Tuesday, December 15, 2015

King's Quest Chapter Two Is Out Now

Most of you are enjoying the latest resurgence of the LucasArts adventures, courtesy of Double Fine. However, for those of you who are interested in their biggest competitor during their adventure heyday, Sierra has been having a bit of a resurgence of its own.

Today, it finally continues with the release of the second chapter of The Odd Gentlemen's King's Quest, Rubble Without A Cause. The first chapter was inspired by the original King's Quest. This chapter is said to be inspired by King's Quest III.

 Although, the gameplay in King's Quest itself is heavily inspired by Telltale Games. However, it bests their current games as it manages to blend choices and consequences together with traditional inventory based puzzles in a way that we all wish Telltale would manage.

Friday, December 11, 2015

Psychonauts Retrospective By Two Player Productions

2 Player Productions has created an excellent retrospective on Psychonauts titled The Color of Your World. This 50 minute retrospective has been posted in three parts on YouTube. You can view the first part embedded above, or directly here, and the other other parts can be selected from the annotations at the end of the video. Or, alternatively you can, you can view part two directly here, and part three directly here.

The Psychonauts Fig campaign is doing well so far. It's currently nearly 75% funded with 31 days left to go. So, there's plenty of time to back it if you haven't. If you feel like playing a social media game, Double Fine has set one up for the campaign, which is a neat new twist on their social media campaign from the original Psychonauts which used Friendster and Myspace (remember those relics of the internet from 10 years ago?), this time using modern social media like Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, Vine, and YouTube and combining them with achievements.

Although, unlike usual video game achievements, you actually get tangible rewards for playing this game. Once enough people hit a goal, everyone who follows the campaign will get fun stuff like this retrospective, which was the first goal hit. The next goal is previously unseen concept art from the original Psychonauts. The social media game is a completely optional part of the campaign, but if you want to join in on the fun, join the PSI Cadets.

Saturday, December 5, 2015

The Making of Lumino City Companion App Released

The Making of Lumino City is a companion app to the puzzle game Lumino City, which was just released for iOS a little over a month ago. It's also available for Mac and Windows on GOG.com and Steam and for Mac on the Mac App Store.

Lumino City was unique in that it was handmade. The city went up one building at a time, hand constructed from cardboard, glue, and miniature lights and motors. The Making of Lumino City takes you behind the scenes to show how this model world went from paper to play.  It was an intense, three-year creative process that culminated in a BAFTA award for Artistic Achievement and a showcase at London's Victoria & Albert Museum.

In this companion app to Lumino City, you can explore stunning handcrafted environments up close, learn how puzzle sequences were created, and even play around with the lights and camera used to film the game.

Psychonauts In The Rhombus of Ruin Coming To PS4 VR

One more Double Fine game was revealed at the PlayStation Experience.

If you wondered what happened after the end of Psychonauts, you'll now get your answer in the form of Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin, the PlayStation VR game, coming to PlayStation 4 next year. You'll finally be able to take part in the rescue mission mentioned at the end of the first game, bridging the story gap between the original Psychonauts and the forthcoming sequel, which you can still back over at Fig, if you haven't already.

You can view the trailer embedded above, or directly here.

Day of the Tentacle Remastered Trailer

The PlayStation Experience had a lot of good things from Double Fine this year. On top of the new game announcements of Full Throttle Remastered and Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin, the official trailer for next year's Day of the Tentacle Remastered has made it's official debut. It also has received a release window, March 2016.

You can view it embedded above, or directly here.

Full Throttle Remastered Announced

Hot on the heels of this year's excellent Grim Fandango Remastered, and next year's fantastic looking Day of the Tentacle Remastered, Tim Schafer took the stage at the PlayStation Experience to announce that Full Throttle is also getting the remastered treatment.

It will feature updated graphics and sound, director's commentary, and new control options that will make the game more accessible to today's gaming audiences.

Full Throttle Remastered will be coming to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in 2017 (and presumably Windows, Mac, and Linux as well, since both previous Double Fine remasters were announced as PlayStation console exclusives and were also revealed to be coming to computer systems as well).

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Psychonauts 2 Is Seeking Crowdfunding on Fig

The biggest news of the Video Game Awards tonight was the announcement of Psychonauts 2! They are now seeking 3.3 million dollars, with a significant portion of the game's financing being done through Double Fine themselves, through the crowdfunding site founded by ex-Double Finer Justin Bailey. Head over to Fig now and make your pledge to make this happen!

Check out the trailer for the game embedded above, or directly here.

Telltale Is Making An Episodic Batman Series

Telltale and Warner Brothers just announced a Batman episodic series, coming to PC, Mac, consoles, and handheld devices next year. It was just announced at the Game Awards 2015 in Los Angeles a few minutes ago. No name has yet been revealed, but it certainly is a major franchise for Telltale to tackle.

The only thing known about the story is a small tidbit from the press release: "“This iteration of Batman will give fans a first-hand opportunity to dive deeper into the complex life and mind of Bruce Wayne, the duality of his own identity, and the struggle of responsibility in saving a city overcome with corruption and villainy.”

This also means that we'll be seeing Telltale's take on games from both of the major comic universes, as Telltale has already announced a Marvel game, that will be premiering in 2017.

From Minecraft Story Mode, to The Walking Dead: Michonne, to Batman, to their Marvel game, and their first season based on an original intellectual property that will be both a television show and a video game series, Telltale certainly has a lot lined up in the next few years.

Michonne To Stand Alone When She Premieres Next Year

Telltale's upcoming miniseries based on the comic character Michonne will no longer be released as downloadable content. It's now going to be a standalone title that won't require any previous titles in the series to play.

 It's also been confirmed that the first episode won't be premiering until February 2016.

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Dreamfall Chapters Book Four Will Be Released Tomorrow

Red Thread Games has released a trailer for the upcoming fourth book of their episodic adventure game Dreamfall Chapters. Book Four: Revelations will be released on Steam, GOG.com, and the Humble store for Windows, Mac, and Linux tomorrow. PlayStation 4 and iOS versions of Dreamfall Chapters are also in development, but no release date has yet been announced for those platforms.