Price, release date details climb out of Double Fine’s The Cave

By Earnest Cavalli January 15, 2013

The Cave (Double Fine) — Image used with permission by copyright holder

When it was first revealed that Ron Gilbert would be teaming with the good people at Double Fine Productions to create a platforming adventure game dubbed “The Cave“ fans were understandably excited. After all, between Double Fine and Gilbert, this is a development group that has been responsible for some of the best adventure titles of all time. Maniac Mansion, The Secret of Monkey Island, Psychonauts and Grim Fandango are just four titles listed in the team’s credits and it’s safe to say that along with Telltale Games, these are the people most responsible for the modern resurgence of the once-moribund adventure game genre.

If the above description excites you, we’ve got great news: The Cave will be released very soon. According to an official press release issued by publisher Sega this morning, The Cave will debut on the PlayStation Network and Wii U’s eShop on January 22. The Xbox Live iteration of The Cave will arrive on January 23. All versions of the game will be priced at $15.

While we stand by our assertion that the people behind The Cave are an all-star team of adventure game developers, Double Fine’s titles have had a spotty history when it comes to sales. Its games are almost always praised by critics, but can occasionally fail to find an audience (at least not until years after their debut). We mention this because it’s a terrible shame every time it happens, as every game Double Fine has been involved with to date has been entertaining, clever and inventive, even those games that functionally ignore traditional video game design tropes. If nothing else, The Cave should offer players a novel experience, which is all too rare in the increasingly homogenized world of gaming. In an ideal world, that would be worth the $15 price of admission all by itself.

Earnest Cavalli

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Earnest Cavalli has been writing about games, tech and digital culture since 2005 for outlets including Wired, Joystiq…

Gaming

The best Fallout 3 mods

An alpha deathclaw enforcer attacking in Fallout 3.

Right alongside Skyrim, Fallout 3 is one of the most modded games of all time. Bethesda took this series and transformed it into an open-world adventure that had never really been seen up to that point. As much as there was to do in that base experience, there was a limit to what could be done. However, dedicated fans didn't let that end their fun and began modding the game with new features, quality of life improvements, and new content to extend the life of Fallout 3 to the point where you can still play it today and have an amazing time. Now that modders have had well over a decade to work with the game, there are potentially thousands of mods you can try out, but these are the best ones we've found.
FWE - FO3 Wanderers Edition

Let's kick things off with a bang and talk about the FWE - FO3 Wanderers Edition mod. Calling this a single mod is kind of a misnomer since it actually integrates over 50 other mods into one massive package. The purpose is to rework the balance and depth of the game to be more fair and give players more opportunities to role-play. This mod does make the game intentionally harder than the base version. Combat is faster and more determined by player skilll. Also, which perks and skills you have make a bigger difference. Injuries need to be treated more carefully, over 40 new weapons and pieces of armor have been added, AI has been enhanced, and dozens of other changes were implemented to make the game more immersive. It's the simplest way to give another playthrough some spice.
Fellout

Gaming

Amazon’s Fallout success reveals a big problem with the video game business

The cast of Fallout.

April's biggest video game isn't a new release like Tales of Kenzera: Zau or Stellar Blade. Instead, it's a series that hasn't gotten a new entry in years.

Fallout is currently enjoying a wave of mainstream attention thanks to its surprisingly fun Amazon TV adaptation. Returning players and newly-won-over fans alike are returning to classics like Fallout 4 and New Vegas to scratch their post-apocalyptic itches. It's the moment any video game publisher dreams of, but there's just one problem: Bethesda can't capitalize on the moment.

Computing

A Redditor ‘didn’t know’ about the Steam Deck, so they built their own

The homemade Ryzen Deck sitting on a desk.

It's hard to imagine that anyone interested in portable gaming hasn't heard of the Steam Deck, but one Redditor says they "didn't know" it existed. And because of that, they decided to build their own.

The 3D-printed contraption comes from Raven0606, who shared images of the completed handheld on the r/SBCGaming subreddit, which is dedicated to handheld emulators. The build took nine months to complete, and Raven0606 dubbed it the Ryzen Deck in honor of the Steam Deck (they found out about Valve's handheld halfway through the build process).