Slashdot Mirror

Here's a few links to other and may be more objective reviews

Zdnet
Gamespy
Gamespot
FiringSquad
TeamXBox
Yahoo 2 3

--
"Can I run a linux cluster of those?"

If you go to http://www.gamespy.com/ and look at the gamespy grudge (Currently Aliens vs Predator) and scroll down through the list of past grudges, you can see that the closest grudge ever is ...

Ash vs Duke Nukem

At 2430 votes to 2437, the character of Ash just looses here. Still, I think it says a lot for how much Duke has been based, or at least influenced by Ash. I can see lots of other comments about this relationship as well, so I guess I'll just ask ..., do you think that the fact that Duke was a playable character in games, and Ash (mostly - I know there's a game of the first movie) isn't has effected people's choice here?

Yeah, Luxo Jr was a classic. It's amazing to see how far hardware has come; Luxo was rendered in realtime by a GeForce 3 card in a Macworld demo. I'd link up the demo but according to this interview it is not being released :(

Ask and ye shall recieve:

The story in question.

Nodwick from a few days ago.

-l

From everything I've seen, Tanya has always been fully built.

What about playing *with* your friends? In StarCraft, that mode is called "Team Free For All". For example, you are responsible for 3 teams, and your friend is responsible for another 3. In a LAN-game, you can discuss that with your partner (or use Roger Wilco). Much better than any AI.

According to GameSpy, Half-Life is a little over 10 times as popular as Quake3, and Unreal Tournament is slightly more popular.

http://www.gamespy.com/stats/ - read it and weap boys. There are far more people playing half-life online then Quake 3 - Quake 3 is not the kind of game you'd want to play single player for long so I think this is a good measure.

Quake 3 is the biggest game out there on Windows

Not according to Gamespy. In fact, it isn't even close, and hasn't been for the past couple years.

OK, so Gamespy is hardly the final word in game popularity, but let's not forget that some of the most popular mods going today (CS, TFC, etc) are HalfLife mods.

This just reminded me of a particular Daily Victim.

"In a fit of rage I went over the deep end and cut our apartment's DSL connection!"

Gamespy and Frictionless Insight have both published previews of Camelot based on their own beta test experience.

Frictionless Insight had this to say:

Gamespy's summary was just as glowing:

is the forthcoming Master of Orion 3 (moo3). Almost half of the Dev Diaries I've read for this game detail not the game, or it's play, but how to efficiently pack 100 screens into a usable interface that won't confuse newbies.

Gamespy had a diary with screenshots.

The UI for my new webcam looks eerily similar to the side buttons.

For those too lazy to read the whole thing, here's the funny part, where he tries to guess where all this virtual reality whizbang-stuff is headed in the future...

2052. Epilogue
Fifty years after the first Metagame, almost no one can remember a world without them. Direct neural interfaces have removed the virtual nature of the Metagame. Now, when you are "jacked in," everything you see, feel, or do is a reflection of the Metagame. Advances in food sciences have removed the need for large-scale farming. The nutritional needs of the world are met through daily supplements that can be administered while the user is in the Metagame. People still eat for recreation of course, but only in the Metagame, where it tastes just as real won't affect your body. Nearly every occupation in the world now revolves directly around the Metagame -- its administration, policing (the first Metagame murder happened many years previous), growth, and design.

As people's lives have become more automated, they have more time for recreation. The standard workweek is two hours a day, three days a week (and usually completely within the Metagame). Because creating objects in the Metagame is a one-time task (after which it can be duplicated with no cost) there is an unlimited selection of games and other forms of entertainment available for virtually nothing.

For many years pundits decried the decline in real-life interaction and socialization caused by the Metagame, but they have long since realized that the socialization between people in the Metagame is far more valuable and can take on many more forms than was ever possible in the real world. There are still technophobes that refuse to jack in, but they live to suffer less meaningful lives in a world that has moved beyond the real, and into the Metaverse.

That's a lot of time sitting on your ass. I can only hope we've solved the swampbutt problem by then. :-)

Also (and this is backed up by Blizzard's Bill Roper in that one Gamespy Top 50 that was posted here) Wing Commander also sold a huge number of the then-current 386 systems.

This article is barely academic, it's more of a mishmash "here are some games that were important or I think are cool." The text he throws to justify including The Sims and Black and White show that. ("It isn't really a multiplayer game..." etc.)

It reminds me of the paper I wrote for an A-life class, http://www.alienbill.com/vgames/alife.html, where I use the flimsiest excuse to argue why 2600 Battlezone is batter than Robot Tank. I then tried to show Classic Video Games as containing simple examples of A-life, which was pushing it. (I think that paper brought me from a solid A to a B+)

And according to GameSpy stats, number of players aswell. Even if you assume only a tenth of Half-Life's players are playing CS (which I know isn't nearly as high as the actual number).

CAREFUL CAREER MANEUVERING WILL ALLOW ME TO CONTINUE PLAYING ASHERON'S CALL ALL DAY WHILE THE PAYCHECKS NEVER CEASE

The relevant example starts about halfway through.

Beyond that, gamers are smarter, more likely to go to college, have more friends, read more, and get better-paying jobs than non-gamers.

"// this is the most hacked, evil, bastardized thing I've ever seen. kjb"

I was reading today that the next patch for Half-Life will include funky little voice communication.

The article is on Gamespy, but b'dern it, Links is not letting me grab the text with my mouse. Um ... I think this is the link.

If there was a Linux port of Half-Life, then this upcoming voice feature would kick butt. We wouldn't need these voice utilities.

Off-topic, this upcoming Spectator feature would be sweet as well. :)

If there was a Linux port of Half-Life, then this upcoming voice feature would kick butt. We wouldn't need these voice utilities.

Off-topic, this upcoming Spectator feature would be sweet as well. :)

but, to date it hasn't been done well.

Roger Wilco is notorious for using up resources and being near-unhearable and Battlecom, while pretty solid, also has problems with static creeping into the transmission (interestingly, ShadowFactor is about to discontinue Battlecom).

One solution is simply to build Voice-Over-IP into the app ... in the case of games, Valve's next patch to the Half-Life engine will contain code to do this very thing. It should be interesting to see if a company has more luck trying to write this code directly into their product, rather than replying on other companys to create add-ons (like BC and RW).

_f

These numbers are from Gamespy's Stats page as of a few minutes ago...

Not exactly 5%, as with 270million folks there'd have to be 1,3500,000 people playing, but then again, are we talking 5% playing, or playing at the SAME TIME?

Killers can go hostile and attack anyone

Socializers have both a chat context and global in-game chatting

Achievers have titles, including hardcore, levels, and equipment to seek after

Explorers get some because the world is new every time

So, Diablo 2 clever caters to anyone with an interest in RPGs by having something for all player types -- but their system of equipment makes the achiever an absolute addict. There's ALWAYS another piece of equipment waiting to be had better than what you have. And, sadly, unlike a game of skill like, say, Quake 3, there isn't a great deal of real gain to be had from repeat play, other than equipment gathering. Admittedly, if you were a true groundbreaker, you came up with a playing style that was unique (say, the Tweaker Sorceress or the Hammerdin), but after a gentle early learning curve, most people were eq-dependant.

So, is the game actually FUN? I played it a ton, but if fun is enjoyment, then I couldn't say it was. I wanted to enjoy it but I was too frusted with all those things about D2 that have become terrible jokes:

Grotesque amounts of lag (on a T1, I should add)

Utterly stupid PvP (who hits who first?)

Totally imbalanced character classes

Lame Multiplay (95% of people want to solo in 8-player games, and 80% of them want to do it on the River of Flame, all at once, and barbarians can steal kills, etc)

On top of all this, the "realms" were subject utterly to cheating of the first order. Since I myself spent _hours_ showing support people how to 'dupe' with one of the methods (there were at least 4 different 'duping' bugs, if not more, over the course of the game), I can attest to the fact that they don't take it seriously, thus scrapping the d2 "economy", for better or for worse.

For all these reasons, and more, I've steeled myself against buying the expansion. I don't imagine the major gameplay problems have been improved. I'll buy the Throne of Bhaal expansion back for BG2 instead, and bide my time waiting on Neverwinter Nights, which may well end up becoming the most popular online RPG ever, given that PLAYERs will be able to build, run, and link their worlds, and create new content with an incredibly rich toolkit. Back to the four player classes, I can already see most of them very much enjoying it.

Enjoy D2 if that's your bag, I don't begrudge anyone their game. But D2 has gone down in my book as excellent psychology attached to a very poor game, and despite being one of those people who would spend hundreds of dollars on some of my favorite games because I enjoy them so much, I'm not going to reward Blizzard with another $35.

Courtesy of Fargo at Gamespy (who is a very, very funny man).

Preparing for Star Wars Galaxies

Personally, I'm waiting for Neverwinter Nights

Moller

From a Gamespy article:

"While Destination will only be developing online games, they may end up publishing other solo player or online games."

Acutally, it's much much much worse than this.. it would be more like: Intel sues ME for using AMD, Microsoft Sues YOU for using Linux, Marvel sues Fargo for reading Penny Arcade instead of Marvel comics, etc. These guys aren't suing the competition, they are suing a customer because the customer choose the competition.. It's truely frightening...

Acutally, it's much much much worse than this.. it would be more like: Intel sues ME for using AMD, Microsoft Sues YOU for using Linux, Marvel sues Fargo for reading Penny Arcade instead of Marvel comics, etc. These guys aren't suing the competition, they are suing a customer because the customer choose the competition.. It's truely frightening...

Their [Transgaming] solution is to refine and extend Wine, their "development toolkit for porting Windows source code to UNIX systems (Winelib), and program loader which allows Windows .EXE files to run directly on Intel-based UNIX flavors," so that Windows games will work well under Linux.

Here's my favorite gaming sites to visit almost daily:

VoodooExtreme
Shacknews
Stomped
Computer Gaming Online
GamesSpy
3D News
Firing Squad
Avault
Games Domain
GamesMania
IGN News (PC)

I've been in Tribes 2 games with about 75-100 players, but I've seen some servers listed with a capacity of 255.

To see the current high, go to http://gamespy.com/stats/ and look at the Current Most Popular Game Server near the bottom of the page. This number fluxuates quite a bit throughout the day, so it will be much higher during prime-time.

And note that the Half-life stat includes CS Pete

This is all that matters though...

http://www.gamespy.com/stats/

Games like Starcraft work on an almost entirely peer-to-peer basis. The server's only role is in giving the peers a place to match up with each other - much like napster. And I think starcraft qualifies as a commercial success, partly because of the online multiplayer scene.

--

A young, attractive actress seen in Mars Attacks, Anywhere but Here, The Phantom Menace, and some other stuff. Look her up in the IMDB.

Some relation of The Prisoner actor Eric Portman?

Probably not. Portman isn't her real last name.

What exactly are 'grits'?

A barely edible breakfast food made from little pellets of corn and found mostly in the southern U.S. Standard diner fare. Look them up at dict.org.

I suspect you're not talking about the stuff you put on the roads in cold weather?

No, though I'd argue (as a U.S. southerner, even) that our grits are barely more edible than the grits you suggest.

What's all this "are belong to us"?

"All your base are belong to us" is from a bad translation of some old video game. "Somebody set up us the bomb," "What you say!!" and "Take off every 'ZiG'" are from the same place. See screenshots of the game, as well as some varyingly amusing parodies here.

Yep, all that content, and yet when there's a slow day at work I can still run out of interesting stuff to look at on the internet.

little gamers, penny arcade, goats (not goatse), and badtech: online comics. It'll take a while to browse the entire archive.

everything 2: nearly half a million writeups on topics from aardvarks to zzyzx.

I can move pikachu with my mind!

In case, you're one of many like me who collected magic cards, but doesn't play much anymore; someone just forwarded me this link to a Cheapass Game that can be played with Magic Cards. If you're not familliar with Cheapass Games, they produce very low-cost games with simple rules. Their best known include: "Before I Kill You, Mr. Bond", "Give Me the Brain", "Kill Dr. Lucky" and many, many others.

My personal favorite and recommendation is "Kill Dr. Lucky" for it's deceptively simple strategy, including the infamous "lucky train".

Landyland and it's sister game Mana Burn are only a buck each, which is the low-end of Cheapass games. The high end is around $8-10, but I usually expect to pay around $2-5 for a Cheapass game.

The other great thing about Cheapass is the art. Many of the games are drawn by such artists as Phil Phoglio and John Kovalic. It may be on paper cut-outs, but it's very nicely done.

NOTE: I'm advocating Cheapass games, but have no vested interest in their financial future. I'd love to see more people play them, but that's just for my gaming fun.

Oops. Forgot in my first reply -- here's an article that explains this all -- http://www.gamespy.com/articles/january01/blackisl e/

--Sam L-L

--Sam L-L

Nobody would listen when I did this. You all thought that I had gone off the overclocking deep end. But who's laughing now?

Nobody would listen when I did this. You all thought that I had gone off the overclocking deep end. But who's laughing now?

Online FPS numbers by game

Breakdown of Halflife by mod (over 29k counterstrike players when this was posted)

Online FPS numbers by game

Breakdown of Halflife by mod (over 29k counterstrike players when this was posted)

At least it made it to the runner-up list.

I thought for sure that when the article said "The most influential turn-based strategy game", it was going to be X-Com. I was wrong. What a downer!

In case you didn't know, the first 3 X-com games have been re-released, and given a nod by GameSpy.
Also, don't miss this X-Com Graphic Novel, all done in Legos!

is here. link = http://www.gamespy.com/comics/november00/dork4/
- -
Peace,
Lord Omlette
ICQ# 77863057

How people are effected by gaming/the influence that games play does not have a concrete answer that fits everybody. There are several factors that contribute to how a person will react.

First, above all, is context. Currently, I work for GameSpy Industries, as the site director for 3DActionPlanet, plus I also work on PlanetQ3F. The work that I do REQUIRES that I am up-to-date on the latest 3DAction games, 90% of which are 3D shooters. I play them not only because I like too, but because it is also part of my job.

The second is the game itself. I am currently playing Hitman: Codename 47, which I will then be reviewing. It isn't a shooter; rather, you play a Hitman, and you're given missions that involve killing somebody. The issue I have with the game thus far is that it is WAY to realistic for some gamers. The weapons you can use include a piano wire, which you use to strangle people. (The animation is very convincing.. there is even gasping, if you listen closely.)

When a game is ultra-realistic, some people may get the idea to try some of the things they have seen.

------------
CitizenC
My name is not 'nospam,' but 'citizenc'.

PlayStation 2 all sold out, proceed to yo-yo department
Dave Barry (yes, THE Dave Barry) talks about the hype surrounding the Playstation 2. By - Dave Barry

Editor's Note: This editorial originally appeared on Nov. 26 in the Miami Herald newspaper. Reprinted with permission.

On behalf of parents everywhere, I just want to say: Thanks a lot, Sony!

We're all grateful to Sony because of the swell job it has done of promoting the Sony PlayStation 2, which is the most important advance in entertainment technology since Tickle Me Elmo. This thing is amazing: It can play video games! It can play movies! It can make jerky! It can perform laser eyeball surgery in your family room!

Sony spent millions of dollars hyping the PlayStation 2, thus creating a huge demand. Every child in America MUST get one of these things for Christmas or Chanukah or Kwanzaa or Atheist Children Get Presents Day. Children who DON'T get one will be bitterly disappointed.

To meet the demand it created, Sony set up the PlayStation 2 manufacturing facility, which is located in a one-car garage in suburban Tokyo. There, the PlayStation 2 work force, which consists of 92-year-old Mr. Wokohito Mumuwama and his 89-year-old wife, Blanche, have been making PlayStation 2 units as fast as they can, considering the fact that they must assemble all 123,972 parts by hand, and their candles keep blowing out. Nevertheless the Mumuwamas have been cranking out these babies at the rate of nearly one per month, for a total of 11 so far, of which eight failed quality-control tests because of defects such as spiders, denture adhesive on the microchips, etc.

So the bottom line is that only three functioning PlayStation 2 units have actually been made, and two of these were stolen during shipment. As a result, 37 million parents were competing for the one remaining unit, which was purchased by 24-year-old video-game enthusiast Trevor Beanhonker, who got it, in a heartwarming holiday story, by strapping explosives to his chest.

The rest of us are out of luck. We will have to explain to our children, in our most soothing Mr. Rogers voices, that Santa did not bring them a PlayStation 2 this year, but that this does NOT mean they have been bad! It just means that Santa hates them.

So again I say: Thanks, Sony! Way to plan! Maybe you could use the same kind of marketing expertise to open a chain of restaurants: Each one could have 50 tables, 15 waiters, five chefs, an extensive menu, and one lone packet of saltines.