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28 Jul 06
Thanks to Silvaril for coming through with the first Sword of the Stars story in the forum. Though my Tarka is a little rusty, I'm pretty sure that's not from demo. However, the quest has been met. As a reward, Silvaril has been granted the rank of Storyteller. Congratulations. Don't let it go to your head.
I'm working on a review of the Logitech G15 keyboard. Yes, it's the one with the LCD. If you have any questions about it you'd like answered in the review, send them my way. Overall, it's a very nice keyboard and will receive a high rating. I wanted to let you know in case anyone wanted to get into the deal I posted in the forum. Many of those types of rebates are renewed at the end of the term, but there's no guarantee of that. I'm not sure I could have given a strong recommendation at the original $100 price point, but at the current price it's much easier to recommend.
I was over at Gamers with Jobs and noticed a couple of interesting items. One was a half game story by Elysium. The other was a news blurb about the difficulty of multigenerational porting. Both made me think so I thought I'd pass them along.
I was posting on the Gaming Trend forum about tycoon games. It made me realize how fond I was of Monopoly Tycoon from Deep Red. So it's our game of the week. The official site has been closed down so I'll give you the Mobygames Page. Monopoly Tycoon starts you out as a character based on one of the original playing pieces. You start with a small inheritance and work to build a mighty empire. The game starts in the 1930's. You build your businesses based on the desires of the people who shop in the area you're building. You'll provide everything from housing to goods to entertainment. Along the way you'll face off with some nasty competition. They'll engage you in nasty bidding wars. Yes, you still do the Monopoly things here too. You buy property to collect rent. If you get all the blocks of a color, you get some nice bonuses (including hotels, of course). You can play in sandbox mode or through a series of scenarios. All in all, I still regard it as one of the highlights of the tycoon genre.
Jason
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27 Jul 06
Oh woe is me. There is no feedback on the Sword of the Stars demo. There are no demo stories. Actually, I find this rather amusing. All those people clamoring for more stories, pictures and updates from me are silent when their turn comes up. It's not like I'm grading stories or anything. You can imagine me silently mocking you if it helps with your story writing motivation. If not, carry on.
I did get a message that some people are having problems downloading files in the downloads section. Don't worry it's not browser incompatibility or broken links as some have suggested. If you're having problems, it's probably a security setting in your browser. To get the file you need to allow the site to do a redirect. Basically, it checks the file number against the appropriate link after getting authorization. Then it redirects your browser to the correct link. If you don't allow redirects it won't work. It's not a hard problem to fix once you know what it is.
I'll wrap this up with some news blurbs for you. It appears that Sword of the Stars has firmed up their European release dates. It's nice to see IGN and Gamespot coming up with some quality content. IGN has a nice Dev Diary on the new Dawn of War expansion and an interview covering the Battle for Middle Earth II expansion. Gamespot counters with a couple articles covering Supreme Commander, a Dev Diary for Medieval 2 and a Q&A on Star Trek Legacy. Fun reading.
Jason
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26 Jul 06
I admit that I'm a little surprised that there hasn't been much feedback on the SotS demo. I got more feedback when I misspelled a word in a SotS story. I suppose some of you are sucked into the game while the rest are probably on the official boards.
I did go looking for some of the feedback around the net. Like I said, I'm not going to go posting all over the place. It would just be confusing. The devs are busy doing that, and I don't envy them. I have to admit being somewhat amused by some of the controversy.
I can see both sides. When you pour your heart and soul into a project, to have someone come in and be petty, dismissive and critical after just glancing at a portion of your work, it has to be hard. There's also something to be said about having a passion for what you do. It's just hard to turn off that passion when the criticism comes in.
On the other hand, Sword of the Stars is not your typical big budget strategy game. It's not dumbed down. It's not a pure pick up and play game. It won't be for everyone. There are some rough edges that a game with a huge budget would have polished out. In fact, I sent a list of things to Kerberos that I thought would improve the game. I came to understand that they have a much bigger list but have balanced everything against their available resources. That doesn't change the fact that there are valid complaints about game.
People like to make fun of Derek Smart. He's got the same kind of passion and drive the Kerberos team has. Maybe we should be thankful for only a few small explosions from the demo. It could have gone thermonuclear.
Anyway, I'm still around to answer questions or provide my point of view on things brought up by the demo. Hopefully, I can provide a bit of a neutral perspective. That's only if people ask, of course.
Gamespot has their Civ IV: Warlords review up. If I had a bit more free time now, I'd snatch it up. I'm sure I'll get it eventually. Though if someone invites me to a Warlords pitboss game, my resistance will crumble.
No segue (is that a non sequitur?). I think it was Neuromancer. I'm pretty sure it was Gibson. Anyway there's a scene where someone is waiting for someone else whom they haven't met. They have a name and the name of the celebrity they most resemble. It's supposed to be the easiest way to recognize someone. I thought of that when I found this.
It's a picture scanner that looks at faces and compares them to celebrities. It's not perfect, but it's pretty fun. It might be a Homeland Security front to get pictures of everyone. I'm not too worried though. Who do I look like? I showed up as Jon Seda, Fabio Cannavaro, and Jeb Bush. Very interesting.
Jason
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25 Jul 06
I'm afraid I have too many side projects going on. Not all of them are site related though. Hopefully the ones that are will come to fruition soon. As for the rest, I apologize if it seems like I'm constantly behind these days. It seems that I am.
Today was the big launch of the Sword of the Stars demo. I noticed the exclusivity didn't last long. I'm not going to host it here since I actually respect exclusivity agreements. Then, by the time it runs out, you all will have it. I did start a thread in the forum. Hopefully some of you will post impressions. I also realize that the demo will likely raise some questions. I'll do my best to answer any that I can in that thread as well. I'm still looking forward to those reader stories from the demo.
I just have a couple quick links for you tonight before I pack it in. IGN has their CivCity: Rome review up. Overall they were positive, but felt it was light on the 'civ' feel. That pushes me more toward picking up the Civ IV expansion first.
Finally, Voodoo Extreme brings word that an expansion to the Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth II is coming. It's called The Rise of the Witch-King. We can only hope they figure out a way to make that title longer.
Jason
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24 Jul 06
I don't mind reviews, but I really prefer to prerelease stuff. I enjoy interviews, previews and writing stories for people interested in a game. Too bad I don't have volunteers who would like to write reviews. Of course, I'd prefer to have more game story writers around here, but I've kicked that horse enough. I think there are probably more readers out there more comfortable writing a review than a story. Who knows though?
Honestly, I don't request review copies hardly ever, since I don't can't guarantee a timely review. I'll ask again. If anyone is interested in doing reviews, please let me know. I'd like to see a previously unpublished review of a recent game. Generally I like to see the general description of the game plus a breakdown of strengths and weaknesses as well as overall impressions of the gameplay. If you choose to go through categories (graphics, gameplay, sound, etc.), that's fine too. The final score should be out of 100 and should reflect your view of the game overall and its place relative to the standards of the genre (if applicable).
Since I haven't heard any other requests, I'll probably start a Liir Sword of the Stars story soon. Hopefully, we'll be seeing some demo stories in the forum soon. However, if you don't want to put your name with the story, just email it to me, and I'll post it anonymously for you.
I suppose I should put a minimum limit of demo stories that have to be posted before I start my next story. I'm probably too soft hearted to stick to it though. If you have any thoughts on the matter, please let me know.
I saw that the rumors are now official and AMD is buying ATI. I have no idea if that will work out, but you have to admire the sheer guts of the move. Nvidia has been a strong supporter of AMD. Intel has provided a lot opportunity for ATI. For the low end and dedicated purpose PC market, it seems like a great win. If AMD doesn't have an immediate answer to the new Intel chips, that might be the lifeline that tides them over.
My immediate gut reaction was that this was a revolution. It will shake up the chip, chipset and graphics marketplace. Then the more pedestrian part of my mind argued that it could just be a consolidation of expertise and fabrication capabilities to reduce costs that won't have any real effect on those markets. I imagine the truth will lie somewhere in between. As always, we shall see. Please post your thoughts on the deal in the comments section.
Jason
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