Since the recent growth in Steam we have seen indie games become more and more popular. Games such as Dungeon Defenders and Super Meat Boy have seriously hit it off with the market by making as much profit as a normal retail game in some cases.
We love these indie games because of the innovation that seems to be drained from the mainstream publishers, we see brand new ideas from hundreds of different studios that would never have the chance if we didn’t have distribution services such as Steam and the popularity of social networks today. One of the greatest things about indie games though are the prices, and by prices I don’t mean the regular price you pay when the game is released. When I talk about prices I mean bundles, indie bundles to be exact! If you have not learned of this growing phenomenon the basic idea is that a group of developers donate keys to a website for a good cause such as Child’s Play and the website sells these group of games in a bundle for what ever amount you decide to pay. That’s right, they are practically giving their game away. But that is not the point of the bundles, the point is to give what you think the games are worth and how much you appreciate the developers making these games, so you can donate anywhere from 1 dollar to 1000 and it’s all up to you. The most popular bundles seem to be The Humble Indie Bundle, Indie Royale and The Indie Gala. Continue Reading
Steam
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Yesterday Valve announced their first mobile application, Steam mobile, for iOS and Android devices.
Steam users will be able to log into the application, currently in an invite only Closed Beta, and chat to their friends on the go, browse community groups and user profiles, view screenshots and other generated content for their favourite games, read the latest gaming news, view Steam deals and more. Hopefully this means no more missing out on Steam deals whilst away from the PC. Continue Reading
Today on Twitter, Team Meat shared that their game “Super Meat Boy” had sold 1 Million copies! This is a huge feat for the group as 1 million is not a small feat for an indie game. This record was probably reached over December because of the games inclusion in the Humble Indie Bundle and the huge sales that were going over in Steam. If you have no checked out Super Meat Boy yet it is definitely a title to check out, it has some of the hardest platforming that we have seen in a while, not to mention the most entertaining.
Bethesda Softworks have announced that the PC version of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will be getting the Skyrim Creation Kit to enable modding of the game using the same tools used to create it. PC players will be able to download this software for free from January 2012. They will also be rolling out a new Wiki and videos to help modders get started.
Bethesda have been working closely with Valve to integrate the Steam Workshop into the Skyrim Creation Kit. Users will be able to submit, browse, rate and download mods through Steam all for free and at the push of a button.
This is fantastic news considering the huge amount of mods that have been released for Skyrim over the past 3 weeks and with the integration of the Steam Workshop we should start to see this service utilised across more games in the future.
For the full press release see here.
The Steam Workshop
“Contribute to the future of your favorite Steam games!”
The Steam Workshop is Valve’s latest addition to Steam and currently only works with Valve’s Team Fortress 2, where players can submit their own created items, like hats or other insignificant aesthetic bits, which Valve may add into the game. Users can also rate and review others items.
The scope of the workshop is the possibility of easier modding, which we will soon see with the Skyrim tools released in January, easier for the mod developers and easier for the players to download and use the mods. And we’re all very excited by it.
AJ & Akardo
Not only is this statement in the interest of the survival of the human race, but it’s also the name of a really fun game that came out a few weeks ago by developers, Robot Entertainment.
You play an apprentice War Mage, cocky and big-headed, tasked to defend the rifts at all costs, and soon you’re one of the only ones left. Orcs Must Die! is an action-packed strategy game where onslaughts of Orcs are trying to attack the rifts, and you have to stop them with a variety of deadly, dangerous and humorous traps.
There are many traps and weapons to choose from, which makes the game harder to play as it’s difficult to make that choice. One of your Eight slots is saved for a crossbow which you have to take every time, which is a great weapon for dispatching the Orcs yourself, though there’s also a Bladestaff, which is the melee weapon you could take with you as well as the crossbow. The other slots are used with magic and traps, which range from darts and spikes, to fire and springs; throwing, burning, and slowing the Orcs, Kobolds, and Ogres before they reach the precious rifts.
It is kind of a tower-defence game, but one with you running around in third-person to help kill the enemies. You can choose a barricade to fill one of your slots, to help create a path the enemy will have to take, or just get deadly things like the Floor Spikes. You can also upgrade each of the items which do different things, for example, the Floor Spikes will get a poison which slows enemies, and the Dart Walls will get increased range, but you only get a certain amount of upgrades as you pay for them with the skulls you get from completing levels, with the amount depending on how well you did per level, with a maximum of five skulls each level.
Many critics have received Orcs Must Die! with good praise, and I shall be no different. It’s a great, fun game, with attractive quirky graphics, and a variety of choice. The campaign also isn’t too short, and they have already released the first bit of DLC: Artifacts of Power. This DLC is only £1.99 on steam, but it only gives you four new weapons/traps, so it isn’t exactly a must-have, but it still adds to the experience.
Orcs Must Die! is available now on Steam at £11.99, has 27 achievements, and there is also a demo available on STEAM which gives you access to a few levels as a great taste to the game, go download it now.
Akardo
There have been rumours flying round all day about Valve announcing a new entry into the Counter-Strike series and it’s just been announced. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has been announced for release in early 2012. Here’s the full press release from Valve below:
Next Gen Console, PC, and Mac Release Targeted for Early 2012.
Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Counter-Strike, Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, Portal, and Team Fortress) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO).
Targeted for release via Playstation Network, Xbox Live Arcade, and Steam (for PC and Mac) in early 2012, CS: GO will expand upon the team-based action gameplay that it pioneered when it was launched exactly 12 years ago (CS beta 1, August 1999).
CS: GO features new maps, characters, and weapons and delivers updated versions of the classic CS content (de_dust, etc.). In addition, CS: GO will introduce new gameplay modes, matchmaking, leader boards, and more.
“Counter-Strike took the gaming industry by surprise when the unlikely MOD became the most played online PC action game in the world almost immediately after its release in August 1999,” said Doug Lombardi at Valve. “For the past 12 years, it has continued to be one of the most-played games in the world, headline competitive gaming tournaments and selling over 25 million units worldwide across the franchise. CS: GO promises to expand on CS’ award-winning gameplay and deliver it to gamers on the PC as well as the next gen consoles and the Mac.”
CS: GO is being developed by Valve in cooperation with Seattle-based Hidden Path Entertainment. The title is targeted for release in early 2012 and will be playable at this year’s PAX Prime and London Games Festival.
For more information, please visit the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Steam page.
AJ
Valve released their sequel to the amazing puzzle game Portal last week, and there certainly are a few surprises in store… (WARNING: Spoilers are minimal)
Portal 2 picks up some time after the first one, and you’re still playing as Chell – the mute weird girl in the jump-suit. You wake up in a strange room, awoken by a robotic voice (hehe) that shows you how to play the game – this is the only game I know of which the instructions on how to play WORK! You’re in the room and are asked to do stuff to check your cognitive functions are still.. well, functioning. This is funny the first time, and then it’s still chuckle-worthy the second time.
The big new character in Portal 2 is Wheatley (voice by Stephen Merchant – Wow) who is a ‘personality core’, a little ball-robot that just sort of floats around guiding you. Of course, he is just as entertaining to listen to as GlaDOS (voiced by Ellen McLain again, excellently) was the first time you were meeting her in Portal, but this time he’s on your side and helping you to escape.
In Portal 2, there are some new game mechanics – so you’re not just stuck to the Portal Gun, like in the first game. This time, you have gel. There are three kinds, blue, orange, and white, while travelling through Aperture you find old test chambers that are voiced by the man who used to run Aperture, Cave Johnson. He is another funny character, simply because he is yet another that has gone insane, the big difference is that he’s the first human you get to know from his monologues. Back to the gels – the first one you find is blue, the Repulsion Gel, and as long as you’re not in the control group, when you jump on it you will fly higher into the air then you would with just a regular jump, and if you fall onto it from a higher height, you will of course go even higher. The second gel, orange, allows you to run really fast on it, simple as that. And the white gel took me a while to figure out, it is just a place you can put portals on to, which proves invaluable by the time you’ve got some spraying about.
The gels are an odd mechanic, just because you aren’t given a ‘Gel Gun’ (like I was expecting), you find it while you’re walking around, and sometimes it’s being transported to places in Aperture so something (you) breaks the pipe and lets it all spew out.
The main part of Portal, is the story. While the gameplay is great fun, and endless run of test chambers does get dull (though there are twists and turns that does make it almost not so dull), it is the great writing that makes you carry on. The first Portal didn’t drag on long enough that you were getting bored completing it in one sitting, but if you did, GlaDOS’ great drollness and hillarious comments would have kept you playing. And with all the twists in this game, you will be dying (literally?) to see the end for comparison, as it is very much the same game but with a lot more content and love put into it.
Mr. Akardo
Two weeks ago I was frantically playing Dragon Age 2 to get up to the end of the first act and, as usual, I was launching the game via Steam even though I had bought a retail copy. The reason being so I can have access to the overlay, fantastic new screenshot abilities and keep in touch with my friends.
Although Steam now allows you to upload images taken in non-Steam games it doesn’t track your game time. So, when I spent the entire week pumping 14 hours into the game it looks like I’ve not played anything according to my profile! No, this isn’t bad but it would be nice to have something to show off alongside my screenshots and recording my game time seems the logical thing to do and something which should have been implemented a long time ago.
This is something Akardo and myself have long discussed and maybe Valve’s reasoning is because it encourages you to buy through Steam although I doubt this sways many people’s choices. Perhaps it is the in-ability to accurately record/tie in the data from a non-Steam game to Steam but when Valve ultimately give the impression they want Steam to become the lead software for launching games it just makes sense for them to add in this feature so your friends know what you’ve been up to. When a friend visits my profile and see I’ve put only 5 hours into gaming in the past 2 weeks it probably looks like I’ve either gone on holiday or am disappearing off the planet (or both?).
I can’t see it being much hassle to implement this feature either because their screenshot feature records what game the screenshot was taken in, surely it wouldn’t be too much to ask them to add, at the very least, a game time tracker. Ideally though I would love to see Valve allowing you to tie in your non-Steam games with their equivalents released on Steam so you have all the benefits of a game bought via Steam.
So, I would like to see this feature implemented by Valve, I’m not asking for access to any DLC which only works with Steam copies of the games (although this may also be handy, case in point being Borderlands). I just want a small feature so I can show off to my friends how much time I’ve been investing fighting dragons or playing with my nanosuit.
AJ
Duke is coming:
2K have officially announced that Duke will be coming back to us on May 3rd in North America and May 6th internationally. In celebration of this announcement they have released a brand new trailer showing off more footage of the game including the monsters, women (including nudity), some insane killing moves and of course…the guns! It looks like a return to the classic shooting games of old which is absolutely fine by me and it has been mentioned that the campaign is three times the size of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s.
Two big pieces of news today of which one will surely be a sigh of relief for PC gamers and among all of that we have some smaller bits of news to digest too!
Microsoft’s Windows 8 to be at the forefront of a new approach to PC gaming?
It all started with Microsoft’s recent overhaul of the Games for Windows Marketplace and then the announcement of a new Age of Empires, a new Flight Simulator and Fable 3 coming to the PC. It all points to Microsoft taking on a new approach to PC gaming which has just been bolstered once again by the hiring of Voodoo PC founder Rahul Sood as General Manager for System Experience. Rahul has previously been very outspoken about Microsoft’s attitude towards PC gaming when Microsoft cancelled their cross platform plans to connect the Xbox 360 and PC in multiplayer.
Gaming and Tech Network 