The problem with Sins of a Solar Empire — and it’s a very real problem — is that I can’t get far with it. I start up a game, as depicted in the above screenshot where the Halcyon class carrier Merciless and a few Disciple Vessels are fighting a tiny independent faction that’s taken up residence around the ice planet Daedalus. We need that planet for its rich stores of crystal. And really, this is just the opening move of the game. It’s not the least bit spectacular in terms of the overall scheme of things. It’s like fighting one of those throwaway gnoll creeps in Warcraft III.
So why am I spending so much time slowing everything down to super slo-mo, flying the camera around, taking screenshots, and admiring the space opera of it all?
Sins of a Solar Empire is too gorgeous for its own good, and that invariably gets in the way when I just want to sit down and actually play the darn thing. Which is what I was trying to do today. Developer Ironclad just released a hefty update that reworks the diplomacy system. Read the details here. In brief, there’s a whole new system of what you get for being friends with other players and how you get it.
Microsoft’s annual Summer of Arcade program starts tomorrow with the release of Bastion, which is the first in a series of four eagerly anticipated titles and one Kinect game. I don’t envy those other games for following Bastion. It really is an ingenious piece of work.
A friend of mine said about the movie Hanna that it should be taught in film school. He didn’t like it as much as I did, but that was his way of saying that he recognized its genius regardless of how much he liked it. And while I have no such dispassionate regard for Bastion — I really love this game — I do think it should be taught in, uh, game designer schools. We have those now, right?
After the jump, 15 things videogames can learn from Bastion Continue reading →
I’m old enough that my childhood technology obsessions predate game consoles and home computers. In elementary school, instead of immersing myself in fantasy space battles, my geekier classmates and I watched the Apollo, Skylab, and Apollo-Soyuz launches, and read of a fantastic reusable spaceship that would arrive at end of the 1970s called a Space Shuttle. Until game consoles and Commodore 64s became prevalent in high school, we had to make do with Star Trek, sci-fi novels, and science fact.
Cut to today, when we have a real space station in orbit that’s been manned for over a decade, and we’re jaded enough to nitpick the details of our fantasy space excursions in games like Mass Effect 2 and Halo. But for us Apollo kids, for the space aficionados who not only remember the tragedy of the Columbia landing but that of the Challenger launch as well, space travel remains a fascinating, exciting endeavor, filled with discovery, wonder, and risk.
Thus, when I found out I was one of just 150 people selected from over 5,500 applicants to view the last launch of the Space Shuttle program as part of the #NASATweetup program, I was beyond excited. I booked my tickets, hooked up with the rest of the “Tweeps” online (ironically, via Facebook), and made plans to witness a historic milestone.
After the jump, milestone witnessing Continue reading →
