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Strategy Games at E3 2008 UPDATED

June 17th, 2008 by Troy Goodfellow · E3

While I was on vacation, my E3 invitation came through via Gameshark (thanks Bill!), so I will be attending my first E3 come July. So if any readers will be there and want to chat, just drop me a line and we can set something up. Lunch, coffee, interview, hacky-sack.

So, without further ado, here’s the annual round up of strategy titles that will be making an appearance at the show, culled from IGN’s continually updated list.

Electronic Arts

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3
Spore

Microsoft

Halo Wars
Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise

THQ

Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II

And, so far, that’s it. Nothing from a lot of companies, yet, though, so stay tuned as I update this list.

The big title missing is Blizzard’s Starcraft II because Blizzard has pulled out of the Entertainment Software Association, and, therefore, E3. Activision won’t be there, either.

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A New Colonization

June 16th, 2008 by Troy Goodfellow · Firaxis

The worst part about being away from the Internet for a week is that really cool things happen and no one bothers to tell me. Thanks 2k. I thought we were cool.

People who bother to listen to me know that I am getting a little tired of all the great talent at Firaxis pillaging its past in the search for new games to make. Civilization, Pirates, Railroads, now Colonization… Come on guys. Surprise me.

Still, I’m not all curmudgeon. A Colonization based on the Civ IV engine is great news. I don’t see Colonization as one of the great Meier via Reynolds Microprose titles. It’s a good game with some neat concepts that don’t completely gel for me for a number of reasons. But I still go back to it every now and then, probably because it tries things that other strategy games didn’t and still don’t.

More news as it becomes available.

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Great War Nations: Sparta Review

June 16th, 2008 by Troy Goodfellow · Ancients, Gameshark, Review, RTS

We have an early competitor for the worst strategy game of the year.

World Forge is going to keep making games. They released the Mongol themed Golden Horde in Europe earlier this year and it will certainly land with a thump on our shores at some point in time. And they are working on a game called Battle for Atlantis.

And good for them for sticking with it. But Great War Nations (sold internationally as Fate of Hellas) is so similar to last year’s terrible Ancient Wars: Sparta that it in no way justifies either the expense or the separate SKU. It’s neither sequel nor expansion nor remake. It’s a cheap effort to take advantage of the people who, because of some defect in their soul, liked their first game.

It has the same problems of scale and cost that the AWS had, the same terrible pathfinding, and the same waste of a clever idea – unit customization. There may be some talent at World Forge, but given what I have seen of their work so far, I would probably not miss them if they tried something different. Like database programming.

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Vacation Time

June 4th, 2008 by Troy Goodfellow · Me

So my schedule is finally clear for the first time in a while. What better time to take a break from writing?

Expect more better content in ten days or so. I hope to have some interesting news to announce and maybe I will make other promises that I have little intention of keeping.

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Ironclads

June 3rd, 2008 by Troy Goodfellow · Civil War, Wargames

The Russian developer Totem Games has announced a new naval war game, Ironclads: American Civil War.

The developers posit an alternate history where the Confederates secure help from Europe to develop a navy that can compete with the Union forces on the high seas.

If game process is under construction on exact conformity of history the plot of consecutive missions bases on the alternative assumption of more successful course of war for Confederation in the first 2 years of the conflict, a diplomatic recognition and creation of stronger balanced fleet on the European shipyards. For definition of an alternative part of structure of fleet and its condition factors of a real economic condition of the contradictory sides are considered. But also ordered, paid, but not received by Confederation because of diplomatic problems the ships.

Though I enjoyed Distant Guns: The Russo-Japanese War, and look forward to Storm Eagle’s upcoming Jutland game, naval warfare is one of those things that I find more interesting to read about than to actually play. The bathtub battleship thing is fine and all, but gun based sea battles are entirely a matter of jockeying for position on a flat battlefield. This sort of thing is fun for a while, but can get exhausting.

No release date has yet been announced for Ironclads.

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There Goes Another Hour

June 2nd, 2008 by Troy Goodfellow · Blogs, History

I love maps. It could be because I love history and it could be because I have no sense of direction.

Strange Maps proves to be the perfect place for someone like me to lose himself for sixty minutes when I should be doing something else.

Despite the name, not all the maps are really strange, though some certainly are. You have maps from fiction, maps from history, maps from researchers and maps from bakers.

Since all strategy gamers are, by nature, cartographers, I thought I’d pass along this site. I saw it mentioned at Andrew Sullivan’s blog, but which a friend assures me he told me about it months ago and I just forgot.

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