It was in the northeastern wilds of Pennsylvania, sometime around the year 1985.  We were heading to the family cabin in the woods for a summer vacation.  In addition to the things you would expect to find at a cabin in the woods — trees, streams, swarms of angry hornets — it also held one very important thing: my cousins’ old Atari 2600. While I had an Intellevision at home, there was something different about playing the Atari.  Being able to play it was one of the things I most looked forward to about our trips. Perhaps it was just the simple fact that it was something new and different to me, or maybe the fact that it had an honest-to-goodness joystick.

On this particular trip, my cousins upped the excitement by telling me they had brought a new game with them: The Empire Strikes Back.  The game was actually several years old by that point, but it was new to me. I loved Star Wars, and the idea of actually being able to play out the movies as a game absolutely blew my six-year-old mind.  As soon as I had a chance, I claimed the TV and the Atari and gave it a try.

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(These reactions are based on the single player campaign of StarCraft II.)

In case you are not aware, StarCraft is very popular; it is not jokingly called the national sport of Korea for no reason. When the original game arrived in 1998, it was, in many ways, a huge step forward for the RTS genre.  Three well-balanced factions, intriguing characters and storyline, and a slick interface all combined for a game that was accessible, fun, and an instant classic.  Having excellent competitive multiplayer didn’t hurt either, and that alone has kept the title alive for the past decade plus.

Everyone knew that a StarCraft II was inevitable.  Most of us did not realize it was going to take twelve years to get one.  So now that it has finally arrived, the obvious question is: was it worth the wait?

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Gamasutra released an interview today with Jonathan Pelling, creative director at 2k Marin, about the upcoming reboot of the X-Com franchise.  Now, as someone who looks upon the original game as something akin to a masterpiece, I am perhaps a little biased towards the conversion into an FPS.  That said, when I read things like this:

I think once the fans start to realize that this is a game that adheres to the core XCOM tenets — it may not be aesthetically the same, and of course it’s not a turn based tactical game anymore, it’s a first person shooter — but it still maintains that essential vibe, that fear and tension of going up against an unknowable enemy and being in charge, and running an organization, and making all the big choices.

…it can’t help but reinforce my feelings that these guys really have no clue what X-Com is actually about. To say that they are stripping away everything about the game – the setting, the overall story, and most especially the mechanics – and then claiming that they are going to “maintain the essential vibe” sounds like nothing more than weak marketing mumbo-jumbo.  Sure, if you view the “essential vibe” of X-Com as being about fighting an enemy and making choices, then, yeah… your new game will probably have that.  You know what other games have that?  LOTS.  If I distill Modern Warfare down to its “essential vibe” of fighting bad guys with guns, then please allow me to offer you my new Modern Warfare design: I’ve changed the setting to WWII, and made the whole thing turn based, from a “grand strategy” perspective.  I call it Panzer General, but that’s just a working title.

At any rate, this interview has done little to encourage me that 2k Marin are going to hit a home run here, but as the game isn’t out, I will have to reserve final judgment.  It may, in the end, turn out to be an excellent game; but that doesn’t mean it’s X-Com.

I am, relatively speaking, a newcomer to the Megami Tensei world.  My first entry into the series was Persona 3, but since then I’ve tried to branch out into some of its other forms.  Most of these journeys have been fruitful; SMT: Devil Survivor was my pick for Best of the Year last year.  My most recent trip, however, did not end so well.

I picked up Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey, a few months back, but didn’t get to crack into it right because (appropriately enough) I was busy trying to finish another playthrough of Devil Survivor.  When I wrapped that up (following my man Gin’s advice this time), I eagerly moved on to Strange Journey.

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Back – way back – in the halcyon days of 2007, the original Puzzle Quest was released on XBox Live Arcade. While, at the outset, it seemed like another Bejeweled clone, of which I had already played my fill, it actually housed a much deeper game, complete with RPG elements, and multiple strategies with which the game could be played. While I had vowed to swear off all match-three games due to a complete and utter addiction to PopCap’s flagship title, the addition of new and different ways to affect the board, in addition to having an actual opponent who I had to outplay, brought me back to the fold.

Fast forward to about 6 months ago, when Joel and I got a preview of the new Puzzle Quest 2, and were promised one singular thing: More. More matching, more spells, more minigames, more character options, more, more, more.

Boy, did they ever deliver.

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It’s happened again; fellow writer Chris Klimas and I, in the guise of our dynamic duo known as Twofold Secret, have released a new game.  Focused on the eternal conflict between man and robots, Sanctuary 17 is a free-to-play browser based game you could be enjoying right now.  To summarize myself:

Sanctuary was born from my desire to re-imagine one of  my favorite games from my childhood: Night Stalker (for the Intellivision).  A very simple game about a man trapped in a maze with an endless parade of deadly robots coming after him, it still managed to push my childhood fear button with great effect.  Taking those feelings – isolation, fear of what was coming next – and putting them into a larger context was the driving force behind my early designs for Sanctuary.

There is also an honest-to-goodness paper manual available for those who wish to support the game, or who have a deep and abiding love of manuals.

So, go and give it a try, and have some fun!

I have had a hankering lately to play a game that does not exist.  Specifically, a Western RPG as they used to be, before Bioware and Bethesda took up the reins of Western RPGdom.  Of course, many of you will say there is nothing wrong with those two being in charge, but I’m afraid that Dragon Age and Fallout 3 just don’t scratch that itch for me.

So, why?  Why am I dissatisfied with the current crop of Western RPGs?  What are they missing, what are they doing wrong?

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When I first heard that the new iterations of Pokemon Gold and Silver were going to come with a pedometer, it brought back memories of a miniature Game & Watch style Pokemon game called Pokemon Pikachu, which was essentially a pedometer that built up “watts”, which could be used to buy items in the original Gold and Silver games. There was also a stand alone version which had no interaction with the Gameboy games at all.

Now, at the time, it had to be purchased separately, and while I had one of the original units, I never knew anyone that had the later ones, and the only feature that you could use between units was to transfer watts. If this proto-Pokewalker actually came with Gold and Silver like the Pokewalkers did, then things might have been a bit different. For a while in the mid 90′s, things like Pokemon Pikachu – whether it be Tomagochis or Digimon or whatever -were a lingering fad, but one that never really took off. That’s why I thought it initially odd that Nintendo would attempt to revisit something that never had much popularity. Does anyone ever actually remember linking with random people like the advertisements used to claim?

Turns out that despite my initial concerns, it seems to have been a pretty good idea…

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My wife plays video games.

I like to think my gentle tutelage over the years that has led her to this, but I will not be so presumptuous as to take all the credit.

That being said, like any gamer, there are games she likes, and games she doesn’t like.  She loves puzzle games, but I don’t think I could get her to play an FPS even with bribery.  What she loves more than anything (I think) are games that we can play together.  I love them, too.  It’s great to be able to sit next to your loved ones and work through a game that you both enjoy, together.

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Yes, it’s been a busy couple of weeks, but just to keep you apprised of what I’ve been up to, I thought I’d bring back our old friend, the Five-Line Friday!  With a three day weekend coming up, I’ve got my DS charged up and a fresh new copy of Might & Magic: Heroes of Battle ready to roll; I’d heard many good things about this when it first came out, and it’s high time I got around to playing it myself.  Super Mario Galaxy 2 now has its place of residence in the Wii, and the wife and I have been making slow but steady progress through the first few levels (multi-target Yoshi tongue action?  Fantastic!).  Part of the reason that I’ve been playing less games than usual is that Chris and I have been busily working on finalizing our next release for Twofold Secret; we’ve been in beta for the past three weeks, and we’re looking to have the final release sometime very shortly; it’s been tough work, but it’s the kind of work you can love.  Lastly, I’ve been playing an inordinate amount of Open Transport Tycoon Deluxe when I have some spare moments, as, after ten years of playing this game, I finally grasped how to properly use signals the other day; it’s been a major advance in train scheduling.

-Joel

While Joel hasn’t been gaming as much, I feel like I’m on the opposite end of the spectrum, in that I have far too many games that I’m trying to get through.  Mario Galaxy has also taken up residence in my home, and it’s hard to tear myself away from it; I played through the entire first world in one sitting, and I’ve had to judiciously decide when I’m going to play it, since I know as soon as I start, the next thing I know it’ll be 3 hours later.  I’m also working on a couple of features for the site that I’m pretty excited about, that will be going up in the next couple of weeks, so that’s been occupying some time as well.  The other “main” game that’s sucking up my time is Split/Second, which aside from some truly awful rubber-band AI has been a fantastic experience – I’m not sure how well it will hold up to long-term play, once I’ve seen all the power plays the game has to offer, but until then, it’s been nothing but sheer gaming bliss. I also decided to go back and re-play Portal, to see if it’s as good the subsequent times through as it was the first time – and it totally is.

-Jeff