Tag Archives: Star Trek

What are you (Wanting) to play?!

Posted by Steve on October 16, 2012 No comments

It’s been awhile since I have done a good “What are you playing” post so I thought it was about time to bring it back. Now, you may notice the difference in the title, and with good cause. If you have been listening to the Retro-Nick podcast that we have been doing, you may have a feel for the types of games that I enjoy. One of those types of games is the Space-Sim. I have loved the space sim since space sim’s started to get big. The concept of flying around in open space, exploring, dogfighting, etc. It’s all awesome.

One of the biggest Space Sim’s out there was a series called Wing Commander. There is something about the story based saga that led me down the career path of Commander Blair that just made me feel like it was my story. When the Tigers Claw was destroyed, I was devastated. (if you played, you know).

So when I heard that Chris Roberts, the creator of the WC games, was working on a new game, I got excited. The best part about it is that it’s the game I have always wanted to play!

Wing Commander Cockpit

Let me explain that last bit. I love space games in general. the physics, the concept, everything. I love Star Wars, Star Trek, Firefly, and nearly every other space adventure show/movie. (still struggling with Babylon 5) The idea that a game could allow me to experience that myself, instead of just watch it, is amazing. A great example of this was in the early beta of a game called Star Wars Galaxies. The beta was for the space combat portion of the game where you could pilot ships like the X-wing, and YT-1300 (look it up). My friends and I were in a YT-1300 and I was piloting. One friend was navigating, one in the Turret, and one running around the ship repairing damage that was happening in the fight we were in. The experience was outstanding.

Sadly, the actual game didn’t live up to the initial experience. Those of you who played SWG, know that Sony Online broke all the best parts of the game while emphasizing all the crap.

Chris Roberts is a gamer. He knows what we want because that’s what HE wants. I have faith that this will be the Go-To space sim game. Go check it out! http://www.robertsspaceindustries.com/

In the meantime, I have been brushing up on my space skills by re-installing Freelancer on the PC, playing Galaxy On Fire on the iPad, and I just picked up Evochron Mercenary, on Steam. I am waiting for my Saitek X52 Flight Control System to arrive today.

Oh, and a little Borderlands 2 to mix it up.

What are YOU playing?

The iPadd, the only thing that may….may tempt me to get an iPad

Posted by Steve on March 31, 2010 No comments

Gizmodo posted this today and I know I am not the only person to have thought this right out of the gate. The PADD from Star Trek is the iPad from today. It’s really that simple. It would probably be better if you could do some more interacting with your household systems too but, you never know, there may be an app for that. In any case, it’s stuff like this that may tempt me to think about maybe possibly getting one.

maybe.

Picard never Hit me!

Posted by Steve on March 10, 2010 1 comment

Some new Star Trek news real quick for today. I am, of course, still playing Star Trek Online which has been going good with one small exception that I will go into in a moment, but I want to discuss a few other Trek related things first. DragonCon is coming and quite a few new guests have been announced and many of them are Trek related. I don’t know if Shatner and Nimoy got back and passed the word about how much fun they had but there is a HUGE guest list of Trek people:

Rene Auberjonois – Odo from DS9
Avery Brooks – Sisko from DS9
Denise Crosby – Tasha Yar from Next Gen
John de Lancie – Q
Jonathan Frakes – Riker from Next Gen
Robert Duncan McNeill – Paris from Voyager
Armin Shimerman – Quark from DS9
Marina Sirtis – Troi from Next Gen
Brent Spiner – Data from Next Gen
Garrett Wang – Ensign Kim from Voyager

I am eagerly awaiting the chance to find and get signed a picture of Q and Sisko in their boxing gear from DS9. This list, no doubt, will be growing as we get closer to the time of the Con, which is Sept.

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3-6 of this year. I will in attendance and, if I can manage it (without ending up with a restraining order), I will get as many interviews as I can with some of these folks. I would love to hear what they think about some of the more modern versions of Trek either in Game or other new media.

Also on the radar is a new project that some friends and I are working on….the creation of the “Maroon Monster” costume, which I understand is the nickname for the Wrath of Khan style uniform from Star Trek. The patterns have been ordered and work will start soon. I will be more than happy to post progress pics and eventually a full production blog on the process.

Ok, lastly, my progress in STO has slowed only slightly because of a problem I am having. I made it to Deep Space 9 in the game and noticed that you can purchase a Danube class Runabout from one of the vendors. This is a small Shuttle that you can fly and outfit with weapons. It’s purely a luxury item and fun to fly. The problem lies in that when you buy it, all of your stats on your equipment get cut in half, or at least they display that way. No one has determined exactly what happens. I put in a ticket about the issue and was brushed off with a “Yeah we know about it, we’ll fix it soon”. Normally I would be ok with that except that, from what I have read about this bug from others, No one is sure if it’s a display issue or a real game effecting issue and no GM has stated one way or the other. Players also claim if you decommishion the shuttle, your stats get resolved, and that’s great but I paid 149k credits for the shuttle and I would hate to waste that.

So I mentioned all this to the GM’s in the ticket I submitted hoping to get an answer on if it was a display issue or real issue, and if they would take the item from me and refund the amount. Neither of which happened. I was told again “Yeah we know about it and the devs will get to it” with a side glancing “we don’t give refunds”. So as of now, you can still purchase the Danube class ship from DS9, it WILL break your stats, and there is NO WAY to get a refund even if you put in multiple tickets. How hard is it to get a ticket, remove the item, refund the credits? it has no effect on the economy because the goods are removed. It would remove the headaches of dealing with players afflicted with this bug, and if you remove the item from sale and implement it when it’s fixed, all the better! My ticket is still open and there is a thread open on the STO forums.

Sigh.

Still Plugging Away, Captain in sight!

Posted by Steve on March 3, 2010 No comments

Ok so I have been splitting a lot of my game time up for the last few weeks. Star Trek Online really has me stuck in the holodeck and has taken control of the ship. When I can get some escape from it I have been working my way through Bioshock 2. Since the time is split on both and finishing up neither it has left me with some wonder on what to post to keep things current out here on the site. So I will give you the thoughts so far on both of these. First up, a State of Rapture.

So I am quite a ways into B2 and it’s just, finally, starting to get to a near playable state. I say that because the first few levels were spent figuring out how to play and building up weapons so they can actually hurt someone wearing just a dress and a plastic mask. Where as the junkie with a pipe can kill me in my deep sea armor plated dive suit. Yeah, it’s a lot like that. It would also appear that the Xbox version has a few bugs. None of the vending machines give off the familiar “Welcome, to the Circus of Values!”. And I still miss the little sisters reacting to your rescue of them (“No No, No No!”). Now that I am past the build up phase and getting more into the game, it’s getting a little better. I may have to agree with the guys in the Joystiq Xbox fancast when they say that maybe using Bioshock 2 to follow Mass Effect 2 is a bad idea. When you go from a game that is very heavily story based and rich in it’s plot, and you go to something that is basically a re-hash of the first game, it’s bound to leave you a tad bitter. Fret not though, despite all this, I am still enjoying the game and it’s probably better that I take it slow so that I can enjoy the good parts and be away long enough to forget the bad.

In the meantime I have been enjoying the Trek experience in Star Trek Online. I have a grand total of 3 characters (BTW, the max is 3), My Main, Boothby, is a Trill Science Commander (Commander 9, soooooo close to Captain) flying the U.S.S. Amazonia which looks like it’s ready to be hatched. I hate the look of the Commander Science ships. They have that horrible sphere instead of a saucer section. I also have my Klingon Character which you are able to start playing after you reach LT 6 with your Federation character. The nice thing is that you start at LT 6 with the Klingon as well so Lt Lock, Tactical Officer of the I.K.S VeS Qab (WarCrimes), is bringing hell to the Federation. Finally I have my Alt, Lt Commander Wi’Zzer, Vulcan Engineering officer of the U.S.S. Fairfax. This character I am running with my friend Doc so we are keeping the characters in line with each other. When he isn’t on, I play Booth.

So the State of the Galaxy is that Boothby just managed to reach Deep Space 9 out towards Cardassian space. I like that there are a specific set of missions for each area and a specific enemy that you are working against. Something I would love to see, though, is a different set of missions based on what you are. I’m a Doctor not a Tactical officer! Where are my Science specific missions? Why does my Engineer character get missions where he needs to scan Nebula’s and gathering Data? My Science officer is running off on missions to take out 5 squadrons of ships that should be better suited for a Tactical officer. Now it’s usually better if you are running in a team of course so you have 1 of each type, but that is rare. Another big complaint would be in the stats and skills. So I have my ship that I can outfit with a billion different bits and parts. I loot a science console that gives me +10 to Astrometrics. I have found no where to tell me what exactly that does for me! Some of the skills are good in that they give you examples of the skills they benefit, but it’s really hard to keep the granularity straight.

On the plus side, the missions I have run lately have been great for the story. Learning about the Hobus Star and what happened to Romulus was very intriguing. Playing as my Engineer and being the tank while Doc tears through with his Escort ship, and even playing through as my Klingon even though it’s just PVP for him. (Need more Klingon Quests!!!) I can see that I will be very entertained for quite a while still. Is it bad that I have had the urge to watch more of the TV show and movies as of late? Not much else on the radar right now so I will be cooking up some non-review articles in the coming weeks. Stay Tuned!

Snowpocolypse 2.0 or What do you do with a drunken Yeoman?

Posted by Steve on February 5, 2010 No comments

So it’s supposed to snow for the next, like, 48 hours solid bringing around 24 inches of cold insanity with it. I have finished Mass Effect 2 and have no Bioshock 2 to take it’s place. (Yeah, I think I should have slowed down on that one.) So what am I to do with all this time on my hands and locked indoors. I guess I could spend time with my family…….yeah well We know I do that enough and Snow time is Game time! Yesterday we had gone to the mall to take care of some appointments and I just happened to walk into the Gamestop, you know, by accident. There I see it, the Star Trek Online box, just calling to me. The following is the conversation that took place:

Me: Ooooo STO! And Look at all the stuff you get!

Sarah: So if you want it, get it!

Me: But… But… Wait a sec, why aren’t you fighting me on this?

Sarah: Am I supposed to tell you not to get it? If you buy it, then I will get to play it too!

Me: I Love You!

So safe and warm did STO come with me home and get installed. I managed to Create Captain Boothby of the U.S.S Wizzer last night and began my exploration of the galaxy (the other galaxy, not the one I just finished saving from the Reaper/Collector attacks, you know, so we can keep this straight.) I am not sure I am ready for a good enough review at this point, so here are a few key points that I have found so far.

Upon loading into the game I noticed that the first Intro mission was Glitchy as all hell. At first I thought my system wasn’t good enough to handle it, but when I got to the rest of the game it ran just fine. The only thing I could think of is that That certain battle had WAY too much going on it it and it over taxed the system. But I guess that’s a good way to weed out people eh?
Flying your ship looks Amazing. The graphics are outstanding. I would put this about half way between EVE Online and the Space side of Star Wars Galaxies. Your control over the ship is a bit more hands on and granular than Eve, but not as twitchy at SWG.
The ground game is not bad. It probably could use a little more polish, but it’s new so I will give it a chance. Nothing has stood out as “bad”, but nothing amazed me either (unlike the space side)
I have had the chance to do a variety of missions and it plays out like “Episodes” of the show. You can do Diplomatic missions, combat stuff, and exploring and sciency type things. So there is something for everyone!

I think that will do for now. Feel free to message me in game if you would like and remember to stay warm!

To Boldly Have Gone. or Mission Accomplished

Posted by Steve on February 3, 2010 No comments

Here I am, only minutes after finishing Mass Effect 2, and I am still processing all that happened. I may end up actually replaying from my last major save point because I am not completely happy with some of my choices. For now I am going to let them bake in my head and deal with the consequences. (And mourn the loss of Jack, Grunt, Thane, and the Colonists. In the words of Joker: “Shit Shit Shit Shit Shit, What the Shit!?”

This also means that I am now un-distracted until next Tuesday! A fact that I am sure Sarah and Andrew will be happy about. (Or not.) In the mean time I have to say that I have become increasingly tempted by Star Trek Online based on what I have seen about it online and the few friends who have tried it. I am probably only slightly less of a Star Trek fan than I am a Star Wars fan. (Which is to say, pretty damn rabid.) Although I do not own any Star Trek costumes, and I am not sure I will any time soon, I have always enjoyed the shows and the inspiration they provide. I loved many of the other trek games, even though they were widely un-popular. I even have a copy of the Star Ship creator lying around here somewhere. I am curious to the designs of the ships and to see the variants. Ok damn, this is really not helping.