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Settlers of Catan

March 27th, 2009 · 7 Comments · Board Games

Just because my fellow podcasters hate it doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy reading about it. Teuber created elaborate logic chains and probability matrices in a complex Excel spreadsheet so the videogame developers could see how every possible move and roll of the dice—from the impact of the Robber to the odds of getting wheat in […]

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Battleforge Early Moments

March 26th, 2009 · 1 Comment · Electronic Arts

As always, the trick with deck building is balance. You need to have enough low power cards to get them out early and often so you aren’t outnumbered, even high power cards to go for the kill, a mix of magic and unit cards so you don’t have to rely on army maneuvers all the […]

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Alpha Video of Elemental: War of Magic

March 25th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Preview, Stardock

Early video and commentary about Stardock’s upcoming fantasy strategy game:

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Stardock Rolling in Money

March 24th, 2009 · 14 Comments · Ironclad, Stardock

At his GDC presentation this week, Brad Wardell made the case for reviving the hardcore PC market but not neglecting those gamers who still like serious strategy titles. Best part of that article? His sales data. Yeah, it’s in the interest of the publisher to put the best spin on things, but 10 million in […]

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Three Moves Ahead Episode 5

March 24th, 2009 · 5 Comments · Podcast, Three Moves Ahead

This week, Troy Goodfellow, Tom Chick and Julian Murdoch discuss what a strategy game is. In a world of genre blending titles, what is core nature of strategy gaming? They also work out their issues with seasons in games. Listen as Tom sells the panel on his new Japanese child game, Julian dismisses Settlers of […]

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Empire Total War Debate

March 21st, 2009 · 19 Comments · Creative Assembly, Crispy Gamer, Review

One of my favorite things about Tom Chick as a critic is that he always argues a corner. A game either succeeds or fails, with little room for fence sitting. This does not mean that his reviews are not nuanced; he never ignores the good stuff or fails to contextualize the bad. His recent Empire:Total […]

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