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Need a little help carving through the Angel of Death's armies? Blizzard is offering 50 percent bonus XP this weekend for it's gothic clicking simulator, Diablo 3. You'll have until 5 a.m. PST, April 7 to reap the bonuses from Blizzard's offer, which the company noted on a blog post is intended to celebrate the achievement of more than 1.5 million players completing Act 5.

Blizzard held another 50 percent bonus XP event last month, though that was intended to brace the world for Death's coming. Now that we've had bonus XP to prepare for his arrival and celebrate his defeat, it'll be interesting to see what justification Blizzard gives should another weekend of bonus XP occur - Death's sister's boyfriend's aunt celebrating a half-birthday, perhaps?

Unfortunately, only nephalem with access to a computer of either the Mac or PC variety can partake. Sorry, console-bound adventurers. [Image: Blizzard]

I’m in that board-gaming mood, readers. The one where the infinite possibilities of pen, paper and manufactured cardboard spread out in front of my mind’s eye. You can do anything! You can be anyone! Shame about all that manual calculation that has to come along with the DIY design and tactility. If only someone, say Triple B Titles, decided to do a Kickstarter that took the customisation of characters and abilities but wrapped it up in a charmingly twee cut-out style.

Gasp! Popup Dungeon is exactly that. I’ve never felt so clairvoyant. They’re after $80,000 of real, non-Monopoly money for what they’re selling as an infinitely creative and replayable game. Hmm.

… [visit site to read more]

Well, well, well. What we have here is a wonderfully wicked point and click – The Weird Story of Waldemar the Warlock would like to welcome the contents of your wallet, asking £40,000 via wonted means. While the video is weak, as you will see below, it warranted further investigation and the game footage that was shown woke a curiosity in me for what the developers will do. Come in my wake past the wall and wow at the wonders within.

… [visit site to read more]

Sometime last week or so, my grandfather died. I went back to the ancestral home, met my estranged father and gave his outrageously young wife a hug. In sitcoms, this would normally be where the honey-glazed sappiness starts. But, well. Real life doesn’t work that way. Sorry for not being around, guys. (I don’t usually like linking to anything outside of my specified work scope but this piece about my granddad and this one about my dad seemed relevant to share. I get to be indulgent sometimes, right?) In the meantime, here are a stack of cheap games. This week’s extremely surprised-looking wombat is from kfix. Yay!

… [visit site to read more]

Obeying Newtonian laws of physics very much isn’t in these days. If you’re not manipulating Zero-Point Energy or jetpacking through windows, you better have skyscraper-leaping superpowers or that most impossible of things, the “double jump.” Given that it takes part through, possibly in, one of the least understood and most terrifying phenomenons in space, Blackhole at least has a good excuse. Gravity pads are the particular brand of un-reality in this instance, changing the way the nameless space-waiter main character and his AI companion Auriel are affected while leaving everything else the same. There’s a massive trailer showing off not only how the game plays, but also some impressive voice acting and writing. Warp through to it below.

… [visit site to read more]

If you're wanting to try out the futuristic FPS, it's also going on sale for 50% off.

Alongside the above trailer, developer Vagabond Dog has revealed a May 21 release date for its pixelated adventure Always Sometimes Monsters.

Don't let the familiarity of chunky pixels fool you, Always Sometimes Monsters isn't a sweet, saccharine affair. Vagabond Dog describes the game as an "unconventional story-driven RPG about life, love, and the lengths that we will go to find happiness in both," but fails to mention that the "lengths" it is referring to include maudlin deathbed scenes and shotgun assassinations.

Though that may seem bleak, the game is not specifically designed to be a downer. Instead, Vagabond Dog has created an open world that reacts to your character, and crafts a suitable narrative around the actions you take within the pixelated reality. "Always Sometimes Monsters is designed to reflect parts of yourself as you play and possibly give you a better understanding of who you are," said developer Justin Amirkhani. "What makes it interesting is not learning whether or not you're a monster, but reflecting on how you can change."

If you just can't wait until May 21 to dig into Always Sometimes Monsters, you will get an early shot at the game at the upcoming PAX East convention, where you'll find Always Sometimes Monsters in the Indie Megabooth, at booth 787. [Image: Devolver Digital]

A true conversation between my inner bros:

"Bro, for real, Broforce is out April 7."
"That game is gonna crush it."
"Crush it hard, yo."
"Fasho, it's so sick! What's it about?"
"Don't worry about it."
"BROFORCE!"

I hate my beautiful mind. [Image: Devolver Digital]

If you're often frustrated by wi-fi speeds on busy networks, Qualcomm's new multi-user spectrum could bring sweet, sweet relief.

$9000 goes to fans as their gorgeous art impresses Diablo's creators.

Following the debut of the excellent turn-based strategy game Age of Wonders 3 on March 31, developer Triumph Studios has simultaneously announced and launched a map editor for those who prefer crafting their own worlds to relying on the game's random map generator.

"The map making community has been super important to Age of Wonders, they have helped keep the series alive for over 10 years since the release of the previous title," wrote Triumph development director Lennart Sas in this morning's announcement.

According to Triumph, the editor will allow players to craft new maps and scenarios using the deep well of content included with Age of Wonders 3. With a bit of extra effort, those more dedicated (or finicky) creators can customize the game even further by importing their own audio and art assets to customize story cutscenes, campaigns and individual heroes.

Best of all, the Age of Wonders 3 map editor is now available at no charge. Those who own Age of Wonders 3 will now find a new option in the game's launcher which will fire up the gratis editor. [Image: Triumph Studios]

Currently in alpha, Gang Beasts is free to download and you should grab it right now. It’s a surprisingly nuanced multiplayer beat ‘em up that combines playgrounds packed with perilous physics and a control scheme that makes combat a sequence of shoving, grappling and tripping over your own fists. Rounds often come to a halt as the last Beasts standing collapse into a meat grinder together, unsure who is pushing toward and who is pulling away.

It’s already a wonderful game, both hilarious and intelligently designed, but rather than simply praising its silliness, I’ve been thinking about how the whole thing works and why it’s satisfying, while also looking at the possibilities that the future of jelly-combat holds.

… [visit site to read more]

Renegade Kid unveils a new survival-horror game set in a small western Texas town.

Last Saturday, at about four in the morning, I found myself locked in a war of attrition with an angry orc. He'd sacked almost the entirety of my kingdom, forcing my meager remaining troops to hole up in a labyrinthine cave system beneath the surface. There I waited, biding my time, as my generals rallied new soldiers. A few dwarven prospectors, a human assassin and a pair of red dragons eventually joined our ranks. As I once again spurred my faithful giant lizard steed onward toward daylight, I could clearly make out cries of terror in the guttural patois of the ruling orcish class.

In the end, I lost that fight. The orcs fell, but a few hundred turns later I was betrayed by a High Elf who had, up until that point, been a useful ally. The world of Age of Wonders 3 is a cruel place, but it's also incredibly addicting. Moments after my former ally ended my quest, I started a new one, this time as a Goblin religious zealot with a fondness for arson.

With Pocketwatch Games starting work on its “RTS you could play in a party setting” Armada, it’s time to stop coddling Monaco and set it free into the big wide world to stand on its own two feet. Run, Monaco! Be free! It’s hard to let go, though, so Pocketwatch has packed one final patch for its darling little heist ‘em up: cheese & Marmite sandwiches, a kiwi fruit (forgot a spoon though), a Tunnock’s Tea Cake, and the fourth and final official Monaco campaign.

… [visit site to read more]

Azure makes games like Titanfall run faster, cleaner.

Whenever I talk to someone about Alien: Isolation, there’s two possible tones of voice. First: gushing, praise-tier relief that either it’s apparently good or that, having just played it themselves, they can confirm it’s good. Or: dark, grim worry that it will live up to the series more recent exploits and be, in a word, trash. There’s a sort of desperate hope surrounding the survival space station explorer, a need for just this once, please, let it be fun. In their latest missive below, Creative Assembly explore their plans for sound design and how the movements of the player will effect what they hear.

… [visit site to read more]

The debut game from the studio founded by ex-Microsoft employee Adam Orth is coming in 2015.

The trailer for Mind: Path To Thalamus is a dream-like series of beautiful landscapes, with a backing of melancholy piano and sorrowful synths. Promising environmental manipulation as well as a jolly good stroll through the corridors of memory and (of course) regret, it reminds me of Linger in Shadows, the demoscene project that broke through onto PS3. It all begins with a voiceover, which I managed to ignore, but it ends with another snippet of monologue that croaked out of my speakers, along with the mental image of a beatnik sitting on a windowsill and sucking on a Gauloises while contemplating the shape of the smoke, and pondering how fascinating he must look from afar. Mind is heading to the Rift.

… [visit site to read more]

Spoiler warning: This post and the video above contain light story spoilers for Soma, including the appearance of one of the game's enemies.
Soma, from Amnesia creator Frictional Games, takes place deep under the ocean. As it turns out, the oppressive, high-pressure atmosphere of the sea floor makes for a pretty spooky environment (who knew?). We got to spend some hands-on time with Soma at GDC last month, and we also got to pick the brain of Ian Thomas, programmer and narrative designer.

Like Frictional's other games, Soma focuses primarily on psychological horror and environmental storytelling. We didn't learn too much about the story in our short play session, other than the main character is exploring a submerged scientific facility of some sort, and that he's trying to locate his colleagues. Strange, alien-looking cables and machinery seem to have penetrated the facility and, we learned through a series of flashbacks, something went wrong. Exactly what went wrong is at the heart of the mystery, though the occasional bursts of static imply an air of technological horror.

See it for yourself in our video preview and interview. Soma is slated to arrive on PC and PS4 in 2015.

Nether's spooky catchphrase is "prey or pray," but you'll be required to do neither to snag a key in today's beta giveaway. The closed-beta post-apoc sandbox is updating today with its Territory Wars patch that allows players to compete to control bases and buildings within the city. The patch also introduces playable female characters, an expanded loot system, and an underwear uniform for the most hardcore survivalists. Seriously.

Joystiq and Massively have 2,000 Steam keys for Nether to give away, coinciding with the release of the new update. The Steam passes include closed beta access, 50 Nether gold, a Chosen-only exclusive in-game item, five 72-hour guest keys for your mates, forum access, and a highlighted forum name and rank for your account. Additionally, once the Steam bundles are gone, we've got 18,000 more guest keys that grant 72 hours of beta access without the other goodies.

To redeem your Nether Steam key, install and launch the Steam client software and log into your Steam account (the client, not the Steam website!). Click the Games Menu, then Choose Activate a Product on Steam, and then follow the onscreen instructions to complete the process. You and your friends can redeem your guest keys by creating an account on the Nether website and following the instructions therein to download the game. Steam is required for all keys.

Have fun saving the world!

I’m a broken man today, having been up til nearly 2am playing the freebie ‘Advanced Edition’ expansion for impeccably clever/brutal space survival sim/strategy/RPG FTL: Faster Than Light last night, so I guess it’s safe to say the new features haven’t broken the old spell. I had worried the various new weapons, rooms and encounters would upset FTL’s simultaneously delicate and chaotic balancing act, but in four run-throughs (three failed, once successful #humblebrag) I haven’t felt its famed cruelty ever collapsed into either messy excess or over-complication. In one game, I lost because the enemy kept teleporting over a stream of invading clones. Another I won thanks to an excellent new weapon. All’s fair in love and murderous rebel space fleets.

Thoughts and a video (with commentary, or something approximating it) below. … [visit site to read more]

I hadn’t heard of Abyss Odyssey before today. ACE Team‘s previous titles, the Zeno Clash series, hold a place in my heart as some of the most weirdly beautiful games I’ve ever seen. They’ve got similar roots in fighting game brilliance to this, which favours a 2D platforming perspective for something a bit more standard. The main draw is being able to switch form into any one of a number of characters and enemies you find throughout the game. Which brings us to the latest trailer, a combo video of sorts (and there’s nothing quite like a surprise combo) showing off what one of their testers managed to do with their combat engine. Spinning kick your way through to it below.

… [visit site to read more]

When I was a freshman in high school, my science teacher had us complete a Rube Goldberg machine for our final class project. We needed a minimum of 10 steps, but the more complicated and more steps involved, the better. Bonus points were awarded if your steps were particularly eye-catching and fun to watch.

With its focus on cause and effect, and creating chain reactions that lead to something as simple as opening a door, I think Escape Goat 2, from developer MagicalTimeBean, would have made my science teacher proud, or at least put a smile on her face.

Escape Goat 2 doesn't beat around the bush with its concept: You are a goat - escape. Trapped in a tower full of traps and puzzles, you'll use your double-jump, dash ability and a helper mouse to navigate your way through nine areas, each with its own theme. One is filled with overgrown vines and lush forest, while another is steeped in ice. No matter where you are, however, your goal is to find the way out, which is sometimes easier said than done.

“GameSpy Technologies‘ multiplayer servers are shutting down on May 31, and I’m glad,” I could say as eulogy. “It was rubbish and buggy and terrible and ruined everything and I’m glad it’s dead.” But that would be an unfair summary of a complex and troubled life. When Steamworks was but a glimpse in Valve’s compound eye, licensing the GameSpy suite let many developers simply make their game rather than having to create their own multiplayer tech from scratch. It was buggy and unpleasant, and we certainly did groan whenever we saw a ‘Powered by GameSpy’ splash screen, but its life had meaning and purpose.

Powered by GameSpy is survived by dozens of classic games, from Battlefield 1942 to Titan Quest, deeply wounded by its passing. Even some modern games like Arma 3 are affected, and planning how best to proceed in this difficult time.

… [visit site to read more]

Spoiler warning: This post and the video above contain light story spoilers for Soma, including the appearance of one of the game's enemies.
Soma, from Amnesia creator Frictional Games, takes place deep under the ocean. As it turns out, the oppressive, high-pressure atmosphere of the sea floor makes for a pretty spooky environment (who knew?). We got to spend some hands-on time with Soma at GDC last month, and we also got to pick the brain of Ian Thomas, programmer and narrative designer.

Like Frictional's other games, Soma focuses primarily on psychological horror and environmental storytelling. We didn't learn too much about the story in our short play session, other than the main character is exploring a submerged scientific facility of some sort, and that he's trying to locate his colleagues. Strange, alien-looking cables and machinery seem to have penetrated the facility and, we learned through a series of flashbacks, something went wrong. Exactly what went wrong is at the heart of the mystery, though the occasional bursts of static imply an air of technological horror.

See it for yourself in our video preview and interview. Soma is slated to arrive on PC and PS4 in 2015.

The samovars have gone cold. The cigarette-smoke butterflies have dispersed. The commissar is starting to scribble names in his little red notebook… it’s time my intrepid but incompetently led Combat Mission: Red Thunder Soviets roused themselves and got on with the second part of the Battle of Baronovichi. … [visit site to read more]

Warside, as a name, doesn’t have the immediate appeal of Warface. Based on the trailer for the multiplayer shooter, the ‘side’ refers to the fact that it’s a side-scrolling game in the style of Abuse and is therefore, quite literally, a different side of war. There’s none of your first-person battling here, just lots of tiny men with jetpacks and energy shields firing many bullets at one another. Currently seeking votes on Steam Greenlight, it’s clear to me that the game would have a gazillion more votes if it were called Warflank. I also await the announcement of Warrump, which is both a game about tight uniform trousers and the sound that an English colonel makes when he tastes inferior brandy.

… [visit site to read more]

Fee-fi-fo-fum! I smell the beta of an expansion! Honking great giant beasts are now stomping merrily around Don’t Starve as its expansion Reign of the Giants is out in beta on Steam Early Access. No, I hadn’t realised DLC could be released that way either.

As one would expect and fear from an endless nightmare where the only release is sweet merciful death, Reign of the Giants adds a few more survival tools but mostly new ways to die horribly.

… [visit site to read more]

ArenaNet's MMO will be discounted worldwide starting today.