Yesterday, Sony dropped a few bombs on the gaming world - first, they are discontinuing support of the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita stores by next year, at the latest, with support ending immediately in some areas. Second, they will cease production of physical games by January 2028 for all releases on PlayStation consoles, leaving only another year and half before you'll no longer be able to grab the latest games pressed to a disc.
It's not every day we get a game that encourages the use of imagination in the form of creative writing. There’s no fate for humanity to be won or quest for the ultimate armor to be had. While the game does take place in some quadrant of outer space, there's not a single creature to kill or flying craft to destroy. In fact, there's nary a living soul to interact with at all. Instead, progress is made by using the power of prose.
Even if you only played the demo way back in the ancient days of the mid-'90s, it's hard to forget the thrill of flying in and out of cramped hallways, dodging lasers and missiles to steal a door key and then strafing downward (or is it upward?) back out of the room to safety. Descent celebrates its 19th birthday this month with a straight, bare-bones port on Steam—all 27 stomach-wrenching levels of the original. This particular version has some mouse issues, but a great game is a great game.
Prepare to have your hopes dashed on the rocks of reality: this is nothing like Rainbow Six. There is nothing good, fun, or entertaining about it. It's not something you should try for any reason. It's so bad that it will take months of patches before it could be merely described as bad.
It seems like we’re all battling our backlogs these days, and with the Steam Summer Sale fast approaching, things are only going to get worse. Well, NeoGAF forum member SenseiJinx has provided us with a way to gauge how long it will take to complete our Steam catalogs.
Somewhere during the creation of a game, there seems to be a point where the design team must ask itself, “Should we make our game longer?” Sometimes this might result in the addition of compelling new content, but so often it results in revisiting the same places you’ve already been to collect more thingamabobs. This very decision is what ruins Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams. Your forward progress in what could be a wonderful game is stymied until you can perfect your collection of MacGuffins without dying in levels you’ve already completed. It’s a real shame too, because without this unnecessary padding I wouldn’t have noticed the game’s glitches or gotten as frustrated with its inconsistent responses. Most importantly, I wouldn’t have gotten so sick of playing it.
To the Moon created a bit of buzz a few months ago. Originally released in 2011 through the author, Kan Gao’s website, the game acquired a cult following. People who played the game praised it, claiming that it had one of the best stories in gaming. Now that the game is available on Steam, even more players will be able to see if those claims were legitimate. From my time with the game, I can say that it lives up to the hype.
City Interactive is delivering some arcade-style shoot-em-up goodness later this year in the form of Dogfight 1942. Originally titled Combat Wings: The Great Battles of World War II, the game had been intended as a retail game. However, along with the name change, the game will now be a downloadable only title that will be available on Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and Steam when it's released.
Rumors surfaced last week about GameStop planning to sell voucher cards for the PC platform, Steam. Pictures of the cards surfaced on the Internet, but Gamestop nor Valve offered an official comment on the rumor. A press release yesterday validated the rumors, confirming that GameStop now carries pre-paid Steam cards for quantities of $20 and $50.
If you like free games, there’s a pretty easy way to score Midnight Club II on your Steam account through the weekend. Simply join the Rockstar Steam community before 10 AM PDT on May 15 and a free, non-giftable copy of the game will arrive in your account sometime before May 29. Just be aware that this version of the game won’t run on Windows 7 or Vista. This probably limits the audience for the game considerably, but for those still rocking Windows XP on an aging rig might finally have a new game to boot up on their systems.
Alan Wake's American Nightmare will soon be getting a PC release. The newly updated registry list for Steam has the Remedy game included in its database, pretty much confirming the title will be available for the platform at some point in the future.
The PC version of Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet is official and it will include more than its console brethren. Michel Gagne and Joe Olson of Shadow Planet Productions revealed that it will include the cooperative "Shadow Hunters" downloadable content for free.
Gamers who use Steam or who purchased a game by Electronic Arts in the past two years might want to check Origin to see what games the service says you own. Reports from G4 earlier today are indicating that some games are available to play through the Origin service if they were bought elsewhere. EA confirmed this, with some provisions and clarity.
Alan Wake was released for the PC via Steam this past week and it's a big hit. Kotaku is reporting that the PC version has already broken even, after just two days. The port is also the #1 downloaded title on Steam.
The Elder Scrolls has always been a series known for its various mods made by the community. This is because Bethesda has always made available tools to assist modders in creating quality content, and the latest entry in the series, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, looks to be no exception.
Janitors with an affinity for aerial acrobatics – say no more, I’m in. Dustforce is a peculiar concoction, simultaneously delivering serenity and insanity. It’s like a Siren luring in unsuspecting bystanders with its unprecedented beauty only to reveal an unnerving ferocity. Harboring difficulty on par with Super Meat Boy and N, Dustforce differentiates itself with its soothing melodic ambiance. While this game tests your limits and perhaps even your sanity – it is oddly enjoyable.
PC gamers will be able to get their hands on what was previously an Xbox 360 exclusive sometime this February. In a forum post, Remedy's community manager revealed that Alan Wake is coming to PC via Steam. The PC version will not use Games for Windows Live and will come with the previously released DLC content, The Signal and The Writer.
Independent developer Strange Loop Games, in collaboration with indiePub, announced the release date of its inaugural title. Vessel is a "groundbreaking liquid physics" puzzle game and it will be available for purchase on March 1, 2012. Players can get the title on Steam and through the developer's website, strangeloopgames.com.
Today Sega announced the release of two Sonic games and additional content, all for the PC through digital download markets. The first title is Sonic CD. The port is based off of the recently released XBLA and PSN versions. If you buy the title on Steam, you'll also get Metal Sonic and Tails costumes for the multiplayer game Spiral Knights.
