rush posts

We were wondering what was going on at Valve this week when it didn't have any major sales on the Steam download service but late today Steam finally showed its hand. The service has cut the price of 13 indie games under the new Potato Sack bundle.

This new bundle has the following games on sale for 50 percent off their already low prices:

1... 2... 3... KICK IT!
AaAaAA!!! - A Reckless Disregard for Gravity
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
AudioSurf
BIT.TRIP BEAT
Cogs
Defense Grid: The Awakening
Killing Floor
RUSH
Super Meat Boy
The Ball
The Wonderful End of the World
Toki Tori

If you buy all 13 games at once you will be able to get them all for just $38.72, a 75 percent price cut from their normal prices if sold separately. There's no word on when this sale will end.

Wow. Yet another busy day for PC gaming. I know there's a lot of people who are highly skeptical of what Duke Nukem Forever will be like when its finally released. Personally we just want to shoot things and laugh at the inappropriate jokes. If it can deliver on those low expectations we will be happy.

• Steam has a new update for Rush that adds three new levels to the puzzle game.
• Want to see the character on the front of the Fallout New Vegas cover in real life? Here you go.
• Speaking of Fallout, this video shows that the game's conversation system doesn't work in real life.
• A fan of the original Dead Space got to create one of the signature kill moves in Dead Space 2.
• And finally, the Kinect Minecraft hackers can now animate their creations. Cool.

It's hard to believe but a lot of you reading this have a three day weekend to look forward to. Didn't we just go through a ton of holidays?

• Steam has a new automatic update for the game Rush that adds new levels.
• Game Informer has some videos that show off the audio and voice work of The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim (more of Max Von Sydow's voice and Jeremy Soule's music)
• In related news check out this video of a piano version of the Skyrim theme song.
• Codemasters is hiring team members to make an upcoming browser-based F1 racing game.

That Razer concept dealie for the mobile PC game device has a ton of potential. They just need to get the right combo of hardware and price and it could sell like hotcakes.

• Steam now has the Mac port of Assassin's Creed II available for purchase. It also supports Steamplay (PC version gets the Mac port for free and vise versa).
• Steam has new automatic updates available for Swarm Arena, Ship Simulator Extreme and Rush.
• Fable III for the PC showed up with a playable build at CES this week. Sadly there's still no word of a release date.
• A panel about Thief 4 is scheduled for the 2011 Game Developers Conference. But it's just for the game's music.

Just one more shopping week left until The Big Day arrives. Of course we prefer digital gifts and online purchases over rushing around some huge mall with screaming kids and long register lines but that's just us.

• The latest Bethesda Podcast chats briefly with Todd Howard about they pulled off last week's reveal of The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim without the general public knowing about it.
• Blizzard has a new Raynor design for its Battle.net Authenticator.
• Steam has new automatic updates for Rush (with two new levels added), Left 4 Dead 2, and Star Ruler.
• Steam also has added Winter Voices Episode 2 to its library.
• Check out this cool fan made Fallout trailer. It's spiffy.

Yep, we've been a little slack on the Bits and Bytes side this week. Our sincere apologies for those of you who read this part of the blog. Things should be back on track next week:

• The newly released puzzle game Rush has been updated via Steam with two new free levels.
• Toki Tori has also been updated via Steam, adding the game's new level editor.
• Nation Red has a major Steam update, adding a new player class system, along with new perks, achievements, weapons and more,
• Global Agenda has a new update adding a new Merc PvP map and more.
• Booster Trooper has a new Steam update that adds a new map.
• Team Fortress 2 has a new Steam update that apparently "Updated some files, for no reason whatsoever". (yep, those are the real patch notes)
• League of Legends has added yet another new Champion, Cassiopeia.
• This has to be one of the coolest looking PC case mods we have ever seen.

World of Warcraft players get to check out Cataclysm in a few hours here in the US. In the meantime here are some news nuggets to past the time while you are waiting in the queue:

• Steam has several automatic updates for games today including Poker Night at the Inventory, Arcadia, Rush, Doc Clock The Roasted Sandwich of Time, Divinity II; The Dragon Knight Saga, and Super Meat Boy,
• IGN is reporting that Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine is now set for release sometime in the summer of 2011.
• Here is a Minecraft music video. It's pretty nice.
• The development team behind the recently released puzzle game Rush is showing percentages of the game's Steam sales.
• The second closed beta event for Rift will be held the weekend of December 17.
• Telltale is shipping the collector DVD for Sam and Max The Devil's Playground.

The holiday season is in full swing now. Lots of gift buying, lots of decorating and lots of TV specials. Oh, and lots of lame Christmas puns.

• Quake Live got a new patch update that includes the return of its old in-game ad provider IGA Worldwide.
• Steam added the new games RUSH and Blue Toad Murder Files to its library with 10 percent off each game for the next week.
• Steam also has a big new Global Agenda update that adds four new maps and other new features and improvements.
• New patch updates for Super Meat Boy, Counter-Strike Source Beta and Left 4 Dead are also available on Steam.
• Who is really waiting to play World of Warcraft Cataclysm? This guy.
• There's also a new Minecraft update available.

It's been a while since we have seen a PC puzzle game that looks like it's more than just a Bejeweled rip-off. The indie game team at Two Tribes seem to be taking a new look at the genre with its upcoming game Rush. The game is due for release via Steam on Friday, December 3. There's already a demo of the game that you can also get via Steam.

Rush, which comes from the same team that made the innovative platformer-puzzle game Toki Tori, takes place in a fully 3D world. Players have guide squares from one designated origin point to a set point of departure. The trick is to guide the ever moving square to its destination via a series of items like Stops, Conveyor Belts, and more. The $4.99 game will have over 70 levels along with support for Steam achievements and regularly updated bonus levels.

Last December, we wrote about Darkstar, an independently development multi-media themed adventure game that's been in the works for 10 years. At the time the game's Director/Producer J. Allen Williams would not give a release date even though he stated that the game has been content complete for a year.

Now Fidgit has posted up a massive three part interview with Williams which goes over, in almost nauseating detail, all of the issues that Darkstar has had to deal with in its long development process. At the end of the interview Williams states that the game will finally be released in the fourth quarter of 2010 via download on Steam and other similar sites. Williams also says the game will be released in retail stores in the first quarter of 2011. However plans to use songs from the classic rock group Rush have now been scuttled due to the band's management asking for high prices for the use of the songs. Williams now says that a "custom score of progressive rock music" has been composed to replace the Rush tunes but will not affect the release date.