The Weinercast is go! This week: Gaming On The Go.
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Weiner Review: Geneforge 5 January 16, 2009
Shape On!
If you are not familiar with the Avernum and Geneforge series of games, you are missing out. Developed for both Mac and PC by Spiderweb Software, these RPGs eschew flashy visuals for deep story and hours and hours of solid gameplay.
Theme:
The latest from Spiderweb is Geneforge 5. The core concept of the Geneforge series is based on the existence of people known as Shapers. Shapers can mold matter and magic into semi-intelligent or even intelligent creatures that are subservient to the Shaper. The classic Shaper hierarchy is fine with this, believing that Shapers’ creations are lesser beings and should be treated as such. A growing group of Creations, backed a group of Rebels, disagree, and have been fighting the Shapers for five games now.
Geneforge 5 finds this world on the verge of total disruption. The Rebels are succeeding, and regime change seems imminent. The Shaper Council has begun infighting and choosing sides at will. You are thrown into this as a character with a mysterious past, who might even be a Creation, but who has rare Shaper skills.
The game centers as much around you finding out who and what you are as it does on your role in the greater world. That’s a welcome change, as the last four game in the series have been strong but slight variations on the theme of Empire vs. Rebels. That classic trope is present here, too, but there seem to be many more factions and options for the player to choose from than in previous iterations.
A typical town scene from Geneforge 5.
Art:
Art is not Spiderweb’s bailiwick. Spiderweb is largely the work of one man, Jeff Vogel, and he has made a conscious choice to put his efforts into writing over visuals. As a result these games have passable characters, decent textures, and utterly forgettable items. The advantage is that you can play these on an aged system or the newly-popular Netbooks. The disadvantage is that they look like they were made in 1996 with minor visual tweaks along the way.
Gameplay:
The heart of any RPG is its battle system. Fights in Geneforge are classic turn-based fare with a bit of strategy thrown in. Characters have action points which they can spend to move, fight, or both. You have to be in range of an attack for it to hit, so figuring out how few points you can spend on movement of each character or Creation and still attack is key. After that, though, it is very much an RPG-type magic and mundane attack system with the expected status change spells and elemental weaknesses.
The World Map.
When you’re not in battle, movement is accomplished through an overland map system. New areas open up as you move through the map. Once you’ve cleared an area, you can always move to it from any other cleared area. This is a real time-saver, and takes away the question of annoying random battles. You can always see what’s coming in Geneforge 5.
Overall:
For people who have played through the Geneforge series, Geneforge 5 is more of the same. Solid but somewhat tired story, good battle system, excellent writing. If you are following the Geneforge storyline and want to know more, have at it. For newcomers to Spiderweb’s particular brand of game, Geneforge 5 is as good an entry point as any. It assumes no prior knowledge, though prior knowledge will add depth to the proceedings. In the end, this game sells for $28 and you’ll be hard-pressed to find more RPG entertainment for less money these days.
For being a solid RPG, if repetitive for fans of the series, Geneforge 5 gets Three Weiners out of Five.
Pain Unimaginable January 12, 2009
It began a few days ago. Microsoft, apparently non-ironically, introduced their “Garage Band killer”, Songsmith.
(Note the kid is using a MacBook.)
But moving on, today this appeared on the intarwebs (thanks Gizmodo). It appears to be the developmentally disabled love child of Van Halen and a Casio keyboard demo button.
Why? WHY?
Spore Expansion Pack Coming This Spring January 8, 2009
Not so excited about the Spore: Creepy and Cute parts pack? Want more – ahem – gameplay?
Your wish is Maxis’ command. Spore Galactic Adventures will be released in March. While details are still scarce, this new title promises to be just the first in of a Sims-like prolific progeny of small gameplay and large item expansions. We’ll know more during Maxis’ special even later this month, where they announce their full “Spore line-up for 2009″. No word on the presence or absence of DRM for these new goodies.
Just One More Thing. . . January 6, 2009
(Not) introducing the MacBook Wheel:
Pitch-perfect send-up, guys.
Notes From The Last MacWorld
Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, did a yeoman’s job today in delivering the final MacWorld keynote, even if the announcements themselves weren’t so exciting. Here’s the the highlights via The Weiner’s twitstream for your edification:
– iLife refresh. I’m liking the new GarageBand/iTunes option to buy “artist lessons” from established musicians for $4.99.
– iLife still free on new machines. Upgrade is $79, family pack is $99 to upgrade. Shipping late Jan.
– Keynote remote – 99 cent app that lets you use your iPhone as a Keynote presentation remote. Neat.
– 17″ MBP unibody enclosure at last. 6.6 lbs?! That’s huge.
– $50 anti-glare option – thanks for the kick in the pants for all of us early MBP adopters.
– New battery type – longest lasting ever – I am hoping they sell them for the 15″ model so I can get one. Up to 8 hours of work time, 1000 recharges! That’s double today’s model.
– Non-removable – so much for getting one for my 15 inch.
– One more thing is iTunes – 0.69, 99 and 1.29 pricing and more DRM free stuff. Allegedly by end of Q1 ALL 10 M songs on iTunes will be DRM free.
– New Cheezburger iPhone app allows you to view AND make LOLs on the go.
– 3G downloading from iTunes and App Store working as intended.
WeinerCast Wednesday! GVGA Edition December 31, 2008
The Weinercast is go! This week: Gwyddia Hosts The 2008 Gnome Video Game Awards.
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I’m Blind December 29, 2008
The folks at Joystiq used this image today in their daily commentary about Nintendo printing money. The story isn’t news, but the picture made me want to cry. So I decided to share. “Enjoy”.
My EYES...
Star Tropics on VC!
OK, the original Star Tropics has been on the Wii’s Virtual Console for a while, but today you can get the sequel to complete the set. If you never had the chance as a kid to check out this (for its time) amazing action-adventure title about a boy and his yo-yo, deeew eeet.
Get Your Log On December 22, 2008
Are you sad because you can’t get the Yule Log Channel this year? Fret not – the wacky users of XNA have programmed an ever-burning piece of dead tree for your holiday enjoyment. For only 400 Microsoft Points you can have a bit of Christmas cheer forever, without the ash!
Snap, crackle, pop.
Playing With My Weiner 