The game board is a large island made of different hex shaped tiles. Each type of tile is associated with geography and that geography’s natural resource. Forests produce wood. Mountains produce ore. Dice rolls determine which tiles produce resources and players with towns next to those tiles collect the corresponding resource. This means that at the opening of each player’s turn, any player is likely to get new resources. Players return their resources in order to build more towns which must be connected by roads. Everyone is encouraged to trade in order to get the combination of resources they need. No one plays a mere spectator between turns. There is always something to keep players attention.

The game punishes people that hoard cards, further motivating players to trade in order to gain what they need. When any player rolls a 7, anyone hoarding more than 7 resource cards must discard half their hand. That player must also move the “robber”. The robber is a figure on the board. The hex tile he resides on is incapable of producing resources even if the number of the tile is rolled. The tile can produce resources only after the robber is moved again. Players can move the robber by playing “army” cards they draw from a deck of utility cards that can be purchased with their resources. This is one of the few means players can attempt to block another player’s path to victory.

No one enjoys playing a game when failure is certain and slow. Settlers of Catan avoids that problem in three ways. First, there are many different ways to win the game. The goal is to earn 10 victory points. Victory points are earned in many different ways. Points are awarded for towns. Certain utility cards the players can purchase award victory points. Two points are awarded for maintaining the longest road or the largest army. Largest army refers to the player who has played the most army cards during the game. The variety of means helps to avoid situations where players have no means to win. Chances are likely there is some way a player can word towards victory points.

Second, the social aspect of the game levels the playing field. Players are unwilling to trade with players on the cusp of winning. They are much more willing to trade with people they don’t see as threatening. Hence, those far behind progress quickly and others stall just before victory.

Just as a slow demise is frustrating, large swings in the score make for an exciting game. Yet too many swings can make the game seem too random. As you may recall, players can invoke a 4 point swing by building the largest road or army, both of which are fairly cheap. A 4 point swing can reduce a hefty lead like 8 – 4 to a mere tie.

Have I earned your interest? If so, go buy a copy and share it with your friends. Folks with an Xbox can play a version in the on-line arcade. Give me a call when you find time. I’m always up for a game.

…anyone know where I can get some lazer lights for our living room on the cheap?

Miggily-Miggily-Mee!!

I never expected I would neglect the first 2 weeks of the beta playing Peggle Extreme, the last game included in the series. The game is hardly worth mentioning among so many distinguished and promising titles. It seems to have been included as an after thought; regarded as a sort of Cracker-Jack prize. Peggle centers around a set of blue and orange bouncy pegs. The object is to touch all the orange pegs with a pinball that is launched from the top of the screen. I’ve learned that my computer lacks such simple pleasures. I threw down an additional $10 for the complete version of the game, Peggle Deluxe. Later I learned I am not the only one that finds value in cheap, simple “casual” games. It wasn’t long before I turned my attention back to TF2, but I still start up Peggle when I have a few minutes to spare between obligations around the house.

• Meet the Engineer
• Meet the Heavy Weapons Guy
• Meet the Soldier

But what will happen to the characters I’ve helped grow these past years? Phifer has taken an extended sabbatical at the Northshire Abbey. She leads Sunday School, participates in choir and recently joined the abbey’s weekly wine tasting club. Cinch has become Iron Forge’s leading alarm expert in Iron Forge. When she finds the time, she likes to get away to Booty Bay where she ganks low level horde. Awaka spends most of her time hiking in Nagrand, communing with nature and whatnot. Vlock is still being corpse camped by a Gnome rogue, deep in Stranglethorn. Jerk.

The game tries to incorporate as many historical concepts as it can. His interest always starts with the game but immediately extends into the historical significance. Let me list a few examples. The game progresses through 4 different eras of civilization: Stone Age, Medieval Times, Industrial Age and Modern Age. It was the first he had heard of the Industrial Age, which prompted many questions. We talked about the social structure of the Medieval Times. We talked about German Panzer Tanks, Roman Legionaries, and the Zulu Nation. Each civilization races to be the first to construct “wonders” that bestow special benefits to that nation. He began to explore the history and importance of the Egyptian pyramids, the Great Wall of China and the Sistine Chapel. The historical significance wouldn’t be important if he were just playing the game to win, but Noah has stumbled upon something more. The game fuels his imagination, and history helps flush out the details. The game features a small but informative encyclopedia regarding the in-game and historical significance of everything it mentions. Noah (being Noah) isn’t as into “reading” about them as he is “talking” about them.

Lucky for us all, the game will most likely distract Noah well enough to render his global ambitions moot. In homage to Noah’s endless curiosity regarding the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, I have included a link to an excellent wikipedia article about just that.

I count the company among the top software developers in the world (gaming or otherwise). Let me quickly review why I feel so strongly about the company. They are committed to releasing and supporting stable code. A small patch for the original Starcraft was released the same week the sequel was announced–10 years after the original release. The patches mostly offer very minor balancing issues, new hardware and some small new features. That is to say, the code is better than 99% of the market, yet Bilizzard doesn’t rest. Contrast this with Ubisoft’s Pools of Radiance which would delete system files when uninstalled without a patch or Bioware’s Neverwinter Nights which included a small portion of the DM features they boasted during production. All through development the developers were trying to pull the DM features into the limelight to avoid comparisons to Baldur’s Gate and Dungeon siege, both of which supported better stories, gameplay and graphics. And yes, I hear all citizens of Azeroth bemoaning the missing hero classes that were “promised” (rather “mentioned”) early in development during World of Warcraft. Clearly these players never had to wade through the unbroken promises of Lionhead’s Peter Molyneux, creator of Fable and Black & White.

Will Wright and Mr. Miyamoto are out to be innovative. Blizzard is just out to be the coolest kid on the block. They have never created a new genre. They simply perfect an existing one: Diablo, Warcraft, and World of Warcraft are prime examples. They emphasize balance more than any other developer I know. They understand graphics are important, but not more important than running smoothly on a normal machine. They do this despite the fact they are often critisized for graphics that don’t squeeze a few extra polygons from the priciest gaming rigs. Best of all, they don’t release crappy games. They pulled the plug on titles like Starcraft: Ghost and Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans. Although I’d like to see what Blizzard would do to the stealth and adventure genres the trust their brand name carries is important. I’d recommend anything they release.

This page includes screen shots from gear that drops in the lowest level instance included in the expansion. Veteran players will notice this easily obtained equipment is very comparable with gear groups of players work for months to obtain. It appears Stamina will be more common on the equipment. Will Blizzard adjust the stats on existing gear? Players debate the merits of working towards this gear over waiting for the expansion.

I best not talk too much about the game lest I may ramble on and on about the drama my sim’s live out. I’ll limit myself to one short antidote. Yesterday Nina snuck out on a date with her sister’s hubby. They visited the mall which is quite an epic journey for a sim. While she was there she decided to invest some of her hard earned money on a new video game. She chose to buy The Sims: Bustin’ Out. My own energy levels began to droop before I had a chance to let her try her new game. (It was also very difficult to get her to leave Dan’s side and head to her own house.) While I changed into my PJs it struck me: my sim will be controlling a simulation. That might be dangerous. I think it may cause a stack overflow in the Matrix. In the words of Keano Reeves, “Whoa.”