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Entries from June 24th, 2009

Three Moves Ahead Episode 18 — Franchise Diagnosis Day

June 24th, 2009 · 11 Comments · Podcast, Three Moves Ahead

This week, the panel takes the pulse of strategy franchises. What makes you strong? What makes you weak? And is any particular franchise in trouble? We also give you a preview of our next epic multiplayer gaming experience. Will Tom and Julian redeem themselves after such a terrible showing last time? Not with this game. […]

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Sims 3 and Religion: The Answer that Isn’t

June 23rd, 2009 · 43 Comments · Electronic Arts, Maxis, Religion

Give Tom Chick credit. He’s not afraid to ask the obvious question that puts people on the spot. Okay, well let me ask you about another tricky issue. Something that I think is conspicuously absent from The Sims is something very important in many people’s day-to-day lives. That’s religion. How come the Sims has never […]

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Magic: the Gathering on the 360

June 23rd, 2009 · 5 Comments · Card Games

Since we devoted an entire podcast to collectible card games and one of the highlights was a fight between Tom and Julian over why Magic sucks, I really should be playing the new 360 version. Or maybe not. Over at GWJ, Julian Murdoch writes about why the game is addictive but not quite fulfilling. Punch […]

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Empire: Total War DLC Disappoints

June 22nd, 2009 · 3 Comments · Creative Assembly, Patches

I’ll still defend Empire: Total War to whomever wants to listen, but there is a bit of a consensus that the early reviews – mine included – were too generous to the game. Whatever. I like a lot of what it does and have continued to enjoy it in spite of the bugs in the […]

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The Return of SimEarth

June 22nd, 2009 · 8 Comments · Consoles, Electronic Arts, Maxis

I’ve always described SimEarth as a better text book than game – if you took the time to understand how everything fit together, you could learn a lot about evolution, photosynthesis, the greenhouse effect, etc. As a game, there were just too many things to juggle. Now you can download the TurboGrafX 16 CD-ROM version […]

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You Win This Round, Elven Legacy

June 20th, 2009 · 12 Comments · Me

Elven Legacy is one of those games that infuriates me. It is very traditional, which I like. It’s a hex-based fantasy wargame/RPG with elves and orcs and all that rubbish. But it is also one of the most difficult games I’ve played this year. It isn’t difficult in the sense of hard to play or […]

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