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PAX West 2018: Mikaela Is Already Addicted To ‘Damnview: Built From Nothing’

by Mikaela MaxwellSeptember 2, 2018

My second day of PAX began by heading to the Grand Hyatt to meet Juan De La Torre, Edu Verz, and Fernando Ortega of Brainwash Gang and Sindiecate Arts, the creators of Damnview: Built From Nothing, to demo and talk about the intriguing-sounding title. I found them hunkered down in the lobby on some couches, setting up to play on a computer with an Xbox controller. It was so totally casual, and not crowded or loud, which was a great departure from the rest of the PAX set up. I arrived a few minutes early, so I tucked myself away in a corner to quickly watch a gameplay trailer, as I hadn’t had much to go on to prepare for the interview (which you’ll be able to hear on Geekscape Games this coming week). Immediately, I was struck by two things: “oh god what have I signed myself up for, this doesn’t look like a game I would ever be drawn to,” and “wow this looks really interesting and I’m so glad I have signed up to find out more about it.”

Going into this meeting, I didn’t really know what to expect, I had just enough information to be hooked in, without enough to anticipate anything. The description I got of this game was: “I can’t share the name just yet as it’s unannounced, but the game is a simulation sandbox world examining occidental culture and its different social classes – conceptually it’s easy to relate it to Stardew Valley, where a set of systems put together the overall gameplay experience, except it reflects our western capitalistic society and its effect on our human spirit.”

I basically read this and thought: I LOVE Stardew Valley, plus capitalism IS awful… so YES! I am so in. In fact I’m pretty sure that was my exact emailed response.

Upon meeting up with the guys we immediately watched the trailer again, this time with sound on, and what a difference that makes! The music accompanying the trailer is hauntingly beautiful and spells out a wonderful story. I am still wondering if the story at the beginning of the trailer is a symbol of the possibilities and random chance of life/the game, or if it is actually a storyline that is present within the game. As they explained the game things got a little bit clearer and I got more and more invested… Oh my goodness I can not wait to play this game in full!

The style of characters in Damnview is pretty great. The landscape is drab and gritty, giving you the impression of a defunct society. It is done in an 8-bit style, but smoothed out a little to be more accessible to a wider audience. The characters are anthropomorphized animals, all different kinds, and from what I saw this seems like a great choice! Something about playing a game that can sometimes feel depressingly similar to real life is made much more enjoyable when you are a moose. Its funny that I, and obviously many other people, love to play games where you are basically living this characters life and going through the day to day tasks required to hold down a job, eat food, have a place to sleep. This game has all of those things and more, there are a wide variety of ways in which you can play the game, and goals you can choose to work towards. What you are doing really depends on what it is you are trying to accomplish and you get to choose what that is. It all just depends what kind of lifestyle you want your character to lead, what you want to put effort into, and what kinds of challenges you wants them to face.

Damnview: Built From Nothing takes life simulation to the next level. Every single thing you do has a legit consequence that impacts your game play. Accidentally crash your car, cool you have to pay for repairs now. Late for work because you crashed your car, cool you’re fired now. Lost your job, cool you can’t afford to pay rent, guess you better find a good street spot to sleep now. Can’t catch a break and wanna get off the street, maybe you sell a little bit of weed, make a little bit of money. That feels pretty good, don’t need to sleep on the street any more, maybe you sell more drugs and with that strategy manage to move up in the world. Just hope you don’t get caught cause then you’re going to jail. End up in jail, welp now you gotta figure out how to work that system. Are you gonna smuggle stuff in and get ahead in prison, or are you gonna play by the rules in hopes of getting out earlier?

On the other hand, you stay and work all the hours at work, cool you get a promotion, maybe you buy the laundromat, now you can move up in the world and maybe someday you can buy yourself a nice house and a nice car…. Literally the options are endless! Amazing.

I got to watch Edu, one of the creators, play the game throughout our interview, which was great! He made driving look really easy, he got through his daily tasks quickly and went about his day fairly nonchalantly. If you want to hear the interview that we did during this you will have to keep an eye out for our up coming Geekscape Games podcast in which we will be compiling all of our audio interviews with the developers we spoke to over PAX weekend.

After finishing our interview I asked for a chance to play. I prefaced this by letting them know that I’m not so good at the video games, but actually as soon as I started playing it felt pretty easy and natural to navigate. The character I was playing worked in a laundromat, so I got into picking the clothes, putting them in the washer, making sure to separate colours/blacks/whites (which made my heart so happy as this is a constant battle in my household), choosing the right heat setting, etc etc. So it actually became quite involved to do this laundry, and customers were piling up, and as soon as I stopped getting any direction I messed up all the loads of laundry, and likely lost the guy a bunch of customers.

Once I had thoroughly messed that up I was about ready to change gears, and headed out to the street to drive the car around. Driving was super intuitive, with straightforward controls that made sense, although may take some getting used to. One thing that really stood out for me is that you have to drive properly! I mean I failed miserably at this, but in the game there are consequences for your driving ability. So you need to make sure you are stopping at stop signs and using your turn signals! I joked that playing this game, people would learn to drive a little better in real life too… probably not though. You also have to think things through and put in some practice time to work toward a goal, for example if you are going to be robbing a bank, well you better be a good driver before you do that, otherwise you are never going to get away with it.

This game is definitely situated in a capitalist, consumer driven society, and although your character is not necessarily born into a particular class, you definitely find your place within the class structure and deal with the daily consequences of that. One acute and very realistic example of this is the stamina bar. As you do tasks and spend time being awake your stamina bar will deplete. If you are working a well paying job then you will be able to afford higher quality food and your stamina bar will go up quickly. However if you are working an entry level job, you will only be able to afford junk food, which won’t raise your stamina as much and you will have to do all of your work with less energy to get you through the day. Gah! The struggle is REAL!

Basically I am so stoked for this game, and if you have enjoyed playing Stardew Valley type games and have any amount of social consciousness, I think there is a very good chance you could enjoy it too!

So keep a look out for it next year on PS4 and PC. And if you want to hear me talk about Damnview even more, you can hear me talk about the game on this episode of the Geekscape Games Podcast.

Massively Multicomplainer: ‘NationStates’

by NecroscourgeAugust 27, 2015

There are times when you just don’t have time for a whole match in a MOBA, you want something more nebulous than Minesweeper, and something that is just far more interesting than work. Enter a game you play maybe once or twice a day for literally minutes, NationStates. I don’t mean in the “Burn your actions come back tomorrow” way, I mean in the “you have nothing to do until the game says you do” sense. How can such a game be interesting you ask? By being loaded with pure political satire in the best way.

NationStates has a long history; it was created in 2002 under the inspiration of a Max Barry novel called Jennifer Government in which all citizens have the last name of who they work for. This inspired the game in the sense that national politics are weird. In 2008 a NationStates 2 was created but it’s since died out with the far cheaper to operate first game still online with 136,000+ active nations. The lead regions have thousands of nations in them! Yet for its age and comedic content there are almost no memes tied to it, searches failed me. Many players, however, thought it would be funny to name their nation with the word “meme” in it.

The player creates an country with its own name, flag, political beliefs, and essentially identity. Your nation is put in a starter region, which is essentially the community of nations you interact with. You will also be barraged by a stream of region invitations that will vary from offensively bad to intriguing. There’s no real penalty for floating from region to region either, your nation is what grows in strength over time. Your nation page is full of faux statistics that are changed and altered over time, so many variables are at play, there’s really a lot of variety.

A new issue is brought up at minimum twice a day, legislation that you have final say over. These typically are based around a controversial issue and two to four wacky reasons to take two to four wacky approaches. These are what really changes how your nation is described and future issues. There were originally 30 issues, but accounts with enough citizens can submit their own. By now there have to be thousands of different issues, very few nations end up reading the same. Not many people agree with each other after all, and every issue is something you usually will have some kind of stand on. Over time these change how your nation is classified and how it’s people behave.

I decided to create the Matriarchy of Korezziastan, a psycho-feminist liberal paradise. In the few days it has existed I moved to a pretty decent region, banned cars while having the 52nd best automotive industry in the region, and enjoy fantastic civil rights in what is effectively a middle eastern warzone. There’s a lot that can be done by not giving spiritual funding a dime! One of the first issues was on drugs, made em all legal. I originally thought about using a Polish flag, but I ended up using an obscure African flag and crudely photo-shopped it; it still gives me a chuckle whenever I load up my page. I committed an act of political satire in making my account for this politically satirical game. You’ll find this game really embraces the ludicrousness of politics.

As your nation grows more political options become available. You can join the World Assembly in order to submit and vote on measures. Measure in the WA apply to all member nations and is a vast series of laws that is very entertaining to read. This may sound a bit like the United Nations; that would because up until 2008 it was called that. The real UN decided on April 1st to send a cease and desist to change the name. Which was in its own bizarre, but it was real. To think, the fake UN had achieved so much more like banning slavery and setting radical minimum wage doctrines!

That’s the “game”, creating a nation that you develop as a character. Regions typically have their own private forum board for players to roleplay, hold elections, and use for political scandals. There are no deep mechanics in NationStates. War is a very broad trolling invasion on the enemy regions communications networks, scaring nations out until only theirs remain. It’s a game about politics with players constructing a web of politics over it. Any extra time beyond picking issue answer is roleplay, you can journal about your country, post in roleplay boards, etc; but the actual gameplay mechanic is issues. Strangely enough the issues are not coded in an advanced enough fashion to edit out anything the WA, it’s more of a political minigame. Your country is politically graded on an complex “morality system” a bit like Dungeons and Dragons alignments, but between radical conservatism and liberalism.

NS1 — This looks far more important than it actually is

NationStates draw is that it facilitates a roughly anonymous community, or one where you know who everybody is. You very well could have all of your friends form your own region and never interact that much with random people! It’s all about getting what you want out of the games system. What this game is not is an adventure game, there is no narrative, no points, no “RPG mechanics” besides the idea that as your account gets older more people live in it.

This is a game you check every now and then, settle business, and get back to work. Or it can be one you obsess over as a lighter alternative to other games. NationStates may not be the most advanced of games but it certainly reminds me of a political sort of Tamagotchi. It’s a game you can play any way, causally, intensively, to devoting years of your life fabricating a web of history in your fictional country.

It’s a game I think more people should play to develop a sense of humor about politics, as well as slight understanding of them.

Geekscape Mobile: Google’s ‘Ingress’ Is Now On iOS!

by Derek KraneveldtJuly 14, 2014

Briefly: I feel like I’ve been waiting for a game like this forever, and as an iOS user, now I can finally play it.

Ingress “transforms the real world into the landscape for a global game of mystery, intrigue, and competition.” You start the game, choose from one of two factions (the Enlightened or the Resistance), and you head off into the real world to discover Portals to hack and defend, items to use agains your enemies, and much more. Yep, this game will get you walking.

This video actually gives a really great representation of the game:

Now, I live in a small city, so it’s not the most action packed area to be playing in, but I spent about 45 minutes with the title, walked a few kilometres, captured my first portal from the resistance, and had a blast.

Android users are probably already playing, but iOS users, you need to give this a download. I could see myself getting really addicted to this one.

Geekscape Games: Steam Family Sharing First Impressions

by Shane O'HareOctober 15, 2013

The month of Valve is over, and all of those features announced with the Steam OS are but a distant memory. All except one, that is. The Steam Library Family Sharing just hit its public Beta, and some of us here at Geekscape got our hands on it just a bit early. Here are our initial thoughts.

The Steam Family Sharing program was announced back in September to much acclaim and fanfare. It allows user to authorize another computer and let someone have access to their Steam Library. Simple as that. But how does it work in practice?

I was invited to the Press Beta Test a few weeks back, and I was very excited to give the service a try. I had just built a pretty powerful gaming PC for my Dad and he was itching for some new games. Signing up was simple enough, I just went into my Steam settings on my account and opted into the Beta, and restarted. Then I was stuck.

There was no new interface added to my Steam, so then started the long and arduous process of hunting through every single menu looking for Family Share. I crawled through the settings and found only an option to view authorized accounts and computers, but no way to ADD anyone. The original press release said that users could request access to the library of someone else, so I figured the borrower had to ask the lendee. So I walked over to my Dad’s PC and started the long and arduous process of finding the request for authorization option.

Is it found by right clicking on your friends list? Nope. Is it found on the lendee’s profile page? No. Is it found on the store page for a particular game you want to borrow? No. There IS no option to request authorization. There IS no option to GRANT authorization, and here lies my biggest gripe with the service. The vague stipulations attached to actually getting the program to work.

When the product was first announced, the general consensus was that any user could be authorized (up to 10) and then have access to your games. If you wanted to play a game and they were using it, they would be given “A few minutes to finish up or buy the game for themselves.”. That sounds like if your Dad in another room (or state/country/planet) is playing your Bioshock and you want a crack at it then he’d be kicked off. That’s not how it works.

Wanna know how it works? The lendee (owner of the games) has to log into their account on the borrowers machine, then log out. Then the borrower logs in and can see a separate list of games from the lendee’s library. There is NO option to remotely authorize an account or computer. If you want to lend your games to a family member or friend that you do not have physical access to you are out of luck. The only way around this would be desktop sharing.

So far the remote authorization is the only complaint I have with the service, and from just lurking the Family Sharing support forums it seems everyone else shares my opinion. The service works great and every game that my Dad tried fired up no issue.

We are going to continue testing Steam Family Sharing and see if we run into any glaring issues. Valve has said they are going to be adding more features when Steam OS and Steam Machines beta is launched. Hopefully they will add in remote authorization.

SDCC 2013: Watch The Teaser Trailer For ‘Adventure Time: Explore The Dungeon Because I Don’t Know’

by Derek KraneveldtJuly 25, 2013

Briefly: This game looks amazing.

Following last year’s Zelda II inspired Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why’d You Steal Our Garbage?, a new trailer for the next Adventure Time video game launched at this year’s SDCC.

The trailer is brief, featuring interviews from a few of the show’s cast members and showing off some short clips of gameplay, but I already feel as though I’ve seen enough. Explore The Dungeon Because I Don’t Know! is a four-player cooperative isometric hack-n’-slash, and I cannot wait to gather a few friends to play it.

Take a look at the trailer below, and let us know if you’re excited! Adventure Time: Explore The Dungeon Because I Don’t Know! hits PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U, and 3DS on November 12th.

Source: IGN

First Trailer For ‘Man Of Steel’ Mobile Game, Plus Three New Banners!

by Derek KraneveldtJune 7, 2013

It’s almost time to head to the theatre for Man of Steel, and Warner Bros. is really pushing all of the marketing they can into the film.

A tie-in mobile game will hit iOS and Android devices on June 14th. The game isn’t the prettiest thing this side of Infinity Blade, but the gameplay looks eerily similar to last year’s Batman: Arkham City Lockdown, which was an absolute pleasure to experience. The game’s price has not yet been determined, but I’d expect a cool $2.99. Watch the first trailer below, and get your swiping finger ready.

The studio has also revealed three new banners for the film, which all really focus on the ‘You Are Not Alone’ message we’ve seen in the trailers. The message certainly seems to have a few meanings, as of course, humans were unaware that aliens existed, and Kal-El certainly thought that he was alone in the universe too. Check the banners out below, and let us know what you think! Man of Steel hits theatres on June 14th!

In the pantheon of superheroes, Superman is the most recognized and revered character of all time. Clark Kent/Kal-El (Henry Cavill) is a young twenty-something journalist who feels alienated by powers beyond his imagination. Transported years ago to Earth from Krypton, a highly advanced, distant planet, Clark struggles with the ultimate question ‘Why am I here?’ Shaped by the values of his adoptive parents Martha (Diane Lane) and Jonathan Kent (Kevin Costner), Clark discovers having extraordinary abilities means making difficult decisions. When the world is in dire need of stability, an even greater threat emerges. Clark must become a Man of Steel, to protect the people he loves and shine as the world’s beacon of hope – Superman.

Watch A Jon Favreau Directed Trailer For Bungie’s ‘Destiny’

by Derek KraneveldtMay 23, 2013

Bungie today released a very cool new trailer for their upcoming sic-fi game, Destiny. Mixing live-action and CG, the preview was directed by Jon Favreau (Iron Man), and stars the always-impressive Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad) as a father telling the story of Destiny to his child.

The most exciting aspect to me isn’t the preview itself, but what is revealed at the end of it: we’ll get out first taste of Destiny‘s gameplay at Sony’s E3 press conference on June 10th. I’ve already marked my calendar.

Watch the new trailer below, and let us know if you’re looking forward to the game!

Check Out This AWESOME ‘Battlefield 4’ Gameplay Footage! PLUS RELEASE DATE!

by Shane O'HareMarch 27, 2013

I just took a break from the AMAZING Bioshock Infinite to post this mind blowing news. We got some official, gameplay footy from the next in the Battlefield franchise. Check out these 17 minutes of glory! OH MY GOD ENJOY!!!

OH MY GOD! I am so stoked it is hard to describe with words! Watch that video again, watch it again!

It looks like the rumors of this game coming out this Fall are correct. The new Frosbite 3 engine looks AMAZING! The hyper accurate destruction, facial animations and sound are all obvious step ups from the previous game. The command features are very Brothers In Arms, but are along the lines of what the rumored features of the Commander feature.

This entire announcement corroborates the leaked information from EB Games outlets. There is not much else to say except WATCH THAT VIDEO AGAIN!

No official console announcement has been made as of yet, but it is expected to see BF4 on PS3, PS4, XBOX360 and PC this fall! and possibly on the Xbox 720 and the WiiU. This game is going to be HUGE and is one of those titles that makes you go out and buy a new graphics card!

Check Out The US Announce Trailer For ‘TMNT: Out Of The Shadows’

by Shane O'HareMarch 5, 2013

Just the other day we posted up the newest trailer for the upcoming TMNT game “Out of The Shadows”.

WELL! Today we at Geekscape just got a you another Turtle Treat! We have ourselves the US AKA American trailer for the upcoming downloadable title from Activision. Take a peak with me below!

You can grab TMNT: Out of The Shadows on PSN and XBLA this summer!

The Hit XBLA Game ‘Deadlight’ Is Coming To PC October 25th!

by Shane O'HareOctober 8, 2012

That’s right baby! The chocolate-peanutbutter combination of Limbo and Shadow Complex, Deadlight, is coming to the PC at the end of October! We can only speculate that it will be released on STEAM, but I would be surprised if it wasn’t.

Not much else to say so why don’t you check out their official website and watch the fabulous trailer below!

‘Call Of Duty: Black Ops II Zombies” Reveals A Whole Other Game!

by Shane O'HareSeptember 27, 2012

November 13th is rapidly approaching and the folks over at Treyarch have just let loose the info on the included Zombies minigame that comes included with Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2, and it is a HUGE minigame. Take a look at the trailer below.

Besides that rad as hell trailer we got a stack of info. The newest incarnation of Zombies is bigger and better than ever. We get a semi-open world environment where players get to explore it on their own accord. Players are given a bus and a roadmap of survival, and get to go about it in their own way. I am very pumped for this!

Call Of Duty: Black Ops II ships November 18th on XBOX, PS3 and PC. November 18th for WiiU.

‘The War Z’ Gets A Gameplay Video!

by Derek KraneveldtSeptember 1, 2012

It looks The War Z, the highly anticipated MMO is finally coming together!

Developer Hammerpoint Interactive showed off some alpha gameplay at PAX today, and even at this stage the game looks pretty neat (if not familiar).

The game takes a similar approach to the popular ARMA II mod Day Z, in that it’s a survival MMO set in the midst of a zombie outbreak. Huge maps and tons of people, and even more zombies should mean that there are always scares to be had, and people to meet up with.

The War Z seems to have borrowed more from Left 4 Dead than Day Z however, as it takes more of a traditional shooter approach than the latter does. Even many of the interface elements appear pretty familiar.

I’ve only put a few hours into Day Z myself, but so far The War Z looks to be a much smoother experience with an easier to understand interface. Day Z in my opinion has way too much going on control wise, and I find myself having to constantly look into the menu for the correct button to press.

Check out the video below! More info on the game can be found here.

Square Releases ‘Sleeping Dogs’ Demo

by Shane O'HareAugust 22, 2012

If you are an old school, intrepid gamer, you rely on demos to help base your opinion on new releases. If you were on the fence with Sleeping Dogs then REST EASY!

Square have just announced that TODAY they will be releasing a demo for the game on all platforms! So go grab it and jump into a mission that takes you through a vibrant marketplace, and a sneak peak at a later level in the story.

For more info on the demo check out

XBOX LIVE MARKETPLACE

PLAYSTATION NETWORK

STEAM MARKETPLACE (Link for the demo is not up on STEAM yet, but I will provide it as soon as it does)

Make sure to check out our REVIEW of Sleeping Dogs while you’re at it!

New Details And Concept Art For Upcoming Deadpool Game!

by Shawn MaddenAugust 15, 2012

So, it was about a month ago at good ol’ San Diego Comic-Con that we first learned that Deadpool was getting his very own video game brought to us by High Moon Studios. But since then it’s been pretty quiet and we haven’t heard too much about it. Welp, it appears some screen shots and concept art was shown at this years GamesCom as well as a fact sheet written by the merc with a mouth himself. Check them out!

I, DEADPOOL, am here to tell you about all the awesomeness that is my new video game! That’s right – I’ve taken over High Moon Studios in order to develop the world’s first-ever video game dedicated to yours truly, ME – DEADPOOL! You may know me as the “Merc with a Mouth,” which means there will be plenty of ME talking to YOU in the game, along with ALL of my favorite things: katanas, big guns (and not just these amazing arm muscles – check!), hot chicks, cameos from some of my X-MEN friends (ooh, spandex!), chimichangas, bouncy houses, and of course…ME!!!

Source: Comic Vine

Did You Like The Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut? Get The Music FREE!

by Shane O'HareJuly 7, 2012

The chaps over at BioWare have another positive move in order to please fans. The release of the extended cut ending that was released Tuesday, that offered players 1.8 Gigs of new cut scenes, choices and most importantly CLOSURE. Along with it, the developer has released the “Extended Cut Soundtrack“.

Consisting of seven songs created by composer Sam Hulick for the new content, it is FREE for any and all who wish to have some delicious Mass Effect sounds on their Zune.

An account for BioWare’s social site is required, but after that it is fairly painless to get the songs. Take a gander at the awesome, albeit short soundtrack here!

Fuck me that is good. I always loved the music from this series, the first one had a real big Blade Runner vibe and that sold me SO hard on the game.

E3 2012 – Star Wars 1313 Gameplay Trailers

by Shane O'HareJune 7, 2012

If you couldn’t already tell, we are very excited for Star Wars 1313. The E3 hype machine keeps running. Gander your eye holes at Star Wars 1313 in full moving pictures!

Now I was already sold on this game when I heard the premise, saw the pics and read the preview. Seeing it MOVE is like…it’s like sex. The seamless trailers-to-gameplay part made my whole body tingle. I publicly swore off Star Wars after the fucking dance fiasco, but 1313 may have revived my Star Wars love.