Sandmonkey is back! I bet you missed me. Yes you. Anyway, Renegade and I have finished exams now so we should be posting here more regularly.
So I've been staying at friend's place for the last few days and we have been playing co-op Borderlands. I did a preview of this game a few months ago and mentioned that I was a bit disappointed that the developers planned to make it cell shaded. After playing the game I can say that my opinion on it is the same and I think that cell shading looks like a cheap way to get away with being too lazy to actually develop decent graphics. Although I know many people don't mind too much about the quality of graphics and some even like cell shaded graphics. Just not me.
Graphics aside the game is a solid FPS with well implemented RPG elements. And there are very few bugs that we encountered while playing the game. Although there was one point where we were looking for an object to complete the mission, the object turned out to be nowhere near the marking on the map.
After playing the game for a while you are given a vehicle that you can use to get places a lot more quickly. Unfortunately it can be difficult to drive and can get stuck between objects quite easily.
The levelling system is fair and balanced. So there is not too much to comment on here. Killing people = XP = upgrades. Missions = money = new equipment. Pretty simple. The upgrades differ depending on what class you choose to go as (soldier, siren, hunter & berserker). The equipment you buy includes: weapons, ammo & shields. You can also pick up equipment from dead enemies.
If you finish doing missions and stuff then invite a friend over. The characters can jump so high that playing leapfrog with a friend could be considered an "exclusive additional feature". And if your friend is too n00bish and doesn't want to play leapfrog, you have the ability to challenge your teammate to a duel in which you fight each other one to one. Then you slaughter them and force them to play leapfrog.
Good afternoon to all four of you that are still with us after around two weeks of no posting. I apologise, but life is being nasty and busy again, taking us away from our beloved computers and internet. Its not going to get too much easier, my posts will be fairly erratic for the next couple of months, and we’re not likely to see Sandmonkey again this side of December. I’ll try and keep a minimum of a post a week up just so the website doesn’t completely die, but come December we both should be back up to our usual rants about Apple and things that generally annoy.
Speaking of Apple. This week marks the launch of the iPod Touch 3G and iTunes 9. For both of these I have to wonder why they bothered. The iPod Touch 3G is apparently a bit faster than the 2G, other than that it is essentially the same thing. I think Apple is taking the gaming angle a bit more seriously now, but other than that I haven’t heard of a newsworthy difference. My first reaction was to expect a camera, but they dashed that illusion too. In a way I’m glad that my iPod hasn’t been superseded by something amazingly better, but I’m sure there are people who have gone out and bought their iPod Touch replacement, being the dogmatic Apple fanboys that they are.
iTunes 9, yet again, why did they bother? If you haven’t had the chance to download and install this yet, don’t worry, you’re not missing anything. Basically this is iTunes 8 with a slightly lighter glossier GUI. There are a few changes in the syncing process and they made the iTunes Store look uglier. And there is apparently social networking integration, because who needs web browsers right? Who doesn’t want to use iTunes to update Facebook and Twitter with the song they’ve just bought? Other than that, this is a pretty poor excuse for an entirely new version number.
And on to the good news.
I got a chance to download the Lost Planet 2 demo. I played it, and I should inform you that the game oozes awesomeness. Not your average awesomeness, but I’m talking thick creamy awesomeness. To give a comparison, lets cast our minds back to the river of slime in Ghostbusters 2. Sort of like that form of awesomeness. Its a step above the bog standard liquid awesomeness that oozes from stuff like i7s and giant subwoofers, yet one step below the gaseous awesomeness that Sandmonkey and I exhale. It’s roughly in the middle there.
Just quickly, I should give a quick rundown of the series. Lost Planet: Extreme Condition was one of the first games to utilise the next-gen graphics on the Xbox 360 and on the PC. It was fairly revolutionary but I think it was also quite underrated. Its a third person shooter set on a far off freezing cold colonised planet inhabited by a violent insectoid species called the Akrid, who don’t like humans, especially as we keep killing them and harvesting them for thermal energy (I call it “orange stuff”) to power our cities and weapons. The signature tools of the game are the grappler, allowing you to climb up steep hills, and the various types of Vital Suits (VS), giant mechanised suits that allow you to crush gratuitous amounts of face.
This next instalment is set on the same planet after a fairly radical climate change. We say goodbye to the arctic temperatures of the first game and say hello to the temperate jungles of the new game. However, the Akrid are still here, as you realise fairly quickly in the demo as you are confronted with a giant (really giant) creature that sees you as a really tasty piece of popcorn with a gun. Then you realise your objective is to kill this creature. Which is a lot more fun that you’d think. If you think it you can pretty much do it in this game. You can shoot at its legs repeatedly to decapitate it. You can use the grappler to try and climb on to it, where you can try and stay on its back whilst you shoot its head from behind (try being the key word, harder than it sounds). You can pick up big rocket launchers and attach it to Vital Suits which you can then use them to blow limbs off that thing. And finally my favourite is you can climb in to its mouth and travel inside of it. If you can survive the currents and the little Akrid creatures inside of him, then you can start killing the creature from the inside before being…well…excreted.
Other than amazing open-ended gameplay, the game has also embraced the magic of online co-op for both the Xbox 360 and the PC. Basically this means you can team up with a bunch of friends to take this thing down. That sounds so much more fun, but I’m stuck on my Silver Live Membership at the moment and am being denied my god-given right to online play.
Anyhow, that game is a definite “buy” on my list so I’m starting to save for it. If you haven’t played the demo yet, I recommend it. The PC demo is coming out soon…ish.
So that’s all for today. Please share your experiences with the game or any of Apple’s super-fun products below, I’ll do my best to keep up with posting over the coming months.
Here’s something I didn’t know about until today. I don’t know what’s more surprising though, the actual news or the fact this isn’t bigger news. Apparently the German government is seriously considering the possibility of passing an act that bans any video games deemed violent. On the basis that anyone who plays video games ends up going on a suicidal massacre. Because, y’know, that's what we do. We get bored of Halo and rather than by a new game, which costs money by the way, we go out and kill real people. Such a realistic view of life.
Honestly, the idea that video games cause violence is just ridiculous. I think that if someone can be persuaded by a video game that killing a bunch of schoolchildren is a good idea, then they were probably messed up enough in the first place to go down that route regardless. Video games are not a drug. They don’t alter people’s personality. Video games seem to be the scapegoat for many a crime, such as causing anti-socialism and computer addiction, when in most cases its external factors that cause this. How parents can let their young kids stay on their video games all day is beyond me. Kids will do that, its in their nature. If its fun, they’ll do it non-stop. They don’t understand the implications. But you can’t blame the video game after you’ve let your child become obsessive. It’s like saying, video games are bad because they’re too fun! And kids like them too much! Please, exercise some parental control.
Woah…did I just say that?
Anywho, back to Germany’s new video game holocaust. It actually seems that they may go through with it. The fact that this could happen could cause a massive blow not only to German gamers, but to the rest of the world. Some brilliant developers are based in Germany. The biggest probably being Crytek. Who are worried.
Crytek’s CEO has said that they are seriously considering the possibility that they will have to move out of the country and make the Crytek UK studios the new base of operations. The way they see it is that this law may be passed, and if it does Crytek wont be left with many options. Either shut down, get shut down and face legal action, move out, or scrap the whole Crysis idea and make a game where you can pet ultra-realistic looking bunny rabbits.
So, what do you think about this threat? Has this issue got any real foundation, or is Germany just getting sick and tired of playing games where you kill Nazis.
I turned on my Xbox 360 yesterday to find a new update to Xbox Live. I was quite curious to what this could be. Would it be bug fixes? Or maybe a new feature? Well it turned out to the latter, as many of you gamers will know by now. Welcome world…to the avatar marketplace.
Yes. The day has finally come. You can now dress up your avatar in a variety of game-related clothes available to download instantaneously. Congratulations Microsoft, you’ve introduced another feature that is specifically designed to waste people’s money. You found a weakness in your consumer market and you struck, multiple times until you managed to make a big enough dent to dig down and set up a money mine.
This weakness of course is the millions of people who think buying a Bioshock 2 t-shirt for their avatar is a great idea. I don’t know what goes through these people’s heads.
“I know! I’m going to pay Microsoft and 2K Games for the right to advertise their console and game on my profile!”
I don’t blame Microsoft too much. They’re a business, they’re out to make money, and they’re very good at it. I blame the general public for letting this happen. Do you people realise that your strange cravings to enlarge your e-penis by buying a lightsaber for your avatar has made Microsoft work on this useless rubbish rather than something else worthwhile? The only time I ever see my avatar is when I turn on my Xbox, and the only time I see anyone else's avatar is when I look at my friends list. Why would you blow 400MP on a Splinter Cell themed costume that hardly anyone looks at or even cares about?
As I speak, thousands of costumes are being downloaded a second, proving to Gates and Ballmer that they did the right thing. That is the wrong message to be giving. Stop being satisfied with half a year of wasted development on this. If you raise your expectations of your console, then the companies will have to keep up by developing things to exceed them. Project Natal is a great example of that. Xbox 360 gamers want something Wii-like, but not a Wii. Microsoft announced Natal, the first ever commercial full body motion capture camera. But if all you want is to pay through the nose to play dress-up with a digital doll, then that’s all they’ll give you.
Whilst trawling the internet for something to write about today, I came across something that filled me with an unusual mix of nostalgia and excitement. News of Tropico 3.
Tropico is not a particularly well known game series, so for those unfamiliar I will attempt to fill you in on the background. Tropico is a government simulator, a bit like Sim City however with one fundamental twist: Instead of being a democratic mayor with freakish God-like powers, you are ‘El Presidente’, a corrupt ruthless dictator of a tropical island nation. Whilst I use words like “corrupt” and “ruthless”, I should stress that these are not predefined at the beginning at the game, its just the way that everyone plays it.
My memories of Tropico include those of creating my island nation with the best of intentions. My goal was to create an island paradise, where everyone would live in a dreamlike utopia. It would be a wonderful place, where people of all backgrounds and beliefs would live in harmony, and tourists would come far and wide to gasp at it’s splendour.
Two hours in to the game I distinctly remember demolishing a square kilometre of shanty town to make way for a new palace to be built in my honour. I raised a few taxes so I could afford a coal power plant to provide electricity to my new barracks. I had a few uprisings, but nothing a little martial law and 5pm curfew wouldn’t fix. I had run out of prison cells for all the revolutionaries and protesters, so I was forced to systematically execute the known registered communists on grounds of ‘treason’. After around the third hour I realised I had made too many enemies. The new 5-star hotel I built on top of some slums may have had something to do with it. I quickly raided the treasury and secured it all in an offshore bank account whilst my presidential aide found the dinghy. We rowed away from the island before the solid gold statue of me in the courtyard was torn down by rebels.
It is by no stretch of the definition a game that should be taken seriously. It is not like Sim City where you try to and make the perfect haven. It is a game where you extort, exploit and embezzle until you have made your own personal wealth at the expense of the poor hapless islanders. If there were more games like this, then people like Mugabe may have stayed indoors playing video games rather than screw up entire countries. Another reason why games are essential for the strive toward world peace.
Anyhow, I never played Tropico 2. Apparently it was about pirates, which means it must have been good. Tropico 3 goes back to its roots in the original with our good friend El Presidente, so its all the fun with an new enhanced 3D engine.
Its set to be released in September on the PC and surprisingly for the Xbox 360. Can’t wait to see how this turns out.
A PlayStation 3 gamer has recently filed a suit in a U.S. District Court in California. For what you may ask, well because he got banned from the PSN (PlayStation Network, Sony’s network for online gaming). Erik Estavillo is claiming that Sony has suppressed his right to free speech and caused him pain and suffering. Erik claims to have agoraphobia which is a fear of crowds, this is the cause for his ‘pain and suffering’ as he relied on the PSN to socialize.
The cause for the ban was supposedly because of Erik’s behaviour while playing Resistance: Fall of Man. The moderators (who can ban anyone who they believe to be deserving – sounds like an awesome job) gave Erik a blanket ban across the whole of the PSN, which leads us to Erik’s next claim... He is also claiming that his ban from the PSN is a theft of his pre-paid points. So he basically can’t access any of his points or get a refund for them.
Erik Estavillo is unrepresented in his case and is seeking that Sony cease banning players, oh and $55,000 in damages. As of the 21st of July Sony has yet to comment on these claims, and why should they? They are completely ridiculous, stupid and it fuels America’s reputation as a stupid country.
It’s been a while since we did an article on a game so:
Borderlands is an upcoming science fiction - first person shooter for PC, Xbox360 and PS3 (which is also open world). The game is being developed by Gearbox and will contain RPG elements and recent images show the game will be cell shaded. The game is due to be released in October of this year.
I have to say that the original trailer looked quite interesting, but since realizing that the game was cell shaded, I haven’t been as keen on this game. I know many people are content and even like that type of graphical style but it just isn’t for me. You can see the original trailer below:
The story takes place on the planet Pandora which is situated at the edge of the galaxy. Colonists travel there in search of precious recourses. The travels learn very quickly that the planet does not offer much and those who have any money leave the planet, but those who don’t have any money are left on the planet. While you are tasked with exploring ancient alien ruins in search for a mystical artefact. The game has four playable characters each with specialized skills, abilities and back stories. As the game progresses you are able to upgrade their stats.
One of the biggest selling points for this game is its randomization engine. The randomization works much the same as Diablo’s level generator except that it works for weapons. The game provides you with millions of different guns ranging from rifles that shoot rockets to pistols that act as sniper rifles.
Windows 7 has been looming for a while now. It has been confirmed for official release in October while people like me sit at their computers using the fully stable Release Candidate. It seems to be presenting itself as the final sigh of relief for all those using XP and scared of Vista, but the question many are asking is whether it carries any of XP’s gaming dominance.
Whilst DirectX 10 was a Vista only platform, the promises it made were not fully delivered. Games running on Vista did not perform as well as when they were run on XP, and as a result, game developers have retained options in their games to be played on DX9, which to the untrained eye is almost identical. Vista’s promise of a totally new gaming experience through DX10 ended up being yet another flaw that caused the majority of PC gamers to stick with the 8 year old OS.
DirectX 11 seems to be promising the same kind of things. Better visual effects. Better management of 3D objects allowing for more detail. Enhanced simplicity for developers allowing for less time and money to be wasted. All fine and good but we heard it all before. I have Vista and I use DX9 where I can for that extra performance boost. On my archaic hardware that can mean the difference between 20fps and 25fps, which is bad enough at any rate without Vista slowing me down. AMD seems confident that DX11 is the future and that coupled with the right hardware it could really be going places. NVIDIA said the same thing about DX10, and I’m not trusting AMD’s authority on gaming with their substandard processors and ATI graphics cards.
What did catch my eye were a few other features. Such as an enhanced Game Explorer. I do like the nifty little Games Explorer in Vista, though fairly useless it does nicely group everything together and cuts off a few seconds when launching a game. The new version apparently allows you to update games directly through Explorer, allowing updates to be automatic and not rely on you running the game itself. Ingame statistics and other information can also be viewed in the Explorer window rather than booting up the game as well. Kind of like consoles. It makes it a bit easier if the OS is centred around making gaming that little bit easier, instead of forcing you to jump through hoops. I’m glad Microsoft has realised that they are developing a gaming platform, not just a computing environment.
Also I thought the inclusion of Project Natal is a nice touch. I’ve already made my opinions clear on the brilliance of the technology in the gaming world and I think it would be great on the PC. Not only could you game with it, you could possibly use it for day-to-day computing functions. Facial recognition for login and the invisible remote control when watching a movie.
All in all, I think we just have to wait and see and hope for the best. I just hope there wont be another bunch of gamers who refuse to upgrade on the basis of a couple of frames per second. I’m sure your quad-SLI can handle a little strain from 7.
And here is the continuation of the bargain bin. These are the articles in which I review a few older games that you can pick up dirt cheap, but still worth every cent. Don’t worry, we’re not going too retro, just the last decade.
You can see the last Bargain Bin articles here: Bargain Bin #1 – Far Cry, Star Wars:Jedi Knight, Star Trek:Elite Force, Battlefield 1942
Halo: Combat Evolved If I listen hard enough, I should be able to hear the combined sigh of disappointment from all of you as you read the title of this game. Yes, Halo. The original. You know, the good one. The one that wasn’t just a copy of its predecessor, the one that really kick started console FPSes. Most gamers will have played one of the Halo games at least once. In my opinion, they’ve got gradually worse and now dropping off the cliff of despair with spinoffs like Halo Wars, Halo 3 ODST and Halo: Reach. The ever-growing crowds of pre-pubescent fanboys are now causing the more mature gamers to shun it out of pride, forgetting how much they enjoyed it before it was degraded by 12-year olds with broadband. I much preferred the original Halo. It didn’t take itself too seriously with its frankly ridiculous plot, and compensated with its brilliant gameplay. Even if the flood level is annoying enough to knaw one of your limbs off. You can get it under $15 now. I’d recommend you get it on PC, as long as it was manufactured this side of the ice age, it should run. And it means you get online play and the added advantage of keyboard and mouse.
Age of Mythology Anyone who loves Age of Empires will love this game. Its what got me started on AoEIII. Developed by the same studio, Ensemble (RIP), and published by the evildoers at Microsoft (murderers), Age of Mythology takes Age of Empires and rewinds it back to ancient history. It delves in to the mythologies of the Ancient Greeks, the Egyptians and the Vikings, bringing the same gameplay that Age of Empires delivers, yet this time round you are granted god-like powers and control over creatures such as the Minotaur, Centaurs, Scarabs, Ice Giants and Jackal-men. It is great fun and still has a keen following when playing online. If you’re clever you can look out for the double pack including the Titan’s Expansion pack, which adds a whole new civilisation and a few more gameplay quirks such as control over a giant Titan. You can get this under $20 in most places nowadays.
Portal This is cheating slightly, since this is not a retro game. But it is cheap enough for there to be no excuse for not having played this game. You can buy it through Steam for $20, and it is worth every single cent. It is fun. It is challenging. It is hilarious. There is no better game to waste money on. I would actually go as far as saying it is the best, and the most original game I have ever played. This is a must. And by the way, the cake IS a lie.
Picture this. Nintendo turn up to E3 with the Wii Motion Plus. They look around a sneer. They think they’re way ahead of the times. They think they have something revolutionary to tell the world about. They have motion control. Now picture their faces when Microsoft and Sony turn up with their own innovations. Innovations that make the Wii look like EyeToy. Innovations that blow your freaking mind.
Microsoft’s “Project Natal”, aside from its awful name, is phenomenal. This is the one that stuck in my mind. Whilst Sony’s was very interesting and looked like great fun, we’ve seen the likes of it before. With gyroscopic motion sensing controllers. Project Natal is different, there is no controller. Think PlayStation EyeToy combined with the Wii motion sensing.
This thing has full body motion capture. Your 3D avatar literally mimics every move you make, whether it be your head, arm or leg. You can actually be the character on screen.
This thing has voice recognition. Whilst I normally have to put on an American accent for any voice recognition to work, voice recognition is a great idea for consoles. Simple commands can be easily recognised, as can be seen in Windows and games like Tom Clancy’s EndWar.
This thing has facial recognition. Yes, you heard it right. It will sign in to Xbox Live depending on who sits down in front of the console. The only problem I foresee is families with identical twins. Or in 2012 when clones take over the world.
This thing is awesome. Yes, awesome. It is officially awesome. Microsoft certified awesome. This thing is piss-yourself awesome. I am talking more awesome than the wonderful invention of foot showers on the beach. More awesome than a guest appearance of Steve Jobs during the target practice tutorial of Far Cry 3. This is so fricking awesome, it even mentions Chuck Norris in the advert. It is THAT good!
I actually believe this may be revolutionary. Not just in games consoles, but in the computing field and in the entertainment industry. And the fact that this is all done using just a little camera, is incredible.
Here is the Microsoft advert. It is cheesy as always. Microsoft should learn how to make a good advertisement. But everything seen in it is not fake, head over the GameTrailers where they have a load of tech demos of it in action. (But don’t pay attention to the Lionhead tech demo. That's just Peter Moleneux up to his old lying tricks again)
Definitely watch this. These are the tech demos that they showed at E3, and I do have a favourite line, “This isn’t a game where you end up on the sofa just using some preset waggle commands” *oh snap says the audience*
Heavy Rain: The Origami Killer is a game coming out on the PS3 some time this year. Whilst I don't own a PS3, I’m writing about this because of its unique method of gameplay. I was first drawn to it by the claim “Most realistic graphics ever seen before in a game”. Being a good little graphics whore, I brought the screen up and watched the trailer. Whilst the graphics were absolutely phenomenal, I was slightly put off by the fact the entire game is based around quicktime events. Yeah, those annoying button mashing bits in games that most people hate. At least I do. But I read in to it more and it turns out that the game is more of a story. What you do right and what you do wrong in the quicktime events only shoves you down another storyline. I watch this trailer and wonder…is this a video game? Or an interactive movie?
This game, far from being your average shoot-em-up, has a full detailed story with realistic people and characters. You literally play out a movie. But this movie isn’t like a movie tie-in game. Its actually a movie. You see from perspective cameras, there is no differential between cutscene and play, there is only the story. And how you act determines the outcome. Apparently there are over 30 different outcomes and 100s of ways to get there. The amazing graphics is a product of the fact each scene is pre-rendered. So the PS3 graphics chip doesn’t even break a sweat.
But the point stands. Where is the the boundary between a video game and a movie?
I watched the Modern Warfare II trailer again today. And then I watched it again. And I thought about how awesome Call of Duty 4 was, and since Infinity Ward are doing it again this year there is a big chance this will be even more awesome. But there it one problem. I think they may have caught Bungie-itus.
Bungie-itus is something I’ve diagnosed and it is derived from Bungie’s own antics. Where they have amassed such a massive mindless fanbase that they know that they can generate mass hype from releasing a 20 second video. Bungie took it all the way for their first teaser for Halo 3:ODST. They first of all generated hype at E3 2008 for a new sneak peek at their upcoming game, only to be suddenly cancelled last minute by Microsoft to the disappointment of millions of Halo fanboys. Then about a month after E3 they release a 24-hour countdown on their website. “Counting down to what?” says the world. And what are all of those cryptic messages? Keep it clean? What’s that all about? Then at the end of it, we can all download a 70MB video that shows us approximately 15 seconds of nothing. But still, somehow, people are so hyped they could explode.
I saw this trailer, along with the last one, and I can see an aspect of bungie-itus in it. All I see in the trailer is Call of Duty 4…but with vehicles. Not that they aren’t about 6 years late for that. There were vehicles in war games back in Battlefield 1942, its nothing too revolutionary. But this trailer does not get me any more hyped for the game. Only annoyed that they wasted my time with something that as far as I could see could have come straight out of CoD4. There wasn’t even any actual gameplay footage behind the gun.
I think Infinity Ward have realised that teasing the fans is the way to go, instead of actually showing them what their game can actually do. I hope other developers don’t follow Bungie’s example.
As the name implies this game harks the return of our favourite yet stagnant Fischer game series. Recently the series has been getting a bit stagnant to say the least, now hopefully Conviction with provide the series with a breath of fresh air. Splinter Cell: Conviction takes place two years after Double Agent. Sam Fischer comes out of hiding because of an unspecified danger to one of his old friends and co-workers (Anna GrÃmsdóttir). Sam has taken on a more rugged appearance to please the ladies or stay under cover, I’m not sure yet. The game is due for release on PC and Xbox 360 by Christmas 2009.
The second released trailer is a bit different; it is used to keep the fans guessing. It starts off in space and you see the earth from the view of a satellite as it zooms into Malta, this is accompanied by a voice over by Michael Ironside, the voice behind Fischer. He recalls the important events that have led up to his current position, the loss of his daughter, shooting his friend and being betrayed by Third Echelon, the agency he worked for, he then goes on to say “we would both let sleeping dogs lie”. This implies that Third Echelon had done something to anger Fischer enough to bring him out from hiding, which will probably be Malta. You can view the trailer here.
The first trailer was a gameplay trailer showing how the player could interact with the scenery, blend in, mislead the AI and open copious amounts of whoop ass on the opponents. (See below). I am really looking forward to this game and it has been added to my “must play” list for 2009.
As Sandmonkey has already pointed out. 3D Realms have officially thrown in the towel. No more Duke. No more kickass catchphrases. No more pixelated naked women. Say it ain’t so! You’re in luck, guys, here I am to say it ain’t so. Well, at least it might not be.
Apparently ex-3D Realms developer, Bryan Brewer, wants a new job. Instead of writing up a resume and creating a portfolio like most people, he puts together a demo reel of Duke Nukem for any employers to look at. Just by coincidence, the demo reel finds itself on the internet, and pretty soon on to the front page of every major gaming news site. And I must say, it is epic. Look at this:
What is more appealing? The awesomeness of the game in general? The similarity I can see with Far Cry 2’s Dunia Engine? The bit where he slaps one of the giant monsters whilst ripping it’s horn off? No,its probably the fact that the life bar is simply labelled “Ego”.
Anyhow. We’ve seen gameplay footage of the Duke before, perhaps not in this volume or detail, but its been lying around in the dark corners of YouTube for hardcore fans to find. My point it that this reel shows to me a completed fully functional game. Or at least one that appears that way. And in order to appear that way, the game needs to be almost ready. I don’t believe that even if the company went bankrupt they would all down tools and chuck it in the bin. At the very least, a game with this colossal fanbase and level of awesomeness should have been picked up by or sold to another developer. This game has been in development for over a decade, and what seems like months before it could be finished, packaged and released they it all give up?
What I see here is possibly a very clever marketing ploy. Everyone thinks it is dead, awareness grows, videos spark interest, everyone thinks “ohh what a shame”. Then BAM! 3D Realms turns up at E3 2009 to announce the release date of Duke Nukem Forever. Hopefully with the catchphrase “Betcha didn’t see that coming, bitch!” spoken in a deep overdramatic voice.
I mean, seriously. If Bungie went bust tomorrow and hundreds of game developers and artists are chucked out on to the streets, they would not put together a reel of video from the unfinished Halo 3:ODST. Why? Because it was a team effort. They alone did not produce it so it does not count as your personal achievement, therefore irrelevant in a job interview. Obviously you would mention that you worked on the game, but you could not cite the game itself as a reason to be hired. Especially if it was never released and reviewed.
This of course could just be wishful thinking. But there must be a reason behind the sudden shoving of this game under the carpet after over a decade of dedication to the project. Especially this close to completion. Anyway, we have a comments section, we’d like to hear from our virtually non-existent readership from time to time, otherwise I think I’m just talking to myself. So what do you think? Should we expect a surprise announcement this year at E3? It would certainly make it less boring than last year.
And here is my second article on Bioshock. For someone who has only played the demo, I’m actually getting quite excited about the sequel. 2K Games has recently disclosed a few details on the setting of Bioshock 2, people familiar with the original game will know the basic storyline. Set in the 1950s. Giant utopian underwater city. They find out how to genetically modify humans. City full of drug addicted mutants and crazed robots. Utopia gone haywire. You crash land there and kick copious amounts of arse in order to get out. You know, the old story.
In the original story, you play Jack. A guy who is in a plane crash and turns out to be pretty handy with the pistol. You are quickly introduced to “the good stuff”, which they call plasmids. Essentially drugs that you inject in to your arm which modifies your genes to the point that you can literally shoot flames, electricity and all kinds of stuff out of your hands. Whether it is an actual side effect or the entire game is just one big hallucination from the glowing drug cocktail in a rusty syringe is a matter of opinion. But playing the hero sounds better than playing the stoner. Now Bioshock 2 says goodbye to druggy Jack and instead puts you in control of the biggest meanest foe that he encountered, the Big Daddy. A behemoth powerhouse equipped with its trusty drill and super strength. At this point you have to step back and think about the whole prospect of being in control of a giant killing machine. Its pretty tempting.
And in accordance with the original Bioshock, there are plenty of little girls running around to be killed and harvested for more drugs. I’m not sure who thought it would be a good idea to introduce that feature in the last game, but it seems to work pretty well somehow. Apparently over the 10 year absence, the mutants have all gone even more crazy and disfigured, probably from withdrawal symptoms, and the aim of the game seems to be hunting down “The Big Sister”. I got to hand it to 2K, they really have outdone themselves with the naming.
In 1997 the development of Duke Nukem: Forever was announced. In May 2009 3D Realms shut down. Through those 12 years the game has changed engines, publishers and pretty much everything. The game is the definition of vapourware and you would have to be a pretty hardcore fan to still be expecting the game after 12 years.
3D Realms webmaster Joe Siegler has commented by saying: "It's not a marketing thing. It's true. I have nothing further to say at this time."; And Duke Nukem Forever publisher Take-Two has confirmed that it was not funding ongoing development of the 3D Realms project. "We can confirm that our relationship with 3D Realms for Duke Nukem Forever was a publishing arrangement, which did not include ongoing funds for development of the title,"; said Take-Two VP of communications Alan Lewis. He then went on to say: "In addition, Take-Two continues to retain the publishing rights to Duke Nukem Forever," he added.
So how did 3D Realms manage to fund an entire development team for 12 years? Well the 3D Realms just kept releasing older Duke Nukem games on various platforms such as phones and handheld consoles. I guess the workers must have been on slave salaries.
Now I’ve never actually played any Duke Nukem games but my father was a fan of Duke Nukem and I’ve been hoping to get a piece of the “alien brick parking” action but it now seems as if I’ll have to go back and play the classics if I want to experience any Duke Nukem. But hope may not be all gone. If you look at the second part of Alan Lewis’ comment they specifically point out that they still hold publishing rights to the game. Perhaps this means that they are planning to give the games development over to another studio. I personally hope that they too don’t inherit the Nukem vapourware curse.
On the 30th of April (30/4/09) Ubisoft announced Red Steel 2 for the Wii. The game is expected to be released around Christmas 2009. The game will be set in a desert-bound, high-tech metropolis and will take advantage of the Wii's upcoming motion plus controller add-on.
The original Red Steel was one of the best selling games for the Wii when it was released and was positively received at the time by critics and is still praised as one of the better games for the Wii.
About a year after it was released I picked it up at just under half price. At first I found the controls very finicky at first, the pointer was super sensitive but everything else required forceful movements to get it to register. I found myself spinning in uncontrollable circles and just getting frustrated by my lack of skill at the game. I soon found a solution by resting the controller on my knee while I played (Although it still took a couple of hours to master the controls). After I had mastered the controls I found the game really enjoyable, although trying to get a multiplayer game on with anyone who didn't have the game was near impossible because they gave up on the controls almost immediately.
I can't see this being a problem for the developers as they would have adapted as the game was created but hopefully the game benefits from the motion plus rather than hindering the games handling.
‘Heroes of Might and Magic’ is a series of turn-based RPG (Role Playing Game) video games based on the ‘Might and Magic’ Franchise. The games have been around since 1996 and have since gained a loyal fan base. The games have had the player control a specific race on a mythical land, these races can range from Necromancers (my favourite), Demons, Wizards, Warlocks, Knights, elves, dwarves and barbarian. The player starts off with a hero and usually a castle, they must then build up their forces by training more heroes, buying troops, collecting recourses and capturing enemy castles.
On the 13th of December 2007 Ubisoft announced Heroes of Might and Magic: Kingdoms an online browser based MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) version of the most recent game HoMM 5. And like many other fans I waited until “early 2008” when the official website said the game would be released. I watched and waited as it went from early 2008 to mid 2008, then to late 2008, then through to early 2009. I checked the website again and yes it still said “early 2008”. So I checked the game’s forums only to find countless threads and posts of fans displaying their annoyance and disappointment over the delay and it seemed as if the only response the developers could give to their fanbase was assurances that the game had not turned to vapourware. In fact it was only recently while I was writing this update that I noticed that they changed their website to remove the “early 2008” release date that had been on the website for over two years.
So has the game turned to vapourware? I don’t think one year and little feedback from the developer is enough to quite classify it as vapourware just yet but if there is no news by mid 2009 I think it’s safe to its probably not going to come out, and if we go on a HoMM 5 precedent then we can assume its ill be buggy as all hell. HoMM 5 needed an update straight after it was released just to get the game to open on most computers and I couldn't even get past the first campaign as the game crashed every time I went through the ending portal at the end of the last level.
Close Range is an indie game which has received 4 great reviews from gaming review sites such as “OGN”, “Game Insider”, “Electronic Gaming Weekly” and “Game Relay”. How real these reviews are is to be disputed because the game is basic. Gameplay consists of clicking your left mouse button while head pop up in front of you to blow their heads off. Other initiative ideas consist of reloading… and that’s it. The graphics are mediocre and the only real appeal to this game is the gore which due to the mediocre graphics isn’t really that good.
When you first start the game you start off with a pistol and as the game moves on you go through an arsenal of weapons, each offering a new way for a head to get blow to bits. The trouble I had with this game was that it got boring after a few minutes of blowing peoples head off. Sure at first its fun seeing bits of head and nose and eye and blood flying off everywhere and even more fun when an emu appears and you get to see an emu’s head get blow away but then the novelty wears off.
The game has no AI, at all. One the targets head appears it stays there looking at you until you blow its head off. I left the game for five minutes once just to see what the target would do. Nothing. They just stay there waiting complacently to die. The game turns into much of a muchness with no skill, goals or achievements.
And I wont get started on the story line, its just that good.
But if you bored stupid and have nothing better to do then I suggest that you read other blog posts here. Or if that doesn’t interest you, you could always check this game out. http://www.closerangegame.com/
If any of you have a Wii and have still been looking for any good (mature) games for it then you probably would have heard of ‘The Conduit’ if like me you have given up on any good mature games heading to the Wii or you just don’t care about the Wii then you probably wouldn’t have heard of it. The Conduit is a first person shooter being published by Sega, now before you give up on it for being published by Sega (no, Sega is not known for releasing good or even decent games) note that it is being developed by an independent studio going by the name of High Voltage Software. The game is to be released on the 23rd of June in North America and some vague unspecified time in the spring of 2009 for Europe.
The Conduit puts you in control of Michael Ford a secret operative of a secret organisation called the Trust. The plot is to be told from cut scenes and radio broadcasts throughout the game. The basic plot from there on is aliens invade Earth and you are the only person capable of warding off the masses of aliens known only as the Drudge. I know, highly original, but High Voltage have promised a series of ‘surprising’ and ‘shocking’ twists within the plot. So basically you go around kicking alien arse with a few cut scenes in between. “I'm looking for some alien toilet to park my bricks.” Anyone? That’s as soon as I’d seen the trailer I immediately thought of both Duke Nukem and Halo. ...A revolutional FPS game that basically involves killing aliens en mass.
But what’s so amazing about being a one man army these days? Nothing whatsoever, but what is great about the game is the graphics and control scheme. The game uses High Voltages own Quantum3 engine which will be able to offer bump-mapping, reflection and refraction, light and shadow maps and projections, specular and Fresnel effects, missive and iridescent materials, advanced alpha blends, gloss and detail mapping, motion blur and interactive water with complex surface effects among others. Of course these effects are nothing new to PC, Xbox and PS3 gamers but for Wii owners this offers a massive leap forwards in graphics capabilities where the only other developer to make Wii games with any good graphics has been Nintendo.
The control scheme is also note worthy, the default controls have been inspired by Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 which had control schemes which were well received by users and critics alike. The demo videos also look very promising, offering a wide variety of control customization to suit everyone’s preferred method of alien extermination.
Renegade likes to point out the flaws in the world and has an intense dislike for stupid people. He is also tall, intelligent, couragous and a compulsive liar.
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