Genius, pure unadulterated genius!

Perhaps the greatest marketing ploy known to man

Midnight, the countdown on this site finished and lo and behold we were granted vision upon a quest of noble undertakings. You see, Valve has generously given its users a choice for every one of those games running we as gamers are one step closer to an early release of Portal 2.

Displays of ingenuity, risk taking and being so GOD DAMN AWESOME to its customers.

Valve: "Your move, playerbase"

With the impending release of Portal 2, it has come to my attention that Valve is generously providing a duplicate PC copy of the aforementioned digital manifestation of entertainment (Portal 2) for every NEW purchase of the Playstation 3 version of the game. Generosity of such magnitude is not unheard of or even remotely out of character for a developer/publisher like Valve. In the previous year they had Portal free to download in the wake of the Steam for Mac's release into the wild, aswell as a full high quality Isometric xenogenocide simulation by the name of Alien Swarm

Now this move may come off as an apologetic marketing attempt to woo the PS3 playerbase into their favor after the slew of mishaps that plauged Valve releases onto the PS3; notably the poor port of the Orange Box to the platform, the lack of releases regarding the Left 4 Dead Series and the constant debasement about the flaws of the console from a pioneer in the industry/obese man who probably has a swimming pool full of money.

And with that comment I just delayed Half-Life 2 Episode 3 by another year or so.

Despite the issues, Valve is a company founded on customer loyalty, their entire business model revolves around returning customers and word of mouth on product quality. Now I think there's more to this than a simple apology, they already did this with Half-Life 2 when it was released, back then the game required you to be signed up and logged into the neonate of an online storefront that we've come to know as Steam. Aside from the extra steps to be able to play your game, Steam did one very important thing: It created a centralized venue for a player base that isn't dependent on a singular game much like Xbox Live and the Playstation Network. This is what Valve is trying to do with Portal 2 for the PS3, they're building upon the already massive userbase of PC players by showing what Steam as a service can provide to its users. Come to think of it Portal being free is another ploy at attracting a Mac userbase and getting them accustomed to using the service.

While I approve of this attempt at marketing their distribution platform which will increase Steam users and purchasers by some degree there are still some issues that prevent it from reaching its maximum potential. One would be that many console owners don't have the time or patience to research on getting a decent computer and would spend their money on a simpler alternative. Another would Steam's grasp on the PS3 is minimal; it can hardly be considered a supplement for PSN as it only has Steam Cloud for save file storage through cloud computing and cross system chat. While it maybe a long shot for steam to ever replace PSN for its native platform, the mere presence of Steam Cloud is a wedge in the crevasse of cross platform interaction, Valve may or may not want to hammer it open and Sony may or may not choose to seal the crack.



Short Version: Buy PS3 Version of Portal 2, Get PC version + an online store that has dirt cheap sales almost everyday for free. EEZ GOOD. Oh and the 360 gets the short end of the stick.

Circuity & The Frontline

While playing the Crysis 2 Demo something dawned on me, an aspect of FPS game play that we take for granted but in ways define the potential outcome of a match, the point where combat takes place. In the demo combat was in essence one giant circle, sometimes I would be engaging someone in front and I find myself shot in the back and my killer shot by someone else on my team. This cycle of death and destruction has also occurred in the various installments of Call of Duty, Quake, and Unreal Tournament. Map design seems to fall into two disciplines, circuity and the frontline.

While circuity may create some entertaining gun play, it doesn't necessarily guarantee that you do get to take part in it. You may find yourself spawned on the other side of the map alone with no one to kill (or be killed by), running in *ahem* circles like headless chickens until you find your would be next target. Adding in a  focal point of combat that everyone can clearly identify creates larger and more hectic firefights at the least and a semblance of unity and teamwork at the most. A front line of sorts creates this definite point (or line) of contention among the two factions in a game. One example of this would be in Team Fortress 2 in a game mode call Attack and Defend Control Point. The objective of this game mode is for one team to capture control points and for the other to hold off the attackers until the timer runs out.

Now Team Fortress 2 is unique in a sense that the classes in it are completely distinct from each other. Now how does this factor into the frontline system you may wonder? In brief, one class in particular, the engineer is capable of defining the front line. His primary ability is to construct a powerful stationary turret as well as a dispenser which heals and resupplies allies. This is the focal point I've been talking about, anything within the turret's line of sight and range is vulnerable, its an area where you as the attacking team does not want enter because surely you're going to get ripped apart and it is an area where you as the defending team wants to stay in because you have the advantage in it. Now the sentry gun in Team Fortress 2 is somewhat similar to the one in Modern Warfare 2, it allows you to lock down an area with superior omni-directional firepower. However the importance of the sentry gun is much more evident in Team Fortress 2 because it can hold back more people because it isn't easily flanked as it would have been if the map was circuitous in design.

Sentry is circled, note how the players on BLU try to stay on their side to avoid being slaughtered by the sentry

Here in this particular example, the very design of the map and the nature of the sentry itself creates a rigidity in the boundaries of both sides which is made possible by how all the paths seem to funnel into this singular venue of combat. Even without the sentry there, the boundaries become obvious because of the doorways and ledges. Now some may say that this inherent funneling of players into areas detract from mobility centric gameplay like those found in the Quake games. I think otherwise, mobility gameplay is not about how fast you can get to this point in the map. Its more about positioning, evasion, and in some cases verticality like in (again) Quake. Multiple paths may mean multiple approaches but what matters in an arena is the available openness, cover, and its vertical spaces.

Space, always spacious. 

Enough of me glorifying map design channeling us to kill zones like sheep to the slaughter, lets take an example form Unreal Torunament. Here we see circuity at its finest because the primary advantage of a circuitous design system is that it lets players exploit their high mobility in Quake and Unreal Tournament. The basic elements are all there: Cover, Space, and Verticality. In the image, the low gravity environment provides some interesting changes to the usual formula of high mobility and low verticality. The wide hallways provide space for those who prefer to dodge, while pillars and corners give the cover for the less mobile players. While verticality is mixed up by the presence of low grav. I talk a lot about vertically because lets face it, we as humans don't really look up as much as we should. And if you're someone who's mastered exploiting the high ground and manage to rain death and destruction over everyone and everything as if it was bird crap.

Sure the things like openness, cover and verticality tend to have greater importance in circuitous map design and is overshadowed when people tend to congregate on a single point but this is where player mechanics start to come in. Both tenets of map design utilize the same things, just that in circuity it is a greater picture with particular areas being more advantageous to a certain aspect like tops of buildings in favela for verticality. The frontline, compacts everything into a singular arena where every style of play will have some sort of participation.

Crysis 2 Cross Platform Comparisons

I'd rather that you watch on youtube in full 1080p glory

Robbaz has graciously made a video comparing the graphics of Crysis 2 on all three platforms that isn't some crappy home camcorder on TV action where all the detail gets butchered. Although I'm sorry to say that for my PS3-centric friends there's not much detail to butcher. Judging from the video shadows that don't encompass entire rooms are non existent, lighting is noticeably brighter (which may be a good thing; easier time spotting people = easier kills) and overall it feels much more blurry compared to the 360 and the PC. True the PS3 may have the number crunching power of the Cell processor but the 360 still beats it graphically.

The 360 does have a better grasp of lighting, god rays look better than on the PS3 but there is an unusually high amount of what looks like fog when facing the sun. I don't know if its actual fog or just some side effect of the lighting system but it stands out enough that the cityscape in the background is nigh unnoticeable. Texture work is much sharper than that on the PS3, the difference from the PC isn't all that too noticeable if it were not for the better lighting and bump maps. The decorative water effects are significantly less visible in the 360 compared to the PS3.

Do I even need to talk about how beautiful this game is on the PC?

Into a Beta: Darkspore

A while back I saw from a certain Starcraft 2 caster, youtuber, and general reviewer person of interesting note that goes by the name TotalBiscuit, a video about this game the Sims developer was currently working on a hack and slash rpg. Maxis was stepping beyond their usual genre and infusing what they do best into an RPG, that is to say the customization options found in Spore. The most prominent feature Darkspore, allows you to customize your heroes to your liking from aesthetic changes to more claws, guns and swords for more hack and slash fun.

Will report back once its done downloading. Or you can sign up for your own beta key here.

Late to the Party: Impressions of the Crysis 2 Demo

The demo for Crysis 2 was released smack dab in middle of exam season, no worries I’ll just have to catch up with everyone else and hopefully bring something new to the table among the already numerous issues brought forth by the rest of the internet. 

Most concerning

Playing the PC demo, first thing I noticed is that the main screen had the words "Press Start to Begin". A rather ill omen for something the developers toted as a game independently developed of its console counterparts, but it's just a demo so I'll let it slide. Excited to start fiddling with the graphics options I found myself greeted by a gamespy log in screen. No problems it’s just a simple registration, unfortunately the system isn’t perfect and had to take several tries before being able to create an account and log in. I didn't really think of it as a big deal under the assumption that the back end servers must be handling large amounts of registrations and logins. 

When you do manage to get in you’ll notice that the menu pans in all directions depending on how you move your mouse, an interesting novelty that you’ll find yourself forgetting about after your first game. Shuffling between menu options to the graphics settings, my unusual giddiness and excitement gets crushed as I come upon the choice for customizing my graphical settings.

I have no idea what these do

Yes, thats it. System Spec allows you to change the graphics quality to vaguely worded choices such as "Gamer", "Advanced", and "Hardcore". Aside from the obvious things like Texture and Model Quality, it's really hard to tell what exactly each does to the more advanced settings like bloom, HDR, Motion Blur, Anti-Aliasing and the like. I fiddled around with all the settings and even found a config program on the internet that gives me a little more control over the graphics, nothing as fully fledged as say the first Crysis game but its better than what we have in the options menu. I fiddled with all three options and I must say that even on gamer, which I assume is the lowest setting, the amount of detail is just impressive. 

Pictured: Low Settings

Aside from the gorgeous detail, there's plenty of motion blur which is really unnecessary for a multiplayer game and something I had to turn off with the config program. HDR is there as you can see in the picture above and plenty of other details. The water effects are very nice, there's this murkiness to it in Pier 17 that doesn't feel like underwater fog like in most games I've come across. 

For most intents and purposes this game plays like Call of Duty from the hectic gun play down to the customization options, there are even killstreaks. Some cry out that this game is in essence a clone of Call of Duty, while for me despite having a negative connotation, being a clone isn't necessarily a bad thing. It acknowledges that Call of Duty has done something right and that would be its gameplay mechanics, that simple fast-paced small scale shooting action that the average joe gamer loves. However if you've talked to me about Call of Duty at all, you'd know that my major gripe is that Call of Duty isn't really a series that evolves and innovates, with each release it's more of the same. Crysis 2, changes up the formula of Call of Duty by adding the series' own uniqueness to it. Namely the nanosuit.

The nanosuit is in essence power armor that lets you switch between different modes; "Maximum Armor", "Maximum Stealth", "Maximum Strength" and "Maximum Speed". Armor and stealth are bound to a pair of hotkeys while Strength is your default mode and speed is tied to your sprint. Generally there's this feel of greater mobility than in Call of Duty, speed itself allows you to run fast enough that you get this Flash like blur trailing you as you zip about and run circles around your opponent while you melee him to death. Even without speed, you can climb a variety of objects and get the higher vantage point, more or less you can jump to the second floor of a building thanks to the suit. Armor does exactly what you'd expect and make you a bit tougher although I do not like how they changed in from the first game where damage decreases your energy before it starts taking away your health, I'll miss being able to take a tank shell and live to tell about it. But still that extra three or so bullets that you take can decide whether or not you'll have to respawn. Stealth is another no brainer, energy drains on the rate of movement and it makes you a faint outline visible only up close, lower levels of stealth will still show your shadow also remember to switch to any other mode before firing, as firing in stealth will drain ALL of your energy. Interestingly when swimming in water there is no melee attack, so in one game me and an opponent were just swimming circles pressing V to melee to no effect.

Lying in wait near the objective with a team mate.

The picture above shows the objective for the Crash Site Game Mode, where alien pods are dropped on what I assume are random locations on the map. Standing near them will control the pod and give your team points, first team to a hundred and fifty points wins. The other game mode in the demo is Team Instant Action, which is the Team Death Match that we've come to know and love (or hate), first to 50 points or most points at the end of the timer wins. While going around running and gunning, you can get support powers (yes, killstreaks) for the kills you gain. However, people camping (snipers especially) will have trouble getting these "killstreaks" as to enable them you have to pick up the dog tags of the enemies you've slain. An interesting gameplay mechanic that as I see it corrects some of the issues I've had with Call of Duty while still keeping what is part of a good idea.

The game also tracks your progression, unlocking weapons, attachments and suit modules (something like perks). It gives you dog tags for your accomplishments but these are just aesthetic changes to your profile.
The loadout screen is very reminiscent of Call of Duty, although the weapon selection for the demo was very limited (read: just the defaults), there were a small variety of suit modules to choose from. A detail that I like about the loadout menu is that it has a video demonstrating the capabilities of the suit modules although do take the demonstration with a grain of salt because from first hand experience the Armor enhancement module will NOT protect you from three guys simultaneously firing at you, unless you're playing with people who can't aim.

Real familiar but you can't really improve how you pick your guns

Overall the multiplayer component of Crysis 2 manages to take the best aspects of another series and infuse its own characteristics into it, and it does it well. The game play gives me that fast paced easy action I crave for every now and then but is not as mindless as it is in Call of Duty. Crysis 2 has the potential to be better than its competitors, although it's demanding requirements (for the PC) may hinder its chance of gaining a larger fan base. However let me remind you that it still is available for the Xbox 360 and the PS3. That the demo is so limited in choices, what Crytek decides to include in the final release may make or break all of the improvements it has made to an already great gameplay formula.