It’s one of those weeks where I found a handful of videos and couldn’t decide on which to use, so I’m using them all. We’ve got a delightful mix of previews and politics to make this weeks’ YouTube Tuesday a bit more eclectic than usual. The lead video is a preview of Wasteland 2 which you may or may not remember had a pretty successful Kickstarter a few months back. It’s pretty amazing how far they’ve come in that time, showing all of us that this whole Kickstarter thing may just be legit.
I’m pretty excited that Wasteland 2 looks a lot like the original Fallout. That’s not a coincidence as the games are technically cousins, and it is nice to see that when they said they would be keeping the game very traditional looking they meant it. There’s a customizable UI, written descriptions of the environment, and even some well thought out turn-based combat which includes friendly fire, something that is unique for a turn-based game.
All in all I’d say that the game is looking great and it shows that with a good concept and a solid team, Kickstarter funding can be used to get a good idea off the ground. I’ll keep my eye on its development as I’m hoping future builds will be just as good.
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Of all the people I thought would sit down and defend video games, Nancy Pelosi wasn’t even on the list and yet there she is on Fox defending games and pop culture in the face of unbelievable ignorance. Despite Chris Wallace claiming that “it’s clear” these types of things are a problem, Pelosi calmly reminds him that there’s evidence to the contrary, although it’s pretty clear his mind is already made up. Thankfully there are those who do actually follow the evidence, even in the often dodgy world of politics.
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Using the character Hicks from the movie Aliens to promote Aliens: Colonial Marines is a great example of a game hoping to capitalize on the success of a movie that has little to do with the game. I had hoped this would be the game that brought the Aliens franchise into the world of gaming in a way that the others hadn’t, but judging by its Metacritic score that doesn’t seem to be the case. When are they going to stop making the same game over and over again? Its Aliens but with more pulse rifles, motion trackers, and other nonsense from the 20 year old movie. We get it, the movie was great, but so far no one has been able to capture that same success in game form. I give them a week before the announce a reboot to the franchise.
