Dylan gets some time in with Daniel Floyd and James Portnow, co-creators of Extra Credits, the up-and-coming gaming critique video series. Listen in as they discuss whether games should strive to be “cinematic”, the upcoming Supreme Court case deciding the First Amendment rights of video games and what you can do to help, a way for triple-A publishers and indie developers to work together, and more. Be sure and check out new episodes of Extra Credits every Thursday at The Escapist!

Extra Credits: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits
Entertainment Consumers Association: http://www.theeca.com

Run time: 39 minutes

For any Wings of War fans who like to paint and alter their miniatures, I’ve got some good news. The contest is being organized by Gioconomicon and challenges entrants to mod, paint, or alter their miniatures. Four categories are available including: Historical – Single Model, Historical – Squadron, Ucronic, and Open. Ucronic seems the most interesting as they will be accepting steampunk and sci-fi-style alterations.

Winners will be selected on October 31, 2010, so get started on your mods now. Full details can be found here.

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark opens in NYC November 14th

No, seriously. They are making a Spider-Man musical. For Broadway. Yah, THAT Broadway. I just really don’t know what more to say… I mean … ?

Anyway, this is what I DO know: The production is called Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark, it opens at the Foxwood Theater in New York City on November 14th, tickets run from $70 – $140 EACH, Spider-Man will NOT be swinging and singing in tights (though his Peter Parker persona will be singing), the music was created by Bono, Bono is a wanker, and the tiny intro music provided on their site is classic crappy rock opera.

What I DON’T know: who thought this was a good idea?  And when will this travesty hit the road? ‘Cus I will inevitably see the fucking thing. I hate myself a little for this fact, but there it is.

I guarantee you it won’t be anywhere near as awesome as Repo: The Genetic Opera – which effing ROCKED, no matter what our own Samantha says.

Aion: Assault on Balaurea  (PC)

At the start of the day Sunday, I made my way over to the NCsoft booth to see what they had to offer. While waiting for a turn at the Guild Wars 2 demo (full coverage coming soon!), I got a chance to see and hear what’s new for the angelic MMO Aion.

Assault on Balaurea extends the level cap from 50 to 55, introduces new zones for PVP and PVE, new instances, and other standard MMO expansion type inclusions. Story-wise, the inhabitants of the world on both sides of the battle will be bringing the fight to their common enemy, the Balaur. There were a couple of points that stood out to me most. One was the new “windstream” mechanic. When the game was initially announced, the idea of character flight and aerial combat was intriguing. In this expansion, new subway-like tubes called windstreams propel the players across the zones at high speeds. Inside these tunnels players can combat one another, moving freely in the tube and in both directions. Being able to enter and exit the windstream at will seems to provide further tactical complexity, and a convenience when used merely for travel.

The other addition of note was the new pet system. In the final days of our World of Warcraft era, my wife spent hours collecting pets, so I understand how appealing this can be. The pets in Assault on Balaurea are not merely for looks as each provides a bonus to the player, whether it be a place to recycle trash items for cash, bonus inventory space, or what have you.  If you’re an Aion player, I’m sure you’re looking forward to this expansion. Even though I’m not, it was still good to see an MMO experiencing some longevity in this nearly one-horse town.

Disney Epic Mickey  (Wii)

Saturday morning, those of us with the yellow media badges were allowed into the expo hall early. One of the first places I hit was the Nintendo area, checking out Disney Epic Mickey before I joined the other press folk at the roundtable discussion with Warren Spector. Though my playtime was short, I was able to check out both the 2D side-scrolling level based on the cartoon Alpine Climbers and the 3D exploration level at the ticket booth in front of Disney Land.

The 2D levels are short as they’re intended to be palate cleansers between the exploration levels. The platforming was simple but fun, rewarding players with collectibles for navigating to platforms off the main path. The visuals were gorgeous, as the characters in these levels look like they’ve been plucked right out of the cartoons on which they’re based. I think this will be a fun way to explore Mickey’s past, giving some context for the adventures in the 3D spaces. The ticket booth area was a different game altogether, bringing complex systems into play. The paint and thinner mechanic was a blast to use, as I turned baddies into allies and to blobs with both tools. I was given the option to stay and help around the park or move on to the next area once I’d cleaned up the mess of enemies, so I helped Gus Gremlin repair some broken-down rides, using the paint or the thinner where necessary. I also found areas to spruce up or tear down for collectibles. Use of the paint and thinner felt balanced, neither one being the best way or weighted with “good” or “bad” connotations. It was all very intuitive and a blast, quite frankly.

My only issue was the lack of full camera control, being given only the option of centering the camera behind Mickey by using the C button.  I’ve said it before, but I can’t wait for this to be released. I’m anticipating the full depth of consequences of my choices as player being revealed with the full playthrough. Keep an eye out later this week for my in-depth analysis of Warren Spector’s time at PAX with his keynote, roundtable, and preview of Epic Mickey.

Donkey Kong Country Returns  (Wii)

During that early hour Saturday morning, I also gave the new Donkey Kong Country game a spin. I’m a fan of the original games for the Super Nintendo; the design for the worlds and individual levels on those games is amazing, not to mention the graphics were mind-blowing back then. I played the introductory level, smashing my way through barrels and creatures set on making me very dead. The environment was pretty, and the character design was attractive. The problem I had with this one was the fl0w. I was punished in several ways (missing important set pieces, falling off cliffs, etc) for going too fast or using the wrong move to attack three enemies in a row, coming up short and getting hit by the third. Maybe with some more time and getting used to the new mechanical tuning my experience will improve. As it stands, I’ll probably rent this one and see how it goes.

NBA Jam  (Wii)

The last game from this session was the new NBA Jam from EA, and man oh man, am I excited about this one! I played through a full Arcade mode game with the demonstrator, New Orleans Hornets (me) versus the San Antonio Spurs. It was a close game, something like 47-56 in his favor, but it really didn’t matter who won. The team at EA have done a marvelous job recreating the core Jam experience while updating what needs to be to fit in with the current generation. I decided to try out the gestural controls since I’ve played Jam before on a controller. The layout took some getting used to, but it didn’t take very long to acclimate to.  They hit the balance between one-to-one (i.e. pulling up to prepare the shot, force of downswing determines power of shot) and waggle-mashing.

The A.I. was surprisingly competent, putting on lots of pressure on defense and providing support for alley-oops and other shots on offense. By the end of the game, I was perfectly fine with the fact that I didn’t control both teammates (as is the arcade standard), though I do hope the option to turn on in the final game. The game ended too quickly, and I wished I’d had time for a rematch. I’ll definitely be looking for this one come early October.

Portal 2 – Coop Mode (PC/Mac/360/PS3)

Finally for this wrap-up, I gladly stood in line for about 40 minutes to get a chance to see Portal 2 co-op in action. Outside the enclosed theater in the booth, a trailer played showing off some of the neat toys available this time around, such as the Thermal Discouragement Beam (big, hot laser says “No”), Propulsion Gel (Jell-o that makes you speed along the ground), and Excursion Funnel (slow, swirling vortex leads you to your destination or doom).  Inside, Valve had two screens and Xbox controllers hooked up to the demo unit. There was a selected volunteer from the audience of about 50 to sit at the controls of one of the robots players control in the cooperative missions, so it wasn’t just a demo strung together by the PR folks.

Mechanically, there are a few new things coming with co-op mode. Each player gets their own set of colors for portals to help distinguish who’s coming out of where. To facilitate cooperative play, each player can indicate where the other should fire a portal with a pinging mechanism. Communication is also possible through gestures such as waving and hugging, oddly enough. I predict an attachment will grow with players and these robots GladOS is subjecting to rigorous testing. The quirky A.I. returns with twisted comments aplenty, attempting to pit the two bots against one another with the same darkly humorous writing as before. With a much longer single-player mode in addition to this co-op experience, Portal 2 is shaping up to be as good as I had hoped.

————————————————

I’m barely scratching the surface here of what I saw and played at PAX 2010, folks. Keep coming back all this week (and maybe next week, too!) to hear about my experiences with Twisted Pixel’s Comic Jumper, SpyParty from indie developer Chris Hecker, NCsoft’s most promising MMO Guild Wars 2, and much more!

(NB: Much thanks to my wife Lindsay for snapping these awesome shots of the expo hall. She made the weekend much easier to manage!)

Questions? Hopefully, I have answers! Ask away in the comments below, and stay tuned for more PAX 2010 coverage!

Rather than my usual Errata Q&A post, I’m going to finish up my recap of SoCal Smackdown. Errata will be back next week, so keep the questions coming.

With several good games under my belt, I went out with increased gusto trying to play as many different games as I could get my grubby little fingers on. I played SPANC, Infernal Contraption, Zombie Fluxx, and Red November. Though most were enjoyable, none really created the “WANT” feeling in me that some of the prior games had. See my impressions after the jump.

My crew of Catgirls. Rowr.

SPANC. SPANC stands for Space Pirate Amazon Ninja Catgirls. And that’s exactly what they are. You get a crew of four catgirls each of whom has a trait in Space Piracy, Amazonionism, Ninjahood, and Catgirlishness. The artwork is delightful. Characters with high Space Piracy traits have buccaneer outfits, while those with high traits as Catgirls are dressed in short skirts. Your crew of Catgirls must make it through four challenges (drawn at random) which require the player to roll the indicated skill set of the Catgirl, or less, to pass.

While looking over the artwork of the Catgirls and the various add-ons or “Toys” to improve your crew was entertaining, the actual gameplay fell a little flat. It was pretty much a dice fest with luck making all of the real decisions. Plus, the player who finished a set of four challenges first gets additional Toys (you play through several sets of four during the course of the game). If other people don’t finish, they don’t get anything. So it tended to have a bit of a runaway leader problem. Having a significant number of modifiers and enhancements makes the challenges remarkably easier – which, in turn, makes it more likely that the same person will finish first again.

Infernal is right...

Infernal Contraption. This was, without a doubt, the most annoying game that I played at the convention. Although, to be fair, I was invited to play Killer Bunnies. I responded that I would rather gouge out my eyes with hot pokers. Which, to be perfectly honest, was not in the least bit exaggerated.

Anyway, Infernal Contraption is a complicated card game with a number of problems. You play a mad inventor attaching various contraptions and gizmos to a power source to create the ultimate weapon. Each player has a stack of parts cards. You draw from it each turn to build your machine, but when it runs out, you lose. As you attach parts to your machine, the various connectors must match. Some parts can only be played if they connect to a power source, and some must be vertical or horizontal. The cards are color coded, but there are so many colors that it really doesn’t help the new player. You are also able to add sabotage parts to other player’s machines causing them to break or backfire.

Once you’re done building for the turn, you aim your machine at an opponent and fire. Each part activates in a specified order and hopefully you cause the player to lose cards, lose parts, or gain cards or parts yourself. The goal is to bleed them of their parts deck and kick them out of the game.

Annoying. First, all the cards are shuffled together and dealt out. So you might not have the power sources to power your cards. You might have only sabotage cards. The luck element seemed high, though I only played it once. Worse yet, there were a significant amount of sabotage cards. So, the game was largely an exercise in frustration. Just as each player was able to build a working machine, it would get sabotaged to hell by the next player. Finally, the game gave rise to dogpile tactics. Because someone with a sabotaged machine can’t shoot back effectively, it is often best to shoot someone who has already shot. Further, if person A shoots person B, then person B is mad at A. If person C shoots at A, then now A is mad at C. But if person C shoots at B, B is now mad at A and C and has to decide who to retaliate against. So ganging up is advantageous in this game.

Our game was cut short by the arrival of a pizza dinner, but I did not enjoy Infernal Contraption. Maybe I’d enjoy it more after a few plays so that the cards and the rules became a little clearer, but judging just from my single play, I’d probably pass on any further opportunities to play unless nothing better was available.

Zombie Fluxx. I’ve reviewed Fluxx before and Zombie Fluxx was the same game with a zombie theme. If you like Fluxx, and you like Zombies, then you will enjoy Zombie Fluxx. The only real difference was that just about every Creeper was a Zombie. Some goals required you to have no zombies to win, but some required you to have zombies, while some didn’t care whether you had zombies or not. Thus, having a Creeper wasn’t as big of a burden as it is in vanilla Fluxx. If you like Zombies, and you like Fluxx, then this might be a good game to check out.

A Gnomish submarine. What could go wrong?

Red November. Red November was a game I really wanted to like, but the mechanics of it made it far too dependent on die rolls and took decisions out of the players’ hands. The theme is amazingly cool. In this cooperative game, you each play a (potentially) drunken gnome on a submarine that is about to explode. There are 60 minutes (represented on the board) of time before rescue arrives. However, there are tracks that mark the ship’s air, heat (from the fractured nuclear core), and pressure. If any of them reaches the end of the track, it’s game over for the gnomes.

The players then race around the board gathering equipment, putting out fires, cleaning up floods, and fixing other broken pieces. When this game was explained, I wanted to play. A lot. I mean, gnomes on a submarine? That’s at least 14 times better than Snakes on a Plane. Plus, your gnomes can get drunk and take additional actions. What’s not to like? Oh yeah, the actual game play.

Each action takes a certain number of minutes around the board. Every two or three minutes is marked by a little star. Cross that star and an event takes place. Usually it catches a room on fire, floods a room, or causes one of the end game tracks to rise. Occasionally, it’ll tell you that a nuclear launch has occurred or a meltdown, and you have a mere ten minutes to repair that item lest the sub explode. So, if you spend ten minutes taking an action, then you’ll get so many events that there’s no real way to come back from it.So you want to take short bursts of actions.

And here’s the rub. When you repair something, you choose a number of minutes you spend repairing it (from 1 to 10) and then roll a ten sided die. If you roll your number of minutes or less, the item is repaired. So if you spend 8 or more minutes trying to get a good number, you’ll suffer too many events. But if you use only a few minutes, then you are likely to roll too high and have the entire turn wasted. So, whether you win the game or not ultimately comes down to a myriad of die rolls each indicating whether you repaired something or not. Such a disappointing mechanic for a brilliant idea for a game.

Game End

In our particular game, purple was passed out from drinking by the end. Green got himself some SCUBA gear and abandoned the ship, and Red wasn’t able to even reach the engine room (where the cards said had to be repaired by a certain time or be crushed) because of fires, floods, and locked doors. Fun and silly, but mechanically just broken.

Back to an Errata post next week!

Got questions about strategy, games, or the hobby in general? Post them here, email me, or send them to @GeekInsight on Twitter and check back next week for answers!

Steve Jackson Games: http://sjgames.com/

Run time: 42 minutes

While many people were attending other, larger conventions, I elected to participate in a far smaller and more intimate endeavor – SoCal Smackdown. In prior years, Smackdown has been simply a giant miniatures competition. Primarily Warmachine and Warhammer 40k. This was the first year that Smackdown was opened to card games, board games, RPGs, and other general gaming goodness. Because of its history, most of the people there were geared up for minis.

SoCal Smackdown had a large turnout for the minis competitions. Lots of that was going on all day every day. Minis are not my thing, personally, but there was enough enthusiasm to make me fantasize about picking it up. The same way I fantasize about receiving a substantial inheritance from a long lost great uncle – even though my grandmother’s geneology project has ruined any hope of having such a lost relative.

Only a select few of us at the con banded together for the board gaming. However, because the same people were constantly gaming with one another, I was able to befriend several individuals and played with them throughout the con.  I was also able to try a vast array of new games including Last Night on Earth, Chez Cthulhu, The Stars Are Right, SPANC, Infernal Contraption, Zombie Fluxx, and Red November. I played some old favorites as well, but I wanted to focus on the new games. Actually, as I look over that list, it’s a bit alarming how zombie/cthulhu focused those games were. I wonder how many devoted cultists started this way… Follow me after the jump for my impressions of the first three games.

Empty Terrain, Ready for Battle

The Miniatures. First, the miniatures looked hella fun. I don’t use the word “hella” lightly, and in this case it’s warranted. There were all kinds of interesting terrain available; the various miniatures, painted with care, were driven to and fro along the field. Rather than using hex systems, ranged weapons and movements were calculated in inches. If I was ten years old, it would be the coolest GI Joe playground EVAR!

As it is, it still looked insanely fun, but the barrier to entry was a little high. It required both the actual minis, the painting supplies (I wouldn’t want to be the only n00b with unpainted minis), as well as various Terrain pieces to keep things interesting. And, since I’m the keeper of the game closet in my group, that cost would sit squarely on my shoulders. Fun, but I don’t want to have all that fun at once.

Oh My God, they killed Kenny!

Last Night on Earth. I signed up for a game of Last Night on Earth. We attempted a scenario in which there were seven specific plague zombies that must be killed. I had been lead to believe that the game was stacked in favor of the zombies and that the humans had to use all their tactics, skill, and luck to survive. One of the players decided to run headlong into a flock of zombies (is flock right? Horde? Or is it a shamble of Zombies? I always forget – I know it’s a parliament of owls). Probably not the brightest move, especially since the rest of us stayed together to target lone zombies.

The last red zombie brought friends...

We had finally whittled the plague zombies down to their last member. Kill him and win! Despite being wall to wall zombies in there, we were able to draw him out. And, even without doubles, I was able to destroy it because of the ferocity of bag boy Kenny’s special abilities. However, as I said, I heard the game was hard. Yet we were victorious with nine rounds to go before game end. I took the liberty to read up on the rules and found several critical passages that the moderator had gotten wrong. So, while I didn’t get to experience quite the horror the game intended, I could definitely see it being more fun with the correct rules. Next time, I’ll be reading the rules in advance and be the one teaching new players. Ah, as it should be.

Mmm... Boiled Slurgs. And just off camera, my Nookienomicon.

Chez Cthulhu. Have you played Chez Geek? Well, Chez Cthulhu is more or less the same game with Cthulhu flavoring. In addition to the regular rules (and the alarming amount of tentacles in Chez Cthulhu), your character can now also achieve madness. If you have some madness, you are at minus three slack. I guess you are up all night babbling to yourself and therefore do not get much time to relax. However, if you can get to seven madness, your minuses begin to disappear. Nine madness and you are Stark Raving Mad. Now, each madness adds slack points. I guess acceptance is the first step on the road to … um…. summoning an Old One.

Overall, it’s Chez Geek mechanics plus a Cthulhu theme. If you already have Chez Geek, there isn’t a lot new here. I enjoyed it, but wouldn’t go out of my way to purchase or play it. However, if you’re new to the Chez series and like yourself some Cthulhu, then I could see you getting a big kick out of playing it.

The Hand of Fate alters the stars

The Stars Are Right. I was looking forward to my play of this game and was not disappointed. Another Cthulhu themed game (is anyone worried that the Old One has this many new servitors prepared to indoctrinate the populace?), TSAR was a card game wrapped around a puzzle game. In that field of 25 tiles are all different kinds of stars, moons, suns, and the like. And, each is reversible.

Each card in a player’s hand is an evil from another world. There are the Great Ones, like Hastur and Cthulhu, their Greater and Lesser servitors, and mere minions. Each card has a power that allows you to rearrange the tiles in some way by pushing an entire row, swapping adjacent tiles, or flipping tiles. Once you use a card to manipulate the board, if the stars are now right, you can summon a different card from your hand. Once summoned, they stay in front of you and provide you with special benefits or powers.

TSAR was a simple, but at times challenging brain burner. At the beginning of your turn, you have to figure out how you can manipulate the board to create the star patters you want to see. It can be very satisfying to make a few simple changes and bring out an Old God. And, every other player is trying to do the same. The board may look very different from how you left it by the time your turn comes back around. The one downside is that there is a substantial Analysis Paralysis problem with this game. I was lucky that I played with some individuals who didn’t take too long, but the danger is extremely high.

I was able to win this particular game a few times in a row. Thus, I was rewarded with a copy of every single Munchkind promotional Bookmark. Since I had approximately zero of them before playing TSAR, I can only thank my love of Cthulhu for bringing me this bounty of bookmarks. Cthulhu fhtagn.

Behold! The Glory!

In Part 2, I’ll discuss my experiences with SPANC, Infernal Contraption, Zombie Fluxx, and Red November.

Run time: 59 minutes

Run time: 7 minutes

Run time: 5 minutes

Fluxx has been around for a while now. Like Munchkin, Fluxx can now be found in several flavors (including, most recently, Monty Python and Martian). Each plays almost exactly the same, so you can pretty much pick up the theme you like best and not bother much with the others. Fluxx is the ultimate “waiting in line” game. It’s portable, it’s simple, and when the line finally starts to move, you won’t mind picking it up. At the same time, it’s quite entertaining. Full review after the jump.

The Basics. Fluxx is very simple. There is only one rule: Draw One Card, Play One Card. That’s it.  At the beginning, there aren’t even any win conditions. However, the cards you play can alter the game dramatically. For example some of the cards introduce new rules into the game. They can have players draw additional cards, play additional cards, or even introduce hand limits.

With these in play, each player now draws two, plays one, and must discard down to one card.

Other cards, called Keepers, sit in front of you, just staring at you, hoping one day to be useful. Goals, meanwhile, introduce the conditions for victory. In general, the goal will require a player to have two or more specified keepers in front of him or her. Finally, Action cards allow the player to take some specified action.

Fluxx is never the same. The rules are constantly changing, and the fun of the game lies in trying to remember what all the rules currently are. Its inconsistency is both a benefit and a detriment. The majority of games are incredibly fun with huge fluctuations. But occasionally you’ll play a game where the rules end up as Draw Five, Play One.  Everyone has huge hands and the game bogs down.

Actions and Goals and Keepers, oh my!

This game, while incredibly random, also allows for some modicum of strategy. A goal you may be able to reach is generally best saved until you’re close to reaching it. And, if you have a lot of Keepers, sometimes it is good to introduce a rule requiring players to play all cards from their hand in the hope that they’ll be forced to play a Goal that you meet and therefore win.

However, its important to understand what this game isn’t. This game is not a deep thinking, strategic endeavor. Fluxx is not an analytical challenge. In fact, I would never invite a group of friends over specifically for the purpose of playing Fluxx, as I would some other games. If Fluxx comes up, great. It can be played between heavier games, or while some people make a late night food run.

Components: 4 of 5. The cards are on nice stock and are about the size of typical playing cards. Maybe just a hair smaller. They are easy to shuffle. The artwork is serviceable, if a bit ordinary. Many of the cards are text only, though they are clear enough. Despite the neat box art, on the inside Fluxx really doesn’t have much to look at.

The Box

Strategy/Luck Balance: 1 of 5. Fluxx is highly luck driven with almost no strategy aspects. Some strategy does exist in certain situations, but mostly you are at the mercy of the cards. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Playing Fluxx is about playing a game where you are completely out of control on every other player’s turn. It’s about reacting to random and often forced changes. It can be very entertaining, but it very much is ruled by the luck of the draw. One major drawback are the Creepers. Some of them are harder to get rid of than others. Getting a Creeper can be a pain in the neck to get rid of and create unnecessary consternation in an otherwise light-hearted game.

Mechanics: 4 of 5. Overall, the simple nature of the game is a huge bonus. Especially because the simple rule of Draw One, Play One can quickly become a convoluted mess as more and more rules are played on top of one another. There are even rules that impact other rules, such as Inflation which adds numbers to all the other rules. Mechanically, it works well, and it’s up to the players to keep it straight.

Replayability: 5 of 5. Fluxx really is never the same way twice. There are very few “strategies” that are even applicable to Fluxx. And, in most games, players don’t get to hang on to too many cards, so even if a successful strategy is devised, it can be very hard to implement. As a result, you are left with what feels like seat-of-your-pants play that can be very engaging.

Spite: 3 of 5. Some spite exists in Fluxx. There are definitely Actions that let you attack other players or steal their Keepers. These cards are not as common as in, say, Munchkin, but are frequent enough that every player can expect to see two or three during the course of a normal game.

Overall: 3.5 of 5. If you want strategy, depth, the ability to see plans come to fruition, or many meaningful choices, you will be highly disappointed in Fluxx. If you want light, easy to learn, portable zaniness, then Fluxx may be the way to go. Like I said, I consider it one of the best line games. If you have to quit a game of Fluxx in the middle, oh well. If you have to quit a game of Agricola in the middle … riots.

The Baby is the gamer, the kitten is the theme.... ok, so it was hard to find a representative image for "theme"

A lot of players make the “theme” of a game a central focus of their discussion.  Some games, like Battlestar Galactica, have a very strong theme. If it wasn’t about hidden cylons and the struggle of mankind, the game wouldn’t make much sense.  The theme is integral to the enjoyment of the game. On the other hand, some games have very light theme. One of the lightest is Lost Cities. Those cards could really be about anything. All that matters is the suits and the numbers. So how important is theme to your enjoyment of the game?

For me, theme is really of secondary importance. Sure, having a good theme is nice. And, it can be critical to a game like Arkham Horror where the game is more about the theme of playing a Lovecraftian hero than about the various mechanics. But I mostly play games that work well mechanically, that provide everyone at the table with many options, and that allow the game to progress in a relatively fair manner.

Puerto Rico has a thin-ish theme. So does Jaipur.  But both of those games are among my favorites to play.  For me, it comes down to the mechanics, the puzzles, the strategy.  No amount of theme can make up for a broken game (I’m looking at you, Killer Bunnies).  So I see theme as simply icing on the game-cake.  While it can certainly enhance, the lack of a theme doesn’t bother me in the least.

What about you?  How important is a game’s theme when you play?

This year’s Penny Arcade Expo is less than a week away, and if you follow us on Twitter or subscribe to our podcast, you know that GFBRobot will be there. I personally am near bursting with excitement and anticipation, not only for my first PAX, but also to meet the folks I’ve been working with for the past two months. Join me after the jump to learn what I’m most excited about seeing and doing at PAX Prime 2010.

Warren Spector’s Keynote Speech

Here’s a guy who designs games with the player as first priority. I’m excited to hear what he has to say to a room full of the folks he works so hard for. If you want a good idea of his design philosophy, check out his series of essays, Next-Generation Storytelling, at The Escapist.

Expo Hall

So many games to play, so little time. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in between panels (so many of these are on my list, I’m not even going to list them here) will not be enough time.

Just…just look at it.

GFBRobot Crew

On a personal note, I’m hoping it will be a blast getting to play games, enjoy panels, and just hang out with other members of our all-star line up. Who’s up for some DS multiplayer while we queue up?!

Concerts

While not completely apparent here, music holds a large part of my heart. The nightly concerts and the chiptune showcase will rock my 8-bit socks off.

Community

The greatest thing I’ve heard from those who have been is the community, the palpable presence of thousands of other gamers. To share a weekend reveling in my most passionately held hobby with that many people will be incredible.

Are you excited for PAX? Let us know what you’re looking forward to in the comments, and if you’re going to the expo yourself, keep an eye out for us!

While walking around the show floor, if you see this handsome gent:

That’s me! Andrew! Stop me and ask for some stuff, or to get a picture taken with Timmy! We have GFBR buttons, posters, stickers, bookmarks, etc, but we also have a VERY limited amount of Geek a Week trading cards by Len Peralta, courtesy of Think Geek. The Geek a Week cards will be a bit harder to come by, you’ll need to win those somehow. All the other stuff is while supplies last. Just remember, if you see the blue fauxhawk, the nerd van dyke facial hair, and the GFBR shirt featuring Adam Levermore’s awesome design, you’ve got the right guy! Our contributor Dylan, and Rob from the podcast, will also be prowling the floor with a tiny bit of the GFBR swag as well, so say hi to them if you see them in their shirts, too.

Also, my luck is your luck! While cruising around Seattle I picked up some Dunny 2010 figures, and got a couple duplicates of Esther Kim’s Ice Cream design. The first two people to ask for them get them, so be sure to ask if you see me!

Michael Muhney’s page, for info on his career and his cancer charity efforts: http://michaelmuhney.com/pancreatic_cancer_research.htm

Run time: 1:26

Music courtesy of Manny Jasus (http://farfromclose.com)

More iPad games continue to roll into the App Store. Most recently, Medici has arrived. Codito Development has announced numerous board games coming to the App Store, including most recently, Through the Ages here.

As it turns out, this is making me want an iPad. I’ve had no interest, really, since I already have a smart phone, a laptop, and a PC. However, so many board games have been arriving on the iPad, that I almost want it simply as a gaming console. Not enough to actually buy one. Just enough to fantasize about one being misdelivered to my house, and then when I report it, the true owner saying, “That’s ok, keep it.  I’ll just get another one.”

Today we take a look at a non-gamer’s query. Yes, even the non-gaming heathen is welcome at Errata.

Curious asked, “I’ve been reading your site and am getting more and more interested in board games. I’ve played Battleship and Monopoly when I was a kid, but want to see some of these non-kid games. I’m especially interested in games I can play with the family. My kids are in high school, and some family time around the table playing a game would be great.” (slightly edited from the e-mail)

There are a lot of good games that will go over well with the family. Since you’re new to the gaming world, let’s start with some games that are on the less expensive side of things. I wouldn’t want you to dive into a $70 purchase (cough, Le Havre, cough) only to find its not your family’s cup of tea. So, we’ll go with moderately priced games. I’ll choose games that a family of four could buy for less than the cost of a trip to the movies (about $12 per ticket in my neck of the woods).

First, lets look at the sensibilities of your family. Sibling rivalry can be a good thing, or it might derail game night entirely. If you think your kids would take game attacks personally, then you might want to stick with a cooperative board game. I’d recommend Pandemic. Pandemic is easy to learn, provides a variable challenge, and has every player working together. Best yet, it can be played in about 45 minutes (or less if you lose terribly). So the kids know that they can get back to their video games and telephones shortly.

If competition is more your family’s style, I’d recommend Ticket to Ride. Ticket to ride plays very quickly, so there isn’t a lot of downtime between turns. It requires some planning and strategy. And, with drawing the locomotive cards, there is just enough variability and randomness to keep the game interesting. It also has a shorter play time and would be a good introduction into family game night.

I think either game would serve your family well as a jumping off point. From there, you can expand into other “gateway” games, like Carcassone or Settlers of Catan, and into the wild beyond!

Any other recommendations from our readership?

Got questions about strategy, games, or the hobby in general? Post them here, email me, or send them to @GeekInsight on Twitter and check back next week for answers!

Links:

Run time: 1:05

Contains coarse or explicit language.

This week, I was able to get my board gamer’s hands on Dixit and Roll through the Ages.  Dixit won the Spiel des Jahres this year, and I was eager to open her up. If you’ve played Apples to Apples, you get the gist of Dixit. Each player receives a set of six unique, but whimsical cards depicting thoughts, emotions, or evoking ideas. The extremely original and stylized art is what makes Dixit so great. Each round the narrator chooses a card and gives a hint. He needs to be vague enough that not everyone gets it, but not so vague that no one does.

Gameplay of Dixit was surprisingly fun. It easily beat Apples to Apples for originality. If everyone is appropriately vague in their description, the player should have one or two cards in his hand that could theoretically fit the narrator’s remarks. And it is interesting to see what each player selects. Almost every round was followed by discussion of the cards, or laughter at too obvious clues. Initially, I was worried that the need to be just vague enough would make the game a challenge for some players, but our group had no problems. I’m looking forward to playing again, and I could see this making a debut as a party game. It has components only for up to 6 players, but it could easily be expanded to accommodate a large group.

Click through for more as I tackle Roll Through the ages, and try a new strategy with Puerto Rico.

I was also able to play about 5 games of Roll Through the Ages. It’s designed by Matt Leacock (of Pandemic fame) and patterned after Through the Ages. Roll basically takes the goals of a civilization building game and introduces yahtzee. Each roll gives you disasters, goods, food, or workers. Goods can be traded in for developments, and workers can build monuments or give you more dice to roll. It’s highly luck based, and relatively simple, but fun nonetheless. The elements work well together and, while your decisions impact your ability to get new dice and build new items, your fate is ultimately up to the dice gods.

My one complaint, interestingly enough, is that the game always seems to end just as your civilization is really gearing up. There are tons of developments available, but if any player builds a mere five, the game ends. Still, I think Roll Through the Ages makes an excellent in-between game. If you’re waiting for the rest of the gang to arrive, or if a few have stayed behind while others make a late night food run, I think Roll Through the Ages makes an excellent time passer.

Finally, I was able to bring out good ‘ol Puerto Rico on Sunday. I decided to try a build strategy rather than my usual shipping method. I started with corn and was able to get some early points that way, but other players moved into the Indigo and Sugar markets aggressively. I was able to have sole access to Tobacco for a few turns, and decided to get Large Market and Factory – thus able to sell Tobacco at the trading house every turn, and get more coins for it. Soon, I was awash in doubloons. My initial corn shipments gave me enough of a lead that I could afford not to ship as frequently as other players in the late game. Instead, I built and built and was able to squeak out a victory. I’m not sure a building strategy is always the way to go, but it certainly worked in my favor this time.

Beth Winegarner

Author Beth Winegarner doesn’t think violent video games are going to cause your kids to kill themselves, or others. Sure, if you’re reading this site, there’s a good chance you agree, but what about the people who don’t? If you got here by searching for something like “Are violent video games dangerous?”, click through after the jump to read why this thoughtful and dedicated writer thinks the answer is a resounding “No”.

Beth is a woman on a mission. Her mission is to make sure you all understand what can and cannot hurt your kids. As a mother herself, it’s easy to see why she feels this is important. And with so much rampant bull swirling through the world these days, how can you even tell true from false? Thankfully, people like Beth are around who are willing to do the legwork that you and I don’t want to do. Willing, but unless you help her, not able. See, things like this do take time and effort and resources. We asked Beth a few questions, in the hopes that her answers inspire you to give a little money to her cause via Kickstarter. She doesn’t have a legion of supportive people at her back yet, so she needs help from you and me, dear reader. Check out her responses and see if this feels like a cause you can get behind.

GFBR: Tell us, in a nutshell, what your project is all about.

Beth Winegarner: I’m writing a guidebook for parents that will explain to them, in depth, why some teens are interested in heavy metal music, violent video games, and/or pagan and occult topics. These seem like the “big three” scapegoats when it comes to naming causes for teen violence and suicide, but I want to show that not only are they not to blame, they’re actually healthy, important pastimes for those teens who are drawn to them.

I may also include some information on goth culture and role-playing games, but I am not 100% decided on that yet.

My hope is that this book will give parents some of the language they need to let go of fears and misconceptions they may have about these topics. Ideally I’d like them to be able to discuss their kids’ interests with them, but I understand that not every parent of a kid exploring Satanism, for example, or extreme metal, is going to feel comfortable bringing it up. Not to mention, some teens are exploring these things out of a need to express their independence and having too many conversations with their parents about them can hinder that independence. But I’m a big believer in giving people as much knowledge as possible, because understanding something makes it a lot less scary. And when you’re less afraid of what your teen is up to, you’re more likely to have a good relationship about it.

I don’t think I’m going to be able to reach all parents — I think some of the more religious conservatives aren’t going to pick this book up. But I think there’s probably a lot of parents who are puzzled by, and worried about, their teen’s interests, and would like to know more but don’t know where to start. This book will be for them.

GFBR: That’s pretty ambitious, do you have a background in tackling weighty issues like this, or is this just something that particularly called to you?

BW: Well, both. I’ve worked as a newspaper reporter for much of my adult life, after graduating from UC Berkeley with a degree in Sociology. I’ve covered a wide range of issues, from crime to urban planning, but topics related to education and kids are ones that have always appealed to me. For as much attention as we pay to children and teenagers in books and in the media, we still don’t seem to understand them very well. They’ve been marginalized since the term “teenager” was coined in the 1950s. Teen culture has been run through the wringer, starting with blacklisting of rock and roll musicians from AM radio in the 1950s and senate hearings on comic books during that same decade, moving on to the PMRC hearings over certain music – particularly heavy metal — in the 1980s, and the backlash against industrial metal, goth culture, and first-person shooter videogames after the Columbine High School shootings in 1999. The thing that seems most puzzling is that every person who has pointed a finger at teens, or these teen subcultures, was once a teenager him- or herself.

GFBR: Why this topic? Why now?

BW: This may not be a very interesting answer, but “now” is when I had the time and energy to take it on. I started researching the book in 2007, before I got pregnant with my daughter, and then took a break while I was pregnant because I didn’t have the energy. I did the rest of the research and interviews during 2009 and started writing earlier this year.

That said, I think people are beginning to see that there was more to Columbine than music and video games. Dave Cullen’s book, Columbine, expresses the real motivations behind those shootings very well. He makes the case that Eric Harris was sociopathic, and that Dylan Klebold was clinically depressed and looking for someone whose coattails he could ride. There’s another case that’s important to me, the West Memphis Three, in which three teenage boys who wore black, listened to Metallica, and read books on Wicca were convicted of murdering three little boys in Arkansas. DNA evidence has since exonerated them, but they’re still in prison waiting for a judge to set them free. So, I think new information is coming out that is helping people see these cases in new ways that have less to do with music, gaming, etc.

On the other hand, journalists are continuing to mention music, video games, and occult activities anytime someone commits a crime, even though these details are almost never relevant. That doesn’t help parents feel any safer when their kids start to explore one or more of those interests.

Really, this book was needed a long time ago. But nobody else has written it.

GFBR: Why do you think people have picked video games and music to be the reasons why kids go bad? What do you see being the next thing that people will pick to be a pointless scapegoat?

BW: It’s easy to see the thrall these media can have over teenagers. Many people remember, as a kid, locking themselves in their room for hours and listening to music — and many parents today are unnerved by the number of hours a day kids can spend playing video games. Teenagers are still pretty impressionable, so it’s easy to put two and two together and assume that they’re just absorbing everything they see and hear without using any critical thinking skills. However, the teens I talked to had all given a lot of thought to the kinds of games they play or don’t play, and the bands they listen to or don’t listen to, and many definitely had a threshold beyond which something was ”too much.” Parents don’t give kids nearly enough credit for having that kind of discernment.

Also, and this came up when I was interviewing a group of folks who roleplay regularly, things change when you have kids. Suddenly, for many people, violent entertainment is no longer entertaining — it’s just unnerving. At the same time you become very protective of your kids and want to keep them safe from bad influences. You look at music and games and other things and you take them at face value, whereas teens are into it more for the metaphors, the theatrics. I’ve read some literature that says teens aren’t really capable of thinking abstractly or symbolically, when in fact it’s the teens who are interpreting these things symbolically and the adults are taking them much more literally than they should be.

I’m not really sure what I think will be next — we seem to be stuck in an endless loop on music, gaming, and the occult. There are new forms of entertainment out there, from teen-vampire flicks to social media, but they don’t generally have a violent element to them. If there were a next school shooting or suicide pact, for example, I’m not sure you could pin it on werewolves and sparkly vampires.

GFBR: How do you feel music and video games can be a positive effect on the lives of young people?

BW: Well, both of them provide something that is both an escape and an opportunity for self-reflection. Music can be a really powerful ally when you’re feeling alone; heavy metal is particularly soothing for a lot of kids who feel like misfits, and for whom the intensity of the world requires a kind of tonal intensity to match. Metal lyrics focus, a lot of times, on the darker side of life, and that can be a huge relief for kids who are seeing that dark side through the lens of adolescent turmoil, and yet the adults around them maybe don’t want to discuss “difficult” topics. Video games provide an opportunity to explore aggressive feelings in a safe, synthetic environment — we all have a fascination with death and gore, to an extent, or we wouldn’t rubberneck at car accidents — and also offer opportunities to improve one’s skills, master difficult tasks, and play the hero. Teens struggle with wanting the rights and privileges of adulthood, but not being “allowed.” They need more opportunities for empowerment. If they’re not getting those in daily life — or even if they are — they can also find them in games.

GFBR: What’s the best way to talk to someone who feels these subjects are negative influences? How can a reader who isn’t good at “debate” make salient points that don’t just play into stereotypes?

BW: I think it may depend on the reasons why they think these things are negative influences. The approach is going to be different for someone who picked it up from reading newspapers, versus someone who is very religious, particularly when it comes to discussing paganism. I think it helps to start out by asking why they think these things are negative, and ask where those impressions come from. Really listen.

Most parents, I think, want to know that their kids are happy, healthy, and learning about themselves. So it helps to approach the topic by explaining how the interest is fostering happiness and self-understanding. For example, there are kids who are into heavy metal because they feel like outcasts at school, and maybe they’re struggling emotionally or academically. But within the music, they find validation that it’s OK to be different — and then they often find company among other metal fans who share their love of the same music. Many others are doing fine in school, and just need something intensely emotional and inspirational to listen to, and they find that in metal’s lyrics, based on mythology and literature. The PMRC blacklisted Judas Priest for allegedly writing a song about forced sex at gunpoint — although musicians constantly explained that their lyrics had been misinterpreted — but totally ignored Judas Priest’s many other songs that follow a kind of hero’s-journey template. Parents need to understand that there’s more to these topics than what they’ve read in the paper.

GFBR: Where can people go to learn more about your project and help make it a reality?

BW: Right now, the best place to go is my page on Kickstarter, which is a crowd-funding site where I’m raising money to help me finish the book and find a publisher.

There, you can see a short video and read a description, as well as donate money. When you donate, you get a number of things in return – including a personal poem or photograph at the higher levels. I’m doing some publicity around the book now, so in the next few weeks you’ll see some interviews with me on various sites, and those will be posted on my website, www.bethwinegarner.com. There, you can also find out more about other books I’ve written, as well as my poetry and journalism.

___________

So there, in a nutshell, is why we think you should support Beth’s plan. Head on over to her Kickstarter page and throw a few dollars her way, and maybe the next generation won’t have to put up with the same kind of misguided fears we did. At least, here’s hoping…

So we’ve thought about how we want to run a game, and we’ve thought about the sandbox we want our players to play in. Now what? Now you have to fill it up! Not only with stuff, that’s the easy part. You have to fill it with people, and that can get a bit trickier. But speaking of tricks, I’ve got a few to keep you from getting overwhelmed. Read on the hear my secrets.

What I said was true, you do have to fill your world with people. Shopkeepers, villagers, barmaids, farmers, kings, mayors, presidents, whatever the case may be for the setting you’re in. That can get a bit daunting if you try to do it all up front. And let’s be honest, how many of those people will your players really interact with? There’s tip one: don’t name farm animals. What does that mean? It means when you create your world, don’t name each and every villager and townsperson. Come up with a few different factions for people to belong to, and then when the players want to interact with someone, roll or decide which faction they’re aligned with. Boom. Done. Group A, Group B, or unaligned. Now this may not work for every situation, but having a loose guideline for the way your non-player characters (NPCs) behave will help you think on your feet when the interaction starts. Of course, that’s if you care…

Maybe you’re the type of GM who doesn’t care about the dungeon dressing. Do your players a favor and make that clear from the get go. When they saunter up the bar and bellow “Barkeep, a round of your finest,” just tell them “He has a fine ale for four silver.” If you want to go the whole way, he can bellow back, and have a name and personality. Whatever you do, though, keep it consistent. What do I mean by that, that no barkeeper can ever have personality? Far from it. What I mean is this: keep the important people and the backgrounders separate with personalities. That will let your players know that if an NPC has a name and a personality, they should listen to what he says. If you’re not even breaking out of GM third person tone, they’ll know they can just get what they need and move on.

But what about those important people? How do you make them individual characters? If you’re a total ham like me, you give them each an individual accent or mannerism and flesh them out. If you’re a less actor-y GM, you can set them apart by their name, and the descriptions of them and their surroundings. Use whatever tool you can, but making each important NPC stand out will serve you well in the long run. For one thing, they’ll be more memorable for your players. That helps in many ways, not the least of which is not having to remind your players every five minutes what they’re doing. “Who is this guy again? Oh yeah, he’s the guy with the lion cages in his mansion, he wanted us to steal that key for him.” “That guy with the cockney accents wants us to bribe an official again? Didn’t we JUST do that for him?” And so on, and so on. Get the picture? Have fun with it. Be over the top, this isn’t supposed to be reality, so let your freak flag fly for a few characters. Base some characters on people you all know (in a light-hearted, non-mean way), go nuts.

Above all else, though, figure out up front if an NPC is going stab your players in the back. That way you can pepper in some (subtle) foreshadowing to make the sudden but inevitable betrayal that much more fun for your players. “I totally saw this coming! Remember when he said…” And that kind of fun is what this is all about, remember?

Last week we looked at Puerto Rico – one of the giants of the Euro game genre. Puerto Rico proved to be so popular that it wasn’t long before a spin-off card game was created. I’m happy to report, however, that San Juan is a tremendous game. It brings the same flavor and challenge of San Juan, albeit with a little less depth. As a card game, there is a little more luck involved, but it does become more accessible to casual and non-gamers.  Full review after the jump.

The Basics. Your role is to build up the city of San Juan. First to twelve districts ends the game, then victory points are tallied for a final winner. Simple, no? And, the game turns out to be mechanically simple, making it a great game to take on a trip. There are very few pieces (and no cubes or coins) to lose on the road or away from home.

Some buildings can grow indigo, tobacco, or another good. When they do so, a card is simply dealt on top of the building to note that it has produced. It is only a placeholder. When goods are sold, the placeholder is discarded and new cards are drawn. Similarly, buildings are purchased by discarding cards from your hand. Thus, cards are not only potential buildings, but also the building resource and good tokens.

Goods are worth different amounts each time they are sold. The sticks rule the markets!

As in Puerto Rico, the crux of this game is the roles. Each round, someone is the governor and they pick from among the available roles. Each role allows everyone at the table to complete an action, but the individual who selected it to have a special advantage. This mechanic keeps everyone involved and helps the casual gamer feel engaged. There are no long pauses between turns to foster boredom.

Selfish, selfish prospector.

Like its forefather, there are also purple buildings which do not produce goods, but instead give special powers. The only problem is that, unlike Puerto Rico, the buildings are not available to be selected from a common board according to particular taste and strategy. Instead, they are drawn randomly. And, unfortunately, some of the cards are simply much more powerful than others. In particular, the Aqueduct/Well combination allows a player to take cards from the supply directly into his hand (a rarity in San Juan) with alarming frequency.

Components: 5 of 5. The components are top notch. The role cards are hefty cardboard and not likely to be damaged through frequent use. The cards are also on good quality stock and have survived numerous reshufflings. They are about the size of standard playing cards which makes them easy to manipulate.

Strategy/Luck Balance: 2 of 5. There’s a lot more luck in San Juan than in Puerto Rico, and more than even typical card games. San Juan has several card combinations that are designed to work together. Some are more powerful than others. If you are lucky enough to draw the combo, then you’ll have a distinct advantage. Not necessarily an easy win, but enough that it makes catching up hard for opponents. Still, many strategy elements remain, especially in choosing which role will benefit you the most while benefiting the other players least.

Most OP Combo. Learn it, Fear it.

Mechanics: 4 of 5. The game is well-designed and flows easily. Although it borrows heavily from Puerto Rico, the mechanics transfer easily. The rulebook is also clearly written with numerous examples and detailed analysis of many of the cards. However, the imbalance between power levels in some cards can present fate with a bit too big of a role.

Replayability: 4.5 of 5. San Juan is easy to learn and addicting to play. It is easily taught to new gamers, and even non-gamers. My immediate family didn’t much care for Puerto Rico, but they eagerly asked for another game of San Juan after we finished the first play through. The randomness of the cards forces players to direct their strategy to the hand their dealt, instead of some preconceived plan. This makes each game seem different as you are forced to adapt to the random hand you are dealt.

Overall: 4.5 of 5. Essentially, San Juan is a boiled down version of Puerto Rico. It removes some of the depth and a bit of the strategy to increase the accessibility and randomness of the game, as well as substantially decrease play time. For most groups, that can be a huge bonus. Both are great games, but San Juan really shines with newer players, and when time might be a bit short for a lengthier game.

So I love TV. A lot. Enough to watch the Emmys. Enough to share my predictions with you in hopes that you guys love TV as much as I do. So click on through to see my guesses, and enjoy!

Outstanding Comedy Series
Will Win: Glee
Should Win: Glee
This category is difficult because I have been having some problems with the second half of Glee’s first season. I would have voted for the snubbed Community, but from the nominees given, Glee stands out as the freshest and most original programming this season. I will, however, throw in Modern Family as a close second.

Outstanding Drama Series
Will: Lost
Should: Lost/The Good Wife
Considering the larger-than-life worlds explored in the nominated programs, The Good Wife might look rather bland in comparison. In reality, it is one of the best dramas on TV right now and shouldn’t be underestimated because it appears to be just another procedural drama. And even though the reviews were mixed about the Lost finale, it is still a fine piece of television history. It would be a shock to overlook something like that.

Outstanding Made for TV Movie
Will: Temple Grandin
Should: Temple Grandin
Awesome story, awesome movie. Hopefully awesome = win.

Outstanding Miniseries
Will: The Pacific
Should: The Pacific
*Shrug* Based on its success at the Creative Arts Emmys and the fact that there’s only one other nominee, the choice seems obvious.

Outstanding Variety Program
Will: The Daily Show
Should: The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien
Come on! How awesome would that acceptance speech be?! And even when we weren’t watching real life drama unfolding on late night TV, Conan’s Tonight Show was really top notch and, at the risk of rehashing old arguments, would have blossomed into a ratings success if given the proper amount of time to grow and adjust to its new time slot and audience.

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
Will: Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Should: Cranston OR Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Still not sure whether Hall is a long shot or if Emmy voters will give the four-time nominated actor his due for his performance in such a career-defining role. Jon Hamm might also edge out Cranston, but I have a feeling he’s got it this year, which I still think would be well deserved.

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
Will: Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Should: Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
While 30 Rock is not my favorite comedy, Baldwin’s performance and his award winning streak are pretty much unstoppable.

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
Will: Glenn Close, Damages
Should: Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife OR Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer
The Closer never really had its day at the Emmys even though it is far more entertaining than many dramas out there, and Sedgwick’s performance is consistently captivating year after year. Margulies will soon join her as one of the best female leads on television as her show progresses.

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
Will: Toni Collette, United States of Tara
Should: Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation
From the episodes I have seen, Collette is fantastic in USoT, but Poehler is consistently overlooked even though she is one of the funniest women on television. As Parks and Recreation is finding its voice and quickly evolving into a really smart show, Poehler is stepping out of Steve Carell’s shadow and Leslie Knope is turning out to be less and less like Michael Scott, which is super exciting.

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Will: Michael Emerson, Lost
Should: Michael Emerson, Lost
This year, like many years before, is the battle between Michael Emerson and Terry O’Quinn. O’Quinn might have an advantage because he did play two characters at one time, but Emerson’s flawless performance as the broken and battered Ben Linus stood out much more this season.

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Will: Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother
Should: NPH OR Chris Colfer, Glee
I’m going with a wild card this year with NPH. Although Colfer shined more prominently in the dramatic side of Glee, his performance as Kurt Hummel is phenomenal considering it is his first professional role. Modern Family may have this category just because they have three nominees, but many of the votes might be divided between thosethree, giving the other nominees the advantage. That is, of course, the theory of someone who knows pretty much nothing about voting for these things.

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Will: Elizabeth Moss, Mad Men
Should: Sharon Gless, Burn Notice
It will be interesting to see which Mad Men girl gets the statue, if it comes to that. There are quite a few fantastic ladies in this category. The Good Wife girls play some fascinatingly layered characters, and Sharon Gless of the sadly underrepresented Burn Notice frequently makes me cower like a child when she yells at her grown son every week. I’d like to see her take this, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she did.

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Will: Jane Lynch, Glee
Should: Jane Lynch, Glee
Lynch lost the Golden Globe to Chloe Sevingy (Big Love), which didn’t make sense for many reasons, number one being that comedy and drama roles are tricky to compare. While Jane Lynch has been flying under the radar as far as awards go, she ranks as one of my favorite scene stealers in film and TV today. She doesn’t need an Emmy to prove how awesome she is, but it might still be nice.

Before I go on to these last four categories, I have to say that I find it a bit appalling that it took me quite a while to find a list online that included these nominees, instead coming across many sites that focused more on the acting and reality show categories. While those nominees also shouldn’t be diminished, I’m concerned that next year we are going to see these two vitally important categories, writing and directing, moved to what is becoming the increasingly more interesting award show, the Creative Arts Emmys.

Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series
Will: 30 Rock
Should: Modern Family OR The Office
Many of the comedic categories are lacking a bit, but it seems like there might also be a shift happening. 30 Rock is a reliable prediction while Glee is the up-and-coming trophy stealer. I’m going to stick with old reliable this year, but I have to acknowledge the other comedies in this category like The Office and Modern Family that are just as well written if not more so.

Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series
Will: Mad Men
Should: The Good Wife
I’ll take a break from the Lost love for a bit (even though they also deserve a win here) to say that The Good Wife has a really stellar writing team that gave audiences a intriguing yet polished first season. Unless Emmy voters succumb to Lost finale fever, Mad Men is probably a lock. I hope to be surprised.

Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series
Will: Glee
Should: Glee
There are a lot of balls to drop in the three ring circus that is Glee. Even without the complicated musical numbers, the show has such a unique vision that helped make it stand out and add to its success. Plus it has two nominations, so one of them has to snag it.

Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series
Will: Lost
Should: Lost
Again, the finale will likely give Lost the edge even though it was not up for this category last year. Newcomer Treme grabbed only two nominations but has been raking in a great deal of critical praise, which might turn it into a serious contender.

Your turn! I’m particularly interested to hear who you think should have been nominated. There were many deserving shows that aren’t represented here that, at least in my opinion, are a bit more exciting than a few of the favorites. Can you tell I’m bitter about Community?

The anime world has truly lost an amazing director. You will be missed.

1. Going to conventions is an awesome way to meet new friends, even if it doesn’t always work out in the end.

2. Waiting in lines at conventions is an excellent exercise in patience and self-restraint, but also an effective method in meeting new people.

3. Engaging in cosplay is challenging, entertaining and a great way to test your creative and imaginative skills.

4. There are individuals such as Megumi Nakajima in the anime industry who think nothing of signing autographs for two hours straight AND have a conversation with each and every fan.

5. There are individuals such as Seiji Mizushima who think nothing of not only stopping to sign autographs in a crowded hallway, but then ask for a group photo of everyone requesting an autograph so he can share them amongst his friends and family and show how many fans he has in the U.S.

6. Learning about new cultures is a rewarding and eye-opening experience.

7. There truly is no off-season in anime. However, anime conventions never extend beyond four days, so you need to enjoy every last second while you can.

8. Good anime friends stick with you no matter what.

9. Yaoi fangirls are LOUD.

10. Be proud of WHO YOU ARE.

Variant is the weekly board game discussion topic. Contribute your thoughts in the comments below!

Board games are for fun. Everyone gathers around the board, ideally, because they are looking for a good time. Whether it’s competitive or cooperative, the goal is to have an enjoyable experience along the way – not necessarily to be the winner, right? I think we can all agree that good games are fun while you’re playing them, not just when you tally the final score.  Winning is more or less the icing on the cake. But can you take that sentiment too far? It turns out, maybe you can.

Most games are about competition. While some are about direct combat (Cyclades, Axis & Allies) many more are resource races, bidding wars, or even games of chance (Ticket to Ride, Ra, and Zombie Dice). No one is arguing that you have to be a bona fide blood ninja out to decimate your opponents and rub salt in their wounds of failure. But can playing ‘just for fun’ ruin things the opposite way?

Take a game of Settlers. It hinges on the fact that each player is trying to win. Everyone trades resources only when they think they will get a benefit from the trade – and ideally a bigger benefit than their opponent just got. Now what if one of the players is actually a Helpy McHelperson. Helpy decides that it’s more ‘fun’ when everyone gets to build cities and roads. So he or she freely trades away her resources to whoever needs them. Or, worse yet, shares his or her benevolence with some players but not others. That changes the whole dynamic of the game. Suddenly, some resources become worthless because you can get them cheaply from Helpy.

I think, in a perfect game, every player should be playing to win. Friendly competition is still competition. What say you? Is it better to play “just for fun” no matter the game, or should even the biggest peacemaker’s goal be to make everyone else at the table lose?

http://www.spankystokes.com/2010/08/recap-sket-ones-bacon-madl-signing-at.html

Run Time: 60 minutes

Contains coarse or explicit language.

*Not really. It’s just Andrew.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (Demo – PSN)

via GiantBomb.com

Earlier this month, I noted that I was excited about Paul Robertson’s artwork, Anamanaguchi’s soundtrack, and the old-school beat-em-up gameplay. The sprites are nice and big with attractive animations. Having characters communicate through emoticons in speech bubbles is a nice touch. It’s easy to distinguish interactive objects in the environment, and the locations themselves have a nice vibe to them. Menus, map screens, and HUD elements are appropriately retro styled. The music is fitting, but not outstanding. Perhaps I was too absorbed in the fighting for any of the tunes to get stuck in my head. Otherwise, the sound design was a bit lackluster. While incidental sound effects worked, the lack of vocals of any kind (even grunts or yells) left the auditory landscape feeling empty. This was thrown into sharper contrast when the vicious dogs did vocalize as they attacked and were attacked (strangely enough, it was the same sound as the rabid dogs in Earthworm Jim).

The gameplay is at once the best and worst part of my experience with the game. Combos felt nice, weapons were fun to use (my favorite being a tire that I used to play Pong with between my foot and a bully’s head), and it definitely had a River City Ransom feel, complete with bad guys dropping money to be spent in shops for power-ups. For my taste, it played too much like an arcade title designed to suck quarters out of your pocket. Maybe it was an off-day, maybe I just stink, but it took all the lives I had to get through the demo. The controls would noticeably lag randomly, not even responding at some points. This could have been a technical issue on my end, though.

Overall, it’s a decent effort, probably best played with friends. I would recommend getting the demo first to see if your experience is different from mine.

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (Demo – XBLA)

I think this is a Tomb Raider game (if not in name, in spirit) that I’ll finally be able to play. The change in form to an isometric camera and Smash TV-esque combat system takes away the few problems I had with the series in the past. So how is it on its own merits?

The levels are beautifully rendered, with alluring lighting and environmental effects. The cutscenes are done in a comic book form that is less captivating, but no less visually appealing. The rest of the presentation is spot on, with great voice work (including the prolific Jim Cummings), and nice music and sound effects.

The puzzle designs are a lot of fun, striking a good balance between mental and physical tasks. The combat feels good as they keep you on an upwards difficulty slope, never giving you more than you can handle. I would like to see if the full game gives you a larger choice of weapons, as I never used the guns after I got the spear. Likewise, the dodge roll provided faster forward motion than running, a design choice I never like to see, even if it was unintentional. I’d much rather my character look like a normal person than one who can’t stop wallowing in the dirt. There’s a wide variety of power ups and character customization available with artifacts to find throughout the levels, a nice reward for taking on optional challenge rooms and exploring.

This is one I’ll seriously think about picking up, especially once the online cooperative mode is enabled. I’ll have my choice of platform then as well.

Everquest II Extended (Beta – PC)

via Massively.com

It’s not easy to review an MMO, much less give a short rundown of the full experience. I have, therefore, decided to let you know the process of getting started, as well as what options are available to a free-to-play account.

The acquisition of the beta client was very strange for me. After the Extended site told me the download was unavailable for a time, to try back later, I closed the browser and found the shortcut to the client already on my desktop. This could have been due to the fact that I had recently set up FreeRealms, but I really can’t explain it. That odd little dance complete, I fired up the game and started the downloads and updates. I’m running on DSL which averages at a 500 kb/s connection, and it didn’t take very long at all to be ready to launch the actual game. Once inside, the downloading time was a bit longer, waiting for the client to gather the necessary assets. In a wise maneuver, they allow you to launch a little early, letting it download in the background while you start to create your character. Granted, I had to wait for certain hairstyles to load, but it was nice to have the option to jump in.

Character creation is limited to 4 out of 19 races and 8 of the 24 classes for each category. There are no limits as far as appearance goes, at least initially. There are further limits to spell progression, chat options, equipment grades, character slots, and more. The upgrade options are reasonable, from a one-time $10 paid in-game to slightly enhance the free membership to a $200 yearly membership granting full access.

The game itself is Everquest II, with textures that pop in and out and content that is constantly loading as you encounter it. I experienced no lag, just visual affronts even on the highest display settings. If you’re looking to try EQ2, or a dated example of the current MMORPG paradigm, give Extended a spin.

Play any of these yourself? Got further questions? Sound off in the comments below!

Congratulations to Through the Ages which won the Costa Rican game of the year award! Costa Rica doesn’t have quite oomph that Germany does with its Spiel des Jahres, but an award is an award. In fact, if anyone was thinking about giving Through the Ages a try, just remember: it’s big in Costa Rica.

Through the Ages beat out Endeavor and Dominion for the title.

Run time: 60 minutes

Contains coarse or explicit language.

And yeah, I know, I could have found another post of the video that would let me embed it, but the official Cee Lo version wasn’t allowing embedding (at the time I wrote this, anyway). And who wants to steal? Not me… Trust me, hit the link, it’s completely worth it, and it’ll be stuck in your head for the next several days.

And no, my love for it is not because of the toy robots in the picture. Okay, it’s a little bit because of the toy robots in the picture. We’re fond of robots here, okay? But mostly I love that this is somehow both grand and understated at the same time. The lowercase cursive font and recycled wood make it subtle, but at the end of the day, it’s still the word geek hanging right there on your wall. Which is pretty much the most unsubtle thing ever. Oh, and if nerd is your reclaimed epithet of choice, this charming etsy shop is happy to oblige.

Sadly, our house is so small that there really isn’t a lot of wall space for something like this. I wonder how it would look hanging in my cube…

Warcraft. It can be found in many varieties including, without limitation, MMO, RTS, RPG, novels, comics, and board games. There are countless other media currently and in the works. With so much WoW related items to purchase, I’m surprised I haven’t gotten this question sooner.

For the Horde asked, “I love the Warcraft MMO. Is the board game any good?“

No.

First of all, you’re lucky I’m deigning to answer the question of a filthy hordie. Dwarf hunters are where the sexy is at. But, I’d never inflict the Warcraft game on even someone as loathsome as the meanest troll.

The game actually isn’t bad. It’s just not Warcraft. You’ll see a lot of familiar elements there, including talent trees, experience, and a Horde vs. Alliance competition. But that’s it. Warcraft is fun because you click a monster and it dies. You feel powerful after providing minimal effort. And, when you attack a raid boss, you achieve success because you reacted quickly, knew your rotation, and stayed the hell away from fire and void zones. That’s not what the board game is like.

In the board game, you roll dice. Lots of dice. And then you add them up. Then you check talents that allow you to alter dice. Then you alter them. Then you add them again. Then maybe you use abilities. Your turn goes on forever. And so does everyone else’s.

The game will take hours upon hours to play. I tend not to be a big fan of games that last forever, because they start to get stale. Warcraft is one of those games. However, if you are the kind of person that likes Twilight Imperium, or seven player Talisman, or any game that lasts six or more hours, then this might be up your alley. Once you accept that your fate is sealed for the next six to twelve hours, it can be fun. It’s just not for me. Ever.

Got questions about strategy, games, or the hobby in general? Post them here, email me, or send them to @GeekInsight on Twitter and check back next week for answers!

The men and women of Operation: Gamer Wife are hard at work.

Little does she suspect that Operation: Gamer Wife, now in Phase 2, is in full swing. Phase 2 is where I select a few games to play repeatedly so that “play board games” is associated with fun. Helping out Pandemic in this regard is Dominion. The first play of Dominion was off to a rocky start. My beloved had a tough time grasping the deck-building mechanic on the first several turns. By the end of the game, she had it down, but it was a little late by that point.

This time, she had the mechanic under her belt. We played with a different set of Kingdom cards and she had a blast. Our final scores were only a single point apart. I plan to combine this with Pandemic. Both games work well two player, but also expand to add additional players easily. Battlestar on the other hand…

]I foolishly forgot to take pictures of the way Battlestar Pegasus and the New Caprica board looked at game end. It was pretty bleak. The humans had every advantage. President Roslin forgot to discard cards according to her negative ability about 50% of the time. There were four players with a make-up of two humans, one cylon, and one sympathetic cylon leader (who would win if the humans won). The cylon was not dealt until the second half of the game.

Despite these advantages, the humans still lost. Still. It was a lot closer, but the game was essentially three to one. It only reinforces my belief that humans need to start with one or two extra resources in each pile. I think doing so would balance out the games a bit better. I’ll give that a try on the next go around and we’ll see how it does.

Via that magical button, Bradley W. Schenck sent me a link to his page, Thrilling Tales of the Downright Unusual. The name alone caught my attention, but once I clicked through: WHAT THE FUCK, PEOPLE! This is choose your own adventure, webcomic/internet style! How had I not seen this yet? Click around, have some fun, start over, try not to die, and love it.

As an added bonus, there’s also his Pulp Sci-Fi Title-O-Tron. Yes, I did hear you squee from here. The titles it creates are completely spot on, and I could easily see any of them being on a 1950s Saturday matinee marquee. For example, a couple I got were “Lair of the Unlikely Mind” and “The Sleeping Mystery of the Mountains”. I want to read those both now…

Well done, Bradley. Well done.

http://geeksdreamgirl.com

http://plus5cha.com

Music by JD Short (http://bassdbler.com) and Manny Jasus (http://farfromclose.com)  NOTE: Andrew inadvertently mentioned in this episode that Manny made our theme song for us. That’s a mistake, the song existed before us, Manny is just kind enough to let us use it. Big apologies to Manny, the mistake was unintentional. We’ll give an on-air mea culpa next episode…

Run time: 1:02

Contains coarse or explicit language.

In exchange for the laughably easy decision of allowing him to use the image in one of his tutorials, he even waived his usual rush fee. Talk about a no-brainer! He created two pieces for us: he made us a poster, and a smaller piece of artwork suitable for a button. We liked the button art so much, it’s going to be our podcast cover art starting with Monday’s episode. For PAX (and beyond), we’re going to have posters, buttons, and vinyl stickers featuring Adam’s work, so be sure to find us at PAX and other conventions and get yours!

Just a small taste...

But that teaser image can’t be it! Where’s the art, you say? Good question. For the smaller art, you’ll just have to wait until Monday, and come back for the podcast post where I’ll unleash it. To get a gander at the poster art, you’ll have to do one of two things:

1: Come find us at PAX and try to get a poster (details of how to get one are TBD, we’ll have a very limited supply each day)

2: Go check out Adam’s site and read the tutorial! It’s not too long, and it’s interesting, I promise. Lots of good tips from the master, there.

Today I’d like to take you to an alternate dimension, one where gravity doesn’t behave like it should, where up is up, down, and round-and-round. VVVVVV is a retro-styled platformer from Terry Cavanagh of distractionware for the PC (Windows, Mac, Linux with Wine). You are a captain of a spaceship that gets pulled into an alternate dimension, teleporting everyone on board at random somewhere in the world. With your vessel busted and everyone scattered to the four corners, it’s up to you to save your crew, figure out where in the universe you are, and find a way home. If you’re up for ingenious level design, fist-pounding keyboard-throwing difficulty, and attractive visuals hearkening back to the days of the Commodore 64, join me after the jump to learn more about VVVVVV.

UpUpUp

There’s a lot to like about VVVVVV. To begin with, the core mechanic is simple, but elegant. Aside from walking left and right, your only tool is the ability to flip up towards the ceiling or back down to the floor. You’ll use this to avoid spikes and pits, as well as to move up and down between rooms. Eventually, you’ll use the elements in the stages to flip in mid-air, bounce off disappearing platforms, and dodge barrages of enemies. By keeping the number of actions to a minimum, Cavanagh was able to go nuts with the level design. The game takes place in a seamless world, broken down into rooms or at least separate screens. As you make your way through the overworld, you’ll find your way into one of the five levels, chains of wittily named rooms, seamlessly integrated into the rest of the space. You truly feel like an explorer, discovering this unknown dimension, when you stumble upon these levels. You know you are entering a place where you will be tested, that there is a crew member waiting at the end to be rescued, and that, no matter how difficult, you will succeed.

It’s a shame how little I can convey in words with regard to how brilliant the actual level designs are. Each room is its own challenge, and no matter the order you decide to tackle the levels, your experience feels as if it’s building on itself. There are standard platforming challenges, twists on these classic designs, and brand new ideas for what this kind of game can offer. The immersion factor is immense, as I lose track of time and find myself unable to tear away from the beauty of the design. There are few games I play through multiple times, but this one keeps me coming back, strictly for the feeling of navigating through the levels. The fact that it’s a relatively short game doesn’t hurt, either. If you’re looking for pinnacles of platform game design, add VVVVVV next to your Mario game of choice.

I’ve hinted at it, but let’s have no misunderstanding: this is a tough game. There’s an introduction to get you prepared for the kinds of challenges the game has in store for you; however, once you’ve started the mission, the entire world is open to you, and it will not hold back. Granted, the most challenging sections are optional. There are 20 Shiny Trinkets to collect, hidden or placed at the end of truly trying tasks. These will test your physical skills as well as your ability to think outside of the normal platforming paradigm. Not to fear, though, as Cavanagh has generously implemented a checkpoint system that allows you to nearly instantly respawn in the same room (or at least nearby) as soon as you die. Because you will die. Often. Likely, you’ll die on those same three spikes each time. It’s one of those curse-making games.

Once you’ve mastered the game in standard mode, you’re given the option to turn on mirror mode, take part in time trials, or brave the No Death mode. This extends the replay value if you’ve become bored with the challenges as they are. It’s a nice addition, extending the old school aesthetic.

Speaking of old school, the presentation for VVVVVV is reminicent of the early days of video gaming. From the C64-esque loading screen to the pixely wonders of the new dimension, bright colors and blocky art styles abound. The chiptune soundtrack flows right along with the challenge of the levels, keeping the blood pumping as you navigate over the spikes, past the baddies, and onto a safe ledge. Everything works together to put you in the zone, to hone your focus in on the challenge ahead.

DownDownDown

The only real problem with VVVVVV is a technical hiccup. Again, this is a game presented in Adobe Flash, and while it doesn’t suffer the same sorts of problems as Machinarium does, Flash causes issues here, too. The main complaint I had was trying to find my save files to transfer between copies on my desktop and flash drive. Flash saves your data in the local cache folders, hidden and buried in your Documents and Settings folders in Windows. I’m not sure where this is for Mac since I have the Windows version, but hopefully with Spotlight, it would be easier to find.

I realize that feels like I’m stretching for negative comments, but there’s nothing this game does poorly.

FlipFlopFly!

Hopefully, I’ve made it clear that this is a game for those looking for a real challenge. If high difficulty platformers make you smash keyboards or run the other way, try the demo and see if it’s something you might want to play anyway. The only way we get better at something is to practice, no? I believe games can be really great at teaching us skills we don’t already have, and to do that, sometimes we need to play games that require use of skills that don’t come naturally.

If you’re already convinced that this game is perfect for you, what are you waiting for? You can buy it from the official website, http://thelettervsixtim.es.

The soundtrack is also available separately from the composer’s website here.

Bottom line: play VVVVVV, even if only the demo. It’s one of the bright gems of the indie games and certainly worth your time. Good luck, explorers!

Suggestions

If you’re looking for a game cut from very much the same cloth as VVVVVV, check out Dungeon by cactus and Arthur Lee. Not quite as long or profound, but then again it was made in two days. A lot of fun, nonetheless.

If you enjoyed the insane challenges of VVVVVV but found that it wasn’t cruel enough, you’ll want to check out I Wanna Be The Guy by Michael “Kayin” O’Reilly. Be warned.

Puerto Rico is pretty much the Euro-style game. Though nominated for the Spiel des Jahres, it was not selected as the winner. However, I think the jury missed the boat. It has been number one on BGG for almost the entire time it’s been available (it was briefly knocked into second by Agricola, but has since returned to the top spot). This game is all about strategy, maximizing potential, and, of course, growing crops. And I absolutely hated it the first two times I played it. Find out why my initial impressions were wrong, after the jump.

The Basics. I’m not sure what the players are in Puerto Rico. City managers maybe? In any event, the goal is to grow crops, and then either sell them for money to buy more specialized buildings, or ship them off to the home country for victory points. There is a tension there between those two items. Ship too early, and you’ll start to be left behind as the other players grab more valuable buildings that give them a leg up in the late game. Too late, and you won’t have the points to win the game.

The player's board

The complete rules are well beyond this review. Puerto Rico can be pretty involved. But one of the mechanics is especially noteworthy: Each round, someone takes on the role of Governor. They are the first to pick one of several jobs (number available depends on the players). Each time a job is picked, everyone does that action, but the person who picked it gets a special bonus. For example, if the first player picks Builder, then everyone at the table gets to build a building if they choose, but the person who picked Builder gets to pay one less as a discount. Then the next player picks a role, and so on. Once all players have selected a job, the Governership passes to the next player and he gets first choice in selecting roles.

This mechanic is awesome for two reasons. First, it adds a layer of strategy. Whatever you pick will lead to your opponents also taking actions. So you want to pick the role that helps you the most, while helping them the least. Further, sometimes it’s beneficial to take a role that would provide a little less benefit to you, in order to keep it out of the hands of someone who would benefit a lot more from it. And, secondly, it ensures that there is very little downtime. Each player is doing something on every player’s turn. You don’t take your turn and then wait five minutes before getting to act again. That is one of the chief strengths of Puerto Rico.

I hated Puerto Rico the first two times I played it. Hated it. First, I played with a very experienced player who sat to my right. So he always was able to select a role before me. And while he is a dear friend, he is a cut-throat competitor. A certifiable blood ninja. So, whatever job would help me the most was always selected by him first. Not exactly a good first experience.

And second, it took me a few plays to grasp the concept that the goods were functionally useless in and of themselves. In most games, obtaining goods are the ends (such as the points derived from grain or vegetables in Agricola). Or at least they do not expire prior to their use (Power Grid). In Puerto Rico, those goods are only valuable to either sell and get money, or to ship and get points. And if you don’t use them, they may be discarded when someone picks the Captain role. So my initial strategies of amassing large amounts of goods were really not appropriate to Puerto Rico.

However, once those initial hurdles were cleared, Puerto Rico really became one of my favorite games. Though it can be a bit “gamey” for non-gamers, I’ve gotten my family to play it a couple of times and my wife sort of, kind of, likes it. She’ll tolerate it at least.

Components: 5 of 5. Every component is stellar. The colonists and good barrels are painted wood. The role cards, which get handled and shuffled a lot, are on a thick cardboard stock. The artwork on the player boards is also very nice. I tend to put my quarries down by the rocks, and allow the cool ocean breeze to flow over some of my crops.

Strategy/Luck Balance: 5 of 5. There is very little luck in Puerto Rico. The only luck is when the settlements (that grow your corn, indigo, tobacco, and coffee) appear. They are randomly selected and this often determines which strategy you will employ. Further, it’s important to try to grow something that no one else is producing. Cornering a market is often the best bet.

Mechanics: 5 of 5. Elegant. That best describes this game. Every player takes a turn, and every role is valuable. You need colonists to work your buildings, you need buildings to take special actions, you need crops to grow goods, and you need to captain ships in order to send them off. Plus, each role that isn’t taken in a particular round gets a coin placed on it, thereby making it increasingly attractive in later rounds. The rulebook, too, is very clear. For a relatively involved game, it does a good job of explaining things in a straightforward and easy to follow manner.

Purple buildings are special. So special, the rulebook calls them "violet"

Replayability: 4 of 5. This game hits my table again and again. As a classic, we return to it every so often and have a blast. There are a variety of different strategies that are effective. Adopting a shipping strategy, acquiring certain buildings, and even selling goods can be very advantageous. And, different players adopt different techniques, so it keeps things interesting. Plus, for a Euro game, there is a lot of interaction. Whatever role you take will impact everyone on the board, so you must choose wisely. But, perhaps because of its success, Puerto Rico has been played semi-professionally. If you look around online, you can find tons of strategy guides. And, like blackjack, someone who knows all the strategies can tell you that there is almost always a “correct” move. So, if you take Puerto Rico to any serious players, you might be in for some hurt. And, as a smaller negative, Puerto Rico does suffer from mild analysis paralysis problems.

Spite: 3.5 of 5. Sometimes the best move on the board is not one that helps you, but one that hurts your competitor. For example, maybe if you take Mayor, you can get three colonists to your opponent’s one. But that leaves Captain on the board. If you take Captain, you’ll be hurting for colonists, but you can get four points while your opponent only gets two. If you leave Captain for him to take, maybe he’ll get eight points, while you get none. So, even though you personally might get a better benefit from Mayor, it makes more sense to be spiteful and take the role that would benefit your opponent.

Overall: 5 of 5. This game reeks of awesome. It forces you to watch your opponents develop their strategies so that you know which roles will help or hinder them. In this way, it’s almost like playing Puerto Rico several times in one sitting. You can see how your strategy compares up against the others. And, I’d definitely recommend giving this game a few plays. And if it’s your first time, be sure to sit to the right of the biggest blood ninja. That will really help your experience.

*Ahem*

Hit the jump for some preview pages that remind me heavily of the Metalocalypse opening theme…

From Marvel:

Marvel is proud to announce Uncanny X-Force Day and wants to celebrate with YOU, the fans, on Wednesday, October 6th! After Cyclops disbands Wolverine’s black-ops group, Logan assembles a brand new team to face a deadly new threat, courtesy of fan favorite creators Rick Remender and Jerome Opena! Mark your calendars and be the first person on your block to score great Uncanny X-Force Day commemorative items like an exclusive Uncanny X-Force print featuring the team’s first appearance in the hit series Second Coming, exclusive variants, mini-posters and more! Plus, fans can’t miss the chance to add their own heroes to the Uncanny X-Force lineup by sketching on the Uncanny X-Force #1 Blank Variant!

So usually I’m not a Ghost Rider wank, but this is a pretty interesting art style the big M is rockin’ for this new book. Click through the jump to read what Marvel has to say about it and see some preview pages.

From Marvel:

Marvel is pleased to present your first look at Shadowland: Ghost Rider #1 from rising-star writer Rob Williams and superstar artist Clayton Crain! The red-hot comic blockbuster of the summer, Shadowland, continues as the Spirit of Vengeance makes his debut after being summoned by the Kingpin. In an attempt to change the tides of war, Ghost Rider must travel to Japan and take on the unrelenting might of the secret ninja organization known as The Hand. Can Ghost Rider storm into the belly of the beast and make it out in one piece? Find out in Shadowland: Ghost Rider #1!

Board games are awesome. I think we all understand that. Or should. Or would if a kind, rugged, yet handsome man introduced us to the world of gaming. It’s actually great when you meet a fellow gamer. You can look upon their closet full of games and try out something you may not have been able to play before. Maybe you like it and decide to grab it for yourself to share with others. Then, you check the price. Egad!

Some of the best games also carry some of the highest prices. Agricola lists at $70. The same for Le Havre. Power Grid lists at a comparitively bargain price of $45. And the high prices aren’t just limited to euro-style games; Battlestar Galactica lists for $50. You can find them cheaper online, but those list prices will be staring right at you if you walk into most brick and mortar game shops.

With the price of a new video game at $50-60, and a used one or older one significantly less, it can be tough to shell out for a board game. Console and PC games include a lot of “wow” factor in terms of voice talent, writing, graphics, and gameplay. Not every game is Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, but the good ones really stand out. Knowing that you could get something like that for a comparable price, makes it hard to justify a board game.

But, in the long term, I’ve had more hours of entertainment and enjoyment from just about any board game, than nearly any PC game (Warcraft as the notable exception). On a cost per hour of fun, I’m at less than a dollar per hour for my Settlers purchase. Plus, if you divvy that up among the number of players that are being entertained, it dramatically reduces the cost (since many PC and console games are single-player only, or designed for a single player with a multiplayer mode slapped on).

So my question this week is how do you decide what to buy and what to pass? Do you have a strict play before buy policy? How comfortable are you in taking the leap into purchasing something unplayed?

For me, I’m fairly careful about what games I decide to shell out for. And, as much as I’d like to play everything, I definitely don’t want to pay for everything. But I do read some reviews, check out the buzz around debut games, and get as much info as I can about the type of game it is. However, I’d say about 80% of my purchases are games I haven’t played before.

You?

http://www.spankystokes.com/2010/04/tentapuss-kittahkaiju-plush-from-kill.html

http://www.spankystokes.com/2010/08/kills-kaibutsu-no-neko-vinyl-kaiju.html

http://www.spankystokes.com/2010/08/tentapuss-vinyl-release-and-signing-red.html

http://www.spankystokes.com/2010/08/spankystokes-x-argonaut-resins-tuttz.html

Run time: 1:06

Contains coarse or explicit language.

Castle Ravenloft is a new cooperative game released this year. The main mechanic is that the players select one of several outlined scenarios, then draw dungeon tiles one by one. Each tile has monsters, traps, or other challenges for the heroes. In this way, it provides a D&D type experience without a DM.

Matt Carlson, one of the games designers, recently sat down for an interview with Board Game News. You can see the full interview there,  but here’s a quick snippet that should give you an idea of what the game will be like:

I do like more abstract games, but I tend to prefer ones that are a little faster paced. I really don’t like games that require a lot of analysis. I like making seat of my pants decisions, or choices limited to a few options by the game environment or the rules. To me, fast and furious are both huge plusses.

Honestly, I’m not going to even say much more about this, except for “AAAAACK!”

And also, I love comic strips, and I’m glad this crutch of syndication is finally going the way of the dodo. I’m not against the classics, mind you, I’ve just never thought repeating how much girls like shoes is very entertaining.

You’re next, Ziggy.

I’m not a Werewolf. And I’m not a Cylon. Really.

Ovelry Adoring Fan (if you don’t sign off with a good name, you get one of my choosing) wrote: What is your pick for game of the year?

Hey Adoring, I don’t usually make a selection for game of the year. The reason is, I simply do not have the time or money to play enough games to make a good choice. I could tell you the game I played the most in a given year, or the game that was my favorite for the year. But I just can’t keep up with everything that comes in.

However, in December of this year, I’ll go ahead and select my “hot” game. It may be a game that came out recently, or one from a few years back. I’ll select from among the games I played and pick the one that I had the best time playing. Fun will be the only criteria for selection, though I’ll make a list of about five games that are in the running.

Good idea!

Got questions about strategy, games, or the hobby in general? Post them here, email me, or send them to @GeekInsight on Twitter and check back next week for answers!

This Ain't Avatar, coming from Hustler this September

The new 3D film phenomenon is a strange mix of WHEE! and BOO! – or at least it is for me. Well, for yet more 3D emotional conflict, try this on: 3-D Porn. I think my first thought went something like this: OH Wow! How COOL…Ewwwwww! And while 3D porn isn’t new, it has never been this popular.

As far as I can tell, there are at least three stages set for the new and “improved” porn scene:

1. Hustler is planning an Avatar spoof titled This Ain’t Avatar XXX – but it’s Hustler, and I am sorta afraid.

2. Tinto Brass has announced that he will remake his “beloved” Caligula in 3D. Because the original wasn’t disturbing enough on it’s own, we apparently need a 3D version. Yikes.

3. Hong Kong Producer Stephen Shiu is ready to start filming a project titled The Carnal Prayer Mat, based on a classic erotic fable. No release date as of yet, and it will likely be limited to Asian Countries. Which is sad because of all of the 3D porn projects I could find, this is the only one that I wanna see.

Well people, it’s real, and it’s happening. So you should start sorting out your feelings about it now.

Caligula remake? In 3D? Eep!

So last time we talked about deciding what type of Game Master you want to be. This time, let’s talk about how to build the sandbox your players will run around in. It’s time for terraforming, Andrew style. Hit the jump to follow along.

So you know who you want to be, and how you’re going to handle your game. Now it’s time to build the land of enchantment (or desolation) that your players will grow to love and hate, in alternate measure. I’m not talking about the story, though it might help to have a rough idea of what you want your players doing, so you can pick where they’ll do it. For the most part, though, your choice of location can inspire stories ’til the cows come home.

It’s worth noting at this point that some people go for premade campaign settings. And that’s totally cool. Seriously. If you don’t have time or the creative juices to build your own world, there’s nothing wrong with getting a campaign setting and going to town. There’s also nothing wrong with using prewritten adventures. That’s what they’re there for, people! Any real gamer will NOT judge you for using one of these, so if anybody gives you lip, tell them Andrew wants to have a word with them. You’re running a game for your friends, most players will appreciate that enough to not care where the fun comes from.

But enough of my “pregen” soapbox. If you’ve bought a setting and a premade adventure, you’re good to go, get to rolling some dice. For our purposes, let’s say you’re choosing a premade campaign setting, but writing your own stories and adventures. This is probably what the majority of GMs do, so we’ll follow that. I’ll also talk about a few tips for making your own setting along the way, so everyone gets fair air time.

It probably goes without saying that you should pick a setting that matches your GM style. Dark Sun, for D&D, is a brutal, unforgiving desert land where you’re likely to get knifed for your water rations. Forgotten Realms is a world populated with outsized characters and personalities. A more ebullient group would flourish there. You’ll also need to really think about what type of game you’ll want to run. Sci-fi, fantasy, modern, it’s all fair game.

Let’s say you’re going to pick Dark Sun, however, since it’s the newest setting and everyone’s excited about it (in our example, anyway;  your real world excitement may vary). If you’re creating your own world, figure out what type of place you want your world to be, then spend a good couple days just writing about things that might be in your world. Locations, cities, capitols, farms, temples, etc. Just go nuts on the kind of stuff you want to have around. Also, think about the scale, do you want an entire continent to play around with, or will your players be in the same sprawling city the entire time?

Even if you pick up a premade setting, you’ve got some homework to do. Read through the entire setting and figure out what makes sense to you and what doesn’t, what sounds fun and what doesn’t, etc. I’ll let you in on a “secret” that some gamers don’t like, but that game companies WANT you to know: you paid for the setting, but that doesn’t mean you have to use EVERY rule in the book. If you don’t like a certain part of a setting, change the damn thing! As long as you tell your players up front, so they know what differences to expect, anyone who has a problem with it can go pound sand. You’re in charge, it’s your time, make the game you want to make.

Again, those decisions are all defined by what type of GM you are. Remember when I warned you about that? (Flashback noises go here) Aren’t you glad you did that homework beforehand? Let’s say you want to still be relatively light within the Dark Sun setting, so you want to allow halflings. In Dark Sun, they’ve been wiped out in a genocide, so they don’t exist. But you love halflings, and genocide isn’t very funny, so you’re going to add them back in. Think about how you want that to take place. Will you just tell your players “That never happened, who cares, let’s play”, or will you tell them “The halflings mysteriously came back somehow, and you’ve been sent to investigate”? Those decisions also decide what type of world your players are in, in some subtle ways. In the latter, you have some latitude as to whether your players were sent by someone who is convinced it’s a miracle, or someone who’s convinced it’s a blight on the land. Challenging your players to think about the morality of what they’re doing is a hallmark of a good world, so hopefully you’re throwing in lots of grey areas.

Those grey areas (or the lack thereof) will also tell your players what to expect out of you. If you’re throwing in some murkiness to your world from the get-go, they’ll know that offering a bribe to a guard is a valid option. If you make it clear the world is black and white, they’ll know that offering a guard a bribe is a sure way to start a combat.

Be sure to build in a good variety of locations to your world, even if it’s one sprawling city. Make it a seaside city, so there are docks, but also a city with a forest reaching right up to the gates. Giving your players variety will keep them coming back to see you’ve got in store next, and it keeps you from getting burnt out describing the same inn or tavern every game.

Contrary to the real estate world, location isn’t everything. Your world needs people! And it’s up to you to make them. Have the citizens of your world been beaten down by their harsh lot in life? Are they eternally cheerful? Who knows! Well, you do. Most GMs tend to land on a fairly “realistic” spread of people. Some rich, some poor, some good, some bad. There are interesting stories to be told in “all or nothing” societies, where everyone’s the same, but those stories are a LOT harder to dig out. If you want something easier, just go for the even spread and call it good.

Don’t forget though, the only person who knows what you’ve planned is you. If you get a few months down the line and suddenly want to introduce some grey to your black and white world, do it! Just be sure to make it REALLY clear to your players, or the resulting confusion will set you back a bit. For example: “The guard asks you for a bribe. He says to you ‘Ahh, I see by your faces you were expecting one of these usual brainless simpletons…’ “. Get the picture?

In short, plant lots of potential story hooks in your world , fill it with compelling people, and keep your players in the loop about any changes you’re making to worlds they may be familiar with. That should serve your game well for many months to come.