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Showing posts from July, 2016

The Obligatory (Not) E3 2023 Round-Up, Part 2: Sifting through the Slop

Alright, it's been a while but we're back again to cover the PC Gaming Show, the Xbox Showcase and the Ubisoft Forward. After this, that's it, that's all, we're done here. PC Gaming Show The Most Questionable Stuff 3. Road to Vostok (???) Choosing to look down on a game for overt familiarity from the word ‘go’, even if all it has done at this point is have its existence announced to the world, is not inherently an act to be proud of. Much of gaming iterates and builds upon what came before, much of the medium as it stands (for good or ill) exists because someone looked at a past work and were inspired to develop their own take on the material. How many excellent games would cease to be if people decided that “it’s just a clone of X” was a valid argument in itself? I establish this now to make it clear that I do not roll my eyes at Road to Vostok for taking the form of a sparsely-populated shooter set in a post-apocalyptic wilderness area… but rather because it loo

NU ROGUE SQUADRON! - Kurt Pitches

Yep, it’s that time again. Introducing Kurt Pitches… , the series where I put forth my own idea of how this or that project should be developed. Be it a film sequel, a hypothetical game idea, or the entire restructuring of a franchise, this is where I toss out my carefully concocted pitch for success. Today’s subject in question: the much loved, long-in-hiatus Star Wars Rogue Squadron series. BACKGROUND From 1998 through to 2003, developer Factor 5 was tasked with the creation of the Rogue Squadron trilogy of flight combat games, set in the Star Wars universe but largely taking place before & concurrently with the events of the Original Trilogy (at that time LucasFilm and their game development subsidiary LucasArts were leery about games based directly on the films’ events). On the whole the trilogy is beloved by fans and critics alike - despite the third game declining a bit in quality in strikingly similar fashion to Star Fox Assault - which in the present has lead to

CAPTAIN PRICE - Character Study

Hello again. So, as teased last time, we’re glancing behind the curtain at one of Call of Duty’s most front-and-center characters who - despite that publicity - hasn’t quite received the critical analysis I feel he deserves. For today we’re talking about Captain John Price, of the British Special Air Service. Let’s move out. Price has been this kind of quietly looming presence in the series since its inception. He doesn’t always have the spotlight, but when he does show up it’s usually memorable and definitely liable to include gunfire and/or explosions. Though he did originally show up in the first Call of Duty game - set in World War II, in case you missed it - Captain Price was somewhat of a bit player, an extra NPC who provided covering fire during a handful of missions, chatted with you a bit and ultimately sacrificed himself during one of the later missions. His role was beefed up a bit for the partially-set-in-Africa sequel, but it would only be in the Modern Warfar

Kurt Talks E3

HENRY CAVILL DISAPPOINTS ME - Kurt's Korner Episode 2

Just a little taste of what's to come from my assorted channels and outlets (for more content along those lines, and for some fun silly good times check out Octorok's full channel here ).