As many of you know, the Game Developers Conference wrapped up not more than three days ago, and one of the highlights of the show every year is the Independent Developers Festival, where independent game developers show their wares and compete for the funding and attention of major publishers.

I’m a major fan of independent games.  Though they often lack the depth of story possessed by many games produced by large teams with professional funding, I’ve noticed that most independent game developers are driven to excel in other ways–most often by pioneering innovative, interesting, or addicting concepts.

Two games which exemplify this focus on innovative and engrossing ideas are Auditorium, by the Philadelphia-based Cipher Prime, and Gravity Hook, by Adam Atomic and Danny Baranowsky.  They’re from different genres entirely, but each one holds promise.

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Let’s face it – pretty much the whole world has a crush on Nathan Fillion. And if they don’t, they really should. He crashed onto the television scene as the lovable, badass-arific Captain Malcom Reynolds on the amazing (but sadly cancelled) show Firefly. Since then, he’s done a few movies that didn’t do too well and an odd TV show themed after The Amazing Race, lamely named Drive. Oh! And Joss Whedon’s amazing short web series Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog. That too.

But now he’s back! And awesome! He’s in a new show called Castle, which airs Monday night’s at 9c on ABC (so all of those like me who don’t have cable can watch it!)

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Welcome to another Weekly Emanata, the MEGATONik review of comics. As these are a combination of readerly reaction and critical examination, expect spoilers. I’m going to write as if you, the reader, has some passing knowledge of comics, but feel free to post questions in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer.

We’re running a little late again, but that is entirely due to some site problems last night.

Air #7
written by G Willow Wilson
art by MK Perker

This is one of the freshest books coming out of a mainstream comic company and I look forward to every issue, but I’m going to try not to gush about it since I’ve done so in previous columns. I have had a few small problems with the series, which I think is normal for nearly everything I read, but I’m featuring this issue this week because it specifically deals with one of my biggest stumbling blocks in the book so far: the plot has moved along so fast that some of the characters have gotten short shrift.

Issue seven deals with this problem in a unique way that snaps right in to the weird mythology that Wilson and Perker have been developing. The protagonist, through means that I won’t go into detail here, ends up in the body of her mysterious lover… when he was ten years old. In living the key moments of his life, the whole “mysterious lover” cliche is dissolved in a way that also adds a unique aspect to the future of the characters’ relationship. What’s it going to mean if your girlfriend has seen all the important choices you’ve made from your own point of view?

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Hello again, dearest internet.

As you’ve no doubt heard by now, a new DS Zelda title was announced during Iwata’s keynote speech at the GDC yesterday. It is tentatively subtitled “Spirit Tracks.” There are going to be trains. Because, you know, Hyrule is so widely known for its intricate mesh of railroads that sprawl across Hyrule Field.
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I made sure to pre-order Player’s Handbook 2 so that I could review it for MEGATONik as soon as I came back from spring break.  Today, I had plenty of time to peruse the information in its pages, and I now think that Wizards was justified in producing this second volume.  If Wizards of the Coast had instead packed all of the content in the Player’s Handbook 2 into the original Player’s Handbook, the authors and designers would have had to ship sub-standard content in a terrible rush, and the titanic tome would have been daunting to new players–a result totally not in keeping with the mission of 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons.

Instead, we have two books filled with well thought out and interesting material, some of which you have likely heard about.  Perhaps the biggest reasons to shell out twenty-some dollars for the Player’s Handbook 2 are the return of fan-favorite races and classes not present in the 4th Edition Player’s Handbook, like the gnome race and sorcerer, bard, and barbarian classes.

These are excellent reasons to purchase the book.  However, I would like to highlight some of my personal favorite content that hasn’t received much publicity, but will nonetheless be high on my priority list for incorporation into my character designs.  In this way, this article is not so much a review as an examination of several elements found inside the cover.

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Well, it’s over. After watching the show and loving it for three years, Battlestar Galactica is over. Personally, I’m still in nerd-overload, so this is in no way a serious critique of the finale, more just a very satisfied musing about the show. I’ve done my best to be spoiler-free.

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The year is 1998. A quiet little hamlet by the name of Raccoon City is having a bit of a zombie problem, a young boy in a faraway land becomes friends with a magical fairy who isn’t quite as helpful as she thinks she is, and a certain theoretical physicist is wishing he had chosen a less stressful career (perhaps space marine?). All of this pales in comparison to the epidemic that swept arcades across the nation, however: a group of adventurer’s were cutting a swath of destruction through hordes of goblins, and, worst of all, the yellow wizard needed food…badly!
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Welcome to another Weekly Emanata, the MEGATONik review of comics. As these are a combination of readerly reaction and critical examination, expect spoilers. I’m going to write as if you, the reader, has some passing knowledge of comics, but feel free to post questions in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer.

This week’s Emanata is a graphic novelstravaganza and, due to that excessive amount of reading combined with a semi-vacation, is running a few days late. Apologies.

The Surrogates
written by Robert Venditti
art by Brett Weldele

Top Shelf Productions was kind enough to send me a copy of their soon-to-be-filmed sci-fi comic, and it’s a pretty cool package. The story is strong; the blurbs on the back cover compare it to Philip K. Dick, and from my limited experience (I had to restrain myself from typing, “from my limited Dick experience”), I think it’s an apt comparison. The Surrogates is set in the near future where people can connect to robotic doubles, downloading all the necessary sensory information straight to their brains in real time. They never have to leave the house.

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The Sci Fi channel announced this week that they would be changing their name to “SyFy.” The change was made because the channel is attempting to make themselves sleeker, and less geeky. Apparently the name “Sci Fi” conjured up images of 30 year old men, living in their parents’ basements, eating Doritos and watching endless reruns of Next Gen.

Frankly, the channel has been spiralling down for a while now. Ever since Monday night wrestling moved in and the weekends becamse a stream of Sci Fi Channel Original Movies (gag), there is hardly anything worth watching, especailly now that Battlestar Galactica is ending. Still, I don’t see the need to bring in a brand new name. They won’t add super models and important business people into their viewership just by changing the name. It’s the Sci Fi channel for a reason - it plays science fiction shows. And who watches sci fi shows? Nerds.

Stupid marketing division.