May 31, 2013

PC Gaming Goodies May 31st 2013 Update

Wow, my e-mail tossed me a few great messages today, totally tossed me for a loop, hehe.  Anyway, we have great offers this weekend from GreenManGaming, GOG, Indie Royale and IGN.  I'll do it the easy way for you, as always, and just post screenshots of the deals (or the names of the titles in IGN's case).  To get to these deals, just click the links above - again - as usual.







Update 06-04-2013: Hammerhead Bundle now includes the title "Potatoman Seeks The Troof" and an eBook "Nazi Zombie Army" (this eBook is free regardless, just click the title and download).  Hope you enjoy!  Potatoman looks to be hilarious, mainly because apparently you jump around and do everything... naked, lol.


IGN iOS App Store update titles
  1. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic – ($9.99)
  2. Anthill – (Free)
  3. Ninja Wrath – (Free)
  4. Blosics HD – (Free)
  5. Order & Chaos Online – ($0.99)
  6. Tasty Tadpoles – (Free)
  7. Magicka: Wizards of the Square Tablet – (Free)
  8. Luxor Legend – (Free)
BONUS: The Steam store is having some decent features this weekend as well...
  1. Orion Dino Horde (formerly Orion Dino Beatdown) is FTP this weekend.
  2. Primal Carnage is FTP this weekend.
  3. Alan Wake franchise is a whopping 90% off this weekend ($3.00 USD), a nice little extension from humblebundle's weekly deal from last week.
  4. FTL: Faster Than Light is today's daily deal, and is 50% off.
  5. The Swapper is now available and is 25% off.
  6. DmC Devil May Cry is 40% off this weekend.
There you have it folks, today's PC gaming deals of the day.  Enjoy it if you can, but either way I hope you have a great day regardless!

May 30, 2013

Gamersgate Tropico Weekend and more!

Yet another nice gaming deal weekend is upon us folks, this time over at GamersGate, and primarily featuring the Tropico series from Kalypso Media as the main deal.  Check out the image for details:


As you can see, this is also their Baldur's Gate weekend (up to 75% off titles), Sniper: Ghost Warrior weekend (all are 50% off) and even the BIT.TRIP games are 10% off as well.  Plus the pre-order is up for the new upcoming title Remember Me, and the new releases of 8 other games - including Grid 2 from Codemasters - are also shown.  Anyway, I'm out for now, getcha' game on folks!

Plush Buddy Blade!!!

I don't know about you folks, but I love a good scary movie now and again (Pfft, yeah, lol, more like I'm a horror movie fanatic!!!), and grew up watching movies like Puppet Master, Friday the 13th, etc.  Well, over the years I've been keeping up with Full Moon Features.  Most of their stuff in the last decade or so has been "meh" (note: my opinion, yours may differ) compared to previous films, and of course the Puppet Master films never go out of style.  Well, today I received an e-mail from FME and I G33KED OUT big time!  Today I present to you... the "Plush Buddy Blade" doll!!!

Blade image copyright 2013 Full Moon Features, all rights reserved.

(The following description is taken directly from the Full Moon Direct website)


"Description

PLEASE ALLOW 3 WEEKS FOR SHIPPING.
PUPPET MASTER PLUSH BUDDY BLADE HITS SHELVES SOON
HORROR’S NEW FAVORITE CUDDLY TOY

"His knives may be soft, but he’ll carve his way into your heart!"

Personality: Sharp-witted
Hobbies: Stabbing things
Favorite Food: MinceMeat Pie

Born from the brain matter of the brilliant Dr. Hess, Blade is one of the Puppet Master’s most trusted creations. With a meat hook for one hand and a razor-sharp knife for the other, Blade get’s straight to the point!

Full Moon’s first-ever plush toy! Standing at twelve inches tall and huggably soft, the “Plush Buddy” series begins with a horrifically cute re-imagining of Blade, the iconic puppet from Band’s tent-pole franchise Puppet Master. Previously teased to fans with an appearance in the GrindhouseFlix original film, Blood of 1000 Virgins starring Playboy Playmate Nikki Leigh, Plush Buddy Blade will appeal to toy collectors of every age and gender, portraying a softer side of the classic character while tapping into the aesthetic sense of kawaii Japanese pop culture and the animated creations of Tim Burton. Plush Buddy Blade comes with a collectible hang tag featuring character art and personality stats, and is available now!"

The cost for this adorable little terror is $24.95 USD, and is currently available, so get it while you can!  While you're there, have a look around the site and check out all of the other awesome that's there.  You won't know what you'll find until you actually take a look!  Until next time, take care folks, I'll see you around.

Humble Weekly Bundle - Telltale Games

Hey folks, the Humble Weekly Bundle is back, and this week's just as good as last week's deals, perhaps even better to some!  Check out what we have here:


  1. Poker Night at the Inventory
  2. Back to the Future: the Game (all 5 episodes!)
  3. Sam & Max: Devil's Playhouse (all 5 episodes!)
  4. Hector: Badge of Carnage! (all 3 episodes!)
  5. Puzzle Agent 1&2 (2 full games!)
  6. Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures (all 4 episodes!)
  7. The Walking Dead - Season 01 (complete, all 5 episodes!)*
*This is the current beat-the-average title, current price to beat at the time of this posting is $4.02 USD. You'll need to pay at least 1 cent above the average to get this title along with the others.

That's the only little update I have for now folks, but check back soon, there should be more incoming! Have a great day and getcha' game on!

Edit 01 May 30th, 2013: I bought the bundle, payed over the average and got all the loot (downloading still as I type this).  When you get the Steam keys, you get ONE key for the Steam Telltale Games bundle (which is for the first 6 games in the above list), and a separate Steam key for The Walking Dead, so there are only 2 keys.  The epic bonus though is you also get each of those first 6 games in DRM-Free downloads to use outside of Steam (WOO!).  The only 2 soundtracks in this bundle are for Hector: Badge of Carnage! (MP3) and Puzzle Agent (FLAC and MP3 both available).  This is a pretty sweet deal.  Admittedly, I mainly wanted the TWD game myself, so I may very well be having a giveaway/contest for the Telltale Games Steam key soon, so keep an eye out for a possible post about that one!  Either way, this is a decent deal.  I pulled the trigger this time because I'm still kicking myself for not getting that Darksiders II bundle they had about a month or so ago, which was also really inexpensive.  Anyway, happy gaming folks!

May 28, 2013

GMG midweek blowout + Humble Indie Bundle 8!

Hey folks, how are you today?  Me, well I'm doing pretty swell, but I have a small treat for all of you PC gamers.  Green Man Gaming has 3 pretty sweet developer deals this week:

  1. Codemasters
  2. Iceberg
  3. Plug-In Digital
Also use voucher code* GMG20-LLASD-D8WBQ for 20% off a huge selection of games across the GMG Store, including a selection of titles already on offer such as DiRT 3 and GRID.

*This voucher cannot be used in conjunction with another voucher, selected titles only. Valid until 1500UTC 31/05/2013.  Please Note: Some offers may be subject to region restrictions.


In addition to the GMG deals, Humble Indie Bundle 8 is up for grabs!  This go-round we have a decent variety of titles - and when I say variety, I really mean it.  They are even available not only for Steam and standalone DRM-Free in Windows, but also this is their Linux debut - SCORE!!!  Here's what's featured in this bundle:
  1. Little Inferno + Soundtrack
  2. Awesomenauts + Soundtrack
  3. Capsized + Soundtrack
  4. Thomas Was Alone + Soundtrack
  5. Dear Esther + Soundtrack
  6. Proteus + Soundtrack**
  7. Hotline Miami**
  8. Tiny & Big In Grandpa's Leftovers + Soundtrack** (+)
  9. Intrusion 2 + Soundtrack** (+)
  10. English Country Tune + Soundtrack** (+) 
  11. Oil Rush + Map Pack + Soundtrack** (+)
 **To get these titles, you must pay above the average price featured at the time of purchase.
(+)These titles were added as of June 4th, 2013.

So, there you have it folks, getcha game on!  I'd buy a bundle myself, but the only titles I'm interested in are Awesomenauts, Capsized, Thomas Was Alone and Hotline Miami, and at this very moment the average price to beat is $5.69 USD.  Seeing as I just got the Alan Wake Humble Weekly Bundle (which has 1 day and 19 hours left as I type this out), I don't really have the money to get this one.  If you do, let me know how the games are, I'm actually interested in your opinions.  Thanks and have a great day!

May 27, 2013

Sniper Elite V2 Silver Star Edition - Xbox 360

Good day folks, hopefully some of you are able to enjoy this day more than those of us stuck indoors due to crappy weather, but either way, hopefully the day is and has been good for you and yours.  Today I want to talk a little bit about a game I recently received (I won it from The Gamers Hub), Sniper Elite V2 Silver Star Edition.


So far, I've not really been doing a whole lot with this game, but as time progresses I'll update this blog accordingly.  Admittedly, being as I don't hardly game on my Xbox 360 much (thanks in large part to not having money, but also that long hiatus from October 2012 until recently when I got the console's motherboard re-flowed to repair it), it's taking a little bit of time to get used to the controls again.  As many know already, I'm primarily a PC gamer, using the keyboard + mouse configuration and only a controller when it appears to fit more appropriately.  On my PC I use an Xbox 360 controller when I feel the need to use one at all, but that's not often.  Anyway, I've pretty well a good hang of the controls for this game already, and am only on the 3rd level (Mission 2 - Mittelwerk Facility Part 1).

Some things that I've found I really like about the game are:
  1. Rich environments.  The atmosphere honestly does make one feel as though they are in authentic WW2 locales.  Such details even include noticing that the sky is "raining" ashes, not snow.
  2. Plenty of choices on how to approach each mission.
  3. Weapon loadout options during mission loading screens (use the right shoulder button to get to this menu).
  4. Intelligent AI.
  5. The bullet view, especially where it shows the impact and internal organ damage due to where the bullet penetrated the body (this does get somewhat old after awhile though and happens only where scripted to, it's not every time or totally random).
Some things I've noted so far that I am disliking:
  1. Environments are too restrictive, not allowing any sort of free-roam opportunity.  This definitely makes the player feel too restricted and thus killing a good deal of the authenticity of gameplay.  In other words, I would really like to pick my own vantage points, be able to break out windows, shoot lights out for night cover, etc.  Come on Rebellion, this is driving me batty!
  2. AI is too predictive because they're scripted to only do "this one thing" or "that one thing", "go this way" or "go that way".  There's no randomness.  While I do like that with getting my bearings on the game, it does help me to grow into it, I want a challenge, a realistic challenge.
  3. The character played doesn't always do what he's told!  Numerous times already, I've gotten too frustrated because I click the A button when it tells me to and he just stands there, doing nothing but looking confused.  Climb into/onto the window/ledge you numbskull!!!
  4. Scripted event triggers.  Yes, a lot of games still have these, and yes, I most certainly hate them... a lot!  Do I sound angry enough by now?  I'm not angry, per-se, I'm frustrated.  I'll be walking around, looking for people to shoot, and not a soul is in sight, but as soon as I walk through "this room" and peek around the corner of the building, suddenly there are 6 guys just randomly walking around where there were literally zero just a second prior.  Literally, a clear street suddenly has 6 random soldiers walking around, seriously?!
  5. AI enemies can see me through machines, but can't see the dead body of their comrade - that's right in front of them - as they walk into the room?  Come on now, get real!
  6. I understand that they have to place the Gold Bars and Wine Bottles strategically, so that obtaining them is either difficult or by random chance, but so far I've only seen random appearances of them in places where they weren't there the first 1 to 10 times I walked through there, no joke.  So far, I've covered every single square inch of the levels I've played through, multiple times over, and yet I've not found all of the gold bars or wine bottles "hidden" throughout, and over half of the ones I have found were literally randomly-appearing.  This isn't one of those "Oh, I just didn't see it when I walked through there the first time." things, this is one of those "I walked through this entire building multiple times over the last hour, covering every angle of every room at least 10 times, and now this just pops up in front of me out of nowhere!" things.  What's up with that?!
  7. An inexcusable lack of physics.  Half-Life 2 came out, what, back in 2004 (almost a decade ago), and has far superior physics in comparison.  I can't move furniture when I walk into it, I can't break anything that isn't scripted to break,  and that's just the beginning.
  8. I can't jump.  Yeah, you read that correctly, I can't jump in this game.  You can't either, just to be clear, there's literally no jump button at all, there are only "click A to climb/vault/etc." events, nothing else.
  9. Who's bright idea was it to set "Hold B to xxxx" for 2 different things when standing next to a corpse?  If I'm searching the corpse for items, I don't want to accidentally pick up his weapon and toss mine to the ground.  This is also lazy, inexcusable, and best be fixed in the next Sniper Elite game - if there even is one to be released.
All-in-all, I'm having some fun, and for not having to pay for the game, it's a definite plus, but it's not quite what I was expecting after having seen it online and read all the articles, box descriptions, etc.  This game more has the feel of playing Hitman in WW2 than it does a sniper game.  Don't get me wrong, I'm a HUGE fan of the Hitman games and have them all so far, but this is supposed to be a sniper game.  What it really is, is a "sniper does everything an entire military force is expected to do, all by himself" game, which is highly unrealistic.  Perhaps after I'm finished with this game, I'll play some Hitman, I don't know, but it's possible.  Or perhaps, since I recently got Alan Wake CE and Alan Wake's American Nightmare from the current Humble Weekly Bundle, I might just dive into some of that.  Bioshock Infinite?  Maybe, Far Cry 3?  Also maybe, I don't know.  Either way, I'll blog about it.  Perhaps I may even get the PC version of SEV2 if I can get a good enough deal on it, then compare it to the Xbox 360 version, since the PC version is supposed to be more detailed and have realistic physics, but we'll see.

Thanks for visiting, happy gaming and have a great Memorial Day (just don't forget why we have this day to begin with)!

Edit 01: 05-28-2013, it appears that the gold bars appear only after specific triggers occur.  Again with the stupid trigger scripts?  Really?  This is just ridiculous.  I'm going to experiment and see if perhaps maybe they also disappear after certain triggers as well, because so far that appears to possibly be the case.  if it's so, then I'm officially failing this game hard.  For now, I'm gonna go play it some more.  I'm past the Mittelwerks mission now, and getting much better at sniping, but have quite far still to go.  Later y'all!

Memorial Day 2013

Good day folks, did you miss me at all (or if this is your first visit, I'll just leave it at hello, lol)?  I've had a lot going on, but mostly I haven't been updating things because most of what I need to do requires a good digital camera and the image sensor on my Samsung Digimax D53 is going bad (I got it in 2006, so no real surprise there).  I'm currently in the process of trying to come up with a way to get the funds to buy a new one.  Hopefully soon I'll be back up to speed, but for now it's on slow-mo.  I have been keeping an eye on the graphic novel, video game and other media markets, so for now I'm just observing and keeping tabs on things so that I don't fall too far behind on those as well.  Looking at other potential interests for this blog, etc.

One of the things I recently discovered is there's this pretty nifty little website, sort of a "collector's club" kind of deal, called Loot Crate, which has some pretty decent stuff.  It's a subscription-based deal, starting with a month-by-month deal that allows you to cancel at any time (but of course the bigger the sub, the lower the price).  I suggest you check them out, it may just interest you enough to try it.

Also, this week, GamersGate is having some somewhat decent offers:

There's also still the Humble Weekly Bundle going, there are just over 2 days and 19 hours left on this one, which includes the DRM-free versions of Alan Wake Collector's Edition (including tons of bonus content) and Alan Wake's American Nightmare (again, lots of bonuses).  Pay $1 USD or more (of course I'll suggest to pay as much as can be afforded) and you'll also get Steam keys.

Last, but most certainly not least, let us all ensure to remember why today is called "Memorial Day".  Many men and women laid down their lives, sacrificing them for us, even the ones who survived still made major sacrifices and many still do.  They did this to ensure that the rights given us - and recognized by the US Constitution and Bill of Rights - remained and still remain protected.  That We The People are protected.  To all men and women who've ever served in the armed forces, including their families who made just as big of sacrifices as they, we salute you and give our thanks to you for all you've done and continue to do, for upholding that oath that you took to protect us all from enemies foreign and domestic.  Thank you.


I found this wallpaper image above while searching for "American Flag Wallpapers" on Google, and noticed the Faith for the Family website is who created and issued it.  I checked the site out a little, maybe you can too.  It couldn't hurt.  Anyway, have a good day and God bless all of you!