Looking Forward: Optimistic Speculation Wanted

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 30, 2016

I think I’ve noted my somewhat recent delves into reading pulp fiction from the early-to-mid 20th century. I can’t say I’m reading it extremely broadly… it’s a huge area, and I have my favorite authors. Like every field, Sturgeon’s Law applies: 90% of everything is crap. Theodore Sturgeon oughta know. He was a pulp writer, […]

Filed Under: Books, Mainstream Games, Movies, Short Fiction - Comments: 3 Comments to Read

Impressions – No Man’s Sky, Part 2 – No Man’s Planet

Posted by Rampant Coyote on August 25, 2016

Several more hours into No Man’s Sky, and I’m past the point where many players have rage-quit. I’m at about 35 hours in, and still occasionally find myself playing a LOT longer than I intend in a session. Compared to something like Daggerfall, another gigantic procedural world which I spent triple-digits hours playing back in the […]

Filed Under: Impressions, Mainstream Games - Comments: 2 Comments to Read

Impressions – No Man’s Sky, Part 1

Posted by Rampant Coyote on August 17, 2016

No Man’s Sky. I kind of ignored it at first, because I have played a LOT of spacefaring games and survival games, and even spacefaring survival games, many of which had procedural content generation. But this one had some really great trailers and screenshots of supposedly procedurally generated landscapes and creatures, and so I soon […]

Filed Under: Impressions, Mainstream Games - Comments: Comments are off for this article

The VR War Expands to Consoles?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 14, 2016

Sony has confirmed a new-and-more-powerful version of the Playstation 4, called the Neo. Fully compatible with PS 4 games and peripherals (and vice versa), the main thrust of the Neo seems to be to support enhanced visuals, gaming on 4K screens, and their upcoming VR system. Considering that 4K screens are so “last year” and haven’t […]

Filed Under: Mainstream Games, Virtual Reality - Comments: 4 Comments to Read

The Windows 10 Game Denial Scenario

Posted by Rampant Coyote on August 18, 2015

I haven’t upgraded to Windows 10 yet. I will have a laptop with Windows 10 in a few weeks, and I may eventually upgrade my desktop. I avoided the Windows 8.x fiasco entirely. I don’t particularly trust Microsoft, though I don’t harbor any resentment towards them. I’m still of the opinion that Windows will no […]

Filed Under: Mainstream Games, Tech - Comments: 4 Comments to Read

The Revolution – And Unreal Tournament – Will Be Televised

Posted by Rampant Coyote on May 9, 2014

I gotta hand it to Epic – even when they go “small,” they go big. First it was with totally re-pricing the new Unreal Engine so that it was affordable to small indies. And now, they are making the development of their next game in their flagship series, Unreal Tournament, as completely open as they […]

Filed Under: Biz, Game Development, Mainstream Games - Comments: Read the First Comment

Lights Turned Off in the World of Darkness

Posted by Rampant Coyote on April 14, 2014

Bummer: CCP Games Halts Development of World of Darkness MMO. I was really looking forward to seeing how they “solved” this one. I guess they didn’t. I think I was always more of a fan of the theory behind the RPG system than the implementation, although I really loved Mage and played a bit of […]

Filed Under: Biz, Mainstream Games - Comments: 2 Comments to Read

Eleven Tips to Get the Most out of Rocksmith 2014

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 26, 2014

Now that Rocksmith 2014 has been out almost six months (I’ll have a six-month report in early May), articles and reviews about it have dropped off significantly. This is unsurprising, but also unfortunate, as Rocksmith 2014 is a game / tool that is best evaluated over the long haul. Sadly, that’s not how this industry […]

Filed Under: Guitar Games, Mainstream Games - Comments: 2 Comments to Read

Are the New-Gen Consoles Stumbling?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 11, 2014

I wasn’t sure what to make of things when, right after the launch of a new generation of consoles, EA and Disney Interactive started laying off game developers and claiming that they were enhancing their “focus on mobile.” I mean, hello? In my experience, the first couple of years after a console’s launch is the […]

Filed Under: Biz, General, Mainstream Games - Comments: 10 Comments to Read

Sony Enters Microconsole Market; Nintendo Extends Indie Outreach

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 10, 2013

Wait, whut? It’s a little pricier than the Ouya, at $100 without a controller, or $150 with a controller and an 8 GB card (it has only 1 GB RAM on-board).  Mysteriously, it’s entering the market at about the same time as the PS4. While on the surface it’s not a great deal compared to the […]

Filed Under: Indie Evangelism, Mainstream Games - Comments: 4 Comments to Read

The Humble EA, er, Origin Bundle

Posted by Rampant Coyote on August 16, 2013

The Humble Bundle started as the “Humble Indie Bundle,” but hasn’t been purely indie for a while. The Humble THQ Bundle – sort of a last gasp from a dying publisher (but one of the better-liked ones) – was a clear signal that it wasn’t just about the indies anymore. I kind of looked at […]

Filed Under: Mainstream Games - Comments: 7 Comments to Read

The Final Brick (and Mortar) Wall Begins to Crumble…

Posted by Rampant Coyote on July 24, 2013

After decades of brick & mortar sales leading the way, of where fealty to game stores and Wal*Mart were paramount, I guess you can say that things have finally, officially reversed… EA Reports Digital Revenues Outpace Brick-and-Mortar Sales An online friend noted that a big chunk of that is probably due to DLC sales. I […]

Filed Under: Biz, Mainstream Games - Comments: Read the First Comment

Why PC Gaming Rocks: PCs Are Already Emulating the Xbox One…

Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 17, 2013

In terms of scandals currently making the rounds in the news here in the U.S.A., this would definitely be such small potatoes as to hardly warrant a comment. But it’s funny, and game-related. Those Xbox One games played at E3 last week? Thanks to some well-timed pictures and a crash to the desktop, we know […]

Filed Under: Biz, Mainstream Games - Comments: 4 Comments to Read

The PS4 Promises to be Indie-Friendly. Also, They Clobber the Xbox One.

Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 11, 2013

The Xbone pre-E3 presentation yesterday was, based on most media reports, something of a dud. Maybe it just got reported that way because that’s what many people were expecting, but… based upon what I saw / read, the response was likewarm at best. Many of the Xbone’s “features” were, IMO, not consumer-friendly. They have restrictive […]

Filed Under: Biz, Mainstream Games - Comments: 6 Comments to Read

RIP LucasArts

Posted by Rampant Coyote on April 4, 2013

My birthday is over, but the party continues!  Frayed Knights: The Skull of S’makh-Daon is on sale for 50% off right now via this site, and also Desura.  Even though I’ve been at the indie thing for a long time and know how it works, I’m still surprised at how many people I’d expect to […]

Filed Under: Adventure Games, Biz, Frayed Knights, Mainstream Games, Rampant Games, Retro - Comments: 16 Comments to Read

Do customers, developers, and press HAVE to be at each other’s throats?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 26, 2013

So are gamers, game developers, and the gaming press really becoming increasingly hostile towards each other? This article suggests as much:  Entitled Gamers, Corrupt Press, and Greedy Publishers My original comment when dozens of game developers and press-types began sharing this article was, “Thank goodness I’m an indie… I haven’t seen much of this.” And […]

Filed Under: Biz, Mainstream Games - Comments: 3 Comments to Read



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