Remowned

As I have alluded to briefly on this blog, and at exhausting length elsewhere, there are few things I crave more than Pikmin–particular its multiplayer incarnation as seen in Pikmin 2 on GameCube. Before we even knew what the Wii’s controller would do (and before we knew its eventually riot-inciting name), Shigeru Miyamoto hinted that the machine’s interface would be perfect for a Pikmin game, which was my main reason for being excited about the thing.

Of course, since then Miyamoto hasn’t really said much about Pikmin one way or the other. During last E3, I tried to squeeze some information out of then-Nintendo corporate communications senior director Beth Llewelyn and didn’t get very far. It’s Nintendo’s best new core-oriented franchise in ages as far as I’m concerned, so it kills me that there haven’t been any announcements of an online-enabled Pikmin 3 for Wii.

But that might change soon! (more…)

I’ve never really had any familiarity with that tradition of specialty board games like Settlers of Catan and its ilk, those games that always seem to have German designers and feature strong economic elements–like a lot of niche hobbies, it’s absolutely huge once you become aware of it, but if somebody involved doesn’t induct you into it, you are extremely unlikely to ever become aware of it.

I took my first (and, so far, only) steps into that world when a friend of mine showed me Alhambra, positing that we, The Guys, who had never played these sorts of games, would enjoy it. He was right. I spent about a month in San Diego earlier this year hanging out with my old high school buddies, and we played that Goddamned game about twice a day every day for weeks straight. It was then that the corruption seen in this post’s headline was spawned. (more…)