Time Machine VR: Jurassic Park Done Right

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

The last thing that I imagined I would be doing at PAX Prime is swimming with dinosaurs, but an Oculus and Time Machine VR made it possible! , there has been such deep ice cap drilling that mankind has unleashed a 15 million year old virus and humans are beginning to go extinct. Your job, as a scientist, is to go back to the Jurassic are and study the creatures living there and how they survive with this virus in their ecosystem. The demo was straightforward but breathtaking.

Occult Adventures

Thursday, September 24, 2015


I believe it was a couple years ago that I interviewed Erik Mona and asked him about his thoughts on Dreamscarred Press' Ultimate Psionics. He was actually really excited about it, and told me that he was glad someone had done the psionics and power point system such justice, because Paizo had different plans. With an almost childish glee in his eyes, Erik described to me his dream of a book with classes and mechanics informed by Lovecraftian mythos and new age spiritualism, with a healthy dose of 19th century mysticism for good measure.

Time passed. Paizo released its Advanced Class Guide, a book so poorly edited and sublimely uninspired that I had almost given up hope that we'd see anything as amazing and awesome as the Alchemist, Oracle, or Witch from the Advanced Player's Guide, the first book where they really came out and said "We're Paizo, and this is what we're about". But where the Advanced Class Guide was a barely redeemable slog of mostly uninspired and largely formulaic class design with very few bright spots, Occult Adventures immediately leaps off the shelf as something special, something that shows that spark of creativity and healthy dose of love from the writers and contributors that is hard to quantify or explain but which is immediately recognizable in their work, and which was very much Paizo's hallmark when the Pathfinder Core Rulebook first came on the scene. When I talked with Erik Mona this year at PAX, there was really nothing I could say to him beyond "Well done, man. You guys knocked this one out of the park".

Post Pax 2015: Armello

Tuesday, September 22, 2015


We are still going through the oodles of info we brought back from PAX Prime. Bear with us, there's still quite a bit to cover. In August, Playstation Plus members were allowed to vote for one of the free games. Though the Ubisoft published Grow Home eventually won the voting, I cast my vote for Armello; a digital boardgame with an interesting, Redwall-esque aesthetic to it. Later, while wandering the Indie Megabooth at PAX, I happened upon its developer's booth and was given an opportunity to play. 

Cards Against Humanity Announces the Science Ambassador Scholarship

Friday, September 18, 2015


The average player of Cards Against Humanity may not be aware of all the incredible things they have done over the years. The outrageous card game has given money to various charities including the Wikimedia Foundation, an incredible school shopping spree from DonorsChoose.org, and the Sunlight Foundation. Their latest card pack, The Science Pack, has upped the ante quite a bit. They are funding a full tuition undergraduate scholarship for women pursuing a degree in science, engineering, math or technology.

So There's This King, Who Takes Things..

Tuesday, September 15, 2015


The great yo-yo of Destiny has me in its grasp once again. I've now played through the main story for The Taken King and while I was trepidatious about giving in to Bungie's parade of changes once again, I've got to say that I've been duly impressed so far. So let's break some things down and talk a bit about what's changed.

Razer Has New Goodies!

Saturday, September 12, 2015


Recently, at PAX Prime Razer had some fun items to reveal! I stopped by their booth and attended their panel during the Expo and am excited to show you what I saw.

PAX Prime 2015: Runic Game's Hob is Beautiful, Mysterious

Thursday, September 10, 2015


We sat down with Marsh Lefler, President of Runic Games, at PAX to talk about Hob. The third game from the Seattle based company, Hob is an adventure game set in a strange world humming with life and mysterious technology. As you traverse this world you will learn more about where you are and what your role is. We arrived at Runic's booth very curious about Hob, and our time there left us even hungrier for details.

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes (A unique take on a tired trope)

Tuesday, September 8, 2015


As a red-blooded American who was raised by an unhealthy dose of TV as a child, I am on a first name basis with the common action trope of frantic bomb defusal. We all know it; someone is trapped with a bomb/warhead capable of terrible destructive power. No one can get in or out. The expert in defusing just this explosive item has to talk our inexperienced hero through the process via some sort of lifeline. The red numerals tick down closer and closer to the big Kaboom. Will they ever make it in time??

Rhyme of the Bearded Mariners

Friday, September 4, 2015

The point and click adventure genre is a large draw for me, principally because it was a substantial part of my childhood gaming foundation. Hours of adventuring with Guybrush Threepwood and Bobbin Threadbare have laid a deep grove in my gaming preferences. And so I found myself drawn in by the siren call of Burley Men at Sea at the PAX Prime Indie MegaBooth and had the opportunity to play their teaser demo.

PAX Prime '15 Discoveries- Southlands: Adventures Beneath the Pitiless Sun

Thursday, September 3, 2015

I hadn't heard of "Southlands: Adventures Beneath the Pitiless Sun" until I stumbled across it at PAX. I'd somehow completely missed the Kickstarter, hadn't heard it mentioned or seen any reviews, and yet it leapt right off the shelf at me.

Post PAX Round-up : Prime 2015

Tuesday, September 1, 2015


PAX Prime 2015 is over. Our four days in Seattle brought us into contact with a great deal of interesting games and many of their developers. It was a strong year for indie titles and tabletop games, but a few AAA games shone through to capture our attention. We have a lot of content to unload over the next couple weeks, as well as a few surprises. Before we go in-depth with any of the games we played and the things we saw, here are some of my highlights.