Do your dominos make too much noise? Are your hands tired from having to physically flip your dominos over and place them on the board? Do you have a hankering to play dominos with your friend, but you’re in Center City and they are ALL THE WAY OVER in Fishtown?

Well, have we got and app for you! ‘Domino!’, produced by local Philly developers Flyclops, is a beautifully produced iOS rendition of a game that has been around for centuries.

The game covers the classic version of dominos. You play multiple rounds, and first to 150 points wins. The game also integrates with Facebook, making it easy to connect up with friends for turn-based action. Don’t have any friends? You’re in luck! You can play against strangers or play against the computer.

‘Domino!’ is available now for download from the Apple App Store.

Guest Post by Mike Fenn

A week before Wizard World begins moving in, the Pennsylvania Convention Center will host another geek event, a “double strike” if you will. On Friday, May 25, from 10AM until 9PM, a “Magic: The Gathering” tournament will be held, sponsored by West Philadelphia’s Redcap Corner. It will be the first such event since Redcap’s recent move to their current Lancaster Avenue location.

The tournament is a Pro Tour Qualifier and will thus require a $25 fee to play. Smaller tournaments will be held at Redcap’s Corner itself on both Friday and Saturday.

For more information, head to the PA Convention Center’s events page.

Guest Post by Karl Cramer

Nobody would really want to be transported to the world of The Walking Dead. It’s a horrible place full of tension and death at any moment. But fans of the comic book and TV adaptation love to play the “that’s not how I would’ve done it” game.

Telltale Games gives those zombie wise guys a chance to put their money where their mouths are. It throws you into the life and death situations, forcing you to make difficult choices that aren’t clearly good or bad. Who do you ally yourself with? Do you help people who gave you grief? Between two friends, who do choose to live and who suffers a fate literally worse than death?

The first episode in the Walking Dead game thrusts you in the role of Lee Everett, a man convicted of murder and on his way to prison. This review is spoiler free but it’s no surprise that things don’t go according to plan. The intro does an excellent job of making you forget yourself and putting you in this role. Throughout the game you’ll be preoccupied with Lee’s guilt or innocence. Bits of dialog and other clues have you flipping from one side to the other several times.

At this point you might be asking what kind of game this is. Technically this falls into the adventure game category, but point-and-click clichés are the furthest thing from this game. Telltale has reinvented the genre by making it much more dynamic. In most cases you have direct control of Lee with the left stick. The right stick chooses objects and the buttons offer a simple, elegant way to interact with the environment.

Conversations sometimes follow tried-and true dialog branches but other times is based on a time-based split decision that reminds you of real life. You have five seconds to decide if you lie, tell the truth, be tough, or be nice. Did I mention there’s action? Just like any good zombie movie, there are scary, unexpected thrills that depend on hand-eye coordination as much as the puzzles require brainpower.

The graphics draw their inspiration from the original comic book; so much so that the game actually looks like one of those motion comics where animators use computers to make art from comic books move. The characters and environment are 3D models but they have a hand drawn look and feel that mimics Charlie Adlard’s comic art convincingly, except that it’s in color instead of black-and-white grayscale.

If you don’t get stuck on one of the puzzles, the game can be finished in one sitting, about a couple of hours. While that may seem shockingly short, keep in mind that this the initial episode in a five-part serialized game. Each chapter is bargain priced. The first episode sells for 400 Microsoft Points ($5) on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace, $4.99 on PlayStation Network and on PC and Mac as a season pass covering all five episodes for $24.99 from the Telltale Online Store and Steam digital distribution.

For a chance to win a Steam Season Pass for PC and Mac, leave a comment below. One commentator will be chosen at random next week. Good luck.

It’s been a little while since we talked tabletop games here in the weekly Kickstarter spotlight, but today we’ve got a real doozy. Civil War? Check. Alternate history? Check. Modern day undead uprising? Check, check, and check. Let’s talk Southern Rising.

“Monsters are real. They have always been real. Grant understood that when he ordered Vicksburg quarantined to prevent the plague from leaving the city, Sherman understood that while laying waste to the land, consecrating the dead so they remained dead, and my great grandfather understood that when he put a bullet in the brain of that abomination.” – Jake Booth, descendant of John Wilkes Booth.

Southern Rising is a roleplaying game in which players take on the roles of average citizens (businessmen, school teachers, public servants, police officers, and/or soldiers) trying to stop the rising of the confederacy by any means necessary.

Set in 2011 the game allows modern player characters to take on undead soldiers of the Confederacy, making this a mash-up of genres. It is a skill-based table-top RPG which begs the question, “What if the South did rise again – as UNDEAD!

But wait there’s more – Southern Rising is not the typical skill-based role playing game. it has a unique twist. It is three games in one!

To top it all off, previous Geek of the Week and composer extraordinaire Matt Campana is involved, and will be contributing an original soundtrack if a certain over-funding threshold is reached. C’mon… we all know you’re gonna go see Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter next month. This is just the next logical step.

The Project: Southern Rising RPG

Creator: Ronald Corn

The Sweet Spot: You can get on on the ground floor with a physical copy of the Southern Rising RPG and an additional PDF rulebook for $30. Really digging this idea and have a few open spots in your weekly game? For $200 you’ll get a couple signed copies of the game and the creators will even play a full game with your group via Skype! Authentic Civil War era attire optional, but strongly encouraged (by Geekadelphia).

Funding Deadline: June 19th, 2012

More Info: Check out the Kickstarter page, friend game designer (and history teacher!) Ronald Corn on Facebook, and read more about composer Matt Campana on his site.

Every Monday Geekadelphia features a Kickstarter created by locals. Check ‘em out and support our local geek scene. If you have a project that you’d like featured on site, contact geekadelphia@gmail.com

It seems like video game conferences are sprouting up in every city these days. From E3 in LA to PAX East in Boston, there are tons of expos highlighting the newest, biggest, and shiniest games that dev teams have taken painstaking years to perfect.

But this year Philadelphia has tossed it’s hat into the game conference arena with something a little bit different. Instead of featuring the latest and greatest games of the upcoming year, the Grassroots Games Conference will be all about celebrating the little guys who think games can be art and can be used for so much more.

Put together by Philly Game Lab, the Grassroots Game Conference will be held all over the city from April 23rd to the 29th. Tickets to the events range from Free to $20 depending on the event.

All of the events held on April 23rd, 28th, and 29th will be completely free, but you will have a chance to make a donation to the fantastic charity Child’s Play. They bring video games into hospitals so that they can enrich the lives of the many children being treated there.

If you have any interest in video games or are just looking for a good time, you should definitely have a look below and check out some of the fantastic events lined up for the week.

MONDAY April 23rd
Panel on Games as Art, with representatives of the NEA, Smithsonian and others at CIty Hall, with refreshments beforehand. FREE

Presentation on Spaces for Game Creation and Exhibition, by Sarah Brin of Glitch Lab in Los Angeles, followed by a Panel on Games as part of Artists’ Creative Practice. FREE

TUESDAY April 24th
Games and Gamification for Non-Profits: A day of events specifically focused on how non-profits can use Games and Gamification to achieve their goals. We have some great presenters coming in from all over, including Gabe Zichermann, who’s the leading guy in gamification. $20

Indie Game: The Movie at the Ritz. $15

WEDNESDAY April 27th
IGDA will be holding a showcase event presenting the work of local developers.

FRIDAY April 27th
Unity Lunch Party. A bunch of local developers will be demonstrating Unity, the small team game developers’ software of choice, on multiple workstations at WHYY. FREE

Collision of Music and Games: Dain Saint of Cipher Prime and Youngmoo Kim of Drexel, will be presenting their ideas on music as a part of gameplay.  FREE

SATURDAY April 28th and SUNDAY April 29th
Talks will be held at Leavitt Hall in the Gershman Y, at Broad and Pine for a number of developer-focused events.
Saturday: FREE, Sunday:  FREE

Remember to RSVP so you can reserve your place.

We all love playing games, but sometimes you just don’t have time for a four hour raid or 10 minutes to spare for a deathmatch. That’s why all these asynchronous mobile games work so well.

But before we had Words With Friends, Draw Something, and Hero Academy (Username: RPerdue. Come at me, bro), there were bite-sized micro game collections. Warioware, Raving Rabbids, etc. Isn’t it about time we had another great collection that you can drop a few minutes (or seconds) in to at a moment’s notice?

Sean Allison and his team at Spiffy Games certainly think so.

Spiffy Games is a team of 3: Abhishek Chaudhry, Goran Popovic and Sean Allison. We are currently developing Super Fun Time, a crazy indie game for the iOS and Android platforms. We’re at a point where we can show some of the game so make sure you check out the video above.

Since it will be you guys playing our game, we want you to participate in shaping it. This means that if we reach our goal, we’ll be showcasing the game pre-release to the backers, as well as providing betas and other exclusives. We’re always looking for feedback.

The premise of SFT is that five evil baddies have taken the fun out of the world, and it’s your job to bring it back. If you had to sum it up in just one sentence, Super Fun Time is a frantic, fast-paced, microgame collection.

To be frank, we’re perfectly aware of the fact that this type of has often been relegated to the bargain bin over the last few years. Super Fun Time is an homage to the classics of the genre, and we’re looking to advance it. You’ll have to stay on your toes because you’ll be tasked with a new game every handful of seconds.

The game will feature an enormous variety of microgames and tonnes of collectibles. With specific challenges and difficulties designed for all skill levels, we want to make sure that everyone can enjoy themselves. This means that Super Fun Time will feature a variety of difficulties that cater to everyone from the casual player to those seeking the most brutal of challenges.

We’re looking at least 100+ games, five boss characters with unique battles and everything will be playable on every possible difficulty. Here is a basic breakdown of the features.

 

Philly game developers are getting some great national attention these days. Let’s keep up the support and continue to put our fair city on the map as a hub for talented game creators.

The Project: Super Fun Time

Creator: Sean Allison

The Sweet Spot: You can get in on the ground floor of this thing for only $5, which will net you a sweet poster and the full game when it’s released. $20 will get you all that and some other great swag, including the full original soundtrack. All backers will be listed in the game credits, regardless of fund level!

Funding Deadline: June 2nd, 2012

More Info: Check out Sean’s website and find him on Facebook. Of course, you can always hit the main Kickstarter page.

Every Monday Geekadelphia features a Kickstarter created by locals. Check ‘em out and support our local geek scene. If you have a project that you’d like featured on site, contact geekadelphia@gmail.com

Sure they might’ve removed fighting in NHL ’94, but it’s still celebrated as one of the greatest sports video games of all time. It supported four players at once and introduced first-timers to hockey video games. Nearly twenty years later, this gem of the 16-bit era lives on.

Flyers Faithful and Orange and Black Breakdown have teamed up together to do a fundraiser for the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation. Later this month, at the interactive sports bar PLAY² Parx Casino, 26 registrants will be playing each of the 26 teams on pixelated ice for bragging rights and for charity.

Attendees will get a free retro hockey-themed t-shirt from DavesGeekyHockey.com but the winner will be receiving a $100 prize and a trophy. For those at the intersection of being a geek and hockey fan, you’ll definitely want to see Dave’s Game of Thrones, Futurama and Doctor Who-themed jerseys for sale on his site.

Other stuff to know: this is a 21+ event, there will be a 50/50 raffle, they’ll be giving away three copies of NHL ’12 courtesy of EA and it’s also rumored that there’ll be some Versus/NBC swag as well.

NHL ’94 Tournament
PLAY² Parx Casino
Sunday, April 22 @ 8-11pm*

To register/learn more, visit Flyers Faithful as they’ve got all the details.

*Time subject to change depending on the Flyers’ playoff schedule

Sega will be releasing the latest in their Yakuza franchise this week, entitled Yakuza: Dead Souls. It combines the offbeat RPG elements of the Yakuza games with the fun frenetic action of a zombie game, all set amidst the destruction happening in Kamurocho. Pitting your favorite Yakuza characters against zombies ends up being a ridiculous amount of fun, despite the ludicrousness of this mash-up.

Things aren’t so sunny at the Sunshine Orphanage as Kazuma Kiryu, the protagonist of the series, receives a dark phone call. One of his children, Haruka, has been kidnapped, and tells him that Kamurocho is “dying,” at which point the camera pans out and shows the devastation done by the zombie infestation.

And that’s when the real fun begins. Your first playable option is as Shun Akiyama (from Yakuza 4). He goes out to make his “collections” when he discovers some strange behavior – zombies begin to attack police and civilians alike. Shooting zombies in the head is just the beginning – you can also pick up random objects and hit the zombies with them. It was entertaining with a golf club, but downright hilarious with a coffee table. Take it, zombies!

Yakuza: Dead Souls combines the best of two worlds, marrying the Yakuza series to the gruesome zombie-killing genre and creating a lovechild you’ll want to bring home with you. While the original title is way better – Yakuza: Of the End (literally “Yakuza: Like a Dragon of the End) – Dead Souls mashes up all the names of the games you already know and make it easier to remember.

Dead Space? Dead Island? Demon’s Souls? Dark Souls? Nope. It’s Yakuza: Dead Souls and it’ll murder your free time with a headshot.

Remedy is responsible for some fantastic games, from the hard-boiled noir story of Max Payne to the troubled writer that is Alan Wake, the studio’s titles ooze personality and are stocked with fantastic (if occasionally heavy-handed) characters and unique game mechanics. When the original Alan Wake came on the scene after a lengthy development cycle it met with a positive critical reception and quickly built a rabid fan base of gamers who were hooked on its writer / reluctant hero / total crackpot main character and unique brand of storytelling.

In fact, the unique narrative structure and overall presentation of Alan Wake was arguably its strongest suit. The combat, although engaging, could wear a little thin at times, and didn’t have a ton of variety. Like most fans, when I heard that Remedy would be turning out another Alan Wake installment as part of the annual Xbox Live House Party promotion I was thrilled at the prospect of jumping back in to explore more of Wake’s world and dig deeper into the twisted plot.

Here’s the thing. American Nightmare isn’t really about that. American Nightmare is about shootin’ dudes. Lots of dudes. Shadowy, Taken dudes. The ammo and battery shortages from the first game? Nuh uh. Plenty of infinitely replenishing ammo and battery boxes to go around.

The suspense from being trapped in some dark woods with only a pistol and a couple of flares to keep you safe? No more. Grab enough manuscript pages and you’ll be unlocking and unloading a magnum, assault rifle, and automatic shotgun into your shadowy foes. The action is fast and frenetic at times, with large hordes of Taken, including newcomers like the Grenadier (guess what he does), coming at Wake almost constantly.

That’s not to say there isn’t a story. In fact, I thought the way that the overall tale of Wake vs. Mr. Scratch was presented made for a great yarn. Gamers who played through the first Alan Wake will remember the Night Springs television show that would play on television sets scattered throughout the game, with its melodramatic narrator and trademark chime.

Well it turns out that Wake used to write for the Twilight Zone sound-alike, and after the events of the Writer and Signal DLCs from the first game, you may well be trapped in one of your own episodes. Sort of. To say too much more would be a disservice to the fun, campy plot, but suffice to say that folks who are looking for a little backdrop to all that shooting will be pleasantly surprised. I know I was.

The game has a really unique way of encouraging multiple playthroughs beyond the manuscript collecting mechanic that returns from the first game, and ties it in to the story quite well. It took me around four or five hours to fully complete the story portion of the game and find everything, which ain’t bad for an Arcade title.

The developers also included a standalone “horde” style arcade mode called Fight till Dawn that has you battling an endless stream of taken for 10 minutes in various environments with all the weapons you’ve unlocked in the main game at your disposal. Rack up kills, don’t get hit, and stay alive to earn stars and unlock further challenges.

Many folks were naturally a little disappointed at the announcement that American Nightmare ostensibly focuses on combat over story, this writer included. I’m happy to report that those people are dumb, this writer included. American Nightmare manages to bring together all of the elements of the first game, expand upon the combat and gameplay, and still keep the campy fun and a bit of the suspense.

The game uses the same engine as the original and looks great for an Arcade title. There isn’t quite as much raw suspense as there was in Wake’s first outing, but the the game does an admirable job of keeping things moving and extending the main story in an interesting way, and it wraps up in a way sure to keep gamers wanting more. Let’s hope Alan Wake 2 won’t take another five years to develop.

Well worth the 1200 points for fans of the original Alan Wake or those looking for an engaging, unique action experience, and worth a look for fans of suspense/action games in general. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to find some more batteries.

To all the lady geeks at there, or “geekas,” as we like to call ourselves: Girl Geek Dinners Philadelphia will be hosting an all-ladies board game night at Redcap’s Corner on Tuesday, February 28th. From 6:30 until 10, we’ll be taking over part of the store and playing as many board games as possible. Sarah Galbraith has even threatened to teach us Mahjong!

If you’re a lady and you want to learn how to play Pandemic, try your hand at deck building, or just want to play a game you’ve never heard of, head on over to the Meetup page and RSVP.

This is a female-only event – meaning guys, you can come to the store, but you can’t hang out in our special roped-off area. Sorry.