PixelCast Episode 7: Dylan, Ken and Tim on the mics again.

Tim's laptop has recovered from a serious case of blow-upititis, so the crew is back together again for another episode of the PixelCast. This episode, we've got a special guest joining us: James Pinnell from Gamer Limit.

Listen to us talk about Tropico 3, Wipeout HD, Left 4 Dead 2, Brutal Legend, unconventional uses of videogame consoles and the role of game demos.

You can download the podcast here.

Left behind for dead; You'd be better off

If Left 4 Dead is any indication, I have a very low probability of survival in the face of a zombie apocalypse. You know those guys that are killed in the most horrible way at the start of any zombie movie to illustrate the severity of the situation? Yea, that'd be me.

And for good riddance too; You'd probably wouldn't want me in your team anyway. Things I'd do wrong include:

• Shooting you in the back.
• Shooting you in the front.
• Attracting zombie hordes
• Requiring you to save me every other minute from being overwhelmed by the zombie hordes.

Also, I might accidentally light you on fire with a poorly thrown molotov cocktail; I have a bad track record with throwing explosive devices.

In other gamey news, I've concurrently playing Mirror's Edge. It's been exhilarating and frustrating at the same time.

Boardgames on the table again

I can't believe how long it's been such a long time since I last played any boardgames, it's almost unfathomable. Ever having moved here to Melbourne, I haven't been able to find any opportunities to join in any of the local groups for various reasons.

Weeknights are generally not a good time for me, when Billabong Boardgamers and Gamers@Dockers meet (Tuesdays and Thursdays respectively). I'm usually occupied on weeknights; Dockers is also in the city, which is a fair distance to travel for me.

So it's with absolute joy that I attended EuroGamesFest yesterday afternoon, in Kew. I was feeling a little anxious about going to a strange place meeting strange people, as I often do in any new social situation. And I had never been to that part of Melbourne before. But the lure of games was too much, and I had been going through the longest dry spell I could remember.

First game I played was Race for the Galaxy, with Audrea and two other people we just sat down with: Ryan and Maya. It's an interesting card game, that required quite a bit of orientation, as Audrea and I kept getting lost in the different phases and different abilities of each card. Essentially, each player is trying to put down cards representing planets, or tech developments, which will in turn produce goods which one then turns either into currency (more cards) or victory points. It's quite a clever game of hand management, as the cost of each card placed down is paid for by discarding cards in hand, and one needs to pick the right combination of cards to be placed down to generate goods more efficiently. My main gripe with the game is there is very little player interaction, and as such, no cause for direct player conflict. I was doing quite well in the game, until Ryan starting collecting 2x victory points. We ended the game with him 10 points ahead of me, a gap that I could have easily closed had I started churning victory points far earlier.

The next game I played was Last Night on Earth, which I've talked about previously. I played the game with another group of new people: Daniel, Martin, KK and Chew Yien (I think that's how his named was spelled, I didn't catch it clearly). We played the Escape in the Truck scenario, and we had to scramble about the map, looking for keys and gasoline to a truck, so we could drive off to safety from the zombies. It was one heck of a game, with many close calls. Martin was almost taken down by zombies while hanging on to the keys and gasoline. Lights kept shorting out, leaving us in the dark and unable to find new items and weapons. The waves of zombies were relentless. And in the end, Martin and Daniel jumped into the truck, and drove off leaving the rest of us in the dust, and to our demise. Those bastards.

It was a fantastic day, and I hope to get back to there for the next gathering next month. Thanks for the games, guys.

A very PC year.

Now that I have just seen the gameplay trailer for Diablo III, I'm really getting excited about PC gaming again. I can't wait till I get a decent computer to play an ever-growing list of PC games.

I've been wanting to play Sins of a Solar Empire for the longest time now. I bought it when I was still back in Singapore, waiting for the day I get a new PC to play it on. It's been sitting in my suitcase, beckoning to me to rip open the plastic wrap.

Starcraft II is also something that I'm eagerly looking forward to. I was never any good on the original, but it was heck loads of fun. I forsee many nail-biting multiplayer matches, most of which I will get my ass handed to me.

I want to play Team Fortress 2 on the PC too. I've got it for the Xbox 360, and it's quite good on it. But honestly, it's the sort of game that needs to be played on a keyboard & mouse combination, with my face about 10 inches from the monitor.

Valve's upcoming Left 4 Dead is looking very good. 4-player cooperative multiplayer? Zombies? 8-player Adversarial mode with 4 players taking the roles of zombies? Winning formula!

I have also been keen on making the jump into a MMOG, and there are a few I've got my eyes on. I have been thinking about starting Lord of the Rings Online for the longest time. It looks very nice, and from what I've read, seems suitable to solo-play as well. That's good because I might not always be in the mood to play with other people all the time. EVE Online seems like such an captivating world that I'm seriously contemplating joining. I've heard the crazy stories of intrigue and politics that spill into real life which absolutely fascinates me. Jumpgate Evolution seems like it'll scratch my fetish for space opera, spliced with edge of seat dog-fights in space. There's also a persistent rumour that Star Trek Online will eventually be published, which is already making my head spin with all sorts of sci-fi goodness. Then there's Mythos, whose action-heavy focus, and pick-up and play experience seems to be right up my alley.

And now there's Diablo III! The Witch-Doctor has a spell called Wall of Zombies! How bloody awesome is that!? I swear I almost creamed my pants seeing that. It sure seems like all of the years' outstanding PC games are made especially for me. It's going to be a very Ken-friendly PC year.

Last Night on Earth

I had the opportunity to play The Last Night on Earth today, which is a newly released boardgame. The premise of the game revolves around players attempting to escape from zombies, whilst fulfilling required objectives. I had a blast playing this game, and I think it should be recommended to people who may have an interest in 1) a very thematic game and/or 2) zombies/horror genre.

There are a couple things that may hinder enjoyment of the game, but overall I think it is fairly well-designed.

Summary
The game is played on a play area that is put together with smaller modular boards. Players either play either as the human characters attempting to escape from certain death, or as the zombie hordes trying to inflict said certain death. The human characters have a limited number of turns to complete the objectives, ranging from killing a set number of zombies, to fueling a getaway truck. Zombies have to either try to kill off the human heroes, or try to delay them from completing their goals.

Components
The components are of extremely high quality, comprising of plastic models for the characters and zombies, and thick glossy cardboard for the character sheets, tokens and other game markers. The game also comes with a deck of cards for both zombie and human players, and these are of very high quality as well. Overall, the game looks very well-produced, and buyers will get a good deal from this purchase.

Rules
The rules are fairly simple, which leaves players more time to enjoy the game, and less time to ponder over fiddly rules. Human heroes get to move their characters, exchange items with fellow humans, and fight. Humans also get the option to search for items in lieu of moving, provided they are within a building or structure. Zombies get to pick up special cards, move and spawn zombies, and attack heroes.

Most of the rules are fairly streamlined. Human movement is based on one roll of a D6. Zombies move one space, unless there is a special card dictating otherwise. Fights are resolved between dice roll-offs between humans and zombies. Humans roll a basic of 2 dice, zombies get one; however zombies win all ties. Any special rules to fights are dictated by cards picked up by both sides. These cards modify fights either by adding dice or adding modifiers (e.g. rolls at 2+ automatically win fights).

Pluses
The game is very thematic, while also remaining fairly well-balanced between the both sides. Human players get a real sense of desperation when the zombie hordes closes in, whilst the zombies players are filled with an unnerving determination as their undead forces shamble forward.

Both sides have an equally good chance at winning the game, with the game swinging back and forth throughout the game. Zombie players start to feel a little triumphant as the board fills with their underlings, whilst human players may see a slight glimmer of hope as they start thinning out the enemies. I've only played this once, but I suspect that the endgame should be fairly close, and coming down to the wire.

Minuses
Some characters may be unbalanced, or at the very least, too well designed for their jobs. One character, Jake Cartwright, has the ability to draw two hero cards and discard one. This gives this character a huge advantage if the objective requires human players to search for specific items within the deck. In our game, Jake stayed in one spot for most of the game cycling through the deck while the rest of us kept the zombies of his back. While this may make some thematic sense, it doesn't lead to exciting gameplay, as that player sits back and continually draws cards.

Because the main rules of the game is fairly streamlined, and most of the rules exceptions comes in the form of the cards played, it creates the situation whereby contradicting rules are not fully explained, and players will need to resolve this using common sense. This could lead to situations where time is spent debating rules rather than playing. Thankfully, most cards are fairly well-written, but this problem is particularly apparent when dealing with the special event cards.

Overall
This game is very enjoyable, and with the right crowd, can be a downright blast to play. Best played as part of a Halloween event, or with a zombie movie playing in the background, this game will get your blood up! So if you have only a passing fancy for the zombie/horror genre, you should give this game a try. Recommended, and given my stamp of approval.

Japanese Comedy Skit, feat Zombies and Video Games

A comedy spoof of playing Zombie shooting arcade games. I LOL-ed! Check it out!

President Bush understands...

President Bush is truly able to see dangers around the corner, that we ourselves are unaware of. He may be able to save us once again.

We have to prepare ourselves, in the likely eventual zombie apocalypse. Damn you, Barry Lank! Do you not know what is at stake here? Our very freedoms are being threatened by zombies!