Gnome's Lair

Army Break 8: Great news I have.

2009-10-30T08:07:00.002+02:00

Unfortunately said news have nothing to do with my army duty -news on that front aren't cause for celebration really- but should be of interest to the quality gaming public that tends to visit the halls of the now half empty Lair. It's all about news of the gaming, indie gaming and retro gaming kind then. Hope you don't mind about the fact that...

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Army Break 7: Enough is enough.

2009-10-26T18:37:00.003+02:00

Just a lovely Grim Fandango video for you luvs. We'll soon be talking about armies, games and, err, stuff though.

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Army Break 6: Ahh, yes, the army. And PC Zone.

2009-10-11T00:08:00.000+03:00

It occurred to me that, well, I haven't really mentioned anything regarding my time spent in the army, which frankly is kinda weird. I am after all boring everyone to death about the subject. Seems to be the only thing on my mind lately, exactly as people had foretold. Then again this is -supposedly- a gaming blog, and surely you lovable lot...

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Army Break 5: Spanking Death

2009-09-24T16:55:00.005+03:00

Don't quite know why but it felt oddly appropriate. UPDATE: Just got myself a twitter thingy! Hoorah! Now, time to return to them desolate border island and torment myself.

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Army Break 4: Off to the borders

2009-08-15T14:54:00.002+03:00

Well, as I only have another couple of hours in Athens, thought I'd let you know that a) I'll be off very soon to serve on a certain island and b) that I really need some sleep. Should be back after a few months or -provided I get really lucky- some weeks. Cheers and take care everyone!

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Army Break 3: Games for men

2009-07-31T11:20:00.004+03:00

Surely most wont be surprised, but the people (involuntarily) serving the Greek army are indeed men. Men coming from all classes, of all educational levels and generally between their late teens and early thirties. Men, one would say, that are what video game demographers would describe as the gaming's hardcore audience. So, this being a gaming...

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Army Break 2: The Indie Rox (and military blues)

2009-07-03T19:01:00.005+03:00

I really don't feel like discussing the army or anything related to it. I'll just mention the general lack of sleep it seems to impose on people and the fact that I never thought I could lose that much weight that fast. Oh, and it's dreadfully stupid, paranoid, tiring and boring. Right. Now I'll move on to something more game related. A list of...

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Army Break 1: Monkeys, Housekeeping and Parades

2009-06-08T13:48:00.004+03:00

Seems the first part of my basic training has come to an end, and, well, I must admit that, despite the silliness, pointlessness and downright ridiculousness of the whole thing, the army provided me with a ton of opportunities for a good laugh. Simply watching all those screaming people trying to make confusion more confusing can be bloody...

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You're in the army now...

2009-05-16T11:41:00.003+03:00

Well, actually, not you, but me, and, well, I haven't technically joined anyone or anything yet, but surely you get the idea... As many of you dear friends and readers already know, I'll have to serve my compulsory army duty for the better part of this year. This quite obviously means that Gnome's Lair wont be updated that much -not at all for the...

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Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars: The Director's Cut: The Wii Review

2009-05-15T02:12:00.001+03:00

As far as legendary creators of point-and-click adventure games go, Revolution, despite having only released a handful of titles, is second only to Lucasarts, though, as most Sierra fans will happily admit, quantity has absolutely nothing to do with quality. As for most hardened adventurers, they will definitely remember Beneath A Steel Sky,...

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Forty (+), Fearsome, Fabulous and Free (Games, that is)

2009-05-12T16:26:00.001+03:00

Haven't made one of those lists for quite some time, but, well, I guess it's never too late to let you know about some of the best freeware games that recently made themselves available. Neither of course is it too late to make another horrid attempt at a collage supposedly showcasing some of the freebies that made the list. What list? That...

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Retroaction Issue Two Released

2009-05-11T16:03:00.007+03:00

After any teaser it is customary for the real thing to come, and the time for this particular real thing has apparently... err... come. All you now have to do to grab your very own, very freeware, very retro and very PDF version of Retroaction #2 is follow this link and click your way to 84 pages of retro gaming goodness. And yes, it is indeed a...

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Introversion's fine games-in-a-box

2009-05-09T13:27:00.005+03:00

It was roughly a week ago when everyone's favourite indie gaming blog TIG Source reported that British indie developers Introversion weren't in the best of shapes, and thus a mere week since I ordered the complete and utterly brilliant Introversion Anthology. In a box! And no, it was neither a matter of guilt for having never purchased any of...

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Retroaction 2: The First & Final Teaser

2009-05-08T17:04:00.003+03:00

Expect Retroaction issue #2 crashing onto them retro loving Internets very soon, while impressively spanning dozens of pages filled with all things retro gaming. It will also -as was promised and prophesied- come in the lovely form of free, brilliantly designed PDF magazine.

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Space War Commander Review

2009-05-06T13:19:00.000+03:00

You'd be excused if -by looking at the above screenshot, that is- you were expecting some sort of retro review, and you would also, quite happily, be very wrong. That, you see, is the beauty of indie games: developers and artists that simply create the stuff they like, without trying to appeal to everyone and without having to suffer armies of...

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Squid Harderer (coming soonerish)

2009-05-04T14:26:00.007+03:00

Squid Yes, Not So Octopus 2 from oddbob on Vimeo.First there was War Twat (and its kid-friendly version War Bus) and it was the best arena shooter ever. Then the Bob that is Odd created Squid Yes! Not So Octopus! and this was the best arena shooter ever. Now the time has almost come for what will surely be hailed as the best arena shooter ever:...

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The Adventure 2600 Reboot

2009-04-30T16:30:00.008+03:00

When I first encountered Adventure on the Atari 2600, I was nothing more than a ridiculously young kid, and was thus too confused by its less than straightforward gameplay to actually bother. It was only years later -on the very same 2600- that I actually gave the game a fair chance to impress me, and, to point, it did. Adventure was far more...

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Simon the Sorcerer 5 and some Gnome's Lair news

2009-04-28T17:27:00.004+03:00

Finally! After two not particularly exciting games, Simon nailed that elusive 3D look. Probably has to do with the combination of gorgeous hand-painted background graphics with smartly cell-shaded characters methinks. Now, if the humour and puzzles are as good as the they were in the first two 16-bit Simon the Sorcerer installments, we can all be...

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A nice little post with some nice little mags in it

2009-04-19T21:25:00.005+03:00

Not that you would have noticed otherwise (I'm quite aware my posting isn't as frequent as it should be; sorry about that), but, well, guess I'd let you know I wont be around for the next 6-7 days. Taking a short vacation, you see. In Crete of all places! Now, to keep you occupied while you're anxiously waiting, I thought I'd point you towards...

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Decker's Delight Links (13.Apr.09)

2009-04-13T12:22:00.005+03:00

Deckers and shadowrunners rejoice! Here -finally- are the links you've been asking for. The links to some of the smartest and most original (though not particularly fresh) things the gaming side of the Internet has to offer. Click away.Let's start by me reminding everyone that Gabriel Knight 3 remains one of the best and most memorable games I've...

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Retromags unleashing three wild GameFan issues

2009-04-09T12:51:00.004+03:00

GameFan was a US magazine that I, well, had never heard of really. Apparently the thing was first released in 1992 and managed to survive all the way to 2000, despite (?) having an obvious thing for all things console and an admittedly interesting ultra-colourful layout. Now, as the super retro mag scanning team that runs the excellent Retromags...

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Molstrums Vintage Apple Mansion

2009-04-06T12:26:00.008+03:00

I still have fond and occasionally terrifying memories of the first non-parser driven adventure I ever played: Uninvited. It was brilliant, innovative and horrific and was followed by Déjà Vu -which I somehow ignored-and then the excellent Shadowgate that once again attempted to scare me to death. But, sadly, I was 12 by the time I tried that last...

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Legends of Zork LIVE!

2009-04-01T12:11:00.005+03:00

This blog will remain April Fool's Day joke free forever. Or, well, for as long as it stays around, meaning you simply won't have to doubt the good news I bring you, consequently meaning that you should be clicking your collective way to the virtual world of Legends of Zork. It just opened its gates, you see, and after trying it for over 20...

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Pacian presents Dead Like Ants

2009-03-24T12:00:00.006+02:00

Having already enjoyed a significant part of Dead Like Ants I can assure you dear readers that it is indeed an excellent game -or should I say read- that absolutely everyone has to experience. But, I'm apparently jumping ahead of myself. Let me first explain that Dead Like Ants, a little downloadable something just released for the EnvComp...

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The Home of the Underdogs: It Returns!

2009-03-18T12:42:00.004+02:00

The Home of the Underdogs was the first site I really cared for, deeply enjoyed and daily visited since the era when a 33.6k modem was considered high-tech. I happily witnessed countless upgrades, radical design changes and a ton of new, indie, obscure, classic and old games being constantly added. What's more each game came complete with...

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