Bomber Crew Flys onto Steam today!

Bomber Crew, the WW2 strategy simulation game from Runner Duck and Curve Digital, is available now on Steam

We put our Bomber Crew to the test while at EGX 2017 and let's say we needed some more practice... but for us, it was one of the stand-out games of the show.

London, United Kingdom – October 19th – Brighton-based two man development team Runner Duck Games, alongside award-winning publisher Curve Digital, today release the strategy simulation game Bomber Crew on Steam at the price of £14.99/$14.99/€14.99. As an added launch week bonus, anyone who purchases the title in the first 7 days of release also gets 10 free DLC Bomber skins and a 15% reduction in price.

In Bomber Crew players have to recruit, train and upgrade their very own WW2 Bomber Crew, each with only one life, and then guide them to victory while overcoming the challenges of enemy flak fire, unstable weather conditions, enemy radar detections, dreaded enemy Aces and many more. Every bombing run is a risk, but the rewards are great.

Every Bomber can be customized to the player’s desire, with the ability to change the base colour of the Bomber, all the way up to upgrading the bombing capability and the survival capabilities (you can even draw your own wing art using the in-game tool!)

Dave Miller, co-founder of Runner Duck said: “Bomber Crew’s subject is one that I’ve always been fascinated in, so shipping this game is a real thrill. Runner Duck’s debut year has been an absolute pleasure thanks to Curve - an excellent publishing partner and a lovely bunch of people!”
Marketing Director of Curve Digital, Alex Moyet, said “Working with the guys at Runner Duck has been absolutely fantastic, they’ve put everything they have in to the release of Bomber Crew and the end result really shows. We’re extremely excited for Bomber Crew to be in the hands of players, we can’t wait to see their Bomber designs, their Bomber names, and most importantly, show us their crew!”
 
Bomber Crew unlocks on Steam at 6pm BST / 7pm CEST / 10am PDT. http://store.steampowered.com/app/537800/Bomber_Crew/
 
About Curve Digital
Curve Digital is one of the world’s leading publishers of games on PC and consoles.

Since 2013, we’ve been working with some of the world’s best game developers to help bring their games to the widest possible audiences all over the world.

From celebrated indie hits like Thomas Was Alone, The Swapper, Dear Esther and The Flame in the Flood, through to brand new titles like Human: Fall Flat, Stikbold: A Dodgeball Adventure and Action Henk, we’re passionate about what we publish.

In July 2017 we were recognised by the celebrated Develop Industry Excellence Awards as "Publishing Hero" for our recent work. 
 
About Runner Duck Games
Runner Duck Games is a two-person indie studio founded in 2016 by artist Dave Miller and programmer Jon Wingrove following an extensive stint at Relentless Software. Throughout their careers the pair have worked on a series of both indie and AAA franchises across mobile and console including Buzz! and DiRT 2. Runner Duck Games is based in Brighton, UK.

Mike Davies

Founder/Video Mastermind

Mike is our main go-to-guy for videos. Former 4Kings member and one of the original founders of BlastProcess.com, Mike has been here since the beginning.

The main driving force of the website, Mike loves indie games and apps. So get in touch if you want your game/app featured here!

Dawn of War 3 teaser?

Warhammer 40k fans, you had better sit down!

It looks like a teaser image has appeared on the Dawn of War website pointing towards a trailer appearing tomorrow May 3rd!

Could this be the highly anticipated Dawn of War 3?

We will be back tomorrow with the news as it breaks!

Doorways: Holy Mountains of Flesh Adds The Mansion

Doorways: Holy Mountains of Flesh a indie horror adventure game by Saibot Studios is currently available through Steam's Early Access program, it's also on offer with a 20% discount for £5.59. The game has just been updated with Act 2: The Mansion.

‘The Mansion’ expands the gameplay of the game and adds even more challenging puzzles along with the exploration of the gloomiest scenarios ever seen in a Doorways game. Players will face a new terrifying enemy and discover their darkest secrets of the Torres family –the main antagonists of the game–, secretly kept behind the old manor walls. 

Holy Mountains of Flesh is divided into three acts, the first two already available –The School and The Mansion– and the final one –The Temple– coming later this year. Saibot Studios is holding a special sale for Holy Mountains of Flesh this week, anyone can buy it for 20% off ($7.99) until March 21st. 

In case you missed it, Saibot Studios released the second live-action promotional video for Holy Mountains of Flesh earlier this week. The video is available online, on the developer’s Youtube channel:

Mike Davies

Founder/Video Mastermind

Mike is our main go-to-guy for videos. Former 4Kings member and one of the original founders of BlastProcess.com, Mike has been here since the beginning.

The main driving force of the website, Mike loves indie games and apps. So get in touch if you want your game/app featured here!

Eurogamer Review Shakeup

So Eurogamer has finally dropped their numerical scoring system.I won't be the first to say -it's about time! It's subjective (as all rating systems) but it's down to an individual's meaning of 4/5 or 2/5. To me 4/5 should be almost flawless, to others it just means pretty good. Ratings like that have never effected my game buying; if I want to get the game, I'm going to get it, regardless of some numbers that no two websites or magazines will ever agree on. Joystiq last month also threw in the towel on number rating systems for the same reasons and we may see over the next few months more review websites dropping the numbers as it swiftly loses reliability.

What I want to know is: should I buy it?

Eurogamer have upturned their number system to Recommended, Essential, Avoid. This seems much more relatable to me, I just want to know if it's worth my time and money, and if I'm told to avoid it- chances are I'm going to give it a miss (unless I'm being stubborn!) There are so many peices of a gaming puzzle, graphics, gameplay, network issues: all things that need to be considered, but who's to say graphics are more important than gameplay (have you seen Minecraft? We love it) and for others trouble with online play isn't an issue, because that's not important to them. All of these can be reviewed but numbers isn't going to cut it.

Here at Blast Process we've tried to avoid number systems, there was no way we would ever really agree what a 3/5 is. I've used a couple in the past to measure addictiveness, but it really didn't feel right so I stopped pretty quick. Our system is based on whether we want to play it or not! We tell you if it's a Buy It, Not Buy It or if we really love it- Blast Process Award! Free download games we are hopefully going to tackle a little differently, with Download or Don't Download (just to keep things extra simple).

Eurogamer has stopped reviewing games before they're officially finished - and to me that's a massive shame, being involved with reviewing a game whilst developers are still tweaking it is a huge opportunity. They're also leaving Metacritic behind, saying it wouldn't make sense within their new system to try and fit it into 100 point scoring system, which makes perfect sense, they would just be making it up on Eurogamer's behalf.

So we will just have to see if it sparks a trend of reviewing shake ups across the gaming world...

Over and out

Mel

Nintendo Ambassadors: 3DS Surprise Email

Are you a Nintendo Ambassador? Did you check your emails yesterday? If that is a no, then perhaps you should. Nintendo Europe are offering the New 3DS to a select number of Nintendo Ambassadors yesterday via email for the price of £179.99. Adored in a limited edition design this truly is a late Christmas present (albeit, one you have to pay for) to those lucky enough to be able to log in and buy one.

The main body of the console is White and also includes:

- Exclusive Ambassador cover plates (front and back)

- Super Smash Brothers cover plates (front and back)

- Charging Cradle, Stylus and a 4GB Memory Card.

It would seem only a very select few people have been given the opportunity to seize one. If you were an early adopter to the original 3DS (receiver of the free 20 games issued as a thank you back at the 3DS launch pre-price cut) it's well worth giving your inbox another look (don't forget those spam folders!) to ensure you haven't skipped over it. Those fortunate only have until the 12th January to purchase it.

Eurogamer.com asked Nintendo to clarify how they decided on who to select, of which Nintendo replied stating they could not disclose how you'd have needed to be eligible, aside from being an Ambassador. You can find the original Eurogamer article here.

Some members of the StreetPass Manchester community received the email. While the reaction was for the most part positive, a couple of the members did have their reservations, mainly concerning the model on offer (the smaller 'regular' size 3DS and not it's larger brother). Robert Bland was one of those who got the opportunity to purchase one and had this to say on the situation:

it's cool that Nintendo do things like this and it sets them aside from other companies in that respect. However, the offer didn't appeal to me personally.

The two main points of it seem to be that you can get a New 3DS before other people, and it comes with exclusive Ambassador faceplates. The trouble with this is that people already have the New 3DS and the XL model (which is the one that interests me more personally) thanks to importing from Australia, so that's not really that special. As for the faceplates, they're pretty boring to be honest. They'll be rare, yes, but I also worry that faceplates will be easy to manufacture, and thus the Ambassador plates could be cloned (even if it's done illegally).

Like I say, it's very nice of Nintendo to do this, but I can't help feeling that they maybe should've offered an exclusive New 3DSXL to lucky people. That way the design can't simply be cloned and it would be more of a rare collectable item, and I certainly would've bought it

Chris Joyce added:

To begin with it's not an XL model, and after owning XL models for a while now, I could never downgrade the screen size. Secondly, the ambassador face plate isn't even that nice, in my opinion.

The console itself isn't special in any way, it's only the exclusive face plate. I also don't think the cost is worth it. For that price you can get a New 3DS XL - you just won't get the charging dock and face plates, but the XL doesn't use the plates any way.

I imported a New 3DS XL back in late November/early December, so I'm all set with the new model.

It's nice that Nintendo are giving some people the chance to get their hands on one early - without having to import one, which less serious collectors/gamers won't get involved in - and I think that keeping it limited was the right thing to do

And finally, James Patrick Bowden felt this offer was more of a marketing tool, rather than a reward:

The Ambassador name has sort of been used in vain to an extent as where before the 'Ambassador Program' felt like a reward for being an early adopter, here it feels like what it is - marketing.

Thing is, I purchased a Nintendo DS way back when when it was offered through Club Nintendo as a VIP Pack. No cheaper, but a month early, and a free t-shirt (which said 'touch me', not Nintendo's finest hour). Ergo I'd be a bit of a hypocrite if I said I don't see the appeal of the offer; getting the console before general release (ignoring the reality of importing), especially when general release is still an unknown, is a huge thing for many and the Ambassador faceplate looks functional if completely unspectacular. Throw in the fact that this pack will be the only way to get said faceplate, and that collectors 'need' starts to take control, and in many ways this is what Nintendo is cashing in on. The fact it seems no more expensive than the console will be at retail rounds it off as a pleasant offer that is welcome, even if it's largely devoid of spectacle.

Did you get an email? Wished you had? Let us know in the comments below or discuss the subject via our social media pages. We can be found at facebook.com/blastprocess or you can tweet to us, @BlastProcess.