As you can probably guess from the name (assuming you're well-steeped in literary horror), Mark of the Old Ones is a game that embraces the mythos of H.P. Lovecraft. But after watching the trailer, I'm more inclined to think that the game was inspired by Wacky Wally - the classic wall-crawling octopus that came in a cereal box and lost his stickiness after his third attempt at adventure.It's a strange comparison, but bear with me. Or better yet, watch the Mark of the Old Ones Kickstarter video below to see the gameplay in action.
Every studio had to start somewhere, and with Blizzard, that somewhere was still pretty amazing. Do you remember The Lost Vikings? That was Blizzard. Rock n' Roll Racing? Blizzard, too. Even Blackthorne, which admittedly, I'm a little hazier on, was an early Blizzard property.While all worth a download (especially since they're free), I'd like to call particular attention to The Lost Vikings. It was arguably the first puzzle platformer with a "switch between different characters to solve the puzzles" mechanic, it was unique enough to inspire a whole sub-genre of puzzle platforming. And also, it's just pretty damned great.It's also worth noting that fellow Gamezebo scribe Steven Strom thinks that The Lost Vikings' Olaf the Stout could be making an appearance in Blizzard's upcoming MOBA Heroes of the Storm. And that would just be… wow.
Wondering what Telltale's take on the ever-gorgeous world of Borderlands will look like? SURPRISE! It looks a lot like Borderlands. Lucky for us, that's a really good thing.The art direction shouldn't be a shock for any number of reasons - the least of which is the teaser trailer that Telltale released when announcing the series - but that doesn't mean we're any less excited to see a bevy of screenshots emerge.In addition to launching these new images into the wild, Telltale gave Tales from the Borderlands a tentative release window this morning, "later this summer," and they've confirmed that the story will take place after Borderlands 2.Strap in folks - these postcards from Pandora should help you bridge the gap until you can visit it yourself in the coming months.Hit the jump for four more.
Still recuperating from Free Comic Book Day? Us too. At least we can all sit back and relax because there's not another nerdy holiday on the calendar until… waitaminnit… May 4th is TODAY?!?!May 4th - aka "May the Fourth Be With You" - has become an unofficial holiday in recent years celebrating all things Star Wars. Yes, even Episode I. And as hokey as all of this may sound, it's a hell of a lot better than the only official thing to put the words "Star Wars" and "holiday" in the same sentence.And what better way to celebrate than with a bevvy of great games?The Star Wars Gaming Bundle is the latest offer on Gamezebo Deals. For $16.50, you can get Steam keys for the four best Star Wars games this side of Dagobah: Knights of the Old Republic, The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition, Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast and Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy.Wait are you waiting for? Click here to make your purchase in less than 12 parsecs.
Every April, August, and December, Ludum Dare takes over my developer-filled Twitter feed as the event's thousands of participants set aside their weekend specifically for game development. Depending on if they are participating in the Competition or the more rules-relaxed Jam, developers have 48 or 72 hours respectively, to assemble their game. The rigorous 48-hour competition restricts game developers to work alone on their games and develop them from scratch. The 72-hour jam allows room for groups and those groups can borrow assets from their previous work.With the theme "Beneath the Surface" for the 29th Ludum Dare event, developers crammed their collective creativity last weekend to create nearly 2,500 unique games. Some games took the theme literally, making a game about going under the surface of the sea or underground. While others, took the theme more figuratively. Here are some of the highlights.
Toward the end of a small group session at Bandai Namco's Global Gamers Day in Las Vegas, Director of Digital Games In Joo Hwang wandered in. He was ostensibly there to give some extra insight into the game on display, but instead, he did something unexpected: he admitted his company had made a mistake.Tilting the conversation toward free-to-play games, Hwang admitted that Bandai Namco had missed the boat and was now working hard to catch up. Stating that the only way to make up ground would be to deliver titles of very high quality, he also hinted at the difficulty in getting everyone involved to change mindsets from shipping products to delivering services.Hwang punctuated that last point by saying that he told employees to face the fact that "the most ugly form of your game is going to be the launch product."Though the event covered a lot of ground, the recurring theme of Bandai Namco embracing free-to-play games on all platforms was impossible to miss. It popped up in expected places like upcoming mobile games, but also in the revamping of established console franchises in F2P forms.
When Roblox launched its Developer Exchange program last October, the thought was that some of the people using the platform to create their own games would be able to exchange enough virtual currency for real money that they'd be able to help pay for their educations or make some extra income on the side. Six months later, it's apparent that vision may have been too modest.Roblox announced this week that two teenage twin brothers from Ireland earned the first ever $10,000 monthly payout from the Developer Exchange, bringing their total earnings to $19,000. Conor and Darragh Griffin (known collectively as TheGamer101) are the minds behind Sword Fighting Tournament, a multiplayer fighting game that has racked up more than 25 million play sessions since its debut in 2009.Its continued growth has mirrored that of Roblox as a whole, and CEO David Baszucki says it's not a fluke.
Well this is certainly a sour way to start the morning.Zenimax Media, the parent company that owns Bethesda Softworks (makers of The Elder Scrolls and Fallout 3) and id Software (Doom, Quake, Rage) is accusing Oculus Rift Chief Technology Officer, John Carmack, of taking Zenimax-owned technology with him to the virtual reality company when he left id.Carmack is the co-founder of id Software and co-creator of seminal games like Doom. He's also into rocket science and generally considered an incredibly smart dude. Last year he left the company he helped create to jump on with now-Facebook-owned Oculus Rift.The Wall Street Journal acquired correspondence between Oculus and Zenimax, revealing the dispute.One of the claims states "It was only through the concerted efforts of Mr. Carmack, using technology developed over many years at, and owned by, ZeniMax, that [Oculus founder] Mr. Luckey was able to transform his garage-based pipe dream into a working reality."