June 10th, 2010
Andrew Galbraith
Blizzard is notorious amongst the gaming community for the exceptional storytelling behind each and every character, the realities they inhabit and the games that give those worlds life. Heaven’s Devils, penned by William C. Dietz, while not the most superb example of narrative is still notable for the aspects of the overarching Starcraft story that is fleshed-out. Illustrating the details surrounding the early years of Jim Raynor, his meeting of Tychus Findlay and their experiences serving together in the Confederate Marine Corps. fills in several gaps that had previously been left blank. While the underlying story remains interesting throughout, I feel like there are quite a few issues with the writing that leave it feeling more often than not predictable and rushed, which results in some of the minor characters feeling static, if not shallow. But for a die-hard Starcraft fan, the prospect of learning the background behind Jim Raynor and how he ended up as the character players met in the game, this is an opportunity for information that may prove unavoidably alluring.
You know the drill; hit the Read More link for the full review!
June 10th, 2010
Marc
Snoopy Flying Ace is the best arcade air combat game since Crimson Skies. And, it may actually be better. Don’t let the Peanuts license scare you off; Snoopy, Charlie Brown, and all of their friends have little to do with the actual game. You may find a tad more enjoyment if you are a Peanuts fan, but coming from someone who couldn’t care less about the license, the game is just pure fun.
Flying Ace does play very similar to the old Crimson Skies games, but I actually believe it plays better; however, I haven’t played a Crimson Skies game in quite some time. The controls are easy to learn and yes, easy to master. It is really nice to see a flight game with controls that don’t get overly complicated with controller inputs that don’t feel natural; Dark Void says, “howdy partner.” Please don’t ask why Dark Void talks with a southern twist.
Head past the break for the full review!
June 9th, 2010
Dustin Deckard
In a not-so-cryptic blog post, Valve has announced that Team Fortress 2 will be out on Mac tomorrow. Why they’ve departed from their normal Wednesday Mac releases, we don’t know, but with the recent delay of Portal 2 and the chaos of E3 right around the corner, we assume they’ve had a lot on their plates lately.
The short blog post also mentions “BIG THINGS” in the works for Team Fortress 2, which is enough reason as any for us to load up the addicting shooter and get some practice in tonight before the inevitable update goes live at an undisclosed time tomorrow.
Team Fortress 2 for Mac is currently listed in the Steam store as “Coming Soon” for $19.99, but we’d suggest just picking up The Orange Box for $29.99, which is Steam Play compatible. The extra $10 is a very small price to pay for getting the critically acclaimed Half Life 2 series, not to mention a copy of Portal.
June 9th, 2010
Dustin Deckard
It’s no secret that the PSP Go hasn’t been doing too well. Sony has even gone so far as to call it an “experiment” as of late. The poor sales and bad reputation of the device aren’t a surprise to any gamers, though — paying an $80 premium (over the PSP 3000) for a device that has a severely limited game library and no way to play your already purchased hard-copies of PSP games isn’t something that rubs off well with consumers.
So we get it; people don’t want to pay real money for a PSP Go, but that doesn’t make them undesirable. They’re still a gorgeous piece of tech and a better, more portable PSP system. So I suppose if you’ve got an extra dragon laying around (because, you know, dragons make for great alternative currency) you might as well offer it up on the internet in exchange for a Go, just like one Wichita, KS native has done on Craigslist.
It should be noted that he’s also willing to accept a PSP 3000, so… if you find yourself not playing your PSP much these days, and are looking for a tiny baby bearded dragon pet, you can reach him here.
June 8th, 2010
Dustin Deckard
It’s been almost two years since Valve officially launched MODs on their digital distribution and community platform, Steam. Since that launch, we’ve seen a slew of new, massively popular Valve games running on their Source engine (Team Fortress 2, Portal, Left 4 Dead), a massive redesign of the Steam client, and the global launch of Steam for Mac. Valve has a reputation for being a “It’s done when it’s done” developer (case in point: Half Life 2: Episode 3), taking their sweet time on games but releasing quality products that they support for eons. They’re also well known for supporting the modding communities that have sprung up around their games. After all, Counterstrike was originally a MOD that ended up being a wildly popular retail title.
There are a handful of these Source MODs that can be downloaded and installed straight from your Steam client. You need to own at least one Source engine game to be able to install these otherwise completely free games, and some of them specifically require that you own Half Life 2, but we’ve noted the requirements of each of the games in their descriptions. Since Portal was recently given away for free in celebration of Steam for Mac, and you did get it – right? – there’s no reason not to check out these excellent games. We picked five of our favorites to tell you about, and can honestly say that they’re worth your time and hard drive space. Check them all out after the break!
June 8th, 2010
Andrew Galbraith
While there are certainly creative people and groups who did their best to utilize systems prior to Halo for Machinima projects to show that their favorite video games some deserved appreciation – the credit for most successful implementation of the technology as far as I and most of the collective internet is concerned – goes to Rooster Teeth for their Red vs. Blue series. Starting in a relatively obscure manner, ironically on April 1, 2003, the series was met with and initial mild success which then exploded into a popularity that is still present to this day. Despite garnering acclaim such as winning four awards held at separate events hosted by the Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences, the series has continued to this day with little sign of slowing down on the horizon. After all, as funny as the series is, RvB has avoided crippling itself by abstaining from being didactic, which has served in keeping it as relevant, outstanding media despite years of public consumption. Having premiered in the latter half of my teenage years, I have since adopted some of the tenants hidden beneath the awesome, hilarious storyline which are presented haphazardly after the jump.
June 7th, 2010
Anthony Ruybalid
Imagine a cold spring morning; it’s the time of year when the temperature is slowly shifting from the lifeless cold of winter to the gentle, cool breezes of springtime. The light of the sun climbs across the ground and pours through the cracks in your curtains, and a methodical, rising sound lulls you from a deep sleep. Savor the feeling. That is the opening to the debut album from chiptune duo Teleidofusion.
Teleidofusion (teleidofusion.com) hails from Russia and is made up of the combined efforts of chiptune artists C-Jeff and Megus. Already accomplished individually, when combined the artists bring nearly a decade of experience in the internet music market to the new group. In 2006, C-Jeff decided to start organizing his efforts alongside the efforts of other chiptune musicians with his netlabel ubiktune. The label has already seen several solo and collective releases from chiptune artists with seven releases in 2009, the most in a single year yet. Teleidofusion’s debut album, Around Past, marks the 12th release for the up and coming label.
The album’s first song, Soft Illusion, opens with a chiptune and guitar riff that abruptly gives way to the lilting strokes of a piano. The song introduces listeners to the album’s star musical players and the underlying theme of group: electronic fusion of computer- and human-generated sound. The first songs dulcet tones lull one into a reflective mood and from this brooding springs the cool air and bursting colors in 5 Minutes of Autumn. A 8-bit metronome opens as winds and strings build into an atmospheric tune which shifts into a laid back funk theme with some eastern instrumental influences. The myriad mood and instrumental changes washing around each other evokes the enigmatic and shifting colors of a fall day.
June 4th, 2010
Andrew Galbraith
As a kid, I would constantly be terrified by the subtle horrors that Stephen King would give to life in his creative works, wrestling with nightmares while still utterly compelled in my anxiousness to turn the next page and see what happens next. The same can be said for Alan Wake, which conducts the exact same atmospheric dissonance of a Stephen King novel, thereby compelling gamers to feel seized by similar feelings of dread. Without being grotesquely terrifying as one of the many Silent Hills or Resident Evils, it does possess an innate eeriness that slowly grabs hold of the player. Over the course of the experience, the game never thrusts horror into the narrative. By utilizing Alan Wake as the singularity of light and darkness, players are constantly plagued by a fear of the unknown, which remaining constant throughout continually possesses the potential to make them jump.
For a game that was announced in 2005 and originally slated to be a launch title for the Xbox 360, it would be a slight stretch to argue that Alan Wake is a bit late to the party. However, instead of arriving when everyone has left and things seem to be dying down, the game has come off as appearing fashionably late. After five years of development, it has been refreshing to finally have first-hand experience playing Alan Wake instead of another cavalcade of screen shots and trailers. Moreover, it is exceptional to see that despite the amount of time between announcement and release, Remedy Entertainment maintained the focus to bring an overall exceptional game to the community.
June 4th, 2010
Andrew Galbraith
If you head down to your local game retailer or snatch a copy online of World of Warcraft, does the game ultimately belong to you or is it merely a vehicle for a license that grants you the ability to use that software with the unwieldy blessing of the developers? That is what is going to be debated in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals when Blizzard, creators of the perennial MMORPG and MDY, developers of Glider face off over the appealed legality of the matter.
Arguably, purchasing a legal copy of a game would entitled you to make copies and adaptations that would allow for unparalleled ease of use as well as the ability to resell the product should you no longer wish to make use of it. That is your basic right as a consumer and cannot be limited by any license on any product that is currently available on PC, consoles or handhelds.
When it comes to Glider however, Blizzard vehemently argues that this product violates the Terms of Use, which violates the license agreed upon every time a player clicks ‘accept’ post-update before heading into Azeroth. Glider, a bot program that essentially plays the game for you, allows for players to garner gold and experience over a significant span of time while running on auto-pilot. A victory for Blizzard in lower court secured the ruling that players don’t own their software, but are licensed to use it basically enabling the insinuation that every World of Warcraft DVD produced is still owned by Blizzard – they’re just letting you use it as long as you don’t break the rules.
Due to copyright ramifications as well as inconsistent laws across not just areas of the United States, but North America and the world, it is clearly understandable that MDY has since appealed the ruling. Of course, the big picture is the licensee versus the owner-licenser argument and could stand to close the book on the many varying degrees of software copyright issues that pertain to the privileges of users. Nevertheless, the case is slated to be heard next week and stands to aptly alter the relationship Blizzard has with its end-users.
June 3rd, 2010
Andrew Galbraith
Yesterday, we posted the first part of our list compiling ten games for the PlayStation that you should be playing. While many of these games have found themselves comfortable spots nestled on bookshelves and entertainment centers alike, there will invariably be some who believe that the best place for these titles is lost forever amidst the endless rows of a second-hand game store. Certainly, that might be true if not for the fact that certain qualities never wear out their welcome and will always be able to seize the niche in a genre over more contemporary titles. Therefore, it only seems apropos that we present the second half of 10 PS1 games you should be playing.
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