If you read Penny Arcade, you might remember that Tycho recently signed up for Gametap. Turns out I did the same thing the week before (great minds think alike?). Admittedly, I was a bit skeptical of Gametap when it first came out. I loved the idea of a digitally distributed, all you can eat gaming service, but the games list didn't look too appealing at first, and considering it was owned by Time Warner (usually one of the more bumbling fools in the realm of conglomerate media companies) I didn't think it would get much better. Apparently I was dead wrong. There are a couple of minor issues with the service which most uber geeks will certainly cry foul over. For all of you normal people, read on to hear some of the more important questions about Gametap, and what I think of them so far.
How often does the games library update?
I have no idea how they did it at first, but as of now Gametap updates with about 7-10 new games every Thursday. That's far more frequent than I expected, and it amounts to a pretty sizeable stack of new stuff to play every month.
As for the selection of new releases, its hit or miss. I've only seen three weeks worth of updates, but its obvious that some will be better than others. For example, last week we got Contra: Hard Corps, Castlevania Bloodlines, Frogger, the two Time Pilot arcade games, and an old PS2/PC game called Shadow of Destiny. That's two Genesis classics, a legendary arcade game, two obscure schmups', and a decent little adventure game. The list next week contains some educational software, a Carmen Sandiego game, and Bust a Move. As you can see, there seems to be no rhyme or reason to the updates; my guess is they release whatever is ready. However, it seems that there's at least one good, older game to play each week. If they can do that and toss at least one recent game to me every month, then the service basically pays for itself.
What kind of variety are we looking at here? Are there actually good games, or just a lot of "classics" that haven't aged well.
I'm shocked at how robust Gametap has become. Just about every genre I can think of can be found on Gametap. The weakest links are easily new spots games and RPGs, though I don't care much for those. If you are a gamer of many tastes, who appreciates classic gaming, then step inside. Gametap has games from the arcade, DOD, modern Windows, 2600, Genesis, Dreamcast, Neo-Geo, C-64, Intellivision, Game Gear, even the friggin' SG-1000. Of course, this does mean there's some true crap. I can't think of one thing that's good on the SG, but the mere fact that they include it blows me away.
At the same time, it seems that every time I traverse the list of games I'm finding something new that I had no clue was even offered. In less than two weeks I've manage to play Pandora Tomorrow, Riven and Myst, 1942 and all its sequels, a smattering of obscure capcom fighters, and a smattering of other classic arcade games. And I still haven't gotten to Rayman 3, the Ultima games, Kizuna Encounter (how the hell did they get such an obscure SNK game?) , Baldur's Gate, Commandos 3, Uplink, Landstalker...shit, I could go on. They really have done a good job of getting some solid modern games, some great old games, and a lot of really obscure stuff that I'd never dream of seeing here. Suffice to say I have a lot of catching up to do, aside from the regular updates. There's also some original G4-esque TV shows and some cartoons to watch. Haven't tried those out.
Did I mention that some games have multiplayer, and you can upload high scores in certain arcade games? I'm hoping that one day, I can meet Tycho in Uru Live.
How nice is the client?
This is where I think a lot of people might complain for no reason at all. Here's a nice little screenshot of the interface. As you might have guessed, its all slick and shiny for today's modern internet user. All that shit animates when you click on it, meaning its a bit sluggish at times. Also, the options and TV menus are a bit cluttered. At least getting to the games is easy enough, what with all those categories and a search to choose from.
Anyway, as you can also see, each game has a nice little image, and when you wish to play a game, it pops up with a window detailing its premise and instructions, some gameplay tips, and sometimes even some historical information. Whoever writes this stuff is a god. Rather than flinging around tons of silly gamer slang and cheesy jokes, these descriptions are helpful and informative, as if someone who knows something about gaming wrote them (the entry for Xevious is what really sold me). Sometimes you can also grab a PDF of the manual. My only issue with this part is that sometimes they don't give you the full scoop on how to operate a game. For instance, I still don't know how to quit out of Ultima 1.
When you want to play a game, you download it locally to your harddrive, and can have up to three games dl'ing at once. It works rather quickly, and overall the only suspicious slowdown I've seen was during the Splinter Cell cutscenes (the game itself ran smooth as butter). I also saw slowdown with some old arcade games, but I had quite a lot running in the background. I like the idea of it downloading rather than streaming, as it means performance is solid. Yet Gametap needs to do something about getting rid of the games. You can delete them any time you want, but it requires hunting a bit through the storage options. A button for deleting them right at the game menu would be a little easier for most players, otherwise they may find themselves with a full harddrive! My other complaint with the downloading is that if your internet connection dies (like my wireless does daily), it often has problems with a download. Sometimes it resumes, sometimes you have to start from scratch. This is offset a bit by relatively fast dl speeds. There were a few instances early on where I had mysterious download errors with no explanation at all, but I'm certain it was my conection, since they haven't returned.
Being that this is a Time Warner service, you can bet your sweet ass that AIM Triton makes an appearence in Gametap. What is amazing is that they never force it on you. You can use AIM to message buddies and hook up for some multiplayer on GT, but it only exists as a little button in the corner. Don't want to use it? You don't have to, and that's that. I've also checked process manager and see no spyware or other shit snooping around when the service is running. So far this is turning out to be a very un-Web2.0 experience, in a good way. Nothing is pushed on you, and you don't have to jump through hoops to get what you want. Okay, so that's not 100% true; when you're dl'ing a game, or look for TV shows they like to show you video clips advertising some of the stuff on the service. However you can disable them during the download, and the TV clips stop the moment you navigate the shows. A minor annoyance, but one that goes away easily.
So there you have it. Like I said, there is going to be a contingent of people who'd rather run the thing from the command line, or hate the idea of not owning the games (despite the fact that its only ten bucks a month to play all this shit legally, and owning some of them in cart form would be crazy expensive). I however am more than impressed with what they've come up with here. A few minor annoyances aside, I'm finding myself logging on at least once a day, either to chug my way through Riven, or to blast through a few quick credits in Galaga. I still can't believe they have all these different consoles and games working so well. The fact that the Sam and Max episodic content will appear on Gametap just seals the deal. Give it a shot if you're curious. I think you'll find something to like, and if not, the staff behind it seem to be working hard enough to make sure that eventually you will.
Monday, July 31, 2006
Friday, July 28, 2006
Weekend News
Welcome back everyone. Time for the Weekend News.
Piece 1
Cigarettes may be getting even pricier in California. To me this makes perfect sense. Tobacco has been around a long, long time, and probably hasn't been trendy in ages. By raising the price on such an unwanted item, club drug makers can slash prices and increase their profits, while crack dealers may finally be able to get a healthier chunk of the market. Its economics folks.
Piece 2
Honda is going to manufacture planes. In fact, the article quotes that they wish to make the "Honda Civic" of planes, specifically for business jets. This is exactly what I hoped to hear. If my guess is right, and I know it will be, look up the next time you're near BWI or Denver International. You'll be able to catch a Honda plane taking off, being piloted by a trust fund baby flying off to a meeting for his new job, AKA daddy's bank. The craft will contain spoilers on both wings, a cheap paint job that shows spots of the old color beneath it, and the landing gear will always be down in order to show off the K-Mart rims. On its way it will be flying towards a small white suburb in order to pick up "easy chicks" while blasting "Lean Back" from a set of speakers that are dangling out of the cargo hold, with the bass up so high you can't hear the words. Also, there will be no autopilot, because "Automatics are 4 fags!", and there will be a class action lawsuit when several planes crash after the pilot tried to drop from "fourth to neutral".
Piece 4
Speaking of oversensitive conservative types, we can once again thank their efforts against the Janet Jackson Super Bowl scene for screwing the rest of us over. Thanks to stricter FCC sanctions, Public Television statements are worried whether they can show "The War", a new WW2 documentary by Ken Burns, because it features stories from soldiers that may include profane language or grotesque depictions. So apparently it is more than okay to show "Two and a Half Men" on network television, and "Sex and the City" on basic cable, but god forbid if someone tries to educate the public on one of the most defining, horrific, and important moments of our nation's history. Now I'm only waiting for the ultra liberals to accuse the conservatives of hiding the facts of war in order to send their children off to fight their battles, resulting in an even bigger headache for me. Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. And they say they're thinking of the children...
And our Miracle Baby... Society
According to this About.com article, some "video game research" paper claims that not only are the ESRB ratings innacurate, but that the game Pac Man is "64% violent". I guess that means that an ancient game about a man eating (already dead) ghosts is overly violent for children, but football, Nascar and hunting are perfectly fine. Oh, and apparently we can assign a percentage of violence to a game. This sole number proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that this and any other study like it is conducted by paranoid, insane people who are as afraid of a new medium as their parents were of Rock 'n Roll. Pleasant dreams to all the researchers, politicians and "concerned people" out there. I hope it isn't too uncomfortable sleeping on that straw man of yours.
That's it for today ladies and gents. Feel free to check out my review of Frequency, and drop a line if you're so inclined. Enjoy the weekend.
Piece 1
Piece 2
Piece 3
A former Christian Radio station in Fresno has now changed formats to Porn Radio - all sex, all the time. In addition to playing songs like "Sexual Healing", the station adds moans and groans to their tamer songs in order to enhance them. While no one is sure if the station will remain this way or not, there's little doubt that sooner or later a good religious family will tune in one Sunday afternoon only to hear the Devil Music. Maybe then they'll actually have to explain to their children what sex and love is, instead of constantly sheltering them from the facts of life. That, or they'll burn the car for purification purposes. Expect many calls to insuracne companies in the next month.
A former Christian Radio station in Fresno has now changed formats to Porn Radio - all sex, all the time. In addition to playing songs like "Sexual Healing", the station adds moans and groans to their tamer songs in order to enhance them. While no one is sure if the station will remain this way or not, there's little doubt that sooner or later a good religious family will tune in one Sunday afternoon only to hear the Devil Music. Maybe then they'll actually have to explain to their children what sex and love is, instead of constantly sheltering them from the facts of life. That, or they'll burn the car for purification purposes. Expect many calls to insuracne companies in the next month.
Piece 4
Speaking of oversensitive conservative types, we can once again thank their efforts against the Janet Jackson Super Bowl scene for screwing the rest of us over. Thanks to stricter FCC sanctions, Public Television statements are worried whether they can show "The War", a new WW2 documentary by Ken Burns, because it features stories from soldiers that may include profane language or grotesque depictions. So apparently it is more than okay to show "Two and a Half Men" on network television, and "Sex and the City" on basic cable, but god forbid if someone tries to educate the public on one of the most defining, horrific, and important moments of our nation's history. Now I'm only waiting for the ultra liberals to accuse the conservatives of hiding the facts of war in order to send their children off to fight their battles, resulting in an even bigger headache for me. Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. And they say they're thinking of the children...
And our Miracle Baby... Society
According to this About.com article, some "video game research" paper claims that not only are the ESRB ratings innacurate, but that the game Pac Man is "64% violent". I guess that means that an ancient game about a man eating (already dead) ghosts is overly violent for children, but football, Nascar and hunting are perfectly fine. Oh, and apparently we can assign a percentage of violence to a game. This sole number proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that this and any other study like it is conducted by paranoid, insane people who are as afraid of a new medium as their parents were of Rock 'n Roll. Pleasant dreams to all the researchers, politicians and "concerned people" out there. I hope it isn't too uncomfortable sleeping on that straw man of yours.
That's it for today ladies and gents. Feel free to check out my review of Frequency, and drop a line if you're so inclined. Enjoy the weekend.
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Updates
New Review! It is for Devil May Cry 2. Come to think of it, I never linked the one for DMC1! I'm getting awfully forgetful with a lot of the things I want to post in this space, mostly becuase when I think of it, I'm at work and can't go to Blogger. I should just jot all ideas down in a Gmail draft and use them later on. Still, enjoy!
So last week I went to the New Belgium brewery in Fort Collins, Co. These folks make my favorite Colorado brew, and it was great to see the place and sample some very unique drinks. Pictures over at Flickr.
I know the Tour de France has been over for a while now, but I'm saddened to see that another American wins, and no one cares because his name isn't Lance. The man is a hero, and a great athlete, but gosh do I hate sports bandwagons. They show so very well how shallow and false people can be. Still, congrats to Landis. He won, and really that's more improtant to him than anything else. Edit: Aw crap. There goe sthe neighborhood.
I'm seeing a lot of poor reviews of Lady in the Water. With the one exception of Unbreakable, I've found all of Shyamalan's films to be pretty crummy hack jobs. I got so much flak when I first saw the Sixth Sense and didn't see what the big deal is. I've just never found the silly twists, whispered dialogue and general sluggishness of his movies to be enjoyable, and somehow I was labeled a cretin. Now the man makes a film in which he not only inserts himself, but creates a ridiculous story in which he whines about his enemies and puts himself on a pedestal, and no one is biting. If he thought pushing this script was hard enough, we'll see what happens to the next one...
And finally, after my little weekend news segment, here's another little idea of mine. Blog mini reviews. Two or three paragraphs on old games that you probably don't care about. Our inaugural game is Myst. Feel free to skip over silly discussion on one of the most talked about games ever. I won't feel offended...
Hey, its Myst! Everyone knows Myst. I bet you've even played it. I never did back in the day, due to crummy PC hardware and a general fear of the game thanks to its stigma as an interactive slideshow. Still, I suppose getting to it twelve years later is better than never, eh?
So what is there to say about an ancient, legendary game that sold millions? What the hell else could I add? Not much I suppose. What I do know is that the game is indeed something of a strange breed, what with all the pre-rendered slides, which often make navigation a bear. I also agree that the puzzles are indeed grounded in logic, but that doesn't mean some of them aren't ridiculous. This is because it is hard to see real world logic in a fantasy game. For example, we know that steam pressure can lift or lower an object, but who the hell expects to use this to manipulate a giant tree? Who listens closely for four sound effects and relates them to the cardinal directions? Why is a compass divided into 32 sectors of 11.25 degrees? Things like this are what make some of the puzzles a little more of a hassle than they should be, and its easy to see how people got frustrated back in the day. Unless you're really looking, you're probably going to miss out on a clue. Guess that's why there's a solutions button just in case. The aged graphics also lead to some hassles. I guess they looked damn good back in the day, but a lot of visual clues were difficult to spot thanks to the horrible lighting and lack of fine detail. Several buttons or trapdoors are nigh impossible to see in the dark crevices of the world, and simple little cues like power cables snaking from a lighthouse to other areas aren't readily visible. Overall, the puzzles themselves aren't terribly mind bending; its the hunting of doors/switches/doohickeys that becomes difficult thanks to the controls and graphics. But again, hint system works well there.
Ultimately, the strangest thing about Myst is how gripping it can be. No, it isn't high literature, but it manages to tell a simple, sound story without butchering the gamepaly, nor does it leave you confused by the end. There's something about exploring these empty, peaceful worlds and slowly piecing together the situation at hand, knowing you can do it all at your own pace with a few subtle (or not so subtle) nudges in the right direction. Myst was a decent little romp to spend a day with, and I'm somewhat eager to play some of its sequels. I don't believe it lives up to all the hype and praise it received for years, but it established an interesting spin on the adventure genre. We'll see if Riven manages to build upon it.
P.S. - Must insert obligatory artsy/deep analysis: All the Ages involved lots of water and/or islands. Symbolic of the player's solitary and isolated state, or did the creator's just run out of ideas?)
So last week I went to the New Belgium brewery in Fort Collins, Co. These folks make my favorite Colorado brew, and it was great to see the place and sample some very unique drinks. Pictures over at Flickr.
I know the Tour de France has been over for a while now, but I'm saddened to see that another American wins, and no one cares because his name isn't Lance. The man is a hero, and a great athlete, but gosh do I hate sports bandwagons. They show so very well how shallow and false people can be. Still, congrats to Landis. He won, and really that's more improtant to him than anything else. Edit: Aw crap. There goe sthe neighborhood.
I'm seeing a lot of poor reviews of Lady in the Water. With the one exception of Unbreakable, I've found all of Shyamalan's films to be pretty crummy hack jobs. I got so much flak when I first saw the Sixth Sense and didn't see what the big deal is. I've just never found the silly twists, whispered dialogue and general sluggishness of his movies to be enjoyable, and somehow I was labeled a cretin. Now the man makes a film in which he not only inserts himself, but creates a ridiculous story in which he whines about his enemies and puts himself on a pedestal, and no one is biting. If he thought pushing this script was hard enough, we'll see what happens to the next one...
And finally, after my little weekend news segment, here's another little idea of mine. Blog mini reviews. Two or three paragraphs on old games that you probably don't care about. Our inaugural game is Myst. Feel free to skip over silly discussion on one of the most talked about games ever. I won't feel offended...
Hey, its Myst! Everyone knows Myst. I bet you've even played it. I never did back in the day, due to crummy PC hardware and a general fear of the game thanks to its stigma as an interactive slideshow. Still, I suppose getting to it twelve years later is better than never, eh?
So what is there to say about an ancient, legendary game that sold millions? What the hell else could I add? Not much I suppose. What I do know is that the game is indeed something of a strange breed, what with all the pre-rendered slides, which often make navigation a bear. I also agree that the puzzles are indeed grounded in logic, but that doesn't mean some of them aren't ridiculous. This is because it is hard to see real world logic in a fantasy game. For example, we know that steam pressure can lift or lower an object, but who the hell expects to use this to manipulate a giant tree? Who listens closely for four sound effects and relates them to the cardinal directions? Why is a compass divided into 32 sectors of 11.25 degrees? Things like this are what make some of the puzzles a little more of a hassle than they should be, and its easy to see how people got frustrated back in the day. Unless you're really looking, you're probably going to miss out on a clue. Guess that's why there's a solutions button just in case. The aged graphics also lead to some hassles. I guess they looked damn good back in the day, but a lot of visual clues were difficult to spot thanks to the horrible lighting and lack of fine detail. Several buttons or trapdoors are nigh impossible to see in the dark crevices of the world, and simple little cues like power cables snaking from a lighthouse to other areas aren't readily visible. Overall, the puzzles themselves aren't terribly mind bending; its the hunting of doors/switches/doohickeys that becomes difficult thanks to the controls and graphics. But again, hint system works well there.
Ultimately, the strangest thing about Myst is how gripping it can be. No, it isn't high literature, but it manages to tell a simple, sound story without butchering the gamepaly, nor does it leave you confused by the end. There's something about exploring these empty, peaceful worlds and slowly piecing together the situation at hand, knowing you can do it all at your own pace with a few subtle (or not so subtle) nudges in the right direction. Myst was a decent little romp to spend a day with, and I'm somewhat eager to play some of its sequels. I don't believe it lives up to all the hype and praise it received for years, but it established an interesting spin on the adventure genre. We'll see if Riven manages to build upon it.
P.S. - Must insert obligatory artsy/deep analysis: All the Ages involved lots of water and/or islands. Symbolic of the player's solitary and isolated state, or did the creator's just run out of ideas?)
Friday, July 21, 2006
News
This is a little idea I'm trying out, inspired by my favorite Denver radio station. A little bit of comedic news that hopefully manages to have some humor. Not sure if I'll do it every Friday, but I'll give it a shot for now.
Piece 1
Wal Mart once again tries to use every avenue possible in order to bolster their sales by opening a MySpace-esque "social networking" site called "The Hub", where teens can create their own pages and upload videos of themselves. Of course, the entire operation is really just a marketing scheme, a way to get kids to film personal videos to make into commercials, as well as an oppurtunity to gain precious market research. Too bad it is all done in classic Wal Mart fashion. Content is screened and censored, users cannot email each other, and the entire site is a white businessman's attempt at "cool". It is unsurprising that Wal Mart would fail to see why this is the wrong way of doing things. After all, sites like MySpace are popular because of their wealth of lyrics, tons of free music, and sexually explicit/incriminating photographs. Nor is it a shock to see the entire project is a giant advertisemnet. What is a little strange is that the site contains such lines as "I'll school my way by looking hot in my Wal-Mart clothes to school to catch a cute boy's eye. ..." Ignore the fact that the sentence isn't gramatically correct, and realize that Wal Mart is trying even harder to align their clothing with the hip and coolest of kids. I guess no one in the company read the bottom line of this article which describes a 14 year old girl blowing her monthly $150 clothing budget at Abercrombie, which of course is only practice for four years from now, when she'll spend triple that amount on alcohol, cigarettes and birth control.
I predict the Hub will die after September and will never return. The floor is open for betting folks.
Piece 2
Denver and surrounding areas are choking on smog. Oh sure, it may look like pristine mountains and plains surrounding the city and its neighboring towns, but it looks like they're about break the record for summer ozone alerts. It just goes to show you that Denver can try all they want, and suceed, to ban smoking in public areas, yet they're still all going to die. Smoke 'em if you got 'em.
Piece 3
Australia is facing a massive surplus of grapes, resulting in huge amounts of unsold wine, with a liter being sold for cheaper than water. Anyone who goes or went to Loyola College knows how strong our study abroad program is, but this news will send it right down the crapper. Upon returning in the fall I expect no emails to study abroad, only ones with the subject "get loaded in Melbourne", as half the campus ships out for the same country. As for the rest of us, we will remain in Baltimore laughing our asses off, because Natty Light is still cheaper.
And today's Miracle Baby....
An ex Navy Quarterback is accused of rape, and the man's defense was that it was "sex gone bad". After the carnival that was the Duke Lacrosse trial, this is the kind of story where you can't be sure which person is telling the truth. Guess we'll have to leave it to karma. If he's innocent, may he get through unscathed. If guilty, then it won't be long before he heads to jail and sees what "sex gone bad" really means. Never in my life would I have guessed that a college kid would use a joke college euphemism in a court trial for rape. Crazier things have happened I suppose.
Piece 1
Wal Mart once again tries to use every avenue possible in order to bolster their sales by opening a MySpace-esque "social networking" site called "The Hub", where teens can create their own pages and upload videos of themselves. Of course, the entire operation is really just a marketing scheme, a way to get kids to film personal videos to make into commercials, as well as an oppurtunity to gain precious market research. Too bad it is all done in classic Wal Mart fashion. Content is screened and censored, users cannot email each other, and the entire site is a white businessman's attempt at "cool". It is unsurprising that Wal Mart would fail to see why this is the wrong way of doing things. After all, sites like MySpace are popular because of their wealth of lyrics, tons of free music, and sexually explicit/incriminating photographs. Nor is it a shock to see the entire project is a giant advertisemnet. What is a little strange is that the site contains such lines as "I'll school my way by looking hot in my Wal-Mart clothes to school to catch a cute boy's eye. ..." Ignore the fact that the sentence isn't gramatically correct, and realize that Wal Mart is trying even harder to align their clothing with the hip and coolest of kids. I guess no one in the company read the bottom line of this article which describes a 14 year old girl blowing her monthly $150 clothing budget at Abercrombie, which of course is only practice for four years from now, when she'll spend triple that amount on alcohol, cigarettes and birth control.
I predict the Hub will die after September and will never return. The floor is open for betting folks.
Piece 2
Denver and surrounding areas are choking on smog. Oh sure, it may look like pristine mountains and plains surrounding the city and its neighboring towns, but it looks like they're about break the record for summer ozone alerts. It just goes to show you that Denver can try all they want, and suceed, to ban smoking in public areas, yet they're still all going to die. Smoke 'em if you got 'em.
Piece 3
Australia is facing a massive surplus of grapes, resulting in huge amounts of unsold wine, with a liter being sold for cheaper than water. Anyone who goes or went to Loyola College knows how strong our study abroad program is, but this news will send it right down the crapper. Upon returning in the fall I expect no emails to study abroad, only ones with the subject "get loaded in Melbourne", as half the campus ships out for the same country. As for the rest of us, we will remain in Baltimore laughing our asses off, because Natty Light is still cheaper.
And today's Miracle Baby....
An ex Navy Quarterback is accused of rape, and the man's defense was that it was "sex gone bad". After the carnival that was the Duke Lacrosse trial, this is the kind of story where you can't be sure which person is telling the truth. Guess we'll have to leave it to karma. If he's innocent, may he get through unscathed. If guilty, then it won't be long before he heads to jail and sees what "sex gone bad" really means. Never in my life would I have guessed that a college kid would use a joke college euphemism in a court trial for rape. Crazier things have happened I suppose.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Gotta Love Valve
First off, a few words on Pirates 2 can be found deep within the crevices of LiveJournal. Their whole "hide blocks of text behind a link" thing makes it easy to hide spoilers, so jump over there if you're curious.
Valve software has announced two amazing new products. Team Fortres 2 is back, and this time its real. The one screenshot of the character models is enough to get me excited. A lot of people pined for the old, realistic military fashion, but that's been done a whole lot since the game was announced years ago. This cartoony, goofy look fits well with the over the top gameplay of the series, and hopefully the maps, gameplay and presentation compliment the new style.
Then there's Portal. Watch this video trailer, and its hard not to drool at least a little bit. Portal is like the newly released game Prey, in that it focuses on strange portals that warp you to different parts of a the map. The difference is that in Prey, the portals are scripted, pre-determined events. Portal gives you a gun that allows you to create your own portals, on the fly, in order to interact with the level in ways never seen before. It is a far more interesting technology showcase than Prey's, and if Valve can use the concept to create an interesting demonstration, this could be the new trendy technology of the industry. Also, I hope they keep the sense of humor that the trailer conveys. Good stuff.
Valve software has announced two amazing new products. Team Fortres 2 is back, and this time its real. The one screenshot of the character models is enough to get me excited. A lot of people pined for the old, realistic military fashion, but that's been done a whole lot since the game was announced years ago. This cartoony, goofy look fits well with the over the top gameplay of the series, and hopefully the maps, gameplay and presentation compliment the new style.
Then there's Portal. Watch this video trailer, and its hard not to drool at least a little bit. Portal is like the newly released game Prey, in that it focuses on strange portals that warp you to different parts of a the map. The difference is that in Prey, the portals are scripted, pre-determined events. Portal gives you a gun that allows you to create your own portals, on the fly, in order to interact with the level in ways never seen before. It is a far more interesting technology showcase than Prey's, and if Valve can use the concept to create an interesting demonstration, this could be the new trendy technology of the industry. Also, I hope they keep the sense of humor that the trailer conveys. Good stuff.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Well, Shit
And now for sports...
-Screw the American League. Can't give the NL one lousy all star win. I'm telling you, its the Yankee Magic. Even in a game like this they sprinkly it on the bloody field for clutch performance. I really, really, really wanted NL homefield this year more than ever. Nothing, and I mean nothing could happen in my Senior Year of college that would be better than a Mets championship 20 years after their last. Well, maybe sex every night, but that won't happen, so I'll stick with gunning for my team.
-Isn't it sad that the Tour de France is going on and no one in America gives a shit now that Lance isn't in it? I'm actually following it closer than usual now that I don't have to hear about him every 10 minutes. A great athlete to be sure, but our nation's bandwagon culture was smothering the media with him to the point of cheapening the man.
-Speaking of ruining things, a plea to the Internet; stop it with the Zidane headbutt. One of the most badass moments in sports is being ruined because 4chan and the rest can't let up on a good meme. I have seen exactly two mock ups of the clip that were funny. Two. Out of the whole Web. Let it go, so we can look back at it five years from now in something other than tired disgust.
For gaming news, Next Gen.biz has an interesting new feature where they ask people behind particular games to comment on choice quotes from reviews. Here's one from Sony about the Advance Wars ripoff Field Commander on the PSP. This is one from Atlus USA about the wonderful Steambot Chronicles. Our friend at Sony replies with the usual script about being "more mature" and how certain issues are really features. Right.
As is typical with Atlus, we get an honest and human response about Steambot, filled with swearing, admittance to certain problems and good old smack talk. The best quote?
Owned? Most definitely. Read the rest of the Atlus remarks if you have the time. Few people in the development side of the industry act so frank and sincere. If more people responded like this maybe we would see some game journalists grow up a little and take their jobs a little more seriously.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have a well earned 12 pack of Summer Ale to put a dent in.
-Screw the American League. Can't give the NL one lousy all star win. I'm telling you, its the Yankee Magic. Even in a game like this they sprinkly it on the bloody field for clutch performance. I really, really, really wanted NL homefield this year more than ever. Nothing, and I mean nothing could happen in my Senior Year of college that would be better than a Mets championship 20 years after their last. Well, maybe sex every night, but that won't happen, so I'll stick with gunning for my team.
-Isn't it sad that the Tour de France is going on and no one in America gives a shit now that Lance isn't in it? I'm actually following it closer than usual now that I don't have to hear about him every 10 minutes. A great athlete to be sure, but our nation's bandwagon culture was smothering the media with him to the point of cheapening the man.
-Speaking of ruining things, a plea to the Internet; stop it with the Zidane headbutt. One of the most badass moments in sports is being ruined because 4chan and the rest can't let up on a good meme. I have seen exactly two mock ups of the clip that were funny. Two. Out of the whole Web. Let it go, so we can look back at it five years from now in something other than tired disgust.
For gaming news, Next Gen.biz has an interesting new feature where they ask people behind particular games to comment on choice quotes from reviews. Here's one from Sony about the Advance Wars ripoff Field Commander on the PSP. This is one from Atlus USA about the wonderful Steambot Chronicles. Our friend at Sony replies with the usual script about being "more mature" and how certain issues are really features. Right.
As is typical with Atlus, we get an honest and human response about Steambot, filled with swearing, admittance to certain problems and good old smack talk. The best quote?
"The Trotmobile controls work well when you're exploring and fighting low level enemies, but fail miserably when you have to take on boss characters and the plethora of Trotmobile gladiators in the town arenas. You'll be out maneuvered time and time again due to the sluggish controls, floating jumps, and the multitude of uncircumventable projectiles aimed at you by your foes. As the game progresses, you'll learn to cope with the controls, but the feeling of sluggishness never really goes away." --GamePro: 3/5
Atlus USA: We'll give 'em that the controls weren't perfect, but to quote one of our in-house peeps, "the control scheme is similar to that of Virtual On, and nobody bitched about that." Honestly, it's nowhere near as bad as the GamePro graf makes it out to be. (A GamePro editor messaged us after receiving a review build, asking about nonexistent "bugs," so we were prepared ahead of time for an iffy review.)
Also, about those "uncircumventable" [sic] projectiles, you don't need to dodge 'em; that's what the block function is for. Someone didn't play through the tutorial mode...
Owned? Most definitely. Read the rest of the Atlus remarks if you have the time. Few people in the development side of the industry act so frank and sincere. If more people responded like this maybe we would see some game journalists grow up a little and take their jobs a little more seriously.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have a well earned 12 pack of Summer Ale to put a dent in.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
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