Kickstart This!: Summer of Kickstarter

Welcome to Silver Bit's newest recurring article, Kickstart This!  With Kickstarter's rise in popularity among video game developers and in some cases composers to fund their projects, yours truly has been trying to think of ways to promote these great projects.  A few of video game Kickstarter projects get the initial publicity on big video game media sites such as IGN and Gamespot if they are attached to a popular video game designer such as Tim Schafer or noteworthy developer like WayForward.  There are plenty of Kickstarter projects that never get the public attention they deserve.  While Silver Bit is not among the most viewed blogs in the world, this writer wants to do his part in spreading the word about the Kickstarter projects that appeal to him.  One more person talking about these projects will definitely get a few others talking and hopefully cause a domino effect as more and more decide to spread the word.

The inspiration behind Kickstart This! came about due to all the Kickstarter projects that yours truly has been following and supporting as of late.  I have supported a few projects over the past year or so, but not at the frequency that I am doing now.  It has gotten to a point where this writer is scared to find another project to whisk away more money.  What a better way to kick off Kickstart This!, pun fully intended, then with the three Kickstarter projects that sucked up this writer's money this past Summer.
                       
The first Kickstarter project highlighted today is actually not a video game.  Before you raise your virtual pitchforks, this project does involve video games in some form.  Particularly, it involves video game music.  This Kickstarter is to fund Video Games Live's third album.  For those who have not heard of Video Games Live, it is a multimedia symphonic/rock video game concert run by prolific video game composer Tommy Tallarico.  Video Games Live's first two albums focused on the most popular and recognizable video game music from the likes of Mario, Halo and Warcraft.  For the third album, known as Level 3, Video Games Live is focusing on the more underrated video game tracks from games like Monkey Island, Street Fighter, Journey and Beyond Good and Evil.  Due to how niche the audience for this album is, Video Games Live is looking for passionate gamers like you and I to help fund this project.  Video Games Live is looking to raise 250 thousand dollars to fund Level 3.  Currently 205 thousand dollars have been pledged to the project with only three days left.  If you are a lover of video game music, the Video Games Live Kickstarter is definitely one to support.  Every bit counts.
                       
It has been well documented on how horribly Capcom has dropped the ball with their flagship franchise, Mega Man.  Once the Blue Bomber's creator Keiji Inafue left Capcom to create his own independent studio Comcept, Capcom seemed to abandon their mascot.  Many have been clamouring for any sort of news about a new Mega Man game, but to no avail.  Capitalizing on the demand, Keiji Inafue announced a brand new project from Comcept called Mighty No. 9.  Mighty No. 9 is the spiritual successor to Mega Man.  It is a side-scrolling action game where you run, jump, shoot and transform much like Capcom's Blue Bomber.  It might seem a lot like Mega Man, but with one huge twist.  Beck, the main character, can transform at will.  These transformations are not only earned from defeating the bosses in the game; they can be gained from collecting energy dropped from common enemies.  The Mighty No. 9 Kickstarter has been a runaway success.  The game was funded within two days and is now currently working towards its 2.2 million dollar stretch goal, which will see Mighty No. 9 ported to PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii U.  With 21 days left to go, Comcept will definitely have enough money to fund Mighty No. 9 and then some.  Guess the demand for a Mega Man game is bigger than ever imagined, eh Capcom?
                        
Last but not least, the latest Kickstarter project to make me part with my money to support.  WayForward has been on a roll with their latest offerings (Mighty Switch Force series on 3DS and Wii U and DuckTales:  Remastered for consoles).  So it came as a surprise when they announced that they will be funding a new game project through Kickstarter.  Some thought it could be a whole new intellectual property or a console installment in one of WayForward's signature franchises.  The latter came true as Shantae: Half-Genie Hero was revealed to be said Kickstarter project this past Wednesday.  Shantae is WayForward's first original franchise.  It stars a female half-genie by the name of Shantae who is in charge of protecting a fishing port called Scuttle Town.  Half-Genie hero is Shantae's first venture on consoles as she has been at home on handheld and mobile systems for the past decade.  Before any funding was needed, WayForward confirmed Half-Genie Hero will be coming to PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U and PC.  Meeting the funding goal of 400 thousand dollars will allow WayForward to create a HD Shantae game with an introduction and conclusion stage along with three chapters in between.  Stretch goals are in place to include extra modes, different costumes and even bonus chapters if WayForward's goal is met.  At the moment, Shantae: Half-Genie Hero is half way to its goal with just under a month to go.

Hopefully you all enjoyed this first edition of Kickstart This!  If you are interested in any of the projects shared in this article, please pledge some of your money to the project of your choice.  Kickstarter is becoming such a powerful tool in the video game industry especially for the gamers who are getting sick and tired of the current state of Triple A video game development.  These three projects are only a small sampling of everything that is on Kickstarter.  There a tons of projects out there to support.  If these projects did not speak to you, there is definitely a project out there.

Launch Station: Diablo III

There has no game that I can possibly think of that has been as highly anticipated as Diablo III.  Starcraft II comes to mind, but I personally believe Diablo III's anticipation trumps that of Blizzard's other franchises, Starcarft and Warcraft.  Some gamers have waited 12 long years for this one game that May 15th will be a significant date in their gaming lives.  It is not hard to imagine stores crowded and servers pushed to capacity as millions of gamers looking to play Diablo III.

Two decades after the events of Diablo II, a fiery harbinger of doom strikes the very ground where Diablo once entered the world of Sanctuary.  This fiery harbinger from the sky reawakens the ancient evils of the Prime Evils.  As a hero of the Sanctuary, you are called upon to defend humanity against the army of the Burning Hells once again.  At the beginning of the game, you are able to create your hero from five different classes.  These classes that you can choose from are witch doctor, barbarian, wizard, monk and demon hunter.  At Diablo's core, it is a dungeon crawler in the truest forms.  You accept quests, complete randomly generated levels, battle monsters and collect tons of loot.  With 12 years since Diablo II, Blizzard has had a lot of time to add new features to Diablo in its' third entry.  Some of these new features are destructible environments, in-game damage effects, the ability to pick up gold and loot by just touching it, replacing the potion bar with a skill bar, having enemies drop health orbs to replenish your health and skill runes.   There are two big new features in Diablo III that might possibly rub certain gamers the wrong way.  First is that Diablo III requires players to be constantly connected to the internet in order to play, even in single-player.  The second feature is the Auction House, which allows players to auction in-game items for real money.  Also Diablo III features co-op play and player vs. player battles with up to six players.

I can see why gamers love Diablo.  Blizzard created a game in which gamers could lose themselves in for thousands of hours, finding new encounters with enemies or new pieces of loot around every corner.  It is engaging, extremely gratifying and has an incredible amount of polish.  Personally I have never cared for anything Blizzard has developed.  I tried Starcraft, Starcraft II and Warcraft III.  After playing them, I found that Blizzard games just don't interest me or even appeal to me as a gamer.  Other than a few games here and there, I have never really been that big into PC gaming.  Sure, there are certain games like Dragon Age that I will only play on the PC, but I am not what you call a hardcore PC gamer.  Never been into upgrading my computer every couple of months.  While I might not care for Diablo III, there are certainly millions of gamers out there than do and have already bought the game and have been playing for the past day.  For those on the edge, give Diablo II a try or wait until Blizzard releases a demo for the game or see some reviews of the game.