June 22, 2016
Happy 20th Birthday, Quake

Great post by John Romero, one of the creators of Doom and Quake, posting on Quake’s 20th birthday: Happy 20th Birthday, Quake

So many great memories of one of the truly groundbreaking games, responsible for ushering in basically every FPS since.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 05:15 PM
May 29, 2016
Claymation DOOM

Amazing find by JWZ - Claycat’s DOOM. I’m with Jamie, I’d totally play this!

Funny Stuff , Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:13 PM
February 04, 2016
DOOM - Campaign Trailer

So a new DOOM - Campaign Trailer was released today. I am so excited about this game…. Having played from the original old school doom it’s amazing to see how far the franchise has come!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:33 AM
June 19, 2015
DOOM - E3 2015 Gameplay Trailer

DOOM - E3 2015 Gameplay Trailer

I’m not gonna lie. This could get me back into gaming. Here’s a longer gameplay video with more detail and a better look at the environment and look of the game.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:00 AM
October 01, 2014
Borderlands 2 Now Available On Linux

Borderlands 2 Now Available On Linux - Yay!

Borderlands 2, the popular action RPG video game developed by Gearbox Software and published by 2K Games, is now available on Linux / Steam OS.

Gaming , Linux - Posted by Arcterex at 03:00 PM
September 15, 2014
Yes, we're being bought by Microsoft

Notch confirms: Yes, we’re being bought by Microsoft

It was reassuring to see how many of your opinions mirrored those of the Mojangstas when we heard the news. Change is scary, and this is a big change for all of us. It’s going to be good though. Everything is going to be OK. <3

So now Minecraft is owned by Microsoft. Let the freaking out (or happiness) begin.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:31 AM
July 25, 2014
GOG.com Now Supports Linux

News - GOG.com Now Supports Linux!

A while ago, we’ve announced our plans to add Linux support as one of the features of our digital platform, with 100 games on the launch day sometime this fall. We’ve put much time and effort into this project and now we’ve found ourselves with over 50 titles, classic and new, prepared for distribution, site infrastructure ready, support team trained and standing by, and absolutely no reason to wait until October or November. We’re still aiming to have at least 100 Linux games in the coming months, but we’ve decided not to delay the launch just for the sake of having a nice-looking number to show off to the press. It’s not about them, after all, it’s about you. So, one of the most popular site feature requests on our community wishlist is granted today: Linux support has officially arrived on GOG.com!

Great news!

Gaming , Linux - Posted by Arcterex at 11:36 AM
June 30, 2014
Lessons from Doom

Lessons from Doom is a great article on some of the game design lessons learned from the classic game Doom.

So because the player moves so quickly in Doom, and because most enemy attacks are dodgeable, the player can avoid a significant amount of damage simply by moving. A skilled player can often deal with large numbers of enemies sustaining hardly a scratch. This creates a feeling that’s quite rare in modern FPS: that you are powerful because you are agile, not because you’re a tank. This frees up Doom’s encounters to feature huge numbers of enemies, to vary scenarios by mixing in different proportions of threats, and to have huge, sprawling, often non-linear spaces that the player can traverse easily. There’s nothing quite like it today.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 05:25 PM
June 10, 2014
DOOM 4 Teaser Trailer At E3 2014

Just saw the DOOM 4 teaser trailer and I must say, I like it!

I think my favorite part is when you hear the classic shotgun sound. Booya!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:53 PM
May 06, 2014
Rovio Soft Launches Flappy Bird-Like iOS Game 'RETRY' in Canada [Free] | iPhone in Canada Blog - Canada's #1 iPhone Resource

Rovio (makers of the Angry Birds series of mobile games) just Soft Launched a Flappy Bird-Like iOS Game ‘RETRY’. It’s a star collecting, in-app-purchase supplying game and it’s hard and frustrating, just like Flappy Birds (no doubt to capitalize on games where it’s near impossible to progress). It’s got a fun 8-bit look, and after about 30 seconds of play it seemed fun. A nice game to play for a minute or two at a time while you’re waiting in line.

Rovio has soft launched a new gamed called RETRY exclusively in Canada, Finland and Poland. This game is their take on Flappy Bird with 8-bit graphics and similar gameplay. The name ‘retry’ refers to how you’ll get many chances to keep playing the game over and over.

Gaming , iPhone - Posted by Arcterex at 11:28 AM
February 11, 2014
Goat Simulator Is Ready For Preorder

Goat Simulator.

I honestly don’t know what to say about this.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:07 PM
February 03, 2014
How In-app Purchases Have Destroyed The Industry

How In-app Purchases Have Destroyed The Industry is a look at how in app purchases have…. wait for it…. destroyed the industry. Maybe a bit hyperbolic, but if you look at games as a way to have fun, watch the 8 minute video embedded and see how the game doesn’t remotely look fun at all.

The modern-day Dungeon Keeper is not even a game. It’s just a socially engineered scam. And since people don’t remember what real gaming was like in the 90s, they are giving it the highest rating in the app store.

Language is a bit NSFW, but for good purpose. Just a warning.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:30 PM
January 10, 2014
Gamer Tricks Other Players into Signing Out of Their Xbox Ones by Changing His Name to 'Xbox Sign Out'

Sometimes I really think I’m missing out not having an XBox :( Case in point: Gamer Tricks Other Players into Signing Out of Their Xbox Ones by Changing His Name to ‘Xbox Sign Out’.

Funny Stuff , Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:16 AM
December 28, 2013
A Second Christmas Morning: The Console Living Room | Internet Archive Blogs

The Internet Archive has made a ton of old computer games from the 80s available and playable free online.

In an expansion of the Historical Software Collection, the Internet Archive has opened the Console Living Room, a collection of console video games from the 1970s and 1980s.

You can go to the Console Living Room and select your game system, then select a game, then play it, simple as that.

Ah…. nostalgia.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:36 PM
December 12, 2013
GOG Gives Away Fallout and Fallout 2

GOG has a winter promo where you get Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics, for the reduced price of $0. Old games, but hey, free is free.

Thanks to StaticRed for sending me over the link.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:03 PM
October 01, 2013
Gabe Talks About Half Life 3

A Message From Gabe Newell goes deep into Valve and Half Life 3, or rather, the lack of Half Life 3.

I have no idea if this is real or not, but it’s a great read. I also don’t know why the whole article is actually just a big image. I am not surprised that the comments are full of people complaining either :)

Note: Yes, this is a joke site, but I do think that Gabe would say something like this :)

Funny Stuff , Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:52 AM
September 25, 2013
Valve announces Steam Machines hardware beta for SteamOS | 9to5Mac

Valve announces Steam Machines hardware beta for SteamOS:

Today the company announced the second part of the puzzle with the launch of a hardware beta program for “Steam Machines” that will run the operating system…

Valve has a page with details, FAQ, etc. Very interesting.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:53 AM
September 24, 2013
New "FilmSpeed" ad for Forza Motorsport 5 elegantly shows off the power of speed - istartedsomething

New “FilmSpeed” ad for Forza Motorsport 5 makes very cool use of strategically placed billboards and a very fast car. Embedded below for your pleasure.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:45 PM
September 23, 2013
Valve Announces Steam OS

Valve changes the game, announces its own Steam OS:

Valve has been teasing announcements surrounding its much rumored Steam Box platform on its website, and today the company revealed “SteamOS” as the first of three announcements. There aren’t many details available just yet, but Valve says the Linux-based platform will be available soon as a “free stand-alone operating system for living room machines” and “freely licensable operating system for manufacturers.”

Well, that is interesting.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:45 PM
September 04, 2013
Xbox One Release Date: November 22

So we finally know for sure now: Xbox One Release Date: November 22.

Microsoft announced today that it will launch the Xbox One on November 22 in Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, UK, and USA. Microsoft previously delayed the launch of its next-gen gaming system in eight countries: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and Switzerland. The console will now launch in these markets sometime in 2014.

Thanks forgetfoo!

Gaming , Microsoft - Posted by Arcterex at 12:03 PM
July 09, 2013
First Gameplay Video For 'Grand Theft Auto V'

Gotta say, the First Gameplay Video For Rockstar’s ‘Grand Theft Auto 5′ is pretty awesome.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:55 AM
June 27, 2013
Leisure Suit Larry Reloaded For PC And Mac Now Available

Leisure Suit Larry Reloaded For PC And Mac Now Available for $19.99.

Ah, memories….

Also launching on iOS and Android tomorrow (June 28).

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:57 AM
Amazing 'Watch Dogs' Gameplay Demo

A but behind here, but after watching this E3 2013 Watch Dogs Gameplay Demo I’m thinking I need to get myself a console…

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:31 AM
June 19, 2013
Updates on Xbox One

Sounds like the wild internet outrage over some of the new features from the Xbox One are going to be updated based on “user feedback”. Microsoft posted their update saying:

So, today I am announcing the following changes to Xbox One and how you can play, share, lend, and resell your games exactly as you do today on Xbox 360. Here is what that means:

  • An internet connection will not be required to play offline Xbox One games - After a one-time system set-up with a new Xbox One, you can play any disc based game without ever connecting online again. There is no 24 hour connection requirement and you can take your Xbox One anywhere you want and play your games, just like on Xbox 360.

  • Trade-in, lend, resell, gift, and rent disc based games just like you do today - There will be no limitations to using and sharing games, it will work just as it does today on Xbox 360.

Gaming , Microsoft - Posted by Arcterex at 03:19 PM
June 11, 2013
Microsoft Makes Rape Joke at E3

When my buddy cthulhu sent over this article, I thought [Message Deleted] : Microsoft, Rape Jokes, and the Next Gen of Gamer Culture was about comments or how a live comment feed made it into a demo in the key note (or a twitter feed or something) where of course the dumbasses are going to be spewing hate and stupidity (what is it about fuckwads and anominity?). Turns out not so much, seems that during the keynote demo someone made a great rape (note: this is sarcasm) joke.

Normally this would be chalked up to an embarrassing gaff by a big company, apologies would be issued, etc. However it is (in theory anyway) elevated because of the stereotype of “hard core” online gaming (ie: XBox) being full of hate speech, threats, racial slurs, and pretty much anything in between. When this is the norm for your gaming platform not only should you be doing something about it, you sure as hell don’t egg it on by doing the same thing on possibly the most important (or at least most watched) keynote for your company in the decade. Seriously, someone needs a bit of Jobs-like attention to detail here, or hell, anyone with a bit of sense to look over this stuff.

In the embedded video, the Tropes of Women in Video games is examined, the “Damsel in Distress” in particular.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:33 PM
June 03, 2013
Plants Vs. Zombies 2 Announced

One of the most successful iOS games has just gotten an announcement trailer for the new version: Plants Vs. Zombies 2

PopCap Games, the creators of Plants vs. Zombies, announced today with an all-new trailer when Plants vs. Zombies 2 would be released for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The trailer also teases some new plants and new worlds that you can expect to see in the highly anticipated sequel.

Gaming , iPhone - Posted by Arcterex at 12:00 PM
May 21, 2013
Next Generation Xbox One Detailed

Next Generation Xbox One Unveiled, Everything You Need To Know | Macgasm over at Macgasm.

The biggest oddities for me are that it’s not going to be backwards compatible with XBox 360 games, and the DRM will prevent used games (as the game serial # is now tied to your account).

The latter I see as a natural evolution to the similar system as Apple has for tying iOS apps to your user account. It makes sense, but the side effect of killing the used game market (if it’s true) is a bad one, especially when you’re talking about $60 games instead of $1.99 apps.

The former I honestly don’t believe it’s true. MS is the king of backwards compatibility, and making it so that a hardcore games (no doubt considerable) library of XBox360 games is useless (unless they now have two XBoxes hooked up at all times) just seems ridiculous. I know the new XBox One is more than just gaming, but really, I don’t believe that’ll happen. Guess we’ll see on launch day (no idea other than “later this year”) when you can buy it (no idea for how much).

Gaming , Microsoft - Posted by Arcterex at 02:59 PM
May 14, 2013
Half-Life 2 Games Available For Linux Via Steam

Half-Life 2 Games Available For Linux (Steam) via Web Upd8:

Like the other two titles Valve has made available for Linux last week: Left 4 Dead 2 and Portal, the Half-Life 2 games are in beta for now and they don’t show up in the Linux section on Steam but if you didn’t purchase them already, you can simply search for them in the All Items section and they should install on Linux. Or you can click the links below[…]

Booya.

Gaming , Linux - Posted by Arcterex at 03:08 PM
May 06, 2013
Beautiful Steampunk Link Cosplay by Molecular Agatha [Pic] | Geeks are Sexy Technology News

Beautiful Steampunk Link Cosplay by Molecular Agatha

Gaming , Photography , Random Linkage - Posted by cthulhu at 09:53 AM
April 03, 2013
Disney Shuts Down LucasArts

Disney Shuts Down LucasArts, Cancels Star Wars 1313 And Star Wars: First Assault. WTF?

Staff were informed of the shutdown this morning, according to a reliable Kotaku source. Some 150 people were laid off, and both of the studio’s current projects—Star Wars: First Assault and Star Wars 1313—were cancelled. Disney will still use the LucasArts name to license games, but the studio is no more.

Publicly, Disney is saying their current games could be licensed out to a different publisher or developer, but according to our source, that’s unlikely. Our source says Lucas has pursued the option for “one or both games,” but nothing happened. “With the teams now basically being dispersed I think both games are effectively dead forever,” our source said.

You’re a couple of days late for April Fool’s Day guys… :(

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:53 PM
First Trailer For 'Thief' Reboot

First Trailer For ‘Thief’ Video Game Reboot.

Sexy.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:11 AM
April 02, 2013
Everything you ever wanted to know about Pac-Man

Everything you ever wanted to know about Pac-Man over at OSNews.

A lot of interesting stuff on the internals of one of the greatest games of all time: Pac-Man.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:37 PM
March 28, 2013
Battlefield 4 Gameplay Video

Forgetfoo has a sweet Battlefield 4 gameplay video. Man that game looks awesome.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:10 AM
March 22, 2013
Half-Life Live Action Web Series On Indiegogo

With 13 days left, the project to create a live action Half Life series has raised $11,540 of it’s $75,000 goal. Come on people!! Support the Half-Life Live Action Web Series - The Freeman Chronicles:

‘The Freman Chronicles’ is a 6-episode Half-Life series, funded and created entirely by THE FANS. Chariotdrive and Infectious Designer - creators of numerous fan films based in the Half-Life universe - join forces in producing this ambitious project.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:42 AM
March 14, 2013
Modder proves SimCity can run Offline

Modder proves SimCity can run offline indefinitely via Geek.com

Ever since SimCity launched, there has been a suspicion that the need for the game to always be connected to a server was mainly a form of DRM, not for social game features and multiplayer. Then a Maxis developer came forward to confirm the game doesn’t actually need a server to function, suggesting the information coming out of EA wasn’t the whole truth. Now EA and Maxis have some explaining to do as a modder has managed to get the game running offline indefinitely.

I’d also heard that the online requirement was because some of the processing that was needed for the game was sent back to the EA mothership’s servers. Looks like that was a lie too.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:41 PM
February 28, 2013
Graphical evolution of First Person Shooters

Cool video showing the Graphical evolution of First Person Shooters from 1992-2012.

Pretty sure I’ve played almost all of these.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:49 AM
February 21, 2013
PS4 Announcement - Abridged Version

Were you like me and offline all day yesterday, and miss the PS4 (kinda) announcement? If so, you’ll want to watch the PS4 Announcement - Abridged Version for a cut down version of what happened.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:27 PM
February 18, 2013
Duke Nukem 3D Code Review

Fascinating: Duke Nukem 3D Code Review

Silverman would write a new engine for 3D Realms but he would keep the source code. He would only deliver a binary static library (Engine.OBJ) with an Engine.h header file. The 3D Realms team on their side would take care of developing the Game module (Game.OBJ) and would also release the final executable DUKE3D.EXE.

Gaming , Programming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:19 AM
January 25, 2013
Valve releases the original Half-Life for Mac

Mac Gamers rejoice: Valve releases the original Half-Life for Mac.

Fifteen years after its release in 1998, Valve Software’s groundbreaking first-person shooter Half-Life has made its Mac debut. While its sequel, Half-Life 2, and other games based on Valve’s later Source engine have been available on the platform for years, the original Half-Life has remained beyond the reach of Mac gamers without resorting to Boot Camp or other workarounds.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:17 PM
January 24, 2013
Game Studio THQ Is No More

THQ Is No More. Here’s The Letter The CEO Sent Employees Today.

Today, THQ was officially sold and auctioned off. Within the next few weeks, the struggling video game publisher will be no more.

As someone who’s gone through more than one set of company layoffs, it sucks. Hopefully the THQ staff will be sought after for re-employment soon.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:58 AM
January 17, 2013
Not Pacman Looks Epic

Not Pacman, as noted by Cult of Mac, is very different from Pacman, but looks the same. Mostly.

Ever wondered how Pacman would be like with physics? No? Well, it’s revolutionary. This mashup of “Not” and “Pacman” puts The Pac and the Ghosts in a in a Pacworld cage, at mercy of gravity and the level’s shape, controlled solely by you. Ghosts still don’t like you very much, so you should be careful to make Pacman avoid them.

Free download for mac/windows/linux.

Gaming , Software - Posted by Arcterex at 04:10 PM
January 14, 2013
Cyberpunk 2077 Debut Trailer

Up until the end of the trailer I didn’t know if the Cyberpunk 2077 Debut Trailer was for a movie, a game, or what. Turns out it’s a game, and the trailer is gorgeous.

Pretty amazing, can’t wait to see what it’s actually all about.

Via Forever Geek.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:24 PM
January 01, 2013
OUYA Ships Developer Consoles

OUYA has shipped developer consoles to early subscribers.

These are the early versions of OUYA that developers will use to start making games. They’re on their way to developers around the globe - by land, air and sea. OK, only by air — we want you to get them quick. Devs, expect them on your doorstep within the next few days.

Honestly I didn’t think I’d see this. Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come for this android game console kickstarter project.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:39 PM
December 11, 2012
All of the Video Game Awards Trailers

ForeverGeek has All of the VGA Trailers compiled in one place.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:11 PM
December 03, 2012
The Inside Story Of Pong And The Video Game Industry's Big Bang

Great look from a couple of days ago of The Inside Story Of Pong. Pong was my first video game. My parents got it (or at least a version of it) for me at Value Village when I was maybe 12 or 13? I remember it had 3 modes, Tennis, Handball, and…. something else. Of course, all three different modes looked and acted remarkably similarly.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:12 PM
November 09, 2012
NVIDIA Delivers Massive Performance Boost to Linux Gaming

From the NVidia press release: NVIDIA Delivers Massive Performance Boost to Linux Gaming

NVIDIA today announced the latest NVIDIA® GeForce® drivers — R310 — double the performance(1) and dramatically reduce game loading times for those gaming on the Linux operating system.

Can’t wait to give this a try and see if it fixes my Desktop Ubuntu performance issues and crashes too :)

If you’re a Ubuntu user you can grab the drivers from the x-swat PPA.

Gaming , Linux - Posted by Arcterex at 03:19 PM
November 06, 2012
'Steam for Linux' Beta Gets Limited Release

‘Steam for Linux’ Beta Released, but only to a subset of beta testers. Still, can’t wait till this goes live for everyone.

Gaming , Linux - Posted by Arcterex at 01:26 PM
October 22, 2012
David Fincher Produces Official Halo 4 Launch Trailer

Here’s the Official Halo 4 Launch Trailer info:

For now, you can whet your appetite for the game by watching the official launch trailer of the game. For film buffs, there is the added bonus that the trailer is produced by none other than David Fincher. Of Fight Club fame, Fincher is definitely a big pull. If that is not enough for you, then the fact that Tim Miller (who is supposed to be the director of the forthcoming Deadpool film) directed the trailer might make you interested.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:24 PM
October 17, 2012
Carmageddon For iOS Free Today

Carmageddon delivered, as promised, the Carmageddon for iOS today. It’s free today, $2 tomorrow, so grab it while it’s hot.

The game is the exact same as the classic game from 1997, same (as far as I can tell anyway) game engine, sounds, etc.

There goes my day…

Gaming , iPad , iPhone - Posted by Arcterex at 11:42 AM
October 16, 2012
Notch (of Minecraft Fame) Puts His New Game 0x10c Online

0x10c isn’t feature complete, but it’s up online for you to checkout. Looks cool, but in a bit of a retro, 2001 feel to it. Not sure how this one will turn out. The Story does have some more information though:

In 1988, a brand new deep sleep cell was released, compatible with all popular 16 bit computers. Unfortunately, it used big endian, whereas the DCPU-16 specifications called for little endian. This led to a severe bug in the included drivers, causing a requested sleep of 0x0000 0000 0000 0001 years to last for 0x0001 0000 0000 0000 years.

It’s now the year 281 474 976 712 644 AD, and the first lost people are starting to wake up to a universe on the brink of extinction, with all remote galaxies forever lost to red shift, star formation long since ended, and massive black holes dominating the galaxy.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:18 AM
October 01, 2012
Steam for Linux to Arrive 'In a Few Days'

Steam for Linux to Arrive ‘In a Few Days’, so says a request to Ubuntu developers.

Iiiinteresting….

Gaming , Ubuntu - Posted by Arcterex at 03:17 PM
September 27, 2012
Geoception: Reality Gaming in Google Earth

Sydney wrote in this morning to tell me about a cool new reality gaming concept on Kickstarter:

Thought you might be interested in covering a kickstarter project called Geoception in your blog. It is a game that runs uses Google Earth as its platform. Check out the project at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/945876709/geoception-reality-gaming-in-google-earth

Just helping the developer promote his project.

Very cool stuff, check out Geoception on kickstarter to see what it’s all about and more importantly, why it’s doing things the way it is:

Google Earth offers us easily the largest map ever in a video game. You could play for years and never explore it all.  And Google is always hard at work with their (real-world) cars, planes, and ships, mapping and modeling the world’s cities and sea floors in great detail.  This means the giant game map that is Google Earth is always improving in quality and accuracy, without any input from us.  And every time you interact with this game map, you learn something about the real world you live in.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:52 AM
September 21, 2012
Left 4 Dead (and Steam) Coming To Linux! (I Think)

The Left 4 Dead Blog has some juicy bits about Steam Workshop coming to Left 4 Dead as Linux.

All of this will also be available not just on the PC and Mac, but also for Linux users as well starting in the middle of next month and rolling out from there. We will have more details as we get closer to launch.

I’m honestly not a L4D player, so I wholly admit that I could be reading this wrong (though where I saw it posted said “Steam coming to linux confirmed”), as I don’t really know what the Steam Workshop is or how that relates, but anything that’s Steam related that is coming to Linux is a good thing, and does follow previous rumors about Valve working on a Linux port.

Gaming , Linux - Posted by Arcterex at 07:11 AM
September 14, 2012
Black Mesa Source Available For Download

Black Mesa: Re-visit the world that started the Half-Life continuum - available for download now.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:47 AM
September 12, 2012
Black Mesa: A Half-Life 2 Mod

I’d say “how have I not heard about this yet” but the trailer video’s date is 3 years ago. So Black Mesa is a free, source engine based recreation of the original Half Life) game set for release in just over a day. Some more info over at their facebook page.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:15 PM
August 03, 2012
Rise of the Triad Returns

Anyone nostalgic for the oldschool days of first person shooters will recognize Rise of the Triad as something that came out about the time that Doom did, and while the look looks very dated these days, the game was fun and there were exploding eyeballs.

Now you’ll love that Rise of the Triad Returns will show up next year, based on the Unreal Engine and full of awesome goodness. Trailer embedded below:

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:52 PM
August 01, 2012
Universe Sandbox

Sometimes it’s games (simulations?) like Universe Sandbox that make me miss Windows (but love VMWare Fusion.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:03 AM
July 26, 2012
Microsoft Axes MS Flight development in Vancouver

I saw the story about the MS Kinect studio being shut down but didn’t realize at the time that it also meant that they axed the MS Flight game development :(

“Microsoft Studios is always evaluating its portfolio of products to determine what is best for gamers, families and the company, and this decision was the result of the natural ebb and flow of our portfolio management. Many factors were considered in the difficult decision to stop development on “Microsoft Flight” and “Project Columbia,” but we feel it will help us better align with our long-term goals and development plans. For “Microsoft Flight,” we will continue to support the community that has embraced the title and the game will still be available to download for free at http://www.microsoft.com/games/flight/.”

Via Jon Patch.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:42 PM
July 18, 2012
Steam on Linux From The Valve Blog

Steam’d Penguins:

For some time, Gabe has been interested in the possibility of moving Steam and the Source game engine to Linux. At the time, the company was already using Linux by supporting Linux-based servers for Source-based games and also by maintaining several internal servers (running a 64-bit version of Ubuntu server) for various projects. In 2011, based on the success of those efforts and conversations in the hallway, we decided to take the next step and form a new team. At that time, the team only consisted of a few people whose main purpose was investigating the possibility of moving the Steam client and Left 4 Dead 2 over to Ubuntu.

Gaming , Linux - Posted by Arcterex at 12:16 PM
July 17, 2012
175-Degree Gaming Display

Thanks to my buddy Aryk for pointing me to the gizmodo article on a 175-Degree Display That Fills Your Entire Vision With Gaming Goodness.

To fill that 160-inches of screen real estate the display uses a series of rear-mounted projectors seamlessly blended together, powered by a sufficiently capable gaming PC running special software.

Oh my. I think I just wet myself.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:50 AM
July 12, 2012
Steam Summer Sale Starts

The Steam Summer Sale has begun. Crazy deals from 50-75% off already low prices. Portal 2 for $4.99 for example.

Dear Valve, here’s my wallet, take what you feel is right.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:24 AM
July 11, 2012
Tiny Wings 2.0 Is Live

The news is that if you’re a fan of the iOS game Tiny Wings, Tiny Wings 2.0 is a free update, coming tonight.

The new Tiny Wings project, for which we saw a singularly charming trailer, is actually a free update to the Tiny Wings you already have, and not a sequel you’ll have to pay for. TouchArcade caught the news when the update went live on New Zealand’s iOS App Store, revealing a new mode called “Flight School” that has you racing across 15 new levels against three AI birds.

Actually it’s live now for me (app store link) with the following changelog:

What’s New in Version 2.0

Hi Tiny Wings fans! The long-awaited Tiny Wings 2 is finally done! I’ve put a lot of love into creating this major update, and I hope you’ll enjoy it. You’ll be getting a completely new game mode with 15 hand-designed levels, a whole flock of baby birds, fish, and other surprises! And here’s the best part: Tiny Wings 2 is a free update, as a thank-you to my loyal fans (and because I don’t particularly like in-app purchases). :) Thanks, and have fun! 


What’s new:

  • A new game mode: “Flight School”
  • 15 hand-crafted levels that really “flow”
  • A few new additions to the bird family
  • Hello shiny Retina Display! Tiny Wings is now as lovely as you are.
  • Night flights
  • iCloud support (even syncs your game between the iPhone & iPad versions)
  • Revised menu
  • New languages: German, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch
Gaming , iPhone - Posted by Arcterex at 04:16 PM
June 18, 2012
Microsoft Revives Flight Sim and Gives It Away For Free

If you thought that the last release of MS Flight Sim in 2009 was the end you’ll be happy to know that Microsoft is giving Flight Sim away for free:

Redmond is making the game available in a private beta at present, but plans to release it as a free download eventually. The game needs a minimum of 10GB of hard drive space, a dual-core 2Ghz processor, Windows XP SP3 and 2GB of RAM, according to the video trailer. Initially Flight will only have one plane - the ICON A5 flying boat - but Windows Live users will get access to extra missions and plane types if they sign in.

Makes sense, though I’m not sure how well other ‘play for free’ modelled games have done. But I’m doubting that Flight Sim hasn’t sold a whole lot lately, so the model of charging users a buck or two for new plans or new areas could give them a bit extra in the ‘ol MS coffers.

Gaming , Microsoft - Posted by Arcterex at 09:27 AM
June 12, 2012
Screenshot of Black Mesa Game From Valve

Black Mesa sputters into life with new screenshot.

After eight years of development and several years of silence, it seems Black Mesa may be coming. No, seriously this time. The fans remaking Valve’s Half-Life as a Source Engine mod have shared new screenshots, teasing that there’s more news to come. At some point. Hopefully.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:19 AM
June 06, 2012
Carmageddon: Reincarnation Hits It's Second Kickstarter Goal, plus Linux Support

Carmageddon: Reincarnation by Stainless Games has not only hit the $400k goal but has hit the $600k secondary goal and have promised to include Linux support. Awesome news.

Gaming , Linux - Posted by Arcterex at 04:38 PM
May 31, 2012
The Humble Indie Bundle V Is Out!

The The Humble Indie Bundle V is out! 14 days left to pay what you want and help charity. They’ve already sold 150,600 (and counting) bundles and there’s a nice list of games available:

  • Amnesia: The Dark Descent
  • Psychonauts
  • LIMBO
  • Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP
  • Bastion (Unlockable)

All games are cross platform (Windows, Mac, Linux), you can pay what you want, and you support charity. How much more awesome could it be?

Gaming , Linux , Software - Posted by Arcterex at 03:52 PM
May 23, 2012
Carmageddon: Reincarnation Kickstarter Project

I can’t believe I haven’t linked to this already. Carmageddon: Reincarnation by Stainless Games is a kickstarter project from the original Carmageddon team (which if you haven’t heard of, you’re either not a PC gamer or not over the age of 30). Amazingly great game.

Anyway, to quote a great man, “TAKE MY MONEY!”

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:09 PM
May 17, 2012
Original First-Person Shooter 'Wolfenstein 3D' Now Free To Play Online

How could I have missed this!? Original First-Person Shooter ‘Wolfenstein 3D’ Now Free To Play Online.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:26 PM
May 15, 2012
Diablo III

Diablo Effin’ III is out, just in case you’re wondering why productivity is suddenly zero and a lot of folks are taking sick days recently. Development of the game started in 2001 so this is pretty much a milestone. We’re not talking Duke Nukem Forever numbers here, but still pretty impressive.

Everything I’ve heard about the game is it’s pretty damn good, so head over to the official Diablo 3 site and get yourself a copy.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:38 AM
April 21, 2012
Diablo 3 Open Beta Weekend Kicks Off

Diablo 3 Open Beta Weekend Kicks Off and it seems that some of the servers are buckling a bit (for a single player version?).

To access the game, players need Blizzard’s Battle.net account. And new players can register there for free. Afterwards, a game client is needed to hook the game with Diablo server. The Diablo 3 Beta client is also available on the Web site as a free download.

If you’ve been looking forward to this you’ll of course want to hit up the download page and grab the windows or mac version.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:35 PM
April 13, 2012
Quantum Conundrum Preview

Also on Shacknews is a preview of Quantum Conundrum, a game that is being hailed as the spiritual successor to Portal and Portal 2.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:11 PM
CryEngine 3.4 Demo Video

Nice video of CryEngine 3.4 showing all the latest awesomeness they’ve shoved into their gaming engine.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:11 PM
April 05, 2012
10 video games viewed from a slightly different perspective

The Portal one was my favorite.

Funny Stuff , Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:53 PM
Shadowrun Returns via Kickstarter

Yup, it’s true, the awesome old school game Shadowrun Returns via Kickstarter. Thanks to my buddy Jim for pointing it out to me. It’s a cool story, the original designer Jordan Weisman re-licensed his own game back to create a PC and tablet version of it, and I have to admit the pitch video made me want the game (which for a mere $15 backing, I could have). The rewards go up high, for a mere $10,000 you can have the lead game developer come to your town and play a tabletop game of Shadowrun with you and your friends :)

Luckily the game is funded, so assuming they can do it, they have the money backing.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:52 AM
March 28, 2012
Mozilla Creates Online Multiplayer Game To Promote HTML5

Via Macgasm, found out that Mozilla Created an Online Multiplayer Game To Promote HTML5. You can check out BrowserQuest online now. If you’re a fan of the old style adventure games, you’ll love it!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:48 AM
March 08, 2012
Angry Birds Space: NASA Announcement

You know you have a popular product (or a ton of money) when you can have an announcement for your new Angry Birds Space game from space.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:28 AM
March 05, 2012
Assassin's Creed 3 - Reveal Trailer

Assassin’s Creed 3 - Reveal Trailer. Woo!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 06:10 PM
February 29, 2012
Awesome Portal decal for your iPad

Check out this snazzy Portal decal for your iPad from MacGasm.

Funny Stuff , Gaming , Random Linkage - Posted by Arcterex at 01:19 PM
February 28, 2012
Gun Sounds For Halo 4

Sweet video of 343 Industries at the Firing Range for Halo 4, recording gun sounds.

Via RainGeek.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:32 AM
February 20, 2012
New 'Mass Effect 3' Cinematic Trailer

New ‘Mass Effect 3’ Cinematic Trailer. Via Geeks of Doom.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:28 PM
February 07, 2012
Alleged ex-Zynga employee tells all on Reddit

Alleged ex-Zynga employee tells all on Reddit:

 Spying on players. Getting intimate gaming data, their habits, their networks, and how to effectively monetize given X. Another issue was skewing gameplay for the sake of profit, example; I actually resorted to BAD MATH, to make the case for making a feature more fun. At the end of one sprint, a QA dude was complaining about the drop rate of a specific item being absurdly insane, and therefore UnFun. I looked at the code, and tweaked some values, gave it back to QA guy, and fun was restored. Product Manager overrides this, goes for unfun, yet more profitable version.

Not that people didn’t know that Zynga were a bunch of evil buggers…. Here’s the reddit thread.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:07 PM
January 27, 2012
Rogue Synapse Unleashes 'The Last Starfighter' PC Game For Free

I know the damn kids out there won’t care, but the fact that Rogue Synapse Released ‘The Last Starfighter’ PC Game For Free Download made my day. I still love the movie even though the special effects haven’t held up at all over the years. I still wish I could join the Starfighters…

The plot of The Last Starfighter revolved around a space-set first-person shooter arcade game used to recruit warriors from all over the galaxy for a real interstellar war. The graphics for Rogue Synapse’s Starfighter back in 2006 are based on those of the film’s and the game’s creators have even gone to great lengths to replicate the feel of an authentic 1980s arcade game, right down to the fonts. An 8-bit version of the film’s main title theme composed by Craig Safan and actual Starfighter game audio from the film enhance this amazing retro experience.

You can download the game for free here.

Gaming , Movies - Posted by Arcterex at 09:49 AM
January 17, 2012
Hemisphere Games Osmos now available on Android

Great news for my Android brothers, the awesome game Osmos is now available on Android. They also have it at 40% off for the first week.

Android , Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:26 PM
January 12, 2012
Gaming can make a better world - TED Video

Great video from a TED talk in 2010 on how Gaming can make a better world.










Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:26 PM
December 19, 2011
Valve Grand Prize Is Insane

As this reddit thread notes, the fact the grand prize for Steam Holiday Contest is mad. Every. Single. Game.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:38 PM
December 12, 2011
Transformers Fall of Cybertron Trailer

Amazing trailer for the Fall of Cybertron game posted on reddit. I don't know about you, but I'd watch a full movie if it was like this.

Of course, the actual game will be nothing like the trailer, but that's not really the point here is it :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:46 AM
November 29, 2011
Half Life Origins Live Action Video Short

This is How You Do a Video Game Movie via ForeverGeek.

I would watch the crap out of an 8 hour movie that follows the Half Life 1 story.

Gaming , Movies - Posted by Arcterex at 12:55 PM
November 28, 2011
Fake Halflife Movie Poster

I would see the crap out of this movie based purely on the poster.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:17 PM
November 02, 2011
Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto 5 Trailer

The trailer looks pretty sweet.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:35 AM
October 20, 2011
BF3: Multiplayer Trailer  

BF3: Multiplayer Trailer. Man I can't wait for this to come out. And the lottery I need to win to buy a PC powerful enough to run it of course.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:52 PM
October 04, 2011
Turret Lullaby (Portal Comic)

My buddy Len pointed me to this Portal 2 online comic called Turret Lullaby. Pretty cool stuff, and awesome for Valve giving out all this free content for Portal, with soundtracks and comics and hell, giving away Portal 1. Kudos to them, they deserve our full support.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:43 AM
September 30, 2011
Battlefield 3: Comparisons  

Forget foo has Battlefield 3: Comparisons between the visuals of xBox, PS3 and PC versions.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:43 PM
Guy chokes a kid after being made fun of in Black Ops

Guy chokes a kid after being made fun of in Black Ops, we're ... upset is the title of this Joystiq post. Be sure you read it all, and in no way endorsed by us here at UFies.org.

Funny Stuff , Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:50 PM
September 27, 2011
Minecraft: Pocket Edition on Android this Week

Awesome news for the Minecrack people with Androids: Minecraft: Pocket Edition on Android this week.

Minecraft's portable exclusivity on Sony's Xperia Play (aka "PlayStation Phone") comes to an end this week. Minecraft: Pocket Edition will be available on the Android Market this Thursday, September 29th.
Android , Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:33 PM
September 16, 2011
Sony to Ban Users of PSN Unless They Waive Right to Sue

Sony to ban gamers from PSN unless they waive right sue over security breaches. [hackernews story] Much easier than just fixing their security issues I have to say. As noted in the comments you can send them a letter that will exempt you from the waiver.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:35 AM
Get Portal Free on Steam until Sept. 20

My buddy and ex-coworker @halkeye pointed out that you can Get Portal free on Steam until Sept. 20. Portal is one of the best games ever (IMHO) and as I've been hear to say, "free is free". Other than having to create an evil, soul sucking and obviously tool-of-the-devil Steam account, there's really no downside.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:22 AM
September 14, 2011
Max Payne 3 Trailer

Shacknews has the Max Payne 3 trailer. Looks good, though I really wonder how it's going to differentiate itself from all the other similar games out there.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:51 PM
August 30, 2011
Portal Mod to Mario: Mari0

Buddy at work pointed me to Mari0, which is basically Super Mario Brothers with a portal gun. Great video to display how well it works.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:50 PM
August 25, 2011
Escape From City 17 - Part 2

Another live action Half Live video: Escape From City 17 - Part Two. On the heals of Portal: No Escape this is great news.

Gaming , Movies - Posted by Arcterex at 01:05 PM
August 23, 2011
Awesome Portal Live Action Video

Portal: No Escape is a pretty awesome 6 minute long live action portal movie.

Gaming , Movies - Posted by Arcterex at 05:24 PM
August 18, 2011
RAGE HD for iPhone Free

id Software fans and iPhone users, you'll be happy to know that RAGE HD for iPhone is free for a limited time. Download away!

Gaming , iPhone - Posted by Arcterex at 09:28 AM
August 17, 2011
Notch (Minecraft Creator) Challenges Bethesda (Game Studio Suing over "Scrolls" Trademark) To Q3 Duel

Title pretty much says it all... Notch said in his blog this morning Hey, Bethesda! Let's settle this!

[...] I challenge Bethesda to a game of Quake 3. Three of our best warriors against three of your best warriors. We select one level, you select the other, we randomize the order. 20 minute matches, highest total frag count per team across both levels wins.

If only world leaders would use this as an example of how to settle disputes.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:10 AM
August 16, 2011
Battlefield 3 Gameplay Video

Awesome gameplay video of the Battlefield 3 Caspian Border multiplayer map. Features vehicle and on foot combat.

Wow.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:07 AM
Minecraft - Pocket Edition

Today Notch and friends announced Minecraft - Pocket Edition, available today in early Alpha and playable on Android devices.

As an iPhone user, I must say I'm jealous.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:50 AM
August 15, 2011
The History Of Video Games In A Single Take

The History Of Video Games In A Single Take. In a word: "awesome".

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:05 PM
August 12, 2011
Play DOS Games In Your Chrome Browser

Can't think of a better way to use my web browser than to Play DOS Games. Falcon 3.0 for the win!

Chrome , Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:39 PM
August 05, 2011
Rage Preview

Speaking of id Software's "Rage", shacknews ran a Rage preview a couple of days ago.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:27 PM
Bethesda Suing Minecraft?

Bethesda are suing us, here's the full story from Word of Notch (main developer for the awesome MineCraft. He has an upbeat attitude and assumes this is just lawyers being stupid.

First of all, I love Bethesda. I assume this nonsense is partly just their lawyers being lawyers, and a result of trademark law being the way it is.

Fingers crossed.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:03 PM
Doom 3 source code will be released after Rage

Continuing their tradition of being awesome, id Software is going to release the Doom 3 source code after their next gen game Rage is shipped.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:25 PM
August 03, 2011
‪XCOM - E3 2010 Trailer

Aryk passed on the First In-Game trailer for the new version of XCOM from E3:

And the 2011 trailer is here.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:35 PM
July 21, 2011
‪Deus Ex Live Action Trailer‬‏

Holy crap.... ‪Deus Ex Live Action Trailer‬‏.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:27 AM
June 29, 2011
Crysis 2 DirectX 11 Video

In case your brand new computer didn't feel old already, check out this Crysis 2 DirectX 11 video that shows off some of the graphical changes they made between DirectX 9 and DirectX 11. Amazing. Course, I don't have the ability to time travel 6 months in the future to get a system that'll be able to run this.... :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:26 PM
June 24, 2011
Team Fortress 2 goes 'Free to Play'

Short and sweet, Team Fortress 2 goes 'free to play'. Also news on Forever geek.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:59 PM
June 23, 2011
Carmack remembers Quake on 15th anniversary

If this doesn't get the nostalgia flowing I don't know what will.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:44 AM
June 21, 2011
Duke Nukem Forever Demo Out

The Duke Nukem Forever demo is now on PC, 360. You can see if the reviews are accurate or not, and how good (or bad) it runs on your system.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:24 PM
June 14, 2011
Another Duke Nukem Forever Review

Duke Nukem Forever review @ Shacknews

Duke Nukem Forever is both a victim and a benefactor of its own notoriety. Stripped of its bawdy humor and fame, it's a bland, forgettable shooter, devoid of any outstanding qualities, and utterly unremarkable. By any other name, this game wouldn't even register as a blip on gamers' collective radar. While fourteen years of anticipation may force its mediocrity under a microscope, it's also the only reason anyone is talking about it.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:03 AM
June 13, 2011
Duke Nukem Forever Review

Duke Nukem Forever review at the Guardian. Spoiler: it's not pretty.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:08 PM
Duke Nukem Forever Cocktail

I still don't believe that it'll come out on the 14th, but if it does, I'll be drinking the Duke Nukem Forever Cocktail. Via Forever geek.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:30 PM
June 09, 2011
Battlefield 3: 8 minutes of PC Gameplay

Nice! Battlefield 3 trailer: 8 minutes of PC gameplay. Can't wait for this to be released so it'll obsolete my computer even more!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:19 PM
June 08, 2011
Star Wars: The Old Republic Cinematic Trailer E3

Still catching up with the E3 news and trailers. Here's a pretty epic one for Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:20 PM
June 05, 2011
Duke Nukem Forever Launch Trailer

Duke Nukem Forever gets launch trailer. If you believe it's coming out on June 14th of course. Silly people never learn...

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 05:57 PM
June 03, 2011
E3 2011 Trailers

ForeverGeek put together 12 early trailers for games coming out this year at E3 (well, being shown anyway). Some very awesome stuff in there, I recommend starting with the Tomb Raider one.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:57 AM
May 30, 2011
'Gears of War 3′ World Premiere Trailer

Geeks of Doom has a sweet 'Gears of War 3′ World Premiere Trailer. Looks awesome, sadly the game won't look like that, but still, pretty nice. Wonder if/when the GoW movie will come out?

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 05:18 PM
May 25, 2011
Portal 2 Soundtrack Free

The website says it's the Official Portal 2 Website, so I assume it is. It has the full portal 2 soundtrack and ringtones available for download. Sweet!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:40 PM
May 24, 2011
Modern Warfare 3 Trailer

Wow, the trailer for Modern Warfare 3 makes it look epic. Can't wait.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:38 PM
Duke Nukem Forever Gone Gold

... so says this tweet from gearbox. As with all things duke though, I'll believe it when I see it.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:30 AM
May 16, 2011
Free Games From PSN When The Store Returns

I'm not 100% sure if this list of games to be free from PSN is for any PSN registered user, or the ones that are paying money. Either way I'm good with free things. Hopefully the discussion on reddit will clear things up.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 06:23 PM
Steam Announces Daily Deals

Good news for gamers and bad news for anyone wanting to keep money in their pocket as Steam Announces Daily Deals. The first deal, to give you a taste, is 75% off Operation Flashpoint. This of course was a few days ago (yea, I'm getting behind with things), so you should subscribe to the @steam_games twitter feed to keep up.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:48 PM
May 11, 2011
Angry Birds hits Chrome Web Store

Free download, no ads, only requires Google Chrome. Good stuff.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:00 PM
April 29, 2011
Portal 2 Free DLC This Sumer

Portal 2 free DLC announced:

Valve teased some downloadable content for Portal 2 recently, but now the developer has gone and spilled the potatoes on the first bit of planned DLC. It's aiming for release sometime this summer, and best of all: it's free for all platforms (PC, Mac, 360, and PS3).
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:35 PM
April 26, 2011
Update on PlayStation Network

This Update on the PlayStation Network and Qriocity. Short version: "we got hacked and it's all fubar now".

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:40 PM
Great Review of Tiny Wings (iPhone Game)

Maniacal Rage pretty much perfectly describes my feelings about Tiny Wings, and why you should buy this evil, hateful game right away.

And speaking of setbacks, why can't this stupid fucking bird follow the laws of physics? Why does he sometimes smoothly navigate slopes while other times smacking his fat chest on the crest of hills that seem perfectly shaped? Why is island 4 full of curves that seem designed to be impossible to smoothly traverse as if Andreas Illiger--that rotten bastard, that complete asshole--has purposefully designed them to spite me?
Funny Stuff , Gaming , iPhone - Posted by Arcterex at 11:07 AM
Interactive Talking Plush Portal Turret

How could any good gamer guy or gal not rush out and immediately buy this Interactive Talking Plush Portal Turret (video). Seriously, that's awesome.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:18 AM
April 24, 2011
Uncensored Duke Nukem Forever Trailer

Missed this with the long weekend, but there is a pretty sweet Uncensored Duke Nukem Forever trailer. Thanks Shacknews!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 07:49 PM
March 18, 2011
First-person Mario

Possibly an epic mod..... First-person Mario. Not sure if I could play it or not but it's a pretty damn cool idea.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:43 AM
March 16, 2011
Prey 2 Teaser Trailer

Prey 2 teaser trailer. Not much more to say :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:28 PM
March 07, 2011
Alice GDC Trailer

Alice GDC Trailer. Awesome.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:41 PM
March 01, 2011
DOOM on a Calculator

Next in line for the "WTF did they do that" list, YouTube - The real DOOM on a calculator!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:43 PM
February 20, 2011
RAGE Full Trailer

Gotta say, the RAGE Full Trailer looks awesome. More movie-trailer like than game-trailer like.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:04 PM
February 11, 2011
More Duke Nukem Forever News

Duke Nukem Forever news over at shacknews, including a balls of steel version with bust, poker chips, and various other bits of awesomeness. Not sure if it's $100 awesome though.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:38 PM
February 10, 2011
Duke Nukem Forever hands-on At Ars

Ars has a Duke Nukem Forever hands-on.

The truth has to be told, however: the game simply does not look very good.

Not all is doom and gloom if you read through the 2 pages though.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:13 AM
February 09, 2011
Battlestar Galactica Open Beta Begins

Battlestar Galactica Open Beta Begins. How have I not heard about this before?!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:23 PM
Duke Nukem Forever Preview

I can still say "I'll believe it when I play it", but there is now a Duke Nukem Forever Preview over on Shacknews. I'm wondering still if the game will be "in development for 14 years" good, or more likely, it will be as good as a game in development for 14 years can be...

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:27 AM
February 04, 2011
Battlefield 3 Coming Fall 2011

I'm very happy to see that there's a Battlefield 3 trailer (not any actual content sadly). I'm a huge fan of Battlefield 2 (still play it occasionally) and am pretty excited to see what they do for BF3 (as long as it's not a lame console -> PC port like most of the PC games are these days).

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:36 PM
January 28, 2011
Impressive New 'Rage' Screenshots and Video

ForeverGeek has some Impressive New 'Rage' Screens to Ogle. Really looking forward to playing this one.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:20 PM
Halo recreated in Minecraft

I agree with this Joystiq article.... there probably was some sort of dark magic used to recreate Halo in Minecraft.

This stuff is not helping me with not buying the game you guys.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:04 AM
January 26, 2011
Oregon Trail is turning 40 This Year

Wow, hearing that Oregon Trail is turning 40 this year makes me feel oooooolllllllddddd.

I first played this game in grade 7 when the only computers we had access to was a mobile computer lab (basically a trailer that was shared from school to school with about 20 computers (probably mac 2s or something)). I remember playing hours of Oregon Trail and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, looking up at the poster of flags of the world to figure out where Carmen had gone that had a red and white flag.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:46 PM
January 24, 2011
Real Life Little Big Planet

Cool version of Little Big Planet done in Papercraft. Thanks Reddit.

Update: Grizzled also shared this out, so cred to him as well. Also related: comic - make anything.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:15 AM
January 21, 2011
Duke Nukem Forever Trailer and Screens Released

While seeing new Duke Nukem Forever Trailer and Screenshots is cool, but after almost 14 years I'm going to default to "I'll believe it when I see it". The trailer is intriguing for sure though.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:15 AM
January 19, 2011
A Horde Bathroom Remodel

You know you're a fan when you remodel your bathroom to make it look like it's a home to the Horde....

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:07 AM
January 18, 2011
Portal 2 PS3 Steam Features

There was a Reddit story on the new Portal 2 PS3 Steam features, including a free PC/Mac copy of Portal 2 with every purchase of the PS3 version, and cloud based storage of savegames. To those familiar with the Steam "ecosystem", this makes complete sense, you buy a game and get access to it on whatever computer you have steam installed on. Still, awesome to know that Steam will continue to be awesome on PS3.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:00 AM
January 14, 2011
Old Sierra On-Line games now available on iPad

If you needed an excuse to get an iPad, you'll be happy to know that Old Sierra On-Line games are now available on iPad via the web thanks to some pretty cool resource extraction and logic conversion to javascript.

Now who has an iPad I can have, I want to see if I can get Larry to take that girl's clothes off....

Gaming , iPad - Posted by Arcterex at 11:07 PM
January 11, 2011
PlayStation Phone Video

Caught on video is the new (and not yet officially acknowledged) PlayStation Phone. I was a bit skeptical of running PlayStation games on an Android platform, but you get all the advantage of the Android ecosystem, and just have to run a MAME-like app to pull in the PlayStation ROMs (or whatever they use). Double-bonus is that it doesn't look like the "joystick slider" makes the phone that much more bulky for using it like a normal phone.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:52 AM
January 06, 2011
Vizio 'Versus' Offers Head-to-Head Gaming

My buddy H threw over a link for this: Vizio 'Versus' offers two-player head-to-head gaming on one screen over at Joystiq. Basically it uses 3D tv technology to allow two players to view the same screen and play head to head, both with a full screen view of the game (my biggest complaint about console multiplayer gaming).

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:48 AM
December 29, 2010
Quake Finished in 52 Minutes with 100% Completion

Sorry for the slow week(s) guys, Christmas, plus new years, plus vacation = a lazy Arcterex. However I'll post now and then until things resume as normal after New Years. Have a look at this mesmerising video of Quake Finished in 52 Minutes with 100% Completion.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:32 PM
December 10, 2010
Running is Hard! QWOP

QWOP is an interesting game of athletics where you control individual legs and calves.... Lets just say my record is a 3 meter run :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:53 PM
December 06, 2010
GT5 vs. Real Life, Nürburg Ring Edition

Awesome video from the AutoBlog where they show you get to see a BMW M3 taken around the Nürburg Ring in GT5 and Real Life by the same driver in the same car. Very cool to watch. I'll bet he's not using the normal controller somehow :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:35 PM
November 26, 2010
Gran Turismo 5 Review @ IGN

Console players anxiously waiting for the latest and greatest will want to check out the Gran Turismo 5 Review over at IGN.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:21 AM
November 18, 2010
id Software's 'RAGE' Launches for iOS Devices

Other than the two different versions at different prices ($0.99 for the normal version and $1.99 for the HD version with high res graphics for iPhone 4 and iPad devices), I'm happy to hear that id Software's 'RAGE' is out for iOS, combining three things I love, iPhone gaming, awesome graphics, and First Person Shooters.

Apple/Mac , Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:19 AM
November 10, 2010
New Game Trailer - Infinity Blade for iPhone

Thanks to Aryk for passing on a trailer for an upcoming iPhone game Infinity Blade. "Yowza" is right.

Gaming , iPhone - Posted by Arcterex at 11:05 AM
November 09, 2010
Call of Duty: Black Ops Review

Yup, today was the day, Call of Duty - Black Ops was released last night at midnight, and if you were one of the crazies lining up, you may have a couple of hours of trigger time into it already. If you're wondering if it's worth it, you probably want to check out the Shacknews Call of Duty: Black Ops Review.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:57 AM
November 05, 2010
Looking at Kinect Using IR Goggles

Cool stuff, Gruber links a couple of videos (second one is better) of Looking at Kinect Using IR Goggles to see the way it does it's motion detection.

Gaming , Microsoft - Posted by Arcterex at 04:01 PM
November 04, 2010
Ars Reviews Kinect

Cool review of Microsoft Kinect on Ars Technica, found over through a related reddit story.

Personally I'm not a console gamer, so outside of either an epic fail, and/or playing with it and seeing it be awesome, I'm kinda meh on the whole thing. It is however, a brand new paradigm in gaming (in theory anyway), so it'll be something to keep an eye on. Even if it is an epic fail, I seem to remember the first version of the iPod getting pretty "meh" reactions too, and we can see how that turned out.

The super-bonus is you get to see some videos of it all in action, and some (the aquarium game in particular) look really... uhm, how to say this nicest.... "lame". We'll see I guess.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:38 AM
October 22, 2010
Give Sonic Fan Remix a Spin

There's a Sonic Fan Remix that looks pretty damn awesome. And as a non-Sonic playing person, that's saying something. There are links to download the game by torrent or direct download as well. Love the first comment:


Message to Sega: pay this guy some money to complete a full game, trash that crap you call Sonic 4, and release this as the new Sonic 4.

:)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:12 AM
October 20, 2010
Old Sierra games coming to iPad as unofficial web apps

Sounds like Old Sierra games are coming to iPad as unofficial web apps. Personally I think this is awesome, I'd love to play Space/Police Quest again. Hope it's not just iPad though.

Gaming , iPad - Posted by Arcterex at 09:01 AM
October 19, 2010
Trainyard iPhone Game

I don't normally pimp out iPhone games, but a coworker pointed me to Trainyard and I grabbed it based purely on


  • Looks fun and easy (perfect checkout line game)
  • Lots of content in there
  • Cheap ($0.99)
  • Canadian based company

I'm not sure who else is involved, but when I find something that's nifty, I like to share.

Gaming , iPhone - Posted by Arcterex at 09:49 AM
October 14, 2010
Fan Remake of Duke Nukem 3D in Unreal Engine 3

I think I'm more excited about the news that there is a Fan Remake of Duke Nukem 3D in Unreal Engine 3 than I am about DNF.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:52 AM
October 08, 2010
Minecraft is Just Awesome

Minecraft is Just Awesome is a great parody of the Discovery Channel's "boomdiada" song for, of course, the Minecraft crowd.

Funny Stuff , Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:08 AM
October 05, 2010
Duke Nukem Forever Live Demoed on Stage in Europe

I don't believe it, even if I see the video on the computer with my own eyes.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:01 AM
September 29, 2010
Dance Fortress 2

Awesome machinema video of Team Fortress 2, called Dance Fortress 2. Great stuff, you almost have to watch it several times to see what each of the characters are done.

Funny Stuff , Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:25 PM
September 28, 2010
16-bit ALU In Minecraft

I thought the 1:1 STTNG Enterprise I blogged about yesterday was impressive, but today my buddy H sent me this video of a fully implemented and working 16-bit ALU built in minecraft. My first reaction was "OMGWTFBBQ". The second was "this guy is going to have a lineup of girls from building this thing." Seriously though, he has room for RAM expansion and plans for a compiler for it.

I really have to check out this game....

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:11 PM
September 27, 2010
1:1 Enterprise TNG In MineCraft

So I've heard a bit about Minecraft here and there, but when I saw someone had made a 1:1 scale model of the Starship Enterprise from TNG I'm starting to pay attention.

Aside: Wooooooooooooow

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:29 PM
September 23, 2010
LittleBigPlanet 2 Delayed Until January 2011

This news bums me out, going to have to find a new idea for a Christmas present for my wife....

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:56 AM
September 18, 2010
Crazy FPS Little Big Planet 2 Level

Apparently the thing people needed in Little Big Planet 2 was an Vietnam FPS conversion. Seriously, check out the insanity.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 06:47 PM
September 17, 2010
Quake Live Premium Features Available for Free Until Sep. 26

Title says it all really.... Quake Live Premium Features Available for Free Until Sep. 26 so that the non-paying users can see what the cool premium features and maps are.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:37 PM
Civilization 5 Review

Here's a Civilization 5 Review for those of you interested in it.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:22 PM
September 03, 2010
Duke Nukem at PAX 2010

Sorry, but I will believe it when I see it on the shelves. Another year, another "Duke Nuke Forever is real!" report.

Wake me up when I can buy it and play it.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:05 PM
August 30, 2010
Box Art Vs Game (Atari Version)

Neat post from slashdot on The Misleading World Of Atari 2600 Box Art.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:49 PM
August 13, 2010
Source Code Released for Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory Games

id Software, because they are awesome, has released the source code for Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory and Return to Castle Wolfenstein

id Software has released the source code of Splash Damage's Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory and Grey Matter's Return to Castle Wolfenstein as part of its QuakeCon festivities, letting everyone tinker under the hood of the Quake 3 engine-based shooters.

I really wish more companies would do this, when games are old and grey, if there's enough of a community around them release the source and let the hackers out there play and see what happens. id Software has been doing this since they released the source for Wolf3D, Doom, Quake, and a lot of other games, now adding the Wolf:ET to the list. Good stuff!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:58 AM
August 12, 2010
id Shows Off 'Rage' Running on iPhone 4 at 60 Frames Per Second

id Shows Off 'Rage' Running on iPhone 4 at 60 Frames Per Second.

Carmack's demonstration, using the id Tech 5 engine, could possibly be the most impressive tech we've seen on the iPhone. Running on the iPhone 4 but easily run on the 3GS, the visuals indeed rivaled anything from the PlayStation 2 and original Xbox, and might even be able to give a few current-gen titles a run for their money.

Via Mac Rumors.

Gaming , iPhone - Posted by Arcterex at 10:15 PM
Rock Paper Scissors Infographic

Nice graphic on Rock Paper Scissors tactics.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:16 AM
August 10, 2010
Hemisphere Games on Smoothness

Great post by the company that created the iPhone and iPad game Osmos [iphone|iPad] on Game Smoothness.

After a few months of work, we were starting to be satisfied with the game's performance on the iPhone, when Apple announced the iPad. We knew this large touch-screen computer would be the perfect device for Osmos. Being lowly Canadians, we couldn't get our hands on an actual iPad till many months after the U.S. release.

Great game, I bought the iPhone version, can't wait to see it on the Retina display when I finally get my iPhone 4. I do recommend it, it's a fun and beautiful little game, and hey, gotta support my fellow Canadians!

Gaming , iPhone - Posted by Arcterex at 01:50 PM
August 06, 2010
Quake Live Out of Beta

Or in their own words: id introduces two QUAKE LIVE subscription packages. So in coming out of beta, you now can play the 'free for play' game for free if you play the 'standard' version, or pay $1.99 or $3.99 a month for the various other perks including premium maps, game modes, etc. Hit the link for more.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 07:15 PM
August 05, 2010
LittleBigPlanet 2: Adventure Trailer

LittleBigPlanet 2: Adventure Trailer Revealed via the PlayStation Blog.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:38 PM
August 01, 2010
DC Universe Online Trailer

I haven't heard anything about this game, but the DC Universe Online Trailer makes it look pretty awesome. Looks like an MMO of some sort. Great trailer, no gameplay footage of course :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:40 PM
July 28, 2010
211 free Wine-compatible Games

Nice collection of 211 free Wine-compatible Games in one download found by OMG Ubuntu, so you can play them on your Linux system (speaking of Linux and Gaming). The list of games in the download can be found here. See the OMG Ubuntu article for details and direct download and torrent links.

Gaming , Linux - Posted by Arcterex at 09:26 AM
Lego Starcraft: Brick Rush

So apparently some new RTS Star.... something was released recently. For those people into that, you'll probably enjoy the video Lego Starcraft: Brick Rush.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:55 AM
July 27, 2010
The Guild Season 4 - Music Video - "Game On"

Awesome bhangra inspired video of the folks from The Guild. Game On is awesome. Maybe not as good as the Date My Avatar video, but still, pretty damn awesome!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:51 PM
July 22, 2010
Kids Playing Classic Games

Nice College Humor video of Kid-Testing classic video games like Mario Brothers, Sonic, and others. Not the results I expected to be honest.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:53 AM
July 20, 2010
Alien Swarm Game Free on Steam

Thought I'd mentioned it before, but I guess not. If you like free stuff, and are OK with Steam, you'll be happy to know that Alien Swarm is free on Steam starting yesterday. Haven't played it yet, but the video looks good! It's a Source Engine based game, top down view, four player co-op, and well, swarms of aliens :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:40 AM
July 13, 2010
Guild Season 4 Premieres

Great news..... Guild Season 4 Premieres!

A few things. If you'll notice, the episode looks a bit different than usual. We shot this season on a different camera, the Canon Mark 5D, which I NEVER EVER WILL TRUST BECAUSE IT LOOKS LIKE A STILL CAMERA SO HOW IS IT TAKING VIDEO?!
Funny Stuff , Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:14 PM
July 12, 2010
Fan-Made King's Quest Sequel Launches

A Fan-Made King's Quest Sequel has Launched for those wanting a return to the older, simpler days of PC gaming.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:06 AM
July 07, 2010
Mastering StarCraft

Think you are a hardcore gamer? Check out the 300 actions a minute video where they talk to Korean gamers about what you need to do to get good at StarCraft.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 06:56 PM
July 06, 2010
NASA's Free Exploration Game "Moonbase Alpha"

Unless you're a Steam-hating commie, you'll be happy to know that NASA's Free Exploration Game "Moonbase Alpha" is Now Available on Steam.

(Just kidding about the commie bit!)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:05 PM
June 30, 2010
Portal 2 E3 Demo Videos Parts 2 and 3

Awesome that Shacknews has found Portal 2 E3 Demo Videos Parts 2 and 3.

Here's part 1 as well.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:46 PM
Halo Elite Costume

Holy crap! The guy with this Halo Elite Costume is going to win a ton of Halloween contests!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:45 AM
June 28, 2010
Portal 2 - Meet Wheatley

Portal 2 video: Meet Wheatley.

I'm good with this as long as they aren't trying too hard with the "funny murderous AI robot" thing....

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:07 PM
June 24, 2010
Steam Software Summer Sale

Awh, crap. Steam is having a huge sale. Maybe I should just fedex my wallet to them now....

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:14 PM
FarmVille Arrives on iPhone, iPod touch

Now it's on the iPhone and iPod Touch, I'm going to become a Farmville widower as well :(

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:55 AM
June 23, 2010
Valve Releases 'Counter-Strike: Source' for Mac OS X

It's slow going, but as Valve Releases 'Counter-Strike: Source' for Mac OS X the offerings on Steam for Mac are starting to fill out.

Apple/Mac , Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:29 PM
June 22, 2010
Civilization 5 E3 2010 Preview

Great E3 stuff from Shacknews.... I'm pretty sure that when it's released, I'll be a Civilization 5 widower :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:55 AM
June 19, 2010
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II Trailer

Another amazing cinematic game trailer from E3, this time for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II. Wow.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:29 PM
June 16, 2010
Portal 2 Videos

Two quick videos from E3 this morning on Portal 2. The first is the trailer (fairly short) and the second is a backstage one with gameplay. Can't wait for this.

Update: HD version of the trailer - thanks Aryk!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:38 AM
June 15, 2010
Star Wars the Old Republic "Hope" Cinematic Trailer

Star Wars the Old Republic "Hope" Cinematic Trailer from E3. All I can say is "wow". Watch it in HD for sure.

Update: Ooops, wrong name. D'oh!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:35 AM
Not Everyone Loves Microsoft's Kinect

At Microsoft's Complete Diskinect it's pretty clear that not everyone thinks that the Natal Kinect system is the next coming.

After Sunday's pre-E3 engagement party, Microsoft proved itself to be teetering out of touch rather than ensconced firmly on the edge of innovation. Unfortunately, instead of redeeming itself the following day by expanding on the Kinect's capabilities, the company only dug itself in a deeper hole with a presentation that continuously fell short.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:05 AM
June 14, 2010
Microsoft's E3 2010 Press Conference

Missed the Microsoft E3 announcements? Check out the Live Blog for the (now passed) blow by blow of the announcements.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:09 PM
June 10, 2010
Team Fortress 2

Team Fortress 2 available on the Mac now (yay) through Steam.

As part of the celebration, TF2 will be FREE to play all weekend, and 50% off to purchase. We've also got a little treat for anybody logging into the game from a Mac.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 07:40 PM
June 06, 2010
Video Game Design Between 1990-2008

Cool look at the different video game visuals from 1990-2008. Ah, the memories....

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:32 PM
June 01, 2010
Valve Cancels Portal 2 E3 Press Event

Valve certainly does have a flair for the odd, mysterious, and awesome.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:30 PM
Avatar Days Video

Great CGI video called Avatar Days, which superimposes people's WOW characters into the real world. Great done graphics, and a neat idea.

That said, WOW players are crazy.... just sayin' :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:36 AM
Mario Kart RC

How have I not heard of this before... Check out some of the cool stuff in Mario Kart RC that my buddy H sent me this morning:

Racers get periodic power-ups, which appear on an LED display on the controller. Each car comes equipped with infrared sensors capable of detecting when they've been hit with a weapon, which causes them to rumble and slow down.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:17 AM
May 28, 2010
Call of Duty: Black Ops Reveal Trailer

Another (longer, fuller, more awesomer) trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:40 PM
May 26, 2010
Mac Half Life 2 '1984' Teaser

Check out the story or the great Mac Half Life 2 '1984' teaser video on youtube. Looking forward to this too, and as the rest of the games on Steam start rolling out their Mac versions.

Apple/Mac , Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:07 AM
May 20, 2010
Valve Releases Some Early Mac Statistics from Steam

Some early statistics for Steam on the Mac.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:47 PM
May 19, 2010
Call of Duty: Black Ops Trailer

Buddy at work pointed me to the Call of Duty: Black Ops trailer which shows a (quick) taste of what CoD:MW 3 will look like. While I agree they seem to be rushing the games out a bit fast, now I am excited about it coming out :) Official site here.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:15 AM
May 18, 2010
Valve Releasing Steam, Source Engine For Linux!

Great news! Valve Releasing Steam, Source Engine For Linux!

We have confirmed that Valve's latest and popular titles like Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike: Source, and Team Fortress 2 are among the first of the Steam Linux titles, similar to the Mac OS X support. The released Linux client should be available by the end of summer.
Gaming , Linux - Posted by Arcterex at 10:11 PM
50 Free Mac Games

MacAppStorm has the list of The Ultimate List of 50 Free Mac Games, proving that the Mac can compete on the gaming front. Uhm... yea.... Still, there are a few gems in there, and hey, the price is right right?

Apple/Mac , Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:28 AM
May 16, 2010
Crysis 2 Screenshots

Shacknews has the first 2 official Crysis 2 Screenshots from in-game. Looks good, still looks like it'll make my video card cry though :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:56 AM
May 14, 2010
Mac OS X Portal Performance

Looks like the performance of Mac OS X Portal Performance isn't all that fantastic :(

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:52 AM
May 12, 2010
Portal is FREE! (Till May 24)

The steam store announces that Portal is FREE!


Portal used to cost money. Until May 24th, it's free. End of story.

Awesome, another great job Valve, not only a steam / games for Mac release today, but a free (awesome) game available for both PC and Mac. I actually started describing portal for a guy at work and halfway through I was really wanting to play this again, so I know what I'll be doing tonight!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:48 PM
Steam for Mac Client Available for Download

According to the forum post, Steam for Mac Client Available for Download but Service Not Yet Active. I'm sure it'll be up RSN though.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:13 PM
May 11, 2010
The Humble Indie Bundle

When the "pay what you want" Humble Indie Bundle came out a while back, I noticed, but since the games weren't "big titles", I was kinda "meh". However, today when coming back to the site I noticed that the games are all cross-platform, and after watching the video, the games actually look pretty good. Hey, if you don't want to play them gift them to a friend or neighborhood kid who could use something nice. Remember that it goes to help the Child's Play and EFF charities.

Gaming , Random Linkage - Posted by Arcterex at 03:11 PM
May 10, 2010
LittleBigPlanet 2 for PS3 Officially Announced

LittleBigPlanet, the defacto "must buy/first buy" game for the PS3 has finally had it's successor officially announced. LittleBigPlanet 2 for PS3 Officially Announced for Winter 2010! Pretty sure my wife is going to love this one..

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:07 AM
May 06, 2010
Modern Warfare 2 Free Weekend on Steam

Steam is having a Modern Warfare 2 Double XP, Free Weekend where you can play the multiplayer component of the game for free this weekend. Nice stuff, especially if you've somehow not played this game yet or not played the multiplayer component before.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:23 PM
Metro 2033

Just heard about the game Metro 2033. Trailer looks pretty good, anyone try it?

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:52 PM
May 05, 2010
MechWarrior 4 Free Release Now Available

A couple of days ago the MechWarrior 4 Free Release Was Available for all. They had some issues in the initial period with server overload, but I'm sure if you haven't gotten it already, you probably should head over and check it out.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:16 AM
April 30, 2010
Steam for Mac beta set for May 12

The beta of Steam for Mac has been set for May 12. Love the imagery they've gotten in the gallery :)

Apple/Mac , Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:04 PM
April 27, 2010
Razor1911 Thanks Ubisoft for their new DRM

Ah, the new DRM world is a return to the good old days says cracking group Razor1911.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:33 PM
April 26, 2010
Steam for Mac Details

More details of Steam for Mac emerge.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:35 PM
April 21, 2010
Team Fortress 2 Updates

The Team Fortress 2 blog has details of some of the changes they'll be rolling out for the item drop rate. Also as an aside, the new unified look steam UI will be rolled out soon too.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:41 PM
First Screenshots of Steam For Mac

9 to 5 Mac has the First Screenshots of Steam For Mac. Nothing hugely exciting if you've run Steam on the PC, but nice to see it is real :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:52 AM
April 15, 2010
Maxing out SimCity

Some people just have way too much time on their hands. 3 years of SimCity to achieve maximum population. Wow, just wow.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:59 AM
April 09, 2010
Crysis 2 Trailer

Sony has put out a trailer for Crysis 2, or as I've called it: Yet another 5 years of hardware torture. Crysis 1 is still used to torture hardware you know....

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:11 PM
March 30, 2010
Breach Gameplay From PAX10

Very cool video of a game called Breach. It's a first person shooter that also uses a cover system from 3rd person shooters, and has a destructible and degradable environment. I think my mind is blown.

This game will be available for a mere $15 on XBox and PC this summer, and has also been the victim of some drama lately with an attempted source code theft.

More info on the website.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:49 AM
March 29, 2010
Kids Sing Portal "Still Alive"

I don't care if you're a gamer, love or hate Portal, but this video of kids singing Portals "Still Alive" will make your Monday just that slight bit better (crappy camera work non-withstanding).

Funny Stuff , Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:21 AM
March 26, 2010
Steam on Mac - Beta Application

The Steam on Mac - Beta Application is now open. Note you will need to do this from your mac so you can send along the 'about this mac' information.

Apple/Mac , Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:12 AM
March 24, 2010
Is This How 3D Will Work On The Nintendo 3DS

Video of how the Nintendo 3DS might do 3D, based on a DSI game.


The game in the clip above is called 3D Hidden Picture. It's a DSiWare puzzle game, available in Japan, that uses the DSi's camera to track the movement of the console, and adjust the image accordingly to make it appear "3D".

It's entirely feasible - taking into account Nintendo's obsession with keeping the cost of its hardware down - that Hidden Picture is a pointer towards how the 3DS will work.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:25 PM
Modern Warfare 2 Challenge

Step 1 - duplicate a Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 map
Step 2 - see if a real soldier can do it better than a gamer can virtually
Step 3 - Profit!

Check out the video.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:57 AM
March 23, 2010
Portal 2 Character Concepts, Screenshot

Shacknews has some Portal 2 Character Concepts, and a Screenshot. Looks like a triumph, I'm making a note of this.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:31 AM
March 09, 2010
Steam on Mac FAQ From Valve

The Team Fortress 2 blog has answered a bunch of questions about the just announced Steam-on-Mac which I've written about a couple of times. IE:

Q: Is it just some crappy emulated version of TF2? A: No! Also: How dare you! Mac users aren't getting a crappy emulated version of the game. TF2 will run natively on OSX, like an actual big boy game for adults.

Sadly it's not the full steam catalog, but the Source engine games. Still, that's a fair number of games and people like some people I know can worry less about their aging win-boxen's hardware.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:12 PM
March 05, 2010
Portal 2 Officially Announced

Portal 2 Officially Announced. Not much more to say, other than "Dear Valve, when can I please give you my money?"

Main site seems to be down so here's the cover shot thanks to the reddit folks.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:58 AM
March 04, 2010
First Crysis 2 Screenshots Released

Get your wallets ready for a new computer system (or a trip in a time machine to 2015 to get a system that'll play it) cause the First Crysis 2 Screenshots Released and they look gooooood.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:54 AM
Collection of Information About the Portal Updates

Someone on Digg has put together a nice list of what is known about the Portal updates. The biggest thing found here is either


  • a) the internet is amazingly resourceful, able to brute force reverse MD5 values, and extract images from sound files or
  • b) there are all sorts of Valve plants out on the internet "helping" push people in the right direction.

Either way, I'm excited to hear what's going on.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:35 AM
March 03, 2010
Portal Gets Updated Ending

According to a shacknews article, the original ending of Portal has changed.

It seems pretty obvious that Valve is bringing Half-Life, Portal, and Team Fortress 2 to the Mac. The big question is, will they pull it off. Imagine if Valve could bring, in one foul swoop, all the games on Steam to the Mac. Let's be honest, gaming on the Mac is restricted to a few titles, Wow, iD software games, and a few others that no one plays, except to say "but there is gaming on the mac!"

If suddenly Valve had all the games on Steam on the Mac, with a tried and true delivery platform, that would be huge.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:00 PM
Valve Heading To Mac

MacNN has some details of a couple of teasers indicating that Valve confirms intends to produce games for mac. Namely, an image with Gordon Freeman with a Mac logo on his chest is a pretty good indication :)

Apple/Mac , Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:24 PM
March 01, 2010
Crytek 'i3D 2010' Tech Demo

A gorgeous Crytek 'i3D 2010' Tech Demo. HD video recommended for full awesomeness.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:26 PM
February 26, 2010
Epic God Of War 3 Trailer

Great one over on Gametrailers TV. Wowza.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:12 PM
February 25, 2010
Quake 3 For Android

Slashdot story about a user who ported Quake3 to Android in a couple of weeks. Awesome. Hey google, I really do need one of those Nexus 1 phones to evaluate these things you know? Come on, there's got to be at least one googler that reads this...

Android , Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:33 PM
Gamers & Their Online Selves

Cool collection of images of Gamers & Their Online Selves. Interesting to see how some people go for look-alike avatars, some go for "I want to look at a hot girl's butt while I play" and some go for the opposite of themselves. Interesting look anyway.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:56 AM
February 24, 2010
The Gods Of Modernity

Penny Arcade has a great write up on The Gods Of Modernity and the story of a noobs battles with Infinity Ward.


He's an utterly unrepentant hacker, yet he wonders what strange force keps gets his boxes banned. It would be like if I'd made a reputation for myself entering local cafes, slipping into the back to shit directly on their hot grills. And then, when I came back the next day, they told me to leave - even if I hadn't managed to shit on anything during that particular visit! Come to terms with the idea that there is a point beyond which you are not worth the price of your subscription.

Today's comic is fitting as well.

Comics , Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:24 AM
February 19, 2010
Bioshock 2 Costume

A full video of what's needed to get into an awesome Bioshock 2 Costume. Holy crap. That is all.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:10 AM
February 18, 2010
Civilization V Announced

Seems that Firaxis has announced Civilization V.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:53 AM
February 17, 2010
StarCraft 2 Beta Has Begun

Someone at work pointed me to this Post:


Hell, it's about time... to start playing some StarCraft II! Blizzard has announced that the closed beta test for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is officially a go, with invitations going out to "thousands of gamers." Yeah, check your e-mail!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:23 PM
Ubisoft's New PC DRM Really Draconian

Reading this article on how Ubisoft's New PC DRM Really Requires Net Access, and Ends Game If Disconnected it reminds me again why piracy is so rampant in the PC gaming world. Would you put up with this from your game? Hell no. Sadly, PC gamers are seeming to be moving towards console gaming (if for nothing but because the "good" games are only available on consoles due to piracy on the PC platform) so they are used to a closed system.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:39 PM
February 04, 2010
Doom iPhone Code Review

Doom Iphone code review. Cool.

Gaming , Programming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:33 PM
February 01, 2010
More Duke Nukem Forever Footage

A completely unofficial Duke Nukem Forever trailer has surfaced, with links and discussion up on Shacknews.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:55 PM
January 28, 2010
PS3 Demo of Uncharted 2 Due Today

The PlayStation Blog notes that there is a PlayStation Store Update today that will include a demo of Uncharted 2. Looking forward to giving that a shot when I get home tonight!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:36 AM
January 20, 2010
StarCraft 2 Trailer

Shacknews has a quick and dirty StarCraft 2 Trailer.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:58 PM
January 18, 2010
GT5 vs. Real-Life in GPS

So with some fancy new Real-Life in GPS technology you'll be able to load a real life car's telemetry data into Gran Turismo 5 (PS3) as a replay or a ghost car. Implications? Race against The Stig and try to match him turn for turn, or take and examine or critique your own real world laps from the comfort of your couch.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:28 PM
HL2 Mod 'Jailbreak: Source'

Great looking HL2 Mod called Jailbreak:Source, which is all about shooting shit, dinosaurs, and robots. Really, what more could you want from a shooter?

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:27 PM
January 15, 2010
Just Cause 2 Trailer: Choose Your Own Adventure

This trailer for Just Cause 2 (coming March for PC, PS3 and XBox360) is cool... it's a choose your own adventure system using the clickability of YouTube. So click when it asks you for your choice, instead of being like me and staring at it thinking "WTF is it just showing me this one screen for 30 seconds" :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:21 PM
January 14, 2010
Team Fortress 2 Opens To User Contributions

Very cool, the Team Fortress 2 blog announces that they are open to user contributed items and materials.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:37 PM
January 13, 2010
First Person Tetris

It sounds weird, but trust me, check out First Person Tetris, a cool little flash game with a twist (you'll see what I mean).

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:35 AM
January 12, 2010
Star Trek Online Starts Open Beta

Star Trek Online is having an open beta. Join now if you have a beta key that is.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:46 PM
January 10, 2010
Lego Universe MMO Trailer Looks Awesome

Not being a MMO guy, I have to agree that the Lego Universe trailer looks unexpectedly thrilling. I'd totally be able to get into that, assuming the final game looks remotely like the trailer of course :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:50 PM
January 04, 2010
Duke Nukem Live Action Trailer

Thanks to @danaepp for pointing me to this Duke Nukem Live Action Trailer. Pretty well done too! Shot on a Canon 7D apparently, good to see more indy type films and shorts being able to utilize more consumer oriented video equipment.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:03 PM
January 03, 2010
The Steam Holiday Sale Ending Today

The Steam Holiday Sale is on it's last day, with a return of some of the previous games (sucks if you got 'em already, great if you missed them). STALKER for $2 is tempting me...

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:32 AM
December 24, 2009
Package: id Super Pack - Today Only on Steam: $23.79

Glad I didn't get this yesterday when I can save another $10 today on the id Super Pack over on the Steam Store. Sadly Mirror's Edge is up to $19.99 from $4.99 yesterday... Ah well, win some, lose some.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:52 AM
December 23, 2009
Quake Live Holiday Update

Quake Live has gotten a nice little holiday facelift. Link has changelog, new map and new skin details.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:47 PM
Crap, Steam Deals Are Good

Geez, $34.99 for the id Super Pack which has pretty much every single iD related game ever, from Wolf3D to Spear of Destiny to Doom 3 to the entire Quake series (well, not Quake 4 sadly). I know the "you save $159" is a bit contrived, but still, under $40 for every iD game ever? Even if I get all nostalgic and want to play the first FPS I played ever? Tempting.....

Note: I'm not a steam shill, honest. Also the Edios pack looks pretty good if you're into those games (Hit Man, Dues Ex, Theif, etc).

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:52 AM
December 22, 2009
Seasonal Savings on id iPhone Games

Shacknews writes to let us all know that iD software has kicked off their 12 Days of Christmas iPhone sale, with significant savings on their games, with Doom down to $2.99 from $6.99, Wolf 3D from $1.99 to $0.99, and two others.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:39 PM
Epic's Unreal Engine 3 Ported to iPod Touch and iPhone 3GS

Title basically says it all. Video in the link shows some gameplay... pretty damn awesome!

Gaming , iPhone - Posted by Arcterex at 02:12 PM
How Success Killed Duke Nukem

Wired has a really good look at How Success Killed Duke Nukem. A bit of trivia from the article below:


As one patient fan pointed out, when development on Duke Nukem Forever started, most computers were still using Windows 95, Pixar had made only one movie -- Toy Story -- and Xbox did not yet exist.

As a fan of FPSs, I loved the original Duke Nukem' 3D and was at the height of my FPS gaming career in the Half-Life 1/Doom/Daikatana (which almost had the same vapor ware fate)/Quake 1/2/3/Unreal era and saw DNF go from engine to engine and never really believed a thing. Cool to see some of it all laid out anyway.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:41 PM
December 14, 2009
Modern Warfare 2 Mythbusters

Cute video busting some myths about how some weapons and deaths work in Modern Warfare 2.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:35 AM
December 11, 2009
Team Fortress 2 Updates Demoman and Soldier

Valve has expanded their excellent Team Fortress 2 with Demoman and Soldier updates. I think what they're saying is that every soldier -> demo kill and demo -> soldier kill is recorded, and whichever class wins at the end of the week gets a super secret weapon unlock.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:15 AM
December 10, 2009
The Time Top 10 Video Games of 2009

Time has their top 10 video games of the year.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:17 PM
December 07, 2009
Just Cause 2 'Vehicle Stunts' Video

It's completely over the top, and "physics on drugs" environment, but after watching the
Just Cause 2 'Vehicle Stunts' Video
I gotta say it looks like a heck of an awesome game to play!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:02 PM
December 02, 2009
Taiwanese man beats World of Warcraft

Wow, news that a Taiwanese man beat World of Warcraft and got every achievement means something. I doubt he has a day job somehow though. Good job Little Gray!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:22 PM
November 13, 2009
New 3D Buildings in Spain in Google Earth

Via The Google Earth Blog comes news that Valencia, Spain has gotten a 3D city makeover. Gotta say when these do a 3D city they do it well :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:32 PM
Star Wars: The Old Republic Footage

Shacknews has a ton of
Star Wars: The Old Republic Footage
showing off combat from the upcoming MMORPG.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:42 PM
November 10, 2009
The Onion on The Next Modern Warfare Game

The Onion has a great and hilarious news piece on how the next Ultra-Realistic Modern Warfare Game Features Awaiting Orders, Repairing Trucks etc. Looking forward to getting my hands on the PC version of this, the first Modern Warfare last year blew my mind.

Funny Stuff , Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:16 PM
October 29, 2009
UNITY: Free Game Development Tool

Reddit points out that the UNITY game development tool, is now free. There is some discussion on Reddit about it. Unity, which I've never heard of, is described as:

Unity is a multiplatform game development tool, designed from the start to ease creation. A fully integrated professional application, Unity just happens to contain the most powerful engine this side of a million dollars.

All that, cross platform (Mac, PC, iPhone, Web), and free. Wonder what the catch is?

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:26 AM
October 27, 2009
Assassin's Creed - Lineage Intro Video

The Assassin's Creed - Lineage Intro Video is pretty awesome, very much like the Star Wars Old Republic cinematic trailer in its grandeur. Of course, it's a cut scene, and the game you play has approximately zero point zero chance of looking like that... still, looks epic. Thanks to @jeffcanata for the link.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:51 AM
October 22, 2009
DiRT2 'DirectX 11 Tech' Trailer

Cool trailer of Dirt2 showing off DirectX 11 Tech. Sexy.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:41 PM
October 21, 2009
How Far Has PC Gaming Come?

A nice look at the old and new of How Far Has PC Gaming Come?

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:20 AM
October 15, 2009
CryENGINE 3 Trailer

The CryENGINE 3 is released to developers and the video linked has some of the amazing examples of how it can be used. I can't wait to see games using this.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:06 PM
October 14, 2009
The Eyeballing Game

Ok, so it's geometry, gaming, and clicky-flash game all in one. Check out the Eyeballing game.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:35 AM
October 13, 2009
Get World of Goo For Whatever You Think It's Worth

Reddit tells me that you can Get World of Goo and pay whatever you want for a birthday celebration. I already own it (thanks MacHeist 2009!) but if you don't, it's an interesting and fun game.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:16 AM
September 26, 2009
Halo in 5 Minutes

Someone has done a good job of condensing the plots of the 4 Halo Games in 5 Minutes. Laughable to people who have played the games, but to those who haven't (such as myself) it's a nice summary.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:18 PM
September 23, 2009
New GPU Load Balancing Technology

Via reddit comes a pointer to the Lucid Hydra 200: Vendor Agnostic Multi-GPU. From the article:

At a high level what Lucid's technology does is intercept OpenGL/DirectX commands from the CPU to the GPU and load balance them across any number of GPUs. The final buffers are read back by the Lucid chip and sent to primary GPU for display.

Obviously more interesting for serious gamers, but still very cool technology, if it works as advertised.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:31 AM
September 17, 2009
Video Game Gun Replicas

Man I wish I had this sort of talent... check out these hand made replica weapons from video games. First the Portal Gun and then the Fallout 3 Laser Rifle.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:14 AM
September 16, 2009
Fly Gabe Newell Raises $3000+

Remember the Fly Gabe Newell site, raising money to fly Valve founders Gabe and Erik to Australia? Well, they got $3000+ in a few days, and are making arrangements to fly the duo out.

Honestly I think it's amazing, though I don't know what they're being flown out for, something about a campaign. That a mod of some sort for one of the games? Seriously, I don't know.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 07:15 PM
September 11, 2009
Fly Gabe From Valve To Australia

This needs some attention..... the Fly Gabe Newell campaign, with more details at http://flygabenewell.blogspot.com, is raising money to get Gabe and Erik, of Valve Software fame, flown to Australia.

Basically Valve are flying people who are bitching about the new Left 4 Dead game and boycotting it out to play, someone complained they weren't being flown out, and Gabe responded that he was being boycotted. Just read the site, makes much more sense there :)

Funny Stuff , Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:02 PM
First-Person Shooters Get Their Own Turing Test

Turing Test for FPS bots doesn't get a winner, but someone gets pretty close!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:41 PM
September 09, 2009
OMFG Awesome! Zero Punctuation Reviews Wolfenstein

Once again Yahtzee has proven that he is brilliant as he reviews Wolfenstein. Must watch. Now.

Funny Stuff , Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:39 PM
September 04, 2009
Live-Action Halo ODST Trailer

Holy crap! Check out this Halo 3: ODST Live-Action Trailer! Looks great, wish it was a real movie, that's something I'd be able to get behind :)

Gaming , Movies - Posted by Arcterex at 02:28 PM
September 03, 2009
Scope Animation In Urban Terror 4.2

Some cool stuff coming up with the New Scope Animation for Urban Terror 4.2.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:13 PM
September 01, 2009
Battlefield 2 Patch 1.50 Released

The Battlefield 2 Patch 1.50 has been released. Some paid addons are now free, widescreen support, ability to use more than 2 G of ram, and lots of tweaks. Big download, get in line now :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:13 PM
August 28, 2009
Modern Warfare 2 Leaked Single-Player Footage

Some truly drool-worthy Modern Warfare 2 Leaked Single-Player Gameplay Footage. Blah blah hope it's not a console port blah blah PC FPS FTW blah blah ;)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:22 PM
Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter Supermercial Video

I don't really know WTF to think of Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter Supermercial Video, but it seems to indicate that something from Crotech is coming....

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:24 AM
August 27, 2009
Battlefield 2 Patch 1.50 Release Date

The BF2 1.50 patch was given a release date, that being Sept 1, 2009. Funny thing is I thought it was released already, I didn't know it was only in beta (and was all pissed off as I couldn't find anyone online when I did go and try to find a game).

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:09 PM
August 19, 2009
Some Misc Gaming Bits

A few bits from Shacknews that I've come across this morning:


  • A couple of sexy looking Modern Warfare 2 Screenshots
  • Talk from iD on Rage, Doom 4 and Quake Live. Good read, though the Doom 4 stuff is a bit light and on the last page.
  • Wolfenstein multiplayer team axed after release. I understand from the biz standpoint that once something is release you might not need those resources anymore, but geez, that's cold. Note: I have no knowledge of the details of the story, only the headline, so my opinion might be completely wrong. You know you don't come here for hard hitting journalism :)
  • Bonus: Dark Void HD trailer. Coming in January for PC and consoles....

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:48 AM
August 18, 2009
Playstation 3 Slim

News on the PlayStation Blog Europe. $299 is fairly cheap.....

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:18 PM
Bad Company 2 Trailer

Trailer for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 from Gamescom 2009.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:04 PM
August 15, 2009
Quake Live Updated to Support Linux and Mac Users

Quake Live Updated to Support Linux and Mac Users. Whohooooo!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:46 PM
August 14, 2009
Rage Trailer and Screenshots QuakeCon

Shacknews has some Rage Screenshots Fresh From QuakeCon. Looks good! Also somehow I missed the Rage trailer posted yesterday.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:11 AM
New Wolfenstein Trailer

Shacknews has a trailer for the new Wolfenstein trailer from iD Software.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:54 AM
August 11, 2009
Team Fortress 2 - Classless Update #1: Hats

Team Fortress 2 has a "Classless Update", which involves hats. Who knew.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:00 PM
Xbox 360 Dashboard Update Live

XBox 360 owners rejoice, the promised Xbox 360 Dashboard Update is now up and live according to PC world.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:36 PM
August 09, 2009
Export Spore Creatures to Maya

Now here's a near project, the ability to export Spore creatures to Maya.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:37 PM
August 07, 2009
QuakeCon 2009 Schedule

iD has released the
QuakeCon 2009 Schedule
for August 16th. Of note is the Carmack Keynote and the first public demo of RAGE, which I'd love to see.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:49 PM
August 05, 2009
StarCraft 2 Delayed to 2010

Starcraft nerds of the world cry out simultaniously in anquish at the news that StarCraft 2 is delayed! They are blaming Battle.net in part. Thanks Aryk for the news.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:12 PM
X-Wing, TIE Fighter To Come Back?

OK, if this tease is true, I will be a happy puppy. Seems that some vague and suggestive emails from LucasArts went back and forth, and the indication is that the classic and awesome X-Wing and Tie Fighter space sim games may be coming back. It'd be awesome to see a re-boot of the games with modern graphics and modern features (and not some lame console port please), but hell, even a re-release would be great, those were fantastic games that sucked many hours of my youth away.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:12 AM
August 04, 2009
Gamer T-Shirt

Someone at work posted this awesome gamer shirt design.

Funny Stuff , Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:35 PM
July 21, 2009
Free Full Steam Game Links

Reddit has a nice list of complied links for some Free Full Games on Steam.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:07 PM
July 20, 2009
Shattered Horizon Game Beta

Just found out about Shattered Horizon, a space fighter / sim involving the moon blowing up. Just a teaser right now, with no gameplay footage, but there is a signup to be part of the beta.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:17 PM
July 16, 2009
New MechWarrior Game Details

Darren sent me a video on YouTube which was called the Vision for MechWarrior, a new proof of concept game that is set to reboot the MechWarrior series. I saw some talk about this on the latest TRS podcast, as well as some details emerging in an interview with IGN.

Just for comparisons sake, here are the intro and some gameplay footage from MechWarrior 2. Wow, I do remember that looking way better Back In The Day(tm)....

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:21 PM
July 15, 2009
iD Rage Teaser Site

After the Impact is a new teaser site for the new iD Software to-be-released-when-it's-ready game, Rage. And when I say "teaser" I really mean "teaser". People more detail critical than me will probably be able to find secret hidden things in there :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:23 AM
July 09, 2009
Free MechWarrior 4 Coming Soon

MechWarrior 4 and it's expansions will be available (soon) for free to celebrate BattleTech's 25 year anniversary.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:32 PM
July 06, 2009
Russian LARPers into Fallout

The role players in Russia are really into Fallout. Some freakin' amazing costumes in there!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:25 AM
June 29, 2009
Doom 3 For iPhone Drops

Just a note via Shacknews that Doom: Resurrection Hits the iPhone Today for $10. Bit steep price, and I'm hoping there's a free Lite version to check out. Still, very cool to see what high end dev shops can do with that little chunk of hardware.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:50 PM
June 26, 2009
Tropico 3 Beta Tester Application

If you're interested in games like Tropico 1 2 and now 3, Haemimont Games has a beta tester application online.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 05:02 PM
Battlefield Heroes Released

The online battlefield-engine run free online FPS Battlefield Heroes has left beta and is now active.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:26 AM
June 25, 2009
id Software Acquired by Bethesda Owner ZeniMax

That's interesting... just saw on shacknews that id Software was Acquired by Bethesda Owner ZeniMax. This worries me a little, mostly just because I've never heard of the acquiring studio. However, they seem to be saying "it's fine, it's all fine, everything'll stay the same..." Who in the tech industry hasn't heard that before? Course, time will tell....

Some more details from The Carmack here.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:03 PM
June 13, 2009
CoD Modern Warfare 2 Footage

I agree with Forgetfoo... Bring it, COD. I just hope the PC version is as good as CoD 1 was.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 07:01 PM
June 11, 2009
Some DNF Gameplay Footage

Catch it while it's hot.... some more Duke Nukem forever gameplay footage has surfaced. Via this story on Shacknews. The story has it's own video, but that appears to be unavailable, hence the link to youtube.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 06:50 PM
June 02, 2009
Microsoft's Project Natal Demos and Videos

Google Blogscoped has some videos from Project Natal for XBox 360, Microsoft's new gaming system and Wii killer.

From what I saw, and from the video on GeekBrief, it's a gaming system as close to Sci-Fi (or is it Skyfye?) as I've heard of before. Voice and face recognition, full motion capture to put you in the game, magic scanning of your stuff to use for skins in game, no controller needed (imagine the wii-mote without the wii-mote), in system video conferencing and data / info transfer... all magic.

Will it be able to be pulled off? Maybe. It has no price or release date, and a lot of the video looks more like a "this could be technology in this home of the future" type demo under optimal conditions. If anyone can do it, MS has the $$ though, so lets see what happens.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:22 PM
Starcraft 2 In 2009?

Aryk pointed to an article on Joystiq saying that there was a 2009 target date for Starcraft 2. Probably way more exciting if I was into Starcraft, or RTSs in general, but hey, I know some readers out there will get tight pants knowing that they could have SC2 in less than 6 months...

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:03 PM
June 01, 2009
Star Wars "Old Republic" Trailer

Well folks, the E3 season is upon us, so that means a lot of movie trailers and high hopes in the next few days. First up though, is Star Wars: The Old Republic (HD recommended viewing). OMFG this is a movie trailer for all intents and purposes. Of course the game isn't going to look like this (I don't think anyway, if it does I'm buying a new TV, console and sound system), and I hope that they haven't spent a year of game development time making the awesome trailer, but wow, this thing looks A-A-A-AWESOME. No, really, watch it.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:54 PM
May 31, 2009
Running in WoW

So you World of Warcraft players out there.... know how your little guy (or gal) runs all the time? Ever wonder how it would be like to run like that for real? Well I didn't either, but someone did. Could you run as far as your WoW character? complete with video :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:21 AM
May 25, 2009
Modern Warfare 2 Trailer

Remember the awesomeness of CoD4: Modern Warfare? Well, from the looks of the Modern Warfare 2 trailer, part 2 is both a continuation and very awesome. I just hope it's not Console only :(

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:21 AM
May 21, 2009
TF2 Updates and Free Play Weekend

Along with the massive Team Fortress 2 updates that Valve just released, there's also a Steam free play weekend going on, so you just need to install steam and set up an account, and play away.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:42 PM
May 20, 2009
DNF Game Developer Diary

Darren passed me over a funny / interesting Duke Nukem Forever Developer Diary. Some questions now might be answered.... :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:05 PM
May 19, 2009
Robot Chicken in the Spore Universe

Robot Chicken's Contribution To The Spore Universe over at IO9.com

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:03 PM
May 18, 2009
New Maps For Quake Live

Shacknews reports that Quake Live, the free-for-play web based version of Quake 3 will be Getting Six New Maps, First Hits Today.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:32 PM
May 16, 2009
TF2 "Meet the Spy" Video

Shacknews has a new meet the spy video about the new Spy and Sniper updates.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:12 PM
May 11, 2009
Valve HL Symbol... My Mind is Blown

OK, my mind just blew up. Am I the last one who has played Half Life or Half Life 2 to see what the weird "h" symbol is? As shown in this image it's mind blowing. Found via this thread on reddit....

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:48 AM
May 06, 2009
Duke Nukem Developer Shut Down :(

Shacknews reports that Duke Nukem Developer 3D Realms Shuts Down. There are a couple of updates, the last one including this:

Update: Apogee Software and Deep Silver have issued a statement to Shacknews, confirming that the situation at 3D Realms has not affected the development of Frontline Games' upcoming handheld Duke Nukem Trilogy.

This (may) shut down peoples hopes that the 12-years-in-development Duke Nukem Forever will be released. Course, weren't there stories floating around 6 months ago or so with video and teaser screenshots of the maybe-almost-complete DNF? I have faith it'll come out though, some day, maybe using the UT4 or UT5 engines :)

Amidst the comments is this one which (allegedly) describes what what a typical developer day was. Very interesting if it's true... basically navel gazing and wasting time, if they were working for a publisher I'd say they were defrauding them, but (and the poster points out as the cause of this) they were self funded, so there were no milestones to meet.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:11 PM
May 01, 2009
Great Game AI Bugs

18 Embarrassing Game AI Bugs Caught On Tape... via reddit.com. Some real doozies in there too.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:57 PM
April 29, 2009
Runes of Magic - Free WoW?

Head about Runes of Magic on the Totally Rad Show. Basically it's a free version of World of Warcraft. No monthly fees, nothing to pay to buy the game. Sounds very cool... anyone have any experience in this?

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:33 PM
April 24, 2009
Orange Box For Sale This Weekend

Package: The Orange Box is on for $10 this weekend. Savings of almost $75 over buying all the games separately, if you're into Half Life2 and Portal type games.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:35 PM
April 21, 2009
BF2 Patch Released!

Holy crap, this has been a long time coming! The Battlefield 2 v1.50 Beta Patch has been released. I still play BF2 every once and a while, and still enjoy it, other than a few bits that it looks like this patch fixes. Looking forward to playing it again tonight!

It's a big patch though, 1.3G.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 07:20 PM
April 13, 2009
iD Teases Doom 4 Details

Looks like there'll be some good stuff from iD Software at E3 this year. They gave this tease regarding Doom 4 though:

Doom 4 is "not a sequel to Doom 3, but it's not a reboot either," the CEO teased further, entirely ignoring the bit where GameSpot asked if it was a prequel. "It's a little bit different than those, and if I told you why, I would get my ass kicked."
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:43 PM
April 10, 2009
BioShock 2 Footage

Shacknews has some very sexy BioShock 2 Exclusive Gameplay footage. Niiiiiice.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:39 AM
April 08, 2009
Video of iD Software, 1993

Great find from Fozbaca, a video from 1993 of A Visit to id Software, with pre-finished Doom and the original iD team. Awesome blast from the past!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:52 AM
March 30, 2009
Battlefield 1943 Screenshots

I hadn't even heard it was announced, but the Battlefield 1943 Screenshots (think the classic BF 1942++) look pretty hot.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 07:17 PM
March 28, 2009
Time Travel RTS Footage

Found some early footage of a time travel based RTS over on shacknews: Time Travel RTS Achron Revealed. Not sure if I would be able to wrap my brain around all that stuff though.... I'm more a "shoot things" kinda gamer :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:13 AM
March 27, 2009
Call of Duty 6?

Seems Call of Duty 6, (or Call of Duty 4 part 2) is announced and will be born as Modern Warfare 2. As I've said before, CoD 4 was one of my favorite games that I've played recently, and if this is going to be like that, then I'm excited :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:19 AM
March 25, 2009
Carmack on iPhone Wolf3D

Very cool article by John Carmack of iD Software on porting Wolfenstein 3D Classic to the iPhone (now available in the app store).

I love the note on the main page for the app which claims "* not responsible for damage to iphone caused by awesome action overload" :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:33 PM
March 17, 2009
Tribes Coming to In-Browser Play

According to Shacknews, Tribes (remember that, way back in the day?) has been Ported to Browsers.


A web-based version of Dynamix's classic team-based multiplayer shooter Starsiege: Tribes is soon coming to browser gaming portal InstantAction.

I've actually been playing Quake Live (quake 3 in a browser) and a bit of Battlefield Heroes (cartoony battlefield 1942 in a browser) lately and have to say it's pretty good. Even though the browser is just shelling out to an executable, it feels more convenient than shutting things down, finding the CD, running the game, etc. I'll be interested to see how well Tribes has held up after all these years.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:15 PM
February 20, 2009
Quake Live Open Beta Feb 24

QUAKELIVE goes open beta on February 24th. I got in on the closed beta and it's (so far) basically Quake 3 that you can play from the webbrowser.... simple and sweet.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:17 AM
February 15, 2009
Tetris Ninja

Holy crap. Check out this Tetris video. Amazing, this guy has got to be a ninja of some sort.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:37 AM
February 13, 2009
HL2 Live Action

I've seen it all day today, but I finally got a a chance to watch Escape From City 17 - Part One. Best described as a fan made live action Half Life 2 movie. Check it out.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:03 PM
February 06, 2009
New Wolfenstein

Kotaku has some Impressions of the New Wolfenstein.


The story is a bit convoluted. It takes place in a fictional German city called Isenstadt. Even the rep on hand had some trouble explaining it to me, but it involves ancient amulets and crystals. But I know you don't care about that stuff. You just want to shoot Nazis, right?

They sadly don't make it sound like a slam-dunk, but I am looking forward to stepping into the boots of BJ Blaskowitz again :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:59 PM
January 23, 2009
FEAR 2 Demo Available

F.E.A.R. 2 Demo Released according to shacknews. I'm interested in seeing how this does on my new (well, 2 year old now) hardware.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:10 PM
January 21, 2009
Battlefield Heroes Beta Key Signup

The Battlefield Heroes Beta Key signup is up and running.... fingers crossed I get a chance to get in!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 07:03 PM
December 23, 2008
Doing Portal without Portals

I always know there are a lot of people out there way smarter than I am (a lot) but I'm still amazed after seeing Portal - Advanced Chamber 18 done with 0 Portals. Check out the 'related videos' as well for other similar accomplishments. These guys do things like lean security bots against doors to keep them open when they open, exploit little bugs in the HL2 engine to climb walls, and other such coolness. Very impressive!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 06:39 PM
December 20, 2008
More New Duke Nukem' Media

Three new screenshots have surfaced in the last few days from the latest round of DNF media. I hear that this is one year after the first "new" set of media from DNF came out proclaiming that they were back, there was indeed a real game there, it was being worked on, etc etc.

This is like 2001 all over again. We were jazzed up by the promise of DNF not being forever and a day away last year, now a year later they are reminding us that they're still working on it, no, really, we are.

The screenshots of course look lovely, and completely pre-rendered and doubtful to look anything like it in the final game (except for the last one maybe).

Bottom line, I'd say don't get too excited and wait for the announcement next year that they're switching game engines (or platforms).

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:12 AM
December 01, 2008
New Half Life 2 Mod

OK, so my vote for the coolest looking Half Life 2 mod has to go to Black Mesa, which is, ironically, a HL2 mod to make it look like... wait for it.... HL1! Sure you can get the "Half Life: Source" program with HL2, which puts the HL2 textures into the HL1 game, but it doesn't put any of the new physics, character models, etc.... gosh wouldn't that be cool huh? (This is in fact, what I said the first time I played it).

Well, looks like this is it.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:11 PM
November 24, 2008
Doom in Flash

Darren pointed me to Doom 1, playable in a browser (with flash 10 of course). Sadly completely fails for me under Linux, but other systems might have better luck. Probably good as I don't have time for such silly distractions! :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:08 PM
November 21, 2008
New WoW Commercials

There's a new Ozzy Osbourne World of Warcraft TV Commercial as well as one from Pauly from the Sopranos. Not nearly as good as the original Shatner / mIni-Me ones IMHO.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:50 AM
October 03, 2008
Tree's in Video Games

Gamesradar puts up an interesting look back at the Evolution of the tree in video games.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:09 AM
September 17, 2008
Portal Prelude Trailer

The Portal: Prelude Official Trailer is now up on Vimeo. Also at http://www.portalprelude.com/

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:39 AM
September 07, 2008
Spore Out - DRM Gives it Bad Reviews

So the Amazon.com: Customer Reviews of Spore are not good, mostly due to the DRM system included in it (3 installs, then you have to start calling EA). Also sounds like the system was dumbed down from the initial presentation (no confirmation on that though). Lots of people are pissed off, and if I were to buy it and not be able to reinstall in a couple of years because a) I had run out of installs or b) the activation servers were removed, well, I'd be pretty angry too.

Anyone played it enough to give a review here?

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 05:19 PM
September 04, 2008
Spore Review

IGN has a Spore Review up for the viewiing. Time is getting close folks!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:22 AM
August 27, 2008
Far Cry 2 Footage

Shacknews has some nice console footage from Far Cry 2.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 07:22 PM
August 21, 2008
Original '96 Doom Comic Book

Oh awesome, hows this for bringing back memories.... someone found and scanned The Official DOOM Comic Book From '96. Sweet!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:16 AM
August 20, 2008
New Teamfortress 2 Unlockable

The latest Heavy Update, pointed to me by Darren (as usual) is The Sandvich... you have to watch the video and appreciate the sound effects that they use for eating, that's awesome!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:34 AM
August 01, 2008
id Software's Rage Extended Trailer

Shacknews has an extended .

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:22 PM
New Wolfenstein First Look

Shacknews has a good video/image Wolfenstein First Look. Looks pretty sexy, I have to admit. Makes me want to go and finish Quake 4 (finally) this weekend.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:35 PM
July 29, 2008
American' McGee's Grimm Trailer

Gametrailers has the premier episode trailer for American McGee's Grimm, the latest endeavor from American McGee of Doom fame.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:13 AM
July 21, 2008
"Mirror's Edge" Hands On

Another one from g4tv... Exclusive Hands On: Mirror's Edge. Mirror's Edge is the running / parkour game that had a teaser shown a while back. Very cool looking game!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:28 AM
Spre Hands On

Another Spore hands on video over at g4tv.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:26 AM
July 19, 2008
Some Spore Hands On

Shacknews has some Spore Hands-on Preview. Very cool to hear what the game is like in real life. I recently got addicted to playing with the creature creator myself :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:48 PM
July 18, 2008
A Look at Spore for iPhone

TUAW Hands-on: Spore Origins for the iPhone. Lots of text, no pics :( Still cool though, looking forward to both the real spore and this game as well :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:37 PM
July 11, 2008
Portal 2 Might Not Be a Lie

The Cake is a Lie, but Portal 2 is Not. Thanks to Darren for the link.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:17 AM
June 23, 2008
Call of Duty 5 Trailer

Got an email today about the Call of Duty 5 (aka CoD World at War) trailer now online. It looks interesting, but other than the addition of a flame thrower and some nice explosions, it really doesn't tickle my fancy all that much. It's back to WW2, which is quite frankly, a bit played out. Hell, the first three CoD games were WW2 based! I thought that the success of CoD4:Modern Warfare would have inclined them to move into the modern age, or heck, move a few years into the future.... Oh well, the game is (I presume) using the CoD 4 engine (or a derivative of it) so the visuals and environments should be very nice, but I'm honestly not sure if YAWWTG (Yet Another WW2 Game) will get a good reception without something really amazing to bring people into it. Wikipedia has some more details on some of the technical details of CoD5.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:47 PM
June 20, 2008
Play Teamfortress 2 For Free (Full Game)

This sounds interesting (not so much for me as I already have the game).... this weekend you can play Team Fortress 2 for free (other than a Steam account of course). You get access to the full game for the weekend.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:12 AM
June 05, 2008
Duke Nuke Footage

New Duke Nukem Forever Footage Released it's only a few seconds, but it seems it exists. Doesn't look overly special, lets hope the content is good... you know, like handing money to strippers and drinking out of toilets and stuff.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 07:59 PM
May 31, 2008
BF 2142 Patch Out

Just saw that the 1.5 patch for BF2142 is out. New maps, fixes, addition of widescreen mode and various other goodies. Glad they've updated this game, looking forward to playing it!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:01 AM
May 30, 2008
Battlefield: Bad Company Video

Battlefield: Bad Company Demo Video Released over at shacknews. Very nice, I recommend the high quality stream to view it for sure. May even do the pre-order thing to get access to the demo, though normally I wait to see the demo before knowing if I'm going to buy the game or not.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:20 PM
May 28, 2008
Far Cry 2 Trailer

Far Cry 2 Trailer Released, video over at shacknews. Looks purrrrty.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:27 AM
May 21, 2008
ETQW 1.5 Update

Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars 1.5 Game Update Released. Not much else to say, grab it while it's hot!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:15 PM
May 07, 2008
ETQW 1.5 Changelog

The ETQW 1.5 Changelog is Revealed.... Mostly tweaks, a couple of nice UI changes though.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:42 PM
Doom 4 Announced

Shacknews tells me that this morning's interesting news was that Doom 4 is Announced:


"Doom is part of the id Software DNA and demands the greatest talent and brightest minds in the industry to bring the next installment of our flagship franchise to Earth," said id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead in a press release."

This is very interesting. Going to earth = cool. Better engine = a given (the new Tech 5 is presumed). I just really hope that they don't compromise PC performance / controls / gameplay to make it cross platform.... (which the Tech 5 engine is currently able to do).

It'll be interesting.... Doom 3 really excited me, but I didn't love it as much as I thought I should have (but I am also notoriously bad completing single player campaigns...).

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:04 AM
May 03, 2008
Team Fortress 2 Free Weekend On Now

This is cool... you can play Team Fortress 2, the full game, same as included in the Orange Box for free this weekend. The Team Fortress 2 - Gold Rush promotion is on. I played some Gold Rush last night and have to admit, it was pretty fun. I'm not sure what the details of the promotion are, other than you have to sign up for and install Steam, but it does sound like a good deal (as free things sometimes are). Look for 'arcterex' online and you can come and kick my ass :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:08 AM
April 28, 2008
Duke Nukem Forever News

Well, according to this article, Steve has not only seen evidence of DNF, but has seen the game itself.


To be honest, I thought the game's supposed existence was a vast conspiracy. More than a couple of times over the last decade I have gotten vague invitations to come see the game "someday," with it never happening. I figured this was probably the same invitation other developers in the area had gotten, and were claiming that vague invitation as having actually seen the game.

I'll still believe it when I see it, especially the part where it stands out from the crowd. I'm not convinced that DNF will be relevant anymore. Though at this point it's almost ready for the retro period...

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:55 PM
April 22, 2008
STALKER DX10 Tech Demo

Wow... check out this S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky DX10 Tech Trailer over on shacknews... that's some impressive effects! I think the dynamic volumetric smoke was my favorite, I can imagine using that to cover a battlefield with soft trails carved out as soldiers rush across.....

Maybe DX10 won't be a total flop after all?

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:36 AM
April 04, 2008
Spre Behind The Scenes Video

Shacknews has a Spore Behind the Scenes Video. Short but sweet.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:00 PM
March 26, 2008
Battlefield: Bad Company First Impressions

The guy from Ctrl-Alt-Delete has some words on the Battlefield: Bad Company beta. I think I'm most looking forward to the destructable-ness of the environment, hopefully this one won't require the hardware that Crysis needs.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:30 PM
March 25, 2008
Unreal Engine 3 Tech Demo

Shacknews reports: Epic Releases High-def Unreal Engine 3 Tech Trailer. Fairly cool show, some very sexy next-get graphical goodness (especially the destructable environmental elements!).

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:09 PM
March 11, 2008
Zerg Starcraft 2 Trailer in HD

StarCraft 2 Zerg HD Trailer - official trailer now in HD (to registered shacknews users of course :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:27 PM
March 10, 2008
Starcraft II Zerg Trailer

You Starcraft folks may be interested in a First Look at StarCraft II Zerg.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:47 PM
February 21, 2008
Portal News Bits

Two nice little portal bits:

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:54 PM
February 13, 2008
Spore With Wil Wright

Wired article that Darren sent over where Will Wright Walks Us Through 'Spore' with some good gallery shots.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:05 AM
February 12, 2008
Spore and Mass Effect for PC Coming Soon

Bit of gaming news today....


Looks like it'll be a good year for gaming...

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:06 PM
January 29, 2008
Possible Spore Delay :(

Bah.... Shacknews says Spore Delay to Fall/Winter 2008 Likely, Says Analyst.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:13 PM
January 09, 2008
Portal First Slice

Portal: First Slice is free for all NVIDIA Gamers. Wonder how it is... heading to download it myself now!

Update - looks like if you are already a portal owner you don't get anything :( Dang, thought it was new portal content!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:28 PM
December 31, 2007
Hilarious Crysis Review

Fantastically original Crysis Review, complete with pictures (and very legit gripes).

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 05:29 PM
December 19, 2007
Duke Nukem Forever Teaser on Shacknews

Duke Nukem Forever Teaser Debuts on Shacknews, also they have a decade of Duke feature article. Youtube trailer version.

The trailer itself is... well, "meh". Great pre-rendered visual of Duke, and maybe 2 seconds of (theoretically) game footage. Anyone whose seen a teaser for any FPS in the last few years has seen just as good though, check out the trailers for FEAR, BF2/2142, CoD4, Crysis, UT3, etc. Which brings back the thought I had last night, does it matter anymore. Other than the new twist of "it's duke nukem and he's wise cracking", what are we going to see here that's not a variation and adaption of the other games out there. The original Duke was revolutionary because it was one of the first of it's kind, before Half Life and all it's friends. Now the market is so watered down...

I guess I'll believe it when I see it. Do wish they had released more of a trailer, so little just screams (to me) hardly anything done, and/or it'll change way more before it's done (like the last couple of trailers). Fingers crossed though.

Comments anyone?

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:56 AM
December 18, 2007
Duke Nukem' Trailer Tomorrow?

Despite the multitude of comments I have, lets start with a link to the shacknews story stating Duke Nukem Forever Teaser Releasing Tomorrow; This is Real and We Are Not Shitting You. My thoughts:


  • It's over 10 years later, does it still matter?
  • We saw a teaser six years ago and nothing came from that, who knows if that'll happen again?
  • Daikatana
  • It can't live up to the hype of over a decade of "it's coming and it'll be wonderful". See above.
  • Even if it is that good, will it be enough to excuse the rather uhm.... "long" release cycle?

Guess we'll see tomorrow.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:45 PM
December 12, 2007
Upcoming ETQW 1.4 Patch

Details of the Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars 1.4 Update. Some interesting stuff in there.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:00 PM
December 03, 2007
Massive Crysis Tweaking Guide

The inCrysis Crysis Forums have the Ultimate Tweak Guide with lots of commands and pictures to show you how fantastic crysis can look (if you have a dual quad core machine with 32G of ram and 4 SLI of whatever the latest and as yet unreleased video card is. Overclocked :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:03 PM
December 01, 2007
IGN's Top 100 Games of All Time

IGN Top 100 Games of 2007. 'Nuff said.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:14 PM
November 27, 2007
Dues Ex 3 Trailer

Deus Ex 3 Trailer Released over at Fileshack. I'm not sure about this one.... Dues Ex was not bad, 2 was "meh" for me, and this one the trailer doesn't really have anything "meaty" in it. Very stylistic and what not though :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:02 AM
November 14, 2007
Shacknews Crysis Review

Shacknews has a nice full Crysis Review. Benefits: Looks awesome. Downfall: huge system demands to make it look awesome :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:19 PM
November 13, 2007
BF2142 1.40 Patch Released

Finally! Battlefield 2142 Patch 1.40 Released. Under 400mb (gah... could be worse though) and includes what appear to be a lot of good fixes as well as a new map. Some details below, but hit the full story for download info and full fix/change/additions.

FEATURES

- Added a new map - Highway Tampa.
- Added an autosave to kit customisations. After you customise a kit and spawn in with that kit, the customisation will be automatically saved until you change it and spawn in again. Note that you must spawn in with a particular kit for it to be saved.
- Titans will now spawn up to two gunships per side
- Squad Leaders no longer have to resupply to re-equip destroyed drones


More in the link....

Dangit! I wanted to get to sleep early tonight! :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:18 PM
November 09, 2007
UTQW XP Guide

Ifurita's ETQW XP Guide tells you what does and doesn't give you XP (points / upgrades) in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:45 PM
New Assassin's Creed Trailer

New Assassin's Creed Trailer looks awesome. Wish it was coming out for PC :( Looks like it could make a great movie though... think "Hitman: Rome".

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:43 PM
November 06, 2007
UT3 Media

Shacknews has an Unreal Tournament 3 Single-player Campaign Preview along with new screenshots and a nifty looking trailer.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:44 PM
November 03, 2007
Play Starfighter For Real!

Fight The Ko-Dan Armada — For Real! with instructions on how to get the resources to build your own cabinet.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:45 PM
November 01, 2007
Skinny on Coulton and Portal

Jonathan Coulton comes clean about his involvement with Portal in Portal: The Skinny. Great story!

Also you should check out the song using gmod (where "the song" will ring a bell with anyone who has finished the game) which I've never heard of before, but is a fantastic performance :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:18 AM
October 30, 2007
Timeshift Gameplay Footage

Found footage of TimeShift showing off some graphics, gameplay, and some of the uniqueness that this game adds to the standard FPS.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 07:35 AM
October 26, 2007
Crysis Single Player Demo Released

OMG! OMG! Finally, a Crysis Single-player Demo Released. Look for fast download links in the comments... I'm pulling it down at 590KB/sec right now, so please wait until I'm done the rest of the 1.7G file :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 05:18 PM
October 24, 2007
Spore In Spring?

Well, I see that Spore is on Track for Spring Release. I guess I'll believe it when I see it, and if it does come out, that's good I guess, as there's lots of games to deal with and spring will be the time I'm ready and done with TF2, HL2*, ETQW and friends.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:11 PM
October 19, 2007
ETQW Linux Client

Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars Linux Client Released. That about says it. Hopefully the performance under Linux will be as good as windows, but right now sadly my Linux box is a bit old for gaming :)

Gaming , Linux - Posted by Arcterex at 01:50 PM
Bionic Commando Trailer

Never heard of this game before, but check out the trailer for Bionic Commando. Wow, beautiful environments, cool looking grappling from destroyed building to destroyed building, and nifty physics for dispatching your enemies. All platforms as well, which is nice. Interesting to see more when it is closer to being released (no date yet).

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:22 AM
October 18, 2007
Hellgate London Demo Available

If you've got bandwidth and HD space for another game demo, check out Hellgate: London.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:17 PM
Half Life 2 - Episode 2 - The GNOME Achievement

I thought it'd end up being a joke, but check out how this guy Played Through Episode Two Holding A Goddamn Gnome (note: some spoilers) to get the 'gnome achievement'. Absolutely hilarious, and skillful. Note that the gnome also has his own blog about the whole thing!

Funny Stuff , Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:34 AM
October 17, 2007
Funny Orange Box Review

Being I just bought The Orange Box, I find the Zero Punctuation: The Orange Box review that Darren pointed me to.

Ha ha! "Force feedback codpiece".

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:03 AM
October 12, 2007
UT3 Demo Released

Ooooohh..... going to be an unproductive night now that the Unreal Tournament 3 Demo Download is available..

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:22 PM
Crysis Graphic Comparison

CryTek has released some screenshots of Detail Levels Compared. Gotta say the DX10 version looks very very nice... note the rocks in the left foreground in the different detail levels.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:34 AM
October 11, 2007
CoD 4 Demo Ready for Download

Speaking of upcoming games, there is a Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Demo Download over at fileshack.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:06 PM
Portal - The Flash Version

Well, the real version of Portal is out, but those who want a bit of problem solving in the browser can play Portal: The Flash Version. Kinda fun, thanks to Darren for sucking away my work hours :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:19 AM
UT3 Preview

Shacknews has a Unreal Tournament 3 Preview. With this, Orange Box, ETQW, and Crysis either just out or coming out soon, it's a good season for gaming!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:42 AM
October 09, 2007
Gaming News: Crysis, CoD4, and F.E.A.R.

A triplet of gaming news from shacknews.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:26 PM
October 04, 2007
Word on FS-X SP2

Jon Patch has The word on Acceleration and FSX SP2 for all you flight sim fans out there.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:47 PM
October 02, 2007
Crysis Multiplayer Impressions

Dang, wish I knew how people got on Betas like that for Crysis! Check out the Crysis Multiplayer Beta Impressions over at shacknews. Sounds like fun, but way taxing on your hardware :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:49 PM
October 01, 2007
What if Master Chief Was a Hot Chick?

Simple question, sexy answer :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:27 PM
September 27, 2007
UT3 (PS3) Hands On

A Unreal Tournament 3 Impressions reveals it as a "must buy". Can't wait for the PC version myself....

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:43 PM
September 24, 2007
UT3 Details Emerge (November, Wh00t!)

Some details of UT3 have emerged, looks like a November release and there'll be a special edition version for the PC. I was a huge UT2004 player back in the day, at least until Battlefield:2 stole my life, so I'm looking forward to UT3!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:08 PM
Halo 3 Movie Snippet

Dana passed on a Halo 3 movie snippet (RL movie). Wow, holy super-coolness batman.... not cheesy either, same weapons,vehicles, baddies....

Giving credit where due, he saw it over at Forgetfoo.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:04 PM
Crossing Trailer (Game)

Darren pointed me to The Crossing Trailer and an interview about it. Basically a "what if the knights templar survived to post-modern day France which is tearing itself apart. Looks very interesting.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:47 AM
September 19, 2007
Tarr Chronicles Demo

Just saw that the Tarr Chronicles Demo is available over at FileShack. I've never heard of the game before to be honest, but the screenshots look really cool (it's a space fighting flight sim it looks like).

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:27 AM
September 18, 2007
TeamFortress 2 Beta Thoughts

Over at Shack News there are some good comments on gameplay, classes and balance in the just-launched Team Fortress 2 Beta (available to anyone who pre-ordered the Orange Box bundle).

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:58 AM
September 13, 2007
Crysis Movie (Ice Forest)

The Crysis, Ice Forest Gameplay video has a bit of a taste of gameplay and graphics.

Mmm.... yummy.....

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:53 PM
Crysis Hands On Preview

Shacknews has a nice hands on look at Crysis.

While I wasn't able to see the entire level, I certainly saw enough of Ice to be blown away, and glad to see some more variety in the game after having had plenty of hands-on time in the past with jungle environments that. Check back a week from now for more impressions of another non-jungle Crysis environment.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 06:40 PM
September 11, 2007
Team Fortress 2 Beta News

Anyone interested in Team Fortress 2 should know you can get on the beta if you pre-order.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 07:14 PM
Call Of Duty 4 Release Announcement

Well, looks like the Call of Duty site has been revamped for the release in November.

Sounds like a Beta for the XBox 360 is going as well.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:06 PM
September 10, 2007
ET: Quake Wars Demo Released

Title basically says it all..... Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars Demo Released!

Download early! This is a single map demo of a tweaked version of Valley, which was included with Beta2.

Downloading now!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:25 PM
September 07, 2007
Oblivion Exploding Watermelons

I'm not sure if I totally understand the exploding watermelons video cause I'm not that into oblivion, but damn, it's still funny :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:56 PM
September 06, 2007
ETQW Demo Information

Details of the upcoming Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars PC Demo coming this monday (Sept 10).

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:10 AM
September 04, 2007
More Spore Screenshots

Via Digg: Spore Screenshots (September 2007).

I so want this game!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:56 AM
August 30, 2007
QuakeWars Goes Gold!

Whoot! Sounds like Enemy Territory QUAKE Wars is GOLD! Can't wait to see it on the shelves!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:02 AM
August 27, 2007
Call of Duty 4 Preview

Found on Digg this Call of Duty 4 – The Beta First Impressions.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:02 PM
August 23, 2007
Spore Details

Spore Preview over on 1up.com. Man I can't wait for this game!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:05 AM
August 20, 2007
CoD 4 Video

In other gaming news, there's a Call of Duty 4 Video up on Fileshack. sCary has both flash (instant view) and the mondo HD version (if you're willing to wait 80+ minutes for the free FileShack servers) available.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:01 PM
BioShock Demo

It's another one of those "download if you're a subscriber" things I think, but the demo for Bioshock is on Fileplanet now. Also new nVidia drivers are out (faster to get them from the beta section on the nVidia website than from the FilePlanet download) with some BioShock specific improvements.

How good is the demo? I'll tell you when the download starts in 33 minutes or so :) Unless I find the same file elsewhere (*cough*tpb*cough*).

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:58 PM
August 16, 2007
ETQW Walkthrough / Tips for Valley Map

A great strategy guide for Unlocking Valley with the Strollin’ Soldier, directed for ET Quake Wars Players for the new Valley Map.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:45 PM
August 08, 2007
ETQW - Valley Map Walkthrough

Found a ETQW Public Beta 2 - Valley Map Guide.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:38 PM
Cute WoW Story

Fairly cute story from World of Warcraft called I did something nice found on reddit. I almost glossed over it, but read it even though it's a bit long. Worth it IMHO.

We chatted a little whilst we played, and it came to my attention that this wasn't a very old player, as he kept on having to go "becuase dad neds 2 chek the emall" he also clearly had no idea how to play, kept on pointing at random objects and saying "coooooooooool!!", and by the state of his outfit, it looked like he hit mach 2 and collided with a Dorthy Perkins store.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:20 AM
August 04, 2007
HD Footage from iD Software's New Game

Fileshack has the Rage Trailer in both flash and HD. I'm waiting for it to download, but from the comments, you're going to like what you see :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:37 AM
August 03, 2007
More Enemy Territory Beta Keys Available

Enemy Territory Quake Wars Public Beta 2 and Keys Now Available!

Not sure what else there is to say about that....

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:27 PM
July 31, 2007
More Spore Tidbits

From TED Talks is a video of Will Wright talking a bit about spore (16 minute video).

Do I care? No! I want the game dammit!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:04 PM
July 18, 2007
Star Wars - Force Unleashed Trailer

A trailer for Star Wars: Force Unleashed has been unleashed. Fileshack has both and HD version and the flash version. Force Unleashed is a console game (not for you PC players!) which looks cool. Well, the trailer (first bit) is supercool anyway.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:08 PM
July 12, 2007
Another Halo 3 Trailer

Forget Foo has the Halo 3 Trailer. Great graphics, but the character animation and movement still feels (for the most part) a bit off. Same with the vehicles. Course, that's a bit off compared to real life, cause it does look fantastic!

No consoles for me though, so I'm out of luck....

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:47 PM
June 25, 2007
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars Quicky Review

So as I said yesterday I managed to get a key for the beta release of Enemy Territory Quake Wars, the new game from iD Software and Splash Damage (who also made Wolfenstein - Enemy Territory, Return to Wolfenstein, and Doom 3). This game was announced ages ago, and I've been watching it since at least 2005.

So yesterday afternoon I frantically hit the links for the stupid fileplanet registration that you have to have, then fought my way through a malfunctioning image capcha (which didn't work and eventually just seemed to let me through) and got my beta key (wh00t) then waited 20 minutes in line for the download from the public servers, and then a couple of painful hours waiting for the 900mb file to download (thankfully the speed was decent).

Note that this is a work in progress, I'll update as I start to "get" more of the gameplay aspects that I currently don't totally understand after a couple of hours of play.

Read on for my take on the beta.

Installation was nice and easy, and the game started up and got you to put in your key, create an account for online play, etc. I didn't tweak out the default preferences much other than setting the resolution to match my monitor (1680x1050) and adjusting a couple of the key bindings. My first bitch was that the way of doing keybindings seemed a bit odd, it warned you if a key was already bound, but it wasn't obvious (at first anyway, to me) how to unbind or overwrite the binding. Not a biggie. There seemed to be a lot of keybindings too, my standard setup from Battlefield 2 and 2142 took some knocks.

A bit of background about my hardware and my playing style.

Hardware setup:


  • CPU: E6600 - Dual Core 2.40Ghz
  • 2G RAM
  • 320G SATA hard drive
  • nVidia 7950 512mb video card
  • 1680x1050 16:10 20.1" LCD monitor

Basically a very nice setup that I'm happy to say hasn't lugged against any game I've thrown at it.

About me.
I'm an FPS bitch. I love 'em, but have played lots for a few minutes and then never played them again... there are very few FPS that keep my attention for very long. Quake3 (and the Urban Terror addon) kept my attention for years, and recently Battlefield 2 and Battlefield 2142 have been my game of choice for the last couple of years as well.

I particularly enjoy the online teamplay aspect of the BF series. It's not about the graphics or the "feel" of the game (though both are pretty good), but more in the way that if you play as a team (or a squad in this case) you get ahead compared to being a lone wolf. In fact, the first time I played BF2 I almost put it away to never play again because it seemed like you were all alone, would run around this huge map, then get shot and restart. Once I discovered how to join a squad and spawn on my squadleader the game suddenly changed and became 10x more fun.

Enough about not QW stuff, here's the actual game!

Graphics and Sound
Both top notch. The mega-texture technology looks gorgeous, though I didn't take the time to see if you could really see across the entire map or not. I haven't used the weapons long enough to see if the weapon sounds are as good as they could be, but to the first time player they seemed just dandy. A great thing was that the grass and trees had a nice natural "sway" that I first saw in the Battlefield series. When you're standing in grass or by foliage the leaves or grass will sort of sway back and forth in the breeze, which really helps with the immersion of the world. After seeing this, playing a game without this feature feels far more static and un-realistic. The foliage still appears to be sprite based, not as nice as Crysis promises to be, but still very nice.

Performance and RAM
Played fine for me, though I have to admit I've got a decent system to play it on. The game is based on the Doom 3 engine (I believe) which plays very nicely on older hardware such as my previous system, an XP2600 with 1G RAM. I wouldn't doubt that this game will not require huge hardware to be playable. By contrast BF2/2142 seems to need a fair amount more system to go nicely. I noticed that RAM usage (running on Vista Ultimate) was lower than BF as well. Based on viewing my task manager after the game closed, BF2142 used about 1G of ram while QW used about 700mb. The Mega-Texture technology is probably helpful here. QW also appeared to use both CPU cores as well, which was expected.

Non-Game Environment
The menus, options and non-game visuals were great and up to the standards of iDs previous games.

Gameplay and Teamplay
This is the most important part to me. The first time you join the game it's very confusing. It's similar to every other FPS of course, and similar to squad based FPSs such as BF2/2142 (my apologies for continually comparing BF2/2142 to QW, but the similarities are obvious and easily comparable). There is a lot of stuff on the screen and it's easy to not know quite what's going on and what to do.

You have a map which displays both friendly and enemy targets, an area at the top of the screen with tips and information, and a place on the left of the screen for messages from other players, death messages, etc. Pretty standard stuff.

The "feel" of the game (weapon switching, speed and movement) were good, comparable to Doom 3 and similar games. The crouch / prone switch isn't as good as it could be I think, or as fast. Sometimes it seems that going prone doesn't, or there is just a long delay. The difference between an overweight computer programmer going from standing to lying compared to a in-shape soldier throwing themselves to the dirt. Tweaks like this are easily changed at this point though as this is a beta to collect information like this.

I wasn't able to really "grok" the squads. When you die or are waiting to go into the game there is a limbo menu where you can change your weapon layout, class or spawn point. You have a map where you can select the place where you spawn and a countdown to the next wave of deployment (every 20 seconds or so). This is nice but sometimes it seems that you hit deploy and immediately spawn with your previous weapon load and class instead of with the new load out you just chose. This could be due to being revived while I was in the limbo menu. BF solves this by not covering up the gameplay screen completely while you're in the menu, but also grabbing you out of the menu so you know when you are revived. Sometimes this really sucks though :) There doesn't seem to be a way to join a squad (or fireteam is the terminology they use) from the limbo menu.

In the gameplay there were invites to join a fireteam, but there didn't seem to be that obvious way of showing what squad you were part of or spawn on the squadleader or anything like that.

The other thing I don't get yet are the objectives. I'm not an ET player, but I do know that the gameplay is such that you work as a team to do something, then you move forward in the map, do something else, etc. In the one map these objectives seemed to be things like build a big cannon, plant explosives, defend explosives / cannon for X minutes, that sort of thing. This is different than the BF way where a commander gives squads individual commands to move, attack, defend, etc. This other way works well if you have a good commander, but if you don't have one, it can suck. I think I remember hearing that QW was going to have the ability to do individual missions for squads, so it's just a matter of figuring it out.

In QW you have "missions". A notice will appear that a new mission is available and you hit the 'm' key to move through the missions available. They are things like 'defend ion canon <19xp' or 'attack sewer grate <2xp'. I honestly have no idea what this is for or what to do once you select them. I suppose there is probably a change in the HUD or the map, but I didn't see it or it wasn't immediately obvious. In the HUD there is a square overlay that may point you to where you should be going, but it's not obvious to me. This will hopefully be fixed with either a set of instructions or a tweaked tip system when the game is released.

XP Points and Powerups
XP points are something that I'm not totally sure what they are, how you get them, or what they are used for. They are mentioned in the 'm' mission menu and in the post-game stats, but beyond that I'm not sure. Probably something that's easily found with a bit of digging, but my concern when first playing was to kill and not be killed :)

Upgrades / powerups were also mentioned in gameplay a couple of time. I think I was awarded 'silent footsteps' while playing as a sniper at one point, but I'm not sure if this is a permanent thing, something you turn on or off, or what. I think there was also notification of an unlock that was available for the next round, but again, I'm not sure what/how/where to do anything with this.

Compared to the unlock system from the BF series I have to say that BF seemed to be simpler and easier to understand. That could be just experience talking though.

(Current) Conclusions
I'm going to keep playing this for sure. The look and feel is awesome, and I think once I "get" the team gameplay it'll be much better. The forums seem to indicate it takes a few hours of play to get up to speed, which seems a bit long, but it is a beta after all. Looking at the maps that have been in screenshots and the videos that have been floating around I'm really looking forward to the full release. In my 2-4 hours of play yesterday afternoon and evening I found no "bugs" per-se, nothing massively out of place or crash inducing, and the only things I see that need improvement is the introduction of gameplay and game concepts.

Compared to BF this game seems a bit more complex when you first go in. I seem to remember BF being a fairly gentle introduction to new concepts, ie: the first time you use a new weapon or vehicle you get a voiceover telling you about it and how to use any special features. The map seemed more useful as well, or at least the idea of what you are supposed to do and where you're supposed to be going was better placed. I'm not sure if I prefer the QW (see everyone on the map) or BF (see only your own team or any sighted enemys on the map) map type. Again, this is most likely more cause I've played way more hours of BF, and I plan to revisit this assessment as I get a bit more into QW.

Final conclusion is that if you're a fan of the original Enemy Territory, or of squad based online FPSs this is definitely a download to play around with. Check out the forums and see if your question or complaint is there and if not, ask. I'm sure the devs are reading it to hopefully make QW a kickass game when it appears.

If you can't get on the beta, well, try try try and hopefully another round of beta keys appear soon!

Informal results:
Graphics / Sound / Visuals: 9.5/10
Gameplay (feel): 8/10
Gameplay (squad): 5/10
Menus: 9/10
Ability to Jump in and go: 6/10

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:41 AM
June 24, 2007
QuakeWars Beta Key Distributing NOW!!

By the time you see this it'll probably be too late, but the Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars on FilePlanet promotion is on and beta keys and downloads are distributing now! I'm sitting waiting in line for my download.... so long Sunday!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:40 PM
June 14, 2007
Vancouver In FSX with Vancouver+

Great page with some Vancouver Plus Screenshots. For those who don't know, Vancouver+ is an patch for Flight Sim 9 and X (10) that greatly enhances the local scenery, including the outlying areas, from Squamish to Mission and more. Hit the link to see just how much it enhances it.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:14 PM
June 01, 2007
Quake Wars Relase Date?

Shacknews found that Quake Wars is Planned for Q3 2007. Looking forward to it.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:28 AM
May 29, 2007
New Crysis Technology Movie

The hits just keep rolling in with this new Crysis Technology Movie from fileshack (and probably others as well).

Update: Ugh, sorry guys, mostly it's an ad for Intel/Nvidia/Vista.... couple of bits of new footage and environments, but way more marketspeak. Speaking of which, am I missing something with the Vista game explorer? This seemed to be a big part of the "Crysis and vista" marketspeak, and yet it seems like it's a place to click on an icon to start a game, much like the folder with all the shortcuts to start my games that I have on my desktop? Guess if you don't care about box art or parental controls it's not all that interesting.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:28 PM
May 22, 2007
New Duke Nukem Forever Image

Does anyone really give a shit about Duke Nukem Forever Images anymore? Last image was a posed duke toy, this one is obviously artwork. Course, at this point, with DNF haven been given vaporware awards up the wazzoo for the last 10 years or so, is it remotely relevant anymore? Think Daikatana but instead of three years of development, it's been 10 years but there's still no game. At what point do you as the development company realize that you're never going to get your money back, and will probably be even worse off because when (if) the game is finally released it'll just be an embarrassment.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:05 PM
Starcraft 2 Coming

So if you're one of the three people who a) reads this blog and b) doesn't know that StarCraft II has been announced, well, hey, Starcraft 2 has been announced. Hit the main site for trailer, gameplay video, screenshots, and all that fun stuff. Franky I watched the trailer and thought it was very cool (great 3D rendering) and the gameplay video and though "meh". But then again, I'm a FPS guy not an RTS guy, so Starcraft really isn't my thing anyway... but for those of you whose thing it is, go nuts!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:49 PM
May 16, 2007
Team Fortress 2 Movie

Saw yesterday on Shacknews that there was a New Team Fortress 2 Movie. Looks .... well, I do like the facial animation, the cartoonyness... well, we'll see I guess. If you don't have a fileshack account, or want a quick and dirty view of it, check out this page with the video embedded.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:03 PM
May 09, 2007
High Res ET:QW Movie

Yet another New Enemy Territory: Quake Wars Movie. Haven't seen it yet, hope it's good.

Update: Not new, this is the high res quicktime version of the last posts movie.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:59 PM
Spore Game Pushed to 2008 :(

The next hot and upcoming game, "Spore" has been pushed back to 2008. Bummer, that's one of the three games I was actually looking forward to this year :(

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:43 AM
May 07, 2007
Another Crysis Movie

Whoot, another Crysis gameplay movie.... looks sweet, though seems to be sped up a lot, not sure if that's showing the power of the 'nanosuit' or just a bug in the embedded video. Either way, it's another little glimpse into the game for those waiting for it like me.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:32 PM
ET:Quake Wars Video

Cool video interview with gameplay shown. Looks pretty dang sweet! Please please id and Splash Damage release it soon!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:58 PM
May 05, 2007
New ET: Quake Wars Screenshots

Shacknews has a couple of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars Screenshots, and in the comments someone posted a link to screenshots from the closed beta! Looks shexy!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:31 PM
April 24, 2007
BF 2142 1.25 Update

BF players rejoice, the Battlefield 2142 1.25 Patch is out. Doesn't sound like there's much exciting in it though.... I'd love a few simple fixes to stupid things like being able to save my weapon choices between games or hell, between rounds or the punkbuster errors where I'm randomly dumped out of a game for no reason.... you know, things like that. They have however fixed a bunch of exploits and tweaked weapons settings. read the full log for more.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:04 PM
April 20, 2007
First Look at the Transformers Game

Shacknews has a First Look at the Transformers game. Can't say I'm impressed with the look of the actual transformers, but the graphics look good. Could be fun to kick ass by throwing cars around though :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:44 AM
April 18, 2007
YACM (Yet Another Crysis Movie)

Here's yet another Crysis Movie from Shacknews, this time showing actual footage from the game (not the tech demo like last time) as well as new footage from the game (new aliens, etc). Not sure if I'm hot on the new mod system (selecting super-fast, super-strength, mods on the weapon, etc), but I'll reserve judgment until it's in my hot and sweaty hands, making my PC beg for mercy :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:29 AM
April 15, 2007
Analysis and Cheating with Rock, Paper, Scissors

Nice analysis and strategy guide for rock, paper, scissors.

So who wants to play :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:18 PM
April 14, 2007
New Crysis HD Trailer

Not much to say about this, other than OMG OMG OMG OMG!

:)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:28 AM
April 03, 2007
Battlestar Galactica Game Demo Released

Too Cool! Beyond the Red Line has released a demo of the game. It is open source and utilizes the Freespace2 game engine. The site appears to be dugg right now, still very exciting news... we can get our BSG fixes while waiting for Season 4!

Download / Torrent links in the Digg.com comments link BTW.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:44 AM
ET: Quake Wars Preview

Title says it all, Shacknews has a preview of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. Man I can't wait for this to be out (release date is still "when it's done").

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 05:57 AM
April 02, 2007
Urban Terror 4 Released

Dana mentioned Urban Terror, the mod for quake 3, and indeedUrban Terror 4.0 was released April 1. Website is a little lax on any info other than download links. Anyone know anything about the new release?

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 07:26 PM
Quake 3 Rocket Jumping Skills

Wow, the video is a bit long, but the payoff to view these Quake 3 trick jumpers is worth it. Just ignore the long intro....

Make me want to install Q3 again and head out to play some q3ctf again....

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:11 PM
March 19, 2007
Plasma Pong

OMG! Plasma Pong looks super cool!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:31 AM
March 16, 2007
Penny Arcade the Game?

Clip: First Penny Arcade Game Footage. Cool. Glad there was no voice acting though :) Glad to see the juicer got in as well!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:03 PM
March 11, 2007
Spore Clips

Cool, Digg pointed to Five Spore Vids Show Entire Evolution.

Man I can't wait for this game!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:43 PM
March 10, 2007
Very Cool PS3 Game Demo

Little Big Planet - GDC 07 On Stage Demonstration. Very cool demo of PS3 technology / gameplay / game design / graphics / physics.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:31 PM
March 09, 2007
More Spore Information

Total Spore has good new spore information.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:57 PM
March 08, 2007
New Crysis Trailer (again)

Two New Amazing Crysis Videos available... "wow". The first one looks a bit like the old trailer at the beginning, but has lots of new stuff. Second one is pretty interesting too, talking about some of the new features added to the engine. Can't wait for it to be available!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:35 PM
March 02, 2007
STALKER Gone Gold

Anyone following the in-production-for-ages game "S.T.A.L.K.E.R." will be happy to know it's gone gold.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 06:04 AM
February 15, 2007
Super-Freaky AI

A demo video for Star Wars: Force Unleashed has some really freaky AI technology built in. Watch the video and check it out. Wonder if this'd constitute rights for AI?

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:13 PM
February 07, 2007
Playing Steam Based Games Under Linux with Wine

Looking to do some gaming under Linux? Here's a nice blog entry with screenshots and setup details to get these all going nicely.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:55 PM
February 02, 2007
Black Mesa Mod for Half Life 2

Very cool stuff, the Black Mesa Mod is:


Black Mesa is a complete reimagining of Half-Life utilizing the full capabilities of Source. "The real Half-Life: Source" in short. Also available for download is a new 59-second teaser-trailer for the mod.

Media and trailer are available. I was really disappointed with the "half life source" release that came with Half Life 2 and wished that they could re-do HL1 in the same style as HL2. Well, looks like Black Mesa might be just that. More information is at http://www.blackmesasource.com/, where apparently they have already won "best upcoming mod of the year". I didn't realize they had awards for things that weren't out yet. Well, I guess they do have the Vaporware awards... Anyone see a release date on this? I don't see when it'll actually be released....

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:13 AM
January 30, 2007
New Crysis Trailer

A spanking new Crysis Video on youtube, and the high def version on Fileshack. Some old stuff, some new stuff (check out the rockfall!). Seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeexy!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:34 AM
January 24, 2007
New Quake Wars Screenshots

Over at shacknews there are some new Enemy Territory: Quake Wars Screenshots. Looking sweeter all the time :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:44 PM
January 09, 2007
New Crysis Movie

I haven't seen it myself yet, but there's a digg story pointing to a New High Res Crysis Video and Screenshots. Only mirror I found that works so far is trickling out the 95mb HD video at 1.6KB/sec. I'll see it sometime tomorrow at this speed!

Oh, here's one that seems a bit better.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:09 AM
January 03, 2007
Ray Tracing in Games

Interesting article on adapting ray-tracing for games (q3 and q4 are used) at the Ray Traced Project. Wonder if this'll be the next big thing for gaming?

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:00 PM
December 27, 2006
XBox 360 Mouse and Keyboard Adapter

Hmm...... maybe this mouse and keyboard adapter for the XBox 360 could turn me away from the PC for gaming. I've been holding off getting a console of any sort simply because the games I enjoy playing are FPSs and I feel like a whale on acid trying to control any console FPSs through the silly controllers they use. Maybe this will be a turning point....

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:47 PM
December 21, 2006
FPS - The Pictorial History

Interesting and amusing article on The history of the FPS. A pictorial.. Pics of everything from 1974's "Spasim" to Doom in 1993. So how many of these did you play? I can only count 4 :(

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:17 PM
December 06, 2006
Another XBox 360 vs PS3 Graphics Quality Comparison

Interesting graphical comparison of Xbox 360 Versus PlayStation 3 Comparison. Some of the shots really don't show any quality difference to my eyes, just different lighting or shading. Still, if you're considering one or the other and have an uber-TV, these are the things you need to know.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:42 PM
December 04, 2006
Halo 3 HD Trailer

What's to say, looks yummy! Halo 3 Movie.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:55 PM
November 23, 2006
Supreme Commander Beta Now Open

The Supreme Commander Beta is now open. Note the webpage looks like it's IE only, for me none of the graphics show up (including the big 'sign up now' button) in Firefox :(

According to Oneiros, the game is the shit, so I'm going to have to go and check it out and get my ass kicked....

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:35 AM
November 17, 2006
Gaming Tattoos

Now this is dedication. Best 25 Gaming tattoos.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:16 PM
PS3 On Sale Today

Console gaming isn't really my thing, but apparently this Playstation 3 thing is causing a bit of a buzz. The online comic Ctrl Alt Del has some nice commentary on the situation, mirrored by a coworker telling me this morning that he was up at 3am and driving around the local electronics stores finding where there were less people lined up than there were consoles available. Apparently you can sell these things on eBay for $3000-7000 (insanity!), which is pretty good for a morning's work.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:02 AM
November 11, 2006
ET: Quake Wars Movie (On GeForce 8800)

Not sure if this Enemy Territory: Quake Wars Movie will compel me to dump my just-purchased GeForce 7950 GT for the just-released 8800 monster, but dang, it does look good doesn't it? Personally I can't wait for the niftyness of ET:QW to arrive, how about you? Old ET fans, time to start revving up your engines!

Gaming , Hardware - Posted by Arcterex at 02:06 PM
October 26, 2006
Crysis Movie

Ooooh! A nice long movie from the up-coming, hardware-obsoleting, pixel-pumping Crysis game. The graphics and physics look great, as a few commenters in the threads note, the story (super advanced technology, evil alien enemy, one lone soldier to save the world, blah blah blah) isn't anything new.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:00 PM
October 19, 2006
BF2141 In-Game Ad Screenshot

Ugh :( Just when I was thinking that the BF2142 that I wrote about a couple of times with the ads in it might not be that bad I saw a post with a shot of an in-game ad.

Is it just me or is that really, really offensive offensive? Especially with the game running on the same engine as BF2 and the cost being the same? With things like this and the previous story about Vista licensing, is it just me or are companies (and the government, but that's another story) taking more and more liberties away from the end users?

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:02 PM
October 18, 2006
Quakewars Videos

With the controversy about Battlefield 2142 and it's built in spyware and ads (possible fix here), some videos of ET: Quake Wars have come out and wow it looks awesome. Hopefully this game is as cool as it looks, and the results will dissuade EA from bundling non-opt-out spyware and ads into their games (and not giving users a choice, and not even reducing the price for the ad infected version).

As an aside, anyone found any images of the ads in the BF2142?

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:03 AM
First PS3 Ad

Gizmodo brings news of the first North American PlayStation 3 commercial, found here. Sadly they forgot to include anything in the ad to about the PS3 or to indicate what it was about (well, except for the last 3 seconds of footage, and even then it's just a date).

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:40 AM
October 13, 2006
Pure Pwnage Loot and Screenings

I haven't kept up on my Pure Pwnage videos, looks like they have some cool new stuff though. First of all, a store with some cool stuff (going on a shopping spree soon, need more t-shirts). They are also doing episode screenings, nov 2 in Vancouver just down the road! Wh00t! I'll be going methinks.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:35 PM
October 12, 2006
Real Vs Flight Sim X Landing

Here's something cool / funky for all you flight sim geeks out there. A side by side comparison of -a landing in real life compared to Flight Sim X.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:24 AM
October 10, 2006
Gaming Desk

Check out this sweet gaming desk. I love the first comment :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:00 PM
Limbo Game Teaser

Darren (of StaticRed fame, threw me a link to the Limbo teaser page. Looks like a fun game. Anyone know any details about it?

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:30 AM
October 06, 2006
Battlefield 2142 Demo

Title says it all. Well, there goes my weekend!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 05:36 PM
August 08, 2006
ET Interview and New Images

Nice interview with the ET: Quakewars guys, along with some new images.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:18 PM
July 25, 2006
Terminal Doom

Darren just threw this at me... Terminal Doom allows you to run classic doom 1.... on an arcade..... inside Doom 3! Similar yet different to Doom Classic.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:11 PM
July 19, 2006
Valve's "Portal"

Darren pointed me to a trailer on youtube for Valve's Portal. Based on the titles of some of the other videos it's a mini-game from HL Episode 2. Anyone know more about this?

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:44 AM
June 17, 2006
Amazing New Crysis Video

Wow, and I thought farcry was realistic looking. Check out this 14 minute Crysis video. Amazing looking with a lot of cool stuff that looks like it'll help gameplay (destructable environments) and not just be eye candy. Too bad the resolution is so crappy :(

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:57 PM
June 09, 2006
Gaming in 2007

Gamespot has a nice list of reasons why it's worth to be a PCgamer in 2007. The ones I knew about and was excited about were Spore, Crysis, and Intersteller Marines. The list is pretty long, not just FPS like I like, but role playing and puzzel games as well. I also hadn't heard about Medal of Honor:Airborne Assault before, I loved that game before I discovered Call of Duty, I'm looking forward to a graphically updated version of MoH:AA.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:19 AM
April 30, 2006
Headcrab Plushies

How cool is Valve, selling plush headcrabs. In case anyone is wondering what to get me for my birthday... :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:02 AM
April 23, 2006
UT2007 Gameplay Videos

Here are a couple of gameplay videos from the new version of Unreal Tournament. UT2004 was my favorite game until I became a slave to Battlefield 2, and I see BF2 being eclipsed by UT2007 when it comes out :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:36 AM
April 13, 2006
New Enemy Territory - Quake Wars Media

Bit more spooge material for those of you itching for the new Doom 3 Engine based ET: Quake Wars game. Here is some info and new screenshots via IGN.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:30 PM
Duke Nukemm WhenForever On the Road To Completion?

Darren pointed me to an article on Duke Nukem Forever Status. My first reaction is "this is 12 days late" (for april fools day). The game, which I think has become a bigger joke than Daikatana was (and I can't see a different fate for it than that of Daikatana), is apparently getting towards the end of it's competion cycle, with a half million dollar bonus to be paid if the game ships prior to Dec 31 2006.

Of course, the real question is that if the game actually ships, can it compete (with it's "heavily modified engine containing elements from the Unreal Engine") with something like Crysis, which looks amazing?


But, according to the piece, Broussard was bashful, overall, about showing off the game, commenting: "The problem is that when we show it, people are going to be like, 'Yeah, whatever'. Honestly, at this point we just want to finish it."

That last sentance really don't instill me with the impression of a game that's going to kick ass and take names, but instead something that is ripe for ridicule and the bargin bin at the local game store...

That said, I'll wait (and wait, and wait....) and see :)

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:48 AM
March 29, 2006
Crysis (Game) HD Trailer (ooh sexy!) Wow, I saw this game in the list of stuff coming in 2006, but the trailer posted on fileshack shows some very sexy effects... some say that extra eye candy gets in the way of fast action shooters, but if it gets me more immersed in the "feel" of the game, I tend to enjoy it more. This game looks like it does it. Course, you need a dual quad SLI mortgage-your-home video card to play probably, but in 6months those'll come standard when you buy a new PC :)
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:15 AM
March 20, 2006
Battlefield 2142 Trailer Digg linked to a sweet looking trailer for Battlefield 2142. Pretty much the same formula as BF2 and BF 1942, and since BF2 is my current gaming addiction, I'm pretty happy to see this. It's only just been confirmed though, so it'll probably be a while.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 07:00 PM
January 13, 2006
Enemy Territory - Quake Wars Reviews Shacknews has some links to Enemy Territory: Quake Wars reviews. This is one of my anticipated games, and looks like it'll be a combination of UT2004 gameplay, Doom3 graphics, and Battlefield 2 teamwork. Can't wait!
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:29 AM
November 24, 2005
Quake 4 Demo For those of you waiting to check it out, there's a Quake 4 Demo now available.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 07:57 AM
October 30, 2005
Classic Doom under Doom 3 I can't believe that I didn't think of Classic Doom first. Re-creating the original Doom experience with the new and sexy Doom 3 engine. A fair amount of my weekend has been sucked away into this, and I'm loving it. Not only does it revive my love of blowing up baddies by shooting explosive barrels, it also allows me to face my fear of imps in a familiar environment, so I can someday go back and play Doom 3, which is really scary, and I am still not allowed to play by my SO because she fears I'll have a heart attack with all the jumping I do playing it. Yes, I'm a total wimp BTW.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:07 PM
October 26, 2005
Test Your System for Game Compatibility The page at System Requirements Lab has kinda a cool java thing. You run an applet and it'll tell you if your system specs are up to snuff for a particular game.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 06:57 PM
October 04, 2005
BF2 Patch Released The new Battlefield 2 v1.03 patch is out there on the new. Grab the torrent here. Browser and playability updates galore. Can't wait to get home and check it out. Oh, they've updated the old demo map from Battlefield 1942 (Wake Island) and put it in there as well.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:46 AM
August 31, 2005
Alternative BF2 Server Browser BF2AutoLoader: A free, no adware / spyware alternative to the BF2 / Gamespy server browser. Nice replacement to the horrible in game game browser that comes with BF2.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:54 PM
August 11, 2005
New Quake 4 and Quake Wars Screenshots Shacknews has some new Quake Wars screenshots and some more Quake 4 screenshots. Looks pretty hot...
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:40 AM
July 20, 2005
Commentary on Battlefield 2 VG Cats has commentary on my Fav new game, Battlefield 2. Sad but true..... From the /. discussion.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:35 PM
June 10, 2005
Battlefield 2 Demo Out Cool, Gamespot has the BF2 Demo online now. This looks awesome, at least from the E3 trailer. This is the sequal to Battlefield 1942, which if you remember right has lots of fighting action, lots of vehicles you can jump in and out of, etc. Very cool. It's a 500mb download, so I hope it's worth it :)
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:23 PM
June 09, 2005
Counterstrike:Source Gimmicks I knew that Valve had released a map called "cs_office" for counterstrike, but have never played it. Found some info and screenshots on the CSBanana gimmicks page, and love the look of some of the stuff they put in. Note the inspirational posters... my favorite one has to be the one for 'ping' :)
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:56 AM
June 03, 2005
Prey Video Prey's just released E3 2005 Video. Looks pretty nice..... lots of interesting work with gravity as well, and some interesting looking stuff when you go out of your body and shoot baddies with a glowing bow and arrow.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:44 PM
May 31, 2005
How to Improve Computer Gaming A really nice article called A Gamers' Manifesto. A good read for sure, calling the gaming industry on their BS, and pointing out a lot of the areas lacking in their presentation and advertising.
It's 2005! Give me environments that realistically react to what I do! Yes, it matters."
And a better quote:
Instant-Failure Stealth Levels. Ack. This brings back horrible memories of a Goldeneye level where if you tripped an alarm, an infinite number of bad guys poured forth. We knew a man who failed that level 37 times, then got the Infinite Health cheat for it and came back. He intentionally tripped the alarm, the guards rushed out. Laughing maniacally, he proceeded to shoot those fuckers for four hours, killing 1,183 of them - 682 with groin shots - before his thumbs cramped up. Your game should not create this kind of bitterness.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:41 AM
May 20, 2005
The Best of E3 Trailers Random foo has a nice summary with links to the best of E3. Ghost Recon 3 is sure to make Yohimbe happy and there were a couple of others that I hadn't seen before.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:15 AM
May 19, 2005
E3 PS3 Tech Demos More E3 Goodness.... not HD like the fileshack ones are, but nonetheless, these are impressive. The Unreal 3 demo (very bottom of the list) is probably my favorite, though they are all indicationsof the absolute coolness that'll arrive with the PS3. Via < a href="http://jimmac.musichall.cz/weblog.php/Cool_Gear/ps3">Jimmac.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:57 PM
HD Enemy Territory Quake Wars Footage Shacknews has HD Footage of a bunch of games at E3, with the most important to me being the new Enemy Territory : Quake Wars, team/squad based quake game based on the Doom3 engine. Except that it's videotaped, all I have to say is holy shit, it looks amazing. How long till 2006 again? Anyway, not all the HD footage is public, you have to be a mercury member to get it, but the ET:QW video is public (as is the other really important one, the booth babes video :)
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:23 AM
May 18, 2005
Quake 4 Trailer Cool, I found a trailer for Quake IV on the e3 page on gametrailers.com. Looks very sweet!
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:10 PM
May 16, 2005
Some new Id Screenshots So these screenshots make me horny. First up is one from Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, something just announced from the guys who did enemy territory.
�For years, fans have enjoyed incredible battles on the Strogg home planet; but with ENEMY TERRITORY: QUAKE WARS, we�re taking players back to the war that started it all � the Strogg invasion of Earth � where the choice is to fight with the humans or the alien Strogg in a massive campaign for survival,� said Todd Hollenshead, CEO, id Software. �Like all great id Software games, ENEMY TERRITORY: QUAKE WARS unites bleeding-edge technology, a fantastic universe, and meticulously balanced gameplay to deliver an engrossing and futuristic gaming experience.�

Second is a sexy new screenshot from the sometime when it's ready quake 4.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:48 PM
May 11, 2005
Most Anticipated Games at E3 IGN picks their most anticipated games coming to E3 this year. The only one on their list that excites me is FEAR, but also mentioned is Call of Duty 2 and the next in the Unreal Tournament series. Well, that and Duke Nukem When^wForever (which quite frankly is nothing more than a big joke at this point I think, kudos to 3drealms for sticking with it (assuming they are), but unless they have something amazing it'll be another Diakatana (IMHO). Of course, they can't throw away what, 10 years of code either....
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:31 AM
May 04, 2005
HardOCP Test x64 Game Performance An interesting article looking at games running under Windows XP x64 edition on an Athlon 64. The results show that at this point, there's no immediate advantage, but as 64bit CPUs get more common, and drivers are re-written with 64bit code, it definately can't hurt.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:38 PM
April 14, 2005
Star Wars Lego Video Game The Star Wars Star Wars Videogame.... looks nifty. Thanks BewitchedGem.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:38 AM
March 10, 2005
More on Unreal 3 Shacknews has some more info and links about Unreal Engine 3 Impressions. True seamless level loading, yum!
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 07:55 AM
February 11, 2005
Half Life 2 Getting New Lighting System Something coming in through Valve's Steam system will be coming down soon.
Today, Valve software announced several neat new things coming down the Half-Life 2 pipeline, the neatest of which is the inclusion of High Dynamic Range lighting, or HDR, an effect that gives light a very realistic glow.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:43 AM
January 03, 2005
The History of Unreal Technology This is pretty interesting. UnrealOps has a three part series about The history of Unreal Technology. Part 2 and 3 are up as well. They have overviews of how things came about, the hardware, some screenshots from some very old demos and betas.... nifty stuff.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:33 PM
December 27, 2004
Matrix Quake Anyone tried out the M A T R I X mod for quake3? Looks good, but I'm not gonig to wait 220 minutes in line at fileplanet to download it :(
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:30 AM
December 20, 2004
Half Life 2 Demo Released Cool, now everyone can enjoy the Half Life 2 Demo.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:16 PM
December 10, 2004
Diakatana Timeline This is interesting, a timeline and story (and other goodies) showing a Daikatana timeline going from Ion Storms funding in 1996, the first Diakatana E3 display at E3 in May 1997 all the way to the final release in April of 2000.

Still waiting for Duke Nuk'em Forever....

John also notes that it's the 11th anniversary of Doom.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:37 PM
November 24, 2004
Half Life 2 Timeline Primotech has a cool timeline of the half life and half life 2 development process.

Oh, and the fix for the stuttering in HL2 has been released on steam. To update, just load up the game (I think).

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:07 PM
November 23, 2004
Half Life 2 Stuttering Fix on the W-w-w-way The sound stuttering bug that is in half life 2 is expecting a fix today according to the webpage.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 07:47 AM
November 22, 2004
Quake 1 With Proper Lighting Never saw this project before.....
Tenebrae is a modification of the quake source that adds stencil shadows and per pixel lights to quake. Stencil shadows allow for realistic shadow effects on every object in the game world. Per pixel lighting allows you to have fine surface details correctly lit. These are essentially the same algorithms as used by the new Doom [3] game.
Well, it sure looks good! Version 2 is of course, an upgrade of the original.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:06 PM
November 19, 2004
Half Life 2 Survival Guide For those who have it, you might need the Half-Life 2 Survival Guide from 1UP.COM.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:58 PM
November 15, 2004
Half Life 2: Close Enough to Taste Well, Half Life 2 is going to be available for retail purchase tomorrow, and at midnight tonight they will be unlocking the authentication servers. I'm all for technology and all, but it sucks to have bought a game that you can't play, you know? This is one of the reasons why I haven't bought into steam, which is Valves content delivery system.. though someone on /. called it more of a content restriction system instead. I understand why they need this, but on the other hand, if I own the game why can't I play it, and more pointedly, after I unlock the game to play (assuming that unlocking is needed for the single player retail purchase), do I need the auth servers to be up to play in the future, say in 5 years (Half Life 1 is about that old right?).

Anyway, can't wait for tomorrow!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:39 PM
November 12, 2004
Half Life 2 Kinda News This image is not only cute, but it, along with others, shows that Half Life 2 might be sooner than expected. Of course, right now my expectations for it coming by sometime soon are next to nothing....
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:30 PM
November 06, 2004
Flatout Game Demo is Nifty Anyone else played the FlatOut demo? It's a racing game done to todays standards of game technology... great graphics, ragdoll physics, completely deformable cars and track environments (no more staying on the track muahahah) and "games" like the third gametype in the demo where you try to launch your driver really high up from a jump. Long story, check it out and see if you like it. This is something I'll be keeping my eyes on!
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:46 AM
October 18, 2004
Half Life 2 Gone Gold Well, Half Life 2 has gone gold.... guess I know what I'm doing on November 16th. What a great early birthday present!
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:45 PM
October 17, 2004
Doom 3 SDK Released Mod authors take note! The DOOM 3 SDK has been released. Now mod away!
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:07 AM
October 06, 2004
HL2 Looks like the pre-order for Half Life 2 is going to be on Steam tomorrow. Steam is valves online delivery system, ie: you buy a game online and it's downloaded to your computer, so all updates, etc are done online automatically.

Anyway, the pre-order is going to be up on the steam system tomorrow, so you can get a variety of options, from HL2 and CounterStrike: Source to HL2, CS:S, Half Life 1: Source, t-shirts, etc. Of all of this the only thing actually available now is CounterStrike: Source though. Wonder if this is marketting hype to get people ready and bought in or if they are actually close to releasing HL2... course, if they were close they'd keep their mouths shut and not piss people off by making them pay for something they can't get right away :)

Not that I'm tired of waiting of course....

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:11 PM
October 04, 2004
Doom 3 For Linux Demo My buddy Khensu threw a link to the DOOM III GNU/Linux FAQ. Right now I'm at a bit of a loss for spare computer time (much less gaming time :) but I'll definately check this out when I'm back up and running a bit more. Shacknews also it.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:28 PM
September 17, 2004
Quake 4 Preview Darren threw me a subtle pointer to this German forum where there are some Quake IV Screenshots. It's a scan of the preview in PC Zone, and it looks fantastic. A quick scan reveals it's built on the Doom 3 engine, will take up after Quake 2, has vehicles, fantastic looking models and oh my it does look cool. ETA 2005 though :(
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:00 AM
September 16, 2004
Call Of Duty Expansion Demo Released Well now this is exciting, the expansion pack for Call of Duty has had a demo released. It's 220 meg, but should be well worth it if this is anything like the original (which still has my vote for best single player FPS game ever).
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:02 PM
September 09, 2004
New ATI Driver (4.9) Those of you with nifty keen ATI video cards may want to check out the new drivers, which have a new control center and apparently, better performance for Doom 3, Far Cry, and UT2K4 (under certain conditions and for certain cards of course :)
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:22 PM
September 04, 2004
Medal of Honor Pacific Assault Demo Wow, I have to day that Call of Duty was probably the best experience as a WW2 FPS. However, after downloading the demo to Medal of Honor Pacific Assault I'm thinking that my opinion might be changed. The demo is just great, looks awsome, good gameplay, and while half the time I didn't really know what was going on, lots of fun :)
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:30 PM
August 26, 2004
New Call of Duty Expansion Screenshots Shacknews pointed to some new Call of Duty: United Offensive screenshots. Mostly showing off the new explosion and fire effects (which look awsome). Looking forward to getting this, as CoD was the first game in ages that I actually got through the entire thing and enjoyed!
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 07:34 AM
August 17, 2004
More Doom 3 Tweaking Found another page of Doom 3 tweaking.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:13 PM
August 15, 2004
Todd Hollenshead Interview (Doom 3) Good interview with Todd Hollenshead on DOOM 3.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:45 AM
August 08, 2004
Doom 3 Review That Hits it On the Head Sometimes you have to go through a few reviews of a game that you've played to try to find something that puts your feelings into words. It took a while but this one seemed to hit it right on the head:

[...] Its scary. If you have heart conditions, do not play this game. Buy it, but don't play it. I have never been more scared in my life. When I first ran into the main baddies in Halo I was scared for a little bit, but eventually I just ripped into them. In Doom3, from start to finish I am one scary creature away from pissing my pants.

[...]

The sound is also top notch. In stereo I still could tell there was a creepy undead marine behind me. If you have a 5.1 setup, prepare for an aural orgasm.

[...]

... not once in Doom3 was I sad that I would have to go into another room, scream like a little girl, run back out, collect myself, and then go forward.

That pretty much says it all. Well, almost all. Can you tell I've been playing a lot of this game lately? :)
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:57 PM
August 05, 2004
More Eye Candy in Doom 3 A review posted here says what we all know, Doom 3 kicks ass... but also has a note on how to enable some extra eye candy from muzzle flashes.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:15 PM
Doom 3 Link Collection Stelth on the shacknews boards (can you tell I read this site in the mornings?) put together a bunch of doom 3 links in the forum. All the bits and peices of information around about everything from troubleshooting to cheats to the editor, etc.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 07:54 AM
New Half Life 2 ScreenShots Amidst all the Doom 3 stories, Shacknews threw up three new Half-Life 2 screenshots. Looks purty.... so when's this one coming out?
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 07:49 AM
August 03, 2004
Doom 3 Tweaking Yup, it's out there today, and some people (whom you are allowed to hate), have it already. For those, and those like myself who will be picking it up from the stores as soon as it's available, check out the quick tweak guide for DOOM 3 over at the Tech Report.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:19 PM
July 28, 2004
Game Development and "Carmack's Reverse" A bit over my head, but anyone into game design and theory might enjoy checking out some info on shadow volumes and a method called Carmack's Reverse.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:18 AM
July 10, 2004
Doom 3 Poster... Is it Almost Ready? A poster for Activision's Doom 3 marketting campaign shows that things might be closer than we think. I particularily like the bottom logo: "Doom III has slightly lower expectations around it than the second coming of Jesus." :)
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:56 AM
June 24, 2004
Independent Game'age FORGETFOO.COM points out a link to a a nifty looking independently released game called Kreed. Based on the screenshots I think it might be nifty (assuming those shadows are dynamic of course :)
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:47 PM
May 31, 2004
Halo 2 3D Dana passed on this very nifty Halo 2 3d screenshot. It's one of those quicktime panorama dealies, and looks pretty nifty. I'm still waiting for Doom3 and HalfLife2 though :)
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:52 AM
May 13, 2004
Unreal 3 Tech Page As a bit of a follow up to the Unreal 3 video I posted about last month, there is a Unreal Technology page up with some details of what's in store when the game is released (sometime before 2010 I hope!). Graphics, physics, characters, and lots of tasty screenshots for your drooling.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:41 PM
April 30, 2004
Half Life Two Screenshots Found They're gone from their original location, reported on shacknews, but still around. Someone has some links in the shacknews comments which show the as-yet-unreleased FPS looking pretty good.

I grabbed 'em anyway though :)

Some are pretty huge, recommended a browser that automagically scales down to your browser window size :)
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 07:42 AM
April 14, 2004
Unreal 3 Demo Video

Not sure how long the link pointed to by this Boing Boing post about Unreal 3's amazing detail will last. Let me know if it dies, I have a copy :) All I can say is "wow" and "wish the video was high res". Unreal 3 will kick ass visually, it looks like Doom3 on steroids. They are showint it off only because of the new nvidia card, which is the first card (at $900CND approx) that can handle the engine. However, the millions of polygons and all realtime lighting and detail are no doubt worth it, and we'll all be upgrading in a year or three when Unreal 3 is released. Just wish Doom3 would hurry up and arrive :)

This is where the link goes.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:47 PM
March 22, 2004
Linux Gamers' FAQ Never seen this before... the Linux Gamers' FAQ, which includes such topics as how to run games with a dual head setup.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:34 PM
March 02, 2004
Bubbles Addiction This game is just evil. 22,000+ here...

Damn you JWZ!

Link fixed, thanks Randy.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:35 PM
February 28, 2004
Serious Sam 2 Update From what I read from Croteam, Serious Sam 2 is coming along nicely and should be visually on par with the likes of Doom 3, Half Life 2, and Halo 2. Guess we'll see when they get a bit closer though. I'm glad that they are still up and at it though, I was a bit worried they'd disappear as a one hit wonder :)
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:32 AM
February 19, 2004
UT 3.3 Is Out Hey you UT freaks, Urban Terror 3.3 has been released! Get it while it's hot.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:23 PM
February 17, 2004
Urban Terror 3.3 Today? According to the UT website, Urban Terror 3.3 is aimed to be released today sometime. Fingers crossed.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:13 PM
January 24, 2004
Urban Terror 3.2 Released Whooohoooo! Looks like the Quake 3 total conversion Urban Terror have released their 3.2 version. Highlights look like a return of the m4 and a couple of new maps, as well as some interesting server side mods that allow you to do things like create a pistols only server. I'm getting 260KB/sec off of the kickassctf.com mirror of the files by the way guys, so you local fellows might want to try that one out first. Of course, the update is only 40megs as well, so it's not the 300meg beast the previous release was :)
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:16 PM
January 06, 2004
Doom 3 Preview Online Shacknews pointed to Computer gaming world's DOOM 3 preview. Sounds great, and a different-yet-the-same feel (FPS but slower paced and single player focused) from iD. There will be multiplayer though. And good stuff it sounds like. Beserker mode sounds like fun!

You'll have objectives, an in-game PDA, missions that include escorting NPCs and that sort of thing. Sounds great, I can't wait! No release date yet though, still "when it's done" :(

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:56 AM
December 30, 2003
Chopper for OS/X Chopper for OS/X. Via Derek.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:53 PM
December 16, 2003
3D Pong Todays addictive game, Curveball (3d pong) brought to you by Darren Barefoot.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 02:39 PM
November 22, 2003
Dues Ex 2 Demo Released Yeap, it's out and you can grab it off of shacknews if you want (or find a better download mirror somewhere). If you read the comments in the above link you'll find that not everyone was really impressed with it. I have to say that running it on my XP2600+ with 1G ram and a GF3 and it felt like crap. I have to agree with the first posters thoughts. Too bad, Dues Ex 1 kicked ass.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:30 AM
November 21, 2003
Halo for Mac Halo for Mac? Is the sky really falling? Thanks for the pointer to NSLog().
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:38 AM
October 23, 2003
Doom 3 Preview There is a Doom 3 Preview over at Computers and Video Games daut calm. Sounds pretty nice. One of the features they talk about is per-polygon hit detection, which means that now you have to actually aim, lest a shot goes through someone's legs, or under their arm. Cooool. Thanks sCary.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 07:50 AM
October 08, 2003
New Doom 3 Shots This interview with id Software's Todd Hollenshead and Tim Willits has some more info on the game and a couple of new screenshots.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:04 PM
October 07, 2003
HL 2 Delay and STALKER Shots Well according to ShackNews due to the stealing of some of their source code, Half Life 2 could be delayed till april. That suckes harshly, as I have a new system with spanky new video card all ready to go for it, and was counting down the days. Guess a Sept 30th release was just too good to be true.

On the upside of this I guess is that by that time other games will be out and we'll be flooded with new titles. I know Max Payne 2 just went gold (can't wait to try it out... demo please!), Doom III should be out by then (hopefully) and other games should be at a point of release as well. For example, the latest S.T.A.L.K.E.R. shots look awsome!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 07:37 AM
September 25, 2003
Half Life 2 Delayed *sigh* Well I suppose it had to happen sooner or later. Apparently Half Life 2, touted as "coming out on Sept 30th" and "on track for the original release date" has been pushed back to sometime in the holiday season. This completely sucks. I was hoping that they'd be able to do it, and while I don't like the idea of a company pushing out a buggy or incomplete game, I'm not sure if that's worse than getting lots of publicity on the fact they had a firm ship date (instead of "when it's done") and were going to hit it, and then dropping the ball (unless you believe some people :)

Oh well, not much we can do but move on and hope that they don't end up like Duke Nukem WhenForever! The game is still going to kick ass when it comes out though from what I've seen. Or at least if it comes out in a reasonable timeframe.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:37 AM
September 23, 2003
Doom 3 Interview and 2 New Shots Computer and Video Games has a short interview about Doom 3 including two wicked looking screenshots. Can't wait!

Because of their stupid system that doesn't appear to allow you to link directly to the page, try going to the main page and clicking on the "Doom 3: id speaks out, new screens!" link in the top left corner.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 07:28 AM
August 15, 2003
Why iD Software Rocks Yea yea, more Doom 3 stuff. Anyway, some notes from the quakecon keynote. In there this is the reason why idsoftware kicks complete and total ass (other than their fine games of course):
Hollenshead said he was not worried about other highly anticipated games like Half-Life 2 and Halo 2 taking away some of Doom III�s thunder, saying, �We don�t need other games to suck for ours to be good.�
That's classy.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:35 PM
August 14, 2003
Doom 3 Multiplayer Shots Oooooh! Doom 3 multiplayer shots via shacknews. Course, they aren't loading for me. Hopefully you guys will have more luck.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:32 PM
Doom 3 Preview DOOM III Preview. Looks delicious!
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:43 AM
June 13, 2003
Halo 2 8 Minute Demo Bittorrent links etc are here. Main page is here. I can't say if the movie rocks or not, I'm still downloading (but at decent speed, and without having to go through a full page ad or sign up so another gaming site can spam me (I'm bitter, can you tell?).
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:19 PM
June 11, 2003
Multi Headed Gaming Multi-Head Gaming over at PlanetQuake. Hope that I can get this going for the next lan party :) 2x19" Quake3.... mmmm........
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:56 PM
June 06, 2003
Thief 3 Interview Thief 3 interview with some good details via bluesnews.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:07 PM
May 18, 2003
More Half Life 2 Spooge I'm sure by now everyone has seen the brief Half Life 2 video (and if you haven't, go get it). I don't have the bandwidth to provide it, but I heard a little birdie say that the 500 meg .mov was uploaded to the usenet newsgroup alt.binaries.multimedia. I've watched the first half of the 15 minute video and all I have to say is wow. This game is going to completely and totally kick ass. The physics engine alone will be worth the price of a computer upgrade (and the game itself of course!).

So run, don't walk to your newsreader and search for "half" in you-know-where and start downloading (it's in rar format and pars are there as well.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:45 PM
May 15, 2003
Doom 3, Half Life 2 Trailers Online

"Wow" is the censored version of what I said when I watched these two trailers. I highly recommend using bittorrent to grab the Doom3 trailer, and then grab the half life 2 trailer (.mov). Both are just... "wow".

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:08 AM
May 14, 2003
E3: 3 New Doom 3 Screens and Halo 2 Shots For the Doom 3 folks, there are some new shots here. They show floating attacking heads (not as scary as the big ass floating eye things from the original IMHO), the title screen, and some spider things (oooh, check out the lighting). As E3 has started it sounds like there will be more screenshots or a movie or something doom wise coming soon (fingers crossed).

There are some absolutely awsome shots of Halo2 here... wow, talk about nice lighthing and texturing. Course, it'll be another 5 years before those who refuse to buy an X-Box (or who can't afford it) will see anything Halo wise for the PC....

As always, Steve over at shacknews has the scoop.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:08 AM
May 13, 2003
Halo On PC Originally Halo was supposed to be a badass third person shooter that was just going to kick complete and total ass. It was (from what I've heard) developed by programmers on P200s to ensure that it didn't fall into the "requires an 18Ghz Dual P5" syndrome. It was going to be released simultaniously for PC, Mac and Linux. Then Microsoft bought the company, or the game, depending on who you talk to, to make it the premier title for the X-Box. This of course meant that the team had to re-do a lot, changing and adding a lot for the X-Box architecture, and of course the nice zippy graphics card and processor the X-Box offered.

At that time I knew we'd never see a Linux or Mac version, and I was very very doubtful we'd see a PC version. Howver, there is a story or GameSpy from the company (Gearbox Software) that got the job of doing the PC port. Good to see there is still a chance.

On a personal note, I'm sad to say I don't think that Halo matters anymore. If it had come out in 1999 or whever it was it was first talked about it would have been the best game ever (or something like that), but this many years later, there are other games that do what it does, and it has been leapfrogged technologically, so I don't think the impact it could have made will still be there. My hopes are still out that it'll be good though.

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 07:49 AM
May 12, 2003
Doom III Interview A very interesting article on doom 3 found via shacknews. Lots of tidbits about the story and the technology, and bascially how we're all going to have to upgrade when it comes out (no, no release date, but they will be showing video at E3 this year).
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:31 AM
May 08, 2003
Memories: Half Life 1 Preview In consideration of Half Life 2 being released in just a few months, Steve of shacknews has posted his first Half-Life 1 preview. Ah, the memories. Currently I'm making my way through the Half Life 1 expansion pack Opposing Force and all I have to say is "Damn you Tig! Curse you a thousand deaths for getting me sucked in to this game!" I'd forgotten how engrossing the game is.... it's graphics have even stood the test of time well. I have actually turned up the brightness of my monitor at times, and man, when I enter a seemingly normal area and suddenly the CD spins up and some music starts pumping out.... oh... man.... (yea yea, I'm a wimp, shut up!)
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 07:44 AM
April 30, 2003
Doom 3 Q&A [shacknews] Doom III Q&A. Survey says, "truely spoogeworthy".
Tim Willits: Doom III will truly change what people expect from a video game experience. Every piece of technology, from the rendering system to the six-channel surround sound and the realistic physics, is coupled with incredible art and design to create a world that is hyperrealistic and more interactive than ever.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:58 PM
April 24, 2003
Half Life 2 Details Spoog-o-rific! Tig found a scan of pages from the latest pc gamer with 12 full pages on Half life 2! The first page is here. Change the filename from *_1.jpg to *_2.jpg all the way to _12.jpg for the rest of the article (I'm too lazy to create links right now :)

New game engine, awsome effects, not quite aimed at the doom3 crowd, but still good (playable on a p3-700 with a tnt2 all the way up to the latest and greatest), better AI, better effects, new AI system (muscle system, lip syncing, and realistic beast movement), lots of attention to light and reflections, in development since the original Half Life came out and best of all, it's going to be released in less than six months!

Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:16 PM
April 21, 2003
Max Payne Kung Fu Edition MAX PAYNE: Kung Fu Edition sounds really cool... an add on to the original Max Payne (a couple of years old already) that lets you do some serious ass kicking kung fu style in nifty bullet time! Check out the "media" link and the video of what you can do!
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:54 PM
April 16, 2003
Doom 3 Preview Not a lot of new info, but good for spooge factor is a wired article entitled Prepare to Meet Thy Doom
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:58 AM
October 08, 2002
Quake 3 Point Release Released I see on the shack that the Quake 3 1.32 point relase (29mb) is out. Mostly a bugfix release it looks like, but hopefully now games like UT will be able to release their new versions.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:43 AM
July 14, 2002
Halo for Mac Nose Rubbing Found an article off bluesnews about the mac release of halo, with words of wisdom to those who thought it would never come. I still say the proof is when you lay the game down in front of me, but we have to wait for 2003 before that happens, for both PC and Mac. It's really too bad this couldn't have happened back when it was announced in 1999, when Halo would have been just that cool a game, before the rest of the clones of FPS and 3rd PS came along. I still have yet to play it, but I am filled with far less awe now adays than I was a few years ago. But as the old adage goes, "blame microsoft"
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 09:51 AM
July 12, 2002
Halo for PC Oh happy day! Halo for the PC is here! Finally....
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 03:05 PM
June 26, 2002
Addiction Anyone? Frozen Bubble happens to be my latest. I noticed it in a LJ article where it mentioned a bug filed against it. Damn them! Course, it gives me something to do instead of lying in bed and wishing it wasn't so damn hot I couldn't sleep.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 12:46 AM
June 22, 2002
Neverwinter Nights Review Found a review of Neverwinter Nights that gives it very high marks. Might want to check this one out....
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:58 AM
June 13, 2002
Look back at Doom There's an article with a cool look back at the game that changed the face of video games, Doom.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:21 AM
June 04, 2002
Doom III Interview Just some link propagation about the doom III interview over at the Daily Telefrag.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 11:45 AM
June 01, 2002
Free Space Sim Wow, how cool is this? A free, high quality space similuator that allows you to orbit a shuttle, see mars, the moon, earth, all in beautiful high res, 3d accelerated glory! Granted, the driving can be a bit complicated, and it's a bit crashy, but still well worth a download or even just a look.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 10:49 AM
May 29, 2002
Doom III Shots Yup, it's almost time to start spooging again. They showed it at E3, there's the video out there with some in game footage and interviews, and now the shack has nicely collected the high quality screenshots here. As you will note from the Carmack article below, the game was only running at medium visual settings, not "best." Still damn impressive, especially when he says "... we screwed up..." :)
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 05:22 PM
May 24, 2002
Halo PC QandA Seems that the shack finally got the time to ask MS about the status of the once promised (and touted) PC release of Halo. As you may remember, Halo was originally going to be released for Windows, Linux, and Mac. Then someone bought them out, and got Halo going as the premier game for the X-Box. Obviously the chance of getting a release of the Linux and Mac versions is pretty near 0, but the PC windows version is still possible. The interview basically says it's still planned, but there's no timeframe. Sounds like evasive salesdroid-speak to me though.
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 01:22 PM
May 02, 2002
NetHack Via Tig, a Diablo style version of NetHack, Falcons Eye. Very well done, I'm playing it as I type this! :)
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 04:04 PM
April 20, 2002
SoF 2 Impressions A decent article with impressions of the new Soldier of Fortune 2 Multiplayer that was just released that rings pretty true to what I thought about it. It "felt" very close to the Navy Seals mod for quake3, but was better somehow. The models, weapons and sounds were all nice, and it had a good mix of realism/fun, and as it was done using the quake3 team arena engine as a base, it looked niiiiiiiiiiiiiice. Try it out yourselves and let me know what you think!
Gaming - Posted by Arcterex at 08:45 AM