Labouring Under Difficulties

Here's something inane I threw together and put up in Steam.

I doubt I'll be the first one to have thought of this - and whether or not anyone will get the joke but you can always try....

Dawn of a New Dragon Age

Recently I completed a play-through of Dragon Age Origins on the PC.

No doubt about it: This game is a lot different on PC than on the Xbox 360. Sure there is the obvious benefit of the user mods that improve the graphics and make welcome additions, but I found the controls better on the PC,the interface better and even some of the achievements present something of a significant challenge.

But who am I kidding? Its the mods that seal the deal for me. And they are impressive to say the least. I'm staggered by some of the effort these people have gone to and the results are astonishing. Of particular note is the Dark Ritual mod, that actually built a complete cutscene from the ground up. I also enjoyed the Skip the Fade mod and the Extra Dog Slot.

Ultimately though, playing through Dragon Age Origins again didn't feel like a crummy experience. I don't feel like I was ripped off when I bought the game for a second time purely for the modding. I knew what was going to happen in the game but I didn't feel tired. I've been and done all these things for a few times but I was never bored.

Maybe a new coat of paint could be just the thing to revisit a game....

Got Booked

Here's something that turned up in my mailbox earlier this week:

Well, if you're going to back one of these books on Kickstarter, then you might as well pick up a previous success

Dead Space

I was talking to a friend recently and learned how she was deleting some unplayed games off of her XboxOne hard drive - which, in turn, freed up some vital space.

Following her lead, I recently removed some Steam games from my hard drive which I don;t play any more. Only to find that I, ultimately, have saved a whopping 2 gig of space.

Of course that doesn't mean much when games these days are super huge in the terms of storage space but very little bit helps I guess....

Alphabet Steam

Here's something I came across recently: Does one, within their Steam library, have a game to match up to every letter of the alphabet?
Sounds to me like a challenge worth rising up to:

Age of Empires 2: HD edition
Ben There Dan That
Castle Crashers
Divinity Original Sin
Eversion
FTL
Gemini Rue
Half Life
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
J
Knightshift
Limbo
Mysterious Cities of Gold: Secret Paths
N
O
Papers Please
Quake 2
Rome: Total War
System Shock 2
Thomas Was Alone
Ultimate Doom
Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War
X-COM: UFO Defense
Y
Z



So I failed the challenge
But still, 21 out of 26 isn't too bad a result...

Master of all I survey

Here's something I came across recently: A survey from GungHo Entertainment, the company that currently owns the rights to the GameArts catalogue - this catalogue includes several Sega CD games like Lunar and Silpheed. This survey is asking if people are still interested in these games and whether or not they would like to see a re-release.

I, of course, voted for the Lunar series. Yes, it would be nice to actually finish both Silver Star and Eternal Blue....

Kick off

Normally I don't care much for Kickstarter but in this case I came  across something that was too good to resist: A book dedicated to the legendary Bitmap Brothers.

If you were a gamer in the 16-bit era, you would recognize the name. The Bitmap Brothers made some memorable games and were known for producing innovative games over several genres.
Whilst these guys never enjoyed massive worldwide success (comparable to, say, SqueeEnix), they were fondly remembered within the UK and for those who like their games to be challenging.
Personally, I'm glad to have such a record of this magnitude being made. With the passage of time, far too often do 'name' developers slip through the cracks, their pioneering achievements forgotten in amongst the relentless pace video games march at. With this book, it is reassuring to know that the Bitmap Brothers achievements in game design, graphics and rockin' music may finally be properly recognized.

So I encourage you to click on the link above and pledge your support!