Remembering Legacy of Heroes

My brain works in weird ways. I woke up this morning remembering this gem:

It's a free to play game released by 5th planet games, and I played it on Kongregate way back in the day. 5PG shut down the servers back in 2012 or 2013, and I remember feeling...cold...when it happened. I think that's the right word to describe it.

The game was all about super heroes. You'd create your own hero, build a deck of allies to help you and super powers to use in game, and...that was the schtick for this game. It was a simple idea, and they drew from years of comic book history to shape the design of the game. What impressed me the most about LoH was the original universe that 5PG created. It felt familiar, like you had grown up reading the comics.

The story mode was broken up into chapters, which were depicted as issues of the Legacy of Heroes comic book. And the story shared was fun! You're a student at a school for super heroes, a school very similar to a certain Marvel school for gifted children. The lead instructor is Professor Helios, a fire manipulator who strikes me as eerily similar to Dumbledore the more I think about him. While I don't remember much about the actual story, I remember the school coming under attack by a bunch of Villains, Helios getting stomped (and maybe dying? I can't remember), and facing off against a league of villains along the way. With the rise of Boku no Hero Academia, I'm a trifle surprised we haven't seen a resurgence of this game. There's a whole lot of parallels!

The game featured the standard fare microtransactions of the time. You could refill your stamina, buy card packs, cosmetics, you know the drill. I don't remember it being excessively aggressive in its monetization, but I definitely couldn't afford a lot of what the game had to offer. The grind wasn't that bad, and you could get some decent cards just by playing the game.

The raids were pretty famous on this game. You'd get a handful of people together, and take on a supervillain together. one of the most famous (and more memorable) raids was against Dimetrodon. I looked online today, wondering what happened to this game, and stumbled upon a forum thread of other people asking if they remember LoH. The first response? A line from the Dimetrodon raid: "DIMETRODON FIGHT!!!" If that's not an indicator of how memorable the raids were, I don't know what is! The raids gave you equipment, special cards, and I thought one of the higher level raids gave currency for a special shop. They were a nice buff to your decks, especially when you needed that little boost to get to the next chapter.

For as detailed the game was, It was a real shame that the game shut down. I remember logging in for my daily login bonus, and seeing that I got a bunch of premium currency. And a large amount! And then the chat showed up on the side. The chat was already mourning a game that was set to shut down in a month. It sucked, but there we were. Legacy of Heroes had entered its death knell, shut down by the developers. I guess they weren't making money on it, so they couldn't afford the servers. And I...I couldn't stick around. That was the end of the game for me. Every now and again, my ADHD addled brain remembers Legacy of Heroes. It remembers the artwork, the design aesthetic, and the DIMETRODON FIGHT!!! Unfortunately, that's all it's gonna be now. Memories of a time lost to the aether.

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Review: Retro-Bit Genesis Controller

Last year, Retro-Bit announced a partnership with Sega to produce officially licensed Genesis (Megadrive), Saturn, and Dreamcast peripherals.  It took a while, but the local game store I frequent finally ordered some of the Genesis controllers.  If you're in the Minneapolis area, go check out Gamerheadz in the Southdale Mall.  Great shop!

Lootboxes Getting the Shaft!

This came across my news feed yesterday, but I didn't get the chance to really have a listen until now.



We all remember the lootbox debacle of 2017, specifically with EA's Star Wars Battlefront II. These same Laymen Gaming guys found that more than half of EA's profits come from lootbox microtransactions, and they went out of their way to include it in everything they could. If you're like me, you see just how much of a problem this can be. Especially when there are games that have wide appeal to parents, like FIFA, Madden, or Need for Speed.

There were some discussions back in 2017 about regulating lootboxes in gaming, with Hawaii state senator Chris Lee introduced a bill in the State Legislature that ultimately died in committee, but it sowed the seeds of growth for the idea. Now we're finally hearing that Missouri senator Josh Hawley is introducing a bill that would specifically and explicitly prohibit lootboxes in games that are sold to minors.

Logistics and implementation aside, I support this action. I personally believe that this is a perfect point in time for government intervention in the face of predatory business practices. I personally believe that government should not intervene in social and economic issues, unless absolutely necessary to protect its citizens. This whole issue is a prime example of when government should intervene to protect its own.

What do you think? Will this pass the legislature? Will it become law? Is Senator Hawley on the right track here?

**Author's note:  This post was also featured on the Steem blockchain.  You can view that post here.**

Talking Level Design with Samuel Dassler

I happened to bump into Samuel Dassler on Imgur, where he posted this thread about his time at DigiPen. He imparted a few tidbits of wisdom in the post, and I thought he'd be an interesting person to talk to.  He recently worked on a game called Mekazoo, which you can find on Steam, Xbox Live, and Playstation Network.

Review: Titanfall 2

Developer/Publisher: Respawn/Electronic Arts

Platform: Xbox One, Playstation 4, PC

Rating: Mature (Blood and Gore, Language, Violence)

Reviewed on: Xbox One

When the Xbox One launched in 2014, Respawn Entertainment was tapped to create a launch title for the new system.  It was a decent game, not without its flaws, but I enjoyed what it offered.   With the arrival of Titanfall 2, I knew I needed to pick it up and review it.  How did it turn out?  Pretty good, actually!

Chicks Dig Giant Robots: Anime Detour 2016

Netrunner on Friday Night

So I was sitting here this past Monday, completely mute again.  You'd think I'd learn from prior years to take care of my voice, but no...

Anime Detour 2016 was a ton of fun this year.  A whopping total of 5,500 people crammed into the Doubletree in Bloomington, MN, for another year of cosplay,  antics, games, and awesome.  And hoo boy, do I have stories!

Gamer's Guide to Tokyo: Trains

Last may, I took a trip to Tokyo, Japan.  It was awesome, I had tons of fun, and I realized that there's not a whole lot of information for gamers on what to do and see in Tokyo.  Thus begins this series of posts.  I'm going to point out the important things to see and check out in Tokyo, in as many districts as I can.  In addition, I'll point out as much cultural information as I can, so you don't stick out like a stupid tourist.

Review: The Division

Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One

Price: $59.99 USD (Standard), $99.99 USD (Gold)

Release: March 8, 2016

Rating: M for Mature (Full ESRB Synopsis)

Platform Reviewed: PC

Ubisoft's newest series inspired by Tom Clancy launched last week.  Ubisoft's Tom Clancy games have been rather hit or miss, but they seem to sell well for the company.  How did this one fare?  Find out more after the jump!

Gamer's guide to Tokyo: Odaiba

Last may, I took a trip to Tokyo, Japan.  It was awesome, I had tons of fun, and I realized that there's not a whole lot of information for gamers on what to do and see in Tokyo.  Thus begins this series of posts.  I'm going to point out the important things to see and check out in Tokyo, in as many districts as I can.  In addition, I'll point out as much cultural information as I can, so you don't stick out like a stupid tourist.

The Gamer's Guide to Tokyo: Imports

Last may, I took a trip to Tokyo, Japan.  It was awesome, I had tons of fun, and I realized that there's not a whole lot of information for gamers on what to do and see in Tokyo.  Thus begins this series of posts.  This one covers the shopping side of things, what games are easiest to use when you get home, which ones aren't.