Videogames Archives - Page 6 of 178

Coffee Talk #611: Five Things I Liked From CES 2014

The 2014 Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2014) is wrapping up and tech nerds are still recovering from being inundated by awesome announcements. Looking through the retroscope, I wish I had gone to this year’s show. It had the expected technology and gaming announcements I expected. What surprised me was the amount of vaping goods on display. Gah! Before I plan for CES 2015, let’s take a look back at five announcements I liked from CES 2014…continued

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, the fraudulent NY Knicks giving fans false hope with their fluke win over the Miami Heat, the Broadway musical based on the lyrics of Tupac Shakur, or the unfortunate news of Emma Watson dating some fool rugby player, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

WWE Network: I wrote about the CES 2014 WWE Network announcement yesterday and I’m still jazzed about the news. This streaming-video service is a dream come true for marks, smarts, and smarks. For $10 a month you get all 12 live WWE pay-per-view events, some original programming, and on-demand access to classic pro-wrestling matches. Hell, I’d pay $10 a month just to watch Ric Flair’s vast library of five-star matches.
First-Gen Steam Machines: Valve-powered Steam Machines are potentially disruptive for the entire videogame universe. Steam Machines could dratically change things for gamers, game developers, and game publishers. I was thrilled to see that first-gen Steam Machines will be coming from top hardware vendors at a broad range of prices. Steam Machines are on the way from Alienware, CyberPowerPC, Digital Storm, Falcon NW ,GigaByte, iBuyPower, Origin PC, and others.
T-Mobile Pays For ETFs: T-Mobile USA’s John Legere is easily the most entertaining CEO in technology today. I love his bold moves and juvenile antics. Some of the things he does aren’t exactly professional, but damn they’re funny. It was hilarious that he crashed AT&T’s CES 2014 party…and promptly got kicked out. In a serious move, I dig the latest step in T-Mobile’s “Uncarrier” initiative: paying early-termination fees (ETFs) for customers moving from AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon to T-Mobile. It’s just the latest in a number of aggressive moves from carrier.
Razer Project Christine: Speaking of bold and aggressive, I’m absolutely smitten with Razer’s Project Christine concept design that was unveiled at CES 2014. This modular PC chassis looks amazingly cool and is extremely practical. It makes upgrading and expanding a PC’s capabilities a snap. Even though I’m mostly a Mac guy these days, I’d love to get a Project Christine PC for when I’m working on PC games.
PlayStation Now: The Gaikai streaming-videogame service will be reborn as PlayStation Now. In addition to streaming older PlayStation games to PlayStation consoles, the service will be built into select Bravia televisions. This is a fantastic value-added feature for casual gamers that want to play videogames every now and then, but aren’t into it enough to buy a dedicated machine. It could even serve as a gateway service and create born-again gamers. It’s a very cool and very smart move from Sony.

How about you guys and dolls? What CES 2014 product or service announcements did you enjoy?

Coffee Talk #609: Your Most Wanted Videogame of 2014

2014 should be an excellent year for videogames. There should be more mature (in terms of development) games for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Wii U. The Steam Box is a potentially industry-changing product that will be out this year. Mobile games keep getting better and better. Put it all together and we should have all kinds of gaming awesomeness. My question for you on this fine day is this: what’s your most wanted videogame of 2014…continued

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, the Knicks/Nets giving fans false hope with their fluke 2014 stars, figuring out how to review luggage, or the glory of broccoli, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

As for me, the answer couldn’t be easier. I’m all about Dragon Age: Inquisition. I loved the first game and enjoyed the second game way more than most. Hell, I’m even enjoying the mobile game Heroes of Dragon Age, despite its numerous flaws. I’m just heavily invested in the world of Dragon Age (yes, I’ve read some of the books) and as a lifelong fan of BioWare, I can’t wait to see where the story goes from here. In my head, the game will be a near-perfect mix of great storytelling, deep gameplay, and unforgettable characters. Dragon Age: Inquisition is easily my most wanted videogame of 2014 and I suspect that it will end up being my 2014 game of the year.

How about you, dear RPadholics? What games are you looking forward to the most this year? What’s your most wanted videogame of 2014? Please let me know in the comments section.

Coffee Talk #607: Your 2013 Game of the Year

The good news for 2013 is that I played seven games in hardcore mode. By hardcore mode, I’m talking at least 40 hours per game. That bad news (for the purposes of writing this column, anyway) is that five of them were for consulting jobs, so I can’t really state opinions on those games. In a year filled with peak games for the last generation of consoles and two new systems released at the tail end of the year, my favorite game was for…wait for it…continued

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, the crazy injury bug plaguing the NBA, the hottest female MMA fighter, or what makes Greek yogurt Greek, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

I’m talking about Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition, of course. As many of you know, I’m a huge mark for the old BioWare and this game in particular. When the original was first released, I spent hundreds of hours playing the game. With the Enhanced Edition, I spent dozens of hours reliving one of my favorite games ever, but with updated graphics, a pair of new characters, and updated gameplay features. And I loved every second of it. Yeah, it might seem totally dated to newer games, but for me Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition was sheer bliss. The writing, gameplay, and characters brought me so much joy in 2013 that it was easily my 2013 game of the year.

Naturally, I don’t expect any of you to have the same answer. That’s what makes us the unique snowflakes that we are. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to hear about your personal 2013 game of the year. I absolutely do! I’m excited to hear about the videogames that dazzled you in 2013. Kindly share your 2013 game of the year in the comments section.

Let’s Play Heroes of Dragon Age!

For the last few months, I’ve been playing a ton of Let’s Play Heroes of Dragon Age. For professional reasons, I can’t review the game, but I’d love for you RPadholics to give it a shot. It’s available on iTunes for iOS devices and Google Play for Android devices. So please, please, please give it a download and give the game some time. When you’re done with that, kindly share your (completely unfiltered) thoughts on the game in the comments section.

For those of you that need more information, Heroes of Dragon Age is a strategy game of sorts. You take a team of characters and (kind of) battle your way through different parts of the Dragon Age universe. Different periods of history are explored. There’s a huge collectible aspect to the game as well. You’ll be able to earn or buy some really cool characters — including heroes and villains from the videogames.

Here’s an excerpt from the official description:

Collect the heroes. Become a legend! Build a party of famous warriors and epic monsters from Dragon Age lore. Battle other players in strategic, CCG-inspired 3D combat. Fight bosses on engaging quests from the award-winning, dark fantasy RPG games.

Like I said, I’ve been playing a ton of Heroes of Dragon Age. Part of it is due to habits developed from work and part of it is that I’m addicted to collecting the characters (it’s the Pokemon nerd in me). I love the Dragon Age role-playing games and while I can’t say that I love Heroes of Dragon Age, I admit that I’m addicted to it — worts and all.

But I’ve probably said too much. Ha! That’s where you come in. Let’s do this as a fun group activity. I’d super appreciate it if you gave the game a whirl. Please note that the early going is slow and you’ll probably need to spend a couple of hours with it before things get interesting. At that point, I’m sure you guys and gals will have lots of interesting things to say about the game. Fire away (please)!

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

I got back from Hawaii this week and it’s off to Asia next week. Unfortunately, I won’t have any time for console games this weekend. There’s too much work and laundry to be done before takeoff. I will be playing lots of Heroes of Dragon Age on my iPhone 5. Yesterday, I posted a link to an interview my buddy Paul Semel conducted with Heroes of Dragon Age producer ~~Zoo~~ Joe Lander. I urge you to download the game so that we can have a little experiment on RPad.TV. It’ll be a neat little project for all of us! Just in case you’re rocking an Android phone or tablet, here’s the Google Play link for the game.

So in addition to Heroes of Dragon Age, what’s on your weekend playlist?

Heroes of Dragon Age Interview

My buddy Paul Semel of PaulSemel.com has an excellent interview with Heroes of Dragon Age producer Tim Lander. For those of you not familiar with the game, Heroes of Dragon Age (Android, iOS) mixes strategy and collectible-card gameplay. It uses several characters, races, and locations from the Dragon Age universe, expanding on some of the rich history that was merely touched on in the games.

I urge you to check out the interview…for several reasons. As many of you know, I’m a mark for the Dragon Age series, but I also have a professional interest in this particular title. In fact, I’m going to ask several of you RPadholics to play it for a completely informal focus group of sorts. I really, really want your opinions on this game.

Oh yeah, here’s a snippet from the interview (please read the whole thing when you have a chance!):

Capital Games have a history of making deeply strategic experiences, and since fans of Dragon Age are also looking for a deeply strategic experience, it was a natural fit. Our focus then simply became creating an experience that was easy to play but hard to master, with accessible gameplay, visually stunning graphics, and an experience made for phones and tablets.

I’m most excited about making Heroes Of Dragon Age continue to be an incredible experience for our players. These games have long life spans, and we’re dedicated to providing additional content, both in terms of new features and additional characters after launch. We want to give them lots of reasons to come back to the game and keep playing for years to come.

I’ll start another story shortly for your assorted thoughts on Heroes of Dragon Age. Now I’m going to bug Paul about why he didn’t lead with the obvious introductory statement: “Tim Lander. I think I know your brother, Zoo!”

Source

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

Sadly, it doesn’t look like I’ll be playing much of anything this weekend, aside from mobile games. I’ve been having stupid electrical problems in my apartment. From Sunday night to Thursday morning, I didn’t have power at all. LADWP checked out my circuits on Wednesday and fixed things as best they could. It looks like the wiring in my place is shot. I’ll have power for two or three hours and then the circuit breaker will hit. I have to close all the circuits in my place, go to the electric room in the garage and reset my circuit there, flip back all the circuits in my apartment, lather, and repeat as needed. So yeah, this kind of sucks. It makes uploading video files extremely difficult. It makes long console gaming sessions impossible. It also means that I shouldn’t leave anything perishable in the refrigerator unless I plan on being around my apartment the whole time to babysit circuits. There are certainly worse problems to have, but this one is quite annoying.

So kindly cheer me up by letting me know what’s on your weekend playlist!

The Banner Saga Finally Gets a Release Date

Stoic Studio’s The Banner Saga was the first videogame Kickstarter project I backed. I made the decision to contribute $25 to the game’s development back in April 2012. The initial pitch said that The Banner Saga would be published in November 2012. Numerous delays, feature additions, mismanagement, and opposing lunar tides have caused the game to be delayed…several times…and several times more. Stoic Studio has finally committed to a hard release date for The Banner Saga and has announced it with a fancy launch trailer (embedded below). The Banner Saga is finally landing on January 14, 2014.

There are several takeaways from my experience with The Banner Saga. I’ve learned to be more skeptical of Kickstarter pitches. As a fan of creators (of all kinds), I went into the project with an extremely naive attitude. It never occurred to me that most of these pitches over-promise and under-deliver. I loved the romantic ideals behind these pitches and blinded myself to reality. Kickstarter was going to give developers freedom, unshackling them from publishers that stifled their wondrous creativity with monetary demands and obligations to shareholders. Unfortunately…

…most of these developers need to be shackled by publishers. There are a few independent publishers that are totally capable of making a game on time and on budget. They’re the minority. Kickstarter pitches have shown that most developers need a babysitter to keep them on track. When left to their own devices, most of these companies are behind schedule and/or over budget. While many creators yearn for freedom, the reality is that many of them need an overlord to keep them in check. While a lot of what I’ve written in the past has been pro-developer and anti-publisher, please don’t think I’m discounting the role and importance of videogame publishers.

All that said, I wasn’t really bothered by The Banner Saga’s numerous delays. I expected some of them and after a while I totally forgot that the game existed. I’m happy that it’s coming out next month and looking forward to playing it. As a fan of tactical RPGs like Final Fantasy Tactics, Disgaea, and Ogre Battle, I loved the ideas behind this Norse-themed tactical RPG. I gave the developers $25 because I thought The Banner Saga would be a fun game to play and wanted to see it published. Sure, it took much longer than I thought it would, but I’m getting what I paid for.

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

In the immortal words of Mitch Taylor, “This is it!” After battling a slight cold, lots of video editing, and a side project, I’m finally — finally! — going to start Beyond: Two Souls this weekend. The timing is excellent. GDC Next and Blizzcon are right around the corner. I should be getting review units of the Nexus 5 and (thanks to a special favor — love you!) iPad Air next week. There’s even a small chance that I’ll snag a consulting job that’ll take me out of the country. All of those things would have gotten in the way of Beyond: Two Souls. Thankfully, the imperfect storm of activities won’t hit until next week. This weekend, it’s all about (hopefully) falling in love with Quantic Dream again.

So how about you? What’s on your weekend playlist?

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

Gah! This was supposed to be the weekend where I finally start Beyond: Two Souls. Unfortunately, I was a little sick after Vapetoberfest 2013 and am way behind in video editing. Part of it was from the germs that float around any convention and part of it was that I often had to yell because of the frickin’ speakers at the show. Ah, it happens. RPadholic N8R and I had a good time, and got a bunch of fun content.

Anyway, my goal is to finish all the Vapetoberfest 2013 videos by Sunday. Hopefully, I won’t be too tired to start Beyond…and won’t be too distracted by Eastbound and Down. *sigh* I’m not going to get to play the game until next weekend, hey?

So how about you? What’s on your weekend playlist?