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All Back to the Future episodes updated on iPad, on sale
It's time to go back, Marty: Back to the Back to the Future. That is to say, if you were unsatisfied with how the time-traveling trilogy's adventure game adaptation performed on your iPad, it's time to give them a second shot. An update has launched for all five episodes of the game, improving performance, graphics and squashing a few bugs. Which is fortunate, because when traveling through time in a 30-year-old automobile, you want the experience to be as bug-free as possible. Also, each episode of the series has been marked down to $2.99 until September 30, if, by chance, you'd like to dip your toes into the game's recently updated waters. Of course, all the diehard fans will lord over you their war stories from the pre-patch days, when Doc Brown had three arms, and Marty spoke in backwards Esperanto.
Six million GOG downloads means Broken Sword for everyone
During the CD Projekt Fall 2011 press conference, the publisher revealed that its GOG distribution platform is approaching the 6 million download milestone. To help push its sales -- which currently stand at a little over 5.8 million -- over the top, it announced two promotions: First, the six millionth downloader will receive every game on the platform for free. Second, for the first 48 hours after hitting the mark, everyone will get a free download of Broken Sword: Shadow of The Templars Director's Cut. For CD Projekt's sake, we hope they don't get those two promotions mixed up. To wit: "Congratulations! You're our six millionth customer, so here's Broken Sword! Everyone else, here's everything for free oh god we gave all our games away."
Antichamber preview: Psycholudology
Trying to describe the hour I spent with Alexander Bruce's PAX 10 Finalist indie game, Antichamber, is going to be one of the most difficult descriptive feats I've ever attempted. I think that the big hang-up is that it's going to mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people: For me, my time with the game was all about learning the obscure rules of a universe with no immediate context; a game about second, then third, then fourth-guessing my own actions until I found a solution I was able to walk away from with just a modicum of satisfaction. For the person who took up the demo after me, it was about moving forward as quickly he could, attempting to adhere to an entirely pointless 90-minute time limit while ignoring all the lessons the game had to teach. Here's the thing: I'm not entirely sure either of us was playing it wrong.
Hector: Badge of Carnage Episode 2 getting nasty tomorrow
The second episode of Straandlooper's crude, episodic adventure series, Hector: Badge of Carnage, has finally been given a proper release date: Thursday, August 25. Now, if you're paying attention, you know that's just a fancy way of saying "tomorrow." Like, the day after today.
Back to the Future goes retail as Telltale becomes PS3, Wii publisher
Taking a cue from the subject matter of Back to the Future: The Game, Telltale and Sony are going to begin selling the episodic adventure game in an old-fashioned manner: boxed copies in stores. Telltale has 'expanded' its publishing agreement with Sony to include retail games, the first of which will be Back to the Future. The disc version will be released this October, at the same $19.99 price point as the digital version. The agreement isn't exclusive to Back to the Future; Telltale now has the option to publish retail versions of any of its PSN games. To date, that includes Puzzle Agent, Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People, Tales of Monkey Island, and Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse. GamePro reports that Telltale has also signed on as a Wii retail publisher, also planning a retail version of Back to the Future this October for the same price. Previous Wii retail games from the developer, including Sam & Max seasons one and two, were published by other companies.
Sony reinventing PlayStation Home to be more like an MMO
PlayStation Home was a hugely anticipated feature for console fans, one that ultimately garnered mixed reviews and apathetic affection. Due to the reception, Sony has decided to reinvent the game lobby-slash-virtual-world to incorporate the best of themeparks, MMOs, and social networks. When it relaunches this fall, PlayStation Home will look radically different, resembling a sleek mall with plenty to do and faster functionality for those who want to get right to their games. But between playing commercial titles, gamers are encouraged to hang out for a while, which is where MMO elements come into play. The new Home has a number of districts, as an amusement park would, and in them players can pick up quests, go on treasure hunts, and explore these video game-themed zones to find hidden mysteries. Sony also promises that it will incorporate persistent, ongoing stories, similar to those you'd find in MMOs, such as an alien invasion that affects all of the areas. Sony is hoping that the 23 million Home users will embrace this new experience and form stronger social connections through it.
All of the Zorks down 40 percent on GOG this weekend
Do you prefer the text-based, imagination-requiring Zorks of yore, or the slightly more recent (but still wicked old) adventure game Zorks? Guess what: It doesn't matter! You're buying all of them, because the entire Zork franchise is 40 percent off today on the GOG storefront.
Puzzle Agents 1 and 2 for iOS temporarily dirt cheap
The iOS versions of Telltale's Twin Peaks-meets-Fargo adventure titles, Puzzle Agent and Puzzle Agent 2, are on sale for one week. If you prefer to cut your quest for justice with a dose of riddles, you can grab the iPad and iPhone versions of the two games for $0.99 and $2.99, respectively.
Machinarium 'hopefully' coming to iPad next month
Amanita Design's lovely little automated adventure title Machinarium seems like a natural fit for the iPad, which is in many respects also a tiny, helpful robot. The game hasn't made its way to the tablet due to its Apple-unfriendly Flash programming; however, Amanita founder Jakub Dvorsky recently told Pocket Gamer that the title's iPad iteration "should be ready during the next month ... hopefully." We suppose we can excuse the ambiguity, considering how difficult it must be to rebuild a Flash-based game on a non-Flash-based platform. We only ask for one thing in return: Extra robots. We don't care who they are or what they do, we just need them to be adorable.
It's time for Back to the Future episode three on iPad
Telltale has set loose the third episode of Back to the Future: The Game on the App Store, giving iPad owners looking for their next fix of Marty McFly adventures a $6.99 bit of relief. In this latest episode, Marty finds himself stranded in an alternate version of the '80s. The biggest change: the apparent lord of all, "First Citizen Brown," pictured above. He looks like he's never taken guff in his entire life.
Hector: Badge of Carnage Episode 1 review: Gross cop, bad cop
Hector: Badge of Carnage is a filthy game. That may seem like a blunt way to start out an evaluation of the Straandlooper-developed, Telltale-published episodic adventure trilogy; the first episode of which arrived on PC and Mac earlier this week after a nearly-yearlong stint on the iOS App Store. As those who've already played it on its native platform can attest, the game is characterized by its repugnance. At every juncture, it attempts to shock or delight its players with a level of perversity not usually present in Telltale's catalog. After watching the opening cinematic -- in which a cop's head is blown off by an unseen sniper, his body slumped across a pile of similarly deceased officers -- I feared the game would use its shock value as a crutch. My fears weren't exactly soothed by the first big puzzle, which saw me take a string off [a gross thing], attach it to a [grosser thing] and fish a wire out of [an even grosser thing]. But despite its crude exterior, a bit of genuine cleverness manages to shine through Hector -- though it takes its sweet time in doing so.
Back to the Future Episode 4 unlocking today
If you've been waiting for the promised release of the fourth installment in Telltale's episodic Back to the Future games, you can officially put your DeLorean into park -- time travel's no longer required to arrive at a launch date. Episode 4, subtitled Double Visions, is set to unlock today on PC and Mac for folks who've pre-purchased the five-part series. This time around, Marty will be responsible for fixing the altered timeline he created in the last episode, Citizen Brown. We're not sure exactly how he's going to go about doing so, but we're willing to bet that anachronistic hijinks will be involved. Also, there's an outside chance for some monkeyshines.
Sam and Max: The Penal Zone on sale for a buck on iPad
Are you in desperate need of some new distractions on your shiny new iPad 2, or your crusty, ancient ol' iPad? Telltale Games has a pretty enticing offer on the table ... or, um, tablet. Until May 2, you can grab the iPad version of Sam and Max: The Penal Zone for $0.99.
The Daily Grind: How do you recapture the wonder of MMOs?
Blogger Wolfshead has a problem: He's lost the sense of wonder and adventure that he used to have with MMOs, and he doesn't know if it'll ever return. "Many years later and many MMOs later I still feel that no other MMO has ever been able to successfully recreate all of those feelings that EverQuest produced," he said. I've found gaming to be like many aspects of life, from hobbies to relationships to passions: Sometimes you wake up and the thrill is gone. Where did it go? Perhaps the more important question is "How do I get it back?" I think it is possible to get back that sense of wonder and to rejuvenate interest in gaming, but it does take work and a different approach on one's behalf. So what do you recommend? How do you recapture the wonder of MMOs when you've lost it? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Back to the Future Episode 4 coming next week
If you've been waiting with bated breath on the next installment in the continuing adventures of Digital Marty and Digital Doc Brown, you'll be pleased to learn that you'll be able to exhale fairly soon. Telltale Games announced today on its Twitter account that Back to the Future's fourth episode, titled "Double Vision," will be released next week on PC and Mac. In this installment, Marty must team up with Episode 3's First Citizen Brown to create "an epic invention so that he can prevent young Emmett Brown from making the worst mistake of his life." We're not really sure what that means, but we've certainly got our fingers crossed for a cameo by Foreigner.
Telltale developing episodic Law & Order: LA games
Though the latest geographically distinct installment in Dick Wolf's long running procedural drama, Law & Order: LA, is still in its first season, NBC Universal has partnered with adapter extraordinaire Telltalle Games to add some playability to the franchise. A press release has revealed that Telltale's working on an episodic adventure game series due out late this year for PC, Mac and unspecified consoles, in addition to smartphones and tablets. According to the presser, the games "will take the crime solving focus to interrogation and criminal investigations, with a heavy dose of courtroom drama on each case." Sounds ... like Law & Order. We just hope that it also implements the eerie head-scanning futuretech that's being used in that other LA-based crime-solving sim. You know. We just got to get that Molina face.
Space Quest and other Sierra collections on sale at GOG
Your weekend itinerary has just been officially cleared by Good Old Games. Your new task? Buy and complete all six of Sierra's delightful Space Quest games. Each pack of three is on sale for $6.99, 30% off the usual price. You can also get King's Quest or Police Quest collections for the same price, but we suggest going through those only after you've experienced the epic space opera of interstellar janitor Roger Wilco, full of thrilling action, spacefaring adventure, time travel, cowardly hiding, and floor waxing.
Around the world in eight days: A journey in Wurm Online, part two
My journey around the world of Wurm Online continues on today through the second half of the trip. In yesterday's story, we explored the eastern and southern shores of the map's mainland, and now we get to see the western and northern shores in all their glory. Although that southwestern-most tip of land is heavily populated, you're back to desolation when you make your way up into the cliff faces of the western shore. I spent one night in the side of a rocky mountain, only slightly protected from the elements as I chiseled my way into the rock just enough for a fire and shelter for the night. I decided to roleplay a bit during the trip, setting up proper shelter before I logged out of the game for the day. What's funny about this particular shelter is the fact that I discovered a very rare diamond only three squares into the cave. I've dug entire mazes of underground mines and never found a diamond before, so this was a sure sign that the rest of the trip was going to be bountiful. And it was! Follow along below for more.%Gallery-120997%
The Game Archaeologist plays with MUDs: A talk with Richard Bartle
From talking with Richard Bartle, reading his blog, and looking over several interviews that he's done, I've concluded that the co-creator of the first multi-user dungeon is, in many ways, a card. A smart one, a perceptive one, and an outspoken one, but a card nonetheless. I say this in a good way, of course, because for all of the verbal pussyfooting that often goes on in this industry, it's refreshing to hear the voice of someone who knows what he thinks and isn't afraid to say it, even if it goes against the grain. Dr. Bartle's name often comes up in discussions of both MUDs and MMORPGs. His designs, work and scholarship have influenced MMOs in substantial ways, and it's possible that if our children end up learning about massively multiplayer RPGs in school some day, Bartle's name will be mentioned once or twice. While he's sometimes polarizing, it's hard to deny the incredible work he's done, which is why I was excited to get to talk to him about this month's subject on the Game Archaeologist. So hit that pesky jump and let's pick the mind of a guy who really earned the right to post "FIRST!!1!"
New Longest Journey 'absolutely possible,' says Tornquist
While Funcom's Ragnar Tørnquist is currently banging away on upcoming MMO The Secret World, he recently told Eurogamer that he'd like to return to beloved adventure series The Longest Journey. "I always have other ideas for the future," said Tørnquist, adding that a sequel to Dreamfall: The Longest Journey is something he "tinkers" with and is "absolutely possible." Of course, Tørnquist said the same thing back in 2008, so we're not holding our breath. Now, if we can just find a suitable guide for the first Longest Journey, we might actually be able to finish it before the new sequel arrives. These puzzles are hard!
