A Green Mushroom

Usually I think gameplay is more important than the quality of graphics in a game.  Solid gameplay will hold up over time but the graphical envelope is constantly being pushed forward.  Good gameplay lays the groundwork for a game with long lasting appeal.  Great gameplay can be fun years down the line even when the graphics are totally outdated. With that said, properly implemented graphics can make a game entirely unique.  I'm not talking about a higher polygon count or making a game that looks photo-realistic, I'm talking about style .  Graphical style can completely define a game. Take the recently release Limbo as an example.  The game creates a haunting atmosphere by being entirely black and white.  The hand drawn style lends itself to a foreboding landscape with an oppressive feel.  The sense of isolation is palpable while playing. The whole feel of the game is achieved through its graphics.  If Limbo had been created with bri...

  Poor Little Lost Viking I'm having a lot of fun with the StarCraft 2 main campaign as I make my way through it and as you already know I love the multiplayer enough to actually write a guide for it.  I'm saving up my impressions until I completely finish the main campaign but I wanted to mention one of the fun little touches that Blizzard added to the campaign, a game within a game. It's called Lost Viking, which is a play on words since Blizzard once made a game called The Lost Vikings .  Lost Viking is an arcade cabinet included in the bar area of the hub world in the single player campaign.  The player takes control of a single Viking aircraft in a shoot 'em up style arcade game (which is nothing like The Lost Vikings of yesteryear).   Blizzard's Puzzle-Platformer I like that Blizzard included this game within a game because it gives me a nice break from the main campaign whenever I want it while also displaying the power of their StarCraft 2 map e...

  Awesome Image Via Joystiq If you haven't heard yet, StarCraft 2 is coming out at midnight on the 27th!  I'm really excited and I hope you are too.  I'm hoping that more people will stumble on my site while searching for a StarCraft 2 newbie guide so I've been hard at work updating my Newbie Guide posts. I want to provide the best information that I can for budding StarCraft 2 players and I've learned a lot since I started playing the first phase of beta, which is why I went back and updated my posts on being aggressive , learning your units , and studying replays to learn more about the game.  I've also updated the links within the guide to reflect changing over to my own domain. The aggressiveness guide has some good battle tips and general mental attitudes that help win games.  Learning units covers the basics of unit dynamics and has full tech trees for each of the races.  The post on studying replays points out great places to start if you ...

I've been writing a lot of mini reviews lately because I've been playing a ton of games but have found most of them wanting.  I can shoot off a quick paragraph and give you an acurate assessment of the sub-par game and then move on to more interesting topics.  While digging through all of the flash games and gamefly rentals I found a surprising diamond in the rough, Super Mario Galaxy 2. I wasn't expecting much when I put Super Mario Galaxy 2 into the disc drive.  I've played almost every Mario game that's been released since I was 5 years old.  That's 20ish years of Mario experience.  Since Mario games are traditionally geared towards a younger audience their level of difficulty is fairly low.  This helps inexperienced gamers get into video games, which is a great thing, but it bores people like me who need a tougher challenge to stay interested. I went into this game with my normal expectations for a Mario platformer but I was surprised - and thri...

Have 30 seconds to spare?  Want an intense but easily understood indie game to play?  It's a good thing I've prepared something that meets your needs.  Go play Canabalt , it takes almost no time at all to experience what it has to offer.

If you had any doubt about the story of StarCraft 2 being epic, this video should lay it to rest.  Thanks to Klelith at Lost in Neurons for linking to this.  Maybe a trailer like this could even convince Spinks to give StarCraft 2 a try. Also, for a geek like me, it's really nice to see them building off of the world the StarCraft novels have created.  The novels have set a great scene for another epic game and I'm glad to see it isn't going to waste.

I'm so excited for StarCraft 2!  I can't remember the last time I was this pumped up for a game release.  But Spinks isn't impressed.  She wrote on her experience trying out the StarCraft 2 beta and the reasons she wasn't impressed.  Her points are completely valid.  The beta was entirely multiplayer focused and she says that she lost every game.  I can understand how that would be extremely frustrating.  Because of her post I've decided to talk about some of the other features in StarCraft 2 that might appeal to those who haven't been impressed so far. The single player campaign is made by Blizzard.  I haven't played it yet (no one has) but Blizzard has a great pedigree for story in their real time strategy games.  They have a long history of polishing their games until they shine.  The single player campaign also has a variety of difficulty settings so that everyone can enjoy it, even RTS newbies.  It won't be brutal the way ...

Killed in a Smiling Accident has a post about how developers need to listen to complaints early - especially during beta - before they turn into a bigger issue. There was an interesting article on Joystiq about how a game developer brought in a screenwriter which helped them adjust a ton of aspects of their game.  It's an interesting read for anyone who likes to investigate how movies and games intersect. Gnarcade

Image may be unrelated to post For the past few weeks whenever I've had a free minute or two I jump over to Kongregate and check out new flash games.  I barely ever visit other flash game sites because Kongregate has a persistent log-in system, chat functions, and achievements which the others lack.  I love achievements and finding them on a flash game site has made me extremely happy! Whenever I need a new game I go into the menu for badges (badges are what achievements are called on the site) and pick a badge from a game that I've never played before.  They don't give out badges to every game, so most games with badges are decent.  It's kind of like a Kongregate stamp of approval.  They aren't all winners, but it's a great way to find new games without sorting through the 30,000+ games on the site by title alone. Not only is it a good way to discover new flash games, but I love achievements for the sake of achievements.  I know that some people th...

I just finished updating the first post in my StarCraft 2 Newbie Guide .  It deals with the idea of picking one race and sticking with it as well as the importance of defending your ramp.  Overall it has some good StarCraft 2 starter tips . I cleaned up some of the wording that I didn't like, but mostly I updated the information contained in the post.  I've learned a lot since I started playing the beta a few months ago and I realized that some of the advice I gave out needed updating.  On top of this I added links to some of my later posts on different StarCraft 2 subjects.  Hop on over and check out the updated post .

My favorite two classes in MMOs have always been Rangers and Druids.  Something about harnessing the power inherent in nature and communing with everything around us really appeals to me.  Whenever I go back to WoW I always use my Druid as my main.  Not to mention the magic slinging, precise marksmanship, and dual wielding handled by Rangers.  Rangers are bad-ass and they are always my first choice of class, so this video from Guild Wars 2 made me extremely happy today. I was interested before, but now I'm excited .

When I switched over to the new domain it apparently affected my search bar and my blog list.  The search is only looking through posts that were originally posted on the new domain.  I can't do anything to fix that except to keep writing and build up new posts for it to search.  I'll probably try to link to some older posts to help out too. The blog list, on the other hand, I can easily fix.  So I have.  Make sure to check it out on the right hand section of the screen (scroll down a bit).  Those really are my favorite blogs and I check for updates on each blog every day.  If you have never heard of Systemic Babble, Bio Break, Professor Beej, Tobold, Lost in Neurons, Joystiq, Massively, or Copyblogger you are really missing out on some great content.  I follow a lot of the bloggers on twitter as well and they are all great people.  If I forgot to add anyone to the list I apologize in advance.  I'm sure it'll hit me in the next day or ...

 I know how you feel Sleepycat. Last night I sat down to play StarCraft 2 and I just couldn't do it.  I was completely exhausted from my day (and week) at work and I had crammed a study session for an upcoming interview into my schedule after work.  I wanted to play something to relax but I realized it wasn't StarCraft 2.  Although I've talked a lot about it lately, even going so far as to write a series of newbie guide posts about it, the game requires a lot of mental energy which I don't always have. Instead I got out my ipod touch and started playing little games on it.  Doodle Jump , Tilt to Live , Words with Friends, Robot Unicorn Attack, and Lux just to name a few.  They were all laid back games without a lot of pressure to perform.  It was perfect for my mental state. Today I'm still dragging, so I started playing Bloons TD 4 and a couple of other flash games on Kongregate .  It got me thinking that my state of mind really influences...

"Why wasn't level X or opportunity Y presented to me earlier? If this thing is so much fun that it's going to cause me to bleed candy from my tear ducts, why haven't I done it yet?" -Seraphina Brennan That was my favorite quote in the last couple weeks.  Read the article , it's great. Systemic Babble wrote about steam as it relates to piracy prevention .  He makes some sound points about making the benefits outweigh the hassle of DRM. No more healers in Guild Wars 2.  Everyone is going to be accountable for their own healing, and I think it's a good thing.  Also, check out the massively article on the same subject . If you have any interest in SWTOR then you should read this hands-on preview from a bunch of different perspectives.  It covers many different classes and situations as well as talking about including better AI in MMOs. For your Sunday viewing pleasure, I present Super Mario Bros graffiti speed run. As always, enjoy your Sunday.

I was going to write an insightful post about the way I actually feel about Real ID today.  Yesterday I was playing devil's advocate and today I was going to counter some of my own points.  Then Blizzard went and canceled real names on the forums.  I'm going to write my post anyway. I love the in-game features that come with Real ID, but I think the idea of real names on the forums opens up too many security and privacy issues .  I'm glad Blizzard decided to change the forums but to keep Real ID features within their games.  That was exactly what I was going to suggest that they do.  Good job Blizzard.  Bravo. I meant everything I wrote yesterday about the facebook connect options.  I think it's awesome that I can click a few buttons and populate my friends list with all of my facebook friends who play games.  I really have reconnected with people that I didn't know played PC games.  It's pretty sweet. I also like that I can ...

I'm here to play devil's advocate.  Tons of bloggers I respect have been complaining about Real ID for the last few days.  Blizzard is making a change to their Battle.net system and creating the ability to link with real life friends through Real ID.  They're also making it so that if you post on the forums then your Real ID will be the name you post under.  I think the changes are great. First of all, it's entirely optional.  You don't have to use it.  If you have a problem with it... then don't use it.  What's so hard about that?  Seriously. Secondly, forum posters are the minority.  The majority of players will never post on a game forum - most won't even look at them - but the vocal minority that does is up in arms.  Blizzard knows this.  They know that all the people who are whining have a huge internet presence but only represent a (very) small portion of their players.  They aren't going to listen to you.  Bl...

I fired up my StarCraft 2 client this morning and it worked!  Blizzard is troubleshooting a few server issues, but the beta is back and hopefully will be running smoothly soon.  If you have a beta key it's time to jump back in and have some fun.  See you online. If you need some help with your multiplayer match-ups why not check out my StarCraft 2 newbie guide ? StarCraft 2 Newbie Guide Index

Yesterday, I tried to play Singularity.  I gave it my best attempt but I just couldn't do it.  The game is supposedly about getting a glove that can manipulate time but I wouldn't know, because I never made it that far.  I was looking forward to making new things old and old things new, turning enemies into babies, restoring structures to their former glory, and making people crumble to ash before my eyes.  Unfortunately, the first 20 minutes of the game were so bad that I waved the white flag and gave up.  The game played like the world's most generic shooter and a lot of the design decisions (like not being able to open doors on my own) pissed me off.  I dropped Singularity in the mailbox and it's headed back to Gamefly as we speak. I've talked before about jumping into the action of a game but it's also important for the game to throw the player into the fun right from the start.  If your game happens to be about an awesome time manipulation de...

Same site, same content, new URL.  I'm still running everything on Blogger but now I have my own domain name.  The old blogger address should direct to here now as well.  I think I have the feeds and analytics switched over correctly too. I'm happy to have my own domain name.  It ended up being pretty painless with godaddy and help from my brother.  Nothing is changing except for the domain name, which is exactly what I was hoping for.  I really like that Blogger works so well with a custom domain name.  I didn't need to pay extra (to Blogger) or do a whole lot of work to get it set up correctly. That's my big news for today.  Back to gaming posts tomorrow.

Initial impressions and quick reviews is what mini-review Monday is all about.  Here we go! Super Mario Galaxy 2: Challenge in an Mario game?  Amazing!  This is the best Mario game that I've played in a really long time.  It may be the best Mario game ever.  I started playing platformers when I was 5 years old and since Mario platformers tend to be accessible to new gamers they are pretty easy games.  This was great when I was 5, but now I can blast through a Mario game in one day and have no trouble with any of the levels.  Mario Galaxy 2 changes the formula because it doesn't pull any punches.  It threw me into difficult platforming sequences from the 2nd level onward and I loved it.  Challenge is a nice change of pace in gaming today and I'm having a great time with Mario Galaxy 2 because of it.   Eat Mushrooms, fly with dinosaurs. Army of Two 40th Day:   No.  Just No.  This game has a button to do ...

  Not a video game. The real world has been taking up all my time this weekend.  I haven't had much - if any - time to game.  That's unfortunate but I like to think I have my priorities in line.  I've been getting things in order for the new baby and I've had a bunch of 10 hour days at work.  I work in television and cover events, so when the rest of you have time off and vacation days I have extra work.  Since it's the 4th of July weekend here in the United States I've had my hands full with work.  I usually like the odd hours but this weekend has been really crazy. Anyway, I think it's important to prioritize real life over video games.  I think too many people lose track of their real world responsibilities when they dive too deeply into a game.  MMOs seem to expound this effect even more because of the online communities that spring up in their virtual worlds.  It's sad to see stories about people who devote their entire lives to ...