Any gamer knows that there's no better way to snag a handful of great indie releases for a hugely discounted price than by perusing the latest Humble Indie Bundle. But now the beloved Humble Bundle company is stepping up their own game this week: with the full-fledged launch of The Humble Store online. What this means is that indie developers will now finally have a way to sell their games directly through the charitable Humble Store, thanks to the brand new storefront.And as anything that's ever been associated with the Humble Bundle name before, the newly launched Humble Store promises to offer great games at next-to-nothing prices, with the full proceeds going to the game developers themselves, and a small slice for Humble Bundle and some wonderful charities. And for all of you Bundle fans out there, not to worry: you'll still be seeing more than your fair share of Humble Indie Bundles and Humble Weekly Sales as per the usual alongside the new store."In celebration of the Humble Store's first big day out in the world, the brand new storefront is running, what else, but a number of great sales on some of our favorite indie PC and Mac games! The Humble Store is currently featuring big deals on Don't Starve ($7.49), Rogue Legacy ($7.49), Gunpoint ($4.99), and more for the next five hours at the time of this writing. But if you happen to miss out on these deals, not to worry again: more sales are already on the way for tomorrow, and the next day, and every day after that!So will you be picking up any great indie titles on the new Humble Store in support of game developers and charitable organizations? How do you think the new storefront will hold up against some of the other well-established online sites that specialize in gaming deals? Be sure to let us know in the replies!
Everybody loves Skee-Ball. It's all the fun of bowling combined with the thrill of pumping quarters into a metal slot. Scopely, the developers behind a little game you might remember called Mini Golf MatchUp, have recently announced that they'll be bringing the officially licensed Skee-Ball Arcade to the App Store and Google Play on November 20.This shouldn't be confused with ngmoco's Skee-Ball - which mysteriously disappeared from the App Store and was re-launched as Arcade Ball a few months ago. (methinks there was a licensing deal that ended to allow for this Scopely release - but let's file that purely under "speculation")That said, ngmoco's title was a chart-topper for a time, so we know that Skee-Ball is a formula that has plenty of potential on mobile devices. Few details have emerged, but if the trailer is anything to go by, you should expect a variety of wacky playing fields, power-ups, and the ability to "challenge your friends" - an element that Scopely excels at. Keep an eye out for this one when it hits next week.
When mobile game developers and other business-minded folks throw around the term "emerging markets," their thoughts almost immediately go to three places: China, Korea, and Japan. For Western developers, these are the markets with the clearest potential for growth - and they're the markets that no Western company has really managed to crack.But what if there was another untapped market eager for developer attention?This year's Live Mobile! European Mobile Congress is being held in Moscow this week (Nov 12 & 13, to be exact); the capital city of a nation that's ravenously eating up the best that mobile gaming has to offer. And as companies like Game Insight are quick to point out, it's home to some chart-topping mobile developers too.To highlight the potential of the Russian marketplace, Game Insight and J'Son & Partners have teamed up to provide this handy infographic - or as we like to call it, a cheat sheet on why you should really be considering translating your latest app into one more language:
If you're in your early thirties like I am, there's a pretty good chance your passion for gaming started with three little letters: NES. Back in 1985 the Nintendo Entertainment System ushered in a new era for home video games, establishing formulas that game designers still look to nearly 30 years later.Don't you wish you could still play those games the way they were meant to be played?While Gamezebo hasn't perfected a time machine, and we're not quite technical enough to repair the busted old NES that's hiding in your closet, we are prepared to give you the next best thing: the RetroN Gaming System.RetroN can play all of your original NES games, and you can snag one right now (with two controllers) for just $18.99. And there's free shipping, so when we say $18.99, we mean $18.99. Not enough for you? You can bundle it together with two games of your choosing for $39, or bundle it with two games, a third controller (this one looks like the classic), and a light gun for $59!More details - and your chance to buy - can be found at deals.gamezebo.com.
I don't think a lot of you who read these weekly gaming sales roundups can fully understand the extent of how difficult it is for me to type them up from week to week without just buying every single one of them I come across. Seriously, it takes a whole lot of willpower, which unfortunately I don't have all that often. But hey, at least I'm getting a bunch of great games for only a minor dent in my constantly-draining wallet!Because after all, we've got two enormous Humble Bundles that are just too enticing to pass up, countless iOS games that just had their prices slashed, and massively good deals on entire publisher's catalogues. And not only that, but even Gamezebo is hosting a few awesome gaming deals right now (hey, is there such a thing as an employee discount on an already absurdly good deal? Just thought I'd ask)."And if I happened to miss any other great gaming deals that are out there this week, be sure to let me know in the replies, and I'll probably go and buy them too without a moment's hesitation. Okay, I might have a problem…
Revolution Software has announced today that the highly anticipated fifth installment in their popular series of point-and-click adventure games, Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse, is headed our way soon. Taking core adventure gameplay mechanics, but painting everything up in a beautiful high-definition upgrade to the much-revered art style that fans all know and love, the upcoming sequel is currently slated for release on December 4, 2013.In the game, players will follow the tale of George Stobbart and Nico Collard, a lawyer and journalist, respectively, as the two are suddenly thrown into an exhilarating investigation together after a curious painting gets stolen from a lavish art gallery in Paris. What starts out as an innocent chase quickly escalates into a race against time across all of Europe, with shadowy figures and a dark conspiracy waiting around every bend."But this time around, the adventure is so big that it's not all going to fit inside a single game: so Revolution Software has decided to split it up into two different episodes, in another first for the Broken Sword series. Therefore, players can expect to get Episode 1 of the game on the initial release date of December 4, 2013, with Episode 2 to follow shortly after in January 2014. Both episodes will be launching on PC and Mac first ($14.99 for each episode individually or $24.99 when bundled together), with iOS and Android versions not too far behind each respective episode launch.
Lots of news in the social casino and online gaming space this week. No, it is still illegal to gamble online in the US. Though, there are so many land-based casinos opening up in American cities these days, it soon will not matter. Seriously, who knew there were so many Native American reservations to plop down a Vegas-style casino in the US?But, I digress.First off, Betable raised a new round of $18.5 million to support its goal of enabling any developer to add real-cash gambling to their games. So far, Betable only enables online gaming in the UK only, but they are well positioned for when online gaming is finally made legal in the US.
The Banner Saga from Stoic Games has been high on our radar here at Gamezebo ever since we first caught wind of the Viking-themed turn-based strategy game way back in the beginning of 2012, so to have a release date finally set in place is more than a little exciting. Today we can officially confirm that The Banner Saga will be available on January 14, 2014. Players can also pre-order the game on Steam starting sometime in the next month or so, to make sure they're all prepared for the big day.To commemorate this news, Stoic Games has also unleashed a brand new announcement trailer, which shows off those fluid 2D visuals and animations that we've all been drooling over for the past few years now. The new announcement trailer also reminds players that the gods are dead, that they must face their foes alone, and that they might not even survive their harrowing journey. Vikings man, I'll tell ya: pretty intense dudes right there.But seriously, how awesome does this game look? January can't come soon enough! And if you need something to help you pass the time until those first few snowflakes start to fall, then feel free to peruse Gamezebo's vast array of literature on The Banner Saga, including our initial game preview, and two in-depth interviews with the folks at Stoic Games.