The demo for LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy hit the streets today. I'm downloading it as I speak.

More later. :)

Update: Apparently it's a tech demo that Lucas Arts created for what they can do on next gen consoles.

Update Updated: Well dang the movie is gone. I've got to find it.

Damn this looks hot.



I think this movie speaks for itself. I'd love to know where it came from though.

The game that I'm anticipating most right now is Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. I'm really wanting some new red vs blue action, and unfortunatly Battlefield 2 just didn't cut it.

But I'm not actually hear to talk about Quake Wars gameplay, I'm actually hear to mention the game engine for it.

I believe the first thing known about the game engine (besides it being the Doom 3 engine) is that it has a new-fangled doo-hicky called megatexturing. I'm pretty kean on this, since it solves the problem of outdoor maps having repeated tile problems. Every detail in a 32k by 32k map is unique. Wow!

I'm a 3D graphics hobbiest (in the loosest term), I've dabbled in OpenGL and hope to do some more soon. So seeing the stuff beind one actually excites me for some reason.

Like the concept of "battlefields rendered to the horizon without fogging". Which isn't as much a technical feat of 3D programming prowess, as it is the advancement of video cards. But still, the actual horizon in a FPS.

Well I suppose that is enough fanboi drooling for one night, I'll cease my random post and put you back to your normal schedule.

So do you know what will wake me up and get me to post? EA buying out Mythic Entertainment.

Yah that'll wake me up.

I really don't like EA. They are the (other) Microsoft of game development. They buy out technology, or rather they buy out franchises. And in the MMO market seem to have the inability to understand the genre, and unable to capitalize on it even remotely.

Let me briefly, and possibly somewhat inaccuratly, give you a history of EA and MMO's.

First off, EA buys out Origin, the creators of Ultima Online (yes it's still around). They subsequently drive it into the ground, it's been many years since UO has been near it's peak subscriber base.

Then, EA starts developing UO 2. Then kill it. Apparently out of fear it'd compete with the player base of UO. Ignoring the fact that by this time EQ was much more of a threat.

Skipping the timeline a bunch, I'll jump over to Ultima X: Odyssey. Yah, another UO MMO successor killed, go figure.

Other MMO's under EA have suffered the same fate, but at least they got out of the gate. Earth and Beyond and Motor City Online are two other failed MMO's. The Sims Online is still creaping along, with get this, less than half it's peak player base. Sound familiar?

This is why when I hear the news about Mythic I'm not happy. I bet the EA stock holders are though. Mythic is doing good. Their flag ship product has been out for years, they've learned plenty of lessons from it, and now they have gone off and landed a behemoth of a licensing deal for their next MMO, Warhammer Online.

WO has a lot of potential, the initial flack it was getting about looking like WoW is in it's past. Especially as people realize just where WoW got it's concepts from in the first place. It's by a company that puts a bit more into it's MMO's than grind, rinse, repeat, grind some more. And it's by a company that already has had one success. Something EA should have been able to do as well. But didn't.

I suppose time will tell, I would hate to see Mythic go the path of Westwood and Origin. And I suppose that's what has me most upset.

As I mentioned yesterday a mod named Rise of Kobol is coming out today. And well, it has come out, you can download it right here.

Enjoy!

A buddy of mine keeps sending me Warhammer Online news. Up until rather recently I haven't really been that interested in it. But as I read more on it, it does have its high points. The fact that it's being created by Mythic the makers of Dark Age of Camelot is definitely a bonus.

Today my buddy sent me a link to this trailer for Warhammer Online. It's not ingame footage, but amusing to see none-the-less. Games with humor always interest me, and seeing an orc fling himself against a huge castle wall is what I call funny.

I've heard some people complain the game looks too much like World of Warcraft. I can see the comparisons, but from what I can tell they're going for more of a Everquest meets World of Warcraft look and feel. And then when you see a dwarf with a 2 foot high mohawk all those complaints fly out the door.

So, a while back I reviewed the original Lego Star Wars. While I loved the concept, the PC version left me wanting for controls. But it was success on consoles, surprisingly so for some, but the mass appeal of Star Wars & Lego is strong in the force.

So now, they're coming out with a sequel, with the game play based in the original trilogy. Yay! I have no clue if they will change the controls for the PC this time around. I really hope so. But if not, I'll grab this for whatever console I own and and is released on. Which seems to be about every platform on the face of the planet (minus poor Apple).

The main reason why is that I'm a Star Wars geek, and a Lego geek as well. I enjoy both vices. But the humor they put into these games is truely enjoyable. If you're not convinced you can even go and view the trailer. Which I've happily hosted here, it's about 31MB and worth every KB of those MB's.

A mod for BF2 called Rise of Kobol is finally having it's first release. I'm really excited about this. The release comes out tomorrow and I can't wait to give it a fly. Literally, they've got what appears to be a great flight model to simulate the fighter fighting in Battlestar Galactica.

So tomorrow expect me to be downloading the mod for sure. Finally a mod is being released for BF2 that I'm actually excited about. About dang time.

Well it's almost that time again. Neverwinter Nights is now slated for a September 2006 release, instead of the vague 2006 release.

I enjoyed the first NWN, but because the camera angle made my neck hurt (from craning trying to see a bit further on screen) I missed the magic a lot of people found until I found a nice hack to fix this and the magic was wearing off my friends.

But this time I will not be deprived! I'm really looking forward to NWN, Obsidian is the company behind this one, that's not something I'm aware is a bad thing, but it's not Bioware this time, so I'll keep a watchful eye. But Bioware has been a great company, so I trust they'll put their franchises in good hands.

Anyhow, thought I'd mention also that the NWN 2 site is newly launched for your purusing enjoyment.

You may have guessed that I'm a Star Wars geek. I really love this franchise, even after I felt Lucas attempted to sabotage it with Ep. I and the changes to the original trilogy on DVD.

Yet I still keep coming back, you can bet that Lucas has my ticket.

But Lucas doesn't have my ticket with Star Wars Galaxies. I was extremely excited about this game when it was first announced quite a while ago. But when it launched to mixed reviews and no space ships I wanted nothing to do with it. At least until 2 years later when I finally picked it up on the cheap to play for the free trial. However, I quickly found it annoying, barren looking and rather dull playing. I was really disappointed, as this is a universe ripe with possibilities.

So I hope you understand my joy when I hear gaming industry rumors like this.

I have to say I really like the KoTor series. Knights of the Old Republic is on my top 10 RPG's of all time easily. And Bioware has a solid track record of games. Neverwinter Nights is a classic, very well executed indeed. I never have played Jade Empire nor Bulder's Gate, but friends who have enjoyed them both.

So BioWare making a new Star Wars MMO? It's purely speculation right now, as the article expresses, but it seems quite possible. They've been trusted with the franchise before, they have a new MMO studio in Austin, TX, and the MMO they say they have in production is SciFi based. I guess time will tell.

I'd be remiss to not mention that Star Wars: Empire at War is out. In fact it's been out for like a week. And the demo has been out for longer. My schedule right now is really busy, too many projects to count, so my gaming time has been slipping. I meant to put up my review of the demo, a demo which I thorougly enjoyed.

Generally I'm not a huge fan of RTS's, but something about this game really strikes as well done and enjoyable. It could be the Star Wars aspect, but I'm thinking it's the whole planet conquering aspect.

So once my schedule opens up I'll be posting more on this great game.

I'm still enjoying Civ4, but what I want to know is where the heck is the SDK we've been promised. They still say early 2006, so technically I guess that gives them till the end of March to produce this thing. A full SDK really excites me. I think a lot of great things could be produced with it.

Finally, while I never could get over the controls of Star Wars Lego, a LOT of people love this game. I can really understand, on a console this game plays much more enjoyable than it does on a computer.

Anyhow, Lego Star Wars II is due out this fall. It's focus is on the Original Trilogy, and they're saying it'll be more customizable. I'm holding out that they'll provide better controls for the PC.

So last October my copy of Civ IV arrived. How joyous I was (and still am). Oddly enough, between now and then I wasn’t so happy. I think Civ IV is a solid addition to the series, but when I first tried it out I wasn’t really happy with the game. I thought religion was a lame thing to add to the game, the 3D engine wasn’t quite right (my favorite viewing angle is “too zoomed in” for me), and they totally nerfed artillery.

So it sat on my shelf above my desk for about a month, collecting a bit of dust.

Now however, it’s not collecting dust, it’s getting the attention it deserves. While I still don’t believe Civ 4 is the best Civ game ever, I think it does just as well as the previous ones, and the idea of going back and playing Civ 2 or Civ 3 instead of Civ 4 does not appeal to me. That’s an important thing to state about a game, there have been plenty of sequels to games that I’d rather play the original then the sequel (such as X-Com, Street Fighters, Masters of Orion, and on and on and on).

So here’s a list of why Civ 4 has won me over.

1. Borders are done much better than they were in Civ 3. I really like the idea of borders.
2. Culture control and border management is easier.
3. The screens are laid out better.
4. Units gain experience, an interesting addition that I want to explore more.
5. The game “looks” cooler.

Really I could go on for a bit, but my main purpose for this write up isn’t about what I feel Civ 4 did right, it’s where I feel it went wrong, about why I didn’t immediately grab a hold of me like the previous Civ games did.

1. The push to 3D is the right direction, but slightly overdone. In Civ 3 the problem with the game was on huge maps towards the end game there was a lot of lag between turns. Now in Civ 4 the lag between turns is near gone, but often towards the end of a game I get lag between moving a unit and that unit allowing me to do something with it right after moving.

2. Also zooming out on the map is great feature, but it kills my machine towards the end game on a large map. It’s a neat feature but, my video card is a 9800 Pro 256MB card, it may not be cutting edge but it is a solid video card non-the-less.

3. Artillery in Civ 4 is really nerfed in my opinion. You can no longer bombard anything but other units and cities. Previously you could move artillery in with a stack of troops and soften the enemy up from the distance of a tile or two. These were not pieces you attacked with directly. However, now they are. In fact, a major strategy is to sacrifice artillery to get collateral damage on all the other units in a square.

And this carries over to battleships and other units that have artillery capabilities; you can bombard a city, but not the terrain around it. I really miss laying waste to my enemy’s territory from a distance.

4. Zone of Control, which has really been out of the game since Civ 3. This ties into how combat works now in Civ. You used to be able to simulate fronts, create a fort every couple of tiles plop a troop or two on it, and protect your frontier. Now since enemies can slip right on by, what really works is a couple of huge stacks of troops.

5. The rest are minor nit picks I suppose, you can not see your current relations with the other AI’s when an AI asks you to go to war with someone, or cut off your current trades with them. This drives me nuts really, sometimes it is worth pleasing one AI over the other, but unless you check what trade agreements you have going with every AI each turn, when they ask to end some agreements it really stumps you.

6. Another thing is how the AI doesn’t seem capable of launching a solid attack on a water map. They’ll send a transport at you with a few troops, but just one transport. I’m playing on Nobel maps and I’ve yet to see a big assault come on my main continent. There have been times where if they had landed 12 units I would have been hard pressed to win.

Reading forums I actually hear this complaint quite often, it’s too bad.

Well that’s a lot against the game in a way. Yet, even still the game play prevailed and I ended up sucked into the game. That says a lot, and shows that there is a lot of potential with an expansion. Or even better yet, more exploration of Civ IV’s extensive modability.

My copy of Civilization IV is here! I pre-ordered from Amazon, something I never do, and as of this morning it wasn't supposed to be here till Wednesday, but it arrived today.

I don't generally buy into the whole pre-order gimic. It rarely adds value, and I find it to be a very bad move for consumers in our industry. But this time there were too many "goodies" a Civ Addict like myself could resist.

I'll have to compare my package with a normal one, but mine came with:

- The game of course.
- A pretty nice box, the box (not the cover slip case) is faux leather bound (card board that looks like leather, ohhhh ahhh!).
- A CD of the official soundtrack.
- A poster of the tech tree and more.
- A glossy keyboard guide.
- The manual spiral bound (good move firaxis!).

It didn't cost me anything to preorder, and shipping was free, so in the end I didn't loose anything.

Well I did loose a few valuable days of Civ 4 Gaming, and two of those were a weekend!

Yes, I remember now why I hate ordering games online. They ship them or even worse a few days after they get them. By the time my copy of Civ IV comes I'll have been in a game store probably 1 or 2 times.

Oh well, I guess I'll sit in anticipation until November the 2nd when my copy of it comes!

Well Civ IV went gold this last Wednesday. And today I did something I very rarely do, I preordered the game. The bonus stuff seemed semi-worth it, hehe. Oh, if you order through Amazon you can get free shipping, it's a bit slower, but hey free shipping! For me driving to get the game would cost me $4 bucks alone, so I'm coming out ahead.

Wow, two whole posts in one day. Anyhow, on the left I added a new small section to share with you what my current gaming addiction is. Right now I can't get enough of Sid Meier's Pirates! for the XBox. I can't say how good it feels to finally have a game on the XBox that I love playing.

Don't get me wrong, Halo is great, and there are a few other titles I like for the XBox like Knights of the Republic. I tend to prefer Halo in co-op mode with a friend over, and KotR is good and all, but for me Pirates! is superb!

It could be that I played the original Pirates! and this is bringing back great memories. But I don't think so, this game is just really well polished, with enough quirks to make it really good. I wasn't sure what to think of at first when I first was invited to a grand ball by the beautiful daughter of the towns govenor. But oddly enough, pressing A, B, X, Y in time to add a flourish to my dance moves has become a highlight of the game. However, you just can't beat sailing around blowing other ships from the water. My current ship is a 38 gun ship I "took" called the Queen Anne's Revenge with all the upgrades available (8 total in the game).

I think I'll probably write a review for it, I know I'm like two months late, but just in case it helps someone make a good gaming buy.

Back on topic. My other gaming addiction right now is none other than World of Warcraft. But if you're bothering to read this I bet you didn't have to guess, I along with 4 million others, and quite possibly you, really enjoy this game.

Of course, there are those who believe it might be hurting the gaming industry. But I tend to disagree, good games rise to the top, crappy games sink to the bottom. Besides, by the last paragraph of that story you can tell Mr. Pachter is a dipstick.

Update: Instead of adding a third post in one day, I'll just quickly point out that I also added a section on games I'm REALLLY anticipating. Civ 4 of course being the big one for me.

Back in May is when I first got excited about this game. While I generally don't like to get too excited about a game before it's at least two months out, Star Wars: Empire at War has got me excited. In my mind I think of it as a Grand RTS. Grand in that it doesn't seem like most RTS's one scripted battle after the other. From what I can tell this one lets you pick when the fight is, on a planet and in space. The battles are real time, planets have resources that you need, etc, etc. Anyhow, go take a look at their trailer, and in February we'll see if it pans out.

Yikes time does fly. Sorry about that, I've been busy with my day job. I'm celebrating my 2nd year in business now and I have to say I'm quite happy to do so! And since this site is my hobby site, it unfortunatly has to take back burner.

So since my last post the BF2 demo has come and gone, and BF2 was released. Overall I'm enjoying it. The game plays rather well, but EA unforutnatly isn't playing well. I can not believe the haphazard way things seem to be coming from them. First the demo comes out with some very glaring UI problems, then when the game comes out the problems are still there along with a bunch more problems in the game, somehow the final release had missing a very important lag fix the demo had.

So where does that leave us? Haha! Good question. The patch that EA/Dice released to fix said lag issue and the UI issues just ads more on top of it. The Linux server has a huge memory leak, the UI now forces a refresh every time you start the game, and oddly hangs occasionally when connecting to servers (I now use connect by IP only because of this). It's quite a mess, so much that EA is recommending REVERTING back to your previous build, which means uninstalling everthing and reinstalling from CD's! Wow what a mess.

So anyways, that's a mess, but the game is still fun and definatly a worthy successor of BF1942.

On other gaming fronts I'm currently giving Star Wars Galaxies a try, it's a good game so far, heck of a learning curve, but that's mostly the fault of a good manual. And it's nothing a friend in game can't fix. The graphics are not what I'd call stunning, I've got everything cranked to the max, but it's still star wars, and they do a fairly good job of conveying that.

Anyhow, ttyl. =)

Okay, I can breath a sigh of relief now. We do in fact get a Demo of Battlefield 2! Straight from Planet Battlefield:

The demo release for Battlefield 2 will be in Mid-June it will feature one map. This was said from the executive producers Scott Evans during community day at EARS. So look forward in June for the demo. While I write this newspost I am currently alt-tabbed out of Battlefield 2 game, and all I can say in short words is Game of the year. So look forward for a report sometime this week. Bye for now from EARS.

**Note: Official Release Date for Battlefield 2: June 23, 2005 (Ship Date: June 22). This date will be earlier for Europeans, it's estimated it will be June 17, 2005.

Well that is good news indeed. It's interesting to see a game like this is going to make it out in Europe first. Makes sense I suppose since DICE is in Europe. I was really hoping the demo would be out a bit before the release of the actual game, but I won't complain too much, they could go the route of Star Wars Battlefront and just not do a demo. :-P

So as you know I'm a fan of Battlefield 1942 and its mod Desert Combat. Additionally, I'm a big Star Wars fan. So when I originally heard Star Wars Battlefront was coming out I was rather excited.

Of course that excitement unfortunatly didn't last very long for me. The original SW BF site said they were going to have a PC demo. In fact they had a "PC Demo Coming Soon" blurb in their downloads section for months after the release of the game. Sadly to just take it down, without ever producing any such demo. By then I'd given up on wanting to play the game, since from reading the official forums and unofficial forums for the game it was rife with bugs. To say the least I was extremely disappointed. I eventually did rent the game for the XBox and enjoyed it. But I found it lacking in a few key areas. I found the flight controls to be a bit odd, and the maps utterly too small to fly on. But I did find it quite fun to play as a sniper on some of the maps.

I didn't think the solo game lived up to much, the AI wasn't as stupid as the original Battlefield 1942 AI, thankfully. However, it wasn't up there enough to make it all too enjoyable. The game was pretty fun playing with a buddy, but it's obvious it's meant to be played online via some sort of live connection. That gets's me to my second annoyance. They never came out with an XBox ladder like they did for the PS2 and PC versions, even after repeatedly saying there would be one.

Overall I was disappointed with this game. It could have been very fun, they could have openned up some sort of modding abilities for custom maps, they could have supported the PC version more, and on and on. There were bright spots, but not enough for me to buy the game.

So with that said, today I read the press release from Lucas Arts that they are going forward with Star Wars Battlefield 2. From the press release it sounds nice. But sounds more like an expansion than a new game. I'm all over the idea of boarding enemy ships. I think this could make for very interesting games. Also the single player version apparently is going to have open-ended mission based objectives, I'm not exactly sure what that means but the marketeeze seems to tingle my tastebudds none the less.

I'm really hoping they build off of a the good, but what I found to be unfinished, start that was Star Wars Battlefront. I really hope they go forward with a playable multiplayer demo, I hoenstly think that the demo that DICE did for Battlefield 1942 is why it was such a huge success. Of course if you have a somewhat buggy product, a demo would only hinder sales, so perhaps the release of a demo will be a good indicator of the quality of the game?

Update: Hrm, so version 1.3 of SW BF is out now and it does indeed support modded maps and they FINALLY unlocked the framerates so those with kickin systems can go full throttle.