My team, Infection Vector, are through to the development stage of this years Dare to be Digital competition!!! We will be making The Manhattan Strain in our 10 week deadline in Trinity College, Dublin.
Check out our blog and Vote for us!!! And if our blog isn't enough for you, check out our website as well.
Wish us luck!!!
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Gaming Communities
I have played games all my life, but only recently in the last 2 years have I been gaming online. Prior to that, I mostly played single player games, with the odd mulitplayer game with some friends. So I had very little experience of gaming communities when I was growing up.
In the last 2 years however I became involved in online gaming communities, most notably in World if Warcraft when I joined a guild called The Grey Company. I already knew Alan and Eoghan in the guild, but a large number of other people online through it. I myself never met any of the other guild members in real life, however the guild did hold regular real life events are BBQ's where a number of the members went and had a good time.
Playing in these online worlds opens up a whole different way to meet people, I met a number of online gamers who I would consider friends, but have never met in real life, by simply doing missions together or helping each other out.
I am no longer in the guild anymore as I have stopped playing World of Warcraft, or any other MMORPG for that matter, but the online community is a major reason as to why I would return to WOW.
I think gaming addiction is a valid form of addiction. I mean people on in China have died from playing games days on end. I could equate it to gambling. I mean there is nothing wrong with playing games, you have just got to know when to stop, the same with gambling.
I don't think it is anything like drug addiction however. I mean drugs are just plain bad for you, simple as. Gaming on the other hand isn't. But just like everything else, if you play games for too long, it's going to affect your health.
In the last 2 years however I became involved in online gaming communities, most notably in World if Warcraft when I joined a guild called The Grey Company. I already knew Alan and Eoghan in the guild, but a large number of other people online through it. I myself never met any of the other guild members in real life, however the guild did hold regular real life events are BBQ's where a number of the members went and had a good time.
Playing in these online worlds opens up a whole different way to meet people, I met a number of online gamers who I would consider friends, but have never met in real life, by simply doing missions together or helping each other out.
I am no longer in the guild anymore as I have stopped playing World of Warcraft, or any other MMORPG for that matter, but the online community is a major reason as to why I would return to WOW.
I think gaming addiction is a valid form of addiction. I mean people on in China have died from playing games days on end. I could equate it to gambling. I mean there is nothing wrong with playing games, you have just got to know when to stop, the same with gambling.
I don't think it is anything like drug addiction however. I mean drugs are just plain bad for you, simple as. Gaming on the other hand isn't. But just like everything else, if you play games for too long, it's going to affect your health.
Hours Spent Gaming Last Week
I spent about 4 hours playing GTA IV last week. Damn you college for ruining my gaming time!!!
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Games Played this week
Well this week we had to demo our alpha version of our game, and hence there were alot of late nights (5am anybody?) and very little gaming.
Now Im taking a stab in the dark here and saying I only played about 30 minutes this week, that been Unreal Tournament 3. I can't remember playing any other game...
God I'm tired :(
Now Im taking a stab in the dark here and saying I only played about 30 minutes this week, that been Unreal Tournament 3. I can't remember playing any other game...
God I'm tired :(
Friday, April 18, 2008
Games Played trhis week
This week was all about Gears of war. Spent about 10 hours playing it, and about 20 minutes playing Calling all Cars.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Hours Spent Gaming this week
I spent about 11 hours playing games this week. 10 hours playing Gears of War and 30 minutes playing Ms Bimbo and Jewel Quest each.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Miss Bimbo
So this week we were to play a game aimed at females, so I picked Miss Bimbo to play. Let's get straight into the game.
So is Miss Bimbo enjoyable? i didn't find it enjoyable at all, but then again im not the games target audience. Basically it's the same as any virtual pet game out there. You have to feed and cloth your bimbo, get a job, boyfiend, apartment, buy clothes, new hairstyles, go to the gym... Nothing new or exciting to be honest.
There is little to no concentration to this game. Everything changes slowly over time so you don't need to be alert to anything in the game really.
The game is aimed at girls, aged around 9 - 16 years old.
The game isn't very immersive and is quite hard to become interested in the game. But then again, this game isn't aimed at me, so im not the best person to be judging it.
Little to no skill is involved. You click buttons, follow simple goals, keep your bimbo alive by feeding her. All very simple.
The only narrative in the game are your bimbo's goals. They pretty much tell you what to do.
I didn't see any function to talk to other people playing the game, though I did see an inbox, so I assume it is possible to talk to other Miss Bimbo players.
By the way I have no sisters so I can't answer the other questions.
So is Miss Bimbo enjoyable? i didn't find it enjoyable at all, but then again im not the games target audience. Basically it's the same as any virtual pet game out there. You have to feed and cloth your bimbo, get a job, boyfiend, apartment, buy clothes, new hairstyles, go to the gym... Nothing new or exciting to be honest.
There is little to no concentration to this game. Everything changes slowly over time so you don't need to be alert to anything in the game really.
The game is aimed at girls, aged around 9 - 16 years old.
The game isn't very immersive and is quite hard to become interested in the game. But then again, this game isn't aimed at me, so im not the best person to be judging it.
Little to no skill is involved. You click buttons, follow simple goals, keep your bimbo alive by feeding her. All very simple.
The only narrative in the game are your bimbo's goals. They pretty much tell you what to do.
I didn't see any function to talk to other people playing the game, though I did see an inbox, so I assume it is possible to talk to other Miss Bimbo players.
By the way I have no sisters so I can't answer the other questions.
Casual Game - Jewel Quest
Jewel Quest is a puzzle game where you have to line up 3 or more items that are the same. The lines can be formed in any direction besides diagonal directions. You can only move an item one space at a time, to the left, right, up or down, but no diagonal movements. When you move an item, it is swapped with another item occupying the space where you are moving it to. Also, an item can only be moved if the move will form a line of 3 items of the same kind.
And that is the whole game. The aim is to get line 3 or more items of the same type on every square of the grid. The items are always replaced, so you can never actually finish the game within the time limit.
I found this game very enjoyable to actually. It's simple but effective and fun and I can people playing this game for hours on end.
There isn't a huge amount of concentration required. All the player has to do is look out for potential lines of 3 or more of the items. The time limit seems to be about 2 minutes (it doesn't actually tell you), so you never feel rushed either.
The game can be immersive, has you try to get as many points as possible.
No skill is really required, only the ability to see the items and count to 3 really.
The game has no narrative and is single player only so has no social interaction involved either.
And that is the whole game. The aim is to get line 3 or more items of the same type on every square of the grid. The items are always replaced, so you can never actually finish the game within the time limit.
I found this game very enjoyable to actually. It's simple but effective and fun and I can people playing this game for hours on end.
There isn't a huge amount of concentration required. All the player has to do is look out for potential lines of 3 or more of the items. The time limit seems to be about 2 minutes (it doesn't actually tell you), so you never feel rushed either.
The game can be immersive, has you try to get as many points as possible.
No skill is really required, only the ability to see the items and count to 3 really.
The game has no narrative and is single player only so has no social interaction involved either.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Hours Spent Gaming
Played games for about 12 hours this week. About 9 hours playing Call of Duty 4 and 3 hours playing Gears of War.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Evolution of violence in video games
The first video-game considered to have violence and caused huge controversy, was Death Race released in 1976 based on the film Death Race 2000.. The game involved the player driving over gremlins. However, the original title for the game was Pedestrian, and the gremlins could be considered to look like humans too.
Death Race was the first of many violent games to come. One of the first top selling game considered to have excessive violence was Mortal Kombat. In this fighting game, you could pull the heart out of your opponent or remove some one's head with their spine hanging off it. Even more so, the game used live actors for character sprites, making the characters look more realistic.
As computer graphics got better, so did the violence in games. More and more violent games were been released. The Mortal Kombat series continued even introducing a "Kreate-A-Fatality system", Soldier of Fortune was one of the first games to have a system where you could shoot body parts off of your enemies. This even allowed shooting half of your victims face off.
While Soldier of Fortune's system was impressive for it's time, the game itself has little commercial success. But recently, a similar system has been implemented in a game called Gears of War. This system allowed the user player to chainsaw an enemy in half, with the body splitting in 2. Using a shotgun, body parts could be blown off with ease. Unlike Soldier of Fortune, this game has enjoyed huge commercial success due to great game play, but surprising, there was little to no controversy around this game.
One of the most controversial games in the games industry is the Grand Theft Auto series. In these games, you can steal cars (hence the name), kill civilians, cops, firefighters, basically anyone in sight, drive over people... There are alot of things you can do, OK. However, it is all up to the player's choice. Yes missions do involve killing people, even corrupt cops, but nobody makes the player steal cars or run-people over, that's up to the player. More so, the violence doesn't look real, the blood looks more cartoony than realistic. However, add to the violence, bad language and nudity and this makes them the most controversial games to date.
However, what is considered the most violent game to date is Thrill Kill. Developed for the PlayStation by Paradox Development. The game is about eight psychotic killers that die and go to hell, but are given the change to go back to life if they fight each other. The fights take place in a small room where the fighters can dismember their foes in a brutal fashion, stick cow prods down their throats. The game even has mutilation of the body. However, a few weeks before release, EA brought the original publisher of the game and refused to sell it saying that it would damage the image of the company. They also said that they would never sell the game to another publisher as they deemed the game too violent. However, the original developers have since released the game for free on the Internet.
The violent games will keep coming, with Grand Theft Auto IV and Gears of War 2 been released this year. However, these violent games are actually good, they have excellent game play elements. In fact most of the violent games these days are more then just violent games. Games that are just plain violent for no other reason just don't last in the industry, like Thrill Kill. And with the introduction of rating systems for games, publishers are less likely to fund senselessly violent games.
Question: Did you play violent games as a young teen that you would not be happy for your child to play?
I have played plenty of violent games when I was young and I have turned out fine (kinda hehe). Seriously though, I don't think there were any games I played that I would not let my child play. It all depends on their age of course. I mean I wouldn't let a 5 year-old play manhunt, but a 14 year-old, probably. It's hard to answer really. I think it depends on the child as well, whether you think he/she understands that it's just a game.
Question: Have there been Games that you have played that you were disturbed by the violence?
No. Short answer I know, but I haven't been disturbed by any game I have played. I was scared sh1tless though when I played Resident Evil when I was young. I was walking down a hallway and all of a sudden 2 dogs jumped in through the window and scared the life out of me. But have never been disturbed.
Question: What is your opinion of the introduction of live action sequences and actors in games?
If it's implemented properly, then great, otherwise i don't like it. Command & Conquer used live action sequnces really well. However I do prefer games don't use it, I think it ruins the flow of the game at times coming from computer graphics to real life video back to computer graphics.
Question: Do you think this will blur the lines between fantasy and reality?
No, I don't think so. After all the live action sequences usually look completely different from the game graphics which makes it look more unrealistic in my opinon.
Death Race was the first of many violent games to come. One of the first top selling game considered to have excessive violence was Mortal Kombat. In this fighting game, you could pull the heart out of your opponent or remove some one's head with their spine hanging off it. Even more so, the game used live actors for character sprites, making the characters look more realistic.
As computer graphics got better, so did the violence in games. More and more violent games were been released. The Mortal Kombat series continued even introducing a "Kreate-A-Fatality system", Soldier of Fortune was one of the first games to have a system where you could shoot body parts off of your enemies. This even allowed shooting half of your victims face off.
While Soldier of Fortune's system was impressive for it's time, the game itself has little commercial success. But recently, a similar system has been implemented in a game called Gears of War. This system allowed the user player to chainsaw an enemy in half, with the body splitting in 2. Using a shotgun, body parts could be blown off with ease. Unlike Soldier of Fortune, this game has enjoyed huge commercial success due to great game play, but surprising, there was little to no controversy around this game.
One of the most controversial games in the games industry is the Grand Theft Auto series. In these games, you can steal cars (hence the name), kill civilians, cops, firefighters, basically anyone in sight, drive over people... There are alot of things you can do, OK. However, it is all up to the player's choice. Yes missions do involve killing people, even corrupt cops, but nobody makes the player steal cars or run-people over, that's up to the player. More so, the violence doesn't look real, the blood looks more cartoony than realistic. However, add to the violence, bad language and nudity and this makes them the most controversial games to date.
However, what is considered the most violent game to date is Thrill Kill. Developed for the PlayStation by Paradox Development. The game is about eight psychotic killers that die and go to hell, but are given the change to go back to life if they fight each other. The fights take place in a small room where the fighters can dismember their foes in a brutal fashion, stick cow prods down their throats. The game even has mutilation of the body. However, a few weeks before release, EA brought the original publisher of the game and refused to sell it saying that it would damage the image of the company. They also said that they would never sell the game to another publisher as they deemed the game too violent. However, the original developers have since released the game for free on the Internet.
The violent games will keep coming, with Grand Theft Auto IV and Gears of War 2 been released this year. However, these violent games are actually good, they have excellent game play elements. In fact most of the violent games these days are more then just violent games. Games that are just plain violent for no other reason just don't last in the industry, like Thrill Kill. And with the introduction of rating systems for games, publishers are less likely to fund senselessly violent games.
Question: Did you play violent games as a young teen that you would not be happy for your child to play?
I have played plenty of violent games when I was young and I have turned out fine (kinda hehe). Seriously though, I don't think there were any games I played that I would not let my child play. It all depends on their age of course. I mean I wouldn't let a 5 year-old play manhunt, but a 14 year-old, probably. It's hard to answer really. I think it depends on the child as well, whether you think he/she understands that it's just a game.
Question: Have there been Games that you have played that you were disturbed by the violence?
No. Short answer I know, but I haven't been disturbed by any game I have played. I was scared sh1tless though when I played Resident Evil when I was young. I was walking down a hallway and all of a sudden 2 dogs jumped in through the window and scared the life out of me. But have never been disturbed.
Question: What is your opinion of the introduction of live action sequences and actors in games?
If it's implemented properly, then great, otherwise i don't like it. Command & Conquer used live action sequnces really well. However I do prefer games don't use it, I think it ruins the flow of the game at times coming from computer graphics to real life video back to computer graphics.
Question: Do you think this will blur the lines between fantasy and reality?
No, I don't think so. After all the live action sequences usually look completely different from the game graphics which makes it look more unrealistic in my opinon.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Hours Spent Gaming
I spent about 10 hours playing games this week. 8 of those playing Unreal Tournament 3 and 2 hours spent playing Call of Duty 4.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Hours Spent Gaming
This week I spent about 20 hours playing games. It's split 50-50 between Call of Duty 4 and Unreal Tournament 3, both online.
Friday, March 14, 2008
News HeadLines To Generate Moral Panic
This is my first headline that could generate moral panic. It is based on Grand Theft Auto IV which is released on the 29th of April this year.
"Games ENCOURAGE Drink-Driving"
This is based on the fact that in the game you can drive vechicles while the player's character (Niko) is drunk. This effect is done by making the screen blurry and the car's difficult to control, so that the player is not totally in control of the car. It is also (as far as I know), the first game to have drink-driving in it.
The second headline is also from GTA IV.
"Games REWARD Killing Cops, Prostitutes & Dangerous Driving with Money".
"Games ENCOURAGE Drink-Driving"
This is based on the fact that in the game you can drive vechicles while the player's character (Niko) is drunk. This effect is done by making the screen blurry and the car's difficult to control, so that the player is not totally in control of the car. It is also (as far as I know), the first game to have drink-driving in it.
The second headline is also from GTA IV.
"Games REWARD Killing Cops, Prostitutes & Dangerous Driving with Money".
Hours Spent Gaming
Played about 6 hours of Call of Duty 4 this week, 3 hours of GTA: San Andreas and about an 1 hour playing Calling all Cars. So 10 hours in total
Sunday, March 9, 2008
The Manhattan Strain
For our group project, we have to make a game in 15 weeks in a XNA (which we are only learning as we build the game). We (Ben, Eoghan & myself) are team TBC, and our game is The Manhattan Strain. I'm not going to go into what our game is about, most of you who are reading this will know what it's about anyway. Instead I'm gonna do what we would do if we were releasing this game to the general public, which would be to just release this trailer with no other information. After all it's a teaser trailer!
I hope you like it, sorry about the quality, the orginal trailer was over 450mb in size, and this blog has a max file size of 100mb. So I figured the quality of the trailer had to be reduced signficantly to get it up here, however I think I reduced it by too much as the file size is only 11mb now!!. But I couldn't be brothered rendering the trailer again at better quality, unless you want me to.
By the way, the song in this trailer is "A Stranger Awaits" by X-Ray Dog, and I used Sony Vegas to edit this trailer.
Oh, any feedback would be great, as we can still refine it before our presentation on our game next month, thanks.
I hope you like it, sorry about the quality, the orginal trailer was over 450mb in size, and this blog has a max file size of 100mb. So I figured the quality of the trailer had to be reduced signficantly to get it up here, however I think I reduced it by too much as the file size is only 11mb now!!. But I couldn't be brothered rendering the trailer again at better quality, unless you want me to.
By the way, the song in this trailer is "A Stranger Awaits" by X-Ray Dog, and I used Sony Vegas to edit this trailer.
Oh, any feedback would be great, as we can still refine it before our presentation on our game next month, thanks.
Hours Spent Gaming This Week
This week I spent about 2 hours playing America's Army and about 5 hours playing Call of Duty 4. So a total of seven hours spent gaming this week. So much work...
This week im gonna try and play a different game from the regular two (Gears of War & Call of Duty 4), I plan on playing GTA: San Andreas. It's been a while, so it should be fun, as long as I dont forget to bring the game with to college like I did the last time...
This week im gonna try and play a different game from the regular two (Gears of War & Call of Duty 4), I plan on playing GTA: San Andreas. It's been a while, so it should be fun, as long as I dont forget to bring the game with to college like I did the last time...
Friday, March 7, 2008
Grand Theft Auto IV has invaded my Blog!!!
What's up with all this GTA IV stuff? Why is there GTA IV stuff everywhere I look?
Why? Cause I like it and im kinda addicted to GTA IV, even though it's now out yet....
Want to listen to some music while reading this blog? Click the play button the the GTA IV Liberty City Music Widget to get a preview of GTA IV's radio stations, they are pretty cool.
Why? Cause I like it and im kinda addicted to GTA IV, even though it's now out yet....
Want to listen to some music while reading this blog? Click the play button the the GTA IV Liberty City Music Widget to get a preview of GTA IV's radio stations, they are pretty cool.
Monday, March 3, 2008
I Want to Join America's Army
Is exactly what the American Army wants to hear after you play their game, called America's Army would you believe, original huh?
Lets just jump into the details..
Enjoyment - I found this game not to be enjoyable at all. Quite frankly there isn't anything fun about been told what to do, and when you actually do it, it's crap. I mean this game takes you by the hand and tells you exactly what to do. It wouldn't even let me kneel by myself, the game faded out, then faded back in, and what you know? I'm kneeling...great. Ok, so thats the training missions, never the less, it's the first couple of minutes playing a game that has a big impact on whether you like the game or not. Online, this game is very tactical.
Concentration Required - I suppose there is some concentration required, I mean you have to shoot targets that pop up one at a time (and don't go down until you shoot them) and then of course you have to wait 5-10 seconds for another one to pop up after you shot the previous one... Seriously though, yes there is a high level of concentration required when playing this online, after all it is a tactical shooter.
The Target demographic of the game - Americans who wanna join the army and fans of tactical shooters
How immersive is the game? Is there emotional or visceral involvement? - Is there emotion? God no. Immersive? Not very. I mean how can you get immersed in a game that has guns that don't move a millimetre when you shoot them as you look down the sight, but jump like mad when you done look down the gun's sight. In fact, the animation of firing the gun is woeful, Anto could do alot better then that, hell even I could. The sounds are quite good though, however when playing online the matches can be a bit quiet, only for the gun-fire breaking the silence.
Player Skill required, how easy is it to learn the game - It's a tactical shooting game, the genre doesn't sound easy, either is the game. It's for die-hards, and casuals gamers will probably hate this.
The Games Narrative - You shoot people.
Social Interaction - Well there is a multi player element of the game, so there is obviously some sort of social interaction. Oh, and does the propaganda that the game throws at you at every single loading screen considered social Interaction?
Oh and I must also mentioned, terrible interface design, I mean come on, surely you can do better then that?
Lets just jump into the details..
Enjoyment - I found this game not to be enjoyable at all. Quite frankly there isn't anything fun about been told what to do, and when you actually do it, it's crap. I mean this game takes you by the hand and tells you exactly what to do. It wouldn't even let me kneel by myself, the game faded out, then faded back in, and what you know? I'm kneeling...great. Ok, so thats the training missions, never the less, it's the first couple of minutes playing a game that has a big impact on whether you like the game or not. Online, this game is very tactical.
Concentration Required - I suppose there is some concentration required, I mean you have to shoot targets that pop up one at a time (and don't go down until you shoot them) and then of course you have to wait 5-10 seconds for another one to pop up after you shot the previous one... Seriously though, yes there is a high level of concentration required when playing this online, after all it is a tactical shooter.
The Target demographic of the game - Americans who wanna join the army and fans of tactical shooters
How immersive is the game? Is there emotional or visceral involvement? - Is there emotion? God no. Immersive? Not very. I mean how can you get immersed in a game that has guns that don't move a millimetre when you shoot them as you look down the sight, but jump like mad when you done look down the gun's sight. In fact, the animation of firing the gun is woeful, Anto could do alot better then that, hell even I could. The sounds are quite good though, however when playing online the matches can be a bit quiet, only for the gun-fire breaking the silence.
Player Skill required, how easy is it to learn the game - It's a tactical shooting game, the genre doesn't sound easy, either is the game. It's for die-hards, and casuals gamers will probably hate this.
The Games Narrative - You shoot people.
Social Interaction - Well there is a multi player element of the game, so there is obviously some sort of social interaction. Oh, and does the propaganda that the game throws at you at every single loading screen considered social Interaction?
Oh and I must also mentioned, terrible interface design, I mean come on, surely you can do better then that?
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Games Played this week
I have only played about 8 hours of gears or war this week (whatever happened to COD 4!!!). This is due to been busy working on our group project, which is to make a game ofc. We have made great progress and will hopefully have a teaser video up very soon.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Hours Spent Gaming This/Last Week
Ok, so i'm a bit late posting this.
Anyway, last week I spent about 15 hours playing games, the usual (Call of Duty 4 and Gears of War).
Anyway, last week I spent about 15 hours playing games, the usual (Call of Duty 4 and Gears of War).
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Hours Spent Gaming this Week
Spent about 20 hours playing games this week. Mainly Call of Duty 4 & Gears of War, with some time spent playing the national treasure games.
National Treasure Games
So this week we were meant to play national treasure games, particulary the treasure hunt games. Yeah, well I couldn't find any treasure hunt games on the site, instead there were a load of other games, such as a game like textris, which was kinda crap cause sometimes blocks would disappear when it shouldn't have.
Another game was a puzzle game where you had to make all the lights go white. The lights were all connected, so when you clicked on one, it would effect the other lights it's connected to. If the light was white and you clicked it, it would turn black. If it was black, it would turn white. It was kinda hard at times.
Another game I played was a 2D racing game with a top-down view. The game was set at night and you had your headlights on, making you see only a small distance ahead of you. Objects would suddenly appear out of the dark and you would have to try and avoid them.
All in all, the games weren't that bad, but really had nothing to do with treasure hunt.
Another game was a puzzle game where you had to make all the lights go white. The lights were all connected, so when you clicked on one, it would effect the other lights it's connected to. If the light was white and you clicked it, it would turn black. If it was black, it would turn white. It was kinda hard at times.
Another game I played was a 2D racing game with a top-down view. The game was set at night and you had your headlights on, making you see only a small distance ahead of you. Objects would suddenly appear out of the dark and you would have to try and avoid them.
All in all, the games weren't that bad, but really had nothing to do with treasure hunt.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Jack the Jackass
Jack Thompson has gone on TV and blamed the latest school shootings in America on....you guessed it, video games.
This guy's an idiot. I'm sure at some stage he blamed 9/11 on video games as well. I mean, if it was me, I might look at the state of Steven Kazmierczak's mind, or his upbringing, or america's society (how can these kids get their hands on guns so easily). But oh no, it's gotta be due to video games, hasn't it Jack. Just trying to get attention and make some money off tragic events, shame on you Jack!!!
Here is my opinon on Jack "The Jackass" Thompson, sumed up in a nice image.
This guy's an idiot. I'm sure at some stage he blamed 9/11 on video games as well. I mean, if it was me, I might look at the state of Steven Kazmierczak's mind, or his upbringing, or america's society (how can these kids get their hands on guns so easily). But oh no, it's gotta be due to video games, hasn't it Jack. Just trying to get attention and make some money off tragic events, shame on you Jack!!!
Here is my opinon on Jack "The Jackass" Thompson, sumed up in a nice image.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Games Played this Week
Here are the total number of games I have played this week:
Call of Duty 4 - 12 hours.
Gears of War - 4 hours.
Frogger - 30 minutes.
1942 - 20 minutes.
Road Fighter - 20 minutes.
Total hours spent gaming: just over 17 hours.
Call of Duty 4 - 12 hours.
Gears of War - 4 hours.
Frogger - 30 minutes.
1942 - 20 minutes.
Road Fighter - 20 minutes.
Total hours spent gaming: just over 17 hours.
This Weeks Task - Play 3 Arcade Games
This weeks task was to play three arcade games that are at least 20 years old.
Road Fighter
Road Fighter is a racing game made by Konami in 1984. The graphics are quite good considering when it was released. As for the gameplay, it's quite enjoyable. You have to race to the end of the course, passing out as many cars as possible. The more cars you pass, the more points you get. You also have a certain amount of fuel to last you till the end. If you crash into other cars, they will spin, sometimes hitting the side of the road and exploding. Hitting cars at high speeds can cause your car to spin as well. There are bonus cars that if you hit them, you will get bonus points. This is a fun game to play.
1942
1942 is an action game made by Capcom in 1984. You pilot a fighter plane and must shoot down enemy planes. The game can be quite difficult at times, with multiple enemy planes on screen at a time, as well as bosses, which are simply bigger planes that can take more damage and shoot more bullets. You can even do a loop-the-loop which is kinda cool.
Frogger
In Frogger, you play as a frog that needs to cross a road and then a river. But its not that simple. When crossing the road, you must try and avoid cars to prevent been run over. These cars move at different speeds, so timing is key. Once you have crossed the road, you need to cross a river, by jumping on turtles and logs. These also move at different speeds, and the turtles submerge under water, meaning that you will die if you are on them when they submerge. This can be quite an addictive game to play.
Road Fighter is a racing game made by Konami in 1984. The graphics are quite good considering when it was released. As for the gameplay, it's quite enjoyable. You have to race to the end of the course, passing out as many cars as possible. The more cars you pass, the more points you get. You also have a certain amount of fuel to last you till the end. If you crash into other cars, they will spin, sometimes hitting the side of the road and exploding. Hitting cars at high speeds can cause your car to spin as well. There are bonus cars that if you hit them, you will get bonus points. This is a fun game to play.
1942 is an action game made by Capcom in 1984. You pilot a fighter plane and must shoot down enemy planes. The game can be quite difficult at times, with multiple enemy planes on screen at a time, as well as bosses, which are simply bigger planes that can take more damage and shoot more bullets. You can even do a loop-the-loop which is kinda cool.
In Frogger, you play as a frog that needs to cross a road and then a river. But its not that simple. When crossing the road, you must try and avoid cars to prevent been run over. These cars move at different speeds, so timing is key. Once you have crossed the road, you need to cross a river, by jumping on turtles and logs. These also move at different speeds, and the turtles submerge under water, meaning that you will die if you are on them when they submerge. This can be quite an addictive game to play.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
3rd Task For This Week - Play Avalon
So we were assigned to play Avalon. A MUD. And boy what a boring game this is. It is all text based, no graphics. This is one of the problems, as it results in alot of text just scrolling down the screen. But another problem is the fact that its all scripted. In the early missions, you just follow people. I mean, you could just let the game do it's thing, go make a sandwich, come back and the game is stilling throwing text at ya.
There is one mission where you go to a different town, along a river. The mission is so long and requires just following orders, like typing "nod", "follow". It seemed to drag on for ages, with full length paragraphs telling me about avalon and what I can do. All very boring.
Anyway, I played up to getting enrolled in a school. I "chose" messenger. I say "chose" as I randomly typed in a direction and typed enroll. I was then told to find people and give them a message. That was enough for me, there wasn't a hope that I was going searching the whole bloody place for people without even a clue as to where the first one was. I'm registered, but I doubt I'll play this game again anytime soon.
My Details.
Name: Benzino
City: Mercinae
Academy: I dont remeber and don't know how to find out.
School: Again I dont know which school. I just typed find schools and then I appeared in a school.
Course: Messenger, or is that the type of school? I dunno.
I played the game for about 2 hours (well it felt like that anyway).
There is one mission where you go to a different town, along a river. The mission is so long and requires just following orders, like typing "nod", "follow". It seemed to drag on for ages, with full length paragraphs telling me about avalon and what I can do. All very boring.
Anyway, I played up to getting enrolled in a school. I "chose" messenger. I say "chose" as I randomly typed in a direction and typed enroll. I was then told to find people and give them a message. That was enough for me, there wasn't a hope that I was going searching the whole bloody place for people without even a clue as to where the first one was. I'm registered, but I doubt I'll play this game again anytime soon.
My Details.
Name: Benzino
City: Mercinae
Academy: I dont remeber and don't know how to find out.
School: Again I dont know which school. I just typed find schools and then I appeared in a school.
Course: Messenger, or is that the type of school? I dunno.
I played the game for about 2 hours (well it felt like that anyway).
Hours Spent Gaming This Week
I spent about 14 hours playing games this week.
Call of Duty 4 - 8 hours.
Axis & Allies - 5 hours.
Avalon - 1 hour.(will be adding a report later, I might play more of this extremely boring game).
As you can see, most of my time as been spent playing Call of Duty 4. And the reason is simple, its great fun when playing with you house-mates. I'm also recovering from a serious amount of gaming over christmas (I actually think I played too many games and got sick of it!!!! (if thats even possible) ). That, and the fact that there are no new games out lately that I want to play. Roll on the 29th of April for GTAIV....
Call of Duty 4 - 8 hours.
Axis & Allies - 5 hours.
Avalon - 1 hour.(will be adding a report later, I might play more of this extremely boring game).
As you can see, most of my time as been spent playing Call of Duty 4. And the reason is simple, its great fun when playing with you house-mates. I'm also recovering from a serious amount of gaming over christmas (I actually think I played too many games and got sick of it!!!! (if thats even possible) ). That, and the fact that there are no new games out lately that I want to play. Roll on the 29th of April for GTAIV....
2nd Task For This Week - Technology & Culture
I think culture is important, cause without it we lose our identity (been Irish for example). And without our identity, who are we?
As modern day society is often seen to be somewhat obsessed with and ruled by Technology
Do most people like technology?
Well it depends on what you consider "most" is. I think they do, of course there are people who hate it due to a number of reasons, but yet most people have phones, tv's, radios etc. So yes, I think they do.
Do they like its influence on their lives?
Again I would say yes. While people may moan that their mobile is ringing all the time, complaining about it, these same people watch tv, use dish-washers, micro-waves etc. Technology can give people more spare time. Some people choose to spend this time around more technology, while others spend it with their families etc.
Do they realise the extent of its influence?
No, they sure don't. Alot of people consider technology as computers, mp3 playes, or mobile phones etc, however they use cookers, ovens, microwaves, dish-washers, eletric showers, tv's and the list goes on and on, but they never really consider these as technology, but they are. I think people would be shocked at how much they depend on technology if it was taken away from them
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
This Weeks Task - Get a Virtual Pet
This week we have to get a virtual pet and try to keep it alive for as long as possible. I chose to get my pet from NeoPets. My pet is called a Xweetok and I have named him SneakyMcSneak.
I shall keep you updated on SneakyMcSneak every week hopefully.
I shall keep you updated on SneakyMcSneak every week hopefully.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
This weeks task - Play a board game
For this weeks task, I played a board game called Axis and Allies. I had never played (nor heard) of this game before until this week when a friend told me about it. Myself and 4 of my friends (also in the same course as me) sat down and played this game at about 9pm, and didn't finish until 3am!!!!
In the game, there are 2 teams, the Axis and Allies (duh). There are 2 players on the Axis team, one plays as Germany and the other Japan, and there are 3 players on the Allies team, playing as Russia, United Kingdom and United States. The game is set in and around 1941 where World War 2 is in full swing. The objective of the game is for one team to annihilate the other team, by taking their capitals and killing all of their units. Of course, a country or alliance can surrender as well.
There are a number of units in the game, such as soldiers, tanks, fighter planes, bombers, battleships, anti-aircraft, all of which are available to each country to buy. To buy these units though, you must have money. You get money by controlling areas of the map. At the each of your go/round, you total you receive money based on what you control. Each of these units can only move so certain number of spaces at a time (soldiers can move 1, while tanks can move 2). The game is turn based. Russia goes first, then Germany, then the UK, Japan and finally United States.
When it is your go, you can buy units, try to research new weapons/vechiles, make a combat move (attack an enemy or move in enemy territory), make a non combat move (move into space that is not controlled by your enemy) and finally deploy any new units that you brought at the start of the round. When taking your round, you must follow the above order (i.e. you can't make a non-combat move and then a combat move). Battles are fought by rolling dice. The more units you have in the battle, the more dice you can throw. Each combat unit has a number between 1 and 5 for attack and defense. If you roll a number below that, you take out one of the opponents units.
I played as England and was forced to surrender as it was so late. Never the less, I was at Germany's mercy, and it was only a matter of time before I was defeated. The Axis ended up winning the war, with Russia falling first. This wasn't really a surprise as my friend playing as the Axis had played this game several times before, when us on the allies had never played the game before.
I enjoyed this game. I had never played a board game like it before, and it was interesting to be in control of a country in the war, making tactics to try and defeat our opponents. We all had a good time playing game, having a good laugh throughout.
There is alot of concentration required to play this game I found. You always need to be aware of what your opponents are doing as well as your allies (do they need back-up), while at the time trying to form tactics of your own so that you can defeat your opponents.
I think this game if for people you like strategy games, and also people interested in WW2 will enjoy this game as well.
This game is very immersive. You get sucked into forming tactics and keeping a watchful eye on your opponents.
To win the game, the teams need to work together and form tactics. As a result, there is a high level of social interaction involved in the game
All in all, this is a great game that I recommend you play.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
"Gaming is CRACK for kids"
Janice Turner has written a rant in the Times newspaper about children and video games. With comments like "These are Satan's Sudoku, crack cocaine of the brain", its clear what her view is on the matter. She says that she won't let her children play any video games (but also says that they play the wii?!?). It's clear she needs to educate herself more on the matter of video games.
Anyway, the article is here.
Anyway, the article is here.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Games I played this week
This week I didnt play a wide variety of games.
Call of Duty 4 - 6 hours.
Gears of War - 4 hours.
Crysis - 2 hours.
Unreal Tournament 3 - 1 hour.
Thats all im afraid. So my total hours spent playing games was only 13 hours. I blame college :(
Call of Duty 4 - 6 hours.
Gears of War - 4 hours.
Crysis - 2 hours.
Unreal Tournament 3 - 1 hour.
Thats all im afraid. So my total hours spent playing games was only 13 hours. I blame college :(
My 3 game reviews of the week
I'm going to try and give a brief review of 3 games each week. The games I choose will all be games that I have played at some stage, not necessarily the week that reviewed it.
Gears of War - Xbox 360, PC
In my opinion, Gears of War is still the best game on the 360. It's a tactical third-person shooter made by Epic Games and is available only on the Xbox 360 and PC. Unlike most shooting games, tactics are important and Gears of War offers an excellent covering system. The game has some of the best gore available in any game, with bodies been capable of been cut in half with a chainsaw accompanied by some awesome blood effects that splatter on the screen, even blocking your view at times. With an excellent single player mode, and an excellent multi player mode, this game gets a 10/10 from me. A must buy.
Call of Duty 4 - Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is a first-person shooter voted multiplayer game of the year for 2007. If you hadn't guessed it yet, it is excellent online introducing levels/ranks and perks (which can increase the amount of bullets you have, or drop a genade when you die, and increase your running speed to mention a few), something that hasn't really been done in online first person shooters. As for the single player, well I found it to be poor. It's very scripted, short and fighting respawns (you kill one enemy, and he is replaced immediately by another who does exactly the same thing) gets repetitive and drags on alot. Never the less, a very good game.8/10 from me.
Crysis - PC
Crysis is a first person shooter made by Crytek and is the first game in the Crysis trilogy. Using the CryEngine 2, Crysis is the best looking game available on the market at the moment. Set in a huge tropical island, the game features stunning water and shadow effects, to accompany the excellent graphics. However this comes with a price as the game is very demanding to run. As for the gamerplay, the main feature of the game is a nano suit which allows the player to go invisible, run faster, get tougher and stronger (not at the same time though). Single-player wise, it took me a few hours to get into this game, but then suddenly I found myself hooked until the end. As for the multiplayer, its good but there are better games out there like call of duty in the online department.Another 8/10 from me.
For the last few months I have been watching game reviews by Zero Punctuation. His reviews are funny but are spot on most of the time. He releases a new review every Wednesday at 5pm at the Escapist.
Here is his Crysis review.
In my opinion, Gears of War is still the best game on the 360. It's a tactical third-person shooter made by Epic Games and is available only on the Xbox 360 and PC. Unlike most shooting games, tactics are important and Gears of War offers an excellent covering system. The game has some of the best gore available in any game, with bodies been capable of been cut in half with a chainsaw accompanied by some awesome blood effects that splatter on the screen, even blocking your view at times. With an excellent single player mode, and an excellent multi player mode, this game gets a 10/10 from me. A must buy.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is a first-person shooter voted multiplayer game of the year for 2007. If you hadn't guessed it yet, it is excellent online introducing levels/ranks and perks (which can increase the amount of bullets you have, or drop a genade when you die, and increase your running speed to mention a few), something that hasn't really been done in online first person shooters. As for the single player, well I found it to be poor. It's very scripted, short and fighting respawns (you kill one enemy, and he is replaced immediately by another who does exactly the same thing) gets repetitive and drags on alot. Never the less, a very good game.8/10 from me.
Crysis is a first person shooter made by Crytek and is the first game in the Crysis trilogy. Using the CryEngine 2, Crysis is the best looking game available on the market at the moment. Set in a huge tropical island, the game features stunning water and shadow effects, to accompany the excellent graphics. However this comes with a price as the game is very demanding to run. As for the gamerplay, the main feature of the game is a nano suit which allows the player to go invisible, run faster, get tougher and stronger (not at the same time though). Single-player wise, it took me a few hours to get into this game, but then suddenly I found myself hooked until the end. As for the multiplayer, its good but there are better games out there like call of duty in the online department.Another 8/10 from me.
For the last few months I have been watching game reviews by Zero Punctuation. His reviews are funny but are spot on most of the time. He releases a new review every Wednesday at 5pm at the Escapist.
Here is his Crysis review.
Rockstar continue to fight for banned Game
Rockstar's controversial game Manhunt 2 is one of only two games to be banned in the UK. However Rockstar are still in a legal battle to get the game released in the UK, which is already available in the US and other European countries.
The game was initially banned in the UK because, according to BBFC director:
"Manhunt 2 is distinguishable from recent high-end video games by its unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone in an overall game context which constantly encourages visceral killing with exceptionally little alleviation or distancing. There is sustained and cumulative casual sadism in the way in which these killings are committed, and encouraged, in the game."
Rockstar appealed the and won for the ban to be removed, however the appeal has been overturned to Rockstars disbelief.
The Orginal Story.
Now the game itself is average, getting about 7.5/10 from reviews. While I don't plan to buy it, I feel this game doesn't deserve a ban (have the BBFC not seen Saw?!?!). Never the less I have a feeling that this ban isn't just because of Manhunt 2, but also because the creator of the game is Rockstar. Rockstar have a history of creating controversial games including State of Emergency, Bully, Manhunt and one of the most successful and best series in the industry, Grand Theft Auto. I kinda think of Rockstar as the Gandhi of video games, but with violence (in the games of course ^^).
Regardless, this could have a bigger impact, as the BBFC has yet to rate Grand Theft Auto IV, Rockstar's next game to be released on the 29th of April. If that was to get banned.........
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
My First Blog Post!!!
Hey, Im David Reilly. Im a 3rd year Games Development student in DKIT. I am interested in computer & video games of course ^^. In case you were wondering about my url name, Benzino is my gamer name that I use when playing games.
My favourite gaming platform is the PC, but I also have a Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. My favourite game genres are FPS, Action, MMORPG, RPG, Adventure, Platform and the odd strategy games. Baiscally I like most types of games. I have so many favourite games including Grand Theft Auto, Unreal Tournament, Bioshock, Metal Gear Solid, World of Warcraft, Shenmue & Gears of War to mention a few. The games Im looking forward to this year are GTAIV, Far Cry 2 & LittleBigPlanet.
At the moment I am learning how to use the Unreal Editor and I am loving it. I also enjoy programming and 3D Modelling.
I think that sums up my gaming interests for this first blog.
My favourite gaming platform is the PC, but I also have a Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. My favourite game genres are FPS, Action, MMORPG, RPG, Adventure, Platform and the odd strategy games. Baiscally I like most types of games. I have so many favourite games including Grand Theft Auto, Unreal Tournament, Bioshock, Metal Gear Solid, World of Warcraft, Shenmue & Gears of War to mention a few. The games Im looking forward to this year are GTAIV, Far Cry 2 & LittleBigPlanet.
At the moment I am learning how to use the Unreal Editor and I am loving it. I also enjoy programming and 3D Modelling.
I think that sums up my gaming interests for this first blog.
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