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'Dropsy' the clown wants to hug everything in the world, starting today
Dropsy looks like the kind of game that will produce one of two responses from anyone who plays it: People who like clowns will finish Dropsy huddled in a corner, terrified of circuses, suspenders and bright red lips for the rest of their lives. People who despise clowns will finish Dropsy with a new-found appreciation for the humanity behind the face paint.
Basement Crawl is a PS4 launch title from Bloober Team
Bloober Team, the Polish development studio responsible for Last Flight and Music Master Chopin, has announced Basement Crawl as its next project. Beyond the fact that the game is a PlayStation 4 title set to drop within the console's release window, however, nothing else is known about the game. Well, and that it's got this clown in it presumably. We're sorry about that, by the way, it's just that we had to see this clown thing, and so now you do also – we just can't take the full brunt of its nightmare fuel. By sharing it with you, our most beloved readers, its terrible power is diluted and eventually we'll be able to defeat it. But at what cost?
Perfect World International invites you to attend its 3rd anniversary
In our opinion, the best birthday parties are the ones where the visitors get presents too. Hey, we're going out of our way to spend an afternoon putting up with a half-rate clown and a rapidly deflating bouncy castle -- we've earned it! Perfect World International subscribes to this theory (well, not the clown, thank goodness), and so is handing out lots of free gifts for its third anniversary starting today. The anniversary celebration kicks off with several in-game events, veteran rewards based on how long since you first registered for PWI, and 24 days of double XP, spirit and drops that starts today. Players who log in from the 2nd through the 4th will automatically be entered for the giveaway pack, which includes a cool giveaway package with a Barbarian Tiger Statue and a Logitech keyboard. An anniversary is a great time to renew vows -- or make new ones -- which is why Perfect World International also has added a Chinese-themed Phoenix Nest Wedding Chapel into the game. Product Manager Derick Chan took time out of throwing confetti and blowing a birthday horn to praise the community: "We owe all of the game's success to the fans that have helped it grow and plan to reward every single player regardless of how long they have been with us."
First Look: Ramp Champ adds carnival fun to your iPhone
If you've seen Kevin Smith's Dogma, you know that a key character ends up incapacitated for much of the film as a consequence of his/her unusual obsession with the carnival game Skee-Ball. The whole uncomfortable situation could have been avoided with an iPhone or iPod touch and the new app from the Iconfactory and DSMediaLabs, Ramp Champ. The game brings the sounds and skill of classic carnival ball-toss challenges right into your pocket with a great deal of style and fun. The $1.99 Ramp Champ app [iTunes link] provides four separate levels of ball toss challenges, ranging from three rows of clown targets to a rather familiar garden of bitmapped icons. Each level provides scoring & prize opportunities for knocking down the clowns, fish, invaders or icons; if you match one of three bonus conditions for the level (including, on the icon garden board, tracking down the elusive dogcow), you'll get an award for your excellent performance. After each session of tossing, you collect prize tickets that you can turn in at the app's gallery of virtual stuffed stuff -- fuzzy dice, anyone? Aside from the four levels that ship with the app, there are four more levels (featuring unicorns, ninjas, teeth and tiki!) that will be available for in-app purchase at $0.99 per 2-level pack. Beyond the straightforward-yet-addictive game physics (you may find your thumb aching after a while as you press a little too hard to flick the ball), the biggest draw of Ramp Champ is how stunningly pretty it is. Although we are often spoiled by the visual effort and consistency of Iconfactory projects, the team has really outdone itself with Ramp Champ. Every corner of the screen is participating in the carnival look and feel of the game; even the sound and music design feels 'right.' For such a simple game, it's surprisingly immersive. While the game is a visual delight, unfortunately it shares a characteristic with many other 1.0 iPhone apps; it's a wee bit crashy, at least in my first day of playing. The app documentation suggests a device restart to clear out memory before trying to play. As Touch Arcade points out, the flick-to-toss gameplay is similar to the ad-supported app Paper Toss; if you find it hard to control the ball rolls in that game, you'll probably be challenged/frustrated by RC as well. Here's a screenshot gallery from Ramp Champ. %Gallery-70921%
[UPDATED!] A look at Wrath of the Lich King's Green quest rewards
When Blizzard half-seriously apologized for the brutally ugly Season 4 Brutal Gladiator gear by saying that their artists were hard at work on the expansion, they weren't kidding. If any of us were afraid that there'd be massive clown action, we can rest easy because from the look of things, even green items have an epic feel to them. The designers over at Blizzard have done a fantastic job making the green quest rewards in Northrend look impressive and even menacing that players won't feel embarrassed to equip them. I haven't checked out all of the armor pieces, but a quick perusal of the weapons shows that Northrend won't be a total circus when we finally get there. I mean, just look at the gun above. That looks really badass, specially with the skull and weathered metal. Check out pics of uncommon, or 'green', weapons found all over Northrend in the gallery below. [UPDATE!] By popular demand, I included a couple of green staves and as a bonus, took a sneak peek at the two blue quest reward items for Death Knights. I know they're not green, but they're pretty cool, nonetheless. %Gallery-28586%
Clowns falling down stairs: the ultimate physics game
Yesterday, in his talk at the Independent Games Summit, Matthew Wegner beat up clowns. To be specific, he showed a physics sim clip of a dozen full-costumed clown ragdolls tumbling helplessly down a spiral staircase. Wegner, head of the physics game site Fun-Motion, called clowns falling down stairs "the ultimate physics game." Why? Because it's a lot easier to identify with clowns in peril then, let's say, a bunch of shapes. Besides, it's just hilarious. Later on, Wegner also showed a sim of a few hundred cows falling through a mess of painful looking barriers. Also very excellent.The thing that Wegner didn't mention though is what's up with all this sadism? Physics games are definitely fun, but what's most fun is destroying stuff--clowns, cows, ragdoll fighters, whatever. So why the connection? Regardless, if I were a clown at GDC right now, I would probably be in hiding.
Cash Money Chaos' insanely bloody debut
You play an Elvis-imposter in SOE's newly announced game Cash Money Chaos. And like the original Elvis, you are captured by aliens, and are forced to participate in a "twisted 70s game show." No, you're not going to be playing The Price is Right. You'll have to fight through dozens of enemies, killing everything in your sight. This "uber fast" shooter appears to play a bit like Robotron, if it suddenly turned into Robocop instead: making people's bodies explode in buckets of blood. The game will come with more than 50 levels, and include online infrastructure play for up to 8 players.If you're interested in some really brutal cartoon violence, and want to kill ninjas, hillbillies, clowns, pirates, and aliens, then you'll have to wait a while: Cash Money Chaos is coming "early 2007." Check out the official website to score some art and screenshots.[Thanks, steve!]
