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Ecstasy of Order Review

"Tetris. We’ve all played it, rotating the pieces (“tetrominoes”) and dropping them in the perfect place, or despairing as we discover a piece won’t fit. You may have even joked about “mastering” the game during a stint of unemployment, or as a child, before you could afford any other Game Boy cartridges. But what about the people who’ve truly mastered Tetris? Where are the Kasparovs and Fischers, the great champions who’ve dedicated their minds to solving its deepest puzzles?"

I would place Tetris as one of the best games of all time. After playing it on the Gameboy I was hooked. This love for the game brought me to watch "Ecstasy of Order" a recent documentary that... Read All

Quick Play: Slave of God

...just... Well... This happened.

Game Shop: Portal to the Future - Season Finale

The season finale of Game Shop is now upon us. This action packed episode is loaded up with Cyber Ninjas, Time Travel and lazer shootin' Digital Heads.

Looking forward to season 2.

Hawken Review

My Review of Hawken. I actually had to reupload because of a problem exporting, so you guys only get the good one.

Interview w Jim Guthrie. Sword & Sworcery Composer

The experience of playing Sword & Sworcery on my iPhone showed me how immersive games on my phone could be. I wasn't sure iPhone games could be more than the typical grind of a puzzle game or fruit ninja clone. As I played Sword and Sworcery for the first time it recommended I use stereo headphones and I was surprised at how fantastic the experience was. The game that unfolded was a visual and audio feast. I enjoyed the fresh take on how a video game provides you with an introduction and the music stood out front and center as incredible. I mentally noted to find out more about the music because as I played it really hooked me. Jim Guthrie's scores for Sword &... Read All

So I started a Binding of Isaac Let's Play

Here goes! I'm trying to come at this from a "how to" or "guide" angle because I feel like my 360 hours of this game should be good for something. Let me know what you think.

jdodson Admin wrote on 01/05/2013 at 03:08am

Wow Gary that was fantastic, that really helps me understand the depth of the game and some basic strategy that I didn't quite get by "armchairing" Isaac.

Watching this game is hella awesome but I realize how far I have to go to actually beat it in a run as it gets REALLY hard later on. Awesome though, looks fun.

jdodson Admin wrote on 01/05/2013 at 03:10am

I just wanted to say again, more of these please :D

Gary_Butterfield Post Author wrote on 01/05/2013 at 03:58am

Thanks, Jon! I think I might be addicted. I recorded another one tonight. Upload happening right now!

jdodson Admin wrote on 01/05/2013 at 05:05am

Awesome, the public demands more Issac. And by public I mean me.... But I mean you pumped over 300 hrs into this game and it shows.

Personally I am interested in a bad Isaac run and if you can complete it.

Gary_Butterfield Post Author wrote on 01/05/2013 at 07:54pm

I'm going to put one up each friday, I think, til I get sick of it. Stay tuned!

jdodson Admin wrote on 01/05/2013 at 08:27pm

I think that's a good idea. Haven't seen the newes yet but it looked like it was another good run.

Here's to a bad one for the cameras!

jdodson Admin wrote on 01/06/2013 at 01:54am

Just made two Isaac runs. Nowhere as beefy as you were by floor 3. That and floor 3 stopped me each time. Used your strats to find the secret rooms and bombs blowing two spaces. Helps quite a bit, way more powerful that I was starting Isaac totally fresh.

That said, I unlocked Magdeline and she seems not as good as Isaac. Recommend?

Gary_Butterfield Post Author wrote on 01/07/2013 at 12:35am

If you find yourself taking a lot of damage, Maggie can be really helpful until you unlock Cain. Try Maggie a few times. More health, as much damage, yum heart. The only disadvantage is she's slower but speed upgrades are plentiful.

jdodson Admin wrote on 01/07/2013 at 12:45am

I have noticed speed upgrades are pretty plentiful. I dig Issac because he is Isaac but I find I really do appreciate the speed boost to start. Ill incorporate her more into my play though.

Gary_Butterfield Post Author wrote on 01/07/2013 at 01:41am

Cain is sort of by the books next steps. Cain is a straight upgrade in every way other than starting with only 2 health, which you can make up quickly. The other Maggie strategy is to liberally make deals with the devil. 4 hearts can make a huge difference there. An early brimstone can make or break your run.

jdodson Admin wrote on 01/07/2013 at 02:59am

Awesome, thanks Gary.

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The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct

UPDATE: This is not a real trailer. It's really the game, it's just a very early version that was never meant to be shown to the public. This was posted all over gaming news sites and even the social media manager at Activision posted it, so I don't feel so bad.

http://penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/the-walking-dead-trailer-we-ran-earlier-is-a-fake-our-apologies-and-an-expl

So here's another game for The Walking Dead. There's the Telltale adventure game, the Facebook game, and now this first-person survival game published by Activision. None of these are related at all except by the source material. I worry this will be confusing for some consumers.

I'll be... Read All

Jurassic Life

This is a video for Jurassic Life, a new Source mod coming out "when it's ready." This is currently a work-in-progress, entirely fan-made, with tons of new... everything! New AI, new textures, models, environments... and it could be the great Jurassic Park game we've been waiting for. I'm always curious in situations like this whether the IP owners will have anything to say about it. I'd be surprised if Universal doesn't go after them, but maybe they'll be nice about it. Free publicity right?

The joys of couch multiplayer

WARNING: This video is from James Rolfe. If you're unfamiliar with him or his character the Angry Video Game Nerd, there is a lot of adult humor and language. You've been warned! :)

I was catching up on some AVGN when I found a new series with James Rolfe and Mike Matei just playing games and chatting about them. This one in particular got me thinking about the old days with friends all crowded around the TV in the floor, playing the new game you just rented obsessively. Much has changed with games getting huge and the internet enabling remote multiplayer, and not all for the better.

I can remember so many hours spent playing so many games, including but not limited to... Read All WARNING: This video is from James Rolfe. If you're unfamiliar with him or his character the Angry Video Game Nerd, there is a lot of adult humor and language. You've been warned! :)

I was catching up on some AVGN when I found a new series with James Rolfe and Mike Matei just playing games and chatting about them. This one in particular got me thinking about the old days with friends all crowded around the TV in the floor, playing the new game you just rented obsessively. Much has changed with games getting huge and the internet enabling remote multiplayer, and not all for the better.

I can remember so many hours spent playing so many games, including but not limited to Mortal Kombat, NHL, Double Dragon, and of course Super Mario Bros. 3 with friends. There's something special about sitting next to someone that is lost entirely in the internet multiplayer days. The experience just isn't personal. Even with voice communication, it's hard to really focus on everything at once. It's considered a distraction to just talk about whatever and react to things you find interesting or funny as you play.

It seems like there's a resurgence of this lately, to an unfortunately small degree. Games like Borderlands 2 allow split-screen on consoles. Serious Sam 3 even allows split-screen on PC with multiple keyboards and mice. And Nintendo is one major player that still keeps this going strong. Even in Super Mario Galaxy there were minor things a second player could do to influence the world. I couldn't have gotten all the stars without my wife's help!

But for the most part, multiplayer is online-only these days, taking social gaming into a less social place than where it could be. It's amazing that we can play games with people all across the world, but it's sad that some people will never experience the joy of couch multiplayer. Perhaps I'm just being a bit of a gaming hipster, and my gaming proclivities haven't kept up with the times. Maybe I'm wrong, and it's just that I'm nostalgic for a time when gaming was a brave new world to me. What do you think?

PVP & Dueling

Looks like we are getting a pretty interesting update to Diablo III early next year.

"First and foremost, if our original goal was to support dueling, then we're not achieving that goal very well if we don’t actually give players a way to duel in-game. You’ve been asking us for dueling for a while, so we're going to add it to the game soon. Dueling is currently scheduled to release with patch 1.0.7, which is set to hit sometime after the new year. (We'll be providing details about that feature very soon, so stay tuned.)"

Blizzard didn't ship PvP with Diablo III and instead opted to release it as an update after the launch of the game. It doesn't seem like progress on... Read All