I reviewed Hearts of Iron III here and was able to “unequivocally recommend” it for “hardcore strategy gamers”. Now some of the people behind that game and other strategy classics have formed ChrisPon games and are announcing a science fiction 4X strategy title called Galactic Inheritors is now available for Windows PC on Steam’s Early Access.
GoG.com announced their online multiplayer service Galaxy last summer and launched in Alpha more recently with support for a few of their multiplayer games. Now they are getting closer to a wider release, and they are looking for help doing a ‘stress test‘ of their servers! The test is this coming weekend – keep reading for more details!
Physics puzzle games have a great history on the PC, going back to The Incredible Machine in the early 90s. They challenge you to create or solve complex systems based on a simulation of real-world physics. Portal took things to a new level, and now Nebulous looks to bring a Sci-Fi puzzler to the PS4 and Oculus Rift as well!
I remember playing Elite Beat Agents on Nintendo DS in 2006 – it was a blast to tap out beats to popular songs and improve your score through multiple attempts. Since the Playstation Vita has a touchscreen, it only makes sense that we have a touchscreen rhythm game for the Vita! Jungle Rumble is now available for your tapping pleasure!
I remember playing Sid Meier’s Pirates! for the first time – I had missed the 1987 game but fell in love with the 2004 release, playing it on every platform since. Now a new sandbox action Windward is coming to Steam Early Access with plans for a Q2 2015 release on PC, Mac, and Linux! Ship’s Ahoy, indeed!
I love keeping track of videos I enjoy, so I can share them with others. This is nothing new, but every now and then you see a commercial and you realize that while it has a direct message and meaning, it also has implications outside of that and perhaps across many areas. Similac’s Mother ‘Hood is that kind of video.
Everyone of elementary school age knows smoking is bad for you, so the shock-tactic anti-smoking ads often only serve to scare little kids. More effective is thinking of what you might miss, and what you could be doing instead with better health and more money. That is the goal of Nobituary, which creates a celebratory look at your non-smoking future.
No matter how you feel about rap music in general and NWA specifically, the music and band are connected to the late 80s racial unrest in the way that Woodstock is connected to the late 60s Zeitgeist. Songs like ‘F**k tha Police’ made them few friends in the establishment, but they spoke to and for a generation still feeling oppressed.
It is hard to separate the nostalgic of replaying Grim Fandango for the first time since sitting in front of a big old 17″ CRT in 1999 from the reality of playing it on a 5″ Playstation Vita screen in 2015. But regardless, a great game remains a great game – and Grim Fandango is a great game.
One of my favorite recent game franchises is Legend of Grimrock – the grid-based dungeon crawler is a modern take and a throw-back to classic games like Eye of the Beholder. The game has been released for Mac and PC, and a PC sequel arrived recently, now we get to see the iPad port in action and more!
Already this year I’ve lost several friends, mentors, and coworkers from my past. Each one had a different online obituary site, and most had some Facebook presence, but the ability to fully communicate felt limited. A new IndieGoGo project called RIPCemetary seeks to allow loved ones to “create a space to honor a person and keep the memories alive forever.”
Last week we learned iPad sales declined … again. It was another sign of a shift in the tablet market different from the smartphone market. Now we hear from the IDC that the broader tablet market shrank with both Apple and Samsung along with ASUS and Amazon taking large hits and only Lenovo and ‘others’ gaining share. We asked ‘why’?
A few weeks ago I got my last ‘running streak’ update from TimeHop on my iPhone, meaning two years ago I stopped my running streak after 65 days. I started the streak because right after my last half-marathon of 2012, I took a couple of days off, didn’t have a goal, and I was concerned I would lose my ‘mojo’.
Earlier this week Judie shared an article from LifeHacker that talked about 10 skills they wished were taught in schools. The thought is even though there are many great things we learn in elementary and high school, there are also many skills that are lacking. Let’s look at their list and our own interpretations, and maybe add a few!
Whenever I see a game like Tulpa, I go back several years when it seemed the small developer was gone, that everything was headed to AAA games on consoles. Fortunately that didn’t happen, and innovation is alive and well, as demonstrated in Tulpa, described as a surreal puzzle platformer. It is now available for PC, Mac and Linux on Steam.
Back in the pre-Doom world of 1992, Ultima Underworld was a revelation – coming before Wolfenstein 3D it offered 3D immersion, player-based choice and consequences, and a richly detailed and dynamic world to explore. The game was hugely influential and led to games such as Thief and Deus Ex. Now the adventure continues with Underworld Ascendant from the original creators.
It’s been two years since I reviewed the album Synesthesia by The Kandinsky Effect, heaping praise on it saying “musicianship and communication throughout are stellar, there are free elements without being too far ‘out’, and the trio keeps the modern elements at the forefront without sacrificing the jazz foundation.” Now they are back with Somnambulist … and it’s even better.
Surprisingly based on overlapping demographics, video games have not featured widely in Super Bowl commercials in years past – maybe because the big franchises launch in late summer through the fall, maybe they were unwilling to spend the big money on the ad space, or something? But this year three ‘freemium’ mobile games spent big – but was it worth it?
After taking us to the peaks of humour with Supreme League of Patriots, Phoenix Online Publishing teams up with Red Herring Labs to announce the upcoming game Morningstar: Descent to Deadrock. Morningstar: Descent to Deadrock is a chillingly alien and atmospheric sci-fi first-person point-and-click adventure, will make its debut for PC and Mac on February 17th!
Each year Spotify has sent out predictions of the Grammy Award winners based on their streaming patterns. This year is no exception, though the absence of Taylor Swift – who famously pulled her catalog from the streaming service – makes the predictions a little less credible this year! Read on and see what you think!
When Amazon announced the Echo connected speaker, there was speculation about how it would work in terms of integrating with Amazon and the larger web. Reviews came out after the Echo launched, positive or mixed depending on the source. For me that confirmed it was based on personal usage, so after using the Echo I wanted to report our findings.