It’s your last chance to take advantage of Steam’s Summer Deals, today is the final day for all those crazy deals.
For this final day Steam is doing an encore for the Summer Sale’s Top Sellers. Check it out:
Click on the image to check those deals. You can look for even more games on Steam’s website, there’s a lot of “hidden deals” too.
NOW LETS GIVE AWAY A RANDOM STEAM POWERED PC GAME !! This will be a PC GAME from Steam. It will be RANDOM you wont be able to choose it .. So it could be anything thats currently on special at the moment 🙂
LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW and let us know what BARGAINS YOU’VE ALREADY PURCHASED from STEAM !! And also what GAMES You still want to get before the SPECIALS END !!
Once entry per person. Lucky winner will be announced on this post at th end of the week (THIS FRIDAY 9th JULY)
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And don’t forget to keep following Capsule Computer’s for a chance to win other cool stuff in the near future!
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OK WE HAVE A WINNER of a RANDOM STEAM GAME !! AND THAT WINNER IS :
Will who said:
I haven’t bought anything yet but I would like to get GTA4 or Battlefield!!!!!!!
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Congrats to everyone that entered the competition !! We’ll be doing another one VERY soon. So make sure to check back soon here on the site, Twitter and FACEBOOK !! 🙂
Can’t get enough Skate 3? Then take a look at the video below! Yeah! That is some sweet action isn’t it?
Below is a chunk of someone else’s words. It sounded really good and professional so it probably came from EA or something. I got it from the same person I borrowed the video from, youtube user’s name is “Skate”. It isn’t plagiarism, it is more like giving you someone else’s press release. Does that “Else’s” look wrong to anybody else? I swear it looks like bad english or something, but I’m too tired to think of a good synonym to replace it right now.
Danny Way’s Hawaiian Dream DLC was inspired by Danny’s own vision for a dream park. It’s not just megaramps here either. Danny’s DLC park has 2 of the best street plaza’s ever created in the SKATE franchise. Above and beyond all that, the DLC comes with a new Danny Way playable character, new skate.Park objects, and much more! Download it July 6th on XBOX Live and PSN for 560 MS points or $6.99.
Ok, so we are close to the last day of Steam Summer Deals, but let’s concentrate on today’s deals:
Click on the image to see all today’s deals on Steam’s front page.
Another big day with a nearly free Portal deal, big deals for Devil May Cry 4, World of Goo and the Freedom Force Pack, and some other interesting deals for recent games like Just Cause 2, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Sam & Max’s newest episode, Mount & Blade and Metro 2033.
In a few hours will be the last day of deals on Steam, so be fast if you want anything from that list, and check with us later for the final list!
It looks like the latest trend in the video games industry is to announce patches for games that haven’t been released yet! However the case is a little different for StarCraft II.
We have the opportunity to experience first-hand the 3D revolution of the IT industry (see Nintendo 3DS, nVidia GTX 400 family graphics cards and nonetheless 3d TVs) and it was hard to believe that one of the most anticipated games in history was going to disappoint and not try to come up to the latests standards in the field.
So without further ado, Blizzard has announced that they are working on a 3d support patch for the game which will be launched on Jul 27th. The patch should become available in Q4 2010 and will provide, besides the 3d support, many other game improvements (?!).
“We will be releasing 3D in the first few months, for those Nvidia cards and screens that support it. We’re optimizing for all systems.” said Chris Sigaty, StarCraft II production director
Look right here at this Canadian Gamestop page for Rockband 3. This isn’t just a normal page on the website, this is a page detailing a release date and Canadian Pre-order bonuses. Don’t think that is really important? What is really there is a taste of what songs to expect from the new game.
Talking Heads – “Burning Down The House
Deftones – “My Own Summer”
New Order – “Blue Monday”
And for those of you interested, the above picture is an example of the new Kayboard peripheral; and the pre-orders in Canada ship 31-10-2010. Who’s excited?!
Pardon the bad pun there of course, but today Sony and Sucker Punch have revealed to us a bit of gameplay footage to show us just how far Cole MacGrath has advanced since we left him in inFamous 1. Not much to say about this one other than holy cow you can make electric twisters! Plus the gameplay itself is amazing looking and this is definitely going to be one of the blockbusters of next year.
Way back at E3, Bioware had shown some demo footage of Star Wars: The Old Republic online play. Now though they have released it for the public to view. We see a variety of fighters using different classes and working together to take down enemies in battle. The classes shown are the Jedi Consular, Jedi Knight, Smuggler, and Trooper. Not too much shown unfortunately but enough to leave us wanting more.
So my friends and I went out and watched “The Last Airbender” yesterday, and it was someone’s brilliant idea to get there an hour early. Why? Because he thought it would be busy. Was it busy? NO! But we all hung out in the theater laughing and having fun for an hour, which turned out not to be that bad. Turns out movie theaters have a GM as well, any gamer hears “Game Mod” when they hear GM. Since all my friends are gamers we all heard “Game Mod” and had a lot of fun with that one. Sadly, the GM was not in until 5pm and we were leaving at 4pm, so I couldn’t meet him.
So we got into the actual movie, and yes we went to the 3D version. These 3D versions are completely overrated. They don’t do anything at all. Its like a bunch of smart nerds got together and asked the question “How do we make everyone look stupider then us”. There solution? 3D movies! Get a whole bunch of people together to watch any number of movies, and make them wear these really nerdy glasses. Has anyone turned around during a 3D movie? It is like a giant nerd convention. I have nothing against nerds, but they finally got their revenge on us for making fun of them all those years. The movie wasn’t even that 3D, the preview for “Owls of Ga’hoole” had better 3D than the entire “The Last Airbender” Movie.
Now it is time to discuss some of the actual movie, no spoilers though of course. “The Last Airbender” is actually not that bad of a movie, and I really did try to watch it as if I had never seen the cartoon series. I failed horribly, but I believe if I hadn’t loved the series so much this movie would’ve been pretty good. It may disappoint a few people to find out it is only the first movie in a trilogy, but overall the movie is good to first time watchers who haven’t seen the series.
As for those of us who have actually watched the cartoon, there are quite a few annoyances located in the movie. First off, a bunch of the character’s names are mispronounced. Secondly, the fancy foot and arm work before they start their bending got really lame. Nothing was fast paced, there was about a minute of fancy flips and stances before any actual bending occurred. While I’m on the topic of bending, I have to say that the director overused slow motion. The bending is really cool, but whenever it occurred everything goes into slow-mo and the impact occurred and then everything speeds back up. This happened throughout the whole movie, and while it was good at showing off the impact of certain bending types, it just didn’t leave a good impact. It didn’t give the “ooh aah” effect, but instead the “Oh, fire and water collide to make a steam cloud… Who would’ve thought!”
The final thing that bugged me was the plot. Now this one is a really big annoyance. I can overlook some of the chronological disorder that is present because they have to set up for future movies without leaving the audience confused. What I cannot overlook is the fact that it seems like the director realized that he forgot major plots in the story and decided to throw them all into the movie in the last 15 minutes he had available. Also, did anyone else who has seen the movie hear “3 years before souzin’s comet hits”. I went with 4 friends and we all heard 3 years. It is supposed to be 3 months, 3 years is way to much time. Can anyone else confirm or deny to hearing 3 years?
Overall, the movie really isn’t that bad. I went into the theater expecting to be completely disappointed, and I wasn’t. The movie was pretty good, and with the right mindset it is quite enjoyable. There were the few annoyances for those that watched the animated series, and then there are a few things that you can only understand if you watch the animated one that everyone else would be confused about. Was it an awesome #1 movie? No… but it wasn’t an atrocious movie either. On a scale between 1 and 10? I’d probably give it a 6.5. But I don’t rate these movies because everyone has different opinions on what they want in a movie. I just want lots of action and killing, but you might be looking for a story while the other guy over there is looking for something really funny. It is all based on the opinion of the viewer.
NODAK wins a RANDOM RETAIL GAME Courtesy Of what’s in MasterAbbott’s DRAWER
NORDAK said :
Gonna head out to the park/beach where I’ll be grillin & chillin with the fam, then setting off fireworks.
Might also use spirit of the occasion as an incentive to finally reinstall Boom Boom Rocket and reacquire all the achievements I lost when I switched my Live account.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
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TOMSERVO wins a RANDOM XBOX LIVE ARCADE GAME
Tomserver said :
In about 30 minutes I plan to dance outside for 12 hours naked with a George Foreman grill tied around my waist, making burgers for neighbors. Just like I do every year, since I was 10.
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Thanks to everyone that enterered. We want to make sure more people win next time .. and by doing that we need you the community to get more involved. The more of you getting involved the more prizes we can give away and more SPOT awards can be given at random !! If you love your gaming. Make sure to check Capsule Computers on a daily basis leave a comment or two and participate as much as possible AND WIN !! 🙂
Once again THANKS TO EVERYONE that entered. HAPPY 4th OF JULY !!
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[Background Information]
In the United States, Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. Independence Day is commonly associated with fireworks, parades, barbecues, carnivals, fairs, picnics, concerts, baseball games, political speeches and ceremonies, and various other public and private events celebrating the history, government, and traditions of the United States. Independence Day is the national day of the United States.
From everyone here at Capsule Computers we would like to wish everyone in the USA A HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY WEEKEND !!
In doing so we would like to know what and how and where you will be spending your 4th of JULY HOLIDAY !!!
Leave a comment below and 2 lucky people will be picked to win a RANDOM, 1 person will win a RETAIL GAME and the other will wina a RANDOM XBOX LIVE ARCADE GAME !!! (winners will be notified by email and we’ll announce the winners on the site, Twitter and Facebook on the 5th Of JULY so make sure your following us on both)
MasterAbbott recently sat down with the Phoenix Online Game Development team, the creators of the soon to be released, highly anticipated, long awaited sequel : King’s Quest : The Silver Lining that will be released and available to download for FREE on the 11th of July from the Kings Quest The Silver Lining Official Website
Phoenix Online Game Development Team from left to right.
Richard Flores, Art Director and Project Director Petter Holmberg, Lead Programmer Michael Fortunato, Assistant Art Director and Voice Over Director Katie Hallahan, Co-Designer and Public Relations Manager Cesar Bittar, Project Director and Producer
Katie Hallahan and Cesar Bittar, the Project Director and Producer, were kind enough to go through the answers are below.
Question 1 – Tell us a little bit about Phoenix Online Studios. How were they created, the origin behind the name, when was it first established, and how many employees does it have today.
Phoenix Online Studios started as a group of fans that came together to bring closure to King’s Quest. Originally known as Phoenix Freeware Online, it became Phoenix Online Studios in 2004. The name had its origin on the mythological creature and what this represents: A revival. We couldn’t have picked a better name, as we keep coming back from the dead!
Currently we have a core team of about 10-15 developers. We are looking into establishing in an office in Sacramento, California, and we are working with some people on seeking funding to make that happen.
Question 2 – Do Phoenix Online Studios create games on all the major platforms? Is development of games done in-house ? How many software developers are employed?
We are currently only doing PC, but we want to expand to the consoles as we take on our commercial projects. Development is done “in house” by our team of individuals spread out across the world who contribute to the project via the internet.
Recently we have been in talks with a company in India who is interested in expanding into game development. Such a partnership would allow us to develop faster content to keep up with our planned episodic games and meshes well with the international dynamic Phoenix Online already employs.
Question 3 – What do you believe have been Phoenix Online’s greatest challenges designing games on all the platforms you currently cover?
Right now, our biggest challenge is being spread all over the globe with different schedules. Luckily there are many tools at our disposal these days to create an office environment remotely and keep in continuous contact.
Time zones however continue to be a problem so we want to establish a head office, have key members work in the same place, and have an unified schedule which will allow us to keep up with our milestones. We have the basics of development, now we have to take that next step and become a proper established company with physical offices.
Question 4 – Run us through the how long it took to develop King’s Quest The Silver Lining and if possible could you give us a little rundown on what it’s about and on what platform(s) it will be released on.
The Silver Lining is the spiritual successor to the legendary King’s Quest series, first brought into the market by Sierra Online in 1984. We wanted to bring closure to the series and so we came together to make a game that we considered could be a great successor to the games that formed part of our childhood.
It’s taken us 8 years to finish The Silver Lining. For us, this was a learning experience on how to make a great game. This game is also a labor of love and as such, people work on it on their free time. However, we didn’t want to sacrifice the quality of the product because of this and so we extended development times. We also kept pushing the envelope, because we wanted this to be a great successor to the games we loved.
Question 5 – What engine / technology has Phoenix Online used to create and develop King’s Quest The Silver Lining.
We are using the Torque Engine from GarageGames, which, althought we had to modify in order to make it work for an adventure game (it was designed for FPS), has proven to be a very robust engine, with a great support, and great accessibility for indie developers. We are very happy with it and will definitely consider using its future incarnations for our next products. We are currently looking at Torque 3D for our next project: Corridor 9.
Question 6 – For new players not aware of The King’s Quest Series. What sort and style of game is it ? Please explain in as much detail as possible it’s background and history and where The Silver Lining fits into all of this.
King’s Quest was one of Sierra On-line’s flagship franchises in the 80’s and 90’s, and at the forefront of adventure games. It is also one of the most well-known series to use the point-and-click interface, with the five classic icons for look, touch, speak, walk, and use. The games followed the adventures of the Royal Family of Daventry over a course of about 25 years or so, from such things as adventuring to save Daventry and become crowned king, to rescuing fair maidens in towers, to escaping and defeating evil wizards and other kingdoms altogether. They were fun, family-friendly games that drew a lot on mythology and fairy tales for their source material. Our game, The Silver Lining, takes place about a year after the eighth and last game, Mask of Eternity–King Graham, ruler of Daventry, is now questing to cure his twin children, Rosella and Alexander, from an evil curse they are under. However, as he does so, he begins to learn that there have been greater forces–and more sinister ones–at work in his family’s past and present, and the threat they face is much bigger than he suspected.
Question 7 – Will King’s Quest The Silver Lining be suitable for players of all ages ?
Though the game is a little darker than the previous King’s Quest games, and delves deeper into the characters, we did want to keep that tradition of a game for all ages. It’s a family-friendly game, and while some parts may be scary to a very young player, those are few and far between. The spirit of the adventure and fun from the earlier games is very much still there.
Question 8 – What were the development teams inspirations behind creating King’s Quest The Silver Lining ? What other games have played a major role (past and present) in shaping and creating this game and also moulding Phoenix Online Studios.
Obviously, the King’s Quest series was our biggest inspiration! Without that, there wouldn’t be a game at all! But modern games have played a role as well. We made this game much more cinematic than the old KQ games, as well as making it fully 3D, whereas the majority of the King’s Quest series was 2D and that style is considered to represent the sort of ‘golden age’ of adventure games to a lot of fans. Some of the games we had in mind when designing it also include The Longest Journey, the Gabriel Knight series, Beyond Good and Evil and Final Fantasy.
Question 9 Has Phoenix Online been in contact with the original creator and writer of the King’s Quest series : Roberta Williams from Sierra to get ideas and story for The Silver Lining ?
Some years ago, we held a developers chat with the fans and invited Ken Williams over. Before the chat started, we asked Ken if Roberta had seen our game and if she had any feedback. Ken mentioned that Roberta never got involved with these projects because she thought that we had to walk our own path in terms of our vision for this game. However, Ken also said that as she glanced at some of the screenshots, she had to sit down take a closer look at them, and express how impressed and thankful she was.
To us, that meant the world.
Question 10 – If not what were the teams inspirations in creating the story for The Silver Lining ?
Aside from games there is the obvious Hollywood inspiration. Harry Potter and Lord of The Rings were around that time, and they were a huge inspiration when writing the story. Harry Potter especially, since that felt like a modern fairy tale to us, and it progressively got darker and darker, just as The Silver Lining does.
Question 11 – Without giving away too many spoilers what is the story behind King’s Quest The Silver Lining ?
The game begins as Graham looks for a cure for an enchantment cast on his twin children, Alexander and Rosella. However, as he delves deeper into his adventure, he soon realizes this isn’t simple saving his family again. There’s an elaborate plot beyond their knowledge, one that is tied to a prophecy that spans over a thousand years.
We are really excited to bring a more mature story to the fans. We believe times have changed, and for King’s Quest to compete in today’s marketplace, it has to step up from the more simplistic stories from the 90s. Those were amazing stories, and they created such a great following –us included!–but we think that this type of more aggressive storytelling will be better suited to today’s audience.
Question 12 – King’s Quest The Silver Lining will be released in episodes, what is the reason behind this. How many episodes will be released and will they be free ? Also what frequency will the episodes be released ?
The episodic format is a great way to release games, especially in today’s fast environment. They allow for smaller chunks of the story to be doled out to the players at a time, and don’t require such a big investment of time upfront to be completed.
From a development standpoint it’s also great because it allows you to release content in a faster way, and to keep the team focused working on smaller portions of a game at the time.
From a consumer standpoint, it’s very convenient because not only do they get to have the product faster in their hands, but also because, just like TV shows, the downtime between episodes is much shorter and the flame can be kept alive. Instead of a few years between one installment and the next, you only have to wait a month or two! And your enjoyment of that game is stretched out over a longer period as well. You get to experience it for longer.
Question 13 – Once King’s Quest The Silver Lining is completed, What can fans and consumer expect to see in the future in terms of new games made by Phoenix Online Games.
We definitely always look past to what a great company Sierra Online was. In our heart, the same way that Telltale has become the new “LucasArts” of adventure games, we want to become that for Sierra.
We want to move forward making great episodic games that engage the players through great stories, and also provide a community where the players can come to discuss with others about those games they come to love. Sierra was able to make this happen back in the 80s and 90s without the internet, so we are glad we have these new tools in our hands, and we plan to use them as much as we can.
Currently, we are working on our next game, Corridor 9. It is set in the near future after World War III, and it follows a woman, a scientist, and her team as they spend a night in an old laboratory where things are out of control. It’s a game that is based on themes of religion vs science, and man vs machine. In terms of gameplay, we are trying to do some really cool things with borrowing elements from other genres in order to create an adventure game that feels fresh and new, but at the same time without alienating classic adventure gamers.
Question 14 – Finally.. What do you love most about working at Phoenix Online Games ?
We are all individuals with the same goal and the same things in common. It’s great to be able to work with people that like exactly the same thing as you do and understand where you are coming from. It’s also great to be able to develop our own stories. This is the longest job some of us have had, and the longest job we have enjoyed. We are ready for the next step and to be able to commit full time to the company.
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Capsule Computers would like to thank the team over at Phoenix Online Games, and wish them all the best of luck with King Quest The Silver Lining. Make sure you grab your copy online on the 11th of July from the official website here : Kings Quest The Silver Lining Official Website
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Let us know what you thought of the interview and also about the highly anticipated finale to one of the best adventures games ever made.
