The Strategy is Back

As it happens I've been watching Inglorious Basterds in 5 to 10 minute spurts. It's not the ideal way to watch a movie but it's working quite well for Basterds in the way it's structured into chapters and capsule scenarios.

I'm also flitting in between two RTSs: the console version of Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath and Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War. I appreciate the advances put into RTS console interface design of the former and I relish the mythos and responsive action of the latter. In between those two games I find myself in the process of downloading League of Legends and trying my hand at this DotA phenomenon. You could say I'm back into strategy in a big way.

My first day of classes at the VFS begins on Monday. I've already scribbled up concepts for two possible video game projects. One of them was actually inspired by my resurgent interest in the strategy genre. I'd call it a streamlined blend of traditional RTS, DotA-style and action-RPG, but I first need to play some League of Legends to truly be familiar with all my possible influences. As the concept stands now, it's pretty ambitious and possibly more than what a handful of students can chew on but at the very least I'm happy about having some grand ideas to kick the year off with.

There's only about 2 minutes to go with the LoL download and I hear Kane's Warth calling out to me. I'll try to slot in some 30 minutes of gaming before lights out.

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Tom Clancy Takes on WWIII: EndWar

A story on the Next Generation site revealed the latest Tom Clancy/Ubisoft venture to be a "war strategy game" titled, EndWar. Ubisoft's development branch in Shanghai will be producing the game, which is being touted as the first Tom Clancy title built for next-gen platforms from the "ground up". Details are still sketchy. All we know is that it will be an RTS and is set in the speculative future of a third World War.

I'm casually optimistic about EndWar. On one hand, I suspect it will be a new style RTS, one that eschews base-building and resource gathering in favour of planning attack stratgies and capturing "control points" a la Dawn of War. On the other, the game is being developed by Ubisoft Shanghai, which did only a so-so job with the recent Splinter Cell: Double Agent. That game, while pretty and sometimes gripping, is currently languishing on my shelf in favour of a much older stealth game (more on that later). The Shanghai also doesn't have much of a track record of creating RTS's, if any, so it should be interesting to say the least to see what they come up with. In any case, EndWar has an attractively cryptic website to check out while you wait for the solid previews to roll in.

Source: Next Generation

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