Remember Lords of Midnight? It was one of the Games of my Life, and deservedly so. It has several remakes in active development, and you can always play the original 8-bit versions using emulators.
But one particular port is quite… useful. It’s a Java port, and can be played using just your browser.
There’s nothing like working, but having a small LoM window to look at, and make a couple of moves, from time to time. 
All of them for the GameCube. I ordered them through the “buy used” option at Amazon.co.uk, where sometimes one can get great great deals.
)I don’t know if I’ll get them before Christmas… I hope so.
I’m also struggling heavily with the tempation to buy Nintendo’s new DS/Mario Kart DS pack. Maybe I’ll do it in about two weeks, if money allows it.
I’ve just ordered the 2 Sonic Adventure games for the GameCube. I know, they’re Dreamcast ports, and therefore don’t use the Cube to the full; on the other hand, graphics aren’t everything, and they were cheap. Besides, both of them introduce new characters to the Sonic mythos.
Also, yesterday I “unburied” a game I’ve had for a few months, but had never played after trying out when I got it: Star Wars: Rogue Leader. Very nice, and more “Wing Commanderish” than I remembered it.
Look for it on the right sidebar…
Since it’s almost Christmas…
In no particular order:
Looking at that list, I realize an interesting fact: that after being a computer (8-bit, 16-bit, PC) gamer for most of my life, my tastes have slowly been turning to consoles more and more. I still play and enjoy PC games, but most of them are older ones – and, except for Civ 4 and the R:TW expansion, I haven’t bought any recently. I guess that would change if I had a more powerful PC, but… I don’t know. Not only do console games not have compatibility problems or hardware requirements that cost an arm and a leg to fulfill, but they’re… different. And they still feel “fresh” to me, while PC games increasing feel like what I’ve been playing all my life. Maybe I simply needed a change.
But it’s a fact that, for the past few months, I’ve been spending much more time on the GameCube than on the PC.
I haven’t had much time to play games, in the last few days. This weekend, I was ill (though, in the immortal words of Monty Python, “I got better”), and there has been a lot of other stuff to do. Still, I had a little time to “maintain my sanity”, and I’ve been playing two games, mostly.
The first of them is Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, on the GameCube, which I’ve already mentioned a couple of times here. It keeps getting better and better – good story, interesting characters, more decisions to make, and, best of all, the need for different strategies in every level – not simply “advance and kill everyone in your path”. It’s really a joy to play.
The second one is a bit older: Beyond Good and Evil, also on the Cube (this isn’t an exclusive, though, it’s also available for PC, PS2 and Xbox). I’ve had this game for about a year, but for some reason had never got around to play it… until now. And it’s brilliant.
IGN’s review, quoted on the back of the box, describes it as “Zelda for grown-ups”. While I don’t think that it’s a perfect description – among other reasons, because the Zelda games aren’t really for kids – it’s certainly a quick way to explain to people what the game looks and plays like. It’s an action/adventure game, with a great story (involving control of the media by the government – guess that’s where the “for grown-ups” bit comes from), and absolutely endearing characters. For instance, one of your “party members” is Pey’j, a pig-like humanoid – whose personality, voice acting and mannerisms make him more “human” and lovable than more than 95% of video game characters. Jade herself, the character you control, is one of the few female characters that is feminine without looking as if she’s just there for making male teens drool.
BG&E has been called “the best game nobody played”, as, while every review out there described it as brilliant, it almost didn’t sell. 
But you can probably still buy it, and cheaply, too. If you like the 3D Zeldas (Ocarina, Majora, Wind Waker), go buy it immediately; if not, or if you don’t know them, at least take a look at it; rent it, or something. It’s a work of art – so much that Peter Jackson recently contacted the main author, Michael Ancel, to create the game version of his next movie, King Kong.
Apparently, it stinks to high heaven. Who’d have guessed?
Love the reviews.
P.S. – please don’t buy it. Any money that imbecile gets will be used for more censorship and fear-mongering.
P.P.S. – apparently, Jack is now threatening to sue Amazon if they don’t remove the negative reviews! 
The Guardian (no, not the Ultima VII villain) has an article (saw it on Slashdot) called Do your bit for the games industry this Christmas – which is also a way to avoid bad games.
Now, it’s probably an oversimplification, but it’s certainly stuff to think about. Besides, there’s an important question: who says that games bought for Christmas have got to be Christmas games? You know, you don’t die if you buy / give / are given a 2-months old game – or if you buy that Christmas blockbuster in February, after it’s been patched (if it’s a PC game) and is probably cheaper – not to mention all the reviews you can read before buying it.
I’d also suggest avoiding sequels and clones, but that’s probably asking too much.
It’s out (in the USA, at least) and, apparently, it’s amazing. Quick, no-nonsense, fun to play. Playable through wi-fi for free, both at hotspots (which includes any McDonald’s restaurant) and at home, as long as you have a wi-fi network. What more could anyone want?
(well, I want a DS… hope I can get one this year.)
By the way: watch the videos at the official site. It’s almost unbelievable that a handheld game looks as good, as fast and as fluid as that – it looks easily as good as the GameCube version!
Remember Laser Squad, already mentioned here? Still one of the best turn-based tactical games, and, at the time, completely unique. Later, the author, Julian Gollop, created the X-Com: UFO Defense series, also known as UFO: Enemy Unknown (the first game will have its own entry here, in the future), which is still popular these days.
But in 2002, 14 years after Laser Squad, Julian created one of the best play-by-email games ever, Laser Squad Nemesis.
If you try out this game, it’ll seem overly complicated at first – so many options, so many buttons, and, truth be said, the game could really use some decent tutorials, and a help system. Not to mention better graphics and sound. Those weren’t the priority, obviously, but one thing doesn’t prevent the other.
Oh well… what remains is still a fascinating game, especially because you’re playing against other, living people (unless they’re dead, but then again, zombies can’t play games). Basically, each player has several points to “buy” the members of a team, choosing from 4 different races: the Marines (standard humans, mobile but fragile, need a lot of teamwork to survive), the Machina (slower but tougher, with a lot of ranged firepower), the Spawn (think the Zerg from Starcraft) and the Grey (Roswell-style aliens, with mind control, shields, etc., but very fragile). Then, each player must defeat the other one – either by killing the other entire team, by having more kills than the other if they reach the previously set turn limit, or by destroying some special Headquarters units in HQ games.
As I said, the game is turn-based and played by email (though there’s an optional web interface which allows playing without an email account) – you download a small file, open it (which fires up the game), see what happened in the previous turn, then set new orders, and send a newly created file to the server (which is an option in the game client, no need to do it by hand). When the other player does the same, both receive new turn files. Rinse and repeat.
A very interesting feature of the game is that, unlike in the original Laser Squad, or most similar games, in LSN every turn happens simultaneously. That is, you send your orders, the other player does the same, and then both happen at the same time – each turn consists of 10 seconds, and everything happens as the players ordered – though, of course, they don’t control what the other player does.
Try it. The game is subscription-based (very cheap, too), but you can try out some missions before paying. Here’s the link: Laser Squad Nemesis official site.
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