61 Frames Per Second

Browse by Tags

(RSS)

The 61FPS Review: Battleforge

When not volunteering for the Somali Pirates' Union or attending live tapings of Glenn Beck, guest contributer Dan Thompson can be found teaching in the South Bronx. In moments free from agitating for pirate rights or being corrupted by the youth, Dan dedicates his time to battling his cat, Bishop, and heckling John Constantine's Persona 4 play sessions.

Phenomic’s Battleforge terrified me. Not terrified that this chimeric mix of collectible card game, real-time strategy, and MMO would be bad, oh no. My soul-shaking fear was that it would actually be good. I could already see it happening: my descent into a dark, screen-glare jaundiced, asocial existence, my only activity the furious clicking of virtual cards to unleash winged beasts of burning doom. Like the first time I read about aerosol alcohol’s promise of inebriation through inhalation, I was overtaken by a mixture of horror and wonder. These are three gaming genres I hold dear, and the battles looked great. This hybrid had the potential to cost me my job, friends, and family. I popped in the disc and watched the install bar crawl to the right. Thankfully, none of my fears were realized. Battleforge just doesn’t work.

Posted Apr 13 2009, 04:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 1 comment(s)

Filed under: ea, command & conquer, starcraft, mmo, rts, daniel thompson, ccg, Phenomic, battleforge

Starcraft in College

I first heard about UC Berkeley's Starcraft 101 course over a month ago, and I passed on reporting it here because I was convinced it was a hoax. Well, now we have video that proves otherwise.

Posted Feb 06 2009, 04:00 PM by Cole Stryker with | with no comments

Filed under: cole stryker, starcraft, gamepro, education, berkeley

Up All Night: Blackthorne

Blizzard doesn’t need to make games in a timely manner. They finish games when they’re finished. This is because Blizzard are masters of their craft. They are unimpeachable purveyors of the best the medium has to offer. Got something bad to say about the Warcraft trilogy? Best keep your trap shut, pal. Think World of Warcraft is a cunning way of enslaving free minds? Keep it to yourself. And heaven forfend if you question the merit of Starcraft, Diablo, or either of those series’ impending sequels. Indeed, Blizzard are new gods for the 21st century.

But this was not always the case. Once upon a time, Blizzard made trash. Fun trash to be sure, but trash nonetheless. That is to say, once upon a time, Blizzard stayed up all night.

Of the multiple Up All Night candidates from Blizzard’s catalog – and believe me, The Death and Return of Superman and Justice League Task Force are prime subjects – none are so deserving as Blackthorne.

Posted Jan 13 2009, 06:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 2 comment(s)

Filed under: john constantine, up all night, world of warcraft, starcraft, diablo, diablo iii, blizzard, out of this world, flashback, oddworld, starcraft 2, the death and return of superman, blackthorne, justice league task force, warcraft

A Decade of Gaming Excellence

Just like Mackey, seeing that Half-Life is only a dollar on account of it’s ten years of being awesome brought back plenty of wonderful memories of late 90’s gaming. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that 1998 was not a great year, but the best year for the medium in its history.

I think this is easy to prove. Below I’ve listed just a handful of 1998’s most well remembered games, and many of them continue to represent the best-in-class of their respective genres. Think about all the changes that have happened in gaming since these came out: high definition came to fruition, the Wii changed the rules, all those idiots you muted on Xbox Live last night were born. And yet, these titles endure:

Posted Nov 20 2008, 01:00 PM by Joe Keiser with | with 3 comment(s)

Filed under: metal gear solid, half-life, starcraft, joe keiser, 1998

Korean Standup does Starcraft Comedy Routine

Maybe I'm a colossal dorkwad, but this video of a Korean dude imitating different units from Starcraft made me crack up several times. I lost it when he started doing the Dragoon.

South Korea is a magical place where Starcraft is played competitiely in convention centers and the games are broadcast to thousands of homes. There are no fewer than four cable channels dedicated to 24/7 Starcraft coverage. It's like American football over there. Knowing that exists makes me so happy. What a wonderful world. Have a great weekend!

Posted Oct 03 2008, 06:00 PM by Cole Stryker with | with 1 comment(s)

Filed under: comedy, cole stryker, starcraft, south korea, competitive gaming

Love-Hate: In Defense of the Cutscene

As a follow-up to yesterday's post about the intersection of passive and active media in games, I'd like to defend the humble cutscene, for when used in moderation, cutscenes can enhance the experience of play. The way I see it, Blizzard has mastered the cutscene. They are brief, infrequent, and they pack a wallop. For example, the epic scale of the battles truly comes alive here:

Wow! Look how huge that battle cruiser is! Did you see that zergling rush at the end? Here we are given a dramatic representation of what presumably goes on behind the familiar sprites during the game's core play experience. We see the panic in our soldiers' eyes and the callousness of our generals. The film does more than just further the story, it enhances the game. It grants players a sense of empathy by creating an emotional connection. It's much easier to relate to a marine than before, when all we've seen of him is this:

Posted Jun 19 2008, 05:00 PM by Cole Stryker with | with 1 comment(s)

Filed under: bioshock, half-life, cole stryker, cutscenes, starcraft

about the blogger

John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Nerve, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.