Apocalypso's Atomic Arcade: 3/1/09

2009/03/07

CGR Updates

My Classic Games Resurrected articles are going through some updates as of late. I've mostly added some new info as well as pictures and videos.

So far I've updated the Duke Nukem 3D, Doom, and Thief: The Dark Project articles, and I will most likely continue with more updates.

Recently I've been making a lot of changes to the site in between posts. I've switched to the minima black 3 column layout which I like so far, and I've also been adding some more widgets and rearranging things on the blog.

2009/03/06

50 Cent- is he worth it?

Just look at the new game that stars 50 Cent, Blood on the Sand, and ask yourself, “Who does this guy think he is?”

This guy is a rapper, and in my opinion he’s not really any good at that. Now he thinks he’s some sort of soldier or something, pitting himself up against the ‘forces of evil’, while in reality, he’s up in the penthouse sipping cristal and eating KFC. That’s called ‘delusions of grandeur’.

In this latest sham, “Fiddy” and the rest of his g-unit thugs go to a fictional Middle Eastern country and proceed to kick ass.

Sorry to tell you this, guys, but in reality it would most likely be the other way around. Just look at how the whole American army got theirs handed to them. Just because you grew up on the streets doesn’t prepare you or even qualify you for taking on ‘Middle Eastern people’ in their territory.

We can only really laugh at this sort of haughtiness and tough-guy attitude. I do. When I saw the trailer for this game, I just thought, “Oh god, not this again.”

He, amongst many other rappers, has such a large ego and like the title of his previous foray into videogames, Bulletproof, thinks he’s invincible.

Apparently 50 Cent was shot nine times and stabbed, and he survived. It makes you wish someone finished the job, so we’d be spared this trash. Stick to what your good…or, average at.

In addition to this ridiculous plot about trekking all the way to the desert I mentioned above, he has to look for some crystal skull, and this sounds a lot like something we’ve seen before - like the latest Indiana Jones movie.

2009/03/05

PC Games released- Unreal Tournament III: Titan Pack and Watchmen

Watchmen, the game, was released yesterday according to IGN.com. Unreal Tournament III: Titan Pack, a free update, was released today.

Apocalypse Then: Santana High School shooting

On this day, in 2001, Charles Andrew "Andy" Williams entered Santana High School, shot and killed two students and injured thirteen.

He is currently serving 50 years to life in prison. He is 23 years old.

Williams felt he was targeted for physical and emotional bullying in school, and after his arrest, he told investigators that he was fed up with being treated that way.

He was apparently a Linkin Park fan, and the song off of their album, Hybrid Theory, called One Step Closer, was blamed by the media for the shooting.

Chester Bennington of Linkin Park stated that, "Like everybody else, we are extremely saddened by these events and our hearts go out to the families and friends of the victims."

As regards their being blamed for the shooting, he said,"You might as well say it's because he ate mayonnaise that day. There's not enough attention paid to the problems of sensitive young men in our society."

2009/03/04

Where are the stars now: Doomguy

Doomguy is the protagonist from the Doom games.

He first appeared in the shareware version of Doom, and fought through the demonic invasion on Phobos, a moon of Mars, in “Knee-Deep in the Dead”. Later on, he was seen battling it out in what was left of the Deimos labs in “Shores of Hell”. After this he ventured into hell, in “Inferno”, and finished the job. When The Ultimate Doom came out, he had to go back and take care of some unfinished business in “Thy Flesh Consumed”.

In Doom II: Hell on Earth, Doomguy had to save the earth from another hellish invasion, and was supposedly the last human on earth as all the others had left and gone into space, while he was fighting off the demons. He was alone for a few years with nobody to talk to, and claims that this might have been one of the contributors towards his ill mental health in later years.

He was disappointed in the fact that Doom II had barely any new graphics or technology, although he claimed that the level design was better than the original’s.

In Final Doom, he had to endure another 64 levels of torment and pain, as he battled through TNT: Evilution and The Plutonia Experiment. He shared somewhat in the anger expressed by fans towards the fact that TNT: Evilution was supposed to be a free expansion pack for Doom II.

“Once again, there were virtually no new textures, graphics, enemies or anything. It was boring. Did you know that these two bundled mega-episodes were done by other people, and id claims the credit? Pfft.”

After having gone through the events of Doom, Doom II, and Final Doom, he had to go and see a psychiatrist due to suffering from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).

He has made comments about his space marine uniform from the games, “Look at this [points to scar on his stomach]. That uniform was basically just a helmet and body armour that only covered my chest. They left a huge gap where my stomach is and I’ve got this scar from some demon nearly ripping it open.”

As for appearing in Duke Nukem 3D, he said that it was such a small role and he was happy to get out of there as quickly as he could. "Just another Doom clone", he says.

He was apparently glad that he did not have to take part in Doom 64. “The fans didn’t like it anyway. It goes to show that when you don’t use the star, it’s not the same. You could tell it wasn't me because his uniform was different.”

He made an appearance, but rather unwillingly, in id’s game, Quake III. He claims that he was the star of Doom and not Quake, and has never liked the Quake series of games. He describes the Strogg from Quake II as ‘pansies’ compared to the demons from Doom, and goes on to say that, although frightening, they obviously copied their look from the Cyberdemon, who he has a lot of respect for, having faced off against him many times in the past.

“With all due respect to the space marines who went to Stroggos and all, Quake II and Quake IV could easily pass for Doom games. Doom also took place in basically the same place, and I had the same objectives as they did.”

He and Bitterman from Quake II traded war stories when they weren’t fragging each other and everyone else in Quake III.

“We have a lot in common. We were both sent to a strange planet, where we were left all alone, and had to face off against almost insurmountable odds. We were also never the same again afterwards.”

When asked about some of the others who appeared in Q3A, he says, “Who was that Phobos guy anyway? He wasn’t even wearing the proper space marine uniform. Oh, I remember him! He was the guy on the cover of The Ultimate Doom doing a balancing act on a rock. Big help he was. He was even named after the moon of mars; how unoriginal.”

It was noted in Quake III, that Doomguy seemed to suffer from some sort of schizophrenia as well as PTSD, claiming that he had voices or demons in his head. He considered the possibility that he was possessed and saw an exorcist, as well as continuing to see his therapist.

Nowadays, Doomguy is taking the vacation that he needs, now that id found another star for Doom III and the upcoming Doom IV.

“Everyone knows that they are not the same person, as I have brown hair and New Doomguy has black hair. I also have a stronger physique. You still get people out there who ask, though.”

As regards the Doom movie that came out in 2005, he said, “Oh God…” [shakes his head] “Total cash-in, and I’m glad it was more Doom III than Doom or Doom II, as I had nothing to do with Doom III.”

Doomguy relaxes in his trailer home, which is actually a big escape pod from outer orbit that crashed down on to earth, and keeps pet rabbits. He still sees his therapist from time to time, and is constantly using medication and alcohol to relax and forget things from the past. He has trouble sleeping, with perpetual nightmares. Just in case, he keeps his double-barreled shotgun under the bed.

When asked if he was scared of death, he says, “Look, I’ve been to hell and back, and as far as I know, there’s nobody left down there anyway- I killed them all. It’s damn hot down there though, I’ll tell you.”

When asked if he would ever star in another Doom game, he clutches his pet bunny tightly and replies, “Hell no.”

For more, try http://hubpages.com/hub/Doom and
http://hubpages.com/hub/Classic-Games-Resurrected--Doom-2

Mortal Kombat for sale

I've been going on about Mortal Kombat quite a bit recently. Well, this is news.

Recently, it has been reported that Midway is definitely considering selling Mortal Kombat, one of its most prized franchises.

Apparently Midway is in a big cash crisis, which is probably not uncommon for many devs and publishers nowadays.

And they say that the videogame industry is recession-proof...

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/midway-seeks-mortal-kombat-sale

2009/03/03

PC Games Released today

Instead of the usual small list, according to IGN.com, we've got the following PC games that came out today.

Empire: Total War

Empire: Total War (Special Forces Edition)

Tom Clancy's HAWX

MLB 2K9

Age of Booty

You can pick them up from my Amazon aStore,as they've been added there.

http://astore.amazon.com/apocalypso-20

Dark Mod update

The Dark Mod site has received a rare update on its main page lately. This includes a write-up and a new video.

I have been an avid follower of this mod for years and I am a big fan of the Thief series to boot.

They first said that we might get this mod last year, and now they say that we'll have a working beta sometime this year. They've been working on it ever since the last thief game, Thief: Deadly Shadows was released. Their aim is to create the perfect Thief-inspired mod, and customize it in an ongoing effort, welcoming help from the Thief fan community.

So far they have released a couple of alpha demos. The only thing is they're pretty big, and I've tried to get a local magazine interested in it so they'll put them and any other maps on their cover DVD, but so far they haven't bitten.

Maybe it's time to write to another magazine...

New ZDoom

ZDoom 2.3.0 is out, according to planetdoom.

You can also see the ZDoom homepage here .

ZDoom is one of the top Doom source ports, but I still prefer using Doomsday, or JDoom.

I wrote two articles for Doom and Doom II which delve into my experiences and impressions when using these two ports.

Street Fighter IV for PC!

It seems as though someone finally has some sense.

Capcom is planning to release Street Fighter IV on the PC this year. It was released on the consoles in February.

Now if only we could get Mortal Kombat and WWE Smackdown vs. Raw on the PC…

2009/03/02

Tom Clancy's HAWX demo

Today, the Tom Clancy's HAWX PC demo was released. It's a big file at 1.3 GB, that can be downloaded at:

Computer Games.ro
FileFront
FilePlanet
Gamershell
Worthplaying

http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/45156/Tom-Clancys-H-A-W-X-PC-Demo-Released

The full version is slated for tomorrow, but we'll see.

The Wish Granter: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 3

Cryptic Writings: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 3: Apocalyptic

There have been rumours circulating over the past few months about another S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game being developed, referred to as S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 3: Apocalyptic. I took the liberty of translating a post from stalker-planet that was written in Russian, into English recently.

This article originally appeared quite a while back- in November last year, and I came across it recently, and had to translate it into English from Russian with Google’s help, and a few posts that I discovered in forums. If you don’t like the way it is translated into broken English on the actual site, then I have done my best to make it more legible here.

“S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 3: Apocalyptic

A source close to the developers at GSC talked about some plans for a 3rd part of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

What is known at this time:

Allegedly, GSC, under the strictest secrecy, began to develop the third part of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

At the moment, we are aware that the game will use a new engine. Among the candidates discussed, CryEngine 2 was mentioned in particular!

The working name of the game seems to be S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 3: Apocalyptic. Strictly speaking, this is supposed to be Part 2, given that Clear Sky is a prequel, but developers prefer to position the game as a 3rd part. We know that the game will either take place after the events of "Shadow of Chernobyl" as a logical extension of one of the endings (which is unknown), or will begin in parallel with the events of "Shadow of Chernobyl".

The concept of the game will undergo many changes.

There will be many more locations (more than half of them will be bonus or optional locations), and the player will be able to change the plot while visiting them, which will give access to multiple endings. The player will be able to finish the game without even exploring half of the game.

The very atmosphere of the game will improve through the use of DX10 technology, which will be used for all coils (in this context, the question arises about the compatibility with XP).

The game won't use separate maps, instead the areas will load dynamically.

Also scheduled, are interesting new twists depending on the level of difficulty selected.

Non-linear gameplay: the player will be able to reach a goal in different ways.

Other features:

There won't be definitive plot-centered missions. The player will decide what to do and how to act depending on the situation.

Increased number of side-missions.

The Zone is now more dangerous, with new enemies, anomalies, mutants and bosses.

Bosses will have their own unique abilities, developing in the course of action.

There will be new groups in the Zone as well, new factions and also foreigners (Americans, Germans, French).

The economic component of the game has changed: a good gun and outfit will cost a lot of money.

Artifacts will be very costly too.

Information will be the most expensive currency in the zone.

Emergence of a new location: "Polygon" nuclear mines, and military.

Perhaps, the main character will have some additional features and functions.

Ability to recruit characters to perform a job, build up these groups and to manage them.

Working vehicles

The possibility of female characters in the Zone.

Information, of course, is 100% unofficial and unverified.”

Whatever the case, if it's true or not, I just hope that they don't rush it like they did with the other games, SoC and CS. They need to take their time and finish it properly.

2009/03/01

Apocalypse Then- Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 and Star Wars: Republic Commando

Today, we not only have two games released on the same day, but the same year too. Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 and Star Wars: Republic Commando were both originally released today, in 2005.

Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 came to the PC two weeks after its Xbox release. Star Wars: Republic Commando came to the PC three days after its initial release.

Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 started the hit WW II tactical squad based shooter franchise which recently saw its third game, Hell’s Highway, released last year.

Worthwhile PC games coming out in March- Week 1

Since it’s man’s month, let’s have a look at the first week and see what we’ll be getting to occupy our time:

March 3, 2009 Age of Booty
March 3, 2009 Empire: Total War
March 3, 2009 Empire: Total War (Special Forces Edition)
March 3, 2009 Major League Baseball 2K9
March 3, 2009 Tom Clancy's HAWX
March 3, 2009 World in Conflict: Soviet Assault
March 3, 2009 World in Conflict: Soviet Assault -- Complete Edition
March 5, 2009 Unreal Tournament III: Titan Pack

Source: IGN.com

St. David’s Day- Wales

Man’s Month

Since February was declared the month of love, with Valentine’s Day, which is essentially a woman’s holiday and all, March has unofficially been recognized as man’s month. I first found this out when DSTV started making a big song and dance about it with their strictly male line up of programming, with plenty of action movies and the like.

And let’s not forget about the male version of Valentine’s Day on the 14th of this month…

March is derived from the word Mars after all, and Mars is the Roman mythological God of War. So, it makes sense then.