PAX East 2011: Polytron's Fez Trixelates 2D
Platformers

post from The Escapist : Latest News on 13 March 2011 10:26:00 PM. © The Escapist : Latest News

Fez is a promising 2D indie platformer that finally lets you get behind flat background objects.

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PAX East 2011: Day 3 Wrap-up

post from Gaming Nexus on 13 March 2011 10:12:00 PM. © Gaming Nexus

by: Ben Berry
NEWS - PAX East 2011 has come and gone. I worked, I partied, I hung out with old friends and met new ones. I saw a bunch of games that I'd heard about but not seen before, and I saw a bunch of games I've never heard of.

Today was casual day for me on the show floor, which had originally meant just snooping around with some of the newer games from smaller players, and picking up some swag. I wasn't really successful in the swag department other than a few small items; but the swag pile on my dining room table is so big as it is, I'm going to take a picture of it before it is dismantled.

I started the day with the Boston Indie Game showcase, where the quality was good, even if the quantity was not. I've already detailed my time with these folks in a post, but suffice to say I'm hopeful next years crop will be bigger. I guess these things are cyclical, so with the economy on the rebound, hopefully we'll continue to see more growth in what has been a good cottage industry here in the northeast.

Then, Tina Amini invited me to join her for an appointment to see Darkness II. While Tina will be writing up the coverage of the game, I have to tell you that it looks really cool, with the mix of mafia and devilish mayhem. Plus, I have to give Tina a shout out, because as she played several members of the booth staff gathered to watch her violently make her way through the hands on demo. I heard several muttered phrases of admiration including "Geesh, she's better at this than I am" and "Wow, she's really getting into this" as she ate hearts and impaled villianous henchmen in her path. Mad props, Tina.

Then, on a lark I walked right up to Rockstar's booth and asked if they had any openings to look at LA NOIRE. Amazingly, they took me right back and sat me with a press briefing that was just about to start. I'll go more in depth on my post about the game, but this is a game that I'm definitely going to play, and with a May 17 release date, hope to have in time for my late May birthday. They showed us one of the murder cases in the game, and the best way I can frame the game is that it is sort of the anti-GTA game, but uses some of the elements we love from the series very well.

With a little more walking around, and some browsing the retail sections, I said goodbye to a few friends, and headed out. I spent a pretty decent amount on food and parking, but bought only Jim Zubkavich's trade paperback of his Skullkickers comic this weekend. If you haven't been reading it, you should. He'sa friend of the site with a bright future, but his now is kicking some serious ass too. A project manager for UDON (they do the art for the CAPCOM games), and an artist in his own right, he's really setting the world on fire these days.

While I'm sad the shows over, I'm also excited to have seen some pretty amazing stuff this year, and I'm looking forward to next year, which I can only imagine will be even bigger.

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PAX East: Marvel Vs. Capcom 3's 1st DLC fighters
explored

post from Destructoid on 13 March 2011 10:06:07 PM. © Destructoid

PAX East: Marvel Vs. Capcom 3's 1st DLC fighters explored screenshot

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Like I said earlier tonigh, I ended PAX East on a good note. The last game I played was the excellent Resident Evil Mercenaries 3DS. The second to last game was Marvel Vs. Capcom 3, featuring unreleased characters Shuma Gorath and Jill Valentine. Sadly, Capcom' Seth Killian (my favorite fighting game oppontent) and I were both pretty terrible in this match. Three days of no sleep and non-stop socializing, walking, writing, and video production will do that to you.

Still, I can say with confidence that these characters are both a hell of a lot of fun to play. I still miss MvC2 Jill, but MvC3's Jill is definitely fun to use in her own right. As for Shuma Gorath, he's still a giant eyeball covered in tenticles, so I'm still totally in love with him.

Both of these characters will be available at for download this Tuesday. Do you think you'll pick them up?

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Survey: What do you think of the iPad

post from Destructoid on 13 March 2011 09:06:13 PM. © Destructoid

Survey: What do you think of the iPad? screenshot

The iPad2 was released two days ago and is not without critical acclaim. Some have even gone was far as calling it the holy grail of computing. Praise comes easy: It's thinner than an iPhone4 (wtf!), lighter than its predecessor, loads and runs games twice as fast, has two cameras, and is priced the same as its debut model. Prior to the new iPad the device was doing just fine. There is no ongoing shortage of high quality free iPad games and many of its premium games like Infinity Blade have won numberous awards and sold more than many console releases. In terms of investment it seems to hold its resale value well: even generation one iPads are selling for only a hundred dollars less than retail on eBay. That said, the device is not cheap and not for everyone. Hell, I'm personally allergic to iPhones.

If you own an iPad (either model) how do you like it? If you don't own an iPad, do you plan on buying one? Why not?

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PAX East 2011: Boston Indie Showcase

post from Gaming Nexus on 13 March 2011 08:55:00 PM. © Gaming Nexus

by: Ben Berry
NEWS - I stopped by the Boston Indie Showcase, and frankly I was a bit disappointed. I guess I knew this in advance, but only 3 companies were part of the showcase this year; Team Uncertainty, Owlchemy Labs, and Retro Affect. Team Uncertainty's Blinding SIlence has you playing the role of a blind man whose cane can visualize sound waves. It's an interesting proposition, and the unique graphical style used to represent the cane's power is something that reminded me a bit of when most games were in scales of grey but with the occasional offbeat color mixed in like bright green or purple.

Owlchemy Labs, has had the power of controversy behind it's upcoming iOS/Mac/PC release Smuggle Truck. I played the iPad version of the game, and it's a very simple side-scrolling game where you drive a truck full of immigrants trying to get them across the border. The immigrants are shaped a little bit like weeble wobbles and fall easily out of the back of the truck as you avoid obstacles on a high speed ride to the border. It's not a difficult game to figure out, but it seems like it will be a tough one to master. I had immigrants falling everywhere out of the back of the truck.

Probably the most interesting offering was Snapshot from Retro Affect. Your character makes it's way through challenges and obstacles through your use of the camera mechanism which allows you take a picture of an object in the game in order to later place it in another location to help you complete your mission. It's really just like having a somewhat limited inventory, but with an interesting presentation as to how it's handled. It's enjoyable, and shouldn't get old too fast so long as the levels continue to be challenging beyond the one I played.

While the quality of the games was high, unfortunately there simply should have been more participants. Last year had twice the number of development firms. While the MIT GAMBIT project had it's own space this year, and BIS alumnus Fire Hose Games is about to let Slam Bolt Scrappers into the wild, I really would like to see better participation from New England gaming companies.

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PAX East 2011: Halo Goes 2D (Sort Of) With Fallen
Frontier

post from The Escapist : Latest News on 13 March 2011 08:11:00 PM. © The Escapist : Latest News

A team partially composed of ex-Bungie veterans brings its expertise to sidescrolling shooter Fallen Frontier.

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PAX East: Hands-on with Resident Evil Mercenaries
3D

post from Destructoid on 13 March 2011 08:05:41 PM. © Destructoid

PAX East: Hands-on with Resident Evil Mercenaries 3D screenshot

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PAX East is over, which makes me sad. Thankfully, the show went out on a good note, at least for me. The last game I got to play at the show was Resident Evil Mercenaries 3D. If you've been following a long, you'll know that this is a game I've been pretty nervous about for a while. Thankfully, I walked away from the game with total confidence that it would be worth the purchase, even with the first person perspective and walk-shooting.

The game may be a remix of the Mercenaries mode from Resident Evil 4 and 5, but with over 30 missions, tons of playable characters, 2-player online co-op, and a new score based upgrade system, there is still plenty bang for your buck here. For a die hard Mercenaries fan, this game is a must have.

How about you? You up for a story-free, all action, online enabled Resident Evil experience?

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J.K. Simmons' voice in Portal 2, sends out Mantis
Men

J.K. Simmons' voice in Portal 2, sends out Mantis Men screenshot

Actor J.K. Simmons can add "Aperture Science founder" to his long list of credits, which also includes leader of the Arian Brotherhood (Oz) and J. Jonah Jameson (Spider-Man).

Valve has confirmed that Simmons has lent his voice to Portal 2 as Aperture Science founder, Cave Johnson. Folks who attended the Valve booth at PAX East this year heard Simmons in action.

"Those of you who volunteered to be injected with praying mantis DNA," he's heard saying, via Joystiq, "I've got some good news and some bad news. The bad news is we're postponing the test indefinitely. The good news is we've got a much better test for you: fighting an army of Mantis Men."

Hope you're a fan of Simmons, because Valve's Eric Wolpaw says "you'll hear a lot of him" in the game, which releases on April 18.

J.K. Simmons to voice Aperture Science founder Cave Johnson in Portal 2 [Joystiq] [Image]

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Treasure Hunters

post from Hidden Object Games and Free Downloadable Games at Fenomen-Games.com on 13 March 2011 08:00:00 PM. © Hidden Object Games and Free Downloadable Games at Fenomen-Games.com

Find an enormous treasure and go on the journey of your life with the legendary Treasure Hunters! Help Jack find riches in a mysterious cave. After crash landing, it's up to you and Jack to make it back to safety and survive the dangerous mountains in this exciting Hidden Object game! Figure out tricky puzzles and use your brain to find the treasure!

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Swarm coming to PSN March 22, XBLA March 23

Swarm coming to PSN March 22, XBLA March 23 screenshot

Hothead Games' promising herd 'em up Swarm has finally been given a release date, splooging across the PlayStation Network on March 22 and Xbox Live Arcade on March 23.

Swarm is looking like a fun little game. You control a crowd of cute blue creatures as one unit, attempting to make your way across various platform levels while keeping as many guys alive as possible. It looks like it'll be good for a laugh and I can't wait to check it out.

Who else is into it?

Via @Swarmites [Twitter]

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