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Steam weekly deals: Quantum Conundrum, Anodyne and more
This week's Steam deals are headlined by ex-Valver Kim Swift's first-person puzzle game, Quantum Conundrum, available for $4.50 until June 24 at 10AM PT. Anodyne, a 16-bit adventure game from Sean Hogan and Jonathan Kittika, is also on offer, discounted to $5 for the week. Worms developer Team17's arcade shooter Alien Breed Impact, an expanded version of Alien Breed Evolution, is also $5 for this promotion; physics-based puzzler Obulis is down to $1.25 and manic side-scrolling shooter Ares: Extinction Agenda is $2.50.
Sleeping Dogs, Wipeout 2048 feature in Europe's PS Plus February freebies
PlayStation Plus is bringing a new slew of freely available games to its European subscriber base next month. Top of the bill is the Eastern standard crime of Sleeping Dogs, which comes into the Instant Game Collection's harbor on February 6. It's joined on the same day by Airtight Games' Quantum Conundrum and Codemasters' F1 Race Stars. Following in the PS3 trio's footsteps are two Vita games, with Wipeout 2048 gliding in on February 13, and Lumines Electronic Symphony lighting things up on February 20.If you've not yet signed up to PS Plus, Sony Europe wants to tempt you by knocking 30 percent off the 90 day membership. The subscription costs £7.99/€9.99 if bought between February 6 and 20. If you wait until then, however, you'll likely lose your chance to pick up BioShock 2, Ratchet and Clank All 4 One, and Cubixx HD, which all depart the Instant Game Collection on February 6. Jet Set Radio also skates on after February 13, while Pinball Arcade drops into the abyss on February 20.
Quantum Conundrum free with PS Plus
You'll be able to enter the Cheap Dimension along with all the others in Quantum Conundrum this week, as Airtight Games' physics-shifting puzzle game is free with PlayStation Plus membership.And if you're still in the mood to solve environmental puzzles, Machinarium's PS3 version is $6.99 for Plus members on its launch day tomorrow, 30 percent off of regular price. Sony is also teasing Vita-related news "right around the corner," in keeping with a previous announcement that the service would arrive on Vita in earnest this month.
Amazon has Absolutely Great Square Enix sale, $165 of games for $10
The Absolutely Great Square Pack from Amazon offers seven games and one piece of DLC in digital form, all of which would normally cost $165, for just $10: Deus Ex: Human Revolution Augmented Edition and "The Missing Link" DLC, Hitman: Blood Money, Just Cause 2, Just Cause, Quantum Conundrum, Supreme Commander 2, and The Last Remnant.That's a savings of 94 percent, in case it wasn't clear how absolutely great this sale is. Buying the pack also grants $5 toward a pre-order of Hitman: Absolution. These deals run through October 20 at 11:59 p.m. PST. Don't be a square and miss out on this sale.[Thanks, Ignatius]
Quantum Conundrum doubles down on DLC this summer
Two new DLC packs are planned for Quantum Conundrum, Square Enix announced today. The "Desmond Debacle" and "IKE-aramba!" add-ons will be available later this summer for 240 MS Points ($2.99) each.The Desmond Debacle DLC pack launches on Steam first on July 31; PS3 and Xbox 360 get the DLC on August 14 and August 15, respectively. Players will explore a new wing of Quadwrangle Mansion with Desmond, self-professed "drinking bird" and guide through these new puzzles.IKE-aramba! tasks players with rescuing an Interdimensional Kinetic Entity, the titular IKE. Players will "leap seemingly endless chasms" when this second DLC pack launches on Steam on August 28, followed by PS3 and Xbox 360 on September 11 and 12.Those who've picked up a season pass through Steam will get both of these DLC packs as part of the their purchase.%Gallery-161003%
Steam Summer Sale, Day 10: Batman Arkham City, Torchlight, Quantum Conundrum and more
Whew, we did it. It's finally the last day of the Steam Summer Sale and we ... what's that? There's another day of this madness? That's just great. Well, hopefully you didn't budget your lemonade stand money the way we did this year in order to account for tomorrow, the final day of the sales promotion.It's hard to keep up when today's sales include Quantum Conundrum and Arma 2: Combined Operations, both at 40% off. Also, Batman: Arkham City stands alone at 66% off, plenty of reason for us to pretend July 22 isn't even on the calendar. While we're at it, Prince of Persia, Evochron Mercenary, Torchlight, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2, and Fable 3 are tempting us with a 75% discount. Finally, the indie bundle for today includes Bit.Trip Runner, Eufloria, and Machinarium.Enough about games, who wants to buy some delicious lemonade so we're ready for tomorrow's sales?
PSN Tuesday: Quantum Conundrum, Game of Thrones
This week the PlayStation Store is headed to mystical places, full of magic, wonder and unprovoked beheadings – now across four different dimensions! Game of Thrones is out for download this week for $50 and Quantum Conundrum runs $15, with a demo also available.Frogger: Hyper Arcade Edition ($10) and Rainbow Moon ($15) are out on PSN, too. PlayStation Plus members can take 20 percent off Rainbow Moon and play a full game trial of NCAA Football 2013. This is also the last week Plus members can grab God of War: Collections and Origins Collections at 30 percent off.
Quantum Conundrum show enters heavy dimension, is still awkward
It's Sunday, and you know what that means: We watched the Quantum Conundrum YouTube show and we now want to share our confusion with you. The Super Dimensional Quantum Learning's Problems and Solutions Gametime Spectacular!! features the heavy dimension this week. And a Kevin Pereira in a wig.
Stiq Flicks: Quantum Conundrum and Cube
Stiq Flicks – from film and video game industry freelance writer Kevin Kelly – examines video games and attempts to pair them with matching films. It's like wine and cheese, but with more aliens. Quantum Conundrum has already been confounding people on PC for a couple of weeks, and soon you'll also be able to pick it up for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The first-person, puzzle-platformer offers up a more whimsical version of the reality-bending physics you'll find in Portal, with tons of tongue-in-cheek humor.Our film pairing for this title offers up similar brain-crunching puzzles, albeit without the lighthearted humor. Director Vincenzo Natali's excellent movie Cube (Rated R) is a perfect puzzle in a box, but is anything but a cute, whimsical adventure.
The Quantum Conundrum show is heavy on fluff, frenzy
The premiere episode of The Super Dimensional Quantum Learning's Problems and Solutions Gametime Spectacular!! is live, and that's all we're going to say about that. We're not going to mention how former G4 host Kevin Pereira makes for an overly emphatic, quirked-out presenter, how it seems developers Airtight Games really want Quantum Conundrum to go viral, or how we honestly couldn't watch the entire thing because it hurts us, precious. Why does it hurts us?The Super Dimensional Quantum Learning's Problems and Solutions Gametime Spectacular!! is produced by iam8bit, and this is the first episode in a series that will show off each dimension of physics-puzzler Quantum Conundrum: fluffy, heavy, slow-mo and reverse gravity.For a less manic take on Quantum Conundrum, check out our review, a recorded live stream of us playing the first bit of the game, and our discussion of its finer points on the Super Joystiq Podcast, as part of the Joystiq Research Institute.
Kevin Pereira will host game show based on Quantum Conundrum
Square Enix and Los Angeles art/gaming collective iam8bit are teaming up to create a new web-based game show in association with the dimension-bending Quantum Conundrum, out next month. The show will be hosted by Kevin Pereira (formerly of G4's Attack of the Show), and will feature contestants battling it out in "real-life fluffy, heavy, anti-gravity and slow motion dimensions" somehow.The show, which is called "The Super Dimensional Quantum Learning's Problems and Solutions Gametime Spectacular!!" (no, really; here's the trailer) will also feature Ike, a character from the game who will appear in live-action puppet form. It certainly looks and sounds wacky, depending on your various definitions of the word "wacky."The show will be available to watch soon. In the meantime, if you need something Quantum Conundrum related to watch, try our livestream! We'll be playing the game live on the Interwebs at 9:30pm EDT.
Quantum Conundrum confuses PSN on July 10, XBLA on July 11
Those without the requisite hardware to run Quantum Conundrum on the PC will have to wait until July. Quantum Conundrum will come to PSN on July 10 for $14.99, and XBLA on July 11 for 1200 MS Points ($15).If you prefer to pick up Quantum Conundrum through Steam, it's now available on the PC for $14.99. Putting down $19.99 for a Steam pass will also earn you the soundtrack and two future DLC puzzle packs.
Quantum Conundrum review: First rule of physics, don't talk about physics
Back in February, Airtight Games creative director Kim Swift told us that she wanted Quantum Conundrum to play like a Saturday-morning cartoon – lighthearted with a slapstick edge, similar to Looney Tunes or Cartoon Network programming. This may be why I found it so unnerving that Quantum Conundrum reminded me more of Fight Club than any kid-friendly cartoons.The standard-edition DVD of 2002's Fight Club has a looping menu that plays a round of light, elevator-style percussion music while the screen flickers invitingly on the Play button; this lasts just long enough to lull the passive listener into a false sense of tranquility, before it smashes into a measure of jarring electrical guitar and pulsating images for a few terrible seconds. Then the screen clears, and the torture repeats.One night in my wayward youth, I fell asleep watching this Fight Club DVD. For hours after the movie had finished and returned to the menu, I would be jolted awake just enough to know nothing about what was going on, only to immediately fall back asleep once the soothing interlude picked up again. For hours. It was disorienting, sinister and, looking back on it, kind of hilarious.Quantum Conundrum's soundtrack may be similar to Fight Club's menu screen's, but the game itself rides those same waves of frustration, persistence and disjointed comedy – the game is lovely, but the story is jarring. Some of its story elements are almost funny, some of the narrative almost make sense, all of it almost reaches a realm of lucid clarity. And yes, it does this for hours.%Gallery-158844%
Quantum Conundrum coming to PC June 21
Square Enix has finally laid down a launch date for Quantum Conundrum: The game will arrive on Windows via Steam on June 21. You can preorder the game right now either as a standard edition, or as a "season pass," with three exclusive Team Fortress 2 items, a downloadable soundtrack, and all of the future puzzle packs.Preordering the game also earns you 10 percent off, and you'll be entered into a sweepstakes to win the opportunity to have your portrait hung up in the in-game world. Snazzy! Quantum Conundrum will also arrive on Microsoft's XBLA and PSN, though Square is only sticking with "summer" as a date for those versions so far.
Quantum Conundrum trailer gives us a cute creature to coo over
Not since the Ewok have we been so immediately in love with a short chubby hairy thing. Sorry, John De Lancie – this little guy is now our favorite Quantum Conundrum character.
Quantum Conundrum's latest trailer blows the doors off time, our minds
Quantum Conundrum's more than just fluffy pillows and super heavy stuff. It's also all about ripping apart space and time itself at your whim, with the helpful aid of a glove-enabled "shift device," as demonstrated in the trailer above.
Quantum Conundrum and iam8bit team up for inter-dimensional fan travel
Quantum Conundrum's Airtight Games is used to handling inter-dimensional scenarios, but now it's going for the most egregious combination yet, mixing virtual reality with real reality. Quantum Conundrum and iam8bit are teaming up for a mysterious and seemingly slightly dangerous production this May, asking "hardcore fans" to sign up to be "transported to another dimension, all in the name of science. Seriously, we're not messing around."Potential participants are asked to be at least 18 years old and be available May 11 and 12 in the Los Angeles area. Fifty people will be chosen, based on the form requirements of "Why should you win?" and, apparently, how hearty your bone structure appears in a photo you send in. Any die-hard Quantum Conundrum or iam8bit fans, or those with superior cheekbones, can fill out the entry form right here.
Quantum Conundrum gets an extra Q
Square Enix is moving away from the paltry world of dimension-based reveals, announcing actor John De Lancie as one of Quantum Conundrum's main actors. De Lancie is, of course, known for his part as "Q" in the James Bond series, aiding Bond in his interstellar travels of exploration and diplomacy. Or he was a popular Star Trek character -- one of the two.Anyway, De Lancie is playing the part of Professor Fitz Quadrangle, advising the main character on gameplay and ushering story points forward (he is, after all, stuck in an alternate dimension, anxiously awaiting your help). De Lancie details his role and offers a taste of his voice work in the latest teaser, seen above.
April Fools' Day 2012: And the rest
It was a fairly lively April Fools' Day this year -- not only did we manage to make it all day without being duped, deceived or disillusioned, but at times we were genuinely entertained by what the technology and gaming companies of the world were able to dream up.On the other hand, the stuff invented for April Fools' Day is often times way, way cooler than the products that actually get made, which is sort of depressing when you stop and think about it. It's like the news cycle on April Fools' Day is glimpse into a world where magic is still alive in the hearts and minds of millions. Sigh.Anyway, we've taken the liberty of compiling the gags and goofs we haven't already posted about into this specific chunk of Internet, so head on past the break for a look at realities better than our own.
Quantum Conundrum screens drop us into the 'Heavy Dimension'
We've previously explored Quantum Conundrum's "Fluffy Dimension." Today, Square Enix sent out screens of a much less inviting permutation, one with a bit more gravity to it -- the "Heavy Dimension." Of course, heaviness is a bit harder to convey visually than fluffiness.
