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E3 Streams: 'Divinity: Original Sin' and 'Cosmic Star Heroine'
We're at the halfway point of E3 2015 and the hits keep coming. We've got an awesome interview with Sony's Shuhei Yoshida covering everything from Morpheus to Shenmue 3. We even chatted with Keiji Inafune about ReCore, his new Xbox One exclusive. That's cool and all, but wouldn't you like the chance to talk to the creators at E3? JXE Streams has your back. Join us starting at at 2:30PM ET on Twitch.tv/Joystiq for a chance to chat with the developers behind Divinity: Original Sin and Cosmic Star Heroine.
Daily iPhone App: Penny Arcade's On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3
I've become a big fan of Zeboyd Games recently -- their last title, Cthulu Saves the World, is a really well-designed (and funny!) love letter to the Japanese RPGs of yesteryear. Penny Arcade is a very popular video game and pop culture webcomic that's released three games now, and Zeboyd was hired to work on the last one, entitled "Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3," which is now available on iOS for both iPhone and iPad. And, in short, it's also really great. As you can see in the video below, it hits all the right notes for a retro RPG, including a party wandering around an overworld and stumbling into gorgeously rendered turn-based battles, a full equipment and progression system, and a great chiptune soundtrack. Plus, the game also takes Penny Arcade's slightly warped and very knowing sense of humor and translates it well to an interactive environment. And Zeboyd even left room for some nice innovation, in the form of a very slick item system and a very well-designed class system, too. Penny Arcade's third game was great when it came out on the PC and Xbox, and while I think the best way to play it is probably still with a controller, iOS's touchscreens work also, especially with the experience Zeboyd picked up from releasing Cthulu Saves the World on Apple's mobile platforms. At US$2.99, Penny Arcade 3 is a must-grab for anyone who's a fan of Penny Arcade, this retro style of RPG or just an awesome bargain on iOS (this version also includes all of the DLC costumes from the Steam release, for no extra charge). Zeboyd is quickly moving through the ranks to become one of my favorite game developers, and it's because of quality, filled-out releases like this.
Mac Game of the Week: Cthulhu Saves the World is the best version of a great RPG
I already sang the praises of Zeboyd Games' Cthulhu Saves the World when it appeared on iOS: I think the world could use about a million more of these kinds of classic Japanese RPGs (and Zeboyd's latest title, Penny Arcade 3, just arrived on the App Store.) But I also admitted that playing Lovecraft's God of Madness' adventure on a touchscreen wasn't ideal. The movement controls, specifically, threatened to rub the print off of my finger with all of the swiping I was doing. If anything, that makes CSTW an even better fit for the Mac App Store, where it arrived recently. This might be the ideal build for the game, as not only can you play it on a Mac's big, beautiful screen, but there are multiple modes, add-ons and new features to play with as well. You can play in the "Highlander" mode, for example, where you can only use one character but get four times the XP. Or the "Cthulhu's Angels" mode, which remixes the game up with new characters, dialogue and bosses. This is a fantastic game. If you've passed on it before, don't miss it this time. Heck, at the price of US$1.99, you might want to go ahead and buy it again just to see what it's like on the Mac. Cthulhu Saves the World is available on the Mac App Store.
