Apocalypso's Atomic Arcade: games

Showing posts with label games. Show all posts

2011/08/22

New Review Published: Dead Cyborg

Just this week I got my act together and published a new review, which has been sitting around for a week or two, practically finished.

It’s a review of Dead Cyborg, which was released late last month. I managed to play through it thoroughly over a couple of days recently.

Dead Cyborg is a donation based freeware title. How this works is the first episode of the game is released for free, as a teaser or demo of sorts. From there on, the next episode will only be made available once the donation meter fills up. And currently, Endre is looking to make $4000 dollars before releasing the second episode! That’s rather ambitious although he is all ready a third of the way there. I just wonder if I’ll ever get to review the second episode and beyond, though, with demands like that.

Dead Cyborg is a mix of old school text-based adventures, point ‘n click adventures and more modern sci-fi titles, such as the aforementioned System Shock games, BioShock, Fallout, etc. You can see several similarities in theme throughout the episode.

Anyway, head over to HubPages to check it out. I was going to publish this as one of my Thrifty Thursday pieces, but I much prefer HP for reviews because the layout is more customizable.

2011/05/16

The Web’s Worthy Downloads #4 [Guide to Goodness]

This is a new feature that I’ve decided to put on the blog. Here every now and again, I will put down all the stuff on the web that’s been released lately (and sometimes not) which is worth downloading. It could be games; music; programs – you name it.

I might do this weekly, biweekly, or even monthly. I’ll see how it goes. But one things for sure – everything you read about here is free, and therefore, very likely legal to download and play or use.

Let’s start off this issue with something different. Yes, there’s the usual plethora of game demos out there on the web, some of which will be featured here.

But just check this out: Epic recently released the Bulletstorm soundtrack… for free. Now even though they host the thing over at the main website for you to grab, you can also get it in other locations, naturally – and I’d try one of these, personally.

I haven’t played the game, personally, but I’ve read it’s not bad at all, and worth a try. And besides, how often do you see game soundtracks released gratis?

Next on the list is Anomaly: Warzone Earth. I know my brother has been dying to get a hold of this for some reason or another. I was reading a piece over at Big Download (which is now no more, alas) about it, and it’s similar to a tower defence strategy title, except this time it’s the reverse: tower attacking. It’s by an indie studio called 11 Bit, and seems to have garnered some praise.

There’s a demo of the game online, which you can download too, for less than 400 MB.

You might also like this next one. I know I’m excited about it. The latest version 5.0 of the Duke Nukem 3D HRP is out! After a long wait it’s finally here - weighing in at more than half a gigabyte. There’s all sorts of new additions this time around, and you can check out duke4.net for more info and screenshots and the like.

In short, this version debuts the official integration of Polymer (AKA “shiny”). Polymer is the new renderer, instead of the old Polymost used originally with Duke Nukem 3D and its Build engine. Other than that, new models and textures and so on mean that this is the biggest release since, well version 4. You’ll need a beast of a machine to run Polymer, the HRP and all the bells and whistles turned on, though. In fact, the recommended specs for Duke Nukem Forever are probably more forgiving than this.

But looking at what this game looks like 15 years later, since it was first released in 1996 - it’s just astronomical how much effort has gone in to this project.

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Anomaly: Warzone Earth Demo (395 MB)

Bulletstorm soundtrack (100 MB)

Duke Nukem 3D High Resolution Pack v5 (550 MB)

2011/04/14

The Web’s Worthy Downloads #3 [Guide to Goodness]

For this issue of what’s best on the web, I have quite a good line-up.

First off, there’s a new version of the full free game known as Warsow (people tend to pronounce it as “Warsaw” – like the capital of Poland). The game is a first person shooter geared more towards multiplayer, much like Alien Arena or Red Eclipse, which were both featured in the previous issue in this series.

But this game is different from those games in several ways. Upon first seeing it, you’d think that it’s just another Quake III Arena inspired mod of some sorts. But it uses the Qfusion engine, technology based on the Quake 2 GPL engine. It features celshaded graphics, which lends the title a cartoonish or comic-like style, which gives it quite a bit of character.

But where Warsow really shines, is in its gameplay techniques. You are encouraged to learn these as you go along – they include bunny hopping, wall jumping, dodging, and the likes. It’s all about momentum – as long as you keep it going, you are more likely to have things play your way. Add in some weapons that are borrowed from FPSs from the 90’s such as Quake III Arena, and you’ve got a fun free game.

You can download the full game, which weighs in at over 400 MB. But if you have an existing copy of Warsow on your HDD, you can download and install a patch, which will upgrade it – and this is far less in terms of weight. The game is available for Windows, Linux, and Mac.

The next item on the list is the demo of a game called Black Mirror III. This is the latest, and apparently the final chapter in The Black Mirror trilogy – a series of third-person point-and-click adventures.

You take the role once again of Darren, who appeared in BM II, who is arrested as the chief suspect of a crime. After a few weeks, his bail is posted and Darren is released. He then sets out to once again try and get to the bottom of a “tangled web of riddles”.

I haven’t had the chance to play any of these Black Mirror titles, but apparently the first one was said to be pretty good. The only thing is that BM III is only going to be published in Oz, the UK, and Scandinavia. So it remains to be seen if there will be any plans for a release elsewhere in the world at some point. From what I’ve read, digital distribution might also be on the cards.

The game is set to be released in the aforementioned territories on the 22nd of April, 2011. The demo is up for download now and comes in at 823 MB.

Also out this month is the latest version of The Dark Mod. This chalks it up to 1.05. Within this release is a whole bunch of bug fixes and some new “assets”. The download comes in at just under 2 GB this time, and you have two chief ways of obtaining it. You should either download the small installer, and then you run the installer while online, so it can grab all the data – not the best way to go about doing this, but luckily there is another option. Usually a torrent is provided as well, a few days after release. And this has download resume and all – this is the option I’d consider using. It does kind of suck that once the new torrent is up on the official site, the old one doesn’t seem to function any longer. So if you had the download in your queue and were planning on resuming it some time – forget it. Rather try a torrent elsewhere.

At first I was upset that there wasn’t a proper download package, but the updater makes sense if you all ready have an existing build of the mod. You just run it and update it, rather than having it download a whole massive amount of data. It is kind of convenient in that situation.

Note that you’ll need Doom 3 for this mod to work, and it also has to be patched to the most recent version 1.3.1. Also note that no maps are included except a training mission. The FMs, or fan missions, you’ll have to grab separately. All in all, it’s a lot of stuff to download, but I’ve read that it’s probably worth it in the end.

Then there’s one last thing here to be featured. There’s a huge mod compendium for The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, and it’s fittingly called the “Morrowind Overhaul mod”. To quote the text on the website where it’s featured, it’s a “massive compilation mod project that encompasses the work of over 80 mod authors and almost a decade of modding”. And what the mod does is basically overhaul (what were you expecting?) the graphics and sounds in the game. It is quite hefty, but not as bad as The Dark Mod – slightly over 1 GB.

And there’s also a patch that you should probably consider getting as well, which will update it to version 1.1.

That’s it then for this edition. Check back later on in the month perhaps when issue #4’s out. See you then!

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Black Mirror III PC Demo [823 MB]

Warsow v0.61 Free Full Game for Windows [442 MB] – website

The Dark Mod v 1.05 [2 GB] – website

Morrowind Overhaul mod [1.2 GB]

Morrowind Overhaul – Sounds & Graphics v1.1 Patch

2011/01/13

Thrifty Thursday: Jewel Up

Sorry it’s been a while since the last post. It must have been a gap of about two weeks or so. But now that Christmas and New Year’s is all over, I can resume the normal routine again.

I discovered this little game while browsing through Big Download – one of my fave blogs seeing as it’s dedicated to PC gaming. After posting the download link to the NAG DVD suggestion forum thread, I downloaded it myself over New Year’s.

I got a chance to sit down and actually install and play it recently.

Jewel Up is a free game that was made available recently at Clintwood’s website. You can also download it at the App Store for use on your iPhone.

You’d expect it to be very similar to another favourite casual game of years past, namely Bejeweled. And you’d probably be right, seeing as it play a lot like said game.

So once the game is fired up, you arrive at the main menu. If you go to the Options menu, you can select your board style, or background, your style of gem (there are always four different games no matter which style), as well as whether you will receive any hints in-game. Then there’s also the sounds and music volumes too, if you don’t want those to play during the game. The music isn’t bad though, speaking of which.

Getting on to actually playing the game now, you can select one of three game modes: these are “Overcharge”, “Time Attack”, and “Endless” (or freeplay). This last mode is no doubt my favourite.

Overcharge sees you fighting against the clock, but the main aim other than this is to charge the chargers present on the board. Time Attack means you obviously have to also play against the clock, and it seems as though you have limited time that cannot be incremented no matter what you do. I said it seems this way – maybe it isn't so.

The only mode that really appeals to me is the Endless or freeplay mode. There’s no time limit, and you can just keep playing and levelling up all day long if you want.

In all game modes, the objective, just like in Bejeweled, is to link a number of gems together to score points. The minimum chain you can have is three. This is worth 40 points. Four gems in a chain is worth 75; Five gems is 120; Six gems is 175 points.

Then the game borrows a bit from the likes of Unreal Tournament it seems, when at 7 gems you get the announcer, who says “Impressive!”. At 8 gems in a chain, you get “Excellent!” – very Mortal Kombat. At 9 gems it’s “Awesome”, and at 10 gems, which is the most you can have it seems, you get “Godlike!”

After building a big enough chain, usually six or more gems, you get a bomb which will drop on the board. If you can build a chain of gems close enough to it, then the bomb will explode, taking out all the gems in a particular row or column (rows are across, columns are down).

At the end of each play on the first two modes, Overcharge and Time Attack, you will get to see all of the statistics, and awards achieved during the session.

Overall, a nice way to pass some time. Two game modes don’t appeal to me, but one largely does. It may not be Bejeweled, but it is free, and it’s fun - and that’s what matters here.

Download it:

http://clintwoodgames.com/iphone/games/jewel_up_free_pc [PC version]

http://itunes.apple.com/app/jewelup/id394420210?mt=8 [iPhone version]

2010/04/13

Apocalypse Now Video Game Could be in the Works

Apocalypse Now is considered one of the best Vietnam War films ever made, along with others like Platoon and Full Metal Jacket. I find it quite odd that here in SA, Apocalypse Now isn’t shown on TV as often as the other two.

Now the movie might be getting some renewed interest, as Killspace Entertainment has registered two domains called “apocalypsenowgame.com”, and “warisnotagame.net.” This suggests obviously that a game based on the movie is in the works.

Killspace Entertainment's LinkedIn profile suggests that its working on two titles, one of which is a “licensed IP to be announced.” Wonder what the other one is then?

There are some concerns that a game based on this particular movie might not be such a good idea, as it isn’t as action-packed as some of the afore-mentioned titles. We all know a game based on a movie isn’t exactly a recipe for success. They should rather have taken inspiration from the movies as well as done research on the real war, and made their own.

But then again, it’s better than getting another World War II FPS in an over-saturated market, or another Modern Warfare…

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Source: Superannuation

2010/02/15

Darkest of Days Movie on the way

I found this interesting. Darkest of Days was a game that looked as though it would have been pretty good. It had promise. It had good ideas. But the final product was just not as good as I imagined. I even played the demo and did a Demo-lition feature on it a while back.

Problems with the game included poor AI, average graphics, poor framerate, substandard voice acting (apart from Dexter) – the list goes on. If you want to read all the problems with it, then you can just google for the reviews. They were mostly all negative.

But now it’s said that Douglas Cook and David Weisberg, the guys behind The Rock, which starred Sean Connery, Ed Harris, and Nicolas Cage and took place on Alcatraz, are scripting for a movie based on the game.

Now we all know that it’s a rare thing for movies based on games to end up being good, and vice versa, but I don’t know what it is. Darkest of Days does have that movie feel or appeal to it. Maybe it didn’t work as a game, but it might do better as a film.

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Source: Slashfilm - Big Download

2010/01/31

The Sunday Times: The Games of the Decade

In today’s Sunday Times magazine, a feature article was written on the best games of the decade. The cover might have been a bit misleading seeing as it read “10 Best of the Decade” when in fact it should be noted that it’s 10 (as in ten years) – Best of the decade. Some might have thought that it was the ten best games of the decade, but there were a number of titles mentioned by Matthew Vice, a writer who often contributes on NAG’s website, mainly reviews of games.

Now the article was long, and I had enough trouble trying to scan the cover seeing as it’s bigger than my damn scanner, so I don’t know about scanning the pages.

I will say that mentions for games of the decade included went as follows:

2000

Silent Hill, Phantasy Star Online, The Sims, American McGee’s Alice

2001

Devil May Cry,Max Payne, Halo: Combat Evolved, Ico

2002

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, The Elder Scrolls III, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Walker, Battlefield 1942

2003

Soul Calibur II, Prince of Persia, Call of Duty, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

2004

World of Warcraft, Half-Life 2

2005

Guitar Hero

2006

Gears of War, Dead Rising

2007

Assassin’s Creed,Overlord, Mass Effect, Final Fantasy XII, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune

2008

No More Heroes, Little Big Planet, Mirror’s Edge, Dead Space

2009

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Red Faction: Guerilla, Scribblenauts

More Hot Picks:

2000? Thief II: The Metal Age?

2001

Black and White, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

2002

Resident Evil (GC remake), Ratchet and Clank, Metroid Prime

2003

Jak II, Zone of the Enders 2: The Second Runner

2004

Fable 2, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Katamari Damacy (No Doom 3?)

2005

Resident Evil 4, Timesplitters: Future Perfect (No F.E.A.R.?)

2006

Okami

2007

Tomb Raider: Anniversary, Mass Effect (mentioned twice), (No STALKER?)

2008

Race Driver: Grid, Far Cry 2

Guitar Hero, BioShock, and Modern Warfare 2 were highlighted as being some of the most ground-breaking or best of the best games of the last ten years.

As you can see, there may have been a few omissions, but then again that’s the fun about lists and articles like this. It’s all down to each person’s opinion. I’ll be honest: there are a lot of games in the article that I don’t care about, and there’s some games that weren’t mentioned at all that I enjoyed.

In addition to all this, the Nintendo Wii was considered the most innovative piece of hardware from the “noughties” (I hate that term).

2010/01/28

Game Maker 8 Available for Download

Not that I really dabble in this sort of thing anymore, but I was reading recently that the latest version of this little program is now up for download.

The last version I toyed with was version 6, 6.1, or something years ago while I was studying a course at college. I wasn’t very good with it. It’s okay for small, scrolling based games, but I actually preferred working in AGS (Adventure Game Studio). This program is great for making those classic point and click style games, and even a basic RPG if you know how.

Here’s the blurb from the site that explains what it’s all about, better than I could.

“Do you want to develop computer games without spending countless hours learning how to become a programmer?

Game Maker allows you to make exciting computer games, without the need to write a single line of code. Using easy to learn drag-and-drop actions, you can create professional looking games within very little time. You can make games with:

* Backgrounds, Sprites and Images
* Animated Graphics
* Basic sound functions, Special effects, 3D music, CD music
* Even 3d games!

And when you've become more experienced, there is a built-in programming language which gives you the full flexibility of creating games with Game Maker.

The Lite Edition is meant for those taking their first steps on the path of developing games. It can be used for free but is limited in its functionality. When you are using Game Maker regularly you are strongly recommended to upgrade it to the Pro Edition for $25.”

Along with this, I was checking out some of the website, and there’s a new Game Maker competition just starting.

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Game Maker 8 available for download

http://www.yoyogames.com/gamemaker/

2010/01/06

Yep, Published Another Article Today

I’ve sacrificed my time for blogging by focusing on articles lately. I did another one today, and I’m now exhausted. The first week of going back to writing full strength after the holidays has been quite taxing.

This latest article is the one I said would tie in with the other two, and it’s called “PC Games That Probably Won’t Make 2010”.

Here’s the short list of it:

Duke Nukem Forever

Duke Begins

Diablo III

Jagged Alliance 3

Dead Space 2

Prey 2

Half-Life 2: Episode 3

Thi4f (Thief 4)

Doom 4

2010/01/04

PC Games to Look Forward to in 2010: Part 1 – the Short Version

I told you about the article I wrote the other day, and I decided to do a short list type version here on the blog. Here’s the first ten, mentioned in Part 1. The order was initially supposed to be alphabetical, and it is in Part 1, but from Part 2 onwards, it might not have any real order.

Note that this is about PC games, so even though Assassin’s Creed II is out on Xbox 360 and PS3, it isn’t due for release on the PC until March.

Alien Colonial Marines

Aliens vs. Predator

Assassin’s Creed II

Battlefield Bad Company 2

BioShock 2

Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight

Crysis 2

Deus Ex 3

Fallout New Vegas

Hitman 5

Published a new Article, Updated the aStore

Today I published a new article, called “PC Games to Look Forward to in 2010: Part 1”. It’s not your typical list, and it has pictures and videos on there as well. It’s the first in a series of articles, and I’ll likely put up another one or two articles during the next while.

This is the main reason why I haven’t been focusing as much on blogging for a while, seeing as I’ve been putting this all together. I’m going to shift some of my time to article writing and other things. Buy hey, at least it gives me something to blog about, in addition to the usual stuff.

On another note, I’ve been updating my Amazon aStore lately, making it look a little better aesthetically, and actually stocking it with more new games. In addition to updating the “New Games” section, I’ve added the Classic Games section and put the existing ones in there as subcategories. You can have a look at it here.

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2010/01/01

What did you get for Christmas?

I’ll start off by posting what I got”

Terminator 1& 2 on DVD – both classic films, but I prefer T2, and this DVD contains scenes I hadn’t scene before. And of course the theme song by Guns n’ Roses, “You Could be Mine” is awesome.
Operation Flashpoint GOTY Edition, Deus Ex, Thief II: The Metal Age, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, and Hitman 2: Silent Assassin – these are classic games I was able to pick up at Musica for low prices each.
Left 4 Dead 2, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Star Wars The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition, Resident Evil 5, Fallout 3 GOTY, and Red Faction: Guerrilla – new games that seem to be among the best released in 2009 that I didn’t all ready have.

And I also got a permanent marker for my backup discs I make each month (fear of another HD failure like a while back).

How did I afford all this? Well, I didn’t buy it all myself. The classic games I mainly bought myself, but the Terminator DVDs were given to me by my brothers, and the money to get the rest came from my aunt who is quite well off.

Besides all that stuff, I got some new T-shirts, a cap, and some Ferrero Rochers – one of my faves. There’s likely some other stuff I got that I can’t remember. Oh, some frames for my certificates and so on.

So, if you like, tell me what you got for Christmas in the comments.

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2009/12/29

Working on Three Articles at the Moment

I took a break over Christmas, but I started working on three articles earlier on in the month, and my plan was to have them done by the end of December, but it doesn’t look like that’ll happen. I think I’ll have to aim for sometime next month.

The three articles include “Games I’m Most Looking Forward to in 2010”, “Top Games of the 2000s”, and “Top Games of 2009”. I think I’ll likely put them on my one HubPages profile seeing as they’re all long articles and there’ll be other stuff like pictures and so on. For it all to go in a blog post would make it look a bit cramped, but I will still put up some posts here on AAA and link to the articles when they are done.

I’ve got a number of unpublished articles that I should put up some time.

2009/12/11

Thinking of What Games to get for Christmas

The other day I posted about getting the Operation Flashpoint: Game of the Year Edition for R50. But now I’m thinking about what I can get as far as new games go.

Seeing as I’ve seen headline after headline in my feeds about ‘Best of 2009’ lists, I thought this would be a good place to start. I also came across a thread over at the NAG forums which talked about people’s favourite games of the year. I find this to be more personal opinion than a lot of these lists which are made just to appeal to others.

I’ve narrowed it down, and I think I might run a poll on this too, to these games. These seem to be the best games of this year for PC, and I suppose I might pick up one or two:

Red Faction: Guerrilla – a good game but not brilliant apparently; good physics.

Fallout 3: GOTY (Fallout 3 with all 5 DLC packs: Operation Anchorage, The Pitt, Broken Steel, Point Lookout, Mothership Zeta) – this has been on my mind for quite a while. I haven’t played the last three DLC packs yet.

Star Wars The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition – some say it’s good, others say it isn’t. It’s been a while since I’ve played a SW game anyway.

Resident Evil 5 – I haven’t played a RE game in years either.

Batman: Arkham Asylum – This is surprisingly being referred to as one of the best of this year. I’ve never really been a fan of comics and superheroes (not for years anyway), but if they say it’s that damn good, maybe I’ll check it out.

L4D2 – more of a multiplayer fanatic’s game, but from what I’ve seen it might be a bit of fun. I still haven’t the original.

I’ve all ready got these games:

Borderlands – this is one of the breakout hits of this year, and I’ve all ready got it. It’s a bit buggy though, so I haven’t been able to finish it.

Modern Warfare 2 – I was somewhat disappointed with the rather short campaign, but I should expect this from a CoD game anyway.

2009/12/06

Went Christmas Shopping, Got a Good Gaming Deal

Well, the Christmas tree has been put up, and of course now it’s all about the last few weeks before Christmas…and that means Christmas shopping.

I’ve been going through a lot of brochures lately looking for some good local game deals, and I did see a few which interested me.

So, off I went to the local mall, Tygervalley, and I was looking at some classic games. A lot of them have are available at between R49,99 and R99,99, and not just “old” games - games like BioShock, Mirror’s Edge, Mass Effect, Assassin’s Creed and Resident Evil 4, good games that were released in the last two or three years.

I was looking at some of the good old games and I was tempted to just take them all (the mall, get it?) but I was looking for some games in particular; ones I hadn’t played before. I came across a good deal in Operation Flashpoint. It’s the full game, plus the two addons, Cold War Crisis and Resistance. A 3-in-1 deal for R49,99. I played the demos of these games years ago, but I haven’t yet played the full versions of these games after all this time. After being kind of disappointed with Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, I picked this up and bought it. I’ve read that the original is better than OFDR.

I still think that it was an odd choice, but I mean, at R50, if it doesn’t turn out to be so good, it’s no real loss to me.

I was also looking for a copy of Thief: The Dark Project, seeing as my disc isn’t working anymore, and I also want to get a hold of Deus Ex, ever since I saw it on Destructoid’s list of Top 50 games of the decade.

You know, I disagree with most of that list, but that’s life, huh?

I actually want to go back there with my brother or even on my own again, just to see if I missed anything, and perhaps pick something else up.

2009/12/04

Amazon Holiday Deals: 18 Days, 18 Deals

Similar to Direct2Drive’s sale where they have 24 games in 24 days, except 6 less days, Amazon also has a Christmas promotion going from 1-18 December, where “Amazon Video Games will be featuring one new, terrific deal for your gaming pleasure. Quantities will be limited!”

http://www.amazon.com/b/?node=409566&tag=apocalypso-20

You might also be interested in some of the following deals:

Windows 7 Netbooks Under Starting $350

Great savings on new cutting-edge HP Photosmart Premium TouchSmart Web All-in-One Printer

Movies & TV Gift and Boxed Set Sale

Amazon Kindle Wireless Reading Device: 6” E-ink® Display with Global Wireless

Bestselling AT&T Phones from $.01

2009/12/03

Direct2Drive Christmas Sale: 24 days, 24 Games

This month, Direct2Drive is having a sale where each day from the 1-24 December, there will be one game on sale, for 50% off. The sale for each game only lasts for 24 hours, seeing as there is a timer there counting down.

So far Mirror’s Edge was on sale on the 1st, and The Witcher yesterday, on the 2nd. Today Need for Speed Shift is on sale for $24.95 – half off (usual price is $49.95)

The clue for tomorrow is obvious: it’s something to do with Red Alert 3.

If you want to have a look at the big list of games, Savygamer (or Edgygamer, as some call it) has a list of the possible games included in the sale for this month. Pay attention to the comments though, because one of the guys has a better idea of what’s going on than the post itself.

Oh, and if you correctly guess each game, you’ll be entered in to a draw to win all 24 titles, just like with their fifth anniversary sale.

D2D's 24 Days of Christmas Sale

Need For Speed SHIFT