"How well do you know your enemies? That's the question we set out to answer in our premiere episode of Know Your Enemy. Join us as we take a look at one of our favorites: The Goomba, from the Super Mario Bros. series."

Awesome new YouTube series "Know Your Enemy" debuts with a classic Mario enemy, the Goomba. Providing some really great history to the character as well as it's many cultural and game appearances. Whenever I see one of those little guys I just want to stomp on it. Good thing they are not modeled after an actual thing in real life.

One meme in gaming that makes me chuckle whenever I read it is "PC gaming master race." Beyond the fact that it is somewhat juvenile, it isn't too far from the truth. Not that consoles aren't awesome or even better than the PC in some ways(any game on the PS3 will always work on the PS3, no upgrades needed) but as PC gamers we have it pretty darn good. One area where the PC shines above and beyond our console sisters and brothers is amount of games available and price. Because the PC is an open platform and digital distribution being as popular as it is, the PC is exploding with games selling for cheap.

The Humble Store

Most of us know and love The Humble Indie Bundle and can't wait to partake in the sweet bundles of magical bits. The Humble folks keep going strong and just launched a new way to get great games cheap. The Humble Store is the latest in discounted games, donating 10% of the sale to charity. Featuring some awesome Triple A and Indie titles, the Humble Store provides Steam Keys for the games you buy and often a DRM free download to boot! With the Humble Indie Bundle, Humble Triple A Bundles, Humble Weekly Sale and brand new Humble Store I imagine many gamers credit cards are wearing thin.

https://www.humblebundle.com/store

GOG.com

GOG.com is an awesome site dedicated to Retro, Indie and Triple A titles that all come DRM free. Supporting Windows and Mac, GOG.com is like a digital locker for your games. I have personally picked up Neverwinter Nights super cheap with a ton of other awesome retro games. GOG.com recently launched a charity bundle of their own and almost always runs awesome sales like its current DRM Free Fall Insomnia Sale.

http://www.gog.com/

Minecon Indies

After Minecon, the Minecon Indies site popped up and featured all the games that showed at this years Minecon. They put on a pretty awesome contest and gave away some awesome games that showed at Minecon. I expect to see more popup Indie game sale pages like this around cons and other awesome stuff. You can still look through the store and pickup some really great games.

http://mineconindies.com/

The Game Music Bundle

The Game Music Bundle departs from the traditional game bundles and focuses on game music. The Game Music Bundle 5 featured the music from Monaco, FTL, FEZ, Gunpoint, Leisure Suit Larry & World of Goo. If you donated over the minimum you could get all of the FEZ remix albums, extra Monaco tracks, The Forge, Anodyne and Little Inferno scores. Since I love game music scores, seeing this kind of bundle is pretty awesome.

http://www.loudr.fm/gamemusicbundle

The Free Bundle

But what if you want games but don't want to pay? The Free Bundle has you back by collecting some interesting free indie titles. The new Free Bundle 10 should be coming out any day and I am interested to see what it has. Some people release their games for free and this is a great way to showcase them.

http://www.thefreebundle.com/

Steam

Yeah, you know I like had to mention Steam. The Steam Autumn Sale is right around the corner and nothing showcases "rabid gamer" like a Steam Sale. One thing I miss about past Steam sales I haven't seen in a year or so is publisher packs. I hope they make an appearance for this years Holiday Sale, but for people that haven't experienced it, imagine nearly every game a publisher makes at a very crazy price. One year I picked up Skyrim, Fallout New Vegas, Brink and a few other Bethesda games for 50 bucks. Even if publisher packs don't make a comeback, Steam sales are epic things of legend and each one seems to get me to spend money I wasn't expecting to.

jdodson's Final Thought

I have been gaming on my PC since ZZT on DOS and because of that, I have a ton of games. It seems a bit strange to drop $60 for each new game that comes out when I just picked up the recent WB Bundle that featured FEAR, FEAR 2, Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, Lord of the Rings, Scribblenauts, Mortal Kombat Arcade, Guardians of Middle Earth and more whatever price I want to pay. Most of those games are a few years old now but it puts a brand new $60 purchase in perspective. Won't it just be silly cheap later?

Consoles can't seem to beat the pricing of the PC because there is so much competition in digital game stores. Kind of hard for Sony to compete with itself in terms of pricing on its own store and because of this, its sales are pretty meager. Also remember, when I say PC gaming I mean anything that runs games thats not a console. I do a ton of "PC gaming" from my Mac laptop and Linux and plan on doing much more when Steam Machines drop. But I wonder what I we will call that? It will be a PC in your living room, but... Well, who knows what we will call it, it will still be awesome.

PC Master Race may be a hyperbolic premise, but I can't help but agree with some of the idea. It's a great time to be a PC gamer and things ain't getting worse.

In a world of the same kind of Let's Plays, wouldn't it be awesome to have puppets do it instead? Mario and Fafa, the awesome duo from Glove and Boots did an awesome two part series where they play retro games on the Wii. In part one they play Mario Brothers, the original Japaneese Mario Two(The Lost Levels in the States), Pacman, Double Dribble & Excitebike. Part two features Altered Beast, Splatterhouse, Mike Tyson's Punch Out & Ice Hockey.

The video also reminds us to wear our Wii controller strap. For safety.

Part two:

http://youtu.be/amxlexAIbhs

Sony recently released a Dev diary(video above) talking about Everquest Next and how they approach mining and crafting. EQ Next will be free to play and will be strongly influenced by Minecraft.

Ragnarok Online is a popular MMO that came out in 2003 and later on in it's life became free to play. It recently came to Steam on PC to serve your dungeon crawling needs.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/215100/

Symmetrain is an interesting new iPhone game where you tap to select the differences in the terrain as your train chugs along the tracks. It's a pretty interesting idea and seems to fill the "I want to kill a few minutes" game itch.

http://youtu.be/FUh-S8pm5jE

"Videogames are addictive. FACT. But how seriously should we take gamer addictions? There is scientific proof that brain scans of excessive gamers are similar to drug addicts, and addiction to videogames can even destroy lives, just like alcoholics or junkies. And with advancements in technology, game developers are continuing to create games that are EVEN MORE engrossing. Should we worry about gamers, or possibly even regulate the industry?"

Whereas I don't agree with any industry regulation for video games, the idea of video game addiction is interesting to me. No question some people get wrapped up and spend way too much time in video games, take for instance myself and the last Terraria 1.2 update.

I don't know if I would say Super Metroid is the best video game of all time, but it ranks very highly on my top list of awesome games. NESComplex does a great job showcasing the game and talking about its place in the Metroid timeline. If you haven't played Super Metroid you should at least watch this video to find out why this game is as beloved as it is.

When this game launched there weren't a ton of dark games with a really compelling story. Super Metroid really nailed making you feel like the game world was real and that the story and elements have weight. This game went off to spawn the Metroid Prime series, which decided to change the series into a 3D first person platformer.

My first Metroid game was the original for the NES and I liked it quite a bit, but it was very hard to figure out how to progress to beat it. I later got to play Metroid on Gameboy, but again, never could actually beat it due to how hard it was to figure out where to go next. Super Metroid marked the first time I ever beat a Metroid game and for that I was pretty happy.

What was the first Metroid game you ever played? Did you make it to Super Metroid and if so what did you think of it?

In this video appeal to Valve founder Gabe Newell, Francis asks to be let into the Steam Console beta. Who wouldn't want that right? He poses some very interesting questions about the durability of the Steambox and the new Steam controller. Specifically if the new Steambox will be able to survive a hit from an axe. He also wonders if the new Steam controller will be able to survive being thrown against the wall, you know because Super Meat Boy is hard.

ConcernedApe just posted on information in regard to Stardew Valley shipping this year that isn't awesome.

"I know earlier this year I estimated that the game would be done before 2014. Well… I have to say that I will probably not be able to meet that estimate anymore.

I’ve always been a little uncomfortable giving release estimates for Stardew. It’s stressful to build up hope for a specific release date, knowing that I might have to disappoint everyone by pushing it back. And i’m definitely guilty of being a little too optimistic about development timetables. Ultimately, though… I think most will agree with me that a slow-cooked, polished game is better than a rushed, quick release."

I agree, it's better to deliver a polished game than something rushed and buggy. This game ranks high for games I am really interested in getting my hands on. That said, there is a pretty huge amount of awesome games out right now, so I think I can find something to occupy my time until Stardew ships, hopefully in 2014 but there is no word on that right now.

ConcernedApe did talk a bit about how far along the game is, which is pretty good news.

"How complete is the game? Well, there are still a couple of features that I haven’t even begun yet… but, they all should be relatively minor in terms of development time. Other than that, there is a lot of polish and fleshing-out to be done before it’s ready. There are also some technical (i.e. not involving actual in-game content) things which I *might* need to do before release.

So, while the game is definitely “mostly done”, there are still plenty of things that need to be finished before I am comfortable releasing it. I am still working as fast as I possibly can without compromising on the quality of the game (and also while maintaining my own sanity, for those of you who saw me playing Terraria on Steam recently :p ). Thanks to all of you for being so patient, compassionate, and supportive during this process… I really do appreciate it!"

If you are interested in some new game details, ConcernedApe also shared some really interesting information about the characters you can date and possibly marry in game. So check it out, link below.

http://stardewvalley.net/dev-update-12/

One of the best parts of the recent Terraria 1.2 patch was the addition of more awesome music. Having a larger canvas of sound to accompany you while you are mining, building and slaying bosses is important. From the first time I heard the music in Terraria I was in love. Composer Scott Lloyd Shelly captures the wonder that you experience playing Terraria very well and I have wanted to talk to him about the game for some time.

Very excited to bring you our interview with the amazing Scott Lloyd Shelly. Don't hold the applause.

jdodson: The music in Terraria is incredibly iconic. From the first time I heard “Overworld Day” to hearing the new tracks from the 1.2 update, the world of Terraria seems boundless and magical. When you were first considering scoring the game, what kinds of ideas or concepts did you want to express with the music?

Scott Lloyd Shelly: Overworld Day was the very first piece of music I wrote for the game. Andrew sent me a few pictures and a very early build of the game (I was slain - a lot...) My first two thoughts were; a) this is a 2D game, with a retroish 80's style pixelated look (which was/is loveable) - I need to pay musical homage to that 8 bit era and b) potentially huge (and magical) worlds are getting created, so maybe some big orchestral sounds can be included as well. I was pretty much trying to create a hybrid of those two elements that would hopefully become unique to the game.

WhiteboySlim: How closely did you work with Andrew Spinks on the soundtrack? Was there frequent feedback or were you given pretty free reign to craft the music yourself?

Scott Lloyd Shelly: Andrew Spinks has been my favorite game developer to work with - after I submitted the first track, he pretty much turned me loose - that doesn't happen very often with soundtracks in my experience.

jdodson: Interested what your thoughts are on Terraria and the very large and passionate community that surrounds the game?

Scott Lloyd Shelly: I'm not at all surprised that so many people have come to love playing Terraria, and I try and watch as many playthroughs posted on YouTube as I can to try and keep up. Some of the soundtrack remixes are pretty cool too.

Travis: The music for each area and event really sets the mood well. Two of the tracks that stand out to me are both of the Hallow tracks, overworld and underground. What real world inspiration did you use when composing for this imaginary world?

Scott Lloyd Shelly: Andrew would send me graphics for each level and biome, and that was a big help for me, and probably the main real world inspiration. For Hallow, I think it was the mention of Unicorns and Rainbows that got me started musically on that one; Hallow/Underground was more of a result of me playing in my musical sandbox, mainly Logic Pro.

WhiteboySlim: How did you originally get involved in the video game industry?

Scott Lloyd Shelly: Good question. Way back in 1993, I was studying orchestration privately, and I started to get interested in what was happening in San Francisco and Silicon Valley; buzzwords like "multimedia" and "virtual reality" were flying around, and I wanted to get involved creatively. I started to send demos and resumes to some of the game companies (after phoning first...) and a company called Accolade asked if I could come up from LA for a meeting.

I ended up doing the music for an unreleased title for the Sega Genesis and SNES console platforms for them, and really enjoyed the experience, and moved to San Francisco for a few years after that to be closer the the action.

jdodson: When you were first composing music for Terraria did you have a version of the game you could play or did you work off ideas and concepts only? What did you think of things after you played the game with your music added to it?

Scott Lloyd Shelly: I had a very early build, a few graphics, and emails with the developer. I haven't played the game a whole lot (mostly on PC and now on iPhone) but for me, it (the music) pretty much works. By that I mean it's evocative of the different levels, recognizable as Terraria music, and (hopefully) doesn't drive most people crazy after hours of gameplay (there are always going to be a few haters out there...you can't please everybody.)

I also hope that Andrew Spinks is happy with the soundtrack and that it works for him - Terraria is his vision.

WhiteboySlim: The Empire has attacked your ship (which was totally just on a diplomatic mission). You only have time to grab 2 or 3 things before running to the escape pods. What do you grab?

Scott Lloyd Shelly: My wife, my daughter, and my Fender Telecaster (guitar) - not necessarily in that order:)

jdodson: Track 13 on the Terraria Soundtrack Volume 2 ends with “Lunar Boss” yet to date no such boss exists in the game? Andrew Spinks has noted that he plans on adding an end game boss and I am curious if you know some details about it you don’t mind sharing?

Scott Lloyd Shelly: Sorry, I haven't heard anything about that yet. He does ask for additional music tracks occasionally, so he could be planning something.

Travis: What’s your favorite video game soundtrack that you *didn’t* work on?

Scott Lloyd Shelly: Wow, that's hard. Skyrim, for sure; (Jeremy Soule); Super Meat Boy; Where Is My Heart (Alessandro Coronas); Botanicula; Spore; and Dungeon Seige 2 would be a few.

WhiteboySlim: Andrew Spinks has already stated he plans on making Terraria 2. Do you think you’ll be back for the sequel?

Scott Lloyd Shelly: That's up to Andrew. I'd be absolutely up for it.

jdodson: What have you worked on over your career that you are especially proud of?

Scott Lloyd Shelly: Putt-Putt Joins The Circus for Humongous Entertainment, Reader Rabbit 1st Grade (classic version) and The Crocodile Hunter TV shows.

Travis: I’ve heard these songs countless times, and if it was any other music I would have gotten really sick of it by now. When you were writing the music for Terraria, were you considering the fact that people would be hearing this music over and over and write it with that in mind? How do you keep it catchy after the thousandth time?

Scott Lloyd Shelly: Thanks, Travis - I thought about that a lot. Part of it is not letting the music stay on one section for too long. I figure if I'm getting bored listening to a loop a few times, someone who's playing the game for hours will for sure. I also try to keep the arrangements fairly sparse (except for the boss music) and hopefully that helps too.

jdodson: Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions, is there anything you want to
say before we finish up?

Scott Lloyd Shelly: Thanks to you guys for asking questions! We music people are pretty much behind the scenes most of the time, and it's really nice to know somebody's listening. Thanks again, and please keep me posted.

http://www.resonancearray.com/
http://www.terraria.org/

I am very excited to let you know that FTL is getting a new Advanced Edition that will drop early 2014. I heard about it today and like many of you am really excited to get my hands on the new content.

"We’ve been working hard over the summer and are excited to finally officially announce a free expansion, FTL: Advanced Edition! FTL: AE is a huge content addition that includes new weapons, drones, augments, systems, enemies, and more. Here are some details on just a few of the additions visible in the trailer:

• Mind Control System: Temporarily turn enemies into allies. Force a boarder to repair the damage they just did, or have the enemy pilot sabotage their own helm.


• Hacking System: Lockdown and disrupt enemy systems. Unique effects for each system, ranging from forcing a teleporter remove boarders to making the medbay damage instead of heal.


• New Sector and Events: Our writer Tom Jubert has returned along with special guest writer Chris Avellone (of Planescape fame), who managed to find some time for us between his work on Project Eternity and Wasteland 2. They’ve been helping us add a new sector and scatter new events throughout the rest of the game.


• New Weapons and Effects: Many new weapons that take advantage of new mechanics: overcharging to increase the number of volleys, stun effects to freeze crew, and area effect targeting, to name a few.


• And more systems, drones, augments, enemy ships, enemy layouts, and hostile environments. All of which we’ll be sure to talk about more in the coming weeks!

"

FTL will also be getting new music from Ben Prunty. They will also be releasing the game to iPad. What do you think, will this be something you check out? What part of the update are you most excited about?

http://www.ftlgame.com/?p=598