Happy 2013. Well, not yet, soon. Hopefully your holidays are all going well, filled with cheer and lots of eggnog, as you prepare to ring in the new year with games aplenty. The Shacknews staff is bustling away in preparation for a new round of awards, playing and re-playing noteworthy titles from the last year as our deliberations come to a close. Check out what we're playing, and tell us how you plan to celebrate a brand new year!
The holiday season is officially upon us, Shackers. Since many of you are on vacation from work or school for Thanksgiving, what are you all playing? With the launch of the new WiiU platform, a ton of amazing games like Hitman: Absolution, and Planetside 2's entry into the free to play arena, this holiday season truly is a spectular time to enjoy gaming. Not to mention the bevy of great sales hitting this weekend.
Happy Thanksgiving from all of us here at Shacknews. We hope your holiday is wonderful!
Attempting to kill the world is fun. And sort of addictive. Plague Inc., by Shacker jamiejme and Ndemic Creations, launched for Android devices yesterday after holding the top slot over on the iOS marketplace for quite some time. Essentially, the game boils down to a handheld version of the movie Contagion, except in this case you will tailor the symptoms, evolution, and spread of the disease. Design something terrible, and unleash it upon the world.
It's really a fun game. Play it this weekend if you need something to do!
Lots of new previews hit the Shack this week, but I'm really feeling underwhelmed by this fall's somewhat odd release schedule. The last few weeks have been crazy (mostly because of you Borderlands 2), but otherwise there aren't too many releases I'm excited about. Dishonored and XCOM: Enemy Unknown are really the only two that have my attention. Halo 4? Assassin's Creed III? Call of Duty: Black Ops II? I'm sure they'll be great, but I just can't excited for one reason or another. Am I broken, Shack?
Fall releases are beginning to kick into high-gear, as I'm sure you are all well aware. How do you manage the amount of time you put into each game? Gone are the days where I can sit in front of a screen for twelve hours at time, since there are always chores that need done. And yet, I can't seem to tear myself away from FTL: Faster Than Light even though I know there are plenty of other great games that I should play, too.
What gives? How do you manage your time, Shackers?
You know it's Friday, right? Sure you do.
A crazy week here at the Shack, with some super slow news days and others with a few days worth of material crushed into just a few hours. Though I suppose that's what happens when most of us had Monday off for Labor Day. Did you do anything interesting? Or have anything interesting planned for this weekend? See what we're up to this weekend and let's make a few plans!
Hey Shackers, how're games treating you today? I've been stuck in the same blasted spot in Transformers: Fall of Cybertron for several days now and am contemplating notching down the difficulty from hard to medium. I have a feeling it's only going to get more difficult from here, and I'm tired of getting stuck in cinematic death loops. They aren't quite as bad as Too Human's death scenes, but annoying enough. Maybe once I get some barbeque in me this weekend it'll help me power my way through.
It's been a busy week for Shacknews, with new trailers for anticipated fall hits landing every day including Dishonored, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Assassin's Creed III, and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist. Who knows what we can expect with PAX Prime 2012. Catch up on our videos page if you need something to keep you busy this weekend! Especially if you aren't stomping robots into dust with Transformers: Fall of Cybertron or re-visiting the same campfire over and over again in Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition.
Gamescom 2012 is wrapping up, and you know what that means. More games to talk about. The fall gaming season is upon us, with the release list slowly starting to pick up pace this week, and publishers releasing previews and trailers galore in the hopes of earning your attention in the following weeks.
This week can't be over soon enough. Video games are good at distracting me when I'm depressed, sad, angry, or even happy. But the one thing they can't do is distract me when I'm in physical pain. I've been battling chronic back pain for the last few years, wasting hundreds of dollars in ergonomic cushions that never work. This week has been particularly painful for one reason or another.
But, because I love pain, I'll be picking up Dark Souls for the PC when it launches. That way not only will I be in physical pain, I'll be in mental anguish as well. Are you going to grab it? Prepare to die, indeed. Read more »
Should competitive video gaming become part of the Olympics? It's something I've been thinking about over the last few days after stumbling across this article by Shacker Chris Morris. Sure, it's a bit on the older side, but it's still relevant with new games like Tribes: Ascend and Dota 2 vying for the top eSports spotlight.
What do you think? Should competitive gaming be included in the Olympics? My vote is yes, but with a few caveats. Day[9] and Tasteless need to cast together, and hats must be given for the bronze, silver, and gold medal winners in Team Fortress 2. Read more »
Free-to-play titles always make me take pause before trying said game. The latest? MechWarrior Online. As much as I'd like to purchase a Founder's Program membership, I haven't (yet) been able to bring myself to hit submit my application. That might be changing though.
Summer storms rolled through my town last evening, knocking out my electric, so I took to Strikefleet Omega. It's the first free-to-play game I've actually tried. Learning the ins and outs was simple enough, and before I knew it four hours had passed. If MechWarrior Online can replicate Harebrained Schemes in-game purchase formula, where you can work to earn the same upgrades and ships or choose to purchase them for real money immediately, I might dive in afterall. Now, which mech to pick.
It's not every day a video game soundtrack impresses me. There are very few instances where I'll actually notice the music, really. But twice this year I've been surprised. The first being Mass Effect 3, with several instances where I immediately went to find the track responsible for making me take pause. The next? Spec Ops: The Line, amazingly. Narrative and gameplay flaws aside, Yager did a fine job selecting music for certain shootouts.
During one tense moment, as snipers began to decimate the cover around me, Mogwai's "Glasgow Mega-Snake" blared over my speakers to my rather surprised reaction. I dug my heels in and the music slowly faded as the firefight died down. I didn't expect it, but it certainly got my heart pumping.
Game apathy. It's a thing. While I love summer sales as much as the next guy, I've come down with a serious case of the summer blues over the last few weeks. I pre-ordered Spec Ops: The Line and got my copy on launch day, but only managed to force myself to play it on Tuesday. I just sat in front of my game collection in a whirlwind of indecision, hoping a title might pop out at me or shout "play me, you big idiot!" No such luck.
Be warned, it can happen to you too! So what are you playing this weekend, Shack?
Happy weekend, Shack! I hope you had a wonderful fourth of July, filled with lots of charred meaty goodness and colorful explosions. Mine was spent watching the special edition of Independence Day, just like every other year. The dialogue is horrible, sure, but I always get a kick out of it.
How did you spend your holiday? Play any good games, or were you too busy planning for Shackcon?
"I beat Halo 4, and should try to play more and finish Black Ops 2, Dishonored, Sleeping Dogs, ..."
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