Ridiculous Fishing (Or Where Did the Time Go?)

Ridiculous Fishing is a neat little title available on the App Store right now. Created by the Super Crate Box folks Vlambeer, it's a sequel to their flash game Radical Fishing. The premise is pretty simple: drop a lure, try to take it as far as it goes, and when it either hits a fish or the sea bottom, reel it back in. You'll tilt your iDevice to maneuver the lure around fish if you don't want to hit anything early on the way down, and for grabbing fish on the way up.

Then, once that mass of gills and scales comes up, you pull out a gun to shoot them all.

That's right - "catching" involves shooting the airborne fish with a manner of different guns. Double uzi's, shotguns - you can even use an orbital ray to wipe them out en masse.

"Catching" nets you cash to pick up perks such as new guns, longer lures, and even hats that boost certain elements of your character. Heck, you can buy a toaster that'll wipe out an entire screen of fish so you can keep going.  Additionally, catching new species of fish will unlock new areas to drop lures in. Be prepared to lose a few hours after getting the hang of it all.

The game is available on the App Store for $2.99.

A Brief about BioShock Infinite

I've been playing Infinite for the past few days, and I will say this: besides the powers, besides the run-and-gun and mysterious plot twists and turns, I've never seen, heard of, or played a game that didn't shy away from the dark corners of its base material. We may never get another game like this for a while, one that isn't afraid to talk about the negatives - and do so with class.

Once the holidays settle down, I'll talk about it more at length as it's something worth writing about. Stay tuned.

Yoichi Wada To Leave Square Enix as President

The president of Square Enix Co., Yoichi Wada, will be leaving his post as announced by the company today.

The news follows the release of the company's financial report, in which they state that they expect "extraordinary losses" as a result of slow sales in both their digital and arcade machine market. They've laid the blame primarily on what they believe to be sluggish sales from North America and Europe.

In the report, the company also states that they are reversing from expected earnings of 3.5 billion yen to projected losses of 13 billion. Their current losses are said to already be within the 10 billion yen range, due to a restructuring within the company that includes development policy, organisational structure, and business models.

Three big games were listed in the report; here's the diagram below:

Note the sales for Hitman: Absolution and Tomb Raider. In the report, Square Enix considered those failures as the projections for the titles were higher.

Representative director Yosuke Matsuda is expected to be elected into the president's chair in June. No word on whether Wada will stick around after his removal from the position.

Fun (or Sad) Fact: Both Wada and Matsuda are taking 60 and 40 percent pay cuts, respectively.

Sources: [GameSpot, Destructoid, VG247, Kotaku]

Image from VG247

Guacamelee!: The World Needs a Hero

Guacamelee! is an Metroidvania action-platformer game developed by Drinkbox Studios. You will play as Juan Aguacate, a Mexican who sets out to save the world when the El Presidente's daughter is kidnapped by Carlos Calaca, the Evil Charro Skeleton. The story is based on Mexican culture, and takes place in and around a small village in Mexico.

Rory Young/ Neo Era Media, Inc. 

You can swap between the dimension of “The Living World” and “The Dead World”.  

At the beginning of the story, Juan was nothing but a agave farmer, then he realizes his destiny as the luchador hero of Pueblucho. Though the story is cliché, it’s good enough because there are other things in the game that are fascinating – such as its unique and gorgeous art style.

The other thing  is the combat system. It consists of melee attacks such as punches, grapples and throws. You will unlock more powers as you play, such as uppercuts, a mid-air dodge roll, ground pounds and chicken power (turning to a chicken). These will help in fighting and traversing the environment.

This game is not released yet, but I really wish to play it!!! Here is the trailer:

No Time To Explain: Try it out!

↑Click Me↑

Here is the flash game No Time To Explain, of course its not the same version they sold on steam. But if you don't want to pay the $3.39, try it out here!

No Time To Explain: Jet-pack Laser Gun and Craziness

"I Am You From The Future! There is no time to explain, Follow me to... OH CHRIST!" Yup, this is the first line of the game.

No Time To Explain is a platform game developed by tinyBuildGames. You play as a unnamed character, it starts with a scene that see your future self trying to warn you about something, but before that your future self was being snatched away by a huge crab claw, leaving you a bad-ass, laser gun.

The laser gun can not only use to shoot the monster, you can also utilize it to traverse the environment.

I was intrigued by the trailer, the gameplay is quite interesting indeed. It was ridiculous and funny, and there are a lot of wtf?! moments, but soon I got bored. Some old fan of No Time To Explain seemed to be quite upset about the new version because it had forget itself, when it was still a micro-platformer.

FTL: Rougelike Space Adventure

FTL: Faster Than Light is a real time strategy game developed by Subset Games. You will control a crew of a single spacecraft, that has to deliver a fatal information to an allied fleet which is several sectors away. You will have to travel through the galaxy, explore the unknown area, while being pursued by the rebel fleet.

During the journey, You will have to face events or critical decisions that are text base, there will be events like: you've encounter a small civilian that is out of fuel, you need to decide whether to give them fuel or wish them luck. You may also encounter pirate, if you win the fight, they may offer some supplies. But if you die, games over, you will have to restart the game.

At first, I didn't think that I will enjoy the game, because spacecraft is not my thing, but I end up pretty enjoy it. The gameplay is simple, you don’t really get to drive the spaceship, but you will have to assign your crew to repair stuff or extinguish the fire, but the main point is to make decision, which is depends on your judgments, preparedness, and your luck. I haven’t beat the game yet, but because this game is totally random, and you have to start over if you dies, it makes it even harder to beat it.

Real-Life Mario Kart: Who says engineering sucks?!

Have you ever dreamed of playing Mario Kart in real-life? The Waterloo Labs have made your dreams come true. Not only do they race with a go-karts and launch turtle shells at people, they have also made the item system come true!

The Waterloo Labs has other awesome projects too, such as Play NES with your Eyes and FPS with Real Guns.

 

@ PAX East: Console Diablo III Lacks DRM

As I mentioned before, DRM when done wrong can put a big hindrance on a game and force a load of unnecessary features that do nothing but tick off gamers. EA pulled this already, as did Blizzard with Diablo III. However, they may have learned when they announced the title for the PlayStation 3 and 4.

Speaking to The Penny Arcade Report, the folks at the Diablo III booth at PAX East have said that the console version, which now features 4 player co-op (on and offline), will have no DRM attached on release. Meaning: the game won't need a constant internet connection to play. Fancy.

Note that I said 'console version' up there. Blizzard also stated that the title, "...is not necessarily a Sony exclusive." Hm. Time will tell.

@ PAX East: DuckTales Remastered Announced

Boston's one day into the PAX East expo, and Capcom's certainly got the nostalgia thing going.  The company announced DuckTales Remastered, a remake of the original NES game that had Scrooge McDuck search various worlds for treasure. The game will be updated with 2D sprites and 3D backgrounds, and will feature many of the original voice actors, including the man who voiced Scrooge years ago! Pretty exciting for those fans that played the original. Additionally, WayForward, the folks behind Mighty Switch Force, is on board as the developer.

I'm all for it, because dropping into Scrooge's money vault will let you SWIM IN IT. Just like the show. It's something you can't do in real life because metal coins hurt like the dickens, but name another game where you can backstroke in gold. I dare you.

DuckTales Remastered is hitting across the board on the PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade, and the WiiU e-Shop. No release date was announced.

Sources [Joystiq, Destructoid]

Transistor Is Coming

The fellows over at Supergiant Games announced Transistor, their second game after the successful Bastion. Story details besides what the trailer provides are light, but there should be some new information coming down the pipe when PAX East starts this weekend in Boston. Supergiant will have playable builds of the game there.

I'm jealous of the Boston crowd. Transistor looks like a sci-fi version of its predecessor, but that 2014 release year is just downright brutal. Bastion is a favorite of mine (so nice, I bought it twice), so I'm already down for this one. Peep (and listen to) the trailer above.

InFlux: Sit Back and Relax

InFlux is puzzle-solving game developed by Impromptu Games. You will play as a mysterious metal ball, travel through a beautiful island. It has an astonishing abstract graphic, supported by an original soundtrack. 

InFlux is intended for a relaxing experience, so take your time and roll through the island, while enjoying the breathtaking scenery. 

To be frank, I have never had such a relaxing game experience. I wasn't really interested in this game at first, but as I play along, I found the game quite pleasurable.

Incredipede: Play it Yourself.

↑Click Me↑

Incredipede has its LITE version on the official website. Play this game yourself and tell me how you feel about it. 

Incredipede: Beautifully Weird as Hell

Incredipede is a physics-based puzzle video game by Team Northway. You play as Quozzle, she is a creature that has the ability to grow limbs whenever she needs them, therefore she can transform to any animal whenever she likes.

This game is very artistic, it has a unique art style, which for some reason I like it so much. And the mechanic of the game is really innovative too. 

It’s not a bad game it all, really. It’s just… kind of weird…

Hotline Miami: Don't Underestimate How Violent A 2D Game Can Be

Hotline Miami is a 2D top-down action game developed by Dennaton Games. This game combines extreme violence and surreal storytelling, with sick soundtrack and visuals influenced by 80s.

You play as an unnamed character. At the beginning of each chapter in game, he wakes up in his apartment and listens to messages that were left on his answering machine. These messages tell him to perform a task in a certain location, which is to kill every person at that location.

Before every mission, you will have to select an animal mask to wear eg. Chicken, pig, horse etc.. Each mask has special power or limits. The objectives of the game are very straightforward --- to kill every opponent. Sometime you also have to kill the boss at the end of the chapter or find key items.

This game reminds me a lot of the first two games in the GTA series, maybe it’s because of the top-down prospective. In this game, you can access to a wide range of weapons, all the way from frying pan to sub-machine gun. Also your character is not much stronger than the opponents in this game, hence you wouldn't be dominating the game. Instead, you’ll have to come up with a strategy, and plan your route well. This is one of the reasons why I like this. The other reason is of course the soundtrack!!  

Runner 2: Dance Your Way to the Finish Line

BIT.TRIP Presents... Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien (or Runner 2) is a side-scrolling platformer developed by Gaijin Games. It’s a sequel to Bit.Trip Runner.

The goal of the game is to guide your character to the end of the level. If you got hit by one of the obstacles you will be bounce back to the starting point (or most recent the check point) and have to play the level all over again. You will have to jump over, slide under, kick through and spin around obstacles in order to arrive safely at the finish.

Runner 2 is divided into 5 themed worlds, each with 14 regular levels and 5 bonus stages, all with fantastic environments in adorable art style.

Although the gameplay is very simple, it’s insanely addictive!! I always end up playing this game for hours, when I just intended to play a round or 2. The obstacles are sequenced in time with a background track, and it plays a note or musical sequence as you pass it. You can get even higher score if you dance between the obstacles. These little features just make it more delightful when playing the game. Sometimes a simple game mechanic and creativity is all it takes to create a fascinating game.

Xenomorphs and Katanas: Addendnum

I had no idea any of this was even possible. I was young, naive...I never thought to combo attacks together in this brawl. Amazing.

Xenomorphs and Katanas

There are some rumors floating around that Capcom will announce the re-release of two classic side-scrolling beat-em-ups on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade. The announcement is supposed to take place during PAX East (Penny Arcade Expo) in Boston. This is great, as it is always awesome to see the return of the beat-'em-ups, whether re-release, brand new, or updated.

But when it's Capcom, there's always one that players clamor for. One that is name-dropped in the comments of each post relative to a beat-em-up release. One that I drained quarter after quarter on at my local Skate Express because rollerskating was dumb.

Capcom - please bring Aliens Vs. Predator back.

Really, why not bring it back? It's a classic that many a gamer fell in love with, and one that you'll surely profit from. We've seen resurgences of side-scrolling brawlers in the past, which must mean people are asking, maybe even begging for them. And they're certainly asking for this one.

So, what's to like about this game in particular? Well, here's never a dull moment, never a part where you lack the sensation of, "There's sixteen of these buggers here but I can take them," be they Royal Guard or multiple Warriors. The action was tight, controls were responsive, and there's even a bit of Street Fighter injected into the game with certain joystick motions needed to perform special moves. The four characters were balanced with their own moves and abilities, two of which  were actual Predators (who spoke English for some reason).

Much like many other beat-em-ups, you're always encouraged to go for one more, and keep going to the point where you've run out of quarters or credits. It was the same with The Simpsons game, and that one got a release on consoles! Put this one out, Capcom! I know that Sega has the license for the Aliens francise, but come on. You're already doing a crossover with them, and they could certainly use the good press right about now.

I implore you - bring this game back to consoles. To mobile phones, whatever. Just bring it back. We're hurting over here.

And for Mt. SAC folks that want to check this game out for themselves, but can't be bothered with a ROM version, the local Super Arcade has a 3-man coin-op running right now. As in now. Go. Play.

Noah Solis, "The Prodigy"

Evolution 2012 is the biggest fighting game tournament in the country, host to high-ranking players from around the world. Street Fighter, Tekken, and The King of Fighters are all on the bill (amongst others), and the prize money is huge. \

So what happens when a nine-year old drops in to face one of Marvel vs. Capcom 3's top players? Check this out.

Sometimes, Surprises are Awesome

A bit of  a while ago, I was subscribed to Game Informer through GameStop's little Pro card something or other. One of the issues that popped into my mailbox on a frosty winter's day was the gorgeous cover story of Bioshock: Infinite, a game that wouldn't see release for another two years. While I hadn't even finished the first game of the series (something that I plan to rectify [#backlog]), the thought of toying around in a steampunk-styled 1700's Americana was something that I wanted dive into the very chance I got.

That sensation grew the more I read the article. Gun fights on roller coaster-style skylines, the crumbling of a society in the sky, literally shooting a horse's kick from your hand to slow-motion a group of baddies into the air - all this while you're protecting a girl. A girl, Elizabeth, who's designed to not let the game become one big escort mission. It just kept getting better.

After that article came the release of the 15-minute gameplay demo showcasing a scene where Elizabeth has a hard time controlling her strange powers. In that one instance, she brings a dying horse back to life and rejuvenates a meadow, all before losing control and sending her and the player (Booker) on a quick trip to the future. In a later sequence, skylines are traversed at high speeds as Booker takes out baddies in a wide open area.

Seeing this had me ecstatic all over again. I craved this game even more now (kinda creepy), and couldn't wait until the next year.

Besides that and two other videos, I've been keeping myself in the dark about the game.

What's wrong with being surprised? Irrational has been putting out trailer after trailer in an admittedly well-staggered form, telling folks about the enemies, the story, etc. It kinda feels like every aspect of the universe is up on YouTube at the moment, which is why I've been avoiding them.

I've already been hyped up on the article and the demo; even the voice acting videos that showed just how serious they are about making this a grand time. But that's it. (Okay, so maybe Beast of America too, but I swear...). I won't watch anymore, or even read anything else about this game because I want it to feel fresh. I want things to come as a surprise to me.

Going into a game blind (or semi-blind) can show how much trust one can put into a developer into making something fantastic. It's a bit risky when it's someone with a not so great track record, but even better when it's someone with an established stand in the industry.

Gamers don't necessarily have to watch all the trailers of an upcoming game, or read all the articles of it either. When it's something that you know you're going to love, why not just hang out and wait? It's a bit of a risk, yes, but that's the exciting bit. You don't know exactly how this game is going to turn out, just what it is. Bioshock: Infinite is a first-person, historical fiction, semi-sci-fi first person shooter set in 1700's America on a floating fortress. That's what I know, besides a few pieces of story that don't feel like spoiler territory.

And I'm stoked.

Brief: Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge Demo

A new demo for the upcoming ports of Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge hit the console marketplaces yesterday, and I'm having quite a bit of fun with it. I can't compare it to the original game before the Razor moniker, but while the action does seem a bit more easier than NG 2 or Sigma, it's still an entertaining romp. Smooth action is buffed by some nice and colorful graphics, and the voice acting is pretty well done.

Not to mention, this is one of the more full-featured demos I've come across. On top of two different campaigns starring Ryu and Ayane, there are unlockable abilities and weapons, and even a new costume to pick up for each ninja. Additionally, TecmoKoei has said that "skilled players" can also unlock runaway ninja Kasumi as a a playable character as well. On top of that, any Karma points and other abilities and items unlocked in the demo will carry over to the full game, which will sit at a mere $40. Not bad. Give this a shot on the PS3 and Xbox 360 before the full game hits stores April 2nd.

Don’t Starve: Survive and Grow Beard

Don’t Starve is a survival game developed by Klei Entertainment. You will play as a scientist named Wilson, who was trapped in an obscure island. You must exploit the habitat to survive.

Ever since Minecraft came out, sandbox survival game has become very popular. There are various minecraft-like games came out, but I lay my eyes on this one because of the graphic, I really like the art style of this game.

This game is really addictive in the beginning, you have a whole new world to explore. There are no tutorials or instructions in the game, you got to learn how stuff works on your own. The map of this game is enormous, and there are different biomes like forest, swamp, rockyland etc., which was unexpected and kind of cool. And of course there are numerous creatures and monsters you will bump into, and countless tools to craft.

I really enjoyed the game, but days later I find myself doing nothing but repeatedly clicking on grasses and trees, I eventually got bored. I hope the later updates of the game will have some more interesting features.

Don’t Starve is available on Steam and Google chrome store. Here is the trailer of the latest update: Progress. 

The Glitch

Ever seen something that was a tad...off in a game? A character missing a body part, yet walking around normal? Tanks and cars that seemed to break dance all on their own?

This is something like that. And, it's terrifying. Sort of.

Video by Corridor Digital

Crossover: Guile's Theme Done in Mario Paint

The inventiveness of people never ceases to amaze. That, and this is just absolutely wizard.

Hyrule Historia (or the Tome of the Hylians)

Is it weird to love a book? Well, no, but I am in love with this one especially. Even though I've only actually finished one game out of the whole series (Oracle of Seasons), The Legend of Zelda series still something I find myself coming back to over and over again (with promises of me finishing them, over and over again). The adventure and the mysticism of the Hyrule world is always a draw for folks no matter the story, as it tends to deliver on fans' expectations.

Hyrule Historia was initially available to the people of the Rising Sun, but Dark Horse took on them to publish the book here. And it's had a fun time all around. It knocked Fifty Shades of Grey off the top of the best-seller list when it came out, and the bookstore I work at (amongst others) have had a heck of a time keeping it on shelves. That's the power of Zelda at work, folks.

And it's all for good reason. Even the person that's not too keen on TLZ will find this to be a gorgeous book. The innards are structured well, with beautiful artwork permeating each page. Most of it, according to the quote on the back, has never been seen by the public before. Additionally the actual timeline of the series, something that has been the point of contention for years now, is explained inside. Though, it is easy to get confused with all the explanations and dialogue they toss at you.

On top of this, a quick manga details the adventure of the very first Link. And the pages even have a slight weight to them as you turn each one.

The book is nothing short of pure quality. The detail of each game section, the amazing art and a definitive timeline of the games...merely holding this thing makes you feel like a sage, ready to crack it open and read a verse from the timeline. It is nothing short of amazing.

Greetings from a girl gamer

Hi! I’m Samanda, a co-writer of this blog. I will be writing intros and reviews on indie games (or Independent video games) on any platform, so basically I will just be writing about games that I have played or interested in.

There isn't an exact definition for indie games. Indie games refer to games that have a unique and innovative mechanism. They are developed by a person, small team or small scale companies, with limited or no financial support and marketing. However, some indie games have gained so much popularity, and developers have gained a fortune from that, then the game kind of fall off from the genre of indie game… SEE HOW BLURRY THAT IS?!! 

So for me, indie games are games that have a unique and innovative mechanism, have a great story, or very artistic.

Since Damion has talked about the first game he ever played, I feel like I should talk about myself too. The first game I have ever played was Bubble Bobble by Taito, on my dad’s Playstation, I was four at that time. But I didn't become a gamer until I went to primary school, I was so obsessed with Pokémon, Digimon, and Crash Bandicoot... Ah, good old days...

And now, I went from a girl who was too scared to watch her dad to play Resident Evil, to a girl who will brutally savage zombies in Siren without blinking an eye.

Thank you for stopping by this blog, I hope you find things you like, uncover something new, and enjoyed yourself.

- Eevee

SimCity and the Despair of Always Online

The latest iteration in the popular SimCity games (called SimCity, go figure), ran into a bit of a snag this past weekend. When I say snag, I mean that the servers for online play found themselves overloaded with players on release, causing many folks to not have the ability to play the game at all. This wouldn't be an issue for people looking to play some form of single-player offline, yet therein lies the problem: the game has to be online all the time.

It is a form of DRM, or Digital Rights Management, used to combat piracy in games. And while it does work, the defeat of pirates is considerably small compared to the hate that arises in fans of the game in question. Diablo III, an action game made by Blizzard, had the same issue on release. The now-infamous "Error 37" told gamers that they couldn't access servers due to a sizable overload That was fixed in the later weeks, but not without a lot of irate fans complaining on the forums.

The SimCity situation is just as bad, if not worse. Not only does the DRM have a chokehold on the  game, but it's also known that if you start a game on a different server, you can't migrate any of your cities from another server onto that one. For example, if you have cities on Server 1, but it's showing up as full of players, you can play on Server 2 as it is showing up open. You'll need to start over however, as all the progress you've made on the previous cities won't move to Server 2.

EA (Electronic Arts), the game's publisher, has acknowledged the server issues and is apparently trying to fix them. They've removed a bunch of features such as the traditional "Cheetah" speed, which can make years fly by in the city you are building, and have also disabled leaderboards and achievements in order to speed up the servers. Additionally, a patch and two servers were added with more to come over the weekend. Reports of any of this working, however, don't seem to exist.

Additionally, EA has refused to provide refunds of the game if bought and downloaded digitally through Origin, their online game service. Amazon, who pulled the game from their store however, is giving out refunds. Kudos.

The thing is, all of this wouldn't be necessary if there was an offline mode to begin with.

And maybe not even that. I can understand a company wanting to protect itself against piracy. By downloading illegal copies of a game through torrent sites or other places, money is lost and people might not get paid. I get that. But, instead of having the entire game one big DRM-fest, how about each game give off a quick note to their servers stating that the copy is indeed legitimate, and then let players on their way?

Also, why not just let the game save data onto player's computers? Why hold cities on the servers and force them to jump between each one just so they can make progress? People have computers with large memory storage for a reason, to save games. It doesn't make any sense why the same features you're providing online cannot be provided offline. And yes, the people wanting a refund for this game deserve one. You've sent out what is essentially a broken product. Let them have their money back.

There have been musings that games will soon face an a all-digital distribution future where everything will require an internet connection. If so, then the industry will need to make sure that situations such as this either won't happen, or will allow ways to play games offline. As it stands now, this is a prime example of what not to do.

A Hello from the Flightless Bird

Hello, and thanks for stopping by Penguin and Eevee Games. I'm the cold bird of this team-up, Damion, and the goal here is to give insights into not only the industry of the video game world, but also into its culture and why we play what we play. That includes Samanda and myself.

I've been a gamer since I was four, and was brought up on the Super Nintendo, with Donkey Kong Country being the first game I've ever owned. Nineteen years later, I now game on the current generation of consoles as well as tackling a never-ending backlog of titles in my Steam library. I also run a 3DS, as well as the niche stuff found in the annals of the Apple App Store.

This blog is dedicated to anyone on campus that plays games, whether you're hardcore or just someone who'll play a quick burst of Temple Run before class. Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy this blog.