Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Stuff You Might Find Interesting

1. First off, one of my favorite games of last year, Torchlight, is getting a sequel. It's coming out next spring (for the PC, initially), and here are some details:
The big change this time out for the dungeon crawler will be online co-op. Runic Games notes that the game will feature a free peer-to-peer matchmaking service to "meet new players of a similar level and interest." And this time around, the world will include "expansive" randomized outdoor environments -- don't worry, the dungeons are still there -- along with "random instanced and persistent dungeons." Expect new monsters, weather effects, a new story and LOOT!

That's all great news, and I think Travis Baldree is absolutely one of the best game designers/developers in the world. Fate and Torchlight were both stellar.

2. The Backbreaker patch is supposed to be coming out later today, according to a press release this morning. [UPDATE: and now it appears that the PR firm may have sent out the release prematurely. Cue circus music.]

3. Pro Yakyuu Spirits Baseball, which is an absolutely phenemonal Japanese Baseball Game, now has a dedicated English translation site. It's Spirits Translation, and what a fantastic idea. If you have any interest in baseball, this game is an absolute must-play, and it's easy to import.

I actually paid a guy $100 one year to translate most of the Pro Spirits manual into English. I can't remember which year, but I do remember finding him through the Austin Zen Center, I believe, which is one example of the crazy things we do for gaming. And it was worth every penny.

4. This isn't game related, but Dan Wendelin let me know that Ramona's cat Picky-Picky does get killed in a later Ramona book, so the writers weren't cheating, just combining elements from multiple plots.  Ramona also apparently runs away and becomes a teenage prostitute in a much later book, but I haven't been able to confirm that. Yet.

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