Why weren’t classes like this offered when I was in college?
This course will go in-depth in the theory of how war is conducted within the confines of the game Starcraft. There will be lecture on various aspects of the game, from the viewpoint of pure theory to the more computational aspects of how exactly battles [...]
This weekend I was digging through old bookmarks and dug up an old reference to a game called Aquaria. I first heard of Aquaria when it won the IGF2007 Grand Prize, but it wasn’t available for download at the time. Now, they have a good 60M Demo of the game (good for 2 hours or so of playtime), and for $30 you can get the full 250M version. I’ve been playing it all weekend, and after 6 hours of playtime (according to my savegame) I’m still finding new stuff and continually being astounded by the game.
The graphics are simply beautiful. The entire game is a side-scroller basically, but with lots of little bells and whistles. Seaweed and flowers flow as you swim by, matching your movements. Schools of fish following true flocking behavior swimming around. The environment changed from lush green landscapes, to barren castle hallways, to eerie organic fleshly tunnels, and all done seamlessly. The music is even more impressive. An eerie lonely tune that adds to the mystery of "Who am I?", with fast-paced music added for boss fights and action scenes. The cut-scenes are great, and the british accent voiceovers are a perfect match.
At it’s heart, Aquaria is a puzzle game with a little bit of combat. Primarily you’re searching for new "forms" (spells) to give you new abilities, but usually each form comes with solving a puzzle. Boss fights are there, but are usually puzzle-based. Eg. The boss has only a single special weakness that you have to discover and exploit.
The game is a blast, and I’m catching myself humming the theme music constantly. I look forward to seeing how the story plays out, and seeing what other fantastic environment there are for me to explore.
[tag:game][tag:indie][tag:aquaria]
So, last weekend I hit Steam and got Portal & Half Life 2:Episode 2. Before I get to the game review, I wanna gripe about one thing. Check out this chart.
| Portal | Half Life 2:Episode 2 | Orange Box
|
| $19.95 | $29.95 | $49.95 |
).
Anyway, I bout them Friday & finished both of them by Sunday.
Portal
Portal has been widely discussed on the Internet because of the interesting "Portal Gun" mechanic. It’s essentially a 3d puzzle-game where you use your ability to create wormholes between any 2 locations to reach the exit. It’s got a great sense of humor as the computerized AI simultaneously helps and taunts you throughout the game, and Valve even managed to link it to the Half-Life story via the company that’s running the "Portal Experiment", the Aperture Technologies. Unfortunately, it’s a very short game as I managed to beat it in about 2 hours. If you wanna get a feel for the game without paying for it, you can try Narbacular Drop or the Portal Flash Game.
Half Life 2: Episode 2
Starting immediately after the explosive ending of Episode 1, this episode has to trekking through the wilderness to reach the "White Forest" research facility (Black Mesa, White Forest, see a theme?) Along the way you help alot of resistance fighers and Vort’s, and meet the Combine’s newest unit: The Hunter. Just like Episode 1, you start with nothing but the Gravity Gun and have to rely on Alyx to lay out the lead. The tables quickly turn however, and toward the end you’re a one man killing machine. The end of the Episode culminates in an epic warzone where you lead an entire batallion of soldiers against an incoming force of Striders and Hunters, being the only person with the power to actually damage the striders. The story also has a few major advancements, like Alyx’s father knows the Man in Black, and he shows up for an extended dialog.
Both of these are fantastic games, but (in my opinion) hardly worth the $50 it costs to buy them alone. As part of Orange Box it’s a good deal, but both of these should really be available at a $20 price point combined. Nonetheless, I’ve gotta give them both a 4 of 5.
[tag:steam][tag:portal][tag:halflife2][tag:game]
This weekend I managed to grab a copy of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption for the Wii. After 3 or 4 hours of gameplay, I can easily say that the guys at Retro Studios (the company that made it) have created the best Wii control scheme I’ve ever seen. I never could get the hang of Metroid on the Gamecube, but this is a breeze. After a few hours last night (culminating in the first real difficult boss fight, against another hunter for the Ice Missiles), I was standing in the living room.. I was exhausted, sweaty, sore all over, and loving every minute of it. It’s a full-body experience using the wiimote to aim, the nunchuck for motion & target-locking, as well as gesture-control with the nunchuck for the grappling hook. It’s intense, it’s action packed, and it’s by far the most amazing thing I’ve seen on the Wii to date.
The game also has alot of new stuff not seen in previous games. You get to see inside Samus’s ship for the first time, piloting it (in a limited fashion) and using it to warp around the planet between spaceports. Also, you fight on multiple planets now. You start on one planet to setup the backstory, and quickly find yourself having missions with objectives set across multiple planets. It’s a big game, and there’s alot to see and discover. There’s also alot of voice-acting in this one, and the introduction of several other "hunters" that actually help you in various early areas of the game.
It’s an incredible game, and I highly recommend that anyone with a Wii and a thirst for first-person shooters check it out. Easily giving this one a 5/5.
Update 10/15/2007 I finished it.. 80% of Pickups found. Awesome game 
[tag:wii][tag:game][tag:metroid]
About 2 months ago I mentioned that I had gotten Call of Duty 3 for the Wii. I was really excited about trying one of my favorite franchises (I never get tired of shooting Nazi’s) with the Wii’s interesting control system. I was looking forward to some good point-n-click gun-totin’ action in my living room, so I didn’t wait long before I dove in hard to try it out.
Unfortunately, I was initially pretty disappointed. I could tell it was a mediocre port from the beginning when I brought up the first menu. Where every other Wii game I’ve played used the "Big White Finger" or a crosshair (Zelda) that were motion tracked so you literally could "point-and-click" on all the menus. Not so in COD3, you have to use the directional pad to move around all the menus in the game. This includes not only starting the game, but entering your savegame names, setting options, everything. That was something I could live with, if not for the fumbled control scheme. I had expected something like Twilight Princess, where the nunchuck controller is used for movement and turning, and the Wiimote is treated like the barrel of the gun. Unfortunately, I was only half right. The nunchuck controls forward/backward and Strafing, but turning is accomplished by moving the Wiimote crosshair towards the edge of the screen. This sounds good in theory, but the implementation is an invitation to motion sickness to a whole new generation.
In case you don’t understand, let me post this in-game scenario to you: You walk up to a half-wall and come under fire. You quickly duck down and wait for a break in the fire. As soon as they stop, you pop up over the wall and look for a target. The problem is that as you move the targeting cursor away from the center of the screen, you immediate start turning. So when you see a head pop up to your left, you aim over there and immediately start turning left, which makes your target move to the right requiring you to "chase" them toward the center of the screen with the wiimote. For the first few days I could only play for an hour at a time, then I needed an extensive break. The nausea was unbearable.
Fortunately, I eventually adjusted to it and now it’s almost normal. With that hurdle out of the way, the game has started to live up to my expectations. It’s classic Call of Duty, with the innovative wiimote features added. A few special motion tracking features:
So what started as a rather dismal port of a classic game franchise is turning into a simply fantastic game. I’m having alot of fun with it, and I’m still working on it. My only other complaint is that so much of the game is Audio-based (Squad Leaders barking orders to you), and they don’t seem to offer subtitles on any of it. That means i have to have the volume up to hear what’s going on, meaning I can’t play it at night or risk waking everyone in the house up with loud explosions and gunshots. So I only get to play it in short bursts, mostly on the weekend. Nonetheless, it’s proven to be a fun game. Give this one a 4 of 5.
[tag:callofduty][tag:game][tag:wii]
Time for another Wii game review, and this time it’s "Wii Play" from Nintendo. Like Wii Sports, this is a collection of "minigames" that work with the Mii Avatars. The game plays out as a "Wiimote Training guide", showing a decent collection of different ways you can expect to see the Wiimote used in various games. At the start you can only play the first game, but after successfully playing the game once, it unlocks the next until eventually you’ve unlocked them all. Once you’ve unlocked them you can go back and play them again and try to win the Bronze, Silver, or Gold medals for various scores. The games are (in order):
So it’s a Fun collection of games, but (as many others on the net have said) not worth the $45 price tag. Fortunately, it does come with a Wiimote, which is typically $30 – $40 . That means the game is really only $5 – $15, and for that price it’s a pretty good deal. It’s a decent little training game, good for seeing how the remote will work in various control situations, but I haven’t found too much replay value in it (except for 9-ball). So for now, I’m gonna stick with Call of Duty 3.. Check back again soon for a review of that!
[tag:wii][tag:game][tag:wiiplay][tag:review]
Sorry I haven’t updated in a while, but I’ve been completely consumed with my MythTV & my new Wii. For the Wii, I’ve been busy with The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. I just finally finished it this weekend, according to my savegame I logged about 40hours start to finish. With the game firmly under my belt (but not far from my mind, still) I thought it time for a review.
The game was originally developed for the GameCube, but ported to the Wii near the end of it’s development to be a launch title for the Wii. The game looks very much like a GameCube game. The textures are a bit blocky and the polygons in the large outdoor expanses are fairly large and visible. But that’s about where the similarity ends, as the visual effects have been cranked up to the max everywhere else. When riding horseback you can see all the barding sway side to side, you can see the grass blow in the wind, when in twilight the entire game takes on an eerie dark glow, and the cutscenes with the light spirits are simply some of the most impressive stuff I’ve seen in quite a while (blowing alot of the Final Fantasy X scenes out of the water).
The gameplay is good, and the Wii really makes a huge different in the quality of the game here. The swordplay isn’t much changed from earlier versions, instead of pressing a button to swing simply you shake the controller. It’s not quite lightsaberish, any shake results in the same swing, but it does create a little more immersion that does occasionally result in wildly flailing the controller to beat-down the latest bad guy. The real fun is in the targeted weapons (hookshot, bow and arrow, slingshot, etc) where you literally point the controller at what you want to target. They give you an on-screen crosshair to help, but it’s so much simpler than using the analog stick to target.
The puzzles are interesting as well. Alot of the old mechanics still apply (light the torches, push the buttons, etc) but there are a few new ones this time. The most interesting mechanic (that pervades the entire game) is in the "wolf-form" that you slip into occasionally (uncontrollably at first, at will later). In wolf form you can "see" scents, dig, and use a few special attacks not normally available. Luckily switching between Wolf Form & Human Form is alot simpler than WindWaker’s Music puzzles, this time simply being 2 buttons (One to summon Midna, another to select the option).
But basically, Nintendo has (once again) created the best Zelda Game ever. The graphics are good, a fresh change from the cartoony balloon-head representations in WindWaker. The world is significantly larger this time, containing about 8 dungeons and numerous overworld areas, but never so big as to feel annoying since you have Midna to teleport you around and Epona to ride on. Side-quests and collection quests are abundant, with several that I’ve yet to complete. The only down-side to the game was the lack of voice-acting, the most common complaint of all Zelda Games.
I have to give it a good 4 out of 5. If only it had the voice acting, it would be perfect. Much like Ars Technica, I can’t wait to see what Nintendo comes up with for a Wii-only Zelda Title.
[tag:wii][tag:nintendo][tag:twilightprincess][tag:zelda]
I own a Wii! Woohoo!!!!
I’ve heard rumors floating around the net that Target has been getting Wii shipments about every weekend. On a whim, Laura decided to head over there Sunday Morning and see if they had any, and to pick up some other essentials for the house. As she walked across the parking lot toward she door, she caught the manager handing out his business cards, each card guarantee’ing one Wii. She got the card marked "5", the last one they had. Had she arrived 30 seconds later, she would have missed it. I’ve got one of the kewlest wives in existence. She detailed the whole event on her new Myspace Blog.
I was able to get everything setup pretty quickly, and I was able to get the Wii working on my 801.11B WEP encrypted network with no trouble at all, and even added a few friends. The motion tracking takes a little to get used to, but is amazingly intuitive. Just point the controller at the screen, and click the "Big" button to make things happen. With everything wireless and so simple to work with, it’s easy to see why Wii’s are flying off the shelves while PS3’s languish. I’m still somewhat astonished as how small the system is. I knew the size of the Wii (Seen it on display), but the sensor bar & Wiimote are about half the size I expected. And given what’s inside the Remote, it’s even more impressive: Motion tracking, the buttons, extension port, Remote communication stuff (Bluetooth or RF, not sure which), and even Flash Memory storage.
I’ve been playing the Wii a pretty good bit since I got it, just playing Wii Sports & Twilight Princess, both excellent games. I downloaded the Wii Internet Channel and surfed for a bit, much to my surprise my website came right up with no trouble. So far the big hit has been Wii Sports tho. It’s so simple that even Rhianna has enjoyed Boxing & Baseball. She loves holding the controllers and "bam"-ing the other guy. She likes to try at bowling, but her hands are too small to really wrap around the controller well. I did manage to get one fun action shot of her playing it yesterday morning.
Once I’ve gotten a bit more into it, I’ll post more. In the meantime, between the Wii & the MythTV, I feel like I need a Systems Administrator for my living room Luckily, everything is working 100% so far.
[tag:wii][tag:nintendo]
Here’s a post written by a Friend of mine, Cuj… Enjoy.
When I read some of the first information about what Final Fantasy XII, I was somewhat put off. The idea that the latest installment of the franchise would be based in the same world of Ivalice from Final Fantasy Tactics irked me. Save for X-2 there was little to no references to any of the previous Final Fantasy worlds, so why would they go back and use the same world for a game that, I thought, didn’t deserve to be called part of the Franchise? I swore I’d never buy it…..
If I ended there and followed my resolve on that issue I wouldn’t be writing this, so suffice to say, I did go out and buy it, and I have been playing it. There are some noticeable changes, the biggest of which will create great joy for many RPG fans out there, no more random battles. Let me repeat that, no more random battles. Yup, you heard me, in fact combat is quite different from the norm for Final Fantasy games. You have the map sets you run around in like from X and X-2, but now instead of random battles, you actually can see the creatures on the field, and, if you so wish, even avoid them. There’s no more fancy screen changes to go from the game field to a combat field, all the combat is done on the game field.
Characters still gain xp from defeated creatures and gain levels after reaching a certain xp amount, items however are different. No longer do certain types of weapons only work with certain characters. Now also with each kill, you are rewarded license points which are then spent on purchasing licenses for weapons, armor, and skills. In other words, in order to use a certain type of weapon, armor, accessory, or even to unlock certain skills to use in battle including magic, you must have both purchased the license via the license menu and purchased the item itself from a shop. Each character starts with different licenses, however, characters are not limited on what licenses they can choose.
There are some disappointments as well, the voice-over is not as extensive as it was in X and X-2, they the vo’s so far have only been in cutscenes and a little bit for combat. And the music seems to have scaled down some too. But as with all the games of the franchise, it does make for an interesting game.
And as always….there is a Cid, chocobos and airships. Still waiting on seeing Biggs and Wedge though.
[tag:game][tag:finalfantasy]
Today Laura was balancing the checkbook against the website listing of charges (Isn’t the internet great?) and noticed a $14.99 charge from “Turbine Entertainment” was pending.
If you don’t know, Turbine Entertainment is the group behind Dungeons & Dragons Online and Lord of the Rings: Online. I played DDO for a few months right after release, but I canceled it long ago (Early July by the email). I even got into the LotR:O Alpha, but only played it once. So why were they charging me? Someone steal my account information? Someone steal my Credit Card number? Or just a technical goof.
Well, it took a while to finally find a phone number (Good luck finding one anywhere on Turbine’s Site). The number I finally found is in the Account Information area after you login (Which confirmed that my account was closed, still) and, for anyone who needs it, is 781-407-4020. The automated attendant starts off with “If you are calling in regard to a pending charge to your account” and goes on to explain, basically, that this was an accident and they’re working on reversing all the charges.
Whew.. Had me scared for a bit. I normally wouldnt’ post something as trivial as this, but I know alot of fellow former DDO junkies read this page (Hey RAIDer’s) and I just wanted to spread the word.
[tag:ddo][tag:turbine][tag:credit]
