This gem has just been released in Japan, and aside from the terrible, terrible name, the game is great! If you have a flashcart, you can just grab the Japanese copy because it includes a full english translation (and uncensored cards)!

This is another game in the series of the Yu-Gi-Oh: World Championship series. I own both 2006 and 2008, having gotten all cards on 2008 and having played a lot of 2006. And again, this game is fun, because I love the Yugioh card game. There’s so much variety, and because every release includes a whole bunch of new cards, it’s worth playing them every year. (continue reading…)

You may have noticed that I haven’t uploaded any blogs lately. I’ll get part 6 of Game balance up soon, I’ve got it written out but I’m just too lazy to copy it to my computer. The main reason why I haven’t done anything is because I moved past week. After the moving itself you have to do a multitude of things: Putting together Ikea wardrobes, hanging lamps from the ceilings, etc. And of course, getting your internet to work. That took quite a while. Sadly.

Another reason is because I just got an Xbox 360. My father had gotten one some time ago, but then he realized he never used it, and gave it to me. Awesome.

However, he’d forgotten to give me the games he had as well. So I had to enjoy my 360 without any games. Luckily, it’s not too hard.
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Soft and Hard counters both have different qualities to add depth to the game. They can have great effect on the way units are used, what kind of skills are needed, and what kind of strategies must be used.

Many players do not like hard counters, because they usually don’t require a lot of skill to use. This is only partly true though. When talking about micromanagement, hard counters are usually simple ot use: Click attack button and reap the rewards. Since they have such a big advantage over the unit they’re countering, you usually only need to worry about other units in the vicinity (this is not true for all genres, for example counter characters in fighting games).

However, this does not mean they are skill-less: Instead they provide a new level of depth to the macro game. Will my opponent build unit X? How many will he build? Where will he attack?

As you can see, with hard counters you really have to read your opponent (or scout) well. Otherwise you’ll use a lot of resources and time on building hard counters the enemy might not even use!
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An important part of game balance is the way counters work. A counter is simply a unit (or character, move, etc) that beats another unit. For example, is ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’, Scissors is a counter to paper.

Defining how counters work is integral for how a game works. For example, Fire Emblem uses a ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’ style for counters: Swords beat Axes, Axes beat Spears, and they beat Swords. On the other hand, Advance Wars just has certain units that perform well against each other: Anti-Air kills planes and copters for example, but there’s no set cycle for what beats what.

One important part of counters is the difference between hard and soft counters. A hard counter usually counters another unit in every way. In a head-on assault, the counter will almost always win (unless the player screws up big time).

A soft counter, on the other hand, just has an advantage over the other unit.

A clear example of a hard counter is common in RTS: Anti-Vehicle. Almost any RTS featuring vehicles has anti-vehicle units that deal massive damage, and the vehicle will often be destroyed before it can drive away or kill the AV units.

A good example of a soft counter can be found in Dawn of War II. The Space Marines can build Assault Space Marine squads (ASMs), that can be equipped with Melta Bombs. These do pretty good damage against vehicles, but are definitely not enough to kill it. They have great HP, though, and can keep a vehicle busy while other units shoot at it. They’re a soft counter: They can do pretty good damage against vehicles, but they’re definitely no one-man armies.

Another soft counter the Space Marines have against vehicles is the Devastator Plasma Cannon squad. These squads have to set up their guns and have a very limited firing range, but shoot big blobs of plasma that deal great damage. However, an enemy vehicles can just drive/walk out of its range and easily escape death. But if you combine them with ASMs to keep the vehicle in place, you’ll be able to tear through vehicles.

Now that it’s a bit clearer how counters work, I’ll talk about how they affect game balance next time.

The pace of a game is very important for balancing it. There are numerous games gone bad simply because the developer tried to change the pace to something the game was not meant to do in the beginning.

Generally there are two paces: A fast-paced game and a slow-paced game. A fast-paced game will feature units that have high attack and low health, and often high speed as well. In a fast-paced game, things die really fast, and if you are not paying attention you could lose the game in a matter of moments. Matches usually don’t last long either. Fast-paced games promote rushing, going on the offensive, and generally, it’s not a big problem if you lose units: As long as the opponent loses more units. Of course, this is a big generalization. Another fast-paced game is Counterstrike: However, because most players will die in one hit (or slightly more), the game is instead about being sneaky and camping.

Micro and Macro are both important in fast-paced games, though micro-management is more important. Because usually, if you can win a small skirmish, you will have a big advantage over the enemy as you can now keep attacking him. This does not mean the macro-game is to be neglected: If you are able to simply fend off enemy attacks, and build up a better economy, you might be able to steamroll him.
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The first question that has to be answered before we can fully discuss game balance, is of course: What is game balance? There is no correct definition for a balanced game, and many different people use different definitions. For example, in most fighting games, balance means that there are no characters that are vastly stronger than others, and that any character could beat another character. On Smogon, a site dedicated to competitive Pokemon, balance is defined by having the highest number of viable Pokemon in the metagame possible.

Generally I will refer to a balanced game as a game without a clear superior strategy or tactic, such as choosing a certain race or character. Furthermore, it’s important that there is no strategy that can easily win, but takes almost no skill. For example, many fighting games have a character that can easily defeat most players by spamming a single attack. This does not mean it’s the best character, as a skillful player could easily beat him, but it’s still harmful to the game balance.
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I’ve played a good deal of competitive games, both casually and competitive. However, I’m always the one that goes to forums, reading up about everything possible, and learning the very foundations of the game.

Sadly, that doesn’t mean I’m immediately good at the game. Very often I’ll know a whole lot about the competitive state, every detail, all possible moves, but I never get a lot of personal experience. I’m hesitant to play with others, simply because I’m scared that I’ll suck. Add to that the fact that I’m easily bored, and I end up knowing a lot of things about a lot of games, but still sucking at them.

One thing that competitive games always have trouble with is Game balance. I thought I’d write some blogs (or articles) on this for multiple reasons. First of all, it’s to help me put my thoughts on paper. I have a lot of opinions on the topic but I never write them down. Furthermore, it’s to help people get insight into the matter. Often people talk about game balancing while not knowing the fine details of it. And last of all, I hope that maybe some new developers (or people that mod existing games) read this, so that it can improve their games
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When I read this blog, I was astonished. I couldn’t believe what I just read. I completely disagree with the aforemented blog, and here’s why.

First of all, what do these casual games have anything to do with us ‘real’ gamers? Veraliis suggests that for some reason gaming becomes less fun because his grandmother is playing Peggle. Really, I don’t care at all. If I play a game because of my e-peen, I’ll at least compare myself to others that play the same game, not people that are playing an entirely different game.

Secondly, it’s not like there are suddenly less real games coming out because of these casual games. Almost all developers that make these games are new to the market. There are almost no renowned developers making flash games or easy downloadable games, unless they have already been doing so from the start (PopCap, for example). Most developers that make these kinds of games are new to the market, just looking to make a couple of bucks and using video games as a medium. These are honestly not interested in video gaming, but just see it as a business. They will never make real games, and will continue to pump out bad games until they stop making a profit.

10/10, best game of last year

So Veraliis, could you please tell me how casual games are destroying the PC? It’s the medium that’s probably suffering the least from the fad of casual games. Other systems suffer from renowned developers, like Ubisoft, making bad minigame collections or amazing Imagine games. Have you ever looked at the shelves of the Wii in a game store? At least 50% of it is pure, unfiltered crap. And do you know why? Because the Wii hasn’t got a download service for new games. You can just download your crappy games from the internet on your PC, but for the Wii you have to buy them.

The flood of casual games can be annoying, yeah. But it’s never more than a minor nuisance. The PC definitely isn’t dying because of this.

I’ve been playing quite a lot of the Beta of Dawn of War II, but there are a lot of people struggling with the bare basics of the game. This game is not Dawn of War. It’s just an entirely new game. To help everybody out, here are some tips to be more successful in DoW2.

Tip 1: Keep your units alive

Running away would be a good idea

The most vital part of DoW2 is to keep your units alive. All squads are small and cost a lot, so you better make sure they’re worth it. If your squad even survives with only one member alive, it’s still cheaper to reinforce it back to full health than to buy a new one. Luckily, Dawn of War 2 has a way to keep your dying squads alive, and use it well! If you press the ‘Fall back’ command (default on X), your squad will automatically run back to base (or the nearest resupply point). While falling back, you cannot control your units but they take less damage, cannot be suppressed by enemy fire and run faster. Very useful!
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Dawn of War 2

The Dawn of War II beta is here! Well, for some people at least. If you own Dawn of War: Soulstorm on Steam, you get access to a special beta. This beta runs from the 21st of january to the 28th. Then, the beta is open for everybody else.

And is it worth to have Soulstorm on Steam? Well yeah, because Dawn of War II is pretty damn awesome. And the best part? Soulstorm is currently on a special offer, with 75% off! That means it’s only $3,75!
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