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• Stalin Vs. Martians Trailer Is... Interesting

  Apparently, there is a game called Stalin Vs. Martians--and I'm just finding out about this today. Because I am hopped up on enough cold medicine to knock over a Clydesdale, I at first assumed this bizarre premise was merely a figment of my DayQuil-addled imagination. But when all of the little gremlins stopped dancing around my living room, I checked out the game's website again, and--sure enough--it's for real. I have to question the taste of including one of histories greatest monsters as the playable protagonist, but, for some reason, Stalin has always been viewed as much more of a comical figure when compared to someone like Adolf Hitler--you can probably blame his big, bushy mustache. As Joystiq points out, the game is coming out on April 20th; if you're unfamiliar with this American holiday, this date marks a yearly event where people from all walks of life gather together in solidarity for one purpose: to smoke a hell of a lot of weed. I'd question Joystiq's take on the game's release date, if not for Stalin Vs. Martians' strange trailer, which features gameplay footage intercut with video of a dancing girl who seemingly crawled right out of 1986. It doesn't make much sense, but I have to credit the developers for at least trying to make their game's trailer memorable. Video after the cut. Read More... Posted Apr 08 2009, 01:45 PM by Bob Mackey with | with no comments Filed under: bob mackey, pc games, stalin vs. martians

• 10 Years Ago This Week: Requiem: Avenging Angel

  A rare effort from 3DO to create a first-person shooter franchise, Requiem: Avenging Angel (released April 4, 1999) had a fascinating premise but nevertheless was a critical and commercial dud. It was also the last game to come out of Cyclone Studios, a short-lived development house that never managed to find its footing despite having a string of interesting game concepts. So it's an interesting footnote in the history of the genre, with interesting lessons to be learned from some of its specific shortcomings. Read More... Posted Mar 30 2009, 11:15 AM by Joe Keiser with | with no comments Filed under: 3do, pc games, joe keiser, 10 years ago, Requiem: Avenging Angel, Cyclone Studios, first person shooters

• Will OnLive Change Everything?

  The first major reveal of this year’s GDC is OnLive, a service that seems in a lot of ways to be too good to be true. Put simply, OnLive wants to take the hardware out of the gaming equation: simply log in via a web browser-based plugin, start up any game on offer, and the game starts to play on some godly rig at OnLive’s server farm—with the glorious HD results beamed right into your trashy netbook. The announcement materials for OnLive make the thing sound truly game-changing. OnLive will let you play modern games on anything, starting with PC, Mac, and a little “MicroConsole” that probably won’t cost more than $100. It will start with PC games (including computer crushers possibly including Crysis), but console games are possible. There’ll be unique community options like unlimited live spectators as well, and you can have it all for a low, Xbox Live-like annual fee (and the price of game purchase/rental, of course). Read More... Posted Mar 24 2009, 03:30 PM by Joe Keiser with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: pc games, cloud, joe keiser, onlive, euphamisms for childbirth, digital distribution

• Wallace and Gromit Demo Now Available

  I got a little tired of Telltale Games' Sam and Max games, to the point where I never even bothered to try the last episode of the second season; the novelty of playing new point-and-click adventure games wasn't enough to get me past the lukewarm, dated humor that the series desperately needed to improve upon. So I was more than a little happy to hear the news that the developer was working on a series of games featuring the cheese-loving inventor Wallace and his put-upon dog Gromit. As a fan of the duo since their very beginning, I've always felt like there was something very video-gamey about all of the brilliant setpieces Wallace and Gromit would find themselves in throughout the course of their various adventures. And now that Telltale games has just released the demo for the first episode of their newest video game adventure, we can see if my theory is true. Yes, I know there have been a few Wallace and Gromit games in the past. They just weren't very good. Read More... Posted Mar 20 2009, 03:30 PM by Bob Mackey with | with no comments Filed under: telltale games, bob mackey, pc games, point and click adventure games, wallace and gromit

• 10 Years Ago This Week: EverQuest

  10 Years Ago is a recurring feature that looks at whatever the new hotness was around this time 3,652 days ago. Ostensibly it will look at the game’s impact both in past and present terms, but mostly it will just make you feel really old. While not the first successful MMORPG (Ultima Online is frequently cited for this accolade), EverQuest (released March 16, 1999) was undoubtedly the first truly culturally relevant MMORPG, and the first one to achieve critical mass in its player base. The things EverQuest did in its five years at the top of the genre defined not only the way MMORPGs are designed. It also codified how the MMO business is structured, cemented a great many aspects of massive game player culture, and began the controversies that continue to haunt the genre to this day. It’s hard to overstate how much EverQuest has contributed to the medium, and you could certainly make an argument for it being the most important game of the last ten years (though you only have the rest of the day to do so). Read More... Posted Mar 16 2009, 10:00 AM by Joe Keiser with | with no comments Filed under: world of warcraft, sony online, mmorpgs, pc games, everquest, joe keiser, 10 years ago, the realm, mythic, meridian 59, stormfront, ultima online, mac games

• Worth Reading: The International House of Mojo's Retrospectives

  About a year ago, I had the crazy idea that I'd write a series of articles about the LucasArts PC adventure gaming catalog (chronologically, of course) for GameSpite, one of the many sites I freelance for. Unfortunately (for me), it was around this same time that The International House of Mojo started their LucasArts' Secret History series, which was basically the same idea I had, albeit with a staff of writers and access to resources and people unavailable to me. At first, I didn't let the competition get me down, but after seeing the tremendous amount of work TIHM put into their retrospectives, I threw in the towel by the time I got to Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge. I realize that more than one person can write about a game--hell, on 61FPS I think we blog about Earthbound a dozen times a week--but there's something about TIHM's LucasArts' Secret History series that makes it seem... definitive. Read More... Posted Mar 12 2009, 02:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: lucasarts, bob mackey, pc games, point and click adventure games, the dig, worth reading

• The Abandoning of a LucasArts Legacy

  So there's going to be a new Indiana Jones game--whoop de friggin' doo. You'll have to pardon my general surliness; the chip I have on my shoulder for George Lucas' gaming company is big, bold, and immovable. Now, I'm open to the possibility that Indiana Jones and the Staff of the Kings will be an excellent game--and I'll even admit that some of LucasArts' major franchise titles in the not-too-distant past have been worth playing. My problem lies in the fact that--despite demand--LucasArts continues to churn out the big-name games without absolutely any recognition of their previous gaming legacy. Currently, the company has about ten years' worth of games that they're currently holding hostage; and so far, we gamers haven't gotten so much as a big toe in the mail. Read More... Posted Feb 04 2009, 12:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: lucasarts, retro, bob mackey, pc games, point and click adventure games

• Aquaria Is Cheap. Buy It, You Bums.

  I'll admit that I used to have a few gaming prejudices that now fill me with a deep shame.  For instance, until I bit the bullet and plunked down fifteen bucks for Jonathan Blow's Braid, paying more than ten bones for any game available exclusively as a digital download felt wrong somehow.  This is exactly why I missed out on Bit Blot's underwater adventure, Aquaria, back when it was released late last year; I'd played and loved the demo, but the full game's price of thirty dollars was just a little too rich for my blood.  The sad thing is, I probably would have forgotten about Aquaria forever if the game hadn't just come out on Steam for the low, low price of sixteen dollars.  Now I can make amends for my former transgressions by purchasing my own copy, and getting all of you loyal 61FPS readers to grab one as well.  Here's the game's trailer, if you need some convincing: Unfortunately, the sale on Aquaria only lasts until the end of 2008, so you'd better scrape together some spare change while you can.  Protip: you know those dudes in the Santa suits, ringing bells on street corners?  They're literally rolling in quarters. Related Links: Now At Your Local Dollar Store: Half-Life Google to Buy Valve? GOG is Great Read More... Posted Dec 18 2008, 06:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: indie dev moment, bob mackey, pc games, sales, steam, indie, aquaria

• Indiana Mackey and the Kingdom of the Cardboard Box

  When it comes to the corporeal state of games, most of us are pretty jaded; and rightfully so. Speaking as someone who only recently realized the emptiness of carrying around a bunch of plastic junk from apartment to apartment, I've grown to welcome the age of digital downloads and its inherent lack of box-lifting.  I don't think I'm missing out on anything by not having a space-wasting DVD case for every XBLA game I have on my hard drive; and yet, certain things bring me back to the time of unbridled video game materialism that was the not-too-distant past.  Since the conveniences of Gamefly, Steam, and the XBox Marketplace have entered my life, I've cut down the time I spend in brick and mortar retailers by about 99 percent.  But on the few instances I leave the loving embrace of my apartment, I usually stumble upon an artifact of Gaming Past that's too good to pass up.  And I can't exactly ignore the tiny, capitalist gremlin shrieking in my brain.  He controls my thoughts, you see. Read More... Posted Dec 16 2008, 11:00 AM by Bob Mackey with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: deus ex, gaming culture, retail, bob mackey, pc games, chrono trigger ds

• WTFriday: "This Place Is All About Your Balls."

  Note to readers: WTFriday is a weekly feature where I find something stupid about video games and get you to laugh until it goes away. Please try to forget this is what I normally do every day of the week. Since the 61FPS crew got last Friday off to make mashed potato snow angels, I've had to sit on today's topic for well over a week--which is a shame, since the world needs to be aware of it as soon as possible. The "it" in question is D-Dub Software's BoneTown, which its Albuquerque-based developers are calling "the world's first action adventure porno video game."  Really, BoneTown shouldn't be any more embarrassing than your average pornographic video game, yet it somehow is.  I'll see if you can figure out why. Obviously, the video below is not safe for work or family. Don't watch it even if you live in the same town as your parents. You have been warned: I don't know if I can think of anything less sexy than racist characters from the Hot Shots Golf series getting it on with each other. Wait--actually, I can, but no one in their right mind would make a video game out of it. This is why I have decided to contact D-Dub Software with my wonderful idea. Please look forward to next holiday season's Grandma on Ape Bikini Scatplay 2010. It'll be sure to end Western Civilization as we know it! But, in the meantime, BoneTown is a good start. Read More... Posted Dec 05 2008, 06:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: porn videogame, sex, sexism, bob mackey, wtfriday, pc games, racism

• My Hand, My Neck, My Gun: The Mouse Turns 40

  Festivities are already underway for the computer mouse, which turns 40 on December 9th. It’s a happy time for the little pointing device, so we all need to forget, just for a little while, all those spreadsheet cells we’ve had to click on with it. And please, whatever you do, do not bring up all the occasions you were forced to penetrate its ball-hole with a Q-tip. We’re in polite company here. No, let’s talk about the best times: the times the mouse was a game controller. A humble game controller, and possibly the best one ever made. Let’s walk down memory lane, and think about some of the greatest moments in the history of mouse-based gaming. 1987: Maniac Mansion, one of the earliest graphical adventure games designed to be more about clicking than text parsing, began the era of LucasArt’s genre dominance. Starting here the mouse spent about a decade in the SCUMM engine, clicking on all manner of slimy, horrible things. 1990: The SNES Mouse brings it pointy, clicky goodness to Mario Paint. This version of the mouse spent it formative years as a fly swatter, and today it enjoys a retirement as one of YouTube’s most popular composers. 1992: Dune II ensures that real-time strategy will forever be mouse-based. Or at least until somebody actually manages to crack the control scheme on console—there’s certainly enough people trying. 1994: Marathon becomes the first-person shooter that popularizes mouselook as the de-facto standard for gun pointing and neck moving. This innovation remains the most accurate and enjoyable form of control in the genre; it took nearly a decade (and the work of Bungie, again) before console’s little thumbsticks even came close. Read More... Posted Dec 03 2008, 03:00 PM by Joe Keiser with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: diablo, pc games, joe keiser, the good old days, dune ii, mouse

• Black Mesa: Source: Oh Right, That Still Exists

  In honor of the first Half-Life's 10th anniversary, I've been thinking of replaying the original over my long-awaited Christmas break.  But now, I may hold off a bit longer after seeing the trailer for the Black Mesa: Source mod and nearly pooping myself.  I just gave you fair warning. If you've been anticipating this mod as much as I have, then you'll know that seeing this much content is pretty big news. I'm no programming genius, but I imagine it takes quite a bit of work to remake an entire game--and a pretty big one, at that--in an entirely new and more powerful engine.  The Source engine may be beginning to show its age a bit, but there's no denying this is a major step up from Valve's previous attempt to give Half-Life a minor graphical upgrade with their own Half-Life: Source.  For now, this entire production is fan-made and free, but it wouldn't be too strange for Valve to pull another Willy Wonka (as they did with the Portal team) and invite the Black Mesa: Source folks onto their team.  As of now, this thing legitimately looks like it's worth money. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go chug a bottle of NyQuil. When I wake up months from now, I should be greeted by both Black Mesa: Source and the Policenauts fan translation. Cheers!  (Tell my friends and family it was an accident.) Related Links: Now At Your Local Dollar Store: Half-Life Entitled PC Gamers Whine about Rights GOG is Great Read More... Posted Dec 01 2008, 08:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: valve, half-life, fps, bob mackey, pc games, mods, black mesa: source

• Now At Your Local Dollar Store: Half-Life

  It may be hard to believe, but Half-Life, the FPS that redefined its "shoot your way out of hell while grabbing card keys" genre, is already ten years old.  Actually, since 1998 was such a monumental year of our little hobby, a hell of a lot of games turned 10 this year: Metal Gear Solid, Starcraft, Ocarina of Time, Gran Turismo, and quite a few I'm probably forgetting.  But out of all of these titles, only Half-Life can be had in these frightening modern times for the low, low price of 98 cents.  That's right; if you have a dollar in the bank and a Steam account, you can experience one of the best games ever made for less than the cost of most McDonald's menu items. There's one catch, though; this deal is only good until this Friday at noon PST--after that, Half-Life reverts to its original Steam price of $9.99 (still a good price). I'm not the biggest PC gamer of all time, but I have a gigantic man-crush on Steam.  I didn't think much of the service until it allowed me to get the entire Orange Box plus a Half-Life version of Peggle for only 40 bucks last Fall.  It also warmed my heart when I typed in the registration code on my 10 year-old Half-Life CD and found that Steam let me download it, and also every single product tangentially related to the first Half-Life for free.  Now, if only there was a way to pry those old Bullfrog titles from the sticky hands of EA... Read More... Posted Nov 20 2008, 11:00 AM by Bob Mackey with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: half-life, fps, bob mackey, pc games, steam, 1990s, 1998, deals

• Life of D. Duck: Freeware on Acid

  This post is going to require a little background info, so let me get that out of the way first. Bjørnar B. is an Internet-meme type thing that started in the early 00s; he's a fictional Norwegian teen who creates childish-yet-nightmarish drawings of Donald Duck and his family with bizarre, barely-English captions. Don't feel too out of the loop if you don't know about him; Bjørnar B. is pretty obscure unless you've been reading Something Awful (who originally hosted his site) for a long time. That being said, if you enjoy Bjørnar's very specific and strange sense of humor, you may also enjoy his series of point-and-click adventures games that are best described as a fever dream version of Duckburg.  The sequel to the original Life of D. Duck just came out, and Bjørnar was nice enough to provide the world with a trailer: And if you're still confused and bewildered, perhaps Bjørnar's own breakdown of the story might help? Help D. Duck in his quest to get Dasy to marry him. D Duck must get rid of Uncle Jubalon who is eating him out of his house, also ooie lui and devie escapes and D. Duck must save them. The game is HERE. You will download it. Read More... Posted Nov 03 2008, 11:00 AM by Bob Mackey with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: indie dev moment, freeware, bob mackey, indie games, pc games, meme, point and click adventure games, life of d. duck, independent games

• Duke Nukem 3D Was Actually a Great Game

  It may be hard to believe, but there was once a time when the phrase "Duke Nukem" didn't conjure up hoary old jokes by would-be Internet comedians who were known to say, "More like Duke Nukem ForNEVER, am I right!?"  Well over a decade ago, Duke Nukem was actually relevant, and Duke Nukem 3D was a creative, tongue-in-cheek alternative to id's Doom series, the aesthetic of which could only come from people who read Spawn unironically. I might have been a 14 year-old boy back when 3D came out in 1996, but I was savvy enough to recognize that Duke's over-the-top masculinity was an insincere, tongue-in-cheek take on action heroes, a la The Simpsons' McBain. The question here is, will today's 14 year-olds--who weren't even multi-celled organisms during the original release of Duke Nukem 3D--get the joke? And will anyone else care? All of this Nukem news is relevant because tomorrow the game will be available on the XBox Live Marketplace for the pauperly sum of 800 Microsoft Points. That's a tiny price for what amounts to a lot of game, but I'm not here to tell you about the 360's faaabulous deals. In fact, I'm not even going to buy the game; my old CD still works fine, and programs like EDuke ensure that the original files I once played on my Pentium 133 will work long into the future.  The important thing to think about here is how Duke Nukem 3D was once innovative and unique; this is very hard to imagine after the franchise was left to fester with increasingly awful console ports and reimaginings, but it's true. Read More... Posted Sep 23 2008, 11:30 AM by Bob Mackey with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: xbox 360, doom, duke nukem, bob mackey, xbox live arcade, pc games

• Duckman's Lost Adventure Game

  In case you didn't know, this week marks the release of the first few seasons of Duckman on DVD; and if you wish to plead further ignorance, Duckman was a brilliantly cynical cartoon that had a surprisingly long run (70 episodes) on the USA network in the mid-90s. So what does this have to do with video games? Aside from giving me a chance to promote one of my favorite TV shows, this week's monumental media event is also the perfect time to talk about the series' PC adventure game, Duckman: The Legend of the Fall. Along with Beavis and Butt-Head in Virtual Stupidity, Legend of the Fall was one of the few non-LucasArts adventure games to nearly capture that same LucasArts magic.  Unfortunately, Duckman was not nearly as popular of a franchise; also, Legend of the Fall's 1997 release date missed the genre's height of popularity by nearly 3-4 years, and came at the tail-end of the show's run.  Hence the game's "lost" status; for being as uniquely American in its own "hell in a handbasket" take on the modern world, Duckman: Legend of the Fall was released everywhere but America. Read More... Posted Sep 16 2008, 12:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with no comments Filed under: adventure games, lucasarts, bob mackey, pc games, duckman, beavis and butt-head

• Will Games Ever Be Funny?

  Two short years ago, when I learned that there were going to be not one, but six new Sam and Max games, I was ecstatic. In the brief period of time I could have actually been considered a PC gamer, I subsisted primarily on the Lucasarts brand of PC adventure games, and Sam and Max Hit the Road was one of my favorites. But today, the final episode of Sam and Max Season 2 sits on my desktop, where it has been unclicked for months and will probably remain so until I force myself to play through it on some day where I'm not burdened with responsibility. That's right: "force." What the hell happened to me? I've been in love with Sam and Max even before I played their original game; Steve Purcell's art style, along with a great mix of film noir send-up and absurdist humor made the duo immediately appealing to me.  So, in the 90s, I bought their game, somehow managed to get my hands on the original printing of the trade paperback (no one was murdered, I swear), and watched the mostly-okay cartoon on Fox Kids for the whole year the network decided to air it.  Thus, my Sam and Max fanhood should not be called into question.  But these days, I can't find myself caring too much about these beloved figures from my adolescence. Have I merely grown up, or is something foul afoot? Read More... Posted Sep 15 2008, 12:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: lucasarts, humor, telltale games, pc games, sam and max

• GOG is Great

  There's no lack of love for retro in the modern gaming world; but certain old games run the risk of being forgotten thanks to their incompatibility with current hardware. PC games especially suffer from this problem; I have an entire binder full of PC CD-ROM games from around 1996-2002 sitting next to my computer desk, and my Vista OS will run about 10% of them.  Services like GameTap have done a great job with prolonging the life of older PC games, but the newest kid on the block, GOG (Good Old Games), is focusing entirely on this platform.  And I am very happy that they're doing this. GOG works a lot like Steam, except they play a little looser with the rules and have a much smaller catalog at the moment.  All their games--chosen mostly from Interplay's catalog from the past 15 years--are under 9.99, compatible with XP and Vista, and are shockingly DRM free.  And if that wasn't enough, each download comes with various bonuses like PDF manuals, soundtracks, wallpapers, and avatars.  If the wave of the future is buying things you've already bought, then sign me up. Read More... Posted Sep 11 2008, 02:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: lucasarts, retro, interplay, bob mackey, pc games, bullfrog

• Entitled PC Gamers Whine about Rights

  Stardock's PC Gamer's Bill of Rights is a laughable and self-defeating piece of diggbait, sure to be received by mouth-breathing PC gamers with a hearty "hear hear". It's bull -- the moment you shell out cash is the moment you need to stop whining about rights. The list, with my take, after the jump: Read More... Posted Sep 02 2008, 02:00 PM by Cole Stryker with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: kotaku, cole stryker, gamers, diggbait, pc games, stardock