AFTER WAR & PATIENT ZERO (more Half-life videos)

After going through a few more videos, here are two more short films (and one bonus) made by fans set in the excellent Half-Life universe. Both are excellent, but very different in execution. I would even argue that one of them is more on the artistic spectrum, while the other is direct in what it set out to depict – a brutal combat scenario between the resistance and the Combine foot soldiers. Enough of me babble, let’s get into it.

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LZ – Sparrow

Got into the mood for some Half-Life action, since the universe Valve created is cool and fascinating – especially from a military sci-fi viewpoint. It also has clear horror elements sprinkled on top, when you consider the zombies, mind sucking aliens and general despair of humanity being on the brink of extermination. Everything to make it as fun as possible in what I would call a good time all around. Well, unless you are one of the characters stuck in this world, like the soldiers in LZ – Sparrow.

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What happened to AAA gaming?

You have to wonder what happened to AAA gaming. I have complained about this many times before, but somehow, the state of AAA games just keep getting worse and worse. Beyond all the controversies involved, like DEI, making female protagonists man-like both visually and in behavior, and just poor writing in general, the industry at large seems incredibly stagnated. It seems almost dead-like, with games being copied ad nauseam with a minimum effort of making sure it’s fun or providing anything new. All to serve the almighty dollar, and push it as far as possible doing so.

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Realms Beyond: Ashes of the Fallen – Interview with the lead writer

Realms Beyond: Ashes of the Fallen is one of the biggest cRPG disappointments in recent years. Not because it was bad, or anything like that. The reason it was a disaster is that it got put on ice permanently before it had a chance to wow anyone. It was a Kickstarter success, but unfortunately, the development petered out. It’s unclear as to why, but as game development goes, financial issues were probably one of the problems.

However, I got the opportunity to talk to the mysterious lead writer of the project, who wanted to remain anonymous. The person in question won’t be elaborating much on why Realms Beyond is currently dead in the water, seeing as the focus of the interview will be mainly on the writing.

So, welcome to an interview with the lead writer of Realms Beyond. It’s time to find out what this game was all about, and what kind of grand narrative we are sadly missing out on.

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Busy selling games – let’s see how it went

After months of thinking about selling a few games I have collected over the years, I finally decided to take the plunge. Most of the games I own as physical copies are not too special. They mostly hold sentimental value for different reasons. However, then I have some games whose mere existence on my shelves annoys me. Well, not really. I’m not entirely fair here. They are just purchases made in the spur of the moment. Mostly, I got the titles cheaply with curiosity as my guide. So, let’s see what I have managed to sell after two weeks, and how much it has earned me.

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