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Archive of "PC" Category
Bioshockingly Infinite
Bioshock Infinite is worth getting excited about – especially if, like some other me-shaped people, you found the first games in the series too absolutely terrifying to play without full daylight in a brightly lit room while surrounded by puppies.
If you’re more afraid of preview content than splicers, then don’t read this.
Desktop Dungeons at E3
The IndieCade booth had lots on offer – like Desktop Dungeons! Read my preview, fall in love, then play the Alpha build for free. If that doesn’t have you clicking “pre-order”, you’re hopeless.
Photo evidence
Skyrim at E3
Back from the E3 void, the content starts rolling today – with a Skyrim preview to kick things off. Why start with Skyrim? Because it’s probably the nerdiest, wordiest, nerdiest…well, hope you enjoy!
Dragon on Dragon (on Dragon)
My friend Kyle pointed out that there will be unlimited dragons in Skyrim. Unlimited dragons. On one hand, the completionist in me wants to kill all the dragons – on the other, unlimited dragons. Either way, it’s almost like they have a dragon giving its scaly middle finger to games with “Dragon” in their name that have fewer dragons than unlimited.
Reviewing Free [to Play]
Back at GDC over lunch with Christine Yeo from Perfect World Ent the notion of reviewing free games came up. This is something a bit of brain space has been devoted to, so now comes the waxing speculative.
Largely with the dawn of iPhone app reviews (and apps), the decision of whether or not to review free apps came up. With an inbox full of review requests for paid apps, time management was an issue and the answer was clear: No thank you. A free app costs only as much as the player’s time, and there was little value to be added to the equation by reviewing such an app – while simultaneously trying to quantify the value of time versus the app. Nope, the math was just not working out.
Free-to-play MMOs, however, are increasing their presence in the Western world and so the question comes up again – is it relevant to review what is free? Here the answer is yes. Where time commitment on a free app runs something like 20 minutes maximum before determining if the player wishes to continue, the time likely to be invested in an MMO before its worth can be sussed out tends to run higher. Certainly, some just won’t run or are broken beyond reviewing comprehension, and in those cases the less WPM spent on the debacle the better (as with any lame app). Without reviews, doesn’t the MMO player find themselves adrift in a sea of time-eating possibility?
While LOTRO may or may not make your butt look big, finding the right free-to-play MMO seems a lot like trying to find a good pair of jeans – you want back-up.
Something to look forward to
Not all E3 appointments are created equal. Bethesda, for example, will be showing off Skyrim, Prey 2 and hands-on time with RAGE. Last year’s RAGE presentation was great, but it’ll be tough to compete for my gaming affections with this around…
E3 2011 Microsoft Press Conference
Xbox 360 Media Briefing
Monday, June 6, 10 a.m.
Galen Center
3400 South Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, CA 90007If You Had a Portal Gun
Where would you go? This awesome question was posed on the forums yesterday, and I’m still mulling it over.
On the attainable but perhaps not dreaming big end of the spectrum, a couch-to-refrigerator portal is a humble but convenient addition to life. Conversely, all sorts of portals to the bedrooms of unattainable lady figures were also suggested, and I don’t think would work out very well – or for very long (if we assume the following):
- The portals are not limited by geographic distance
- The portals must, however, be placed in areas you can aim at/have access to at least once
- The portals can be seen by everyone, and so should be in a place reasonable to have a portal
- Other people may want to use your portalWith those in mind, I think a portal from my residence (the office, perhaps?) to my brother’s on Oahu is the best option, which was really an extension of Smokey’s idea that he could eliminate his commute to work. It seems that old people like us really want to get rid of the hassle of travel, while the younger types are content to dream of cinnamon buns and locker rooms. None of us get to attain these portal dreams, but I know which of us is going to be more annoyed by our next Delta flight.
Age of Empires Online Beta Keys
Curse and N4G are having some bonding time with Age of Empires Online, and you can get your key here!
This Gun Makes Holes
Had Portal 2 for lunch today, and Stephen Merchant as Wheatley is fantastic. It’s like listening to an episode of The Ricky Gervais Show, if it was The Stephen Merchant Show, and the show was about an independent personality core. Wheatley’s dialog makes for a very compelling opening sequence, and I look forward to bumping into him at every opportunity.
Only having completed through Chapter 3 (and no co-op played yet), Portal 2 is more engaging than Portal – or maybe it’s more likable. Yep, I just plain like it more.
Picked it up for PS3, what with the Steam integration and all, but this presented a very snarly snag in the general proceedings of our home. Game time usually goes something like Adam plays a game on console, I pick up the laptop and fire up Civ (vice versa, fill in game [here]), but with Steam getting all up in the PS3 it prevented me logging into the Steam account. Logging out of PSN while he played solved the problem, and it was another reminder of not only the weird difficulties that crop up as a gaming couple, but that our original notions of cavorting in co-op are not going to work out.
G4′s Skyrim Todd Howard Interview
Also culled from the net today, this video of Sessler talking Skyrim with executive director Todd Howard:
Dragon Age 2 Codex Entry
There’s a truth to ZeroPunctuation reviews that can’t be argued with. Sure, the schtick is one-hundred percent snarky, but everything he says about a game is true – all that’s left afterwards is the hull of a generally eviscerated game that you either dismiss, or persist in liking despite its (stick figure animated) flaws.
Dragon Age 2 is more or less like that. It is a cash in, the assets are recycled in such a way that early on in the game it’s downright confusing that so darn much is happening in the same cave (the same cave with access points all over the place), the graphics are improved but not beautiful, character models are rote, and the combat is either mind-numbingly mash-friendly or hair-tearingly nigh impossible. All these things could make up a tidy portion of a “con” list, but there’s more to it than that.
Dragon Age 2 is not a western RPG so much as it is a story driven action game with tactical combat – no matter what you choose, things are going to go very badly at the end. The character dialog in the game is one of the strongest achievements of the title, but the larger story that these contribute to is a lesson in “there are no good decisions”. Lacking the subtlety of shades of grey, this particular story works out more to whether you were Diplomatic or Aggressive on your path to the predestined horrible conclusion. Couple that with the heavy-handed Mage propaganda, and it becomes clear that in Dragon Age 2 the writers have given you a “wrong choice” and a “right choice”. Trouble is, I completely disagree with their “right choice”.
Throughout the game you’re savagely conscience raped by Mages and their woes. You can’t go on a quest without bumping into some wronged mage or other, or having to help them work out their latent Circle issues. Players get it, the Circle and the Templars often get into a serious abuse of power situation while on their protect the populace from the mages crusade – all while the mages cry, whimper, moan and manifesto the heck out of the idea that people don’t need to be protected from them.
Except that they do.
Because every stinking dissatisfied mage you come across (with the exception of that fellow in the Hanged Man too stupid to hope for more than a few minutes alcohol-infused air and a bar wench) is really into using Blood Magic and killing things. Worthy cause-wise, it’s difficult to make a positive impression when you’re murdering people, their friends, families and dogs, and playing host to Abominations. In spite of all this rampant senseless murder it’s clear at the end of the story that cracking down on mages is not the “right choice”, no matter how many deeply personal wrongs you’ve been made to suffer on this doomed log flume ride. No matter, Mage Hunter is the save worth keeping.
Witcher 2 Screens
I don’t usually get into posting about screens – there’s just an endless tide of them these days – but The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is such a stinking pretty game I can’t help myself.
You can check them out on VG247.
Interview with Runic Games
Erich Schaefer, Brock Jones, and Wonder Russell answer my questions about Torchlight for 360 (achievements!), Torchlight 2 (new pet!), and what to do with PC gaming doomsayers.
DA 2 Skill Trees
N4G Moderator Columbo and I may or may not be a bad influence on each other when it comes to DA 2. There will definitely be support groups in the future. He passed this along today, pretty extensive DA 2 skill tree info.
About
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Check out my about.me profile!
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