It was supposed to be a dream come true – Amy Hennig, the writer and director of many classics (most notably the “Uncharted” trilogy), was hired by Visceral Games (the people behind “Dead Space”) to make an “Uncharted”-style “Star Wars” game. I mean, I couldn’t come up with a better team-up if I tried, except maybe From Software developing a “Castlevania” game with Koji Igarashi at the helm or something. In any case, while literally all we saw from the game was maybe three seconds of footage during one of publisher EA’s many press conferences, I believe all of us “Star Wars” fans were beyond stoked to get our hands on it! But alas, it wasn’t meant to be. On October 17th, it was announced that Visceral Games would be shut down, and its “Star Wars” game – retooled by a different developer from the grounds-up.

This, of course, sparked a lot of outrage, since EA’s comments on the matter made it seem like the game was being changed from a linear single-player game into a massive multiplayer shooter in the style of “Destiny”, which wasn’t going to be a good fit for it at all and made many gamers concerned about the game’s future, and the future of gaming in general. Was this what we were going to be getting from now on, games as a service rather than as an experience? Something that costs a substantial sum of money from the get-go, and then costs even more in microtransactions, loot boxes and a never-ending string of expansion packs? It seems like a rather dire future, especially in a world where single-player games like “Shadow of War” and the newer iterations of the “Assassin’s Creed” series encourage you to spend real cash on them, as if they’re some kind of free to play mobile game and not a major AAA release.

So, what’s going on here? Did EA have a perfectly good single-player “Star Wars” game on their hands that they thought wasn’t going to make money in the long run, and so cancelled it in favor of something that would? Well… No, not really. Jason Schreier, a journalist famous for his many, MANY connections within the gaming industry, posted a gigantic post-mortem of the game’s development, exposing that, according to quite a few of its actual developers, the game was in trouble from the get-go. Its lack of focus and direction changed the core principles of the game numerous times, necessitating the hiring of Amy Hennig as creative director. Problem is, she decided to assume full creative control over the project (rather than merely writer/director like before), stretching herself far too thin due to what Visceral employees perceived as a lack of trust in them. The fact that EA essentially forced Visceral to work on “Battlefield: Hardline” smack-dab in the middle of the “Star Wars” game’s development definitely didn’t help morale. They went way over budget, making it quite clear that if the game was released it would never break even, let alone rake in a profit, thus necessitating the studio’s closure.

Did the cancellation of the game have anything to do with EA’s desire to turn their games into services? Yeah, partially. Reportedly, one of the executives said “FIFA Ultimate Team makes a billion dollars a year. Where’s your version of that?” So even if the game was actually released, chances are it would’ve featured some form of loot box system or something along those lines. But the sad truth is that the game was pretty far from being released no matter what. Many mistakes were made very early in development, and even the people who work on it admitted that there wasn’t a huge chance of it ever seeing the light of day. For better or for worse, its cancellation – which coincides with the release of “Battlefront II”, another EA “Star Wars” game which heavily features loot boxes, may mark a pretty radical shift in the focus of a company that not too long ago gave us smaller, single-player oriented classics like “Mirror’s Edge”. Linear single-player games aren’t dead, not by a long shot. But as games become more and more expensive to produce, they’re also going to need to bring in more and more profits to justify their costs. And, to be fair, I personally feel like adding lootboxes or microtransactions for those that want them is a better step towards that than outright increasing the base price of the games themselves by 20-30%. It’s a decent compromise, even if it’s one that will inevitably cost us some decent games in the future. But Visceral’s “Star Wars” is not among them. It was doomed way before the talk of microtransactions was ever on the table.

When it comes to online games, most people already have this big, triple-A experience that they like to sink hours at a time into. Maybe it’s “World of Warcraft”, or “Dota 2”, or “Overwatch”, or “Runescape”… Okay, maybe not “Runescape”, but still, you get my point. Everybody who plays games (and many who don’t do it regularly) have that one online game that they like to play mercilessly. But what about games that you don’t play for hours on end? What about experiences which are best enjoyed 15-20 minutes at a time? Games that rely on communication and social interaction rather than on mindless shooting or gaining levels? Games that you can play in your browser for free, and thus you can totally sneak a session or two in the office when nobody’s looking (please don’t fire me, boss)?

Of course, I’m talking about one game in particular, and that is “Town of Salem”! Have you ever played the party game “Mafia”, or “Werewolf”, or “One Night”? It’s known by many names, but the premise is always the same – a town is being terrorized by monsters that murder its inhabitants one by one. Nobody knows who these monsters are, only that they’re hiding among the townspeople. Can they put their paranoia aside and work together to discover the infiltrators, or will the forces of evil win? If an online game where you win not through headshots or DPS, but through careful manipulation and investigation of your fellow players sounds exciting to you, then you’re in for a real treat!

A standard game consists of 15 players. 9 belong to the Town and have different roles, and abilities that come with them – the Doctor can heal people at night, saving them from death; the Jailor can imprison people and interrogate them, executing them if they seem suspicious; the Investigator can gather clues about other players’ roles, etc. None of the townspeople know who the others are, or what the roles of their fellow players are – they need to rely on the in-game chat, and the clues they’ve gathered, to decide their course of action. The Mafia, on the other hand, has no such problems – the three players within it know each other’s identities and can work together to turn the town against itself while also killing one person per night. Additionally, there are three wild cards – the Executioner, who is assigned a target that they need to get lynched at all cost (more on that later), the Jester, whose goal in life is to be lynched, and the Serial Killer, who kills townspeople indiscriminately regardless of their alignment.

Every day, the townspeople may vote on whoever is the most suspicious to them. If a single person receives votes from more than half of the town’s population, they get put on trial and may be lynched, if found guilty. Upon a townsperson’s death, their role is revealed alongside a will that they can prepare while alive. The contents of the will are often taken as an absolute truth (because why would somebody lie if they’re already dead), but the more skilled players may deliberately cause more misdirection like that (for example, if they know who the Jester is, they could implicate them as being the Serial Killer in their will and get them lynched).

“Town of Salem” isn’t your traditional online game, and as such won’t appeal to everybody. But if you’re looking for a break from your online game of choice, and would like to work on your social skills a little bit, this just might be the game for you! Or maybe it might become the game of choice for you! I know it almost has for me!

Hello again! My long-time readers (hello to all two of you!) would know that literally one of the first articles I ever wrote had to do with slots in videogames. I’ve been meaning to write a follow-up article about blackjack for a while now, but I never really had the time to do something like this… Until now! Ladies, gentlemen, others, please gaze upon this most marvelous thing of beauty! Now, you might be asking yourself “Stanley, what’s even the point of an article like this? There’s plenty of free blackjack online, so what does it matter if some videogames feature it?” Well, yeah, you’re right – people can always go to a site like realmoneyonlinecasino.co.uk and find themselves a decent online casino, but it’s a different thing entirely when you do it while submerged within a videogame, wouldn’t you say?

Now, first and foremost, it’s important to note that pretty much any game that takes place in Vegas, or a version of it, probably has playable blackjack in it. Case in point – “Fallout: New Vegas”. The clue’s in the name, people! After a nuclear Armageddon pretty much wipes out most of the human race (read: anyone who didn’t hide in a vault when the attacks happened), the survivors need to rebuild civilization atop the ruins, and obviously the first thing they build is a casino, in which you can play several different games including blackjack. “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas”, while not a game which takes place exclusively in Vegas, or even in Vegas at all, still features a very Vegas-inspired setting – the town of Las Venturas. In their casinos you can play several different games, with the most interesting one in my opinion being, of course, blackjack. I’ve heard rumors that you can play blackjack in “Dead Rising 2” which, you guessed it, takes place in Vegas, but alas I can neither confirm nor deny them, since I haven’t played the game.

Let’s go a bit backwards in time now and examine one of my favourites, “Red Dead Redemption”, which takes place in the final days of the Old West. There, you can play some rather typical frontier games such as horseshoe throwing, poker and, you guessed it, blackjack! I didn’t even know that blackjack was being played in the Old West, but hey, I’m no historian, and who knows, maybe it was. Modern casino games are older than people suspect, after all. But my absolute favourite use of blackjack in a game has to do with the absolutely brilliant “Always Sometimes Monsters”, in which you play a person who was set to marry their SO (you can choose both of their genders), until life got in the way, things went downhill and the relationship ended. Years later you receive an invitation to your SO’s wedding and decide to get there and stop it, Hollywood style! Well, once you do get there you get invited to your SO’s bachelor/bachelorette party, which, of course, takes place in Vegas and allows you to play blackjack. Now, the reason why I really like this particular instance of the game is because it isn’t just some mindless game mechanic, it actually ties into the plot – you pretty much have to play the game enough in order to get the best ending, which, while controversial, is pretty awesome in my opinion.

Hey guys and gals! How have you been? What have you been up to? Jeez it has been some time, right! Well worry not, I am back and just look what I got you! A sweet trip to the good old days when gaming was…well…not that it’s bad now but you know what I mean. Just think of those boxes and boxes and tons of parts of useful and useless consoles, you know the ones you probably still gave hidden under the bed or in an attic somewhere. Yeah, I know, nostalgia is a b*tch!
The project I am about to share with you will sure put a smile on your face and might be just on time if you are looking for a present for a geeky friend of yours (or for yourself, why not!). Ah, and that drivel of nonsense for St. Valentiens is coming again this year…oh well. Check it out.
Mark and Bill are two game lovers, just like you and me. They came up with the brilliant idea (wait for it!) to turn those sad memories from something depressing into something positive and arty! And what better way than sticking your favourite games on the wall!
Those guys have thought it all through in details – they put your favourite childhood games in frames. This way they will not be gathering dust, will be safe and the best – still accessible! The mounts Mark and Bill make are easy to open so you can get that Nintendo out at any point and play like the big kid we know you are! Linked to the Wall is on Kickstarter, so if you like what you see you should sure give those guys a hand in achieving their dream. There are 50ish hours left, so they will likely not reach target for the funding but hey, still a great idea! You will get some rewards for backing their project so do check it out.
So there, I know, not your regular casino talk but I did feel a bit nostalgic after the holidays – family visits and spring tidying up, you know how it goes! That’s it from me folks, hope you enjoyed this as much as I did, go hang some games on those walls of yours and come back in a day or so for more from the world of casino, slots, games and …well you must know me by now!

Greetings, chaps! My name is Stanley Wilson, proud citizen of the country of hockey and maple syrup currently residing within the Queen’s domain (editor’s note: he’s a Canadian living in the UK)! Ever since I was a little boy I’ve been unbelievably nerdy. I know, I know, a lot of assume that we were the nerdy kids in class, but I doubt many of us were so nerdy that even the nerds bullied us! And they had a good reason – from the tender age of three I have been interested in videogames, comic books and practically nothing else! I am proud to say that I spearheaded a generation – while today it’s the norm for kids to stay at home and stare at screens instead of play outside, I was already doing that twenty years ago! And in the very few times when I was forced onto the playground by my loving parents, I always pretended to be Wolverine or Batman, but not the silly Batman who refuses to kill and whines about his parents, but rather the old Batman from “The Dark Knight Returns” who snapped the Joker’s neck in cold blood and then spat on his corpse. What a lovely childhood!

As I grew up, my nerdy interests got even nerdier – I got in contact with the rest of my peers who were stuck at the bottom of the social ladder and organized a Dungeons & Dragons group, later moving on to playing Shadowrun. But after one fateful session in which our dungeon master decided to be an ass and decided to fill some sprinklers with DMSO (a drug that, when squirted on a character’s skin causes them to absorb everything else squirted on it) and poison, thus killing the entire party in one fell swoop, we decided to cease roleplaying out of sheer frustration and instead spend the rest of the night playing poker. That was a pretty big eye opener for me, because as it turned out I actually had an innate passion for all sorts of gambling activities. My friends and I would gather every week to play poker instead of roleplaying, but sadly that wouldn’t last, and soon enough I had to move to the UK for personal and professional reasons (editor’s note: a long-distance relationship and a job offer for 3 times as much money for twice as little work). Since I couldn’t find anyone else to play poker with, I decided to turn to online casinos, and have been playing on those for a few years now. And since no nerdy guy’s life is ever complete without their own blog, I decided to start the Digital Apocalypse, where I’ll talk about gambling, gaming, comic books, roleplaying, really whatever I feel like it. I hope you enjoy!