Staring at Screens episode 32 is out! And we’re in it! Yes! As you could imagine, the feeling was not unlike being dragged onstage at a rock concert to sing with your favorite band — or being asked to guest on your favorite radio show that you’ve been listening to for months and months!

Wait. That’s exactly what it is. My analogy skills need some tweaking.

We are indeed guests on the E3 2013 episode of the Staring at Screens podcast, and we discussed a ton of content.

In the topical segment we discuss the Microsoft and Sony announcements at E3 2013 vis-a-vis the controversies surrounding Microsoft’s Xbox One messaging and the absolute smackdown that was delivered by Sony’s PS4 announcment. We also talk about some of the upcoming games flogged at E3, namely the deliciously cross-platform Watchdogs, the mystifyingly-numbered Mirror’s Edge 2, the pulchritudinous Bayonetta 2 and the wordily-named Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.

We’re very grateful to our friends at Staring at Screens for having us on the show. Cheers, guys!

Hey, are you still here? Go on, then. Git!

E3 2013: A Descent into Madness – Adam Sessler and Rev3Games

First up we have quite literally a descent into madness as the title of the video implies. We talk a lot about how crazy the news cycle for gaming has been over the last week but we sometimes don’t get to see how that affects the journalists and professionals on the ground who cover the events like E3 and how that takes a toll on someone’s mind and body. Poor Adam Sessler. This guy is one of the most respected journalists and he was literally dead tired and exhausted from non-stop interviews over the course of E3 (you can literally see in the video, back to back interviews). What’s even sadder is that some people were even accusing him of being drunk on set during the interviews but you can clearly see how tired the guy is.

/r/Games gets indie with Takedown

Last week we mentioned that the subreddit /r/Games was one of the places to check out for some great E3 coverage. Following up on that promise, what we have here for you is an interview with Christian Allen, the Creative Director of the upcoming FPS Takedown: Red Sabre and some great gameplay footage of this game. James, Jed and I backed this on Kickstarter last year, and we’re very excited for some old school slow tactical shooter action, bringing back the good old days of Rainbow 6, Rogue Spear and SWAT 4. If you are a fan of those games, then this game is for you.

The Verge’s E3 Coverage: What is a next-gen game?

My favourite tech site looks at exactly what makes a next-gen game. This video examines the buzzword used to describe games, consoles, and their accessories. But really, what makes something next-gen? Check out the video for an interesting look at the topic at hand.

Planetary Annihilation Alpha Launch Trailer

Taking a break from the E3-related videos, we have here a really amazing look at the upcoming Planetary Annihilation alpha which launched recently. I personally backed this on Kickstarter some months back and although I only will get access to the Beta onwards (due to my tier contribution) I’m really looking forward to this grand scale RTS that harkens back to the Total Annihilation that I grew up playing.

What’d you think of this week’s video picks? Anything I missed out? Please leave a comment and let me know. I’d love to hear from you. Or you could tweet me!

First of all, it’s free to play! You can opt in to pay and you’ll receive additional character slots and additional quests, but the free option is by no means crippling to the experience as there are a lot of quests to go through and you are given 2 character slots to use. Since the game was made purely on HTML 5, that means you can simply play it on your browser, regardless of the operating system. It is also very well translated on the browser of your mobile device. It’s not hard to find willing party members to join in this free, online and browser-based game, since it’s cross-platform, super accessible and did I mention free? If you understand D&D or any form of RPG, Conclave is very easy to pick up and play. But don’t fret. Every move, spell, and attack has a proper write-up, so to those who aren’t wearing a Wizard’s cap that’s +10 to wisdom (some RPG humor there!), the game’s got you covered. (Wizards rely on INT, not WIS – D&D nerd ed)

And speaking of Wizards, the game has a good number of classes and races to choose from. They have their own names, but it’s just another name for a Rogue, Ranger, Paladin, et cetera. By reading their descriptions, you can easily know what they’re supposed to be and you can go through the abilities per class as well. The races are also quite unique and varied and all of them have their own racial bonuses and abilities. This gives way to a lot of replayability since you can easily mix and match different combinations of class and race.

Democracy at it’s finest!

I love how Conclave is super accessible to any Internet-enabled device so you can technically play anywhere and anytime, with Internet access of course. And since it’s a turn-based game, each party member can prime their moves whenever they want to. My current party (Jed, Exodus and Jayvee), have been playing a few days now and been casually doing our moves at least once or twice a day. The pace is super chill and the combat is tense, but satisfying so far. It really does feel that we’re all playing a board game together, but instead, we’re playing online and in different locations (the power of the Internet!!1). The combat and movement feels very tactical, since the game is set on a grid-based board. Positioning and knowing which actions to take is very critical to the game. I’ve been in numerous situations where I had to decide whether I should move in and go for the attack, or hang-back and buff my team mates first. Should I gamble on attacking and hope that rat dies before it can attack and poison me again? It gets pretty tense at times and it’s very very satisfying if you get to clean out a dungeon with your friends.

The only downside to this is that the pace of the game is dictated with your party-mates. You’re at their mercy if one of them does their move really late or early in the day, but again, in my opinion, this game really doesn’t need to be rushed and could be enjoyed at a very leisurely pace. If one of your party-mates mysteriously disappears, by default the game will do the moves on behalf of the missing player if he or she hasn’t done anything in the span of 24 hours. So all is not lost and you can technically have a continuous game running. You can easily also disable this feature if you opt to.

So if you ever had that inkling to play a tabletop RPG game, but couldn’t find the time to get together with your friends in the meatspace, you might as well bring it online and play there. Conclave free to play and there’s no need to download any additional software or plugins. Simply sign up and you’ll be swinging that sword or casting that spell right away.

If you want to form up a party and go adventuring with us, we will happily oblige! Just look for us in Steam or comment on this post!

It’s true! We’ve been working hard at it, and today we’re proud to announce that the first-ever episode of the OMGeek podcast is now live. Swords for everyone!

This episode’s topic is Character Consistency in Games. We discuss the problem of video game characters and how often and how easily we can play them out of character through the design of the game itself. We also touch upon the topic of ludonarrative dissonance briefly.

Listen now!

Games discussed

• What We’re Playing: SimCity, Persona 4 Arena, Persona 2: Innocent Sin, Pinball Arcade, Bioshock Infinite, Rising Storm, Uncharted 3, Karateka, Little Inferno, Tetris Blitz
• Character Consistency in Games: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Silent Hill 2, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Far Cry 3, Left 4 Dead 2, Assassin’s Creed series, Red Dead Redemption, Grand Theft Auto 4, Sleeping Dogs, Uncharted series

Links

• Adam Sessler’s Bioshock Infinite review
• Penny Arcade Report: Why I Played Bioshock Infinite on Easy
• Portable Perks – Karateka
• Ludonarrative Dissonance by Clint Hocking
• Old Man Murray: Who Killed Adventure Games?

Music credits

• Anamanaguchi – Helix Nebula
• Anamanaguchi – Airbase

Follow and subscribe

• Subscribe – http://omgeek.libsyn.com/rss
• Email – contact@omgeek.net
• Facebook – www.facebook.com/omgeek
• Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/omgeek

It’s like seeing an old family photo. Fighting back manly tears!

We were at a department store somewhere in Tokyo, and like all department stores around the world, there was a toy section which the 5-year-old me preferred immensely over boring clothes. And one of the counters of the toy section featured the Famicom, that crimson and cream colored electronic device filled with wonder and magic. It had just gotten released around that time that we were there, so it was being promoted. The kind sales lady offered me the controller to let me try the console out. At first I was shy to take it from her, but with enough prodding from my parents to go ahead and just try it, I finally did. Obviously, my gaming dexterity wasn’t developed yet, and I fumbled with the controls, but soon enough I think I was able to figure out the basic concept of the game. If I can remember correctly, it was a game that involved a native American boy shooting arrows at enemies. Forgive me as this was almost 25 years ago. My parents saw that I was really enjoying myself and decided to leave me with the Famicom while they went around to do some shopping. And after an hour or so, my parents came back to pick me up and there I was, in the same place they left me, still holding on to that red controller, still playing. I guess that convinced my parents to buy the console so we could finally leave the department store peacefully, or else 5-year old me would bug them every waking moment on buying the Famicom. That was my passive-aggressive tantrum back in the day.

I would kill to have this kind of collection!

From then on, my Famicom would be one of my most precious boyhood possessions. I tried to play with it as much as I could. I also played with toys with my cousins and biked around our compound, but eventually, everything led back to the Famicom. There was something about this machine that would hook me into playing and keep coming back to it. Maybe it’s the fascination of controlling an avatar on-screen and interacting in another 8-bit pixelated world. But all I know is, whatever spell that had been casted on me years ago, I can still feel that magic today. The ritualistic process was simple back in the day: turning on our TV, pick out and blow into the cartridge and flip on the power of the console and lose myself in gaming. That same process would still apply today, but substitute it with turning on a flat panel display, then choosing a game off a long digital list of games that I would have killed for when I was 5. And when it’s time to play, I would still be as wide-eyed and lost while playing.

Watch Dogs – E3 2013 trailer “Exposed”

PRISM: The Game — I mean Watch Dogs — goes all out with a CG filled trailer showing the protagonist using technology found all over the city to take out an underground smuggling ring of mobsters. Who says surveillance is only used for evil? Hi PRISM, please don’t arrest me.

Total War: Rome II – E3 2013 Trailer

The sequel to my absolute favourite Total War game is finally coming out this year. The trailer shows some amazing gameplay footage of Roman legions engaging in combat — literally thousands of digital soldiers fighting for you under the banner of mother Rome in exquisite detail. What more could you want from a strategy game? Form up legionnaires! TESTUDO!

Thief 4 Trailer

A much loved franchise finally makes a big return with the upcoming Thief 4 slated for release in 2014. If you love stealth games then this is certainly THE game for you. If you’ve been a Thief fan since the beginning, then there’s nothing more to say. Enjoy the trailer!

Command & Conquer – E3 2013 Official Trailer – “Welcome Back, General”

C&C is a franchise I grew up with and I’m interested to see how they’ve rebooted C&C Generals on the gorgeous Frostbite 2 engine. I’ll admit I’m a bit skeptical of the Free to Play model, but I’m willing to take a chance. Check it out and let me know what you think!

Saints Row IV – War for Humanity Trailer

The ridiculousness never ends with the Saints Row franchise, and this trailer only strengthens how bizarre and insane it seems to be with every passing version. This trailer shows what I can only describe to be the Matrix meets Independence Day, meets Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, meets…. Ok I give up, it’s fucking weird. But it looks like a ton of fun, especially for some open world coop mayhem.

Tom Clancy’s The Division – E3 gameplay reveal

I’m calling it now. This is probably going to be E3 Best of Show. The fidelity and fluidity of gameplay is amazing. I won’t give it away but towards the end of the video I figured out things weren’t exactly as scripted as they seemed. You better check out the video to see for yourself! This is my absolute favourite video for E3 so far!

Battlefield 4 — E3 Multiplayer Gameplay — Best Moments

Totally pumped for this one. We at OMGeek were big on BF3, and this new release promises a lot more features like the Commander mode and more destructibility as demonstrated in the gameplay video. If you love team-based shooters with top-of-the-line graphics fidelity, then you’ll be very pleased to hear it’s coming out October 29!

The Order: 1886 – E3 2013 reveal trailer

Absolutely loving the Victorian Steampunk environment with magical weaponry and gadgetry. This is a PS4 trailer and claims it’s in-engine. Very impressive indeed. Watch as Mentlegen blow away werewolves in Victorian cobblestoned London.

Titanfall: Official E3 Announce Trailer

Holy hell, can you believe this was made on Valve’s Source engine? Albeit heavily modified but still, wow! This is definitely something we’ll be watching very closely for some multiplayer action in the community. Check out the trailer now!

Have I missed any other great videos for E3? What did you think of my picks? Leave a comment and let me know, I’d love to hear from you!

Read on for our list!

Polygon

Always a reliable source of gaming-related news across the board, Polygon’s website is also especially designed to host and deliver liveblogging sessions from its contributors.

/r/games on Reddit

A popular subreddit that has a healthy dose of gaming discussion and news for the discerning gamer. This coming E3 promises some exciting coverage as one of the community members who is a freelance videographer will be interviewing game developers based on what people in the subreddit want to hear. Definitely something to keep an eye out for this week.

PC Gamer

No doubt many of you are PC gamers and identify with the platform. If you’re like Mike who’s worried that some of the latest games announced may be limited to a specific console exclusive release, then can always rely on PC gamer to keep you well informed. PC Gamer always has good coverage on a lot of the releases that you’ll be looking out for in the year with the top PC releases.

Destructoid

A well-rounded source for all gaming platforms current and next gen. If you own multiple gaming devices and want to keep up-to-date, this is a good site to follow. Their liveblogs are also very funny to read.

Rev3 Games

Adam Sessler, one of our favourite game journalists ,is certainly one of the biggest draws to this latest addition to gaming sites worth checking out. Their video coverage of the latest gaming news and discussions provokes a lot of deep thinking about the industry we care so much about. You can expect some very well-made videos and passionate discussions with Adam Sessler and the gang.

These are some of our favourite gaming sites to check out during E3. Have we missed anything out? Do you have other sites you recommend? Let us know in the comments!

I encountered Tetris as a nuisance of my then precious gaming time when I was a kid. My mom would hog the Famicom and would just keep playing Tetris over and over again. I would patiently wait and secretly hope the blocks would fill up the screen immediately, although it never came as fast as I wanted because she was so good. I would whine and moan about how “Tetris is so boooooooooooooring”, but she would just go on, trying to fit those blocks as best as she could, occasionally getting excited whenever the straight line block appeared. I never understood the appeal.

Fast forward 25 years later, and here I am a Tetris nut myself, having sunk so many hours into Tetris for the Nintendo DS. I was excited to see that Tetris Blitz was available for my phone. I excitedly downloaded it and was greeted by somewhat a game show style of Tetris. I was a bit hesitant at first, but then after playing my first few rounds, I was convinced: this is still Tetris, but with some slight modern additions.

If you know the basic mechanics of Tetris, then you’ll feel right at home. At In its core, you need to create a horizontal line to clear the blocks and try to get a highscore, but now with an added time limit of only 2 minutes per game. You can further add more numbers to your score with some added power ups that you can buy with in-game currency or real money. The power ups are varied and very helpful. Some could simply stop the clock to give you more time to rack up some points. Some could create an “earthquake” and shake down loose blocks into some cracks to clear lines which leads to, you guessed it, more points! Another neat feature of the game is a new weekly power up for you to try for free. You can then buy it after the round. Think of it as a “try-before-you-buy”. Frankly, this keeps the game fresh for me and I would tend to go back and play a few rounds when the game notifies me that there’s a new powerup for me to try.

The social aspect of the game is very simple as well. If you connected your account with Facebook, the leaderboard is automatically populated with your friends who play the game. And of course the ultimate goal is to be #1 before the leaderboard refreshes in 5 days. When you get knocked off your mantel, the game will blatantly tell you via notification that <insert friend name here> has beaten your high score and will invite you for a game to try to beat him back. It’s very clever and addictive as it provides a passive way of competing with your friends.

Tetris Blitz is available free for both Android and iOS and with unobtrusive in-app purchases. If you’re friends with me in Facebook then prepare to be disappointed, because I’m always on the bottom of the board ;__;

Enjoy the “funny” trailer that explains what Tetris Blitz is all about!

Staring at Screens episode 31 is out! And it is brought to you by the word “bra”. No, really. Go look. I won’t spoil anything.

Underrated games are the topic du jour for the SAS crew in this episode — something James also touched upon with his experience with Little Inferno.

The topic for the week is games we underestimated and were pleasantly surprised by. Find out which SAS team member has Stockholm Syndrome when it comes to the endless runner genre, which team member is still on dial-up internet, and who has been on the internet since at least 2004. If you have anything to add to our most awkward episode ever — perhaps a game or two that you found unexpectedly enjoyable — we invite you to join the conversation by writing to us at hello@staringatscreens.org or tweeting us @StaringScreens.

Still here, eh? Go on, then.

You can hum the Super Mario theme, right? In fact, if you were born at any point from the late 70s to the early 90s, you’re probably already hearing it in your head right now. Our heads are filled with all sorts of tunes — songs we heard over and over in our childhood, songs our moms and dads used to listen to, songs we used to play at full volume when we were in high school (to the dismay of our families and neighbors), and of course, songs that accompanied our forays into the Mushroom Kingdom. Or Gotham. Or Citadel Station. Or a grand city far away, long forgotten and lost to the elements. Or that store on Bourbon Street — the one that sells rare books.

Surely you’ve heard this one. Or this one. And I hear this one goes with everything. Good themes are extensions of the characters and the stories themselves. TV knows this (or used to know this, at least). Movies are even better in this regard. However, games have been doing this since the inception of the medium, and it’s been quite a feat considering the hardware that the game composers of yore had to struggle with.

Please note that I’m not an expert of any sort in music and I’m not looking to share any great technical insights about music today — although I did compile a small list of related reads and stuck them at the end of this article. What I’m here for today, though, is just to take you on a brief and wonderful ride through some of the tunes I remember and love from my youth.

This amazing journey starts now!

Hold on. Here we go!

Mega Man – Elec Man – This is the first ever level of Mega Man that I played. My first memory of the game is of me struggling to get to the top of the first screen to the tune of something that sounded like a low-fi demake of a Journey song.

The Legend of Kage – The official theme song of running through a rainy forest and leaping from tree to tree while pelting evil ninja with throwing stars.

Defender of the Crown – Here’s something that, in spite of being just a bunch of notes mushed together, still succeeded in conveying setting and mood. A perennial PC favorite that I would judge other great PC games by.

Maniac Mansion – Booboop boop boop booboop be doop doop.

DuckTales – The Moon – Just classic.

Bionic Commando – Mission 1 – This music contributed much to the feeling that you were really hitting the ground running. It’s quite possibly the most badass way to parachute into a Neo Nazi-infested base with no reinforcements incoming.

Some years later, my Famicom died and I started getting into 16-bit and the PC.

Lagoon – Lagoon Castle – Everyone today says this is a crappy game, but it was my first action-RPG on the SNES and I played it to death. Plus the music is still pretty good.

Quest for Glory – I also properly discovered PC gaming during this time. This track has basically grafted itself into my DNA at this point.

Streets of Rage 2 – Come on. This was just so good.

The Hand of Fate – Darkmoor Swamp – This game made me hang around the swamp for longer than I had to just to listen to this toe-tapping number by the composer of Red Alert’s Hell March, Frank Klepacki.

Gabriel Knight – This track by Robert Holmes that opened this occult murder mystery was very much like the store in which the opening scene took place — moody and soulful, melancholy yet cozy.

And then I really got into PC gaming.

Strike Commander – Takeoff – Awesome and dramatic air combat in an 80s way.

Day of the Tentacle – Intro – This game had me repeating the opening sequence over and over just to listen to this music!

Doom – E1M3 – Just the perfect blend of kickassery and dread that said, “There’s no way out of this mess, but I’m gonna look real good while I die trying.”

Diablo – Cathedral – Composer Matt Uelmen’s proof that atmospheric music doesn’t have to sacrifice melody for presence. The motif in this song evolved into a series staple that was often repeated in the sequels, but never truly matched.

Evil Genius – Bouncy, classy, and deliciously evil.

Hitman: Contracts – I could hardly believe this was by Jesper Kyd, the same composer who created the sweeping orchestral soundtrack of Hitman 2. This one hit the game’s themes spot on: dark, calculating, and deeply personal.

Call of Duty – Red Square – You laugh. You scoff. Call of Duty? Surely not! But think back to the Russian charge at Red Square in the very first game. There was indeed a time when Call of Duty almost moved me to tears.

Although all that PC gaming that didn’t mean I totally stopped playing console stuff.

Symphony of the Night – Olrox’s Quarters – This menacing waltz is what you bring out when someone requests “haunting, beautiful, and disturbing”. I may be in the minority, but I still say Castlevania could have used less heavy metal and more of this kind of music.

Ace Combat 04 – Shattered Skies – “Mobius One, Fox Two!” *Missile wooshing sounds*

Metal Gear Solid 2 – Main Theme – This one is just incredible.

Shadow of the Colossus – Sign of the Colossus – And this one reminds me of the weird old movies they used on show on tv during weekday afternoons — the bad, unrecognizable ones with the undeniable 70s vibe.

Persona 3 – Changing Seasons – And I just had to stick this here to top it all off with a some catchy Jpop.

If you’re in the mood for some further reading about video game music, here are some links on the subject that you might like.

Related articles

• Video Game Music: Then and Now
• Is Game Music All It Can Be?
• Japanese Game Musicians Talk About Western Soundtracks
• Why game music matters

That’s all for now. I’ve lost enough time just sitting here listening to old video game music! I hope you enjoyed taking this short trip with me. If you have any favorite video game tracks that I haven’t mentioned here — and I’m sure you do — let us know and share your happy memories with us!