So, ‘Little Girl’ officially comes out today, although Amazon has been a nightmare to deal with, and made the paper back available before final proofs were approved. This meant that an excited friend messaged me to let me know she’d been able to order it early, thinking I would be excited. Oh dear. Luckily, I was able to get into contact with Amazon and make sure no copies were sent out before the finally update had been made.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Little Girl: Book Drop!”
This week I am…playing Cookie Clicker and Roblox. We’ve got some big real-life stuff going on so it’s pretty bare minimum while we work things out.
What are you guys up to? Anyone have any good news to share? I could use the pick-me-up.
The third part of the Batman home video game retrospective brings us to the modern, and arguably best, Batman video game and its sequels (except for Origins, I’ve heard). Shamus mentioned the Arkham series frequently in his writing, wrote up Arkham City and Arkham Origins, played Arkham Asylum on Spoiler Warning, and made many comparisons to the Arkham games on the Diecast. I’m pretty sure it was Shamus’ raving support of Arkham City that led me to finally purchase Arkham Asylum for PC.
As previously mentioned, I never made it past that opening slow walk down the main corridor, and the simple fight at the end. Pretty sure it was the weird (to me) camera placement, off-center to Batman’s right-rear. But I knew, as part of my craving to play Batman games, this was where it would end.
The Circle of Fantasy Roleplaying Life:
- Enchantment:You begin a new campaign. How exciting! As you play, you will eventually experience…
- Disillusionment: You notice all the flaws in the campaign. Loot distribution is uneven. The house rules outnumber the core rules, and the only person who knows these house rules is the DM. Some players (not you) are taking center stage. Some players greatly overpower others. The plot is on rails and none of the NPCs are likeable. You decide to cope with this through…
- Long Suffering: Deal with it – bad DMs happen. Give the guy a chance to learn. When the campaign gets worse it will be time to engage in…
- Sabotage: Try to run the campaign off the rails and kill off major characters, just to break free and do something that isn’t being imposed on you. If you’re still not having fun…
- Confrontation: Talk to the DM and let him or her know your concerns. If this doesn’t transform them into a great DM, then you may be obliged to resort to…
- Coup d’état: Get the players together and tell the DM that his work just isn’t cutting it. Appoint someone else to run the campaign. However, the DM might mange to retain power. If he owns all the books, all the dice, and you meet at his house, then kicking him out isn’t usually an option. If you can’t depose him, then the only thing left is…
- Exile: Make up some lame excuse about getting a girlfriend / boyfriend or a new job and find a new gaming group. Then the cycle begins anew.
– Shamus, Monday Dec 4, 2006
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “DM of the Rings Remaster XXXVII: Intervention Interruptus”
I have a book coming out!
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Little Girl: Release Date and Pre-Order”
This week I am mostly just playing Roblox with a little bit of Cookie Clicker and Slay the Spire on the side. It’s a time for idle games for me, I guess.
What are you guys up to?
Last week I looked at 8- and 16-bit Batman games. This week I’m going to cover 32-bit and the sixth console generation, which actually presents some titles worth revisiting for more reasons than just nostalgia. I also have a few revisions to make to last week’s post, and I’ll cover the latest video update from FoxMaster and his AI Lara ‘bot.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “6th Gen Batman Games: The Gates of Arkham Island”
What does it mean when a program crashes, and why does it happen?
An interesting but technically dense talk about gaming technology. I translate it for the non-coders.
Denuvo videogame DRM didn't actually kill piracy, but it did stop it for several months. Here's what we learned from that.
Dear people of the internet: Please stop doing these horrible idiotic things when you talk to each other.
I was trying to make fun of how Silent Hill had lost its way but I ended up making fun of fighting games. Whatever.
How did this niche racing game make a gameworld so massive, and why is that a big deal?
Cities: Skylines is bound to have a sequel sooner or later. Where can this series go next, and what changes would I like to see?
A big chunk of the internet went down in October of 2016. What happened? Was it a hack?
What is this Vulkan stuff? A graphics engine? A game engine? A new flavor of breakfast cereal? And how is it supposed to make PC games better?
Crysis 2 has basically the same plot as Half-Life 2. So why is one a classic and the other simply obnoxious and tiresome?
T w e n t y S i d e d
