GameRants

‘Icarian: Kindred Spirits’ Hands-On

“Icarian: Kindred Spirits” has been unleashed on the European WiIWare service, where you can purchase it for just 10 euros (1000 Nintendo points). As you may have seen, it’s a charmingly stylised platformer that at one point was thought to be the next “Kid Icarus”. You can’t get more praise than that, but it’s actually an independent effort by a small Spanish studio (don’t miss their video on the Nintendo Channel), ‘Over the Top Games‘.

While I haven’t exactly spent a lot of time with it just yet, I figured some first impressions may be useful for anyone too eager to wait for actual reviews. You can see the visuals for yourself, so I’ll restrict myself in saying they’re even better, and focus on the experience.

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PSP Go Officially Unveiled, PS3 Slim Confirmed?

Sony’s cat is already out of the E3 bag. PlayStation 3 users were happy to find that the upcoming Qore subscriber episode, initially  scheduled for June, is (accidentally?) available for download and contains juicy information about the next iteration of Sony’s handheld, the PSP Go. What is it all about then? Hit the jump to find out. Read the rest of this entry »

Konami & Atomic Games Bring You Iraq

The Wall Street Journal recently revealed that Atomic Games is creating a game called “Six Days in Fallujah”, for Konami of all publishers. As you can imagine, this title is all about one of the bloodiest battles of the recent Iraq war. They more or less hype it as a title that will raise the realism bar and become more than a mere game, and in fact an interactive documentary portraying the harsh realities of such a conflict. Read the rest of this entry »

Have Eastern Developers Really Lost The Magic?

Konami’s Akira Yamaoka, responsible for “Silent Hill” and its score, first stated – near the end of 2007 – that Japanese developers are lagging behind Western studios. The sentiment seemed true with market shares constantly swinging in favor of Western productions. A couple of days ago, Platinum Games’ Atsushi Inaba made a similar statement. Is this happening for real, and how dangerous is it for the industry as a whole? Before you answer, consider some of what I have to say. Read the rest of this entry »

SCF Releases RPG Freebie ‘Exit Fate’

This is as good a first post as any I suppose. SCF, the one-man Netherlands outfit developing games using the popular RPG Maker suite, has released its latest project, “Exit Fate”.

Following in the footsteps of the popular “Last Scenario”, it’s one of the better freebie RPGs you’re likely to find on the www, and as such is well worth the download. Hit the jump for more.

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Freelancer

Disclaimer: Links to samples of past freelance work.

• “King’s Bounty – The Legend” Review – Written for GameCyte.

More of my GameCyte work can be seen here.

• “Mount&Blade” Review – Written for TheGameReviews.

‘The Ship’ Review

Disclaimer: This review was originally written for my first website, Mod HQ, and posted on 12 Jul 2006. The images have since been lost, but the text remains in its original form.

Basic Premise
There’s not much of a story to “The Ship”. The mysterious Mr X has built a series of beautiful big ships and all the passengers received a free ticket to a luxury cruise aboard one of them. Upon boarding they discover that they are to take part in Mr X’s twisted idea of a game as their life and the lives of their families are at risk. Their only chance for safety is to win. Read the rest of this entry »

Ritual Entertainment Q&A

Disclaimer: This interview was originally done for my first website, Mod HQ, and posted on 15 Feb 2006, three months before the release of “SiN Episodes: Emergence”, and of course before MumboJumbo acquired Ritual Entertainment.

I was able to send a set of questions regarding “SiN Episodes” and its development to Ritual Entertainment for the interview you will be reading here. First of all I’d like to thank Tom “ParadoX” Mustaine (Director of Development / Vice President) for setting the whole thing up and of course Levelord (Co-owner / Level Designer) and Steve “Badman” Hessel (Community Relations Manager) for the time they took to answer all these questions. Also for putting up with me being a pain in the neck. Read on for the goodies! Read the rest of this entry »

Valve Software Q&A

Disclaimer: This interview was originally posted on my first personal website, Mod HQ, long before the announced release date of “Aftermath”, the first public name of what later became known as “Half-Life 2: Episode One”.

I recently had the great opportunity to interview Erik Johnson, Valve Software’s Project Manager. Many things are discussed in it and while not all of my questions were answered (which is, of course, more than understandable, but also the reason some of the questions may appear a little disjointed), there are more than enough juicy details here to sink your teeth into whether you are a player or developer. Read on! Read the rest of this entry »