Via Bigdownloads:
Mirror's Edge was an interesting design for a game that didn't really fullfill its expectation. However one of the cool things about the first person action game was its more surreal time trial levels that were released as downloadable content after the main game shipped to stores. Now a few enterprising folks at the Beyond Unreal forums have figured out a way to create a Mirror's Edge level editor.
Basically the procedure is coping a few Unreal Tournament 3 editor files into Mirror's Edge which is obviously not approved by either Epic Games nor the game's developer Digital Illusions. The move does seem to work well enough that a few new Mirror's Edge levels had been made. However messing with game files is always a risk so don't blame us if your game is broken afterwards.
They should actually support this. There were some stupid puzzles in that game that really turned players off. Letting them make their own maps in order to avoid this game shortcomings would be smart.
In addition, it looks like World of Warcraft once again reinvented the games talent trees in their most recent huge update. There are too many changes to list, go here for patch notes
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Huh, well theres a risky choice
Via Bigdownloads:
Few games in recent memory have generated as much critical comment as Six Days in Fallujah. The upcoming third person military shooter from Atomic Games and Konami is based on the real 2004 battle in the Iraq city where a number of US soldiers lost their lives. Konami recently held a press event for a number of their upcoming games and our sister site Joystiq got a chance to see a very brief gameplay video of Six Days in Fallujah.
However it's their interview with Atomic Games president Peter Tamte, creative director Juan Benito and one of the game military consultants, US Marine Corps Corporal Michael Ergo, that's very enlightening. Tamte claims that in addition to US military and Iraq civilians, they have also gotten input on the game from the insurgents that were involved in the battle. Tamte didn't reveal any more info on exactly how the insurgents were "contributing" to Six Days in Fallujah, saying, " I need to be careful about the specifics that I give." Tamte added that the game doesn't take sides on whether or not the US should have started the Iraq war, saying, "We're focused now on what actually happened on the ground."
Getting feedback from insurgents is a really risky move, but not for the reasons people think. The "Uproar" caused by this will fade when people find something else to get angry about. However, this will raise the expectations for making a successful game. If it turns out to be fantastic, people will defend it saying that they got input from all sides to make a truly realistic experience and a great game. However, should the end result be crappy, the developer will be accused of using the idea of collaborating with enemy combatants to gain press attention for a crappy product.
I wouldn't do it, but more power to them. Would anyone care if the creators of Silent Hunter spoke with German U boat captains? Doubt it
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
OOOH An MMO worth looking at?
Funny, just yesterday I was running my big mouth about fantasy MMO's being played out. As I finally got my computer working this morning, Im looking through games on steam when I come across a future-Spy based Online game called Global Agenda. Here is the description via steam:
GLOBAL AGENDA is a fast-paced action MMO using Unreal® Engine 3 set in Earth's near future, a spy-fi world of advanced technology and player-driven conflict.
In the wake of severe global disaster, the political face of 22nd century earth has changed and player-created factions scheme against each other for power. Traditional full-scale wars a thing of the past, factions must rely on covert agencies, teams of elite special operatives able to seize and defend key facilities. The future of humanity is their battleground, where knowledge is power, technology is a race, and everyone has an agenda.
The players control the world of Global Agenda, forging alliances with their peers and executing lightning strikes against their enemies. They determine which factions to aid and which to oppose, while the only thing that stands in their way is other agencies.
Develop your agent — Create, extensively customize, and improve your agent character over the course of your career, complimenting your FPS skills with RPG-style progression and high-tech gear.
Join with other agents — Engage in cooperative Pve missions to develop and refine your individual and team tactics
Advance your agency — Join a player-created agency, compete in technology races for advanced equipment, and capture critical locations to increase your influence in the world.
Compete in fast-paced PvP combat — Work with your allies to gather reconnaissance data, then raid or capture enemy-controlled facilities during objective-based missions. Equip yourself from a powerful array of weapons, armor, and strategic devices like triggered explosives, deployable turrets, stealth suits, holographic decoys, and remote control robots.
Experience a dynamic, player-driven world — Agency leaders navigate through a global conflict of other player-run groups, striving to reach their goals first. Territory, resources, technology, and influence are all valuable commodities, with agencies engaging in politics, intrigue, and outright deception to control them.
System Requirements
OS: Windows XP SP2+, Windows Vista SP1+
Processor: 2.4+ Ghz Single-Core Processor
Memory: 3GB RAM DAAAAAMMMMNNN
Graphics: NVIDIA 7800GT+, or ATI Radeon 9800+
DirectX®: Directx 9+
Hard Drive: 15 GB Free Space
Broadband internet connection required
Perhaps signing up for this beta was not wise
GLOBAL AGENDA is a fast-paced action MMO using Unreal® Engine 3 set in Earth's near future, a spy-fi world of advanced technology and player-driven conflict.
In the wake of severe global disaster, the political face of 22nd century earth has changed and player-created factions scheme against each other for power. Traditional full-scale wars a thing of the past, factions must rely on covert agencies, teams of elite special operatives able to seize and defend key facilities. The future of humanity is their battleground, where knowledge is power, technology is a race, and everyone has an agenda.
The players control the world of Global Agenda, forging alliances with their peers and executing lightning strikes against their enemies. They determine which factions to aid and which to oppose, while the only thing that stands in their way is other agencies.
Develop your agent — Create, extensively customize, and improve your agent character over the course of your career, complimenting your FPS skills with RPG-style progression and high-tech gear.
Join with other agents — Engage in cooperative Pve missions to develop and refine your individual and team tactics
Advance your agency — Join a player-created agency, compete in technology races for advanced equipment, and capture critical locations to increase your influence in the world.
Compete in fast-paced PvP combat — Work with your allies to gather reconnaissance data, then raid or capture enemy-controlled facilities during objective-based missions. Equip yourself from a powerful array of weapons, armor, and strategic devices like triggered explosives, deployable turrets, stealth suits, holographic decoys, and remote control robots.
Experience a dynamic, player-driven world — Agency leaders navigate through a global conflict of other player-run groups, striving to reach their goals first. Territory, resources, technology, and influence are all valuable commodities, with agencies engaging in politics, intrigue, and outright deception to control them.
System Requirements
OS: Windows XP SP2+, Windows Vista SP1+
Processor: 2.4+ Ghz Single-Core Processor
Memory: 3GB RAM DAAAAAMMMMNNN
Graphics: NVIDIA 7800GT+, or ATI Radeon 9800+
DirectX®: Directx 9+
Hard Drive: 15 GB Free Space
Broadband internet connection required
Perhaps signing up for this beta was not wise
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Ninjas bring us good tidings
On a more uplifting note, I was checking out IGN PC when I encountered Mini Ninjas, an upcoming game for the PC. Kinda of cartoonish in nature, its supposed to feature some cartoonish ninja action. Some of the features include:
Leveling to gain new abilities
Magical attacks
Ability to freeze time
Ability to use stealth
Ability to traverse into the spirit plane, where you can take control of animals.
And there is a possibility your enemies turn into fuzzy bunnies when you slay them, though this is unconfirmed.
Just missed the mark on MMO's. EA, you suck.
"Taking place on our earth, in our times, The Secret World (TSW) is inspired by history and mythology, modern conspiracy theories and ancient mysteries. For there really is a world within ours, a secret world, where magic exists, monsters roam and ancient forces are fighting for the dominance of earth. It is a world of legendary stories, ageless conflicts and powerful cabals. In this world, even modern cities hide secrets. In this world, players can take part in the greatest conspiracies of our age, and battle the forces of darkness across the world and throughout time."
The beginning of this sounded OK, then they ruined it by adding monsters and magic. It makes me wonder why companies keep trying to release medieval MMO's, at some point you would think they would realize the market is dominated my World of Warcraft and Everquest, which is why every attempt ends in failure. How about an MMO based on current day spies? There are plenty of conspiracy theories to create quests around, and plenty of factions to play for. Where as WOW has Azeroth, Outland and Northrend regions, why not Have New York, Moscow, Beijing, Prague and New Jersey as locations? (Yes, I said new Jersey, glad you were paying attention). Making it in present day would help keep it out of Blizzard's Crushing Dominance over that genre.
Now to mention the next topic. I was just made aware of this news, via Fidgit.com:
The henchman for sale is unique for starting out with four skills (it seems that none of the henchmen already in the game start out with more than two skills). If you buy "Jimmy Lira", as he's called, you could promote him to underboss to get a henchman with six skills. Right now, you'll never have a henchman with more than four skills. But since these henchman are the characters you play when you're online, this still stinks as a way for players to buy an online advantage.
The level 4 weapons for sale aren't in the game unless you buy them. As it is, you start out with access to all types of weapons at level 1. A pistol, shotgun, machine gun, magnum, and sniper rifle. As you play, you can find level 2 and level 3 versions of each weapon. You can then spend money giving your henchmen these upgraded weapons. However, there are no level 4 weapons in the game until you buy them from EA.
If this is true, it would mean that players who made "Micropayments" would have an advantage over players who just bought the game by itself. Once again, EA demonstrates its ability to squeeze their customer base. I hope there is a backlash, and your sales flop.
And if my information is false, oops, my bad
The beginning of this sounded OK, then they ruined it by adding monsters and magic. It makes me wonder why companies keep trying to release medieval MMO's, at some point you would think they would realize the market is dominated my World of Warcraft and Everquest, which is why every attempt ends in failure. How about an MMO based on current day spies? There are plenty of conspiracy theories to create quests around, and plenty of factions to play for. Where as WOW has Azeroth, Outland and Northrend regions, why not Have New York, Moscow, Beijing, Prague and New Jersey as locations? (Yes, I said new Jersey, glad you were paying attention). Making it in present day would help keep it out of Blizzard's Crushing Dominance over that genre.
Now to mention the next topic. I was just made aware of this news, via Fidgit.com:
The henchman for sale is unique for starting out with four skills (it seems that none of the henchmen already in the game start out with more than two skills). If you buy "Jimmy Lira", as he's called, you could promote him to underboss to get a henchman with six skills. Right now, you'll never have a henchman with more than four skills. But since these henchman are the characters you play when you're online, this still stinks as a way for players to buy an online advantage.
The level 4 weapons for sale aren't in the game unless you buy them. As it is, you start out with access to all types of weapons at level 1. A pistol, shotgun, machine gun, magnum, and sniper rifle. As you play, you can find level 2 and level 3 versions of each weapon. You can then spend money giving your henchmen these upgraded weapons. However, there are no level 4 weapons in the game until you buy them from EA.
If this is true, it would mean that players who made "Micropayments" would have an advantage over players who just bought the game by itself. Once again, EA demonstrates its ability to squeeze their customer base. I hope there is a backlash, and your sales flop.
And if my information is false, oops, my bad
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Robot scientist makes discovery, without human assistance
So odd and interesting I just had to post it:
A robot scientist that can generate its own hypotheses and run experiments to test them has made its first real scientific discoveries.
Dubbed Adam, the robot is the handiwork of researchers at Aberystwyth University and the University of Cambridge in the UK. All by itself it discovered new functions for a number of genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, aka brewer's yeast.
Ross King, a computational biologist at Aberystwyth, who leads the project, said that Adam's results were modest, but real. "It's certainly a contribution to knowledge. It would be publishable," he says.
Adam, which actually consists of a small roomful of lab equipment, has four personal computers that act as a brain, and possesses robot arms, cameras, liquid handlers, incubators and other equipment. The team gave the robot a freezer containing a library of thousands of mutant strains of yeast with individual genes deleted. It was also equipped with a database containing information about yeast genes, enzymes, and metabolism, and a supply of hundreds of metabolites.
To discover which genes coded for which enzymes, Adam cultured a mutant yeast with a certain gene knocked out, and monitored how well the mutant grew without a particular metabolite. If the strain grew poorly without the metabolite, Adam learned something about the function of the knocked out gene. The robot could carry out more than 1000 of these experiments a day.
In all, Adam formulated and tested 20 hypotheses about genes coding for 13 enzymes. Twelve hypotheses were confirmed. For instance, Adam correctly hypothesised that three genes it identified encode an enzyme important in producing the amino acid lysine. The researchers confirmed Adam's work with their own experiments.
The team is now working on a new robot, called Eve, which will search for new drugs.
Adam, Eve and their ilk could soon automate routine and time-consuming scientific chores, leaving human scientists free to make higher level, creative leaps, says King. But ultimately the robots may even be capable of conducting truly independent research, he says.
A robot scientist that can generate its own hypotheses and run experiments to test them has made its first real scientific discoveries.
Dubbed Adam, the robot is the handiwork of researchers at Aberystwyth University and the University of Cambridge in the UK. All by itself it discovered new functions for a number of genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, aka brewer's yeast.
Ross King, a computational biologist at Aberystwyth, who leads the project, said that Adam's results were modest, but real. "It's certainly a contribution to knowledge. It would be publishable," he says.
Adam, which actually consists of a small roomful of lab equipment, has four personal computers that act as a brain, and possesses robot arms, cameras, liquid handlers, incubators and other equipment. The team gave the robot a freezer containing a library of thousands of mutant strains of yeast with individual genes deleted. It was also equipped with a database containing information about yeast genes, enzymes, and metabolism, and a supply of hundreds of metabolites.
To discover which genes coded for which enzymes, Adam cultured a mutant yeast with a certain gene knocked out, and monitored how well the mutant grew without a particular metabolite. If the strain grew poorly without the metabolite, Adam learned something about the function of the knocked out gene. The robot could carry out more than 1000 of these experiments a day.
In all, Adam formulated and tested 20 hypotheses about genes coding for 13 enzymes. Twelve hypotheses were confirmed. For instance, Adam correctly hypothesised that three genes it identified encode an enzyme important in producing the amino acid lysine. The researchers confirmed Adam's work with their own experiments.
The team is now working on a new robot, called Eve, which will search for new drugs.
Adam, Eve and their ilk could soon automate routine and time-consuming scientific chores, leaving human scientists free to make higher level, creative leaps, says King. But ultimately the robots may even be capable of conducting truly independent research, he says.
Left 4 Dead...more updates about updates
Valve plans to release the long awaited mod SDK for the game sometime after the Survival Pack content update on April 21. This will allow people to create their own maps and campaigns for the game. According to Valve's Zoid Kirsch, "We will be adding extra features so players will be able to find dedicated servers running the campaigns they have installed. They will also be able to see friends playing third party campaigns, and be directed to download them as necessary." Valve also plans to allow two teams of four to find each other and then compete in a Versus mod match.
Awesome. I was just talking to a friend when I mentioned that this would be a good idea
Awesome. I was just talking to a friend when I mentioned that this would be a good idea
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