I learned a few things this past weekend at PAX East. First of all, Copenhagen is actually a city in Denmark and not just a brand of chewing tobacco for truckers. Second, there are some amazing things happening in game development there.

Danish developer PLAYDEAD (they develop games, btw, not danishes) was on the show floor in Boston to demo and promote the XBLA version of their IGF finalist darling, Limbo. Positioned as an afterthought to the perpetually line-generating Crackdown 2 demo, a lone kiosk with a single representative smiling slyly in the background was consistently drawing a crowd of gamers throughout the show. Once I got my hands on the game, I quickly discovered why.

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Match 3 games will eat your soul. RPGs will eat your soul. And for a good while now, we’ve known what happens when match 3 games and RPGs collide, and in terms of your free time, the result is not pretty.

Now we’re faced with a startling reality: the insanity of Puzzle Quest is back to make its mark upon our personal lives once again, giving us yet another reason to do insane things like purchase three copies of the same game on different platforms.

D3Publisher gave me the opportunity to check out the upcoming sequel, Puzzle Quest 2, which promises more of what we loved about the original and, with any luck, plenty of reason to return to a formula that many of us are now intimately familiar with.

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Apparently, I have yet to learn to count as the Hydrophobia clock ticked and tocked its way down but still crept up on me.  As the digits decayed it revealed Hydrophobia‘s aquatic new homepage, fresh with screenshots, and a game trailer. The game will be released exclusively on Xbox Live Arcade and will be playable to all those attending this year’s PAX East, so if you’re heading over there, do yourself a favour and check it out.

Hit the jump to see what breadcrumbs were left along the way, and a sampling of the brand new screenshots. Read more… »

The fine fellows at Joystiq.com have created a pretty neat walkthrough video of Microsoft’s new game service “Game Room” that went live today, which features a smörgåsbord of retro (and I mean RETRO) titles such as Centipede and Asteroids for $3 a pop.

I don’t know how you feel, but this is what I think Playstation Home should have been. Just a very simple room for playing games: not “chilling in the dance veranda”, “waiting in line to play a boring bowling match” or “watching movies in a fake movie theater”. Just straight old-school gaming with a friend – feel free to go download it now! Read more… »

Let me speak to you honestly for a moment about fashion. As much as it pains me to admit, I’ve never looked very good in retro goggles. Perhaps they just clash with the shape of my head, which is somewhere between a long rectangle, a rhombus, and a lampshade. Whatever the case, wearing them around is not only painful for me, but also for those who have to witness this fashion emergency.

But I’ve learned to live with this shortcoming, largely by sticking to a more modest style, one that is free from the restraints imposed by retro goggles. Every game I try on is a brand new experiment, and if it looks good on me, I’ll know that it’s truly a good fit and not just a pleasing pairing for my retro goggles.

So, when I tried on the throwback Perfect Dark style, I knew that could view myself honestly. And what did I find? Well, let’s just say that I might as well have gone with the Derelict style from Zoolander.

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Greed Corp is an attempt to simplify the turn-based strategy genre by making a game that is less focused on combat and more on controlling space on the map. Of course, the irony is that all strategy games – turn-based or real-time – come down to map control more than fighting, regardless of how they’re made. Based on that, I can’t decide if W! Games completely didn’t get this and missed the point, or if they’re total geniuses for trying to distill the genre into its most basic elements.

We’re treated to an opening scene that shows a beautiful world – mostly beautiful thanks to its extremely happy-looking, bright colors – just in time to witness different warring factions trash the hell out of it. The cartoonish look, juxtaposed against the old jazz music, gives the game a lighthearted feel. …a lighthearted game about warring factions trashing the world to make more money.

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It’s not often I get to use the term “musical platformer”. In fact, without creating some diabolical contraption to mix Mario and Musical Chairs, it seems unlikely I’ll be using it a lot in the future either.

Fret Nice accomplishes this without the use of furniture, however, as you are able to use your guitar peripheral to strum, pluck or twang your way through each level. It is certainly the first time I’ve used my guitar for anything other than the arthritis-inducing, colour matching Guitar Hero and Rock Band. However, does it measure up to other platforming stalwarts?

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After much scrutiny and debate, Microsoft has finally conceded, and effective immediately, they have updated the network’s code of conduct to acknowledge gays and lesbians. Before the change, users were banned from displaying their sexual orientation in their profiles and gamer tags.

Because of the adolescent behavior displayed in games, I don’t blame Microsoft for ever banning sexual identity in the first place.

But to those who take a mature stance and proudly embrace their sexual orientation, this is a huge step in a progressive movement. Read more… »

As the IGF looms closer, more and more details are being revealed about the finalists. Today, The EA Partners initiative announced that they’ll be publishing two indie games, both from successful developers. The first is Klei Entertainment’s Shank, and the second is Hothead Games’ Deathspank. Shank is a current IGF finalist in the Visual Art Excellence category.

Both games will be making their way to the Xbox LIVE Arcade and the Playstation Network, with Shank also making its debut on the PC. It’s not surprising that EA wanted to pick up these great games, as Klei Entertainment’s flagship title, Eets! was highly successful on both the PC and the Xbox LIVE arcade.
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It’s shaping up to be an exciting year for indie games as the Independent Games Festival grows closer. Today added to that excitement when indie developer Playdead announced that their flagship title, Limbo, would be coming to the Xbox LIVE Arcade this summer. The announcement was made by Playdead’s CEO Dino Patti.

Limbo is a current IGF finalist, competing in both the Technical Excellent and Visual art categories. In addition, a playable version of the game will be presented to GDC attendees, so if you’re lucky enough to be heading to San Francisco, you’ll get a sneak peek at this great game.

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Pastry-jacking. It’s a nefarious crime with a long and storied past. Its perpetrators are few and far between, but tend to be some of the most recalcitrant and obsessed repeat offenders the world has ever known.

One cannot discuss dessert theft without mentioning the Knave of Hearts. His lust for tarts led him to betray his very own mother, rebelling against both family and the crown to pull off the greatest recorded pastry theft in documented history. That is, until recently.

Indie developers The Odd Gentlemen bring us a brand new tale of a man so consumed by his desire for pie that he learned to bend the very fabric of space and time just to satisfy it. Read on to get a taste of how The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom played for Gamer Limit!

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Xbox indie fans have something to rejoice about today, as Team Meat, the team of developers responsible for Super Meat Boy told IGN that the game would be released on the Xbox Live Arcade in addition to its release on the Wii.

Super Meat Boy has been in development for about six months now and since it was announced, it was thought the title would be a WiiWare exclusive, something many hardcore platform gamers lamented. However, with today’s announcement, Team Meat has opened their game to a much broader audience which can only be good for Meat Boy.

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