Friday, November 27, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving from your grumpy old friend!
All year long I tend to rant a little about this problem or that problem. Perhaps being critical of a game in a nitpicky way. But I would like to thank all the game developers, publishers, and journalists who make the video game world go round. Without your hard work and dedication gaming would still be in the 8-bit days. It is amazing any games ever get made; considering all that needs to be done to make them. You folks surprise me every time I turn on a console or load up a game. And hey that IS something to be thankful for.
This is the time of year when everyone should realize there is more to life than video games. And that ANY problem we might have with this game or that game is really a small thing compared to the greater problems of the world.
I would also like to thank all the readers of the blog and Twitter that have made this year the greatest this blog has EVER seen. Thank you all! I appreciate every silent one of you.
Make my year or my Holidays and leave a comment or a tweet for me. Just a little message saying something about what was written. There are around 400+ posts this year and only 1 comment that I know of. Don't feel as though you need to be witty or critical. Just let me know your out there and your reading. Because while statistics can be fun. A little note from a community member is even MORE fun!
Thanks again everyone...
Don't eat too much Turkey or play too much MW2 both can be bad for your health.
-Timothy Pecoraro(Devilsalias)
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Modern Warefare 2 big hit in UK, but only Consoles!
"Only the controversial PC version of the game could be considered a disappointment, entering at only number five in the individual formats chart. The PC version accounted for just three per cent of overall sales, compared to 57 per cent for the 360 and 40 per cent for the PlayStation 3."Gamesindustry.biz
When I read this news I wasn't surprised, as no one should be. The PC has a very healthy market made up primarily of folks who like to download their games digitally and usually have an unhealthy addiction to dedicated servers and modding. Given those statements the evidence that Modern Warfare 2 wouldn't do very well seems self evident.
Just this week players had to make a work around so they could use dedicated private servers as Infinity Ward would not provide support for them on the PC to try and avoid cheating. However, IWNET(Infinity Ward's closed system) seems rife with problems. Everything from a virus out break to wall hacking has been reported. But I'm not trying to dump on Infinity Ward here. It's their playground, we just use the equipment they can do whatever they want.
In other PC gamer resentment news; the current version of the game does not appear to support mods. Most sites simply talk about hacks that one can perform in the game on private ghost servers like infinite ammo and infinite health. There are no user created maps, skins, or anything as they are not supported.
As a PC gamer that has played most of the top tier games for the PC. I have to say that every time I heard news from Infinity Ward about what they WOULD NOT allow in their upcoming game; the more I thought,
'What was the point of coming out with the PC version?"
The greatest selling video game of all time, Modern Warfare 2; was tailored for the console. And that is where all the money came from when you look at the sales. I don't think anyone; least of all Infinity Ward or Activision could be surprised about that.
Zombie MMO coming for XBOX 360 from Undead Labs. WTF?
"Undead Labs’ sole focus will be to create the definitive massively multiplayer online zombie game (MMOZ) for console gamers. Nothing screams funny quite like wading into a group of rotting zombies with a lawn chair and a box of sharpened HB pencils, and nothing says fun quite like doing it with your friends, whether online or on your sofa. Undead Labs is committed to bringing to life an MMO loaded with action, humour and, of course, a lot of zombies, because the world doesn’t any need more dragons."
The above from a press release sent out today. The game is obviously at a VERY pre-Alpha stage as there aren't even screen shots of it as yet. The game's creators are pulled from everywhere; including Guild Wars and World of Warcraft. But a console MMO? It is hard to believe such a thing possible except from a big studio like NCSOFT, Blizzard, or Bioware. Here's hoping we are all laughing like this is a Plants versus Zombie style rather than sighing and shaking our heads because it's a Dead Rising clone instead.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Are These the Game Modes you were Looking for?(MW2)
A few folks with some hacking skills have looked deep into the PC version of Modern Warfare 2. This may be a sign of things to come for the consoles; so it kind of concerns everyone if true.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
No More Heroes coming to the PS3 and XBOX 360? Sign me UP!
OK, these are some nice screens but if you notice the Japanese subtitles you will also realize that this game is only currently coming out in Japan on the XBOX 360 and PS3. But considering how dismally the game performed in Japan on the Wii. I'm sure the US will be the chosen market for this title. At least on the XBOX 360 if no where else. I will pre-order. Just make them available. I REALLY wanted to play this game on the Wii; but considering it was one of the only games I wanted to play. I ended up giving selling it. So this is my chance and everyone elses who doesn't have a Wii to play probably the best game to have come out on the system. But hey, I've only seen the reviews; so don't take my word for it. Pre-order it yourself when you can. When will that be? Probably next year sometime after it comes out in Japan.
Update: Unfortunately it looks like this game is having to struggle to find a North American Publisher, Kotaku reported this as of today.
PSN may not always be free?
"SCE will further increase sales by offering users new entertainment through the combination of hardware, software, peripheral and PlayStation Network," said PlayStation head Kaz Hirai in a statement.
"Especially in the online area, we are studying the possibility of introducing a subscription model, offering premium content and services, in addition to the current free services."Eurogamer...
I'm a little worried about what these "premium content and services" might be. I'm thinking that this might be their way of adding cross game chat and friends lists. Also they might start coming out with DLC first for whoever is on these "premium services." Similar to the way Microsoft does it. Sony has a pretty bare bones store and services currently. I think they need to work on their free services before they start promising premium ones. Because at this point all the PSN is worth is what you pay for it; nothing. Well they could all ways add HOME to the premium services and make it actually worth using. Don't ask me how, but it might be a good direction to go.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
God of War 3 Demo in the HOUSE!
So Giant Bomb has all ready run through this demo for all those who want to watch every moment. However, I just got the demo yesterday; I pre-ordered God of War 3. The demo is about as long as the above and even though I hit Helios on the first shot; it didn't shave much off the over all time. I found was using the Fists of Cestus are amazing. I tried using them for the latter half of the demo and they worked incredibly well. You can ram enemies with them or ground pound. Ramming normal enemies kills them, ground slamming does a good amount of damage to the whole group. You can also use the group hit maneuver with the fists but with the fists its a sling shot move; usually into one enemy. In most of the demos I've seen the fists seemed a bit weak; but there aren't weak at all, especially against groups that you can ram into.
The quick time events are improved but not quite as good as some of the recent games that have come out using them. I would have preferred in some cases just to not have the animation. It kind of feels a little too formulaic in 2009 and definitely when the game comes out in 2010. But hey this is the E3 demo, it even says so. So maybe they will fix it.
What I did like was the incredible graphical fidelity of the game. Blood that rolls down Kratos arm as he dismembers an enemy. Smoke that trails off from the bow once it disappears. The glowing blades of Athena that even appear in the dark. All of the weapons seemed to have completely unique animations. I can't wait to see how they have improved the look and feel of the magic. I will really be interested to see the final product. It is incredible. It does feel a little dated but God of War is God of War. I'm sure the whole will be more than the sum of it's parts.
An Excellent List for Story driven games!
"Eons ago, in 1996, Next Generation magazine asked me for a list of game design tips for narrative games. Here’s what I gave them.
Reading it today, some of it feels dated (like the way I refer to the player throughout as “he”), but a lot is as relevant as ever. I especially like #8 and #9.
- The story is what the player does, not what he watches.
- List the actions the player actually performs in the game and take a cold hard look at it. Does it sound like fun? (Resist the temptation to embellish. If a cinematic shows the player’s character sneak into a compound, clobber a guard and put on his uniform, the player’s action is “Watch cinematic.” Letting the player click to clobber the guard isn’t much better.)
- The only significant actions are those that affect the player’s ability to perform future actions. Everything else is bells and whistles.
- Design a clear and simple interface. The primary task of the interface is to present the player with a choice of the available actions at each moment and to provide instant feedback when the player makes a choice.
- The player needs a goal at all times, even if it’s a mistaken one. If there’s nothing specific he wishes to accomplish, he will soon get bored, even if the game is rich with graphics and sound.
- The more the player feels that the events of the game are being caused by his own actions, the better — even when this is an illusion.
- Analyze the events of the story in terms of their effect on the player’s goals. For each event, ask: Does this move the player closer to or further away from a goal, or give him a new goal? If not, it’s irrelevant to the game.
- The longer the player plays without a break, the more his sense of the reality of the world is built up. Any time he dies or has to restart from a saved game, the spell is broken.
- Alternative paths, recoverable errors, multiple solutions to the same problem, missed opportunities that can be made up later, are all good.
- Don’t introduce gratuitous obstacles just to create a puzzle.
- As the player moves through the game, he should have the feeling that he is passing up potentially interesting avenues of exploration. The ideal outcome is for him to win the game having done 95% of what there is to do, but feeling that there might be another 50% he missed.
This entry was posted on Sunday, November 8th, 2009 at 11:35 pm and is filed under Blog, Games. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. "Jordan Mechner's Blog...