general gaming topic

2011-11-28 06:50:27 am

Super Secret Area - Dead Ahead!

Quote from Poision Envy:

I wonder whats up with the sudden surge of fighting games getting all popular.

It's probably just another sign of everything being targeted toward multiplayer nowadays. My gripe at the moment in a very sub-par Ratchet and Clank game, which alters the game's mechanics just to accommodate multiplayer. Even in 'single player' mode, you have Clank with you at all times, so there are often times where you don't have to do anything. Not impressed.

tomatobob

2011-11-28 07:04:57 am

One shall stand, one shall ball.

Fighting games just didn't happen for a few years, then Street Fighter 4 filled that void and sold like crazy so people are making fighting games because people want them.

That's why so many have come out recently. Because people like fighting games.

Quote from rekameohs:

Arkham City is incredible: probably my game of the year. They took a great game and made it better in every way. It's also the best Metroid game we've seen in a number of years. :P

Asylum got a lot more Metroid comparisons, but City is the one that actually felt kinda like Metroid to me. It seems to encourage the player to poke around a bit more and demanded a lot more in terms of using gadgets to make progress or to get trophies or complete side missions. It got the exploratory aspect down. Asylum felt more like a Zelda game to me actually.

tomatobob

2011-11-28 07:17:19 am

One shall stand, one shall ball.

I mean there's definitely a trend toward multiplayer modes in the industry now because it's a bit more friendly to paid DLC than singleplayer. But I wouldn't say fighting games are part of that as the multiplayer aspect is very different than other genres. It's a genre that's always been multiplayer driven, to the extent that the more serious players have seemingly invented their own language to describe everything that goes into a match. It's basically a genre for mega nerds that think they're too cool for chess.

Ratchet and Clank's multiplayer invasion is more due to the likes of Gears of War and really any FPS you can think of than any fighting game.

Poision Envy

2011-11-28 07:19:46 am

Club 27 Goals

I'm saving my fighting-game virginity for this.

Quote from tomatobob:

It's a genre that's always been multiplayer driven, to the extent that the more serious players have seemingly invented their own language to describe everything that goes into a match. It's basically a genre for mega nerds that think they're too cool for chess.

So pretty much SC2, but more simple?

and speaking of SC2, I have a feeling I'm going to loose interest before I actually start laddering in the "srs" multiplayer with my friend. he's normally really good at RTS games like Red Alert but he seems to be sucking at SC2. And we're already really good at LoL so we'll probably just stick to that.

kesvalk

2011-11-28 09:25:35 am

Indie Lover

Quote from tomatobob:

mega nerds that think they're too cool for chess.

you just described the entire e-sport scene...

arkarian

Edit history:

arkarian: 2011-11-28 09:27:01 am

2011-11-28 09:26:34 am

red chamber dream

Quote from Prime Hunter:

My mind went immediately to Ratchet and Clank, Sackboy, and Hale (I think that was his name) from Resistance for some reason. They're all exclusives right? I could almost see Snake in there to despite MGS not being Sony exclusive anymore.

wasn't there a different protagonist in resistence 3? i haven't played 2 or 3 but i'm pretty sure nathan hale dies at the end of 2 or something. so that would be 2 more characters they could add.

i know crash bandicoot isn't sony exclusive but it seems like they could probably get the rights for him if they don't already have him. maybe the same for spyro.

beyond that i'm sure they could include other mgs characters as well as bentley and murray from sly. those guys are actually playable in most sly games, so i think they'd work.

kesvalk

2011-11-28 09:32:40 am

Indie Lover

i just hope they get this game right, cuz all the other clones of smash failed miserably for some stupid reason...

Poision Envy

2011-11-28 09:33:52 am

Club 27 Goals

Quote from kesvalk:

you just described the entire e-sport scene...

heh, I love watching those MLG streams online. Watching the intense SC2 and HoN matches and stuff. It's like football but for nerds.

kesvalk

2011-11-28 09:35:39 am

Indie Lover

i do too, but the guys are basically what tbob said...

the worst ones is the guys that play that underground japanese fighting games...

Prime Hunter

2011-11-28 10:16:58 am

Quote from arkarian:

Quote from Prime Hunter:

My mind went immediately to Ratchet and Clank, Sackboy, and Hale (I think that was his name) from Resistance for some reason. They're all exclusives right? I could almost see Snake in there to despite MGS not being Sony exclusive anymore.

wasn't there a different protagonist in resistence 3? i haven't played 2 or 3 but i'm pretty sure nathan hale dies at the end of 2 or something. so that would be 2 more characters they could add.

Oh he does? I've only played Resistance 1 so far and that was a few weeks before Skyward Sword came out, so I wouldn't know. Not that the first game gives you much of a reason to get attached to him though.

arkarian

2011-11-28 10:21:13 am

red chamber dream

dunno, i think i heard that somewhere yeah. so spoilers i guess, but who really gives a fuck about the plot in those games. i'm sure i'll get to playing 2 eventually though.

Prime Hunter

Edit history:

Prime Hunter: 2011-11-28 11:32:55 am

2011-11-28 11:27:42 am

I know I'll play 2 and 3 eventually, and the game's been out for years now so I'm not really upset about being spoiled because you've got to expect that sort of thing will happen eventually no matter how careful you try to be on the internet. But like I said, he doesn't do a good job of making you care about him after the first outing anyway, which is kinda bad for the main protagonist in any game or story.

No, I'm a little more upset about stumbling across something about a character in a game that just came out a few months back in a completely unrelated context. (Gears 3 actually, and I know a lot of people don't care about the series much but that's not the point here) Just happened to me a few minutes ago while watching something game related on Youtube and it annoys me how casually people can throw around spoilers for newer games sometimes. Kinda glad we try to avoid doing that around here, at least for a little while.

arkarian

2011-11-28 11:32:01 am

red chamber dream

yeah resistance 1 somehow gets a fair amount of praise but it's a pretty fucking bland game. some of the weapons and setpieces are cool, but i dunno ... i wasn't that impressed. maybe it was better back in 2006.

Prime Hunter

2011-11-28 11:33:52 am

I thought it was alright at first but I did enjoy a bit more it by the end. Insomniac definitely makes some pretty good weapons in their games though, got to give them that.

arkarian

2011-11-28 11:34:45 am

red chamber dream

they certainly do. they're such a hit or miss developer in general though. at least their hits (like r&cf1) are fucking fantastic.

Cpadolf

2011-11-28 11:53:50 am

Almost happy

Quote from kesvalk:

Quote from tomatobob:

mega nerds that think they're too cool for chess.

you just described the entire e-sport scene...

Ya'll just mega nerds who think you're too cool for E-sports!

Quote from Poision Envy:

and speaking of SC2, I have a feeling I'm going to loose interest before I actually start laddering in the "srs" multiplayer with my friend. he's normally really good at RTS games like Red Alert but he seems to be sucking at SC2.

Yeah, SC2 is pretty unforgiving to people who play it "wrong", so it can be pretty hard to get into.

kesvalk

Edit history:

kesvalk: 2011-11-29 07:42:39 am

2011-11-29 07:40:02 am

Indie Lover

i will never buy another ubisoft game... i never felt so insulted as a buyer than this, that Uplay DRM is SO stupid man!

like, i had a problem on my internet here, and while i was resetting the modem and router i thought of playing a little splinter cell, turns out that while offline, i lose all the extra content, saves and even game settings, like video and button configuration, WTH?

i was even thinking about buying Assassins creed, but forget it, these guys don't deserve a single penny...

J_SNAKE

2011-11-29 08:02:44 am

A friend of mine is watching this here on a regular basis, like football

Poision Envy

2011-11-29 08:45:54 am

Club 27 Goals

Quote from kesvalk:

i will never buy another ubisoft game... i never felt so insulted as a buyer than this, that Uplay DRM is SO stupid man!

like, i had a problem on my internet here, and while i was resetting the modem and router i thought of playing a little splinter cell, turns out that while offline, i lose all the extra content, saves and even game settings, like video and button configuration, WTH?

i was even thinking about buying Assassins creed, but forget it, these guys don't deserve a single penny...

haha, yeah Ubisoft has the worst DRM of all time. It totally screws over the legit paying customers, and doesn't stop the pirates at all. Idk if this was posted here or not but I'll post it again just in case: http://gamingbolt.com/gabe-newell-piracy-is-a-non-issue-to-valve-providing-better-services-will-result-in-more-sales

<3 Valve and Gaben.

kesvalk

2011-11-29 08:52:11 am

Indie Lover

yeah, gotta love gabe and valve, hell if it wasn't for steam i would still be pirating everything...

Poision Envy

2011-11-29 09:37:56 am

Club 27 Goals

true that, I love steam for how absolutely accessible it makes games and with the crazy sales they do literally every other day it's hard to pass up. And then of course it also makes chatting with friends in-game and all that really convenient.

It's no surprise other big companies like EA are trying to get in on this like with Origin, but there's just no way they'll be able to match or exceed what Valve has set up.

This might be strokin' it a bit, but Valve as a company are just hands-down my favorite video game company. Mostly because of how interactive they are with their direct community, and the fact that the company itself is very characterized. Sure you have Nintendo with their marios and sonic and link, but they just feel unrelatable in a way and as if they don't have any kind of personality or represent anything. Whereas with Valve you have the TF2 characters, all very distinct although usually pretty silly and goofy, and then there's also the Half-Life characters and hell even Portal characters to an extent. Like damn, even Gaben himself could be a character honestly. Miyamato and Nintendo itself though seems a lot more (for lack of a better words) foreign (or maybe that's a perfect word). I'm sure Nintendo being an out-of-country company does play a huge role in this, and maybe that's the biggest reason why, idk.

One awesome thing Valve does though that I know Nintendo doesn't do on the same level are all the tours and things. You can literally email Gaben asking if you can go on a tour of the valve HQ, and he'll email you back with a date and time (or at least he used to do this, every now and then I'll see a /v/ thread about someone who lives close to the HQ getting to go on a tour with some other people just by emailing him). It just makes the company feel more like a personal-level kind of company, like they actually give a fuck about the people that play their games and use their stuff BEYOND just making them happy to get more money out of them.

idk, maybe I've just turned into a silly Valve fanboy at this point. (even though I didn't enjoy the Half-Life series of games)

true that, I love steam for how absolutely accessible it makes games and with the crazy sales they do literally every other day it's hard to pass up. And then of course it also makes chatting with friends in-game and all that really convenient.

It's no surprise other big companies like EA are trying to get in on this like with Origin, but there's just no way they'll be able to match or exceed what Valve has set up.

This might be strokin' it a bit, but Valve as a company are just hands-down my favorite video game company. Mostly because of how interactive they are with their direct community, and the fact that the company itself is very characterized. Sure you have Nintendo with their marios and sonic and link, but they just feel unrelatable in a way and as if they don't have any kind of personality or represent anything. Whereas with Valve you have the TF2 characters, all very distinct although usually pretty silly and goofy, and then there's also the Half-Life characters and hell even Portal characters to an extent. Like damn, even Gaben himself could be a character honestly. Miyamato and Nintendo itself though seems a lot more (for lack of a better words) foreign (or maybe that's a perfect word). I'm sure Nintendo being an out-of-country company does play a huge role in this, and maybe that's the biggest reason why, idk.

One awesome thing Valve does though that I know Nintendo doesn't do on the same level are all the tours and things. You can literally email Gaben asking if you can go on a tour of the valve HQ, and he'll email you back with a date and time (or at least he used to do this, every now and then I'll see a /v/ thread about someone who lives close to the HQ getting to go on a tour with some other people just by emailing him). It just makes the company feel more like a personal-level kind of company, like they actually give a fuck about the people that play their games and use their stuff BEYOND just making them happy to get more money out of them.

idk, maybe I've just turned into a silly Valve fanboy at this point. (even though I didn't enjoy the Half-Life series of games)

J_SNAKE

Edit history:

J_SNAKE: 2011-11-29 10:19:52 am

2011-11-29 10:07:37 am

Btw. in case of interest Valve recently managed to finally get Michael Abrash working for them. It is a creative programmer and an expert in optimizing code. He worked with John Carmack on the Quake engine. There is a fun story how
they overcame the problem of being bound to gourad-shading, the so called light-maps were born out of it.

( a short note for interested: Gourad lighting model was the standard for a long time because Phong-lighting was too slow. Today phong-lighting is used as a component of the rendering-path. Both of them can only describe local lighting (no interactions with the reflections of other objects) though, so depending on the game there can be other light-models added to it to add more effects, like some partial ray-tracing to model some reflection/refraction-interactions. In times of Quake it was not that difficult to do something innovative in the graphics-field. Today however you cannot count on early innovators to remain still innovative. I personally think the future of real-time graphics will be a combination of traditonal rasterizing and ray-tracing. It is just about finding reasonable comprimises, less about inventing revolutionary techniques nowadays. A big field is of course global illumination to set the proper ambient term. But there are already sophicsticated radiosity approximations to model it.)

Btw. in case of interest Valve recently managed to finally get Michael Abrash working for them. It is a creative programmer and an expert in optimizing code. He worked with John Carmack on the Quake engine. There is a fun story how 
they overcame the problem of being bound to gourad-shading, the so called light-maps were born out of it.

( a short note for interested: Gourad lighting model was the standard for a long time because Phong-lighting was too slow. Today phong-lighting is used as a component of the rendering-path. Both of them can only describe local lighting (no interactions with the reflections of other objects) though, so depending on the game there can be other light-models added to it to add more effects, like some partial ray-tracing to model some reflection/refraction-interactions. In times of Quake it was not that difficult to do something innovative in the graphics-field. Today however you cannot count on early innovators to remain still innovative. I personally think the future of real-time graphics will be a combination of traditonal rasterizing and ray-tracing. It is just about finding reasonable comprimises, less about inventing revolutionary techniques nowadays. A big field is of course global illumination to set the proper ambient term. But there are already sophicsticated radiosity approximations to model it.)

Poision Envy

2011-11-29 10:23:51 am

Club 27 Goals

I probably only really understood like 70% of that, but neat.

And that's pretty cool they got that guy, the source engine itself seems like it does the job pretty damn well. On my old computer I was really impressed at how well Portal 2 ran maxed out. Another game that uses the Source engine, Vindictus, also runs really really well on lower-end laptops and desktops. It also looks fantastic for being a free MMO.

arkarian

2011-11-29 10:42:03 am

red chamber dream

valve is ok, but i can't rank them among my favorites because i don't really care about any of their games.

Turtle

2011-11-29 02:45:52 pm

I like turtles.

^ This.

I mean, Portal and its sequel were decent, but...