Gamer's Life

Star Wars Constructible Ships Game

2007-08-03T23:32:00.002-07:00

Wizkids releases Star Wars Pocketmodel TCG

By Editor T. Rob Brown
At retailers (June 13, 2007) -- Rather you dreamed of dominating worlds with an Imperial fleet, protecting them as the Rebellion, or participating in the Clone Wars, your time is now.

Wizkids, known for their Pirates of the Spanish Main TCG, HeroClix, and MageKnight games, has released another game that's sure to sell well and grow in popularity: Star Wars Pocketmodel TCG.

So what makes this game special other than being yet another game bearing the Star Wars franchise? Consider it a hybrid CCG and miniatures game, if you will. Learning from the success of Wizkids' highly-popular Pirates franchise, they mastered the plastic constructible collector card game, and have now brought that knowledge to the Star Wars Universe. Yet, that's not where the appeal of this game ends.

Not only does each booster pack contain four to eight ships (in a mixture of commons, uncommons, and rares -- though a rare is not guaranteed in every pack, just like the Pirates boosters), but also six collector cards that affect the outcome of the game. In most modern miniatures games, each miniature includes a card but the card merely reflects the capabilities of that particular miniature and otherwise has no game effect. Instead, the Pocketmodel TCG system incorporates cards that also come in a mixture of commons, uncommons, and rares, which modify game play each turn. In addition, they have incorporated Objective cards in a similar concept to the old Star Trek and Star Wars CCGs by Decipher.

Through the use of Objective cards, players no longer have to destroy all of the enemy fleet in order to win the game. By destroying all three of your opponent's objectives you can also win. This system allows for new and different strategies than used before in some CCGs or in some miniatures games. In addition, this game is smooth and handles well in short sessions -- it's sure to please tournament fans as well as the casual gamer who likes to get in a game or two on occasion. You don't need to take complicated measurements for space travel -- instead, WizKids made it simple and to the point -- there are only three regions of space: Your zone, your opponent's zone, and the contested zone. After all, there's hyperspace in Star Wars anyway, right? Why boggle the game down with unnecessary complexities? Keep it simple and therefore, keep it fun!

Already, powerful ships like the Millenium Falcon are selling for a pretty penny on ebay. If trends hold, this could be one of the hottest new games of 2007. WizKids has already brought out foil alternate cards for tournament support and are available at some retailers -- it appears they are ready to back this product with a community, tournaments and good prize support. For the hardcore gamers, this type of extended support can make or break a game.

Another little-known fact right now is that Imperial Power-Up Packs have variant rare cards, depending on where you purchase the box set. The Imperial Power-Up Packs include the following exclusives: Darth Vader's Imperial-class Star Destroyer (from Episode IV: A New Hope), a rare; Darth Vader's Lambda-class shuttle, an uncommon; two Talon Squadron X-wing starfighters, commons; and several common TIE fighter models. In addition, there are 30 cards. Of these 30 cards, every Imperial Power-Up Pack includes three exclusive uncommons, one each of: Boarding Party, Tractor Beam, and Admiral Piett. Those cards bear a "P" before their number to designate them as exclusives. There are three other exclusive cards, all rares, available as well -- but acquiring them all will require serious collectors to purchase the Imperial Power-Up Pack three times, each time from a different retailer. Currently, players can purchase the hobby store pack which includes three copies of the Meditation Chamber card. Reportedly, Target and Wal-Mart will each have three copies of a different rare (these rares are listed on the checklist). Since each pack comes with three copies of the exclusive rares, and one each of the exclusive uncommons -- a serious collector could purchase one from each of the three retailers and be able to field all three of each card in their deck (the constructible play deck is 30 cards, of which no card may be repeated more than three times).

For further information on which ships are included and which cards are available, check out our lists HERE.

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Online auctions and gaming

2006-03-22T02:59:00.000-08:00

Gamer’s Life
Originally published Saturday, Aug. 28, 1999, in the Branson (Mo.) Tri-Lakes Daily News

Online auctions have wide variety of items

By T. Rob Brown
(aka Chokra Broodslayer)

After hearing many people talk about this online auction site called eBay, I finally decided to check it out this week.

I’ve cruised all over the Internet in the past 5 years I’ve been online, but eBay is quite interesting.

Hopefully, it’s not too addictive. I’d hate to be that boy who was busted for bidding thousands of dollars on rare or antique items. Of course, he couldn’t pay.

I guess that’s the number one thing on eBay, make sure you can pay for everything at the level you bid it at. Basically, it’s just like a regular auction, only online and you can’t always see the product or service before you purchase it.

Being a photographer, I quickly went to the photo equipment area trying to find some bargains on a new Nikon speedlight and some lenses I’ve been looking for.

It’s actually pretty fun to use the online auction. You make a bid of what you think is a bargain price and see if you’re the high bidder. If you are, you stick around until someone outbids you or you win the auction.

If you get outbid, you receive an e-mail notifying you of the new high bid. You can then go back and up your bid or you can let the item go to someone else.

Even if you’re the high bidder, it doesn’t necessarily mean you will get the item. There are two other things to keep in mind: One, some people have a reserve price on their item and they don’t have to sell it to you unless the high bid meets or exceeds that reserve; and two, you could get outbid at the last second.

It’s best to be online right up to the last minute if you’re bidding on an item you really want. My friend and fellow news staffer Chad Hunter asked me to bid for him on some CDs he’s been looking for and it was a battle back and forth for the high bid – working our way up 50 cents to $1 at a time. Just less than 2 minutes before the auction closed, we upped the bid. Someone else still outbid us.

I’m hoping go to get a good deal on a Nikon speedlight, since mine is on the fritz and this will prevent me from properly shooting sports until I’m back up to full equipment status.

After that, I went to my second passion in life – computer games. Cruising through here, I’ve already won a few bids and will pay less than $5 for some $30 computer games. Quite a good deal.

If you remember one of my past columns, I occasionally play Ultima Online (UO). I noticed there’s a category for UO on eBay, so I went there to see why it was popular enough to have its own area.

Well, it wasn’t a total shock, because I had heard of people selling their characters, but I was quite surprised at the prices things were selling for.

I could understand someone buying an antique English set of armor for $400, but a virtual suit of armor for a computer game character? And, yes, people were actually bidding those prices. I saw people selling their whole characters for thousands of dollars.

How can you justify paying real money for an imaginary entity out on some computer in the middle of who-knows-where?

It’s quite insane.

People were selling castles they built online, towers, cottages, houses, horses or their whole Ultima Online account.

I was sitting their just staring at my near-antique, small, pitiful 14-inch monitor and just wondering who these idiots are. Immediately, I had to call Chad in to take a look at this.

He came in, looked over my shoulder at the monitor and was just staring wide-eyed over the outrageous prices people were bidding for imaginary items.

Another thing which really did shock me is the prices people are paying for registered websites. I saw one website that sells computer components and it had a bid going up to $2 million. I sure hope that comes with a few computers!

Of course, some of the sites people were selling for large prices were pornographic sites. They probably make a huge bundle of profit while increasing the corruption of society.

As with anything in the world, there are good, evil and neutral components. That’s one thing in life, I guess there’s always going to be a balance in power while this planet exists.

Another thing which shocked me was people selling CD-Rs, typically copies of music CDs or bootleg concert recordings. And many of these people were so stupid, they’d put the words “CD-R” or “bootleg” right in the title for the item they’re selling.

Most people with legitimate music recordings will put “not a CD-R” to make sure the buyer knows they’re getting the real deal.

No matter what you’re into, the online auctions have it. I saw a plethora of collectibles and I’m sure I’ll be checking it out on a daily basis.

Hasta la vista.

Online graphical gaming experience

2006-03-22T02:57:00.000-08:00

Gamer’s Life
Originally published Wednesday, March 17, 1999, in the Branson (Mo.) Tri-Lakes Daily News

Online graphical gaming is a nearly-unique experience

By T. Rob Brown
(aka Chokra Broodslayer)

This weekend, for the first time, I joined an online graphical game, whose owners proclaim it hosts more than 100,000 gamers a day.

I’ve played numerous online games before, many of them text-based, such as MUDs (Multi-User Domains). These Internet locales feature traditional role-playing, where you pretend to be a character (of course many of the people on it are just chatting and don’t truly role-play their character).

In the tradition of fantasy/Medieval games, MUDs feature a variety of character races including humans, dwarves, elves, Halflings, and so on. They also include a variety of classes such as warriors, magicians (also known as mages), thieves, clerics (also known as priests), and so on.

People have been playing MUDs since before the Internet’s popularity really hit the Midwest. I started playing on them back in 1995, I believe. There are only three bad things about them.

1. They are addictive. In the pursuit of improving your character with higher levels and better skills, it takes a great amount of time. For instance, I created a giant warrior called Chokra Broodslayer on one MUD and eventually reached Level 104 or so in the game. Playing most days for at least a few hours, it might take a newbie (new player) at least 6 months to attain that. Once you’re experienced and know the ins and outs of the MUD, it takes much less time. All MUDs vary in difficulty.
2. The traditional MUDs are all text-based. Newer ones are called graphical MUDs, although they’re not truly MUDs anymore. They do not reside in the MUD domain on the Internet and are not accessible with normal MUD clients (shareware programs such as zMUD, which you use to get access and to play on MUDs).
3. MUDs have lag. Lag is created by a multiple of sources. It is often encountered over many facets of the Internet, depending on which servers information is routed through. There are utilities you can use to tell how many Internet hops data takes when it travels to a destination and how long each hop took, plus the hops and times when it comes back. This is also called a ping time, or latency. Another reason for lag is the number of users on a given MUD. Some MUDs will limit the number of users allowed to prevent this contribution to lag. A third source of lag is the speed of the computer and server of the MUD itself is running on. If that computer or its bandwith is slow, the MUD will run slow.

Well, enough about the old MUDs. The newer craze in online gaming are the graphical games. This weekend, I tried out Ultima Online (UO). I had passed on the somewhat popular Meridian 59. UO is very complex and takes a while to get used to, but it’s a lot of fun for people who like the fantasy/Medieval environment.

In many respects, it starts out fairly realistic. The graphics are up to modern standards and the towns fit right in with what one would expect to see, say in Medieval England. The only thing one might think is fantasy would be the magic shop in town.

Basically, it’s an online community, based in the past. You start out with basic skills and improve those you use. Skills can be as common as cooking or fishing or might be as complex as sword fighting and using magic.

If you plan to play this game or one of the many like it, be sure you have at least a couple hours at a time to play because it’s very time consuming.

One drawback to this new online graphical gaming is you must purchase the software. These games run anywhere from $30 to $50 new. Often, they include the first month of service – some offer free online gaming. It seems like most of the ones that do charge a monthly fee are about $10 per month or less and sometimes have special offers.

Another thing to consider if you play these online games is, “Don’t trust anyone!” Many of the gamers are true role-players – if they play a thief, they will steal everyone blind. Just by standing next to you, they can rip you off without you knowing.

Just Sunday, I was playing UO with a couple guys I know in real life, who used to work at another newspaper with me. We were out in the woods outside on of the many towns in the game. A guy came up to us, all friendly like, and asked us if we needed help. He was polite and everything, but after he left my friend said all his arrows were gone and we had to spend about 20 minutes creating new arrows (Yes, you can buy them in town too, but that costs gold pieces! Plus, it’s more realistic to make them.).

There are also PK (player kill) fanatics to watch out for. They wait out in the woods outside town and kill newbies for their gold and stuff. Remember, there’s safety in numbers. I try to only go into the woods with allies or near the edge, where I can run back into town quickly. If they attack you in town, you can call the guards on them. There is a bank to deposit your gold in so you can go back to town after your character is resurrected.

What I like most about this game is that it’s not generic. You don’t just have the traditional roles of fighter, magic user, thief and cleric. For instance, my friend has a blacksmith character. He can create armor and metal weapons. Mine is a lumberjack and bower/fletcher. He can chop trees, make bows and arrows and recently learned to create crossbows. You can sell this stuff to make gold at the shops in town.

If you happen to be a UO player, look for me online the Lake Superior location. My character’s name is Chokra. Just keep in mind, I don’t speak about the real world online – it’s an escape.

Hasta la vista.

Home video game system trivia

2006-03-22T02:56:00.000-08:00

Gamer’s Life
Originally published Friday, Dec. 11, 1998, in the Branson (Mo.) Tri-Lakes Daily News

Home video game system trivia brings back fond memories

By T. Rob Brown
(aka Chokra Broodslayer)

Recently, a gaming friend and I were looking through one of the popular trade magazines covering the modern home video game systems and came across a chronological list of every home gaming system created so far.

Wow.

To think back on some of these gaming systems really brings back a lot of memories. Oh, the long hours I would sit up playing on my Atari 2600 (1977), Nintendo Entertainment System (NES, 1985), and Sega Genesis (1989).

Can anyone guess what the very first home video game system was?

I think I heard someone say “Pong,” wrong! Although Atari Pong (1974) is a common answer, the very first home gaming system was in fact the Magnavox Odyssey 100, which was released in 1972. Amazing – 1972, just a year after I was born. I am truly a member of the video game generation.

I even remember my first moments at the arcade playing Pac Man and Space Invaders. And to think, at that time, those graphics were considered to be great, but are stick figures when compared to today’s leading front runners Sony Playstation (1995) and Nintendo 64 (1996) being played on your home TV.

In the United States, I am certain we have seen the decline of the arcade. Home video game systems and computer games have far surpassed what the stand-up or sit-down video games are capable of (or maybe it’s just they are better than what video game makers want to make them capable of).

Another good video game trivia question is, what was the first handheld video game with interchangeable cartridges?

I think I heard someone say “Nintendo Gameboy” (1989). Wrong.

The first handheld game of that type was the Vectrex by Milton Bradley, released in 1982. I remember this game, because I had one. My dad and I had breakout, bowling, baseball, a naval sea battle game and Star Trek cartridges for it. We used to play those games a lot.

My dad always beat me in the sea battle game, but I was really good at the bowling game – I remember I got the timing down just right to make several 300 games in a row. Sure wish I could do that in real bowling. If I was able to, I could bottle that up because it would be sweeter than Yoohoo.

Here’s another trivia question: Which video game system was the first to incorporate CDs as an add-on to their existing chip-based game system?

I’m quite sure I heard someone say “Sega Geneses’ Sega CD,” which was released in two different forms. Wrong.

A system, which quickly died out, known as the Turbographix 16 by NEC Electronics (1989) had the first CD machine you could add on.

I know this, because I was an electronics salesman for Toys ‘R’ Us in Joplin, Mo., while I was in college. At Christmas time I was a game demonstrator and would actually set up the games in the store and show people all the options available.

Turbographix’s CD player came with Sherlock Holmes game that was also included in the tray-loading early version of the Sega CD. The later version of the Sega CD was top-loading and came with a game called “Sewer Shark.”

For you, my faithful readers, I will pass on my best word of advice for those wishing to purchase any type of home video game system – a good think to keep in mind if you are out and about this Christmas trying to find a video game system for your children or friends. This is the cardinal rule that all video game systems live and die by.

It’s not about who has the fastest processor, who has the best color, who has the fastest loading games or who has the most bits on their processor – it’s all about the games.

The system is just a machine that runs games. What’s important is which system offers you the games you want to play. Right now, you will hear people argue over which has better graphics, Sony PlayStation or Nintendo 64.

News flash – they’re both very comparable, so look at the games available. Playstation has CD-quality sound and video and motion animation cinema-style clips, because it’s a CD-based system. Nintendo 64 has faster loading games and a contrasting color scheme because it’s chip-based (uses electronic cartridges).

I believe you’ll find, based on the types of games offered, the Sony PlayStation is more geared toward people ages 20 to 30. Nintendo, which is known for it’s children’s titles, is geared toward a much younger audience, extending up to about age 23 or so.

The key is to play what you like, not what you think is the coolest.

I have many friends who still play on their Sega Genesis, because they prefer the game play on those older systems. I, myself, still own my Sega Genesis with Sega CD and 32X. Mostly, I keep it around for the memories. I kind of regret having sold off my old Nintendo Entertainment System – it served me well.

My parents still have our old Atari 2600. It still works and most of the cartridges still work. Recently, I was at a shop in Springfield that specializes in used games an noticed they probably have several hundred cartridges for that Atari system. I was amazed.

In upcoming columns, I hope to tell you about the new visions of the future of home gaming – Sega Dreamcast and Sony PlayStation 2. For the third time in a row since the release of the original Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo is going to wait on a new release until its competitors already have a good chunk of games on the market with their new systems.

Is this the wisest move? We shall see.

Hasta la vista.

Evolution of the modern medieval-fantasy game

2006-03-22T02:53:00.000-08:00

Gamer’s Life
Originally published June 1, 2004, in The Scatter.

Evolution of the modern medieval-fantasy game

By T. Rob Brown
(aka Chokra Broodslayer)

Hardcore medieval fantasy gamers are waiting for “the next big thing” and it’s hard to say what that will be, but I have a pretty good idea what’s going to be top of my list in the future.

From the first medieval fantasy-style game “Adventure” on the Atari 2600 console system in the ‘80s, computer graphics and gaming concepts have come a long way. Back then, we were satisfied with giant pixel blocks that were difficult to tell what they were. Since then, a great number of titles have made a major impact on fantasy electronic gaming and brought it into the present.

Arcade’s first graphic-intensive fantasy game I remember was “Dragon’s Lair” with Dirk the Daring trying to save the princess. Although it was highly cliché, yet humorous, it was also innovative.

The classic “Gauntlet” was one of the first multiplayer medieval fantasy games. This game became one of the most-quotable games of its time. “Red Wizard needs food badly” and “Blue Warrior is about to die” are just a couple of the quotes my friends and I adlib into other games that we play.

For the home system, the first popular graphical role-playing game (RPG) was “Bard’s Tale.” This game was a blast. It was one of the first RPGs where you took control of a party of adventurers (not unlike the movie “Lord of the Rings” with its fellowship).

But players, who were used to pen-and-paper games like Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), created by Gary Gygax of TSR (Tactical Studies Rules), wanted more from their electronic games than just to play them. They wanted to be game masters or world builders because for some of us the fun of playing a medieval fantasy game is to create our own world and be its master.

Some time after that, more than 20 SSI (Strategic Simulations Inc.) games licensed by TSR started to head that direction. The games went through a system of revisions to keep up with the evolution of the pen-and-paper game.

These games started on the old CGA and EGA graphics systems on the PC and later attained VGA quality. Before SSI could release a game with a world builder or game master controls, Electronic Arts beat them to the punch with “Adventure Construction Set.”

ACS, as we also called it, was revolutionary. It was only a CGA game and very limited in the number of possible colors but it offered what no game had done before – it gave the owner the power to create their own computer games with a toolset. You could create your own creatures, alter graphics, create terrain, maps and transitions to other areas. ACS allowed you to create medieval fantasy, sci-fi and modern spy-type adventures.

A few years after ACS was released, SSI brought us “Unlimited Adventures” in its D&D-licensed series. This was the first medieval game with a toolset in the VGA graphics standard. Although it was an improvement, it offered similar functions to ACS and both were turn-based. Later, SSI brought out the first version of “Neverwinter Nights” using that same system as an online game available to America Online users for a monthly fee.

Meanwhile, Lord British was hard at work on the Ultima series. Zork, Wizardry and Might & Magic were some of the other highly-popular series for those who didn’t play D&D but still liked medieval fantasy.

After SSI lost the D&D license, it was sold to Interplay, who created a couple OK games before releasing the Baldur’s Gate phenomenon, created by subsidiary (and now defunct) Black Isle Studios. Contracting with BioWare, an at-that-time little-known game-engine design company, they created the Infinity Engine for Baldur’s Gate and birth was given to the modern generation of D&D computer games. The Infinity Engine brought us higher resolution graphics, better storylines, quality voice actors, real-time role-playing and a series of products that won numerous gaming awards. Games based off that engine include: Baldur’s Gate series, Icewind Dale series and “Planescape: Torment.” During this period, TSR was sold to Wizards of the Coast, which was later bought by Hasbro.

Around the same time Interplay was beefing up its D&D franchise line of games, Blizzard Entertainment emerged and brought out fantasy gaming titles like “Warcraft” and later “Diablo.” The later “Warcraft II” included a toolset to create your own maps but was set up mostly for strategy wargamers and not for role-players. “Diablo” lacked a toolset, but furthered the company’s growing reputation. Later, they would release additional Diablo and Warcraft titles, including the yet-to-be-released massively-multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) “World of Warcraft.”

Around that time period, the MMORPG became a massive hit starting with the text-based MUDs (multi-user domains), followed by “Miridian 59,” “Ultima Online” and a slew of first-generation MMORPGs. Later, it would be Ultima, Everquest and Asheron’s Call going head-to-head-to-head for control of the MMORPG market. As it turns out, the market grew big enough to handle a greater number of games and now we have more MMORPGS than we know what to do with.

Game master clients are a rather new introduction to online gaming. The first game to be released with a game master client was “Vampire: The Masquerade” but that game didn’t do so well. But long before that game was released, developer BioWare had been in production for more than five years on the second generation of “Neverwinter Nights.”
The new version of the old America Online game was now published by Atari (We’ve come full circle, eh?), based on the newer Aurora Engine created by BioWare. “Neverwinter Nights” offers a complete toolset and game master client. The toolset is extremely powerful and is highly customizable allowing home developers to even modify the very rules of the game with NWScript, a variant of the popular C++ computer programming language.

There have been two expansions for “Neverwinter Nights” and the upcoming “The Witcher,” an action-RPG developed by Poland-based CDProjekt, which will be powered by the Aurora Engine. It is slated to possibly release later this year.

Although that game seems promising, it’s not the one I’m waiting for. Ever since Neverwinter Nights was released, there have been rumors of Neverwinter Nights II. It’s doubtful this will happen due to the impending sale of BioWare to Microsoft. Since Atari is the exclusive publisher of D&D computer games and Microsoft publishes its own titles, it’s highly unlikely BioWare will do any additional D&D or Star Wars licensed games (like its Knights of the Old Republic (KotOR) – a different company is creating the sequel).

KotOR used an updated version of the Aurora Engine. BioWare, though, instead of working on Neverwinter Nights II, has announced in May they are working on a game titled “Dragon Age” that is their own intellectual property and will have a brand new engine. Since the release of “Neverwinter Nights” in June 2002, there have been many advances in graphics hardware and software technology.

According to an article on http://nwvault.ign.com , with the headline “ ‘Dragon Age’ = NWN2.” The article continues to say, “BioWare has not officially said ‘Dragon Age’ is the sequel but put it as more of a ‘spiritual successor’ to ‘Baldur's Gate,’ ‘Knights of the Old Republic’ and NWN.” Yes, it’s reported to have a toolset. Rather it will have game master client or not is still being debated. Although BioWare has been giving interviews to online gaming forums and has shown a demo of this new title, which might not be released until as late as 2007, it’s hard to get too many or too accurate of details about it.

What we’re looking at is a medieval-based fantasy game that has upped the polygon count from Neverwinter Night’s 3,000 polygons per character model in the game up to a 2 million polygon count for similar models. That is a huge leap forward in graphics technology for a role-playing game. The polygon count increase means higher detail and more-realistic graphics.

They’ve hired a professional linguist with a doctorate to create all new languages for the game – so no cheesy fake languages – these fake languages should have a real feel to them.

BioWare officials reported they no longer wished to continue working with licensed products because the licensors caused the game creation process to take too long with repeated checks for plotlines and approvals and all the typical things that happen when you’re working with someone else’s intellectual property. By creating their own world with its own rules, they decide which key characters live and die without having to get approval from Wizards of the Coast or Lucasfilm Ltd.

They are drawing from all the same lore most games use to create their elves, dwarves, humans and other races, as well as some all-new races. In addition, they created all new game rules mechanics since they will no longer be using the d20 system owned by Wizards of the Coast. Their new system might even make it to a pen-and-paper role-playing game. “Dragon Age” will be a party-system game where you will control 4-6 characters.

“The camera flows over a desert-like area where a huge battle is taking place with literally hundreds of characters fighting,” the nwvault.ign.com article reads. “Fire effects, arrows flying, and all that you would imagine in a full-scale war were taking place. It’s the kind of scene that would literally lock up NWN if even attempted.”

The reviewer reported he was “wowed” by the graphics and if the screenshots are any indication, I can fully understand why. Reportedly, it will not use a tile-based environmental graphics system like most games – some new type of system is being used to improve quality. Allegedly, the game will have a Z-axis for the graphics, allowing for cloaks, mountable horses, levitating characters and many other features that have been lacking in “Neverwinter Nights.”

It looks as if what “Dragon Age” will truly be is the culmination of all the desires, suggestions and requests from players in the BioWare community through the past couple years of playing “Neverwinter Nights” and “Knights of the Old Republic.” BioWare is tooling the community’s want list with their own past experiences to make what very well could be the pinnacle fantasy-based role-playing game, yet.

If history repeats itself, BioWare’s initial “Neverwinter Nights” screenshots, which looked awesome at the time, just didn’t do the game justice compared to what it actually looked like when it was released. If that’s the case, we’re in for a real gem of a game here.

Hasta la vista.

The Gamer's Life: Episode I

2006-03-16T12:25:00.000-08:00

Gamer’s Life
Originally published September 1, 2003, in The Scatter.

The Gamer's Life: Episode I

By T. Rob Brown
(aka Chokra Broodslayer)

Sounds of forest insects chirping and a nearby campfire crackling filled our ears as three other Boy Scouts and I had one of our earliest gaming experiences.

Dice rolling off our fingers in the cramped quarters of a two-man tent, we each hoped we would be able to slay the orcs just like the heroes in our favorite J.R.R. Tolkein The Lord of the Rings novels. Back then, the game Dungeons & Dragons (which is enormously influenced by the epic medieval-style fantasy genre grandfathered by Tolkein) was considered to be taboo, so those interested were limited to playing anywhere away from their parents. Now, as an adult, I know the parents' lack of knowledge generated that taboo; people often fear what they don't understand.

Because of that, nearly every spin-off of medieval fantasyand some science fiction have been chastized by a variety of people because they don't understand why people are fascinated by elves, wizards, dragons, spaceships, lightsabers and the like.

The main reason is quite simple -- escapism.

Escapism can be garnered in a variety of ways -- novels, music, plays, magazines, movies, TV, and most intensely through gaming. Each of these ways can transport you into a world unlike your own where the same rules don't necessarily apply, the excitement level is hightened and rewards entice you to keep playing. For many, this is the intellectual choice for the escapism road that some take by abusing alcohol or drugs -- but certainly, gaming is much safer. Escapism is an excellent way to reduce stress, take your mind off your troubles and open up your creativity.

Of course, there are other reasons to game besides escapism: Challenges, strategy, socializing, self esteem, companionship, collecting and improved education in mythology and scientific theory.

Although some prefer to play a villain, most gamers prefer to be the hero or at least on the winning side. Despite the wary looks by those who don't understand the gamer's life, the morals of the hero gamer are sound. Why does the hero exist? Obviously, to defeat evil. A noble idea which rarely exists in real life these days -- something that barely remains from the days of chivalry. In these times, people look to athletes, businessmen and politicians to be their heroes but it just isn't the same. Nothing garners respect of the masses like someone who can vanquish evil.

Portraying Robert E. Howard's Conan in Conan the Barbarian, actor Arnold Schwarzenaeger one said, when asked what is best in life, "To crush your enemies, see them driven before you and hear the lamentations of their women." Then again, Conan was a former slave and thief -- he wasn't exactly the hero in shining armor -- but he was a hero, nevertheless.

Take a look at George W. Bush's approval ratings following the tragic 911 terrorism attack. Why was Bush so popular? Because he took a firm stand on the situation and sent in troops to Afghanistan to fight the Taliban -- he took on the role of the hero. Maybe not on a personal level in combat, but as the Commander-in-Chief. Can you imagine what it must feel liek to be in that type of position? True, the hero's life isn't an easy one -- but you can't beat the rewards.

And as summer turned to fall and fall into winter, the face of gaming changed from those days back in the early '80s of Dungeons & Dragons. In the mid-'80s, we grabbed hold of a joystick on a stand-up piece of electronics as we maneuvered Pac-Man around winding corners to munch up food pellets and avoid ghosts, operated a spaceship against the Space Invaders or through Asteroids, or even later on guided an unlikely hero through the cartoon-style graphics of Dragon's Lair. Unto this day, many gaming forms wear the electronic shroud of computer gaming. Each year, the level and intensity of computer games exceeds the previous in bounding leaps.

The last couple years alone have seen the introduction of the most amazing computer games ever created -- Neverwinter Nights and the Shadows of Undrentide expansion, Warcraft III and the Frozen Throne expansion, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and its two expansions, Everquest: The Shadows of Luclin and The Planes of Power, Fallout Tactics, Diablo II and its expansion, Rollercoaster Tycoon series, Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided, Jedi Knight II: Outcast, Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds and its Clone Wars Campaign expansion.

Yet, gamers can't stop drooling for more.

Hasta la vista.