31
Mar
2010
New Technology: Full-Scale Digital Distribution Now Possible
Digital distribution has always seemed like a pipedream to me. This is mainly because there are several substantial roadblocks that are hindering it from coming into the market in a full-scale way. Obviously the main one, at least in the US, is the bandwidth caps imposed by the various ISP companies: Time Warner, Cox, etc. The truth of the matter is, not only do these companies not want to support a higher bandwidth model, but also the US’s technological infrastructure is antiquated and doesn’t have the capacity to support this kind of traffic, especially in rural areas. Secondly, and probably more importantly, digital distribution will disrupt that standard retail model that has been in place since the industry was birthed. This would cut out the retailers from the equation completely and ultimately lower the price of the product to the consumer, but we can’t have that now, could we?
16
Jul
2009
Droplitz Review
Overview
Droplitz is a game developed by Blitz Arcade and published by Atlus. The game is $9.99 and is out now on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC. I have to say that Droplitz took me by surprise! After browsing through the marketplace, I stumbled upon this game. Once I noticed that the publisher was Atlus, I was immediately interested and went to watch some gameplay videos. It seemed like an extremely addictively puzzler, and true me, it doesn’t disappoint.
Controls
The path making process consists of rotating circular pieces that have paths inside them. Once you align them with each other they connect to make a larger pathway. You need to plan ahead how you are going to rotate this dials because if one of the Droplitz hits a dead end you will immediately lose. There are different types of dials; they have various shapes so you need to plan which dial to rotate to be able to create the path for the Droplitz. The way the game controls is fairly intuative, you use one button to rotate the dials to the right and another button to rotate them to the left. So, not too complicated.
Graphics
Visually, Droplitz is nothing that will blow you away. This is kind of obvious considering it is a puzzle game, but the graphics are very clean and do their job making the game presentable and visually appealing. When you are making your way through the game you will see that the themes of the puzzles are constantly changing, this is pretty good because the backgrounds and the music evolve similarly to how Lumines created backgrounds and moods set to music in various stages.
Gameplay
For a 10 dollars game, Droplitz offers a lot of content. You can find four different game modes, each with different boards to play in. These different levels are made available as unlockable content that is obtained through achieving certain high scores. While the first goal is fairly easily attained, as you progress through this downloadable title, the high scores seem harder and harder to reach. The first mode is the Classic Mode, in here you only need to create paths and get a good score, as simple as that. (Well, it’s called “classic” for a reason, right?)
The second mode that you can find in Droplitz is the Zendurance Mode. This mode challenges you to last as long as you can while playing the game, and while doing so you will have to keep creating paths in order to keep your “life” meter up. When you select this mode you will be able to choose between the different themes that you have unlocked while playing the Classic game. These themes have different music and a different kind of background attributed to each of them.
The third mode is the Power-Up mode. Like the name indicates, in this mode you will get a variety of power ups that modify the gameplay. Example of these are a power up that slows down everything and help you to create the paths with more time, another type of power up is one that destroys the area where you place it, you can use these with certain dials that make your work easier.
The fourth and last mode available in Droplitz is the Infection Mode. In this mode the dials will get “infected”, and when this happens they will be harder to rotate because they slow their rotation speed down making the path-making process more difficult. You will also have the power ups at your disposal in this mode, so you have to think about how you are going to use them to keep things flowing.
The Bottom Line
8.5/10
In the end Droplitz is an incredible game, extremely addictive and fun. With a very simple gameplay mechanic, this title will steal a lot of hours from your life. If you are a puzzle fan or you only want a game to spend some time with I extremely recommend you to look into this title.
23
May
2009
Unreal Engine 3: Epic’s Fail
The Unreal Engine 3.0 (UE3) is, without a doubt, one of the biggest middleware engines powering games this console generation. It even eclipses past console generation’s middleware engines, like Renderware and Unreal Engine 2. UE3 is a great engine, but it worries me how much developers rely on this engine to make their games. I know it makes things easier when programming games for consoles; but what are the drawbacks of using one engine excessively? I, for one, feel it is time to retire UE3. It has been a double edge sword for the 360, and a jagged dagger in the back of the PS3
UE3 has been a major benefactor for Microsoft’s console this generation. It has been the catalyst for a major portion of 360’s exclusive games such as: Gears of War 1 & 2, Bioshock (yes, I know it was timed), Mass Effect, Lost Odyssey and The Last Remnant. These are all great games graphically; they even fueled early arguments that, maybe, Sony was feeding gamers a bunch of BOLOGNA with their claims that the PS3 is the more powerful console. I mean, come on, early in both of the consoles life cycles it was hard to argue that the PS3 was better graphically than the 360 when nothing stacked up to the titan, Gears of War. Though as of late evidence has been building that Sony may have been telling the truth.
Another benefit that UE3 provides the 360, is providing an advantage with multiplatform games. There hasn’t been a single UE3 powered game that runs better on the PS3 with the exception of Mirrors Edge. I’ll mention a few examples for you: Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas 1 & 2, Tom Clancy’s Endwar, Stranglehold, X-Men Orgins: Wolverine, Unreal Tournament 3, Army of Two, Brothers In Arms: Hell’s Highway, Bioshock, Black Site: Area 51, Destroy All Humans, Fatal Inertia, Medal of Honor: Airborne, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, Turok and The Wheelman. There are more games, but I just gave you 16 examples; all of which to show you the slant that UE3 provides the 360 when it comes to UE3 powered multiplatform games’ performances. The slant in differences is so steep that when I see a head to head comparison of multiplatform games using UE3, I automatically know the outcome; the 360 version will be the winner. The reason for this is because the 360’s architecture is similar to a PC’s, where middleware engines thrive because there are so many different types graphics cards available in the PC market. Combine the previously mentioned reasons with the PS3 having a completely foreign architecture, then you a recipe for a downgraded port.
Above, I listed the good, but, now, it’s time to delve into the bad side of UE3 for the 360. First, Microsoft needs to stop using UE3 as a crux for the majority of its exclusive games, because, to be honest, I know that the 360 would be better off with more proprietary engines instead of relying so heavily on UE3 with the majority of its exclusive games. I mean, look how Halo 3, which was built on a proprietary engine to take advantage of the 360’s architecture, out shines Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas 1 & 2, which both run on UE3 (What you should also take notice of is that Halo 3 and Rainbow Six :Vegas 1 & 2 are 1st person shooters, hence the reason I didn’t use Gears of War 1 & 2 in my comparison, because they are 3rd person shooters. I just wanted to stay as fair as possible).
Middleware engines, like UE3, never take full advantage of the hardware they are utilizing. I mean, think about it. PC’s use middleware engines because they have to. It’s just not feasible for a PC developer to make a games engine based around one graphics card. ATI and Nvidia have so many different cards available with different architectures and graphical performance limits. Also, 3rd party developers use UE3 in order to get multiplatform games running in parity on both the PS3 and 360. This same concept doesn’t apply to 360 games when they are exclusive. An exclusive game should be taking full advantage of the hardware its running on. One point in having a game be exclusive is to not worry about another console’s architecture. Besides, the more Microsoft relies on UE3 for exclusives the further they lag behind graphically to the PS3’s 1st party games that utilize proprietary engines. The fact that Microsoft relies so heavily on UE3 for their exclusive games saddens me because the 360, and its gamers, might never see the 360 reach its full graphics capabilities.
And PS3, I haven’t forgotten about you. The benefits that UE3 provide the PS3 are……(crickets!) Oh! That’s right! UE3 really hasn’t done any favors for the PS3, except the buzz that it caused for Sony at E3 ‘05, which is ironic; because it was touted to showcase the PS3’s graphics when the engine debuted, but it’s definitely done more for 360 in the graphical argument.
Honestly now, UE3 has constantly slapped Sony’s face this generation. There was the constant delay of multiplatform games that used UE3 on the PS3. This gave the 360 a de facto timed exclusive, and also branded PS3 with the nickname, The Delaystation 3. Then when said multiplatform games arrived, they looked and ran worse on the PS3. UE3 made many gamers doubtful, some still are, of Sony’s claim that the PS3 is more powerful than the 360, because the majority of games that use UE3 run better on 360. Really this isn’t any surprise to gamers in the know. Middleware engines tend to run better on the 360 because the architecture is closer to a PC’s, which is where middleware engines originated. Kind of seems obvious as to why the UE3 doesn’t play well with PS3; when you consider the PS3 and its unique architecture, which hardly resembles traditional PC game development environments.
UE3 delivered yet another slap to Sony with the ex-King of Graphics, Gears of War, running on rival console, the 360; and trumping anything on PS3 from a graphical standpoint in its first year. Many gamers and press were led to ask what the $600 price tag was for.
One thing is for certain and that is it might be time to retire the Unreal Engine 3. There are still more problems with the engine such as: rampant pop in issue with textures loading in late on characters and the environments, that weird haze that most UE3 games have around objects in the background, and other technical issues I won’t get into for sake of length, but yea, it’s time for us, as gamers, to move past the UE3. Think about it. It’s holding back the 360 and its games, because it’s being used as a crux for too many of the exclusive games which is leading to the 360’s graphical growth becoming stagnant. Its not helping the PS3 and its games because the engine just doesn’t operate that well with the PS3’s architecture, which has led to less than stellar ports and numerous delays for PS3 games (The Last Remnant anyone?). Well gamers, what do you guys think? Is UE3 past its prime, or can developers still squeeze a little bit more juice from this engine before it is inevitably put to rest?
Also to further elaborate my points here are some screenshots. I’m doing these screenshots to give gamers a visual reference point of how I arrived at my thought and to further elaborate on them as well.
Ubisoft Haze? It certainly sucks like it!
The first two screenshot are of my beef with Unreal Engine 3 and its weird blur effect. Notice the Backgrounds in both screen shots have that weird haze effect in the distance.
Screenshots form www.Gamespot.com and www.ign.com
Texture pop-in
The next graphical error I hate from the Unreal Engine 3, and it’s well documented ,is the texture pop in issue. Notice in the 360 screenshot made the guys over at The Lens of Truth that the boot’s texture hasn’t quite popped in. Also another source with games documenting the texture pop in is provided by Giant Bomb.
Screenshots from www.lensoftruth.com
The graphical hold back of 360’s exclusives to PS3’s
Also just so 36o gamer can see that Unreal Engine 3 lags behind Sony’s and Microsoft’s first party Engines. Here you go. Screenshots from
www.lensoftruth.com and http://kineticninja.blogspot.com/2009/01/naughty-dog-realtime-graphics-and.html
Microsoft Halo’s vs.UE3’s Rainbow Six: Vegas 2
Multiplatform:
And here are some screenshot to showcase the slant that Unreal Engine 3 provides 360 over PS3 when it comes to multiplatform games. Notice the higher resolution textures on Bioshock. Also notice the better lighting in the X-Men Origins: Wolverine Shots
Well that’s it for the screens guys.
Please leave your comments below to let us know what you think!
7
May
2009
Fallen Earth Closed-Beta Code Giveaway
For those of you that don’t know, Fallen Earth is nearing its launch date that is supposed to be Q2 or Q3 of 2009. But the post-apocalyptic MMORPG is still currently in its closed-beta phase of development. The team from Icarus Studios was nice enough to provide us with several codes that we’re going to give away to our readers so that they too can experience this amazing game that was showcased at the Triangle Game Conference.
Here’s the rules:
In order to enter the contest you will simply have to comment on this post. Please have your comment be in the following format,
“Well, I may be stuck in post-apocalyptic Arizona, but at least I still have my trusty ________!”
Originality will be rewarded… And winners will be announced by 5PM EST Friday May 8th. Thanks for reading, and goodluck!!
25
Apr
2009
Flock Review
Overview
Flock is a physics based puzzle-platformer where you take control of a flying saucer to guide a variety of animals to your mother ship. The game features a single player and co-op. This game is published by Capcom and costs $14.99 or 1200 points.
Controls
In Flock you have control of a flying saucer that produces some sort of power that scares the animals that are near you, so basically you need to move the left stick to move the ship in order to make all the animals walk (or run) to the Motheflocker. But not everything is that easy, sometimes you will need to move some obstacles or you need to make some bridges with the objects that are around you, to do this you need to press the R2/RT button. And finally with L2/LT button you can deploy some sort of boost that makes your ship go faster for a moment.
Graphics
The graphics in this game are very nice and crisp, but it lacks some variety, most of the levels look really similar. The frame rate is very solid; this makes the experience very smooth and more enjoyable. Not too much more can be expected from this genre in a downloadable title.
Gameplay and Story
We can say that this is the aspect of the game that is lacking; sometimes you want to guide the animals to some place but they go the other way. However, this can make the experience extremely frustrating. On every level of the game you try to make your best to earn a variety of badges (Bronze, Silver, Gold) awarded to you based on your performance, also you can find leaderboards to compare your score with your friends. There is even a level editor where you can create your own levels. This really is one of the few elements that gives lasting appeal to a title the seems to like a lot of replayability.
The Bottom Line
7.0/10
Flock is a game that could have been a lot better. You have the features, you have the content, but the gameplay can drive a lot of people away from this game. It is worth checking out, but very hard to justify the $15 price tag.
14
Apr
2009
USA’s Obsession with FPS’s
This subject of this article shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, however this is more of an investigation as to why this is the case. Japan has their RPGs, Europe has their RTSs, and USA has their shooters. But, why?
This goes back to the 1990s when Goldeneye was king. There was no such thing as online multiplayer, simply getting together with 3 of your friends and fighting in the bathroom of the Facility map to see who would end up with the Golden Gun. The genre continued to reinvent itself as the implemented Bots with Perfect Dark and like games. Now, not only should you play with 3 other friends, but also with computers who could challenge you beyond what most of your friends were even capable of. (I swear some of those computers wall-hacked)
From here on out, online multiplayer was the essential, and Counter-Strike paved the way for it all. This game is the singlehanded reason why most people can identify an MP5, M4A1 Carbine, P-90, and UMP-45, as well as tell you the standard clip size that comes with each of those guns. Now, why are Americans so attracted to these games? Is it because of our second amendment rights that we want to bear arms, whether they are digital or actually physical? Is it because of our violent society that this is a nice outlet to be competitive and show out dominance over others? It’s a combination of all of these, and it has become a phenomenon that is strictly American.
Microsoft and Bungee have capitalized on this most recently with the success of Halo 3. This third iteration of the series has put up such impressive numbers as almost 10 million copies sold worldwide, as well as over 10 billion enemies killed through the single player campaign mode (yes, that’s Billion with a B). The rest of the world may never understand our obsession with this genre, but there is one thing that’s for sure: That will not change the amount of anger I feel whenever I think of “martyrdom” and “hardcore mode” used in the same sentence.