Monthly Archive for August, 2009

Worms for iPhone: I’d Like A Do-over

By Luis Sosa on August 28, 2009 in Reviews. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Life doesn’t often give us the chance for do-overs, to fix mistakes made on the first go. First impressions, first attempts, and even first dates are immutable once over. Luckily for Team 17, fans of the Worms franchise, and to some extent myself, this software needs but a small update, and poof! instant do-over. (Almost.)

I had played, loved, hated, and wittily reviewed Worms 1.0 for the iPhone, and then the fine folks at Team 17 ruined it by releasing an update that addressed a slew of my issues. After a few tweaks to the controls and some additional graphic options, I was forced to rewrite. It’s as if Team 17 peered into the depths of my brain and read a draft of my review, which is impressive. But more impressive is the difference a few changes can do for playability on an iPhone title.

Let’s get into it, shall we?

Continue reading ‘Worms for iPhone: I’d Like A Do-over’

CCP’s new game: DUST 514

By Alex McLarty on August 18, 2009 in News. 1 Comment Tags: , .
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This sounds super interesting:

today revealed DUST 514™, a console-based hybrid MMO/FPS set within the EVE universe. The announcement, which included a video featuring gameplay footage, was made during a keynote address by CCP CEO Hilmar Veigar Petursson at the Game Developers Conference in Cologne, Germany.

DUST 514, featuring first-person shooter and RTS-style gameplay, will interact directly with EVE Online, CCP’s critically acclaimed flagship MMO. This interplay between the two games opens the EVE universe to console gamers and gives them a chance to become part of one of the most massive cooperative play and social experiences ever.

“We launched in 2003 and have experienced steady annual growth– a fact we appreciate as a rarity in the world of MMOs, especially given the global economy of the past year,” said Petursson. “Our success with has afforded us the highest caliber global design and production talent in gaming. With a team of the best minds in the industry, we conceived an ambitious new take on virtual world development with DUST 514.”

The primary gameplay of DUST 514 features brutal ground combat that takes place on the surface of planets from EVE, delivering the visceral, adrenaline-fueled experience of futuristic firefights. Developed for the current generation of consoles, DUST 514 combines equal parts battlefield reflexes and strategic planning, giving commanders and ground infantry real-time configurable weapons and modular vehicles to manage dynamic battlefield conditions.

Now entering its third year of production, DUST 514 is the primary development focus of CCP’s Shanghai studio. The team includes veteran designers of EVE Online and experienced talent from various sectors of the video game industry.

“Since opening our Shanghai studio, we have invested in building a team that wants to push the envelope in gaming and be pioneers in the industry,” said Kjartan Pierre Emilsson, Managing Director of CCP Shanghai. “Having led the design and development efforts of the project from start to finish, our studio is honored to call DUST 514 our first title release.”

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My initial reaction: it’s ridiculous to have this as console only. I’m sure there are good reasons for it, but it’s frustrating as a Mac/PC user that I can’t play. Do I want to buy a PS3 or 360 to play? Not really.

Frustrating, but I’ll dig some more.

UPDATE: Rock, Paper, Shotgun’s Jim says:

To be fair: platforms were not confirmed, just that it would be on console. I don’t think that rules out PC version entirely. I’m poking CCP for clarification.

Bit-Tech: porting games

By Alex McLarty on August 18, 2009 in News and Thoughts. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Interesting article on Bit-Tech about porting:

Once the basic code is written, it goes through an automated process of recompiling, which is often created in-house by a developer as a part of its tools pipeline, in order to make it run on other processor architectures. In this case, compiling refers to the process of transforming high-level source code into low-level code that can be understood by the processor. After that, there’s usually a bit of tweaking in machine code (the native language of the processor architecture) or assembly code (a low-level, symbolic representation of numeric machine code), but this apparently occurs less frequently now.

“It’s all done in C++,” explains Visceral’s Colin ‘Bozz’ Boswell, technical director on Dead Space, adding that “we do write a very small amount of assembly code. Very occasionally, we’ll go in and do spot optimisations on functions that are used a hell of a lot in the game, but we try not to do that because the compilers are pretty good at optimising now, and sometimes you can actually make matters worse by doing [it yourself]”.

Games can be dismissed easily, so I enjoy articles that talk about the nature of development. So much goes on behind the scenes (like in any great endeavour) that it’s often a disservice to try and summarise or judge.

EVE Online: backbones and moans

By Alex McLarty on August 16, 2009 in Reviews and Thoughts. 0 Comments Tags: , .
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Here in North England mining was a common occupation. It’s only natural that I now mine asteroids in a spaceship with lasers.

Continue reading ‘EVE Online: backbones and moans’

Star Wars The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition for Mac

By Alex McLarty on August 14, 2009 in News. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Missed this one:

“Aspyr Media and LucasArts will bring the hit game Star Wars®: The Force Unleashed™ to PC and Mac gamers for the first time ever with the release of Star Wars The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition this Fall. Developed for PC and Mac and published in North America by Aspyr, Star Wars The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition combines the original Star Wars The Force Unleashed videogame with three new levels set in iconic Star Wars locales and a host of new costumes and character models. This special edition of the game will show players the deepest, darkest side of the Force in a story that puts them on a collision course with Luke Skywalker himself.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed completely re-imagines the scope and scale of the Force and casts players as Darth Vader’s “Secret Apprentice,” unveiling new revelations about the Star Wars galaxy seen through the eyes of this mysterious new character, who is armed with unprecedented powers. Originally released on multiple platforms in September 2008, the game quickly became the fastest-selling Star Wars game ever, and has since sold six million units worldwide.”

I think the last Star Wars game I played was some Rebel Flight Leader Red Leader thing, I really can’t remember.