LOTRO Game Diary 6 – Guardian of Ered Luin

So the last time I tried to complete this rescue Avorthal quest with Langlas, I got my ass handed to me. So off I went into side quest land and did a few side quests. One involving spiders and some place with lots of cob webs. Creepy… Kinda disappointed that I didn’t see any giant spiders(isn’t that a RPG staple by now?) but I got what I wanted. Level 14 and dual wielding is mineeeee…

White - Speaking About Art Games

There are games that are like canvases for the players imagination and creativity such as Spore or Little Big Planet. These games are more about how the player express themselves within the games system rather than the game designers making a point. And then there is White, which is quite literally a canvas for the players artistic expression.

Din’s Curse Demo Impressions

Din’s Curse may look like a generic Diablo clone which doesn’t have the same graphical chops that Titan Quest had, but peel through the layers of poor presentation(mainly the graphics) and what you find is quite a unique action RPG. It’s still pretty much the same Diablo formula but with a few interesting twists.

Babel – Fezzing It Up

I remember reading about a little game called Fez, watching trailers for it, and wishing I had my hands on it right then to play it. It’s been a loooooooooooong time since I heard about Fez and it still hasn’t been released yet. I suppose it’s one of those games, once released, is going to blow your mind! But for now, someone’s made a small game called Babel. The developer calls it a ‘Fez Ripoff!’.

AI War: Fleet Command Version 4.0 Update Released

 

AI War: Fleet Command got a version 4.0 update today. The new version is a major addition as it adds so many things that Chris Park of Arcen Games says it is essentially a sequel. The new update adds a whopping 147 new units, reworks the music and graphical effects, streamlines a lot of the user interface, and even makes some major rework on how combat is handled. The Children of Neinzul expansion pack has also been released with proceeds going to charity. In case you missed my review, I thought AI war was a fresh news RTS game with many innovative features. Read about what has changed here. AI War 4.0 trailer after the jump…

Heroes of Might & Magic VI Gameplay Footage

In case you’ve missed the news, Ubisoft announced a 6th iteration of the Heroes of Might and Magic franchise recently. Apart from a flashy CG trailer, there’s very few previews for a game slated to be released Q1 of next year. I’ve found a video that features some German men talking about the game(with gameplay footage of course). If you can’t understand German, there’s also a video which highlights what’s new in it(interview). Videos after the jump…

Dragon Age 2 No More New Shit Trailer

Bioware released a new trailer for Dragon Age 2 featuring gameplay footage. Video ominously missing ‘This Is The New Shit’ and Marilyn Manson. I thought Dragon Age Origins was a great RPG game that was in my opinion the best PC game of 2009(released November 2009). The sequel is a bit of a weird move really as Bioware seems to me making it more console friendly(with the dialogue wheel, single race character limitation). Anyway, watch the trailer after the jump and be impressed or not…

Star Ruler Demo Impressions

Star Ruler might look like a typical 4X strategy game, but it isn’t. It’s a real time strategy game(RTS) much in the vein of the excellent AI War: Fleet Command. What Star Ruler does differently is that it mixes elements from the Sword of The Stars game like custom ship building, 3D galaxy, fleet management with an RTS like AI War or Sins of A Solar Empire.

StarCraft II Alternative Subscription Pricing For SEA

I’ve ranted about this previously, but the retail price for StarCraft II(RM248) is a major obstacle for many players and I chose not to support such a pricing. It seems now there is an alternative pricing scheme using subscriptions. According to Gameaxis Online, IAH Games(distributer for Blizzard games in this region), are offering limited passes(3 days, 7 days or 30 days) that will allow you to play the single player and multiplayer portion of StarCraft II. Pricing details below:

The Steam Newbie Guide

Steam is awesome! With a huge catalogue of games(the largest now) offered and with its crazy deals, it is fast becoming the de facto platform for PC games. I’ve however heard of a lot of frustrations from those new to this platform. Mostly it’s those that purchase a game that requires Steam and has never used Steam. In this article, I’ll go through what Steam is and the basics of how to use it(and install your game).

Games That Made Me

Games that made me is an article I originally wrote for KGM. In this article, I’ll share with you my most influential gaming experiences, games that made me,a ‘gamer’. I go by the internet handle frags, which was something I thought up in the old Counter Strike days of mine. I’ve been playing computer games for about 20 years now and if I had to pick a genre of games that I felt most endeared to, it has to be strategy games. After the jump, I talk about strategy games I grew up with.

LOTRO Game Diary 5 - Algarchen and Failed Elf Rescue

So I make my way up north of Gondamon and rightly so, I found an encampment of those damned Dourhand dwarves. They must’ve been in it all this time! Okay the main plotline for the elven folk in LOTRO is predictable by a mile. I mean they started the game with them attacking you.

Diablo III Demon Hunter Class Revealed!

BlizzCon is going down at Blizzards home base, Anaheim, and the biggest news is that Diablo III now has a fifth(and also final) class called The Demon Hunter and WoW Catacalysm digital downloads will be available on release day. The Demon Hunter is a predominantly ranged type heavy DPS character with special abilities such as fan of knives, molten arrow, grenades etc. Cinematic and gameplay trailer after the jump…

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam Trailer Divulges Pricing

EA has released a new trailer for the Bad Company 2 expansion, Vietnam. This trailer finally reveals the pricing of this ‘mini’ expansion(that’s what I’m calling it), it will be USD$14.99. This expansion adds a few maps and a new Vietnam setting(includes all new weapons and vehicles). Due out winter2010(which means soon). Trailer after the jump…

Solium Infernum Review

A little late to the party(the game was out in 2009), but Solium Infernum is one game that you wont want to miss if you're a strategy gamer. Solium Infernum was developed by Cryptic Comet, a one man team by the name of Vic Davis, and sees you trying to grab the throne of hell from other archfiends. It's a unique take on turn based strategy games and the way it portrays hell is unique and fresh. Being the lord of hell has never been this fun, or as the games manual proclaims, it's better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven...

Lionheart: Kings Crusade Demo Impressions

Neocore Games are back with their second attempt to try to make an alternative total war strategy game with Lionheart: Kings Crusade. I wasn't too impressed by their previous entry, King Arthur: A Role Playing Wargame which was simply quite unbalanced and the strategic layer was too paper thin. However this time around, they went for a more realistic historical period(as opposed to the mythological Arthur storyline with magic and the sorts) of the medieval era.

Shogun 2: Total War Wont Be Released Until AI Is Perfect

In an interview by Gameplanet, Craig Laylock, Community Manager for Creative Assembly says his boss, Mike Simpson, wants the AI in Shogun 2 to be perfect before releasing the game. He was in fact being mindful of the negative feedback he got from Empire: Total War. You can read what Mike Simpson thinks about Empire: Total War at release here. He got a lot of flak for writing that months after Empire: Total War was released. Anyway, the quote from the interview after the jump...

Men Of War: Vietnam Trailer Features Hueys And Jungle Fires

Developed by an in house studio at 1C Publishing, Men of War: Vietnam has a lot of to live up to especially after the disappointing Red Tide expansion which entirely missed the point on the best aspect of a Men of War game. It freakin' needed COOP! Thankfully 1C has learn their lesson and Vietnam will support 4 player coop. Men of War Vietnam will feature weapons from the Vietnam war and other good stuff! Expect plenty of foliage and fires! Trailer after the jump...

Dead Before Dawn Mod Impressions

As I posted a day or two ago, Dead Before Dawn for Left 4 Dead has finally been released. Not the beta, but the complete version, bug free and all that. My previous experience with this mod was marred by plenty of crashes at level load(to be fair it was a beta). Darth Brush has now released a vpk file that makes this mod easy to install. No mucking about with map files or rebuilding sound cache needed. Dead Before Dawn is a recreation of the movie 'Dawn of The Dead' by George Romero in a Left 4 Dead Campaign.

Civilization V First Two DLC Scheduled For Release Soon

Bigdownload.com reports that Firaxis are going to release two DLC packs on October 25th for Civilization V. The first pack will add the Mongols, a new scenario and will be available to all Civilization V owners for free. The second DLC pack will allow those that bought the standard edition to get the Babylon civilization for USD$4.99. I'm not a big fan of small chunks of DLC, but free DLC? Sure I'll take it... Read my Civilization V review here.

Steam Hits 30 Million Accounts

Valve announced today that their digital distribution platform, Steam, hit its 30 million accounts mark and has seen some tremendous growth in the last one year. Well it's no surprise considering how many publishers went with Steam as their digital distribution of choice and the aggressive sales. Press release and some numbers after the jump...

Leap 4 Blue - Get Carpal Tunnel Syndrome And Punch A Baby!

Been a while since I've done any write up on a free game. Here's one, it's called Leap 4 Blue, which contentiously sounds like Left 4 Dead(mostly down to the usage of a number in place of a word). It's a puzzle based flash game.

The KGM Podcast Thingie

I was on the KGM podcast with no title. It's being called SNES for now(for the guests love for retro/old games). It long, perhaps too long at 3 hours in length. In this first episode, we discussed about gaming culture in Malaysia. Now I might sound a little off but I always sound bad in recordings. There was also certain things I wished I explained better like when I meant a central authority for gaming, I didn't mean like a real 'authority'. Just that I think more people should play a much bigger role. Gamers, media, parents, everyone. When this mentality of games are childish pursuit is broken, only then will most Malaysians look at it seriously. And second, when game development and publishing becomes big businesses here(when they make a lot of money and people start notice them), everyone will start taking things seriously. Until then we can only try to support those in the video game industry here and give them visibility.

Listen to the podcast here  

Left 4 Dead - Dead Before Dawn Mod Final Release

The Dawn of The Dead remake mod for Left 4 Dead titled Dead Before Dawn is now released in its final glory(ver 1.66). Finally, it's complete. It's been a long and hard journey for the modders and fans as the initial release was plagued with many bugs that made the campaign unplayable for many(I experienced crashes). It is to be expected really since this is such an ambitious mod that is more than just a map. With custom event scripts, this campaign feels a lot like(and has some of the same scripted sequences) Left 4 Dead 2. 

LOTRO Game Diary 4 - A Dwarf And His Lynx

Since I've got the necessary ingredients, I start off finishing Laegons quest for Rowan Bowstaffs. Now that I've got that out of the way, time to meet a few side quest NPC's and find Dorongur. He says it could be a plot by the goblins to frame the dwarves and has requested me to send a letter to Gailthin. Aaaah I can peek into the letter...It says...

Europa Universalis III Divine Wind Changing Things Up

I consider Europa Universalis III to be the best game Paradox has ever made. Paradox knows this as they have announced a fourth expansion called Divine Wind four years since the release of EU3(that's one expansion per year). What really impresses me is that Divine Wind will not merely be a feature adding expansion like the previous ones but will also rework some old mechanics in EU3. Their latest developer diary explains the changes they will be introducing to buildings and provincial decisions. 

DOTA 2 Announced! Dropping Lower Case o

Well they finally went and did it! Valve has announced DOTA 2 is in development and will be arriving on the PC and Mac in March 2011. The biggest deal for me? No more lower case 'o' in the abbreviated title. For the uninitiated, Defense of The Ancients is an extremely popular Warcraft III mod which takes the hero idea from the core Warcraft III game and made a team base multiplayer game that has a ludicrous amount of heroes and RPG mechanic with teamwork being a core focus. It looks like DOTA 2 will generally carry on with the same gameplay mechanic of the original with a newer version of the Source engine. More details...

Elemental: War of Magics Ray of Hope

Bigdownload.com has reported that Derek 'Keal' Paxton has been roped in to assist in the mending of the seriously flawed Elemental: War of Magic. Stardock has had to weather some pretty bad reputation hit for a disaster of a launch as well as some missteps in PR by Brad Wardell himself. Stardock has always maintained their commitment to continue to support and improve Elemental. Todays news cast some glimmer of hope for the unfinished mess that I call Elemental. Derek is the creator of the excellent Fall for Heaven mod for Civilization IV. He joins Stardock as a producer for Elemental.

LOTRO Game Diary 3 - Ered Luin And Crafting Pains

It's 2 years after the events at Thorin's Gate and I'm now in Ered Luin, a tranquil(by the looks of it) Elven area. Starting out at the refuge of Celondim, I make my way to Cardavor whose looking for his son, Avorthal. He has gone missing and he wants me to trace his last known position.

LOTRO Game Diary 2 - Me and My Fancy New Hat

I'm level 6 now and I've got this fashionable(if a little douchey looking) hat. Heck I should be called Halinthir the swanky. A sinister plot is afoot in the world of the elves as the dwarfes(well I did all the grunt work really) discover that some of their brethren are planning to resurrect this Skorgrim dude. The same fellow that destroyed Edhelion a few hundred years back. How unbecoming of these short stubby folk...

Do You Finish Games?

You play a game intently for about a few days, then something dawns on you. A light bulb goes on(or fizzles off) and you exit the game never to return to it again. I'm notorious for not finishing games. I don't consider it a bad thing, but it is indeed a perplexing phenomena as you don't really experience it with movies or reading a book(unless of course, the movie or book was really bad). It's not always the case that the game is bad.

Left 4 Dead The Sacrifice Impressions

The Sacrifice is a unique DLC that Valve has released for Left 4 Dead and its sequel. A DLC released for two games. That has to be a first. Whats more interesting was the fact that the ending was spoiled by the previous The Passing DLC. Yes someone dies...we know who did. But you can change that...

LOTRO Game Diary 1 - In the Beginning

Lord of The Rings Online recently went free to play. You can download it here. I thought it would be a fun little experiment to get into LOTRO and do a game diary. I’ve never been into mmo’s as I’ve found grinding for leveling up to be tedious and not very fun. I’ve also always found the mmo game worlds to be a bit ‘unlively’. So with that, I jump head first into LOTRO, downloaded the client(a slow and annoying process as it uses a p2p client), and made my first character.

Civilization V Review

The Civilization series has been a staple for PC gaming for two decades. At it's fifth iteration, Civilization V aims to continue the addictive, deep strategic gameplay that has captured the hearts and minds(as well as the time) of countless civilization fanatics. Civilization V announced just February of this year(nice change of pace to have a game released under a year the game was announced), introduces some big changes that makes it more of a reboot rather than just a graphical update. Lots of Civilization fans will be torn simply because of the fact that it completely reworks things they've become familiar with in Civ IV. Sometimes change is good.