The Count Lucanor: Creepy Retro Adventure Will Get Under Your Skin

  

Don't let the Japanese voiceover and "hey, it's from an anime!" looks fool you one bit. The Count Lucanor is a great and creepy little indie game from developer Baroque Decay that's completely in English and one of the more unsettling games I've played recently. A full review is going up on the more updated (newer!) DAF, but I'm just giving the heads up to you folks still poking around here that you should boogie on over to the Count's Steam page and give the game a look-see. That is all. Have a happy (and windy) March!  

 

Albino Lullaby: A Nice, Creepy Pre-Halloween Surprise

I'll just leave this here because you need something freaky for Halloween:

  It's out NOW on Steam. Go grab it and prepare for a total freak show of a psychological horror game. And if you're actually reading this, you should be clicking HERE for more (and more updated) posts, grrr!

Random Game of the (Upcoming) Week: Remember Me

Despite the heavy focus on multiplayer and "socializing" game experiences to the point of insanity (every game really doesn't need a co-op or online mode!), single player story-based games aren't quite a dying breed, but neither are whiny gamers who demand every game be some sort of open world experiece. Capcom's Remember Me, (out June 4, 2013) is looking like one of those cool new IP that will please fans of games where atmosphere and intriguing characterizations are more important than back of the pack bullet points. I'll have a full review on the NEW DAF site in a few days, so pop on over and check it out...

A Little VGA 101 Love For Cauldron's Conan...

Digging up some ancient random stuff from the vaults, here's a look at the intro and attract mode for Cauldron's 2004 game CONAN (aka CONAN: The Dark Axe). If you haven't played it (well, it WAS only available in Europe for PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox and Game Cube), it's a third-person action game that has some quirks, but makes for an interesting experience thanks to the motion captured combat moves and some really creative camerawork in the cinemas. It's not the best-looking game featuring the Cimmerian, but it's probably one of the more interesting ones Conan fans in the US never got to play unless they imported it. I have the PC, Xbox and Game Cube versions in the library (and yes, I've played it all the way through on each platform). The chances of it ever coming out as a re-release here are slim to none unless the PC version gets put on gog.com or some other download site. Of course, there's probably some sort of licensing agreement that needs to be hashed out, but I guess that's up to the folks at gog.com and CIP... 

Help FOTONICA Go Steam Greenlight!

 

One of the coolest indie games I've played is looking to get even more love from gamers worldwide. While you can indeed (and SHOULD indeed) grab FOTONICA (and its fantastic soundtrack) for five bucks from the Santa Ragione site, the developer also want to get the game on Steam Greenlight. I say help them out if you're a Steam user and nominate them! 

A Shadowrun Reboot Is On Kickstarter. That's All You Need To Know...

For me, FASA's Shadowrun was (and is) one of the great gaming experiences from the 90's back on the Super Nintendo and Genesis (I never played the tabletop games at all, my loss, I know) and now it's coming back as a Kickstarter project. Even better, it's a single player RPG, not some shooter, MMO or co-op focused game that goes far away from what the originals were. Hmmm... this crowdfunding thing is getting out of hand... but in an extremely good way. Still, I can see bigger publishers wanting to muscle in on things even if Kickstarter won't let them. How so? Well, I can't imagine some of the more important publishers today NOT being a bit ticked off that people are putting up MAJOR money to get smaller indie projects done while ignoring quite a lot of AAA titles for any number of reasons. My only problem with all this is the lack of retail versions of most of these Kickstarter games, or at least the promise of budget-priced disc versions that don't come with a bunch of swag some have no use for. One of these days I really HOPE someone puts out a few of these titles on something a lot more permanent than an invisible download...

Psychonauts Arrives On The Mac (Finally!) And Double Fine Rolls With It

Hey, Tim! Next time, send these releases out to everyone! Or actually, maybe I need to update my contact info with Double Fine, huh? Anyway, I missed this Psychonauts press release, but thanks to a few "Did you see this?" emails pointing to Bitmob, you can check out the pretty funny press release about the Mac version of Double Fine's rather awesome and funny (and classic) platformer. Yes, the PC version over Steam has gotten some cool enhancements as well. I actually haven't played the PC version (it's on my to-do list), but I do have both console versions here (the Xbox version is the better of the two). I'd gather the chances of seeing the game get an HD upgrade for PS3 and Xbox 360 are slim to none, but hey - if I had a few million bucks laying around, I'd wave some of it under the noses of a few games companies to tempt them into committing to doing at least ONE run of discs and selling them directly to gamers rather than going through the retail chain hell...

Drakensang: Complete Saga In Stores Now (Well, GameStop Stores, That Is)...

Yeah, yeah, Gears of War 3 is out and fantastic all that, but I'm actually a tad more excited about (The Dark Eye) Drakensang: Complete Saga arriving this week as part of THQ's ValuSoft games lineup (albeit as a GameStop exclusive). "What's a Drakensang?" you ask? Why, a pretty cool third-person PC fantasy role playing game that's got a nicely loyal fan-base, solid visuals, fun classes to choose from and a great, challenging combat system among other things. I'm absolutely recommending this collection to fans of open-world fantasy games, deep RPG experiences and anyone who likes games with at least a hundred hours of gameplay. Even better... it's on a retail DISC, not a download, so even if you have a crappy Internet connection, you can STILL buy and play a quality RPG while getting a great deal in the process.

Press release below the jump.

Valve Offers PC. Mac Versions Of Portal Free (As An Educational Tool)

Valve is always doing some rather fun stuff with their older games, and now they're giving educators a chance to share one of the coolest puzzle games ever with their classes without paying a dime for it. Even better, it's supposed to be for purely "educational" purposes, meaning it would be awesome if some clever teacher out there actually downloaded this for a class and used it in a lesson plan. All you need is a Steam account and a PC or MAC capable of running the game and boom, you're in. This offer expires on September 20, 2011, so act fast. Hopefully Valve will extend this deal a bit longer. Click on over to Learn With Portals and prepare to be schooled in more ways than one.

Max Payne 3: First Trailer

Rockstar's take on Remedy's modern noir character goes for a really intriguing mix of elements for its third installment, set for a March 2012 release on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. I'm liking the visuals, color palette and overall tone of the trailer. As usual, Rockstar KNOWS how to sell a story with a trailer that also shows off their latest tech in action. This definitely isn't the game some are "expecting" but it's sure as hell going to be washing the taste of that film out of the heads of anyone who paid to see it. I can't wait to get some hands-on time with this one and see how it plays. So far, I'm betting it'll be a hit (in part due to the pedigree). The trailer can be viewed by clicking on the image above. On a side note, someone needs to sue the ESRB (or at least make them see the light) so they can stop this nonsense about restrictive age gates and such.

Gallery: Max Payne 3 (Remedy Gets Even More Real)

After a long wait (and still ongoing development cycle), Rockstar is finally bringing Remedy's modern noir detective back, and this time he's looking both better and worse for the wear. Better as in the game is taking the stellar visuals and phenomenal attention to detail the developer is known for to new heights of realism. Worse in terms of the presentation of a down and out Max Payne as an alcoholic, pill-popping gun for hire living in Sao Paolo. Of course, the game is not just about his decline well off the grid and whatever rotgut and cheap drugs he can score to feed his bad habits. There's plenty of gunplay, bullet-time sequences and what's looking like the most spectacular use of the Euphoria Engine to date. Rockstar is set to reveal the game's first trailer next Wednesday, so expect that to get posted (most likely on the other blog, as I'm expecting it to be nice and violent).

Some in-progress screens are below and more are on the way (most likely next week with the trailer I'll bet)..

Mass Luminosity Wants YOU to WIN Deus Ex: Human Revoloution (I'd Take Them Up On That Offer)

Usually, one of ML's giveaways involves Facebook or Twitter sign-ups, which can be annoying if one doesn't want to go to the trouble of setting up an account at either social networking site. For this new giveaway, the company is running a more simplified method of entry that allows nearly anyone to grab a chance of winning one of 15 Steam downloads of Eidos Montreal's amazing RPG. Just click on over to the contest site, sign up and that's that. One winner will also win a SAPPHIRE AMD Radeon 6950 graphics card along with a copy of DX:HR and DiRT 3 as a bonus. Go sign up NOW and keep your fingers crossed!

PAX 2011: Hawken Desert Gameplay (Yes, The Game is Still Amazing)

What? TWO updates from Adhesive Games in less than a week? This must mean their baby is closer to completion. I love how they announce their videos with text notes referencing the team size or how long the project has been in development. That's focused ego in action and it quite admirable. Anyway, while the approaching completion of Hawken is indeed great for gamers, I'm still hoping for a console release at some point in the future. A game this amazing looking should be played by as many people as possible.

Review: Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Platform: PS3 (also on Xbox 360, PC)

Developer: Eidos Montreal

Publisher: Square Enix

# of Players: 1

ESRB Rating: M (Mature)

Official Site

Score: A

Eidos Montreal had a lot to prove with Deus Ex: Human Revolution and thankfully, the long development cycle has paid off with an exceptional single player story driven role-playing game that's an instant classic. Fans of the original will find this prequel sets up events to come flawlessly while those new to the franchise will absolutely want to play this one and seek out the two other titles just so they can see how well the game fits into the trilogy. For those who crave non-stop action, you have the choice to go in guns blazing all the time if that's your thing, but you'll definitely want to see how the entire story unfolds because it so well done. As in previous Deus Ex games, you're also able to play through the entire game without killing anyone (except a handful of mandatory bosses). No matter how you play, every action or conversation has a consequence that reverberates through the story in one way or another. Some minor presentation hiccups and a bit of age-old boss battle issues aside, what's here is a brilliant game no true gamer should miss.

Hawken Story Trailer: Adhesive Games Has Mega Talent

The small but supremely talented team at Adhesive Games (nine people, right?) continues to amaze with this latest Hawken footage. If these guys aren't snapped up by a bigger studio and given free reign to create whatever they want, there's no justice in the world. Of course, I'd also love to see them take on something like a Mechwarrior game or some other familiar game franchise just to see their spin on things. In the right hands, the ever mighty Unreal 3 engine is indeed a monster. Now, all we need is a release date (in addition to seeing the game hit consoles at some point down the road)...

Gallery: TES V: Skyrim Character Portraits

Want to see which races you can play as in Bethesda's upcoming time-eating epic RPG? Here are a few possible combinations (out of millions or variations) thanks to the excellent character editor. As longtime Elder Scrolls fans know, a good chunk of the fun at the beginning of a new adventure is choosing just who you want to play as. I'm thinking about ditching my usual first play-through choice of an Argonian battlemage who dips into archery from time to time, especially given the more flexible skills system Skyrim offers. Decisions, decisions...

Gamescom 2011: Borderlands 2 Screens Tease More Greatness...

2K Games and Gearbox Software are set to deliver an even bigger blasting bonanza with this upcoming sequel to everyone's favorite post-apocalyptic shooter that already had too many billions of possible weapons combinations. Nice new environments, new characters and as mentioned, way too many weapons to count. Full press release below the jump and yes, you can now dual wield anything you like, which should make online play SUPREMELY cheap when everyone's packing twin sniper rifles or some sort of crazy homing weapons that means they can camp and prey on unsuspecting newbies. Good thing I'm only in for the single player campaign. Still, this one will be a major smash for 2K and Gearbox (which is having a pretty darn good year so far)...

Battlefield 3 Caspian Border Trailer WIll Make You Want To Upgrade Your PC

Even though I have zero interest in online shooters (no matter how good they are), it's hard not to (actually, it's IMPOSSIBLE) not to say anything against them when Dice is running the show. With up to 64 players on maps like this amazingly huge showcase they've whipped up (LOVE the jet action!) and that incredible Frostbite 2 engine doing everything it needs to do (and really darn well at that), this one's going to be an instant hit. Yes, on consoles as well, even though the player cap is a "mere" 24 (which is nothing to sneeze at, mind you). All Dice needs to do is find a way to make some PC gamers less lame jerk-ass braggarts about building their own systems and showing off to the point of embarrassment and the would will be a happier place.

Deus Ex : Human Revolution TV Ad (UK Version)

It's finally out (well, review copies are being shipped this week and next) and definitely worth the wait. Eidos Montreal's hard work looks to kick off this supremely busy season of games in the best possible way, so let's hope it's all it's cracked up to be and then some. To some off-base skeptics, Square Enix still needs to prove that it's not JUST "those Final Fantasy guys" (even though they've published a few solid non-FF western developed games previously). Hell, i say just buy, play and enjoy this one - you'll definitely be back more than once just because there are so many ways to play...

Gamecom 2011: Counter Strike: Global Offensive Announced For 2012

Boom! It looks live Valve has done it again, stealing the thunder from an important games trade show with a big announcement. "What big announcement?", you say (ignoring the headline) Oh, a BIG announcement like the return of one of the seminal multiplayer online shooters (and greatest game mods) ever created. Awesome news, but I still have to add a "Hmmmmmm..." here. That's all fine and dandy... but I really, REALLY want to see Left 4 Dead hit the PS3. As in on a disc with BOTH games and all the additional DLC along for the ride plus some cool fill up a Blu-Ray disc bonuses. Maybe one day... I'll wait.

For now, I'll just practice my screaming like an upset toddler because I completely stink at Counter-Strike... "Waaaaaaaah!!!" press release below the jump, by the way.