Unquiet Desperation

Ladies and Gentlemen, the thing I’ll miss most about Los Angeles: My gaming group, the West Valley Pathfinders.

This was taken tonight at the Saddle Ranch Chop House in the City Walk at Universal Studios. The guys, left to right: Jeromy, Steve, Damon, and Dave. I’m the looming figure standing in the back.

I’ve shared many a pleasant Friday night with these guys, and it pains me that we didn’t get to hang out more while I was here. It’s my one regret about leaving.

Hmmm. Maybe I can get them out for Origins….

Check this out. The first video is a little dry for the first few minutes, but zip to about three minutes in, and it starts to get very interesting. To learn more, visit the article on Hackaday.

photo credit: EvaSan

Fantasy Flight makes some great games, but this might be pricing them out of my range.

Roseville, MN, USA. Fantasy Flight Games (“FFG”) announced today that it will increase suggested retail prices on a wide range of its products. These 10-25% price increases are broad reaching, affecting most of FFG’s board game and card games.

“There has been tremendous upward pressure on manufacturing pricing during the last three years,” noted Christian T. Petersen, CEO and founder of FFG. “FFG has fought very long and extremely hard to
create and retain maximum value in our products for the gaming audience. This is something that we’ll continue to do. With energy, commodity, and labor prices affecting every stage of our our business, however, we now find it necessary to make a pricing correction.” He continued; “Even with the price increases that we announce here today, I am confident that our customers will find FFG products among the best value in the industry”.

Price changes on existing inventory items will take place on November 1st, 2008, while prices increases on upcoming new releases will take place with immediate effect. A detailed list of new prices and their effective date, has been made available on FFG’s website: www.fantasyflightgames.com.

(more…)

photo credit: myrtti

I missed Windows for a while this weekend.

I was looking for a game to take my mind off of selling the house and moving to L.A. I wanted to relax and play a game, and I was craving a game like Galactic Civilizations. A sci-fi empire builder with exploration, colonization, and a little warfare.

No. Such. Luck.

Understand…I don’t play computer games like I used to. That’s not only because I own a Mac, it’s also because I just don’t have the time to play. Up until now, I’ve never had a reason to miss gaming on Windows.

Heavy Sigh. Looks like I’ll have to fire up my Parallels VM and install GalCiv II. Pity. Wish there was a Mac version.

Powered by ScribeFire.

photo credit: daniel.julia

Often called a dead genre, interactive fiction continues to flourish long after reaching the end of its commercial lifespan. In the decades since whiz-bang graphics drew away the attention of the masses, hundreds of games have continued to evolve the genre — to the point where it can be a little intimidating to approach cold. If you’ve never experienced interactive fiction, or haven’t returned to it since its commercial decline, maybe we can offer a little direction. Here are five of our favorite titles from the last decade to ease you into things.

from Top 5 Introductory Interactive Fiction Games from 1UP.com

I’ve been a fan of Interactive Fiction since playing Zork on my Commodore 64. It was the main reason I got into playing on MUSHes, which lead to meeting some incredible folks, many of which I’m still friends with to this day. I’m been having a great time since rediscovering the genre.

Additionally, I’m participating in a project to write a collaborative IF game. Started by the folks at the Guardian UK’s Gamesblog, we’re desigining the game Spaceship! on a wiki. Come in and see how the sausage is being made.

If you enjoy reading, you need to be playing interactive fiction.

If you enjoy writing, you should sit down, play, then try your hand at writing one. It’s a fabulous exercise in dealing with point of view, puzzles, and planning.

Here are some great links to get you started:

• The Interactive Fiction Database – find all sorts of free games here
• Planet-IF – A river view of many of the top blogs/sites on Interactive Fiction.
• The IF Reviews at PlayThisThing.com
• Inform – one of the languages available for creating your own games.
• IF-wiki – A wiki for learning, playing, and improving interactive fiction

And some of my favorite games. You’ll need an interpretor to play these:

• Anchorhead – Anchorhead takes place in a New England town by the same name that bears a resemblance to Innsmouth, Arkham, and other fictional towns created by H.P. Lovecraft.
• Lost Pig
  – Grunk stuck. Grunk must find lost pig. Grunk none too bright. Very funny game.
• Infocom: The Zork Archive – download the original Zork games for free
• Babel – You wake up with amnesia in an abandoned research station in the Arctic. As you explore, psychometric visions give you glimpses of the lives of four scientists and the tragedy that befell them. Before you can escape, you’ll have to learn your own history.

Powered by ScribeFire.