Apocalypso's Atomic Arcade

2009/11/03

Video Game Deals: F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin

Over at Amazon, there's a pretty good deal on F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin for the console versions (Xbox 360 and PS3). You can get the game for nearly half the price for both systems. They're now the same price as the PC version, which dropped in price, but only a little.

If you need any convincing as to whether it's worth picking up the game or not, you can always check out the review I wrote for it at the beginning of the year.

Fear 2: Project Origin (PS3) - $19.99 - Save $16.00
Fear 2: Project Origin (360) - $19.99 - Save $14.50
Fear 2: Project Origin (PC) - $19.99 - Save $4.00

It’s Your Birthday: Gabe Newell

Gabe Logan Newell was born today, the 3rd of November, in 1962. He turns 47 today.

Gabe Newell is the co-founder, along with Mike Harrington, and managing director of Valve Corporation (founded in 1996), the company responsible for many great game series, like Half-Life.

Interesting facts about Gabe:

He dropped out of Harvard University.
He worked for Microsoft for thirteen years.
Gabe and Mike funded the development of Half-Life out of their own pockets with money they earned at Microsoft.
He is married to Lisa Newell and has two sons.
Gabe hates the PS3.
Gabe likes the PC.
Gabe’s Wikipedia article is semi-protected because of vandalism.
There is a video game character with the same name as his: Gabriel "Gabe" Logan from Syphon Filter.
Gabe describes himself as the producer on the first three releases of Microsoft Windows.
People often make fun of his weight.
Gabe can't fold his arms.
Gabe was briefly in second place in a Victoria’s Secret competition this year, before his entry was disqualified.
There’s a fake Gabe on Twitter posing as Gabe Newell. The real Gabe doesn’t have a Twitter account, yet. Kotaku fell for this hoax.
Valve and Gabe Newell came under fire after announcing that Left 4 Dead 2 was under development at would be released this year. Even a boycott group was started, which has since been “disbanded” by the founders, who were flown to Valve HQ to see the game in action.
Recently, Gabe and Erik Johnson flew to Australia to see someone’s Left 4 Dead campaign, after the guy raised $ 3000 for his flight, although Gabe actually paid the amount himself, in the end.
Gabe said he might consider a Half-Life movie if there is ever a script worth directing. Quentin Tarantino was once rumoured to be interested in making a Half-Life movie after claiming that even though he disliked video games as a whole, he liked Half-Life 2.
Gabe wouldn’t ever consider Uwe Boll to direct a Half-Life movie (thank Christ).
Gabe plays PC games two hours a day.
Gabe owns a BMW 745i.
Gabe’s current PC: Unspecified Core i7 (overclocked), ATI Radeon HD 4800, 42" Panasonic Elite 1080p monitor, Razer mouse, MS ergonomic keyboard.
Gabe has very eclectic tastes when it comes to music.
Gabe collects knives as a hobby. I assume he means like combat knives and such, and not those little plastic knives you get at some take-away restaurants.
Gabe has expressed interest in having fans fund video game development.
Gabe is no stranger to hiring people who work on mods, especially for Valve games. He claims that half of Valve is made up of (former) mod-makers.

2009/11/02

There Won't be an Assassin's Creed 2 Demo

I was just reading that there won't be an Assassin's Creed 2 demo. I wasn't really expecting one, since there wasn't one for the original either. I don't know if it's really one of those games that you can have a demo for, although I could be wrong. John Callaham of Big Download was right though when he said: "It seems more and more high profile games are doing away with demo releases, at least before the game is released."

I think about Wolfenstein, and how the demo was released about two months after the full version came out.

Peter Molyneux is of the opinion that demos ruin the experience of a game. But I think on more than one occasion, it has stopped me from buying a real bomb of a game, by sampling it first.

'Allo 'Allo: What's Going on Here?

All Souls Day

Well, for the past while I've been watching the classic series of 'Allo 'Allo on BBC entertainment. They finally had the good sense to stop showing Only Fools and Horses, Fawlty Towers and Blackadder in rotation, and bring this one back. I haven't seen a lot of the episodes for years. I mean, yes, so those I mentioned are classics- I don't really agree with Only Fools and Horses being number 1 on Britain's Best Sitcom list, but still, they are boring after seeing them over and over for years now.

It's good to see something old but new for a change, if you know what I mean. It truly is good stuff!

I find the word play when it comes to René and Lieutenant Gruber concerning Gruber's sexuality to be amusing.

2009/11/01

Apocalypse Then- Half-Life: Opposing Force

All Saints Day

On this day in gaming, Half-Life: Opposing Force was released on the PC, in 1999. This marks the tenth anniversary of the first expansion for Half-Life, developed by Gearbox Software, with some help from outsourcing of talent, and published by Sierra Studios.

I played it numerous times years ago. I first played the demo that was available on a NAG CD in 2000, although I later bought Blue Shift, which included "OpFor". I personally sent a letter to NAG, requesting them to review the game in late 1999, and the review was published in early 2000.

Opposing Force is a FPS title that sees you play in the same universe as the original game, except that you are a soldier, Corporal Adrian Shephard, like the ones sent to contain the events at Black Mesa Research Facility, and to eliminate the alien invasion. But soon the marines are overcome by numerous foes, even ones unexpected, like another alien race, Race X, as well as black ops.

Like Half-Life was revolutionary for the FPS genre, Opposing Force was considered an above average expansion by many. It introduced new weapons, enemies, and NPCs, including Senior Drill Instructor Dwight T. Barnes, a character meant to be modeled after R. Lee Ermey's Gunny from Full Metal Jacket. Of course the mysterious G-Man makes an appearance in the game too.

In Opposing Force there was one notable difference, playing as a marine, and that was that unlike Half-Life, you didn't have to kill the scientists, or the security force. In Opposing Force you can save them, and more often that not, they will aid you in parts of the game. Kind of like a "we're in the same boat" kind of situation.

Opposing Force was also available with Blue Shift, the second expansion, along with the High Definition Pack, which enhanced the look of the game's characters and weaponry, with the MP5 submachine gun notably changing into the M4 assault rifle.

At the end of the game, a similar situation with the G-Man unfolds, and the player is detained. Up until now, there have been no real confirmations that Adrian Shepard will ever be seen or be playable in a Half-Life title again, althought rumours still persist.

A fan-made mod is in development, Operation Black Mesa, with the aim of recreating Opposing Force in the Source engine, much like Black Mesa Source.

Just on a personal note: There was a sound when using the barnacle as a grappling hook to stick onto things, which made me "excited".

Video Games Coming Out in November 2009 - 11/01 - 11/07: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - Ultimate Sith Edition

My Data’s Gone! Wait a Minute…no, it's Not.

Something odd happened to me the other day. A couple of months ago I bought airtime from MTN which I converted in to data to use online. That data has to last for 2 months (60 days). It used to be 30, until people complained a lot. They complained because they may have bought a large data bundle, only to find that they hadn’t spent some (or most) of it, and then at the end of the period that the data is valid for, it’s gone. Just like that.

This isn't the first time I've had trouble with MTN, by the way.

Anyhow, I still had a sizeable chunk of my data left, and I badly wanted to use it up before it expired. I got an e-mail a day or two before telling me that soon my data would expire. So, it was late, and after some blogging and such, I wanted to use the data I had left to download something. I won’t tell you what it was (it wasn’t what you think it is). I dialed the number on my cellphone to check my balance to see how much I had left, and I was shocked when it read 0 bytes data. I was kind of sad, frustrated, and angry all at once.

How dare they take my bloody data!

Anyway, I still had some airtime left, so I thought, I’ll use what’s left. So I started my download, and all the while I was seething because of what had transpired earlier. MTN had told me that my data would expire on the 1st of November, and it was after midnight when I tried to download this file. I was expecting the download to stop any time because I didn’t have much airtime- but it kept going. I was confused, as I checked my balance again and again. It wasn’t using the airtime, so what was it using? It still read 0 bytes data, while a day before it was above 50 MB. I figured that even though it said I had nothing left, there was still indeed data being used. Maybe it hadn’t been cleared, or it was a grace period or something.

I don’t know how much longer it would have lasted seeing as it said the 1st of November was the day, but I managed to get my download finished, and got what I wanted. That was such a close call. In the end all my airtime was used up too. So it was 0 R Airtime, 0 bytes data, 0 smss. It’s time to top up again, I think.