Tag Archive

IF Comp 2008: Violet

Written by Kieron Gillen on November 19, 2008.

Yeah, screenshots totally don’t work with Interactive Fiction, do they?

The IF Comp 2008 awards‘ results were announced a couple of days back. It’s… well, I don’t pretend to be anything other than a casual observer of gaming’s one true art-subculture, but seeing their yearly competitions is something which always makes me happy, even if I barely touch any of the actual games. That said, I was following Emily Short’s takes on the entrants, and given her rep, I wasn’t surprised that her three stand out games ended up comprising the top three (Albeit not in her chosen order). Namely: Violet, Nightfall and Everybody Dies. I’ll try and give the two runners up a proper play in the next few days, but here’s my take on the victor. It’s really rather neat.
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Cooking Mamarrrrrrrggggghhhh!

Written by Kieron Gillen on November 18, 2008.

Casualgaming.biz noticed that PETA have crafted a piece of Thanksgiving Agitprop. It’s based around the popular DS game Cooking Mama games, and is cunningly entitled Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals. You can play online, download it or go beneath the cut and find the embeddable version - alongside a gallery of our favourite flesh-rending moments and a few thoughts. And a Turkey fact PETA didn’t mention in their game. Man!
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IncrediBots!

Written by John Walker on November 13, 2008.

The joy of Flash games is so often their simplicity. Simple concepts delivered in a quick-n-fun way, to offer a twenty minute lunchtime distraction. Not a word of this applies to IncrediBots. (Apart from “Flash”, “fun” and “a” - so okay, three words apply). This is hardcore.

It’s a remarkably complex mix of mechanics and physics, currently in beta, letting you build and play with vehicles of your own devising, to complete a series of challenges. And it’s capable of so much more than that. It’s too much for my puny brain, but I’m utterly certain that those inclined are going to love it.

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Virtual Skipper 5: Free Port!

Written by Kieron Gillen on November 13, 2008.

This surely can’t be right (And not just my pun. It’s not a port, it’s a… oh, never mind). It’s only been out in the UK properly for about a month, but is already available for a free 800Mb or so download. I suspect it’s because it’s already been out back in 2007, and its initial UK release was under a different name. I realise this because I (er) reviewed it for PC Format when it was going under the 32nd America’s Cup – The Game moniker, noting it seemed to be Virtual Skipper 5 in all but name (which is clearly serious bluffing on my part. I don’t even know the difference between ships and boats. Or tanks, for that matter). But still - here’s my review of America 32nd cup for you to try and work out whether this may be worth your time…
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Foot-to-ball Head-thinks: FIFA Manager 2009

Written by Kieron Gillen on November 12, 2008.

It’s that time of year. The updates for the Football Management games are coming in. The just-shy-of-a-gig demo of EA’s FIFA Manager 2009 is now available to download. It’s only first divisions of six countries with a few stadium and no realistic 3D-noggins or commentary and similar, and ends after 90 days, but that’s still a lot of “Oooh - I think we need to go 4-3-3″isms for nowt. And, just to mix things up a little, here’s the German trailer for the game…
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The Witching 168 Hours: Left 4 Dead Demo

Written by Kieron Gillen on November 11, 2008.

The Until-launch Demo’s up for non-preorder users, apparently. Re-start Steam to get it if you can’t see it.

And remember: Don’t Startle The Witch.

Court By The Fuzz? Tennis Elbow 2009 Demo

Written by Kieron Gillen on November 11, 2008.

Ah, the Racquet-to-Ball game. The new and teeny-tiny 20Mb Demo of Tennis Elbow 2009 - sequel to many other Tennis Elbows of previous years - has just gone live, allowing you to play for fourteen days on a single court type minus career mode but with multiplayer. Which strikes me as a lot to cram into 20Mb. We didn’t even fit our last podcast into 20 Mb, and that’s just us and Erik having a good old yack. Anyway, it’s a Tennis game which can be got from here. What’s it like?
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Splendid Indie: Grey Matter & A Cry For Help

Written by Alec Meer on November 10, 2008.

Another splendidly weird new ouvre from Edmumd McMillen, he of Meat Boy, Aether, Gish and, er, “Lady Garden“.

He describes Grey Matter (yay for Grey with an e!), co-developed with Tommy Refenes (who was behind the IGF-charming goo game that wasn’t World of Goo, Goo) as an “anti-shooter” - which doesn’t stop it from being a shmup, but it’s a beautifully-drawn one with an excellent twist.
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Street Fighting Men: Iron Grip: Warlord Demo

Written by Kieron Gillen on November 8, 2008.

I noticed the Iron Grip: Warlord demo has gone live, weighing in at about 400Mb or so. Now, we’ve mentioned Isotx regarding their game manager/mod-updater thing CrosuS, but bar a name-check, I didn’t really pay any attention to this. I’ve been playing it solo for half an hour and it initially appears to fit into the Left 4 Dead co-op Zeitgeist particularly well. It’s basically Co-op Counterstrike with splashes of Team Fortress 2 meets Tower Defence. A brief overview, some initial tips and assorted thoughts beneath the cut…
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Free Realms Free

Written by Jim Rossignol on November 8, 2008.

SOE’s new MMO, Free Realms, opens its public beta this weekend. The concept is that this is the free MMO for children, so expect to run a gamut of cute if you’re heading in its direction. It seems relatively simplistic with a Wow-but-more-cartoony-by-half game world, and absurdly sugary character creation. There’s also the MMO standard of quest-based monster-monstering, and a whole bunch of mini-games that can be played solo, or with chums. There’s a bunch of video-based FAQs here and you (or your offspring) can sign up to the beta here.

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