Hey guys, welcome to my weekly op-ed column that I’m calling “Spacing Out” (the name was a joint effort between my girlfriend and I ;). I realized I’d not been really writing enough op-ed pieces, and came up with the idea of doing them weekly, both as a writing exercise and a way to put thoughts and ideas out there to share and discuss with y’all. :) I’ll be doing these every Wednesday, because if I don’t set a specific day to do ‘em, I never will, you know? ;) Recently, 4X games have been on my mind after the recent release of StarDrive. After I made my decision to put my review of the game on hold, I was taken to task on a forum I frequent for not liking other recent entries in the 4X space race, such as Endless Space and Sword of the Stars II. This got me to thinking, what HAS been going on with spacey 4X games of late?
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Spacing Out: The Trouble with 4X Games
SGJ Podcast #12: A Potpourri of Pew Pew
Haaaaaaaaayyyy guuuuuuuuys, how are ya? Sorry for the delay in this week’s podcast episode, but Jim and I were both busier than usual this week with the real life nonsense. That said, we had no guest this past week, so we just caught up on what we’ve been playing, the news and all sorts of other stuff. It was a fun time, so we hope you enjoy it.
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As always, please feel free to comment on the podcast below (I’m not creating specific forum threads anymore, no one uses ‘em ;) and follow us using RSS and/or iTunes. Thanks for listening!
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Spacey Gamey News and Dealsies 4/24-26/13: The Everybody’s Working for the Weekend Edition
Hellloooo folks, and happy Friday! Sorry I missed news over the last couple of days, work totally got away from me. There’s a lot of goodness to go over, so let’s get to it and start the weekend right, shall we? :)
- StarDrive – StarDrive is alive! And by that, I mean it’s out of beta and finally in a release state on Steam…I hope. ;) It’s also 10% off until May 3rd. Stay tuned for my multi-part review soon…ish. ;)
- Star Citizen – Lots of news in this arena. First from the official site, news of their new office here in Los Angeles (yay!), part four of their writers guide is up, a look at Anvil Aerospace, an in-game news transcript on AI pilots has been released, and you can meet audio director Martin Galway (video embedded below). Elsewhere, Chris Roberts has been making the rounds, talking to The Escapist about Kickstarter and VGN24/7 on the game being on the Playstation 4.
- Beyond Beyaan – There’s a nice update on the new UI system.
- EVE Online – Lots of news from The Mittani, including a look from FanFest at the game’s economy as well as a word on ship rebalancing. They also have articles on cap ship rigs, another perspective on the burning of Jita as well as planetary interaction.
- Endless Space – The Amplitude folks are having a fighters and bombers archetype contest.
- Star Conflict – There’s some new art on the official site in the sectors and wallpapers sections.
- Star Trek Online – It’s Romulanrific over on the dev blog, with a look at Warbird singularity powers and new wallpapers of Romulan ships.
- Pytheas – First update in ages, and it’s about construction in their sandbox engine, which is pretty nifty from a technical perspective.
- Void of Darkness – There’s a new update on bartering in the game as well as a new IndieDB page for the game (though it appears broken as I write this).
- Deep Space Settlement – Speaking of IndieDB, news for this game is being moved to their IndieDB page as well.
- Space Empires IV – This game is now available on GoG for $9.99. I’d keep an eye out for a sale though, I’ve seen it as low as a dollar or two on other sites.
- And Here the Wheel – There’s a nice anecdotal update on how games programmed the dev’s brain. They also have a new podcast episode for your listening pleasure.
- Elite: Dangerous – There’s another dev update video which features David Braben in an AWESOME shirt. Seriously, I want one. The vid will be embedded below as well.
- Ring Runner – The box art has been released, and it’s sweeeeeeeet.
- Freeworlds – There’s a new update on their ModDB page about a refocusing of the project. Good, because I wanna play it NOW.
- SkyJacker – There’s an update on the starship constructor project on their Kickstarter, which looks awesome!
- AI War - There’s a new update entitled “Honored Bugs” that fixes some longstanding problems in the game.
- StarMade – There’s a new update that tweaks the AI.
- Expanse: First Contact – This appears to be a new game on Kickstarter which looks neat, so check it out.
And now, onto the deals, of which there are several, including:
- GamersGate is having a Stardock sale, which can net you Galactic Civilizations I: Ultimate Edition for $4.98, Galactic Civilizations II: Ultimate for $9.98 and Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity for $9.98, among others.
- Gamefly is having a small strategy game sale that includes Endless Space – Admiral Edition for $14.99
- On IndieGameStand, they have Digital Eel’s Data Jammers: FastForward for $1, however if you pay a little more, you can get Strange Adventures in Infinite Space and Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space as bonuses as well. We just had these guys on the podcast, if you wanna learn more. They’re an awesome bunch though, so I say grab this if you don’t have the games already. It’s a freaking steal!
That’s it friends!! Have a great weekend, and may it be full of awesome gaming!
SGJ Podcast #10: Infinite Spaces and Small Worlds
No, seriously. ;) This week Jim and I sit down with Iikka Keranen and Rich Carlson of Digital Eel games (who first met while working on Daikatana, no lie), the folks who created the Infinite Space series of Starflight-like roguelikes Strange Adventures in Infinite Space and Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space. They have a Kickstater underway for their third game in the series, Infinite Space 3: Sea of Stars, so we thought we’d bring ‘em on and grill them with deep, probing questions about the game. Ultimately, we went all over the place, but we had a fun time, and we hope you will too.
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As always, we invite you to leave your comments below and in the forums, and you can find the show notes below. Thanks as always for listening, and have an awesome day!
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Space Game News and Deals 4/18-22/13: The Owwie Edition
Hellooooo everyone, and welcome to Monday! I’m off today on account of getting a tooth removed, so I’m writing part of this before I leave for my little operation. I’ll write the rest when I get back, likely on drugs, to add to the entertainment. ;) Sorry for the lack of news later last week, the week totally got away from me. That said, let’s get into some newwwwwws bitches! ;)
- Homeworld – Gearbox has purchased the IP.
Apparently, according to PC Gamer (and other sources, but I saw it there first), someone — and we don’t know who yet — snagged the Homeworld IP in a recent auction of THQ’s assets. Sadly, it wasn’t to the teamPixel folks who’d been trying to hard to raise the funds. Hopefully it ended up in good hands, but we don’t know yet, sadly. - Infinite Space 3 – There’s some new art and a combat video over on their Kickstarter page. We’re also gonna be interviewing some of the folks behind this game for this week’s podcast, so stay tuned! :)
- Void of Darkness – A couple of updated for your reading pleasure. First, a forum update, followed by a role-playing update, which is nifty.
- StarMade – There are some new server stability fixes and the fixing of a ghost bug.
- ScrumbleShip – According to the dev’s Kickstarter and IndieDB pages, there will be a new launcher for the game called ScrumbleGet. This I like.
- Ring Runner – According to a post on their Kicksarter, their lon-linear arch is nearly complete, which has me all aflutter, as I love non-linear anything. There’s also an interview with their Dryere brothers — the lead devs of the game — in The Leader, which is a good read (based on what I skimmed anyway). ;)
- EVE Online – Loooots of stuff recently. First, from the official site blogs, there’s news of a single sign in for account management, a spotlight on EVE Backstage, and info on the client and EULA modifications. Then from The Mittani, they have articles on the burning of Jita, the death of Aeon, ten years of GARPA and an epic brawl in Ardia which resulted in the loss of ten capital ships.
- Star Rift – Thanks to Goomich over on Steam for letting me know about this new game on Greenlight. It looks like a first/third-person space combat/trading game, and you can learn more from the official site or from the trailer, which I’ll embed after the cut.
- Star Trek Online – There are dev blogs on Romulan ship progression and a revamp to the UI, as well as a video showing off a Legacy Pack, which I’ll embed below.
- Icarus Ascends – The dev for this game came onto our forum to let us know about this game, which looks pretty cool. Go check it out! I’ll embed the video below.
- Escaping Titan – Congrats to the team on their super successful Kickstarter, which brought in over 300% of its goal.
- Infinity – Rock, Paper Shotgun has a nice article summimg up where the game is now after all this time.
- Beyond Beyaan – There are two posts covering UI and data in the game.
- StarDrive – According to a post on RTS Guru, the game will be available this Friday, April 26th. They also have a preview to boot. I’m working on my own preview too, so please stay tuned. :)
- Star Conflict – The latest update to the game brings along sector conquests with it. Nifty!
- Vendetta Online – The game has now been officially released for the iPad! One more reason I wanna get one someday! ;)
- Star Citizen – Part three of the Writer’s Guide is now up, and you can also watch a video with team member Adam Poole, which I’ll also embed below.
But wait, there’s more, we also have some deals to gawk at!!
- GamersGate has Endless Space: The Emperor Edition for $17.48 and Galaxy on Fire II HD for $6, which is a steal.
- You can get an EVE Online 30-Day Starter Pack on Green Man Gaming for $4.99
- The latest Indie Royale bundle has Dawnstar amongst its games for $5.31 as the current minimum.
- Finally, the current Indie Gala bundle has both Gimbal and Mass Effect 2 for the minimum of $5.23 as I write this.
Finally, the dev of Lex Laser Saves the Galaxy, Again asked me to pimp his game on Kickstarter, so here ya go, and you can see some lovely concept ship art by Philipp Erkinger at the Concept Ships blog.
That’s it folks, now I’m gonna go crawl into a ball and hope this pain goes away soon. ;) Have a great day!
Continue reading “Space Game News and Deals 4/18-22/13: The Owwie Edition” »
Spacey Gamey Newsies & Dealsies 4/11-17/13: The Freaking Finally Edition
Helllllloooooo my wonderful awesome friends! I’m back! I think! *checks* Yes, I’m back! Sorry for the lack of news posts, got surprisingly busy all over the place and just didn’t have the time. I do now though, yay! There’s a lot to go over, so let’s dive in, it’s all warm and stuff! ;)
- EVE Online – On the official site, they have a video of true stories from the first decade of the game (which will be embdedded below). The Mittani has articles on cruise missile fixes, mission fixes and news about an alliance slapfight.
- Drox Operative – The big news is MOD TOOLS! Yay! There’s also a new patch that fixes trade requests and other things.
- StarMade – Several updates include news on server crashes, a custom docking area, wedge shapes, faction options and other bugfixes.
- Star Conflict – There are updates on new gold standards as well as a new combat specialization.
- Star Citizen – There’s new art of the 300i fighter, which is alovely. There’s also a naming system poll, a spotlight on fan RADD and a new update to their writer’s guide.
- Voidnex – Thanks to reader Goomich for pointing out this new game to me. Looks nifty!
- StarDrive – The good folks at RTS Guru have written a preview of the game.
- FTL – You can now buy FTL-themed merchandise, such as a Kestrel hoodie or a pirate t-shirt. I so want the hoodie. There’s also an interview with the devs over on PixelJudge.
- Solar War – There’s a new version of the game available, which adds support for more factions, event chains and even more.
- Freespace Port – Version 3.4 of the port of Descent: Freespace to the Freespace 2 engine has been released! Go git it!
- Rogue System – Their new website has a chart that shows the progress of the game, which is awesome to see. I want it now though. ;)
- Infinite Space 3 – On their Kickstarter, they’ve announced a soundtrack as well as stretch goals! Go check it out and kick ‘em something!
- Mok Force – Thanks to Rock, Paper Shotgun for writing about this neat-looking shmup.
- Homeworld 2 Complex – The latest version of this extensive mod has been released on ModDB. You can see a trailer of it in action below.
- Neptune’s Pride II – Thanks again to Rock, Paper Shotgun for letting us know about a new version of this popular browser-based space conquest game.
- Endless Space – The Amplitude folks need help to save the Sowers.
- Beyond Beyaan – There’s a new build which adds event handling and a new UI, among other things. The game also has its own cursor now, as well as velociraptors. ;)
- Stars of Call – According to a post on our very own forum, there’s a new version of this nifty Naev total conversion.
- Infinity – There’s a HUGE update on planetary engine improvements, which looks FANTASTIC. Can they FINALLY release this thing please? ;)
- Kerbal Space Program – As reported by Eurogamer, there was some confusion and outcry over the notion of paid expansions for the game. This was thankfully dealt with by a post from the devs on their blog.
- Void of Darkness – The dev has begun writing the dialog for all the alien races, apparently.
- Star Trek Online – There’s a new Legacy of Romulus dev blog entry to read.
- And Here the Wheel – There’s a new podcast episode for y’all to listen to. :)
- Elite: Dangerous – There’s a new Fiction Diary for the game on YouTube, as well as embedded below.
- Galactic Patrol 2013 – There’s a new Kickstarter for this game that has the blessings of the original Galactic Patrol folks. Go check it out.
- Joystick Required – This was a space game news site run by a Jumpgate colleague of mine back in the day, and it’s back, so go check it out and say hello!
- Strike Vector – This is spacey enough to warrant inclusion. Just go watch this trailer. Seriously, watch it.
- AI War – There’s a new patch called “Nebulous Diligence” which works to improve the AI.
We’re not done yet folks! We have DEALS too!! Let’s do this!
- Space Pirates and Zombies is on sale at GMG for $5.08
- Beat Hazard EVERYTHING is part of the latest Indie Gala weekly bundle, and you can get all of it f or $1.87, which is a FREAKING steal people.
- Gamestop is having a spring sale on everything Stardock, which includes:
- Galactic Civilizations I: Ultimate for $4.99
- Galactic Civilizations II: Ultimate for $9.99
- Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity for $9.99
- Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion for $19.99 or an upgrade from Trinity for $14.99.
- AI War is also part of a Steam weeklong sale, in which everything is 75% off.
- There’s also an IndieFort Spring Bundle which has both AI War and Zigfrak for $7.99.
FINALLY, the folks at Arcen games (who made the aforementioned AI War) have announced a new game called Skyward Collapse, which looks awesome.
That’s it! Have a great day folks!
Massive Newsey Updatey Thingy!!
Haaaaaaaayyyyy folks, happy Whenever-I-Finally-Post-This! ;) I hope these last weeks have found you all well, and less busy/tired than I’ve been. ;) I’ve just not had time to do the news (or much else) in the past several weeks. That’s a-changing though, for a couple of reasons. First, work is slowing down, so I’ll have more physical and mental energy to put toward the blog. Secondly, I found I was more productive on the blog before my awesome girlfriend moved in, so I’ve come up with the hopeful solution of setting aside certain nights of the week, and weekends when I have time, to dedicate time and energy solely to this blog. This should help me find a better balance and begin to put out content more regularly again. :)
As for news, let’s just dive in, as there’s a TON to go over (so much so I’m putting it under a cut):
SGJ Podcast #07: Getting Sold on Swords and Stars
Welcome to this week’s episode of the Space Game Junkie Podcast! This time Jim and I talk to Paul Tobia, or Rorschach on several forums, who is something of an expert on the Sword of the Stars series. I was fairly “meh” on Sword of the Stars II a little while back, so we asked Paul on to help convince us (and hopefully, you folks), that the game is worth our time.
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We hope you enjoy this week’s episode, and as always, invite your comments either below or on the forum. Thanks for listening!
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Spacey Game News and Deals 3/9-11/13: A Mish Mash of Stuff
Hey folks, happy Monday! I hope y’all had a superb weekend! There’s a TON of stuff to get through today, so we’re not gonna dilly dally, rather we’ll just get right through it:
- Endless Space – Lots of news for this one today! First, the Virtual Awakening add-on has been released, followed by the news they’ve sold 300,000 units! Wow! Then, the folks at iGameRadio have an audio review of the Mac version of the game, and finally it’s on sale on Steam as one of their week long sales.
- StarDrive – Plenty for this one too. We have previews from Space Sector and Out of Eight, as well as well as the first part of a Let’s Play video series from legendary Let’s Play creator Das24680. All videos will be embedded below, including these. Stay tuned for my preview also, which I hope to have by the end of this week or early next. ;)
- Void of Darkness – First, on our forum, the lead developer is looking for some help alpha testing the game. Then, on the game’s official site, there are some various updates concerning the game’s progress.
- Limit Theory – Josh has posted his latest update summary on the game’s forums.
- Angular Velocity – Sadly these guys lost their update server, but according to this update it’s all being sorted out.
- StarLife – We now get to find out more about the ominous Empire in the game. I wouldn’t wanna run into one in a dark alley…
- EVE Online – The official site has a new cover story that’s lengthy but looks neat based on my skimming. The Mittani have their usual slew of awesome articles, this time covering EFT tanking and the destruction of the NCDOT carrier fleet at their own hand. Wow.
- Star Citizen – Polygon has an interview with Chris Roberts about the Occulus Rift and other fun stuff. The official site has a general update with news on a new avatar, new forum and other coolness.
- Imperium Galactica Stargazer – There’s a new forum on their site with a small Q&A for y’all to read which hopefully answers some common questions about the new game.
- Ring Runner – There’s a new post on their Kickstarter discussing a new Sage’s Challenge, pendants and more!
- Retrobooster – There’s a new blog update with a video showing off a refinement of conveyor beams, among other nifty things. The demo to this was fun, by the way. ;)
- OreSome – There’s a new blog post on IndieDB discussing the possibilities surrounding multiplayer.
- Vendetta Online – There’s a new update which basically includes a ton of little fixes.
Now, onto deals! There are a few besides the Endless Space one above. Here goes!
- Galaxy on Fire II HD is going for $6.80 as Steam’s daily deal today. TOTALLY worth it.
- Gratuituous Space Battles Complete Pack — which doesn’t appear to includes the latest DLC, but EVERYTHING else — is $5.25 on GamersGate. That’s a freaking steal.
Finally, in related news, a gentleman named Joseph Ybarra — who was one of the co-founders of EA and helped produce Starflight, Alien Legacy and other spacey games — has a new planet colonization game on Kickstarter called Shackleton Crater that y’all should take a gander at.
That’s it folks! Have an awesome day!
Continue reading “Spacey Game News and Deals 3/9-11/13: A Mish Mash of Stuff” »
Spacey Game News and Deals 3/8/13: Prepping for The Weekend
Hey everyone, happy Friday! It’s the weekend, and I might actually get to play some games for the first time in over a WEEK. I am going through physical withdrawal, so I NEED to get some gaming in, not only to make the shaking stop, but to put more content on the site. It’s been a CRAZY week! We recorded three podcasts this week, and it was totally, TOTALLY worth all the effort. :) With that said, let’s close the week out with some news. :)
- StarDrive – The beta of the game begins today on Steam!! Go play it! There’s also a launch trailer for your eyes to feast on.
- Star Ciizen – Over on their Facebook page, they have a picture of a Hornet fighter cake they were sent by Systems United Navy. Freaking awesome. There’s also a new fan spotlight article.
- Dominion – There are some new enemy ship renderings which look great.
- Rodina – There’s a new update on showing some tweaks to the procedural planet generation engine that look GORGEOUS.
- Galaxial – There’s a new update showing off a track from the game’s soundtrack for you all to enjoy.
- Beyond Beyaan – On the game’s Kickstarter, there’s a new update talking about Brent’s health and the game’s status.
- EVE Online – There’s a new community spotlight article on traveling in the game and some of its explorers.
- Endless Space – There’s a new G2G vote on choosing between awesome fighter and bomber designs.
- Edge of Space - According to VGN24/7, there’s an open beta of the game this weekend for y’all to try.
That’s it for gamey news, but we’re not done! There are deals today as well. GetGames is having a Strategy Sale, which includes these space games:
- Gemini Wars for $7.49
- Legends of Pegasus for $9.99
- Starpoint Gemini for $4.99
Finally, in somewhat related news, over on SolCommand there’s an updated Blackstar ship model for your modeling use.
Oh, wait, you were wondering where the third podcast was, since we only released two this week. Sorry, silly me, I forgot to mention that WE TALKED TO CHRIS ROBERTS YESTERDAY! OMG! That podcast will go up on Monday, so stay tuned, and have an awesome weekend! ;)
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