As a tablet OS, Windows 8 is pretty decent. I don’t have a problem with the Start screen in theory. But I spend 8+ hours a day in front of a PC doing real work and that means using a desktop OS. Windows 8 includes the desktop but it relegates that to being a program you run from the Start screen. What we really want is to get the good stuff in Windows 8 (faster performance, new Modern app support, etc.) without the negatives. That’s where Object Desktop comes in! ...
Master of Magic is a beloved classic for old-time strategy games ever. It had a game design that has not been equaled to (imo) since in many respects. So why hasn’t anyone made a Master of Magic 2 or a remake of it? The answer is that the rights to this game are a tangled web. Our story begins in 1994. Master of Magic was designed by Steve Barcia, one of the greatest game designers in our industry’s history. That is not something I say lightly. At his level of game desig...
Did anyone else watch the Microsoft unveiling of the Xbox One? I was embarrassed for them. Seriously, do they even have gamers involved anymore over there? It’s like more and more decisions at Microsoft are being made by aging business fraternity people.
Disclaimer: This is an example of a game of Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes. For my own personal enjoyment, I create my own backstories and motivations for what occurs in a given game. In reality, Fallen Enchantress games are played in a “sandbox”. That is, the world is randomly generated and what happens changes from game to game. This story is about one particular game. The world you see described here will never happen again nor will the events ever be repeated because...
Putting aside the debate over whether the I in Into is capitalized or not, the movie was terrific. No spoilers in this post. Having managed to avoid spoilers going into the theater I was surprised again and again as the movie progressed. It’s very much a character driven story. Sure, there are some great special effects and some surprisingly detailed depictions of Earth in the 23rd century (more than I think we’ve ever gotten in a Star Trek film). Because of th...
Understand, I love Starcraft. But I finally got to the point where I can’t play it anymore and have fun. I’m a low-level “Gold” league player. And the problem (for me) is that at a certain point, it’s really about the micro of the units. I managed to get to the level I was at because I’m pretty good at macro – I play as a virus that is always trying to spread across the map and unless you counter me consistently, it’ll eventually all be mine. But at a certain poin...
Our background orchard has an apriary. I lost most of my hives this past year. Some of it due to CCD and some of it due to kids with too much time on their hands who come over and knock over the beehives from time to time (and tear off the no trespassing signs). I could probably write a lengthy article on the cultural rot of upper-middle class teenagers who don’t have jobs, have never had to do anything and have a lot of free time to get into trouble. But that’s a different topic....
3D Printing seems to have crossed a major mile stone in that a start-up, called Defense Distributed, has used a 3D printer to create a working gun. It’s still mostly a curiosity since the cost to make such a gun and that it isn’t yet very robust still keeps it firmly in the early adopter era. So here’s what I’ve found out so far : No matter which printer you get, the materials for it are currently over $100 a pound. To me, that makes it fairly impractical for most uses. I could imagi...
Once upon a time… Thousands of years ago, the world of Elemental was filled with magic. This was the time of the Magi. In their quest to create ever more powerful magical devices, the Magi foolishly created The Forge of the Overlord. It allowed its users to bend the fabric of reality entirely. It also brought their world to the attention of the Dred'nir, immortal Titans who lived beyond the world. They arrived and utterly destroyed the Magi and enslav...
Ok. So who’s going to see this? So far, I’ve managed to stay spoiler free.
Stardock’s lead game developer, Cari “Elf” Begle, who led the effort in Galactic Civilizations I, The Political Machine, Galactic Civilizations II and part of Fallen Enchantress (until she went on maternity leave) will be leaving us on May 1 to focus on being a mom. She’s one of the most wonderful people I’ve ever met. She’s an amazing developer, a kind hearted person and is always eager to take on new challenges. She was the one who did most of our network programming (including the mult...
My wife and I saw this on Friday. I won’t put any spoilers in this post but suffice to say I was fairly disappointed. Tom Cruise did about all he could do with it and the production values were amazing but the story fell flat for me. 6/10.
Stardock is pleased to announce that the release date to the expansion to its popular fantasy strategy game, Fallen Enchantress has been set as Wednesday, May 22nd. The expansion, Fallen Enchantress – Legendary Heroes, picks up where Fallen Enchantress left off. The world of Elemental is seeing new monsters invading the land and new champions have arisen to aid the player in their quest to bring order and civilization back to the people. The expansion is loaded with new features in...
Stardock is pleased to announce that the release date to the expansion to its popular fantasy strategy game, Fallen Enchantress has been set as Wednesday, May 22nd. The expansion, Fallen Enchantress – Legendary Heroes, picks up where Fallen Enchantress left off. The world of Elemental is seeing new monsters invading the land and new champions have arisen to aid the player in their quest to bring order and civilization back to the people. The expansion is loaded with new features in...