March 2011
3 posts
Duke Nukem Forever includes butt-slapping "Capture... →
I’m ashamed to note that Postal 2 had Capture the Babe mode years ago. And yes, it was a funny variation from the normal Capture the Flag - especially if you played as a team of catholic priests.
I’m starting to feel that DNF is trying too hard. It’s a shame that Duke Nukem Forever was so long in development that the whole culture and values around games changed in the...
February 2011
10 posts
Back to the Future: The Game
The second episode of BTTG:TG is up on Telltale’s site (or Steam) and that means that the cheapskates like me (and you, if you got the promo code back in December or so). can get our dirty paws on the first episode for free.
However, just as I was planning to download the first episode, I realized that there was a Mac version of Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People out too...
Jonathan Blow interview: Do you believe social... →
PC Gamer: I think you said you don’t like [social] being attributed to some of those games?
Jonathan Blow: Well, they’re not very social. A game like World of Warcraft or Counter-Strike or whatever is way more social. Because you actually meet new people in clans or guilds. You go do activities together and help each other out, right?
[With certain social games] it’s about the game...
Neologisms
I ended my previous rant on social games with
I find this classification [of games to casual, social and hardcore] both stupid and harmful.
I feel the need to rant a bit more and flesh out my argument.
In addition, there are serious games, or games whose primary goal is not to entertain, but for example to educate or which are used in simulations. I think Wii Fit matches those conditions....
I completely forgot that there are many adventure games that feature a female lead. Notable mentions include:
Sierra’s Laura Bow (and its sequel)
The Longest Journey (and its sequel)
Syberia (and its sequel)
King’s Quest VII: The Princeless Bride
Secret Files: Tunguska
Phantasmagoria.
In addition the platformers America McGee’s Alice, Jill of the Jungle and Great Giana...
Fat, Ugly or Slutty →
Some players like to send creepy, disturbing, insulting, degrading and/or just plain rude messages to other online players, usually women.
Seriously. Where Why Was I Banned is downright hilarious (prime example), the people featured in FUoS just go to prove the John Gabriel’s Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory.
Video games are some serious business… for real men.
Company of Heroes: Online cancelled →
A couple of weeks ago it was announced that COH:O’s “beta” period would end by the end of March and then next steps would evaluated. Gamespot has the news from THQ that the game along with an online WWE game were cancelled. It’s a shame, but doesn’t really surprise me as I didn’t really see why I’d spend any money on the game. This turn of events does...
Duty Calls - The Calm Before the Storm
Not only did they make a full parody of the “Believe” Halo advertisement, the guys at Epic pushed out Duty Calls, a parody game of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and other full-on realistic modern warfare first person shooters.
The game is fun, for as long as it lasts. Too bad, downloading and installing the game take both longer than the game. As does the Bulletstorm advertisement...
January 2011
14 posts
WatchExtra Credits on the curious creature called Gamer. I do agree that it has a lot of negative connotations and it’s a bit strange title.
Zynga, Digital Chocolate and other Facebook...
I have been putting off writing this post and by now FarmVille is probably on a terminal decline. However, it looks like these guys have learned a thing or two from Gillette when it comes to product lifecycle management. There’s now CityVille, FrontierVille, CaféWorld and so on.
A quite long time ago I started to play FarmVille, for scientific purposes. For scientific purposes I also...
1 tag
DeathSpank
One of my planned acquisitions from last year’s Steam Christmas sales was DeathSpank. It’s an Action-RPG, like all games these days, but I think a better description is that it’s a bit like the various Diablo II followers, Torchlight and Titan Quest. With a bit of Monkey Island in there.
DeathSpank first appeared on Ron Gilbert’s blog as one of his comics, Grumpy Gamer...
Playing Half-Life 2
I’m currently somewhere around Ravenholm.
Zombie thingies, fire, sawblades, limited ammunition and finally, shotgun. It is a bit scary in the “do I really want to play this game anymore?”, tedious way. I think one part of that feeling is based on the fact that I’m just trying to finish this game but I’m failing to get into it.
I think I remember that I felt...
InnerChildGamer: Female protagonists are not to be... →
An interesting take on the female protagonist thing on InnerChildGamer. It takes a bit of a different view than my previous article. The author argues that the female gamer demographic is actually quite large and has presence in the game retail space and this would mean the publishers’ fear of female protagonists failing to capture large audience is wrong.
The argument in the linked...
Wired's Vaporware 2010 Awards →
I missed this when it was published, but this is the last year Duke Nukem Forever is on the list (with all probability). It’s an emotional thing.
2 tags
Portal, Mirror's Edge and female leads
Portal and Mirror’s Edge were both games that I wanted to like and play, but for some reason I just put them off until I got Portal for free when Steam launched on Mac and I bought Mirror’s Edge about a year ago for some ridiculously low amount of money. They both wanted to show something new and exciting.
To make that “new stuff” point as clear as possible, the main...
