10/26/2005

Spike TV's Video Game Awards nominees for this year's best website are full of shit.  Not only did the Sanitarium not get nominated (though that is commendable of them for not being so stupid) but BluesNews was ignored again!  IGN.com is nominated for best gaming website?!?  Gimme a break!

I took the dip back into EQ2 a bit reluctantly this past week, but what is done is done.  It seems to me that it takes a LOT LOT less to get leveled up to the next level.  After two hours in a zone for playing I had 40% towards the next level.  In the past that would have taken twice as long.  I guess the developers saw what worked in WoW (easy leveling) and ran with it. 

10/25/2005

I don't think this Allard guy will be at Microsoft for very long. First he makes sense but it also means he goes against Microsoft's stance against open standards. 

A movie based on Postal?  Hollywood, just stop, okay?

I had heard about a new performance driver for some of the newer ATI cards but now Firingsquad actually provides numbers to show the improvement.  Anywhere from 15-30% improvement after just one driver update boggles the brain cells.  Further, ATi states that the updated drivers will be further tweaked later for even a bigger jump. 

10/23/2005

Ok, so Frye's had Quake IV on sale for $38 bucks which saves about $10 off the normal price. Could NOT resist that. Besides which by purchasing the game it means I just helped pay for part of Kamarov's paycheck out at Raven.  Kam is the fellow who started Swankygames and let me write reviews for him.  

I recall there being doubts about the Doom 3 engine's ability to manage large scale environments.  Well, play Quake IV for about five minutes and you'll realize those feelings were unfounded. While the game is not nearly as fast paced as Serious Sam (but then again what is), the pace is much quicker than Doom 3. Also, easier to use flashlight and no monsters jumping out of the closet. Interestingly enough, "EXIT" in Strogg looks very similar to English.  Will it turn out to be a conspiracy theory like in Serentiy?  Gotta keep playing to find out I suppose.  

Finally, the game still plays great on my Radeon 9700. My video card refuses to roll over and submit to being obsolete!  I bet Quake Wars will change that next year though. 

10/20/2005

Friend pointed me to this trailer for Call of Duty 2.  Seeing that angers up the blood and makes me want to shoot Nazis. Lots of Nazis. 

Doom movie out tomorrow.  I think my friends and I have a simple plan for this movie.  First, get blitzed, THEN watch the movie. Yes, it's going to be a bad knock off of most sci-fi movies but who cares!

Missed this before.  Logo for next Wolfenstein game here.

In this article it's mentioned that elderly gamers make up 19% of the entire gaming population. So then, if you assume that the elderly play games along an even distribution and so do other gamers, that means in the shooters I play, on average, every fifth time I die might be at the hands of grandma.  Damn you grandma!!!

Leave it to the Anti-Elvis to provide the first and, dare I say, ONLY requirement for the Transformers game I mentioned. "Big steel nipples that get hard when it's cold."  Game over, we all lose at life now.

10/19/2005

It's like a pinata full of games popped yesterday! Quake 4 AND Age of Empires 3 out as of the 18th. 

Also announced today, Grey Matter will develop the multiplayer for RtCW2. Grey Matter of course developed the first multiplayer for RtCW a few years ago. This sort of news gets me itchy in the pants. 

Finally, had an idea and I want everyone to think about it: Transformers, the massive multiplayer online game.  80's hip retro, massive robots kicking the ever-loving shit out of one another, and transforming to vehicles or weapons.  Yes, it's a fantastic idea but come up with features in such a game and email me. I'll post them here.

10/17/2005

Everyone knows about Jack Thompson and his offer about a donation to charity for anyone who made the shooter game he wanted.  Well, Penny Arcade reports that someone did but of course he reneged on his offer claiming his remarks were satire. So, what did the boys at PA do? They donated the $10 grand themselves. Why when I hear Jack Thompson do I think of McCarthy.  "I have in my hand documents..."  Give it a rest Jack!

10/11/2005

I know deep down that the Internet does not provide the best venue for insight, intellect, and debate.  But dammit sometimes complete and utter hypocrisy just can not go unchallenged; and when the stupidity goes to a game site editorial, then it is time for the Sanitarium to take a stand!

So, in this article, the writer complains about E3.  Let's review this persons arguments. 

The swagbagger is an example of the type of person who isn't taking E3 seriously at all. He is there only to play games and get free stuff. 

Wow damn, you mean people go to E3 to get free stuff and play games at a gaming exposition?!?  OH THE HUMANITY!

His second argument deals with the overcrowding.  Now I can see that if he stopped there but here he goes into some sort of proletariat/bourgeoisie slant:

But when you let the customers come to the show, you're paying money to impress people who will either buy one copy of your product or wont. The vendors and members of the press are getting drowned in a sea of unqualified attendees.

However, earlier in his rant he stated: I made it a life goal to set my feet on the hallowed grounds of E3 before I die. Each year I checked the official E3 website to see if the age limit happened to have mysteriously dropped from 18 to my exact age that year. I stopped doing that, however, when I was 18 as I happened to write for an itty bitty website named Gaming Horizon.

So, if his rules were put in place to exclude most of the gamers and general riff-raff he would not have been allowed into the expo. But I guess now that this guy is in the ivory tower of GamingHorizon common gamer folks like you and I are BENEATH CONTEMPT AND MUST BE SCORNED!! Don't gimme this shit about the press not getting a hands on or treated right. At Quakecon the press has their own area AND gets to interview the speakers and special guests away from us scumbag normal attendees.

More emphasis should be placed on letting us do our jobs and less should be placed on making your games seem appealing to swagbaggers who will only buy your games if we tell them it's worth their money.

Okay, now he's just starting to troll I think.  Those swagbaggers buy the games, bigger review sites all get free copies most of the time.  Those swagbaggers can also make stupid little shitty websites like this one and rant or rave about a game and people, for whatever sick reason, listen to the opinions on those sites. 

Then he goes onto exploitation of the female form: Seriously, if you need to hire an actress to dress up like your game's characters to sell your game, your game sucks.

Are you scared of the boobies?  Why? Did you not stop breast feeding till you were 12 and are now scarred?  Do you complain about this when the cheerleaders at a football game are doing their cheers?  It's sex dammit, and sex sells! Deal with it!

Ok, his point about demo campers and overly loud booths are valid though. 

But then we get right back to the stupid with his complaint about long lines.  Perhaps they hurt his corns: It's a pretty well-known piece of psychological trivia that the longer a queue line is, the more people will be attracted to it without knowing what the line is for.

Yeah, that's a little thing called "marketing" which is what the E3 expo just happens to be.  A gigantic marketing tool!  Plus, don't end sentences with a preposition.

He then bemoans the plight of the small time gaming publisher. "Oh woe is us the small timers who don't get to all the fancy stuff and have to mingle with the common folks."  Hey man, it's a commerical business now. There are winners and losers.  Sounds like you all are losing.  Sounds like this guy forgot a towel to the conference for crying. What a little bitch.

Finally, he gives some points about what to do to fix it.  One of them suggests having another E3 on the East Coast with the argument that L.A. is on the far side of the country.  Well wait a second, isn't the East Coast on the other far side of the country. 

10/10/2005

Now PSP users experience the fun of trojans and viruses so someone develops a virus scanner for their devices.  All these console wanna be just like us PC folks. 

Video game playing is on the decline?  No worries, I'll pick up the slack for all you lazy consolers who want to actually be outside and other such nonsense.

As if the Xbox360 wasn't expensive enough already now Monster has been declared the official cables for that product. 

10/7/2005

Before the 1.03 patch on Battlefield 2, I had the rank of corporal.  By the end of the night I was a gunnery sergeant and had three new weapon unlocks.  I don't know whether to feel happy or sad about how pathetic this indicates my life currently is.  So now I've switched focus from more ranks to actually getting all those basic combat badges.  If it's not one form of addiction (stat points) it is another (badges and ribbons).  I don't know how in the world I'll get the sniper badge since I HATE HATE HATE snipering.

In other fantastically good news, Wolfenstein 2 was confirmed today.  This has many good things but a few bad things going for it

1. It's Wolfenstein!! Is there ever a bad time for shooting Nazis. This is very good

2. It sounds like it will be using some of the same interesting tech as what Quake Wars will be using.  This is good, although unproven in the community at large.

3. Iffy problem: Raven, not Splash Damage is doing the game.  Raven makes some GREAT single player games but their dips into the multiplayer world have never wowed me over. They have some HUGE shoes to fill since Enemy Territory is the multiplayer equivalent of hot monkey sex. Plus, Dice really upped the ante with Battlefield 2.

4. HUGE PROBLEM.  The game is being developed simultaneously for the Xbox360.  Console shooter!! RUN TO THE HILLS! 

10/5/2005

So much news in the gaming world today that even I need to ramble and prattle a little bit. 

First, an announcement about Duke Nuke'em Forever being out in December.  This comes from the Inquirer which also means that the day DNF comes out Elvis will be released by his alien masters and Bill Clinton will be shown getting a hummber for Eva Braun. 

Second, Battlefield 2 patch out today which fixes a bevy of problems.  I'd suggest using Fileshack.com. They make you sit for a few minutes but the download speed once you connect proves very sufficient. Some highlights include points for destroying command structures (like radars and artillery), and even a new map which actually is a rehash of an old Bf42 map. But since I never played BF42, it's new.  

ATi announced that their video cards will no longer support three year warranties and instead go to one year warranties. The reason given being that they don't want to compete with their resellers on warranties.  

Finally, in terrible news today, Black and White 2 came out today. That giant sucking sound is this game on the shelves of stores. 

Wanna own the rights to a video game?  Yup, looks like Midway/Akklaim stuff up on the block

10/3/2005

High quality videos to replace the low-res garbage on the PC version of Knights of Old Republic II that remained from the X-Box version.

Dear future XBox360 users. Now your games will be even MORE expensive than most PC games. Yet, you still can't even send an email with your game box.