Galactic Civilization II: Twilight of the arnor invading digitally April 30th

Galactic Civilization II: Twilight of the Arnor invading digitally April 30

Further proof that the retail industry can be skirted entirely for the digital distribution highway have been confirmed yet again. Galactic civilization 2 has finished and is published it last installement in the 3 part saga, titled “Twighlight of the Arnor”.

The expansion offers a retooling of the core gameplay, with additions to the tech tree’s for the twelve key space fareing races.

It goes live for digital download April 30th.

Home is Homeless

Home is Homeless

Well one of my reasons for considering a Playstation 3 just went out the door to go party in the lands of vapor ware. The closed Beta will be extended through summer and an open beta will launch this fall. I can remember when several months ago all the rage among anyone involved in Sony Sales was trumpeting Home and with good reason. If all goes well it would be akin to a sort of second life meets the Sims concoction that could have some people switching over or picking up the console based off of Home, alone.

However, the basic concept if it is indeed just a second life for console experience, seems to go in the wrong direction. Being able to pause my game and quickly check my gamerscore, achievements, messages and friends is a rather speedy process. It has to be when all a gamer wants is a simple yes or no as to who is online, what must he do to increase his gamerscore and weather or not his inbox has invites.

Hopefully this fall we get some answers about things like interface and in game use.. For now we sleep soundly knowing that all the time spent on development has produced an unfocused mess according to Sony Entertainments Presidents.


"We understand that we are asking PS3 and prospective PS3 users to wait a bit longer, but... we need more time to refine the service to ensure a more focused gaming entertainment experience than what it is today,"

Move over Duke Nukem, drop dead daikatana, there’s a new sheriff In town. He’s promising to make Live his bitch.

Gears of War 2 footage to be shown via Spike TV...wtf's abound

Spike TV’s Gametrailers TV, has secured the rights to air the very first footage of the Gears of War 2. Gears of War was an epic game but most would agree it was created to be a stand in until Halo 3 arrived. Though no one can deny it had a more intelligent method of gameplay involved then most First Person Shooters.

But the game is still very impressive and likely to sell extreamly well. If the hype and trailers are good (pinning everything on a demo), then sales could fall within the CoD4 – Halo 3 range, with the top dog presumably being the impossibly high yet presumptive GTA4 sales figures.

Game Trailers TV host Geoff Keighley said something that sounded as credible as saying the world is flat or that the earth is the center of the universe. “At Spike we are committed to delivering the biggest blockbuster videogame exclusives every week”.

Alright so the network that had Telia Tequila host a gamers event that was more about half naked girls then creativity, sales or any level of evaluation that matters, is committed to games, gaming and the blockbuster video games it somehow fails to see with its stereotypical lenses of ignorance and greed.

Portal was a wonderful game when the awards show Spike hosted was making evaluations on who to nominate and award what prize for w/e category. It’s still a good game even now. This didn’t matter however to Spike since it wasn’t part of some long running established series. These same people probably don’t understand why a HALO 3 either A) wouldn’t make sense or B), be in poor taste.

Spike: HALO 4 = $$$ = rateing if we show it on our channel = $$$ for execs at the top.

So while you’d think they’d care about capitalizing and marketing the shit out of said special event i.e the exclusive footage. They pull a move that would have Red Foreman screaming dumbass and threating steel toed boots up someone’s hind parts by airing the footage at 1AM EST?PST slot on May 9th.

I mean if we are all pimply headed teens who have nothing better to do then look at porn (thus loving girls covered gamer icons), and play video games. How exactly are we going to watch this at 1AM ?

The College kids in Game Trailers 13-24 demographic will no doubt be huddled around a large plasmas or sitting alone in their dorms studying for tests or too drunk to comphrend the images splashing across the screen (assuming they haven’t passed out).

While the last two paragraphs are filled with the stereotypical assumptions of tv executives and more then a few ignorant politicians, it goes without saying that this “exclusive”, footage will presumably appear on Xbox Live and GameTrailers.com (not to be confused with Spikes crudely contrived creation). I think I’ll get some sleep knowing I can watch the Gears of war 2 trailer at my leasure after I’m well rested enough to better appreciate its glory.

Prince Of Persia...is a prodigy ?

Anyone who’s enjoyed the prince of Persia series will now have a clue as to what the title for the next game in the series. And the winner is, “Prodigy”.

The creater/publisher Ubisoft has recently trademarked the title, “Prince of Persia Prodigy”, in relation to video game software.

Ubisoft announced in January that a new Prince of Persia game was in development. However to really get a handle on the situation we’ll have to wait till Ubisoft either confirms or denies at an upcoming San Francisco this May.

UK Authorities Yank "shocking " Kane and Lynch Ads

To paraphrase brother Cavil on Battle Star Galactica, "You know what really chaps my ass?". That quote could continue you on with the bit about manipulation just short of tyranny but I think either or would do just fine in this case. Censorship is what chaps my ass and its because it tyrannical manipulation of the media.

Sure you expect some level of censorship and grudgingly tolerate it, but here in America we are rather used to being able to express ourselves in a million different ways because freedom of speech is freedom of expression, weather it be through art,politics, or just telling someone higher up, to go fuck themselves. So you can imagine my reaction to Britain's Advertising Standards Agency (ASA), forcing Eidos Interactive to pull some *shocking*, ads out of magazines and off television.




First it was confusion that Kane and Lynch was apparently still such a big deal in Europe. I mean we in the States have since moved onto bigger and better things...a couple of them at least. We've been in salivating mode for the past 2 months over the upcoming release of the far more controversial Grand Theft Auto's latest installment.

Besides the fact the game is old news and being censored by a country who's freedom of expression isn't clearly defined or even protected, that nations game industry and design schools also lag behind. It was the details of the ASA's case against the ads that caused me to do a double take.

Excerpt's from Briton's Guardians newspaper:

The ad was used a double-page spread in Future Publishing’s computer game magazine Edge, while a second version appeared in the magazine Total Film…

Ruling on the Kane & Lynch poster… the ASA said it was “likely to be seen as condoning and glorifying real violence”, and was also irresponsible and “likely to cause serious or widespread offence”

We noted that the demographic profile of the magazines that carried the ads was predominantly adult males and that only a small number of children were likely to have seen the ads.

We considered, however, that the graphic and shocking image, which would be seen as condoning and glorifying real violence, was likely to cause distress to some readers and was unsuitable for children to see. We therefore concluded that the placement of the ads was irresponsible.

Now while the girl in the ad may be tied up, its not suggesting anything particular is going to happen. I mean the Game came out in November of 07 and had lackluster reviews and a just ok storyline. Sure one of your buddies gets black outs that result in several people be dead or maimed for life when he comes to, and yes Cops and inoccent bystanders get shot up. But I don't for a second assume the game is telling me to go kill someone just as I don't assume Harry Potter is telling me to practice magic or attempt to go airborne via broom out my second story window.

Of the hundreds of thousands of gamers in the UK and a total population of over 60 million, only 26 felt so shocked by the ad so as to file a complaint. If anything I'm assuming they probably belong to the same demographic that makes up people who join groups with "values","Concerned" and "Parents", in the name and then proceed to pass laws against something they don't understand. Which is an odd little repeat of history considering they belong to the generation of rock & roll and drug induced hippie flower power.

We just want to play our video games for a an hour or two (or 5), a day to relieve stress,explore a story or just enjoy ourselves and those around us. But with no real evidence other then 26 annonymous complaints of either shock or distate, the ASA believes these *controverial*, Kane and Lynch ads are "likely to cause widespread offence"

Censorship of idea's often has the opposite intended effect. When freedom of expression is curtailed, we see people being limited and ideas not being tried out for fear of some dystopian government imposing its moral standards upon we the people. Sales for a game thats largely fallen off the charts and out of the news in the US, could see a slight spike in the UK, though UK gamers have probably already had their jollies with the game and decided it was only mediocre at best.

I wonder if Jack Thompson has european relatives.

Sourecs: CIA world factbook
GamePolitics.com

SAT prep for the DS.

As anyone who's studied for the SAT knows, its a necessary ill in life that lends itself to mind numbingly long hours of studying extended over several months to ensure weather or not your life is blessed with a good ivy league college education or that safety school you applied for *just as precaution*. With the slew of brain related games for the DS and a few for PSP, its a little surprising no one else has tried to create an SAT prep game until now.

Aspyr Media (makes games for the mac plateform), and Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions, have teamed up to produce a game that will help students study for the SAT through the Nintendo DS.

While Details are hard to come by, it will be out later this year on the PC and Mac Platforms alongside the Nintendo DS version.

Source: GameLife

Upon a trip to Costco

I realised something walking into Costco in its last 45min before closing. I hate things. Like Cartmen and his theme park, I dislike lines. When it comes to the piss poor selection of video games that makes Wal-mart look like a f'n mall in comparison, I found myself confronting yet another deep simmering distaste. The distaste for bundles.

In a effect, a bundled video game system usually is an attempt by hardware manufacturers to sell more units by selling said units with what the company perceives to be the best possible game. What could go wrong ?

Starting with the premise of the age old tradition that goes as far back as duck hunt and the NES (or the more recent and far less fun Star Wars PlayStation Portable bundle), we find ourselves confronting the sheer morality of it. Do we as individuals let a company bundle a game system with a predetermined game and pay an increased amount even if we couldn't give two fucks about the said game. Maybe I want to play Brain Age or beat myself stupid with some puzzle based trifecta from hell. Really its about having the decision to do so.

The fact that we could go into a GameCrazy, Target or other retail chain and just buy a DS or PSP or some other platform, by itself and then choose where to spend what could well be no more then 10-20 bucks on our first game is an empowering fact gamers appreciate. If you don't think Bundles are a negative then need I remind you of Pokemon Snap Nintendo 64 bundle ?

We've all seen bundles that have either made or broken a company's attempt to sell us a game system. Costco aside from lacking in intelligent reading material (Liberal Fascist was piled high in the book section), or Intel based computers, threw the Zelda Bundle at you for 172 dollars. Since there weren't any DS's being sold by themselves in the otherwise massive retail store, the PlayStation Portable could well have looked competitive, what with the Renascence its been enjoying.

Leaving Costco stewing over the philosophical implications of Bundles, I realised something else. I dislike 95% of the people that shop at Costco.

A late tribute to Gary Gygax

The man responsible for the creation of Dungeons and Dragons (D&D), passed away in March. I didn't give proper respects to a fellow wisconsit (yes, the man was at his death a fellow cheese head), and a fellow midwesterner at birth (Chicago,Illinois).

He was the son of a swiss immigrant and a major contributer to gameing both off and on screen. Though we know him for D&D, his game set the ground rules on which Role Playing Games came to be based on and it was Dungeons and Dragons that was to baby boomer generation of nerds and techies what World of Warcraft is to us today. While Dungeons and Dragons has remained in its classic form, its also had a long life on everything from the Apple 2 to Dungeons and Dragons Online, a game I'm happy to have tried out on my MMO journey through the years.

Awards and honors:

• Strategists Club's "Outstanding Designer & Writer" for the creation of D&D



• Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design Origins Award Hall of Fame 1980



• Four time winner of Games Day's "Best Games Inventor" (1979–82)



• GenCon 2007 (40th Anniversary), Premiere Guest of Honor



• Gary Gygax was tied with J. R. R. Tolkien for #18 on GameSpy's 30 Most Influential People in Gaming.



• A strain of bacteria was named in honor of Gary Gygax, namely "Arthronema gygaxiana sp nov UTCC393".



• ync Magazine named Gary Gygax #1 on the list of "The 50 Biggest Nerds of All Time".



• SFX Magazine listed him as #37 on the list of the "50 Greatest SF Pioneers".



• In 1999 Pyramid magazine named Gary Gygax as one of The Millennium's Most Influential Persons' ' "at least in the realm of adventure gaming."



• Gary Gygax was commemorated in a number of webcomics, including xkcd's comic #393 "Ultimate Game", Penny Arcades "Bordering On The Semi-Tasteful", Dork Towers "Thanks for the Worldbuilding Rules", Order of the Stick #536, and GU Comics' "The Journey's End".



• Blizzard Entertainment dedicated the 2.4.0 patch to World of Warcraft to Gary Gygax.

Job Titles:

• 1970–73 – Editor-in-Chief, Guidon Games (publisher of Wargaming rules and wargames)


• 1973–83 – Partner of TSR and then President of TSR Hobbies, Inc.


• 1983–85 – President, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS Entertainment Corporation


• Co-Producer, Dungeons & Dragons animated television show


• 1983–85 – Chairman of the Board of Directors of TSR, Inc.; also President (1985)


• 1986–88 – Chairman of the Board of Directors, New Infinities Productions, Inc.


• 1988–94 – Creator/author under contract to Omega Helios Limited


• 1995–2008 – Creator/author under contract to Trigee Enterprises Corporation


• 1999–2008 – Partner, Hekaforge Productions

Role-playing games
Boot Hill - role-playing elements in the Wild West, with Brian Blume, 1975

Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set


Dungeons & Dragons

Supplements:
Greyhawk (with Rob Kuntz)
Eldritch Wizardry (with Brian Blume)
Swords & Spells
Accessories:
The Book of Marvelous Magic (with Frank Mentzer)
Adventures:
B2 The Keep on the Borderlands


Advanced Dungeons & Dragons

Rule books:
Player's Handbook
Dungeon Master's Guide
Monster Manual
Monster Manual II
Supplements:
Unearthed Arcana
Oriental Adventures (with Dave Cook & Francois Froideval)
Accessories:
Dungeon Geomorphs (3 sets)
Outdoor Geomorphs
Monster & Treasure Assortments (3 sets)

S1 Tomb of Horrors
Adventures:
D1 Descent Into the Depths of the Earth
D2 Shrine of the Kuo-Toa
D3 Vault of the Drow
EX1 Dungeonland
EX2 The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror
G1 Steading of the Hill Giant Chief
G2 Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl
G3 Hall of the Fire Giant King
Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits (with Dave Sutherland)
S1 Tomb of Horrors
S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks
S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth
T1 The Village of Hommlet
T1-4 The Temple of Elemental Evil (with Frank Mentzer)
WG4 Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun[25]
WG5 Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure[26]
WG6 Isle of the Ape[27]


Gamma World
See also: Gamma World
GW1, Legion of Gold by Gary Gygax, Luke Gygax, and Paul Reiche III (ISBN 0-935696-61-X) TSR 1981


Cyborg Commando
Cyborg Commando, New Infinities, 1987


Dangerous Journeys

Mythus – (with Dave Newton), Game Designers Workshop, 1992
Mythus Magick – Book II of the MYTHUS Game (with Dave Newton), GDW, 1992
Epic of Ærth – Companion Volume to the MYTHUS Game, GDW, 1992
Necropolis – Adventure Scenario, GDW, 1993
Mythus Bestiary, Ærth Animalia – (with Dave & Michele Newton), GDW, 1993
Changeling – Weird Science Fantasy Role-Playing Game, published in part in Mythic Masters Magazine (see Periodicals)
Unhallowed – Supernatural Horror Role-Playing Game (with Mike McCulley), GDW (manuscript, unpublished) 1992.


Lejendary Adventures

Rule books:
Lejendary Rules for All Players - Hekaforge Productions, 1999
Lejend Master's Lore - Hekaforge Productions, 2000
Beasts of Lejend - Hekaforge Productions, 2000
World Setting sourcebooks:
Lejendary Earth Gazetteer - Part 1, Hekaforge Productions, 2002
Noble Kings & Dark Lands - Part 2, (with Chris Clark) Hekaforge Productions, 2003
The Mysterious Realms of Hazgar – Part 3, (with Chris Clark) Hekaforge Productions, 2005
Adventures:
Living the Lejend - Campaign Setting & Expansion for the LA Essentials Boxed Set, Troll Lord Games (2005)
Forlorn Corners - included serially as a part of the Author’s and Collector’s Editions of the three core rules noted above (1999–2000)
Hall of Many Panes – Module Boxed Set with D20 stats included, Troll Lord Games 2005
Lejendary Adventure Essentials - Primer Boxed Set for the LA RPG, Troll Lord Games, 2005

Castles & Crusades

For Castles & Crusades, the Castle Zagyg series is a planned series of seven sourcebooks based on the Castle Greyhawk from Gygax's original campaign. For trademark reasons they are not actually published under the name of Greyhawk.
Gary Gygax's Castle Zagyg: Yggsburgh Troll Lord Games, 2005 (ISBN 1-931275-68-8)
Gary Gygax's Castle Zagyg: Dark Chateau (by Robert J. Kuntz) Troll Lord Games 2005 (ISBN 1-931275-69-6)
Gary Gygax's Castle Zagyg: The East Mark Gazeteer (with Jeffrey P. Talanian) Troll Lord Games, 2007 (ISBN 978-1-929474-98-1)


Generic d20 System


A Challenge of Arms - (Chris Clark with Gary Gygax) generic adventure module, Inner City Game Designs, 1999
Ritual of the Golden Eyes - (Chris Clark with Gary Gygax) generic adventure module, Inner City Game Designs, 2000
The Weyland Smith Catalog - ("Joke" Magic Items), short version, Hekaforge Productions, 1999
Gygaxian Fantasy Worlds Series from Troll Lord Games. Volumes IV, V, VI, VII are edited by Gygax.
Volume I Gary Gygax's The Canting Crew, explores the underworld of city life, "Gygaxian Fantasy Worlds, Volume II"
Volume II Gary Gygax's World Builder, a collection of organized definitions, lists, tables and charts, (with Dan Cross) – 2003
Volume III Gary Gygax's Living Fantasy, Everyday Life, – 2003
Volume IV Gary Gygax's Book of Names by Malcolm Bowers
Volume V Gary Gygax's Insidiae by Dan Cross 2004
Volume VI Gary Gygax's Nation Builder, by Michael J. Varhola – 2005
Volume VII Gary Gygax's Cosmos Builder, by Richard T. Balsley – 2006

Check out Wikipedia for more information

Below are just a few of the video's found on youtube created by fans of D&D, as well as fellow techies and nerds. His death was the end of a wonderful and fulfilling life bringing joy to others through his creations. Before viewing the tributes to Gary Gygax let me just apoligize to who ever reads this for my not posting this on March 4th.


You Will be missed Gary Gygax.

Please Take a moment of Silence before watching the video's. Also make sure to watch them all in there entirity.

Star Wars: Unleashing bad ports

I'm a huge star wars fan. I collected the toy battle droids as a child and waited in the rain as a teen to see episode 3. Being the gamer that I am, I've naturally played several star wars games. Jedi Academy stands as my favorite PC title while Knights of the old republic has yet to be matched on the console.

Why no Star Wars: Empire at war ?

Simply put, the game wasn't all that. I know that sounds like a lame comeback but after playing through the games imperial campaign and several scenarios, it just didn't have re playability. The tortured mess that was Galactic Battle Grounds had me wanting to gag as we saw what age of empires II would've looked like if you'd had storm troopers instead of Teutonic knights.

Now Everyone is excited about Star Wars:Force unleashed, myself included. However it seems that like any profitable business Lucas Arts is whoring its creation out to anyone with a few dollars like some desperate pimp on the streets of the ghetto. When Everyone had a piece, what's really left of the original product we came to know and love ?

After you watch the video clip courtesy of GameTrailer.com, you understand that the DS version of Star Wars: Force Unleashed, looks extreamly shitty. Oddly enough the PSP version doesn't look too bad and even has some interesting goodies. Who doesn't wanna say "all too easy", after freezing a punk jedi in carbonit ?



The Wii version of the game doesn't look that bad but I think the third person perspective might ruin the immersion for some players. The actual physical activity will probably make up for this but anyone who knows the wii controller knows that what you do in real life isn't always duplicated on screen...if at all.

All three consoles managed good visuals but the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions reign supreme when it comes to graphical finesse. When your Professor asks you what you were doing on the 17th (release date 16Th of September), you'll answer with a cocky gin "unleashing the force!". Say that during Sex and prepare to be stuck playing with your wii.