PixlBit

When Nintendo does HD, my god do they do it right.

If you’ve played any recent edition of Mario Kart, you pretty much know what to expect from Mario Kart 8. Nintendo has added a few new wrinkles to give the racing more depth and, of course, a set of 16 new tracks (and 16 remastered ones), but the vast majority of the experience has carried over from Mario Kart 7. There’s no question that Nintendo is justified in not fixing what ain’t broke, but it would’ve been nice to see them not only polish the gameplay and graphics to a sheen, but shake-up the single player formula, offering a product that’s a bit more robust than its 3DS counterpart.

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A single tear falls.

You might not remember this, but at one point in time* it was possible to play Wii and DS games online – you know, over the internet! Well, that’s all over now, but to send the online services off in style, we were able to gather a few members of the PixlBit family and have an intense session playing Mario Kart Wii. This helped remind us how much fun Mario Kart can be online, and how much of a hassle the Wii Friend Code system was. We were able to capture some footage of the races from Chris’s perspective and provide them to you as a video relic of our evening and proof that the Wii was once online capable.

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Angry Birds + Tower Defense + Side Scrolling Beat ‘em up = Concept Over-saturation

When I first downloaded CastleStorm, I was expecting a tower defense game akin to the classic Flash games. What I found, however, was a game crammed with bits and pieces of different classic genres that should have satisfied my nostalgia itch, but failed horribly. With a twist of tower defense, a mechanical snippet of Angry Birds, and a smidge of beat ‘em up, I was left in a state of confusion about what this game desired to be along with horribly cramped hands from the poor control schemes.

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Classical music meets crowd-funded art.

It's been quite a journey for the game Spate, from initial conception, to successful Kickstarter campaign, to final release on Steam.  Dragged into reality by Eric Provan of Ayyo Games, the game is a dreamy, artistic experience. Ayyo Games might have struggled to make this game, but they didn't do it alone: they were accompanied by classical composer and game scorer Mike Raznick, who approached them during the Kickstarter campaign.  The result is a stark audio experience unlike most games.  Enamored with both the game and the soundtrack, we caught up with Mike Raznick to talk about how he created the score, his influences, and what he thinks of video game music. 

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He’ll huff, and He’ll puff…

*This review contains minor spoilers*

The latest episode in the “Fables”-inspired Wolf Among Us was an interesting reminder of the strengths of this mode of storytelling. While the previous episode was hindered by slower moments and a lot of buildup, this one ramped things up a bit by continuing the mystery and introducing new characters. By throwing a slew of tough and divergent choices my way, “A Crooked Mile” helped remind me why this series can be just as effective as The Walking Dead.

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