PAX Preview: Vessel

This year PAX had an amazing set up where all Indie games were in one place, instead of being all over the place.  So instead of a lot of the small games getting lost in the jungle of big flashy booths, they got their own room and where they all played nice with each other.  I ventured towards this hall and found Vessel, a 2D puzzle game. In the game, you are an inventor who finds “Fluros” which are creatures made of fluids.  The Fluros are then used as labor for different types of industries, but after a short while, they start to malfunction and running amuck.  It is your duty to go and see why it is happening and start to fix everything that has gone wrong.  The main goal of the game is to use the Fluros, which can be made out of all types of liquids in

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PAX Preview: Crimson Alliance

PAX Prime brought tons of games to the show floor.  One of those games shined above the rest:  Crimson Alliance, an Xbox Live Arcade game set to be released September 7th. I had the opportunity to speak with Erin Reed, a Marketing specialist at Certain Affinity, who was showcasing the four player co-op of the game.   Crimson Alliance has three character classes: The Wizard: Long range attack The Mercenary: Melee attacks The Assassin: Long range and Melee attacks The assassin in particular was not unveiled until PAX.  Even though the game has only three classes, four player co-op is supported.  You will be able to tweak your character so it looks different than the other ones by changing your primary and secondary colors, changing your name, plus your look will also depend on how you equip your character since it will affect your fighting style.  You can mix and match

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Take a look at the Gamescom trailer for ‘Sine Mora’

Grasshopper Manufacture’s been pretty busy lately, and even though this game doesn’t involve any zombie-killin’ cheerleaders, Sine Mora does appear to be a pretty cinematic shmup. It also looks to be almost the exact opposite of anything we’ve ever seen from Suda51. Maybe that’s what they’re going for. Digital Reality and Grasshopper Manufacture are working together on the PSN/XBLA title, scheduled to release this winter.

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Crimson Alliance: The Xbox 360 RPG

Genre: Action RPG Platform: Xbox 360 Developer: Certain Affinity Publisher: Microsoft Price: TBD Release: Summer 2011   Crimson Alliance is not set to release until September 7th, but it promises something most RPG’s on XBLA has…4 player co-op locally or over Xbox live.  Also, no split screen!   The game looks to play like Boulders Gate, with some obvious differences.  This is what they have to say about it: “Crimson Alliance is an action RPG for XBLA. Choose between three classes and battle against the sinister Cult of the Soul Siren, with up to three friends on a single console or via Xbox Live. The world of Crimson features labyrinthine crypts, ruined cities, deadly traps and hidden treasures, populated by elite mini-bosses and the devious minions they control. Each of the three main characters has their own motivations, revealed in a story-driven cooperative campaign of betrayal, foul magic and ancient secrets” If you purchase all five “Summer of Arcade”

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E3 First Look: War of the Worlds

Paramount brought two big surprises to these years E3.  The one that caught me completely off-guard was “War of the Worlds.” The demo was played using an Xbox 360 and is set to be released by this year’s end on Xbox live Arcade and Playstation Network.  I must say that out of all the appointments and demos we went through the week, you can tell the developers that love what they were doing and have a genuine passion for the game.  This was one of them.  First Mike Mika, head of development at Other Ocean, not only was exited to show us the demo, but he was truly knowledgeable about the material.  He could not restrain the inner fanboy very well, as it tried to escape the chains of professionalism in front of the media.  I was right there with him, struggling with my inner fangirl as he explained that

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Certain Affinity’s ‘Crimson Alliance’ coming to XBLA this summer

Certain Affinity, who previously worked on titles from the Halo and Call of Duty series, is releasing a new multiplayer title, Crimson Alliance, this summer on XBLA. The game is an action RPG that allows you to pick from three classes. In those classes, you can specialize in certain abilities to fit the way you play, and those specializations change the way the party interacts. “One of the reasons I started Certain Affinity was because I wanted to make a game like this – an action RPG with clever AI, fantastic physics and deep emergent gameplay that can be enjoyed with friends in the living room or halfway across the globe,” said Max Hoberman, president of Certain Affinity. “Crimson Alliance is that game, finally!” Players can start the battle against the Cult of the Soul Siren soon. If you’re at E3, the game will also be playable at Microsoft’s booth.

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Double Fine’s ‘Trenched’ launches June 22

Double Fine announced yesterday that their latest, non-Sesame Street-related game, Trenched, will be released on Xbox LIVE Arcade on June 22, 2011 for 1200 Microsoft Points. (It’s a tower defense game.) Trenched’s Project Lead, Brad Muir, pretty much noted that words don’t even matter when we’ve got video, saying that, “You’re probably not even reading this part of the press release right now because we sent a video along with it.  And honestly that’s fine; the video has all the information you need.” You probably want to see that video — it’s the intro. Here you go.

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‘Ms. Splosion Man’ needs your help for a rare XBLA beta

Twisted Pixel Games announced late yesterday that you might get the chance to test Ms. Splosion Man as part of an Early Access program. Registration is open now, but the testing phase doesn’t start until June 6. (It ends June 26.) Turns out they’ll need 10,000 testers, each of which will get access to two multiplayer levels per week in addition to a trial of the game. “To make the best multiplayer game possible, we are enlisting the help of our friends and fans to beat the ever-living crap out of our game and tell us what is wrong with it,” said the game’s Director, Josh Bear. In order to participate, you’ve first got to be chosen, but you won’t be chosen unless you own an Xbox 360 with a hard drive, have an Xbox LIVE Gold account and have broadband Internet access. You’ll also have to prove you’ve got

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Review: The UnderGarden

Genre: Action Arcade Publisher: Atari Developer: Vitamin G Studios Release Date: November 10, 2010 DEMO/PASS Throughout this review my boyfriend Jamie and I (Lindsey) will give our different points-of-view on this game, The UnderGarden.  We’ll start with a breakdown of all the elements of a video game such as graphics, music, etc. To tell you the truth we play totally different games being a couple, he is more into first person shooters such as COD: Black Ops and Halo, though Jamie enjoys the occasional WOW or Fable III, he never gets sick of those violent games. Me on the other hand, I stick to more of the Dragon Age and Pokemon games. So different points of view can be kind of fun when playing the same game. Lindsey: First off I would like to say that the graphics of the game are AWESOME. In HD, they give a sense of

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Torchlight Price Drop to Celebrate XBLA Launch

The title says it all. In honor of the launch of Torchlight on Xbox Live Arcade, the game’s price has been permanently dropped to $14.95, effective last night (that’s 1200 MS Points). And that’s for every version of Torchlight available: Mac, PC, Steam, or Xbox. If you’re still holding out on giving this game a chance, now’s the time. It’s cheap, and it’s pretty much everywhere you need it to be in order to play (short of those of you that only ever game on a PS3). I’ve only delved into Torchlight through Steam a few times, because I’m not a point-and-click adventure gal on the computer. But, on the Xbox? Well, that’s a whole new animal, and I’m willing to give it a go. Hopefully you are too.

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