lost in games

After forking out around Euros 350 to get the entire instruments pack from ebay and the intial (1-2 months) exuberance of playing the drums i completely abandoned the game. I even dowloaded a few more songs and did not play them.

But now it’s time to dust off those guitars and drums because it’s rocking time. After the band released their latest album, Black Ice which i loved, they will now be releasing AC/DC LIVE: Rock Band Track Pack which features the following 18 songs from their Live at Donington concert.

“Thunderstruck”
“Shoot to Thrill”
“Back in Black”
“Hell Ain’t a Bad Place to Be”
“Heatseeker”
“Fire Your Guns”
“Jailbreak”
“The Jack”
“Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap”
“Moneytalks”
“Hells Bells”
“High Voltage”
“Whole Lotta Rosie”
“You Shook Me All Night Long”
“T.N.T.”
“Let There Be Rock”
“Highway To Hell”
“For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)”

Awesome playlist.

The songs will not be available for download but will be sold as a separate disc. The European release is in December although i could not find a definite date.

Here is the ad promoting the game to get you rocking! youtube video

Yeap, i haven’t been able to do much blogging nor gaming since the morning of Tuesday, 28 October 2008. I am trying to bring back my flat to an orderly status with the purchase of a couple of bookcases for my comics, books and of course games. This is something that i have wanted to do for some time now and it seems that i am nearly there. I will put up some photos when i am finally happy with it.

Apart from that, me and Mardas are trying to make some improvements to our site www.forevergamers.com and finally “publish” our first podcast. Excited and nervous about that at the same time.

As far as running is concerned i am happy to say that i am back in form and it feels good. The weather is fantastic now and the runs help me relax.

Unfortunately what all these mean is that my gaming time has suffered. Hopefully, not for long and i will be back to Fable II and my dog, Makis!

Just in case you are wondering what i will be doing over the weekend…..

For the past few weeks i have not been able to take my friday afternoons off due to seminars. These have been eating away some precious free, quality time. What has “helped” is my absence from exercising - blame the stiff neck. Given me some much needed extra mins.

I have been allocating time to some really good stuff though.

Podcast

Yes! I have been working with my Gaming Soul mate Mardas this past week on making our first audio podcast at forevergamers. It will  be mostly about videogames in the beginning but we will try and incorporate more media like tv/film, books and comics as we go along.

It will be available to download on our site and hopedully itunes too. I will update you on this later on.

Book - The Great Crash 1929. 

I will write more about this book, but let me just say that most of the behaviours exhibited in this book remind me of the Cyprus Stock market crash and the current financial crisis. Awesome book.

Deadwood - Season 2

Still early days to decide whether it’s better than the first one.

Gaming

Hotel Dusk: Room 215
World of Goo
FIFA 09
The Club

All of them fantastic games.

Not bad right? I NEED MORE TIME!

I just stumbled across a series of projects on specific games from Penny Arcade. This one was on Fallout and i have to say it’s good.

Now they are working on the new Prince of Persia.

There I was, minding my own business determined to devote gaming time to FIFA09, BIA:HH and Hotel Dusk. No more games until one of them is finished (that excludes FIFA of course). That’s my decision and I am sticking to it.

But there is only so much a man like me, a respectable professional,  can endure. Eurogamer’s reviewer gave it and 9 and in his final paragraph says

“If there’s any justice, World of Goo will set the internet aflame and earn its creators a million dollars.”

Fine. But I will not be contributing to making these people millionaires. I have a plan and I am sticking to it. That’s what I said over and over again to myself. I almost succeeded until found this temptation on Brainygamer blog urging me to read the review at Rock, Paper, Shotgun review.

It was too much. I was pushing my luck. As I was watching my luck falling over the abyss together with my carefully drafted plan of “no more games until 1 is finished” the World of Goo was being downloaded on my PC*.

It’s not my fault. I am a respectable, addicted professional in the World of Goo and loving it.

Note* - the game is also available on WiiWare

Downloading now………

When a game incorporates a physics engine to a game should it go all the way and apply it in the entirety of the game? If it cannot do so should it add at all?

These are two questions I have been asking myself this past week as I am making headway in Gearbox’s Brothers In Arms: Hell’s Highway. The game introduces destructible cover for the first time in the series. This destructibility varies depending on whether it is sandbags, brick or wood. You and your squad mates can only stay behind soft cover lying around in the battlefield for only a short time before it is completely destroyed. It adds an element of realism which also increases the factors to consider when making tactical decisions in the battlefield. That’s a good thing.

At the same time however the game breaks its own rules as the physics only apply to preselected objects and not to all materials found in the game world. For example haystacks are impenetrable to bullets. Walls of a wooden building are indestructible even to rocket launchers while at the same time wooden furniture next to them can be shredded to pieces by MP40 fire. The developer also uses indestructible wooden furniture to block the player’s path to prevent the player from deviating from the pre-determined path.

This inconsistency spoils the immersion and the believability of the world that I might otherwise had enjoyed. It seems that as technology is improving and developers drive towards more and more realistic environments this can backfire. The more lifelike a game is or tries to be, then the more evident are its unrealistic elements (reminds me of the comments I heard about the Beowulf movie, which I have yet to watch).

This is where the developers must spend time and money to refine a game in order to camouflage these issues. For example do not have wooden walls or furniture unless they can be destroyed. Use rocks, concrete or steel instead. While not entirely realistic it will ensure that the rules of the game world are consistent much like in real life.

Oh yes. FIFA 2009 is released today and i have a copy and a couple of friends waiting for me so i expect this game to dominate my time over the weekend. That, along with Brothers In Arms, Hinterland and NHL 09.  I should not forget Avatar: Book 3. I am on disc 4 and loving it thus far. Good times.

Unfortunately a birthday party and two weddings will come between the above and myself during the weekend but what can you do…….

Not much actually but the future looks bright.

I started playing Hinterland (strategy RPG on the PC) yesterday and although it’s still early i get some very positive vibes from the game. I will keep you posted with my impressions in another post. I am slso planning to start Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway (360). I am big fan of the series so i got the limited edition (which to be honest is not that great, just a steel case) and i am planning to start playing tonight.

But tomorrow is a big day as FIFA 09 release day. Nice!