Leisure reading about history makes me want to play wargames. This is what makes wargamers “wargamers,” as has been definitively proven in at least one scholarly journal article somewhere. I’m sure of it. Michael Korda’s With Wings Like Eagles, a fast-reading, intelligent history of the Battle of Britain published in 2009, got me thinking that I’d like to, you know, play some kind of Battle of Britain simulation. That’s how it always works. But which one? SPI’s Battle Over Britain? Haha, no. That’s what you think this is, right? Another excuse to explain why boardgames are better than computer wargames, and that everything totally sucks in computer game land? I’m sorry if I seem that predictable. But I did really want to get historically involved with the subject matter in some way, and thanks to my previous search through boxes of old games looking for Rails Across America, I knew exactly where my old Talonsoft games were. So pulling out Gary Grigsby’s Battle of Britain* wasn’t hard.
After the jump, what my RPG experience over Europe taught me about the Battle of Britain Continue reading →
Hey, look, it’s time for Madden 12! Unleash your inner Pele with this year’s football simulation game from Electronic Arts, the fine folks who brought you Monopoly Streets, Deathspank, and Army of Two.
Am I little crazy to be looking forward to Bodycount, an unsung shooter from Codemasters? Have I been tricked by Fear 3 into expecting to be pleasantly surprised by what should be just a throwaway shooter? Do I just want to collect a whole mess of whatever those little collectibles are that scatter around the map like confetti when you shoot bad guys? Am I just a sucker for co-op modes?
Speaking of being a sucker, the Pirates and Nobles expansion for Sims: Medieval is out this week. I don’t care if it’s awful. It only takes a tiny nudge to push me into a little more Sims: Medieval. They could sell me a Stevedores and Chambermaids expansion.
The biggest joke in gaming is sadly not “Funny Ha Ha.”
Lately, the uproar has been about GameStop opening copies of the PC version of Deus Ex: Human Revolution and removing coupons for a free copy on the OnLive system. They weren’t really in the wrong on the point that Square/Enix shouldn’t have included coupons for a possible GameStop competitor without their knowledge. However, instead of holding the game back and discussing it with the publisher, they just opened them up, removed the piece of paper and then sold them as new. Is this legal? Maybe. Is it the right thing to do? I personally don’t believe so.
Though the Deus Ex thing is the latest hoo-haa for GameStop, it’s far from their first and certainly not the worst. With that in mind, lets take a look back at some of the other reasons you shouldn’t shop with GameStop.
After the Jump: GameStop, I Hardly Knew Ye
Continue reading →
This week it’s a two-fer! We talk Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (1973) and Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (2011). What a difference 38 years make! Then, at the 1:16:00 mark, this week’s 3×3 is a discussion of our favorite sidekicks not named Chewbacca.
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