To celebrate the release of the freakish looking retail version of The Binding of Isaac – The Unholy Edition, Merge Games are running an exclusive competition. Simply like their Facebook page to gain a chance to ask the creator of The Binding Of Isaac (and part of Team Meat), Edmund Mcmillen a question, and win a retail copy of The Binding Of Isaac – The Unholy Edition (with a 40 page Devzine, DRM free Version, Free Steam Gifting Key Soundtrack and Poster).

Here’s the breakdown:

• Go to Merge Games Ltd Facebook page (here) and press “Like”
• Best 10 Questions will be chosen to Ask Edmund Mcmillen
• If your question is chosen, not only will Edmund be answering your question, but you will also win a copy of The Binding Of Isaac – The Unholy Edition

However, the action only starts once their Facebook page reaches their mystery “un-holy number” of followers. The competition will then go live and you can start submitting your questions. You will find further directions on the page, so tell your friends (and foes) and start liking!

To pre-order the game, head over here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00750FRQU/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=niovte910-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=B00750FRQU

The Humble Bundle has released its most cross-platform bundle yet and for the first time, it’s entering the mobile space with games that run on Android, Mac, Linux and Windows. As with previous Humble Bundles, buyers can choose to pay how much for a bundle of indie games and part of the amount goes to the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Child’s Play Charity.

The Humble Bundle for Android (And Linux. And Mac. And Windows) is not only a mouthful to mention, but it contains three great games: Anomaly Warzone Earth, OSMOS and Edge. Customers who are willing to fork out more than the average (at press time, it’s sitting pretty at USD 5.80) will get World of Goo as well.

Other goodies included in this bundle is that you’ll get all the soundtracks to the games! And from experience I’m betting that the organizers of the bundle would include more games (most likely from previous bundles) into the mix as well. What are you waiting for? Check out the Humble Bundle for Android over here: http://www.humblebundle.com/

Indie darling and perennial favourite on Steam, The Binding Of Isaac is about to get its retail debut, and it promises to be a doozy. Ever wondered what it’s like to be hunted through basements, caves and dungeons, whilst being hounded by mutants, searching for holy relics and cutting deals with the devil on a mission to escape your mother, who just happens to be hell bent on sacrificing you with a large shank to the big man upstairs in order prove her faith..?

No, neither have we… But this March 16th, Merge Games will make this your reality, with a special edition retail release of The Binding of Isaac. “The Unholy Edition” includes a DRM free Version, free Steam gifting key, the award winning soundtrack, spectacularly weird poster and 40 page “Devzine”.

Dieter Schoeller, MD of Headup Games, states: “Through our partnership with Merge Games to cover many more territories we are making at least sure that we are not the only ones going to hell for publishing the meanest, darkest and most unholy edition of The Binding of Isaac.”.

“We are delighted to be working with Headup Games to bring The Binding of Isaac to retail are the thrilled to be adding this Indie hit to our portfolio. We think you will be blown away by the “Unholy Edition’s extra goodies.” – Luke Keighran MD Merge Games Ltd

Been revisiting StarCraft II recently, not really for the campaign, but for the custom games in the multiplayer mode, and I think I’ve found the two mods that I really like. The first one is Left 2 Die, which is an official StarCraft II mod by Blizzard. It’s a cooperative version of the Outbreak mission in the single player campaign, and as such, the gameplay is divided between day and night phases.

During the day phase, players go about destroying infested structures, while at night, they’ll need to survive the onslaught of hundreds of infested units. It’s crazy fun for players who love to “turtle” and I’ve been playing this map 3 nights in a row. Hehe.

Next up is a favourite of mine since the days of WarCraft III, no, it’s not DOTA, rather it’s Element TD for StarCraft II. Yup, tower defense is a venerated genre over here at Nine Over Ten 9/10. So much so that after platformers, the most reviewed category of games over here, irrespective of platform, would be those belonging to this particular genre.

I managed to survive until wave 40 before succumbing to a superior wave, and like Left 2 Die, it was crazy fun. So what are your favourite mods on StarCraft II? Personally I can’t wait for Blizzard DOTA to arrive.

This the season for video games bundles, Fa la la la la la la la la. Okay, stop with the hissing and booing. But yes, yet another video gaming bundle is made available, this time exclusively to the Mac gaming community, courtesy of Macgamestore.com. Thanks to them teaming up with leading software companies such as Aspyr Media, Feral Interactive, Frozenbyte, iWin, MumboJumbo, and more, Mac gamers can get 10 of the hottest Macintosh games released in 2011 for the price of USD 19.95.

Bought separately, the games in the bundle would cost over $85. That’s a saving of over 75%. The bundle includes games that the entire family can enjoy from amazing platform games such as Trine to thrilling mysteries such as Trauma. Into simulations? Cities is Motion is the hottest city building simulation available for the Mac. Hidden object fans will get into Jewel Quest Mysteries: The Seventh Gate and puzzle fans will love Puzzler World! There is something here for everyone to play and enjoy.

The Best Mac Game Bundle Ever includes the following amazing Mac games:

• Trine
• The Tiny Bang Story
• TRAUMA
• Cities in Motion
• Roads of Rome 2
• Jewel Quest Mysteries: The Seventh Gate
• Glowfish
• OIO
• Puzzler World
• The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition

The Best Mac Game Bundle Ever is now available exclusively at Macgametore.com for just $19.95 through January 7th. Check it out at this direct link: http://www.macgamestore.com/product/2162/The-Best-Mac-Games-Bundle-Ever/

Hush…did you hear that? “Hear what?”, you ask. LOL. The Humble Indie Bundle 4 just gotten a little more interesting (as if it isn’t at the first place) with the inclusion of the soundtracks to ALL the games on offer in the bundle. Yup, you read that right, there’s a whole lot of MP3 files to download when you purchase HIB4, but it’s all in support of charity and those indie devs behind the games.

Honestly, I bought HIB4 just for Gratuitous Space Battles but hey, don’t let me stop you as the bundle is home to 6 other great games. Looks at it this way, how often do you see Super Meat Boy, Bit.Trip Runner and GSB sitting in the same bundle? Check out Humble Indie Bundle 4 and the soundtracks that come with it right over here: http://www.humblebundle.com/

Christmas has always been known as a time for giving and we would like to kickstart this year’s Nine Over Ten 9/10 Christmas 2011 Gift Guide with a question: why not gift a gift and do your bid for charity as well? The Humble Indie Bundle 4 is the perfect avenue for this. Not only can you purchase this bundle which consists of amazing indie games such as Gratuitous Space Battles, Super Meat Boy, Bit.Trip Runner and many more, as a gift, part of the purchase goes to American Red Cross and Child’s Play Charity. Check it out over here.

If you are feeling a little more generous, you can always head over to the nearest NGO or Charity out there and donate. Here are some organizations that are closer to home in my case:

• National Cancer Council of Malaysia: http://www.makna.org.my/
• National Council for the Blind: http://www.ncbm.org.my/
• National Kidney Foundation: http://www.nkf.org.my/

OK, with that charity bit out of the way here’s our annual gift guide for Christmas 2011, this time it has something for everyone, I think, ranging for the bookworms to tech heads (I’m actually adapting my Amazon wish list for this year’s Christmas guide):

Books

1. Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson (Hardcover)
2. Sex, Lies and Handlebar Tape: The Remarkable Life of Jacques Anquetil, the First Five-Times Winner of the Tour de France by Paul Howard (Paperback)

Electronic Devices and Gadgets

1. Apple iPad 2
2. Kindle Fire
3. Arduino UNO Board
4. Grado iGi In-Ear Headphones

Video Games

1. Nintendo 3DS
2. Batman Arkham City Collectors Edition
3. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Collectors Edition

Movies

1. Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Episodes I-VI) [Blu-ray]
2. Harry Potter: The Complete 8 Film Collection [Blu-ray]

Music

1. Torches (Music CD) by Foster the People
2. Pickin’ Up The Pieces (Music CD) by Fitz & the Tantrums.

If you need more gift ideas, check out our super popular guide articles:

• Ultimate Guide to Getting the PlayStation Vita (click here)
• Ultimate Guide to Nintendo 3DS Accessories (click here)
• Ultimate Guide to Nintendo DSi LL/XL Accessories (click here)
• Ultimate Guide to Sony PSP Go Accessories (click here)
• Nintendo DSi Accessories Guide (click here)

Talk about playing a MMORPG on almost any kind of device with an Internet connection. That’s what exactly Spacetime Studios has done with Pocket Legends and Star Legends. They have reached an industry milestone by removing the barriers between MMO players on different platforms. Pocket Legends and Star Legends, the world’s largest mobile MMO games, are now the first MMOs in history to allow people to play the same game together on desktop computers, smart phones and tablets.

The company has come a long way since we first covered them a year ago when they launched the iPhone’s first MMORPG in the form of Pocket Legends. The game further evolved to feature an Android client. Since Spacetime Games are played on a single global server, it is now possible for someone in the U.S. to play on their iPhone with someone in Germany on their Android tablet and someone in South Korea on their computer.

“There have always been technical walls between players of different platforms,” says Gary Gattis, CEO of Spacetime Studios. “Now, people are free to play on the device they choose with anyone, anywhere, anytime, whether they are at home or on-the-go.”

Pocket Legends and Star Legends are Powered by Spacetime, technology built to support a global player-base on different devices and platforms interacting together within the same server-set. Spacetime Studios integrated Google Chrome Native Client (NaCl) technology with the Spacetime Engine to create the desktop clients for Pocket Legends and Star Legends.

Pocket Legends and Star Legends: The Blackstar Chronicles are the world’s largest mobile MMOs with more than seven million downloads and a million play sessions weekly. Currently, Pocket Legends and Star Legends are playable on most Apple and Android mobile devices as well as Windows, Mac and Linux computers.

The new desktop clients for Pocket Legends and Star Legends are now available on the Chrome Store: https://chrome.google.com/webstore. There’s no need for me to explain what browser you’ll need to use to run the game .

Ahh…the Humble Introversion Bundle turned out to be a rather cool indie gaming bundle, and if you are a gamer, you would be crazy to miss it. I just bought the bundle which consists of Multiwinia, Uplink, Darwinia, DEFCON, Crayon Physics Deluxe, Aquaria, and Dungeons of Dredmor. The last 3 games are made available to bundle buyers who pay more than the average price of USD 3.85 and all of the games run on Mac and Windows.

The bundle also comes with two tech-demos, Voxel Tech Demo and City Generator Tech Demo, both of which are Windows only. Bundle buyers will also have access to the SOURCE CODE for Darwinia, Multwinia and DEFCON! I think the bundle is a really cool bargain, and you’re doing your bid for charity and supporting indie developers at the same time.

Thank God I’ve subscribed to the Humble Bundle newsletter, otherwise I would have given this the skip instead. Check it out over here: http://www.humblebundle.com/

MMO games are a dime a dozen these days and one of the platforms that has seen a growth spurt in this genre would be Facebook. Texas-based Night Owl Games has one of the newer titles called Dungeon Overlords, and this new hardcore strategy MMO is now being officially launched after having more than 80,000 active players in beta! Check out the press release below for the details:

AUSTIN, Texas – Nov. 15, 2011 – Hardcore gamers looking to feed their nostalgic dungeon keeping desires and whip their strategy MMO skills into shape can now join the free-to-play world of Dungeon Overlord™ from Night Owl Games®. The title has officially launched and brings with it more than 80,000 active players from the beta.

Set in a fantasy world inhabited by goblins, orcs, warlocks and dozens of other mythical creatures; Dungeon Overlord has players assume the role of an evil tyrant who will stop at nothing to conquer the world. Users start off with a modest dungeon that must be expanded so they can conquer others in their quest to claim the Heart of the Mountain and crown themselves king.

Along the way players will interact with the environment by raiding elves, expanding their territory and collecting resources (preferably from the ravaged lands of their enemies). They can also connect with players to make alliances to invade other peoples’ dungeons.

“Our goal was to create an online multiplayer strategy game that kept all of the classic elements of the Dungeon Keeper franchise, but applied lessons learned from our team members’ work on MMOs like Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies,” says Chris Mayer, CEO, Night Owl Games. “By taking advantage of the multiplayer potential of the franchise — allowing cooperative play, PvP combat for conquering your neighbors, a player-driven resource marketplace, etc… — we have modernized a classic.”

Features include:

• Start Your Kingdom – Build your dungeon and attract an army capable of world domination
• Expand Your Empire – Construct new dungeons, raid the Overworld and pillage other players
• Interact with Others – Buy items from the player-driven market, form alliances, enslave your friends, attack and even conquer your enemies
• Crown Yourself King – Claim the Heart of the Mountain and tax your fellow players
• Unlock Rewards – Complete epic quests, research new technologies, or craft your own equipment to obtain stronger minions, upgrades and rewards

Dungeon Overlord, a free to play game, is now available for PC and Mac users with a Facebook account. The game features optional microtransactions and virtual currency that can be used to purchase in-game items and boosts. For more details visit http://www.dungeonoverlord.com/