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Unexpected Pleasure

March 20th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Ancients, City Builder

A while back I called into question the quality of the upcoming Tropico 3 because its developer, Haemimont Games, had never really entertained me with one of their games. So I have to eat a little crow and say that their new Roman city builder, Grand Ages: Rome, is a minor delight. It’s not perfect […]

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Populous (1989)

March 19th, 2009 · 8 Comments · Feature:Map

What this is about. Populous is not really what it says it is about. Cast as a battle between two gods, one good and one evil, it is really a game that merges genocide and terraforming. There is no sense of any religious debate or motivation or distinctions between the deities – if Populous were […]

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Big Huge Games For Sale

March 18th, 2009 · 1 Comment · Big Huge Games, Industry

This was a rumor floating around most of yesterday, but I didn’t want to say anything until it was confirmed. This is yet another in a growing list of signs that THQ could have major viability problems. Big Huge Games hasn’t done an original AAA game since Rise of Legends, though its Asian Dynasties expansion […]

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Three Moves Ahead Episode 4

March 17th, 2009 · 3 Comments · Podcast, Shrapnel, Three Moves Ahead, Wargames

This week it’s all about wargaming as John Hawkins from KE Studios comes in to talk about War Plan Pacific. Julian Murdoch returns to explain why he doesn’t understand anything, Bruce Geryk would rather talk about Victory in the Pacific, Tom Chick almost rediscovers his love of wargames and Troy Goodfellow resorts to Star Trek […]

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Most Dubious Press Release Ever?

March 16th, 2009 · 10 Comments · Media

In service to gamers everywhere, Algoma University’s Masters of Science in Computer Games Technology students are lending their expertise and a critical eye to a new video game review website. The site is located at www.mastersgamereview.com. I admire their hubris, but I doubt that even recent very good commercial ventures would launch with the claim […]

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Hearts of Iron 3 Updates

March 15th, 2009 · Comments Off on Hearts of Iron 3 Updates · Design, Paradox

I’m a little annoyed that I won’t be at this month’s Game Developers’ Conference. There are a couple of journalism panels I want to see, including one with my friend and podcast panelist Tom Chick, and another about the flight of journalists to the development side of the industry. But the big annoyance is that […]

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