"Thank God their manager sat down all their stars. Idiot."

A High Profile Issue Surfaces

I thought it was very cool that the Major League Baseball 2K franchise continued its annual $1 million contest to a player who pitches a perfect game. This year it became even more competitive by creating an eight player bracket of the best “scores” from their perfect games. Those players would then be pitted in a final duel to score the prize. More than 900,000 attempts later, there were almost 900 players who pitched perfect games. Then the accusations of cheating began when one player, William Haff, openly admitted to altering the opposing team’s lineup to all bench players prior to the start of the game despite contest rules suggesting it was prohibited.

What drew me to this topic again was the first comment on the supplied source article. I thought the commenter put it succinctly and accurately:

…I’d like to remind the gaming community that “degenerative gaming” is a legitimate term used to define a certain style of game play that can be accurately attributed to players like Haff. It is the style adopted by those who will do anything to win; from the fighting game low-kick spammer to the controller modders to the hackers and the glitch exploiters. They are called “degenerative” strategies because the player is reducing the significance of a game’s design and it’s elements. They are not holding themselves to a standard that the designers expected as part of the spirit of a given game. – De Gnomer

Before that comment I never really thought of giving this practice a name. I am not a fan of abusing exploits, or glitches, to better my end. I want to experience the game as I play it. I think that’s why I never went back to a save point in the Mass Effect or other epic role playing series due to the feeling of I’m cheating my personal experience in some way. It’s one thing to die and go back to a save, but it’s entirely another to progress through the story based on actions and going back because you didn’t like that story arc and prefer the other.

It’s Been Around For a Long Time

Let me get it out of the way that this is, in no way, new to video games. Players have tried to find ways to “work the system” to best difficult games through a variety of ways. In the beginning, it was less impactful as most games were single player or local multiplayer only. If you exploited a feature in the game to best your friend sitting next to you it was fine. You would either laugh it off or get a black eye.

I have no problem with altering games in private sessions either alone or with your friends. Sometimes these changes can be quite fun and add to your experience in a positive way when it’s in a controlled environment.

When you’re competing for prizes or even in a public setting degenerative gaming has no place or purpose. We’ve heard everyone complain from time to time about lag switches, hacking, camping, attack spamming, and the list goes on. It alters the playing field in a negative way which doesn’t promote good competition and will ruin the experience for the majority of players. This is what happened in the Major League Baseball 2K12 $1 million contest.

I've already witnessed an exploit and this was just released.

Glitch or Exploit?

Let me be clear: an exploit is a glitch. There’s really no difference. A glitch is unexpected behavior. An exploit is taking advantage of any mechanics or unexpected behavior. While it’s not a mechanical glitch, it’s a behavioral glitch impossible to always catch. Developers are tasked with coding a game to progress a story or gameplay elements which can be very complex with moving parts, but they are often times tasked with the impossible challenge of catching every area in which a player will act unexpectedly.

I recently viewed a Diablo III stream in which a group of friends repeated a quest over and over again to farm experience before progressing through the game. One friend asked, “Is this a glitch?” The other responded, “I don’t think so. It’s just an exploit.” Granted, Diablo III in this case was not home to a competitive setting, but the lessons learned from this experience can easily be injected into a competitive environment. By requiring a specific action to close the quest the players were able to replay the quest over and over again just to farm experience and loot. This same behavior exists in many first person shooter multiplayer experiences such as Call of Duty and Battlefield by controlling spawn points and farming kills. A mechanic exploit was discovered with an unintended, completely unfair result.

Impact on Competitive Gaming

This was almost unplayable at one point online.

Players who spam certain attacks, mass-produce certain units only, or use auto-aim and rapid-fire controls to gain an edge are all participating in degenerative gaming in some way. While discovering these tricks or altering game settings privately can be fun, in a competitive multiplayer arena it can de-legitimize yourself, your experience, and the experience of others. All for what? Some wins in a video game which holds no real bearing? In a way I’m very happy for competitive gaming such as MLG because the rules to participate, place, and win are very strict. It keeps competitive gaming as close to “pure” as reasonably acceptable.

In free-for-all settings there has been rampant hacking or modification to game settings to gain an edge and no longer keep the game as a “game.” In Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer there was a high-profile exploit to receive unlimited care packages. In the case of the $1 million contest many gamers who may not have altered any of the settings and legitimately succeeded in pitching a perfect game could have missed the cut due to degenerative gaming. Once that happened, the problem can no longer be ignored.

So What’s Next?

I hope in some way this contest example can serve as a lesson for future contests about really looking into the rules and ways to enforce them. A very cool idea has been marred by this scandal, and it cannot be good for the game or the community. Contests will likely be scrutinized more heavily and the “cost of entry” will be greater.

Has degenerative gaming affected you in any way? Do you support this style? Why? Discuss.

Counter Gaming is a series that takes a look at the destructive practices of the industry and gamers alike.

Sources

Kotaku
Giant Bomb (images)

Related posts:

1. Counter Gaming: Player Conduct
2. Counter Gaming: Forgetting the Fun
3. Counter Gaming: Piracy

It sounds like a specialty BDSM toilet.

Cyanide has set a release date for their Blood Bowl spin-off Dungeonbowl. The game launches on June 8th on their official store and will see a Steam release later in June.

The tabletop version was originally released in 1989 as an expansion for Blood Bowl, the Warhammer based fantasy (as in orcs and elves) football game. Like the original, Dungeonbowl pits the various Colleges of Magic and their sponsored teams against each other in a crazy turn-based-football-dungeon-quest mashup. Teams of Dwarves, Elves, Skaven and other Warhammer staples use teleporters to navigate the dungeon rooms in search of the ball, which is hidden in a booby trapped treasure chest. Once the ball is found, the first team to score a touchdown wins.

The Rose Bowl is for pussies.

If this game holds as true to its tabletop origins as Cyanide’s Blood Bowl, then you are in for a real treat. The game really is as crazy as it sounds. Also mentioned in the press release is a dungeon editor. Huzzah!

The starter pack for the game, which includes the core game, three colleges of magic and one environment kit will cost $14.99. Pricing for additional content has not been announced. If you pre-order the game on Cyanide’s store page, you will receive early access to the game on June 1st.

Sources:

Cyanide
Board Game Geek

No related posts.

It’s the Seventh One

If you’ve never played Mario Kart before, then you are one of the few gamers who can make that claim, but let’s sum it up anyway. Nintendo “carefully” selects the most famous characters from games Mario has appeared in and pits them against one another in a kart-racing battle to the death. Well, it’s more like to the pain. Especially when you play locally with friends who have active fists when they lose. Mario Kart has been known to employ a very generous rubber-banding device so, even if you are in last place, you will still have an opportunity to win. The game gives you the rarest and most powerful weapons when you fall behind the leader, so it’s somewhat easy to make up that ground. It might not be fair, but good karters can snap the rubber band before it slingshots your opponent past you. I won’t share my secrets.

Speaking of weapons, Mario Kart 7 has added a few new weapons to the overall arsenal. The fire flower makes its first appearance in a Mario Kart game and allows the player to expectedly shoot fireballs at the other drivers. Another edition is the super leaf. A carryover from its reintroduction in Super Mario 3D Land, the super leaf gives the driver a tail to whip away oncoming projectiles. It’s especially helpful towards the end of races when an opposing driver fires that dastardly red shell. The last of the new weapons is called Lucky 7. When a player gets this power-up, it forms a circle of seven random weapons around the kart. Quite useful, especially if you are in last place. There are only 8 drivers total in the race so you do the math.

A Whole New World/Under the Sea

Mario has a hang-glider now. No cape or tail required.

For the first time in the Mario Kart series, tracks now feature airborne and underwater sections. If you hit a sick jump, a hang-glider will automatically pop out of the kart and you will glide to a lower section of track. Though the control of the kart changes, it’s not that difficult of an adjustment, particularly when you don’t stay in the air that long. The underwater sections turn your kart into a submarine of sorts and again, the control changes slightly. You still race on a flat surface at the bottom of the water but the kart tends to get a little floaty…no pun intended.

Another first-time feature is the ability to race in a first person perspective.  Using the accelerometers in the 3DS, you control your kart as you tilt to steer. Unfortunately, you lose out on the ability to drift for the mini boosts like you can in other modes. Another downside I’ve found while trying to play this mode is that it is damn near impossible to have the 3D slider turned up at all. If you are constantly moving the 3DS, your eyes are continually readjusting to the parallax screen and it is aggravating. Because of that, I rarely play in first person perspective.

Though the 3D is annoying in first person mode, it is extremely well done if you play Mario Kart the old-fashioned, third-person way. I never found any eye strain or headaches associated with my play time and I’ve come to enjoy the 3D visuals way more than having the slider turned down. I’m still amazed at the technology and the fact that I don’t have to wear glasses to utilize it. I’ve only played first party releases on the 3DS so I can’t say whether or not the good 3D visuals are the norm or the exception. All I can say is that Mario Kart has exceptional visuals even in a somewhat tired genre.

No Friend Codes Required

While online multiplayer might not be new to the franchise, it definitely is well implemented on the 3DS. Players can compete against random players online (no archaic sharing of friend codes necessary), players in their friends list, or “rivals” they have raced against previously. Historically, Nintendo has been bad at this and, though it is still not perfect, it is much easier to get an online game going than I have come to expect for a Nintendo game. Online multiplayer creates a bigger sense of challenge than racing against the classic characters over and over again. The one downside to online multiplayer in a Mario Kart, the ability to physically punch your opponents, has been drastically reduced. I have yet to run into any difficulties racing against people from around the world. The game runs at a crisp framerate while racing with 2 to 8 players. The ability to exchange ghost data with friends adds that extra challenge seen in most addictive time trial-based games. Overall I was impressed with the multiplayer implementation and hope Nintendo can learn from this as it moves forward.

Neat but unnecessary mode. Especially if you like it in 3D.

I am both simultaneously happy and disappointed with the track selection Nintendo and Retro Studios have included. There are 16 new tracks and 16 tracks from the previous games. While I shouldn’t be complaining about 32 tracks in a Mario Kart game, only the 16 new tracks really utilize the hang-gliding and underwater elements to their full potential, yet, I love the fact that some of my old favorites like Koopa Troopa Beach and Rainbow Road from the previous Kart games are playable. Even some new tracks from the Wii version that I didn’t play are becoming some of my favorites. I guess overall I’m pretty satisfied, but I’d love to see the next Mario Kart game with 32 new tracks.

Disappointingly Good

Like I said before: it’s a Mario Kart game. If you enjoy the series and aren’t tired of the same gameplay with a few added elements, then you’ll be satisfied with the release. The excellent 3D and new gameplay implementations did it for me, but I haven’t played much Mario Kart since Double Dash and we all know how much of an abomination that was. There aren’t a ton of good to great games on the 3DS right now, so I definitely recommend you pick this one up if only to hold you over until something else comes along.

Mario Kart 7 has been out for 6 months and is still full price most places. If you stick to only the single player, the value proposition drops because the CPU isn’t hard to beat at any level. The real value comes in the online multiplayer, where people all around the world are way more challenging opponents. If you aren’t down on traditional (ie. Call of Duty) online multiplayer games, don’t fret –  there’s no voice chat. Sure, you might get sick of the 32 tracks after awhile but if you are like me, posting the fastest time can overpower the boredom of the repetitive tracks. Value score – 3/5

Source:

Giant Bomb (images)

Related posts:

1. Mario Madness: How to Lose at Mario Kart 64
2. I Learned Something Today: Super Mario Kart
3. What Real Life Mario Kart Looks Like

That bundle looks kind of like a Dr. Mario virus...conspiracy?

The ”pay what you want” bundle has become as common lately as the independent games it features. I can only describe the ability to pay whatever price I want for a diverse selection of games as unreasonable but in a sort of positive way.  While my familiarity with this style of commerce has been driven by the friendly folks at Humble Bundle, they do not have the monopoly on the world of bundles as evidenced by yet another derivative arriving to the market in the form of Bundle in a Box and their latest venture The Adventure Bundle.

Like its bundle brethren, The Adventure Bundle allows you to pay what you want (thought there is currently a minimum in place at $2.89) for a group of adventure style indie games including Gemini Rue, Been There Dan That; Time Gentleman, Please!; 1893: A World’s Fair Mystery and The Sea Will Claim Everything. Should you graciously pay more than the average (currently $5.77), you’ll also get The Shivah and Metal Dead. There are also a couple of bundle extras in the form of soundtracks for Gemini Rue and The Shivah as well as what’s being referred to as a “booklet” for Metal Dead. A bundle with a booklet? Sounds super cute, maybe too super cute.

I'm sorry Mrs. Fluffers, but your husband's diet consisting of licking his own ass has caused blockages in his heart. We have to operate.

At the end of the day, there really isn’t much to complain about when you look at what’s being offered but I’m still having issues purchasing things that happen to be bundled. I appreciate Bundle in a Box placing the bundle inside of a box as I enjoy boxes way more than bundles. That being said, once the box is gone the bundle is still there, staring at me as if to say “Cuddle me, Ethan, I’m so soft and warm. I bet your wife would love me!” Sorry bundles, but playing games to please my wife seems like a blatant contradiction unless those games feature the cast of Grey’s Anatomy working at a cats-only veterinary clinic.

I’m stepping forward again to say that we should create some sort of legislature that would require these bundles to be refered to as “action packs” regardless of whether or not the games feature would fit the criteria for the action genre. To me, saying yes to an action pack is a given, whereas a bundle could be avoided if proper research into its contents is not done.

Anyway, go out and support the Bundle in a Box: Adventure Bundle because their heart seems like it’s in the right place. Don’t, however, feel like you have to support the word “bundle” or its use in describing random groupings of games or other products.

Cheap and Dirty Gamer – Being cheap used to be an insult, but with the economy in the dumps it’s now a survival skill. Being dirty also used to be an insult, but that changed after Christina Aguilera’s song came out. Not all gamers have the funds to play full priced games, but that doesn’t mean that gaming quality has to suffer. There are good free and cheap games everywhere, games specifically made for the sexy survivors among us.

Sources

Bundle in a Box
Kyttaro Games

Related posts:

1. Cheap and Dirty Gamer: Monsters’ Den Chronicles is Full of Awesome Parties
2. Cheap and Dirty Gamer: Abobo’s Big Adventure is a Beefcake Sandwich with a Side of Vengeance Fries
3. Cheap and Dirty Gamer: Shank You for Getting to the Point

The Cursed Checkpoint is a topical video game podcast focused on discussions and interviews about a single video game, genre, news headline, or industry story. It features a rotating cast of up to 3 members of the Horrible Night writing staff and/or video game industry professionals.

Throughout May, Horrible Night will be Going Indie and featuring indie game related articles in support of the Indie Game: The Movie screening in Indianapolis on May 23.

• Gaming Cynic: The Indie Game Nightmare
• Tried It: Minecraft 360 Edition
• Lone Survivor Review
• Gaming Lifestyle: Waiting for Console Breakthroughs
• Rewards of Going Indie Part 1 – Accidentally Breaking New Ground
• Podcast – The Horrible Show Live: Going Indie

Oh, look! An aqueduct! JP would be proud!

Episode Background

This is not just a “I’m new to Minecraft and don’t know what to do” episode. There are plenty of those out there. Brandon, JP, and Aaron discuss the impact of Minecraft on the Xbox 360 and look at the game from a newcomer’s perspective. What are their hopes, dreams, and fears? Aaron played Minecraft on PC for some time before the release on Xbox 360. What’s his take on the new edition?

This checkpoint is full of lessons learned, stories, and bro-ship all revolved around Minecraft. It is intended for gamers who haven’t made up their mind about whether or not they will purchase Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition or those who just don’t know what to expect.

Show Notes

Cast: Brandon, JP, and Aaron
Runtime: 36:02
Games: Minecraft, Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition

Subscribe to The Cursed Checkpoint - Multiple episodes a month.

• RSS
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• @HorribleShows - For Horrible Night Media

Related posts:

1. Tried It: Going Indie – Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition
2. Mass Effect 3: The Reviewcast – The Cursed Checkpoint #112
3. Should I Play The Walking Dead: Episode 1? – The Cursed Checkpoint #115

That’s shiny, GiffTor, but can we get to the video games, already?

Yes, she really did say, "I do." No, I was not holding her family hostage.

So here’s the thing…weddings, even when you keep them fairly simple and have a lot of the crap knocked out of the way ahead of time, kind of eat up almost all of your time. Time you normally spend on gaming. So, long story short, except for one game I played on the airplane (I’ll get to that in a minute), I had almost 2 weeks without gaming. And it wasn’t that bad. I’m not going to lie, leading up to the wedding, there were few things I wanted more than to be able to sit down and zone out for a while and kill some Cerberus goons or hellspawn in righteous catharsis, but it wasn’t in the cards, mainly because I love my wife and it didn’t seem like a good idea to start out our new life together with an argument regarding the Xbox.

Then:

Bachelor Party oh God hangover rehearsal rehearsal dinner | Oh crap I’m getting married today | pick up the tux go to the hotel pound a couple of beers with the best man because I’m a nervous wreck suit up walk to the location with the groomsmen like a boss watch a trashcan catch on fire before the ceremony get put out by the best man with water from the canal say I do pictures Reception Of Awesomeness +10 fall asleep.

Fast Forward 28 Hours

With the exception of Air Attack HD on the plane (which is a 4-star Android game), I went a whole week without video games. Just typing that would make me shudder a little bit if it were in any other context. As it was, though, I barely noticed. I wore a watch but didn’t look at it except to determine if it was cocktail hour* yet. My phone was turned off. I only checked social media around 10 at night. And putting on fins and a mask was like snorkeling in an aquarium. No, I didn’t miss the Xbox or the desktop at all. Looking back and realizing that I had that whole week with no games (and mostly no electronics other than a Kindle) where I never once jonezed for the boot-screen got me to thinking about where gaming falls in my life and what kind of gamer I am. There’s a reason I turn the Xbox on after dealing with The Spenser after work; there’s a reason I’m not a big fan of competitive multiplayer; there’s a reason my wife** turns on The Sims 3 when she gets home from work.*** I game to chill out.

2 hours of this = 5 minutes of laying on the beach with cocktails.

Don’t get me wrong, I have a great time getting my head handed to me in Mortal Kombat and Mario Kart with the Horrible crew and I’ve got plenty of competitive spirit…but at least during the week, you’re not going to find me playing “versus” anything unless it’s pretty brainless and light-hearted (I’m sending love your way right now, Fruit Ninja and YDKJ). While I can handle co-op campaign or even Horde-mode style play on your average Tuesday evening, I’m just not in the mood to deal with actual interpersonal conflict after work.

Both my wife and I come home pretty fired up after a day at work; although she’s nothing but sweetness and smiles, to be honest, I can be a bit of an asshole until I’ve had a chance to switch into my not-talking-to-opposing-counsel gear. Our little post-work gaming routine**** gives me time to do that. I don’t feel the need to change my GamerTag “gamer type,” but after months of craziness and a week doing nothing, I’ve finally found my gaming identity. So, if you see me online, feel free to invite me to your game – chances are, I’ll join up. Just see what day of the week it is first.

*By “cocktail hour,” I mean, “the time of day at which we took our stuff from the beach to the pool and continued drinking at the swim-up bar. It was awesome.

**Yes, it’s still weird saying that.

***After we kiss and say, “HiILoveYouHowWasYourDay?”

****I literally couldn’t have married a more awesome woman.

Gaming Lifestyle – The true stories of how we play video games and how it can effect our daily lives.

Source:

Giant Bomb (game image)

Related posts:

1. Gaming Lifestyle: The Balance Between Life, School, Work and Games
2. Gaming Lifestyle: Living Together
3. Gaming Lifestyle: Who Takes a Gamecation?

We believe that developers should have the freedom to price their games how they like, without interference from the online stores that sell the games.

Sold. I don’t need any more reason than that, but if you’re a little more skeptical if you’ll find something for this sale that will float your boat then you might like to take a quick glance at the list of platforms available:

• Direct from Developer
• iOS
• Mac
• Android
• Steam
• Other

There are incredible games on this list. You can find Super Meat Boy, Snuggle Truck, The Binding of Isaac, and yes – Dungeon Defenders. This is exciting for us as we focus this month on Going Indie as well as screening Indie Game: The Movie tonight in Indianapolis!

So if you’re like me and just now investigating the awesome indie game scene, or if you’re a cheap and dirty gamer then you might want to check out this sale and buy. Why? Because you may.

Source

Because We May

Related posts:

1. Indievania Allows Game Developers to Sell Games Directly to Customers
2. Limits are Advantages for Indie Developers
3. Indie Game: The Movie to Appear at Sundance

The Horrible Show – Join the editorial staff of HorribleNight.com as they discuss a variety of entertainment-focused video game topics.

This show was recorded live on Twitch.tv/HorribleNight. Live podcasts are featured monthly. Check out the archived video.

Throughout May, Horrible Night will be Going Indie and featuring indie game related articles in support of the Indie Game: The Movie screening in Indianapolis on May 23.

• Gaming Cynic: The Indie Game Nightmare
• Tried It: Minecraft 360 Edition
• Lone Survivor Review
• Gaming Lifestyle: Waiting for Console Breakthroughs
• Rewards of Going Indie Part 1 – Accidentally Breaking New Ground
• Podcast – Welcome to Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition

Show Notes

Cast:
Justin L, Ethan, Josh

Guide:

00:25 – Intro
03:16 – Game Industry Shout-Outs
24:00 – Horrible Shout-Outs
37:06 – On the Spot Question
45:09 – Going Indie
45:22 – The Rise of the Indies
59:08 – Favorite Big Independent Developers
1:03:25 – What is Indie?
1:12:55 – Biggest Indie Game Surprise
1:19:05 – Importance of Indies
1:24:19 – Future of Indies
1:36:10 – HorribleNight.com Updates

Game Industry Shout-Outs:

• Josh – Ravaged goes Beyond Funderdome
• Ethan - Defiance Transmedia
• Justin – Project Copernicus / Kingdoms of Amalur MMO Trailer

Horrible Shout-Outs:

• Ethan – Aaron McNeal – Lone Survivor Review
• Josh - Ethan Moses – The Bro-op Article
• Justin – Brandon Coppernoll’s – Tried It Minecraft

Subscribe to the Horrible Show – New Episodes every Wednesday.

• RSS
• iTunes
• @TheHorribleShow – Twitter
• Formspring.me/horriblenight

Related posts:

1. Game Time for the End Times – The Horrible Show #301 Live
2. Gamecation Worthy – The Horrible Show #306 Live
3. Gaming Crushes: Will They or Won’t They? – The Horrible Show #303 Live

Throughout May, Horrible Night will be Going Indie and featuring indie game related articles in support of the Indie Game: The Movie screening in Indianapolis on May 23.

• Gaming Cynic: The Indie Game Nightmare
• Tried It: Minecraft 360 Edition
• Lone Survivor Review
• Gaming Lifestyle: Waiting for Console Breakthroughs
• Podcast – The Horrible Show Live: Going Indie
• Podcast – Welcome to Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition

I’ll never catch up, but can I still have fun?

While I may have finally accepted that I will never pursue competitive gaming in any serious manner, that doesn’t mean that I’m not up for learning a few new tricks. It has been fascinating to watch the professional growth of the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) games. Spawning from the old school way of doing indie games, a mod, Defense of the Ancients (DotA) could not have been further off of my radar. DotA’s success in the Warcraft III community led to the formation of the independent development studio, Riot Games, who has since gone on to create the massively successful League of Legends. League’s second season currently has a $3 Million prize pool, so let’s just say I’ve been a bit intimidated to jump into MOBA’s because of how serious the level of competition actually is in the genre. However, the great thing about indie games is they iterate on each other so even if you don’t get in on the originals, just be patient as your particularly flavor may be next.

Megabeth and I are getting a bit more dangerous.

I’m happy to say that I finally broke into MOBA’s my way thanks to two unique takes on the genre. Monday Night Combat and its free-to-play sequel Super MNC had me playing a MOBA before I knew what I was doing. You see, I thought I was just playing a third person shooter with a cool game show gimmick with my friends. After a few horrendous (but fun) losses it turns out that there was a bit of strategy to these games. I started to notice “the lanes” and all of the non-playable robots in the arena that actually helped out if I kept them alive instead of spending all of my time running off to shoot, die, repeat directly with the other players. I started leveling up my character in ways that benefited the robots on my team and our team started doing better. We started winning, I was having fun, and the game was nothing like I expected but had all of the hallmarks of great cooperative and competitive games that I love. Although, I still didn’t know what I was doing until…

Awesomenauts. Again I had a broad misconception. I thought I was just signing up for a competitive 2D shooter that had a ton of Saturday morning cartoon nostalgia. It didn’t take long for me to draw similarities to MNC and therefore to League, but Awesomenauts is where MOBA’s finally clicked for me. Awesomenauts, like MNC before it, hooked me in with familiar gameplay. The difference here was that not only did the 2D action platforming feel comfortable to me, I naturally felt good at the game because the playing field felt much more level with the other new players. The 2D level design also distilled down the basic layout of MOBA arenas in a way that made a hell of a lot more sense. Sure it isn’t the deepest MOBA out there, and it took a handful of different games to get me here, but Awesomenauts finally opened a door to a genre that I never thought I’d walk through. While indie games may have created the MOBA genre it is far from the only genre that they have taken me to recently.

Your stupid game is stupid, and now I love it

Up until about a year ago, I ignorantly used to get annoyed when anyone mentioned the roguelike genre. I figured if any genre was worth talking about, it would have more than one game to compare it to. (Yes, I assumed the game Rogue was the only example until last year.) This all came to a head around the release of The Binding of Isaac and I gleefully ignored the discussion until after my first completion of the game. I was interested in The Binding of Isaac because it was designed by Edmund McMillen and the level design looked straight out of The Legend of Zelda. The art style, level design, and dark story were enough to sell me on this ridiculously low-priced game. The funny thing is after I finished it, all I could talk about was how refreshing I found the permadeath feature, the random level designs, and the challenge. Guess what? Those are three of the major selling points of roguelikes. I’d never been so happy to be so wrong as I had an entire genre of games to explore.

Congratulations are definitely in order.

Diving into roguelikes was still pretty intimidating as a lot of the classics had ASCII graphics or a rough/archaic presentation layer. Not surprisingly, my breakthrough came in the form of a recent indie roguelike, Dungeons of Dredmor. There are so many systems at work in roguelikes that it is easy to get lost, but Dredmor makes it easy for the player to not have to worry about the details at first. The friendly character designs and the whimsical writing presented during the fantastic tutorial hooked me in and had me laughing at my many deaths and failures. I went from thinking that roguelikes are about persistence, practice and a significant time investment to playing Dredmor in quick bursts. Merely besting my previous score or trying out a new set of skills kept me entertained enough to come back for another round.

My time exploring dungeons in new ways didn’t end with permadeaths either. While I’ve been a fan of the isometric action of the Diablo style of dungeon crawling for a long time now, I never saw the appeal of the more methodical first person dungeon crawlers out there. Leave it to another affordable new indie game to open my eyes to the puzzling attractions of this unique perspective in Legend of Grimrock. Grimrock drew me in with its trailer that showed off its surprisingly immersive atmosphere and graphics. I just wanted to dive in and explore and didn’t bother to look at the gameplay details as the price was right for experimentation. I was surprised at how the limited grid-based movement options felt so welcoming to me as an explorer. I felt comfortable searching out solutions to puzzles and combat, but was constantly surprised when each challenge opened up new gameplay options. The pacing of Grimrock sucked me in and before I knew it an entire night of gaming had gone by and I didn’t want to stop playing. Not bad for a genre that I previously expected to bore me out of my mind.

New to me, but there’s more

Groundbreaking experiences are only one of the benefits of indie games. Encountering the fruits of indie games’ constant exploration of well-established game features that are more personal to you as a gamer can be even more rewarding. It has renewed my affinity for everything from platforming gameplay to well-told stories, which I will explore in part two next week.

Gamer’s Journey – Stories about the unique gaming experiences that have propelled us through games, franchises, genres, and the gaming industry itself.

Source:

Giant Bomb (images)

Related posts:

1. Gaming Regrets: Dosage of Indie Games
2. Going Indie – The Horrible Show #310 Live
3. Tried It: Going Indie – Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition

Feels like the 90s.

Looks like home doesn’t it? All the right face buttons in the right places and even some pretty new colors for those of us used to the SNES’s purple motif. The controller hooks right into your WiiMote and you are ready to play some proper SNES games. It will also work with NES games, but naturally any games needing analog support are out. That’s not why you bought this immediately though. Super Metroid is waiting, play her right.

Source:

Joystiq

Related posts:

1. Hey! Look! SNES Arcade Cabinet
2. iCade 8-Bitty Bluetooth Controller Makes iOS and Android Feel More Retro
3. REPLY TO ALL: Favorite Controller of All Time

I'd rather have this guy in plush form...

The special edition PC version was also announced and for $59.99 you’ll get the usual special edition fare including an art book, a poster, the game’s soundtrack and a wallpaper for your desktop. You’ll even get a cool XCOM patch that you can put on that empty Letterman’s jacket that continues to haunt you from your closet. You may not have earned any significant extra-curricular achievements in high school, but you’ll always be significant in the eyes of Team XCOM!

All fun-loving sarcasm aside, I’m really excited for this game and can’t wait to show off my special edition schwag to the new German friends I hope to make after my move. And if I don’t make any friends, that means more time for XCOM!

Sources

Destructoid
Giant Bomb (Images)

Related posts:

1. XCOM: Enemy Unknown Looks like my Kind of XCOM
2. Fallout: New Vegas Preorder Bonus Packs Are Getting Out Of Hand
3. Uncharted 3 Collector’s Edition Brings the Goods while Preorder Bonuses Remain Lame

“Sir,” he said, “how do I know if my bros are really my bros?” I smiled, relating to the insecurity one feels when trying to solidify a proper stable of bros. I could have spoken about honesty, trust or the fact that a true bro will never question a chest bump. Instead I gave him the best piece of advice he will ever receive:

“The testament of a bro’s true bro-hood is not written in ink or spoken in word, but forged in the heat of battle, heat that can only be reproduced during a Bro-Op.”

What is a Bro-Op?

A Bro-Op (a memorable session of cooperative gaming and bonding, aka bro-operative gaming) is an event that is widely known in the world of gaming but not fully understood. It is not merely a simple video game playing with friends (also known as playing the Wii), rather it’s a gritty, often sweaty gaming session where the stakes are high but the rewards (in the form of ultimate friendship) are much higher. That being said, your first invitation to a Bro-Op is both a thing to be excited about and something that could potentially ruin your chances of forming an incredibly tight bond with dudes or dudettes you think are pretty cool. Fortunately for you, I’ve been to many a Bro-Op and am here to lend some much needed guidance, not unlike the fictional guidance I offered to the young man above.

Focus, determination, fist bumps? Gotta be a Bro-op!

Unfortunately, the term “bro” has been warped to sarcastically describe people with tastes viewed by others as overly douchey. This could not be further from the truth, so don’t let the misuse of this term prevent you from taking advantage of an opportunity for growth. Bro-Ops should be an equal opportunity scenario, open to humans of all age groups, races, religions, creeds or gender (though female bros can also be referred to as lady bros). I can’t speak for all Bro-Ops, but letting outside factors define who is welcome on your Bro-Op may prevent certain long term gaming accomplishments from occurring. That being said, feel free to respectfully withhold a Bro-Op invitation to someone should you feel their involvement would be detrimental to the group. For instance, John Smith may be a nice guy but his lack of proper hygiene (regardless of why it’s lacking) may prevent the rest of the crew from comfortably completing a Gears of War 3 Horde marathon.

Finding the Perfect Bros

Bros looking out for bros; a Bro-op provides another bro-oppurtunity for browth.

Once you’ve identified potential bros for your Bro-Op or have accepted an invitation to another bro’s Bro-Op, you need to make sure that you’re ready for a long haul (see my prep guide for a gaming marathon ). While Bro-Ops can start off casually, things can always go off the rails and get super intense super fast. You don’t want to be the guy that backs out of a wicked game of Diablo 3 because you’re too rigid with your schedule. No one ever plans adventures and/or ultra battles, they just happen and you need to be able to roll with the punches or else roll by yourself. Bros have to be able to rely on you and that sometimes means missing highly anticipated television series finales.

With that in mind, know your limitations. Being honest with your bros about your ineptitude with certain games is one of the most important factors of true bro-operative play and doesn’t necessarily mean a future Bro-Op invitation won’t be extended. This isn’t a big deal during a casual Bro-Op, but the worst thing for you to do is attempt to “wing it” should the Bro-Op revolve around a very crucial gaming scenario such as a World of Warcraft raid or competitive multiplayer outing. With that in mind, such scenarios should be spoken about in serious tones or begin with speeches not unlike the one given by Bill Pullman in Independence Day. Bros have to know what they’re getting into and dropping a bro into a situation he/she is not prepared for is even worse than volunteering for a Bro-Op you have no business being involved in. Adjectives like “extreme” or “ultra” are good testaments to how important a particular Bro-Op is on the Bro-Op scale.

Bros Gotta Fuel Up

While commitment is important, spreading one’s resources amongst your bros in the form of snacks and beverages demonstrates a team-first mentality which is key to initial Bro-Op impressions. I realize the economy is in the toilet right now, but do you really want to arrive to a gaming session with nothing but a bag of excuses? Even a meager offering of roasted peanuts or bottled water shows that you’re willing to share, which is essential. With that in mind, make sure that the dietary needs of your bros are known beforehand, especially if you’re in charge of nourishment. This doesn’t mean you have to cater to everyone, but being unaware or certain lifestyle choices or religious restrictions makes you look like a huge asshole to the rest of your bros, which could result in the loss of future Bro-Op opportunities.

No Bro-Op is complete without a Manwich.

Heat is the theme of the Bro-Op and this sometimes manifests itself in the form of “battle passion,” or yelling at someone when they screw up during the course of the game. Sure it stings, but you have to be willing to accept what could be considered emotional abuse because 1.) you let your team down and 2.) the abuse will only make you stronger in the end. Your bros don’t yell because they’re jerks, they yell because they care. This is why people who get yelled at all the time are such strong individuals. Use the yelling and hard feelings to push through the more intense parts of a game. Don’t expect any apologies though, bros don’t say they’re sorry; they just nod.

A Necessary End

The conclusion to a Bro-Op is can be bittersweet but actually turns out to be one of the most integral parts to a successful Bro-Op. The fact of the matter is, everyone loves a Bro-Op and if we had it our way they would never end. This has a number of negative consequences, including loss of job or the end of an important non-gaming relationship. While I feel that commitment is important and an open schedule is necessary, some sort of formal conclusion needs to be established or at least discussed throughout the course of the session. If not, the Bro-Op may never end and the systems in place to support a bro’s ability to game may disintegrate.

For supreme examples of how Bro-Ops should be run, refer to our recent Diablo 3 or Gears of War 3 marathons.

I hope I’ve been helpful in fleshing out the core aspects of the Bro-Op, but don’t think for a moment it can be easily laid out in a simple editorial. Should you have any further questions, feel free to email me at wizardtrain187 [at] horriblenight.com and I can guide you to a successful and thrilling Bro-Op with your favorite bros.

Gaming Connoisseur – Gaming is already a very stimulating and often times personal experience, but every gamer thirsts for a way to take that experience to the next level. This series will deal with ways that video game enthusiasts can enhance or even alter the way they play in order to prolong the longevity of a beloved title or discover something new.

Sources

Manwich (unofficial sandwich of the Bro-Op)

Related posts:

1. Gaming Connoisseur: Gaming Marathons Part 1: Preparation
2. Gaming Connoisseur: Environmental Control
3. Gaming Connoisseur: Pairing Games with Movies

The first, and hopefully, not only trailer.

38 Studios had a week for its history books last week. All kinds of financial rumors were swirling around the company as it attempted to pay off its generous loan from the state of Rhode Island. Contractors laid off, employees not able to be paid, a bounced check, all made for a pretty grim future for the studio and all of the work that has been poured into the Kingdoms of Amalur franchise. However, bad as the week was, it did for all intents and purposes turn out on a bit of an upswing. 38 Studios’ $1.125 million check to Rhode Island cleared as both parties attempt to move forward. Oh and by the way, the governor of Rhode Island decided to go ahead and tease the release date for the as-yet-not-really-formally-announced MMO from the studio.

I’m sure this isn’t the way that 38 Studios imagined the debut of the long-in-development Project Copernicus AKA the MMO based within Kingdoms of Amalur, but this fly-through video (below) of the game world has been confirmed as the real deal:

One thing is for sure, it looks like a fantasy MMO world, but beyond that, anything else is just conjecture at this point. According to the governor, Project Copernicus is targeting a June 2013 release date. Hopefully, 38 Studios can right the ship a bit and keep this game rolling, but last week was anything but confidence building. Assuming all goes well though, we can anticipate a lot more news in the short term on Project Copernicus.

What are your thoughts on the trailer and the state of fantasy MMO’s today? What will Kingdoms of Amalur have to do to succeed?

Source

YouTube

Related posts:

1. E3 11: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Steps up to the Plate
2. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Special Editions Limit Trolling
3. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Reflex Review – The Cursed Checkpoint #109

The winner of the giveaway will be announced on this week’s live episode of The Horrible Show starting at 8:30pm EDT on http://twitch.tv/horriblenight.

Related posts:

1. Contest: Win Indy Indie Game: The Movie Tickets During the Live and Horrible Super Meat Boy Challenge
2. The Horrible Show Live Tuesday at 8:30PM EST Plus Elevator: Source
3. Diablo III Giveaway and Livestream All Day on May 15th (Updated)

Every day we are on the look out for the most interesting news items in the gaming industry. Some make it on the site as headlines, and the articles that just miss the cut end up in the Shiny Objects feed on our Horrible Night Newswire Google+ Page. Every Monday we recap the shiniest of the objects, and our original articles from the previous week.

Horrible Objects

• Editorial // Don’t Be That Guy: The I Know Better Gamer by Justin Lacey
• Event // Diablo 3 Livestream and Giveaway
• Podcast // Manis, Pedis, and Demons – Super Gaming Best Friends #109
• Rated Review // Lone Survivor Review: The Legend of Sleepy Cat by Aaron McNeal
• Event // Indie Game: The Movie Screening Update with Meetups and The Horrible Show Live
• Editorial // Gaming Lifestyle: Going Indie – Waiting for Console Breakthroughs by Cole Monroe
• Cheap and Dirty Gamer // Paladog Proves Hippies are Worthless in Battle by Ethan Moses
• Testing Preview // Spec Ops: The Line Demo Impressions: Toe that Line by Brandon Coppernoll
• I Learned Something Today // Diablo III by Ethan Moses

Last Week’s Headlines

Nice save.

12 headlines distracted us and here’s the best from that list:

Just the beginning though.
38 Studios successfully pays $1.125 million to Rhode Island – Joystiq

Hope this series stays strong.
The Walking Dead sells a million episodes – Joystiq

Shared for the final line.
Diablo III US servers offline, Blizzard sorry for launch – Destructoid

I’m feeling weak and scared.
Borderlands 2 special editions revealed – Joystiq

Probably the game I want to know the most about this year, keeps on teasing.
New Trailer, New Look: The Last of Us – RipTen

Not the story you were looking for, but still interesting.
Activision, Electronic Arts Settle Over Infinity Ward Lawsuit – Giant Bomb

Booooooo
Tomb Raider Delayed To 2013 – GameInformer

Related posts:

1. Shiniest Objects: No, We Heard You
2. Shiniest Objects: Where the Problems Start
3. Shiniest Objects: 2013 is More Infinite

The Lessons of Diablo III

1. Being a man isn’t about your material possessions
2. Sometimes a man has to be direct
3. Insecurity is a man’s worst enemy
4. Disrespecting a lady does not make you a man

Being a man isn’t about your material possessions

All that time picking up this gear and I'll probably never wear it.

I learned something today. I’ve found that conversations amongst men, especially if there happen to be some ladies near by, tend to devolve into an indirect contest involving the stuff they own. Whether it be bragging about a new car or not so subtly dropping the high-end designer that created their suit, men today use material possessions as badges of honor despite the pursuit of these items distracting them from earning real badges of honor. No one wants to explore mysterious caves anymore, unless of course that cave has the potential for yielding vast fortune. It’s like a man’s journey through life is continuously interrupted by this need to collect things, most of which do not have any sort of value. Should we realize that these items aren’t really all that important and instead focus on the plot unraveling ahead of us, we’d be much more content in our day-to-day activities. Thanks, Diablo III.

Sometimes a man has to be direct

I learned something today. Mean words and politics seem to have become a man’s best friend in this era of false manhood. Instead of throwing down a gauntlet and settling things with a classic match of fisticuffs or Indian leg wrestling, men trade insults on Facebook or spread damaging rumors at the workplace. It seems we lack the capacity for directness, smiling in situations when we should actually be frowning or even “combat grimacing” (a precursor to confrontation defined by contorting your face as if you just smelled something really stinky). This directness not only allows a man to share his true feelings, thus eliminating the potential for pent-up frustration but also acts as a valuable lesson to those who may not perceive wrong doing in their actions. Sometimes a bloody nose or black eye is the only cure for a douchebag. Thanks, Diablo III.

These trees were causing trouble in my neighborhood, so I had to get in one little fight even if my mom got scared.

Insecurity is a man’s worst enemy

Yes, I realize my attire isn't fashion forward, but it is function forward.

I learned something today. There’s nothing wrong with caring what others think. Social acceptance is an integral aspect of humanity. However, we’ve taking caring to an unhealthy level as insecurity mars our every action. Where once they were regarded in high esteem, beards are now shown little respect and appear to be connected to sloth or apathy as opposed to commitment and protection from the cold. Sweat equity is quickly dismissed if even the slightest bit of BO is detected and eyes tend to roll way more often if you’re forced to rip the sleeves off a flannel shirt because all the lumberjacking you’ve done has beefed your biceps. Presenting yourself in the best light possible is not a bad thing, but that doesn’t mean one has to be meticulously groomed at every occasion. Sometimes mustard lands on your shirt; being unusually insecure about such an incident may mean you have to miss a solid 4th quarter of football and there’s nothing manly about that. Thanks, Diablo III.

Disrespecting a lady does not make you a man

I learned something today. Despite women’s rights moving forward leaps and bounds over the past century, we still live in a society dominated by men who think they own the opposite sex. Smacking hoes and tossing bills down to one’s baby momma have become respectable endeavors despite honest conversation and taking responsibility for one’s offspring being far more beneficial to all parties. Most of this is directly connected to the size of one’s penis, but there once was a day when men fought for the honor of women in very risky scenarios, despite how large or small their member was. Respect is important in fostering relationships, whether they’re short or long-term. While it’s easier to break a woman down in order to win her affections, it’s much more satisfying to earn her admiration when she’s at 100%. Thanks, Diablo III.

She isn't demanding chivalry and there's nothing wrong with inquiring about her upbringing

Conclusion

The world is quickly moving in a direction that could spell disaster and it starts with the perversion of manhood. Focusing on meaningless items, manipulation and treating people like crap is only going to create fissures where bonds really need to grow. No one’s perfect, but if you find yourself flashing bills or grills more than adventuring, then you should probably reevaluate your life; we need all the good men we can get. Thanks, video games.

I Learned Something Today – Who says that video games can’t teach you life skills? Sure they may get you put in prison or banished from society, but they are skills nonetheless. We take an over-the-top look at some of the potential applications of what video games have taught us.

Related posts:

1. I Learned Something Today: Torchlight
2. Diablo 3 Beta Coming 2011, Full Release Rumored to be Before 2111
3. I Learned Something Today: Borderlands

He's making me feel like I should be careful about what I say next...

When Spec Ops: The Line started, I was asked to set the screen size to match my television. Not the biggest headache in the world, but it did strike me as a little outdated. For example, there’s been only a smattering of console games to ask me to do so and Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection was the last console game I experienced. Nonetheless, I wasn’t going to let this little anomaly sway me.

Once my screen was set, the backdrop of the start menu caught my eye. The color scheme is breathtaking, and the upside-down and tattered American flag certainly set the initial feeling of dread. I knew I was about to go into hostile territory as an American soldier.

Ready. Aim. Fire.

I started the demo and selected Combat Ops as the difficulty setting, which seems to be “normal” for most games. There was an easier difficulty setting, but where’s the fun in that? The menu options faded away and immediately the background became the game. The waving flag rustled wildly as a helicopter flew by, and within seconds I realized I was in a helicopter chase scene. I was immediately shooting down enemy helicopters from a mounted mini-gun, and Spec Ops: The Line was underway and not wasting any time getting to the action.

After the scene, you are taken to a playable flashback as Captain Martin Walker leading a small team to extract another team that had supposedly failed to save survivors from a devastated Dubai. Sandstorms have nearly leveled the city, and not much about the city seems alive any longer. You are looking for the source of a distress beacon and Colonel John Konrad. After finding the beacon, you come under constant fire as you fight your way out of a trap and deeper into the city looking for survivors and answers to what had occurred.

The controls do a good job covering you and killing the guys with guns pointed at you.

The controls are fluid, and you do have some marginal control over your teammates’ actions. They were very simple to pick up, and the cover controls were easy enough to slip in and out to avoid enemy fire. In terms of action, I felt very in control of what was going on and never felt as if I were struggling to accomplish an action. The number of weapon options left me feeling satisfied as did the plethora of options I had for taking down enemies.

Where Are My Choices?

The marketing efforts for Spec Ops: The Line promised tough choices, but in the demo I was given little choice in what to do as I was under constant duress from enemy forces. Sadly, my toughest choices were which enemy should I take down next or if I should shoot out glass instead of the people already shooting at me. I had expected the demo to give me a little taste of the choices I would need to make, but it wasn’t made available. The demo did nothing to set Spec Ops: The Line from other third person shooters.

Final Verdict

The demo promises to throw the player into the story, but I couldn’t get a full taste of what was going on or what threat I was really dealing with in the time allotted. The controls are standard, cover-based, third person shooter controls. The demo did little to sway me on whether or not Spec Ops: The Line was really going to stand out in any unique way – the promise of difficult choices was completely absent from the demo, which was odd since those choices had been trumpeted as a big selling point for the game for a long time now.

While Spec Ops: The Line has certainly fallen in my list of games to keep an eye on, I will need to see a lot more in the coming months before I decide to purchase based on this demo. Spec Ops: The Line is slated for a release on PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 on June 26, 2012.

Source

Giant Bomb (images)

Related posts:

1. El Shaddai: The Ascension of the Metatron Demo Impressions
2. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Demo Impressions: A Familiar Challenger Appears
3. Split/Second Sunday Driving Demo

This gorilla needs his melon split, do you have what it takes?

Everyone remembers that iconic scene in Aliens when Ripley duct tapes a flamethrower to a pulse gun in preparation for a face off against the queen xenomorph right? You thought that was pretty awesome didn’t you? Now imagine if Ripley decided that two guns wasn’t good enough and decided to combine 5 different weapons to her self-contained arsenal. If that sounds like the type of thing that arouses your ding-dong or moistens your mommy parts, then Serious Sam Double D may be the game for you.

Previously released on the PC, SSDD is getting a couple more letters (including two X’s and an L) added to the title for its fall release on XBLA. Serious Sam Double D XXL will be priced at 800 MPS (around 10 bucks in human dollars) and will include new levels, new enemies, more weapon upgrades and a super hot co-op mode. Two bros shooting a total of ten guns at the same time while countless enemies get ground to pulpy red goo sounds like my kind of Saturday night (too bad my number one bro, my wife, isn’t really a gamer). Read our review of the PC version in case you’re the type that likes to make informed purchases.

Sources

Joystiq
Mommy’s Best Games

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2. Serious Sam: Double D Reflex Review by Serious Sam
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Paladog learned early on that sometimes you gotta stomp a mudhole in an ass.

Paladog is a game about a canine paladin who happens to be named Paladog. Humanity is extinct and, in its place, a world populated by non-confrontational anthropomorphized animals that spend their days complimenting each other and baking vegan pies. All is well and good until the denizens of hell, who no longer have the minds of humans to corrupt, decide to attack, leaving the new, more pleasant Earth in shambles. It would appear all is lost until the day that Paladog arrives to empower his animal friends with the skills needed to stave off the demonic invasion. It appears that the violent tendencies of humanity DO have a place in this world.

That’s right hippies, even your beloved animal friends, the ones you refused to eat, had to pick up weapons and fight when pushed to their limits. This means that using the peaceful protest strategy as an excuse to bow out of scenarios like Left 4 Dead and Doom isn’t going to cut the mustard any longer. Sometimes you just have to bust some heads.

Look, I’m not anti-hippy by any stretch of the imagination and I understand using your fists for every problem isn’t a good thing…but would it be so hard for you all to just practice shooting a gun or maybe learn a martial art or something? You will most likely not have to use it, but should the animals that live with you ever have demonic forces to face off against, years of watching you practice will give them the skills they might need.

Zombies will eat you if you're an animal, thinking otherwise is ignorant.

The game itself is quite enjoyable, if not overly cute and simple as it equates to clicking a number to spawn units while marching down a linear path to the base of the enemy. Don’t let that fool you, however as the message is clear: peaceful exchanges are for pussies!

If you can read this and you’re an animal with a hippie owner, please play the game and protect yourself and the future of your animal friends. I know you get just as annoyed at hippies as everyone else, so don’t let their pacifism leave you helpless in the off-chance we aren’t around to protect you.

Cheap and Dirty Gamer – Being cheap used to be an insult, but with the economy in the dumps it’s now a survival skill. Being dirty also used to be an insult, but that changed after Christina Aguilera’s song came out. Not all gamers have the funds to play full priced games, but that doesn’t mean that gaming quality has to suffer. There are good free and cheap games everywhere, games specifically made for the sexy survivors among us.

Source:

Armor Games

Related posts:

1. Cheap and Dirty Gamer: All Zombies Must Die! This Time I Mean It
2. Cheap and Dirty Gamer: Shank You for Getting to the Point
3. Cheap and Dirty Gamer: Elona Shooter Offers Revenge on Crazed Farm Animals

Throughout May, Horrible Night will be Going Indie and featuring indie game related articles in support of the Indie Game: The Movie screening in Indianapolis on May 23.

• Gaming Cynic: The Indie Game Nightmare
• Tried It: Minecraft 360 Edition
• Lone Survivor Review
• Rewards of Going Indie Part 1 – Accidentally Breaking New Ground
• Podcast – The Horrible Show Live: Going Indie
• Podcast – Welcome to Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition

When I hear about indie games from fellow horrible knights, I’m interested but not motivated. While most of the games found on the Xbox Live Indie Games (XBLIG) channel are awful, some of these games do sound like a lot of fun. It is the indie games that are PC-only that are the ones that I have a more difficult time acquiring. As a predominantly Mac user, I just don’t have the option, or I don’t seek out those games. Even though I do have Windows installed on my iMac, I never think of it as a gaming computer. I even have Steam installed on the Mac and on the Windows partition but it doesn’t have the same draw for me that a strictly Windows PC has or the Xbox 360 or PS3 for that matter. If I really wanted to play these indie games, I have the means to do so, but I haven’t hit my breaking point yet with a game that has pushed me to change my habits.

An indie game that was on many GOTY lists.

Does that mean I’m solely to blame for my lack of indie game experience? Yes. For the most part, I’m strictly a home console gamer. I do get a decent share of indie games my way every once in a while but most of those indie games have to get a large well-known publisher to get behind the game on the 360. It is extremely difficult. For example Braid and Fez were published by Microsoft Studios. Bastion was published by Warner Bros. There are heavily barricaded steel doors barring entry for most indie games to reach a large audience on consoles. Of course, there’s always XBLIG, but it’s nearly impossible to find anything really good on there because of the lack of organization and care Microsoft puts into that channel. While there are certainly options on the home consoles, the indie games are either lost or have to be so good in order to acquire a mainstream publisher.

The crazy part is that a lot of these more mainstream indie games are arguably greater than the most of the traditional major studio published ones. Look at what Torchlight has done. It basically took the Diablo concept and arguably improved on many different aspects. It also works great on a home console, something that Diablo has struggled to do in its past. I mentioned Braid, Fez, and Bastion above. Those games are highly regarded and some consider them masterpieces in the indie realm. Bastion was on so many game of the year lists last year that the uninformed might have thought it was a disc-based retail game. There are these great games that can push through the current console digital distribution barriers and are the ones that I get to enjoy.

If you don't have fun with Joe Danger, you don't like video games

My main experiences with indie games have been strictly on the 360 and PS3. Games like Bastion, Braid, Joe Danger and Fez have been extremely popular on the home consoles. Those are what I consider my indie games. I don’t need to go out and discover games like hipsters need to go out and discover the next “great” music artist I’ve never heard of. We have Ethan for that. He’s good at it. I love that he likes to go out and discover new and interesting games. I also love hearing him tell us about them. But does that mean it lights a fire under my ass to go out and play these games? No, it doesn’t. I’m not biased towards indie games, even if they are probably a better option for someone with a small budget for video games like myself. I can’t explain why, but I just have no desire to play Doofus Battles 2. But I don’t fault Ethan for doing it.

I guess what it boils down to, and I’m solely to blame on this, is that I’m largely influenced on what to play by the indie games that have major publishers. In my mind they have a better chance at being great and worth the price of admission than if it’s some random release on the Indie Game Channel…which might be a ridiculous argument because some of those indie games are so ridiculously cheap that it might be worth the risk. Especially when you get a great game like ZP2KX. Those games are so few and far between that I’m unwilling to take the risk. Why waste the time playing terrible games when I could use that time to play a great game?

Time is a huge issue for me. I’ve written about it before but with work, school, and a wife it’s hard for me to game more than one day a week. Lately, I’ve been concentrating on Xenoblade Chronicles. After making a self decree that I need to finish it (or at least totally exhaust any desire to continue on in the game ) before moving onto the next one. Where in that schedule do I leave myself any time for indie games? I’m tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses when it comes to staying current with every new game that comes out. Physically, I can’t do it. Financially, I can’t do it. It took me a long time to figure out that I can’t keep up if I hope to finish games I’ve already bought.

ZP2KX: A ton of fun for a small price

All this means that I rarely have time to play smaller independent games, regardless of my interests. (Even if they are the greatest thing.) Even if they are considerably cheaper than a mainstream major release. I don’t have anyone to blame but myself for not playing a majority of the great games that are out there. Do I feel bad that I’m not giving these games a fair chance? Sometimes. The quality of some of these titles far surpasses some of the games released in a brick and mortar store, though I’m not playing a lot of those games either. I guess my gamer identity is wrapped up in mainstream releases, both disc-based and indie. It’s not a bad way to be a gamer, but knowing that there is so much more out there leaves behind an itch that I can’t scratch.

Gaming Lifestyle – The true stories of how we play video games and how it can effect our daily lives.

Source:

Giant Bomb (images)

Related posts:

1. Gaming Cynic: The Indie Game Nightmare
2. Gaming Lifestyle: Who Takes a Gamecation?
3. Gaming Lifestyle: A Healthy Anti-Gamecation

5/22 Update – The film’s directors, Lisanne Pajot and James Swirsky, will be joining us for a Skype Q&A following the movie.

Here’s the ticket and movie info in cased you missed it:

• Trailer and more info about Indie Game: The Movie
• RSVP on Facebook
• Buy Tickets Online

There’s still plenty going on around the screening and here are the details:

Gaming before the movie

On Wednesday, the day of the screening, starting at 4pm until 6pm the IMA will be featuring both new and old-school gaming on the big screens in The Toby and DeBoest Hall.

Meetup with Horrible Night and the IGDA Indy Chapter

At 6pm be sure to come by a special meetup with the Horrible Night staff as we will be hanging out to discuss our future events, answer questions about the site, and of course to talk about video games.

Also at 6pm, the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) Indianapolis Chapter will be having a meet up for anyone interested in knowing more about game development and the local Indianapolis game development scene.

Hit us up in the comments or on our contact form if you have any questions about the event. Otherwise we can’t wait to see you all on Wednesday for what should be a great evening of good gaming.

Related posts:

1. Contest: Win Indy Indie Game: The Movie Tickets During the Live and Horrible Super Meat Boy Challenge
2. Movie Screening in Indy to Save Scott Pilgrim vs The World (Updated)
3. Indie Game: The Movie Comes to Indianapolis on May 23

For those of you a little too busy/lazy to read the linked article on Gizmag, here’s the long and short of it: using a pre-printed Arduino board with 6 inputs for alligator clips and a micro-USB output, you can use basically any electrically conductive matter to control your WASD, spacebar and left/right mouse buttons. If you’re feeling particularly hackerish*, there are an additional 12 inputs on the back so you can map other mouse and keyboard functions to sausages, hunks of quartz and plush Om Noms**.

Thanks to the disturbed geniuses at MIT, this can now be a reality.

Sure, I’m willing to own up that I thought, “Gee, this is pretty cool,” until I saw the banana keyboard. There are just some things that are against nature, God, the Force and the FSM, and turning bananas into musical instruments is one of them. That said, for $35, I might just be interested in mapping my WASD + spacebar to other things, say, things that are more resistant to cat vomit than my Xbox controller. Like flatware. Or a saline-soaked athletic sock wrapped in gaffer tape.

While I’m convinced that Jay Silver and Eric Rosenbaum (the inventors of the MaKey MaKey) are mad geniuses, it is somewhat comforting to hear that they’ve decided to use their power for good…or at least something not objectively evil, since any invention that can use Play-Doh to control Mario cannot be evil (excepting the banana thing). Plus there are the magic words “open source” and “Arduino,” which make me feel like I’ve been wrapped in a warm, fuzzy nerd blanket.

Still, be on the lookout for musical bananas. You never know when there’s a group of them getting ready to play Cajun zydeco at you out of a dark alley.

* Hackerish in the good, building things sense, not the douchbag, ruining games and the interwebs sense.

** Note: Effectiveness of Om Nom as a Binding of Isaac controller has not been confirmed.

WTF Is This - It’s weird, it’s game related, you should probably look away, but we’re going to look at it anyway.

Sources:

Gizmag
IMDB

Related posts:

1. Billy Joel DLC To Set Your Rock Band 3 Keyboards On Fire

Throughout May, Horrible Night will be Going Indie and featuring indie game related articles in support of the Indie Game: The Movie screening in Indianapolis on May 23.

• Gaming Cynic: The Indie Game Nightmare
• Tried It: Minecraft 360 Edition
• Gaming Lifestyle: Waiting for Console Breakthroughs
• Rewards of Going Indie Part 1 – Accidentally Breaking New Ground
• Podcast – The Horrible Show Live: Going Indie
• Podcast – Welcome to Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition

You're my best friend, Sleepy Cat. You're my only friend.

On the surface, Lone Survivor is about a guy in the middle of a contagious viral outbreak just trying to make his way out. You know, the old zombie story we know and love. What’s that, Sleepy Cat? Haha, yeah, zombies are getting a little old. Anyway, it’s more about the journey here than the destination. While my initial approach to a zombie scenario is to shoot first and never ask questions, Lone Survivor is full of dialogue and a lot it raises questions. There were times when the main character and I were on the same page, confused about what was happening and just wanting to return to the safety of his apartment. Some of the backstory is left up to the imagination, but there are enough clues and puzzle pieces littered throughout to get a glimpse of what the bigger picture might be. To be honest, not seeing the full details of that picture adds to the tension and that’s definitely a great thing.

I’m pretty freaked out, Sleepy Cat

Know what will make this moment better? Sleepy Cat.

It might appear that you’re wearing a pair of weird pixelated glasses when watching Lone Survivor in action. Everything has an unique and blocky feel to it, yet it is a testament to the aesthetic that the horror aspects remain so effective. Though sometimes it’s hard to decipher what’s on screen, the visuals, for the most part, work just fine.

On the audio front lurks some of the most horrific sounds I have heard in the past year. Violent tremors that melted the hairs right off my neck haunted many of my turns and only became worse when I was being actively hunted by a monster. I would sleep peacefully for the rest of my life if I never heard those sounds again, yet I’m so fond of  the unease that they bring that I want everyone I know to experience the creepiness.

Search, shoot, scream…

Primarily playing as a 2D point-and-click adventure with keyboard controls, exploring the environments in Lone Survivor is both easy and confusing. Whenever there is an item to be interacted with, a large button prompt appears overhead. This allows for picking up food, maps and the like without struggling to find the sweet spot for item retrieval. However, navigating the environment can be a bit trickier. When entering a new room, it isn’t instantly obvious how the direction of your movements work in relationship to the area map. There are also doorways in both the foreground and background and where they lead isn’t always apparent. In time, I learned to proceed from one screen to the next based on my memory of previous visits.

He made me do it, Sleepy Cat.

Similar to the navigation, the inventory could use some extra clarity. Items are separated into three categories and it can take a few seconds to find and utilize the desired item. Digging through the inventory also doesn’t pause the gameplay, so it would be considered unwise to start up a conversation with someone (like Sleepy Cat) while monsters are breathing on your neck. By the way, we should totally continue our argument later, Sleepy Cat.  Luckily, there are hotkeys available for some of Lone Survivor‘s main life-preserving activities. Dropping meat distracts the monsters away from pummeling upon your delicate form, allowing you to slip by in the shadows. The unfortunate part of this tactic is that there just didn’t seem to be enough hiding areas, causing me to lean upon my trusty firearm instead. Headshots are powerful and effective, but sometimes a shot to the legs is a crazy gunman’s last resort when breathing room is needed. By the end, so many freaky monsters had succumb to my barrage of bullets that even Sleepy Cat began to question my homicidal tendencies. We survived, Sleepy Cat. That’s what mattered.

Insane in the Membrane

It wasn’t the just light tastings of horror action and stealth that drew me into the world of Lone Survivor. That side is plenty capable, but the glimpse into my psyche as the survivor kept me pushing forward. As I started my adventure, I had planned to escape quietly and only do what was necessary to accomplish that goal. As time went on, I began to lure enemies into solidarity and shoot them down. I slowly began to take the pills I had been hoarding in my pockets for extra assistance, slipping deeper into a madness that made me more paranoid about what was happening around me.

Wake up, kill monsters, high-five Sleepy Cat, go to bed.

I grew into routines as I explored new areas, venturing a little farther into the darkness before staring into one of several mirrors that would teleport me back to my apartment to plan my next move. I yelled at a bucket I had filled with water, but could no longer pick up. I cursed Sleepy Cat when I got lost. WHAT HAVE YOU GOTTEN US INTO, SLEEPY CAT?! When I had finally become aware of my actions, I couldn’t help but laugh at how mental I turned out to be. Did the horrors make me that way? Had I always been like this? Who knows.

We will survive

As the indie game market continues to rapidly expand, I’m still amazed to find unique experiences in the form of games like Lone Survivor. It could have just been a side-scrolling shooter in the disguise of a survival horror, but its story and presentation bring genuine thrills and chills. Dealing with hunger, monsters and your own mental state caused a entertaining kind of stress during the few hours I spent surviving. The graphics were a mix of being stylish, yet not clear at times. Consulting the map every minute did become a chore as environments became more complex and turned my insanity into frustration. These issues aside, Lone Survivor is well worth the time I’ve put into it and, at the least, has introduced me to the greatest plush cat ever. With Sleepy Cat at our sides, we are truly never alone.

For $10, Lone Survivor is a great value. Anyone who enjoys the survival horror genre should give it a try. While the first playthrough will ultimately be the best one, there is some replay value in trying to approach the entire game from difficult angles and see if the outcomes change. Also, may the sound of the monsters haunt all who hear it for eternity. Value score: 5/5

Source:

Giant Bomb (images)

Related posts:

1. I Learned Something Today: Lone Survivor
2. Going Indie – The Horrible Show #310 Live
3. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Review: Learning To Fly

When I see sales like this a similar image of treasure comes to mind.

People who will benefit from this sale:

• Cheap people
• People late to the party
• People with kids who recently discovered the game
• People suffering from Big Game Exhaustion or BGE
• People who want to have a solid side-scoller arcade-ish game
• People who need new players to play with in this 4 player co-op title

So there you have it. If you fit the description of one of those above or want to buy me a game – now is the time.

Source

The Giant Bomb (image)
The Behemoth

Related posts:

1. Killing Floor and Tripwire Interactive Celebrate 1 Million Sold with Steam Sale
2. Obvious News: XBLA Prices are Rising
3. Torchlight Coming to XBLA in February

Super Gaming Best Friends: the podcast where Horrible Night writers and friends get caught up on their latest video game adventures and then get to know each other better by discussing off-topic interests.

Show Notes

Cast:
Josh, Justin L, Ethan, Justin “Deeto” Gidman

Guide:
00:18 – Intro
06:26 – On the Spot Question
20:48 – What Are We Playing?
21:11 – Bayonetta
32:44 – Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City DLC
42:00 – Assassin’s Creed Revelations
51:28 – Nation Red
1:01:36 – Awesomenauts
1:12:07 – Battlefield 3
1:23:44 – Super Meat Boy
1:32:10 – A Valley Without Wind
1:40:32 – HorribleNight.com Updates
1:43:00 – Threesomes of the Week

Threesomes of the Week

• Ethan – Would We Survive An Invasion, KFC, Mini-marathon
• Justin L – Castle – Zombie Episode, Underworld: Awakening, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
• Deeto – The NWYSO, The Thing, Thug Workout
• Josh – The Avengers, Nerdist, Magical 8bit Plugin

Subscribe to Super Gaming Best Friends – The other Wednesdays

• RSS
• iTunes
• @HorribleShows - for Horrible Night Media

Related posts:

1. Pick More Flowers – Super Gaming Best Friends #101
2. Tiffany or Debbie? – Super Gaming Best Friends #103
3. Sweatin’ and Snugglin’ – Super Gaming Best Friends #105

Every day we are on the look out for the most interesting news items in the gaming industry. Some make it on the site as headlines, and the articles that just miss the cut end up in the Shiny Objects feed on our Horrible Night Newswire Google+ Page. Every Monday we recap the shiniest of the objects, and our original articles from the previous week.

Horrible Objects

• Monthly Preview // Games of May Know What You Like
• Hey! // Watch! The Avengers Video Game Trailer
• Editorial // Gaming Cynic: The Indie Game Nightmare
• Podcast // You’re Gonna Get It Anyway – The Horrible Show #309
• Editorial // Kid and Play: Prepare Our Future Gamers by Andrew Cooper
• Contest // Diablo III Giveaway and Livestream All Day on May 15th
• Editorial // Video Game MD: Xenoblade Chronicles by Cole Monroe
• Cheap and Dirty Gamer // PixelJunk Collection Priced Like Actual Junk, Plays the Opposite by Ethan Moses
• Editorial // Tried It: Going Indie – Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition by Brandon Coppernoll
• I Learned Something Today // Trials Evolution by Cole Monroe

Last Week’s Headlines

Don't cry, you still look amazing.

19 headlines distracted us and here’s the best from that list:

Process that a bit.
GameStop Selling Steam Cards – RipTen

This could have gotten nasty, glad both sides handled took care of business.
Valve, Blizzard Reach DOTA Trademark Agreement – GameInformer

It takes a lot for me to be convinced to play as the Boy Wonder, but Harley helps.
Play as both Robin and Batman in Harley Quinn’s Revenge – Joystiq

Maybe the kids will be alright after all.
Teens Learn How to Run a Business Using a Video Game – GamePolitics

That’s one way to get me to try a Facebook game.
Insomniac Announces Outernauts – GameInformer

Just a little quicker than the full version’s port.
Alan Wake’s American Nightmare headed for PC – Destructoid

This one hurts a bit. But I’ll take a perfect spring BioShock.
You Didn’t Really Want to Play BioShock Infinite This Year Anyway, Right? – Giant Bomb

The people dogging this “deal” already have a 360, this isn’t for you. It’s worth a shot.
Microsoft is Going Ahead With the $99 Xbox 360/Two-Year Subscription Plan – Giant Bomb

Related posts:

1. Shiniest Objects: Protected Violence
2. Shiniest Objects: Internet Lives On
3. Shiniest Objects: Don’t Strain Yourself

Help is optional

Let New Gamer come to you for gaming advice and recommendations. It is especially important to remember that New Gamer is playing “First Favorite Game” for a reason. Your opinion on First Favorite Game could not matter less to New Gamer. Whether it is Draw Something or Team Fortress 2 either embrace the positives of First Favorite Game and join in or shut the hell up. The fact is New Gamer may never finish First Favorite Game as plenty of gamers come in and get obsessed with one game without ever having the desire to move on to something else. New Gamer’s ignorance is bliss at the moment. Dissing First Favorite Game by comparing it to better games (true or not) will only ruin New Gamer’s experience and you will be resented for it. Be patient.

Back off and let me enjoy my sandvich.

Case Study: A familiar story of a New Gamer who had become obsessed with Angry Birds. That Guy saw an opportunity to leverage smartphone gaming into getting New Gamer to try some bigger experiences on consoles so That Guy thought it would be best to start challenging some of New Gamer’s leaderboard scores. In the end with New Gamer putting in upwards of 10 to 20 times the amount of game sessions as That Guy, New Gamer began to get burnt out and That Guy became frustrated with constant defeat and uttered the deplorable, “Let’s play a real game instead.” No game sessions have been shared since.

New Gamer may break through one day and put down First Favorite Game long enough to finally ask the fateful question, “What else should I play?” This is the opportunity you’ve been waiting for. It is important once again to note that the right answer has nothing to do with your personal tastes or your favorite games. You need to take into account what New Gamer really loved about First Favorite Game and find a bridge into something that feels both familiar and new at the same time. New Gamer isn’t jumping into fly your Battlefield 3 helicopter after giving into the charms of Kirby’s Epic Yarn. Focus on widening New Gamer’s foundation of skills and interests a bit until you’ve built up the trust factor enough to get New Gamer into the game’s you really want to play together.

Co-opportunity

Now that New Gamer has branched out and can survive alone, it is time to actually play some multiplayer. While New Gamer has definitely come a long way that doesn’t mean multiplayer is going to be a sure fire hit. A few bad experiences and crushing defeats is all that it takes to send New Gamer running back to solo gaming for good. Whether you are seeking some competition or some cooperation, resist the urge to show off or to show New Gamer the ropes. Show New Gamer the fun first. My suggestion is to stick to local or private multiplayer before releasing New Gamer to the seedy underbelly of online multiplayer. Carefully gauge New Gamer’s progress and focus on opening new doors when the time is right. Master the basic skills while teasing the super moves before going straight to the finishers.

Gonna be a bit before New Gamer can fly.

Keep it competitive. I’m not saying you have to lose outright, but even if New Gamer knows how good you are it is never fun to get owned every single time. This is probably the toughest balance to find as you can’t let New Gamer feel stupid or onto the fact that you are taking it easy. You are also going to screw up, and how you handle your first accidental loss could be pivotal in the maturation of New Gamer.

Case Study: The Mario Kart series has some of the best and most infuriating competitive balancing in all of video games. Gamers of all skills can compete with one another. A mastery of the basics helps, but after a certain point the playing field is balanced and the items can swing the entire match. Of course after mastering driving and items, the risk/reward of shortcuts is next. In on such session with New Gamer and Mario Kart 64, That Guy pretended to struggle with Rainbow Road and allowed New Gamer to build a huge lead. On the final lap. That Guy attempted a dramatic leaping shortcut that both enthralled and infuriated New Gamer who previously did not know the shortcut was an option at all. Fortunately, karma intervened and That Guy shorted the jump and fell to his doom and loss. New Gamer continued to seek out new shortcuts, but never trusted That Guy again.

Eventually a line will be drawn and New Gamer will lay claim to a particular genre of gaming and seek out mastery of the domain. This is the final chapter as New Gamer seeks to drop the “New” label all together. Challenge New Gamer until you yourself are challenged. Then, embrace your new compatriot as New Gamer has graduated to that of New Gaming Buddy. The best kind of gamer there is.

Don’t Be That Guy – Seriously, no one likes a stereotype and video games are full of them. In the best interest of taking gaming culture out of the shadows, we think it’s best that we leave some of these characters behind.

Sources

Giant Bomb

Related posts:

1. Representing the Real Lifetime Gamer
2. Gamer’s Journey: For The Horde! And Some Alliance
3. Think of the Children: What Being a Gamer Dad Means

Probably not the type of game that will make it into your own personal book of memories...

Silent Hill has struggled a bit in the last few months as the flood of Silent Hill themed entertainment has been a bit underwhelming, to say the least. I’m saddened to report that this trend won’t end anytime soon as Silent Hill: Book of Memories for the PS Vita has been subtly delayed ’til a speculated date of October 31, 2012 (it initially started out with a March release that was pushed back to May). If you happened to be one of those folks looking forward to this dungeon crawling version of the Silent Hill series, what the hell is wrong with you?

Perhaps it’s not very professional to report on news you don’t care about just so that you can point out that no one really cares about it, but it’s a slow news day and all I can think about is smashing demons and other creepy jerks in a proper dungeon crawler that is actually coming out this week. It may be time to officially become concerned for the Silent Hill franchise.

Sources

Destructoid

Related posts:

1. HD Downpour of Silent Hill Releases – The Cursed Checkpoint #110
2. I Learned Something Today: Silent Hill
3. Duke Nukem Forever Delayed, Grass Green, Sky Blue

The Lessons of Trial Evolution

1. Listen to Newton
2. Avoid explosions
3. Backflips don’t count
4. Even riders need a vacation

Listen to Newton

I learned something today. I was never a science expert and I have never even taken a chemistry class. However, there is a science class I loved: Physics. Taking so many physics classes has helped me translate Newton’s Laws into real world applications. I never knew how much the Laws of Motion would transfer over to being a successful motorbike rider. Even when I’m riding in a sewage plant. Simple bursts of water will propel me further simply because I’m already heading in that direction. When I step on the gas, I move forward. When I slam on the brakes, I stop. When I fly hundreds of feet down a mountain without landing properly, I crash. Sometimes physics doesn’t make a lot sense to me either. However, the amount of impact with which I hit the ground is relative to my body weight and how fast I’m going. Next time I wreck, those damn explosions won’t be so big. Thanks, Trials Evolution.

Explosions just add to your overall badass-ness.

Avoid Explosions

I learned something today. This one seems like a no brainer. When you are around things that blow up, it’s going to hurt. Especially if you crash land directly into TNT. Try to avoid that. If you ever find yourself riding a motorcycle through a warehouse or on sacred temple ground understand that explosions can happen anywhere a motorbike can go. Have you ever seen a movie with a motorcycle in it that didn’t have explosions? I didn’t think so. The only thing you can try to do is mash on the gas and get through it as soon as possible. Some people might think you are running away from something but I suggest that you think of yourself as a hero. Heroes never look back at explosions. Thanks, Trials Evolution.

Backflips don’t count

I learned something today. We have seen countless people do it. Off of diving boards, uneven bars and trampolines. Some people have even learned to do it with a snowmobile. But why are backflips so cool? Why would propelling your body through the air and somersaulting one or more times ever lead to you becoming like Arthur Fonzarelli? Being able to do a backflip doesn’t lead to wealth, girls (or guys), or fulfillment of any kind. I can’t get a job because I can do a backflip. I can’t retire on the fact that I have a 401K full of backflips. Why do people elevate something that doesn’t really matter? Why doesn’t anyone care about the frontflip? The frontflip is to Luigi as the backflip is to Mario. I’m here to set the record straight. Some of you might think backflips are cool. I don’t. Why? Because they don’t count for anything. Thanks, Trials Evolution.

Even motorcycle riders need a vacation

Don't ever bail on vacation

I learned something today. Motorcycle riding might seem fun to you, but avoiding explosions and constant frustrations can wear a rider down. He needs a break every once in a while. What better way to get a break than to take a vacation from the motorized pony? When I’m done riding I like to spend a few hours on the dirt slopes, the only place where backflips do count. I also like to climb into a ball similar to the ones on American Gladiators during the Atlasphere. But the best vacation I’ve ever head is climbing into a UFO and scaring the crap out of the townsfolk. It’s the worst UFO known to man as it’s powered by a motorcycle, yet it gets the job done. I like flying and don’t necessarily want to come down all the time. Landing’s hurt on a motorcycle. Landing a UFO is pure joy. And I’m not even going to talk about the abducting part. Thanks, Trials Evolution.

Conclusion

A famous singer once said, “if at first you don’t succeed, dust yourself and try again, try again.” I took her advice and I’m not afraid to get back up on a motorcycle. Though there are certain things I still need to avoid, I know I’ll have a great time looking like a hero from here on out. Thanks, video games.

I Learned Something Today – Who says that video games can’t teach you life skills? Sure they may get you put in prison or banished from society, but they are skills nonetheless. We take an over-the-top look at some of the potential applications of what video games have taught us.

Source:

Giant Bomb (images)

Related posts:

1. Arcade Next Begins for XBLA on April 18th with Trials Evolution, Ends with Minecraft
2. I Learned Something Today: Limbo
3. I Learned Something Today Too: Banjo-Kazooie – For a Better World

Throughout May, Horrible Night will be Going Indie and featuring indie game related articles in support of the Indie Game: The Movie screening in Indianapolis on May 23.

• Gaming Cynic: The Indie Game Nightmare
• Lone Survivor Review
• Gaming Lifestyle: Waiting for Console Breakthroughs
• Rewards of Going Indie Part 1 – Accidentally Breaking New Ground
• Podcast – The Horrible Show Live: Going Indie
• Podcast – Welcome to Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition

When I saw these words floating in the sky I, too, wanted to fly.

Oh My God I Love This Game!

I think that’s the first sentence I said about Minecraft after about 10 minutes within the tutorial. I instantly saw all the possibilities laid out before me. The lack of “modern graphics” didn’t phase me in the slightest as I shifted my focus to all of the things I could build. Dr. Seuss’ Oh, the Thinks You Can Think instantly poured into my head as I started running about mining all I could with my bare fists. I didn’t actually have tool to make this happen at the time so I did things the hard way. It didn’t matter. Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition is incredibly accessible, and the tutorial is done in a way that doesn’t make me feel incredibly stupid or like this is the first time I picked up the tutorial. I respect a game that respect’s my intelligence.

Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!

In my short stints of playing indie games such as The Binding of Isaac the one thing I’ve learned is that I don’t miss all the bells and whistles that typically come with AAA titles. That’s a good thing, too. The game is holding up on its own without the fluff. I think this puts focus on an important lesson: Being entertained when playing video games is great, but the most important aspect of any game is the game itself.

Minecraft is an interesting game concept in a lot of ways. There’s really no way to “beat the game.” You just challenge yourself creatively all the while staying alive. That’s about it. Somehow that core game concept is really entertaining. For once, I am my only obstacle in the sense of managing my own time, resources, and not going out and being dumb.

Friends are Awesome

No hook line here. I haven’t tried Minecraft on my own beyond the tutorial. The second I could play with my friends I did. I invited our own JP LaFrance to help mold my first world, and having a partner in the whole process made things very entertaining. I’ve also found he and I have poor time management as our first four nights were spent frantically building makeshift rooftops out of dirt, sand, and any other substance that is completely penetrable. On numerous occasions I would let loose girly screams as a spider dropped through our ceiling as he tried to finish our crap-hut. The best part is it was fun all the same. This Minecraft can have up to 8 players, and it’s my personal goal to fill up the server and just get stupid with our creations.

One day son, this house will be yours!

Going Indie? Tried it? Worth it.

It’s not a big secret that I’m a fan of many AAA titles and consoles in general as I prefer to hold a controller in one hand while sipping a cocktail in the other. I never tried Minecraft on PC, and I knew that if I were to ever give it a chance it would need to make its way to consoles. Now that it has, I’ve found the courage to try something new again. It’s funny I have a much lower barrier for trying new indie games than I do bigger titles. It could be the lower price points or lower expectations, but I think it means the recent successes of many indie titles, Minecraft included, has piqued my curiosity and built a level of trust you don’t get with bigger industry names anymore. Indie games seem to be focused on one thing – creating a game that sticks with you. Minecraft succeeds in sticking with you and leaves me wondering where my going indie journey will take me.

Share your Minecraft stories in the comments below!

Tried It – Reaching outside of our comfort zone, Tried It explores the games and genres that our author doesn’t normal play and has little experience with.

Source

Giant Bomb (images)

Related posts:

1. Welcome to Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition – The Cursed Checkpoint #116
2. Going Indie – The Horrible Show #310 Live
3. Notch Adds Cake to Minecraft! Version 1.0 May Come Out This Year

PixelJunk: Desperately avoiding being pigeon holed into genres since 500 B.C.

One man’s trash can be another man’s treasure, but does that apply to another man’s junk? I’m happy to report that it does, as long as that man is a member of Q-Games and the junk has the word pixel in front of it (that is not to say that treasuring another man’s junk is only acceptable in that scenario, but good intro sentences are hard to come by, so sometimes tastefulness has to be sacrificed).

I often struggle finding awesome deals that are appropriate for everyone, especially given the different socio-economic levels and game tastes that frequent this site. Today, however I am confident that 90% of you idiots are going to be quite pleased as the every game in the PixelJunk series is being offered at the insanely low prices (PixelJunk Racers, Monsters, Eden, and Shooter at $1.00 each and PixelJunk Shooter 2 and PixelJunk Sidescroller marked down by half)! It’s like a smorgasborg of PixelJunk games at a Golden Corral prices sans the Golden Corral diarrhea. There are only a few items in the world that cost $1.00, most of which are on the value menus of restaurants. If $1.00 seems like a stretch, go out and borrow one from a friend because no one gives a crap about loaning a dollar to a bud, especially in life-or-death scenarios. You may not even have to pay them back, now that’s a friend!

These games are full of shooting, racing and whatever PixelJunk Eden happens to be (it probably has a demographic or two). The only people that won’t enjoy this deal are those without access to a Sony themed console or people that hate sunshine, healthy children and puppies in festive costumes. Act quick as this sale won’t last forever because nothing lasts forever, not even love!

Cheap and Dirty Gamer – Being cheap used to be an insult, but with the economy in the dumps it’s now a survival skill. Being dirty also used to be an insult, but that changed after Christina Aguilera’s song came out. Not all gamers have the funds to play full priced games, but that doesn’t mean that gaming quality has to suffer. There are good free and cheap games everywhere, games specifically made for the sexy survivors among us.

Sources

ShackNews
Pixel Junk

Related posts:

1. Cheap and Dirty Gamer: Hanging Out in the Realm of a Mad God
2. Cheap and Dirty Gamer: Shank You for Getting to the Point
3. Cheap and Dirty Gamer: All Zombies Must Die! This Time I Mean It

Always bring friends with you on an adventure.

On the surface, setting out for an adventure seems like it could be fun. You get to go to exotic new locales while meeting strange new people. What isn’t fun is the catalyst that pushes you towards the adventure in the first place. Maybe your girlfriend gets kidnapped and you have to save her. Maybe your hometown is destroyed by an evil force and you plot your revenge. Or it could be that crazy ass robots attack your colony and since you are the only one who can harness a magical sword you are the chosen one. If you don’t want to be the one out there adventuring all of the world, then act like the sword doesn’t give you any powers or at least don’t tell anyone that you can see the future.

While I’ve always had the adventure gene, I knew the risks would be too great to do it in person. You lose friends and family, hometowns and animal companions. Sometimes the losses are just too great. On the other hand you could meet the love of your life, get cool new gadgets and save the world. Playing Xenoblade Chronicles allows me to experience a range of emotions without any real world consequences.

My Robot, My Robot and Me

I like the idea of robots. Artificially intelligent and sometimes-bipedal beings can make life a lot simpler. There have been examples in the entertainment medium that have shown robots in a positive light. On The Jetsons, Rosie was a do-everything maid. In fact, most of the future The Jetsons predicted was automated by some sort of artificial intelligence. Ever since I was a child I always wanted a robot around to help me with my chores because of Rosie. As I got older and started watching things like Voltron, I wanted to have a giant robot as a friend and battle companion. It might not be realistic, but by portraying a Hom in Xenoblade Chronicles, that desire for robot companionship is satiated because the Homs live on a giant freaking robot.

Even though I always wanted a robot companion, I always live in fear of these robots. You never know when the “switch” will click on and the robots will realize that they are an intelligent race capable of overtaking our puny meat sacks and enslaving us. As of right now, robots are super expensive so it will cost too much money to go around destroying anything with AI that looks suspicious. But since the Hom’s arch-enemy are intelligent robots called Mechon, I’m getting my robot fix. No real world money spent and I can kill all the robots I want. That way when Skynet and/or the singularity happens, I’ll be prepared.

Hair Hair Hair Hair

A little envious of his hair to this day.

I’ve had maybe four hairstyles in my life. When I was young, I kept it cropped short and then moved onto a buzz. As I got older I thought I could style my hair like Zack Morris. It looked nothing like Zack’s hair. First, I have brown hair. Second, my over usage of hairspray made me look like a fool. When gray started appearing in my hair I went for the shaved look so it wouldn’t be as noticeable. At a certain age (30) I decided I just don’t give a care and let it grow out a little bit. Even though I haven’t been super original in my hair choices, I’ve always wanted something crazy. And spiky. The hair I have unruly sitting on the top of my head does not lend itself well to any type of spikiness. I have this fairly large cowlick on the back of my head that appears spiky because it doesn’t lay down right. I think it just looks stupid. Not like the cool hair-dos of Shulk and Reyn.

RPG’s are just as their name suggests: role playing games. Japanese versions of this genre stand out as more stereotypical than the rest. The certain tropes are prevalent in nearly all styles of JRPG. That’s okay with me. It allows me to live vicariously through these characters while also preparing me just in case I need to one day save the world.

Video Game MD – Scenarios occur in people’s lives every day that they can not control but would love to alter. Can video games satiate these primal desires? We offer the best prescription alternative to taking real life matters into your own hands.

Source

Giant Bomb (images)

Related posts:

1. Hey! Watch! Glorious Video Game Filled Goldfish Music Video
2. Cheap and Dirty Gamer: Monsters’ Den Chronicles is Full of Awesome Parties
3. Do We Need New Video Game Consoles?

It seems as though all of those recent Deckard Cain drivebys on our podcasts were actually leading to something after all. Diablo III is literally sitting on our hard drives waiting to be unlocked on Tuesday, May 15th and we are celebrating with a livestream of the launch of the game.

Josh, Ethan and Justin will be playing Diablo III on http://twitch.tv/HorribleNight starting at 3:01am EDT (12:01 PDT) and throughout the rest of the day. We will be doing a few giveaways on the livestream with more info on that as we get closer to the event.

We can confirm that we will be giving away at least one copy of Diablo III (Battle.net’s lack of digital gifting options be damned).

Update 5/16 - Our winners were announced on the livestream. Spicer won the first giveaway and Cody won the second. Thanks everyone!

Update 5/15 – 10:30am EST – We finally got into the Diablo III at around 4:30am EDT and as soon as we recover, we will be streaming all day. We will be featuring two giveaways one at 2pm EDT and one at 8pm EDT.

Contest details:

1. Around the designated time we will issue a trivia question on the livestream at http://twitch.tv/HorribleNight
2. Go to this page, also known as – http://www.horriblenight.com/d3
3. Login with a valid email address to leave a comment answering the trivia question
4. One entry per person
5. We will be accepting answers for until 2:30pm EDT and 8:30pm EDT respectively
6. One winner during each trivia session by a random drawing out of the users with the correct answer
7. The winner will receive a copy of Diablo 3 and contacted after the livestream concludes to arrange delivery options.

We play all day to give you a chance to win.

Come join us as we and our terrible impressions descend into hell, live.

Related posts:

1. Diablo 3 Beta Coming 2011, Full Release Rumored to be Before 2111
2. BlizzCon Recap: Diablo 3 for Free, Pandas, Blizzard Dota
3. Giveaway: Two Tickets to Indie Game: The Movie in Indy, Enter by 7:30pm EDT Tuesday

Start 'em young.

It wasn’t long after I found out that the first little Coop was on the way that I started talking about how quickly I’d transform the little guy/girl into a hardcore gamer. I was certain that my kid would hold the record for the youngest chainsaw kill in Gears. It’s fun to joke about, but reality kicks in once you become a parent. Don’t get me wrong, I still look forward to the day when I’m running side by side with my kids, shotty in hand, blasting off faces, but there’s a progression that needs to happen first before we get there.

“Daddy, are you playing games?”

Let’s jump ahead a few years. I have 2 kids now. My daughter is 3, and my son is about 5 months old. Somewhere after 2-years-old is when my daughter first started getting interested in games. I did most of my gaming when she wasn’t home, or during naps, due to the majority of my library being not too family-friendly. When she was around, she obviously would walk into the room wondering what was going on. It didn’t take her long before she started running to the cabinet to get her own controller and headset so she could play, too. So I’d pop in a Mario game, or one of the few titles that wouldn’t give her nightmares just so she could become familiar with one of my favorite hobbies.

The big question I was faced with was, “What would I let her play?” I wanted to give her something she could actually do, so that she had fun and wanted more, but at the same time she was 2, and let’s be honest, our current generation systems are a little more complex than what some of us grew up with. She definitely hadn’t grasped the concept of what a controller does as she just knows that Daddy holds it and stares at the tv.

I'll pick you up when you're down Daddy!

There is a use for Sixaxis Controllers

Flower for PS3 was the first game that I remember letting my daughter have full control of to see what she could do. I showed her which button to push to make the wind blow, and that moving the controller around would move your view around on screen. She loved it. She didn’t understand that she was supposed to be flying into the flowers in the field, but that didn’t matter. She stood there wearing her Xbox 360 headset (yes, you heard me correctly), moving her controller around saying, “I’m playing Flower!” like she knew what she was doing. It was awesome. I’m not sure if that’s what developer Thatgamecompany had in mind when they came up with the game, but it was perfect for introducing her to the controller. It was simple, fun for her to look at, and easy on the headshots.

Expensive Child’s Toy

This makes it a kids toy.

Before my daughter truly warmed up to a controller, she took over the iPad. She mostly used it for Netflix, but it wasn’t long after she figured out the interface that she started exploring to see what else she could do. She was obviously drawn to the games. She played games like Bejeweled, Angry Birds, and a few other random puzzle games my wife had on there. Not having a clue what she was doing, she still had fun touching things and watching it react.

I then went on the hunt for some kid friendly games that she could play. Dancing Animals was the winner. It’s a silly spelling game where it shows an animal with its name at the bottom. A second copy of the letters are scattered around the screen for you to drag and match. Once you spell the animal name it does a dance and lets you move on to the next animal. Molly played the hell out of that game. It was perfect for her. It kept her attention, was educational, and fun. I know, everyone is ready to run right out now and drop $400 (or more) on a tablet for their 2 year-old. It really is a ridiculous concept, but it’s easy to use and touching the screen makes sense to kids. Just don’t forget your iGuy case because your iPad will get dropped.

Is Kinect for the Kiddies?

Like I mentioned before, my next little gamer is now 3 and she’s exploring more and more on the iPad. It’s definitely her device of choice right now, since she can completely operate it on her own. Including entering in our password on the lock screen. Her new favorite games are Cut the Rope and Jetpack Joyride. Cut The Rope is pretty difficult, but she still has fun trying to feed Om Nom the candy. Jetpack Joyride is even more difficult, but again, it’s easy for her to make something happen so she has fun with it. At this point I’m thinking she’s getting coordinated enough that it’s time to really introduce her to a console.

I tried the Kinect first because I thought that she’d be better not having to work with a controller. I stuck her in front of Fruit Ninja at which, to my surprise, she was a natural. I don’t think she knew what she was doing but she just stood there and swung her arms around and actually beat my high score on her first try. I’d say beginners luck, but she was pretty consistent. She was even able to start the next round which was impressive since you have to slice a specific icon on the screen.

Since Fruit Ninja was a success, I took her into something a little more complicated by loading up Kinectimals. She loved the animals but didn’t really understand that she had to do specific things so she kind of lost interest pretty quick and just wanted to watch as I played. So we tried Sesame Street: Once Upon A Monster. It was a similar situation. She liked the visuals, but needed a lot of guidance to keep her going which frustrated her. So I’m starting to realize that she isn’t quite ready for the full body gaming experience yet and we gave up on the Kinect for now.

Nintendo Gets a Turn

Digital Bubble Poppin'

The Wii is the next obvious choice, due to the the vast family-friendly gaming selection. My only problem is that my Wii had been broken for over a year. I had a launch day system that just decided one day that it never wanted to go past the health and safety screen, and I didn’t play it enough to run out an buy a new one. But now I had a semi-decent excuse to finally buy one of the black Wiis.

So now I own a Wii again, but what games do I get for her? Most of my collection is still a little too advanced for a 3 year-old so I hit up Amazon and find a list called Wii for the Wii-Ones: Great Wii Games for Kids ages 3 – 8. This is exactly what I was looking for. It’s basically a list of games based off of all of the shows my daughter already loves. Dora, Diego, Disney Pricesses, and many others. Browsing this list as well as seeing what other games people bought led me to my first selection which was Ni Hao, Kai Lan: Super Game Day. I chose this game for a few reasons. Yes, I know the show is annoying and terrible, but my daughter loves it. Unfortunately, Netflix dropped the show so she hadn’t been able to watch it in a while. That was reason one. The second was it looked like a simple game that she could control without much help.

The game is just a bunch of small mini-games. You move around a map just by tilting the Wiimote, and every game is played just by shaking and moving the controller. This worked out perfect because my daughter has small hands and has trouble holding the Wiimote in a way where she can reach all of the buttons. In the end, the game was a success. The graphics are terrible, but 3 years-olds don’t care. She just loved that it was her game and she knew how to play it by herself. She even loved telling people that she had her own game to play. I did have a little moment of humor when after playing for about 15 minute she handed me the controller and said, “I’m done. I’m too tired.” She confirmed my thought that gamers are lazy by nature. We just want to sit back and relax while we enjoy a game. All of the new fancy motion controls are cool, but we don’t really like to work that hard.

We’re Getting There

One of her more recent and progressive interests is LittleBigPlanet. She loves telling me how to dress up my Sack Boy and always wants to play. It’s definitely way above her skill level, but she seems to love running until she falls in a hole. She does pretty good at moving around with the thumbstick and making him jump, but she just isn’t coordinated enough at having to jump over holes or over object yet. I’ve been working on trying to use the level creator to build some flat levels that she can run and collect things in, but that’s a time consuming task so I’m still working on that. She’ll probably figure the game out before I ever get a real play level made for her.

My daughter is still growing as a little gamer. She isn’t racking up headshots yet, but we’ll get there. She still plays the Wii and iPad, and is getting more and more exploratory with the games she’ll try and play. It’s fun for me to watch her grow, and I look forward to sharing more of what I love with her. It won’t be long before I get to start this process all over again with my son. I assign this same mission to all of you to find a progression of games that works for your little ones so that they too can share the enjoyment that it brings you, while keeping our community alive.

Kid and Play – Gaming with the next generation opens up entirely new experiences for all ages.

Source

Amazon.com (images)

Related posts:

1. Gamers Care to the Sum of $2 Million for Child’s Play Charity in 2010
2. Kid and Play: Fruit Ninja Kinect (Slice)
3. How You Play the Game: One Assassin You Can’t Predict

I was a 9 year old drenched in Nazi blood when this was released.

To put things in perspective, I had just turned 9 years old when this game was released. It was the goriest, most fantastic game my PC could handle at that time. I played hours upon hours trying to find all the secrets and dominate those gosh-darned Nazis.

As an added bonus, because the gifts just keep coming, Bethesda says it will make Wolfenstein 3-D free to play on iOS as part of the massive party. Everyone’s invited. You will find me playing this online very soon.

Sources

Joystiq
Giant Bomb (image)

Related posts:

1. Get the iOS Source Code for Doom and Wolfenstein 3D
2. The Carmack Makes Doom 3′s Source Code Free to Would Be Devs
3. City of Heroes wants some of this Free-to-Play Action

The Horrible Show – Join the editorial staff of HorribleNight.com as they discuss a variety of entertainment-focused video game topics.

You’re Gonna Get It Anyway – Everyone knew we were going to cave and make the purchase in the end, so here’s a look back at our transparent reasoning for putting up a fight in the first place.

Show Notes

Cast:
Justin L, Cole, Ethan, Josh

Guide:
00:25 – Intro
03:00 – Game Industry Shout-Outs
18:20 – Horrible Shout-Outs
32:43 – On the Spot Question
37:57 – You’re Gonna Get It Anyway
40:40 – The Consoles and Guilty Pleasures
57:37 – Question 1 – Which One Did You Get Wrong?
1:08:28 – The Big Ones
1:23:13 – Question 2 – Hypocrite vs Upcoming
1:39:51 – HorribleNight.com Updates

Featured Games:
Rogue Leader, Rock Band, Dance Central, SHMUPs, Cubivore, Smash T.V., Spore, Legend of Mana, All-Star Slammin’ D-Ball, Daikatana, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, NFL Blitz, Castlevania, Final Fantasy, Call of Duty, The Last Story, Grand Theft Auto IV, The Walking Dead

Game Industry Shout-Outs:

• Ethan – Company of Heroes 2
• Josh – Modders
• Cole – Xbox Pilot Program Lease B.S.
• Justin – Worms Revolution Classes

Horrible Shout-Outs

• Josh – Ethan Moses: Dungeon Defenders with DLC Recoil Review
• Ethan - Brandon Coppernoll – Speculate Iterate: Call of Duty Black Ops II Reveal
• Cole - JP LaFrance – Just 5 More Minutes: Tecmo Super Bowl
• Justin – Ethan Moses: How You Play the Game: My Passion for Poison

Subscribe to the Horrible Show – New Episodes every other Wednesday. Live shows monthly.

• RSS
• iTunes
• @HorribleShows – Twitter

Related posts:

1. The Thing About Arcade Expos – The Horrible Show #305
2. Game Time for the End Times – The Horrible Show #301 Live
3. You Fools! The Game is Smarter Than Me – The Horrible Show #308 Live

Throughout May, Horrible Night will be Going Indie and featuring indie game related articles in support of the Indie Game: The Movie screening in Indianapolis on May 23.

• Tried It: Minecraft 360 Edition
• Lone Survivor Review
• Gaming Lifestyle: Waiting for Console Breakthroughs
• Rewards of Going Indie Part 1 – Accidentally Breaking New Ground
• Podcast – The Horrible Show Live: Going Indie
• Podcast – Welcome to Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition

Braid of Duty: Historical Battle Scenarios

If there’s one thing Activision knows about gaming, it’s that people hate ingenuity and love shooting super sweet guns. Despite Braid’s fan base being more interested in things like logical debate and the expansion of one’s mental prowess, Activision thought it could expand that fan base by taking the concept of time manipulation and steering it in a much more masculine direction. Instead of Braids here, Tim, using his abilities to solve puzzles and fix mistakes he’s made, he instead uses it to travel back in time to prevent a fellow time traveler (a Russian with a thirst for world domination) from creating an allegiance between Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. The catch; Tim can only move through the levels in strictly linear paths while cautiously participating in certain scripted sequences historical events so that he doesn’t throw off the time space continuum. Fortunately for him, his best friend happens to be a sexy female history buff who guides him from the future via a special pair of glasses that update him with mission objectives and other pieces of information deemed pertinent to his quest. Unfortunately for Tim (but fortunately for gamers), the Russian time traveler evades capture in the end, thus unnecessarily prolonging extending the storyline so that sequels can be released on an annual schedule.

When it comes to saving the world, time isn't always on your side except when it is.

Limbo 5: The Conspiracy Chronicles

Capcom decides early on that while sequential titles in a series make the most sense, it knows that gamers will grow attached to the mechanics of the original, thus making the over the top action of Limbo 5 hard to stomach. Not unlike the folks at Activision, the Capcom decision makers know that even though people really enjoyed Limbo, players actually hated what made Limbo so appealing in the first place, which is the sense of dread and fragility conveyed by a protagonist that is generally unprepared for the predicament he find himself in. Capcom also decided that since multiplayer gaming is so popular, every game needs it, even if the game’s genre doesn’t lend itself to anything outside of solo play. Limbo 5 is given a 4-player cooperative mode that sees a squad of ragtag special forces soldiers traveling back to Limbo to save the president’s daughter from a shady corporation that is using Limbo to produce WMDs. Limbo 5 is generally well received, but people struggle to connect it to the first game as the only similarity between the two is the name of the setting and the little boy (who is now an adult and a highly decorated Navy Seal, indicating that the new development team failed to pull anything but a direct interpretation from the conclusion to the original). Fans are commonly heard saying “Limbo 5 was a fun game, but it wasn’t really Limbo.”

Minecraft II: Minecraftrim Scrolls

The hierarchy of Bethesda loves the idea of releasing games that are more or less in beta form, which makes their participation in the sequel to Minecraft quite sensible. The hatchet from the “Scrolls” lawsuit has been buried, and Marcus “Notch” Persson decides that the resources made available in the partnership far outweigh the potential risks that come with working alongside a former “nemesis.” The planning meetings are full of very creative but diverse ideas, all of which are approved and planned for the final release. Over 10,000 hours of game time is boasted, not counting the countless hours that come with exploring “off rails” or taking part in the 100 million side quests that are procedurally generated based off of each gamer’s individual tastes. After a half of a decade,the development team produces a very buggy version of Minecraft 2, quickly reassuring the top dogs of the organization that what they’re seeing is a work in progress and still needs quite a bit of testing. A few elderly white (though one does claim he’s 1/32 Cherokee) board members quietly discuss the product and propose releasing it as is, thus allowing the public to “help with the testing, making them feel like they’re part of the project.” Notch smiles and quickly agrees, seeing as that’s how the original played out. Before he has the time to rethink his opinion of AAA companies, the whitest and most elderly of the gentleman announces that this move will help increase profits for the shareholders as their stable of dedicated game testers will no longer be needed. The game is released at full retail price and works for most people, though not without a staggering level of glitches and game breaking bugs that are eventually deemed “hardware problems.” Owners of the PS3 version of Minecraft 2 only make it to the title screen before the game slows down, freezes and then kindly suggests they fill out the comment card stuck to the case.

There's so much to do, no one will ever notice the defects!

Fez Effect

Fez went way over the heads of the guys at EA. They realized in hindsight that they purchased the rights to the game based on its success and critical acclaim as opposed to any sort of knowledge of what Fez was actually about. The members of the board stared blankly as an intern in the advertising department attempted to take them through the game. He pointed out the player’s ability to rotate the screen in 4 directions, which started a panicked fit of screaming from a small contingent of members, the bulk of whom were focused on how unprepared they were for 4D technology. One mentioned a trip to Disney World and a ride that he thought he remembered being in 4D. A few others recalled the ride and unanimously agreed that it was pretty fun. They immediately summoned their marketing department and tasked them with surveying gamers, specifically on how they felt about 4D gaming.

Am I 4D yet!?!?

The information gathered showed that gamers were leery enough about 3D gaming and weren’t remotely enthusiastic about the prospects of 4D gaming. Despite this evidence, the board was still buzzing about how much fun they had at that 4D ride and started the process of converting the world of Fez into 4 dimensions, though they soon found themselves struggling with what the fourth dimension actually was. Some thought it was touch while others thought it was smell, though all agreed it had to be one or the other as they felt giving the player 5 dimensions wouldn’t be very profitable. They eventually settled on taste, which in the long run didn’t make a whole lot of sense but then again, people who don’t play games making decisions about games never really made much sense to begin with.

Gaming Cynic - I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. My usually jovial self will be taking a mental health day. Instead, I’ll be looking at everything in my life through a half empty glass. I’ll get over it, but my pissy mood wants to burn some bridges first.

Sources

Giant Bomb (original images)
Home Security Store (image)

Related posts:

1. Gaming Lifestyle: Going Indie – Waiting for Console Breakthroughs
2. Gaming Cynic: Multiplayer Games and Real Life Friendship
3. Limits are Advantages for Indie Developers

Hell of a collector's case.

As easy as it is to dismiss games with movie tie-ins, it is always a bit surprising when they don’t come out, especially for a box office record breaking movie such as The Avengers. Then again, maybe the game has come out already and we are all mistaken:

The premise of this parody trailer of combining recent superhero games into one game is funny enough on its own, but the execution of the older superhero games (especially when the hero doesn’t have one) is what pushed it over the top. Plus, I’m kind of surprised we haven’t seen a game collection that has utilized duct tape before.

Source:

YouTube

Related posts:

1. Hey! Watch! Glorious Video Game Filled Goldfish Music Video
2. Hey! Watch! Fan-Made BioShock Movie Trailer
3. Hey! Watch! Nolan North Really Does Do Every Voice of Every Video Game Character

Snow wasn't as fun back then as it is today.

In the eyes of most, World War 2 would have gone to the Axis of Evil had the United States not stepped in and saved the day. While our boys were major players in the war, battles on eastern front were just as important (if not more so) to the Allies’ success. For those not interested in sitting through documentaries as a means of further educating themselves, THQ will be highlighting the conflicts between Germany and the Soviet Union in Company of Heroes 2, the sequel to the incredible World War 2 RTS from 2007.

You’ll control the Soviets during conflicts based on Operation Barbarossa and will work to thwart the Germans as they attempt a large-scale invasion of Russia. The game will feature the Essence 3.0 engine, which THQ boasts will feature an “unprecedented new TrueSight™ system, [where] fog of war is no longer a guessing game as unit visibility on the battlefield relies on true and proper line of sight”. The engine is also said to be able to create dynamic weather effects including snow that can slow units or be built up to provide cover for soldiers. The game is set for release in early 2013 for the PC.

I personally can’t even begin to express how excited I am. Company of Heroes is probably my favorite RTS (with Relic’s Dawn of War series a close second) and seeing how well the original stands up to modern RTS games makes my mouth water not unlike it does when presented with a large sandwich or White Castle sliders. I won’t say that I’d leave my wife for CoH2, but I would flirt with the possibility of a secret affair.

Sources

Company of Heroes Official Site

Related posts:

1. City of Heroes wants some of this Free-to-Play Action
2. Hey! Play! Random Heroes
3. Heroes from Two Sides – Super Gaming Best Friends #108

These are the lean months, but even if May doesn’t have the breadth of releases of other times of the year, it certainly has enough standout titles to keep us busy and excited. If anything there will be plenty of shared gaming experiences to talk and that’s never a bad thing.

Week of May 1

• TERA – PC
• Fable Heroes – XBLA
• Awesomenauts – XBLA, PSN

Week of May 7

• Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition – XBLA
• Starhawk – PS3

Week of May 14

• Diablo III – PC, Mac
• Max Payne 3 – 360, PS3, PC
• Sonic 4 Episode 2 – PSN, XBLA
• Mario Tennis Open – 3DS
• PixelJunk 4AM – PSN
• Game of Thrones - 360, PS3, PC

Week of May 21

• Dragon’s Dogma - 360, PS3
• Ghost Recon: Future Soldier - 360, PS3, PC
• Sorcery – PS3

Week of May 28

• Retro City Rampage - XBLA, PSN, PC, WiiWare

Here’s what has our attention this May

Max looks like he's actually having fun.

Max Payne 3

Aaron (BGRadio) - The sweat from my palms coated the controller as I clenched it tighter, time slowing down before my eyes. As a hail of bullets pumped into the goon’s flesh, my mind began to dwell on how amped I had been for the moment Max Payne 3 would release. It had been a while since I had done this kind of work and I was curious about how working with a team online would feel. Playing with strangers over the internet… I’d rather high five a running garbage disposal.

James (Copperskull) - I’ve never played any of the Max Payne games, so I’m not entirely sure why this game keeps catching my eye. I think the developers behind the game appeal to me the most, since everything they’ve made that I have played has been a lot of fun. The story also seems to be a gritty, internal struggle with a lot of eye-candy special effects, and that seems just fine by me.

Justin L (JDevL) - I have to say that I have not been the most dedicated of Max Payne fans. While the story and style have always been intriguing, the gameplay while fun was just entirely too repetitive for me to stick with it. I doubted that we needed a Max Payne 3 and for some reason even began to worry about the franchise when it looked as if they changed the character. However, call me a sucker for Rockstar’s marketing but I’ve heard nothing but glowing things to say about how MP3 plays. That’s what matters to me because even if Rockstar changes things up on the story/style side, I’m beyond the point of doubting their narrative abilities. I don’t even think I’ll need painkillers because this game is looking anything but painful to play.

JP (DocJPizzle) - I am a huge fan boy of Rockstar. With that said, you would think I’ve been waiting in line to pick this one up. To be honest I have only played the original title. There is a glut of third person shooters generated from this console generation, but if anyone could stand out amongst the crowd it would be Max Payne. I do know that the online model for this game will be similar in GTA V and that might make this game worth picking up. To be honest Max might keep me entertained until I wait for GTA V to show up.

Andrew (Coopopolopolis) - Max Payne 3 is on my radar. I definitely won’t pick it up right away due to my tremendous backlog, but I’ve always loved that franchise and hope that this one does well. I haven’t played a Max Payne game in a while, so I’m a little worried that it won’t live up to the memories I have of its predecessors, but life is full of disappointments, and I’ll play through about anything with guns and bullet-time.

Josh (Joshleedotcom) – Nothing like shooting a guy in the face in slo-mo, then downing a whole bottle of painkillers! Max Payne is John McClane if he couldn’t shit for two weeks. Seriously, with all those pills Max has popped, surely at some point he would have accidentally picked up some laxatives. I just want to be there for the end of this game, wherein Max finally finds relief in the form of a bullet-time deuce. Also, Mona Sax. Day one purchase!

Things have been better.

Diablo III

Ethan (Wizardtrain187) – All I want to do is sit in Josh Lee’s mancave and play this game for a whole weekend without coming up from air. As evidenced by some recent live tapings of the show, this could end up poorly for both of us as a diet full of Long John Silvers and White Castle sliders will affect the air quality adversely. Should we suffocate on our own intestinal by products, I can only hope we do so in a very valiant way (and preferably clothed). That being said, I’m wondering if Diablo 3 will blow me away or leave me pleasantly satisfied. This is not a bad place to be as in the end I’m smiling either way, but it’s the level of that smile I’m curious about. I love the genre though and while I’m not a Diablo fanatic by any stretch of the imagination (couldn’t tell you a thing about the storyline), Diablo 2 was very memorable to me as it was my official introduction to grinding and loot intoxication. So adorn yourselves with precious oils and your official codpiece of adventure, Hell is about to get an adrenaline soaked boot up the ass.

Josh (Joshleedotcom) - Stay awhile and listen! Diablo Mother Fucking Three. I love this formula, which is good because from the beta it looks like D3 doesn’t stray from said formula much at all. Click on dudes, dudes die and drop shit. Click on shit, get more bling. Click on bigger dudes, better shit pops out of them and so on and so forth. Plus, I get to play with SGBFF’s. Preordered!

Justin L (JDevL) - Here’s another popular series that I more or less respected, but never got knee deep into aside from a few weekends with the first game. It’s weird too because I love just about any game with loot and any game with demons. I think it was just that my friends never really played the game and I didn’t get a chance to get sucked into multiplayer. That changes with Diablo III as the Diabros are going to be out in full force. At least to start. So the only real question I have is if I’m going to get obsessed with the game or not. There’s definitely room in my schedule… could be trouble.

James (Copperskull) - I spent a lot of time playing the original Diablo back in High School. Unfortunately, the sequel didn’t come out in a time that really worked for me since I was falling further and further into consoledom. Even though I still primarily play console games, Steam has convinced me to make some much needed improvements to my PC hardware, so now I’m ready, willing, and able to play all those PC gems such as Diablo III.

Welcome to 2012

Retro City Rampage

Justin L (JDevL) – My most anticipated downloadable title for at least the past 2 years is finally here. Well retro stylings and graphics may not make it stand out as much as when it was originally announced, I fully expect RCR to raise the bar. Whether you are coming for the referential humor and gameplay or just an entertaining top-down open world experience, Retro City Rampage will have plenty to offer every type of gamer. Many of the homages to old games include changing up the gameplay to match what it is referencing (i.e. Metal Gear sneaking scenarios) so the RCR’s gameplay is constantly changing. Not to mention its simplified graphical style makes even those homages feel unique from its source material. It also doesn’t hurt that as a child of the 80′s and beyond that I can’t wait to see the next inside joke explode on screen.

Andrew (Coopopolopolis) - Maybe it’s only my generation of gamer, but I still get excited over any great games done in an 8-bit style. I feel really bad for those whose retro consists of crappy, low poly, PS1 3D. To be honest I don’t really know a whole lot about this game other than it looks fun as hell. My guess is it’ll jump a little ahead of the backlog. You have to throw a little new into the mix just to keep things fresh.

James (Copperskull) - I loved all the great 2D sprite-filled games of my childhood, so there’s instant appeal to me in the games that have the 8-bit throwback graphics and physics. I recently enjoyed the flash-based and significantly cheaper Abobo’s Big Adventure on Newgrounds, which also focused on the decades-old NES classics. I do have a little concern about the price of this game versus content and replay value, though. I’ll be watching this one at the end of the month to see what others’ impressions are.

Josh (Joshleedotcom) - This game seems like it’s been in development since the games it’s parodying were new. Apparently, it takes awhile to make a game with a staff of one. Who knew?! I know RCR will be good for some chuckles with all those NES in-jokes, but will it actually be fun to play? I’ll probably get it after a recommendation from Les Horribles. Oh, and check out the soundtrack on bandcamp. http://retrocityrampage.bandcamp.com/album/retro-city-rampage-soundtrack Virt!

I heard you like blocks and adventure.

Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition

Andrew (Coopopolopolis) - I’ll buy Minecraft. I don’t really know why, but I will. I already own it and have stopped playing it on both the PC and iPhone, but apparently that doesn’t matter. It’ll definitely be a nice time waster when i don’t know what else I want to play, and I guess I’m just curious to see what they pull off on the 360 with the game. Hopefully I won’t be the only one because you really can only play with LEGO for so long by yourself before people start to wonder.

JP (DocJPizzle) - I also fall into the group of people that have never played Minecraft, I have been waiting for this XBLA release to see if creating phallic buildings and creepers are for me. You can’t deny the insane amount of popularity this title has, and that alone will persuade me to download the free trial.

Brandon (H21) – This game always struck me as a game built for PC. I haven’t tried it or several of the Indie-er versions of it, and I’m stuck on whether or not I try it out. A couple friends on XBLA mentioned they were going to likely give it a shot and asked if I would be purchasing it to which I had no answer. This may just be a game-time decision.

James (Copperskull) - I have yet to play this game, and I actually know very little about it. Yes, I don’t know how I’ve lived this long, either. From what I do know of it, it sounds like a fun game to experience with your friends, and I really don’t have many PC friends, so Xbox may be the way to go.

Best of the Rest

Help us out PSN.

Starhawk – Ethan (Wizardtrain187): In concept I could really love this game but PlayStation exclusives are like hot girls with BO: they look great but you know things are going to get funky after while. Whether you can deal with that funk long term is ultimately what the deciding factor will be with this game. The tower defense and base building aspects of StarHawk look like they could make for some memorable multiplayer action, though I’m none to confident in PS3 online play being able to deal with anything resembling scope (don’t even begin to speak of MAG, were there ever enough people playing to actually have those huge battles?). If this was on the PC or Xbox 360 it would already be pre-ordered. I’m also concerned that this is yet another example of a game with its mouth full of a lot of good ideas but being unable to swallow anything that resembles a well structured and engaging experience. It may sound like I’m actually not looking forward to this game, but I’ve learned to keep my hopes low because Starhawk could very well be my go to should everything come together as it is supposed.

Dragon’s Dogma - Aaron (BGRadio):  While I’m on shaky ground about this one, I tried the demo and spend a lot of my time laughing at its absurdity. AI companions were helpful, if not talkative, and grabbing onto the backs of enemies was some of the goofiest mischief I was able to get into. When buddies climb up alongside you and swords are being bashed into spines, you can’t help but admire the determination to make violence solve all life’s problems. I’ve got my eye on your dogma, Dragon.

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier - Brandon (H21): To be honest, I didn’t pay much attention to this game before the beta, and now that I’ve had a chance to play it with Aaron and other good friends using my best Eeyore voice I’m considering it. It was definitely fun to play, but I’m wondering the same thing about the single player. Sadly, the reviews may sway me in either direction at this point as I don’t want to buy a game full-price just for the multiplayer.

Mario Tennis Open – Cole (Colefacekilla): I love the Mario Tennis franchise and need more games for my 3DS. When I saw a trailer for this game a few weeks ago I was blown away by the creative use of the original Super Mario Bros. being played as your character played tennis against the wall. That might have sold me right there. Mario Tennis games have always been fun. I’m not aware if there is online multiplayer but if there is and you own a 3DS you should get this game so you can lose to me.

Awesomenauts – JP (DocJPizzle): This game should be called ‘Awesomesauce’. I played the trial and had a great time destroying turrets and drills. I also really enjoyed the 80s cartoon feel. The opening to the game felt right at home in a Saturday morning cartoon. The art style of the game keeps the theme consistent as well.  I will pick this game up in the future and look forward to getting completely destroyed playing against real people.

What will you be playing this May?

Sources:

Giant Bomb (images)

Related posts:

1. Games of February Will Learn You Something
2. Games of May Solve the Case
3. Games of February Do Not Care About Fall Releases

The baby sheep just got a bit more intense...

The often abusive and yet fantastically addicting The Binding of Isaac is going to get a hot dose of expansion on May 28th with the arrival of The Wrath of the Lamb. The expansion, which will be available on Steam for $3.00 will include new enemies, levels and items, all of which will continue to fertilize your nightmares for years to come.

If you haven’t played The Binding of Isaac, you need to check yourself before you wreck yourself as it’s a game that should not be missed. Edmund McMillen and company seem to have the monopoly on mechanically simple yet difficult to master games that can be enjoyed by a wide range of demographics. I’m a demographic and I spent 16 hours on the game, so the proof is definitely in the pudding (that’s a metaphor, I don’t really like pudding nor do I have any to offer at this point in time).

Sources

Joystiq

Related posts:

1. Merge Games Brings The Binding of Isaac and Terraria to UK Stores
2. Tried It: The Binding of Isaac
3. The Binding of Isaac Review by Isaac

Every day we are on the look out for the most interesting news items in the gaming industry. Some make it on the site as headlines, and the articles that just miss the cut end up in the Shiny Objects feed on our Horrible Night Newswire Google+ Page. Every Monday we recap the shiniest of the objects, and our original articles from the previous week.

Horrible Objects

• Podcast // Should I Play The Walking Dead: Episode 1? – The Cursed Checkpoint #115 with Ethan, Justin, Brandon
• Hey! // Look! SNES Arcade Cabinet
• Recoil Review // Dungeon Defenders with DLC: The Loot Keeps Coming by Ethan Moses
• Podcast // Heroes from Two Sides – Super Gaming Best Friends #108
• Editorial // Just 5 More Minutes: Tecmo Super Bowl by JP LaFrance
• Cheap and Dirty Gamer // Shank You for Getting to the Point by Ethan Moses
• Contest // Win Indy Indie Game: The Movie Tickets During the Live and Horrible Super Meat Boy Challenge
• Editorial // Can a Video Game Change Your Life? by Cole Monroe
• Editorial // Speculate Iterate: Call of Duty: Black Ops II Reveal by Brandon Coppernoll
• I Learned Something Today // The Secret of Monkey Island by Justin Lacey

Last Week’s Headlines

I've always said they were classy.

20 headlines distracted us and here’s the best from that list:

Nailed it.
Review: A Valley Without Wind – Destructoid

Boo. Way to ruin a cool thing fellas.
Report: MLB 2K12 Perfect Game Million Dollar Challenge ends with accusations of cheating – Joystiq

More RTS man dates for Ethan and Josh forthcoming.
Company of Heroes 2 Revealed – Piki Geek

Amazing. Now, I’m sad.
PAX Prime passes entirely sold out – Joystiq

I really hope they bounce back.
THQ Forgoes E3 Booth – GameInformer

Bout damn time.
Watch Microsoft’s E3 Press Conference Through Xbox Live – GameInformer

Blowing my mind right now.
Team 17 Reveals Worms Revolution’s Class System – Piki Geek

The cautionary tale begins.
Gaming Kickstarter canceled after audience outs shady practices- Joystiq

May be worth keeping an eye on this year.
Let’s Talk About the Future of Call of Duty – Giant Bomb

Ok thanks.
Skyrim’s First DLC Named Dawnguard – GameInformer

Related posts:

1. Shiniest Objects: We Should Make a Shooter
2. Shiniest Objects: No, We Heard You
3. Shiniest Objects: It Jumped

The Lessons of The Secret of Monkey Island

1. There are no words for how lame you are
2. Make her want something by taking it away
3. There’s always a stronger drink
4. Root beer will save you in the end

There are no words for how lame you are

I learned something today. All of the training in the world will just make you as good as every other professional out there, no matter what you do. What separates all of us in competition is our wit. You have to catch your opponents off guard with insults to gain the advantage. That’s right, good old-fashioned trash talking. Get into their heads. However, just being offensive or making it too personal won’t work these days as that can encourage anger and self-righteousness as fuel for a counterattack. Hit your foe with a few generic softball insults that could apply to just about anyone and he is sure to be confused enough to let his guard down. Even if it isn’t true, comment on his bad breath, his lack of intelligence or how his general appearance makes you queasy. He will be so thrown off by how lame you are that he will be too confused to offer a proper response and lose any advantage he had. However, keep it grounded in reality a bit, that three-headed monkey joke doesn’t fool anyone. Thanks, The Secret of Monkey Island.

Sure, she's ticked off now, but now she knows who you are.

Make her want something by taking it away

I learned something today. It is hard to get the attention of the woman who has everything. A woman with wealth and power is sure to have plenty of suitors falling at her feet. That doesn’t mean you don’t stand a chance, you just have to find a way to be memorable. Be resourceful and find out more about her. Where she lives, what is important to her, that kind of thing. All that you have to do then is take those very things away from her and then, presto, instant conversation starter. Steal her priceless artifact, kill/drug her dogs, ruin her paintings. Hell, once she associates you with that traumatic event in her life there is no forgetting you. You won’t even have to put full sentences together. You’re in. Thanks, The Secret of Monkey Island.

There’s always a stronger drink

I learned something today. Drinking competitions may not be the most sophisticated of challenges, but that doesn’t mean failing at them is any less shameful. If you want to know how you stack up, answer this one question: “Have all of your drinking competitions involved beverages that can be safely contained in common glassware?” If so, there is a whole other level of drinks that you aren’t ready for. Whether the drink is made out in the middle of nowhere or it is from some remote island, there are people in this world that are capable of drinking liquids that were more intended more for sterilization of heavy machinery than they were for human consumption. I’ve seen a grog so potent that it not only melted its glass mug, but it was used in a prison escape to melt the iron locks. The men who drank that grog drank it like common watered down beer. I can’t imagine what they drink for shots. Either way, your liver is going to need to grow some balls. Thanks, The Secret of Monkey Island.

That guy on the chandelier knows a thing or two about drinking.

Root beer will save you in the end

I learned something today. Ultimately, if you are truly worth a damn, you are going to warrant the attention of some bad people, the worst of whom aren’t even alive. Ghosts are going to want you dead. First of all, when this happens, I want you to know that you have truly made it. Congratulations, but don’t get cocky because you can’t best a supernatural being through any means that have gotten you to this point. The only way you are going to kill this thing is to get your hands on some root beer. Think about it, why else would that drink even exist? What flavor purpose does it really serve? Just rest assured that this sugary soda will send even the most heinous of ghouls away from this plane of existence. Don’t get it confused with the grog though, as that’s more likely to kill you instead. Thanks, The Secret of Monkey Island.

Conclusion

Some people harp on the importance of “how you play” when all that really matters and all that anyone remembers is who won. When you are up against a great opponent, it isn’t going to be skill or determination that separates you. It’s a matter of taking advantage in any way that presents itself so that you can come out on top. Thanks, video games.

I Learned Something Today – Who says that video games can’t teach you life skills? Sure they may get you put in prison or banished from society, but they are skills nonetheless. We take an over-the-top look at some of the potential applications of what video games have taught us.

Source:

Giant Bomb (images)

Related posts:

1. Monkey Island 2 SE Features Creators’ Audio Commentary
2. Games of Our Wives: Tales of Monkey Island
3. I Learned Something Today: Secret of Mana

This only works if one of us starts the digestive cycle....

Are you tired of wandering the harsh landscapes in Skyrim alone? Do you long for a merry dash through Morrowind with your best friends? Is the extant Tamriel better explored in tandem? If you answered yes to all of those questions, then Bethesda has the product for you. It’s called Elder Scrolls Online and it’s going to be an MMO based on the fantasy universe we’ve all grown accustomed to wandering around by ourselves.

I would have posted the announcement trailer, but all it amounts to is a few dragons reenacting The Human Centipede. I’m a fan of the Elder Scrolls series, but I don’t think the mechanics that defined that franchise lend themselves to online play. I’d prefer to see them start with 4-8 player co-op and go from there, but I build cardboard robots in my spare time…what do I know? Details are sparse, but I’m going to assume it’s a PC exclusive and will be released sometime in the future.

Sources

Destructoid (and a bunch of other sites)

Related posts:

1. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim to Use a New Game Engine
2. Star Trek Online Goes Free to Play with Announcement Trailer
3. Free-to-Play Mechwarrior Online Announced for PC, Console Pilots Ejected

“We needed to think about really pushing the boundaries on this franchise,” he said. “We’re very grateful that Black Ops was such a hit, but not for one second did the team think they would come back with the same thing for the sequel. It’s in our DNA; we are not afraid to push this franchise in new directions. And Black Ops II isn’t what anyone expects that we’re making.”

Choice-based Single Player Campaign

Call of Duty: Black Ops was a great installment to the Call of Duty (CoD) franchise as it was different from Modern Warfare, and it offered a great robust multiplayer experience. It’s become an annual thing to see a new CoD, but I’m happy to see they tend to try to switch up the era or story at least a little bit. While, in my opinion, the story was a little lackluster in Black Ops I still enjoyed the multiplayer the most out of all my CoD experiences. With all of that said, there is a time for change.

Dan Amrich, in his One of Swords article, tried to let the world in a little bit on what he knew Black Ops II to be. After reading this article, I’m still a little reserved, but I’m finding myself with more optimism as it seems more is changing than we could have originally expected. Perhaps the most exciting piece of the article is the direction of the single player campaign.

Switch things up and give me a reason to be excited about single-player again.

The addition of smaller side-missions will be introduced to add a little flair and break from the main storyline, but the successes and failures of these side-missions will impact the main storyline in some way. Does a character live without the intel you failed to receive? Does a routine drop off turn into a hot mess because enemy forces weren’t cleared successfully causing casualties or a different path for a main story mission? These are the kinds of things I’d like to see introduced. Encourage the player to try different things to get a different story.

The campaigns in all of the predecessors have been consistently getting shorter and more streamlined. It certainly seems like they’re looking for ways to branch out the campaign to weigh more heavily on player choice. This is something many of us are enjoying in other games, but it hasn’t really found a home in a first person shooter. This change may be small or huge. I’m not sure at this point, but I’m willing to speculate that it will be refreshing nonetheless.

Visual Overhauls

Dan goes on to describe how Treyarch wanted to make this game visually appealing. It’s not secret the engine behind the most recent Call of Duty games has essentially been the same, but I’m not going to knock them for it. Considering the overwhelming success of the series it’s awfully hard to suggest a change is needed. As long as the engine does something different I couldn’t care less what is being used “under the hood.” It seems as though Treyarch as been listening to consumers who are requesting more updated graphics, and they have put in a lot of work to motion capture a variety of things including horses to bring more realism to the game. Updating the graphics will help move this series forward, but it’s certainly not the most important target.

Pretty things go boom, and I like that.

Multiplayer Will Be Different

“Multiplayer is no longer a one-size-fits-all solution. We’ve stripped the game back a lot and started from a very core place” with a goal of supporting the broadest range of players and play styles. – David Vonderhaar

Not much has been let on what will be changed in multiplayer, but it looks like there’s something that’s bound to change. In recent years what most people have been complaining about have been addressed, but some things still remain. What about more objective-based games with little twists? You can almost guarantee Call of Duty Elite’s involvement.

Capture the Flag has always been one of my favorites as has been Demolition. Let’s change it up a bit. Require players to defend or capture to truly score experience and do not reward those who only are in it for the kills. Change spawns for teams at random to force strategies to change. For example, players can overhear in communication a new “drop zone” and start spawning elsewhere to force the other team to move. It’s an easy way to avoid “spawn camping.” It also adds a little randomness to objective games which can often be a little linear.

Entertain me with new challenges other than survival in Zombies and you have my attention...

Zombies Will Be a Big Production

Treyarch is being up front this time about zombies in Black Ops II, and it certainly seems they’re promising it will be bigger. What’s that mean for us? Traditionally, zombies has been based loosely on a story and one to four survivors are trying to last as long as they can. Will more players be introduced? Will there be scavenger or versus multiplayer added to zombies? Another point to make is in previous zombies installments, it’s been based around one of the World Wars or the Cold War. With Black Ops II promising to be in the future, will we have to endure zombies with modern or futuristic technology? If that’s the case, will there be new zombies or zombie-like creatures introduced to shake things up? I’m not exactly opposed to it.

Game Muscle Confusion

One of the best ways to stay in great shape and not grow tired of a routine workout is to introduce muscle confusion by introducing new exercises. When a franchise like Call of Duty gives its fans annual releases and the differences aren’t incredibly noticeable year after year, consumers will likely grow complacent or indifferent to the next release. I find myself in the same state of mind. Call of Duty: Black Ops II has an opportunity to add “game muscle confusion” to the annual ritual of playing CoD online and offline. If there was a time to introduce change and shake things up for Call of Duty it’s now. Black Ops II can be that game.

What do you think we will see in Call of Duty: Black Ops II? Are you excited or ready for it all to stop?

Speculate Iterate – Speculation on rumors in the gaming industry is well and good when you call it what it is. Take our ideas for what they are and feel free to add your own.

Sources

Giant Bomb (images)

Related posts:

1. Don’t Be That Guy: Call of Duty: Black Ops
2. I Learned Something Today: Call of Duty: Black Ops
3. Call of Duty 2011 Arrives with Modern Warfare 3 Reveal Trailer

Life Changing

Compared to other artistic mediums (yes, video games are art) video games are the new kid on the block. Pong, one of the oldest video games is 40 years old this year. Generally speaking, the medium has had less time to influence the masses than music or the written word. However, we wouldn’t have near the industry that exists today if it wasn’t for people’s lives being changed by video games. I think it would be hard to say that any game developer today didn’t grow up playing video games. It’s not an industry you just fall into having never laid your hands on a single game. While I don’t have any specific examples, video games surely changed the lives of those developers whose passion and dreams made it possible for them to join an industry they admired growing up. Not only have they taken cues from past games but they probably got into the business because of how games influenced them.

After typing the phrase “have video games changed your life” into Google, I get a myriad of responses. Some blame World of Warcraft for being the cause of a break-up, some say that games have negatively affected their sex life. But one writer said that video games have positively changed his life in a number of ways. He learned to read more thoroughly from Super Mario RPG than any Dr. Suess book. By playing games like Medieval: Total War and Civilization III he became fascinated with history.

I never thought about a specific game has changing my life in any way, but as I started writing this I realized that me actually writing about video games has been the real change brought about by games themselves. Before Horrible Night I’d write periodically about different things but could never remain focused or interested in a topic long enough to make anything of the writing. When I finally realized that my passion for games and the video game industry could be the driving force behind my wanting to write, I jumped in head first. While no specific game has been a huge influence on my life, positively or negatively, writing about the industry has made a definite impact on me and the others who are involved with Horrible Night.

The thing about positive life changes is that they don’t make near the same impact as the negative ones do. While the heartwarming tales of the Wii helping improve the health activity for some senior citizens is nice, video games can’t physically save a life. A game might get someone something else to focus besides the drugs or harmful habits that they might be doing they may be doing otherwise. In that way it can be indirectly be a life saver. However, the positive impact that games can have is easily overshadowed by the unfortunate ties video games have had to tragic headlines.

Negative Influence

Throughout the years, music, books, movies, and television shows have been blamed for senseless acts of violence around the world. In the case of the West Memphis Three, a satanic ritual influenced by the music the three boys listened to was said to have been the reason for the killing of three boys. The book Catcher in the Rye, was said to have influenced the killer of John Lennon, Mark David Chapman. These different genres haven’t escaped blame for being influences and changing lives in negative ways. It didn’t take too long for video games to join this club.

There have been two major instances where video games were blamed as reasons people were killed. 13 years ago Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris opened fire on their school in Columbine, Colorado killing 13 before turing the weapons on themselves. While other forms of media were blamed as well, Doom stood out as the video game the media chose to focus on.The media focused on the aspect of desensitization the two must have experienced. If you can kill so willingly in a video game world, then that must translate into being able to do it so freely in the real world.

More recently, Anders Breivik killed 77 and injured over 300 in two attacks on different areas of Norway last year. Initially video games once again took a hit when it came out that Anders had used Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 as a virtual training ground to practice his final mission. Though earlier this year at his trial, Anders denied that he used video games as a training device. He only said that the weapon with the holographic sight he used during the killings was similar to one he like in Modern Warfare 2.

In the two instances above, video games were blamed as something that helped both parties prepare to kill. I’m sure there have been other killings throughout the world that people have blamed on video games as well. In these cases, video games have changed the lives, communities, and countries of the victims of these senseless acts. While I am diametrically opposed to the idea that video games were the root cause in either of these cases, it is naive to think that it isn’t possible for a game to influence someone to harm others in the same way other forms of media have. Though that idea personally makes me sick just to think about.

What are your influences?

I think it’s pretty clear that video games aren’t just a creative medium that sits in a vacuum that fosters zero influence on its players. There have been instances of lives improving for the better after playing a video game just as there have been claims of it influencing violence. There is no denying that games have changed the lives of many and that we could use more positive stories as a reminder. Have video games changed your life?

Sources:

Writing.com 
Giant Bomb (images)

No related posts.

Starting at 7pm EST on Tuesday May 8th on http://www.twitch.tv/HorribleNight, Horrible Night will be playing one of the games from the film, Super Meat Boy. A game that is known as much for its personality as it is for its brutal difficulty. The Horrible Night team will be testing our skills the 20 Dark World levels of the 1st Chapter of the game. We expect many traumatic failures and Super Meat Boy deaths to ensue. That’s where you come in:

The Horrible Super Meat Boy Challenge

Congrats to our winner Nate G. Our final death tally was 188 and he had the closest guess with 247

Between now and showtime on 5/8/2012 – leave a comment with your guess as to how many deaths (including retries) the Horrible Night Team will have before successfully beating all 20 Dark World Levels of Chapter 1 of Super Meat Boy. We will be playing the game live and have an live death count on screen so that you can keep track of our progress. Once all 20 levels are complete, a winner will be chosen.

Contest Rules

1. One entry per person.
2. Only comments left on this post on HorribleNight.com will be eligible.
3. Using an active email address is required so that we can contact the winner.
4. The winner will be picked based on whoever had the correct and first death count guess based on the timestamp of the comment.
5. If no exact match is made, the winner be chosen by the first guess that is closest to the final death count.
6. If there is a tie, the winner will be chosen based on who guessed first based on the timestamp of the comment.
7. The winner will receive two tickets to the May 23 screening of Indie Game: The Movie at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
8. If the winner cannot attend the screening, the tickets will pass to the next runner-up until a winner is chosen that can make it to the event.

A little bit about our gamers

The Horrible Night team will consist of experienced Super Meat Boy players who at one time in their lives considered themselves to be “all right at Super Meat Boy.” One player will play at a time until that player gives up and tags out for another player to pick up from that point in the game.

To get an idea of what the team is in for we suggest watching this video.

Find out more about Indie Game: The Movie, RSVP and buy your own tickets online for the Indianapolis screening. Special thanks to the Canadian Consulate, Indy Film Fest and the IMA for making this screening possible.

Now the only question remains: How many times do you think the Horrible Night team will die in the first chapter of Dark World levels in Super Meat Boy?

Related posts:

1. Giveaway: Two Tickets to Indie Game: The Movie in Indy, Enter by 7:30pm EDT Tuesday
2. Indie Game: The Movie Screening Update with Meetups and The Horrible Show Live (Updated)
3. Nice To Meat You, Super Meat Boy 2 CD Soundtrack

Those machetes seem like they'd be tough to get past prison guards.

Shank could have altered his assault a bit, but would it have made his mission easier? He could switch weapons at times, but the shank, chainsaw and dual handgun combo seemed to get the job done just fine. His enemies may have looked and acted the same, but he didn’t choose his targets and diversity isn’t always an appropriate goal. The mentality is that everything we do needs a certain layer of  awe-inspiring sparkle so that boredom doesn’t set in. The thing about that is not everyone likes sparkles. Sparkles are a waste of time and tend to distract people from what’s at the core of the problem or objective they may happen to be dealing with. It’s like dressing up to go to the grocery store; all that prep time and extra polish doesn’t make the acquisition of food any easier.

Perhaps a spin kick would look better, but a double axe handle always gets the job done the first time.

While playing Shank, I wouldn’t say I was ever blown away, but it was nice to stick to a linear path and mash my way to victory, even if that meant that conversations about the experience were concise. No quests, no sudden tactical adaptation just bunches of punches, bullet holes and puncture wounds. It was a straight-forward jaunt and one that satisfied that little person inside me that was a bit tired of the fluff. I can’t say that Shank’s way of doing things is best for all situations, but sometimes it’s best to get from point A to point B without visiting the rest of the alphabet in-between.

Shank is part of the EA Indie Bundle ($20.98 till May 8th on Steam), but can be purchased separately for $4.99. That’s a very economical price for revenge.

Cheap and Dirty Gamer – Being cheap used to be an insult, but with the economy in the dumps it’s now a survival skill. Being dirty also used to be an insult, but that changed after Christina Aguilera’s song came out. Not all gamers have the funds to play full priced games, but that doesn’t mean that gaming quality has to suffer. There are good free and cheap games everywhere, games specifically made for the sexy survivors among us.

Sources

Giant Bomb (images)
Steam

No related posts.

I think I'll name mine "Galavanting Unibrow Lady Wizards".

The superb rogue-like Dungeons of Dredmor is about to receive some free DLC, and you have the mod community to thank for it.

Gaslamp Games have announced You Have To Name The Expansion Pack (you can actually name it yourself on the title screen) for imminent release. The DLC will include new skills, rooms, monsters and more created by DoD modders. I’m especially (not) looking forward to the Diggle Rocketeer. Owners of the Realm of the Diggle Gods will see some new content as well.

Ye Skill Tome is lookin' fresh.

Along with the new goodies, Steam Workshop integration will also be included. This is good news for both modders and moddees alike. You may have already seen this used with Skyrim. The Workshop is an easy way to publish and download mods for a game directly through Steam.

You can watch Justin and I play a little competitive Dungeons of Dredmor on our Twitch.tv archive.

Source:

Gaslamp Games

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Simple is best

Playbooks ... simplified.

Tecmo Super Bowl is the gold standard when it comes to simple football games. The pure simplicity of Tecmo Super Bowl is what made this game so popular. Modern football games contain pages and pages of plays to select from. Not to mention that you have to understand how each of the plays work, and the best options given the situation. Tecmo Super Bowl has none of that. Both the offensive team and defensive team select from the same set of plays. When on offense, you select one of eight simple plays. The plays are divided into four running plays and four passing plays. The defense also picks from the same set that the offense does. If the defense selects the same play as the offense, the defense will run an all-out blitz, and the players will have super speed making it almost impossible for your offense to gain any ground. Watching your players on the field have run around possessed while ruining the offense’s play always made me feel like a total bad ass.

Once you snap the ball, the game will run the play on its own, up to a certain point. For example: on a hand off, the play will run itself until the ball is given to the running back. On a passing play, you don’t have full control of the quarterback until he finishes his drop. The game contains no turbo or speed burst for players and forces you to develop your own skills at player control to excel. You have to learn quickly to find open receivers or how to make the right 45 degree cut to get away from a sliding tackler. Some of the receivers and running backs are so good in this game, that they can just out run everyone else on the field. The NFL talent in featured in the game is absolutely classic from Randall Cunningham, Phil Sims, Thurman Thomas, Dan Marino, Barry Sanders, and John Elway just to name a few.

It’s important to point out that yes, Tecmo Bowl was a great game, but did not have the depth that Tecmo Super Bowl contained. Tecmo Super Bowl was the first game I played that captured the true feel of the NFL. Believe it or not, having a game with a dynamic roster with all 28 NFL teams from the time. The NFL license alone was a huge deal.

Thurman Thomas was a beast.

The talent isn’t the only memorable part of this game as the visuals are still burned into my brain. Cut scenes are a very predominant part of Tecmo Super Bowl. Whenever you score a touchdown, you will get a couple of (somewhat) moving images across the screen (think Ninja Gaiden). These images range from a player spiking the ball to one player jumping into another player’s arms. The cut scenes aren’t just limited to touchdowns. You will see them on field goal attempts as well as in the middle of the game for interceptions and the like. The best cut scene is when your receiver jumps three screens into the air to catch a pass. I always felt a sense of awe when your player jumps through the top of the screen, and then spans three images to catch the ball. Conversely, it is devastating to throw a pass in traffic and see the cut scene where ball goes past the defenders, but your receiver drops the pass. It felt like this drop sequence always happened in the most pivotal moments of the game.

Highlight reel

The majority of Tecmo Super Bowl lovers will always mention the 120 yard touchdown pass as the single greatest play in Tecmo Super Bowl history is when you take a snap, run to the back of the opposite end zone, and throw the ball to your receiver in the back of the opposite end zone. I have never played a Madden or NCAA Football title that had quarterbacks talented enough to throw a 120 yard touchdown pass through the air. This is a feat that has yet to be duplicated in a video football game.

Bo knows classic football games.

This was also the first game that I personally enjoyed playing a full season, and would play multiple seasons. The depth of the season play kept me coming back for more. The full player roster is important as this is the first game where I remember players getting hurt. When a player comes back from injury, he will run out of the hospital and towards the stadium. There is no better feeling than to have your best player charging back on the field after several long weeks without him.

The season play wasn’t a just a single player experience. You were allowed to play a co-op season. What I mean by that is that you could have users assigned to multiple teams. It would be very common for a buddy and I to each pick a team, and attempt to meet in the Super Bowl. This is the first time I ever shared a season experience in any sports title with another player. This was not duplicated until Madden 2001 was released for Playstation 2.

True champions

My friends and I would always give the other person a hard time when we were playing. For me a group Tecmo Super Bowl experience requires trash talk. The amount of trash talk only increases as more players are added.

Tecmo Super Bowl is such a great game, that my friends and I played this title well into the Playstation era. There was one specific weekend that an epic 8-man Tecmo Super Bowl tournament occurred (side note, this tournament was played on the SNES version). The ultimate reward for winning this tournament was being declared the undisputed “King of Tecmo Super Bowl” and a trophy. This was no ordinary trophy. The trophy was hand-made out of a red solo cup, Sharpie, duct tape, a Band-Aid, a small plastic trophy (I think it came from a gumball machine), and aluminum foil. This trophy carried so much clout and bragging rights in my circle of friends, that the winner took the trophy with him to college.

This classic event started with a blind draw. Every participant was put into a hat and we drew names. From there everyone picked teams, and I remember I did not make it very far in the tournament but that doesn’t matter for this story. Our final was the San Francisco 49ers against the Washington Redskins. The game was an tremendous back and forth shoot out. Trying to stop Young and Rice in this game is nearly impossible. The 49er defense was tasked with stopping Earnest Byner and the crazy motion offense of the Redskins. The title game was probably the most exciting game of football I watched that year. Highlighted immediately after kickoff as my friend controlling the 49ers changed his playbook around catching the other player so off guard the he accused him of cheating. Of course at the time he was just unaware that this was completely legitimate and to this day, he still accuses our champion of cheating. The fact that this particular tournament is still debated and highly revered to this day shows how influential of a title Tecmo Super Bowl is.

This game is responsible for some of my best gaming arguments of all time.

Tecmo Super Bowl is simple and always fun to play. Over time sports games have become much more complicated, but I am able to enjoy them because of the influence of Tecmo Super Bowl. In the days before patches and yearly releases, a sports game had to be perfect, and this game so good that it lasted us for multiple years on end. Tecmo Super Bowl is the best sports title I ever played, and one of the key reasons that I still love sports games to this day.

Just 5 More Minutes – Anecdotes and memories of when we didn’t want to put a specific game down.

Source:

Giant Bomb (images)

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