Inspirational Failure

Trespasser is one of many games in the Jurassic Park franchise.  Released in 1998, it was a commercial failure and winner of Gamespot's worst-game-of-the-year award.  Disappointing to see considering that it spent three years in development with a very talented team of designers.  Just to stress that last point, Austin Grossman (the writer for Deus Ex and Dishonored) along with Seamus Blackley (father of the Xbox) both worked on this game.  So, what happened?  In a word - "overscoping".

As is all too common in game development, the team behind Trespasser bit off way more than they could chew.  There were a lot of ambitious "firsts" such as large open outdoor environments, a diegetic interface, a physics engine, and a complex AI to give the dinosaurs life.  That last point is especially noteworthy because all of the half-dozen or so dinosaurs species (as well as sub-types) found in the game move and act in strange ways due to them literally being puppets on strings.  It's kid of surreal to see in action and hasn't been emulated since (the one exception being the creatures found in Rain World).  

The physics engine also ties into this due to how players interact with the environment.  Much like the mannequin dinos controlled by the AI, the main character has a single working arm that they use to pick up, manipulate and throw objects with via the mouse.  Again, it's kind of weird and not a game mechanic you really see outside of quirky indie titles like Octodad and Surgeon Simulator.  Nonetheless, Gabe Newell cited the physics engine in Trespasser as an influence on a similar system Valve used in Half-Life 2.

Not having any kind of HUD was hardly a new concept in 1998, but doing so in an action-oriented FPS was courting disaster.  To work around the lack of a health meter the protagonist has a visible heart tattoo that indicates their status based on how full it is.  Ammunition for guns is tracked by the player character vocalizing how many shots they have left after each pull of the trigger.  Weird as these ideas are, they eventually popped-up in games much later on.  Dead Space for example has a life bar on the back of Issac's suit.  Meanwhile Alyx (from Half-Life: Alyx) sometimes comments on her ammo supplies.  The official game for "Peter Jackson's King Kong" movie features a particular button that (when pushed) causes the player character to exclaim how many bullets they have left.  In truth, it kind of makes sense in that game since King Kong features a lot of teamwork.  Maybe you'd want to let your allies know how you're doing ammo-wise from time to time...?

Lastly is the outdoor areas which were quite expansive for the time.  For the most part, FPS games released around that era were of the corridor shooter variety.  Obviously, Trespasser was brutally difficult to run on 1990s hardware because of the sheer amount of geometry on-screen at any given moment.  Even so, the idea of wide open environments was a direction that game development would expand toward; Halo: Combat Evolved and the original Far Cry being two big steps the industry took that way later on.

While it certainly deserves to be called a very flawed game, Trespasser ultimately attracted a cult following of sorts in the form of mod makers and bug fixers.  These individuals actually poured in a considerable amount of effort in order to make the game run with fewer issues and even significant improvements.  In some ways the fan updated (i.e. current) version of the game feels like a VR title.  Incidentally, someone is working on a mod for that.  There's also an unofficial pseudo-remake of sorts in the works, but it's anyone's guess if the DNA of the original can be revived or if it will simply live on as little bits and pieces in games that have come since.   

Regressions

PC gaming these days seems to be on somewhat of a backward slide.  Actually, that's not entirely correct.  The indie scene remains as vibrant and varied as ever.  However, larger budget computer games are in serious trouble.  The nature of the problem is a bit hard for me to explain.  Not being an expert on computer hardware and software, I'm not sure if I can do the topic justice...still, I'll try to illustrate in general terms.  

Graphics on PC games are handled in no small part by specially designed software such as Vulkan and DirectX.  For the sake of simplicity I'll focus on the old DX11 and new DX12.  As one might expect, DX11 is less capable in terms of potential performance.  On the other hand it's also a lot easier to use.  DX12 allows for far more optimization and customization.  In theory this means nicer looking games, but only if coders know what they're doing.  In fact, if you don't have the time/knowledge/skill it's possible to make games that are a downgrade.  To be exact, we are seeing games that look objectively the same or even worse in DX12 and yet have higher video memory requirements than they would have had in DX11.  PC gaming woes don't end here though, there's also shader compilation stutter.  It's a persistent problem that many game developers don't seem to know how to fix.  The end result is games with frames-per-second counts that dip periodically regardless of the in-game performance settings or processing power of the PC.  It appears that without the "guardrails" that come with DX11 and console dev kits, many programmers can't properly optimize their own work and, worse still, can't devise antiquate solutions (at least for certain game engines such as Unreal).

One might be tempted to say it's time to go back to the drawing board.  However, I think (in many cases) computer programmers need to go back to school and (re)learn the basics of memory usage and allocation.  Also, what is up with all these bland looking video games that take up over 100GB of SSD space?

Old Japanese PC gaming Box Art

"I'm going to bust you up, Dragon!"

Not actually a Takarazuka Revue production

Today's whether is partly cloudy with a chance of sorcery

Big pointy double pauldrons is...a choice

This group of adventurers need a better armor smith

Welcome Aboard Commander

Carrier Command 2 is not only a sequel to the 1988 original, but a return to form after the failed 2012 soft reboot Carrier Command: Gaea Mission.  Nowhere is this more apparent than the visuals.  Gaea Mission attempted to go with a semi-realistic near-future look while the direct sequel is a mix of voxel shapes and pixel textures that feel like a natural evolution of the original game.  

At heart, the Carrier Command series is a RTS/FPS hybrid.  The games create a simulacrum of actual carrier operations.  The big caveat being air, sea or amphibious operations are carried out by drones which are controlled remotely via camera links.  Alternatively, the player can issue instructions on a tactical display which the drones will then carry out semi-anonymously.  Ideally, a mixture of both is how the game is meant to be played.  While it is certainly possible to tour much of the titular carrier through the player's in-game character, most (if not all) the game will be experienced on the bridge.  In this room, there a nine stations (three for drone control, one for the helm, one for shipboard weapons, two for managing logistics, one for power/coms, and the captain's chair).  It's certainly possible to play solo though a lot of multi-tasking is required to achieve any degree of success.  That said, I can't see there really being a need for more than three or four players aboard a carrier.  The game allows up to 16 which can participate in PvE or PvP style matches.

Aside from destroying all enemy carriers, the main task which players will be focused on is capturing islands.  Unsurprisingly, the world is an archipelago consisting of (a default) 64 islands, each procedurally generated and defended by computer-controlled vehicles.  A shield rating system (from 1 to 4) indicates how heavily defended a particular island is.  As far as I can tell one-shield islands are guarded by lightly armed land vehicles only, while two shields means they have either air or sea units present.  Three means both of those are deployed in addition to turret and missile defenses.  As for four...well, let's just say they are tough nuts to crack.  Each island also has its own biome (volcanic, tropical, forest, desert or snow-covered) and manufacturing focus (fuel, small munitions, large munitions, air chassis, ground chassis, support equipment or supply barges).  Once captured, the player's team can use the island's facilities to produce some of what they need to keep up their war efforts.  The logistics aspect of the game is actually fairly important to the point that it can occupy a lot the downtime that occurs when traveling between islands.  Another island type of note is the player's starting one.  It's a stockpile hub, but more importantly has a shipyard capable of launching small single-purpose gunboats.  These are handy to have, but also completely dependent on the carrier for fuel and ammunition.  Overall, the vibe I got was one similar to Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak.  So while Carrier Command 2 has a FPS perspective, it's really only there for emersion purposes.  The player can leave the carrier if they want, go swim in the sea or even walk around the various islands in the game, but there isn't any reason to do so.  Unlike Gaea Mission, there are no personal firearms or man-portable weaponry to be had.  The player can only attack through vehicle-mounted weapon systems.  Just to drive the point home, there is an option in the ESC menu that teleports the player back to the bridge regardless of where they wandered off to.  Welcome aboard commander!  Now that you are here you can never leave...well, at least until you win, lose, or quit to desktop.

Beaten to the Punch (Part 2 of 2)

Cover-based shooters were all the rage during the late 2000s and early 2010s.  The mechanic was popularized with the release of Gears of War in 2006, but had existed at least as far back as 1995 in the form of the arcade machine Time Crisis.  Granted, that was a light-gun game.  However, even if we were to limit the genre to third-person cover-based shooters there was kill.switch in 2003 and WinBack: Covert Operations in 1999.  Both of these titles have largely been forgotten to time compared to Gears of War, which has since gone on to become one of Microsoft's tentpole franchises (with four mainline sequels and several spinoff titles).  If I had to hazard a guess as to why, I'd say it has something to do with WinBack and kill.switch being more techno-thrillers and less Warhammer 40k adjacent.  I guess people really love guns that have their bayonet attachments replaced by chainsaws.

Angbad is one of those venerable ASCII roguelikes whose lineage can be traced back through Dungeons of Moria to the original Rogue.  As one might guess based on its name (and the name of its immediate predecessor), Angbad is heavily inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth setting.  The player begins the game in a small town consisting of some shops and a few NPCs.  Bellow is a hundred floors of procedurally generated dungeons filled with monsters, traps and treasure.  At the bottom level is Morgoth, who must be defeated in order to win the game.  In other words, Angbad is basically Diablo without music, sound or graphics.  It even has the randomized loot drops and a color coating system that is practically the standard for games of these types.  It's also free-to-play, obviously, for copyright reasons.  Despite not having much in the way of monetization potential, Angbad has been in active development for over three decades with a surprisingly active mod making community.  Even so, it has been completely eclipsed by the Blizzard franchise that was inspired by it.

Saving the most unusual for last, we have Herzog Zwei.  German for "Duke Two", this Sega Genesis exclusive was the inspiration for not one, but two whole genres of video games - the RTS and the MOBA.  As the title is perhaps trying to imply, the game can be played either versus the CPU or via split screen.  Players only directly control a single transformable air/ground vehicle, but are able to build a number of other units to assist them in capturing key locations on the map.  These subservient units can be given simple orders, but generally require a lot of micromanagement to be effective.  Because the game is real-time this can lead to feelings of being overwhelmed.  It's a problem that prevented the game from achieving wide-spread appeal.  Regardless of that, Herzog Zwei is the grandfather of Total Annihilation and Supreme Commander, not to mention Dune II: Battle for Arrakis and Warcraft as well as the Command and Conquer series.  It even got a spiritual successor in the form of the free-to-play online-only game AirMech.  Despite recieveing this polished up re-imagining the original concept has never really attracted a large playerbase.

There are more games I could cover.  Meridian 59 (the first MMORPG to feature three-dimension environments) comes to mind, but I think I have written enough for now about humble trend setters.  It's also worth mentioning that one can always dig deeper.  Back at the beginning I mentioned Sweet Home being the starting point for the survival horror genre.  In truth though one could go back further to Project Firestart in 1989 or even Haunted House way back in 1982 (for the Atari 2600) and claim that either of them is where it all really got started.  Of course that can lead to very reductive statements like "all games are based on the first distributed game ever - Space War!"  Tempting to declare, I'm sure, but the fact of the matter is game designers are influenced by things outside the realm of video games too.  The same holds true for other kinds of media as well.  One could claim that the 1982 film TRON was inspired by electronic entertainment, but if you sit down and watch the movie you'll gradually realize that it was based on Frisbee, handball, tennis and motorcycle racing as much as Pacman or Pong.      

Prologue

If you haven't tried it already, go to the Steam store page and type "prologue" into the search engine.  You will get a long list of games that can be played for free.  Most of them are not very good, but a few might appeal to you if you have a particular interest in what might be an underserved niche.  Two examples that come to mind are Alder's Blood: Prologue (a horror themed strategy/tactics RPG) and Empty Shell: Prologue (a game that feels like GTFO, but plays like Teleglitch).  They are demo games at heart, but not every free game falls into the category of a sample that is trying to rope you into buying the real product.  In fact, there are a number of completely free-of-charge video games on Steam (as well as other online software distribution stores) that aren't covertly trying to get you to spend money. 

The oddly named Buriedbornes is one such example.  It's basically a dungeon crawling RPG with a somewhat Dark/Demon's Souls vibe to it.  The art is static, but well drawn and it has all the fundamental mechanics you'd expect from a game of this type.  The only complaint I have with it is a persistent online requirement despite being a single-player game.  Normally, that wouldn't be an issue for me except that if the servers are down then you can't play.  I guess that's the real price you pay for this free game.  

Another game that got special mention on the "Three Moves Ahead" end-of-year-discussion podcast was Ardor.  It's a very small, tightly designed turn-based strategy game.  At first glance, it has a chess-like feel to it.  Upon further examination though major differences start to become apparent; hexes instead of squares, only one player-controlled playing piece, and a deck-builder card mechanic instead of a simple "I go, you go" approach.  The ability to unlock new cards and upgrade already acquired cards after each level is neat, and keeps Ardor from becoming an overly linear experience.  Even so, it does have a handy "revert back to the beginning of the turn" button - a very nice feature to have in the event that you miscalculated something important.

On the less analytical side of things, there are some nice free games out there as well.  Take the VR-supported game Dagon, for example.  It is an accurate retelling of the H.P. Lovecraft story of the same name.  Player input is minimal, but the narrator and environmental design do an excellent job of setting the mood for this horror tale.  

Speaking of horror, the Faith Demo is not actually a demo.  It's the first entry in a trilogy of games.  The graphics and sound are very retro (I mean we are talking Apple II retro here).  Despite the simple presentation, the game is actually pretty darn scary thanks to some well crafted tension building scenes.  The overall ambience is surprisingly good too.       

First released on Steam way back in 2014, NaissanceE is a walking sim, but not just any walking sim.  The environments in this game are positively intimidating in terms of size and scale.  It is almost as if the game is deliberately designed to make you megalophobic.  Thankfully, there isn't anything in the game that is out to cause you harm other than plain old gravity, so exploration and discovery are really what this game is all about. 

There are a number of other games I could cover such as the beautifully stylized Sailing Era with its anime inspired character and scenic 2.5D harbor towns, but I think I've provided enough examples for this blog post.  In general, I think games are too expensive these days.  Thankfully, there are a few good ones that are totally free. 

Technical Difficulties

While I have never adhered to a strict schedule for this blog, I have (for many years now) tried to make four entries a month (spaced out to average about once a week) with a fifth bonus picture set at the end.  Unfortunately, due to a catastrophic computer breakdown, I was not able to maintain that unofficial plan for May, 2020.  In my defense, I swapped out the graphics card, power supply and ram in an attempt to nurse my aging rig back to some semblance of functionality.  Sadly, it was not to be...So, I ordered a new PC.  It took a while to arrive though due to ongoing pandemic induced supply problems.  That's the bad news.

The good news is my new computer arrived and seems to be running smoothly, so (moving forward) this blog should go back to business as usual.  I'm currently organizing my thoughts on Snowrunner and I'm excitedly anticipating the release of Last of Us part 2, as well as Ghosts of Tsushima.  On the side, I've also been playing some Astroneer and Alien: Isolation.  They both look really good on this new rig I got despite it being a fairly bargain bin machine by computer gaming standards.

Anyway...that's all for my special update.  Everyone take care out there!  2020 is proving to be a rough year in way more ways than I think most of us expected.

Meta Games

In the indie space it's fairly common to see developers experimenting with the limits of what video games can achieve.  One direction I've seen being pushed increasingly the last couple years is in a meta direction.  "What is game?" is a question that was first brought to my attention with the Stanley Parabola about four years ago and is one which I'd like to address here by pointing out three specific examples.

What starts out as a VR adaptation of Duck Hunt on a pseudo-NES, turns more sinister the longer you play.  I won't get into the story details, but I would like to mention that the game uses the virtual reality headset to allow the player to see through the eyes of a child (complete with a 1980s home built around playing one of those third generation video game consoles).  It's all rather immersive in that the player can swap out cartridges to try out different games, stick in a VHS tape and watch live-action video on an old CRT, or even interact with various objects in the house.  Although you're limited movement-wise the weather outside the house seems to imply a hot sunny afternoon.  Perhaps the environment was crafted based on one or more of the developers' childhood memories from a leisurely summer school break.  Funnily enough when you pop in the Duck Season game cartridge the player is quite literally drawn into the TV set and a version of the game that feels much more consistent with a modern adaptation of Duck Hunt rather than the 8-bit version it's supposed to be based on.  Oh and that hound has a Donnie Darko thing going on...just replace Frank the Rabbit with the Dog from Duck Hunt.

Advertised as a text-based adventure game it actually has more in common with an old television series like Outer Limits or The Twilight Zone.  The story is broken into three seemingly unrelated episodes and a fourth info-dump that ties everything up into a big metatextual ball.  This is one of those games that sets up players with a series of extraordinary events and then hits them with an ending twist that's actually very mundane.  If you've played The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, Firewatch or Gone Home you probably know exactly what I'm talking about.  If not, then let's just say it's not my cup of tea.  Performing medical/scientific procedures on an unknown specimen is intriguing.  Relaying weapon deployment codes from a remote base somewhere in the frozen wastes of Greenland?  Riveting!  Even the first episode which features the double layer of the player using his or her computer to manipulate an in-game character to play a text-based game on their computer (which in turn seems to affect that reality) is trippy and bizzare in interesting ways...alas, learning that it's actually just a daydream fantasy made up by an ordinary loser who made some questionable life choices is kind of a let down.

Billed as an educational game, the demo version of PC Building Simulator has been freely available for download off the internet for the better part of a year now.  However, a more fully realized version of the game is set for a January 2018 release.  From the perspective of trying to teach people how to build PC desktops without make costly time consuming mistakes, I can see why this piece of software might have a degree of widespread appeal.  That said, the whole notion of using your computer to build another computer in a simulated environment is more than a little weird when you take a step back and look at it objectively.  When we're done building a simulation of a PC are we going to use that PC to run a simulated version of PC Building Simulator and build another PC in that one?  If so, things are starting to look a lot like one of the endless series of reflections you get by placing two mirrors face to face.  I suppose this sort of game coming out was inevitable considering that there are over 200 unique pieces of software for sale on Steam (not counting DLC) that have the world "Simulator" in the title.  Maybe a better name for PC Building Simulator would be Simulation Simulator...or is that too meta?

Detectives of Tomorrow

Like most folks, I enjoy the process of solving a good mystery.  In literature and television I'm talking about characters like Sam Spade, Miss Marple, Sherlock Holmes, Philip Marlowe and (my personal favorite) Lieutenant Columbo.  In video games there's also some noteworthies such as Professor Layton, Phoenix Wright, Laura Bow, Gillian Seed and Cole Phelps.  For me though, the backdrop in which these police procedurals (and what have you) unfold is just as important to good storytelling as the unraveling of the mystery itself.

As fun as shows like Dexter and CSI are to watch, having everything take place in modern day USA has always felt like a missed opportunity to me.  I'm sure it saves them a small fortune on their production budget, but there's something to be said for taking the classic detective formula and changing it simply by transporting the setting to an unusual time and place.  One great example is the long running Sano Ichiro series set in Edo-period Japan.  Eighteen books in total, I must confess that I've only read the first fourteen.  Another example is "In the Name of the Rose."  Set in a 14th-century european abbey, the novel/film were adapted into an unofficial 8-bit computer game entitled La abadía del crimen.  There's also a whole slew of authors who have written crime fiction set during classical antiquity, but I have yet to hear of any such stories that take place during the Viking Age.

That might sound like a strange era to consider, but believe it or not norse culture has more than a few law-speakers.  In fact one of the longest and, consequently, most famous sagas prominently features a character called Njáll the Beardless.  Essentially a 10th century Icelandic lawyer, I think it would be fun to play a Phoenix Wright-style video game with him as the protagonist.  Of course going the opposite direction could also be quite interesting.  Instead of looking to the past for inspiration how about the future?

Subsurface Circular is neat little indie game that was released on Steam August 18th, 2017 (with deliberate lack of preceding hype or fanfare).  It has players take on the role of a detective robot assigned the subway system beneath a major city.  From this rather confined place the player has to solve a mysterious disappearance by interviewing other robots that happen to be riding the train at various times over the course of the game.  Part of what makes it a compelling experience is learning about the world above and what it's like having AI controlled machines doing all of humanity's dirty work.  It's all very minimalist by necessity, but I kind of wish a larger developer would try tackling a similarly themed game concept.

While I like LA Noire, I can't help thinking it would have been so much more awesome had the game been set in the Blade Runner universe.  Rather than using the clumsy "good cop," "bad cop," and "accuse" options during interviews, I think it would have been a lot more well suited to the medium of video games to perform Voight-Kampff tests on suspects.  Something that the 1997 video game adaptation of Blade Runner did rather well was at the start of a new game a random algorithm would secretly decide which characters are replicants and which weren't.  That, combined with multiple endings gave the game replayability as well as a degree of personal investment in the story.  A recreation of 1950s Los Angeles is cool and all...just not as cool as it would have been in the far flung future of 2019...errr...maybe the sequel's 2049 would be a better timeframe...

Mismatch Making

Activision recently filed a patent having to do with online matchmaking.  It's got a bunch of legal gobbledygook in it, but the essence of of the submission is an attempt to acquire exclusive rights to a system in which players who have made microtransaction purchases are deliberately matched up online with players who haven't (at nebulously specified opportune times).  Activision claims that they have yet to implement such a system in any of their games.  It's possible they are being honest here.  Then again, big-budget game publishers such as EA, Ubisoft, Warner Bros Interactive and (of course) Activision themselves have a pretty poor track record when it comes to telling the truth.  Regardless, I'm fairly confident that this sort of matchmaking in online games has been going on for a while now.

War Thunder and World of Warships are two examples I can attest to regarding the implementation of this sort of microtransactions sales strategy.  Supposedly, both games (made by different developers) are designed to set the player up with teammates and opponents of roughly equal skill.  At first this definitely felt the case to me.  However, after advance several tiers into the progression system found in each game things started to change.  Instead of going up against players of roughly equal ability, I ran into long strings of unbalanced matches, resulting in defeat after defeat (often six times in a row or more) before eventually eeking out a single victory.  Normally, I don't mind if my team loses an online game so long as I felt like I did my part.  Unfortunately, both War Thunder and World of Warships like to offer a daily first victory bonus which are essential for progression, hence the grind became more and more pronounced for me.  Other cheapskates like myself reported having similar experiences.  On the other hand players who shelled out a bit of real cash tended to have much better win/loss ratios.  I should stress this wasn't directly because of in-game purchases.  Far from it...a long running joke with both games is the fact that most real money upgrades are basically just flashy cosmetics, like pusher planes in War Thunder, or famous historical vessels in World of Warships.  That makes good sense if you want to maintain the outward appearance of fairness.  It might be an illusion though in that these games actually reward players who spent real money on microtransactions through some underhanded coding in the matchmaking system.

Granted, this is all anecdotal evidence on my part.  I could be wrong and may have simply had the mother of all bad luck streaks...twice.  Frankly, it doesn't matter all that much to me one way or the other though because War Thunder and World of Warships are free-to-play games that I invested zero dollars in.  Maybe I wasted a bit of my time, but I got a lot of enjoyment out of each game before deleting it from my harddrive after things got a bit to grindy for my tastes.  Still, if word got out that the programmers for either (or both) of these games were guilty of fixing matches in subtle ways to benefit paying customers I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest.

Monetization of the Dead

This topic has been converted pretty thoroughly by Jim Sterling and Totalbiscuit, but I feel compelled to dedicate a post about it on my blog simply because it bothers me that much.  Just to make sure everyone is up to speed, one of the heads over at Monolith Studios passed away about about a year ago from brain cancer.  By all account he was a well liked guy whose death was considered a great loss by many of the studio's employees.  Monolith collectively decided to make a tribute in the form of a character modeled after him that will appear in their upcoming release Middle-earth: Shadow of War.  Supposedly the character will come to the rescue when the player is in dire peril.  It's a nice touch, but there's a problem with all this, Monolith Studio's producer is Warner Bros.

In case you don't know, WB has a fairly tarnished reputation - loot crate driven microtransactions in a full-priced games, attempts to manipulate media coverage, and the abandonment of the bug-riddled PC version of Batman: Arkham Knight.  There's more, but for the sake of brevity their poor industry practices have brought the publisher down to level Ubisoft and Konami.  In other words, WB is some of the worst the industry has to offer.  Not helping matters is their handling of Monolith.  In a backhanded attempt to improve PR, the aforementioned tribute character is being offered as paid DLC through Steam.  After Valve takes their cut the remaining proceeds go to the family of the deceased.  It's not a great arrangement, but I could get behind it if it weren't for the fine print.  Specifically, purchases made in six states in the USA along with anywhere else in the world don't actually go to any charitable cause whatsoever.

In essence, WB is trying to make a little extra money off the death of a cancer victim.  It is, in my opinion, disgusting.  It also underlines how cluelessly greedy WB really is.  They could have simply said for every sale of this particular DLC they will donate the full amount to the family or, barring that, a reputable cancer charity.  Alternatively, the DLC could have been free; honoring the dead man in the same way a statue in a park or a bust in a university does.  Of course if that's too much work then a simple "In loving memory of..." at the end of the closing credits would have sufficed.  However you slice it though the current setup at WB is a mix of avarice and ineptitude of the lowest order.  One wonders if anybody calling the shots over at WB has even read any of J.R.R. Tolkien's works.  If they had they probably would have noticed the similarities between themselves and certain villainous characters that appear in the stories.

So the question is (metaphorically speaking), will WB perish by their own folly like Ungoliant, at the hands of a hero like Smaug, or will they redeem themselves after a fashion like Thorin Oakenshield?  Sadly, I don't have access to Galadriel's Mirror so we'll just have to wait and see what comes to pass.  Personally, I'd be happy with any of the above...

Myth for our Time

There are certain pieces of entertainment media that maintain an important ecological message far beyond their years; the novel "Dune," the anime "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind," and (since this is a blog about video games) Myth.

Not to be confused with Mist, this is a series of three games, the first two of which were created by none other than Bungie Studios...before they became famous for the Halo franchise.  The first entry Myth: The Fallen Lords is my personal favorite in terms of story, while the second Myth: Soulblighter improves on the gameplay of the original.  Sadly, the third game was outsourced and is just all around bad.  It should probably be forgotten.  So how do these games play?  Well the genre is a little bit difficult to classify.  It's somewhere between an RTS and MOBA, but also has a few RPG elements woven in here and there.  The setting is your typical middle-of-the-road fantasy world wherein the big bad has all but won.  The narrative framing device comes from the journal of an ordinary soldier fighting in the war.  Stylistically, I've heard comparisons to "The Black Company" novels by Glen Cook although I think most people who play the game will be reminded of J.R.R. Tolkien's writings more than anything else.  After all, Myth features things like treants, dwarfs, a dark lord, and a heroic wizard.  On the other hand there are some original aspects to the setting as well (such as The Tain, Myrkridia, Trow, Fetch and Ghols).  The plot mostly revolves around "The Legion," a melting pot of warriors from a variety of different backgrounds.  On one extreme you have shirtless claymore-wielding berserkers, while on the other end there are robe-wearing journeymen who use plant roots to heal the wounded.  Rounding things out are the Fir'Bolg (stand-ins for elven archers), dwarves armed with explosives and surprisingly ordinary swordsmen complete with mail hauberk, surcoat, nasal helm and heraldic shield.

The opposition is even more varied and includes ghostly peltasts called "soulless" that float over the terrain, as well as the aforementioned fetch that can shoot lightning from their fingertips.  However, the backbone of the armies of darkness are the thrall, axe-wielding zombies basically...Stages in which the player is charged with defending a fixed position against advancing columns of these foes are by far my favorite mission type, if for no other reason than the sheer amount of on-screen carnage.  Of course planting satchel charges and creating killzones is great fun, but equally exciting is targeting the shuffling timebombs known as "wights."  Hit them with a couple of arrows and the resulting explosion, created by these bloated walking corpses, causes the ground to ripple and can kill or paralyze anything caught in the blast radius.  Some other units also have interesting secondary abilities; thrall can pass through (or hide in) deep water, archers can release flaming arrows, ghols can pick up objects on the battlefield and throw them.  As you might have noticed, the bad guys have more interesting units.  Thankfully, players do get the chance to try them out in multiplayer.

Contrary to my usual gaming habits, I did play quite a bit of Myth and Myth II online.  In part it was because of Bungie's free, easy-to-use matchmaking service (a rarity in those days).  There was also a ranking system although I never made it past the lowest crown tier.  There were also some interesting mods for the game, including a vietnam multiplayer total conversion and a developer-endorsed fan-made single player campaign for Myth II entitled "Chimera."

Despite the vast array of features offered, when I think back on the Myth series my fondest memories are of the names of each unit and the accompanying flavor text.  The game tracks kill counts in addition to the number of mission survived for each unit.  These forms of experience affect movement speed, attack rate and even hit points.  One way to make the later levels easier in Myth (aside from turning down the difficulty setting) is to make sure more units survive earlier on - thus allowing them to become veterans.  So, in a sense, each of the player's units starts to take on their own personal history and value.  The names are also evocative and reflect the culture from which that unit came.  For example a berserker might have a name like "Eirik who Jams the Gates of the Underworld," or "Tyrgeis with a Shirt of Scars," while a journeyman might have a name along the lines of "Eight Flint Deer," or "Twelve Eagle Falling Sun."  Meanwhile, swordsmen have old English sounding names such as "Duncan," "Avis," or "Owen."  One particular race of foes called the "Bre'Unor" only appear in one level, but their bone armor, flint weapons, pet wolves, monolithic shrines and nocturnal ambushes made a lasting impression on me.

The flavor text made visible by selecting a single unit hints at a much deeper and richer setting than what actually makes it on-screen.  Steve Jackson Games actually ported over the setting to G.U.R.P.S. (Generic Universal Role-Playing System), but the sourcebook was oddly lacking in details.  Particularly with regards to the cycle of light and dark.  It's a bit of a spoiler, but the setting of Myth follows a 1000 (or possibly 500) year pattern of civilization rising and falling.  The concept is kind of interesting considering the mediterranean followed a similar course with the bronze age collapse in 1177 B.C., followed by the fall of Rome in 476 A.D., and now with war in Syria, civil unrest in Egypt and a major financial crisis in Greece one wonders if this simply isn't the third time around.  Even the "Leveler" takes on a quasi-symbolic importance in that the creator of one age is the destroyer of the next.  It's all too topical considering recent matters having to do with fossil fuels and climate change.  Did Bungie intend their IP to convey that sort of allusion to the real world?  I don't know, but there's no denying its relevance even to this day.  

Axis, Allies and Iron Hearts

I’m a big fan of the board game Axis and Allies.  Despite having fairly simple rules (by war gaming standards), it does an excellent job of capturing the essence of that historical conflict.  In particular, I really enjoy the tactile experience of moving small plastic figurines around the board rather than the more traditional cardboard chits that most war games use.  Surprisingly, I never took much interest in the Hearts of Iron franchise despite it being thematically closely related.  However, I heard that the latest iteration of the series is the most approachable yet, so I’ve finally decided to try out Hearts of Iron 4.  Having played the game for awhile now, I can certainly say my overall impressions are pretty mixed. 

On the plus side, I really like the world map, research system, national foci, battle planner and ability to play pretty much any country.  Construction is also interesting in many ways, but it’s also a bit strange in that you can’t stockpile resources, nor does it consume fuel when you let loose your machines of war.  In fact the entire logistics model is a bit odd.  It get that the game designers (Paradox Studios) were trying to keep things simple since, let’s face it, micro-managing supply lines isn’t much fun.  The problem is it can be weirdly easy to deploy military units all over the planet, even in places that would demand a herculean effort to keep supplied.  Oddly enough Axis and Allies addresses this issue by movement limitations.  Speaking purely in terms of troopship speeds, Imperial Japan probably could have landed a couple divisions of men on the west coast of Africa in a matter of months, but in the board game it takes a year or more of in-game time to do so.  This might sound ridiculous at first, but when you look at it as an abstraction of the time needed to plan, prepare and set up the necessary infrastructure to keep tens of thousands of fighting men fed and properly outfitted on the opposite side of the globe then a year starts to sound pretty optimistic.  In fact Japan didn’t have the merchant marine fleet or fuel oil resources need to maintain an occupational force on the Hawaiian Islands, let alone the interior of Australia.  I’m pretty sure they lacked the necessary manpower to dominate the vast regions and populations of mainland China or India too, but you can conquer all those places and more in Hearts of Iron 4. 

Air combat also feels a bit wonky in that over a period of several days against France (I was playing as Italy) my fighter craft lost 400 of their number in exchange for 1,600 enemy bombers shot down.  I was happy with the ratio, but I have a hard time believing that aircrews would blast each other out of the sky so vigorously.  I don’t claim to be an expert on the topic, but I think Paradox Interactive needs to dial back whatever numbers their using with regards to air warfare.  The UI for assigning air wings and warships to areas and mission is also pretty clunky.  Rather than having to manage each-and-every ship or plane it would probably be a lot easier to group them into preset squadrons.  After all, each battleship figurine in the Axis and Allies board game doesn’t correspond to a single warship, but rather a squadron of (by my estimates) 4 or more such vessels, possibly including escorts and support craft. 

The last big problem with Hearts of Iron 4, as I see it, is the AI with regards to the division designer.  This problem might be fixed by the time I get around to posting this, as it stands right now most computer controlled divisions consist of little more than a small number of infantry battalions with little in the way of support companies or mechanized units.

“Paradox games are like fine wine,” is a quote I’ve heard more than once, so I’m sure the problems I’ve mentioned here will get addressed in due time.  For now though I think I’ll stick to Axis and Allies when I feel the urge to play as a World War 2 armchair general.

Legacy of the Ixthi (Part 2 of 2)

At the outbreak of the second Multyx-Ixthi War there was a great deal of disharmony among the three members nations of the Sanguine Alliance.  The Glost desired a speedy assault, feeling that delays had cost the war effort dearly the first time around.  The Chinorr wanted to be more systematic, especially with regard to liberating the slave worlds of the Ixthian Empire.  Meanwhile, the Multyx desired a more defensive posture for themselves while their allies led the charge.

Within the boarders of the Ixthian Empire circumstances had also changed considerably.  The Beastslayer had died of natural causes at the ripe old age of 87.  In the wake of his passing two captains were appointed the rank of admiral.  Both had served under The Beastslayer during the first Multyx-Ixthi War, and before the end of his short reign, the second Emperor bestowed the honorary title of "Multyx-Bane" to one officer and "Terror of the Multyx" to the other.  Almost immediately disagreements over naval doctrine arose between the two admirals.  Bane favored the raider tactics of his predecessor, while Terror advocated the use of the new formed Imperial Guard Fleet to neutralize interloping threats through a series of ambushes.  Unlike his father, and his grandfather before him, the newly ordained third Emperor cared little for military cohesion.  His solution to this divisive matter was a simple compromise.  Terror would lead the Imperial Guard Fleet with it's new heavy cruisers, while Bane would be placed in command of a smaller, faster squadron of warships designated the Raider Fleet with Void Wanderer as the flagship.

In a repeat of the first war, the planet Yrd was the first to come under attack.  The invasion fleet consisted of a combination of Glost and Chinorr forces.  Terror attempted his long desired ambush tactic, but was forced to retreat once the defensive installations around Yrd fell to overwhelming Alliance firepower.  However, Yrd itself turned out to be more resilient.  It's people had no desire to endure occupation a second time so they held out under orbital bombardment.  The Chinorr, for their part, were determined to take the planet before moving on.  The Glost, on the other had, grew restless.  While the Sanguine Alliance stalled at Yrd, the Imperial Guard Fleet underwent repairs in orbit over the Ixthian homeworld.  Hoping to catch the Ixthi in a vulnerable position, the Glost commander recklessly ordered his ships to make haste for the Imperial capital of Ix, while the Chinorr continued their siege of Yrd.  For the Sanguine Alliance this proved to be a serious blunder.  The unsupported Glost fleet rushed headlong into a trap and the Terror annihilated their ships to the last.  In a matter of days the entire might of the Glost navy was swept away and for the remainder of war their only major contribution would be in the form of robot armies.  The Terror became flush with success.  So much so he felt confident enough to allow the dying Glost fleet to send off a distress signal to their Chinorr allies at Yrd.  The Terror thought he would repeat his victory a second time, but when the Chinorr arrived they brought with them a secret weapon - battleships.

Ixthian cruisers proved inadequate in the face of this new threat.  The Imperial Guard Fleet was reduced to a cloud of debris over the homeworld's zenith and the Terror perished along with it.  The defense stations around Ix soon followed, as did the valuable shipyards.  Once again the homeworld was hammered from orbit.  The blows were not as hard felt this time though.  The Ixthi had learned an important lesson from the first war, and far down the galactic spiral arm a cluster of forge worlds had been established.  Here, vast amounts of resources had been poured into establishing the infrastructure needed to build corvettes, destroyers, cruisers and legions of troops.  Soon, the factories of war began to produce massive quantities of weapons, armor, transports and warships.

Meanwhile, the Chinorr found themselves in a dilemma.  Without the aid of Multyx ships, it would be impossible to provide acquitted escorts for their freighters.  Thus far the Multyx had not encountered a single Ixthi vessel along their boarders, so it was decided to drop the defensive posture in deference to a ground support role.  Alliance armies, unmolested during their voyages through space, captured Yrd and even the Ixthi homeworld.  The talk among the Sanguine Alliance soon turned to immanent victory.  Surely, the reasoning went, the Ixthi's fleets were scattered and their will to fight broken.  It was a wishful sentiment, completely divorced from the reality of the situation.  Bane and his Raider Fleet were still out there, they simply waited for the right time to strike back.  The next step for the Chinorr was to push on to the mineral rich slave worlds.  It was believed at the time that depriving the Ixthi of these resources would force them to make an unconditional surrender.  Little did the Sanguine Alliance members know about the huge stockpiles of minerals the Ixthi held in reserve, enough to rebuild their entire Empire twice over.  As the first of the slave words fell to Alliance forces, the Ixthi launched a counterattack.

Mining stations, research installations, frontier outposts, one by one they blinked out of existence.  Multyx warships began to wither on the vine.  They turned away from Ixthi space rushing back to defend their threatened planets.  Once, they found success catching a portion of the Raider Fleet as it obliterated the last of the Multyx held Betharian resource extractors.  Void Wanderer was lost in the ensuing naval engagement, but Bane survived, as did the majority of his warships.  Starved of resources, the Multyx could do less and less.  In frustration the Chinorr pushed on to the moon of Dissadia, blasting everything in their path.  Their hope was to fight fire with fire, but the change in tactics proved fruitless.  The vastness of Ixthi held space meant that a large Alliance fleet found few targets of opportunity, while a small fleet would be ambushed and destroyed.  Such was the case with a Chinorr battleship traveling with an inadequate escort.  Lightly guarded troop transports and non-combat vessels began to suffer a similar fate.  Occasionally, an Ixthi corvette would be caught and destroyed, but many more escaped.  Then news came that Yrd had been liberated by eleven legions under the command of General Vir J'Khan.  In retaliation the Chinorr demanded that the Glost launch an immediate invasion of Dissadia, and so armies of robots swarmed out of dropships onto the surface of the arid moon.  The Glost general proved to be an incompetent buffoon though, and before long the long columns of robot soldiers were reduced to mountains of scrap metal by the defending garrison.  The Multyx and Chinorr committed ground units of their own, but these were fed into the battle piecemeal and eventually the landings were repulsed entirely.  Meanwhile, the Ixthi homeworld had been liberated.

Adding insult to injury, Multyx worlds began to fall.  First Holden IV, then Moc Krac, followed in quick succession by Othriga III and Xant Ovac.  The Multyx cried to their allies for aid, but none came.  The Glost had only just begun to rebuild their fleet and what few ships they had were allocated to protecting their own boarders.  The Chinorr had been griped by a kind of paralysis; unwilling to abandon the siege of Dissadia, but unable to divvy up their forces without risking total annihilation.  Next the Multyx homeworld came under siege and capitulated soon after.  The hardest fought battle though was on the remote arctic world of Ullus II.  The Ixthi are native to a dry, warm world and unsurprisingly found the conditions on Ullus II to be hellish even before the fighting started.  To make matters worse, the Raider Fleet performed an incomplete bombardment of the planet before departing on a Glost convoy intercept mission.  Unperturbed, General Vir J'Khan ordered the assault and a hard and bloody battle followed.  Of the seven legions that landed on Ullus II, none rose back up to orbit with more than a quarter of their fighting strength intact.  Nevertheless, the planet was taken and with it, the last of the Multyx worlds were now in the hands of the Ixthian Empire.

Several times during those final months of the war, the Multyx offered to make a white peace and each time the Ixthi rejected it.  Now, the terms were laid bare, vassalization of the Multyx Cooperative and all of its holdings.  While the Multyx balked they were but a shadow of their former strength.  The war weary Glost consented, and the Chinorr, eager to deal with a more pressing rivalry with the Gox Republic, also grudgingly agreed to the peace agreement.  The slave worlds were returned to the Ixthian Empire and there are some who say the Multyx may soon join their fettered ranks.  However, there are others who claim that from the ashes of this destructive conflict a lasting peace might grow.  Already embassies and understanding have been established where once there was only rivalry and hatred.

The future is uncertain, but one aspect of it holds true.  History repeats itself and even this far future conflict bears more than a passing resemblance to Human history, particularly with regards to the second World War and the Punic Wars of antiquity.  Will history repeat yet again?  Only time will tell.  

Legacy of the Ixthi (Part 1 of 2)

To recite the tale of the twin conflicts know simply as the Multyx-Ixthi Wars one must first set the stage.  Along the length of a spiral arm in the Cybrex Galaxy there lived four races capable of interstellar travel.  Nearest to the galactic core were the Chinorr, a proud and industrious species of molluscoids.  Further out along the arm, were the Glost, a mammalian races of spiritualists and explorers.  Further still were the Multyx, anthropoids renown for their ruthlessly capitalistic practices.  Last along the spiral arm were the Ixthi.  They were a race of xenophobic avians with strong marital and spiritual traditions.  To say the Ixthi were disliked by the other species throughout the Cybrex Galaxy would be putting it lightly.  The Ixthi enslaved the native populations of developing worlds at put them to work in mines.  Vast wealth flowed from these exploited planets into the Ixthi coffers, fulling their ever-expanding Empire.  The Multyx saw this and in their hearts avarice began to take root and grow.  Greedy by nature, they desired the riches of the Ixthi Empire for themselves.  A rivalry sprang up between these two space-faring nations, but for many years no open conflict occurred.  The Ixthi were content to expand outward along the unclaimed spiral arm of the galaxy, while the Multyx were forced to hold their ambitions in check for lack of a fleet that could challenge the might of the Ixthian Empire.  Decades passed, but before the 22nd century drew to a close circumstances began to change.  The Multyx had plotted and planed, forging first an alliance with the Chinorr, then the Glost.  With the combined fleets of these three nations, conquest of the poorly-regarded Ixthi seemed certain.  So it was that the long-held ambitions of the Multyx were revealed with a deceleration of war against the Ixthi.

At first the Chinorr and Glost were hesitant to prosecute the war.  Although honor-bound to oaths of mutual support, the former had more pressing concerns near the galactic core, while the latter held no particular malice toward any foreign power, large or small.  In frustration the Multyx charged alone across the boarder with their ships, seizing the fortress world of Yrd, before a proper defense could be mustered.  Despite the ease of this early gain, the Multyx hesitated, choosing instead to wait for their sluggish allies to send ships of their own.  This delay was fortuitous for the Ixthi fleet which, at the time was on deployment far from the Multyx-Ixthi boarder.  While this misplaced force made a mad dash for the homeworld of Ix, the trifecta of invaders re-branded themselves the Sanguine Alliance and proceeded to the very same star system smashing the orbital shipyards.  The severity of this blow cannot be understated.  Without the shipyards of their homeworld, the Ixthi had no means of manufacturing spacecraft larger than the corvette-class.  Worse still the Alliance fleet employed superior technology, outmatching comparable Ixthian designs on a ship-to-ship basis.  The admiral in charge of the Ixthi fleet was aware of these facts though.  In fact he had only just recently been bestowed an honorary title by the First Ixthi Emperor in recognition of his services, The Beastslayer.  Countless space amoeba and crystalline entities had perished by his command as he swept the outer reaches of the galactic spiral arm.  Had he faced all the monsters he encountered at once he would have surly been lost along with his fleet, but by dividing their strength he had slain them all with hardly a scratch to show for it.  So rather than advancing into the maw of certain destruction, The Beastslayer redirected his fleet away from the homeworld and instead led it headlong into Multyx territory.

Even though the Ixthi fleet was inferior to that of the alliance, The Beastslayer ordered his meager force split into two.  The corvettes were divided evenly, but both destroyers were allocated to the second fleet.  The Beastslayers flagship, Void Wanderer, would serve as the backbone of his own forces.  It was a Cybrex frigate salvaged with the help of an Ixthi science vessel many years ago, and outfitted with a variety of unique weaponry that put it on par with the pair.  As for orders, they were simple - Hunt.  In quick succession the two small fleets hit star system after star system, smashing Multyx mining stations and construction vessels.  A particular emphasis was placed on obliterating orbital energy production facilities, but space stations proved too tough to crack.  Planetary bombardment of Multyx worlds was also forbidden since doing so would sacrifice the one thing that kept The Beastslayer's ships intact, mobility.

It was during these hit and run maneuvers that The Beastslayer struck a jackpot, a flotilla of Glost freighters packed to the brim with robot soldiers.  They were the main contingent of a planetary landing force on route to the Ixthian homeworld.  Not a single one of their metal boots made it onto Ixthi soil.  Every last troop transport was blasted to pieces, their machine armies forever consigned to emptiness of space.  The price had been high though, many Ixthi ships were damaged, so The Beastslayer ordered his fleet back in halves to the as-of-yet untouched colonies for repairs.  During this time damaged corvettes and destroyers were outfitted with new point defense systems, greatly improving their survivability against the missile-based weaponry of the alliance fleet.  By repairing and refitting only half of his forces at a time, The Beastslayer was able to keep up the pressure on the Multyx.  Soon the invader's supply of energy credits became exhausted, and with great regret they were forced to accept the terms of a white peace.  Neither side ever met in direct combat.

With the benefit of hindsight it's easy to see how the humiliating defeat of the Multyx by the numerically and technologically inferior Ixthi left a sore that would not go away.  While the Ixthi used their mineral reserves to rapidly recover from war damages, the Multyx spent many long years rebuilding their shattered infrastructure.  Thus, it comes as no surprise that after the ten year ceasefire period had elapsed the Multyx once again declared war on the Ixthi.  It was not simply about riches.  This time the Multyx sought redemption in the eyes of the other Sanguine Alliance members, and even more importantly their wounded pride needed to be satisfied, if not in booty then in blood.

Under the Waves

I've been a strong advocate on this blog for representation of submarine warfare in video games, and once more I'm taking up the (underwater) torch.  In this instance I really want to push for the inclusion of subs in World of Warships.  The developers over at Wargaming have gone on record saying there are no plans for this particular addition to the game.  I personally believe they could create a new and exciting dimension to the overall experience.  To start though, I'd like to address a common criticism leveled at submarines.

A lot of World of Warships players have express feeling on the official website forums that commanding subs would be extremely boring due to the slow speed at which these boats move.  It's a valid concern, but surface speeds of WW2 submarines tended to be between the Aurora and St. Lois.  When submerged, they go about as fast as the Bogue or Langley.  So, while slow they're no worse than ships already playable in the game.  It's also important to note that sub commanders need not chase down targets, rather they can let their prey come to them.

I agree that coding U-boats (and the like) into the game engine might present some programming difficulties, but if you approach diving underwater like a destroyer's smokescreen then the challenge might be surmountable.  The key differences are a diving consumable only affects the sub itself, has a countdown timer like the repair ability, and can be countered with acoustic sounding.  Once underwater, subs depend on batteries (that run down based on how fast the boat is moving).  Sitting still allows the sub to remain underwater longer, but makes it an easy target if located.  Additionally, it's should be impossible to end a game in a victory or draw when underwater (more on that later).  The inclusion of subs would also give destroyers (and certain cruisers) an expanded role in the form of anti-submarine warfare, not to mention new weapons like the depth charge and hedgehog.

Players start with cruisers at tier 1.  From there can expand out to destroyers at tier 2, battleships at tier 3, and aircraft carriers at tier 4.  Why not add subs at tier 6?  It's at a place where destroyers start to lose their effectiveness against other surface ships.  Here's a hypothetical example:

I want to toss out a few more ideas regarding subs.  Instead of commanding a single ship, how about a single player controlling a "wolfpack" via an RTS-style tactical map similar to the one aircraft carrier commanders use.  For such a player the pace of the battle might be more of a thinking-man's game, which might not appeal to everyone, but the same can just as easily be said for carrier gameplay.  I think a couple of other restrictions also have to be applied to submarines for balance reasons.

• First, they can't capture (or prevent the capture of) bases while underwater.
• Second, destruction of all enemy subs isn't needed for victory (i.e. if one side loses all their surface ships then they are considered defeated regardless if they still have active subs on the map).
• Third, there needs to be strict limits on the number of subs in a given match (2-4 at most).

Of course, submarines aren't the only thing I'd like to see added to World of Warships.  New nations and their fleets aside, minefields that offer some risk/reward in the crossing could be exciting.  Night engagements with star-shells, spotlights, and lighthouse capture points would be great.  A.I. controlled coastal defense batteries or P.T. boats would be awesome.  Adverse weather conditions that affect visibility, speed and accuracy might be interesting too. There's a lot that could be added to the game.  For me though, the number one thing remains submarines.

Coming Next Spring

2015 isn't exactly over yet, but I'd like to take a moment to talk about three games of note that have been pushed back until next year.

A Kickstarter project that has been funded and in development for almost exactly to years now, Hyper Light Drifter shares DNA with the like of the Zelda franchise.  The key difference being this game has a bit of sci-fi mixed in with the fantasy.  While I'm glad the game has a set release date, it feels like this should have come out this year.  It's understandable though given the creative director's heart condition and the relatively small size of the team.  Plus, the preview build sent to Kickstarter backers suffered from an inexplicably poor frame rate.  So, hopefully they'll have enough time to get that ironed out before the full release.

XCOM 2 coming out this holiday season sounded too good to be true when it was announced during the reveal trailer, and...surprise!  It turns out the release date was far too optimistic.  Supposedly the reason for the delay has to do with the developers wanting to increase the replayability of the game.  That's part of the reason, I'm sure.  My gut instinct tells me that the rest has to do with cleaning up buggy code and time to give the console ports developers a chance to catch up to the lead platform on the PC.  Regardless, I'm still looking forward to playing the game when it finally does come out next spring.

With regards to games made by Naught Dog Studios, I prefer The Last of Us to Uncharted.  That said, I'm still looking forward to Uncharted 4.  Not so much in a binge-play-it-to-the-finish-for-the-story kind of way, but more for the technical aspects of the game.  In all likelihood the graphics on display in this PS4 exclusive title will be the best yet for Sony's current gen home console.  In other words, I'm more curious to see the hardware potential of the PS4 than the ultimate fate of Nathan Drake.  If anything, the delay just means more polish will be applied that what would have otherwise been had the game come out this year.

So, those are just a couple of games set to hit store shelves (and digital marketplaces) early next year.  It's a bummer having to wait longer than expected, but overall at least it isn't as bad as 2014.  It seemed like the majority of games originally planned to come out that year were pushed back to this one.  Now if only we can ensure that delayed games don't launch in a broken state...