GameRx: Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded."

  - Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang

A while back, I wrote up a review for Sid Meier's Colonization in a sort of celebration of the new Civilization V downloadable content coming out in the following weeks. Taking a brief hiatus with HyperBlade to change things up, it's time to continue with revisitations of Civ-likes with an old /vg/ favorite, Alpha Centauri. The game in the curious position of being the most praised game of a franchise as well as having fewest copies sold. This really is a shame; this game is that rare brand science fiction gold that I feel cements game-writing as legitimate literature. In complete seriousness, I'd put right up there with the likes of Heinlein, Aasimov, and Herbert. It's that good.

In the 22nd century, the United Nations assembles an effort to colonize on Alpha Centauri, called the Unity program. Things go horribly awry when a generator malfunctions, rousing the passengers and crew from their travel-stasis and severing all communications with Earth. The captain is assassinated by the panicking passengers, leaving a power vacuum on board the ship. Seven colonists stand out from the others as leadership figures, each with very specific principles that they feel should be priorities in the colonization effort. Unable to reconcile their differences, the seven leaders and their followers take seven escape pods to the surface of the planet Chiron, commonly called "Planet", in the Alpha Centauri system. I'd go on with a story summary, but I'd hate to spoil such a great game for anyone who wants to give it a try. Besides, we have much bigger and tastier fish to fry in this game.

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The Niche of E3: an outsider's look into E3 from afar

After some discussions with friends and new acquaintances on my Twitter feed and beyond, I've noticed that there's a bit of a debate surrounding what E3 is supposed to actually do. I decided this would be a great opportunity to explore exactly what E3 is from the view of someone who has never been. This will lead to some biases, but I'm just going to call it like I see it as I think of it. If anyone wants to provide some critique or counter-points, I'm more than open to discussion!

After some perusing, it seems that we need to remember that E3 is not a gaming convention, regardless of what past conventions have hosted. E3 is the "Electronic Entertainment Expo," a selection that includes much more than games. I understand that some big games have been released at E3 in the past, and that's all well and good. However, this does not necessarily make E3 a gaming convention -- rather, it is a convention where games are announced.

In a way, you can look at E3 (or really any convention) as if it were a football game. The players are the industry representatives that put on the show. The stadium staff are the people who make sure that the event possible, keeping the events together and providing service to the attendees. The press box is...well, the press box. This leaves the fans, ranging from the largely apathetic to the rabidly supportive. The part that seems to be lost in translation to the attendee is that the game exists for the players and coaches down on the field. The game down on the field is not yours in any way past the fact that you bought a ticket. You just happen to be watching the game.