Video Previews in Space

By: Derek Yu

On: April 30th, 2009

First up, the fantastic-looking Gratuitous Space Battles, from Positech Games (Democracy, Kudos). Wow. Amazing. Scale.

Next is Oddbob’s SYNSO: Squid Harder, the sequel to the retina-obliterating arena shoot ’em up Squid Yes! Not So Octopus!. (Source: the2bears)

Finally, a very early preview of Bullet Candy 2. Charlie, the creator, has also released a new version of Space Phallus with two new levels. (Source: the2bears)

Posted in Previews, Shoot-em-ups, Strategy, Videos | Tags: CharliesGames, Oddbob, Positech

Derek

For a good time, play all three videos at once alongside Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon.
AmnEn

The first one reminds me to go play Battleships Forever again. It also does look interesting, although overloaded at the same time. Most of the times, there was so much going on I had no idea where to look.

Not sure that’s a good quality for a strategy game but nonetheless, looking very nice. And the customization looks interesting too, although again, I’m quite spoiled by BF in that regard.

Still looking forward to it :)

The other two, well not my type of game and even moreso than the first, the overload of optic information doesn’t appeal to me.
Timo

Can’t wait for Gratuitous Space Battle! Looks like Battleships Forever has competition. I think GSB even has a custom ship maker.
contra

damn Gratuitous Space Battle looks alot like one of the projects I’m working on. Exept this looks better :o
Oh well from what I gather it wont play similiar. So more epic spacebattles for everyone!
bateleur

Gratuitous Space Battle looks like fun… but I’m holding my breath desperately hoping they’ve put half as much effort into the gameplay as those gorgeous graphics.

Please, please let it be good!
Vincent

There is no sound in space! :(
http://www.gnomeslair.com/ gnome

Oh, the eye candy… such beauty…
http://www.dyson-game.com Alex May

GSB looks like a must-buy.
http://www.dyson-game.com Alex May

SYNSO 2 looks sweet too, effortlessly capturing those retro graphics as if it were easy to do so. There’s plenty of retro-style stuff around but nothing seems to really hit the mark quite as squarely as oddbob’s games and llamatron’s games.

Bullet Candy 2 also looks a lot more coherent and playable than the original. Great stuff all round! Guys! You are awesome!
http://0xdeadc0de.org Eclipse

all of these games looks amazing!
Sad one =(

I just read the Blog Entry from GSB about only having two options for the game, enforce multiplayer with microtransactions or use draconic DRM. Instant drop of interest to rock bottom zero.

No, i’m not a pirate (read: software thief), but everyone failing to realize that DRM only hurts the legit customers while leaving pirates entirely unaffected seemingly needs to learn the hard way they’re fucking their customers instead of the pirates.
Cobalt

I thought Vimeo no longer allows video game content on their site.
Garbled

Vimeo only allows you to post game footage that you created. Posting others’ games is against the rules, even with permission. It’s kind of too bad.

Thank heaven for drum & bass!
Konkur

Vincent, that’s a common misconception. By using proper equipment you can pick up sounds in space, because it isn’t a complete vacuum.
pnutz

Quantum photonic microphones can pick up the sounds of lasers and explosions in space by virtue of how awesome they look.
tomelin

When someone is clinging so hard to his copyright, to the extent of installing DRM – you really start to want to pirate the shit out of it.
Flamebait

DRM makes financial sense if and only if it causes more pirates to purchase the game than legitimate customers it dissuades. I doubt that’s ever happened or ever will. Of course, it’s always bad for consumer rights.
Craig Stern

“Vimeo only allows you to post game footage that you created.”

Not so, unfortunately–they took down my Telepath RPG Chapter 3 gameplay movie a month or two ago. :-S

GSB looks freaking awesome, by the way!
Dave

@Sad One: I read cliffski’s blog (the developer of Gratuitous Space Battles), and he didn’t write that he was in favour of over-the-top DRM or microtransations. Instead, he was despairing that those might be his *only* options, given what he has been reading on the internet whenever copyright comes up. I get the impression he probably won’t go with DRM and/or microtransations, but he *will* if (and only if) he feels it’s the only way to survive.

Here’s the blog entry: http://positech.co.uk/cliffsblog/?p=234