Hello readers! And welcome to Moar Powah’s Give It a Shot! A segment where every now and then some of the writers will give a quick word on a game, movie, artist, darn near anything really that might not be so well known but they think is well… Worth a shot!
Half-Minute Hero
Platform: PSP, 360, Steam, Playism
Hello esteemed readers, this week I will be covering some sort of anime. This doesn’t happen very often, so it might be a good idea to pay attention; it might go on the quiz or something. Anyway, Kyoto Animation’s newest project, Tamako Market, recently started. Tamako Market can ostensibly be considered another of KyoAni’s K-ON!-esque series. I’m not the biggest fan of KyoAni’s recent works, but anything KyoAni puts out is usually pretty significant. Funnily enough though, Tamako Market subverted some of my expectations, though not in the way many of you might expect.
Last week, Brian Fargo, CEO of inXile Entertainment, announced that they were officially working on a new Torment game. Though this announcement didn’t take the gaming world by storm, fans of Planescape: Torment were absolutely thrilled. With vets like Monte Cook, creator of both the Planescape campaign setting and the new pen and paper RPG Numenera, as well as Colin McComb, designer of both the campaign setting and the game. Sadly, Chris Avellone, the project lead and one of the writers (along with Colin) of the game, won’t be joining the sequel, though he gives his blessings.
Anyone who’s played Planescape: Torment will remember just how special a game it was. It took place in a very interesting setting, and though it was structured pretty atypically for an RPG, the personal quest you go on is very compelling. The cast may have been weird, but as they perfectly complemented the setting and themes, they struck many chords with us. The themes and metaphysics presented in Planescape: Torment are quite meaty, and would make Torment, dare I say, literary.
(There will be thematic Planescape: Torment spoilers, so be warned.)
Hello everyone, glad to see you all made it to the newest year! Now, as you all know, the start of a new year always sees “Best of Last Year” lists and posts. I’ve come up with a sort of “Best of Last Year” subject of my own. Now, I’m very aware of the arbitrary nature of calling a year noteworthy, especially for gaming. Nevertheless, I really do think 2012 is special, as I find it hard to compare 2012 to some of the proceeding years. 2012′s accomplishments are, by and large, surprising. Hell, the scale of some of these accomplishments alone is nothing short of astounding.
Hello everyone, it’s Laevatein, and I’m back from the dead! Or for a more mundane answer, I’m back from my hiatus. Anyway, it’s Christmas Eve, and Santa is probably still going over his list to see who’s naughty and who’s nice (he’s gotta check it twice, after all). You know the drill though, whoever’s nice gets good gifts, and whoever’s naughty gets coal (or Windows phones or whatever people consider lousy nowadays (I’m joking about the Windows phones part)). Now, as a guy who writes about games, I think talking about how morality works in games is a pretty fitting choice for a post on Christmas Eve. I mean, how much more meta can you get than Santa?
The Walking Dead game was certainly a surprise. No one was expecting a modern adventure game, and no one was expecting it to be certainly that good. The Walking Dead seems to have subverted everyone’s expectations, and become one of the best games this year. I’m only currently going through it, however, and rather do something like review it, I thought I’d give my thoughts on the choices of each episode. Kicking off this zombie apocalypse is Episode 1! Also, beware of spoilers if you haven’t played the first episode yet.
Greetings everyone, welcome back to my modest campfire, where I talk about video games and stuff. Last time, you may recall me talking about free-to-play games and the pay-to-win elephant in the room. Though I talked about PlanetSide 2 almost extensively in that article, I wasn’t able to determine whether or not PlanetSide 2 was pay-to-win or not. Well, rest assured, I can give you a clearer answer on that now. With that, I believe it’s time to drop into the hot zone that is PlanetSide 2.
[Hey everyone, Laevatein here, and today my article is going to be quite special. As you may have noticed, I have started up a new series, but fret not, for nothing has really changed.]
PlanetSide 2 is a game that many would think is long overdue. Now, I can’t say I’m a fan of the original or anything, but I did get beta access, so I’ve been playing it here and there. It’s quite fun, and that’s not even a “It’s quite fun for a free to play game” sort of statement, either. I think it’s legitimately fun. I love how large the scale of everything is, as it’s not about your place in the team, but you as a cog in a much larger machine. I suppose that might not be to everyone’s liking, but I find it intriguing. Nevertheless, I was quite concerned when I first saw what was in the cash shop.
Cash shops have gone hand-in-hand with free-to-play games for the longest time (though Ubisoft seems to be trying this with Assassin’s Creed 3, hahaha oh you guys), so I may seem silly being hesitant about cash shops. I do think cash shops make a lot of sense, from a business perspective. They are conceptually very fair to both the companies that provide the games and the consumers that play the games. Cash shops, unfortunately, are often littered with items that give advantages to people who are willing to spend money. ”Of course that’s a problem, Laevatein, where have you been?” you may say. I had to admit that I have been out of the free-to-play game loop for the longest time.
What I think needs to be brought up is how we all define what should and should not be chargeable. If a game gives people who spend money an advantage, if even a slight one, that game should technically be defined as “pay-to-win” (as much of a misnomer/catch-all as the term is). As it stands, no one can agree on some of the finer points of this definition. This not only gives developers free reign to add features that may wind up upsetting the game community, but also gives the community an easy to use tool to effectively “lynch” developers that implement things they don’t like.
Laevatein: Hello everyone, Laevatein here.
Kaushik: Kaushik here!
Laevatein: And we’re here today to discuss Angel Beats! Kaushik, what did you think of Angel Beats?
Kaushik: I enjoyed it. It had some weak points, but I enjoyed how it all came together.
Welcome, readers, to another installment of “Laevatein finally got a good PC so he’s going through his PC backlog!” This week, I’ll be reviewing Mirror’s Edge, a game that’s surprisingly antithetical to EA’s standard philosophy, modus operandi, whatever you want to call it. No excessive DLC, no excessive pre-order bonuses, an entirely solo experience, a strong and unique aesthetic style, colors, and unique gameplay. It’s like that episode of DuckTales where Scrooge McDuck gets amnesia and thinks what he did prior was absurdly wrong, and protests his business practices. That’s far besides the point, however. Mirror’s Edge is a very unique game, and while I’d like to hand it a good score and see it off right here and now, I still have a job to do.
