Somehow I think not

This made me laugh. How anyone could consider using the Kinect at all is is beyond me.

Has the FPS genre actually truly developed any further in gaming since the original Doom, Quake or Wolfenstein?

Excluding the graphics, several things have changed over the years. Certain pioneering games, eg Call of Duty, Halo, introduced some changes that improved on the standard forms of game play and were quickly adopted by other developers. While I do not label these as advances really, I do feel that there are a few very important changes that have occurred since the games mentioned above.

Recharging Health Meter - Very common feature in modern FPS games. Doom, Wolfenstein and Quake all used collectable health packs. Most games these days simply no longer use them. The exceptions, often still use some form of recharging defensive measure or try to combine the two. Examples would be Halo's Master Chief's recharging shield, but his actual health could only be restored with med packs. Another is Rage, where the player has a recharging health meter but the player can also used bandages to instantly recharge their health to full.

Cover Based Combat - Most FPS games today provide the player with a plethora of useful waist high walls in most of their level maps. These were probably included to give the player plenty of places where they could duck and hide while their health meter recharges. Sometimes this works well, but occasionally can be over done and at times seem a little silly. Crysis 2 has some moments like this.

Limited carrying capacity - Classic FPS games like Doom or Half Life allow the player to carry hundreds of rounds of ammunition, scores of grenades and other devices, 10 plus weapons and usually a suit of heavy armour. However when Halo was released, suddenly this began to seem a little silly. The Master Chief could carry 2 guns and 4 grenades and that was it. Later games began to copy this more realistic style of inventory use, examples include Call of Duty, Duke Nukem Forever, Metro 2033.

So obviously FPS games have improved since the early days, however I feel that 90% of the improvements have been graphically focused. There is no doubt that modern shooters look amazing, have great atmospheres and can be truly scary. However they usually use extremely clichéd settings, such as the post apocalyptic wasteland (Borderlands, RAGE, Fallout, Brink, Metro 2033, Stalker, the list goes on) or World War 2 (Medal of Honour, Call of Duty etc). They are also often too short (usually less than 8 hours) and too easy for anyone remotely familiar with the genre. So a player will pay €50 - €60 for a game they will finish in 2 / 3 days. While it might have been visually impressive, the predictable plots, unchallenging game play and over used settings usually result in an overall lackluster experience (Crysis 2 for me).

Truly innovative and original FPS games are still rare but do appear (Mirrors Edge, Amnesia Dark Decent). But right now I feel the majority of modern shooters speak of a stagnant genre with a future of remaking classic games and churning out the same old crap to try to make as much money as possible. EA and Activision are the worst offenders. I feel we will have to wait until a brave indie developer comes out with something truly awesome before we see any actual advances in the FPS genre.

Rumour Mill: Assassins Creed 3 Revealed

After some pictures surfaced on tinternet showing what appears to be an assassin standing in front of the old continental American flag (pre civil war), armed with period weapons and clothing, the long anticipated and unrevealed setting of Assassins Creed 3 appears to have been leaked. He seems to be equipped with some 18th century weaponry and clothing and has what appears to be a tomahawk war axe in his hand. Continuing in the Assassins Creed formula of basing the games in unused historical settings, The Crusades, The Renaissance, I must say that this has piqued my interest. There will plenty of opportunities to create some interesting political intrigue in that chaotic times surrounding the American civil war. I just hope I manage to actually get through Brotherhood (my progress has seemed to be stalled indefinitely) and then Revelations before this comes out. Rumour has it Ubisoft will be announcing Assassins Creed 3 on March 5th, so not too long to wait and see how long we'll be waiting and where/when it will be set. Exciting times indeed! 

The Facebook Factor

I like millions of my peers, am an active Facebook user. I personally see it as a useful way to talk to people for free, keep in touch with distant friends and relatives, get the occasional cheap laugh (usually a repost from Reddit) and as a decent promotional tool. All this costs me absolutely nothing and I feel that as long as your smart about what you post and keep your privacy and security settings properly configured, you have little to fear. 

However, like every new technology or system that begins to permeate many aspects of society, people become alarmed with this new and unknown thing and some begin to fear it. So begins the moral panic that surrounds Facebook. Now I'm very aware that they are no saints and make billions by selling your information to evil marketing companies. However the most common complaints I hear are usually people either not understanding the true nature of a social network or else simply being resentful of the new unfamiliar forms of communication that have arisen from websites like Facebook. Many sensationalist studies appear decrying social networks and how they are corrupting the youth, destroying human language and damaging peoples minds. These never stand up to much scrutiny, usually bankrolled by a conservative family organisations or other biased groups. 

This is a predictable reaction. Moral panics arise regularly when new technologies enter public life. 20 years ago mobile phones at the cutting edge of personal communication technology. Now social networks like Facebook represent the evolution of how human society communicates with itself. When mobile phones began to become more common and popular, many groups began to worry about how this would impact society and its development. Sending text messages via mobile phones is one of the most common forms of modern human communication. When its popularity exploded, reports began to surface how texting is corrupting our youth. These could be found in the bullshit 'kids today' commentaries that have plagued every generation since written history began. Some examples are how texting is 'rewiring your child's brain' and how its 'taking its toll'. These sorts of alarmist reports do nothing but create a lot of fear and distrust of what is simply a method of communication. This horseshit idea that we were all pure and moral in the days before phones and Internet really irritates me. They are often written by people who are simply afraid of change and have no factual or practical basis in reality.

Occasionally when an enthusiastic rant about Facebook flares up, I usually try to rationally explain there is no point in hating it, as it is not an entity where hating it will do anything constructive, it is like despising emails or phone calls. I usually like to pose the following question:

If you (the ranter) created a form of social media that fit your criteria for what is morally decent and acceptable, after a few years it became the most popular and dominant form of social media, then a person came out decrying how it has perverted human discourse and culture. If it were possible, what would you say to this person?

Whenever I ask this question the Facebook detractor usual repeats their position or else explains it again in a different way. This is the futility of the argument against social networking. I agree their are lots of valid concerns related to privacy and how the information posted is all stored in the Facebook mainframe, however if you simply do not post private or compromising information on this public forum, you should be fine. Many people simply do not understand the public nature of Facebook. I find it hard to sympathise with those who have landed in personal or professional trouble as a result of a poorly thought out post. 

Can you honestly feel sorry for this tool?

People complain of the invasion of privacy and the corruption of the moral discourse that we all imagine we enjoy. If I were to go onto someone's Facebook page and print out everything they have ever said, then put it up in public place they would be shocked and likely outraged. However this is freely available public information. Facebook is an open forum, many do not see or comprehend what this actually means. Discussing something on Facebook with someone on their wall is akin to shouting in a busy shopping centre or displaying it on a TV screen in a packed bar. You are in a public forum, anyone can see it and do what they please with it. We have all heard tales of people losing jobs after they friended their boss then forgetting this, posted something horrible about them. You wouldn't start yelling about how your boss is a wanker in the canteen of your office, so you shouldn't do it on Facebook either. 

Many of my peers frequently complain and moan about something they have seen or heard about on the Newsfeed, mentioning their disdain for the fact that the person chose to announce this information on Facebook. The irony of the nature of their discovery completely oblivious to them of course. This inherent distrust of a form of social media I believe is pointless. Love it or hate it social networking is the future. This is not a passing fad or trend, rather the latest method of communicating to arise the modern Internet enabled world. This relatively new communication medium is still in its infancy. Social networking 10 years from now will likely be a totally different ball game than it is today. So rather than fearing and hating it, it should be approached with thought and care. Like anything in the online world, the true security of your data on any site is never really certain. If you have personal things you do not want your family, colleagues or friends to view then DO NOT put it on the Internet.

I'm not suggesting that Facebook should have free reign with how they operate. I disagree with many of their more suspicious decisions and dubious marketing behaviour. There is very much the need for some form of regulation or controls in place to keep large multi billion dollar companies from behaving too recklessly. Especially one that has so much personal details on people.

I do not love Facebook, I merely believe that it is a tool that should be used with care. 

Games Ireland Gathering 2012!

I attended this years Games Ireland Gathering. This networking and information event was held in the Gibson Hotel in Dublin and ran for the whole day with a morning of workshops followed by an afternoon filled with interesting discussions from a large number of esteemed contributors. These are a great opportunity for graduates and other people seeking work in the game industry to see what is happening first hand and hear how its done from those in the know. 

Discussions on the day ranged from the future of the cloud, mobile gaming and the current state of games development in Ireland. Several big name companies such as PopCap, BigFishGames and even Havok were there advertising positions available. Some free stuff from the stalls are always good to weigh down the bag for the physical experience of leaving the place with something. 

Keynote speakers included Dylan Collins, the executive Chair of Fight My Monster, a new rapidly growing multiplayer gaming site aimed at under 13 boys. This has expanded at a frenetic pace since its inception. The stats are quite impressive, with membership of the site approaching 1 million members. The site allows players to fight each other with their monsters, play mini games, chat to their friends and teach them some basic numeracy and economics with the games internal money system. His speech was funny and entertaining, Dylan being a likeable man with lots to say.

The second Keynote speech was given by Phil Campbell, a veteran game designer with over 20 years of experience and who worked on several iconic games such as the original Tomb Raider, The God Father games, Heavy Rain and several James Bond titles. He took us briefly through how he got to where he is and gave an interesting insight into how he he approaches his work. 

The final section event of showcased some up and coming Irish gaming companies and demonstrated their latest projects. The BitSmith team, colleagues of mine from my masters course, showcased their game Ku, an action RPG based on Irish mythology for release on the iPad. Open Emotion were there again in force opening with a hilarious video depicting their CEO, Paddy Murphy, kicking ass Mario-style within a game. They also had a big announcement of their new secret project. They have the dubious honour of developing the official RubberBandits game. This should be interesting to see, keep an eye out for The Rubber Bandits, Revenge of Stephen Forward! Ideal Binary, Redwind Software and Tribal City also showcased their latest projects.

I must say I really enjoy these events. There is a very tangible sense of comradery amongst the fellow gamers and enthusiasts. The panel discussions are always interesting, the guest speakers are funny and have great tales to tell and the start ups presenting their games are inspiring. Another bonus is there are usually great prizes to be won, this year a Notebook and 2 Kindle Fires were up for grabs. The networking at the end of the event even provides some free beer that tastes particularly sweet. They are well organised and most crucially free. I look forward to the next Games Ireland event and will be there with bells on!

Game Jam 2012

This year I attended the Global Game Jam for the first time. Several off my colleagues attended this event last year and really enjoyed it, so I was looking forward to coming along to this one and getting stuck in. This year, the Irish chapter was held in Griffith College Dublin. The idea of the Game Jams is that you have 48 hours to create a game from scratch. There is a general theme set and them you have as much freedom to interperate and use it as you wish. There are no rules in this regard, so this results in a huge number of different games produced by the Jams participants. This year, the theme set was Ouroboros, which is the ancient Greek symbol of a snake eating its own tail. The participants then form teams on their own and you work on it over a weekend. On the Sunday the game is then submitted and added to the Game Jam website. I formed a small team with some colleagues from my masters course and we laboured to create a simple game which we named OuroGerrup.

Our game was built in Unity, 3DS Max and of course Photoshop. In the game, the player controls a small sailing ship, and you much chase down a sea serpent (our connection with Ouroboros) blasting it with your cannon. The old Playstation game Overboard served as some initial inspiration. We had originally planned to make 3D models of the serpent, but due to time constraints, abandoned this idea and came up with a humorous but acceptable compromise which can be seen there. There were a few bugs in the game and it was ridiculously hard to actually win, however for a 48 hour effort I think its pretty good!

While I was initially a little disappointed in the set up for the Jam, the room we were in was pretty run down, the pizzas were pretty nasty and the somewhat lacklustre goodie bag (I'm not one for complaining about free stuff but this was ridiculous) I soon relaxed a little and got a little more into it. Once we had a plan out small team managed to get the game ready in time and to our own satisfaction considering the time we had available. The Game Jam 2012 was an interesting and enjoyable experience and I look forward to the next one!

Highlights of 2011

So the Earth is once again cruising towards that point on its orbit where we celebrate the new year. 2011 has been an interesting year for me, I've moved house twice, been an event promoter, have now a significant other, almost had a job, got through one of the toughest college years of my life, have an impending mobile gaming release and will be entering the new year with an interview for a job in the gaming industry. With all this activity, there has sadly been not as much time to play games. As I've mentioned in a previous blog post, my beloved gaming mainframe is now no longer in my possession. This year I finally moved out of home and my brute was blocked from going anywhere by my father. He co funded the machine and is a gamer himself so this was only fair. However, I did manage to devote some time to this most glorious of pass times, so here is a quick list of the best bits of my gaming year.

Dead Space 2

This remains one of my favourite games of this year. I loved the scifi setting, intense atmosphere and the hugely satisfyingly gruesome combat. No game has had my heart pounding as much as this one. Lights off with the headphones was an intense experience I could not drag myself away from. The greatly expanded universe and proper development of Isaac really stole the show for me. The Sprawl was a richly detailed environment, beautiful and at the same time tragic as it was very obvious this was once a place where people lived normal lives. The new enemies were awesome and similarly forlorn with packs of mutated children and babies bursting through the air vents. The plot while predictable tickled my space nerd lobe to the extent that I played through the full game in about a week. I loved the return to the Ishimura, locked down under quarantine. Revisiting areas from the previous game three years later was awesome. Areas where bodies or Necromorphs lay all cleaned and sterilised for study. While only a small section of the game, it was a nice touch. Overall I loved an excuse to return to the Dead Space universe. There is also quite a bit of lore out there on the internet for those so inclined. An excellent anime movie and several cool comics all add a huge amount of depth to the game, one thing I really enjoy is playing a game in a well thought out and detailed setting. The Wii version, Dead Space Extraction, was also really cool. While many loath rail shooters, myself being one of them, this was one exception to that experience. The graphics were excellent for the Wii and I was really impressed with the facial animations. If you haven't played any of the Dead Space games, you are really missing out on one of the best survival horror games out there. No excuse, go play!

Magma Surge

Well what can I say. This has taken up the majority of my time since June. My masters project has expanded out from something to submit at the end of the semester into a game to be released on the mobile app market. It has been a great learning experience. Financial gain was not the original purpose behind the project so I am not under pressure to recoup any expenditure, instead I can use the games launch as valuable experience in how one goes about getting something out there. Whatever happens with this game, I will get some comfort to know something I made has been played by thousands of people. Haters are gona hate, but as a result of this project and my masters course, I have now gained my first tentative footsteps into the gaming industry. Hussah!

Minecraft

Before the Java SDK decided to corrupt itself and every other Java based software on my computer, Minecraft was my faithful companion over the months as I moved house and was supposed to be studying. I love this game, nay toy. Since myself and a few friends began a multiplayer server in 2010, I have never had so much fun simply 'playing' like I did as child with a box of lego. Between myself and the other nerds we've had about 3 maps this year and made some interesting structures. Highlights include the huge railway built across half the map, all the materials hand mined and crafted, to the gigantic castle and highly detailed internal town. Now that the full version of the game has been released, I look forward to another year of mining and building. Praise be to Notch.

Terraria

This gem of a game was something I bought out of curiosity. Id heard of this indie game that was like a sidescrolling RPG version of Minecraft. I pondered this for a while and though 'Minecraft....Minecraft you say??'. Plus thanks to some nice Steam promotional offers the sale was confirmed. I was enthralled. The games simple but excellent graphics, funky music, incredible depth and huge replayability had me playing through until I resembled a mighty warrior, clad in molten armour forged from ores mined from Hell itself. Armed with magical bows, laser weaponry and a sword that would make Frostmourne weep. The games clever boss system and the size and scope of the world kept me coming back in the search of more loot. While it could have benefited from more monsters and bosses, Terraria has a winning formula that has earned it a place on this list. Please check this game out if you have not had a go. 

Assassins Creed

Truly epic experience. This was definitely one of the most amazing games Iv ever played. For a long time I believed this to be a historical tale, but was thrilled to discover it was in fact a sci fi story through and through! The incredibly rich setting, the powerful cast and the high quality of the cinematic direction resulted in a breathtaking experience. The insanely cool setting, awesome concept and extremely enjoyable combat made this game stand out as one of the best third person actions games I've ever experienced. The original was amazing, it caught my attention and engaged me with its excellent plot. As soon as I had completed it, I immediately went and bought the sequel. This game literally blew me away. Every issue I had with the first game had been expertly fixed and a host of new features forged this in the polished masterpiece it is today. The games story is compelling, full of intrigue and will leave you gagging for more. Brilliantly merging the sci fi and historical aspects together, this game can appeal to both fanbases. Altair and especially Ezio are believable and likeable characters that are very well developed. The games facial animations are some of the best Iv seen and the games cut scenes are like watching a well acted movie. The amount of research and effort that went into creating the world is inspiring. I really found myself fascinated with the period background. The game also gives a lot of accurate facts about the time while at the same time cleverly interweaving the games plot into actual historical events. I cannot recommend these games enough. 

Just Cause

Both Just Cause 1 and 2 deserve an honourable mention. I picked up Just Cause 2 on impulse and was excited to have a go as it looked like a decent way to waste an afternoon or twelve. So I went to install the beast and my computer said 'Halt, this game is only compatible with Windows 7'. Aghast, I searched online to see if there was a remedy cooked up some crazy hacker folk. Obviously this was a foolish search and so Just Cause 2 has been sitting in my gaming collection quietly mocking me. Now I understand I cant complain considering I'm using an operating system a decade old, but I still felt cheated as so many other modern games are still compatible. Anyway, so I resigned myself to the fact that it will have to wait until my new PC is assembled before ever getting to see what Iv missed. However the story doesn't quite end there. I was again browsing in my local GAME and saw the original Just Cause for a bargain price. So I said fuck it, at least I'll get to experience one version of the game. Several bargain euro later, I was sitting eagerly at my computer as the game installed, when I noticed the letters in the words had all been rearranged into some unknown gibberish, most likely Spanish. So I crudely navigated my way to set it to a more familiar pattern. Lo and behold there was no option. So now I had a Spanish version of Just Cause with no option to change the language. Needless to say that was the final nail in the coffin for this particular franchise. 

Whats Next?

So there's my somewhat limited highlights of 2011. Now I eagerly look forward to the new year and some awesome titles on the horizon. This year I have set myself the project of building a brand new and highly potent PC. There are some games that I will refuse to play on console, so my computer will be being built for the express purpose of a threeway with myself Skyrim and Mass Effect 3. Other awesome games are coming I know but for now I long to lose myself in RPG bliss. 

So there you have it, thanks for reading my blog over the last year, I hope my occasional insights have been entertaining over this most unpleasant periods of recession, political shenanigans and the usual chaos that is the state of affairs of human civilisation. Happy Christmas to you all and have a great new year.

Peace

Teknocrat