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

Rise of Dragonian Era (RODE), an upcoming free and fully featured MMORPG from Mgame USA, will host its second and final closed beta test February 11 and 12 from 8am to 8pm PST. This weekend, gamers can cast themselves into the new fantasy world of Piral, pledge allegiance to their dragon lord, and take part in the war against the forces of chaos!

In conjunction with this closed beta test, Mgame USA will award up to $2000 in cash to four lucky players; while additional prizes include video cards from EVGA, surround sound headsets from Logitech, and in-game currency.

RODE plants players in the magnificent but chaotic world of Piral. With two nations to choose from as well as a number of races, classes, and specializations, players will enjoy exploring vast lands and dungeons on their adventure while defeating enemies and overcoming obstacles that stand in their way.

Featuring engaging story quests, a pet system centered on hatching your own dragon, extensive crafting and upgrading systems, a premium item store, auction houses, guild system, ground and aerial mounted combat systems, and a forthcoming castle siege mode. In RODE, fans will find a new and immersive fantasy world of dragons, conflict, and adventure.

Participants in this weekend’s closed beta test will be automatically eligible for the chance to win a number of prizes from Mgame USA. Four lucky players will each receive $500 in cash, while many others will pad their digital wallets with free in-game currency. Four lucky gamers will win a new, state of the art video card from EVGA (a $200 value), while eight fortuitous adventurers will walk away with new Logitech G35 surround sound headsets (valued at $130 each).

The once peaceful Piral has been cast into disorder following the return of the dark dragon, Deablo, forcing the great lord dragons Firean and Azurian to defend the world against the forces of chaos. Are you ready to step into the chaos and fight for the future of Piral?

To sign up for RODE’s Closed Beta 2 please visit http://www.rodeonline.com/. Sign-up is easy and 100% free! For more information about our events and how to win, please visit http://rode.netgame.com/.

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.

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 .

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City may not be released until March 2012, but that’s not stopping publisher Capcom from ramping up its inventive marketing approach with Inserted Evil, an ARG conceived, designed and implemented by creative agency SJS.

The campaign, which originally began on 31st August, saw the launch of a recruitment site for the Umbrella Corporation (www.umbrellasciences.com) an omnipresent and somewhat sinister organisation within the Resident Evil franchise, which was subsequently hacked by a mysterious ‘Insider’ hell bent on exposing the truth behind Umbrella’s involvement in bio-genetic engineering…

The campaign then challenged players to solve weekly clues posted on www.insertedevil.com  which, created a transmedia treasure hunt, based within social media (involving a Facebook Connect login) and taking in sites such as Google, YouTube, Soundcloud and Flickr, as well as a range of proprietary, purpose built sites, red herrings and dead ends. The treasure at the end of each trail was a combination of in-game rewards, real-world prizes and meaty game world and character background.

The next phase has just begun – and looks set to build on the enormous popularity of the first stages, which have seen 500,000 core players from over 170 countries visit the site. SJS’s concept for the ARG saw the company creating video, static pages, online games, picture galleries, audio, tweets and a whole range of story and data files for the project, all of which combined to create the immersive experience that engaged with fans of both Resident Evil and ARGs.

Rachel Norman, Director at SJS London said: “We knew this was a great idea, but even we were surprised at the sheer number of fans who got involved – and to the lengths they went in order to bring down Umbrella.” Ben Wyer-Roberts, the game’s Strategic Marketing Manager commented: “The intention was always to inspire and excite the hardcore fans, and with the Inserted Evil campaign, SJS has helped deliver the most successful ever Resident Evil gaming community program.”

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City will launch on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC on March 23^rd 2012. The ARG continues at www.insertedevil.com.

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/