over-the-top-games
Latest
The Fancy Pants Adventures review: Jaunty roads
The Fancy Pants Adventures is probably the first game that's based -- not deliberately -- on a single movie scene. When I see Fancy Pants Man, the game's scribbled but charming protagonist, I see Tom Cruise sliding down the hall in his underwear. This entire game feels extrapolated from that iconic, underdressed celebration in the absence of authority.
Fancy Pants Adventures preview: Getting those fancy pants dirty
Fancy Pants Adventures started life as a well-received Flash game, and was on show in its downloadable XBLA/PSN incarnation at EA's "Spring Showcase" event last week in NYC. Fancy Pants -- the game's main man -- isn't much in the way of size; he's a stick figure with a pair of sweet orange pants and a little brillo tuft atop his circle head. The lightweight, hand-drawn art style of stick figures and basic levels helped the game stand out to me among the many Unreal 3-powered titans surrounding it. And playing it, I learned, was an absolute blast.%Gallery-107228%
NintendoWare Weekly: WiiWare demos, Pokemon Rumble, Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures
This week, we get our first taste of Nintendo's new WiiWare demos. Surprisingly, it didn't take Nintendo that long to flip the switch for North America, considering the company revealed the long-overdue feature -- and day-one annoyance -- only earlier this month. And on top of the free trial versions of select WiiWare titles (five total this week!), there are also two new Virtual Console titles to enjoy, as well as three new DSiWare games. Hit the break for the full list.
NyxQuest takes to American skies next Monday
click to enlargeNyxQuest, the WiiWare sidescroller once known as Icarian: Kindred Spirits, will be out next Monday, August 10, according to a release from developer Over the Top Games, at a cost of 1,000 Wii Points. We've actually had prior notice about at least one of each week's WiiWare releases for a few weeks in a row -- we knew beforehand about Overturn, My Life as a Darklord, Tales of Monkey Island, and Bit.Trip: Core. We like this -- being able to tell you all about game releases before they happen, so you can then plan your purchases. What a novel idea!%Gallery-69468%
PSA: Icarian: Kindred Spirits is now NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits
Icarian: Kindred Spirits, the side-scrolling WiiWare platformer released in Europe last week (and due in North America any old time), will now be known as NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits. The company has launched a new website for the game, which will be identical in every way except the title.The title change will obviously be applied to the upcoming American release, but it will also take effect on the Wii Shop listing for the European release soon. A statement on the developer's Twitter account confirms that the change is not related to Nintendo or Kid Icarus. It's a shame to see a tiny developer like Over the Top beset with difficulties like this, when even Nintendo was promoting its game.
UK Club Nintendo adds extra incentive to Icarian purchase
Club Nintendo in the UK is offering members something beyond the usual trade-for-points bonuses. The first hundred registered Club Nintendo members to purchase a copy of Icarian: Kindred Spirits on WiiWare will receive a copy of the game's soundtrack. The lucky hundred will receive (hopefully a link to) the soundtrack file via email shortly after downloading the game.We appreciate seeing Nintendo promote its downloadable games for once, but here's a word of advice to the company who "reads the blogs," according to its E3 keynote. One of the best ways to advertise your WiiWare and Virtual Console games is to actually tell people in advance when they'll be available.[Via Nintendo Life]
Icarian: Kindred Spirits trailer flies high
Despite flying under the radar (but also presumably too close to the sun), Icarian: Kindred Spirits looks totally great. Developer Over the Top Games sent us this new trailer, featuring pretty locations (especially for WiiWare) and promising gameplay. Icarian is a motion-controlled sidescrolling platformer about Nyx, "an enigmatic winged girl, that must descend from heaven in search of her missing friend Icarus." Along the way, she picks up abilities from the Olympian gods that allow her to fight enemies and solve environmental puzzles. There's no official release date (of course, it's WiiWare), but it should be out in Europe before the end of this summer.
