Think you’re an elite Madden NFL 15 gamer? Duracell will start the “Duracell Longest Lasting Tournament” this Friday, January 16, which will be a 26-hour Madden NFL 15 video game marathon tournament where players battle to hold the longest win-streak until the end. This tournament will be powered by Duracell rechargeable batteries and hosted on Twitch.tv where anyone can watch.
There are games that fade into oblivion for good or bad reasons, other games that are remembered for no good reason, and still others that gain infamy for bugginess or just being awful. Then there are those rare true classics that should be on every gamer’s ‘must play’ list. Grim Fandango is such a game, and it is coming back!
The Baldur’s Gate franchise of epic fantasy role playing games are amongst the most beloved and critically acclaimed of all time. They have recently been re-released as ‘enhanced editions’, and now Beamdog has teased us with pictures of screens and tidbits of information about their ‘Adventure Y’, which is “bridging the gap between Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate II.”
Wadjet Eye has released some great games recently, creating the Blackwell mystery games and publishing Gemini Rue. So I was intrigued when I heard that they were working on a new game with indie developer Technocrat, which they announced today. The game is Technobabylon, a dystopian cyberpunk adventure coming to PC in spring 2015 and to Mac/Linux after.
Puzzle games are like art or jokes in some ways – you either get it or you don’t, if you do it is addictive and if you don’t there is no sense trying to explain. Indie developer Moon Kid is preparing to launch Satellina, a simple color matching game that is anything but simple because it is a ‘puzzle in motion’.
Gear up gamers for fun, flash and functionality! The Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2015) is featuring new and upcoming gaming accessories to enhance video game experiences for all ages. Nyko and Mad Catz are familiar names in gaming peripherals and this year brings more great gaming options including a PlayStation 4 data bank, PS4 Type Pad, innovative gaming headset, Xbox One light grip, and XB1 mini charge dock.
2014 was an incredible year to be a PC or Mac gamer, and even better if you are a fan of classic RPGs. I am both, so I got to enjoy one of the best years of gaming I can recall since before Microsoft entered the console wars! If you love PC or Mac gaming, you must check these out!
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is the perfect term for this fun platformer where players scour every inch of the environments as Nintendo expands the Mario world again on the Wii U with the dialogue free Toad characters. This Wii U exclusive, one-player, puzzle-strategy game also features eclectic characters like Toadette, the Toad Bridage, Wingo, and Draggadon along with the familiar Goombas and Shy Guys.
Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris has a “top-down” viewing perspective as up to four players can take on adventures in this quality game exclusively available by download. Our “tomb raider” Lara also has a rivals and ancient evils in her midst as develop Crystal Dynamics and publisher Square Enix craft this sequel to the 2010 Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light.
Games will have to wait to play some of their new gifts that require online gameplay after they got a lump of coal yesterday in the gaming realm. Xbox Live and PlayStation Network (PSN) services went out on Christmas Day with a group of hackers claiming responsibility. Both companies acknowledged network issues and are working to restore services.
One of my first posts at Gear Diary was the review of the Nintendo DS game Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, a game I considered ‘essential and ‘my favorite game of the franchise’, and which remains the best-reviewed DS game. In 2010 I reviewed the game on iPhone and later iPad, and now it is out for Android!
Duck Hunt, the game that help launched their Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1985 into the game stratosphere, will finally be released for Wii U this Christmas Day (December 25) in time for new players to discover this mainstay shooting game while veterans get to relive the memories all over again.
I have enjoyed survival simulation games from G5 such as The Island: Castaway in the past, which was pretty much what I assumed Survivors: The Quest would be like. But it is much more – it is a story-driven, quest-focused adventure-survival game with RPG elements. And within minutes of starting the game I was hooked.
The Sims 4 now gifts new career-related content and a Holiday Celebration pack to their ever-growing set of free content since the initial fall release. The new business and athletic careers branch into two new paths/professions, which unlock four career-reward rooms in the build mode when played through. Sims now get paid time off! Update in-game or on Origin.
The fast paced, double stick, and multi-directional shooter franchise continues as Geometry Wars³: Dimensions features online play, leaderboards, furious music, and new boss fights plus a single player campaign mode called “Adventure” where movement is the key to success as players can enjoy a retro title full of content and fun.
Think about this – interactive ‘build your own adventure’ storybook plugged into a role-playing adventure, based on the classic Jules Verne story ‘Around the World in 80 Days‘. Seems like a lot – but when put in the hands of Inkle Studios, the result is an amazing game that recently topped Time’s ‘Top 10 Video Games of 2014’!
The future’s so bright in technology gear and various media as 2014 ends and we look on the horizon to 2015.
Now that this LEGO game series has connected the Dark Knight and Boy Wonder to their DC superhero counterparts, developers TT (Traveller’s Tales) expand LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham‘s gameplay with even more action, content, and extras plus the first ever Season Pass for a LEGO game to nab all the substantial downloadable content (DLC) and extras nicely coinciding with Batman’s 75th anniversary.
Soldak Entertainment is an indie developer making great games, mostly in the RPG genre. From the incredible Depths of Peril, the never-old Din’s Curse, light-but-fun Kivi’s Underworld to the sprawling space adventure Drox Operative. Now for their next game they are dipping into the undead with Zombasite, a post-apocalyptic fantasy action RPG coming in 2015 to Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Fun fighting action from the Japanese action-RPG game series continues a strong showing here in the States as players get eight new characters and several new scenarios set in the fictional rural Japanese town of Inaba in the Persona 4 Arena Ultimax video game.
I discovered the Heroes of Might & Magic (HOMM) strategy-RPG game series with the excellent HOMM IV, but quickly discovered HOMM III was the pinnacle of the series. Ubisoft has announced that they are releasing a HD restoration of the game called Heroes of Might & Magic III HD – Restoration of Erathia, coming to PC, iOS and Android tablets.