lost in games

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!

Nintendo fans, and in particular Super Smash Bros Brawl fans, have been making war on Yahtzee after his review of the game. This is his response to all the “constructive” criticism he has been receiving.

It’s all handheld gaming lately and it’s all about Final Fantasy Tactics on the PSP. I am 34 hours into the game and I can really see this going to 100 hours and more. On Sunday as I was playing one battle I realised that my main character, Zolos (of course) was not particularly strong and that I have been progressing through the story mode due to the strength of the rest of the team.

An hour later and after a couple of battles where you have to save in between but cannot access the world map (and hence shop or do levelling up with random battles) I reached a battle where Zolos had to fight one on one against a far superior enemy. Zolos had HP of 271 while the enemy cause 140HP with every strike. It was ugly. 2 rounds and died. Tried again and again changing jobs and abilities but at not avail. After 2-3 rounds I kept dropping dead.

Back to the drawing board or should I say random battles for some levelling up and some thinking of what job/abilities to use. This game has really grabbed me by the b…. and it won’t let go.

It is a mixture of pain with pleasure.

Did you have a similar masochistic experience with game?

SOS! Fifteen people are trapped aboard a ship that’s going to sink in exactly 20 minutes. Their only chance for survival is the five person life raft stowed on their vessel. To make matters worse, the waters around the ship are teeming with man-eating sharks, so swimming to safety is out of the question.

A round-trip to the nearest island and back to the boat takes nine minutes on the raft. How many people will live to see dry land?

Current Status

Job: At. Madrid manager
Age: 31
Nationality: Cypriot
Favourite Club: Arsenal

At. Madrid 2008/09 (until January 2009): Primera Division: 3rd, Spanish Cup: Quarter finals - playing Valencia, UEFA Cup: First Knock out round - playing Udinese

At. Madrid 2007/8: Primera Division: 6th, Spanish Cup Finalist, UEFA Cup semi final

Fiercest rival: Real Madrid
Other Rivals: Seville, Barcelona

Dislikes: El Rey Kokanza (R. Madrid manager)

Biggest Transfers:
In: D’Alessandro GBP 14million, Jean II Makoun GBP 13.5million, Fabricio Coloccini GBP 8.75million
Out: Maxi Rodriguez GBP 20million, Sergio Aguero GBP 25.5million, Jose Antonio Reyes GBP 26.5million

It is not easy to find people to play board games anymore in our ever busy adult schedules. One of the problems that board games, like Risk have, is that they require a big investment of time on any single day which actually makes it almost impossible to be played on a weekday. That leaves weekends where football and going out (so i hear) take priority.

Hasbro, the maker of Risk, however is preparing to launch a new version called Risk: Black Ops. It will introduce a new resource based system on Capitals and Cities which will affect troop additions. But the version will also introduce an Objectives System and will be streamlined. The primary effect is that individual game sessions will be reduced to around 50 minutes making frequent sessions possible. Risk is adapting to us.

There is a post at Gamers with Jobs from Lara Crigger, who managed to have a go at the Risk: Black Ops version, and details her impressions. LINK

Also N’Gai Croal goes one step further to explain how the collaboration between EA and Hasbro can bring board games such as Risk: Black Ops to the XBLA and PSN. LINK

Yesterday i went to what we Cypriots sometimes call the National Guard (but usually just call it a complete waste of time), what outsiders would call a fiasco and what i’d like to call the black hole that just sucks taxpayers’ money.

Whenever i go to these “meetings” it is as if i am in a world like the one in F.E.A.R or Timeshift where time just slows down. It feels like i am there for an eternity mainly because there is rarely anything interesting to do. Most reservists just sit around for small talk, use their mobiles non-stop, read the sports section of the newspapers or just smoke their cigarettes thinking (about nothing) and staring (into nothingness).

Those are things that i don’t do in my “civilian” life and therefore could never do even if i wanted to. My best option is of course portable gaming which would have been ideal. But in all honesty although i don’t usually give a damn about other people’s opinion on gaming this is too much. Sitting in a room or area full of reservists playing games on my PSP or DS on my own is just suicide. If you have seen About a Boy, it is like that kid getting on the stage to sing with his tambourine before Hugh Grant appears to save him from being socially slaughtered.

What i need to do is locate another gamer. There has to be a gamer in my company (army term) who is a nerd like me. There has to be. Then it would make it tolerable. Less of a loner, outcast. Ok, maybe we would still be outcasts but at least we would be an Army of Two. We would agree beforehand on which console to bring and what multiplayer game to play. Advance Wars and Mario Kart on the DS or Warhammer 40k and Lumines on the PSP? Then time would surely fly.

I have to find him. I need to find that soulmate who will help me speed up time because I can’t take it anymore….