XCOM2: A Look at the Strategic Layer
So the folks over at XCOM.com just tossed up a new video with a look at the strategic side of the upcoming XCOM sequel. Obviously I’m looking forward to this one, or I wouldn’t be talking about it here. I’m a tad bit biased. I’ve played countless hours of XCOM with the Enemy Within expansion–well, technically Steam has counted exactly how many hours, but I’m keeping that triple-digit number a secret–and as far as I’m concerned, November can’t come soon enough.
Here’s the video, for starters… [Read more…]
Guest Geeks: Capital Gamer and Twofold Secret
Hi everybody, and welcome to another Guest Geek post! Today we’ll delve back onto the gaming world with a Twitter friend of mine in Washington, D.C. (and A Shadow in the Flames fan) who answers to Kelly but is better known as Capital Gamer. She’ll take us into the indie game developer world with a look at Camp Keepalive, which seems to be a fantastic idea for a strategy game, AND an interview with one of the developers. While this is the first time I’ve heard of Camp Keepalive myself, I can vouch for Kelly’s taste in games. She enjoyed XCOM, and introduced me to an awesomely creative puzzle game on Steam called Machinarium. Her interviewee looks to have some pretty good taste himself, and you just can’t go wrong in strategy with Sid Meyer as an influence.
But enough of me wording-around! Time for me to turn it over to my guest…
Camp Keepalive and Q&A with Twofold Secret
Guest Geeks: Eric Turowski and the D&D “Satanic Panic”
The world of role-playing games is widespread these days, with games of every kind, in many different mediums, spanning genres and filling up convention after convention. While stigmas and stereotypes still exist for those who play, player demographics span nearly every age, gender, and class. (Did you know Roger Moore and Vin Diesel were adult Dungeons & Dragons players?) But it wasn’t always so. Like rock & roll before it, tabletop role-playing—and D&D in particular—had some, shall we say, wildly inaccurate perceptions in its early days. Today, Guest Geek Eric Turowski paints us a picture…
Playing, Reading, Watching
I should really be writing A Dragon at the Gate at the moment. That’s what I sat down here to do. Yet it’s been a long day, my brain is frazzled, and so it’s revolting and craving leisure. So in an attempt to placate my lazy-ass brain while at the same time at least appearing to get something done, I’m going to take a cue from the Geek Bomb podcast folks (who were good enough to have me on their show last fall) and geek out with you a little over what I’m playing, reading, and watching. [Read more…]
Guest Geeks: Camela Thompson and Gaming
It’s not an advance screening of Star Wars VII, but it’s the next best thing: another Guest Geek post! This time around my guest is my friend, geek, and fellow author Camela Thompson. She’s got geek-cred on multiple levels (she introduced me to The Strain, for one), and today she’s going to talk about growing up—and continuing to be—a female gamer. Before I turn it over to Camela, however, a quick plug: She and I will be doing a joint event at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park, WA on May 28th. If you like cyberpunk and non-sparkling vampires, come by, say hi, and listen to us read!
Okay, enough of my yammering…
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
The Deus Ex franchise is back!
Or, at least, it’s coming back. Eidos-Montreal has made it official with the first game trailer (scroll down to view it), and a GameInformer exclusive: Get ready for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.
I honestly didn’t think we’d be getting another game in this series. Foolish me didn’t think there was room for more to go between the ending(s) of Adam Jensen’s story in Deus Ex: Human Revolution and the story of J.C. Denton in the original, but I underestimated the influence of an interested market and the lure of additional gamer-dollars.
This is not a complaint! The original Deus Ex is one of my favorite games of all time, and Human Revolution gave us a prequel that updated the series (and gameplay) for the current generation. (We won’t speak of DX: Invisible War, the New Coke of the series.) Human Revolution didn’t quite capture the greatness of the original, yet it was still a (mostly) excellent game despite its flaws, and worth the long wait. I’m excited to see what they’ve got for Mankind Divided.
Reportedly, Mankind Divided (I’m not crazy about that name, but oh well) takes place two years following the events of Human Revolution, with the canon ending apparently being one where everyone augmented went violent and berserk. Jensen is now with an organization linked with Interpol, apparently dealing with cyborg terrorists. Will we see some of the events alluded to in Deus Ex? (Will the Statue of Liberty get its head blown off? Will UNATCO be formed? Will Bob Page return?
WILL WE GET LEMON-LIME WHEN WE WANTED ORANGE?!
I guess we’ll find out. Eidos has apparently stated that they’ve learned from HR’s mistakes, especially with regard to boss fights. (Why they ever thought farming them out to another studio completely unrelated to the rest of the game was a good idea, perhaps we’ll never really know.) I’ll be waiting for this one, folks. Have a look at the trailer: