Earlier in the week the Steam Early Access release trailer for The Stomping Land was revealed, along with lots of information about the game and its impending release. With a set launch date of May 30th, The Stomping Land will be in players' hands just a little under a year following the game's Kickstarter campaign which pulled in over $100,000. Those who backed the game on Kickstarter (and qualify for the specific rewards tier) will have access to the game on the 26th, four days before everyone else will.On the game's official forums, The Stomping Land's lead developer, Alex Fundora, revealed that seven different dinosaurs will accompany the early access release, with other dinosaurs being added into the game as they are completed. Fundora also talked a little about the caves shown off in the release trailer, and what players can expect to get from exploring them.
There is a lesson to be learned from every failure, is what Zack Bell, lead developer of Frog Sord, is quickly realizing. Bell's game, a Super Meatboy-esque platformer starring a sword-wielding frog has fallen on hard times. Frog Sord, as it exists right now as a playable Alpha, is probably all the world will ever know of the frog and his adventures. Due to a conflict amongst the MECH6 team, Frog Sord development has been scrapped.What started as a great idea two friends had for a game, quickly evolved into an early prototype which picked up attention and support from players all around the world. Bell quickly found himself picking up additional team members in order to turn Frog Sord into everything he had dreamed it would be. During these early steps of the game's life, a few mistakes were made that would turn out to be fatal ones.In short, MECH6 took on investors that they were not prepared to do business with. The necessity of constant feedback to the investors strained the team's ability to develop, as no one on the team was really prepared for the business side of things. On top of the investors looming over the project, MECH6 made some legal missteps that ended up hemorrhaging the team's morale, eventually to a point beyond repair.
There's long been a debate about the ethics of Pokemon. Are you collecting or capturing those creatures? Are you their loving master, or the digital equivalent to Michael Vick? If you're looking for a comparable experience that solves this ethical dilemma (while introducing a whole new one), you may want to check out Deity Quest - the "gotta convert'em all!" of the role-playing world.Players will fill the heavenly shoes of "an ambitious young god, recently assigned to a world to convert followers and gain power," says the game's official site. "Your goal is to become the Overgod, the highest position among the many gods of Aberos."The followers you'll collect are the equivalent of Pokemon's monsters, but at least this time you'll know they're fighting for you willingly; even if it is a tad theistically tongue-in-cheek.The game features 6-vs-6 battles, which sounds fairly epic. If that sounds up your godly alley, you can pick this one up for PC, Mac, Linux and Android at fancyfishgames.com.
The stories of our fathers are rarely written down. What we know of our family, our past, and to a certain extent our culture has survived because of the tradition of oral storytelling. In some cultures this is more valued than others. For the Indigenous People of the Americas, telling stories is essential to the preservation of their culture and heritage.So why not share these stories through a more modern medium?Never Alone will be the debut release from Upper One Games, a studio founded by the Cook Inlet Tribal Counsel in Anchorage, Alaska. They're the first indigenous-owned studio in the US, and that's a title they wear proudly. "Video games are powerful tools for making the history, tradition and culture of indigenous peoples relevant to both the next generation of Native people and the rest of the world," said CEO Gloria O'Neill in a prepared statement.
Here at Gamezebo, we've been pretty open about our desire for better quality control on Steam. Early Access has helped turn the service into a figurative (and sometimes literal) trash dump for hacked together scams, inferior clones and just some downright awful products.Earth: Year 2066 was one such train wreck. Until a few hours ago, you could snag what Steam users described as an ugly, broken mess for $19.99. That's no longer possible, however, as Valve has removed the game from the Steam storefront.Of course it's possible you bought the game before realizing what a pile it was - especially since users are accusing the game's developer, Killing Day Studios, of deleting negative feedback on their Steam page and propping it up with lies written by puppet accounts. If that's the case, you can and should get your money back.
Remember Kentucky Route Zero? I sure hope so. It was our pick for 2013 Game of the Year, and not without good reason. That said, only the first two acts of five have been released, and considering the "it'll be ready when it's ready" response the studio has given for questions about Act III, it seemed like we might be waiting a while longer.Good news… we're not! Kentucky Route Zero Act III has now been released into the wild. If you already own the game on a season pass (and if you own the game, you absolutely do) you should be able to grab the game now. Steam buyers will receive it as an automatic update, while those who purchased through the Humble Store will need to tackle their download manually.But enough chatter - it's time to get a David Lynch kinda weird up in here.
Indie RPGs aren't terribly uncommon nowadays. Neither are indie RPGs with a retro flair. But an indie RPG with a retro flair that's also set against a film noir backdrop?Ok, you've got my attention.Stepping into the shoes of a shamed police detective turned private eye, Pixel Noir will task players with finding clues, interrogating suspects, and - since it's also a JPRG at heart - engaging in turn-based battles with some unexpectedly gruesome foes. Pixel Noir definitely piqued my curiosity, but it also has me thinking out loud: Is film noir the next big trend in games? Pixel Noir's existence seems to have come along right at the same time as the sci-fi gumshoe adventure Last Life, and both seem to have timed nicely with the release of Third Eye Crime.Even Telltale's been getting in on the action with The Wolf Among Us.Pixel Noir will be wrapping up its Kickstarter later this week, and it could use your help to cross the finish line. Be sure to check out the official project page, and if you like what you see, send a pledge their way.
With the new Call of Duty announcement still hot off the presses (Kevin Spacey, WHAT ARE YOU DOING??), what better time is there to remember the long time ago of 2007 when CoD first became the defacto name for online shooters? That's right - the latest offer on Gamezebo Deals is for none other than Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.Normally available for $19.99, you can snag a Steam key for this "modern" classic for just $10. I haven't heard back from my mathematician yet, but if my amateur calculations are correct, that's a savings of 50%!Less talking, more buying. Then shooting.