Two game soundtracks for free

What, another ones?

Long time followers of Barts News will know that I have a soft spot for game music, especially if it's available for free. There's nothing strange about it: many people buy movie soundtracks, because they evoke the feelings and/or the atmosphere from their favourite films, I do the same with games. Seeing how they are the medium that I love, it is not unexpected, right?


So, here are two game soundtracks, the first one from the title I have played ages ago and the second one from the game I have yet to play. The former is an old DOS game, known as The Fury of the Furries, and the latter is a recent beat'em up, called Shank. One has a certain nostalgia factor and a bit of retro feel to it, the other is all fresh and funky, so there's something for everyone.

Listen to the soundtracks here and here, respectively. And yes, technically you have to pay something for Fury of the Furries OST, but since it can be 0.1EUR, it still counts as free in my book. As for Shank, you can download the whole OST in zip file from here. Enjoy!

[ via ObsoleteGamer and Polygamia ]

Sexy Morrigan Cosplay

Did you know that plural of succubus is succubi?

This post was requested by Iulian, to whom I can't deny anything ever since he designed the beautiful blog header for Barts News. Quote: "If I had a gaming blog, I'd dedicate the entire banner to Morrigan. And the footer. And the sidebar". While all that might be a little too much, today I bring you excellent Morrigan cosplay.


But first, a word of introduction: Morrigan is the character from Dark Stalkers... ah, who cares, if you are a fan, then you already know that, and if you are not - what are you even doing here? Many female cosplayers (sadly, not only) have taken on the role of Morrigan, including, but not limited to, Alodia Gosiengfiao. However, one cosplayer has beaten them all, namely Linda Le aka Vampy. Check the Morrigan photoshoot on her Flickr gallery - it's absolutely fabulous! You can also visit her deviantArt gallery, since it contains a lot of other pretty pictures and, as an added game-related bonus, there are two photos of Linda cosplaying Ness from Earthbound/Mother2.

Frankly, as much as I am not fan of kosupure, I find Linda's creations to be beautiful and atmospheric, not to mention the girl herself is attractive and (dare I use the word?) sexy. Definitely worth a look!

[ via Karawana ]

Changes, changes

Wind of change

As the more perceptive of you might have already realized, Barts News looks a little different now. What started in April has pretty much reached its conclusion. The most noticeable change is, of course, the new header made by brilliant Iulian from primer. I actually wanted to have some pretty graphics up there for a long time already, but unfortunately my mediocre graphic skills coupled with my perfectionism and general lack of time resulted in severe delays. But no more!

My favourite beta concept

The evolution of the header graphics was already presented on Blip and goes like this: first alpha concept, retro take by Iulian, mash-up of his idea with mine, his reworking of my idea, ironing details in the next iteration and the final version that you can see above. I love how it turned out - the final result both looks like I wanted it to look (my favourite game characters FTW) and fits Barts News' look'n'feel. Thanks a bunch, Iulian! Also, for those that might be interested, Iulian's primer is taking all sorts of graphic design work requests, especially creation of identity, at very reasonable prices, so if you need something done properly, do send them inquiry email.

And now for that strange thing, Blip, that's the other change that you might have noticed - the rounded box with short updates on the right is Blip widget. But what is Blip? In short, it is the Polish answer to Twitter, not without its faults, but generally much more usable. One can use it from the start via communicator, text messages, MMS, webpage, post images - all that without any plugins or mastah-haxoring. It also allows users to embed YouTube movies, use tags and nicknames, couple it with Twitter account and more. In short, it is prettier and easier to use.


I have long felt that some posts on Barts News didn't deserve to be actual full articles. I feel that some information are best conveyed as short messages, instead of making them into posts. Hence, this Blip thingy.

You can use Blip widget on the right to check what comes next, because some messages will evolve into full-blown posts (such as the one on retro demakes which resulted in this post). You can also jsut treat it as a small distraction on the main page and occasionally click on a link or pretty image, if it catches your attention. You can check it for some juicy bits when there are no longer posts for a while, which, I'm afraid, will keep happening ever now and then when my life gets even busier than it normally is. You can also skip the widget altogether and check the updates on this page, called Bliplog (clicking white 'bartsnews' on top of the widget will also get you there), or even start following Barts News on Blip - that is, if you are able to cope with Polish interface, because sadly it is not available in English (yet?). Or you can ignore it altogether.

There might be some other changes coming up, such as random header graphics and personalized favicon, but these are minor things and seeing how I am now writing for three other portals (alas, in Polish), helping with organisation of TEDx Krakow event and managing my work and private life at the same time, the chances of other site updates happening anytime soon are rather on the slim side.

Tower of Heaven revisited

I repeat, thou shall not walk on green blocks

Not sure if you remember, but I wrote a short piece on Tower of Heaven some time ago. It was a little indie game with retro graphics resembling the original monochrome Gameboy games and a twist, namely crazy deity that gradually made game protagonist's life harder by issuing increasingly more annoying commandements. If you have read Terry Pratchett's Monstrous Regiment and can recall the fragments on abomination in the eyes of Nuggan, then it's pretty much the same - the in-game god must be some cousin of Nuggan, equally unhinged.


I am mentioning Tower of Heaven here, because a new version has just been released - and what a version that is! It features "new musical arrangements, achievements, and a level creation system", but what's more, this time it is playable in your browser. If you missed Tower of Heaven the first time around, don't make the same mistake again - just click the link and check it.

The game was ported using the Flixel framework that I have already written about a couple of times. The new chiptune soundtrack by Flashygoodness can be bought on Bandcamp for one petty US dollar, so be nice, support independent artists and cough up. Also, be sure to check this great fanart by CoolKidCoco.

[ via IndieGames ]

Mobile Poker Games

Some neat gambling for your mobile phone

Who can enjoy mobile poker? Well if you love to play online poker and you have a mobile device, mobile poker is probably for you. There are a number of different mobile poker options, depending on the type of poker you want to play and the type of mobile device you have. Here are several you may want to consider looking at.

Mobile Poker: MGN Mobile Poker

If you’ve got Cingular wireless service and are looking for real money action, take a look at MGN Mobile Poker. The game is no limit hold’em poker, and you have several levels of sophistication to choose from when downloading, from the full color, high graphics quality gold version to the basic, text bronze version. Mobile devices that can use MGN Mobile Poker include Sony Ericsson, Siemens, Samsung, Nokia, Motorola, LG, Blackberry and Audiovox.

Mobile Poker: RealDice Texas Hold’em

If you’re looking to play online Texas Holdem game for your Windows Mobile device, you need look no further than RealDice Texas Hold’em. If you’re looking for full table action, RealDice is definitely your application, as it allows for up to ten players at the table. The graphics are top notch, and you can even play on your computer using a free Facebook or desktop version of the software. RealDice Texas hold’em allows you to play against up to 200 different computer opponents or against live opposition from all over the world.

Mobile Poker: Midnight Hold’em Poker

If you’re interested in a online poker games that you can enjoy on your mobile which allows you to get into all the high stakes poker action you love to watch on T.V. without risking a wad of cash, consider Midnight Hold’em Poker. Midnight Hold’em Poker allows you to move through a fictional tournament circuit in career mode, working your way up through the toughest computer opponents the application can find, until you reach the top. Most carriers enable Midnight Hold’em Poker, some of the bigger ones include Nextel, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, Cingular and PCS. If you’ve got one of these carriers and some others, and your mobile device is a Sony Ericsson, Sharp, Siemens, Sanyo, Samsung, Nokia, LG, Motorola, Audiovox or Alcatel, you can enjoy Midnight Hold’em Poker.

Excellent retro demakes

Sweet eye candy for all you retro freaks out there

I have blipped it (you know, in this little window on the right that contains short messages not unlike certain other web service with a blue bird ) three days ago, but now I have an excuse to make a full-blown post out of it.


These demakes are incredible on their own, a "what if?" foray into alternative reality where some game ideas happened earlier, around 16bit era. The author is Junkboy and I highly recommend that you check his deviantArt and PixelJoint pages for more good stuff.

What makes it even more fun is trying to figure out which games they represent - I recognized most of them, but for those that didn't, great nerdy site Geekosystem comes to help with a list of all titles accompanied by screenshots, together with their retro demake counterparts. Go and have a look.

Summer Sale on PSN

Just a short notice to let you know that on PSN there is a sale going on. Five heavily discounted PSP titles are available:

The Eye of Judgment Legends – $14.99 sale; $29.99 reg.
echoshift – $7.49 sale; $14.99 reg.
Patchwork Heroes – $4.99 sale; $9.99 reg.
Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars – $14.99 sale; $29.99 reg.
Lunar Silver Star Harmony – $14.99 sale; $29.99 reg.

Except for the first one, the other four are all excellent titles, well worth price of admission. I would especially recommend Patchwork Heroes, a quirky and unique game with bizarre graphics style. Other than that, there are also some discounted PSN Minis and among them one that I particularly happen to like, namely Monsters Probably Stole My Princess (check the trailer here).


Unfortunately, this promotion is only available on US PSN Store, nothing for us here in Europe. But seeing how GTA: Chinatown Wars now costs around 10EUR here in Poland (and it is a nice physical copy with a box and a booklet) I can live with that. Nevertheless, I wanted to give heads up to our dear US visitors.

[ via PlayStationBlog ]

Limbo is here

And it looks beautiful

One of the first posts on Barts News, back in the dark and misty October 2006, was on Limbo, an indie game in the making. Notice how the word indie does not appear anywhere in the text - back then I didn't know that this is how this type of game is called (I added the tag years later). Fast forward to summer 2010: Limbo has finally arrived and it managed to turn out as good as the initial trailers promised it to be.


Unfortunately, I won't get to play it anytime soon, because Limbo was released on Xbox Live Arcade and I don't own Xbox 360 - what's more, I don't plan to buy one (opting for PS3 instead). Instead of providing you with a review, I will have to rely on others to do it for me. So far Limbo has met with universal acclaim, according to Metacritic. If you would like to know more, I recommend that you watch one of many video reviews instead of reading a traditional one - I don't say it often, but this time you really should have a look a the game in question to get to feel how it looks and plays.

As for me, I will wait 'till any of my friends buys it or I actually snap and buy an Xbox 360. But from what I have seen so far, Limbo managed to become what its creator, Arnt Jensen, wanted it to be - dark, moody and climatic adventure with a dark soul. Kudos on actually achieving that - too many games stray from the original idea during development process (have you seen Bioshock design docs?).



Ending this note, I have to say that the recent events are a little unsettling: Starcraft II has arrived, Limbo has arrived, is there anything left for me to see in the gaming world? I practically don''t have any titles on my waiting list. Is it already time to die?