Recently, the Escapist did a vote for who is the best game developer with the lineup including some massive names and some very small studios also. You had titans like Blizzard, Bethesda, Nintendo and EA(studios), and then you had your much smaller studios like Mojang (Just one man),  Popcap and other names I’ve never even heard of.

Anyway, I digress from the point I wanted to make in this blog post.

The winner of this ladder vote was Mojang. Just one man. They call him Notch. He’s only made one game, and is a self made millionaire because of it.
That game, is Minecraft.

Minecraft isn’t even really a game. It’s a world simulator. Completely different from an RPG or a physics based simulation. It’s just a world, built out of blocks, with creatures and players and minerals. The players can build whatever they want (within reason) with the minerals they collect.

So it was a rather big shock when Bioware LOST to Mojang.

Minecraft has an absolute cult following, but even so, this was surprising. I was slightly upset by this, as I can’t say that Mojang really deserved to win Best Developer, compared to Bioware who has consistently released titles that are mind blowing and heart wrenchingly amazing, such as Mass Effect series, Dragon Age, Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter nights. The list goes on. Every single on of their titles  has been amazing. Not just in terms of player enjoyment, but in terms of developer effort and investment. The story, the characters, the interaction. All of it. Fantastic. So it was a shame to see hard working men and women and their projects, lose to one man’s hobby.

I get the feeling that what I’m saying in this mental expulsion may be coming across like I’m some sort of fan boy. I am, but I’m a scientist at heart, and I’m more than willing to see both sides of the picture here and the reasons behind why what happened, happened.

There was another contender before Bioware, who’s achievements are paramount to the gaming world. They have created titles that have been revolutionary in terms of story and gameplay, and they’ve created Engines and distribution platforms that are second to none. I’m talking of course, about Valve.

Look, I’m upset the user base of the Escapist was insane enough to vote Minecraft over the achievements of both Valve and Bioware, not to mention every other developer that lost to them. But I personally think Notch would be humbled that his fans love it so much. I mean, it’s not his fault the masses like what he made. It’s like blaming obesity on the inventor of chocolate: People can’t help but like it, but that doesn’t make chocolate any better, or them any smarter for liking it.

Except in this case people are silly, and don’t realise how much fucking work goes into producing games like Mass Effect or Half Life or Portal.

Games are so commercial now, so many come out and there’s so many different options when it comes to buying them. Games, but more specifically our society and my generation, are so used to things that are disposable. They have no concept of everlasting worth or workmanship. What they see is what they get, they don’t consider the factors that have come into play that put it in front of them. They don’t question the meat on their plate or how it got there. They don’t question how data travels wirelessly to their Idiot Box or how that device came into existence. They treat everything they interact with complacency, as everything they interact with can be replaced.

But you can’t replace the blood, sweat and tears of a good story.

Or the painstakingly hand drawn concept art and proof of concept work.

Or the countless hours of sleep lost to make sure the character models are perfect.

Or the catching up of work that was lost due to a dead harddrive.

Or the mad rush towards the end to make sure there’s that little piece of you embedded firmly in your creation.

Or the love for what you do and the people who will enjoy it.

You cant. Not ever.

And it’s this that sets both Valve and Bioware apart from other developers. They have done those things countless times. For us. For your average person, who just wants to play a fun game. And for the die hard fans.

And yet, they don’t get the love they deserve.

To the user they’re just another game dev.

Just another avenue of entertainment. Worth approximately 6-30 hours worth of joy.

Thats all we developers are worth to them. That’s all our heart and soul in a company or game is worth to the average user. So I’m not angry at Notch for making a game that appeals to them. I’m not angry at the gamers who voted his game number one and for enjoying what he worked so hard on.

I’m angry at our society that has taught us it’s okay to dispose and to not take things to heart. To consider only what we see and can touch, to only appreciate what is tangible and in front of us at the time.

That’s what makes me sad.

That’s what makes me detest some of the people I meet. Because I know they don’t appreciate the work others do for them, and that they are part of a selfish generation.

And the saddest part of all?
The developers and the people behind everything great and good, will continue their reward-less journey into the abyss without heartfelt praise from whom they seek it the most.

Yet there is beauty in this tragedy also.
They know they will not be acknowledged and praised by the general masses and still they continue.
What they do, is almost always labour of love.

They wouldn’t do it unless they loved it. These studios have love in their hearts for the job, the people, the company, the game, the characters, and the world they lovingly craft with their own hands. They have love for the stories, the relationships and the highs and lows their creations face. They live their love in their games, and are happy that people like you and I, who appreciate the value of the game notice this.

That’s all they want.
To make us happy, like a mother does its child.
To work hard for years over something that will one day leave them and become part of something bigger.

I’m talking about Bioware and Valve specifically still, but these guys aren’t the only ones, and I’m being narrow-minded and much too specific here. These companies are just 2 of the studios I’ve noticed the love in.

Because they love us.

Because they love those that love them.

by Cody Drew

(2^nd Year I.T Games Development Student at Monash University)

Tonight I went to a gig, which was a memorial for a young man who died on St Patricks Day last year when he was hit by a vehicle. He was a singer for this amazing upcoming folk band called Snowy Belfast and had amazing musical talent.

Tonight, I watched his friends and family, listen to his songs, played by his band and I marveled at people for the first time in a very long time.

I saw courage and hope, and admiration for such a short life where so much was achieved.

The words his mother spoke, about the loss of her son, touched me deeply.

I saw her strength, her love for him, and the pain in her heart echo in every word.

I saw her fear, that the same may happen to any of us young individuals, in her words of caution, and wisdom.

As she spoke about her son James, tears came to the eyes of everyone at the event, whether they knew him or not.

I can’t deal with grief, I don’t know how to comfort or be comforted, but watching these people and feeling the tears in my own made me appreciate the life I have, and what I’m doing with it. I just wish I could do more, and be a better person, and do fantastic things.

That’s all I had to say; sometimes people surprise you.

DC Universe Online                                    11th Jan
Deaspace 2                                                     25th Jan

Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood                    22nd Feb
Bulletstorm                                                    22nd Feb
Gray Matter                                                   25th Feb

Dragon Age 2                                                 8th March
Deus Ex: Human Revolution                     8th March
Homefront                                                       8th March

Crysis 2                                                            22nd March
Fear 3                                                               22nd March

Brink                                                                 12th April
Portal 2                                                            18th April

Hunted: The Demon’s Forge                      10th May
The Witcher 2: Assassin’s of Kings           17th May
Red Faction: Armageddon                          28th May

Rage                                                                  13th September

Un-dated releases of 2011

Darkspore
Batman: Arkham City
Deep Black
Diablo III
Duke Nukem Forever (Forever coming, more like it)
Guild Wars 2
Mass Effect 3
Max Payne 3
Might & Magic: Heroes VI
Natural Selection 2
Star Wars: The Old Republic
The Grinder
Torchlight 2

Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_in_video_gaming

-World of Tanks beta

-Call of Duty: Black Ops

- HAWX 2

-Divinity 2

-World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

- Two Worlds 2

-Chime

-Super Meat Boy

-Deathspank

And a boatload more.

Stay tuned for more excellence

Gameplay: 8.5/10

So, I have preordered the game and now have early access to the beta. Quite simply; the game rocks. It almost feels like what Modern Warfare 2 should have been like online, but not quite, there’s a certain finesse and speed that Infinity Ward had adapted when it came to gameplay that this is sort of missing. So far, I love it; but you only get one map and gameplay type to play called rush. The mechanics are smooth, gun’s are accurate, you move at an acceptable speed and other people aren’t too hard to gun down if you’re decent at FPS.  There are weapon upgrades and vehical upgrades which I will mention later within multiplayer as it seems more appropriate. This battlefield also seems a lot less squad orientated than its predecessors as there’s not a lot of communication to be had between members.

Story -/10

Can’t comment on this as there is no single player mode in the beta.

Visuals 9.5/10

This is the first big name game pumping its guns with Direct X 11 and quite rightly it looks rather pretty. Pretty isn’t the right word for such a gritty war game, but its pretty much on the button. The textures are smooth, and everything is well detailed so its not just some prop that’s been dumped on the side of the map because the developers assume you won’t ever go there. The destructible environment thing is just amazing here, it really give that battlefield feeling as chunks of building fly off as high caliber rifle shells impact your cover. You then dash to a new hiding spot but on the way it explodes in a pillar of flame and debris from a tank shell and you’re left in the open with only a few bits of rock to take shelter with. This game looks amazing.

Multiplayer 8/10

As this is the only aspect we get to delve into at  the moment, this is what I’ll comment on. The multiplayer works really smoothly, with a good respawn system and acceptable respawn times. 32 slot servers mean its guaranteed mayhem and especially with the tanks, quad bikes, UAVs and the helicopters, you can be relatively safe behind cover at one point and then next thing you know you’ve lost the position and you all have to fall back as tanks have just flattened everything.

Another aspect to multiplayer is kill rewards and unlocks. You get these pins and badges that are worth points to leveling up and gaining new weapons for each class set whenever you complete what I guess would be like challenges. e.g. get 5 headshots in one match. These award bonus points and what’s called a pin, which is basically just an achievement marker. To upgrade most weapon choices, it’s based of you playing a certain class and getting kills or providing support which then leads to upgraded items which can be selected in a sort of loadout system before spawn. Also, as it has dedicated servers (HURRAY!) pings are just fine and it is easily playable.

Final Words

So far, this game is really doing well, and with the addition of more maps and game modes I think it would keep any FPS junkie more interested than CoD. This is just my 2 cents but still, the game kicks arse.

-Rok

User’s running The Saboteur and using an ATI card are having balls luck getting it to run. I had an 8800 GTX and was playing it fine.
Just bought a ATI5850 and no deal, game runs like a 1 legged fish.

So time for a fix. I tried downloading the beta patch but it wouldn’t install for me so I went and got a cracked .exe of the beta patch and tried just dumping the files in and viola! it works

So, you probably didn’t read all that therefore here are the steps to getting a working game:

1. Download this

http://m0001.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_the_saboteur.shtml#The%20Saboteur%20v1.03%20Beta%20[MULTI6]%20No-DVD/Fixed%20EXE

All you gotta do is click on the little floppy symbol and away you go.

2. Extract the files to wherever you want.

3. Copy all the files inside the rld-tsu3 folder into your game directory where you installed it which is usually C:/Program files/Electronic Arts/The Saboteur/

4. It will ask if you want to overwrite files. Say yes.

5. Play the game. Go for your life. Worked like a charm for me.
If there are any problems drop me a line in the comments section.

So it’s just me here wishing you all a very productive new years. Some of you will have new years resolutions, and myself among you. Tell me yours and I’ll tell you mine?
Pffffffft. Mine is to get fitter and to do really awesome at University . Lol, pretty cliche, but there’s other things in there like to exude greater confidence when meeting new people and to just generally get out more and attend more events to ‘expand my horizons’.

I hope for 2010 to be a good year, not just for me, but for everyone. Again I’m being cliche. But it’s the thought that counts (god I’m on fire tonight!). No, really, it’s the thought that really does mean a whole lot; a healthy mindset breeds healthy actions.

I hope for it to be a good year for the world, where we reduce our carbon emissions.

I hope for it to be a good year for Gaming, where creative content and individuality is promoted and not stunted.

I hope for it to be a good year for relationships, for everyone, to build bridges and burn less of them.

And finally, I hope it’s a good year emotionally. This last one is important. Everyone takes it for granted and doesn’t necessarily really think about it. There are people that love you, no matter what you think. Seriously. Not joking here. Some of my precious few readers may feel depressed some or a lot of the time because they’re lonely or have a poor life at home. I know what it’s like. I’ve been there and done that. Chin up and embrace this new year. Because people do love you. And you should love others too. That’s reeeeeeeeally important. Don’t be afraid to say to someone that they mean something to you, and are important to you. I mean it. Go. NOW! Tell someone! Anyone! And tell them to do the same.

I really bloody mean it! Pick up your goddamn mobile phone ( I know it’s probably next to you or on your desk on in your pocket) and tell at least one person!

Love more this year, and you’ll be loved more back.

This seems like a rather odd post for my little gaming website, but this one time I’m not being cynical or narcissistic. I’m being honest and heartfelt.

The reason for this is because I remembered what love is, and what it’s like to lose it recently and I don’t think that should happen to anyone. Else, if it does, be grateful for what existed, and don’t be bitter for what is lost – it will taint what was once good.

I’ll stop my moral crusade now, and let you all get back to pissing up this fine new years eve.

Much love from Rok.

I wish you all a great 2010.

Gameplay: 8.5/10

First off. This game is cool, and pretty damn smooth. Combat is fairly easy – point an shoot and keep shooting until it’s dead. Despite the simplicity it’s a lot harder than it sounds cuz enemies don’t seem to die on command and you have to put some effort in killing them. Melée combat is not bad too, especially for Brick and his glorious fists of fury! It’s rather satisfying when you hit someone and explosions happen, spewing out colours of blood and limbs. Definitely the coolest gibs from many games i’ve played. Gotta love the UT3 engine. Movement is easy with a fast travel system, vehicles and a very nice sprint option which helps if neither of the other two options are available. The lack of complexity and the bullet hit registration is what detracts from the gameplay for me. When I click in your head it should pop into tiny pieces and blood should spray everywhere..

Story 7.5/10

Okay, the story for Borderlands at the start has huge potential. Unfortunately they sink their own ship slightly with only a small amount of voice acting and half the time no one tells you if it’s a quest related to the main storyline or not. The premise is cool – alien planet, cool guns, mercenary, treasure vault. Seems a pretty failsafe combo. Unfortunately not – this game is not like diablo with it’s story. It is not emmersive or expansive so don’t buy it if you’re after a tale like that. All the right elements but they skimped on the bits that hold a good story together.

Visuals 9.5/10

Oh. My. God.
I love the visuals of this game. Most beautiful game ever. The cell shading and the cool typography of the character introductions of the players n NPCs alike rocked my world. This style is PERFECT for this game, it blows me away completely. The colour scheme is stunning and really gives the game a unique look and feel that nothing else has. My only gripe with the visuals was the field of view felt rather restrictive and gave me a  bit of a headache if u focused on it, so I had to play for a bit then I got used to it. My friends didn’t notice it so I think it’s me because I change my field of view to 90 degrees for all my games and you can’t do that in this one.

Multiplayer 6.5/10

Okay, like MW2 this had issues as it’s peer to peer not dedicated server. This was unfortunate as lag was horrible and hard to play with. This detracted from a good game. Personally, the only way for me to play a decent game with mates was if I forwarded all my port in my router to borderlands and made a private match with only 1 or 2 friends because anymore than that n the lag became terrible again. Also, voice chat. Yukkkk. Was god awful. Seriously the worst voice chat management ever. It was alway on and not push to talk and the quality sucked and it also lagged hard. Not happy.

Final Words

My final say is praise for this game, it was WELL worth what I paid for it and I enjoyed ever minute of it despite multiplayer problems. Good news is that gearbox continues to improve the game and also has a lot of downloadable content lined up for the game to keep us interested. They’re also actively releasing patches to fix any issues so it’s worth it. I am so happy with this game, it’s a great kill fest with your mates – better than left for dead as the re-playability is much better with the fact there us literally MILLIONS if guns to find and each play through is unique. This is one for the Christmas tree if you or a loved one who is a gamer doesn’t have it yet.

Seasons greetings from rok.

Overall:

8/10

As per usual I am amazed by the filth and the diamonds riding these gunmetal silver and royal blue chariots of death to and from the city. There are some pretty girls and some drunken wankers. There is also me. I think, as I sit aboard the train, what people view me like. Am I the odd looking loner kid who is playing with his phone and with music drumming a hole through his head. Or am I the weirdo who stares too long at people and freaks them out? Guess I’ll never know unless someone comes over tells me. I don’t think I’m any of those things but I guess there is every possibility that I am them or anything else.

Let this post prompt you to think of how others view you in public, lest you be loud and annoying like the stooge a few seats in front of me.

Happy commuting my bloggees.

So where the hell do I start?

Gameplay: 7/10

Look, I’m not going to sugarcoat it. It’s the same look and feel of CoD4 and I’m not at all surprised by this. Whether this is a good thing or not is different.
The game plays out nicely and the controls are exactly the same as CoD4 so there’s no real learning curve. The gameplay itself though is a lot more fast-paced with seemingly a lot more hostiles taking shots at you from a  lot more angles – rooftops, windows, walls – pretty much from anywhere you can think of; and places you don’t think of either.
So, the difference between CoD6 and CoD4 is basically a faster game in terms of gameplay. Seems like there’s more guns too but it doesn’t honestly make a lot of difference.

A few things are missing too like the ability to lean left and right to check corners but thats no skin off my back as my play style is similar to John Rambo’s (whether it works for me is a different story).

Story 8/10

Just like Modern Warfare the story line of Modern Warfare 2 is amazing. It’s written by the writer of NCIS for those of you who are interested. Anyway, it’s great, I love it! It’s compelling as all hell and the setting is prime for a story of betrayal espionage and all out warfare. Which brings me to my first gripe. WTF?! I feel slightly robbed here because the story is rather short. By rather I mean really short, about as long as Mirror’s Edge was and you can knock that game over pretty darn quick. Still, the story that it does give you despite all the loose ends (i.e. WTF is happening with the US and the Marines there?) is still good. I enjoyed it, but it left me wanting more, hinting at a trilogy – like every other goddamn game out there. Why can’t developers just make a feature game that’s just amazing once and keep a golden title that they should never spoil with sequels? BECAUSE THEY ARE MONEY HUNGRY IS WHY! Christ; it’s not that hard to establish some morals while coding.

Visuals 7/10

Haha, I like this. There is relatively no difference to CoD4 except for higher resolution textures and a little more depth on character models. Other than that, it looks and feels a lot like CoD4 which is rather disappointing.

So yes, it does look a lot prettier and singleplayer level design is fantastic. The aesthetic of the US after the Russian invasion is great; in fact it’s my favourite thing of this game. Though sometimes its a little difficult to spot an enemy in some levels like the ones in Brazil or whever it is, but it’s rarely an issue as the game uses tracer bullets for effect.

Multiplayer 5/10

Ahh. Here we go.

Here’s the whole problem with this otherwise fantastic looking (albeit CoD4 just prettier) game. It sucks. Plainly and simply it just sucks arse. The decent part is I guess the semi CO-OP mode where you complete a bunch of timed missions of varying difficulty with a partner. It’s fun, but also relies on one of you having a decent upload speed. Ick. IWNet isn’t region specific so it’ll look for the best pings but when it can’t find good ones it goes the ‘something is better than nothing’ approach. This can end up with you playing a game being hosted in the US which seems to happen to me more often than not. IWNet is a sad excuse for the lack of dedicated servers to fuel the monetisation of the Call of Duty franchise and frankly as a PC gamer this leaves me really pissed off. The poor pings mean you can’t hit a damn thing as everyone else is running around you and you’re in a lapsed time warp where you can’t work out what hell is going on BECAUSE YOU’RE DEAD! The poor pings even for others not only results in you not being able to score a kill on them because they jump lag all over the place and its like trying to play Duck Hunt on steroids. Also, total player size is down. FAR down. Sigh, Infinity Ward really dropped the ball on this one. I expected more and was saddened by this game.

Final Words

Okay, my final say is this:
Very pretty game, gameplay is the same as CoD4 and story is just as compelling, save it being short.

Here’s what I think:
This game disgusts me. Everyone who bought it should go get a refund because this is just absolutely pathetic. Activistion and Infinity Ward have tried to milk this cashcow TOO HARD. The PC version is just a port from the console version which points at the fact they can’t be arsed wasting time on the dedicated PC gamer who plays games on PC because they want the greater experience. IWNet is the shortcut for them so they don’t have to make utilities for Dedicated servers or Mods. It’s the small things you notice, like the fact it looks almost identical and plays identically to CoD4 that irks me and points me that they took some serious shortcuts. They’ve gone for as much money with as little effort as possible. It shouldn’t be about making games for money, it should be about making games for people, to bring joy and entertainment and an immersive experience to all those who dare try it. As an aspiring developer this makes me sad that it’s no longer for the love of the industry or love of the work, it’s about the love of the money.

This is my 2 cents and personally, I think these 2 cents are wasted along with the $100 I paid for it. Shame on you guys.

Overall: 7/10