What we're playing: Red Dead Dangerous
Welcome to American video games in 2017, where being anti-Nazi is no longer a safe bet. David Fletcher, one of the designers behind The Witness, is using that same game engine to design real-world architectural spaces, like in the redesign of San Francisco's dilapidated South Park. And if you're into non FDA-approved pills, then GodMode has a bunch of ingredients that supposedly sharpen up brain functions, but, if nothing else, "should help you remember where you put your keys."
What are you playing?
Kinsey Danzis, Staff Writer, kdanzis@gamingnexus.com
I finally faced my biggest fear—dabbling in mods, which I know nothing about—in order to download Sky Factory in Minecraft. After a few false starts with versions and LAN stuff, I'm in it with my partner and fully immersed in the magical world of chicken breeding, of all things. I've never been a huge Minecraft player, but Sky Factory just seemed too interesting to pass up. There's more in this mod than I could do in a year. It's pretty much worth the five hours we spent trying to figure out why we couldn't both play via LAN.
Dave Gamble, Staff Writer, dgamble@gamingnexus.com
In remembrance of the personal depravity I exhibited in GTA V, I swore that I was going to be a good guy this time around in Red Dead Redemption. Sadly, good intentions have a way of falling by the wayside when bad things happen. It started out just fine; I managed to survive an attempt at martyring myself via an old compatriot by the name of Bill Williamson, that survival being due to the kindness of a somewhat homely and brusque lady that had managed to carve out a spot in the West that kept her just above a subsistence level.
I learned a lot about being a ranch hand from her; before I knew it, I was herding cattle and breaking horses. I also learned that hard labor like that doesn’t pay well. And I wouldn’t have cared—money didn’t mean much to me, right up until the time I accidentally got on the wrong side of the law and ended up with a $140 bounty on my head.
I learned from that, too. I learned that a cash-starved government would forgive nearly anything, for the right price. I struggled mightily to earn the money I needed to get back on the right track. I tried bounty hunting, game hunting, and continued to pay back my debt to society by hooking up with sundry nefarious schemers. I eventually earned $200 which I used to help a stranger buy some land from an old coot that was reluctant to sell. Once I had given the bitter old codger the $200 in exchange for the land deed, I started to ride back to the guy that had wanted the deed in the first place. As I was riding, I came across the nasty old guy that had sold it to me walking down a lonely road. At night. Alone. Opportunity knocked and I answered—I took back my $200 and kept the deed for myself. My descent into a life of crime, hastened along by the liars, cheats, and backstabbers that seem to make up the preponderance of Western citizenry, was complete.
I console my aching conscience thusly: I didn’t make the West what it is, but the West made me into what I am.
I am John Marston: bounty hunter, vigilante, outlaw. And, from the point of view of the government, a revenue stream.
I am John Marston: if you see me coming, it’s best if you turn around and go the other way.
Randy Kalista, Staff Writer, rkalista@gamingnexus.com
Hook, line, and sinker, I'm back into Elite Dangerous. Not for The Return update. But more for the space-trucking loneliness. More for the mundane logistics of moving one pile of goods over to another pile. More for the workmanlike grind of inching toward a bigger, better, badder spaceship. Wrestling with legal and illegal goods is the pinnacle of my day. It all depends on who's the controlling faction in any given chunk of outer space. I'm not making a million a minute. But there's something to be said for making money the old-fashioned way. It'll feel good once I'm in the driver's seat of that fully spec'd Lakon Type-7 Transporter. It's one of the real trucker-mesh-hat freighters of the space lanes. I'd already be in it if I hadn't drunkenly purchased it too soon last week. Then sold it back for an Asp Explorer. Then sold that for a Type-6 Transporter. Then sold that for a Keelback. Don't drink and Elite, people.
Kevin O’Connell, Staff Writer, koconnell@gamingnexus.com
So I am on my third run-through after beating Forza 7 two other times. So I haven't so much as thought of not playing this outstanding game. So what? The game is still pretty amazing. I have run into the same name glitch where there are no names on a couple of drivers, but I still suspect it's from being early in the release. I will have to say that I've become a bit more frustrated with the loot box system as well. The lower ones net a decent payout (approximately $100K for $60K purchased), but the higher ones are a crap shoot when you don't receive a car. Paying $150K for a badge and three mods is utter hogwash. Doesn't change the game for me, but is poor planning, in my opinion. Well, back to driving cars that I've always wanted to sample...at 130 mph.
