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Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 Review: Rolling in the Right Direction
One Million Fans Take a Stroll with The Walking Dead Episode 1
Kittens Spit Fire When Serious Sam Double D XXL Assaults XBLA This Fall
Dave and Erron both return from a week off, each with a different tale to tell. Dave’s might be a bit more exciting, but we don’t hold it against Erron. Dave also talks up Little Racers Street.
The application process has begun for the IndieCade 2012 Festival, which will be held on October 6 and 7 in Culver City (Los Angeles). The 2-day festival is part of the larger 4-day IndieCade Conference, which is focused on promoting artistry and innovation in the interactive medium. Potential entries can be on any device imaginable, including PC, mobile, console, and social media, and need only have an interactive component to be eligible. Games don’t even need to be completed; works-in-progress are encouraged. Basically, if you are working on a game and you’re not being funded by the likes of Activision, you can apply.
Although applications will be accepted up until May 15, you’d be better off clicking that submit button as soon as possible. Get your application in by February 28 and the fee is a measly $50. From March 15-May 1, the fee is $75. Miss that deadline? You can submit your game until May 15 for an extra special late processing fee of $95. But, in order for a game to be eligible for an IndieCade showcase, it has to be submitted by April 15.
What is an IndieCade showcase? A select mystery number of applicants will get to show off their game at a selected showcase event during the festival. The shows organizers will provide all the equipment and signage for the game, and they’ll feature it on the IndieCade website and social media. But, even games that miss the showcase deadline can still be selected as finalist. That honor nabs the team two VIP all-access tickets to the show, plus access to all social gatherings, receptions, and the awards show, and all the above-mentioned perks.
All teams that submit a game receive one free pass to the Festival, and are welcome to attend the IndieCade’s IndieXchange event. This includes a matchmaking component where teams can network with publishers, potential financial backers, and artists. There are also developer-focused workshops.
Want to get a feel for the IndieCade Conference? You can check out some of the previous speakers on their webpage. Questions about submitting your game? Head over to their FAQ. Need ideas for your breakout game? Just head to…wait a minute!
Update: Contest is over! Congratulations to eugaet! Does anything say Xbox Live Indie Games like zombies? Those undead, brain-munching menaces have appeared in an obnoxious amount of indies, but when the games are as much fun as Block Zombies, it’s really hard to complain. Don’t believe us? Fine. Then why don’t you just go ahead and win the game courtesy of Nostatic Software and check it out for yourself?
Read our full review to find out why we think so highly of Block Zombies. There are two ways to win, and you are encouraged to enter both ways! One random winner will be picked Friday, Feb 10 at 6 PM EST.
1) Post in this thread about your favorite zombie-dismembering weapon. Machete? Chainsaw? Lawn Mower?
2) Follow @armlessoctopus on Twitter and tweet the following:
RT+follow & visit @armlessoctopus for a chance to win the Xbox indie Block Zombies. #xblig http://bit.ly/weYcfl
Can’t wait for the contest to end? Buy it now for a buck.
We knew we shouldn’t have sold all our stock in voxels 2 years ago! We were a bit miffed when when Minecraft sold a billion copies, but now it’s downright embarrassing. It seems like every other game released is aping that blocky look. Yet, somehow, none of them managed to make it onto our recommended list for this week. Sadly, that won’t prevent them from showing up on the Top Downloaded list though. Without further blabbering, enjoy this week’s crop of demos to check out!
Katana Land – Dave
This 2D platformer gets all of the basics done right. Attacks are smooth, as are movement and animations, and it even offers a neat climbing mechanic. Your ninja can jump or drop to any platform, and the way the developer implemented it was done wonderfully. Katana Land is one of the best platformers I’ve seen on XBLIG in some time. Read more
There’s something to be said for games that incorporate FMV scenes. A game that knows how to enhance the experience as a whole with FMV is usually a game that could still be considered a good game without the additional gimmick. In recent years a number of small studios seem to have honed in on this fact, and as a result we, the consumers, have been treated to a number of excellent games.
Twisted Pixel, for example, has a few titles that used it well until they crossed the line with The Gunstringer. While it could be argued that the Kinect peripheral is to blame for some of the underwhelming feeling associated with The Gunstringer, it can’t change the fact that it was the first game Twisted Pixel released where their use of FMV was meant to carry the entire package, and that’s the aforementioned line: one that should never be crossed.
But Futuremark Games Studio’s Unstoppable Gorg manages to offer a solid experience even if you ignore the FMV scenes, and an incredible one if you immerse yourself in them. The videos themselves eschew the normal CGI techniques, turning instead to actual objects and costumed people. It’s this loving attention to detail that really cements the right way to incorporate FMV into a game.
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The waiting game is often a tricky one. Sometimes an extended wait can lead to having some of your wildest expectations fulfilled, and then some. On the other end of that spectrum, however, lies disappointment. That doesn’t necessarily mean that what you had finally received was poor by any means, but it simply didn’t live up to what you were hoping for. Brand is one such title which unfortunately suffers the fate of the latter.
When we first got wind of it in August, Brand was seen as a beautifully textured and modeled platformer, with all signs pointing towards a hit: A rarity on XBLIG. In terms of appearance, it has fulfilled its end of the bargain and carries quite a bit of the weight for the rest of the product. The models are crisp, the textures and color palette are vivid, in addition to being diverse. Each of the three stages has its own distinct feel, despite being inhabited by many of the same enemies.
New Life Interactive’s cancer-curing, voxel-based game, Cell: emergence finally has a release date. The “action surgery game” will be released on February 9 on Xbox Live Indie Games for $5 (400 MS Points). Cell: emergence HD will also be released for PC for GamersGate, Gamestop PC Downloads, Green Man Gaming, Playism, and Desura for $8.95. The extra four bucks nabs you almost twice as many cells to destroy, along with improved sound.
You might remember Cell: emergence as that trippy-looking game written by Sheldon Pacotti, the writer of the seminal Deus Ex. You play as a microscopic nanobot fighting against diseases inside a the body of a sick child, and you have to stunt the growth of the rapidly-reproducing malignant cells by employing a mixture of RTS tactics and good old fashioned arcade shooting. Sound confusing? Check out the developer walkthrough video (conveniently embedded above!) for a glimpse into this unique game.
For immediate release:
“Cell: emergence” Shipping February 9th, 2012
The action surgery game “Cell: emergence” will be released Thursday, February 9th on Xbox LIVE Indie Games, GamersGate, GameStop PC Downloads (formerly Impulse), Green Man Gaming, Playism, and Desura. A free demo will be released on Tuesday, February 7th.
In the game players fight a nanoscale war against disease inside the body of a sick child. The fast, deep simulation of tissues, antibodies, germs, nanomachinery, and other elements is achieved with a “dynamic voxel” gameworld, within which every visual detail has meaning, reacts to the player, and interacts with its neighbors.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Tutorial and Developer Diary on “Massively Reactive” Gameplay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
The Xbox version of the game, selling for 400 MS Points, offers a world of almost half a million cells, and the “Cell HD” version on PC, selling for $8.95 USD, offers a world of nearly a million. The HD version on the PC also provides higher fidelity sound and more frenetic gameplay tuned exclusively to the mouse/trackball/touchpad.
The Xbox version will be available in English and in English subtitled for Japanese, German, and Spanish. The PC version will be available in the preceding languages plus Italian, French, Russian, Simplified Chinese, and Korean.
Inspired by “hard” ’80s arcade games like Defender, Centipede, and Missile Command, Cell offers 17 punishing levels that require players to decipher a level’s “cellular automata” simulation and then battle living processes with speed and dexterity.
The game’s story, written by Deus Ex writer Sheldon Pacotti, is a first glimpse at a near-future fictional world where war is fought in code and chemistry and the inner workings of Nature.
ABOUT NEW LIFE INTERACTIVE, LLC
New Life Interactive, LLC is an indie game studio based in Austin, TX specializing in massively reactive gameplay.
http://www.newlifeinteractive.
ABOUT CELL: EMERGENCE
For detailed information on the game and team behind it, please visit http://www.newlifeinteractive.
ABOUT GREEN MAN GAMING
Green Man Gaming (GMG) is the leading UK-based independent digital retailer for PC games, selling more than 700 titles from 75 publishing partners to 146 countries around the world. Thanks to its unique proprietary technology, GMG offers consumers the ability to trade-in their digitally downloaded games for new purchases, while enabling publishers to generate on-going revenue from their intellectual property. Green Man Gaming is the only games retailer to pay a royalty back to a publisher on all pre-owned sales.
EDIT: Developer Milkstone Studios informs us that an update is coming next week, which will include multiplayer mode
The XBLIG Marketplace is notorious for its often campy FMV games (sadly, no Night Trap port yet), Avatar-laden gimmick titles, and games that bear strikingly low production values. On occasion, a gem will find its way between the otherwise generic rocks of games and spark a glimmer of hope into XBLIG again. One such title is Little Racers STREET, the 15th title from Milkstone Studios, who have made a name for themselves for their high production values and strikingly beautiful games. I’ll have you know that they continue this tradition with their latest offering.
Rarely do I pick up an Xbox indie game and really hunger to return to it later, but LRS had me coming back for more. The gameplay was addictive and offered just enough incentive after each race to keep that carrot dangling in front of me, enticing me to continue.
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