Miracle at St. Anna

Choke

Eagle Eye

I was searching around this movie and I came across this post on another site. Personally I love Half-Life and think it's one of the best video game series ever.  Anyway, I came across this post that brings up a good point. Who would they cast if they ever made a Half-Life movie? It goes on to say that the best choice for Gordon Freeman would be Hugh Laurie, Alyx would best be played by Lucy Liu, and for Dr. Eli, Morgan Freeman. I agree with all but Alyx's choice. Have you seen Domino? Yeah nobody else did either...

Yes...we are still alive...for right now. Today was a "triumph" when the LHC was fired up. However do not get your hopes up. There will be continuing testing with the Large Hadron Collider, so black holes will probably happy randomly....hey..shit happens. Today also over at The Nerdiest Kids, they provided us with a "Destruction Playlist". I strongly suggest you swing by and check it out. VIVA LA...erm..WORLD!..?

Facebreaker

Viva Pinata 2: Trouble in Paradise

Intro
The unavailing of the community site where you can join and interact with the hosts of the show as well as other fans.  Here you can post videos, pics, as well as create your own blogs about whatever interests you.  Head over to the site and sign-up and become apart of the growing sensation known as The PlayStation Show.

XMedia Minute
The Last Guy $9.99
You are the chosen one, a zombie hero from the Himalayan mountains, and it is up to you to rescue the last survivors on Earth by leading them to safety through zombie-infested streets. Make your way through 15 detailed real-world cities, shown from a classic arcade style overhead view, and lead them to the Escape Zone before time runs out in this frantic, addictive game. Download the full game today!
Warhawk Fallen Star Pack $7.99

Download the Warhawk Operation Fallen Star Booster Pack today to experience the fast-paced action of Warhawk like never before! Infantry take flight with the fast and deadly Icarus Mk.1 Rocket Pack in the remote, forested Tau Crater battlefield, the crash site of an experimental Chernovan capital ship. Rejoin the unfriendly skies with Operation Fallen Star!

Warhawk Booster Combo $15.99
Purchase three Warhawk Booster Packs for the price of two! Booster Combo includes the Warhawk Operation: Omega Dawn, Operation: Broken Mirror, and Operation: Fallen Star Booster Packs, which add an enhanced level of teamwork and strategy with new battlefields and vehicles.

NHL 09 Demo
Winner of seven sports video game of the year awards. Try the all-new Be A Pro mode - step onto the ice and play an entire career as you level-up and progress from the AHL to the NHL. Play the first true console sports MMO game, allowing you to assemble a team and play as yourselves in 6-on-6 online team play in the new EA SPORTS Hockey League. If you love sports video games, try this demo.

SOULCALIBUR IV Demo
Check out this demo of Soulcalibur IV to experience this renowned weapon based fighting game. With HD graphics, destructible armor, character customization and online vs. modes, Soulcalibur IV reinvents itself while also bringing STAR WARS guest characters, Darth Vader and his Secret Apprentice, to add to the fighting.

Quantum Of Solace Trailer
QUANTUM OF SOLACE continues the high octane adventures of James Bond (DANIEL CRAIG) in CASINO ROYALE.

Prom Night Trailer
A suspenseful horror film! An obsessed murderer is viciously hunting down a beautiful girl on her prom night, killing anyone who gets in his way.

Commercial
PSP Slim Commercial

Topics
Rockstar working on new exclusive title for PS3
Warhawk 1.5 patch is out
PS3 firmware 2.5 to bring screen grabbing
Home definitely coming in 2008 keeping it free
PSP-3000 rumored to support Dulashock 3 and 480i video output
SOCOM Confrontation Beta Delayed
PAX 08 News
Sony PAX Booth

• Buzz Quiz TV given away before release
• On Stage Demos of Infamous and LittleBIGPlanet
• Singstar Competition
• Resistance 2 Multiplayer
• Buzz Master Quiz and Resistance Retribution on the PSP-3000

Outro
Give the people something to play this week:
AustinD: Warhawk
JasonB: Tiger Woods 09 and Uncharted Drake's Fortune
AdamZ: PixelJunk Monsters
EmilioZ: The Orange Box: Team Fortress 2

Download Episode 14 of The PlayStation Show Podcast

One of the best multiplayer games ever, Team Fortress 2, has many uses. The above image is one of those unlimited uses. Now, I just found this yesterday, but it has been up for quite some time. And I'm really sorry that I can't give full credit to whoever really made this. Someone took the infamous "Magic Trick" scene from The Dark Knight and recreated it with Team Fortress 2. I honestly love this Machinima so much, very well done.

Why do I bring this up? I HATE Sony, after all.

Because Left 4 Dead is not going to be on the PS3. (at the time of writing, I wouldn't be surprised if things changed in the future.) And various unscrupulous Sony fanboys have taken it upon themselves to blame Valve (One of the most consistently brilliant developers around today) for lack of skills or Microsoft love, instead of Sony (well known for making overly complicated and difficult to code gaming platforms, then lying about how good they are).

Let's get this straight.

Valve are primarily a PC developer. Not just because it's what they're good at, but also because it's where, frankly, most of their games belong, merely due to their style - thinking man's shooters. A controller is never going to be as good at aiming as a mouse. The majority of Console owners are dribbling cretins. With most consoles it isn't going to work.

It works with the 360 because it's essentially a PC in a box, and therefore extremely easy to port PC games to. And while I don't want to generalise gamers (Which surely the very term 'gamer' does), many Xbox 360 owners are people who can't afford to keep up with constantly changing computer permutations. Which is perfectly reasonable. People who bought Orange Box for the 360 knew they were compromising for an inferior version and accepted that.

It doesn't work with the PS3 because it's completely different to a PC! No PC uses a 7 core processor (Well, 6. One is used by the OS). No PC uses Sixaxis. To seal the deal, Sony can't use Direct3D, a Microsoft product! The Source engine which the Orange Box and Left 4 Dead utilize is based upon it! Instead Sony are forced to rely on OpenGL, which developers haven't really used since when? 1998? To make the Source engine and it's games work with the PS3 they have to be entirely recoded! And you ask why L4D isn't getting a release? At least not now? It probably will eventually guys, but it's going to take time.

Many criticize Valve nevertheless, pointing out developers who DO manage multiformat releases, such as Capcom. Yet I remember when you were complaining that these ports were rubbish and unplayable. The PS3 is difficult to develop for, because Sony decided to be needlessly different in an attempt to be fancy. Blu-Ray - a disc format that contains massive amounts of data but is so slow that games need to be installed or have information copied onto empty sectors to speed loading times. The Cell processor - powerful, but complex, and incredibly difficult to program. All of this bottlenecked by the low 256mb main memory. Sony shot themselves in the foot with their own hardware! And yet you have the Gall to say Gabe Newell is lazy or Valve can't make good games anyway, when they don't fancy trying to make a PS3 version? When they probably will, later? Go fuck yourself.

Why do you want it, anyway? FPS games don't work brilliantly on controllers, but they're especially bad on the Sixaxis/Dualshock. If you wanted to play an FPS you should have bought a PC. Failing that, a 360. And no, the red rings rarely happen these days, so shut your mouth.

I'd rather have a console that might break down so I'll have to get it repaired than a console people don't want to develop for.

I'm well aware details of my post may be wrong. Feel free to point them out, I don't expect to be perfect. But I'm sure with even large corrections my point will still be valid.

Internets r SERIEEUS BIZZNEZZ!

To round out the week on TF2 news, Valve will host another Free Weekend to give people a chance to try The Heavy's new weapons on unassuming rookies. Download Steam and try it if you feel interested. I guarantee you won't regret it.

Primeiramente, gostaria de pedir desculpas pela falta de coluna no domingo passado.

Terminando a parte das colunas que fala sobre a guerra de consoles, hoje vamos falar de uma discussão bastante forte entre os fan boys nos jogos multi-plataforma. A discussão tem um simples objetivo: saber em qual console o jogo está melhor. Indo a fundo nesse aspecto, existem dois modos que as empresas utilizam em seus jogos:

1- Uma plataforma principal de desenvolvimento e depois sendo portada para outra(s);

2- Desenvolvimento simultâneo, aproveitando o melhor de cada console para deixar o jogo idêntico;

Os problemas de cada um

Cada tipo de desenvolvimento têm seus problemas. Os ports são os que sofrem mais com isso, principalmente quando feitos por um outro estúdio, como foi o caso de The Orange Box, produzido pela Valve, usando o PC como plataforma principal. Por ser semelhante ao PC, o Xbox 360 ficou tão bom quanto em termos de rendimento.

O problema foi quando outro estúdio (cujo nome não foi revelado pela Valve) portou o jogo para o PS3. Slowdowns marcaram o jogo, que foi considerado um dos melhores de 2007, prejudicando sua experiência. The Orange Box é apenas um exemplo desse problema. Lost Planet sofreu do mesmo problema, dessa vez feito pela Capcom, e usando o Xbox 360 como plataforma principal.

Já o desenvolvimento simultâneo é mais raro, justamente por ser mais (e muito mais) caro. Poucos jogos da geração utilizam esse tipo de desenvolvimento. Um caso mais famoso é o da série FIFA, da EA Sports, desenvolvido simultaneamente para o Xbox 360 e o PlayStation 3. O resultado disso foi um jogo praticamente - se não totalmente - idêntico, como na caso da última versão, FIFA 08.

Qual a melhor plataforma para ser a principal nos ports?

Sem dúvida, a resposta para essa pergunta se chama PlayStation 3. E temos motivos suficientes para provar isso. Burnout Paradise, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare e Devil May Cry 4 usaram essa plataforma para ser a principal. O resultado disso foram resultados praticamente equivalentes, em ambas as plataformas (Xbox 360 e PlayStation 3). Sem slowdowns e nada que prejudicasse o rendimento nessas plataformas. O porque disso? O PlayStation 3, por ser mais poderoso tecnicamente, favorece o port para outras plataformas. O risco é que, por ser uma arquitetura complicada, deve ser muito bem usada.

Conclusão: Ports ou desenvolvimento simultâneo?

A conclusão de tudo isso é que de ambos os lados, temos ótimas opções de desenvolvimento, que precisam ser mais usadas. Pelo alto investimento em desenvolvimento de jogos nessa geração, o desenvolvimento simultâneo passa a ser uma alternativa boa, mas cara. Esse deve ser feito se as empresas obtiverem os recursos necessários para tal.

Mas um port, com versão principal sendo a versão do console da Sony é a melhor alternativa, e não é tão cara quanto o desenvolvimento simultâneo, podendo obter resultados, no mínimo, próximos. E essa última opção está começando a ser uma tendência forte na indústria, como é o caso da LucasArts, que no próximo jogo da série Star Wars, vai usar o PS3 como plataforma principal, e não o Xbox 360, como em The Force Unleashed.

As you can see, this was just as Keikakku, which means plan, in Wapanese.

Since we already know what the next weapon will be, we might as well discuss what the new Game mode and "Meet The Class" video will be. Will it be Pyro, as once confirmed several months ago, or "Meet The Civilian", as a special surprise from Valve? I'll be on the lookout, because I have nothing better to do.

From the website:

The unlockable for the Heaviest pugilists out there is the K.G.B. Any time a Heavy kills an enemy with the K.G.B he receives five seconds of guaranteed critical hits. This crit-boost can be used to punch and kill further enemies, extending the boost time. Alternatively, the Heavy can switch to another weapon and use the boost to take out an enemy at range. The Heavy's slow movement speed, and the K.G.B's slower swing speed, make it a risky prospect.

This is almost completely identical to a rumor floating around lately about leaked details of the new Heavy achievement weapons, citing a "slower crit based fist weapon, a Minigun that slows down enemies, and a sandwich that recovers health".

Those who have downloaded the Icon pack for the new achievements will find that most of the names already give away what they are, and how you get them. One, namely Konspicuous Konsumption, even helps support the unlockable sandwich theory, with the name "tf_heavy_eat_sandwiches.png".

What's truly surprising is the Spyalectical Materialism icon, which seems to have a Spy holding a pistol with a Silencer.

Could it be that Valve has already given away what may be a new weapon capable of making the Spy not useless after the new Pyro updates? We can only hope.

EDIT: Achievement definitions

Thanks, [Razor] !YgQRHAJqRA

Secondo quanto riportato da Destructoid e Official PlayStation Magazine, l'horror game Left 4 Dead, uscito su PC e Xbox 360, potrebbe essere convertito per PlayStation 3: Electronic Arts sarebbe la software house che si occuperebbe della conversione.

Per la EA non sarebbe la prima conversione: ricordate The Orange Box? Speriamo, però, che se conversione sarà almeno sia migliore di quella effettuata per TOB, che, diciamo la verità, lasciò tutti perplessi.

Intanto la Valve, publisher del gioco, ha fatto sapere che vuole concentrarsi solo sulle versioni di L4D già presenti e che non ha alcun interesse per la nostra PS3.

Rather than bombard the site with seven similar posts in seven days, I'll just keep updating this one post and put it at the top of our post queue every time I add a daily entry.

Saturday, Day Five
Tyler and I played together for the first time since back in '07. We played that level that has the two barns. He showed me some tricks as the engineer, which were pretty cool. Also, he showed me how to lay down these detonate-able sticky bomb things as the DemoMan which would be good for laying traps. Problem is, I felt like I would spend all this time setting everything up and then one of those damn scouts would run by and steal our flag/intelligence anyway.

Wednesday, Day Four
I officially suck at this game. I played as the soldier for the most part, and at 2Fort or whatever it's called (the one in all the videos before the game came out). At one point I walked into a room with two engineers from the other team busy building some turret or whatever, and I totally blew it. I shot a rocket at them and missed, and then they beat the crap out of me with their shovels or whatever they have. It was really embarrassing. I'm not sure if this game is for me. The problem is, moments like that where it's a for-reals standoff seem to be few and far between - with all these objectives all over the place, I feel like the actual run-and-gun aspect is secondary. I like my run-and-gun.

Tuesday, Day Three:
Okay, I didn't play the game at all, but I have a legit reason - from the moment I got home from work I was busy making dinner and then I recorded guitar parts with my band until 1030pm, which is just about bedtime for me. I'll extend my challenge by one day to make sure I get seven solid days with the game.

Monday, Day Two:
Played "Well" today - it's a capture checkpoints level. I tried my hand at the character Pyro, and got my ass handed to me. I couldn't get close enough to anyone to do any real damage. A couple times I got lucky and I would find a room of people all shooting each other and then I would just jump in and set everyone on fire. Can I set my teammates on fire? I have no idea. I then played as the Soldier and still got my ass handed to me. I got seven kills the entire time, total. That's not very good.

Sunday, Day One:
I jumped right into some dusty bowl of a map, I think it was called dust bowl. I'll tell you right now that I don't like those damn turrets that the engineers set up. I don't have the patience myself to set up the turret. I've been playing as the Soldier and using the rocket launcher. It works well if and when it hits somebody, but it's so slow and everyone is so fast, I only get the really bad players with it. When I first bought this game it was really laggy online, but that has been fixed and I didn't have one hiccup.

Kupiłem pomarańczowe pudełko w przeświadczeniu, że TF2 będzie zawsze leżeć odłogiem, bo mam bardzo wolne łącze. Tak się jednak złożyło, że ostatnio gram w nią najwięcej z całej piątki. Jest to pierwszy sieciowy FPS, który był na moim dysku dłużej niż pół godziny i w który naprawdę się zagłębiłem. Nie jestem więc obeznany w tym gatunku i nie przytoczę podobnych pozycji. Bynajmniej jest moim zdaniem lepsze od Counter-Strike'a. Wróć - to tylko mój tok myślenia, nie bierzcie sobie tego do serca, fani CS-a!

Niby jest sequelem jakiejś studwudziestoletniej strzelanki, ale równie dobrze mógłby nosić inny tytuł. Z drugiej strony ta strzelanka była prekursorem rozgrywki opartej na klasach, więc daje to natychmiast renomę TF2. Ale ta gra przyciągnęła by do siebie wszystkich i bez niej. Zacznę może od tego, czym się wyróżnia najbardziej - to absolutnie indywiduum graficzne. Utrzymuje rysunkowy, karykaturalny styl w stosunku do map i postaci. Każda z nich wygląda wyjątkowo i różni się od innych niemal wszystkim.

No dobrze, a na czym polega rozgrywka? To powinien chyba każdy wiedzieć, ale zgrzeszę nie wspominając o niej - gracze dzielą się na dwie drużyny - RED i BLU i eksterminują się w różnych trybach rozgrywki - tzn. atak/obrona (czerwoni bronią punktów, niebiescy je zdobywają), przejmowanie punktów kontrolnych (obie drużyny zdobywają punkty kontrolne i bronią własnych), przejmowanie flag (wyniesienie teczki z piwnicy wroga i zaniesienie jej do własnej). Nie ma tu takich prymitywnych trybów jak deathmatch. Map jest co prawda tylko sześć, ale są wielgaaachne, a do tego powstał już duży map pack (bodajże kilkanaście nowych).

Postacie mają bardzo ciekawe uzbrojenie. Taki np. Soldier - wyrzutnia rakiet, strzelba i szpadel. Medic - karabin strzykawkowy, medigun i piła do kości. Pyro ma m.in miotacz ognia i toporek strażacki. Ciekawy jest też Enginneer - buduje zasobniki, działka, teleporty, posiada też strzelbę i klucz francuski. To na nim zabiłem najwięcej worgów - jedenastu, z czego jednego trzy razy (cały czas się respawnował i właził pod lufę.

Od niedawna można TF2 kupić osobno - za 80 złotych. Osiemdziesiąt! To kolejny argument do twierdzenia, że The Orange Box to opłacalny zakup.

Ocenianie postanowiłem sobie odpuścić, bo zrecenzuję (chyba mogę użyć takiego określenia?) jeszcze resztę zestawu, więc musiałbym cały czas stawiać dychy i stracił renomę przed jej zdobyciem.

The only game in Valve's seminal The Orange Box to be most neglected by me, has to be the highly regarded puzzle adventure 'Portal'.  I don't feel good about this, but am so happy that I gave it a proper go now - as in my opinion its pure genius. 

 Simply giving the player the ability to shoot portals in walls and then figure out how to use this device to get from A to B, proves so brain-bending but fun at the same time.  Now add to this the rather funny computer guiding you through the levels, and the game just has so much personality.  All I really want now that I have completed it (and may I add...it has the best boss-showdown EVER!!) - I need downloadable levels to give me my Portal fix.  Get to it Valve!!!!!!

In related news....I have been playing 'Team Fortress 2', and although it isn't quite Call Of Duty 4, this again full of personality online multiplayer shooter has a cell-shaded 'cartoon' look which is very appealing to me, and is a class-based game, so u have to pick a character at the beginning who has unique weapons and purpose compared to the others.  The game types aren't your usual Death Match, Team Death match (which I think this game would kick ass with!) but more 'capture points' etc and 'Capture The Flag' which normally doesn't appeal (and is still a bit lost on me now).  But I have had some good fun - especially because the weapons are great - which, if you're a gamer, is where its really at.

This month The Escapist has an excellent article, “Excellence Never Goes out of Date” by Rob Zacny, in which he argues that the medium of videogames is suffering because of its inability to access and appreciate its past. I really recommend you read the article, as its interesting and well-informed, and throws out what I think is a very good idea to get gamers to buy back into the classics. Indulge me while I block quote the last paragraph or so:

There are many reasons to doubt that more than a handful of diehard fans would pay to play a 13-year-old game in its original state. To share classic games with people who have never seen or played them before, the games would benefit from a little more graphical polish and, more importantly, supplementary content aimed at the passionate gamer.

Most serious gamers would probably appreciate a "collector's edition" approaches to re-releases and remakes. Limited edition releases of Blizzard titles include books of design notes and concept art. And with The Orange Box Valve has proved that in-game commentary tracks are not only possible, but also enjoyable and informative. The importance of these extras is not that most people use them, but that they give the few who become creators, critics and enthusiasts the opportunity to explore the medium on a deeper level. We're the ones who will shape gaming's future - it's only fair that we're granted access to the lessons and achievements of its past.

Good call, Zacny! This is important because, as Steve Gaynor said in his interview with Michael Abbott at The Brainy Gamer (which Zacny has also beat me to the punch in quoting), “It does the medium injustice if you put all this work and time, instead of attempting to express something unique and personal to yourself through interactivity, you're expressing the experience of playing another video game that you like, or was profitable.”

The gamers I know are adults with work to do, kids to take care of, social engagements to keep. They are also very intelligent gamers, steeped in the canon, always on the lookout for games that are original, intelligent, or forward-thinking. We just don’t have time to play another game that only apes other games. Maybe this is why the gamers I know who treat games as a medium worthy of critical thought tend to gravitate to more original visions, like Okami, Shadow of the Colossus, or No More Heroes, all games that draw more inspiration from art, mythology, literature, and pop culture than from recent videogames. In this way I think these games closely resemble classic games. Think of Miyamoto claiming that The Legend of Zelda was inspired by the expansive feeling of wonder he got from exploring the fields, woods and caves near the city of Kyoto when he was a boy, or the detailed sci-fi world imagined by the creators of Spacewar!. Zacny’s got more good points in his article than I do on this blog post, so go and give him a read.