Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 7:36 PM

Category: First Person

I should take a moment to talk about the gravity gun. This is the coolest feature in the game, and in fact, may be the coolest in any game ever. You can pick up any manner of small objects in the game, and in many cases, fight purely using the manipulation gameplay this gun provides. Far and away, this is my favorite feature in Half-Life 2.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 3:40 PM

Category: Entertainment

"We're saying goodbye to one of the most important products in the history of consumer technology," Dixons marketing director John Mewett said. "We are now entering the digital age and the new DVD technology available represents a step-change in picture quality and convenience".

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 12:32 PM

Category: Role Playing

While much of the gameplay revolves around a simple ‘talk and fetch' mission system, the sheer number of possibilities for solving these means they never feel old or rehashed, and instead subtly encourage us to view the game world as a real place where we can use our various abilities and powers in creative and innovative ways.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 10:03 PM

Category: First Person

What a joy it was to hear the distinctive sounds from the original game reappear. Everything from the charging of your suit to the banging crowbar brought the memories flooding back.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 10:10 PM

Category: First Person

While Halo 2’s core gameplay hasn’t changed drastically from its predecessor, a few new features and the occasional tweak to existing elements help make the first Halo seem unplayable by comparison.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:41 PM

Category: First Person

Although Valve would not specify exactly how they managed to identify and capture the pirates—which is probably a wise decision, as hackers might be able to reverse engineer the method if they knew how Valve did it—the developer did say that it was actually a fairly easy process.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 6:06 PM

Category: Role Playing

This time we've realized how much combat people really do in a game like this and made it more of a priority for us to get right. We did three whole new combat systems before settling on the one that's in the game now. We really are striving to get the kinetic energy of guys bashing each other with swords down, and do it right, because no one has yet.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 11:40 AM

Category: Massively Multiplayer

In just the first day alone, over 200,000 players created World of Warcraft accounts, and over 100,000 were already playing the game concurrently as of 5:00 p.m. PST on Tuesday. The account-creation and concurrent-user populations are both record numbers for a MMORPG on its first day of launch, making World of Warcraft the fastest-growing online game in history.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 10:26 PM

Category: First Person

This update will fix sound stuttering that users were experiencing that would last for longer than a few seconds during normal gameplay. This update will also eliminate this same behavior following a quicksave or autosave. There will still be a short pause while the autosave happens, but not the more drawn out stuttering behavior.

We are still investigating another performance problem on some hardware, which will manifest where the game is getting into a state where performance drops to less than 5 fps and does not recover or crashes.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:48 PM

Category: Role Playing

"Oblivion" in the world of the Elder Scrolls, is essentially Hell. It's where all the demons and dark lords come from. It's another plane of existence, and each of the dark lords rules a separate area of it. It has many facets, and each of the lords has appeared in our previous games. In this game, you'll actually be going to a plane of Oblivion itself.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 8:56 AM

Category: Massively Multiplayer

World of Warcraft has been our largest undertaking to date," said Mike Morhaime, president and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment. "When we set out to create a massively multiplayer online game, our goal was to expand the scope of the Warcraft universe by offering an incredibly dynamic game experience. We're extremely proud of the game we've created, and we believe players will be very pleased when they see what we have in store for them.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 4:11 PM

Category: First Person

For all the improvements over Halo that make Halo 2 more fun and engrossing to play in single player mode, none of them change the nature of the game. Most of the same praise that was directed at Halo applies to Halo 2, only this time it’s louder. It may not do much that’s new, but what it does, it does well. Halo 2 is the perfect Valhalla for the sci-fi gun crazy who want to shoot their way through an entire alien civilization from first person. Again.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 11:03 PM

Category: Action

All around, Scrapland is a very interesting, well-made hybrid consisting of third-person adventure, racing, with some spy-elements thrown in to boot. This is quite possibly the game’s only problem, however: there is no clear focus, and at times the game does not quite hold up under the weight of all its elements.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 11:11 PM

Category: Science

Smart 1 is testing a highly efficient solar-electric propulsion system as one of its key mission objectives. The engine works by expelling a beam of charged xenon atoms - ions - from the back of the probe.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 7:47 PM

Category: First Person

As for the immersion, Half-Life 2 is one of the deepest games yet. Starting off in City 17, you are surrounded by characters in various emotions and situations, all of them wondering why they are in City 17 and why they are not allowed to leave. You can almost feel the despair in the city as people live in apartments where the Combine are free to bust in and beat on the occupants, and do so rather often.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 10:15 PM

Category: First Person

Playing Half-Life 2 will offer you a glimpse into the future of PC gaming. We're not yet there, but Valve has certainly raised the bar on so many levels. With only their second game, they've managed to make a sequel worthy of the original and make huge technological breakthroughs that for the first time make the players feel like they are starring in an interactive movie: a movie with a plot, actors, and the lead hero - Mr. PhD. himself, Gordon Freeman.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:19 PM

Category: Action

"There is a tremendous amount of enthusiasm for the Nintendo DS and we are excited to be among the launch titles for this innovative new platform," said Kathy Vrabeck, president of Activision Publishing. "Spider-Man 2 takes advantage of the Nintendo DS's processing power by delivering amazing graphics and sound, and gameplay that fully realizes the potential of the dual screen."

Players assume the role of Spider-Man and re-live the movie experience through all new missions featuring unique enemies, objectives and combat maneuvers. Utilizing the touch screen and new controller layout, players can quickly swing, run, jump, solve puzzles, engage in combat and switch to an arsenal of moves on the fly, while patrolling and protecting the city of Manhattan from the nefarious Doc Ock.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:05 AM

Category: First Person

Half-Life 2 is available now for purchase and to play. Those who pre-purchased their copy via Steam may access the game by double-clicking on the Half-Life 2 icon in their Steam Games directory. To purchase your copy via Steam, please visit www.steampowered.com

We hope you enjoy it!

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 4:15 PM

Category: First Person

In order to play the game, I, and several of my colleagues throughout the industry, took a trip up to Seattle to visit Valve in order to have some private time with the title. I was given a little room to myself where I could close the door, turn off the lights, click my little red slippers, and pretend that I was sitting at home.

Half-Life 2 is, simply put, the best single-player shooter ever released for the PC. It does so many things right in so many ways that it might be possible to write a thesis on the topic of Half-Life 2 compared to other single player shooters. What Valve has created is simply a masterpiece -- a work of art in the genre. Not only does it engage the mind with mysterious happenings, vagaries, and mostly intelligent dialogue, but also captures the senses with a superb visual style made possible by brilliant technology.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 10:29 AM

Category: Publisher

Although it's quite common for workers in the video games industry to work long hours, especially during "crunch" periods, some EA employees feel they've worked far too much overtime without compensation. Now a class action lawsuit appears to be in the works.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 2:53 PM

Category: Adventure

The pre-rendered backgrounds sparkle with stunning details, cobwebs, dust, cracks, sun effects, glean of metal, lush forests-you name it, and Myst shows it off in glorioius effect. The FMV (60 plus minutes of it on 2 DVDS) interspersed throughout takes you aback as well; it is movie quality and seems to fit in well with the CG backgrounds seamlessly.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 2:43 PM

Category: First Person

If you have purchased a copy of Half-Life 2, we are sorry you are still waiting to play. This is not Valve's choice. Vivendi is insisting that the game has not yet been released, and has threatened that Valve would be in violation of its contract if we activate the Half-Life 2 Steam authentication servers at this time.

Thanks for your patience and we will update you when we have more news to share.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:14 PM

Category: First Person

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 7:40 PM

Category: Adventure

The game world itself is pretty nice looking and you can look all around using the mouse like you would in a FPS game. In most locations, especially the jungle, there is a lot of detail. If you look closely you can see groups of insects on plants, and you'll see stuff like a lizard going up a boulder... that's pretty cool.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 3:31 PM

Category: Console Games

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 7:44 PM

Category: First Person

According to new data revealed today, Microsoft is now reporting that Halo 2 recorded $125 million on day one, easily surpassing their $100 million estimate. The publisher sold 2.38 million units in North America.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 2:08 PM

Category: Developer

Eidos issued the following statement: "Eidos announces that Warren Spector has relinquished his role as Studio Director at Ion Storm. Warren has chosen to pursue personal interests outside the company, but he will continue to work for Eidos as an IP consultant. His insight and expertise is highly valued by Eidos, and the company looks forward to continuing its relationship with Warren in his new role."

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 8:39 PM

Category: First Person

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 10:14 PM

Category: First Person

Toronto, Ontario - November 8, 2004 - DreamCatcher Games today announced Painkiller: Battle Out Of Hell has reached gold status. The Expansion Pack for the award-winning Windows® FPS, Painkiller, will begin shipping to North American retailers on November 11th and release across Europe beginning on November 24th.

Picking up where the game’s story left off, Painkiller: Battle Out Of Hell offers multiple features to extend enjoyment of this spectacular shooter. Using code from the 1.5 update, the Expansion Pack includes an additional single-player chapter with 10 levels, as well as new multiplayer modes, maps and models. It will also offer an amplified arsenal of un-deadly weapons, bigger and badder bosses and the map editor Software Development Kit.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:41 PM

Category: First Person

Pacific Asssault's sound engulfs you right in the thick of action. Bullets whizz by left and right in full surround sound. Explosions echo and ring, pounding the subwoofers. And the musical score could work just as well in any good military movie. While your crew might tend to repeat some of the same sound bites in the thick of battle, their congratulations of "Good shot, Tommy" still lend themselves well to the emotions of the battle.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:49 PM

Category: Publisher

"Publishers should be very worried. They might have a leg to stand on from a legal standpoint. It's not impossible that McKool Smith will win. A lot of very smart people are taking this very seriously. Common sense says it's ridiculous, and from a moral standpoint it's outrageous.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:30 PM

Category: Action

American McGee Presents Scrapland features a spectacularly detailed world where players can pursue an engrossing storyline or go off on adventures of their own. As the robot D-Tritus, players must solve a series of murders by navigating the dangerous robot-inhabited city of Chimera on the planet known as Scrapland. D-Tritus can fight on the ground or he can transform into any of 15 character types, each with their own unique abilities. He can also steal, build, customize and fly a huge variety of ships and engage in explosive 3D combat against other pilots. Multiplayer options include Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and the ability to import ships from the single-player game.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:53 PM

Category: Science

Now we're assuming they're cleaning, but all we can really say is that overnight the solar panels produced between 2 and 5 percent additional power immediately," he said. "We're surmising that for some reason dust is being removed from the solar panel and that's increasing the efficiency of the sunlight being converted to electricity.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 10:20 PM

Category: First Person

It may appear to be a simple, modern metropolitan city, but in Painkiller, nothing is ever as it seems. The buildings in this city look as normal as can be, but Dead City is home to the creepiest, weirdest monsters you’ll face. Check out the Preacher: If this is the Preacher, you can only imagine what his congregation must look like! This well-fed gentleman carries a giant axe and wears cut-off feet as a trophy necklace. Among other things, he can throw a car at the player…And catch a glance of Panzer Spider: This weird, giant cyberspider has many different attacks (ice breath, earthquake, etc.).

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:53 PM

Category: Action

Finally we get to Shade’s strongest asset, which to be perfectly honest isn’t saying very much; the survival horror element of the game. To say that Shade is dripping in mood and suspense is a bit much, it’s a little moist perhaps - not enough to merit a call to the plumbers, but in its own cornball way it has some atmospheric elements. Then again a game that includes wrathful angels, zombies, demons and ancient buildings would have to be seriously crap to screw that up.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 10:23 PM

Category: First Person

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:35 PM

Category: Role Playing

Combat is simple…and yet has a sweet complexity. You choose from the melee weapons you're trained in, archery or hand-to-hand combat. You must make sure to aim to hit. The game will not do it immediately for you, though it does adjust for when an enemy is dispatched. You attack with the A button and parry with B. Do not mistake this for a masher - repeatedly hitting attack while using the flail will mean you have to carry through each of your attacks. This can be particularly devastating if you need to run! You don't fight alone, although they're not exactly cohorts either. As a bard, you've the ability to summon various creatures/people to help you in your adventures.