Tag: PC Gaming

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

A stupid vendor sent me the wrong part, so my broken television is still broken. Thankfully, Insomniac’s Outernauts is here to save my weekend! This Facebook game is like a sci-fi Pokemon. Insomniac + Pokemon gameplay = Bliss. My Google Nexus 7 is still getting lots of play. The excellent Jazz: Trump’s Journey is on sale for 99 cents (sale ends today!) and the Nexus 7’s Tegra 3 processor handles it with aplomb. If you’re not familiar with the game, it’s a platformer loosely based on the life of Louis Armstrong — you know, that part of his life spent running, jumping, collecting things, and stopping time with his trumpet. Between Outernauts and Jazz, I’ll be a happy gamer this weekend.

How about you? What’s on your weekend playlist?

Support GaymerCon 2013 Through Kickstarter

Set to take place from August 3-4, 2013 in San Francisco is GaymerCon. The show is open to gamers of all genders, races, and sexual identities, but will obviously focus on the LGBT videogame community. To help make the event the best it can be, the organizers have put together a Kickstarter pitch. Check out an excerpt from the pitch and the (funny) video below.

We are creating a convention where all types of geeks can come together, meet others like them, and have a blast without having to worry about what their peers think of them or being discriminated against.. We will have exhibitor space, cosplay, guest speakers, live music, panel discussions on topics that are directly relevant to our interests, gaming industry professionals who support including queer content in their products, social events, and of course…GAMING!

We want to be clear this isn’t just for gay white dudes either. We want all genders, races, and sexual identities including our straight friends and allies to come together and have a gay, geeky good time. We believe very strongly that creating a space like this is not only important for building a strong community, but also showing new generations of gaymers that there are others like them out there, they are not alone, and there is a welcoming place for them, not just at GaymerCon, but as part of the larger gaming community.

GaymerCon 2013 will take place whether the organizers make their Kickstarter goal or not. I love that this show is happening and will make a pledge in the near future. I hope some of you do too. If you’ve ever played games online then you know that there are many homophobic and bigoted gamers out there. It’s awesome that gay gamers will have an expo that aims to be a “more tolerant and safer space in gaming”.

The Oculus Rift VR Headset Makes a Splash on Kickstarter

The latest Kickstarter gaming project getting buzz is the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset. I’m sure that some of you are having flashbacks to ‘Nam the horrendous Virtual Boy right about now, but the Rift is getting support from industry heavy-hitters like id’s John Carmack, Valve’s Gabe Newell, and Epic’s Clifford Bleszinski. Oculus claims that the Rift offers “an incredibly wide field of view, high resolution display, and ultra-low latency head tracking”. Check out the video below for more information on this hot Kickstarter project.

Bleszinski mentioned that Epic is working on Unreal Engine support for the Oculus Rift. Unity CEO David Helgason is also featured in the video, showing support for the project. That’s tremendous. A ton of developers — ranging from small indie teams to dev teams with hundreds of people — create games with Unreal Engine and Unity. Being able to make games with two major engines bodes well for the future of the Rift.

I know that many of you are down on 3D gaming on consoles and PC. How about VR gaming with a headset? Is the Oculus Rift something you’d by and/or support on Kickstarter?

Bethesda and Symbiote Team Up For Toys

Bethesda has announced that Symbiote will be making a line of toys based on The Elder Scrolls, Dishonored, Doom, Quake, and Fallout franchises. Skyrim fans will want to pick up the Dragonborn figurine, which will be available later this month. QuakeCon 2012 attendees that ordered the Swag Pack will get the sweet QuakeCon Symbiote figure pictured below.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Dragonborn figure retails for $9.99 and is available for pre-order on Symbiote’s web site.

I’d love to hear your ideas for Bethesda Symbiote toys. Which Bethesda heroes or baddies would you like to see as a toy? Personally, I’d love to see real-life Bethesda and id people as toys. I would buy John Carmack, Todd Hollenshead, and Todd Howard Symbiote action figures in a heartbeat!

World of Warcraft Mega Bloks Available Now

Blizzard has announced that World of Warcraft Mega Bloks toys are available now. I wrote about these sweet toys back in April and have been psyched for their release. For those of you not familiar with Mega Bloks, they’re toys that you assemble, similar to LEGO. Now you can reconstruct and deconstruct the Lich King whenever you feel like it!

A number of WoW Mega Bloks sets are available, including:

  • Deathwing’s Stormwind Assault
  • Colton
  • Ironoak
  • Ragerock
  • Valoren
  • Flying Machine
  • Goblin Trike
  • Swift Wyvern
  • Swift Griffon
  • Barrens Chase
  • Sindragosa and the Lich King
  • Demolisher Attack
  • Goblin Zeppelin Ambush

Any of you planning to pick up some Wow Mega Bloks?

New Characters Revealed For Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition

Overhaul Games has listed new features and a new adventure for the highly anticipate Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition. The big surprise was a trio of new characters (more on them in a sec). The company claims that it will implement more than 400 improvements, including new cinematics, gameplay features from Baldur’s Gate 2 (class kits!), improved multiplayer, and more. The new adventure is called “The Black Pits” and revolves around the machinations of a mad drow named Baeloth. (Aside from Drizzt Do’Urden, are there any drow that aren’t mad? Perhaps they all need more fiber.)

As for the new characters, here are excerpts from their descriptions:

Rasaad yn Bashir
Rasaad is a Calishite Monk demonstrating his monastic arts to the people of Nashkel. His quest ultimately leads into the highest reaches of the Cloud Peaks, where he must face an unexpected nemesis. Add him to your Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition experience to unleash the Monk’s extraordinary power.

Neera the Wild Mage
Neera is a half-elf wild mage slowly coming to terms with her enormous magical potential. Add her to your Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition experience and ignite your wild side.

Dorn Il-Khan
Dorn is a half-orc Blackguard whose otherworldly patron grants him terrible powers in the form of his black sword and unholy spells. Add him to your Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition and inflict evil to the last corpse.

I highly recommend heading over to the Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition web site for the full descriptions of these three characters and more details on the improvements mentioned above. The game will be available in September for Windows PC, Mac OS, and iOS, with an Android version coming at a later date.

As a huge Baldur’s Gate mark (played the game through 18 times!), I am so amped for enhanced version. I’m probably going to pick up both the OS X and iOS versions. This is one of my favorites games of all time and the only one I know of that prominently features a miniature giant space hamster. Hopefully these new characters understand the proper way to treat miniature giant space hamsters.

Any of you psyched for Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition? Any of the new characters catch your eye?

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Coffee Talk #504: Your Favorite Olympic Videogames

The 2012 Olympics begins today! Most of you have been feverishly anticipating the dramatic showdowns in the synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics competitions. Please put those thoughts aside to talk about your favorite Olympic videogames! Whether you’re talking about the summer games vs. winter games or simulation vs. Mario and Sonic, there have been loads of Olympic videogames released over the years. What are some of your favorites?

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, your favorite summer alcoholic beverage, curtains vs. blinds, or if Tebow-mania will be better or worse now that he’s a bench player in NY, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

The 2012 Olympics begins today! Most of you have been feverishly anticipating the dramatic showdowns in the synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics competitions. Please put those thoughts aside to talk about your favorite Olympic videogames! Whether you’re talking about the summer games vs. winter games or simulation vs. Mario and Sonic, there have been loads of Olympic videogames released over the years. What are some of your favorites?

As for me, I’m going to take it back to the Commodore 64 era. I have fond memories of playing Epyx’s Summer Games and Winter Games with my friends. Back then, multiplayer consisted of passing around the joystick or taking turns on the keyboard. Between the multiplayer fun and the wide variety of events, I’ll never forget playing Epyx’s awesome Olympic games.

How about you? What are some of your favorite Olympic games?

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

The parts I need to fix my television haven’t arrived yet, so it’s possible that I won’t be able to use my consoles this weekend. That sucks since there are a bunch of games I want to play. The good news is that my iPad is serving me well for television and gaming. Between the HBO Go and Time Warner Cable apps, I haven’t really missed any of the shows I usually watch. As always, I’m playing a ton of Civilization Revolution. That’s been joined by several rounds of Skylanders Cloud Patrol. If the parts for my TV don’t arrive this weekend, I’ll be perfectly content playing several iPad games and watching videos through apps.

How about you? What’s on your weekend playlist?

Symphony: A Cool PC Shooter That Uses Your Music

Empty Clip Studios has announced that its upcoming PC game Symphony will be available on August 6, 2012 for $9.99. The game is a trippy bullet-hell shooter with a twist: it uses the music on your PC. Customary features include funky visuals, ship upgrades, and a variety of weapons to blow up random objects with. Levels are randomly generated depending on the song you select. Here’s more from the press release:

Melodies, beats and emotion drive everything in Symphony, one of the most intense music-based games to date. In this vertical-shooter, players select music from their own collections, with each song creating a unique battlefield. Making their way through their own custom-created playlists, players customize their ship, discover and upgrade items to defeat bosses and ultimately, liberate the “Symphony of Souls” from a mysterious entity and reclaim their music.

After being enchanted by Dyad for the last couple of weeks, I’m totally down with more shooters with psychedelic graphics. I’m especially looking forward to changing things up by mixing an eclectic mix of artists. My initial plan is to start with A Tribe Called Quest, move onto Simon and Garfunkel, and wrap up my first gameplay session with Metallica.

Check out the gameplay clip below and please let me know if you’re interested in Symphony. What songs and artists in your music collection would you like to mash up in the game?

South Park: The Stick of Truth Screens

Here are a bunch of screenshots from South Park: The Stick of Truth, an upcoming RPG being developed by Obsidian Entertainment and set to be published by THQ on March 5, 2012. It plays like an old-school RPG, features the distinct South Park art style, and is being written by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. On paper, this game should be awesome. I can’t wait for it! How about you?

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