When Susan Wilson of Stevensville, Maryland launched a Kickstarter campaign for $829 to send her nine-year-old daughter Kenzie to role-playing game design camp last Thursday, she never expected donations to surpass $20,000. She also didn't expect to be branded and scammer, a manipulator and a child abuser. The threats of violence were also a big surprise.
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So, the next Star Wars movie will most likely feature appearances by many of the original cast members from the 1977-1983 trilogy.
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Marvel has given us so many awesome superheroes over the years--that's worth celebrating, right? Here's a cool animated homage to Marvel by Vimeo user Blackmeal that does just that. Since the characters are so iconic, I trust it wont be difficult to know what's being referenced when.
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Take a beloved franchise like Star Trek, influences from the heavier hitters in a genre, and you can't go too wrong, right? Well that final verdict of course remains to be seen, but I can't say Digital Extremes' Star Trek makes a good case for itself.
The Tiger Woods series has always been my favorite of EA's annual sports games. Ever since I performed my first virtual swing with the analog sticks, I became hooked. I don't like it enough to even think about paying every single year, but it's the only one I keep tabs on and check out every so often.
It's hard to add enough new content to a yearly sports game to really make it worth paying $60 every time. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 has a fair amount of quality additions, for both avid golf fans and just fans of the videogame itself. Some of the additions seem like they should have been in the game years ago, but I guess giving the option to play at nighttime wasn't high on the to-do list.
I love rolling dice. Gathering up a hoard of plastic polyhedra, rattling them around in my hands, spilling them on a table, and subsequently sorting through and interpreting the results is one of more satisfying aspects of tabletop gaming that isn't often replicated when board games make the switch to digital. Sure, virtual dice rollers are faster and less messy, but they lack the immediate physicality of real dice. Enter DICE+.
We've seen the use of real dice in digital board games before, as with Settlers of Catan on Microsoft Surface, but DICE+ aims to be a more affordable and more versatile option. The goal is to be able to interface with any device via Bluetooth, so it can be used with board games on any tablet, rather than requiring specific hardware.
Unfortunately, the games that will launch with DICE+ don't look incredibly exciting. Until the list of supported games gets more substantial, these dice may only be a cool idea with little practical use.
The first part of The Journey Down is free on iOS today, in case you haven't checked out the PC version yet. Planned as a four-part series, this unique looking adventure game has gotten praise for its fairly interesting themes and painted backgrounds.
If you want, you can play the "retro" version of the game for free on the developer's website. If you're keen on getting it on PC eventually, stay tuned for future indie bundles, as the game was featured in the Summer Royale bundle once already.
The Journey Down: Chapter One [iTunes]
I was recently listening to a keen little gaming podcast done by some friends of mine, when they got on the interesting topic of what common game review critique they would outlaw, if possible. After a bit of thought, they unanimously agreed that they were tired of baseless complaints about game length, something I definitely agree with.
Halfbrick had us flinging fish with their newest title, debuted here at GDC. Fish Out of Water has you pulling up fish straight out of the ocean with your fingertip, flinging them, and watching them go the distance as they skid across the water's surface. Both total distance and number of skips are goals that you'll try to top in rounds of three throws. Your round of tosses are judged by a panel of five rather crabby crabs, each of which have their own preferences on throwing style, distance, skips, and more.
Each of the available fish have their own characteristics. For example, tossing a lightweight fish has it flying far, and skipping often. A dolphin cuts the water's surface, so you'll have to take its plunges into account for his throw. A fat whale can be thrown high into the air, sailing with each water surface bounce. Figuring out how they all work and how their tendencies work towards the crab judges' preferences is the key to high scores.
It's a dog-eat-dog world out there. Or, you know, a baby-eat-grandpa world. At least, that's the world envisioned by Tasty, Tasty Grandpa, an in-development iOS game from Grapple Gun Games.
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To celebrate the recently-released "Hard Times" add-on, our friends at Recoil Games have given us 20 Steam codes for Rochard and its DLC to give out to the Destructoid community!
If you remember from our review, Rochard is a gorgeously colorful little puzzle-platformer featuring one of the best-named protagonists in the history of gaming. To win a copy of this gem for yourself, just leave a comment below telling us why you deserve the game! Limit one entry per person, and we'll choose the winners at random tomorrow, March 27 at 11:59 PM Pacific.
Good luck!
PlayJam has announced that its GameStick console will offer support for the popular open-source media center XBMC. Providing entertainment options on a gaming system, particularly ones like GameStick and OUYA, seems like a natural move to make given their form factors.
This deal is happening by way of an official partnership with Pivos Technology Group. "Working with Pivos and the XBMC community to integrate a world class media center into GameStick is a major step forward in our ambitions," said PlayJam CEO Jasper Smith. "Likewise, extending the reach of our games platform via XBMC fulfills our underlying goal of accelerating the affordable TV games market. Combining the two is very much the holy grail."
Ubisoft has a neat little Watch Dogs -flavored video for your perusal. The clip is from an outside perspective, assessing the threat level of the game's anti-hero Aiden Pearce. Specifically, it focuses on the surveillance of Pearce during a typical in-game mission.
I really hope this big-brother shtick doesn't get old like ten hours into the experience. I mean, we get it -- everyone is watching. Really, it will all depend on how varied the gameplay is, and if Ubisoft can keep ramping up new and exciting ways to hack, rather than just using two to three mechanics over and over.
Those looking for a heightened sense of challenge from BioShock Infinite will want to give the game's 1999 Mode a look. Although most players will gain access to this difficulty option by clearing the game normally, it can also be unlocked from the main menu through the following button inputs: Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, (Cancel), (Confirm).
Irrational Games' design director Bill Gardner describes 1999 Mode as being "about approaching decisions with more caution. You have to choose which fights you can take on, along with which tools to specialize in, while committing to a long-term strategy."
I figure a fair amount of you who would want to dive right into the mode have started playing Infinite already, but if you haven't made it too far in yet, this is something to consider. Or maybe, like me, you have not yet cracked into your copy. Let's openly weep together.
Unlock BioShock Infinite’s 1999 mode with the Konami code [PC Games]
If you've been living under a rock for the past year and haven't experienced Hotline Miami on your PC yet, you'll soon have a chance to play it on your PS3 or Vita this spring. To go along with the port announcement, there's a new trailer to behold above, that shows off the basic feel of the game.
I'll admit -- it took me a bit to really get into Hotline Miami, as it started off slow. But once things get rolling and it truly turns into a puzzle game, I couldn't put it down, and spent the entire evening beating it. The bite-sized missions would go great with portable play, so I'm happy there's going to be a Vita version. In other Hotline related news, you can now play it on your Mac.
Ubisoft has released a new video showcasing its forthcoming open world title Watch Dogs.
It was recently confirmed as a launch title for PS4 and is also set for release on PS3, 360, Wii U and PC later this year.
You can read more about how Ubisoft is positioning the game to take on GTA 5 here.
The post See the new Watch Dogs trailer here appeared first on Edge Online.