PART ONE l TWO

After spending a good long while watching Russians die, Russians kill Germans, Russians experience the apocalypse and Russians shoot mutants, I was keen to get into some gaming action myself. So after a quick refreshment break, which may or may not have involved Russian vodka, I wandered over to the nearest available Xbox 360 and grabbed the controller. Read the rest of this entry »

Over the past few weeks, I have slowly been getting acquainted with the semi-closed beta for Path of Exile, the debut action RPG from New Zealand based developer Grinding Gear Games. I say semi-closed, because Grinding Gear has taken a rather strange approach for what is a free to play game by selling beta keys to the general public. In the interests of full disclosure, it should be noted that I purchased a key myself in order to preview the title. The minimum spend was $10US, granting me one beta key and 100 coins to spend in Path of Exile’s online store. The store allowed the purchase of extra character slots and in-game storage space. The developers have been insistent that the shop will stock many different items in the future, but have stressed that they will only ever be cosmetic in nature and will not affect gameplay in any way. There were a range of tiered payment options offering different incentives. This was a move reminiscent of that made by the developers of similar title Grim Dawn through crowd funding website Kickstarter. Read the rest of this entry »

Lasers or clubs... which will Peter choose first?

The Blackpanel cordially invites you to participate in the inaugural ‘Pull Some Random Game Off The Shelf That You Bought Years Ago But Never Actually Played Day’ because, let’s face it, these games just won‘t play themselves.

Like many gamers I buy more titles than I can possibly play with the unrealistic intention that I may get around to them someday. . . maybe. Now is finally the time for 2 games by studios that have since closed their doors.

Battlestar Galactica (Xbox – 2003) was released to coincide with the re-make miniseries, but is apparently set in the old series universe (I had to read about this because I haven’t played it yet). I think I bought this game because I had all the toys as a kid.

Warriors of Might & Magic (PS2 – 2000) was one of the first combat RPGs released on the console but would be blown out of the water by the release of Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance a year later. The Might & Magic series had proved to be an enjoyable but repetitive experience on PC, but apparently this is not really set in any of those game worlds.

Either your well-rested gamer bounty will have aged like fine $70 – $80 wine (I paid that much for this thing!) or become a dull, pixelated nightmare. Please send in your entries for this year to help us celebrate. Good luck.

Welcome to The Black List, your one stop shop for the stories published on the site this week.

MONDAY JUST ANNOUNCED Alan Wake’s American Nightmare > Remedy Entertainment is working on a follow up to Alan Wake, its well received survival horror game from 2010. Alan Wake’s American Nightmare will see the eponymous horror writer come face to face with his evil doppelganger, Mr. Scratch. The plot recalls Stephen King’s 1989 novel The Dark Half. As Karen noted in her review of the original game, Remedy has a habit of drawing inspiration from King’s back catalogue. READ MORE

TUESDAY JUST ANNOUNCED Nexuiz > A new version of indie first person shooter Nexuiz is a step closer to reality. THQ has announced plans to publish the downloadable project, which has received a comprehensive overhaul courtesy of developer IllFonic. The game will utilise Crytek’s much ballyhooed CryEngine 3, the system underpinning alien invasion sequel Crysis 2.  According to the developer, Nexuiz will also boast a “slick ranking system” and other “new features”. READ MORE

WEDNESDAY FEATURE Developer Playlist 7: Andrew Goulding > In the latest instalment of our series on developers and the games that inspire them, Brawsome founder Andrew Goulding talks Quest for Glory, Space Quest and Monkey Island. READ MORE

THURSDAY REVIEW Dead Island > Dead Island caught the gaming world’s attention with the best trailer ever.  I knew I wanted to play a game that took zombies seriously and looked to have character and genuine emotional impact front and centre. So imagine my surprise when the opening cut scene was an unfortunate rap song asking “Who do you Voodoo?  BITCH!” and then the first ten minutes of the game were comprised of looking through people’s luggage. But then came the zombies… READ MORE

FRIDAY PODCAST Episode 41 > In this (very special) Christmas episode of Australia’s grooviest gaming podcast, the team tackle Sadistic Santa, The Year in Review, Reader Recollections and much more! READ MORE

Looking for more of The Black List? View previous instalments here.