First Person Indie Wanderfests

You know, I don't seem to post very often. This particular one I've actually been meaning to do for quite a while; I started back in mid-June. I even finished writing it a week ago, but I just have had trouble making the time to post it. I actually have some 15 posts in various stages of completion right now, but I just cant seem to get around to finishing any of them up. Ah well. If you're reading this, that means that this one actually got posted, so I suppose that's a win for me.

So there was a Steam sale recently, and I decided to take that opportunity to pick up a couple of games that I had been meaning to for a while: Gone Home and The Stanley Parable. Well, I actually picked up Gone Home during a Humble Store sale, but let's not worry about the details...

As you may be aware, I absolutely love story-driven games (see Alan Wake), and one of the places that you can find an abundance of stories is in the indie game sphere (see To the Moon). A while ago, I heard rumblings in the video games community about this game called Dear Esther, and decided that it was the exact sort of game that was right up my alley. I picked it up, gave it a playthrough, and enjoyed it for what it was. A little while later, I heard about a Source mod called The Stanley Parable, which seemed like it fit into the same general category, so I downloaded that and ended up enjoying it immensely.

Now, a year or so after finishing those games, I've been hearing about Gone Home, another similar game (which I've now played). I've decided to label this style of game as a First Person Indie Wanderfest, because this is basically what the whole game is like: it's from a first person perspective, and as you walk around the carefully crafted environments, a narrator talks based on where you are and what you're looking at. That's... really all there is to it. I figured that this would be a good time to give my thoughts of these games, going through them in the order that I played them.

Caddo Crunch Saga: Ludum Jam

Well that was a busy weekend.

I just spent the past three days making a video game, and it turned out better than I was expecting. This past weekend was the Ludum Jam (or Ludum Dare if you follow some different rules), a video game making competition. The rules are pretty simple: you have 72 hours to make a video game based around a theme that they supply. You can work on a team, and pretty much anything goes. My roommate and I are both graduating this semester and we have officially finished classes, so we we figured "what the heck, why not?" and just went for it.

World of Girls und Panzer

So this isn't exactly breaking news any more, but it's still recent. Wargaming.net, the company behind the free-to-play pc game World of Tanks just announced that it will be launching in Japan this fall on September 5th. In order to help make the launch successful, they will be doing a collaboration with the recent anime Girls und Panzer. The details of the collaboration have not yet been announced.

Let me start off by saying... You have no idea how excited I am! I watched the Girls und Panzer anime back in the spring, and it was amazing! Actually, that show is the reason that I started to play World of Tanks. I was watching one of my friends play the game, and it looked like a lot of fun. Then he said "It's basically Girls und Panzer the game," and I knew I had to try it. I just have my four year old laptop, so I tend not to play pc games because it usually starts crying when I try to run them (i.e. over half of the time I played Batman: Arkham Asylum it was running at about 5 frames per second). But this game looked worth the risk, and it was free, so I figured, why not?

My First Con: RWBY at RTX

Well, now that RWBY has been premiered, I think that it's about time for me to write up my time at RTX. By which I mean that I should have done this sooner, but I'm only getting around to it now so that I don't fall too far behind current. For those of you who don't know, RTX stands for "Rooster Teeth Expo." Not that it's any clearer what that means if you haven't heard of Rooster Teeth...

Rooster Teeth is an production company that makes TV series for the internet. Their most famous series (and the one that started them off) is Red vs. Blue, a machinima (which means that it is filmed in a video game, specifically Halo). Red vs. Blue has actually just started its 11th season, which is pretty impressive for something made on the internet. Other series of theirs include P.A.N.I.C.S., Immersion, and now RWBY. Rooster Teeth is also the parent company of Achievement Hunter, one of the most popular video game community websites on the internet.

For the past three years, Rooster Teeth has held the RTX convention in their hometown of Austin, TX. Three years isn't very long for a convention to have been around, but this past year, there were over 10,000 people that attended. It's pretty nuts. They had major game publishers there, as well as famous voice actors and lots of panels from industry professionals. This year they also premiered the first two episodes of RWBY.

Choose Wisely

An Analysis of Choice Mechanics in Video Games

This topic is one that I got the idea for from an episode or two of Extra Credits. Specifically from episodes 1 and 2 from Season 5 and episodes 4, 5, and 6 from Season 6. I love their work, and you should go check them out at their YouTube page.

But really. Do it.

I'm going to be looking at the way choice is handled in video games through the lens of two games that I think are some of the best examples of it, while they still handle it very differently from each other. These games are The Walking Dead and Spec Ops: The Line, the games that are easily at the top of my list for the best game of last year. As we're discussing the central mechanics of these games, be aware that some minor spoilers will be unavoidable from this point on. However, I'll do what I can to keep the major plot points out of this.

2D Games Aren't Dead Yet: To the Moon

If there ever was a game that catered to me personally, it would be To the Moon. I'm a big fan of story driven games, which is why I love Alan Wake so much. If the story is definitely the reason that the game exists, I'm pretty much predestined to love it. Like the rest of the games from Freebird Games, the game is focused on the story that it is telling.

Image from freebirdgames.com 

The official description of the game is:

To the Moon is an indie Adventure RPG, about two doctors traversing through the memories of a dying man to fulfill his last wish.

An  intriguing  concept, right? The game doesn't actually have all that much in the way of gameplay, but it is based around the story, so that's ok. The mission of Freebird Games is to make games that immerse the player in the story and atmosphere of the game.

Best Games of 2011: Number One

This is Day 5 in a series. You might want to check out the previous day, or start at the introduction.

Batman: Arkham City

So, when I decided to write this, I had no idea that the final day of my review series would line up perfectly with the day of the BAFTA game awards. And, apparently, the fine British folks don't agree with my choices. They seem to think that Portal 2 is deserving of the Game of the Year, whereas I have clearly chosen Batman: Arkham City. Ah well. You win some, you lose some. As much as I'd like to agree with the BAFTA awards, I have my reasons.

Best Games of 2011: Number Two

This is Day 4 in a series. You might want to check out the previous day, or start at the introduction.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Like I said yesterday, this was the hardest choice for me. Did I think that Skyrim or Skyward Sword was the better game? After much deliberation, I realized that although both games were fantastic, I had more fun playing Skyward Sword, so I gave it the higher spot. I haven't finished either of them, but I'm giving Skyward Sword the benefit of the doubt that the ending won't be terrible. (UPDATE: It wasn't.)

Best Games of 2011: Number Three

This is Day 3 in a series. You might want to check out the previous day, or start at the introduction.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

So, this was the most difficult choice. I couldn't decide if Skyrim should get third place or second place. Apparently, I decided that it deserves third. Interesting...

Skyrim was a very difficult game for me to get into. I loved its predecessor, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, when it came out in 2006. I bought it on launch day, and played it for hours. Over 110 hours, actually. I couldn't get enough of the massive, vibrant, alive world. There were so many quests, and I had to do them all! And I did. I memorized the towns, and to this day I can still name most of them and put them on a map.

Best Games of 2011: Number Four

This is Day 2 in a series. You might want to check out the previous day, or start at the introduction.

Portal 2

Portal 2 was a fantastic game. Let me say that right off the bat. However, I'm only giving it fourth place. Ordinarily, that would mean that this was a fantastic year for games. Unfortunately, I only played four games this year that were worth giving a place on this list, so that's not true. It just means that there were more games this year that fit my play style.

Best Games of 2011: Honourable Mention

This is Day 1 in a series. You might want to start at the introduction.

L.A. Noire

You may be wondering why L.A. Noire is only getting an honourable mention, as opposed to being the 5th best game of last year. Goodness knows that I love round numbers, so I really wanted to do a "5 best games" feature, rather than a "4 best games" piece. However, I couldn't say that it was one of the best games of the year in good conscience.

Best Games of 2011: Intro

Okay, so here's the plan. It's March Break, and that means that I don't have any school to do. So I once again turn my attention to this blog. I'm going to once again try to update this thing on a consistent basis.

Monday through Friday, each night I will post the next game in my "Best Games of 2011" ranking. We'll start with Honourable Mention, and move up from there.

Now, I know what you're saying: "Bacon, it's March already! 2011 is long over, why even bother?"

Well... Yeah. You're right.
But, I've been meaning to do this for a while and I just hadn't gotten around to it yet. Priorities. And I wanted to finish all of the games (which I haven't, but I'm close enough).

So, anyways, check back tomorrow night, and the night after, and the night after, and the night after, and the night after to see my thought of what the best games of 2011 were.

p.s. There will be a substantial bit of bias here, because almost all of the games that I am going to mention will be Xbox games, because that is what I use, almost exclusively. So don't expect to see Uncharted 3, or Minecraft, or any of those other heavy hitters that I can't play on my Xbox.

Full Series

Intro: Best Games of 2011

Day 1: Honourable Mention

Day 2: Number Four

Day 3: Number Three

Day 4: Number Two

Day 5: Number One

Starting Out

So, this is my very first blog post.
 I don't really have anything worth saying at this point, so I'll ramble for a bit, OK?

It's Christmas morning! Strange time to start a blog, but that's fine by me. I should get to sleep, so I can open presents sooner, but I'll just say a few more things.

First off: video game recommendations.
If you have not played either Alan Wake or Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, (which you haven't, because I'm seen the number of copies in bargain bins), do yourself a favour and get them. Also, do the developers a favour and get them. They are both fantastic games, and both were way underrated. Or at least underplayed.
If you are going to get either of them, you should probably get Alan Wake, because Team Ninja has announced that there will be no sequel for Enslaved due to it's poor sales, while Remedy is putting out a follow up to Alan Wake this coming spring. So if you have to choose, support the one that will continue.
But please get both of them if you can. Alan Wake is only available for Xbox, so if you're a PS3 owner, get Enslaved. If you're a PC gamer, good news! Remedy recently announced that Alan Wake is coming to PC this spring, so you should get that one. (UPDATE: Alan Wake's American Nightmare came out for XBLA and PC, but the franchise is now on hold. Sad day.)

Secondly: I'm going to bed. There is no second point.