Welcome to the Home of Game Strategies and Stories
25 Jun 07
I have got to get a few more hours in the day. Perhaps I don't need sleep. No, that never works.
I just wanted to point out that I've started my Gamer's Blog. I'll see how it works out. I might end up grabbing some blogging software if I feel I need it. To clarify, the blog will just cover the facts and impressions from my gaming. Any stories will still appear here on the front page. The other difference is that the blog will cover all my gaming. That means you'll see things that don't necessisarily fit here. If you have a strong opinion on it one way or the other, please let me know.
I'm going to see if I can get some catch up work done tomorrow. I have some new images, news stories and even some ads to put up. In fact, I think some of the ads might be going down. Circuit City didn't renew my account so they're already gone. Apple is closing it's consumer affiliate program. I believe there will still be an education program, but that doesn't fit here. Also some of the less used ads might go bye bye.
This looks to be a pretty interesting week after a slow start to summer. We have Overlord, Carcasonne and Seven Kingdoms 3 all coming out. With Band of Bugs coming out last week (and Catan before that), Xbox Live Arcade is looking more strategic. Carcasonne is another adaptation of a European board game. I'll see if I can get more information.
If you recall, we were expecting Seven Kingdoms 3 last summer. Now it's finally coming. I have to wonder if it will have the polish we might expect after such a delay. There was a fiercely loyal following to the last Seven Kingdoms games. You might want to keep an eye out for reviews. The whole demonic forces battle across time thing sounded interesting. It'll be interesting to see how it turned out. We can hope for another sleeper hit.
Overlord is sometimes described a dark Pikmin. For those unfamiliar with consoles, Pikmin was a RTS designed by famed Mario creator, Shigeru Miyamoto. You raised an army of little plant like creatures. They followed you around and each had different abilities and could be used to attack enemies or solve environmental puzzles. Overlord has you as the leader of evil minions intent on subduing the local populace and rebuilding your evil tower. It seems to build on the humor of the Dungeon Keeper series if not the gameplay.
It's a very interesting week for a usually dead period in summer. One more note before I go. For those interested in Sins of a Solar Empire, the second beta test has just started. If you preorder (full price, I believe), you can get in on the beta test. The entry period will end soon, so head over to Stardock if you're interested. I believe the multiplayer beta will open up later in the year presumably with a similar offer.
Jason
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11 Jun 07
I'm sure at some point I'll get a handle on everyday things again. Then I won't be lost in this endless catch up cycle. For now I'm going to press on and see what works out. I have a bunch of things I want to write up. I'd like to discuss the state of console gaming. I'd like to go over my prospective moves for the big players. I want to go over the games I'm looking forward to. I want to talk about Starcraft 2. I want to go over the future of the site.
I'll do a short version of that last one now. I'm working on the site overhaul. I realize part of that won't be done for a while. There are some features that will be in Postnuke .80 that I think will improve the site, but it's just approaching its first release candidate. Then there are some legacy issues that might have to be worked out before that move can be done. So setting that aside, things may appear more modest when we get to our first milestone, but have faith. I think the end will be worth getting there.
As far as content goes, we may see a bit of an expansion. I don't mean much in the raw output sense. It's still just me doing most of it, but it seems like we're close to expanding beyond tactical and strategy games. I don't mean that there's a mission change. I just see the industry is moving. Oblivion has impressed me with some of the stories coming out of it especially now that the mod community has moved beyond just streamlining and beautification. Bioshock looks to be a shooter that yields a ton of emergent content. Even Mass Effect looks like it play out in shades of gray instead of black and white paths. In short, games are opening up in more meaningful ways. I want to be there to cover it. I won't be bound by some text at the top of the page when I'm the one running the text editor.
Finally, I'd like to convert more of the site content to stories. I'd like to make content, including previews and reviews, contain more stories. I want interviews to have stories in them. Even these columns should have more stories in them. You should know what it feels like to play a game after hearing about it here. That's how I see this place as different. I don't know yet whether that means that we'll do away with traditional review scores or not. I do want to refocus the site on stories. There are plenty out there more qualified to tell you if a game is good or now. There's a lack of places to go to tell you how a game feels to play.
As always, I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the site. Make sure you let me know if I've dropped off the deep end.
Jason
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30 May 07
I feel bad about the delay again. I've had a lot to do, but that's not the real reason for the delay. I was working to get some gaming cred back. For a long time I was updating the site at the expense of gaming time. When it came to crunch, I was skipping the gaming. I had long periods with doing any real gaming at all.
Well, after the last update, I was looking at my backlog. It wasn't full of stuff I was dreading having to fight my way through. There were some great games, but I wasn't finding the time. So I said I'm not faking it any more. I'm taking some time to game. I have gotten more gaming in. Some of the fire is back. I think in the long run this will make for a better site.
That's not to say I haven't done anything. The site overhaul progresses. I'm now getting to things that work and making stylistic tweaks. That's more fun. I also have some feelers out there for gaming interviews and perhaps some early gameplay stories again. We'll see how that goes. I'm also reworking the ads around here. Some don't get any traffic, so they might be relegated elsewhere or removed completely. It looks like I'll be adding Mwave which is great since I've bought a lot of parts from them. They're up there with Newegg and Zipzoomfly.
So what games have I been playing? Well, there's a bit of Catan and Rainbow Six: Vegas on the 360. I've been playing mostly Command and Conquer 3 and Supreme Commander on the PC. It's clear to me that I enjoy Supcom more, but those games can take hours to play while I can quickly get in and out of a C&C game. Don't even get me started on trying to learn Dominions 3. Oh well, I'm having fun.
Speaking of fun, I should mention that Atlus sent me a review copy of Odin Sphere. That's a bit odd since it's not a strategy or tactical RPG at all. I've messed around with it a bit. It's a true 2D hand drawn game with some beautiful animations. The battle system is pretty simple. It's an action RPG with a pretty sophisticated alchemy/magic system. So there is some strategy in item use and management. It plays very old school, but it looks great. If a throwback 2D action RPG sounds intriguing to you, pick it up. It might be hard to find in the future. If it keeps my interest, I might write up a gameplay story or review.
I hope everyone had a great holiday and all trips were safely completed. My parents came out to visit the boys. Everyone had a great time. We were all exhausted at the end but at the same time were sorry to see it over so soon. I wish all of you the fun we had. Thanks again for all the understanding, patience and encouragement.
Jason
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9 May 07
And time flies by again. I don't really count that time that I wasted when I incorrectly set up the website under new version of Dreamweaver. After all, it's not like I set up new websites every day. Hopefully now that I have it working again, I'll have more frequent updates. I do have a lot I'd like to discuss. I will do some of it, but I'd really like to get this overhaul finished. Then I can have a big relaunch and associated contest.
Anyway, I'm now basically caught up on news releases. If I missed anything big, drop me an email. I've put some new screenshots up in the image gallery and added some World in Conflict movies to the download section. Strangely, I had a bunch of them sitting around, and you know I've been a big fan of the Ground Control series. In fact, let's just go ahead.
The game of the week (month, random time period, etc.) this week comes from the makers of Ground Control and Ground Control 2. It's World in Conflict (official site) from Massive Entertainment. WiC is set in an alternate history where an all out Soviet assault takes place instead of the collapse of communism. In short it's Ground Control meets Red Dawn. As you might expect from Massive, the focus is on the tactical action instead of base building. You lead a modern force into battles ranging from defending the United States from invasion to the plains of Western Europe. The arsenal will include everything from grunts with assault rifles up to and including tactical nuclear weapons. It will support multiplayer up to 16 combatants and let you focus on disciplines including Infantry, Armor, Support (artillery), and Air Power. Effective combined arms will carry the day. Look for World in Conflict later this year.
Jason
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20 Apr 07
Dude, I thought you said you were going to be updating again. I know, I know. The simple fact is that I've been transferring everything over to the new vista rig. It's long and it's slow, but it's almost done. Also, the new (and vista compatible) version of Dreamweaver just dropped. Once I get my hands on a copy, the transfer will be complete. At least it will be complete in the sense that I'll be able to do all my work on one computer again. I don't mind shifting back and forth, but I seem to get less done.
I'm going to go more in depth into vista and my new rig later. I do have a few thoughts I'd like to share now. First, most people ask if it's worth it to rush out and buy a vista machine right away. Right now, I'd have to say no. There are many things I really like about vista. It seems like I run across another nice touch every day. I also run into bugs, incompatibilities and poor drivers each day. None of it is bad enough that I'd chase people away from vista, but if you're not in a rush, you're probably better off waiting until fall. By then, many of the bugs will be squashed, drivers will be more mature and you should be able to find vista compatible versions of popular software.
Second, I like the security mind set behind the functional user accounts. Yes, the approve/deny thing can be annoying early on, but before long it's only asking you about things you know will require higher access (like installing software) or it's stopping software from doing things you might not want or at least you're glad to know what it's doing in case it causes problems.
Finally, I do like the unified games browser. It makes it seem like the Games for Windows initiative is more than just a banner. Combined with Direct X 10, parental controls and Live for vista, it should make gaming more accessible to everyone. Easier access means more PC gamers. That should be a net win for us.
Now that that's out of the way, I should point out that the site redesign continues. Depending on how powerful the new Dreamweaver proves (and my adaptability in learning it), things should progress forward more quickly now. There might even be a slight expansion in the works. We'll see how it goes.
Since I am mostly running on the new rig, I plan to get news updates back online next week. Regular column updates might be a little later. I'll also be working on screenshots and movies. Let me know if you have any requests for any upcoming games. I need targets for media, interviews and even prioritizing the news. Let me know what you want (assuming you're still out there).
Think of the site as one of those massive war computers from Fifties and Sixties sci fi. The activation codes have been sent. This is the first reply. The destruction will begin shortly.
Jason
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2 Apr 07
Hello? Is anybody out there? Is anybody listening? Sorry, I'm going much slower than expected on the upgrades. I can't really stand the thought of not working on actual content for another two or three months. I'll post some updates and news shortly. I have a couple columns I've been meaning to write. I've actually been asked for information about some games, so I'll work on that. I'll keep plugging away at the upgrades and overhaul.
Just don't hold your breath. I'm not as good at this web stuff as I may have lead some of you to believe. I keep learning.
Another snag may come from my new system. Yes, after many log years, I'm finally getting a new rig. And it's going to screw up everything. A new OS means working to get everything working again. Some things won't work at all and will require newer software. Eventually it will all get worked out. I'll report on my Vista experience. Wish me luck.
Jason
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19 Feb 07
I'm much better now. That was a nasty illness. It wiped me out for over a week. The weird thing was that when I got back, no one missed me. I figured this must be a bit of a dead time for the site. So I'm taking this opportunity to work on all those little projects I've been putting off. Some look, some feel, some security, and some tinkering to see what might work. If I actually accomplish all I want to, we could be down for a while. Don't worry though. I'll soon get frustrated and/or bored. I'll probably be back blabbering away before you know it. Feel free to send any site suggestions as long as I'm looking under the hood anyway. Thanks in advance for the patience.
Jason
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2 Feb 07
Happy Groundhog Day. I want to talk about the Wii controls a bit. The Wii remote is really pretty complex. It does the basic screen pointing very accurately, but it also detects 3D motion including tilt and rotation. It's got a primary button, a trigger, a D pad, three control buttons and two auxiliary buttons. Yes, there's also a power button, but you can't do much with that. Add in the nunchuk and you've got an analog stick and two more buttons. Did I mention that the nunchuck has accelerometers as well?
In short, designing a game for Wii controls will be more about paring down the control options rather than not having enough. Based on some of the tests I've done with Wii Sports and Warioware, each of the sensing options has a great deal of sensitivity. So not only will developers have to come up with simple and intuitive controls for games with these new options, but they'll have to tweak the sensitivity for each function to give the player the control they need while keeping them from fighting a twitchy control. In my mind that means lots of testing.
The strength of the Wii is its potential for simple, intuitive controls. I think there are going to be some major growing pains before we get there on most games. There will be too many designs shoehorned into Wii controls and too many attempts at 'realistic' control that will fall flat. None of this is a hardware issue. It's all about good design, implementation and testing. The risks will be worth it though. When the controls feel right, it plays like nothing else.
Jason
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