Sonic Generations PC supports cloud saving, 3D,
and more

Following the listing of Sonic Generations for PC by digital distribution outlets, Sega has finally made a formal announcement regarding the existence of this version.

In addition to the aforementioned services, Direct2Drive and Green Man Gaming, expect this latest Sonic adventure to be sold on Steam as well. Sega says Steamworks (cloud saves!), stereoscopic 3D, achievements, online leaderboards, and resolutions up to 1080p are planned.

Both the PC and console versions of Sonic Generations are due out on November 1 in North America and November 4 in Europe, with the latter also receiving a boxed PC version later in the month.

[Thanks, de5gravity]

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Crusader Kings II enters closed beta

It's time to get your medieval intrigue on, Crusader Kings II closed beta sign ups started today. I've been waiting for this dynasty focused grand strategy game for what seems like an eternity. I've been playing the original a lot in anticipation and I'm considering picking up similarly themed Sengoku just to get my fix.

In Crusader Kings II players don't take charge of a nation, per say, instead they control a noble dynasty. You still manage lands and armies, but the joy is in developing a powerful family that spreads across Europe, dominating everything. Of course, sometimes it's better to set one's sights a little lower. You win more by keeping your dynasty unbroken until the end of the era. That's easier said than done when you have to contend with popular revolts, war, plague, and the treachery of your so called loved ones. Remember your favorite brother? The one who you honored with the title "Count of Cornwall?" Yeah, he's raised an army and now he's trying to take the throne out from under your inept arse. Everyone's a critic. There's no reason why you wouldn't want to go through that. Go sign up. Now.

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Maroya and Canned Cat Food

Maroya and Canned Cat Food is another Japanese point and click type room escape games by Maroya. In this game, you try to find the canned cat food by finding items and solving puzzles. Good luck and have fun!Play This Game

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/escapegames24/~3/nA7a1hmE-TQ/maroya-and-canned-cat
-food-walkthrough.html

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Maroya Escape Game

Maroya Escape Game is another Japanese point and click type room escape games by Maroya. In this game, you try to escape the room by finding items and solving puzzles. Language barrier may be a problem. Good luck and have fun!Play This Game

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/escapegames24/~3/PXrqbJqALKY/maroya-escape-game-wa
lkthrough.html

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Rune Factory takes to the open seas in Tides of
Destiny

The newest Rune Factory, for the Wii and PS3 is out today. Tides of Destiny takes place on an island, and will allow players to travel the open seas in search of adventure, enemies and plots of farmable land. Tides will cost $39.99 for the Wii and 49.99 for the PS3, which is a nice change from the usual $59.99.

I've never played a Rune Factory game on anything but the DS, so this should be an interesting experience and one I am looking forward to. The story sounds interesting and I've always been a fan of the two genres that this series combines. Hopefully the added element of seafaring exploration will bring even more to a franchise that already has a lot going for it.

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GUNNAR Optiks' Contest: Win unreleased gaming
eyewear

By now, you've surely heard about GUNNAR, the eyewear company that specializes in glasses that increase contrast and reduce eye fatigue. I skeptically picked up a pair at PAX and I am happy to report that they are actually the real deal: it takes a little getting used to the slight curvature but the eyestrain relief becomes increasingly apparent with regular use. I definitely recommend them to anyone who lives in front of a monitor all day, whether you're a wannabe pro gamer or just a giant nerd like me. If you missed them at PAX they're now available at Best Buy.

Win yours right now: GUNNAR is looking for a new style name for an upcoming, unreleased design. You can check out their existing product line here. Your job is to dream up the best name ever and suggest it in the comments below.  All ages are eligible to win, and multiple entries per person may be submitted. Three winners will receive one of the unreleased holiday colors pictured above, and one lucky winner will win the new GUNNAR SteelSeries Desmo design before you can buy it!

Rules: Please limit one awesome idea per comment. Winners will be selected by a nefarious panel of Dtoid editors and GUNNAR staff on October 27th. DESTRUCTOID and GUNNAR are not responsible for any medical injuries caused to dudes with giant potato heads. The contest is open to all territories worldwide. See full contest rules below. Good luck! 

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Blizzard introduces tradable World of Warcraft
pet

Blizzard has detailed the Guardian Cub companion for World of Warcraft, and if there were ever a time to pay attention to virtual MMO critters, now would be it. Coming soon, this $10 pet is the first of its kind to be tradable, and much to the disappointment of fans, it's a one-time use companion that is good for only a single character.

"While our goal is to offer players alternative ways to add a Pet Store pet to their collection, we’re ok with it if some players choose to use the Guardian Cub as a safe and secure way to try to acquire a little extra in-game gold without turning to third-party gold-selling services," writes the company.

"Also, it’s important to note that we take a firm stance against buying gold from outside sources because in most cases, the gold these companies offer has been stolen from compromised accounts."

How immediate an impact this will have on the WoW economy, gold farmers, and even the types of virtual goods Blizzard sells in the future remains to be seen. I'm sure many of you have predictions.

How Blizzard’s Guardian Cub pet could change World of Warcraft’s economy forever [PC Gamer]

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Villains: I'm not sure you're right for me,
Ganondorf

_{[Last week, I asked you to write anything you wanted about videogame antagonists. Today's blog is from Yamagato333, who discusses the various incarnations of Ganondorf throughout the Zelda series and why he ultimately found Skull Kid to be a more interesting villain. Want to see your own blog on the front page? Write a blog on the current topic: Integration. -- JRo]}

I have a love/hate relationship with the Zelda franchise. I love Majora’s Mask. I hate Twilight Princess. I enjoyed The Windwaker. I’m not clouded by nostalgia for Ocarina of Time.

Did I mention I’m not too fond of Ganondorf?

My first outing in the world of Hyrule came on Christmas day 1998. I popped Ocarina of Time into my Nintendo 64 and began a journey that would change the way I perceived video games for the rest of my life. Before this fateful day video games were merely a hobby; an excuse to stay locked away in my bedroom because I didn’t feel like playing football at that particular moment. Ocarina of Time turned my hobby into a love affair. I was hooked. I searched Hyrule for every collectible; I memorized every dungeon; I fell in love with princess Zelda. That last one is a lie. I actually fell in love with the ginger girl from Lon Lon Ranch.

I really wanted to destroy Ganondorf because he’d wronged me. He’d taken the Triforce of Power and really messed up my Hyrule. I was ready to make him suffer, and suffer he did. I relished every second he spent being electrocuted by his own Kamehameha blast. I laughed feverishly every time I slashed at his deformed tail with my giant Goron Sword. I savoured the moment the Master Sword entered his skull.

However, he never once struck me as an interesting villain. I want to rule the world. I get power. Now I rule the world. I want more power. This is all standard villain stuff. There was nothing truly compelling behind his particular brand of evil.

Then came Majora’s Mask. It was weird. It was different. It scared me. There was a massive Marilyn Manson moon hanging over my head. A weird little kid I met during Ocarina of Time was now running around making Manson’s face fall out of the sky. He was doing this by harnessing the power of a magical and evil mask. I was freaking out, and I didn’t understand why I was so captivated by it all because it strayed so far from its predecessor, and I usually hated change. Gradually, I fell deeper into its clutches, and my love for Ocarina of Time began to fade. I appreciated Skull Kid because he was a villain I felt sympathy for. Here was a young boy that wanted nothing more than a friend. A child who had been corrupted by the evil of a mask, and turned into a monster. I never experienced this feeling of remorse when I plunged the Master Sword into Ganon’s skull. I savoured every second of that kill. Yet here I was promising myself that I wouldn’t kill Skull Kid. No, he did not deserve Ganon’s fate.

As I got older I began to understand that the reason Majora’s Mask had made me forget about Ocarina of Time was that its story was more compelling; its villain more relatable, and as a result, the game was less one dimensional. The fact I could relate to, and ultimately sympathise with, Skull Kid made him feel more real to me. I was fully immersed in this world because the characters had so much life within them. I mean, seriously, if you track each citizen of Termina over the course of the games' “72 hours” you begin to notice that most of them appear to be living out actual lives. They show up in different places. They are doing different things. You get a sense of peril from the various citizens you encounter. You truly feel as though this little kid is really going to bring about the apocalypse.

Skull Kid was the new villain on the block. Ganondorf just wasn’t doing it for me anymore.

Then came a trailer for Nintendo’s next Zelda game for the oddly named Dolphin console. A trailer that depicted its protagonist, Link in an epic duel with Ganondorf. I wasn’t impressed. Sure, the graphics looked awesome, and the trailer had a good amount of action, but honestly, Ganondorf is back? I’ve heard he was in a few Zelda games before Ocarina, and I figured you’d be doing more of that crazy Majora’s Mask style stuff.

However, much to my surprise, and jubilation, this trailer was not the Zelda that would appear on the newly minted Gamecube. No, this Zelda was to be just as intriguing as the one that came before. This was The Windwaker.

Once again I spent many an hour in the world that Nintendo had so lovingly created, and enjoyed every second of it. That is until I met an old friend. Yep, Ganondorf is back. Now, in a game that seems so new and fresh - a new graphical style; a new concept for travel; a giant ocean to explore - you’d think that Nintendo would have provided me with a more imaginative and compelling villain. I’m not saying Ganaondorf totally sucked in The Windwaker, but I am saying that his presence was underwhelming. He just didn’t fit. I expected more. I wanted more. It was something that gave me a feeling of déjà vu that I never really shook on my first play through.

This was only my third Zelda game, however, and two out of three ain’t all that bad.

So then Nintendo introduced us to Twilight Princess; the game to appease everyone who felt wronged by the cartoon graphical style of The Windwaker.

Twilight Princess was an interesting concept, I mean, you change into a wolf and hunt shiny bugs. Okay, that sounds a lot lamer than it actually is. The game showed promise when it revealed the main villain, Zant; a strange looking fellow, who seemed to be spreading an interesting graphical filter all over my lovely Hyrule. I was digging this guy. He was weird. He was pretty intimidating – until he took the helmet off – and he was fresh. Yeah, this was a Zelda villain I could enjoy. Well, I wasn’t privy to any spoilers, so I was pretty upset when I discovered that Zant was merely a pawn in Ganondorf’s evil scheme. Ganondorf, really? We’re really doing this again, Nintendo? Shigsy, I know you’re fond of this guy, but seriously, he’s not cool anymore. I want that other guy. The weird looking one back there. Yes, him. No, not the giant pig version of Ganondorf. Just forget it.

I literally turned off my Gamecube, and it would be an entire year before I saw the ending of Twilight Princess.

Video game villains are important tools when it comes to keeping one’s interest in a narrative. They often serve as the primary catalyst of the protagonist’s ultimate struggle, and as a result can be a thin thread holding together a fragile concept. A good villain keeps you engaged; they keep you playing. A bad villain makes you stop. They make you question whether you should keep up the fight. They make you question whether it’s really all worth it.

Fortunately, most Zelda games have flourished irrespective of their repetitive villain choice. We play these games for so many more reasons than a simple choice of villain, and yet somewhere, deep within the recesses of our minds, there is a voice. A voice asking where is that weirdo at Nintendo? The one who succeeded with his idea for Majora’s Mask. You know, that guy who who tried to make Zant the main villain of Twilight Princess. That voice is begging, pleading for that guy to come back. Hoping that he was working on Skyward Sword. Telling us to check the basement. Shigsy keeps him locked up in the basement.

You all hear that voice, right? Just me? Okay, then.

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Trine 2's co-op breaks out with Unlimited Mode

I really enjoyed the first Trine and its three-way character swapping and it felt like a concept that was just ripe for a cooperative experience. Luckily, developer Frozenbyte is coming through for us in that regard. 

What really looks interesting is the new Unlimited Mode that allows for all three players to jump in with the same character, rather than fill each of the roles exclusively. Apparently it "changes the game mechanics a lot and it's a very different experience." Considering how the first game depended on each character's unique abilities to progress, this little twist could be pretty neat. 

Trine 2 "Unlimited Mode" Trailer [BluesNews]

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FEZ wins big at IndieCade 2011

I love that independent gaming is large enough to support multiple award ceremonies. This past weekend, the winners of IndieCade 2011 were announced. Destructoid readers should recognize some of the names.

• Grand Jury Award: FEZ, Polytron Corporation
• LG Mobile Innovative Game Award: Hungry Hungry UFOs, Asher Vollmer, Sam Farmer and Ben Bharier
• Visuals sponsored by Nvidia: Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, Superbrothers, Capybara Games, Jim Guthrie
• Audio: Proteus, Ed Key
• Impact sponsored by G4: Johann Sebastian Joust, Douglas Wilson and Friends
• Interaction: Ordnungswissenschaft, Till Wittwer, Marek Plichta and Jakob Penca
• Game Design: Deepak Fights Robots, Tom Sennett
• Technology sponsored by Transgaming: Johann Sebastian Joust, Douglas Wilson and Friends
• Story/World Design sponsored by BBC Worldwide: FEZ, Polytron Corp.
• Special Recognition: The Swapper, Facepalm Games
• The Trailblazers Award: Megan Gaiser
• Developers Choice Award: Way, Coco & Co (Carnegie Mellon)
• Audience Choice Award: The Depths to Which I Sink, Bigpants

Pleasantly surprised to see Deepak garner some affection. And yeah, FEZ -- we know you're awesome, now let us play you!

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