PODCAST: GAMERS ON THE GO #30 | Record Run

Director of Publishing & PR @Harmonix and Project Lead on @RecordRun, John Drake comes on to talk about the newest mobile game from the music-minded developer.

John gives us a candid rundown of Harmonix’s history with handhelds, the story behind the timing of releasing Record Run during the Amplitude Kickstarter and definitively restates that no, no one is currently working on Rock Band 4 (yet).

Show Notes:

  • Download Record Run on iOS or Google Play for FREE!
  • VidRhythm is also FREE on iOS.
  • This episode was recorded before the news of Harmonix’s restructuring. Read more about that on Polygon.

Podcast: Gamers On The Go #29 | Pokemon Ruby & Sapphire

Former Bitmob community writer, current Destructoid community writer and fellow pokemaniac Marcel Hoang makes his Gamers on the Go debut to discuss Pokemon Ruby & Sapphire, the beginning of the third generation of Pokemon games and a refresh of the popular series. 

Marcel lends his considerable knowledge about competitive Pokemon play, offering a stark contrast to Chase’s “catch ‘em all” attitude.

Sorry about some of the audio issues present in this episode. There was some echo we just couldn’t quite kill. Also, we tried upping the bitrate a little for this episode. Hopefully, we can put it all together in future episodes.

Show Notes:

  • To read Marcel’s full write up on Ruby & Sapphire’s metagame, you can find it on GamesBeat here.
  • Pokemon commercials are always fun. Watch them all at these three links.

GEN CON 2015 WRAP UP THURSDAY, FRIDAY | PART 2

Greetings Nerd Lifers, Gen Con, America’s largest gaming convention has come to an end. I have spent the past few days meandering through narrow corridors lined with vendors and jam packed with over 61,000 people to bring you the latest news in exciting board games and card games! I have such sites to show you! Let us begin!

 

The Manhattan Project

Minion Games quickly sold out of copies of their Manhattan Project board game. A very interesting theme where players place their workers efficiently to help the United States Manhattan project create the worlds first nuclear weapon. An impressive and fun game that also teaches a fascinating history lesson.

 

Mega Man

I wish there were a lot of positive things I could say about Jasco’s Mega Man game. They did absolutely everything they could to pack as many tributes to one of my favorite video game franchises as possible but didn’t focus enough on making an engaging board game.

The miniatures are absolutely stellar, the artwork is impeccable, and the component quality is top notch. All of the delays this game has been facing over the past few years involve the perfectionism of Capcom having a strong hand in the development of the miniatures and overall look of this game. If more attention was payed to the actual game design aspect of Mega Man than the aesthetic we would have a huge hit.

The gameplay is a lot like the final few turns of Munchkin where everyone is playing negative modifiers against one player taking on the role of Mega Man who tries to play a bunch of cards to give positive modifiers all while gambling the amount of dice they will need to roll for a success on their mission. There are many long rounds of this until a player can finally make it far enough to fight a boss battle that has the exact same mechanics as all the rest of the turns. After doing this long nearly hour long process you will have to repeat it with at least 3 other mini bosses to even have a chance at taking on the big boss Dr. Wily. The person doing the demo stated that this process would only take about an hour to an hour and a half but I honestly do not see a way this game could be finished in less than four tedious hours.

It is a terrible shame that such a great property is ruined by such tedious gameplay. The high price tag of $80 will get you some awesome miniatures and maybe you can make your own rules to fix where this game went so wrong.

 

Tail Feathers

Jerry Hawthorne of Plaid Hat Games gave me a look at Tail Feathers, an aerial combat game based in the popular Mice and Mystics Universe. In the bottom image you can see that they are employing an interesting mechanic where you can swivel your miniature to bank in the direction you intend to go. This will play heavily into the strategy of the game which looks to have a lot in common with the Xwing and D&D Attack Wing Miniatures games.

 

Champions of Hara

One of the best games I played all week was Champions of Hara. This game has steampunk adventure and Kung fu fighting all rolled into a beautiful constantly changing colorful universe. I highly suggest getting in on the December pre order for this one.

 

Swords and Strongholds

Being a huge fan of the Mouse Guard comic I had to check out Swords and Strongholds, a game played in the legends of the guard stories. The game is very abstract and tactical and definitely rewards smart play but the $30 price tag kept me away from a game that has so few components but a price drop might be worth the splurge.

 

Tides of Time

This was a great 2 player drafting game with stellar art and a good price at $12. Lots of replay and hard decisions to make each turn. Every couple needs a game like this in their collection.

 

Spectre Ops

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I'm a big fan of hidden movement games like Nuns on the Run and Letters to Whitechapel. This game might have them all beat. A rogue agent must infiltrate a top secret facility and access a certain number of targets before he is captured by a group of super powered hunters. The tension in this game was high from the beginning and escalated all the way to a climactic finish on the last possible turn.

This game will find a spot on my shelf.


 

I hope you enjoyed the first part of my coverage of Gen Con! Keep your eyes peeled for the next installment of my Saturday + Sunday activities as well as reviews of games that I took home from the con!

by: Levi

Gen Con 2015 Wrap Up Thursday, Friday | Part 1

Greetings Nerd Lifers, Gen Con, America’s largest gaming convention has come to an end. I have spent the past few days meandering through narrow corridors lined with vendors and jam packed with over 61,000 people to bring you the latest news in exciting board games and card games! I have such sites to show you! Let us begin!

 

Mars Attacks Miniatures

Mantic games had an amazing scene set up for their Mars Attacks miniatures game. This set up gave a great example of what a little bit of scenery and and paint can do to bring a game to life!

 

Kitsune

Independant Gamers Alliance showed off Kitsune, a game about using different fox spirits to trick a bunch of dupes to gain points. Looks interesting and at times a little awkward…

 

Timid Monsters

Timid Monsters is a great little toy company making great little desk monsters! Check out their lower cost options on their etsy page!

 

Deep Wars

Anti Matter Games showed off their semi aquatic miniatures game Deep Wars. Their representatives touted that the whole game could be distilled down to a one page rulebook or played with a larger more complicated ruleset to accomodate different play styles. The amazing nautilus miniature was cool enough to get me interested in this very cool war game!

 

New Salem

Overworld games was offering demonstrations of their recent kickstarter success, New Salem. The game has different players taking on the roles of witches or puritans in New Salem, each trying to play sets of cards to create positivity or despair in their town. Being able to figure out who the witches are is important to winning the game. I love how the different cards line up to create a full picture in each set.

 

Artifacts Inc.

Artifacts Inc. by Ryan Laukat for Red Raven Games really impressed me! Everyone takes on the roll of 1940s explorers who search for various artifacts to sell to museums. Tight worker placement and drafting mechanics along with a little bit of dice luck and great artwork make for a very fun strategic game!

 

Warpo Toys

Warpo, makers of some very cool 70’s and 80’s style Lovecraftian action figures unveiled their newest toy in the line, a massive 12 inch Cthulhu!

Make sure to check back and check out what we found at Gen Con the rest of the week!

By: Levi

Podcast: Gamers On The Go #26 | SteamWorld Dig

Back from the holidays, we’re starting 2014 right with CEO of Swedish developer Image & Form, Brjann Sigurgeirsson speaking with us about their breakout eShop hit, SteamWorld Dig!

In addition to a fair amount of talk about the mining platforming adventure, we talk about the studio’s early days of “edutainment” games and how they’ve transitioned to original IPs. We also discuss what drew them to developing games for Nintendo handhelds as well as what Image & Form might be up to in the very near future.

Show Notes:

  • While we’re understandably a little biased towards the handheld version of SteamWorld Dig, the Steam version is worth a look and works on Windows, Mac and Linux!
  • To see some of Image & Form’s earlier work, check out their game Anthill on iOS.

The Walking Dead's Emily Kinney Joins Masters Of Sex

From ComicBook.com

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Emily Kinney, the down-home girl next door from AMC's The Walking Dead,will appear on the next season of Masters of Sex.

Entertainment Weekly reports that Kinney, who also made a guest appearance on The Flash last year, "will appear in a multi-episode arc as Nora. As a child, Nora was Bill and Libby Masters’ neighbor. Now in her 20s, poised and brimming with intelligence, Nora volunteers to become a sex surrogate in the next phase of Masters and Johnson’s research."

Fans have speculated that Kinney, whose ouster from The Walking Deadwas surrounded by controversy, would return for more supervillainy, especially since her character was more known in the comics for being a foe of The Atom than The Flash, and Brandon Routh's Ray Palmer will appear in DC's Legends of Tomorrow as a series regular next year.

Masters of Sex returns for its third season on Sunday, July 12, on Showtime.