Tag Archive for 'Crysis'

Loads of September Drama

September 20, 2008, 12:16 am, Games, News, PC and Tech

September has been a VERY dramatic month, atleast for me. So much crap has gone on in the last few weeks than I would normally see in a year.  Running from Gustav to sitting out Ike (Eat yo cake Texas), dealing with my gaming PC having a heart attack in the MIDDLE of gaming season, things breaking everywhere. Gasoline prices are on a Yo Yo, and the economy continues to eat itself.

Gigabyte Drama

So, my Motherboard had a heart attack after a bad bios update. Gigabyte’s silly recovery measures don’t do jack. And now the board has to be RMA’d. I don’t know who thought that the boot block just had to be a writable piece in the bios, but that seems to be a dumb idea. Why not a recovery bios that you can manually invoke, something that can’t be overwritten, something that can be absolute in recovering the bios. Maybe that was what that automatic brick maker was trying to do, but it failed. This is the ONLY motherboard brand that I’ve ever had problems flashing and I’ve built quite a few systems so far. And then there is the DPC latency issue that came out of nowhere that made the PC completely intolerable. Too bad, flashing the bios made it worse.

Hurricane Drama

Around the beginning of September, Gustav came out of the blue to wreak havoc on the Gulf Of Mexico. It floored the Carribbean and set its eye directly on my home state. Me and my family went to Houston to get out of the way of the storm. Then a week later, Ike shows up and destroys the Carribbean once again and this time set its sights on Houston. Being a nearly 200 mile wide storm, the thing actually reached to my home town. We experienced the most Tornado Warnings for the entire year in a 24 hour period. After the 5th warning I was exausted but adrenaline kept me awake for nearly 48 hours. After everything was done, thousands of homes were damaged and flooded in Louisiana alone. We lost 2 trees in the process which have been there since before I was even born. That means a whole lot of cleanup.

DRM Drama

Spore, Stalker: Clear Sky, Crysis: Warhead and The Witcher: Enhanced Edition has all came out since I lost my motherboard to dumb design.  However EA has been in the hot seat with its Digital Rights Management software attached to Spore and Warhead. A lot of gamers learned this week that DRM hurts them legitimately when they legitimately buy the game which is heavily ironic. As a rule, I try to live with as little of DRM as possible. Meanwhile, illegal downloaders have had no problem stripping the popular SecuROM software. It makes you think, who is this really supposed to stop? A typical illegal downloader or grandma who just wants to install the game on her grandson’s computer?


Zune Drama

I don’t know if I can call it drama, other than my Zune headphones going dead after a year since I had the thing. Though I won’t blame it on the Zune hardware. Headphone design these days just plain sucks. I bought some Sennheiser headphones a couple of years ago and right when the warranty expired, they developed a short. Shortly after, the glossy cover around the cushion areas started crumbling. When will headphone design improve, or will they eventually force everyone into a premium $100 market to find the exact same quality?

Anyhoo, the awesome Zune 3.0 software was released on the 16th and with it a ton of new functionality. The software gained a slew of stuff, like Zune’s Genius function called Mixview, a Channels function which is pretty much automatic playlists, and a Social overhaul. On the firmware side, Games…finally, wireless marketplace because they really want you to spend those Microsoft points, a clock (yes, a clock), audiobook support and performance enhancements for both software and firmware. Though, I experienced my first hardware crash with Zune…ever. I just hope that its the firmware and nothing more serious. The last thing I need is something else breaking on me.

Gustav Break & More Games [Wallet Pains]

September 7, 2008, 2:54 am, Games, MMO, Nintendo DS, PC and World Of Warcraft

So by now, Spore should be ready to go for many people on Sunday. The previous Sunday, I was in Houston after a near 8 hour drive from my home town in Louisiana because of Hurricane Gustav. The great thing about that was I got to see my family in Houston and then come back to my home still in one piece. There were a ton of tree damage throughout the area and raised a concern of mine. A LOT of those trees were diseased and rotting. I don’t know if its because they are simply old or because something changed in the atmosphere here that caused them to slowly die out.

But now that I am back home I am just in time for Spore which seems to be getting a lot of mixed reviews from enthusiast press. Even more mixed is Stalker: Clear Sky which some of the press says “more of the same, but buggier“. I have no idea because I never played the first Stalker. And right behind it is the sequel of the king of render, Crysis: Warhead. This one I am looking forward to because I played the first one and it was great. Not too far behind IT is Warhammer Online which just looks like World Of Warcraft but “serious“. I haven’t even begin to find out about the Nintendo DS games and others coming out this month. And its only going to get worse.

Fall season for games makes my wallet ache.

Multiple Games…the flying of time

June 9, 2008, 6:37 pm, FPS, Games, PC and Wii

Well, its been a while since my last post. But I’ve been somewhat preoccupied. Though, now I should be able to post more often. Especially about the recent games I’ve been playing. Let’s Start off with the most recent:

Crysis (PC)

Crysis is this marvel and mystery of a game. Non PC gamers see it as a complete failure. EA’s PR department trumpets the same tune. But despite the extra resources needed to play this game, and the doom speak of piracy, the game did sell well and has a sequel called “Warhead” coming in Fall 2008.

Crysis is this sandbox like FPS shooter that gives you missions and sends you into the fight. The thing is,Your constant voice through the first game, they won’t tell you how to defeat the mission or hold your hand despite them having a marker on the map that shows you where to go. Its up to you to use the tools at your disposal to get to the next point. I shouldn’t have to tell you that this game is amazingly beautiful. Your character, or “Nomad” which he is called is eventually forced to take out everything from common Korean troops to aliens.

There are some issues with this game like relentless AI for example, the Helicopters will become the bane of your existence. Vehicle combat is a little weird and weak as well and often times leaves you high and dry with frequent game restarts after you’ve died a ton of times. Then you decide to ditch the vehicle and win that way. (Unless its a dog fight in the air. Oh yes, dog fight. ) Above all, this game deserves all the praise that it has earned at various review outlets. And even if your old PC can’t run it, a current PC most definitely can. (I paid $700 for mine and runs this on all max settings pretty fine.)

Sins Of A Solar Empire (PC)

This is another completely out-of-left-field game. The game is a 4X game created by a small developer called IronClad and published by Stardock. (Yes, that company that makes Windowsblinds.) Anyway, the game is pretty a pretty Epic RTS/4X game and allows you to take over entire galaxies (with an “s”). Each galaxy can span from 14 to 20 planets and objects. Not multiply that times 3 on a bigger map and the game easily eats away your free time like acid.

The graphics are very decent and balanced and the interface to manage all of that conquest is also epic, allowing multiple zooms all the way up to god level in order to let you see it all. The combat itself is pretty straightforward and long. Which is not always a bad thing because it allows you to manage all of those planets and impending pirate raids that can seriously hurt if you don’t out bid your competition. The engine itself is surprisingly efficient and runs very smooth. You will have plenty of fun taking over the known universe in this game.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)

Did I ever mention that I managed to find a Wii? These things are hard to find. Anyway I bought a copy of Super Smash Bros. Brawl to go with it and I love the game. SSBB is a non traditional fighter that pits 2 to 4 opponents on an often times floating stage. Every smack raises the percentage on the opponents damage meter. Once it’s high enough, it allows you to smack that person off of the stage earning a point towards an overall score.

Many hate this game series for obvious reasons, but the game is surprisingly deep and has plenty of advanced tricks and moves. On top of all that is a new Adventure Mode that takes at least 2-4 hours to finish. There is also multiple types of battles. So if the traditional smash play bores you, then you can switch over to stock battle or coin battle where the most coins wins. This game falls a bit short with the online modes. The online service itself falls short with frequent disconnects and a lack of other online players to battle against. Nintendo’s own friend code system makes this even more frustrating. ITs too bad that a great game like this is tied down to such a draconian online model. Despite the online affliction the game itself is both beautiful and fun to play, Especially with friends.

Company Of Heroes (PC)

Another game I’ve been playing off and on is COH. (Company Of Heroes) Its an RTS with some really good concepts on troop management and DirectX 10 compatible so it is equally as interesting to look at. Personally, I just cannot manage to grip this game like I can with others. It has to be something I’m doing wrong because so many others love this game.  Maybe its because of the Single Player campaign that is weighing me down. Or maybe its the WWII style that they went with. Hopefully I will manage to learn more of this game or Red Alert 3 or Starcraft 2 will definitely sweep me away in no time.