Kingdoms of Awesome: Reckoning

The Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning demo recently released and kicked up a lot of hype and interest from role-playing-game (RPG) fans all over the world. After playing the demo myself, I can say with full certainty that the hype was right. So much so that I think it may be better than Skyrim.

Check out my review and opinion about Reckoning: here

RPG’s: Living The Game

It’s not difficult to get lost in the altiverse of gaming. 

Almost all games have some form of role play in it. Whether it’s a war game (First- or Third-Person shooter), a platformer, a strategy game or even a puzzle game, we are always playing some kind of role, pretending to be something or some one else in a place realistic or fantasy.

Critical Distance, a pristine website about video game blogging has re-launched The Blogs of the Round Table (BoRT) and posed a subject very close to my heart this month.

The subject is the following:

“Games, like most media, have the ability to let us explore what it’s like to be someone other than ourselves. While this experience may only encompass a character’s external circumstances–exploring alien worlds, serving with a military elite, casting spells and swinging broadswords–it’s most powerful when it allow us to identify with a character who is fundamentally different than ourselves–a different gender, sexuality, race, class, or religion. This official re-launch of the Blogs of the Round Table asks you to talk about a game experience that allowed you to experience being other than you are and how that impacted you–for better or for worse. Conversely, discuss why games haven’t provided this experience for you and why.”

I’ve been playing Role-Playing-Games (RPG’s) more than any other type of games for quite some time as it’s my absolute favourite. In many ways I agree and understand the statement presented by Critical Distance and in many ways I completely disagree. I’ll attempt to explain both points of view.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Demo Screenshots

Finally! The Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Demo has arrived.

It appeared on origin last night after a long days wait and excitement, it's about 2.8G big and easy to see why :) So I downloaded it while I was sleeping and checked it out this morning. So far it looks just amazing. I took some screenshots using fraps.

Stained Official Game Trailer

Today I stumbled across another very fascinating game trailer! Curious as to how good it will really be :P

Stained is a physics-based side-scrolling, platforming and combat action game set in an ancient, mysterious castle featuring detailed 3D environments with a continually changing game world. Events in the game are triggered by breaking objects placed in and around the castle, and outcomes are determined by the combination of glass pieces that litter the ground, leading to a variety of experiences.

Novel ways to break objects have to be thought of at times, which will keep the player guessing what the next puzzle will be. In any fight in the game victory is usually temporary, as defeated foes may form again, or reassemble to form entirely new ones. The gameplay is fully interactive and physics based – each character’s uncanny abilities have to be kept in mind to think of innovative ways to proceed through the game!

Check out stained-thegame.com for more info.

Pure, Unadulterated Cognition: Q.U.B.E Review

From the Indie Developers Toxic Games spawns Q.U.B.E., a first-person physics and logic based puzzle game that has taken the gaming world by storm.

Q.U.B.E or Quick Understanding of Block Extrusion is a first-person puzzle game that takes a player through an unknown environment where the location is only revealed once the game is completed.

Players must solve logic and physics based puzzles utilising their gloves and the environment, which is filled with coloured cubes that must be manipulated to progress through each sector or room. Depending on how high your inductive reasoning aptitude (ability to solve puzzles) is, you could spend anything from 10 to 14 hours to complete the game.

BeerDeer Games: The Birth of Nyrthos

Often times in our modern society most entertainment mediums have become less and less meaningful. Many things are created with one goal only, and that is to get as many supporters as possible, by any means possible. Chasing numbers and cash and fame has become prominent.

Quality has become diluted and quantity more important. With an extraordinary influx of social games, flash games and games that are simple yet addictive and only played to pass time, games have become less about taking it’s players on a journey and more about acquiring as big an audience as possible.

We see many astoundingly coded games that have a bigger focus on how “good” the graphics can be and less about how captivating its story can be. Storylines suffer and are sacrificed because there possibly isn’t enough time to make all aspects of the game equally as good, or developers simply lose sight of it.

This week while sifting through press releases I stumbled across a seemingly average press release about a game I’ve never heard of before. It was everything but ordinary. Reading through the press release I discovered a rare honesty and true passion for game development from the BeerDeer games team.

Gaming: Q.U.B.E Official Trailer

I find myself incredibly disappointed that I only discovered this game today. Before I say anything, check out the Official Trailer:

Now if you loved the Portal Games then you probably will be as excited as I am about this. Good physics based games are by far of my most favourite games to date. This Indie Game will probably rake in the praises of many gaming sites ^^ Definitely going to give this one a try!

About Q.U.B.E

Set in a mysterious and abstract sterile environment, Q.U.B.E. (Quick Understanding of Block Extrusion) is a first-person puzzle game that challenges players to navigate each level by manipulating coloured cubes that surround them. There’s little to go on as the game begins - the player is dropped into an all-white room with few instructions, and simply has to figure their way out. The tone of game changes as the player finds small and big alterations to their environment, supported by an original score, inviting each player to let their imagination take over as to where they might be. Through experimentation and discovery, players will progress through an ever-evolving series of cube puzzles that will challenge them with logic, physics, platforming.

Required PC Specs

Windows XP SP2 / Vista / 7
Processor: 2.0+ GHz or better (dual core recommended)
Memory: 1 GB (2 GB recommended)
Hard Disk Space: 1 GB free hard drive space
Video Card: Shader Model 3 compatible video card. NVIDIA 8000 series or higher.
DirectX®: 9.0c or higher
Sound: DirectX 9.0c compatible, 16-bit
The latest Critical Windows update
.NET framework 4.0
The latest DirectX update
Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable | Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable 64 Bit
Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable | Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable 64 Bit

Where To Find It

You can get Q.U.B.E. at the following websites right now:
Steam
Gamersgate.com
Playism.jp
Desura.com