Xbox One Reactions

May 23, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Xbox-One-Console

Two days ago, Microsoft finally unveiled their next in their line of home consoles, Xbox One.

While we can officially add it to the list of “most baffling console nomenclature” along with the Wii U, there’s far more to raise an eyebrow at with this new console. Details are still sparse, but from what we know the system will be slightly less capable in terms of raw processing power than the PS4. That’s not much of an issue for me, especially considering that in terms of architecture both consoles seem have far more parity than the Xbox 360 did compared to PS3. At the very least, we can probably expect both consoles to have games performing quite similarly.

Perhaps the least surprising thing Microsoft focused on was the entertainment angle of the new console. The majority of the conference was taken up discussing Xbox One’s TV features, as well as it’s almost instantaneous application switching. From the demo shown, users should be able to flip between TV, games, music, and more, with just a quick phase to your Kinect.

Youtuber Darkbeatdk’s above highlights clip is a rather apt summary of the system’s reveal. These features were admittedly cool, but for many gamers the focus on TV and entertainment was disheartening. I do share in the sentiment that there was a lack of games shown, and that the three shown off (Quantum Leap, Forza, and Call of Duty: Ghosts) weren’t big surprises. However, prior to the conference (and throughout it, as well) Microsoft has assured gamers that E3 will be the place for games, and I look forward to seeing what they’re bringing to the Xbox One.

That said, there are some things that leave me worried; namely, the inability for Indie developers to self-publish on the system — something both Sony and Nintendo allow. As a gamer increasingly interested in smaller, creative projects, I was disheartened to learn that Microsoft was not embracing this section of the game-development world. Similarly, though I’m not entirely opposed to owning a system that must stay connected to the internet, I did find Microsoft’s vagueness on the subject confusing, to say the least. It seems even Microsoft is unsure about what exactly they’ll be requiring from consumers’ internet connections.

Going into this reveal, I didn’t have many expectations, but I did hope I’d leave it with a modicum of the interest I felt after Sony’s PS4 reveal earlier this year (even though I’m not entirely sold on the PS4, either). Instead, I felt like I had just watched every rumor about the new console come true. What we saw was a company on top making investments in for-sure things: the biggest AAA games; television and movie streaming; NFL and sports apps; and voice-recognition/gesture controls. I’ll be honest, I’m a sucker for Halo and that franchise alone could sell a console to me. It also wouldn’t be hard for Microsoft to win me, and many other gamers, over this E3 but giving us a good look at some of the promised 15 exclusive games coming in Xbox One’s first year. But it’s not all about games anymore, and truth be told, I kinda like the media-hub idea they’re pushing for this new system. It’s a smart move. As many writers have pointed out, the gaming console as we know it is dead, so companies need to widen their net if they want to survive. If we still want the living-room experience, Xbox One and PS4 are really our only bets.

Oh well — there’s always PC gaming!

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Filed Under: Gaming, Impressions Tagged With: , , , ,

Unrequited Love: Re-assessing your Hobbies

April 17, 2013 By Leave a Comment

I’ve always felt Power Cords was a personal space. I started the blog as a way to get my thoughts out there, as well as enable friends and fellow writers a platform to do the same. We’ve had some rather revealing discussions here, but usually exclusively in the context of a single piece of entertainment, or the gaming/film industries themselves. This will probably be my most personal post on the site.

Sometimes, events occur that force you to look at your life and your priorities in a different way. Just shy of two weeks ago, an event of such caliber took place in my life. It left me confused, anxious, and in all honesty truly sad. When I was finally able to take a step back and look at myself objectively, the first place I looked at was my interests and hobbies.

I’ve written recently about my feelings on the current state of gaming a lot lately, usually with hope and a vested interest in what was going on. Well, it dawned on me that I don’t care for about 90% of what videogames offer. For a long time, I was unable to find that “spark” outside a small handful of titles that really captivated me. Gaming tropes have become old. Shooting guys is boring, action for the sake of action is boring, storytelling is boring. For quite some time, I wasn’t having fun. I was sure it was an outside factor playing into it: college classes, trouble adjusting to a new living arrangement, etc. Well, in reality I the truth is I was growing out of “mainstream” videogames. I was playing as many games as I could, reading as much news and listening to any and every podcast in an effort to fulfill what I considered was the proper method to set myself up for a job in games journalism.

Yeah, I don’t think I want that.

Don’t get me wrong here, I’m super stoked for/will play the shit outta some Dark Souls 2, Shovel Knight, and the Link to the Past sequel; Guacamellee and Ridiculous Fishing have occupied large chunks of my time over the past couple weeks; and I’d be lying if I wasn’t caught up in the Bioshock Infinite hype (even if the story offered little justification for the violence). But these have been/will be hobbiest-level indulgences, not “necessities” in order to position myself for a career. The overwhelming majority of the stuff there is to play out there is, well, kinda crap and frankly I just don;t feel interested enough to care about most of it. The industry is bloated. Indies and Kickstarter excite me, but despite my best wishes I doubt that they will become the new norm. Besides, half the charm with smaller games is that they are, in fact, so different from everything else.

But it’s not just the games themselves. In fact, that’s really only half the issue. I’ve become increasingly dissatisfied and disenchanted with people in the press and the gaming community at large, but for separate reasons. When someone speaks up about an issue they feel strongly about, yet are attacked and belittled based upon gender, sexual orientation, or just their feelings, it shows there is a toxicity in the entire community that must be addressed. Frankly, I’m tired of being group with this vocal minority (majority?) for the sheer fact that I play games now and again. That said, I find it inane to label anything questionable as a scandal, and issue, or as offensive. Some things aren’t meant to cause trouble or offend, and must be taken in context. It’s getting annoying to hear every other week that a new person is offended, thus offending everyone else. It’s a vicious circle and just plain old.

Yet despite this passion for “the issues,” there’s an overwhelming sense of apathy in the gaming press (and gamer culture) towards practically everything. It’s begun to wear on me. I am no longer “allowed” to be excited. We must all be jaded, cynical, and detached, but for what reason I truly have no clue, and I’m simply done trying to understand it or combat it. I know what I like, and that’s enough for me.

All things considered, I still plan on being a part of this medium. I’ll write about a game when it moves or interests me enough. I’ll attend conventions, read the news, and follow interesting personalities on podcasts and through Twitter (like the guys from Giant Bomb, Lasertime, Mega 64, Roosterteeth, and Podtoid), but not as actively as I have been, and for my own personal enjoyment rather than some notion that I “have to.”

This is the same mindset I’m applying to blogging. A part of me is still open to the idea of writing about/for games or working in the industry in some capacity. But things need to change. This year’s GDC certainly gave the impression we’re waking up. How long it will take is another question. The one bastion of hope lies in the developers and creative-types working in the industry. I’ve found kindred spirits in many of them through their interviews and personal blogs. Maybe that is an avenue I need to explore… But again, these are smaller, personal aspects of an industry run by bottom lines  demographics, and profits, and therefore don’t carry the weight that they should.

Thus, my love for games has gone unrequited. Games aren’t the only of my hobbies/interests I’m re-prioritization, though. When the event occurred that caused this introspection, the first placed I turned to was music. Music was, and always will be, my first love, and for a time it has been my only solace from whatever fears or emotions I had to hide from. I’ve never been one to make music, but I appreciate it immensely. I plan on writing more about music for a while.

Power Cords isn’t going anywhere. While I do have other projects I want to pursue as well, for that small part of me that still wants to believe games can be something more than just a product or spectacle, I need to keep this blog around to explore those ideas.

But most importantly, I’ve got seven more weeks of classes to complete, and a job to focus on. No matter where gaming, blogging, music, reading, or any other hobby of mine fit into my life, the point is they’re just hobbies for now. There are things that are far, far more important to me. I won’t be as active on here, and that’s okay.

The catalyst for this whole event stands unresolved. In spite of all my other goals, it remains the most important issue in my life right now. And while it may take time, when you know what you want, you’ll do anything and everything necessary to make sure it turns out the way you envision it. A part of that process includes asking yourself questions as silly as “do I still like videogames that much?” My answer, as you can see, is complicated — all true answers are — but the point is that sometimes you have to move things around in order to get to where you want to be. Hey, maybe my adoration for Dark Souls and the patience it teaches you will come in handy. One can hope, I suppose.

To everyone who has read and contributed to the blog in the past, I really appreciate it. Your input and interest has always meant the world to me. We’ll speak again soon, but for I’m simply going to enjoy what I can, and focus on what’s really important.

Until next time,

Brendan

Filed Under: Features & Editorials, Gaming Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Return of the old school RPG part IV: Might & Magic X Legacy

March 28, 2013 By Leave a Comment

I am scornfully resenting my inability to have attended this year’s PAX East convention because there were some great announcements: SuperGiant’s next game, Transistor, was shown off; The official name for the Double Fine’s Kickstarter Adventure, Broken Age, was revealed; Capcom announced they would be remaking the classic platformer Duck Tales (which elicited such nostalgia-soaked hysteria from twitter it was almost allarming); but in keeping with the spirit of this column, I want to focus on one announcement in particular: Ubisoft’s upcoming Might & Magic X Legacy.

When the title leaked a couple days prior to the official PAX announcement, I figured it would be yet another strategy game spinoff Heroes of Might and Magic — which to be fair are absolutely great games, but they’re not exactly the old school RPGs. The role playing series as been on hiatus for nearly 12 years, ever since Might & Magic 9 hit back in 2001.

Might and Magic X looks and sounds undeniably old-school.The game take place in a massive world filled with indoor and outdoor dungeons to explore, turn-based combat, and a first-person perspective the dungeon-crawling series is known for. The graphics are lush and the art distinct and charming. From the sounds of the skill system and character building, it sounds very much like a classic dungeon crawler.

What surprises me most here is that this is Ubisoft releasing the game. At a time where most publishers are looking for massive hits and sure-things, Ubisoft seems to be striking a balance. Sure, they’ve got Assassin’s Creed, Watch Dogs, and Splinter Cell as their big, primary franchises moving them forward, but other games like ZombiU, Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends, and now this Might and Magic sequel give me the impression that the company isn’t quite as averse to new ideas or niche markets as other big-name publishers. I would have expected this to have been a Kickstarter project or an indie studio before I ever would’ve guessed Ubisoft was actually taking the reins. It gives me hope that maybe things are changing, and for the better. Between this and the recent announcement that the Legend of Grimrock folks at Almost Human are working on Grimrock 2, it looks like we can add dungeon crawler to the list of resurrected RPG sub-genres along with Rogue-Likes and CRPGs.

Until our next meeting, mortals!

Filed Under: Features & Editorials, Gaming Tagged With: , , , ,

Why We Could Use a (Small) Collapse of the Gaming Industry.

March 25, 2013 By 2 Comments

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Videogames have become too big. I don’t mean the number of people playing them is too large — in my mind, the more people playing the better. No, I mean that the gaming industry as a business is too damn big.

Last E3 is a perfect example as to why. The entire show was dedicated to well-known publishers parading their franchises around as the next Call of Duty or World of Warcraft. Horror games were masked as bro-shooters, open world sandboxes were turned into neck-stabbing simulators, and character-driven stories were boiled down to blood-spattered action sequences. It was insulting, to tell you the truth.

It wasn’t the violence itself, that wasn’t the issue; videogame violence has never been something that I find offensive on its own. No, what found so offensive was that incessant pandering to a crowd of gamers who probably paid about 1/10th of the attention to the convention that I and other hardcore gamers did. I’m not alone in this; most postmortems of the convention seemed to echo this sentiment. In fact, I’ll be honest in saying most of my feelings weren’t fully articulated until I read editorials from others who all observed the same phenomenon: all the games looked alike.

For about the next 6 months I took a big step back from covering videogames, as I’m sure most of you noticed.

When the PS4 announcement hit, suddenly I felt myself pulled back in. Why? Because it sounded like Sony was trying something new. They are opening their platform up just enough so that they can score indie support (an aspect of any machine which I consider very important); they claim to be their system easier to develop for, and assured not just gamers, but the game makers themselves that they had listened and were making a system as much for them as for the rest of us. Of course, at the end of the day I still find myself budgeting out PC parts instead of clearing a new spot under my TV, but that’s for reasons besides what the PS4 is or isn’t doing. The point is, I was happily surprised by the route Sony is taking. I think more so than any other company, they can see the tides of this sea shifting.

A glimmer of hope.

A glimmer of hope.

There’s a lot still up in the air with regards to the next console generation — will mobile games continue to rise? Is the PC renaissance permanent? Just what exactly will new consoles require of users? Will Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft all still be making consoles? — there are several things we are certain of. The first, the AAA model of development doesn’t work. “AA” companies like THQ have been pushed out after trying to keep up with the ever-engorging cost of game development. This increase in development cost is due to massive commercial successes from very specific games (the aforementioned Call of Duty, World of Warcraft), and companies desperately trying to capture that same market (or re-capture, as the case may now be). This has caused a shift away from the creativity and experimentation of  previous console generations, and instead towards pumping more money into increasingly similar looking projects hoping to replicate these fluke success stories.

The main impetus for the mid-80′s videogame crash was an over abundance of low-quality, and uninspired games. Today, have way too many games coming out trying to capture the exact same audience. Imagine if every couple months, a new movie was released trying to be the next Avengers or Transformers. These movies might be aimed at the largest movie-going audience out there, theoretically setting these films up for success. But only a fraction of that audience would go see every single one. Furthermore, a large portion of the movie-going population that does not care for these types of movies would be alienated, and any revenue from them lost.

This is exactly what’s been going on in gaming this past generation, and it seems to be coming to a head. More and more development studios are disappearing;  yet at the same time more and more smaller projects, aimed at very specific yet sure-fire audiences, have begun to crop up. These projects cover genres and cater to audiences that have been woefully under-represented over the past half decade. Speaking for myself, seeing all these old-school RPGs and classic side-scrolling platformers are exactly the kinds of games I want to be playing. I’d be willing to bet there are games you’d like to see make a comeback.

But that’s not all: Chris Roberts is returning to space sims with Star Citizen; Everquest Next is promises to bring sandboxes back to MMOs; Mechwarrior Online and Hawken are resurrecting Mech games; Tribes: Ascend has reuinited PC gamers with arena shooters; Path to Exile and Torchlight have given players hours of loot-driven ARPGs; Double Fine and Himalaya Studios are bringing back point and click adventures; and XCOM: Enemy Unknown has proven strategy games are still financially relevant. The best part? Most of these are indie games players can pick up for smaller price points — or better yet, for free.

Shovel Knight.

Shovel Knight.

This is what game development need to move towards on a much larger scale than just these fringe projects. Buying a $60 game should be a big deal, much like seeing this year’s summer block buster is. I purchased Tomb Raider last month, Bioshock Infinite is currently preloaded on Steam, and all things considered those will probably be the two biggest games I buy this year (in terms of budget). Everything else — from Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen to Shovel Knight – will be anywhere from $10 to $40, prices much more conducive to compulsive and frequent purchases. Tiered pricing, smaller budgets, and niche games aimed and smaller yet more secure audiences could transform videogames from a giant mess of corporate meddling and content homogenization, and into a sustainable and inviting hobby once again.

I still want the BioShocks and Skyrims of the world to exist, and don’t think they’ll ever really go away. They may shrink slightly, and certainly won’t take any less to to develop. But in between these large tent-pole releases, I see space growing for the Ridiculous Fishings and Fezs to exist and thrive. The crash of the 190′s led to a burst in high quality, innovative games from Nintendo and similar companies. If a tiny downsize of the industry leads to a wider variety of games, on a vast array of devices, all being made with passion and creativity and played by people who care about the games they play, then I say bring it on.

Filed Under: Features & Editorials Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Gaming Journal March 8, 2013: Tomb Raider Impressions

March 8, 2013 By Leave a Comment

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I have put about 5 or 6 hours into the Tomb Raider reboot by Eidos and Square Enix, and I can safely say it is — at this point — the best early contender for game of the year.

I realize that may be a slight hyperbole, but from the first moments I’ve been enthralled in this tense story of survival. The story itself isn’t anything groundbreaking. There’s a decent level of mystery on the island, and I can tell the story is slowly gearing up to some interesting twists and reveals, but what I find to be so affecting is the growth of Lara herself. She began the game scared, injured, and on the verge of mental and physical breakdown. But a few hours in now, she’s become a cunning, agile survivalist, capable of not only impressive feats of acrobatics and strength, but of harrowing violence in order to get out of this situation alive.

I’m impressed by Lara’s growth and characterization, as well as the broader narrative being told here, something I don’t normally say about the games I play, especially big AAA games like Tomb Raider. Everything seem contextually justified and while the number of enemies Lara has to take down throughout the game is starting to tally-up to unrealistic figures, I don’t feel that there’s much of a logical leap needed in order the believe them. Overall, the story may not be surprising or powerful, but so far its been concise and believable, more than I can say for most games.

On the gameplay front, Tomb Raider continues to impress. The basic mechanics of Tomb Raider are stealth, third-person shooting, exploration and platforming. The stealth sections, while numerous, do a good job of relaying the proper information in order to get past them. The shooting is surprisingly fun. Sure, there’s a bit of a dissonance with enjoying taking on groups of enemies with well-placed arrows and the emotional impact of the scenarios weighing upon Lara’s conscience, but at the end of the day this is a third-person shooter and a good one at that.

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Where Tomb Raider truly shines is the platforming and exploration. The island is broken up into several open hub areas that allow for free-roaming of the surrounding environment. While these levels aren’t entirely open, they are designed in such a way that Lara’s movement feel unfettered as she climbs, leaps, and swings through them. The closest approximation I can think of is something like Metroid Prime or Arkham Asylum; you are given ares in which to explore and find hidden pathways, items, and secrets (of which there are many). These include optional “tombs,” which are usually filled with puzzles and complex traversal sections. The Metroid and Arkham Asylum  comparisons also extend to the acquisition of new equipment and upgrades, often unlocking heretofore inaccessible parts of the open hub areas, allowing you to discover more secrets. There are even light RPG elements in the XP, skillpoints, and upgrade systems that further add to the number of unlockables.

For me, just while the item hunting and discovery are addictive and rewarding, it’s the platforming and traversal that really grabs me. It’s fun to just climb around these jungle gym-like levels and find different ways to get from point A to B.

Overall, I’m enjoying the hell out of Tomb Raider. It’s possible the rest of the game may fall apart sometime down the road, and maybe some of these slowly building climaxes will leave me underwhelmed. But thus far, these is little indication that will happen. The basic gameplay is fun and rewarding; the story is well paced and the characters believable. There may be a slight gap between my feelings of fun and excitement versus the thematic tone of the story, but it’s nominal and has yet to present any issue. I highly recommend picking up the game.

Anyway, that’s it for this week. I realize that turned into more of a full review than other Gaming Journal impressions/recaps, but I just had so much to say about the game! I might expand upon these thoughts once I complete the game — especially if something changes my positive impressions thus far. But for now, I’m having a blast.

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Oh, I also played Etrian Odyssey IV. It’s a pretty deep and complex dungeon crawler RPG, and I’ve found the gameplay mechanics to be addictive. I particularly enjoy the map drawing (instead of filling out a dungeon map in the traditional methods, you draw them on the lower screen of the 3DS). However, the tone of the game, soundtrack, and art design aren’t really my thing. It’s a bit too bright and cheery, but more importantly I find it to be filled with uninspired JRPG tropes. Etrian Odyssey IV is good game, to be sure, but I find myself wishing for a sequel to The Dark Spire instead. Check it out if you need a good dungeon crawler grind. Despite clashing my personal tastes, it’s very good.

See you next week!

Gaming Journal Stats:

Games Played This Week: Tomb Raider; Etrian Odyssey IV: Legend of the Titan

Games Completed

February 2013:

  • The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
  • Vagrant Story

 January 2013:

  • The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3DS
  • Super Mario 3D Land
  • Persona 3

December 2012: 

  • The Elder Scrolls V: Dragonborn DLC

November 2012:

  • Halo 4 [+ Spartan Ops DLC]
  • Hotline Miami

October 2012:

  • Dark Souls [+ Artorias of the Abyss DLC]
  • DOOM
  • DOOM II: Hell on Earth
  • The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion [+The Shivering Isles]
Filed Under: Gaming, Gaming Journal, Impressions Tagged With: , ,

Shootin’ the Shit: March 8, 2013 — Angry Mobs

March 8, 2013 By Leave a Comment

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Hey! Been a while, how have you been? After weeks off, I’m finally getting around to posting again, and with that comes a new addition of Shootin’ the Shit. On the site itself, I posted two features, The Return of the Old School RPG parts 2 and 3, both of them follow up to my original from a few months ago. But that’s not all that happened this week.

News

So much has happened these past 5 days. It seems like almost every day this week has had a big story. With those stories, came droves angry internet mobs, so lets cover the big ones.

SimCity Launches… err, sorta

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So this week, the new SimCity was released. Despite relatively high initial critical praise, the always-online city building sim quickly came under fire once the the servers went public. EA’s Origin servers were bogged down by the thousands of players, rendering most unable to even access the game due to it’s persistent online nature — if you can’t get online, you can’t play. Moreover, many players found their save data lost, setting progress for some back hours. To combat these issues, Maxis (the makers of SimCity) removed a few features from the game to reduce server strain. However, anecdotal evidence seems to conclude that many players find the current state of the game unplayable in spite of these changes. Many, still, cannot access the game itself. EA has even ended marketing campaigns, and has asked affiliates to cease promoting the game.

The current state of the game led to some outlets amending their review scores to account for these issues. Some that were not privy to early review code have offered scathing reviews due to SimCity’s current state. This had led to major backlash; both against EA and SimCity, but also against the outlets themselves for amending scores. My opinion? I don’t think games — especially games that require a 3rd party in order to work — should be held to their scores. If the game is reviewed prior to release, but the retail version of the game is markedly different, reviews should reflect that. I don’t know what that means for reviews, nor how gaming publications should fix it, but I feel those that reduced their scores for SimCity had the right to do so.

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag Announced

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After being leaked earlier last week, the veil was finally lifted on the new Assassin’s Creed game, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. We learned the new game will feature Edward Kenway, grandfather of ACIII’s Connor Kenway, and will be a more open-world focused game. Set in the Carribean in the early 1700′s, ACIV seems to be a pirate game first, and assassin game second. Certain key Assassin’s Creed features, such at the notoriety system, have been removed in favor of more expanded nautical gameplay from ACIII, and numerous pirating activities to indulge in, including treasure hunting, naval battles, exploring ruins, under water sections, shark fighting, and whale hunting, not to mention non-linear assassination missions. However, these promises have been met with some skepticism, especially after the tepid critical response to ACIII.

Personally, I feel both Assassin’s Creed II and III had their issues. Despite this, I still feel both are great games, though I would never have expected to be excited about the franchise again. Despite all this, here I am eagerly awaiting Black flag. I’m a sucker for nautical themes and open-world games, and the fact that Black Flag seems to be focusing on pirates more than the assassins is a plus for me. However, it does make me wonder if this wasn’t an entirely different, non-Assassin’s Creed game before at some point. Still, I’m up for a good pirate game, Assassin’s Creed or otherwise, so count me in.

Big news for RPG fans

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I’ve already covered the week’s big RPG news in my Return of the Old School RPG parts 2 and 3  this week, but just for reference:

  • Richard Garriott has announced a new medieval RPG project, Shroud of the Avatar. The game has a new Kickstarter page as well.
  • inXile, the dev studio behind Wasteland 2, launched a kickstarter for Torment: Tides of Numenera, a spitirual seuql to Planescae: Torment. It surpassed it’s funding goal in a matter of hours, and broke $1.5 million in less than 12 hours.
  • A brandnew video showing off Shadowrun Return‘s Alpha gameplay and combat has surface and it looks awesome.

My response to all this?

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Videos

  • Not a whole lot was watched this week. However, Anita Sarkeesian released her first episode of Tropes vs Women in Video Games. It’s received quite a mixed bag of responses  some of which make me feel a little ashamed I consider myself part of gamer culture. Anita is a hardcore gamer, and very obviously cares about this medium, but her criticisms are sharp, sobering, and valid. While the video doesn’t necessarily bring anything new to the conversation, it does articulate many of the issues of women in gaming very well:
  • If you still haven’t watched the new gameplay video for Shadowrun Returns, you should hurry up and get on that:

Words

  • Penny Arcade Report’s Ben Kuchera wrote an interesting piece regarding videogame difficulty and aging. I might only be in my early twenties, but I found parts of his editorial to be universal, as many of the thought’s he’s had (“what will be my last videogame”) have been thoughts I’ve legitimately had in the few few months, especially in moments where the industry seems to crumbling.
  • The review that started it all: Polygon’s SimCity review and subsequent score amendments. This has been the epicenter for much of the story, garnering both criticism and praise from fans and other writers, and even understanding on behalf of EA. While the entire thing is tragic, it serve as an example of why ubiquitous always-online gaming isn’t yet a feasible option.

Misc.

That’s really all I have to offer this week. It’s certainly been an interesting one — one that’s certain to define the tone for the entirety of 2013. I always figured it’d be a big year, but I didn’t realize just how many things we’d be talking about.

A short word about Power Cords: some may be wondering why we’re not using The Cascadian Crew or why we resumed posting here. Primarily, it’s because we wanted a more focused outlet to talk about games and media in a tone that we feel clashes with the concept behind The Cascadian Crew. While it offers us a broader range of topics, we felt fully articulate our thoughts on gaming and film in exactly the ways we wanted warranted resuming posting here. Personally, for a few months I questioned my investment in gaming, and was struggling to find the motivation to cover stories or even play many games. Fortunately, between the announcements of the PS4 and plenty of exciting new games, as well as the success story of several indie project and crowd funding campaigns, I’ve once again found myself compelled to write about not just the industry, but games themselves. I aim to continue this new-found motivation.

While it’s mostly been just me these past few weeks, I’m working hard to get other projects rolling with other memebers across the entire Cascadian Crew. I have some new ideas, some of which my result in changes. However: Power Cords will not be chaging. Other than some possible changes to the layout, and perhaps even some new writers and the return of others, Power Cords will remain. We realize we have to work to get back the readership we had at our peak last year, but I feel we can get there in no time. Thanks to all of you who still read, like, and comment — we promise we’ll have more content for you in the future.

Anyway, that’s it for me this week. Keep an eye out for a new Gaming Journal post this weekend. Otherwise, we’ll see you next week!

Filed Under: Gaming, Shootin' the Sh*t Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Return of the Old School RPG Part THREE!? — Richard Garriott and Shadowrun Returns

March 8, 2013 By 1 Comment

Shroud of the Avatar

shroud of the avatar announcement 2

There is probably one name more synonymous with old school role playing games than any other: Richard Garriott. He pioneered the idea of games as worlds, crafted the earliest CRPGs with the Ultima series, and sparked the MMO genre with Ultima Online. Hell, he even was the first guy to sell a game in a box. He’s a pretty important dude, in RPGs or just gaming in general.

Admittedly, I haven’t played nearly as much Ultima as I probably should have. In fact, other than a few brief hours with a couple of the games, the series is pretty foreign to me. For me, names like Chris Avellone, Feargus Urquhart, or even Todd Howard carry more weight when attached to an RPG project.

Nonetheless, in the world of RPGs, when Richard Garriott speaks, people listen. Today, he called down from the mountain tops, announcing his own crowd funding campaign for a new multiplayer RPG, Shroud of the Avatar. The game seems to be a split online/offline game, and promises classes character creation, meaningful narrative choices, a fully interactive world, innovative PVP, and player-run homesteads and real estate. It sounds quite ambitious, and I hope the final product encapsulates all of Sir British’s ideas. You can check out more about the game on the Kickstarter here. While I may not be quite as excited by this news as many others are sure to be, it does drive home this idea that RPGs are really coming back; if Richard Garriott is making a medieval role playing game, then the future must be bright.

Check out the Kickstarer here.

 Shadowrun Returns

While Garriot’s Shroud of the Avatar and inXile’s Torment: Tides of Numenera are in the early stages of development, some of these Kickstarter role playing games are finally beginning to show some real progress.

One game in particular is Harebrained Scheme’s Shadowrun Returns. Shadowrun is another series I have little experience with — I never played the original RPG, nor the online FPS that was released a few years ago. However, Shadowrun Returns looks to be a promising game. The developers have released a new gameplay video showing off some alpha footage of the new game along with some commentary. The art style looks great, and the tactical combat seems fun — very reminiscent of the original Fallout games. Plus the setting is awesome (cyberpunk elves? Street samurai? Sold). Peep the video below. I highly recommend it; I’m not sure how this game has flown under my radar for so long, but it is now among a growing list of exciting RPG projects coming in the next few months/years.

You can check out more Shadowrun Returns here.

RPGs seems to be a growing topic of conversation here on Power Cords. While I’m really excited about that, I’m also going to try to get some other topics/voices going again too. At any rate, you can be sure that if anything important occurs in the world of RPGs, I’ll have something to say about it.

Filed Under: Features & Editorials, Gaming, News Tagged With: , , , ,

The return of the Old School RPG part 2 — Torment: Tides of Numenera

March 6, 2013 By 1 Comment

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Perhaps one of the single most exciting videogame announcements of the past several years occurred a few weeks ago. A spiritual sequel to one of the greatest games ever made, Planescape: Torment, will be appearing in the form of a new, isometric CRPG called Torment: Tides of Numenera.

Today, inXile — the development team behind Torment, as well as the upcoming Wasteland 2 — launched their Kickstarter campaign, aiming to fund $900,000 over the next 30 days, surpassed its goal in under six hours, and at this time has raised over $1.5 million from 28,173 backers, myself included. Obviously, as an RPG fan I am ecstatic; as a Planescape: Torment fan, I am thrilled. To hear that the development team features many of those who worked on the original game, and that they are working hard to create and world and story full of depth, drama and truly mature philosophical questions is not only reassuring, it’s exciting. It’s even been endorsed by Chris Avellone, director of Planescape: Torment, himself.

Here’s a brief excerpt of the game’s story from the Kickstarter page:

You are the Last Castoff, the final link in the chain of the lives of the being they call the Changing God. He once was a man who discovered a way to use the relics of the ancients to cheat death and skip across the face of centuries in a succession of bodies. But he never knew that his bodies lived on as his consciousness fled, a new consciousness arising in each. Now he has awakened an age-old enemy, the Angel of Entropy, and his days of change are gone as the Angel hunts him and all his works. That includes… you.

That sounds awesome.

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I’ve written in the past about my love for various RPGs, as well as my excitement that the genre is making a comeback in a big way. By that I don’t mean in terms of games like Mass Effect or Skyrim selling extremely well and being fantastic games, but also in the fact that classic styles of role playing games are making a comeback thanks to the like of Kickstarter. Obsidian’s Project Eternity, and inXile’s Wasteland 2 and now Torment: Tides of Numenera are exactly the kinds of games I want to be playing. Sure, I’m excited for the PS4; I’m happy the Thief series is returning; and yes I love the idea of Assassin Creed IV’s open-world pirate adventure; but Torment: Tides of Numenera is bar-none the single most exciting game-related announcement this year (now, if Dark Soul II had been announced this year instead of last year, it might have been a closer call).

Thanks to these successful Kickstarter projects, I’m getting the opportunity to play (and by extension, help create) exactly the kinds of videogames that I want to exist. Of course, this is taking it on faith that these games will be good, or even come out in the first place. But even if they fail to live up to our expectations, the fact is that these projects give me hope that videogames aren’t on the verge of some sort of massive collapse — or worse,  water-down homogenization — and are instead evolving and splintering into sub-communities much like other artistic and entertainment mediums. That’s a future I can get excited for.

Check out inXile’s Kickstarter page for the game here. And while you’re at it, you might as well go buy the original Planescape: Torment for cheap on gog.com because it’s a great game.

Filed Under: Features & Editorials, Gaming, News Tagged With: , , , , ,

Gaming Journal: February 22, 2013 – The Return

February 22, 2013 By Leave a Comment

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Power Cords is back this week! It’s been a few weeks since we’ve really posted much, but considering the excitement of the PS4 announcement and deluge or February/March game releases to look forward to, I felt the time was right to jump back in to the blogging realm. It’s been a few months since I posted another entry in my gaming journal series, but that isn’t just because we took a break from the blog itself.

Let’s face it, there haven’t been many games to come out these past couple months, and with a few exceptions the ones that have have been unspectacular. However, in that time I’ve purchased a 3DS, as well as gone back to some old gems — all of which I’ll cover in this post. One game I’ve been able to play is the fantastic 3DS tactical RPG, Fire Emblem Awakening. It’s the first tactics game I’ve played since the original Disgaea, so it took a little bit to full immerse myself into Fire Emblem’s gameplay mechanics. It’s a very deep game, but the actual moment-to-moment gameplay is easy to understand. I’m on chapter 12 right now, and playing on classic, which has made the past couple chapters ulcer-inducing in their tension. I’ll put together a full length post of my impressions of the game soon, but over all Fire Emblem Awakening is a great game and I’m enjoying it quite a bit.

Another 3DS game I put some time into this week was the Master Quest for Ocarina of Time 3D. I completed the normal quest a few weeks ago, and last week I started up the Master Quest, and have made it up through the water temple (which is far less of a hassle in Master Quest). While I know the original Ocarina quest front to back, Master Quest is proving to be a challenge. There are some real head scratchers, and many of the puzzles are just plain weird (the cows in Jabu Jabu? pretty odd). I like the new dungeons, but at the end of the day it’s still Ocarina. 

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The final game I played this week is yet another 3DS title. The demo for Monster Hunter 3U hit the eShop this week. While  the demo doesn’t feature the crafting or gathering from the full game (the most addictive aspect of the series for me), it does feature two really fun fights, as well as access to high-end hunter builds for each weapon class. If you’re a Monster Hunter fan, or curious about the series, check out the demo. If you’ve never been sold on the series, then you can probably pass it. I for one will be milking the demo until the full game hits March 19.

And that’s it for this week! I’ll be doing this more regularly again. My goal is to return to posting every Friday, but we’ll see. It all depends on time and how much I play. And keep an eye out for Shootin’ the Shit’s return this weekend as well!

Gaming Journal Stats:

Games Played This Week: Fire Emblem Awakening; The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Master Quest; Monster Hunter 3U Demo

Games Completed

February 2013:

  • Vagrant Story

 January 2013:

  • The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3DS
  • Super Mario 3D Land
  • Persona 3

December 2012: 

  • The Elder Scrolls V: Dragonborn DLC

November 2012:

  • Halo 4 [+ Spartan Ops DLC]
  • Hotline Miami

October 2012:

  • Dark Souls [+ Artorias of the Abyss DLC]
  • DOOM
  • DOOM II: Hell on Earth
  • The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion [+The Shivering Isles]
Filed Under: Gaming, Impressions Tagged With: , , ,

Reacting to Sony Meeting 2013: The PS4 is Real.

February 20, 2013 By Leave a Comment

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And there you have it.

The PS4 is real; it’s powerful, it’s innovative, and easy to use for both developers and consumers, and we’ll be playing it this Holiday season.

But most importantly, we saw games. New game, new IP. Sure, there were sequels, but there were so many amazing looking announcements. I’m still processing and decompressing — that was a solid 2 hours of impressive footage and exciting ideas. I don’t want to over-hype it, but the system sounds impressive. It ‘s seems like a truly next-gen machine, and Sony has clearly made some important partnerships. There are still questions — most notably price, exact release date, and form factor — but we also got a bunch of great things to look forward to.

I wonder what Microsoft will do. But right now, I’m just very happy about what we saw. The developers showing off their games, and talking about how easy to use the hardware is were really good to hear. I’m just very pleased with what we saw. I’m excited for E3 and getting more info because right now, I can see myself owning a PS4 and getting a lot of use out of it. I may even buy a Vita.

Filed Under: Features & Editorials, Gaming Tagged With: , ,
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