Invisible Gamer News

Welcome to Copero!  A lovely resort planet of the Chiss Ascendancy, with a dark secret.  This storyline for this flashpoint was written by Timothy Zahn, author of the Thrawn novels.  This is probably the closest SWTOR has come to being considered canon for years. Aristocra Saganu disapproves of your Jedi ways. Featuring the return of the influential and impeccably voiced Aristocra Saganu, from the Agent storyline, Copero is an exciting run through a beautiful world. omg god rays! Copero also brings back another Agent companion, Ensign Raina Temple - for better or for worse, depending on how your Agent felt about her.  I did my first playthrough of Copero as a Chiss Jedi, and for the first time in a long time, that made a huge difference in the story.  There are lines specifically for Chiss, and for Jedi, and for Chiss Jedi.  It is amazing. This place is prettier than Makeb, and that's saying something. Copero continues the dark storyline started in Betrayal at U

Who hasn't woke up one day dreaming of living through the French Revolution?  What, you haven't?  Well, whatever.  At least some people have!  Like the fine people at Joy Manfacturing Co., who are working on creating a game about this very scenario: Ambition: A Minuet in Power .  Play the part of Yvette, a young woman who takes an active part in the French Revolution - she's not just window dressing.  She's playing the court circles, making friends, spying on people, setting people up... just like high school, only with more guillotines.  Yvette is supposed to be searching for her lost love, but let's face it: we're all going to get this game to see how many people we can send to the scaffolds.  Tip: rename your victims after your high school bullies!  Instant catharsis. Joy Manufacturing Co. is a small team of creators and designers based in San Francisco, CA, and they make unique, creative, and interesting games.  Their Kickstarter is linked above, and I re

A Hand in the Darkness by Ertal Games is a BL Otome.  For those of you who were going to open a new window to look that up, let me save you a click: it's a visual romance novel but with boys kissing boys.  The game is available on Steam and from the developer's itch.io site.  The developer (a solo project, props and respect) writes in both English and Spanish, and while you might expect my major complaint to be about the translation quality, it's not. The game features three different love interests to pursue (and of course, get Steam achievements).  There's Damian, the rich rake who is unexpectedly mature; Rick, the smart one whose path I haven't finished yet; and Monty.  My problem with the game - which I enjoyed in all other respects - is Monty.  The stalker.  The controlling boyfriend who has no redeeming properties and causes a bizarre switch in the main character's behavior that I found both baffling and unpleasant.  Never have I rushed through a charac

I have a stack of articles to write up, mostly from Gen Con, and a full mailbox to go through of new things to write about. I also have some kind of horrible lung infection!  I refuse to say pneumonia.  I miss having health insurance. Oh well, hopefully I can get something done soon.

So, someone who has no idea that I am some sort of Internet blog-journalist-gamer-reviewer (I like to mix genres, okay) gave me a free key for the Early Access of a new game from Epic Games, Fortnite .  It's a... game where you gather materials, build forts, and then defend them from zombies.  You also attach weather balloons to vans, build possibly alien technology to combat zombies, and power things with blue goo.  And I thought I liked to mix genres....  Anyway, the game is fun, and does not take itself particularly seriously.  Except in the excellence of the mechanics. Building is fluid and simple, the harvesting mechanic is fun, the heroes and survivors all look different and interesting, and shooting/stabbing/burning/launching zombies is just as much fun as you think it will be.  The only thing I do not like is the minimap, which can be very confusing especially when searching for mission items in a party.  It's possible I am just directionally challenged, but I would l

Need to make last minute changes to your hotel reservation? Gen Con housing will close at 11:59 pm (Eastern), Monday, July 31 .  Beginning at 12 am Tuesday, August 1, reservations holders must communicate all change requests and cancellations directly to their assigned hotels. Please allow 24 hours for reservations to transfer from the Gen Con Housing system to the Hotel system. Hotels will charge reservation holders a non-refundable deposit equal to one-night room charge + tax per room starting as early as Tuesday, August 1. The balance of room fees will be charged at check-out. Deposits will be charged to the credit card used to secure the room reservation.  If the credit card on file does not have sufficient funds or is no longer valid, the hotel may cancel the reservation. You can review and change your credit card number online by using the "Modify Reservation" link in your Gen Con account ("My Housing" or "Housing" once you have signed in to

PAX Unplugged 2017 will be the first tabletop-focused PAX event.  Pax Unplugged will host a stable of prominent exhibitors, including Wizards of the Coast, Paizo, Fantasy Flight, Asmodee, and CMON, among many others. Tickets for the show are on sale now , and the event takes place November 17-19, 2017 at Philadelphia's Pennsylvania Convention Center. Part of Penny Arcade's international roster of events, PAX Unplugged will reflect the experience millions of PAX attendees have enjoyed for more than a decade, but with a spotlight on card, board and other tabletop games, celebrating the medium's rich and thriving culture. Attendees will have the opportunity to see the reveal of new and exciting titles, go hands-on with upcoming games, partake in tournaments and sit in on panels headlined by the industry's leading minds. While PAX Unplugged will cater to the tabletop industry and affiliated communities, a selection of video games featuring board and card game elements

Not just a band member.  Not just a musician.  Chester Bennington was a real person, and kind of a nerdy one at that.  I loved it.  I loved that I could listen to the music this man made without thinking that the band secretly wanted to erase me.  They did not, as many bands do, cater to one specific group.  They made music, and left it for you to decide if you wanted to listen to it or not.  But they also made games and played them, in addition to providing soundtracks for games.  They are on LINE.  They are on Discord.  Linkin Park is a pack of nerdy guys who make awesome music, and they lost a friend and a brother today.  I'm sad that I never got to see them perform live, and watch them not give a fuck that I was in the crowd, to see with my own eyes that I was the kind of fan they wanted. And, because someone else (Jamie Tworkowski, founder of TWLOHA , via AltPress ) has already said it better, I'm just going to quote here: If someone you care about is struggling, plea

The Secret World is an awesome game with a great setting and a fantastic story.  Seriously, it has some of the best NPCs and villains of any game, let alone any MMO.  Recently, they underwent Yet Another Change and rebooted as Secret World Legends , a free to play shared world action RPG with modernized combat and streamlined story.  I cannot let their flubs with the billing system get a pass, but there is already way too much about that on the official Reddit so I won't go into much detail aside from saying, yes, I was one of the people who got utterly screwed by HiPay and as someone who has worked in financial services back when I had a job, I can say that their screwups are completely inexcusable and it is only happening because Funcom was being cheap.  Or their CEO is dating the CEO of HiPay.  One or the other.  Aside from that, Secret World Legends is pretty awesome and I hope they follow through on their upcoming plans . I am a competitively casual player.  I like good gear

I'm sure you know this already if you play Star Wars: The Old Republic , but the new Manaan stronghold came out today.  Located on the water planet of Manaan, the house can be expanded 4 times and features a stronghold hook (hint: target it from the upstairs) and a glass floor so you can watch the Firaxa swim by your house (about every ten minutes or so). The new stronghold brings the total maximum of houses you can own to 6, but I'm still not sure if the Conquest bonus has been raised as well.  Pricing for the new stronghold: Stronghold unlock: 2,500 CC or 2,500,000 Credits Room 1 – Interior Expansion: 1,400 CC or 2,000,000 Credits Room 2 – Rooftop Garden: 800 CC or 975,000 Credits Room 3 – Deepwater Sanctuary (South): 1,150 CC or 1,450,000 Credits Room 4 – Deepwater Sanctuary (North): 1,150 CC or 1,450,000 Credits I have not purchased the house just yet (trying to decide if I want to use cartel coins or credits), but when I do, expect a picture post showing off

Arda Wigs , one of the best wigmakers around, has completed their midsummer restocking.  All backorders have been shipped, the colors you want should be available again, and more importantly, stuff will now start going on clearance as they start prepping for next season. Sadly, I have yet to find a good fabric store now that the local Jo-Ann's is gone so I will not be doing any cosplay at all this year.  Boo.  Well, I might still wear a wig.  And some jewelry.  I'll see what I can do.

Checker Book Publishing Group released a demo video of the upcoming re-release of the first ever superhero role-playing game, Superhero 2044.  This is a remake of the original system from 1974, a game not as well known as D&D but still paved the way for other superhero RPGs such as Villains and Vigilantes, Champions, and of course, DC Heroes.  And that led to superhero video games that didn't suck. Like City of Heroes/Villains and Batman: Arkham Asylum. While the Checker BPG page does seem to heavily feature large boobed women, the game supports actual diversity.  It will come with hundreds of premade characters, from every race, gender, creed, and color, and they are all integrated into the game like normal people. The Kickstarter will be launched on August 16, 2017.  Superhero 2044 will be both an RPG and a card game, with an expected release sometime in 2018.

Gen Con turns 50 this year, and it looks like everygamer wants to go and celebrate.  4-Day badges are already sold out (yay for press passes!), Saturday badges are almost sold out, and a limited quantity of single day badges for all 4 days are still available. At this point, there will be no on-site badges sold at Gen Con 50.  There will be a Will Call... and I will get there early to get mine.  Bring water and a fully charged phone or a book if you are going to stand in Will Call.

Star Realms Frontiers Kickstarter has launched!  This is an expansion set for Star Realms, a  Deckbuilding/Trading Card game by the genuinely nice people from White Wizard Games  which I demo'ed at Gen Con last year.  Did I say expansion?  This is a set of NINE expansions, all new for this Kickstarter.  I'm going to copy and paste from the Kickstarter page now: Frontiers is a deckbuilding game for 1-4 players, that is both a standalone game and fully compatible with Star Realms Deckbuilding Game and all of its expansions! Stellar Allies is a 12-card Kickstarter exclusive multi-faction expansion pack! The Alignment, The Alliance, The Coalition, The Pact, The Union, and The Unity are 17-card Command Decks that allow you to play as a legendary commander in the Star Realms universe! The Lost Fleet is a Kickstarter exclusive* Command Deck! I'm not going to go into a full overview of how to play the game, except to say that you should bring a snack when you sit down

This is a blog full of gaming news and reviews.  Reviews will be on games that I play personally, and currently no reviews are paid.  If that changes, an update and a full review policy will be posted prominently.  Gaming news is provided through normal journalism outlets, primarily email.  If you are interested in contacting me or being featured on this blog, please leave a comment here with the phrase 'contact me.'