azzx.org » Console

Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Director Commentary & Gameplay

AzzX — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 12:59:46 +0000

How good is this game looking? Deus Ex is probably my all time favourite game on any platform and it appears to be getting getting the sequel/Prequel it truly deserves:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=73GqUqRetxY

There was always a certain complexity with Deus Ex which has been lacking in recent years, No! I am not going to mention Invisible War or the farce that was Dragon Age 2 but with gaming mechanics in general, Developers seem to think the mainstream audience wants every game to be a pick up and play mind numbing borefest and will go out of their way making sure every subsequent game gets increasingly more streamlined.

If I want games like these I'll just watch a Blu-Ray! I want the satisfaction of an in depth game, I want to be frustrated and then be rewarded for being awesome, I don't want the entire arsenal of the US army in my backpack at my every whim, I would much prefer stabbing some guy in the back with his dinner fork in order to hack his security system than be presented with a massive RPG in order to blast my way through a map.

Maybe its just me...

Why Console gamers don’t get Brink

AzzX — Wed, 11 May 2011 03:02:35 +0000

Found this on Bethesda's official Brink Forum and thought it was a worthwhile laugh.

Why Console gamers and pretend reviewers like Joystick and IGN don't get Brink!

Brink Console Walkthrough

PS3 Portal 2 Steam PSN Fail

AzzX — Sun, 01 May 2011 07:58:08 +0000

I pre-ordered Portal 2 a month ago from the UK and it finally arrived last Friday.

Unfortunately due to PSN being brought to its knees by insecurity I am unable to use the supplied PC code and activate it. I had really no intention of playing it on the PS3 other than to check out steam on it and maybe let my son play it with me.

I bet valve is none too happy about the issue because as of now:

Steam is not working on the PS3.
Possible Steam Account information leaked for those that activated before PSN went belly up.
Valve previously praising the PS3 for being the definitive console version for 3 now having to eat their words.

Not much has been said (nothing really) about potential Steam account information being leaked but I guess now would be a good time to change your Steam password and to enable Steam Guard.

Dragon Age 2 Demo thoughts

AzzX — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 03:08:37 +0000

Nervousness, that is what I felt before playing the sequel demo to one of my favourite RPG's in years. I should note, It also doesn't help that I am currently playing Divinity 2 – The Dragon Knight Saga. Going from a difficult RPG heavy game to this is quite a stark contrast. I played the Demo on both the PC and PS3 platforms.

There is a massive case of style and effect with this sequel, DA:O was a RPG with Oldschool and in-depth sensibilities set in a familiar medieval background filled with lively and likeable characters. The demo thrust us upon an Alien landscape far removed from the original and it seems like a shallow imitation of itself. It might be a good game in its own right but it isn't the same world DA:O created.

The first issue I have is just the feel of the game.

Style

Dragon Age 2: It's damn Purple.

The Style and grittiness of DA:O has been completely removed and replaced with nice clean edges, completely devoid of character. Graphically the game looks pretty decent, though where are all the details? Everything looks so plain and unrealistic. The UI contributes to this offering almost a psuedo scifi console interface. The game menus do not seem like part of the game at all. Its obvious Dragon Age 2 has been optimised for TV viewing with PC centric gaming an afterthought.

The dialogue choices are just boringly implemented. People still like to read Bioware! The cutscenes were also missing some of character found in the first game, I ended up skipping a few of them.

The voice acting whilst good, also adds to the style differences. The Demo is primarily American voice acted with some forced European accents on display, I am not sure what the difference really is but characters seem devoid of emotion compared to the original. Returning characters are a welcome bonus though.

Combat

The combat system is similar in how it plays out in DA:O without the tactical aspect you could enjoy in the bigger battles. The PC centric mouse control system is too slow to play realtime in an enjoyable fashion so I found myself fighting via the keyboard and spamming keys 1 -8.

Combat is faster with less noticeable meaningful differences between classes, from what I could tell from the demo, animations seem less fluid and very cartoony.

The combat on the demo's normal difficulty is also laughably easy. Reminiscent of the console game Summoner.

In DA:O I could taunt a crowd of enemies with my tank, with their backs turned I could then flank and backstab with the rogue. Now its just click the backstab icon. Awesome. (sarcasm) Blindside is more the same flanking technique that was calculated in DA:O for all party members regardless of class, having only the rogue able to use this passive skill without critical chance of a backstab changes the gameplay a lot and removes a significant amount of gaming satisfaction.

There was no indication of pre-emptive massive combat in the demo as fights appeared more scripted – again most likely due to the streamlining Bioware was talking about.

I would be interested to see how a massive fight will play out with large mobs and Dragons. The previous game allowed you to move characters to tiered vantage points via use of the isometric view. Battlefields could be huge. This just wouldn't work with the sequel.

Conclusion

Whilst DA2 is a decent console game, as a follow up the the PC version of Dragon Age Origins, it fails on all fronts. I also understand it is only a demo, though it hasn't enticed me to ever buy the full game, especially on the PC platform.

Unfortunately this demo has almost killed the DA franchise for me, hurtful considering the praise I gave the first game. I really tried desperately hard to enjoy the Dragon Age 2 Demo, especially after investing so much time in the original. The problem is certain RPG elements I love have been stripped away and the Style of the Dragon Age universe has been ripped apart and replaced with the colour purple.

Bioware Marketing Director Interview:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yh5X0hvYNIU

DA:O had painstaking detail for no reason, We removed books and other details as no one paid attention to them.
Densely populated play areas are distracting.
Inspiration from Japanese films...
We removed top down view because it ruined the fidelity of the game....
We made every area look brown and purple so that the game has a consistent look and identity.

Oh Dear.

Finding a Gaming Server

AzzX — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:56:00 +0000

Finding a Gaming Server for your community or clan has always been a tedious affair but thankfully no longer.

Introducing GameServed.net

Game Served is a directory of Game Servers, voice servers and clan management. Features include a constantly updated database of Game Server, Voice Server and Clan gaming providers, all searchable via locality, hosting type and game specific support.

With providers like these, community input is extremely important so Game Served includes a new Game Server Provider ratings system in which users can vote and comment on their experiences. In order to stop false ratings, Game Served is also moderated in order to generate a fair representation of customer support and because of this, is more reflective of game server performance than other automated directories.

Coming soon will also be a chance to win a Game Server for two months from any provider you choose.

Steam Vs Console thoughts.

AzzX — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 04:18:03 +0000

As an Owner of a Gaming Specced PC, A RROD 360 I fixed off Ebay, A PS3 Slim, A Wii and a DS Lite the thing that sticks out the most noticeably for me in the gaming realm is Steam and Valve's philosophy in general, and not just because of the Digital Delivery concept. A few points to make:

Steam is becoming platform indifferent.

We currently have Mac and PC clients and there is talk about an upcoming Linux client – there is your PC console in a small box. I have my lower specced Windows based HTPC running Steam and it works nicely as a TV gaming machine.

Valve has created games where piracy of said game is pointless – TF2 anyone?

Constant updates, community derived input and additions have created possibly the most successful single evolving game. TF2 as it stands is nothing like it was on release and pirating it is pointless.

Steam embraces the indie and modding community.

Probably the biggest reason why PC gaming will and never should die. Highlighting gaming brilliance and bridging the gap between the gamer and developer. Counterstrike Source was a mod after all and in the console realm this would never be possible.

Steam games are also cheaper than any console. (Bar Activision localisation)

Valve, Steam, Sony and PSN thoughts

AzzX — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 16:45:13 +0000

The recent E3 Valve and Sony Entertainment surprise has been an absolute gaming mind explosion. Who would have thought that the once anti Sony Cell architecture bashing PC gaming elemental, Valves very own Gabe Newell, would be announcing his new found love for the "now?" Open Playstation 3?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijBSX9a-0Pw

Hang on a minute, didn't Sony just remove the ability to install Linux onto its console due to the potential open hackability presented by an individual named Geohot?

Regardless of recent events, the clues into this current gaming evolution, have been manifesting themselves for quite some time. A few thoughts on the topic:

I can see some sort of PSN and Steam crossover deal happening. Sony and relative parties on Steam via the PC and Steam and relative parties via PSN. The PC still owns the MMORPG market which is simply THE most profitable gaming genre on the planet at this time - Sony obviously understands this. Gabe has shown his love for the MMORPG numerous times so it pretty much makes perfect sense for the grand master of Valve also.

The Mac entry just strikes me as bizarre as most Mac users are definitely not gamers and appears to be more a one finger salute directed towards Microsoft, well lets face it, they give their biggest platform not much gaming love due to their 360 interests. Windows Live is a mere stop gap in the scheme of gaming and not very good.

As Gabe recently said, the Mac as a so called open platform for gaming - This just strikes me as a generic and pointless marketing exercise due to the completely un-open nature of Apple hardware and the profit fueled philosophy behind it. Why would you pay double for hardware which is older and less powerful and completely restrictive than the alternative?

Gabe also points out the stability of the Apple Mac in recent Steam collected Data - Maybe because Mac users are playing the 8 revision of the games available.

What also irks me is the target crowd Valve now seems to be directing their attention at. The new TF2 startup screen reeks of pure consolification and Mac centric elements. The dumbed down nature Valve Software is playing with in this regard is completely lost of fans such as myself, I don't need cues on how to game with a simple FPS! Considering your existing market has absolutely no use for this - At all.

Unfortunately I doubt this sort of simplification process will ever let up with todays game developers, Valves emphasis on the excellent though also casual friendly Portal franchise, is evidence of this change, at a time when 90% of their fans were crying for the long awaited next chapter in the Half Life franchise.

Final Fantasy XIII disappointment!

AzzX — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:49:20 +0000

After playing the Western RPG masterpiece, Dragon Age, Final Fantasy XIII is an absolute bore fest in comparison. I just purchased the Collectors Edition of FFXIII on the PS3 and have never been more dissatisfied with a game than this.

Linear progression, bash on X during a fight scene, watch next movie and so on. I am a big fan of past Final Fantasy games and this game is the easiest of the lot. The story is similar to Final Fantasy 6 without any epicness about it and its very badly voice acted. I also want to cut Snows tuft of hair - It is god damn annoying. To be honest I wouldn't even classify FFXIII as a RPG as it plays more like an interactive movie.

There is not even an illusion of exploration. An open ended storyline based on your actions is what an RPG is all about and this game fails at being an RPG completely, anyway first impressions:

CGI cutscenes are excellent.
Ingame suffers from framerate issues every now and then.
Voice acting is absolutely shocking, they should have waited or spent more time on this aspect, Not liking any of the characters (a first in a FF game)
Combat is the easiest of all Final Fantasy's – Where are the reflect spells and magic combination's.
Exp advancement is similar to FFX though a really dumbed down version of it.

Hopefully it gets better though I am not sure I am prepared to wait 20 hours for some decent gameplay to be had. I think the death of the JRPG isn't as exaggerated as first thought, especially compared to Western RPG's and anything Bioware now produce.

Here is some gameplay I recorded:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3MuEJDHb7E

This is what you can expect for the first few hours, and yes I'll update my impressions on the game upon completion.

Update:

I have finally finished the game after a bit of a break using Light, Sazh and Vanille pretty much exclusively, got the 5 star trophy thing for killing Orphan in 2 minutes too, not too shabby.
PSN: http://us.playstation.com/publictrophy/index.htm?onlinename=AzzX
I am not sure if I may play a bit longer to explore a bit more just wasn't impressed overall with the main feel of the game, I just found it way too simplistic.

Every Fight I would enter with Rav/Syn/Sab Buff and weaken the enemy then let fly with Rav/Rav/Rav , Stagger then Finish with Com/Com/Rav. This worked for every enemy in the game, including Orphan it seemed pointless trying anyone else.

Never bought anything at a shop and only upgraded weapons right before the last fight. Probably missing some trophies for doing so, but Oh well.
I still stand by my original score of 4/10 after finishing the game.

Final Fantasy XIII Collector’s Edition Australian Preorder.

AzzX — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 09:51:37 +0000

Final Fantasy XIII is going to be released on the 9th of March in Australia and if you can wait a few days, Fishpond have the Collectors Edition for both the Xbox 360 and PS3 editions for just $119.00. My favorite Final Fantasy games in the franchise were FF6 and FF5 on the Super Nintendo followed by FF8 on the PSX and FFX on the PS2. I really hope this one holds up my expectations of JRPG brilliance, time will tell....

Final Fantasy Limited Collector’s Edition Preorder:

Features a Branded presentation box containing the FINAL FANTASY XIII game, plus:

FINAL FANTASY XIII Original Sound Selection: Soundtrack CD including a selection of music tracks from the game that are especially chosen for this Limited Collector’s Edition by composer Masashi Hamauzu. The CD is presented inside a slipcase featuring artwork from FINAL FANTASY XIII, and also liner notes that are written by the composer.

The World of FINAL FANTASY XIII: Hardback book featuring character artwork, CG rendered artwork and environments from across the game production.

Exclusive Art Prints: Three highly collectable art prints showing artwork of the Eidolons, powerful summoned allies of the lead playable characters in FINAL FANTASY XIII

Unique ‘Brand of the l’Cie’ decal: Collectible decal featuring this most iconic symbol from the game storyline

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJPbozRomX4

Gamelane Australia has an awesome price on the standard edition at $79.99

Xbox RROD Project – Cheap way to buy an XBOX 360?

AzzX — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 05:16:15 +0000

I recently just bought 2 RROD Xbox 360's off Ebay after doing a bit of research on common Xbox 360 RROD problems. I must admit, I quite enjoy getting my hands dirty with this sort of thing and being a long time PC builder, this exercise was quite easy.

Upon initial inspection of the console, the previous owner had attempted an xclamp fix and had got thermal paste absolutely everywhere. It took a while to clean all this off and re-apply some Artic Silver.

After turning the console for the first time I got the error code 0031 which appears to be a Southbridge Issue. Undeterred by this, I tried pushing down on the Southbridge chip and then powering up again - which unbelievably actually worked, green lights to be had all round! I applied some pressure on the chip with a clamp and then gave the Hot air gun a spin for a while. Now the Xbox 360 boots without issue and works for long periods without a single fail.

Sometimes you get lucky, some fixes take no time at all.

The last thing I need to do is fix the fan as it sounds like an Aircraft carrier at full throttle:

Xbox 360 fixed RROD loud fans

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot4OCRDh77g

If you are going to try and do this yourself, be aware that there are quite a few bricked 360's for sale which are usually due to a failed attempted at patching a 360's DVD firmware.