Got Booked

Here's something that turned up in my mailbox earlier this week:

Well, if you're going to back one of these books on Kickstarter, then you might as well pick up a previous success

Dead Space

I was talking to a friend recently and learned how she was deleting some unplayed games off of her XboxOne hard drive - which, in turn, freed up some vital space.

Following her lead, I recently removed some Steam games from my hard drive which I don;t play any more. Only to find that I, ultimately, have saved a whopping 2 gig of space.

Of course that doesn't mean much when games these days are super huge in the terms of storage space but very little bit helps I guess....

Alphabet Steam

Here's something I came across recently: Does one, within their Steam library, have a game to match up to every letter of the alphabet?
Sounds to me like a challenge worth rising up to:

Age of Empires 2: HD edition
Ben There Dan That
Castle Crashers
Divinity Original Sin
Eversion
FTL
Gemini Rue
Half Life
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
J
Knightshift
Limbo
Mysterious Cities of Gold: Secret Paths
N
O
Papers Please
Quake 2
Rome: Total War
System Shock 2
Thomas Was Alone
Ultimate Doom
Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War
X-COM: UFO Defense
Y
Z



So I failed the challenge
But still, 21 out of 26 isn't too bad a result...

Master of all I survey

Here's something I came across recently: A survey from GungHo Entertainment, the company that currently owns the rights to the GameArts catalogue - this catalogue includes several Sega CD games like Lunar and Silpheed. This survey is asking if people are still interested in these games and whether or not they would like to see a re-release.

I, of course, voted for the Lunar series. Yes, it would be nice to actually finish both Silver Star and Eternal Blue....

Kick off

Normally I don't care much for Kickstarter but in this case I came  across something that was too good to resist: A book dedicated to the legendary Bitmap Brothers.

If you were a gamer in the 16-bit era, you would recognize the name. The Bitmap Brothers made some memorable games and were known for producing innovative games over several genres.
Whilst these guys never enjoyed massive worldwide success (comparable to, say, SqueeEnix), they were fondly remembered within the UK and for those who like their games to be challenging.
Personally, I'm glad to have such a record of this magnitude being made. With the passage of time, far too often do 'name' developers slip through the cracks, their pioneering achievements forgotten in amongst the relentless pace video games march at. With this book, it is reassuring to know that the Bitmap Brothers achievements in game design, graphics and rockin' music may finally be properly recognized.

So I encourage you to click on the link above and pledge your support!

Never Gonna Come Back Down

The other day I went into my local EB and found, much to my surprise, the original Fallout sitting on the shelf

Not bad for a game that's 18 years old

I have never seen anything like this before. This is, after all, an industry where progress happens quickly - and where things are often forgotten and left by the wayside just as quickly. So for a game that's 18 years old, and one that's easily available on Steam, to see it still on the shelves of a gaming store is certainly an achievement

Between a rock and hard place

Following on from last Monday's post, I was reminded how, at the end of the Dragon Age Origins,  Wynne announces to the player character that she intends to travel the world with Shale.

An odd pairing indeed, but it sure makes for a road/buddy movie I would like to see