General gaming

General gaming

MechWarrior Tactics is Part CCG Part Video Game

Posted: 12 Mar 2012 03:05 PM PDT

The BattleTech series began life as an incredibly complex tabletop war game that required dozens of dice roles to resolve the simplest interactions, and despite maintaining a rabid fanbase, no developer ever tried to translate the experience over to a video game. Strategy games in the series, like MechCommander, looked nothing like the game they were based upon. Announced last month, MechWarrior Tactics sticks much closer to the tabletop template without directly copying the game. It replaces the seemingly endless and confusing equipment lists featured in the bored game with an easy to understand collectable system. We received a hands-off demo of the free-to-play game game at GDC. Played from a browser, MWT requires no client download -- unlike other web-based, free-to-play 3D games like Quake Live. Utilizing the Unity Engine, the game looks, feels, and plays like a traditional installed games. Any browser compatible with Unity's plugin will run the game on Mac or Windows.

Click the image above to check out all MechWarrior Tactics screens.

What Happened to Gaming's "Middle Class?"

Posted: 12 Mar 2012 03:00 PM PDT

The divide at this year's GDC between independent developers and AAA game makers seemed wider than ever. Panelists referred to working with teams of a few dozen, or over 200, and almost never something in-between. We observed this dichotomy in nearly every aspect of the show, even the recruiting pavilion where major publishers and social game startups competed for space and talent.

Mid-sized companies still exist in the industry, just not in the public eye. HD-development and the economic crisis destroyed the old middle class of developers and publishers (remember Midway?) and the companies that have taken their place don't produce content directly for consumers. If you recognize their names at all, it's probably only from five-second splash screens that run before a game's main menu. You've no doubt played games that take advantage of the Unreal Engine, Havok Physics, or SpeedTree. Called middleware, these services provide a short-cut for developers who don't want to undertake the laborious process of creating their own game making tools. Why spend months creating things from scratch when there are cheaper and less time consuming options available.

Mario Party 9 Review: Time Has Not Been Kind to This Shindig

Posted: 12 Mar 2012 02:45 PM PDT

I've always viewed the Mario Party series as the house party of video games -- something that nearly all of us have attended at least once throughout our lives at various levels of inebriation. When the series first started, it had a certain mystique about it. Back in 1999, the original Mario Party was a lot like that guy in high school who had access to beer. Granted, it was lukewarm cans of Milwaukee's Best, but that really didn't matter at the time. A group of friends could gather around the warm glow of a CRT TV and engage in a test of video game prowess, endurance, and just a tad bit of luck. No matter where you placed in a game, the night would inevitably end with a tangled mess of controllers, sore palms and the indescribable urge to want to do it all over again. But times have changed, and we now find ourselves some 13 years older with nearly as many additional installments of the series. Can Mario Party 9 rekindle that magic feeling of sticky red cups, watered down beer, and a complete lack of inhibitions -- or are these kinds of parties better left to nostalgia?

As usual, you arrive at the party earlier than the people you're supposed to be meeting up with. From the outside, the house looks the same as you remembered -- the same pastel colored paint, the same familiar porch, and the same hum of music coming from the inside. Upon entering, you're met with a distinct furniture rearrangement that hurts the Feng shui that the living room once had. Instead of numerous rocking chairs, papasans and ottomans, the room is now fitted with only a single large sofa. You can no longer move about the party by yourself, but are instead tethered to three other people inside of a vehicle. You're still rolling dice to navigate a themed game board, except this time your foursome can no longer venture out on their own. Games still take between 30 minutes and an hour -- although instead of a set number of turns, the matches play out in a more linear form. The night lasts until the vehicle reaches the end of the board. I miss the old days of being able to explore the party on my own. Instead, you're now ushered from room to room and forced to interact with the company that the host has assigned to you.

Scrolls Keeps Its Name as Bethesda and Mojang Settle

Posted: 12 Mar 2012 11:47 AM PDT

Skyrim

The makers of Minecraft will not be forced to change the name of their upcoming game Scrolls. Bethesda, the company behind the Elder Scrolls series, took issue with the title last year and Mojang's application for a trademark on the name Scrolls, which it felt was too similar to "Elder Scrolls" and likely to cause confusion. After pursing legal action, the two sides have now reached a settlement.

Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson revealed the news over the weekend on Twitter, writing, "We've settled with Bethesda! Yaaaay! <3"

Posted by Shri Krishna

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