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Sins of a Solar Empire
Developer: Ironclad Games
Publisher: Stardock
Price: $39.99
Platform: PC
Category: Strategy
ESRB Rating: T for Teen
Release Date: February 4, 2008 (US)

A really simple, two-word summary of Sins of a Solar Empire would be “ridiculously epic”. If you think spending 2 hours playing a single RTS game is long, then I’ll tell you right now, this is not your game. My shortest game on the smallest map with one enemy clocked in at over 3 hours. But for those who love their gigantic games of galactic conquest to span multiple solar systems and hours, then this truly is a gift from the strategy-game gods.

Sins of a Solar Empire is in the simplest description an RTS set in space. You build space stations, take over planets, and command massive fleets of frigates and cruisers. But where this game differentiates itself from other space strategy games, like say Homeworld 2 , is the addition of 4X turn based strategy mainstays, like culture, trade, and long term tactics.

You begin a game of Sins of a Solar Empire with a single planet and a couple of construction ships. This planet (and all other planets, stars, large asteroids, and various other space oddities) is surrounded by a “gravity well” where your buildings, spaceships, and resources (crystal and metal asteroids) are located. Your spaceships travel through warp lanes that connect these gravity wells, which makes the maps focused and strategic. By making a majority of the map that would ordinarily be empty space actually empty space the maps end up very concise and goal oriented. Claiming a resource rich planet or the only route into another solar system creates true tactical points worth fighting over. Resources are harvested in much the same way as Company of Heroes or Dawn of War – once you have built your harvesting buildings resources will automatically be gathered. The last resource, money, is gathered through taxes collected on your planets or trade routes you can set up between your colonies.

Continue reading “Gaming Steve Review: Sins of a Solar Empire” »

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Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment

According to a blogged up blog post on the interblogs, a Netflix survey that’s supposedly been making the rounds suggests that the service may be coming to both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. If you believe what Seanbajuice has to say, the survey asked, “If as part of your Netflix membership you could instantly watch movies and TV episodes on your TV with your PS/3 or XBOX 360, how likely would you/anyone in your household be to do that?” The survey then goes on to state that both the PS3 and the 360 will be able to play streaming media by using a “special Netflix disc.” Here’s the kicker: there won’t be any extra fees besides the $3 charge for the disc. Of course, nothing is mentioned about how the PS3 will handle the Microsoft-based DRM, and while the whole thing sounds too good to be true, there have been rumblings about this recently, so let’s just cross our fingers and make a wish, okay?

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Filed under: Gaming

Make no mistake, Nintendo’s Wii has been hacked to pieces, but there’s nothing like an all new method that keeps the soldering iron residing in the utility drawer to get us all hot and bothered. Unfortunately, what you can see in the video waiting after the jump is only a proof of concept at the moment, but it does show that Twilight Princess can be exploited and homebrew code can be booted directly from an SD card. Also of note, certain versions of the game — most notably, RVL-RZDE-0A-2 USA — have reportedly been found to not play nice with the aforementioned hack, but hey, it’s a start. Click on through!

[Via Exophase, thanks zshadow]

Continue reading Wii Twilight hack could enable homebrew booting from SD cards

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New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush is scheduled to give a deposition on Feb. 25 in connection with the lawsuit filed against him by Lloyd Lake, Lake’s attorney said.

Kirk Radomski was a source, but he says he wasn’t the only source of the steroids in baseball clubhouses. On the eve of his appearance at a congressional hearing, Radomski talks to ESPN.com’s Mike Fish about baseball’s steroids problem.

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