British strategy game developer Slitherine is now working on a ruleset for tabletop wargaming. The Art of War will cover the same ground as the popular De Bellis Antiquitatis, a simple miniature game dealing with armies from the birth of civilization to the birth of gunpowder.

The early description of Art of War says that it will be cohesion based, determining victory and defeat based on whose army falls apart first. This is a tried and true wargaming mechanic that GMT used to great – if baffling – effect in its Great Battles games.

Iain McNeil, lead designer at Slitherine, is a world champion DBA/DBM player and therefore intimate with that ruleset.

Extreme Tech’s Loyd Case (one of the “final words” on hardware, as far as I’m concerned) has written one of those “list” articles that are entirely geared to provoke discussion. And here I am, discussing it. Bravo.

Case’s topic is Gaming Myths, and the top ten list runs the gamut from contemporary business anaysis (Is the PS3 as doomed as the PC is?) to cultural analysis of who gamers are and what they want.

I’m not sure what I think about Myth 7, “PC Games are too complicated“. Though I’m sure that Case’s line about Windows Solitaire is meant as a joke, his larger point that a game with a good interface can make a sophisticated game easy holds true. (I often draw a distinction between “complex” and “complicated”. The two should not be used interchangeably.)

But then you run into an editorial like this one from snakemeister (yeah, I know…) opining that thanks to strategy guides, many games are designed so that you can’t experience everything without some help. Easter eggs, hidden special items…games aren’t just complicated. They are designed to trick you.

What does one have to do with the other? Case’s argument that PC games aren’t more complicated than console games isn’t too interesting if console games have also spiralled upward in complication. Though it seems that some people can turn Madden into a learning experience, it can take a lot of time to become good at a particular game.

I’ve written before about Myth 10, what I dubbed Gamer Shame. I think this is a generational thing, but,as Case notes, it isn’t helped by the mocking self-loathing of many gaming media outlets who imply their own readers are nerdish, isolated teens living in a basement surrounded by photos of Stacey Kiebler.

From Paradox’s PR announcement of Bad Day L.A.‘s launch via Gamersgate:

“The game combines comedy, chaos management gameplay, a unique art style created by Kozyndan, an over-the-top ironic story and a cast of characters that find themselves in goofy, often surreal missions.”

Comedy, irony and surrealism – all in one handy package.

It turns out that the bane of first year English majors has had a chance to look at some video games. Civilization caught his eye.

Erst, ye do governe the civilisacioun of the Golden Age, and gathir acornes and the croppes that the erthe ytself doth yive forth withouten labour. Lowys sayeth that this part of the game ‘sucketh’ for ther ys no werre or fightinge. And then oon of yower folke fyndeth golde in the grounde, and an othir iren for to make wepnes of werre and thus the golden age doth ende.

Spotted at Buttonmashing.

If my readers can tolerate yet another post about Battle for Middle Earth II (since I’ve been pegged a fanboy and all…), Andrew Park has written a good preview of the upcoming expansion for Gamespot.

My knowledge of Tolkien lore is fairly thin. I couldn’t get past the opening chapters in Silmarillon and, beyond the sacred trilogy and The Hobbit, the only Tolkien works that have held much fascination for me are the Letters from Father Christmas. But it looks like Rise of the Witch King will fill in some of the pre-Lord of the Rings goings on for me. No need to do any of that fussy reading stuff.

The strengthening of walls in the expansion could change the game in dramatic ways. Counter-building spells could become more important, and siege units may not be a luxury any more. Given the game’s existing bias towards aggressive movement from the very beginning, some people will find their play style shift quite a bit. Enabling armies of mixed units to stick together better is a nice interface change, but hardly necessary on maps as constricted as most of the BfME2 maps. The new faction means that there will likely be some balancing all around.

No release date yet, but I’m getting it when it comes out. All fanboys should.

Paradox’s fans get exercised over the silliest things. But I bet this is the first time that mass bannings have been threatened for discussion of an empire that died over five hundred years ago.