Quickie: Crazy Nuts

Hey Gamers.

I don’t know how I forgot to mention this little bit of insanity.

Surely distracted by something.

As just one of the many innumerable gamers, who just couldn’t refuse the original Eternal Darkness the respect it deserves, this news most certainly excites me. Despite Dennis Dyack’s more recent claim to fame, I’d say people are ready to return to their preferred vehicle of insanity.

And all that entails.

Shadow of the Eternals is looking for some crowd funded support, and will benefit from anyone looking to renew their own crazy. This contribution page can be found here, and has already gained some admirable support from fervent fans.

Moving from crazy to batshit insane.

Having read that recent little bit of nuts on D-Toid, I can’t help but furiously scratch my head.

OFF

This could be me over analyzing. I’ve been known to do so, from time to time. Yet, I feel compelled to wax philosophical about the implications of this unnerving information. EA discussing SimCity in the positive, while alluding to Dead Space and Crysis in the negative, in front of people who want to give money to one of them, has got to be one of the most dishonest business tactics this side of in-game parking meter micro-transactions. I know the presentation was mired in corporate double speak, and would therefore, be impossible for anyone with a truly healthy mind to grasp.

Despite this, EA trying to glaze over what was a massive failure and an incredibly damaging launch, makes me believe they spent most of the SimCity launch huffing inhalants in their own parking lot.

EA, seen here with investors, trying to put a positive spin on the SimCity launch.

We’re talking about EA discussing business matters during an investors call, after all,  so attempting to describe the content of the exchange, would be an effort in rhetorical sarcasm.  More to the point, this may really be of no major importance at all, as everyone involved may have been so heavily medicated and self-involved, EA could have held a fucking demonic square dance and no one would have thought twice about it.

What one shared inhalant might have turned the EA investors call into.

Ultimately, my worry is that with this distortion of facts, or misgivings about “what makes successful”, we observe what is  incredibly degrading to the medium of gaming itself. With so many ridiculous sentiments about what makes a game acceptably successful, or what budgets smaller studios have to contend with, we already have enough reality mangling to deal with. The last thing we need, is for the biggest gaming company around to spew toxic waste about what was clearly a massive failing on their part, and then try to brush it off as “the financially viable option”.

DRM? Fuck that, no one gets to play it.

We’e arrived at a point where a game can now be sold, without any content, let alone bad content. Why restrict access to a title for financial purposes, when you could just restrict access to the title for financial purposes.

Pictured: EA execs brainstorming on their next blockbuster hit,            Spring Time for Hitler: The Game.

Of course, where Pandora’s Box may be opened, shall there be light that is left at the bottom.

And I’m blinded.

Ending on a positive note, Double Fine has announced their own Humble Bundle, and the value within is astonishing. The whole pack is a pay what you want dealie, and in good spirit, can be adjusted to your liking. Give to DF, give to charity, be an asshole and give to no one, it really lets you embrace your inner gamer.

No matter how bad you actually are.

The Bundle itself represents a King’s Feast in the world of gaming, with a pay what you want price for Brutal Legend, Psychonauts, Stacking, and Costume Quest, which all represent some of the best titles in their respective genres. Some of them, being the sole proprietor of their respective genre. The games will be available DRM free, and are available for everyone: PC, MAC, Linux, you name it.

They got it.

To sweeten the deal, people who donate $35 dollars or more get an early look and first dibs on their new title Broken Age, and people who dish out $70 bucks will receive an exclusive Double Fine t-shirt. While I’m super bummed I don’t have enough money for the top shelf premium price (must have T-shirt), I think I may just buy this whole bundle on the cheap, despite already owning multiple copies of many of the titles.

Till Manny do us part, Double Fine.

That’s it for today.

Remember gamers, for all of the worst kind of nuts out there, there is a far darker insanity waiting to be found.
And sometimes, you’ll even be crazy lucky enough to find yourself a Psychonaut.

Happy Gaming,
Pashford

The Cave

Double Fine represents, what I believe, to be a quality litmus test of a gamer. Not the only one, mind you, as there exists all kinds of gamers with all kinds of tastes. Someone who knows of Double Fine by name, and appreciates their work, however, has already passed my standard of excellence. At the very least, I may enjoy the thought that fans of DF may just have a body made up entirely of funny bones.

Or Metal.

For those who aren’t in the awesome know, Double Fine is a company founded by Tim Schafer back in 2000. Tim Schafer did some awesome stuff when he worked at LucasArts, including Grim Fandango, which stands to be one of my fav PC games of all time. Double Fine continued the tradition of all things terrific, as they put out titles like Psychonauts and Brutal Legend. These games represent the small niche of titles that can legitimately boast about their humor, without being unintentionally funny.

DF’s latest outing, The Cave, looks to be continuing the companies trend of quality, and bringing forth a memorable past to create a worthwhile future.

The memorable past I speak of is the lost genre of point and click, and all of the wonder the genre created. While at LucasArts, Tim Schafer, along side Ron Gilbert (on quite a few projects), helped pioneer the P&C experience with games like Monkey Island and Full Throttle. While both went there separate ways in the later 90’s, they eventually found a common ground with conceptualizing “The Cave”, and thus, returned to old form in a P&C game that looks to be worthy of both of their names.

The game can be very explicit.

The premise of The Cave very simply, is to explore. While the experience is mainly puzzle solving, you will have a dash of plat forming, and an endless slew of humor to help guide you in the mysterious environment. The game’s main character focus, is on seven strangers, all of whom have some business to take care of within The Cave’s confines. For example, The Time Traveler is trying to solve a paradox, while The Hillbilly is simply trying to find a lost love. The diversity of the characters, and the odd contrast of what drives them, helps propel you in their own bizarre self-discovery.

Would be one hell of a dinner party.

Further, the characters themselves aren’t just palette swaps. Not only do they all have individual stories that will unfold through a series of cryptic cave drawings, but they all possess their own special powers. The Adventurer can use a grappling hook to get over ledges, while The Monk possess the power of telekinesis. This offers itself to a greater sense of replay ability, and helps to cultivate the differences in the seven personalities, and their own individualize portions of The Cave. While the introductory areas will help familiarize you with your characters of choice, you will very quickly realize how deep The Cave goes. Your interest will be peaked as you pass by sections and elements foreign to your particular group of three chosen adventurers. You will excitedly speculate about what’s around the corner meant for one of the other personalities, and what sly jokes would service their insane puzzle solutions.

I wonder how this will end?

The setting of The Cave itself has a robust array of emotions, the game expresses a lot with very little. The art style has a simplicity, that when mixed with the ambient music, helps to relax you while solving the puzzles. The weird aside is the further into the cave you dive, the darker the tone of the game will become. All of the characters have this strange appeal, but something a bit unsettling which helps to spark your imagination. In fact, the whole game has a marvelous sense of wonder about it, which creates a curiosity that will propel you to reach the bottom of The Cave and find it’s dark secrets.

So a Time Traveler, a Monk, and an Adventurer walk into a cave…

One of the reasons I’ve enjoyed the first part of the game so much, isn’t because of this weird haze of villainy that seems to pervade the subtleties of the design. The contrast provided by the Scahfer/Gilbert humor is on display from everything to the fun puzzle solutions, to the dialogue and narration. The narrator for the entirety of the game is The Cave itself, which goes to great lengths at killing you with kindness, or at least, making you laugh till it hurts. From The Cave’s philosophical ramblings, to his fourth wall breaking game explanations, and even confessions involving the difficulties of dating that being a talking cave presents, and you get an idea of how absurdly riotous most of the game effortlessly achieves.

Must be this curious to ride.

I wanted to provide quick first impressions of the game on launch day, but sadly, was delayed. I’m happy to report I believe this game is impressing me on much the same level the LucasArts games of tradition always did. Time has certainly failed to slow down Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert, as The Cave comes well equipped with charm, and a cultivated sense of quality. The game is available on most formats, and you can grab it on Steam for a great price (that’s before an awesome Steam sale mind you).

Do yourself a favor and grab a copy, and I’ll leave you with one final thought from Ron Gilbert, co-creator.

“I felt if [the characters] were just talking all the way through the cave, they would be less of a mystery, They would have the ability to just lay out what their issues are and who they are, and I want players to get to the end of the game and still have questions about them.”