Mario Power Tennis (New Play Control), Wii - £17.99 delivered
Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box , PS3 - £24.73
Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box , PS3 - £24.73 delivered
Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box , Xbox 360 - £24.73
Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box , Xbox 360 - £24.73 delivered
Weekend Special Roundup 30/1
So, now there are 3 digital distribution places that have pretty good weekend specials, Steam, GamersGate and Good old Games, I've decided to roll them together into one post, updated as the information become available.
Here are this weeks weekend specials.
Good old Games:
Disciples: Sacred Lands Gold + Disciples 2 Gold - £11.13 (add both to basket seperately)
GamersGate:
X-Com Complete - £6.66 (not as good as when it was on Steam for £2.99, but the best price for anyone who missed out).
Steam:
30% off all Rockstar games, includes GTA4, althought GTA, GTA2 and Wild Metal are free downloads here. GTA4 is also £9.99 in Morrions, but £18.89 is the best price for it online.
Does anyone know of any other digital distribution platforms that have weekly specials? I am looking into Impulse at the minute, after hearing a ton of good stuff about it, so I will probably be linking to there shortly too.
Zack and Wiki Quest for Barbaros' Treasure, Wii - £12.95
Zack and Wiki Quest for Barbaros' Treasure, Wii - £12.95 delivered
Well you lot aren't very creative
One solitary entry, and that wasn't particularly good (but it earned a serial).
Ah well, I know that the number of people that would like a free serial outnumber the amount I have, so I guess it's just luck of the draw, sorry to anyone who misses out.
Edit: All gone!
Aparently GAME felt left out
Disappointed that Blockbuster were getting all the attention, GAME have just dropped the price on Stranglehold on the 360:
Thanks to doboworth for the pic. If you see any evidence of retailers making amusing mistakes, feel free to send them to lewiep@savygamer.co.uk
Update: This is totally probably legal
Final Update: It looks like this offer is now over, if you can send them an email to bgamer@goody.pt, with your account details, they can still send you one, but I think they will notice if you only just registered. They probably want it to be in Portuguese too.
I have some spares, that I will give away later on tonight Now.
Update: The link is now "Manutencao" which I believe is under maintenance. Maybe this offer is going to be changed/removed completely. I'll keep an eye on it. I do have a few spare serials, so I will probably give them away in another post if it turns out that the offer has finished.
I don't know, it's portugues, which I can't even spell, let alone understand.
Apparently, if you click on this link, and follow the fairly simple instructions (let me know if you have any trouble), you get a CD key for the fantastic, if a little flawed, fantasy action game "Dark Messiah of Might and Magic".
I don't know if it is a legitimate promotion, or some jerk with a keygen, but it appears to be working. Use at your own risk. If anyone can confirm or deny it's legitimacy, please let me know in the comments.
Update: Further investigation leads to be 99.9% certain that it's probably a legit giveaway, apparently it's like the Post-HL2 equivalent of a cover disc.
Also, it appears they kind of messed up, you don't even need to use a real email address, since it doesn't email the code, it just gives it you when you click on the link. Just make up anything@anything.com.
I can also confirm that this is the English language version, just like if you got the retail release.
The game itself is a lot of fun. You get to kick orcs. Source engine, and should run well on anything that can stomach Half life 2. Some people apparently get a lot of glitches, I didn't ever run into any trouble.
It's normally £5.99 on Steam, or even more for a retail copy.
Update: Translate it for giggles.
PS3 Bundle at Amazon
You can get an 80gb PS3 console, HDMI cable and a selected game for £273.59 delivered at Amazon.
First, add the console, then the HDMI cable to your basket, then pick one of these games:
Little Big Planet ,
Motorstorm: Pacific Rift,
Resistance 2
You can also choose to get an extra game for £10, pick from the following list, then add code "GAME4TEN" to your order:
Resistance: Fall of Man
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (GOTY)
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
Motorstorm
Heavenly Sword
Mario Power Tennis (New Play Control), Wii - £24.99
Mario Power Tennis (New Play Control), Wii - £24.99 delivered
Chrono Trigger, DS - £14.99
Chrono Trigger, DS - £14.99 delivered
Typical, we wait nearly 14 years for it, then when it does come out it is half price at release.
Empire: Total War, PC - £23.73
Empire: Total War, PC - £23.73 delivered
Or if you like you could get it for £39.99 on steam
GOG Jagged Alliance Weekend Promotion
Good old games are having a weekend promotion for the Jagged Alliance series.
The deal is:
Jagged Alliance
Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games
Jagged Alliance 2
Jagged Alliance 2: Unfinished Business
For £18.35
Or you can get them separately at reduced rates too:
Jagged Alliance - £6.23
Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games - £6.23
Jagged Alliance 2 - £6.23
Jagged Alliance 2: Unfinished Business - £3.66
Plain Sight Open Beta
Plain Sight, probably the stand-out independent game from the Eurogamer Expo last year, has just gone into open beta on PC.
You can download it here.
You are a robot on a planetoid populated with buildings. The aim of the game is to collect points by attacking other robots, but you only get to keep those points for the scoreboard if you blow yourself up, and the more points you accrue the easier it becomes to find you. I spent a good chunk of time playing this at the expo and I can see it being a great online game. You can plug in a 360 controller and play it with that if you so wish, too.
It'll be available on Steam and other digital distribution platforms early this year for $9.99.
SOCOM: Confrontation, PS3 - £28.99
SOCOM: Confrontation, PS3 - £28.99 delivered
This comes with a Bluetooth headset. Not entirely sure why it took this long to come out over here. Possibly ironing out all the bugs.
If you held off on importing this is a cracking deal.
World of Goo soundtrack
Those glorious people at 2D Boy have just given away the soundtrack to World of Goo, which is excellent.
You should buy the game too, it is also excellent.
Democracy 2, PC - £8.51
Democracy 2, PC - £8.51
One day only offer, to celebrate the end of Bush's reign of terror or something.
Demo here.
10 more Quake Live invites
I've got another round of invites, this time I have 10 spare invites.
Whoever the next 10 people to email me at lewiep@savygamer.co.uk are will get an invite into the Quake Live beta.
You need to include your full name, and whether you classify yourself as Beginner/intermediate/Expert skill level, or if you are not sure.
Next 10 emails I get will have them, so be quick!
Rock Band Portable Drum Kit - Review
MadCatz Rock Band Portable Drum Kit - £44.93 delivered
Review by Will Templeton
When the Rock Band Portable Drum Kit arrived at my door, I was pleasantly surprised at the build quality of the contents - the four pads are exactly the same size as the full Rock Band drum set, and made of good-quality rubber. The drumsticks unscrew for easy transport, and have rubberised ends to dampen sounds. The pedal looks flimsy but feels sturdy, and is mounted with a couple of removable carpet grips to keep it from slipping. It's clear that MadCatz have put a lot of thought into the failings of the original drum kit and piped those into the design of this portable version - the pedal especially is much upgraded from the rubberised one they initially announced.
DAY 1 - SOLO PLAY
After booting up my 360 and connecting the main body of the controller (essentially a hub with ports for each input), it occurs to me that this little thing is just a controller with a d-pad and four buttons. I can load up and play N+ no problem. After wasting an hour or so on that I remembered what I was originally going to do, and hooked up the pads and pedal. Shifting my keyboard to one side, I placed the pads on my desk and popped the pedal under it.
As I quickly found out, my desk is a little too high for drumming. I paused, dragged a table in from the lounge and set myself up, a little lower than I would have liked, and resumed. While it was a slight adjustment in play, I found that I was able to play through and beat the set with little difficulty.
There were a few occasions where I missed some notes I felt I should have hit. Most notably, the pedal works in a vastly different manner to the stock Rock Band pedal.
At this early stage I'm having trouble deciding whether these little issues are the set itself or just me playing it incorrectly. I seem to remember having issues like this with the pack-in Rock Band drum set when I first started playing, and now I have no problems at all as my play style fits that set.
DAY 2 - BAND
Today I brought my 360 and my Rock Band gear around to a friend's, as we do every now and again on a weekend. Granted, it's only the house next door, but the portability of this kit made it a single trip instead of an unwieldy two-trip exercise. After a test few songs we adjusted the coffee table and swapped out the couch for a straight-backed chair, and proceeded to play for a few hours. I tried out a few songs which I knew very well and sight-read a couple of new downloads, and I really got a feel for the new pads. There's a little more bounce than usual, and so I'm finding it impossible to pull off rolls with any kind of regularity. Double kicks are also very difficult without the springy pedal from the original kit, but I can already see myself adjusting to the shallower pedal.
One thing I did notice after prolonged play is that the sticks vibrate more than regular wooden drumsticks. As the sticks screw together, they can sometimes loosen slightly during prolonged play.While this can be fixed with a quick tightening between songs, it's very hard to do in the middle of a song and if it's left unchecked it could at possibly damage the sticks and at worst damage your hands. My wrists were aching a lot more than after extended drumming with the regular kit.
DAY 3 - BAND
I left the gear at my friend's overnight and popped back today for a full day of Rock Band. Somehow, after returning, I found a really good placement for the pads - I was even pulling off rolls and double-kicks easier than with the regular kit, with no no pain at all. It now feels like the ability to place the individual pads wherever you like is a great advantage for the Portable Drum Kit, whereas yesterday it felt like a frustrating hindrance.
I downloaded Hey Baby. Drumming without ever seeing the note chart or knowing anything except the chorus was fun times.
Tomorrow I'm taking a short train journey to go home. Hopefully we'll see how portable these drums really are.
DAY 4 - TRAVEL
I travelled by train for roughly an hour today with the Portable Drum Kit. There's not much to say except that it definitely lives up to its name. The drumsticks, as mentioned earlier, unscrew for easier portability but I really don't see why this is necessary except to keep the size of the original package down - it's not as if drumsticks are not portable enough to begin with. I actually had more trouble trying not to stab people with the end of my Xplorer than transporting the kit, which is definitely not something I could have said of my original drums, which took up an entire rucksack when I bought them.
Today's outcome is definitely positive.
DAY 5 - BAND
My nephew got Guitar Hero: World Tour for Christmas, so I brought my Xplorer and the portable drums to his house to give it a go, only to find out that he had the entire instrument set, including a second guitar. After a few rounds on the drums, I decided that the pedal on the GHWT drums wasn't for me, and swapped it out for the pedal in the portable kit. Bad idea - the pedal didn't work and we almost failed the song as a result. The next song we swapped out the whole set for the entire portable set, and again, the pedal was not compatible, although World Tour recognised it as a four-pad set. Worried that it had been damaged in transit, I set up Rock Band to test it. It worked perfectly.
This, in my eyes, is a serious black mark against the Portable Drum Kit - if you are carrying your kit around with you to other people's setups then it's quite likely that they have a different game. Playing at my nephew's also brought up the issue of placement once more - the only table that was accessible for the drums was a table tennis table in the same room as the console. I had to stand to play them and my nephew had to stand on a chair.
DAY 6 - BAND
Today the whole family came round to our house. We set up the 360 and the Rock Band equipment, my nephew bringing a guitar and mic so we could have a full set. The great new experience of playing Rock Band with my extended family (my grandma singing was a particular high point) was slightly marred by the fact that, again, we didn't have an ideal place to set up the Portable Drum Kit.
Initially I grabbed a cardboard box of about the right size, but this left no place for a pedal and kept wobbling. After some discussion about whether or not there was a suitable board in the garage to lay over some chairs (and finding there wasn't), we settled on placing the pads over two chairs. After playing one song the pads were drifting away from me due to the slightly curved cushions on the chairs, and the pedal was skittering all over the place - this was solved by removing the carpet grips from the pedal, which allows rubberised feet to grip a hardwood floor. We did continue to play Rock Band until the end of the night, but after each song the drums had to be readjusted. Rather ironically, with the chair set-up in the lounge, they took up rather more space than the standard kit, and were a little unwieldy to walk around when one of the four people not playing wanted to get a drink or whatever.
The key thing about these drums is compromise. If you have a conveniently-sized table then they will no doubt work very well for you, and they stack away neatly in a box a fraction of the size of the original Rock Band drums. They are also vastly easier to take round to a friend's house for band play, as I've experienced. When you get there, the experience you have could vary wildly. The ability to place the pads wherever you like is both excellent and frustrating depending on where you're able to place them, and while being quieter, the sticks aren't the most ideal (and regular drum sticks are actually louder when used with the Portable Drum Kit).
It's fifteen quid cheaper than the regular kit. I'm not entirely convinced it's worth the savings, but that of course depends on your circumstances and whether or not you play Rock Band away from home a lot. If you plan on buying this just for the ability to store it neatly, I can't recommend it. This kit thrives on its portability. But would I consider the extra hassle of setting up a few chairs a reasonable sacrifice for not having to lug the full set on the train? Absolutely.
And if you have a Les Paul or other detachable guitar the whole set will fit into a satchel.
MadCatz Rock Band Portable Drum Kit - £44.93 delivered
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock + Wireless Guitar, PS2 - £24.99
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock + Wireless Guitar, PS2 - £24.99 delivered
Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare [Special Edition], Xbox 360 - £49.99
Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare [Special Edition], Xbox 360 - £49.99 delivered
I guess it's a good price if there's anyone who still wants it.
Sid Meier's Civilization 4 Complete, PC - £9.87
Sid Meier's Civilization 4 Complete, PC - £9.87 delivered
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, Xbox 360 - £23.99
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, Xbox 360 - £23.99 delivered
Iron Man, Wii - £5.99
Iron Man, Wii - £5.99 delivered
I imagine it's terrible, but it's also six quid.
GOG RPG weekend promotion
Good old games are having a 15% off promotion for their RPGs this weekend, the following games are in the offer.
Arx Fatalis - $8.49
Fallout - $5.09
Fallout 2 - $5.09
Fallout Tactics - $5.09
Gothic - $8.49
Invictus: In the Shadow of Olympus - $5.09
Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader - $5.09
Sacred Gold - $8.49
Stonekeep - $5.09
Apply code "PROMO1" to get your 15% off.
Dragon Quest - Chapters Of The Chosen, DS - £9.73
Dragon Quest - Chapters Of The Chosen, DS - £9.73 delivered
Castlevania: Order Of Ecclesia, DS - £23.73
Castlevania: Order Of Ecclesia, DS - £23.73 delivered
They also get bonus points for their photoshop'd cover, they took the original NES Castlevania cover and turned it into a DS box. "Artwork TBC" indeed.
Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia, Xbox 360 - £4.75
Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia, Xbox 360 - £4.75 delivered
(no) More Quake Live Beta Invites.
I've got another round of invites, this time I have 5 spare invites.
Whoever the next 5 people to email me at lewiep@savygamer.co.uk are will get an invite into the Quake Live beta.
You need to include your full name, and whether you classify yourself as Beginner/intermediate/Expert skill level, or if you are not sure.
Next 5 emails I get will have them, so be quick!
Update: all gone
Xbox 360 Elite - £209.99
Xbox 360 Elite - £209.99 delivered
A decent price for the console on its own, but you can also choose to get the Wireless Entertainment bundle for £20, which is Kung Fu Panda, LEGO Indiana Jones and a Wireless Controller.
You can also get any of these games for £10 too, just apply code "XBXGME10" at checkout:
Lord Of The Rings: Conquest
Prince of Persia
WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009
Far Cry 2
Fracture
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
Quantum of Solace
LEGO Batman: The Videogame
Golden Axe: Beast Rider
Warhammer: Battle March
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
CSI: Hard Evidence
Crash of the Titans
Crayon Physics Update
Haha, this is so awesome.
On of my few gripes with Crayon Physics Deluxe was that there was a flaw in how challenging it was. It felt like there was always an elegant solution, but I didn't know if I had got it or not.
Well, Petri has just updated the game. He has added an extra star to each level, for different things.
In his words "you can now get an extra star for each level if you complete them in couple of different ways and under certain restrictions."
It looks like he has fixed what was one of the only real problems I had with the game, kudos for taking on board the constructive criticism, and doing something with it. I've not had time to play with it yet, but I can't wait to dig back into it.
You can check out my review here, and grab the demo or buy the full game here.
Call Of Duty 4 [GOTY Edition], Xbox 360 - £24.73
Call Of Duty 4 [GOTY Edition], Xbox 360 - £24.73 delivered
Maybe this game is finally going to stop dropping in price...
Edit: It's opposite day or something...
Blue Dragon, Xbox 360 - £5.98
Blue Dragon, Xbox 360 - £5.98 delivered
It was this price before, then went out of stock, but has just gone back in stock.
Prices Slashed at Blockbuster
You can get it online for £27.73.
Thanks to Martinus Prime for the video.
Free Geometry Wars Megamix
The nice folks at Bizarre Creations are giving away, for absolutely free, a Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 Megamix entitled "46860 Choices".
It's pretty nifty.
Grab it here.
Sid Meier's Civilization: Revolution, Xbox 360 - £16.77
Sid Meier's Civilization: Revolution, Xbox 360 - £16.77 delivered
LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, Wii - £14.99
LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, Wii - £14.99 delivered
Mirror's Edge, PC - £26.99
Mirror's Edge, PC - £26.99 delivered
This is the best price around at the moment, but it's actually hard to recommend buying it at this price. I loved the game on the 360 (you can see my review here), but I am pretty certain that the price will drop to under £20 pretty quickly, likely in the next month or so.
Meteos Wars - Review
Review by Robert Boyd
Meteos Wars is the latest puzzle game to be released on XBLA from Q? Entertainment - publisher of such gems as Lumines Live and Rez HD. As a big fan of Q? Entertainment's previous games, I went into Meteos Wars with high expectations.
In Meteos Wars, the player is tasked with the defense of a planet from the meteor-like meteos (meteor, meteos, get it?). In typical puzzle game fashion, this is accomplished by matching up colored blocks (the meteos) in lines. In not so typical fashion, matching up colors doesn't instantly remove those meteos from play, but instead creates rockets that launch your meteos up into the air. The bulk of the gameplay consists of trying to juggle stacks of meteos in the air, matching enough colors to keep them aloft, but not enough to leave the planet, allowing the stacks to get bigger and bigger from the falling meteos, before finally creating enough propulsion to launch the entire stack off the playing field for a ton of points (and a lot of extra meteos on your opponent's screen in multiplayer and versus modes).
I was a little worried that Meteos Wars wouldn't control well with a traditional controller (Meteos was originally a stylus-based DS game), but I'm pleased to report that the game works reasonably well with the 360 controller, using one analog stick to move the cursor and the other stick to move meteos up and down. Switching from one side of the screen to the other can be a little slow, but even this problem can be alleviated by adjusting the cursor speed in the option menu.
Meteos Wars contains a respectable amount of content for an 800 point puzzle game. There's a story mode where you fight against the computer across a number of different planets, finally fighting on planet Meteos itself. There's a vs. mode where you can play against another player or the computer in a single match. There's a Marathon mode where you don't have to worry about an opponent and you just try to get as many points as possible. Finally, there's are a few challenge modes available like trying to get as many points as possible in a minute. With multiple difficulty levels, unlockable planets (each with their own visual scheme & music), unlockable accessories for your alien avatars, achievements, and leaderboards, there are plenty of reasons to come back for one more game.
The game is not without its flaws. Online multiplayer is a joke with game-ruining lag being a frequent problem, assuming of course, that you can even find an opponent to play against in the game's barren online community. The color schemes for some of the planets can make it difficult to distinguish between colors which can be frustrating. Finally, if you have played a good deal of Meteos on the DS, you may find it difficult to adjust to the different controls.
Problems aside, I have enjoyed the time I've spent playing Meteos Wars and plan to spend much more time on it in the future. It looks and sounds great (the audio in particular seems to be much better than the DS game) and the game's frantic gameplay is a nice change of pace from the other puzzle games I tend to play. It's not the best puzzle experience I've had on XBox Live Arcade (that being Lumines Live with the Rockin' Holiday pack add-on), but it's still a lot of fun. I highly recommend it to fans of fast paced puzzle games, especially if you haven't already played the DS version.
BE QUICK RE5 FOR £30.36
The Hut.com 10% off everything
Head to The Hut.com now, and enter code "JAN10" for 10% off the total of your order. I'm going to compile a list of the highlights now. Sale ends tomorrow (Wednesday) at midday, so don't delay!
PC
Saints Row 2 - £20.46
Command And Conquer: Red Alert 3 - £13.26
Dead Space - £13.26
Spore - £22.26
FIFA 09 - £13.26
World Of Warcraft - Battlechest - £13.26
World Of Warcraft - The Wrath Of The Lich King - £15.96
Mercenaries 2: World In Flames - £13.26
The Witcher [Enhanced Edition] - £15.96
DS
Trackmania - £15.96
Dragon Quest Monsters - £8.94
Space Invaders Extreme - £13.26
Guitar Hero: Decades (with stupid clippy thing) - £25.86
Wii
Sega Bass Fishing - £10.56
Mario And Sonic At The Olympic Games - £21.36
Endless Ocean - £13.26
Animal Crossing: Let's Go To The City - £29.46
Tomb Raider: Underworld - £15.96
Top Spin 3 - £15.96
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core - £6.96
Lego Batman - £15.96
Wii Play - £26.76
Links Crossbow Training + Wii Zapper - £13.26
We Love Golf - £10.56
Ghost Squad - £10.56
De Blob - £15.96
PS3
Lord Of The Rings: Conquest - £33.96
Dead Space - £22.26
Lego Batman - £15.96
Xbox 360
Lord Of The Rings: Conquest - £33.96
Infinite Undiscovery - £15.96
Command And Conquer: Red Alert 3 - £22.26
Top Spin 3 - £15.06
Dead Space - £22.26
Lego Batman - £15.51
Dark Sector - £4.26
Gears Of War 2 - £26.76
John Woo Presents: Stranglehold - £6.96
Devil May Cry 4 - £13.26
Skate 2 - £33.06
PS2
Dragon Quest - The Journey Of The Cursed King - £7.86
PSP
Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII [Limited Edition] - £15.96
If you see any good deals, let me know in the comments.
(no) More Quake Live Beta Invites.
I've got another round of invites, this time I have 5 spare invites.
Whoever the next 5 people to email me at lewiep@savygamer.co.uk are will get an invite into the Quake Live beta.
You need to include your full name, and whether you classify yourself as Beginner/intermediate/Expert skill level, or if you are not sure.
Next 5 emails I get will have them, so be quick!
Update: All gone, keep checking back for more though!
Far Cry 2, Xbox 360 [Collectors Edition] - £24.98
Far Cry 2 [Collectors Edition], Xbox 360 - £24.98 delivered
You can get the regular edition for £19.99.
Dawn of War II, PC - £22.99
Dawn of War II, PC - £22.99 delivered
Although it's probably worth thinking about getting the special edition for only £4 more, although I have no idea what extras it comes with beyond what looks like a steel case.
Trauma Centre: New Blood, Wii - £15.92
Trauma Centre: New Blood, Wii - £15.92 delivered
As I posted before, Amazon seem to keep dropping the price on this, first it was £19.99, then £18.56, then £16.75. Maybe it will drop further soon...
(no) More Quake Live Beta Invites.
I've got another round of invites, this time I have 3 spare.
Same as before the first 3 people to email me at lewiep@savygamer.co.uk will be in the Quake Live beta
You need to include your full name, and whether you classify yourself as Beginner/intermediate/Expert skill level, or if you are not sure.
They go pretty quickly, so don't delay!
Update: And they're all gone
Fable 2 [Collectors Edition], Xbox 360 - £39.99
Fable 2 [Collectors Edition], Xbox 360 - £39.99 delivered
Contains:
1 token card for in-game content
Bonus disc containing the "Making of Fable II"
"The Wreckager" Legendary Cutlass Weapon
"The Hall of the Dead" Dungeon
"Otherworldly Bonus" - Two items, "Hal's Outfit" and "Hal's Sword",
And a purchasable "Master Chief" Hero title.
Animal Crossing: Let's Go To The City, Wii - £28.99
Animal Crossing: Let's Go To The City, Wii - £28.99 delivered
Braid givaway
Jonathan Blow is giving away 20 copies of his superb game Braid on XBLA, all you have to do is guess the games in the ten screenshots.
I've got two of them, but then I am stumped.
You can see my review of braid here.
X-COM Complete Pack - £2.99
X-COM Complete Pack - £2.99
Contains:
X-COM: UFO Defense
X-COM: Terror From the Deep
X-COM: Apocalypse
X-COM: Interceptor
X-COM: Enforcer
A whole bunch of cheap PSP games
All these games are £7.99 at Shopto, but all of them are "Stock Due In", so who knows when they will arrive:
God of War: Chains of Olympus
Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters
Killzone: Liberation
Tekken: Dark Resurrection
Loco Roco
Everybodies Golf
Armoured Core 4: Answer, Xbox 360 - £17.99
Armoured Core 4: Answer, Xbox 360 - £17.99 delivered
Update: Apparently Shopto don't want to sell this any more.
Far Cry 2, Xbox 360 - £15.99
Far Cry 2, Xbox 360 - £15.99 delivered
It's been this price for a while, but just come back in stock.
Resident Evil 5, PS3 - £33.99 delivered
Resident Evil 5, PS3 - £33.99 delivered
Student discount is available too, might be the best pre-order price, if not I'll post again before it comes out, and you can cancel this one.
Resident Evil 5, Xbox 360 - £33.99
Resident Evil 5, Xbox 360 - £33.99 delivered
Student discount is available too, might be the best pre-order price, if not I'll post again before it comes out, and you can cancel this one.
Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (GOTY Edition), PC - £14.99
Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (GOTY Edition), PC - £14.99 delivered
Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise, Xbox 360 - £17.99
Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise, Xbox 360 - £17.99 delivered
The Incredible Hulk, PC - £1.99
The Incredible Hulk, PC - £1.99 delivered
It's probably not as good as Ultimate Destruction, but it's also £1.99
Harvest Moon Magical Melody, Wii - £9.98
Harvest Moon Magical Melody, Wii - £9.98 delivered
Cheers to Alpha eX for the tip off.
Audiosurf, PC - £3.73
Audiosurf, PC - £3.73 delivered
£2.26 less than it would cost on steam, and you get a boxed copy to boot. This adds it to your steam account anyway, so there is no reason to buy it through steam right now.
Update: Appears to be sold out now.
Ratchet & Clank: Tools Of Destruction, PS3 - £9.99
Ratchet & Clank: Tools Of Destruction, PS3 - £9.99 delivered
Not in stock right now, but get your orders in.
Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, Wii - £10.72
Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, Wii - £10.72 delivered
Gears of War 2: Limited Edition, Xbox 360 - £34.24
Gears of War 2: Limited Edition, Xbox 360 - £34.24 delivered
Comes with:
Artbook,
Making of DVD,
Dominic and Maria Keepsake Photo (whatever the hell that is),
Gold-plated Lancer Assault Rifle unlock code,
And it all comes in a nice steel tin.
The Darkness, PS3 - £7.49
The Darkness, PS3 - £7.49 delivered
That wasn't the PS3 boxart was it? I thought it had the same on both consoles.
Guitar Hero 3: Legends Of Rock, + Wireless Guitar Controller, Wii - £34.99
Guitar Hero 3: Legends Of Rock, + Wireless Guitar Controller, Wii - £34.99 delivered
You can get student discount too. Works for all games but Rock Band 1, so GH3, GH:WT and Rock Band 2 are fine.
Trauma Centre: New Blood, Wii - £16.75
Trauma Centre: New Blood, Wii - £16.75 delivered
They seem to keep dropping the price on this.
Bully, Xbox 360 - £7.99
Bully, Xbox 360 - £7.99 delivered
Update: Sorry, this has sold out now, next best price is £13
Crayon Physics Deluxe, PC - Review
Crayon Physics Deluxe, PC - £13.78
Review by LewieP
It's a testament to how simple and yet compelling the crayon physics core mechanic is that a bunch of clones have sprung up between the initial release of the Crayon Physics tech demo and the release of the proper game, Crayon Physics Deluxe. There have been homebrew clones on the Wii, DS, an iPhone clone, and several PC clones, and those are just the ones I've encountered. When I say clone, I don't even mean that in a derogatory sense, I'm pretty sure they would all happily cite Petri Purho's IGF winner as their inspiration.
It taps into an idea I know I've had since watching Penny Crayon as a kid, drawing something, which then comes to life.
But does it work as a game? For the most part, yes, very much so.
The game is structured in a fairly traditional manner. You start off on island no. 1, which has a X number of levels (puzzles is probably more appropriate), and you have to get Y number of stars from the puzzles to move onto the next island and there's always some margin of error between X and Y for those individual puzzles you can't solve.
Each puzzle has stars for you to collect, initially just one star per puzzle, but a few have two. You collect stars by creating stuff with a magical crayon, that takes on the physical form of it's appearance. Draw a box, it will bounce, slide, and have weight, momentum and friction appropriate to it's shape. Same for a circle, or ropes and pulleys. You then have to use that stuff to move a red ball around the puzzle towards a star.
If it sounds complicated, it's not, and there are nice on screen tutorials that offer just the right amount of guidance without feeling invasive whenever a new technique is required. At it's most basic, Crayon Physics Deluxe is a game of cause and effect, action and reaction.
The difficulty curve is pretty shallow at first. It is a very forgiving game. Even if you mess up completely on a puzzle, a quick press of the space bar resets it all. Since the puzzles are only short, you generally don't mind experimenting, since you won't really lose much progress if the experimentation is unsuccessful. I also like that once you have gotten the star(s), nothing else matters, your construction can all fall apart, the ball can fly off the screen, anything can happen, and long as the red ball touches the star, you have succeeded.
Now I would say that the biggest missed opportunity in Crayon Physics Deluxe is in the puzzle design. A lot of the puzzles are solvable in more than one way. In fact, pretty much all of them are.
There's the 'correct' way, which will often be elegant and simple once you know how, and it can be really rewarding working these solutions out.
The other way is to brute force it. Hash your way through it and you'll probably get the ball to the star without too much difficulty. Either using what I guess are limitations in the physics engine, or just dumb trial and error.
The problem is, you often don't know which of these you are doing until you've practically solved the puzzle. I wish there was more clues as to whether or not I was on the right track to finding the more elegant solution. Maybe if there was some kind of reward for having achieved the more intelligent solution, even just a little feedback to say "you have mastered this level, you can now move on" would be great, but as it is, the player is left guessing whether or not the have mastered a given puzzle, and for me, that really detracted from me wanting to perfect the levels.
Problems aside, the puzzles is more than enough to put a smile on your face. It can really make you feel clever.
It's technically impressive. It looks, feels and sounds like something a 5 year old digipen graduate might come up with, and that is entirely meant as a compliment. I've got plenty of time for games that look like no other games on the market (excluding direct clones of it of course).
The creative commons sources soundtrack is a highlight. It's downloadable free right here, and _ghost's Lullaby has been helping me get to sleep since I first heard it. My only complaint is that there is just over 11 minutes of music, and you will spend much longer playing the game, so each track will repeat lots of times, but if it bothers you (it didn't really bother me) you can always mute it and stick something else on in the background.
Then there is the level editor. To be honest, that's not really my thing, but it looks pretty robust, so I reckon if you are the type of gamer that likes creating levels, then this is a big plus for you.
What definitely is my thing is the downloadable levels other people will make for me. Already, from just the beta there are a bunch of great looking levels been made by users, so I bet in a few months there will be mountains of levels made by users. And here lies the rub, who knows what the communities quality control will be. Thousands of levels to download is useless if 99% of them are terrible and there is no way to tell the gold from the turd.
A minor technical downer, I seem to be unable to get it to run at 1280x1024, the highest resolution it will run at is 1024x768. It's only a slight annoyance really, barely worth mentioning. It is still beautiful.
In all honesty, I am pretty sure most gamers will get plenty of enjoyment out of Crayon Physics Deluxe, and if even if the more jaded amount you feel a little short changed, just head to his web site and try one of the plethora of games he has made publicly available for completely free.
Update: Check out my custom level.
Discuss it in the forums.
Crayon Physics Deluxe, PC - £13.78
Xbox 360 60gb Pro console - £137.01
Xbox 360 60gb Pro console - £137.01
Pre-order, not sure when they will have stock in. £107.65 for an Arcade too.
Dragon Quest - The Journey Of The Cursed King, PS2 - £8.73
Dragon Quest - The Journey Of The Cursed King, PS2 - £8.73 delivered
Castlevania - Judgement, Wii - £17.99
Castlevania - Judgement, Wii - £17.99 delivered
Pretty good price for a terrible looking game, imo.
Noitu Love 2: Devolution, PC - £7.07
Noitu Love 2: Devolution, PC - £7.07
The maker of this crazy indie action game, Konjak, has just dropped it to half price. Soundtrack is a free download here too. You can also chose to pay £8.41 to get it on a disc.
2 more Quake Live beta invites available.
Same drill as before, next two people to email me at lewiep@savygamer.co.uk will get two invites to the Quake Live beta.
I should also add, you need to include your full name, and whether you classify yourself as Beginner/intermediate/Expert skill level, or if you are not sure, that's cool too.
Update: And gone again. Same as last time though I'll be sure to post again when I have more.
Super Famicom Classic Controller, Wii - £51.78
Super Famicom Classic Controller, Wii - £51.78 delivered
Not even slightly worth it, but a few people have asked me to keep an eye on when these are available at any price.
Bloody Nintendo fanboys. I'd like one of these, but I wouldn't pay a penny more than £15.
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, Xbox 360 - £6.99
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, Xbox 360 - £6.99 delivered
Quake Live Beta
I had a key to give away before, but that's gone now.
However, you can register at the Quake Live beta site here, and if you are lucky, you might get a beta key too.
Quake Live Beta Invite up for grabs
I have an invite to the Quake Live Beta available. First person to email me at LewieP@SavyGamer.co.uk can have it.
I'll probably have more invites available in the future, so keep checking.
Update: And the beta key goes to Ceri, congratulations!
Child's Play update
Congratulations everyone, you guys managed to raise a fantastic $110 for Child's Play. It was a little shy of our $200 target, but it's still a fantastic achievement, and more than one person has contacted me telling me that they plan to make a donation on their next pay day (as do I).
If you would still like to donate something, you can find details on how to do so here.
Well done!
Update: Kristin from Child's Play passed on her thanks:
"Thanks very much for doing a fundraiser for Child's Play, it's much
appreciated. Please pass our gratitude along to the SavyGamer
community!"
Pokémon Diamond, DS - £14.73
Pokémon Diamond, DS - £14.73 delivered
£4.95 of that is P&P, so if there is anything else you want to get from them, get it in the same order.
Alternately, you could get the same game/different monsters, Pokémon Pearl, for £12.97 delivered.
Thanks to Thomas for the tip off.
Valkyria Chronicles, PS3 - £19.62
Valkyria Chronicles, PS3 - £19.62 delivered
£4.95 of that is P&P, so if there is anything else you want to get from them, get it in the same order.
Thanks to Rex Kramer for the tip off.
Wireless Controller, LEGO Indiana Jones + Kung Fu Panda, Xbox 360 - £29
Wireless Controller, LEGO Indiana Jones + Kung Fu Panda, Xbox 360 - £29 in store at John Lewis
These are normally only for sale with console bundles, but John Lewis in the Trafford Centre (and quite probably nationwide) are selling them on their own for £29. Considering the best price for a controller on it's own is £22.51, it's probably worth it if you are at all interested in either of the games.
Eye of Judgment + PlayStation Eye, PS3 - £19.98
Eye of Judgment + PlayStation Eye, PS3 - £19.98 in store at GAME
Best price for the PlayStation Eye, even if you didn't want the game.
It should be noted that there is a roughly three-hour patch to perform to bring the game up to version 3.0.
Play and Charge Kit (Black), Xbox 360 - £9.98
Play and Charge Kit (Black), Xbox 360 - £9.98 delivered
Command And Conquer: Red Alert 3, PC - £14.73
Command And Conquer: Red Alert 3, PC - £14.73 delivered
A bunch of cheap PC games from Amazon
Amazon have a bunch of cheap PC games available at the minute. Not that cheap if you buy just one of them, since the P&P is £1.99, but if you spend £5 or more, you get free P&P.
You should buy The Club, and then throw in any of the other games that take your fantasy. Metacritic tells me a few of them got "Generally negative reviews", but I say sod Metacritic, take a risk, the price is right.
The Club - £5.73
Beowulf - £1.36
Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights - £1.73
Rayman: Raving Rabbids - £2.15
Bad Day LA - £1.69
Scarface: The World is Yours - £3.03
Warlords IV: Heroes of Etheria - £2.18
Scarface is far better than it deserves to be, and a lot of the gameplay ideas in GTA4 appeared in Scarface first. If you've not got the system for GTA4, but want something akin to it to play, it gets a thumbs up from me.
The Club is also really great, and the only reason to not buy it is because you want/have it on a console.
Anyone played the others?
Replacement Game Cases
As Woolworths are going into administration, they are selling off all of their fixtures and fittings as they are closing down each store. At my local store (Macclesfield) display cases were being sold at four for a pound but this may vary depending on location.
As well as regular black single, double, and double-wide DVD cases there were giant boxes of white (Wii), translucent green (Xbox 360) and blue (PS2) DVD display cases, as well as DS, Blu-Ray and PSP cases. If you have any cases that need replacing or if you just want a case for Wii Sports instead of a cardboard sleeve, it might be worth popping in.
I would be remiss if I didn't also link The Cover Project for replacing any game sleeves that have been damaged, as well.
Steam Sale Ends Today
Just a quick reminder to say that the Steam Christmas Sale, detailed in this post, ends today.
If you're looking to pick up Bioshock or Portal for £3.49, or every game that Valve have ever made for just under fifty notes, I suggest you get them now.
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