Cave Story Coming to Wii

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: October 4th, 2008

So, er, you guys like Cave Story, right? (Kidding, kidding — of course you do!) Well, Nintendo recently announced, in a very official-looking press release, that it’s coming to WiiWare “this holiday season.” And for real this time! Not only that, but with “exclusive content and features created only for the ”http://www.cavestorywii.com/" title=“Cave Story Wii version Offical Site”>WiiWare version." Yay, go Pixel!

Tim linked to a presumably accurate fact sheet for the Wii version: 16:9 widescreen, progressive scan. New character designs by Daisuke Amaya (Pixel). Classic controller support. Ten unique weapons, over twenty boss battles. (Wait, Indie Cred be damned, how many were in the original?) Developed by Nicalis.

Some questions: Will the Wii version use the much-loved Aeon Genesis translation? What does Pixel get out of this? Is this actually happening? Do I wake up now? (Shih Tzu, do you have any more information?)

Huzzah!

UPDATE: Word is AG’s translation is being used. (Thanks Zaratus!)

Also, IGN UK has posted some off-screen videos of the game in motion. Is that a new Quote sprite I see? (Thanks reetva!)

The Underside, now with sword and saw

By: Lorne Whiting

On: October 3rd, 2008

New video of The Underside, featuring 33% more badass, 50% more Ali, and 100% more melee weapons.

There’s also some pro-elitist brainwash propaganda thrown in at the very end.

MUA

By: Derek Yu

On: September 28th, 2008

(Courtesy of Paul Eres, Unicorn Lover)

World of Goo Goes Gold

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: September 10th, 2008

Good news, fans of good games (and alliteration) — World of Goo has gone gold!

World of Goo is a funky, very well put together structural puzzle platformer thing from two-man dev team 2D Boy in which you must direct a bunch of balls of goo safely through a world of hazards by forming them into— wait, I’m tired and rusty and not doing a great job of this description. Observe some trailers here and here.

If you recall, World of Goo won the Design Innovation and Technical Excellence awards at the 2008 IGF, in addition to being nominated for the Grand Prize. That’s nothing to sneeze at!

So, yeah, it’s gone gold and it should be out in boxed form for the PC in early November and for digital download/WiiWare even earlier than that. You can also preorder it now (with bonuses) for a scant $20 USD through 2D Boy’s site. Goodness.

Aether

By: Derek Yu

On: September 8th, 2008

It’s really late, but I’m comforted by the fact that I will soon be dreaming about Aether, a very personal and revelatory new game by Edmund McMillen. In it, you play a child who explores outer space on the back of a strange beast.

Thematically, Aether touches on both the anxiety and loneliness of being a child, as well as the exhilaration of the freedom of imagination. It’s hard not to compare the game to the classic French children’s book, Le Petit Prince, with which the game shares some fundamental ideas and imagery. I adore that book, and Aether was immediately compelling to me as something similarly honest and fanciful.

I could get way lost in this game if it were a little longer and fleshed out. And the controls, which sometimes felt brilliant, at other times felt unresponsive and awkward. Edmund has stated that this is just the prelude to a larger experience he has planned (yes!). If he can fix up the controls, too, it could be something better than great, for sure.

You can download the standalone executable here, for Mac or PC. And there’s an interesting discussion of the game already going on on the forums here.

Mission Extreme

By: Derek Yu

On: September 5th, 2008

Mission Extreme is a pretty excellent little run n’ gun from Deadheat Interactive. Love them chunky pixels.

But why is ‘X’ jump and ‘Z’ shoot?!

(Thanks, cactus!)

TIGdb: Entry for Mission Extreme

Preview: Owlboy

By: Derek Yu

On: September 4th, 2008

How could I not post about a game that’s called Owlboy? Especially when it’s by the Project Rhapsody team (now called D-pad Studio). Described by the game’s artist, Snake, as “a free-roaming flying game with dungeons,” Owlboy is heading to this year’s IGF as a PC and Xbox 360 Community Games title. That’s the plan, at least!

Holy hell this game looks good. Like, finger-lickin’ good.

Iji

By: Derek Yu

On: September 2nd, 2008

Daniel Remar’s Iji is undoubtedly his most ambitious game. It’s also his best by far. No small feat from the guy who brought us Castle of Elite!

In the game you play the titular heroine – a human-turned-cyborg equipped with alien nanotechnology. Waking in a space station in the midst of an alien invasion, she must use her new-found powers to save what’s left of mankind. Somewhere else in the station is her brother, Dan, who guides her via the speaker system.

Iji is broken up into a number of very large sectors, most of which have multiple paths. Depending on what weapons and upgrades you have, you can brute force your way through each sector, or take a more pacifist approach by sneaking around and cracking systems (via a simple minigame). Or anything in between! These choices have the potential to alter the game’s narrative and affect new outcomes.

Combat is visceral and feels good, especially with the game’s excellent soundtrack pumped up. Once again, you have a variety of attacks at your disposal – you can, of course, take on enemies head-on, blasting them with your Nanogun or kicking them to death (if your Strength stat is high enough). Alternately, you can crack an opponent’s defense systems and sabotage their weapons, or perhaps defeat them in other, even less direct ways.

Overall, I’m just really impressed with how much there is to do in this game, and how much choice the player has in each situation. It’s a testament to Daniel’s strength as a designer that very little of it feels forced. And considering that there are also four different difficulty levels and a wealth of unlockable bonus features (some hidden in remote areas of the game), you can bet that you’ll be (happily) spending some quality time with this one. It’s destined to be a classic of some sort.

TIGdb: Entry for Iji

Karoshi Factory

By: Derek Yu

On: August 29th, 2008

Jesse Venbrux is at it again! Karoshi Factory, his latest release, is the third installment in his popular series of “kill yourself” puzzle games. This time, however, the theme is “group suicide!” Using the spacebar to switch between characters, you have to make sure everyone dies in the end – woe be to the last guy standing with no way to expire!

(FOX News Headline: “Dutch Teen Develops Video Game to Promote Suicide Pacts: Are Your Children at Risk?”)

Karoshi Factory feels like a natural progression for the series, and I’m happy to see Jesse take it into a new direction with the group game mechanics. 18 levels in (out of 25), I noticed there’s less “mind fucking” in this one, which is fine with me, because, in my opinion, Karoshi 2 pretty much did all it could in that area. KF’s puzzles are certainly devious, and more than a few levels require quick wits and reflexes both.

And this isn’t all Jesse’s been up to of late. Between Deaths, the last of his games we covered, and Karoshi Factory, he’s released a few others, including Torque, an awesome abstract arena shoot ‘em up, and You Made It, a bizarre platform game where the graphics never refresh. They’re definitely all worth checking out.

TIGdb: Entry for Karoshi Factory

Jumper 3

By: Derek Yu

On: August 24th, 2008

I just played Jumper 3 from beginning to end and oh, it was good. If you’re a fan of Matt “YMM” Thorson’s other challenging platform games, like FLaiL, you should enjoy this one immensely. But even the Jumper-challenged should have a go at ‘er – one of Matt’s major goals with J3 was to reduce the inherent frustration of the tough platforming by letting you switch between up to 5 different Ogmos to complete the game (each one has its own unique characteristics and abilities). You can also find coins in each level, which can be spent to skip any areas you find too extreme. It’s a great way of integrating a difficulty system naturally into the game.

By finding the right Ogmo to use for each level, you can get through the main game fairly readily, but completists will want to find every coin and obtain every medal (by beating the ridiculously tough completion times). Ultimately, I think this game was made for them… I can only imagine what kind of hedonistic delights await the players who accomplish this monumental task!

TIGdb: Entry for Jumper 3