Let’s just clear the air right from the start–Baseball Mogul 2009 is not for the arcade crowd. It’s a stats-loving geek’s dream come true, but it will likely not appeal to most fans of baseball video games. That being said, those that do fall within its target demographic will find a very enjoyable game with a few unfortunate stumbles.
As noted, the Baseball Mogul series is for those who subscribe to Baseball Weekly, or are just really into fantasy baseball leagues. It’s essentially the franchise mode of any console baseball game without the excitement of occasionally stepping up to the plate. Instead, the excitement comes from a well done trade or watching a draft pick make their way from the single A ball all the way to a starting spot in the majors.
You may not remember Dark Castle, but it already spawned one classic sequel. Think of it as a medieval Prince of Persia, but in black and white and for the Mac. The update is nothing graphically to crow about, but then again it isn’t trying to be. It’s classic 2D gaming celebrating its 2Dness. As this pseudo-retro-revival continues, it’s interesting to see just how much life is left in the classic gaming setup. Return to Dark Castle likely won’t win any awards or set sales records, just like those games of yore. And just like them, it remembers that isn’t always the reason for making a great game.
Sure, playing Ace Combat or Microsoft Flight Simulator is fun, but does either fully capture the reality of flying a plane? Hardly. Well, that is unless you add a $17,250 hardware setup along with Microsoft’s software.
That’s exactly what HotSeat is offering with their Flight Sim Chasis. The setup includes three 22-inch LCD monitors and a beast of a computer. It’s powered by a quad core processor, 4GB of RAM and an NVIDIA 512MB graphics card. All of this to run Microsoft Flight Simulator X with the Acceleration Expansion Pack (preinstalled, naturally). (more…)
This video is both remarkable and pointless. Did you know you can render 3D graphics in Microsoft Excel? Did you care? Probably not for both, but upon seeing you’ll have a hard time arguing it isn’t a little cool to make such a bland work tool actually do something fun. Now, where are the modders with the Star Fox ports to Excel?
Bionic Commando is shaping up to be a very impressive remake. Now, finally, Capcom is starting to drop some details on it. The verdict? This is no quick cash grab of a remake.
First off, Bionic Commando will be priced at $10 across the PSN, Xbox Live and PC. Not a bad price at all for a completely rebuilt game. Consider that much lesser ports and casual titles have sold for $10 on Xbox Live Arcade. Capcom credits the fans for picking this price point, though one can imagine most fans suggested $5 or free. (more…)
Not that there is anything wrong with it, but over half of men and nearly three quarters of women play MMOs as the opposite sex. That’s right, that cute elf warlock you’ve had your eye on the past few weeks might actually be a dude. It’s not quite The Crying Game, but more like the ending of the first Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.
The findings come from a study at Nottingham Trent University. T hey found that 54% of men liked to play as women, while 70% of women liked to play as men. Chief researcher Zaheer Hussain explains, “It seems that women gender swap for a variety of reasons, such as to avoid unsolicited male approaches on their female characters, or because they felt male characters were treated better by other males during the course of the game.” You mean, female gamers are tired of being treated poorly by male gamers? Sadly, that probably does come as a shock to many.
As for the bigger news of cyber-cross-dressing, how in the world will Halo players deal with such news? Anyone who has played that game has dealt with the rampant homophobia and racism spouted over Xbox Live. Perhaps they are simply women pretending to be ignorant 13-year-old boys? Probably not. (more…)
Do you ever yearn for the simpler times? When computers weren’t made of fancy plastics and metals, but carved straight from the bark of a tree? If you do, perhaps you exist in some alternate timeline from reality. Or, you just really, really want a computer that blends in with your all mahogany study. Whichever way, you’ll love this modded computer in a polished wood case. Except, where most modders would say enough is enough, they go the extra mile and add a nice wood case for the monitor, keyboard and mouse pad. Click on the image for a full sized version.
NPD released the January sales chart for PC games and it was completely dominated by two franchises. Can you guess which two, without referring back to the title of this article? In case you couldn’t, the two franchises are Warcraft and The Sims.
What’s really weird is the number of older titles in each series that have shown staying power. The Warcraft III Battlechest and Sim City 4 Deluxe both charted in the top 20. While Sim City Societies or the newest The Sims 2 expansion packs would seem sure bets, these classics are showing some true longevity. Perhaps it’s a side-effect of their sequels bringing in new fans who want to explore the games’ past? (more…)
At the recent Independent Games Festival held in San Francisco, California gamers got to see what little money and some real creativity can do. While tons of games were shown at the festival, only the best of the best were able to take home the honor of an IGF award.
The grand prize went to the 2D physics puzzle game Crayon Physics Deluxe. In it the player uses a crayon to draw objects that are used in the game to overcome obstacles. Seumas McNally, the creator of the game, walked away with a $20,000 prize and the envy of indie developers everywhere.
Other stars of the show included Fez created by Montreal developer Kokoromi. It took home the award for Excellence in Visual Art for its unique pixilated style. While the graphics are wonderful, the real draw is the gameplay in which the character must climb to the top of a 3D pile of platforms, but only in two dimensions at a time. The game allows the player to rotate the tower so they can make their way to the top, but the key is to figuring out which way to flip the tower so the platforms are in the right spot. (more…)
Not that there is anything wrong with it, but 
NPD released the January sales chart for PC games and it was completely dominated by two franchises. Can you guess which two, without referring back to the title of this article? In case you couldn’t, the two franchises are Warcraft and The Sims.
At the recent Independent Games Festival held in San Francisco, California gamers got to see what little money and some real creativity can do. While tons of games were shown at the festival, only the best of the 
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