Just watched a few minutes of the Starbound game demonstration at i49 and I had to drop it on the site. Molly and Bart show off the game starting with Character Creation, Multiplayer and questing.

The game looks VERY pretty and polished for a pre-beta. The art and music work well together to build the world. The basic exploration elements look great. You seem to start with a nice assortment of items in the matter manipulator, flashlight, basic weapons & torches.

Check it out and sound off with your thoughts in the comments.

The new Mew-Genics teaser dropped on YouTube and is both fun and disturbing. So apparently in Mew-Genics you rub cats together to get another cat, WHO KNEW? Can't wait for more information on Team Meat's next game to surface but it seems still very deep in development right now.

Never knew I wanted to breed cats so badly.

My final day at PAX was Saturday and it was great. I decided to hit up a few talks and went back to the Indie Mega Booth to checkout other games I had missed on Friday.

talks

I went to a few talks this year. One called "Now that we Know Everything is Sexist, Now What" and a Q&A with the founders of Super Giant Games. Both panels were interesting for different reasons. I appreciate the Sexism talk but it depressed me a little. The Supergiant Q&A was good but I wanted a bit more time with them and the questions didn't seem to resonate with me. Super Giant Games is a great company and they have a very dedicated fan base so it was fun to hear the fans ask questions.

dwarf fortress

After seeing Death Road to Canada on Friday I wanted to head back to the Booth to talk to Rocker Cat Games about the game and try and see if they were interested in doing a interview for the site. Come to find out they are, so look forward to that in the next week or so. In the process I was waiting to talk to Kepa from Rock Cat and I talked to someone standing a bit to the side of the booth. He was a friend of Kepa helping out with the booth for some free PAX passes. I mentioned that as a pretty awesome trade and during our discussion it turns out I was talking to Zach Adams of Dwarf Fortress. Zack Adams a guy I have only read about in about a zillion online articles and The New York Fucking Times. We chatted up a bit about the game and general awesomery. After a bit Tarn came over and we chatted for and hour about Dwarf Fortress, programming, movies, Wolfenstein, OpenGL & SDL, Unit Tests and Nazis. Spoiler alert, Nazi's didn't receive a whole lot of love in the discussion.

It was a chance encounter and one I didn't expect having, but such is the magic of PAX.

http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/

where is my heart

As I was making my way through the Indie Mega Booth I came to a game called Where is My Heart. I talked a bit to the developer and decided to play it.

The game is a platformer where you can alternate between monsters to achieve goals to complete each level. It also uses a really interesting comic book panel style that really changes what you would expect from a traditional platformer. Coupled with the really superb audio and visuals the game is really something special. Where is My Heart is currently on PS3 and Vita and is coming to PC and Mac this month.

http://gutefabrik.com/wimh.html

hotline miami 2

Hotline Miami 2 looks like more of the super violent rad-ery that I loved about Hotline Miami. Watching people play the demo level was fun but it had a few story elements that made me cringe a bit. They had an area where you could write or draw something at the Hotline Miami booth so I thought a bit and wrote: "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fukc, fkcu, uckf, yeah!"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotline_Miami_2:_Wrong_Number

always sometimes monsters

"Set out on a journey through the modern human experience as you overcome the heartbreak and hardships of lost love by making choices that will affect your life and the lives of those around you."

Always Sometimes Monsters is an RPG that contains no fighting. In fact, I asked the writer of the game "if you could go off on a rampage and kill everyone" and his response was "well no, because you don't do that in real life." Fair point and because of this is why I am really interested in the game. When the game launches there will be many hundreds of choices you can do in the game that dramatically change the outcome. Since most games involve some kind of fighting mechanic or game puzzle mechanic, it seems interesting to have a game that focuses on human relationships and choices that effect your life.

http://www.devolverdigital.com/games/view/always-sometimes-monsters

As I was frolicking in the Indie Mega Booth I made my way to the Indie Mini Booth, the booth inside the Indie Mega Booth. I am wondering if next year they will feature the Micro Booth inside the Mini Booth inside the....

One game that seriously caught my eye is Death Road to Canada. I was able to talk to the developer of the game for some time and nabbed a cool Death Road Zombie pin. The game is a great looking procedural road trip pixel zombie game featuring some really neat elements. The Kickstarter video shows them off well and also includes a CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT from Tarn Adams co-creator of Dwarf Fortress.

Love the premise of the game and I can't wait to try it out and if you feel so inclined, Kickstart it.

First day at PAX is always the most mind and foot numbing. I usually don't hang out in large auditoriums filled with massive art pieces, loud music and large seizure educing lights so the first day of PAX takes a while to acclimate to. @scrypt is at PAX this year so we have been co-ordinating a bit to see most of the show together and so far its worked out pretty well.

Today we decided to hit up the expo halls and check out the games developers are showing. I didn't have a huge list of games I came in wanting to play because most of the games I know about, i've played. All told, I found some awesome new stuff I hadn't heard of before and played some games that haven't been released yet... But enough of all that, lets get to it.

nekro

Nekro is an upcoming fantasy game where you summon demonic forces to fight for you. The Nekro team was one of many developers taking part in the Indie Mega Booth. The Indie Mega Booth got some space on the main PAX floor and filled it to the brim with games. It was PACKED with people the entire time I was there and to offer a bit of comparison, the 2K area showcasing WWE 2K was not. But back to Nekro...

Nekro is a game that just went to the top of my radar for a few reasons. First off the art for the game is both stunning and lush. The game world feels like an actual place and the way the Nekro moves around in it is awesome. The game is fairly easy to understand and the gameplay and is well polished. I asked about a possible release time and they have a few options on the table, the earliest getting the game out by December. Very excited to try this out and I hope I can score beta access at some point.

http://darkforgegames.com/

wolfenstein: new order

Wolfenstein: The New Order is the only triple A game I am interested in and after I got my hands on it at PAX doubly so. Getting a special lanyard/button and pin set for playing the game didn't hurt either. After waiting in line for about 10 minutes at the Bethesda booth I was playing the game. The demo was on the XBox 360 and it seemed to be a mission or so into the game. That or I missed an intro cut scene, because when the dialog started they referenced some stuff they hadn't set up in the game yet. That said, BJ only had a knife to start things out and I was pretty happy about that.

You start in an area that looks like it was recently shelled. After killing your first Nazi you gain your first handgun and continue on. After killing a few more SS you get a machine gun and then immediately hit your first mini boss fight. You come to a mech and with some strafing and ducking I took it down. As you continue on past the desolation you enter a Nazi bunker that contains more Nazi you must kill. I dashed across an area, up some stairs and started shooting people with a turret. Wolfenstein allows you to unmount the turret and carry around the massive gun. The bonus is you get a huge gun that will blow holes in Nazis as well as walls but it makes you walk slower and you can't run. I thought that was a fair trade for the bit of the level I played with it.

The gameplay is what you would expect for a triple A shooter in that its very polished and everything feels right. I really loved the variety of guns in game and liked how you could play things safe and stealthy or run and gun. Plus, the game is challenging. From the outset the Bethesda people running the game said the game was hard so not to up the difficulty much. Based on that recommendation I made the game mode as easy as possible and the game was so hard, I died quite a few times. I hope they keep the games challenge as it would be a nice change of pace for some of the shooters i've played recently.

The game looked amazing on the XBox 360 so I can imagine how beautiful the game will look on PC. Getting it when it launches, no question.

legend of dungeon

Had fun talking to Alix and Calvin, the amazing Indie Duo making Legend of Dungeon. Nabbed a cool game poster, a few buttons and @scrypt and I played the game on a large screen with 2 other people. The game is really awesome with four players and I will have to make more of a point to play this game with my friends when they come over. I have really only played it by myself, but the game is loads of fun with 4 people on the screen at once.

Asked Alix how long it took her to get to the bottom of the Dungeon and escape. She said neither of them had beaten the game so I told her I didn't feel so bad not having beaten it. :D I told them I appreciated a recent patch that made your default movement faster from the start. Being able to be a bit faster from the get go is nice because it allows your game to go a bit quicker and thats a pretty nice thing for a game that can be played in a few minutes to a few hours.

http://www.robotloveskitty.com/LoD/

even the ocean

Headed by the Analgesic booth to talk to Jon and Sean about Anodyne and try out the early build of Even The Ocean. The game feels very metroid-ish and I loved the overall feel of the game while I was playing it. They put together a few levels for PAX and they had some interesting game mechanics to show off. One unique aspect of the game is the shield you have. You can use it block projectiles as well as use it to catch wind gusts. Its interesting to in one moment use the shield to block a projectile then use it to catch a wind gust to make it to a higher area in the game.

We talked a bit about game platforms and so far Windows is planned and they will port it to Mac and Linux if possible. I nabbed a beautiful Anodyne poster and am really excited to play Even The Ocean when it hits beta.

delvers drop

Delver's Drop is one of the games I have backed on Kickstarter and after checking out the game build at the PAX booth my excitement for this game has been kicked up a few notches. They were showcasing two classes and much more gameplay than I had seen with the current Kickstarter backer build I have. They mentioned that the PAX build will be updated for Kickstarter backers in a few weeks and I am very interested to play it.

They are planning on a formal release of the game in December.

I have taken a bunch of pictures of PAX so far and will post them in the next few days as well as some other games I saw that were awesome.

Prison Architect is a prison simulator from Introversion Software, the creators of Uplink and Darwinia. In the recent video for Alpha 13, producer Mike Morris and designer Chris Delay show off the new prisoner escape tunnel mechanic. The video illustrates how your prisoners can appear to be asleep but can actually be creating tunnels to escape. The game even allows the prisoners to build off each others tunnels to escape. Currently, you can detect a tunnel by searching each cell but they plan on adding search dogs to detect break out attempts as well as prisoner contraband.

Alpha 13 brings another interesting feature in that you can set your prisons policy. You can set up what happens when a prisoner complains, attacks another prisoner, murders someone or is caught with weapons, tools or drugs. Introversion wants people to be able to design a prison that is a liberal paradise or right wing hell hole and this policy addition allows you to do that.

The game looks incredible and is currently marked down on Steam to $17.99, so why not pick it up?

http://store.steampowered.com/app/233450/

In a new interview with PC Gamer, Diablo 3 Lead Content Designer Kevin Martens spoke about some reaper of souls game changes for loot drops and the auction house. When asked about loot drops and the auction house, he said that much of Diablo 3 fun revolved around the auction house...

"That’s not what we intend, and we do want to address that, so the loot system and the enchanting and crafting systems are both intended to cut the legs out from the auction house; to make it unnecessary to go on it to some degree, where the most fun way to play the game becomes the best way to play the game.”

‘Loot 2.0′ will add “smart drop” items, which are tuned to your character. More legendaries are also planned, with extra effects, such as a staff that can spawn hydras from dead bodies. A new artisan, the Mystic, will be introduced, letting players transmute items – transferring the stats of one over to another. In addition, the new Loot Run mode will randomly generate a new 15-20 minute dungeon, letting you go treasure hunting without repeating the same locations."

If Blizzard is able to pull this off, this is a welcomed change. Diablo 3 is loads of fun, but it has always been easiest to grind for gold and head to the auction house for gear. Beyond a certain level the majority of loot drops are nearly worthless, yellows and browns included. Kind of sad to get a legendary item and think "oh well it prob sucks more than a blue I have." I hope Blizzard can change things so the dropped gear is awesome and I am really looking forward to the new "loot run" mode.

What do you think, are these changes to the auction house and loot drops something you are excited about?

http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/08/29/diablo-3-reaper-of-souls-loot-system-designed-to-cut-the-legs-out-from-the-auction-house/

**UPDATE**

It also seems that Diablo 3 will be seeing a huge 2.0 update getting much of the content around Reaper of Souls release.

"You’re going to get all the loot, you’re going to get all the new item types, you’re going to get all the new legendary affixes, you’re going to get our new gem type – which is the diamond – and you’re going to get all the changes to the rules, the smart drop system, the targeted drop system, probably you’ll get loot runs – we haven’t figured that one out yet – probably you’ll get paragon, etc, etc."

http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/08/29/diablo-3-to-get-free-update-alongside-reaper-of-souls-expansion/

PBS just dropped a new web series called "PBS Game/Show" on YouTube and it is well worth your time. The first episode is about classic game characters and how long they will be with us. The host Jamin Warren discusses Mario, Sonic and Link and compares them to other more modern characters to see whom will have a longer appeal. He also talks a bit about myths and stories.

I really enjoyed the the first episode and hope they keep this going. One of the reasons I started the Cheerful Ghost Roundtable was to get a pretty even discussion going about gaming that didn't contain long winded video game rants, 90's style shock jock potty humor and horribly negative discussions. Happy to see PBS enter the gaming discussion.

If you are looking to add some video game magic to your lego collection you may get your wish. Looks like the FTL guys put a Kestrel design up on the Lego site and it is listed as "Supporters Achieved." I can only imagine that means that the design is moving along and we may very well see an official Lego Kestrel ship for purchase.

Would you pick a lego Kestrel if it came out?

http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/35223

http://www.ftlgame.com/?p=580

Yep. Borderlands 2: Game of the Year Edition is coming and it will include a few things:

• Borderlands 2 Main Game


• Captain Scarlett and her Pirate’s Booty


• Mr. Torgue’s Campaign of Carnage


• Sir Hammerlock’s Big Game Hunt


• Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep


• Creature Slaughter Dome


• Gaige, the Mechromancer Character Class


• Gearbox Gun Pack


• Golden Key


• Vault Hunter's Relic


• Krieg, the Psycho Character Class


• Collector’s Edition Heads and Skins


• Ultimate Vault Hunter Upgrade Pack 1

I have been waiting on getting the DLC until I could pick it up in one bundle and this is it. Borderlands 2 GoTY will launch on all platforms in North America on October 8, 2013 and internationally on October 11, 2013.

http://www.gearboxsoftware.com/community/articles/1078/borderlands-2-game-of-the-year-edition-announced