The Return of the Nerd

Apologies for the lack of posting as my main computer has been out of action.  The cooling unit died due to overheating.  Irony is wonderful isn't it.

Expect soon, some Epic tales of whats been happening over the last few weeks: the start of university, the beginning of a project in the unreal engine and a good couple of games the good, the bland and the time consuming.

It's good to be back.

Steam Demos left side and even side

Steam has been rather generous of late with demos for R.U.S.E, Worms Reloaded, Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale, Amnesia; the Dark Descent and VVVVVV so go read my humble opinions written below and then go check them out, after all free is a great price.

Cthulhutech: Dark Corners of the Digital World

The Aeon war is fought on many fronts; the physical, mystical and the digital realm.  Cults, cops and citizens peer into the dark corners of the digital world.  Most is just noise, the sound of the mad and frightened, but occasionally there is glimpse of terrible truth.  Lurking in buried posts on abandoned boards, strange links, corrupted files and grainy videos lie new tomes of power.

A Tale of a Defence Secretary, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Voltaire and Videogames

Not too long ago, UK Defence Secretary, Liam Fox made a comment about about the upcoming Medal of Honor game by developers Danger Close and DICE, published by EA.  You can read all about it here and here.  He calls the product tasteless and urges that retailers ban it.  Having thought about this for awhile, and having seen a multitude of similar such items, I've decided to provide a counterargument and a commentary about expression in video games.

So what has Voltaire and Governator got to do with all this?

Look what I found: Recettear

While wandering the steam demo page I came across this little game.  I heard of it awhile ago when it was mentioned on the Rock Paper Shotgun site and now it has finally appear in a slightly more visible form.

The game is based on the concept that those merchants and traders in every RPG game are a bunch of greedy gits who will give you pennies to buy your slime and charge you a small fortune to by a +1 sword of pointyness.  You play the part of a girl named Recette Lemongrass who is unfortunately now in charge of a item shop due to her adventurer father not paying his loans, which are administered by a fairy named Tear (shes just a contractor).

It is essentially a game about buying low and selling high a variety of objects you might be expected to find in any standard RPG.  Some customers will always pay quite a lot and some will pay almost nothing, and if I'm not mistaken, this varies depending on the type of item they are buying.  Now the thing that makes this different and the part I've yet to have a go at is the fact that you can go to dungeons yourself to go grab some more bits to flog.  Every few days it seems you will have to pay back some of your loan making it a lot harder than just simply progressing along quietly.

The last thing I want to mention is that this game is adorable with the harsh tones of the loan shark fairy Tear to the klutzy Recette and the adorable look to world.  Definitely shaping up to be a purchase.

God of War Series Review: part 3

Before I move onto the grand finale of the series, time to have a quick look over the collection box set and ask two big questions:

What can we learn from a game design perspective?


And is it worth buying?

God of War Series Review: part 2

Let the button mashing and bloodletting commence just watch out for a nonsensical plot and hair pulling puzzles.

God of War Series Review: part 1

This is a game that no one will ever witness me playing.

Its a game about rage and I certainly felt its white hot touch.  A gory, violent game about a brutal and unpleasant hero which brought me grim satisfaction at every single blood splattered finishing move and blinding anger at every frustrating design.

Its God of War and violence has never felt so good.

Currently playing

At the moment I'm chewing my way through the God of War series, from the updated 1 and 2 to the very very shiny 3.  So expect to see a trio of reviews on the series once I've finished number three and my thumbs recover from all the button mashing.

Other things that are coming up are reviews of games that I've either finished within the last few months or currently playing through:

• Alan Wake
• Red Dead Redemption
• Uncharted I and II
• Puzzle Quest II
• Company of Heroes (the various flavours)
• Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising
• Puzzle Agent

Retcon

This blog was originally going to be dedicated to posting neat little rpg ideas from time to time.  As you might guess from the posting history that really didn't work. 

In the near future I'm going to head out on a journey into new territory.  So I thought rather than letting this blog rot quietly on the Internet I would repurpose it to tell you about my adventures.

I'm heading back to university at the ripe old age of 24 to go learn video game design, leaving a reasonably well paying job in the process.  This is not my only objective though, I aim simply to be a renaissance man by investigating every possible pursuit I can find.   It is to this that this blog is henceforth dedicated to.

So expect to see updates on my progress through university but also reviews and commentary on video games, books, music, boardgames, tabletop rpgs and all things geek.

Glass Figures: Plots

A nearby wizard has decided to test out some of the more nastier, forbidden spells on the local populace. All this magical noise has brought out a variety of creatures that need magic to survive and will have to be dealt with to get to the wizard.

The villagers while digging a new mine came across an ancient weapon, which they activated by accident. Now the players will have to go get it back from the nasty forces that stole it and then make sure to keep it safe until they figure out how to destroy it.

Epilogue

In a nearby kingdom the fashion is for glass statues with a familiar eerie colour. Is there a second weapon, another wizard or has someone gone and grabbed a few of the unfortunate victims of the first?

Glass Figures

The players come across a village where the whole area has been turned to a variety of brightly coloured glass. Trees, houses, the crops and even the villagers themselves have become smooth clear glass each in variety of bright colours, making the small village look a like a demented glassware stall. The figures are so perfect that the players can easily tell who they are, although some have been broken and lie in shattered pieces. Who would do such a thing to a village in the middle of nowhere and can the players bring it back to its original form?

Exalted: Tourist Trap

On a small island lies an ancient ruin from a time long before the gods walked the earth or so the brochure says. The guild has set up an archaeological site around 3 ancient towers but perhaps more accurately they put some souvenir stalls and hotels around some ruins. They are raking in the cash from tourists and other officials who have come to witness the wonders of these ruins but is everything is as it seems? Are they fakes, or genuine, and what real ancients wonders, or horrors, lie beneath?