Reviving the Real-time Strategy Game in 2013

To be quite frank, my outlook on console gaming has been steadily declining over the past couple years. What was once a revolutionary form of digital recreation has now become something of a bore and a frustration in many cases. What I associate with console gaming on the Xbox 360 and PS3 nowadays is repetitive, run-of-the-mill modern war shooters and money-grabbing game developers trying to hoard every last penny through overpriced DLC’s (downloadable content).

Lately, I’ve wanted nothing more than to return to my PC gaming roots for a little while. In particular, I’ve been looking to delve back into a fun and currently underappreciated genre of video games: real-time strategy (RTS) games.

I remember spending countless hours of my time on Starcraft, Age of Empires, Warcraft III, and Command & Conquer. There was some real satisfaction to be had from commanding an entire swarm of Zerg bugs to wipe out a base full of Terran soldiers, or having a full-scale showdown online with my friend playing as the orcs and me playing as the humans.

With RTS, the style of gameplay forced you to really stay vigilant and on your toes at all times. You had to take calculated risks and make smart strategic decisions in order to destroy the enemy army. The generic Call of Duty first person shooter method of recklessly going lone wolf, taking out the entire enemy team on your own did not exist in this realm of gaming.

Over the past few years, with all the hype focused solely on first person shooters and RPG’s on the console, PC gaming – and thus RTS games – have largely disappeared. In fact, the last time I went into a local Gamestop, they only had a single shelf of PC games while the bulk of the store was comprised of Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii games.

Music Review: Into Your Own - "That Mask You Call Yourself"

Music review written for EMURG.com.

 

 

When I listen to new music for the first time, a lasting factor for me is when a band’s gritty and powerful sound and lyrics are personal and from the heart. Into Your Own is no exception to this. Many of the songs concocted by these Niagara Falls, NY hard rockers on the album That Mask You Call Yourself reflect the town that the band grew up in and the conditions they faced along the way. The town that they hail from has a high crime rate that overshadows the idyllic beauty that the Falls themselves are known for having.  This truth resonates strongly with the band and makes the heavy and upbeat power of their music even more relevant and thought-provoking to us as listeners.

That Mask You Call Yourself opens up with the song “Now Or Never”. This is a good choice to open such a poignant and reverberating album because of how fluid yet thrashing it is instrumentally. The addition of turntables by DJ Six helps to give this song another dimension of awesome and I liked it because it stood out rather than getting lost in the background as some DJs in other bands seem to do. Paul’s vocals also reminded me somewhat of Hellyeah’s Chad Gray, being both rough around the edges at times yet clear and polished as well.
 

Missing in Action: Video Game Movies

For those of you who pay attention to news within the gaming industry and social media, do you ever notice how often developers seem to squeal with excitement when they announce that they’ve attained the rights to turn their video game into a film adaption. And while that’s all well and good to hear that some of our favorite games are supposedly going to make it to the big screen, we usually end up going a few years wondering…uh, ok, what’s the status on these movies?!

I can think of a few recent examples of how films were announced for some of the most popular video games out there and how years later, we haven’t heard an ounce of news about how far along into production these movies are. Gears of War was slated to begin production of a film through New Line Cinema back in 2007 but, to the best of my knowledge, we haven’t heard much else. Well, other than the fact that the director supposedly fronting the movie dropped out to focus on other things.

Blizzard Entertainment announced a Warcraft film (also in 2007…go figure) and initially established that the film would be set for a 2009 release date. Here we are three years after that supposed arrival time and Legendary Pictures hasn’t given us much to hope for quite yet, other than the fact that Sam Raimi (Spider-Man director) would be directing the film and that the movie had supposedly begun production. WoW fans can only hope that Raimi can shift gears toward the project now that Spider-Man 4 was flushed down the toilet in place of a recently-released reboot.

Part of me also can’t help but wonder if we all really want to see these wayward movies released eventually. Video game movies have an infamous reputation for sucking after all. I don’t think a single video game movie released in the last two decades passed a 50% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Music Review: Throwing Gravity - "It's Not The End

Music review written for EMURG.com.

Throwing Gravity is:

Nick James - Lead Vocals / Rhythm Guitar

Jesse Triplett - Lead Guitar / Background Vocals

Sam Hindmarsh - Bass Guitar / Background Vocals

Chris Scott - Keys / Programming

Tom DuPree III – Drums

 

Rock quintet Throwing Gravity is a band based out of Nashville that undoubtedly will end up taking the mainstream rock scene by storm. As a band that has already begun to rack up and stellar stage presence by sharing stages with bands such as Second Hand Serenade, Parachute, Chevelle and Evans Blue. It seems only fitting that these Tennessee rockers would ultimately achieve the same level of acclaim as these other major players that they’ve jammed with live.

After a tenuous first few years with a fair share of ups and downs, (including a name change and several album recording obstacles) Throwing Gravity has finally released the new album, It’s Not The End. Though I’ve drawn similarities to other favorite bands of mine, including Theory of a Deadman, Adelitas Way, and Shinedown.  I also have noted that the band has a fresh and unique sound all its own, with an album that is equal parts emotional ballads combined with energetic rock anthems.