• 4Oct 09

  The secret to longevity in Cult multiplayer (online ready) games

  I've come to notice a parallel betwixt the under rated games of this generation and those of the last. When Iron Phoenix was released it was be rated ultimately by critics including but not limited to OXM's Francesca Reyes. Heck even gamespot gave it a 4.1 poor rating seen herehttp://www.gamespot.com/xbox/action/ironphoenix/index.html?tag=result;title;0

  There was no singleplayer mode and there were glitches but despite that there was a following of gamers who still chose to play it online and off in spite of the many new releases around the same time and .

  It did have one thing going for it though that lent itself to longevity...bots with seemingly ever changing AI. I don't think any of the critics bothered to mention it and if they did it was shirked and taken for granted... To this day I'd still be playing it if it if Microsoft would only ink a deal with its creators and license holders (where ever they are now) to offer it up at the very least as a digital download since I think its safe to say that they've given up on bc-ing it. Who knows may be they could workout the glitches too.

  A quick glance over at its forum posts over at sega suggests that there'd still be a following of gamers for it if it were brought over but I think they're too intimidated by it to make that move.http://forums.sega.com/forumdisplay.php?s=226907dd698b9440d43517e1df66bcc7&f=75&daysprune=-1&order=desc&sort=lastpost

  Then there's shadowrun. I mean I've been paying that game just about everyday since I bought it. To me its become the iron phoenix of this generation. it recieved a tepid 6.9 just one point shy of a full 7 byt Jeff Gerstmann yet ironically enough I enjoy playing it offline with the bots alot more than most of the other more "modern" FPS shooters that have come out.

  You know the other day I bought a PS3? I've downloaded some demos for it some FPSs like Killzone 2, Punisher No Mercy, and Uncharted 2 (yeah, even though that's a 3rd person shooter I'm including it here cause of its multiplayer).

  Which brings me back to my point. You know after I've played all those games' demos? I still came back to Shadowrun? Really I did. And I've played bioshock, and rainbow six vegas too but I still want to play Shadowrun.

  I don't feel like buying HALO 3: ODST because they shot down the idea of having bots with ever changing AI and without it I feel like its just more HALO 3 besides I don't really like prequels and I kind of expected there to be bots in the HALO 3multiplayer mode and for there to be the option of playing with/as soldiers and not just more covenant versus spartans(if I recall correctly you could do that,Spartans vs Covenant, in HALO 2) .

  I kind of expected there to be bots in the HALO 3multiplayer modemultiplayer mode because they bragged so much how much smarter the ai was in the singleplayer, couldn't they have simply made the AI more modular and adaptive and cut and paste the code required to reference the soldier/covenant models and AI in multiplayer with a few tweaks here and there to the coding? How hard would that have been? and not just this 4 player co-op stuff

  Shadowrun and Iron Phoenix share two things in common they have a more so social atmosphere because they are multiplayer centric? and they have bots with ever changing AI that present a challenge.

  I guess I could add the third thing being that they both have no end in sight since they're devoid of much of any plot (outside of the extras option in iron phoenix). Shadowrun doesn't really have much in the way of a story at all but then if you were to compare it to a fighting game where you're playing online?

  Or better yet to counterstrike there's no story in either case doesn't stop people from coming back for more...The glitches were present at one point too and to be fair its still not perfect but I still like it despite its flaws and don't see the point in buying another flaw filled game or any other "modern" shooters that choose to eschew bots and ai in multiplayer.

  To buy one of those modern shooters without ANY bots and AI post Unreal? is like sitting down to have some cereal but choosing to eschew the bowl and milk. Just pouring it on the counter/table and just digging in with that spoon at the ready... I want the bowl AND some mik with my cereal...

  unless its ALL-Bran that's good out of a plastic bag with no milk in a half cup serving mmm free demos...

  • Posted Oct 4, 2009 5:28 pm GMT
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• 26Sep 09

  I Love my calculators!!!

  Just found these free online calculators interesting thats all.

  http://www.searchforancestors.com/utility/dayofweek.html

  http://www.astroica.com/western-astrology/birthstone.php

  http://www.mathcats.com/explore/agecalculator.html

  http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php?process=resubmit&count=78

  • Posted Sep 26, 2009 2:47 pm GMT
  • Category: Opinion
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• 29Aug 09

  Possible spoilers for Districts 9 , 10, 11 and my opinion

  Well first of all I went into District 9 having gathered some before hand knowledge of racial relations in South Africa. Namely how there are still some people cough aSiAns cough who still don't have equal rights in South Africa.

  Some do but that's another story which actually ties into the possible spoilers for District 10 portion of this blog. Infact there may be spoilers all around so if you haven't seen District 9 and don't want to be spoiled in anyway leave now then comeback later once you've seen it. You have been warned I will not warn you again.

  Obviously there's a reason why I capitalized certain portions of the word aSiAns. I will continue to do so throughout this blog don't worry I will explain why shortly.

  Did anyone else notice that there were no aSiAns in the movie? Yet ironically enough there are aSiAns in South Africa, anyone notice?

  An argument could be made that Neil was just using creative license to edit the movie in such a way to make a political statement or to better frame his view of South Africa.

  However I could not help but notice their absence. I liked the movie but the absence of the aSiAns that I know should be there and the knowledge of their continuing struggle to have rights overshadowed this movie a little for me. Then again perhaps the reason there were no aSiAns was because he used the aSiAns as a primer for his aLiEns.

  See what I did there? aLiEns aSiAns, aLiEns? aSiAns it just takes two letters to turn one into the other. I suspect Neil did this on purpose.To turn social fiction into science fiction.If you haven't read this this may interest you.

  Infact if I were to guess how District 10 will go from here? What with Wilkus all but completely turned aLiEn? My guess is that the aLiEn council will be brought back to planet earth over south africa. That they will seek an ambassador of sorts to close the gap betwixt the aLiEn and human races and Wilkus will be their choice.

  teenage voice:Well duh of course they'd choose him he was left aLiEn by way of freak accident by the end of District 9.

  But wait there's more. While Wilkus is turned back to his human form as promised by the aLiEn father. That aLiEn father's true reason for coming to earth will be revealed. My guess is they too are looking to mine the jewels in south africa.

  Now he may not be looking to become an entrepreneur but I suspect that that's his reason. At anyrate if this movie continues to try to mirror the racial relations of aSiAns in South Africa I suspect this is the route the plot will go for District 10. If they don't get their rights by the end of 10 mark my words they'll have them by 11 but some will not...

  This is just my opinion take it or leave it.

  • Posted Aug 29, 2009 5:21 pm GMT
  • Category: Opinion
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