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Double Dragon Neon review: Oh snap!

Posted on by Anthony Swinnich in PSN, PSN Reviews, Reviews, Uncategorized, XBLA, XBLA Reviews | Leave a comment

There’s no denying that Wayforward has solidified themselves as one of the go-to development studios when it comes to higher profile, retro-styled 2D games. Some of their projects have turned out to be fantastic, like the wonderful Mighty Switch Force on the Nintendo 3DS. Others, like Bloodrayne Betrayal, are a bit behind on the quality curve. Double Dragon Neon is their latest effort to recapture the shine of decades-gone-by. Any reservations the studio’s varying quality may have caused should be dismissed — this is a great revival of a truly influential property.

Neon is about as over-the-top as a game based on an established property can be. It feels like a caricature of the late 1980s in many ways. The Dragon Twins — Billy and Jimmy — are a couple of carefree, wisecracking karate experts. The amount of puns that come out of their mouths, clever or embarrassing, recall the spirit of a quartet of fighting reptile siblings. The villain is in the running for my favorite enemy of 2012, and while he feels like he’d be more at home on Eternia he seems to fit in almost perfectly here as well.
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Armless Octocast Episode 108 – The Way Back Machine

Posted on by Taylor Bliss in Podcast, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

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This week’s episode falls under the category of better late then never, a throwback recorded from the way back machine on the 19th of July. It’s mostly Taylor talking, but Dave and Anthony chime in too.

ITunes: Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes

MP3: Direct Download

Hosts: Taylor Bliss, Dave Voyles, Anthony Swinnich

Music: Paul Weinstein - Chipocrite

Twitter: @TaylorBliss@DaveVoyles@HangOnGetReady

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Octo-Question: If You Could Only Play One Game, for life, What would it Be?

Posted on by Daniel Campbell in Contests, Features, Uncategorized | 17 Comments

[WINNERS: Congrats to Keven Aubin, Machaira and Edgar Alan! Please follow @DanielRCampbell on twitter so we can get your address to send your prizes!]

[Ask The Octopus works like this; We ask our staff a question. We encourage all of you to answer the question as well. Feel free to comment on our site, N4G or any other place we post the question. We'll pick the answers we like, then post them up in another article the following week! Those people also get a prize...of some kind. It might be a free game code, PSN funds, Microsoft points or (most likely) something from our random bag of crap... Don't get your hopes up.]


This Week’s Question: If you had to play ONLY ONE game for the rest of your life, what would it be?

This Week’s Prize: This week, the three  favorite comments will get a random bit of swag from our swag bag. Will you get something awesome? Something lame? Lady luck with decide!
Rules: 
  1. Yes, it can be an MMO or Online Multiplayer game, but it will NEVER be updated. If your game features local multiplayer, you can assume that there WILL be other people to play with.
  2. It cannot be a series. It must be one SKU and that is all.
  3. DLC is not included in the package.
  4. “Game of the Year” editions are not eligible.

Buck Up Indie Devs!

Posted on by Daniel Campbell in Features, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

You hear a lot of great success stories from the indie game development scene. It’s fun to listen to these stories because they make you feel really good about this industry you’ve chosen to pour your interests into. The more common story is however are of heartbreak and failure. It’s easy to look at the developers like Team Meat, Zeboyd Games and Polytron and think, “I could do that. I love games and have lots of great ideas.” It’s easy to say that, but the reality of game development is that most teams will never ship their product, or their product will fail. This isn’t, and shouldn’t be, the end of the story. This is an article all about the hardships of game development, and why it’s one of the best things you could choose to do with your free time. Read more

Indies at a Glace: Super Avatar Fighting Tournament

Posted on by Mike Wall in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

You like games. We like games. We like writing about games. But writing takes time, and since time is finite and new release lists are damned near infinite, you can probably see the quandary we’re stuck in. Indies at a Glance lets us discuss games we’re playing without cranking out a marathon review. That way, we can write about more games, and you can read about more games that we’re writing about.

You love checking out your friends’ Avatars. You know who’s rocking the Master Chief armor and who laid out $10 for the stormtrooper outfit. It’s okay, we do too. And as embarrassingly amusing as it is to look at those creepy doppelgangers, you know it’d be even more fun to knock their silly bobbleheads right off. You know what? You’re right.

While there is certainly no shortage of games that let you knock the teeth out of your fellow Avatars, Super Avatar Fighting Tournament does the best job of replicating an actual 2D fighting game. The fisticuffs borrow pretty heavily from Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat 2, complete with fireballs, sweeps, dizzies, and a muffled announcer yelling “fight!” before each round.

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Dogsworth McFreedom delivers Washington’s Wig to XBLIG today

Posted on by Dave Voyles in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The auto runner Washington’s Wig has finally hit the XBLIG marketplace . You may remember it as being the winning game from Team FistPuncher (devloper Team2Bit) on IGN’s developer-focused show The Next Game Boss.

Playing as George Washington’s loyal canine, Dogsworth McFreedom, you must run, jump, and bark as you desperately attempt to “return his master’s lost wig in this factually disputed account of one the most audacious surprise attacks in military history.”

Crossover characters from two other other indie titles, Escape Goat and A Virus Named TOM, will be included as well. But the real kicker will be the English dogs that double as canoes, in addition to a patriotic sturgeon (which I initially read as a “plastic surgeon”). Sadly, no cameos bySteroid Jackson, Dr. Karate, or the Alan Rickman look alike from their upcoming beat-em-up, Fist Puncher, are featured.

You can alter the course of history today for 80 MSP ($1) on XBLIG. Who said you need an Animus to change the past?

Source: Team2Bit

Cast of the Seven Godsends coming to XBLIG and PC

Posted on by Anthony Swinnich in News, PC, Uncategorized, xblig, XBLIG News | Leave a comment

Italian developer Raven Travel Studios is a studio after my own heart. Their upcoming Cast of the Seven Godsends invokes the spirit of both classic Castlevania and Ghosts’n Goblins.

Described as a “last tribute to 80′s run and gun,” this side-scrolling action-platformer gives the player five weapons to tackle hordes of fantastical enemies. There are seven “Godsends” which can be used to alter your arsenal, creating 35 deviations for 40 weapons in all. In fact, the video above shows off a Super Ghouls’n Ghosts-esque dragon attack, which brings back all sorts of warm, frustrating memories.

Environments include a Gothic city, a burnt out forest and a clock tower, which should bring a smile to many a Castlevania fan’s face. Expect to explore these levels on Xbox Live Indie Games and Windows 7 PCs in 2012, though an exact date is currently unavailable.

Source: Joystiq

The Present and Future of Drinkbox Studios

Posted on by Taylor Bliss in News, PSN News, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Mutant Blobs attack

You may not know the name Drinkbox, but you should learn it. They’re the devs behind Mutant Blobs Attack, the PlayStation Vita downloadable title that has received wide critical acclaim. It’s also been selling well according to Drinkbox Studios’ Chris Harvey, who told us the game has already earned the studio enough to break even: something not all self-published indie studios get to tout.

But Drinkbox isn’t stopping there. They have a PC port of the game on the way, which should be hitting Steam sometime in the not-too-distant future. They also have a skeleton crew finishing the port, but they’re doing more than just bringing a wonderful indie title to PC; they’re getting to know the process as well as possible and streamline it for their future releases. And they’re going to need it. They already have a new title slated for this fall, Guacamelee!, a metroidvania action-platforming game that will have players straddling the space between the world of the living and the dead with a touch of Mexican mythology to spice things up. Check back later for our hands-on taste test of Guacamelee!.