Take The Blue Pill 08:04 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: MMOG
(3 comments)
PC.IGN shared its first impressions of Monolith's The Matrix Online after playing the live game a few days. Here's a nice way of saying something sucks:
If you're on the fence as to whether or not to start the game right away, we'd suggest giving the game a little more runway so it can fly clear of the small bugs and inconsistencies that tend to push you out of the game world (sometimes literally). Die-hard fans of the franchise might be able to work through these problems until they get solved, but it remains to be seen whether or not the higher-level missions and story elements will be worth the wait.
First SWAT 4 Review 05:55 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: Action
(6 comments)
Gamespy shot up the first review of SWAT 4, Irrational's Unreal engined tactical action game using the storied Sierra franchise. Overall score was a 4.5/5.0. Here's their take on the graphics (and only complaint): If there's a major complaint to be leveled at SWAT 4, it's that it looks pretty dated by today's standards. In fact, it doesn't even look as good as Unreal Tournament 2004 and Battlefield Vietnam, which were released this time a year ago. It's not that the game looks ugly, but there's clearly some room for improvement with textures and model animations, and it's basically devoid of physics effects which could have added an extra bit of excitement to the close-quarters combat. The bright side is that the game ran extremely smooth on a variety of test machines, running from a 2.5 Ghz P3 with a GeForce Ti 4600 to higher-end 3 Ghz machines. Still, we wonder if that'll be enough for some players, especially when you consider that Counter-Strike: Source (SWAT 4's biggest competition) is every bit as PC-friendly while looking far more impressive.
I'll have to disagree with them on the visuals. Using a Radeon X800 XT the game looks really swank. There are literally bump-maps on everything. They used a GeForce 6600, so I guess that explains it.
WPG 05:32 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: General News
(0 comments)
- Various Game Trailers
- 'Battle of Britain 2' (PC) - Trailer
- 'Cold Fear' (PS2/Xbox/PC) - Trailer
- 'Conspiracy: Weapons of Mass Destruction' (PS2/Xbox/PC) - Trailer
- 'Fire Emblem' (NGC) - Trailer
- 'Splinter Cell Chaos Theory' (NGC/PS2/Xbox/PC) - Trailer
- 'Wrestlemania 21' (Xbox) - Trailer
Dungeons & Dragons Online Q&A; 05:31 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: MMOG
(3 comments)
Gamespot conjured up an interview with Turbine exec producer Judith Hoffman about D&D; Online:
GS: And what will the game offer to those players who are veterans of online games? How is the team planning to keep the attention of these advanced players? With involved high-level content? Specific community-related options or other specific features?
JH: As you might expect, most of our dev team plays online games pretty fervently. As jaded veterans, we're tired of many of the same barriers mentioned above: boring combat, the level grind, unnecessary time sinks, etc. We hope that our solutions to these problems will appeal to longtime online role-playing game players as much as they do to newbies.
As far as high-level content goes, we have a lot of good stuff planned that we're not ready to talk about just yet. For now, I'll just say that there will be plenty of reasons to stick around once you've hit the level cap.
Stardock Goes Massively Multiplayer 04:56 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: MMOG
(0 comments)
CGM spilled the beans that Stardock is developing a unannounced massively multiplayer strategy game which won't charge a monthly feee. Here's the poop: In a forthcoming interview about their space strategy sequel Galactic Civilizations II to be posted on Computer Games Magazine's web site later this week, Stardock head Brad Wardell revealed that they are also working on a " . . . free Massively Multiplayer On-Line Real Time Strategy game in development whose team is lead by a developer who formerly worked at Maxis on SimCity." When pressed for comment today, Wardell told us that the development team is trying to solve the problems that have kept other similar games from being as popular as other MMO titles. When asked to describe the gameplay, Wardell said. "I like to call it 'The Sims meets Total Annihilation.'" We hope to get more info on the game in the months ahead.
Camelot 1.75c Notes 04:44 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: MMOG
(0 comments)
Mythic released the latest Dark Age of Camelot patch to the testing server Pendragon today which adds a few interesting features like giving raid leaders almost CSR like powers for awarding people master level credit, plus streamlined a few of the more annoying lower level ML steps. There are some interface, character tweaks and other stuff included as well. Expect more versions (with more stuff) to go to testing before they take the patch live.
The Collective Merges 04:37 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: General News
(0 comments)
The Collective, best known for its Unreal engined Deep Space Nine game announced that it has merged with Backbone Entertainment to form a new company called Foundation 9 Studios.
"The decision to join together and form the largest independent development company in North America was easy given our shared vision for the interactive entertainment market," said Jon Goldman, CEO of Foundation 9 Entertainment, Inc. "With the increasing complexity of next-generation platforms, we see great opportunities that can only be addressed by pooling talent and financial resources. We will be able to better invest in technology, processes and creative opportunities that will make us a key player in the future of game development and beyond."
"We'll be rolling out our strategy through upcoming partnerships that will foster new media opportunities for our publishers and other existing relationships," said Douglas Hare, co-president of Foundation 9 Entertainment. "Our intention is to continue to focus on our existing opportunities and expand our current game development business substantially through our increased capabilities."
Word is that the new studio is working on a Star Wars: Episode III game.
Stronghold 2 Quickie 02:26 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: Real-Time Strategy
(0 comments)
Gamesdomain tossed off a quickie preview of Firefly's Stronghold 2:
Let's get one thing out of the way first. Of all the great 2D strategy games that made the jump to 3D, Stronghold 2 takes to the new perspective the best. So many of the original game's niggles and problems are fixed by this simple move that, now we've spent some time with the new version, it's hard to imagine that it was ever any different.
More Unreal Tournament 2006 Details 02:24 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: Action
(7 comments)
Beyond Unreal posted more Unreal Tournament 2006 details which includes four screen shot scans from the Computer Gaming World article which Epic has nicknamed "Envy". Updated info includes: weapons, gametypes, vehicles and less general "bounciness" compared to UT2004.
Carmack Benchmarks Cell Phones 02:08 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: General News
(0 comments)
Following John Carmack's recent Cell Phone Adventures blog update, id's main man benchmarked a few cell phones (thanks Blue's News). Here are the results:
One of our test platforms is a fairly high end Sony Ericsson, which is 10x as fast as our Motorola base platform. For a 128x128 screen, the Motorola renders about 4 fps and the Sony renders about 40 fps. Compare with Wolfenstein-3D performance (the DoomRPG engine has some extra graphics features, but it is still in that general class) at that resolution on older systems. A 386-16 would go significantly faster.
Note that the "As fast as a ..." comparisons from the benchmark are against purely interpreted java on the P3, which is about 1/10th the speed of a native implementation, and benchmarks that focus on expression and control operations will overestimate relative performance for applications that are array access heavy. Still, if a java app on that phone performed like a P3-100mhz, it would be pretty impressive.
It is true that a good JIT (which the phones don't have) can make java code go nearly as fast as C/C++ code that is written in the same style. The "in the same style" part is often overlooked -- in lower level languages you often have options for implementation with pointers and CPU tailoring that would make the code look very different, but go significantly faster.
I still generally like java, and maximizing performance is only important in a rather limited subset of software engineering.
TimeGate Studios Gets Unreal 01:52 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: General News
(0 comments)
TimeGate Studios informed us that it has selected Epic's Unreal Engine 3 to power "an upcoming, next-generation title." TimeGate is best known for its Kohan RTS series. TimeGate is developing a next-generation title that promises to bring fresh and innovative gameplay to help invigorate an already popular genre. The use of Unreal Engine 3 technology plays a critical part in helping its team create unique content quickly and efficiently, allowing them to realize their creative vision for the game.
"As TimeGate continues to build itself into a first-class development outfit, we look for the strongest partners and technology to both enhance and accelerate our projects" said Adel Chaveleh, President of TimeGate. "Epic and Unreal Technology have met these high standards. Using the Unreal� Engine 3 has given us a running start on development of our new IP, allowing our team to focus primarily on the innovation and quality content that we have become known for in our previous titles."
"We are delighted that TimeGate has chosen Unreal Engine 3 for this next generation project" said Mark Rein , Vice President of Epic Games. "Unreal Engine 3 is all about supporting innovation and pushing creative boundaries for next generation content, and maximizing the power and scope that new hardware offers. We are in a position to help developers deliver outstanding next generation content right now, and the TimeGate team will be delivering some outstanding content to show exactly what Unreal Engine 3 is capable of."
Thompson Gets Red Lake Trigger Time 01:14 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: General News
(3 comments)
Not one to disappoint, Jack Thompson gets a little trigger time in the Red Lake High School shootings:
Thompson sees parallels between the videogame, "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City," and Jeff Weise's animated production "Target Practice."
"It's a nearly precise replication of that game, even down to the exploding police car," says Thompson. "Also, the soundtrack of these two flash films, as they're called, that Weise prepared to basically let people know what he was going to do, have sound tracks of videogames on them."
Grand Theft Auto 2, Dungeons & Dragons 1.
Hillary Clinton on Grand Theft Auto 12:56 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: General News
(28 comments)
Former first lady and now Senator Hillary Clinton had this to share regarding Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto:
"Children are playing a game that encourages them to have sex with prostitutes and then murder them," she said in a statement on the issue. "This is a silent epidemic of media desensitisation that teaches kids it's OK to diss people because they are a woman, they're a different colour or they're from a different place."
She wants a $90 million investigation to be launched into the impact of games and other electronic media on the "cognitive, social, emotional and physical development" of children, according to a Sunday Times report.
Damn, and here I was thinking D&D; was to blame for society's ills!
Dungeons & Dragons Blamed in Multiple Murder? 01:11 am
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: Role-Playing
(30 comments)
Slashdot is reporting that the venerable pen and paper RPG, Dungeon and Dragons has been blamed in the stabbing deaths of three people. Says the NJ District Attorney: "I mean, you have many, many stab wounds and those 'Dungeons and Dragons' fantasy games involve swords and knives and daggers and things of that nature. There may be a connection but I can't say for sure." My +5 Holy Avenger says there is no connection.
Gauntlet Interview 01:03 am
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: Action / Roleplaying
(6 comments)
CGM interviewed Midway's Josh Sawyer about the upcoming Gauntlet (a game which should need no introduction) remake, Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows. Word is The Romero is working on the project as well. Topics include the story, what traits the remake will retain from the original, playable classes, co-op multiplayer, graphics and more. Here's a taste:
Computer Games - Finally is there anything else you wish to say about Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows?
Josh Sawyer - It's going to knock your socks on your ass.
Yes, but will it make me it's bitch?
Hardware & Tech Nuggets 12:52 am
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- hardware: General News
(0 comments)
Game Reviews 12:19 am
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: General News
(11 comments)
Gamespot's Chaos Theory score: Lowball attention grabbing tactics, or realistic review? I guess we'll find out later this week once we play.
In Other News... 12:12 am
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- In-House: In Other News...
(26 comments)
I was watching "The Breakfast Club" on the AMC channel and apparantly the phrase "Eat my shorts" was a little too gritty for their aged audience, so they dubbed in "Eat my socks" instead. The youth of America is saved! I'd like to go "A Clockwork Orange" on the censor who did that and make them watch a season of "Deadwood" to broaden their vocabulary.
So... the other big game release this week aside from Chaos Theory would of course be Doom 3 for the Xbox, plus the PC expansion to Doom 3 from Nerve. Today's question is: Any plans on checking out Doom 3 for the Xbox, or picking up Resurrection of Evil for PC?
|
