ismawi

Reed Deed Redeemption

Friday, May 28, 2010 10:57 PM Posted by Tremologuy

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Sorry for the title :D but if any one had watched the Kiwis podcast on Youtube, then you would know what I'm talking about hehe.

I haven't had time to focus on gaming the last few weeks due to a sudden spike in the number of teaching hours. So my gaming has been sporadic and uneventful. This is a game that i felt I had to get. I have always loved Grand Theft Auto and despite R* saying that RDR is not a western GTA. It certainly is. And to be fair, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It is not simply just another GTA game, however. It is western GTA. Cue coyote howls and banjo music, please.

You play as the typical anti-hero better known as John Marston, a gruff, rough and tumble gun slinger with an unexpected kind heart. But test his patience long enough and he'll turn on you like a cactus up your bum. As with many protagonists in Rockstar Games, John is a an easy character to like. Nico Belic is another example of this. They are not particularly chivalrous characters, but rather one who are thrown into the fray against their will. We like that indeed; best heroes are often made that way.

Why do I say its not such a bad thing that RDR is so GTA-like? Because as with GTA, you get to do a ton of things. Side quests and mini-games are endless and everywhere to be found.

The game is a little buggy for my liking though. My PS3 has the O button as its main selecting button but the game doesn't accommodate itself to this. It keeps confusing the X with O button and in some mini game like poker, it becomes almost impossible to play. There might be a patch later to fix this I assume. The horse rides can sometimes become very dull as there is nothing out there to see except long stretches of the wild plains. And to be honest after a while it becomes plain boring to see.

All in all, a good all round game with miles of longevity despite its minor bugs. Good story, likeable characters, and cool western action to boot.

First Impression - This is what my summer is going to be like

Tuesday, May 4, 2010 1:28 AM Posted by Tremologuy
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I finally managed to get a copy of FIFA World Cup South Africa and what a wait it had been. A lot of stores around the Klang Valley have increased the retail price of this game unexpectantly, considering that (according to some sources) that our retailers are now getting these games directly from the publishers. This basically means that we should expect to get certain PS3 games at cheaper prices. I give you an example, One very reputable (to some) dealer in a certain cinema based mall in Kota Damansara was charging a hefty RM189 for FIFA WC. Its neighbor is charging a lot less, but not cheap, at RM159. While all this is happening, PS3 game buyers in Malaysia have come across something exciting. Games Deliveries. It's like Pizza Hut but with Playstation games. A combination of two great things in life. But this formula is not entirely proven yet. Once I can ascertain the true value of this up and coming service, I will write about it.

Now, let's get into the game. I have to be honest, I am quite on the fence about this game. Despite the fanfare and the sleek design of the menus, there are a lot of noticeable components that are missing. The virtual PRO component has been replaced by "Captain Your Country" which chronicles your rise as a fringe national player up till you become the National Captain. This is a great addition except for the fact that you no longer have the download the game face addition. You supposedly can download it once you created a player, but evertime I tried the game kept telling me that I have no save data. Odd. There are a lot of other things that don't work well too. There is a slight bug in editing your CYC squad in the My FIFA WC sub menu. It says you can't edit until you have created a player. But I HAVE!!! wtf!? Maybe I'm not doing it right or there must be an issue somewhere. Nevertheless, I could hardly remember when making things work in FIFA games is so frustratingly hard.

Many buyers of the game look forward to getting into the game straight away especially online. I don't doubt this is a great game to play online. That is probably my biggest liking about this game. I had a torrid time getting FIFA 10 to run smoothly on the PSN. FIFA WC seems to be much more forgiving and less laggy. I do still get the old "stat report failed" error at the end of a game, which was never an issue in FIFA 09.

Gameplay wise, this game is fantastic. There's a new camera angle for co-op team play and Captain your Country which allows for a bigger field of vision of the pitch. If you have a 32" screen like me though (with bad eyes) you would still want to stick with the normal 'tele' camera angle. Oh, I can hear thunder. It's going to rain soon... Thank god my house is 5 minutes from work :D. Ok, back to the game. The controls are sharper and your players seem to be more skilful at controlling the ball. As with every new version of a football franchise, defending becomes harder to do and requires a little more thought and tactical planning. I can't really say if the FK bug has been fixed, because I haven't had people belting in FKs with 100% accuracy. I have always been rubbish at FKs so I can't really tell. 

Well, I'll update this article with a full review soon. Especially after I've had more time with the game. But for now, I got a feeling that it is going to be a good good summer. 

Heavy Rain - A prope game with a proper ending

Sunday, May 2, 2010 10:44 AM Posted by Tremologuy
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Lately, I've been a little frustrated with video games not having enough of a satisfactory ending to warrant a job well done for finishing the game. Look at GOW3 for example. No real conclusion to the tale and instead of answering important questions, more questions arose. It is probably just a way for video game studios to make more money by allowing a premise for a potential sequel; despite it being the final chapter of bla bla bla..



Let's have look at Heavy Rain. This is a game that is designed to be narrative based and a strong plot is crucial to the success of this game. The gameplay is quite new to me and I approached it with much skepticism. The first 20 minutes or so were quite dull to be honest and I suppose it was designed to ensure that the gamer is completely familiar with the games' mechanics. As the story progressed, it became harder and harder to put down. Each 'episodes' in the game peels away layers in the story and also allow the player to bond closer to each of the four characters. I have to admit, for the first time, I was not annoyed by any one of them! Usually a troupe o characters would include one or two annoying ones that just really get on your nerves. But even Madison grew on me eventually; and I know what you're thinking; its not ONLY because of the shower scene.

I realized that you're not really playing this game. You're simply moving the narrative along. The game is so forgiving at times and allows you quite a fair amount of time to do mundane tasks, while at the same time drives you into panic mode in chase or escape scenes. Playing Norman Jaden is probably the closest you'll get to actually experiencing a video game feel in the entire game; with his hi-tech sunglasses and virtual investigation rooms.

But what I like about this game is how it ends. If you play it right, all the loose ends will eventually connect themselves and gave way to a satisfying ending. I may not be able to comment on the possibility of a bad ending; but I am sure it would just encourage players to replay the game until a satisfactory one occurs. A lot of games like GOW3 focuses too much on how a game starts - the big boss fights 5 minutes into the game, the grand scale of it all, etc., yet fail to end it well. I think a lot of developers should look at quanticdreams and say to themselves; maybe they should not build the expectation too high in the beginning, only to let everyone down in the end.

Studio versus Publisher

Tuesday, April 27, 2010 8:25 PM Posted by Tremologuy
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latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-activision-20100428,0,7344613.story

latimes.com
Call of Duty crew sues Activision
Ben Fritz

April 28, 2010
The legal battle over one of the biggest brands in the video game industry has leveled up.

Thirty-eight former and current employees of Infinity Ward — the Encino-based development studio that makes the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare video games for Activision Blizzard Inc. — have sued Activision, claiming they are owed between $75 million and $125 million in unpaid royalties.

Last month former Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella were fired by Activision and filed a $36-million suit against the Santa Monica publisher.

Many Infinity Ward employees have quit recently, including 21 plaintiffs in the new suit. Some joined West and Zampella's new firm, Respawn Entertainment.

The suit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Courtalleges that the publisher has withheld royalty payments for Modern Warfare 2 in order to keep employees from leaving before finishing work on Modern Warfare 3, planned for release in 2011.

An Activision spokesman said, "Activision retains the discretion to determine the amount and the schedule of bonus payments for [Modern Warfare 2] and has acted consistent with its rights and the law at all times."

ben.fritz@latimes.com

Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times

Anticipating Super Street Fighter IV

Monday, April 26, 2010 2:06 AM Posted by Tremologuy
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Street Fighter has to be the most recognizable franchise of all time. I still remember as a child of 11, getting fleeting glances of what Street Fighter was all about in smoky dark arcades in town. Of course we weren't allowed to enter those arcades because back then such entertainment was only available to those of 18 years old and beyond. Some of us were lucky enough to had an older brother who would sneak them in, or came across an arcade with less stringent policies about school uniforms and 'underage' gaming. So we circled around these fortunate ones and listen to their stories about the most orgasmic experience 20 cents could buy you those days.

Since this week's latest release is Super Street Fighter IV, I thought it would be nice to go down memory lane, and recap what an amazing game this was, and is.

The first Street Fighter game I've ever played was Street Fighter II. I found out a few years later that the version I played was doctored by a bunch of genius third party programmers who thought 'fireballing' with no delays was a good idea. Therefore, my first experiences weren't kind. I dismissed the game as barbaric and immature. It was designed for button mashers with no class or guile (see how I did that?). The stupid unwinable Guile's freezing whatever it was was a constant pain in the arse.


So I almost decided that Street Fighter, after all the stories I've heard from my so called 'learned' peers, was a shallow, meaningless game.

I was to be proven wrong. A friend of mine asked me to take a trip down to Kuala Pilah one fine weekend where a Street Fighter machine is to be found. And that it was an original code, no tampering by some 'genius' from Taiwan and it was in a video game shop, which meant, we could play it legally! So we went on that 1 hour bus ride from Jelebu to reach the sacred place. I was disapointed at first because it wasn't actually a real machine. It was Super Famicom rigged to a big screen and wooden slab joystick for two players. We didn't have to use 20 cents coins but paid for a whole hour. I believe it was 5 ringgit for an hour. We paid for two. We figured that since we made that long trip to Kuala Pilah, we might as well enjoy it to the fullest. That was probably the best day three of us have ever had. For KL folks, Arcade games like this is probably littered everywhere in shopping complexes back then. So it might be hard to imagine how ecstatic we were then, playing the game for hours (two in fact) for the first time, without a care in the world.

When I got my first Street Fighter on the MegaDrive, it was called Super Street Fighter II. The main difference between the code on the megadrive and the one on the SNES was that the MegaDrive was faster, so Turbo actually meant speed whilst on the SNES it was like turning off the AC in your Kancil to make it go a bit faster. However, the Megadrive couldn't make the SFX that the SNES could so voices were muffled and sounded a bit, shrill. But by then, I've had some practice due to my frequent visit to Kuala Pilah with my two best friends at the time. My parents were even suspecting me of taking drugs. So that by the time I arrived in England, I was the best Street Fighting Asian boy in the town of Loughborough, Leicester. Over in England, it was a common sight to see game shops with arcade games inside them. Most of the English boys were very bullish and their ego were crushed beneath my mighty quarter circling hands. I was pretty handy with Samurai Spirit too (Samurai Shodown in Japan) and pretty much cleaned house every evening after school. I have even been cornered at various places in school by boys who wanted me to play them; but by then I've already got myself a few bodyguards. My posse who protected my dainty Asian hands wherever I went.

But I was only good because they were very poor. Super Street Fighter II Turbo came out and by that time, everybody was playing the game and bringing out Akuma like it was second nature to them. This also meant that my popularity started to wane. But no matter, I enjoyed the fame while it lasted, for sure.

Since then, various versions of the great game had been released, Alpha (Zero), Alpha II, Puzzle, the successful versus series, Street Fighter III (which was good, but didn't push any boundaries), and the dreadful EX (Well, I hated it. It was clunky).  Honestly though, I can't say that I've ever been as excited about a game as I had been when SF4 was released last year. It brought back what we love about the game. The colours, the frustrations and the fun you could have playing with your best friends over a beat up SNES somewhere in Kuala Pilah.


Buying games online... is it safe?

Friday, April 23, 2010 5:29 PM Posted by Tremologuy
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I reckon so, yes. I've bought a few games and some of the forumers have as well. Reputable online game shops such as pla-asia.com is pretty good and efficient. But i'm not so sure if the price is any better than getting it locally at your shops. There are also risks involved such as a delay in delivery and lost packages. Make sure that the company you are buying from is reputable and provides insurance coverage on your game. This will make sure that if somehow your package is lost in the post, it can be replaced with a new one. Although this process usually takes up to 3-4 weeks at best.

So why buy online if it is slower, not cheaper, and risky? I actually have no idea.

Great RPGs that I love - pt. 2

Thursday, April 22, 2010 1:13 AM Posted by Tremologuy

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In the previous article, I wrote about how those early RPG experiences really hooked me into the world of gaming. Silver, with its slick graphic and story; Soleil, the first proper JRPG I played; Secret of Mana - The closest thing I got to a Square masterpiece when I was young; and Chrono Cross - An excellent all round RPG.

In all these games, however, I felt there was one thing lacking. Perhaps it's because I was too young to appreciate all the nuances in the plot and the multilayered emotions at play. I was too young to appreciate how important good storytelling was, and the kind of relationship that forms between a gamer and the main character. That all changed, when I picked up a copy of undoubtedly, in my opinion, the best RPG, in the world.

Everyone, who has loved RPG in one way or another would not dare argue with me. This is, the definitive RPG. Yes, perhaps compared to next gen gaming the pixels are a bit outdated and its maddeningly cliche, but it has all the ingredients to make a perfect RPG. An RPG is first and foremost about the story. It has to have a really good story to tell. XII, as a lot of us fondly call it nowadays, had the best story of them all. Set in a steam punk setting with a backdrop of an evil corporation, what is there not to like? It's like Gotham City meets Akira.

And you have to love how the game is paced. I believe that this is the main reason why I love 7 and 8 more than any other Fianl Fantasies. Both games let you play the game in your own preferred pace. You can decide to play it slow, or rush your way to the end. RPGs should grow on you, not forced upon. There is always a need for players to learn about each character and bond with them before the final leg of the journey begins. That is why episodes like "Gold Saucer", "Tifa's Kidnapping" and various other mini plots are vital to this brilliant RPG. In a way, you know that there is a backbone to the whole thing. Something that holds it all together. But it doesn't mean that you can't enjoy this game the way you want to. The main reason why I am so frustrated with 13. Such a disapointment.

Here's a secret. Why is FF7 better than the others? It is quite simple really. Violence. Violence in video games is memorable. Aeris death? Sephiroth attack on Shinra? classic memories that stick in your head for ages. It's not saying that I condone violence in video games. I've forgotten half of the violent scenes in GOW3, but what I mean is violence where it matters. Sometimes, the bad guy is just not bad enough if he weren't a violent person. Violence is part of our reality. It connects our emotions together from sadness to piety. Violence works as much as love does. FF7 had both. touche.

Designing a game is like building a car. If you are making an RPG, make sure it FEELS like an RPG. The new cars have all these gadgets and security widgets that takes away the experience of actually driving one. New RPGs are so concerned about ensnaring new audiences that violence in the game is no longer tolerable. Square has also assumed that video gamers no longer need to think; linearity has taken over. Just press up and you'll get to the end. Funnily enough, even the new GOW3 didn't have challenges that perk up your brain. Maybe game developers have found out something that we haven't. Maybe the future generation of gamers really don't want to think. They just want to point guns at things and shoot them. No wonder FPS sell so well these days.



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