To activate press the enter key on the number pad.

To deactivate press Esc.

refill

Refills all items.

superman

teamsuperman

Makes your character/team invincible

shadow

teamshadow

Makes your character/team invisible

run

Makes your character run much faster.

ammo

Gives unlimited ammo.

unlockshero

Unlocks the hero for that mission (only works on mission mode).

autowin

Makes you win the mission.

Wer hat Schuld an der Halbierung der Games-Verkäufe? Langweilige Titel? Ewige Verspätungen? Einfallslose Fortsetzungen? Schlampige fehlerhafte Programmierarbeit? Verbocktes Marketing? Neiiin, nicht doch. Schuld sind natürlich nur die Raubkopierer.

Die gerade veröffentlichten Geschäftszahlen beim Game-Publisher Ubisoft sind hundsmiserabel: Im abgelaufenen Quartal brach der Absatz um 50 Prozent ein. Die Ursachen sucht man mit keinem Wort im eigenen Haus, sondern beschuldigt die Marktsituation/Wirtschaftskrise sowie die angeblich wieder hochaktiven Raubkopierer. Vor allem bei Titeln für Nintendo DS sehen sie viele Piraten am Werk (komisch, mir als DS-Besitzer ist noch nie eine Raubkopie untergekommen…).
Die selbstgemachten Verspätungen von Titeln seien natürlich gaaar nicht Schuld am Dilemma. Ach ja, Ubisoft gab bei der Gelegenheit zu, dass sich Splinter Cell: Conviction, Red Steel 2, Ghost Recon 4 und I Am Alive auf mindestens 2010 verschieben.

Die ganze Aufmerksamkeit des Hauses gelte nun einem neuen Anti-Piraten-Tool, welches Raubkopien ab Ende des Jahres zuverlässig verhindern soll, kündigte CEO Yves Guillemot an. Wie das funktioniere und auf welchen Plattformen, wurde nicht verraten. Mein Tipp: Künftig zickt wieder das Original herum und will nicht laufen, während nur die Raubkopie tadellos arbeitet. [rm]

[VG247]

Für das vergangene Wochenende war eigentlich angedacht, daß wir unser aktuelles ASL Szenario The Cossacks are coming (ASL Scen #33) weiterspielen, das gerade in eine interessante Phase kommt. Allerdings war es vom Wetter her ausgesprochen anti-strategisch, sprich schwül, so daß wir uns spontan für ein lockeres Xbox 360 Weekend entschieden.

Ich hatte die Woche davor aus einer Laune heraus für ein paar Euro Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter erstanden, was ohne große Erwartungen an das Spiel geschah. Aus irgendeinem Grund ist die GRAW Reihe bisher an uns vorbeigegangen, weil wir das letzte Mal ernsthaft ein Ghost Recon auf der Xbox 1 gespielt hatten und damit keinerlei Spaß mehr hatten. Die alten GR Spiele, noch auf der Sega Dreamcast, hatten unseren Hunger nach Tactic-Shootern gestillt, aber alles, was danach kam – inkl. der immer grottiger werdenden Rainbox Six Reihe – war nicht das, was wir uns von einem gelungenen Tac-Shooter erwarteten. Meines Wissens hatten wir uns mal kurz eine GRAW Demo gezogen, Denny meint sogar, wir hätten uns ein GRAW ausgeliehen, aber egal wie’s war, es hatte uns offensichtlich nicht überzeugt. Mich machten jetzt nur die durchwegs hohen Wertungen auf metacritic stutzig, die so gar nicht zu unserer Erinnerung zu passen schienen, was dieses Spiel betrifft und deshalb hatte ich es mir für ein paar EUR geholt. Den Single Player hatte ich die Woche davor schon angespielt und war von Anfang an begeistert.

Hier war alles, was einen guten Tactic Shooter ausmacht, ausnahmslos vorhanden: sehr gute Feind KI, interessante Missionen, grundsätzlich gute Team KI (mit einigen Aussetzern im Single Player. Einmal war ich etwa gezwungen, eine Mission alleine zu beenden, weil das Team nicht mehr reagierte, ab und zu sind die Ghosts etwas übereifrig und nutzen Deckung nicht), überzeugende Waffensounds- und entsprechendes Handling derselben, realistische ‘mittendrin’ Atmosphäre etc. und das alles noch garniert mit einer exzellenten Grafik (umso erstaunlicher, weil das Game ein Launch Titel der 360 war). Als Single Player hatte das Game also schon gewonnen bei mir und mir war schleierhaft, wieso uns diese Perle entgangen war, resp. wieso wir es als Totalflop in Erinnerung hatten.

Also nutzten wir das Wochenende, um das Game auch im Multiplayer anzutesten und auch hier hat es uns restlos überzeugt.

Kleine Einbußen gibt es, man kann im lokalen MP nicht in Deckung gehen und um Ecken lehnen, man ist auf die First Person Sicht beschränkt (die ich bei diesem Spiel noch nie mochte, weil man keine Waffen animiert sieht. Ich habe irgendwie keinerlei Gefühl in dieser Perspektive, was Entfernungen etwa zu Mauern etc. angeht, so daß ich die Third Person Sicht hier weitaus besser finde – spielbar ist es natürlich allemal), man kann kein Squad befehligen, die eigenen Leute nicht heilen und die Bewegung wirkt etwas unrealistisch schnell, wenn man sich bewegt.

Davon abgesehen ist das Game auch im MP eine Granate. Selbst im Splitscreen gibt es immer noch hervorragende Grafik, kein Stottern, keine massiven Popups (hier und da ja, aber insgesamt marginal) und die KI gehört mit zum besten, was ich auf Konsole kenne. Zu keiner Zeit hat man das Gefühl  unrealistische Waves kommen auf einen zu, oder Gegner spawnen irgendwo halbherzig hervor (oder gar noch schlimmer: man sieht sie irgendwo spawnen, wie bei den absolut unterirdischen letzten Inkarnationen der Conflict Reihe, wo Soldaten etwa gerne mal aus einem Plakat oder einer Felswand hervorkommen). Auch gescriptetes Verhalten, das über irgendwelche unsichtbaren ‘Triggerlinien’ in Gang gesetzt wird, ist uns nicht aufgefallen (abgesehen von den story-relevanten Ereignissen natürlich). Wir haben sowohl die COOP Kampagne gespielt, wie auch einige der Missionen im COOP und immer war es vom Kontext her überzeugend, was uns erwartete. Die Gegner werden anfangs wohl innerhalb eines bestimmten Radius vom Spiel gesetzt, verhalten sich dann aber rein situationsabhängig und eigenständig.

Mehr als einmal gab es böse Überraschungen für uns, weil wir dachten, nun wüssten wir ja, wer wo steht, oder wer wo lang geht – was dann schnell durch eine MG-Salve aus einem Fahrzeug zunichte gemacht wurde, obwohl das Fahrzeug dort vorher noch nie war. Gegner gehen sehr vorsichtig vor, werfen Rauchgranaten, wenn sie eine Stellung angreifen, flankieren einen, legen Feuer auf eine Stellung, bevor sie versuchen, sie zu überrennen, werfen sich bei Beschuss sofort in Deckung und einiges mehr. All dies variierte immer wieder bei jedem neuen Versuch und man musste immer auf der Hut sein, wer nun von wo kommen würde – und ob überhaupt. Niemand stand je dumm in der Gegend rum und wusste nicht, was zu tun ist, keiner wurde beschossen und reagierte dann nicht darauf, wie man es gerne mal in solchen Games sieht – alles war realistisch und wirklich überzeugend.

Dazu kommt noch ein enormer Druck, weil man in diesen Missionen einen gewissen Zeitdruck hat, um die Mission zu schaffen, was mit der intelligenten Gegner KI schon mal zu Situationen wie im echten Kampf führt ‘Wir müssen jetzt hier weg! – ‘Ja, aber wir sind doch völlig gepinnt!! Das Gelände ist zu offen… – ‘Was sollen wir machen? Warten bis in 10 Minuten die Mission vorbei ist? – Nein aber…was – nur noch 10 Minuten? Wir sollen doch 3 Sprengladungen anbringen! – Eben, also dann los, sonst können wirs vergessen -  ich sprinte rüber, gib mir Deckung… – aber…-  LOS!!!’

Auch wenn man im MP kein eigenes Team befehligen kann, ist man dennoch nicht alleine in der COOP Kampagne. Andere Ghost Einheiten sind mit dabei und kämpfen selbständig mit, es gibt die Befehle des Hauptquartiers via Funkspruch, was der Atmosphäre eines echten Kampfes nur zuträglich ist. Friendly Fire ist ON, also jeder Schuss, der eigene Leute eliminiert, führt zum sofortigen Abbruch der Mission – das gilt etwa auch, wenn man z.B. ein feindliches Fahrzeug in die Luft jagt und die Explosion tötet einen befreundeten Soldaten! Die deutschen Sprecher sind engagiert bei der Sache und überzeugen völlig – auch nicht gerade selbstverständlich bei Videogames.

Ein weiterer wichtiger Punkt ist, man kann alles nicht nur lokal und im LAN zusammen/gegeneinander spielen – sondern es gibt vollen Splitscreen Online Support, also man kann zusammen an einer Konsole sitzen und trotzdem mit/gegen andere Spieler online spielen! Das ist vorbildlich und wird viel zu selten umgesetzt.

Wir waren uns auf jeden Fall einig, daß wir schon lange kein so intensives Erlebnis mehr hatten bei einem Taktik Shooter und daß sich die GRAW Reihe nicht vor kommenden MilSims wie Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising oder auch das evtl. noch für die Xbox 360 erscheinende Armed Assault 2 verstecken braucht. Sicher, beide Games werden voraussichtlich mehr Realismus im Detail bieten, ausgefeilter und größer sein, aber das wichtigste für ein solches Spiel – die KI – stimmt hier schon mal 100%. Auch hier geht sicher noch mehr, aber wenn alle diese Games zumindest dieses Level der KI bieten würden, wäre schon viel gewonnen.

Graw2 ist bereits bestellt und wird ebenfalls angetestet werden die nächste Zeit. Reviews zu beiden Games folgen beizeiten.

Based on his feature length screenplay, Oliver Meneses’ Behind the Mountains will be released later this year trough amazon.com and other stores via its e-book version.

“The today -not the future, anymore- is about multi-platform contents that will be distributed and consumed in a large array of platforms, so this project had its origins in screenplay form, now translates to a narrative form, for traditional books, and it is morphing into digital content -text, for now- and maybe soon in a more audiovisual or interactive gaming experience,” said Meneses.

This is a sample of a rough draft of the original screenplay.

Early draft of feature length script by Oliver Meneses

Early draft of feature length script by Oliver Meneses

Behind the Mountains project launched its first book trailer.

Written by entertainment specialist Oliver Meneses, this is his breaktrough debut novel and will be published trough his banner, Showbeast Publishing.

Set in present day, in southern Mexico a Colombian official is kidnapped by local guerrilla, launching a mediatic global-scale conflict. A number of players and their very own agendas are inmersed, ranging from the french student who joins ‘la revolucion’, the catholic leader with more than peaceful intentions to american arm dealers, european investors and local narco cartels. Everyone is trapped into the cetrifugal force of this event.

“Behind” the spirit of authors like Tom Clancy or Dan Brown, the launch is expected in fall 2009, trough Amazon.com and selected e-book stores.

A novel by Oliver Meneses

For me, Ghost Recon and my childhood are nearly inseparable. Just as I would go through a phase playing nothing but Final Fantasy VII, or Abe’s Oddysee, I had a good couple of months (at least) playing Ghost Recon for the majority of my time. From what I remembered, it was a fairly difficult squad-based shooter that generally allowed you to move at your own pace and in your own way. I’d often experiment by sending in a team of nearly all snipers and watching in fascination as they got decimated in front of my very eyes.

In any case, I recently decided to return to Ghost Recon after seeing that it was available on Steam – the purveyor of digital crack – to see if the game still held up to the memory I held in my mind of it and more importantly, would I be any better at it?

The short answer is yes it still holds up, and no I’m not any better at it. In fact, judging from my progress thus far, I think I may actually have gotten worse at it since I last played it. Compared to the games nowadays, the enemies are ridiculously good shots, and can spot you from an actually realistic distance. I had become too used to being able to sneak up to someone on the edge of their sight and stab them without them ever thinking of turning round to see what the sniggering fool crawling up to them was doing. In Ghost Recon, however, the AI is remarkably astute, and will no only notice you but will also shoot you and your team to death while you are still stunned and fumbling with your guns.

This sounds like an annoyance, but within a game set up to be realistic in tactics and gameplay, the AI is perfectly suited. Whereas in games nowadays you would find a game being touted as having ‘realistic’ weaponry and settings, but the AI is still the bumbling robot-like creatures you met in, say, Goldeneye. Obviously, Ghost Recon’s enemies aren’t vastly superior to the AI available in games nowadays, but they do hold up incredibly well when compared with modern games.

Although it might seem trivial now, one of my main problems with Ghost Recon all those years ago was the lack of being able to see the gun you’re shooting. It was certainly unusual for the time, where every game seemed to be a first-person shooter with a giant gun taking up half the screen. On going back, though, I actually found it helping the immersion as I crawled incredibly slowly and carefully towards the enemy. I can see why the developers did it as well, in a game where missing a moving pixel on the corner of your screen can mean death for you and your team, a gun obscuring your view might push what is already a difficult game into becoming near impossible.

One of the main things I remembered about Ghost Recon, and was delighted to see that it was still present, was it’s uncanny ability to turn every mission into an incredibly personal story. Even if none of your teammates perish in a mission, you’ll still return thinking of the close misses you had with one of them, and this is only amplified if, like my first mission upon returning to the game, only one of them makes it back. Soon, you’ll find yourself desperately trying to keep your whole team alive while still completing each objective on schedule.

All in all, for a measly £5.99 on Steam, Ghost Recon is still a very worthy purchase. It’s great use of tactics and actually not incredibly dated graphics mean that it’s still perfectly playable in these modern times, and has a complexity that is sadly missing from the majority of the games being created today.

Splinter Cell: Conviction is now alive again and should be coming to the PC and Xbox 360 this Christmas. Hopefully it won’t get delayed and disappear this time. A new Ghost Recon, simply called Ghost Recon 4 has also been announced and should be arriving either at the end of this year or the start of next year. It looks like a strong year for Ubisoft who also have Assassin’s Creed 2, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, Red Steel 2 and a few more. However I wouldn’t be surprised if a few of them got delayed.

In its 2008-09 financial report, Ubisoft has revealed it plans to release Ghost Recon 4 before April 2010. No further details were provided, but there have been rumors that Ubisoft plans to cross over the stories featured in all its upcoming Tom Clancy’s games so fans of the series feel inside a single plotline that spands multiple games.

Gamers Forcing EA To Return To Old Ways

by dkpatriarch

© 2009 David Hilton

Remember the bad old EA so many of us gamers spent oodles of time criticising?

EA was the big time publisher that made huge amounts of cash off only releasing games from their pre-existing IPs (Intellectual Properties) like Medal Of Honor, Battlefield, and Burnout, their yearly sports ‘updates’, and off movie licenses like James Bond and Lord Of The Rings.

Most of the games were good, and some of them were bad, but what annoyed many of us the most was that they were being safe and not bothering to try and bring creative new gaming experiences, especially to consoles.  They had the money and the clout to try and be fresh and innovative, but they were just sitting back because they could.

Then they changed.  But now huge financial losses and a layoff of 1,500 staff may herald the end of their positive experiment into new IPs and innovation and a return to the old EA business model.

And it’s our fault.

While EA Games were changing their attitude and creating new IP games like Dead Space, Mirror’s Edge, Brutal Legend, and The Saboteur, the other big publishers like Microsoft (Gears of War 2, Fable 2, Halo 3, Halo: ODST), Ubisoft (Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, Assassin’s Creed 2, Splinter Cell: Conviction, Avatar), and Activision (Wolfenstein, Modern Warfare 2, Shrek, Spider Man, X-Men) seem to have adopted EA’s previous philosophy particularly this year after the financial crisis.

Sure there are exceptions like Endwar by Ubisoft and Prototype by Activision, but on the whole the games have been sequels or film tie-ins.

But this problem is not just due to the financial crisis.

As I wrote last year, EA didn’t sell enough of either Dead Space or Mirror’s Edge, despite both games being critically acclaimed by the gaming media.  At the time I argued that their releasing the games during the busy end of year rush was to blame, with new IPs not getting a look in next to the better known titles.

While I still agree with that statement, with some exceptions like the original Assassin’s Creed, a lot of new IPs haven’t done so well this generation next to their sequel or movie tie-in counterparts.  And it hasn’t always been a question of quality.

The top selling Xbox 360 games so far are:

1. Halo 3 (8.1 million)

Big name sequels sell

2. Gears of War (5 million)

3. Gears of War 2 (5 million)

4. Grand Theft Auto IV (4 million)

5. Call Of Duty 4 (3.77 million)

6. Call Of Duty: World At War (3.35 million)

7. Forza 2 (2.6 million)

8. Fable 2 (2.6 million)

9. Halo: ODST (2.5 million)

10. Assassin’s Creed (2.28 million)

Of those titles, only the original Gears of War and Assassin’s Creed were new IPs.  The story is only slightly different for the 360’s major competitor, Sony’s PS3, which has Motorstorm, the original Uncharted, the original Resistance, and Heavenly Sword in their top 1o.

While many gamers demand innovation and new IPs, the reality is that it is a hit or miss risk for the publishers.  Ubisoft last generation released the wacky but highly praised Beyond Good & Evil, only to see the gamers shun it.

And this is why I say it is our fault.  We will happily fork out extra cash over usual retail price for Modern Warfare 2, but Dead Space, despite great reviews and price cuts soon after, was not attractive enough.  Mirror’s Edge, despite giving us the innovation many craved, scared off many gamers who instead forked out for Gears of War 2.

What chance has Brutal Legend got against MW 2?

Brutal Legend, also highly regarded by most critics, as of October 24 apparently has sold 370,710 copies on both consoles.

EA went out on a limb and tried to change its image and corporate strategy to expand its gaming philosophy beyond sequels, sports title rehashes, and movie tie-ins, and did we support that after all our winging?  No.

The situation is that the average gamer has limited funds and may not play as many games as the hardcore.  The casual gamer will buy whatever they know will give them the fix of fun they are after and don’t follow the updates and innovations of new IPs.  They see Mirror’s Edge or Dead Space and think- never heard of it.

The Call of Duty or Halo series on the other hand is not only well known, but is in a genre that is easy to identify and play and their friends are likely to also have it.

This gives big publishers who have the funds to create strong new innovative games less incentive to do so.  Creatively, I’m sure their staff would love to try new things, but the risk outweighs the potential benefits, especially now.  They are more likely to try mini new things within an existing franchise, like the upcoming Splinter Cell: Conviction is.

Which brings me back to EA going back to what they were before.

In January EA CEO John Riccitiello said:

I also believe that there is no inherent conflict between great creativity and achieving strong profitability – I believe they go hand in hand.

This is a business and much of our success will be measured with a calculator – sales, revenue, profit and improving shareholder value. There is also a qualitative aspect of our industry. Making games we can be proud of. Pushing boundaries. I believe the quantitative and the qualitative measures go well together.

However, he now looks to be saying that EA will be concentrating on known franchises, some to be released twice a year:

Electronic Arts has a core slate of games label and sports franchises that we will iterate on a either annual or bi-annual basis. And I think you know what those major titles are – all of them are selling or have sold in their most recent edition 2m units or more.

What does this mean for innovation in the gaming industry?  Well to me it looks like innovation will now be mostly focused within existing franchises and, increasingly, in the casual market where the big publishers expect bigger returns for less cost.

Innovation Future?

So for example Microsoft’s Project Natal and Sony’s motion controller will seem to publishers as a safer investment in finding ways to innovate for a larger gamer and casual market.

Innovation will also come to gamers in smaller form like downloaded Xbox Live Arcade or Sony PSN games, and the even portable gaming like the Iphone and DSi.  Some of these might make a big enough name for themselves to get a bigger budget version for the consoles, but they would be sequels.

If it turns out to be true that EA and the other publishers shy away from new IPs in the future and we are still playing Call of Duty 15, really we only have ourselves to blame.

But then it seems most gamers are quite happy with their sequels, and so perhaps that’s fair enough.  For me, though, new upcoming IP games like Alan Wake and Heavy Rain seem more interesting, even if I’m still staying fairly cautious about them.

What do you think? Comment below.

© 2009 David Hilton

Você, assim como muitos outros gamers, certamente já almejou o primeiro lugar do ranking mundial de algum jogo. A realidade é que poucos algum dia irão alcançar tão elevada posição.
É difícil competir quando do outro lado enfrentamos japoneses e coreanos em modo berserker jogando 28 horas por dia.
Mais legal que ver asiáticos no topo do ranking é saber que jogos FPS em particular prepararam com todo carinho uma gama de achievements e trophies relacionados a isso.
Não entendeu? Veja abaixo o exemplo de um achievement do jogo Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (Disponível para PC e Xbox 360)

(Alcance o topo do ranking online no modo solo)
(Alcance o topo do ranking online no modo de equipes)

Como se já não bastasse uma vez, você precisa alcançar o topo do ranking duas vezes, sozinho e em equipe! Mas claro, isso não é suficiente para a Ubisoft, nós queremos mais, queremos sangue!

(Alcance o topo do ranking online universal)

Esse achievement é o tiro de misericórdia. Se você já deu seu sangue para desbloquear os dois anteriores, este provavelmente custará a sua alma.

Na mesma onda de Ghost Recon nós temos Quake 4. A franquia dá as caras na nova geração seguindo a história do segundo jogo. E dentre vários achievements repetitivos e comuns, temos um super especial!

(Conquiste a posição de número 1 do mundo em todos os modos de jogo no ranking online)

É basicamente a fusão dos três achievements de Ghost Recon em um só, porém, concedendo muito menos pontos de Gamerscore.
É de se esperar que seja difícil, ou melhor impossível, alcançar o topo do ranking de um jogo que já não é tão novo, mas pra piorar, existem glitches que permitem elevar seu rank mais rapidamente.
Se você comemorou e achou que então havia uma possibilidade de liberar este achievement, se animou demais.
Para algumas pessoas, usar o glitch para ser o primeiro não é suficiente. Elas querem usar o gllitch infinitas vezes, até que apareça alguém louco como ela pra ficar meses na frente do videogame fazendo o mesmo. Essa infelizmente é a realidade, o que torna impossível alcançar o primeiro rank jogando normalmente. Se você quiser fazer um “boost” (juntar-se a alguns amigos e usarem do glitch até chegar em primeiro) chega a ser possível, mas prepare-se para passar no mínimo seis meses (SIM!) jogando todos os dias e fazendo a mesma coisa todos esses dias.
Psicólogos e psiquiatras até hoje estudam o motivo pelo que certas pessoas fazem isso e sem muitos resultados animadores, isso porque não há razão, não há sentido, são crianças que não tiveram o amor de sua mãe durante a infância.

Apesar de terem se tornado impossíveis agora, todos os achievements citados acima eram relativamente fáceis na época de lançamento dos jogos, portanto é possível achar jogadores que, orgulhosamente, possuem esses pontos em seus Gamerscores.

A Ubisoft anunciou em janeiro deste ano a produção de mais um jogo da série Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon, o quarto da franquia.

Hoje a produtora anunciou o nome oficial do jogo: Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Predador.

O jogo está marcado para ser lançado durante o ano fiscal de 2010/2011, entre abril e março e está sendo desenvolvido pela Ubisoft de Paris, responsável pela campanha single-player de Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, lançado em 2006.

Fonte: GameVicio

Ubisoft have confirmed that another Ghost Recon game is in the works but they haven’t gave us any details what so ever. No name, no release date, no teaser, no screenshots, no nothing. The Austrailian rating site, however has recently listed Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Predator as an MA15+ which suggests that this could be the latest addition to the Ghost Recon series.

The OFLC listing for the game states that it is multi-platform which isn’t much of a surprise and also says it contains strong violence, which again isn’t unexpected. This isn’t a confirmation of a new Ghost Recon game but it the rating sites are normally correct anyway.

I was watching at some videos… and there where images of a video game, I think call of duty.. and there where images of nuclear weapon used in the states, as well as war on us territory.. and well, I had a tought, might be that the videogame is actually ‘predicting the future’?

See the videos about a nuclear weapon in NY:

…frightening isn’t it?

Also see that one:

And well, then I decided to google something about it, an I discovered that:

Recent news coverage of the worrying ground war between Russia and Georgia could well leave gamers with a sense of deja vu.

The South Ossetia war, which began on August 7, bears a close resemblance to events portrayed in the 2001 Xbox and Playstation 2 game “Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon,” the first level of which takes place against the backdrop of a struggle between Georgian rebel forces and the legitimate Georgian government in the South Ossetian region.

Ghost Recon’s plot follows these skirmishes with a full-scale Russian invasion of the region, a subsequent evacuation of US forces, and ultimately the fall of the Georgian government. Ghost Recon almost got the timescale right, too: the game’s imaginary events begin in April 2008, just a few months before the real war kicked off.

If Ghost Recon’s uncanny trend continues, we can expect the South Ossetia conflict to culminate in a dramatic assault on Red Square and the Kremlin by NATO troops — spearheaded by an elite US special forces team under the control of a pimply fourteen-year-old with a joypad. Considering that the most recent game in the Ghost Recon series climaxes with an oh-so-narrowly-averted terrorist nuclear strike on the US, we hope the predictive power of the game runs out. Soon.

Source: http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/georgia-russia-conflict-predicted-in-2001-video-game/1237410

And NOW, watch this video:

This is the first post on this new blog so I thought I would start by telling a little about myself and what I plan to offer with this blog. As I’m sure you’ve guessed from the web address, I play xbox360 shooters.My Gamertag on Xbox Live is Rubbaducky26. I know, weird name right? Well you may find this suprising but it’s actually a name given to me back in my days in the military. Now you may be thinking that I was military and I play shooters so I must be some kind of crazy obsessive always have to win type of gamer, well you’d be wrong. Don’t misunderstand, I love to win but my main focus in playing is just having fun. That brings me to my next topic. What do I plan to offer with this blog? 

Well, my plan for this is to take some new titles and give them test runs and let everyone know what I think. I know there are a ton of sites out there that give reviews but I’m going to give them from a gamers point of view and a little less from a developer point of view. I want to share thoughts and ideas for new strategies or just fun things to try on some of my favorite games. My favorites are the Clancy games (including Ghost Recon & Rainbow Six) the Battlefield series and Call of Duty. I don’t limit myself to just those however. I am a gamer at heart and I enjoy trying new games of all types.

With that said, I’m looking forward to getting into some great action, testing out new games and sharing ideas with a hopefully open minded and growing community. Until next time, I’ll see you on the battlefield!

     Ah Ghost Recon, the series with the longest name I have seen in a while. I have played most of the Ghost Recon games since Island Thunder on the PC, and it is my preferred series from Tom Clancy. The game centers around political unrest in Mexico in the year 2014 following the events of the original GRAW. This new iteration introduces an improved cross-com and improved AI (The AI in the first GRAW was notoriously ineffective).  The game spans numerous locations such as canyons, cityscapes, small towns, deserts, etc.

Graphic and sound:

The graphics in GRAW 2 are not much different than the first installment. They look good, but the characters seem stiff and unrealistic at times compared to other tactical games such as Call of Duty. The Ghost Recon series never had highly detailed characters and GRAW 2 is no exception. The buildings and objects look realistic, but the characters up close look lifeless. Levels which incorporate large bodies of water also look unrealistic and behave unnatural when there is interaction from the player. Luckily, the gameplay makes up for the lack of graphical detail in the game. The sound effects for the weapons are spot on and the voices are clear. I wish they would get rid of the talking heads in the briefing though as it bores most players.

Gameplay and controls:

The game is a tactical shooter like its predecessors and involves strategically placing fellow soldiers in optimum positions to annihilate the enemy soldiers using commands and viewing the battlefield through a remote controlled drone to survey possible ambush spots and where the enemy is located. There is a single player campaign and numerous multiplayer modes. The single player mode is a fairly good length, but extremely easy even on hard mode. I think they need to fine tune the difficulty in the next installment to at least remove the drone and have the AI alert others to your presence. Multiplayer consists of 3 game modes and 7 game types. The 3 game modes are solo (every man for himself), team (teams of players against each other), and co-op (players working together against the AI). The 7 game types are territory, objective, elimination, campaign, exfiltration, team battle, and team mission. Territory is about dominating and capturing enemy positions. Objective is about achieving goals such as destroying an ammo dump. Elimination is about killing everyone on the opposing side. Campaign is a co-op only mode that allows players to compete against the AI in a story driven mission. Exfiltration is a co-op only mode that has players escorting AI officers to an extraction point. Team battle is similar to territory, but with AI support. Team mission is about achieving goals as the team advances across the map. All the game types can be customized to user needs. Also, there is an option to create clans in GRAW 2 and create public or private matches.

Overall thoughts:

Overall, GRAW 2 is a vast improvement in AI over the first one. This time around, your teammates will rarely get stuck in an area that you have sent them to using the cross-com or the map. The multiplayer modes are loads of fun especially if you get a group of friends together or a clan match going. My only complaint is that the single player mode was extremely easy even on the hardest settings, but honestly, I play GRAW 2 for the multiplayer, not the single player campaign. Here’s looking forward to the next GRAW in fiscal year 2009-2010.