First Strike Season 2 Episode 6.1- Randomizer and 6.2- The True Final Fantasy

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First Strike Season 2 Episode 6.1- Randomizer and 6.2- The True Final Fantasy

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First Strike Season 2 Episode 5: Mining Crafts

Welcome Strikers to another intense episode of your favorite video game podcast! This week we talk about the 3DS, Team Fortress 2, and yes more!!!! So join in as we mine crafts!! Oh btw Nate's back....

Bioshock and the Future of Philosophy in Games

The video game industry is one of the fastest expanding forms of media in today’s society, however, compared to other forms of media like books, movies, even TV shows, games seem not to be in the same tier. Many people cite works from all of those forms of media to show different philosophical and psychological concepts. Video games, however, are still not referenced as “points of discussion” or “a philosophical debate”. So the question I ask is why. Why are video games not on the same tier as say books or movies? I would say there are two reasons; the first being that video games are still not taken by society as a serious form of self expression or art form, and the other reason being that there are not nearly enough games that are deep or philosophical enough to present those arguments. That is currently what is driving me to make games. The need and want for video game worlds to show the player ethical views, metaphysical matters, and theories on the humanity in general. I believe I can show in this paper how philosophy is a needed component in more games and how the lack of it drives me to create them. Through Bioshock, games of similar ethical nature, and my own concepts for the future of gaming I hope to show where my passion and ideas lie.

Bioshock is an astounding piece of work for many reasons. One reason is because I believe it is a great game overall. The mix of graphics, sound, and gameplay all flow together so nicely. The environment and story though is what truly makes the game. Bioshock is set in a 1960 underwater utopia called Rapture. Rapture at this point in time is a fallen Objectivist society, and that what makes this world so great. While exploring this fallen society, the player finds out the philosophy behind Rapture and what made it collapse.

To truly understand what happened to the society of Rapture though, the concept of Objectivism should be fully understood first. Objectivism is the philosophy of 20^th century writer Ayn Rand. Her philosophy holds that reality is an objective fact, reason is man’s way of perceiving reality and finding happiness and moral purpose in life, every man must pursue their own rational self-interest and the ultimate political system in laissez-faire capitalism (Rand). Rapture is built on these ideals by Andrew Ryan (a name play off of Ayn Rand). Rapture was once a glistening utopia, and through this downtrodden almost apocalyptic setting the character walks through, it can be seen what the city looked like in the days of yore. I really love this about Bioshock. It manages to present the philosophy of a society that has objectivism and have a character explore the falling of it. This is shown through voice clips scattered throughout the game of people in the old society, just viewing the world around, and by even seeing some of the people. It is now a world of chaos and disarray and the main character, Jack, must traverse through it (Gillen).

What really causes the fall of Rapture is the insertion of items and ideas against objectivist thinking, so what I believe the game is really trying to portray is a true objectivist society would work, but this one was flawed. There is a police station, an orphanage, underground trading rings, etc; all that lead to the downfall of the city. The most substantial factor probably being the changing ideals of the people due to Christian thoughts brought in through smuggled Bibles and more charitable projects that make people see the world as imperfect. Through all this it can be seen the corruption of the people. People in this world, splicers, are basically lunatics who have lost their minds and are in an all-out war against each other and everyone else. Splicers are people who have seemingly gone insane from the now anarchist setting due to no control (Unsub). This was triggered by the change of ideals within the people and furthered by the laissez-faire principles of the society. It seems almost that the developers of this game are trying to say that without a proper government, humans fall into chaos. It is a very strong and interesting viewpoint on the entire concept of the true state of human nature. This entire concept alone about the world of Rapture and the psychology behind it truly drives me to want to create a world that also portrays philosophical and psychological concepts in such a way. I want to create a game where society is the way I see it at perfection. It allows players to fully immerse themselves in a world in what I believe is the best form of media to portray such a concept. Games without a doubt in my mind provide an unparalleled immersion factor in all other forms of media.

The other part of the philosophy in Bioshock is the ethics system. While the ethical system is certainly not as deep as its other philosophical roots, the ethical system still is an important component of the game. The real main moral issue is the idea of killing the Little Sisters, girls conditioned to extract ADAM from the corpses around Rapture, to become powerful faster, or saving them and gaining less power (while getting presents over time that surmounts to the same amount in the long run). It is the entire idea of the end justifying the means. Is it worth it killing to gain power and complete the goal, or should a person always keep their moral self despite the end result. I think allowing this kind of thought pattern in a game really enhances a person to think more about their actions and what they are truly doing. It allows a soft of self-awareness in a game environment.

Which leads to the point the game tries to make, if the Little Sisters are killed, Jack unleashes a nuclear strike. He has been corrupted and fallen into darkness by his actions, however if the player chooses to save the Little Sisters, he escapes Rapture and basically remains happily ever after with the Little Sister. The point that I believe is trying to be made is that a person cannot just fall into darkness and then return to do a good act from the darkness. Gaining power and evil to try to use it for a good cause never keeps oneself at a proper point. Bioshock truly is a game that makes one think.

However, Bioshock is not the only game that presents this philosophical idea in games. There are others that do similar jobs. One of the greatest examples is Mass Effect (Wise). Mass Effect really gets into the intrinsic nature of morality in gaming, taking the idea of doing good or bad acts taking an actual toll on the games story in general. Mass Effect does a great job and is a great example of why this ethical principle needs to be stronger in a game world. Video games I truly believe can be a teaching tool to how people should act, a tool to show others in a fully immersed world the different ideas and the help give people the ability to think for themselves, but so far this has been done on a small scale basis. While Mass Effect, Fable, Bioshock, and other games present a slight morality example, I believe no game has truly evolved in terms of a true moral stance. Games should be taking a more moral path and root, maybe even present different ethical systems in one would truly allow a player to create a dynamic character while at the same time being able to think (Bromling). It would combine education and fun in a sense but on a much broader sort of basis. It would allow for a mean of education without a true realization of it. Games have been proven to raise awareness and present a more overall social awareness. Studies have been done outlining how games do help people think.

A study shows that teens who play video games in general and see acts of good in them are more likely to go out and perform civic duties (Kahne). 70% of teens who frequently play games go online to get political information compared to the 55% that infrequently play games. 71% have raised charity for organizations in the last 12 months (of when the survey was taken) compared to 51% otherwise. There are more statistics that can be found in the document but it goes to show when people notice issues in games they take notice and act on it. In the paper the author shows how games like Civilization can raise a person’s awareness on history and politics, a game like World of Warcraft can help with peoples social skills and leadership ability, and how games like Zoo Tycoon can actually help teach a bit of economic principle. Video games are definitely able to be used as a tool to teach others, it is just a matter of using them too.

This is mainly where my drive in games comes into play. I want to create games that allow people to be opened up to new worlds and experiences, games that make people think and learn concepts and issues. Not a form of edutainment, but entertainment that has some real powerful concepts behind it. People love reading books and watching movies that bring up issues, and that show different psychological perspectives of human beings. My greatest issue is “why don’t games do that?” I would say that gaming is the number one platform for doing this sort of experience, it is a fully immersive and interactive experience in which people can better control what they do, and this capability of control has yet to be taken to its limits. Gaming really has an entire part of it that is an untouched tablet. Sure people have dipped their feet in the water for these concepts, however it is still, as I have said, not a fully developed medium.

Another issue that has been explored in games, probably more than philosophy is the entire concept of morality in gaming. The idea of choosing one path versus another. An article from the Escapist says that a reason many games struggle to portray moral concepts, in their case Eternal Forces, is because the developers portray their moral system without conflict. Games need to take a stance of creating a realistic system of giving people ethical choice and letting them make decisions. As aforementioned, there are games that have a morality system but none that are extremely complex and truly portray consequence in actions (Crigger). My real strive is to create game that portray that. To create an interactive experience in which a person truly feels like the decision they make affects the game world.

As I have shown from the statistics, raising issues, showing concept, and points of view in games do affect the people playing it. They are more likely to act upon it so there is a difference. Games are a great way to get people aware of things and I think that is what is needed. If you look at the world there is too large of a majority of people who do not truly care for others, who act in selfish ways, who do not think. I really think that by engrossing people in a game that portrays those issues, the situation can be helped. Games are a great proponent to change and to help people. That is my driving force in designing games at the moment and Bioshock is what opened my eyes to the capabilities of what games can do.

Works Cited

Bromling, Laura. “No Humor in Heaven.” The Escapist 28 Aug. 2007: n. pag. PDF file.

Crigger, Lara. “A Lack of Faith.” The Escapist 3 Apr. 2007: n. pag. PDF file.

Gillen, Kieron. “Exclusive: Ken Levine on the Making of Bioshock.” Rock, Paper, Shotgun. N.p., 20 Aug. 2007. Web. 28 Sept. 2010. .

Kahne, Joseph, Ellen Middaugh, and Chris Evans. “The Civic Potential of Video Games.” Civic Survey (Sept. 2008): n. pag. PDF file.

Rand, Ayn. Atlas Shrugged. New York City: Random House, 1957. Print.

- - -. “Introducing Objectvism.” Ayn Rand Institute. N.p., 1962. Web. 28 Sept. 2010. .

Unsub. “Bioshock Plot Analysis.” GameFAQs. N.p., 16 Sept. 2007. Web. 28 Sept. 2010. .

Wise, Joshua. “Weighing Morality in Games.” Kotaku. N.p., 30 June 2010. Web. 19 Sept. 2010. .

FSP: S2 episode 4- Going Tokyo

Hello and welcome to another podcast. Sorry for the delay. This week we cover TGS! Enjoy Strikers as we start going on a more regular basis again.

FSP: S2 episode 3 - "Serious Business"

FSP: S2 Episode 2 - The Conference of Games

FSP: Season 2 "The Rebirthening"

FSP: E3 2010 - Day 1 Wrap up

First Strike Podcast: Episode 8 - It's E "Effing" 3!

First Strike Podcast: Late Night Special

First Strike Podcast: Episode 7- Masters of the Universe

Last Strike: Red Steel 2

This week I finished up Red Steel 2 so it's time for a Last Strike review on the subject. For those who don't know what the game is, it's an action game set as a Japanese Western that relies heavily on the wii motion controls. My overall experience with the game was enjoyable but there are certain things that just irk me about the game.

First what I liked about the game:
The wii motion controls are actually very smooth and feel pretty natural. It's easy to use and doesn't mistake your intentions. There were some slight problems with the game considering my vertical slash a stab but that did not occur frequently and was hardly a game breaker.

The game is fun, for what there is to do. The game is especially fun as soon as you unlock your full arsenal of moves. Then you have a lot of options when dealing with different situations.

And now, what I disliked:
The game has little content. There are 6 types of enemies other than bosses and the challenge mode involves replaying the campaign. The campaign is fun but that's all there is to do and since it's linear, there is very little replay value.

The game is too easy. On medium difficulty I got through most encounters without even getting hit and with the introduction of "the cobra" even the final boss went down in two hits. The move variety is good but some moves are so much better than others you won't want to use your entire arsenal of moves.

So overall:
The game is fun and the controls work, but there is little to work with and some of the moves are hideously overpowered so you won't want to use anything else. I would rent the game instead of buying it as the game is short and easy enough to be beaten in one or two days and you probably won't want to go back.

Last Strike: Cave Story

Every so often I used to pick up Cave Story and play a little, but this year in Digital Imaging class I was fortunate enough to have nothing to do, and what a better way to spend my time than by playing Cave Story. Today therefore marks the day where I in fact completed the game with the Good Ending (I'm going for True Ending next week). I do not think it needs to be said but Cave Story really is a fantastic game and it is hard to believe it is indie. All components of it are just simply so on top. Cave Story I believe truly shows how anyone can still make not just a game, but a game that is AAA and has that originality component to it. So lets go into a little more detail on what makes Cave Story so amazing.

Blast From the Past: Battlezone

This week's blast from the past is an old game called Battlezone.

The game is a fictional version of the space race between the USSR and the USA. Where each side attempt to claim ownership of different planets by occupying them with army forces. You are a marine and can fight for either side of the conflict. Depending on what side you play for you will get different vehicles but the sides are essentially balanced.

Battlezone is a tactical first person shooter. You fight by getting into a vehicle (you can shoot while on foot but it is very ineffective) of some sort, usually a tank of varying degree of toughness or an artillery platform. From inside that vehicle you can more around and shoot other vehicles or give orders to vehicles around. You can deploy turrets to guard strategic locations or air drop supplies for your troops. Once the vehicle you are in is destroyed you are ejected from the wreckage and you walk around the map, looking for another vehicle. You can of course just grab the one of your nearby NPC allies. They won't object.

The picture on the right is a screenshot on Mars. At the top left of the screen is a list of all your available troops. From there you can issue commands to said troops. At the bottom left of the screen is the 3d map, showing the terrain and any vehicles in the vicinity. At the bottom right is your health bar, split into shield and armor. Shield is easy to repair while armor is much harder to fix. The list beside that are the weapons available to your vehicle. Most vehicles have more than one weapon to add diversity to the battle.

I say the game is a strategic first person shooter since a large part of the game is about commanding team mates. By yourself, you are not very effective so you need to create the correct vehicles for your allies. If there is a choke-point you are likely going to have to defend, build turrets and deploy them there. Have artillery back up the turrets and then be ready to airlift supplies when they run low. If you need to attack the enemy, order some of your troops to follow you and lead the assault. By yourself you won't be able to accomplish much.

After several missions on the moon, the enemy team will "up the ante" and try to colonize mars. After Mars, Venus is the next target. I do not know where the space race goes after Venus as that is the furthest I have gotten in the game. I'm talking about this game because it introduced me to the first person shooter genre and got me to play more first person shooter games. Unfortunately the game is now hard to find and won't install on windows Vista or 7, so replaying the game is not going to be easy. The game itself was incredibly fun though so I hope I can find a way to do so soon.

First Strike Podcast: Episode 6- Your Pre-Paid Addiction

More on Guild Wars 2: This Time PvP

More information about Guild Wars 2 was revealed this week and this time around we'll be concentrating on the PvP aspect of the game.

From the 1st game, it was clear that the Player vs Environment and the Player vs Player game modes did not mesh very well. One needed a fully upgraded character to fight successfully in Player vs Player combat and it was difficult to reconcile skill balance for both modes simultaneously. In Guild Wars 2 PvP and PvE modes will be split. However, you will be freely able to take your PvE character and PvP with him/her. Thus there is no need to create new characters solely for PvP.

Now, when talking about PvP in Guild Wars 2 we need to make clear what mode we are talking about. Guild Wars 2 will have 2different modes of PvP one of which is World vs World (WvW) and the other being Competitive Player vs Player (C. PvP).

Lets start by talking about the mode that is easiest to understand Competitive PvP. C. PvP is a balanced PvP mode similar to the mode currently used in Guild Wars 1. Any character entering C. PvP will automatically be given the max statistics and have all skills unlocked. In C. PvP it is possible to have balanced fights between players of any level, race, and profession in different balanced situations (1v1, 4v4, etc). This mode allows players to test whether or not they like how a race or profession will blend before fully leveling up their character and it allows for victory based primarily on skill. Tournaments will be held in this mode to decide which players and teams are the best skill wise in their own world.

World vs World PvP is similar to the PvP in Aion. Players from one server or "world" as we call them will fight against players from a different "world". In Aion the servers are split into different persistent worlds that allow Elyos or Asmodian characters only; then two of those "worlds" fight it out in the Abyss for control of certain fortresses and territories which give each "world" a certain benefit. Guild Wars 2 WvW will be similar in that there will be different "worlds" fighting each other for victory. Also like Aion or WoW PvP, in GW2 WvW levels and statistics of individual characters are not equalized so higher level players are at an advantage, which means leveling up the character you take into WvW is very important.

Each week, three different "worlds" will be chosen to compete in WvW. This will create an area specifically for WvW. Each world starts with a certain number of Castles, Mines, Sawmills, Mercenary Camps, and Villages. Then each world battles for control of the other team's resources. At the end of the week, the team controlling the most resources will be declared the victor and receive certain benefits for their own world. Each player acts as an individual in the conflict so they may chose to individually attack supply caravans traveling from the locations or to form a party with others in order to take over an outpost. Taking over each type of outpost will hurt the other types of outposts. For example, taking over a Sawmill will make it harder to repair the door of a Castle so the Castle will be easier to take over. Taking over Mercenary Camps reduces the number of NPCs stationed at each outpost that world controls, making those outposts easier to take over.

I'll keep you posted when more information arrives.

First Strike: 3D Dot Game Heroes

Atlus recently has sent me a review copy of 3D Dot Game Heroes so I figured I would share a bit of my experience with it. To begin, 3D Dot Game Heroes is exactly how it looks, like a 3D version of Zelda. So really the only question is, does the game bring enough innovative and uniqueness to this "Zelda upgrade" to make it not seem like a copy and cop out.

The game is really structured like The Legend of Zelda for the NES. You begin, a hero, with a sword (though yours is bigger) and you have to go from dungeon to dungeon collection orbs (Link to the Past anyone?). The dungeons are tile based (in that each room is square) and in the first dungeon, the hero even collects a boomerang. So by now you must be thinking, why don't I just play the NES version, and this is how I want to defend 3D Dot Game Heroes, the game brings a sort of orginality to the mix. I will say the first dungeon is pretty standard but there is a lot more exploration in this game in addition to the fact that further dungeons become for challenging, present different magic elements, and have a more worldly feel to it. What I mean by that is there is that element of going to towns to collect information, increasing sword powers, etc. It is a lot more of a world experience than a dungeon hopping adventure. All in all though it really is a The Legend of Zelda upgrade with new dungeons, but that is not necessairly a bad thing.

Right now I think the gaming industry is going through "Re-Retrozation", it is not the playing of old games, but the modern day franchises going back to their roots, i.e. Megaman 9 and 10, New Super Mario Bros. (and Wii), and the 2d Castlevania. Its the idea to use new technology with old retro classics to bring about a good game. And I think 3D Dot Game Heroes balances that perfectly. It does not totally copy Zelda (original level design and mostly original gameplay) and adds a modern age twist to it.

So for now, I would say that 3D Dot Game Heroes is a-go. A Last Strike will be coming later this week.

First Strike Podcast: Episode 5 - Something About a Reach Around

Chaos Rings Review: If Two was One

 And you thought the only good game on the iPhone was Doodle Jump.

Guild Wars 2: Everyone's Favorite Overpowered Spellcaster is Back

New data on the Guild Wars 2 site has revealed what we already knew from the Manifesto: Everyone's favorite overpowered spell caster, the Elementalist, is back. And by the looks like it, he or she has some new, but still overpowered, tricks.


You can check out the videos of the Elementalist in action here, and I strongly encourage you to do so for three reasons. One, its the first video of player models using skills in-game. Two, it shows some in game graphics. Three, its awesome.

Now what the article and movies describe is a little unsettling. In Guild Wars 1, the Elementalist was a very powerful addition to the party but was constrained by the fact that there were only a limited amount of skills the player could cast in an instance and most would be from one or two elements only since any more would decrease the damage of the skills.

However, the article suggests that in Guild Wars 2 the Elementalist acts more like a Chromatic Drake (a monster found in the Eye of the North expansion), that using a special skill can change its skill bar and stats to match a different element. If the Elementalist can use Elemental Attunement to swap skills and stats at will, the two major limitations on the Elementalist in Guild Wars 1 would be removed, creating the ultimate machine of magical death. It'll be interesting to see how they balance this decision.

Also, as a side note there is a screen about an Elementalist of a different race (charr). I didn't mention this as I think it was pretty obvious that different races have access to the same classes but there you go. Whether or not some races cannot be certain classes has not been confirmed.

I'll bring you more updates as they appear.

Guild Wars 2: Design Manifesto

Today, the folks at Arena Net revealed their blog about the future MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) Guild Wars 2. Their first post is a general Design Manifesto, with statements about how their game will be different from other current MMOs on the market.

You can find the full article here, but if you don't have time to read the whole thing, you can read my summary below.

Their first point involves interactive storytelling:

• As you play the game, the different action you make in the story slowly create an autobiography of your character to immerse you deeper into the world. This a cool feature as it actually makes you want to create a new character to experience the different storylines and adds new replay value.
  
• Less quest text, more interaction. How is the story of an MMO usually told? There is a guy who stands around with a big exclamation mark over his head saying "Please help! There are bandits attacking my village. Do something about them and I'll give you..." Not very realistic is it? In Guild Wars 2 you find a village getting attacked by bandits and you take care of them, then the remaining villagers give you a reward. Much better if you ask me.

Their second point involves more social gameplay:

• In most MMOs these days you need a party to get anywhere. If you meet a player out in the field that isn't in your party they're more of a nuisance than anything else. You worry that they're going to take your kills, or kill all the mobs (monsters) before you do. In Guild Wars 2, adventuring without a party is easier since anyone who helps slay a monster gets 100% of the exp and drops. I for one think this is a great addition. I can't tell you how many times I've had to do the same instance over and over because someone else in my party got the drop I wanted. Not anymore. This also means that if there's an event you won't be angry that more people join in because they're not sapping your experience.
• PvP is like this too apparently. Parties are helpful but not necessary to play. Also, the PvP aspect of the game is optional like in the first Guild Wars, so if that isn't your thing you don't have to worry about it. Personally though I think the PvP in Guild Wars 1 was the best part and think that it will be just as fun, if not more so, in Guild Wars 2.
  

Their third and perhaps most interesting point involves the combat:

• Each race has unique combat abilities, so choosing a race will have a slight impact on how the game is played. There is no real detail on this point though so lets move on.
  
• Guild Wars 2 keeps the Guild Wars skills system, with some updates though. Skill combos are more visual now than on paper. They give an example where an Elementalist (a class from Guild Wars 1) can cast Fire Wall, then freeze his enemies and use a knockback skill to knock them into the fire so they take continuous damage. Another possible skill combo is still using Fire Wall and having your team mates shoot arrows through it to deal extra fire damage (note the second part isn't mentioned explicitly, I'm just extrapolating from what they say).
• Guild Wars 2 has an emphasis on environmental weapons. By this they mean you can use the stuff around you to your advantage. They give some cool examples too. If you are fighting an oakheart (tree monster from Guild Wars 1), and you hack off one of its limbs you can pick up that tree branch and beat him the hell up with it ("Stop hitting yourself. Stop hitting yourself."). No, they don't actually use those words but its great that you can do that kind of thing. Other examples they give involve throwing back boulders thrown at you by Stone Elementals or, as an Elementalist, use it to make a Meteor Shower.
  

Their last point involves further updates on the game development, the first one being about the Combat System, but give no word as to when the update will be. I'll be bringing you more updates as more news comes out.

Blast from the Past: The Oldies This Week

Every week I'm going to talk about a great game made a long time ago. I've been replaying these games because I'm out of money for new games right now and I wish to share my experiences revisiting them.

This week: Dungeon Keeper 2.

Dungeon keeper 2 is a RTS-God game, a game where you have a 1st person perspective from above and command various little creatures, much like an RTS, but you cannot give explicit controls to those creatures.
Of course, there are ways around that, as I'll explain later.

The story behind the game is that you are the keeper of a dungeon. A magical being who lives underground and creates a place where the monsters who were chased away from the surface world can thrive. Your objective is to kill the heroes who possess the portal gems that would allow you to invade the surface realm.

You start each map having a dungeon heart, pictured on the right. From there you order your worker imps to dig paths through the dirt and pave them. Once they are paved you can build different rooms and depending on which rooms you have, different creatures will appear in your dungeon. For example, once you have built a workshop, trolls and later bile demons will appear in your dungeon. Meanwhile, the good humans and their allies (good creatures like the elves or faries) will try to destroy your dungeon by attacking it in various waves.

To stop them from succeeding in destroying you you can place traps in your dungeon or train your creatures into a mighty army in the training room and combat pit. You can also cast spells to destroy the invaders. The spells you have must be researched by warlocks or vampires in your library and give you a whole new level of immersion into the game. Throughout my play-through the two spells I used the most were the call to arms spell, which makes all your monsters drop what they're doing and swarm to the place where the spell is cast, and the possession spell, which lets you take control of one of your monsters and from there you can issue orders to a small group of other monsters you control. But of course there are more destructive spells like lighting bolt and inferno and helpful spells like heal.

There are different modes of play including a great single player campaign, with great story and voice acting, a sandbox mode, which lets you mess around on different maps with different restrictions, and even a multiplayer mode, so you can play with your friends if they still own a copy of this great game.

The game is a lot of fun and by now you can probably find a working copy of the game for very little cash. Another piece of good news is that this is an old game which actually works on Windows Vista (not sure if it works on 7 though). If you found this review interesting, I suggest you do pick it up somewhere.

First Strike Podcast: Episode 4 - Captivate Your Audience

Hello fellow strikers and welcome to another episode of First Strike Podcast, where we give our opinion on the gaming news of today.

This week we talk about Capcom's Captivate 2010( and the big announcements that came out of it), the games we look forward to in the coming months, and how to make rookie mistakes on a podcast.

Episode 4- Captivate Your Audience

First Strike Podcast

C-C-Combo Breaker!: Wii shovel ware

C-C-Combo Breaker! (CB for short) is our version of a rant. They're quick and spicy (and usually geared toward one thing). They are anywhere from a few sentences to a couple paragraphs but are always entertaining.
=========================================


This CB is about Wii shovel ware, specifically Just Dance. Yes, I understand casual gamers can't tell the difference between a well developed game and a crappy one when they're having fun, but just today I heard a girl get excited about playing Just Dance... At a library. The "hardcore" gamer in me wanted to laugh out loud and make a mockery of this little girl but I knew it wouldn't be right the thing to do. That's only because I know she probably doesn't play games as much as I do and wouldn't understand my hate for Just Dance.

And that's what probably makes me indigent about the whole ordeal. Casual gamers only play games that are either recommended to them or was a commercial played on the TV. If I had it my way, only games deserving of being called a Game would get the Spotlight treatment. But sadly this is America, and in America, the person with the Biggest check rules the media.

X-Com Remake

The name of the indie studio who was creating a remake of X-com I was talking about during the podcast is called Goldhawk Interactive and the name of the game is called Xenonauts. For more information, visit their site: http://www.xenonauts.com/.

First Strike Podcast: Episode 3 - Scrabble Old School

Episode 3 - Scrabble Old School

First Strike Podcast

Last Strike: Sam and Max Episode 301 Review

Telltale is back with another season of your two favorite freelance police, Sam and Max. I was actually really excited for this season even though I have not played all of season 1 or any of season 2, I still really enjoy these point and click adventure games and will probably play more after this experience. In fact I want to complete Sam and Max Season 1 and 2 before I play the next episode because I enjoyed this one so much. Anyways, onto the review.

I really enjoy a good point and click (ex. Monkey Island series, Ace Attorney series, Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (may cinq RIP)), so Sam and Max truly is my forte. For those of you who know Sam and Max you know that it is basically a quarky story and puzzle based point and click adventure game where the main characters, Sam (a dog) and Max (a hyperkinetic rabbit thingy) go around solving mysteries as freelance police. The games usually require some actual thought and paying attention to the story, all voice acted by the way which makes it a lot better. I think it is obvious to say that this game stays traditional to the series values, I can not say for sure how much this has changed from the previous experiences only having played Season 1 Episode 1, but I can say it is the same basic formula with a few upgrades. Basically, Max is now playable using his psychic powers. The psychic powers are actually quite interesting and add to the puzzle solving. For instance when using future goggles you can see a future event and then the problem is how to get to that event. It really helps with progression while not really giving anything away. While this might seem to add to easiness, it really does not as the player will be confused until the very end what all the future visions mean.

So lets talk about the heart of the game, the story. I must say I really enjoyed the story. It was always twisting around and keeping things interesting even though you thought you knew what was going to happen. The game basically opens in medias res of Sam and Max trapped on a ship having to figure out how to get off, it ends up just being a future vision and then the rest of the game is basically trying to get back to that point. The game keeps you guessing of what is going to happen and really does keep turning. I would go into more detail but the game is essentially the story and I do not want to ruin that.

The graphics of the game are basic 3d models. It looks nice and cartoon like which fits the style but is truly nothing astounding. Telltale usually strives towards their games being compatible with most computers, and I would say they did a good job with graphics. The graphics looks as if they will run on most computers, but do not look totally putrid.

The sound in the game has good music all the way through. Sam and Max really does have some good themes, and while it may not instigate a soundtrack download, it is still nice in the game and fits to it. In terms of voice acting it is spot on. Voice acting is always a plus especially in a game like this. So the voice acting really does add to the overall experience. Sound is very nice overall in the game.

Gameplay I briefly covered, basically Sam and Max wander around different maps of the city and talk to people, which is pretty standard. They use clues they find to piece things together and initiate events which eventually leads to new things to do. Some seemingly new components are Max’s psychic powers which lead to some interesting puzzles and the crime-scan which is basically a logic system to figure out where to go next. The gameplay overall is fairly difficult even for the first installment. While some of the actions are obvious, I did get stuck a few times in my run through. Knowing how Telltale works in their episodic content I am looking forward to the difficulty in the further games (I did play with my hint system turned off which I recommend).

So overall Sam and Max Episode 301 is a great game. It is a must buy for fans of the series and I would say that is a good game overall. I am not sure if anyone should really start here in the series since it is continued off of the previous games but I can definitely say that this proves that Sam and Max does have continuity and is a good series for someone to invest their time in. With that I will be giving Sam and Max: The Devil’s Playhouse Episode 1: The Penal Zone an 8.5/10. Can’t wait for episode 2!

This game came out on Thursday, April 15th for the Mac, PC, and Playstation 3 platforms. It is currently available for only $34.95 for the complete season. This came can also be purchased for $10.00 on the iPad.

First Strike: Splinter Cell Conviction

To kick things off for the site, I'm going to give my First Strike. What's a First Strike you might ask? A First Strike is our first thoughts on a video game, usually after getting the game in our hands. These are usually the first or second hour of playing a game and expressing how we'll about the game so far. With that out of the way let's get started.
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In the first hour of Splinter Cell Conviction you get a sense that Sam Fisher doesn't want to be in spy business any more but is dragged back thanks to Third Echelon teasing him with hints of how he can find his daughter's killer. They really want to bring the player into the world of Splinter Cell from the get go with a quick tutorial on basic moves and tactics. This section would have seemed to go on too quickly if it wasn't for the fact I have played the previous Splinter Cells.

But at the same time this entry in the series is not like the rest. They want you to be more aggressive and getting seen by enemies can work to your advantage. With this new take on Splinter Cell I find it to be refreshing and exciting all at once. So far everything I've played through has allowed me to mess up but recover by hiding and taking out enemies when they go to my last know position.

This also makes the game feel easier overall so far. I'm not that deep in, only playing about an hour but I feel like there needs to be a harder difficulty( I'm playing on the hardest at the moment) because I've been able to run out of near death situations with barely a scratch on Sam.

Overall, Splinter Cell Conviction is fun and exciting. The AI needs some work, but hopefully they become a challenge later on.

Check for my full review sometime in the coming weeks.

Welcome to First Strike!

Hello everyone and welcome to First Strike! The video game blogspot that focus on games and news that we care about. We have great plans for this blog and hopefully all of you will enjoy it!