It's been quite an extravaganza of good strategy gaming lately.  Not due to new releases, but continued support for some games that have been out for a while! 

New patches for Fall From Heaven 2 continue to make that game the best successor to Master of Magic's throne -- a pretty nice accomplishment for a free, fan-supported (uber) mod.  I'm still vexed by some AI issues and it occasionally shows some rough spots around the edges but you can't beat the price.  Some of the core talent for this mod could easily hold their own in the professional world, IMO.

Meanwhile, the 5th update for Sim City Societies has moved that game squarely from "good idea, poor execution" to "compelling city builder".  The original had some clever ideas but balance issues and lack of focus were so severe that it just didn't quite come together, no matter how much I wanted to like it (and I tried quite a bit).  The recent patches add some badly needed rebalancing of the economy, making the buildings more unique, and the new scenario / challenge goal structure gives it exactly the kind of framework it needed.  Good stuff, for a while I was worried that Tilted Mill had hit a rough patch. 

Last, but not least, the 2nd expansion for Europa Universalis 3, "In Nomine" is out.  You need both the core EU3 game and the previous expansion ("Napoleon's Ambition") to play, and I'm a little vexed at the way Paradox charges for core changes that seem more like patch content than expansion content... but those are just nitpicks.  I'm happy to spend more to flesh out EU3, another game with more potential than actual fun right out of the box.  I haven't had much time with In Nomine yet but it looks like the combination of streamlining out some busy work + adding some nation-specific flavor and goals will go a long way towards providing what I was looking for in the game.

No summer drought of games this year, for sure.

I have to say, The World Ends With You is rapidly becoming one of my favorite games on the DS, maybe even a serious contender for my game of the year if the year didn't already include GTA IV.  I think this game may have slipped under the radar of a lot of gamers but give it another look.  Among the things I love about it:

-- Very interesting setting, modern day Shibuya but... not quite.

-- Exciting combat system that really uses the DS in a non-gimmicky way.

-- Great (if sometimes repetitive) soundtrack.  A particularly rare comment for a DS game!

-- More zany mechanics than you can shake a stylus at.

-- You get to read people's minds and make them say inappropriate things!

It's all quite polished.  I think this is probably the best thing I've seen out of Square-Enix in a while...

April NPD numbers are in.  As I'd kind of expected, the 360 version of GTA IV outsold the PS3 version, to the tune of 1.85 : 1.  Honestly, a year ago I would have expected it to be 3:1, so that represents some increased momentum for the PS3 in my opinion.

But I could barely believe my eyes when I saw the console numbers.  711k for the Wii, against a dead heat between 360 and PS3 (188k / 187k).  711k.

711k.

That's just astoundingly good for Nintendo.  I was a major skeptic a year or two ago, and I still find that there is very little overlap between the kinds of games I play on the Wii vs those on the 360 & PS3.  But hey, I've got to admit that Super Smash Brothers Brawl and Boom Blox have been seeing their share of time around our house.  There is no question that the Wii hits a kind of fundamental chord that resonates with non-gamers in a powerful way.  It will be very interesting to see what ramifications that has on the rest of the industry... it's still quite rare for a non-Nintendo Wii game to break into the console charts.

Boom Blox completely took over the Fermier household this weekend.  Physics-y goodness, great multiplayer, and lots of explosions.  A hit with all members of the family, including my Mom, wife, and sister, none of whom are exactly hardcore gamers.  Wonderful use of the Wii controller to be both unique and in harmony with the gameplay.

Alas, the next to last level in the fairly-short "Adventure" mode is tuned ridiculously poorly.  It is literally about 100x harder than any other level in the game up to that point.  Fortunately, there are tons of other puzzles to play instead.  That kind of failure is really shoddy work in an other wise very nicely put together game. 

As a bonus, Robin Hunicke and Doug Church, both friends of mine, worked on the game!  Hooray and congrats!

In totally unrelated news, I decided to try out this "Twitter" thing... http://twitter.com/xemu .  You can "follow" it if you want a lot of pointless and cryptic (but more frequent!) updates about stuff going on at any given moment in time.  Will I keep updating it?  Who knows?  But I'm having fun with it so far.

BlogHarbor doesn't seem to be cool enough to use the Twitter widgets that they provide for blog integration (or I failed my skill check).  Another reason I keep thinking of switching my blog over to one of the more common blogging services, but I haven't quite worked up the energy.  Inertia is a powerful force.

Looks like it:  http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117985365.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

Man, I'm so happy for the success that Bioshock has had.  And a tiny bit jealous, I'll admit -- though I've no regrets about the course my life has taken since leaving Boston, particularly in the form of my 2 little boys (we didn't really want to raise kids in Boston).

But a movie?  How cool is that?  I don't know if Gore Verbinski will do a good job with it, but that's a darned sight better than Uwe Boll.  Relatively few games have the kind of narrative depth to really support a movie, and I certainly consider Bioshock in that category.  Hmm, maybe after I come down off my GTA addiction I'll do a second playthrough of Bioshock on Hard to get all the Achievements....

I have to admit I'm enjoying the multiplayer mode in GTA IV a lot more than I expected to.  But I find myself in a dilemma -- I haven't finished the main storyline game yet.  I like using voice comms in multiplayer games, but all it takes is one jerk in a ranked game spouting off about the game's ending to ruin it for me.  Fortunately that's much less of a risk just playing friendly games with people I know.

I've become a person really good at acquiring and processing information.  Being in a mode where there is information I am actively avoiding is very odd, but you just can't un-learn knowledge.  I'm running into this problem with my other current obsession, which is downloading episodes of Survivor from Amazon's Unbox.  Elise and I have become quite addicted to the show, which I somehow completely wrote off when it first aired.  Now we're catching up, but Amazon makes it quite difficult for those wanting to avoid spoilers -- the very pages where you go to download the episodes list the winners of the game!  So now I'm becoming strangely adept at navigating their web pages with my hand strategically placed to block out information.

My vacation in Liberty City is almost over - at least the immersive, stay-home-from-work-and-clear-the-schedule part of it anyways.  I am continually grateful for how understanding my wife is of my odd obsessions.  :)

I hope to write up some more detailed thoughts once I've finished the game and it has all settled in on me.  I'm about 35 hours of playtime in on it (plus some assorted multiplayer), not rushing through the missions but just enjoying the experience.  I had very very high expectations of the game, and despite a few warts I'm pleased that it has met (and sometimes exceeded) those expectations.  I'm not quite convinced it will displace San Andreas as my favorite of the entire series, but the two are apples and oranges in some ways...

Speaking of rushing through the game... apparently there is an Achievement for beating the main storyline in < 30 hours.  I sure hope no one tries to do that on their first time through.  This is a game to be savored, and just played for what it is rather than trying to beat the clock.  Personally, I'm saving that one for my inevitable second playthrough...