Crafting a Better Minecraft

Posted by Radiostorm 05.16.2012 1 Comment

Minecraft has been good to me. I’ve garnered dozens (if not hundreds) of hours of entertainment out of the twenty dollar indie title, making it the most cost effective game I’ve ever owned. Every time I think I’ve tapped Minecraft for all it’s worth, I find myself pulled back into the game.

That being said, Minecraft isn’t perfect. The official release at the end of last year was lackluster and incomplete, and patches to remedy the problems it introduced have been sporadic and unsatisfying. Enchanting and alchemy are still unwieldy machinations, the final boss fight is not worth the time or effort, and dozens of promised and desirable features have fallen to the wayside. Six months after release, Minecraft is still an unfinished game.

This article isn’t going to a testament on what is right and wrong in the world of Notch. I’ll leave that weighted dilemma for the talented community of modders to figure out. Instead I’d like to propose features that would rekindle my own interest in the game.

Ponies


State of The World (Is Square): May 14th

Posted by Michael 05.14.2012 1 Comment

All of you TWIS regulars out there may have noticed that things have been rather quiet around here lately. After returning from my vacation I found myself drained both physically and creatively, and I haven’t really been posting on the blog as often as I could/should. Radiostorm has been kind enough to keep posting during the last couple weeks (a period of time which I now refer to as “the lazening”), and his efforts have kept TWIS from becoming a static web page.

But as the saying goes, this period of inactivity is simply the calm before the storm. Starting next week TWIS will be kicking into high gear with a new update schedule and a couple big announcements. The announcements most certainly have to do with Unearthed, but for now I will not divulge any more details beyond that.

Well, perhaps just one tidbit: expect to see game progress updates on the blog very soon.

As for the new website update schedule, it should go a little something like this:

  • Mondays: I will be posting long-form blog posts. These could be anything from Unearthed updates to articles about video games and nerd culture.

The Elder Scrolls Online: It Might Not Fail

Posted by Radiostorm 05.07.2012 No Comments

An Elder Scrolls MMORPG. How about that?

In a previous article, I made reference to a trio of qualities an MMORPG needs to possess in order to succeed: money, intellectual property, and circumstance. The Elder Scrolls Online might be able to pull off a hat trick in this regard. Zenimax Online Studios is well funded, and the company’s been handed one of the most lucrative roleplaying franchises of the past decade. The monolithic success of Skyrim and the waning popularity of World of Warcraft also leaves a comfortable niche for The Elder Scrolls Online to fill. There’s never a surefire success in the world of MMORPGs, but The Elder Scrolls Online is the safest bet I’ve seen in a while.

Well it may ultimately be a winner, I’m not particularly excited for the game. Despite my love of the roleplaying genre, I’ve never been able to sink my teeth into The Elder Scrolls series. Tamriel has always been a fundamentally flawed world to me, haunted by glass-eyed NPCs, recycled monsters, and uninteresting scenery. Although Bethesda has acquiesced the helm to a different studio this time around, I worry that these same flaws will taint the online iteration of the series.


Pathfinder Society: An Argument for Rebuilding

Posted by Radiostorm 04.30.2012 No Comments

Pathfinder Society

Pathfinder Society Organized Play is great. It allows players to participate in short, four-hour Pathfinder adventures without having to commit to the rigorous schedule of a home game. Overall I’m impressed with Paizo’s handling of the initiative, but in recent weeks my local Pathfinder lodge has been faced with a pressing problem: we’ve run out of low level modules to play and lack high enough level characters to progress to the more advanced ones.

Half of this is our own fault. Our game masters should have discouraged players from wantonly creating new character after new character. Because of this schizophrenic play style, many of our regulars field four or five different characters that all have yet to hit the crucial level five milestone. However, I feel this drive to cycle through characters is a symptom of an intrinsic shortcoming of Pathfinder Society Organized Play.

As it stands, there is no mechanic in Pathfinder Society Organized Play to rebuild an established character. Barring an extreme circumstance such as errata to the core rules, once a skill, feat, or trait is chosen, it is locked in permanently. Put bluntly, this is a draconian measure that only services to discourage players from advancing beyond the first or second tier.


Nerd Tour of Toronto: Part 3

Posted by Michael 04.27.2012 No Comments

Being a gigantic geek, one of my first priorities while exploring the city of Toronto was to find the best nerd sanctuaries. Video game boutiques, comic book shops and traditional PnP/board game stores were all within my purview. Through my years of exploring I have found a wide variety locations; ranging from well known locales to hole-in-the-wall, diamonds in the rough.

For the benefit of all my fellow Canadian dweebs out there, I have compiled my list of the top hot-spots in Toronto. For post number one, I explored some of the great locations found in The Annex region of the city. The week after, I focused in on three gaming locales found scattered around the downtown core.

This week I’ll be listing off a couple very popular locations that people would likely harass me for not mentioning.

 

The Silver Snail

What can I really say about The Silver Snail? It is by far the most famous nerd emporium in the city, and over its 35+ year existence it has been visited by movie stars, famous authors and prolific artists. Located on the once bookish but now trendy Queen Street West, it holds one of the greatest collections of nerd paraphenalia in the world.


Nerd Tour of Toronto: Part 2

Posted by Michael 04.25.2012 No Comments

Being a gigantic geek, one of my first priorities while exploring the city was to find the best nerd sanctuaries. Video game boutiques, comic book shops and traditional PnP/board game stores were all within my purview. Through my years of exploring I have found a wide variety locations; ranging from well known locales to hole-in-the-wall, diamonds in the rough.

For the benefit of all my fellow Canadian dweebs out there, I have compiled my list of the top hot-spots in Toronto.  Last week I started off with four great places found in The Annex region of the city.

This week I’ll focus in on three gaming locales found scattered around the downtown core.

The Hairy Tarantula

The Hairy Tarantula has multiple locations across Toronto, but the most accessible is the one found tucked away just north of Yonge-Dundas Square. You may have a bit of trouble finding the place; the main entry point is an unassuming stairwell wedged between a sports apparel store and a tattoo/piercing joint. It isn’t until you ascend to the second floor that the store is truly revealed to you.


Nerd Tour of Toronto: Part 1

Posted by Michael 04.23.2012 No Comments

I’ve always loved my hometown of Toronto, but it wasn’t until I was in my early 20s did I begin to fully explore the city. There is so much to discover, and  all the great independent shops that line the streets of the city. There’s a little something for all interests, whether you’re looking for food, clothing, books and so much more.

Being a gigantic geek, one of my first priorities while exploring the city was to find the best nerd sanctuaries. Video game boutiques, comic book shops and traditional PnP/board game stores were all within my purview. Through my years of exploring I have found a wide variety locations; ranging from well known locales to hole-in-the-wall, diamonds in the rough.

For the benefit of all my fellow Canadian dweebs out there, I have compiled my list of the top hot-spots in Toronto. I will be releasing them in small batches over the next few weeks as part of the Nerd Tour of Toronto series. I’ll start things off today with four great places found in The Annex region of the city.


Podcast #6 1/2: Let’s Play Super Smash TV

Posted by Michael 04.21.2012 No Comments

Every week Michael, Mathew and Geoff chat about video games, pop culture and movies while playing a pair of vintage games. The first game each week is a surprise; selected by Michael and not revealed until the beginning of the podcast. The second is an ongoing game, selected by Matt and Geoff and played in segments.

This week’s one and only game is Super Smash TV for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

Stay tuned next week for another exciting The World Is Square Podcast.

Dear Esther Review

Posted by Michael 04.20.2012 No Comments

Released: Feb 14th | Developer: thechineseroom & Robert Briscoe (written by Dan Pinchbeck)

Dear Esther is a self-described “experimental adventure video game” originally released as a Source engine mod back in 2008, and revamped in 2012 by thechineseroom in cooperation with the ever generous Indie Fund organization. The Indie Fund has been involved in quite a few prolific hits over the last few years – World of Goo, Braid and Audiosurf, to name a few – so my expectations were very high for this particular title.

Just as a note to the unwary: do not purchase Dear Esther and expect a traditional video game experience. Goals are ambiguous, gaming standbys (experience points, puzzles, enemies) are tossed to the wind, and there is no tutorial level to send you off on your way. What we have here is a fine example of pure visual storytelling; a true rarity in an age of attention deficit gaming.

At its heart, Dear Esther revolves around a few simple game mechanics. The player takes the role of an unseen and unnamed protagonist, who inexplicably finds himself stranded on a mysterious deserted isle. As the protagonist explores the strange environments strewn across the island he triggers a series of voice-overs; framed as letter fragments intended for a woman named Esther.


Rayman Origins Review

Posted by Radiostorm 04.18.2012 No Comments

Rayman OriginsRayman has long been the dark horse of the platforming genre. The armless wonder has starred in a series of stellar game dating back to 1995, but he has never received the same household recognition as his competitors Mario and Sonic. It’s a shame, because his latest adventure, Rayman Origins, is one of the finest 2D platformers to be released in years.

The subtitle “origins” is a bit of a misnomer. The game isn’t a prequel and doesn’t provide a backstory for the titular character. In fact, asides from a brief cutscene at the beginning of the game, there really isn’t much of a narrative propelling Rayman Origins at all. And you know what? That’s perfectly fine. There are items to collect, creatures to save, and monsters to smash, and it couldn’t matter less why. It’s a simple formula that worked for Super Mario Bros and Sonic the Hedgehog, and it works fine here too.

Rayman Origins


Page 1 of 2212345»1020...Last »