Archive for March 28th, 2011
Today was a day full of weird contrasts. Mediocre levels that bored me to tears mixed with cool levels that were just too hard for me to complete. I think I’ll mix some of the latter in later so you folks can take a whack at them and brag about how much better you are at this than I am. For today I’ll submit a level that was just frustrating enough, Wicked Woodworks. I’m not going to say I didn’t yell at this level a couple of times. I love the way it sounds. I like the weird desk dynamic I get. But I have to admit…harsh language happened.
My previous favorite “games are too art!” videogame was Waiting for Godot: the Video Game, based on the play by Samuel Beckett (pictured). However, it turns out Beckett’s estate consists of humorless killjoys. Mike Rosenthal, who made the videogame, reveals in an interview that he was legally bullied into changing the name:
To quote one of the several cease and desist letters I received from the French lawyers representing the Beckett estate, “Unfortunately we do not share your sense of humor.” They asked me to change the name “Waiting for Godot,” because they held the rights to it. Under American law, my game is considered parody and is protected under fair use, but I complied since I’m just a college kid who can’t really afford a lawyer. So I changed the name to “Samuel Becketttt’s Lawyers Present: Waiting for Grodoudou.” I even explicitly stated on my website that my game is now referring to the Australian Samuel Becketttt, not to be confused with the Irish Samuel Beckett. They didn’t appreciate that. So now it’s just called “Game.”
By the way, it’s worth reading the interview, which has a remarkable mystery and resolution in the first paragraph. Go here.
As for “Game”, you can play it here, or watch the YouTube video of its original incarnation here.
(Thanks to Dingus and The Daily Dish!)
Varric’s hung up his crossbow, Bianca, and grudgingly taken up honest trade as a merchant in Sims Medieval. Perhaps there would be profit eventually but for now drinking is his primary pursuit and fatal flaw. Lo, a quest has appeared that promises redemption! There are rumors of a legendary fountain which can cure the imbiber of all ills. Imbibing is what Varric does best.
After the break: A drunken dwarf? Now, that’s something you never see. Continue reading →
The German crossing of the Dnepr River and the subsequent battle for Smolensk has been the subject of relatively few wargames. Probably the best-known among people who know about that kind of stuff is PanzerGruppe Guderian, published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1976 and republished by Avalon Hill in 1984. It had some interesting innovations in game mechanics: untried units on the Soviet side were flipped over to reveal their strength only at the time of their first combat, which could be a surprise to both players and made exact odds calculation impossible. The slashing armored tactics on the German side were modeled by very generous overrun rules, which allowed attacks during the movement phase at very low odds differentials, unlike any other game to that date. No rules were included for bare-chested fighting.
On the computer, SSG released Across the Dnepr in 2003 as an add-on to its excellent Korsun Pocket. It had terrible balance issues, and I haven’t tried the second edition, released in 2010 as an add-on to Kharkov: Disaster on the Donets. I’m curious to see how the new version works, so that’s now on the list. The first Panzer Campaigns game from HPS and John Tiller was released in 1999 and entitled Smolensk ’41, and happens to have been the best one of the series. Draw your own conclusions.
I’m about to find out how the War in the East version stacks up, because at the beginning of Turn 5 I’m at the Dnepr, and don’t plan on stopping.
After the jump, Guderian’s not all that Continue reading →
That’s from an actual game called Dino D-Day, an upcoming multiplayer shooter that pits American soliders against Nazis with dinosaurs. I can’t imagine the game is any good and I couldn’t care less. Because whatever that thing up there is, its awesomeness will haunt my dreams.
What the hell just happened?
I just want to say that my parents tried to prepare me for this. They did. They sent me to a school where I was taught that the world was six thousand years old, but when I got home they endeavored to set me straight. It was the best school choice for them at the time, but they weren’t idiots. My stepdad was a public school science teacher and an intelligent man, so he would reteach me that evolution was all a part of God’s Plan. I accepted that.
Until now.
After the jump, how I stopped worrying and came to prefer intelligent design Continue reading →
I’m in a huge battle to take the capitol city of Heim, using all of the skills and powers I’ve cultivated to this point, only to find I’m out gunned. Having a low level warlock, dragoon, and iron golem slowed my main character’s leveling progress. Because when a battle is won, all the XP is pooled and distributed. But not evenly! Low level units get the lion’s share.
It takes many battles to go from level 1 to 18, which is where most of my units are at this point. So for many battles my main troops would get a paltry 50xp while a level 7 Iron Golem would get 400xp and hit…level 8. Consequently, I’m now up against units that can (literally) bring the the judgment of God down on my head.
After the jump, ouch Continue reading →
This week’s wallet threat level is three, in honor of The 3rd Birthday, yet another distinctive title for the PSP, published by Square Enix. Considering they’ve just published the hours-devouring Tactics Ogre and Dissidia 2, I’m eager to see what the deal is with this story-driven shooter based on the Parasite Eve games.
The bigger news this week is Need for Speed: Shift 2. The original Shift was, for me, hands-down the best “serious” racing game I’ve ever played. And given that every time I boot up the frivolous and frothy Test Drive Unlimited 2 it finds some new way to break my heart, I’m ready to get serious.
Oh, there’s also some sort of 3D doo-dad out from Nintendo. Which, admittedly, looks pretty cool, but I’m not convinced it looks $300 cool. Please let me know if I’m wrong.
Sucker Punch isn’t just the name of the movie. It also the act of being charged for a ticket! If you don’t want the movie spoiled, fast forward to our 3×3 at the 57-minute mark for our favorite uses of blood in a movie.
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