Looking forward to fall 2014

Ah, that jetlag from the flight back to Canada. The weather incongruous with the actual season.


The new students wandering to find new classes, the older ones finding classes in familiar places. I’m back home at UW, and it’s unmistakably the fall term.


It’s a new term, and I am but a humble fellow student who, whether you have a passing fancy in gaming or are a prospective new game developer, hopes to spread a little fun in talking about new games and ideas.


This Fall 2014 seems like it will be a great one as far as gaming goes.


Those newfangled consoles, the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, are moving up from oddities for tech lovers to the full-fledged current generation that people into new games will need to invest in. Meanwhile, our cups overflow with games to play, no matter what genre you love.


<em>Halo</em> creator, Bungie, is striking out on their own to create a new franchise, <em>Destiny.</em> <em>Assassins&rsquo; Creed Unity </em>hopes to fix many of the problems plaguing the long-running series. The beloved <em>Super Smash Bros</em>. franchise will finally have a new entry. It&rsquo;s a great term for fans of the big gaming series.


While the blockbuster games of the industry will undoubtedly be bestsellers, I tend to like to concentrate on the independent gaming scene.


With any medium, you tend to have to look at the smaller productions to see a more directed, artistic hand.


A spectacle film is a commonly known quantity, but go deeper, you can find independent films that the big studios won&rsquo;t cover. The same goes for games.


The snappy musicality of <em>Transistor</em> or the tough choices of <em>Gods Will Be Watching </em>are experiences that you may not be familiar with if your only experiences are <em>Call of Duty</em> or<em> Skyrim</em>.


There&rsquo;s nothing wrong with that. But if you&rsquo;d like to go under the surface of the gaming medium, and experience things you wouldn&rsquo;t normally get to, I do hope you give this column a look.


Board games, the oft-overlooked aspect of gaming, have seen an explosion in popularity, perhaps as some cultural pushback, like the resurgence of vinyl in the age of downloadable music.


Kickstarter, and the Internet in general, has given this oldest form of gaming a new life. If you have an idea, and some cardboard and paper, you can create a game. And that social aspect of face-to-face interaction is something the most robust online gaming experience cannot replicate. This is also a piece of gaming that, while harder to cover at times, is something I would like to highlight for you.


The KW area, for the new or uninitiated, has been growing in its connection to gaming.


We welcomed not one, but two board game cafes in the area this year. Local bars have featured gaming nights as part of their schedule.


There are local stores with interesting people that can provide all your gaming needs, or just some people to hang out with. We even have a fighting game gym of sorts, Bison&rsquo;s Auto Shop, running out of a local automotive garage.


Gaming clubs, both on and off campus provide plenty of opportunities to play with others. This too is something I would like to present to you.


This is a great time and place to be a gamer. With the smallest modicum of effort, you can have a lot of fun!


Now if you&rsquo;ll excuse me, I will be chipping away at my mountain of required texts. Wait. <em>Destiny </em>just came out.


As did the new <em>Guild Wars 2</em> patch.


Well, I&rsquo;m sure I&rsquo;ll fit them in somewhere&hellip;