Curmudgeon Gamer
31 May 2007
Carmack's jumped the shark
id Software is working on a brand new game with a brand new engine, and I don't care:
"We are working on an all-new franchise: it's not Doom, it's not Quake, it's not Wolfenstein, it's not Enemy Territory, it's not even Commander Keen!"It is a new id brand with an all-new John Carmack engine and I think that when we show it to people, once again they'll see, just like they saw when we first showed Doom 3, that John Carmack still has a lot of magic left."
A decade ago the words "all-new John Carmack engine" would have had me poring for hours over Anandtech video card, motherboard, and CPU reviews. Now I wonder why I ever cared so much. Maybe id really will have something novel and fun this time, but I wouldn't even bet my milk money on it.
I'm going to hazard that I've changed and id Software fundamentally hasn't.
Edit: Removed link to Kotaku junk post and linked to original source. Idiots.
--jvm at 15:54
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21 May 2007
Devil May Cry Kills WinPC Gaming
I'll admit I was surprised to find a version of Devil May Cry that Matt hadn't mentioned, and one that includes an extra boss to boot. Yes, you guessed correctly; it's the WinPC version, and I saw one line in the PC Gamer magazine review for DMC3: Special Edition that tells me PC gaming really is going the way of the dodo.
But DMC3:DASE nonetheless reveals the big advantage of being a PC gamer who enjoys the occasional console port: We let console gamers sift through the interminable catalog of crappy console games, and enjoy the cream of the crop in budget-priced, spectacularly generous special editions later.
Wasn't that the Mac gaming line? (Sadly, the only reason it's not the Mac gaming line any more is because now Mac gamers use Windows to game.) And all this after our buddy, Logan Decker, said that the game "feels like a cheap-a$$ port," with cruddy controls, "textures [that] look like they've been through too many washer-dryer cycles, audio [that] drops out occasionally, and the in-game camera seems to be controlled by a demonic force that's rooting for your enemies."
Why is it better to play console ports on PCs again?
But DMC3:DASE nonetheless reveals the big advantage of being a PC gamer who enjoys the occasional console port: We let console gamers sift through the interminable catalog of crappy console games, and enjoy the cream of the crop in budget-priced, spectacularly generous special editions later.
Wasn't that the Mac gaming line? (Sadly, the only reason it's not the Mac gaming line any more is because now Mac gamers use Windows to game.) And all this after our buddy, Logan Decker, said that the game "feels like a cheap-a$$ port," with cruddy controls, "textures [that] look like they've been through too many washer-dryer cycles, audio [that] drops out occasionally, and the in-game camera seems to be controlled by a demonic force that's rooting for your enemies."
Why is it better to play console ports on PCs again?
--ruffin at 17:05
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[ 2 ]
25 April 2007
Tomb Raider Anniversary's note to the fans
Over at NeoGAF I ran across some images from the current build of Tomb Raider Anniversary which show a note to the fans from Jason Botta, the game's creative director. Here are the parts of the note I felt were important. (You can read the rest in the screenshots.)
Still, I'm a little concerned by the wording on the controls. I suppose most people do find the newer controls -- the ones used in Tomb Raider: Legend -- more forgiving and natural, but calling them contemporary strikes me as dodging the real issue: they've taken away much of the sense of danger.
I used to refer to those high, dangerous locations and jumps in the original game as "unnecessarily vertiginous". The heights were literally dizzying and more than once I felt my stomach turn over at the feeling of being mere inches from a deadly fall. (The only time I've felt like that in real life was when I was atop one of the two World Trade Center towers in New York in the late 1980s. Even as far back from the edge as we were, I felt so dizzy I wanted to crawl back to the door or risk blowing off the side and into open space.)
With the controls in Legend they've taken away that sense. Lara can -- and does -- save herself if you go off a ledge. Timing a jump is easy since there is a broad "safe zone" near any ledge and any jump initiated in that zone will be good enough. Compare this with the original game where you really felt you needed to pace out your jumps ahead of time. Even then, a twitch at the wrong moment would send Lara plunging to her death.
On the other hand, I'm excited to hear that the story has been respected. I've always felt that the plot was really quite well-done. As long as they've not belabored it with too much contrived explanation, it should come across well.
Tomb Raiders,That's a pretty nice note, and quite a bit more personal than what I'm used to getting from games nowadays. In a way it reminds me of the developer pictures and notes on the back of the old Activision games for the Atari 2600.
It's hard to believe it's been over a decade since the original Tomb Raider game was released and the world got their first taste of Lara Croft. At that time, games had just really started moving into 3D and Tomb Raider was hailed as a landmark achievement from both a technical and gameplay standpoint. A powerful heroine, epic environments, and a world that players could really immerse themselves into were all elements that helped Tomb Raider stand out from the rest of the gaming landscape.
[snip]
We wanted to recreate all the parts that people remembered and then throw in some new areas to keep veterans on their toes. We strove hard to find the right balance of nostalgia and freshness and to create an experience that captured the sense of isolation so prevalent in the original. The story was simultaneously expanded and tightened up so as to realize the full potential of the tale and provide more insight into the various characters. And while we almost duplicated TR in some regards, we took this opportunity to update some aspects of gameplay -- like Lara's movement -- to something a bit more contemporary.
[snip]
Jason Botta
Creative Director, Tomb Raider: Anniversary
[Emphasis added. Errors, if any, are mine. -jvm]
Still, I'm a little concerned by the wording on the controls. I suppose most people do find the newer controls -- the ones used in Tomb Raider: Legend -- more forgiving and natural, but calling them contemporary strikes me as dodging the real issue: they've taken away much of the sense of danger.
I used to refer to those high, dangerous locations and jumps in the original game as "unnecessarily vertiginous". The heights were literally dizzying and more than once I felt my stomach turn over at the feeling of being mere inches from a deadly fall. (The only time I've felt like that in real life was when I was atop one of the two World Trade Center towers in New York in the late 1980s. Even as far back from the edge as we were, I felt so dizzy I wanted to crawl back to the door or risk blowing off the side and into open space.)
With the controls in Legend they've taken away that sense. Lara can -- and does -- save herself if you go off a ledge. Timing a jump is easy since there is a broad "safe zone" near any ledge and any jump initiated in that zone will be good enough. Compare this with the original game where you really felt you needed to pace out your jumps ahead of time. Even then, a twitch at the wrong moment would send Lara plunging to her death.
On the other hand, I'm excited to hear that the story has been respected. I've always felt that the plot was really quite well-done. As long as they've not belabored it with too much contrived explanation, it should come across well.
Labels: PC, ps2, psp, tomb raider
--jvm at 13:17
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[ 16 ]
10 January 2007
Finally game on your laptop
Ever since I started using VNC, I wondered why nobody made an external video card for laptops. Heck, even the original iMac had a video card made for it, and there are quite a few more laptops sans anything approaching a good video card out there with owners that like to play games. The Grover Cleveland tax isn't unique to Mac gaming; that's about the markup you'll pay to play on something like an Alienware laptop (and their failed user-replaceable video card setup).
So Engadget reports that ASUS has stolen my idea, nevermind that anyone with a laptop and a copy of Doom 3 has probably thought the same thing. It looks neat. For some reason I always envisioned doing it through a fast ethernet port, but this more intelligently usesPCMCIA ExpressCard port [thanks Zachary]. I'm not a fan of the kitchen sink approach, as it adds surround sound, etc. Just get me a video card for WinXP + WoW on my MacBook as inexpensively as possible, please.
Still, a pretty neat device. I hope it does well.
Update: The details on this are pretty varied (for which I'll blame the PCMCIA mistake, but don't believe me [placing the blame] until I relocate the source), though some places report that it's coming out as early as Feb. CNet tells us both the Feb release date and, more importantly, what card it is, though not the amount of memory: "in this case Asus' own Nvidia GeForce EN7900GS."
Updatex2: Even better, Tech Digest says it's essentially adding a standard external PCI-E slot to your laptop.
Perhaps the best feature though, is that it is just equipped with a standard PCI-Express slot so you'll be able to swap and upgrade your grahics cards whenever you feel the need.
Updatex3: Asus' own press release.
So Engadget reports that ASUS has stolen my idea, nevermind that anyone with a laptop and a copy of Doom 3 has probably thought the same thing. It looks neat. For some reason I always envisioned doing it through a fast ethernet port, but this more intelligently uses
Still, a pretty neat device. I hope it does well.
Update: The details on this are pretty varied (for which I'll blame the PCMCIA mistake, but don't believe me [placing the blame] until I relocate the source), though some places report that it's coming out as early as Feb. CNet tells us both the Feb release date and, more importantly, what card it is, though not the amount of memory: "in this case Asus' own Nvidia GeForce EN7900GS."
Updatex2: Even better, Tech Digest says it's essentially adding a standard external PCI-E slot to your laptop.
Perhaps the best feature though, is that it is just equipped with a standard PCI-Express slot so you'll be able to swap and upgrade your grahics cards whenever you feel the need.
Updatex3: Asus' own press release.
--ruffin at 11:48
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