A New Home

FYI: We've officially moved our blog to Sheet10.com. So we won't be posting any further articles, reviews, podcasts or anything here. So head on over and tell us what you think of our new site!

State of Games Part III: The Great Beyond

Last Sunday I explored the evolution of games and society throughout the modern era. In that exploration I came to a few conclusions about the current state of games. These conclusions namely being that society's views of games have less to do with games and gamers and more to do with growing changes in society brought about by the end of an era and entrance of the information age. These changes in society are thoroughly linked to the technological developments endemic to the modern era. The rise of the computer and internet along with wireless telecommunications and globalized media have resulted in the disjointedness of a new society struggling to reconcile the traditions of a century past with the new realities of the present. The state of games is thus hinged upon the loss and need for self identity. And it is this search that will ultimately decide the fate of games as the medium wholly representative of this brave new era.

6,038 Hours... And Counting

Connor R. is a die-hard World of Warcraft player, and after logging over six thousand and thirty-eight hours in Azeroth there are not many people with more experience than him.  I decided to interview him this week for Sheet 10 in order to give those who have never played WOW insight into why it has twelve million subscribers, and to those that have, a different player’s insight into the current issues of the game.

Sheet 10 Podcast Episode 2: GDC Wrap-up & DLC

Another week, another Friday.  And with it another Sheet 10 podcast!  This time around Sean, Sergio, Connor, and Alex gather round the Sheet 10 war room to discuss the latest and greatest from the Game Developer's Conference in San Francisco as well as delve deep into the ever boggling world of downloadable content.  So sit back, relax and enjoy our wordthinks as you sip your favorite game brand beverage.




Also don't forget to check out the links talked about in Sheet 10 Podcast Episode 2 after the break!

Sheet 10 Quickcast 2: Dawn of War II Retribution Impressions

Since the release of the much anticipated Dawn of War II standalone expansion Retribution hit our desks earlier in the week, Sheet 10 editors Sean, Alex, and Maximilian have taken some time to share their early impressions on the game. So check out Sheet 10 Quickcast Episode 2 down below.

*Editor's Note* After some trouble with our podcast hosting we have managed to solve the issue and you may now listen at your leisure! *End Note*

Crysis 2 Demo Impressions

As many of you know, the Crysis 2 multiplayer demo for PC finally went live early this morning. Having had some time to play through the two maps and game modes available as well as grab all the unlocks, here are my thoughts.

To preface, the Crysis 2 multiplayer is nothing like the original's. While not a lot of folks played the original Crysis' multiplayer it was nonetheless highly innovative and somewhat ahead of its time with an unprecedented level of weapon customization and a rather unique control point system called Power Struggle involving capturing resource points to fuel development of super weapons and vehicles for use in taking more points on the extraordinarily large maps.

Crysis 2 is nothing like this. Crysis 2 takes the nanosuit system of the first as well as a more refined and stripped down version of the weapon loadouts, adds the new nano modules (think of them like perks), adds character persistence (with an XP based unlock system), downsizes the maps quite a bit, caps matches at 6v6, and brings back more traditional modes of play such as team death match (called Team Instant Action) and a slightly modified king of the hill (called Crash Site where each hill is a crashed alien pod that only lasts for a short period time before it explodes before a new one is dropped in a random cycle of preset locations). From what we've learned thus far, these two modes seem to be the only ones announced. I would hope for there to be more, or more specifically for there to be a refined version of Power Struggle, but I won't be holding my breath.

On the Nature of Emergence

Today is March 1st and the start of a new month for Sheet 10!  As such we are pleased to bring you the first (of what we hope to be many!) themed months.  The themed topic for the month of March is to be the ever intriguing idea of "emergence" in games.  Now among our editorial staff we've had many discussions on this matter and have yet to come to a properly clear definition of the term but we have managed to come to several agreed upon conclusions (or at least Sean and Sergio have).  They are as follows: