Sunday marked the largest gathering of the year at my house. It wasn’t an official MNC gathering, but turned out to be one of the biggest showings ever. It was a special get-together to celebrate the birthdays of two MNC members, Beau and Dexter. In addition, Casey was able to take some time out of her schedule and drive down from Atlanta for the weekend. Additionally, my old roommate Rick flew in from Seattle for an extended vacation. All in all, we had a great time playing Rock Band, Street Fighter, and watching Irving successfully defend his championship belt in Tetris DS. The Vinnie Van Go-Go’s pizza was a nice change of pace from the standard pizza shops. Once again, happy birthday to Dexter and Beau. Hope you guys celebrate many more to come!
This weekend will see MAD and I traveling to Chattanooga for ConNooga. We’ll have a table set up in the artist’s alley, and MAD will be giving away free sketches to those who ask. I will also be available for some DS gaming if you’re interested. Stop by and say hello.
Oh, and be aware that next Monday’s comic will be done at the convention and will not be colored. It will more than likely be a posting of con sketches.
- Dover
Sins of a Solar Empire. Um, yes please? It’s developed by Ironclad Games and published by the fine folks at Stardock, makers of the excellent Galactic Civilizations series and, er, Object Desktop. I managed to miss out wholesale on the entire 4X movement "back in the day", whenever the hell that was. That said, I endeavored to compensate for those missed hours of Master of Orion by doubling up on GalCiv when it was released. 4X is a term coined by a magazine writer, I believe, and the X’s stand for: eXpand, eXplore, eXploit, and eXterminate. They are usually massive in scale, charging you, the player, with the management of enormous galaxy-spanning empires. Level of control extends far beyond that of a standard Command & Conquer bred RTS, allowing micromanagement of ship building, tax levying, population control and my personal favorite, diplomacy. 4X games share little in common with the real-time strategy norm, and rarely focus on battles.
Sins of a Solar Empire breaks down many of those barriers, and the results are nothing short of miraculous. I hate evangelizing because it usually rings a disingenuous tone, but I cannot play this game enough. This breaks the gameplay down far better than I ever could. I have difficulty speaking about this game without fluttering into praise, and I wouldn’t want to impose that sort of fanaticism upon you.
Culdcept Saga is staring me down. I look forward to opening it this week. Professor Layton is beautifully batty. I look into the next month with dread, and realize that my stack of unplayed games is set to grow exponentially. March, it would seem, is the new Christmas.
- Irving