The Cerebral Bundle! It's Alive! It's Indie! It's CLEVER!

Yes, dear reader, the stars have been perfectly aligned and a new Bundle In A Box has been spawned. A very clever bundle. A cunning bundle. A Cerebral Bundle! Also, a bundle sporting a selection of 9 excellent indie games for the rather sensible price of “pay-what-you-want”. And it supports Windows, Mac and Linux!

Anyway, on to the games!

Paying anything above $1.99 will get you:

• deep, retro-esque and utterly elegant RPG Phantasmaburbia (Windows/Desura)
• artful, being-stood-up-sim Dinner Date (Windows/Steam)
• undead infested puzzler Vampires! (Windows/Mac)
• illustrated interactive fiction exclusive debut Necrotic Drift Deluxe (Windows /Mac/Linux)
• beautiful puzzler exclusive debut Dédale De Luxe (Windows/Mac/Linux/Desura)

Beating the always humble (heh) average price will earn you those lovelies:

• sci-fi puzzle exploration adventure J.U.L.I.A. (Windows)
• hilarious boring-job-sim I Get This Call Every Day (Windows/Mac/Desura)
• Jane Jensen powered point-and-clicker Cognition, Episode 1: The Hangman (Windows/Mac/Desura)
• just released dystopian adventure Reversion: The Meeting (Windows/Desura)

As is the Kyttaro Games tradition, for every 100 bundles sold $15 will be added to our Indie Dev Grant and the whole sum will be awarded to a developer selected by the vote of the bundlers. Also, 5% of all revenues will be shared with the Hellenic Centre for Mental Health and Treatment of Child and Family.

What’s more, for every 1000 bundles sold new extras will be unlocked for everyone who grabbed the Cerebral Bundle. Said extras include the source code of Necrotic Drift, the Cognition soundtrack and prequel comic, Phantasmaburbia’s Deluxe Digital Box, Dédale De Luxe wallpapers and more.

Finally, and as an added bonus, all who purchase the bundle will get access to exclusive content for Droidcape: Basilica; you know, that game I've been working on for the past year or so.

PS. Uhm, helping spread the word on this new bundle would indeed be fantastic. We are, after all, at a pretty crucial turn for Bundle In A Box... Thanks a ton!

Creating the best Monkey Island games possible

Ask anyone with a passing interest in gaming and at least a modicum of taste and they will immediately let you know that both The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge are perfect games. Interestingly though, their recent deluxe versions are pretty good too and, despite a few interface hick-ups and some not always spot-on visuals, they also sport some truly excellent voice-overs.

Which leads us to the question: what are the best possible versions of the first two Monkey Island games? How should you enjoy Ron Gilbert's masterpieces?

Simple! By playing the original games with the original point-and-click interface in the talkie versions that never existed; the talkie versions using the voice-overs of the deluxe editions. All you'll be needing are the original games, their recent deluxe versions, ScummVM and the brand new, freeware, legal and utterly fantastic Monkey Island Ultimate Talkie Edition Builders.

You are most welcome! No, really, 't was a pleasure!

Ithaka of the Clouds and the future of quality gaming

People keep moaning. There aren't enough clever games, they say. Indie gaming is stuck in an idealized retro world that never really existed and keeps churning out platformer after platformer, they add. Intelligent adults need their piece of interactive entertainment too, they shout. And then, Jonas Kyratzes goes on to release the brilliant The Sea Will Claim Everything and everyone, and that's despite numerous glowing reviews, fails to notice and keeps on moaning.

Well, everyone, time to set things right and make sure that us appreciators of graceful, artful, beautiful, clever and shockingly meaningful games have a chance to redeem ourselves by helping Ithaka of the Clouds get funded over at IndieGoGo. It is the latest (and most ambitious so far) project of Jonas and Verena Kyratzes, will feature the wonderful music of Chris Christodoulou and, before I go on and ramble a bit more, here's its pitch video:

Watched it? Excellent! You are then quite aware of the fact that Ithaka, the first game to ever feature two gay trolls and the first adventure to ever be inspired by the sublime poetry of Kavafis, is bound to not only be an amazing game, but actually an important one too. Remember how I once mentioned that The Sea Will Claim Everything can make you a better person? Seems like Ithaka of the Clouds will improve on that.

Anyway, here's the illusive Joseph Kyranzes to further enlighten you:

Now, off to back the project! A mere $10$ will get you the game upon release, $15 will get you the game with either the soundtrack or The Sea Will Claim Everything, $30 will get you everything mentioned so far and the rest you'll have to find out for yourself reader. Just support the thing and spread the word!

Jonas Kyratzes stuff @ Gnome's Lair:

• The (oneiric) Interview
• Alphaland
• The Fabulous Screech
• Phenomenon 32

The Strange, Stylish & Endlessly Running Tale Of The Button Affair

Do you remember The Cat That Got The Milk and what it did with/to Kandinsky? Excellent! The Button Affair has absolutely nothing to do with it, apart from the fact that it's vaguely in the same wide genre of action games, looks absolutely stunning itself and is the work of the very same, very talented developers. As a further way to differentiate itself from its predecessor it even sports a plot that goes a bit like this:

The Button Affair is the story of Enzo Gabriel. His quest. To steal the priceless Button Jewel from the infinitely wealthy business tycoon Victor Meirelles.

Yes, that definitely does sounds like something taken straight from a '70s action movie and is perfectly complemented by the game's beautifully stylized visuals that can't help but remind me of the elegant aesthetics of Another World. Just have a look at this trailer and you'll see for yourself dearest reader:

Oh, and if you simply have to know, The Button Affair is one of those fashionable runners that seem to be cropping up everywhere. Only not boring. And actually enjoyable. And very well done too. Also, innovative. Helps charity too and will happily run on both Mac and Windows PCs.

Related @ Gnome's Lair:

• Thomas Was Alone But Got Reviewed
• The 2011 AGS Awards
• Let a Thousand Free Games Bloom
• A Size Five Games Interview