Category: Games

And it’s about damn time. Seriously, people have been cheating in this game so much because it had no anti-cheat software with it. The new update includes the introduction of the “PunkBuster” anti-cheat software, a vote kick option, and 3 new Multiplayer maps. Now all I want is an update for Call of Duty 2. It needs some anti-cheat software as well.

Ok, so let’s start with what I do like so we can get that out of the way quickly. The graphics and settings are amazing. The islands are rendered beautifully with huge draw distances and lush foliage. The gun fights are actually pretty frantic and the vehicles can be cool at times. The game also has a pretty good length, one of the longest FPS games I have played in a while. There is a good selection of weapons, and you are limited to four different guns which can add a bit of strategy when you select what to take with you.

Now on to what I don’t like. First, whose idea was it to put a checkpoint save system in this game? That person needs to be fired. Honestly, I can not think of a single pc game that has a good checkpoint save system. It would have been bearable if the checkpoint system was at least done well, and offered a generous amount of checkpoints. Instead, you get a bunch of checkpoints that mostly seem to be placed at random. At least they generally give you a checkpoint before a large firefight, usually. But there will be times where you will have to travel large distances over and over and over again.

Next, up is the AI. What’s so bad about it you ask? Well, it cheats. There were many times when they actually spotted me through solid walls. They can also hear the slightest noise from a mile away, and instead of going to check out the sound, they usually go on full alert. The cheating AI makes the stealth aspect of the game completely useless. There is no point in trying to hide or be quiet with the slightest thing will set them off. There were times when I would creep around a corner and as soon as I peak out, I would get a rocket in my face, even though there was no way they could have possibly known I was there. The cheating AI and the checkpoint save system can make the game extremely frustrating. Not to mention the cheap mutants later in the game with rocket launchers for arms that can take you out in one or two hits, but take what seems like hundreds of shots themselves to take down. It doesn’t help that they also usually throw half a dozen of them at you at a time, often in indoor levels where there is no where to maneuver.

Then there is the vehicle physics, or should I say lack of realistic physics. Jeeps and the like bounce around like crazy, making them almost impossible to control at high speeds. Then again, you won’t get too much use out of them as you can’t even take them off road much due to the amount of trees, rocks, and the rest that will get in your way.

Of course, that didn’t make me quit the game, I felt compelled to play until the end (no thanks to the story, which is pretty bad). I think Robert Coffey said it pretty well when he said, “It would be so easy to dismiss Far Cry and the devastating effects of its save system as just another game disaster, but the truth is, the game does so many other things not just well but exceptionally, that you almost hate the game more because it could be so great.” If only they had spent more time on the save system, and fixed the obvious cheating AI, the game could have been a lot more fun.

Would I recommend the game? Yeah, its only $20 now, but I would highly suggest that if you have an Xbox, pick up Far Cry: Instincts instead. From what I played in the demo, they fixed many of the PC games problems.

Last year’s so-called “modest proposal” by Jack Thompson sparked a firestorm of controversy that culminated in the Miami attorney filing a complaint against Penny Arcade with the Seattle Field Office of the F.B.I.

Now comes an entirely new PC game based on the Modest Propospal fiasco. Published by a team calling itself Thompsonsoft (we’re pretty sure Jack isn’t involved), the game is I’m O.K. – A Murder Simulator.

I’m O.K.” features SNES-style graphics and gameplay. There’s even a judge who looks a little like Mario.

So who are the designers? The website says, “Consisting of 3 alcoholics and a foreign exchange student, Thompsonsoft is a new game company formed around the singular idea that Jack Thompson is the most brilliant game designer in the universe… Our first title, “I’m OK”, is based on Jack’s masterful design from “A Modest Video Game Proposal” and it’s a murder simulator so cruel, so bloodthirsty, so horrifyingly violent that it makes Grand Theft Auto seem like Sunday Funday.”

“How does one explain why, in a world overflowing with disease, war, and other horrifying realities, a man would spend 18 years crusading against video games? Easy. You say that it’s the most extensive, ingenious marketing campaign for a video game in the history of MAN.”

Features of “I’m O.K.” include: 7 unique weapons including uzis, shotguns, rocket launchers, and a baseball bat and something called the Realistic Urine Engine (R.U.E.).

It’s all tongue-in-cheek of course. Thompson’s reaction will be interesting, since the game closely follows the design he laid down in his Modest Proposal. Can he complain about his own script?

Probably.

You can read the full text of Jack Thompson’s Modest Proposal in MS Word format

It appears that a Playstation 3 Developer was fired by Sony after posting some negative comments about the console. There is a followup interview with him after he got fired. The original post has since been deleted, but here is the complete transcript of the original post curtosy of Google Cache.

“I’ve spent some time the past year developing for the PS3. Actually it was a cinematic demo to be shown at e3 in 2005 at a closed door viewing. I was one of the few artists selected to work on it for the demo. My job was primarily asset creation. I was creating assets to populate the path where our camera would be flying during the demo. The company I work for is also working on a launch title that I am quite familiar with. In short, I’ve spent some time around the PS3 and or the teams developing for it.

I’ve really had to sit here and think for a long time about what my first comment about the PS3 would be. Will I say, its GREAT or will I give it two thumbs down. Well my immediate impression of the PS3 is…where is it? Seriously, where is it? They have a case, a controller and a dev kit. But the system still doesn’t even exist. So what is there to say? We received one of 5 PS3 dev kits in the United States some time ago. Several companies in the US as well as companies over seas were given the daunting task of creating a demo in less than 9 weeks on a first generation dev kit. Now I’ll be honest with you. What most companies do is fake the entire demo. I mean they come up with some great visuals and neat tricks and scripted events. In the end however, its not a real time demo and its not running ON the actual box. We were the only company to my knowledge that showed something that ran it live on the box. Even then it was a scripted event. You could not pause the camera and fly around the scene. So if you saw the demo once, you saw it again the exact same way the second time. Also this was on a brutally early dev box. You could always tell where the PS3 dev box was because it’s the room that had the f-bomb coming out of it half the day.

Lots of time has passed since that demo and the dev box has gone from a totally jimmy rigged computer and box of parts about the size of a small child, to a much more realistic size. Although its still the size of a normal pc. I have been pretty excited about the whole cell processing thing. I am not a very technical person but my understanding of it was pretty clear. (Multiple processors to handle individual events in parallel). Sounds pretty good to me! To hear people talk, you’d thing that a processor revolution was about to happen. So I’ve been pretty excited to say the least. Now in my opinion it doesn’t matter how good the PS3 is. If the XBOX 360 is better, then it doesn’t really matter how the cell processors work or how good they say it is. Realistically one of them will be better over all. Now I’ve spoken with people who are on the technical side of the PS3. I’ve also talked with people on the technical side of the XBOX 360. The consistent comment I am hearing from people on my end is, “The XBOX 360 is better”. They are saying that it is capable of just doing more. (shrugs) Now take that for what its worth. If you watch all the videos on the PS3 they will say how much more powerful it is than the XBOX and vice versa. Im just telling you what I am hearing. They proceeded to go into a lot of technical info that I don’t understand. So I just nod.

The game that we are creating for a launch title is a “just get it out” title in my opinion. It doesn’t look next generation. I don’t see how anyone could debate otherwise. It looks good. But it looks good for a game that has come out in the last couple years or so. I mean we are talking about a box that will be with us for the next 5+ years! In 5 years will the games we are making today look good? The only way for that to be possible is if the new games coming out for the PS3 are drastically improved. So good that they can stand the test of time until the next system comes out. We’ve all seen Gears of War for the xbox 360. If that even looks half as good when it comes out then I’ll be floored! The game we are making isn’t even in the same league as Gears of War. In fact there are many current games out that look just as good and are using the exact same specs. So, on our end we are either not pushing the bar or were just trying to “get a title out”. To be fair, this is a business. Sometimes you have to treat it as a business and not make the best title you can. The best title you can make usually costs 20-40million dollars/3 start overs and 4 years of your life. You just cant do that every time out. Its impossible. Our game just keeps getting moved back….and back…..and back…..and back. Again, where is the box? Where is the final system? When is it coming out? No one knows and in the mean time people in the industry are starting to get just a little salty. I mean I was at e3 2005 and PS3 was almost no where to be seen.

In closing, I started of VERY excited about the PS3. I was very confident that it was going to just destroy the XBOX 360 just on the name SONY alone. The more time that goes by the more I am becoming doubtful. Everything I’ve developed or seen developed has yet to be “next gen”. The poly counts are not really any higher, im not seeing sub surface scattering, im not seeing much HDR lighting. (or they are faking it and not really doing it), I’m not seeing next gen fluid dynamics or object dynamics. I suspect that you’ll be able to have more dynamic objects in a scene than before. But im not seeing games doing this yet. We dont have a controller, there is no network code and there is no box. Its still the size of a normal PC. Oh well, at least they have normal maps. Although I’m over the normal maps fad ok everyone!

I’m confident that the PS3 will have a few “crazy” games that show it off to its potential. But I would expect the full capabilities of the box to not show up until the system has been released PUBLICALLY for over a year. This is the extra time the developers will need with a FINAL system to truly make next gen games.”

I got around to checking it out today. These remakes of old counter strike maps are great. This new version looks amazing with HDR Lighting and plays a lot better then the original. I hope they remake storm and oilrig.