The MmmMmm of PhysX

I just want to say that I've been glad to wait for Mirror's Edge on PC, especially after hearing the good-not-great reviews. And now I want to extend that even further with an emphatic "Hell yes!" Gamevideos put together a side-by-side comparison of the console version next to the PC. As if the actual game with mod possibilities wasn't reason enough, it looks even more stunning now.

Take a look: Mirror's Edge PhysX

As for game updates: I haven't played Fallout 3 in about 3 weeks. I've completed the four movies in Left 4 Dead and still getting used to the Boomer zombie in Versus. I'm playing a lot of drums on Hard in Rock Band 2. I picked up Peggle Nights on Steam. And my gnome Death Knight (Sodius) is 71.

-- "What is this? You're wearing the shirt of the band you're going to see? Don't be that guy."

Got a Light?

So I started smoking again, the smokeless kind with a subscription fee of $14.99 per month. Even though I'd been free from it for over a year, it's hard to resist seeing brand new packaging, a better "high," and not want to start playing again. And if you have roommates who do it with you, forget about it...

Of course I'm eluding to World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, or as I like to call it "Blizzard always needs more money, and yes I'll give it to them." I had no interest in this when it was announced, when I saw footage of the death knight starting area, or even when the awesome Lich King trailer came out. I didn't care about leveling the 70 Rogue I left behind anew and getting back into the swing of it with 11 or 12 million other subscribers. The new zones didn't intrigue me enough to really learn more about the game either.

It was when I saw my friend playing a death knight and killing elites two or three levels higher than himself solo. That sparked all the memories coming back to life of the gaming I loved. It's what I tried to rekindle with Warhammer, but didn't survive only because of the host of other gaming contenders (I still really like it and constantly remind my friend of what it does better than WoW).

And I love being a harbinger of death. Even moreso, I love being a tiny harbinger of death packaged in the body of a gnome. Tethering giant mobs 20 times my size and pulling them next to me is hysterical, and surviving a mob of mobs a couple levels higher than myself is a thrill I'm now privileged to experienced in an MMO setting.

Now where's my pack of smokes? The servers are almost back up.

--"You have many treasures, gypsy. Who did you rob for all this?"

Flashlights OFF!

If the zombie apocalypse happened like a good zombie flick, it would be Left 4 Dead. You'd have your highly mutated zeds with various powers: a rather average pouncing one, one that could suck a golf ball through a garden hose from 100 feet away, a fat pinata zombie filled with candied brains, a crazed witch with devil pincers, and the incredible hulkzor. Oh, and survivors...guess the movie might need a few of those.

The whole point is to escape a very imperiled situation; yay. Though people won't play this game for the story, it's meant for cooperative multiplayer. That's just straight campaign as survivors versus the AI or other players. And the artificial intelligence is no joke. This game is a proof of concept of their new "director AI." It changes the pace, where things come from, when boss zeds appear, if ammo/weapons should be placed up ahead, and even the music on top of it all. It's so good, people have loaded the game up in some other Source engine maps, such as Counterstrike's dust. Put simply: it works.

I haven't played enough or much of it to acquire a full scope of the game yet, but the versus multiplayer is a completely different experience; I do much prefer the company of zombies though. It'll take me awhile to learn how to play as the Boomer effectively, but I find it rather exhilarating to, well, grief the scrumptious, player-driven survivors. And griefing is definitely a reward in itself.

I can't wait to see what Valve has in store for the future downloadable content for the game, but I can already imagine some great custom server variations arising with zombie vs. zombie games or ulterior objective-based games with more than four survivors.

The legs of L4D have yet to be seen, but I bet they'll go great with Mod-sauce.

-- "Who died and made you f***ing king of the zombies?"

Expansive Awesomeness

Fallout 3 is fantastic.

It's sucked me in, and just keeps delivering the post-apocalyptic munchies I crave. The world may be smaller than Bethesda's Oblivion, but it feels so dense.

I've wandered around only a fraction of the Capital Wasteland so far, but I've seen places and delved into reaches friends who are further along have not been. It's so fun to see all of the reactions people have, the meandering ruins of downtown D.C., and the oodles of ultraviolent kills.

One place in particular was extremely fascinating because it's been like no other part thus far: Vault 106. If you haven't been there, it's tucked away about halfway between Megaton and Arefu. No spoilers, but it's the creepiest I've seen in this game thus far. Maybe playing through most of it past 2am didn't help with all the lights off...

It feels like a naturally evolving part of the Fallout franchise. It feels right, and I'm not even halfway through. Just biding my time until I blow up Megaton too...what a glorious site that will be.

--"Didn't I kill you already?"

Halloweekend

What a hectic time away from here. Along with moving out of my apartment and stopping to pick up my copy of Fallout 3, I had plans to visit friends at Purdue. So this post doesn't have to do with Fallout 3 only because I had no time for it. What I did have time for every time I go up there is more of Rock Band 2 and dressing up for Halloween for the first time in a very long time. So of course I chose a video game character: The Blue Scout from Team Fortress 2.

As for Rock Band 2, I've come to realize I like playing it with others only in person. Something about the online play doesn't entice me at all for that game. Probably because I have some people I can play with even if it's only once a month or so. Soon I'll get to test Guitar Hero: World Tour, but my friend's short impression and someone else's on one of my podcasts leaves me believing Rock Band is the better choice.

This seems like more a journal post, but I just need to get back in the habit again. I'm thinking of writing about the evil of trainer mods or how most of us grew up playing only one game for the majority of a year. Who knows?

--"Zed's dead, baby. Zed's dead."

Prototype

No, this isn't a test post.

So I was thinking the other day about this game I've been excited about for about a year now. It was supposed to come out soon, but got pushed into 2009. It's Prototype. The delay seems kind of scary considering Activision dropped a couple of other games completely, most notably Ghostbusters and Brutal Legend (apparently Activision still has active sites).

The game looks to be a sandbox full of people and creatures to kill in order to absorb whatever the target knows, any powers they might have, and collect another piece of some unknown puzzle. The fast-paced running and awesome powers look great and a lot of fun to play around with. Basically, I can't wait to see how this game develops with this extra time.

But why a delay to a game already showing so much progress? I think it's only Activision taking what spotlight Prototype has away and onto all of the other titles they already have coming out this season.

Guess it gives me some more quality time with Fallout 3, Left 4 Dead, and Mirror's Edge then.

Okay, and Warhammer Online too...

--"Are you classified as human?" "Negative, I am a meat popsicle."

Future of the MMO

One of the reasons for a post concerning MMOs and their future is certainly the recent reveal of the MMO we all knew was coming (I even met one of the writers working on it at PAX, though of course he couldn't confirm or deny): Star Wars: The Old Republic. Are you excited? Should you be? Hopefully it's not a child-focused, visual abortion the latest Clone Wars turned out to be (unlike its predecessor done by Genndy Tartakovsky). But I digress, this one is done by Bioware.

Anyway, what I wanna know is where the MMO is going? I think WAR has done a great job in doing what EQ did for UO and what WoW did for EQ. But these days, everyone and their mom is making an MMO. Where will everyone have any time to play these games? If we play them, where will people find time to play all of the other great games? The market for MMOs is quickly approaching (if not already) full saturation. For games meant to be played for months or years at a time, each one is expecting an amazing commitment.

I predict we'll shift in how MMOs are conceived. The first to change should be the monthly fee. $15 has been the standard since the original Everquest upped it from $9.99 during a transition to one of their first of 15 expansions. It should shift to either a lower monthly amount or, more likely, a different way of processing transactions such as ::gasp:: an hourly fee. I dunno exactly.

Another change will come in the expectations of time commitment. If we are supposed to play these games on top of a plethora of others, we can't be expected to waste our lives away for an exorbitant portion of our after-work hours on them. Thankfully, WAR feels more pick-up-and-play for as little amount of time as I want than any other I've played before.

Lastly, our concept of what an MMO provides us should change, for gamers and developers. These games are by far some of the most immersive universes we can participate in already, and yet most of this relies on game mechanics and playing with friends. Why can't their be more story we care about? As they evolve, I think we'll see something more to this effect.

To put a blanket on this still growing flower bed, just think about what still has yet to come out: APB from the creators of Crackdown, Star Trek, a possible Firefly endeavor, DC Universe, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and an as-yet unannounced MMO from the creators of Oblivion and Fallout 3. I'm sure there are many, many others out there as well.

If the MMO bug hasn't bitten yet, be very careful to keep applying that online-shooter bugspray and keep them away. I'm already a lost cause.

-- "I'm a leaf on the wind; watch how I soar."