Coming Up for Air in Time for Some Vib-Ribbon News…

Posted on October 7, 2014 by geelw

Actually, I heard about this yesterday, but it was after a long day of poring over email and plotting out today’s Alien Isolation run, I was too tired and amused to post anything. Anyway, today on PSN, Sony is finally releasing the original PlayStation game Vib-Ribbon in North America, but not for that old console. This port is headed to the PS3 and Vita, with a future trip to the PS4 in the cards. I’ll let you boogie on over to the PlayStation Blog to read up on this wonderfully cool little game, which retains its ability to use music CD’s to generate random levels on the PS3. It seems that the Vita version loses this feature (unless it can work with MP3 files), but even without it, the game is still quite whimsical and still a ton of fun to play.

I still have my Japanese copy of the game and a PS1, but I’ll most likely grab this for my Vita because it’s one of those quirky little charmers that’s an excellent traveling companion. Okay, back to being scared half (plus) to death…

Monday Means Mo’ Bundles, No Problems!

Posted on October 6, 2014 by geelw

Well, actually you’ll have SOME problems as far as finding the time to play the games in these bundles, but hey – don’t shoot the messenger, folks. He needs to be alive to play the games in his backlog! Anyway, here’s what’s what from the usual three suspects and more:

IndieGala Every Monday Bundle: Six games, $1.89, 24 hours before the price increases, so get this one FAST. I like Sanctuary in this set of games the best, but your mileage may vary:

Continue reading →

The Case of Charles Dexter Ward Kickstarter: Senscape Making This One for the Love of Craft…

Posted on October 3, 2014 by geelw

Ha and ha-ha. I had to get in ONE cheap pun because H.P. Lovecraft’s The Case of Charles Dexter Ward hasn’t got very much at all in the way of “amusing” content in it. It’s a nice and unsettling short novel and a neat read that sinks into your bones as its mysteries unravel. Anyway, veteran adventure game developer Senscape is making a PC game based on the book and like a lot of cool game ideas in progress, they’re reaching out via crowdfunding and hope people like you and I will kindly spare some coin (or more than a few coins) to get their project on the way to digital and physical life. Senscape has done a few successful PC adventure games in the past (Scratches, Serena, Asylum), so it’s quite clear they know what they’re doing with Lovecraft’s work and are certain to make this one a memorable and unsettling experience.

Anyway, enough rambling from me. Run, don’t walk like mister Dexter is doing above over to the game’s Kickstarter page, read up and pledge! Be lucky it’s not a Cthulhu game, as I’d imagine cash wouldn’t be accepted at all, but blood and souls and stuff like that? Yeah, they’d come for you even if you clicked on that page and didn’t contribute. ESPECIALLY if you didn’t contribute. *Gulp!*

Hmmm. Now, I won’t sleep at all tonight… Yaaaaah.

Jet Car Stunts Launch Trailer: Get a Grip With This Speedy Arcade Racer Next Tuesday on PS3 & Vita

Posted on October 3, 2014 by geelw

Welly, well-well. I’ve actually never played Grip Games‘ rhater awesome looking Jet Car Stunts, but after seeing this trailer, I really want to see if I can survive some of those treacherous track designs. While this is already out (as of October 1) on mobile and Xbox Live, I rarely play mobile games all of my Xbox 360’s are dead and I want to play this on the Vita and PS3 anyway just because I still use those systems the most and despite what some editor-types are saying, neither one is quite “dead” just yet. Flying cars may not be a reality again for a while, but this could be the next best thing. Well, provided you have no fear of heights, falling, bright cartoon colors and what look like Hot Wheels cars with pop up aerodynamic handling. I’m in on all this, so next week will be a fun one. Hell, I’ll need SOMETHING bright and cheery to take me away from Alien Isolation and its relentless horror, so this may be the game I grab when I need a break.

Double Earth Defense Forces News: EDF 2 Coming to Vita ! EDF 4.1 Coming to PS4! (In Japan at Least)

Posted on September 27, 2014 by geelw

Okay, I had a weird tickle in the back of my head today and as I had my Vita with me, I fired up Earth Defense Forces 3 Portable (EDF 2017) just to see if there were any recent updates and when I clicked on D3Publisher’s Japanese game page for the EDF series and looked in the news section, my head spun around like Linda Blair’s in the Exorcist before I let out a little squeal of delight. Woo and hoo – the best EDF game is finally getting the portable remake it deserves AND that “new” EDF game for the PS4 is packing EDF 4 and some excellent new content onto next-gen hardware.

Earth Defense Forces Portable 2 V2 packs in the full PS2 game on the Vita, but it’s NOT a straight up port at all by developer and series creator Sandlot. A new 4-player mode, the Air Diver class from EDF 4 and some nice visual tweaks that don’t spoil the intentionally “retro” look of that PS2 classic are making me want to grab this one as soon as it’s available in Japan (or from Play-Asia where I’ll most likely get this from). Go ogle the two LOVELY screenshot galleries over at Gematsu (thanks, Gematsu!) while I compose myself for a minute… Continue reading →

FUND THIS! Graal Seeker: The Battle of Britain For A Shiny Cup o’ Miracles, Indie Style!

Posted on September 27, 2014 by geelw

And who doesn’t want a retro-inspired turn-based strategy RPG with procedurally generated maps set in medieval Britain and thereabouts or as it’s noted by the developer, “a 2D narrative RPG with roguelike elements & tactical battles”? Welcome to Graal Seeker, a work in progress and Indiegogo campaign from Lugludum Game Studio. 26 days to go, about 1200 of 10,000 Euros raised and it’s also on Steam Greenlight for those who want to vote it in.

I’m liking the mix of stylized 2D art and 3D animated characters in those battles, the modding possible (you can create and share your own adventures!) and the fact that the dev team is showing this off in quite well in an early but polished enough state to get noticed by little guys like me who love promoting games they see and like (like being the imperative word here – I don’t write much if at all about stuff that doesn’t float my boat). That permadeath means the game should also appeal to fans of Nintendo’s Fire Emblem series or other games were dead characters don’t pop back up after they expire on the battlefield.

Of course, whether or not this one makes its target is all up to YOU, so I guess now that you’re feeling guilty, you HAVE to go check this out and maybe make a pledge. Hey, the rewards are sure worth it. Spend as little as five euros to get your name in the credit or go all out and spend 1000 Euro and become a Knight of the Round Table (round table not included, but you’ll be a quite the hero to Lugludum Game Studios!). Now, I wonder who’s the first modder to do a Monty Python and the Holy Grail expansion or total conversion. You just KNOW one is coming and yep, that killer rabbit better be pretty much unbeatable.

Back in a bit with an update once the campaign is a few more weeks in…

Final Fantasy XV TGS 2014 Trailer: Doing That Double Take For Reasons Right & Otherwise…

Posted on September 27, 2014 by geelw

Okay, we’re finally seeing a FF on console that looks exactly like those spectacular CG opening and story movies the series in known for, but man, what a cast of heroes this time out. What the what? Seriously. As great as this in-progress game looks, I really have no interest in playing as a too-long car (it looks like a Mercedes hearse convertible) full of big-haired bar band rejects. It’s not Social Distortion, it’s Antisocial Ripple in the Pond! Okay, it was a lot funnier when it popped into my head as I was typing. On paper, it’s a bust. *Le Sigh*…

(Thanks, GamesHQ Media!)

Hey, I love Tetsuya Nomura’s art and character designs (most of the time), but I dunno about this cast. Of course, it’s probably Square/Enix’ response to those FF X-2 games with its all female cast of heroines (and nope, I didn’t like those games much). Maybe I’ve finally outgrown this franchise after all, as I missed the XIII entirely, had no interest in any of the online only games and just grew weary of poking around message boards only to find people still whining about no official FFVII remake, FF games that only got a Japanese release not coming out here and other rolling over the keyboard nonsense that’s kept me away from most game boards for quite some time.

Eh, we’ll see, as usual. I remember when a new FF game was a system seller to some people. I’m not sure this newest one will be as big a mover in this more jaded age of gamers spending too much time gabbing about what they hate and less time actually playing stuff. But I may be wrong…

Godzilla Set to Stomp All Over PS3’s In December (Only In Japan, Of Course!)

Posted on September 25, 2014 by geelw

Well, this was a bit of a surprise to see earlier today. And of course, despite having the new Godzilla from the US-made film as a DLC character… this isn’t even going to get an English localization release outside Asian territories, so it looks as if I’ll be helping this sell out of at least one production run at some point. Thanks to Play-Asia for popping this news into my inbox and making both my tired eyeballs pop open this morning.

After I recovered them from under my chair and washed them off, I pretty much realized the chances of this game coming out here in the west was zero multiplied by a few hundred zeroes. Not that we don’t need a new Godzilla game, mind you. It’s just that there hasn’t been one in a few years and while plenty of kaiju fans would buy this outright on a disc or as a download, I’m not sure that “plenty” is enough to justify the localization costs.

As you can clearly see from those videos and the game’s official site, this one sure looks pretty spectacular for a Godzilla game, so here’s hoping it’s not only as good as it looks, but VERY import friendly for those who want to snap up this region-free game and haven’t a clue about the language barrier thing most imports hit newbies with right out of the gate. If Bandai Namco’s US arm somehow decides to get this one out here, I’ll be the first one to let out a roar even if it’s only as a digital download. As usual, we shall see… but don’t hold your radioactive breath, folks…

Mail’s In, I’m Out!

Posted on September 23, 2014 by geelw

Thanks to the mail deities delivering nearly everything at once yesterday evening because of a slight delay from a few states and faster than expected international shipping (hoo-ray!), I’m taking today off to tackle a couple of entertainment options. For the upcoming Fairy Tale Blogathon at Movies, Silently I had to import Ray Harryhausen The Early Years Collection from the UK, as it’s not available in a Region 1 format DVD (why?). I was deciding between writing that 2-disc set up when I came across the complete 2-disc set of Fractured Fairy Tales and snapped it up because it was dirt cheap and had free shipping. Of course, someone claimed that review, but I didn’t mind because I grew up watching The Bullwinkle Show reruns and those FFT segments were always hilarious.

For a crazed change of pace, I HAD to bug Clint over at MVD Visual about The Sex Pistols on TV, a DVD documentary of the band’s outrageous live interviews and other footage that I’ve wanted to see for some time. Yep, I have pretty varied musical tastes, folks. Finally, time to give the devil his due, as Diablo III Reaper of Souls Ultimate Evil Edition is in the house! While the PS4 is getting all the online ink, I’ve only seen two reviews of the PS3 version, so my review will let those of you curious about this who don’t yet own that new console know if it’s worth a buy. I did play a few hours last night and here’s a spoiler: It’s a buy for a ton of reasons. You get the original game with some BIG changes (as in your copy of plain DII is now obsolete to some extent) and the Reaper of Souls content that adds even more new stuff.

Hmmm… okay, enough procrastinating – I need to go dip myself into some diversions, people. Back in a bit…

PSN Flash Sale: Race To Get These Racers Before They’re Gone!

Posted on September 20, 2014 by geelw

Like it or not, good racing games are evergreens in that they never go out of style. You can pick one or a few of a handful of some good to great third-party racers for the PSP, Vita and PS3 in this PSN Flash Sale. I’m ogling both those WRC games myself, as I don’t own them and I’m a huge fan of rally games. Yeah, yeah, they’re not a buck like some of the surprises in past PSN sales, but hey – the discounts of these digital drivers is more than reasonable as the usual prices are a bit “steep” by today’s standards of “give me everything old for nothing because it’s old and no one should pay close to retail for it” entitlement some think will keep a business afloat (it won’t). Anyway, poke around that sale page and score a couple of track burners for your own digital library!