What Skyrim looks like when Steam accidentally lets you play it before all the textures are finished downloading.
I almost prefer it like this (that is, once I stopped freaking out and realized my graphics card wasn’t about to explode). It’s like all of Skyrim is the dark world from Super Meat Boy.
Gnomoria is a sandbox village management game where you help lead a small group of gnomes, who have set out on their own, to thrive into a bustling kingdom! Anything you see can be broken down and rebuilt elsewhere. Craft items, build structures, set traps and dig deep underground in search of precious resources to help your gnomes survive the harsh lands. Build your kingdom and stockpile wealth to attract wandering gnomads to your cause, but be wary of also attracting enemies!
Robert West of Robotronic games is making a version of Dwarf Fortress playable by humans. Its alpha version is available for $7.99. I don’t think he realizes he could charge $100 for such a thing, but I’m not going to talk him out of it.
The biggest shock in the technology world will be when Apple snaps and turns evil. The next one will be when Sony becomes good.
You remember Sony, right? The company that installed a rootkit when you played their audio CDs. Then lied about why the Sixaxis controllers didn’t rumble. Removed PS2 compatibility from the PS3, then Linux support. Took over a month to get the PSN back up after it was hacked. Hiked the price of Whitney Houston’s music 30 minutes after her death.
Yeah, that Sony. And now they’re back with a new toy that… hey, where are you going?
Any discussion of Star Wars: The Old Republic tends to turn into a World of Warcraft comparison chart. It’s supposed to be a slight on the game, but to my ears it’s a sketch from Life of Brian.
“What has SWTOR done differently from WoW?”
“… The companions?”
“Oh yeah yeah, that’s true.”
“And space combat.”
“Oh yeah, space combat. I remember what daily quests used to be like. I’ll grant you the companions and the space combat are two things SWTOR does differently.”
“And the lightsabers.”
“Obviously the lightsabers. I mean the lightsabers go without saying, obviously. But apart from the companions and the space combat and the lightsabers -”
“Voice acting? Moral choices? Facial animation? Flashpoints?”
A character asks me that question every time I step into the general store. It’s rhetorical: the answer is “everyone’s obsessed with death.” I smile and nod, closing the thick wooden doors behind me. The lad has a point: dragons are returning to terrorize the populace; there’s a civil war brewing that could turn the Empire’s wrath against us; necromancers are summoning evil wolf gods from beyond the grave; and one sleep-deprived sorcerer is trying to unload two hundred pounds of soiled and blood-stained fur armor on Skyrim’s shopkeepers every day. Whoops, that’s me.
There have been a few articles about the problem with Deus Ex: Human Revolution’s boss fights against the augmented mercenary group known as the Tyrants, mostly centering around the argument that even in a game full of choices, sometimes violence is the only option. That’s one issue, but there are larger problems:
Blizzard dropped the bomb on Diablo III this month. You’ll need a persistent online connection to play in single player mode. Modding the game is forbidden. The auction house will be for real money transactions only.
I think the Internet exploded.
FreeSpace and FreeSpace 2 are some of the most revered space combat games ever made. Their amazing graphics, long campaigns, and tight controls have been improved by the FreeSpace Open project. Grab a joystick and defend the Galactic Terran Alliance, pilot!
Start by purchasing FreeSpace 2 from Good Old Games (GOG). Yes, you only need to buy FreeSpace 2 in order to play both FreeSpace games. The FreeSpace Open developers actually implemented the original game as a campaign for its sequel. Amazing.
Many talented people on the Internet create modifications to computer games that improve the graphics or add content. What they usually omit are clear instructions to get those mods to work. I'm here to fix that.
Remember the good old days of PC RPGs? When game boxes were stuffed with extra material and each title begged you to upgrade your system? CD Projekt certainly does, as The Witcher 2 feels like it dropped out of a time capsule from 2002. It’s quite a nostalgia trip, but you’d better bring a sickness bag, because you’ll quickly remember why we traded art books and soundtrack CDs for games that spent a few more months in quality assurance.
