Monday, August 24, 2009
Delaying the delayed delay...
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Suffering from RAGE...
Well, this weekend has marked the first half of id Software's 14th annual QuakeCon...
For those of you who don't know what QuakeCon is, its an annual get-together of gamers who compete in lan tournaments and so on. It is also where game development studio giant, id Software (responsible for Wolfenstein, Doom, Quake and so on) give their big release info, and reveal new announcements on upcoming titles and so on.
If anyone is at all interested, I'd suggest heading over to a site like GameTrailers and checking out the footage of the conference. On top of news about new games for the iPhone, a brief mention of a new Doom game, and a few other bits and pieces, there was a lot of stuff about Rage... id Softwares new IP that is set to take the gaming world by storm. Similar to many other recent games, Rage takes place in a postapocalyptic world, where Apophis, an actual meteor (one that is set on a near-miss course for Earth in many years) has crashed into the planet, wiping out much of humanity and civilisation. Prior to its crash, the governments of the world had set up underground 'arks' where they selected groups of people (scientists, doctors, etc) to live in to be able to come out and re-establish the world after the Apophis' fall. You, as the player, take control of one of these Ark members who is the lone survivor of a malfunctioning Ark. You set off to discover the fates of the other Arks.
So does anyone else think it sounds a bit like Fallout 3? You could be forgiven for saying so IMO. However... despite all the fanboys in the world writing this off straight away as a FO3 clone, there's one important thing to remember her. id Software are the father of all FPS games. They are usually known for straightforward linear shooters. However, Rage is far from that. This is very new territory for the software supergiant.
Set to wow us with intense action-packed shooting, fast-paced vehicle combat and racing, a deep story and even deeper character, Rage looks sweet as. I can honestly say that I wasn't particularly interested fromt he initial trailer that came out back at E3 2007, but the new footage of the game really looks amazing. On top of that, there is some truly amazing technology under the hood of id Tech 5.0, the new engine.
Anyways, enough from me - if you're keen on learning be sure to check out the conferences... especially the stuff about the megatexturing and so on. Really cool technology. But here's the new trailer that came out a couple of days ago.
Anyone else looking forward to the game? Certainly looks awesome to me.
Beyond the QuakeCon press conferences, gaming has been a bit slow this week. Lil_Azza and I had a fair bit of fun on UT3 on the weekend. And I gave Splosion Man a ncie co-op session with my old housemates. Can't stress enough that those two games are absolutely awesome. Splosion Man in co-op is hell odd but fun. Timing plays such a big part... you end up stuck on some level pieces for ages simply because you need all players to play ball at the same time.
Finally - I gave the Batman: Arkam Asylym demo a go, and I'm fairly impressed. I'm not 100% sure I'll buy it, but I'm keen of getting a hold of it one day.
There's no progress made yet on any new levels that's worth showing... but I've done a little concept art work and designs that I'll polish up and show sometime for you guys to see. Til then, keep on gaming!
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Well it's Sunday, and here we are again. So what have you guys been playing? I'm still hitting up the various Guitar Hero games pretty hard. Had a few good sessions on Guitar Hero: Metallica with 2 guitars and a drumkit going. Finished Guitar Hero 2 on expert and done most of the bonus tracks. Getting a lot of mileage out of those games.
Other than that - I purchased the new Fallout DLC dubbed "Mothership Zeta" but unfortunately haven't really invested any time in it. I've seen the gametrailers review though and I'm pretty keen. Check it out below for yourself.
So enough about what I *HAVEN'T* been playing, what about what I have been? Well, I'm a big fan of indie style games. The PSN titles such as Pain and XBLA titles... and one that came out recently, only on XBLA I'm afraid, has got me hooked... If you dont know what Splosion Man is check out this video before reading on...
What the trailer shows is perhaps not enough. The game is full of character, and while it is short, I can see myself playing it time and time again. Splosion Man as a character is like Daffy Duck at his wackiest if he forgot to take his ADHD meds! He's just funny as hell. He quotes so many different famous characters, including Arnie!
Every button on the controller, with the exception of the analog stick, does the same thing... makes you explode. You can explode 3 times before you need to recharge. Exploding makes you jump up in the air. Once you understand that it becomes a fast-paced timing-centric platformer from hell. I strongly urge anyone with a Xbox to give it a go... it's great fun.
Beyond that, Lil_Azza and I fired up Unreal Tournament 3 last night. Fuck I've missed that game. Considering starting making levels again now that I have this big void of time to fill in. But one thing is for sure - I will definately be firing this one up more often than I have been. I'm pretty sure I can get some of you guys to give it another go. Damn I've missed playing online!
And on that I think I'm going to have to bail on you guys. It's a short update I know, but hopefully there will be more next week... perhaps even details of my return to map-making? Who knows!
Til then, game on!
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Guitar Hero... it's back?
Well, those of you who've known me long enough might remember that back in the day of PS2 gaming I was heavily addicted to crack... uh... I mean Guitar Hero XD. Guitar Hero 2 mainly... I got so into it that I had every song on Expert 5-starred, and most of them gold-starred (100%)... to the point where I ended up making the decision that I HAD to sell all my guitar hero games, because I was unhealthily addicted to it... So I did.
Then, Guitar Hero 3 came out... and I was fairly MEH about it. The tracklist wasn't that great, the guitar felt cheap and tacky, and the sound quality wasn't amazing. I got over it fairly quickly. Since then I haven't bothered with the Guitar Hero/Rock Band world... In face the idea of paying $200+ for one game thats really aimed at a casual gaming audience makes me laugh out loud.
However, when Guitar Hero Metallica got announced I couldn't help but get a little interested. Then my boss at work started going on about how excited he was about it and how he'd had it on pre-order for months. Anyways, cut a long story short, I had it on release day. And I have to say, I was impressed. Since then, I've picked up Guitar Hero 2 again and my house mate has acquired Guitar Hero 3... On top of that I've got hold of one of the guitar hero drum kits (which only works with Metallica, not 2 or 3) and we've been having some fun with it. Myself, my housemate and my sister have all been playing it a fair bit and I'm enjoying it again... a little too much. I'm concerned I may have reignited the addiction, but I guess only time will tell.
So anyways, why am I telling you all this? Well... to be honest, since my last entry, I've played maybe 10 minutes of Bionic Commando, an hour of The Last Remnant... and an hour or so of Gears of War 2 Horde.
Oh wait, that's not true - I did try out the new 'deleted chapter' of Gears 2... It's odd you know. The idea of Gears of War 2 going stealth was sounding awesome to me, but in reality, when you play it with stealth its just boring. It really highlights that Gears is all about brutality and killing and that if you take that away, there's nothing much left. It's not like thats a bad thing... just... *shrugs* yeah. Having said that, the DLC is still worth it... up to 19 new maps (every map released for GoW2 thus far) for 1600 MS points is hardly something to scoff at! Haven't tried all the new maps yet, but given there are a lot of new Horde achievements, you can bet your bottom dollar I will be making an effort to!
Other than that... I dunno what else I can comment on. Speeros - Hell no, I have no intention at all to get Modern Warfare 2 lol... why the fuck would I?! as for Socom... I considered it but I dunno if I can be bothered. I really want a new online game... I've got the time now that there's no GF for me to want to spend time with (sadly) but there is really nothing that has appealed to me. I'm willing for someone to throw something awesome my way... but everything seems boring or just a COD clone. Suggestions anyone?
On that - Gonna be firing up UT3, Burnout, and maybe a few others next weekend with Lil_Azza if anyone wants to join us. You can pick up a copy of UT3 from playasia.com for like $20 now... express post and itll be here by the weekend - you've got no excuse. You know you wanna ;)
Actually, I would like to make mention of one game... There's a game coming up called Risen. I'll give you this vid...
To me it looks like a darker Fable 2... which rocks. Doesn't hurt that the trailer uses Nightwish who are one of my fav bands =) Anyways, if there's any decent new games on the horizon gimme a shout, been out of the loop a little and could use a hand. Especially online ones! Til next time... game on!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Okay... so things suck at the moment... some shit is getting in the way of me wanting to post here... nonetheless... I'm going to try n keep to my commitment. It's a few hours late but here we go...
Gaming at the moment is really slow... there's really not a lot out. I've picked up a number of games and enjoyed them all, but there's no huge titles. Fallout 3 still takes a lot of my time (I can't get away from that one), though I've managed to put it down for a week or so til the next batch of DLC comes out (tomorrow) and then I'll fire it up again. Other than that, I have been playing inFamous, Red Faction: Guerilla, and a few other oldies (Turok, Lego Star Wars, etc) that I picked up in some EB Games sales.
inFamous was a bit of a surprise to be honest. I didn't know whether I was going to get into it much or not, and I thought the gimmick of electricity-based powers would pass quickly. Nonetheless, starved for a new game, I got a hold of it and was pleasantly surprised to find a solid game with a decent amount of content. I know lots of people have played through it in a single sitting, or whinged about the short length, but I actually got into the side-quests. The fact that it frees up areas of the map from enemy control made it worthwhile, and by taking the time to free 100% of the world, the game takes quite a while to complete. On top of that, the story is decent and there's a very nice plot twist at the end (that I wont spoil for anyone). All in all I can strongly recommend any fan of action games, particularly sand-boxing action games, pick it up. The powers are even decently enough varied to keep you keen on them. But the one thing that really made the game amazingly fun for me was one of the side quest varieties... One of the side quests has you racing along rooftops from one point to another, and you do this via grinding along power cables. It's a real ball and you get a lot of speed up and running. Personally, if they were to make multiplayer in this game, I would hope it would take the form of rooftop racing!
Red Faction: Guerilla, my other gaming labour of recent times, also takes the form of a sand-boxing action game, and while it's fun, it's far less likely to appeal to as many people as inFamous. Basically Red Faction comes down to one feature - the destruction (AKA GeoMod). If you get into the destruction factor, like I did, you will love the game. If you don't, there's not much else here really. The multiplayer is decent, but agian, the destruction plays a big part. The story is weak as hell, the shooting mechanics are okay (not amazing) and the missions are fairly repetative. I'd suggest giving it a rent, trying the demo (available on both the Xbox and PS stores) or buying it at EB games (7 day return policy) before deciding to commit to it.
Beyond this, I've acquired the new Worms game on the XBLA, as well as that Habbo: Invasion game (the game where you play a ball witha gun XD)... and there's not much else to report on. I've today bought Bionic Commando... so that will probably be the next post. Til then though, be sure to leave any comments you've got... makes it more interesting when people talk back =). Game on!
Monday, July 27, 2009
Welcome to The Loading Zone
Well, my old blog seemed a bit... I dunno. Characterless? So here's a new one.. and one I am going to stick on and use regularly. Gonna try n get to it at least weekly, if not more often. If nothing else, expect a new update of my gaming over the week ever Sunday, but if anything important comes to mind I'll chuck it on here asap.
So what can you expect here? Well, reviews of games, thoughts on the status of the industry, ponderings on the future of gaming, etc. All the usual things that a gaming blog has. Why bother with this one then? Well, you're here aren't you? You've read this far? So obviously you're at least partially interested... so why not? My thoughts exactly!
Expect a new entry, detailing my background as a gamer, as well as my current situation as a gamer, in the next 24 hours. Til then, game on!
