Macgasm

DeathSpank

Ron Gilbert of Maniac Mansion, Monkey Island, and Backyard Sports fame teamed up with Hothead Games to make a brand new humor-infused action-RPG. For the most part, this game is successful at melding Gilbert’s humor with the genre, but there is a lot of grinding that needs to be done. For a limited amount of time, you can grab the game for only $2.99 on the app store.

DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue

Originally designed as the second half of a larger game, Thongs of Virtue is part of Ron Gilbert’s original work, and follows directly after the original DeathSpank. This installment adds modern weaponry, and continues the tale of our goofy eponymous character. If you think you’ll like DeathSpank, you should pick up both this and the original. Just as above, it is available for $2.99 for a limited time on the app store.

The Baconing

Much like the third installment of the Godfather series, many people feel that it lacks the special sauce that made the first two special. It could easily be argued that the sauce in question is Ron Gilbert. The Baconing was made without his involvement, so don’t expect the story to be as interesting or funny. Plus, you get to do EVEN MORE GRINDING! This is $2.99 in the app store as well, but YMMV.

The writing is on the wall, we’ve said it before, buying, and renting, games from a store is quickly becoming the next casualty of the Internet. Blockbuster died, and it’s likely only a matter of time until GameFly dies too as companies stop publishing physical discs and move towards digital only downloads. GameFly has a plan though, “its plans to begin publishing mobile games for the iOS and Android platforms, as well as launching the independent GameFly GameStore for Android later this fall.”

From the sounds of it, and there’s very little detail to go on here, it sounds like GameFly wants to be Steam for Android. Which is nice, but it’s the publishing for iOS thing that has piqued our interests the most. Is GameFly planning on becoming the next Chillingo? It certainly sounds like that’s the plan according to GameFly’s SCP of Business Development and Content Sean Spector. While the company is planning on becoming a publisher for iOS, the announcement seems to focus most heavily on Android. “We plan to be a leading player in mobile games by launching our retail GameStore for Android and helping to fund mobile developers of all sizes to publish, promote and sell their smartphone and tablet games.”

We plan on being a lot of things, but the real question is whether or not GameFly can make it actually happen. Their business may certainly hinge on the success of this move. It may not be this year, or next, but GameFly is going to have a very difficult time renting video games if game publishers stop shipping game discs with their titles and rely on digital downloads exclusively.

You know things have gone bad for Zynga when the only way they can recoup the cost of the $183 million dollars they spent on DrawSomething a couple of weeks ago is to ad even more advertisements to AdSomething to the game.

In addition to the normal in-app advertisements that DrawSomething forces users to draw as part of the game to get their money, the company will now also be rolling out even more advertisements. In the future you’ll find yourself looking at banner ads, video trailers, and puzzle words for DreamWorks’ Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted. The Wall Street Journal has pegged the value of that advertisment partnership somewhere between $250,000 and $500,000.

Maybe the plan was to introduce these ad models all along, but it’s hard not to think that Zynga is rushing to make coin while it can before gamers leave the game behind entirely. At its height, 14.5 million people were playing OMGPop’s DrawSomething, and it’s now rumored to be seeing only half of that number on a daily basis (7.6 million).

That $183 million dollars is starting to look a little ridiculous, isn’t it Zynga? Hats off to OMGPop for getting top dollar though, that was quite the coup.

On The Rain-slick Precipice of Darkness

The first in a planned quadrilogy of games, episode one of On The Rain-slick Precipice of Darkness (Or Otterspod) set the bar high. Clever writing and lovely comic strip styled cut scenes made this game beloved by quite a number of gamers. Episode two was released, and then a long wait without any news happened. Then, sadly, it was announced that the developer, Hothead Games, had canceled the last two games in the series. Luckily, Zeboyd Games picked up the franchise, and we’ll be seeing episode 3 in a new form this summer. If you want to kick off your adventure, all you need to do is drop $1.99 USD on the App Store.

DLC Quest

This game is all about playing with the tropes of the game industry. Inside jokes, satire, and sassy dialog are the bread and butter of DLC quest. To gain features like audio and the ability to move left, you need to “buy DLC packs” with coins you find in game. It’s extremely clever, and absolutely worth the $1.99 USD asking price in the App Store. If you’re a gamer, you’ll find yourself chuckling the entire way through.

So apparently this unknown company called Blizzard took a chance on a risky title called… I forget the name… I think it was Diablo III… and shocked everyone on the entire planet by breaking sales records like crazygonuts.

I kid. Blizzard is so good at breaking sales records that nobody’s surprised. As the parrot in Aladdin said: I may have a heart attack and die from being not surprised.

Having only a week behind it, Diablo III has already torpedoed through 6.3 million purchases — 3.5 million of which were in the first 24 hours, thus making it the fastest-selling PC game ever. As if that’s not enough, there’s an additional 1.2 million players who received Diablo III as a freebie for signing up for World of Warcraft’s Annual Pass promotion, which put 4.7 million people around the world in front of their computers ready to fight evil on day one. What’s more, that figure of 6.3 million doesn’t even include the players in Korean Internet game rooms where Diablo III is the top-played game (North Americans may not be aware that gaming cafés, or “bangs” as they’re known in Korea, are a pretty big deal).

Here’s Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime expressing his profound disappointment in the pathetic sales and bleating about how he promises to do better next time:

Those preparations of which he speaks are in reference to the server problems Blizzard had when Diablo III hit the streets. To put it briefly, Diablo III ended up loading Blizzard’s Battle.net servers to create the same result one sees when a steam roller drives over a pudding cup. Apparently problems still persist, but Blizzard has dealt with the worst of it and is likely to get things under control before too long.

Still on the fence about Diablo III? Treat yourself to the Macgasm review and hear what we had to say about it.

When it comes to Tower Defence games, few stand up to the fun and beauty of the original Fieldrunners game. The game has been updated plenty over the years, and it has won a ton of gaming awards ranging back all the way to 2008. The game’s about to get another update, but this time it won’t be a patch or new levels. Nope, it’s going to be a brand spanking new game — Field Runners 2 is a real things and it’s coming soon.

From The Subatomic Studios Blog:

Field Runners 2 is due out this summer, and details are pretty sparse about the project. That said, some screen shots have been published online, and we have to say, they look pretty freaking amazing.

Check Out The Screenshots

Limbo

Mystery is this game’s bread and butter. When you look at the description in the App Store, you only get one sentence: “Uncertain of his sister’s fate, a boy enters LIMBO.” This indie platformer is dark — both in theme and luminance. Taking place in the monochrome world of Limbo, this art style is fantastically creepy. Clearly, this takes the fundamentals of the classic genre, and brings them to a mature audience. Limbo is available on the Mac App Store for only $9.99 USD.

Civilization IV

Ah, Civilization. This franchise is beloved and revered as an enormous time sink. If you’re looking for lots of bang for your buck, you’re in for a treat. Civilization IV is on sale for only $7.99 today on the Mac App Store. You’ll be busy for dozens of hours trying to get George Washington to build the first library before Napoleon discovers nuclear weapons. This is a wonderful game, and the price can’t be argued with.

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If you’re looking for video games on the cheap, you’re in for a treat this week. Aspyr is discounting one game per day this entire week. Today’s game is Prey.

Wikipedia explains the game as follows:

If that sounds interesting, now is the perfect time to try it out on your Mac because you can grab it on the App Store for only $2.99 USD. Be quick, though. The sale is for today only. The good news is that a different Aspyr game will be on sale for $7.99 tomorrow, one for $4.99 on Wednesday, one for $2.99 on Thursday, and one for $9.99 on Friday. Each day, they’ll announce which game is on sale, so make sure you check back to find your daily deal.

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