Games

“Dishonored” (2012) is one of my favorite games in quite some time. I haven’t put as many hours into it as I have into, say, “Endless Space” or “XCOM: Enemy Unknown”, but it has a moral resonance, stealth flavor, and a multipath openness that’s refreshing, particularly when compared to “Tomb Raider” (2013). I’ve played the [...]

Continue reading about “Dishonored DLC: The Knife of Dunwall” — a brief review w/spoilers

[UPDATED AND REVISED 03/08/13 1423 MST] I completed Tomb Raider last night; while I did use walkthroughs for a few segments (without shame, I might add), I mostly did it on my own. Total playing time was a bit over 20 hours. Even though — as I note below — there are some aspects to [...]

Continue reading about Tomb Raider 2003: A no-longer-brief (and now final) review w/spoilers [UPDATED]

bfwebster on July 6th, 2012

I have been playing computer games off and on since the mid-70s (“Star Trek” on the  DECSystem-10 at BYU) and did game design and development myself in the 80s (Sundog: Frozen Legacy) while also writing for two gaming publications (The Space Gamer and Computer Gaming World). My favorite genre over the decades has been the [...]

Continue reading about Endless Space from Amplitude Studios — a review

bfwebster on June 11th, 2010

SunDog was the Apple II computer game (later ported to the Atari ST) that Wayne Holder and I (with others) did at FTL Games some 25+ years ago.  This video looks as though it came right out of the game. ..bruce w..

Continue reading about This could almost be a “SunDog” music video

bfwebster on February 2nd, 2010

I must confess affection for a video game ad that starts by quoting the opening lines of “The Inferno” by Dante — and then segues into into battle sequences that look like a cross between “God of War” and “Left 4 Dead”. ..bruce w..

Continue reading about Ah, if Dante were only alive today

bfwebster on April 6th, 2009

MORNING LINKS — get ‘em while they’re fresh ITEM:  “Should war be a game?“ is the fatuous subhead of the day, from an article talking about a new videogame recreating the battle for Fallujah (Iraq). The reporter shows no awareness that wargames have been around for centuries and that most of them do indeed “use [...]

Continue reading about Monday yawns

bfwebster on March 28th, 2009

MORNING LINKS (Gotta post!) ITEM: Hey, “Earth Hour” is tonight, another blip of self-congratulatory, feel-good environmental idiocy and irrelevance. Here’s how I think we should really celebrate Earth Hour (from Lucifer’s Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle; and if you haven’t read it lately, why the hell not?): Be the First In Your Block [...]

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bfwebster on February 26th, 2009

They prepare us for that which is to come: Are Violent Video Games Adequately Preparing Children For The Apocalypse? Heh.  ..bruce w..

Continue reading about Why video games matter

bfwebster on June 9th, 2008

…the Onion plays with all our minds: ‘Warcraft’ Sequel Lets Gamers Play A Character Playing ‘Warcraft’ Heh. ..bruce w..

Continue reading about And speaking of scary…

bfwebster on May 23rd, 2008

James Lileks on changes in American childhood: I don’t think they had soccer balls in North Dakota until 1981; it was brought in on a special train and placed behind glass and people got to walk around it and get close, if they felt comfortable, and become accustomed to its strange surface. It is faceted, [...]

Continue reading about Soccer memories