I think the first question is pretty easy. Of course there should be secret achievements, so long as achievements exist for completing plot elements of the game. Especially since many games contain a “twist” towards the end. These twists should be kept undisclosed until the moment the gameplay reveals them. That just makes sense. I do believe, however, that this doesn’t mean all achievements should be secret. Hence question number two.

Assuming you’ve agreed with my first statement, the next question could go either way. Why reveal any achievements? I suppose they could all be kept secret until you unlock them. A pleasant surprise of another 20 gamerscore here or there for using a special combo isn’t the worst thing in the world. For this question, however, I think we need to look at the purpose of achievements. What I mean is I’m going to tell you why I think achievements exist, and for the purposes of this post it’ll have to do. I believe achievements are there to encourage the player to explore the game, often in a variety of ways. For example, in Bioshock you get an achievement for upgrading your weapons. You don’t have to do this to complete the game, but the designers wanted you to try it, so they give you a bit of a carrot to nudge you in that direction.

That being given, if achievements are meant to motivate you to explore the whole game, should any of them be kept secret? Well we’ve already decided that yes, some should. I think it’s safe to say that the linear plot should be kept secret, since it’s the progress the player will make in order to complete the game. Completion ought to be its own motivation. If the only way I’m going to want to finish your game is for a few gamerscore, then there’s something wrong with the game (or I’m taking the achievement whore thing a little too far). I also understand collectables. If I know there’s 100 coins/bricks/comics/doodads to collect, I can probably figure out that once I get them all I’ll be rewarded in some way. Besides these achievements, however, there may be various game mechanics which a player need not explore to finish the game, but which may be a focus of development. I already mentioned Crackdown’s driving for me personally. In theory these achievements might not be obvious, so I would say you shouldn’t keep them secret. I recently started replaying Marvel Ultimate Alliance with a friend, and after checking out a website I discovered there’s an achievement for throwing 500 enemies off ledges. Nice idea for an interesting challenge, but not something that would have popped into my head without being told. So I would say that no, not all achievements should be created with equal levels of secrecy.

The last question relates to my inspiration for this post. As I said, I started replaying Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Like any good comic geek, I have the Hero and Villain expansion DLC, but I didn’t really investigate them the first time through. This time I figured I’d pick up those missed achievements. In particular, the ones for Magneto talking to Charles Xavier and for Scott talking to Jean. All the descriptions say is that these people have to talk. What I didn’t realize until it didn’t work is that these are tied to specific times in the game. Like the achievement for Sabertooth being mistaken for Wolverine. Are we expected to create a party with these three characters and play through the whole game with them on the off chance we’ll get our achievements? They don’t need to give the whole instance away, but a hint (like which Act it’s in) would allow me to get the achievement on my own, because let’s face it, most people are looking on-line for lists these days rather than spending hours hoping they’ll stumble across a secret achievement moment.

I also think it’s worth saying, with respect to both secret achievements and requirements, that the end user should not be regarded as a tester. Players are willing to experiment for a few extra gamerscore, but just because we game doesn’t mean we’re inclined to try the abnormal. That’s why they employ testers, and why not every gamer can be a tester (sorry folks).

What does all this mean? I guess it points out that still, after these years, not all designers have the achievement thing down to a science. Some reveal too much before they should, and others make it so difficult to decipher their requirements that they steer us towards spoiler websites and walkthroughs. One, last thing I did want to mention is that I’m not opposed to the few achievements that are secret and not obvious. I don’t think it’s wrong to have, say, one achievement for a few gamerscore which you get if you really invest yourself in the world and think a little outside the box. I think it’s fair to reward such invention. I just don’t think it should be expected.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some gamerscore to collect. Happy hunting.

Since the PS3's less-than-favorable launch back in 2006, the dedicated fan base has had to sit through terrible port after terrible port of multi-platform titles (Orange Box, Lost Planet, Madden 08 anyone?) for the greater part of the last two years - and it was only until recently with games like GTAIV, COD4, and UE3 (to name a few) to prove that the PS3 could at least be on par with versions published on the PC and Xbox360. With an onslaught of quality first party titles on the horizon, as well as third-party multiplat games that look equally good across the board, many thought that dark time was already behind us. At least, we hoped it was.

Enter Bioshock for the PS3. Coming in more than a year late than its 360/PC counterparts, many expected the penultimate version of Rapture when it was finally revealed to be in the works for Sony's controversial console. After all, it is coming in with a host of extras in the form of previous DLC and patches (that were applied late last year) on-disk, a new "Survivor" difficulty option (tagline: "Every bullet counts!"), as well as some exclusive content in the form of "Challenge Rooms" that will be available sometime before the year is out. Everything seems all fine and dandy right? And then the demo came out....

*Pictures taken from user images

Aside from a slight "blur" effect evident for the PS3 shots (which you can read in the first link below), you can tell that these poor Big Daddies have been pixelated to death! Much more than a simple isolated incident, these, among a other visual tweaks (Read Here), were quickly brought to the attention to the devs over at the 2K Forums (Read Here), which since then as spread across the internet igniting flame wars and "inferior port" worries once more. From what the 2K community manager over at the forums has stated, the pixelated textures have indeed something to do with a streaming bug in the demo - and given that the game has gone gold, and the concern to which (at least according to the 2K manager) the devs are investigating the problem, there is a very real possibility that it will be reflected in the final game that will hit store shelves in just a few short weeks.

*Officially provided image taken from the forums

Now before you yell out "graphics whore, GTFO" or anything of the like, realize that those in the forum and elsewhere in the gaming space vocalizing these concerns actually have a legitimate complaint. For a game that's arriving a year late on the PS3, and one that is pushing for a full price release (vs. having it for 1/3 of the cost now for the 360/PC versions), prospective gamers had the right to expect a definitive version of the multi-award winning game. While bugs have unfortunately been all-too common in this generation of consoles, something as glaring as the texture problem on the Big Daddy creatures - by far the most iconic character the Bioshock has - simply can't go unnoticed.

To be fair, however, I'm pretty sure that by judging from the demo and early glowing reviews, the one thing this PS3 version won't shirk on is the game's much heralded gameplay. Everything from its engaging vision of an underwater dystopia, to the powered-up FPS mechanics via unique plasmids, and of course the now classic Big Daddy encounters, have remained unchanged. I do agree, too, that most will pick up the game regardless and will be happy with their purchase, and I really wish nothing less... you could do MUCH worse than spend $60 on a game that has won multiple GOTY awards for 2007.

The main point that I've been trying to get across is my frustration at the latest contribution to the flame wars: mainly, prolonging the ongoing stigma of inferior multiplatform games on the PS3 - whether they're intentional or not.  You can point the finger at Sony for creating a vastly different architecture, which is a valid complaint, or at 2K Games for not spending enough time and resources to ensure the PS3 version was on par with the 360 one released last year, another equally valid complaint (which may or may not have some legs behind it). Thing is, the results speak for themselves.

As such, I am in no way trying to slander the team at 2K, in fact I applaud them for their dedication to the PS3 fanbase and the willingness to respond to these issues. It's just sad to see that this ongoing "inferiority complex" associated with Sony's box always seems to find fresh meat ripe for the taking. And no, this is not coming from a whining Sony fanboy , but from a proponent for gaming in general - if we don't keep these problems in check, then who else will?

Sources:

Ripten 1

Ripten 2

Ripten 3

2K Forums

1. Bioshock

BioShock is a great game. It is the best game that the Xbox brand, not just the Xbox 360, has ever seen, and will likely go down as one of the best games ever on any system. It is one of those rare games that combines not only amazingly polished graphics and sound, but very solid, deep, complex gameplay, a great story, and an overall feeling of immersion that sucks you in and keeps you playing that few other titles can match. BioShock is a must play game for Xbox 360 owners.

2. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

After all of the hype and delays and waiting and worrying, Bethesda has delivered The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. In a rare feat for a game of this magnitude, it not only lives up to expectations but also surpasses them to create an experience that everyone can enjoy and not just the nerdy, dice rolling, RPG-elite. Oblivion is one of the best games available right now and is well worth the $60 investment.

3. Halo 3

Halo 3 is the best Halo yet and one of the best games available on the Xbox 360. Every single aspect of the game is polished to near-perfection from the presentation to the campaign to the multiplayer, Halo 3 does everything amazingly well and adds in a bunch of new bells and whistles to really put it all over the top. And above all else, Halo 3 is one of the absolute best values in the industry. You will be playing this for months and likely years to come. Find out all about it right here.

4. Assassin's Creed

Assassin’s Creed is one of the most intriguing, fresh, fun, and absolutely impressive games to come to the Xbox 360. The presentation is stunning and the gameplay will hook you and not let you go for hours at a time. It is not a perfect game by any means, but when you take your time to really experience everything the game has to offer rather than rushing through it, the flaws fade and the strengths shine even brighter. Assassin’s Creed is a great game that is among the very best of 2007.

5. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

So long World War II. Hello modern warfare! Call of Duty has made the leap from the heroics of the greatest generation to a horrifying vision of the future in CoD4, and the results are pretty darn spectacular. The single-player campaign is filled with tight gameplay and great moments you’ll want to play again and again, and the multiplayer is some of the deepest and most satisfying around. Call of Duty 4 is a great game that is highly recommended.

Get $250 towards Xbox 360 games here

6. Gears of War

You would think that after all of the hype and coverage Gears of War has gotten over the last year or so, that there would be no way it could live up to expectations. But it does. It meets those expectations and even exceeds them. This is one of the best looking and best playing games of 2006. And you’ll only find it on Xbox 360.

7. Fight Night Round 3

Fight Night Round 2 was one of our favorite Xbox games of 2005 so Round 3 had some pretty high expectations to meet. Amazingly, EA has delivered a boxing experience that easily surpasses everything that Round 2 had to offer. The gameplay is absolutely phenomenal and the graphics on the Xbox 360 are amazing. Not only is this the best boxing game ever but it is also one of the best Xbox 360 games available.

8. Mass Effect

BioWare’s latest RPG epic is finally upon us, but has Mass Effect been worth the wait? Short answer: Yes. Long answer: Yeeeesssss. Not only does it look and sound incredible, but it also has a great story and offers some of the best role playing elements of any game yet. The combat isn’t quite on the same level of quality as other aspects of the game, but it is still plenty good enough to make Mass Effect one of the best games on the Xbox 360. Find out all about it right here.

9. Dead Rising

Recommending Dead Rising is easy based on your reaction to the following statement: All you do in Dead Rising is run around a mall and kill thousands of zombies in hundreds of different ways. If you first thought is “Wow, that will get repetitive after a while”, you should probably rent it. If, however, your first thought is “That is everything I ever dreamed of and wished for in a zombie game”, then Dead Rising is worth a purchase. It really is as simple as that.

10. Viva Pinata

Back when I first saw the E3 2006 footage of Viva Piñata, I knew it was going to be a cult hit. There is something really intriguing about the Harvest Moon-meets-Animal Crossing-meets-Pokemon-meets-The Sims type of gameplay featured here. It looks amazing, is surprisingly deep, and is one of the most addictive games of the year. Don’t be fooled by the “kids game” look, Viva Piñata is a great game that is highly recommended for Xbox 360 gamers of any age.

Get $250 towards Xbox 360 games here

I found this list here.

Caratteristica in comune con il recente Bioshock saranno i fumetti stile anni '50 a fare da contorno narrativo ma questa volta con un una sfumatura decisamente più noir.

Em vários fóruns, os usuários estavam reclamando da qualidade da textura dos famosos Big Daddies após serem mortos. Pelas fotos abaixo, nota-se claramente uma qualidade porquíssima se comparada com a versão de X360:

Mesmo se tratando de uma versão demo do jogo, muito dos usuários chegaram a cancelar a pré-venda do jogo, causando uma pequena confusão na comunidade oficial da 2K Games. Mas para supresa de todos, a empresa tomou uma atitude que deveria se tornar padrão para toda a indústria: não apenas ouviu as reclamações como se comprometeram a dar uma resposta a cada uma delas:

“Quando vimos o tópico relatando os problemas encontrados no demo, nós corremos para analisar. E quer saber? Vocês estão certos. A textura na demo do PS3 do Big Daddy derrotado não equivale ao nosso nível de qualidade. Isso passou batido, nós admitimos. Entretanto, eu lhes asseguro que isso é uma exceção e não uma regra. (...) Quanto aos outros problemas e preocupações, nós estamos trabalhando para eliminar os bugs e iremos reportar tudo o que encontrarmos. Obrigado pela ‘vigilância’.”

Essa foi a resposta da Elizabeth Tobey, funcionária da 2K.

Ontem a noite, o post dela foi atualizado com novas imagens comparativas e explicações. Como o texto é muito grande, vou traduzir apenas as partes mais importantes:

.: Texturas do Big Daddy corrigidas assim como outras leves melhorias gráficas, que deram ao jogo uma leve desfocagem. Sem esse desfoque o frame-rate e o gameplay estariam comprometidos.

.: Há um bug que surge quando joga-se com certa configuração na Tv. Disseram ser um bug legítimo e que ainda estão trabalhando para corrigi-lo. O plano é lançar a atualização juntamente com os Extras que serão disponibilizados após o lançamento.

Vejam como ficou o jogo após a correção:

Independente de qual está mais bonito, tem mais texturas ou utiliza bump mapping e blábláblá, o interessante aqui é notarmos a reação da 2K games perante aos problemas reportados pelos jogadores. Foram sensatos em admitir o problema e mostraram respeito à comunidade em corrigi-los. Lógico, não fizeram nada mais do que o trabalho deles, mas fazer isso e ainda informar nós jogadores sobre o que acontece é algo que merecia ser imitado por muitas empresas por aí.

Anyways, my favorite webcomic Ctrl+Alt+Del did a little strip that brings up something that seems like it should be obvious, especially to the citizens of Rapture. But alas...

Given the current gloomy state of the global economy, this week seems like as good as any in which to grumble. Without further ado, I therefore present five of the most irritating things to be found in games. I warn you, this article features capital letters.

1. Lack of pause or fast quit

Admittedly this one didn't used to be much of an issue for me back when I was a strapping young lad with nary a care in the world. These days, with the multi-pronged attack of day job, house-keeping, book-writing, pub-going and girlfriend-placating, time is in considerably shorter supply and, as such, it's important to be able to carefully pick and choose when to indulge in some light entertainment.

Movies understand this - you can pause a DVD, stop it, fast-forward and rewind at will. Same with music. Television has at last also gone that route thanks to TiVo/Sky+/etc and the various On Demand services. A book you can pick up and put down whenever you like (unless it's particularly good).

Games, alas, continue to make things as difficult as possible for people on tight schedules. No game should be shipped without a quick and easy pause function. Similarly, you should be able to save your progress and quit the game in under 30 seconds. And yet many games, primarily single player, story-based titles, overlook these basic design principles. Take the PC version of Assassin's Creed with it's absurd 11-step quit procedure. Or Shadow of the  Colossus, which features extremely length (and beautiful) cut-scenes at its beginning and end but entirely without the ability to pause - this proved particularly awkward when I completed the game somewhat unexpectedly just before dinner. What was supposed to be a quick 10 minute bit of pre-food gaming turned into half an hour of nervous finger-tapping, while I wondered just how long the outro would last. Even the otherwise near-perfect Darwinia suffers from an odd design quirk in which hitting escape to display the options menu fails to pause the game. Not good if the phone's ringing.

2. Unnecessary fade to blacks

In their continuing struggle to define a 'language' for video games, games developers have tried all kinds of visual techniques, usually taking inspiration from the language of cinema. Something clearly got lost in translation when it comes to fading to black (and vice versa).

A fade to black in cinematic lingo is generally shorthand for "some time passes." It's most frequently used for dramatic effect, ending a particularly powerful or important scene. It's also common to fade in and fade out at the very beginning and very end of a film. What you don't do is fade in and out at the beginning and end of every single goddamn scene.

Unfortunately many developers seem to think it necessary to fade to black and then fade back in when moving from in-game visuals to a cut-scene. Presumably they're concerned that players won't realise that something has changed, despite the fact they suddenly can no longer control the player character. This is a terrible, terrible thing. It disrupts the narrative, confuses the viewer and generally breaks immersion.

Particularly guilty of this are role-playing games, the most recent example being The Witcher, which often fades in and out even in the middle of a continuing cut-scene! In a game that is otherwise narratively very strong it's a huge irritation.

Developers: STOP FADING TO BLACK. If you secretly want to be movie directors, at least read up on how to do it properly.

3. Poor save options

In addition to the aforementioned pause and quit issue, the ability to save in a sensible manner is also absolutely crucial to the success of any game. Checkpoints strung out at 30-minute intervals are not good enough, especially if they don't even count as proper save points between play sessions and if you encounter multiple challenging boss enemies in-between. Yes, I'm looking at you, God of War. Forcing a player to start from the beginning of a level when they die or start a new session is not acceptable. Having to repeat a huge chunk of gameplay that you already know how to do simply so you can get back to the one randomly difficult bit IS NOT FUN.

There are two options, and only two, that are truly acceptable.

• Allow the player to save his game whenever he likes, as many times as he likes, using as many save game slots as he likes. Also include a quicksave/quickload system. This way you let the player control his own playing time.
• Have an automatic checkpoint saving system, but one in which the checkpoints are intelligently spaced so as to ensure the player does not have to retrace half the game in the unfortunate event of his death. The only game I've ever really known to do this effectively is Call of Duty 4.

4. Random difficulty spikes

A game should not suddenly become impossibly difficult. It should either remain at a constant level of challenge throughout, or it should escalate in a smooth fashion, educating the player along the way so that their skills increase at the same (or similar) pace as the difficulty.

Portal, for example, starts off with extremely simple puzzles that introduce you to the basic concept of teleportation. By the end of the game you're spinning off walls, tumbling through space and using momentum to fly through multiple portals without even hitting the ground. If the game had asked you to do that on level 2, most people would have stopped playing. Instead, the game gradually and subtly cranks up the difficulty, while ensuring that you always have the information required to complete the task.

Compare that to, say, Final Fantasy X. It is a game I have never actually finished due to an utterly absurd difficulty spike that suddenly hit while up a snowy mountain, at a point which I suspect is actually rather close to the climax. A battle with a particularly tough enemy proved insurmountable, despite my coping easily with every single previous encounter in the game. After some frantic Internet research I discovered that none of my party of heroes had the required skills to defeat the bad guy, due to the manner in which I had upgraded their stats over the course of many, many hours of gameplay. This is extremely bad game design - sure, you could argue that I simply wasn't playing the game properly, or that I didn't understand the character upgrade system, but the point remains that I still completed 90% of the game before this became an issue.

If the FFX had pointed out to me after an hour or two of play that I simply "wasn't getting it", then I wouldn't have minded. But to let me get 15 hours into a game before pulling the rug out is just snide.

Also see: the final Dahaka battle in Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within.

5. Changing aspect ratios

Bit of a geeky one, this. If you thought I was taking the whole fade to black thing a little too seriously up above, you ain't seen nothing yet.

What are aspect ratios? Well, in this context they're the shape of the image you see on your television or computer monitor. Old TVs have an aspect ratio of 4:3, which means they're almost square. Newer, widescreen televisions have an aspect ratio of 16:9, which makes them much wider than they are tall. Films can be made in a huge variety of aspect ratios, which is why watching an epic like Star Wars on a 16:9 widescreen television will still result in letterboxed black bars at the top and bottom: it's because Star Wars is even wider than your widescreen telly.

And then we have games. Back in the day all games were 4:3, because all monitors and all televisions were 4:3. Then widescreen came along and gave us 16:10 monitors and 16:9 televisions. This shouldn't be a problem for games, though - unlike movies and television programmes, game visuals are generated 'on the fly', so can in theory be whatever shape and size you want. That's how on a PC you can change the resolution a game uses. There's a whole other heated debate about how games should handle widescreen, but I'll leave that for another time.

What actually bothers me is that some games can never make up their damn mind. It's like the developers wanted to try out every single aspect ratio and then never quite decided which one to go for. The biggest culprit of this is Bioshock, which flicks between so many different aspect ratios and presentation styles that I almost suspect it's some kind of post-modern computer game parody that I've not picked up upon.

Click on the banner image just above to see what I mean. Within the first half hour of playing the game you're given three entirely different aspect ratios. Top-left we have the opening intro movie, which appears to be in standard 16:9, presumably because it's a pre-rendered video that would have been designed for full widescreen playback on Xbox 360s. Top-right we have the opening descent into the underwater city of Rapture, which is a cut-scene but is presented in-engine with the player still controlling the direction the camera is pointing. Bottom-left we have a standard in-game shot which is using a 16:10 aspect ratio to fit my PC screen. At the bottom-right things get particularly crazy when we suddenly launch into another cut-scene, also fully in-engine but bizarrely featuring massive black letterboxing at the top and bottom - even though it's already being viewed on a widescreen monitor.

Developers: Switching aspect ratios continually and for no reason is jarring and unprofessional. Choose one and stick with it throughout.

Mirror's Edge - it looks fresh, different, and fun.

Fable II - I'm a sucker for open-ended games, especially fantasy ones.

Dead Space - It just plain looks cool.

Mass Effect - Sheer awesomeness.

Fallout 3 - Just plain excited.

Also, I'd like to play, but haven't bought yet:

Halo 3 - Because you can't have a 360 and not play it.

Bioshock - It looks pretty cool.

Assassin's Creed - I like killing people, okay?

Portal - A really different approach, and I like puzzle games.

Does anyone have any opinions on any of the above games? I'd be glad to hear them.

I don't play video games anymore. Why? Because my television and arsenal of video game consoles left with a former boyfriend. When I did have an Xbox 360, PS3, Nintendo DS, and Gamecube at my disposal, there were only a few video games that I played. Mostly, I loved to watch others play beautifully designed games with great stories. Among the games that I did play over the years were: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, The Legend of Zelda, Oblivion (I spent hours designing my character to look just like Meryl Streep in chainmail), and a little bit of Bioshock. (Although this one I mostly spectated and was in complete awe of.)

An invaluable lesson I learned from videogames is one that any shy person can benefit from: how to live life in first person shooter mode. I decided one day, as an experiment, to imagine that I was in a video game while walking up Seventh Avenue. The idea had absolutely nothing to do with violence or guns of course; it had everything to do with walking with my head held high, not avoiding eye contact, and moving through space exactly how I felt like moving through space instead of keeping with the crowd or staring at the pavement. In this mode, you are fearless. You are the player and this is your world to discover. It's amazing how differently people perceive you when you move with total confidence without fearing any judgement from strangers. In life, there is no reset button and you can't necessarily start a level over, but the world really is yours if you allow yourself the freedom. And who says you can't have a Meryl Streep in chainmail avatar?

Here's the first in the previously-alluded-to series of videogame over-analyzations. For those purists out there: fret not. We don't plan on doing these all that often. Our primary focus is and will always be Cartoon Over-Analyzations.

Unfortunately, the closest any of the staff has gotten to playing BioShock is: about five years ago, one of us got half-way through System Shock 2. Accursed monkeys! Along with rave reviews, BioShock attracted a flurry of discussion pertaining to Objectivist elements subtly and not-so-subtly within. Busy game site Kotaku presented an excellent article in early 2008 which discussed the pertinent themes primarily through interviews with the president of the Ayn Rand Institute, Yaron Brook, and the game's designer, Ken Levine.

"It seems to me that [Levine has] misrepresented what Ayn Rand believes and her ideals beyond objectivism," [Brook] said. "He's setting it up to fail. He believes, based on what I've read, that any system that is absolutist is ultimately going to lead to disastrous effect. Any system of black and white, any system of ultimate morality. In many cases that true. But I think what lessens the game is that misinterpretation of objectivism."

Et cetera. Would you kindly check it out.

No Gods or Kings: Objectivism in BioShock >Catena Ex Situ

The later is true, but the article uses some really poor examples.  There are some great works in both the publishing and the video game world that bridge the two.  This article sticks entirely with the novels, and focuses on one person in particular who is in marketing first and an author second, not a great formula for success.  On the other hand there are people out there like Sean Stewart who came to the form (via Cathy's Book) after having his feet firmly planted in both worlds first.

And on the other end of the spectrum, the article seems to presuppose that video games have not yet found a way to reach the same level of narrative complexity as books.  And while I agree they could be better, so could the great majority of novels being written today, and there are a huge number of games that have found ways to incorporate truly clever writing (Psychonauts, Sam & Max, Portal), complex narratives (Killer 7, GTA), and fictional worlds with incredible depth (Bioshock, Okami).  There may not be a game yet that has successfully combined all these elements, or at least not without sacrificing the gameplay to accomplish it, but there are plenty that have come close (I'll actually accept some arguements in favor of Portal and Okami for having succeeded) and I have no doubt we will be there in the very near future.

Bien que le jeu ne soit pas très récent, je n'avais pas eu l'occasion de le finir, en fait j'avais pas vraiment envie que l'aventure se finisse repoussant l'échéance à plus tard. Je m'y suis remis et je l'ai fini presque d'une traite. J'ai vraiment adoré l'univers du jeu très cohérent et hyper travaillé, ça change un peu des jeux très stéréotypés auxquelles on est souvent confronté. Surtout que dans le domaine du FPS, il est plutôt rare de s'éloigner des sentiers battus de la seconde guerre mondiale. Pourtant Bioshock fait le pari de vouloir raconter quelques choses, et il le fait, ma foi, plutôt bien. On incarne un survivant d'un crash d'avion, perdu au milieu de l'océan, il découvre un gigantesque bâtiment. A l'intérieur, il découvre que c'est l'entrée d'une cité sous-marine Rapture, crée de toute pièce par le magnat Andrew Ryan. Cependant celle ci n'a plus rien d'idyllique, et vous l'apprendrez à vos dépends. Les références pour créer Rapture sont empruntés aux années 40/50 ainsi que du côté du cinéma, je pense surtout à Citizen Kane . Ce côté retro donne vraiment une âme au jeu, un sentiment que le temps s'est arrêté ici. Son scénario est vraiment prenant et l'ambiance contribue a renforcer l'immersion dans cité engloutie.

J'ai beaucoup apprécié le jeu, techniquement superbe, avec un touche artistique propre, le seul petit défaut que l'on pourrait lui reprocher est du côté de son gameplay. Si tout réponds au poil, on est quand même déçu par ce sentiment de déjà joué. Le jeu se veut très classique dans son approche, les plasmides pourraient faire illusion d'une quelconques nouveautés mais ne sera pas étranger aux amateurs de FPS. Mais rien de réellement gênant à vrai dire, jusque ça aurait pu être encore plus parfait.

Je pense que Bioshock est un titre phare de cette génération de console. Un FPS devenu culte qui rejoint ses prédécesseurs comme Half Life, Deus Ex ainsi que System Shock qui est d'ailleurs une production du même studio. Un titre qui pourrait même plaire à ceux qui n'aime pas le genre assez rare pour le souligner.

No se cuantos ya bajaron el demo, pero en varios foros y paginas de USA se comenta que la calidad de la versión en cuanto a la definición de las  imágenes es un asco, literalmente un asco.

En mi opinión, baje el demo, lo jugue y no  me pareció para nada, que fuera mala la calidad de la imagen, se reportan glitches, una imagen menos definida, o blurry como dicen los gringos, (borrosa), y en ocasiones hasta que se presentan detalles pixelados, al mas puro estilo del PS1.En mi caso no me toco ver ninguna de estas  "fallas", es mas me asombro el detalle de el agua y de el fuego así como de la sangre ademas del brillo de las paredes y de el piso.

Les dejo unas imágenes para que observen y opinen, a mi no me pareció mala la calidad del vídeo y mucho menos del gameplay de este juego:

Que opinan? a mi parece  que es una exageración, ademas de que solo se trata del demo, el juego completo debe de verse con mucho mayor calidad.

Mas imagenes...

Fuentes: Ripten.com

Which brings me back to GalCiv2, a game I purchased not because it was the good game coming out this month, not because it’s the latest first party FPS and not because of trophies – I purchased it just because it appealed to me. So why is it that making a PC purchase has awakened a dormant desire within Julia to discover the Sims 2 mod community and spend stupid amounts of time downloading and playing with new content - you’ve owned the game for years and play it periodically, why now, when I purchase a PC game that I really want to put time into, do you bounce into action? Don’t worry, the question is rhetorical.

Unfortunately that’s about all I can say for GalCiv2 – I would love to talk about my actual game time, but it has been brief – when future generations wonder how they won the galaxy, this shit wont even be on Wikipedia.

This did afford me time with wipeout hd (for irresponsible CapitaLisation, you lose them all), which I like a lot. I’d like it better if custom soundtracks could be activated in the Sony, XMB manner (and I’d like that better if I could play WMA during Warhawk), but the feature is appreciated.

I guess I never really got it when I was young enough to be playing the originals, but the game isn’t really a racing title - it resembles something closer to a rhythm game. Left, Left, Either, Left, Left, Right, Centre, Right. Vineta K’s boost pad placement is something like that, and to win you need to hit the boost pads.

Before unlocking additional tracks through career mode the game only allows access to two rather simple circuits. This is a good thing, it forces you to replay and really learn the tracks which is basically a prerequisite for playing the game. You wont find any technical, controlled driving here – the core of this game requires putting your ship on the right side of the track at the right time. Oh, and avoid getting hit by anything while airbraking around a corner.

I picked up the Bioshock demo from the PSN, I was pretty eager to give the game a run – this and Mass Effect were probably the xbox games that interested me most last year, but based off my short time with the demo I was left a bit underwhelmed. I’ve heard that it’s in the narrative and thematic brilliance where the game shines, so I’m willing to give the benefit of the doubt on this one. I was turned off by entering Rapture in it’s darkest hour, I would have loved to see more of it functioning – but I expect as the story is fleshed out I’d come to appreciate how she got to the state I found her in.

Of course, I also managed to fit some Warhawk time in, I’m slowly converting friends to the game and soon I’ll have my own army. I tingle at the prospect of 3 or 4 of us sitting in the same room collaborating to capture the flag. 

Thanks for coming back to The PlayStation Show podcast. We are just around the corner of the big gaming push. With just a week until SOCOM comes out and two weeks until LittleBIGPlanet, we at The PlayStation Show are starting to feel the pinch that all these great games are going to cause on our wallets. We are back again to break down all the PSN releases this week as well as all the PlayStation news that you need to know about. Thanks for the listen and enjoy.

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NBA Live 09 Oklahoma City Pack (free)
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Game Demos (free)

Brothers In Arms Hell’s Highway Demo
Check out the free demo for the game that IGN.com praised as “A World War II the likes of which you’ve never seen”. Experience the amazing graphics and sound, compelling storyline, and new gameplay features that make the critically-acclaimed game more realistic than ever. Join Sgt. Matt Baker and the 101st Airborne Division as they begin the battle to open the infamous Hell’s Highway in a daring bid for a quick end to the war.

Beijing 2008 Demo
The Beijing 2008 demo contains three exciting events:

• 100m – Allows players to face off in the ultimate test of speed!
• Triple Jump – Requires split second timing, speed, and agility.
• Hammer Throw – Combines the use of power and dexterity

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BioShock Demo
Discover Rapture with the official demo of BioShock, a story-driven first person action experience that allows you to do the impossible as you journey through the amazing, immersive and terrifying world of Rapture, a distinct Art Deco underwater utopia gone mad. Experience the incredible world of BioShock for yourself with the free demo.

Eternal Sonata Demo
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NBA 2K9 Demo
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Game Videos (free)

SOCOM Frostfire Fly-through

SOCOM Fallen Fly-through

SOCOM Control Trailer

LittleBigPlanet Life in LittleBigPlanet- Ep 1

LittleBigPlanet Adventures of SackBoy

Tom Clancy’s End War: Voice Command Video Briefing

Tom Clancy’s End War: Combat Chain Video Briefing
ICE-T Interview

Topics
MAG may be subscription based
Rumor PSP firmware 5.0 in beta now with devs
PSP potential MMO machine
Sony's TGS 08 Lineup
PS3 owners to have best games this fall part 1
PS3 owners to have best games this fall part 2
LittleBIGBeta may become a public demo
LittleBIGPlanet may be coming to PSP
Queen on Singstar Store
SOCOM 1.5 Patch

Give the people something to play:
EmilioZ: Echochrome
AustinD:Team fortress 2 (pc)

Closing

En un inicio pensé "puede que le estoy exigiendo mucho a la versión consolara, es obvio que no se comparara a la de PC"... y sin haber jugado la de xbox360 no puede decir si estaba bien o mal... hasta que encontré el Big Daddy muerto a la mitad de la demo... y note que sus texturas eran de PSone!!!!

Viendo esto, pensé que no era correcto... así que fui a san google a ver que encontraba... y ahí fue cuando descubrí que no estaba en un error... el demo de Bioshock de PS3 esta horrible:

Lo curioso es que en ningún reporte de algún sitio que ya jugo recientemente a la versión de ps3 dice algo sobre las texturas y el framerate, 2K Elizabeth (2K Community Manager) en el foro oficial dice que nos traerá una respuesta cuando lo consulte con el equipo y que los problemas reportados de texturas solo se presenta el Big Daddy (aunque yo lo encontré en varios lugares más, como en tu pistola cuando la iluminas y algunas paredes).

En fin, esperemos que solo sea la demo...

Mas fotos:
http://yoda.dip.jp/Game/BioShock/BioShockDemo_24_360.png
http://yoda.dip.jp/Game/BioShock/BioShockDemo_24_PS3.png
Links:
http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22894
http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22894

[By Steve]

As a follow up to Ryan's post concerning some questionable graphics in the PS3 port of Bioshock, 2K have moved quickly to put the minds of owners of Sony's console at rest by issuing the following statement to members of their official forums

Hey guys,

First, I want to thank you for the acute attention to detail and the Spartan level of expectation our most devoted BioShock fans hold us to, and how excited you are and attentive to the BioShock PS3 demo. When we saw a post asking about issues found in the demo, we jumped on it immediately. And you know what, you're right. The texture in the PS3 demo of the downed Big Daddy does not match our level of quality either. This slipped by. We admit it. However, I want to assure you that this is an exception, and not a rule, and while I regret this oversight, we put a lot of love into making this game look amazing for the PS3 and I'm sure that when you play the rest of the demo you will agree that the textures are not all like this one instance.

As for the other issues and concerns, we are currently diligently working to replicate any bugs, and will report back to you with what we find. Thank you for your vigilance here and moving forward.

Isolated incident or widespread problem with the game?  Bioshock is a thoroughly enjoyable title and one that PS3 owners who've never experienced before should definitely check out, regardless of the odd dodgy texture.

[By Ryan]

The Incredible Bioshock is being ported to the Ps3. We know this. But it should have a graphical overhaul right? RIGHT? Well, recent screen shots beg to differ. Don't believe it? Hit the jump and see for yourself. It just doesn't make sense.

                                                  Can you guess which is which?

If you couldn't tell, the top is the Xbox 360 and the bottom is the Playstation 3. Notice the blocky textures on the big copper thing and how washed out the PS3 screen shot is. Why this is? I have no idea. Cmon 2k games, you're degrading your own game.

All I have to say is....damn.

I had heard alot of 360 owners and websites talk about how the game was good.  But I wasn't aware of what kind of game truely was until I actually played the demo.  I was actually freaking out at several points in it...and just in the demo.  I think I will very possibly get the full game.  It is freaky.

In a way, it was freaky like Silent Hill is freaky, but in a differnent way.  Instead of being afraid of a demon town, where the true atmosphere of darkness, air raid sirens and freakish "thing creatures", you're traped in an underwater city runing around trying to stay away from "Little Sisters" and "Big Daddys".  Scary stuff.  I always like this type of thing.  It keeps you on your toes.

Alright, cya all later!

Daquine

A Xbox World 360, famosa como a mais exigente publicação especializada no 360, lançou a primeira análise de Dead Space, que é de 9.1 ou 91%.

O review destaca que a EA poderia ensinar algumas coisas de survival-horror para a Capcom, que a Ishimura (nave que é cenário do game) é uma Rapture no espaço, assim como tem uma experiência inovadora e um roteiro digno de um filme.