey-based N-Fusion Games’ Ember is probably the best looking and most ambitious mobile RPG to date, period. But is the phone and tablet market truly ready for what will be a visually rich and potentially battery draining game experience such as this? That’s one of the questions that went swirling through my brain as I saw the upcoming game in action at a recent 505 Games event. Sure, there are a digital ton of JRPGs, action, puzzle, card battle and other hybrid role playing games out there. But Ember’s scope is more of the Baldur’s Gate meets Ultima meets Morrowind school of storytelling and gameplay. This will be a massive, deep, and detailed world where anything and everything can change based not only on what each player does, but how the AI interacts with itself as you play… Continue reading

Convoy: Top-Down Tactical Vehicle Combat? Yes, You NEED This Game!

Sometimes stuff lands in one of the inboxes here that makes me laugh for a few reasons from good to bad to “Ruh-Roh!”. Convoy Games’ Kickstarter project, Convoy falls squarely in the former hearty chuckle category. That was thanks to playing a demo build linked with that email that made me laugh because the gameplay was something I’d not seen previously and everything clicked right away. I happen to love when developers decide to tackle familiar genres in unique ways and Convoy does just that. Sure, it’s basically the space combat from games like FTL and other sci-fi classics translated to top-down rogue-like road action out of the Mad Max movies. But so far, it all feels just right and while in need of more tweaking, it’s clear the dev team is on the right path.

Convoy GIF 

Anyway, go check out the project video above, click on over to that KS page and whip out that wallet. A mere $13 gets you the final version of the game when it’s all done and ready to go in February 2015. Currently, the game is just under a third funded with 25 days to go, but it needs to get more love. Um, financial love, people. Don’t go proposing to Convoy or anything silly like that, now. I’m not sure the dev team wants to let go of their game before they’re all done with it. It’s a great Monday when you see an indie game that’s more exciting than a bunch of AAA titles screaming for your attention, that’s for sure…

How to Survive: Storm Warning Edition is Perfect for Today’s Dreary Day

Miserable weather or not, learning all you need about dispatching zombies and staying alive on a desert island are always handy skills. 505 Games dropped EKO Games’ How to Survive: Storm Warning Edition for the PS4 onto PSN and Xbox Live yesterday and it’s a must buy if you’re a fan of the original game or are entirely new to the experience. This visually gussied up version gives you the original game plus all six DLC packs for a decent price. While best with friends, the game offers up a hefty solo challenge with decent AI. Just make sure you watch where you aim, chop or punch. “Friendly” fire can’t be toggled off as far as I know and you don’t want to accidentally knock off your AI companion. Anyway, this one’s quite cool and funny for a fairly violent game – go check it out, I say.