Goats vs Nazis, then, is the latest game project to kickstart their development with the platform.

I don’t even know where to start – or end, for that matter. Certainly, Goats vs Nazis looks to be one part game, nine parts marketing campaign – heck, that’s exactly why we’re mentioning the project on the blog! The actual novelty value of juxtaposing goats to nazis is obviously up to the funder/player/developer to decide. If you DO feel that it’s a good idea, then off to Kickstarter you go!

As if Goats vs Nazis wasn’t enough for just one post, I also stumbled upon Jay Tholen’s Dropsy. Dropsy seems – by my estimation, anyway – to be a Windows-bound point and click adventure game about a… clown… that is manic, depressive or both? The hero, “hand-less, unintelligible, and questionably human” … “will also encounter colorful characters and mind-stretching logic puzzles in surreal, off-kilter landscapes”. Sounds a notch like Toonstruck to me.

Other than that, I haven’t the faintest idea as to what is going on here. But fret not, for there be video! The Kickstarter video gives you a fantastic idea of what you might be getting. (You’ll be getting crazy, that’s what you’ll be getting). Keep in mind that Mr. Tholen has set the funding bar for the game very, very low indeed, so don’t be afraid to pledge just because the measly sum of $225 has already been fulfilled.

P.S. Can’t believe I just wrote this post.

In addition to the most egregious issues with texture popping above, Vsync, Anisotropic filtering and texture quality settings were only added in a patch. The first (1st) and only (1) patch. Certainly, omitting these more fine-tuned customization features in this day and age is not in the least unheard of, but finding the paragons of the PC platform since 1991 – Id Software – as the offending party is rather inconceivable, even in a gaming world where Crytek, Epic and Rockstar Games have long since bailed out.

The texture popping above is related to the game’s texture Auto-Balancer, which somehow tends to load and utilize 4096k textures instead of the much crisper 8192k (or the gargantuan 16384k textures that take most of the game’s 21659 Mb install size!).

More puzzling yet is the inability for players to bind numpad keys properly – especially the number 5(!?) – leaving left-handers in a proverbial bind. Different mice and keyboards are exhibiting various symptoms as well.

Let’s not even mention the 64-bit executable. …or lack thereof. Let us however mention the missing idstudio level editor, which is apparently dependent on the very same 64-bit .exe.

To wrap up this terribly clever post before things get utterly out of hand, we could take a look at the game’s collector edition (check out the comparison photo on the left), which comes bundled with a Rage comic that not only is 2/3 the size of the normal issues, but also only contains 2/3 of the Rage story arc. Boom!

Glorious October Carnage Sale! In celebration of a fantastic year (releasing Avadon and putting out our first titles on Steam and the iPad), we are permanently lowering the prices of everything we sell by 20% or more! Even better, for the entire month of October, all of our products for Windows and Mac will be 10% off!

In his blog, Vogel also outlines his motivations for the change in the company’s overall pricing structure:

A LOT of money is being made by selling games for cheap. So now , instead of selling our games for $25 or $28 (!!!), we’ll sell them for $20 or $15. I know this still seems like a lot, but I haven’t backed off on the key thing I’ve long said … People Who Write Niche Games Can’t Charge a Dollar. If you’re making a pretty, shiny, highly casual game with cartoon squirrels and you think you can find a million fans for it, go ahead. Charge a dollar. You’ll have to. But if you write games like mine? Low budget, old school, hardcore RPGs with lots of content? If I charged a dollar for it, I’d have to sell a copy to pretty much every interested human everywhere to have a chance of making money.

The end result of the price drop? Geneforge 1-3 go for 15% and 4-5 for $20; the same pricing structure applies to Avernum, too. Throw in the extra 10% October discount and you’re looking at some pretty cheap stuff. Avadon, now $20 on the website, is actually cheaper still on Steam right now, so you might want to take a look at that, if you’d like some extra DRM to go with your games!

“Ah, but The Indie Stone is a brave-faced stone.” -Brendan Caldwell

In what can only be described (in suitably hyperbolic tones) as the most unfortunate development process ever (Duke Nukem Forever, you say? Ptsch! Ptschhh!), the Indie Stone have had their dev laptops stolen. According to the team, the latest update – and as such, months of work – to Project Zomboid was lost due to the game being backed up between the two stolen machines, yet seldom externally. A massive, repetitive witch-hunt by the gaming community subsequently ensued on both Reddit and Twitter, resulting in emotional distress, self-flagellation and many a brain cell lost.

Yes, perhaps the lost data should have been backed up better, but after such a costly setback, the isometric open-world zombie survival game developers need all the financial and emotional support they can get. It’s not like “Backups!!” weren’t the first thing they thought when the severity of the situation first unraveled.

The burglary is only the latest episode in an inexplicable series of unfortunate events; the team has had their Paypal funds held hostage by the evil bank-like corporation (also experienced by the Xenonauts team as well as Mojang); only shortly after the Paypal debacle, the Indie Stone also got a similar receipt from Google Checkout, who blocked new orders and revoked access to their funds.

A man blows himself up in a car next to the aforementioned flat; their expensive web servers crash. A development build leaks.

Once the team finally gets back on track, solving their issues both with Paypal and  Google Checkout by ingeniously pairing joke games to actual pre-order subscriptions – then, the burglary.

Gosh, these hard-headed, brave-faced guys, they’ve got stones all right, having already promised to “come back stronger”! You should preorder Project Zomboid now – just to tempt the fates, spite the gods, piss off the demons and so forth. Surely something somewhere is trying to put and end to Project Zomboid. Let’s not let it, shall we?

I can vouch for the two main games which are excellent offerings, but Trine in the secondary bundle is also a good time. A beautiful 3D-rendered game in which you are confined to a 2D plane, Trine is a platformer with physics-based movement and puzzles. Frozenbyte are set to release a sequel within the next few months, so this is the perfect opportunity to catch yourself up before then. Frozen Synapse, as I have covered in brief before, is a slick tactical combat game with both a decent singleplayer campaign and a plethora of multiplayer modes. The included soundtrack has a great cyberpunk feel and is reminiscent of Alexander Brandon’s work in Deus Ex. SpaceChem is a gem of a procedural puzzle game hiding beneath a nerdy chemistry theme. Speaking as someone who was always terrible at chemistry, this game is worth your time. It’s best to try the free demo and see for yourself, because the game looks more intimidating than it actually is. My best attempt at a description is that you create a reactor by means of flowchart tools in order to produce target outputs from a given input. Oh dear, you had better try that demo, it’s much more fun than it sounds, I promise. You’ll see what I mean when you finish your first reactor and then go back and obsessively try and tweak it til it is more efficient than anyone else’s in your friends list.

So go on, do it and thank me later.

This time around the games are VVVVVV, And Yet It Moves, Hammerfight, Crayon Physics Deluxe, Steel Storm and Cogs. Purchasing the bundle gives you a unique link to download the games completely free of any DRM as well as bonus activation codes for Steam and Desura; additionally, they have thrown in a free trial of Minecraft. If that wasn’t attractive enough, the whole of Humble Bundle #2 will be available too if you pay more than the current average.

If it’s not quite obvious yet, these bundles offer crazy – nay, insane - value, especially considering that you decide how much you pay for it all. With all of the bundles I have found that I tend to be interested in only one or two of the games, the rest being merely ‘bonuses’ or potential surprises. Moreover, I tend to already own some of them in some form or other, so I’m paying for redundant copies, in fact. But the opportunity to send your money directly to specific developers and charities is a great reason to be part of this. The bundles have been hugely successful in the past, and I fully expect this one to reach similar heights.

I haven’t spent that much time with all of these games yet, but my picks of the bunch are without a doubt Braid, Revenge of the Titans and VVVVVV. I reviewed VVVVVV earlier this year, and found it to be a short but delightful platformer very much worthy of your time. Have a read through the review and consider the bundle worth it for this title alone. Creator Terry Cavanagh has recently brought a number of key updates to the game. It has been rewritten in C++ which apparently allows it to perform better on a larger variety of computers – including the Linux platform now. There has been talk of adding Steam Achievements as well in the near future. On top of that, included with the game is a level editor, allowing you to create your own levels for anyone to download and play. And a few people have already started – Terry has called upon a few of his peers to try their hand, including Minecraft creator Notch and VVVVVV soundtrack composer SoulEye. More recommended level packs are being regularly posted on his blog.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the value of the bundle changes over time – I’ve had to redraft this post two times to keep up with the additions – and in the past bundles bonus items were added up til the very end to incentivize purchases. Keep an eye on the Bundle twitter account for updates. At the very least the transparent live figures will prove to be fascinating, such as the top purchases and the average size of purchases from people on each of the three platforms. There’s still time: do the smart thing, name your price and play some fantastic indie games.

Mass Effect 3 was announced at last year’s Spike VGAs, along with a teaser trailer that set the tone for what is to come. Check out said trailer below. While the release date stated at the time was “Holiday 2011″, the game has since been delayed and will be out “in the first three months of 2012″. In the meantime, the game is set to have a grand unveiling at E3 this week, with a live demo likely to be shown during EA’s conference.

The images in the trailer will be familiar to anyone who has completed the first two games. An alliance soldier witnesses the destruction happening around him in what is barely recognisable as the Earth city of London, England. The Reapers have arrived and are wreaking havoc on the galaxy, starting with Earth. Meanwhile, Commander Shepard watches from orbit, end trailer with the throbbing bass of the original theme. ME2 ended with somewhat of a cliffhanger, and it looks like the third game is picking up right where it left off. Without going too deep into spoiler territory, Shepard’s mission in this last chapter is to unite the various races in the galaxy to help defeat the Reaper threat. How successful you are in rallying each army to your cause will determine the outcome of the war, with a granularity that will produce “degrees of success” as opposed to just one good ending and a bad ending.

You’re basically building towards greater and greater degrees of success, in terms of how you’re able to fight the Reapers … If you just rip straight down the critical path and try and finish the game as soon as you can, and do very little optional or side stuff … it’ll be a lot more brutal and minimal relative to if you do a lot of stuff. If you really build a lot of stuff and bring people to your side and rally the entire galaxy around you, and you come into the end game with that, then you’ll get an amazing, very definitive ending.

- Casey Hudson, Project Director

Of course, the decisions you made in the previous two games will be at play here as well. How you dealt with Rachni Queen in ME1, for instance, will determine if they even exist in the third game for you to ally with, and either way there will be a certain opportunity open to you that was not available otherwise.

Fans will no doubt be eager to know which characters will be returning, and moreover which will be selectable as squadmates. So far only a few have been confirmed as playable, and there are hints that some will only be selectable for certain sequences. The tactical combat is reportedly much better, though personally I already found ME2′s improved combat mechanics to be a huge turning point in the series and made for some tight shooting. Given how closely BioWare listened to its fanbase in improving ME2 over ME1, I am sure that they will further refine the game systems to arrive at an even better design in ME3. The production of the ME2 DLC during the interim will certainly have been a valuable process for the studio, as is evident in their varying content and quality. The early screenshots shown here indicate a visual style pretty much identical to ME2′s – a desaturated colour palette and gritty textures. I’m sure with how well optimized ME2 was, ME3 will be able to deliver some spectacular scenes. One minor note I feel worth recalling is that film composer Clint Mansell, who produced a minimal and memorable score for indie sci fi flick Moon, has been signed to do the soundtrack, taking over the duties of Jack Wall. It will be interesting to see what his take on the established aural style will be.

More information is due come E3. There are rumours of more Mass Effect-related announcements; suggesting some Kinect functionality in ME3 as well as some kind of MMO in the works. Whatever gets revealed, I’ll be sure to keep you informed.

The last time we looked at Irrational Games’ BioShock Infinite, Martyn walked us through the newly unveiled teaser trailer and some of the early details about the game. Not much to go on in this all-too-brief CG video, a finely crafted reveal of the world of Columbia, but the details paint a grim picture. Posters touting the city’s motto describe an ultra-nationalist, xenophobic society, clearly the core philosophical theme to be explored by the game in true BioShock fashion.

Infinite takes place in 1912 on the massive floating city of Columbia. You take on the role of Pinkerton agent Booker DeWitt, on a mission to seek and assist in the escape of a young woman by the name of Elizabeth. It seems that she is no run-of-the-mill damsel in distress, however: your NPC companion has a mind and will of her own, and a host of supernatural abilities to boot. She will aid you in combat with her various powers, and you can choose to exploit these abilities at a cost not yet fully defined.

Along the way your progress will be impeded by enemies from either of the two warring factions, the Founders, the patriotic supporters of the city, and the Vox Populi, anti-capitalist Marxian thugs. And this wouldn’t be a BioShock game without some bizarre and distinctive icon; the Songbird may very well be this game’s Big Daddy. A hulking, mechanical bird-like figure with human hands that seems to serve as both Elizabeth’s protector and captor, the Songbird shares a unique relationship with your partner – not quite like that between the Big Daddy and Little Sister perhaps, but just as nuanced.

So that was what we gleaned from the teaser and the press materials during the announcement, but since then we’ve also been treated with a ten-minute uninterrupted gameplay demo, embedded below. Reminiscent of that very first demonstration of BioShock way back when, this video of in-game footage offers a fascinating glimpse of a unique new world crafted by Irrational.

One of the first things you may notice is the monologue that opens the video. One fundamental step forward that Infinite makes from the previous two BioShock titles is in the nature of the main character. In the earlier games the player controlled a cipher who had a personality and backstory, but no voice of his own; his actions controlled by the player and his mindset presumed by his puppeteer. But in Infinite, not only does Booker DeWitt have a past, he plays an active role in the goings on as the player progresses by voicing his thoughts at opportune moments. I see that most other sites can only name recent similar examples of the wry, quipping hero, such as those voiced by the prolific Nolan North, but my memory goes farther back to a much more likely influence on DeWitt’s expressive nature. That is to say, one of the fathers of the immersive sim, Thief, and its sorely missed protagonist Garrett. In that classic series it felt more like you accompanied the master thief on his journey, each tense moment a shared experience and your every triumphant move validated by his assured demeanour.

But I digress. We’re not 20 seconds into the video and we’re inundated with images of American Exceptionalism, an ominous introduction to Columbia. As DeWitt walks through a rundown alley a mechanical horse pulling a broken carriage stutters by. Reaching the streets we’re graced with a gorgeous view of open air, and a huge floating building towering over us. Short-lived wonder, though, as the structure breaks down before us and comes crashing down to the ground at our feet. The place is in a state of disrepair, this much is clear. DeWitt makes his way down the street and along the way we witness some haunting scenes, such as that of a woman sweeping the porch of a burning building, and a dead horse sprawled across the sidewalk.

There’s someone on a bench, feeding crows, and another man under a pavilion preaching his patriotic cant. Only when DeWitt draws his rifle does the man react and shimmer with malevolence. There’s something supernatural going on here that will hopefully be explained at some point. Suffice it to say that both NPCs have at their disposal some powers that DeWitt can gain to his advantage, too. The man commanding the crows leaves behind a curious bottle, which upon drinking bestows DeWitt with the Murder of Crows “vigor”. Flashes of old BioShock here for sure, in the splicer-like enemies and the tonic-like vigors, though no doubt there will be a different explanation to all of this.

The scale of the environments is staggering, with enormous buildings floating in the air and expansive sky beyond. Spatiality – one of Irrational’s trademarks – is strong here, with various kinds of landmarks such as hotels and clocktowers in sight. There’s definitely some nifty new tech powering this game, a big step forward from engine used in the previous games.

There’s hardly any time to take all of that in, however, as a gunfight quickly escalates into a cannon fight, and DeWitt isn’t faring too well just picking enemies off in the distance with his rifle. To close the gap between him and the enemy, he has to make use of a new mechanic known as “the skyline”, a rail transportation system that connects each of the discrete floating islands of Columbia. It certainly looks like a thrilling way to get from place to place, jumping from one rail to the next, attacking enemies as you go. I recall that earlier this year at PAX East some of the Irrational developers gave a panel about the creation of Columbia, which featured some footage of an early version of the game with the rail system already up and running. It’s worth checking out if you’re interested in the genesis of the mechanic.

Back to our gameplay, anyhow. DeWitt lands in the thick of the combat, handling crowds that are surely larger in number than we’ve seen before in a BioShock game. DeWitt employs plasmid [sic] power after power, but it seems the hoard is too overwhelming – when suddenly Miss Elizabeth appears to even the odds. Summoning a rain cloud gives DeWitt the chance to electrify them all at once. Phew! DeWitt and Elizabeth make a good team, but the closing moments of the video present a couple of much tougher foes, the Handyman and the terrifying Songbird. It’s going to take a lot more to bring down these beasts.

That’s all we have of the game to date. Things are ramping up for an eventful E3; there will surely be brand new footage to see. The official site has been revamped, and who knows, there may be some additional marketing – of the viral kind, perhaps, in the same spirit as with previous 2K games. Lord knows I have obsessed over some of it already. Various previews that went live this week have discussed a new demo shown to the press, elaborating on the nature of Elizabeth’s abilities, and head dangerously into spoiler territory – even hinting towards the meaning behind the term ‘Infinite’ in the title. We’ll cover the new details once we see it for ourselves. Catch you back here during E3 week.

In the interview, McGrath recounts the early days of the project, telling that before they went to work at Intel, the team

…developed a graphically impressive, fully playable prototype, as well as developing core engine tech at the same time. Due to circumstances out of our control, the publisher we were working with decided to shift their company strategy in a direction that did not involve PC games, and our project was cancelled. Luckily, we had a very good contract with them that allowed us to retain the rights to our IP.

Wow, talk about a close shave there.

According to the interview, the team was originally approached by Intel to work with new graphics hardware codenamed Larrabee, and Project Offset was to be a showcase of the platform. McGrath speculates that had the Larrabee project come to fruition, Project Offset could have been as big for Intel as Bungie’s Halo was for Microsoft. But when Larrabee begun to saw increasing delays, the team started suspecting a looming cancellation in the horizon well before the inevitable news.

In hindsight though, McGrath calls the Intel contract “the best possible decision that we could have made, given the fact that our previous funding had fallen through, and that we had the opportunity to continue development of our game, and potentially ship it out to millions of customers.” Despite this, McGrath does chastise Intel as a games publisher, stating that “Intel simply wasn’t the best place for a game developer” and goes on to outline how the management structure wasn’t quite the ideal breeding ground for game development.

In addition to Lane Splitter, Fractiv also have a larger project in the works, called The Gunsmith, an action RPG/adventure game “with a Western vibe”. McGrath says that the game also contains “mysterious fantasy elements”. The team is currently targeting mobile devices (iPhone, iPad and Android) with the game, but are also considering both a PC and a console version. Here’s hoping the team does indeed choose to commit to the PC platform – in the meantime, you can follow the team’s progress at the Fractiv website!

In speaking to LA Times’ 24 Frames, Koch Media representative Malte Wagener stated that

There are a lot of different stories out there but the bottom line is that neither Union nor Sean Daniel has ever talked to Koch Media. Richard [Leibowitz, of Union] and [game developer] Techland agree there was never any rights.

I personally find it more than a little troubling that so many respectable film websites would report the deal as fact, which in turn leads me to question Koch Media and Deep Silver’s role in the propagation of the news. While I don’t think this sort of misinformation bodes well for the negotiations of a potential adaptation of the game, it’s frankly quite futile to discuss any of this as both the film and the game are still but a ghost in the hype machine. At the time of writing, Dead Island is coming out late 2011.

The game, a film noir/sci-fi adventure, is of two separate halves: Players control Azriel Odin, with the help of his partner Kane Harris, sneaking into the colony of Barracus in search of an informant known as Matthieus Howard. Interwoven between Azriel’s sections also figures the mysterious prisoner-patient Delta-Six, an amnesiac confined to and conditioned in a sterile facility with totalitarian, Pavlovian means.

An equal split between the two halves exists not only narratively, but also visually: On the surface of Barracus (a “New Pittsburgh,” as it is described), where habitable conditions are sustained by weather towers, where the constant presence of rainfall plagues the colony, its hammering rattle contrasting strongly with the sterile silence and cleanliness of the facility Delta-Six remains confined in. Where Delta-Six is a silent, worn-down man deprived of his humanity and personality, Azriel is a keen-eyed man of action and freedom, constantly entangled in danger, shootouts and the narrowest of escapes.

Indeed, in Gemini Rue, it first appears altogether unclear as to how these two different portions of the game, so completely binary and at odds with each other visually, thematically and narratively, could possibly relate to each other. Yet this is the very reason why Gemini Rue is, within the adventure gaming genre, the most sophisticated meditation of identity, destiny and memory (IDM for short – more on this later on the blog) since the Revolution Software classic Beneath a Steel Sky. Like BASS, Gemini Rue discusses the role of human-made predestination and its effects on society and the self.

The game – skilfully paced and constructed – ropes you along with the tiniest of details, notes and hints; a major portion of the game indeed consists of detective leg work done on communicators and terminals that Azriel uses to find various clues and people.  The terminal interface is well-suited to the game’s toned-down, realistic take on science fiction, and little interfacial improvements, like dragging and dropping in clues to search – that is, instead of having to type in words – will delight players.

To reach his goals, Azriel has to use his powers of persuasion and even violence to get the continuous fix of information that he desires. The same holds true of Delta-Six, of course, but in a vastly different scale: Where Azriel can use equipment and information to his advantage, Delta-Six clings to whatever he can to make some, any sense out of his predicament. In terms of controls, there are four operational modes to the interface – eye, hand, mouth and foot – and while the inventory to the game goes beyond even the most minimal of designs, the game nevertheless has an admirable and fresh focus on physical (and even corporeal!) puzzles, placing much emphasis on the main characters’ physical interactions with everything – including physically co-operating with other human beings.

Elevator music echoing in the lobbies of hotels, composed by Nathan Allen Pinard, creates a magnificent and bleak mood that is further enhanced by fantastic decisions of sound design that take into account, for example, such minor but poignant details as ambient effect volume changing based on whether a door is open or closed. The game’s soundtrack fluctuates beautifully between sombre silence, rainfall and poignant, melodic ambient electronica.

Although we have only briefly touched upon Gemini Rue here on The Slowdown before, noting Nuernberger’s interest in visually directing the player, I have privately witnessed the game improve with waves of continuous overhauls of graphics, audio and polish, rendering my personal collections of screenshots and videos from various builds of the game hopelessly redundant, and for the better. In a similar way, we have all witnessed the game shed its original, harder-to-type yet more descriptive title (psst, Boryokudan is Japanese for a “crime syndicate” or a “gangster organization”!) and transform into a hot topic amassing attention from the likes of PC Gamer and Rock, Paper, Shotgun.

All that needs be said is that Gemini Rue is, within the rather tight confines of the indie adventure gaming sphere, such an exhaustive and sprawling study that although I have now pretty much covered the ground that an ordinary “review” would, Gemini Rue simply remains a game that demands much more attention on to its intricacies that an overview such as this can offer.

Hence the parentheses for the letter “P” in the headline. Therefore, do see the game for yourself: GameFront go go. ‘s goo’. The full game, which offers 4-8 hours of gameplay per playthrough (of which you shall most probably have more than one), is available from Wadjet Eye Games right now, for the price of $14.99.

This heavy praise heaped on the sudden smash hit of a trailer, of course, was directed towards Techland’s Dead Island, now officially housed under the wings of the German publisher Deep Silver. The game has indeed been simmering under the surface for years, with first indications of the game’s free-form, melee-based survivalist direction coming in late 2007. And then silence.

With the aforementioned trailer – and the publicity that came with it – however, everything changed: Not only is gamer interest suddenly deafening for the game (as well as the trailer, which is now as well-known as it is controversial), in an intriguing turn of events, it was also revealed that film producer Sean Daniel, together with Union Entertainment, had acquired the movie rights to the game last year and are supposedly pushing hard to get the film done soon with a Memento-style structure.

For an interesting take on the announcement video, you should head over to check out Frictional Games’ dissection. As if to counter the major points of the aforementioned analysis at the Frictional blog, however, a straight “Backwards-Forwards” version was also made available by IGN. Beyond the temporal trickery and the ferocious style, it is also the animation of the trailer that is of especial merit: For instance, take a quick look at 1:32 of the reversed video as the father jumps in order to swing his fireaxe with more momentum in an unprecedentedly realistic and visceral manner that somewhat resembles a real live stand-still superman punch. Technology-wise, the developers have actually illustrated their multi-layer gore system before.

The game’s theme, “apocalypse in paradise,” has been done before in Dead Rising 1 and 2, and indeed Dead Island seems to resemble the aforementioned both in terms of its combat and its bleakness; after all, underneath a joyous façade of cartoony boss fights and a parade of outrageous costumes, Dead Rising 2 is actually a decidedly morose and bleak affair. Dead Island’s general visual aesthetic, then, recalls to me that of Resident Evil 5:

A major point of contention, which the game’s success ultimately hinges on, will be the developers’ ability to spice up that combat! Fortunately, other games such as Dark Messiah of Might and Magic and Zeno Clash have already illustrated that it is indeed possible to construct engaging and visceral melee-only fighting. Another important feature to take into account will also be the successful integration of the game’s co-operative mode, especially given the fact that the game is actually supposed to be highly narratively driven, as in an early 2008 interview, Techland’s Blazej Krakowiak told That VideoGame Blog that

There is definitely a story behind all that and it’s big. Those initial goals appear straightforward but there is more than enough to fill the space between them. Think of the initial objectives as an earthquake at the beginning, from there on the tension will keep rising right to the end. Dead Island definitely is story-driven.

Developers Techland are currently best known for their popular western shooter series Call of Juarez (to which the aforementioned Union Entertainment also own the filming rights), and the lesser-known sci-fi shooter Chrome. While the devs certainly have their hands full wrestling with a supersaturated genre, Dead Island looks to be a highly promising take of the zombie topos. Fingers crossed!

Since the last time we saw the game, the screenshots are sporting much deeper colours and sharper edges. The game is still looking quite rough in the video what with being so early in development, but already it’s shaping up to be an intense shooter with its own distinct look.

The video starts us out passing through an idyllic suburban neighbourhood. Step into a pastel-coloured house and onto the familiar scene of a housewife cutting vegetables in the kitchen. But all is not as it seems and the dream-like facade is stripped away in a disturbing and instantly iconic visual. I do think there’s something quite creepy about the way her face disintegrates and she opens her blank eyes, and judging from the corresponding concept art that was shown very early on it is probably an image that will sell the game in the same way the Big Daddies sold BioShock.

From there it’s balls to the wall action. The quick cuts barely give you a moment to take in the chaotic scenes but you can just make out a lot of shooting and a lot of environmental destruction as is expected of an XCOM game. There aren’t many enemies yet but the ones we do get to see appear formidable indeed. The X-Files goo-like creature has terrifying speed and ferocity, and the monolithic, obelisk floating up above the street has a disquieting power that rips through the concrete. Some serious firepower is going to be required to take on these things. A couple of firearms and a fire grenade are on show, and they don’t seem to be very effective against the enemies. As previously detailed, tech research will be needed to produce better weapons to take on the tougher foes.

The trailer is very much a vertical slice of the action and hence isn’t a great indicator of how a typical mission will play out, nor does it show any of the strategical elements hinted at, so we’ll just have to wait for more updates. Unfortunately at this early stage there still is too little information to get excited over; 2K Marin are extremely tight-lipped to the point of awkwardness when it comes to details about the game -which is surprising considering it’s supposed to be coming this year. I’ll be sure to report back the moment we hear something new.

Shatter

“Originally released on the PSN, Shatter is on the surface a high-definition rendition of the Breakout genre, perhaps resembling most closely the classic Arkanoid. Shatter’s claim to the throne, then, is its frustration-free flavour; where other games of the genre may have traditionally strained players with punishing difficulty, Sidhe have altogether subverted the problem by introducing a mischievous sucking/blowing mechanism for your bat, used not only for gathering shattered energy fragments that dissipate from broken bricks, but also allowing players to gently guide their ball’s trajectory curve both left and right.”

£3.49, $4.99, 3.99€ – read more on Shatter

The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom

“Published under the 2K Play budget moniker and developed by the aptly named the Odd Gentlemen, The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom is a story of the titular gentleman thief getting suckered into a paradox of time, place and the self. His strange-sounding shenanigans are dressed in lavish Victorian-style steampunk and early filmic elements, coated with a glaze of Edward Gorey – rated “E” for “Comic Mischief” by the ESRB – and finally capped by the swinging sounds of a boisterous backing band – sporting harpsichord, bassoon and all – not too unlike Tim Burton’s go-to Oingo Boingo man Danny Elfman’s gothic scores. All this in Adobe Flash!”

£0.39, $0.49, 0.39€ – read more on The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom

Dark Void Zero

“The second aspect that makes Dark Void Zero stand out from the pack is its aforementioned fictional wrapping. Rather than simply giving the game a retro-style audiovisual coating, Other Ocean have gone so far as to implement in the game the aspects that define the games of the past, including their worst. Expecting the game to play like recent game, or say a forgiving rendition of the Mega Man topos, is a surefire path to disappointment. Instead, Dark Void Zero has been designed to leave a lingering taste of haemoglobin in your mouth – and in fact, biting through this all too-familiar a flavour of iron is one’s best weapon in soldiering through the annoyances of the game.”

£2.00, $3.34, 2.67€ – read more on Dark Void Zero

Giveaway

To roll with the theme, we have a budget-sized giveaway reserved for this occasion – you are eligible to win a digital download of the fantastic Shatter OST by the artist Module if you

1. Retweet this tweet
2. Follow @slowdownvg on Twitter.

Both requirements need be fulfilled when the contest ends Thursday, the 6th of January, 16:00 GMT. We will randomly pick a winner and direct message you the details.

We did a lot of thinking.
As a result, we come to the conclusion we abandoned to release it in 2010.
Because, it’s better to enhance the completeness instead of completing it roughly in a hurry.

We are so sorry.
…
We are really frustrating to our ineffectuality like being stuck at such a thing.
Above all, we are sorry for the people who are waiting LA-MULANA.
And also, we are sad to be considered that NIGORO is always late.

Luckily for the team, Nigoro’s western fan base seems to be a highly appreciative bunch; both in the comments of the post, and on Twitter, (for instance, @TheUltraJMan tweets, “I’m sure the final product will be amazing, I’d wait years for this release if I had to! Here’s to an amazing 2011 release!”) fans have already started literally pouring in messages of encouragement! *cough* Whatever happened to all the good old-fashioned obsessive-compulsives?

In any case, if you’re seriously bummed out about the minor delay, there’s always the massively long PC original, translated by Aeon-Genesis. Plus, to make up for the delay, Nigoro also promise to release their first DLC, “Hell Sanctuary”, in conjunction with the full WiiWare game.