SURLY HATE MACHINE: DANCE TO EVERYTHING LEFT 4 DEAD’S FRANCIS CAN’T STAND
Every good game needs its accompanying dance mix, and GCIDogmeat and GCITherewolf oblige with this ode to the things Left 4 Dead‘s Francis hates. We all know Bill’s favorite thing is, of course, stairs (why??), but that’s just one of the myriad objects of Francis’s derision, which also includes doctors, lawyers, and.. The Fountainhead?
Francis Hates Left 4 Dead [YouTube, via Destructoid]
Previously:
Fallout 3: Everybody Dance! edition – Offworld
Left 4 Dead: Savage beyond belief – Offworld
Left 4 Dead: the twits don't stand a chance – Offworld
Better left unsaid: scraps from Left 4 Dead's cutting room floor …
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, Xbox 360
BECAUSE THEY COULD, THOUGH THEY SHOULDN’T: THIRD-PERSON MIRROR’S EDGE
I can’t imagine this does anything but pain every last dev at DICE who worked tirelessly to maintain the sanctity of lead character Faith (though I did enjoy her terse expression in some of the screenshots in the accompanying thread), but the rapidly spreading video of a recently discovered third-person hack for Mirror’s Edge does prove just how quickly the mirage dissipates with just a little change in perspective.
3rd person view in mirror’s edge [On-Mirror’s-Edge, via Shacknews]
Previously:
On the momentum in Mirror's Edge – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, Xbox 360
MORE BANJO HEADED TO XBLA IN APRIL
One of 2008’s most pleasant surprises was just how approachable and engrossing Rare’s N64 original Banjo Kazooie felt on its Xbox Live Arcade release — it ended up being one of my year’s most played XBLA games.
Now, in an expected but still surprise announcement, Rare has updated their ‘Banjo Blog’ with news that a similarly hi-rez version of its sequel, Banjo Tooie, is headed to the service in April, “appropriate since Easter is the designated time for hunting multi-coloured eggs.”
Fans of the original will also be happy to hear that, finally, the game’s original “Stop ‘n’ Swop” feature will be properly implemented, saying “the Stop ’n’ Swop items collected in Banjo-Kazooie will ‘magically’ appear in Tooie, resulting in… well, you’ll just have to find out.”
Banjo-Tooie Release Date & Screens + Top 7 Custom Contraptions Award Info [Rare]
Previously:
Qu'est-ce que c'est Banjo? – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, Xbox 360
HACK, BOY, HACK: A FALLOUT 3 CODEBREAKER
As single use sites go, it doesn’t get much more useful than this, and just in time for the imminent arrival of Operation Anchorage: HACK-BOY takes a list of Fallout 3 terminal words and — with a bit of codemagic and a touch of in-game guidance — susses out the correct answer .
A cheap cheat, to be sure, but much more efficient than my preferred method of “keep guessing until you’re one attempt away from a logout -> exit -> login and try again,” or, like, using actual logic.
Previously:
Fallout 3's cold war – Offworld
Bethesda releases Fallout 3's Garden of Eden Creation Kit – OffworldThe Wasteland gets a little wider – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, Xbox 360
PUZZLE QUEST: GALACTRIX PC DEMO SUCKER-PUNCHES PRODUCTIVITY
Showing no signs of letting schedules return to normal, publisher D3 and Infinite Interactive have followed directly on the heels of their initial online Flash demo of sci-fi puzzler and Real Ultimate Timesink Puzzle Quest: Galactrix with an even more extensive PC demo, available via Big Download.
Unlike the Flash version’s battle-mode only limitations, the PC demo lets you play the first good hour or two (by my watch) of the game, and get a feel for its overworld, mission structure, and ancillary activities like asteroid mining, warpgate hacking and item crafting.
The verdict? Everything feels comfortably as if it was in the same spot as you last left it despite the galactic overhaul, from the frantic time-based challenges of its hacking minigame (here scoring matches in a set sequence rather than against an opponent) and familiarity of crafting and mining — it certainly earns the Puzzle Quest in its title.
But it also hints at much greater complexity to unfold: shuttling mined ore to the outposts that pay the highest price, your eventual bank of three ships with configurable weaponry (Galactrix‘s versions of PQ‘s spells) and crew that can be recruited throughout the quest.
And that’s just the overworld window dressing. As I noted in the last look, Galactrix‘s battles (particularly its shield and mine mechanics) push it well beyond simple tile-swaps, and both its shape and its omni-direction lack of gravity light up an entirely different part of your brain. It’s as fresh and initially baffling as it was to move from Tetris to Lumines — the language is the same, but the syntax is incompatible.
D3 also announced today that the game will be coming to the DS on February 24th, with a still-nebulous “early 2009” for its PC, Xbox Live Arcade, and PlayStation Network release, good news for a wait that’s already felt too long.
Download Puzzle Quest: Galactrix [Big Download, game site]
Previously:
You’re my obsession: Puzzle Quest: Galactrix demo goes live – Offworld
Things We Lost In The Snow, pt 1: PuzzleQuest hit the iPhone …
Nintendo's Wii/DS outlook: The Offworld view – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, Xbox 360
THERE GOES MY GUN: APERTURE SCIENCE HANDHELD PORTAL DEVICE IN REAL LIFE
Easily the most incredible cosplay accessory ever created, ’emilyskeith’s real world Portal gun does everything just about perfect, and is so meticulously constructed I — no lie — can’t tell how it was made by anyone other than Aperture Science themselves.
Update: You can see many more pictures detailing its creation via the constructor himself, ‘Volpin’, at his cosplay.com gallery.
Portal Gun [Flickr, via N’gai]
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, Portal, Xbox 360
ESRB RATES SQUARE ENIX PUZZLER YOSUMIN FOR PC RELEASE
Very well spotted via Tiny Cartridge, the ESRB — everyone’s new favorite source of pre-release information — has rated a Windows PC version of Square Enix’s excellent puzzler Yosumin. Originally released as an import-only DS title, you may recall rumors spreading several weeks ago of an imminent Xbox Live Arcade port, but this is the first public indication that Square Enix is considering stateside release — though, it should be said, not a guarantee.
Either way, I now have a very good excuse to say here, you can prep yourself for the release by training on Square Enix’s Flash version (hosted grey-ly by thelostmd, click the first of the three menu options to start the game), but — fair warning from personal experience — it’s frighteningly easy to lose hours to the charms of its virus-esque polygons.
The gameplay itself is simple enough: your only task is to find any rectangle amongst the field where the same color shapes make up each of its four corners, at which point all the shapes inside will be converted to that color, collected, and replaced with a new set of randoms. While your score will be boosted by by finding ever wider rectangles within the field, each level ends when you’ve collected the requisite number of each color.
The ESRB notes, as the Xbox Live Arcade rumors did, that the official release will include both high score challenges and multiplayer modes — here’s to looking forward to updating more on that later this year.
Previously:
Atlus PR manager defies genetic programming, exhibits sense of …
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, Xbox 360
CHANGE I CAN BELIEVE IN: THE PRESIDENTIAL MECH-WARS OF METAL WOLF CHAOS
Offered as a counterpoint to 1UP Retro Blog’s timely “worst presidents of gaming” article (a list including, of course, Bad Dudes‘ own burger-loving Mr. President), I submit gaming’s greatest commander in chief, the hard-boiled, dual-wielding mech-pilot Michael Wilson of From Software’s 2004 import-only Xbox title Metal Wolf Chaos.
Wilson not only soldiered bravely against the rebel army of his vice president, Richard Hawk, but commanded one of gaming’s most fantastically ridiculous entrances, exploding through the West Wing walls.
Microsoft, if you’re listening, now that we’ve ushered in a new era: now’s the time to correct your prior error and bring this to the States as a special Xbox Originals download.
The worst presidents in gaming [1UP.com]
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, Xbox 360
LLAMASOFT’S GRIDRUNNER+++ GETS APRIL DATE FOR XBOX LIVE ARCADE
A month after ruing the fact that Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade team were “sitting on” his submitted demo, Llamasoft head Jeff Minter has announced (alongside an excellent review for Space Giraffe PC) that the Xbox 360 remake of his cult retro shooter Gridrunner will see release via XBLA in late April.
In signature Llamasoft fashion, Gridrunner blends psychedelic light-synth overtones to a simple auto-shoot mechanic, as you can witness for yourself in its original PC and Mac form, or, more socially via its conversion to a Facebook application.
And, best of all, Minter also revealed earlier last year that the Xbox Live Arcade port, as above, would include emulated versions of the original Vic-20 and C64 titles that earned Minter and Llamasoft their reputation, for a release that promises to be as good a newcomer’s introduction to the Llama-legacy as you can find.
Space Giraffe PC gets awesome 92% review [Llamasoft, Gridrunner PC]
Previously:
Llamasoft's Space Giraffe released for PC – OffworldLlamasoft taming PC port of Space Giraffe – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, Xbox 360
YOU’RE MY OBSESSION: PUZZLE QUEST: GALACTRIX DEMO GOES LIVE
As I mentioned in December, Infinite Interactive’s sci-fi themed Puzzle Quest follow-up Galactrix is one of my most anticipated 2009 titles, based almost solely on the fact that the original game has wound up on nearly every one of my supported devices: I currently have dedicated characters on my DS, PSP, Xbox 360 and, most recently, my iPhone, and happily chip away at the same areas on each based on whichever I’ve got on hand.
But now I’ve got better reason: publisher D3 and Infinite have set a Galactrix demo live that lets you putter with the game’s match-3 battle interface, and already I’ve lost a good part of the morning to its hexagonal wiles.
Though I don’t quite have its particular vocabulary yet (the help gives only the briefest overview) It’s all too instantly familiar to a Puzzle Quest regular — each three or more pieces matched add to your equivalent bank of ‘mana’, purple for experience, white (presumably) for money, and blue for shield regeneration.
It’s that last bit that gives Galactrix its extra strategic kick: as a regenerable force, keeping your shields up becomes an utmost priority, as does moving in for repeat attacks once you’ve got your opponent’s defenses on the ropes. And the playfield’s mines, this version’s ‘skulls’, amplify their damage the longer they remain on the field (unlike PQ‘s randomly dropped/spell-amped flamers), so minimizing their effect on you by clearing them as soon as possible, or holding them to maximize damage to your opponent, also adds to the depth of play.
Whether Galactrix will garner the fast word-of-mouth cult hit status of the original Puzzle Quest, or — as Popcap CCO Jason Kapalka recently claimed, its very shape will prove a turn off for casual customers — remains to be seen, but I can say that even my brief time with the demo has made the game climb several rungs in my most-wanted ladder.
Play Puzzle Quest: Galactrix [Infinite Interactive, game site, via GameCyte]
Previously:
Things We Lost In The Snow, pt 1: PuzzleQuest hit the iPhone …
Nintendo's Wii/DS outlook: The Offworld view – Offworld
Othello gets Puzzle Quest treatment with Neopets Puzzle Adventure …
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, Xbox 360
