Just an 80's kid still playing video games
The very popular internet comic is coming to an Xbox 360 near you. “On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness” stars the ever-so-wondrous Gabe and Tycho in an RPG adventure through the 1920’s. You’ll be able to pick it up next Wednesday for 1600 Microsoft points and even the PC, Mac and Linux for $19.95. Learn more about it at playgreenhouse.com.
Aspyr Media, the folks behind the Mac version of Guitar Hero III has announced a series of Guitar Hero III tournaments around the country that will be held in many different Apple stores. Locations and times are as follows:
* Mall of America (Bloomington, MN), 3/1 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
* San Francisco (Stockton St.), 3/15 2 p.m – 4 p.m.
* Pasadena (Colorado Blvd.), 3/15 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.
* International Plaza (Tampa, FL), 3/15 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.
* Crossgates (Albany, NY), 3/15 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.
* North Shore (Peabody, MA), 3/15 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.
* Memorial City (Houston, TX), 3/15 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.
* North Michigan Avenue (Chicago, IL), 3/22 7 p.m. – 9 p.m.
* Third Street Promenade (Santa Monica, CA), 3/22 7 p.m. – 9 p.m.
* Fifth Avenue (New York, NY), 3/22 7 p.m. – 9 p.m.
* Soho (New York, NY), 4/1 or 4/2 6:30 p.m. TBD
Wow, I actually remember buying starter packs for this game when I was in high school about 10 years ago. Yeah, I was a nerd, but I really loved that game. My cards are probably worth a fortune by now too, considering how much they were worth then. Anyway, if you are a fan of the game, you’ll soon be able to enjoy it on your Xbox 360 as well as your computer.
Wizards of the Coast has announced that the very popular game will be developed by AStainless Games, Ltd. who will be providing the XBLA version and Mind Control Software, who will be developing the Mac version. The two together will work together on the creation of the Windows version.
Spore has been talked about within the gaming community for a long time now and many people are anxious to get their hands on it. Well, Electronic Arts has given us a release date of September 7th, 2008 for PC, Mac, DS and the mobile phone. Not as good as the expected Spring target, but at least we have a firm date to look forward to. Begin counting down the days. Oh, and here’s a “launch trailer” which doesn’t really explain much.
How about another free game? This time the game is Frets on Fire. This game is very much like Guitar Hero, except it’s played using your computer’s keyboard. This game has all kinds of great features. First, it supports guitar controllers, so you don’t actually have to play with your keyboard if you really don’t want to. The game also contains hundreds of community created songs, it has a song editor to create your own songs, and it supports the importing of Guitar Hero 1 and 2 tracks. Oh yeah, and it’s Mac, Linux, and PC compatible. This really is a great one.
Don’t you just love the open source community? That’s where Freeciv came from and now you get to play the complete full version for free. Freeciv is an empire building strategy game that was inspired by the history of human civilization. The goal of the game is to basically to lead your tribe from way back in the times of the stone age all the way to the future of the space age. You can download the game for either Mac, Linux, or PC.
There’s a new site out there aiming to bring next-generation gaming online. According to their website, on InstantAction, you can play fully 3D, console-style games right in your internet browser. InstantAction comes from the creators of another awesome website that you may not know, The Great Games Experiment, so I’m expecting this one to be great as well. If you sign up right away, you can reserve a username, receive 500 ActionTokens, and you have the chance to participate in the private beta. Not many games listed on there right now, but I’m signing up right away just in case. Maybe this could be the “GameTap like” program that is actually compatible on all operating systems.
Mac users just keep getting more and more cool games to play, which is really good news to me, because, alas! I am a Mac user. The good news this time is that Spore and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare will soon be Mac compatible. No release dates have been announced as of yet, but both games are expected to be released sometime this year. I wouldn’t say that this is a reason to purchase a Mac, but I would say it’s a good reason not to dismiss it the next time you need a quality computer.