Backlog: The Embiggening – August, 2023
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 07/30/23 at 01:31 AM CT
Welcome back to another look into the near future! August is nearly here, and I’ve already gotten the worst gift possible. The very same day, I decided to pre-order the next volume of the “DragonLance Destinies” trilogy in spite of my trepidation about where this newest series will ultimately take my favorite High Fantasy campaign setting. Let’s see if the Games Industry has anything that will make me feel any happier… I doubt it.
There’s quite a bit of shovelware coming in August, and it covers all three subcategories of crap. In the Licensed Swill category, we’ve got an ‘Agatha Christie’ tie-in, “Smurfs Kart” (Do today’s kids even know what a Smurf is?), a licensed tie-in for “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” Horror movie IP, and “House Flipper: Pets Edition,” which is either based on the “House Flipper” reality TV show or should have a different name to avoid confusion. In the 2Cazul category, there’s a new entry in Sega’s …
Google Wants to DRM the Whole INTERNET?!
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 07/23/23 at 01:26 AM CT
Back in the Spring of the Plague Year 2020, I warned of major players in the corporate Games Industry attempting to smuggle Digital Rights Management schemes – a.k.a., DRM – into our modern games under the guise of ‘protecting’ law-abiding players from evil, filthy hackers and cheaters. Unfortunately, there was no line drawn in the sand by the gaming community, what with the confluence of a global pandemic, race riots, and the start of a new presidential administration.
Now, there’s an even worse ‘DRM as protection’ scheme on the horizon. It’s being pushed by none other than the aging search/advertising giant, Google, and its target is the ENTIRE Internet.
Web 3.0 has been in the planning and speculation stages for quite a few years now, and the brief explosion of blockchain technology revolving around cryptocurrencies lead tech journalism to the belief that Web 3.0 would provide each individual user with significantly greater privacy, security, and control …
Incarnon Geneses I’d Love to See
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 07/15/23 at 07:37 PM CT
Recently, in their “The Duviri Paradox” update, Canadian-based, Chinese-(partly)-owned developer, Digital Extremes, revitalized the weapon ecosystem in their decade-running Live Service shooter, “Warframe” with the addition of Incarnon Genesis Adapters, which can be earned for a specific subset of ‘old, unused’ weapons in a rotating selection that changes each week. Digital Extremes has tried in the past to revitalize the old, underperforming weapons that make up a huge portion of the “Warframe” arsenal numerous times. First, they release Prime variants of a huge number of weapons, often boosting stats to be a bit less anemic compared to the original… but sometimes changing nothing, even for a terrible weapon. Next, they tried Syndicate variant weapons and Syndicate mods, often with revamped stats, but always with an exclusive, intrinsic effect outside of the weapon’s standard mode of operation. After that, it was the Riven Mod system, by which players could grind …
The Best Warframes for Any Situation
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 07/09/23 at 05:35 PM CT
Recently, I’ve shared some of the best weapon choices for players looking to break into “Warframe’s” endgame content. Of course, the titular warframes are just as important, and serve as they keystone in a player’s loadout. Each ‘frame comes with 4 unique active abilities plus a passive, with a huge variety available across 53 unique discrete options (most of which also have power-crept Prime variants). Here’s a short list of the top 5 warframes and where they’re the most useful.
1. Khora (Prime)
Khora is a spider/cat-lady themed warframe who can really act as a Swiss army knife for nearly every in-game situation. She can bring two companions into battle, thanks to her passive ability being a unique Kavat named Venari, who, unlike most Kavats (or beast pets in general) can cycle between three different stances to provide offense, defense, or healing, as needed. Aside from the pet-stravaganza, Khora also features extremely useful crow-control abilities, with …
Backlog: The Embiggening – July, 2023
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 07/02/23 at 12:31 AM CT
Welcome back to another look into the near future! As July rolls is, there’s still a lot of games being released. Has the start of the Summer Games Drought been pushed back yet again? Let’s dive into the dumpster and see what we can find!
There’s not much shovelware to speak of for July. I kinda stretched it a bit to get to three. There is, of course, a Licensed game by *dry-heave* Disney, called “Disney Illusion Island” (perhaps ‘Delusion Island’ would have been more appropriate). There’s also a Licensed game based on… whatever this is, “Ninja Kidz: Time Masters.” Then there are two episodes in the super-casual non-game, “Coffee Talk.”
Unfortunately, there are three times as many ports, remasters, remakes, and other rehashes than shovelware. Does that make ports the new shovelware? Well, rhetorically, since the trend of more ports than new releases has been going on for the better part of a decade already. Anyway, you know the routine by now: The …
View Archive
