CodeMonkey's foobar

What's Your FPS Strategy?

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 08:25:00 +0000

In a first person shooter (FPS) video game, there are many playing styles favored by different people. Whatever style you choose to play with has its advantages and disadvantages. But all styles come down to two basic strategies, offense and defense. For offense you want to maximize your capabilities and for defense you want to minimize your vulnerabilities.

Run & Gun - This type of player usually favors rapid fire, highly effective weapons, maximizing their offensive capabilities. Not much is used for defense here, except the element of surprise. This type of player likes to spend their game constantly moving, relying on their quick reaction time to dominate any encounter they may face when running around a corner or into a room. For those players with great reflexes this can be a very effective style of play.

Stealth - This type of player favors silent weapons when available. They prefer not just to surprise their opponents, but to overcome them before they even know they've been attacked. This player uses as much defensive capability as possible to remain hidden and undetected. Many games offer this type of player the ability to mask themselves from opponents' detection using camouflage or radar jamming.

Sniper - This type of player prefers the long range encounter. This may be due to exceptional prowess with long range weapons or just because they like a slower paced game. This style of play also makes it very important to remain undetected, not by stealth, but by distance. This type of player can be easily overwhelmed by a 'Run & Gun' player if encountered in close quarters.

Camping - This type of player needs teamwork to be effective. In a FPS game, the matches are on a closed area. There is only so much space to work with. With all the obstacles on a game map, there arises natural choke points--common areas that players come through. This type of player prefers to find those locations and let their prey come to them. Camping doesn't require any specific type of weapon to be effective. You can camp with long, medium, or close range weapons, they all work. But this playing style does have the significant disadvantage of being very predictable. Once a camper is recognized, using longer range or explosive weapons should easily remove them from their campsite.

In my opinion, these are the four basic styles of game play exhibited by all gamers in one form or another. Some players prefer to use one style of play for an entire match, while others like to switch it around depending on their situation. No single playing style is better or worse than another. Each has their own advantages and disadvantages. The key is recognizing what style your opponent is using and what best to counter with.

My FPS Gaming Style

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 08:09:00 +0000

Back when I was in high school I went to a basketball camp at a major university. The coach there made a statement that has stuck with me to this day. He said "I'll tell you the secret to winning every game you ever play in, against any team. Just score one more point than your opponent." That's it. That's all it takes. Sure, the coach was talking more about free throws than anything else, but that motto can be applied to any type of competition where score is kept, including video games.

My preferred style of gameplay, when I'm with the right teammates, is camping. Camping takes advantage of that simple strategy the coach laid out so long ago -- just score one more point than the other team. Almost every game nowadays has a time limit attached to it. There's nothing requiring me to reach the maximum kill limit in a game. I just have to have one more point than my opponents when time expires. When we have a good team that can communicate well, camping works best, especially when our opponents (almost always) fail to recognize that we are camping and don't use a different strategy to counter ours. All too often we find ourselves sitting in front of a doorway that our opponents repeatedly feel they need to run through, dying on our bullets over and over again.

Diablo 3 Announced!

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 10:40:00 +0000

So, I stayed up a bit late tonight playing video games, watching movies and television. Around 3 AM I was browsing online when I noticed that the Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational starts live broadcasting online at 3:45 AM (it's in Paris). This week there's been hype around some big announcement Blizzard is supposed to make at the event. I figured that if there's a big announcement it will likely come in the beginning, so I decided to stay up a bit longer and listen in.

4:00 am MST
Mike Morheim - President of Blizzard Entertainment
Opened up with a generic 'thank you for making this a great event' speech. Reminded us that last year they announced Starcraft 2 at the Worldwide Invitational. Proceeded to show us a cheesy video of last year's highlights in South Korea with reggae music, of all things, as the background soundtrack. With a little dramatic prelude, he then announced that Blizzard's newest game is, as many speculated, Diablo 3.

4:15 am MST
Diablo 3 Trailer shown.

4:30 am MST
Jay Wilson - Lead Designer on Diablo 3
Narrated Diablo 3 demo
Characters still say the cheesy lines when entering an area (Barbarian "The sun has never shown here"). The graphics look much improved. The general aerial view is maintained as it was in Diablo 2. Some previous characters from Diablo 2 show up in Diablo 3 (guess who). At least this time around your character is smart enough to tell him to just shut up.

Cain: "Stay awhile and ..." (interrupted)
You: "It is time for shedding our enemies blood, not time for idle talk."
Cain: "Oh, whatever"

During the demo he goes through different classes. One of the new ones is the witch doctor. One new skill (similar to fire wall or bone wall)...zombie wall. Also, classes can be either male or female.

Overall, it was a great presentation. The demo was awesome. This is probably the only game that will pull me away from console gaming for any significant period of time (only a few months or so). Sadly, no announcement was made regarding a release date. Considering that they had a working demo, I wouldn't be surprised if it was later this year.

Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 09:30:00 +0000

Finally....

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:26:00 +0000

When Microsoft first released the Xbox 360, it was plagued with problems. Something to do with overheating and faulty hardware. Whatever the problem was, it resulted in a lot of people having to return their gaming console to get it replaced. This was good in that the user now had a new console to play their games on. It also created new problems, in that online purchases made and licensed on the old console were not able to be used on the new console without repurchasing the downloads.

Microsoft finally released today a DRM (Digital Rights Management) transfer tool on Xbox.com that allows users to transfer their licenses to another console. This means you won't have to repurchase all those Rock Band tunes you downloaded. Even though this new tool leaves a lot to be desired in usability, the functionality is there. Oh well, I guess Microsoft can't get everything right on the first round (or second, third, ...).

Camping Fundamentals

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:00:00 +0000

Many people wonder what it takes to enjoy the outdoors. Here are a few suggestions for making the most of your next camping trip.

Survey the area

Get to know the area you're going to be camping in. Learn the layout of the land. It's helpful to know landmarks and obstacles that can obstruct your view of the lovely scenery. Knowing the area you'll be camping in will make your outdoor adventure all that more enjoyable.

Pitch Your Tent

Pick a good location as you're going to be spending quite a bit of time there. Make sure to pick someplace on high ground, preferably with a view. After all, isn't that why you went camping? Don't pitch your tent too close to someone else's tent. Going camping is about enjoying the outdoors and getting away from other people.

Protect Your Site

There's nothing that ruins a camping trip more than an unwanted guest. Animals (and other annoyances) like to wander into your campsite. One option to keep them out is to put your food storage in a bear bag and raise it into a nearby tree. Personally, I'm much more a fan of just laying down a few claymore mines in your vicinity. Either way, it should keep the pests out and allow you to enjoy your camping experience.

Enjoy the Outdoors

Camping is all about spending time with nature and leaving civilization behind. Whatever you do, don't let civilization follow you. While camping you may witness other people trying to come and take your camping spot from you. Protect your little piece of nature with everything you have. I suggest either a Barret .50 caliber sniper rifle, a silenced M-4 Carbine, or maybe just a good old fashioned standard military issue KA-BAR.

Fishing with Dynamite

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 08:06:00 +0000

Well, tonight I decided to play some Call of Duty 4 with some friends online. After a few games we managed to get a full party together and play some Team Deathmatch. Usually we play pretty well together, but tonight was something different. We played awesome together. By the time I finally had to call it quits to go get some sleep (and post this) my winning streak was up to 50 games (and Yelzan had it beat at 51). Maybe tomorrow night or Friday I'll try to extend it.

...for those wondering about the blog title, Call of Duty 4 is commonly shortened to CoD...and cod is a type of fish

The Ugly Side

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 07:16:00 +0000

Every society has an ugly side to it, whatever that may be. The sad truth of it though is that when forced to face it, most realize that the ugly part of their society isn't just some small minority, but usually tends to be the large majority. Today's modern communication systems allow for online gaming on a scale never before realized. When joining this online gaming community, it's like jumping head first into the deep end of the ugly side of society's pool.

The fact that there is absolutely no identification available to others beyond what information you choose to put up with your own gamer information, opens people up to the realized freedom to say whatever they want. This freedom (and sad reality that people choose to exercise it) is a clear window to the ugly side of our society, a side that will likely turn out to be more of a majority than we would like to admit. While most people who meet someone on the street, face to face, will act with some amount of mutual respect towards each other, the same cannot be said of online gamers. Often times the first words out of a gamers mouth in a new encounter are laced with profane, sexist, racist and homophobic remarks.

As G4's Adam Sessler comments in this video, there is no reason for this type of behavior. Just because someone on the other team chose to camp an area because that was their best strategy against you isn't reason enough to hate them for it. Since when did Run & Gun become the only strategy to use in shooters? There are no rules as to how to play FPS games..you just play them. Whoever has the most kills in the end is the winner, no matter how they got them (except by the obvious system manipulations which ruin the game for everyone). There's no need to whine and complain when you get beat. Just grow a pair and be man enough to say Good Game to the other guy and go your separate ways. Even after the Boston Celtics dismantled the LA Lakers in the NBA Finals last night, Kobe Bryant was man enough to go over and congratulate the other team. Kind of sad that most gamers today aren't man enough to even do that.

Firefox 3 Released

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 17:00:00 +0000

Today is the release date for Firefox 3. Starting at 10 AM PDT today, Mozilla is going to try and set a world record for the most software downloads in a single 24 hour period. For those who don't know what Firefox is, it's basically your run of the mill web browser with a lot of enhancements to make it by far the best one on the market. If you're still using Microsoft's Internet Explorer...I'm sorry.

Firefox doesn't present the security flaws that are built into Microsoft IE. Maybe it's just me, but I don't like my web browser so tightly intertwined with my operating system. Firefox also renders web pages (converts the HTML code to the stuff you see on your screen) a lot better and more accurate than almost any web browser out there.

For those wanting to see the new cool features of Firefox 3, here's a great screencast that demonstrates them.

Cognitive Surplus

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:56:00 +0000

This is a great video of a presentation given at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco earlier this year. Clay Shirky gives a great explanation (plausible) as to the reasons behind the explosion of user created content on the web and the immersion everyone is experiencing with social networking sites. Enjoy.

The Machines Are Alive

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 23:38:00 +0000

I swear the more processors and memory we put into our computers, the more likely the are to come to life, if they haven't already. Processing power has grown so fast that most PC's can handle workloads that weren't even imaginable ten years ago. Just the other day I had my computer at home ripping a DVD, converting videos to another format, uploading a data backup file, recording live TV, using VoIP, streaming video my Xbox 360, and playing a video game -- all at the same time, without even so much as a hiccup.

With all this new computing power at our fingertips, I'm amazing our computers haven't started talking back to us yet. Then again, that's likely a software issue. But I am willing to say that I've seen some technology start to take on personal attitudes, if only at a base level. Where I work, the developers all share a common network enabled printer. It gets used fairly regularly by all of us. After a few weeks we've all started to notice that our printer seems to have something against one of the developers, and against him only. In the year or so that I've been there, I've yet to have a problem with that printer. Every time I use it, it works flawlessly. The same goes for almost all the developers, except this one guy. For him, the printer likes to give a 'Paper Jam' error message on a large percentage of his printouts. When you check the printer, there is no paper jam. You just open one of the trays and close it again and all is fine.

The last few weeks we've tracked how often this happens. For all the other developers we get that error about one in fifty. For the unfortunate guy, he gets it about four in five printouts. It doesn't matter what time of day, how many pages, what tray he prints from, or from what PC he initializes his printouts, it always seems to give that bogus error message for him and him alone. Every time it happens we can all hear his verbal frustrations and almost on cue, the entire development team bursts out laughing. If the printer doesn't learn it's place, it may find itself in the same position that unfortunate printer did in the movie Office Space.

Wanted: Original Content

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Wed, 28 May 2008 21:00:00 +0000

So, yesterday I received the latest issue of the Official Xbox Magazine (OXM) in the mail. I spent a few minutes to read through the articles and advertisements about new and upcoming games. My biggest complaint I have after reading that is the severe lack of original game content being produced. Almost every single game I read about in the magazine was either a game based off of a feature film or television show, a game that was a sequel to a previously released game, or a sports game. It's almost as if the creativity people at game studios went on strike and the developers just kick out tried and proven ideas. The only problem with everyone releasing games based off previously successful ideas is that it gets old real quick.

Just looking at the Top Live Titles for Xbox Live this last week, only one game can be seen as 'original'. It also happens to be the oldest game on the list and it's still at #6 most played (Gears of War), attesting to its success. Game studios seem to just look for hit games and then try to copy them. While that may be financially all well and good for some (Call of Duty, Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon, Grand Theft Auto), the parade of sequels and knock offs can't last forever.

Another thing that I just don't get is the need for every major movie release to be accompanied by a video game. I mean, if I want to be enterained with that particular storyline, I'll go watch the movie. If I want to play a shooter, RPG, or whatever style of game it is, I'm sure there are better, more original games than the ones based off of a movie.

Sports games are another genre that just gets rehashed over and over. Almost every sports game is eerily similar to every other sports game out there for whatever sport it is. It doesn't matter if I play Madden 08 or NCAA 08...they're basically the same game with just different decorations. While I enjoy the friendly competition involved with sports games, I think developers are missing out on a good opportunity here. Why not branch the sports genre with the RPG (role playing game) genre (or other genre)? I'm sure fans of sports aren't just fascinated with the athletic abilities their role models posses, but with their lifestyle as well. Why not use other genres to explore that?

The seemingly unending flood of sports, movie and sequel games has left me wanting more from my video games. There are more games coming out now than ever before, and yet, I can't find a single one out there worth purchasing right now. It's not that game studios need to come up with a new genre of game or style of play, but just get some good original content. Give me something to be intrigued about when I play the game. Generic war shooters with generic bad guys to shoot at isn't fun anymore. If you're going to base a game off of a movie, don't just remake the movie in game form. Give the game it's own original story based in the fictional universe of the movie. Don't just retell the movie story through my Xbox. I really do like playing video games, but I don't play just to click buttons. I play to be entertained. I want to be entertained. Unless game studios finally decide to get some original content creators involved I foresee my Xbox devolving into just an expensive DVD player.

In news of the stupid...

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Thu, 22 May 2008 19:51:00 +0000

Have you ever seen the commercials for Lifelock, an identity theft prevention service? They're the ones where Lifelock spokesman and CEO Todd Davis starts off the commercial by stating his real social security number and then tells you how secure he knows his identity is secure because of Lifelock. Well, in what had to have been expected by most of the intelligent world, news broke today that Mr. Todd Davis' identity has been stolen. Can't say I didn't see that one coming...

Grand Theft Auto

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:41:00 +0000

First off, let me premise this post by stating that I have not played the game Grand Theft Auto 4 at all. I'm not going to make the mistake of reviewing the game when I haven't taken the time to sit down and play it. Instead, this post is about why I haven't played the game and a review of the other reviews I've seen of the game.

Whenever new games come out I have to make the decision as to whether or not I'm going to purchase the game. I consider myself an avid gamer with a wide range of gaming tastes. Different factors affect my decision, such as reviews I read, friends' recommendations, trailers I watch, game rating, and game genre. I try to pick games that I can play anytime, whether my family is in the room or not. With that said, GTA4 failed to meet that criteria and thus, I did not purchase the game. While I'm sure GTA 4 is a well designed game with many of the criteria met that I discussed in previous posts as to what makes a good game, the content of the game itself didn't meet my own personal standard. I didn't make the decision because of what some crazed lunatic said on national television. I made the decision on what I feel is best for me and my family.

Many in the media try to lay the blame for societal problems at the feet of video game developers. If there's a school shooting, many jump to the conclusion that a video game caused it. The morality of video games keeps coming up in the media with each successive game release. [link] Government legislative bodies keep trying to pass legislation to restrict the distribution of these games and almost every time the laws get shot down as unconstitutional. [link] The funniest part about all this is that the games in question all have content less controversial than most prime time network television shows, yet no one is making a fuss over that.

To be blunt, many out there need to sit down and take a chill pill. Stop trying to legislate the gaming industry. Let the free market do that for you, the way it did with the movie industry. Nobody is yelling about passing laws to prevent kids from buying R-Rated movies because retailers already enforce that policy. Most retailers are moving in that direction with M-rated video games as well. The media are also incorrectly assuming that because GTA 4 is so successful that it must mean lots of kids are playing it. What they fail to realize is that the average age of video game players today is somewhere around thirty years old. GTA 4 is a game that is actually appealing to many adults. I just did a check of my Xbox Live friends list and noticed that almost every single adult on that list has played GTA 4, yet when I checked those who I know are minors, all but one or two has NOT played the game. This tells me that for the most part the ratings system is working. Adults are buying and playing the M-rated games and kids are not. Those few kids that are playing the M-rated games are likely getting their parents to buy it for them. That's not a problem for the government, retailers or gaming industry to concern itself over. If parents want to let their children play M-rated games, that's their decision. No laws should be passed to prevent that.

Overall, I think GTA 4 is probably a very well made game. Due to the content I chose not to purchase the game. The media and government need to keep their noses out of individual citizens' decisions to purchase games when it's fully within their rights to do so. While I may not choose to play this game, I can only look forward to other games that do meet my criteria which will be of similar quality as Grand Theft Auto 4.

What makes a good game? (Part 4)

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Wed, 14 May 2008 20:22:00 +0000

I've hit a few points of what I consider key components of a good video game in recent posts. The is the last post on the topic. While I consider these required for a game to be good, that doesn't mean the game won't be successful or profitable. These are mainly just characteristics of games that I've noticed have stuck around longer than others, games that people tend to play more often than others. The last component I feel needs to be included for a game to be good is realism.

Part 4

Realism isn't that the game reflects real life physics, but that would be nice. When I talk of game realism I mean that the game reacts the way you would expect it to. If a FPS game is going to put in a sniper rifle alongside a battle rifle, the sniper better have a much longer range than the battle rifle. If a rocket launcher is present, it better cause a lot of damage. With newer games, developers are even able to implement destructible environment. This means if I shoot a bridge with a rocket, the bridge better collapse.

Game developers need to first and foremost establish a law of physics for their games. Once that law has been established, they need to abide by it. One of the first things players will do when they get a game (besides playing through the storyline) is to test the limits of the game's physics. If a game reacts the way players expect it to, within whatever rules of the game exist, players will be able to enjoy the game more. If unexpected results happen, the game becomes to unpredictable and therefore un-enjoyable.

What makes a good game? (Part 3)

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Wed, 14 May 2008 19:27:00 +0000

For online games this part is probably the most important part a game studio has to worry about getting right. Multiplayer functionality can easily make or break a game. The game may have a great storyline, but if the multiplayer aspect isn't there, a lot of incentive to pick up the game and play it goes out the window after the initial play through.

Part 3

There are two basic types of multiplayer functionality. There is player vs player (PvP) or player vs machine (PvM). While not totally necessary to have both aspects in a game, having both does increase the quality of the game, so long as they're done right.

In PvM multiplayer, players work together against the game itself. This is usually done in a cooperative version of game's single player campaign or done in role playing games. The benefit of this is that players are able to work with their friends towards the common goal. Some people don't enjoy the competitive nature of PvP games and are much more drawn to PvM multiplayer. PvM multiplayer also allows game developers to add in more storyline content that can only be accessed via PvM play, thus encouraging players to enjoy that aspect of the game.

In PvP multiplayer games, players are pitted against each other. This is very common in first person shooters (FPS) and fighting games. In fact, some FPS games are strictly PvP with no single player or PvM to speak of (Shadowrun). PvP multiplayer is probably the most important aspect of a game that developers need to get right. If the interface is awkward or ineffective, players just won't use it. With different broadband internet speeds between players, the game needs to take that into account and adjust for it. If done incorrectly the game can be filled with lag and the overall experience for players is worsened. To date, probably the most successful and efficient PvP multiplayer game on the market has to be Halo 3. The party system implemented along with their matchmaking system to pit similarly skilled players against each other has yet to be equaled by other game developers.

For a game to be considered a good game, I feel it needs to implement some form of multiplayer functionality. Whether it be PvM or PvP or both, something needs to be there. Games that don't put in some form of multiplayer support tend to start collecting dust after the initial glow wears off. Granted, just having it there doesn't make the game successful. Poorly implemented multiplayer can also kill a game's success.

New Gamerpic

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Fri, 09 May 2008 19:52:00 +0000

Some may have noticed my new gamerpic. Those that know me know that I am neither a Pepsi nor a Coke man. I stick with the good stuff. One of these days I'll make the pilgrimage to Dublin, Texas to taste the real good stuff.

What makes a good game? (Part 2)

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Mon, 05 May 2008 15:21:00 +0000

This is part two of a recent blog post I started about characteristics of a good video game. My last post was about the storyline. While storyline is vital in making a good game that will be enjoyed by many, other characteristics are just as important.

Part 2

Replay Ability
A lot of game studios out there are very capable of making good games. Unfortunately, many of them don't due to one key characteristic they leave out or overlook -- replay ability. I've played a lot of games that were awesome the first time through, but after I finished it I never went back to that game because it had no appeal any more.

Role playing games (RPG) are most susceptible to this problem over other genres of games. Due to technology limitations, many RPG's are limited in the options they can present to a player. Even complex games like Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect limit players to two basic endings, good or evil. Choices players make throughout the game seem to influence you one way or the other, but ultimately the story conclusion is based off which side of the good-evil line you're left standing on at the end of the game. Once you've played both to both endings the game has little left to offer the players.

One feature I'd like to see put into new RPG games is where the choices you make open or close different options for the player later in the game. Most RPG's allow players to take it slow and play out almost every single story arc in the game the first time through. Instead I'd like to see multiple possible story arcs that are only accessible through subtle character choices within the game.

What makes a good game? (Part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:50:00 +0000

I'll admit it. I'm a video game geek. I like to play video games...a lot. My wife could easily make the argument that I play them too much. But I do have to interject that unlike many other video game geeks out there, I won't play just any game. For me to play a game it has to have some sort of unique appeal. There are certain prerequisite characteristics it needs to exhibit before it becomes worthy of my time. In general terms, these characteristics are storyline (Part 1), replay ability (Part 2), multiplayer (Part 3), and realism (Part 4). While a lot of games out there exhibit these characteristics, the mere fact they have them doesn't necessarily make them good games.

Part 1

Storyline
Almost every game out there has a storyline. The quality, believability, and implementation of the storyline is vital to a game's overall quality. Game studios hire on people exclusively to write the storyline for their games. Usually though, the storyline is what comes first and the game gets designed around that. Being the cornerstone of the game necessitates that the storyline be of good quality to begin with.

What makes a good storyline? That's highly debatable. To me, a good storyline is one that draws on other good storylines for influence. Don't misunderstand me here. I don't want cookie cutter stories that are straight up copies of others. It's possible for writers to draw on other great stories for influence and still have their own unique story. One example of this is Star Wars. George Lucas' story draws on many ancient myths and legends for content. But his story is his own and isn't a rip off of any other. The reason myths and legends last is because they are good stories. In the video game industry, one of the most successful games out there does just this. Bungie studios drew heavily on other science fiction stories and mythology for the Halo storyline. The biggest draw of Halo 3, the most successful game release in history, was not the new action scenes or features, but the storyline. People wanted to know how it all ended. Halo 3 is the perfect example of how storyline can carry a game, even a first-person shooter.

Another key quality of a good storyline is that it draws the player into it and makes you feel as if you're part of the storyline. With role playing games, this is vital. When other genre games are able to do this, it's usually a highly successful story. A game that did this well was BioWare's Star Wars, Knights of the Old Republic game. While the game had its issues with technology, the story was almost flawless. The player was drawn into the story and actually cared what happened to the characters. The more characters are developed, the more players know them and actually care about what happens to them.

What makes a bad storyline? There are too many ways to list, but I'll try. Not including a background to the story is probably the biggest mistake game studios make. Even if your game is a sequel, you need to bring your audience up to speed about what's going on. Rainbow Six Vegas 2 made this mistake. The player was thrown into the game with absolutely no background given. The worst mistake that can be made, besides not including a background, is relegating that background story to the game manual included with the disc. No one reads those. Another way to make a bad story is to not close out the plot of the main story arc. Players don't like cliffhangers or plot holes unless the sequel has already been promised.

Basically, what makes a storyline good or bad is the same is the same as that for movies. With video games though, it seems storyline has taken a back seat most of the time whereas in the film industry storyline is usually foremost on the producers mind.

The Influence of Literature and Myth in Videogames

DVD -> Video -> Xbox 360

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:58:00 +0000

Converting DVD's to Xbox 360 compatible video format and sharing them over your network with your Xbox 360

Step 1 - Make an ISO image
The first thing I do is to rip a DVD into an ISO image on my hard drive, removing the encryption in the process. I do that with DVD Shrink. Sometimes if that doesn't work, due to some newer encryption algorithms out there, I'll use DVD Decrypter, which will store the DVD in a file format on your hard drive, which I then use DVD Shrink to open the files and rip to an ISO image from that.

Step 2 - Mount ISO image in virtual drive
To do this I use a free virtual drive program, Alcohol 52%. Alcohol 52% allows you to have up to 6 virtual drives. They make a more robust version, Alcohol 120% which allows up to 32 virtual drives, but I find 6 is usually more than enough. That, and Alcohol 120% costs $$$.

Step 3 - Convert DVD movie to video file
There are different video editing programs out there that can do this. Personally, I like to use Nero Recode (part of the Nero 7 Ultimate package). Video formats that can be shared with an Xbox 360 can be found here. Using the MPEG-4 H.264 codec, Nero can recode the movies up to an 8 Mbps bitrate. This is plenty big. Personally I recode my stuff to 2 Mbps at 720x400 resolution. This results in a pretty good quality movie while keeping the file sizes down a bit.
For a 45 minute TV episode, the video file is about 700 MB in size. Not bad, especially with how cheap hard drive space is now. I'm actually looking at picking up a 1 TB external hard drive sometime to store my DVD collection on. Then I can browse and watch shows without having to find the discs.
UPDATE - I found a free version of Nero Recode here.

Step 4 - Share your video files over your network
Depending on what video file codec you used, there are different options available to you for this. If you encoded your videos into Windows Media Video (wmv) format, you can use either Windows Media Player 11 or Microsoft Zune software to share your videos. If you did the MPEG-4 Part 2 or H.264 codec, you'll need to use the Zune package. I put all of my video files under the same root directory. I then setup my Zune software to watch that root directory and add the files to the Zune library. In the Zune settings you can then set it up to share with your Xbox 360 on the network.

That should be it. Now you can go to your Xbox 360 and browse your videos, music, or pictures that are in your Zune library. Some additional instructions can be found here.

Microsoft giving away free Xbox 360's

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:54:00 +0000

This is a really cool story I just read. And no, it's likely not what you think.

Microsoft is giving away free Xbox 360 consoles to a number of children's hospitals nationwide. The consoles will be Xbox Live enabled and have preloaded a number of E and E10+ rated games, Y-rated television shows and G-rated movies. With the 360's family content controls, hospitals will also be able to restrict the times that the games can be used by patients and families.

For being such an evil empire, Microsoft manages to do quite a bit of good every now and then. After reading a recent horror story about one family's stay in a children's hospital, I think anything people can do to make things go more smoothly is a good thing. Microsoft is even setting up an entirely separate Xbox Live network exclusive to the hospitals in this program. That way, children will be able to play with other kids in other hospitals as well.

One in a million shot

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 18:47:00 +0000

So there we were, playing a game of capture the flag on this snow covered level called Avalanche. Our enemy was strong, but so were we. We had played them to a near standoff the whole game. With just over a minute left we decide it's time to make our final push. We all go on the offensive and hold nothing back.

I kill off the last of their recent offensive and pick up a rocket launcher off a dead opponents body. Just my luck. Only one shot remaining. I jump in the man cannon to head back into the base, where I will take the teleporter route to get more rocket ammo. As I jump into the base I hear my teammate call out for me. I turn to see him waiting on his mongoose, needing a second man. I guess I'll forget the ammo and just have to make this one shot count. As I hop on he accelerates to insane speeds that only a mongoose can achieve.

Most of our team is already in the battle with only us and the tank operator behind. As we head towards the bend, ready to engage the enemy, our opponent comes around the corner. It's a fully loaded hornet, ready to rush in and grab the flag behind our offensive. My teammate shouts we need to turn around and head back to defend our flag as we're the last line of defense. As powerful as the wraith tank is, it's no match for the mobility of a hornet. Knowing the time remaining I shout back "No, we go on." I'll just have to make this one shot count.

Going full speed on a mongoose makes it difficulty to hit an enemy with any weapon, let alone a rocket launcher with absolutely no tracking ability whatsoever. As we approached the hornet I took aim and fired. We continued on at ludicrous speeds. I never even got to see if I hit it. All I saw was the beautiful words come up on my screen...."Triple Kill". Our flag was safe for now. Our whole team could concentrate on the offensive. Fate was on our side and there was nothing that would stop our victory this game.

Fileshare Download: Film Clip

No SkyNet Yet

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 08:00:00 +0000

Thankfully the US Army stopped a program before it got too far ahead of itself.

Now for the real threat-

-keeping an eye out for future robots who travel back in time disguised as Summer Glau....

Rainbow Six Vegas 2 Review

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 22:01:00 +0000

I don't know what it is about Tom Clancy games, but they never really seem to live up to their hype. I'm personally a big fan of Tom Clancy novels, but really, he needs to pick a different game studio for his games because Ubisoft just seems to mess them up.

First off, I never really played the first Rainbow Six Vegas game, so I wasn't familiar with the storyline. When I put in Rainbow Six Vegas 2, I expected to somehow be brought up to speed on what was going on. I had no clue who the character is or what I was doing. The game didn't do much to enlighten me either. The single player campaign jumps straight into a tactical assault with little to no background information. That was the first clue I had that this wasn't going to be a good experience.

The next thing I did when starting the game was pause and try to setup my control scheme. I've played plenty of shooters and role playing games. Some games are really good at giving players customizable control schemes (Halo 3) and some are just horrible at it (Star Wars Republic Commandos). This game fell somewhere in the middle, closer to the horrible end. You think game studios would come up with some standard for control schemes for genres of games. Personally I feel all shooter games should have the same options available. That would eliminate control schemes from being a deterrent for some gamers. Even better would be if the console manufacturer would implement a set of standard schemes that players could set globally and have all their games pull from those settings.

RBSV2 does have some interesting features, such as the ability to use your Xbox Live vision camera to scan in your face and put that on your character. The game also gives immense customization options for how your character looks, what clothes and equipment they have available, and what weapons they carry. As good as those things are, they really don't make up for the lack of storytelling and the inept control schemes available. Overall I give this game a 5/10 score and will be placing my copy up on eBay very soon (Link to Auction (ends 4/11/08)).

Grifball Phenomenon

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 21:41:00 +0000

Halo 3 is one of the first games out there to offer a wide range of custom games and custom maps to players and to do it effectively. Just recently a custom gametype has taken hold in the Halo online community. Grifball is a very simple game. It's just a neutral bomb assault variant in an open room map with no objects to use for cover. Weapons available to players are the gravity hammer and the energy sword, both melee weapons.

As simple as the game is, many players have taken to it. Subtle strategies have emerged and those teams who can master those strategies seem to dominate all others. Simple things like learning how to use the shock wave from a gravity hammer can give a team a decided advantage. The designer of the gametype, Rooster Teeth Productions' founder Burnie Burns, even went so far as to organize a league with playoffs and everything for this gametype. Bungie Studios has even setup a whole playlist for just this gametype. Considering the popularity of the gametype I really think Bungie needs to go ahead and make the Grifball playlist a permanent addition to Halo 3's matchmaking lists. So long as the playlist has the popularity it does now, which rivals that of the Team Slayer playlist, it needs to be available to the online community.

Perhaps it will fall out of popularity. Perhaps some other gametype will take hold of the community's attention. Until that happens, this is a playlist that needs to have a permanent place, right alongside the MLG playlist that was recently implemented.