ThinkWithPortals is now Keybrood

www.keybrood.com

A New Era For ThinkWithPortals

Well, its finally time to write that post. I'd say I was flipping the switch, but really there's no switch to flip, because in fact the all new ThinkWithPortals is already live on the web. Confused? If it's about car insurance, you'll want this site. If the aforementioned confusion is in fact relevant to the blog, read on. Oh and if you're on the new site now, you can read on by clicking the 'Continue?' button just below here.

Over the past couple of weeks, the team here has been working on a whole new website just for you (and also that guy). We've posted a bit about the new site already, but seeing as it's now switchover time, I guess we go ahead and explain all about the new blog. You will of course receive just the same fantastic journalistic talent as before, including genius-level wit, biting satire, and reviewing games months after they are released. And the team is the same: ex-Ninty fanboy Aquatic Wanderer, the moustachioed Fluorescent Octopus, and warring PC/PS3 gamers Farmer Fryingpan and Volcanic Octopus. So that's what's staying the same. Time for what's changed.

You may notice that Keybrood is sporting a whole new sexy blue look. That's right, our site design is complete! It took us a lot of trial and error, but with the advice of VA, coding skillz of myself and the artistic fumblings of AW, the layout has finally fallen into place. Smaller changes may be made over the next week perhaps, but what you see here will more or less be what you'll see for quite a while. So get used to it!

More importantly, starting this week, regular features 'Store Detectives' (Friday) and 'Weekly Roundup' (Sunday) will be joined by a couple of all new features. 'Home Capers' will be a regular look at new content and humorous goings-on in PlayStation Home, arriving every Wednesday. 'Kompetitive' will be a lovely gloating session from Armadillo, as he looks over our many multiplayer battles of the past week, and whilst this will be about just us to begin with, we really want to open it up to you, our readers, so get involved by commenting! Also at the top there you may have noticed the mysterious 'Podcast'. While nothing is up yet, plans are in motion to get our thoughts captured using sound (mainly from our mouths), and into the form of awesomeness for you Internet people to listen to, but this will probably happen whenever possible/we feel like it.

You may also remember the comic Aquatic posted a few months ago, now on its own page under 'Comic'. We intend to pester him enough to get this into a regular occurrence, so when you're not in fits of hilarity caused by our writings, we hope that pictures will do it. And finally we have the Trophy list, (arguably one of the most integral parts of any gaming site) where you'll find links to most (if not all) Trophies for any PS3 game out there with them.

There we have it, a definitive list of what we aim to achieve in the short times coming. I don't know about you,  but I get excited just thinking about it.

And with a push of the 'Publish' button, we usher in a new era for ThinkWithPortals. The Keybrood Era.

And we hope you enjoy it.

The ThinkWithPortals/Keybrood Team

http://www.keybrood.com

Explanations

I should probably point out that the lack of posts here on TWP at the moment is due to continuing work on the new site, which is nearly finished. Normal service will be resumed shortly.

Happy Blogday

Throw your minds back exactly a year ago. Picture two adolescents; minds full of gaming goodness, bursting forth but with nowhere to go. So, words were had, keys were pressed and mice were clicked and Think With Portals was born.

Sure we have advanced from then; our style has changed, our blog has been updated and more importantly, new team members have joined, but at it's core Think With Portals stayed the same, and so it will stay forever.

Well...except the name. You see we've been hard at work on the new site (Octopus more so than the rest of us) and we're just about ready to unleash it upon our lovely dedicated audience. Just about.

So in celebration for our 1st ever birthday, I would like to give you a gift. The gift of our new name.

Keybrood.

I'll let that sink in.

We'll be coming at you full on later this week, so, and I hate this saying, watch this space.

Penny Arcade Adventures Episode One Trophies

This awesome Penny Arcade game finally launched on the European PSN Store last Thursday, and you can grab it now for £7.99.

Bronze Trophies

• Stray Cat - Earn a support character.
• All Together Now - Do a Team-Up attack involving all three party members.
• Nine Lives - Kill an enemy using the feline support character Thomas Kemper.
• Pack Rat - Find and collect all of the hidden collectibles scattered around the game.
• Pacifist - Win one battle using only counterattacks.
• Fight 'Em With Items - Use every combat item at least once in the game.
• Level Awesome - Get all party members to Level 15.

Silver Trophies

• A Winner Is You - Successfully complete the first episode.
• Steel Devils - Find and destroy all the robots in the game.
• Silent, But Deadly - Beat the final Boss without healing.
• Clean Sweep - Kill all enemies in Episode 1.

Gold Trophies

• Immortal - Play and win the game without allowing a character to die during combat.

Weekend Roundup XV

So, to the Roundup! It's been a bit of a slower week games-wise this one, including on the blog (hey, we've already posted more this month than any other, and we've has exams, so chill!). There is something I want to talk about in this week's little editorial, so for those of you wanting more game news, feast your eyes on this little lot, then read the exciting stuff further down: Kid's Archery, Wireless PC-PS3 link, Voice Actors, YouTube Street Fighter, PSP down to £110, Dylan Jobe's Presentation, Obama's Phone, White House Technology like 'Atari', Jolicloud Netbook OS, LA Noire Hirings, Flight Simulator Dropped, All New Search, No More BD-Java. Right, on to the interesting stuff.

There is a good reason for the decreased number of posts this week: we've been hard at work on a whole new site! That's right, TWP is going all grown-up! We've been with Blogger since we started here now, nearly a whole year ago, when myself and Aquatic set up A Pail of Beavers (no, we don't know why the blog had a different URL and actual name) and first assumed our watery aliases. Then I shifted around a few bits on the site, we added two new contributors in Armadillo and Fryingpan, and assumed the more sensible name of ThinkWithPortals. Now, we're preparing for another, more solid metamorphasis.

As we grow in size and popularity (hint: we have been, by quite a bit) and get more involved with the gaming industry, we feel that a more original name and more expandable blog is in order. Blogger has been good to us, but it has its limits, and we plan to move to the highly-customizable WordPress platform for the new site. A brand new (and un-green =O) design will also be arriving, and we're making it much easier to get to what you want on the blog.

Don't think that the new site is just an excuse for us to sit back and go "we're done". Oh no, we've got new features on the way too. When the new site goes live, Store Detectives will return (after some television-related technical hitches), and these here Roundups will continue, but will be accompanied by a regularish comic (see Aquatic's singular previous doodle here) and an shiny new podcast! On the texual side of things, there'll be a new feature about our multiplayer antics of the week, as well as a weekly update on goings on in PlayStation Home. And that's not all! We plan to create more of a community too, although we're keeping those plans under our very pretty hats for the time being.

Dont worry that we're gonna be keeping quiet here until the launch though, we've got plenty of content planned for this week, including a little competition between the team that Volcanic just thought up. And for those of you worried we're veering too far away from our more analytical roots towards a purely news site, you needn't fear - more crazy jumping to conclusions coming up soon.

We'll be back soon with more information on the new site, but til then: hold tight.

Fluorescent Octopus

PS: Looking for what we've been playing? You want the post just below.

What Are We Playing

Little separation this week only, there's lots to talk about in the Roundup, so what we've been playing has got its own little post.

Earlier this week, I discovered the Red Alert 2 files on my computer. Soon enough, myself, Aquatic and Volcanic had started a series of viscious competitive matches which resulted in tears, mashed keyboards, and more than a couple of explecitives. You can see more from Armadillo's warped perspective here. And before you think I'm just really shit, I play the long game in RTSs - something Armadillo FAILS AT COMPLETELY THE RUSHING BASTARD. /rant. Elsewhere, I've been playing Penny Arcade Adventures, which Aquatic has completed already, and he overtook me in the trophy stakes. But we don't talk about that, okay?. Wow, I'm a bit hormonal today.

Volanic managed to convince Fryingpan to buy old game Hearts of Iron 2 (one of Armadillo's favourites), which Fryingpan is finding suitably hard. Easier perhaps was the Farmer's win at the "World Cup" in Fifa 09 using New Zealand. Oh and I looked up Football Manager; amongst this year's new features (yes, this is 2009), it lists "a 3D match engine, support for female managers and widescreen compatibility". Wow, way ahead of its time.

Stay tuned for the Roundup, awesome news ahead!

FO.

Sly Cooper 4

So myself, this guy and the 3 other people that bought all three Sly Cooper games should be excited [very excited]. Yes I'm talking about Sly 4, rumored to set in Afghanistan and featuring Sly battling wave after wave of Nazi Zombie Taliban [A man can dream can't he?] is planned for the PS3 and PSP. Sucker punch are planning to release the game simultaneously- so we can expect inter connectivity between the formats.

Sucker punch have stated that: "The graphics have been majorly overhauled and the gameplay will be more varied and focused this time around. We're aiming for a fully interactive 3-d world, with no loads and seamless interaction between settings and characters."

More updates when they become available.

Volcy

Birthday!

Yes tomorrow it is the birthday of the Farmer himself, that's all really... just thought you might like to know. He's not doing anything exciting by the way- just Football manager 09.

Red Alert 2 Fest

So, another week and another gaming competition without Fryingpan who seems to refuse to play with us. First of all I'd just like to mention than Octopus hit me really hard today...haha [literally- he punched my arm].

Anyway, so in celebration of Red Alert 3 coming out on PS3 [That's our excuse anyway], we [AW, FO and VA anyway] have been playing Red Alert 2 together via a LAN. Had a match with Octopus, [which lasted all of 5 minutes] after I Conscript rushed his base and trashed his Construction yard. Fun match, quick warm up.

So onto the bigger match of the night, myself vs FO vs AW. Now of course that's not the way it worked out. Reasonably sensible start off but then soon developed in Octopus sending some Kirovs into Aquatics base, causing damage but more importantly leaving my Kirovs open to bomb his CY. Spurred on by my success [Premature], I mocked Aquatic with a quick [and soon regretted] 'hahahaha'. Not taking any of my shit he then sent his Black Eagle bombers in my general direction and obliterated my CY...sad sad stuff.

I noticed that Octopus had been left out of this destruction, [and being a fair old chap] I levelled the playing field. Although when I say levelled the playing field I mean I Kiroved Octopus's entire base and put him out of the game. If you haven't guessed by now, we like Kirovs.

Leaving myself and AW in the game we had a brief 4 minutes of Cold war, in which a tit-for-tat exchange occurred, using the Cloning vats I spammed Flak troopers and negated his Air superiority, then moved in for the kill with [you guessed it] the Kirovs and Conscripts.

Good game lads.

Any strategies for RA2? Comment and discuss.

Volcy