tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83967336986495962052024-03-14T03:41:27.428+01:00TebodaMusings, reviews and essays on or closely related to video games.Tebodahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365106627028243278noreply@blogger.comBlogger74125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396733698649596205.post-45787298774945220232013-07-09T11:30:00.001+02:002013-07-09T11:35:22.597+02:00Gaming Press Looses a Giant - Ryan Davis R.I.P.
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Heavy hearted this morning seeing the news that Giant Bomb's Ryan Davis has passed away. Just 34 years old and married but just a week. I've listened, watched and read is work on Gamespot.com and Giantbomb.com for ten years now so seeing this was a shock and almost feels like the death of a friend.
- R.I.P. -
Tebodahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365106627028243278noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396733698649596205.post-88650013722288330642013-03-22T11:13:00.001+01:002013-03-22T11:13:56.005+01:00Year Walk
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If you have an iPhone or iPad and haven't checked out Year Walk yet, what are you doing!?
Year Walk by Swedish developers Simogo explores something so uncommon in games as Swedish folklore, and no that doesn't mean vikings or Norse mythology.
Year Walk is a superb experience that utilizes the iOS interface in really smart Tebodahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365106627028243278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396733698649596205.post-58584718207398012562011-10-19T11:16:00.001+02:002011-10-19T11:17:00.675+02:00Moral Effect
In preparation for next years release of Mass Effect 3 I've been playing through Mass Effect 1 & 2 with a second, Renegade, character to experience the flip-side of my main, mostly Paragon, Shepard.
In most RPG:s that allow for these types of choices I tend to play the way I feel I would, or would like to, in real life - which tends to be fairly altruistic and good natured, except whenTebodahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365106627028243278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396733698649596205.post-83739232112812485512011-05-30T17:52:00.004+02:002011-05-30T17:52:00.213+02:00Succeeding GamesThat age old question: Sequel vs. new IP - which is more successful and desirable, the tide seems to flow back and forth between them. On the one hand we want the new experiences and fresh milieus that a new property brings - however unproven game mechanics and unknown characters have a harder time finding funding, require more testing and might still in the end turn out to be unappealing, Tebodahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365106627028243278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396733698649596205.post-26210739439064067482011-04-01T07:33:00.000+02:002011-04-01T19:16:08.568+02:00The Bliss of IgnoranceThere's been a lot of talk about the way video game reviews tend to be more like product-reviews - running down checklists of pros and cons instead of focusing on emotional impact and resonance. However in my experience those reviews are few and far between and usually only appear on the mass-market sites like GameSpot and IGN, while reviews on other sites and in magazines are much more focused Tebodahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365106627028243278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396733698649596205.post-32354452239496933902009-09-15T12:16:00.001+02:002009-09-15T12:18:39.099+02:00Review - Zuma's RevengeZuma - if you haven't played it - is a puzzle game where a winding row of marbles are moving towards a stone skull. Your goal is to stop them from reaching it by firing like-colored marbles from a stone frog in the center of the screen so that groups of three or more marbles of the same color are lined up, where by they explode and the remaining marbles role back to fill the gap. With some Tebodahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365106627028243278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396733698649596205.post-23168509839602330902009-09-04T14:24:00.001+02:002009-09-04T14:28:02.408+02:00Review - Bookworm Adventures Volume 2Bookworm Adventures Volume 2 is a word-puzzle game with some light role-playing elements mixed in. Using a 4x4 grid of random letter tiles the player must construct words that, depending on their lenght and the use of less common letters (think Scrabble) do varying amount of damage to an opponent that the protagonist - the titular bookworm Lex - must defeat to progress.During the corse of the Tebodahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365106627028243278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396733698649596205.post-8932508472926238692009-07-15T21:35:00.003+02:002009-07-15T21:55:04.002+02:00Wii Shall OvercomeFrom the Core-gamer perspective the Wii has had a rough few years. The hype-train packed with sky high expectations started rolling as soon as Iwata presented the Wiimote at the Tokyo Game Show in September of 2005 and on release what we got ranged from the baby steps of Wii Sports to the miss steps of Red Steel.Many developers and publishers remained sceptical leading up to it's launch, however Tebodahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365106627028243278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396733698649596205.post-20169959459773850442009-05-06T09:12:00.002+02:002009-05-06T09:15:44.660+02:00Teboda Listens To - The Force-CastRead condenced version.Since the first time I saw Darth Vader surrounded by storm troopers and that iconic image of his and Luke's siluettes with their red and blue light sabers dueling on Besbin in a TV spot for the re-release of The Empire Strikes Back in July 1981, I have been a big Star Wars fan.The very first time I used the Internet - in 1994 on my dad's work laptop with a 14400 bps modem -Tebodahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365106627028243278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396733698649596205.post-33121957581234844262009-03-06T15:51:00.002+01:002009-03-06T15:54:31.301+01:00Teboda Listens To - The BombcastI'm doing the dishes. Doing the dishes smirking. Another glass soaked, scrubbed and rinsed. The corner of my mouth twitching with pent-up giggles. I reach down and grab a plate. BWhahaha! I just can't hold it in any longer. I throw a bashful glimpse at my wife who sardonically looks back and shakes her head. It's that damn Bombcast, they crack me up every time. From their taste tests of strange Tebodahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365106627028243278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396733698649596205.post-85111432418018327992009-02-19T16:00:00.005+01:002009-02-19T16:23:53.129+01:00Review - Dead SpaceDead Space is a third-person shooter with a bit of horror thrown in. You play as Isaac Clarke (a nod to sci-fi authors Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke), an engineer who is part of the rescue team on board the USG Kellion on a mission to investigate what has happened to a vessel that mines planets by tearing loose sections of it and grinding them down, a so called planet cracker. The ship is theTebodahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365106627028243278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396733698649596205.post-48836291316498704082009-02-13T12:55:00.003+01:002009-02-13T21:08:16.067+01:00Orange You Surprised?When you ask someone what their favorite color is, the most common answers are probably blue, pink, red or black, next you'll likely find people say green, maybe purple or turquoise and some will say yellow. Orange on the other hand... that to me just doesn't seem like a very likely candidate at all for favorite color. I can't say it's mine either. So why is it then that:This is my mobile phone.&Tebodahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365106627028243278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396733698649596205.post-19880685886722839992009-01-27T18:09:00.001+01:002009-01-29T10:03:43.814+01:00Review - World of GooIt's amazing what a little talent and a lot of hard work will get you. Looking at the general quality-to-budget and time-to-staff ratios of games in general and specifically games on Wii it would be easy to assume that the days of the lone coder producing anything of value or interest are far gone. Even first-party titles by the often heralded Nintendo today all too often show low production Tebodahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365106627028243278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396733698649596205.post-439201863770146082009-01-07T17:08:00.000+01:002009-01-07T17:09:24.527+01:00Year in Review 2008: Q4So we come to Braid. After playing the demo when it was released in August but putting off the full game, I was prompted to give it a go by 1Up FM:s excellent post-mortem interview with creator Jonathan Blow. Braid is a fairly short game, yet I was constantly amazed by how much variation and ingenuity has gone into it. Braid is the type of game that when you've completed it you want to share withTebodahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365106627028243278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396733698649596205.post-33610724008563071602009-01-02T13:44:00.001+01:002009-01-02T13:46:55.314+01:00Year in Review 2008: Q3As my move to Kiruna meant that I am now working from home, my 1½ hour daily commute is no more and with it disappeared a large part of handheld gaming time, leaving summer as my main period for using my DS (my PSP hasn't been played all year). Professor Layton & The Curious Village is one of this years better titles although I had the opportunity to try out quite a few other ones. Some of my Tebodahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365106627028243278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396733698649596205.post-721873806453186212008-12-31T15:09:00.002+01:002008-12-31T15:12:28.337+01:00Year in Review 2008: Q2During the lull of spring I went back to another of the many 2007 releases that I had yet to have time for, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. I'm surprised at how little hype and attention this game has gotten, and although I got stuck about a third of the way in, it is one that surely deserves to be given a chance by any hardcore Wii-owner. The controls are for the most part excellent (only issues Tebodahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365106627028243278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396733698649596205.post-43481024913424740302008-12-29T16:52:00.000+01:002008-12-29T16:54:02.052+01:00Year in Review 2008: Q1After the high water-mark of 2007 I had my doubts about 2008. During last years E3 the platform holders, primarily Microsoft, chose to talk mostly about the games that where coming that year leading up to Christmas and it seemed that all upcoming third party games where being pushed out then as well. With heavy hitters like BioShock, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Orange Box, Assassin's Creed, Tebodahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365106627028243278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396733698649596205.post-34799310586384181252008-12-12T16:00:00.002+01:002008-12-14T10:06:46.371+01:00Stop being so EnglishA certain well respected British publication started off their Mirror's Edge review saying that it's "...like a piece of Scandinavian furniture, picked for its perfect blend of form and function, discovered on receipt to have the wrong pieces in the box, ambiguous instructions and too few tools to make it all come together."Now, while I can appreciate the humour in this - I find it to not only beTebodahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365106627028243278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396733698649596205.post-67466958952557673222008-12-11T10:40:00.004+01:002008-12-11T10:57:42.187+01:00Review - Mirror's EdgeMirror's Edge places you in the role of the runner Faith, a parkouring courier that delivers messages for those that oppose the big brother society where everything looks nice and people have given up their freedom for a nice and comfortable life of complacency. The game is a nice blend of old and new. It mixes old-school game design with some of the better improvements of later years and a Tebodahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365106627028243278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396733698649596205.post-75978106134671593212008-12-09T12:05:00.000+01:002008-12-09T12:06:20.364+01:00PoP Goes PopEver had that feeling that you're the only one that has any taste? Ever find yourself suprised that the people and outlets who's oppinions you've always held in such high regard suddenly go completely agains your own? A lesser man would start to doubt himself - I start to doubt reality. Am I in Bizzaro world? Has someone fucked up the space-time continum with some stupid paradox again?Case in Tebodahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365106627028243278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396733698649596205.post-9651500139997372242008-10-17T14:56:00.003+02:002008-10-17T15:03:13.857+02:00Was it good for you too?...Enjoy!Then this is a game for you.More to the point, where you intrigued by the possible connection between them?Where you effected by the story in ICO and Shadow of the Colossus?If you also appreciated the story, that will get you farther.If you enjoyed the puzzles of Portal, that will get you some ways....that is just the surface.And while appreciating those games will go some ways towards Tebodahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365106627028243278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396733698649596205.post-82761403122108568692008-10-07T12:10:00.006+02:002008-10-07T12:20:54.304+02:00Review - Star Wars: The Force UnleashedIt isn't my fault. They told me they'd fixed it!The Force Unleashed is not the best game ever made and the Euphoria, DMM and Havok systems aren't utilized to their best effect, instead they represent pockets of physics-fun sharply contrasted against the otherwise static backdrops, much like how the actors in Episode II stood out against the CGI-backdrops in all too many of it's scenes. There are Tebodahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365106627028243278noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396733698649596205.post-11902611228526787142008-09-22T14:49:00.002+02:002008-09-22T14:52:47.251+02:00A Conduit of LightThe so called hardcore has had an downward spiraling attitude towards the Wii and the titles that are released for it. Prior to release speculation ran wild on all the fantastic things that you would be able to do with the system. How it would revolutionize gaming and how you would never want to go back to using the tired old gamepad for many genres, one that came up in particular was the FPS. I Tebodahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365106627028243278noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396733698649596205.post-4154908826995163332008-07-04T17:29:00.002+02:002008-07-11T08:52:22.006+02:00Three Mile Smile First off let me just make a couple of things clear. I'm a huge Aerosmith fan. Not I've-bought-all-their-records-there-are-no-bad-ones-huge, but I've-bought-all-their-records-except-the-bad-one-huge, and I've seen them live both times that they came to Sweden... *sigh*I'm also a lover of Guitar Hero, and I know, who isn't these days right? But - not to brag, but just to make a point - I frigin' Tebodahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365106627028243278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396733698649596205.post-70402998279650704992007-11-08T07:48:00.002+01:002008-08-21T11:06:17.349+02:00Ages Like a Fine Wine[Originally posted on 1Up.com]In one of my earliest posts (exactly two years ago to the day!) I wrote about Half-Life 2's excellence and how what had been shown on the 360 so far was laughable in comparison. Back then I was suprised that there "still" was nothing that even came close to "the layout of the levels and the use of the Havok physics, along with the excellent graphical style, the Tebodahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365106627028243278noreply@blogger.com0