I know what you’re thinking. You love the great taste, wholesome values and nutritional benefits of the Alliance of Awesome, but you just don’t have enough ways to absorb or interact with its lovely staff, readers and contributors. You need and crave more. Fear not, discerning gamers of impeccable taste and style. Not only is the Alliance of Awesome gifting you three awesome websites (Tap-Repeatedly, Bits ‘N’ Bytes Gaming and Electron Dance) and three awesome Twitter feeds …
Developer Splash Damage Publisher Bethesda Softworks Released May 2011 Available for PC (version played), Xbox 360 & PS3 Time Played 42 hours Verdict: 5/5 Gold star! “Minor gripes aside, Brink is a clever, bold and unfortunately underrated addition to the team-based multiplayer canon. It isn’t for everyone, but for those who can appreciate what Splash Damage were aiming for and what they have achieved, it’s nothing but a breath of fresh air in an overcrowded …
“Good day, sir. Say, that’s a fine hat you’re wearing.” “Indeed.” “Would you mind if I tried it on?” “Beg your pardon, I daresay you’re a madman, sir. You? Try on my hat? What would the lawman think?!” “By my best estimation, good sir, the lawman would hum a gay tune, tip his own headpiece, and go about his business. Why, didn’t you hear? Today’s the day the proposed law of Wearing Another Gentleman’s Hat has graduated …
Remember all those crazy 01Net rumours that everybody thought were absolutely mental, insane and totally bonkers last month? Well they just weren’t mental, insane or totally bonkers enough for Nintendo. Frankly, I don’t think anything is anymore. It turns out that at least one of those rumours is true. True and horrifying. Originally leaked by Japanese weekly mag Famitsu and later confirmed by Nintendo, the monstrously ridiculous “Expansion Slide Pad” adds inches upon inches of …
I’m incredibly saddened to announce the passing of Bill Kunkel, who died suddenly on September 4 at 61 years old.
Bill was quite literally the father of games journalism. He, along with Joyce Worley and Arnie Katz, founded Electronic Games, the first mainstream monthly video game magazine. Best known by his nom de plume “The Game Doctor,” Bill was active in the industry from the late 1970s until the moment of his death. His book, Confessions of the Game Doctor, is required reading for anyone interested in the seamier side of the industry.
Ladies and gentlemen, the winter games deluge has begun. What started with Deus Ex a fortnight ago is going to last all the way through until early December, with wall to wall gaming awesomeness appearing on store shelves as far as the eye can see. Inevitably, things are going to get ugly. As a mere mortal who still has to, ya know, buy his games, I’m restricted by what’s commonly referred to as a “budget”. …
It isn’t often that you’ll find me writing news for anything other than an MMOG, so this is a first for me. I picked this up from the Frictional Games development blog whilst reading a huge analysis of Amnesia by The Escapist, but Hide was actually created by someone called shouldice over at the Super Friendship Club, a place where people go to talk about games they’re making and get feedback on them. I don’t really want …
Remember a few months ago where I talked about EVE Online and Dust 514 and how CCP intend to have a console exclusive title, that plays in the first person, effect the EVE universe? No? Ok. Read this first. Right, now we are all on the same page, CCP producer Thomas Farrer has partaken in a hefty three page interview with Gamasutra to discuss the marriage of EVE and Dust and how the two will co-exist, …
Discussing video game addiction is never a particularly easy subject to broach. At least not in my experience. Ordinarily it’s not something I particularly like to talk about at all. That could be because I’m a gaming addict in denial, or because I’m ultra defensive over my chosen hobby and quickly angered by the stupidity and banal waffle that usually follows such discussion in the mainstream media. The problem for me is that I am a gamer, …
How did I miss this? It can’t possibly wait until my SW:TOR news round-up! Bioware have announced a new player versus player warzone called “Huttball” and who better to detail it than the legendary (and very wobbily headed) Dalas Dickinson! Hit the jump, hit the jump!
In the first of my news round-ups, I thought I’d start with the mighty Guild Wars 2. It has been a busy couple of weeks in the world of massively multiplayer games after Gamescom and PAX, so I wanted to link a good few news stories, videos and blog posts of Guild Wars 2 that might interest some of you who share my addiction, or for those that havn’t had your ear to the ground. In …
EVE Online, what an odd game. My only character was made in 2006 and had probably only been played for around ten hours before she went into permanent hibernation. I found EVE incredibly dull when I first played it all those years ago. Some might argue that that is a demonstration of the skill ceiling being set so high, yet I think much of it was simply due to being lonely. Space is a …
I may occasionally bitch about the IGDA, but I am lucky and proud to be a member. The Detroit Chapter has struggled mightily to maintain itself on account of a vast geographical area – we don’t want to splinter into an Ann Arbor Chapter, a Lansing Chapter, an EAST Lansing Chapter, a Grand Rapids Chapter, etc etc etc – and is currently amidst a new period of growth and energy. At our monthly social meetings you get to drink and meet the wonderful game development community of southern Michigan. And thus it was that I met Jacob Elert, who stated without a hint of irony that most people called him Bear. If you ever meet Bear, you will see why. Bear is a big fella; but he’s not a “Gorilla” or an “Elephant,” he’s definitely bearlike. In addition to being bearlike, Bear is a passionate new entry to the game development world, and I enjoyed chatting with him so much that I suggested he toss me an article for Tap. And he did! Today you’ll be getting a bear’s view of what MMOs have meant to the game experience as well as just the market. I think you’ll find it well worth your time. Take it away, Bear!
— S
Those damned humans, with their… revolutioning. Why they gotta be all up in our business with their revolutions? And… their… human… ness? You may not know this, but Tap-Repeatedly has a YouTube Channel. It’s currently quite sparse. And what you’ll find below doesn’t do much to enrich it, to be honest, but as I mention in the video I have a terrible cold and I’m just not in the mood to be profound.
If you don’t regularly visit Alliance of Awesome member Bits ‘n’ Bytes Gaming (we need to record a new podcast soon!), you should, at the very least, head on over there to check out Armand K’s interview with Almost Human, a new indie developer toiling away on Legend of Grimrock, a delightfully Dungeon Master-looking CRPG of a style we’ve not seen in ages. Gone doesn’t mean forgotten, though, and it sounds like Almost Human share …