Like Tobold, I am a long time MtG fan and former hardcore player. However, the days where I have the time to build and maintain competitive decks are gone. What I've needed to spark my interest in MtG again is a more casual approach that is PC based. That is exactly what DotP delivers. I plan on giving it a try in June.
Since my son was born I've tried to cut back on my cussing. Generally, I reserve using the F bomb in post titles for only momentous occasions (like Spore's DRM debacle). Today however, I will gladly drop it in praise of Frozen Synapse, a game you need to see to understand.
Frozen Synapse fell into my email box as part of their "buy 1, get 1 free for a friend" campaign. I had originally became interested in the game in part because of this Rock, Paper, Shotgun post. Now that I've had some time with the game I have only one thing to say: this game is bloody brilliant.
The basic premise is that players take turns moving soldiers around a battlefield. The catch is that its simultaneous turn-based: both players make their moves and then let the actions play out at the same time. This allows the game to be played over long periods of time or quickly in succession. Player A can make their move and submit it to the server whether Player B is online or not. Player B is free to return and make their move whenever they are free.
Once both players set their action (known as the planning stage) the outcome is played out. Various game modes determine the win conditions. Some are to destroy the enemy; while other modes focus on rescuing hostages or defending/attacking zones on the map.
As can be seen in the video above, the game is simplistic in it's graphical approach. This allows it to run on almost any set of hardware. My aging laptop that can barely play Torchlight in netbook mode can steam right through a match of Synapse.
My only gripe currently is the poor performance of the central server. However, that is due to over-popularity of the beta. Sometime this week a new server should be in place to help the issue.
This game is brilliant and I recommend it to anyone interested in the video. Oh, and just search Youtube for gameplay videos as beta testers can instantly upload games after they've been completed from the in-game menu. Pretty snazzy stuff.
Lifehacker is one of my favorite websites. Not because of the great writers, but because of their timing. Everytime I need something, Lifehacker finds out and posts something useful. I swear they are spying on me. First it was a detailed Thunderbird tweak guide, then Dropbox hacks, both published within days of my installs of both. The list goes on.
The newest example is a post today about GameSave Manager, a tool that backs up saved game files for over 400+ games. It was not a month ago that I gave up playing Bioshock after losing my save files during a reformat of Windows 7. This was after already restarting the game one time because of poor planning. Oh, and I was making backups the old fashioned way, but the one day the backup failed is the day I decided to reformat!
Also, recently I lost several hours of progress in my save game for Mass Effect. After that incident, I implemented my backup scheme for saved games by syncing the folders to Dropbox. That way I have saved files on all the computers I connect to Dropbox with. It works wonders for Civilization 4 games since I am usually manually saving them.
However, it is annoying to have to add other games by hand to my backup scheme. Even more so when it takes five minutes on Bing to find out where the actual saved game is stored in Windows 7. GameSave Manager takes care of all the prep work and then makes it easy to restore from the backups it makes.
With Valve's recent release of Steam for Mac, hints were found that an underlying Linux client was also in the works. Phoronix has the news that an announcement is imminent from Valve about a native Linux version of Steam.
... Valve is preparing to officially release the Steam Linux client from where they will start to offer Linux native games available for sale. For all those doubting our reports that Source/Steam would be coming to Linux, you can find confirmation in the UK's Telegraph and other news sites. An announcement from Valve itself is imminent.
While this doesn't mean every game available on Steam will work with Linux, it does mean native Linux clients can easily be used for games such as Unreal Tournament 2004 and World of Goo. Also, this lays the groundwork for popular Valve titles such as Left 4 Dead and Team Fortress 2 to head over to native Linux.
I've always been a proponent of gaming on Linux. I still feel Linux is by far the best operating system available for anyone that wishes to learn how to use a computer. Gamer's naturally fit the learner description, but far too often Linux gaming was over the head of even the most tech savvy gamers. Steam on Linux eliminates A LOT of the hassle and brings some great AAA games along with it. I am excited to see where this goes.
I may even be bothered enough to put Linux back on my main desktop with a dual boot with Windows 7.
"2K Games today announced that Civilization V will be using Steamworks for online matchmaking, automated updates, downloadable content and DRM for the game. Steam's Civ V store page is also available now, revealing some new information about the game. There will be an 'In-Game Community Hub' for online matchmaking, communication and for sharing scenarios between players. While including Steamworks might put some people off, it might also indicate better online gameplay than in the previous Civilization games, where it was almost impossible to have a good game without playing with just friends."
Personally, I am more likely to buy a game that features Steamworks than those that try to use something like Gamespy. Steamworks, ironically, works and that is an important feature of any game for me.
Real life is alive and kicking for me, so I apologize for the lack of updates. I'll try to get my monthly "What I'm Playing/What I'm Paying" post up sometime soon. Otherwise, expect a quiet May around here.
For the record: I hate the iPad. It is the epitome of everything that is WRONG with Apple. With that said, Small World has been converted from boardgame and has been released as an iPad app by Days of Wonder. This is the same boardgame developer known for Ticket to Ride, Battlelore, etc.
Small World for iPad is the first digital adaptation of this award-winning fantasy board game. It enables two players to face off against each other and vie for conquest and control of a world that is simply too small to accommodate all of the zany fantasy characters that inhabit Small World. Sitting across from each other around the iPad, players use their troops to occupy territory and conquer adjacent lands in order to push the other players' races off the face of the earth.
While this isn't the first boardgame to make it to iPad, it's the first one that caught my attention. Small World is a great game and the graphical styling is perfect for a touch tablet.
While I don't want to give up my real board games for virtual ones, I realize my shrinking group of board game friends can not keep the fire alive. Virtualization of board games allows me to enjoy them across the Internet in an official capacity (yes, I realize the above app is not Internet based, but other board games are). I am excited about the future of touch tablets filling a niche in the board gaming market.
The Elementalist channels natural forces of destruction, making fire, air, earth, and water do her bidding. What the Elementalist lacks in physical toughness, she makes up for in her ability to inflict massive damage in a single attack, dropping foes from a distance before they can become a threat. Yet, despite her incredible offensive potential, versatility is what makes the Elementalist truly formidable.
Just a quick post to note that Arena Net has a MASSIVE blog post up about Guild Wars 2. You literally need 30 minutes to read over and savor this thing. Here's a sneak peak:
It’s time to make MMORPGs more social
MMOs are social games. So why do they sometimes seem to work so hard to punish you for playing with other players? If I’m out hunting and another player walks by, shouldn’t I welcome his help, rather than worrying that he’s going to steal my kills or consume all the mobs I wanted to kill? Or if I want to play with someone, shouldn’t we naturally have the same goals and objectives, rather than discovering that we’re in the same area but working on a different set of quests?
Go. Read. Now!
UPDATE: Arena.net has offered up another screenshot for getting the word out about the GW2 blog!
A little more than two years after Phil Harrison left Sony to join Atari in a surprising move, it has been announced that he has left the company. His replacement: Atari cofounder Nolan Bushnell.
"I am very excited to be reacquainted with Atari at a time when it is poised to make interesting strides in key growth areas of the games industry," Bushnell said in a statement. The company and its iconic brands have always been important to me, and I look forward to further guiding them at the board level."
Bushnell was one of two cofounders of Atari back in 1972, but was forced out in 1978 after a management dispute. He went on to architect what parents have come to know as one of Dante's nine circles of hell, the Chuck E. Cheese chain of restaurants. Joining Bushnell on the board of directors is Tom Virden, who Atari describes as "a seasoned executive in the online leisure, technology and travel businesses."
I'm not really sure how to take this news as it comes with no other announcements about any games or upcoming projects. It will be interesting to see if Bushnell has any measurable effect on the once proud company he helped build that has been down on it's luck as of late.
will be released via Steam to the PC. While DOTP is in a way a "Magic light" game, I am nevertheless highly interested in this.
after losing my save files during a reformat of Windows 7. This was after already restarting the game one time because of poor planning. Oh, and I was making backups the old fashioned way, but the one day the backup failed is the day I decided to reformat!
is going to take advantage of Valve's Steamworks. 
. It is the epitome of everything that is WRONG with Apple. With that said, 
has been converted from boardgame and 
news keeps on rolling. Today we get our first look at the 
Here's a sneak peak:
