Author Archive
Opinion – Warmachine: Tactics – Finally Done Right?
Sometimes dreams come true. Like discovering the tabletop system you always wished someone would convert into a video game has collected almost twice its Kickstarter goal.
Gamer Living To Take On 24-Hours Of Video Gaming For Charity
Extra Life 2012 kicks off at 8am this Saturday, 10/20. A simple enough premise: Play video games for 24 hours straight to raise money for a Children’s Miracle Network hospital. A worthy cause if there ever was one. It will mark my third year participating in this 24 hour torture session for eyeballs everywhere. It will be a first, though, doing so as part of a team. Unlike past years, where the ill-temper, delirium, and nonsensical profanity-laced tirades brought about by doing most anything for 24 straight hours have been solitary affairs, thankfully hidden from the public, this year they’ll be available for all to see. What’s even more fun? I’m bringing friends too. GamerLiving.net’s own Will Anderson and Blair Hicks will be joining my Ocular Death March for Kids. Read On »
Ohio State University Marching Band Puts On Video Game Half-Time Show
Now and then in life, I run across something which makes me look at myself and want to push the limits. Something which inspires me to discover out how high I can soar.
And then I see things which clearly illustrates how puny and pathetic most of my accomplishments will ultimately be. Things like what the Ohio State Marching Band pulled off this last Saturday, Aside from it being an amazing feat of coordination, it proves that with skill, innate talent, and tons of practice, you too can be part of an enormous Pikachu. Read On »
CliffyB: Taking His Lancer And Going Home.
As stated on the Epic Games website, Cliff Bleszinski, or He Who Puts Chainsaws On Guns, has stepped down as Epic’s design director and is riding his Brumak out for parts unknown. From a note to his colleagues: Read On »
Gearbox Does Good Things
I am at a point in my life where I at times find it difficult to believe in good deeds for the sake thereof. I am inclined to cast a jaundiced eye upon such works as PR stunts, or anything but what it purports to be, which is unadulterated good. In this world? Please. But every so often something comes along and proves the defensive stance of my ordinarily impenetrable Cynic Style isn’t without its weaknesses. Every so often a practitioner of the Way appears and unleashes something so charged with altruism it should be preceded by ”Ah-tatatatatatata!” Read On »
Gary Games’ SolForge Gives Digital Trading Card Games Promise
I’m not going to rehash my love of Magic: The Gathering. I have always respected the team which created something so simple yet so damnably addicting. Suffice to say, I have many fond memories stemming from long games played down to the very wire.
I will pause here to honor my dear mother, who pointedly did not throw a fit one summer afternoon when I called and said I wouldn’t be home for dinner as a game, which ended up being almost seven hours long, played out. Love ya, Ma! Read On »
Challenge Accepted – Wanderson75.net Joins Extra Life 2012
Contrary to popular belief, I have a lump of muscle tissue located directly behind my sternum. Even more surprising, and flatly denied by my editor-in-chief, it does in fact pump through my veins something other than a congealed blend of rattlesnake venom and repressed hate. What’s even more astonishing is that I am capable of thinking about kids in a context outside of whether they’re tastier baked or fried. About this time two years ago, these reality-breaking revelations acting in concert led to my searching for gaming charities other than the widely known Child’s Play. This in turn put me squarely onto the path of the budding charitable juggernaut called Extra Life. Read On »
We Don’t Work For Sarif – Syndicate
As previously discussed, evolution is a necessary thing. Both the original Syndicate and its sequel were objective-based point-and-click affairs managed from an isometric view. Such a game, unless handled very carefully, will not translate well to the console environment. Numerous RTS titles have failed in spectacular fashion to illustrate this point, so Starbreeze adapted the IP order to allow it to survive. It has been reinvented in order to not only meet the wants of the gaming masses, but also to approach a beloved IP from a new direction.
And boy, are people pissed about it. Read On »
The Game Has(n’t) Changed – Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure
Insidious. Manipulative. Exploitative. Mercenary. Any or all of these words are likely to pop up in whatever review of Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure you so happen to read. Everyone feels the need to point out the inevitable additional cost gamers, or more likely their parents, are going to incur due to the core design behind Skylanders. Bait the hook with a competent multiplayer game utilizing cutely designed characters and an interactive gimmick. Now set the hook by allowing some areas of the game to only be accessed via use of certain characters, which must be purchased separately. Release just before the holidays; retire.
Quit Trying To Shove Your Gears Up My Mass Relay
Evolution is a natural part of life; it happens to almost everything. That which is ill-equipped to survive in its environment, dies – typically, as fodder for another organism who got the claws and sharp teeth behind door number three vs. the big beak, webbed feet and tiny wings which came with the bakeware set behind door number two. Evolution also tends to award organisms that specialize in a particular thing, and with good reason. Trying to do too many things at once is invariably a great way to make sure nothing is done well. Flying birds don’t get multiple legs, the ability to generate an electric current, or the ever-so-popular opposable thumbs (great at parties!), but evolution provided a great way to stay above the things partial to eating them. After all, the dodo had wings, too… Read On »