Saturday, December 31, 2011

Infamous Adventures' Space Quest II Remake is Out

Infamous Adventures has released their free fan remake of Space Quest II, which is available here. The remake is made in the adventure game creation program, Adventure Game Studio. It was made in the style of Sierra's later SCI remakes, giving the game a mouse controlled interface, removing the arrow key sensitive deaths, updating the graphics (the game aims to emulate the 256 color VGA graphics of the official Sierra remakes of the 1990's, although the game features a higher color palette), as well as new music, voices and sound effects.

It is made without approval of Activision (the current license holders of the Sierra franchises), but it has the (unofficial) approval of one of the original creator of Space Quest, Scott Murphy, as well as Josh Mandel (co-creator of Space Quest 6), who performs the voice of David Letterdroid in this remake.

In other Space Quest fan game news, a new Space Quest fangame with a new storyline (also created with Adventure Game Studio) called Vohaul Strikes Back has also just been released. It's a good time to be a Space Quest fan, since the fans are keeping the franchise alive.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Myst is Coming to Nintendo 3DS

Myst, the game that is rivaled only by Tetris for the amount of systems it has appeared on, is set to arrive on yet another new platform: the Nintendo 3DS.

Hoplite Research is developing this version of Cyan World's popular adventure. It will utilize the stereoscopic 3D screen of the Nintendo 3DS and will include all five islands from the original Myst plus the RIME Age which was introduced in realMYST.

Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 3 for iPhone is Out

Tales of Monkey Island: Chapter 3: Lair of the Leviathan is now out for iPhone. It is available for purchase here at the App Store.

In other Telltale news, Jurassic Park: The Game is finally available to download on PlayStation 3 in Europe on the European PlayStation Network. The disc versions of the game on Xbox 360 and PC should be hitting European shores next year.

Law & Order Legacies Episodes 1 & 2 Are Out For iOS

The first two episodes of Law & Order: Legacies, the seven episode series where you get to play fan favorite characters from the entire run of the Law & Order franchise, are out now for iPhone/iPod Touch and iPad in one universal app from the App Store. The first episode is available for purchase here, and episode 2 (as well as 3-7 once they are out in 2012) is available to purchase in-game.

The two episodes as well as the remaining episodes are scheduled in 2012 for PC and Mac as well.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Jurassic Park Episode 2 Out for iPad 2

Jurassic Park: The Game Episode 2: The Calvary is out now for iPad 2. While the other platforms received all four episodes simultaneously in November, it appears the iPad is receiving the game in Telltale's normal fashion of one episode per month.

Jurassic Park: The Game is best classified as an interactive movie with extremely light adventure elements. It consists mostly of quick time events, a term that originated in Shenmue that basically means timed button presses. It's like an evolved form of gameplay from the Dragon's Lair arcade games. Unlike the old arcade games, the controls for button presses are presented on screen. The adventure element in Jurassic Park consists of scenes interspersed between the QTEs where you search a scene for clues on how to progress. You interact with characters by speaking to them, manipulate objects, and interact with the environment. There is no inventory. These adventure-lite scenes are similar to the crime scene portions of Telltale's CSI games.

If you take into consideration that the game is not a traditional adventure and are not adverse to the fact that many scenes that consist solely of timed button presses, then the game is worth buying.

You can buy episode 2 for iPad 2 from the app store here.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 2 for iPhone is Here

Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 2: The Siege of Spinner Cay is now available for iPhone and iPod Touch at the iTunes Store. Chapter 3 is set to come out for the iPhone on December 22.

In addition to that, Telltale has some pretty big sales going on. Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 1 is free for the iPhone for a limited time. Most of their iPad and iPhone games are on sale as well for $2.99. Get the full list of titles on sale from this Telltale blog post.

For PC and Mac gamers, most of Telltale's full seasons are on sale for $9.99. Once you buy a full season, you will also be eligible for the season DVD which you can get for just the cost of shipping. The complete list of seasons on sale is here.

In addition to that, three PC and Mac episodes are also free for a limited time: Back to the Future - It's About Time, Sam & Max - Ice Station Santa, and Sam & Max - The Penal Zone.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Stacking is Coming to PC

Double Fine's stacking won G4's best of 2011 awards for "best downloadable game".

In their acceptance video, Tim Schafer and Lee Petty included a quick note that Stacking was coming soon to PC.

The game is already out (along with an extra downloadable mission called The Hobo King) on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Law & Order: Legacies Coming to iOS Next Week

Law & Order: Legacies is Telltale's episodic game that was originally announced to be based on Law & Order: Los Angeles before that show's cancellation.

Law & Order: Legacies includes fan favorite characters from the entire run of the Law & Order series. The series will have seven episodes. The first half of each episode will deal with investigating the crime, and the first half will deal with prosecuting the accused. The game will have multiple endings, and it is your choice on whether the defendants are tried for manslaughter or murder. It's also possible to lose the trial, but still continue your progress in the game.

The first two episodes will be released on iPhone/iPod Touch and iPad in one universal app. The final five episodes, as well as PC and Mac versions, will be released in 2012.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Indiana Jones Adventure World: Warriors of the Sky

Zynga's casual social adventure game for Facebook, Indiana Jones Adventure World, has just recieved an update with a new five part adventure with Indiana Jones.

Now in addition to Indiana Jones and the Calendar of the Sun, which had you working with a non-playable Indiana Jones in a race to find the calendar (which was said to be able to control eclipses) against fellow archeologist Doctor Forrestal (the skewered skeleton in Raiders of the Lost Ark, shown here alive and well several years earlier), there is Warriors of the Sky.

In Warriors of the Sky, Indiana Jones is asked by his friend Harold Oxley (from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) for help in finding the Temple of the Sky. Indiana Jones gets a lead on a piece of the temple in Peru, so you begin your search and get assistance from Harold Oxley over two-way radio.

The authentic Indiana Jones feel of the Indiana Jones missions is thanks to Hal Barwood (author of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine), who is credited in this game in the area of "narrative design".

It's still a Zynga game (so there's still energy depletion, requirements of requests to friends to receive items, and the optional ability to purchase in-game items with real money), but in my opinion it's worth the social game hassle to experience the story.

Jurassic Park: The Game Headed to Europe

Kalypso Media announced that they are going to publish Telltale's Jurassic Park: The Game for PC and Xbox 360 early next year in Europe.

It is also coming out for download in Europe for PlayStation 3 through the PlayStation Network this week. If you are in Europe, and you purchase a 12-month PSN Plus subscription before midnight on November 12, you will recieve Jurassic Park: The Game for free.

Friday, December 2, 2011

Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 2 for iPhone Coming

Tales of Monkey Island episode 2: The Siege of Spinner Cay for iPhone has been submitted for approval, and should appear on the iTunes App Store soon.