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Extremely Queer Indie Game ‘EXTREME MEATPUNKS FOREVER’ Tops Charts


Posted on July 26, 2018 by Rae Michelle Richards

Experimental visual novel, mecha brawler and Fascist slaying indie title EXTREME MEATPUNKS FOREVER is currently climbing the top ten grossing titles on Itch.io. Developed by fellow queer game developer Heather Flowers, EXTREME MEAT PUNKS FOREVER, is unapologetically, radical, leftist and queer as hell. Fusing a vibrant pastel presentation, a quartet of protagonists and mech battles where you fight your literal clone (and kill Fascist scum while you’re at it, EXTREME MEATPUNKS FOREVER takes a look at a lot of different subject matter through a queer lens. 

I asked Heather for a brief overview of what EXTREME MEATPUNKS FOREVER is and what the success of the game meant to her. Below is her statement as provided:

“EXTREME MEATPUNKS FOREVER is a serialized visual novel/mech brawler about gay disasters beating up neonazis in giant robots made of meat. It’s about growing up queer in a small town, about being at odds with your own body, about feeling broken and trying to build a community with other broken people. The game takes from a lot of my own personal experiences growing up in Oklahoma (though it tends to give a more fantastical spin on events). Reception so far has been extremely positive, but the true question is what will happen as more episodes come out. I hope people like it and stay interested! Either way, we’ll see in a couple weeks.” 

Feeling at odds with your own body, having to build your own community (and family) by getting to know other broken queer people are experiences that also ring very true with myself. Sadly, my transition did not include a giant mecha or clone battle – but if it did, perhaps it would out as awesome as EXTREME MEATPUNKS FOREVER looks to be.  Plus you get to kill a bunch of fascists – because fuck them! 

Extreme Meatpunks Forever is currently within the top 10 best-selling titles on Itch.io right now. For $9.00 USD you too can check out this episodic leftist queer genre mashup (Windows, Mac, Linux) and support an awesome queer creator. The price on itch guarantees access to the whole first season, of which the pilot, Episode 1 and 2 are out now. 

Further episodes in EXTREME MEATPUNKS FOREVER will be released on the following dates: 

JULY 19 – PILOTS, PT. 1 + PT. 2 (out now!!) Cass makes a choice. Lianna goes to work. Brad dabs. Sam fucks up.
AUGUST 2 – INFINITE DESERT HELLZONE 

AUGUST 16 – CROSSED CLAWS 

AUGUST 30 – LAST LEGS 

SEPTEMBER 13 – HOPE 

[Source]

 


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Affordable “Creator Edition” of Game Maker Studio 2 Now Available For $39 USD


Posted on November 15, 2017 by Rae Michelle Richards

Development software provider Yo-Yo Games has released a more cost-effective version of their latest game creation software titled Game Maker Studio 2: Creator Edition. 

GMS2 (and by extension GMS2: CE) offers amateur and professional game developers an integrated development environment that supports both prebuilt functions that can handle common tasks like collisions and animation as well as its own proprietary scripting language to help developers write more complex solutions.  

Creator Edition provides aspiring developers with access to the Windows and Mac OS desktop exporters.  It removes a number of the limitations that are present in the current trial version of Game Maker Studio 2 and includes full access to extensions, shaders, source control and other professional level features but seems to be limited to the two platforms mentioned above. It is priced at $39.99 USD for a 12-month license through a SAAS (Software As A Service) model. After the 12-month term ends developers have the option to upgrade to the full version of Game Maker Studio 2 with a 30% discount. 

This post contains details and images provided by Yo-Yo games PR. We previously covered Game Maker Studio 2 as part of our GDC 2017 coverage, which you can read here.


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ARK Survival Evolved Launching This August With Two Special Editions


Posted on June 12, 2017 by Rae Michelle Richards

Studio Wildcard will be bringing the prehistoric survival game ARK: Survival Evolved out of the Early Access age with the release of the retail version on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC on August 8th. ARK on personal computers will be available for multiple operating systems including Microsoft Windows,  MAC OS and various flavors of Linux.

Three different editions of ARK: Survival Evolved will be available for Xbox One and PS4 and are available for pre-order the company announced. They are:

ARK Survival Evolved Standard Edition – $59.99 USD

  • Includes the base ARK experience.
  • Access to all free content and updates that have been released to date.

ARK: Survival Evolved Explorers Edition  – $99.99 USD

  • Includes base ARK experience.
  • Provides access to the Scorched Earth expansion pack which was released last September.
  • Provides access to future expansion passes via an included Season’s Pass.
  • More content packs are promised for the Explorers Edition later this year and into 2018.

ARK Survival Evolved – Limited Collector’s Edition – $159.99 USD

  • Includes base ARK Experience.
  • Scorched Earth Expansion.
  • Season’s Pass.
  • ARK Island cloth map replica.
  • ARK Necklace.
  • Survival Evolved soundtrack as performed by the Philarmonica Orchestra.
  • Studio Wildcard development team poster.
  • Leather- bound Explorer’s Notebook.

With three different versions it might get a little confusing for new players to know exactly which version of ARK to pick up. Surely only the hardest of hardcore fans will choose to purchase the Limited Collector’s Edition since, as the name implies, it will be manufactured in limited quantities. Early Access backers such as myself seem to be funneled into the Standard Edition, this makes sense – Scorched Earth has always been add-on DLC since day one. Studio Wildcard promises that even the base ARK experience will provide players with 100s of hours of entertainment.

 


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SUMMER SALE! GAMES YOU SHOULD PLAY: DUST: AN ELYSIAN TAIL


Posted on June 30, 2016 by Kyle Scarboro

THROUGHOUT STEAM’S SUMMER SALE, I WILL BE REVIEWING GAMES THAT ARE RIPE FOR THE PICKING. THESE GAMES ARE HIDDEN GEMS THAT I THINK WOULD BE WORTH YOUR TIME AND HARD EARNED LUNCH MONEY. SOME GAMES WILL BE NEW AND SOME WILL BE OLDER TITLES, BUT ALL GAMES WILL BE ON SALE AND THAT IS TRULY WHAT MATTERS. SO WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, LET US MEET OUR NEXT CONTESTANT!

Dust1

DUST: AN ELYSIAN TAIL
PLATFORM: PC, MAC, LINUX, XBOX 360, PS4, IOS
CREATED BY: DEAN DODRILL
DEVELOPER: HUMBLE HEARTS
PUBLISHER: MICROSOFT STUDIOS
COMPOSER: HYPERDUCK SOUNDWORKS
RELEASE DATE: AUG 15, 2012
MSRP:  $14.99
SALE: (80% OFF) $2.99 

Dust: An Elysian Tail is an Action-Platform-RPG. Dean Dodrill, a self-taught animator and illustrator. Other than the soundtrack and ADR, as well as a few parts in the story, Dean programmed and designed the whole game. Dodrill submitted his concept to Microsoft’s Dream.Build.Play Challenge in 2009 and won. He would spend over three years following the competition to bring this game to life. With his release, Dust: An Elysian Tail was met with universal praise. High scores across all outlets and even Steam community gives it an Overwhelming Positive rating with over 12,000 reviews. So does Dust: An Elysian Tail live up to this grade? Lets find out!

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Steam’s Christmas Gift- A non-working store!


Posted on December 25, 2015 by Erika

After getting messaged by a friend on steam on how to clear out card info, I wondered to myself, “what the heck is going on?” I looked over onto SteamDB’s Twitter to see that  “Valve is having caching issues allowing users to view things such as account information of other users. Don’t use Store for now.” To my dismay, and possibly the ire of thousands of PC gamers, people are unable to make Steam purchases as all the store pages are just currently cashed versions. People on twitter are reporting that they are seeing other people’s cached pages due to this issue and is a possible security risk for users. It’s been suggested to avoid the store completely for now.

Here’s hoping Valve can fix this before too long

Update:

Valve has taken the Steam Store offline  and users are unable to purchase anything.

The website SteamDB has suggested via Twitter that the issue with random accounts and storefronts showing up may be related to problems with Valve’s caching servers.

Here are some of the details Steam DB shared:

image

The following post appeared on the Steam Forums by a moderator acknowledging that Valve is aware of the issue:
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Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty: Coming soon on Vinyl


Posted on October 11, 2015 by Erika

For Old Honest Abe’s 18th birthday, the complete Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty video game soundtrack is being released by German record label Black Screen Records on 180 gram green vinyl! Currently available for pre-order, it will be released and shipped in late November. Coming in a full-coloured gatefold sleeve with RuptureFarms art by Raymond Swanland, with the soundtrack being composed, mixed, and mastered by Michael Bross.

 

Doesn't it look amazing?

Doesn’t it look amazing?

 

If that wasn’t enough for die-hard Oddworld fans such as myself, also included is not only an exclusive two-sided A2 poster, or that it includes official DLC downloads for Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty and Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee MP3 soundtracks, all that is shadowed by the fact that it includes Steam codes Oddword: New ‘n’ Tasty on PC, Mac, and Linux!

For anyone that wants to give a listen to the newly mixed version of Abe’s Moon on Oddworld’s Soundcloud channel. After giving it a listein, I feel like it really captures the mood from Oddword after playing the previous games long ago.

As far as pricing goes the regular black vinyl is priced €26, with the limited edition green vinyl is €28 and shipping running €12 additional per vinyl to the USA. A bundle for both will be €50 with €17 additional for shipping to the US. Fair warning though, the green vinyl edition is limited to only 500 copies, so those will most likely go quite fast for anyone who wants to order them!


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LEGO The Hobbit Officially Announced


Posted on November 25, 2013 by Joshua Rust

Traveller’s Tales, creator of the fantastic LEGO games, has announced today a new LEGO game based off a popular book series that you may have heard of…LEGO The Hobbit. While some may see these as kids games, I’ll have to give TT credit because the last few games (LEGO Batman 2, LEGO Marvel, LEGO Lord of the Rings), have been exceptionally fun – yes, even for a “kids game”.

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Sim City To Be Released On Mac Later This Month


Posted on August 6, 2013 by Rae Michelle Richards

Electronic Arts is preparing to release the promised Mac OSX port of Sim City later this month, according to a press release issued earlier in the day. Multiplayer is front & center in the new Sim City and it is no surprise that the game will be cross platform, enabling established PC players interact with Mac players/

Sim City will be available in both digital and physical (boxed) flavors on August 29th. Here’s hoping that the Mac version isn’t plagued as some of the same connectivity issues as the PC version. Last I heard, things have been running rather smoothly.

Source Joystiq

 


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Get Ready To Clash! Atlus’ Zeno Clash II Now Available


Posted on May 1, 2013 by Rae Michelle Richards

First person punching action is the name of the game in Atlus’ Zeno Clash II for Steam (PC), Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The publisher announced via press release yesterday that the game is now available on Valve’s digital distribution platform for $19.99, or $29.99 if you are the adventurous type and want to splurge on the special edition. The extra $10 nets you a digital art book and soundtrack featuring concept art and assets from the game

Just like the first game Zeno Clash II focus’ on first person pace punching action combined with RPG statistics. The game continues the story of Ghat, four years after the events of the original, he must join former nemesis Rimat to stop hordes of angry denizens from realizing their plans. Game play improvements include precise melee targeting, a new lock on system and new locals using the Unreal III engine.

For more information head on over to the game’s Steam page.


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Mac Users Will Have To Wait A While For Torchlight II


Posted on September 27, 2012 by Seung Lee

Torchlight II, the underdog (in comparison to Borderlands 2) loot amassing RPG from Runic Games, is going to need a few months before it can play on the Mac, according to Runic Games CEO Matt Schaefer. During an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Reddit, Schaefer replied to a few questions. One, was about what this article is about, and another was about the possibility of seeing Torchlight II in a Humble Indie Bundle in the future.

Torchlight II is currently out on the PC, however, and it can be purchased through many different digital distribution sources, such as Steam and GameFly. Check out its official site here. See the full Reddit AMA here.


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The Guys Behind Amnesia Are Working On A New Project


Posted on September 10, 2012 by Seung Lee

Well, before I go any further, props should be given to Frictional Games and its Amnesia: The Dark Descent for finally breaking the one million sale mark. But company owner Thomas Grip says in a blog post:

Despite that huge number of sales, what I think is more interesting is how good the monthly sales still are. Not counting any discounts, the monthly full price sales lie at over 10 000 units. This means that less then every 5th minute someone in the world is buying a copy of Amnesia. This is totally insane to me. The figures themselves are far beyond any guesses we would have made two years ago. It is also insane, because this number is actually higher than it was around three months after initial launch. That a game can still be going this good two years after is truly remarkable.  This success is due to many factors, some of which are the uniqueness of the game (horror games without combat do not really exist on PC), the large modding community (more on this later) and the steady flood of YouTube clips (which is in turn is fueled by the modding community output).

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Ubisoft Is Saying Goodbye To Always-On DRM


Posted on September 5, 2012 by Seung Lee

PC gamers will be relieved to hear that Ubisoft is finally dropping its always-on digital rights management. If you remember Diablo III, that game required players to always be connected to the Internet in order to play. Ubisoft’s PC games will no longer be like that. Instead, Stephanie Perotti, Ubisoft’s worldwide director for online games, told Rock, Paper, Shotgun in an interview that all future titles will come with a “one-time online activation when you first install the game, and from then you are free to play the game offline.”

It may seem like a strange decision for Ubisoft, especially considering that the company’s PC games currently have a 93-95% piracy rate. Then again, perhaps the voices of disappointed gamers around the world finally managed to reach the higher-ups’ ears. After all, people will always find a way to sneak past things like DRM. All it did was annoy the people who actually bought the games.


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The Walking Dead: Episode 3 Haunts PS3 Today


Posted on August 28, 2012 by Seung Lee

If you’re a fan of The Walking Dead (games, comics, TV show, etc.), then you might be ecstatic to hear that the latest installment of the point-and-click adventure game will be available on the PS3 through the PlayStation Store, starting today. Xbox 360, PC, and Mac users will have to wait until tomorrow, August 29 to immerse themselves in the zombie-infested world.

Episode 3 will cost $4.99 on the PSN, and 400 MS Points on XBLM. PC and Mac users can purchase the game off of various online marketplaces, such as Steam, or through Telltale Games’s Season Pass. International release info has yet to be released, but the company is working on it. If you think you might be interested in The Walking Dead games, but want honest opinions on how good they are, check out our review on the first episode here, and the second episode here. You might also want to visit The Walking Dead games’ official site here.


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Zombies Are Invading Counter-Strike: Global Offensive!


Posted on August 17, 2012 by Seung Lee

Valve has teamed up with a mod team over at PlagueFest, a community site that works on mods for games like Counter-Strike: Source and ArmA II, to create a zombie mod for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. This content will be available on only the PC version of the game (99% sure here), and you won’t have to wait to test it out, because it’ll release on the same day as Global Offensive.

This certainly isn’t the first time that we’ve seen zombies in a first-person shooter. Treyarch’s recent Call of Duty games and ArmA II are the most popular  in the market right now. Will Global Offensive be able to match these games? We’ll have to see.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive releases on the PS3, Xbox 360, PC, and Mac on August 21. Check out the game’s official website here.


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Here’s Some New Details About Scourge: Outbreak


Posted on August 6, 2012 by Seung Lee

ScourgeOutbreak

If you don’t know what exactly Scourge: Outbreak is, I don’t blame you. I had no clue that it existed until I read an article about it. Scourge: Outbreak is a third-person shooter from a development team called Tragnarion Studios, and it’s being released on the PS3, Xbox 360, PC, and Mac. The release date for it hasn’t been announced yet, but lead game designer Omar Salleh has unveiled some new screenshots and details on co-op today. Salleh’s blog post at the European PlayStation blog site revealed that his team’s upcoming game should be out in the next few months. He also went on to talk about being excited to see how players will enjoy the co-op mode.

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