A Virus Named TOM – Mac and Linux
Misfits Attic’s action-puzzler A Virus Named TOM is now available on Mac and Linux!
Betrayer – Steam Early Access
Blackpowder Games have released Betrayer for the PC as a Steam Early Access Title.
Resident Evil 6 x Left 4 Dead 2 Crossovers
Capcom have announced that the L4D2 cast is to appear in Resident Evil 6‘s “No Mercy” mode, exclusive to PC!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axgjCbpPOpY?rel=0]
The Humble Bundle with Android 5
The latest Humble Bundle comes with six games, available for both PC and Android.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQfkrNHbs1Q?rel=0]
Hairy Tales
Hairy Tales is a quirky action puzzle game by Arges Systems, released on Desura for Windows and Mac on 12th November, and on 25th October for iOS and Mac.
illo – birth of the cool
illo – birth of the cool is an action puzzle adventure designed for Apple iOS, Android handhelds and tablets, and now for PC. The game is being developed by Raylight, an independent Italian studio, and seeking funding through Kickstarter.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGTbgwm5llc] (more…)
First Max Payne 3 PC Screenshots!
The first screenshots for the PC version of Max Payne 3 have been revealed!
Rayman Origins announced for PC
Ubisoft has announced a release date of 30th March for the PC version of Rayman Origins, the platform game previously released in November for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii. Releases for the Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita are yet to be announced.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvhwWXF-LfU]
The game can be pre-ordered now on the UbiShop, for £19.99.
Rayman Origins will have a one time activation for digital download versions, with no DRM for boxed copies (via RockPaperShotgun).
Saints Row 2: Gentlemen of the Row
I came across IdolNinja’s Gentlemen of the Row mod for Saints Row 2 by chance, while reading the comments on the end of an article for the latest installment in the Saints Row series, Saints Row: The Third..
I grabbed Saints Row 2 for the PC almost two years ago, and quickly found a gamepad essential. While running around with my purple-haired freak was passable, driving without the gamepad consisted of crashing left and right across the road with virtually no forward progress. I know I’m not the best driver in games, but I can usually keep the car in my own lane! With the gamepad, I made some progress.. till I got to a mission that required a lot of driving, and got stuck slightly. Around the same time, I met a certain friend who started inviting me to lots of Left 4 Dead.. and Saints Row 2 ended up accidentally abandoned.
Not only does the Gentlemen of the Row mod fix some of the bugs and performance issues in the PC version, it also adds new content, from clothes and tattoos to extra weapons and missions! A friend also tried out the mod.. and came back with rather a lot of praise for it!
I had a slight technical hitch getting started.. the game doesn’t like me having two monitors, so I had to disable one, start up the game and put it into windowed mode, before getting my second monitor back on again. After that though.. I went with a new game.
Having proper controller keymapping made the tutorial much less hit and miss, and when I got out of jail, driving was passable, though still not great. I can’t honestly say whether the game is running more smoothly now due to the mod, or the upgrade on my PC.
I attempted some streaking, though as I’d not yet been to rescue Johnny Gat from the court, I think that prevented me clocking anything up in terms of respect, or stats on people having seen me streak. I went to put some clothes on before carrying on with the story.. as crazy as this game is, having a blur-censored character running around in the cut-scene would feel really silly. Where would she keep all those guns?!
I also had a go at the Crowd Control activity.. I don’t think I came across it last time round.. not that I got all that far with the story either! I aim to get this game completed before picking up Saints Row: The Third 😉
Fable III
My current options for 360 and PS3 games are playing via an old PC with an old capture card (low quality image), or playing on the TV in the lounge (noisy for Tim, and no contact with my friends who are on the PC).
I’d been trying to resist starting on Fable III until I had a HDMI capture card in my PC.. however, the lure was too strong.. I absolutely loved Fable II, as I had the Black & White games, also from Lionhead Studios, so I knew I would love playing this one too.. even if it meant taking over the lounge!
As with the other games, you are given a choice when responding to quests.. allowing you to become good or evil as you wish. Your morality affects your appearance, with NPCs you come across reacting to you with either greetings or.. well, I’ve not played an evil character long enough to see them yet 😉
Abilities are upgraded through Guild Seals, which you earn for completing quests, defeating enemies and interacting with NPCs. The seals can be then used to purchase the abilities you want in the “The Road to Rule”; a ghostly path where we meet the awesomely voiced Blind Seer from Fable II.
So.. I start off as a princess, wandering around the castle gardens, grabbing people by the hand and making them run along with me, just because it’s funny to see.. then I find out that my older brother, Logan, is up to no good.
People across Albion are starving, and some of them have decided to protest.. Logan has decided that this will be solved by killing some of the protestors. I’m supposed to try to convince him to play nice, but Logan forces me to choose between my childhood sweetheart, Elliot, and the protesting villagers. I save the villagers (Sorry Elliot, but it was never going to work..), then flee the castle with the assistance of my loyal friends; Sir Walter, and the butler, Jasper.
We need to take Logan out, but first we need support, and we start off in a freezing camp in the mountains, where we’re tasked with finding an artifact to prove my Hero status, getting rid of Saker, the leader of a band of mercenaries, and getting neighbouring Brightwall to send food.
In addition to completing quests, support can be gained by making the people in each area like you.. if you were evil, I suppose this would require people to fear you. Unlike in Fable II, you can only impress one person at a time, by interacting with them and choosing the relevant action.. after a while they will ask you to run an errand for them; if you do it, they will then be your friend.
Once you have made friends with an NPC, you can also take it a bit further.. I appear to have attracted the attentions of Alice the Housewife, who wants me to take her on a date..
As you have to build up your relationship with an NPC before further options appear, I think this means there will be no repeat of my accidental cheating on one of my Fable II husbands, which happened when I clicked on the wrong NPC to follow me to bed.. my Fable II character was a bigamist slut! 😉
Although running errands takes up time running to one location only to run back again, it does provide you with Guild Seals and presents from those NPCs you have made friends with. To save time, you can always teleport into the Sanctuary to use the map for fast travel. You’ll also want to visit the Sanctuary to open your presents, or to mess around with your clothing and such, although Jasper will nudge you towards the DLC from time to time. Some of the DLC is free, which would gain Lionhead some brownie points if not for the fact that some of the paid DLC was on the disk at launch.. that’s a topic for another time, though.
Shops close at night, and tonight this got me into trouble while befriending a shopkeeper at closing-time.. a guard came in, demanding that I leave.. by the time my rather long interaction finished, he had run out of patience and charged me with trespassing 🙁
When convicted of a crime you have two options: community service or resisting arrest.
As I’m a good girl, I chose to do community service and ended up making pies.. one of the various little mini-game jobs you can do around most towns. Making pies consists of hitting A and X when prompted, while your character rolls out pastry and sticks it on the top of a pie.. the other jobs are blacksmithing and lute playing, which also attracts a crowd of people who cheer along while you play, but boo if you mis-click.
Screenshots will be added once I have my HDMI capture card 😉