Deathwatch Intro/Sample adventure released

So as those one or two people who read this already know (two if we count myself AND the person who got to this blog by clicking the wrong link): I have been super-excited for Fantasy Flight Game's new RPG Deathwatch. Today I saw that they have posted a sample introductory adventure to give the gaming community a peek at what we can look forward to in September. So head on overand check out Final Sanction.

Civilization

MMOs and Starcraft are killing Koreans left and right, but I think there is one highly overlooked game series which dwarfs these in their time-killing power.

Sid Meier’s Civilization

Let’s put aside the fact that Sid Meier is the gaming equivalent of the greasy bastard that invented free-basing and focus on the game for now.

I got my first copy from a friend of mine who handed it off to me in the same kind of burned-CD that I used in those glory days when I was unemployed and still in school. The game had been around for a while, but I hadn’t heard of it. It was a conversation about world conquest I think that sparked the idea of introducing me to the game.

On the disc was a copy of Civilization II Gold Edition and though it couldn’t hold a candle to the graphics of Star Craft or the pace of Half Life. Still I was engrossed. So the stacks of other burned games sat for a long time collecting dust as hours fell from the clock. To this day I feel sorry for some of that neglect…my poor copy of Baldur’s Gate II…

When Civ III came out I was exuberant, but was quickly disappointed as the controls were awkward and the game felt all around too slow. I didn’t care though, I still had Civ II…and I would install/uninstall it over the course of the first decade of the new millennium. I was happy with it, and when the fourth rendition of the game came out I was pretty indifferent. My sister picked it up and had a blast, but even the promise of hearing Leonard Nimoy announcing “I AM the state” was not enough to dissuade me.

But, where reason fails sometimes wallets prevail, and a few months ago Steam offered another one of their ridiculously cheap sales, and for what I think was around ten or fifteen bucks I got the Civ IV bundle with all the expansions. I tinkered with it and was impressed, but at the time and full knowledge of what kind of time-sink the game is, I had to break myself from it till I had the time.

Now…I have that time, and last week I re-installed it. I am LOVING it. There is the thrill of marching hapless units to their deaths in a pointless attempt to take a city for the sole purpose of personal amusement. There is the Machiavellian joy of watching your enemies slowly fold and convert as your cultural influence consumes their cities. And the melancholy of having a city brought low by plague (How was I supposed to know I had to build a fucking Aqueduct!)

I regularly jump on for five minutes and spend two or three hours on the game.

In the grim darkness of the future...there is only awesome (Maybe)...

I found this yesterday and immediately skipped like a small child over to facebook to post it on a few friend's pages. One of whom is the infamous Milday Geek. She sited me as a source so I am reverse-sourcing her to this awesome sauce clip to what may potentially draw me back into the soulless void that is MMOs.



*drrrrrooooolllll*

I have always loved the grim darkness of the 41st millenium and just about anything Warhammer. I have been collecting the miniatures for close to a decade and have immersed myself in every aspect of the fluff I could get my greedy hands on.

The only thing that really stands out in my mind as a sense of disatisfaction is with Warhammer Online. I did a trial and played it for maybe about an hour, if that, hoping and hoping that the reviews were wrong and I could claim some new sense of fun and novelty. Needless to say, I didn't. What I got was a bland experience that just felt like WoW with a different set of animation.

I love this Penny Arcade comic as Tychos BEST SPEECH EVER...but in this topic I sadly have to site it with a nod of agreement to Gabe's comic in the first panel.
So, I am understandably hesitant for Dark Millenium Online. On the one hand I could potentially get to tear up shit as a Chainsword wielding member of the Adeptus Astartes (or Space Marines for you mere mortals)...on the other this could just turn into an expirience as disappointing as its fantasy equivalent.

Come on...who WOULDN'T want to play as someone this bad ass?
I will, of course still sign up for the beta.

Now, it should be noted that I am a recovered WoW player. I used to enjoy exploring its expansive world and hanging out with friends with it. After several years of playing on and off due to work issues I eventually quit after growing tired of repetitive gameplay, constant guild bickering, and a general sense of disinterest in what I was getting for what I was paying for it.

This news also comes at the heels of the announcement of a new paper-and-pencil RPG from the makers of Rogue Trader and Dark Heresy: Deathwatch. In this one you play as the near god-like Space Marines sent against the myriad alien horrors that assail mankind. This version of the Fantasy Flight produced 40K RPG series should be a lot more action oriented as you are tasked to track down, flush out, purge clean, and generally wipe out any foul bug-eyed Xenos out there.

"Suffer Not the Alien to Live" - Moto of both the Deathwatch and the Arizona Department of Immigration

(Drawn by DarkLostSoul86 on DeviantArt)