Category Archives: Video Games
My Greatest Regret is Never Finishing Lego Batman
I don’t know why I never finished that game. It was custom made for me to enjoy: Legos, Batman and a fully playable Robin! Was I insane? Did I have something wrong with me? Hell, I already owned the Lego Batmobile set. It’s sitting on my DVD shelf right now. I didn’t even buy Lego Batman the game myself, I got it for Christmas! And it was a brilliant Christmas present! Yet for some foolish reason or anything, I barely touched that game and eventually traded it in for another game.
Well the universe has decided to give me a chance to make amends. The sequel, Lego Batman 2: Super Heroes, was announced Monday.
Or at least someone uncovered this teaser image:
There is so much awesome in this one picture, I can barely stand it
That’s pretty cool news. New Batman video games are always fun. I absolutely loved the Lego Sar Wars games when I played them, yet for some reason I never got into Lego Batman, Lego Harry Potter or Lego Indiana Jones. They’re an absolute blast to play! Little Lego characters running around a Lego world, collecting bricks and building items. It’s adorable. And again, fully playable Robin! That game should have been my Holy Grail. But alas, it couldn’t hold my interest.
Possibly because there were no Lego lightsabers in the Batman game.
So a sequel should be fun. Batman and Superman teaming up, along with Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and who knows who else (Robin?). Hopefully this time they’ll make it online co-op. Maybe that will be the key.
The REAL Reason Why World of Warcraft is the Best MMORPG
Numbers don’t lie: more than 10 million people play World of Warcraft, the massive multiplayer online role-playing game. Not only is it the gold standard against which all MMORPGs are viewed, but it holds the Guiness Book record for most popular, based on subscribers. WoW is a gaming phenomenon that is still going strong to this day, seven years after it launched on the PC. It changed the industry, bringing forth wave after wave of copy-cat MMORPGs who muck out their lives in niche genres like superheroes or Star Wars. I don’t have to tell you people that World of Warcraft is a fun and popular game to play.
But I am going to tell you why I think it’s the most popular. And it isn’t because WoW has timelessly cartoony graphics in a huge gameworld, a robust character-creation system with a wide variety of races and classes, or 100s of hours of exciting quests and activities. Nor is it because the Horde rules.
World of Warcraft is the best MMORPG because when you play, you actually become a part of the world of Warcraft.
And what a delightfully diverse world
Did I just blow your mind? Probably not yet, at least. Allow me to explain. For the most part, there are two types of MMORPGs: games based on an existing property from movies, comic books or elsewhere, like Star Wars: The Old Republic or DC Universe Online; and games that are created from scratch, with characters and worlds that only exist in this one MMORPG, like City of Heroes or Guild Wars.
World of Warcraft is unique in that it is based on a series of PC games dating back to 1994, telling a progressive story starring familiar characters and locations. Game developer Blizzard has gone to great lengths to maintain the look and feel of the Warcraft games, creating a rich consistency in their fictional world that has lasted for nearly two decades, through several different games.
Their big idea for the sequel? Pirates!
It’s that consistency that makes World of Warcraft the best and most exciting MMORPG. It’s all about immersion in the story and in the game world. When you join World of Warcraft, it’s like you’re going home again, able to actually meet characters and visit locations that have been around in gaming since the early 90s. And since the story of Warcraft has really only been told through PC games, the game world of WoW feels more ‘real’ and authentic than other MMORPGs when played on the PC.
The style of gameplay, and the fully-realized nature of the game world are part of this consistency. Allow me to explain, after the jump.
“It’s’a me, Mario!” – The 8-bit Opera
Once again the Internet brings the funny with this hilarious song parody of Super Mario Bros. It was made by Legolambs, the brilliant creators of the Arnold Schwarzenegger musicals. Check out this Mario song, then follow that link to some of the others. Conan: The Musical! is particularly brilliant.
Thanks to Topless Robot for the find.
I Have the Power to Move Mountains – Or At Least Batman
I’ve done it! I’ve made the potentially impossible happen! I wrote a few articles about the video game Batman: Arkham City, and the universe answered! Though it’s probably completely unreasonable for me to even suggest such a thing, it looks like the game developer Rocksteady has heard my plea and is answering in kind.
The Batcave is coming to Arkham City!
The news was recently Twittered that new downloadable content will feature the Batcave. In what capacity, I don’t yet know.
Is that what the kids are calling it these days? 'Twittered'?
The Nightwing DLC gave us the keys to Wayne Manor, so I have high hopes for the Batcave. And regular readers may recall that I once wrote a list of 6 Things I Want in the Third Batman: Arkham Game. It’s been one of my most popular lists. Right there at #2 is The Batcave/Wayne Manor. Granted we’re going to visit both in the second Batman: Arkham game, but I have to imagine that Rocksteady saw my list and decided to make it happen sooner rather than later.
What’s that you say? It’s almost astronomically impossible that Rocksteady saw my dinky little blog post? And that they themselves could conceive of a plan as simple as ‘let’s add the Batcave’?
Well to that I say, a pox upon you! Let me have my moment.
I also want a Batcave
General Skyrimming
So the other day I introduced everyone to my Skyrim character: Tannenbaum the orc warrior. I trust many of my readers are playing Skyrim as well, and I thought perhaps they’d be interested in seeing what Tannenbaum has been up to. I know I’d be interested in hearing about your characters or your Skyrim adventures. Post some in the comments!
Anyway, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is much like any other massive role-playing game. I travel the countryside slaying trolls and zombies, I visit towns with NPCs who have fetch quests, and trust me, a random stranger, to deliver letters are parcels for them on the other side of the country. Some quests are fun. Some are gruesome. A lot of them involve sieging dungeons and tombs. I’m having a blast. At one point I used a wicked dagger to cut through the roots of the world’s oldest tree, which lived in a hidden grove. I then used the dagger to collect some sap from the tree, only for the tree to get pissed and create a bunch of wood monsters to come at me. I slew them all…but not before the wood monsters shamelessly slaughtered the peace-loving hippies who were visiting the hidden grove.
And the hippies had warned me against messing with the tree. Oh well.
One of the coolest parts is killing dragons.
Here is Tannenbaum, standing before his latest kill
You’d think dragons would be a pretty big deal, and they are. They’re part of the storyline. But at the same time, dragons are randomly spawning creatures. Just as if you were wandering in the woods and came upon a wolf or a bear, you can randomly come upon a dragon. Tannenbaum slayed this one with his mighty axe.
But the game isn’t all questing and slaying monsters. There’s also a hobby portion. Tannenbaum has taken up blacksmithing, where he can make his own armor and weaponry, either for use or for sale.
Here, Tannenbaum made his trust sidekick, Lydia, some matching golden armor.
Can you say Christmas card picture?
Until next time Tannenbaum does something worth sharing, everybody have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Henchman-4-Hire 