Bombed and Wasted, and it's all just Diabolically Fine

Jesus Christ, I must stop writing headlines like Alex Navarro, oh wait, that reminds me of some news that happened to him and some other video gamey people you might have heard of.

THE GIANT BOMB DOT COM STAFF ARE MOVING BACK INTO THEIR OLD GAMESPOT OFFICES!?

The very same offices that Jeff and Ryan and Brad and Alex and Vinny all left upon the removal of Mr Gerstmann from his position as Editorial Director in 2007.

Oh, and Double fine are making a brand new point 'n' click adventure game for Windows, Mac and Linux

Oh, and inXile are making a brand new top-down RPG (a sequel to 1988's Wasteland), for WIndows, Mac and Linux.

Oh, and Diablo III now has a release date, and is available for pre-purchase right now! FUCK.

Oh, and the pre-purchase date for Guild Wars 2 was also announced. That says to me that we are really moving towards the end game in the development cycle for this monster of a MMORPG.

Oh, and Mass Effect 3, the sequel to one of the best video games of this generation came out just recently. That seems like something I should play...and it is!

Did I wake up in crazy town where all this wild stuff just happens upon the regular? Because it seems to me that shit just went all wild and awesome and weird in the space of about a week.

Back to the Front

Coming right back atcha! Rolling in hot off the heels...of...well me not having done an update for a good while, sorry! Even though I had planned to post at least a little something everyday, it turns out I have failed in that grand endeavour, however, it is through the flames of adversity that our revolve tempers like steel. Or something.

The long and short of this is that I will try my very best to improve my writing habits and my vidz. Some news that has spurned me back into action is the recent leaking of some details on everyone's favourite 16 player, competitive deathmatch FPS game (with experience based levelling system)...

SIM CITY 5

I can still vividly recall my many hours spent with the various versions of this fine gaming series, that funky jazz music, the crazy depth of intermingling all that technology, TAXATION. 2013 can't come soon enough!

Double fine and dandy

So, there's this video game company called Double Fine, and they have raised over $1,500,000 as development funds for a brand new point 'n' click adventure game. Funds, given freely unto them by fans, no venture capitalists, no loans, just normal people who believe in/trust/love Tim Schafer (as well as his band of merry men and women).

Now we have Mr Chris Avellone, of Obsidian Entertainment, making noises about possibly wanting to try to attempt some kind of similar thing at some point in the future.

Those guys down at Double Fine have created something very special with just their attempt at this endeavour, something that goes beyond just the software they are going to put out at the end of development, but they have gone and put ideas in people's heads. Very cool ideas. Inside cool people's heads.

I fuckin' love the video games.

Anno 2070 and on and on and on

So, I've been mucking around with producing some video content, namely a Long Look of the fantastic real time strategy game Anno 2070. I plan to get through the entire single player campaign of this thing whilst on tape, learning and tweaking things as I go, figuring out how to balance audio levels, syncing up video and audio tracks, selecting the best way to capture and encode console and PC footage and how to talk whilst playing a damn video game! I'm basically treating this as my 'learning on the job' training, I hope at some point in the future I'll be able to get all these things nailed down and be able to blast out hot polished content into your eagerly waiting faces.

Since I am on the subject of Anno 2070, we may as well jive for a minute on what I think about it, after putting around seven hours of playtime on the clock these will only be fledgling opinions and may well change over the course of the next 20 or 30 hours.

As far as RTS games go, this one differs a little from the norm (by that I mean the Command and Conquers and StarCrafts of this world). Here the focus is on a cycle of harvesting raw materials, processing them, turning them into useful products for construction or trade and then setting up supply lines with the AI characters on the map to boost your income/barter for the items that you need. This is placed over a familiar framework of city planning, taxation, management of power and food supplies, research and development as well as your inhabitant's happiness and safety.

With the emphasis on cultivation and trading rather than fast paced out-and-out warfare (although combat is a part of the game, in all my hours so far I have destroyed naught but one little pirate ship), you are guided down a slightly more gentle path in terms of pace and just how many actions you are expected to perform and respond to. This suits me just fine, as a big fan of those types of RTS games I am still more than willing to try something a little different from my usual experience, that being: Dawn of War, Homeworld, StarCraft, Command & Conquer, Dune II, Company of Heroes, Total Annihilation and Warcraft (other video games are available, or so I'm told).

I'm still finding my way with this game, but the more I play the more I feel like I'm learning a subtly different set of skills when compared to those aforementioned RTSes. I am, however, up to my ass in this one mission where my economy has just dropped right out from under me, I think I'm about 90 minutes into a mission that should have been completed in around 20. Whether it's just me or I've encountered a nasty bug, I don't know yet, can YOU help? /turns to point and look directly at you.

Fly me to the moon

I should buy a flight stick and a copy of DCS: A-10C Warthog.

I really shouldn't buy a flight stick and a copy of DCS: A-10C Warthog.

Quandary of the century.

Multiple hour-long videos showing my feeble attempts at getting the engines started would be something aright, it wouldn't be good, but it would be something.

Iota

I've been turning my hand to making some videos just recently, some with me blabbering over the top of them, some without. Exploring what feels good for me to do, experimenting, playing the field, spreading my bets(?). I'm sure I'll find something among the hours upon hours I intend to devote to my new worthy goals of talking about video games, that sits well with me as a player and as someone talking over the top of footage of people playing them sexy video games.

Theta

Ahhh, the joys of PC game modifications! Some 14 years after the original release on its home format, a small group of clever guys have finally unleashed version 1.0 of the DREAMCAST version of this seminal game, 'Dreamcast version? What're you talking about, there was that weird PS2 one but I ain't ever seen a Dreamcast copy!'. And you would be well within your rights to say that, because it never made it to market, a lot of the work done for that game found its way into the PS2 version as I understand it. Either way, through the power of personal computing, you can now experiencing this long lost iteration of Half Life!

If you'd rather not do that, you can of course just watch me play it instead. You'll find information in the video description on how to try this out for yourself.

They're waiting for you Gordon...in the test chamber...