Ludogistics & The Irrational Thought Patterns Of A Great Many Things

Star Trek Online screenshot Originally uploaded by lower72 Been playing Star Trek Online for a few days now. And even though it clearly needs debugging and balancing, I enjoy it immensely. The more time spend on MMORPGs, the more you understand the intricatcies of game play. And I certainly plan on spending time on this one. Not splurging whole days on end, mind you; just the occcasionnal late night or lazy week-end afternoon. Which is perfect, really : Star Trek was a show best watched on late nights and relaxing Sundays. I fondly remember sitting in the living room with my father and listening to McCoy's ranting, Kirk's boasting, Scotty's nay-saying and Spock's quantifying. It seemed the perfect show for nothing-to-do moments. Now, STO could be the perfect game for those exact moments. I'll keep playing. For how long? Who knows. Perhaps until it gets fixed...Or perhaps until The Old Republic comes out. Until then, I'm sticking with my Phas...

Video Game Addiction: the long road to recovery Originally uploaded by Now and Here Well, once again summer is about to start and there are games out there that need playing. Too many games, would be the proper turn of phrase here. So, a Must-Have or Must-Play list is building up right now, and it includes such titles as : -Resonance of Fate -Infinite Space -Final Fantasy XIII -Heavy Rain -God of War 3 But, I still have other games i am currently playing, like Torchlight, Dragon Age, Borderlands DLC, and more. And eventually, when the stars are aligned, and august comes rolling on by, Star Trek Online will make it's debut on my computer...and shall be played with friends. But until I can afford the newest games, time-wise and money-wise, I shall concentrate on the ones I do have. After all, I have all the Extra Lives I need...

Torchlight Character - Vanquisher II , originally uploaded by Raquel´ . Well, it seems we do not have long to wait before the next Diablo game : it's actually already out. It's called Torchlight, and it's developed by Runic Games, lead in part by Max and Erich Schaefer, both co-founders of Blizzard North. Looks like they couldn't wait for Diablo 3 either and decided to just give us a great Rogue-like RPG before the cobwebs and the dustbunnies invaded the part of our brains relishing click-click-click action. Perhaps a little unbalanced, and perhaps a little easy for some, Torchlight still ignites the fires of grinding within all PC RPG nerds. It's art style is endearing and soft on the eyes...a veritable World of Warcraft in Single Player format. Loot is aplenty and dungeons are filled with the nastiest, sometimes funniest, beasties this side of Tristram. PC gamers needed this. After all, Blizzard is not promising a release date on their next dungeon-romp opus,...

Everybody is doing it... A Year in Review. This Year's Ten Best. A "Must Play" list. I must admit, I deeply enjoy lists and countdowns to "Best this", and "Worst that". Lists are very satisfying, especially when you can look at one and exclaim "done this!", or "got that!". Someone once said that lists are fun because you get to cross out stuff from them. I find myself in agreement with that statement, although it all depends on how much stuff is on the list vis-a-vis what you did, or can, cross out. Like a jar of pickles that you empty out over a certain period : you can't really eat all the pickles in one sitting, and you can't let it sit there for a whole year. So you better not pick up a jar that's too big, or you won't be able to finish it before it goes to waste; and you can't get a jar that's too small because you'll quickly end up with nothing in it, and no snack. I guess what I'm trying to say...

A curious little chart made it's way from GameSpy to the larger intertubes of the Net this morning : To " Jump the Shark ", for those who may not know, is the precise moment within the lifespan of an entertainment franchise when it just becomes so ridiculous, it loses its value and starts its decline. Well, here it is, brilliantly illustrated by GameSpy with the help of GameRankings of every title in the Tony Hawk Pro Skater series. Tony Hawk jumped the shark riiiiiight between Underground 2 and it's first step into the current-generation market, American Wasteland, where it dipped below the 80% marker. Why is this important, and why would I mention it? First, it's funny. No, trust me my friends, it is. The expression has been used appropriately so little in these past years that it had almost lost its meaning. We receive now, as the Holy Bread, a promise of renewal for this precious meme from 60s Television. Jumping the shark has again a sense of purpose. It'...

Months ago, Warren Spector spoke of a Disney Game he was working on within Junction Point Studios. There was talk of something grand, something unique; perhaps even dipping into the fantasy realm of Steam-punk. On the second week of October, Epic Mickey was revealed...on the Nintendo Wii. And now this . Truly, I feel troubled that something epic may find its way exclusively on this console. Especially in light that the original plan was to make it, as it is said in circles dark and deep withing the industry, "Current Gen". Already, Vanillaware's Muramasa: The Demon Blade and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom have found a home solely on the Big N's platform, and this seems to be happening for financial reasons. The Wii has been the number one console on the market for a while now (besides Nintendo's other cashcow, the DS), and it is a sound business plan on the part of developpers and Nintendo to keep some titles exclusive. Yeah, I can roll with that. But why go from one v...

I've just realized Heroes don't really wish to win. They are not in it for the glory or for the First place prize. I'm talking about real heroes here. Superman and Batman type stuff. The guys and girls that don't take a bow after saving a kid, and the kind of people that feel even villains should have their little piece of paradise. That rather small epiphany comes as I am trying to write next week's radio show. We already did one about villains, in which Jim , Schmoo and I discussed how great bad guys make games worth playing; and how they have evolved over the years, becoming more complex and allowing game narrative to grow into Novel-league size. The natural thing was to proceed to the other end of the spectrum. Although don't take this literally...villains and heroes are RARELY at the ultimate opposing end of one simple spectrum: the grey zone is where awesomeness in "Good Guys Vs. Bad Guys" relationship really lives. All of this has very l...