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Steam offers 75% discount on indie games this weekend

by Andrew Yoon { Aug 8th 2009 at 2:00AM }

Steam is offering the "who's who" of independent video games in an incredible sale you'd be silly to miss. For $30, you can get 10 indie games via the service:

There's a lower-budget $20 option as well, which only includes half the games above. Either way, you'll be feeding starving independent developers without having to break the bank. Oh, and most of these games are pretty fun, too. It's a win-win for everyone, so make sure you rush to Steam before the sale ends on Monday, August 10.

Everything you need to know about Everyday Shooter

by Joystiq Staff { Aug 24th 2008 at 7:30PM }

Download to PSP

Very little is known about the upcoming PSP port of Everyday Shooter -- however, we've compiled a list of the most important stories and resources from the PS3 version of the game. Read interviews with the game's creator, Jonathan Mak, and find out the inspirations behind the innovative sounds of this downloadable arcade game. Hopefully, the PSP version of Everyday Shooter will keep all the qualities that made the PS3 version so terrific.

Read on >

Everyday Shooter coming to PSP

by Alan Tsang { Aug 20th 2008 at 12:55PM }

Everyday Shooter has just been announced for the PSP. The original game debuted on PC and PS3, and was praised by critics for its innovative combination of music and shooting. No separate release date is available at this time, but it will be included in the PSP 4GB Memory Entertainment Pack, which will launch in November. The bundle will include a voucher which allows you to download the game from the PS Store.

To find out more about this innovative shooter, check out PS3 Fanboy's coverage.

Everyday Shooter makes PC debut on Steam

by Christopher Grant { May 8th 2008 at 5:58PM }

For the PS3-deficient amongst you, you've got a second chance to play ... nay, experience Jonathan Mak's procedurally generated musical shooter, Everyday Shooter. If you've got a Windows PC, Valve's Steam client, and an unused $10 bill, you could show up to this rock party a measly seven months late. Let's see if it can prove to be as popular as Steam's other indie audio title, Audiosurf.

Gallery: Everyday Shooter

Finally! Everyday Shooter arrives in Europe this week

by Andrew Yoon { Feb 11th 2008 at 11:00AM }

That took long enough. Queasy Games' PSN masterpiece, Everyday Shooter is finally heading across the Atlantic. Why did it take so long? (The US release was back in October.) We may never know. But, we're glad for our European friends that can finally enjoy Jon Mak's gift to fans of synasthesia.

Our review of the downloadable was rather glowing. Jem Alexander said the game "manages to differentiate itself from all the others by introducing new, innovative gameplay mechanics, an incredible score and an intimate, personal experience which is the closest thing I've felt to video games being art."

[Thanks, Simon R.!]

Gallery: Everyday Shooter

EGM rumor mill suggests Everyday Shooter to PSP, God of War to PS2

by Andrew Yoon { Feb 4th 2008 at 6:30PM }

The rumor-mongering masters at EGM have a few juicy tidbits to contemplate in their upcoming March issue. The notorious Quarterman is back, with a few more rumors:

They say: God of War: Chains of Olympus will move to PS2.
We say: Yeah, that's almost a certainty. But, how long will gamers have to wait for a console port? PSP games that move to the home console usually take a year to transition, and by then, PSP owners will have already moved on to bigger and better games. If you need your GoW fix any time soon, you're going to play it on Sony's handheld.
They say: Everyday Shooter will arrive on PSP.
We say: Yep, that's also almost certainly going to happen. flOw made the jump from PSN to PSP, and we're confident that many games will follow. Considering Everyday Shooter's simple control scheme, it's perfect for PSP. We can't wait.

NPR takes a condescending look at stories in games

by Scott Jon Siegel { Jan 10th 2008 at 7:00AM }

Did you know that video games have stories? Oh, you did? Well, apparently NPR's Chana Joffe-Walt didn't, which only partly explains her condescending -- borderline inflammatory -- piece on Bungie's Joseph Staten, who wrote the latest Halo novel, Contact Harvest. Throughout the piece, Joffe-Walt takes unfair jabs at video game fans, questioning their literacy ("Do gamers read?") as well as their general sophistication.

Near the beginning of the interview, Joffe-Walt asks Staten, quite sincerely: "Isn't gaming all just, like, shoot-em-up? Why do you need story?" Clearly, she might not have been the best choice to do a piece on video games. In the future, NPR, please leave the video game stories to Heather Chaplin, whose recent piece "Video Games that Got Away" offered a positive and mainstream-oriented look at games, as opposed to a negative, narrow-minded one.

Best of the Rest: James' Picks of 2007

by James Ransom-Wiley { Jan 1st 2008 at 1:30PM }

Pac-Man Championship Edition (XBLA)

If not worthy of a Top 10 spot, then certainly Pac-Man deserves Joystiq's 'Comeback Player of the Year' award. I covered Pac-Man CE's overblown launch in early June, but it wasn't until I became a devoted player at home that I realized the sheer genius of the first true Pac-Man sequel since 'the Ms.' hit the maze in '82. Designer Toru Iwatani managed to scrape off a quarter-century of rust and fashion a remarkably relevant game that held me down during an otherwise punishing summer drought. Geometry Wars might be the most celebrated, but Pac-Man CE is Xbox Live Arcade's true star.

Continued →

NPR covers 2007's games that got away

by Christopher Grant { Dec 27th 2007 at 6:00AM }

NPR's All Things Considered has been spending a moment each day this week reflecting on "the ones that got away." Whether it be books, which they covered on Monday, or television shows, which they covered on Wednesday, or video games, which they covered on Christmas day (a present from them to us? We think so).

Journalist Heather Chaplin, author of Smartbomb and friend of the 'stiq, discussed three games which may not be getting the attention they deserve as the year wraps up. While BioShock is busy mopping up nearly every single game of the year honor out there, we're glad to hear a mainstream outlet like NPR take the time to honor ought-seven's unsung heroes of gaming.

When area/code's Frank Lantz refers to the "rococo" aesthetic of modern games relative to Portal's minimalism, you can practically smell the title bout between the aforementioned BioShock and Valve's infectious puzzler, which Lantz calls one of his favorite games of all time. But Portal wasn't the only onetime indie game on their list to make it to the big leagues: they also covered Everyday Shooter, the IGF finalist turned PlayStation Network title, and Desktop Tower Defense, the addictive web game that recently won its own game of the year honor. It's a great listen, even if they're preaching to our choir.

Everyday Shooter, fl0w, Calling All Cars on sale

by Andrew Yoon { Nov 20th 2007 at 8:42PM }

In addition to a massive Store update, SCEA has temporarily reduced the price of three PSN downloadable titles. Now available for $4.99:

Everyday Shooter, Jon Mak's synesthesia masterpiece is our pick. If you only have enough money for one download, make it this one.
Calling All Cars, David Jaffe's gift to the PS3 world, is another great choice ... only if you have four controllers and three other friends. As a multiplayer game, it's madness, but single player gamers need not apply.
fl0w, the is-it-art-or-game creation by thatgamecompany is an interesting experience that's for those with far more daring tastes in games. It might not have enough gameplay to keep you coming back.
PixelJunk Racers is a collection of mini racing games. Often misunderstood, these are supposed to harken back to the era of 2D racing games ... something we've long gone from.

These prices are valid until November 29th.
[Via CAG]

Jon Mak and the inspirations of Everyday Shooter

by Andrew Yoon { Nov 3rd 2007 at 12:00AM }

Unfortunately, fans of the PSN title Everyday Shooter will be disappointed to hear that the game's soundtrack is still not confirmed for release. We'll keep on bothering our friends at SCEA, but until then, here are some great recommendations from Jon Mak on the bands that inspired the sounds of Everyday Shooter. Complete list after the break.

Continued →

PS3 Fanboy review: Everyday Shooter

by Jem Alexander { Oct 14th 2007 at 2:00PM }

Everyday Shooter is one of those titles that popped up out of nowhere a few months ago. Its creator, Jonathan Mak, was the winner of three separate awards during the Independant Games Festival awards at GDC this year. After this he was approached by Sony and asked to develop his winning title, Everyday Shooter, for the PSN. Finally, the game is now available on the American PSN.

To begin with, it's easy to mentally throw Everyday Shooter on top of the ever-growing pile of dual-analogue shooters. The PSN alone already has more than enough with Blast Factor, Super Stardust HD and Nucleus already vying for the title of "best shooty point collector." Everyday Shooter, however, manages to differentiate itself from all the others by introducing new, innovative gameplay mechanics, an incredible score and an intimate, personal experience which is the closest thing I've felt to video games being art.

Gallery: Everyday Shooter

Continued →

A look at Jon Mak's life

by Andrew Yoon { Oct 12th 2007 at 5:00PM }

Jon Mak is the man that single-handedly made the new PSN game, Everyday Shooter. The game took top honors at GDC's Independent Games Festival, and Sony immediately signed a deal with the one-man Queasy Games. A recent PlayStation.blog update shows some of the crazy thoughts from the mind of this burgeoning games developer. See his not-1080p TV (it's 12", oh no!), and his aversion to the numbers 4 and 5. In fact, he dislikes them so much, they''re not in a single line of code for the game! Certainly sounds impressive, no?

Stay tuned for our full review of Everyday Shooter.

PSN Thursday: Everyday Shooter, Ratchet & Clank demo, and more

by Kevin Kelly { Oct 11th 2007 at 8:25PM }

There's a slew of new things on the PlayStation Network Store today via a much needed update, including the downloadable game Everyday Shooter and a Ratchet & Clank Future demo. In layman's terms, this means hundreds of PS3 owners will be unreachable for the next couple of weeks. Stock up on food and water, and make your bathroom plans in advance. Here's the full release list:

Everyday Shooter full game ($9.99)
Ratchet & Clank demo (free)
Conan demo (free)
NHL 2K8 demo (free)
Uncharted behind the scenes video (free)
Folklore trailer (free)
Fallout 3 trailer (free)
Ratchet and Clank wallpaper (free)
Everyday Shooter wallpaper (free)
The Assassination of Jesse James movie trailer (free)
Spiderwick Chronicles movie trailer (free)
Walk Hard movie trailer (free)

American PSN updates for October 11th

by Jem Alexander { Oct 11th 2007 at 4:15PM }

So the European PSN update may not have been up to snuff, but today's American updates have finally been listed on the PlayStation.Blog. This week we're happy to see Everyday Shooter finally being released alongside the Ratchet and Clank demo. Best update ever? This is certainly a contender for the title. The full release list is as follows: