the Andrew Bailey

No, it's not different this time!

Screenshot of SimCity 2000

State of the Videogame Industry, March 2015

Recently, Electronic Arts closed Maxis. Maxis made such games as SimCity and it's hugely successful spinoff, The Sims. People are going around being all sad about it. Yes, people are losing their jobs, and that is bad. But from the perspective of the gaming industry's health, I think it's a good thing. With the recent reveal of Electronic Access by Original Systems, I started thinking about this cycle. Survival of the fittest applies to the game industry too.

Onkyo S9400THX

The Onkyo S9400THX is a 7.1 surround system. Properly set up, it means that there are 7 regular speakers and a subwoofer. The three front speakers are about 50% bigger than the other four due to an extra driver, and sound nice on their own. The subwoofer has a twelve inch driver, and is bigger than many microwaves. This system is rated for 1000 watts.

A colorful screenshot of Enslaved, showing a robot factory

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West

I remember when Enslaved: Odyssey to the West first came out. Somehow it looked interesting to me. Then I saw that it was only on Xbox. That was the first time I threatened to get a game if it came out on PC. Three years later, it did, so I ponied up some money a few months later. I only now got around to it, and I'm glad I did.

Screenshot from Bioshock 2, from the Victorian mansion part.

Bioshock 2

Bioshock 2 is a game that I never thought I would play or even own. It's also a game that doesn't need to exist. It's a sequel to a not-RPG that summed everything up on it's own. I found the whole thing a little surreal, but mostly dissonant, and free of emotional sense.

Screenshot of TabJpeg, optimizing the Fallout screenshot.

TabJpeg

It turns out that programming takes a while. It's even longer when you don't program in C, so you barely have a clue of how to use a compiler. As soon as you add more than 10 megabytes of dependencies, I cry and run away. However, that isn't always the case.

Screenshot from Little Inferno, showing some fire

Little Inferno

One of the guys behind World Of Goo helped make Little Inferno. He was both the artist and music writer, and it shows well. So here's a game that won't warm you up for the winter.

Screenshot of Andrew Ryan, standing in a dark office playing mini-golf.

Bioshock

I remember when Bioshock came out. People kept raving about how it was such a good role-playing game. After realizing that in a month I would never be able to use a mall gift card, I had money to burn. Having come off of an RPG that I rather liked, I figured I might check Bioshock out. What happened made Bioshock the most disappointing game of all time for me.