Op/Rant: GMPC

We begin today with a little bit of a quiz. Nothing too hard, just follow along in your heads. Question one: Think of a few female video game characters. Question two: How many of those characters, discounting inherently multiplayer games like fighters or MMOs, are player characters? Done? Okay, that's it. But why did I subject you to such an infantile mental exercise?

NEWS: Love in a Time of Intergalactic War

Last month, The Old Republic launched to millions of users worldwide. It is, in my opinion, a great game. It stepped up to the plate and put the RPG back in MMORPG, which many people felt was long overdue. Bioware, the company behind it, has had an amazing track record of success in the Roleplaying game industry, not only as a gameplay innovator, but as a bastion for equality of race and sexuality. However, one particular omission has left a sour taste in the mouths of certain gamers. However, Bioware has promised to correct this error.

Developer Swap

It's nearly been a year since my last post! Well, I'm back, and with a post on a topic that I've often speculated on. Here's the deal: which iconic franchises would you like to see tackled by a different developer? I've come up with my own list, and I'd love to hear what any of you have to say. There will probably be a fair amount of disagreement, but that's the nature of any discussion.

Triple-V Review: Dragon Age II

So, dear friends, remember that article that I posted way back in January about resolving to be patient with new releases? I think it applies here. Not that Dragon Age II is a bad game, but there is certainly room for improvement. I'll start with the good stuff.

Of Scrolls and Dragons

So in the past week, two of the major western RPGs of the year released some sort of material. Bethesda graced us with the first look at actual gameplay for Skyrim, the fifth installment in the Elder Scrolls series. And not long after that, Bioware released the demo for Dragon Age II. Now, completely ignoring the fact that DA2 comes out in less than a week, it was still a pretty good couple of weeks for us RPGers. Even Nintendo came out of their shell of secrecy and showed the people of the Game Developer's Conference (and subsequently the rest of the internet) a little footage from Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. 

Ship Porn: Isaac Hannaford's Concept Ships

Yay! More ship porn!
So my girlfriend and I, being geeks and gamers, are both pretty into Halo in general. And being the awful ship slut that I am, the space-going vessels of that universe get an inordinate amount of my attention.
*WHOOOSH*
"Ooh, look, it's a CCS-Class Covenant Battlecruiser!"
"VIOLET! I'M GETTING SHOT AT!
And that's pretty much how it goes.

Natural Laws of Fantasy Worlds

It's funny how often we assume that a world that is so unlike our own that it magic running rampant will follow the same laws. Sometimes it's done for the sake of clarity (an MMORPG set in a world where the calendar had more or less than 365 days would confuse and annoy us), or for accessibility (imagine if Wizards of the Coast had decided that their Eberron setting had 1/3rd Earth's gravity, or was a few hundred kilometers closer or further from their sun). But still, we often find that there are a few commonly accepted subversions of those laws, that occur in quite a few works. For example: