» Computer and Console Games
Saturday, August 7, 2010
This just in from This Just In From Gen Con, Saturday 11AM 2010
Continuing the TJI adventure:
- Sandstorm, the new publishers-facilitators-whateverers of Eclipse Phase as well as… Poo.
- Apocalypse World
- Steal Away Jordan
- The D&D “Never Split The Party” contest
- GlowFly Games, who I think are set to publish Globalization?
- DC Adventures from Green Ronin. Also Dragon Age and Song of Ice and Fire.
- Artists Echo Chernik, Matthew Stewart and Christopher Shy
- No idea what this sales-skills game is. It certainly sounds like a subject amenable to a teaching game, though. Hell, some people say that’s basically what business school is.
- The Game Crafter, printing board games on demand
- There is a LEGO Games booth??!!?? I DEMAND PICTURES. [EDIT: Done. -A]
- Happy Birthday, Robot!
- Blowback
- Infrno online tools for tabletop play.
- Iron Tyrants! There are a couple of great making-of articles at the site.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
This just in from This Just In From Gen Con, Thursday 5PM 2010
Sorry, I was in the bathroom. Here we go!
- Again, the Adventure Burner and the Parsely Pack.
- gameplaywright.net
- Things We Think About Games, The Bones, and Robin Laws’ Hamlet’s Hit Points.
- Happy Birthday, Robot! (Note to others who want to see what games will come out of Kickstarter: remember Perfect? The new edition text is pretty stellar.)
- Malifaux by Wyrd Miniatures
- Battlestar Galactica, Dominion, and Thunderstone (OgreCave review here)
- IPR and Dresden.
- Apocalypse World by Vincent Baker.
- Apparently there’s WiFi on the show floor, because people are doing things like paying via PayPal on their iPhones and carrying zero cash.
- Steal Away Jordan
- A Taste For Murder
- Trail of Cthulhu (OgreCave review here)
- Skulduggery
- The ENnies
- Iron Tyrants – color me intrigued!
- People still love those BattleTech pods.
- The Smallville team charges the mic.
Can I just say how great it is to not hear Ryan Macklin again after so long? Nah, I’m just kidding. See you tomorrow!
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
OgreCave Gaming News Update – Petroglyph Games
In our latest Gaming News Update interview, Lee Valentine chats with Chuck Kroegel of Petroglyph Games about the company’s plans to release a card game, a board game, and a PC game in the next few months, all about a single fantasy setting. Kroegel, Petroglyph’s General Manager and one of the company’s designers, goes into the details of their plans to present the world of Graxia to the greater gaming public.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Small World iPad app upgraded for solo play
I mentioned this in our KublaCon 2010 image gallery (on OgreCave’s Facebook page – you’ve become a fan of us, right?), where our readers saw a shot of the Small World iPad app. Well, this just in: Days of Wonder has upgraded the program to include an AI to play against, enabling solo play for the formerly two-player only app. Those who already purchased the app can upgrade for free, or new players can download the app for $6.99.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Days of Wonder Approaches 20 Million Games Played, Plans Apple iPad Giveaway
To commemorate the 20 millionth game that will soon play out on the Days of Wonder Online digital board games network, Days of Wonder announced its best Online Giveaway yet. In a nod to its recent release of the best selling Small World for iPad digital board game on the App store, Days of Wonder will be giving away a new Apple iPad Wi-Fi 16 GB, and a copy of Small World for iPad, to the winner of its 20,000,000th game. Additionally, all other participants in that 20,000,000th game will receive a nice consolation prize – an 8GB Apple iPod Touch. All Days of Wonder Online members are eligible to participate in this giveaway by playing any Days of Wonder Online games including: the Ticket to Ride series, Gang of Four, Fist of Dragonstones, or Queen’s Necklace.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
The Zombies Are Coming
The first half of 2010 seems to herald the oncoming zombie plague. Flying Frog Productions has released three expansions for their popular Last Night on Earth game as well as reprinting their base game. Lock ‘n Load has fought past a variety of production problems to release All Things Zombie: The Boardgame, a tactical boardgame based on the popular ATZ wargame. Zombie State Games will soon release Zombie State: Diplomacy of the Dead, a strategic-level area control game where world leaders try to protect their populations against the zombie apocalypse. Steve Jackson Games is coming out with Zombie Dice, a nice “press your luck” dice game filler. Twilight Creations is releasing Zombies!!! 9: Ashes to Ashes, an expansion for their popular zombie game allowing you to investigate a cemetery. Even the popular PopCap PC game Plants vs. Zombies has seen iPhone and iPod Touch releases of that game this year.
Can gamers just not get enough zombies? Or are there too many zombie games for our own good?
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Petroglyph knows how to double-dip
Panzer General: Allied Assault is a card-based wargame, on the abstract end as these things go, for Xbox Live Arcade (published by Ubisoft). Also, it’s a card-based wargame for… cards and a wargame. Both are developed by Petroglyph Games, and the interesting bit is that Petroglyph doesn’t appear to have bought out a tabletop publisher, or subcontracted anything, or… even redesigned the game. That’s right – we now live in a world where an Xbox developer can make a board game, and use the proceeds to make a board game. I mean, I could be wrong but these cats do not look like dabblers to me (and if there’s one thing I’ve seen a few of, it’s dabblers).
The sequel, Panzer General: Russian Assault, is paper only, out in September. Another card-based game, Guardians of Graxia, will hit simultaneously in summer for tabletop and PC. I’m glad to see them branch out beyond WWII theming, which doesn’t really float my U-boat, but I’m also (weirdly enough) glad to see them stick close to home gameplay-wise… this seems like a rich vein.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Convention report: PAX East 2010
PAX East 2010 recently landed in Boston, MA, and being a local, loyal Cave dweller Lee Valentine was more than happy to check out the show for us. From nifty card and board games to big-budget electronic titles, the Penny Arcade Expo doesn’t disappoint, as Lee tells us in his report on the first ever PAX East. There’s even a Wil Wheaton cameo – how can you not give it a read?
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Ye can get ye flask at PAX East’s IF Summit
As far as I’m concerned, here’s your schedule for PAX East next weekend – the complete Interactive Fiction track, administered by some of the leading lights of the medium. You’ll note a session of last year’s Gift Guide-honored ACTION CASTLE; the long-awaited follow-up JUNGLE ADVENTURE will be for sale at the show. If you’re new to the classic text adventure and want a deep dive in a short time, don’t miss the world premiere of the documentary GET LAMP. > SCORE!
Friday, March 12, 2010
Accumulated things we should mention
Sleep is Death, a two-player game for PC and Mac in which one player acts like they’re playing a basic point-and-click RPG, and the other has 30 seconds per turn to arrange the world’s graphics around them to make it seem like they are. Yes, they get to prepare some of the graphics. Yes, this is as simple and completely awesome as it sounds. Stupid cheap, too.
Iconica, a gorgeous indie card game being sold on Etsy. The linked post is subtitled “Not Just Another Pretty Face,” but frankly doesn’t make much of a case for that; the game seems like it might be a little samey and tough to learn, and the world-building seems pretty generic. But oh, that design. I’m also interested in Etsy as a venue for sales of actual independent games, as opposed to just crafts based on video games.
Deathwatch, the third core Warhammer 40K roleplaying game, has been announced. I only bring it up because I keep seeing threads about it and thinking, “that’s a bit harsh, it seems like the system has plenty of support and I don’t know why anyone would think it was dyi– OH WAIT”
Thursday, February 25, 2010
PAX East on final approach, and selling out fast
One month from tomorrow, on March 26, PAX East, the second location for the Penny Arcade Expo, will hit Boston, MA full force. The new show, a spinoff of the original PAX in Seattle (dubbed “PAX Prime” by many), had already sold out of full-show passes over three weeks ago, and with only a few hundred single day passes currently left for Friday and Sunday – well, if you were on the fence about going, you’d better commit or forget. This inaugural show’s official schedule just went up yesterday, adding to the considerable excitement that resulted two weeks ago when Wil Wheaton was announced as PAX East’s keynote speaker. If you can’t make it out to Boston, OgreCave will have a representative at the show in the form of Lee Valentine, frequent Cave dweller and one of our staff writers. Actually, he’ll be there whether you attend or not, so… yeah.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
OgreCave Gaming News Update: Holy podcast! A Hero Games interview!
What’s that you say? You remember when the Ogres used to have voices, echoing from deep within the Cave in podcast form? So do we. Now that some problematic software issues seem to be resolved, we’re going to ease back into some recordings of gaming goodness, starting a new episode of the OgreCave Gaming News Update. The relaunch episode kicks things off with my interview of Hero Games’ Darren Watts, recorded at DunDraCon 34 last weekend. In the episode, we briefly discuss Champions for Hero: Sixth Edition, which Hero sold preview copies of at the show. Darren also talks about upcoming 2010 releases, including early details of his Champions Beyond project, and fields unexpected questions from a young assistant interviewer (my daughter).
Have a listen, tell us what you think, and let us know if any glitches turn up. We’ll be hard at work getting the OgreCave Audio Report back up to speed as well.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
OgreCave review – Dragon Age: Origins
For the first time, OgreCave’s review section includes a detailed look at an electronic RPG. That’s right, Dennis has provided us with his thoughts on Dragon Age: Origins, the gorgeous RPG release from BioWare for the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. You’ve seen the previews and commercials – now click through and see if you need to pick up a copy for your gaming needs.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
OgreCave’s Christmas Gift Guide 2009, part 4
This is it – Christmas looms on the horizon, just one day away. But say you’ve forgotten to get a gift for someone, a fellow gamer, and there’s no time to get to the stores anymore. Fear not, for the Cave dwellers have compiled one more list of gift suggestions in our OgreCave Christmas Gift Guide 2009. This fourth and final list provides An Aetheric Guide for Christmas, our traditionally last-minute PDF/downloadable product list. Just read through the list, select a few pre-screened OgreCave recommendations, and download your gifts as needed. You don’t have to risk wading through last-minute shoppers – they’ll be like a pack of sugarplum-crazed elves by now.
Here’s wishing you a safe, happy holiday season, from the staff of OgreCave. Seasons greetings!
Monday, September 21, 2009
OgreCave reviews – World of Goo & Princess Bride
To start the week off right, we’ve got a pair of new reviews for you. First, Dennis has downloaded World of Goo from 2D Boy, and has some thoughts on this multi-platform sticky title. Then I’ve posted my take on The Princess Bride: Storming the Castle by Playroom Entertainment and Toy Vault. The amusing little game could’ve embraced the movie license more thoroughly, but fans may still enjoy this 2-4 player game.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
PAX 2009 – Gaming News Updates uploaded
We’ve got a trio of OgreCave Gaming News Update podcast episodes just posted from our trip up to Seattle for PAX, the Penny Arcade Expo 2009. First up, our bi-weekly update mentions a few PAX highlights (though this will be nothing compared to our upcoming PAX ’09 Audio Report episode). Then we have an interview with Will Schoonover of Steve Jackson Games, who tells us all about the current state of things for the company, and describes the upcoming Nanuk in full detail. Finally, we had a chat with Matt Forbeck about his Guild Wars novel, all the other projects he has a hand in these days, and his thoughts on PAX, the industry, and bygone companies. Have a listen, let us know what you think, and be sure to check back for more.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Frag gets flashed
Earlier this week, Steve Jackson Games posted a Flash version of Frag for fans to amuse themselves with. It’s nearly all twitch with a little character recognition, but might be a reasonable way to pass some time at lunch, or while trapped inside by these weird thunderstorms – we never get these around here, and suddenly everyone’s driving stupidly. Best to stay off the roads, shoot a few Frag targets, and let the rain-befuddled motorists sort things out between themselves.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Champions Online offers lifetime subscriptions through August 31
Fans of Hero Games and City of Heroes, take note: there’s a bargain you may want to look into. Perhaps it’s a sign of how excited gamers are for the next Cryptic Studios MMO launch, but I’ve never heard of this sort of deal before (though admittedly, I’m not currently in the market for a new MMO addiction, so this deal may not be as unusual as it seems). Cryptic is offering lifetime subscriptions to Champions Online for $199, as well as six-month subscriptions for $59, until 11:59pm on August 31. Cryptic is throwing in access to the Star Trek Online closed beta to increase the enticement, as well as special in-game character costumes for both games, a Foxbat action figure, and extra character slots. Maybe you’re going to wait and check out Champions Online at PAX 2009 next weekend (we sure plan to), but if you’re fairly certain you plan to get your MMO supers on, this could be your time to act.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Warmachine’s next big thing is a video game version under development
Privateer Press announced at a seminar today at Gen Con that developer WhiteMoon Dreams is underway on a digital version of Warmachine for… consoles? PCs? Both? Info is coming in via Twitter and is thus a little thin on the ground. Apparently the game will be first-person strategy of a sort – you’ll be in the warcaster’s perspective, issuing orders to your ‘jacks – and that’s about all I know. Unless the game has a confirmed publisher, this might not really even be an announced product so much as a really awesome plan. But there’s a nice, shiny coming-soon page!
Friday, August 7, 2009
OgreCave is on Twitter
Feel free to come follow. In addition to convenient notices of new posts, you will receive occasional witty banter, things we don’t think are quite worth a post, and some complaining when our server is slow. OgreCave: happy to be part of the problem.
Relatedly: booths at Gen Con have Twitter accounts now. Booths.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Smith and Tinker steps to the (gold-plated) plate with Nanovor
When Jordan Weisman first announced his new company Smith and Tinker, he stated its mission as being to create toys, games, and other real-world media that leverage networks in order “to compete with the dynamic and exciting world of the internet.” Further, they foregrounded two maxims: “There is nothing on the planet more entertaining than other people; There is no one on the planet more creative than the audience.” Since then, he’s announced a new MechWarrior video game project that looks awesome, but certainly sounds more like that thing they said they were competing with… and now there’s Nanovor, a new collectible game aimed at kids.
It starts as a downloadable PC game, and then there are some gift cards that get you in-game cash; but then there’s this little hand-held mini-Gameboy thingy that plugs into a USB port on your PC, presumably downloads “cards” or what have you, and possibly plugs into other thingies to play competitively. Price tag on the device, as part of a starter kit: $60.
Okay, why? It seems like you get a decent device for the money, but every kid in the target market already has a DS. This thing isn’t visibly delivering anything it can’t do. If I’m S&T, I can certainly understand not wanting to pay Nintendo’s licensing fee, nor wanting my game’s public perception to sink into a morass of ordinary cross-media Pokemon-esques. But as a player, or the parent of one, who’s apparently going to have to pay for even more stuff on top of the $60? In This Economy™? No dice.
Maybe the free-to-start PC game will do better on its own, but irrespective of the merits of the game (which I haven’t actually played yet), I’m not seeing S&T’s alleged dream manifested in this product. Even if that dream is just “stay in the black.” And that makes me sad.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
A little 16-or-so-bit action for your table
If you poke around in the various print-and-play tags on BoardGameGeek, you can find some pretty interesting stuff. Take, for example, Skirmish Wars: Advance Tactics, a counter-based light wargame ripped, quite literally (if you decide that the digital sense of the word “rip” isn’t a metaphor anymore), from the world’s most popular turn-based wargame, Advance Wars for the Game Boy Advance. Free, illegal as hell, and full of counters that are full of numbers, this nevertheless looks polished and fun. (From my hours upon hours of AW experience, I can also tell you that most of those numbers are just there to track hit points by rotating the counter. I wonder how much of the GAH HARD reaction that people have to most wargames is due entirely to this one way to track HP.)
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Laptops? We don’t need no stinkin’ laptops
Andy Kitkowski at Story Games points out a Japanese tabletop-RPG gamebook and comprehensive play aid for the Nintendo DS. In a kinder universe than this one, we would not have to ask where the hell the iPhone app was for D&D Insider.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Random Encounter interview: Darren Watts of Hero Games
In case our recent GTS 2009 interviews weren’t enough, we’ve got another quick interview hot on their heels. This one’s in the form of our Random Encounter interviews, quick little engagements on a single subject. Whether you celebrate Cinco de Mayo or not today, OgreCave has brought you this Random Encounter with Darren Watts of Hero Games, regarding Hero’s new sourcebook Lucha Libre Hero. We even slipped in a question on Champions Online for you – you’re welcome.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Dungeon Twister headed for Xbox 360
Another Asmodée game is migrating to consoles. Hot on the heels of Jungle Speed hitting the Wii, now it looks like a version of Dungeon Twister is in the works for Xbox 360, with other consoles to follow. According to a news post on the Asmodée website, French videogame company Hydravision is hard at work on the adaptation, which is tentatively scheduled to release in Q3 2009. The Xbox version is currently planned as a “faithful adaptation of the Boardgame and will not be turned into an ‘Arcade’ version which will require high-strung reflexes to win.” However, the new version will allow both solo and online play. Sounds interesting, and a peek at the Mechanorc game piece makes it look even more interesting.
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