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• Recent Posts

  • Worms Reloaded Coming to PC, in 2D

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Should the next Worms game be in 2D again? Many people say yes. And now, finally, the real sequel to Worms Armageddon is arriving. It will be in the classic 2D, and it will be available for PC, unlike the previous few games, which were console and handheld only. Pre-order it now on Steam and get bonus in-game items such as hats and forts, as well as 10% off the price of the game. This is truly epic news and we salute Team 17 for bringing the Worms series back in its original direction. This game will be better than the 3D versions without a doubt.

Electronic Arts has been known to try everything possible for the sake of combating pirates. They have included all kinds of much-hated DRM in their games. But now the CEO of EA has said that pirates are a new market that EA needs to make money from.

While this is great news for the anti-DRM activists, it might not be good news for gamers who actually buy their games. John Riccitiello, the CEO of Electronic Arts, wants to sell DLC – download content – to everyone who has the game, not just those who bought it. But this might turn into a very bad thing: DLC will contain most of the game, while the game itself will be more like a platform to add features onto. This would degrade the quality of games severely. And a lot of today’s games are already terrible enough.

It’s good that EA has recognized pirates as something they cannot defeat. It is impossible, just as it is impossible to stop all robbery and theft in the real world. Why waste money and resources fighting a war you cannot win? However, DLC is not the answer, at least for PC games. DLC can be illegally downloaded just like the game itself. And the biggest issue here is developers degrading the initial game on purpose so they can sell lots of DLC later on.

Download content for games is growing already, and I think developers are starting to see the profit in it. Personally I don’t like the whole DLC model because paying $50 for a game is too much in the first place. A lot more games would sell if they cost less, and in the end, the money made from the game would be the same, if not more. But pushing DLC on pirates will most likely produce no real results. Only inexperienced pirates might buy the DLC – people who know what they’re doing will just pirate the DLC.

Whether piracy affects the sale of media is still being debated, but one thing that’s been proven is that DRM only hurts legitimate gamers. DRM can only delay a game from being cracked, and that delay is typically only an hour or so. All games can be and will be cracked, shared, pirated. How game developers, movie producers, the music industry, and software companies will react to piracy depends on their success. I think it’s time for them to drop DRM, and find a way to profit off the games even if they’re pirated. DLC might not be the answer, but how about something like in-game advertising (only if done realistically and tastefully, like in Battlefield 2 or TrackMania Nations)?

Source: Kotaku, image via flickr

It looks like internet service providers don’t like it when people play Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 on their connections. Gamers are reporting that some are receiving notices from the internet providers informing them that they are not allowed to use P2P so frequently, or that they are not allowed to host servers on their home connections.

And why is this happening? Because the smart people at Infinity Ward gave PC gamers a big middle finger, and removed dedicated servers from the game. But how can you play online then you might ask? Why, IW.net will just use your computer as a server. And that’s not allowed on any consumer ISP.

So what can you do now? Nothing really. Infinity Ward can try to pay every ISP there is to not recognize Modern Warfare 2 traffic as running a server or downloading through P2P. But there’s nothing you can really do, because the game is in fact using your computer as a server, and it is in fact using P2P protocols to let you play online.

Putting aside the issues of security – you are opening ports on your firewall and router to play the game after all – this issue with ISP’s could have been predicted. Everyone knows you can’t run a server from home if you’re using a normal internet service provider. So you can’t really do anything but stop playing CoD MW2 online. Sad, huh?

I will never buy Modern Warfare 2 because of the way Infinity Ward has treated PC gamers. The answers they gave in interviews regarding lack of dedicated servers made it seem like they were doing this just to dumb down the PC version, so it could be as simple as the console version. This is exactly the opposite of what everyone wanted. And the reviews show (take a look at the user score).

Sources: Infinity Ward forums (although most posts are probably now deleted), GossipGamers, ModernWarFail2

The first time I ever heard of Osmos was yesterday, when it was part of Steam’s Five Day Long Sale. Originally the game cost $9.99, but the sale brought it down to $2.00 – which is 80% off. After watching a trailer and looking at the great reviews and 81/100 metascore, I decided to buy it since it was only $2. I think I am done with about 70% of the game, after about two hours of gameplay. Here is the link to Osmos on Steam. Screenshots are below, followed by the review.

Osmos comes from a small developer – Hemisphere Games. The game, however, is very good. It is difficult to describe it. Basically, you are an orb. You absorb orbs smaller than you. You get absorbed by orbs larger than you. There is antimatter, which shrinks as it absorbs. There are repulsive orbs, which are pushed away from you. There are “living” orbs, which are like you, but computer controlled – they can move around and think. When you move, you give off small orbs and that causes you to shrink. This means you have to navigate the map wisely, conserving “fuel”.

This is like a puzzle game, combined with the first level of Spore. Except you have no weapons or defenses – you either eat or get eaten – and that only depends on strategy. This game has great visuals and a great atmosphere to it – considering everything is essentially an orb. The music might get repetitive, but at least it’s not generic music like you get in every other game these days. The soundtrack is nice and calming, and it perfectly complements the atmosphere of Osmos.

Osmos combines space with living organisms. There are some levels in which you orbit around a “star”, but you can still move. Some levels have other artificial intelligence. It’s a very cool concept, and it definitely makes Osmos unique. There are at least 14 main levels, and each of those has between two and four sub levels. I say “at least” because I don’t know if I have unlocked all of the levels yet, but I think I have. The levels get more difficult as you play the game, but I feel that it kind of gets tedious. For the most part, you just start off as a smaller orb, so it’s more difficult to advance – the goal of most levels is to “become huge,” which means become the biggest orb on the map. This gets boring – they should have included new types of orbs, and maybe implemented weapons and defenses like in Spore – but I guess that would make this a completely different game.

Another interesting part of the gameplay is that when you move, the orbs you expel as you shrink can be absorbed back by yourself or other orbs. This means when you are fleeing from another orb that’s about to absorb you, that orb absorbs the small orbs you give off, which makes the enemy orb bigger. So when you flee, you are giving the “enemy orb” an advantage.

This game is definitely not meant to be played in one sitting. This is for those times when you don’t feel like playing, say for example, Counter Strike, and just want some quick game to relax with. Osmos is the perfect game for that. I believe it will also have good replay value, since you won’t be able to replay a level in the same way, simply because of the number of orbs on the map that all interact with each other and with you all based on your movements.

In conclusion, I’ve said the word “orb” way too many times in this article. Also, in another conclusion, Osmos is a great game that is definitely worth $10. Getting it for $2 is a steal. Get it while it’s on sale through Steam. Without this sale, the world might have never found out about Osmos. Osmos is definitely up there with World of Goo on the list of great indie games. However, because of how unique it is, many people might not like it or will find it boring. Personally, the only thing I see wrong with Osmos is some of the later levels which just make you start off smaller, but don’t add any new content. I will rate Osmos an 8.5/10. Definitely worth buying.

Microsoft recently banned over 1 million Xbox Live accounts for using modded Xbox hardware. Some reports say the number is now over 2 million. Now there is a lawsuit against Microsoft for the bans. This might seem like a bad idea – after all, modded hardware is against the Xbox Live Terms of Service. However, many people who had their consoles banned are now reporting that not only were they banned from Xbox Live, but they were also banned from their consoles.

How can Microsoft ban you from your console? People are saying that their access to their console’s hard drive was blocked. That means they can’t access a key part of their console, which makes it almost unusable. What gives Microsoft the right to brick consoles for hardware modifications?

Some are reporting that their console was banned because of a simple fan modification. They upgraded the fan on their console to help prevent the infamous Red Ring of Death – RRoD – and now Microsoft apparently bricked their console. How is this fair at all, yet alone legal?

When you buy something, you own it. That is obvious. People who bought an Xbox are the legal owners of that property. How can Microsoft legally make that property unusable? They have the right to ban modders from Xbox Live, which is an extra service to the console. But they should have no right to damage or make unusable the actual hardware that people purchased. This is in effect the same as a Microsoft employee coming to your home and stealing the hard drive out of your Xbox.

I really hope this class action lawsuit goes to court, Microsoft doesn’t settle, and Microsoft loses. This would set a great precedent that would prevent companies from touching the hardware which you paid for and have every right to modify. Think of automobile companies for a second. Wouldn’t they rather have you buy a high-end version of their car for $10,000 more to get an extra 50 horsepower, than have you modify your car by yourself for $2,000 to get the same extra power out of it? Imagine if car companies installed chips in new cars that would disable the wheels from spinning if they detected a custom engine modification? Isn’t this essentially the same thing as Microsoft disabling your hard drive because they detected that you upgraded the fan on your Xbox?

Disabling hardware, your private property which you purchased, should be completely illegal. If these reports of Microsoft bricking consoles for hardware modifications are true, Microsoft should lose the lawsuit. And by the way, the Terms of Service and the EULA rarely hold up in court, because this type of agreement cannot overwrite laws.

Note: I cannot confirm if the reports of consoles being bricked are true, but people all over internet forums are saying the same thing.

Sources: Engadget, multiple forums

XBOX 360 logo copyright Microsoft

Here are some screenshots from the Left 4 Dead 2 Demo. The demo is buggy and crashes very frequently, but it is very fun. Hopefully Valve will work out all the problems by the game’s release date.

WARNING: Extreme amounts of blood, gore, and violence

A mouse was placed on a styrofoam ball, its head enclosed in a stationary helmet, and Quake 2 was projected onto a screen in front of it. The mouse walked around the map, and its brain functions were studied during that time. Read more at Wired. The video is below.

image from fuel-game.com

“Surface specific handling” is named as one of the main features in the Vehicles section of FUEL’s official web site. Well I sure hope so, as every game I can remember from the past ten years has had surface specific handling. Ever driven off the track in any racing game? Slows you down, right? That’s surface specific handling.

Let’s get straight to the review. If you don’t know what FUEL is supposed to be, check the link above. FUEL is one of those games that sounds like a great concept but the final product is the opposite of what it should have been. A game where you can roam thousands of miles of land on quads, dirt bikes, race cars, buggies, trucks, etc. So where does it fail? Everywhere.

I’ll start with the vehicles. Some of them look like they’ve been built from trash picked up in a post- apocalyptic dumpster. That’s fine, but what theme are they going for here? What’s with all the broken, rusted cars on the sides of the roads? How do they fit in? This certainly isn’t the worst part of the game, but it just doesn’t make much sense.

Next part is the gameplay. It feels like a Wii port. The gameplay is way past arcade style; it’s like arcade dumbed down for five year olds. You can make 180 degree u-turns going 110mph on a dirt bike. Every time you even touch the left or right arrow keys to turn, the screen violently turns and the vehicle you’re using makes a sharp swerve, almost as if trying to turn off the trail. Going downhill, you’ll accelerate from 80 to 90 miles an hour in one second, and then it suddenly stops accelerating and you can’t go one mile faster, even though you’re going down a 70 degree cliff. Grand Theft Auto (the first one. yes, the one that was two-dimensional.) has more realistic handling and gameplay.

How can it get worse? The sounds. Engine noises sound nothing like engines. Every time a vehicle reaches redline, it makes this dumb clicking noise which sounds nothing like a rev limiter or an engine that’s reached max RPM. It sounds like a clock ticking, but about fifty times faster. And that’s another thing, nothing actually stops at redline. All vehicles rev past redline, almost to the end of the gauge, then shift up, then the arrow shoots back to a bit past redline and it continues. It only switches gears when it’s way past redline. And there is no manual option, so you’re stuck with this. The in-game music is also horrible. You don’t expect much good music from games, but this is some of the most boring generic music I’ve heard. I’d rather listen to static from an old analog TV.

And then there is the actual racing part. You’re one minute behind the first one or two computer controlled riders, and then 500 feet before the finish line you always somehow blow past them. This happens in every race. The AI players accelerate too fast for the vehicle they’re using and you can’t catch up no matter the shortcuts you take, and then when you’re getting closer to the finish line you easily pass them. The AI is also pretty dumb, trying to climb hills on sharp turns and getting stuck, running into trees and obstacles, etc.

Bugs. At least I think they are. So far I’ve managed to go through a guard rail and through a building. I’ve also went through some trees, jumped off of others, bounced off of some, and crashed into the rest. Most crashes automatically respawn you, so the damage you get is pretty much pointless. I’ve also crashed while landing a jump onto flat land with both wheels level – as soon as I touched the ground, it respawned me. I’ve also been respawned once for no reason at all – I was going straight on a paved road and all of a sudden I get respawned. And no I’m not pressing the respawn key accidentally because I remapped all the keys. The stock key configuration was completely idiotic. Space was gas, Ctrl was brake, Zero on the number pad was handbrake, and turning was with the arrow keys. And on the menu, you have to press T and Y to switch between the menu items and you can’t remap those keys. That’s completely stupid.

Graphics are usually important to me in a game. The graphics in FUEL are good yet bad at the same time. Sitting ten feet back from your computer screen the game looks great. However, if you take a look at normal viewing distance, the textures are blurry, antialiasing just makes everything look blurry, a lot of edges aren’t antialiased at all, the vehicle tires don’t look like they make any contact with the ground, and I could go on about more minor things. To top it off, the game won’t even let you change the settings, so I don’t even know if I’m running at full settings or not. There are only four choices apart from the resolution, antialiasing, and filtering, and they are normal maps, dirt maps, occlusion, and shadow maps.

In conclusion. The vehicles look fun and there’s a big selection, but a lot of them are just weird and don’t make sense in the setting and theme. Gameplay sucks big time and it feels like this was designed for little kids to play on their Wiis. The sounds are terrible and boring. Racing makes the AI do stupid things, and the AI is stupid in general. The game is full of bugs and stupid things you can’t control but should be able to, like auto-respawn, manual or auto transmission, etc. Graphics look bad except when you’re racing, which makes them the best part of the game. And that’s not saying much because they still look worse than GRID or DIRT, Codemasters’s previous two racing games. I also didn’t mention anywhere that the open world is pointless. There’s nothing to do that’s actually fun, and 97% of the land is the same. You can’t do any tricks when getting air (yet the game automatically does tricks for you for some reason).

My grade: 3/10. If you’re looking for something fun, go play Twisted Metal. If you’re looking for a racing game, play NFS, GRID, DIRT, etc. If you want to roam about offroad and do stunts on ATVs, dirt bikes, cars, trucks, and the rest, go play GTA. FUEL is a waste of time, and I will be uninstalling it shortly. The concept sounds great but the game fails at everything it tries to do.

I was just playing some Grand Theft Auto IV and randomly remembered how awesome the GTA 2 intro movie was. Here it is for anyone who has never seen it. No modern GTA game can beat this.

And by the way, you can get Grand Theft Auto 2 for free straight from Rockstar Games.

This list sure is different from every other top 10 games list out there, isn’t it? Yes, yes it is.

10. Need for Speed Underground 2 (PS2)

So many car choices, so many modifications, so much potential for fun. A drift mode where you actually get to control the car. This is one of the best Need for Speed games there is, and certainly better than any NFS game released after it. This is the best racing game to play with two players (not over the internet), at least for this type of gameplay.

9. Half Life 2 (PC)

One of the best storylines and great gameplay. One of the most immersing single player campaigns of any game I’ve played. The graphics and physics are excellent for its age.

8. Portal (PC)

The only game with nothing really wrong with it. I just can’t find anything I dislike about it. The gameplay is pure fun, and the storyline is short and to the point. A puzzle and action game in one, with a new and unique style. I can replay it over and over and not get bored. Plus, the cake was not a lie.

7. Counter Strike Source (PC)

If you like this type of gameplay, you can play this game forever. Not counting the hundreds of free mods to CS:S, the stock game itself can be played for years if you enjoy competitive, serious FPS. And if not, then you can always play zombie mod, gungame, or any other incredibly fun and free mods. Plus with the awesome game engine, you can play on a Pentium 4 with no problems at all on medium settings. And even though the game is old, if you have a dual core with a decent video card, you can unleash the full potential of Counter Strike’s graphics and be amazed considering the game is 5 years old. The graphics are amazing for the age, and the gameplay and style is the most precise of any other game I’ve played.

6. Halo (PC)

The first Halo game was better than the rest. The story was interesting and the gameplay was fun. The graphics were good for its age. Sure there were about 20 completely identical levels, but it was still very fun to play.

5. Battlefield 1942 (PC)

This is better than any other Battlefield game so far. No, it’s not “just another World War II game.” BF1942 has style and it’s very unique from other WW2 games. The different types of vehicles is what made is special and so fun. There is no World War 2 game that has this type of gameplay with cars, tanks, motorcycles, airplanes, ships, and jetpacks. I consider this the best multiplayer WW2 game ever.

4. Road Rash (PC)

Road Rash is another game that’s very different from other games in its genre. Racing and fighting combined make for great fun. The movie clips were badass. Wacking riders with chains and watching them get hit by a car while running back to get their bike never gets old.

3. Need for Speed 3 Hot Pursuit (PS1)

Most fun racing game ever. Not realistic but it sure was fun. The cars were all exotics (and a Corvette) and there were video clips that told you about each car, its history, performance, specs, etc. I had more fun going 210mph in a Lamborghini Diablo SV in that game than any other racing game.

2. Medal of Honor (PS1)

Best single player FPS with best WW2 FPS storyline. This game was just epic. From the bush mazes to the underground tunnels to getting to actually launch a German V2 rocket with the target being YOURSELF while you were sitting safe in a bunker, it was fun and epic.

1. Worms Armageddon (PC)

There’s nothing wrong with this game. Graphics still look good after 10 years because it’s 2D. It’s still being supported and has been patched to work on Vista 64 bit. The online play works as good as ever, and there are still thousands of people who play online daily. This game is the definition of fun. You have teams of worms killing themselves with bazookas, flamethrowers, old women with bombs strapped to them, skunks, and banana bombs. You can easily make your own maps, there are thousands of customizations you can make to your teams, and the map editor is the easiest of any game ever (that might be in part because it’s 2D). Plus there are custom game modes that extend the fun. This is truly the best game ever.

Feel free to comment on how I didn’t include Mario or Zelda or any other game that everyone else considers the best ever. Check the Latest Video Game Consoles, reviews of Sony Playstation 2, Playstation 3, Nintendo Game consoles and X box 360 at Game Console Exclusive website.