Wishlistin'

My Steam profile has a pretty extensive wishlist, most of which, excepting the first 10 or so entries, are unranked. As I looked over it the other day, it seemed to be an interesting mix of things, genres and such that, to the casual observer, might seem pretty unrelated, and for the most part, they're right.  Gamers, though, might see some common themes, primarily the idea of "choice v. consequence" that exists in a lot of these titles.  A few of these are pre-release/pre-order titles, and I only tend to put these on lists like this because I am particularly excited about a particular game, or if i really like the pre-order extras that are becoming more and more common in this industry.  So, I've decided to post the first five of this list, and probably a few of the other listings that stand out, mainly for 2 reasons: 1) it'll give me a chance to rant/rave/salivate over these games, and 2) I've got a birthday coming up, so if anyone wants to gift these to my steam account (or put some money in my steam wallet, I think that can be done) they are more than welcome ;-)

1) Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Deus Ex was one of the first computer games I have a clear memory of playing (besides Bungie's Marathon games) and it had the effect of a) making science fiction (and to a lesser extent the sub-genre of cyberpunk) a bigger part of my life and b) almost ruining games for me entirely.  That second thing is because VERY few games besides Deus Ex came close to creating a world that felt real, despite the fantastical setting, which was discouraging for a young man.  I did eventually get over this slump, but the feeling of disappointment did remain, because it was a revolution in many ways: graphics, interaction, story, and offered players a level of choice that hadn't really happened in games very much, if at all.  A sequel was made, but didn't really feel the same; it was a pretty typical action-adventure game with a couple branching paths, none of the sense of control or feel of the world were there at all. This new game, coming almost 8 years after the second game, is a prequel set about 20 years before the first game.  The look and feel for this game are excellent, taking a great many cues from the first game while expanding on some concepts and using more modern sensibilities, both in terms of gameplay and story. This is easily my most anticipated game of the year, (especially since Mass Effect 3 got pushed back to early 2012) and articles like these, which really illustrate how massive and open this game can be, aren't helping the wait.  The Augmented Edition comes with some extra goodies, such as a digital art book, documentaries, and a free copy of the first game, among other things, and lord knows I'm a sucker for special editions and documentaries and such.

2) Fable 3 - I loved the first Fable on Xbox, even though it wasn't able to live up to it's extremely unrealistic design concepts put forth by Peter Molyneux, which I wasn't expecting it to anyway.  It was a very good fantasy action-rpg, with unique systems for leveling up and a decent amount of choices you could make, mainly revolving around wether you wanted to be good or evil.  The later games supposedly improved on these areas and expanding earlier concepts.  I never got to play the 2nd one, which is fine, they're all pretty self contained, and it did seem weird that the 2nd one was never released for PC, given that it's Microsoft doing the publishing.  The 3rd one is getting a PC release, thankfully, and it looks to be pretty high quality, and the idea of another grand fantasy/steampunk RPG is very appealing right now.

3) DC Universe Online - I'm not much of an MMO person, but anyone who knows me knows that I'm a HUGE fan of DC comics. (Superman, Green Lantern, and Batman.  That order.  Deal.)  The idea of creating my own superhero who can have the chance to work alongside these characters I've loved for so long presses some geek buttons, even if the idea of a monthly fee irritates me.  Honestly, I'm not 100% sure why it's this high on the list.  *Imagines flying around Metropolis beating up bad guys*  Sorry, what was I saying?

4) Portal 2: The Final Hours - Not a game, but an interactive book (originally published on iPad) about the development of one of the year's greatest games, Portal 2.  As previously stated, I'm a sucker for behind-the-scenes type stuff, and this looks to be chock full of info.

5) Witcher 2 - The first Witcher game had interesting concepts, with a focus on being prepared ahead of time for battles, but it's execution was, to me at least, a little boring.  And the voice acting was supremely bad, even considering the Polish roots of the source material, the translation and performance were quite lacking in my opinion.  So, I was pretty skeptical about a sequel.  But when GamesRadar, a site I trust more than most, gives a 10 out of 10 review to said sequel, I tend to take notice.  This new game does seem to address the issues I had with the first game, and the new graphic engine seems tailor made for this genre, and the story takes the "morality" concept and turns it into a swath of grey areas, rather than concrete black and white concepts.

Other selections:

YOU DON'T KNOW JACK - A relaunch of the "quiz game show" series started back in '95, this is the first game since 2000, a long absence indeed.  Basically a multiplayer focused quiz game, with the aesthetic of a game show, with a host that insults you constantly and questions that are almost as funny as the possible answers.

Hector: Badge of Carnage: Episode 1 - A point-and-click puzzle/adventure game with a demented and disgusting sense of humor.  Originally for the iPhone, it was recently published on PC by Telltale, the guys behind the excellent Back to the Future games.

Darksiders - A mix of Zelda and God of War, essentially. That's an interesting mix to say the least, and the little bit I've played of it was intriguing, and it has Mark Hamill doing voice work as a demon that is more or less attached to you.  That's just neat.

Also: Deathspank, Duke Nukem Forever, Inside A Star-Filled Sky, Terraria, Polynomial, Universe Sandbox, and Cosmic Osmo.

The rest of the wishlist is there, if you're curious about what games tickle my fancy.  It's an odd mix, I grant you, but I'm an odd guy.

10 years of tv

So, Smallville's done now.  I officially have one less thing to look forward to every week.  It wasn't a prefect show by any means, even for diehard Superman fans, but what it tried to do it did well, and while I'm sad to see it go, I'm also happy it lasted this long, and that it ended at an appropriate time, even in the canon of DC. The liberties it took with characters and events never really bothered me, as I kinda figured that they would be creating their own identity with the show from the first time i saw it, which is fine.  And even with all the changes, it still felt like it fit with the themes and concepts that good (and even bad) Superman (or superheroes in general) stories tend to have, almost need to have. The cast really pulled together for the finale, with the exception of Kreuk, who played Lana Lang, and I think that was more from there not really being any room for her to show up, even in a double-sized finale.  I'm happy that Rosenbaum came back, I missed him so much.  His Lex is very much how I imagined him being, even more so that Spacey's in Returns, which was great, but a bit more in line with Hackman's portrayal in the earlier movies. And Smallville's version of Lois Lane will always be, for me at least, the quintessential flesh-and-blood Lois.  Erica Durance brings her to life, almost ripped right out of the comics themselves.  Plus, she's easily the hottest female cast member the show's had, followed by Allison Mack's Chloe. (Sorry Kristen.)  Oddly, the one cast member who needed the most time to grow into their part was Tom Welling, playing Clark.  He had the look right (though I was hoping for blue eyes, but that's just the comics nerd in me) but, especially in the first couple seasons, seemed to struggle with the part a bit.  Granted, it's a complex part that comes with tons of pressure, but thankfully he made the part his own, and even directed several episodes, along with becoming an executive producer on the show, along with Hellcats, so it's nice to see that he hasn't let Smallville consume his life.  Also, I kinda want John Schneider to be my dad. As Johnathan Kent he made me feel more connected as a father, even before I became one.  At any rate, I'm hoping the new movie will sustain my love for this character, but filling the void left by a ten-year-running TV show is gonna be tough, but hopefully WB can figure something out, maybe a live-action straight-up non-romantic-comedy Superman show? Even a really good animated show would be nice, WB always does very well with that stuff. Make it happen!