News

Portal

Every few aeons I write about games that really did it for me. The last one was Quake 4 exactly two years ago.

I probably should have told you previously, that Bioshock is a great game, but it took Portal to get my lazy ass to actually write something. So what's so special about Portal? Well, it's refreshing! I never experienced this nerdy kind of humor in any game! You'll love it, if you like Futurama or "serious" Science Fiction in general.

The gameplay is very smooth; I expected to encounter some artifacts (read: bugs) with this kind freedom the player has, but I didn't. The puzzles could've been a bit more challenging, but on the other hand it was nice not get stuck anywhere. Great game, great story (I'd love to tell you more, but don't want to spoil it). Somewhere in the middle of the game I thought something like "Awesome, Cube as game" - It had such a dense atmosphere. And I miss my weighted companion cube <3

I also played some quick games of Team Fortress 2, which also comes with the Orange Box, and it looked very polished, too. Very cool style and humor. I haven't played Episode One or Two yet, but I can tell you one thing: BUY BUY BUY!

YuckFu! for Gameboy Advance

As promised earlier you can now download the ROM image of my YuckFu GBA port. The ROM works well with VisualBoy Advance, but of course is best played on real hardware.

Grab the ROM image here or visit the YuckFu! minisite for more info and the Windows version.

Update: GBADev.org just released the whole 2004Mbit Compo ROM, including all 10 games. Grab it here!

GBA 2004MBit Competition

As some of you may have known, I ported my PC game YuckFu! over to the GameboyAdvance a while ago, to participate on a competition held by GBADev.org. My game, along with nine others, was chosen to be burned on some hundred cartridges and sold (non-profit) to the public.

Now, after a while of waiting, the organizers finished all cartridges, boxes and manuals and packed them up. My parcel arrived this week, and I just love the result. Many thanks to everyone at GBADev for making this possible!

So, this also means I'll be able to release the GBA ROM of my game shortly. If you've the gear, you can play YuckFu! wherever you are. Isn't this exactly what you always wanted to do?

Quake 4

Quake 4 is out. I played through the singleplayer in like 2 days, and its so awesome! Best singleplayer I've played since Quake(1). It has everything. From dirty waste facilities to high tech data storage centers.

While the game features some outdoor maps, they could look better. But its nice to see, that the Doom3 engine can handle them as well. The indoor maps however are a real eye candy. And I just love the gameplay. Its full of action and so much more pleasant than Doom3's (and I like Doom3!).

Great job, lunaran, pjw and everyone else working at Raven!

... I also started to work on a MP map that I might even finish some day.

YuckFu! version 3

Yep, another update. Some bugs have been fixed and a replay recording/playing function has been added.

Start your downloads and share your replays: YuckFu! minisite

YuckFu! update

An updated version of my arcade game YuckFu! is now availible for download at the YuckFu! minisite.

Beneath some bugfixes it now features an online score-table.