buttonmashing

After a week away from gaming while on a family vacation, I’m ready to get back at it. As you surmised from my latest “what I’ve been playing” post, I have been spending the bulk of my time playing Dota 2. I can see that progressing for the foreseeable future. I’m now “competent” with four or five heroes and I’m looking forward to dabbling with a couple more this weekend. So ya, I’ll be playing Dota 2 this weekend.

But in talking with my fellow bloggers, we are looking at ways and topics we could write about on the topic of Dota 2. When we pull ourselves away from the “crack”, maybe we’ll get something up. No promises.

What are you playing this weekend?

Weekend Gaming posts are normally Tony’s shtick. For this weekend’s post he explained that he meant to write it last night but somehow mysteriously ended up in a couple DOTA 2 matches instead – just the same as a gambler says no more for the night but somehow mysteriously ends up cranking slots for two more hours, or the struggling chocaholic who somehow mysteriously finds his cheeks stuffed with whoppers. So this morning, while in the throes of fighting this personal demon, Tony assigned the Weekend Gaming task to me.

And well-timed, too! Should he have asked me to do this next weekend – or even tomorrow – there’s a strong chance that I would be unable to write this post as well because I somehow mysteriously have slipped ever-deeper into the realm of Dark Souls 2. I anticipated this game so much that I actually bought it on launch day (this past Tuesday), which I have never done with any other title. Several months ago there was a stir within the Dark Souls community when game co-director Yui Tanimura made mention that DS2 would be more ‘accessible’ than the first game. After seeing the buzz that his comment made he quickly issued a statement clarifying his meaning. For what it’s worth, I here now testify that ‘accessible’ does not mean easier. Not in the slightest. The same expectations on the player as the first Dark Souls are in place, perhaps even more pressing: Souls have more value (retrieve yours!); your HP is penalized the longer you play and die as a hollow; fall damage is more severe; the areas are gnarly and confusing. And yet, battered and bruised I press forward, along with so many other players.

If you have to ask, you don’t need to know.

A harder reality must be recognized. I am playing Dark Souls 2 on the PS3. And our family has only one HDTV. And my kids wanna watch stuff. And my wife would rather the kids watch stuff than me play Dark Souls 2. And these are enemies far more powerful and frightening than anything I will ever encounter in the game. So I must relinquish the TV at times. When this happens I do believe I shall resurface to join Tony and James and any other ButtonMasher in a nice, level-headed round or two of Dota. I am glad that Tony has been on a 2-month Dota kick because it has gotten me to gravitate back to the game as well. I’ve learned to take the losses along with the wins. I better understand the strategy, the items, the skills. When to use what, what to use where. Chatting with fellow ButtonMasher about the game is fun! But, more than anything, I no longer feel like I’m a slippery n00b.  Or as Major Payne once said to his squad:

What are you playing this weekend, turd?

(I’m a little last this month, but since there wasn’t anything released the first week of March, all is forgiven, right?)

I’ve seen some bad March release lists, but: Buzz — your release list: WOOF! Here are a bunch of games you probably won’t be playing in March (and a couple you almost certainly will be):

Week of March 11th
Titanfall – Microsoft is clearly planning on riding the coattails of Titanfall to tide over any and all Xbox One owners. From all accounts, it’s a great game.

Week of March 11th
Dark Souls II (Collector’s Edition) – I know one buttonmasher who is very excited (and afraid) that March is Dark Souls II month. Very excited.

Week of March 25th
Titanfall

No Wii U releases for the Month of March.

Week of March 25th
Cut The Rope: Triple Treat

Week of March 11th
Titanfall

Week of March 18th
Men of War : Assault Squad 2

Week of March 25th
Rambo The Video Game – I’m not saying this is an obvious budget title or anything, but it does say it’s compatible on Windows 95.
MXGP
Diablo III: Reaper of Souls – If I pick up anything this month (and that’s a big IF) it will be the Diablo 3 expansion.

Week of March 11th
Putty Squad

Week of March 18th
inFAMOUS: Second Son
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

Week of March 11th
Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky
Dark Souls II (Black Armor Edition)

Week of March 18th
Final Fantasy X|X-2 HD Remaster Special Edition

Week of March 25th
Rambo The Video Game
Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends
BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma
The Witch and the Hundred Knight

Week of March 18th
FINAL FANTASY X|X-2 HD Remaster

Week of March 25th
Deception IV: Blood Ties

(Note: As always, all Amazon.com links have our affiliate code embedded in them. If you purchase something through our link, we get a little commission. It’s appreciated.)

While visiting London, Gamasutra contributor Leigh Alexander, American, noticed how gamers in the UK assign a different linguistic value than what she’s used to hearing to the term used to express that he or she has completed a game in its entirety. I almost said ‘beat’ the game but it looks like that expression is mainly used by us Yankees. She postulates, however briefly, about the cultural difference between ‘beat’ and the UK usage ‘finish’. So she took her thoughts to Twitter and posted some interesting replies on Gamasutra. The link below could be just the beginning of a legit anthropological linguistic study. Very cool.

‘Beating’ Games Around the World

Scrolling through her post brought to remembrance some recurring thoughts I had while playing Eve:Online last year. The MMO is home to over 5,000 playable star systems. A majority of the systems are named. How exactly are these names generated? Some are quite sharp and eloquent (Hakodan) while others, if sounded aloud, sound like drunken mumblings (Penirgman). Across the central cluster of New Eden you’ve got the likes of Sehmy, Keproh, Barira, Ishkad, Goni. Each name  seem to follow a loose root-and-pattern template – they do not spiral out of control, and yet, sounding some of them out can be quite the phonological workout. Being an MMO, this a fun little quirk of the EVE universe. I was on a teamspeak channel with my fleet while out on a roam, the fleet commander would call out which system to jump to, and, whoa doggies, this guy from Minnesota pronounced ‘Sasiako’ way different than I have been all along.

Ever since then I’ve had this nagging, musing wonder if someone has done some kind of phonology study across New Eden. 500,000 players from all over the world, different regions producing different phonetic practices, trekking across these 5,000 named virtual star systems. From a testing standpoint, the stage is already set: It’s a closed system with quasi-control groups and each player already has a microphone. The amount of raw data a student could collect from this would be staggering. Staggering, I tell you. From this, what could be deciphered about the Eve universe?

There still hasn’t been any great next-gen (which I guess is now this-gen) titles to really hit the release list yet, but things are getting better. But February is a great month of games if you haven’t moved on to the Xbox One or the PS4. The Playstation 3 line up is particularly strong this go-round. With that said, on to this month’s releases:

Week of February 4th
The LEGO Movie Videogame

Week of February 18th
Rayman Legends

Week of February 25th
Thief
Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare

Week of February 4th
The LEGO Movie Videogame
Fable Anniversary

Week of February 11th
The Borderlands 2 & Dishonored Bundle
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII – I gave FFXIII the real college try and it never clicked. Now that I’ve been methodically working through my backlog I wonder if I’ll ever get back to it.

Week of February 18th
Earth Defense Force 2025
NASCAR ’14

Week of February 25th
Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2
Thief

Week of February 4th
The LEGO Movie Videogame

Week of February 18th
Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze

Week of February 4th
The LEGO Movie Videogame
Bravely Default – This is probably the only pick up for me this month. I’ve heard great things about Bravely Default and hope to grab it after I finish A Link Between Worlds.

Week of February 25th
Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy

Week of February 4th
The Sims 3 Roaring Heights World
Airport Simulator 2014

Week of February 25th
Thief

Week of February 4th
The LEGO Movie Videogame

Week of February 11th
Week of February 18th
Rayman Legends

Week of February 25th
Thief
Putty Squad

Week of February 4th
The LEGO Movie Videogame

Week of February 11th
The Last of Us: Left Behind DLC
The Elder Scrolls: V:Skyrim & Bioshock Infinite Bundle – This is the “I only have time for two games this year” Bundle.
Far Cry Compilation
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
The Borderlands 2 & Dishonored Bundle – This is the “I love loot and killing things in gruesome ways” Bundle

Week of February 18th
Earth Defense Force 2025
NASCAR ’14
Ragnarok Odyssey ACE

Week of February 25th
Putty Squad
Magus
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2
Tales of Symphonia Chronicles
Thief

Week of February 4th
The LEGO Movie Videogame

Week of February 11th
Toukiden: The Age of Demons
DanganRonpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

Week of February 18th
Ragnarok Odyssey ACE

Week of February 25th
Putty Squad

(Note: As always, all Amazon.com links have our affiliate code embedded in them. If you purchase something through our link, we get a little commission. It’s appreciated.)

Two years ago, the three of us at Stoic set out to make an epic viking game: The Banner Saga. We did, and people loved it, so we’re making another one. We won’t make a viking saga without the word Saga, and we don’t appreciate anyone telling us we can’t. King.com claims they’re not attempting to prevent us from using The Banner Saga, and yet their legal opposition to our trademark filing remains. We’re humbled by the outpouring of support and honored to have others stand with us for the right to their own Saga. We just want to make great games.

The above statement was issued today by Stoic to Kotaku.com. As stated, The Banner Saga (released 14 January 2014 for PC and Mac) is being targeted by King, creator of Candy Crush Saga, the wildly successful mobile ‘freemium’ puzzle game.

Earlier this week news spread throughout the internet about King’s endeavor to protect its intellectual property by trademarking the word ‘Candy’. This action has far-reaching implications, beyond mobile games, and has caused all kinds of knee-jerk reactions from many different camps. The PR department has been scrambling ever since to mop up the slippery slop that has uncontrollably squirted out of the behinds of, ultimately, the company’s legal advisers. Just because you can do something doesn’t necessarily mean you should. Even so, recognizing the fallout of such foolish decision making, you’d think the decision-makers at King would tread forward but lightly so. As of yesterday, this doesn’t appear to be the case because, in a boneheaded move, now they are pushing to claim the term ‘saga’, and, in the end, are filing against Stoic’s The Banner Saga, which could force the independent developer to change the current (and any future) game’s name.

It is a common and thorny situation in gaming. Part of what makes it so interesting is that the gaming industry is charging forward with such fervor that the laws simply can’t keep up. So we have this perpetual gray area, this wild wild west of intellectual property where companies like King are seeking to stake a claim on whatever they can – Especially now in the months preceding toppling off the treacherous summit of mobile gaming. YEEEEHAWWwww!!!! Did you hear that? It’s a death rattle.

But, again, just because you can doesn’t necessarily mean that you should. Sure, King can throw the book, but what’s going to bite them in the butt is this PR mess. Earlier this week I paid little mind to those who may be affected by the ‘candy’ situation. But now the saga advances forward to PC gaming, and this hits a little closer to home. Not that I’m taking this knuckleheaded move personally, but I do believe that heavy-handed money grubbing actions like such coming from a 15-minute spectacle like King can slow the ebb and flow of innovation. Even King’s released ‘justifications’ for its actions against The Banner Saga, posted and critiqued with vehemence on so many gaming websites, are only hurting the company’s ability to not only rebound from this mess but to gain any traction for anything they do in the future, which, isn’t it funny, is exactly what they’re aiming to protect with these trademarks.

So listen here, King. And listen good:

Walk away, Son. Walk away. Even by so much as meddling with The Banner Saga you are provoking forces you will not be able to control nor recover from, no matter how many loose-bowel lawyers you’ve got standing downwind. Frankly, you were fine pursuing other glitzy mobile games but now you are poking the bear. Go out now with some semblance of dignity or your precious trademarks will be smeared with your own guts and flotsam. Don’t mess with the PC gaming community – especially the indie titles. They are the gems of what it right and true about gaming. They are the future and they will be defended with utmost voracity. You have chosen to flaunt and misuse a confusing branch of intellectual property law, one that has a proclivity to trigger adverse emotional responses. Even if the implications of your legal endeavors are not fully understood you are antagonizing an enemy whose abundance of modes and avenues will be used to swarm and pummel you from every direction, the book be damned.