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Wander and The Colossus // by 5F

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Noble Causes Archives: Vol. 1 written by Jay Faerber, art by many and various

Jay Faerber’s Noble Causes follows the celebrity super-human family the Nobles, starting from the introduction of super-speedster Race Noble’s new girlfriend, “regular” girl Liz Donnelly. Liz serves as the entry point character for the world of both the super-human and high profile celebrity. Through her the often dysfunctional relationships of the Nobles and their family is explored.

This first of two volumes collects the first twenty-six issues of Noble Causes and their assorted back-up features. Almost six-hundred pages of super-human soap opera, family squabbles, murder, cross-dimensional travel, sex scandals, more murder, more family fighting, and even some old-fashioned cape-style face punchery…

Original Article

Noble Causes Archives: Vol. 1 written by Jay Faerber, art by many and various

Jay Faerber’s Noble Causes follows the celebrity super-human family the Nobles, starting from the introduction of super-speedster Race Noble’s new girlfriend, “regular” girl Liz Donnelly. Liz serves as the entry point character for the world of both the super-human and high profile celebrity. Through her the often dysfunctional relationships of the Nobles and their family is explored.

This first of two volumes collects the first twenty-six issues of Noble Causes and their assorted back-up features. Almost six-hundred pages of super-human soap opera, family squabbles, murder, cross-dimensional travel, sex scandals, more murder, more family fighting, and even some old-fashioned cape-style face punchery…

Two Days: Bleach: Soul Resureccion

Yeah, I’m posting a trailer to a licensed anime game that looks like Dynasty Warriors Bleach.  Why?  Because as little as there is releasing this week, there’s literally nothing next week.  (PC Mahjong and Solitaire games don’t count.)

I’ve still got Catherine waiting to be unwrapped, so I’ll be skipping Bleach this week.  That said, there’s a Saint’s Row two-pack coming out.  I may be tempted to trade in a couple games for that.  Will you be picking anything up this week?

Beyond the Game Documentary

The more I read about Minecraft’s upcoming “Adventure Update,” the more I worry that Notch and Mojang don’t understand what they’ve created.  Notch and others have said they like what Terraria is doing with the summonable boss monsters, and that they want to add something like that to Minecraft, and I don’t get it.  In a way, it would be cool, but in another, that’s not what Minecraft has evolved into, and Terraria will always do it better.

Terraria works as an exploration/monster-slaying game because building massive structures on a 2D scale just isn’t all that terribly impressive.  Add to that, Terraria has a huge amount of stuff you can find, build, buy, and earn.  In comparison, Minecraft really has a very limited toolset, and I think that toolset lends itself to building up structures and making the world your own, because it’s not that difficult to hit bedrock, and it’s not that difficult to reach the sky, so what else is there but to build?  Plus, in 3D, huge structures feel huge, and can be explored from all angles, making them incredibly impressive.

Terraria also makes some design choices that promotes exploration and monster killing, rather than staying put and building.  Items don’t have durability, and stacks are considerably larger than in Minecraft.  Even your inventory is larger, I believe.  You can load up on wood and torches and have no need to return to the surface for a very long time.  Granted, you can take a workbench and furnace with you in Minecraft, and rebuild your tools and whatnot, but I’ve almost always found it more desirable to have a base of operations to return to on a regular basis, even if I’m playing on “Peaceful” difficulty.

The “Better Than Wolves” mod guy has the right idea.  We need more stuff to build in Minecraft, more ways to interact with the world, not more animals and monsters.  If I want to explore dungeons, hunt monsters, and collect loot, I’ll play Terraria.  I play Minecraft to pull an Ozymandias and say, “Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair!”

Granted, you and I may play Minecraft in completely different ways.  Granted, Minecraft is still in beta, and perhaps “Terraria in 3D” has been Notch’s intentions all along.  Granted, the Adventure Update could come along and cause me to drop Super Metroid as my greatest game of all time.  Granted, it’s not like anyone at Mojang is going to see this and suddenly cry, “How did we get it so wrong!”

I’ll grant you all of that, but I still think it’s important, because if someone comes along and combines the Minecraft formula with the “Better Than Wolves” philosophy, I could very easily be convinced to switch.  I’ve gotten my $15 of enjoyment out of Minecraft, and then some.  Notch can do what he pleases, but if someone else scratches my itch in just the right way, I won’t be ashamed to jump ship.

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Pimp Atari 2600 in 24k Gold – by Urchin Associates

via it8bit

Episode 79 starts like damn near any other episode of the Way of the Game – with comments about how long it feels since we’ve started the last episode. The truth is, we at the Way of the Game have naturally high metabolisms due to decades of playing games that require split-second timing. It’s like we have a permanent haste enchantment. For every round you take, we’re taking at least three. Jonathan also has a permanent Bigby’s Giant Hand enchantment, but enough about D&D… let’s talk video games.

Jonathan mentions that he’s dabbled in Realm of the Mad God. He compares it to Inside A Star-Filled Sky, which is something he’s done a lot of lately. Anyway, RotMG is a top down 8-bittish massively multiplayer RPG shooter. Don’t worry, we’ll wait for you to pick up the pieces of your shattered mind.

Alex busts right in on the Catherine love. He’s had a first taste, and he wants more… a lot more. Episode 79 only has his opinions about the demo, so expect more in Episode 80 when he’s actually had time to wake up with the bombshell game.

Sam despises Two Worlds 2. He wanted more Dragon Age 2. Turns out TW2 ain’t it.

Jonathan goes into detail about the Red Box situation in his neighborhood, complete with populations, school distribution and other demographics. Then he reveals that Windsor has TWO Red Boxes, and Alex, perhaps still a little charged up from conquering Chang An from Ma Teng in Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI, declares war.

Jonathan and Alex engage in a debate about Brink. Jonathan lists off a series of faults with the game. Alex doesn’t disagree with them; what Jonathan considers faults, Alex considers challenges.

Then Alex goes into his first impressions of Call of Juarez: The Cartel, a game of paranoia and pendejos. Sam loses power in a haze of cursing, but don’t worry, he’ll guide you into the last half of the Sam-less podcast.

Jonathan & Alex spend the rest of the podcast talking about a guy who’s WAY too fond of Dragon Quest, whether strategy games are relevant, and Kathie Lee Gifford. Yes, Kathie Lee Gifford.

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Old Ezio Continues to Be Awesome: Assassin’s Creed: Embers

Megamalgamation: 375 Characters in the Style of Mega Man