trend – Steven Savage

Feeling Wild About WIldstar Online

September 4, 2013 by Steven Savage

If you know me, MMO’s aren’t quite my bag. I did some City of Heroes back in the day, tried Dungeon Fighter and liked it but lost tracked, and was rather charmed by Dragon’s Nest and it’s anime-esque style for some time. I just don’t really get into them, and with the way they suck time, they better be worth it.

I think one of the next-Gen MMO’s may not also get my attention, but it looks like it’s going to try some interesting mechanics and design ideas. Welcome to WildStar Online. Let’s take a look at why I’m paying attention.

Card Sharking: Forward Into The Past of The Future

March 25, 2013 by Steven Savage

So this week, people waited with baited breath to hear about the new game from Blizzard. World of Warcraft 2? Something Else? Something new? What would it be . . .

. . . it was Hearthstone, a free-to-play online collectable card game where you can purchase new cards.

I can’t say I’m overwhelmed. I’m not even sure I’m whelmed.* There is some positive impression though.

It’s not as if I don’t like CCGs. I still have my old Magic Cards** in fact, quite enjoyed the game, and of course as I move in Anime Circles, I’m used to people with so many CCG cards they can make clothes out of them.

Tribalism Trumps Cash In Politics?

November 8, 2012 by Steven Savage

The campaign is done, over, Nate Silver can go get drunk, and the formerly confident members of the Republican Party are asking “what happened?” Also they’re asking “What the hell did all that money go for?”

Now I could go deep into some of my own theories about political groups, which are roughly that a lot of lobbying and political organizations are just lucrative fronts to part donors from cash. But still there was a LOT of money sloshing around this election, and many is the time I hears someone predict it would break in the Republican’s favor. Doesn’t look that way.

I think there is an issue that money can only buy so much, and it’s worse in a time of highly “tribal” political divisions, as explored by Salon.