Starcraft 2 Might Have Pre-Paid Game Time...

I'm sure that many of you are aware that a new Starcraft 2 Beta patch came out earlier today. This new patch brought some new balance changes, a Battle.net revamp, and of course tons of bugs. While playing some 2v2 with a friend I was experiencing lots of lag, and so I decided to re-log, however, a funny thing happened. Upon entering my account info I was greeted with this message:

Now I know that Blizzard has said that Starcraft 2 is going to free to play as long as you have an internet connect, but pop-up is leading me to believe there's more to it.
This could mean a premium service that could launch right along a free to play version, something that Blizzard is currently trying with they're World of Warcraft Acution House App for the iPhone/iPod Touch.

Indie Review: VVVVVV

I have recently finished up an indie title called "VVVVVV"(the letter V six times), and I can't think of enough fantastic things to say about it! To begin, I'd have to explain that I've always had a soft spot in my heart for "indie" games which has gone as far as me contemplating to buy an Xbox 360 for just the "Indie market place". However, even though I've played so many different "indie" games, its not often that I come across one as fun, addictive, and all around genius as "VVVVVV".

"VVVVVV", like most "indie" games, has one very neat game mechanic that is extremely well tuned in order to allow the player to manipulate it various ways. In "VVVVVV" that mechanic is the ability to flip your character upside down, I'd say its like flipping gravity but your character is the only one affected by it, so take that as you will. The main idea behind it all is that you're on a space ship which has gone through some crazy time portal, and all the ships crew members have been scattered across space waiting to saved by you, the ships captain.
Ultimately, "VVVVVV" plays out like a platformer, but there's some pretty distinct differences, the main one being that you can't jump. For every ledge or gap you come across you have to "flip gravity" and attempt to get across your obstacle that way. This starts to get extremely difficult when a majority of the surface starts to become covered with spikes, cleverly shaped as V's. Each level in "VVVVVV" is contained in a large open-world type of space, which allows for the player to play any particular level in any given order. The music in "VVVVVV" was also some of the best I've heard in an "indie" game in a long long time (I even ended up buying the soundtrack entitled "PPPPPP"). With all of this put together, the fantastic gameplay, the great music, and the game's clever jokes. "VVVVVV" is defiantly on my list of favorite "indie" games of all
time.

If you'd like to experience this epic adventure for yourself, you can play the free demo here, or if you want to be super awesome, you can buy the full game at http://thelettervsixtim.es/ and its only $15 (come on, all the cool kids are doing it). All of the proceeds go directly to the amazingly talented developer Terry Cavanagh. Lastly if you're like me and you cant get enough of the 8-bit musical goodness, you should buy the soundtrack here for only $4.