Kickstart an Adventure Game’s development with Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller

Kickstarter is a fairly new way of crowd-sourcing funding for projects, and it’s been pretty successful at doing so. Users can choose how much they want to financially “back” a project, and the person seeking funding will reward people at certain levels. For example: A musician seeking funding for a new album could set a reward level at 10 dollars, where the user would get an early copy of the album. The levels often escalate into very personalized territory, and the overall system seems to benefit everyone involved.

And before you ask, I’m not about to ask you for donations.

Phoenix Online Studios (known for their Kings Quest fan series The Silver Lining) has teamed up with Khaeon Gamestudio and Adventure Game Legend Jane Jenson to bring an “episodic story in the spirit of Dexter and Heavy Rain” to Adventure gamers everywhere.

They need your help to bring this from idea to reality. They’ll need about 25,000 dollars, but they’ve laid out a good selection of rewards for those who pledge.

• For pledges of $1 the supporter will have their name in the credits of the game under ‘Special Thanks’
• For $5 you’ll get a hi-res image, a digital copy of the soundtracks, in addition to your name in the credits.
• 20 dollars will get you all the previous prizes, plus each episode of the game, and exclusive newsletter blasts with new content.
• 40 dollars prize contains all previous rewards along with a physical copy of the game and soundtrack.

You can go all the way up to 5000 dollars which includes a character named and modeled after you, signed copy of the game, soundtrack, comic, beta testing, cookies, inside look into game development, and loads of other goodies.

Those big numbers are kind of intimidating, but 20 dollars can get you quite a bit of content. It’s services like Kickstarter that make the preorder system actually make sense. Instead of preordering something at a store like Gamestop where the money sits as profit for the company, you’re giving money to the creators themselves in order to make the game even better for you (in addition to the slew of other cool content).

The project will only be funded if they meet their goal by December 11th so give them a hand (and a couple of bucks) at their Kickstarter page! Should they meet their goal, their estimated release date of Cognition is June 2012.

Astronauts, Cults, and Gnomes, OH MY! It’s a Puzzle Agent 2 Review

‘The one that got away’. A phrase many of us are familiar with, usually relating to a lost love. To Agent Nelson Tethers of the FBI Puzzle Research Division, that love is traded for mystery. You see, before a field assignment to Scoggins, Minnesota,  Nelson’s life was fairly normal. He would sit at his desk, completing crosswords and sudoku puzzles. But right at the conclusion of his recent assignment, he witnessed something he couldn’t quite get out of his head.

Whispering red forest gnomes.

Great Scott! It’s a Back to the Future: The Game Review!

How long has it been? Months? Oh my that’s not good. It seemed like mere days! I’ve lost track of time, or rather been lost within time. Excuse my absence, as it’s a story for another date and time. Instead, I’ll tell you about the Back to the Future episodic series from Telltale Games!

Telltale Games invites you to ‘Poker Night at the Inventory’!

Last week a mysterious Telltale related teaser video appeared on GameTrailers TV, teasing a mystery title with some special guest characters hinted at. You can watch the teaser below:

The date mentioned has arrived and the mystery game was revealed to be ‘Poker Night at the Inventory’, featuring Heavy Weapons Guy from Team Fortress 2, Tycho from Penny Arcade, Strong Bad from HomestarRunner.com (and Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People), and Max of Sam & Max fame. Beyond knowing that it’s a poker game, it’s said to include “more dialog in this game than in a Sam & Max episode, both for poker playing and for the ambient conversations that spring up and roll around the table as the game goes on.” which sounds pretty exciting to me.

You can pre-purchase at Telltale Games store, or Steam and receive a discount, which for 5 dollar game makes the deal even sweeter. PAX attendees can preview the game at Telltale’s booth this weekend, and score a sweet poster with your pre-order  (5 dollars people.)

The release window is this Fall.

I Saw It! It’s Alive! It’s HUGE! A ‘Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse – The City That Dares Not Sleep’ Review

It’s a familiar tale. A monster attacks New York City, and it’s up to a group of unlikely heroes to bring the foe to justice. Approaching a genre that’s rather played out, Telltale Games has managed to add a whole new edge to the concept by making that monster a character you’ve grown to know and love for three seasons. In the finale of ‘Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse‘ Sam must do all he can in order to bring back his little buddy. Do you have what it takes to help him succeed?

(Warning: this review contains spoilers to Episode 4 ‘Beyond the Alley of the Dolls’)

Halo: Reach Goes Gold!

Halo Reach is just around the corner, and today Bungie Studios announced they had completed work on the project. This concludes their work on the Halo franchise, but from everything they’ve shown so far they seem to be sending it out with a bang. Earlier this year, the public multiplayer Reach beta gave us a taste of what to expect from Matchmaking (and boy did it taste sweet), but the new trailer titled “The Battle Begins” offers a glimpse at the campaign. Lets watch:

That last shot sends a shiver down my spine. An eagerly excited shiver. I’ve always gone into Halo games for the campaign, then stayed for the multiplayer. The atmosphere these games evoke just immerse me into a world I don’t want to leave. Last fall’s ODST in particular presented a completely different tone than other Halo game by giving it a noir-esque theme and presenting an open, living hub world to explore. It’s a fine line to walk, but Bungie always manages to get it right. Judging by what we’ve seen and played of Reach, they look to have another masterpiece on their hands. I can’t wait to group up with Noble team on September 14th!

This ‘Sam & Max – The Devil’s Playhouse’ Review goes ‘Beyond the Alley of the Dolls’!

Here we are at the penultimate adventure in The Devil’s Playhouse! What awaits our favorite freelance police duo this time? Clones, Toys, Shotguns, and love, that’s what!

I bet you thought that question was rhetorical, didn’t you?

(That question however, is in fact rhetorical)

You see them, don’t you? A Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent Review

Nelson Tethers of the FBI’s Puzzle Research Division does most of his work behind a desk. As you can imagine, a lot of the country’s major puzzle related queries are solvable from a central location. Having grown up around puzzles, he’s excellent at what he does and is actually one of the top Puzzle Agents in the country. So when a puzzle related mystery surfaces that requires Nelson to emerge out of his office, and  head off to the remote small town of Scoggins Minnesota, it must be a serious problem.

They Stole Max’s Brain! A Sam & Max – The Devil’s Playhouse Review!

I always try to keep my reviews of Telltale’s episodic titles as spoiler free as I can. I don’t go into too much detail, and even try not to spoil aspects of previous episodes. But there is no easy way for me to tell you this, other than to just come out and say it.

They Stole Max’s Brain!

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword E3 Trailer

I really dig the new look for this game. It’s a cool mix between Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, with a hint of the whimsy featured in the Pre-3D Zelda games.