This week was a pretty awesome week for gamers as most of us eagerly awaited the return of Borderlands, Torchlight, or both. As such the vast majority of news and hype this week was centered around these two games. So far it seems as if both have been pretty well received, even though each had their share of first week hiccups. There have been so many Borderlands 2 reviews that some, like Kotaku, have decided to lump all of them together to make it easier for people to read. This is pretty standard for a big release like this and many of the reviews have viewed the game, as expected, in a positive light, all but one that is. Sometimes large releases such as this give more mainstream publications a chance to share their opinions as well, and while everyone is entitled to their opinion sometimes you have to wonder if mainstream media is equipped to review games in any capacity.
Lumped into Kotaku’s list of Borderlands 2 reviews was one from The Wall Street Journal. Now I don’t have a problem with anyone sitting down to play a game or share their opinion, but man is this a review that doesn’t understand where the fun in a game is. Sure plot is important, but most gamers care little for specific plot nuances unless its a game that is all about the plot. The plot in Borderlands has always been just a delivery system for the game’s over-the-top gameplay. There are also comparisons to CoD and Halo which to me makes little sense as Borderlands is really in a completely different genre, sure you can shoot in all of those games, but that’s about where the comparisons end. ‘A’ for effort I guess, but when it comes to games maybe the mainstream media should leave it to those who play more than just the “important” games.
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Torchlight 2 also came out this week and while it wasn’t a full on $60 release like Borderlands 2, there are still a whole bunch of people who were really excited for its release. But Torchlight 2’s lowered $20 price point isn’t an indicator of it’s quality or content, it’s a deliberate tactic from the development team to get as many people to play the game as possible. PC Gamer focused on a Reddit AMA that Torchlight 2 developers participated in earlier this week where they commented that “not everyone has $60 laying around,” and that distributing the game digitally through Steam has helped to keep the price down. If you didn’t like these guys already they also have plans for a bunch of free content and will allow modding from pretty much anyone. I don’t even think they own a ban-hammer.
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Kickstarter has decided that its time to lay down some ground rules with the first one being that “Kickstarter Is Not a Store.” In a blog updated entitled just that, the Kickstarter is hoping to educate its users in the hopes that no one thinks that they are simply purchasing a product in advance. They added a “Risks and Challenges” section which will force those looking to raise money a place to talk about the potential risks of their project and why they are qualified to handle them. This means that credentials will be more important when convincing people to fork over their hard earned cash. They’ve also decided that simulations of products will no longer be allowed. This means that hopeful projects can now only show photos of their product or footage of what it can actually do, no more “dramatic recreations.” Hopefully this will deter projects from sucking up money from people only to fail miserably, now if only TV commercials had to follow these rules.
Source: The Escapist
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While many people may be taking their Borderlands 2 experience pretty serious, scheduling time this weekend to play until they drop, Gearbox has done their best to make sure that even the serious gamers have a laugh. Floating around this week on YouTube was a video entitled “What the fuck, Boderlands?” and features a gun that has no business being on any practical battlefield. It’s really just a troll from the developers as the gun seems to force the player to walk incredibly slow and yells obnoxiously when fired. Maybe it does amazing damage, who knows, but man i couldn’t listen to that for more than a few minutes before muting my TV. Funny troll though.
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I don’t know a gamer that wouldn’t want to work at Valve if they were given the opportunity and this video makes that dream even more appealing. I don’t know where they’re going to put the turret from Portal, but if it was me I would put it where most other offices put their security guard; right at the front door so everyone sees it. It looks pretty much exactly as it does in the game, with the only real different being it doesn’t actually fire any bullets; it even sounds the same. Maybe they could make an Aperture themed park for kids and by kids I mean adults who think like kids… OK I mean me.
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Taking up the anchor spot this week is a piece of DIY gaming that I really felt deserved a shout out. Cruising through Reddit this week I saw this post in which user DBrizzle shared his conversion of a plain old Xbox 360 into a full on portable gaming platform. Not only did he take the whole damn thing apart and put it back together again, he made it thinner, more efficient, and attached a screen. The whole thing opens and closes like a briefcase as well, meaning he can take it pretty much wherever he wants. How come all of the cool designs are done by those who don’t make consoles? I would buy this in a heartbeat.
