European and Australian Playstation Network users were today greeted with the news that both flOw and Flower, the first two titles of thatgamecompany‘s publication agreement with Sony, have been put on sale for a week.
With Journey now available to all Playstation Network users, having been up a week early for Playstation Plus subscribers, thatgamecompany and Sony are celebrating by offering 50% reductions on each game, with a snazzy extra 10% for Playstation Plus subscribers.
So, as of today, Flower is available at £3.19/€3.99/$4.25AU, whilst flOw clocks in at a tantalising £1.99, €3.99/$6.95AU. These prices are expected to be valid for another week, making for a probable deadline of 21st March to take advantage.
Needless to say, that’s a pretty tempting offer, but, if you still need a little taster to get you in the mood for some thatgamecompany action, take a look at our Journey review.
Another trailer has just been released for Journey, this time it’s called the “Accolades” trailer and features even more gameplay to get you pumped to play it as it releases in the US today.
In just a few hours time (as of writing) Journey will be ready for everyone in the US to purchase with the EU territories coming a day later and Japan a day after that. We’ve already bombarded you with Journey in the last few days but one more trailer won’t hurt, especially for such a gorgeous game.
This trailer features a little more gameplay than previous ones as well as boasts all of the high scoring reviews it has received. Speaking of which, we have our very own Journey review up on the site for you to read, so head over there and prepare for this experience!
You can find out more information about Journey over on the official website.
Positech Games have finally made Gratuitous Tank Battles available to play in its beta stage if you put your money forward and pre-order this futuristic RTS.
The game you all voted your most anticipated of 2012, Gratuitous Tank Battles, is now readily playable so you should be polishing those tank cannons and prepping the mechs, ready to charge forth into a bloody battle.
The sequel to the highly popular Gratuitous Space Battles, GTB takes the battle to the surface in a future which sees World War I still raging on. Tanks, mechs and other large chunks of metal battle it our with the infantry running amok somewhere in between. It’s dull in color but promises a thought-heavy RTS experience that we’ve been anticipating for some time now.
This beta release had us jumping up and down a bit, then we watched the trailer and repeated our effervescent actions. Watch said trailer below and once you’re ready to buy into the game and play the beta, head over to the official site to do so. Cliffski – the one man band behind the game – says that if you purchase the game now then you’ll get a download link that will last forever and a Steam key when it eventually gets its release on there.
You can find out more information on Gratuitous Tank Battles over on the official website.
The Pickford Brothers have released a new video that details how they designed their BAFTA nominated iOS sports/puzzle game, Magnetic Billiards: Blueprint with just a piece of chalk and a chalkboard.
It’s rare to come across something as novel as game design with a blueprint and chalk, very rare in fact, but that is exactly how the Pickford Brothers designed their acclaimed iOS title. The story starts as the two brothers found a blueprint left by their great-great grandfather in 1888, which laid out the design of a mechanical, magnetic billiards machine. The two of them then set to work to adapt this design to a touchscreen device.
“When we started putting the game together, we wanted to quickly prototype how it would play”, said co-designer Ste Pickford, “so a piece of chalk and a child’s chalkboard – and a lot of rubbing out – seemed like the fastest way to bring the game mechanics to life in a way we could easily visualise.”
The brothers are sharing this because, well it’s quirky, but also because they’d love to encourage people to try experimenting not only with games, but also with how they conduct game design. If you can do that then surely it makes sense that your game will be something fairly different too, is the thinking presumably.
“We’ve released the video of our chalkboard prototype to give players an insight into the painstaking process of design and experimentaion that goes into creating a hit, original game like Magnetic Billiards: Blueprint“, continued co-designer John Pickford. “It was a lot of hard work to do before we even wrote a single line of code, but it seems to have paid off as the reaction we’re getting from players is just phenomenal.”
Well, it’s definitely worked on this occasion then, so why not try something quirky yourself. Make sure to send us pictures of your crazy game design procedures if you do – better yet, make a video! Speaking of which, you can watch the video of the Pickford Brothers’ chalky design below.
You can download Magnetic Billiards: Blueprint from the App Store for free, so go do so you crazy cat!
You can find out more information on Magnetic Billiards: Blueprint over on the official website.
Dreampainters have released the first trailer for Anna – their spooky, multi-narrative horror adventure, there’s a good look at that gameplay we were getting excited about too.
At last! The first gameplay trailer from Anna has been released so we can get a feel for its horror adventure charm. The idea of Anna, as we previously discussed, is that there are three narrative threads that are depicted through the player’s choices. It’s a horror game primarily with some rather eye-catching graphics.
What makes Anna stand out a little more than most is its gameplay which merges point and click with first person mechanics, thus allowing you to interact with each of the detailed environments to a fuller extent than normal.
The biggest indie game this coming week, thatgamecompany’s Journey, has a new launch trailer which will entice you to float away, even if just for a minute.
One game that many of us have been anticipating for a long while now is Journey. With its beautiful visuals and innovative online play that makes player interaction fresh again and with not one mother-based insult anywhere. The other stunning thing about the game is Austin Wintory’s soundtrack and my oh my does it really shine in this launch trailer.
Of course, if you’re a PS Plus person then you have probably already played Journey, everyone else will have to wait until March 13th (NA), 14th (EU) or 15th (JP) to finally play this much anticipated experience.
While the Mario Brothers were off gallivanting, The Other Brothers were having an adventure all of their own which you can grasp an idea of in this GDC teaser trailer.
Boasting a parody of a famous gaming twosome and plenty of pixel art, The Other Brothers is very memorable even at first glance, but then again a lot of adventure games are. The nature of the game has been deliberately left vague as simply an adventure game, with a twist.
No more than that is currently known, other than the assumptions you can make from this being a modern tale that parodies Mario. You’ll quite clearly see that in the the trailer, a damsel in distress (shall we say) is taken away by some henchmen, leaving her rescue to The Other Brothers, of course.
Actually, it reminds me of that awful Super Mario Bros. film from the nineties – weren’t they cast in real life as some hopeless plumbers? Oh please stay away from that – Jim Sterling already looks like one of the henchmen from that film, that’s enough of a reminder!
Exato Game Studios have released the first glimpse of gameplay from Guncraft – their Modern Warfare meets Minecraft, multiplayer shooter.
So let’s say you’re a Call of Duty fan but you’re fed up of the grind it has become (haven’t we all by now?), where do you go for your next gaming fix? I’m inclined to point you towards Guncraft, which as I have said before is a hands-up-in-air fusion of Modern Warfare and Minecraft. Some of you won’t like this but many of you will and that will mean you’re on the lookout for some gameplay footage.
Well, you’re in luck as we have some to show you. It’s early stuff but it’s already looking pretty promising – with choppers, complete block-by-block destruction and creating shelters in just a click.
Kert Gartner just rocked us with some awesome Indie Game Trailers and gave some great tips to aspiring game developers and videographers. For those unfamiliar with Kert, he put together a ton of trailers for the Winnitron 1000 indie games cabinet and got some excellent press coverage. He shared some technical tips on capturing high quality gameplay videos, but his core point was to create a story with each game trailer in 1 to 1.5 minutes.
A new teaser trailer for Octodad: Dadliest Catch has been caught in our net but we released it back in the wild as soon as it made us cry with laughter.
While the title of this Octodad sequel may be worth at least a passing remark or a chortle because it’s a witty little pun and we like those here, the teaser trailer on the other hand is just plain cartoon funny and we love it!
First though, some details on the game itself. Octodad was released for free back in 2010 and to a great reception – you can download and play it right here. This sequel takes the same tentacle controlling gameplay and takes it a step further, beyond trying to convince your family that you’re really human and not an octopus.
“This time, our cephaloprotagonist has gotten himself in a bind between his wife’s mounting mistrust, and a disastrous trip to the local aquarium! Are you dad enough to control the titular octopus father as he strives to hide his nautical nature from his family while keeping his tangled tentacles intact?”
Octodad: Dadliest Catch is expected to release in 2013 for Windows, Mac and Linux as well this time! You can find out more information about the game over on the official website.
