The annual end of year Steam Sale has been underway for a few days now and it’s been quite an interesting sale. I had $10 in my Steam Wallet going into the sale and I decided to limit myself to that amount for the sale. Therefore I was able to pick up two games for $4.99 each. I bought Hotline Miami and Faster Than Light (FTL). On Amazon I decided to pick up GTA IV for $4.99. I have it on the 360 but figured it’d make for some good jump in and out fun on the PC.
It’s been a little busy during the holidays, so I figured I’d do a quick check in. I’ve been playing Saints Row 3 (Saints Row The Third) on the PC and I’ve had a lot of fun with it so far. It’s a great game that offers plenty of chaos and laughs. I absolutely love the story missions so far, and it’s a blast to drive around the city in various cars causing all sorts of mayhem. The weapon variety is also nice and it’s awesome to be able to call in a UAV to rain missiles from above when you get into a jam.
Below are some assorted screenshots from my playthrough so far:
So I rented Most Wanted from GameFly for some reason. I tend to absolutely hate arcade racing games. I want the most realistic experience possible, therefore I prefer Forza 4 (which is absolutely amazing). Anyway Need for Speed is what you’d expect from a modern arcade racer…Flashy lights, nitrous, dubstep, cinematic wrecks and more dubstep.
One thing that really bugs me is that during a race your car will literally change colors multiple times just because you drive through a repair booth. What the hell is that? Anyway, I recorded a gameplay video, though it doesn’t look great. I recorded it using my MacBook camera using the Windows 8 camera app…I’m not sure if it’s something to do with the software, or just being a laptop webcam (though I thought the MacBook camera should be pretty decent…maybe it’s just because I’m in Windows right now).
I’m about an hour into Metro 2033 (available FREE from THQ via Facebook (read more) and I have to say I’m having a good time so far. I had previously played Metro on the 360 but only for a brief 30 minutes or so. It never caught me. I’m really enjoying the dark atmosphere so far. I can’t really say much else as I’m not very far into the game.
I figured I’d at least share some screenshots:
I was browsing blogs here on WordPress when I came across this article by After Dark Gaming. The art work associated with the article immediately caught my eye. I had never heard of this game until I happened across this article and I have to say I’m a little intrigued by this game. I still don’t know much about it. The ‘reveal trailer’ (below) is pretty interesting though. It’s dark, brutal and a little graphic, yet the music is almost disassociated from what’s happening. This makes the video even more creepy.
The game’s description on its Steam page reads:
Hotline Miami is a high-octane action game overflowing with raw brutality, hard-boiled gunplay and skull crushing close combat. Set in an alternative 1989 Miami, you will assume the role of a mysterious antihero on a murderous rampage against the shady underworld at the behest of voices on your answering machine.
Below you’ll see a few screenshots as shown on the game’s Steam page:
Hotline Miami is available on Steam for $9.99.
THQ has just released their hit game Metro 2033 for FREE! That’s right, 100% free, no strings attached. All you have to do is follow this link http://www.freemetrogame.com/ and like the page on Facebook to reveal your product key. You can then redeem the key via Steam, or download the game directly via a link provided on the page and enter the product key during the install.
I already got Metro 2033 as part of the THQ Humble Bundle, but it’s a great game and nothing’s better than free!
Monolith Productions may be most well known for developing the hit games F.E.A.R. and Condemned, but they’ve also made quite a splash in the downloadable ‘arcade’ market with Gotham City Imposters. It looks like they have another downloadable hit on their hands with Guardians of Middle-Earth (available on Xbox Live Arcade and PSN).
If you’re familiar with the insanely popular League of Legends game on the PC (or DOTA 2) then you’ll easily understand how to play Guardians of Middle-Earth. GoME is a console version of these games with a Lord of the Rings theme, so you’ll be playing as characters such as Gandalf or Sauron. I’ve played a handful of matches so far and I have to say the game plays great on a console. Controls are quite intuitive. Hold right trigger for your basic attack while the face buttons are used for special attacks and abilities. When you level up, simply hold RB (on the 360) to open your abilities menu and press to corresponding button to quickly add a point to your chosen ability).
Guardians of Middle-Earth also spices things up by allowing you to upgrade your towers as you level up. The higher your level the more powerful the upgrade you can apply to any given tower. You can change their rate of fire, or build a barracks to spawn more powerful creatures.
The graphics are pretty nice and the map is well designed and nice to look at when you’re not frantically attacking (or retreating).
Guardians of Middle-Earth is available for $15 (1200 MSP) and there’s also a season pass available for an additional $15 which will grant you access to future DLC ‘guardians’ (the characters you play as) and other content. It’s certainly a great game to enjoy as you prepare to watch The Hobbit this weekend.
If you want to see the game in action, check out Giant Bomb’s gameplay ‘quick look’ which features 37 minutes of gameplay and commentary, below:
So I just found out about the THQ Humble Bundle today and I’m glad I did because there are only three days left to take advantage of this great offer. If you haven’t heard of Humble Bundle, basically they usually take a collection of indie games and let you name your own price and even name how much of that money goes to each developer, the two charities (Child’s Play and The American Red Cross for this bundle) and the people behind Humble Bundle (to help pay for their bandwidth and other expenses).
I purchased Humble Bundle 2 and 3 which included games such as Braid and Cogs. The THQ bundle, however, features a rather large collection of well known, full retail games.
If you pay more than the average donation (which was around $5.61 when I made my purchase) you get all of the games below:
Saints Row 3 (bonus if you beat the average donation)
Darksiders
Company of Heroes (and DLC packs)
Metro 2033
Titan’s Quest
Red Faction Armageddon (and DLC)
You can download these games direct or through Steam (via Steam product keys that are unlocked after your donation of $1 or more). In addition to these games you also get the soundtracks to several of the games in either FLAC or Mp3 format, which is a nice bonus.
Pretty sweet deal for as little as $6. Of course the goal of the Humble Bundle is to raise money for charity (and in the case of the Indie Humble Bundles, to raise money and awareness for indie developers) so it’s certainly encouraged to give more than the bare minimum (you can donate as little as $1 if you choose, but then you miss out on Saints Row 3).
Remember, you only have about 3 days left to take advantage of this amazing offer! Head over to http://humblebundle.com to get a great deal on this THQ collection and donate to a great cause!
USA Today has reported that Microsoft has sold 750,000 Xbox 360’s last week. This number is quite impressive considering Nintendo’s “next-gen” (more like catch up with current gen) Wii U sold only 400,000 units during the same week. For some people the Wii U was hard to find, but I’ve seen them all over the place in EVERY story I’ve been to since its release. They don’t seem to be selling. Those who are buying them aren’t even that impressed with them (listen to the last few Giant Bomb Bombcast’s for example). Giant Bomb reports in their current podcast that in Black Ops II they haven’t seen more than 700 people playing on the Wii U while on the Xbox the number sits around 600,000 online players at any given time. Just saying. Go Xbox!
I see the title everywhere, and it seems you can play video games and not be a ‘gamer’, so what exactly is a gamer? Why are people obsessed with this label? I hear “if you only play Call of Duty you’re not a gamer” or “if you only play easy games, you’re not a gamer”. Why not? I don’t understand this at all. Personally, I play video games for fun and I’ve done so for over 20 years. I’ve owned a NES, GameBoy, SEGA Genesis, Nintendo 64, PSone, PS2, Xbox and Xbox 360 (in that order). Also an iPhone and Kindle Fire HD (mobile gaming). What does that mean? Why does it matter?
I mean if you enjoy watching TV are you a ‘TV’er’? ‘couch potato’? TV fanatic? The same goes for movies. Or cars even. Now I know there are people who are obsessed with movies and consider themselves some sort of movie hipster. And there are car people for whom cars are more than just a vehicle. But what difference does it really make? If you have fun playing video games, you have fun playing video games. That’s it. You might be part of a gaming community, be it Xbox Live, a forum, a website or even a blog. But does it really make a difference?
I’ll stop rambling now, I’m just tired of seeing the gamer vs non-gamer argument. Who cares. It’s a hobby. It’s a form of entertainment. If you play a game and I play a game, what’s the difference? Am I not having the same fun? Experiencing the same thing?
photo taken from the webcomic CTRL ALT DEL @ http://www.cad-comic.com
Gumballs Plays Games 