New Games |
- Broken Age Part One releasing for backers this week
- Experienced devs counter anonymous Wii U criticisms
- The best and worst games of the week - New year new games
- Rad Show: Speed Run of Plumbers Dont Wear Ties
- Now this is what you do with a Skylanders Portal
- Digital property: Entering the Third Age
- Tips for China to catch up on 14 years of console gaming
- Sup Holmes gets dismal with Lisa's Austin Jorgensen
- Let's watch some awesome videogame commercials!
- Awesome Games Done Quick raises over a million dollars
- Developer describes extreme difficulty working with Wii U
- 48 hour Indie Dev SUPERSHOW!
| Broken Age Part One releasing for backers this week Posted: 12 Jan 2014 12:00 PM PST The most successful videogame Kickstarter in history is about to land in the hands of those who made it happen this coming week. The first part of Double Fine's Broken Age will become available for backers on Tuesday, January 14. Backers received notification of the impending release shortly before Christmas, while the first public acknowledgement of the date came from Tim Schafer via Twitter late last week. I've long had concerns that the success of the Double Fine Adventure campaign could have serious repercussions for the "Kickstarter Spring" we've been experiencing in independent game development. If the final product fails to measure up to the lofty expectations set by the final funding total, confidence among backers could diminish. I think Double Fine has done a great job of keeping those who contributed financially to the development informed and involved throughout the process up to now, and believe that's going to go a long way toward preventing any sort of backlash, but there's still a chance things could go horribly wrong. The real proof will be in the pudding. I'm sure we'll be hearing plenty of reaction from those backers this week, and that we can expect an announcement of when the rest of the world will get their chance to play Broken Age soon. |
| Experienced devs counter anonymous Wii U criticisms Posted: 12 Jan 2014 11:00 AM PST A bevy of Wii U developers, such as Jools Watsham of Renegage Kid and Chris Arnold of Nami Tentou, have come out in defense of the Wii U in light of recent criticisms. According to Chris, most of the points made by the anonymous developer in the recent Eurogamer article are based on "pre-retail release SDK problems" and that "the new post release SDK kits do not contain any of the listed problems". Chris even went as far as to call the Eurogamer article "Nintendoom clickbait", while Jools says that from what he knows as a Wii U, 3DS, PC, PS3 and PS Vita developer, "the Wii U is not more difficult to develop for than other platforms." That's sounds a lot like what the developers of Darksiders 2 had to say back in 2012, stating that the Wii U has "plenty of horsepower" and that they got it running on the console "pretty quickly". Then there's 5th Cell, who felt quite confident in the Wii U's processing power. Every developer is going to have different experiences, and none of them are to be diminished, but the last time were heard anonymous devs talking crap about about the Wii U, most of it didn't end up being true. When you've got reports from an anonymous source versus the word from developers who are willing to go on record with their names and track history, it doesn't take a genius to figure out who to believe. |
| The best and worst games of the week - New year new games Posted: 12 Jan 2014 10:00 AM PST It's January and that means it's time to catch up on all the hot new video games we found tucked underneath our Christmas trees last year. For us at Destructioid that also means catching up on some reviews too. So without further adieu here is the best and worst games of the week... well actually of the month so far. I had a little catching up to do myself. |
| Rad Show: Speed Run of Plumbers Dont Wear Ties Posted: 12 Jan 2014 09:30 AM PST The name of the game says it all itself. I'm going to venture into this fabled game, Plumbers Don't Wear Ties. If I remember, this game pretty much is a big Power Point Slideshow with some weird plot and awkward conversations. Tonight, we're gonna play is so fast that we're gonna break some World Records. Who knows, maybe we'll all get lucky. |
| Now this is what you do with a Skylanders Portal Posted: 12 Jan 2014 09:00 AM PST I'm not into Skylanders, but even I can't help but want this fantastic snow globe created from one the game's portal devices. Using a smaller 3DS portal and a snow globe creation kit, the holiday themed Skylanders ball of festivities features the crazy alchemist Pop Fizz. It stands about 6 inches tall with the base illuminated with color changing LED lights. For more pictures of this creative Skylanders portal alteration, be sure to check out Kody Koala's Flickr page. |
| Digital property: Entering the Third Age Posted: 12 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST [Yesterday's Collector's Corner post reminded me of this awesome piece Dtoid community blogger ShadeOfLight wrote a few months back. Want to see your own blog appear on our front page? Go write something! --Mr Andy Dixon] It is the 6th of September, 2007, in a little town in the middle of nowhere, Netherlands. A 13-year-old boy, let's call him Petey McShade for ease-of-use, is alone in his room playing RuneScape. Apparently his friends have failed to smack him upside the head for still playing RuneScape in this day and age. Their judgment will come later, but first there are more important matters to discuss. At about a quarter to three, two classmates of this boy enter his house with ill intent. Under threats of beating him up they demand Petey to log into his RuneScape account and transfer all of his gold and items to their own characters. Afterwards the incident is reported to the police, and both classmates are caught and prosecuted for, among others, assaulting and threatening. Justice has been done. But much like in LOST, pressing questions remain unanswered. Questions such as "What was up with the numbers?", "Why did the Others want Walt so badly?" and "Seriously, who still plays RuneScape?!" But the most pressing question of all is this: did those two classmates steal Petey's gold and items? While you ponder that, let me discuss some other highly important points on digital property, and I'll come back to this case in a little bit. |
| Tips for China to catch up on 14 years of console gaming Posted: 12 Jan 2014 07:00 AM PST [Dtoid community blogger UsurpMyProse catches China up on what they've been missing. Turns out, it's not much! Want to see your own blog appear on our front page? Go write something! --Mr Andy Dixon] Hey there, China! Have you heard the good news? No, the streets aren't running red with the blood of imperialist pigs, silly. Your government has finally lifted the 14-year ban on videogame consoles! Finally, after all these years of being limited to shady MMOs and heavily censored PC games, you will now at long last be able to experience all the joys of growing bored with Wii Bowling after fifteen minutes. Now, that might seem like a dated reference for everyone else in the world, but that joke ought to go over like gang busters with you guys. But as any of your imprisoned political dissidents can tell you, 14 years is a long time, and that means you're going to need some help catching up with everything that's happened since y'all were left wondering how they were possibly going to top Crash Bandicoot: Warped. (Hint: They didn't.) Fret not! I'm here to offer you some tips, advice, and general updates to gently wean you off the knockoff Funstation 4 you picked up at a Shanghai flea market and get you ready for the real deal. |
| Sup Holmes gets dismal with Lisa's Austin Jorgensen Posted: 12 Jan 2014 06:00 AM PST This week on Sup Holmes we welcome Austin Jorgensen to the program. Austin is a professional martial artist and part time hunk, but that hasn't stopped him from setting forth on developing one of the most unhinged role playing games on the modern era. Lisa hit Kickstarter late last year with a rocky start, but after catching the fancy of multiple internet publications, it went on to gain over 200% of it's funding. Not bad for a game about cannibal perverts, created by a one-man development team. We'll be talking to Austin about how Streets of Rage inspired him to become a martial artist, the original, arguably even more nightmarish version of Lisa, what Jim Sterling's role in the game will be, his hopes, his dream, and a lot more. Join us at 1pm PST/4pm EST for whole enchilada. |
| Let's watch some awesome videogame commercials! Posted: 12 Jan 2014 06:00 AM PST [Dtoid community blogger Timnoldzim shares some his favorite vintage gaming commercials. Share your favorites in the comments! --Mr Andy Dixon] Game commercials, these days, are a dying art. Today, if you turn on the TV or begrudgingly sit through YouTube's annoying ads and see a quick spot for the latest hot release, I already know what you see: a lightning-quick montage of game clips (primarily, the protagonist punching people) set to a second-tier piece of licensed music, featuring excerpts from some glowing reviews and ending on a mediocre tagline with a picture of the game box. Game advertising wasn't always this dull, though. It was once, and perhaps will be in the future, a trip through Epicland. "Unusual" was the name of the game. Whether they were meant to be funny or scary, mysterious or overt, subdued or bombastic, they were almost always jaw-dropping to watch. Maybe it was only because we were kids, or because the medium was younger and more naive, but I'm not so sure. I think there was genuinely something to these old dogs. Let's look back at a few, shall we? |
| Awesome Games Done Quick raises over a million dollars Posted: 12 Jan 2014 05:00 AM PST If you missed the Awesome Games Done Quick 2014 charity marathon, chances are you missed some of the most memorable gaming moments this short year has already offered. The event, which took place from January 5-11, was home to some truly spectacular feats including blindfolded runs of both Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! and it's sequel Super Punch-Out!! and a thrilling four-player Super Metroid speedrun race. For a full list of all the amazing speedruns that were attempted during the week long charity event, which raised over a million dollars for cancer prevention, follow the link listed below. So what was your favorite moment of Awesome Games Done Quick 2014? |
| Developer describes extreme difficulty working with Wii U Posted: 12 Jan 2014 03:00 AM PST Eurogamer recently hosted a first-hand account from a mystery developer, which describes the Wii U development process in great detail. It's a page turner for sure, going through the entire process of making a game for the Wii U, from the "studio visit" from Nintendo when it was "Project Cafe," to early development woes, to the rush for the day one patch, to the "less than impressive" sales figures. Interestingly, the developer also pegs the Wii U's launch woes partially on brand confusion (Wii vs. Wii U), and "bad timing," as the PS4 and Xbox One were hyped mere months later -- when many developers were already excitedly working on them. One of the biggest shockers in the report however is the allegation of a complete lack of understanding in the online realm. When speaking on the online functions of the system and trying to make helpful comparisons between existing infrastructures like the PSN and Xbox Live, they ran into trouble. The developer states that during a conference call with senior Nintendo officials, that they were told to stop referencing the PSN and Xbox Live because "nobody in their development teams used those systems." This is all fairly interesting information for anyone who wants more insight into the development process, as I'm sure many console manufacturers and third parties have gone through the same difficulties when creating a new platform. I hope the Wii U recovers more as 2014 goes on, but based on what this developer is saying, many studios have moved on and decided to work with the PS4 and Xbox One (which they refer to as "real" next-gen consoles) instead. As always, take this with a grain of salt. The Secret Developers: Wii U - the inside story [Eurogamer] |
| Posted: 11 Jan 2014 04:00 PM PST Do you like indie games? Do you like interacting with the developers of said indie games? Well if you answered yes to either of those, then whoa buddy, do we have a marathon for you to check out this weekend on Twitch.TV! All weekend long, a huge group of talented developers and special guests will be getting together and hanging out live, for a gigantic 48 hour showcase of independent games that you can catch right here, right now. Click here for a full list of the remaining indie shenanigans, then swing by and show your support! |
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