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 #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 2/25-26/13: Catching Up Edition

News Satellite Dish

SO MUCH NEWS!!!

Hello everyone, and happy Tuesday! Sorry about the lack of news yesterday, had a dentist appointment and no time to put into this, sadly. Fun times! This mean I have news from today, yesterday and the weekend to cover, so let’s dive in!

Next up, sales, and there’s a good chunk of stuff! Steam is having several midweek sales, which includes the following:

Finally, related news! First, since we cover older games here, I though that a new version of the Amiga emulator WinUAE being released was somewhat relevant, thanks to Indie Retro News for the update. Next, I missed this somehow but Artem Bank — the gentleman who composed the amazing music for Star Ruler — has two new bits of music out, “Facebook 5” and “Natural” which sound great. Finally, the Concept Ships blog has fantastic ships from Joseph Cross and a gorgeous orbiter concept from Rasmus Poulsen.

That’s it folks! WHEW! Thanks for visiting, and enjoy!

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Spacey Gamey News and Deals 1/23/13: A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That…

Folded Newspapers

Piling it On…

Haaaaaaaaaaayyyy y’all! Happy Tuesday! I hope y’all are having a lovely day! I’m having a great staycation so far my own self! Now, a couple of things before I jump into the news. First, to try and get as much done as possible this week, my plan is to play as many games as I can fit in, take notes, capture screenshots, that sort of thing, then write about ‘em as I have time. Therefore, this week might not be stuffed with content, but there will be a steady stream of content coming out over the next days and weeks as a result, FYI.

Secondly, reader Jake wrote in to request I try a new news format to make it easier to read. Basically start with the game’s name itself after the bullet in bold, followed by the news, so I’m gonna try that now. Please let me know what you think in the comments below. :) Thanks folks!

Finally, in spacey game deals, spacey groundy game Salvation Prophecy is on sale at GamersGate for $10, and Paradox has launched their own web store and are celebrating by having a 55% off sale, meaning you can get Sword of the Stars II for $9.

That’s it for today! Have an awesome day y’all, and thanks as always for visiting!

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Spacey Game News and Deals – First of 2013! :)

Folded Newspapers

Look at All That News! :)

Hey y’all, welcome to 2013! :) I hope y’all had a happy, safe and joyous new year’s whatever-you-did, and are ready to jump into 2013 with all the spacey game goodness we can find! Let’s start 2013 (which I still can’t type apparently) with some awesome newsiness!

Next up, in gamey deals, SCHAR: Blue Shield Alliance has a permanent price drop and a sale, so the game is $1.75 for the regular edition and $2.25 for the special edition. FTL is still for sale on its official site and now GOG for $4.99. Finally, speaking of GOG, their Santa in Space bundle is back, with a buncha spacey awesomeness for around $15 if you don’t own any of the games, less if you do. GOG’s sale ends tomorrow too, FYI.

Finally, in spacey-yet-non-computery-game news, the developer of Hegemonic, which is a spacey 4X board game, contacted me and asked for help in promoting their Kickstarter, so I said I’d be happy to help. If I was into board games I’d be all over this, as it looks AWESOME.

That’s it folks! Have a lovely day!

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Spacey Gamey Post-Christmas 2012 News and Deals

News Brick

I Will Throw This Brick of News Through All of Your Windows! ;)

Hey y’all, happy Wednesday, and welcome back from Christmas break (if you had one, that is)! How was everyone’s holiday, and what did y’all get? ;) Mine was awesome, and I hope yours was too! Now with that said, let’s see what’s happened over the break…

In non-spacey game news, the folks behind AI War, Arcen Games, have released the beta for their 2.0 version of A Valley Without Wind. All existing owners of AVWW get 2.0 for free, and you can get ‘em both right now on Steam for just $5.99, which is an amazing deal. I put a decent amount of time into AVWW and found it a ton of fun, so I can’t wait for the sequel.

Finally, in deals, Get Games is having their Cheap as Chips sale and you can get Star Wolves, Star Wolves 2 and Star Wolves 3: Civil War for $2.70 each, the chepest I’ve ever seen ‘em, and totally worth it. :)

That’s it for today folks! I hope y’all have a lovely day, and I thank you for visiting and reading, as always! :)

You Want Videos? Right This Way!

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Space Game Newsiness – 12/20/12

All those little dots are news stories...

Newsy Stars

Hey folks, happy Thursday! I hope your wallets are still okay even though the Steam sale has begun. ;) To distract you from the buying, here’s some news!

That’s it for today folks, have a great one!

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Steam Holday Sale Has Launched!

Steam Logo

IT OWNS YOU! ;)

The Steam Holiday Sale is ON LIKE DONKEY KONG, and here are all the spacey games I’ve been able to find (which is similar to the Thanksgiving sale in a lot of ways):

No go buy stuff! ;)

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Spacey News and Deals – 12/11/12

News and Coffee

I’m Knee Deep in Both of These Today. ;)

Hey y’all, happy Tuesday! I hope y’all are having a great week so far. I’m still feeling a bit under the weather, especially energy-wise, but I’ve got more than enough to give ya the latest spacey news and deals. :) Enjoy! (Lots of videos today, which are embedded after the cut if possible)

We also have a few random deals today, such as:

That’s it for today folks. I hope it’s a good one for y’all, and thanks for visiting and reading. :)

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Spacey Gamey News and Deals – 12/5-10/12

News Hands!

Taking Hold of the News Once Again!

Hey y’all, happy Monday! I’m mostly back, and while I’m not feeling 100% — maybe 70-80% — but that’s well enough to try and get y’all caught up with nearly a week’s worth of spacey gamey newsey goodness! There’s a lot to cover here, so let’s dive in. :)

The only deal I could find for today was an EVE Online – 30 Day Starter Pack at Green Man Gaming for $4.99.

Finally, the Concept Ships blog has some fantastic spaceship art from Kian Ng and Smyk Vitaliy.

That’s it! WHEW! I need some more sleep after that. I promise to get back into regular content soon folks, have tons of reviews, previews and such I need to work on, but the holidays are nuts and being sick didn’t help. Thanks again for your patience as I strive to balance out this blog with life in general. :) Have a lovely day y’all!

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