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‘Civilization VI’ brings its addictive empire-building to the iPhone
Fans of Civilization VI who want to create an empire while on the go have another option for how to do so -- it's now available on iPhone. There's good news for iPad players, as those who own the turn-based strategy game on the tablet can snag the iPhone version at no extra cost.
Mojang card game 'Scrolls' reborn as 'Caller's Bane'
When Scrolls was hit by a Bethesda lawsuit and its online servers died an ugly death, the future of Mojang's collectible card game was looking rather grim. But Scrolls is still alive, and it's just been rebranded as 'Caller's Bane'. Unlike before, it now costs nothing to play.
Wax nostalgic over King's Bounty website, screenshots
King's Bounty. For the younger set the name might not mean much, though it's more likely that you're familiar with the series it later gave rise to in New World Computing's Heroes of Might and Magic. King's Bounty, released for personal computers in 1990 and even ported to the Sega Genesis a year later, was an early take on the turn-based strategy genre. Now, nearly two decades after the game's release, European studio 1C has decided to knock the dust off the old girl and give her a new coat of paint with King's Bounty: The Legend for the PC.1C describes the game as a "true rejuvenation" of the PC classic, though we're having to balance enthusiasm for revisiting our youth with the fact that the game is being coded by a completely unknown outfit known as Katauri Interactive. Still, judging by the title's newly launched website, which is home to details, videos, and enough screens to choke a horse, we can't help but be a little interested. Atari is set to publish the game when it's released, though it's currently anyone's guess when that will be. Even so, with both this, and Ubisoft's previously announced Heroes of Might and Magic Kingdoms in the pipeline, those of us at Joystiq proper with a thing for strategy are feeling a sensation all too uncommon. Is this love?%Gallery-17829%
Joystiq interview: Ironclad talks 4X strategy with Sins of a Solar Empire
PC strategy games come in a variety of flavors, from casual to hardcore, though it's those dubbed 4X that are the most exhausting, and arguably the most fun of the lot. The term 4X has some interesting roots, having first been coined in a magazine review for Microprose's classic Masters of Orion, the label is now used to call out an entire sub-genre of strategy games that exhibit four underlying goals: eXplore, eXpand, eXploit and eXterminate. Traditionally, though not always, these games are played in turns rather than in real-time, though it's extremely rare to see a title subscribe to both schools of gameplay, something that Ironclad Games' upcoming 4X release Sins of a Solar Empire takes to heart. With the game set to be released on February 4 by GalCiv publisher Stardock, we decided to sit down and speak with Ironclad's producer and lead designer Blair Fraser to get some added insight into what appears to offer an unique take on this particular class of PC strategy.%Gallery-15134%
Dungeon Maker makes website first
Though we have our misgivings about Dungeon Maker: Mahou no Shovel to Chiisa na Yuusha (Dungeon Maker: Little Hero with a Magic Shovel), we haven't been completely scared away from the title yet. As if to reassure us, developer Global A Entertainment's official site organizes the cluttered details from Famitsu's preview and gives us room to better interpret them.The shovel that the game features has been enchanted by a sorcerer and can now talk! Apparently, it will teach you what you need to know about building your dungeon. The green jello bell, seen above, is some sort of creature that you can raise to mimic monsters. We're pretty much only making a note of the critter because it reminds us of Slimer. Except, you know, without eyes or the grotesque folds.We were originally under the impression that this Dungeon Maker release would be an ARPG like its PSP predecessor, but screenshots seem to indicate that combat is turn-based and handled from a first-person perspective. While many criticized the original game's combat as uninspired, will this overhaul eliminate those concerns or make them worse? We'll make sure to let you know more as we hear it!
X-Com: Screenshots from the Deep
We would trade our souls for a DS version of X-Com: UFO Defense, had we not already sold the bedraggled things to Milhouse at a discount price of five dollars of course, but it looks like Blue_knight's homebrew port of the tactical RPG is coming along well enough. Three cheers for hobbyist programmers!He has added a lot since we last covered the project -- tile selection, a tweaked UI, and an "entity rendering system." Though we're not sure what exactly that all means, the screenshots we grabbed and added past the post break look promising. Now if you'll excuse us, we have some souls to track down. Last we heard, Milhouse exchanged them for Alf pogs. Alf pogs! Remember Alf? He's back ... in pog form.%Gallery-4133%
Etrian Odyssey Age
Developer Atlus admits that it will have a tough time selling Etrian Odyssey to anyone who isn't already a fan of dungeon crawls or other niche genres. As great as a turn-based, first-person RPG might sound to some of you, it's rare for that kind of game to register even a blip on the radar of most gamers or gaming media.Atlus has been updating Etrian Odyssey's official site with promotional webcomics, the first of which proposes how the title can attach itself to current trends and elbow its way to the front of the crowd. Likening the game's dungeon crawl experience to Brain Age is a huge stretch, but we have to applaud the creative approach. See what we mean after the post break!
Enchanted Arms grabbing PS3
It's easy to be the life of the party when you're the only one attending. Enchanted Arms is generally acknowledged to be an entertaining, albeit unremarkable, game that has gained a bit more attention simply for being the first traditional Japanese RPG to hit the Xbox 360. It may even wind up beating others to the magical punch (that's a play on enchanted limbs and the earlier party analogy, you see) on Sony's next-gen console, as the game's official website now indicates that a PS3 version is in the works. Ubisoft has yet to announce intentions to publish an English version again, but such information should likely arise once the Tokyo Game Show kicks off later this month and a firm release date emerges from, err, From Software. If you plan on foregoing the Xbox 360 version in favor of this one, you can look forward to a motley group of heroes, an ineptly imprisoned ancient evil and an adventure which the Official Xbox 360 Magazine (UK) calls a "most likable cult oddity." [Via Eurogamer]See also: Enchanted Arms' Metacritic page Enchanted Arms embraces bilinguilasm
