PAX East: Dyad is Gyruss for aliens

post from Destructoid on 14 March 2011 11:06:24 PM. © Destructoid

PAX East: Dyad is Gyruss for aliens screenshot

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Tucked away in the back of PAX East was a little game called Dyad. It's incredibly fun; deep yet simple, meditative yet heart thumping, just like many of my favorite games of this generation. Every level of Dyad that I played introduced a new gameplay mechanic, but the game never strayed a its simple "move, lock-on, shoot" rhythm.

Also simple yet complex is the story of the man who made Dyad, and the little roller coaster that goes a long with it. I've never met anyone quite like Shawn McGrath before. Just watch for yourself and you'll see what I mean.

Above is the finely edited version of my Dyad hands-on/interview. Below is the unedited, direct footage for those of you that like it raw. For more on the games that inspired Dyad, check out my now ancient review of Blast Works.

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New Destructoid Show: Portal Kombat 3D Arcade
Edition

post from Destructoid on 14 March 2011 11:06:24 PM. © Destructoid

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Welcome to die, Destructettes! We've got another fine and dandy episode of our twi-weekly cavalcade of awesome terror for you to bat your little eyelashes at. This is the most ridiculous introduction I've written to one of these posts yet.

Today's episode starts with some thrilling releases of the week, from Nick "TeeNick" Chester, and then news of Insomniac Games taking their first foray into Facebookery. Following this, I mutter a bunch of incoherent threats about face-punching over Australia's ban of Mortal Kombat. Sticking with news about fighting games getting rated by the government, Tara talks leaked Korean government secrets pointing to a new Street Fighter release. Other news includes J. Jonah Jameson in Portal 2, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D being "crammed" with "stuff," and a rather audacious statement from the Angry Birds guy.

As I see you've all figured out, there is now an awesome productivity-destroying chat feature on the site. Tomorrow night, Tara and I will be on Destructochat to get some input from the community while we write the show. So that's Tuesday the 15th, from 6-8 PM Pacific, 9-11 PM Eastern, and probably some sort of metric time if you're in Europe. Come sexually harass us.

Spoiler Alert: Our producer Zac is sick with a cold. Leave him "get well soon" comments, or Tweet his sniffly ass at "@zacminor."

Without him, our show would just be two morons having a slap-fight in front of a camera.

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Atom Zombie Smasher out now on Steam

post from Destructoid on 14 March 2011 11:06:24 PM. © Destructoid

Atom Zombie Smasher out now on Steam screenshot

You need to download Atom Zombie Smasher. Or, at least the demo for it. Blendo Games (Flotilla, Gravity Bone) has brought it over to Steam -- $8.99 gets you both the PC and Mac version, plus Steam achievements.

Those who own the game via Blendo's website can expect a key to redeem it on Steam soon. I had originally tried to play Atom Zombie Smasher from the studio's site, but it didn't want to cooperate with my computer. This Steam version works well enough, though, and the game rules.

You're tasked with both saving humans and blowing up zombies as an all-seeing entity in the sky. It's surprisingly refreshing to see characters represented as glowing dots. Somehow, I still feel bad when the yellow dots (the people who don't eat flesh) die. Huh.

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Epic Adventures: Cursed Onboard Review
(Downloads)

post from Gamezebo: Casual Game Reviews, Previews, Cheats, Tips, Forums, Free Games, and More on 14 March 2011 10:17:05 PM. © Gamezebo: Casual Game Reviews, Previews, Cheats, Tips, Forums, Free Games, and More

Gamezebo Rating:

Epic Adventures: Cursed Onboard claims to be both epic and an adventure but fails on both counts. Milking the Jules Verne story concept behind its previous title La Jangada, developer Urchin Games presents us with the Garral family who cruised up the Amazon in the 1970s and disappeared. You play Melissa Alan, a present-day investigator looking into this ?mystery." Sadly, what you find is a string of uninspired hidden object sequences with little to hold them together.

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PAX East 2011: Star Wars: The Old Republic -
Hands on

post from Gaming Nexus on 14 March 2011 10:11:00 PM. © Gaming Nexus

by: Ben Berry
NEWS - This past weekend, while the world got a link to a new trailer for Star Wars: The Old Republic; folks at PAX East got their hands on a a 4 player team mission on Taral V. For media members, there was a special walkthrough that gave us some preparation for the mission, so we wouldn't be going in cold. This was important for me, as I had mostly avoided much of the in-depth details of the game.

In this mission, 4 character types were available; Knight, Smuggler, Trooper, and Consular. Because I wanted one of the two characters with force abilities, I joined one of the groups that had a Consular available (the knights were all taken before I even got out of the press briefing room). As you can see from the video above, the mission is essentially the prototypical "rescue/retrieval" mission. What makes it stand out is the storytelling involved.

The mission started on a starship, speaking with a Jedi Master of the same race as Yoda, who communes through the Force with a long dead Jedi. There's an object you need to retrieve that can greatly aid the Republic. The conversation controls feel very similar to those of the Mass Effect series. One interesting caveat, is that it's a team based conversation. Each player can choose a different response; the game uses a random number generator to select which players conversation choice is used. While BioWare didnt say anything, I'm guessing character skills have some modifier to the conversation selection.

Once we got the mission briefing, it was a quick walk and a shuttle jump down to the planets surface. That's when things really got interesting, as we quickly shifted into combat mode. Not really being familiar with the controls wasn't a big hurdle; movement and target selection are pretty standard. The attack, defense, and healing selections make use of the typical numeric keys, and feel much like any other MMO. The Consular role could easily be equated to that of a typical cleric; light armor, attack ability, but "spells" (the Force) are their true weapon of choice.

The characters in the mission we played were all preset to level 32, so we had a lot of choices to work with. Among the powers for my Consular were the ability to rip a large chunk of earth out of the ground and hurl it at targeted enemies. There were also some powers used to stun enemies, heal team members (or self) as well as buffs. We faced multiple alien beasts as well as Sith Empire goons on our way to the base where the object we needed to recover was stored. Most of the beasts we would have been able to tackle individually, but a few of the larger monsters and the mission bosses were almost beyond our abilities even as a team.

A journalist sitting next to me as we failed at the at killing the mission bosses just as our playtime expired said "Well, it's WoW with lightsabers". While I stole that quote, I want readers to think about that for a minute; the developers took the quality parts of WoW and the storytelling of BioWare, and set the game in the Star Wars universe. While it is certainly too early to guarantee success, or name it as the next "Wow killer", the hands on time was sufficient to whet the appetite, and provide enough of a glimpse into the game to be extremely optimistic about the prospects for success.

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http://www.gamingnexus.com/FullNews/-PAX-East-2011-Star-Wars-The-Old-Republic---H
ands-on/Item21899.aspx

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Blogger Denied Refund for Game EA Won't Let Him
Play

post from The Escapist : Latest News on 14 March 2011 10:10:00 PM. © The Escapist : Latest News

Electronic Arts says Thomas Wetzel's nine-year-old son is too young to play Battlefield 1943 on Xbox Live but it refuses to refund the money Wetzel spent to buy it for him.

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Hey, creative types! US sign-ups open for
inFamous 2 beta

post from Destructoid on 14 March 2011 10:05:38 PM. © Destructoid

Hey, creative types! US sign-ups open for inFamous 2 beta screenshot

Sucker Punch has opened up sign-ups for the inFamous 2 user-generated content beta. Click here to get your name into the running if you are a resident of the United States.

You'll have until next Monday to do so; beta vouchers will be sent out in phases starting in early April. When the headlines about user content in this game first popped up, I wasn't entirely sold on the concept. But, as Nick will tell you, the implementation and tools provided make it sound rather neat.

According to Sucker Punch, non-US residents will be able to get into the beta via a separate process.

inFAMOUS 2 Limited Release Beta: Mission Designers Wanted [PlayStation Blog]

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Transformers online coming 2012

by: John Yan
NEWS - Hasbro has commissioned Jagex to create a Transformers online game to be released next year. Jagex has some experience in MMORPGs as they are the developers of RunesScape.

As much as I enjoy Transformers, I don't know how I feel about an MMORPG using the IP. And, they are expecting to hit the market in 2012? I wonder how long the game's been in development if it's suppose to hit next year. Also, I don't know if the Transformers are THAT popular enough to warrant an MMORPG.

I really hope it'll be free to play as well with micro-transactions. I just don't see people paying a monthly fee for the game. If that's the case, then I'll definitely check it out.

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http://www.gamingnexus.com/FullNews/Transformers-online-coming-2012/Item21898.asp
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PAX East 2011: Mysterious Narrator Propels
Bastion to Action-RPG Glory

You'd be surprised at how much essence an ongoing, deep-voiced narration can bring to a game.

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Zombie Atom Smasher out now on Steam

Zombie Atom Smasher out now on Steam screenshot

You need to download Atom Zombie Smasher. Or, at least the demo for it. Blendo Games (Flotilla, Gravity Bone) has brought it over to Steam -- $8.99 gets you both the PC and Mac version, plus Steam achievements.

Those who own the game via Blendo's website can expect a key to redeem it on Steam soon. I had originally tried to play Atom Zombie Smasher from the studio's site, but it didn't want to cooperate with my computer. This Steam version works well enough, though, and the game rules.

You're tasked with both saving humans and blowing up zombies as an all-seeing entity in the sky. It's surprisingly refreshing to see characters represented as glowing dots. Somehow, I still feel bad when the yellow dots (the people who don't eat flesh) die. Huh.

Read The Full Article:

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