This week it's all about Interplay's 1995 miss Stonekeep! Featuring awesome FMV and some truly unique characters (Wahooka!), this is not a game you want to miss if you love CRPGs. While far from perfect (backtracking from hell!), there's enough here to keep you busy for a few days at least. One note: You will definitely want the awesome BOX for this game if you can find it; it's a hologram! You'll also want a copy of the novella Thera's Awakening. But if you can do without those two assets, scoop it up from GOG for a ridiculously low price!

Download the MP4 here.

Hail, fellow adventurers! I'm back this week with one of my favorite 90s CRPGs, Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven. It's held up might well over the centuries (well, in game time!), and is still extremely fun to play today. Heck, I was so engrossed in it I had a hard time pulling away to do the video!

As always, you can download the video here, but don't forget to toss a few coins into the bard's hat. You can also buy the "Might & Magic 6-pack" from GOG for only $10, but please use my affiliate link. Thanks!

Jeff Vogel of Spiderweb Software has posted some Three Rules for Difficulty in RPGs, which has some great thoughts and advice for would-be CRPG designers. I enjoyed it mostly because of the obvious passion and emotion Jeff has for this stuff--his reactions to those who "ragequit" over a difficult fight are touching, to say the least.

Heck, maybe I should try to get him on the show.

Might & MagicRampant Coyote has a great blog post up that compares Dragon Age: Origins and Might & Magic Book One: Secret of the Inner Sanctum. Which is the more compelling? Well, it's no surprise to many of us that the Coyote prefers the latter game, but the interesting thing is why. Here's what he comes up with:

Hi, folks. This week I look at another of my favorite CRPGs, Bioware's Knights of the Old Republic.

Hello, all. I thought you might like to know that my book Dungeons and Desktops has been nominated for the prestigious Game Developer Front Line Award. It's up against some very steep competition, but I'm honored just to be nominated! Please keep your fingers (and pointy tails!) crossed for me.

The book has continued to sell reasonably well and was recently featured in a review by Matthew S. S. Johnson for the Journal of Gaming & Virtual Worlds. Dr. Johnson really liked the book and said some very nice things about it. If you get a chance, check out the journal and the review.

Hail, brave adventurer! That's right--it's time for me to start drafting the chapter on Ultima for Vintage Gaming, the forthcoming book by your very own Bill Loguidice and Matt Barton. Thankfully, I've already done much of the necessary research for this title for Dungeons & Desktops, but I'd still like to hear your stories about the Ultima series. What is the best Ultima? What is the worst? What do you consider the most important innovations introduced by the series? I can think of several right off the top, such as the focus on ethical decisions and the more personality-driven character creation system of later games. The series is also known for introducing really memorable characters and stories, years ahead of the more character and plot-driven JRPGs. Other factors worth considering are the heavy attention given to the interactive world in Black Gate, and the radical changes made to the engine from game to game.

UltimaGamasutra has just published an extract from my book, specifically the Silver Age chapter that covers the early home CRPGs (Ultima, Wizardry, etc.) If you don't have the book, by all means head over there, but even if you do, you might like seeing the screenshots in all their full-color glory. I'm very proud of this book and hope you are, too! Without the support of my fellow gaming nerds this project wouldn't be possible.

Link via Gamasutra Industry News.