Pete Mecum

1001 Spikes is Now Available on Steam!

Discover the lost treasures of Ukampa in South America as Aban Hawkins searches for his estranged father, world-famous archeaologist, Jim Hawkins. Aban Hawkins races into the frozen tundra of the antarctic, undiscovered temple ruins and the vast caverns of South America in search of his father and the legendary treasure rumored to lie behind the Golden Door of Poko-Mum.

Sniper Elite V2 is FREE today only on Steam!*

Sniper Elite V2 is an award-winning and authentic World War II sniping experience. You are elite US sniper Karl Fairburne. Parachuted into Berlin amidst the Germans’ final stand, your mission is to prevent Nazi V2 rocket program technology from falling into the hands of the besieging Red Army. You must aid key scientists keen to defect to the US, and terminate those who would help the Russians.

To claim your free copy of Sniper Elite V2, just visit the store page and click the install button*! If you don’t install it, it goes back to regular price tomorrow and you miss out!

*Offer ends June 5th at 10AM Pacific Time.

Deal with it.

Silly, Link. You're just adding saliva to the connectors which will inevitably corrode your connections. Either uses a Q-tip with some isopropyl rubbing alcohol or find a different, more creative, solution.



See more: Cartridge Of Time

Mega Man doesn't just acquire defeated robot masters' abilities, he also acquires scissors, record players, refrigerators, stoves, chopping blocks...



See more: Waste Not, Want Not

CRYENGINE is Now Available on Steam with 1, 3, and 6-month Subscriptions*!

CRYENGINE is the first all-in-one development solution with truly scalable computation, multi-award winning graphics, state-of-the-art lighting, realistic physics, intuitive visual scripting, high fidelity audio, designer friendly AI, an efficient 3D stereoscopic solution across all platforms and much, more - straight out of the box.

With CRYENGINE, developers are fully equipped to create standout experiences for PC, using the engine behind games like Ryse: Son of Rome and the Crysis Series.

*Steam customers can sign-up for, manage, cancel or renew Subscription Plans at any time, online directly through Steam. Visit Steam Support for more information about Steam Subscription Plans.

One day you will purchase a multi-pack bag of assorted crisps. Maybe because you’re going to a party, maybe because you’re living on a budget. You won’t be overly fond of any of the contained flavours, every bite will feel a little on the soft side of fresh, and the individual packets will be 90% air, but you’ll at least feel comforted by having choice and abundance.

Welcome to Watch_Dogs, the latest videogame from Ubisoft. You play as Aiden Pearce, a brooding packet of cheese & onion whose hacker-criminal past has led to the death of his niece. Now you must run, drive and hack around its ready salted open world on a quest for truth and vengeance, alternating between salt ‘n’ vinegar main quests and a prawn cocktail of crafting and side missions familiar from Far Cry 3 among others.

Running low on crisp flavours, I may just end my review right here. But there’s something of Watch underscore Dogs stuck in my teeth and I need to unpick it. This is wot I think.

… [visit site to read more]

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel has me interested in Borderlands. So far I’ve found the series a so-so FPS and a so-so action-RPG, and throwing the two together didn’t help either, but the Proquel (I can invent words too, see) at least has some fun ideas, mostly thanks to being set on a good old moon. Low-gravity is interesting to me, after years of server admins turning gravity down for jollies, and so’s introducing oxygen as a resource to be collected, created, lost, and exploited. Watching 15 minutes of it in a new ‘gameplay walkthrough’ trailer doesn’t make me want to play the game, but those ideas have given more enjoyment than playing Borderlands ever has.

… [visit site to read more]

I spent most of the weekend playing the magnificent Distant Worlds: Universe (many words on that tomorrow) and it’s left me feeling like a claustrophobic sardine – craving more space. Thankfully, Elite: Dangerous is on-hand with a new development diary in the form of Captain Braben talking to camera while the cosmos occurs in the background. Elite is already an exciting game and most of the features that I associate with the series haven’t even been integrated yet. Hot laser dogfights are peachy keen though. The new video shows interstellar exploration and the devilish details that mark the enormity of the game world.

… [visit site to read more]

welcome to the internet, please follow me

a solid 6

Suddenly; cats.

Today's Deal: Save 66% on Volgarr the Viking!*

Look for the deals each day on the front page of Steam. Or follow us on twitter or Facebook for instant notifications wherever you are!

*Offer ends Friday at 10AM Pacific Time

[Video Link]

I’ll start with a quick recap. Back in March 2013 I started working on a new project I called Tunnel Racer. It was a basic tunnel racing game that I created simply to try out some new software in Unity. I made a ton of progress very quickly and had a working game in no time – I even let a few friends play it on my iPhone and iPad at PAX that year. In May, I was contacted by a couple guys in California starting an indie game studio called Homunkulus, who had a concept for a game very similar to what I had created. We decided to team up, using my work to quickly get something working for their project. The working title has changed a few times, but we’re currently using the name Octal.

While I haven’t worked as quickly on the new project, I’ve made several changes to move my work closer to the vision for Octal: there’s updated tunnel graphics, new abilities and controls, and an entire system for level generation (along with a simple Windows app to quickly create levels). Now for the good stuff: screenshots.

Updated Tunnel Graphics
In Tunnel Racer, the tunnel was a static 8-sided cylinder that the player’s ship circled. In Octal, the tunnel sides are generated in rings (much like the obstacles) and are semi transparent, allowing the new tunnel graphics to show through. Those new tunnel graphics are the best part, and really make the game pop:

In Octal, you’re racing a ship through a wormhole. When I think wormhole, I think purple and blue for some reason. There are a few layers to the tunnel effects, so there’s some nice parallax scrolling going on around the tunnel.

New Abilities and Controls
Unlike Tunnel Racer, where your ship simply steered left and right through obstacles, your ship in Octal has two abilities: boost and jump. Holding the boost button on the right allows you to increase your speed, which is important for score and completing the level. Like Tunnel Racer, you’re racing away from something; in my case it was a giant explosion, but in Octal you’re simply trying to remain inside the wormhole. Moving too slowly drops you out of the wormhole and you lose. Boost can be gained by maneuvering through certain obstacles in the game. Jumping is used to dodge obstacles, but can be held to maintain a hover, allowing you to glide over longer obstacles.

In addition to the new abilities, Octal uses an accelerometer-based control scheme. I could never get the left/right tapping controls to work quite right, so this is probably a good change.

Levels and Level Generation
Finally, there’s support for custom-designed levels. The levels in Octal are like circuits in other racers. Each circuit has 8 levels, which will be designed using a custom program I wrote. It’s a really simple application where a user can “paint” a track and specify settings for certain variables in the obstacles on the maps (like a cycle time or animation type). Everything is stored in a simple binary file that is read by the game at runtime.

More to come…
I’ll be posting more in the coming weeks now that I’m back to doing some real work on Octal. I have some ideas about the UI that I’d like to try out and some things on my to-do list that I haven’t gotten around to yet. And there’s still plenty to say about the game itself and the problems I’ll face as I continue to work.

Part 2: Man VS. Motor

View

I wrote a comic about my Tesla Model S.

View

Skullgirls: Big Band, all new content for Unknown app is Now Available on Steam and is completely free for owners of the base game!

Big Band's in full swing!



Once a cop known as Ben Birdland, he fell flat when he got on the wrong side of New Meridian's corrupt police force. Birdland was broken and bent out of shape by his former colleagues, but was tuned up by Dr. Avian and ASG Lab 8. Now he is armed with a full ensemble of pneumatic weaponry, making him the full fortissimo instrument of justice: "Big Band."

Thinking with Time Machine is a free Portal 2 mod in which you will find and use a Time Machine to create a twin of yourself from the past to help you solve the puzzles. The past self accurately repeats all of the player's actions, creating a unique twist on familiar Portal game mechanics.

“Warplot” may sound a bit funny (especially if you’re John and immediately think up the phrase “Warplop”), but Wildstar‘s ambitious system of customizable 40vs40 PVP battlefields is anything but. The basic idea is that you have a “warparty” that jointly owns a massive hovering deathboat (aka, a warplot), and you can deck it out with everything from traps to murderbots to turrets to something called a Chompacabra to bosses you capture while adventuring. When two warplots click together like puzzle pieces, it’s time for all out teaparty war, with countless goodies and “warcoins” going to both the winners and the losers. Wildstar might be a traditional MMO to the core, but goodness is it ever wringing the formula dry. Trailer below.

… [visit site to read more]

Nearwood - Collector's Edition is Now Available on Steam and is 20% off!*
The fate of the magical world is in your hands – free it from evil!

As Jane and Fey explore new locations, they help the villagers survive the freeze, while once again saving Nearwood from the clutches of impending doom!

*Offer ends April 23 at 10AM Pacific Time

Save up to 75% on Warner Brothers LEGO Titles as part of this week's Midweek Madness*!

*Offer ends Friday at 10AM Pacific Time.

Broforce is Now Available on Steam Early Access!

When evil threatens the world, the world calls on Broforce - an under-funded, over-powered paramilitary organization dealing exclusively in excessive force. Brace your loins with up to four players to run ‘n’ gun as dozens of different bros and eliminate the opposing terrorist forces that threaten our way of life. Unleash scores of unique weapons and set off incredible chain reactions of fire, napalm, and limbs in the name of freedom.

Watch_Dogs™ is now available for Pre-Purchase on Steam!

Pre-Purchase now and receive the Blume Agent Pack* which includes a Blume Agent Outfit and Blume Weapon Perk that gives weapons less recoil.

All it takes is the swipe of a finger. We connect with friends. We buy the latest gadgets and gear. We find out what’s happening in the world. But with that same simple swipe, we cast an increasingly expansive shadow. With each connection, we leave a digital trail that tracks our every move and milestone, our every like and dislike. And it’s not just people. Today, all major cities are networked. Urban infrastructures are monitored and controlled by complex operating systems.

In Watch_Dogs, this system is called the Central Operating System (CTOS) – and it controls almost every piece of the city’s technology and holds key information on all of the city’s residents.

You play as Aiden Pearce, a brilliant hacker and former thug, whose criminal past led to a violent family tragedy. Now on the hunt for those who hurt your family, you'll be able to monitor and hack all who surround you by manipulating everything connected to the city’s network. Access omnipresent security cameras, download personal information to locate a target, control traffic lights and public transportation to stop the enemy…and more.

Use the city of Chicago as your ultimate weapon and exact your own style of revenge.

*Offer valid during pre-purchase period only.

Professor Layton sure does have an interesting philosophy: Puzzles before damsels.



See more: No Puzzle Left Unsolved

A group of EarthBound fans, led by a fan named Roach, has been working on a fan game called “EAGLELAND” for quite some time now. There’s also a lot of detail about the game’s story, gameplay mechanics, and more here. The team is actually looking for help, so if you can assist, let them know!

For now, here are some sample screenshots of the game:

Again, check out this forum thread for more gameplay details and story info!

Daniel Hashimoto and his son James are putting your home movies TO SHAME. Daniel, a special effects guy at Dreamworks Animation, has recently started making short home movies starring little James - with a tiny twist: his son is basically a badass sci-fi action hero. Everything this kid imagines he's doing, he's actually doing.

 

Including wielding lightsabers...

 

Using Batman-style grappling guns...

 

And shooting LEGO laser blasters...

 

James seems pretty non-chalant about having THE COOLEST CHILDHOOD MOVIES EVER, but that's okay - I used to make some PRETTY BELIEVABLE lightsaber noises when I was a kid.

 

...