Geek Chat: Interview with Steve Johnson and Leighton Connor of Hex Games Part 2

And now for Part 2 of my interview with Steve Johnson and Leighton Connor of Hex Games. Part 1 showed us how Hex came together and their process of bending genres and coming up with new ideas. In Part 2, the guys discuss where they see the company going from here, their convention experiences, and women in tabletop gaming.

Newly released from Hex Games is Dynateens: Surf Force, which is available at Drive-Thru RPG.

When the evil forces of Megalodon the Mighty threaten the submarine city of New Atlantis, a team of super-powered teenagers, the Dynateens, arise to meet that threat. But are they strong enough to defeat the Great Shark menace and save humanity?

Dynateens: Surf Force is an action-packed game of aquatic adventure designed for use with the QAGS Second Edition rules. It includes background on the setting, rules for creating Dynateen characters, genre tropes, sample characters, adventure templates, character sheets, and more!

Dynateens: Surf Force is written by Ian “Aces & Apes” Engle and illustrated by Joshua LH Burnett, with a cover by James Hornsby.

Go go, Dynateens!

Be sure to enter to win a copy of Dynateens and QAGS 2nd edition! Details about the contest are at the bottom of the interview!

Geek Chat: Interview with Steve Johnson and Leighton Connor of Hex Games Part 1

I met Steve Johnson, Operations Director of Hex Games, at a convention a few years ago when I attended a couple of Hex's sessions in the gaming track. I learned that we were alumni of the same college and I've kept up with the goings on of the company over the last few years. The folks at Hex have been very supportive of Kentucky Geek Girl and I'm delighted to feature their new release, Dynateens: Surf Force here on the blog.

From Drive-Thru RPG:

When the evil forces of Megalodon the Mighty threaten the submarine city of New Atlantis, a team of super-powered teenagers, the Dynateens, arise to meet that threat. But are they strong enough to defeat the Great Shark menace and save humanity?

Dynateens: Surf Force is an action-packed game of aquatic adventure designed for use with the QAGS Second Edition rules. It includes background on the setting, rules for creating Dynateen characters, genre tropes, sample characters, adventure templates, character sheets, and more!

Dynateens: Surf Force is written by Ian “Aces & Apes” Engle and illustrated by Joshua LH Burnett, with a cover by James Hornsby.

Go go, Dynateens!

I'm delighted to be joined on the blog today by Steve and Leighton Connor, Creative Director, as they shed some insight on how Hex came together, their creative process, and their convention experiences. I'll have info on how you can win a copy of Dynateens and QAGs Second Edition at the end of the interview!

16-Bit Game of Thrones RPG: A Clash of Kings Expansion

This video contains spoilers for Season 2 of Game of Thrones and is NSFW.

So last year, the folks at College Humor posted a hilarious spoof of Game of Thrones using 16-bit graphics to make commentary on the show and I featured it here on Kentucky Geek Girl. They're at it again with the A Clash of Kings Expansion. This video takes a look at Season 2 and the poor decisions of characters, Daenerys' search for her dragons, and the gratuitous boob shots. It's spot on and absolutely hilarious. I would love to see more Ser Jorah Mormont friendzone, though.

Dawnguard DLC for Skyrim Announced

Exciting news has arrived today from Bethesda Softworks, producers of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. They've released the trailer for Dawnguard, which will serve as the first DLC for the fifth installment of TES. This DLC will initially be available for XBOX 360 (with full Kinect functionality) but will likely be available for other platforms in due time. No word yet on the price for this DLC for other systems, but according to Bethesda, Dawnguard will be available on the XBOX Live store for 1600 points.

In March, Gamespot reported that Bethesda was seeking a trademark for Dawnguard, so it was just a matter of time that an announcement came from the company. More information should be available at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) which will be held in just one week at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Dawnguard is rated M for Mature by the ESRB with Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, and Use of Alcohol.

What do you think of this trailer? Let me know in the comments!

Get Your Gamer Geek On This Weekend at FORGE

It's a good weekend to be a geek. Not only was yesterday Star Wars Day, Geek Pride Day, and Towel Day, but the first annual FORGE Gaming Convention is being held this weekend at the Hyatt Regency in Downtown Lexington, Kentucky. Gaming stores Amazing Wonders and Cosmic Oasis among other local vendors will be set up hosting games. Whether you are a total n00b or seasoned gamer, FORGE is celebrating all things gaming. D&D, Pathfinder, and Savage Worlds will be just three of the platforms that you'll be able to play, but there will also be Collectible Card Games, Board Games, and a whole host of events at Forge. Deadly Sins Burlesque, Tinder Box Circus Sideshow, and Drunk & Sailor will be performing as well. On the whole, it's going to be an absolutely fantastic event. One day has already past and the fun continues through Sunday evening at 4 PM.

Q & A with Jasmine Hruschak

If you follow me on Twitter, you'll see that I retweet a lot of posts from Gamebreaker TV, an awesome network of shows related to video gaming. Check out their site for news updates related to your MMOs and other games, including World of Warcraft, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and Guild Wars 2. It was through GBTV that I was introduced to the wonderful Jasmine Hruschak, who at the time was a regular on a show about the game Rift. Though I never played the game in depth, I admired her commentary greatly.

Jasmine, known to many as IRLJasmine, streams games on her Twitch.tv channel, and hosts Q & A sessions with fans, including TMI Tuesday in the magical land of Tumblr. She was born and raised in Humboldt County, California and now travels back and forth between there and Southern California. She attends events like Blizzcon and PAX East, where she reports on gaming news. Jasbro was awesome enough to sit down and answer a few questions for me about what it's like to be a professional gamer.

Legendary 'Zelda' Musical

So, musicals are pretty awesome. The Buffy musical episode: awesome, Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog: fantastic, random musical episodes of other television shows: fantastic. And then, there are these gems that we find on the interwebs. Video after the break!

Kickstarter Spotlight: Witch Girls: Book of Shadows

Witch Girls Adventures is an independent role-playing game based on the award-winning Witch Girls comic books. Players create magic using characters who have adventures both in the real and magic worlds and learn how to harness their power. The game, which is for ages 11 and up, is the creation of Channel M productions. It was designed for female players, and looks specifically aimed at young girls who may be getting into roleplaying.

I recently found out about a Kickstarter project for Witch Girls: Book of Shadows, which will be a follow-up to Witch Girls Adventures. The goal for the project on Kickstarter was $2,000 and with 17 days to go 82 backers have pledged $3,517. However, the game's publishers have laid out the plans if they continue to exceed their goal. More pledges mean a much more polished product, so consider a donation!

Here is an example of the character sheet for Witch Girls: Book of Shadows.

Learn more about Witch Girls Adventures on the game's website, Twitter, and Facebook.

TERA and Diablo III Open Beta Testing This Weekend Only

Soon to be released MMO TERA is having an open beta weekend. I've downloaded the client and will be checking it out tomorrow. A wild Diablo III open beta appears! Yes, folks, it's true. From 1200 EST on Friday until 1000 EST on Monday everyone will have a chance to play in the Diablo III beta. Conicidence? Absolutely not.

The TERA testing is open to everyone who uses the code TERABETA on the En Masse website. Access the Diablo III beta through your Battle.net account, if you're already a World of Warcraft or Star Craft II player. Don't have a Battle.net account? No problem! You can set one up here. 

There will be a Guild Wars 2 open beta next weekend, so I hope to check that out as well. Meanwhile, I still haven't received my invite for the World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria beta. EPIC SAD FACE.

Let me know what you think of the games! I'll be sharing my thoughts next week following the conclusion of the open beta testing.

PS Star Wars: The Old Republic is holding free to play weekends in April and through the end of today you can receive $20 off the game in the Origin store.

Is An Elder Scrolls MMO Announcement Coming In May?

You can find this and other articles by me at Word of the Nerd Online!

After the success of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, there has been a tremendous amount of speculation as to the likelihood of Bethesda Game Studios releasing an Elder Scrolls MMO. Take off the tinfoil hats, folks, because there may be an announcement sooner than you think. Kotaku, via Tom's Guide, has late-breaking news that the makers of Oblivion will be unveiling their plans to market a massively-multiplayer game based on their Elder Scrolls franchise. Now, there are few details at this point, but it looks as if Bethesda and ZeniMax Online Studios will be making their announcement in May.

Of the few details that have been leaked, where this game would fit on the Elder Scrolls timeline seems to be the most important. Sources are reporting that it would take place a full millennium before Skyrim, during the "Second Era", which basically places it several hundreds of years before any of the current Elder Scrolls games. As of now, there will be three factions. It's not clear where each of the playable races of the current Elder Scrolls will fit into each of these factions, or if all races will be able to choose their own faction.

One detail that seems not to have surfaced at this point is the subscription model. With so many games going free-to-play, one can't help but wonder if an Elder Scrolls MMO would hang with the likes of World of Warcraft and Star Wars the Old Republic. The trajectory of the industry seems to be placing more and more games into a free-to-play model, but time will tell when details of Elder Scrolls Online are fully revealed!


Check back for any news as it develops!

RPG Spotlight: Marvel Heroic Roleplaying

Have you ever wanted to roll up a character based on your favorite superhero? You're in luck! The long-awaited roleplaying system based on the Marvel Universe has been released courtesy of Margaret Weis Productions.

Mists of Pandaria Press Tour Announced

 World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria was officially announced at Blizzcon 2011 and the introduction of the Pandaren as a playable race, a new continent, and over-arching focus on "war" as the main theme and villain of has been met with mixed reactions. There has been little information released since the October event, but today MMO-Champion posted a blue post which announced a Mists of Pandaria Press Tour.

A Break in the Mists: Alert the Press!

Since the announcement of World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria at BlizzCon 2011, we’ve been hard at work on all of the new game features, environments, dungeons, and other content that awaits adventurers. Today, we’re inviting members of the press worldwide to get an updated sneak peek and some hands-on time with the latest version of World of Warcraft’s fourth expansion at an event taking place March 13 - 15.

Source: MMO-Champion

If you want to know more about what lies hidden within the mists of Pandaria, wait for the season’s end….  
MMO-Champion said that the Cataclysm Friend & Family Alpha started on the first week of May and the actual Cataclysm press tour happened a month later. So, could we be seeing the Alpha starting in the next couple of weeks? Blizzard has said that they wanted to increase the frequency of expansion releases. Cataclysm has been out for nearly 14 months so hopefully we'll be hearing something soon!

What are you thoughts on the new World of Warcraft expansion? Leave a message in the comments!

Epic Rap: Star Wars The Old Republic

Star Wars: The Old Republic officially releases on Tuesday, December 20. It's the latest game from Bioware and the next chapter in the Star Wars video game franchise, set thousand of years before the rise of Darth Vader. Youtube user Dan Bull, who recently rapped about Skyrim, has just released a new rap based on SWTOR. The video features a lot of footage from the game and is very well made. Kudos to Dan Bull!

Were you granted early access to SWTOR or will you be picking it up on release? Share your thoughts!

Second Day of Christmas: WoW vs SWTOR Holiday Singoff

Apologies, I am certainly behind in my 12 Days of Christmas postings. That just means we get Christmas cheer well past Christmas!

With World of Warcraft's patch 4.3 coming out just in time for the release of Star Wars: The Old Republic, there has been some heavy debate (and friendly banter) and comparison of the two games. Some are calling SWTOR a WoW-killer while others say that TOR will crash and burn.

Mike B aka Fony of Gamebreaker.tv and ZAM.com's BFF Report has created 42 episodes of  the World of Warcraft machinima show Blizz Blues for Gamebreaker including this video "12 Days of Smack Talkin'." It features Darnell, the host of Blizz Blues, singing about his "rogue only legendary" that was released with patch 4.3. However, his holiday fun was interrupted by a visitor from a galaxy far, far away.

I think that Blizz Blues gets better with every episode. I've always been a huge fan of machinima and Mike's doing an awesome job!





Be sure to check out the other episodes of Blizz Blues!
Question: Are you a WoW player? Do you think that the game is on death's door? Leave a comment below!

Chuck Norris is a... melee hunter?

Really, Blizz? Pretty sure that since your next expansion is introducing the Monk class, that you should have gone with Chuck Norris as a Monk. Also, having Chuck Norris as a spokesman would have been relevant about 6 years ago, but right now I'm just not feeling it. While I do like the "Hi, I'm X and I'm a X" commercials, this is probably my least favorite of those released.

Steam has been hacked

Valve is the latest in a string of companies to have their information accessed by outside means. On Sunday, November 6, the Steam's forums were attacked, which lead to an in-depth search by investigators. They concluded that a database containing personal informal such as user names and passwords was accessed. Valve founder Gabe Newell released a statement regarding the attack. While there is no evidence of credit card number violations. it is probably wise that everyone with a Steam account go ahead and change their password. I, for one, even changed the associated email address.

I am truly sorry this happened, and I apologize for the inconvenience.

Gabe.

Stay tuned for more information as it develops.

Epic Skyrim Rap

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim releases this Friday, 11-11-11. To get you through the next few days Youtube user Dan Bull has released an Epic Skyrim Rap. It's got mad flow, dog. For shizzle, my nizzle. In all seriousness, it's a very cleverly constructed rhyme and incorporates a lot of aspects of the game, e.g. the ability to use magic in one hand and wield a weapon in the other. Pretty sweet. Check out the video after the break!

Code for discount on products from DriveThruRPG.com!

1. We are now affiliates of DriveThruRPG.com and will be part of their blog program. What this means for you, oh gentle readers, is that we can hook you all up with reviews of hot games as well as some codes for free and discounted products! Who doesn't love free stuff?!

Uncharted 3 launch trailer released (Plus bonus video of Harrison Ford playing the game!)

We're about two weeks away from the launch of the third game in the Uncharted series. This time, Nathan Drake is searching for a 16th century artifact, only to be pitted against a "shadowy clandestine organization." There are elements of the occult, secrets and treachery. In short, it. looks. awesome.

Sony has just released the official launch trailer for the game, which comes out November 1. Watching it, you totally get a sense of what the game is all about. There are a few minor spoilers, but I think playing the game you'll get so immersed in all of the action, you won't even realize.

Check out the trailer and an extra special video after the break.

Gamebreaker to team with WoWInsider and Wowhead for epic Blizzcon party

Okay, I'm not going to Blizzcon. That would be pretty sweet, but it doesn't make much sense because I'm not playing WoW right now. To satisfy my need for all things World of Warcraft, I follow posts from WoWInsider, WoWhead/Zam and of course watch Legendary on Gamebreaker.tv. Those three entities of awesomeness are teaming up to host a reader meetup at Blizzcon that sounds like it's going to be pretty sweet.

You do not need to have a ticket to Blizzcon to attend the party, which will be held at the Anabella Hotel on October 20. There will be awesome swag, a chance to meet your favorite personalities from Gamebreaker, WoWInsider, and sites like Tankspot and Zam. It sounds like it is going to be a ton of fun and if you're not in California, like me, you can watch a live stream of the party on Gamebreaker.tv! 

There's even a Facebook event page for the party. So, if you'll be in the Anaheim area on October 20, even if you're not going to Blizzcon, check out the party, starting at 5pm PDT.