Guide Spotlights #1 - Heroes of the Storm

When most of us start a new MOBA, we do a little research first, or at least just after that first, painful loss where you had no idea what you were doing while your teammates raged at you.  Guides and full play through videos are great but what if you just want something you can watch on your phone during the loading screen?  In this series I'll pick a game and spotlight members of its community who produce short and sweet content for new and veteran players alike.

Darkest Dungeon gives a light for the dungeon crawling genre

A friend of mine sent me a link the other day for a game's demo at PAX East 2014.  Titled "Darkest Dungeon", my interest was immediately piqued since I'd recently done a post on another game - "Dungeons II".  A cookie for you if you can see the connection there.

"Darkest Dungeon" looks like it may actually live up to its slightly grandiose name with a unique twist on the classic dungeon crawling RPG genre.  You control the standard four person party, fighting monsters in turn-based combat and collecting loot - but staying alive is only half the battle.  As you venture deeper into the catacombs, the real question becomes: can you keep your party from not only being devoured by monsters, but also sane enough that they don't kill themselves?

Heroes can't just be balanced - they have to be epic

The concept of Heroes of the Storm is very simple: play as your favorite characters from various Blizzard franchises in a massive hero (and villain) brawl.  What makes them so compelling, that they are able to stay with us long after we've stopped playing the original franchise?  It's that they resonate with our internalized mythology - adhering to age old archetypes of heroes and villains reinforced by everything from popular culture to bedtime stories.  Their identities are already established in a sense, so their incarnation in Heroes and their previous games isn't our first time meeting them.  We know them.

Just not nearly as well as we thought.     

Classic League of Legends champion Tristana gets a long-awaited update

Patch 5.2 is now live, and with it the Tristana visual and kit rework.  Though I can't speak as a Tristana main, at least as a Tristana fan, I love the end result for its thematic cohesion.  I haven't even played her in a couple of years but our pint-sized gunner still holds a special place in my heart.  Tristana was one of the first champions I ever played when I started League that summer four and half years ago (Season 1 in League terms).  She was also quite likely the first ADC, attack damage carry for those who know them as Marksmen, that I played back when they were still called ADCs.  The memory gave me a fair bit of investment in her champion update.