e447 — 23 and Games | Games At Work dot Biz

Dungeons & Dragons adventure characters generated via DiffusionBee — Image by Michael Rowe with DiffusionBee, December 2023

Published 1 January 2024

Andy and Michael R are back while Michael M is away – and have a fantastic show on the DNA of 2023 in games.

This episode starts with a stroll down the beginnings of Dungeons and Dragons, with Michael R sharing a couple of links from the Internet Archive. He found a veritable treasure trove of documents, rulebooks and more. A couple of which are in the show notes below. Michael R noted that AD&D was not only about dungeons and dragons, with the same rules and mechanics applied to other sci-fi genres. An additional example of the AD&D system was used by the RPG game Toon.

Turning next to PC (personal computer) based games, and moving forward a bit in time, Andy and Michael R start with games that were sold and distributed via (gasp!) physical media! No cloud based games in this selection, though many of them are now available via the web and can be experienced (sort of) with modern hardware. Andy comments that he and Michael are of the cohort that experienced the transition from analog to digital, and that experience will never be repeated because it just can’t.

Michael R shares his enthusiasm in playing Baldur’s Gate 3, exclaiming that he now understands why everyone is so drawn in by it. With 108 gig of content, it’s no surprise that the graphics and gameplay are such high quality. Of course no discussion of games would be complete without World of Warcraft.

The co-hosts also discuss several NPC (non personal computer) games such as those on the Playdate, and a large number of games on Steam. Vote for your favorite Steam Deck games on The 2023 Steam Awards – by 2 Jan 2024 10am Pacific. One of Andy’s particular favorites is Dave the Diver.

Andy and Michael close out the last episode recorded in 2023 with the hope that there will be many unique and valuable experiences in VR and AR beyond Beat Saber.

Michael M was also “playing a game” on the evening of 29 Dec — enjoying time in the Smith Center while the university students are away, and looking forward to hoisting up the sousaphone once more to play for the women’s basketball team on New Year’s Eve closing out the #JordanYear.

What games are on the top of your list to play in 2024? Have your bots 🤖 drop our bots 🤖 a line at @gamesatwork_biz (our home for now) and let us know!

The Games at Work team wishes our friends and listeners a very Happy New Year!