thirteen pennies tumbling

Bastion is My Game of the Year!

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 20:23:00 -0500

I was right. I love Skyrim, and Kirby, and Sword & Sworcery, and Tiny Wings, and even appreciated returning to Inside a Star-Filled Sky, but when I sat down the other day to close the book on my 2011 journal, it was Bastion I thought about the most.

Thank you Supergiant Games. I can’t wait to see what you do next!

Bastion is not My GOTY

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 11:15:23 -0500

I thought it might be. Definitely in the top five with Okamiden, Ilomilo and Portal 2. But then there came the Dovahkiin…

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

There is so much truth here! via insanitymygenius: Thanks...

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 12:27:08 -0400

There is so much truth here!

via insanitymygenius:

Thanks Mario!

tinycartridge: Game Informer’s The Legend Of Zelda: Skyward...

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 00:28:00 -0400

tinycartridge:

Game Informer’s The Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword cover. Along with this custom piece from Nintendo’s artist, this October issue features a “14-page run-down of every major Zelda release up to this point”, and a “10-page exclusive hands-on with Skyward Sword”.

So I guess I’ll be getting a lecture from whatever Gamestop clerk is working the cash register when I try to buy this without subscribing or signing up for their customer tracking service… meh.

Up way too early this morning… taking close-ups of my...

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 08:26:00 -0400

Up way too early this morning… taking close-ups of my cats. No energy to do anything else.

Bastion Just Might Be My GOTY

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 10:00:05 -0400

I originally wrote this for GoodGame Get!, but really liked how it turned out so I’m sharing it here as well. If you haven’t played this game, you should. GOTY contender, and now on PC!

There are just too many games. It’s one of those good/bad things about the industry. Now that indie developers are creating masterpieces, how can we ever play them all? Writing about my favorite game of the summer, I feel like I dropped the ball. Even though it was only released a couple weeks ago, I’m a little late to the party. The torrent of fall games has begun — it’s “back-to-school” time and Madden drops tomorrow!

But that’s no reason to forget the lazy days and hot, sultry nights of summer. And it’s no reason to forget the Bastion…

Bastion is this year’s something different and landed strangely, like something different is wont to do, on Xbox Live Arcade, taking it’s place beside the legacies of past summer hits Braid and Limbo (though, thankfully, unlike the others, bouncing quickly to PC). By something different I mean it’s artsy, but fun. Challenging in it’s on way and offering a story unlike anything that’s come before. Bastion channels the cool of the Coen Brother’s Big Lebowsky; the grace of the isometric wonderland of Nintendo’s Mario & Luigi games; and the twang of Joss Whedon’s Firefly. But in doing so it never, ever loses it’s own identity.

Oh sure, at first you’ll just see a pretty standard isometric action-RPG, but as the world rises around you and you take a moment to embrace it, listen to what it has to say and savor the spice of it’s design, you’ll soon discover Bastion is something different, something special. Lend an ear and you’ll be charmed by the ever-present, and rarely-repetitive Narrator, an addition which enriches the narrative and drives the game forward with a smokey tone that would make Sam Elliot envious. Investigate a little more and you’ll be caught up in the uncomfortably real storyline. Let go of your expectations and you’ll be talking Game of the Year…

Most importantly, if you’re willing to accept the challenges this game offers, it will kick your ass.

I’ve heard complaints about players not liking the two weapon limit, or the multiple times the game swaps weapons mid-level. Heads up guys… you’re not meant to like it. You’re meant to overcome the challenge it presents to you. By requiring you to mix up your weapons, the developers, brilliantly, created a way to add both variety to gameplay and a new level of difficulty to the flow of the game without having to rely on some over-used RPG trope, like shoe-horning in another boss fight (which just slows down play). Sure it’s a blast to load out your favorites and power them up until you can whomp through any level with impunity, but that’s not the point of this narrative. Replacing weapons mid-level will break your rhythm, but in return it gives you a better, more challenging game.

Bastion doesn’t try to over-complicate gameplay to hide it’s familiar action-RPG mechanics; instead it innovates narrative form, and shines through presentation. The final result is a game as comfortable as an old shoe and as bright and shiny as a new penny.

FYI, despite the variety of tools and weapons, I rocked the Brusher’s Pike and Fang Repeater almost exclusively. But that’s Bastion, it let’s you roll the way you want, and has something to say about every choice you make.

That’s why it’s so damn good!

- Andy

It's Official! Fourth Layton Includes "London Life"

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 15:31:00 -0400

Just shared the following over at GoodGameGet!:

Nintendo dropped a few bits of North American news over the weekend, including an October 17th release date for Professor Layton and the Last Specter (and something about a gold wiimote). But the big news in the press release was the announcement that the 100 hour Layton RPG “London Life” from Mother 3 creator Brownie Brown will be included. Yay! Here’s a snippet…

Professor Layton and the Last Specter for the Nintendo DS family of systems is the fourth installment in the Professor Layton puzzle adventure series. It begins a new trilogy that is a prequel to the original games, set three years before the events in Professor Layton and the Curious Village(TM). The game contains more puzzles than any in the series to date. As a North American exclusive to the overall Professor Layton and the Last Specter package, a bonus role-playing game called Professor Layton’s London Life(TM) containing more than 100 hours of additional content will be available to players from the start of the game.

Note the last sentence. Love those guys! Pre-ordered in less than 30 seconds!

Pokecats by PRGuitarman, who knows a thing or two about drawing...

Sat, 27 Aug 2011 18:57:08 -0400

Pokecats by PRGuitarman, who knows a thing or two about drawing cats. (via tinycartridge)

On Bastion, and X-Play's "Lame" Review

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 12:03:00 -0400

On Bastion, and X-Play's "Lame" Review:

Just posted some thoughts about video game narrative over at GGG! I guess I’m feeling a little extra protective of Bastion because I have enjoyed it so much, but I stand by my assertion that the story is very good, and worth exerting a little effort to understand.

via goodgameget:

But X-play’s review got me thinking: Are we, as gamers, untrained at parsing narrative alongside gameplay? Is that what’s going on here? Are we so used to receiving story through cut-scenes, audio clips or text-based menu entries, that having specific narrative presented during combat, when our attention is directed elsewhere, ensures the information to understand the story is lost in the din of monster whomping? Or maybe X-play’s reviewer was just too lazy to take a moment and listen to the story and expects the average X-play viewer to be the same way.

More sketching… a little inking… mainly relaxing.

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 12:07:16 -0400

More sketching… a little inking… mainly relaxing.

I'm So Doing This

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 10:20:00 -0400

I love Zelda games. They represent what’s best about video games, and even though not always perfect I think it’s fair to say there’s no such thing as a bad Zelda game. My favorite is an unusual pick, but I stand by it with resolution. ”The Minish Cap”, to me, is everything that’s great about classic Zelda, packaged in a short and sweet adventure. I dig playing it on a GBA Micro: ”tiny Link on a tiny screen!”

I also love Nintendo’s Flipnote, the tiny animation program free to DSi and 3DS owners. As part of this year’s 25th Anniversary of Zelda celebration, Nintendo is putting forth a Flipnote challenge to feature “The Legend of Zelda” in a special 20 second Flipnote animation. They’re even letting folks submit hand drawn versions if they want (that’s 240 frames, though).

And I’m so there… bringing the Minish Cap with me!

Hey, BTW. I recently revisited the very first Zelda. The NES version. Man, that’s a hard game. I forgot how challenging (and how great!) those old games were.

via legoexpress — (click)

Sun, 07 Aug 2011 17:41:23 -0400

via legoexpress — (click)

Playing around with some simple characters for a little project...

Sat, 06 Aug 2011 15:29:00 -0400

Playing around with some simple characters for a little project I’ve started. Don’t know who this is but he just may make an appearance in something cool…

The Amazing Bastion Soundtrack

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 13:27:00 -0400

Video game soundtrack of the year contender! Finally available!

Awsum Cat Party

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 14:05:33 -0400

Lot’s more where this came from.

This little guy appeared on my sketchpad this morning… I...

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 15:28:26 -0400

This little guy appeared on my sketchpad this morning… I wander what he wants?

Love my new DS case from Etsy artisan whataboutki!

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 09:23:34 -0400

Love my new DS case from Etsy artisan whataboutki!

I drew these on my DSi XL with Art Academy!

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 21:14:00 -0400

I drew these on my DSi XL with Art Academy!

My Takeaway from the E3 Press Events

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 15:52:10 -0400

So I just finished watching the Nintendo E3 press conference and, now having seen all the big press events, find myself a little unimpressed. Despite the big announcements, only a few things caught my attention. I’m just not a Gears of War/Assassin’s Creed-type of gamer, so there wasn’t a lot for me, but a few things caught my eye…

Love, love, love that Nintendo began with Zelda and even went so far as to mention a game for the DSi (the only one of the whole Nintendo press conference). Though certainly not a surprise, leading with a Zelda retrospective, focusing on the upcoming games and even featuring the music from the series may end up being my favorite moment of E3.

Looking back on yesterday, Microsoft is at E3 to talk about Kinect and they certainly have a lot to talk about. As a game controller, the Kinect does little for me, but the “Minority Report” controls are cool, and, hey, they finally found something to do with Bing! The games press are being a little hard on Microsoft’s event, which I thought was pretty good, and I was happy to see game-play from the Tomb Raider origin story.

Definitely respected EA’s straight-forward “here are our games, nothing more” presentation and wished Ubisoft would have followed suit. But Ubisoft did offer an unexpected, and for me the most exciting of the day, announcement — FarCry3 (I agree it’s “the surprise game of the show” according to Ubisoft). Loved FarCry2, and I’m blown away to see another! Looks good, too.

Though Sony’s press conference was a little too Move heavy, the mea culpa at the beginning was admirable. The new PSVita (no comment on the name, but then again WiiU?) looks very attractive at $249, and will be even more attractive if Sony provides a way to get some of the best PSP titles on it at launch. (Monster Hunter Vita, please?)

However, the WiiU, despite the academic sounding name, is the most exciting hardware news of the show, and will, very likely, be my primary console in 2013, especially if publishers like EA are on board day one. It’s not even the gameplay elements that excite me. The WiiU controller offers a new way to interact with an entire platform, and if Nintendo follows through on the backwards compatibility promised in their press conference, it could really be a game changer… a practical peripheral, for a change.

Oh, and Layton 4 is definitely coming to America this fall, but still no word on London Life. C’mon, Nintendo, remember your DS base here!

Taken with instagram

Thu, 26 May 2011 23:39:59 -0400

Taken with instagram