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You are here: Home / Archives for Newest Critical Hits / Featured

Put the Phone Away: A call to gamers still in the dark ages of handhelds (Part 2)

June 11, 2009 by guest

Although the PSP is selling wonderfully in many other parts of the world, it has struggled in the US market since its release. It would be hard to call it a failure with the many millions of systems sold stateside, but it definitely has struggled to find an identity in this country. The UMD video discs were a complete disaster for Sony, and the third-party market hasn’t embraced the system as much as it has its rival.

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Reviews, Video Games Tagged With: crisis core, final fantasy 7, jeanne d'arc, portable gaming, psp

Inq. of the Week: Opinions of E3 2009?

June 8, 2009 by Bartoneus

For the past week I’ve been hearing faint whispers around the edges of my radar about E3 going on, but it feels like this year everything is far more muted than it has been in previous years. The only thing that I’ve really heard a lot of excitement about is the new Star Wars: The Old Republic trailer, which does look extremely badass and the changes to the MMO style really intrigue me.

Filed Under: Featured, Inquisition of the Week, News, Video Games Tagged With: E3, Inquisition of the Week, microsoft, nintendo, opinion, playstation, ps3, sony, videogames, wii, xbox 360

Put the Phone Away: A call to gamers still in the dark ages of handhelds (Part 1)

June 6, 2009 by guest

Gamers have a predicament when they are away from their home base: they have a gnawing hunger for escapist goodness without a good way of appeasing the hungry gaming monster in their bellies. Too many of you are resigning yourselves to badly-made clones of golden-era games on your tiny little cellphone screens. Stop it.

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Video Games Tagged With: ds, dsi, portable gaming, psp

Inq. of the Week: One Year Later for 4e

June 1, 2009 by Dave

Starting with the initial announcement at GenCon 2007, we polled reaction to the coming of a new system and found most to be cautiously optimistic. Then shortly after release, we polled about everyone’s favorite edition of D&D, which at the time showed a preference for 4e, and late voting has only increased that lead. It seems only natural to follow up with the following, after 1 year of release, the question on many minds…

Filed Under: Featured, Inquisition of the Week, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e

MM2 Worldwide D&D Game Day: Behind the Screen

May 26, 2009 by Dave

Over a month ago, I discovered that Monster Manual 2 Game Day would fall smack dab in the middle of Balticon, so I decided I’d try to combine peanut butter and chocolate and sign up to run the game day at my Friendly Local Science Fiction Con. I hadn’t been happy with the previous game day at the game store closest to where I live, and didn’t particularly want to leave the con to head to a game store that day, so I navigated through the RPGA signup system to run it myself (and hey, get a pile of minis to boot).

Filed Under: Featured, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, dndgd, mm2, monster manual 2, wwdndgd

Lessons from the Heroic Tier

May 21, 2009 by Dave

This March, I placed my game on hiatus so that I could graduate. At that time, some of the players were at 9th level and not too far from 10, so I decided to cheat a little and advance all the players to Paragon to begin the next chapter on the next tier. However, during the 9 levels of solid play we got in, I learned a few things about D&D 4e, at least as far as I could learn from the heroic tier. Here’s what I’ve learned about running 4e for close to 10 levels, in no particular order.

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, heroic tier

Inq. of the Week: Age of Roleplaying?

May 18, 2009 by Bartoneus

This week I’ve been thinking about something that I don’t believe we have touched on yet, and that’s at what age people start playing RPGs. I’ve heard from quite a few people that are new to D&D with 4th edition from various ages, but even just yesterday I ran my D&D game with a player who had not played since 2nd edition many years ago and is now trying it out again.

Filed Under: Featured, Inquisition of the Week, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: age, dnd, Dungeons & Dragons, Inquisition of the Week, new players, roleplaying games, Roleplaying Games

Review: “The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena” (Xbox 360)

May 17, 2009 by guest

For us folks who are two movies and a video game behind on knowing what the hell is going on, here’s what I can gather: Space Vin Diesel washes up on some shore, and is pissed (naturally). He also looks damn good in a space wife-beater, and has sweet space welding goggles. There’s some silly obligatory one-liners said by our hero, but soon we’re off doing what we REALLY wanted to do: stabbing people in the throat!

Filed Under: Featured, Reviews, Video Games Tagged With: vin disel, xbox 360

Review: Monster Manual 2

May 13, 2009 by Bartoneus

If there’s one thing most DMs can agree on, it’s that having more monsters to pick and choose from is better than more options for players, so the Monster Manual 2 comes as a welcome addition to 4E. The MM2 expands on many of the monsters we’re already using as well as introduces a whole slew of new beasties to the mix. From front to back, this book really excites me as both a DM and a player, and it delivers a lot of excellent new content for the 4th edition of Dungeons & Dragons.

Filed Under: Featured, Reviews, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, 4th Edition, D&D, dnd, Dungeons and Dragons, mm2, monster manual 2, Reviews, Roleplaying Games, roleplaying games

Inq. of the Week: The Stars Are Trekkin’

May 11, 2009 by Dave

Over the weekend, I caught the newest entry in the battle between Star Wars and Star Trek, as the Federation Strikes Back with the new update, featuring a rebooted franchise and cast (with one exception). I was not alone in this, as many showings were sold out as everyone and their mother (literally) sought out the new adventures of Kirk and Spock. Thus, for all you new and old Trek fans alike, to balance the scales of last week, I present to you the following query…

Filed Under: Featured, Inquisition of the Week, Movies, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre, Television Tagged With: star trek

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