Demos in Spaaaaaace!

Time once again for one of my sporadic game reviews. Today, we take a look at the demos of Sword of the Stars and Lego Star Wars: The Original Trilogy.

Sword of the Stars is yet another entry in the 4X space genre, the mother of all 4X games being Masters of Orion (but it wasn't the first by any means). For the purposes of this review, I will do alot of comparison of SoTS and Galactic Civilizations 2 (GalCiv2). Both games are steeped in the classic 4X idioms, but each takes a different direction with each element of gameplay.

The basic idea of course is you chose one of four races in your "galaxy" and start with a homeworld. The idea is to expand your race's influence by exploring neighboring stars and if a suitable planet is found, establishing a colony on that world (more is not always better though). While you are doing this, you can research various technologies which can help in all kinds of things; faster ships, more powerful weapons, better colonies etc. Eventually of course your society will meet up with other races. In some cases, you can establish friendly (or at least non-aggressive) relationships with them, but in most cases fleets clash, ships bleed and fate is tossed like dice in the merciless vacuum of space....

So those are the basics, but the two games handle each aspect very differently. The most pronounced difference of course is that SotS uses a 3D star map (so it's more like real spaaaaaaace!) with GalCiv2's star map is always two dimensional. For those not used to working in 3D, this can be a bit daunting (and confusing) but overall it leads to some interesting strategic play.

Another big difference is the way the two games handle colonies. GalCiv2 has some very detailed colony and financial management: you need to build up each colony with different types of building to give you particular advantages and abilities. SotS uses a very simple colony strategy: planets will have a "compatibility rating" for each race (and it can be different for each race for the same planet). Building a colony is pretty simple: once it's established, it terraforms (makes the world a nicer place for your colonists) builds a generic "infrastructure" which determines income and how much ship-building you can do.

Research is pretty similar for both: there are various "paths" of research that give you bonuses, special abilities etc. While GalCiv2 has a much larger tree (almost redundant in alot of places) SotS has a narrower range, but a technology can have multiple dependencies where GalCiv2 just has simple branching for the most part. Additionally, SotS generates some randomness into the tree: some techs will not be available in some games while others appear only rarely. This adds to the replayability quite a bit. There's also the fact that you never know what technologies will "open" which gives research a certain unpredictability. Of course the demo is pretty limited, so there is more than likely a bigger technology tree to research.

Ships and ship design are very distinct as well. GalCiv2 has a very flexible ship design system which features alot of jewelry that allows you to customize the look of each ship according to taste. Functional design is pretty free-form as well. However the end results are pretty much the same in terms of the game itself: more and better is the name of the game. SotS doesn't have the same flexibility, but in this case it works out to be much cleaner: there are three hull sizes (only on in the demo though). Each hull size has three sections that can be swapped out with pieces that do different jobs. So the end result almost forces a player to play with mixed armaments, while GalCiv2 fleets are usually just multitudes of the same ship.

Combat in GalCiv2 is strictly hands-off (but pretty) as battles resolve without any interference from the player. SotS allows auto resolution, but the player can group and move fleets, assign targets etc. It's in a 2D plane (which is odd considering the star systems are in 3D) which adds a certain edge for a competent player.

Overall the UI is okay, although I think in the attempt to simplify what is on screen, the developers cut out too much. Navigating the statistics and data screens can be a bit difficult to navigate through and the actual universe (your stars and fleets) could use a bit more detail as well. If I have one serious complaint, it's the lack of information on how to play the game, but it's a demo, not a full release.

So in a side-by-side taste test, both games are good but for different reasons: SotS can be played a bit more 'quick and dirty' as opposed to GalCiv2's long, drawn out (but still fun) games. The UI could use alot more polish, but an upcoming patch (to the full game) is being released almost at the same time as the actual game release. Perusing the boards it is available for purchase online (although they are having some problems with the DRM offered by the North American digital distribution). Retail purchase is technically available but most people who have contacted the retails report that they have not shown up in most cases, and in many cases the stores didn't know they actually are selling the game. We'll see how that pans out for them


Next Up: Lego Star Wars: The Original Trilogy

C'mon, Star Wars presented in an all-Lego format and playable on your console and PC? I'm totally geeking out over it!

The original Lego Star Wars covered the the 'prequel' movies, and actually got higher ratings than the movies themselves. Lots of puzzles, action, secret characters and levels, the game has a very high replay value, is slick in presentation, and offers co-op play!

The Original Trilogy demo covered "Chapter 3": Luke and Ben arrive at Mos Eisley and need to sell a speeder while avoiding Storm Troopers, speeder stealing Jawas and the various scum and villains residing in that hive (you know the line). All presented in Brick form.

So if you played the original game, The Original Series seems to be more of the same, but it's a good same, so that's good.

For the record though the controls on a PC are horrid, and there still seems to be no game-controller support. This seems ridiculous as the game is essentially a console game: I don't see how they could not do a port and lose the basic control structures. But hey, I'm not a programmer, so... waitaminute!

I'm hoping that they bundle this with the first Lego Star Wars as I never actually picked that up. The co-op play has me intrigued in particular: finding someone to play co-op is another matter entirely.

I'm Drunk

Woo!

Woo!

Um, yeah. So I am pissed, but I think I decided I'm moving to T.O.in November. Because decisions after you have had four pints always turn out for the best.

And I also have a date with a 24 year-old tomorrow for lunch. Woooo! Yes, female. Shut up you.... thing you!

I wonder if she knows it's a date....

Probably not.

Wooo!

Taco Hell

Ew.

Okay, not feeling well at all today. Now normally my stomach is finicky at best, although I have figured out that onions are a no-no and eating after 8 pm is a bad idea.

After the gym last night I went to a fast-food franchise that shall remain nameless. While I was waiting to get my food, I noticed the crew at this place screwed up the orders of the three people ahead of me. They basically had to remake almost everything. Watching them working was like watching a ballet comprised of retarded monkeys on Prozac. One would say something and the person being addressed took up to thirty seconds to respond as the glacial movement of sparsely spaced synapses coalesced into mis-understanding.

They had forgotten to put one of the two tacos in my order, so I had to wait around to get my second one.

When I got home and dove into these things, I noticed the mayo seemed kind of "off" but I attributed that to the fact that it was now cold from waiting for my second taco.

Big. Mistake. So I'm at home now, losing weight...

Wagons East?

This is getting silly. The cost of living in Cowtown is going up, up and more up as time goes on. It's getting impossible to afford the basics and still maintain my swingin' bachelor lifestyle. Okay geekin' nerdling lifestyle.

Seriously: rent up 15% (and more than likely 50%+ next bump); parking up 25%; gas up 20%; utilities up 15%; and everything else going up due to the price of gas, utilities and skyrocketing rents/property values.

This time last year I gave up on being able to squirrel away enough for a down-payment on a condo. Now I'm worried I may have to move to an even smaller place for more money. No hope of getting something at my current rent range. Both of my brothers have moved to new places in town this month and are paying $1000+ for one-bedrooms.

What with the reunion in July, one of the goals was to "check out" Toronto as a viable place to work and live in. Rent is about on par, but I noticed everything else was cheaper, even with the provincial sales tax. My bro's girlfriend owns a condo that she is renting out in T.O. and it's coming available soon. May be a perfect opportunity to move (I hate apartment hunting). Only thing I hate worse than moving is job hunting, but there's a plethora of opportunities out there and it wouldn't take me long to find something to at least pay the bills. Add to that, it turns out that I like my family and it may be time to get reacquainted.

So the only thing really holding me back is my lack of project experience with the latest and greatest in programming technologies (.NET and Java) which I should be able to get where I am. The caveat is that I've been in this situation before and have been pulled because they needed someone with my experience with the legacy systems. The other factor is that salary reviews occur in September. Basically, if they have a 5% cap again, it's time to go.

And no, it has nothing to do with the lap dances. Okay not alot to do with the lap dances. Those are bloody expensive.

Additionally, I will no longer be answering my land-line phone. The number of telemarketing calls is getting stupendously annoying: sometimes six times a night. So I left a message on my machine saying I simply will not answer the phone anymore. I'll be disconnecting it soon. This is what you get for actually making a charitable donation: no good deed goes unpunished.

Dude, We Totally Have to Make These!

Hehe, Capa pointed me at The Tiki Bar. I'm wondering if I should attempt to make a pitcher of each featured concoction to lubricate my muse. Who I really, really hope looks like LaLa.

Actually, my muse being a drunken female engineer would explain alot.

Bad Movie! Bad Movie!

Alrighty then. Capa had loaned me this piece of, well, cinematic excellence and has been bugging me for a week to actually watch it.

Capa, you owe me 4 hours of my life back.

It was horrible. What I should have done is just watch it with the commentary on first run. Then I wouldn't have wasted my time. It's bad, oh dear gods it's bad. Even Bruce Campbell, gods love him, may his chin jut forever, couldn't save this stinker.

But I love the commentary.

Now on the other hand some actual good viewing can be had with this. $90, well worth the money. I've always had a fascination with ancient Rome and this just blew me away. I am now adding it to the required viewing list. Watch it!

Now I'm going to bed, and with any luck, will not have nightmares about horribly acted, terribly directed, and just plain wrong sci-fi. Unless of course it's more along the lines of this. Or this.

All Praise Bruce Campbell!

...

Ow.

10.5 hours drinking with Capa. Sort of a mini bar-hopping night.

Oh the pain, oh the pain of it all! No gym today. Just housework I guess. Nothing like a few harsh chemicals to burn through the fumes of a binge.

I realized that next week is the first week in about 2 months that I will be at work for a full five days. Man summer is slack.

Gonna go dry-heave now. Have fun!

Quick Note

Quickly then...

Training all this week. C#, which I am categorizing under "About Bloody Time". Correction, all week except for Friday, which I have off to go eat pizza and drink with Capa and others.

Secondly, I met most (if not all) of the crew of Starting Write Now! which Capa is leading up. It was pretty good with a healthy mix of shop (we all have to submit something once a week, we will do monthly reviews etc) and witty banter. Okay banter. Okay, okay! Jeez! Lame pop culture references.

Technically I quit smoking today. I started smoking again at lunch....

Pros and Cons

Well, as you may know by reading Capa's posts, he and I went to Con-Version 22 this weekend. It was his first and my first in fifteen years convention, and we had a pretty good time of it.

This is one of a few conventions in Western Canada that has a more "literary" bent: they focus more on writing and text rather than the "media" sci-fi out there. The programming was about half-and-half, but there was good coverage (there weren't two seminars at the same time I wanted to go to) and the guests were for the most part well spoken and had some quite interesting things to say.

Capa had a good time and didn't go crazy in the vendor area as he feared he would. That's a tough thing to do when presented with so many toys...

For myself, the whole weekend struck a very strange note... correction, it struck a very strange chord with me. It triggered off some old feelings, some new ideas and something I'll have to do at a later point here. The latter I'll explain later the former and preceding and I'll get into now.

As stated, I hadn't been to a con in fifteen years or so. Going back to one was a ... bit of shock for me. There of course the knee-jerk cry of "Neeeeeeeeeeerds!!!!" a la Homer at the back of the mind as folks paraded by in Jedi, Ghostbusters, Everquest, Farscape, generic fantasy and even Firefly outfits (note: Star Trek costuming was distinctly absent, I wonder why...). There was also the jarring realization that a good many of these people I saw at conventions fifteen years ago.

Immediatly after, another realization shamedly rose in my mind: I am the intruder here. A lost son who comes back and sees that his home is no different, but he himself has changed dramatically and sometimes not for the better.

Which in turn triggered yet another emotion: sadness.

Back in my hey-day I would attend three or four conferences a year with my friends. They provided a fantastic counter-point to my rock 'n' roll lifestyle as a radio DJ and concert promoter; a chance to have excellent conversations with intelligent people about topics that were mutually loved and respected. Some of the best, strangest and eye-opening things and people attend at every opportunity.

And I had willingly disconnected myself from that community, that spirit and that drive.

It relates directly to my last point which I will need to write-up (With great care and attention) and present at some later date. But I will say this: there was a time in my life where I had to change myself almost completely to survive both mentally and physically in what was a "hostile economic environment". That change forever altered who I am, what I am, and what I am capable of. It makes me a better writer (potentially at least) as a consequence, but in doing so it has made me less of a "fan".

And I cannot fully return to that, at least not with the same passion I had when it was a central piece of my life: community, love, respect, laughter, wonder and joy. But I still can visit once in a while, and if I'm willing (as I know I am capable) to make another change in myself, I can return through the other side as a writer. A new role in a old, and lamented, part of my life.

I'm Quitting

Wow, last night I quit nearly everything!

Online dating sites: profiles deleted. Online MMOs: accounts suspended. So I'm left with my single-player games and my, er, single-player game.

Lemme explain: after I posted last night, I decided to check out the dating sites. The one where they make you answer all those questions eventually got me a few matches. Now the way it works there, you pick some multiple-choice questions (pre-written) from a list and "ask" your potential match the questions (they fill out a form). This has to happen a few times before the site lets you contact them with your own words. Any time during these exchanges, either party can suspend or out-right kill the ongoing 'dialogue'.

Imagine my lack of surprise when the women I sent these questions to halted all further contact. Every single one! And it's not like I even had a chance to make my usual bumbling advances. I sent them a short questionnaire for gods' sake: they put the kybosh on from that?

I threw up my hands, deleted my profiles on the sites I was on, cancelled the accounts and removed the bookmarks. Burn the land and sow the soil with salt. That's it.

I then fired up Planetside. I was killed about thirty seconds into the game by a guy with a pistol in a single shot (when it should take at least ten) while he was far out of range of my rifle. An obvious hack. Reported! Account de-activated, software uninstalled.

That left me with EvE online, which I am trying on a 14-day trial. Not bad, but frankly I don't have the time to devote twelve hour days to the game, which apparently is required. So I just uninstalled the software.

Which leaves me with GalCiv, Fate and Space Hack for games and, well, I have cable for that other stuff.

On the bright side it means I'll have time to actually write.

The other thing I am trying to quit, yet again, is the smoking habit. Last time at the Doc's I asked for a Zyban prescription, which I started Monday. The Doc said to take one a day, and quit smoking on the third day. Every piece of research I did said the dosage is two a day and you keep smoking for the first week. I swear to the gods....

Well considering I am trying to quit smoking, I'll be swearing alot.

Start Write Now! Er....

Okay Capa, thanks very much for the "kick in the junk". By the way: Nice Hair!

So the reason I didn't post yesterday (and the reason why Capa got all Reservoir Dogs on my ass) was because I received a panicked plea from my Auntie L about her wireless router not working (Help me Moby-Wan Kenobi!). So after I fixed the router, was fed my second supper of the night (so much for not eating after seven), had a few drinks with her "Cougar Posse" I came home and discovered my computer had a Trojan Horse installed (Thanks Dad!).

I was supposed to tell you about Start Write Now. It's a site that features myself, Capa and a few other wanna-be writers discussing the vagaries of newbie scriveners. As the principle reason I started this whole blog thing 2 years ago was to get my write on, it's about time to move on to things that aren't about my life. That's pretty much played out anyways, and the reviewers weren't kind at all (Thanks Dad!).
So with that, I am actually going to set aside some time each week to write something besides this thing.

As a secondary aside: of course now that I've linked to it, finding out my "secret identity" won't be much of a problem. Not that it worries me that much. I've never been that thrilled with the whole anonymity thing anyways: I say what I say and damn the consequences. Which reminds me, I bought this the other day. I wonder what it's about?

There was a time when I went to sci-fi cons about four times a year. That went by the wayside around the time I was homeless (did I ever discuss that particular event in my life?). So with trying to get back on the writing gig, I'm attending Conversion this year. Pretty decent line-up of writers: I always like to hear what they have to say, even if I don't agree with it.

Oh yeah, and girls in sci-fi costumes, which is hot. I miss that.

Oh yeah, guys in Sailor Moon outfits. I do not miss that!

Say "Aaaargh!"

Moving on!

I still have a sore throat. Still! When I got back from vacation, I went back to the clinic and got another doctor. Because my first doctor had handwriting even other doctors couldn't read, I had to go through the entire scenario over the last two months.

So he gave me more anti-biotics, recommended I gargle with hydrogen peroxide (!!!) and stop complaining. And to think there's a movement to go with a two-tier medical system. I woldn't pay another bloody dime for this kind of treatment.

I almost never see doctors. I haven't had a check-up in (counts on fingers, then toes) 18 years. Before the whole strep thing, I only went to the doctor for "tests" after a relationship went south. These were always amusing....

Doctor: "So, what exactly did you want to test for?"
Me: "Everything."
Doctor: "What do you mean, everything? That's alot of tests."
Me: "Anything that could be contracted by sleeping with someone who has schtupped the entire staff of a large casino. Everything."
Doctor: "Oh...."

You get the idea.....

Tomorrow: Start Write Now. Time to actually put words on paper. I blame everything of Capa.

Where Was I?

Oh yes, vacation.

The second half of my trip to the southernmost tip of the Great White North was spent getting requainted with my family on my Mom's side. One of my (many) aunts has a cabin in Cottage Country, which she and her husband (which I guess would make him my uncle) have built up over the years.

Now remember that since I was 5 years old, I've been living on bald-ass prairie. A "lake" is actually a slough, the content of which is about 50% cow shit. Give or take. Cottage Country on the other wellie, is dotted with "kettle lakes", formed when the glaciers retreated, leaving behind chunks which melted and formed pleasantly small, natural lakes. The end result is that pretty much each lake is isolated from the rest and there are cottages everywhere.

Probably the most relaxing four days of my life: nothing to do but drink, eat, realize that my family is insane and get eaten by mosquitoes, horse flies and deer flies. Circle of life, right?

Of course the bestest part was being right on the lake. I'm an enthusiastic if not talented swimmer (bald-ass prairie, remember?) and going swimming three or four times a day is balm for the soul. Not quite the same as swimming in an ocean (less waves, but mind you, less jellyfish) but pretty top notch all the same.

Of course all good things must come to a crashing halt, so we made our way back to The Big Smoke. The last day was spent packing up my little brother in preparation for his move back to Calgary to learn how to use X-Rays and stuff. In 40+ degree Centigrade humidity. So I sweated off all the weight I gained at the cottage.

Which now means I have a brother that can get ahold of industrial grade lasers, one that will be harness cosmic rays and me, who can, er, normalize a database. World domination here we come!

The flight back to afore mentioned bald-ass prairie (what? I like saying "bald ass prairie") was uneventful (although we flew right by some thunderheads, very cool). The interesting part was when I went to claim my luggage....

Airports have a policy of cutting off those pathetic little locks some people put on their luggage to "secure" it from thieving hands. And of course since we are at terror level teal with burgundy highlights, they get promptly chopped off. The locks I mean. Although I've heard stories about what security does if they find a cuticle file in your carry on...

Now, my luggage (which my father have to my for my high-school graduation. Subtle, Dad) is "soft" like a gym bag. It has two zippers on the top, threaded together by a faux-leather strap so you can open and close it on one swift movement. When I picked up my bag off the spinning thingymadoodad, I never gave it a second thought. I just wanted to get home, crash, read my email and play a game or two (the game in this case was EvE online, but I'll get to that later).

So later that night when I was unpacking, I noticed the strap had been cut off. I was a little miffed, but what the heck, it's a twenty year old back and had started to develop a ... smell. Then I found the tapes.

Three Super 8 video tapes to be precise. The only labels were numbers: 2, 3 and 5. I don't own a video camera. And I have one of those nice laminated tags on my bag with my name, address and phone number.

This freaked me out. I had repacked my back just before we left for the airport and went straight from the van to the check in. At no point did I even let go of my bag, let alone leave it unattended. The chicanery must have happened after it was tagged and sent back to mysterious airport locales via the conveyer belt. I'm guessing luggage throwers or someone having access to the bowels of the airport must have put them in there.

The tapes were actually tapes: no drugs, no strange powders etc. Just tapes. But still it freaked me out; there was a bust of a huge child-porn ring recently (my uncle is on the T.O. Police S.W.A.T. team) and frankly I've heard stories of what they do to those guys in jail. My uncle was very specific. And graphic. What if someone wanted to deliver something like that by busting into a bag with a clearly labeled address and go for a "visit" to pick them up at a later date?

So I did what any upright, responsible citizen would do: I barred the doors and cowered in my bedroom, fake Samurai sword close to hand.

Er, so, yeah. Once the cold grip of paranoia relented a bit to go get a cigarette, I called the airline and explained what happened. They had never heard of anyone finding something extra in their bag, it's usually the other way around (and how much confidence did that give me that my stuff was in good hands?). They suggested I call the police.

But tell them what? "Yes officer, I'd like to report a crime. Someone opened up my luggage and gave me stuff... No, nothing was missing... No, nothing illegal, just some video tapes... hello?". Yeah right. I know, it's still suspicious, and more than likely the police would think it's a legitimate concern, but I know the local constabulary have better things to do than "investigate" something as innocuous as this. Like giving out tickets for littering or making a left-hand turn. Real crimes.

At work I asked around: did anyone have a Super 8 video camera? And of course I had to explain why I wanted a camera every time and hear "Why, you have a new girlfriend? Hur hur hur..." every time.

Eventually, someone had a camera and brought it in for me. As I anxiously placed the first tape in I wondered what it could possibly be: a redux of the cell phone camera incident (Not again!)? Weird, funky, kinky porno (Ew.... hey that's not bad. ) ? Bland home movies of a WASP family vacation (shudder!)? The lost missive of some zany terrorist organization (Profit!)?

They were blank!

What an anti-climactic moment. I was bummed for the rest of the day. I was at work so no big change there. But what I did get out of it was a story idea (although I'm changing the blank tape thing) which is pertinent at this time for reasons I will relate later this weekend.

Stay Tuned!!!

Salad

I need to eat some.

Anyhoo, just a notice that I will be in fact updating this blog this weekend, just have alot of stuff to do. Here's what's coming up:

Sore Throat: The Epic Series

Tapes on a Plane: or Why I'll Only Take Carry-on When Travelling

Blank Page: How I'll be Guilted Into a Writing Career

Cottage Country: It Ain't Italy but it's Still Nice (Or is that in France?)

TLAs: EVE and DVDs

Singularity: How I Came to Terms With Never Having Sex Again.

Wagons East: Heading into the Smog

But for now I gotta do laundry....

Hey Everyone, I'm back! Hello?

Last day off before I return to the bit mines. What with one thing and another today is going to be busy but I'll give a summary, with details forthcoming.

Day one was damn hectic: alarm went off at 4:30 AM to get my 7 AM flight. The flight into T.O. was packed but we actually managed to get there on time. Bro #1 met us at the airport and we got to experience public transportation. Toronto actually has a good bus and underground system. You almost wouldn't need a car.

So after drinks and dinner (and more drinks) we went to SPAMALOT! Pretty damn good. It's a musical and I don't like musicals. It was funny though, so I give it 4 out of 5 tophats. And I gotta get the t-shirt ("I'm not quite dead yet").

So after that, the brothers Moby went to the peelers. It was described as a dive by some, but frankly I think any "gentleman's club" is scuzzy by default.

The experiment with lap-dances was a resounding success but we expended the budget sooner than expected. Yeesh.

So, drunk and fondled, went back to the hotel at 3 AM. Not quite a 24 hour day but damn close.

The next day we met up with our Uncle and went to Healy's; Jeff Healy's little downtown club. He and his Jazz Wizards put on a free show in the afternoons and it was bloody great. One of the little brothers commented that Healy himself looked stoned out of his mind, so we had to tell him that Healy is actually blind. I thought I was the unobservant one.

Later that night, we met up with the cousins and went to a club. Very hoity-toity, we westerners were a tad underdressed. Good booze and a damn good view. Calgary has alot of gorgeous women, but they're pretty cookie cutter in looks. Toronto has an incredible variety of women it was like Rome all over again.

Oh, and I ran into someone I knew there. My ex's friend. Which was cool as I liked her (not snooty like most of her friends). But I'm sure the phones/emails were abuzz after that. Still expecting a little fallout from that encounter.

Later on some family from the other side of the tree showed up so more alcohol was consumed, cheeks inched, "my how you've grown" comments made etc. We closed the place up, then me and the brothers went to the peelers. Again.

The next day was recovery day, so the cousins and the brothers did Dim Sum for lunch, then a Gypsy restaurant for dinner (which featured belly dancers). No peelers this time.

After three days of eating, drinking and various entertainments, we went to the cottage for the reunion proper. I'll write that one up later when I get my photos off the camera.

Good to be back though. Now if I can just get the rest of the week off....