Category: Games

Curse of the Online Gamer

Stumbled upon a blog where the owner did a bit of stat taking. Not the normal number of kills, number of head shots. No – this was the number of times he heard someone cursing or being sexist/racist while playing Halo 2 (the worst game for this type of thing). Stats make for interesting reading and certainly ties up with what I hear on line. I wouldn’t be comfortable with juniors hearing some of this stuff. Bitch talking is not something I normally get involved in – Roy still holds the title for most abusive in a Halo session.

That’s where The Lickers kick in. It’s a league for folk that aren’t obsessed about being number 1 and where cheating and glitching isn’t tolerated. Certainly friendlier than random Live games although looking at the forums sometimes you wouldn’t think so. It’s also full of folk that are over 20 so you don’t feel like an old duffer when posting at the forums or playing online with them. If interested pop over to the forums and sign up.

XBMC How-To

A great guide has been created on ProductWiki – How to mod your Xbox and install XBMC. The media playing capabilities of XBMC have to be seen to be believed – I really struggle to think of a better media playing device (at this moment in time). Well worth doing if your thinking of buying some sort of media playing device that would sit near your TV. Further info can be found at the XBMC Homepage or on the forums at Xbox-Scene.

Playstation Network?

Semi-interesting article discussing potential Xbox Live killer from Sony. It plods through the potential weapons that Sony has at it’s disposal if it builds it’s own internet service for the PS3.

Sony needs to do this. Despite the lead MS has had on a developing a gaming service it has only just brought out the marketplace functionality which when used is clunky and not thought out properly. PS3 will sell more than the 360 and hence a network service that connects Sony’s platform – video, music, photo’s and games would be adopted by a lot more people than Xbox Live. I guess the key is at what price and when? The hardware is all still rumours and it could be this time next year before us in the UK get to play with the new toys.

MS also need a challenger in this field. Many games still only support 8 players as they use peer to peer hosting. Increased broadband speeds haven’t seen the jump in the number of users that can be hosted but that’s more to do with latency (ping times) being the key to a good host – not 10Meg download & 500k upload speeds. Server based hosting (even paid) is required so we can see the numbers that PC games can support on consoles. Sony having a similar service would also see a lot more development from Japan where originality can be found more often than the sequel fueled USA & European markets. MS also dropped their XSN sports network which had so much potential. It sorted out leagues and scoring and meant that joining online tournaments was easy and the admin work zero for all competitors. Sony would win a lot of friends if this type of functionality was added to Pro Evo 6 for example.

So many hardware vendors are chasing the all in one media player but very few have come near or have the infrastructure to do it. I would have said Sony a year ago wouldn’t stand a chance as they still didn’t support mp3 playback on their devices. They’ve changed a lot though in a short time. Looking at all the different parts of the puzzle surely a unifying network/service on the PS3 would deliver PS3 users a killer app without even buying a game. I can dream…especially as I’ve got all the other Sony hardware to make up the jigsaw.

Not convinced by PGR3?

Have a look at this gaming forum – http://www.xbox360-forums.com/viewtopic.php?t=593 – one of the guys was visiting Japan and took some shots of the places he recognised from PGR3. He then set up the same shots in the game. It’s amazing how accurate the game is – it’s a shame it all moves so fast as you rarely get chance to see the detail unless you watch a replay. Stunning.

Best beat em up coming to Xbox Live Arcade

The features…

Online game modes
o “Quarter Match� – entirely new mode specifically created for Xbox Live Arcade
• This spectator-based system is a tribute to the title’s arcade roots, allowing online competitors to use a “virtual quarterâ€? to “buy intoâ€? heated two player matches
• “Quarters� are used to virtually represent players and pays homage to the arcade tradition of claiming the right to play the next game
• Recapturing the spirit of swarming crowds at arcades, onlookers can watch the current brawl in a game lobby as they wait to battle the victor
• Voice chat support allows players to discuss the battleand even trash talk the current fighters
• Competitors can highlight each other’s “quartersâ€? to check out their gamer tag data or add them as friends
• Before entering the game lobby, users can choose either the competitive or casual option which determines whether stats are tracked or not
o Quick Match – jump into a match quickly for instant action
o Optimatch – the best possible match is determined by sorting through a set of filters including number of rounds, turbo speed, chat on or off and friends only
o Create Game – the most popular method for coordinating invite-only matches among friends which allows you to choose among several settings and host games
• Offline game options
o Arcade Mode – simulates the single-player Street Fighter experience where gamers must work their way through a ladder of opponents until they face off against the final boss
o Vs. Mode – allows two friends to select characters and battle it out
o Training Mode – lets gamers practice their fighting skills against a CPU character
o CPU Battle – duke it out against a CPU opponent
• Comprehensive leaderboards
o Overall – the most coveted leaderboard showcases the best overall players from around the globe as determined by a simple point-based system
o Monthly – uses the point-based system to designate the best players in the past 30 days
o Best Character – rankings based on who is the best at using each game character
o Consecutive Wins – tracks winning streaks to see who has won the most matches in a row
• Achievements – complete more than 10 offline and online objectives
• Fully customizable control options – players can map attacks to any of the main buttons and have the choice to map all three punches and/or all three kicks to a single button which simplifies complex moves
• Updated menu screens provide easier navigation
• 5.1 surround sound
• Sound options control the volume of the music and sound effects

The game….Streetfighter 2 – this March. The features that Capcom have added sound amazing except for the lame map all kicks to one button nonsense. Can’t wait to play this and get royally humped. If this is lag free this will set the bar for future Live Arcade games.