Tag Archive for 'games'

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Games. Games. Games.

First of all, I’d like to express my elation with Barack Obama. And I really mean that. Even here, half-way around the world, in a country so liberal your scale doesn’t even go that far left, this will be a day long remembered. It has seen the end of a reign of incompetence and negligence and will soon see the rise of what I truly believe to be not only a good man, but the right man for the job as president of the US.

Secondly, I have certainly been, if not incompetent, then at least somewhat negligent, namely in writing for this site. But there’s just been so much to see to lately. First I had a driver’s license to take — nailed it by the way — and then the gates of Hades opened up on the unprepared masses and unleashed not one, not two, not three… No, one BILLION games.

Continue reading ‘Games. Games. Games.’

Little Big Evangelical Planet

You may have heard that Little Big Planet was recalled due to references to the Qur’an in one of the music tracks accompanying it. Now, you’re free to opine in whichever direction with regards to the idea of recalling something to avoid offending the members of a religion. I live in Denmark, I’ve been through the wringer on this, so I understand why Sony would chose to do so, and I empathize with their decision.

But I haven’t seen this particular aspect discussed anywhere:

It’s quite normal to play music and be inspired by the words of the Prophet Mohammed,” Diabate explaine. “It’s my way to attract and inspire people towards Islam. #

I don’t know how it was a part of the music, what language it was in or what it said, but isn’t there something fundamentally wrong with the notion of ‘attracting’ the players of a family title — that is, in particular, children — towards religion?

Now I hardly think it was the intent of anyone involved to evangelize in Little Big Planet; instead I guesstimate that Toumani Diabate, the musician behind the track, took some liberties — perhaps without even considering it. Very unfortunate, not least because a recall costs one hell of a lot of money, but also because that sort of thing simply doesn’t belong in a child-friendly title.

Regardless, I’m very much looking forward to the game, though I at the same time feel my economy strained under the weight of games coming in the next month or so.

Silent Gaming

So it’s that time of year where the deluge is about to hit, and I’m afraid it calls for some serious choices to be made. Not only about which games score high enough on Meta Critic to get to adorn the shelves and which on the same bill are left behind, out in the cold; but for those of us who run dual systems — that is, both Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, nevermind the Wii — it also means figuring out which system to get said games for.

Continue reading ‘Silent Gaming’

From the Flames

Rassi, The Avenger

Having some good ol’ fashioned fun playing TF2 during lunch hour.

Don’t buy the Xbox 360. It’s noisy and it breaks.

Dear Mr. Mattrick,

My 360 broke down with red ring of death a while back. Tragically, with the 360 having a 16.4% failure-rate, there’s nothing unusual about that.

What is unusual, is just how difficult it turns out to be to get my 360 repaired. Especially considering just how many millions of consoles that must be going through your system; I kind of thought you would’ve would have streamlined the process to help your users, since it is such an outspread problem.

Continue reading ‘Don’t buy the Xbox 360. It’s noisy and it breaks.’

Gary Gygax, Fare Thee Well

Dungeons and Dragons Basic

My job as a game designer, my nearly life-long hobby of roleplaying, much of my interest in writing and reading; these are rings in the water, emanating from the pebble that was Gary Gygax, starting for me, with the red book above.

I raise my +1 longsword in salute.

16.4% Xbox 360 Failure Rate. Ouch.

Since my 360 recently died, I’ve been wondering what the actual failure rate of the 360 is. Peter Moore claims that it’s a mere 3%, which seems unbelievable, considering how many people I know, who’ve lost their 360 to failures.

Well, it turns out the truth is a bit more severe:

Working with a sufficient sample size of over 1,000 claims, SquareTrade, a warranty seller, has projected the Xbox 360 failure rate at 16.4% — and likely climbing. Comparatively, the company reports failure rates hovering around 3% for PlayStation 3 and Wii, based on less accurate sample sizes numbering in the hundreds. #

16.4% and rising! Phew.

I Fell in to a Red Ring of Death

My 360 died and all I got was this damn t-shirt I didn’t get no stinkin’ t-shirt.

It’s quite amazing really; I’m struggling trying to think of anyone I know—anyone—who haven’t had their 360 die on them. And I work for a computer games company. I know a few people.

So far? I can’t think of any.

Continue reading ‘I Fell in to a Red Ring of Death’

10 reasons you should read this entry

When in the future, bound to the wheelchair by an injury sustained in the Chrome Wars, I look back at 2007, I will see Kane & Lynch: Dead Men.

It’s not that I consider my other endeavors insignificant. I’m very happy with K2, even if we didn’t ship a 1.0 as I’d hoped. And I’m already very proud of the little work I’ve been able to contribute to Habari so far. Furthermore, both Rikke and I were able to chalk off Paris and New York from the ‘must travel to before impending death’-list.

But Kane & Lynch definitively marks the end of me wanting to make computer games for a living, and me having made making computer games for a living. And dammit, I’ll wear that chip on my shoulder and parade it around town like nobody’s business. It’s my party, and I’ll cry if I want to!… Look what you made me do.

Continue reading ’10 reasons you should read this entry’

A Guitar Hero

I’m caught on the second-to-last tier in Guitar Hero III, and there are a couple of songs I find to be impossible. If not downright improbable.

And if you’ve played it, regardless of whether or not you’re stuck before or after that point (because stuck you are, or will be), you will be able to fully appreciate this piece.

On Uncharted

So I played a few hours of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, which aside from a name that turns me off like a cross does a vampire, and a marketing campaign to match, is actually really really good so far. Looks good, snappy dialog, mostly fun puzzles, great score (Greg Edmondson of Firefly fame) and though the whole lone wolf treasure hunter genre is a bit cramped these days, it’s always nice to play around with a substitute Indy.

Now allow me to clear up a misunderstanding bound to happen. No, the main character isn’t voiced by Nathan Fillion. But really, he might as well have been, because Nolan North, who actually voices him, sounds (almost) exactly like him.

And that’s a good thing.

On the Gerstmanngate

Though I worked on Kane & Lynch for Io Interactive, which is owned by Eidos/SCI, this entry contains only my personal opinions and viewpoints and does in no way, shape or form represent anyone else’s opinions, include Io Interactive, Eidos or Sci. I’ve often linked to Gamespot and the Hotspot podcast, so it’s no secret that Gamespot has been my go-to site for reviews and what not.

Because of this mixing of my professional and personal lives, I don’t feel able or comfortable commenting on the actual Gerstmann affair itself. Currently, I don’t know much more than any of you — which as it turns out, is nothing.

And even if I did, I wouldn’t write about it.

Continue reading ‘On the Gerstmanngate’

More Mass Effect Ranting

I’m caught in the midst of a paradox. On the one hand I love Mass Effect for its depth and the fun that can be had in its rather expansive world.

On the other hand I hate its inventory system (you auto-pickup and auto-equip loot; exciting…), the outrageously unbalanced boss fights (never any medi-kits around, hardly and room to breathe and gather strength), the inflexible squad system (you can’t switch squad mates, and they’re quite stupid) and the lethality of the combat (two, three hits. That’s it).

Continue reading ‘More Mass Effect Ranting’

Guitar Hero III Boss Battles

Oh hai. So there I was, having fun playing Guitar Hero III on hard (I can scrape by on expert, but only just, and medium is boring to me), when I suddenly have to face off with Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine) in order for me to continue playing.

And the idea is great. It’s almost exciting to play as well, except it’s FUCKING INSANELY HARD!

This really fucked up my mood. And the worst part is, I don’t even know why I’m loosing most of the time. Didn’t they playtest this? Didn’t it seem just a tad bit too hard compared with the other tracks on that tier?

I can has cheat? So I can go about enjoying this game, for which I paid an exorbitant amount of money.

Gah.

Update: Alright, so as it turns out, the game will offer you the option to ‘wuss out’ if you suck. But, I’ll have you know that I’ve kicked both Tom Morello and Slash’s asses… The bitches. Hah!

Mass Effect. Great, Not Perfect.

Too the day off today to play Mass Effect. I’m 6 hours in (game time, not actual play time, which is more) and ridding a planet of an infestation, and I can now conclude with some certainty that any reviewer who has given Mass Effect a score of 100 obviously hasn’t played the same game as me (but don’t get me started on reviewers… really).

It is great. Really. Fantastic even! But when you’re stuck fighting a boss and you have no way of healing yourself or your team mates, it gets a liiiiittle frustrating after the first two hours or so…

And I’m not trying to be a wet blanket here, but even if I wasn’t stuck playing and replaying the same pockets of combat over and over, it still isn’t a 100. The near total lack of a tutorial, the slightly glitchy cover system, the popping of lights and LOD objects.

Or even just the fact that one of the first missions you get will send you driving for half an hour or so, only to have you arrive at a facility that is way beyond your current skills, if you go there directly.

100? No. Fantastic? Yes. But not 100.

But I’m stuck, and I’m crying.

I’m going for pizza.

PS: Had it quit on me twice due to ‘unreadable disc’, despite it being in pristine condition. Thanks Microsoft for producing HDD-less Xbox 360’s, forcing Mass Effect to always run the DVD drive at peak capacity.

Mass Effect in the House

I’d love to tell you that you could hop on the bus out to Electric City in Gentofte (Copenhagen; stay with me) to pick up your very own copy of Mass Effect. Unfortunately we cleaned up, leaving with all six copies, to fill out the orders that had ticked in when the rumor had spread around Io that we were on a mission from God.

Anyway, the short of the long is this: I has Mass Effect. I has be for the taking tomorrow off to play it. I am teh pwn.

That is all, please return to your seats.

Deep Blue Sea

You might know Brian, a friend and former colleague of mine. Well a little while ago, he and a friend split from the at times exhausting AAA games business to start a small casual game company called The Game Equation.

A big congrats to the boys, as they just released their second game, Deep Blue Sea. Go help them pay their rent…

Go Back to Stealing Cars?

Ron Gilbert. Tim Schafer. Nerdgasm.

I [Ron Gilbert] then head into the office (which is currently a desk Tim Schafer is loaning me at Doublefine). #

Thank you. Thank you for that.

What I Do

It should be apparent from this site, that I don’t sit around at home everyday. so what do I do? This:

That’s the game I spent the last couple of years making, it’s out in about a week, and I think it’s pretty damn good.