Sims 3: More customization, more commands, and more realism. In this upcoming Sims, you'll be able to roam the neighborhood and actually interact with other Sims off of your home property. Out on June 2.
Modern Warfare 2: Continuing off of the older Modern Warfare, this installment no longer has the Call of Duty title attached, indicating that it is most likely a separate series. From the screenshots, it looks like it will feature a snow landscape as well as undersea combat. Out on November 10.
Saboteur: This 1st/3rd person stealth combat rpg is set in Paris during WWII. You are part of the French resistance, using sabotage to disable Nazi capability. What makes this unique from other stealth games is how the people interact with you -- as you liberate sections of Paris from Nazi occupation, people will cheer you on and help you when you engage in fights. Out in probably early 2010.
Starcraft 2: The long-awaited sequel to the amazing original is close to a decade late. From gameplay footage, it seems almost functioning and just awaiting balancing. Out in probably mid 2009.
Bioshock 2, the Sea of Dreams: The sequel to the intense fps set in the underwater city of Rapture, this update is set roughly ten years after the first Bioshock. You play as a big daddy with the ability to wield plasmids. It will include a multiplayer mode the first Bioshock lacked. Out in probably late 2009.
Showing posts with label gaming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gaming. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
TF2 scout update
Steam released an update for the scout in Tf2 the other day. It is half-off, or $9.99 until Friday.
The new update includes:
The Sandman, a stun baseball. It stuns in a fast-paced FPS like Tf2 don't work. It can be used to stun uber pairs, which in my opinion detracts from the medic's role which already is tough and under appreciated. Now, sentry farming is even more effective and
It does make the game more team-dependent because the rest of the team has to cover for the stunned player until he recovers.
With this, it is impossible to double jump, which is good because it would allow for baseball sniping from double-jumped-to places.
The ball can either be picked up after it bounces or it will recharge after a few seconds.
Now, I believe it is possible to perma-stun a person if he is hit repeatedly with these. Steam will hopefully patch this soon.
A knockback gun, the Force-a-Nature that fires two shots quickly, reloads quickly, and does slightly less damage per shot. Because the knockback is so large, it will propel you opposite in the direction you are facing if you fire. This can be used in conjunction with the existing double jump to add a third jump or with the Sandman to attain a double jump.
In many of the original alpine-set arena maps, there are places where you can knock away enemies to get an environmental kill.
A scout powerup, the Bonk Atomic Punch that is effectively a mini-uber and a speed boost. It lasts for 6 seconds followed by a 6 second slow.
Three new maps, all community made. There are Arena_watchtower, a beautiful Alpine themed one, Cp_Junction set indoors and full of cramped spaces, and Cp_Egypt.
A quicker spy backstab: Now, with the recent cloak pickup change, the spy is a very potent killer. The hit registers instantly, though after the kill there is a quick blade flick animation to stall to prevent fast chain stabs. However, it requires you to get closer to the enemy for the stab to register, making leaping, flick, or sidestabs harder. This would separate the new spies from the "elite" even more than now. Now, the engineer is sorely in need of teammate's help because it is so easy to stab-n-sap.
Disguising: Now, the spy can choose which weapons to wield and can change them while disguised. I feel this is unnecessary after the faster backstab because the spy doesn't need any additional boost and it adds clutter to the disguise menu.
A new game type: If you look carefully in the background, there appear to be a red and a blue cart side by side. It looks like a sort of race game wherein the objective is to push the team cart to the finish while stalling the enemy's cart.
Images via Tf2wiki.
The new update includes:
The Sandman, a stun baseball. It stuns in a fast-paced FPS like Tf2 don't work. It can be used to stun uber pairs, which in my opinion detracts from the medic's role which already is tough and under appreciated. Now, sentry farming is even more effective and
It does make the game more team-dependent because the rest of the team has to cover for the stunned player until he recovers.
With this, it is impossible to double jump, which is good because it would allow for baseball sniping from double-jumped-to places.
The ball can either be picked up after it bounces or it will recharge after a few seconds.
Now, I believe it is possible to perma-stun a person if he is hit repeatedly with these. Steam will hopefully patch this soon.
A knockback gun, the Force-a-Nature that fires two shots quickly, reloads quickly, and does slightly less damage per shot. Because the knockback is so large, it will propel you opposite in the direction you are facing if you fire. This can be used in conjunction with the existing double jump to add a third jump or with the Sandman to attain a double jump.
In many of the original alpine-set arena maps, there are places where you can knock away enemies to get an environmental kill.
A scout powerup, the Bonk Atomic Punch that is effectively a mini-uber and a speed boost. It lasts for 6 seconds followed by a 6 second slow.Three new maps, all community made. There are Arena_watchtower, a beautiful Alpine themed one, Cp_Junction set indoors and full of cramped spaces, and Cp_Egypt.
A quicker spy backstab: Now, with the recent cloak pickup change, the spy is a very potent killer. The hit registers instantly, though after the kill there is a quick blade flick animation to stall to prevent fast chain stabs. However, it requires you to get closer to the enemy for the stab to register, making leaping, flick, or sidestabs harder. This would separate the new spies from the "elite" even more than now. Now, the engineer is sorely in need of teammate's help because it is so easy to stab-n-sap.
Disguising: Now, the spy can choose which weapons to wield and can change them while disguised. I feel this is unnecessary after the faster backstab because the spy doesn't need any additional boost and it adds clutter to the disguise menu.
A new game type: If you look carefully in the background, there appear to be a red and a blue cart side by side. It looks like a sort of race game wherein the objective is to push the team cart to the finish while stalling the enemy's cart.
Images via Tf2wiki.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Game pricing
In a recent article from Edge.com, Valve's video game pricing system was looked into as an experimenting ground to test the maximization of games sold versus price. At first it seems like a simple two-variable maximization: the lower the cost, the more units sold. However there are many other factors involved that will require more testing.
This is subject to diminishing returns, of course. Valve cut L4D's cost by half and got a 3000% increase. If the price was cut by 1/4, there wouldn't be a 6000% increase but more like a 4000% or 5000% increase.
It is impossible to completely eliminate piracy. People will either "try out" a game or be too stingy to part with their money. Lowering the price of a game will reduce piracy, but can never eliminate it until the game is free.
When people see that something is on sale, they are more likely to buy because of the urgency the sale presents. If the game was always cheap, then the actual increase in sales would be lower than the one-weekend 3000% increase Valve saw.
My view is that in the long term, lowered game pricing could possibly work. As games become more specialized and cater towards specific gaming populations, the number of total games will increase. Because there would be so many games, each one would take a smaller percentage of the total gaming population. In addition, the the cost to produce the big-ticket games increases as players expect higher quality. So, the price to program games would go up while percentage of the total that buys would drop.
Of course, it's not this simple. People can own more than one game and play more than one actively. As the plugged-in culture matures and more people become accustomed to spending time on the Internet and playing games, Also, the gaming population is increasing, so although each game may have a smaller percentage of the total, the number buyers would increase. In the end, it is possible for game producers to make money by reducing the price of games.
This is subject to diminishing returns, of course. Valve cut L4D's cost by half and got a 3000% increase. If the price was cut by 1/4, there wouldn't be a 6000% increase but more like a 4000% or 5000% increase.
It is impossible to completely eliminate piracy. People will either "try out" a game or be too stingy to part with their money. Lowering the price of a game will reduce piracy, but can never eliminate it until the game is free.
When people see that something is on sale, they are more likely to buy because of the urgency the sale presents. If the game was always cheap, then the actual increase in sales would be lower than the one-weekend 3000% increase Valve saw.
My view is that in the long term, lowered game pricing could possibly work. As games become more specialized and cater towards specific gaming populations, the number of total games will increase. Because there would be so many games, each one would take a smaller percentage of the total gaming population. In addition, the the cost to produce the big-ticket games increases as players expect higher quality. So, the price to program games would go up while percentage of the total that buys would drop.
Of course, it's not this simple. People can own more than one game and play more than one actively. As the plugged-in culture matures and more people become accustomed to spending time on the Internet and playing games, Also, the gaming population is increasing, so although each game may have a smaller percentage of the total, the number buyers would increase. In the end, it is possible for game producers to make money by reducing the price of games.