Backlog: The Embiggening - July, 2014
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 06/29/14 at 01:11 PM CT
Welcome to another look into the near future. Last month’s gentle start to the Summer Game Drought has given way to a full-blown, apocalypse-level dearth of new titles for July. El Niño may be deluging parts of the United States that have been drought-stricken for the better part of a decade, but his expertise in rain doesn’t do diddly with regard to the games industry.
How bad is the drought this year? Well, how about a whopping 6 titles slated for a July release? Is that sparse enough?
Not only are the releases unbearably thin in July, but the quality is even lower than usual.
There are TWO licensed games coming in July. One is based on the abominably-drawn anime “One Piece.” It will be hitting the odd combination of PS3 and 3DS. The other is yet another LEGO tie-in, this time involving ninjas and handheld consoles.
There is ONE ‘grown-up’ FPS coming in July: The drab military shooter sequel “Sniper Elite III.” Of course, it will be hitting every …
Can Wizards of the Coast Reclaim the Tabletop Crown with D&D Next?
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 06/22/14 at 03:20 PM CT
Not too long ago, tabletop gaming was completely dominated by the game that essentially started the RPG genre way back in 1977: Dungeons & Dragons. While there have been alternative tabletop rules systems for decades, D&D was so synonymous with tabletop gaming that its name became the default for the activity, much like “playing Nintendo” was 1980’s vernacular for anything videogame related.
Sadly, TSR, the original company started by D&D creator, Gary Gygax, went out of business in 1997, selling its assets and tabletop gaming intellectual properties to competitor, Wizards of the Coast. At the time, Wizards of the Coast and TSR were very different companies, each serving as a rallying flag to one side of a tabletop gaming civil war. On one side, the Dice Chuckers liked their RPGs, with character customization, storytelling, cooperation, adventure and loot. On the other side, the Card Floppers liked the gambling-esque thrill of getting a rare pull from a booster pack, the …
E3 Impressions 2014
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 06/15/14 at 01:29 AM CT
Last year’s E3 is a tough act to follow with regard to how NOT to do E3, despite hosting the debuts of two 8th Generation consoles and the accompanying hype. Every press conference last year essentially amounted to a company spokesman coming on stage, taking a dump, then pointing at the steaming mound and singing, “Tada!” Sony managed to win the hearts and minds of gamers and the press simply by producing the least smelly heap of offal (read: not the XBONE). Over the course of the year, Microsoft managed to flush most of their mislaid movements (though the smell still lingers), and Nintendo managed to squeeze a few releases past its constipating blockage. Needless to say, my hopes were not high for E3 2014 to provide anything better. Thankfully, I was surprised this year, as every console had at least one exclusive game that I would be excited to play.
Microsoft:
Want: Microsoft to stop making consoles (still!), “Ori and the Blind Forest”
Not Sure if Want: “Project …
GOG Galaxy Set to Shake the Foundations of PC Gaming
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 06/07/14 at 03:25 PM CT
Our friends in Poland are gearing up to shake the foundations of Lord GabeN’s Steampowered throne with the upcoming release of their very own game client. While GOG has been around for a while, their DRM-free philosophy prevented them from shackling their (old and Indie) games with any kind of mandatory client. The entirely-optional GOG Downloader was the closest thing they had.
That will all be changing with the announcement of GOG Galaxy, which will finally bring CD Projekt’s e-shop up to par with the likes of Steam, Desura, Origin, and Uplay… at least as far as features go. Galaxy will support all of the good things provided by game clients, like automatic updates, friend lists, friend chat, and achievements. What it will not support, unlike the other three, is DRM.
This is incredibly exciting news, as I have purchased certain Indie games on Steam instead of GOG just for the sake of having access to Steam’s auto-updates. With Galaxy promising such feature parity and …
Review Round-Up: Spring 2014
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 06/01/14 at 01:54 PM CT
Welcome back to another installment of the MeltedJoystick Review Round-Up. Here’s what our staff has reviewed since last time:
Nelson’s Reviews:
Spring didn’t see the MJ Crew toward our goal of finishing more co-op games. We managed to get through “Diablo III,” but “Borderlands 2” eluded completion due to its insane amount of content (and the fact that the crew missed a few too many weekly sessions). We also started “Super Mario 3D World,” but came just shy of finishing thanks to Memorial Day messing up Chris’ schedule.
I finally got to some of the longer games I’ve been putting off due to their… well, length. “Skyrim” did not scratch my Sandbox itch, and “Ni no Kuni” did not scratch my RPG itch. But between them, I have plenty of raw, itchy patches that need to be balmed, yet it seems the item shop is all out of that particular remedy.
The end of the PlayStation 3 has been on my mind this past quarter, and I’ve been doing my best to …
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