La-Mulana is one of those games that seems to make people want to tell stories, and share them with friends. From the famous Let’s Plays, to the adventuring image-blogs and more, there’s just something about the sprawling platform-adventure that just generates interesting anecdotes. Long-time fan (to the point of being in the thanks section of the remake’s credits) Pauli ‘MadamLuna’ Kohberger agrees, and is assembling a fan-book entitled Stories From the Ruins. All it needs are some stories, and that’s where you come in.
There’s a tentative deadline of August 31st on this project, and once all the tales and anecdotes are collected, they’ll all be professionally edited together and distributed as a PDF booklet for all to enjoy. Submissions can be in any visual form, so if you want to draw some inspired art, or just doodle your incoherent rage at an unfair puzzle, go right ahead. If you think you’ve got a story worth telling, then check out the Stories From The Ruins site and shoot off an email. And if you haven’t been lucky enough to play the game yet? Well, it just got a polished, updated and generally improved remake, so go check our review and give it a try.
Stickmen Studios’ invent and adventure game Doc Clock: The Toasted Sandwich of Time is heading to the Playstation Network sometime soon, so says the New Zealand-based developer. The port will receive Move motion control support, a sandbox level to tinker around in, and new in-game abilities.
Brian Provinciano of Vblank Entertainment has just unveiled another new trailer for his sprawling 8bit open city parody game, Retro City Rampage. This time we’re treated to a sneaky peak at one of the games many hidden bonuses. Take a look at this trailer to see a first glimpse at ‘Splosion Man in Retro City Rampage, both as a retro demake of ‘Splosion Man, and then you get to use his splode attack in the main game.
And that’s that. Amanita Design has confirmed to Eurogamer that their indie point and click hit Machinarium will not, after all, be appearing on Nintendo’s Wii console as it was originally confirmed.
The guys from Vblank Entertainment uploaded a new trailer to their Vimeo account a few days ago this time showing off a new playable “character” Biffman! Thriftopolis City’s very own super hero. I mean, every major city needs a super hero right?
The trailer shows off all the hilariously retro chaos we’ve come to expect out of Retro City Rampage only this time it’s from the perspective of a super hero. Naturally this means you get you’re very own specialized car, the Biffmobile, the ability to throw Biffarangs (awesome!) and even a Biffcave to play in!
Welcome to our our newest weekly feature. It’s come to our attention that even though we produce awesome content every single day, it’s simply not possible for people to visit us everyday and, as such, they very well could miss out on some great content. So we’re introducing this new feature which will premiere every single Saturday and list each and every article we have produced for the week prior and you can simply scroll through and see which ones you want to explore.
Earlier in the month it was announced that the SpyParty booth would spread the love at PAX Prime by having a couple indie developers set-up their games for the first 60 minutes of the exhibition hours on Saturday and Sunday. Later on we found out one of the games would be IndieCade winner and IGF/Boston Indie Showcase finalist Miegakure, which made it official that we’d be making on time to one of the two weekend days.
As several attendees and our own correspondent Ken Ellis (preview and video footage soon!) attempted to wrap their heads around Marc Ten Bosch’s long in the works puzzle platformer/exploration into the fourth dimension, I was able to have an aside with the San Fran-based indie developer; and that was no small feat of courage from me as he is a man of very tall stature. After making sure I hadn’t mistook him for Chris Hecker (oops to those who apparently did!), Marc gave me an update on how the development of the highly anticipated title is coming along.
The game has made many leaps and bounds in development since our last proper preview some 18 months ago. It’s unclear how much content the final game will carry, but it appears there will be hours upon hours of exploration and puzzle solving to be had. Marc continues to push toward completion with PC, Mac, Linux and consoles in his plans for release through the various digital distribution channels. When will we finally get our hands (permanently) on this game? Hopefully soon, 2012 seems to be the best bet, with 2013 sounding very ugly to him–I seem to always find the perfectionists who only dabble in release dates if they absolutely have to.
With what’s being pulled off in the game, it more than makes sense. Wide eyes and active controllers from all the attendees and media who had a chance to play. With the use of an extra dimension to explore and use to your advantage, you begin to understand why the game claims you’ll feel like you’re pulling off miracles.
There are still plans for a demo when the game does arrive, and we can likely expect it to be on the heavy side as Marc has been encouraging 1-2 hour hands-on sessions at the conventions, expos, and other events it has appeared at.
Amanita Design’s Jakub Dvorský has passed on word that in addition to other upcoming console ports, his award winning adventure game Machinarium will see a release on iPad as well. Even better, that version could be out as soon as August. Why, that’s tomorrow!
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though, August is also 30 days from now as well. Still, Dvorský sounds hopeful that the title could land on the App Store as long as the remaining (small) bugs are wrangled and it’s properly tested.
The WiiWare (Q3 2011) and PSN editions (August 2011) are presumably still in the works and on track for release; though they were not mentioned.
[DIYGamer correspondent Ken Ellis gives us thoughts from his demo session with Retro City Rampage (new screens here.)]
I got my hands on a little Retro City Rampage action tonight during the Xbox Live showcase event at this year’s Comic-Con (video coming soon.) If you have ever played a game, ever, then you will probably like this one.
RCR follows the tale of a thug named “Player” living in Thieftropolis who answers an ad to work as a henchman. The game picks up in his third year of henching. The Jester is planning a heist and he needs your help on this one. Obviously the plan goes awry and adventure follows.
The best part of this game is that about every five seconds there is a reference to a classic video game from yester-year and a few movies too. While playing through the game for about 10 minutes, I was bombarded with tongue-in-check scenes from Mega Man and Duck Hunt and characters from Frogger, Bill and Ted, and Back to the Future (even DUCK TALES!) while going through familiar locales like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle sewers and Bomberman areas. There was even a quick MK “Toasty!” that popped into view.
The game feels like a straight de-make of Grand Theft Auto, where you’re a random henchman who can beat up or run over anyone and get chased by the cops. It has clear way-points to guide you and simple controls that let start enjoying everything pretty quick, and I mean everything! In the first few scenes, I frantically ran through there were no less than five different styles of NES gameplay. I’m sure you get it by now, but RCR bleeds retro from a wound that surely can never be closed.
Anyone can and should play this game, but for the more experienced gamer there are plenty of wonderful and humorous gems to get you going back mentally to your early gaming days.
Retro City Rampage is coming out later this summer on Xbox Live and sometime in the fall for the WiiWare crowd. Definitely something to check out!
La-Mulana is going to be a great contender for WiiWare’s 2011 Game of the Year, if not Wii’s Game of the Year. Not to trivialize it, but Wii’s having a less than stellar 2011, as most developers seem to have moved onto the HD machine Nintendo will reveal at E3. Fortunately, WiiWare is seeing some great games while on its last leg. La-Mulana, one of those destined greats, is a archaeological historic ruin exploration action game, so it says in Japanese.
The enemy sprites look amazing: smoothly animated, colorful, and, at times, huge. The platforming action looks intense, as well. Check it out:
The trailer reveals that Japanese Wii owners can download the game on June 21 for 1200 Wii Points. Interested in up to date information on its release? Follow La-Mulana on the official website. Otherwise, check out some of the DIY coverage of the game, and go ahead and try the original version for download here.
