jdodson1

Joined 01/23/2012
  Admin

I'm an Engineer and built the video game community Cheerful Ghost and text based mini-MMO Tale of the White Wyvern.

2731 Posts

Hotline Miami Jacket Figuring Kickstarter
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Hotline Miami is a great gam I loved every ultra-violent second of. Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is currently in development and according to Dennation Games will come out sometime this year. With that, a new Kickstarter dropped today to fund a 12 inch collectable figure of Jacket, the main character of Hotline Miami.

Right now you need to buy it at $85 to get the Jacket Figurine + digital rewards. It's a really interesting Kickstarter and if you love the game, I recommend you check out the video.

"Hotline Miami is a high-octane action game overflowing with raw brutality, hard-boiled gun play and skull crushing close combat. Set in an alternative 1989 Miami, you will assume the role of a mysterious antihero on a murderous rampage against the shady underworld at the behest of voices on your answering machine. Soon you'll find yourself struggling to get a grip of what is going on and why you are prone to these acts of violence.

The primary figure is 12" tall and comes with four removable heads: Tony (Tiger), Richard (Rooster), Aubrey (Pig), and a bloody, bandaged Jacket head. The figure also comes with interchangeable clothing including a letter jacket, t-shirt, pair of jeans, Air Vigilante sneakers and a hospital gown. Three weapons - a shotgun, baseball bat, and katana - are included for Jacket to hold as he is posed using the 15 points of articulation."

Elysian Shadows Will Bring It's 2D RPG Goodness To Dreamcast
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I am a sucker for 2D pixel-chunky RPG's. What can I say? Little jdodson loved Final Fantasy games as they helped opened my eyes to how beautiful video games can be. I've recently been hearing about a new Kickstarter game called Elysian Shadows and wanted to share it, because it looks great. They have 11 days left to raise 38k to fund the game so if you are interested in getting your hands on this, the time is now.

Elysian Shadows features some really beautiful art and shading mechanics. It's a bit hard to explain, so check the Kickstarter page and video for a full realization. Not only does Elysian Shadows feature a pretty interesting premise, it also will ship on a lots of platforms including the Dreamcast.

No release date has been specified at this time but when it does Elysian Shadows will launch on Linux, Mac, Windows, Ouya, Android, iOS and Dreamcast.

"When dreaming up the gameplay experience of Elysian Shadows, we drew inspiration from not only the great 16-bit RPGs of our youth, but also a vast list of games we grew up loving, many of which aren't even in the same genre. We wanted to create an experience that could also be enjoyed by people who are traditionally disinterested in the slow-pacing of RPGs. We sought to revitalize the old school formula and integrate gameplay mechanics from action games and even platformers to create and even more exciting and immersive gameplay experience."

PAX Prime 2014 Indie Megabooth Showcase
It's no secret that the place I spent the most time last year at PAX was the Indie Megabooth. This years line-up looks great and I wanted to share it with everyone planning to go to PAX Prime. A few games I am itching to checkout: Chroma Squad, Hotline Miami 2, A Voyeur for September(I hope this means Mewgenics) & Upsilon Circuit.

If you are planning on attending PAX Prime let me know and let's work out a time to say hi. I have Saturday tickets.

Indie Games featured this year at the Indie Megabooth:


  • Witch Beam – Assault Android Cactus

  • Turtle Sandbox – Cannon Brawl


  • Behold Studios – Chroma Squad


  • The Started Hare – Chromancer


  • Sirvo – Close Castles


  • Interdimensional Games – CONSORTIUM


  • Red Hook Studios – Darkest Dungeon


  • E McNeill – Darknet


  • DoubleBear Productions – Dead State


  • Refract – Distance


  • Amplitude Studios – Dungeon of the Endless


  • Marauder Interactive – Enemy Starfighter


  • 17-BIT – Galak-Z


  • Team Gemini – Gemini


  • Defiant Development – Hand of Fate


  • Dennaton Games – Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number


  • Asteroid Base – Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime


  • MTB Design Works – Miegakure


  • Metanet Software – N++


  • Infinitap Games – Neverending Nightmares


  • Q-Games – Nom Nom Galaxy


  • Funktronic Labs – Nova-111


  • Vlambeer – Nuclear Throne


  • Northway Games – Rebuild: Gangs of Deadville


  • Hopoo Games – Risk of Rain


  • Radial Games – ROCKETSROCKETSROCKETS


  • Samurai Punk – Screencheat


  • Kitfox Games – Shattered Planet


  • SoundSelf – Soundself


  • Juggernaut Games – StarCrawlers


  • Ryan Green and Josh Larson – That Dragon, Cancer


  • Question – The Magic Circle


  • Croteam – The Talos Principle


  • Acid Nerve – TITAN SOULS


  • Ska Studios – Unannounced Project


  • Team Meat – A Voyeur for September


  • White Lotus Interactive – XING: The Land Beyond


  • Pocketwatch Games – LEADtoFIRE


  • Love Conquers All Games – Analogue: A Hate Story


  • Totally Choice – Woah Dave


  • Robot Loves Kitty – Upsilon Circuit



http://indiemegabooth.com/indie-megabooth-announces-line-pax-prime-2014/

Roundtable Prompt: Will Valve Always Be Awesome?
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We all love Valve's Half-life series, Portal, DoTA 2, Counter-strike, Team Fortress 2 and Steam. This unfettered happiness means we are all making Valve extremely successful and therefore rich beyond our wildest dreams. While none of this is bad for now, I wonder if this will always be the case. Many companies over time seem to evolve from the amazing things they start out to be to later end up wielding an evil sword against anyone that comes against them. As Valve marches on, do we see them changing for the worse? What happens when Gabe Newell moves on from the company? Will Valve go the way of Microsoft or EA?

Curious what your thoughts are here as this will be one of the main topics in the next Roundtable.

That said, I want it to be clear that I love Valve and to date they are doing a great job. I just wonder if the gravy train of awesome will ever stop, like it often does with many companies that change over time.

Nintendo Power Issue 1 Review: It All Started Here
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Nintendo Power's first issue was released for free to certain fan club members and in stores July of 1988. At the time Nintendo was gaining more and more traction as a pretty big household staple and to further it's reach they decided to start one of the greatest things to happen to the late 80's and 90's, Nintendo Power magazine. I first read this issue at my cousins house and immediately wanted a subscription. Nintendo Power was filled to the brim with comics, news and tips for all the games I loved. I have recently started re-reading them and decided to review them as I have time.

Nintendo Power issue 1 contained some of the best art on a magazine cover I can think of. Featuring a clay scene of Super Mario Brothers 2, Nintendo Power issue 1 contains 20 pages of Mario 2 walkthrough magic. This issue also features a really interesting walkthrough for most of The Legend of Zelda second quest. The Zelda second quest walkthrough doesn't cover the last few levels of the game but follows up with the remaining information in issue 2.

Compared to a modern magazine, Nintendo Power is pretty big considering issue 1 shipped as 113 pages.

Nintendo Power featured a fold out poster in each issue and I enjoyed putting the cool ones up on my wall. This issue shipped with a poster for Super Bases Loaded which ranks it pretty high in terms of the most lame posters featured in Nintendo Power.

Counselors Corner has tips for a few released NES games such as Metroid, Ghosts and Goblins and Super Mario Brothers. I am curious how well known certain video game secrets were before Nintendo Power published them. The infamous Super Mario Brothers 1-up trick is featured in this issue but I remember first hearing about it from a friend.

One staple that I loved was the Howard and Nester comics. Howard was the comic character from the real life Howard Phillips, spokesman for Nintendo at the time. I am not sure if Nester was based on any real life person, but he was always snarky and fairly prone to doing dumb stuff. I always enjoyed reading each comic even though they don't hold up as well as my memory of them.

Issue 1 goes on to drop the classic Konami code for Contra and provides information and walkthroughs for Gauntlet, Double Dragon, Contra & Jeopardy. The last bits of the magazine feature some interesting fan letters and the Top 30, a list of the most popular NES games. As issue 1 shipped, the top 5 NES games were The Legend of Zelda, Mike Tyson's Punch Out, Metroid, Super Mario Brothers & Kid Icarus. As Nintendo Power continued on and other games launched this list changed a bit, but Zelda was nearly always at the top of this list even after the Super Nintendo launched.

At the time this issue shipped an entire year of Nintendo Power cost $15. This seems like a steal now but at the time was something I didn't have an easy time doing. That said, it didn't stop me from reading as many issues as I could get my hands on.

Fish Plays Pokemon
"Hi everyone! Welcome to our stream where our fish, Grayson Hopper, plays a Pokemon game. Unfortunately, we don't have a dedicated light for Grayson at night as he lives in a tiny dorm room and we would rather not sleep with the light on. :( But in the future we will be getting him a dedicated lamp and improving the quality of the stream to include recent inputs determined by the motion tracking. Things can move a little slow, so another option we're considering is making the system distributed where we have a site where you can provide a fish stream link and we'll include it in the controlling."

Some people hooked up a webcam to a fishbowl and based on which parts the first swim that maps to a Pokemon control. But this is something you really need to see to understand.

http://www.twitch.tv/fishplayspokemon

So far 4 million people have been mesmerized by a fish playing Pokemon and I can't really blame them, it's a fun idea.

Below Gameplay Trailer Surfaces Teases Immense Boss Fights
"Below is an adventure game viewed from a top down perspective. You are a tiny warrior exploring the depths of a remote island. The game is about exploration, though that goal is contingent upon the character's survival in a world where there is brutal combat and permanent death."

If I was excited for the release of Below, I am now even more excited-er(I realize that is not, in fact a word). At first I didn't quite understand why the game featured the main character being so small, but seeing the gameplay I see now how it works. Zooming so far out allows more scenery on the screen as well as gives the designers the ability to make for some HUGE boss fights. That and it's a really unique concept.

Below is a XBox exclusive(for now) but will also ship on Steam. No word on the Steam platforms, but when we know more i'll report back.

The Walking Dead Compendium Volume 1
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As someone that has always loved comic books, it's been a bit sad to spend most of my adult life not reading them. The only series to catch my attention was Hellboy and beyond that, I haven't read much I enjoyed. During the recent Humble Walking Dead Bundle they were giving out the first 3 issues for free. So, like many, I downloaded the first 3 issues. I didn't get a chance to read them during the bundle but started them a bit thereafter. I was immediately impressed with the black and white style and bleak tone. I appreciate that comics style in that it is serious, but isn't so serious it gets boorish or overly dark. Many of the scenes play out and let the "comic" nature of the story at times be, well, comical(Grimes getting hit with a shovel comes immediately to mind).

http://horrorcomicsblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/1523961-rick_shovel_comic.png

As an entrant to the whole Zombie resurgence, The Walking Dead hit things off in 2003 with well used idea from 28 Days Later. The main character, police officer Rick Grimes wakes up from a coma after the Zom-pocalypse has hit. Whereas this story device wasn't original to the series, it's use here was great and it didn't feel dumb or cliche. In fact, what better way to bring the main character to the new Zombie-Earth?

After reading the 3 free issues I needed more as the story gets so great I wanted to keep going. The Humble Walking Dead Bundle was finished and so I couldn't pick up volumes 1-5 for $15, which is a steal. Instead of nabbing the digital volumes I decided to opt for the Walking Dead Compendium Volume 1. Whereas it includes Volumes 1-6 for a great price compared to buying them individually, it's pretty heavy. That said, as I have read it it hasn't been a huge deal and nothing beats how great it is to flip through the actual pages of a great story.

You can get the whole first issue of the Walking Dead free on ComiXology and I seriously recommend it. The Walking Dead is a series that allows DRM free downloads on comic sites that support that and as such if you want to get them digitally, I recommend ComiXology.

https://www.comixology.com/The-Walking-Dead-1/digital-comic/60

More Story Details From Stardew Valley Surface
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Stardew Valley is one of my most anticipated games of the year and I am happy with each bit of news that comes out about it. Recently, some really interesting information surfaced about the games main story. The main character is from Pelican Town and has the option to restore the old Community Center.

"This building was once the heart and soul of Pelican Town… a place for citizens to gather, socialize, and collaborate. But that was long ago, In a bygone age when the valley was more isolated from the outside world. Now, the community center is in shambles, a forgotten relic of the past…

The community center is divided into six areas… the Pantry, the Art Studio, the Fish Tank, the Vault, the Bulletin Board, and the Boiler Room. To repair each area, you’ll need to complete a number of “bundles”:

Each bundle consists of a selection of items and corresponds to a unique aspect of the game. They are designed not to be “grindy”, but rather to encourage players to explore the various facets of Stardew Valley. pickaxeICONWhen you’ve completed all the bundles for an area, that area will be restored and a permanent, positive change will happen in the valley (a new area might become available, for example)."

I like that Stardew Valley has a interesting story, but it's not the typical "save the universe trope" we see over and over again. Plus, who would rather restore the old Community Center and party down at the town harvest festival than shooting a bunch of people in the face in the next Call of Duty? Personally, I would prefer the former.

http://stardewvalley.net/

Binding Of Isaac Rebirth First Look Beta Video
In a recent update, Edmund McMillen posted the following update about The Binding of Isaac Rebirth.

"the closer we get to release the less i want to spoil.. but i did promise you a video.. so here is the 1st vid of rebirth in its near final state. we are still tweaking things visually and the game is missing a few sound effects but this is basically what you will be getting on release."

The Binding of Isaac Rebirth aims to fix some long standing problems with the original Binding of Isaac, namely in the performance of the original flash version. Rebirth also adds a SNES-like pixel aesthetic, something I quite like. If you have a copy of the original game, there will be a discount for Rebirth, but since it's an entirely new game I don't think full price is a crazy proposition.

http://bindingofisaac.com/