PCGamer’s Dan Stapleton returns to help Troy and Rob make sense of 2010. Why Starcraft 2 matters, why Troy resents DLC, the magic of Achtung Panzer and why Rob has no idea what is coming out this year.
Three Moves Ahead Episode 98: 2010 in Review and Looking Ahead
January 7th, 2011 by Troy Goodfellow · 8 Comments · Podcast, Three Moves Ahead
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Happy New Year guys,
Really enjoy your podcast.
For me, the biggest trend of 2010 was the rise and rise of the Indie developers. It wasn’t that long ago that the industry was saying that the ability for small teams or individuals to build competitive games was over. But 2010 had soooo many great indie games. I love this trend. :) MineCraft and Distant Worlds spring to mind as the absolute stand-out games of 2010.
Great podcast, dudes! Glad to hear Dan offering some very measured comments about how Starcraft II’s greatness is largely due to its player community. There’s a chicken vs. egg debate to be had here, but Dan’s onto something when he rightly points out that a lot of RTSs do what Starcraft does (I think he was specifically talking about replays, but I’d argue the comment applies to a lot of things about Starcraft), but it’s the player community to really elevates it.
I wish I’d been there to defend C&C4 a bit. You guys are mostly right to bag on it, but once you get past the horrible unlocking scheme, there’s some really good design work in there. It’s *not* just a World in Conflict rehash.
I was also disappointed not to hear any props extended to Gas Powered for the incredible post-release AI work they’ve done for Supreme Commander 2. That was one of this year’s biggest surprises and it puts to shame the traditional habit of just letting dumb games lie (Creative Assembly is notable for this, and it looks like Firaxis is headed in the same direction).
Anyway, great show. I really dig listening to Dan. Troy, I could have hugged you after your rant about DLC. Instead, I just cheered a little. I also loved Rob’s comment about awkward cocktail party guests. I might have to steal that one sometime!
What annoyed me about the Civ5 DLC was that it required everyone to have it to use it in multiplayer. Wanted to play as Babylon (which i got in the special edition) but couldnt because my friend didn’t have it, even when I was hosting.
Dawn of War 2 did a great job at avoiding this by letting people without the expansion be able to play against the new army if playing someone with the exp, but not as the new army.
Regaring UFO:The Two Sides that was mentioned at the end, I have the origional X-Com on Steam and still boot it up every now and then, is it worth downloading UFO:TTS? Or should I just stick with the origional?
I personally think UFO:TTS is absolutely worth downloading. It adds enough bells and whistles to help the game age well (even though it does that fairly well) but maintains all the great aspects of X-Com that made it such a classic game.
Some great picks there for 2011. I’d like to add a couple strategy games not mentioned in the podcast:
– Atom Zombie Smasher: Blendo Games’ next game looks and sounds interesting; it will be out by January 24.
– Achron: a truly innovative indie 4D RTS that I don’t remember seeing mentioned at FoS before. Was it ever?
Any comments?
There was discussion about anXCom game I remember but I didn’t pay too close attention to the exact name as I assumed that the link would be available from the podcast page (i.e. this one). Was it http://ufotts.ninex.info/ that you were referring to in the podcast or a commercial product? If the latter, which one?
David:
That’s the one.
Those interested in XCom and resident in the US might want to know that for this weekend only you can buy all five in the series for just $5 from Stardock…