Indie Royal Bundle

Normally I wouldn't recommend buying games when they are not even out yet, but for these 3, make a big exception.

http://www.indieroyale.com/

For 3 more days you can buy alpha access, and then when the games are finished you own all three! This pack is so worth it just for Towns(a majesty meets RPG dungeons) and Wyv & Keep (A two player co-op puzzle action platformer with from the looks of things, very devious puzzle design).

Current asking price is 5.08 as of this posting, but even for 10(the recommended bump the price down asking price) it's a steal.

I'll let their own page speak about what the games are and the three developers behind it on it's own.  They've said it so well I don't want to just repeat it here.  But do check it out this weekend if you've got a spare bit of gaming cash, as if even one of the games appeals to you this is very worth the cash.

The three games are also relatively clean fun.  There's some minor cartoon violence(sprite characters dying, minecraft style "deaths" of low quality 3d models in 3079), and both Towns and 3079 might be a bit over younger players because of their heavy emphasis on RPG stat management.  But it's hard to fault the games at this price.

Square Logic Rocks

If you want a good clean logic game, check out Everyday Genius: Square Logic.  It will test the logic part of your step by step puzzle solving without tossing complicated rules, math(the game will do all the maths for you, leaving you with the logic decisions), or chance based puzzles at you, and it will last you a long time.

Skyrim: Elder Scrolls 5

A lot of people have been playing this massive game called Skyrim: The Elder Scrolls V, myself included.  It's got so much content and story quests, it will honestly take me several years to get through it all.  Most of that time may be because I like playing a sneaky character.  Regardless of the reason, none of you want to wait several years to hear about it, so I'm posting a blind mini review based on my 20 hours of playtime so far.


Skyrim is an Open World Action Role Playing Game, in the most open, literal interpretation of the term.  Like Oblivion, and every Elder Scrolls game previously, Skyrim contains a massive world.  This world is populated by npcs who literally "live in the world", complete with daily/weekly activities they do, some legal, some not so much.

A quick note to parents.  This game is rated M, and I heartily support this rating.  By a "living world of NPCs", the designers literally made a world, everything good and bad included.  This world contains exactly everything questionable you'd expect in a fantasy setting world, from bars full of people who "look for the ladies" to very violent betrayals and brutal death "critical hits", and a strong case of racism.  In the world, there are very few NPCs who would stand up for "what is right", and many of the quests force the player character to choose the "lesser of two evils" with no good "Everyone can get along" ending.  Bethesda went for a very realistic world, only stopping from putting something in the world if it would threaten an A rating and prevent selling the game.

Skyrim's world is very much an adult world, and combined with the ability of the player to pretty much do whatever they wish to do in the world(for good, evil, or sometimes neither or both), this isn't a game for younger kids to play.  Honestly, a lot of the gameplay mechanics and storylines for the quests deal with adult topics anyway.  I would only buy or let an older kid play this if you are truly comfortable having them deal with such topics.

Having said that, the fact Skyrim has such a detailed world is one of the main reasons it has become so popular.  Very few games dive this far into detail, or put this much effort into literally dropping the player into the world and asking them "where do you want to go, and what will you do?".

Don't support internet censorship

I usually do not post political things on this blog, but in this case I find I must make an exception.  After all, the reason this blog even exists is because I am allowed to freely speak positively or negatively about anything I want to, as an internet user in the USA.  Without that right, this website and the article you are reading right now doesn't exist.

I strongly suggest to everyone who is in the US to please take the time to follow this link and read up on the two acts that may change the way our internet allows free speech.  Research the bills (PIPA, and SOPA for reference, links given at the end of this article) yourself if you must, but know that time is ticking.

For everyone outside the USA, don't think this won't affect you too.  History has proven time and again that once one country decides such censorship is ok, the others tend to follow.  Contact any friends you may have in the USA.

https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/

Act fast, act now, and please tell congress to VOTE NO, because if PIPA and SOPA go through, our precious right to free speech and information sharing on the internet will be in jeopardy.  Not only will sites like Blogger.com, Facebook, and Google have to censor what we are allowed to see, read, or even talk about in the US, thousands of people who make a living off the basic concept of the internet being used for communication may lose their jobs as a result.

I'm all in support of anyone stopping the trade of illegal copies of games, software, music, and other digital media.  I am however, NOT in support of our government creating a massive ruling that puts a stop to it AT THE COST OF EVERYTHING THAT FREE SPEECH AND THE RIGHTS TO FREE TRADE ON THE INTERNET HAVE WORKED SO HARD TO BUILD.

This is going too far, for all of us, and for all the good it claims it will do, look carefully at the cost.  Ask yourself, is that "good" worth putting a full on stop to your right to start topics about anything the government deems it doesn't want you to talk or even know about?

Direct Links to the two bills in question, for your own research purposes:

PIPA(Protect IP Act)
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.uscongress/legislation.112s968

SOPA(Stop Online Piracy Act)
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.uscongress/legislation.112hr3261

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and take whatever actions you can to stop them from going through.  Make your voices heard people!

Review: Bastion

Bastion is a hard game to summarize without spoiling what makes it so powerful.  In few words, it has a deeply thought out story, and tells it in a very unique way.  It's one of those few times when a game becomes much more then just another game, and ascends into an art form.

At it's core, the gameplay is that of an isometric action game.  You will find different weapons throughout the game, which you will use to fight your way through stages in a linear fashion.  Enemies and destroying stuff in the levels gives you money that you can use to upgrade your weapons, buy different tonics(which act as equippable accessories), and so on.  Nothing particularly special here.

Exploration is very limited to non-existent, though there are many parts where you as the player decide how "the kid" takes care of the situation at hand.  The different weapons all act and feel different enough to keep the gameplay flowing smooth, but this isn't a pure action game, as often times there will be a quiet segment where the enemies stop coming to make way for the storytelling.

Throughout the gameplay, an announcer(we find out who he is and who he is talking to later) tells the tale.  Once again, I don't want to spoil too much, but let's just say it's a clever use of 2nd person storytelling, both during the events and from future/past tense.

Minecraft Review

My internet is back, and thanks to the steam winter sales I have a backlog of games to play and review.  But first, a requested Minecraft review.

(Note, if you are familiar with minecraft's gameplay, skip to the Review header in bold down below.)

First, a basic, but long, explanation of what minecraft is.  It's so unique that my review simply will not make much sense if you don't know what the game is.

Internet/network problems

Just a quick heads up for all my blog readers.  We've been having some issues with our home network, and as such, I have no way of writing any reviews.

I'll revive this blog once this situation settles for good.  Sorry to be vague about it, but we are trying to narrow down what's wrong with it one reason at a time over the last week and now this week.  It's not hacked, it probably has more to do with software/hardware/physical house layout issues.  We're not sure which yet...gotta run more tests and move PCs around some more.