Wednesday, December 31, 2008
I've got a good feeling about this!
Left 4 Dead is my Game of the Year 2008 and here's why - coming soon!
Beers, Brewers and Beer Festivals of the Year 2008
This year has been a fruitful one for me on the drinking front. Due to Ratebeer being down for most of November, I'm not up to date with my rates, but I estimate that I sampled close to 800 new beers in 2008. There were some exceptional brews among them and if 2009 is even as half as good to me, I'll be a happy man.
Four beer festivals that I attended stand out this year. In February, I was able to attend the Battersea Beer Festival for the first time since 2004 as I wasn't attending Casual Connect in Amsterdam, which had caused me to miss the previous three years. I had a great time hanging out with Maria, Ang, Mes and some of the other Ratebeerians. I had a half dozen superb milds during the festival but the highest score I gave out was for the Alvinne Balthazar (a bottled Belgian ale).
August brings GBBF, the Great British Beer Festival, staged in Earls Court. I took the whole week off work and was able to relax and drink my way through some wonderful beer in the always-pleasant company of the Ratebeer crew. I got through 100 beers in the week and it's very hard to pick a single best one from the top half dozen. De Molen Tsarina Ezra and Lost Abbey Angel's Share are both incredible beers but for something you could drink every day, I'd say Brewdog Speedball. "Class A Strong Ale" indeed.
The following month saw the inaugral European Beer Festival in Copenhagen. This counts as my main holiday of the year I guess - I stayed in the stylish Hotel Fox with Maria and sallied forth to spend a nearly obscene amount of money on beer. I have so many good memories from the trip - standing outside Ølbutikken on a cold Saturday morning for the special Mikkeller "Six Pack" release (120 beer geeks drinking Beer Geek Breakfast for breakfast - superb!) , finally getting my hands on some Kaggen Stormaktsporter again after losing my GBBF 2007 rates, Royce's giant measure of Mikkeller Black, the deserted Heineken bar (with its stunning barmaids), the 'moshpit' around Stand 28 at each Mikkeller hourly release, Maria's tales of her night out with Christian and Jens, drinking 8% American Double IPA for breakfast, playing table football with FatPhil, paying £5 a pint for rubbish beer in the hilarious Scottish theme pub during the post-festival come-down and enjoying a final beer at the Norrebro bar in the airport with Ang. This was the festival of the year for me - outstanding beer, superb company and a lovely atmosphere. Choosing a beer of the festival is very hard, so I'm going to recommend Amager Herr Frederiksen, De Molen Steen & Been and Avery The Maharaja, on top of the Kaggen and anything from Bryggeriet Djævlebryg (see below).
Last but not least, the quietly excellent Eastbourne Beer Festival in October. I picked this festival as it gave me an excellent opportunity to catch up with Roger from the Beachy Head Brewery. He didn't let me down - giving an enjoyable talk on the brewery (with Charlie), showing off his elite Morris Dancing skills and taking home the award for Sussex microbrewed beer of the festival for Legless Rambler! It was a very well-run festival - lots of seating, decent entertainment, a great selection of beers in very good condition, filling food and a good vibe. More info on how it went can be found here. My personal favourite beer of the festival was Welton's Horsham Old Ale.
Picking a brewery of the year is actually easier than choosing a beer of the year, especially as I'm minded to choose a brewery that I wasn't aware of twelve months ago. That said, I'm still going to go with two choices - Bryggeriet Djævlebryg of Copenhagen and Brewdog of Fraserburgh.
Bryggeriet Djævlebryg (literally 'The Brewery Devil's Brew', but I think 'The Devil's Brewery' is a better translation in terms of sense) stood out in the Copenhagen programme with their stylish logo and their unique twist on a charity beer. I worked my way through their restrained seven beer range and can say that there isn't a bad beer among them. For the sheer strength-in-depth quality of their line-up, they've earned the title of brewery of the year. Here's to more from the purveyors of "Satan's Good Ale" in 2009.
On the other side of the North Sea, Brewdog ended up in the headlines when the Portman Group (the drinks industry's own watchdog) attacked them over the wording on some of their labels. However, you should already be following them as they are (in my opinion) showing the way that a new UK micro should conduct themselves. Superb beers backed with bags of attitude, great branding and a sense of adventure. Not content with producing superb Imperial Stouts barrel-aged in whisky casks, they also make very decent amber ales and lagers, not to mention a mild, Edge, that Ratebeer (and I) currently consider the best in the world! They kick off 2009 with an exciting plan to make a true British IPA and able to celebrate a victory for common sense over the Portman Group. More power to their elbow in 2009!
I enjoy reading maeib's Beer of the Month posts on his blog and I'm going to try and post in a similar fashion here in 2009 but for now, here are a few more beers that caught my eye in 2008 and which you really should check out. I may come back to some of these and talk a bit more about them if I get the time. All the beers I recommend in the festival section make this list as well, of course.
Session beers
Alehouse NCR21
Bowman Quiver
Bowman Swift One
Mikkeller Draft Bear (well, I consider it sessionable!)
Milds
Brewdog Edge
Hobson's Mild
Strong dark beers (porters & stouts)
Harvey's Gunpowder (yes, finally got hold of some - thanks Ang!)
Thornbridge St. Petersburg
Brewdog Paradox Smokehead
IPAs
Stone Ruination
Mikkeller Simcoe IPA
Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA
Sours
Phil's Wild Mild (Valley Brew Stockton Sour)
Mikkeller Blueberry Lambic
Rodenbach Vin de Cereale
Other
St. Sylvestre 3 Monts
Ayinger Weiss Bock
Kunkel Alter Kahlgrunder Speierling Apfelwein ;-)
Special beer moment of the year: people who know me well will know that on election days, I like to stay up all night and watch the results come in (while drinking) and I thoroughly enjoyed watching Barack Obama's historic victory on November 4th/5th. I toasted the moment the result became offical with a large bottle of Stone Arrogant Bastard and it tasted fantastic! Interesting note: the beer served at Obama's victory party came from well-regarded local Chicago brewery Goose Island. McCain opted for Budweiser courtesy of his wife's distribution company for his event. Says it all really!
Wrapping things up, here are the beers that I will be seeing the New Year in with. I'm going to finish off 2008 with bottles of Brewdog Zeitgeist and Wye Valley Dorothy Goodbody's Wholesome Stout and then start 2009 with a bottle of Avery New World Porter. It's a new world out there, baby so here's to drinking more fantastic beers in 2009!
Four beer festivals that I attended stand out this year. In February, I was able to attend the Battersea Beer Festival for the first time since 2004 as I wasn't attending Casual Connect in Amsterdam, which had caused me to miss the previous three years. I had a great time hanging out with Maria, Ang, Mes and some of the other Ratebeerians. I had a half dozen superb milds during the festival but the highest score I gave out was for the Alvinne Balthazar (a bottled Belgian ale).
August brings GBBF, the Great British Beer Festival, staged in Earls Court. I took the whole week off work and was able to relax and drink my way through some wonderful beer in the always-pleasant company of the Ratebeer crew. I got through 100 beers in the week and it's very hard to pick a single best one from the top half dozen. De Molen Tsarina Ezra and Lost Abbey Angel's Share are both incredible beers but for something you could drink every day, I'd say Brewdog Speedball. "Class A Strong Ale" indeed.
The following month saw the inaugral European Beer Festival in Copenhagen. This counts as my main holiday of the year I guess - I stayed in the stylish Hotel Fox with Maria and sallied forth to spend a nearly obscene amount of money on beer. I have so many good memories from the trip - standing outside Ølbutikken on a cold Saturday morning for the special Mikkeller "Six Pack" release (120 beer geeks drinking Beer Geek Breakfast for breakfast - superb!) , finally getting my hands on some Kaggen Stormaktsporter again after losing my GBBF 2007 rates, Royce's giant measure of Mikkeller Black, the deserted Heineken bar (with its stunning barmaids), the 'moshpit' around Stand 28 at each Mikkeller hourly release, Maria's tales of her night out with Christian and Jens, drinking 8% American Double IPA for breakfast, playing table football with FatPhil, paying £5 a pint for rubbish beer in the hilarious Scottish theme pub during the post-festival come-down and enjoying a final beer at the Norrebro bar in the airport with Ang. This was the festival of the year for me - outstanding beer, superb company and a lovely atmosphere. Choosing a beer of the festival is very hard, so I'm going to recommend Amager Herr Frederiksen, De Molen Steen & Been and Avery The Maharaja, on top of the Kaggen and anything from Bryggeriet Djævlebryg (see below).
Last but not least, the quietly excellent Eastbourne Beer Festival in October. I picked this festival as it gave me an excellent opportunity to catch up with Roger from the Beachy Head Brewery. He didn't let me down - giving an enjoyable talk on the brewery (with Charlie), showing off his elite Morris Dancing skills and taking home the award for Sussex microbrewed beer of the festival for Legless Rambler! It was a very well-run festival - lots of seating, decent entertainment, a great selection of beers in very good condition, filling food and a good vibe. More info on how it went can be found here. My personal favourite beer of the festival was Welton's Horsham Old Ale.
Picking a brewery of the year is actually easier than choosing a beer of the year, especially as I'm minded to choose a brewery that I wasn't aware of twelve months ago. That said, I'm still going to go with two choices - Bryggeriet Djævlebryg of Copenhagen and Brewdog of Fraserburgh.
Bryggeriet Djævlebryg (literally 'The Brewery Devil's Brew', but I think 'The Devil's Brewery' is a better translation in terms of sense) stood out in the Copenhagen programme with their stylish logo and their unique twist on a charity beer. I worked my way through their restrained seven beer range and can say that there isn't a bad beer among them. For the sheer strength-in-depth quality of their line-up, they've earned the title of brewery of the year. Here's to more from the purveyors of "Satan's Good Ale" in 2009.
On the other side of the North Sea, Brewdog ended up in the headlines when the Portman Group (the drinks industry's own watchdog) attacked them over the wording on some of their labels. However, you should already be following them as they are (in my opinion) showing the way that a new UK micro should conduct themselves. Superb beers backed with bags of attitude, great branding and a sense of adventure. Not content with producing superb Imperial Stouts barrel-aged in whisky casks, they also make very decent amber ales and lagers, not to mention a mild, Edge, that Ratebeer (and I) currently consider the best in the world! They kick off 2009 with an exciting plan to make a true British IPA and able to celebrate a victory for common sense over the Portman Group. More power to their elbow in 2009!
I enjoy reading maeib's Beer of the Month posts on his blog and I'm going to try and post in a similar fashion here in 2009 but for now, here are a few more beers that caught my eye in 2008 and which you really should check out. I may come back to some of these and talk a bit more about them if I get the time. All the beers I recommend in the festival section make this list as well, of course.
Session beers
Alehouse NCR21
Bowman Quiver
Bowman Swift One
Mikkeller Draft Bear (well, I consider it sessionable!)
Milds
Brewdog Edge
Hobson's Mild
Strong dark beers (porters & stouts)
Harvey's Gunpowder (yes, finally got hold of some - thanks Ang!)
Thornbridge St. Petersburg
Brewdog Paradox Smokehead
IPAs
Stone Ruination
Mikkeller Simcoe IPA
Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA
Sours
Phil's Wild Mild (Valley Brew Stockton Sour)
Mikkeller Blueberry Lambic
Rodenbach Vin de Cereale
Other
St. Sylvestre 3 Monts
Ayinger Weiss Bock
Kunkel Alter Kahlgrunder Speierling Apfelwein ;-)
Special beer moment of the year: people who know me well will know that on election days, I like to stay up all night and watch the results come in (while drinking) and I thoroughly enjoyed watching Barack Obama's historic victory on November 4th/5th. I toasted the moment the result became offical with a large bottle of Stone Arrogant Bastard and it tasted fantastic! Interesting note: the beer served at Obama's victory party came from well-regarded local Chicago brewery Goose Island. McCain opted for Budweiser courtesy of his wife's distribution company for his event. Says it all really!
Wrapping things up, here are the beers that I will be seeing the New Year in with. I'm going to finish off 2008 with bottles of Brewdog Zeitgeist and Wye Valley Dorothy Goodbody's Wholesome Stout and then start 2009 with a bottle of Avery New World Porter. It's a new world out there, baby so here's to drinking more fantastic beers in 2009!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Live music is a delight for the soul
Last Saturday I went to see my friend Paul Collins' band, Kill the Captains, play a gig at the Good Ship in Kilburn. I'd not been to a gig in ages and I'd forgotten just how great listening to a good band play live makes you feel. It was also really nice to see Paul for the first time in three years or so! I really should get up to Sheffield more often.
There were six or seven acts playing that night and I caught the last four.
The Vaudeville Class are a three piece who play simple tunes with catchy riffs. They reminded me of The White Stripes and on the tracks where they cranked up the feedback, Zen Guerilla. The delivery during the chorus of "Lost Faith" also reminded me of early Black Sabbath.
Kill The Captains are described on one of their flyers as "like Sonic Youth playing at a school disco" and that's as good a description as I could come up with, I reckon. I enjoyed Paul's previous band, Porlock, and some of the wistfulness of their album remains, now fused with a full-on rocking heaviness. It's always great to watch a band with huge amounts of on-stage energy who are obviously enjoying themselves. Ferocious set-closing new track "Cellar Dweller" (not hard to guess which recent events inspired that) was awesome and could only have been improved by Leon making a Cobain-esque dive into the drum kit.
Audioporn were the penultimate act and provided an immediate visual contrast, taking to the stage in Hives-esque white suits, as opposed to Kill The Captains everyday clothes. I'm generally sceptical of bands who dress up too much and while they were undoubtedly catchy in places, the frontman plainly thinks too much of himself and the nearly 'spoken word' delivery in places left me cold. Cute keyboard player though.
The final act were The I Hearts, who really impressed me. They sound like a mix of Elastica, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, PJ Harvey, The Distillers and NY Loose (all bands I really like!) The effect is further accentuated by great stage presence for a three-piece and a frontwoman who appears to be the bastard daughter of a threesome between Beatrice Dalle, Brody Armstrong and Justine Frischmann. Very much up my street. I grabbed a sampler CD at the first opportunity.
A week on Saturday I'm going to the Earth Vs The Wildhearts 15th Anniversary gig, and while it'll be great to hear one of my all-time favourite bands playing straight through the album and b-sides that turned me on to them, after last weekend I'm determined to go and see more new and/or unsigned bands soon.
There were six or seven acts playing that night and I caught the last four.
The Vaudeville Class are a three piece who play simple tunes with catchy riffs. They reminded me of The White Stripes and on the tracks where they cranked up the feedback, Zen Guerilla. The delivery during the chorus of "Lost Faith" also reminded me of early Black Sabbath.
Kill The Captains are described on one of their flyers as "like Sonic Youth playing at a school disco" and that's as good a description as I could come up with, I reckon. I enjoyed Paul's previous band, Porlock, and some of the wistfulness of their album remains, now fused with a full-on rocking heaviness. It's always great to watch a band with huge amounts of on-stage energy who are obviously enjoying themselves. Ferocious set-closing new track "Cellar Dweller" (not hard to guess which recent events inspired that) was awesome and could only have been improved by Leon making a Cobain-esque dive into the drum kit.
Audioporn were the penultimate act and provided an immediate visual contrast, taking to the stage in Hives-esque white suits, as opposed to Kill The Captains everyday clothes. I'm generally sceptical of bands who dress up too much and while they were undoubtedly catchy in places, the frontman plainly thinks too much of himself and the nearly 'spoken word' delivery in places left me cold. Cute keyboard player though.
The final act were The I Hearts, who really impressed me. They sound like a mix of Elastica, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, PJ Harvey, The Distillers and NY Loose (all bands I really like!) The effect is further accentuated by great stage presence for a three-piece and a frontwoman who appears to be the bastard daughter of a threesome between Beatrice Dalle, Brody Armstrong and Justine Frischmann. Very much up my street. I grabbed a sampler CD at the first opportunity.
A week on Saturday I'm going to the Earth Vs The Wildhearts 15th Anniversary gig, and while it'll be great to hear one of my all-time favourite bands playing straight through the album and b-sides that turned me on to them, after last weekend I'm determined to go and see more new and/or unsigned bands soon.
The Thrill of Discovery
Discovered and read a very interesting book yesterday. It may make a big difference to me. Check back in a year or so.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Things I'm not doing (yet)
Unpacking Wii Fit. Getting ready for the European Beer Festival in Copenhagen this weekend. Writing up my thoughts on the gig that I went to on Saturday night at the Good Ship.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Wow, it's been a long time
There I was, happily blogging away, when real life got in the way a little bit, in the form of upheaval at work mainly. Thankfully, things have mostly sorted themselves out now and I'm hopefully going to be able to post regularly again.
Since I last posted, I've put a lot of time into a number of games, all of which I hope to say something about in coming weeks: Crackdown, Eternal Sonata, The World Ends With You, Mass Effect, Soul Bubbles, Boom Blox, Ticket to Ride, Braid, Elite Beat Agents, Age of Conan, and today, the Fable 2 Pub Games on XBLA.
Some people would argue that gambling is no fun unless it's for real money, but I disagree. I find it strangely relaxing (and almost hypnotic after a while), particularly card games, and Fortune's Tower (the card game in the package) definitely delivers, with its constant stick-or-twist dilemma. Keystone is a more complex form of craps and is good fun too. But the weak link is the Spinnerbox games, which are effectively increasingly complex 'pure chance' fruit machines - pay your money, hit the button, see if you win (but mostly you lose. A lot.)
Despite them, if you enjoy frittering away virtual coinage on games of chance, check out the trial version. If you later buy Fable 2, you can use the game to gamble with your in-game gold, which sounds like a good idea, but will probably lead to virtual bailiffs, virtual gamblers anonymous meetings, etc. Just remember:
Since I last posted, I've put a lot of time into a number of games, all of which I hope to say something about in coming weeks: Crackdown, Eternal Sonata, The World Ends With You, Mass Effect, Soul Bubbles, Boom Blox, Ticket to Ride, Braid, Elite Beat Agents, Age of Conan, and today, the Fable 2 Pub Games on XBLA.
Some people would argue that gambling is no fun unless it's for real money, but I disagree. I find it strangely relaxing (and almost hypnotic after a while), particularly card games, and Fortune's Tower (the card game in the package) definitely delivers, with its constant stick-or-twist dilemma. Keystone is a more complex form of craps and is good fun too. But the weak link is the Spinnerbox games, which are effectively increasingly complex 'pure chance' fruit machines - pay your money, hit the button, see if you win (but mostly you lose. A lot.)
Despite them, if you enjoy frittering away virtual coinage on games of chance, check out the trial version. If you later buy Fable 2, you can use the game to gamble with your in-game gold, which sounds like a good idea, but will probably lead to virtual bailiffs, virtual gamblers anonymous meetings, etc. Just remember:
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Things I learned from videogames #5
The career choice that gives you the most transferable skills is 'plumber'.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
GDC stuff: Layton's apprentice saves the day!
As planned, immediately after arriving in San Francisco, I went and picked up a copy of Professor Layton and the Curious Village. I was chuffed to find it sitting next to Prism: Light the Way and Pony Friends, both of which, friends of mine worked on.
Nintendo were pushing the game hard, which was very pleasing to see, especially as I would not have considered it a 'first rank' title for them. Apart from bus stop adverts and ones plastered directly onto the sidewalk, they also had these fellows roaming the area handing out postcards (pic courtesy of Ricky)
Penny Arcade
God Mode Online
Dueling Analogs
If you too enjoyed the game, there is good news on the horizon with the sequel, Professor Layton and the Devil's Box, apparently due for release in Japan in November. Nintendic also have a nifty photo of a less than 100% English and rather more excitable Layton from the Japanese TV ad.
Nintendo were pushing the game hard, which was very pleasing to see, especially as I would not have considered it a 'first rank' title for them. Apart from bus stop adverts and ones plastered directly onto the sidewalk, they also had these fellows roaming the area handing out postcards (pic courtesy of Ricky)
Ricky has a detailed review of the game up over on Dinomo, so I recommend you check that out. His opening paragraph is about as close to a perfect description of the art style of the game as you are going to get. I got very hooked on it and I finished the game before I left SF for the UK. The art is wonderful, the puzzles are wonderfully varied and the difficulty curve is spot on. "Lovingly crafted" covers pretty much everything in the game. It's well worth importing a copy and I am sure the game will be in my top ten games of 2008 come the end of the year.
Penny Arcade
God Mode Online
Dueling Analogs
If you too enjoyed the game, there is good news on the horizon with the sequel, Professor Layton and the Devil's Box, apparently due for release in Japan in November. Nintendic also have a nifty photo of a less than 100% English and rather more excitable Layton from the Japanese TV ad.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
GDC stuff: IGF finalists
One thing that I found particularly pleasing at GDC was the vibrancy and rude health of the Independent Games Festival. The IGF finalists had a section of the North Hall devoted to them and you could walk along the lines of demo pods and try a great variety of interesting games, while chatting to their creators. Ricky spent even longer there than I did and we spent a lot of time at the weekend comparing notes and discussing the games. You can find the full list of finalists on the IGF website, along with download links for many of the games. Which are your favourites?
I'm looking forward to playing the full versions of Iron Dukes and Crayon Physics in particular. I was really excited by Battelships Forever, but having played it, I think it could do with being slowed down considerably so that you can use your tactical options in a more considered fashion. I'd already played Fret Nice, Cinnamon Beats and Globulos before GDC (through my work) and they are all worth checking out. Ricky highly recommends Ookiblocks and The Misadventures of P.J. Winterbottom.
Monday, March 31, 2008
GDC stuff: "Unannounced: The Game"
I mentioned that Kyle Gray was rumoured to be announcing his new DS project at GDC and indeed, he did, referring to it as "Unannounced: The Game". I won't bother describing it as I advise you to check out the videos below for yourself and make your own mind up.
Here's the footage - I suggest that it is best to the view the videos in this order:
http://gamevideos.com/video/id/17596
http://gamevideos.com/video/id/17595
http://gamevideos.com/video/id/17593
“And then you go on a killing rampage, because that’s what English people in giant mechs do.” Awesome.
http://gamevideos.com/video/id/17596
http://gamevideos.com/video/id/17595
http://gamevideos.com/video/id/17593
“And then you go on a killing rampage, because that’s what English people in giant mechs do.” Awesome.
Other coverage of the "Tale of Two Kyles" talk can be found at these news outlets:
Sunday, March 30, 2008
New look
I've now got a colour scheme and a layout for the blog that I'm very happy with and likewise a great header, achieved with a little help from my best friend Dave. He's currently working on a very different sort of beer rating site, which I'm really looking forward to seeing. In the meantime, check out his lovely Colourcountry.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
GDC stuff: Pick a card, any card
This year I caught up (once again) with Randy Pitchford, head of Gearbox Software. Apart from being a great guy to talk business with, Randy is also an accomplished magician. He was inspired to take up magic by the fact that his great uncle was the celebrated magician, Cardini.
He always has a pack of cards in his pocket and if you ask nicely, he's happy to bust out a few tricks, which is a refreshing break from the endless grind of commercial meetings. I love talents/skills that people can take anywhere with them and it's great to be utterly bemused by simple sleight of hand now and then.
Also, Gearbox are doing some interesting projects at the moment - Borderlands, Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway and a game based on a movie you might have heard of.
He always has a pack of cards in his pocket and if you ask nicely, he's happy to bust out a few tricks, which is a refreshing break from the endless grind of commercial meetings. I love talents/skills that people can take anywhere with them and it's great to be utterly bemused by simple sleight of hand now and then.
Also, Gearbox are doing some interesting projects at the moment - Borderlands, Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway and a game based on a movie you might have heard of.
GDC stuff: No-one's gonna eat your eyes
The highlight of my week at GDC was seeing Jonathan Coulton perform live at the Steam party.
The set list was (as I recall) :
The Future Soon
Code Monkey
I Feel Fantastic
Re: Your Brains (a great singalong - I can sing as a zombie!)
Skullcrusher Mountain
and...
...culminated in a rousing performance of Still Alive inside Rock Band, ably supported by Harmonix dudes on guitar, bass and drums, and cheered on by pretty much everyone in the place.
GLaDOS would have been proud. Give that man some cake.
The set list was (as I recall) :
The Future Soon
Code Monkey
I Feel Fantastic
Re: Your Brains (a great singalong - I can sing as a zombie!)
Skullcrusher Mountain
and...
...culminated in a rousing performance of Still Alive inside Rock Band, ably supported by Harmonix dudes on guitar, bass and drums, and cheered on by pretty much everyone in the place.
GLaDOS would have been proud. Give that man some cake.
Monday, March 3, 2008
GDC stuff: Naming
The best possible name for an outsourcing studio specialising in graphical assets for FPS games is ALREADY TAKEN.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Things I learned from videogames #4
It is unwise to store your valuables in prominently displayed, extremely fragile earthenware vessels.
Out there having fun, in the warm California sun
Tomorrow morning, I'm off to the Games Developers Conference in San Francisco. As usual, I've not begun packing until the last minute, choosing instead to play Mercury Meltdown Revolution and Zendoku.
I don't get to attend any of the talks at the conference as I'm stuck in meetings all day every day, but I was intrigued by the following rumour on Surfer Girl Reviews Star Wars regarding an announcement by Kyle Gray regarding the new original DS title he is working on. Kyle Gray is the founder of The Experimental Gameplay Project so he knows his gameplay onions. He now works for EA Tiburon in Florida.
Surfer Girl wrote the following:
"The title Kyle Gray is toiling on over at Tiburon is not just good, is not just addictive and utterly intoxicating, it is a sublime experience that is the best DS game coming out this year. Maybe he'll say something about it next week, maybe Tuesday, maybe between 10 and 11 AM. "
Always good to see more original titles for DS. Speaking of which, I'll be picking up Professor Layton and the Curious Village as soon as I arrive in SF.
I don't get to attend any of the talks at the conference as I'm stuck in meetings all day every day, but I was intrigued by the following rumour on Surfer Girl Reviews Star Wars regarding an announcement by Kyle Gray regarding the new original DS title he is working on. Kyle Gray is the founder of The Experimental Gameplay Project so he knows his gameplay onions. He now works for EA Tiburon in Florida.
Surfer Girl wrote the following:
"The title Kyle Gray is toiling on over at Tiburon is not just good, is not just addictive and utterly intoxicating, it is a sublime experience that is the best DS game coming out this year. Maybe he'll say something about it next week, maybe Tuesday, maybe between 10 and 11 AM. "
Always good to see more original titles for DS. Speaking of which, I'll be picking up Professor Layton and the Curious Village as soon as I arrive in SF.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Sunday, February 10, 2008
The best four letter word
Yes, I'm talking about beer, my other hobby. I spent the second half of the week attending the 18th Battersea beer festival, sampling more than 50 different real ales from around the UK and beyond. I had a great time, due to excellent beer and excellent company but I'm certainly going to be taking it easy for a while after consuming a prodigious quantity of the lovely stuff.
Expect to see more posts regarding beer in the future, but for the moment, if you're interested in what I've been drinking, have a look at my Ratebeer page, which can be found here. Ratebeer is an excellent resource for keeping track of beers you've drunk, finding interesting new beers to drink and interesting places to drink them in. I heartily recommend it.
One of the hot topics in the real ale world is "beer matching" which means partnering certain styles of beer with certain types of food, in the same way that different wines are paired up with different dishes. I think it's a great initiative as it will help people realise that there is as a great a variety of beer as there is of wine and that beer is perfectly good alternative to drink with a meal.
It also got me thinking as to whether the concept of beer matching could be extended to games. I regularly enjoy a glass or two of a good ale whilst I game and I think there's potential to recommend certain styles to go with certain game genres. A rich old ale to be drunk slowly while contemplating your turn in a strategy game, a hoppy pale ale to be quaffed between rounds of a FPS and perhaps a mild for sipping during the lengthy cutscenes of a Japanese RPG. Cheers!
Expect to see more posts regarding beer in the future, but for the moment, if you're interested in what I've been drinking, have a look at my Ratebeer page, which can be found here. Ratebeer is an excellent resource for keeping track of beers you've drunk, finding interesting new beers to drink and interesting places to drink them in. I heartily recommend it.
One of the hot topics in the real ale world is "beer matching" which means partnering certain styles of beer with certain types of food, in the same way that different wines are paired up with different dishes. I think it's a great initiative as it will help people realise that there is as a great a variety of beer as there is of wine and that beer is perfectly good alternative to drink with a meal.
It also got me thinking as to whether the concept of beer matching could be extended to games. I regularly enjoy a glass or two of a good ale whilst I game and I think there's potential to recommend certain styles to go with certain game genres. A rich old ale to be drunk slowly while contemplating your turn in a strategy game, a hoppy pale ale to be quaffed between rounds of a FPS and perhaps a mild for sipping during the lengthy cutscenes of a Japanese RPG. Cheers!
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Things I learned from videogames #2
Castles are like pockets. The thing you are looking for is never in the first one you look in.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
War? It's good for targeted advertising.
Over the last few days I've been enjoying Warbook - a little kingdom sim on Facebook. You try and grow your kingdom by conquest, building an army to invade other kingdoms and steal their land and gold (and presumably put their villages to fire and of course, the sword) which leads to retaliation against your kingdom, which in turn suffers the same fate.
Balancing the various building types on your land is key to success. You can build mines for cash, forts for defence, training grounds for attack, barracks to reduce unit costs and amplifiers and barriers to improve magical attack and defence; BUT the bonuses are based on the percentage of your land devoted to that building type, so it is a constant balancing act. Likewise, your army (with various unit types) is expensive to keep - have too big a standing army and you will be secure, but your treasury will be so empty you won't be worth robbing anyway. On the other hand, keep too small a garrison, and while you will earn lots of cash, much of it will be stolen from you regularly.
You can also choose from a variety of starting classes that give you bonuses to some skills and different elite units. I'm playing as a Magician, so I can magic gold out of thin air into my coffers and hurl fireballs at my opponents' armies. Sweet.
As a Facebook (and Bebo) app, the game is free to play, but features ads on some screens. I'd probably be prepared to pay a couple of pounds for an ad-free version, simply because I don't want to see yet another video banner for Adam Sandler's latest opus. I can live with the rest.
Balancing the various building types on your land is key to success. You can build mines for cash, forts for defence, training grounds for attack, barracks to reduce unit costs and amplifiers and barriers to improve magical attack and defence; BUT the bonuses are based on the percentage of your land devoted to that building type, so it is a constant balancing act. Likewise, your army (with various unit types) is expensive to keep - have too big a standing army and you will be secure, but your treasury will be so empty you won't be worth robbing anyway. On the other hand, keep too small a garrison, and while you will earn lots of cash, much of it will be stolen from you regularly.
You can also choose from a variety of starting classes that give you bonuses to some skills and different elite units. I'm playing as a Magician, so I can magic gold out of thin air into my coffers and hurl fireballs at my opponents' armies. Sweet.
As a Facebook (and Bebo) app, the game is free to play, but features ads on some screens. I'd probably be prepared to pay a couple of pounds for an ad-free version, simply because I don't want to see yet another video banner for Adam Sandler's latest opus. I can live with the rest.
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