Have you ever played a game so often and so completely that even when on the toughest settings you can still walk it? When this happens with a game that I truly love I’m not content with the game not providing a challenge any more, so I inject new challenges into the way that I play.
I’ll restrict myself to using only certain units, deliberately not take the killing move to allow the opponent time to rebuild for a second offensive, or take on battles that I know I’ll lose just to see how long I can last. The following picture is the summary screen from one such losing battle. It’s taken from the excellent game Empire at War, with a Stargate mod applied. (Click the image for a larger version)
Now, if you’re not all too familiar with Stargate lore then this won’t mean much to you, but believe me when I tell you that three BC-304s, (The Apollo is a hero unit BC-304) three X-303s and five Puddle Jumpers is not a fleet that you’d want to take against 100+ Goa’uld Ha’tak and a space station. So while I was a little saddened that I lost this battle all my bad feelings were wiped away by just how awesome any battle is where I destroyed 94 of those Ha’tak in 25 minutes.
I’ve long been a fan of user-generated content, maps and mods for video games, mostly because the games I want to play (a Stargate FPS or RTS, please!) never seemed to make it past the publishers’ veto. Rarely, however, have I found such a detailed and true replica of a setting than the Quake III Arena cum Springfield presented above.
I posted a while back about Spore, the creature/universe creation game due out early September. Today sees the release of the Creature Creator, a free trial is available here for both Mac and PC. It’s quite a lot of fun and is a nice way to shave time off of the usually time-consuming aspect of character/creature creation that would delay playing of the actual game when it ships.
[Update]
Videos of people’s creations have started to appear! Check this one out:
Yahtzee is a British-born, currently Australian-based writer and gamer with a sweet hat and a chip on his shoulder. When he isn’t talking very fast into a headset mic he also designs freeware adventure games and writes the back page column for PC Gamer, who are too important to mention us. His personal site is www.fullyramblomatic.com.
The Killer™ Gaming Network Card from Bigfoot Networks is designed to reduce lag and latency often experienced in high action interactive MMO and First Person Shooter games. Killer accelerates your game data for a smoother more responsive online gaming experience and a competitive edge.
Dedicated Network Processing Unit (NPU)
Offloads all network processing to the NPU, freeing up vital CPU resources to boost average frame-rates and smooth gameplay.
Direct Game Hardware Interrupts
Bypasses the Windows® Network Stack to transfer packets directly to/from the game. This speeds-up game loop execution to improve game responsiveness and frame-rates.
Hardware Bandwidth Control
Fine-tune your network traffic for each application by setting bandwidth priorities and max/min limits through a simple interface.
Hardware Firewall
Stops intruders with zero gaming performance impact. Based on robust Linux iptable implementation.
Runs In-Game Applications Directly on the Card
Provides higher gaming performance while multitasking, with applications that run directly on the card’s NPU. Run Bit Torrent, Game Patcher, FTP and more while gaming with zero performance impact.
Plug-&-Play compatibility with all online games
Works with all online games for improved performance without game modifications.
Almost since its debut, the Web site comic Penny Arcade has been a mainstay of Internet gaming culture. Now the webcomic is putting its money where its mouth is with a RPG adventure game called On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness. And I’m happy to report that the game is every bit as ribald, rude, and laugh out loud funny as the Penny Arcade comic.
Despite getting punk’d on the Mortal Kombat for iPhone April Fool’s joke, we’re still innocent and trusting enough to buy into this video demo of Quake 3 running — in multiplayer, accelerometer-enabled fragging glory — on a pair of iPod touch handhelds. Is it real? Is it coming soon to a jailbroken device near you? Can you even stand the suspense until June when the SDK-based games start shipping? Yep, us neither.
The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom is a game set in an early silent film world that plays with temporal space. Through exploration of non-conventional time mechanics, players will experience gameplay in an entirely new way. The game gives the player the ability to record and playback their actions multiple times. An experiment in exploring layered gameplay and altering physical reality, the game gives the player the ability to create time paradoxes, encounter obstacles from multiple perspectives, race past selves, sacrifice your present self so future selves can survive, choreograph motion with your self, disrupt the space-time continuum, and steal tons of pie in this fast paced, quirky, macabre adventure. The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom presents game design with the user’s creativity in mind, allowing them to play through levels however they see fit. The goals are set, but the way to achieve them is up to the user.
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Killer NIC | Gaming Network Card | Bigfoot Networks