Have you stepped outside today? GOOD GOD, WHY?!?! It's terribly cold outside, and there are plenty of things you could be doing to pass the time indoors. For example: play video games that remind you of just how bitterly cold it is out there.Grab a cup of hot cocoa, run some hot water so your pipes don't freeze, and grab a controller. Nothing beats the bad weather quite like a handful of great video games.
The 16th annual Independent Games Festival has unveiled their complete list of Main Competition finalists for their 2014 showcase, and oh are there finalists! SO. MANY. FINALISTS. This year they have dozens of finalists and honorable mentions from the following six main categories: Excellence in Visual Art; Excellence in Narrative; Excellence in Design; Excellence in Audio; the Nuovo Award; and the Seumas McNally Grand Prize.A quick glance at the list will show you that Simogo's Device 6 took the nominations completely by storm, literally landing a finalist spot or honorable mention in every single one of the big awards categories (heck, it was even Gamezebo's own #2 game of 2013, so you know it's a good one). Other finalists include some other fan favorites over the last year, like The Yawhg, Don't Starve, The Stanley Parable, and Papers, Please."The actual voting for the finalists will begin on February 18, with the winners being announced a month later on March 19 at the San Francisco Moscone Convention Center in the middle of GDC 2014. You can keep scrolling down to see the full list of finalists and honorable mentions in each of the six Main Competition categories.Do you agree with all of the IGF nominations this year? Who do you think will take home the top accolades in 2014? Be sure to sound off in the replies!
Love The Tribez, but wish you had more of it? Consider your wish granted. Game Insight has just announced The Tribez & Castlez, the first spin-off from The Tribez which will send Aurora and the Professor to another world full of magic and medieval wonder in early 2014.The game will still embrace The Tribez city-building ways, but with a fantasy theme rather than a prehistoric one. Dinosaurs are all well and good, but you can expect both dungeons and dragons this time around. And that's not all - Game Insight has told us that players can expect everything from werewolves to Trollums (which I'm assuming is Tribez-speak for trolls OR a delicious nougat-filled candy).No specific release date has been confirmed yet, but when The Tribez & Castlez does come out you can expect to play it on iOS, Android and Facebook.
Huge, HUGE news at Sony's CES keynote today: and it's actually something that can affect us mobile gamers in a sense! Earlier this afternoon, Sony announced a brand new streaming service called PlayStation Now that's set to debut in the summer of 2014, which is said to allow gamers full streaming access to Sony's entire game catalogue on "Internet-connected consumer electronics devices they use every day." Translation: we'll likely be able to stream games like The Last of Us on our smartphone or tablet one day soon.In fact, The Last of Us and Beyond: Two Souls are confirmed to be two of the first games to receive PS Now support once the subscription-based service launches in full this coming summer (a beta version is also planned to roll out sometime this month). It's also interesting to note that Beyond: Two Souls had experimented a little bit with this kind of thing around its release, with users given the option to control the entire game via a mobile device. Sony also gives the example of a user playing a PS4 game in their living room, and then picking up the action via PS Now on their PS3 system in the bedroom."So there you have it: the full streaming of PS4 games on any number of other non-PS4 devices. While the only confirmed hardware so far to be supporting PS Now includes Sony's own PS4, PS3, and PS Vita systems, in addition to certain models of BRAVIA TV, given the wording of the announcement, I think it's also safe to assume that certain smartphones and tablets will join those ranks in the very near future.
While we've certainly seen a few mobile games that played around with location-based concepts before in the past, there have been very few to go to the same lengths of immersion that form the foundation of Ingress from Google's Niantic Labs. What starts off as a location-based MMO that uses real-world positioning to influence game events quickly becomes a virtual reality event of epic proportions the more you dive into the constraints of Ingress and start unraveling the mystery of the Niantic Project.So to celebrate the past, present, and future of the ambitious mobile project, Niantic Labs has just released a two-part retrospective video series that documents the creation of the location-based experience and gives an enlightening overview of the storyline so far. You can check out both parts of the official documentary "Ingress Report: Ingress Year One" by clicking here and here, respectively.It's a seriously cool video series that everyone should definitely check out: especially if you've never had a chance to play Ingress before, as there's no finer way to bring yourself up to speed on the captivating real-life mobile event. But now we've saved the best (and most interesting) news for last, as Niantic Labs has let it slip that Ingress will also be headed to iPhone in the very near future.It's pretty surprising, don't you think, that a game made by Google is headed directly to a competitor's platform? But we're certainly not complaining, as the more people playing Ingress the better! If you have an Android device right now, you can scoop up the epic and free-to-play location-based experience over on the Google Play Marketplace.
We're only a few days into 2014 right now, but it's already shaping up to be the year of long-awaited mobile sequels. Last week we got the follow-up to 2010's Jet Car Stunts, and in just a short time from now we're going to be getting another highly anticipated sequel to one of 2010's biggest mobile games: Mega Jump. That's right! The hugely popular vertical jumping game will finally be getting a much-deserved second installment in the form of Mega Jump 2, set for release next week!Get Set Games has unveiled the first few screenshots of Mega Jump 2 in action today, and the game looks like a colorful and fun return to the quirky world and simple gameplay that made the first game such a blast to play. Touch Arcade is reporting that the big changes this time around include a shift from the original level-based gameplay to a more "endless" affair, and a larger emphasis on finding hidden collectables. But the most exciting new addition is the fact that the other unlockable characters will finally have their own unique attributes to put a different spin on the core jumping gameplay."So as per the trend lately, Mega Jump 2 is already looking to bring an excellent blend of nostalgic mobile gaming and some fresh new ideas into the mobile games space. We'll be sure to keep up with new coverage of the game once it hits the App Store next week.
Okay well this is a little embarrassing: we were so caught up in writing all of our "Best of" lists at the end of 2013, that we almost forgot to recognize all of the very best games that came out in December! Well it's a good thing we finally remembered, because December 2013 had a few amazing games in store for us to help end the year on a real high note, and to keep us gaming strong well into the New Year.It seems that a lot of December's best games were all about location, location, location: from a pixelated brewery that you get to manage; to an underground mineshaft that's filled with just as many hidden abilities as addictive gameplay; to an enigmatic "room" that's been known to contain the occasional puzzle or two. And of course, let's not forget the zombie-filled apocalyptic world of our very top pick for last month…"So what games had you glued to a screen this past December? Do you agree with our picks? Are there any other hidden gems that you thought should have made the cut? Then be sure to hit the comments section and guarantee that the last month in gaming will truly be a December to remember (even if it might have taken us a few more days than usual).
It's a brand new year, so that means brand new information on Valve's innovative Steam Machines! We've known that the "Steam boxes" have been coming for a little while now, specifically designed to bring the popular computer-based gaming service directly to your living room. But until this very moment, all we had to go on was a few pieces of ominous concept art that showcased different-shaped boxes at the heart of various entertainment centers.Well today Valve has announced over a dozen different Steam Machines that gamers will be able to pick up at some point in 2014. The upcoming "first generation" of Steam Machines is being produced by 14 of today's biggest hardware manufacturers, including Alienware, Origin PC, and Falcon NW. What's great about this is that gamers will have a wide range of choices when determining which Steam Machine is the best fit for their own playing style, and taking into consideration things like hardware specifications and pricing points."For instance, certain models of the Steam Machine will be starting out as low as $499, like those from iBuyPower or CyberPower PC. But if you're really into building powerful gaming machines and have the money to spend, then a Falcon NW model can cost you anywhere from $1,799 to $6,000. The interesting thing is that each different Steam Machine looks vastly different in appearance, depending on the manufacturer, and each one will come packaged with Valve's groundbreaking SteamOS controller.You can find out more information on the upcoming first generation of Steam Machines by visiting the official Steam website, and you can download a full product sheet complete with images and specifications of the first line of hardware by clicking right over here.