Spacing Out: The Trouble with 4X Games

So Close, Yet So Far...

So Close, Yet So Far…

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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SGJ Podcast #12: A Potpourri of Pew Pew

So! Much! Color!

So! Much! Color!

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.

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

It's the News!

News from Around the World! ;)

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? :)

And now, onto the deals, of which there are several, including:

That’s it friends!! Have a great weekend, and may it be full of awesome gaming!

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SGJ Podcast #10: Infinite Spaces and Small Worlds

It All Started Here...

It All Started Here…

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.

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

News Brick

NEEEEEEWSSSSSSS

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! ;)

But wait, there’s more, we also have some deals to gawk at!!

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!

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Spacey Gamey Newsies & Dealsies 4/11-17/13: The Freaking Finally Edition

Stack of Newspapers

SO MUCH NEWSINESS!

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! ;)

We’re not done yet folks! We have DEALS too!! Let’s do this!

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!

Get’cher Videos Right Here…

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Massive Newsey Updatey Thingy!!

All those little dots are news stories...

So Many Pieces of News…

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):

Enjoy the Onslaught…

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SGJ Podcast #07: Getting Sold on Swords and Stars

Pew to the Power of Pew!

Pew to the Power of Pew!

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.

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

News and Coffee

Two Things I Need a LOT of Right Now…

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:

Now, onto deals! There are a few besides the Endless Space one above. Here goes!

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!

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Spacey Game News and Deals 3/8/13: Prepping for The Weekend

Drink In the News...

Newsiness!

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. :)

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:

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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