Author: Thomas Ortsik

Founder and Kinda-Editor-In-Chief at Twinstiq.
Also known as Dr. Strangethumb

Weekly Giveaway: Barking Up The Wrong Stiq

SUNDAY!
You know what that means? Right, it’s time for our Saturday Giveaway.

Topic for this week:

This week I’m inspired by a Jim Sterling video and so we will give away 3 copies of Domestic Dog Simulator. Entry requirements are easy:
Leave us a comment below this post on what you would do if you would become a dog for a day.
You have until Saturday, April 18th. As always, staff and contributors are excluded.

Winners of last week:
Chris (@smutse) wins a copy of Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
Matt DeMougin (@Matthew24_j) wins a copy of Deadly Premonition

Make sure to send an eMail to competition (at) Twinstiq.com

Why I Keep Going Back To Proteus.

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By Gaming Mill
When we talk about procedural generation today, most thoughts tend to head towards Elite: Dangerous, or the beautiful looking, upcoming (and hopefully this year) No Man's Sky. There is however one game that, to me, is the epitome of beauty and it's not really a game. Its name? Proteus. It's not a video game really – I’d describe it as an interactive video experience.
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My Smoking Brother (surprisingly that is not his real name) came round to my shed last year and saw me playing it. He thought I was doing it for a joke. It was only when he realised that I was genuinely enjoying it, that he proclaimed "That looks [expletive deleted] [expletive deleted]!". The graphics do retain a palette and blockiness that seems like some weird hybrid of 80s graphics thrown in with the power of modern GPUs, which only adds to its charm. I'm yet to meet anyone that has criticised the look of Proteus and done the same to Minecraft.
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So what is Proteus and why do I keep going back to it? I go back to it at least a couple of times a month, maybe for only about an hour or so but that's all I need for my fix. Proteus is a sumptuous adventure where no land is the same each time you venture there. Nothing is explained; it's for you to decide what is going on and every (and I mean every) time I visit there, I find something new, something undiscovered. You keep asking yourself questions - what are those trumpet flowers? Are they flowers? What do the Watchers mean? Who's that weird fella with wings, that hides in a giant tree and only at a certain time in the Autumn? There is so much more but I don't want to spoil it. Added to that is the wonderful soundtrack - a mix of divine melancholia background music with the world sound effects equally as odd as the landscape itself.
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I urge you to buy Proteus - I doubt you'll regret it. You can find the Steam version for about UK£1 here [referral link from the author]: http://bit.ly/1FKUghM , it will be a place you'll visit a lot for so little.

Gaming Mill.

Read my blog, find me on Facebook, Twitter and Steam. Where?! Here:
http://gamingmill.over-blog.com
http://facebook.com/gamingmill
http://twitter.com/gamingmill
http://steamcommunity.com/id/gamingmill

At Least Two Witcher 3 Expansions are Expected

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The Witcher 3's not even out yet, but already two expansions have been detailed, adding a total of 30 hours to the experience. Details and pricing when you hit the jump.
The Steam season pass for Witcher 3 is $25, and will net you the Blood & Wine and Hearts of Stone expansions, the first of which will add an entirely new region to the game, while the latter will add new quests.

New Gameplay Footage in Dissidia Trailer, PS4 Screenshot

Dissidia Final Fantasy is doing the character-focused trailer thing that seems to be prevalent in recent marketing strategies. Kicking off the first of what is sure to be many trailers to come stars Final Fantasy XIV's Y'shtola. We can glean some interesting information about the game from the video, check it out after the break.

You can see a map of the battle arena, and it appears that five characters are fighting each other at once. The other characters appear to be Lightning (FFXIII), Cloud (FFVII), as well as some others I'm unable to identify. According to SquarePortal, an Onion Knight (FFIII), and Terra (FFVI), will also be playable, and the game will feature a 3 vs 3 battle system.
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A PlayStation 4 version seems to be in the works, as a screenshot from that version is already available.

Technomancer Annouced by Spiders for 2016

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From the developers that brought you Bound by Flame, and Of Orcs and Men, comes a new RPG for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows. Five different endings can be triggered by various decisions made throughout the campaign. The post apocalyptic adventure on Mars features warriors with cybernetically enhanced magical abilities.
Without much information about The Technomancer, we'll have to wait until E3 2015. Until then, you can check out some screenshots at iDigitalTimes.

Trine 3: What’s Your Angle?

You can now appreciate Trine's beautiful backgrounds in a new way, by running into them and interacting with them! This Trine 3 gameplay trailer demonstrates the new fully 3D world.
IGN's 9-minute gameplay video shows off Frozenbyte's new hook for the series, and you can see various ways in which the Thief, Warrior, and Wizard can solve puzzles in Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power.
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Microsoft Solitaire Gets an Update in Windows 10

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Microsoft's Windows 10 is bringing every area of the operating system up to date, making sure that all aspects work from a tablet standpoint as well as on the desktop. Now, one of the oldest Windows games is getting a major update. Spoilers! There's much more than just standard Solitaire!

There's now a collection of Solitaire games, included in one app called Solitaire Collection. Well, it's not as big of a deal as it seems, these games were included as separate applications in previous versions, but now they're contained in one single experience, and at least the look has been completely overhauled.
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Klondike, Spider, FreeCell, Pyramid, and TriPeaks are all here and spit-shined for easy access in one single package.
Source: Neowin

Team Ninja on Next Dissidia, Sony Wants Console Version

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The developers that brought you Dead or Alive are currently collaborating on the next Dissidia: Final Fantasy. Sony is also in discussions with Square Enix on bringing the game to consoles.
Square Enix is stating that the game will remain an arcade exclusive for at least a year, but Atsushi Morita of Sony Computer Entertainment is discussing the possibilities of a console release with the company. Meanwhile, Koei Tecmo's Team Ninja are hard at work co-developing the newest iteration of the franchise.
Source: Destructoid