Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 10:30 AM

Category: Role Playing

The first thing that really grabbed us was how improved the controls are. Morrowind sometimes felt like a weird mix of MMO and traditional FPS controls, and it didn't work that well. Oblivion is light years beyond that. Combat is fast and furious (and you can actually easily, and effectively, block and parry an attacker), and the interface is easy to learn and navigate.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:57 AM

Category: Massively Multiplayer

We're releasing two Campaigns a year but each of those Campaigns will have a full year of development. I'll reiterate it again, these are games, these are not expansion packs and so they have a full development cycle. The development teams are staggered so that means we started work on Factions right as Guild Wars was shipping, and Campaign 3 started last Fall so it's well into development. Obviously we're not really announcing any deals at the moment but I will say that if Guild Wars was an eight and Factions was a ten well that scale's going to have to be revised every time because in terms of the play experience and the visuals, we expect Campaign 3 to be as big a step over Factions as Factions is over the original Guild Wars.

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

Category: Role Playing

While working through one of the side quests in one of the villages I was about to cross a stream as dusk was approaching and as I entered the water I actually saw the sunset reflected back at me. The realism of this moment was so intense that I actually sat at the side of the river and watched the sunset reflected in the water, the sun slowly turning from yellow to a burnt red as it worked it’s way through it’s orbit. Things like this have been done in games before but not at this level of realism and detail. Bethesda has done a great job of creating a living, breathing world.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 8:30 AM

Category: Massively Multiplayer

So our goal is to create this game, create this business model, have a large and thriving community - and then sell content directly to them. Really, if you think about it, if I make two games a year and I do a good job, make sure that they're really cool and really strong, and that you want to buy them; that's about the same as what I would get if I was paying a subscription fee for one game over that year. You're right, it's a little bit less - but fundamentally, it's in the same ballpark. So, that's our goal - make sure that we make enough content, that it's cool enough, fun enough, and released on a regular schedule, so that we're just as profitable and can support the game to the same degree that a traditional MMO can.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 8:13 AM

Category: Role Playing

Topping Gothic 3's list of from-the-ground-ups is the new feature-stacked Genome engine. "Our engine is now 90 percent proprietary," says in-house composer and sound designer Kai Rosenkranz. "And while we're not using a physics system as a gameplay element where everything can be pushed or pulled, in some situations players can now make use of realistically calculated physics." Magical gravity guns are out, in other words, but Rosenkranz says that items (or bodies) can drop down a staircase and the collision detection works perfectly. "We've upped the detail level tenfold using a tool that churns out vast amounts of trees and bushes with minimal render time."

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 2:42 PM

Category: Role Playing

The witcher uses his silver sword only in necessity. This weapon is deadly for many monsters but difficult to use and it's fragile. That is why in a "normal day of work" monster slayers rely on a harder ore.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 8:22 PM

Category: Role Playing

We plan on dedicating a few people here full-time to producing additional content for the game, available on Live and to PC users as well. The ideas we’re exploring are all over the map, so expect some good variety.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 8:50 AM

Category: Role Playing

PH: Simply put, we changed the way we do shadows so that the game was actually playable, regardless of platform. The game looks the way it looks in all the screens we've released over the last year or more. It looks the way everyone has seen it who has played the game at any of our press events. It's more a reaction to what might have been than it is a reaction to what actually was.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 2:02 PM

Category: Massively Multiplayer

On the other side of the continent, in the Jade Sea, ships caught in the ensuing storm can still be seen stuck solid in the frozen waves, now turned to solid jade. Traveling across the sea is now done with beasts of burden--giant turtles and huge snails.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 7:24 PM

Category: Role Playing

The part of the game’s audio that I’m most excited to tell you about is the aforementioned great outdoors (look for Noah Berry’s team diary detailing this amazing aspect of the game world). The team has put together a truly stunning landscape, complete with day/night cycles and dynamic weather. Covering so much ground -- literally, in this case -- with full audio detail would require a systematic approach and this is where I really got a lot of help from our programmers and the Elder Scrolls Construction Set. Working with audio programmer Mathew Krohn, I laid out a short list of features that we’d need in the Construction Set where I could specify a set of sounds for a defined geographic region of the game, give them time restrictions as well as weather parameters (Example: I only want this type of bird to chirp in the early morning hours, but I also want it to cease during a rainstorm and I want this all to take place only in the Great Forest). Mat went to work and it wasn’t long before the system was in place and working exactly as described. From there I needed to create all of the audio assets for the nature sounds and organize them into a schedule for each region – birds, insects, wind in the trees, etc. – and then all that was left to do was plug in all of the data and start to fine tune it. One piece at a time, Cyrodiil came to life.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 11:57 AM

Category: Action

Eighteen months ago, Tomb Raider team members at Crystal Dynamics embarked on their own quest to rediscover Lara Croft. During their soul-searching mission, they unearthed past consumer surveys, conducted new research, re-read every game review, listened to lots of passionate pleas and opinions from gamers and re-played through every Tomb Raider product. From this introspection and open-minded search for a fresh perspective, Tomb Raider: Legend was born.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 5:00 PM

Category: First Person

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:54 PM

Category: Role Playing

I sometimes consider the art of game design to be a process of choosing the lesser of many evils. The best implementation of an idea may not be technically feasible or could clash with other elements of gameplay. Often we’re forced to rethink ideas because of minute but immovable obstacles such as fitting buttons or words into the available space on the user interface or to avoid translation conflicts. That great naming scheme you created for your magical equipment generator might just not work in another language.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:59 PM

Category: Movies

Us games journalists, Boll argues, should be pleased that videogame-based movies are getting made at all. "It's tough to convince someone from the studio system to believe in a videogame-based movie. It's way easier to have a great book or to have a comic book [as your source material], because these studio guys, they know Spider-Man, Batman, that kind of stuff."

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 10:41 PM

Category: Role Playing

The imperial city for example: it's all white stone and you feel like you could be in Athens, then you visit a city in the north and it feels like you're in the woods, with log cabins.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 2:07 PM

Category: Action

At a first glance, it looks like they borrowed that fairy tale aura from the first title with the toughness of the prince from the second one. Unfortunately, the enthusiasm I had a few years ago is all gone. I know that all good things come in time and it's quite clear to me that even Ubisoft needs to try and experiment with us, before obtaining that perfect balance. For me though, The Two Thrones is still one of these experiments.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 11:18 PM

Category: Hardware

Unfortunately, the K8N Neo4's DIMM slot placement and organization are a little tighter than we'd like. The slots are quite close to the CPU socket, which can cause clearance problems with larger aftermarket heat sinks. Packing all four DIMM slots together also limits the space between memory modules, leaving little room for air flow, especially when DIMMs with heat spreaders are installed. This may not be a problem at stock speeds or voltages, but it could limit overclocking and cause problems in warmer enclosures.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 7:10 PM

Category: Hardware

With the AGP graphics market largely stagnated, but still a large quantity of AGP users out there, there may be many looking to some kind of newer AGP board for an update. Today NVIDIA are announcing, what should be, their highest performance part for the AGP market since GeForce 6800 Ultra, with the GeForce 7800 GS.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 5:12 PM

Category: First Person

Prey tells the story of Tommy, a Cherokee garage mechanic stuck on a reservation going nowhere. His life changes when an otherworldly crisis forces him to awaken spiritual powers from his long-forgotten birthright. Abducted along with his people to a menacing mothership orbiting Earth, he sets out to save himself and his girlfriend and eventually his planet.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 12:31 PM

Category: Massively Multiplayer

A game beta test of this size and scope has never been offered before and is a unique event for both fans and the ArenaNet team alike. With current Guild Wars players, their invited friends, and players around the world who purchase the GWF pre-order converging on the game for the Guild Wars Factions Preview Event, ArenaNet is preparing capacity in all its data centers to handle record-breaking numbers of new players.

"To be able to open up Guild Wars Factions and share this one-time experience with so many people is truly a thrill," said Mike O'Brien, ArenaNet co-founder. "Guild Wars players will get the opportunity to play Factions before the game's release while sharing the game with up to three of their friends. We can't wait for the feedback from the seasoned players, as well as those who join us for the first time on March 24."

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 5:50 PM

Category: Role Playing

Gavin Carter: Every skill has a system of four perks that unlock when you raise in skill level. From zero to 25 you're ranked as a Novice, and at intervals of 25 from there, you rise in rank to apprentice, journeyman, expert, and master. The perk features themselves run the gamut. The magic skill perks open up access to higher level spells, while perks for a skill like athletics allow you to regain fatigue levels faster while running. Other skill perks open up new abilities.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:25 AM

Category: Console Games

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 2:26 PM

Category: First Person

Those of you that have been following the development of this game since its announcement last year will know about the different gravity tricks used in Prey. Knowing about them and actually playing with them are two different things. Whether its strolling on a wall walk up a all and onto the ceiling, hitting a switch to flip the gravity of a room completely, or circling a mini-sphere with gravity of its own, it's easy to get turned up and around to the point of confusion.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:08 AM

Category: Science

Their research puts more pressure on the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to classify the object as the 10th planet in our solar system.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 12:38 AM

Category: Massively Multiplayer

Jeff Strain: That is correct - Guild Wars Factions is a standalone product, and does not require Guild Wars to play. We chose to go this route for several reasons. First, we are big proponents of player choice - no subscription fees, which force you to pay every month whether you have actually played the game that month or not, and no forced purchases. We believe that it is our job to make cool games that you want to buy. If we succeed, everyone is happy. But if you decide to pass on a new campaign, we are certainly not going to set up a business model that forces you to make a purchase that you don't want to make!

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 8:09 AM

Category: Massively Multiplayer

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 4:51 PM

Category: Role Playing

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 8:23 PM

Category: Role Playing