Hailing Frequencies Open – 4/18/17 – Back in the Virtual Saddle

Hey y’all, welcome to Podcast day! ;) I can’t believe tonight we have our 200th show. Seriously, 200 of these things, wow. It should be a feisty one, as we take a serious, clinical look at the genre, where it’s succeeding, failing, and everything in-between. Before and after the show, I need to make a couple more videos of this week’s game, since I was only able to make a couple over this past very busy weekend.

Speaking of, today’s video of Stardrift Nomads is a bit shorter than usual because I got my ass BEAT. Seriously, this game threw a lot at me, and I totally wasn’t prepared for it. I didn’t mind though, I liked how the game forced me to make difficult choices, such as sticking around my base or heading off to mine that sweet, huge asteroid for some more scrap (the game’s currency). This is one game wherein I know when I lose, it’s pretty much my fault, so I can’t get mad at the game for rightly beating me. Hopefully I’ll be able to plow through it tonight.

Last night, I actually got a little gaming in! After taking a break to avoid burnout, I returned to Elder Scrolls Online, which I love a lot. Now, with any MMO I play, this always happens. I play hard for a while, then take a little break, only to return when I feel the break should end. It keeps me from burning out on a game and never playing it again. I did it all the time during my heaviest Jumpgate days, and so it is here with ESO and Lord of the Rings Online as well. In ESO, right now I’m focused on my Khajiit Nightblade. I have a Breton Sorcerer, but I’m taking a break from him while I figure out what to do next with him, as I think I’ve skilled him up ineffectively. The Nightblade, however, now there’s a fun time. I got to level eight last night after a few quests, and unlocked the lovely Snipe ability for my bow. THAT’S a good time. I hope I’ll have time to play tonight, but I doubt it with the videos that need to be made.

Now, onto news and deals, and I’ll just stick to doing bulleted lists for these.

• EVE Online features prominently in an article about games helping scientists discover exoplanets
• Children of the Galaxy got a new empire designer as part of their latest update
• Angels Fall First has a new UI you can test out, and it looks lovely
• Planet Nomads pushed its early access release date back a few weeks
• Starfighter Origins also pushed their release date back, but only by a few days (it comes out Friday instead of today)
• Flatspace IIk will finally hit Steam this Friday as well
• Infinity Battlescape has some new work-in-progress shots to show off
• Sadly I don’t have a link to this last one, but Frontier Developments, Paradox Studios, Colossal Order, and Mojang will have one massive “super panel” at PDXCON

A decent amount of deals to day as well:

• Starpoint Gemini 2 on Steam
• Master of Orion (and Collector’s Edition) on GMG
• Distant Star: Revenant Fleet on GMG
• Master of Orion 1+2 on GMG
• Master of Orion 3 on GMG

Finally, my friends, I just wanted to let you know I’ve come to a decision about the Monthly MMO Meetups. I thought about it long and hard, and I figured in the end, we’d have more fun playing Discovery: Freelancer, so for April, May and June, that’s what we’ll play instead of Allegiance. Sorry Allegiance (and also to Mechwarrior: Living Legends). I think this will result in more fun for everyone. If we can, we’ll even spool up our own server to use.

That’s it for today. Thanks y’all, and I’ll see y’all on the podcast tonight!