Blog Feed: Keybards

The Return of Keybards

Published on 2012-09-10 13:53:00

On February 10th, 2012, I posted what would become the last Keybards post until, well, now. The details behind the stall

Double Fine Crowdfunds Adventure Game: $400k in 1 day, $1 Million in 2 days

Published on 2012-02-10 00:23:00

On February 8th, Tim Schafer and Double Fine Productions (Psychonauts, Brutal Legend, Stacking, etc.) launched a Kickstarter project to raise money for an unnamed, unknown "classic" point-and-click adventure game. Along with $300,000 for the game, an additional $100,000 was necessary to fund a documentary of the game's development filmed by 2 Player Productions (who are also working on the Minecraft documentary). You can watch the hilarious introduction video from Tim Schafer below. The $4 [..]

Skyrim Creation Kit, High-Res Texture Pack, Space Core Companion Released

Published on 2012-02-07 22:51:00

As previously announced, Bethesda released the Skyrim Creation Kit today along with the "surprise" high-res texture pack. The Skyrim Steam Workshop, Creation Kit Wiki, and official Creation Kit forum are now open as well. The Creation Kit can only be launched through Steam, which is mildly annoying, but not too bad considering Skyrim itself already has the same requirement. The new kit has some major new features mixed with scattered minor changes and improvements. Most obviously, the new Pap [..]

Skyrim Creation Kit and Special Surprise "On Track for Tuesday"

Published on 2012-02-06 17:48:00

Almost 3 months after the release of Skyrim, the Creation Kit will finally be made available tomorrow. The Creation Kit has shifted from "on launch day" to "very close to launch" to "beginning in January" to its final deadline of January 38th. As usual, believing anything Todd Howard says is a quick path to disappointment. Presumably much of the delay was due to the Steam Workshop integration; that did involve Valve, after all. Bethesda has also uploaded a "first look" video of the new Crea [..]

Battlefield 3 Gulf of Oman Trailer and Community Highlights Video

Published on 2011-12-05 23:19:00

Just two quick Battlefield 3 videos to post here. The first is the latest trailer for the upcoming Back to Karkand expansion, this time set in the Gulf of Oman map. The video shows off some of the new vehicles being added in the expansion, plus the usual new weapons, enhanced destruction, and of course the "new" map. Back to Karkand will be released December 6 for PS3 and December 13 for PC and 360. On the other hand, there is also an official Battlefield 3 "community highlights" video ma [..]

Skyrim Creation Kit Coming in January With Steam Workshop Integration

Published on 2011-12-03 01:11:00

Yesterday, in the midst of the aftermath of the broken Skyrim 1.2 patch, Bethesda made an announcement about both the future of the Creation Kit and upcoming patches. As far as patches go, a patch for the patch is coming next week, followed by "code" fixes followed later by "data" (quest fixes, item balance, etc.) fixes. We'll see. But the more important news was about the Creation Kit, the Skyrim version of the Construction Set (or G.E.C.K. from Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas). Although To [..]

Skyrim Patch 1.2 Released...Breaks Resistances, Bookshelves, Dragons, More

Published on 2011-11-30 17:48:00

Bethesda has released patch 1.2 for Skyrim today through Steam. First, take a look at the rather short list of changes below. Improved occasional performance issues resulting from long term play (PlayStation 3) Fixed issue where textures would not properly upgrade when installed to drive (Xbox 360) Fixed crash on startup when audio is set to sample rate other than 44100Hz (PC) Fixed issue where projectiles did not properly fade away Fixed occasional issue where a guest would arrive to the pla [..]

Magicka: The Stars Are Left Expansion Trailer and Release

Published on 2011-11-29 14:27:00

The trailer for Magicka's "The Stars Are Left" expansion was released today by Paradox Interactive and Arrowhead Game Studios. Like the PVP trailer before it, the release trailer for The Stars Are Left uses a "live action" style with no game footage, but both trailers do a great job of stirring up interest. The original Magicka debut trailer as well as an earlier The Stars Are Left trailer use game footage if you're interested. The Stars Are Left promises a "Lovecraftian horror mystery-campai [..]

Humble Introversion Bundle Launches, 4 or 6 Games and 2 Prototypes Available

Published on 2011-11-24 12:08:00

Two days ago the Humble Introversion Bundle launched, continuing the pay-what-you-want/indie developer/charity model. The Introversion bundle includes four great games: Uplink, Darwinia, DEFCON, and Multiwinia, as well as two prototype tech demos (Subversion City Generator and Voxel Tech Demo). Additionally, paying above the average price, currently $3.79, gets you Aquaria and Crayon Physics Deluxe too, if you missed those games in previous bundles (Aquaria in #1, Crayon Physics Deluxe in #3). [..]

Minecraft 1.0.0 Released at Minecon, Price Raised to $26.95

Published on 2011-11-18 20:05:00

Minecraft 1.0.0 has been released, finally bringing Minecraft out of beta. The announcement was made by Notch along with the rest of the Mojang staff at Minecon, the (technically second) annual Minecraft convention. You can watch the generally awkward live presentation mixed with amusing videos below. To maintain the awkwardness, please do not applaud or laugh when you are repeatedly begged to. After Notch pulled the lever, 1.0.0 was made available for download to existing customers. If yo [..]

Battlefield 3 Campaign Review and Multiplayer Thoughts

Published on 2011-11-10 01:54:00

I've been playing a lot of Battlefield 3 since the release. For the first few days I switched back and forth between multiplayer and the campaign; there was only so much of that single-player I could take at once. After forcing myself to finish the campaign, I was able to focus on the multiplayer alone. Put simply, the campaign ranges from mediocre to bad, is entirely derivative and forgettable, and Battlefield 3 would be a better game if this campaign didn't exist. On the other hand, the multip [..]

Steam Summer Sale, Contest: Day 5

Published on 2011-07-04 16:56:00

Day 5 of the Steam summer sale has arrived with more great sales and prize tickets to earn. Today I purchased Frozen Synapse, a very interesting looking tactical strategy game. I don't normally like this genre, but between great reviews, some pe

Steam Summer Sale, Contest: Day 4

Published on 2011-07-03 18:37:00

Day 4 of the Steam summer sale is upon us, with new daily sales and prize booth objectives. Today I've purchased Tropico 3 Gold Edition ($5) and ARMA II: Combined Operations (because Propugnator made me). I can also specifically recommend looking at

Steam Summer Sale, Contest: Day 3

Published on 2011-07-02 12:45:00

The third day of the Steam summer sale has begun, with new daily deals and prize booth activities. Today haven't purchased anything, but there are some good deals. Super Meat Boy, Magicka, and Plants vs. Zombies are heavily discounted, and all 3 are

Steam Summer Sale/Contest: Day 2

Published on 2011-07-01 18:56:00

The second day of the Steam summer sale has begun, with new daily deals and prize booth activities. Today I've purchased the SpaceChem ($5.09) and the Heroes Pack ($5), which includes Heroes of Might and Magic V, the Hammers of Fate and Tribes of the

Steam Summer Sale and Contest Begin

Published on 2011-07-01 02:53:00

The Steam summer sale has begun again with camping and beach themes. Lasting until July 10th, the sale includes multiple daily deals, huge discounts on entire publisher packs and catalogs, and other assorted sales. I've listed some of the sales at th

Minecraft 1.7 Released: Pistons, Shears, More

Published on 2011-06-30 20:29:00

Minecraft 1.7 and a quick 1.7.01 fix have been released with pistons being the most notable addition. The pistons were adopted from two different community mods, then revised and adjusted. Pistons and sticky pistons push (and pull) blocks, allow

SCOTUS: Video Games Are Protected Speech

Published on 2011-06-28 22:36:00

Yesterday the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) struck down a California law banning the sale of "violent" video games to children in Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association (.PDF). As with every

Magicka Gets PvP Update, More DLC

Published on 2011-06-27 22:58:00

The absurdly crazy but entertaining Magicka was recently updated with an entirely new PvP game mode, for when you want to kill other mages intentionally. The free update includes three different PvP styles, 2 free PvP maps, and 1 new robe, plus

5 Indie Games for $5, No DRM, No Socks

Published on 2011-06-26 00:30:00

For $5.00, the price of a "convenience store sandwich, an old country music album, a DVD of a forgotten 80's movie star, [or] a new pair of socks," you can buy 5 great indie games. The $5.00 for 5 deal at Buy Games Not Socks includes Delve Deeper, Sp

Meet the Medic: A TF2 Masterpiece

Published on 2011-06-25 15:18:00

Team Fortress 2's recent Uber Update brought a lot of new content to the game, and also marked the announcement that Team Fortress 2 would be free forever. But that wasn't all, because Valve also released the much-delayed Meet the Medic video. To put

Team Fortress 2: The Uber Update is Here

Published on 2011-06-24 19:31:00

Yesterday was a big day for Team Fortress 2, seeing the release of a huge content patch and the announcement that the game would now be permanently free. I wanted to wait until today to write about the Uber Update to make sure everything about i

Team Fortress 2 Becomes Free to Play

Published on 2011-06-23 22:48:00

Along with the release of the Uber Update, Valve has announced that Team Fortress 2 will now be permanently free to play. The decision was revealed early through an interview with Develop-Online and followed with an official announcement. Anyone can

Team Fortress 2's Uber Update Coming

Published on 2011-06-22 00:06:00

Valve has announced the "biggest, most ambitious update" for Team Fortress 2: the Über Update. New content from the update is being announced each day until the Thursday, June 23rd release. So far, four class packs and one new map have been announce

The Witcher 2: Chapter 1 Impressions

Published on 2011-06-14 16:42:00

Warning: I tried to avoid spoilers, but in a few cases it was simply unavoidable. There are some minor spoilers and a few medium spoilers, nothing really major. The 3rd and 4th screenshots include some spoilers too. Avoid reading if you want a c

TF2 Saxxy Winners Being Announced

Published on 2011-06-08 17:12:00

Valve has begun announcing the winners of the Team Fortress 2 Saxxy contest. A new winner (new category) is being announced every five minutes. See all the winners on the Saxxy Winners page or embedded below. Accounts listed are Steam/YouTube.

Skyrim News from E3 2011

Published on 2011-06-07 15:02:00

Bethesda has been busy in and around E3 2011. They created a huge "billboard" advertisement, showed off some Skyrim footage, and announced a 5th Anniversary Edition of Oblivion. I've posted about the latter two developments on TESNexus but I wil

Double Item Drop Week for Team Fortress 2

Published on 2011-06-03 20:55:00

Valve has announced a week of double items drops in Team Fortress 2 starting today (June 3rd). Assuming that this week will work the same as the previous double drop week last December, the item cap will be doubled. Time to go acquire more items, tho

Witcher 2 Patch 1.2 and (Free) DLC Tomorrow

Published on 2011-06-02 22:17:00

CD Projekt RED has announced patch 1.2 for The Witcher 2, due for release tomorrow (June 3rd). In addition to bug fixes and balance changes, the patch will include all earlier DLC plus one new DLC. The new DLC simply adds barbershop/hairstyling servi

Impressive Half-Life Fan Videos

Published on 2011-05-31 13:35:00

I've recently found (from Reddit, twice) two very well made fan videos for Half-Life and Half-Life 2. The first video below is a trailer for the original Half-Life made by James Benson which includes new, original animations and textures, plus a new

Minecraft 1.6, 1.61, 1.62, 1.63, and 1.64

Published on 2011-05-26 22:36:00

Minecraft beta 1.6 was released earlier, then quickly followed by beta 1.61, and beta 1.62, and beta 1.63, and beta 1.64, as more bugs were found. 1.64 still has some serious bugs (issues with SMP chunk loading, tools dropped and picked back up disap

Witcher 2 Modding: Witcher Nexus Launched

Published on 2011-05-25 13:05:00

Dark0ne launched WitcherNexus, the 5th Nexus site, yesterday to help provide a more stable location for Witcher 2 modders, some of whom are currently based in the GOG.com forums and using temporary hosting sites like Mediafire. At the moment WitcherN

Black Velvet Teaser Trailer #2

Published on 2011-05-24 12:35:00

Another trailer for Black Velvet, a "deconstructionist dark comedy about a young couple on the run from the law in a dreamlike dystopian world" from Tim Pape (Nuclear Coleslaw), has been released. I've previously posted about both Black Velvet and Nu

Witcher 2 Modding: An Early Start

Published on 2011-05-23 21:35:00

Although there is no editor for The Witcher 2 (yet), modders are already working to improve the game. So far, most mods are basic tweaks, retextures, or convenience changes/"cheats". You can start with the "full" list of mods on the official forums,

Team Fortress 2 Saxxy Voting Begins

Published on 2011-05-20 16:16:00

Voting for the Team Fortress 2 Saxxy Awards has begun. Valve is giving away prizes for videos in 20 different categories, with the winners chosen by voters. To vote you must sign in with a Steam account and select a video category. Two videos wi

Portal 2 - The Final Hours Released for PC

Published on 2011-05-19 21:46:00

Portal 2 - The Final Hours, a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Portal 2 in digital book form, is now available on Steam for $2. The Final Hours was previously only available as an iPad app. Geoff Keighley (SpikeTV, GameTrailers) was given "fly

The Witcher 2: Prologue Impressions

Published on 2011-05-18 22:30:00

I've been having a lot of fun playing The Witcher 2 since its release yesterday. I've just finished Chapter 1 (and the prologue) and very early into Chapter 2, so I wanted to take a break to write about my thoughts so far. First up, the prologue. Wa

New Vegas: Honest Hearts DLC Released

Published on 2011-05-17 18:53:00

Honest Hearts, the second DLC for Fallout: New Vegas, was released today. Honest Hearts will take you on an expedition to Zion National Park in Utah as part of a caravan which is predictably ambushed. On the way back to the Mojave you'll become part

Steam Launches Daily Deals, Destroys Wallets

Published on 2011-05-16 14:48:00

Steam has begun offering daily deals: a new 24-hour sale every day. In case the weekend sales, midweek sales, occasional special promotions, random discounts, holiday sales, multi-pack discounts and pre-order discounts weren't enough, now you can fin

RUSH Review: Enjoyable Puzzles

Published on 2011-05-15 20:49:00

I bought RUSH as part of the Potato Sack before the Portal 2 ARG had really come to light. I had purchased the pack because it was a good deal, including a few games I specifically wanted, a few games that seemed worth trying, and a few games I alrea

Portal 2 Beta Authoring Tools Released

Published on 2011-05-13 12:54:00

Valve has released the beta Portal 2 authoring tools which allow users to create their own levels and chambers, for both single-player or co-op. The tools can also be used to add new skins, models, sound effects, and music. The tools inclu

Honest Hearts DLC Trailer Released

Published on 2011-05-11 20:33:00

Note: This post is cross-posted from my Nexus news post with minor edits. Bethesda has released the official trailer for Honest Hearts, the next Fallout: New Vegas DLC due on May 17th. The short 90 second trailer doesn't show too much. There are bri

My Nexus Interview with Tomerk (Oblivion)

Published on 2011-05-10 13:25:00

I just posted an interview on TESNexus with Oblivion modder Tomerk, creator of OBGE Liquid Water which won April's File of the Month on TESNexus with 58 votes. You can read a snip

Braid Review: Brilliant, Innovative, Fun

Published on 2011-05-09 15:03:00

I bought Braid a few months ago as part of the Humble Indie Bundle 2, but only recently finished the game. While Braid is somewhat short (coming in only slightly shorter than Homefront), the gameplay during those few hours is impressive. Braid i

Team Fortress 2's Replay Update Released

Published on 2011-05-05 22:21:00

Valve has just released another substantial Team Fortress 2 update named the Replay Update. Unsurprisingly, the update focuses on a new replay system and editor. The game already had some tools for recording and editing demos, but they were somewhat

Super Meat Boy Editor Released on Steam

Published on 2011-05-05 09:18:00

The (free) beta level editor for Super Meat Boy is now available through Steam (in the Tools list, unlike the Fallout: New Vegas G.E.C.K.). Using the editor, you can now create and upload levels to Super Meat World, the user-created level portal, and

Portal 2 Review: Buy It, Play It

Published on 2011-05-03 23:15:00

Note: This review may contain minor spoilers. No major plot details are revealed, but certain parts may be implied. Some gameplay examples are given that might "spoil" the fun of those puzzles.Portal was a masterpiece. Portal 2 is a greater masterpie

More Fallout: New Vegas DLC Announced

Published on 2011-05-03 11:25:00

Note: This post is cross-posted from my Nexus news post, with additional commentary. Bethesda (not Obsidian, of course) has put out a press release with more information about the next three Fallout: New Vegas DLC: Honest Hearts, Old World Blues, an

Minecraft 1.6: Maps, Bug Fixes, SMP Nether

Published on 2011-05-02 20:48:00

The upcoming (eventually) 1.6 update for Minecraft is looking like it will be my favorite update in some time. According to Notch, so far, 1.6 will include a new mapping feature with map items, bug fixes with help from the Minecraft wiki bug list, an

Recommended Oblivion Mods (Part 3): OBGE

Published on 2011-05-01 22:27:00

Continuing with the Oblivion mod recommendations, I'm going to devote this post solely to one mod: Oblivion Graphics Extender (OBGE). More specifically, I'm talking about OBGE v2, the current "work-in-progress" version that built on OBGE v1 and the O

Dragon Age 2 Review: Fun but Disappointing

Published on 2011-04-30 22:44:00

I finished Dragon Age 2 a few weeks ago, and haven't played it again since then. For comparison, I played through Dragon Age: Origins twice in a row (with a Rogue and a Mage), and started a 3rd character (Warrior) before moving on. Dragon Age 2 has r

Buy 2 TF2 Hats, Get Mount&Blade Discount

Published on 2011-04-29 21:38:00

With the cross-promotion between Portal 2 and Team Fortress 2 ending, it's time for yet another cross-promotion. In this latest event, you can buy two hats for Team Fortress 2 and get 10% off Mount&Blade: With Fire and Sword. Well, actually, it's

Recommended Oblivion Mods (Part 2)

Published on 2011-04-28 21:59:00

Skyrim's impending release has convinced me to replay Oblivion...again. Of course, I can't play Oblivion without a ton of mods, and that means more mods to recommend. I've previously recommended Display Stats, Enhanced Economy, Map Marker Overhaul, A

Dragon Age Legends: Great Game, Still Awful

Published on 2011-04-26 17:26:00

Some time ago, I wrote a brief post about Dragon Age Legends, the "social" Facebook game from EA2D tied to Dragon Age 2. That post was mainly focused on a giveaway of some spare beta keys for the game, as I had not yet played it. I did express s

New Vegas Patched to 1.3, G.E.C.K. Broken

Published on 2011-04-25 19:37:00

Note: This post is cross-posted from my Nexus news post but with additional commentary. Patch 1.3 for Fallout: New Vegas has been released, making the previously revealed balance changes. The patch also includes unspecified and unexplained "optimizat

Fallout: New Vegas Patch Coming Monday

Published on 2011-04-21 15:43:00

Note: This post is cross-posted from my Nexus news post. Bethesda employee and Senior Producer for Fallout: New Vegas Jason Bergman has posted more information about the next patch for Fallout: New Vegas. The patch will be released Monday (4/25/11) f

Multiple Valve Games to Give Away...on Reddit

Published on 2011-04-20 18:14:00

For earning a Golden Potato, I was rewarded with the ability to play Portal 2 about 30 minutes early...and the Valve Complete Pack. That pack includes every Valve game. Of course, I already own most Valve games so I pretty much got Half-Life (which I

My Hunt for the Golden Potato, Complete!

Published on 2011-04-18 22:48:00

Last night (or very early this morning) I finally earned the 35th potato from the Potato Sack GLaDOS@Home ARG (Alternate Reality Game). Getting potato #35 earned me a 36th potato as well as the Golden Potato, which wins me...something? I'll find

Help Portal 2 Release Early With Potato Sack

Published on 2011-04-15 15:33:00

Valve has revealed the "end" of the evil genius plan behind the Potato Sack. Playing the games today (and beyond?) will move the release of Portal 2 earlier and earlier. You can also complete objectives within the 13 potato games to obtain potat

Team Fortress 2's Hatless Update (Really)

Published on 2011-04-14 22:08:00

Valve has just released the Hatless Update for Team Fortress 2, which is a strange update that has no hats. What kind of TF2 update has no hats? Well, I guess the kind that comes a week after an update with 9 new hats. The update does include ch

Mass Effect 2 PC Giveaway Contest

Published on 2011-04-13 21:09:00

Bioware and Electronic Arts have been giving free codes for Mass Effect 2 to those who purchased Dragon Age 2. Since I already own Mass Effect 2, that leaves me with a free code to give to a lucky winner. Well, somewhat lucky, since the cod

Humble Bundle 3: Humble Frozenbyte Bundle

Published on 2011-04-12 15:39:00

Today the 3rd Humble Indie Bundle was launched, allowing you to "pay what you want" for five DRM-free indie games. This time, though, all the games are from the same developer: Frozenbyte. The bundle includes Trine, Shadowgrounds, Shadowgrounds: Surv

New Fallout: New Vegas Patch and DLC Soon

Published on 2011-04-12 12:47:00

Note: This post is cross-posted with edits from my NewVegasNexus post. Bethesda employee and Fallout: New Vegas Senior Producer Jason Bergman has posted some news about Fallout: New Vegas on the Bethsoft forums. In short, the next DLC, Honest He

Replaying Modded Oblivion and Nehrim

Published on 2011-04-11 22:57:00

Skyrim is only 7 months away...along with Minecraft's release out of beta. While waiting impatiently for both games, I have started yet another heavily modded replay of Oblivion to satisfy my Elder Scrolls quota. In the coming days I'll probably

Precursor Half-Life 2 Mod Mini Review

Published on 2011-04-10 15:27:00

About a week ago I found, downloaded, installed, and played through a Half-Life 2 mod named Precursor. The mod was short but enjoyable, and probably worth trying once. Below you can read how the mod is introduced by the authors. "Re-enter the Ha

Global Agenda: Free-to-Play with Free Agent

Published on 2011-04-08 15:58:00

Global Agenda, which I've written about once before, will be adopting a free-to-play model soon with the release of the Free Agent expansion. In addition to new content, Free Agent will coincide with Global Agenda becoming a free download. Anyone who

Finished Homefront: 5 Hours of Poor Design

Published on 2011-04-07 15:03:00

I finally got around to finishing Homefront, which took slightly under 5 hours. It's been a long time since I've played such a dull FPS (but remember, I've skipped Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops!), as far as single player goes. Homefront has an intri

Super Meat Boy in Super Meat World

Published on 2011-04-05 16:45:00

Super Meat Boy has received a huge, free update: Super Meat World, a user-created level portal. There are currently 8 new chapters and 5 featured levels, plus various other levels. Super Meat World can be accessed by traveling left from Chapter

Mojang Wins Escapist Developer Showdown

Published on 2011-04-05 13:02:00

Mojang, creators of Minecraft, have won Escapist Magazine's March Mayhem Developer Showdown 2011. Mojang was a wildcard, 16th-seeded contestant, but went all the way to defeat Bioware in the finals. Along the way Mojang knocked out #1-seeded Nintendo

My Nexus Interview with TheNiceOne (Oblivion)

Published on 2011-04-04 12:36:00

I just posted an interview on TESNexus with Oblivion modder TheNiceOne, creator of Map Marker Overhaul which won March's File of the Month on TESNexus with 61 votes. He has also created other important mods like Enhanced Economy, Display Stats, and m

The Best 2011 Gaming April Fools Jokes

Published on 2011-04-02 11:51:00

The internet was covered with April Fools jokes yesterday. Some were good, some were bad, some were dull, and some were awful. You can check out some of my favorite gaming-related jokes below. Faxtoid Destructoid went all-in for their joke. The enti

Minecraft Updated to 1.4: Wolves and Cookies

Published on 2011-03-31 14:24:00

Minecraft has just been updated to version 1.4 with some interesting changes and additions. There is also an amusing joke included for April 1st but I won't spoil it yet. Added tameable wolves Added cookies Sleeping in a bed now resets your spawn pos

Valve's TF2 Charity Raises $300k for Japan

Published on 2011-03-30 12:40:00

Valve's charity hat sale in Team Fortress 2 has raised over $300,000 for Japan relief efforts (through the American Red Cross) in 6 days. By offering unique hats for sale at $7.99, $19.99, and $99.99, Valve has managed to get the TF2 community to don

Darkspore Open Beta Available on Steam

Published on 2011-03-29 15:18:00

Darkspore has now entered an open beta phase which can be accessed for free through Steam. I had the chance to play a bit during the closed beta and had a good amount of fun. Darkspore is some strange hybrid of Diablo, Spore, and DotA-like games. The

Team Fortress 2: 2007 to 2011

Published on 2011-03-28 19:54:00

Valve continues to add more and more weapons, hats, and other items to Team Fortress 2. Each class was given new items in a class update while other items were added in between. Every class now has a diverse selection of weapons to choose from and ha

Valve Sells TF2 Hats for Japan Charity

Published on 2011-03-24 14:34:00

In the aftermath of the disaster(s) in Japan, Valve got "serious for a moment" to launch a charity opportunity within Team Fortress 2. Three new hats and two new noisemakers were added to the Mann Co. Store, with all the proceeds (minus taxes) going

My Free Copy of Homefront

Published on 2011-03-23 22:59:00

Yesterday I won a Twitter giveaway (redeem code race) from AtomicGamer for a free copy of Homefront on Steam. I just happened to pull up Twitter after a game just as they posted the code, so now I'm the lucky owner of Homefront. I say lucky because I

Steam Screenshots Feature Works Well

Published on 2011-03-22 21:33:00

Valve recently added an in-game screenshot feature to Steam, after it had been tested in an open beta for some time. With the Steam overlay you can now press a key (F12) in a game to take a screenshot, which also helpfully displays a small thumbnail,

Nuclear Coleslaw 4 and 5, Plus Black Velvet

Published on 2011-03-21 19:56:00

I've posted before about Nuclear Coleslaw, covering the first three episodes. The series is a dark, post-apocalyptic comedy loosely based on Fallout and similar games. Episodes 4 and 5 have been released, focusing on two aspects of multiplayer games.

Portal 2's First TV Commercial or Trailer

Published on 2011-03-18 14:19:00

Valve has released the first TV commercial for Portal 2, and it's great. The spot is only around 30 seconds but it is entertaining, informative, and well animated. The ad was actually created in-house by Valve, making it even more impressive. There i

Dawn of War 2 Series: Brief Thoughts

Published on 2011-03-17 16:18:00

I recently finished playing through Dawn of War 2 and the Chaos Rising expansion, and am currently working on the newly released Retribution expansion. I had played the original Dawn of War series (though not all of the expansions) before, but never

Team Fortress 2 + Total War: Shogun 2

Published on 2011-03-10 22:08:00

Valve has launched a new cross-promotion between Team Fortress 2 and Total War: Shogun 2, which will be released on March 15th, 2011. This promotion is the latest in a recent string, following promotions with Homefront, Rift, and Monday Nig

Nexus Files of the Month Interviews

Published on 2011-03-07 18:07:00

Voting for February's Files of the Month on the Nexus sites recently ended, and the Nexus news writers decided to interview the winning author from each site. There are only four winners (TESNexus, Fallout3Nexus, DragonAgeNexus, and NewVegasNexus) so

Two More Mount & Blade Fire/Sword Trailers

Published on 2011-03-04 22:10:00

TaleWorlds and Paradox Interactive have released two new trailers for Mount & Blade: With Fire and Sword. The first trailer shows off some of the new units, weapons, structures, etc. The second trailer is more action-focused and features a l

Magicka: Post-Completion Thoughts

Published on 2011-03-03 22:02:00

I recently finished Magicka's campaign with LePropugnator. The campaign only took around 6 hours (for reference, the speed run achievement requires finishing in 4), but those 6 hours were almost all pure entertaining fun. We died repeatedly, killed e

Magicka: Vietnam Trailer (Yes, Really)

Published on 2011-03-02 21:19:00

Magicka is a great game which I will be posting more about later, but in the meantime, take a look at the upcoming DLC/expansion Magicka: Vietnam. Yes, you read that correctly. Enjoy the entertaining trailer and amusing music and then go buy Magicka

Dragon Age 2 Demo Thoughts

Published on 2011-03-01 15:09:00

A few days ago I wrote a post about the Dragon Age 2 demo, but then Blogger ate it (not sure how). I put off rewriting the post for a few days to do other things (and deal with Google), so here it is a little late. This post isn't really a review, ju

Google Account and Gmail Outage Hits Me

Published on 2011-02-28 18:40:00

Yesterday night I apparently fell victim to Google's account/Gmail outage. When I visited my Blogger Dashboard to write a new post, I was directed to an error page. Logging into Gmail redirected me to a page telling me my account had been disabled. B

Team Fortress 2 Community Map Pack

Published on 2011-02-24 23:55:00

Valve has just released a community map pack for Team Fortress 2. PLR_Nightfall, PL_Frontier, and KOTH_Lakeside are now official maps. I actually wrote about Frontier almost a year ago as a great example of innovative Payload maps, so I'm glad to see

First In-Game Skyrim Trailer!

Published on 2011-02-24 13:34:00

Note: This post is cross-posted from my Nexus news article with some edits. Bethesda has released the first in-game trailer for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim after a countdown started yesterday ended. The trailer does a great job showing off

Fallout: New Vegas Dead Money Released

Published on 2011-02-22 11:31:00

The Dead Money DLC for Fallout: New Vegas has finally been released for the PC (and PS3) after the Microsoft bribe ran out. You can purchase Dead Money's one questline with limited gameworld integration and a few new items for the low low price of $1

Dragon Age 2 Demo Launches Tomorrow

Published on 2011-02-21 17:18:00

Note: This post is cross-posted from my Nexus news article with some edits. Bioware will be releasing a demo for Dragon Age 2 tomorrow. The demo allows you to choose any of the three classes (Warrior, Rogue, or Mage), play through the prologue,

Recommended Flash Games on Kongregate

Published on 2011-02-20 20:40:00

Kongregate's catalog of great web games has been keeping me entertained during bits of free time a lot lately. Between the high quality games and the points, levels, badges, and challenges, I always have something to do whenever I visit the site

Great Live Action Minecraft Videos

Published on 2011-02-19 22:07:00

Minecraft is definitely everywhere now. In the past few weeks I don't think I've gone a day without seeing or hearing Minecraft mentioned somewhere. I bought the game about 1-2 months ago and still haven't gotten around to playing more than a little

Two Spare Portal Copies from Portal 2

Published on 2011-02-17 21:30:00

Earlier today I purchased the Portal 2 Two Pack (20% off!). Valve is also giving away a copy of Portal with each Portal 2 purchase, and since everyone I know already owns Portal, I have two copies to give away. I'm going to do thi

Dead Island Zombie Survival Trailer

Published on 2011-02-16 22:55:00

Dead Island snuck up on me; I had never heard about it until today. After some brief teasing yesterday, Deep Silver released a CGI trailer through IGN for their upcoming zombie survival game, Dead Island. The game, which was originally planned for a

Two Spare Dragon Age Legends Beta Keys

Published on 2011-02-15 22:57:00

Earlier today I received a key for the Dragon Age Legends closed beta. Dragon Age Legends is a "social" game on Facebook that will be tied to Dragon Age 2 through unlockable items and such. I haven't tried the game yet, but apparently it is "muc

Civilization IV's "Baba Yetu" Wins Grammy

Published on 2011-02-14 12:41:00

Since everyone seems to be writing about this, I suppose I should too: the main theme from Civilization IV, "Baba Yetu" by Christopher Tin has won a Grammy award for "Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s)." Some of the articles

Dragon Age 2 Soundtrack Samples Released

Published on 2011-02-12 12:55:00

Bioware has released two tracks from Inon Zur's Dragon Age 2 soundtrack for listening. You can listen to the Hawke Family Theme and Qunari on the Rise below in the embed from SoundCloud. Both songs are great, but I think I like the second one better.

News Writer at the Nexus Sites

Published on 2011-02-11 11:58:00

Dark0ne recently posted a request for applications for a volunteer news writer position at the Nexus websites (TESNexus, Fallout3Nexus, DragonAgeNexus, and NewVegasNexus). I applied, was offered a position on the news writing team, and accepted. I wi

Bobblehunt Hits 100 Endorsements!

Published on 2011-02-10 13:22:00

Bobblehunt has finally reached 100 endorsements after sitting, stuck, at 99 endorsements for a week or two. Thanks to dannerjan for endorsement #100! Although the stall between 99 and 100 was amusingly frustrating, the pace of endorsements has b

Bulletstorm Promotion: Duty Calls Parody

Published on 2011-02-09 22:24:00

Bulletstorm may not have a PC demo (why? who knows), but People Can Fly and Epic Games did create "Duty Calls: The Calm Before the Storm," a free downloadable game that parodies both Call of Duty and the first-person shooter genre. The game is short

Skyrim Pre-Release Info: My Thoughts #1

Published on 2011-02-08 17:20:00

Bethesda has begun trickling out information about The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, mostly through GameInformer. I have been trying to avoid the hype as long as possible, but it's hard to resist. GameInformer and other websites have covered the info

Morrowind Let's Play on SomethingAwful

Published on 2011-02-07 19:48:00

About a week and a half ago, Musical_Daredevil from the SomethingAwful Forums posted a Morrowind Let's Play thread with one goal in mind: 100% completion of the game. If you don't know what a Let's Play is, a detailed description can be found on the

New Vegas Advanced Mod Project Launches

Published on 2011-02-06 21:45:00

The New Vegas Advanced Mod Project (nVamp) was launched yesterday. nVamp is both a framework for compatibility between many complex mods ("Core Mods") and a collection of smaller mods ("Internal Mods") integrated together in Fallout: N

All Railworks DLC 78% off until 2/14 on Steam!

Published on 2011-02-05 21:31:00

Oh boy oh god oh my I am so excited! The Railworks DLC Complete Pack is about 80 percent off on Steam until the 14th (that would be a good Valentine's gift for all of the nerdy, train-loving man-children you call "boyfriends," ladies). It's like $200

Dead Money DLC Coming to PC (and PS3)

Published on 2011-02-05 21:26:00

Yesterday, Bethesda announced that the Dead Money DLC for Fallout: New Vegas will (finally) be coming to the PC and PS3 on February 22nd. Isn't it nice what a few bribes from Microsoft can do? In Fallout 3 we had to deal with (by removing from existe

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Hype Video

Published on 2011-02-04 21:52:00

Having a busy weekend (personal/family issues), so I'll just leave you with this entertaining video about The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim hype and fan(boy)s. The short animated cartoon by Harry Partridge is both funny and impressively made. Nor

Bobblehunt 1.32: Major Bug Fixed...Again

Published on 2011-02-03 17:17:00

Bobblehunt's Survival Bobblehead has had some issues. I thought I had fixed them when I discovered a serious error which was fixed in version 1.30. Apparently, that was only one issue, or perhaps the damage it caused could not be fixed retroacti

Project Nevada Released for New Vegas

Published on 2011-02-02 19:28:00

Project Nevada has been released, at least partially. I've posted about Project Nevada's trailer before, but to remind everyone, Project Nevada is a set of themed modules for Fallout: New Vegas designed by the team behind FWE - Fallout 3 Wandere

Mount&Blade: With Fire and Sword Announced

Published on 2011-02-01 19:29:00

Taleworlds Entertainment and Paradox Interactive announced Mount&Blade: With Fire and Sword, the 3rd entry in the Mount&Blade series, yesterday. An announcement trailer was released too, and though it doesn't really show much of the game

January NewVegasNexus Mods of the Month

Published on 2011-02-01 12:52:00

Since October, the users of New Vegas Nexus have chosen five recommended mods (or at least popular mods) each month as "Files of the Month." Each user may cast one vote for one mod. Voting is apparently either very spread out or not very common since

Returning to StumbleUpon...Again

Published on 2011-01-31 14:26:00

I recently returned to using StumbleUpon for a third time. I originally used StumbleUpon back around when it first started; not right at the beginning but maybe some months to a year later. Eventually I stopped using the toolbar, probably a

Bobblehunt 1.30: Major Bug Fixed

Published on 2011-01-29 12:58:00

A major bug in Bobblehunt was fixed yesterday, after a report from tacitus59 led me to an issue that was preventing the Survival Bobblehead from being enabled. The quest (RandomizationS) which governs the script (RandomizerS) which enables a Survival

Indie Game Reviews 3: Shatter

Published on 2011-01-28 15:31:00

Shatter, by Sidhe, is the third indie game of the large batch I bought from Steam that I've played enough to review. Earlier I reviewed VVVVVV and Tidalis, both of which I enjoyed. Shatter is a new take on the "brick-breaking" genre, drawin

Team Fortress 2 and Monday Night Combat

Published on 2011-01-27 23:16:00

Valve is doing yet another cross-promotion between Team Fortress 2 and another game. This time, though, the promotion involves Monday Night Combat by Uber Entertainment which is at least heavily influenced by Team Fortress 2. Monday Night Combat is a

Mmph the Way You Mmph: TF2 Remix

Published on 2011-01-26 13:21:00

Ubercharged.net recently pointed me to Mmph the Way You Mmph by mymapagainstyourcash, a Team Fortress 2 remix of Love the Way You Lie (Eminem ft. Rihanna). The TF2 version uses Force-A-Nem (Scout) featuring Pyrihanna (Scout). The remix is surpri

Another Bobblehunt .ESP: Fallout 3 Bonuses

Published on 2011-01-25 19:27:00

After another request, this time from HadToRegister, I created a new optional .ESP for Bobblehunt that returns the Bobblehead bonuses to their original Fallout 3 values: +10 for skills and +1 for attributes. This .ESP will probably be "unbalanced" wi

Fallout: Nuka Break, Another Fallout Fan Film

Published on 2011-01-25 14:01:00

Fallout: Nuka Break, a Fallout fan film, has just been released. I have previously posted about Nuclear Coleslaw series by Tim and Phil Pape, which started with Desert Story, and this video is similar. Nuka Break strays between the serious and the co

Champions Online: Free For All Tomorrow

Published on 2011-01-24 12:25:00

Champions Online is going free to play (F2P) tomorrow, January 25th, perhaps following the lead of Dungeons and Dragons Online (DDO) and Lord of the Rings Online (LotRO) from Turbine, but maybe also in response to the release of DC Universe Online. A

Abandoning Xfire Slowly Over Time

Published on 2011-01-23 12:09:00

Xfire used to be the first (and at times only) program I launched before starting up games. Between its gameplay hour tracking, useful in-game chat and web browser, and screenshot and video capture/broadcast, it covered much of what I wanted inside g

Recommended New Vegas Mod Tools

Published on 2011-01-21 13:22:00

Moddable games often require 3rd party tools to help install, manage, and maintain a diverse set of mods. This has been especially true with the recent line of Bethesda games: Morrowind, Oblivion, Fallout 3, and Fallout: New Vegas (developed by Obsid

Bought New Netbook from ASUS

Published on 2011-01-20 15:27:00

I'm back from dealing with a personal/family issue, but over that time I finally ordered a netbook from NewEgg. I got a basic, recertified ASUS EEE PC. I don't even want to know what was going on in the head of whoever thought "EEE" was a good name f

Keybards Joins the Dark Side: Twitter

Published on 2011-01-15 15:33:00

Despite telling myself that I would never create a Twitter account...I just made an account for Keybards (if GirlGrey still existed she would be happy). The account is shared between LePropugnator and I and will be used mostly to share news related t

Terrifying TF2 Ullapool Caber Demoman Video

Published on 2011-01-14 11:10:00

Someone on GameFAQs linked to this terrifying video from a 10v10 Arena_Nucleus match. Stun_gravy, a Demoman using the Ullapool Caber and Sticky Jumper, manages to kill over half the enemy team in the first few seconds of the game, and then finish the

Recommended Mod List for New Vegas

Published on 2011-01-12 18:32:00

Recommended mod lists are always nice to have, at least to start from. I have very, very slowly worked on recommending mods for Fallout: New Vegas. Now, AlexRD has created one much more substantial mod recommendation list for Fallout: New Vegas on th

Indie Game Reviews 2: Tidalis

Published on 2011-01-11 20:39:00

Time to review another indie game, Tidalis, now that I've played enough to have a substantial opinion. I've already reviewed VVVVVV, and there are a bunch of other indie games I've purchased and will review eventually. Shatter may be next, I think.

Another Very Minor Bobblehunt Update

Published on 2011-01-09 22:25:00

I just uploaded a quick minor fix (1.28) for Bobblehunt after enderandrews reported an error with the Charisma Bobblehead (found with FNVEdit's "Check for Errors"). It's likely that the error was preventing that perk from working correctly, but it sh

Team Fortress 2 New Item Thoughts (6, 7, 8)

Published on 2011-01-08 20:01:00

Since the previous post, I've found more new items, and Valve has released even newer items (like during Australian Christmas). This post will cover 3 weapons again: the Sydney Sleeper, the Bushwacka, and the L'Etranger. All of these items are from t

Project Nevada (Mod) Trailers for New Vegas

Published on 2011-01-06 18:31:00

I'm quite a bit late here, but Project Nevada, a large mod for Fallout: New Vegas, has been announced. The project is being developed by the same team that created FWE (Fallout 3 Wanderers Edition) for Fallout 3, though Project Nevada aims to be more

Steam Holiday Sale Spoils

Published on 2011-01-05 11:38:00

The Steam holiday sale is, sadly, over. Of course, during the sale, there were a ton of great deals. In fact, on the final day, there were 1303 items on sale. I bought quite a few of the really good deals/games, though I haven't had the time to play

Domain Transfer (Finally) Complete

Published on 2011-01-05 10:03:00

The domain transfer process is finally complete, after a few hiccups. The domain was moved from BounceWeb to Namecheap. So far Namecheap has been quite good. The transfer was relatively cheap considering it also came with an additional year for the d

Temporary Move

Published on 2010-12-29 23:33:00

The Keybards domain is in the process of being transferred to a new registrar/host and is currently unavailable. In the meantime the blog will back on Blogspot for a time. New posts will likely wait until the domain is back. Some links that still poi