LEGO Hobbit and the Dangerous Trend in Games

Getting a LEGO game based off your franchise is almost a requisite for certain big titles. So it came as no surprise that with the success of LEGO: The Lord Of The Rings, LEGO: The Hobbit was bound to follow.

The game released at an unusual time, right after the second film, and with no subtitles indicating it was based only on specific films (like LEGO: Harry Potter - Years 1-4). I even purchased it with concern it would spoil the last film for me, which was still many months away. I figured I could easily just stop playing after the battle with Smaug, and save the rest of the game for after the movie came out. It was a good plan, in theory.

The gameplay itself is quite similar to every other LEGO game. You explore the world, build sets, collect extra characters and quests. There’s the similar aspects as well how in order to gain 100% you have to go back through the game and play with the new characters you have unlocked. It was fantastic to go back into levels like Rivendell and Dale and fully explore them in depth. The typical LEGO humor was there, and it used the rare act of giving the LEGO characters voices with movie dialogue. The voices did feel rather awkward since, much like the Sims, their lack of regular conversation is rather endearing.

Then came the infamous “I am fire. I am death.” line. I figured I’d save after this and then I can- wait...

City of Heroes - Gone But Not Forgotten

Like so many other fans, I miss it. I miss Atlas Park. City of Heroes was my home game since the "Going Rogue" expansion in 2009, and I played it until server shutdown in 2012. I had been introduced to it by my boyfriend, who played City of Heroes from day 4 of the first live release in 2004 right through to server shutdown.

Extra-Life: Gaming for Good!

As I stumbled, bleary eyed and blinking, towards the dinner table last Sunday, my mother in law said, "Mike, you look really tired!" Well, yes, other-Mom, I was. I was tired because I had not slept more than forty minutes on Saturday night. And why? Because I was using video and board games to help sick kids.

There's been a lot of talk over the last few months about the negative aspects of the gaming community. And there certainly have been some really negative aspects in the last few months. But we here at the Ace of Geeks believe in the power of gaming to help people, and Extra Life is one of the best ways to do just that.

Outside, on Crutches.

 
I'm writing this article on my phone, in my night dress and back in bed at 12:35pm. I work part time in the afternoons so that my chronic insomnia doesn't interfere. Well that and the rest of my work is from home. But the reason I'm still under the covers by midday has nothing to do with sleeping late and everything to do with seasonal agoraphobia.

Extra Life 2014 Live Stream Marathon!

The Ace of Geeks is proud to, for the second year in a row, be hosting a 24 hour live stream event for Extra Life. Extra Life is an organization that, through the magic of gaming, raises money for Children's Hospitals around the country. Just like last year, we're going to be raising money for the Children's Hospital and Research Center in Oakland - they received $300k in donations last year, but we're looking to try and blast that number out of the water. Want to join us? Want more details? Check out this lovely video, and then hit the jump for the full schedule and a live feed of our Twitch stream!

Gaming Convention How-To: Theming Your Game by Justin Rhodes

Gaming conventions are ultimate meccas of nerdery, replete with so many wonderful distractions and remarkable pastimes. Previously, I wrote about making a memorable con-game and one of the nuggets of wisdom included theming your game. How can you do that? Here are some ideas:

Grandparents Got Game!

*When I started this article. I had the idea that I was going to make it about skills, levels and PVP ranks. Yes, some of the grandparents I talked to are PVP-ranked. But as I talked with them, I found a bigger story - a story about family bonding. I decided to share that instead. After all, toons can be re-rolled, but you can't re-roll a family member. (Unless you're playing the Sims. -Ed)

I play MMO's with my grandson, who's going to be 5 years old soon. He loves running around trashing mobs and collecting loot. He doesn't quite have the patience yet to finish a quest, but we're working on that. His parents let him play The Last of Us, (WHAT?! -Ed) and he does pretty well - except when he hits a point that he has to actually complete a task or quest in order to progress. Whenever he comes over to my house, the first thing he says to me is "Hi Grandma! I missed you! Can we play teams now?? PLEASE???" So we play some XBox games - Marvel vs. Capcom 3 usually to start, and we then eventually end up going to the computer room and playing Guild Wars 2 or Neverwinter. He wants to play Diablo 3 with me but I don't have it. Then he tries to be helpful.  "Aww. Let's go get it! I know where it lives - it stays at the store!"

Smash Up: How a Thirteen Year Old Game is Still Going Strong. by Mike Fatum

When I was growing up, I thought wavedashing was bullshit. I was a massive, massive fan of Super Smash Bros, and an even bigger fan of Melee, and I was beyond a shadow of a doubt the best player that I knew. I'd invite my friends over, and within two minutes the complaints would start. "Well, you're only this good because you own the game!" they'd complain, while desperately trying to avoid my unbeatable Marth tactics of dodge, dodge, smash them off the screen, wait for them to come back, and repeat. I was a living god of Smash, and there's no way anyone could be better than me unless they were cheating.

So wavedashing, L-cancelling, and all the other advanced Melee techniques that I saw glimpses of on grainy video from tiny tournaments around the country - well those were exploits performed by cheaters. No real Melee player would ever resort to such dirty tactics. I put it out of my mind and moved on with my life, blissfully aware that I was the greatest Marth player who ever lived.

Boy was I wrong.