I have been waiting a long time for Guild Wars 2. Years in fact. To finally get my hands on one of the most anticipated games of recent times was a mix of fear and excitement. I suddenly thought to myself as I approached the booth: “What if I don’t actually like it?”…
Out of boredom, to help a friend, or in the sense of pure exploration, I occasionally play social games on Facebook. Technically, I’m among the correct demographic for them, except for the part where I’m a self-identified gamer. So checking out the trends in these games is a matter of interest to me. Often these social games have some element of crop-growing or gardening in them, which seems to be capitalizing partially off the major …
The idea of playing games to solve problems in real life may seem far-fetched to some. The stereotypes that exist for games (and gamers) aren’t very positive; to add to that problem, the concept of games that inform and educate is often undercut by poor use of semantics or improper context. These problems often occur when talking about so-called “serious games,” two words that should never exist in the same phrase together. Listeners are left …
Review by Mike “Scout” Gust The Beaver Director Jodie Foster Writer Kyle Killen Starring Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, Anton Yelchin, Jennifer Lawrence Released May 19, 2011 By Summit Entertainment, Participant Media Verdict: 2/5 Rotten Egg “This whole damn thing left me scratching my head. Foster directs and acts with a five foot wide brush. “
Apologies to all visitors who arrived at Casa de Tap only to find the doors barred in the past couple of weeks. Our host is experiencing an intermittent and mysterious problem, but promises to work it out. Downtimes should be transient. In the interim, if you see anything weird about the site, or it’s down for a long time, please don’t hesitate to email steerpike@tap-repeatedly.com. It’s probably his fault anyway.
The annual trade show circuit may be drawing to a close at this time of year, but for those of us in the UK the fun is only just beginning. The Earls Court exhibition centre in London has today opened its doors for this year’s Eurogamer Expo, the largest event of its kind on our shores and a valuable opportunity for the UK-based press and gamers to get their hands on the latest wares from …
If there’s one thing I’m quickly learning about PC gaming, it’s that the sales never stop. Ever. Something is always on sale somewhere, and often services such as Steam will throw up ridiculous sales seemingly for no apparent reason. Take today for example. Here I am with my wallet thinking what a cheap day it’s been, having spent nothing but £1.42 on a sandwich for breakfast. I’m happy, my wallet is happy and my bank …
Attending a large college is somewhat of an interesting experience; students who lived at home are both relieved at the freedom they now experience and yet stranded from everything familiar to them. Fortunately for students, most universities seem to develop groups of every imaginable category (and if it doesn’t exist, chances are that someone out there would be willing to join). While many are shy about making new friends, these groups seem to be the …
Free to play is the new trend in MMORPGs. Just yesterday, plans were announced to make DC Universe Online a free to play MMO this October. Meanwhile, the oldest superhero MMO, City of Heroes is proceeding with free-to-play plans, though no official launch date has been set. Since I still have an active City of Heroes account, I got “VIP” access this week to the preview launch of City of Heroes Freedom, which is the …
Remember how back when I posted that it was hot I said I was busy in real life and that was totally interfering with my usual schedule of being around on the site I should arguably be responsible for maintaining? That was totally true, yo. So true in fact that it’s not even hot any more and I’m still too busy to, you know, pay attention to Tap. I’m really sorry about that.
Luckily I have many fine contributors and the ability to recycle my own content from other sites. Thus do I give you the latest installment of Culture Clash, which is a little incoherent on account of the busy – something about hearts breaking, and I think childhood. Harbour Master is mentioned in there as well. I dunno. It made sense when I wrote it. Enjoy! I’ll be back in like three months.
At the beginning of September, 100% Certified Member of the Alliance of Awesome and Tap-Repeatedly compadre BnB Gaming hosted their first annual Celebration of Games, a weeklong festival that aimed to celebrate everything great about gaming but more specifically this year: what made us dungeon-dwelling dweebs gamers. Rather than hashing together more words of my own I’ll hand it over to Martin Watts, BnB Gaming Editor-in-Chief: Though some may tut or roll their eyes in …
Over the past three months we’ve linked to several pieces in Electron Dance‘s series of retrospectives and developer interviews, titled “Where We Came From.” Well, in case you hadn’t realized, yes, it was indeed a series, comprised of fifteen segments, which concluded just a few weeks ago with its final entry.
Whether you missed a part here or there, or if you missed it entirely, what better time to delve into such treasures than the onset of a weekend? Be warned though: it’s as much a retrospective on 8-bit gaming as it is a journey of self-discovery. And not just for the man who penned it all, either…
Mystery awaits you: Where We Came From.
Hi everyone. Amanda here! Or AJ for short, if you want to be gender-neutral about it. Some of you may remember me from a previous article that I wrote on the site as a “celebrity” guest. Since then I’ve been asked to come back and share more things, so I’ll now be up to providing reviews, impressions, and editorials on a regular basis as a Tap contributor! Now with that out of the way, take …
Review by Zach “Ravious” Best Trackmania² Canyon Developer Nadeo Publisher Ubisoft Released September 14, 2011 Available for PC Time Played 20+ hours (including full beta) Verdict: 5/5 Gold Star “As a standalone game, Trackmania² Canyon is a well polished racing game that is distinctly fun to play. It is well worth the value cost-of-entry and will provide hours of fast-driving excitement. Within the Maniaplanet system of creations and community, Trackmania² Canyon truly shines.”
I happen to be a fan of Insomniac Games. I’ll be the first to admit that Ratchet & Clank sometimes feels a bit stagnant. I have my disappointments with Resistance. But in my experience, Insomniac is a consistent game developer that makes fun games that usually have something in them that make me laugh or go “Hey, cool!”. I have not played Resistance 3 yet – sort of a side effect of the whole “poor …