Substance TV

You heard right, this Saturday, May 19th at 10pm CST will be the Substance TV MegaCast on Justin.tv! We’ll be at Shawn’s gaming pad playing all sorts of games from old to new, checking out his collection of console and arcade games, and chatting it up with you the viewers.

But besides getting the chance to get to know one of our newest contributors, we’ll be having a ton of giveways. You’ll have a chance to win multiple copies of Sin & Punishment Star Successor for the Nintendo Wii, Firefall beta keys, Diablo III guest passes, and a few extra special secret prizes.

So make sure you’re here at substancetv.net 10pm CST this Saturday for the Substance TV MegaCast!

Cell phone gaming has certainly changed over just the past five years. So the question begs to be asked, are cell phones a game console? This got my thinking which led me to make a little video expressing my thoughts on the matter. You might be surprised at the outcome.

What’s your opinion? Are cell phones a gaming console? Tell us in the comments.

While new games for the NES haven’t been completely uncommon lately, our good friends at Retrozone have helped Gradual Games bring their game Nomolos: Storming the Catsle to the Nintendo Entertainment system. The game, which seems heavily inspired by Castlevania, features fast action, tight controls, and fun bosses.

You can purchase a physical copy of the game $32, or if you are feeling cheeky, you can spend nine more bucks and grab a copy with a fantastic box in classic NES style. Even better the site promises that the cartridge is made from completely new parts so you can rest easy knowing no copies of Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom were harmed.

If you are on the fence, feel free to download a two stage demo and try it for yourself. You will need a NES emulator to play, and I am sure you kids know where to find one of those.

It seems like everyone has an idea of what the “ideal” dungeon crawler entails. With Diablo III just released, it may be a little hard to get hyped about another lootfest, but fledgling company Grinding Gear Games would like you to take a moment and see what they have to offer.

Last weekend they opened their beta up to everyone, and we got to take a look at what equated to about 5-7 hours of content. I did my best to complete all everything available, and I can honestly say I came away very impressed.

At it’s core it is a typical isometric dungeon crawler. Progression is loot-based and stat-focused, dungeons are dark and dreary, and longevity comes from finding ideal builds and doing boss runs. The main difference comes in its amazing skill system and its optimization of all the little things.

Being still in beta, many aspects are subject to change. So let’s take a look at the more concrete features that are confirmed to be available at launch. Mainly the skill system.

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Summer time is upon us, which for many means it’s time to be cut free of obligations and spend some much needed free time playing video games. The summer season has traditionally been a dead zone for major game releases, so a lot of people like myself spend their time catching up on some games from the last couple years, trying to cross a few off of the backlog. I’ve been working on my own personal summer pile of shame, hoping to tear through some games that have been looming over my head for the last few months. I missed a bunch of games last year, and I have a long summer ahead of me if I plan to tackle some of these longer PS2 JRPGs that I’ve let pile up. Read on after the jump to see what some of Substance TV’s writers are planning to play over the summer!

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There have been many fantastic Kickstarter projects as of late, but very few of them are centered around delivering an already finished game. Jason Rohrer, developer of some very clever PC indie titles, is looking to do just that.  His latest creation Diamond Trust of London (with a much longer title forced by Nintendo) is a relatively historical diamond smuggling game set for physical release on Nintendo DS.

This competitive game sees each player managing a diamond smuggling operation in Africa. You will spend your time planning flights, managing your cash surplus, and paying agents to carry out your operation. Meanwhile your opponent will be racing to do the same. The true challenge will come in finding ways to slow your opponent down, and that complexity lies in the strategic bribing system.

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