Tag Archive for 'PC'

Deus Ex 3 Trailer Slip-Up Suggests Prequel

Published
on December 5, 2007
in News
. 0 Comments

I’m normally not a rumor-mongerer, but what the hey: CVG revealed that the trailer for the recently announced Deus Ex 3 reveals a date that would set the game before the first two in the series. The date, 2027, was since removed from the trailer.

If 2027 were the date that Deus Ex 3 is meant to occur, it would take place over twenty years before the original Deus Ex and forty years before the sequel. The game is still early in development and the evidence is tenuous, but it’s interesting nonetheless.

In other Deus Ex 3 news, a 1up interview with Stephane D’Astous, the manager of developing studio Eidos Montreal, confirmed that none of the staff from Ion Storm, the developer of the first two Deus Ex games, will be working on the new game.  GOOD.

D’Astous also commented on his goals in production.

“We’re going to be working hard to have a solid and in-depth storyline that will give players the chance to replay. The replayability is also very important,” said D’Astous. “At Eidos we’d like to think that our games are very character-driven. We need strong characters and strong stories. So one of the factors that’s very important to us is the game’s stamina, its replayability.”

D’Astous added that the studio would not be releasing any plot details until next year.

Eidos’ New Montreal Studio to Develop ‘Deus Ex 3′

Published
on November 27, 2007
in News
. 0 Comments

Eidos announced the third game in the Deus Ex series, which began with a stunning story-driven game and was followed up with a not-so-good one, will be developed in their newly inaugurated Montreal studio, Gamasutra reports.

It’s not clear how much experience the team working on the new Deus Ex game has, but Eidos Montreal’s general manager, Stéphane D’Astous, says the team will do well.

“We will want to limit our dev teams to a human-sized team of 80 people at the very highest of the peak in the production cycle,” said D’Astous. “We don’t want to become a huge studio where there’s over 100 people on a title. We want a smaller, multi-discipline group that are tightly knit together. But by doing so, we will give them at least 18 to 24 months for the production cycle.”

With a small, talented group and a lengthy production, here’s hoping Deus Ex 3 will turn out better than the sophomore effort.

Educational Games Show ‘Why Games Matter’

Published
on November 21, 2007
in News
. 0 Comments

Feeling unproductive after a Thanksgiving break spent gaming? Well eat this (after your turkey). In the “gee wiz” story of the week, the three winners of the “Why Games Matter” contest were announced yesterday, as reported by 1UP.

These three games raise awareness and recommend solutions to issues of gender relations and domestic abuse, teen depression and anger and the AIDS epidemic. Each will be recognized with a $5,000 prize and will be invited to the 2008 Games for Health conference.

Games are made to entertain, but this contest demonstrates one possible secondary function: to educate. This is nothing new. Whoever went to grade school in the early ’90s (and is reading a blog about video games) remembers all those classic computer lab games about doing math, building space ships, stopping bleeding and getting to Oregon.

But will we ever see a game that combines these two functions fully? One that is as fully immersive as BioShock, but also imparts some wisdom about the world outside of Rapture?

Books and movies are already doing this. They flirt around the topic without addressing it full-bore. What better way to learn about the royal politics of Elizabethan England than by reading Macbeth? And Shogun and Gates of Fire are kickass novels, but they also deliver historical and cultural lessons and interpretations. Sure, there are the PBS specials about dealing with racism that we saw in school, but there’s also 2004’s “Crash,” an average film made Oscar-worthy by its relevance.

What lesson does BioShock or Mass Effect teach? What purpose do they serve beyond providing compelling and stimulating entertainment? Interesting questions, which none can answer.

Downloadable Content for BioShock

Published
on October 19, 2007
in News
. 0 Comments

Ken Levine commented this week on downloadable content for BioShock. As the writer points out, BioShock with it’s very closed narrative is not the first game you’d associate with DLC.

For comparison, Half-Life 2’s episodic DLC works well with that game, extending the story after the cliffhanger ending. BioShock’s conclusion (at least the happy one I saw) tied up all the loose ends and left no room for post-plot antics. Another level just would not fit.

Bethesda has provided DLC for Oblivion since launch, with the final pack coming out next week. As an open-ended world, Oblivion readily facilitates the addition of new content, be it an expansion of the story, a new quest, a new weapon, or a new player house. The story in that game can be tackled at the player’s leisure, so it’s easy to add in a new level.

On the other hand, the Rapture of BioShock is such a tight experience that forces the player to move along a set path but in his own way. You can chose what skills to employ in combat and of course whether to save or harvest the little sisters, but you still run through the same number of levels and end up at the same boss. It’s an excellent way of telling a story, but leaves little leeway for a new level or expansion.

“Diablo II, to me, was a great model for an expansion, because it enhanced the original game, but also extended the game, too,” said Levine in an interview with Games for Windows magazine. “I’m not a really big fan of expanding things just by linearly adding to the experience, adding a new campaign, as much as I am of enhancing the original experience and adding replayability to that experience.”

“I think that certainly BioShock’s combat experience is great, but it could be broader. I’m a little more confused as far as how to expand the narrative experience,” he added.

The game is not fully linear, but there’s a definite starting and ending point, and the pacing is perfect. It could only be disrupted by attachments to the narrative. New plasmids though, that’s another story entirely. If they are implemented completely and don’t feel tacked on or useless, such DLC would be a welcome addition.

The Point of Games

Published
on September 11, 2007
in Analysis
. 0 Comments

Whether they seek to educate or persuade, “serious games” only occasionally succeed commercially or even appear in game stores. But they are becoming increasingly prevalent, and more mainstream titles are picking up their new approach to gaming.

Simulation games, which seek to accurately reproduce real world systems, educate the player on those systems. Sim City demonstrated all the variables necessary for a city to function properly and rewarded efficient urban planning. Flight Simulator allows the player to fly a plane with all the controls and obstacles that a real pilot would encounter.

These games sacrifice fun and gameplay, the two essential aspects of most commercial titles, in favor of realism. Similarly, games such as Brain Age and the recently announced Wii Fit are designed for more than just fun: They are intended to improve the player, either through physical or mental exercise.

A recent slew of serious games intend to influence the player’s opinions, taking the realism of simulations and applying it to a message. Orwell Today’s simulation of JFK’s assassination challenged players to reproduce the shots which killed Kennedy, shooting from Lee Harvey Oswald’s position. While notably morbid, failure would prove that there was more than one shooter.

Even governments have seen the persuasive potential of games. The US military uses America’s Army, a realistic first-person shooter, as a recruiting tool, and Iran’s Save the Port promotes Islamic beliefs.

The utility of games for arguing a point has been picked up by commercial games as well. For example, Army of Two designer Chris Ferriera commented in an interview with Gamasutra that the very modern issue of private military contractors is an important part of his game’s setting.

Ian Bogost, the author of Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames who recently appeared on the Colbert Report, comments in his blog that many commercial games–such as Sim City and Grand Theft Auto–consistently reference and provide allegorical insight into real world events.

These examples take games in a new, more meaningful direction, hinting at a future where an argument or theme is at the heart of any good game.

REVIEW: Baldur’s Gate I & Tales of the Sword Coast

Published
on August 21, 2007
in Review
. 0 Comments

Yes, this game came out 10 years ago. Yes, I’m just now playing it. But that only means that there must be other people out there thus far uninitiated into a truly landmark RPG. The strange thing about my experience is that I’ve already played Baldur’s Gate II, and that it’s one of my favorite games.

Baldur’s Gate uses Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition rules. I know little to nothing about good old D&D (I was instead raised on Diablo and Heroes of Might and Magic), but I do know that this makes the character creation and combat system incredibly complex. Some people may enjoy the depth allowed in creating their protagonist. I just lower my head and bull-rush my way through it.

The game’s storytelling is incredible. It drops you flawlessly into the role of a self-created character, and guides you through a free-form and intriguing plot. The ability to chose between good and evil has since become a staple of BioWare RPG’s but was quite original at the time of the game’s release. Unlike many other ethics-testing games, Baldur’s Gate does a consistently good job of posing questions with no clear right or wrong answer and with tempting incentives to take each of the many paths.

The game’s graphics have aged pretty well, all things considered. The sprites still look smart and diverse, the animations well done. Many backgrounds look hand-drawn, distinguishing the dungeons of Baldur’s Gate from the cut-and-paste tiled affairs of her contemporaries. BioWare was prescient enough to allow untested resolutions and 3-D graphics, and load times have thankfully and substantially increased over the years.

Although it’s a strange way of looking at it, Baldur’s Gate has the foundations for everything which made the sequel great. The characters, graphics, sound and interface all set the stage for the excellent climax and conclusion.

BioShock’s Storytelling

Published
on August 16, 2007
in News
. 0 Comments

BioShock’s release approacheth. The reviews are in, and it’s earned nothing but unremitting praise. The Xbox 360 version’s aggregate review on GameRankings.com is a stunning 99%.

One of the most interesting critiques comes from the closing comments in Charles Onyett’s review on IGN:

There is art here, despite what many would say isn’t possible with games, from Roger Ebert to game designers like Hideo Kojima. But it’s in BioShock–it’s in the gorgeously realized, watery halls of Rapture. It’s in a Little Sister’s expression of thanks when you choose to save her, or the utter silence if you harvest instead. It’s in the way the characters develop, in the testimonials of the recording boxes you pick up along the way. It’s in the way the narrative is structured, and the way it blends so seamlessly with the action.

Irrational had a clear vision with this game, something pulled off with remarkable precision in every department. They didn’t just deliver something that’s fun to play, a criterion so often cited as the benchmark of what makes a game worthwhile. BioShock stands as a monolithic example of the convergence of entertaining gameplay and an irresistibly sinister, engrossing storyline that encompasses a host of multifaceted characters. This is an essential gaming experience.

Graphically, BioShock looks absolutely amazing. That should be apparent to anyone who has played the demo (available now on Xbox Live and for PC gamers by August 21).

Of course, graphics aren’t everything, but they do facilitate improved storytelling. They allow a greater range of expression on the characters, such as the Little Sisters mentioned in Onyett’s review, and a greater sense of immersion for the gamer as the world becomes more detailed and realistic.

Continue reading ‘BioShock’s Storytelling’