Catapult for Hire is on Kickstarter!

Catapult for Hire is a game that I'd heard a lot about over the last several months. When I ran across it on Kickstarter, I was really psyched - it means the game is getting closer to release! Tyrone, the developer, lovingly calls it a Nintendo 64 era world, and he's absolutely right - the art and aesthetic are reminiscent of games like Banjo Kazooie or Ocarina of Time in the very best of ways.

Humble Indie Bundle 11 - Guacamelee, Dust, Giana Sisters and The Swapper (Plus More!)

I managed to resist the Double Fine Humble Bundle and I resisted countless awesome bundles before that. Heck, I even managed to get through the Steam sale without a scratch, and hadn't purchased a single game this year. I regret to inform you, however, that the Humble Indie Bundle 11 has drawn first blood for 2014.

This is the first bundle (aside from publisher/developer-specific ones) where I actually recognized nearly all of the games in the bundle, and had heard great things about them. Guacamelee sold me on this one alone, but I'd also been very curious about Dust: An Elysian Tail and Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams.

Updated from 3/1 11:58am Eastern time. Behold the updated awesomeness, now with Fez!

I'd also heard great things about Antichamber and Monaco: What's Yours is Mine, but couldn't justify the extra $3.56 for the two games when I've had car repairs to take care of for weeks now. For those of you other gamers on a budget, keep in mind that you can get Guacamelee! Gold Edition, Dust: An Elysian Tail, Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams and The Swapper for as little as $0.01 if you do the "custom amount", but you'll want to spend at least $1.00 to get the Steam keys as well at least the minimum so you can grab Fez too! Besides, the more you spend, the more goes to the developers, the charities and the awesome Humble Bundle site as well.

Update: I'd originally paid $1 to get the Steam keys, but then when the other games were unlocked, the addition of Fez was just too much to resist! Seriously, you HAVE to grab this bundle!

The Humble Indie Bundle 11 ends Tuesday, March 4th, so if you're at all interested, it would be wise to act quickly. Enjoy!

Under the Sea Shells Giveaway - Make Math Fun!

Welcome to the Learning Resources  - Under the Sea Shells Giveaway

Sponsored by: Learning Resources

Hosted by: Savory Savings

Co-hosted by: Gloriously Green Gal & ContestPatti

Is math a drag in your house, or is it something you worry about with your younger child that they may not do well, or are showing earlier signs of struggling?  If so, why not try injecting some fun into their math building practices?  Krista over at Savory Savings had the chance to check out the new Under The Sea Shells math word problem activity set from Learning Resources and shared that her kiddos did not even realize they were learning and flexing their math skills when working with this set!  This set, aimed for first grade and above, brings fun and silly sea creatures into the world of math word problems and challenges little thinkers to consider operations and algebraic thinking.  It follows the Common Core guidelines for learning and really keeps children engaged.

Would you like to win the Learning Resources Under the Sea Shells word problem set to help engage your little one with math?  If so, enter with the giveaway tool below.  This giveaway is open to US residents, ages 18 and older.  

If you have won a Learning Resources giveaway anytime from another blog in the last 6 months, you are not eligible to win this giveaway.  The giveaway will run from February 6, 2013 through February 20, 2014 at 11 PM CST and is open to US residents, ages 18 and older.  Entries will be verified.  Winner will be notified via email (consider adding gloriouslygreengal@gmail.com  to your safe list) – winner will have 48 hours to respond and claim prize or another winner will be selected.
Good luck!

Entry-Form

 
Krista from Gloriously Green Gal and Savory Savings received products from this sponsor to facilitate her review, no other compensation was received. All participating blogs are not responsible for prize fulfillment.  This giveaway is in no way associated with social media sites including Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

SodaStream Giveaway!

SodaStream Giveaway
Hosts: Inside My Head.. ~ Co-Host: Reviewz & Newz

Fountain Jet home soda makers look great on your kitchen counter. Turn water into sparkling water and soda in seconds with a Sodastream Fountain Jet home soda maker.
Available in three colors: white, black/silver, and red.

PRIZE: Fountain Jet - Soda Starter Kit Fountain Jet – winner’s choice of color (black/silver, red/silver or white) 1 carbonating bottle, reusable for up to 3 years Reusable carbonator to fizz up to 60L of soda Variety 6-pack of popular sample-size flavors 3 full-sized flavors of the winner’s choice

SodaStream is an innovative company always expanding and re-engineering their awesome products with consumers needs in mind. Read my review of the New SodaStream Source for more information on how they are constantly improving!

I actually own a SodaStream myself, and while we didn't try too many of the flavors, it's absolutely fantastic for making diet energy drinks! Out of all of em, that's definitely the best savings over buying expensive energy drinks, and it even tastes good! :D

GIVEAWAY

(2/1 - 2/28)

Enter through the Rafflecopter form below for your chance to win

Be sure to follow SodaStream on their social networking sites to stay up to date on current promotions and special offers!

SodaStream on Facebook / @SodaStreamUSA on Twitter / Instagram / Pinterest / YouTube

The New Year, New Games Giveaway!

That's right, breaking out the Critterverse-style graphics again!

Thanks to the generosity of some fantastic indie game developers, I still have quite a few games to give away left over from the Christmas game giveaway!

Five lucky people will win up to 13 different games each. First place is worth just over $100, and the grand total of all the prizes is a little over $300.

The Games!
The games below are listed by the lowest place winner that will receive them.

Fifth Place - ARV $34.95
Color Fusion (Android) - 99 cents
When Asteroids Attack (Win) - $1.99
Angvik (Win/Mac) - $3.99
Disco Dodgeball (Win/Mac/Linux) - $5.00
Siege of Turtle Enclave (Win) - $7.99
Steel Storm: Burning Retribution (Win/Mac/Linux) - $14.99
Fourth AND Third Places - ARV $37.94
All of the above, plus...
Wiwi's Adventures 3 (Xbox 360 OR Win, winners choice) - $2.99
Second Place - ARV $88.90
All of the above, plus...
Forge Starter Pack (Win) - $14.99
Hacker Evolution Complete Bundle (Win) - $29.99
Ice Cream Truck (iOS) - $2.99
Tiny Dentist (iOS) - $2.99
First Place - ARV $101.88
All of the above, plus...
Reversion - The Meeting: Chapter 2 (Win/Linux) - $5.99
Crystals of Time (Win) - $6.99

All of the entries on the giveaway are completely optional, but the more of them you complete, the better your odds for winning! Each person may only win once, and winners will be chosen from 1st place to 5th place, so if you do happen to have your name drawn more than once you'll get the better prize. Charlie's Point of View is the only blog responsible for prize fulfillment, please email Charlie@CataclysmicGames.com with any questions. Giveaway is open worldwide as all prizes are downloads.

Winners will be emailed using the email they log in with on Rafflecopter, and will have 7 days to reply to verify the email works from Charlie@CataclysmicGames.com (you may want to add the email to your safe list). If I don't hear back within that time, a new winner will be chosen for that prize. Good luck! :D


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tower of Guns Alpha Review AND GIVEAWAY!

Tower of Guns is roguelike meets Doom meets some great humor. The game is currently in alpha state, which means it's not quite as awesome, or complete, as it will be one day. Despite that, and the fact that my laptop really wasn't great for handling it, it was a load of fun! In a sentence, if you're a fan of FPS games and want one that's always fresh, Tower of Guns is absolutely worth your money.

Note: I did not create the Lets Play video above, but it was very effective in showing the game off.

"CANDY CANDY CANDY! Oh, and CANDY!" - A Game Jam and a Horrible Twist of Events

For those who aren't aware, King.com, the developers of Candy Crush Saga, the match-3 game that everyone and their grandmother plays and brags about making it to level 795 after a billion hours of failures and barely-successes (or lots of invested money) has officially trademarked the word "Candy". Already, apps in the iTunes app store are being told they must be removed for having the word "Candy" in the title. Oh, it was made 3 years before Candy Crush Saga? Too bad! You can read lots more about this much more eloquently than I could ever say right here on Rock Paper Shotgun. Oh, and you can also play the very first game I ever finished - Candy Catastrophe - here as well. It's not a match-3, but it IS close! Good thing it wasn't a mobile app...

Despite being developed nearly five years before Candy Crush Saga, it's quite obvious that I ripped it off on purpose to try to make lots of extra money.

Anyway, on the up side, there's a game jam that's taking a subtle little stab at this horrible turn of events... The Candy Jam! The goal? Make a game and submit it before the 3rd of February, use "Candy" in the title, cleverly steal millions of dollars from King.com since no one could possibly associate "candy" with anything but "Candy Crush Saga", so they'd immediately get excited and be unable to resist buying it... Okay, maybe not the last part, but you can (hopefully) expect a lot of games with the word "Candy" in their title soon!

Oh, and one more thing... I think I'll be making a game myself! Candy Catastrophe 2: The Saga of the Witch's Bubble that Stole Pear's Papa and His Loop De Hoop! I'll be patenting "The", "Of", "Bubble", "His", "Loop", "Hoop" and "2" myself once it's done.

Maths Tree VS for iPad

Note: I cannot play/test/review the game myself as I don't own an iPad, this information is all coming from the developer's webpage, video and iTunes page

As a former kids' game developer myself, I'm always on the lookout for games that are both fun and educational for kids and not insanely annoying for adults. Not an easy feat, trust me.

Really fun art certainly doesn't hurt either :D

Maths Tree VS seems like a perfect fit from what I can see! You play as a monkey that throws balls up at descending ones, each with a number on it. Your job is to change the number on your ball so that it matches the mathematical statement in the middle, like "sum: 15" or "difference: 13", etc. The game uses addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, so kids (or adults!) will become masters of each. Plus, as you play the game, you earn bananas that are used to customize your monkey's look, so players will be hooked!

The game is called VS for a reason - two people can play at the same time on the same iPad, and we all know that competition (when used right) can be an incredible force for learning something. The game also has dozens of challenges across five difficulty levels that unlock as you play, so there's plenty to keep players interested as they go.

Available for: iPad ($4.99)
Developed by: Hamster Force

Default Dan on Kickstarter - The Anti-Platformer!

When I say "platformer", what do you think of? A game where you run to the right, stomping on enemies heads, collecting coins (or whatever item you might have to collect), avoiding spikes and carefully jumping across holes? Default Dan does stick to one of those things - running to the right (or left sometimes) - and you do dodge things, but it's not enemies or holes... It's coins! That's right, in Default Dan, coins are fatal.


What makes a platformer unique enough to talk about on Kickstarter? A crazy sense of humor mixed with platforming execution! While it's funny enough that it mocks other platformers with style, it also looks like a solid, challenging platforming game. The Kickstarter page even has a couple 9+ minute videos where you can watch people playing it! That's pretty unheard of for a Kickstarter game, you're usually lucky to get a couple minutes in one video trailer.

Aside from that, there are some really fun perks! It's only $5 for the game on a platform of your choice, $15 adds the mp3 soundtrack, a short comic pdf and other digital goodies, $25 adds a tshirt and beta access... Then it gets AWESOME! $50 adds Bobble Head Mode, where you send in six photos of your face and they make a special version just for you (Which looks HILARIOUS!), and the rest is fantastic as well.

There's a video, too, and it's amazing!!!

Estimated Completion Date: May 2014
Goal Platforms: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android (maybe OUYA too!)
Lowest Price Point for Game: $5 ($25 for beta)

That's What She Said - The Game - On Kickstarter

NOTE: This game involves sexual innuendo as its primary game play mechanic, and therefore might not be the safest thing for kids. You've been warned!

I'll admit - I don't really play party games because I really don't party. I very, very rarely "hang out" with people. If I did, though, this would be the game I'd want to play! Oh, and YOU can even play the game a bit (for free!) since there are 100 "print and play" sample cards! Who doesn't love free?


TWSS is something I say rather often (too often? Probably), usually at the silliest times possible, and the game brings a much needed strategy to using the phrase "that's what she said!" There are two types of cards - setup cards and phrase cards. Each round, each player picks one of their phrase cards to play on the setup card, and the judge decides which is the funniest, awarding that player a point. Whoever hits x points first wins!

"Wow, that is really hard. You really think you can go all day long? Well, you always left me satisfied and smiling..." - Jim, trying to force Michael to say "That's what she said" after being told never to do it again. (The Office)

Of course, the first thing I think of with TWSS is Steve Carell's character, Michael Scott, from The Office. What a surprise it was to find out that he actually sent in a signed photo of himself! Seriously, how is this not successfully funded yet?

Dare to Dig! - Ludum Dare 28 Game Review

Dare to Dig is the type of game my brain typically tries to come up with for challenges, and it's done very well - you only get one pickaxe, and you have to dig through dirt, stones and treasures to hunt down mythical, one-of-a-kind, priceless treasure like the Fountain of Youth. Your "life" is the durability of the pickaxe - each time you go through new dirt, excavate treasure or try to break through rock, you use up some of the pickaxe's durability. Luckily, there are items like duct tape that help you out (duct tape is ALWAYS useful!), but the odds of making it are still slim, so you'll be playing it numerous times (which isn't a bad thing at all!).

Your main play screen. Find yourself some treasure!

As you play, you'll accumulate all sorts of goodies - some just count toward your "valuable stuff" (score) total, while other items allow you to become stronger, be able to break rocks easier, see further, repair between floors or even use a drill instead of a pickaxe temporarily so you can easily get through anything! It's the balance between going for these things (or, rather, being lucky enough to find them) or rushing toward the next floor that makes things interesting.

I played the game just under 15 times myself and managed to find the Fountain of Youth, still leaving a few items unfound in my list of items. My strategy was mainly to get just close enough to the edge that you could make sure you weren't missing anything, then go in a big circle, hoping to find the way to the next floor. Everything is randomized, so there are times that I'd lose on floor 3 or 4, and others that I'd fly through til 8 or 9 and get stuck. The most important thing, though, is that the game is always fun to play, and it's easy to get hooked!

Gotta catch find 'em all! And it even shows you how many of each you've found in total!

The game does require a free download, which you can do from the game's Ludum Dare page.

Aluminyze 16"x20" Print Giveaway

Disclosure: Charlie's Point of View did not receive compensation for this post and is not responsible for prize fulfillment.

 

Hosted by: Queen of Savings

Get your favorite photo aluminyzed to display on your furniture piece, mount it on your wall, stick it onto a photo album - or just about create it into an amazing work of art. Aluminyzed photos stand out for its vibrancy, sophistication, professionally modern look and durability

Prize: 16x20 Print

Dates: 1/18-2/1

Open to: US Residents 18+

Enter to win using the Giveaway Tools Widget below. Good luck!

Entry-Form

Bear Paws Giveaway - Become The Wolverine of the Kitchen!

Welcome to the Bear Paws Giveaway!

5 Winners!

Sponsored by: Bear Paws

Hosted by: Savory Savings and Gloriously Green Gal

Co-hosted by: Her 3 Little Thinkers

Do you love to barbeque or make recipes that involve shredding pork, chicken, fish or beef?  If you do not have Bear Paws meat shredders in your kitchen – you need to head immediately to your computer and order yourself a pair!  These bear-like claws will save you time and more when you can shred pork roasts in mere seconds!  Krista from Savory Savings and Gloriously Green Gal recently had the chance to review the Bear Paws in the Mama Bear Pink color (10% to Susan G Komen for the Cure Foundation!) and shared her thoughts and a super simple BBQ Pulled Pork recipe in a review.  Now because she feels they are a “must have” in her kitchen, you get a one in five chance to win a set for yourself! 

If you would like to win, enter with the Giveaway Tool below! If you have won a Bear Paws giveaway anytime from another blog in the last 12 months, you are not eligible to win this giveaway.  The giveaway will run from January 17, 2013 through January 31, 2014 at 11 PM CST.  Entries will be verified.  Winner will be notified via email (consider adding gloriouslygreengal@gmail.com to your safe list) – winner will have 48 hours to respond and claim prize or another winner will be selected.

Good Luck!

Entry-Form

Krista from Gloriously Green Gal and Savory Savings received products from this sponsor to facilitate her review, no other compensation was received. All participating blogs are not responsible for prize fulfillment.  This giveaway is in no way associated with social media sites including Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Shoot Many Robots XBLA Review

Shoot Many Robots is rated M (for Mature). Part of the reason for the rating is the violence , which I disagree with, but I DO agree with the "mature humor" part, as there's plenty of that - particularly jokes involving "nuts". As such, THIS REVIEW AND GAME AREN'T NECESSARILY SUITABLE FOR THOSE UNDER 18.

Shoot Many Robots was the free game for the second half of December 2013 for anyone who had Xbox Gold (sorry for writing this too late to get it free!), and while I have a stack of free games from the promotion over the last few months (and a slew of games to review!), I really wanted a game to play with my fiancee together and we gave it a shot. Over the last few weeks we gave the game a good 20+ hours of play and beat it, although we still have lots of levels to five-star. While I probably wouldn't suggest the game as a single player game, I enjoyed the two of us playing it together!

Like the game itself, the title is simple but awesome.

Toys R Us $100 Gift Card Giveaway from Demagogue

Welcome to the Toys"R"Us $100 Gift Card Winter Days Giveaway sponsored by Demagogue and hosted by The Parenting Patch!

Although the winter days seem long, soon the dog days of summer will be here. To pass the winter days by, how does a $100 gift card to spend at Toys"R"Us sound? Get some indoor toys to pass the winter by, or start getting ready for outside play this summer.

One (1) lucky reader of The Parenting Patch and Demagogue will win one (1) $100 gift card to Toys"R"Us. To enter for your chance to win the Toys"R"Us $100 Gift Card Winter Days Giveaway, simply use the following Rafflecopter form. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Toys"R"Us $100 Gift Card Winter Days Giveaway is open worldwide. An international winner will receive $100 via PayPal in lieu of the specified prize. The Toys"R"Us $100 Gift Card Winter Days Giveaway ends at midnight CST on January 30, 2014. One winner will be chosen at random via Rafflecopter. The winner will be sent an email and will have forty-eight hours to respond. If no response is received within forty-eight hours, another winner will be chosen. The Parenting Patch and other participating blogs are not responsible for prize fulfillment.