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Steam Daily Deal: Sword & Sworcery for less than a cup of coffee
Sword & Sworcery EP from developers Superbrothers, Capybara, and musician Jim Guthrie is Steam's featured "Daily Deal," slashing the indie darling's price down 80 percent to $1.59. The promotion will conclude on Wednesday, January 22 at 10am Pacific. Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP is the million unit-selling adventure title that first launched for iPad in March 2011. Sword & Sworcery has since launched for other iOS devices, Android, as well as (and included with a purchase on Steam) PC, Mac and Linux. The award-winning indie title follows the courageous adventures of The Scythian as she attempts to vanquish a ghost terrorizing a mountain top. The game is presented in multiple sections, venturing from the start of The Scythian's journey to the dreams of those affected by the ghost's presence. Also, it's gorgeous.
App store freebies: birds, blades and badlands
Some of the most popular and celebrated iOS games are currently as free as a bird - a tiny-winged bird, that is. Yes, Andreas Illiger's adorable Tiny Wings is one of several big-name apps going free at the moment, and while nothing's been announced as yet, our spider sense tell us this has something to do with the App Store's fifth anniversary, which Apple is celebrating on Wednesday, July 10. Freebies spotted so far include Epic's Infinity Blade 2, the delicious Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery: EP, Disney's charming Where's My Water, and the beautiful Badland. We'll keep an eye out for others, but for now we're going to stare at you with one eyebrow raised and wonder why you're still reading this instead of loading up the App Store.
Humble Android Bundle 5 adds Sword and Sworcery, Splice, Crayon Physics Deluxe
Humble Android Bundle 5 has reason to brag with the addition of three new games to its lineup of unlockables: Superbrothers Sword & Sworcery EP, Splice and Crayon Physics Deluxe. This trio joins Super Hexagon and Dungeon Defenders as games available by paying more than the average, which generally stays below $7. All unlocked games come with their original soundtracks.Games available for any price at all are Beat Hazard Ultra, Dynamite Jack, Solar 2 and NightSky HD, along with all of their soundtracks (excluding Dynamite Jack). All games come for PC, Mac, Linux and Android devices, with system requirements here. There are six days left to get some games on the cheap and donate to charity at the same time, right at Humble Bundle.
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery now out on Android
If you missed your chance to grab the Android version of Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP during its surprise spotlight in the Humble Android Bundle 4, now's your time to pounce. The Android version is the full game, unchanged from its iOS and Steam siblings.Sword & Sworcery on Android requires devices running OS 2.3 and higher, and is available as a $1.99 download on the Google Play store right now. It's a great game and, in the humble opinion of this editor, one of 2011's best.
Canadian Indie Bundle on Steam: Superbrothers, Shanks and more
Our brothers and sisters in The Great White North are getting some time in the spotlight today with a new bundle on Steam. The Canadian Indie Bundle packages together games from Klei Entertainment, Capybara Games, Gaslamp Games and more for $14.99.Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP, Shank and Shank 2 highlight this Canadian Indie Bundle, joined by Space Pirates and Zombies, Waveform, Hoard, Dungeons of Dredmor and Capsized. Many of the games in the bundle offer SteamPlay between Windows and Mac OSX.
Steam Summer Sale, Day 4: Saints Row: The Third, Walking Dead, Indie Bundle 4 and more
Survival Diary, Day Four:I don't know how much longer I can keep hiding here. It was safe at first; quiet even, like a snow-packed forest or the very depths of the sea, but his footsteps continue to grow closer. Eventually, he's going to find me, and when he does the very core of me will be torn inside out and used to purchase games like Saints Row: The Third, The Walking Dead or any number of the other games on sale today.I know now that my sanctuary beneath the sofa is no longer a sufficient haven in which to ensconce myself, so I must attempt to find new refuge. There's a very good chance this is my last entry, so please, if you find this, tell the pocket watch I love her.Always,Wallet
Put wallet in freezer: These may be Steam summer sale's indie bundles
Valve has remained mum on the topic of a 2012 summer sale, but the Open SteamWorks CDR database has uncovered a list of bundles, mostly for indie titles, apparently set for the sale in Steam's backend. Reddit user Dweezy gathered a list of the bundles, broken down over an 11-day period, along with a few other standalone collections.Titles include Cave Story+, Botanicula, Splice, Braid, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, A Valley Without Wind, Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, Qube, Jamestown, Bit.Trip Runner and Beat, and Waveform. Other bundles, indie or otherwise, include Batman (Asylum, City and Impostors), the BioShock franchise, a Civilization collection, Saints Row: The Third franchise pack, Square Hit Collection and a THQ collection.These oodles of bundles have no release date nor price and are unconfirmed by Valve, but this could be a taste of the sweet summer sale to come. Check the entire list after the break, and put that ice pick down.
Superbrothers on the 'Scythian Steppes' and bringing Sworcery to Japan
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP just made the trip to Japan, with a version localized by 8-4 released on the App Store this week. You can actually try it yourself by downloading the latest update and setting your phone's language to Japanese, if you'd like to hear Suda 51 as Logfella or have less of an idea what's going on.Concurrent with the localized game, Superbrothers released a remix album of Jim Guthrie's Sworcery soundtrack called "The Scythian Steppes," featuring remixes of the music by prominent Japanese composers like Akira Yamaoka, Michiru Yamane, and Baiyon.
Humble Indie Bundle V includes Psychonauts, Limbo, Superbrothers, Amnesia, Bastion (as a bonus)
The fifth iteration of the Humble Indie Bundle has gone live, granting donors their choice of Mac, PC or Linux versions of Psychonauts, Limbo, Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP and Amnesia: The Dark Descent, as well as the soundtracks for each game. Anyone that pays above the average price (currently $6.71) will also receive Baston and its soundtrack.Seeing as the Steam release of Sword & Sworcery EP is still only available on PC, this bundle is currently the only way to buy it for OSX. As per usual, patrons can decide how much of their purchase price goes to the developers, to charity, and as a tip to Humble Bundle folks.
Sworcery enchants Japan June 21, accompanied by remix album
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP will make its Japanese debut on June 21, in both iOS and PC iterations. Localization firm 8-4 is partnering with Capy and Superbrothers, to handle localization of the idiosyncratic dialogue along with promotion.Even if you're not personally interested in playing Sworcery in Japanese, you can reap the benefits of this new collaboration. Concurrent with the game's release, a new remix album will be available online, featuring interpretations of Jim Guthrie's Sworcery soundtrack by Akira Yamaoka, Michiru Yamane, Baiyon, and more.
PSA: Superbrothers Sword & Sworcery EP on Steam today, 25% off
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP is available on big-boy computers today, in the form of a Steam (Swteam?) release. Right now it's PC only, but a Mac version is due to follow.Purchasing the Steam version of the formerly handheld-only game gets you a digital copy of the companion soundtrack Sword & Sworcery LP: The Ballad of the Space Babies; watch (and listen to) the trailer above to see why that's such an impressive offer.The whole bundle is on sale for $5.99 (normally $7.99) through April 23.%Gallery-153287%
Superbrothers Sword & Sworcery EP coming to Steam 'before the next dark moon'
Superbrothers Sword & Sworcery EP is officially bringing its weird Twitter-enhanced narrative to the PC. Superbrothers Inc. reports that the new "point & click" version will be available for PC via Steam "before the next dark moon." A Mac version will follow "before the summer solstice." If you'd like to see how the game transitions to a big, big screen and a mouse, you'll be able to try the PC port at PAX East. It's playable at the Capy booth, which is located within the Indie Megabooth.
Report: Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP coming to Steam
Capybara Games' award winning iOS action/adventure title Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP may be making the leap from mobile to desktop, according to a report at IGM. While no port has been officially announced by Capybara, a Steam registry crawler has uncovered its listing in the service's database, which indicates a release "in the next week or so."We're keeping our fingers crossed, because contrary to popular belief, there are actually people in the world that don't own iPhones, iPads or iPods. Several members of the Joystiq staff fall into that category, as a matter of fact, and we're getting pretty dang tired of having critically acclaimed iOS games like Sword & Sworcery EP held over our heads by the other editors.
Sword & Sworcery EP and soundtrack on sale today
Today is the vernal equinox (technically it was yesterday, but close enough), and you know what that means: a special price on Superbrothers Sword & Sworcery EP. Also something about the sun, we think? It's $1.99 in the App Store for today only.Already have the game? Celebrate the mysterious change of seasons (and the upcoming one-year anniversary of Sworcery's release) by picking up the soundtrack, Sword & Sworcery LP: The Ballad of the Space Babies, digitally at a price of your choice. Or you can buy it on LP with art by Adventure Time creator Pendleton Ward. Or you can buy it on cassette. Those aren't discounted, but they are awesome.
The original plan: Sword and Sworcery in seven months for $110,000
The best laid plans ...GDC is a great place for budding developers to learn from other, more seasoned developers. During a postmortem focusing on the success of Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP, Capy president and co-founder Nathan Vella admitted the game ended up going over budget and past its planned launch late -- it's more common than you think in game development.The original plan for Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP was a seven-month development cycle, with a budget of around $110,000. In the end, the game ended up costing "around $200,000" over the course of 18 months. As of today, 350,000 individuals have spun some vinyl.After his talk, I got some face time with Vella to ask him about a personal curiosity: Twitter integration. Some games have caught flak for it, but the smart implementation and voice of the tweets in Superbrothers -- written in the same narrative style of the game -- caused a new trend in iOS gaming."The intention was always to give people the ability to broadcast something they enjoyed about the game," Vella told me. "I love that about the game. I even loved it when people were talking shit about it like crazy. I think the Twitter part of it was important because people loved the dialogue, the way that Craig wrote it, and blast Twitter -- it's important to me and it's important to the project, to know that we made something that somebody wants to put out there. And it was always a choice: you choose to press two buttons to tweet something, if you care about it. I would definitely make that call again."Finally, when asked by another attendee about a PC port of Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP, Vella slyly replied, "No comment on that question."
Sword and Sworcery EP: 350K units swold
iOS title Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP has sold 350,000 units life to date, Capy president Nathan Vella revealed at GDC 2012 today.The long-form game, which took 18 months to develop, has done incredibly well on the app store, despite having "small amount of birds, no fruit, limited water," which have all become cliche requirements for iOS success."Everyone isn't a demographic," Vella noted. "Target a niche due to iOS scale, niches can be huge."He said two-thirds of all sales were on the iPad universal app and that three quarters of revenue were made on the universal app. He also noted that the title going on discount only accounted for 10 percent of sales, meaning the game had a potential audience that was willing to pay full price for the experience.Vella feels Sword & Sworcery is a good case that longer experiences can fit on the iOS platform and targeting "everyone" isn't the only way.
Indie Game Music Bundle 2 now available, with Aquaria, Sworcery, more
You could spend the rest of the day accompanied by the sounds of indie games, for a relative pittance. The second iteration of the Indie Game Music Bundle is available for the next week, offering a Humble-style collection of game soundtrack downloads.For your [any amount of money] you get the soundtracks to Aquaria, Superbrothers Sword & Sworcery EP, To the Moon, Jamestown, and Machinarium. Hold on -- before you start throwing money at this, there's more you need to know. Pay over $10, and you'll get a pile of additional soundtracks, including Mighty Switch Force and Cat Astro Phi. Physical bonuses will be conferred upon especially high rollers.OK, now you can get your money out.
Skyrim takes top honors at NY Video Game Critics Circle Awards
You'd have to be a fus-ro-dummy to think that Skyrim would be through with receiving accolades. At last night's New York Video Game Critics Circle Awards, the Bethesda Game Studios-developed RPG took home yet one more, earning the "Big Apple Award for Best Game" as decided by a cabal of NY-based game journos from various outlets.Other winners include two apiece for Bastion and Portal 2, portable love for Super Mario 3D Land and Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP, and explosive nods to both Crysis 2 and Saints Row: The Third. Harold Goldberg's "All Your Base Are Belong To Us" took home the "Algonquin Roundtable Award for Best Book" and Sony's "Michael" commercial won the "Mad Men Award," mysteriously beating out Robin Williams' luxurious beard. Frankly, we were baffled. The full list of winners can be found below the break.
Best of the Rest: Dave's picks of 2011
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP This masterpiece is 98 percent of the reason I bought an iPad. Okay, maybe not quite -- it's more like 99 percent -- but Sword & Sworcery is a puzzle so perfect in its assembly, I haven't fully recovered. I'm sad I won't ever again experience the drive for discovery I felt the first time I was thrust into its picturesque locales. At the same time, I'm grateful I could spin that vinyl so long ago and step into another world.
2011 Holiday Buyers Guide: iOS
You'll forgive us, but we're banking on the concept of Aunt Eileen stuffing your stocking with iTunes gift cards rather than, say, a Zune Marketplace one. Perhaps that depends on if you've been naughty or nice? We're not quite sure how this holiday stuff works, but we're trying our best here. Anyway, below the break we've compiled another year's worth of great games on both iPhone and iPad platforms that we hope you'll love as well. Even if you don't get those gift cards, these games should still be affordable -- even after buying all those presents. Good luck with the relatives!
