Well, Monday morning, but I’ve been off at the London MCM expo doing my thang (And hello to any readers who said hi). Anyway, even if it’s Monday morning when you read this, it’s still a good time to sit back and take in a carefully prepared list of pieces which caught my eye this week which I tried desperately hard not to include any links to top disco classics.
- Comic Godhead Al Ewing has been crashing at my house this weekend, and he mentioned that he actually blogged on games for a year. Somehow I didn’t know this. Useless. Anyway, with a mass of stuff already written, let’s start you here – his review of 1985 classic Gauntlet: “Red Elf Shot The Food”. Frankly, I have never seen such bravery.
- Kyle Orland writing his Press Pass gathers opinions from journos on the effect of Hype on coverage. I was asked about my take on this, but never responded as I am crazy busy. Useless old me.
- Bill Harris over at his Dubious Quality has been having a bad time – and, as such, writes effectively about the consolatory nature of games. No puns intended. This is one of my pet themes – not consolation per se, but the utilitarian function of games. It’s also something Jim touched on heavily in his book – namely, games as an antidote to bordeom.
- Not games, but Paul Boutin writes for Wired on why Blogs are obsolete in 2008. Worth thinking about if you care about Web culture, even if you disagree with him on a fundamental level (Which I do).
- Comrade Edwards goes off on one over Far Cry 2. We’ll be doing our verdict this week, which proves to be an interesting one.
- Paul Barnett has started doing a daily video diary. This one namechecks John Walker and World of Goo. Woo!
- And while we’re on Warhammer, Ex-Mythic MMO-sage Lun (Not Lud, Kieron, you nub – Ed) (Actually, it’s Lum. I was up all night. What’s your excuse, Ed – Kieron) the Mad talks about five things he loves about Warhammer and five things he doesn’t like. I don’t like how my subscription has just died. Man!
- Leigh Alexander picks up from where I left off and thinks about the responsibility of journalists and whether she’d have grabbed exactly the same quote.
- BOOGIE WONDERLANNNNND!
Failed.
Related Stories:
@Radiant:
New Scientist is a shitter for it too, ‘WHY WE’LL BE DEAD TOMORROW’, and the article reveals a new style of string theory which hypothesises an alternate dimension each day where we all die or something equally rubbish.
Dear RPS, I have no idea on how to run a website about games or indeed how to write correctly in southern queen like English. I do however have a degree in a real science (chemistry) so that makes me better than you or indeed anybody else. So please give me a job so that I can alleviate your burden of having not enough time in the day to play computer games and write about the things you love most, instead of for example testing the highly entertaining sealing characteristics of polytetrafluoroethene based gaskets under EN13555 standards and then having to write reports of said sealing characteristics in as boring as possible third person passive.
I need a new job… does RPS need a research chemist with an overly large head? I have experience in creating car polish and anti graffiti cleaners also….
I am a chemist I can make things go bang…
More splodes are always need, surely?
*I seem to have blown the end off of ‘needed’ :S
“Lud” the Mad? FOR SHAME.
Looking forward to the Farcry 2 verdict. Initially I was down on the game, but the more I’ve played the more I’ve come to embrace the challenge to it, and in a lot of ways understand where Tim is coming from in his review. If you’re on of the many complaining about the respawning checkpoints, you need to think beyond the road when it comes to getting from A to B. You’re a hostile in a warzone…travelling on a road in broad daylight is always going to be a recipe for disaster. Start thinking like that and the game becomes that much more pleasurable.
@mrrobsa
I don’t think I’ve ever read the New Scientist.
Or indeed looked at the cover. ;)
@Kadayi
That’s what I thought reading a lot of the complaints on FC2: “The checkpoints! They have guards!”
Maybe some dyed in the wool FPS players are too used to straight lining a game; COD4′ing themselves from A-B in the shortest line possible.
With the shift in gameplay that FC2 presents it’s hard to understand that you really don’t have to go through any checkpoints if you don’t want to.
I don’t know, I just think some people [the ever present horde of you people that love to moan if the porridge is too lumpy] just want to grind to the end of the game to get to the next.
Only because you lose when you do…
Let’s Groove > Boogie Wonderland
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_XOY7lsBVpo
Abyss: Gillen has a degree (at what level I do not know) in Biology, so consider yourself redundant.
Re: Boogie Wonderland. I only could think of one thing when watching that video – it’s a singing Klingon with an afro!
@Zuffox: Of course, as Physicists and Chemists know, Biology isn’t a Real Science, as Abyss specified.
Of course, as a Physicist, I should note that Chemistry isn’t a Real Science either.
*ducks*
@Sam:
We all know what’s needed…. SCIENCE WARS!!
It’d be chuffing brilliant! Chemists vs Physicists vs Biologists TO THE DEATH.
@Radiant
I’d say the flaw to the game is that it doesn’t actually encourage you think differently about your play style, in the way that say Portal does, but instead leaves you to figure out why your butting heads all the time, or end up on forums/websites bitching about ‘respawning Checkpoints’ and ‘they need to patch it’. I watched the 1UP show last night and although all of the reviewers on it were super enthusiastic about it as a game, it was abundantly clear that one of them at least hadn’t made the necessary leap of imagination required to get past the whole Cars/Roads/Checkpoints conundrum.
Sam: we physicists win :)
Oh, crap, I do maths as well don’t I? I agree, a fight to the bitter, messy end is needed.
Absolutely.
My personal view of it is that it sits in between two camps. It’s flaw being it’s not RPG enough for the explorers ["no XP? no leveling? no inventory?"] and it’s not signposted enough for straight forward shooters.
It’s not really a flaw in the game dynamics more a flaw in the games perception.
It reminds me a lot of Project IGI.
But your right it does need a Cpt. Price to show you the ropes in game.
Although Farcry 2 is building on the bones of STALKER & Boiling point and GTA to an extent; it’s going to be very hard to go back to the linear shooter for a lot of people after they’ve played it I feel. It’s definitely going to shift the FPS paradigm in terms of mainstream player expectation (someone had to say it, so it might as well be me), which kind of makes me fearful for titles like HL2:EP3, but at the same time makes me excited for future releases that evolve the concept further.
Sam and Down Rodeo: look here :D
New Scientist is a shitter for it too, ‘WHY WE’LL BE DEAD TOMORROW’, and the article reveals a new style of string theory which hypothesises an alternate dimension each day where we all die or something equally rubbish.
The only time you can be sure that the end of the world will be tomorrow is when the New Scientist doesn’t appear at all, because all the staff are out snorting cocaine off a prostitute’s buttock.
I don’t know, I just think some people … just want to grind to the end of the game to get to the next.
Judging by what I’ve seen and heard from many people, this is depressingly true. Although it seems to me that they’re often the most easily pleased players as well – give them shiny graphics and they’ll grind through it and move on to the next one for another £40. I’ve even seen this done with Guitar Hero – people sitting there mechanically pressing the buttons on easy mode until they’ve passed all the songs once, then ditching it forever. Totally missing the point, but there you go.
The thing is, biologists get laid.
KG
Growing your own doesn’t count.
Theoretical Physicists unfortunately don’t get laid. They just meet very charismatic, athletic and attractive multi-ethnic women with engineering expertise. Then, NOTHING HAPPENS.
The bloody anti-shag field is down now. They should be gagging for it.