Valve Eyes a Walled Garden

Today, Valve announced a service that would essentially let us have a say in what games actually make it to be sold on Steam.  In the long voting tradition where America allows the throngs to elect its idols, Steam's Greenlight allows us to be the final arbiter in their walled garden.

World vs World in Guild Wars 2

For years, I'd been hoping for a good world-based PvP game. Mythic promised it with Warhammer Online's Realm vs Realm (RvR), but their open-world PvP devolved into objective-swapping, an inability to play due to poor computing resource management, and an inability to play due to stacking spammable AoE and creature control.  Now, NCSOFT hits back with Guild Wars 2 in what amounts to the most polished structured open-world PvP in an MMO.

Kickstarter Feature: Planetary Annihilation

The RTS genre was one I was fascinated with for a handful of months, moving back and forth between Warcraft II and Red Alert.  Outside of those few months, though, the RTS genre was not one I particularly appreciated.  I never enjoyed the base building, and felt too much of the gameplay was wrapped up with it.  I went ape over the real time tactical gameplay of Myth and Total War, and to me, there was only one traditional RTS that could keep up -- Total Annihiliation.  With absolutely huge maps, massive battles, and utter chaos and destruction that forgets about actions-per-second and base building, I enjoyed TA quite a bit more than I have anything cut from the traditional RTS mold.

I about wet myself when I found out Uber Entertainment was making a spiritual sequel.

Beware the Black Isle

Over the past few days, Interplay put up a minimalist web site heralding the return of Black Isle Studios, in an attempt to harness the nostalgia of Baldur's Gate, Planescape, and Fallout fans after seeing the recent interest in classic CRPGs.  You might be confused -- didn't nearly every single Black Isle staffer land at one of a handful of studios that are still making games?  Your suspicion would certainly be warranted -- and, as it appears, this new "Black Isle" likely isn't what you're hoping for.

Mods to Fix Skyrim's Lackluster Presentation

As we all know by now, Bethesda makes games that can be bordering unplayable on release. After slogging through Fallout 3, Morrowind, and Oblivion, I've come to expect the fact that I have to rely on modders to make the games even remotely tolerable and to fix bugs.  I've also come to expect expansions to need serious tweaking, which is why I've not bothered with Dawnguard, and why I'm not certain all of these mods will work with Dawnguard.

3 months!

Well.  I've kept up the 3 posts a week for three whole months.

Cthulhu Cake shamelessly stolen from Kerry's Custom Cakes, and the link was thanks to a friend.

The Obsolete Endgame

The approach of a new expansion is a problematic one.  Not only do game developers have to prepare content for the hardcore players of their particular game, but they have to consider the casual person, who may not have been engaging in raids, end game dungeons, or even have completed all of the quests leading to the new expansion.  Even more problematic, there are players that have not even reached zones from the last expansion, or players returning to the fold from years before.  As Blizzard gears up to Pandaria, I look back at the Cataclysm and Lich King launches for these players.

Social Gaming

Given how many games expect us to be online at all times (from MMOs to Ubisoft titles) and the huge focus on multiplayer, I'm surprised that there's so little interest in social gaming.  There have been a number of small developments, mostly pushed by Valve, but we're well behind the curve compared to the average web user.

Et tu, Bioware?

 In a move that should surprise absolutely nobody, the nets are bustling with reports that Bioware is the next studio to be fed into the EA woodchipper.  According to Eurogamer, Dr. Greg Zeschuk has hung up the mantle at Bioware Austin, and it's to be re-branded EA Austin.  Another site speculates that Ray may not be far behind.  While I'm excited to see what the Doctors' next project would be, this news leads me to believe that Bioware is being tossed in the same woodchipper that other prominent studios found themselves in.

Digital Media

One of the pitfalls of modern television programming is the complete ignorance of the internet at the hands of most providers.  With a few networks excepted, some of the most popular shows on television are simply not available on the internet legally, or if they are, it's at significant restriction.  HBO is particularly terrible at programming in a digital age, but even the Big Bang Theory is unavailable.  It was only a matter of time, I suppose, before media companies noticed YouTube, Vimeo, and the World Wide Web as a distribution platform.

Your Battle.Net Account Has Been Compromised

I'm putting off an update to make sure you're aware of this.  In case you don't already have a physical authenticator, I urge you to get one.  Especially if you don't want to be running Black Temple while you sleep.

Maintaining a Dynasty, Part 2

In my review of Crusader Kings 2, I mentioned that the difficulty (and the uniqueness) of the game came from the fact that your own vassals and children will squabble over what is left of your empire when you kick the bucket.  Assuming you've overstretched, or you know your citizens are ready to pick up the pitchforks, here are a few things to keep in mind both before and during a crisis.

You've seen part 1.  Here's part 2, what you can do during a crisis.

Secret World Skill Preview: Rockets

Funcom mentioned it was planning new "Auxiliary Weapons" for an upcoming content patch.  After a little delving, and a tip from a friend, I've come across the first of these weapons: Rockets.  Thanks to data that they left easily accessible by the client, I've gotten access to a preview.

SWA: Walk Like an Egyptian

After hitting a brick wall in Blue Mountain, my transition to Egypt was an easy one.  My build hardly changed, and I was left wondering how to spend my points.

The Old Republic Concedes Defeat

Star Wars: the Old Republic was an experiment in creating the perfect MMO.  With a $200 million budget, an established license and fan base that would leave marketers drooling, an engine that was custom-tailored to create new MMOs, and one of the most prolific design studios, EA expected to have its hands on a gold mine.  Yesterday, EA announced that the title failed.