Partygoers fill the ballroom. They mill about, chatting amongst themselves. They admire the decor. Some of them examine the statues, while others take a book from the bookshelves.

From afar, a sniper watches the guests go about their business. He watches for the telltale signs of a spy. Perhaps the spy will plant a bug on the ambassador, or perhaps he will signal the double agent. And finally, the sniper sees it: a portly woman has taken one of the statues and replaced it with a fake. The sniper takes aim and tightens his index finger. One guest drops to the floor as the ballroom fills with screams.

This is SpyParty in a nutshell. One player takes the role of spy and the other player is the sniper. The spy has objectives to accomplish within a tight timeline; in the process, he must avoid detection. The spy wins if he accomplishes his objectives or if the sniper hits a civilian. The sniper wins if he shoots the spy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-7tgWQKJh8

The game is currently in "early-access beta," which means you need to take a number and wait. Some people have been waiting for half a year now. I got lucky: I signed up last week and left a witty comment on his Twitter feed. This game looks awesome and I'm fighting the urge to leave work early today so I can sneak in a play.

Hi Kids and Cats! Octos here to lay out some smooooth jazz on your ears. Can you dig it? I think you can.

Two XBLA games, and they are also PSN games, so lets just get that whole muck-a-muck out of the way in one fell swoop; starting with Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 which, according to those "in the know" is the second bit of Sonic the Hedgehog 4 which was released some time ago and which nobody liked since it was just the first few games with polygons instead of sprites and playing kind of ass-y (Well, ass-ier). I have it on GOOD-ISH AUTHORITY that Episode 2 isn't nearly so assy! My NEXT GEN CONSOLES are all boxed up, so I can't even verify that!


Next is Jam Live Music Arcade which is some sorta nutty musical musicy thing I guess? I don't know. Do a song in it? Sing up like a crazy guy?



Speaking of crazy music-makery things, I guess PSN got one too; Pixeljunk 4AM which is the weirdest dang title for a music-maker thing. What does the mythical Four AM have to do with composing? Are most insomniacs noted for their lyrical prowess? Does jamming on a guitar eat up the same part of your brain that keeps you from waking up before your alarm goes off?



SPEAKING YET AGAIN of music, PSN also got Rock of Ages which, regretably, does not have anything to do with Def Leppard. I am sorry for deceiving you. Combine Tower Defense gameplay with Marble Madness on a quest through TIME AND SPACE with a BIG-DAMN-ASS ROCK while the Other Guys do the same, try to Burn Out before you FADE AWAY!



No more music now, so that means no more usage out of that Scott Pilgrim icon, RATS! Anyway, its Goldeneye 007 Reloaded which is that remake of Goldeneye that came out last year and... nobody commented on. I guess its aged better then the N64 original pretty much by default.



ALSO! There is Prototype 2! You may remember the original Prototype as being a pretty fun open-world game starring Spider-Mans enemy, Carnage (except without the Marvel liscense and with Carnage being redesigned to being some bald, scowly-man in a hoody). Prototype 2 has Scowly-Mans evil twin on the prowl. This means that this is a game about Spider-Mans Evil Twins, Evil Twin fighting Spider-Mans Evil Twins, Evil Twins Evil Twin.

Which I would comment on being silly but, well...


Moving along to PS2 releases, there was Red Faction 2 which was the Red Faction that everyone and their dog hated. I didn't play it, so I don't know why mentioning it to Red Faction afficienados (or Afactioniados) makes them spit in your eye and curse your mother. But I trust them, with that murderous glint in their eyes, that this isn't a very fun game compared to the rest of the series.



FINALLY! PS1 got a thing! And that thing it got was the PS1 port of MYST. Is MYST a good port? Probably not, most are kinda cruddy. But just in case I am wrong; enjoy a scenic, entirely static series of images of stuff and solve puzzles in order to find out WHICH crazy guy in a book is the BAD kind of crazy.

As one moves through Act I, spoken dialogue and incidental "lore" text gradually disappear-- by Act II, there are no cutscenes, NPCs, or mentions of an overarching plot. The weapons gathered and enemies encountered by the player decrease in visual complexity over the course of Act III, eventually becoming colored collision cubes midway through IV. The soundtrack (fantastic as usual) has some great throwbacks to fans of Space Invaders; the music regresses in complexity with each passing hour, eventually becoming a square wave monotone before ceasing entirely.
In addition, one learns fewer and fewer abilities in each subsequent Act, and by IV existing abilities other than the basic attack become irrelevant and eventually disappear. By III, the UI is gradually replaced by lines of raw data representing the player's stats, resembling a corrupted ROM file. By V, these numbers have merged into a single integer with no apparent cap.
When one finally reaches the imposing gates of Pandaemonium itself in Act V, graphical representations of the game's environs and entities have ceased entirely, being replaced by a jpg of a frog in a pot of boiling water. This, too, disappears into the abyss. All that remains is a single ~10 digit number against a black background that increases by a random value whenever the mouse is clicked.

The player can choose to share this number with their Facebook friends after killing Satan. Doing so unlocks Hell difficulty.

Metzen has done it again.

So my mom has been pulling some strings, and has now helped set up a website for my grandfather, Rufus Morgan, who has been painting for decades. I encourage everybody to check it out.

In Android, 3-5 players take on the role of detectives as they try to solve a murder and find evidence that will convict the person they believe to be the killer.

Every day, for two weeks, the detectives will be traveling throughout the city of New Angeles, following leads and placing evidence on the suspect they believe to be guilty. At the same time, they'll need to manage their personal lives.

In the end, the player with the most points is the winner. Whether they "solved" the murder or not.

1. Caprice Nisei, the Psychic Clone
2. Floyd 2X3A7C, the Doubting Bioroid
3. Louis Blaine, Corrupt Cop
4. Rachel Beckmann, Estranged Bounty Hunter
5. Raymond Flint, Troubled P.I.

Each detective has different abilities, and if you click on their names, it links to a article on FFG's website about how to best utilize their character.

Yup, I just wrote some bad fiction.

We already have a thread for good ones, but sometimes you want to talk about the bad, awful, crazy, wtf ones you find on kickstarter! That is what this thread is for.

It's a mix of bewilderment, bad, and save the last bullet for yourself! Except you can fund it and get rewards!

I'll start with this card game about tentacle rape and little girls!