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Humble Mobile Bundle 5 explores The Room 2, The Cave, and more
Humble Bundle is back with another serving of high-profile Android games, featuring Double Fine's The Cave, Fireproof Games' The Room 2 and other standout apps in the newly launched Humble Mobile Bundle 5. Pay at least $1 and you'll get Crescent Moon Games' action-RPG Aralon: Sword and Shadow, Hidden Variable's grocery-bagging puzzler Bag It!, and an Android port of Irem's classic arcade shooter R-Type 2. The Room 2, The Cave, and Carcassonne are available for buyers who beat the bundle's average purchase price (currently under $4), and more games will be added at a later date. Humble Mobile Bundle 5 will be available through April 29. [Video: Humble Bundle]
Chris Remo leaves Double Fine to join startup dev Campo Santo
The Cave co-writer Chris Remo is no longer working at Double Fine, having teamed up with Idle Thumbs co-stars and Walking Dead designers Jake Rodkin and Sean Vanaman at the recently formed Campo Santo studio. Remo was formerly editor-in-chief at Gamasutra and a community manager at BioShock studio Irrational Games before he joined Double Fine in 2012, where he also prototyped the upcoming Spacebase DF-9. He also recently served as a freelance composer on Joystiq Top 10 of 2013 entry Gone Home. Remo joins the growing line-up of talented developers at Campo Santo, including Mark of the Ninja lead Nels Anderson and industry artist Olly Moss. Campo's first game is in the works with the backing and collaborative efforts of Portland-based app Dev Panic. Inc.
Enter The Cave on Android for free via the Amazon Appstore [Update: Nope!]
The Cave is free right now on the Amazon Appstore, both in the US and UK, and apparently across the retailer's worldwide sites. That's despite the spelunking adventure only hitting Android a week ago, and still being priced $5 on Google Play. The Amazon Appstore does offer free apps of the day, but today's is listed as Cogs, so The Cave's sudden free-dom is certainly a touch curious. We've not seen any official word from Double Fine on the matter, so we've reached out to the studio for clarification. Double Fine puzzle-platformer hiked its way to three and a half stars in our review of the Xbox Live Arcade version: As Ludwig put it, "The Cave turns out to be the cruelest of Double Fine's games, and perhaps the most sharply written. Ron Gilbert and Chris Remo miss on the explicit narration, but their underlying story is perfectly pitched through puzzles and your own wicked participation." Update: Free-dom is fleeting, it seems. The Cave is listed on Amazon now at the regular $5 price.
Start digging with The Cave on Android
Android fans need go without oddball adventure game The Cave no longer, as the game found its way to that platform late last week. The Cave costs $4.99 on the Google Play store, and arrived a few weeks after making an appearance on Ouya. The adventure game comes from The Secret of Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert and Double Fine, the developer Gilbert left in March. The Cave first launched in January on PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Mac, Linux and Wii U. Our review of the XBLA version considered it the "cruelest of Double Fine's games," noting its sharp writing and somewhat tiresome repetition.
The Cave hops onto Ouya
Double Fine's spelunking adventure game, The Cave, is now available on Ouya, joining counterparts on Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U, PC, Mac, Linux and iOS. We gave The Cave a go on XBLA and found it to be "the cruelest of Double Fine's games, and perhaps the most sharply written." Ouya received an update in November granting it a fresh UI and a beta for external storage. Ouya launched pre-orders for a white, limited edition console with double the internal storage, 16GB, for $130. That's $30 more than the standard console. Pre-orders before December 8 should arrive in time for the holidays, Ouya says.
The Cave's sinister spelunking reaches iOS this week
The Cave is coming to iOS this week on Thursday, October 3. Sega made the announcement on its blog today, pricing the iOS port at $4.99 (£2.99/ €4.49) for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. Created by Double Fine in collaboration with Ron Gilbert, The Cave is an adventure game centered around a talking cave that lures in unsuspecting adventurers. In our review, we enjoyed the "sharply written" story, calling it "perfectly pitched through puzzles and your own wicked participation."
The Cave drops in on iOS this summer
The Cave, Double Fine's latest adventure game, is heading to iOS, Touchgen reports, citing a hands-on preview at E3 last week. Sega published The Cave on PC, Mac, Linux, Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii U in January, but clearly that's not enough, and the game is due out this summer on iOS. The Cave on iOS doesn't have virtual analog sticks or buttons, but allows the player to tap and drag characters around the map, and choose characters with a poke on their respective icons along the bottom of the screen, the hands-on report notes. The Cave features seven characters with murky morals and, at times, even murkier gameplay, we found. There's no word on how much the iOS version will cost, but the price shouldn't be any steeper than the walls of that deep, dark, sentient cave.
The Cave, Tekken 6 free on PlayStation Plus this week
PlayStation Plus members can snag free downloads of The Cave and Tekken 6 starting tomorrow, the former a PS3 download, the latter a PSP game compatible with PS Vita. This week is also your last chance to grab a free copy of Plants vs Zombies on PS Vita.The PlayStation Blog clues us in on some deals dropping this week, as well – specifically, cheap downloads of Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken and Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational on PS Vita. Rocketbirds is 40 percent off on PS3 and Vita, while Hot Shots is hocking a course and character DLC pack for 25 percent off.
Spec Ops: The Line free on PS Plus this week, The Cave, Joe Danger 2 upcoming
Sony announced all of March's free PlayStation Plus games at once, with a twist. We don't know which week will offer which game. They're just ... sometime in March, on a Tuesday. We do know which game goes free tomorrow: Spec Ops: The Line, the game that makes you feel sad about war.Other freebies offered this month to Plus members include The Cave and Joe Danger 2 on PS3, and Disgaea 3 and Tekken 6 for Vita. Well, technically Tekken 6 is for PSP, but you can download it on your Vita. And while you're downloading free PSP games, don't forget the anniversary deals!
The Cave review: Seven spelunkers, none decent
The Cave is an adventure game, obviously. It's littered with puzzles and pieces of junk destined to become the only objects in the world worth having. The cave itself is a sentient, subterranean narrator, enveloping seven different explorers in a patchwork of dream-like environments that not only pertain to them, but contain the kind of contorted contexts in which a femur and a parrot are essential parts of progress.Those are all signs of the classic adventure, tinged with the incongruous vending machines, gift shops and eternally stranded island hermits you expect from a Ron Gilbert game. But there's something else inside The Cave, a familiar cynicism and cleverness that gradually emerges as each spelunker hits rock bottom. These people – even the monk and the chivalrous knight – are egotistical, unpleasant kleptomaniacs, and you're one of them.%Gallery-164293%
PSN Tuesday: Ni No Kuni, The Cave, Dust 514 open beta
This week's PSN content dump is live, headlined by Studio Ghibli and Level-5's joint JRPG, Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. The other big new game is Double Fine Production's The Cave, the adventure game helmed by none other than iconic video game designer Ron Gilbert.Today also kicks off the open beta for Dust 514, the massively-multiplayer online shooter from CCP Games. PS Plus subscribers have a slew of discounts to consider, like NiGHTS into Dreams, The Unfinished Swan, Psychonauts and more. The full list of this week's content can be found over on the PlayStation Blog.
The Cave welcomes visitors beginning Jan. 22 [update: prices]
Double Fine's The Cave is set for exploration starting January 22 on PlayStation Network and Wii U, designer Ron Gilbert revealed today. The XBLA and Steam versions will follow one day later. "Plus ... Mac and Linux on Steam Play!!" Gilbert noted, which means the Steam release will not be PC only.The Cave puts player-chosen three-character parties into a strange, animate cave that speaks as you explore it. We assume solving the mysteries within isn't as simple as just asking the cave what its deal is.Update: Sega confirmed the dates Gilbert announced, along with some prices. The Cave has an admission fee of $14.99 on PSN, Wii U's eShop, and Steam, and 1200 MSP on XBLM.
The Cave's latest character roster trailer is adventurous
This trailer for Double Fine's The Cave introduces three more of the game's playable characters. The video teases the back-stories of The Adventurer, The Knight and The Time Traveler. The last character trailer for the game detailed The Hillbilly, The Scientist and The Monk. Both trailers show The Twins, which actually makes sense, the more we think about it.The Cave will launch in January 2013 on Wii U, PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.
The Cave on Wii U uses GamePad for camera and character switching
The Cave will be Double Fine's first foray on a Nintendo system, believe it or not. At a demo event last week, I spoke with Double Fine's Chris Remo and got our first glimpse at The Cave on Wii U.Above, you can see how the WiiPad plays into the game. It's essentially a glorified character selector and camera controller – by tapping on a character, you'll jump to them; by tapping on a character twice, you can switch the camera focus to them. In The Cave, characters cannot move independently off-screen."So other than that, it pretty much plays like all the other versions," Double Fine's Remo told me. "We did work really hard to ensure that visually everything you're seeing is identical to the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions, so there's no downscaling, there's nothing going on that is not up to par with the other next-gen systems. There's nothing super wacky going on, but it's a completely full-featured version of the game."The Cave launches on Wii U next year.
The Cave trailer introduces playable characters
This trailer for Double Fine's The Cave has said cave talking about the game's diverse cast of characters. The game is heading to Wii U, PS3, Xbox 360 and PC in January 2013.
The Cave unearths some environmental screenshots
Double Fine's adventure platformer The Cave is destined for Xbox 360, PS3, PC and Wii U in 2013, and will probably look a lot like these screens, which popped up on All Games Beta.These new shots show off what looks to be a cave (gasp) and several other environments (spoiler warning goes here). The Cave, from adventure veteran Ron Gilbert, has a ragtag group of travelers running around a mysterious talking cavern, three at a time. Different combinations of characters unlock different aspects of the game, perhaps including some of these pictured areas.%Gallery-164293%
Ron Gilbert's platformer / adventure game 'The Cave' also headed to Wii U eShop
The Cave isn't just destined for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC, apparently. During a demo at PAX Prime this afternoon, DoubleFine rep Greg Rice pointed out that the game's also headed to the Nintendo Wii U's eShop.The platformer slash adventure game wasn't actually playable on Wii U at the studio's booth, so it's unclear how different (if at all) the game will be on Nintendo's next home console. We're hoping that the Wii U's tablet controller (the WiiPad™) has a giant touchscreen button that simply says "Solve," though it'll probably be something more clever.
Inside the mind of Ron Gilbert
Sega's booth was as loud and vibrant as the rest at E3 2012, humming with the frantic energy of a beehive that had just been kicked. Lacking a quiet corner, it was in the middle of Sega's bustling booth that I struck up an impromptu conversation with legendary adventure game designer Ron Gilbert.I told the Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion designer that I wanted to get inside his head, to find out where he gleans his inspiration from when starting new projects."You don't want to be in this head," Gilbert promised.%Gallery-156063%
The Cave opens up to adventurers in 2013, care of Ron Gilbert and Double Fine
Double Fine and Sega have officially announced The Cave, a side-scrolling, multi-character adventure game coming to Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and PC in 2013. Led by Ron Gilbert, The Cave sees an eclectic cluster of impromptu spelunkers – including a scientist, a monk, a knight and a time traveler – finding their fortunes (and perhaps more) in the titular, mysterious and, err, "sultry" subterranean network. That's right: The Cave can speak.The rest of the protagonists are silent, but up to three can venture into The Cave at a time. After picking your trio, you guide them all deeper into the seamless network of underground rooms, switching control between each to solve puzzles and exploit their unique abilities. The knight, for instance, can activate a guardian angel that protects him from flames and falls, while the hillbilly can hold his breath underwater forever. (Take that, Guybrush Threepwood!)The game can be completed with any combination of characters, but certain endings and unique areas are locked to individual characters. Having the knight in your group, for example, will open up the medieval castle and its puzzles for play. And yes, there just happens to be a castle buried deep within in The Cave. With a "New Grog" vending machine (among other inharmonious objects) cropping up in the network's lower bowels, we think it's safe to say that Ron Gilbert's touch is evident throughout the game.He also programmed the whole thing himself, we think. Probably.%Gallery-156063%
Double Fine's 'The Cave' is not the Kickstarter adventure game
We already knew that Double Fine had at least two projects cooking at the moment, but now we know more about one of them -- a recent trademark filing for "The Cave" apparently isn't attached to the development studio's Kickstarter project. A Double Fine rep confirmed as much to GameSpot this week in a statement which read, "While we can't comment on unannounced projects, we can say that Double Fine's Kickstarter-funded adventure game has not been started, designed, or even imagined yet. No trademarks have been filed on its behalf."Like so many trogloxenes, the "Cave" project is still shrouded in darkness. We are, however, less than a week from GDC and the beginning of near-monthly trade events, so we imagine it won't be too long before any information at all about the game is revealed.
