Steve Jackson is a legendary figure in the world of tabletop gaming. His company, Steve Jackson Games, was a prolific publisher of sci-fi themed wargames in the ‘70s and ‘80s with titles like Car Wars and GURPS, the “Generic Universal Role-Playing System.” Now, thanks to a monstrously successful Kickstarter campaign, one of the company’s biggest hits is available for PC on Steam.
Tabletop wargaming is undergoing a renaissance right now, with new Kickstarter projects cropping up every month and games based on Fallout and Civilization hitting the market. Board games have proven to be the most popular game-related category on funding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo.
The concept behind Ogre is simple enough – it’s an asymmetrical futuristic combat game, where one player controls the titular “Ogre” (a giant, nearly indestructible tank), while the other player wields a variety of conventional units such as hovercraft, infantry, and armor in a never-ending world war across irradiated battlefields. First released in 1977, the game was played on a hex grid with various terrain modifications using a large rulebook, damage charts, and multiple dice rolls. It was basically Bismark, except with hovercraft and laser beams.
Forty years later, Ogre is now available on Steam for a new generation of wargamers as the result of a wildly successful Kickstarter fundraiser. Back in 2012, Steve Jackson started the campaign to create a “Designer’s Edition” of Ogre, a massive 14-pound behemoth that would sell for $100. The modest goal of the initial campaign was $20,000.
As of this writing, funding has surpassed $900,000.
One of the campaign’s “stretch goals” was a computer version of Ogre, and it’s now available on Steam for $25. Developed by Auroch Digital, it’s a turn-based strategy game with a 10-mission solo campaign that pits you against different Ogres (Mark I to Mark VI) in various scenarios, as well as online or hot-seat multiplayer. The game also allows you to design your own maps and scenarios for custom games against computer or human opponents.
For fans of classic wargames, this is great news. Jackson has already announced that another campaign for Car Wars will begin soon (another stretch goal), so hopefully this will start a new renaissance of classic tabletop-style wargaming.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.