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[url=http://dcxvssh.com]RvrSOTT[/url] , SNIOvJF , http://yuxeflk.com
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DATE: 10:12
Can you tell us more about this? I'd love to find out more details.
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DATE: 19:02
Can I simply just say what a relief to uncover someone that
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DATE: 23:23
Awesome blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from somewhere?
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DATE: 11:23
Now I am going away to do my breakfast, after having my breakfast coming
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DATE: 10:55
Hello, just wanted to mention, I liked this blog 
KyoshoBallard
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DATE: 19:27
If you're used to WoW, there is a WoW-style User Interface you can get for it.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: KyoshoBallard
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DATE: 19:38
Whoops. Accidently hit enter before giving you the link!
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TITLE: Knyght's Holiday Roundup
AUTHOR: Tom Carrick
DATE: 12/25/2005 03:02:00 ap.
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BODY:
This would be Knyght's Christmas Roundup, or at least Knyght's xmas roundup, but I'm not exactly a devout Christian. Or any sort of Christian, really.
Anyway, here are the games that I feel are worth mentioning from 2005, for whatever reasons I see fit (even in some sort of alphabetical order, too).
Well, we have Advance Wars: Dual Strike, of course. The new Advance Wars for DS, obviously. It's not a lot different from earlier Advance Wars games, but what makes it worth mentioning is that the stylus is nice. It's now actually easy to control.
The Bard's Tale. Not a remake, or anything. This dissapointed me enough to not bother buying it, but apparently it's not actually that bad. Apparently.
We have Batman Begins, a crap Batman game based on a crap Batman film. Excellent.
Then there's Black & White 2 from lionhead, a dissapointing sequel to a dissapointing game. Hopefully, it'll persuade Pete to stop hyping his games up so much, but we know he'll do it anyway.
Civilization IV thankfully puts Civ 3 behind us, and leaves us with a nice, fairly balanced game, with even a good AI.
Darwinia. Released early in the year, it's one of the few indie games that the mainstream are even thinking about accepting. It's even in proper stores. Not my cup of tea, but it is a lovely game.
Fable: The Lost Chapters! At least it's on PC, and not just xbox. Another of Pete's overhyped games, but this one is at least good.
I hear FEAR is good. I haven't had chance to play it though.
Nintendo have finally decided to release Fire Emblem games here. Which is nice.
Half-Life 2. Well. I think it sucks nuts, but a lot of people love it. So what more can I say?
Just to appease the wargamers, HoI2 was released just on the turn of the year, yay woo. It's boring, though.
Fahrenheit or Indigo Prophecy. heh. I prophecised that people would love it for a few hours, then would think it sucks. I was right, thankyou.
Meteos, a surprisingly original puzzle game. Can't say more than that.
Metroid Prime 2. Qualitay.
The Movies. Yet another of Pete's overhyped games. This one's not too shabby I hear.
I'm gonna put Nintendogs here, just 'cause I want to. Massively hyped, annoyingly available in three different versions, and not a bad timewaster.
Serious Sam II, just as inane and dull as the first.
Silent Hunter III. Best. Subsim. Ever.
UFO: Aftershock appalled us less than Aftermath, giving us a fairly playably, but ultimately laughable and forgettable.
X3 nearly solves the problems of X2, but doesn't quite manage it. Infinately more fun and usable, though.
I've missed out a lot of stuff I'd like to mention, and left in some things that might not matter to a lot of people. But that's what you get when you let me write things.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Jim9137
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DATE: 16:08
I deem this article coffee stain worthy.
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DATE: 19:01
You forgot the Pirates remake, damnit. It'd fit perfectly in that empty "P" spot in your alphabetical list.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Tom Carrick
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DATE: 02:43
Oops, yes they were. Real close to the end, though. Tom Carrick
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DATE: 02:55
What Fuzzy said. Also, since it's my update tomorrow, and it actually *is* christmas tomorrow, I'll make sure I try to write about something remotely interesting.
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DATE: 04:36
SHINIES
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: KyoshoBallard
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DATE: 06:13
Merry things.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Troy Goodfellow
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DATE: 19:58
Pfft. A "team". You are all Jim's lackeys.
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A good team of lackeys, though.
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DATE: 12:14
I think this is pretty decent blogging idea, even if Jim started it.
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TITLE: Bye-bye Gaming Skill
AUTHOR: KyoshoBallard
DATE: 12/22/2005 06:40:00 ip.
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BODY:
To do well in First Person Shooters, online, you generally have to be skilled. A lot of people can say they're particularly skilled at Counter-Strike, or Battlefield 1942, or whatever. I can get good at those types of games to an extent. Maybe not quite as good as most "skilled players" that play, but good enough to hold my own and be an asset to my team. If I stop playing for a few weeks, that skill goes away. Not completely away, but for the most part I will suck again when I try to play after a long stint of not playing. I suppose that's normal. After all, Johnathan “Fatal1ty” Wendel reportedly practices 14 hours a day to keep his skill.
A lot of gamers, though, can tell you of at least one game that they're excellent at, no matter how long it's been since they've played last. For me, that game was Team Fortress Classic.
You know, the official Half-Life mod that almost zero people play anymore. It's not a realistic game by any means, and doesn't try to be. There's people rocket jumping, grenade jumping, etc. It's refreshing to play TFC after playing so many other games that try to focus on realism. TFC focuses on fun.
Anyways, I was always extremely good at it. I could stop playing for months, but on my first game back, my team would most times be assured a victory. I could choose the Scout class (weakest class) and go around killing people with the crowbar (weakest weapon), and do well. The game just came naturally to me. There was even a time when I stopped playing for close to an entire year for one reason or another. Playing other games, not having internet access, or just plain losing interest. I came back, and kicked ass. I thought TFC was the game for me. I just GOT it. Some people can play the piano expertly, or draw professionally, or design buildings, whatever. For me, I could kick ass at TFC. It seems an assured fact. I didn't think it would ever change. And then it did.
For almost 3 years now, I haven't had a chance to play many First Person Shooters. Let alone online. I recently tried playing TFC again, and guess what? I suck. Okay, maybe I don't completely suck, but I'm nowhere near as good as I used to be. I'm getting my ass handed to me by bots. BOTS, for christsake! That's just WRONG! Perhaps if I keep playing I will get better. In fact I'm almost certain I will. But it sucks. Appearently you can never forgot how to ride a bike, but you can forget how to kick ass at TFC. Or at least I can. Argh.
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TITLE: Gaming Slump
AUTHOR: KyoshoBallard
DATE: 12/15/2005 06:13:00 ip.
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I appologize in advance for this. I'm mostly going to be rambling in a whiny sort of way. Blame Jim if you don't like it. Heh.
As stated at the beginning of my previous article, I am in a gaming slump. These happen a lot, and many times I don't know what causes them. But this time I do.
It's a few things. I'm going through an annoying time in my life, and that's one factor. The main problem, though, is a lack of money. I don't have the money to buy any of the games I want to play. Even if I did, I don't have a computer up-to-date enough to run them. Nor a console. The newest console I have is a N64. Even then, I don't have a TV of my own on which to play them anyways. There's emulation, sure. I've done some N64 emulating, but that's not the point. The games I want to play are not on the N64 or PSX. They're on the PC. And a few on the current generation consoles. I'm not a console gamer in general, but right now I'd kill for a Gamecube or Xbox or PS2. Perhaps if I get enough money for Christmas (fat chance), I could buy a used Gamecube and perhaps a VGA adaptor. Even if I could, I wouldn't have enough for games. Bleh.
I have quite a few completely unplayed games sitting around. I have no interest in playing them, though. They're games I got in trades, or ones I bought on impulse. It seems if I go to a store with an intention of buying a game, and there's nothing that looks interesting in my price range (which usually means $10 jewel case games), I cannot leave the store without buying a game. So I'll buy one that I have just a tiny bit of interest in. But when I get home, I know I won't play it.
Take Stronghold for instance. When it first came out, I had a small interest in it and wanted to try it, but never did at the time. When I made one of those trips to the store for a game (which I do perhaps once every 3 months), I bought it simply because there was nothing else. I don't even like RTSes. At all. Why did I buy it?
Even with games I'm interested in playing, I sometimes end up not playing them because by the time I get them, I've lost interest. I have a limited attention span when it comes to new games. What I mean is... Well, let me give you an example. At one point, I really really wanted to play MechCommander Gold. This was when I was involved in the MechCommander 2 preview beta. Everyone was talking about how great the first one was, so I badly wanted to play it. Well, it was no longer sold in stores, so I had to buy it on ebay. The transaction and shipment took about two weeks. By the time it arrived at my house, I was no longer interested in playing it. I believe I've installed it once since then, but it stayed on my harddrive for less than 24 hours because I just didn't want to play that sort of game. And maybe never will.
I guess part of the reason I lost interest in MechCommander Gold was that those people in the MC2 private newsgroup had stopped talking about it so much. For some reason, when I know a lot of other people are playing the same game as me, it makes me want to play it more. I suppose it's because I know there are people who are willing to discuss the game. Want to discuss the game. And I want to take part in those discussions. That's kind of stupid, but it's true. I think that's the reason why most people buy new releases. If they were smart, they'd wait for some reviews, and for the hype-factor to wear off, and if it did, then they'd buy it. But by then people might not be talking about it. Discussing a game I've recently played, or am playing at the moment, always seems to make it more fun. It's not the trend-factor. I wouldn't play a game only because other people are playing it. It has to sound like something I'd enjoy, too.
I guess that describes my slump. I don't have the money to play those games that other people are discussing, or that I just really want to play in general. Like Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. People aren't talking about it so much anymore, but that's one I'd want to play regardless. But I don't have a PS2. Bleh.
Thus concludes my ramblings.
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DATE: 18:59
Get a job, you slacker.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Tom Carrick
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DATE: 19:08
I don't have a job, and I can afford games :D
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DATE: 17:12
I think your problem is overabundance, which often manifests in unplayed computer games, but points at a larger sociological phenomenon. As Attila the Stockbroker puts it in one of his songs:
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Herd-thought + hedonism ('overabundance' as said in the last comment) ?
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Game discussion is alright, if it serves some end. But if the game is good, I'd rather play it. I'd rather have sex than talk about it, etc. Although I'll read reviews from time to time, I like to try a game without proconceptions. Nevertheless, I will not play anything that is universally considered bad or poor. Tom Carrick
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A quick note that I completely forgot to add, but should've:
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Problem is mainly with the US system. The UK system is generally fine, as games get censored twice, once by PEGI, once by BBFC or whatever they're called. Games such as GTA, Kingpin et al end up with an 18 certificate slapped on them, which is enforced by law as opposed to being a guideline.
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The ESRB rating system does its job. You can't create a rating system for every possible group since some groups are just idiots. Your new rating system would have to include categories like "This company most likely worships Satan" or "Satan will try to possess your children through this game." The ESRB system is by far the most rational categorization procedure available compared to more liberal methods which you have previously mentioned. Jim9137
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I still have no idea who registered us on www.gameblogs.org Jim9137
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What was wrong with the old us? :|
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I read it. Or at least check it daily to see if I want to read it. Jim9137
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Indeed, I'm glad that we have some audience besides our writers!
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Sweet. Once you've got a navigable layout and a decent archive, you should start pulling in more visitors anyway. I've linked a couple of other people here, but I have no idea if they read it much. Was gonna ask about being a contributing writer actually, but sadly I'm unreliable with deadlines.
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TITLE: Clock Tower, or why I'm a using funny font
AUTHOR: Jim9137
DATE: 11/19/2005 05:50:00 ip.
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BODY:
I'm covering for Trey today, who's going to be a pa soon! Congrats, congraaats! Arr.
Fittingly, this article was intended to be more experimental one, first with me and Trey doing it and then Fuzzy... But yarr, I wrote all of it in the end. No hard feelings or anything, just a knife.
But hey, I get to use funky fonts and formatting! READ MORE!
Clock Tower, hailed as one of the most creepiest, clumsiest and funniest games of all time, is a game that was released on SNES and spawned two sequels and a remake on PSX. Clock Tower 2 continued the story of the Barrows' legacy, but Clock Tower 3 as I understood is only a 'parody' without any real connection to the previous games. It puts the player in the role of a small orphan girl, stuck with her friends in a mansion that instead of providing home and shelter is actively trying to kill her.
But for Jim9137 try to dig in the very essence of what makes this game so scary, creepy or what is it.
PART I: BEGINNINGS (Jim9137, John9137)
[John9137 and Jim9137 are arguing]
Jim9137: "Wait, wait, this didn't belong in our contract! I spec-"
[John9137 shows the contract.]
Jim9137: "oh. crap. Uh, hello kids out there! We'll be your guide today, taking you for a tour of the famous Barrows' family mans-"
[A scream can be heard outside.]
Jim9137: "DON'T LOOK OUT THE WINDOWS."
[More screams, lights go out.]
PART II: Don't forget to pick up the ham (Jim9137)
Jim9137: "Uh uh, what happened to the lights? Oh, damn it John, now you've done it! Curses where is the switch..."
[Lights flicker on, revealing a kitchen with a fridge and a shelf of bottles on the opposite wall, the wall to the right has oven and a door leading to cold room. Kitchen knives hang right of the door. Lights keep on flickering.]
Jim9137: "Uhm, okay I suppose. Where did Trey go? Ah, anyway. This is quite usual on the Barrows' mansion, pots and pans flying all around and things like that... Wait, not exactly. It's far subtler than that."
[Jim9137 walks out of the room, peeks and goes in to a dark corridor.]
Jim9137: "As I was saying, the terror of the Barrow's Mansion is quite subtle. Many things, many many things are quite wrong in here... It's quite imminent on various little details, such as portraits that bleed real blood. No, I'm not kidding. Real blood, just like the Virgin Mary statues do. The lack of music is just reinforcing this fact, because the sound of your footsteps is all you hear most of the time."
[Sounds of footsteps as Jim9137 walks towards the end of the hallway.]
Jim9137: "Most of the time, that is."
[Jim9137 opens the door and slams it right shut again.]
Jim9137: "Little surprises will dot your life around in the Barrows' mansion, such as this one. Hiding will be a prominent part of the game, and it's great fun to try to find out different places to hide."
[Jim9137 runs towards the other end of the hallway, swings the door open. You're in a wooden garage with a lorry and ladder leading there. A shovel, box and hey lies on the floor. Jim9137 climbs up the ladder to the larry and lies down flat.]
Jim9137: (whispering) "When you're being chased, the only way to get away is to either hide, or just wait until you're left alone, but that might take a while. The main villain is very, very scary person and unstable as well, and the fact that his whole family is out to get you isn't helping at all. Besides for his dad, but that's completely different story. Wait, what was that?"
[A crash, scream, Jim9137 drops from the lorry and runs right through the hallway and the door he tried earlier. A large hall with a circling balcony (word?) and stairs leading up there. Right next to Jim9137 is a door, and way ahead is another door.]
Jim9137: (panting) "But sometimes, it's just better to run. When you're being chased, your body produce thing called Adrealine. It allows you to do feats that you couldn't normally do, such as jump over holes, climb over cabinets... Stamina is vital part of the game, it's your health. Running depletes it for example, making you trip over. Right next to your chaser sometimes, which is not that nice. Only way to recover it is just to rest and give it some time, although it might turn out you're going to need it faster than it recovers. Which just contributes to the feel you're plaing a small girl."
[Jim9137 opens the door across the hall, and keeps it open.]
Jim9137: "But the greatest thing in Barrow's mansion is all the feel of mystery, which is going to keep you addicted. That mystery also cover the feel of insecurity, the feel that you are just a simple girl instead of a marine with nearinfite amounts of ammo and few tonnes of artillery in your pants and the fact that the whole mansion is probably one of the most twisted, sickest and crooked things on the existence filled with morbid details and secrets. You can tackle through it many different ways, many of which give you different end result in the end. Or you can steal the car and drive away, leaving your companions here... alone... uh..."
[Fadeout]
INTERLUDE: Twinkie Bobby!
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DATE: 18:48
I heard that CT3 is very much along the lines of some generic stalker-slasher flick. I can't imagine the atmosphere would be anything like the original. CT was freaky as fuck because of all the unexplained surreal shit (the wind-up doll that played tinkly music and slammed you, the parrot that fluttered around squawking "I'll kill you", your mirror reflection reaching out to strangle you) in the midst of this somewhat spooky but otherwise comfortable and normal-looking house. It was easy to imagine yourself there, as it wouldn't have been if the place had been old and decrepit or full of ghosts or something. The constant silence added to the effect. Bobby was the only 'real' monster, and while he was pretty freaky with his random sudden attacks, it was the house itself and all its little weirdnesses that fucked with you on a slightly more subliminal level... more than I imagine it would have in some run-of-the-mill haunted house or survival monster game...
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TITLE: Alright
AUTHOR: Jim9137
DATE: 11/19/2005 01:03:00 ap.
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Puppaz, and his association with the nethack tourist.
Nethack is a game I'm familiar with, and useless at. No matter what tactics I try, or walkthroughs I try, I end up dying at the hands of some evil gnome lord, or from kicking an especially hard door. I suck at nethack. So what is the best character for me? Ahhh yes. the tourist. It automatically gives me an excuse for my lameness.
Whats that? a goblin killed me? Thats ok, I'm a tourist
The tourist is the ultimate solution for any serious gamer, who's SHIT AT GAMES.
Anything you acheive, anything at all, feels like you've just beaten the game, whilst wearing a shirt from hawaii's best fashion shop.
True, you may find it hard to club orcs to death, a troll may scare the shit out of you, mindflayers may make a light snack of your mind, but you are the ultimate underdog, and as such you can know that you'll always be immune to any mocking, safe in the knowledge that, so long as you can get down to medusa, and get a special luckstone or something, you'll have acheived your aim, and become... in some way... respectable.
*checks online scores of tourists on nethack*
Oh shit...
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: KyoshoBallard
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DATE: 05:41
I can't get into Nethack. For some reason complete randomness puts me off. Plus it lacks atmosphere. Even with Falcon's Eye. I can play Diablo just fine, but I think that's because it has creepy music and great sound effects.
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TITLE: Gaming vs. Reality In the Subconscious Mind
AUTHOR: KyoshoBallard
DATE: 11/16/2005 10:42:00 ip.
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BODY:
Gaming nostalgia. I'm sure we've all felt it. Wanting to play games we haven't played in years. And then actually doing it and getting a weird warm fuzzy feeling. Either that, or being disappointed it doesn't live up to the memories. I think, though, with the introduction of 3D graphics over a decade ago, things were stepped up a notch. A lot of gamers will report dreaming about a game if they've spent 5 hours or more in a row playing. They'll dream they're still playing it. These happen whether it's a 2D game or a 3D game. Really, it happens when you're spending the majority of your waking hours doing any one specific thing. For instance, back when I was in elementary school, during the first couple days of the summer months I would dream I was still in school. That was annoying. At night, being back in class. Heh. Okay, I'm getting off-track here.
As for the dreaming that I'm gaming thing, I've had that happen a few times, sure. But it's not quite the same as some other dreams I've had. A lot of times I will dream I'm at a place from a game. Not that I'm playing the game, or even in a game, but that I'm simply in a location that was once part of a game. Some portion of my brain registered these 3D game locations as real locations I've been to. I've dreamt about being places I've seen in movies and read about in books, but they're never as real and as detailed as the dreams that take place in game locations.
Often, I find myself wanting to revisit game locations. Which means having to play the game again. It can be kind of annoying, because I just want to be there again, not have to do all the stupid things said game may require. For instance, lately I've been wanted to visit the locations of Everquest again. It's been I'd say at least four years since I've played it, perhaps more. Back then I played it all the time. I was badly addicted. And now I want to see those locations again. Does that mean I want to buy an account, start a new character, level, etc. (generally just play the game)? No. Yet I still long to see those places again. Places like Surefall Glade, Qeynos Hills, Butcherblock Mountains, Greater Faydark. I had to look these names up because I'd forgotten them. But I don't forget the zones themselves. I could navigate my way through any of them like an expert. Sometimes my mind will be wandering and I'll think "I want to go there again sometime" before I realize they were game locations and not real ones. Granted that's usually only when I'm extremely tired, but it happens.
Does this mean I'm losing touch with reality? I don't think so. It just means that games can and do actually affect our subconscious to an extent. That might bring up the issue of violence in games. I recall reading a review for Grand Theft Auto 3 in which the reviewer had been playing it non-stop for a few days and when he was out driving one day and saw a cop car, he thought for a split second "I could take him!" Of course, within the same second he realized how ridiculous it was, and that it was a reaction from playing the game too much. Think about it, haven't you ever caught yourself thinking something similar to that? Something to do with a game, but in real life? I'm fairly certain pretty much every hardcore gamer has. Now, think about this for a moment. If you lacked the mental faculties to realize right away how stupid those thoughts are, you just might act on them. Do I think I violent games can turn people into killers? No. But I do think if some one has already completely lost touch with reality, and is used to killing people in games 24/7, that it's possible they might get the urge to do it in real life.
Here's something surprising: I agree with Jack Thompson to an extent. I don't agree with his methods, and he is extremely misinformed about a lot of things, but in general I understand his cause. I don't think violent games should be sold to children because their sense of reality is more fragile than most adults. I'm sure most gamers agree with that. We don't want these games in kids' hands. But we also don't want them to stop being produced. Jack Thompson is out to kill Rockstar games. I see nothing wrong with their games.
I didn't mean to turn this article into a debate about violent games, but simply about how 3D games in general affect our subconscious. As graphics get better and better, and more and more realistic, will they affect us on an even deeper level? I really can't say. But I think it's entirely possible.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Tom Carrick
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DATE: 01:49
I agree up to a point. However, I don't really think how realistic the graphics are is a factor. Although it could be, since graphics these days are still far from realistic, really. Jim9137
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DATE: 09:38
Once, year or two ago, I was completely excited about Day of Defeat, the Half-Life mod. I saw a review for it, and it seemed to be all I ever wanted from an FPS. Well, it turned out it wasn't but that's off-track.
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Nice article, Loretta.
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TITLE: First Impressions - X3: Reunion
AUTHOR: Tom Carrick
DATE: 11/13/2005 02:39:00 ap.
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X3 seems to have been released without hype. Strangely, though, it's been released without hype from *gamers*, but with hype from *stores*, who mainly run away from anything even remotely nerdy looking. Something's wrong, here. Here are my first impressions of the game, but I've not had much chance to play it yet.
Intro to X
Ok, I haven't played X, but I've played X2. X2 is like Elite, but with a realistic economy. You can even buy your own space stations and stuff, woo. And there's races and a bunch of other stuff.
The graphics
"Dude, whoa, there's like graphics". "Whoa, totally!". Indeed, the visuals are pretty impressive, I must say. I thought space games couldn't get any prettier since it's just a black background with a few polygons flying around it, but EGOSOFT have managed to make space pretty, like it should be. But isn't in real life.
Sound
Well, for better of for worse, they've kept the same music and voiceovers AGAIN, and the new voice acting sucks mega penis. The SFX is really good, though. Although we shouldn't be able to hear things in space, it's nice to marvel at how we actually can, and it sounds nice. Or maybe there's some onboard computer that just generates sound so we know what's happening based on sensor input. I can always dream.
Interface
The interface isn't shit anymore. It's still a very similar interface, but it's been cleaned up, and is much easier to use.
Combat
Enemy ships don't ram you anymore. Well, ok they do a little. I've been rammed once in the time I've been playing, but usually they react pretty well, comparable to Privateer 2, as I recall it. Combat is now pleasurable.
The economy
I think this is an improvement, but it's a frustrating one. I keep losing money. A lot of the time people will buy for less than other people sell, so you really have to look around to make a profit. It stops me from being lazy and just running randomly between solar plants/cattle thingies/meatsteak making places/random factory thing, and makes me actually look around for profitable runs. This is a good thing, but it does force you into running all over the place to turn a profit.
The plot
I've only done the first two missions. The first mission was fine. You just patrol a bit and shoot some stuff up. The second mission, while fun, lasts too damn long. For two reasons. One, it's a long mission. You start in a turret thing, stationary, and blast stuff. Then you're in a turret while moving, blasting stuff. Then the same while flying around a cityscape. Then you have more stuff to do that I won't get into 'cause it's a bit of a spoiler.
The other reason is that it takes *ages* to load between each mission bit. Which brings me nicely onto the most annoying thing about X3.
Loading...
It loads. A lot. Each time you go through a gate, you're waiting for a minute or two. Not too bad, but every time you load your game you're waiting about five minutes, and before every plot mission, at certain points during plot missions, and after plot missions, you've got to wait five minutes, for each of those. Ugh.
In conclusion
It's a nice game. An obvious improvement over X2, but the loading times are so annoying that rather than playing it right now, I'm instead going to dance with some governor's daughters, or maybe conquer the last of Gaul.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Tom Carrick
EMAIL:
URL:
DATE: 02:41
And yes, I do like stealing Fuzzy's titles and changing the name of the game ;/
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: KyoshoBallard
EMAIL:
URL:
DATE: 03:00
I'm highly curious about these space games. I have honestly never played one. Everyone tells me my first should be Privateer, but I have trouble running it. Plus from what I've seen it's kind of oogly. I've been thinking of trying the Privateer remake, but I don't know yet. Tom Carrick
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DATE: 03:13
Not unless you're willing to put the hours in to learn it. The manual is a bit light on info and there's no tutorials. Privateer 2 is good if you can find it. And not as oogly. Tom Carrick
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DATE: 15:21
Fuzzy, I'd say buy X3 if you see it second hand anywhere. The interface hasn't been fixed, but it's been improved. Same for the combat. It's playable now. Still crap voice acting though.
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TITLE: Metal Gear ramblings.
AUTHOR: KyoshoBallard
DATE: 11/10/2005 05:56:00 ip.
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BODY:
With all the recent fanfare over the Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots video, it made me want to play Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty again. Mainly to brush up on who the Patriots are. I ended up playing the first Metal Gear Solid as well. Both on the PC. Well, the first one with an emulator. So here's some ramblings from the experience.
For future reference, there's going to be spoilers. I'm sorry. Nothing drastically major, but some.
I have played Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (hereafter refered to as MGS2) twice in the past. When it first came out, my sister bought it for me for my birthday. I would never have bought it myself, because I didn't own a PS2 at that time. My sister figured I'd get one somehow because she knew how big of a fan I was of the first MGS and how very much I wanted to play MGS2. In the end, my mother's boyfriend's son had a PS2 that I borrowed for 24 hours. I think I might've slept maybe 3 hours durring that time. It was a glorious experience. And at the same time, really annoying. Maybe it was because I was extremely tired, maybe it was because of all the plot-twists within the last 2 hours of the game. I don't know, but I was confused as hell. I went online to the IGN Metal Gear forum to try and get things straightened out in my mind. It helped a bit, but all the theories there only left me with more questions.
Anyways, after that, I wasn't able to play it again until last year (2004). My step brother had a PS2. Here is something I wrote in my blog then:
"Now that I've played it a second time, I completely understand the story. Even though I'd forgotten most of it from the first time, I just remembered being very confused because of the plot twists. This time I got it. It made sense. And I loved it. Though I still think Raiden is a homosexual. Seriously. Heh. Nevermind about that. The whole long scene on top of Arsenal Gear was sooo awesome. I saved right before it, and when I continued on with the game, I saved in a different slot so I can go back, load, and watch it again. I finally understand why Hideo Kojima wanted to have you play as Raiden instead of Snake. His reasoning was that he wanted people to see Snake from a different perspective. And it worked. It made Snake an even more compelling character."
Okay, so this time around I didn' have access to a PS2, so I need to get the PC version. I got Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance for the PC in a trade with a guy from Octopus Overlords. I was extremely worried about how the game would run on my system. I'd heard bad things, and my computer isn't exactly a powerhouse. I figured it was worth a try though.
In most areas of the game, it ran extremely well with most of the settings turned down/off. But there are certain places, like the holds with all the marines in the Tanker or the water parts of the Big Shell that simply freeze my computer seconds after loading. For these areas, I have to turn every setting to it's lowest, including sound. And I have to go into dxdiag and turn off sound acceleration. It makes these parts sound a look like crap, but it works. Well, sort of. I'd say it works 10% of the time. I just have to keep trying over and over. Eventually, through some surge of luck, the game doesn't freeze and will continue to not freeze until I quit the game completely. It's very odd.
It had been an enjoyable experience otherwise. Until a certain point later in the game. Up to this point I've been playing on Normal mode. In normal mode, at one point in the game, you have to fight 25 Metal Gear RAYs. For the uninformed, a Metal Gear is a HUGE bipedal tank (RAY is the name of this particular model). Basically a giant walking robot loaded to the teeth with weapons (think Mechwarrior, etc.). And you have to fight them while you yourself are on foot, using a handheld Stinger missile launcher. And the only place they can take damage is in their heads. It's insane. And yet, the last time I played it on a PS2, I played on Normal as well, and I beat them on like my third try. This time around, I've tried eleven times. Eleven! That might not sound like much, but you have to realize that it takes at least a minute and a half to kill ONE RAY. I'd spent quite a few hours trying to beat the dang things and I just couldn't seem to do it! So, I thought I'd go online and try and find some downloadable savegames people have made. I tried every one I could find, but none of them are at that point in the game. Okay, so I checked them all to see if any of them had collected enough dogtags to start a new game with Stealth. It's a device that makes you invisible to enemy soldiers and would've made starting a new game -- and getting to the point where I was -- less painless and faster. But none of them even had THAT! So now I had a choice. Do I spend a few more hours trying to beat those stupid RAYs, or do I start a new game with the Easy difficulty setting (instead of Normal)? On Easy, you only have to fight 5 RAYs. But that'd mean I'd have to go through everything again! Everything! Including the parts that my computer almost always refuses to run. I know I can skip all the dialog this time, skip all the cutscenes and that will cut down on the time it takes. But I'd have to fight Fatman and Vamp and the Harrier and do all the bomb crap again. That'd be so annoying. But will it be more annoying than fighting these RAYs over and over and OVER?
I was so fed up with it that I decided to play through the first Metal Gear Solid instead. Which I have done. It's such a better game than MGS2 in my oppinion. Better story, better atmosphere and a much larger sense of urgency. This was my ninth play through, I believe. But it was my first in around 3 years. So I forgot enough small details for it to be a fresh, fun experience.As I rambled on about to my friend Sam the other day, I'm still learning new things about the original MGS. I never realized the Stinger was so useful. I used my weapons a lot more. I fought Vulcan Raven in a completely new way. Etc. Etc. And I still think the Otacon ending is the best of the two. That's the one I intentionally got this time. Mainly so I could see it again, but also so I can use Stealth the next time I play it (Otacon gives it to you at the end of the game). It's such an awesome game. So, yeah, anyways, after I beat MGS1, I decided to start up a new game of MGS2 on Easy. This time around, I decided to collect dogtags (so that maybe eventually I can get Stealth, heh) Anyways, by skipping most (not all) of the cutscenes and codec conversations, it didn't take me long to get to where I'd been before, fighting the RAYs. Of course, killing only five RAYs was extremely easy and I beat them on my first try. Then I beat the game completely, seeing as there's just a boss fight after that.
The Substance version of MGS2 comes with some extras. One of which are some missions playing as Snake, called Snake Tales. I played part of one of them. Whoever made it was really uninformed about the plot of the game and made some big story mistakes. So I didn't even bother playing the rest of them. I will eventually, I'm sure. But I read this on a cheat page, "Successfully complete a Snake Tale to unlock the M9. Begin a game and use M9 to stun the Bosses instead of killing them to view an alternate ending sequence." I'm going to assume it means to stun the bosses and you'll get an alternate ending in the main game (Sons of Liberty). If that's true, I might just have to play through the game AGAIN, just to see that ending. But that can wait...
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: KyoshoBallard
EMAIL:
URL:
DATE: 20:00
Yeah, I'd say it might take 10 hours your first play through. But did you see what I said in the post? It was my ninth time through. Because it's so story heavy, I like to play through it a lot. I mean, it's like watching your favorite movie a bunch of times. KyoshoBallard
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DATE: 00:02
Yeah I was hoping for the sword too. Seemed logical to give it to you. But no. Very annoying. Oh, I'm going to have to play those Snake Tales.
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TITLE: Woo @ Oblivion
AUTHOR: Tom Carrick
DATE: 11/06/2005 01:11:00 ap.
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BODY:
Hopefully as a nice contrast to the STALKER post.
Oblivion. I am looking forward to you. You have just been delayed, until "Early 2006". Heh, early. Yeah, anytime before June, then. But I don't mind.
At first I was upset about having to wait, especially after just doing a bunch of upgrades so that it will actually run.
Now however, I'm fairly happy about it, for two reasons. The most obvious is that we may get a good game out of it. Now don't get me wrong, Daggerfall and Morrowind are both sexy games, but both randomly crash, and Daggerfall is simply horrible with all the bugs, even after all the patches. If I'm going to get a game that doesn't crash out of this, I'm happy. If I'm going to get a truly great experience out of this, with no crashing, I'm even happier.
The second reason is a spiteful bitch of a reason. It won't be a launch title for the xbox360. Why isn't this a good reason? Well it is, if you're an xbox fan. I however, am not. I hope the 360 will slump, and with many of the launch titles delayed it's quite possible. Unlikely, unfortunately, but still, it has more chance now.
So why, after delays, and a game that's taken ages to develop in the first place, am I still childishly excited about it? I don't know. Maybe the hype's getting to me. I watched the movies up on The Elder Scrolls website. The trailer was a bit dull, but watching the nerdy guy play the game and talk was truly impressive. There were a few things that truly impress me about them.
First, the trivial. The forest looks gorgeous. The wind effects are realistic, the trees look beautiful - though a little fake still. Hopefully they will be polished up for the release. Also the animals are a little tacky looking. Specifically, the horse in this screen shot looks quite fake. Hopefully the animals will blend a little better into the environment on release, too.
Next, the fight scene. Incredible. It actually looks a bit like what people slashing each other up with swords might look like. Not just a couple of people standing still going "OK I'LL HIT YOU. THEN YOU HIT ME, OKAY?". However... (yes, always a however), it looks slightly weird in the dungeon. My bet is it's 'cause it's an E3 demo, but when the guy's shooting all these things with a bow, I can't see a bloody thing. Nothing. At all. How about a little light, eh? Maybe they were actually visible on the screen if you were actually there, though.
Truly, the most impressive thing was the AI. Radiant AI or some such they call it. But it is truly awe inspiring. The example used was a little over the top, what with fireballing your pet dog and all, and I hope this doesn't happen all the time, since the dog population would diminish quite quickly. I also hope there's safeguards there that stop characters important to the plot being killed by random people getting fed up of them and fireballing them. I also like how people have schedules. I was sort of annoyed by the fact that everyone in Morrowind didn't need sleep. They'd just run their stores 24 hours and never leave, take a lunch break, go for a piss (ok, so I don't really need Oblivion to model a shopkeeper going for a piss break, but you get the point), sleep, or anything else, really.
The AI used in the demo, though, looked really set-up. I mean, he just walks in there and all that stuff happens without any sort of scripting? I find it difficult to believe. I will definitely enjoy it though, if it works out as well as it seems. Having interesting people to talk to all of the time would be nice. Although I understand they'd probably say the same things, just at different times or depending on their mood, it's a lot better than the basically static Morrowind or Daggerfall NPCs who litter the game doing nothing but saying the same thing as everyone else, independent of the world around them.
Okay, upon proofreading this for me, I've been semi-reliably informed by Kyosho that (I'll just post an edited log):
<Kyosho> Okay, the thing in the chick's upstairs apartment, with the dog and all... Yes that was somewhat scripted. It was all AI, but they put in some specific things they wanted her (and the dog) to do, and whether they did them (and the order they did them, I believe) was up to the AI <Kyosho> They wanted something cool for E3, so they fixed it a bit so the player wouldn't have to stand around for an hour to see something cool happen. <Kyosho> meaning, it wasn't completely random. <Kyosho> But think about it, why on earth would you ever want an NPC to kill her dog? and what real person would EVER go to bed while a stranger is in the room? it was all set up. <Knyght> so if you wait around, that stuff might actually happen, should the right potions and spells be known by that character? <Kyosho> yeahand:
<Kyosho> Okay, the thing about killing plot-related characters... <Kyosho> If you try and kill them, they won't die. They'll just fall down. They'll stand back up after a while. Once they've played their part in the main storyline, you can kill them properly. <Kyosho> Of course, Bethesda has gone through many changes of this system. But I think they're finally sticking with that one.So, trying to end this gracefully, I'll just say that I'm expecting great things from Bethesda. If I don't get them, they *will* be killed. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR:
Tom Carrick
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DATE: 01:06
Yeah. I started writing this article thingy a few hours after they posted that. Seems apt timing, I suppose. I WANT MY OBLIVION :( KyoshoBallard
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DATE: 02:17
Well since basically everything I would've said in a comment ended up in the article, I will just say this. I do not want the 360 to fail. I want it to win this new console war. Sony was the obvious victor last time. With recent things like that rootkit by Sony, I hope they burn. Sony has become even more evil than Microsoft. In fact, in recent years, Microsoft has become a pretty good company. I'm rooting for the 360 this time around.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Tom Carrick
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DATE: 02:20
Oh, sure, xbox should win over sony, but nintendo should reign supreme.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: KyoshoBallard
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DATE: 02:25
It'd be nice for Nintendo to win, but with their gimmicky Revolution, who knows what will happen. I predict Gamecube-level sales.
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TITLE: Road Rash
AUTHOR: KyoshoBallard
DATE: 11/04/2005 02:17:00 ip.
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BODY:
I was watching an episode of Judgement Day on G4 a couple weeks ago, and they were reviewing a motorcycle racing game. I don't recall the game. All I remember is Tommy Tallarico was saying that throughout playing the game, he missed the ability to hit the other riders over the head with a baseball bat, etc. The review pretty much ended up being about them wanting a new version of Road Rash. And I agreed with them. Then I remembered there were a couple versions of Road Rash that I hadn't ever played.
I'm sure everyone's played at least one version of Road Rash in their life. Most likely one of the ones on the Genesis/Master System. I believe the first one I played was Road Rash 2 on the Genesis. I have fond memories of playing that game multiplayer. A couple years later I bought the PC version of Road Rash. I loved it. Since then, I've always considered the PC version of Road Rash to be the best one released. Well, after playing the n64 version on an emulator, it's now a toss up.
The n64 version, has a lot of improvements. For instance, when you wreck, you start at the back of the pack. In the PC version, you had to run back to your bike, and continue from where you were, playing catch-up. At first, I thought the back-of-the-pack thing was stupid and took some of the challenge away, but now I like it. The enemy AI is better now, too. The physics are a little more realistic this time around. No more crashing your bike into a sign and your rider flying a mile away. The graphics are nice improvement.
I realize they look similar in these shots, but when in motion, the PC version looks very bad compared to the n64 version. The PC version is 2.5D, not 3D, ala Doom, I think. Lots of jaggies.
Overall, I suppose it's a superior version. The only thing that detracts from it is that even though I'm very far in the game, the sense of speed is nowhere near as cool as in the PC version. For some reason, I don't ever feel like I'm going very fast. I accidently turned on Frameskip on at one point, and of course things were twice as fast. It was kind of fun, but it's not the way the game was intended to be played.
So, which do I like better, the PC version or the n64 version? I really can't decide. The n64 version has so many obvious improvements, but it's also missing the little touches that made the PC version so much fun. In the PC game, you'd get to see funny little FMVs after the races. Sure they were repetative, but I liked them. Also, the whole back-of-the-pack thing completely removes the ability and the satisfaction of making a truly spectacular comeback.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: KyoshoBallard
EMAIL:
URL:
DATE: 21:32
FD: It's on HOTU if you want to give it a go. And yes, it's Windows native.
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TITLE: The corner, the gun, the interrupt and me, or why I just got shot to pieces
AUTHOR: Jim9137
DATE: 10/16/2005 08:01:00 ip.
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BODY:
Long due post. I shall return to talk about turn based games after getting my arse kicked repeatedly in Silent Storm, but I have few news to announce. First of all, I'm baffled at the recent exposure of this small blog to the world in the form of Wired article about Knyghtmare's post which dealt with unfair pricing. I'm going to stop buying games completely if the price hits 60€ per game over here, which is how much a console game costs around this cold part of the world. But whee, exposure! Anyway, the self gloating bit done, I have a slightly worse, and also at the same time, good news.
Knives has left Bastard Numbered permanently, and unlikely will come back. He told me he got a job as game reviewer, and thus won't be able to review games for us anymore. Sad to see you go, but it was fun while you were aboard. Knives was also the very first one who joined this blog with me, so a part of history dies with him. And so on, imagine cheesy moments hugging and mancuddling here. And keep your hands off my rear, thankyouverymuch.
Without further ado, to the article.
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Silent Storm and its expansion Sentinels, are one of the most biggest turn-based squaddie strategy games to hit the markets since Jagged Alliance 2, which is no wonder because it was and is one of its kind in the more recent games. Despite the Jagged Alliance 3/3D projects going, they're switching titles and games more often than I change my panties, I fear it might be that way for some time. Thankfully, it has one kickass modding tools and community fervently using them, so it's not that bad situation.
But, Silent Storm, as do any kind of turn-based game, has it's quirks and kinks. I shall be particularly focus on one certain feature on Silent Storm. Something that has been a source of huge frustrationg and anquish in the recent days, and I know I should be reviewing a ton of roguelikes for another site, but god damn it, that german soldier must die. Oh, um, the feature, yes. The feature I was talking about, is the interruption system.
I just hate it honestly.
It's sensible solution, soldiers have a chance to react before the enemy shoots their brains off and all in real life, but in Silent Storm it means that if your poor Scout walks behind the corner, no matter how hidden and sneaky s/he is, s/he'll have no brains left when the enemy's done with his/her full-auto. Full-auto, as in 40 bullets from a Suomi SMG in the head, and such. On easier levels the character would just get knocked unconscious, but on harder levels, it means you'll have a dead 10 level character on your hands. Just because you couldn't avoid going around that corner in anyway, and the interruption system seems to work for the enemy ALWAYS.
Hand hurts, but bravely I shall carry on.
Personally, I think it gives the enemy an unfair advantage. They stand around doing nothing mostly, giving them tons of action points to spent on poor unsuspecting scouts and soldiers a like, who in the worst cases run right into enemy they just couldn't see and run out of action points. But here comes the thing, it's quite rare occassion that a player will have any action points left, due to the high costs of moving around and shooting. So enemy can waltz right into my crosshairs without breaking a sweat. That's the thing.
Completely frustrating, and most importantly, reasonable.
Reasonable, not only because of the realism, but because game mechanically. The AI would stand no chance against the grenades and endless ammobelts of players, without resorting to such unfair system as that. It's a common feature on turn-based strategies, and especially on the squaddie ones. Even X-Com, as everyone who has played it can attest to, has an interruption system. You run through a field, and next thing you know the whole field has been blown out in the sky because a trigger-happy alien just happened to spot you. But it works quite well in those situations, because you still have some chance to survive. Indoors? You should be gambling at Las Vegas if you managed to survive MG32 in full-auto, aimed right into your head.
Damn wrist, hurts more than it should now.
I personally think this is quite critical problem which developers and programmes alike should strive to solve, as at the moment it's providing rather unbalanced gameplay. Sure, you could work on throwing grenades around corners or trying to be sneaky and out maneuver the enemy, but at the moment, if the corridor is just two squares wide, will one square in the distance make a huge difference? Not really. And the grenades will eventually run out, not to mention the added fumbling factor. Personally, again, I would strive to discard the whole interruption system althogether. Gasps from the audience, the shock has landed I shall deftly move out of the speaker box with a Luger P08 hidden in my pants before screeching in. Or not. I don't have an alternative to say at this point, so we might as well forget what I said few lines above and I shall offer few solutions. Why can't we peek around corners? That would give us some kind of idea what's ahead of us, and even if the enemy did spot us, we would be offering smaller frame to shoot at. Then again, that could potentially make it more unbalanced. Another possibility would be giving huge accurary penalties to interrupts happening at low range, because when an enemy bops into your crosshairs in random FPS, don't you tend to get a bit startled? That could work. Then again, it probably doesn't make much of a difference if 20 or 30 bullets hit your head from 40, now does it?
But, the ball's with the developers and we shall see if they notice this problem at all, which I sincerely hope they do. Turn-based squaddie strategies still hold a lot potential, as Laser Squad Nemesis and Silent Storm itself has shown, but the genre still carries few silly things which should have been solved ages ago, interrupt being one of them.
Now, sandwiches.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Tom Carrick
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DATE: 01:16
We should play Laser Squad Nemisis sometime.
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DATE: 15:23
The comment before me is just pure spam.
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DATE: 17:31
You lucky ###, in Norway a new console game costs from £43 to £52...
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COMMENT:
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DATE: 18:32
O come on, in Israel a game costs £43 but whereas the average income in Norway is $45,000 a year, the average income in Israel is $29,868 a year. censored
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DATE: 19:03
Yes!
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DATE: 01:18
Yes, we're ripped off with game prices in the UK, just as we are with cars, electrical goods, music... We're used to it, but game prices are VASTLY inflated here.
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DATE: 01:25
The ridiculous thing is, if they were cheaper, I'd buy more. As things are, a game is a more considered purchase.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Tom Carrick
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DATE: 03:55
well, the reason I bothered posting anything here was because it annoys me. I'm on a really low income, shared between three people, and I can barely afford two games a month (which is nowhere, at all, nearly enough for me), and games, PC upgrades, random low-priced goods, and food is all I buy.
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DATE: 14:43
What industries seem to fail to realise is, the more expensive they make their wares (Audio CDs, DvDs, Games, Software), the more people will purchase a multi-layer DvD recorder with some multi-layer blank DvDs, search for a decent bit-torrent site and download the stuff for free.
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DATE: 15:59
Maybe I'm wrong here, but for a game to be released anywhere in Europe, it has to be localized to 8 languages, right? Tom Carrick
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DATE: 20:31
Localisation isn't the problem. The localisation teams are something like 10-20 people, and their jobs generally take... maybe a few months. It's not really enough to hike the price up.
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DATE: 16:47
Blogin hallinnoija on poistanut tämän kommentin.
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TITLE: Portico, or why it ain't a port to ICO, honey
AUTHOR: Jim9137
DATE: 9/03/2005 09:24:00 ip.
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BODY:
... mainly because I drank all the chocolate coffee. ANYWAY, Portico is a blog about strategy games. You can probably find it on the link list on the right, unless I have already deleted on my mass murdering spree. The author eagerly advertises his exploits in the world of any gameblog's enemy, magazines. And how they rock, and how his reviews rock, and how he just got to interview the head satan itself, ESA. But I digress. Click read more to see why and why this blogpost is happening and why it's happening in the first place.
Or not.
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I happen to semi-know Portico's author, due to various internet exchangial features such as IRC (Internet Relay Chat) and Games. I regularly beat his arse in Close Combat as his beloved russkies run away in terror and panic as my brave finlanders throw their molotov cocktails with deadly accuracy from places which they haven't ever seen before! And in UFO2000 his plasma regiments can't stand against my power armored legions as they march down blowing everything moving and standing up, who needs a pussy plasma when you got some serious firepower anyway? But anyway, I only know him through this various exchangial features.
But sometimes, he gets the nerve to critize my blog. Just like that, call my vastly superior blog inferior to his pile of whatever dongus food they feed over the sea. "You don't update enough" "Your article doesn't make sense" "What the heck are you on about-" SHUT UP SHUT UP.
>:|
I dare to say that my blog has more content than his inane ramblings will ever achieve in their miserable electronic life time! How could his, Six Guns to Glory beat my infamous "Titles, or where have all the good names gone"? The former includes some whimsical attempt at constructive suggestion, the latter gets right down in the core of the problem and kicks it's miserable ass out of this planet.. You can't just beat the Staedler pen comparison with a poor World War 2 game blahblahing, you need to get right down on the issue and tear it's poor cold soul apart! The author whom I'm so carefully critizing just blatantly refuses to acknowledge this fact and sacrifices his creditability in order to advance his poor self-contained image forward in such world as game magazines, like Computer*spit* Game*spit* Maga*spit*zine. DARE I SAY HE BETRAYED HIS KIN FOR HIS OWN DEMONIC DEEDS?
But no, that's not all! He also regularly writes articles in Do-scre-yerself website, including GASP EDITORIALS! Who is this man? Is he a blogger? Is he a writer? Is he someone utterly genious for doing such things? NO! He is none of the above, he is just someone who rapes his status in order to gain something horrifically great in his sinister plans for the world domination.
Not to mention his theme just plain sucks.
So that's why Portico, the link which I'm in process deleting but seems to have enrootened itself on my poor template rather tightly, isn't the thing. That's why it ain't the port to Ico. That's why my dear and lovely readers, is why you should avoid it. I just hope that the author will shove his huge ego back into his arse and take a look at my post, and actually take heed from my highly constructive critizism and abandon his evil ways. Acknowledging the problem is the first step in the long path of cure, Goodfellow. Acknowledge your problem! Shove your blog back where it came from and leave me alone!
Bastard.
Disclaimer: I don't have coffee. I shall deny everything in the morning. And happy april's, kids.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Troy Goodfellow
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DATE: 22:56
A little cranky today? Or drunk? And we never play Close Combat - it's Combat Mission. And I always win.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Jim9137
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DATE: 00:19
(Shush now, back into your box.)
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TITLE: Salvo, a completely unrelated to anything or nothing review
AUTHOR: Jim9137
DATE: 8/15/2005 12:17:00 ap.
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BODY:
by Jim9137
for a Goodfellow
Hello kids! We shall dabble in the world of naval sims today! And by the lords, what kind of naval sims we will dabble into! It's the amazing world of discovery and exploration, all over again! I also think there were some slaves involved in that world, but ah, I can't be sure. But anyway, naval sim! Feel the breeze, feel the water, I can already here the seagulls and the shouts of anxious and quite burly men commanding a ship made of wood. The time when men were made of iron and ships were made of wood, indeed!
Assuming of course, Salvo would've delivered what it promised. I have several gripes with this game, which I shall address in a promptish manner soon. First, let's talk about what Salvo is. It's a naval sim, you know, the kind where you press funny buttons and adjust bars and feel the breeeeeeeze! But alas, Salvo fails in that. And in both. I can't feel the breeze when I'm staring at godawful huge status screen of completely unrelated information about the breeze. The point is not to examine the breeze in a painfully detailed manner, but rather FEEL it. FEEL. You know what that is? Well, touch your groin and do circular motions, and you get my idea. And no, you can't feel me. Right, so there is no graphics present at all. Just, status bars. And arrows, I'd suppose indicating wind or the compass, but I have no idea where the hell the north is. Just arrows, I feel like guiding an arrow amidst arrows to a wonderland of arrows.
Then we have another problem, it's related to the nature of the game. It has bloody cannons. BLOODY CANNONS. No, they are really bloody. What is this, some eigenzeiner's sweaty and wet nightmare about bloody cannons on a wooden ship? PEOPLE, DO YOUR RESEARCH. AND NO, GÜBBELWAFFEN DIDN'T LIVE IN THE 17TH CENTURE YOU PIECE O' SODS. So, anyway. The combat. We have bloody cannons, we can only assume that the opponent behind the infinite amounts of stats and numbers and green letters, has too. And what we do with the information? I'd invite them over to my ship and have a cup of tea, casually discussing about the weather while the crew and their crew gets mush mushy underneath the deck. But no, you just kill people. I mean, totally, completely kill. Not my style dude, not at all. Not to mention you can't shout "RIP AND TEAR" without raising few raised eyebrows, you know, like the real pirates did. While wearing green armor, of course. So in short, the combat is rather bland and uninteresting.
The sounds merit a bark from a second room. That is all.
In comparison to other naval sims, Salvo manages to completely ruin the single thing naval sims try to give. The actual simulation. The feel that you are there. It's a sum of multiple factors I suppose, but the designers would do well if they took a cup of tea, went to the nearest "Sea Star", asked if the captain would let them in for a short ride, and then get a feel of it. Now? It's like, someone tried to simulate space, and isn't Buzz Aldrin. Or, Neil Armstrong
Right. Salvo, in short, is a naval sim.
... Salvo. Don't they call Helicopter's missilepods salvos or something?
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TITLE: Music: Not just an afterthought, please
AUTHOR: Tom Carrick
DATE: 8/11/2005 10:30:00 ip.
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Is Hubbard locked the cupboard?
It would seem so. Rob Hubbard - considered one of the greats in composing music for Commodore 64 games back in the 80s - now has a cushy job as Audio-Technical Director at EA, which involves no actual composition of music. Why? Seriously, why? One of the greatest game music composers of all time, and he's composing anymore. He used to compose for EA, but why not now?
Apparently, game music has no place in (at least western) games anymore. Nowadays, the best music you can hope for is if the music changes when you get into a battle. Now, Japanese RPGs, and Square's in particular, has nice music, just for the record, Final Fantasy 6/7/etc, Xenogears and the rest have some really awesome music, but let's just concentrate on us westerners for now.
Back in the days of the C64, music was well thought out, and it could be written awesomely thanks to the SID chip. Let's take Supremacy as an example. If you don't know the game, go check it out, you basically try to overthrow this evil guy in space by manning planets and builing an army. The music, is stunning. It starts with just one sound type and an echo. You get the feel of the emptiness of space, the complete lonliness. In a possible reference to your colonisation of space, it gains more notes, a bassline, and the tune is much more pronounced. It also hints at the progress against the rival, and this comes to a climatic point, maybe hinting at his eventual defeat. The music then suddenly changes tone to a sort of... "there's something worse out there", and the last piece repeats. I guess for the next rival this repeats again a few times, until the music is over.
This is well thought out music. What's more interesting, however, is that this was composed by one man - Jeroen Tel, one of my personal favourite C64 composers. One man. These days an entire team has the nearly the whole devlopment cycle to work on the music, and all we get is a fairly dull ambient soundtrack at the midrange, and maybe some half-decent songs at best. The best relatively recent music in a game is probably from Omikron: The Nomad Soul. However, the music serves more of a plug for Bowie than as a game soundtrack, mostly because the music can only be accessed once, at specific places. The one exception to this is the intro music, which complements the intro perfectly.
As another example, Robocop 3, again the C64 version by Jeroen Tel. The intro music (don't remember if it's loading, intro, or title, or what, but the first piece of music anyway) is just awe-inspiring. Ot at least violence-inspiring. By the end of it you seriously want to yell "DIE MOTHERFUCKERRRRRRRS" at the screen and hit the fire button with a hammer in an attempt to kill everything on the screen. Just to change the composer, let's go to Rob Hubbard himself. Sanxion. Best piece of music in a game. Ever. In this case it has nothing to do with the game, it's just nice music.
While this might just seem like a rant of the "omg sid am good", I'm actually aiming at something here. Game developers and publishers these days have big audio teams. Like, big, seriously. Why don't they make use of them? Tel and some others are still going, but not many big games get the music/sound outsourced, I would imagine it's too expensive when you already have a team. A useless team that does nothing, though.
I'm just going to re-iterate for the sake of it. Music is important. It can make me feel like I'm in the game. I don't want to be shooting at starfighters and have bland elevator music in the background. I WANT ACTION. Even the almighty X-COM fails in this. Dark broody, excellent music, but it's a pointless when I'm in a massive firefight, isn't it? Make the music represent what is happening in the game.
However, big however. Don't use music when silence is better, you can still fail here. If I'm playing Thief, or Metal Gear *, or Splinter Cell, I don't want music. Just stfu already or I won't hear the next guard tootle into the path of my blackjack/neck braking skills.
Yeah, it's a balancing act, but it can't be that hard, eh?
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DATE: 14:28
Evil Genius, X2, anything by Maxis, GTA, Civilization 3, etcetera. Tom Carrick
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DATE: 19:12
I like the music in the Sims 2,it's fitting. I can't say I'm a fan of any of the others though.
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DATE: 21:44
I wouldn't say I failed to see your point. I just wouldn't say that music is "boring".
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DATE: 10:45
Play God of War, it's got probably the best music score that i can remember.
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TITLE: Silver City, or why I've been amiss for ages
AUTHOR: Jim9137
DATE: 8/10/2005 08:18:00 ip.
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Hello kids. I know this blog hasn't been updated in what, two or three months? Well, it's probably mainly my fault. I apologize. Please, don't send any bloodhounds in my direction. I can not be held responsible for what happens to them. Anyway, the clock is 20:29 at the moment and it's long-due for your regular dose of "SCRE YE" in the form of lovely words by Jim9137.
Oh, before I forget. We have a new nember, Brother Dysk. I have no idea what he is going to write about, if he's going to write about anything, or anything, it's one of those doing random things at 3AM things, you see. So, give him warm hugs or pommac and click read more for my rantly thing.
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That title over there? I have no idea what it means so don't ask me. I am however, going to talk about game and their inventions. Particularly focusing in FPS games, because those are the most readibly available material and everyone knows them. Left mousebutton masturbation would get pretty darn close. And that's my major gripe with FPS games. I can't name but only few games that could be truly said to deviate from the mass, because when you say "FPS", you automatically mean you're going to have a game where you start with a pistol or in some rare cases, knife or wrench, and you have a crosshair and you're going to kill lots of meanies in it. The point of this all? Rarely anything sensible, you're lone marine off to save the world seems to be pretty much the stock standard, with few variations there of.
For those who might not realize where I'm going with this, I've been paving way for my finger to arise and point towards the great big beast, the unoriginality. I'm not saying it's not happening everywhere, because it is, and that it's something radically different from old good times, because it isn't, but it still bugs me. The last mildly interesting "revolution" of FPS games came in the form of Half-Life 2 and with it's physics engine. Well, I'm pretty darn sure we'll see it to become a standard, crate puzzles in FPS games that is. Doom 3's expansion pack featured a variant of the gravity gun already, although it didn't use it as much as Half-Life 2 did from what I heard. But the signs are here, it's becoming another standard. Just like real multilevelled levels did with the first Doom, the truly revolutionary game. Wolfenstein might've been the first, but Doom made the genre what it was today. The one of the most popular, most easily accesibles, most famous and especially most controversial genre there is.
But every day, every game I play, I just keep thinking to myself, haven't I seen this before? And in fact, I most likely have. That is my problem, that is why I'm so cynical, as people have told me when I went on my quest against Battlefield 2 and it's squad handling system, although I haven't even seen a bloody screenshot of the game, only a promo video of it in the Xbox360 garble, and it was prerendered anyhow. They tell me it works, I told them no way jose, and we get in an argument. No, this didn't really relate to this article, but the same happened with Half-Life 2 as well. People tell me it was something huge, something that we will warmly remember in our older days (as gamer's, that is), or that it was the best game to come out in a while.
I beg to differ. It's a good product, it's got a decent story (although I felt that it's story-telling was bit of lacking in my opinion, but that's another argument that doesn't relate to this article), the graphics were pretty, combat was fun at times and it got neat little innovations and tricks with the stunning physics. Except I yawned my way through the game. There was nothing radically different there, just the same stock FPS with prettier glitter than the other similar games had, nothing new. Nothing new. Why, what new there could be? How could you think of anything new to a genre that seems to be a dead horse and everyone's just raping it, just because it's famous? Bad argument jose, you just haven't met a man crazy enough with crazy ideas and guts to pull them.
Killer 7, from the little I've read, showed a little what could be done, but it'll never be a revolutionary game. No one will follow it's lead. I'm not even truly sure whether it's a FPS at all, but hey. Things are weird. I'm not saying that you should have weird things to please my appetite, I'm just saying that FPS genre has been stagnant for ages. Seriously, who didn't see the physics engine making its way to the games, should go quickly grab a copy of Duke Nukem 3D and play a game of pool with the pool table in the, third or second? level of L.A Meltdown. The signs have been there all along, we just lacked the technique, the power to do it properly. But honestly, it's just candy covering on crap, excuse the harsh wording.
A true revolution would be to combine FPS, a highly intensive and grabbing game experience as it can sometimes be, to strong story-telling, exploring the ways it could be done (System Shocks). Exploring your personal alter-ego in the game, what could be done to it (Operation Flashpoint). Even exploring the combat itself, how to make those corridor battles a truly shocking and gritty affair as it is (That PS2 FPS which flopped), instead of being a clean and hygienic like in bloody Rainbow Six's. A game with a mood, exploring the ways how it could intensify the feel that you, not some marine on stimpacks, YOU are there. As a marine on stimpacks or a scared little girl. (Doom 3). Heck, even exploring the ways to interact with the envinronment instead of looking at it through some window or bubble, that'd be pretty darn neat.
But alas, the FPS genre is going into a completely different direction. Maybe it will overlap with my preffered direction, maybe they won't, we'll see. But well, this is why I don't really like FPS games. Maybe you disagree with me, maybe I'm just old gamer rambling about things he has no idea of, but this is how I feel. And it makes an article so I'm happy.
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DATE: 19:36
Blogin hallinnoija on poistanut tämän kommentin.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Jim9137
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DATE: 22:34
Blaa blaa blaa face the delete dear spammy tree.
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AUTHOR: Jim9137
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DATE: 00:16
I would, but I'm pretty sure it won't work on this computer. Jim9137
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DATE: 21:53
No, not all games need to. But well, it seems the developers think that no single game needs to be immersive. Well, sure, they have the graphics and all that, but it's just glitter.
Okay I have no place to go. Today, when I was dying from the heat and peering at the grey clouds of doom with fervent rage, I happened to notice System Shock 2's CD underneath few miniature bases and a red Staedler pen. If you don't know what Staedler pen is, don't ask me, because I have no clue what the most stuff on my table is. Also, my current candies are worst ever. So as I was looking at the CD, I got this odd sense of feel. I started wondering about the names of the game industry. I also like to twist names according my own whim, but that's just me. Most of the classical names, such as Blizzard, Fallout, System Shock, Warcraft, Half-Life and such, rarely bear anything more to the game than a little funny word play.
Blizzard is a classic example of such name. But then we have Infogrames, which has no point at all except having extra r and info in it. I don't really understand the naming scheme behind company name's, it's so weird. Lucasarts, that makes sense. George Lucas founded it and he's such an egomaniac anyway. But then we have... Looking Glass. It sounds nifty, it has that clang on it. But what does it mean? How do you apply a Looking Glass into gaming? Is it a metaphor, is it something else? I have no idea dear sir.
Apogee switched it's name to 3D Realms. From obscurity to straight "Ah! It's gotta be a game company!" you know, it helps us common folk. But I suppose company names don't need much of a naming anyway, I tend to use Mono-Cel in my business simulations, just because it's snazzy and most of all, boring name.
Game names, now this is something I particularly wuuurve. They always have some sort of meaning in them, at least I pray that they do. Because I just remember I have ZPC on my shelf and I have no idea what it means. But mostly, yeah. It's a good policy you know, inform gamers about what you're going to except from the game. You aren't looking at Hack N Slash when you see "Stars above the Hemisphere of Ogzillian." Or you might, depends on how retarded the name designer is. Which in my case, is quite retarded. What does one except from a guy who has taken something else than regular substances? Anyway, I'm pretty darn glad games names have a proper meaning most of the time. Because otherwise we get the movie/book syndrome where the names very rarely mean anything or refer to the book's events. But still... I just wish I'd stop seeing Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 3 and X-Box freaking 360. Half-Life! What does it even mean! I cry! You fight zombies and you're suddenly Half-Life! AAEEEEI. And I'm not going to get into the X-Box freaking 360 business because it's so bloody silly I could rant about it for hours with ease.
But names, figuring names is a hard task. Anyone who has played RPG's or anything similar where you're supposed to think of a name and you just don't want to use your possibly stupid sounding name in that particular universe because it makes you feel uneasy, knows what I'm talking about. Sure you can have a stock of names, you can use random name generators, but figuring names from the air is HARD. And especially if they should have some sort of meaning as well, as it happens to be in fiction these days. So understandably we get a freaking Master Chief occasionally, and I my unborn first child is crying baby tears on my dream girl's stomache whom I haven't had the chance to meet yet. Yet, it's silly. Creativity is something everyone has, but it rarely means that if you can figure huge plots of drama and epochal proportions, figuring names out of thin air is hard. But bloody Master Chief! HAVE MERCY ON MY UNBORN FIRST CHILD!
And as far as the current naming goes in hardware -> It's pointless, no one reads the names, you're just fooling your customers with fancy numbers and I wish you'd stop breathing or give us some useful data in the name instead of pretending.
Thank you, back to Dungeoncrawling. Damn those imps are hard.
P.S: I love the Image uploading feature on Blogger. Jim9137
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DATE: 08:18
I know it was his rank, but it's still bloody silly. I always thought it was Master Chef in the start.
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DATE: 21:12
half-life refers to the zombies, fool.
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DATE: 21:12
half-life refers to the zombies, fool.
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TITLE: Updating, or why Goodfellow poked me in the eye with a cane
AUTHOR: Jim9137
DATE: 6/21/2005 08:45:00 ip.
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Righto then, let's tackle the updating bit. LET'S KICK OUT THE JAMS! I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna KICK THEM OUT, YEAH!-... What are you staring at?
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Games need updating. Everyone knows this. Everyone does this, in fact, it's so easy with Steam that you won't probably even notice it most of the time. But this hasn't been the case always, but it's relatively old news. I remember an article dated in '98, several in fact, completely dedicated to teach readers to update. They in fact, copied the instructions posed in it to every magazine from then on, just because they got tired of "How do I update Fallout 2?" letters. It was the time when Team Fortress was still on Quake, with mods being relatively new concept.
Updating, as we all know, fixes game bugs, game killing aspects such as overpowered weapons, game AI, and occasionally bring new content. Not the way it was meant to be first. Back at the '98, this article complained how the updates make the game developers lazy, careless and bring consumers unfinished product. Fallout 2 1.0 was unplayable, unfinishable to a game killing bug. And sadly, after you updated it you lost your saves. Then it proceeded on to explain that updates, instead of constantly fixing problems that should have been fixed in Q&A/Beta phase ages ago, should bring new content, new weapons, new enemies, new chapters (anyone get a deja vú feeling here?), new levels to tackle. They should expand the game experience, not make it possible, something that the players can download if they have means to do so. Not everyone had internet access back these days, I certainly didn't. Anything larger than few megabytes was hard to get, and internet was expensive in general. Which is why Fallout 2 shot itself to the leg, disabling some of it's consumers for playing it. This same magazine offered CD with the essential game patches as a subscriber's gift.
Zoom a little forward, everyone knows how to update these days. Autoupdaters are becoming standard, Half-Life has established it's position as King of FPS'es, and Counter-Strike has made the mod community go boom as well as the multiplayer one. Also, Jim9137 takes his baby steps on the scary IRC world but that's bit of side of the point. Updating these days is common, essential even. It's still rather new concept, but people are learning. I can remember how I complained on IRC how long updating Counter-Strike took with my ISDN, which was whopping 64k/128k fast. 100 megs, it took weeks. Not to mention the map packs, which were essential if you wanted to play on any reasonable server. Game updating was done mainly on "If absolutely required" basis. The talk about game updates bringing new content instead of new bugfixes, the talk about game updates making game developers lazy, suddenly diminished. Few grumbling noises could be heard all over the world, but mainly at the slowness of Internet. This was time when finding an update was certain type of skill. This was the time when WON was the only way to play Half-Life online. Team Fortress immigrated over HL as Team Fortress Classic. Multiplayer gaming is forming to what it is now, clanbased activity across the world without the need of LAN and close friends. MMORPG's take over from MUDs. Consoles challenge PC's as the biggest gaming venue, but they are very strictly offline. Their biggest marketing trick is how you don't need to update their games. You don't need to, well, you can't either.
And we hop to the current age. Half-Life 2 has hit the shores, and it most likely will be the new king of FPS'es for a year or two, although challengers are on a line. Valve's greatest invention, and the greatest source of frustration for gamers alike, Steam has hit the shores and completely replaced WON. It promises to update the game without the player knowing, it promises to make a true online experience possible. For me that online experience was waiting that the Steam Client finally agreed to update itself after a bad update. Yes. We have bad updates these days, the ones that instead of doing anything sane, breaks the game. Makes it unplayable. New content is quite common, even on single-player games, but most of the time it's something relatively small. Updates, everyone does it, even your neighbour's cat will update it's food cup's BIOS soon, just wait for it. The "new" cash making idea of making games chapter based, which you buy one by one, is on the news on regular basis. The newest generation of consoles is promising to be the thing, the one you want to share your 10mb/10mb cable connection with. They promise that you can download totally new content, new weapons, new enemies, new chapters (anyone get a deja vú feeling here?), new levels to tackle.
So, PC gaming's updating has actually evolved. But are the consoles making the same mistakes as PC did, or will they do it like it should have been done in the first place? Updating isn't that big of a problem these days... But as the updates go larger, I've seen ones which are way over few hundred megs, so will the player's patience. Games aren't anymore like books, which you can just install and play at will. But then again, if it's not the updates it's the installing and struggling to match your PC's power to the required. It's a wild time we are living in folks, even purely from updating point of view, gaming is living on the edge of a revolution. We only need someone to truly push us over that edge.
But if no one does, we'll fall away from that edge and we have lost another chance, and I suppose next one will come after the virtual reality kicks in. Ah well, we'll see.
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DATE: 17:26
you should note that fallout 2 was not totally the programmers fault- they were raped by inane laws and an idiotic marketing team
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AUTHOR: Jim9137
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DATE: 12:55
Yeeup, probably so. I don't recall the exact details, but Fallout 2 is perfect example of a game that was shipped unfinished. And, unpatched. ;)
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