Parenting - it's a real challenge. Especially when you're an octopus pretending to be a man. But that's exactly the challenge you'll have to face if you're playing Octodad: Dadliest Catch -- a new QWOP-like game that's just hit Steam.We went hands-on with Octodad: Dadliest Catch today in a Twitch livestream, and have captured the goodness here for your enjoyment. If you like it, be sure to give us a follow on Twitch and/or YouTube. There's plenty more where this came from! (well… there will be in the coming days).We had some sound balancing issues on this one, but never fear! They'll be remedied before the next Let's Play.
Every now and then I love to take a break from playing all of the hot new releases in gaming and spend some time playing through some of the old faithful titles from years ago. Whether I never got a chance to play them way back when, or whether I just wanted to revisit their magic for pure nostalgia's sake, there's no denying that the lovely world of free games and sales has been making this feat all the more obtainable each and every day.This week we've got quite a few older games making the sales roundup, but just because they're old that doesn't make them any less fan-flipping-tastic! In addition to those, we've also got a catalogue-wide sale of 2K Games titles going on over at the App Store, and another Android game bundle that's truly out of this world."Decisions, decisions. Do you have any idea which games your money is going to flock to this weekend? Know about any other great deals in gaming that we may have missed? As always, don't forget to let us know by leaving a comment down below!
Wow, what a way to start off the year on a high note! We're only a month into 2014 right now, and we've already seen a number of wonderful game releases that put a big ol' smile on our faces. And not only were these games all great in their own right, but we even went as far as to call some of them early contenders for our next Game of the Year. Think I'm kidding? Well let's not forget that Gamezebo's Game of the Year 2013 was released at the tail-end of January last year, so anything is possible at this point!There's no question that January 2014 has been a month for long-awaited games to finally come to fruition: games that have been in development for so long that their names were starting to become something of a legend in of themselves. But boy are we glad that we actually got to play them now, because when it comes to an epic Viking-themed quest across the frozen tundra and a frantic multiplayer sword fight, I think it would be an understatement to say that it was more than worth the wait."So do you feel the same way as we do about January's shining stars in gaming? Were there any other strong contenders you think deserved a spot on our list? Don't be shy - we want to hear about them! And at least we can all agree on one thing for certain: if this past month was any indication, then we have an unbelievable year of games to look forward to.
I'm terrible at Flappy Bird. That's ok, you are too. That's probably why you're reading this. As of this writing, my high score is a paltry 18. My teenage nephew, on the other hand, has managed to break the 40 mark without a sweat. So I did what any self-respecting 33 year old man with a Flappy Bird addiction would do: I asked a child for help.His advice delivers a heaping helping of common sense - and like all common sense, it seems applicable well beyond the context in which it was given. So I ask you: will these tips improve your Flappy Bird game, or your day-to-day life?I say it's both.
Zynga is spending $527 million, to purchase NaturalMotion, developers of the hit CSR Racing franchise and the critically acclaimed Clumsy Ninja (well, we liked it).NaturalMotion was founded by Torsten Reil, who utilized his PhD work at Oxford's zoology department to create incredibly realistic and highly well-animated and lifelike mobile games, whether it be for horses, cars, or ninjas.NaturalMotion brings pretty highly-coveted, high quality mobile franchises, filling a huge hole in Zynga's current mobile roster (which a cynic would criticize as being derivative). It's a good, but very expensive buy.
The successful marketing of a new mobile game is by no means an easy task, especially when you're just a small team with limited funds like Australian developer Gnomic Studios. But that doesn't make the growing need to get your game out there for all to see any less important. So instead of emptying their wallets to buy all sorts of flashy advertisements for their colorful new action game Square Off, the creative minds at Gnomic did the next best thing: they asked real people to help stop a real alien invasion.On December 18th, 2013, the developer posted a fake advertisement in the "Volunteer" section of Gumtree, under the headline "Volunteers needed to suppress an Alien invasion." The fake posting had been written under the fictional guise of alien research extraordinaire Professor Claus von Zwerg, calling for anyone who was interested in saving mankind from the incoming invasion, and was accompanied by some ancient and conspiracy-ridden images taken throughout all of history."To make the whole thing just that more believable, Gnomic Studios even went as far as to create a fake LinkedIn account for Professor Claus von Zwerg, which you can view (and connect with!) right over here. They even bought old Claus his own mobile number, and recorded a fake voicemail message directing all callers and wannabe heroes to a micro page on the developer's website.Once the fake listing on Gumtree went live, Gnomic Studios saw the total number of views rise into the hundreds after only 24 hours, with 10% of visitors even taking the extra step to visit the Gnomic website. Michal Napora of Gnomic Studios told Gamezebo that the studio has reached out and tried to explain the situation to most of the people who professed an interest in the ad, although they are still waiting to see if they get any follow-up responses.
When scouring the globe for the latest in gaming gossip, it's not often that a story comes out of my local paper - but hey, it had to happen sometime.On Tuesday, January 28th, a 12 year old boy from St. Catharines, Ontario decided to take his grandmother's Nissan Altima for a joyride. Unlike most kids who do such silly things and crash before the end of the block, this kid got pretty far. All the way to the Canada/US border, in fact.The Queenston-Lewiston Bridge acts as one of several gateways in Niagara between Canada and the United States, and it's a good 20 minutes from St. Catharines (possibly more depending on where in the city he started from). Not only that, but it requires some serious highway driving - including a trek over the monstrously tall Garden City Skyway that still terrifies me on every trip I take.
Do you ever find yourself getting extremely sidetracked by the prospect of new mobile games? I sure know that I do. For instance, I've been trying to write this introductory paragraph for a good hour and a half right now, but I keep getting completely derailed by watching gameplay videos of all the great new titles that I'll be able to play for myself in just a few short hours.But I guess if you saw the great lineup of new games headed to the iOS App Store tonight, then you probably wouldn't blame me. After all, we've got a beautiful mobile reimagining of a classic from the 90s, the very first mobile game by a world-renowned filmmaker, and let's not forget a LEGO spin-off game that's aiming to tackle a completely new genre. The only good thing about getting so horribly sidetracked is that at least it makes the time go by just a little bit faster until all the new games start turning up to play!