So, I played the demo version of Flock! on XBLA a few days ago. Can I just say how freakin’ cute this game is? Fluffy cotton wool sheep squeaking as you herd them, tall grass that isn’t really grass at all but long pieces of yarn and a landscape that’s created from quilted fabric. I don’t think there are words to describe how cute it all is. It’s enough to make you want to cuddle …
Review by Matt “Steerpike” Sakey Prince of Persia: Epilogue Developer Ubisoft Montreal Publisher Ubisoft Montreal Released March 5, 2009 Available for Windows XP/Vista, Xbox 360 (version reviewed), PS3 Verdict: 1/5 Roadkill “Employing to great effect its considerable talent for destroying everything it touches, the team at Ubisoft Montreal has produced in Prince of Persia: Epilogue an even more obnoxious play experience, packed even fuller with infuriating Quick Time Events, gorged even further on unresponsive controls, …
Kotaku weekend editor Owen Good has a terrific and thought-provoking article worthy of discussion: he’s currently acting as a live-in caregiver for his 86-year old grandfather, a WWII vet and Harvard MBA who’s been asking him recently about video games in general. Owen asks the Kotaku crowd how best to introduce a man who’s never once experienced one – but is genuinely interested – to the medium we all love.
Numbers aren’t happy for Platinum Games’ latest Madworld, the artistically gory black-and-white-and-red-all-over chainsaw brawler for the Wii. NPD reports that U.S. sales for the title hit a pathetic 66,000 for the month of March, and this in a period when we’re not seeing a lot of console blockbusters jockeying for attention. It’s a pity, but not unexpected.
Review by Jason Dobry Empire: Total War Developer The Creative Assembly Publisher SEGA Released March 1, 2009 Available for Windows XP/Vista Verdict 3/5 Middlin’ “Fans (like myself) of prior TW titles will appreciate the massive improvements to the turn-based campaign, but may be disappointed by the sleepytime AI in both the real-time and turn-based portions of the game, the infuriating pathfinding, and poor unit diversity.”
Welcome, readers new and old, to Tap-Repeatedly.com! As our long-time visitors know, this site is the new name and home for the beloved FourFatChicks.com. We’ve kept everything you love about the place and improved plenty more. Please make yourselves at home, check out the swanky new forums, and enjoy! — Steerpike
I love great performance stories – not just racing – but stories of human achievement from all endeavors. They are all stories of our human experience. The heroes have their day, the goats get their place in history, and everyone else provides the context against which such things are measured. I also enjoy the way, over time, that factual aspects of such stories start to blur and take on aspects of urban legend even if …
Sometimes the deepest ideas come from the shallowest places.
Ever wanted to see your name up in lights? You too can become a Star!
Our friend Igor Hardy over at A Hardy Developer’s Workshop blog has a cool and thought-provoking interview with Tale of a Hero creator Pavel Černohous. Tale of a Hero, a P&C adventure game in the classic Roberta Williams style, is not readily available yet in the States (or readily available widely outside of Eastern Europe at all), but the press has been good. With the adventure genre still in decline, it’s good to see a …
The ninth annual Game Developers Choice Awards were held last night at GDC – which Steerpike is still not attending, but which hasn’t stopped any of the PR people from hammering him with tech demo offers if he “stops by their booth.” We love the DevChoice awards, because IGDA members vote on the winners, and IGDA members are almost universally developers and as such are cooler than the people who do the Spike TV awards. …
Here it is, GDC Week and Steerpike’s not there. Why is Steerpike not there? Because his press pass didn’t come through until the very last second and flights were like $1,500, so he said screw it. Steerpike’s not made of money, people. Steerpike’s gotta count his pennies just like the rest of us. His absence has not stopped every PR Agency IN THE WORLD from emailing Steerpike constantly, inviting him to learn all about their …
This must be Steerpike’s Week of Obscure and Creepy Games, since I’ve gotten roped into playing another one as well, that I’ll be writing about later. Anyway. Tale of Tales is a Belgian studio with the pretty-much-explicitly-stated goal of making games that aren’t fun. What can I say, they’re Belgian. The Path has been on the radar for a while now; by far T of T’s most ambitious game, billed as a “short horror” experience. …
I’m easily distracted by all things bright and shiny. So instead of working on the review for a game I finished two weeks ago (shhhh!), I’ve been playing Xseed’s newest game for the Nintendo DS – Avalon Code. I’ve only put in about three hours (well, really four but I restarted after playing the first hour) and I’m having a blast!
The print version of Game Informer, Game Informer Magazine, has just published a “world exclusive” preview of Bioshock 2: Sea of Dreams, the follow up to the 2007 mega-hit by Ken Levine, Bioshock. It’s the feature article for their April, 2009 issue and gives us the first close up look, nicely covering the high points of the gameplay and story.