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Entries from September 2007

Galactic Assault Review

September 30th, 2007 · 1 Comment

My review of Galactic Assault: Prisoner of Power is now up at Gamesquad.
I give this a cautious recommendation. While much better than I thought it would be, I’ll admit to having very low expectations. The campaign missions have really tight restrictions on time and units and the difficulty slope goes vertical toward the end of […]

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Tags: Review · StrZone/XtrGamer

GFW Debut

September 26th, 2007 · 14 Comments

My first (and hopefully not final) contribution to Games for Windows Magazine finally arrived today. With Bruce Geryk running around the country saving lives, he asked me to fill in for him for a Tom v Bruce article. So this month, it’s Tom versus Troy playing Beyond the Sword.
It’s a great honor to pinch hit […]

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Tags: CGW

BAFTA Game Nominees

September 25th, 2007 · 5 Comments

The BAFTA Nominations for best games in 2007 have been announced. Full list is over here.
The strategy and simulation nominees are:
Command & Conquer:Tiberium Wars (Xbox 360) - (Electronic Arts LA/Electronic Arts)
Forza Motorsport 2 (Xbox 360) - (Turn 10/Microsoft Game Studios)
Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms (PC) - (The Creative Assembly/SEGA)
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas (Xbox 360) […]

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Tags: Awards

Halo Wars: Cracking the Console Nut

September 24th, 2007 · 2 Comments

Soren Johnson has posted his thoughts on the future of real time strategy on the console side of the industry, inspired by a video of Ensemble’s Halo Wars in action. The money quote:
At the very end of the video, however, there is a tiny suggestion of just how fun an RTS could be on a […]

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Tags: Design · Ensemble · RTS

A Lesson in Old Fogeyism

September 20th, 2007 · 2 Comments

Nostalgia is a pleasant sensation. If it weren’t, I wouldn’t be searching for all my old college mates on Facebook. Nostalgia is the illusion that things were once better than they are now or, perversely, that things we find ridiculous today have some sort of kitsch value.
It’s worth keeping in mind that it was ever […]

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Tags: Industry

Gamers’ Bookshelf: I, Claudius et al

September 19th, 2007 · 6 Comments

It’s been 30 years since the BBC adaptation of Robert Graves’ historical novels I, Claudius and Claudius the God was broadcast on Public Television’s Masterpiece Theatre. The series remains well-loved and stands as one of the great mini-series in a time when everyone on broadcast television was doing mini-series. The format seems to have been […]

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Tags: Gamer's Bookshelf · History

” This is the best PC game of the year, so far.”

September 19th, 2007 · No Comments

Bioshock?
No, World in Conflict.
Or at least that’s what Jason Ocampo is telling me in the second screen caption.
There’s no well-developed skirmish mode in the game (the bots are beyond hopeless) so it’s very unlikely a hermit like myself will rate it that highly.

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Tags: RTS · Review

The Glowing Circles of Destiny

September 17th, 2007 · 1 Comment

Warfare is, ultimately, about area control. You need to seize and hold specific regions and kill anything that prevents you from keeping them. Tactics will decide how you go about taking control and exercising your material influence in a given zone.
So why do RTS games insist on glowing circle of destiny? Whether it’s moving a […]

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Tags: RTS

Thoughts on a Ballpark

September 17th, 2007 · 1 Comment

Saturday night, I went to the Braves-Nationals game, probably my final game at RFK. Next year, a new stadium opens on the waterfront, paid for by the tax dollars of the citizens of Washington DC, because I guess they have money to throw around in the hope that it will lead to business development.
I will […]

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Tags: Design

On the Origins of Species

September 13th, 2007 · 3 Comments

Via Scott Krol, Gamespy has an article from John Keefer about the wargames of the past and their connection to the cons we know and love.
I was reading the article (and Krol’s fact checking) as I took a break from writing my review of Armageddon Empires. Then it hit me why wargaming and serious strategy […]

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Tags: Design · Wargames