Stop. You had me at 'steam powered monkeys'.

Gatheryn seems to be pitching itself as a sort of World Of Warcraft for people who hate endless grinding and enjoy casual gaming. The game is set in the aforementioned steam monkey paradise and promises to offer in-engine versions of “the 50 most popular casual games of all time.”

The developers, MindFuse, plan to let players forgo the usual level grinding in favor of just buying equipment and costumes using game currency earned from playing the casual games or just coughing up with a credit card.

A closed PC beta will be available for sign up in December, with an open beta in the new year.

The World Of Gatheryn [MindFuse Games]

Vote for Interloper From Beyond The Heavens at Threadless.

SOUTHPEAK GAMES TO PUBLISH FUZZYEYES' EDGE OF TWILIGHT

Steampunk Action-Adventure Fantasy Game To Debut In 2009

GRAPEVINE, TX - December 6, 2007 - SouthPeak Games, a leading publisher and distributor of entertainment software, today announced it will be publishing FUZZYEYES' upcoming colossus Edge of Twilight in North America and Europe. Scheduled for release in 2009 on next-gen consoles and PC, Edge of Twilight is a fast paced cinematic combat and action game set in a steampunk inspired fantasy world.

"Edge of Twilight appealed to us because of its exquisitely original vision," said Katie Morgan, Executive Vice President at SouthPeak Games. "We look forward to working with the talented team at FUZZYEYES on this incredibly ambitious title."

Edge of Twilight promises a look into a post-apocalyptic landscape where day and night no longer coexist. As the only living half-breed, Lex, the player travels between the two parallel realms engaging in over-the-top battles and exploring a living and breathing, yet desperate, landscape.

"Edge of Twilight has been our labor of love for some time now and we could not be more excited to partner with SouthPeak to bring it to market," said Wei-Yao Lu, CEO of FUZZYEYES. "There is still so much to reveal about the game we can't wait to share more."

Visit www.edge-of-twilight.com for more.

I type this from my bathtub, where I am currently transmitting raw text directly from my sinuses into a copper receptor dish situated atop my viewing screen in the other room. The water is tepid and I am clammy with soap scum and the patina from my plate-and-rivets bath ducky.

Squeak.

This is apparently a Japanese sculpture that apparently is actually functional. Says BoingBoing commentor Adam:

It's not a 'sculpture' — it's a working computer. In his notes, the creator resists comparisons to Gilliam and Cronenberg, saying "if you look carefully, you'll see it's totally different."

Now I know what to do with that hideous brick of pain and disappointment that was my first-gen TiBook after a year. Eliza Gauger

Steampunk Laptop [BoingBoing, via GayGamer]

Steampunk blog Brass Goggles has recently been on a mad search for steampunk video games, a subject dear to my own heart. They recently stumbled on a UT2004 total conversion mod called Air Buccaneers that looks so insanely cool that I'm downloading it now.

AirBuccaneers is a modification for UnrealTournament 2004. It contains a new multiplayer game type with airships, cannons, airmines and various other pseudo ancient gadgets. The game is a compelling combination of graceful air ballet, fierce pirate-like action and 3D tactical manoeuvring.

Yes it's a few years old, but you cannot deny the awesome. Hit the jump for the official trailer and a gameplay video.

Official trailer:

Gameplay:

Eliza "Gauggles" Gauger

More Here [Brass Goggles]
AirBucanneers Official Site

Those of you who have been following my Rule of Rose hysteria (comes out today!) know that I'm enamored with the steampunk genre as a whole.

So when a post on Steam Brigade popped up on my feeds from Brass Goggles, a steampunk blog I frequent, I scurried over to Pedestrian Entertainment to check it out.

In gaming terms, it's a "2-D, side-scrolling, real-time strategy game". That means it's much different than your average strategy game, which is normally viewed from above. The result is a battlefield where the front is always moving, and the battles are much more direct and intense. Creative solutions and flexible planning are rewarded. It's strategy from a fresh perspective!

Unfortunately the demo is an exe and I still haven't installed Boot Camp, but the screenshots look lovely. And I dig any game that messes around with traditional game mechanic. Eliza Gauger

Steam Brigade [Pedestrian Entertainment]

Demian sent this in and I'm very pleased with them. This is the newest Rule of Rose trailer, appropriately titled "Creepy Kids" over on GameVideos.

Lots of sadism, short skirts, and spooky smiles. And my special friend, the fishblimp, makes another spectacular showing at the very end.

This video is completely nonsensical but I couldn't look away. Eliza Gauger

I've been eagerly devouring everything related to Atlus' upcoming lolita-creepout, Rule of Rose, and while I wish i could deliver unto ye your own Kotaku-flavored gallery, that didn't work so well earlier today.

I will simply link, with a heavy heart, and give you the crowning image from this particular batch: fat scary kid with lipstick.

Unfortunately it looks like the difference between in-game and prerendered shots is going to be fairly astronomical, and it doesn't seem like much headway has been made in terms of play graphics. Still, the setting seems so bizarre, a sort of steampunk horror softened by childishness, that I imagine the atmosphere will fill in quite a bit. Eliza Gauger

New Rule of Rose screens here [Computer and Video Games]

Now taking speculative comments about what that...thingy...is, in the last shot. It looks like a flying robo-whale. Eliza gauger

In a May 10th press release that's mysteriously hitting the feeds today (oooh, spoooky!), game distributor Atlus USA, Inc. announced that they have nabbed Sony' Rule of Rose, a schoolgirl-drenched survival horror extravaganza.

March, 1930. A young girl named Jennifer, whose parents were killed in a tragic airship accident, is taken to the Rose Garden Orphanage, located in a remote portion of the English countryside. What Jennifer discovers is a dilapidated building and a ragtag mob of children who call themselves the "Aristocracy of the Red Crayon."

The demented residents of Rose Garden kidnap Jennifer and take her into the dark heart of an impossibly large zeppelin, on a meandering course for a distant land. Now, with the help of a canine companion named Brown, Jennifer has to find valuable gifts for the Aristocracy, or suffer a fatal punishment for her insolence...

Tragic airship accident?! I knew this thing was up my alley as soon as I heard about the schoolgirl survival horror angle, but throw steampunk into it and I am SOLD. Eliza gauger