For something that sounds like one part anarchist fantasy and one part doomed idealism, Bitcoin has defied a lot of odds in the last few months. A virtual currency that exists without government support (and in some parts of the world is straight up illegal), it's been embraced by a number of names in the gaming world.Some of those names, like Apps for Coins, are small players that have sprung up as part of a cottage industry around Bitcoin buyers - but those names aren't going to stay small for long. Zynga started experimenting with Bitcoins back in January, and now a similarly big name is casual gaming, Big Fish Games, has partnered with Coinbase to offer the currency as a viable alternative to their more common payment options."Being able to offer bitcoin payments to our consumers through Coinbase is just one more way Big Fish is meeting demand and setting the pace for the mainstream consumer and for the mainstream industry," Big Fish CEO Paul Thelen said in today's press release. "This is not a test, this payment method will be available worldwide for all of Big Fish PC and Mac games in the Big Fish app store."
With new console launches from Sony and Microsoft mere months in the rear view mirror, we won't blame you if you buy into the hype and consider 2014 to be a golden age for gaming machines; a veritable Renaissance for living room gaming. But the endless TV ads and Best Buy displays that are selling you this fantasy are devoid of one thing: sales numbers. And as TechCrunch has reported today, they're not good.Referring to leaked NPD data on North American console sales for January 2014, TechCrunch paints a fairly dismal picture for the living room market as a whole - one in which only 16 million next gen consoles have sold to date. At fault, in their opinion, are a myriad of factors - including casual gamers moving to mobile and hardcore gamers moving to PC.As the editor of a site primarily focused on mobile and PC gaming, I hate to say I told you so, but… you're gonna let me have this one, right?
Oh my god, oh my god, Costume Quest 2 is happening.Phew, now that that's out of the way, here are the details. The second full game in the "my first RPG" series was announced courtesy of developer Double Fine and small-time publisher Midnight City.In typical Double Fine fashion, the announcement comes by way of an amusing live-action short featuring Tim Schafer himself. Beyond the title and publisher, the video does little to inform us about the game. Costume Quest was one of several downloadable games cited with helping to save Double Fine after several financial (though not critical) flops. In the original, players controlled a group of trick-or-treating children whose imagination transformed their costumes into the real thing and allowed them to fight supernatural mischief-makers.
Whitaker Trebella is a busy man. When he's not making great mobile games like Polymer (recently a Starbucks free game selection) and Pivvot, he's composing the soundtracks to all of your other favorite games. Tilt to Live, Super Stickman Golf, Velocispider - the tunes in those games are all Whitaker.Keeping him busy nowadays? A crowd-powered attempt to bring Pivvot to Steam. The game is on Steam Greenlight, and if you're already a fan of his work you should do the man a solid and give it an upvote.With so much on his plate, you'd think it would be a real challenge for Mr. Trebella to take a break from contributing to games to actually play them. He's inclined to agree - but that doesn't mean he hasn't managed to squeeze some game time into the last few months.We recently chatted with Whitaker to answer that one burning question that's on all of our minds: what'cha been playing?
Into The Box is a mouse-only arcade game where players guide themselves through rapidly appearing rectangles. Passing through the rectangles is the only way to progress into the next area of rectangles, which more rectangles then quickly appear within. As one can imagine, the game is not exactly friendly for players who suffer from motion sickness or have a paralyzing fear of endlessly falling through brightly-colored shapes.The more rectangles the player passes through, the higher their score will be. Unlockables are attained once the player breaks through an established high-score tier. The unlockables include score multipliers, different soundtracks, and an "auto-pilot" mode which, at a 1500 score requirement, I may never find out what exactly that does (my best high-score is 196)."Developed by Tarik Kaya, of the Kayabros, Into the Box recently released for free on Google Play. Into the Box is also available to play in-browser on Kongregate, Itch.io, and Newgrounds. As the game continues to grow in popularity, many have questioned Kaya's reasoning for releasing the game for free, without any ads to support him either.
Thinking back two console generations ago, I can instantly recall fond memories of lurking through the shadows and patrolling the corridors of Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow's multiplayer mode, Spies vs. Mercenaries. The mode divided a small group of players into the two aforementioned teams. Both the spies and mercenaries came equipped with their own set of abilities and gear. The mercenaries were tasked with preventing the spies from completing certain objectives, and the spies needed to sneak in and out without being killed. Once the game started, a heart-pounding game of cat-and-mouse ensued, with the spies darting in and out of the shadows and the mercenaries trying to hunt them down.Of Guards and Thieves takes the core of the Spies vs. Mercenaries game mode and simplifies it into a less-complex, but just as engaging, concept. With the game's open Beta in full swing, I gave Of Guards and Thieves a download and proceeded to let it sneak off with a few hours of my evening.
Husband and wife development team Backward pieS are celebrating the release of their tree-growing puzzler with a 50% off discount sale. For a short amount of time, Let There Be Life is available for $4.99 on IndieGameStand, with Desura and Humble Store options coming in the near future. In Let There Be Life, the player must strategically grow a tree so that the leaves and branches do not overshadow the flowers on the ground around the tree. Self-described as a "watercolor painting come to life", Let There Be Life presents players with a stress-free atmosphere that can be appreciated by gamers of all skill levels."Speaking of levels, Let There Be Life boasts 34 of them - all designed as hand-painted watercolors - for players to enjoy.Backward pieS originally developed Let There Be Life during the 2013 Edge "Get Into Games" competition. For the competition, the developers were tasked with creating a game base around the theme, "Do No Harm" and Let There Be Life earned Backward pieS a position in second place.
In the corporate world, even long-awaited good news doesn't mean there isn't bad news for some people in the organization.That was the case for Disney Interactive, which despite turning a profit in the last quarter of 2013 on the strength of Disney Infinity nevertheless laid off 700 employees this week, or just over a quarter of its total workforce. Along with the job cuts, the division is closing several offices in the U.S., plus one each in South Korea and India.As you might expect with such a drastic reduction in headcount, Disney Interactive will simply develop less games moving forward, relying on partnerships with outside studios instead. It also may avoid big ticket purchases, as many media reports are spinning the company's latest move as a referendum on its 2010 acquisition of Playdom.