Cooked Opinions

Life support.

2012-01-12T22:10:00.002+01:00

Or, Patching ain't easy.

So it's been a while since you got that game you waited so long for and you've noticed there are some issues with it that you hope the developers will fix in a patch or two. But depending on what kind of publisher/developer it is the results may vary.

Bethesda: "Bugs? Here's a patch to fix some of the issues- oops, I think we broke something. Mind waiting a while?"
Bethesda is guy who while fixing something tends to break something completely unrelated while doing it and then have to come back and fix that later on and then breaks something else and has to come back and fix that...

Bioware: "Patches? Well have this one and this one then. Now get lost, we're busy gigglesqueeing over this drawing of a character."
Bioware can be best described as the kind of guy who is both filled with ideas and the tenacity to see them through but as soon as they're done they get put away for the next great idea or concept that has to be done.
(I'm aware this really doesn't work for TOR but it's an MMO and they need to be nurtured and cared for at all times anyway.)

Blizzard: "So we heard there are some issues in this game so here's a patch for it. Oh the game has been out for 4 or so years now? That doesn't matter at all really so have fun."
Blizzard is the kind of guy that while doing a lot of new things and taking his sweet time on it also remembers that some of his older stuff was pretty cool too and they may just need an extra bit of polish to them.

Bohemia Interactive Studios: "Here's a new patch and it's huge change log. Have fun and keep us posted of any new issues. And here's a final patch for one of our older games as well that we hope solves major issues. Have fun and do keep us posted about any other issues that might occur."
BIS is the guy that works slow but at the same time shows a surprising dedication and love for his projects for a long period of time before putting them away as they've then just become too old to really do something about.

Electronic Arts: "You have issues with one of our games? Please talk to our support and we'll get back to you later."
EA is the guy who is far too busy to really bother with patching or support. Well unless it's one of his major things that is obviously worth a lot of cash, then he'll get around supporting them. Otherwise he may just drop a couple of updates before moving on.

Obsidian: "There are bugs and problems in our games? Oh dear, here's a couple of patches but we're a bit too busy atm though."
Poor Obsidian is a bit overworked, he'd like to support his games as much as he could but he's got his fingers in too many pies and doesn't have enough time to deal with it all so some things never get the support it really needs. *coughalphaprotcolcough*

Ubisoft: "Patches? What do you mean we have to support our other games? Fiiine. Have these and be off with you. No I don't care that they introduce new issues."
Ubisoft is the guy who has a hard time caring about supporting anything than his special little project despite doing a lot of other stuff at the same time. If it doesn't begin with Ass and end with Creed you can at best expect one or two patches who barely fix anything and introduces new issues. After that he simply stops caring.

Valve: "Updates? Why here's one for you. And here's a another one as well. And have a content update as well."
Valve is the guy who is passionate about several of his projects and just loves to further improve and change them continuously. He may not show everything the same level of passion maybe but the heart is in the right place.

P.S. This is all hyperbole.

Wahahahahaha~!

2012-01-11T22:25:00.001+01:00

Or, My impressions of Katawa Shoujo.

Here's a question, what do you get when a bunch of people from 4chan get together to make a game inspired by an image from a Japanese artist?

Well in most cases the answer would be nothing at all but in this case you get a story about a guy who gets transferred to a school for disabled children and meets a diverse cast of characters and somewhere along the line finds a new perspective on life and perhaps love as well.

Katawa Shoujo made by Four Leaf Studios is a visual novel released for free earlier this year after several years of development and is the story about Hisao Nakai who after a near fatal heart attack that hospitalizes him for a considerable amount of time gets transferred to Yamaku High School for disabled children to start his life anew. The entire story is told from his perspective as he goes to his new school.

Now before I go any further I'd like to talk about the genre a bit. Visual Novels or VNs is a bit of an odd genre to itself as it's not really a game per say due to there is barely any interactivity to it other than making a few decisions occasionally to steer the story in one way or another.
One could say it is more a of Choose Your Own Adventure combined with a comic rather than a "normal" game, and even then the description is somewhat incorrect when given a closer scrutiny.
This difference may be something that some may find very off-putting unless you have had previous experience with Visual Novel titles or CYOA titles in some respect.
As unlike other games the player, or viewer in the lack of a better term, does not have much input into the story and what is happening in it other than at set points and even then he is bound by the whims of the story or in some respects the original writer of the story even more so than other games.

Visual Novels are very Japanese for a lack of a more fitting description of them. It is nothing something that would really come from a European or American developer and is suffice to say a product coming from the Japanese gaming culture. Which does make Katawa Shoujo an odd man out as it is a distinctly Japanese game developed by a Western developer.
One might think this would bring a different and "fresh" perspective on it but Katawa Shoujo works as a normal Visual Novel title does and on that note the game isn't remarkable even if a lot of care has been put into both the music and the character designs.
Another term that is usually used in conjunction with games like these is the term "Dating Game", and while it is an apt description to use I wouldn't call it 100% correct when talking about this title.

The term Dating game implies that you actively seek out to woo someone of the opposite gender in order to win their affection in order to win the game. In Katawa Shoujo this isn't the case, instead we have one introductory act that then separates into five separate non-overlapping stories that focuses on the different characters and Hisao's struggles as he first comes to term with his relationship and then the issues that appear in it.

Katawa Shoujo and its stories is really meant to be played in a certain order of progression, in this case the order in which the main five characters are introduced. Mainly due each story ramps up both in terms of choices you make and how they affect them and also how the stories play out.
The first couple of stories are relatively simple and you only have a few choices to make and barely any divergent paths to encounter but before long you come across the stories where your actions suddenly have a lot more consequences and later on some of your choices may have longer lasting effects to the story's path and progression.
It's a nice and subtle step up and I somewhat suspect it was both something that appeared during the development and also something to ease in people into the flow and mechanics of Visual Novels even if that could possibly be me looking too much into it.
But at the same time a lot of heart and thought has been put into the writing of especially the dialogue and a lot of is really good and incredibly funny to read even if the inner monologue of the main character can be a bit rambling at times.
The same can be said about the characters and this is frankly the strength of Katawa Shoujo in that the characters feel normal. For while they are all disabled in some way or another they aren't defined by just that and instead have a depth to them that make them feel like normal human beings. While one may argue that some characters do feel incredibly flat and only defined by their major character aspects something which I can agree with when it comes to certain side characters in particular but I'd say overall the characterisation in the game is very good. Some of the later stories are actually quite heart wrenching at places.

The stories themselves are very good at stringing you along as well with it's writing leaving you at times uncertain if you've made the right choice or not, especially when you've managed to enter the slow decline into the bad ending and at times it feels you are watching a car crash about to happen in slow motion as Hisao keeps slipping further and further downwards towards the end and it's proof to the writing that they usually leave you feel very hollow as you watch the credits roll (with the extra touch that it doesn't play music to further rub in the fact that it was not the way it should have ended) and you have yet not achieved the positive ending for the story which just prompts you to retry and find out where it did go wrong.

There are a few flaws though here and there, especially for the first path the writing feels very lacklustre and unfocused at times and the overall progression of that particular path it isn't remarkable compared to the later stories but that has more to do with the character in question being very uncomplicated and it's more things surrounding that character that is complicated.
The art is good but there is a limited range of facial expressions for the various character and at times the expression used isn't perhaps the most fitting for what is mentioned in the text but it's not something that appear that often.

But in the end Katawa Shoujo is a title with an interesting premise and a lot of heart put into it and is a remarkable achievement from such a small and diverse group of people with such an odd origin as well. Suffice to say I have to recommend it to those willing to overlook the whole Visual Novel aspect and give it a try. Because it's a very interesting experience.

The wheels on a car go round and round

2011-12-30T16:03:00.000+01:00

Or, The search for a decent drive.

It is apparently really hard to make a game about fast cars that go fast on a road.

Admittedly that assumption is mostly hyperbole but at the same time it's an impression I keep getting from playing through some racing games that I've purchased over the past year. Or more specifically in this case Test Drive Unlimited 2 and Need for Speed Hot Pursuit.

Now TDU2 and NFS:HP do a lot of things in different ways, whereas HP has you drifting around corners without issues TDU2 has you doing slow speed turns as doing anything else will pretty much run you off the road.
And whereas NFS has problems with feeling gimmicky TDU2 has problem with just being generally bad if not very meh.

The biggest issue I have with Hot Pursuit is that it wraps up everything the base gimmick of cop versus racers and parts of the game suffers from it. The police section is rife with multiple gimmicks such as the rapid deployment mode which penalizes you for doing any mistake what so ever and as much as bumping into anything gives a time penalty. The racer section suffer mainly from the Hot Pursuit and Gauntlet modes where both feel more than 3v1 or 2v1 fights rather than races or time trials.
But at the same time there are glimmers of a good game in there. When it clicks it really does click well as some of the tracks have some gorgeous backdrops and there is something incredibly enjoyable to do a drifting turn around a corner and just see a huge mountain range appear in front of you. Not to mention driving feels just right, the cars handle well, they look good and they sound good. It is on those points that the game works very well.

The main issue I have with TDU2 is that it feels unfinished or could've needed a rethink at places. It's promising game that manages to bumble it away by trying to do too much and never really do it well in very uninspiring environments. All this wrapped up in a shoddily executed PC port with clunky menus and a poor if not non-existent physics engine.
The game tries to be a Forza or Gran Turismo game but at the same time they decided to add an open world with free roaming alongside avatar and housing functions and then subsequently lost their focus halfway to the finish line.
The game is fun occasionally, even if its driving experience feels a bit lacking just because there isn't much room to drive on. It feels very unfinished and could've probably benefited for a lot more polish. Or possibly a rework into something more solid.
The fact that TDU2 is going to get a DLC this far late after the game's release is a nice thought but one wonders if it isn't a bit too late now.

To me it seems increasingly difficult for some developers to make a "normal" car game. While they exist there still seem to be a lack of games that doesn't try to wrap themselves up in various gimmicks or unnecessary things. Then again it seems the logical progression in many ways, especially for Need for Speed which has been around since the middle of the 90's turning the driving into a spectacle seems partly like the way to go in order to stay interesting. But at the same time it's almost important to keep in mind that the gimmick shouldn't try to take over the fact that the game is about cars going fast on roads, and considering the way NFS game has developed recently I wonder if that isn't getting a bit lost in an urge just to provide the player with an experience.

It's interesting to note that the console is in many regards having an upper hand in the racing genre with their major franchises such as Forza Motorsports and Gran Turismo. Where is the PC equivalent of those series for instance?
However there are some promising games coming out next year or so, in particular Auto Club Revolution, Project CARS and Assetto Corsa that looks to deliver a similar experience in line with what you might find on consoles but the question still remains.
Why isn't there more of them?

Seeing as everybody else does it.

2011-12-25T17:16:00.005+01:00

Or, The year in review.

Seeing as we are nearing the end of the year (the end of the world is for next year remember) and everybody (well pretty much everybody) rounds up how the year has been so I might as well do it as well.
So here goes!

Meh.

That is all.
Happy new year I guess.

Sometimes it's just better to be simple

2011-11-06T02:31:00.000+01:00

Or, what do you mean I can't play the same character as last time?

Let me tell you a story of two characters, two very different characters created for two different campaigns of the same RPG system.
And my complete inability in attempting to play them differently.

Okay that's a bit harshly put perhaps but the thing is that while my RPG experience isn't the biggest I've come to notice that I do seem have some issues with playing characters differently from each other.

One hand I've got my first character for Exalted, Tepet Revvie. Well her full name is Tepet Revvie "Tarnished Orchid" Edalaika but the last bits fell off at one point and I'm not missing them that much truth to be told.
Anyway, Revvie was the first character I rolled up for the system, and like most first characters she is partly a mess. Her backstory can be summed up with "Left for dead by unknown assassins" and that was pretty much it and then there was a lot of things not really fleshed out about her like her motivations and goals for instance.
I didn't care about it so much really and figured I'd hammer it out as the campaign went on. Which was the case.

And then on the other hand I've got my second character for the same system. So when a second campaign was about to start I began building a character based on the lessons I learned from earlier and the end result became the forest ranger/archer Winter Dawn of Amber Hill. His backstory was a lot more expanded than Revvie's with him growing up in a remote village and falling in love and marrying the girl of his dreams and then having his whole life shatter when she gets abducted and he sets out trying to find her and bring her back with the help of his godly powers he gained while trying to rescue her.
So a lot more elaborated and worked out with a clearer goal and motivation than before.

But the thing is that I've always enjoyed playing Revvie more than I enjoyed playing Winter. Mostly because I always had a hard time coming up what I really wanted his character to be.
For Revvie I had a bit of a shaky as well but after a while I just came into a sort of natural groove with her with playing her as slightly snarky and a tend to run her mouth quite a bit but at the same time she was caring for the people closest to her.
But for Winter I never really seemed to get in this groove.He never seemed to develop into something solid character-wise and just felt muddled. Did I want him to be good natured or did I want him to ruthless in his pursuit? Or did I want him to be nice but an utter monster in finding and dealing with his wife's captors? Never really managed to figure that out and the character suffered for it.
It's kinda hard to explain really but the main problem is that I lacked the necessary drive for the character. His wife had been kidnapped and everything and yet I never seemed to drive that point on. Mostly because I was probably afraid it'd make him look a bit of a whingy bastard with constantly trying to bring that up but at the same time I missed the chance of using that to my advantage.
In hindsight I realize I probably should've watched Taken or something and tried to base my character on Liam Neesons character there since the scenario used is kinda similar and it would've been a great basis to use.

If I would name one factor to why Revvie is so fun to play is that, on a basic level, she's very simple. She doesn't have any major motivation that drives her other than she enjoys the company of her friends and would walk through hell if necessary for them to stand by their side. That basic simplicity works so well in her case compared to the elaboration I went through with Winter and how that just fell through via my lack of fleshing him out in the right way I needed to do and instead of giving him a goal driving him onwards I should've looked more into who he was instead.
Which I guess is a lesson I need to remember for future characters.

Human Battlefield Revolution 3

2011-11-03T16:29:00.001+01:00

Or, My Game of the Year candidates

I know it is perhaps a little bit too early to call that out seeing as it's still two months until the new year comes around and there are other major titles coming up on the horizon especially this month but in my case I have found my two suitable candidates for the choice of singleplayer and multiplayer game of the year.

Battlefield 3
What would be the best way describe to Battlefield 3?
As being served a three course meal.

Firstly we have the campaign as our Entrée which can be best described as a stew consisting of some choice pieces of good sequences held together by a thin gruel of plot. It is at parts enjoyable and at other parts very droll and in the end forgettable.
The actual plot is nothing special despite the hype that it was written by Andy McNab which says a lot about it's quality. Also the campaign has an overt fondness for using quick-time events.
In many ways the campaign is reminiscent of the in Call of Duty 4 which featured several decent and memorable segments surrounded by a thin plot.
The campaign goes away fast and won't offer anything in form of real replay value.

Moving over to the main course, the multiplayer. Which can be described as a large barbecue platter or buffet for you to dig into at your hearts content. Even if it can at times be hard to find exactly what you want and grabbing friends to come along may also come with its own problems. But once you have started you'll find that time passes very quickly with long hours of fun.

Lastly we have the dessert in from of the co-op mode which offers six different maps for two people. People who have played the Modern Warfare 2 Spec-ops mode will feel right at home with this. It's enjoyable with the right people but in the end it's not a very enticing or amazing experience and the only real replay value is to get points for some exclusive weapon unlocks.

In more clearer terms the multiplayer essentially blows Bad Company 2 out of the water by making it bigger and better. It's the old Battlefield 2 experience but improved on many accounts.
The game also looks absolutely gorgeous even on medium settings on the PC with some amazing graphical effects, not to mention the sound engine is astounding and deserves a special mention just because how good it is with explosions and weapons sounding incredibly impressive and meaty.

It's not all that perfect though, the netcode can be at times very laggy, especially larger maps can feature a lot of rubber banding back and forth which can lead to an exercise in frustration.
Then there is some issues with the external Battlelog and it's server browser. The game lacks built in server browser so everything is handled via the Battlelog web page.
While the concept of it is good due to it displaying a wealth of statistical information regarding your progress as well as giving you a chance to organize friends list and platoons, but the issues start when start looking for a server to play with friends as the server information is slow to update and the fact that they have moved over the queue system to a server side setting means that you'll often find yourself trying to preform a group join only to find that most of the group can not join due to the server suddenly being full.
That is if everyone can accept the party join as in many cases the invite has a tendency to not appear for some parties which forces you to restart the browser and access the battelog again.
Also there is no option to filter out passworded servers which is perplexing.
Hopefully those are some issues that will be fixed in due time, the same goes for the random server crashes/disconnections that seem to be occurring at times.

But when everything works as it should it is an amazing experience that few games today can honestly offer and this is why this game is my multiplayer choice for my game of the year.

Moving on to the singleplayer choice.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution
So how would I best describe DX:HR then?
To be honest it isn't the easiest but the best way would be to describe it as a giant adventure park.

At first it may seem a bit limited and straight forward just so you can learn the ropes and familiarize yourself but at the same time if you start look hard enough it actually shows that some things can be dealt with in a slightly different way than expected and then you suddenly get access to your first playground to really get started with the exploration with several options on how to deal with things and once you've gotten your feet wet for real you get access to the really big playground to really get going with multiple ways on how to deal with things before you get moved on to another smaller playground with the same freedom as before in how to do things.
But then all of a sudden you come across something where this freedom of choice is suddenly absent and try as you might you don't really seem to find any other way to deal with what stands before you. So grudgingly you do it the way it's supposed to be done and get it over with and before you know it you're suddenly returned that freedom you had before but now you're at a whole new place with new things to find and do so you quickly forget about the previous hurdle and start enjoying yourself again.

So this happens a couple of times and you get to see some previous attractions in a new way and then you suddenly are near the end of it all. But the problem is that it just feels a little empty all of a suddenly as you're suddenly being pushed in the right direction by things and all that freedom before just seems absent and then you reach the same giant wall as before which you just grit your teeth and deal with and then all of a sudden it's over which leaves you slightly disappointed as you had so much fun before.

Don't get me wrong here, DX:HR is good, really good as it retains a lot of the same feeling from its first predecessor with its freedom of choice in allowing you to tackle missions and areas in several different ways but there are some cracks in the façade.
Firstly there is the boss fights, they feel out of place with the freedom you have at your disposal as they all have one way of going through them and no other way of beating them other than using brute force which can create problems for non-combat focused players.
That also leads up to my second issue.
My second problem is that the final act isn't all that great to any extent and it feels very rushed and short. Not to mention feeling like it comes far too out of left field to a certain extent. There are some minor alternate paths here and there but at the same time it just feels unfinished like there was a promise of more to be done. The same goes for the ending, or endings should I say as there are several you can pick from. But the problem, without indulging in spoilers here, is that they aren't that immensely gratifying and they end up feeling kinda disappointing. The thing after the credits is however a nice touch but that really doesn't help the fact that the final part could've been done a lot better than it was.

But despite those two issues the game is an amazing singleplayer experience, that while not perhaps living up to the levels that some raise the first game to, still does provide several hours of entertainment and offering good replay value as well which puts it above a lot of other games today which is why the game gets my choice for singleplayer game of the year.

An old game review

2011-09-06T12:54:00.003+02:00

This is an old review I wrote on the Gamespot user reviews way back in 06 for the first (and only) SiN Episodes game and felt like posting it. It's one of my better (not to mention shorter) reviews I've written but far off from perfect.

Almost a pity we never saw more of SiN episodes because it may just have been something. Maybe.

Is this allyou get?

SinEpisodes is supposed to be the forefront of the new episodic gaming fad. Thewhole idea is to give a couple hours of gaming for a decent prize. But ifEmergence is supposed to be the first of many parts, things aren’t that bright.

The gameopens with John Blade (a.k.a. you) being tied down to a medical table and hasbeen injected by something. This just rang cliché bells, as these thingsusually signal that you suddenly receive weird powers in the end. But now itmerely causes you to faint a couple of times, and inducing some weird dreamsequences. One which screams of fan service (Elexis in a bikini anyone?)

But beforeyour end is near, your new pal Jessica busts you out from where you're capturedand you get away from wherever you were. From here the games rolls on with thisstory. Which is what exactly? Because that's one thing you don’t hear so muchof a story when you play. You get hints here and there, but nothing conclusiveon what's going on with Elexis and her new found friend the russian-ish druglord. The only real evidence you see is the very big mutants that you face twotimes in the game.

The AI putsup a good fight, even if they usually just stand there and shoot at you most ofthe time. While some throw grenades at you, but most of the time they juststand there and shoot. Half-Life 2 had a bit more mobile AI, but this canprobably be decided through the difficulty settings, which feel a bit uneven,as I got the feeling that they didn’t adapt after my play stile. As after Iwhile I started dying quite a bit on some areas, but the AI seemed unchanged asthey shot at me. And then I played it post-patch where the AI was even harder.

The weaponsin the game aren’t that much to look at. It’s the standard three weapons of FPSgames, a pistol, a shotgun and a SMG. They aren’t that special from othergames, they spit bullet at different rates of fire and have their own typicalspecial attacks. Nothing that impressive. Hopefully, further episodes willexpand your arsenal with something more diverse, doing all episodes with thesame weapons will most probably get dull. Ironsights are also in, but they aremostly unused anyway. There is also a melee attack, but that's more becausethere is a lack of a crowbar or knife for all the supply boxes.

One thingthat I noticed from the beginning was that the fabled car scene was gone. Assome of us do remember, Ritual boasted about their opening car scene that wassupposed to be free flowing and could change from play to play. But this scenewas apparently removed at a later date, which doesn't surprise me, as the other(few) car scenes in the game is more or less on the rail, you just sit thereand get from point A to B on a rail. Maybe this scene will return in a laterepisode, but the boast has already fallen flat on its face.

Ritual alsopromised that you would be able to have finger in what was going to happen inthe next episode. But the thing is that, this doesn't happen in Emergence. Atone part you come across a situation where the bad guys have your partner underthe gun. The first thing I thought was "Hey, I should put a stop to this.I should wait until I get a good moment to pull the shot." And then thegame just automatically lowers the weapon for me as if I was talking to a friendlyNPC, making me unable to throw of a single shot. And instead of a moment whereI very well could change how the scene plays, Instead you are treated withanother exposition scene which in the end leaves me with the same ending,despite how many times I try the same scene. So once again, I feel slightlycheated by Ritual, as the promised changeable content is not visible,especially in such an important moment where I should more or less as promised,be able to change what was going to happen.

One sadchange is that John Blade now plays the Freeman card. He is more or less mutein the game. In total he speaks 4-5 lines. This consists of one or two words intotal. He speaks more in one of the trailers than in the entire first episode.While others around you speak like waterfalls. Especially Elexis loves to talkwhen she's around you. So many bits of the game more or less consists of youstanding there, silent as a log, hearing others talk to you. And keeping inline with the lack of decent plot available, this comes out like gibberish inmany cases, as they try to be aloof and not to expose too much. EspeciallyElexis loves to mention that you have powers to unlock (once again, the clichébells are ringing about superpowers.) This in the end gets dull and long drawn.Hopefully, these things will either become shorter or scarcer in laterepisodes.

On thegraphical front, the game looks good. Being driven by the source engine andall. The game has slightly shorter loading times than Half Life 2, which is good.As on a slow computer, those can become aggravating in the end. But here, theloading times are a bit more slimmed.

On thesound part, the only surprise for me was the quite good song in the main menu.Quite worth to dig up from the game files and play on your media player. Otherthan that song, the music was quite oblivious, can't say I remembered it thatmuch. In comparison to Half Life 2 which has some quite memorable songs, suchas Triage at Dawn (opening of the Sand Traps) and CP Violation (beginning ofthe game) the music in Emergence was either not just there or passed away veryquickly. The weapon sounds were okay in my meaning, nothing that mentionable asthey sounded as such weapons are supposed to sound.

The voices,where okay. Elexis had that seductive undertone to her voice which was quitefitting to her. While Jessica sounded a bit too similar to Alyx in someaspects.

To beshort, the game is a letdown. It can be finished way too fast. I made itthrough in fewer than 5 or 6 hours, or perhaps even less, this in the"medium" setting. So for the price of the game I got more or less awhole day of gaming with almost no replay value, not even finding the rest ofthe secrets are that much of an enticement to do it. As it feels like anincomplete product without the other episodes to back up its story. Also thelack of being able to change things is sad to see. One would at least want toexplore other options in certain situations, as you were promised. Instead youare ushered from one non-revealing exposition to another with no way of doingit otherwise. The ending is a let down too, all you get is something that canbe classified as a boss fight, or two succeeding boss fights to be correct,which are post-patch not even that hard to do if you know how to do it. Andafter that, there's just a teaser for episode 2 which seems to promise anexpansion of the story, but for that we have to wait and see. In the end,Emergence is nothing but a teaser of what's to follow in Episode 2. As nothingreally spectacular happens throughout the entire episode. If this is to beclassified as the pilot for the future Sin Episodes, I wouldn't be the leastinterested in the rest of the series.

When "new" meets "old"

2011-04-04T18:16:00.001+02:00

Or, is there such a thing as an anti-Dragon missile?

So April 1st came and went a while ago with several good jokes from developers and publishers. However there is one in particular that stood out the most for me at least.
Namely the Guild Wars 2 Commando.

I am admittedly a bit of a military geek, (is there even a proper term for that? MilGeek?) so in many ways the thing hits a lot of the right strings for me to like it. But at the same time the thing is such a tease of a genre that's underused particularly within the video game media.
The World crossover.
Or when the modern world comes into contact with the fantasy world.

The idea isn't new at all I can admit as much, the basic premise of Shadowrun and D20 Urban Arcana is based around the world crossover with the fantasy world stepping into ours. Books such as Justina Robson's Quantum Gravity series has several very fantasy-ish worlds overlapping into ours, just to name one example. And a bunch of movies based on that theme as well.
However on the gaming side it's surprisingly dry, one title that I can recall is Hard to be a god which is a Russian developed game based on the novel of the same name. Then there is my old favorite Outcast which has the main character translated into a semi-fantasy world. It's not directly orcs and elves but the premise is similar. But aside from those and the Shadowrun games and one RTS title I can't really recall its name at the moment there isn't that much.

In all fairness it would've been an interesting way to take the Modern Warfare license to avoid it going so incredibly stale. Just come up with some ridiculous reason to transplant the player and a bunch of fellow characters over to a stock fantasy world and go to town with that against elves and orcs.
Rescuing the fair princess by blowing a huge hole in a dragon with a missile? Why not?
Reenact helms deep but this time you have machine guns? Yes please.
Hunt drows in the underdark with the help of nightvision gear? Why yes please.
I could go on and on with examples. But the point is that it's an idea I'd love to see and it would frankly be a fresh new take.

Or as one Something Awful forum poster so eloquently put it:
"I would play the hell out of a game that consists of a bunch of jarheads marauding through a stock fantasy world fucking shit up."

Modern Warfare 3: Welcome to Fantasy land could be a great hit.
Could also make for a great Mass Effect style Action RPG in which you have several different characters from both worlds available and allowing you to mix and match and create some interesting team combinations.
Sword n Sorcery n Guns. Sounds like an interesting genre to work with. A genre with several possibilities just waiting to be explored with games based on well known fantasy licenses and more.

If I get around to it I may just do a write up of a story idea based on the World Crossover genre that I've had boiling in my head for some time now.

The end is near...

2010-12-31T00:47:00.000+01:00

Or, Last post of the year. (And I need to vent.)

So another year is drawing to a close and what have I learned from it?
Pretty much jack all if I may say so.

Frankly I wish I had something super special to say that I had learned over the past year but I really don't. It's been pretty much a non-descriptive year marked by the occasional bright spot in the shape of concert and convention.
And a damn thesis work that I have no fucking clue if I'll be able to complete in time for the first deadline. But I'll probably make it through somehow. I guess.
Christmas was good if anyone was asking. Although I wish I knew how parents thought at times. Because mine are really odd occasionally.

So a couple of days after I get back home to my parents I am sitting at the dinner table and only my mother is present there due to dad being away on work and my brother being god knows where. So in the middle of all the normal small talk we usually this following conversation suddenly crops up:
"So all those girls you meet at the convention, you know you can ask for the telephone numbers?" (Minor backstory: I was at a small anime convention that took place in the town where I study at the end of October and was being social with a bunch of people.)
My initial reaction was just to look at her for a moment before just saying that I did get some of their facebook names to add. (Well it was more to the contrary really but hey.) But gods above and below talk about being a bit too blunt there. Why yes it would look really good if I suddenly asked a random girl I had just meet and just talked to for their telephone number. That isn't acting like a total creep at aaaall. Nooo of course not.
Yes I know she want's to help me but not like that please. And gods help me if she ever gets the idea of matchmaking me. Like I haven't had that happen to me already before. Which was odd and embarrassing enough.

Speaking of the convention I did notice something, the Swedish con community is actually kinda tiny in a way. While overhearing a lot of conversation I noticed that a lot of people knew each other from other convention previously. I guess that comes with our country's size or something I guess.
But it was quite nice. Not much to do but to sit around and talk. Even if a couple of things did get on my nerves. For instance, the screaming.
Have you ever heard a dozen or so yaoi fangirls scream? It's ear piercing I can tell you. I got really ridiculous at times.
Also, I am sick and tired of Caramelldansen.
And yet I am eager to go to more conventions because it was kinda fun. Not to mention it's a decent place to meet people that I share something in common with and have something to talk about.

So back to my parents for a moment again. So as a Christmas present they decided to give me a new baseball cap. One they had picked up in Budapest of all places.
And now I'm going to come off as a total asshole but I really don't need a new one. I mean sure the one I wear is a bit used and it's color has gone from dirt brown to some a lot paler (like say pale mud) for a couple of years of use but it still works just fine so I really don't see a reason for why they decided to give me a new one.
The other gifts I got were nice. Even if I wish I knew why my brother gave me part three of a Dark Heresy adventure series when I only have part one. Even if the fourth Order of the Stick book was nice.
And then the week after I got some stuff that was delayed which turned out to be the rest of the Scott Pilgrim books and a couple of Starcraft Frontline issues that I wanted. Which was kinda nice. (Even if I don't have the shelfspace at all for it. Not that it matters since I'll most likely be moving out by summer. Hopefully.)

So the big thing that's going for me now is my C-level thesis. Which as I said before I have no real idea if I'm ever going to be able to finish in time for the first deadline. I managed to piss away three weeks in the beginning of November due to some mishaps with scheduling with my councilor. So the day after tomorrow I have around 11 days to finish one analytical component and have a basic structure written out before the hand in for the opposition. And like I haven't been able to sleep properly for the past few weeks already. *sigh* If anything I'm lucky the subject is easy to work with so writing shouldn't be too hard.
And hopefully I should be done with this whole uni thing before the start of summer unless anything happens. Hooray.
And then I can start looking for work. Yay...
Boy am I looking forward to the next year...

Well happy new years if anything.

Review: Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. 2

2010-12-04T03:01:00.002+01:00

Or, the cannon is a pilot's best friend.

When I first read about the reveal that there was a sequel to the first Hawx game I couldn't help but to be surprised because I didn't honestly expect it. I've already talked (way too much) about the game, and the "tie-in" book to it. before but I didn't expect a sequel with the lackluster reception it got. And it with all right, the game just isn't that great. It has it's moments but it just isn't that great.
But now the sequel is out. It's been out for the console for a while now and recently came out for the PC as well after an unexplained delay that I really wish what it was for. So the question is, does the sequel stand against it's predecessor?
Spoilers may occur.

Too Long, Didn't Read it version: Okay game with some minor improvement but nothing amazing added to it. Pick it up at a bargain bin if you want some decent arcade flying action. Also features the Ubisoft DRM solution.

The game takes place sometime after the first game. I have no real idea when to be honest since the plot isn't really mentioned at any point during the campaign. But it's the normal Clancy fare involving terrorists and nuclear weapons. Nothing we haven't seen before. Except this time you get to play as three different pilots, one American, one British and one Russian. And you'll visit such locations as Moscow, the Caucasus and Norway and will see you preforming a wide variety of tasks. Which is a rather refreshing change from the previous game repetition of either escorts or area defense.

Except that you only play three missions as the British pilot, one of them being a tutorial mission and only five missions as the Russian pilot so you spend the majority of the 20 mission campaign as the American pilot. And it's rather short as well, the 20 mission pass on rather quickly and you'll most likely be done with it in about 4 or 5 hours or so if you're decent at the game. And while the new varied missions are a great idea they developers seemed to have missed on a point that actually made the previous game great in some respects. Namely the massive air battles. There really just isn't an equivalent in the sequel to the previous game's massive air battle levels such as levels in Rio, Washington DC and Tokyo. There is one mission towards the end of the game that is kinda like those but that doesn't completely deliver either. While the campaign is a lot better and varied it just feels a bit dull. The final mission is a refreshing change from the horribly trite final mission of the first game and is actually kinda fun, even if it's obvious that they had been looking rather intently at Ace Combat 4 while making it.
The various drone levels and the Specter gunship level is also marred a bit by the controls as you're forced to steer somewhat awkwardly with the joystick or the arrowkeys since they didn't bother adding mouse support for those sections for some reason.
The fact that you can't select what plane you want to fly until you replay the mission is a bit boring as well.
The music is pretty samey as well with the exception of the Russian section with some pretty decent male choir parts. But otherwise it's nothing spectacular.

Other new additions to the game is the survival and arcade mode that are available in full after the campaign has been finished. Arcade is simply selected campaign levels with an added twist to them for a the extra challenge while survival tasks you with surviving ten waves of enemies that increase in number and difficulty. Multiplayer co-op includes both the campaign and survival mode.
Except that the survival mode isn't that much about survival as it can not be won by surviving all ten waves. Because then at the last wave you are tasked at destroying everything on the map. And this includes both the enemy fighters and any assorted ground units that may have spawned during the subsequent waves, all within a time span of ten minutes or less. So why they're really calling it survival I don't know. Not to mention there is only three levels to pick from with the last one tasking you do it within 45 seconds per round and only a few minutes during the last. Which seems a little bit extreme to me.
A chance to be able to customize what the different waves consisted of would've been nice for some variations as fighting the same old planes over and over again on the same two (three) maps get's rather dull quickly.

The game's UI has been changed and trimmed down somewhat from the previous game and this time you have both an altitude and speedometer available in OFF mode. Which is also available from the beginning of the game. Other changes include some changes and addition when it comes to the weapons with the addition of precision missiles and bombs and gunpods. The latter being probably one of the most fun additions to the game as they have infinite ammunition and are incredibly strong. The enemy AI has also been improved and now is a lot more aggressive and evasive than before and will preform OFF mode moves as well. Also the XP system from before is still in but this time you unlock planes and various passive and triggered abilities with points achieved from ranking up. You also gain experience with the specific plane you're flying with to master it and unlock alternative armaments and passive abilities. As well as being able to customize the plane's load out to suit your own taste.

Except that this usually comes in the form of them repeatedly spamming the flares and flying in an incredibly predictable pattern that you will see very quickly and most fights usually turn into a turning fight until the enemy decides to break off during which you just plant a couple of missiles up their tailpipe or manage to shoot them down with the cannon as they're turning. Sometimes I can't help but to wonder if they haven't programmed the wrong AI as they seem to behaving more as if they were supposed to be flying WW2 fighters instead of modern jets with their constant urge to be so close to you. The fact that there is no collision detecting between airplanes is a bit of a blessing in disguise as most fights would've otherwise ended up with you colliding with other planes.
Which becomes blindingly obvious especially when playing the survival mode. In some cases you can essentially hold down the trigger for the cannon ans you're looping and score repeated hits on enemies as the hit boxes for the cannons are incredibly big.
And the much touted OFF mode? It's useless to be honest. During the first game you could use it rather effectively to out turn opponents and managing to throw off a couple of missiles at them but now with the new AI that likes to essentially stay as close as possible to you it's become pointless to use and you're usually just better of using the airbrakes while turning to get a drop on the AI.
The new precision weapons are interesting but they only really work best in the single player campaign as you're moved into a different viewpoint during it to use the weaponry which leaves you exposed to pretty much everything. And the fact that there is no indication if you're taking damage at all while in the mode is a tad annoying as well. Especially now with ground based AA being a lot more accurate and damaging.
The reward unlock system or P.E.C. is a small nuisance, the game doesn't actually prompt you at all about it as you're playing so more than often you'll be left wondering why you haven't received any new planes to use until you go around exploring the menu's.
The plane mastery system is okay, even if some of the predefined load outs are rather annoying at times. The fact that you can customize your own load out however I like and is a very neat idea. Even if the interface for it is rather clumsy to use.
The Ubisoft DRM system is a minor nuisance as well but I imagine some may dislike it due to it's requirement of constant internet connection needed. Also I wish I could explain what Uplay but I haven't gotten a foggiest idea of what it does or what it's for.
Also the game repeatedly asks you if you want to lower the difficulty of the game after dying three times in a row. Regardless of the death was caused by you plowing into the ground or not. It get's old really fast.

In the end HAWX 2 is an okay game. It has some improvements over the first one but offers nothing really amazing and new. The campaign is rather lackluster and the survival mode, while fun for a while, get's worn out somewhat fast. If you go into it expecting more of the same as the previous game you will get that. If you go into it expecting something extra you will most likely be disappointed. I'd recommend waiting a while for the price to drop and some stability issues straightened out.
It's a bargain bin game if anything.

Also, don't buy the DLC for the game. It's for content already in the game. And five dollars or so for a few planes, maps and skins for airplanes already in the game just isn't worth it.

Pointlessness

2010-10-07T13:57:00.002+02:00

Or, At least they succeeded at getting rid of them.

So at the end of last week EA announced suddenly that they've gone and removed the Talibans from the mulitplayer section of their latest Medal of Honor game to honor the men and women who serve in the military. And the executive producer releasing a long and rather cliche statement about how he lost sleep over the whole thing.
Not to mention them getting yanked from Gamestop stores on military bases and coming under fire from various places for it.

So now that they're called by the generic moniker of Opposing Force and all should be fine and dandy now right?

Nope.
Turns out the game still won't get stocked in military stores despite the change. So the whole thing turned out to be rather pointless.

The whole thing is really just a convenient move to try to cover their behinds and play nice with everyone else. Not to mention it has rather big implications on the matter of free speech, a matter that is going to be taken up in the US Senate very soon.
In reality the problems with this is several. Firstly, why use Talibans as an enemy if you can just re-purpose them into something more generic? Especially when they have stated that the change is nothing but a cosmetic one and will not in any way actually change the way the game is played.
And on that note, why then even use Afghanistan as the playground? Would it not be simpler to just invent a fictional country and have the game take part there instead? Something which Bohemia Interactive Studios has repeatedly done with their Armed Assault franchise and in particular the first expansion to Arma2 which does take place in a country very much similar to Afghanistan in terms of environment and inhabitants.

In my eyes the whole usage of Afghanistan just seems horribly pointless since its nothing but a decor. As they've also said that they've willingly shied away from making any statements or messages about the war from a geopolitical angle. This of course to avoid attracting any more ire. Which strikes in comparison to other works pertaining the conflict in Afghanistan or Iraq such as Restrepo or Hurt Locker, who while trying to downplay that angle does not actively say it was not irrelevant to it. But here it's nothing but a simple and generic message of supporting the troops by invoking a recent conflict.

In a way I think EA has sorta brought this upon themselves.
There is a lot of people with open wounds remaining and then they suddenly sees red when something suddenly goes and opens them somewhat. Even if they are very much over-exaggerating and forgetting it's all fiction.
Playing as the Taliban in MoH never really mattered. It's all a simple graphical choice you do when you start up a multiplayer session. Just as simple as picking to play the American side. Nothing but a simple marketing tag on a website or a box as a unique selling point to attract attention or publicity.

A similar example can be found in the storm that happened during the Six days in Fallujah game that was announced at the end of last year/early this year. Even if there was a slight difference there with the developers wanting to tell an actual story of what happened instead of in a way just making something up. Even if apparently the developers were about to ruin that chance as well judging by what was heard about the game before it disappeared due to the publishers dropping it due to pressure.
Which is a shame, because if anything an accurate depiction of the current on-going conflict would've been interesting to see and experience.
Generation Kill both as a book and series did provide with a very interesting and good view of the early stages of the Iraqi conflict and it would've been interesting to see if the same could be capable with the game medium.

Will such a game happen? Who knows.
Would I want to see it happen?
Yes. Yes I would.

Gah, Meh, Sigh

2010-09-17T20:52:00.003+02:00

Or, Rage, Gripe, Moan.

I don't know why but this week has left me in a bit of a sour mood. I mean it hasn't been a bad week by any stretch. It's been a bit samey but at the same time I just feel sour now that it's more or less over. I guess it's seasonal depression or something.
Let's take it from the top I guess.

I mean the week started of rather well with me picking up a Halo Reach poster at the local Gamestop store and then getting my hands on the Reach soundtrack as well as the new Mass Effect 2 soundtrack. Not to mention today I bought the Medal of Honor 10th anniversary collection because I thought it was a good idea. (Not to mention really cheap for 5 games in one bundle). And I picked up KOTOR on steam really cheap.

Uni progresses as usual with the all important course that leads up to the C level thesis that is going to start soon-ish.
Of course I haven't gotten a fuckin clue what to actually write for it. Not a single one. Granted this isn't the first time I've been in this situation seeing as I was a similar seat for my B level thesis that I wrote a couple of years ago (Good lord has it really been that long ago?). But that one I managed to find a subject by just grabbing what I liked and find a related subject to that.
You wanna know what I wrote about?
World of Warcraft.
Yup. I wrote a B level thesis about guild communication in WoW. Which turned out to be not that bad even if I probably could've improved it somewhat on some places. Pity I can't link it since I wrote it in Swedish.
But the problem is now that I haven't played that game for over a year now and writing about it again doesn't feel that of a good idea since it's no longer really relevant to me. Well not up until Cataclysm comes out I guess. But that's beside the point now anyway.
The second problem is that you're not supposed to write this thing alone according to the teachers. Which is easier said and done in my case since I don't know anyone in the new class I'm reading this course with.
Well that is kinda untrue seeing as there are a couple of old classmates who are also taking this course. But considering they never bother talking to me or me to them that feels kinda pointless.
So how I'm going to deal with that I haven't gotten a clue.

Not to mention I'm still one course short from actually finishing my education and I have no idea when that one starts and I've been too much of a lazy bastard to ask when and if I can take it this semester.
But with my luck I probably can't. *sigh*
This "amazing" plan of mine is getting more and more flawed it seems.

Oh and all that money I mentioned last post that I was going to spend on a new graphics card? Yeah I can forget about that. Why?
Because CSN decided that because I had only read 15 points last semester I wasn't going to get any money from them. Thanks a fucking bunch there.
So now I'm kinda living on money from my parents that they've sent me. Which makes me kinda feel bad in a way since it feels like begging but I'm still really grateful that they're doing it. Hope I can find a way to repay them properly.
(Well I guess graduation would be one step in the right direction.)

Going back on the topic of MMO's I did get a rather rude shock yesterday with the mention that APB is shutting down. Something that I knew was going to happen at some point but not so suddenly as it did.
I've almost been meaning to write about that game and I may just do it if I find the inspiration to do so but I'm just going to say the following about it:
I liked it a lot.
Yes the game was extremely flawed and mechanically awful at some places but at it's core it was an incredibly fun game that I loved playing with others and I'm sad to see it go already.
However something I wish would go away is all the vitrol that is being spewed at the mention of the game.

Yes we get it was bad the moment you laid your eyes upon it and that you can smugly declare that fact.
Yes we get it that RTW deserved it according to you.
Yes we get it now shut the hell up.
It's frankly starting to get really annoying.

Correction it is really annoying.

To be honest I wish I could be overjoyed at the news that Epic games might buy it.
Problem is of course is that I said might. It may or may not happen any time soon. Secretly I hope such in the case and Epic either fixes up the game again or puts at least the character creation system into use elsewhere. That was probably one of the best parts of the game and I wish to see it more elsewhere since it easily trumps what's been seen in Oblivion/FO3.

Otherwise my week has just been kinda normal and boring. Been struggling a bit with writing a decent background for a character for a short Exalted campaign but making decent progress with it regardless and slowly picking my way through Mass Effect again as a FemShep Vanguard. God that armature fight I hate it so much. And yes Hale's performance is really good. Even if I never saw much issue with Meer's either.
Speaking of games the Ace Combat Assault Horizon trailer is the shit and extremely kick ass and I wish that the game was coming for the PC as well. But instead I'm stuck with HAWX 1 and 2.
And guess what game is coming out for the PC by the end of the month and I have pre-ordered already?
Yeeeaaaah...
Expect a review at some point. Hopefully less wordy that my earlier one.

Also, today I learned via the stats that my post about the DX3 cutscenes was linked elsewhere on another forum. This amused me greatly.
You know what is going to be an awesome game when it comes out next year?
DX3. ;P

Also I am getting really really tried of all this election talk pretty much everywhere I look. But then again it's election next week so what can I say.
I already went and voted anyway just so I could get it over with. What did I vote for?
Naziste- I mean the Pirateparty.
Why? Well it was either that or voting blank and I didn't feel like doing the later.

Musings and moanings

2010-08-21T18:01:00.001+02:00

Or, No I haven't forgotten about this place at all.

Well I guess it's official now, summer is now over in my case. I'm back in my apartment again after being at my parents and school starts on Monday. Hooray.
I am kinda disappointed though, because my new flatmate hadn't even moved in when I arrived. Maybe he'll arrive later. Or maybe not at all. Who knows.
What I am glad over is that I'm finally onto the last real semester before I can actually graduate and unless things complicate (which I'm sure will happen) my studies will be over by the start of next year or so. Well that's the plan at least.
But studying PR to get into the gaming industry when I really can't do any programming at all has to be one of the most convoluted plans I've ever come up with.
Will it work in the end? I haven't gotten a clue. Especially since a casual browsing of the job market seems pretty slim on that line of work right now. (Anyone know any gaming companies hiring? :P)

And to my old classmates that graduated last semester I have this message,
Go suck dicks and I hope I never see you again.

That felt surprisingly good to get off my chest actually.
And if you're wondering, no that wasn't because they graduated ahead of me. It's for other reasons.

Anyway, I won't bore anyone with any amazing stories of my exciting summer adventures. (Hint: there barely was any.)
Well okay that was a bit of a lie I guess since I did go on the Distant Worlds concert in Stockholm and had one helluva enjoyable time there. Not to mention a really enjoyable midsummers party as well. (It was really odd to learn that the girl I spent most of the night talking to about stuff turned out to suffering from some psychological issues the day after. Especially seeing as she was really nice.)
(Yes, you can now make a lonely nerd joke if you so wish.)
Spent a couple of weeks working as well towards the end, horribly boring stuff. But the money is going for a good cause at least. A new graphics card for my computer and books.
Otherwise I've spent my summer working, some gaming, some reading and that's about it. Pretty exciting stuff eh?

Yeah I thought so as well

On a different note I can really recommend Justina Robson's Quantum Gravity series. Really good Fantasy meets Real Life stuff. Now I just need to get the rest of the books. Like my list of To Get stuff isn't big enough as it is.
Oh and the new A-Team movie is pretty good as well. (Pretty fun seeing that one alone in an almost empty cinema.)
And the HTC Desire is pretty damn sweet as well. Although the battery time seems a bit lackluster.

E3 2010 opinions

2010-06-25T02:03:00.001+02:00

Or better late than never.

Another E3 has come and gone and we've picked up all the pieces and cleaned out the conference hall for another year. Let's all first breathe another sigh of relief that this years media flurry is now over and we can go back to our gaming lives again.
*Puh*
So then, what do I think of this years E3 then? Let's begin with the big conferences.

Microsoft focus on Natal- I mean Kinetic made me realize one thing. I hate the name Kinetc. It's ridiculous and dumb and they just should've stuck with Natal and not try to be chic or witty.
It was kinda sad when a 6 year old girl did a better presentation than any other person that had been on stage before her. (Also that Kubo guy looked and acted like a total grade A douche.)

Otherwise I found the conference a bit lacking. Just too much focus on motion and sports and less on the games. Cliffy B trying to look cool on stage with the co-op demo just doesn't cut. But that's probably because I find him annoying and overbearing.
Halo Reach looked... well it looked like Halo and I really have no intentions to play it since I don't own a 360. (I was secretly hoping for an announcement regarding Halo 3 on the PC but that didn't happen. :( )
And I wonder if Fable 3 is going to have the same horrible storytelling that permeated the second game. And for that part, when is the second game even coming for the PC as it's been more or less confirmed that it will come for the PC.
Microsoft's final move with the 360 was clever. But at the same time I feel pity for the European journalists attending that will be given an American console. But I guess they can score a fair price on Ebay or something.
Also I think all the MS presenters had been taking a little too much of the company happy pills.

EA's was marginally more interesting actually. Here the focus lay not so much on movement (even if reared its head) as before. Games were marginally interesting frankly, although the presentation has to get top marks from my part. The "I love guns" song regarding the Gun Club I want as an MP3 and the trailers for the EA sport titles were quite entertaining.
However the idea of releasing the SWTOR trailer that was shown way before the conference I found was a bit of a miss. It was a bit of a pointless gesture to just show it again.
Bulletstorm looked like the title that is fun for the first hour and then just gets bland when things get repeated.
And they went in the completely wrong direction with Crysis 2. The fun part wasn't with the aliens. No it was going up against the North Koreans and playing predator with them. So the focus on more Aliens felt like a miss. Fighting aliens with a super suit we have done so many times before. But toying with humans with one is a lot more fun. Feels like Crytek still hasn't learned that lesson as they introduce an enemy that is fun to play against and they introduce the supposed main enemy that isn't half as fun to fight against.
Also that 3D trailer just looked stupid frankly.
And my only comment regarding Medal of Honor is: Modern Warfare 2. I don't need to say anything else.
Also was it fully necessary to have that 20 minute talk about the Sims?

Ubisofts conference was... bad. No wait. It was embarrassingly bad. Again. I am starting to question what is going on in the Ubisofts executives head's nowadays when they suddenly start to pull out stuff like laser tag and Breathing games. I mean even the announcer took the piss out of things.
At least we didn't have to suffer through James Cameron orally masturbating over his pet project. So I guess I have to count my blessings.
Ghost Recon looked nice though. It looks like it has more stealth that the latest Splinter Cell game. Expected a HAWX2 trailer, didn't get any sadly.

Now Nintendo on the other hand. Now Nintendo was to me The clear winner for this years conference bout. Because they focused on the important part. Namely the Games. They've already shown off what their motion system can do. And I have to commend them for not acting overly smug (like some others) about the whole thing. Even if I expected them to. This year it was all about new games, Kirby, return of Donkey Kong, new Zelda, new Kid Icarus and not to mention the list of 3DS games. Nintendo showed what E3 was really about. It wasn't about the latest doodads and such. It's about the games and they delivered strongly there. I am sorely tempted to buy a 3DS when it comes out but I doubt I will. But I tempted.
However that 3DS trailer was hilarious because it was so Japanese.

Lastly we have Sony and their focus on both 3D and their, frankly ridiculous looking, Motion controller. Killzone 3 looked gray, bland and nothing really interesting.
I really didn't pay much attention to their whole thing since I was busy with other stuff in the mean time. The questionably silly PSP advertising campaign raised my eyebrow a little in how utterly stupid it was but otherwise it was nothing utterly remarkable. However one part that was really good was Kevin Butler's gaming speech. I sorta expected him to slightly go off on a tangent talking about how gaming was supposed to be on the PS3 or something but I was surprised that he didn't and instead it was about gaming in general and it turned out to be a very good one to boot.
The trailers towards the end were nothing new that one didn't already know about and to be honest I can't really even remember what was shown.
In the end it was pretty much forgettable just because the top had been reached in beforehand.

Frankly I was kinda disappointed with the content in this years E3. It just felt a bit empty. Not bland perhaps but a spark was missing. There was a lack of new stuff, especially on the PC front. There just wasn't any amazing announcements for the PC that really made me go "Ooh". It was just showing off what was there. The case was the same for the first three conferences as well. All the talk about movement controls and sport games and established franchises for them was boring. One could say Bulletstorm was fresh and new. Even if I'd counter with that it was more a step back to the old days where shooter were mostly just about killing stuff. Which is good, even if they did ham it up a bit too much.
But otherwise this year was about just showing how far developers had gotten with their games.

Aside from all the Motion controls and 3D. Especially the latter I don't think will live for that long before sorta shrinking away. I think 3DS will the longest living machine that does it. But then it's Nintendo and they have a pretty sizeable userbase. Not to mention theirs won't require goggles.
I for one refuse to even consider wearing them. Why? I'm nearsighted which means I have to wear glasses. Work out the rest yourself honestly.

Someone mentioned to me that there was a larger number of demos on E3 than before. Which is good.
If you are attending E3.
I can never really be that excited over a demo that I'm not playing myself, it just isn't the same thing. Sure it is a perfect way of seeing how some aspects of the game works in motion but you'll never really get the entire thing from it. Not to mention it tends to be alpha builds and all that jazz so I find it hard to really get excited over demos since things are bound to change a lot during development.

Maybe I'm just getting grumpy but E3 wasn't that much of a grand affair to me this year.
I can admit I only had a cursory glance of its contents and never really went in depth in what was on the floor but I get the feeling I really didn't miss that much. Especially on the PC department I don't think I actually missed that much of what I already knew about.

Lastly I can however admit I am incredibly excited about Deus Ex 3.
And HAWX 2...

(TLDR: E3 was okay, bit boring, nothing exciting for PC. Nintendo won the Conferences.)

Review: Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X by David Michaels

2010-06-04T16:20:00.000+02:00

Let me just get this out of the system.
This book is bad.
Really. Really. Bad.
And it has nothing to do with the game of the same name. Nothing.

And with the summary done let's go on with the actual review/rant.

So the book opens up with an in media res prologue that you can essentially skip and greets you with possibly one of the worst written first chapters I have seen for a long time. The opening lines are just terrible. In fact the whole damn chapter is horrible. Which pretty much sets the tone for the entire book in terms of quality.
The plot is Clancy to the core. It has some non-descript conflict in the beginning that really isn't important at all to remember. Followed by more conflicts that you're not supposed to bother about either.
One thing it makes damn sure at times is mentioning how incompetent and floundering the President in the book it. It hammers this point beyond its intended use.
Stuff happens, the hero kills one of his friends because he switched to another PMC without knowing it. Just to show how cruel and merciless the PMC business is.

The first actual mention of HAWX doesn't appear until roughly halfway through the book and then they're actually doing what their name suggests. Actually testing experimental aircraft instead of flying around acting like an air-based special operations force.
And the plane they're flying is a solar-powered flying wing that only weighs 3 tons. Have I mentioned it can also take two people and fly at the same height as the U2? Yeah...
And at one point in the book one guy (who totally isn't the bad guy at aaaall) talks about putting weapon on the plane.
Did I mention that the character in question also kept on ranting on about that America isn't America anymore. And that he's the head of one of the biggest PMCs in the world.
Yeah I think you can see where this is going right?

Anyway, the plot moves on sluggishly, the new awesome solar plane is being flow, time passes, the CIA wants the main character to spy on the head of the PMC that he's employed to. Which he actually does by snooping in his office and finding a file of The Big Plan.
And then he somehow gets found out....
At this point I've sorta just taken all the stuff the book has thrown at me without really raising an eyebrow as I've grown accustomed to stuff like this but at this point I'm just going "What?" because at no point is it ever really mentioned how he managed to find this out. The guy just simply knew this and then decided to get rid of the main character in the most obtuse way possible. This despite the fact that the main character actually doesnt take the big important file with him and leaves it where he found it. So how does he do it?
He tells the main character he wants to go with him on a trip with the solar plane, where in he spills the beans that he knew he had been spying and then locks in the autopilot on the plane and jumps out and parachutes back down. Leaving the Hero stranded up until the plane runs out of juice.
Yes it is pretty much as retarded as it sounds. And yet the hero survives this with only a few broken limbs and spends some time in a lonely jungle village.
And then spends some more time doing stuff doing black market stuff to get back to the states. This book loves making time pass in large chunks.

So our hero is now considered dead by everyone he knew. Including one of his old wing mates from the air force. Who is the token female character who joined the air force just to prove herself and also has the hots fro the hero.
The scene where she admits this is just cringe worthy. So I'm just going to quote it.

"Are you jealous?"
"Well, I guess, y'know," Troy said, groping for words.
"I've been listening to you snore every night and it's hard to not think about... when you're sleeping with somebody and all that's happening is that you're trying to sleep."
"You saying I snore?" Jenna laughed.
"Yeah, but..."
"Okay... since we may never get out of this thing alive..."
"Don't say that," Troy interrupted.
"Okay, since we may never get out of this things alive," Jenna repeated, "I should admit that I've... y'know... I've had those kinda thoughts about y'all.
"Really?"
"You're a hunk, Loensch," Jenna said in a matter-of-fact way. "Sometimes you're obnoxious, but you're a hunk and I have had... kind of a thing for y'all."
"What kinda thing?"
"Yesterday... all day when we were walking through that ravine, y'know," Jenna replied. "I had this fantasy about taking a shower with y'all."
"I've been thinking about showers a lot too," Troy admitted.
"I was thinking about what came after the shower," Jenna said with a hoarse chuckle.

So yeah, and this isn't the first really badly written attempt at romance between the two characters but it is certainly the most noticeable.

Our hero has no come back to the States and Washington DC to be specific to try to get back at the guy who tried to kill him. Or something. Because he spends an awful lot of time working as some pizza place as an illegal alien and doing deliveries.
Instead of say going to the CIA whom he has had contact with before and try to do something about The Big Plan.
So while he does that there is a vote in congress about some new legislation that was going to let PMCs run the military. Or something.
But to everyone's surprise that legislation doesn't pass the vote so how does Firehawk respond?

By rolling tanks and troops into Washington DC and taking over in a coup d'état and demanding that the president steps down.
How do the US MIlitary respond to this gross incursion? By apparently sitting on their asses and doing nothing and just let this happens. Because apparently they've all be heavily downsized or something.
Did I also mention that apparently countries in Europe are collapsing with government changes and others are completely ruled by PMCs? It this was the second time I really questioned if anyone had read this before it got printed.

The President is now holed up in Camp David which angers the head of Firehawk so what does he do?
He grabs an experimental supersonic jet called the Raven and decides to go and nuke the base.
You can't have a Tom Clancy plot without at least one nuke people.

Our hero and his old wing mate decide that something must be done about this so they just go and grab two National Guard F-16s from hangar and take off after the plane.
I'm sure it's meant to be a really intense end fight but it really falls flat. The prose is just empty and not really that interesting. And they really ham it up when suddenly an Airliner is hit by a stray missile and sent spiraling to the ground.So a coup has just happened in Washington involving armed forces and there are passenger jets in the air. Excuse me but what? Planes would've been pulled off the air and grounded faster than you can say Viva the revolution.
Oh and that downing on that airline isn't mentioned at any other point at the end of the book for that part. So what was the point?

In the end the evil guy is shot down by the hero ramming the experimental super jet with his plane and ejecting out in beforehand. And the girl does the same but gets picked up by some cop and she takes a buss back home.
Not that it matters anyway since apparently the PMCs are still in control or something it's just that Firehawk has some new head guy and nothing has apparently really changed.
And our hero is still considered dead by everyone he knows and then gets told by his CIA contact that the whole thing isn't over yet by a long shot.
Ahaha. Yeah right.

Let me just say this again. This. Book. Is. Bad. Really damn bad.
At no point is Artemis from the game mentioned. Nor is Crenshaw and his buddies either.
Not to mention the premise of the book doesn't even fit in with the plot of the game at any point. And if it happened in the past then why hasn't anyone really mentioned the time when a PMC decided to take over Washington DC and depose the president and almost nuke Camp David? Not to mention someone shooting down a Passenger Jet for that part.

Really the only far fetched connection the book has with the game is that involves evil PMCs that attack the US mainland. But then evil PMCs is nowadays a mainstay in Clancy books.
And that's just the plot issues, the prose is atrocious and for a book about fighter jets there isn't that much fighting going on. I think there is roughly 5 or possibly 6 total fights in the entire book. And they're all pretty damn weakly written with no real tempo in them or anything.

It wouldn't surprise me that Ubisoft in their urge to release a tie-in book just decided to trawl for some author who had something involving airplanes, gave him some money and told him to add a mention or two about HAWX and then let him just write the rest and then sending it directly to the printer and publish it.
Because it sure as hell feels like so.

I can't really recommend this book at all. Well I can sorta if you're looking for something dumb to read as a time waster. Then it's perfect. But as a tie-in book it's probably one of the worst I've read. And I've read the Command & Conquer 3 book.
____________________________________________
Way to overdue with writing this to be honest.
Such a good thing I bought Team Yankee by Harold Coyle alongside this one. Because now there is a damn good book. Which funnily enough does feature a quote by Tom Clancy on the cover.
If you like speculative WW3 fiction in the vein of Red Storm Rising I do recommend Team Yankee.
And who doesn't like tanks for that part?

Review: Halo Legends

2010-03-07T16:48:00.001+01:00

One thing that seems to become more and more popular these days among western companies is to produce a compilation or anthology of short animated films based on a certain franchise, usually made by various Japanese animation studios. It began with Animatrix and recently we've seen Batman: Gotham Knight and Dante's Inferno following the same concept. And now the Halo universe can be added onto that list with the (sort of) recent release of Halo Legends which sees seven different short movies based on the universe. All created by well known animation studios.

Now I like the Halo universe. I find it a surprisingly solid universe that isn't massively tangled clusterfuck like what the Expanded Star Wars Universe is. While it lacks some depth of detail that is more apparent in the Mass Effect universe it's still a surprisingly solid universe that is a good basis for some (admittedly) decent to mediocre games. Aesthetically the universe feels like a mix between hard Sci-Fi in terms of human design while it also has a very space opera angle when it comes to the alien designs and the general theme of the universe.
But enough of that, let's move onto the meat of the review. I'll be going through the stories in order of appearance.

Origins
Studio 4°C
Synopsis: Onboard the ship Forward unto Dawn Cortana narrates to herself and a cryogenically frozen Master Chief what she has learned of the Forerunners and the events that leads up to the end of Halo 3.

As a opening story Origins does the work well of narrating just what has happened in the universe from the beginning to the current end of it. While it admittedly glosses over some minor points regarding the Forerunners and their war with the Flood it still serves it's purpose well with setting down the foundation and also telling the viewer about things that aren't too apparently in the game.
Studio 4°C's art style and animation for this episode is good and crisp. The design for the very prevalent Forerunners looks very much like what has been seen in the games, and even the very Guyver-ish designs for the Forerunners themselves looks good and fitting. And the Flood themselves look disgusting and biologically inhuman enough to really make the contrast clear.
Really my only little complaint for this story is that they didn't have Jen Taylor return and do the narration as Cortana. While the voice actor that does Cortana's voice does a good job it still doesn't feel quite the same. Except for that is is a very solid episode.

The Duel
Production I.G
Synopsis: The Elite named Fal does not want to follow the Covenant religion and comes into conflict with the reigning Prophet and another Elite sent to kill him and his wife.

This episode I have very mixed feelings about, on one hand the art style is very interesting but at the same time it's obvious that I.G has had some liberties in the design as it literally reeks of Samurai fiction over it. From the main bad guy being dressed as a Samurai and the many appearances of kimonos and other very distinct Japanese things. It clashes a bit with what you otherwise see of the the Elites. It's apparent that its their way to tell that the Elites are a warrior culture. But to me it just rubs wrong. The story is also the first one showing of female Elites, but now in hindsight they look oddly like Avatars from that movie with their very catlike faces.
This episode wasn't really my favorite, I felt continuously annoyed by the Japanese influences in it, but I suppose some might not find it as annoying and probably can be viewed as a nitpick. All in all it's in my eyes one of the weaker episodes.

Homecoming
Studio Bee Train
Synopsis: On a colony world somewhere, Daisy, a Spartan II is fighting for her life, while at the same time she is coming to terms with her past.

Now this episode is one of the better ones, as it takes up one of the really dark aspects of the so called saviors of humanity. And that is the fact that they were forcibly taken at a young age into the Spartan II program. The main character in this case is a female Spartan (yes there were female ones as well. Shock!) called Daisy as she fights against the Covenant while at the same time remembering her attempts to flee the training facility she has grown up in in order to return to her family.
I genuinely like this episode, while the artstyle is a bit generic anime and the voice acting can be a bit flat at times it still one of the better stories as it takes up parts that are really never mentioned at any point in any of the games. Its slightly alluded at times but never fully mentioned of the very dark way these soldiers were made.

Odd one out
Toei Animation
Synopsis: Spartan 1337 suffers from two things. A huge ego. And horribly bad luck. After crash landing on a planet after falling out of his transport he finds himself facing the Covenants newest secret weapon, the enhanced Brute Pluton. But he get's help from a couple of kids in his fight.

If anything, this episode is really hit and miss. At points it is very funny with the overblown and egotistical rantings of Spartan 1337 and the very Snidely Whiplash way the Prophet of Truth acts in his scene. (If actually had a mustache he would have been twirling it.) I was genuinely laughing at some places (Surprise Dinosaur!). But then it does sorta take a turn and becomes a little too much when it suddenly involves teenagers going Dragonball on Pluton. It should've kept the more slapstick comedy for 1337 throughout the episode instead of suddenly switching gears and the ending does go back on that a little.
The animation is very fluid and very reminiscent to Dragon Ball compared to the more restrained animation from before. And it fits very well, even if I don't really like the way the human characters look. But then I don't generally like the art style in Dragon Ball anyway so it might have something with that. The fight scenes are ridiculous, let's just leave it at that. It very much harkens back to Dragon Ball, power charge ups and everything. However it ends a bit too much on a Deus Ex Machina, which feels very cheap.
The voice work is okay to good. 1337 sounding as boisterous as he should be. Both Cortana and Master Chief have lines in this episode but sadly neither of the original actors return. Which is a bit of a shame.
All in all it is an okay episode, if anything it should've kept the slapstick comedy instead of doing Halo Ball. (*shudder*)

Prototype / Be Human
Studio Bones
Synopsis: The Covenant attacks the planet Algolis and the UNSC research base, in order to ensure that everyone gets away safely a Sergeant nicknamed Ghost goes against direct orders and commanders a prototype of heavy powered armored suit.

Mechs? In my Halo? It's more likely than you think.
Very much like Homecoming I like this episode. The animation is good and the story as well. Unlike that episode this just an action romp and nothing else. But at the same time its a good one, things explode and stuff dies violently. Although making the mech suit look like an over-sized Spartan feels like an odd move to do. But otherwise there isn't that much to say about this episode other than I actually liked it.

Babysitter
Studio 4°C
Synopsis: A squad of four Helljumpers or Orbital Drop Shock Troopers are tasked, alongside Spartan Cal-141 to assassinate a Covenant Prophet.

I felt torn for this one. On one side ODSTs are awesome and should really be seen more. But at the same time this episode suffers a bit from what The Duel had with the animation studio getting some design liberties with what they can do and instantly go for Japanese design. Seeing Forerunner ruins that look like Japanese pagodas when they usually look very more industrial does feel annoying. And the female Spartan for some reason looking like Sheryl Nome from Macross Frontier, hair and all. Anime hair is also something that appears in the episode, guess regulation haircuts have never been heard of before. Other than that the episode is okay, the animation is good and the Spartan fight against a Brute at one point is very impressive. Even if the Spartan looks way too bulky and compressed than what otherwise seen. The episode even manages to get unintentionally hilarious when the only black guy in the group is the first one to bite the bucket.
All in all a decent episode with some minor issues.

The Package
Casio Entertainment
Synopsis: Master Chief and three other Spartan are tasked to retrieve a very important package onboard a Covenant ship. Unaware that they are stumbling into a trap.

Another of the good episodes in this collection, this one in very well rendered CG to boot. Very much like the Prototype this one is just an action romp filled with explosions. That part is good, even if it does the same thing as the Babysitter with the black guy of the group getting killed first. Which is unintentionally hilarious. My real beef with this episode comes with the reveal of what the package is. It's Dr Catherine Halsey, or the mother of all Spartans. Looking almost like Samus Aran or Deunan from the Appleseed CGI movies.
It just feels wrong as she is described as much older in the books, here she looks to be around 30-ish or something while the book places her at least around 40-ish or something.
Of all the good episodes this is the one I'd rank the lowest, the CGI is good but the issue I have with it's portrayal of how Halsey looks and it feeling a bit too over the top at times makes it a bit distracting. Having four Spartans attack a Covenant fleet on space motorbikes is cool and all but it felt a bit too much after a while. Especially when it suddenly started incorporated slow motion into fight scenes, and Itano Circuses really don't fit in Halo. Also, whoever voiced Master Chief for this episode made him sound like Solid Snake, which sounded really silly. But at the same time it was fun to see Kelly and Fred as they've only been mentioned in the books.
While it is good, The Package feels lacking compared to other good stories such as Origins and Homecoming.

To Long Didn't Read it section:
Halo Legends is a bit hit and miss, some stories (Origins, Homecoming, Prototype) are good and very enjoyable while others (The Duel, Odd One Out) feel a bit lackluster and could have needed some improvements or changes.

Two short things

2010-01-28T11:30:00.000+01:00

I'm just going to say two short things about the new Apple iPad. Mostly because I'm more of a PC guy and not a... (mustn't say anything derogatory, mustn't say anything derogatory) Mac User.

1. iPad? Really? That's the best you could come up with?

2. Considering it looks like an oversized iPhone, will we be able to take calls with it or is that an adapter or app for later?

A lesson in pointlessness

2010-01-21T01:46:00.001+01:00

So the requirements for Bioshock 2 was released today, and included in this was also a list of the game's DRM protection. And I think this is a lesson is that you really can go overboard with it.

This what you need to have installed to be able to run the game:
SecuRom - Okay, this is getting standard these days so no biggie. And I doubt anyone will feel too bothered with the limit of 15 machines.
Steam - Nothing bad here either since a lot more games have started doing that these days. MW2, FEAR 2 and Dawn of War 2 for instance.
Games of Windows Live - For saving games, achievements and updates. Wait what?

So for one game you need three different applications. One of which is wholly unnecessary because the other one does an even better job.
And that is Games of Windows Live. Microsofts attempt at emulating or trying to butt in somewhat onto what Steam does with providing a store and online friends list.
And frankly, it does a horrible job at it.

See there was a reason I mentioned Dawn of War 2 earlier, it did the same thing and the whole thing was nothing short of a cluttered mess. For Dawn of War 2 you start up the game via Steam as it is installed via it. But to actually be able to play it with people you were forced to use the GFWL client.
Why?
Steam has consistently proven itself to be a lot better on that notion. The Steamworks concept and application has proved itself repeatedly to work very well with its saving of online profile and achievements to your steam profile for easy accessibility essentially everywhere. Modern Warfare 2 and Left 4 Dead has shown that already. Not to mention Steams patch distribution system works fine as well.
Not to mention Steam has a less obtrusive and annoying UI that isn't just the XBL one transfered over and can only be accessed in the game while Steam can be accessed outside the games that use it. Since the only outside access you have to GFWL is the online store, who up to recently only had the FO3 DLCs and minor things until they decided that it might just be a good idea to actually put that into use.

See there is that problem with GFWL, aside from it being a horribly designed mess with connection issues and other annoyances, is that it's barely been put into use and just left to fester and rot. While Steam has seen huge expansion in both the number of games supporting it and it's store. While GFWL on the other hand has been mostly ignored until they suddenly got this bright idea to actually try to put it into useage. It was in the Halo 2 PC release as well as Shadowrun and those were released 2007 and after that it was simply ignored. I think it was Fallout 3 that was one of the first games that used it again and Dawn of War 2 put it really into use other than a way for them to sell DLCs for the same cost as on XBL. After that it has been appearing in various other games this past year or so.
And as far as I know I've barely seen a positive word about it in reviews. Reviews I've read for the PC port of RE5 and SF4 all point out the GFWL client as being a flaw in otherwise quite decent PC ports.

So why do they keep pushing it? Cross-Console gameplay doesn't seem to be a major consideration why as it doesn't seem to be touted off very often. I haven't even gotten a clue if it even works for a majority of the games that use the client anyway.
If anything they're just being stubborn and not wanting to give in and actually use Steam and instead stick to the unsupported and horrible mess that is GFWL.

There is that old saying that goes that too many chefs spoil the soup. Guess adding too many programs to the mix will produce about the same result.

Welcome to 2010!

2010-01-01T02:34:00.001+01:00

And we'll open this new year with possibly the best thing ever in anime form.

Also, yay for 50 blogg entries.
And just because of that I decided to revamp the blogg design just a bit.

(Well okay it was more because I got tired of video links expanding too much into the sidebar.)

Merry Christmas

2009-12-24T14:32:00.000+01:00

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the Frozen North.

Who knew that 2009 would end with a proper white christmas. Been a while. A white christmas which has of course made parts of western europe realize that they've been a little too complacent about having plans and preparations for it and got properly slapped when the first snow came.
Granted we had that too but we're more or less used to it. Which can't be said for France or Britain. Nor the US for that part.
All the news channels seem to talking about is how cold it is and how much the snow has ruined everything.
Hey not the snow's fall you've got one plough made out of paper-mache.

Sure the kids love it though. They always do.
Heck even I love the snow, perfect photo opportunities. There are frankly few things better than walking in a snow covered forest with only yourself, a camera and possibly some music as your only companions. I need to get those photos developed soon.
Even if I should get a pair of proper shoes if I want to do more of that.

Here's to 2010 being an interesting year. At least we'll be getting a bunch of good games and movies. So that's something to look forward to at least.

It's full of stars! Or planets in this case.

2009-12-15T00:44:00.003+01:00

Buh. Buh. My god. It's almost breathtaking beautiful.

Almost a bit of a shame I can't get myself to play the actual game. It's not like it's bad and all but just a bit too sluggish for me.
Makes me wish that CCP would license that to other game developers so we'd see a resurgence of Space Sims again.

Also. I would kill for a Freelancer 2 using planets like that. Really. I would. Because Freelancer was awesome. Despite it's flaws. Still one helluva fun game in many ways.

I just realized something...

2009-12-05T02:33:00.001+01:00

That the second disc that came with my copy of Dragon Age: Origins CE is essentially useless. It can't start the game due to a authorization error and it doesn't seem to be used for anything else since the first disc handles installation and playing just fine. (The left one is the bonus DVD, my first disc is sitting in my driver.)

So why on earth give me a second DVD for the game that I can't use? So they just add the DVD as filler or something?
At least I know this wont be the case with Mass Effect 2 since it's been deemed big enough to actually fill two DVDs. Which I really don't know what to say about, on one side it's impressive to see them dedicated enough to make this game long, but on the other hand it does make me wonder if they're not just adding a lot of fluff to make it seem bigger than it is. Or that they're really horrible at compressing material.

At least we know that the characters we meet in ME2 are going to be very familiar.

Short fiction

2009-12-03T01:55:00.003+01:00

I was under the water even before I noticed it. Wherever I was it was murky and dark and I could barely see anything in it. I came gasping up for air a split second later and then started looking around. Where was I really?
That I was in some kind of pool was obvious, but it didn't seem like your ordinary pool at all. There was beams with floodlights hanging just above me. As I took in my surroundings I realized where I was. The bastard had dropped me in the city's aquarium for some reason or another. And the largest exhibit they had there was...

The shark pool.

My heart stopped cold. It was then I suddenly became acutely aware that I wasn't the only swimmer in the pool. I felt something faintly brushing by my leg as I tried to stay afloat. My entrance must have attracted their attention and now they were out looking what it was.
A voice inside my head was screaming "Get out! Get out! Get out right now!" and it took all my willpower not to just make a mad dash for the edge of the aquarium and just try to climb out.
A fin suddenly crested the water surface just a meter away from me before it disappeared under again and lost from my sight. I could hear the sound of a another behind me. I resisted the urge to turn around and look at it.
I looked around, at the other side I could see a ladder up to a service platform. Either it was permanently mounted there or someone had forgotten to pull it up. Whoever that was I was forever thankful to right now.
I slowly started swimming in the direction of the ladder, still hearing the sound of fins breaking the water surface at places and at one time I think I managed to brush past one. I tried not to jerk away.
All the while the voices in my head was screaming for me to pick up the pace and just get out of the pool and ignore everything else. My heart was thumping loudly in my ears and my breath was quick and ragged. I felt exposed and afraid for some reason.

When I suddenly felt the ladder in my hand I was up and onto the platform in a split second. For a while I just lay there panting. The noises from the pool died down, it's inhabitants obviously loosing interest in me.
As I lay there on that hard metal grating, panting and looking at the roof of the aquarium I couldn't help but to start laughing. It just came bubbling up from me and suddenly I was in fits of laughter. How silly of me to be afraid of this. The city aquarium sharks weren't dangerous at all, I'd been here before and read all about that. So why was I so afraid then?
I just lay there and laughed at myself and my stupidity until I had calmed myself down and now started to realize that I was now soaking wet and the grating on the platform was starting to hurt.
Now I just had to slip out of the aquarium unnoticed by any guards, and then deal with a certain mage who was surely now laughing merrily at my expense.

Red Storm rising

2009-11-29T02:49:00.001+01:00

As I mentioned before I've been meaning to do a video playthrough of World in Conflict.
This of course entails me actually finishing it so I won't look like a total moron while doing it. *coughyoutubecough*

And I've forgotten how fun the game actually is. Especially since the campaign is quite engaging, and not as incredibly cheesy as say the plot for Modern Warfare 2 and feels believable in many ways. And the fact that it's in many ways very similar to Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy, which is one of my favorite books by him, mostly because it's more sensible in some ways.
And the game itself is just fun through and through. Not to mention it's a radically different RTS formula than what you usually see. And it even remains so today as far as I know.
Now that I think about it for that part, I can barely recall any recent RTS that has the same gameplay mechanics. I suppose Dawn of War 2 is a close runner up in some ways but at the same time it's mix of RPG and the focus on smaller group combat doesn't really make it a contender in the same class. Otherwise I can't honestly recall any RTS games that work similar. Not to mention I am almost hard pressed to remember any recent noticeable RTS releases.
Which is a bit strange since WiC does remove the notion of downtime to replenish forces as is prevalent in other RTS games with its focus on continuous offense and reinforcement system.
So why hasn't more games done similar things? While I wouldn't go as far as saying that the RTS genre is going away any time soon, there is a noticeable decline in it. As I mentioned, I can barely recall any decent RTS releases for this year or so. While there have been some RTS games released this year, none has really been that noticeable. And the upcoming RTS games that are to look for are all part of bigger franchises, thinking specifically of C&C4, Starcraft 2 and Supreme Commander 2 in this case. R.U.S.E. as well I would say does belong to that group, seeing as Ubisoft has tried to push it somewhat hard. While I wouldn't say that there is a direct lack of RTS games being developed, there is however almost a lack of really interesting ones that provide something different with new mechanics. The genre would almost do well with another WiC like game being released for a fresh breath of air.

Which makes it more sad to see how the WiC and also Ground Control developers Massive Entertainment has been treated. Especially since they got sold off by Activision, bought up by UbiSoft who doesn't seem to had any use for them so far as nothing has really been heard from them other than they were going to develop simple MMO games for them. Which is almost criminal when we are talking about a company that is extremely competent when it comes to RTS development and can be more or less compared to be equals with Relic when it comes to creating competent and good games for that genre. Hopefully Massive will make a return somehow.
(Looking at their website I noticed they're looking for game testers. If my studies weren't picking up in January I'd love to try that.)

But going back to WiC itself, one thing I had forgotten about it was the really impressive cutscenes, both the ones created within the games and the outside the game as well. Especially the opening cutscene for the New York mission was particularly impressive on many many levels.

Video Games | World in Conflict | Exclusive GC 2007 Trailer HD

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

The track is Audioslave - Shadow on the Sun if anyone was wondering.
That cutscene is just good on so many levels with its buildup and climax and composition and it's one definitive favorites from the game.

Another reason why you really shouldn't love WiC is that it has still one of the best looking nuclear explosions in any game. Even if the one in Modern Warfare is a close runner up when it comes to looking really awe inspiring and spectacular. Hmm, that gives me an idea for the future even...

Also I can't not post this trailer for the game just because how wonderful it is.

Video Games | World in Conflict | Magnum P.I. Trailer HD

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

I think I'm turning Japanese

2009-11-25T03:26:00.001+01:00

I'm turning Japanese
I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so
Turning Japanese

Oh no! Those pesky Japanese are invading our western games with their filthy anime cinematics. They're ruined for all future and will never ever match up to the originals greatness and splendor!

You know what?
I don't care. Hell. I'm looking forward to see it.
Why? Multiple reasons why.
Firstly, while their games may be bog-standard JRPG stuff with a plot sometimes incredibly stupid or just japanese, Square-Enix knows how to make good and impressive cinematics. Just take a look at the material shown of FF14.

Video Games | Final Fantasy XIV Online | TGS 09: Trailer HD

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

While the character designs and such are obviously very Asian in looks, the CGI itself is frankly wonderful to behold and I'd be thrilled to see cinematics with those graphics in either Thief 4 or Deus Ex 3. Not to forget the material shown from FF13 which is almost as equally impressive.
While it may not be as visually impressive as what Blizzard has created for a while now I would still say their cinematics rank very high on my list.

Of course now you'd be spouting that they'd all look like effeminate Japanese males and western at all. Says who really? If anything they'd have several design sketches to work from and designs to use in their videos and so forth to keep it in tone with the actual game. I frankly doubt the developers would be stupid enough to just say "Okay, we need cinematics for a Deus Ex game. Go nuts." No. Just no. They just wouldn't be that dumb. They'd would have their say into it and get stuff changed.
Would that completely remove their influence in stuff? Nope. We're still talking cinematics made by a completely different culture and a way of thinking when it comes to composition.

However what intrigues me the most is how they're going to do it all. Especially since this is the studio that has apparently only made Final Fantasy games and now they're willing to try something different. That is my biggest attraction, just to see what they've come up with. Will it be a style similar to say Masamune Shirow's Ghost in the Shell or will they try a totally different thing? Who knows. And I'm interested to see the end result.

"Waah Waah," you then might go. "They'll be nothing like the stuff from the old games." And? Games change. I am frankly sick and tired of the bloody nostalgia goggles syndrome that is continuously appearing within communities. Hell. I've been guilty of it too, so yes. I am hypocrite. But at the same time I'm sick of hearing people moan and gripe that older games we're better than the newer ones just because they weren't "dumbed" down for the more "casual" audience.
Guess what? Things change. Who could've guessed that really
Today's game industry is so much more larger than all those years ago when the earlier games we're made.
This of course means that things have to change to actually be able to sell today. Oh yes I am sure developers, publishers and everyone else can sit and say that the old games were gems of its time and timeless etc. But at the same time you have to realize that a lot of the stuff back then wouldn't really sell with the audience that exist now. Sometimes it's just too complicated and sometimes it just doesn't work. And that's just really how it is currently. Overly complex and complicated games may sell to a small audience, just look at Paradox Hearts of Iron games for instance. But if you're a major games developer doing that isn't just feasible economically, especially when we are talking multi-million dollar projects that take years to develop. Doing that for a very small audience would be nothing short of suicide.
So games have to change to fit the audience and be able to actually sell.

Of course this agitates fans. But in all honesty fans will always whine just because what they see doesn't match them and the developers should adhere to their obviously grand view of things.
To hell with them.
They're a bunch of ungrateful little arses that will literally never be happy about anything and should frankly be ignored in many cases. Prime example in my eyes is either the World of Warcraft community or rabid Fallout fans.

But on the other side of the coin I can argue that developers should look after the fans that provide consistent and good feedback and comments that actually help.
And don't get me started on starting boycotts and petitions. As we've seen just recently they will in the end fail, either slowly or just in a spectacular way that will make them look laughable in the end. Not to mentions most petitions are just ignored for the scream piles of nonsense they are.
But what they are really looking for are the buyers, the ones who doesn't really visit the community forums or anything and just bought the game because it looked fun. It's there where the profits lie. It's there where should look to.

And how to do that? By producing a game really. It may not be the same as it's earlier iterations but that doesn't matter. Things change and so does games. And stagnation in the end leads you nowhere and only through change can you really go forward.

I will most likely buy both Deus Ex 3 and Thief 4. Why? Because in the end the games mechanics comes in second for me to the story it has to tell me and the experience that comes with it. And if Square-Enix is going to do the cinematics for the game then let them really. I know I'm going to enjoy it and who knows, maybe get a laugh or two if they let the stuff be really ridiculous.

A kodak moment

2009-11-22T02:55:00.001+01:00

Something that's been rather underutilized is the notion of replays in games. And I'm not talking about replayability but the game saving a recording of a multiplayer match for later viewing and/or showing off to others. The functionality is there but it's usually restricted to a similar position as if you were spectacting the game as it was going on rather than allowing more freedom.
Although there are games that provide you with a wide range of tools and similar to allow you to create movies and such from the replay footage. One of the better examples I know of is World in Conflict that comes with an application that allows you to change camera angles and perspective of a replay recording.

There is however one thing that niggles me with this, and that's actually the fact that this functionality is restricted for multiplayer only and not allowing you to use this for singeplayer. Or at least this is what the common norm is in this case. Which is a shame really.
Because allowing a similar functionality for singe player would open up a rather big stage for video walkthroughs as well as showcases of those really cool moments of the game in a much more expansive way that is possible. With the right tools you could in a way create your own movie using the replay footage as a basis.
There is an obvious problem with this though, and that's the fact that singe player is a lot more rigid in its structure than multiplayer. So obviously the whole thing would be rather limited to games with an individual level structure as to avoid amassing large chunks of data that would clog up the machine.
And then there comes the issue with saving and reloading, not to mention cutscenes as well.
That however could obviously be solved with the game's built in video program providing the reloaded footage as a new segment, thus allowing you to edit and connect these as a coherent thing. The same would go for cutscenes as in that case the actions of the player is frozen anyway, and at the same time the cutscene footage would only be saved once as a separate clip.

Speaking of that and also digressing from the main topic a bit, more games should allow you to watch some cutscenes outside of you playing the main game, WiC did this with it's non ingame ones and I wish more games would do that.

Anyway, one of the really big reasons to why I'd love to see a feature like that is I'm a rather big fan of Let's Plays (having made a couple of myself), which is more a video showcase of a game rather than a correct walkthrough, even if that usually comes into account as well.
See the whole idea came into my mind after looking over the possibility to do an LP of World in Conflict, and showing it normally like you would be playing it would've just been dull as a lot of things wouldn't be shown, such as the impressive explosions or the ability to really look in close on the fighting. Mainly because keeping tabs on that while trying to play the game would create a very disjointed if not very confusing feeling for the video as you keep zooming in and out as you play.
At the same time it's annoying to realize that the game offers you a toolset to play with replays and create something out of the ordinary with them but then restricting these to multiplayer matches only. The tool set would come into so much use in creating a coherent series of videos detailing the campaign from a better perspective that would otherwise not be given.

Another game that came into mind for that for me is Tom Clancy's HAWX. I think a replay function was available for the Ace Combat games, and had a similar thing been available for HAWX with an increased tool set who knows what fun thing one could do with that. Especially since the camera given to you otherwise is rather limited, or in case of the Assistance Off mode, very very irritating and cumbersome.

The whole idea is a bit of a wishful thinking since its very limited in its usage and may only appeal to a small audience (like me). But at the same time it would've been interesting if more games added a function like what I described and allow for some interesting user generated videos. Not to mention the things it could actually do for machinima as well.

My Gaming Time

2009-11-20T03:03:00.001+01:00

So my gaming time has for a while now been occupied mainly by the two current big releases in gaming this quarter. So let's start at the top with Dragon Age: Origins.

The first thing I can say is that I like it. It's not spectacular at any part, just wholesome good. It's standard Bioware fare through and through, it's a solid production that is marred by the occasional issues here and there but is generally good. The world shown in the game is generic and nothing really spectacular about it but it works as a fantasy world without feeling really odd so I suppose that what counts. I miss having your character talk in conversations instead of just listening, something you will do a lot, although that is countered with good voice acting which makes it very very bearable, if not enjoyable at many parts.
The story isn't extremely engaging, and comparing it to Baldurs Gate 2 would be a mistake. Although if I start doing those comparisons I might as well just call myself a grognard and get that over it. But despite it's lack of depth, the story will keep you going.

My favorite part of the game is partly the characters, who are quite solid in many aspects. Sure Alistair is your token whiney male who also serves as the ever faithful companion and the main love interest for females that appears in all Bioware games. But at the same time he's quite amusing to talk to and I've found myself laughing at a lot of his lines. And yes, Morrigan is a class A bitch who disapproves everything. (Morrigan disapproves -5.)
Not to mention the group conversations that occur occasionally harkens back to Baldurs Gate and are quite the joy to listen to.
Speaking of listening, the music isn't honestly much to hang up to, sounding a bit too generic as well and containing nothing really spectacular a side from one or two tracks. Which is a bit of a shame since earlier Bioware soundtracks have been a lot more memorable.

I've clocked 10 to 15 hours with the game and only really scratched the surface. Not to mention not having tried out other classes or starting backgrounds as well which will add at least a couple of more hours. While it's standard Bioware fare it's not a short one.

The same can't really be said for Modern Warfare 2. The singleplayer can be finished in about 5 or so hours on normal difficulty and the only replay value you have after that is playing on higher difficulties for the achievements or finding all the intelligence scattered across the levels. So what about it then?
Well lets make one thing clear, the story is... stupid. Nothing more can be said about that. It's got plot holes at several places and feels like an entire season of 24 condensed into a couple of hours.
I'll refrain from talking about that level since others have already talked about that in much better quality than me. But I'll say this at least, I agree with what's said about the level lacking any impact what so ever on the player due to the game's pace and sudden switches in tone. It just doesn't work and the whole thing comes off as an attempt to try to shock but in the end is nothing by a minor sting that goes over the second the mission ends. Not to mention the holes in the plot that the level in question creates that the game just glosses over or the fact that it just forgets the whole thing a couple of minutes later and keeps on going.
But aside from that I from that I found myself liking the American parts the most. The Taskforce 141 sections, while cool in the beginning, petered of somewhat towards the end to something more generic and boring and somewhat forgettable. Instead it was the Ranger parts that was the most interesting and possibly the best sections in the game altogether.
This mainly because they reminded me of another favorite game of mine. Namely World in Conflict by Massive Entertainment. In many ways the share a similar plot with the United States being invaded and you having to fight them off. And that part is what Modern Warfare 2 does very well. The sections in the US, especially the final levels are probably some of the best in the game because they feel so particularly different from the rest, it's almost a throwback to the war torn levels in the earlier Call of Duty games and I frankly call that a good thing. The finale for Ranger parts isn't particularly showy but still leaves you satisfied.
The game's ending is an obvious showing that there will be a third game in the series. And hopefully the last really. Even if there is talks about bringing in yet another developer into the fold. We'll see how that goes.

Multiplayer is good. Even if I'm not the best at fast shooters and prefer slower ones but with some friends it's enjoyable. The IWnet system works well most of the time but when it doesn't it can feel a bit frustrating having to jump in and out between lobbies. Not to mention the occasional odd loop when the service is trying to merge an already full lobby with yours. And then there's the fact that the first cheaters have already appeared , which can ruin it for you. Although in my case I did get to see the tactical nuke in action. Hopefully they'll be dealt with sooner or later in some way.
Had dedicated servers worked better instead of the current system? Most likely yes, but at least the IWnet service isn't terribly clunky and works. And some games even manage to be terrible at providing a decent server browser for dedicated. I'm looking at you BF2 among others.
Could have been worse, but I suppose it could have also been better.
The co-op Special Forces section is a blast though and I almost hope they expand on that more, wouldn't say no to include a bit bigger missions involve three players or so as well.

I suppose I could go on about the so called "idiot tax" and increased price and how the whole IWnet system spells doom for PC gaming yadda yadda yadda. But let's face it, it's pointless and almost a bit grognardy to do so anyway.

Dear EA/Bioware

2009-11-10T01:07:00.000+01:00

Love what you've done with Dragon Age. Despite the occasional game breaking bug that requires program restart to fix.

But I'm sure you've heard that from more or less everyone so instead I want to switch your attention to something else. The music. Well specifically the advertisement that 30 Seconds from Mars is doing a song for the game.

This I see is a missed opportunity of grand proportions. Instead of a band that sounds like its composed of a bunch of whiney teenagers (which I assume it is) that possesses a singer with any lack of singing voice at all (or there might just be one hidden under that whiney sounding voice), and is frankly beaten by the ending song from Mass Effect ([link]). Not to mention the frankly odd selection of Marilyn Manson for the trailers, a thing that most definitely was a post production selection as there is scarce any evidence of it appearing anywhere else but in the trailers.
No, what you instead should've done is to look at a music genre that was almost made for this purpose. Namely the Fantasy Metal genre.

Think about it. It's filled with just the right things. Swords! Sorcery! Dragons! Epic dragon slaying! Slaying the forces of darkness and saving the day! All integral parts of Dragon Age.
I mean I'm sure Blind Guardian would've loved making an epic song about the game. It's just up their alley. Or why not similar bands such as Iron Savior or Iced Earth?
So why choose something as... dreadfully horrible as 30 Seconds from Mars when you instead have a whole genre of music to pick and chose from?

Here in my car...

2009-11-03T01:54:00.000+01:00

Imagine this, it's a bright sunny day, completely devoid of any dark or ominous clouds. The sun is shining on a long open road that stretches into the distance, seemingly endlessly. It's one of those perfect days that can be rare at times. On this road there's a car, let's say something simple but yet sleek. A BMW Z4, or Porsche 911. Anyway, this car is just driving down this road with not a care in the world and just allowed to drive and see the sights that the road has to offer and just let the driver enjoy the drive.

This is strangely a type of game that I've suddenly developed an urge for. I partly blame that on the Top Gear music collection "Seriously cool driving music" that I found yesterday. There was something about most of the tracks there that just wanted me to hop in a car and drive without any real destination.
Problem is of course that I don't have a car. Nor a license. Nor a sports car for that part which is what the songs really wanted me to drive.
Which then made me wonder if there wasn't any game that allowed you to do something similar. The first answer was obviously the GTA seres, and in particular San Andreas with it's large expanse of countryside to drive in. But at the same time it's not what I'm really looking for. It feels to arcadey and while the driving is fun it sorta lacks that special something. Not to mention you have to do several missions before you even get access to the entire thing so it's not really what I'm looking for.
Otherwise there's always the Burnout series, but those are almost too stunt focused, with their incessant focus on doing wild stuff and not just letting you drive.
And then there's Fuel as well. Even if I'm more into classic sport cars than off road vehicles.
Looking even further back I suppose there's the really old Microsoft Midtown Madness series. I remember playing the first one rather fondly even if it perhaps a bit too arcadey, fun though. Never tried the second game that much though.

In a way I'm looking a Gran Turismo for the PC so to say. A nice blend between driving simulator and driving game. Alongside a good racing section there is free drive section would allow you to just drive either in existing race tracks or various cities or even generated open areas based on a couple of credentials such as what kind of land it should be and so forth. And then just allow you to drive and explore and not care about anything else while music flows from your speakers and you can just relax. Or go hog wild and see just how fast you can drive without flying of the road.

You could almost say that I'm looking for a game that's the driving parts of Top Gear when they review various cars.
Heck, in a way it would've almost been Top Gear: The game.
Well except without the silly challenges I guess. Although that's almost a perfect idea for another game.

Important lesson of the day...

2009-10-13T08:39:00.000+02:00

When your camera is out of film don't try to wing it first for a while and then check the manual since you've almost forgotten it.
Yeah...
So I managed to tear out the film from the roll it was going back into. How the hell did I managed to do that really? I haven't gotten a clue. Probably forgot about the little release at the bottom and brute forced it somehow. Shame. Not that I'll be able to develop them now since they've been exposed to light and probably ruined.
Not that there were any important images on it or anything, just scenic stuff that I took from my window. Still wanted to see how those full moon pictures would have turned out.
Probably just black with some blurred white mess. But you can always hope.
Oh well, lesson learned I suppose. Won't be making the same mistake twice that's for sure.

A stroke of genius

2009-10-12T21:08:00.000+02:00

One of my favorite past times is reading. I can't resist reading a good book whenever I get the chance to.
But unfortunately I usually lack the money to buy the books I want to read. Which is a very sad thing you know. Very sad.

So that's why I'm starting up the Donate for Reading fund. Money donated will go towards the Book fund and when enough money has been raised I shall purchase a book out of the list I want and review it after I've done reading it.

I mean if people are willing to donate a total of 4000 dollars for a cat that the owners willingly adopted despite it needing medical treatment I am sure I can get enough money for this. I mean it is for a good cause and all.

Those little moments...

2009-10-08T02:15:00.000+02:00

So I picked Jade Empire back up again after some times inactivity with it due to unknown reasons. And it's quite fun. Especially one particular place that kind of surprised me in a very positive (and awesome way). A warning for light spoilers for the game.

Now in the Imperial City there is a little side quest revolving around the Black Panther Martial Arts school. The main gist of it is that there's some trouble brewing between the two masters at the school and the Second Brother of the school has gone missing.
As you enter you get accosted by some brats who doesn't seem to like visitors but are pushovers anyway. It's then you're introduced to First and Third brothers who seem to be thinking rather differently regarding matters. After learning of what's happening in the school you enroll and have to fight your way through the ranks from fifth brother up to third and then you get to face first brother.
So after beating fourth brother you are suddenly called to meet one of the master. This guy is... obviously not a nice guy as he wants you to kill the other master and first brother for him to take power.
Now you can either join him in his plot or oppose him. Playing a good guy (I don't like playing evil characters at all really), I chose not to join his plot. This obviously angered him and he swore that I would regret it.
So then you go and challenge third brother for a duel and it turns out that the evil master has trained him extra much. (Not that it mattered that much since he was a pushover anyway.) So then you're taken to see the good master of the school.
Who turns out to be a ghost.
So the evil master went and killed the good one while he was asleep and stole his powers in some way. And due to you being a bit different due to your training elsewhere you have a better chance against the evil master so you go and confront him and tell him it's over...
All of a sudden the game switches to a cutscene where the guy kicks you through a solid wall and sends you sprawling to the floor in the next room.
It's by this point I've got a huge grin on my face as I beat the utter snot out of the guy.

I can't help but to love it when something as unexpected as that happens in a game. In most cases you'd expect him just to attack you but instead they do something like that to set an ever better stage for the fight that is to come. And the best part is that the guy wasn't even a major character of any sorts. Just somebody in an optional side quest.
It's something I love to see while playing and it's something that really should be done more often just to give the player an extra treat. That extra cutscene or something that just makes a sequence of events look even better or a fight even more impressive.
And it doesn't even have to be a cutscene.
There's this moment in Splinter Cell Chaos Theory where you overhear two guards talking about ninjas since they're in a Japanese retreat, the conversation in itself is quite funny but if you then grab one of the guards that was in the conversation and interrogate him he suddenly believes that he's been caught by an actual ninja. It's without a doubt one of the best interrogation conversations in the game just because it's so unexpected and funny at the same time and you'll probably just overlook the whole thing if you hadn't bothered grabbing the guard.

Compared to my other rant earlier this is something I love to see more of in games. That little conversation or cutscene that can be funny or awesome and located at that odd place you didn't expect something like that to be.
Oh and speaking of Jade Empire again, so far the best quest has been when my male character dressed up as Lady to properly enact a scene in a play. Now that was quite fun.

Something from the headlines

2009-10-07T13:49:00.000+02:00

"And something I'll add to that, Activision also did not want Modern Warfare. They thought working on a modern game was risky and [thought], 'oh my god you can't do that, it's crazy!' They were doing market research to show us we were wrong the whole time."

This quote sums, in my meaning, pretty much up the current state of the gaming industry. This incessant unwilling to continue to take risks in trying new ideas and settings. Not to mention many publishers more or less actively working against new ideas and instead conforming to the current mold of what actually works and will sell well.
The sad part is that we consumers tend to gobble it up and then complain about how stale the industry is afterward.

The whole situation is a bit of a Catch 22 or a slow downwards spiral. To encourage new ideas to be developed we of course want to support developers by buying what they've developed. But at the same time the developers or publishers realize that their Inside the mold stuff sells really well. So why bother doing anything new that won't probably sell? Which in turns means that us consumers shouldn't really buy their games to show that Inside the Mold stuff are really getting boring. But that means that the developer may not get enough funds to try anything new and therefore risk the chance of shutting down.
It's frustrating in many ways.

Going off on another tangent I must say that Infinity Ward do deserve a pat on the back for actually having backbone enough and standing up to their own ideas.
Because frankly, the WW2 shooter genre is bloated. There is no doubt about that. Just too many games repeatedly treading over the same areas again and and again with barely any variation too it. Especially since they all tend to focus on the European and African campaigns and almost completely forgoing the Pacific Ocean campaign with only a few exceptions.

But that doesn't detract from the fact that the entire genre is overloaded and overdone. A lot of gamers acknowledge that fact these days. Which is why Infinity Wards move was a good one.
And it's payed off really really well. I imagine Activision is feeling really good at all the money that the Modern Warfare franchise has earned them by now. Giving themselves pats on their back when they were originally so against the idea.
Although I'd almost love to see them kicking their rear ends if Infinity Ward had moved to another publisher with Modern Warfare and gotten the same results.

What where they thinking?

2009-10-06T20:41:00.000+02:00

While gaming there are times you come across those odd decisions that the developers tend to do. Sometimes this thing doesn't match up with that or something minor. And then there are those decisions that just makes you go "What where they thinking?"

I came across one of those moments while playing S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Clear Sky recently. Once you've finished your storyline missions in the initial Swamp zone you are told to go talk to a guide that will take you to Cordon in order to progress the game's plot further on. So after talking to the guide and loading the new zone you emerge at the exit of a tunnel.
Now a quick mention of the Cordon area for those who haven't played the first Stalker or Clear Sky. To the far south of the area there is an army base that is usually always staffed. Alongside the bandits and a couple of other factions the army will always be hostile to you whatever you do. So usual visits to the base is more than often met by gunfire..
Now the tunnel where you emerge is located more or less next to the army base. This really shouldn't be a problem since the AI doesn't see you until you are really close.
But for some odd and frankly really stupid reason the developers decided that the tunnel entrance should be covered by a heavy machine gun.
A heavy machine that will see you no matter if it's day or night. And I know this because it was pitch black when I emerged from the tunnel and there was no spotlights or anything shining in my direction and I had turned off my own flashlight as well. Yet I got spotted and fired at. Now this machine gun will very easily cut you to ribbons because you're still in your starter equipment with the worst armor available and mostly just walking around with a double barreled shotgun or a submachine gun if you've been lucky and found enough ammo for it.
Hadn't I actually played Clear Sky before it would've been one of those moments that I would've just shut down the game and never bothered with it again because it's an utter kick in the balls by the developers. Why they even thought that was a good idea is beyond me. Especially since it's obvious that it's scripted to actually fire at you even if it's pitch black and you're a guy standing in a forest at ten or twenty meters away from where the gunner actually is. And yet he can see you if it was daylight.

A similar moment that I can recently think of is, funnily enough, from Splinter Cell Chaos Theory during the next to last level. It takes place in Japanese bathhouse and a clandestine deal has gone bad with you as witness and the main perpetrator makes his escape and you have to go after him and take him out. It's after this point the game get's a bit harder since now you have to go up against enemies that can see you in the dark as well and thereby negating your main advantage. But after going through a room that can only be classified as annoying with you having to go through a room with alert guards looking your way and equipped with NVGs as well the game takes a turn into just being a bastard. Suddenly there are bombs in the area beyond that you have to disarm. Oh this seems easy yes. But then it also suddenly throws in a couple of guards appearing as you deal with these bombs. The really annoying part is that these guards will appear regardless of you disable the guards in the previous room or not.
So if you're trying to attain a 100% stealth score for every level you can more or less kiss it goodbye for this one because that particular part is hard as hell. Not only do you have a timer that's not more than a minute long, the area is well lit and the guards are on the alert and will be easily spooked and open fire on you. It's not without reason that many (including me) love the game but hate that specific part. The only consolation to that is what you do at the end of that level. But that's barely honestly.

Why is that developers seem fit to add that particular thing or area that just seems to repeatedly kick you in the rear end while playing? I mean we've all encountered them in some way or another while playing. And reloading for the 10th time because you got killed during that particular part gets incredibly weary after a while and will mostly only lead you to stop playing the game early. Especially when it's parts that isn't really your fault such as missing that necessary combo for that particular boss or that particular jump that has to be made. While some of them can just be solved by actually putting the game down for a while and then retry, others more or less have to be brute forced through to actually complete. Which can feel a bit off if the game has been promotion a completely different play style otherwise. This is particularly noticeable for the second example in SCCT, it's a stealth game. Not an action game. So the part with the bombs just feel really out of place when you're suddenly forced to start shooting. And this is not by your own choice in this case but the game literally tossing a firefight right at you with you have no real say in the matter compared to otherwise where you are the one mostly in control of the situation and can pick if you want to go into a firefight or not.
And the Clear Sky thing is just... stupid. There's nothing more to say about than it's a really really stupid thing to do to a player. At least in this case they actually provided you with an alternate entrance to the area that allows you to bypass the machine gun. The problem there is though that the only guide you can talk to leads you to the tunnel and you'd have to be aware of where the entrance is on the map as well. But it's there. But the decisions is still just an incredibly stupid one for the developers to do.

So what can really be done against it? Now that's actually kinda tricky to say. Making it too easy would just be frankly terrible as well. Even if that can be fun at times given the situation. The whole issue is one of those fine lines you have to walk as a game developer that is mainly up to them. Even if highlighting the problems may also serve as pointer for them to know what to fix or do better in the future.

Top five...

2009-10-02T19:33:00.001+02:00

People within the games industry that I'd want to share a couple of beers with.

5. Warren Spector - Always wanted to talk to the man responsible for games such as Deus Ex and Thief.
4. Ray Muzyka - Head of Bioware, just to see why they went with the advertising route they did for Dragon Age.
3. Chris Metzen - Either him or Andy Chambers and grill them on Warcraft/Starcraft lore.
2. Joseph D. Kucan - Come on. It's Kane. Why wouldn't you?
1. Jeremy Soule - One of my favorite video game composers.

Honorary mention: Paul Barnett.

More inspiration

2009-10-01T14:36:00.001+02:00

Something I didn't really think of when I wrote my earlier entry about the Reporters at War concept is that you don't really have to look that far for inspiration for an adventure game with a similar theme.
Namely the Spirou and Fantasio comics. Which would make excellent adventure and investigation games.
Heck, you can probably even take inspiration from Tintin for it as well.

Now Spirou is a rather well known Franco-Belgian series of comics that are rather unknown in the US but very popular in the EU. Especially in Scandinavia they've always been very popular. And an old childhood favorite of mine as well.
The comics main characters are Spirou and Fantasio, who are journalists who have a tendency to run into very grand adventures, sometimes while actually being journalists. Which is frankly not something that usually happens. I mean just look at Tintin for instance, not that many of his adventures tend to start with him actually doing his job as a journalist. Even if I recall it has happened.

The Spirou comics makes an excellent basis for an adventure game just thanks to the multitude of settings and adventures that are available to you. From dealing with the New York Mafia and the Chinese Triads to dealing with a Psychotic robot that looks like Marilyn Monroe to dealing with biological weapons. And that's just some of the adventures that you can take inspiration from or base the games around.
It would even make a great basis for an episodic game where latter adventures are tacked on as case files above the main game and it's story. And a lot of these can offer various new gameplay styles from more investigation, to driving, to sneaking and combat.

Now I just wish I had access to all of my old Spirou comics so I could read them again. Been a while since I did that.

Dear everyone else

2009-09-25T12:26:00.000+02:00

Please. Would you just shut the fuck up about how bad the Halo series is? We understood you the first time you said it. And we sure as hell understood you the millionth goddamn time you said it.

YES we get the games are horrible. YES we get it that they're overhyped by the publishers. YES we get it that Master Chief is a flat and boring character. YES we get it that the playerbase is 80% shit.

Will you just please now just shut the fuck up about it.

My love for Dark Heresy has increased greatly.

2009-09-25T00:48:00.000+02:00

So the Dark Heresy page on FFG got updated with a news entry regarding the Radical's Handbook, the supplement book. Aside from a really awesome image of one of the new enemies they also posted a preview from the book.
And when I first saw the opening lines I just burst out laughing.

Radical's Handbook preview.

Well played. Very well played.

(And for those who doesn't really get it. Check this link.)

God I can't wait for it to arrive next month. Alongside the Rouge Trader core rules.

Yet more games that will never be made.

2009-09-22T23:47:00.003+02:00

Idea #1

Reporters in War. (Tentative title.)

Story: War has been brewing for some time in an ex-USSR state for quite some time. The state in questioned has been accused of harboring terrorists and have done nothing to prevent it. The oncoming invasion is quite possibly just days away and tensions are running high. Which of course makes for great news in TV and on print, so you are sent to the main capital of the state to cover this by your news agency.
The first few days are tense and suddenly during the night the first air strikes happen and the situation is continuously escalating until the first rumors of ground troops arrive.
It is during this time that you receive a tip about something happening a few miles out of town. So you and an assistant/cameraman make it out there. Only to find the village where you were headed burned down and its inhabitants massacred. The perpetrators can be hastily seen leaving the scene but when you arrive they are too far to be properly identified.
Now you are left with a scoop of a story. A story that may however leave you at harms way. For who did actually massacre all the villagers and why? Terrorist or state troops? Or a new third party?

Concept: The basic idea for this game is part action adventure and investigation. As a reporter you have to provide news to your agency as well as figuring out the story about what happened to the village. This can be done through investigating the few clues you may find and looking around.
However you at the same time have to be cautious as you might get found out by the actual perpetrators and get caught. Which may have consequences and may also lead to a premature end of your career.
So while you are out reporting about the war, as in locations being hit my air strikes, ongoing air strikes (a nice chance to replicate Gulf War footage and such. Always cool to watch that,) you at the same time ask around among the general populace and various other places about what you have find in order to slowly unravel the story. At the same time you can also choose to give what you have found to different sides of the conflict such as the state's government, the invading forces or quite possibly the terrorists, this will the affect the ending and the measure of support you might get from the various sides.

Idea #2
Fantasy Commandos

The kingdom is beset by a multitude of problems. Externally there are the threats from outlying kingdoms, both human and monstrous. Internally there are nefarious cults, monsters and many other things that seek to threaten the stability of the kingdom.
As a response the King had covertly created an organization to help combat these problems. While normal adventurers are turned heroes and corpses dealing with smaller problems this organization has been created to combat bigger threats, from Necromantic cults inside the city to possible incursions by evil forces from outside the material planes. And it is into this organization that your character enters it's ranks alongside a small number of other willing adventurers. The stakes are high but it stability of the entire world may lay at balance if you fail.

Concept: Imagine this as a fantasy Rainbow 6 in many cases. The idea have actually been done before with the Wraith Recon supplement for D&D 4th edition but nothing has really been done for computer games.
The basic idea is with the help of a small team of adventurers you complete various mission. Assisted by both steel and magic. The team itself consists of a small number of characters with set types of personalities and backgrounds. However their class and specilisations can be fully customized, as well as allowing multi-classing. Thereby providing a different experience every time you play the game. The squad controls are going to be very much like other squad based games such as SWAT 4 and Rainbow 6 where orders are given via a command prompt, but at the same time the AI is going to be clever enough to properly respond to various changes in situation so no to stifle the player and making it cumbersome to control your teammates.
The game will also give the players a pre-mission planning option with a given layout of the mission area to set up various mission plans for smooth execution. But the maps will not be fully reliable as they may miss certain parts that intelligence could not acquire. The placement of guards and enemies may also be different from the map. As well as the mission may suddenly change and present new objectives while it's ongoing to further foil plans. And only via capable commanding of what you have available will you be able to succeed in your mission.

Idea #3
Warcraft: Heroes are born (Title subject to change.)

Concept: I'm going to forgo the story part for this as it will become obvious as I explain. One thing I've always loved with World of Warcraft is the various quests. While some border on trite and annoying (Hark! Thou must slay fifteen pigs. Go forth!) some of them are really really good. Which is a bit of a shame that they're actually in an MMO as they'd make for a really good story for a single player CRPG.
So my idea for this is to take all the good and interesting quests from WoW and weave them together into a coherent singe player story. Or in this case a trilogy a stories, as there are most likely enough interesting and somewhat story based quests in the currently WoW titles to provide a separate game, each with a progressive final boss to encounter. And this time the effects would've been more noticeable in what you do.
The player can chose from either starting with the Horde or the Alliance and see the adventure unfurl in front of them in the different manners that happen for each faction. As well as both sides will have access to a number of NPC party members to assist them. Some if convinced may even join the opposite faction if the cause is right.

-----------------------------
Yes the last idea is me wanting to have another Baldur's Gate like epic game based in WoW. But who can blame me. Some of those quests would make for wicked moments in a CRPG.
Also I am horrible at making up names for things.

Maestro, music please.

2009-09-21T01:06:00.003+02:00

If said names like Zealous1, Attack slug and Kabuto the Python most people would probably think that I was listing of my online friends list.
But if I then went on and said MC Lars, Optimus Rhyme, ytcracker and MC Frontalot some would still probably think that I was reading my friends list. While others will instantly know what I'm referring to in a way.

What I am talking about is Nerdcore hip hop or just Nerdcore. Coined in 2000 by Damian Hess, otherwise known by his stage name MC Frontalot it's a genre that can be described as "Music by nerds, for nerds."
Thematically the genre is characterized by songs about subjects that nerds like. But a lot of tracks can also appeal to others as well.
The genre itself is very niche and has limited exposure in the mainstream media, this means that all Nerdcore artists are usually self-published and self-produced and usually released through channels dealing with the genre.
Nerdcore's closest musical neighbors lie with the geek rock and filk genres as they are thematically the same.

The subjects that Nerdcore genre takes up is very diverse, ranging from science and politics to science fiction and fantasy, to games and gaming, to anime and cartoons, to movies and TV-series and also as far as poking fun or celebrating certain other sub cultures or such common things such as porn on the internet.
But what ties the whole genre together is its nerds singing the things that other nerds likes. Which is really also one of the main reasons it will most likely never really reach huge mainstream popularity.

If you're interested in the genre I recommend at least checking out Rhymetorrents website that updates regularly with new releases by various Nerdcore artists available for download. And the genre's very DIY nature has also meant that a lot of artists works are available for download on various torrent sites.
Also check out the two feature length documentaries Nerdcore Rising and Nerdcore for Life that both deal with the genre and the persons behind it.

The nerdcore could rise up, it could get elevated.
Oh, and wouldn’t all of those tough rappers hate it
if the nerdcore rose up and got elevated?
We consider the possibleness of this not overstated.
-MC Frontalot, Nerdcore Rising.

A 20th century golem.

2009-09-18T23:13:00.008+02:00

If you were to go around asking people what weapon they would instantly think of when prompted you'd probably get a number of answers. But at the same time you'd most likely hear a lot of people repeat the same two words, "Kalashnikov" and "AK-47." The Kalashnikov automatic rifle, model of 1947 or Avtomat Kalashnikova 47 is probably one of the most iconic weapons of the 20th century. Ever since it's creation in 1947 by Michail Kalashnikov it's been used in countless of wars and slowly turned from a service weapon to an icon for both freedom and terror. It's this development from an ordinary weapon developed in the Soviet Union during the second world war to the brand that it is today that Michael Hodges try to explain in his book "AK47. The story of the people's gun."

The book is a journey from the early origins by the hands of Kalashnikov, and how his upbringing came to shape the weapon he became so famous for, to present day United States. It's a journey that takes the reader through several locations throughout, such as the jungles of Vietnam, Palestine, the African continent and present day Iraq. Throughout this journey the focus is the AK47s effect on history and society. And I have to say it's an interesting journey. If not a very frightening one. While there are loads of books discussing the Ak47 as a weapon, there is almost a lack of discussion of it's impact on history and society. Currently there are a couple of million AKs in circulation all over the world. Barely one can open a newspaper without seeing at least one of them shown on a picture. Sons have been written praising it. It has in many ways gone beyond what any other weapon of war has ever done. So what has caused this? Hodges tentative tries to properly answer that question, pointing to it's ease of use, it's survivability and so forth, but never really coming to a solid conclusion that can be called the answer to the question. The closest answer there is comes from Kalashnikov himself during Hodges interviews with him. There he says that his creation has turned into a Golem, a thing with a life of it's own from old Jewish tales. And in a way he's right. The weapon has spiraled out of anyone's control, coining such phrases as Kalashnikovkid and Kalashnikov culture, entire societies live by it if not large parts African continent is controlled by it. Hodges also takes up on how fanatical islamists have taken up the AK as an icon for their fighting and how it has come to symbolize them across the world and also how they use it as recruitment tool. There is a particularly horrifying segment where Hodges is watching a video from Chechnya that depicts an Islamic attack on a Russian convoy and what later on happens to a survivor of that attack. Almost all the time during the video the AK is visible in some form or another and it's a very visceral reminder of it's presence today in conflicts and the horrible acts many of it's users commit. Hodges does make mention of games as well and how it has impacted today's generation, and makes references to both Counter Strike and Doom of games that has them. While he could have picked a better alternative to list alongside Counterstrike he is very right with that the AK47 becoming an integral part of today's gaming society in many ways alongside it's "counterpart" the M16. There is barely any game that depicts modern battles that does not feature an AK of some sort. Not to mention there are several games that takes place in the future that has it as well. But as with the modern world it is still a tool to spread the message of rebelliousness with lethal force. Which has made attain a status of coolness amongst many youngsters today. And in a way completely ignoring the dark and bloody history behind the actual weapon. It's clear after a while for the reader that the development of the AK from a weapon into an icon is very much a product of history and society and people's need for conflict. There is barely any conflict after the second world war that has not seen the AK47 being used and there is no real signs of them going out of fashion for a long time and the cultural status of the weapon will most likely outlive the weapons itself. Hodges book is a rare fascinating journey into it's background and an interesting meeting with people who have come across it in a myriad of ways. And for anyone with an interest of modern day history and in a way also those interested in brand development it's a recommended read. In. 2047 the weapon will celebrate its 100th birthday and as with something with 60 years on its neck it does not show any signs of actually stopping.

Forgotten ones.

2009-09-14T00:01:00.010+02:00

Outcast is one of those games that was loved by the gaming journalism but was somewhat ignored by the general audience.
Released in 1999 by the now defunct Belgian developer Appeal and released by Infogrames it was an action-adventure game for the PC and it quickly became loved by gaming sites and reviewers for it's gameplay, story and music.

The story revolves around Cutter Slade, an ex Navy SEAL, is sent through a through a portal into another world where an unmanned probe has been damaged and somehow created a black hole that threatens to swallow Earth. Slade's job is to escort three scientists to the probe to fix it. However he arrives separated from the others onto the world of Adelpha. Where he is hailed by the natives, the Talans, as their messiah. Who shall save them from the terrible ruler that now controls Adelpha.

A lot what Outcast offered you was nothing that had really been seen before. From the six different regions all containing different types of life to even a developed language for the Talans. Not to mention a fairly well developed social structure based on the concept of Essence.
And all this information is given to you as you progress in the game. And a lot of it isn't essential to know and can be picked up through fully voiced conversation with other Talans. This was in turn supported by good voice acting that never really sounded out of place or bad.
The game's music by Lennie Moore and the Moscow Symphony Orchestra received special praise due to the fact that fully orchestrated music was at that time period exceedingly rare. A particular favorite track of mine is World of Temples, which is the track for the first place you visit after the game's introduction.

It was however the graphics that were the most noticeable.
Instead of using normal pixel-based graphics Outcast instead used voxel-based graphic. And was one of the few games that fully used voxel graphics.
The advantage with voxels was that it removed the requirement of hardware acceleration via a 3d graphics card and instead used the CPU for processing. Something that Outcast used to full extent by providing a number of graphical effects that were back then impossible to fully render. This led to the game being praised for it's beautiful graphics and it still looks very pretty today to a certain extent.
However the reliance on the CPU meant that it was very heavy on that time's processors and required considerable amounts of RAM to actually be able to run well on the maximum resolution.
Other notable games that used it was many of the games published by Novalogic such as the Delta Force and Comanche series. However the usage has somewhat fallen out of fashion, even if some games do implement certain voxel graphic elements today.

Outcasts AI was also something very new and consisted of several routines called agents that controlled what the AI should do and to be able to complete tasks. These agents could also compete and interact with each other in order to finish a particularly complex task.

Another thing worth mentioning was the way the game handled saving your progress. Early you received an item cleverly called the Gaamsav in which you could "capture your essence". When used the Gaamsav emitted a very bright light and particular sound. If there was enemies nearby they could hear this and investigate. Which made you think where you wanted to save your progress.

So why did the game fall through? Well the main reason would most likely be due to the fact that the game required a very powerful computer to be able to run properly. A thing we tend to see repeated even today. This made the game somewhat unavailable to a large part of the audience. Which is really a shame since the game is a very unique experience in many ways. From the sweeping music to the still rather impressive visuals to the characters and whole different feel of Adelpha itself.
Although it was almost close that my own experience of the game would've been a lot shorter than it really was. Back around the time of its release I tried the demo and I thought then it felt odd, not to mention that it did make my parents computer chug a bit, so I never gave it much thought until I by a stroke of luck received it through an old one game and application a month deal that we subscribed on. A subscription that gave me a number of old but good games as well so it wasn't all that bad.
So remember all the praise I read about it I gave it another good. Which ended up with me stopping rather early in and never really touching it until a long time later when I finally decided to try it for real. And I can't say I regret it.

The real sad story is that while there was a sequel announced it will sadly never come. Appeal went bankrupt a few years ago so the whole thing is pretty much dead. Even if there is a couple of fan projects working on restoring it on a newer engine. Since the game itself has a very hard time working on today's faster CPU's. Which is a shame because I would have loved to see a sequel made with today with the graphical power we have at our disposal and had it been treated properly with good enough respect it would've certainly been something special.

Why haven't they started?

2009-09-12T00:02:00.005+02:00

There are times I wonder why certain game ideas are never properly pursued. Especially really promising ones.
I mean sure there are probably numerous reason for them not to. Ranging from lack of interest, the unwillingness to take risks on an unstable market where sequels and cookie cutter games reign supreme, publishers not wanting to spend huge sums of money on something that may not turn out so well.
Even if they sometimes do that anyway.

I mean there is a huge load of creativity out there in the industry. For instance the makers of Homeworld 2 had ideas of turning the third game of the series into a game where you played a squad of marines that boarded enemy ships and fought through them. I am sure there are loads of other examples to mention about how creative the industry actually is.
Oh and that HW3 idea? Sounds awesome to me. Will it ever happen? Who knows.
I'm sure there has somewhere been someone that has tried to pitch the two ideas I'm thinking of. I mean one of them was actually in development for a while before the studio shut down.

So here's my pitch for two games I wonder why they haven't started with:

Halo Online
This one almost seems so obvious. Considering the huge fanbase and popularity of the Halo brand it's surprising to realize that no one has ever really thought of translating it to an MMO. Especially an MMOFPS. Ensemble studioes, that made Halo Wars, did actually work on an Halo MMO before they closed their gates.
But I say, judging from the concept art that got released, that they went in the wrong direction. They were trying to make it into an MMORPG. Which is the completely wrong direction to take in this. Instead they should've went for the MMOFPS route.

The MMOFPS market is very very underutilized at the moment. With only Planetside and WW2 Online being the only real contenders. While others may say that MAG, Huxley and Global Agenda are MMOFPS I'd say that isn't the case.
For once they lack total persistence. While Planetside and WW2O can boast with persistent battlefields over a wide open expanse across several different settings, Huxley and at least Global Agenda have instead gone the same route as Guild Wars and presenting the players with instanced fighting zones and a persistent in-game lobby. Can they really be considered a real MMO if that's the case? Frankly no. The lack of actual persistence on a world wide scale doesn't really make it an MMO as persistence has always been one of the big points about the genre.

The Halo universe itself is big enough to allow a game separate to the console series as to avoid unwanted interference but at the same time allow you make it look and feel very similar to what has been seen before. And also give the chance to introduce new things that wouldn't feel out of place.
For instance you could set the game during the height of the Human-Covenant war on one of the six other Halo Arrays that are scattered across the galaxy. All it would take is for once ship to stumble across one of them by accident and you have a perfect basis for a persistent conflict as both the humans and the Covenant fight to control it.
And here you can take a cue from Planetside and offer a similar Capture & Hold gameplay mechanic for seizing controls of various sectors. Sectors that may offer various bonuses in other areas of fighting for those who controls them and thus promoting strategic thinking in what areas you want to capture and in what order.
As shown in the previous games the Halo Arrays do offer a wide range of different environments, and even more could be added without them feeling out of place. Thereby offering a varied gameplay experience. Not to mention the plethora of weapons and vehicles that the Halo universe has to offer for players to utilize in their fighting.
I could go on about adding squad mechanics and how to solve various balance issues but I think I've given the basic picture at least.

So here we have a game backed up by a strong brand and very loyal fanbase alongside a weak genre that is lacking something big and noticeable in it. Had someone actually gone through with it I am sure we would have a very popular game and a possible revitalization of the MMOFPS genre.

Now moving onto my next pitch:

Exalted Online.
It's been around three years now since CCP, the creators of Eve Online, merged with White Wolf, makers of the World of Darkness roleplaying universe, and we have yet to hear anything about any projects resulting from this merger. Or at least anything decisive as they did announce an World of Darkness MMO. But so far nothing has been heard of it.
While White Wolf may be really known for World of Darkness and an obvious choice to base an MMO on due to it being very recognizable. However my choice for an MMO based on a WW property would instead be Exalted.

For those who haven't played Exalted it's a setting that feels very much like a Chinese Wuxia movie to a certain degree. But at the same time borrows a lot of element from European mythology and other areas and throw them together into a mix of martial arts, swords and magic where impossible stunts are done and where great evil lies almost everywhere.
An Exalted game would offer a lot of things at the same time. Firstly the setting itself would be something fresh, a step away from the classic Tolkien-ish fantasy setting with elves and dwarfs, to something more with an Asian feel to it. A setting that has been very unrepresented, with only a few really mentionable games such as Jade Empire.

The setting itself also offers a wide variety of choices of what to play. From people blessed with power from the sun or the moon, to people blessed by elemental dragons, to fueled by demonic powers and even alchemical creations. There is a number of things to pick and choose from of what to use in an Exalted MMO.
This variety in turn offers a number of different play styles that could be used. From political and mercantile powerplay among the the ruling court and the high families to martial arts combat, to warfare, to hunting lost treasures of ages past, and to even crazy things such as giant Power Rangers style robots fighting each other.
The Exalted setting is varied enough to have something for almost anyone, and still quite possibly offer more than that.

CCP has the licenses and the experience to actually pull of an Exalted MMO and end up with something good in the end. And while I'm sure the end results for the WoD MMO would be good as well, trying to do something as different as an Exalted MMO would quite possibly be an ever better move for them. As then they would show themselves capable of utilizing a readily available setting that is different enough from the normal material out there and produce something really good.

So there you have it. Those are my two main games that I wonder why no one has ever really thought of making. Now I suppose all we have to do is to wait and see if any of those ideas actually become a reality.

Treachery. Lies. Scandals.

2009-09-09T23:43:00.010+02:00

In other words. A completely normal day in Eve Online.

Honestly, it's a rather interesting thing to watch Eve as an outsider that has barely played and just hear of all the various cloak and dagger play that is going on. From the infamous event when Goonfleet managed to break up the largest corporation in the game via espionage to now recently with community representatives stepping down due to insider trading.

My own experience of the game doesn't stretch farther than a couple of hours with the beta some time before launch. And yet it's insanely fascinating seeing what's going on. And I've got a few friends that frequently play it in a various number of groups so I get to hear more "insider" stuff of what is going on in daily Eve life from insane Russians to paranoid players tossing around spy accusations or to corporations that hire any trial player they can get their hands on to increase their numbers.
The world in Eve feels so different from other MMOs because it's economy is run by players and is used by other players. In many levels a lot of the drama in MMOs such as World of Warcraft seems tame when you realize how much a single action can actually impact the world itself, and how much work actually goes into some events. The infamous company takeover of BoB by Goonfleet was something that happened over a long period of time where people got nestled in until everything was ready to strike.

Eve's political and economical power play is something that is unprecedented on today's MMO market where it's mostly about delivering content to the player via the carrot and stick method. Eve instead goes a different route and provides the players with a setting and then literally tells them to go and have fun and just keeps tabs on them so they don't do anything illegal.
For many this style of play just doesn't work, there is barely any goal to strive for. Not to mention that the game itself has repeatedly joked by others as having a learning curve that would put the monolith in 2001 to shame. And yet it is loved by many for what it does and gives to the players.

So will be ever see more MMOs like Eve on the market in the foreseeable future?
In all honesty the chances for that is rather slim as far as I can see. Eve's difficulty and lack of carrot and stick gameplay isn't very friendly to the majority except the very dedicated and those willing to overlook continuous loss in order to gain something. Not to mention the rather slow gameplay that involves long distance traveling with barely anything to do while at it.
And the rather sharp learning curve is off-putting to many, although CCP has gone long ways to improve and streamline new player's introduction to the game to ease them in better into it.

At the same time it would have been great to see similar games on the market in other settings. Mainly because it feels like a fresh breeze in the MMO genre that is almost too focused in either trying to beat World of Warcraft in some way or providing a similar experience to it.

The entire aspect of player run economies not to mention political power play is something that more MMOs should look into. Sure, you'll get some rotten apples that try to assert themselves. But those can always be dealt with in some way. And sure, it might not be for precisely everyone. But for some it might just be what they are looking for.
And ask yourself this, who wouldn't feel proud when the long and arduous cloak and dagger play you have been part of bears fruit and your target, the leader of a city or area, has been disposed of thus leaving the area open for either your guild or others to use and exploit. I would.

To: Whomever it may concern.

2009-09-09T17:54:00.002+02:00

Whoever at Gamespot that came up with and designed the "Greatest Video Game Hero Ever" thing deserves to be shot. Or at least pelted with nerf arrows. Also, remove his access to company bar or his access to alcohol. Because he's obviously been there too much while at work.

You do not design a voting contest like that. You just don't. The pairings are horrible and doesn't even make any sense what so ever. Cloud vs Little Mac? JC Denton vs Leon Kennedy? Pikachu against Kratos!? What were you thinking?! It doesn't make a lick of sense.
If anything it frankly deserves the utter trashing the voting is receiving right now. (Go Bub & Bob.) Then you'll at least learn how to use genres instead of making it up as you go.

War! Huh! What is it good for?! Absolutely nothing!

2009-09-07T00:15:00.005+02:00

I think I can only come up with one game in my library that I have spent more time with in total than any other, and this comes from someone whose played World of Warcraft more or less since release, and it's a game that I still play a lot to this day despite it being over eight years old.

Frankly I can't come up any game that I have played has made me laugh so hard at times, and other times felt so annoyed or frustrated at. At least to such a level that it can relate to this.
That's rather well done for the first game released by a Czech Republic based developer in my eyes.
Few games I have played allowed you to do so much right from the start without any hassle. As soon as it was booted it you had a giant sandbox and toys to play with at your disposal.

The game I'm referring to here is Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis by Bohemia Interactive, and since it's release it was released in 2001 it has become one of my absolute favorites. The game itself is a Military Simulator or Tactical Shooter.
Set on a three (four in the second expansion) fictional islands somewhere in the Atlantic ocean in the 1980's during the Cold War and the story pits NATO forces led by the US against the Soviets led by a rogue general in a conflict that may blossom into World War 3.

While the Tactical Shooter genre did start in the late 90's with the Delta Force series and got it's first revolution with the Rainbow 6 series the release of Operation Flashpoint (OFP) marked a very different change to the genre. While the Rainbow 6 series emphasized small unit tactics with a limited number of people OFP instead went bigger and let the player take control of military hardware.

At the time of it's release it was something special. Few games before it had offered the players open world maps where he could plot out his own routes to the target, and also choose which time of the day to attack as well with real day/night cycles. As well as the emphasis on the usage of proper military tactics to complete your objective.
And you weren't alone on it either, the ability to command whole squads of soldiers as well as a multitude of vehicles, tanks, helicopters and airplanes made the game very different.
Not to mention the incredible mission editor that came along with it that allowed you build a varied number of missions. Ranging from small infantry battles to massive battles for control to being chased by helicopters while racing in a sports car.
Add this with Bohemia releasing modding tools to allow the creation of user-made content for the game. Content that is still to some extent released to this day. Not to mention several patches and two expansions as well.
The multiplayer was a chapter of itself, allowing up to 64 players on the map simultaneously on working cooperatively or adversarial against each other while at the same time allowing the same freedom of movement and planning as otherwise.

Yes the game has it's faults. The AI isn't the sharpest at times while it's accuracy while leave you wondering how it managed to do it. The physics engine leaves a lot to be desired with. Even if the application of explosives onto a car or soldier can have pretty hilarious results. And the engine itself is pretty limited in some regards.
And while other games are able to provide a greater level of vehicle realism in comparison to OFP. The game is still impressive in it's ability to effectively simulate a number of varied types of vehicles and also accurately simulate the complex relationships that exist between them on the modern battlefield.

The release of OFP was milestone within the genre marked a change for. A change that has yet to be really used by the rest of the industry.
While Bohemia split off from their old publishers Codemasters and went to created the Armed Assault series, with Arma2 released just recently, the genre itself has been rather dormant in contributions. Other games in the genre such as Rainbow 6 and Ghost Recon has moved away from the more tactical aspects and leaned heavier and heavier to action. The Rainbow 6 Vegas 1 & 2 are good examples of this. But also the Ghost Recon Advance Warfighter series for the console made a similar shift in play style. Even if the versions for the PC leaned more on the tactical side of things. Although there are noticeable entries such as the Americas Army series that emphasizes heavily on modern infantry tactics.

And now a similar shift is happening with OFP with Codemasters releasing OFP2: Dragon Rising later this year, developed by the developers of Colin McRae's Dirt. So my favorite game gets a modern sequel so I should be happy right?

Honestly no. The material I have seen of it makes it look more of a Battlefield 2 or Call of Duty 4 game than the tactical shooter that came before it. Gone is the feeling of vulnerability where one precise bullet can mean the end of a mission as the E3 demo showed that headshots aren't lethal. While the game doesn't go as far as adding regenerative health it feels close to it with medical kit that can heal you in a few seconds.
The extensive command controls are gone and replaced with a radial menu to be able to be played on the consoles. Which is strange since the original OFP got a release on the Xbox and I have actually heard nothing about it. Gone is the whole concept of a visible body during movement and replaced with a glued aiming reticule.
And the idea of calling a HUD-less gaming mode for Hardcore mode just feels insulting in some ways.
Not to mention the lowering of Multiplayer player numbers from 64 to 16, and that's the PC version as well, to the announcement of not allowing any user generated add on content.

I wouldn't go as far as to say that OFP2 is an insult to the genre but it sort of feels sad to see such a good series become changed to such a degree that it feels too different to its predecessor. But it seems like the tactical shooter genre as it were back then is slowly going out of fashion in the industry, and replaced with something much faster.
Another good example of this is Rogue Warrior developed by Rebellion Entertainment. It started in development as a squad based tactical shooter by Zombie Studios until publisher Bethesda Softworks went in and changed the developers to Rebellion. Who in turn changed the game into a standard FPS instead of the tactical game that was initially promised.

The whole shifting is a bit of a shame, because the tactical shooter genre does offer something special. The feeling of enjoyment when your carefully planned operation goes exactly as planned. Or the sudden thrill of when it doesn't and you have to come up with a solution on the fly. The genre has actually a lot left to be explored in. I have yet to see a proper Sci-Fi Tactical shooter. Or why not a fantasy one even? Execute daring military operations in a fantasy setting is just something that is waiting to be done.
So why hasn't anyone tried to take up the mantle and tried it?

Three green lights in the dark.

2009-09-06T01:04:00.007+02:00

There is a reason why I consider Splinter Cell Chaos Theory to be one of the best stealth games released. It's not the story. It's a standard Tom Clancy one with that it entails. But the feeling of the game. You get that special feeling when you pull of that perfect grab attack on someone right as they are about to turn around or feel the blood pumping as you are trying to avoid a patrolling guard.
The first Splinter Cell game that I tried was the second the series, Pandora's Tomorrow. It was good, no doubt about it. Although some parts just felt... forced.

The thing is that they did wrong in PT was that they forced you into firefights at a couple of occasions. When you think about that it just sounds so wrong. We are talking about a stealth game here, sneaking and subtlety should be the norm. And yet the game threw you into situations where the only solution was to shoot your way out. With a control system that really wasn't made for firefights. The other parts were great but those sections just stood out like a thorn.
This is why I like CT, it gives you options. Yes you CAN shoot your way through a level. But why do that when you instead can lurk in the shadows and take out the enemy with a number of various moves.
CT does sneaking good. It emphasizes the need for noise disciple and using light and shadow to finish your objectives. It makes you act cautiously. It makes you plan and think on how to deal with a patrolling guard. In short, it's stealth gameplay at it's best.
Which makes me somewhat sad to see the way the Splinter Cell series has went.

I never really checked out Double Agent, the feeling it gave me when I read the previews was one of a strange deviation to the core gameplay of the game. The change of Sam Fisher character in DA felt strange and odd to me.
And honestly, the new game in the series, Conviction, isn't that much reassuring.

The initial promises sound good with going back to more stealthy gameplay. However as I kept reading previews and such I was left with a bit of a sour feeling.

Video Games | Splinter Cell: Conviction | E3 09: Extended Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo W

Gone is the efficient secret agent from CT with his dry sense of humor and now replaced with something closer to Jack Bauer. And then there is the apparent push for more action in the game as well. It just feels... wrong for a series that I felt embodied stealth gameplay a lot better than a lot of other games in the genre has ever done.
Now I could of course go on a tangent about console players and their needs for fast gameplay and such and blame them for the decline of games over the past few years et cetera et cetera. But I won't really.
But at the same time I do realize that the fault lies there somewhat. As games has become popular and popular over the past few years there has been a change in how they are made. The change from faster or wilder gameplay is becoming more apparent as companies strive to create the next big hit for the market. While there are certainly slower games out there they are sorta overshadowed by their counterpart. A change that does require some sacrifices.
One of these victims I suppose is stealth games. I am somewhat having a hard time coming up with stealth genre games in development that goes over the number five. Games like Assassins Creed 2 and Thief 4 instantly come to mind as well as Alpha Protocol. After that I am coming up with nothing substantial.

It's a shame really. In this world of fast shooters and massive online games there really needs to more games where it's just you putting the fear of the dark into your opponents.

Short fiction

2009-09-03T01:52:00.005+02:00

"So you're a mermaid then?"

The girl nodded and splashed a couple of times with her tail for effect.

"So what kind of mermaid are you? The Little Mermaid type or..."

His sentence drifted of as she smiled widely, showing two rows of razor sharp teeth.

"Oh dear. That was what I was afraid of."

She lunged.

The Adventures of the Strange Mountain Chapter 0 - The beginning of a beautiful friendship

2009-09-01T00:04:00.004+02:00

The high tide was soon to arrive and the docks of the port town of Greengrass are full of activity. Large triremes are loaded and unloaded with cargo while small catamarans set up their sails or are heading out on the western sea.

In one dock lay a ship that had ever since it appeared some days ago attracted many envious and mesmerized glances. Made out of fine white jade that gleamed in the strong midday sunlight it was a beauty to behold. People with an eye for ship could immediately see that it was something extra special about it as they laid their eyes upon the craftsmanship that decorated its prow and stern. Upon its deck stood an impressive siege weapon of alien design, and a second one could be seen below decks through the open windows. A pair of wooden doors at the back led inside to the bowels of the ship, but they were closed right now so one could only wonder if the insides are as decorated as the outside.

When people looked at the ship they all wondered the same thing, who was the captain of this splendid ship? Surely he was a fine admiral of the Imperial Navy, being rewarded the ship for valour and long service.

Had they actually known that the jovial tall fellow dressed in a dashing green suit with a matching hat, almost looking out of his normal element, was actually the captain they would’ve laughed at the sheer thought of it. Had one seen him anywhere else one would’ve thought he was a general or a mercenary, especially when one saw the massive cannon strapped to his back alongside the wicked blade it had as a bayonet and the two flamepistols he had on his belt. But a captain? Especially a captain of such a grand ship like that? No, it was impossible.

But such was the truth for the ship’s captain and its crew. It also was the truth for the three persons who now stood in front of him.

“Alright you lot, this is my ship and on my ship I like to know who’s who. You there, one armed girl, introduce yourself.” The Captain speaks with a friendly tone and gestures at the woman carrying a long sleek sword at her side.

One could easily tell that once in her life she had been a very attractive woman, quite possibly someone who was capable of turning head in a public area. But that visage is now ruined by a multitude of scars visible on her face and body. The most prominent one being a large one going straight over her left eye, now covered by an eye patch decorated with the embroidery of an orchid. Her remaining jade green eye betrays no real emotions other than coldness. The long fiery red hair is tied together in a ponytail. The right arm of her robe hangs limply by her side, the lack of its whereabouts all too visible.

“If you say so Captain, names’ Revvie Edalalaika, but to you lot its Orchid or Revvie. If you say anything else I’ll be kicking your ass to the other side of the sea.”

“Oh a feisty one! I like that. Not too punchy though eh?” The Captain chuckles.
“Alright, you’re next Lucrezia. I know who you are but this lot doesn’t.”

Standing right next to Revvie is her direct opposite. A very attractive woman, Lucrezia has long flowing red hair and a sweet smile on her face. But with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. Two hearthstones, located one above the other, are visible on her back. The sheer dress she wears leaves little to the viewer’s imagination, showing literally all of her curves and more. However one’s attention is dragged towards the six small men standing on either side of her. They all seem to be made out of black rubber and the four nearest to Lucrezia holds bows and short swords while the two others wield large great swords. Despite the fact that none of them has any visible facial features, everyone on deck has the feeling that they’re being glared at by them.

“Yes Captain. I am Cynis Lucrezia” Lucrezia flashes a warm smile. “And as you might have guessed from my precious little guards,” she says with a gesture at her companions, “I am a sorceress by profession. But make no mistake; I’m not as easy to get in the sack as most of my House is.”

She says this as she glares around at the others, as if looking for a challenge, although it’s obvious to them all that if she would to be challenged she would enjoy it immensely.

“But stay on my sweet side, and we’ll get along like a house on fire.”

The others can see the mark of House Cynis on her robe, a noble born house well renowned for their hedonism and their very active libidos. She smiles again and Revvie rolls her eyes, obviously quite annoyed.

“Yes, well, she’ll be doing the talking to the gentlemen I can’t scare into giving us what we need. You there, with the rapier, go ahead.” The captain switches topic and points to the next member of the ensemble.

“Tch, like they’ll need her when I’m done with anyone who refuses to talk.” Revvie mutters quietly to no one in particular.

“You know, there is something to be said for leaving people alive, converting enemies into allies works out a lot better in the long run than converting them to bodies” Lucrezia says to Revvie with a sweet disarming smile. She doesn’t bother with a reply and just stares back coldly

The woman the Captain is referring to in this case is possibly even more beautiful than Lucrezia. Her long brown hair and simple clothing speaks of humble origins. But at the same time one cannot help but to notice the aura of serenity that is emanating from her. A tattoo of a red talon is visible on the back of her left hand and a deadly-looking rapier is strapped to her side.

“Alindre of house Ragara, I look forward to journeying with you.” She says as she gives a curt nod towards the captain, her face a mask of serenity and calmness.

“A woman of few words, the world could use a few more like that. Now me...” The captain says.

“I’m Zasz, captain of this here vessel. I’ve got 25 soldiers under my command and the resources to keep them ready to fight. We’ll go out to the sea and find what we can. I have big plans, and I hope that you can be part of them. It will be hard, but it will be worth it.” Zasz speaks with pride in his voice as he looks at the others with his arms are folded over his chest.

“Captain, I trust as per our agreement that there are supplies for my mount?” Alindre speaks when Zasz has finished his speech.

“You brought a horse onto a boat this size!” Lucrezia exclaims outraged.

“A bear, actually.”

“A bear!?” Lucrezia looks almost flabbergasted or if not very surprised. “You brought a bear onto this boat?!”

“Why yes.” Alindre replies friendly. “I wouldn’t want to leave him back here so of course he has to come with me.”

“To answer your question Alindre, indeed, there will be fresh meat for him.” Zasz replies.

“A bear?! Now this sounds interesting.” Revvie’s interest is suddenly piqued.

The discussion is however suddenly interrupted by one of the crewmen appearing on deck, yelling after the Zasz.

“If you’ll excuse, one of my deck crew calls.” He turns his attention to the crewmember. “Yes what is it?”

“We found a stowaway.”

His eyes suddenly flash and one of his hands goes for the grip of one of his flamepistols.
“BRING. HIM. TO. ME.” His words are clipped and short.

A few seconds later a large man is lead out from the back, escorted by two scared-looking soldiers who seem to be wishing that they were nowhere near him. The man is bald, or so it seems under his wide-brimmed hat that is topped with an elegant long feather from an unknown bird, but he has eyebrows that seem to make up for that loss very well. His friendly azure blue eyes can be seen beneath them. He is dressed in expensive-looking robes in green and red and a pair of decent boots on his feet.

“This would be a prime example of when not to kill someone just because he displeases you, Revvie” Lucrezia says with a smile and a voice that could possibly be dripping with amusement or smugness.

“Tch, if he’s stupid enough to try anything I might. But that depends on him of course,” is the cold reply.

“When you two cats are quite finished...” sighs Zasz, slowly realizing that inviting these two onboard wasn’t one of his best ideas so far.

“Alright soldiers, dismissed.” He says with a wave of his hand. The two soldiers try to hide their visible relief as they head back below decks.

The newcomer smiles broadly at the others, showing of a perfect set of white teeth. The others at him warily, none of them sure who he is or what he’s up to.

“Ah, captain! Just the man I would have been looking for had I got any possessions I was willing to part with.”

“Yes indeed...” Zasz looks rather confused for a second before he gathers himself.

“Now. Before I, say, throw you overboard. Would you like to tell me why you are here?”

“Well, this ship seems to be leaving soon.”

“Now why a man with such exquisite taste would be acting the stowaway?” Lucrezia looks interestingly at the newcomer with a look that seems to tell the others of her real intentions.

“Ah, my dear lady, we all have things we need to leave behind.” He replies with a smile and a friendly gesture.

“It is yes, but so are many others.” Zasz adss firmly. “And, more importantly, none of the others are mine. So why, exactly, do you need to leave of my ship?”
Zasz folds his arms over his chest as he looks the man up and down expecting almost anything to happen.

“Now now captain, perhaps the man was drawn by your own grace and good stature?” Lucrezia interjects, in an attempt to diffuse the situation.

“Oh no particular reason, this one just happened to be in handy to strange lands” The newcomer says with a shrug of his shoulders.

Zasz turns his attention to Lucrezia for a second and says with a smile.
“Flattery will take you everywhere Lucrezia.”

“Ah Zasz, you should know by now I know the way to anyone’s heart.” She smiles and flutters her eyelashes as Zasz.

“We could always fire him out of the siege weapon rather than throwing him overboard if we want to get rid of him.” Revvie speaks to no one in particular while she looks at the stowaway with consideration, her hand not far from her sword.

“Um... Captain.” The stowaway says all of a sudden. “Did you know there is a bear on board?”

“I did yes.” Zasz replies. “It belongs to and will be of great help to one of my crew.” He makes a gesture towards Alindre.

“Ah. Usual to have bears on sea voyages is it? Kind of a lucky charm?” The stowaway asks, raising one bushy eyebrow.

“Well not quite.” Zasz shrugs.

“Oh don’t worry, Grumbles won’t cause any trouble.” Alindre says friendly. “Well unless he hasn’t been feed for a while.” She then adds quickly.

“Tell me, what is your name? In fact, who the hell are you in general?” Zasz asks the newcomer curiously.

“Me?” The newcomer replies while pointing at himself. ” I am the Splendiferous Mongrel, Sesus Fong.” He takes of his hat and does a theatrical bow before planting the hat back on his bald head.

“Well at least he is of noble blood.” Lucrezia says with a small shrug.

“And of interesting titles.” Zasz adds.

“If not a very odd choice of titles I have to say. On second thought.” Revvie says.
“Let him stay. I think I like his style.” She adds with a small smile.

“Tell me, what skills do you posses Fong?” Zasz asks.

“Skills eh?” Fong smiles at the question. “I know of many things, how to sing, how to dance, how to build magnificent temples”

“Oh, so you’re an entertainer then?” Zasz raises one of his eyebrows.

Alindre looks like she’s about to add something to the current conversation but she suddenly changes her mind and hides it as a tired yawn instead.

“But things that would aid my staying on board this ship? Of those I have few I am afraid of.” Fong shrugs apologetically. “I have however nothing against manual labor.”

“As no man should, my friend! As no man should!” A wide smile crosses Zasz face as he speaks.

“How excellent, I have not heard a good rendition of “The Three Trials of Gorthun” since my academy days!” Lucrezia suddenly looks overjoyed and claps her hands excitedly.

Zasz turns around to address the collected soldiers that are on the deck.
“WELL BOYS, we’ve got an entertainer on board. Shall I let him stay? And grant us something to keep you warm in the evenings in soul and spirit?!”
As a reply he gets a few half-hearted agreements from some of the soldiers. This seems to suit him just fine as he beams a smile back and turns his attention back to the others.

“My dear lady, I could whistle it to you backwards if need be.”Fong says while smiling slightly. The comment elicits a slight chuckle from Zasz.

“Believe me Fong, backwards isn’t something she’s adverse to.”

“I didn’t think you were that kind of man, Zasz” Lucrezia says as she studies Zasz with a raised eyebrow and a mischievous smile. Zasz can’t resist but to laugh.

“No one ever does my dear.” He says knowingly with a small grin.
However their conversation is suddenly interrupted by a huge ruckus below deck. Zasz gestures at two soldiers.

“You there, check out that noise.”

“I knew a bear would be trouble” Lucrezia says with a heavy sigh. Alindre refrains from saying anything.

But any further thought of that is suddenly dispersed as the air is suddenly filled with shouts from more soldiers above and below deck. Words such as Captain and Anathema are mixed with shouts of fear and frantic running. And from below decks an ominous golden light spills out.

“By Hesiesh’s left testicle what is that?!” Lucrezia says aghast.

“Well whatever it is it can’t be good.” Revvie’s hand goes to the sword at her belt.

“By the boat’s rudder!” Zasz spits out, alongside a few other very colorful phrases.

More Exalted.

2009-08-05T02:11:00.001+02:00

So now the Lunar has been dealt with. (Not killed though amazingly enough. Even if my character did want to see her dead.) Instead we have a bloody Demonic Sarah Kerrigan (sorta) that is going to burst out of a chrysalis in like 5 days and most likely try to kill us all. D:

But on the plus side, another player and me did an awesome stunt against a giant Lunar transformed into a Quatl. I wish I could draw that scene.

Note regarding our latest Exalted session.

2009-07-29T02:51:00.001+02:00

Lunars. FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF.

Review: WH40K mod for Operation Flashpoint

2009-06-21T14:32:00.013+02:00

Man, I really love the Warhammer 40k universe. But I also love Military Simulation games. If there only was a that I could combine the two...

Well the solution comes with the WH40K mod for Operation Flashpoint! Which adds a number of well known units from the WH40K unit's into one of the most popular MilSim games.

And the result? Well...

Mind you, this is only version 3 of the mod and I might as well start with that I'm really impressed with the result so far. They've come a long way since I last tried and added a number of new units and factions.
Which is where my first issue begins. It's just TOO much. Here's a list of what factions you have to choose from
11 different Imperial Guard Regiments (Not including Imperial Navy and Sisters of Battle)
3 different Tau factions
8 Space Marine Chapters
1 Dark Eldar group
1 Eldar group
3 different Chaos Space Marine Legions
3 different traitor guard units
5 different Ork clans
1 Tyranid Group
1 Necron group

The problem here is that essentially all of these are the same thing just different colors. In their urge to appease just about everyone they developers of the mod just kept adding and adding things that never really gave anything. What they should've done instead was to focus on a certain number of factions. Only have one or two types of IG regiments in as half of those in are just recolors of the same model. The same is more or less the case for the Space Marines, they could have just stuck with the Ultramarines since they essentially cover everything you see within a Marine Chapter. And for Chaos gone with Traitor Guard and Black Legion and so forth and not tried to cram everything in at once.
Although the hilarity of using female Sisters of Battle units with very male voices is hilarious.

And then there's inconsistencies in the quality of the units as well. It's rather obvious that most of the units have been ripped from the Dawn of War RTS game, but this is mentioned in the read me as well as them taking units from a Steel Legion modification for that game.
It's a bit of a lazy approach to it but it works rather well to a certain deegree. And it's also why there's so many iterations of the same units as they've just ripped the color schemes as well from the game.
This clashes however with other material added in the mod from it's previous version as they've obviously been modeled by hand. Although those could need some polish at places, especially the weapons look a bit bare. The extracted units look fine though, even if they are stockier than the game's original units. But in the case of the Imperial Guard infantry as they've just ripped them from DoW and attached them to the infantry skeleton the problem is that all troopers look the same with no custom faces available. A bit boring since it almost makes it harder to distinguish people when in multiplayer.

Another issue arises with animations, weapon firing and such is no problem, but when a grenade is thrown the unit switches to the game's original throwing animation which makes the arms detach themselves and it looks just odd. Such is the case of other acts when the games original animations starts to show.
Also the DoW units animations feel a bit clunkier than the normal ones, and there's a lack of more custom made stuff such as firing a rocket launcher for a kneeling position.

Going over the vehicles they're fine. Even if the quality changes a bit. A majority of the later stuff works well, but the earlier material has some problems. In particular the Steel Legion vehicles For instance the gunnery position on the Stormblade super heavy tank has no actual way of aiming through the sights due to them being blocked. And issue that I know has existed since early version and why it hasn't been fixed yet is beyond me. The same goes for the commander position of the Leman Russ tank has no way of using the scope while looking forward due to it being blocked. There's some minor issues with the newer units as well. The bolter sponsons for the Leman Russ points outwards instead of forwards as probably intended. It's most likely a minor oversight that's hopefully fixed later.
One of the bigger issues is that some units doesn't really... 'work' in the OFP engine. Walker units in particular in this case.

For instance, the Sentinel model has a tendency to tip over at times. The same goes for the Necron Heavy Destroyer. Which oddly enough counts as a tank with commander, gunner, and driver positions. Once again the need to just add literally everything shows and the units sorta suffer for it.
Otherwise the majority of the units work well. Even if the walker sounds needs to sound less... anime-ish and could need an improvement.

Speaking of sounds they're generally quite good. The weapon sounds are as good as they get, but I wonder why they didn't bother fixing the old models weapon sounds with the new ones the others kept using. As the new ones obviously used sounds from Dawn of War the old ones are from the Imperial Blasters from Star Wars. Otherwise the sound image is as good as it gets really with some weapon sounding just enough meaty.

Weapons wise they've essentially covered everything featured in WH40k. From Lasguns to Bolters and literally everything in between. However they seem to have over thought the weapon damage. For instance a Lascannon one shots any vehicle below a super heavy tank while it takes a couple of rockets to do the same. The damage for the Lascannon should've been toned down somewhat to make the battles last a bit longer. No other weapon seem to be as powerful.
Another problem I slightly have is with the Space Marine bolters, with only 25 rounds in a magazine and some units able to soak up major damage before dying means that you go through a majority of your ammunition very fast. Either increase the magazine size or increase the damage would be the suggestion in this case.
A similar issue lies with the Hellguns for the elite Imperial Guard units, as they lack any extra magazines you're boned when you run out of ammo for them and no proper replacement weapons are around. They also tend to bug and loose all their ammunition when switching weapons as well.
Also, melee doesn't really work in OFP, so really don't try to give officer units melee weapons that are useless anyway.
Also, better ironsights please? Using the Ak47s for almost everything isn't that fun. Just make something up or something.

I mean the Imperial Guardsman's Uplifiting Primer says there are 2x sights for the weapons available.
And some proper Snipers as well with Longlas weapons as well.

Now a main problem for most addons to OFP is that they lack missions to use the units in. Here they've provided three different campaigns and two singe player missions as well as a couple of multiplayer mission, including a port of one of my favorite missions, Nogova Virus.
That port could however have been done a lot better as all it has done is to replace some units and moved it to another version of the island. And taking place in the middle of the day instead of during the dusk hours as the original. Which sorta kills the mood. Although any competent mission maker should be able to fix those problems rather quick.
The other missions are Imperial Guard vs Orkz and Space Marines vs Orkz. Which makes me wonder why they added Chaos units and such when the main force you meet is Orkz. Although I haven't actually tried the two other campaigns.
The Guard mission was quite fun, but there were a couple of errors regarding map markers and such that ended up me stumbling around wondering what the hell I was supposed to do.

The campaign I tried was the Second War for Armageddon and it has some flaws. First of all it was filled with spelling issues, grammatical issues and a lack of punctualization as well. It would've been a really good idea to write down a script and then actually spell check it before putting it into the missions as otherwise it just gives off a sloppy feeling.
Also it suffered from way too long cutscenes, I know it was to set up the whole setting for the campaign they felt so clunky and long it just became a chore watching through the opening combined with all the texting issues.
The first mission of the campaign was nothing more than a long stretch inside a vehicle where nothing really happened at all. Followed by yet more cutscenes and then it was other. It was a bit of 'Is that it?' feeling over it.
The second mission was frankly no better. Your objective was to hold a position against a massive ork horde at all costs, and on your side you had a large number of tanks and artillery. And eight, yes eight, Baneblade super heavy tanks. So all in all it would be one helluva battle.

So for about 10 to 20 minutes you're just sitting there as the tanks shoot as targets you can't and you're waiting. And waiting. And waiting. And waiting for something to shoot. All the while the eight Baneblade's roll off into the horizon to attack targets you can't see.

And going after them is a bad idea since you're alone and only armed with a plasmagun. So you're just stuck there waiting until every friendly unit you have around you have been destroyed by enemies you can't fire back against.
In the end the goal of the whole thing was just to let the Orkz through. At no point was this told to you that you had to draw back since you we're outmatched. So for the most part you're just sitting there hoping a stray shot wouldn't kill you or something.

And then you're alone against three Ork Stompas, among other things, without any real way of destroying them without wasting a lot of ammunition. That you don't have unless you scrounge from corpses. And not even that will be enough.
So all in all the mission is nothing but a long cutscene where you can literally do nothing unless the enemy comes in close enough for you to have something to shoot at.
The only saving grace is the ability to save the game multiple times via the radio. As you would the patience of an elephant to sit through that with the game's normal saving system.

The second mission is however a lot better as it's a defence mission against several waves of Orkz and this time you have a squad with you and lots of targets to shoot at.
The mission is a whole lot better than the earlier one as you get to do stuff. However after a while the waves just stop and you're left wondering what's going on until the mission suddenly end and you've won.
Really, this campaign could've needed a lot more playtesting to iron out triggers and and fix the other issues that occur.
Haven't actually gotten further into the campaign than this so I can't say more. Although I can level a complaint at the map used for the campaign, the Armageddon map while a nice idea feels a bit rough on the edges at many places and could need improvement.

All in all the initial impression of the mod is okay. It shows a lot of quality at places (The Imperial Navy things are actually quite fun and well done, but where is my Vulture Gunship?! And the respawn scripting. Interesting solution with the Marines and vehicle armor, shame it doesnt go all the way.) but suffers as others. (Model and sound inconsistency, general balance issues and model issues and a couple of CTD issues.) Especially the urge to add just everything makes it feel cluttered and some thing could've just needed to be dropped. Or added as a separate thing instead of a collective one.
Combined with the general sloppy feeling of certain units and mission leaves me with a mixed impression of it all.
What they really should've done was not to overly rely on material they took from Dawn of War other than some stuff such as vehicles and bring the material avaiable to up a higher quality level I'm sure the end result had impressed me a lot more than it does now. Also separating the different factions into different releases would've also gotten rid of the general feeling of clutteryness that's apparent. And then some polish in mission making and such.

The mod is like a gift that on the outside that seems really nice but turns out to be less than spectactular after opened.

It's strange...

2009-06-18T13:18:00.002+02:00

...that the day of the week I look forward to the most isn't Fridays. Or the weekend. No, it's Tuesdays that I look forward to the most.

Why?

It's then our Exalted group gets together to play.
We're eight sessions in and I've never had this much fun in any Pen and Paper RPG ever. Not even my first D&D campaign was as fun as this. It's a first of many's for me in this case.
For instance it's the first time in a long time I've played a campaign that has lasted over 4 or 5 sessions. Not counting a Play by Post game I'm doing elsewhere, but frankly those doesn't really count. (Even if playing in an Ace Combat PbP game is really fun.)

It's also the first time I've actually gotten really involved with the character I created. To be honest it's a strange feeling to be this involved with a character. It's not something I've done before properly. For instance my first D&D session consisted of me mostly taking notes and sorta passing up on everything even if I wanted to get involved somewhat it never really went anywhere. The same has been for most other games, or at least those which lived for a longer period of time at least.
I suppose it has to do with us using IRC as our gametable and how it offers a chance to really go into your persona while playing.
And then there's scenarios that I never even thought of before that is starting to appear on the radar. For instance, one of the players mentioned on the side that his character is started to feel attracted to mine. Which is honestly a first for me and it's going to be really interesting to see how we deal with that if it ever comes up.

At the same time I find myself trying to figure out how my character would react in future scenarios that might appear. For instance in the last session one of the other characters dropped a rather insulting comment regarding the noble family that my character really hails from but hasn't actually mentioned to anyone. (So it was a bit of a meta thing but the insult was too good to actually ignore.) My character just let it slide despite it being a huge insult to the family honor and such, mainly because she didnt associate herself with them due to past incidents.
So the thing I kept thinking of here, would my character take future insults like this with equal stride or just... flip out so to say? I mean while she doesnt want to associate herself with them anymore she still feels pride in where she came from and any future remarks would literally send her over the edge. But on the other hand she hasn't really mentioned where she came from, while others bodly proclaimed when we were introduced.
One of the bigger scenarios I'm wonder how my character would react to is when they happen to come across members of family that recognizes who she actually is and not who she is trying to pose as.
It's things I've never actually considered before. It's interesting really.

Personality wise I might just change it after a while, right now she's mean and cynical at parts while other times friendly. She doesnt stoop herself not to insult one of the other female characters in the group whom she sees as a slut. (She literally is one as well, but that's not the point.) Although other character manages to get in a quip or two mine literally relishes in making fun of her or insult her as soon as she gets the chance. Which in turn spawns comments back, like the one previously mentioned. I suppose she'll get on more friendlier terms with her as we go on and be less insulting and more joking in her quips. But I think that remains to be seen as my character has an envy against characters who are unscarred unlike her who misses an eye and an arm.
While at the same time my character is very friendly to both the Captain of the ship and the other characters in the group.
I suppose I'll change her later after she's getting through some adventures and some more traveltime with the others to a more friendlier nature as she starts to relax among people she's starting to trust.
Who knows, she might just end up being something completly different at the end because I honestly has no clear goal for her. Other than her ambition to fullfill her ambitions to firstly get back to the ones who tried to kill her, try to restore her former beauty and try to let her family house to regain power they've lost. Although neither of those will really be completed any time soon.

I really need to talk to the ST about some ideas. (I know you'll be reading this sooner or later, hi :) ) Especially I need to flesh out a thing regarding her background that I left volountairly vauge due to my lack of understanding of the Exalted universe.
Just hope we'll at least reach double digits when it comes to the number of sessions. I really want to see how this goes.

Although when I look at the logs of the sessions I wonder if I dont actually talk abit too much. It's a bad habit of mine that I wonder if I shouldn't change it.

Summer musings.

2009-06-17T01:11:00.001+02:00

I've forgotten how much I've missed swimming.
As I promised myself before the start of my summer holidays that I'd start doing some exercise swimming so I wouldn't rot away all summer. Even if I do have a rather large batch of games that I never finished that I need to finish.
On that note, Jade Empire is awesome. It's like Exalted light. And since Exalted is by default awesome, thus Jade Empire is awesome as well.
Anyway, so Monday sorta fizzled away without me doing anything of value (surprise surprise).
So on Tuesday I just decided that I needed to head over to the city pool. And the weather was on my side as well, which made it extra great to do it as well.

In the end I spent 1½ hours or something in the pool and did somewhere around 1000m of swimming. I think since I lost count after a while.
But my god I've missed doing it so much. So much I'm planning to do it at least twice a week at best unless the weather says no.
Who knows what good it may give me in the end. But it's fun at least.

Storytime: Inquisitor Yennefer Sapphires

2009-05-06T13:55:00.004+02:00

So I managed to get my brother into playing Dark Heresy 40k PnP RPG with his gaming group, despite the fact he barely knows anything about the universe other than the basics. That it's grim n dark. grimdarkgrimgrimgrimdarkdarkdarkgrimgrimdarkgrim. *Ahem.* So anyway, he wanted to some help in designing his groups patron inquisitor to flesh it out a bit more and not just let it be a name that they hear while they receive their missions.

________________________________
As you enter the briefing room the first thing you notice is the woman waiting for you, she is dressed in an elegant black long-necked dress, adorned with the mark of the inquisition on the chest and the fleur-de-lys of the Adepta Sororitas in gold thread on the collar and cuff. Her raven black hair is gathered behind her in a bundle, but strands of hair sticks out from places, it's almost as if she has not had time to fix it properly.
It’s her eyes that draw the most attention however, azure blue with an bemused and if not a cold and calculating expression to them as she look as you entering. Her red lips are hinting at faint traces of a smile as she waits for you to get inside and close the door before she speaks.
“You’ve finally arrived. Take a seat and open up the folder that’s located next to you so we can begin this briefing.”

**********

If Yennefer had been asked about it before, that the thought of her, a product of the Schola Progenium and inducted into the prestigious ranks of the Adepta Sororitas, would end up within the ranks of the Inquisition, she would’ve laughed at the mere thought of it.
But it all started during the uprisings on Hresvelgr, a manufacturing world located in the Malfian Sub-Sector, when the large mutant sub-class rose up against Imperial Order, threatening to turn the planet into a war zone.
Yennefer was stationed on the planets convent, located in the main hive city, when the uprising occurred and she quickly found herself defending the convent and its adjacent chapel alongside her sisters, against mutants wanting to desecrate it.
The uprising was soon into its first few days as the mutants proved to be more resilient than expected, PDF and Arbiter units were continuously pushing them back and gaining ground but still they remained largely in control. Also rumors of mutants that had been seen wielding powers of the warp were now spreading among the population, which caused further worry for the defenders.
All of this did not really matter to Yennefer as the mutants continued to test their defenses but were successfully repelled.
But then during a lull in combat she was suddenly summoned to the Prioress office. It was there she for the first time met Inquisitor Vasari Leigharch of the Ordo Hereticus. The Prioress explained to her that her actions at defending the convent and chapel with such zeal and ferocity had made her legible for taking part in a special mission to sever the head of the mutant uprising.

Inquisitor Leigharch explained that a Chaos cult had managed to fester and run rampant within the mutant population which was the cause of this uprising. The Inquisitor network had managed to find the location of the cult’s main temple and the plan was to lead a small strike force to take out the leader. Yennefer was one of the sisters chosen to be part of this force due to her actions at the convents walls. The mission was suicidal but it was an opportunity to behead the uprising before it continued to grow even more out of control.

It was almost dark when the small strike force, consisting of Inquisitor Leigharch and his retinue alongside a squad of Sororitas set out from the convent on foot to make their way into the deeper quarters of the Hive. The deeper they went the more noticeable the taint of chaos became, and the opposition increased as well, despite trying to keep a low profile the group was beset numerous times but mutants and when they had reached the temple itself they were down to half strength with Yennefer essentially in command of the Sororitas that were left after the Sister Superior had been killed. But they were close to the source of the cult, the warp beating at them like waves. But they were protected in their fate of the Emperor and made their way inside.

The temple was a charnel house dedicated to the chaos gods, with hideous glyphs covering walls and the metallic taste of the warp lay thick on their tongues. It was not long before they were discovered and alarms were raised. Mutants, even further changed by the Warp assaulted them from all directions as they cut a bloody path through the temple.
It was in the main area that they came face to face with the cult leader, a mutant wielding considerate powers of the warp and guarded by the fiercest mutants available.
The battle was fierce and bloody. But in the end the forces of the Imperium stood victorious. The leader had been slain and the uprisings spine had been shattered. But of all that remained of the force was just a couple of Sororitas including Yennefer alongside Inquisitor Leigharch and some members of his retinue. It was a ragged group that made its way back to the convent as the Imperial forces launched a major offensive to regain lost territory and restore Imperial Order to the city.

Due to her actions during the operation Yennefer was transferred into Leigharchs retinue as a permanent member, in which she served faithfully for years before attaining the rank of Inquisitor herself.
Her time as both part of the retinue and Inquisitor has changed her views of the world considerably. Her faith in the Emperor is strong but at the same times acts under the conviction that the ends justify the means and therefore has started to see things more in terms of grey. She has at times allowed members of her retinue as well as her acolytes to use weapons and equipment of Xeno origin. But only in limited use as further usage would be heretical.
But at the same time her conviction and zeal is a strong reminder of her education and time as a Sororita. Her piercing blue eyes have earned her the nickname of “Steel eyes” among people around her as they turn into cold steel as she is turning her fury onto someone or laying out her judgment.
Her various actions as an Inquisitor has not been seen with favor by some. By far her biggest enemy is the Crime Lord Kirkstone Loveless, whom she has crossed paths with several times during various missions, and who has developed a certain dislike for her as she’s disrupted various operations of his.
However it is her connections with the Adeptus Mechanicus that seem the most puzzling for many. As they are often very enigmatic in their actions and usually refrain from directly interacting with many of the branches of the Imperium unless directly forced to. Yennefer herself has never openly admitted on how she had managed to attain this valuable connection but has used it several times. Such as during the insurrection on Hiigara when she managed to deploy Skiitari forces to combat traitor guard units.

Currently she is using the Dauntless Class Destroyer “Might of the Emperor” as her command post, ever keeping a vigilant eye for those who dare oppose the Imperium.

Storytime: Exalted Character description and background

2009-04-28T01:56:00.008+02:00

Short description of a character in a game of Exalted I'm going to be in.
The basic character concept is based on Baiken from the Guilty Gear series and is the victim of political power play and was left severely wounded by an assassin. But she managed to pull through somehow through sheer force of will. And is now both thirsting for revenge and to trying to restore her house to it's former glory.
I haven't really worked on the background that much. I problably should.
Also her full name is Tepe Revvie "Tarnished Orchid" Edalalaika.
(The name comes from a mix of characters from the Black Lagoon series. Which is awesome by the way and should be read.)

Now the Tarnished Orchid nickname comes from her seeing herself as a ruined flower after the attack, blessed before in her ignorance that she could go through life based on just looks and charm alone. But then the attack sort of changed that and she's become just a tad bit unstable and very willing to go through hell itself to get back at the ones who ruined her.

_______________
The woman in front of you stands with her back straight, her sinewy and slender body looks like a coiled spring, ready to lash out at anything. Her left arm hands oddly at her side, the hand resting lightly on the hilt of a sword at her side. The right arm seems to be hidden under her robes, the empty robe arm hanging limply at her side.
However it is the face that is the most remarkable feature. It’s framed by bangs of black hair that turns copper red towards the end, the long hair reaching down to her back and tied together at the end with a leather strap. The face itself is something that once may have beautiful but now could only be considered pretty at best. A large scar, going from above her eyebrow down to her cheek can be seen on the left side of her face and she looks to have been nicked elsewhere as well. A patch covers the eye, or the empty socket. Her remaining jade green eye is looking at you without wavering. Her lips are crooked into a slightly sinister smile as she cocks her heads upwards.
“Are you going to pay for my drink that you spilled or?” she asks.

Around you can hear other patrons whispering to each other.

“It’s her isn’t it? I hear she calls herself the Tarnished Orchid for some reason.”

“I heard she killed half a dozen pirates without taking a scratch.”

“No it was two dozen, a friend of mine spoke to someone who saw it and he said she killed them all with just one hand.”

***********

Tepet Revvie Edalalaika lived a decent enough life within the Tepet family, usually using her good looks and charms to get what she wanted but also showed a great deal of conviction in what she died. Voices were quickly to whisper that she might be slated for something big within house politics.
Years passed and Revvie blossomed into a beautiful young woman, and still living the easy and good life within the family. It was however, not to last for long.

It was some days after her 19th birthday. Revvie was returning home one night from being out celebrating alongside some handmaidens when suddenly from nowhere they were attacked by assassins. Despite trying to fight of her attackers the attack left her severely wounded and her handmaidens dead on the street. Revvie herself was left hovering on the brink of death, but through sheer force of will to survive she manages to haul herself to someone’s door and knock on before passing out.
When she returned to consciousness she found herself staring at an unknown roof. She awoke with a sense of something was missing on her. But she couldn’t figure out what.
She tossed of the blanket covering her to find her upper body covered in bandages, some of them colored deep red, and to her shock she found that her right arm had been reduced to a stump ending above the elbow. As she stared in shock of what was left of her arm she looked up and saw herself starting at her from a mirror. The left side of her face was covered in bandages and the missing feeling that she had felt before was just not from her missing arm, but her missing eye as well.
It was all too much for her to handle as she broke down crying, realizing that her future had now been utterly ruined and her beauty was now gone. Not to mention her family most likely considering her dead.
Her sobbing attracted the owners of the house, who turned out to be a small a small family who had found her on their doorstep, bleeding heavily and floating in and out of consciousness, so they took her in and called for the local medicinal man, despite the time of the day, who treated her wounds. Sadly her right arm was too damaged to be saved and had to be removed and her eye received serious damage as well. They also gave her something that she had held in her hand when they found it. It was a piece of cloth, ripped from a shirt, with a pin attached to it. Although she didn’t know the mark on the pin she realized that it was from whoever attacked her. She swore quietly to herself that she would find the ones responsible for the attack and making her looking like she was.

Revvie stayed with the family for almost a year, first as her wounds healed and then just accepting the family’s hospitality, as she really had no other place to return to. The wound to her face making her almost indistinguishable from before. So she lived with the family, helping out as best as she could while practicing on her martial arts and adapting herself into fighting with only one hand. The family didn’t really care who she was and she never really told them either than her first name. It was really no point trying to tell them who she was as she had laid that behind her for the time being. But secretly inside her she was thirsting for revenge, but also a yearning to return to her family as something bigger and new and lead them into bigger and better times.

Time passed and Revvie decided it was time to leave. The flames of revenge were burning hotly inside her and she wanted to start looking for answers. She considered that the new she was ready to face the outside world, so she said her goodbyes to her old hosts and left.
The time she spent travelling was not wasted as her brash way of looking for information sometimes attracted unwanted attention from others, most of them ending up lying dead in the gutter or missing a limb. She reveled in the reputation she was starting to build, adapting the nickname of “Tarnished Orchid” to reflect her new personality.

While staying in a tavern she managed to stumble upon a young Captain via sheer accident with him managing to bump into her and spill her drink. The situation was tense until the Captain turned out to be a gentleman and offered her a new one. After that they got to talking, and her accepting an offer to join the crew of her ship. Her searches in the area were turning out to be fruitless anyway and she was starting to get worried that her actions might draw attention from her old attackers again.

You know what they should publish?

2009-04-27T00:48:00.004+02:00

An art book with just drawings of dinosaurs.
I mean just look at all of these awesome drawings of dinosaurs that's out there. (Pictures may or may not be slanted towards carnivorous theropods.) So why hasn't anybody thought of releasing a book that is collecting a large number of pictures sorted under various species. And that's just the singular images of various dinosaurs. Then there's all the various images of encounters and daily life that has been done. So why hasn't anyone published any books with all that content?

I mean there are books like National Geographic Dinosaurs that has loads of good pictures in it. But at the same time it's a fact book with just small blurbs about various assorted species and not an art book. And frankly, there's enough of that kind of books on the subject.
That's another thing I'd like to see more of. Dinosaur books that isn't just for kids. People of all ages can enjoy how cool dinosaurs are. But some of us also likes to read about them and not learn the basics of "This is a Tyrannosaurs Rex. He is big and mean. He eats meat. Rawr," or something in the lines of that.
Maybe I havent been looking enough but everywhere I see there's just books aimed for kids about the subject. Or I might have a hard time separating kids books for actual fact books about dinosaurs. They seem to blend into each other at times with book covers looking similar.

It would've actually been interesting to see someone publish a proper dinosaur encylopeadia of all current categorized species from A to Z. Of course some entires would be long for more well known species and smaller entries for lesser known species.
I for once would love to have a series of that on my bookshelf. Alongside at least one decently big art book.

Coming soon to a theater near you...

2009-04-21T18:57:00.007+02:00

*Distribution company logo rolls by on a black background, bird song and what sounds like a jet engine can be heard.*

Male voice: Who do you think is covering up the battle?

*Production company logo appears*

Gruff male voice: Listen,

*The background fades into a wide shot passing over a military base located on an island, the endless ocean stretching out on two sides of the base.*

Gruff male voice: The only thing across that ocean is Murska Airbase. That's Russian territory.

*Camera changes to a sunset scene, focusing on a male sitting down on a bench, dressed in a vest, shirt and pants. He is looking towards someone while talking.*

Male voice: "But haven't we been allies with the Russians since the war 15 years ago?"

*Scene change to a bright sunny day with two people on an airfield, dressed in flight suits, walking towards some buildings. One of them can be recognized as the guy from the previous shot, he looks to be slightly limping. The other one looks unaffected. In the background, dark choir music in Latin starts to play.*

*The scene changes to a close up of pilot as he’s turned towards the camera. His facial expression is one of irritation.*

Gruff male voice *angry*: Natalie-

*The camera cuts to a missile streaking up into the sky.*

Gruff male voice: If you keep flying like that you'll die real soon

*The reason why follows shortly as it's tracking a Hawker Hunter fighter. Warning noises can be heard alongside the struggled breathing of the pilot.*

Female voice (Natalie): I won't die sir.

*The plane turns sharply as to avoid the missile. The dark choir music keeps on playing in the background. The camera then switches to a female, clad in a Gee-suit and is standing next to the side of a Hawker Hunter. She is brushing some hair off her face with a faraway look in her eyes. The scene fades to black.*

*And then fades back into what looks like a common room, the scene is viewed through a video camera, the timer and battery can be seen at the bottom. The camera is centered on Natalie as she sits on a sofa, dressed in just a tank top and pants. She seems to be reading something. It cuts away from the camera as she is looking up, as if someone is approaching her.*

Gruff male: You're flying number two on my wing.

*The scene changes to a ready room. Pilots are sitting down in their chairs. The clip pans to slightly to the right before it changes to a shot of the black haired pilot from before. He is sitting down in a chair and obviously facing the rest of the people in the room and his attention is focused at someone.*

Gruff male: Gonna keep my eye on you or who knows what your get yourself into.

*Change to Natalie sitting down and looking straight at the camera. It's obvious that it was she he was talking about.*

*Sudden scene change to two planes chasing each other over an ocean. A Hawker Hunter which is then followed by a Saab 35 Draken. The reason why becomes obvious as the view changes from behind the planes to show a missile following the Draken as it goes left while the Hunter goes high right.*

Kind male voice: Guy's probably hating this more than anybody.

*The scene changes to the younger male on the bench as he turns around to see who is coming up behind him. Fade to black
Fade in to show an older guy, balding head and a small beard. He's dressed in a mechanics outfit.*

Kind male voice: He used to have a lady friend over in Russia.

*Changes to the Draken still being chased by the missile as it passes by the camera before the missile detonates behind the plane and obviously damaging the plane, sending it into a spin. Fade to black.*

Female voice (Natalie): Captain!

*Change to a man smartly dressed in a uniform holding a telephone receiver to his ear before he slowly puts it down. Fade out
Wide shot of Natalie standing in her flight suit next to her Hunter. Several other planes can be seen parked behind it.*

Radio voice *Alarmed*: Warning! Warning! Björn squadron. Return to base immediately.

*Rapid clips showing the male pilot from before reclining back on a chair, and then a lone Hawker Hunter sitting untouched in a Hangar and then a close up on an Ace of Hearts painted on the plane. But the heart is split in two by a dagger.*

Male voice: What happened?

*The uniformed man from before is now looking towards the camera.*

Uniform male: Russia just declared war.

*Orchestral music starts to play. Text: The first in a series of Air combat action.*

*Change to a wide aerial view of a large bridge, an aircraft carrier can be seen sailing under it on the right side.*

Radio voice: Puma, you lead the formation.

*Switch to the inside of an aircraft cockpit as it is raised on a carrier elevator up to flight deck.*

Female voice (Natalie): No, Varg is leading.

*Text War is upon them.*

Female voice (Natalie): I'll protect his six o'clock.

*Behind angle of a Hawker Hunter taxing out on an airstrip.*

Female voice (Natalie): And I'm not going to lose another flight lead.

*Shot from inside a fighter cockpit lined up on the aircraft carriers launch catapult. The crewman in front of it suddenly runs of to the side.*

Male deep voice *Determined*: Quite screwing around!

*A shot of three SAAB-37 Viggen fighter planes with a fourth one quickly passing over them.*

Male deep voice *Determined*: This is war. The enemy is all over and they're going to eat you alive.

*Text History repeats.*

*An inside shot of an aircraft, its engine starting up. In front of it a flying airplane is hit by a missile and is sent crashing towards the ground out of shot.*

Radio voice #2 *Annoyed*: These turbines won’t start up. C'mon! C'mon! C'mon! C'mon!

*Text: Once again.*

*Shaky zoom in on a Hunter taxing out of a hangar.*

Voice (Grimm): This is Grimm. I'm taking off!

*The text: "Four wings as one" appears. And then switches to four SAAB-35 Draken flying in formation before splitting off in separate directions.*

Female voice (Natalie): Be careful Grimm. I'll cover you.

*Four Viggens are sitting in a hangar and one can see the cockpit window closing on the one nearest to the camera.*

Male announcer voice *Determined*: The goal of this operation is simple.

*Shots of various planes dogfighting in the air.*

Male announcer voice *Determined*: To invade and occupy the Russian main land.

*A shot of four Viggen planes flying in formation as the camera moves upwards. And then shows another one dropping a load of cluster bombs.*

Radio voice #2: What are we gotta to do newbie? I'll follow you.

*More quick cuts of planes fighting and getting shot down.*

Radio voice #4: Maybe you should start calling him captain.

Radio voice *Alarmed*: Ballistic Missile incoming!

*Shot of a missile flying down before exploding in a large explosion.*

Female voice (Natalie): The Arkbird?!

*Shot of a large white aircraft. Followed by more clips of dogfights.*

Male voice *surprised*: What was that?!

*Shots including more airplanes and a submarine resurfacing.*

Natalie: It was like this enemy came straight out of the demon legends.

*Further shots of airplanes. The sound of engines suddenly cutting out as the camera zooms in.*

Male voice: Damn it Natalie.

*Shot of a bird flying of from a large pile of rubble. The music from before has stopped and switched back to the choir music from before.*

Female voice (Natalie) *surprised*: That can't... It can't be!

*Camera fades into the sofa in the common room from earlier. It is now empty, only a red book lying on one of the cushions. A close up of the book.*

Male voice: I know a little about that famous legend too.

*Text: The Demons of Varanger.*

*Sunset shot of the mechanic and the guy in the vest looking at something.*

Mechanic: Look at that wreckage.

*Switch to a shot of an airplane wreck under a protective tarp standing inside a hangar. And then to an overlooking shot of the same wreckage.*

Mechanic: I'm amazed they're still making them like this.

*Switch to a shot behind the vest guy as he looks towards the mechanic.*

Guy: They? Whose this they you're referring to?

*Text: Enemies in the shadow.*

*Quick shots of the vest guy picking up the red book, the wheel of a landing airplane, and then back to the book being opened. All the while the music builds up to a crescendo.*

Female voice (Natalie): Varanger, the demon from the world of fairy tales.

*The landing plane turns out to be a CASA Aviocar. And switch to a zoom out of an image taken right out of a children’s book, it’s of a man dressed in a black suit of armor. Then it switches to a frontal shot of a landing NH90 helicopter."

Male voice #5: Captain, do you believe in the demon of Varanger?

*Rapid shots of sea birds and an armed guard turns around and raising his weapon, as if reacting to something behind him. The music in the background continues to build up.*

Male voice #5: The demon from the north sea.

*A quick shot of a painted picture of what looks like a princess, and then a helicopter landed on an icy beach somewhere.*

Male voice #5 *angry*: I've never seen a stupid fairy tale come to life like this!

*Quick shots of the guy in the vest, of a dog sitting nearby someone and someone pulling down some blinds to look outside.*

*Text: Truth beyond the dark.*

*And a drop of blood falls from on top of the screen. The music suddenly stops and the screen turns black *

Radio voice *scared*: It appears like we're up against Varanger itself up here.

*A different song starts playing and the shot fades into Natalie pointing a gun towards the camera with a determined look on her face. In the background snow topped trees can be seen.*

Male voice: When history witnesses a great change. Varanger reveals himself. First as a dark demon.

*Scene change to a group of pilots listening to someone vividly telling a story. It changes to the vest guy and the older pilot starring at the sunset in front of a hangar. Behind them stands an Aviocar airplane. It looks like they are talking with each other*

Male voice: As a demon it uses it's power to rain death upon the land. And then it dies.

*Text: Flying into the unknown.*

Male voice: However, after a period of slumber. Varanger returns.

*A shot of a flight of JAS-39 Gripen’s in formation. A flight of Viggens quickly pass over them and disappear into the horizon.*

*Text: Their unsung war.*

*Camera shows a Viggen passing it by as the camera goes downwards and then angles upwards to show the plane reflecting in the sunlight.*

*Text: Will begin.*

*The music reaches its chorus as the camera pans over an airfield with an airplane blazing into the horizon. It then switched to a flight of Gripen flying formation flying towards the camera and then switches to a status screen on a ship with sections flashing red. A missile can be seen streaking over the surface of the water in a short clip before it changes to a below view of a tanker aircraft and then a sweeping side shot of naval ships.
Then changes to something being big being launched off a giant ramp while being propelled by rockets. A quick glimpse of a CIWS Vulcan minigun firing at something unseen. And then a switch to a plane trying to dodge a missile following it. A quick clip of a destroyer firing its main gun, and then switch to dog looking towards the camera as if reacting to something. Several quick successive clips of various people, Natalie are one of them.

A newspaper article is quickly shown, with the words "Four wings" visible before it changes to a group picture of four pilots. Natalie can be seen on the far right, while the face of the pilot to left is obscured by the arm of the pilot in the middle who is flexing his muscles while grinning broadly and holding another pilot in a headlock.
A shot of some planes passing by the camera, blazing down a large ravine. Then it changes to a mix of Gripen and Viggen planes being refueled in the air. A quick flash of people running out from a room. Two explosions splash on either side of a ship, one managing to score a hit on it.
More quick shots of people running. A shot from inside a cockpit of a plane standing on a runway, the camera moves to the right as another plane is hitting the ground in a huge fireball. Followed by a Viggen finishing its refueling. A shot of a group of air force and naval people standing in salute, Natalie is one of them; she has a proud look in her eyes. Various clips of planes dogfighting in the air.
Quick shots of someone making a public speech, camera flashes can be seen. A shot of an old naval captain putting on his hat. Someone throwing his arms up in frustration, as if shouting at someone. A shot of a Viggen landing on an airfield.
A woman, dressed in a leather jacket and uniform about to take her pilot glasses. A shot from a camera focusing on a large man in a uniform, then it switches to a dog sitting in front of a radio being petted by someone. More shots of people, followed by more airplane combat footage.

A quick shot of someone speaking in front of journalists looking upwards towards the sky with a proud and determined look in his eyes. Followed by clips mixed with combat footage and people. A ticking clock can be seen in one of the clips. A missile view of the side of an aircraft carrier that is rapidly approaching the camera and as it approaches it changes smoothly to a zoom in on the old naval captain as he looks towards the camera and as the clock strikes twelve the scene quickly changes to the missile hitting the side of the carrier in a large explosion.
One shot of a pair of Viggens flying formation as they separate and the lead airplane pulls upwards.*

*Text: Nordic Skies: The Unsung War.*

*The music starts to fade out as the final information screens are shown.*

*Text: Coming soon...*

___________________
This took almost way too long to write. Got the idea yesterday while being bored and didn't manage to finish it until now. Maybe I overdid it on the details a bit.
And I could have probably come up with a better title than reusing the old one..

And for those who hasn't caught on, it's a homage of sorts to the classic trailer for Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War.
All I did was just change the setting to take place in Sweden. (Well at least around the Baltic sea.)
Even if I started to run out planes after a while to use in the descriptions.

The original idea that I had was to do a Warhammer 40k version of the trailer but then I changed my mind.
Now if there actually would be a game like this coming out. I mean Gripen is in Ace Combat 5, while Draken is in Ace Combat Zero.
One can always dream I suppose.

Review: Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X

2009-04-17T10:55:00.003+02:00

***Warning: Spoilers regarding plot may occur.***

A gaming genre that has been unrepresented for quite some time is the Arcade Flight Sim. While the Playstation 2 and Xbox 360 have the Ace Combat series the PC has seen a few scattered releases with Blazing Angels 2: Secret Missions of WW2 in 2007. Now Ubisoft has tried to enter the genre with a Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. developed by Ubisoft Romania and currently available on the PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Does it have the fuel to stay airborne or does it go down in a fireball after getting a missile up its tailpipe?

H.A.W.X. or High Altitude Warfare eXperimental squadron (from here on Hawx) takes place in 2014 in which the world has become more dependent on Private Military Companies or PMCs and are taking a more active role in warfare throughout the world. You get to play as pilot David Crenshaw call sign Shade, whom after serving his last mission with the US Air force joins PMC Artemis alongside some of his wing mates. The game then skips forward a couple of years to 2021 when Artemis manages to secure a large defense contract with Brazil, thus making them one of the most powerful PMCs in the world. But when war breaks out between Brazil and Las Trinidad, Crenshaw and his wingmen are thrown into the thick of it and finds out what Artemis is really about.

The plot of the game is typical for Tom Clancy license game. Patriotic, American and terribly cheesy, and with a plot twist so obvious you can see it from the start. With PMCs being the writers new target after the Japanese (Chaos Theory), domestic terrorists (Double Agent) and Mexicans (Ghost Recon Advance Warfighter 1 and 2, Rainbow Six Vegas 1). But it does its job as it gives you a reason to go to multiple places around the world doing various missions. But then plot has never been a strong point for this genre, Ace Combat 5 plot isn't deeper than a war between two countries orchestrated by an outside faction and that is about as cheesy as this one.

The game itself has been said to be a tie-in to other games under the Tom Clancy license, especially EndWar and Ghost Recon Advance Warfighter. The first mission of the game does actually take place in the same location as the later parts of GRAW2, but having played that game previously I fail to see any direct ties other than Ghost Recon being there. The ties are mostly superfluous and just added for showing that it's still the same universe as the other games. A shame really as it could have been used to make actual ties to previous games. For instance one could have done missions during the second Korean War that happens in Splinter Cell Chaos Theory, or use many of the locales visited in the earlier Ghost Recon games.

The missions themselves are interesting. But they could have been more varied. Most of the time you always end up defending something from multiple waves of attackers. While there are other types of missions that take you on anti-radar strikes, dealing with enemy airplanes and so forth, you'll mostly spend your time frantically flying around not allowing the objects health gauge reaching zero. Or at least preventing it to reach red levels as it then decides to give off the most annoying low health sound ever heard as it's nothing more than a screeching sound than a warning.
The missions have a varying degree of intensity, some being easy and some being borderline frustrating. Especially one of the later missions and more or less the last mission are of that kind. But luckily, the game offers four player coop on which to play through the campaign, so if you need some help all you need to do is to drag a friend along.
One could almost see that the developers for Hawx had been looking very intently at the Ace Combat series, in particular to AC5 on the PS2, as a couple of missions we're very recognizable if you had played the game previously. One in particular involved defending a Space Shuttle as it was going through launch preparations. The missions itself was almost built the same way as the one in Ace Combat 5. One could call it an homage I suppose but the likeness was almost too good.
The epilogue of the game does however deserve the reward of being the worst mission in the game. As it's nothing more than a trench run filled with expose from other things about what has happened after the final mission and frankly it's very disappointing. I only had to redo it because I managed to plant my airplane into the ground a couple of times. It was a really weak way to end the game and felt quite tacked on as a last thought. The final mission itself is good, if not annoying in the beginning but ends with a whimper somewhat.

Two of the game’s biggest touted features are the Enhanced Reality System or ERS and then Assistance OFF mode and they're a mixed bag. When ERS is activated it offers you a guided path to avoid a missile, get into range of a ground target or dogfight opponents. Essentially its easy mode as it shows you the path you should follow in order to hit something. And for anyone with a modicum of skill when it comes to flying it's worthless. Of course the game forces you to use it at times as certain missions have targets hidden in certain places. But most of these can be defeated by your own positioning anyway. And then there's the ubiquitous mission in which you have to use the system or horribly die. This in turn makes the mission more of a chore than fun to do as you need to stay within the path as it twists and turns around. I myself barely used it unless forced to.
The Assistance OFF mode on the other hand allows your plane to do insane stunts, some which are physically impossible for certain planes, such as pulling of Pugachev's Cobra in an A-10 Warthog or similar. When in ON mode the plane is very limited in what it can perform. The feature is fun to use and very handy in avoiding missiles. However, for some reason the developers decided to move the camera outside the plane and place it at a fixed angle. This to counteract the fact that you can do such extreme maneuvers. And it's here my main problem with the features lies; the angle the camera places itself makes it almost impossible to get situational awareness as it also moves around with what target you have locked on. This after a while makes it irritating to use than actually fun, especially since it also removes any altimeters, which can result you plummeting into the ground without realizing it. Also you usually get problems aligning yourself to your target, which means you tend to unnecessary turns figuring out just where you are in relation to the plane you're chasing. Had it camera been located behind the airplane in a third person perspective or something similar it would've been a lot more useful. Right now it feels a bit too gimmicky and I prefer using a cockpit view.

Graphically the game is good. The massively touted GeoEye satellites images for ground textures are impressive at a high altitude but quickly descend into Microsoft Flight Simulator levels when you get lower, with buildings being nothing more than gray blocks sitting on flat ground. Otherwise the game offers graphics that is good for the current generation.
The in-game HUD could have been better designed though. Or at least have some things removed. It has a video screen that shows the target through magical cameras you have locked onto in real time. It felt a bit pointless as you barely spend any time looking at it unless you've got a lull in combat.

The video screen that shows who is talking to you is also unnecessary as you are most of the time too busy flying around to actually bother watching it. It also suffers somewhat from the magical camera syndrome from time to time showing an impossible outside view that does not make any sense. It's something that radio subtitles could have done better and the video screen is quickly filed under pointless gimmick to fill space. But otherwise the HUD is good showing off information without being cluttered; the Tactical Map is probably one of the better things on it as it shows your location and the enemies alongside your target objective. There's barely any point switching between that and the radar as the second one only shows what's in your proximity and that is handled better through the HUD showing active targets.

When it comes to sound it's a mixed bag. Explosions sound forceful enough, while the airplane cannon sounds horribly underpowered and something more of a toy gun than a chain gun. Especially disappointing is the fact that the A-10 Warthog's cannon sound exactly the same and not the impressive BRRRRRRT sound that has made it's so famous. (Still a fun plane to fly though.) Voices from various characters are okay, even if I wonder why they had to make the Ghost Recon leader sound extremely constipated while taking.
The music is lackluster. There is a soundtrack for the game composed by Tom Salta who did the music for the Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter series. Problem it that's muted and so generic that you never tend to think twice about and generally forget it. Which is a shame since the Ace Combat series is known for its excellent and very fitting soundtrack. Thinking back after playing Hawx I can't actually recall hearing more music than the menu music as the rest was just so drowned out by everything else. While I on the other hand can vividly remember tracks such as First Flight or White Bird Part 1. A shame really since Salta did a really good job on the music for the GRAW series.

The game offers a wide selection of modern aircraft, ranging from small fighters like F-5 to modern planes like the F-35 and F-22. But also a couple of fictional aircraft and a couple of odd but interesting choices such as the SR-71 Blackbird as an example. As you play you unlock you acquire experience points to bolster up your ranks and unlock more planes and weapons. A neat feature is that you generate experience also during multiplayer which goes towards your total rank. This is further bolstered by various challengers that you can complete to get more experience.
Multiplayer itself is a lackluster affair, with only Coop and Team Deathmatch available from the start. Hopefully Ubisoft will add more modes via DLCs but at the same time it's a bit sad to see them relying on them to add extra content.
The access to such a wide range of airplanes is fun as it gives you a chance to toy around a bit with them, but in the end you'll most likely ignore a majority of them for just one airplane that has the best advantages and statistics. Both in singleplayer and multiplayer. The fact that you have access to various weapon kits is also fun, but one would almost wish for the ability to completely customize your load out to fit your specifications and not the ones set by the game.
One sad point is that essentially all planes handle virtually the same with no real differences. While there is a noticeable change in flying an A-10 compared to an F-18 it's otherwise barely noticeable.

While the game is quite fun it still lacks something. Mainly something that made games like Ace Combat 5 fun. I'd suppose you can call it feeling. Hawx has a problem of it trying to take itself way to serious throughout the game. Time and time again it keeps on mentioning in various ways on how serious it tries to be. And generally falling short. I suppose it has something to do with it taking place in the modern world instead of a different one that's more of an analogy to the real world as what Ace Combat does. Then you can just go with the story and all its silly little things. Something that Hawx seems incapable of actually doing. Instead it keeps on trying to act all serious instead of just going with the cheesiness. It does take one step in that direction in one point when you get to fight a giant super advanced enemy battleship before it can reach friendly forces. It made me remember of the fight against the missile submarines in AC5, sadly it's really the only instance of that happening in the game. I'd love to fight really silly super weapons like giant submarines that fires missiles that burst into molten rain of hot steel or giant flying carrier wings. It's a great missed opportunity.
Another missed opportunity is the game giving you a feeling of superiority. Sure you are flying around and kicking massive amounts of behind, but at the same time it doesn't feel special at all.
One thing that made AC5 so fun was that you heard what the enemy was saying, and there was no bigger joy than to hear the enemy pilots literally crapping themselves with fear when you and your squad appear on the battlefield in later parts of the mission. It made you feel good and it boosted your ego to great heights. Here all the communication you hear comes from your side, only one can you really hear the enemies’ radio transmission and that's during a cutscene. So it's another lost chance of doing something. If anything, more games should try to boost your ego by showing how the enemy reacts when you show up by making them afraid or nervous about what you can do. Since many games do feature the main character as something out of the ordinary if not superhuman in some cases it's surprising it hasn't happened more often.

The game also has a tendency to hold you by the hand and never really letting you go. Everyone keeps on repeating what your mission objective is, acting like you're too stupid to remember what you were supposed to do. The same feeling permeates when you're flying in ON mode, the game doesn't really want to let you go and let you flying around doing all kinds of crazy stuff. And when it lets you do it forces you to do it from an angle which makes it hard to keep attention and not get distracted as your plane is turning the other way. It would've been so much better just to let you go and complete the mission without having someone doing backseat driving all the time.
Also the stock replies that your wingmen have to certain things can get annoying, especially when the same guy can twice in a row exclaim how serious the enemy is acting when four more planes show up on the radar.

At the same time I wonder the choice to give the main character a full name. He has supposedly a call sign as mentioned before but I didn't know of this until I was told of it by someone else as the game never really openly mentions it other than your wing men or your AWACS support sometimes calling you by it. Otherwise it Crenshaw this or Crenshaw that. And yet you never really say anything back like what Mitchell does in GRAW so trying to build a character falls kind of flat. Just calling the main guy Shade, no matter how cliché that actually sounds, works better as you can almost identify better than having a real name forced upon you.
It's probably because of this that the mission you do in Tokyo is actually one of my favorites. Because there you're playing a completely different for once that fights a whole different fight in comparison to what happens elsewhere. It felt closer to a normal mission in Ace Combat than anything else in the game, as it's you and your wingmen and some buddies against the enemy. That's really how it's supposed to be. You and the enemy going toe to toe in an aerial ballet of death with missile streaks flying everywhere. (It's time to dance with the Angels!)
It's just a shame that it's a single mission as they lost a great opportunity to do something with it. Even if the Japanese accents were hilarious and utterly horrible.

Speaking of the wingmen while they are really competent in the game they feel very flat. One is supposed to be a bit cocky but it never goes through and just falls flat. While in AC5 you had several very different wingmen (and women in one case), who all had their own individual voice and style. You had the joker character, the rookie and so on. They were all separate individuals that were distinguishable from each other. Even the AWACS radar operators felt separate from each other. Here they just sort of meld together into a formless generic mass and you just tend to filter them away unless they have something mission specific to say.

All in all, Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X is okay. It has its flaws with lackluster multiplayer and somewhat gimmicky features but if you enjoy arcade flight games it might be something to try. But for the PC I'd recommend waiting until the price drops before buying it. And if you've have an Xbox 360 I'd suggest checking out Ace Combat 6 instead if you haven't tried that.

More childhood nostalgia.

2009-04-15T21:51:00.008+02:00

So I was reading a Awesome American Toys thread on a forum there someone mentioned Micro Machines. And more specifically, military Micro Machines. Which made me more or less instantly remember my collection of the same thing. A collection I still have stashed in a box under a table for safe keeping. So when I read that I couldn't resist digging them out from the box.

I had forgotten how many of these I actually had of these. And then I recall I actually managed to loose couple of them when I was younger. Which is a bit of a shame really. :(
I should almost try to get them up on a shelf or something for display.
At least the vehicles would be fun to have standing somewhere.
Now actually I can more or less the name of every plane and tank I have in that collection. Which I sorta could do back then too to a lesser degree. Yeah, my interest in military tech began early.
I think the blame for that lies on an old book I've completely forgotten the name of but was written by Bill Gunston and featured a lot of modern fighter aircraft. Well modern in a way since the book was at least a couple of years old when I read it. And the other book about future airplanes wasn't newer for that part. But I remember reading that one at least a couple of times in my younger days. And after that it's just rolled on from that. Although it's never gone to extreme lengths like that I can instantly mention countless facts about military technology and know the entire history of certain units and such. Never had the memory for that. Of course me just being able to recognize certain weapons and planes from a picture has me a butt of several jokes among friends from time to time.
And the irony to all of this is that I got denied from doing military service due to being overweight when I was due for that around four years ago.

I wonder if I shouldnt have become something else...

2009-04-14T15:02:00.005+02:00

... like a bodyguard or maybe a spy.
Because I have discovered that I possess superpowers. Namely the ability to become invisible to other people. Or I've got a SEP (Someone Else's Problem) field on me that I cant find. As I have a tendency to get overlooked by people almost every time. So I can sit somewhere and people don't really notice me. I guess that's some damn good qualities for a bodyguard or spy, just to be able to blend among people.

Anyway. So it was the first proper day at school today after a time of work experience (also known as free employment). And I couldn't feel less welcome back to the class unless I had dressed in a Nazi uniform complete with a tiny mustache or something similarly offensive. How the hell I am able to find a project group is beyond me honestly. But I hope fate smiles my way. Or I'll just ask just about everyone in class about it. Suppose that's the right way to do it.

Memories from older days.

2009-04-13T20:42:00.010+02:00

So I was home at my parents last week and in my search for a cloth bag I needed for my dices I came upon something that I had forgotten (more like repressed) that I collected. Namely the Pokemon trading card game.

Yes. Me and my younger brother were one of countless kids that fell for the old Pokemon TCG craze when that was popular way back. Was it around the late 90's or what?
Frankly I had forgotten how many cards I actually had in the end when I stopped collecting them. And honestly I don't think I ever played a single game with them. Ever. And yet I kept collecting them for some odd reason. And I never got that much into the Gameboy games for that part. Despite owning Blue, Yellow and Silver.

Although Pkmn Blue I did sorta win in a contest alongside a Gameboy Color, a contest involving making up your own Sandwhich that had to contain a brand of caviar on it. I suppose they were just giving them away in droves or something. Or I just got really lucky for once.
Thankfully I never did get into Magic the Gathering. Which is a blessing I suppose.

And here's another thing I recalled collecting while going through all my TCG cards.

Oh yes. A classic when it comes to kids. Completely useless these days I would guess. Not worth more than the paper it's printed on. And I have more of these than Pokemon cards. Now that I think about it. What the hell was their purpose really? I mean they're not really a TCG so you can't really play with them? And all it had on the backside was just stats, which I never bothered about either. I suppose I did it for the cool pictures or something.
Frankly I never was into sports or NHL Hockey for that part so the reason why I started with them I can't even recall these days.
Around that time I was 13 or 14 (since the cards was during the 94-95 season) so I suppose I had a reason. But I do recall thinking that the logo for San Jose Sharks was really goddamn awesome. Since it had a shark and everything. And sharks are awesome (jawesome!) by default.
You know what's a bit scary? The fact I still remembered half of the names of the teams as I was going through the cards.

But those days are long gone now. Way behind me as I've grown more mature and less likely to do anything similar...

You know what. Forget what I said. I pick things up I am a collector.(And things, well things, they tend to accumulate, I have this net, it drags behind me, It picks up feelings for me to feed upon)

Storytime: Now with pictures!

2009-04-01T23:36:00.009+02:00

Synopsis: A friend of mine drew a picture commission of two Drows obviously heading for a banquet or festive event ages ago. And when I saw the picture back then I felt a pang of inspiration and wrote a short piece about it. Nothing major, just imaging them as they were about to enter the banquet hall.
____________________________________________________

Picture drawn by Johanz. Pretty cool guy, draws and isnt afraid of anything.

He sighed lightly and was rewarded with an elbow poking him on his left side. He glanced over and met by a mean glare by a pair of red eyes standing right next to him.
“You really think I am going to enjoy this?” He spoke tiredly. “You know I hate these kinds of events.”
“When why do you think I keep using as my consort for these kind of events then?” The one beside him answered with a coy smile. “Now be quiet. They’re going to announce us. And do try to behave.”
“As you wish milady,” he answered flatly.
In front of them the large decorated doors swung open.

“I have the honor of introducing Lady Amirana Saphira Do’Verana Mirandor of House Mirandor and Xavier Vertandi Ir’Belion.” The announcers loud and clear voiced carried over the buzzing crowd and the music playing.

Storytime: Background music

2009-03-31T13:24:00.005+02:00

Synopsis: Short descriptive piece inspired with no special intentions and background. Other than it was inspired by a music track from the old classic online shooter Planetside. (They should do more of those as PS was really awesome.)
If anyone has played the Halo 2 level Delta Halo and remember the part with the Warthog when you head towards the bridge, that's the scene I wanted trying to catch at the later part.
_____________________________________________________________
The sunshine shone through the treetops, casting a speckled pattern of shadows and light as it filtered through the leaves. The buggy they rode in dipped slightly as the suspension absorbed the pit they drove over on the path. The air was warm, humid and filled with the noises of the jungle. The cacophony managed to diminish the noise of the growling engine of the buggy as it drove down the endless path that was cut through the jungle. Low hanging vines and branches created a domed roof over their heads. To their sides the dense jungle towered over them like a green wall, preventing nothing but occasional glimpsed of what lay beyond the path. And nothing of the dangers it could possess.

They crossed a small stream, sending sprays of water cascading from the sides, creating glittering rainbows in the sunlight.
An old fallen log cracked under the weight of a wheel, making the vehicle jump as the suspension absorbed it.
The endless green tunnel continued ever onwards, turning ever so slightly at times but never enough. The green roof of leaves and branches covered up the blue skies from view. Here and there, an occasional patch of blue was seen through the gaps in the roof.

Suddenly one part of the green well gave away for towering red cliffs that dropped into a giant water filled basin. Sunlight reflected in the deep blue water, which looked still as a mirror from where they were. It reflected the deep red of the cliffs that surrounded it on all sides and in the middle of the lake stood a large gray structure, its design strangely reminiscent of a temple with three large arches pointing upwards like spines, smaller structures at various intervals leading towards one of the sides of the lake. The green wall on the right suddenly gave away as well and became a deep ravine, a river snaking its way through its bottom. The air suddenly becoming a lot cooler as the waterfall beneath them gushed out water and filled the surrounding air with vapor. The lake disappeared slightly from view as the forest overtook the scenery once again. But it was through the gaps of the jungle wall it could still be seen as the path followed the side of the lake, fleeting glimpses of blue, red and gray.

The path petered out into a large opening in the forest, the lake spanning out on one side and the greenery of the jungle wall continuing on the other side. Located in the clearing were a small number of buildings. Worn by time and covered in greenery, that never seemed to completely undertake them; they stood silent and inviting for exploration. The buildings looked ancient and alien, and yet impressive and imposing. They spanned over the cliff side with various platforms and walkways.
Across the lake, without causing a ripple or a stir on the surface, a platform or sorts was moving out towards the solitary structure on the lake.

Storytime: Dungeons and Dragons Eberron story (WIP) part 1 of 2

2009-03-23T14:07:00.000+01:00

Synopsis: I've always considered the Eberron setting for D&D to be one of their best new releases in ages. The intense feeling of magicpunk that emanates throughout the whole thing is just awesome. Sadly I've never actually gotten to play a proper game in the setting despite always wanting to do so.
Now this story started out as a generic fantasy story, but after reading the early published Eberron adventures I couldn't resist transplanting the character into that setting.

The main character for this one is Josefina, a sort of normal girl who has suffered the cliché backstory of her hometown being destroyed by something unknown (Hell even I didn't know what when I wrote it). Yes it's cliché but it just sorta came off my pen when I was writing. So she's now living alone in the city of Sharn as a vagrant of sorts alongside her cat Nym. A thing that you may notice while reading is that I describe some of her attributes as rather cat like. My idea was to make her something of a catgirl to borrow the connotation from anime. But not as silly as having a tail and cat ears alongside normal ears. Just having cat blood mixed in her, something in the lines of a half-elf or similar half-breeds in D&D. I think the idea came from reading the Planescape book ages ago and it had an NPC called Cat Lord. That mix of feline and human blood just looked to perfect not to use.
The original plot I had intended was her to join up with an adventuring band of various characters using the printed beginners adventures that tied up to a nice beginning story to introduce the characters and give them an initial adventure together. After that I'd probably develop a story of my own involving Josefina and her heritage.
Now that part I was never too sure of. I was considering something divine having played part in her family's history but there's not really any feline gods in the Eberron pantheon. I think juggled with the idea of her being a magical fabrication of sorts, an experiment to create the perfect assassin. But something happens and she gets away, or something like that and the she grows up not really knowing her real identity. I've always been terrible at building up backstory before sitting down writing and just go by feeling.
One idea I did have was regarding her cat companion Nym, as it would turn out later that he wasn't a normal cat but something else. What I never really either developed but back then I was thinking appointed guardian or something like that.

Otherwise I can't really remember more about the story. Other than now that I re-read it realized I should remake the part about her brother as it was way too poorly written and a bit stupid.
One thing I do remember more is that I had an idea of using the lyrics from The Elephant Love Medley of Moulin Rouge either in its real form or rewritten to fit between Josefine and a possible love interest. Although that idea did sort off resurface is another story idea I had.
______________________________________________________________

Josefina rolled into a more comfortable position and yawned slightly before lowering her head to the pillow again and going back to her nap. Suddenly someone started scratching her behind her ear. She started smiling and squirming as the scratching continued.
Then one could hear someone purring in the room. After a closer inspection one could that the purring came from Josefina.
She slowly opened her green eyes, which looked still slightly hazy with sleep.
“Wake up kitty-girl, you were sleeping again,” said a male voice.
She rubbed her eyes and murmured “I was just resting my eyes.”
“Just get up will you? Araya has prepared dinner.”
“Then why didn’t you say so from the start! I’ll be right down.”
Josefina yawned again, showing two smaller fangs in her upper jaw.
“Let’s hope so then,” the boy said and left the room.
Josefina shot a sour glance at him before he left the room. Then she arched her back and stretched before getting up from the bed. She took a quick glance at herself in the mirror, just to check if she looked alright. She brushed back back a few errant strains of brown hair behind her pointed ears, which looked to pointy to be human and not enough to be elven. She opened the door and went down the hall to the kitchen.
Her mother Araya and her brother Michael were already at the table, her father Jorah was absent from the table.
Josefina sat down in her chair and started eating from what was on her plate. Michael started talking about things he had done during the day, which involved the regular activities for a boy in his age, Playing with his friends and going to school. She only listened half-heartedly while she ate.
When she had finished and put away her dishes, she excused herself from the table. She almost ran to the door, she need to get out for a while to stretch her legs for a bit.
She pulled on her shoes and opened the front door.
And was met by the sight of her village in flames.

Josefina bolted upright in her bed, panting and covered in a faint sheen of seat. Her green looked like they almost glowed in the dark. Her breathing shortly slowed down and lowered her head back to the pillow. She couldn’t go back to sleep and was staring at the roof.
She had been having that returning dream for how long now? Was three years or so? She didn’t really remember. As far as she knew, she and her brother were the only survivors. Sometimes she cried when she remembered her parents. And sometimes she cried for her brother, they separated a year ago or so, each going their own way. He was going to pursue his love for music he told her before he left. He’d always loved music she remembered. And after what happened to them, he began using it as a focal point to express how he felt. Memories started to flood back to her of all the sad ballads he had played. Songs which her almost cry of sadness. And then she would always remember all his happy tunes, which filled her legs full of dance and merriment.
Josefina sighed again. Her hand jerked away when she felt something stroke by it. She let it down again as she felt what is was. Josefina scratched him behind the ear as she continued to stare at the ceiling.
Maybe it was because of her it happened, she thought.
She raised her right hand and looked at it. Her fingers were more slender than others; her nails looked sharper than usual. And they were too; she knew that from testing them. She turned her hand over; her palm was none the different from others. She kept looking her hand and sighed once again as she absently scratched behind Nym’s ear.
Nym was a cat, or so she thought, she couldn’t be too sure all of the time.
She grabbed Nym and lifted him up to the bed. She put him beside her where he curled himself up. She continued to scratch him behind his ear and looked at the cat. Who just looked back at her.
“Yes Nym, I had that dream again,” she said as to cease his questioning.
“No need to worry. I’m fine. I just need some more sleep, and then I’ll be fine.”
Nym looked at her like he understood her. So he got up on his feet and jumped down to the floor. Josefina pulled her sheets closer around her and slowly went back to sleep.

When she awoke, the sun shone through the single window in the room. She stretched and yawned to get the last drops of sleep out of her. Then she got up from the bed and fixed the sheets so it looked nearly untouched. Then she opened the single window and peeked outside. The little alley below her was empty of people. Just the way she liked it. She could hear the bustle of the main street nearby. She grabbed the few belongings she had. And dug through her pouch for some coppers and left them on the small table in the room, before she climbed out through the window. Nym was already outside, balancing without a care on the small ledge. She closed the window after her and balanced out on the ledge, she looked down. She was at least one or two floors up. She had been in worse places she thought and then let her feet got from the ledge.

Storytime: Dungeons and Dragons Eberron story (WIP) part 2

2009-03-23T13:12:00.000+01:00

Synopsis: It was around here I really start thinking of including the printed adventures into the story and thus introduced the Tavern keeper Mal and his family. The idea I had for them was to use them as recurring characters and the tavern itself as main place for the group to stay in between adventures until I'd come up other lodging. At one point I was considering using the tavern burning down as a starting point for an adventure, but as with the rest of my works it never really came into fruition. After where it ends here it would pick up with Josefina noticing an adventure group in the tavern and it would roll from there and their first adventure, based on the Hidden Forge adventure in the Eberron Campaign book, would start from there.
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A few seconds later she grabbed the ledge with her hands. Her feet dangled in the air. She looked to her left, and then to her right. There was a set of pipes leading down to the ground; she started quite easily hand walking over to the pipes. Her feet were dangling from side to side. She looked down all the time, without losing her grip. She grabbed the nearest pip with her legs and let go with her hands. She held on with her legs and shifted her hands to the pipe and started climbing down to the alley blow.
When she was a meter or so from ground level she let go and jumped down, landing on her feet and casually started to walk to the main street nearby. She stopped by a water puddle that looked reasonably clean and did a quick check of her face and hair. She noted that she really needed a bath, but that was when she had a few more coins on her.
She brushed off her pants a bit, not that the dirt from the wall climbing would be that noticeable, her pants were stained enough with dirt and dried mud. But she wanted to look somewhat respectable when walking on the streets. Outside the alley, the street was buzzing with activity and the sounds of a city filled the air.
When she decided that she looked respectable enough, she stepped out from the alley and onto the street.

Sharn city was still to her, a city will with wonders and splendor, and she had been living her for a year and a half now. She could still find herself staring on the skycoaches in the sky, soaring between the high towers of the city. Or sometimes just stare down from one of the city’s many bridges. Sometimes she would stare enviously at the students from the Morgraive University, with their uniforms and bags filled with things unknown to her. She still considered herself lucky enough to be able to read well and write pretty decently. With that she could perhaps be something someday.
While she was walking around, doing nothing really, she felt a pang of hunger striking her. She dup up her small money pouch and took a peak at its content and then exhaled a large sigh. All she had was around five silvers and enough copper pieces to make up one and a half silver.
Sure it was almost a small fortune, but not knowing when she’ll be able to get hold of some more coins again, she would have been forced to save. She sighed again and turned around, heading to her favorite place to eat cheap.

The sky started to darken to a shade of dark gray when she was the sign of the Dancing Dragon. The place was her favorite place to eat and just be there. Despite it looked somewhat rundown she liked it anyway. The main reason for this was that the Innkeeper Mal and his family was probably the closest she had to friends in this city.
The only guests in the tavern when she entered were a group of people in the left corner and a few workers. Mal worked behind the desk today and perked up when he saw her.
“Josefina! Glad to see you! I didn’t expect you this early.”
Josefina couldn’t help but to smile as she took a seat at a table.
“Glad to see you too Mal, looking at the weather it’s no wonder why I decided to come over early.”
Mal took a peak outside through the window.
“Well, a little rain hasn’t hurt anyone. And you look like you’d almost need it,” he said with a smirk before he headed into the kitchen.
“I know, I know. But I hate when my clothes get soaked and when it dries up I just start to shiver from the cold.”
Mal came back from the kitchen with a bowl of soup and some bread.
“You do know that you can get clothes from here? Cira got a ton of old clothes from the kids and there’s at least some that will fit you.”
“I know, and I’m still glad for that. But I don’t want to burden you with unnecessary things,” she tried to wave it of.
Mal placed the bowl and the bread on her table and she started eating immediately. He smiled while looking at her and then let out a small sigh before heading back to the counter and returning with a flagon of milk. He placed it on the table and sat down on the chair in front of her and watched as Josefina tore into her food. He then started talking again.
“Nonsense Josi, we would be glad to have you around more. You could always work around her in the inn.”
Josefina stopped eating and swallowed what he had in her mouth.
“I know, you have told me this number of times already. And my answer is still that I’m glad for the offer but I just can’t accept it,” she sighed slightly, “I just can’t settle myself down anywhere stationary. I feel too restless if I’m staying at one place too long.”
Mal sighed in defeat and shook his head while smiling.
“If that’s what you wish it’s okay. I won’t stop you or anything.” He looked over her shoulder and out through the window behind her.
“It looks however that you will be going to say here for a while.”
Josefina shot a puzzled look at him before turning her head around. And then let out of a groan of discontent. It literally poured outside. She grumbled and returned to what was left of her food.
“If you’d like you can always take a bath while you wait out the rain,” Mal said as he got on his feet again.
“Besides,” he added, “you really look like you need it. I’ll go and talk to Cira about it.”
Josefina stopped eating and took a look at her arms and hands. She realized that she really needed a bath. The dirt made her decently tanned arms a shade darker and at some places she was almost black,
So she ate the last of what she had in front of her and then waited from Mal to come back again. She noticed that one of the previous guests had left a copy of the Korranberg Chronicle, so she grabbed it and started slowly going through it. Stopping to read some headlines twice to really understand what they were saying.
After a while she tossed the newspaper beside her, having read all the good stuff in it and being left what she didn’t like in it. She then started eyeing the small crowd that was left.

Storytime: World of Warcraft story (WIP)

2009-03-21T21:16:00.005+01:00

Synopsis: This is actually one of my more newer things I wrote. Listening to a class about time travel is only fun for so long. As with most of my other things I write this opening has been boiling for a while in my head. I've always actually wanted to write a story based on WoW but never really gotten around it. I had one beginning I once wrote for my old guild forums, but sadly I never saved that one and frankly it wasn't all that good. Even if I did enjoy the opening lines for it.

Now about this one then. My idea here was to follow the adventures of two characters, one male and one female as they travel through Azeroth, depicting things from the original game and the first expansion. It would've most likely spanned several stories as the first one as precursor introducing the characters as they meet up somewhere around Stormwind, Goldshire or Northshire Abbey. After that I'd roll on with their adventures in very much the same way the game plays for the players avatar. Skipping out the really boring "Kill x of these" or "Kill x and gather y" quests that are so common and instead focus on the fun story quests such as Deadmines and such. Of course I wouldn't cover them all but at least many of them and then reference some through dialogue. And then the introduction of Outland would occur and the story would slowly wind up to a point that is mentioned in the introduction of the first story. And then we haven't even touched Northrend. And over due course the two characters would fall in love with each other and somehow it would've ended happily in front of the Stormwind Cathedral and with lots of rice flying through the air. Or something in the lines of that at least.
Now the reasons I never got fully into developing this is many. One is that I'm inherently lazy and others are that it's been years literally since I first started playing the game and I cant remember most of the really fun quests, especially the early ones.

Another problem is that I never got the grasp of what the characters would be for classes. I know there aren't that many to pick from, but the combination has to feel right. Tossing in for instance a Priest alongside a Mage or Warlock has a completely different feeling if a Warrior teamed up with a Paladin. So I got rather stumped on that. One of the ideas I did have was to have at least of them a Rogue so I could do spy like missions and all the fun that comes with that. For that I actually had an idea involving a female agent and the main character and a succubus.
No it wouldn't be anything like that. What do you take me for? My idea for that scene would be something like when you get meet Psycho Mantis in Metal Gear Solid for the first time and how he affects Meryl.
Anyway, here's the intro to the story itself. It isn't that long before it would jump into a flashback.
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“Do you remember when we first met?”

They were sitting on the ledge of a small island, the vast green fields of Nagrand stretching out beneath them. Here and there they could see small herds of local wildlife grazing idly.
The island was one of their favorite places to go to and just relax. It was war away from the hustle of Telaar or the tension of Halaa. And unless you could fly it was impossible to reach.
He looked at her for a second as if she’d asked something crazy.

“What’s with that look?” She sounded wounded.

“Nothing, I was just wondering why you asked that.” He answered.

“It’s just that sitting here makes me thing how much have changed for us.”

“For better or worse?” He asked playfully. She responded by punching him on the shoulder.

“But yeah, I remember. Guess we never realized that we’d come this far together,” he said while idly rubbing his shoulder.

*Four years yearlier*

Introduction

2009-03-21T14:45:00.001+01:00

Blog - singular - Small underwater creature of unknown origin. Communicates through farting. Also, most common name used for internet journals.

So yes, I have joined the teeming masses of people blogging, one of the teeming masses of people expressing their (sometimes moronic) opinion online in hopes of being acknowledged and appreciated. Not to say there are good blogs out there. Just that they're usually drowned by more stupid people. But I digress.

So what will you see in this amazing(tm) and amazing(tm) blog that will pierce the sky with its heavenly drill? (Last thing most likely not to happen.)

Well for once I'll be posting about various stuff that I want to talk about, may it be movies, games, books or music or something completely different.
Now the main thing I'm going to post here is my unfinished stories. I've always loved to write but at the same time I'm utterly horrible to actually finish them. Which means that I've collected a fair number of unfinished works that have gathered dust in a folder on my shelf. (Yes, I've done them on paper. How antique.) So I'm going to post these alongside an outline of how I thought the story would've developed if I had gone through with it. If I can remember if I ever had one for the story that is.

Anyway, welcome and all to this exciting(tm) and spectacular(tm) undertaking.
Enjoy.