R & R
No, not rest and relaxation. I wish. Rather, random ramblings. Let's break it down.
1) Screw you, indie horror game Slender creator Parsec Productions. I have a dry cleaning bill for my previously non-brown pants to send you. Seriously, though, great job. Genuinely novel idea, very scary. Kudos all around.
2) Most of you have undoubtedly seen this already, but here goes just for those of you that missed it: Meet the Pyro, the last "Meet the..." video for the TF2 fortress characters has been out for a few weeks now. Not only my fav class finally has its own video, but it's eeeasily one of the best.
3) ...which also comes with three more tidbits from Valve. The Steam summer sale (probably over by the time you read this) that drops prices on Steam's online store dramatically. Seriously, most things are at least 50% off, most are 75% off. Half-Life 2 for $3,99! Are you still reading this? Why aren't you buying games right now? Ah, mayhap you're waiting for the other two tidbits? Well, one is that the Source Filmmaker, the tool used for creating (among others) the video you probably just watched is now in open beta. In other words, time for some fan-made videos. Last but unfortunately not least, Valve are still keeping mum about any upcoming games. No news regarding HL3, a new Portal or a new Left 4 Dead. Having caught a glimpse of their development procedure via the leaked Valve Employee Handbook, I can't say I'm surprised, but I'm a sad teddy nonetheless.
4) What's the deal, Microsoft? What's with the E3 Kinect palooza and dance routines? Your investors might be happy, but your end consumers aren't very happy at all. And, correct me if I'm wrong, but in business investors are handy, but consumer demand is key, isn't it? How about let a gamer plan your next E3 gaming presentation? Granted, my knowledge of the inner workings of the business world is rudimentary at best, yet still, I think that would be key. [/Bill Hicks voice] Also, Smartglass? Meh.
5) To the people bitching about the upcoming X-box browser being Internet Explorer: Shut up, take a deep breath and think for a second. First, was Microsoft, a company that had been making iterations of Internet Explorer for more than a decade, ever going put a third-party browser in their own product? That's the equivalent of admitting "Yeah, it's a bit shit, we know", and Microsoft are nothing if not masters at covering their ears and going "lalala" when it's pointed out that one of their products is a bit shit. Second, awwww, I guess you're going to have to keep browsing the internet from your computer using Chrome or Firefox, like you did to bitch about it.
6) Mass Effect ending DLC: Haven't tried it yet, so can't really say. Supposedly it explains more about the different outcomes, and gives you the 4th option of non-choice. I have to admit, I'm not sure how I feel about this, but as soon as I do, you will.
7) Gotta love how some of the people currently bitching about always-on DRM (for example, Diablo III) praise Ubisoft as a messiah. Remember Assassin's Creed 2? They're the ones who did it first, you dolts. At least Diablo III has valid reasons for having to be online at all times, ie, drop in-out co-op, item trading, an auction house. AC2, on the other hand? No second player interaction at all.
8) Speaking of AC, there's new gameplay footage on the upcoming AC3 that features the new protagonist, Connor, in action. Man, it sure looks like those Assassins breed.
Heh. Anyway, tree running, hunting, animal cruelty, forest areas instead of the urban sprawl we're used to, new toys and abilities to play with, this all looks pretty interesting. Stay tuned for it.
9) Unless Pandaria comes out soon-ish, WoW risks losing players. Granted, it's the end of an expansion dead time at the moment, and in the summer, no less, but still. Servers are currently mostly inhabited by tumbleweeds. Seriously, though, the beta is already pretty polished as it is, so it can't be more than 3 to 4 months tops. Don't quote me on that, though, seeing how Blizzard are about polishing and re-polishing their games, pushing dates forward and whatnot.
10) Rockstar, don't you think it's time you ported Red Dead Redemption and Undead Nightmare to the PC? I mean, you did it for all your other games, and the PC's where you started from. Remember GTA? Where's the love, Rockstar? Seriously, though, releasing a game on more platforms means more sales. Waiting an extremely long time to do so means a flop, like many games proved. You waited for ages on LA Noire, and on PC it was a flop. You waited for ages on GTAs, on PC they were less successful than they were on consoles. Screw that, it's too late for RDR, isn't it? It's a damn shame, is all.
11) You finally figured it out, didn't you, Bethesda? You're good at creating worlds, bad at filling them, so what's the logical counter to that? Make a world to be filled by the players. Elder Scrolls Online is going to be huge, there's no doubt in my mind about that. Probably won't be huge for more than a few months, mind, I have no doubt about that either.
Over and out for now.
3) ...which also comes with three more tidbits from Valve. The Steam summer sale (probably over by the time you read this) that drops prices on Steam's online store dramatically. Seriously, most things are at least 50% off, most are 75% off. Half-Life 2 for $3,99! Are you still reading this? Why aren't you buying games right now? Ah, mayhap you're waiting for the other two tidbits? Well, one is that the Source Filmmaker, the tool used for creating (among others) the video you probably just watched is now in open beta. In other words, time for some fan-made videos. Last but unfortunately not least, Valve are still keeping mum about any upcoming games. No news regarding HL3, a new Portal or a new Left 4 Dead. Having caught a glimpse of their development procedure via the leaked Valve Employee Handbook, I can't say I'm surprised, but I'm a sad teddy nonetheless.
5) To the people bitching about the upcoming X-box browser being Internet Explorer: Shut up, take a deep breath and think for a second. First, was Microsoft, a company that had been making iterations of Internet Explorer for more than a decade, ever going put a third-party browser in their own product? That's the equivalent of admitting "Yeah, it's a bit shit, we know", and Microsoft are nothing if not masters at covering their ears and going "lalala" when it's pointed out that one of their products is a bit shit. Second, awwww, I guess you're going to have to keep browsing the internet from your computer using Chrome or Firefox, like you did to bitch about it.
8) Speaking of AC, there's new gameplay footage on the upcoming AC3 that features the new protagonist, Connor, in action. Man, it sure looks like those Assassins breed.
Heh. Anyway, tree running, hunting, animal cruelty, forest areas instead of the urban sprawl we're used to, new toys and abilities to play with, this all looks pretty interesting. Stay tuned for it.
Over and out for now.
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