Yup, it's a Digg screencap. I'm enough of a loser to have taken a few of them. Please don't judge me. Please? C'mon! It's funny....
Time Waster: End Tyranny With Ultimate Crab Battle!
Sharks and lasers are always a good combination, right? What about a shark that you can ride, shoots lasers from it's eyes, and launches torpedo's? Sounds pretty damn formidable right? Not if you're facing a GIANT crab that can summon an army of swordfish, blast sound, electrocute everything, shoot killer eels out of its claws, shoot lasers out of a giant eye, summon a giant dude with a machine gun, shoot energy beams from a giant pearl, drain all of the water around you, and do it all while wearing a crown.
Ultimate Crab Battle is a huge, rediculously simple boss battle, where you ride around on your shark, trying to destroy this big-ass crab while it throws every crazy atttack at you that it can. The difficulty (and believe me, it's pretty difficult) comes in the sheer number of insanely powerful things the crab can do to attack you. The controls are really simple: arrow keys to move around, and "A" to attack. That's it. So the whole game you're constantly unloading with lasers, blasters, torpedoes, and missiles while trying to avoid getting hit by any of the crabs attacks. Your health bar is normal sized, the crab's health bar is CHRIST WHY WONT THIS THING JUST FUCKING DIE!!!!!!!!111!ONEEONEONE
It's really epic. And really fun. And pretty hilarious. And thoroughly awesome. Definitely a great way to waste time while you're waiting for sacrifice to download.
Cool Thing of the Week: Widescreen Gaming Forum Wiki
So I've mentioned once or twice that I own a netbook, and despite what all the "experts" say it is great for gaming. All you have to do is go back about 9 years and you have a great selection of classics. The thing is, back then widescreen monitors weren't common, so it's very rare for a game to have native widescreen support. While netbooks don't exactly have large screens, they do have a non-standard 1024x600 resolution, making everything looked squashed.
Enter the Widescreen Gaming Forum Wiki. This wonderful site contains entries for hundreds of games, detailing if they are capable of widescreen support, what kind, and how to achieve it. For some it's a simple matter of selecting an option in the menu. Other games require registry hacks- which the site walks you through. Still others have had fan-patches made for them and the links are included.
So if you have an older game that you're sick of looking squashed on your widescreen monitor, check this site out.
Web Clips for 6/11/09
Some depressing humanitarian statistics.
Use it for anything from personal growth to daily reminders, to pranks.
In case you haven't heard, HELLZ YEA.
And test your internetz!
Use it for anything from personal growth to daily reminders, to pranks.
In case you haven't heard, HELLZ YEA.
And test your internetz!
Strategery and You
Good Old Games is having a sale on strategy titles until Tuesday. 25% off, in fact. There are a bunch of great titles there, I bought the Castles and Castles 2 bundle mainly because it (and megarace) were the titles I remember renting from my local Movie Time when I was 5. That seems so quaint, now, renting games from a movie store.
Anyway, there are two games in particular that you should pick up: Shiny's Sacrifice and Rage Software's Hostile Waters. Both games were landmark titles that looked at the RTS genre and said "why should I be stuck up here looking at my guys instead of joining in?" Both games have excellent production values, including top-notch voice acting and writing. Both games are well worth your time and if you buy them together (with this week's discount) it won't even set you back 10.
So what exactly are these games about?
First up we have Sacrifice. This trailer actually does a pretty good job of conveying how wonderfully chaotic the game is.
Yeah, it's really like that in game.
So basically you're a displaced Wizard who wanders into a plane of feuding Gods, who all want you to serve them in return for power. Being the self serving sort, you pick and choose which God to ally yourself with before each mission. James, god of earth and generally good guy, might want you to go rescue some of his worshippers for example, whereas Pyro(god of fire and industry) is more likely to send you to conquer more territory for his factories. Each god has his or her own motivations, and none is truly good or evil.
One thing you'll notice is the absolutely stellar voice acting. I could go on an on about this so I won't. Suffice it to say that you should check out the Wikipedia entry on the game and see the voice acting credits. I will say this, though: It's always tempting to do whatever Stratos says because he's voiced by Tim Muthaf***ing Curry.
So during each mission, you run around the battlefield casting spells and summoning creatures. Unlike most RTS games, you participate in the battle on the ground, and your view is locked to where your character is. This is one of the more jarring aspects of the game, but it really works. There are two resources you must control, souls and mana. Mana comes spurting out of the ground and powers your ability to cast all spells. Souls are, well, souls of creatures. Each creature has its own soul count, lower level units cost 1, whereas the "ultimate" monstrosities cost up to 5. When a creature is killed, its soul(s) are left behind. A wizard can reclaim souls of his own creatures instantly, however to steal the souls of an oppenent's creatures he has to cast a "Convert" spell on them.
Oh, and when I said monstrosities, I mean monstrosities.
Take a look at this lovely fellow. This is a mutant. He is an aberration of nature who attacks his enemies by ripping off chunks of his rotting flesh and flinging them at foes where they explode into putrid clouds that both damage and poison their foes. Surely this is a servant of darkness? A corrupt fiend of some kind?
This unit belongs to Persephone, god of Nature, Peace, and Purity.
Actually, one of my favorite things about this game is its aesthetic. I think the best word to describe it is macabre. The game takes pleasure in flipping fantasy sterotypes on their heads. Take, for example, the Phoenix. Everybody picture a phoenix in your mind. Let me guess: big red bird, noble, brilliant plumage, possibly on fire.
Here's what Sacrifice calls a Phoenix:
Let's do another one, shall we? How about an Ent? Ents are great! Mighty tree people, guardians of the fores-HOLY MOTHER OF GOD WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING THAT IS STANDING THERE STARING AT ME
Basically the point is that there is nothing in this game that is not dark, twisted, and brutal.
"Noble"need not apply to Sacrifice. Even the Gods, the purest beings in the world, are scheming, backstabbing bastards who are willing to do anything for power. Your own character, Eldred, is running away from a demon he summoned in order to keep control on his home plane, 'cause he was a tyrannical despot terrorizing the populace (the Demon ate everything instead and is now pursuing him across the Astral plane. Whoops.) Hell, even the game mechanics are vicious - in order to kill a wizard, it's not just enough to reduce his health to zero (he'll come back.) What you have to do is sacrifice one of your creatures on his altar, desecrating it and banishing him from existence. It's black and macabre, and I love it.
It's not all doom and gloom, though. Sacrifice has a wonderful (if a bit black) sense of humor. There are puns scattered everywhere( The God of Earth is a giant Earthworm named James, while the Stratos the god of Air is a helium baloon wearing a robe. It works, ok?) some hilarious spells (such as Bovine Intervention, in which a giant cow is summoned, shooting into the sky and Swan diving onto a single opponent, obliterating it entirely - destroying its soul) and brilliant dialogue. Charnel, god of death, gets by far the best lines with perfectly dry delivery (Persephone: "Charnel! Death is not the answer to everything!" Charnel: "Yes...Torture also has its merits").
That's all well and good, but how does it play? Quite well, fortunately. You run around, summoning buildings called manaliths to control sources of mana, creatures to do battle, and spells to cause direct damage to creatures or other wizards. The interface takes some getting used to, but once you do its very smooth. There is a gesture based menu system that allows you to give orders, assign formations, and even control the camera with a flick of the wrist. It's a good thing that controls are smooth, because games can be incredibly chaotic, with creatures, spells, and debris flying left and right. This is a game which combines strategy and action in a delightful blend - good tactics will give you the edge in battles, while action skills will allow you to turn your wizard into your most powerful weapon. A good multiplayer battle often has one player gaining the advantage until the other spots an opportunity and seizes it, and the match often oscillates back and forth in a way that's much more satisfying than typical RTS rushes.
Speaking of multiplayer, another part of Sacrifice that I love and wish more games would implement is the spellbook. Normally in multipayer you select one god to ally with, and you get all the spells and creatures of that god. However, if you play through the singleplayer, you can ally yourself with a different God each mission. Each time you perform a mission for a God, you are given one Creature and one spell out of his/her arsenal. Thus, it's possible to mix and match creatures and spells to tailor a spellbook to your playstyle. For example, I like hit and run tactics, so in singleplayer I performed my first mission for stratos. This means in multiplayer, my level 1 units are fast and weak, and I get lightning as my basic damage spell. If I had chosen James, then I would get slow and tough 1st tier units and a rock-based damage spell. In order to prevent min/maxing and ultimate combos, Gods will cease to offer you missions if you've pissed them off by working for their enemies. It's really cool the way you can customize for online play- and you have to earn it, too!
This post is far too long already, and I still have another game to cover, so I'll just say one more thing and be on my way. The top-level spells in this game are Epic. James' spell, bore, removes a large chunk of the world temporarily. Stratos can summon a giant Tornado that can suck up entire armies, throwing the mall over the map. Persephone summons "Meanstalks," basically those giant tentacle dudes from Half-Life, except they throw things around. Charnel summons death, who kills the seven closest creatures - no matter how strong - then leaves. My favorite is Pyro's Volcano, which causes a Volcano to erupt wherever you want, burning away the sky and sending flaming debris across the map. Epic.
So go buy it. It costs less than an overpriced sugary coffee drink from Starbucks.
Next up is Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising. This game is a strange beast. It's one part action, one part strategy, and one part "Heart of Darkness." You control an "adaptive cruiser" which can manufacture its own fighting vehicles sent to destroy a Cabal attempting world domination. Each mission sees you gathering resources from battlefield debris, building units, and either piloting them yourself or loading them with a Soulcatcher chip.
You see, the cruiser you pilot isn't new. In fact, it was just raised from the bottom of the ocean. Its crew were all killed, but their minds were saved and stored on Soulcatcher chips. Thus every autonomous unit has its own distinct personality which affects everything from dialogue to how well they pilot various vehicles. Ransom, for example, is a bloodthirsty pilot who is deadly in a helicopter and prefers close in engagements. Stick him in a tank and he's not so great. If his helicopter gets destroyed, you can just build a new one and send him right back into battle. It's a pretty sweet deal, with one sticking point.
They're all lunatics. Yep, apparently the Soulcatcher mechanism has a ...destabilizing effect on the sanity of those who use it. Some of your soldiers were mentally unstable before they died, others simply resent being kept alive to fight. Some are just very, very, angry. Which makes it loads of fun to stick these madmen (and women) into warmachines and give them very large guns.
Leading the nuthouse into battle is great fun. You can hop into any vehicle at any time and take control of it, or let your AI's take care of buisiness. You can issue orders from the cockpit or from a strategical view which pauses the game. Each mission has unique objectives, although most involve mass destruction. The enemy has production facilities which can crank out reinforcements on most levels, you can either destroy these or destroy their oil wells to cut off the flow of resources. Taking out AA cover will allow your powerful air units to wreak havoc almost anywhere on the island. Some of the weapons, like the warhammer mortar, have incredible ranges, allowing you to use a stealth buggy to act as a spotter while your heavy guns pound away from a distance. There's loads of strategic options available, and the action is solid, too. It's fun to pull an "Apocalypse Now" moment every once in a while and create a massive airforce of attack helicopters to lead into Epic Battle.
The game also has some really...different cinematics. It's hard what to make of them, they're really well done and acted, but its a tad jarring to go from a game that's all about large explosions and mass destruction to a the following cutscene:
The story is pretty engaging, and as you move deeper and deeper into the island chain strange things start to happen. My favorite cutscene follows. There's a minor spoiler, so don't watch it if you want to remain 100% surprised.
There's no multiplayer in the game, and it's not terribly replayable unless you want to relive some of the bigger battles. However, it's well worth the $5 and a remarkable piece of gaming history.
So what are you waiting for? Get both of them for $9, DRM free with as many downloads as you want.
Yeah, it's really like that in game.
So basically you're a displaced Wizard who wanders into a plane of feuding Gods, who all want you to serve them in return for power. Being the self serving sort, you pick and choose which God to ally yourself with before each mission. James, god of earth and generally good guy, might want you to go rescue some of his worshippers for example, whereas Pyro(god of fire and industry) is more likely to send you to conquer more territory for his factories. Each god has his or her own motivations, and none is truly good or evil.
One thing you'll notice is the absolutely stellar voice acting. I could go on an on about this so I won't. Suffice it to say that you should check out the Wikipedia entry on the game and see the voice acting credits. I will say this, though: It's always tempting to do whatever Stratos says because he's voiced by Tim Muthaf***ing Curry.
So during each mission, you run around the battlefield casting spells and summoning creatures. Unlike most RTS games, you participate in the battle on the ground, and your view is locked to where your character is. This is one of the more jarring aspects of the game, but it really works. There are two resources you must control, souls and mana. Mana comes spurting out of the ground and powers your ability to cast all spells. Souls are, well, souls of creatures. Each creature has its own soul count, lower level units cost 1, whereas the "ultimate" monstrosities cost up to 5. When a creature is killed, its soul(s) are left behind. A wizard can reclaim souls of his own creatures instantly, however to steal the souls of an oppenent's creatures he has to cast a "Convert" spell on them.
Oh, and when I said monstrosities, I mean monstrosities.
Take a look at this lovely fellow. This is a mutant. He is an aberration of nature who attacks his enemies by ripping off chunks of his rotting flesh and flinging them at foes where they explode into putrid clouds that both damage and poison their foes. Surely this is a servant of darkness? A corrupt fiend of some kind?
This unit belongs to Persephone, god of Nature, Peace, and Purity.
Actually, one of my favorite things about this game is its aesthetic. I think the best word to describe it is macabre. The game takes pleasure in flipping fantasy sterotypes on their heads. Take, for example, the Phoenix. Everybody picture a phoenix in your mind. Let me guess: big red bird, noble, brilliant plumage, possibly on fire.
Here's what Sacrifice calls a Phoenix:
Let's do another one, shall we? How about an Ent? Ents are great! Mighty tree people, guardians of the fores-HOLY MOTHER OF GOD WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING THAT IS STANDING THERE STARING AT ME
Basically the point is that there is nothing in this game that is not dark, twisted, and brutal.
"Noble"need not apply to Sacrifice. Even the Gods, the purest beings in the world, are scheming, backstabbing bastards who are willing to do anything for power. Your own character, Eldred, is running away from a demon he summoned in order to keep control on his home plane, 'cause he was a tyrannical despot terrorizing the populace (the Demon ate everything instead and is now pursuing him across the Astral plane. Whoops.) Hell, even the game mechanics are vicious - in order to kill a wizard, it's not just enough to reduce his health to zero (he'll come back.) What you have to do is sacrifice one of your creatures on his altar, desecrating it and banishing him from existence. It's black and macabre, and I love it.
It's not all doom and gloom, though. Sacrifice has a wonderful (if a bit black) sense of humor. There are puns scattered everywhere( The God of Earth is a giant Earthworm named James, while the Stratos the god of Air is a helium baloon wearing a robe. It works, ok?) some hilarious spells (such as Bovine Intervention, in which a giant cow is summoned, shooting into the sky and Swan diving onto a single opponent, obliterating it entirely - destroying its soul) and brilliant dialogue. Charnel, god of death, gets by far the best lines with perfectly dry delivery (Persephone: "Charnel! Death is not the answer to everything!" Charnel: "Yes...Torture also has its merits").
That's all well and good, but how does it play? Quite well, fortunately. You run around, summoning buildings called manaliths to control sources of mana, creatures to do battle, and spells to cause direct damage to creatures or other wizards. The interface takes some getting used to, but once you do its very smooth. There is a gesture based menu system that allows you to give orders, assign formations, and even control the camera with a flick of the wrist. It's a good thing that controls are smooth, because games can be incredibly chaotic, with creatures, spells, and debris flying left and right. This is a game which combines strategy and action in a delightful blend - good tactics will give you the edge in battles, while action skills will allow you to turn your wizard into your most powerful weapon. A good multiplayer battle often has one player gaining the advantage until the other spots an opportunity and seizes it, and the match often oscillates back and forth in a way that's much more satisfying than typical RTS rushes.
Speaking of multiplayer, another part of Sacrifice that I love and wish more games would implement is the spellbook. Normally in multipayer you select one god to ally with, and you get all the spells and creatures of that god. However, if you play through the singleplayer, you can ally yourself with a different God each mission. Each time you perform a mission for a God, you are given one Creature and one spell out of his/her arsenal. Thus, it's possible to mix and match creatures and spells to tailor a spellbook to your playstyle. For example, I like hit and run tactics, so in singleplayer I performed my first mission for stratos. This means in multiplayer, my level 1 units are fast and weak, and I get lightning as my basic damage spell. If I had chosen James, then I would get slow and tough 1st tier units and a rock-based damage spell. In order to prevent min/maxing and ultimate combos, Gods will cease to offer you missions if you've pissed them off by working for their enemies. It's really cool the way you can customize for online play- and you have to earn it, too!
This post is far too long already, and I still have another game to cover, so I'll just say one more thing and be on my way. The top-level spells in this game are Epic. James' spell, bore, removes a large chunk of the world temporarily. Stratos can summon a giant Tornado that can suck up entire armies, throwing the mall over the map. Persephone summons "Meanstalks," basically those giant tentacle dudes from Half-Life, except they throw things around. Charnel summons death, who kills the seven closest creatures - no matter how strong - then leaves. My favorite is Pyro's Volcano, which causes a Volcano to erupt wherever you want, burning away the sky and sending flaming debris across the map. Epic.
So go buy it. It costs less than an overpriced sugary coffee drink from Starbucks.
Next up is Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising. This game is a strange beast. It's one part action, one part strategy, and one part "Heart of Darkness." You control an "adaptive cruiser" which can manufacture its own fighting vehicles sent to destroy a Cabal attempting world domination. Each mission sees you gathering resources from battlefield debris, building units, and either piloting them yourself or loading them with a Soulcatcher chip.
You see, the cruiser you pilot isn't new. In fact, it was just raised from the bottom of the ocean. Its crew were all killed, but their minds were saved and stored on Soulcatcher chips. Thus every autonomous unit has its own distinct personality which affects everything from dialogue to how well they pilot various vehicles. Ransom, for example, is a bloodthirsty pilot who is deadly in a helicopter and prefers close in engagements. Stick him in a tank and he's not so great. If his helicopter gets destroyed, you can just build a new one and send him right back into battle. It's a pretty sweet deal, with one sticking point.
They're all lunatics. Yep, apparently the Soulcatcher mechanism has a ...destabilizing effect on the sanity of those who use it. Some of your soldiers were mentally unstable before they died, others simply resent being kept alive to fight. Some are just very, very, angry. Which makes it loads of fun to stick these madmen (and women) into warmachines and give them very large guns.
Leading the nuthouse into battle is great fun. You can hop into any vehicle at any time and take control of it, or let your AI's take care of buisiness. You can issue orders from the cockpit or from a strategical view which pauses the game. Each mission has unique objectives, although most involve mass destruction. The enemy has production facilities which can crank out reinforcements on most levels, you can either destroy these or destroy their oil wells to cut off the flow of resources. Taking out AA cover will allow your powerful air units to wreak havoc almost anywhere on the island. Some of the weapons, like the warhammer mortar, have incredible ranges, allowing you to use a stealth buggy to act as a spotter while your heavy guns pound away from a distance. There's loads of strategic options available, and the action is solid, too. It's fun to pull an "Apocalypse Now" moment every once in a while and create a massive airforce of attack helicopters to lead into Epic Battle.
The game also has some really...different cinematics. It's hard what to make of them, they're really well done and acted, but its a tad jarring to go from a game that's all about large explosions and mass destruction to a the following cutscene:
The story is pretty engaging, and as you move deeper and deeper into the island chain strange things start to happen. My favorite cutscene follows. There's a minor spoiler, so don't watch it if you want to remain 100% surprised.
There's no multiplayer in the game, and it's not terribly replayable unless you want to relive some of the bigger battles. However, it's well worth the $5 and a remarkable piece of gaming history.
So what are you waiting for? Get both of them for $9, DRM free with as many downloads as you want.
Web Clips for 6/10/09
Slow day today, sorry about that. I'm also not promising anything for Thursday as I have things to do. But Friday your patience will be rewarded with some game reviews and more fun stuff like that.
Anyway, here's what happens when you scan a mirror.
Play Left 4 Dead in split screen, on a PC.
The classic Doom, in your browser.
Also, stalk people.
Anyway, here's what happens when you scan a mirror.
Play Left 4 Dead in split screen, on a PC.
The classic Doom, in your browser.
Also, stalk people.
Web Clips for 6/9/09
Yup another (mainstream) Golden Age of Video Games article, making an argument for 2007.
Because I really do love the guy, here's Shamus Young on FPS mechanics, part 1 and part 2.
Another indie game that looks pretty sweet.
And once again, PC gaming is back.
Because I really do love the guy, here's Shamus Young on FPS mechanics, part 1 and part 2.
Another indie game that looks pretty sweet.
And once again, PC gaming is back.
The "Golden Age" of PC Gaming? O RLY?
Games As Art Part III: The State of The Medium
It's good.
For all my whining about sellout developers and an increased reliance on graphical fidelity to push massive numbers of units, videogames have never been healthier. This is mainly due to the wondrous tubes of the internet, which have at last given a digital medium a digital home.
For years, I bought games at retail outlets. Wal-Mart, BestBuy, Circuit City, CompUsa; even the occaisional EB games saw me purchasing a game. This was the standard for most of the life of videogaming - you go into a store, buy a box, and usually what you got was a CD jewelcase, a manual, and a couple of leaflets begging you to register (did anyone ever fill one of those out?)
The thing is, all of those are irrelevant to a digital game - the only thing that matters is the bytes on the disk. There is no "physical product" with a game. What you're buying is a specific arrangement of ones and zeros. So it makes no sense for the primary method of distribution to be constrained by such things.
Now don't get me wrong, I loved browsing through a shelf, flipping open the boxes, checking out screenshots, and all the other physical aspects of purchasing from a brick and mortar store. I even loved manuals, especially ones that were flavorful and more than just instruction leaflets. But damn it was bad for gaming. You know why games were usually either wildly successful or terrible flops? It's because there's only so much shelf space in a Wal-Mart for computer games, and the chain is only going to keep buying the large volume sellers. So unless your game was a mega hit, it was off the shelves - and thus, out of circulation - in a matter of weeks.
How many movies can you name that have had less than stellar box office performance but strong DVD sales? That sort of backup retail channel didn't exist for games before the internet.
Google "System Shock 2" and "sales" and you'll find that the majority of results pegs the game as a flop or "didn't meet sales expectations." You'd think the game lost EA a bunch of money, right?
Wrong. The game actually sold moderately well. It made a profit - just not a massive one. The key phrase is "sales expectations." SS2 didn't sell like Half-Life, and EA wanted a Half-Life. All big publishers want to make Halo - flashy and well done, but shallow enough to appeal to the largest demographics possible. So naturally that's what they're going to look for - and try and make. Warren Spector (who was lead for Deus Ex) is often quoted as saying "You don't want to know how many projects I've been told to 'just go make a shooter'. I had one publisher tell me 'you're not allowed to say 'story' any more." Basically, in the world of videogames, all the big boys want to make Summer Blockbusters.
The wonderful thing now is that it's ok to let EA crank out me-too sequels and rehashes of sports games, because thanks to the wonderful internet its possible for people to fill those gaps.
My favorite example is TaleWorld's Mount & Blade. This game was originally made by a husband and wife duo who wanted a medieval combat sim with realistic horse combat. Now, this is not exactly "Halo," so obviously there weren't any publishers willing to bite. So the couple basically sold the game as it was developed - you paid for the content available, then got free updates up until the game's release. I bought it about 5 years ago for $17, and it was rough, buggy, not pretty to look at- and incredibly fun. Apparently, other people thought so, too, as the game was entirely self-funded (even hiring new staff) up until the year of its release, at which point they gained the attention of Paradox Interactive who produced a boxed release. In true large publisher fashion, they decided that the game's art direction didn't have enough mass appeal, and so changed this:
To a much more palatable this:
The folks on the forums call this fellow "Frodogorn." This is pretty typical for a major publisher, trying to associate a product with a known seller (in this case, the Lord of the Rings,) in the process removing the very thing that would actually make the game sell (i.e., not being another Lord of The Rings knockoff.) In fact, you're not going to this image anywhere on the developer's website, because I think they're secretly embarased by it.
Nonetheless, this is a pretty inspiring tale. A small team makes a living designing a game according to their vision, relying not on publisher handouts with strings attached, but by community members who enjoy the game for what it is. In fact, the only publisher-mandated change that occuured was that atrocious box art, and honestly, some shitty packaging is not that big a deal when your core base bought the game digitally. That's the key - digitally. This entire endeavor was possible because Taleworlds could sell small increments of software without having to mail and print manuals, boxes, cd's, and the like. And the community was so devoted because the internet allowed them to be in close contact with the developers. Having played each major release from .650 to 1.1, I can personally attest to the fact that the developers and players have both benefited from constant contact with each other.
Steam and Impulse have allowed small developers to access powerful retail channels. Digital distribution doesn't have shelf space - there's no real difference in costs between hosting 10 games or 1000 apart from bandwidth and storage space, items which both companies already have plenty of.
So yea, videogames are going strong. In fact, I'd say that the medium is only now entering its true potential.
To a much more palatable this:
The folks on the forums call this fellow "Frodogorn." This is pretty typical for a major publisher, trying to associate a product with a known seller (in this case, the Lord of the Rings,) in the process removing the very thing that would actually make the game sell (i.e., not being another Lord of The Rings knockoff.) In fact, you're not going to this image anywhere on the developer's website, because I think they're secretly embarased by it.
Nonetheless, this is a pretty inspiring tale. A small team makes a living designing a game according to their vision, relying not on publisher handouts with strings attached, but by community members who enjoy the game for what it is. In fact, the only publisher-mandated change that occuured was that atrocious box art, and honestly, some shitty packaging is not that big a deal when your core base bought the game digitally. That's the key - digitally. This entire endeavor was possible because Taleworlds could sell small increments of software without having to mail and print manuals, boxes, cd's, and the like. And the community was so devoted because the internet allowed them to be in close contact with the developers. Having played each major release from .650 to 1.1, I can personally attest to the fact that the developers and players have both benefited from constant contact with each other.
Steam and Impulse have allowed small developers to access powerful retail channels. Digital distribution doesn't have shelf space - there's no real difference in costs between hosting 10 games or 1000 apart from bandwidth and storage space, items which both companies already have plenty of.
So yea, videogames are going strong. In fact, I'd say that the medium is only now entering its true potential.
Web Clips for 6/8/09
For those of you drafting a political speech, a lorem ipsum generator.
A usefull list of defenitions to some common (and some intermediate) BitTorrent terms.
Staying along with the quotes theme, some classy insults.
And finally, build a simple linux home file server.
A usefull list of defenitions to some common (and some intermediate) BitTorrent terms.
Staying along with the quotes theme, some classy insults.
And finally, build a simple linux home file server.
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