Civilization 5: Standing the Test of Time
Sid Meier’s Civilization 5 has been out for two weeks now, and as I predicted, it has consumed me entirely. That was more or less a foregone conclusion from the moment that I played it (in 3D, no less!) at PAX. I only had ten minutes with it there, but already I could feel the hooks worming their way into me, the familiar feeling of immersion, the tunnel vision. “Just one more turn” is a familiar catchphrase for fans of the Civ franchise, and the newest entry into the series keeps that tradition alive.
Upon opening Civ 5 for the first time, what you’ll almost certainly notice - apart from the conspicuous and much-lamented absence of Baba Yetu - is that the game looks incredible. Every game in the series has made impressive improvements to both visual style and quality, and Civ 5 is no exception. Firaxis nailed perfectly the balance between distinctive style and realism. Hand-painted mountains and hills tower above fields of swaying grass. Each leader is instantly recognizable and lovingly detailed with distinctive and varied facial expressions. And yet, it runs perfectly acceptably on computers that, like mine, would not have impressed anyone even three years ago. For the budget PC gamer, Firaxis was kind enough to include a top-down “strategic view” that makes the game resemble Settlers of Catan moreso than Civilization 4, but is still very much playable - at least, that’s what I am assured. Personally, the game’s main visuals enrapture me enough that I hate to look away.
PAX Recap 3: The Importance of Being Earnest
There are three Q&A panels at PAX, one for each day of the convention, and they always take place at the main theater – in this case, at Benaroya Hall in downtown Seattle. It was their first year using this venue, because they were expanding the already-huge expo hall into the old main theater at the convention center itself. For the significant portion of the people reading this that do not live in Seattle, Benaroya Hall is where the Seattle Symphony Orchestra performs. It’s a huge, stately theater that felt quite inappropriate for the subject of the hour – a Q&A session with Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins, two more or less completely normal people who happened to write Penny Arcade, an accidentally successful comic strip about video games. The seats were plush, the acoustics incredible. Ushers wearing suits – actual suits! – directed us to our seats. It was intensely surreal. As the lights dimmed and Mike and Jerry took the stage to their traditional entry song (Rick Ross’ “Hustlin’”) I looked around nervously, almost expecting a stage manager to run furiously out onstage tell someone to turn down that goldurn ruckus.
Nobody did, of course.
Dark Heresy - Live!
Tonight, Monday on TokenGamer, we try an experiment. At 8PM, eastern standard time - otherwise known as 'now', we'll be recording the first in a series of live RPG sessions, set in the Warhammer 40K universe, using the Dark Heresy gaming system. Together with a rag-tag group of friends from the D2 Brigade and the wider TokenGamer Armada, we'll attempt to conquer mutants and heretics in the emperor's name, avoid horrific mutilating death, and generally embarrass ourselves terribly while telling bad jokes. LIVE! To be a part of this first ever event, join us at the official TokenGamer ustream channel, and speak up in our chat room!
And for those of you unfortunate enough to have missed our live broadcast, a full recording of the evening is now available, and can be found right here, in the extensive archives of our stream. Please note, the stream is NSFW due to some harsh language and many bad jokes. Terrible, horrible jokes.
PAX Recap 2: Future (Imperfect) Tech
Completely apart from debuting and previewing games at PAX, the expo hall is an opportunity for publishers to show off their new tech. You'll see cutting-edge video cards, processors, and of course a new and more detailed look at the console peripherals that Microsoft and Sony announced at this year’s E3. Microsoft's Kinect and Sony's Move were both on display just about everywhere, but neither Microsoft nor Sony were able to change my mind on the inherent irrelevance of their new products.
The simple fact of the matter is that it’s going to be really difficult for Sony and Microsoft to change the existing narrative about their entrance into the motion control field: Nintendo got there first and Nintendo does it better. After seeing what the Move and the Kinect can do at PAX, that narrative strikes me as being even more true. The release dates for Move and Kinect fast approach, but even with ostensibly completed and fully-tested hardware, there was very little about either offering that impressed me.
Microsoft demoed Kinect Sports, which is a fairly shameless carbon-copy of the now four-year-old Wii Sports. Tennis, boxing, and bowling are in, as well as soccer, volleyball, and track and field. I had the opportunity to play with the boxing controls, and I walked away thinking “that’s it?” The controls were clunky and unresponsive, even by the current standards, and it simply wasn’t as fun as its Wii counterpart. The Kinect seemed to have a hard time differentiating between opponents at times, and subtle movements are completely lost on the hardware, which inevitably leads to a piping-hot mug of shame and embarrassment as both competitors are required to move in comically over-exaggerated ways. The game’s visual aesthetic seems to be focused on cramming as much onto your screen as possible, perhaps to distract players from the significant input lag.
PAX Recap 1: The Games
Earlier this week, I returned from the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle. As you’d expect, a 75,000-person strong festival of games deserves more than a little coverage, and I’m pleased to report that I have a lot to say. So without any further ado, let’s talk about the games of PAX - the good, the bad, and the really, really ill-advised.
It would be impossible to talk about the weekend without at least mentioning Duke Nukem Forever. Yes! It’s real. Gearbox, the developers of, most recently, Borderlands and Brothers In Arms, actually own the Duke Nukem license. They purchased it after 3D Realms folded in May of last year. It seems appropriate that the core team at Gearbox - most notably Randy Pitchford and Alan Blum - are escapees from the sinking ship that was 3D Realms. Pitchford has nothing but kind words about 3D Realms’ former head George Broussard, which is to his credit - rather than dwelling on the past, Pitchford wants to focus on Duke. Let’s hope that the long and utterly bizarre road they’ve taken to get to this point doesn’t detract from the game itself. Release Date: TBA (2011)
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