Backlog: The Embiggening – September, 2016
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 08/28/16 at 03:07 PM CT
Welcome back to another look into the near future! This summer’s Game Drought positively flew by, leaving us disheveled and confused, but not terribly dehydrated. With the oncoming Autumn, we can expect this predictable dinosaur we call the Games Industry to follows its old, established patterns, such as kicking production into high gear and crowding together a large number of releases just in time for the kids who would be rabid to play these games to go back to school. At least this way those kids will have plenty to look forward to as Yule approaches and their overwhelmed relatives inevitably buy them the wrong games.
There is sooo much shovelware this month. Not only are we getting a new “Just Sing” to blight current-gen consoles, the up-and-coming wannabe ‘Pokemon’ and ‘Digimon’ and ‘Yu-Gi-Oh!’ killer, ‘Yokai Watch,’ is releasing a traditional two-versions-of-the-same-game-so-you-need-to-buy-it-twice-to-catch-all-the-monsters title: “Bony Spirits” …
Backlog: The Embiggening – August, 2016
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 08/12/16 at 02:57 PM CT
Welcome back to another look into the near future! Every August, I’m another year older and another year more jaded and disappointed by the games industry. As this relatively mild Summer Game Drought draws to an end, let’s take a look at what we’re getting before the Holiday Rush starts… in September.
Ugh. Shovelware. Sony is getting an exclusive new ‘Hatsune Miku’ title, PS4 and XBONE are getting a licensed “Attack on Titan” game based on the manga/anime of the same name, and the 3DS is getting a… thing… called “Style Savvy: Fashion Forward” that can’t be ANYTHING but shovelware. We’re also starting to see the obligatory annual entries dripping out for certain sports and racing franchises. Currently it’s just a new ‘Madden’ and a new ‘F1,’ but more will follow, as they do every year.
Ugh. Ports and remasters. “Resident Evil 4” and “Assetto Corsa” are coming to the XBONE and PS4, while the PS4 is getting “Among the Sleep” and an …
Backlog: The Embiggening – July, 2016 (Super Late Edition)
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 08/12/16 at 01:50 PM CT
Welcome back to another look into the near future! I made a bit of a boo-boo last month and completely forgot to look at upcoming releases. Make-up time!
July is traditionally smack in the middle of the Summer Game Drought. While the drought may seem milder than usual, it’s really only because of the amount of bad behavior on the part of publishers making it look like there’s more new stuff than there is.
One new licensed shovelware released in July: A tie-in for the new SJW-branded “Ghostbusters” movie. Aside from that, two old pieces of Marvel shovelware got bundled together and released on PSN and Live as the “Marvel: Ultimate Alliance Bundle.” Since half the bundle was already on Steam, instead of getting the whole thing, PC just got a port of “Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2.”
There was a lot of disgusting porting around in July. “Fairy Fencer F” got remastered on the PS4 (unsurprising), “MX vs. ATV: Supercross” finally got remastered on XBONE, …
5 Tweaks to Take D&D 5E from Great to Perfect
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 08/07/16 at 03:08 PM CT
The 5th and most recent edition of Dungeons & Dragons, the world’s oldest (and greatest) tabletop RPG launched a couple years ago, and perusal of the relevant corners of the Internet reveal it to be a rousing success for Wizards of the Coast. Outside of a few old, crufty, neckbearded grognards, who can’t stand the fact that THAC0 is gone and never returning, everyone loves 5E.
I love 5E too, but like most things, it isn’t quite perfect. Every edition of D&D has a handful of small, annoying things at minimum that players have traditionally beaten into submission and shaped to the will of their specific group via the use of House Rules. After playing 5E for a year, the following list of five tweaks, mostly drawn from the four older editions of D&D, feel much better than 5E’s defaults.
1. Draw Magic Items from the Complete “Encyclopedia Magica” Four-Volume Set
The magic items detailed in the 5E “Dungeon Master’s Guide” manage to capture much of the flavor of …
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