Prelude To A New PC

Thursday, January 28, 2016
I've been out of the PC gaming ring for too long. In the eight+ years that I've been writing for Somnambulant Gamer I've played most of my games on consoles. Sure, a number of the indie games I've played have been on the PC, most of the AAA titles I've played have been experienced solely on consoles. My gaming roots are with the PC and I'm finally taking steps to go back to them. I'm not buying any pre-built tower, laptop or Steam machine. It's time I built my own.

REDUX: Favorite Gaming Memories

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Every platform has it's achievements these days. It seems almost every game is eager to award you meaningless points for accomplishing things large and small. Before this trend however, everyone measured their achievements in a more personal way. Those of us who grew up before the official "achievement" have our own favorite moments. These are a few of mine.

Humble Bundle's Winter Sale Wants Your Monies for Good Causes

Thursday, January 21, 2016
Image Source: humblebundle.com


Humble Bundle is wrapping up the first week of its annual winter sale today. There are a ton of tempting offers to lure your wallet from your pockets, but there's no need to feel guilty or trepidatious of indulging a bit. Ten percent of the sale's proceeds are going to charity and they've already raised over $3.8 million for Child's Play and numerous other charities. If there is something you've procrastinated getting or if you're looking for something new to play, peruse the ever expanding catalog of games on the Humble store.

Hooked on Minecraft Five Years too Late

Tuesday, January 19, 2016


I never considered myself to be a Minecraft player. My daughters play quite a bit and as much as I enjoy playing with them, Minecraft has never really captured my attention. Last week though, my youngest kiddo got Wesley playing for a while. Before I knew it, Wesley had started a new survival game of her own. She set up a little homestead near a cave, setting her pagoda-esque house high on a hill. She invited me to play with her for a bit and I agreed, albeit somewhat reluctantly. Since that day last week, there hasn't been a day that she and I haven't played Mincraft. I'm hooked.

DCS World Taught me to Crash

Thursday, January 14, 2016
Okay, where do I put the key?

Flight sims are my jam. The last time I played a truly detailed flight sim was probably more than 8 years ago. I've limited my flight games to more arcade style combat games like War Thunder and World of Warplanes. I've looked at Digital Combat Simulator on and off over the past six months, marveling at the level of detail and the high fidelity models of the planes. Thinking I could handle the challenge, I downloaded DCS last night. What followed would make any flight instructor weep.

That Dragon, Cancer: A Documentary of Love and Tragedy

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

That Dragon, Cancer is game about Joel Green, son of programmer and game developer Ryan Green and his wife Amy, and their struggle with Joel's terminal cancer over his 5 short years of life.  It is an intimate exploration of these parents' love for their child in the face of sickness and death. A gallery of meditation on complicated emotions that leads you to explore your own rather that simply witness the Greens'. Without a triumphant winning result or absolute answers, you find yourself being remarkably present with the Greens as they love, grieve, pray, and share with you the player. It is heart-breaking and beautiful.

That Dragon, Cancer is Moving, Full Review Tomorrow

Tuesday, January 12, 2016


We finished our playthrough of That Dragon, Cancer this evening. We are still raw from the experience. Please excuse our delay, but we will have our thoughts on the finished game up tomorrow. For now all I can say is that we were deeply moved by the experience. I'll leave you with a few words from our article on the demo Ryan Green showed us at PAX.

A Long Walk Down Memory Lane With Grim Fandango

Saturday, January 9, 2016


When I think back on the favorite games of my youth I have a tendency to do so with rose-colored glasses. Nothing can really compare to the retouching my own memory gives to the games I love. I became keenly aware of this fact when I replayed the remastered Halo with Steven. It was alarming to see that the remastered version was closer to what I remembered about how the game looked, than what it actually looked like when I first played it years ago.

Battlefront Is a Blast as Long as My Kids Play Too

Tuesday, January 5, 2016


Over the holidays I came into a copy of Star Wars Battlefront for the Xbox One. Our family loves Star Wars, and my daughter were very anxious to play Battlefront as soon as I had installed it on the console. While the multiplayer is entertaining, the graphics impressive and the simple interface useful for playing with my kids, I have the most fun when I sit down and play a couple missions with them. After two weeks with the game, we are running out of new challenges to master.