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Denver, 8:35 PM
Mon Nov 16
44 posts in the last 24 hours
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08:11 PM
2 words: MIND BULLETS.
That's right, I said it. MAKE IT HAPPEN, Nintendo.
07:42 PM
Exodus is where the game really started to feel like the old WWII CoD and Medal of Honor games, except the player is running through an eerily empty version of a Northern Virginia subdivision instead of a town in France. Using the laser designator is essentially the same as calling in artillery strikes in those WWII games, except the vehicle rumbles alongside the player's squad. The level was fun, though, and the cookie-cutter houses really do evoke DC's Northern Virginia suburbs. It made me wish the MW2 wasn't on rails, and that I could plan a route for my squad through a more sandbox-style town to take out more than three AAA guns.
Easy Day was fine, although I'm confused as to why the underwater section would merit being even a little twist on standard FPS gameplay - haven't cutscenes like this been standard since the mid 90's? The bullet time after breaching was more of a twist than the intro. It's gimmicky, but on the other hand it really does allow for great mini set-piece firefights. I liked seeing the enemies slowly react to the player barging in - the scripted reactions were very cinematic and satisfying. The rest of the battle was a firefight on an oil rig broken up by a helicopter assault - fun, but nothing really worth commenting on. #kotakugameclub
07:35 PM
What does HD bring, though? I can see rendered stubble now, instead of a muddy texture? Why should I give a shit? And you can keep your shiny mannequins to yourself. Clearly the uncanny valley is a lot deeper for me than for the average bear.
Oh, and yes, I have an HD TV, which receives HD broadcast channels. Don't get me wrong, the difference is obvious. It's just that it doesn't improve the experience for me. #wii2
07:48 PM
Nintendo doesn't have to release a Wii HD for their next gen console. Release it for this gen. They have no problem milking DS for all its worth. I want a Wii I can connect to my HDTV with pride and marvel at how incredibly fuckin awesome my new Starfox: StrikeForce or F-zero: Still Better than Wipeout Edition is going to look in HD. I DON'T want the current situation where I take Uncharted 2 out of the PS3 and try to play a bit of CoD W@W or CoD 4 on Wii and all I can do is look at it and say...."ewwwwww, nasty."
08:20 PM
07:27 PM
07:20 PM
06:25 PM
06:08 PM
4 player is hard, because you can really screw each other over very easily. The screen zooms out if someone lags behind or runs off ahead of the pack, so you need some decent hardware to view it on, otherwise it's hard to tell where you are sometimes. that just made it more fun for us, because that person would usually die in short order.
Having a negative continue counter would also detract from the experience too, because you'd never be able to keep 4 people at the same level of lives to make it to the end.
All in all, a must have to play 4 players. #newsupermariobroswii
05:58 PM
05:31 PM
- High Def: As HD becomes a standard feature on current TVs, it makes only sense that Nintendo offer the ability for devs to display their games in an format they want. This doesn't mean more realistic graphics. It just means being able to display a game in a more crisp and clear format.
- Integrated Voice Chat: The future of gaming is going to be tied to online MP and integrated voice chat is going to be the staple communication method for that future.
- Fluid Friends List: Friend Codes suck. Period. If your so concerned about keeping them, then tie a friend code to the console and not to every single game. it's tedious and asinine. Also, options should be allowed to bypass friend codes for open invitation.
Thats about it for me right now. #wii2
05:47 PM
-Improved controllers: Motionplus built in, and in the numchuck too. A better speaker.
-A HD Built In: Nothing huge, just enough to save all our games and handle all our wiiware content. (10/20/40gb?) #wii2
05:52 PM
I think an internal Hard Drive is not a huge issue if you can use SDHC cards and multiple slots. It would also bea great way to hold user made content and swap with friends. #wii2
06:26 PM
There have certainly been a great selection of WiiWare games, but allowing for larger-form titles has shown to offer an even greater diversity in content packages. We have seen such a range with games like Critter Crunch all the way up to Warhawk. #wii2
05:11 PM
This article says that we (PC LAN people) mainly play older games, and while that is true, it's mostly true of competitive gaming from my own experience. I would say we play a lot of newer games like Killing Floor, CoD5, UT3 and more.
It's unfortunate that games like MW2 will not be played as we can't guarantee connection to be stable with so many users using the same connection. For me, this was the biggest argument for dedicated servers. #lan
05:07 PM
06:03 PM
06:29 PM
05:00 PM
Hornet's Nest was pretty forgetable for me, save for the last 30 seconds when you're free running to the chopper. That was a nice twist for me as it really changed gears and I didn't expect missing that first jump.Exodus felt too much like a "me too" level from previous games, mostly from GRAW. Like I've been saying before, the US missions do very little for me and didn't impact me like I was expecting. I still hate not knowing the full reason behind trying to save that one guy at the end, there was just too little significance in the plot at this point that made me care what was going on. Perhaps if we had to actually save and protect civilians, then things might be different...
Easy Day started off nicely, but I was pretty underwhelmed by how little you did underwater. I liked the initial stealth entrance, but kinda wish we had more of a stealth mission here much like the All Ghillied Up mission from MW1. Also I grew tired of the slow mo breach entrances, after a while just got dull for me. I enjoyed the part with the helicopter circling around the rig and you can find rockets to shoot it down, which I failed to do. But I was unimpressed how a .50 sniper rifle couldn't penetrate the cockpit glass, so idk if it's even possible to shoot the helicopter down. I absolutely hated the top of the rig as I got a checkpoint right in the middle with the chopper flying overhead and guys pouring out in front of me. Why couldn't we have thermal goggles instead of relying on thermal optics that have zoom? And I still don't understand why the workers were tied up and had explosives around them. I thought we were infiltrating a guarded rig to break through the AA, not resolve a hostage situation as well. Unless those were US hostages on a US rig...but they never explained or I just missed that little snippet.
Overall, by this point of the game I wished IW just made MW2 focused more on Spec Op missions than having a US invasion involved as well as the US missions really brought the game down for me and was responsible for the rediculous story plot.
04:55 PM
For a game that is based on extremely well-polished gunplay, the sections that break from that are some of the most enjoyable there are.
The underwater insertion in "Easy Day" was really just a cinematic that you controlled the camera in, but damn if it didn't help with the pacing of the game and make it all feel a little more immersive. Slow motion breaches were fun and my only problem with this section was that I was meant to follow Soap but he kept getting in my fucking way! I got more headshots on my commanding officer than I did on the hostage takers.
In "Hornet's Nest" the free-running section was just like the good sections of Mirror's Edge, there was a sense of urgency and vulnerability that had me on the edge of my seat until I made it to the chopper.
Not only that, it had one of my favourite achievements "Colonel Sanderson".
That being said, "Exodus" (and the later levels set in America) are what really made me love this game. Nothing says "holy shit!" like seeing a luxurious suburban house torn apart by an invading force and having to try and reclaim it.
"No Russian" was ballsy and poorly executed (I can't be the only one to think that more setup was needed than just "you're a secret agent, just do what the big bad says. It's for the greater good, honest."), "Exodus" was ballsy and actually made it feel like there was something at stake in the game.
I said this last time I posted in a book club thread, but it has to be repeated, the music and voice acting was amazing. #kotakugameclub
04:54 PM
05:01 PM
maybe if they charged money to get in, but i'm still not sure most schools would be willing to set aside the space required. #lan
05:14 PM
05:22 PM
Still, I'd like some sort of gaming community that I can get in touch with. All my friends are either very light gamers or not at all. I love local multiplayer/LAN parties but I can never find enough people to get a good meeting going. I'd start a group if I weren't in engineering/wasting all my time at Kotaku. #lan
05:24 PM
If it's not there now, then start it.
Dorms tend to have a pre-set up LAN network ready and waiting.
So just ask around, find the PC gamers (usually in PC labs) and get something going.
Maybe ask at your IT office. Our uni has UT3 installed on a floor of our comp building, so as long as we ask nicely and only play at night then we can use it for some gaming. Just obviously no food n drink, n keep it quiet:P
So yeah, ask about, maybe make some flyers, and get something going. And remember to pitch it to the people in charge how socialable it is, the ones in charge like that stuff. Meshing students together, breaking the ice n all that. #lan
04:51 PM
Nintendo's the single most profitable company in the entire video game industry, making a "budget" issue nonexistent. There was practically no possibility of making a 3D game with the SNES's hardware, yet they made it happen with an additional FX chip in Starfox. These were the people who pioneered 3D platforming and overcame the enormous techincal limitation of dealing with a 3D camera, yet they made it happen in Mario 64. This was the company found obstacle after obstacle after obstacle in Ocarina of Time, particularly with the battle system, yet they made it happen. This was the company that made an enormous and seamless word in Windwaker, and the company that standardized the analog stick for movement in 3D (which is STILL the most effective and widely-used movement mechanism by far).
So do NOT tell me they can't add online to a simple 2D platformer. I know what they're capable of, and they've overcome much more difficult and tasking technological obstacles. This is a mere bump on the road that Nintendo's now too lazy to bother with, and everyone here is pretending like they're a participant in first grade basketball and don't know their way around a simple interface. Make no mistake, people, they were once top-tier players of the NBA. Were. #newsupermariobroswii