By Thistle, on August 20th, 2010
Design games set out to help players to go beyond following the rules and gameplay presented by game designers. Most games can offer some level of design gaming in terms of making it easy to adjust or adapt the basic format of a game, e.g. minor changes to the rules when playing a [...]
By Thistle, on August 4th, 2010
In an ideal world there’d be gaming cafés on every street corner and plenty of local players always looking to try out new boardgames and Tabletop RPGs. Unfortunately, this is probably never going to happen, because most cafés can’t afford to set aside enough tables and a great many potential players find it [...]
By Thistle, on May 24th, 2010
Blizzard’s long-awaited Real-Time Strategy (RTS) videogame Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty is due for release on 27th July 2010. In keeping with the RTS formula the PC-based Starcraft 2 is all about gathering resources, making munitions and wiping out your enemies.
The first true RTS title, Dune, was a blend of storytelling, [...]
By Thistle, on May 20th, 2010
Self-styled ‘psychological action thriller’ Alan Wake has finally appeared on the XBox after several years in development hell. The mystery adventure format recently received a boost when Heavy Rain was released, but it needs more successes to continue the current shift towards more varied gameplay.
Fortunately, Alan Wake goes a long way [...]
By Thistle, on April 22nd, 2010
The BBC report on further evidence that Brain Training software is of very limited value is here. This may sound like bad news for encouraging the use of games in homes, schools and libraries. It is to some extent, because the headlines may be remembered and held up as evidence against any use [...]
By Thistle, on April 8th, 2010
It’s difficult to write with any certainty about The Prince of Persia movie, which is presumably going to be a ‘by the numbers’ adventure. It’s also hard to predict whether or not Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is going to eclipse Zelda: Twilight Princess on the Wii.
It does, however, seem [...]
By Thistle, on March 27th, 2010
The recently released Dragon Age: Origins – Awakenings pack for the enjoyable, if slightly predictable, Dragon Age: Origins franchise is surprisingly good value if you’re a PC owner. The original game impressed on many levels and the first major add-on brings another 25 or so hours of equally intense gameplay.
Our Darkspawn [...]
By Thistle, on March 22nd, 2010
Recent postings at tabletop RPG forums ENWorld and RPG.net have talked about how to make better commercially published RPG scenarios and modules. Most of the replies on the topic have either discussed cosmetic changes to existing AD&D module formats or offered general requests for greater emphasis on roleplaying over combat.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, [...]
By Thistle, on March 17th, 2010
The Move system is Sony’s new handheld motion-sensing device for the Playstation 3. It will be autumn 2010 before either the Move or any Move-ready games are available but Sony have set out their plans for the PS3 well in advance of the 2010 E3 [...]
By Thistle, on March 10th, 2010
The Final Fantasy series has managed to retain the videogame RPG crown for several years. Early sales of Final Fantasy XIII already suggest that the now familiar mix of glossy graphics and extended RPG gameplay will be another huge success for Square Enix.
Existing fans of the series are likely to be [...]
