Bargain Pick - Söldner-X: Himmelsstürmer Limited Edition

If you're up for some classic shooter action, but don't have a PS3 or prefer a boxed copy of your games instead of a download, then you'll be happy to know that Söldner-X: Himmelsstürmer Limited Edition for PC is available for the very attractive price of just US$ 9.90.

That's $40 off the regular price! Hurry, this is a limited offer and only while stocks last! At this price, you'll want to buy two or three. It'll make a great present for your friends or loved ones. Don't miss out!

Cryptic Allusion CryptoCast Gives Away Söldner-X

The Cryptic Allusion CryptoCast is podcast centered around videogames. Their main focus is on the development and playing of indie games, but they also cover plenty of mainstream games. It varies from episode to episode, but one thing is very consistent: their love of videogames and the indie game development scene always shows through.

In their latest podcast (CryptoCast Episode 28), hosts Roddy, Pam, and Alex discuss the PS3 version of Söldner-X and announce a contest where listeners can win a free copy of Söldner-X: Himmelsstürmer. Head over to the show notes for Episode 28 to see what all they are covering this time. Mentioned in the show notes are the rules for their contest to win a copy of Söldner-X.

The show notes also indicate that Söldner-X will be discussed in further detail in the next CryptoCut Episode 7. The CryptoCut is a short version of the CryptoCast that usually covers only one specific game or topic. This is also where the winner of the Söldner-X giveaway will be announced.

If you are interested in podcasting, videogames, indie game development, or just winning free stuff, then I suggest that you give the Cryptic Allusion CryptoCast a listen. You can get it on iTunes or directly from the Cryptic Allusion website or RSS feed. It is really a great podcast. I've been listening to it for a while now, and I think it gets better with each episode! I would really love for them to get a wider fanbase!

Limited Edition Söldner-X: Himmelsstürmer Under 10 Bucks

The Limited Edition PC version of Söldner-X: Himmelsstürmer is this week's Play-Asia Weekly Special. This really is an awesome deal for any of you that may have been waiting for this to come down in price. $9.99 USD is a steal for everything you get with the limited edition. In fact, if you play Söldner-X on PSN, I'd recommend that you get this deal on the PC version just to get all these hard-copy extras that you'll never see in the PS3 version:

• Söldner-X: Himmelsstürmer software (PC CD-ROM)
• Söldner-X: Himmelsstürmer Limited Edition slip case
• Söldner-X: Himmelsstürmer Original Soundtrack CD
• Söldner-X: Tactical Reference Book (English, 52 pages, hardcover)
• Certificate of purchase (serial numbered)
• Manual (English, 16 pages)
• Online key (required for high score upload)

Check out this High Definition video of Söldner-X!

Soldner-X Portable

With PSN games now being released on the Sony PSP system (especially shooters), wouldn't it be great to see Soldner X on the PSP or DS? Sure, the graphics would need to be scaled down a lot (especially on the DS), but the gameplay would be intact. Super Stardust Portable and Everyday Shooter have shown that it can be done successfully.

Features we would like to see in a potential PSP version would be co-op play in the single player campaign. For the DS, I'm sure the touch screen and extra screen could be put to good use. What would you like to see in a portable Soldner X?

Söldner-X: Previous Post Plus Point Two

The previous post cited an article which reviewed Söldner-X and gave it a score of 8.0. I can top that!

Not only are Gamespot users currently rating the game at 8.5, but, regarding Söldner-X on the PS3, Gamer 2.0 is giving their readers "Buy It" suggestion and has rated the game a "Great" 8.2.

Gamer 2.0's rating included a 9 for gameplay, and the only score that was below 8 was audio which received a rating of 7. You can find full Gamer 2.0 Söldner-X review here.

Whether it's the gamers themselves or the reviewers, people seem to be enjoying Söldner-X on the PS3. When you get a game this great for a price this cheap, why wouldn't you enjoy it?

Also, don't forget, this game isn't just for the PS3 owners out there. There's also a PC Version of Söldner-X that's available at a new low price which includes all sorts of extra pack-ins that you don't get on PSN.

If you're STILL not convinced, I dug up a couple more reviews of the game:

• Gaming Age says, "I actually enjoyed Soldner-X, and for $9.99 for at least a dozen hours spent playing and replaying the game, it was worth the cash"
• Worth Playing gives a bit of background about the PC version and then states, "A year later, the PSN Store would add the game to its catalog with several improvements made specifically for the PS3 faithful. Although it is without some of the extras that shmup fans might have wanted to add to their collection of art books and soundtracks, Soldner-X brings a solid action-packed experience to the console."
  

Söldner-X Scores 8.0 - IGN Review

If you still have any doubts about purchasing Söldner-X for PlayStation 3 off the PlayStation Network, you might want to check out what the biggest gaming site has to say about the game.

Praising the graphics and gameplay, IGN awarded the game an 8.0 overall. If you're still not sure whether to buy the game for a mere $9.99, then check out the full IGN review here.

Söldner-X Tips & Tricks: Make sure you play online

Söldner-X has this fabulous online High Score function that nowadays every game has. It lets you compare your skills with other players around the world. My skills aren't that high so I better don't mention them. Just how do you know you will submit your scores online or not? Well, it's very easy. By default, Söldner-X has server connection enabled. Therefore, if you have never changed the settings, you will play with online high scores enabled. However, what happens when you are starting Söldner-X with a disconnected LAN cable... It will simply turn online high scores off, but it will not turn it on again by itself.

It's easy to see if you are playing online. In the main menu, there's a scrolling message ticker on the top right. This will tell you your global rank, if you have been replaced and the most recent news entry of the community section of soldner-x.com. If it simply says "offline" then it means, well, you're playing with online high scores disabled. Head over to the options menu, and enable online high scores again! Cheers!

Söldner-X Tips & Tricks: Get your own gamer tag

Since launch of the PC version of the game around a year ago, there have been gamer tags (aka badges, dog tags, etc). For some reason eastasiasoft never came around advertising them on the PS3 version and there's some quirks with the messenger system that seems to work only on the PC version, but anyway, the gamer tags are fully working. Here's mine:


I will now show you how to get yours.

In order to have your own gamer tag, you simply need to submit one high score (at least) which is done if you play the game in online mode (default) and you are online of course. You can see here, my rank is a mediocre 67, nothing to be proud of but I'm also posting this because.. well because maybe I can apply some self-pressure here to try harder. The gamer tag can be used in most forums and blogs (such as this!) and it's very simple to do but there's no search function for your profile, that complicates things slightly.

1. Submit a high score to the soldner-x.com servers (happens automatically on the game over screen)
2. Find out what rank you are. Wait around 5-10 minutes in game and it will tell you your current rank (the message displayed upper right on the main menu)
3. Go to Soldner-X.com's Community Pages
   
4. Locate your entry & click on your name
5. A profile page pops up. Here's mine.
6. Scroll down to where it says Gamer Tag and snap the URL as displayed in the boxes, or copy & paste the HTML into your blog. Be sure to hotlink the image, because it's updated regularly. If you host a copy of the image then you will display outdated information.

Try it out now!

Söldner-X Tips & Tricks: Re-Spawn behind a wall solution

Söldner-X: Himmelsstürmer players have noticed that (especially) in World 2 (aka The Industrial Menace) it may happen that you bite the dust and re-spawn behind a wall with no way of getting out, hence losing just another life. This is kinda lame and annoying but it's probably more annoying than anything else in the game so I thought I give you a solution for this :) Even if that means that I may lose my prestigous 42nd (at time of writing, current results may change) position.

The solution in fact is very easy. While you are respawning, just steer the ship! "Wait... What did you just say? How can I steer the ship while I'm not even in control of it?". True, I thought the same, dying repeatedly behind walls and all I wanted to is going to the nearest hardware shop to buy the biggest sledge hammer they'd have (turns out they were out of stock). But someone told me this, and I tried it, and it works. So next time you are in danger of spawning behind a wall or just everytime you respawn, remember that you can steer the ship WHILE IT'S RESPAWNING, giving you the option to appear just anywhere on the play field! It takes a bit of practice to spawn at that specific spot you want, but it's very easy to just avoid getting locked up somewhere. And now, back to the game already!