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GOG Big Fall Sale Finale: FTL, Fez, Sam And Max, Rogue Legacy
GOG.com kicked off its DRM-free Big Fall Sale Finale this morning, putting more than 700 games on sale until Tuesday, November 25. The sale is split into two 48-hour periods, the first a "recap of flash deals" that rapidly come and go, and a second period with the Big Fall Sale's daily bundles that starts on Sunday. Thrifty buyers may want to act fast, as some of the flash deals will expire within hours. The deals include Fez ($5), Rogue Legacy ($3), Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition ($2.49), Pathologic ($2), System Shock 2 ($5), Rollercoaster Tycoon: Deluxe Edition ($3), FTL: Advanced Edition ($5) and the four primary Wing Commander games are $3 each, with the first two games bundled together. Sam & Max Save the World and Beyond Time and Space are $15 each, while The Devil's Playhouse is $17.49. OG.com also has deals on bundles starting today, such as the Fedora Deluxe Pack, a five-game Tex Murphy bundle that players can download at 80 percent off ($7.16). The digital games distributor is also offering a movie bundle for $8.45 that features five films, including The King of Arcades, Pixel Poetry and Minecraft: The Story of Mojang. [Image: GOG.com]
Humble Weekly Sale: System Shock 2, The 7th Guest, Wizardry 8
It's a fine week for classic PC games as the good people at Humble Bundle have set their price-cutting sights on Night Dive Studios, a developer focused on resurrecting the hits of yesteryear for modern hardware. As with all Humble Weekly Sales, this entry operates on a "pay what you want" basis. Spend at least $1 and you'll receive classic roleplaying games Wizardry 6 and Wizardry 7, as well as voodoo-tinged dark adventure Shadow Man. Throw down $5 or more and you'll also walk away with controversial horror classics Harvester and The 7th Guest, as well as the less controversial but more existentially disturbing I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream. The final tier of games is only available to those who spend $9 or more, but adds 7th Guest sequel The 11th Hour, epic RPG Wizardry 8 and System Shock 2, a survival horror game with such excellent atmosphere and tone that even waist-high telekinetic monkeys seem a terrifying threat. Best of all, while you're spending a few hundred hours sorting through the handful of classic games you just bought at a huge discount, your money can go to help the less fortunate. Everyone who buys items from the Humble Weekly Sale can earmark their money, either for the American Red Cross or Child's Play. Your third option is to send your money to Night Dive Studios, a move that you could still feel good about given that this week's top contributors tally lists Night Dive in the number one spot thanks to a $1,000 donation of its own. [Image: Humble Bundle]
Steam's Daily Deal offers System Shock 2 at half price
If your life is painfully lacking in malevolent AI and angry, telekinetic monkeys, today is your lucky day: Steam is currently offering survival horror classic System Shock 2 at a 50 percent discount. Co-developed by Irrational Games and Looking Glass Studios, and designed by BioShock maestro Ken Levine, System Shock 2 drops players into the dark corridors of a faster than light spaceship where a routine rescue operation has gone horribly wrong. Armed with scavenged weaponry and a handful of special powers, players must battle the twisted denizens of deep space, all the while being mocked by SHODAN, a once helpful AI that has started to lose her virtual marbles. Despite being a "Daily Deal," System Shock 2 will remain at its current $5 price point until Monday, April 21 at 10AM PT. Would-be players need not worry about system compatibility, as Steam offers System Shock 2 in PC, Mac and Linux flavors. [Image: Night Dive Studios]
GOG 'Fall Insomnia' sale is a carousel of rotating individual deals
GOG is running an interesting promotion where select games are being offered, one at a time, for up to 80% off. But here's the weird part: GOG is offering the deals in limited quantities. "But, wait, how can it run out of games if they're being digitally distributed?" Good question, Timmy. Also, your name is Timmy now. Make sure you tell your loved ones. The sale will go until "GOG.com is out of games," the press release past the break states. In our brief amount of time monitoring the sale page, it seems the games will rotate as each sells through 250 copies. Hotline Miami, System Shock 2, Rayman Origins, Baldur's Gate, Fez, Alpha Centauri and more will find their way into the sales spotlight during this promotion, and GOG even promises a few free games will be sprinkled in for good measure. The GOG promotion is currently underway so feel free to head on over to see what's in the sale spotlight right now.
Steam Summer Getaway sale: Football Manager 2013, DmC, System Shock 2
Another day, another round of deals in the Steam summer sale. Today's highlights include Football Manager 2013 for $10, DmC: Devil May Cry for $25, Alan Wake for $3, System Shock 2 for $2.50, Orcs Must Die 2 for $3.74, Sleeping Dogs for $6.24 and Mark of the Ninja for only $3.74. The daily flash deals – which rotate every eight hours – also have some choice discounts, ripe for the plucking. Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Serious Sam 3 are both only $4 apiece, while Scribblenauts Unlimited is $5 and Assassin's Creed 3 has been marked down to $24.
GOG.com hosts big summer sale, including lots of cheap Mac games
GOG.com has launched a huge summer sale today, with over 500 games available for very cheap and more changing in and out every day. I'm mentioning it here because the site has a big Mac section with classic games like Dungeon Keeper, Syndicate and even the great System Shock 2 all on sale for less than US$5 each. Alpha Centauri is one of my favorite games ever, and it's also on sale, as is the recent indie success FTL: Faster Than Light. GOG is even offering the excellent dungeon crawler Torchlight for the low, low price of completely free, so definitely grab that and play it if you haven't yet. The big sale lasts through July 5, and there will be more titles in the mix as the event goes on, so stay tuned for more great games to play on your Mac this summer.
PSA: System Shock 2 on Steam, 30 percent off until May 17
System Shock 2 is now available on Steam for $6.99. The first-person survival-horror game is 30 percent off until May 17. System Shock 2 found its way to the platform courtesy of Night Dive Studios, the outfit who picked up the rights as the game's publisher in February, when System Shock 2 also launched on GOG.com. To those of you that have yet to play this game: You're running out of excuses.
PSA: System Shock 2 now live on GOG
That tingle you feel down your spine? System Shock 2 is now available for download on GOG.com. If you've never played System Shock 2, know it's not only one of the most influential horror games of all time, but one of the first games to make Ken Levine a household name in our household where we can't stop talking about Ken Levine.System Shock 2 is available as a $9.99 download through GOG right now, compatible with Windows PCs. System Shock 2 is, at its core, a game about crossing barriers and embracing unconventional love, probably, so it's perfect for a Valentine's evening.
System Shock 2 coming to GOG.com, Steam
It's been a long time coming, but System Shock 2 has finally emerged from publishing limbo and will soon arrive on GOG.com and Steam. The rights were secured by Night Dive Studios, and the game will be released via GOG tomorrow at 6AM ET. At a mere $10, it should make a wonderful, horrifying Valentine's Day gift. The timing of the Steam release remains a mystery.For those unfamiliar with the 1999 PC classic, System Shock 2 is a first-person survival horror game with RPG elements. It was developed by Irrational Games and Looking Glass Studios, and it was designed by none other than Ken Levine (perhaps you've heard of him). If you need another point of reference, the BioShock series is considered a spiritual successor to System Shock. You like BioShock, right?Rock, Paper, Shotgun has a rather lengthy piece detailing how Night Dive managed to secure the rights and what to expect from the GOG.com release. The download will feature a great deal of bonus content, including concept art, an interview with Ken Levine and more. Again though, the takeaway is pretty simple: As of tomorrow, System Shock 2 is back, waiting for you to play it all over again or – if you're lucky – for the very first time.
Ken Levine goes behind the scenes on System Shock 2
Irrational Games continues to empty out its vault of memories and secrets over on its newly commissioned blog -- Ken Levine and the crew are revealing so much old insider information over there you have to wonder how long they'll keep it up. Today, it's "what might have been" on System Shock 2, as Levine relates what they would have liked to do with the SHODAN showdown game, given more time and resources. The game was originally designed as an Apocalypse Now-style assassination in space, and it included some zero-G gameplay ideas (that sound pretty similar to what Dead Space pulled off years later). The ending also had to be rewritten, as the cinematic that Levine got back didn't have much to do with the script that he had originally put together. And perhaps the most disturbing factoid is that the entire game was created in just 900 square feet of office space, full of overworked (and smelly) game developers. Wandering around the Von Braun was scary and all, but spending 11 months in a tiny room full of developers on crunch? No wonder Levine sounds ecstatic he survived.
Irrational revisits scrapped BioShock, System Shock 2 features
Irrational Games' new community-oriented website continues to impress us with its candid peeks at the inner workings of the studio and interesting developments that may have eluded the public eye. In an update posted today, Shawn Elliott examines five features that were cut from Irrational's beloved pair of 'Shocks. "In one fell 30-second swoop, we could have prevented about 80 percent of the complaints, or at least redirected them toward Xerxes and the Many, and away from the development team," says designer Dorian Hart on the infamous ire directed at System Shock 2's degrading weaponry. And how would said swoop combat arguments about the unrealistic, accelerated rate of weapon malfunction? An in-game audio log "would have explained that as part of their takeover, the Many had released a special corrosive gas into the Von Braun that damaged weapons but was harmless to organic creatures." If that seems maddeningly simple, consider "Nav-Bot," a mechanical fellow intended to guide lost players through BioShock's city of Rapture. Designers had several concerns -- what happens if the helpful bot gets stuck in a scrap with enemies? -- but the player's familiarity with a plain ol' map dealt the death blow. "In the end, someone (maybe Jon Chey at Irrational Games Australia) made the executive decision that we needed to suck up the extra work and make a map," notes technical director Chris Kline. "Thus died Nav-Bot." May he rust in peace.
2K Boston is bringing back Irrational Games name, legacy
[Image credit: Game Informer] Halo: Reach isn't the only story that you'll find in next month's Game Informer -- the magazine's blog has also revealed that the developer known for the past two years as 2K Boston will be returning to its roots as Irrational Games. The change isn't unexpected, as we've seen hints of the old identity coming back to the spotlight for a while. But apparently the company is going full force with the "renewed commitment" to the legacy: it'll be kicking off a new website soon (in about three days and 16 hours as of this writing, according to the countdown now running on IrrationalGames.com) that will contain lots of community features and information about Irrational's past -- including fan favorites like System Shock 2 and Freedom Force, in addition to 2K Boston's BioShock and future titles. Meanwhile, the company has a new logo -- spiffy! -- and the next Game Informer will have more information about the studios' history and why it made the choice to turn back the clock on its identity. We look forward to reading all about it.
Ken Levine: Next project will cost 'a fair amount of money'
During his Q&A at the MIT Business in Gaming conference, Ken Levine revealed the cost of some of his projects and hinted at the cost (and scale!) of 2K Boston's latest, still secret, project. "Freedom Force was $2 million; System Shock 2 was $600K, it was nothing. BioShock, I think it's been published, was $15 million," Levine said. When we asked how much, on that scale, his new project would cost, Levine teased, "It's more than System Shock 2." He elaborated, "It's a fair amount of money. Our goal is to build experiences." Referring to the craft of building experiences, Levine noted that BioShock "didn't have the best shooting compared to Call of Duty" and "it didn't have the most revolutionary AI." What it did have was an "experience [gamers] couldn't get anywhere else." It was something "that people can look at it and say, 'I can't have this experience anywhere else.'" Here's the thing: "Generally those experiences cost a fair amount of money to make," Levine says. Of course, he can't say how much – "because I would probably get fired before I walked out the door" – but he assures us "It won't be the cheapest product ever made." So we've got a ballpark here: Somewhere between $600K and infinity.
