OK, so you are a self-described "hardcore" gamer...well, I have some sad news for you bucko. As soon as you say you refuse to play a game because either A. it is on a console or B. it is on a game system made by a specific company, you are basically revealing to the world that you are a moron. A complete and total moron.
What kind of gamer would want to LIMIT themselves by refusing to play games on certain platforms/systems? If you truly are a hardcore gamer, you would be playing as many different games as possible on as many different systems as possible...otherwise, you are what some people like to call "fake".
Who gives a crap if it's played with a keyboard/mouse or a controller? Who cares what company manufactured the system it plays on? If it's a video game, and it's fun, what more could you possibly want?
It's from John Carpenter's 1982 version of The Thing...rent it, horror/sci-fi classic. Great great stuff. Even by today's standards, the special effects are decent. Also notable for not having a single female in the entire movie (unless you count the voice of the chess computer early on in the movie)
While the guns and outfits may look similar, they definately play differently...sure, the guns may not make as big of a difference as they do in say rainbow six vegas, but the three stats produce a very noticible difference from one to the next. The side missions, I thought, were similar enough to not seem out of left field but different enough for them to be worth doing. The MAKO definately could have used some work in terms of control, but it was fun sending it flying off cliffs:-)
As far as general gameplay goes, I think the base system works very well...navigating the gameworld, the auto-map, the fighting system....only small tweaks are needed really. Out of everything, the fighting system took the longest for me to get used to but once I did it was easily my favourite part of the game...fights are intense and never seem "cheap"...the cover system could definately use some work, but other than Rainbow Six Vegas no game (yes, I'm including Gears of War in that) has really gotten the cover system down properly.
A lot of people seem to gripe about the interface...really, the only thing the interface is missing is the ability to sort your stuff....other than that, I thought it's layout was very simple and was easy to navigate using a controller.
I would have to disagree...uncovering some part of the game universe via the codex, going on varied side quests, and just simply discovering more of the main plotline kept it interesting for me from the start right up until the credits began to roll. If anything (other than the obvious technical issues), my biggest gripe is that the game wasn't LONGER...I was a little upset that I finished it as quickly as I did, even with all of the side quests and such that I did. Realistically, I could have completed the main storyline in under 15 hours...a game like this should have at LEAST a 30-40 hour storyline with 15-30 hours of sidequests...a bit suprised at how short it was.
Regardless of that, it was still an awesome game...fighting was intense, storyline was interesting, the choices were truly difficult at times, and the production values were sky high. Only the second game that I have started playing a second time as soon as I finished it (the first game I played back to back like that was Secret of Mana 2)
Personally, I find my PSP to be a fantastic book reader...all it takes is just two freeware programs (convert the PDF or LIT to fit the screen, held either normally or vertically) and then another program to convert each page into a jpeg (so you can view it, since the PSP doesn't have native PDF or LIT support) and bam, eReader. Works great, and the batter lasts for quit a long time using it in this manner.
First time a game has gotten to me this strongly...Getting off the Normandy at the Citadel, a reporter stopped me and asked if she could interview me. I said yes. In the interview, I pointed out that Saren had something to do with the attack on Eden Prime. The instant Shephard said this, the potential consequences of my action began to sink in...what will the council think of this? Am I the cause of some media leak now? Will things on the Citadel start getting out of hand as the people realize that not only were they lied to, but a SPECTRE of all people led the attack? And how will they react to me, the first human spectre, releasing this information?
I genuinely started to worry. Yes, I know it's a video game, and yes I know some council of alien species isn't going to punish me...but when I play that game, I become John Shephard for the duration of the time that I am sitting on my couch. I truly began to worry about the consequences of making such a poor decision...first time a game has ever made me feel the emotion of worry and doubt about my decision./offtopic rant
Actually, that is EXACTLY what "HD Ready" means...it can accept a signal from an HD receiver box, process it, and display it in an "HD resolution".
If your TV isn't "HD Ready", that means that it cannot accept and HD signal from a box. If it is "HD Built-In", that means that the HD tuner is built-in to the TV (imagine that)
But they can be. Every gamestop in my area said the same thing: "We get them on Friday...first come first serve"
People are buying them out so they are obviously available...you just have to be there before other people to get it:-) I mean...you wouldn't want your stuff in their house, would you?
"Someone else would have bought our stuff...our stuff, in their house!" -Gallagher
They aren't exactly just collecting dust on shelves, but they can be easily found. Sure, it takes a bit of research (when is what store going to get a shipment in) and getting up early in the morning so as to be in line to get it when the store opens, but they CAN be gotten. It just takes a bit of effort.
My ladyfriend and I camped out overnight about 6 months ago to get ours...grabbed two packs of ciggs, put a bunch of futurama episodes on my PSP's 2 gig memory stick, a couple of folding chairs, a little bit of food/drink, and had a great time. AND we got to go home with a Wii!
Granted, winter is coming up so temps are getting a little cold to do that comfortably...but camping out at the store is almost as much fun as owning the console, IMHO. Just a part of the experience:-)
Um...both Half-Life 2 AND Portal never leave the first-person view unless you are loading the game...in Half-Life 2 the next "level" is reached when the small bit semi-transparent text shows up in the center of the screen...in Portal, you ride an elevator (again, entirely in first person, not even a loading screen) and when the doors open...there you are at the next level (or in this case, test) Again, both games NEVER leave the first-person view while playing them...not a load-screen in sight.
Come on. Do at least SOME simple research before you start mouthing stupid crap.
I would disagree with that. It is quite obvious when you play a game in the half-life universe that a LOT of time and effort went into it...take a step back and just look at the level designs used throughout the entire series...they are spectacular.
Yes, their goal is to make money...but it's not their only goal. It is important to them to put out a quality product, and they have yet to dissapoint (Steam...well, I'll leave that to personal experience. People have as differing a view on Steam as people have on Sony and Microsoft.)
I'm sure that had something to do with it, but the primary reason they gave was so that people didn't have to wait as long to continue the story line...might be bullshit, but it still makes sense. Besides, episodes 1 and 2 have some great experiences in them, as well as good plot development.
As far as your last reasons...they would need humanoid sized soldiers so that they can direct individual humans on a person-by-person basis. A strider would hardly be good at giving people specific instructions and communicating with the "enemy" on a personal level.
Total destruction is communicating on a personal level, but if you are destroying everything then you are controlling nothing. You are just destroying it. The combine's motives are to capture and use earth as a remote base...a well established remote base. Destroying everything and everyone would hardly provide any sort of advantage, as humans could be used as workers and whatever else they needed labour/organic material for.
For me, Half Life 2 was so enjoyable because of the high production values...facial animation, physics engine, the puzzles (easy as they may have been, they were original and entertaining while never being frustrating) Not to mention the voice acting and the script...all top-notch stuff. It even has a fairly extensive backstory, if you are willing to read up on it. It certainly isn't anything epic, but it's still quite good and in depth.
::shrug:: To me, 12-15 hours for a shooter is just right...especially when you have no form of progression (i.e. your character doesn't get stronger and you cannot modify your weapons (excluding the short stint with the overpowered gravity gun towards the end))
Anything longer than 15 hours while playing a static character is too long, I think.
Episode 1 and 2 are so short because they are exactly that...episodes. Valve said (can't recall a link to the interview, I'm sure someone will chime in with it) they considered episodes 1 2 and 3 to be the equivelent of half-life 3...just released in three parts.
Assume it takes between 12-15 hours for Half Life 2...now look at the episodes. So far we have 3-4 hours for Episode 1, 4-7 hours for episode 2...assuming the short end of both of those, episode 1 and 2 combined are already gaining on the length of half life 2...add in another 4-7 hours for episode 3 and you have a game that is longer than Half Life 2.
Out of curiosity, why didn't HL2 do anything for you? Did you not play the first game/not play to the end?
By "unreadable", I didn't mean I couldn't understand it or it wasn't exciting...I meant the way that things are portrayed in his plays/books/whatever are just off to me...it's like taking sandpaper to my brain.
That said, if I were asked to say one positive thing about Shakespeare, it would be that he had a fantastic sense of humour...I would venture to say that the humour that he sprinkled throughout his works were the only thing that kept me interested during high school.
And you are right, I can't deny the impact he has had on literature as a whole...but that doesn't mean I have to like his work;-)
Slashdot Mirror
OK, so you are a self-described "hardcore" gamer...well, I have some sad news for you bucko. As soon as you say you refuse to play a game because either A. it is on a console or B. it is on a game system made by a specific company, you are basically revealing to the world that you are a moron. A complete and total moron.
What kind of gamer would want to LIMIT themselves by refusing to play games on certain platforms/systems? If you truly are a hardcore gamer, you would be playing as many different games as possible on as many different systems as possible...otherwise, you are what some people like to call "fake".
Who gives a crap if it's played with a keyboard/mouse or a controller? Who cares what company manufactured the system it plays on? If it's a video game, and it's fun, what more could you possibly want?
Christ, people like you piss me off...
It's from John Carpenter's 1982 version of The Thing...rent it, horror/sci-fi classic. Great great stuff. Even by today's standards, the special effects are decent. Also notable for not having a single female in the entire movie (unless you count the voice of the chess computer early on in the movie)
While the guns and outfits may look similar, they definately play differently...sure, the guns may not make as big of a difference as they do in say rainbow six vegas, but the three stats produce a very noticible difference from one to the next. The side missions, I thought, were similar enough to not seem out of left field but different enough for them to be worth doing. The MAKO definately could have used some work in terms of control, but it was fun sending it flying off cliffs :-)
As far as general gameplay goes, I think the base system works very well...navigating the gameworld, the auto-map, the fighting system....only small tweaks are needed really. Out of everything, the fighting system took the longest for me to get used to but once I did it was easily my favourite part of the game...fights are intense and never seem "cheap"...the cover system could definately use some work, but other than Rainbow Six Vegas no game (yes, I'm including Gears of War in that) has really gotten the cover system down properly.
A lot of people seem to gripe about the interface...really, the only thing the interface is missing is the ability to sort your stuff....other than that, I thought it's layout was very simple and was easy to navigate using a controller.
But to each his own, I suppose....
I would have to disagree...uncovering some part of the game universe via the codex, going on varied side quests, and just simply discovering more of the main plotline kept it interesting for me from the start right up until the credits began to roll. If anything (other than the obvious technical issues), my biggest gripe is that the game wasn't LONGER...I was a little upset that I finished it as quickly as I did, even with all of the side quests and such that I did. Realistically, I could have completed the main storyline in under 15 hours...a game like this should have at LEAST a 30-40 hour storyline with 15-30 hours of sidequests...a bit suprised at how short it was.
Regardless of that, it was still an awesome game...fighting was intense, storyline was interesting, the choices were truly difficult at times, and the production values were sky high. Only the second game that I have started playing a second time as soon as I finished it (the first game I played back to back like that was Secret of Mana 2)
Clark: I don't know what the hell is in there, but it's weird and pissed off.
...and after Final Fantasy VI, mostly worthless
http://pdf2psp.sourceforge.net/
Appreciated, but not everyone has a modded PSP ;-)
and apparently, writing about it causes a large number of mistyped words as well...
Personally, I find my PSP to be a fantastic book reader...all it takes is just two freeware programs (convert the PDF or LIT to fit the screen, held either normally or vertically) and then another program to convert each page into a jpeg (so you can view it, since the PSP doesn't have native PDF or LIT support) and bam, eReader. Works great, and the batter lasts for quit a long time using it in this manner.
First time a game has gotten to me this strongly...Getting off the Normandy at the Citadel, a reporter stopped me and asked if she could interview me. I said yes. In the interview, I pointed out that Saren had something to do with the attack on Eden Prime. The instant Shephard said this, the potential consequences of my action began to sink in...what will the council think of this? Am I the cause of some media leak now? Will things on the Citadel start getting out of hand as the people realize that not only were they lied to, but a SPECTRE of all people led the attack? And how will they react to me, the first human spectre, releasing this information?
/offtopic rant
I genuinely started to worry. Yes, I know it's a video game, and yes I know some council of alien species isn't going to punish me...but when I play that game, I become John Shephard for the duration of the time that I am sitting on my couch. I truly began to worry about the consequences of making such a poor decision...first time a game has ever made me feel the emotion of worry and doubt about my decision.
Actually, that is EXACTLY what "HD Ready" means...it can accept a signal from an HD receiver box, process it, and display it in an "HD resolution".
If your TV isn't "HD Ready", that means that it cannot accept and HD signal from a box. If it is "HD Built-In", that means that the HD tuner is built-in to the TV (imagine that)
Traitor? No...dead DS battery and waiting for another to come in the mail at the time? Yes :-)
But they can be. Every gamestop in my area said the same thing: "We get them on Friday...first come first serve"
People are buying them out so they are obviously available...you just have to be there before other people to get it:-) I mean...you wouldn't want your stuff in their house, would you?
"Someone else would have bought our stuff...our stuff, in their house!" -Gallagher
They aren't exactly just collecting dust on shelves, but they can be easily found. Sure, it takes a bit of research (when is what store going to get a shipment in) and getting up early in the morning so as to be in line to get it when the store opens, but they CAN be gotten. It just takes a bit of effort. My ladyfriend and I camped out overnight about 6 months ago to get ours...grabbed two packs of ciggs, put a bunch of futurama episodes on my PSP's 2 gig memory stick, a couple of folding chairs, a little bit of food/drink, and had a great time. AND we got to go home with a Wii! Granted, winter is coming up so temps are getting a little cold to do that comfortably...but camping out at the store is almost as much fun as owning the console, IMHO. Just a part of the experience :-)
Um...both Half-Life 2 AND Portal never leave the first-person view unless you are loading the game...in Half-Life 2 the next "level" is reached when the small bit semi-transparent text shows up in the center of the screen...in Portal, you ride an elevator (again, entirely in first person, not even a loading screen) and when the doors open...there you are at the next level (or in this case, test) Again, both games NEVER leave the first-person view while playing them...not a load-screen in sight. Come on. Do at least SOME simple research before you start mouthing stupid crap.
"Time enjoyed wasting was not wasted." -John Lennon
I would disagree with that. It is quite obvious when you play a game in the half-life universe that a LOT of time and effort went into it...take a step back and just look at the level designs used throughout the entire series...they are spectacular.
Yes, their goal is to make money...but it's not their only goal. It is important to them to put out a quality product, and they have yet to dissapoint (Steam...well, I'll leave that to personal experience. People have as differing a view on Steam as people have on Sony and Microsoft.)
As far as your last reasons...they would need humanoid sized soldiers so that they can direct individual humans on a person-by-person basis. A strider would hardly be good at giving people specific instructions and communicating with the "enemy" on a personal level.
Total destruction is communicating on a personal level, but if you are destroying everything then you are controlling nothing. You are just destroying it. The combine's motives are to capture and use earth as a remote base...a well established remote base. Destroying everything and everyone would hardly provide any sort of advantage, as humans could be used as workers and whatever else they needed labour/organic material for.
For me, Half Life 2 was so enjoyable because of the high production values...facial animation, physics engine, the puzzles (easy as they may have been, they were original and entertaining while never being frustrating) Not to mention the voice acting and the script...all top-notch stuff. It even has a fairly extensive backstory, if you are willing to read up on it. It certainly isn't anything epic, but it's still quite good and in depth.
::shrug:: To me, 12-15 hours for a shooter is just right...especially when you have no form of progression (i.e. your character doesn't get stronger and you cannot modify your weapons (excluding the short stint with the overpowered gravity gun towards the end))
Anything longer than 15 hours while playing a static character is too long, I think.
Episode 1 and 2 are so short because they are exactly that...episodes. Valve said (can't recall a link to the interview, I'm sure someone will chime in with it) they considered episodes 1 2 and 3 to be the equivelent of half-life 3...just released in three parts.
Assume it takes between 12-15 hours for Half Life 2...now look at the episodes. So far we have 3-4 hours for Episode 1, 4-7 hours for episode 2...assuming the short end of both of those, episode 1 and 2 combined are already gaining on the length of half life 2...add in another 4-7 hours for episode 3 and you have a game that is longer than Half Life 2.
Out of curiosity, why didn't HL2 do anything for you? Did you not play the first game/not play to the end?
Some people still like Hitler...does that make him better than Stalin?
No, that is what makes a longer lasting game...case in point, people still love Grease...does that mean it is a better movie than Children of Men?
Exactly. You can't make that comparison.
I can understand why you might like Galaxy more than Halo 3, but can you really say it's a better game the way that you are?
Halo is a sci-fi first person shoot everything game. Galaxy is a time your jump find all the stars while doing fun acrobatic movements game.
Two very VERY different games.
By "unreadable", I didn't mean I couldn't understand it or it wasn't exciting...I meant the way that things are portrayed in his plays/books/whatever are just off to me...it's like taking sandpaper to my brain.
;-)
That said, if I were asked to say one positive thing about Shakespeare, it would be that he had a fantastic sense of humour...I would venture to say that the humour that he sprinkled throughout his works were the only thing that kept me interested during high school.
And you are right, I can't deny the impact he has had on literature as a whole...but that doesn't mean I have to like his work