n0wak

"Stratego" if you will. Maybe it's just me, but it seems like all the interesting strategy games that I want to play seem to exist for portable systems (aka. mostly the DS). Perhaps it's something about the format. The portable, quick-play nature of such devices precludes anything too complex, and as such the games and strategies and tactics are broken down to their barest minimums. Take Advance Wars DS for example. I'm playing it now (more of the same, but eh) and enjoying the hell out of it. Because there isn't any kind of micro management -- you can see everything you need to know by looking at the map -- you can easily stop, save, and resume this game at will. This works well. By comparison, the last PC strategy game I played (Nexus) was such that if you didn't play for a few days, you'd be so lost coming back into a battle. It seems as though many (I am generalizing here, I'm sure there are plenty of simpler niche games out there) of the PC games have been over-designed and have fallen prey to their own complexity, pushing away people that want something light and quick and tactical. You can have a good strategy game without having to worry about leveling your character up to 9999, micromanaging items and weapons, city planning, technology trees, and so on. That's why something like Advance Wars on the DS, with its limited input options (no massive keyboard and only so much room for UI), feels so fresh and why I am looking forward to picking up Rebelstar Tactical Command and Age of Kings and, hell, maybe even Battles of Prince of Persia. Why has it been the DS, of all platforms, that has renewed my interest in strategy games?

I am a gamer and none of these games appeal to me. I worry about the state of gaming and I fear that I am being gamed by these giant media companies who are using these video games as a trojan horse to get their "media centres" into TEH LIVINGROOM. And I don't like having to pay $100 after taxes for rehashed games, but with more polygons and shaders. It comes across as too gamey and not gamely enough, if you ask me. And to be fair, I feel equally ambivalent towards the PS3.

Look at these awesome non-gameplay shots. Colour me excited

Beware though. The Alienwares are MASSIVE and HEAVY (not very portable) and they eat through batteries faster than anything. If you plan on taking it anywhere, the Alienware sucks. If not, you'd be better off with a desktop. I've had good luck with Toshibas, but some people tend not to like them.

$$$$$$ Also, I don't think Fox Interactive makes games anymore. I think they just license their IP...

It's not weird. News Corp has wanted to become a big, major player in the online space for a while now, and now they are doing this... with shitload so money. Also, from elsewhere "Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud confirmed Wednesday that he holds a 5.46% Class B stake in News Corp." Chew on that for a bit Then again, he also does own parts of Citigroup, Four Seasons, and Apple Computer. Rich fuck.

I was never hailing the DS as a saviour of the strategy genre, but it does seem to be a very good platform for simple, accessible strategy (and simple as in rules, not easiness). Yes, I am basing this on only a handful of games. (I also spewed this because I thought it was about time there was something a bit more optimistic than "games suck") And as for Civ 4... the previews I've seen don't leave me all that enraptured. The 3D engine looks to add nothing -- The units look and feel even more disproportionate to their environment. Knowing how slow the end game always tends to go, I am reluctant to see how slow the end game will go IN 3D! Everything else, the removal of fixed-eras and retweaking of almost everything and religion, seem to be minor additions.

Christ. I was just pointing out an old thread with similar nostalgia. NOW ENTERING THE SNARK ZONE: there's this cool technology called "search" now!! DEPARTED.

I remember this too http://forums.idlethumbs.net/showthread.php?t=2322 You piezanos.

Just saw "March of the Penguins". I haven't been to the theatre in almost a year, and then all of a sudden, I go twice in five days... to two different bird-related documentaries ?! I don't know.

Fucking hell. What's with the spam bump? Now, thanks to this, I've been playing this damned thing again. ARG. Double ARG for when it crashes.

Until we can actually play the (uninspired) games on it, all we CAN bitch about is the marketing.

I appreciate the balls to speak his mind like that, but he's about as articulate as the Rainman and his news source seems to be Fark. Two fucking photos from different agencies (I think) and different photographers with bylines written by different writers, and all of a sudden it's a blatant media racism and "us vs them" mentality. And I have not seen them, but my sister tells me his videos are all full of skimpy chicks and bling. How fucking socially conscious of him! Twat.

Fuck You Pat Robertson!

Saw this http://www.wildparrotsfilm.com/ It was enjoyable at first, then it got a little boring, then it got enjoyable again, then it ended almost perfectly. Pretty good little documentary, even if the whole "bird" thing is a little en vogue right now.

That's actually good to know. I was wondering how the hell they were migrating accounts. Kind of annoyed that the cost of Live is part of the console, though, which means that you essentially pay for it twice.

How about "grunge" games then? A little more alliterative too.

You need to get a DS, vimes, as that's exactly what it does. I can power the system on, play two games of Meteos, and shut down faster than it takes for me to boot and load a track in Ridge Racer on the PSP. That's not a fault of the system, really, just a different philosophy to how portable games should be. So far, the DS has way more quality "quick play" games. Fun on the go. The PSP is more about (ugh) *experience*, even Mizuguchi says as much when talking about and comparing Meteos with Lumines. I'd say that both of "Q"s games highlight the difference: Meteos is good for quick play; Lumines is for that mindless two hour "get in the zone" flight or bus ride.

At this point, the cost to develop it is minimal, so it's not like this is a huge investment by Nintendo. And since it is cheap to make, it is also more profitable to sell AND it extends the timeline brand. People bought iPod Minis, even though the cost/GB ratio was not in its favour when compared to the actual product.

Maybe they just have a bad case of diarrhea?

Welcome to the PSPVOLUTION Europe!! Now bend over and get ready to be bored for the next eight months.

And 21 Grams.

From this place called Idle Thumbs, you might have heard of it WHISKEY. TANGO. FOXTROT. The more I see and hear of Uuuuuuuwe, the more convinced I am that he is a cyborg planted on our world by aliens as part of some giant galactic practical joke.

Caught "Our Man in Havana" and some of "The Third Man" on TV yesterday. Good stuff. They don't make spy dramas like they used to.