SGJ Podcast #09: Chasing Dots and Games

By | Published 04/17/2013 at 8:12 PM
Explosions in Freespace 2!

You Magnificent Son of A Bitch…

Welcome to episode #09 of the Space Game junkie Podcast! In this episode, Jim and I bring on Gamers With Jobs CEO Shawn “Certis” Andrich to discuss if space games are just “chasing a dot”, as he called them previous. In a surprise — to me at least, and pleasantly so — the discussion evolves and turns into an intervention where we discuss how space action games have become kinda samey in terms of lack of space, lack of place and so on to help Shawn find some new games. It was a fun, spirited discussion. :)

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We talked about a looooooot of games, and you can find links to all of them below in the show notes. We hope you enjoy the show, and invite you to comment here or on the forum, as well as use our RSS or iTunes feeds to subscribe to us. Thanks for listening, and have a great day! :)

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SGJ Podcast #04: Chris. Freaking. Roberts.

By | Published 03/12/2013 at 9:54 PM
Chris Roberts Directing

The Man Himself

Oh. My. God. I’m still so flabbergasted and amazed we got to talk to this industry legend that I can mostly talk in one-two word sentences. Oh.  My. God. ;) Seriously, Jim and I were lucky enough to sit down to talk to the man himself about his games and his movies, and it was completely fascinating. Mr. Roberts was very generous with his time and his candor, and we can’t thank him enough for spending some of his valuable time with us.

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Oh, and OMG, he said he liked my site. SQUEEEEEEE! Seriously, I’m still on a cloud folks, no lie. :) We hope you enjoy the podcast, and invite your comments and questions below in the comments or on the forum. Thanks for listening, and please feel free as always to follow our RSS feed or iTunes feed. :) Have a great day!

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SGJ Podcast #02: Give Me a Ship and a Song to Steer Her By…

By | Published 03/06/2013 at 1:30 AM
We Need a Better Logo...

We Need a Better Logo…

Hey everyone, welcome to episode #02 of the Space Game Junkie Podcast! This week, Jim and I try to become more streamlined and efficient (me especially), yet still discuss some news, some games, and our main topic, the best music from spacey games!

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All the notes for the show are below, and feel free to comment on the show either here in the comments or on our forum. Thanks for listening, and don’t forget if you want to subscribe, you can use the icons in the sidebar on the left for our RSS feed or iTunes page. Thanks again! Continue reading “SGJ Podcast #02: Give Me a Ship and a Song to Steer Her By…” »

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SGJ Podcast #01: Graphics vs. UI vs. Gameplay! FIGHT!

By | Published 02/27/2013 at 11:01 AM
More Chit Chat

More Chit Chat

Hello, and welcome to episode 01 of the SGJ Podcast. Join Jim from the Bad Movie Podcast and me as we try to adapt something of a format in order to have some more focus and structure! ;) We talk about some news, some games we’re playing, and our topic for this week, which games that are still worth playing even though their graphics and UI are on the archaic side. We also look at the opposite side of the coin, games that have held up well over the years.

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We also have an iTunes page now, as well as our RSS feed! Yay! Thank you for listening, and please find our show notes under the cut. :) Also, since I’m still pretty new to this podcasting thing (it’s old hat to Jim, thankfully), please don’t hesitate to give me constructive criticism on how I can improve my performance either in the comments below or in the forum. :) Hope the length is okay with y’all, but again, new to this stuff, still trying to be efficient. ;) Thanks again! :)

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Why Does the Idea of Playing in Space Fascinate us So?

By | Published 01/04/2013 at 11:45 AM
Galaxy-Space

I Wanna Fly Around in This!

At the very beginning of the amazing Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy book, it includes a short set of instructions on how to leave Earth. When I read that, a part of my brain wanted to follow every detail so I could leave this small, confining planet as quickly as possible.

See, I’ve wanted to leave Earth ever since I was four years old and saw the Enterprise for the first time (the “Star Trek” one, of course). It just feels so…SMALL to me. So confining. This is why, ever since then, I’ve dived into any piece of science fiction I could get my grubby paws on. It gave me a window into new worlds that I could only visit in my imagination, and one of the best windows has been video games that take place in space. While I was playing around with some space game or another the other day, I began to wonder what it was about space that was so fascinating, and why I was so very drawn to any game that took place in its vast expanses.

This is What I Came up With…

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Zigfrak: A Funny, Action-Packed Space Romp

By | Published 01/03/2013 at 11:00 AM
Big Explosion!!

Yeah, Much of The Game is Like This. ;)

One of the joys of this gig is finding out about space games I might’ve never heard of otherwise. With more and more indie-based space games coming out (and how awesome is that, seriously?), there are games I might’ve missed if I was just a fan. Running this blog, however, forces me to have my ear to the ground, and I’ve loved being surprised by these little indie gems, the latest of which is called Zigfrak. I’ve written about Zigfrak before, and even spending a couple of hours with it was a lot of fun, but now for a full review, I spent a bunch more time with the game, and am ready to tell y’all what I think of it. ;) Enjoy! (Also, there’s a coupon code at the end of the article that gets you 25% off the game! Yay!)

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Valve Making a Space Game?! Stars of Barathrum Possibly Leaked

By | Published 10/12/2012 at 12:02 PM
Sword of Barathrum Art

Whuuuuut Is This?!

Edit: Thanks to TurinTur again for pointing to some art over on the artist’s website, Peter Konig, on this very subject from earlier this yea.

Thanks to TurinTur over on Quarter to Three for this tip. Apparently concept art has leaked for a new space game from Valve, of all people, called Stars of Barathrum. Apparently it’ll be a Freelancer-style game with the ability to also control capital ships! GamingBolt has the story, while this forum thread on Facepunch has the art. I’ll bring you more as I get it!

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Star Citizen — New Chris Roberts Game — Formally Announced!!!

By | Published 10/10/2012 at 7:43 AM
Carrier From Star Citizen

You Can Walk Around Inside This!

Edit 2: The RSI site is back up, so you can check out the crowdfinding tiers. I’m totally eyeing the $125 Lancer tier. ;)

Edit 1: Hey y’all, I’ve snagged the trailer, so if you’ve not seen it yet (I missed it my own self), check it out after the cut.

As I write this, Chris Roberts is announcing his new upcoming space game Star Citizen, over at GDC in Austin, which you can watch on Gamespot. This game apparently will be both a mix of the linear structure in Wing Commander as well as the open-ended gameplay in Freelancer, depending on where your pilot is in their career. This sounds AWESOME. The graphics and detail look INCREDIBLE. On a carrier, you don’t just click hot spots to move around, you can physically walk from the bridge to the hanger bay. I’ve not seen all of this yet, but it looks AMAZING. The Roberts Space Industries site is being slammed, and is currently down, but they’ll be crowdfunding for the game over there too. I’m gonna go back to watching the video stream, but below the cut I’ll embed a bunch of art I was sent along with the press release. I’ll bring you more as I get it.

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Roberts Space Industry Site Launches!!! New Game Announcement on 10/10/12!

By | Published 09/10/2012 at 7:23 AM
RSI Museum Roberts Space Industries

The RSI Site Includes a Small Museum…

Alright, finally, we have SOMETHING. The Roberts Space Industries site is live, and you have to enter a code and create an account to get into it. As of right now, we don’t know much, sadly. According to an introductory spiel by Chris Roberts himself — you know, the guy behind the Wing Commander series and Freelancer — the game they’ve been working on is a year in development, and it’s “something that embraces everything that my past games stood for but takes it to the next level.” You can read the entirety of the text after the cut. That being said, the game will be unveiled at GDC on 10/10/12 at 10 AM, so we’ll hopefully bring you more then. As for now, I am DAMNED excited at the possibilities, and I hope you are too.

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New Chris Roberts Spacey Game in The Works?!

By | Published 09/07/2012 at 3:53 PM
Cloud Imperium Concept Shot???

What IS This?!?!

Edit 1: Well, I set an alarm to wake up shortly before the countdown was supposed to end 3 minutes ago, but when it reached zero, it seemed to reset itself for 7 more hours, so I guess we’ll find out more at 7 AM PST. Good night everyone. ;)

Thanks to Munin over on Quarter to Three for this tip. Apparently he noticed this thread on the Freelancer fan site The Starport in which user Cannon states that the LinkedIn Profile of Chris Roberts – you know, the main guy behind Digital Anvil and its game, Freelancer — is now chairman of a company called Cloud Imperium. Further adding interest to the mix is a new site at http://robertsspaceindustries.com/ which has a countdown timer with about two days left on it, and also where the author of the Starport thread got the concept image shown above.

So what does this all mean!? Are we looking at a true, spiritual successor to our beloved Freelancer called Cloud Imperium? OMG I HAVE TO KNOW NOW! I’ll keep you posted as soon as I find out anything, but for now, keep an eye out on that countdown timer. Have a great weekend!

Edit: I found some more info in the thread linked above from user Crazy…

I have some info on good authority:

The game will be a high end PC only game which will rly push current hardware to its limit.

It should make FL/Wing Commander fans very happy especially if you remember what FL should have looked like before it was bought by MS.

The full announcement will be in October but it will be still worth to have a look at robertsspaceindustries.com on Sept 10th (when the countdown hits 0).

EEEEEEEEEEEEE!

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