Modern Warfare 2 – First Impressions

 
Well there is nothing like good gun porn, except with this, you can enjoy it with friends. The biggest FPS of the year finally arrives and all is well with the world. Or is it? Is this game worth the hype that has been on this game since the trailers at E3? I believe it is.
This is for FPS fanatics as what Madden is for football fanatics. The reason why I have some trepidation in giving this a full endorsement is although I have played through this for 7 hrs, in single player, Spec Ops and Multiplayer, there is not enough time vested to give it a `full’ review yet I feel like I played it enough to know what to expect, so take this as truly a 1st impression and not a full blown review.
 
Story mode:  Still feels the same as any other CoD game especially the last MW game. You are randomly given a character and assigned any given hotspot in the world pointed at a target and you go achieve your goal. That’s pretty much it. This is also MW’s weakest point in my opinion because the way that the narrative is told it feels like you are dumped onto a set and away you go. Not to say that the set pieces aren’t nice but I still would have liked a tighter story setup similar to possibly an older game like GRAW’s setup that makes me feel like I am more involved in the story.
 
**SPOILER** 
 
 
Because of the lack of a tight narrative, it took away the impact of the airport level (those of you that played it, know what I am talking about) and how it would make one feel playing that particular role and because it’s brief, you don’t have time to get into it
 
 
Online and Spec Ops
 
However, this is not what most people come to MW2 for. They come for the multiplayer and this is where MW excels.  What can I say? Tons of modes, tons of weapons, perks and better maps all designed for the sole purpose of creating arenas of digital death for online players to enjoy. Added to that, when you don’t want to play with many people, you have the option of playing the Spec Ops mode in co op mode either split screen or online with a friend. The AI in this mode is no slouch as it can and will adjust to your play style. They won’t keep sticking their head out in the exact same spot waiting for you to shoot and they will take advantage of whatever is around you and double up to outflank and kill you and some levels you have to do this and not hit innocent civilians caught in the middle. Every now and again however, I have seen a glitch where the enemy AI will just stay `struck’ in one position until you kill them.  The multiplayer hasn’t change much in the overall scheme of things, but the structure is still RPG like, the more you play, the more you unlock and the more you are rewarded, and to help draw new people in or people that aren’t all that good, there are rewards to be had if you get dominated that will keep lower level players from feeling too frustrated or left out by higher level friends.
 
Control wise, if you have played one, then you have played them all and this is a no brainer. It’s as intuitive and responsive as ever and no sense in making any radical changes. I do however wish and I have stated this is past iterations, that it would be nice to see possibly some kind of cover system instituted into the MW series. But I guess some fans would say, if you want tactical shooting, go play a Tom Clancy game or GoW. But hey, I am just one person.
 
So all in all, MW2 gets a strong 8 for such a good focus on seriously supporting and augmenting the multiplayer aspect of the game especially the co op part (which can take a lot longer than the main story) but it falls a bit short on telling the story.  With so many games that they have done on the current gen systems, I really think that by now, it could have been fleshed out a lot more and made to be just as enjoyable and immersive as the multiplayer side.  The graphics are as great as ever, the set pieces are fantastic (wait til you see Northern VA for those of you that are from around these parts…) voice acting is always top notch, (Keith David anyone?) and the action is nonstop as ever.

Comcast announces new bandwidth throttling scheme

Comcast announces new bandwidth throttling scheme

via Engadget by Joseph L. Flatley on 11/5/09

 

Comcast customers have been no stranger to bandwidth shenanigans over the years, from the whole torrent filtering mess to the 250GB monthly cap. Now the company is back with a new data throttling scheme intended to put the kibosh on excessive traffic during those times when the network is already being overwhelmed. The two-tiered system is put on alert if either more than 70 percent of your max bandwidth (downstream or upstream) is used for more than 15 minutes or if your particular Cable Modem Termination System gets congested and it decides that you’re partially responsible. Should you run afoul of the traffic warden, expect to find yourself down-throttled for at least 15 minutes, or until your average bandwidth utilization rate drops below 50 per cent for 15 minutes. If there is no congestion, however, you shouldn’t notice any difference whatsoever — unless, of course, John McCain gets his way. Warning: PDF read link.

[Via Slashdot]

 

Pogowolf’s Vue:
Why don’t they just fix their freaking network rather than throttle people that could be just playing WoW? When is the government going to get the balls to throttle Comcast for being one of the worse companies in history? From the horrible quote tech support unquote to missed appointments, to it’s the 10^th time I’ve called to fix this issue and it’s not fixed, to outages just for the hell of having an outage. But if you are a day late on the bill they are all over your ass like flies on shit.

There is no end to the relief I feel when I switched from Comcast to U-Verse. I would rather be offline than go with Comcast again. U-verse was like finding God after being in Hell.

Epic releases free version of Unreal Engine

by Michael French 

 

UE3-powered UDK is ‘an unprecedented milestone in game development’ studio says

Just a week after Unity announced its engine was now available for free to indie users Epic Games has revealed a free version of its popular Unreal Engine technology.

Called the Unreal Development Kit (UDK), it is a free edition of UE3 that allows community, modder and indie users more access to the engine’s features and is available for all.
 
Epic said game developers, students, hobbyists, researchers, creators of 3D visualizations and simulations plus digital filmmakers can all take advantage of the UDK for non-commercial use.

The UDK can be downloaded at www.udk.com, which also offers detailed product features, technical documentation, commercial licensing terms and support resources.

Epic is calling the move ‘an unprecedented milestone in game development’ – the Unreal Engine is widely used in games for a variety of projects. Almost ever major publisher has signed up big licensing deals for the engine to form the basis of a number of high profile titles.

The UDK contains all the most recently added features in UE3 including, the studio says, “many that have yet to be seen in an Unreal Engine game”. Epic has also promised to keep releasing ongoing, upgraded builds of UDK for free.

Currently the UDK only supports PC development – but Epic said it was ‘considering’ a console version.

The studio also reckons that the commercial terms for those switching from the free version should they choose to sell their project or have it published will find that is is “easy for independent developers, start-up firms and seasoned professionals to use UDK with minimal financial barrier from concept to deployment”.

“I’m excited about the possibilities the Unreal Development Kit opens to those who are looking to get into the game business but don’t otherwise have the means to acquire world-class technology and tools like ours,” said Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games said in the announcement of the tech.

“UDK is Unreal Engine 3, which has been used to create games in a wide range of genres, as well as military simulations, 3D architectural walkthroughs, animated movies and more. Users are only limited by their imaginations. Go ahead make something Unreal!”

Xbox 360 Console Bans

via Xbox Live’s Major Nelson by Major Nelson on 11/4/09

 

As you may have read online, we’ve been actively banning consoles from Xbox LIVE that have been modified to play pirated games. Our commitment to combat piracy and support safer and more secure gameplay for the more than 20 million members of our Xbox LIVE community remains a top priority. All consumers should know that piracy is illegal, and that modifying their Xbox 360 console to play pirated discs, violates the Xbox LIVE terms of use, will void their warranty and result in a ban from Xbox LIVE. The health of the video game business depends on customers paying for the genuine products and services they receive from manufacturers, retailers, and the third parties that support them.  This would also be a good time to remind you that the warranty on an Xbox 360 console is not transferrable and if you purchase a used console that has been previously banned; you will not be able to connect to Xbox LIVE.

Dragon Age – 1st Impressions

While December 25th for most people is Christmas, November 3rd was mine. The biggest RPG this side of Oblivion was FINALLY released and that of course is Dragon Age: Origins.
 
Before I get started, I would like everyone to know that I got this for both PC and X360 and I will discuss the specs for each.
 
Installation – Installed in about 10 to 15 minutes to the 360 took about a 1/2 an hr for both my desktop and my Macbook Pro in boot camp.
 
Graphically speaking, the game looks great on my desktop. I am running a 256Gb Over clocked Nvidia 8600GT so I can run most setting on medium to high with little slowdown.
 
Surprisingly, the Xbox’s graphics are a bit disappointing. Some of the colors are muted and some of the faces look a bit mashed and when doing cut scenes there is quite a bit of jitter and when there are many things going onscreen at once, the frame rate takes a hit. And that’s bad considering how great Mass Effect looked 2 years ago and this is keeping in mind that again, I installed this game on my 360’s hard drive.
 
On the Macbook, (Nvidia 9400M) it runs ok with all the settings down low and actually looks pretty ok despite the settings, but it’s what I expected. I installed it on the laptop because I will be traveling quite a bit during the holidays and I don’t want to drag my 360 everywhere I go! I do plan to boost the onboard RAM and I am hopeful that it will help the game run a bit better.
 
Camera-wise, the PC has the best option in that you can go from a 3rd person POV to an over world tactical view which lets you plan on where to move next and formulate your fight plans.
 
Control wise, while the PC has superior controls (as most PC RPGs do anyway) surprisingly the 360 manages to keep everything organized and easy to find using the control pad but still it’s a shame if you are using a mage you are still limited by key assignments where you can place your most used spells.
 
Now, play wise, (***Warning there will be spoilers!***)

I am using a male elf mage on the 360 and a female Human warrior on the laptop. I put this in detail for the very reason to test what I have read so far in that NPCs will treat you different ways and indeed they do! In some areas people will indeed talk down to the mage because he is an elf as elves are the minority in this game and in the other instance many will be shocked that a woman is also a warrior. Thank you Bioware for putting these issues in this game; I have actually gotten to see at least one character react differently to these 2 characters of mine and expect to see more!
 
One thing I have noted so far is that the mage’s origin story takes a little longer to play as that character has to go through an initiation phase to become who he sets out to be and this is even before he is set to become a Grey Warden and something tells me that within that portion, will play itself out later on in the game! As for the choices you make early on much of the mage’s story concerns himself with another apprentice there and his breaking of the rule while in training to become a mage. This storyline gives you a taste of the 1st major decision that will set the game in motion and when that section finishes you will be in for a bit of a surprise and the payoff is nice indeed for it to be so early!
 
The Warrior origin is a bit more straightforward and shorter and involves a family betrayal which winds up in murder. The decision that you make here determines which companion will come with you as you flee for your life.
 
Eventually you start to learn about the Grey Wardens and why they fight the dark spawn. This is where you start to see the difference in this game vs. Oblivion and how Bioware managed to work in so many tried and true stories (Star Wars and LotR specifically)to make the player feel a sense of desperation that the world is looking to you to save it. Some of the places in Felderen while nice to look at does indeed feel dark and dreary most of the time. People are fighting to stay alive and one step ahead of the darkspawn and there is a general feeling that there is little hope left. No one can be trusted but at the same time almost everyone has a story to tell. So, when it was said that this would be a dark fantasy, they were not kidding!
 
The NPC interaction in your party is most interesting of all with just some of the banter that goes back and forth. So, in essence, it’s as you heard. They kid around, tease and sometimes hate each other due to your decisions. You cannot do everything to please all of them but this will test you to see how you get through this game by trying to keep your groups together. Also the dialogue for this game so far is excellent!
 
I won’t get into the leveling system as I feel that it’s something that you as a player would need to see for yourself and tune to your liking.
 
Combat-wise, there is a lot of it and to be quite honest, this could have used a bit more polish as sometimes, it’s difficult to distinguish what you are targeting and hoping that you don’t hit your friends. Pausing constantly doesn’t always work because it detracts from the flow of fighting.
 
10 Hours in, I am very satisfied with this game and I can’t wait to see the DLC the comes out for both systems particularly the PC version since there is a toolset that will keep this game going for longer than the original 80 or so hrs that it will keep us busy! So, if you haven’t done so, run out and get this game because it’s well worth it!

First feedback of the new Xbox LIVE updates (Twitter and Facebook)

 

According to Nelson: “Testing out all the cool stuff now.  With Twitter and Facebook now, I think they need to add a browser to Xbox live.  If I want follow a link someone posted, I can’t.  I don’t know how much I’ll be using either of these.  It needs to be more integrated instead of a separate program to be more affective.    I do like last.fm on live, only because my 360 is hooked into my stereo system and I can crank it.  Not the same effect coming out of my tiny laptop speakers.”

Borderlands – First Impressions

No real need to post an unbelievably long review. This game is just plain fun. 

This is what Fallout 3 would have been if there was a multiplayer mode.

This is another game set off in the far flung dystopia future; you are being guided around the planet Pandora by a mysterious static voice of a woman looking for an equally mysterious vault. That’s all you need to know.

The rest of the game is simply, if it moves, kill it, and collect the loot.

The game is simplistic and deep at the same time. Amazingly the first 10 levels you play won’t even take you that far from your start point as you learn how to choose your weapons, fight at least 3 bosses, learn how to drive vehicles and so forth.

Graphically speaking, the cell shading art is pretty good but sometimes I still longed for the ‘realistic’ approach given to Fallout.

Multiplayer handles pretty well with very little lag and sometimes battles can get hectic really quick.

If I can give any minuses to the game, it would be these.

Enemies that are MUCH lower in level to you can still wield a large amount of damage on you and even though you can be a level 10 character and kill a level 4 enemy with ease, that level 4 enemy can still deal large amounts of damage quickly and more so in a swarm.

This is possibly the only major thing that unbalances the game.

The other is sometimes it takes a few button clicks to reload (I think this is a skill thing) and sometimes you have to highlight a drop item ‘just so’ to pick it up.

The driving controls are a bit clunky and it takes practice just to get it to go straight but hey, you didn’t get this game to go driving!

My only other major issue is that I have as of yet not seen any place to store your loot and I am not sure of this was intentional or not but games of this sort always allowed you to have some type of storage system because you never know if that ‘one’ gun you found earlier may be needed later…however I am guessing that with the amount of stuff available you sell it more than keep.

We also as of yet not seen a way to swap weapons between players short of dropping it on the ground, hopefully this may be remedied later.

Now, the skill tree is the coolest and easiest I have seen to use. You have to make sure you stick to whichever one you choose to flesh out and get the max skills for your character. I am using a Soldier and I am trying to max his skills out right now under the medic branch so he can be most effective in multiplayer and thankfully leveling doesn’t feel like a serious grind.

Some are saying that this game may give Modern Warfare 2 a run for its money and it’s possible given the simplicity of the game and sheer amount of weapons, it’s going to be a strong contender.

I give it 8.5 out of 10.

Microsoft Seemingly Confirms Blu-ray For Xbox 360

via 1UP RSS feed by Kat Bailey on 10/21/09

 

 

More than a year after Sony declared victory in the format war, it appears that Microsoft is officially embracing Blu-ray, to an extent. In an interview with Gizmodo, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer confirmed that the Xbox 360 will eventually be received a Blu-ray add-on drive. The confirmation came when Ballmer was asked whether the Xbox 360 would be getting a Blu-ray drive anytime soon. He replied, “Well I don’t know if we need to put Blu-ray in there – you’ll be able to get Blu-ray drives as accessories.”

 

As Gizmodo points out, it’s possible that Microsoft is merely pointing out that any Xbox 360 Blu-ray drive would have to be external, and that it’s not an actual confirmation. For its part, Xbox 360 representatives are keeping their cards pretty close to their chest, saying that they’re not ready to comment on future plans. [MORE]

The 360 getting a Blu-ray player has been talked about for over a year. (Search the GamersVue Archive) it would be nice kill off one of the few remaining reasons to get a PS3.

First impressions: Uncharted 2

This game came out right as I finished the first one and really it’s giving me a great idea of how someone can take a rather new IP and improve up on it. It sort of reminds me of how GoW was improved upon from one to 2 without missing a beat and it’s really good.
 
You really don’t need to play part 1 of Uncharted per se unless you would like to better understand some of the characters in the game and how they all relate.
 
Presentation and story wise, this game to me, so far, makes up for all of the sucky movies that came out this summer from the cliffhanger beginning to running thru the streets of Nepal avoiding runaway trucks, so far this game is a big thumbs up. And yes, some of the action scenes are a bit clichéd but then really think when is the last time you actually played some of those scenes in a game?  Altho it may be barely noticeable (it’s really noticeable to me however) the cut scenes  and overall visuals look much sharper than it’s predecessor almost to a point that it does make you feel more like you are playing an interactive movie. Not to mention that these early levels really have you playing up to the game’s starting point with crosses and double crosses really gets the blood pumping.
 
AI Wise, I do enjoy the fact that just like the last game, your sidekicks will provide help but won’t do all of the work which is good. Don’t go thru the game expecting your AI buddy to do all of the killing. You have to get your hands dirty too. Not to mention I LIKE the dialogue (There’s one above you!  There’s one below you! And “You follow all the `hose’) that sometimes just randomly spouts up. Speaking of which, I enjoy how the game’s new characters are introduced with the new faces and old faces and just when you think  you can trust somebody, they turn on you and sometimes back again.
 
Control wise, I think they have been tweaked somewhat with a few buttons moved and simplified but there is a tutorial that happens in certain sections that show you how to do things. The added `Stealth and takedown” mode really fleshes this out to keep this a run `n gun fest. Speaking of, you have to really plan a lot of your moves in this game especially in the Stealth portions as moving to rashly will almost always end badly for you. The shooting portions are similar to the first and are reminiscent of the GoW series. You can do more blind shooting and you can target your enemy as well and they are indeed smart. They will flank and pin you down if you aren’t careful.
 
All in all, Uncharted 2 is a top notch adventure game that succeeds where the Tomb Raider games had gone wrong and keeps it fun and interesting without all the frustrating puzzles and fizzle.
 
5 or 6 chapters in, I am very satisfied playing this game and I can’t wait to try the multiplayer!

- DreddheadedPoet

PSA: PSN is down for maintenance [update]

via Joystiq – ULTRAFEED by JC Fletcher on 10/6/09

 

Oh hey, were you about to jump on the PlayStation Network for a quick round of gaming on your lunch break? Actually, we can answer that for you: you weren’t, even if you thought you were, because PSN is currently unavailable.

Trying to log in brings up the message “Site Maintenance Notice: The server is currently down for maintenance. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please try again later.” We’ll do our best to find out when a good time to try again will be, but in the meantime you’re on your own. Perhaps you could get some laundry done, or find a new sandwich recipe.

Update: A Sony rep tells us that “this maintenance should be completed by 1pm Pacific.”

[Thanks, Matt!]

PSA: PSN is down for maintenance [update] originally appeared on Joystiq Playstation on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.