World destruction comes in small shrink-wrapped packages...

2009/10/24

Infinity Ward Still Uses Id Tech with Modern Warfare 2, System Requirements, Steamworks

I was just reading this earlier on Big Download, and I was surprised, but I remember back years ago now. BD says that on the box of Modern Warfare 2, it says that the "game uses software" from id Software. Now, if you think back to the original Call of Duty, which was released back in 2003, the game used the id Tech 3, or Quake III, engine. So, it's interesting to see that this is still going on.

The system specs have also been revealed:

Windows Vista/XP
AMD 64 3200+ or Intel Pentium 4 3.0Ghz or better
16 GB free hard drive space / 512 MB RAM (XP) / 1 GB RAM (Vista)
Shader 3.0 or better 256 MB nVidia Geforce 6600GT / ATI Radeon 1600XT or better

Wow, 16 GB for an install. The biggest game I have at the moment on my system is probably The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, although technically that is two games.

And if you think that's bad, then Star Wars: The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition is going to blow you away. It's 24 GB! eek

Time to start freeing up space on my HD, I think.

And the last bit of news going around about Modern Warfare 2 is this: It will be a Steamworks title. Steamworks works with Steam. If you remember Half-Life 2, then you know what Steamworks is.

As thatvideogameblog states, and I quote:

"a Steamworks game means that to play the game, you have to have Steam on your computer, and your copy of the game will be tied to your Steam account. The game will auto update through Steam, will have Steam achievements, and use Steam’s anti cheat infrastructure. The game will also support the newly introduced Steam Cloud, which lets gamers store their save files and game configurations to Steam’s database, and will allow gamers easy access to them if needed."

This will probably mean more piracy of Modern Warfare 2, at least for the PC version. What I didn't like about this was that almost every journo/blogger that covered this was a pro-console one, and it's funny how even though they don't really care that much about the whole situation, the only reason they wrote about it was because they wanted to rub it in the faces of PC gamers. I could tell. Those dudes need a smack upside the head.

Not that I care that much...


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Still Working on the Article, Going Out Tomorrow

Today I was taking so more pictures with my new digital camera. It's okay, but the lens is smaller than the one my brother has, and the optical zoom isn't as great. Anyway, he hasn't asked for the other camera back, so I guess I can use both, depending on what I want to take pictures of. The new, smaller one is great for close range shots, and it's a 10 megapixel, so the quality is pretty good, even though they say you only really need 3.

I'm close to finishing that article I'm working on. A few more pictures, and I should be done. I'll be going out tomorrow, to Simon's Town, so I might take the camera with as well.
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2009/10/23

Got a new Camera, Working on a New Article

Today I got a new camera, a Fujifilm. I was surprised at how small they make these things nowadays. Before today, I was using my brother's camera, which was also a Fujifilm. It was because of this that I bought the same brand, but a later model.

I've been taking pictures over a period of the last few months, with the intention of including them in an article I'm working on at the moment at HubPages. It's going to be a whole lot of photos in a slideshow to accompany the piece.

I'm so stoked with my new camera though. I got a charger and batteries free with it, and I bought a camera bag with a 2 GB picture card too. Game is having a sale on that sort of stuff at the moment.
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New Prison Break Screenshots

Speaking of adaptations, instead of game-to-film, I've just had a look at some new screens for the Prison Break video game, based on the first season of the series- the best one, and it should have been the last, too.

This game takes place in Fox River penitentiary, except you play as a guy named Paxton, instead of Michael Schofield. Several characters from the season will make an appearance though. I recognize the guy with the white doo-rag. I never liked that guy. Belic is there. He was a pretty convincing bad dude. And Link is there. Hi Link. rolleyes

Clearly this game is going to suck, or it will be one of those typically average games. I reckon there probably won't be any of the voices familiar from the series, or very few anyway. In my mind, it likely won't measure up to The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay.

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http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=225859?cid=OTC-RSS&attr=CVG-General-RSS

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2009/10/22

Bruce Willis to Star in Kane& Lynch Film, More Video Game Film Adaptations Coming

Kane& Lynch was awful according to most, and underrated to others. I mainly watched my brother play the game a long time ago, and I wasn't too impressed.

Well, the Kane& Lynch movie has been a project in existence for quite a while apparently, but it's only due to start filming next year. Bruce Willis is set to star as Adam "Kane" Marcus. Bruce Willis, who is famous no doubt for his Die Hard movies probably above everything else, has commented that the script for the movie is one of the best he's ever read for an action film.

"After Bruce Willis read it, he called it one of the best action scripts he’s ever read, and Bruce is an expert in terms of action scripts because he’s read everything over the last 20 years."

Okay, so Bruce Willis is probably one of the best action stars that you can get in Hollywood. He may be old, and bald, but the guy's a legend, looks the part, and he'd likely do the part some justice, even though most video game adaptations aren't good...at all.

Now people are talking about who will star as Lynch. I've got my money on Peter Stormare, like others have said. Or maybe Brad Pitt would star alongside Willis again, like in 12 Monkeys. He didn't do a bad psycho...

The Kane& Lynch film is only one of several Eidos games that producer Adrian Askarieh (who some are calling the new Uwe Boll), has on the go. Simon Crane is going to direct the film by the way, and Lionsgate will be the distributor.

There's also plans for a new Hitman film, but possibly without Timothy Olyphant. I didn't really think he suited the role too much anyway. I saw him in a film the other day- with hair! He looked
way weird. Also, the name Olyphant is uncool. It means "elephant" in English, translated from Afrikaans.

Right now, this Askarieh guy is working on a independently produced Just Cause film. I always thought that Antonia Banderas would probably be sought after for the lead role for that one,

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http://www.gamedaily.com/games/just-cause/pc/game-features/adrian-askarieh-interview-/
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Apocalypse Then: Grand Theft Auto 2



Ten Year Anniversary of GTA 2! mrgreen

On this day in gaming, back in 1999, Grand Theft Auto 2, the sequel to GTA, was released on Playstation. It was shortly released thereafter on PC, and on Dreamcast and Game Boy Colour the following year. There were noticeable differences between the PC and Playstation versions, specifically.The game was made available as a free download for the PC a few years back.

The game was developed by DMA Design, now known as Rockstar North, and published by Rockstar.


GTA 2 continued the series' top-down play method (discontinued in GTA 3 onwards so far) oddball humour, and gang warfare, and plenty of driving, with awkward controls.

The first time I played this was when I got the free download version off of a NAG cover DVD back a few years ago.
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2009/10/21

Modern Warfare 2 News: PC Version not Delayed, no Dedicated Servers

So, the Modern Warfare 2 PC version hasn't been delayed after all. smile

AND there's a furor over the the whole dedicated server issue, and this has inspired a petition which over 1neutralneutral neutralneutralneutral (currently 127 796 at time of writing) PC gamers have signed, which some have called "nerd rage". Clearly the term must be inspired by Fallout 3's perk of the same name. And Infinity Ward have actually taken notice of this petition, unlike most developers.

"It definitely made a big wave, and the response will not be ignored. I'll ensure everyone at IW sees the petitions and responses to it,"

I don't exactly know what all that means and I don't care. I'm not into multiplayer much.

So, the game will release on all platforms (including the PC) on November 10, 2009, as originally planned months ago.
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Ghost Recon 4 Named "Predator" and Ubisoft Trademarks "Assassin"

Earlier this year it was revealed that there would be a Ghost Recon 4 sometime in the future. Now this game has cropped up again, because it's been rated by the OFLC, and the name is Ghost Recon Predator.

I'm hoping somewhat that this isn't like the
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter games- at least the first one. That was quite forgettable in my mind. Now, I liked the original Ghost Recon a lot. There's a lot of joking around about the supposed unoriginality of the title and writers and commenters on the story are joking that it may feature the Predator.



I don't know about that though, because Mr. Predator is preoccupied with other projects like the several Aliens/Predator/AvP projects in development. It would be cool to go back to the jungle and swamp atmosphere of the original instead of the more urban environments of Advanced Warfighter, anyway.

In a bit of related news, Ubisoft has
trademarked the name "Assassin", which would likely (not confirmed) have something to do with the Assassin's Creed franchise, seeing as there's a whole lot of "Assassin" there.
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2009/10/20

Death Rally has Been Released as Freeware



I came across this on the NAG forums just now.

Remedy Entertainment, the original developer, has re-released Death Rally as freeware. It's 42 MB, and it will run on Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7, according to them.

Why was this done? Because it's the 13th anniversary of the game, it turns out. It was released on October 20th, 1996. I played it a while back, when I was still in high school.

The cool thing about this game is that it features the guest appearance of Duke Nukem.

You know, it was only the other day that I read that there were possible plans of more Death Rally releases in the future, too. Remedy recently filed for a new trademark. It was assumed that it would be for a digital release, but now that I see this whole freeware release thing, I'm not sure.

http://www.remedygames.com/games/death_rally.html
http://forum.alanwake.com/showthread.php?t=2616
http://forums.tidemedia.co.za/nag/showthread.php?t=12229
http://www.strategyinformer.com/pc/deathrally/full-game/33267.html (mirror)
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More on The Dark Mod Public Beta

I've covered it a few times on this blog, especially recently, with the public beta v 1.0 being released a few days ago.

I've been on to a number of other websites that have covered the story lately, and I've gotten more of the story about the mod and its included missions, particularly from RPS:

There are four missions- the training mission is included with the big download, and there are three others, "The Chalice of Kings", "The Crown of Penitence", and "The Outpost" that you can download.

You can get more info about all this at the site, which has received a visual makeover lately.

I noticed that originally some people were complaining about the downloading procedure offered on the mod's website. But now there are more mirrors for the download. These are the ones that are available. Note that Shacknews has put it up on FileShack now too:

Update: BigDownload has put up a link too.

http://www.bloodgate.com/mirrors/tdm/pub/pk4/tdm_update_win.zip
http://www.keepofmetalandgold.com/files/tdm/tdm_update_win.zip
http://www.fidcal.com/darkuser/tdm_update_win.zip
http://www.southquarter.com/tdm/tdm_update_win.zip
http://roggen.jmnet.us/darkmod/tdm_update_win.zip
http://www.fileshack.com/file.x/15468/The+Dark+Mod+Beta+1.00
http://www.bigdownload.com/games/doom-3/pc/doom-3-the-dark-mod/
http://www.strangebedfellows.de/torrents/torrents/darkmod.torrent
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Some Game Named "Hell is Other People"

Not that I care much for the game, which you can play a free version of, but it is named after one of my favourite quotes of all time, by Jean-Paul Sartre:

"l'enfer, c'est les autres", or "Hell is other people."

It's so true.

http://www.destructoid.com/hell-is-other-people-will-make-you-loathe-humanity-152371.phtml

http://nottheinternet.com/hell/
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2009/10/19

Panic Mechanic: What Happened to Jack?



If you’re a South African reader, you remember Leon Schuster’s film, Panic Mechanic, don’t you?
Well, it had been years since I’d seen the actor who played Jack Paddaman in that film, Frantz Dobrowsky. You know: “Hi Jack!”

I saw him on the TV, with that unmistakably ugly face sans ponytail recently. It also looked as though his nose had been broken at some point too. He had grey shaved hair, and his face was wrinkled like an old prune. He looked quite bad for his age- in his fifties.




So, I looked his name up and came across his profile on imdb.com, and got quite a shock. The series I’d seen with him starring in it, Dryfsand, was a few years old. But that’s not the worst of it. I found out that Dobrowsky committed suicide back in 2006 after his house had been repossessed. He was 58 when that happened.

Okay, so it was years ago, but just seeing him on the TV made me think about it.


http://www.tvsa.co.za/actorprofile.asp?actorID=10476
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0846057/
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2009/10/18

Video Games Coming Out in October 2009: 10/18 - 10/24


Pick of the Week:
Star Wars The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition

If it hadn't been for Borderlands only coming out next week on PC, it would have been in the Pick of the Week category as well. Star Wars The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition isn't a bad choice for PotW. The one released last year was just for consoles, and now this new version comes to the PC as well as the others, so I will likely get this sometime. Some say that the game will be released only next month, so I'm not sure. Other sites say it will be this Friday.


As I mentioned, Borderlands is coming out on consoles this week too. There's Tropico 3 for PC, and the inevitable sequel to the SD vs. Raw series, WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010.


Red links will take you to each game's detail page at Amazon, Direct2Drive, Steam, GamersGate, etc.

PC

DinerTown Detective Agency
Elven Legacy - Ranger (GamersGate)
Metal Drift (Steam)
Star Wars The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition
Tropico 3

PlayStation 2

Astro Boy: The Video Game
Backyard Football 2010
Bakugan Battle Brawlers
FIFA Soccer 10
MotorStorm Arctic Edge
Secret Saturdays: Beasts of the 5th Sun
WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010

PlayStation 3

Bakugan Battle Brawlers
Borderlands
FIFA Soccer 10
WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010

Xbox 360

Backyard Football 2010
Bakugan Battle Brawlers
Borderlands
FIFA Soccer 10
Lips: Number One Hits
WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010

Wii

Astro Boy: The Video Game
Backyard Football 2010
Bakugan Battle Brawlers
Charm Girls Club: Pajama Party
Cook Wars
Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo
FIFA Soccer 10
Horse Life Adventures
Littlest Pet Shop: Friends
Marvel Super Hero Squad
Medieval Games
NBA 2K10
Shimano Xtreme Fishing
Secret Saturdays: Beasts of the 5th Sun
WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010

Nintendo DS

Astro Boy: The Video Game
Bakugan Battle Brawlers - Collector's Edition
Charm Girls Club: My Fashion Mall
Charm Girls Club: My Fashion Show
Charm Girls Club: My Perfect Prom
FIFA 10
Imagine: Fashion Designer World Tour
Jam Sessions 2
Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum 2010
Littlest Pet Shop: Beach Friends
Littlest Pet Shop Friends: City
Littlest Pet Shop
Friends: Country
Marvel Super Hero Squad
Space Invaders Extreme 2
Secret Saturdays: Beasts of the 5th Sun
WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010

PSP

Astro Boy: The Video Game
FIFA Soccer 10
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
Marvel Super Hero Squad
Secret Saturdays: Beasts of the 5th Sun
WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010

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Angels& Demons: The Book or the Movie?

For the past while, I've been reading Dan Brown's Angels& Demons. I got about half-way when I hired the DVD from the store to watch. I thought, Damn, now the ending of the book will be revealed and they'll be no point in continuing on. The movie was slow to start, that's for sure. Only in the second half, the half that I hadn't read, did it start to pick up a bit, and then a lot.

I've heard from people who have finished the book that the movie is quite a bit different, and that it pays to read through the whole thing anyway. So I probably will just for the hell of it. It does make for quite a good read.
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What does AAA stand for?

It's not an abbreviation of anything. It just means the best of the best... 

"Well, now you know the truth: Apocalypso's Atomic Arcade!"

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