Archive for January, 2011

Important change to some European customer accounts

Friday, January 28th, 2011

Green Man Gaming will shortly be making an important change to some of our European customer accounts. If this issue affects you, you will soon receive an email from us.

What is happening?
You are currently being charged for your purchases in US Dollars ($).  We are changing this so that you will now be charged in Euros.  This means your Green Man Gaming account will be shown in Euro’s and not US Dollars.

Why is this happening?
Many of our publishing partners offer their games by regional territories – Europe, North America, Asia etc.  Despite you being based in Europe, it can mean that as a US Dollar account, we are unable to offer you the widest selection of titles.  This change means that you will now be able to purchase games you did not previously have access to.

When is this happening?
The change from US Dollar to Euro will occur at 9am (London time) Tuesday 1st February 2011.

What does this mean for the money you have in your Green Man Gaming account?
When you log in to your Green Man Gaming account after 9am (London time) Tuesday 1st February 2011, the migration from US Dollars to Euros will automatically occur and all values will then be shown in Euros.  The exchange rate used will be based on the spot market exchange rate of the day this happens.  There are no transaction costs, or any other deductions, so the full value has been transferred.

Do you need to do anything?
No.  When you next log in to your account, the system will update automatically and you can start purchasing in Euros immediately.  You will be able to check the value of your account at any time by visiting: https://www.greenmangaming.com/user/account/

Questions or problems?
Simply contact our support team at helpdesk@greenmangaming.com and they will be able to assist you.

On behalf of Green Man Gaming, I would like to thank you for your continued support and wish you many hours of happy gaming!

Posted in: Shop Talk, Technical
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Chrono Rage – A review

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

Chrono Rage is a 2-dimensional space-shooter game.  Despite what every single other review says, the game is nothing like Space Invaders, some of the enemies are simply taken from Space Invaders.

The game is more like Geometry Wars, but using pixel graphics rather than the pseudo-vector graphics of Geometry Wars. This was obviously a very deliberate stylistic choice, and it really works here for a somewhat retro-styled game. What is neat about this is that as you shoot the pixilated enemies, their pixels are blown off to show damage. It’s a very simple effect, but it does make you feel more like you are really pounding them into smithereens.

The game has several features that make it stand out from the crowd. There is no health bar, per se. Instead you are given a limited time to completely kill the waves of enemies in every level.  Every time you are hit, you die and re-spawn with thirty seconds removed from your clock. Further, you can upgrade your gun in classic space-fighter fashion. Lately there have been a number of games (Braid, Prince of Persia, etc.) that make control over time an integral aspect of the game play. Here, whenever you get overwhelmed, hit the right mouse button and the whole game slows down to allow you more time to react.

Think like bullet time from The Matrix. You also see where the enemies will appear roughly a second before they do. As someone who enjoyed Geometry Wars and hated how often I would die because the game decided to spawn a bad guy exactly where I was at any point, this is a pretty nice feature.

Chrono Rage is a pretty fun arcade shooter. On my first boot-up, I just wanted to have a taste, and the next thing I knew, I was on Level Nine. Some games are Water Cooler games, where you want to sit around and chat and brag about how you played.  This is more what I like to call the Office Hideaway, the game you play at work and hide when your boss comes around. As soon as your boss is gone, you will go right back to it.

- Broklynite

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Posted in: Reviews, Uncategorized
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Beat Hazard – A review

Friday, January 21st, 2011

One of the newer and most popular gaming genres among hardcore and casual gamers alike in the world today is the musical game. That is, games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band, SingStar and even Dance Dance Revolution (DDR).

Beat Hazard is one of the very few games that allows you to use music from your own library to create the levels. Each song is analyzed and a unique level is generated.

What makes games like this so enjoyable to people like me is that it gives me a new way to enjoy my own music! When you play your song or album in Beat Hazard, you begin to listen to your music in a new way, using your knowledge of the song as strategy. Particularly loud or excited moments in a song increase your power and ability, and low, quiet points leave you weak and struggling to find bonuses to increase your power.

How does Beat Hazard play? Rather like Asteroids, or even Geometry Wars. For those of you who do not remember Asteroids, you are a space ship in the middle of a screen with large asteroids and enemy ships around you. Your job is to survive until the end of the song, generally by blowing everything up. You do this by shooting streams of fluorescent-colored energy that changes with the song at the enemies who also change numbers and types with the song. As the song becomes louder, faster, or quieter, slower, the power and effectiveness of your weapons also wax and wane respectively. The visuals associated with this are quite attractive, and it becomes fun to shoot a stream of energy that covers half of the screen and changes colors. The graphics are quite decent. Maybe not the greatest, but as it is a 2D space shooter, it really doesn’t need to be.

If you are sensitive about violence, I wouldn’t worry too much with this game. Yes, ships are blown up, but in a cartoony way. There is absolutely no blood, no screams, and no gushy stuff. This is a great game for kids, and something their parents will also enjoy. In fact, it is the rare type of game where parents and kids can play together, egging one another on.

The controls take a little getting used to. The ship movement is controlled with the keyboard, while the weapon direction is controlled with the mouse. It doesn’t take too long to learn and you’ll get comfortable with a bit of effort. For those uncomfortable with mouse and keyboard controls, gamepads are also supported.

The game does feature brilliant flashing colored lights, so players with visual sensitivities should probably limit lay sessions.

Finally, the price is great. This game was independently created, and commands a fairly low price. Had it been sold for $50 or $60 dollars, I might have hesitated to buy it. On the other hand, many of the earlier music games like Guitar Hero or Sing Star only had a very limited selection of songs, but sold at that price point or higher. If you like games like Guitar Hero where the gameplay is integrated with the music played, you should enjoy this, especially if you like playing slightly retro arcade games.

Beat Hazard will play on most Windows computers (running XP, Vista and 7, both 32 and 64 bit). The game offers local 2-player multiplayer and co-op. It supports most music file formats as-is but some, like iTunes, require you to get downloadable content.

To sum it up – great family game, great fun!

- Broklynite

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Posted in: Gaming, Reviews
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Something for the weekend

Friday, January 21st, 2011

It’s been a week or so since my last post, so I thought I’d just keep the blog fires burning with a little something for the weekend.

Football Manager 2011 If you’re a fan of the beautiful game (football, soccer, footy) and you haven’t picked up SEGA’s no.1 smash hit game Football Manager 2011, then now would be a very good time to do so.  For this weekend only, we’ve got the game with a massive price cut; a 50% off RRP price cut!

This 85% Metacritic scoring game is THE best football management game on the market. It’s even been used by actual football managers and players – it really is that good.

Alternative action:
However, if football isn’t your thing and you’re after some cheap thrills, I highly recommend you take a look at Chrono Rage – a new fast-paced arcade shooter with a firm nod to the early days of arcade gaming. Think Space Invaders meets Asteroids meets Geometry Wars. If you want to check the game out for yourself, download the demo.

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Posted in: Gaming, PC, Shop Talk
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Borderlands – A review

Saturday, January 15th, 2011

Borderlands is a cell-shaded, adult-humored, witty-one-line spewing, first-person shooting RPG. (Cell-shading is a particular type of graphical rendering, so that the game looks more like a cartoon.) Do not be fooled by the cartooney look. This is not a game for little kids. This is a game for grown ups who like their humor coarse, like Bruce Willis action movies, and like watching their enemies burn, dissolve, or litter the landscape in chunks.

Luckily for me, I happen to rather like this sort of game.

You can play and complete the game in single player at any time. However, the fun really begins when you invite friends to join. When you do so, the difficulty of the enemies increases so that you and your friends work together to take them down. Is your friend new or a lower level than you? Not a problem. If you host the game, the enemies will be at a level close to your own, and as enemies die, all players share the experience points distributed. That means that with only a little bit of playing around, you can quickly bring your friend’s character up to near your level.

The game starts getting really fun once you hit around level 25. This is the point when you start getting your hands on particularly fun and powerful weapons (shotgun that shoots rockets? Check). It is also often the point where the enemies become more difficult. Not only are they stronger and their attacks more powerful, but also they actually will play intelligently. They will circle around to attack you from behind, or find a vantage point to take you out. And some of them even have the same or similar powers that you do. It is much more satisfying to beat an enemy that you have to out-think. Don’t worry though, by the time you get to this part of the game, you will know how to handle them.

When you complete the main game, you still have the option of running around and completing any side missions you skipped, or you can replay the game from the beginning, but keeping all of your increased statistics, weapons, everything.

Did you like Duke Nukem? If so, you will more than likely enjoy this game. In fact, the new Duke Nukem game is being made by the same studio. It is fun and challenging, and easily integrates single and multiplayer. The gameplay is solid, the action is intense, the humor is there but not omnipresent, and it is just an all-around good game for an adult.

Please note that the multiplayer will require you to adjust the port forwarding settings on your router. However, if you go to www.portforward.com, it will walk you step-by-step through doing so.

– Broklynite

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Posted in: PC, Reviews
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Green Man Gaming – A Trading Introduction

Thursday, January 6th, 2011

I thought that I’d kick off the New Year with a little post about Green Man Gaming’s trade-in system; offer you some insight into how it works and hopefully some handy tips on how to maximize your return on investment.

Why buy from Green Man Gaming?
Well, aside from offering you cracking prices on a huge catalogue of digital PC games, Green Man Gaming is the only gaming site that allows you to trade in your purchases* for credit that can be used against future purchases.

How does the trade-in thing work?
Have a look at a product on the Green Man Gaming website and you’ll see a few different prices listed including RRP and our current selling price. Using World of Goo as an example, you’ll also see a current trade in value of 3.00 (at time of taking the screen grab below).

If you were to purchase World of Goo today, you would pay 5.95. You could play the game, complete it and trade it in for a different game; you’d then receive 3.00 off your next game. Or, you could simply trade it in for credit, which will remain on your account indefinitely.

Now, here’s the thing to remember; prices go up as well as down on both the price you pay and the amount you’ll get when trading in a game. So, although you would get 3.00 trade in credit today, you may not get that tomorrow or next week.

Why does the purchase price change?
When looking at the purchase price of a game, Green Man Gaming always displays the lowest price available to you. However, the price you pay may change after you purchased it. Why is that? If the price has increased, then GMG (Green Man Gaming) sold their last pre-owned copy. If the purchase price has dropped, then it is most likely that someone has traded in a copy of that game and GMG now have pre-owned stock and are able to offer the game at a lower price.

The purchase price can change when a product goes in or out of a promotion.

Why does the trade-in price change?
In simple terms, it’s all about supply and demand.

If GMG have lots of pre-owned stock of a particular title, the trade-in price will be lower. On the flipside, if GMG have no pre-owned stock at all, the trade-in price will be higher.

Also, when a product is in a promotion, the trade in price will be lower. When the product is no longer in promotion, the trade in price will return to a higher price unless GMG have a quantity of pre-owned stock.

How do I play the trading game?
Here are my five top tips for maximizing your investment.

1. Buy low, sell high (simple really)

2. Look at your account daily to see any changes

3. Keep an eye on the Bargain Bucket and don’t miss out on a bargain; even if it isn’t game you’d normally play (you never know, you may find a gem)

5. Don’t miss out on Green Man Gaming’s 60minute, 24 hour and weekly price cut promotions – the trade in price usually goes up after a promotion ends.

Thanks for supporting Green Man Gaming in 2010; here’s to a great 2011.

Happy Gaming and Trading!

If you’ve any questions about buying/trading on Green Man Gaming, pop them below and I’ll do my best to answer them.

*Excludes Steam activated products and certain other products

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Posted in: Shop Talk, Uncategorized
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