Bundle Fest Deals 4 & 5 Offer Up Pains, Trains, & More Awesome Deals…


 
Ha! See what I did there? No? Oh well. I’ll let you off the hook this time because I just KNOW you were distracted by one of both of these awesome Bundle Stars deals. Go let of some Steam with the Trainz Bundle, which gives you Trainz Simulator 12 and eight DLC packs for a mere $3.99 (try getting a real train ticket for that price!). This surprisingly addictive set of train simulations and construction tools allow anyone to run their own railroad and even hop online to share content with other users anywhere in the world.


 
If, on the other hand you’re in the mood for a lot less train travel and a great deal more fantasy and horror coming your way, well… the Night Dive Bundle has your name stamped all over it. Classic RPGs Wizardry VI, VII and VII are here, as is the scary sci-fi masterpiece, System Shock 2 (looking better than the trailer shows thanks to some great patches that come with the game install). You’ll also get the gory adventure chiller, Harvester, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream (the great Harlan Ellison story that was turned into quite a memorably bleak adventure game experience), More horror with Shadowman, The 7th Guest and The 11th Hour, and finally, the intentionally “buggy” tale of a very unique cockroach in Bad Mojo: Redux $3.49 nets you these nine titles and you’ll get a few weeks or longer out of the Wizardry games alone.

Summer may be coming to a close, but these two deals will make your backlog GROW like it’s spring inside your computer’s hard drive, I say! That goodness can be all yours in a couple of clicks and I don’t want to stop you at all from getting what needs to be done DONE. So, get to it already!

Crimes and Punishments (Sherlock Holmes) Update: A Little Macho Disguise & Some Arm Wrasslin’ Get Our Man A Clue…


 
Okay, Focus Home Interactive and Frogwares, you’ve got me now. I just HAVE to play Crimes & Punishments: Sherlock Holmes now just because of those goofy disguises the dashing detective can don in the game in order to help in his decidedly deducting ways. This trailer made me laugh for a few reasons, but not AT the game at all. I just like how the series has evolved from its stuffier Victorian era settings to a more modern (but not too modern) set of scenarios that looks as if it will have a wider appeal among a few types of more adventuresome gamers willing to take a chance on something new. Hmmm… I wonder if Holmes can deduct the cos of his disguises from his taxes? Or is that even allowed in foggy Londinium? Ah, the mystery… the mystery…

Crimes & Punishments: Sherlock Holmes is out on September 30, 2014 for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC.

Bayonetta 2 Direct: Yeah, It’s A BUY, Nintendo, It’s a BUY!


 

BOOOM. Can’t talk. Watching. back in a bit. My Wii U is at home bouncing around the room. Go, PlatinumGames! This Nintendo exclusive has been making competing console owners green with envy and red with raaaaaaage for over a year, so here’s more fuel for those fires. The game looks INCREDIBLE and yeah, yeah, super casual touch screen mode aside, should be a MORe than worthy sequel to the original game. Now, will it sell Wii U consoles? That’s VERY hard to say at this point. However, given Nintendo’s coming games from now until 2015, I’d say we’ll see a lot more units moving during and past this holiday season.

To Some Gamers, Dragon Quest Heroes Says: BUY A PS4 ALREADY!


 

Well, holy wow. I knew veteran developer Omega Force was tinkering away on some next-gen, er, CURRENT gen stuff, but yikes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. To SOME of you folks, this is yet another Dynasty Warriors “re-skin”, but to me, it’s another way for Sony and Square Enix to rip money out of my wallet. I know some DQ fans more used to the turn-based or not at all action heavy role-playing games in the series are probably tearing assorted hairs out in assorted places on their bodies that this isn’t a “normal” RPG. But me, I love this sort of mash-up because it brings new gamers into the fold while also catering to the more open-minded fans of this classic series without compromising on the familiar elements that make it so popular. And besides, it looks as if Square Enix is calling this a RPG, so it looks like it’ll be more of one than those other Musou-mixers that have come previously. Okay, and the game looks INCREDIBLE, to boot .

That, and it’s just a fun and funny as hell trailer as it goes on. Yeah, I guess I finally need to save up to buy my own PS4 and stop using one that’s getting not as much use as it should.

The Wire Returns, Sharp As Ever (But Sharper In HD. Maybe)…

(thanks, aegies!) 

I caught this news on a friend’s facebook post late last night and did a little hoot and short fist pump. While the official air dates have yet to be set by HBO, the company is finally rebroadcasting the entire groundbreaking series in high definition. What remains to be seen (pun intended, by the way) is HOW the episodes will look on that now standard format if they weren’t originally shot in that format. 4:3 was the standard back when the show originally aired back in 2001, although 16:9 HD televisions were creeping into the marketplace and very common by the time the show’s final episode aired seven years later. That said, poking around on a few message boards shows that either the show was shot in the wide format and cropped for the common man, the show was ONLY shot in 4:3 and we’re going to see less of what we should (boo) or we’re all just nuts and have fallen for a grand hoax. Damn you, internet! Anyway, if this does happen, GOOD. I can go and recommend this excellent series to a few friends who missed out on it and haven’t committed to buying that big DVD box set. If it doesn’t happen, hell, I’ll just hope HBO reruns the entire series on their On Demand channel like they did when I caught the series over the course of a few months thanks to them being smart enough to run a season a month.

As always, we shall see…

Double Your Bundles, Double Your Fun (And Double Your Backlog!)…

bundle fest logoOkay, I missed yesterday’s Bundle Stars deal in this five days of bundles (or Bundle Fest, as they call it), but that’s not bad news at all as each bundle doesn’t expire for about a week. So today you get two (*smooch!*), TWO times the bundles! First up, it’s The Arctic Bundle, where $2.49 nets you SEVEN complete adventure games including classics like Benoit Sokal’s Syberia and Syberia 2, both Still Life games, Post Mortem and the gorgeous, bizarre Enki Bilal/Benoit Sokal game Nikopol: Secrets of the Immortals. If you love your games packed with puzzles and memorable female characters, this bundle’s for YOU.

Today’s other deal is the Reboot 7.0 Bundle, six Steam games (and a DLC pack for one of those games) that are a nice mix of genres and hybrids. I’m LOUSY at poker, but I see that Runespell: Overture is batting its eyelashes at me and I may groove on over to see what’s up with this oddball RPG that uses poker hand-based combat.

This cool bundle will set you back a measly $1.49 and has a nice set of other action-based games for you to dive into. Okay, now that I’ve hit you over the noggin with too many games, GO GET SOME! I’ll wait here and rest for a bit while you log a few hours of playtime. I could use the vacation…

Bundle Stars’ Bundle Fest: Five Days of BUY ME! Digital Deals…

bundle fest logo
 
Just when you thought it was safe to go back to your backlog… Bundle Stars gives you FIVE good reasons to make it BIGGER. Yaaaah! FIVE days of bundle deals, starting today with the hot (OW!) INFERNO BUNDLE that features TEN Steam (OW!) games for only $3.99! Yikes! The call this the Bundle Fest… but I call it the Bundle FEAST because your wallet will be feeding assorted charities and your growing backlog of games won’t be starving for quite some time! Hey, I could do this pun thing all night long you know. But I won’t, as it would keep you here and not over at Bundle Stars racking up some incredible savings on digital games. Okay, get going – I know you’re in the mood for some fun indies, all for a song…

Resident Evil HD & Resident Evil Revelations 2: Capcom Serves Up Two Dishes To The Ungrateful Masses…


 

Wow. If I was working in Capcom PR and had a thin skin (which, by the way is a LOUSY thing for anyone working in PR to have), I’d be chugging Pepto all day and taking an aspirin ever four hours for my heart. You’d think that the company was out running a steamroller over baskets of puppies or something if you read some of the many inane comments on YouTube and plenty of websites about both the HD remaster of the former GameCube-only Resident Evil remake from 2002 and the concept video for (as in too EARLY to have actual gameplay footage from) Resident Evil Revelations 2. I, for one will be getting both games upon their respective releases because I know that the former hasn’t been on any other console platform to date and it’s a truly great game. As for RER 2, I liked the first one quite a bit, so this one’s going to be added to the “watch and BUY!’ list.

It’s THAT simple for me. I’m not silly enough to yell and scream about unrelated games, DLC from unrelated games, and so forth and so on. These announcements are about the games in question and Capcom just wants to show them off and know what you think about them, not listen to bitch-fest central about Monster Hunter, Mega Man, Street Fighter or worse, INCORRECT comments about this HD version Resident Evil being the same as the 1996 original or just a straightforward “port” of the GameCube game.


 

Eh, I shouldn’t be surprised at all at this reaction, as the company seems to attract some of the more passionate but woefully ignorant fans in gaming. Sure, they’ve made mistakes over the years, but some people need to just grow up and not continue to slam them on EVERY call they make these days.

The Great Backlog Dupe Giveaway 4: Two Alien Invasions For You To Halt!


 

Yeah, you COULD go out like one of these not too bright chumps in the “classic” low-budget 1980 sci-fi flick (It Came) Without Warning, OR you could dive into the TWO Steam games I’m giving away to ONE lucky winner and learn some actual alien invasion survival tactics that will come in VERY handy! That’s right, folks! Today’s giveaway consists of Altar Studios’ UFO: Aftermath and UFO: Aftershock, two tactical strategy games inspired by the classic X-Com franchise:


 

All you need to do is be the first one to respond and both codes are YOURS. Yes, you need a Steam account and a valid email address (which you don’t need to post – I’ll find you, don’t worry). It will take me a bit longer to respond today, as I’m actually not at the home office and will be back there in a few hours to respond to the lucky winner, so don’t fret if you post first and don’t hear back right away.


 

Okay, enough reading – you’ve got some games to win and play! GOOD LUCK!

Hikari Friday Time! Funko Wants You To Win Something Big, Sticky And Ghosty…

HIkari Premium logoAs summer slowly winds down, what better way to close it out than with memories of roasting marshmallows and not-so scary ghost stories? Well, that’s the first thing I thought of when I saw this week’s Hikari giveaway. Funko is giving away this awesome Burnt Stay Puft Premium Hikari Sofubi Figure (#1 of only 1500 made):

Burnt Stay Puft Premium Hikari Sofubi Figure

And yes, YOU can be the lucky winner! Or the VERY unlucky winner if that thing ever comes to life and grows to the size it did in Ghostbusters! Anyway, as usual, just hit up one of Funko’s social media sites:

http://www.facebook.com/OriginalFunko
http://www.twitter.com/OriginalFunko
Instagram @OriginalFunko

Take a chance and perhaps you’ll get that email that says you’ve won big! Er, just keep an eye out for the box WALKING down the street towards your house. If you’re a loser, you can buy one of these limited edition Premium vinyls in November at your favorite Funko retailer. Have a super and SAFE Labor Day, by the way!