Blogs - Luminesque

Yesterday I finished Halo 4. I was disappointed it's limited to xbox only, but that's forgiveable.

A Summary of What The Game Has to Offer

Campaign
I began with the logical choice for someone without XBL - the campaign. The storyline was a pile of crap - retarded, stupid crap that was predictable, cliched, and boring all at once. But that's pretty much the only flaw in the entire game, and it certainly didn't affect the gameplay.
The actual gameplay was quite fun, and the cutscenes were of very high quality, although ridiculous in content.

Guns, Vehicles, and Scenery
As I suspected the graphics are nothing short of amazing. The guns look awesome, sound awesome, and have been weighted well (none are particularly op). New additions have been made (in particular the Foreunner line of guns) that add variety to your average match, without forcing everyone to revert to a select few. Some guns have disappeared too - most notably the plasma repeater, replaced by the Storm Rifle. As for vehicles, Revenants have disappeared, to be replaced by Mantis units. I felt that these changes were mostly unnecessary, but still welcome. The maps are beautiful in campaign and forge, and enough variation is present from avoiding repetition.

Forge
Bravo to the developers! There's at least twelve maps here, each distinctively different. Forge is an interesting creative process; build, and kill while building. New map-exclusive pieces are available, as well as a range of objects for the all new Dominion modes. Switching between editor and player mode triggers are rather annoying 'calculating lighting' screen for a second or two, but the resulting shadows add to the aesthetic nature of the game.

I haven't yet tried the war games, or online multiplayer, but I think I'll take some time off to test this, amongst other things. I'm also planning to do a roundup of good Linux games in a further blog entry.

So, in summary, a brilliant game. Minor trifles aside, I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in shooting games - especially with the unusual but generously cheap price tag of only $60AUD.

Lux

I've had Windows 8 for over a month now, and I think it's great. But what I want to know is why OpenGL doesn't work anymore, why I can't download it anywhere from the internet, and why I'm missing a bucket load of drivers (which Windows says are installed, although a lack of video and wifi support suggests otherwise). As an avid gamer, having no 3D gaming support is quite a blow to the head. My recommendation is for gamers with older hardware (in my case a nearly 5 year old laptop) to avoid Windows 8. Should be fine for anyone else.

Anyway, here's an article that presents an interesting view on the new OS. Just for good measure.

Lux

I'm fairly excited about the release of Halo 4. I tried adding a countdown timer, but the iFrame was banned by
Desura. I think I'll hold out on purchasing and see how people respond to it, but with the amount of money thrown at the game, I think it will be impossible for it to be a failure.

Many people (co-workers especially) may have heard me wax lyrical over the visual quality of large-scale games coming out. Whether it's Halo, COD, Portal or nearly any other console game, I can't help but feel that gaming has come a long way since old eight bit.

Prediction time: There's going to be one of two reactions made by the public.

1. "This is just Halo: Reach again" or "This is buggy and generally crap", and therefore "I miss Bungie"
2. "This is awesome", and therefore "long live 343i!"

We'll see. Regardless of how good the game is, there's going to be some diehards who won't like it. A bit like the fate of the next star wars trilogy (which I predict will die a disastrous death).

Lux

Well, I finally mustered the strength to finish the last chapter of Portal 2, with a little help from online videos. (I wasn’t using them until chapter 8, but by the time I got to Chapter 9 I was fully reliant on them).

Reflecting on the game, I can say it was well made, if not disappointing. Having only sampled the first game, I’m a little cautious in making a comparison, but I felt that the storyline was a bit weak for this game. Inevitably, Valve has fallen into the time-old problem: the sequel can’t be identical, but changing it too much will put players off. I can’t blame them. And big ol Newell was probably placing a shytload of pressure on the team (it must be his fault! Somehow!) :)

Anyway, I felt they could have been a bit more adventurous – after all, the gloomy, scary atmosphere just wasn’t as freaky the second time round. I realise they were trying to be adventurous with the old-style portal chambers, but in my opinion they were exactly the same to the modern ones, just uglier. On the plus side, I agree with the majority of reviewers who seemed quite rapt with Wheatley – whoever wrote his script evidently took the time to make it enjoyable. I’ve also thought to myself on numerous occasions that the aesthetics of the game were beautifully executed – not that the environments were particularly nice, but that’s because they weren’t meant to be. I suppose that all blockbuster games have beautiful graphics – take a look at Crysis or Halo Reach for example (they might not be the pinnacle of gaming beauty, but so far I haven’t been blown away except by them). Put simply, Portal 2 had very nice graphics.

I can’t help but want to know more about who players are – who is Chell? I understand the FPS view means we can’t see her, and the intentional ploy of keeping her mute keeps the focus on the puzzles rather than characters. But I’d like more focus on the story, and less on the repetitive, grinding, puzzle solving. Maybe the problem’s with me. Maybe I’m expecting entertainment to be served to me on a plate, like a movie, while Portal has been designed like a treadmill making me work for those juicy cutscenes. On the other hand, maybe Portal could have been more entertaining and less thought-based. I guess it all comes down to personal preference.

I’m not going to hold my breath for a third instalment, probably because the board at Valve knows that the whole sequel problem is compounded when you add that third dimension. That would explain why there’s no HL3 (not that I was dying for that), but why there is more than 2 CS games (no story = no problem with sequels). But if there was a final game, or more, I’d definitely try it. And that’s the ultimate test for a company selling a game: their players can whine about whatever they want, but if they go ahead and buy the next instalment, it was a success. Same thing goes for all consumables.
In summary: Good game, but not enough on the story. Would buy again.
Lux

[UPDATE: The Portal 2 Soundtrack is available for free here. The first volume is a load of abstract crap, but there's some nice stuff in the second two, including the trailer theme. There's also a nice comic. Kudos to Valve for giving out something for free, rather than fighting the impossible fight against piracy.]

Well, the title says it all. Miner Warfare isn't available on the Australian version of the Xbox store. I've contacted the developers asking them if there's anything they can do about it. My suspicion is that one of the
two things has happened:
1. The developers can't be arsed to fill out the necessary forms for it to be approved in Australia

2. Some government board has made the stupid mistake of stifling indie gaming in Australia

I talked with a member of Xbox tech support, who was very polite, but unable to resolve the issue. Of course, you're probably thinking ‘why don't you stick with the PC version, which is free?' Well, the PC version acts
up - when my friends move right, I can't jump, and vice versa. Little things like that kill the game. Also, I don't have and Xbox controller sensor for my PC, so I can't connect the Xbox controllers to the PC. Lastly, sitting in front of a cramped computer kind of kills the party atmosphere; think about eight guys sitting down at a 15" screen compared to a 50" TV. Ok, so I've only found four people interested in it so far, but I'm sure I could get another four people IF ONLY THE GAME WAS AVAILABLE IN AUSTRALIA.

Well... I haven’t logged into Desura for ages. I’ve been pretty busy at work, and my latest game acquisitions have obliterated any spare time I would have had. As for interesting developments, I’ve backed up my PC, installed Linux, subscribed to iTunes Match, bought some Xbox games, and downloaded a heck of a lot of PC games. I think I'll have to write more than one entry for all of this.

News

• I bought Deus Ex: Human Revolution yesterday :/ <-- That’s my ambivalent face. Why? Well, the game looks great, but it’s yet another impulse purchase. I’ll try it when it finishes downloading, and then maybe post a review complaining and/or praising it.
• I also bought Cubemen
• My new game menu for Miner Warfare doesn’t look like it’s going be completed anytime soon. But that’s got nothing to do with the rest of my post.

Indie Games Aren’t Always Indie

What got me typing was my discovery of Cubemen. This little game has already successfully captivated me for several hours. I bought it yesterday for $1.99, mainly to support the developers. After trying it, I can seriously say it was worth it. I don’t expect it to keep me interested for more than a day or two, but considering the price, I don’t really mind.

But after playing it for a while, I’ve stepped back and re-assessed my view of the game. Originally, I thought it was an indie game, due to the price. But looks can be deceiving; this game is actually the top selling game on the Aus Mac store (read: not indie). The formula is almost identical to that of a phone app; the price is inversely proportional to sales. Having said that, it wasn’t listed on the Steam Top 100 Most Played Games, so I shouldn’t give it too hard a rap.

On the note of buying ‘indie’ games, I thought I’d share some thoughts about them. I have recently come to the conclusion that the term ‘indie’ (in relation to games) is quite often just marketing.

For instance, yesterday I considered buying a game called Overgrowth. Ever since I played Black Shades, I’ve been supporting Wolfire – a company I thought were truly small (and presented themselves as so). But again, I was wrong. As of 2010, Overgrowth has sold over 1658 pre-ordered copies at $29.95 each – assuming the price remained constant, they’ve made over $50,000 for a game that hasn’t even been released yet. Don’t get me wrong, that’s not what stopped me from buying it. I’m not a bitter hipster, or at least not a hipster (if in doubt, check my list of games in my first post), I just find myself constantly annoyed at the fact that I keep seeing people mistake successful companies as groups that ‘need the support’. In fairness to Wolfire, the world’s a very competitive place, and their just doing their best. I guess the real annoyance for me is coming back to them several years after originally stumbling across them and seeing that they’ve shifted their focus to making money.

Take Portal as another example (and rather extreme at that). When it came out, everyone was amazed at this indie game that was ‘just great’ and everyone needed to go support the developers. I nearly bought it, but I was too busy and kind of missed the boat [UPDATE: I actually bought Portal 2 on XBOX]. What annoys me is that nearly five years later I still hear people refer to it as an ‘indie game’, even though it would have sold more than 4 million copies by now. And for crying out loud the game was developed by a whole team working at Valve which has an annual turnover in the excess of several hundred million dollars! It’s like saying the The Sims or Counterstrike series are indie!

My point is games that are labelled ‘indie’ aren’t necessarily going unnoticed, and some customers are – I hate to use the expression – ‘sheep’ who’ll think any game is worth supporting given the right advertising. Cubemen might be indie, Overgrowth probably isn’t but there is no way on this green earth that Portal is an indie game. Anyone who’s serious about PC games (or at least more serious than me) will laugh at the thought of Valve being an indie publisher. But not everyone with a credit card is serious. Or smart.

My Profound Dislike of Steam

This brings me to my second point. I really, really, dislike Gabe Newell. Mostly because of my undying hatred of Steam (I’m slowly moving over to Origin and Desura), but also because of his I-don’t-give-a-sh-t mentality. (Haven’t noticed that? Keep reading). Let’s have a look at some of Steam’s key features:

• Users are always forced to update games before playing, regardless of whether they want to play online or not. Wait, what? Originally, there was a setting to disable this (not that it worked, or anything), but it seems to have mysteriously disappeared.
• Users are forced to go online TO PLAY OFFLINE. How the F--k does that even work?
• Steam downloads are ridiculously slow. I live near the city, and usually enjoy speeds of 500-5000Kb/s (depending on where I’m downloading from). But Steam never fails to impress me with its shitty 40kb/s (and changing my download region doesn’t help). [UPDATE: To be fair, I've hit 400kb/s on the rare occassion].
• Steam itself is ridiculously slow. It is the only program I have that takes more than five seconds to load (I once timed twenty something seconds), and more than five seconds to close.
• Of course, that’s not everything. There’s also more minor ‘features’ like the inability to uninstall things from steam or remove them from your lists (I’ve been stuck with a shortcut, even though I uninstalled the game), the games and tools that become unavailable at random (the Source SDK becoming unavailable with no reasons given), and the lack of support (I kid you not, I was redirected to the community forums once after asking why CS:S refused to launch after updating).

So that’s why I hate Steam, and therefore Newell. After all, who allowed those features to exist in the interest of making money? But what really gets me is the fact that he while he is the epitome of commercial success (and some would argue insatiability), he has the nerve to promote himself and his products as important but overlooked. Those comments I heard about Portal being an indie game, as stupid as they were, didn’t come from nowhere. And the $20 price tag of CS:S is nothing short of a statement. Just you wait; when CS:GO is released, it won’t be more than fifty dollars (actually that’s not a bad thing). [UPDATE: It's on sale for $15. Even cheaper than CSS. I rest my case]. But underneath this false exterior of affordability and competition with the large scale games (I’m talking about the CS series vs. COD/BF) is a corporate monster that doesn’t give two sh--s about the minority of game makers – not to mention customers.

Now that my rather long tirade had receded, I think I’ll go do something more productive. If you managed to read this wall of text, congradulations. If not, that’s ok, but don’t reply complaining until you've read it all. I'll leave you with some more pictures.

Lux

Having trouble viewing the images?
Desura Users: Right click on image, and select 'View image in Browser'
Firefox Users: Drag image onto the new tab button

Newell plays a 'prank' on a mod developer:

Yet another example of blatant self promotion:

_{"Appeals to the minority of gamers"
Half-life sold a good ten million copies and Portal four million. The people that like these games are hardly a minority. If the person who made this thinks they are part of this 'minority', good for them. They are now part of the growing number of people who think they're different, and are willing to part with their money to prove it. They are an ever increasing market, and a very ironic one at that.Yeah, he makes good games but that doesn't mean they need to idolise him. Also, he is fat, and no one cares. Why do they need to make such a big deal about it? Just enjoy the games. There's no need to promote him like an Apple fanboy. "He's not our hero", they say, but it certainly sounds like it.}

Steam gets hacked, offers a small popup for an apology:

Yesterday I posted a review criticising Miner Warfare for its menu. So I thought it would be only fair if I had a crack at fixing it. I plan to create a working main menu, as well as the following submenus:
• ‘Online Games’ – the user can join one of several online official games, or host one of their own.
• ‘New Local Game’ – the user chooses what players/bots there are, what map to play on, for how long, etc.
• ‘Settings’ – users can toggle the music and sound effects, as well as adjust their screen resolution, and choose whether to run in windowed mode or fullscreen.
• ‘Help’ – gives a brief overview on how to play, as well as containing pictures of each gun and their name.
• ‘Credits’ – a simple screen providing details about HeartBit and Benjamin Ficus, as well as linking to their websites.
• ‘Exit’ – not a submenu, just a button. Pretty self explanatory.

Below are some screenshots of what the ‘New Local Game’ menu could look like – note that I AM NOT FINISHED. There will also be a map selection, map timer, back button, and links to each other submenu.

Desura Users: Right click on image, and select 'View Image in Browser'
Firefox Users: Drag image to the 'New Tab' button. It should open as a separate tab.

Once this is all completed, I’m going to hand this in to HeartBit and Benjamin Ficus, and see what they think. Who knows? They may even use some of it.

Lux

Well, since I just listed the games I do play, I thought I’d mention all the games I don't (well, at least the ones I wish I had never played):
GR - yay, shot in the head from a sniper miles away! Just what I wanted to experience!
DoD - no in-game tutorials, sturmbot never works, not even one AUS server. Waste of money.
Sanctum - the main character's voice/appearance is horrible, and the genre mix doesn't really work
Ricochet - (this is a piece of sh*)
Deathmatch Classic - see DoD.
Assassins Creed 2 - it was good, but then all of a sudden aliens appeared talking about global warming.
Minecraft - soooo..... what do I do now? Dig more?
Games I would play but don’t:
GRAW 1&2 - they're quite laggy
Crysis - I had a feeling it might be laggy, but I bought it anyway.
Mirrors Edge - Also laggy. But it was $5 and 10x cheaper than the XBox version
As you can see, my computer is quite slow. Anyone agree with my preferences?

I hope you have been enlightened :D
Lux

Hi guys, I've played a lot of games, but I don't spend long on them. I'm currently on an AoS binge, enjoying smashing the little kids (it's ok, they respawn), but I also play:

Indie Miner Warfare, Ichi, Metal Drift, Black Shades, Fractal, RUSH, Universe Sandbox, Rotion, The Tank Game
FPS CS:S, Cstrike, Czero
RTS CNCG, TW:Shogun 2, Praetorians, Rome:TW, CoH, Civ5
Other TM Sunrise Exteme, TM Nations Forever
The N Game, Staunch Defence (best TD game out!), Pocket Frogs, Halo Reach, Chess +300 odd iOS

I'm also a non-serious mapper for CNCG, Praetorians, TM:SE (I got quite good at this), CS:S, AoS, and recently Ichi (one map... does that count?)

Anyway, feel free to PM, although you could end up waiting a month long time if you want a response.

Lux