By Hans Wuerflein

Crispy Gamer has completed their fan voting contest to decide the “Game of the Decade” and, as the title and picture will tell you, Half Life 2 won.

Tiger reviewed Team Fortress 2 from The Orange Box, which also contains Half Life 2, a few months back.

Interesting enough, World of Warcraft just barely lost the final by 130 votes, or six tenths of a percent.  Crazy!

I’m still putting together a list of my top games of the decade, but what do you think about the pick?

I was totally ill at this show. I felt rubbish and spent the whole night wrapped up in a coat/scarf/hood combo. Take A Worm For A Walk Week were thoroughly entertaining though, and I stayed up with them and Lavotchkin most of the night. Thanks to Martin for keeping me sane!

Weird show. I wasn’t feeling it. I can’t remember why now though.

Randy Picthford the President of Gearbox has questions the motives behind the discussion not to support the PS3 by Valve. Randy Picthford has worked with valve in the past, and gave his opinion on the PS3 to the magazine. He states “the PS3 is awesome. I think Valve…I don’t know why they are doing that. It’s weird. but yeah, the Playstation platform’s really cool. It’s different to others and it’s certainly a challenge to be able to develop software for. But that’s where the fun is, right?”

After praising  the PS3, Randy Picthford say’s “I noticed something on the net not too long ago. Doug Lombardi (Valve’s VP Marketing) had to take a swipe at the PS3 again, and I thought it was foolish. I read it the same way I read fanboys. Like there’s a guy who brought the Sony platform and he’s a Sony guy, so he decides he’s going to spend a certain percentage of his time bashing Microsoft. And there’s a guy on Microsoft doing the same thing. Those guys are childish and narrow minded, It’s the same kind of thing”Randy then takes the comments to a more personal level “Valve think their own stuff is the only stuff that matters, to the point where they have their own distribution platform. It’s like, I don’t care about retail, about Marketplace, or PSN, I’m going to have Steam. It’s cool, it’s good, and they’re doing a good job but at the same time they’re reliant on the rest of the world. They had to do that deal with EA. When I see the L4D ad on the television I don’t see a Valve logo, I see a EA logo, and when I bought it, I bought it at a store”.

Gearbox has a multi-platform game out, which everybody seems to be enjoying on both the PC, PS3 and Xbox360, so Randy couldn’t help but also comment on the Orange box fiasco. “I’m actually kind of mad at Doug because with the Orange Box, he said the 360 and PC versions are the good ones and the PS3 version is like the stepchild because some other developer made it. Well you Valve don’t really think that, because look what you’ve done on the PC side. You’ve supported that, you’ve added all this content to Team Fortress 2, and you’ve left us hanging. It’s hard to accept that genuinely, because I know the business, I know you guys make half the money on the PS3 version because you’ve got other fingers in the pie, and other developers getting a cut. It benefits you if nobody buys that, and only buys the PC version, because you make the most money. There’s this underlying sleaziness. You know what, I thought the performance was a little slower on the PS3, but it Looked better. The colors were nicer, I thought the image looked better on PS3. It was a trade-off between the performance and the visuals. And I like visuals”.

So guys what do you think do you agree with Randy? or is Valve doing the right thing?

It was literally incredible to see DEP in such a small venue. I saw them years ago at the Garage in London, but they are so tight now it’s unreal. This show was rammed, but immensely fun!

This was amazing! The first show I drove to and stayed sober. My little brother came down, everyone got ruined and puked. It was payback for me. Oh and MXPX were fun times. Stupid Orange Box lighting again though, ugh!

This was an odd one… weird bands, weird atmosphere. Crocus got charged for breaking a mic that was already broken and banned from the venue. Yeovil is strange. And I hate taking photos in the Orange Box.

For once I won something!!! Im rather excited that I won a copy of Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising on the Xbox 360 from the Xboxer360 forum. It also comes with a t-shirt and a torch!!! EEEeeeeEeeee…. I never win anything. I cant wait to get it and play it, as I have heard good things.

I also found some amazing fabric designs by a company called Alexander Henry. Some of them are not to my liking, but a few are amazing!

I just wish they were readily available in England

I have also been looking up some Sailor Jerry Rum merchandise… and I have to say, some of it is seriously good. It is one of my favourite drinks, and I would be so happy to own some of this. These are a few of my favourites:

The shoes are my favourite by far, but they dont have them in my size and I am gutted! I love the hip-flask so much its beautiful!

I have also been discussing tattoos with my younger sister. It makes me ache to get more whenever I look for tattoo images, even if they are not for myself. During my search I found a whole load of inspiration from sewing tattoo images. Everything about them makes me melt slightly with envy. I think I might have to encorporate a similar idea into my second sleeve design, or maybe a ’sock’ piece! (I do not know where I found most of these, if anyone has a problem with them being on here please let me know and they will be removed):

They are all so lovely!!! Argh I cant wait to get more tattoos!

Today I have been creating some blackboard calendars for myself and Ryan, I shall take photos of them when they are complete. I have also had a substantial amount of red wine tonight, along with a chicken kiev…mmmm.

On a sad note, the daughter of the first litter of Roborovski hamsters that I bred, died last night. I am unsure why this is. She wasnt miss-treated, dropped or sickly. She was actually the strongest of the three, yet she went downhill within two days. She will be sadly missed. RIP Cube3… I am wearing my Companion Cube t-shirt in memory of my dear hamster.

Ryan seems to be interacting with the new hamsters more than he ever has done I think this is due to me saying that the teeny runt baby can be his. He is always handling her now, and it is really cute to see! He has named her ‘Pew Pew Pew’… I shall take a photo of her also.

Enough for now, more tomorrow no doubt.

Jenn xxx

]]> http://wastingwashu.wordpress.com/2009/10/18/valve/ Sun, 18 Oct 2009 22:44:20 +0000 teamfranken http://wastingwashu.wordpress.com/2009/10/18/valve/

Valve is a bit of an enigma in the PC gaming industry.  As developers, their track record is nearly flawless, they created Steam, the most important method of game distribution on the PC, and through Steam, they have become uniquely able to profit off their competitors’ products.

And they’re beginning to piss me off.

It began in February 2006, when Valve announced  that they would be hopping on the episodic gaming bandwagon.  My anger wasn’t targeted at Valve specifically, but toward the idea of episodic content that was being pushed by Valve, Telltale, and the guys behind Penny Arcade Adventures and Sin Episodes (yes, I know they’re different devs).  I continue to maintain that episodic content wrings consumers out of more money than they’d be paying for a full game.  Three Half-Life 2 episodes, for example, cost $60, excluding the tax on three different games, as opposed to $50 for a game of around the same length as the episodes.

As if this weren’t irritating enough, Valve has completely botched the concept.  Episodes were meant to be released every 6 months to a year – already a long time for about 6 hours of gaming – but Valve has lengthened that cycle.  Episode 2 came out a year and four months after Episode 1, in October 2007, and as of today, it’s been just over two years since the release of Episode 2.  Episode 3 is predicted to come out in 2010, but by the time of its release, it will have been (HOPEFULLY) two and a half years since Episode 2.  Stellar.

Left 4 Dead left a sour taste in the mouths of many people.  It was one of the most highly-anticipated games of the year, but given its function as mainly a multiplayer game, it fell ever so slightly on its face.  Though the included campaigns were long, the depressingly low number included resulted in the game getting very old, very fast.  Of course, gamers were promised DLC to a degree similar to that of Team Fortress 2, so no one complained too much.

The server browser on the PC side was also a significant flaw.  PC gamers have long been used to a server browser displaying a vast list of different games to choose from.  In Left 4 Dead, Valve (or Turtle Rock, depending on how you want to look at it), incorporating the same matchmaking system used on consoles.  Players could join games their friends were in, but not create private servers or selectively pick a game.  Dedicated servers were also a no-no.

Insult to injury was given when Valve announced Left 4 Dead 2, which will be coming out around a month after this is posted.  It will be coming out only a year after Left 4 Dead, a game which, had it been given the DLC treatment it was promised, would still have a vibrant multiplayer scene.  Instead, in the year it’s been out, Left 4 Dead has seen one addition: a campaign half the length of the ones included in the release copy.  Apparently, the devs deemed it a better investment to work on a second Left 4 Dead than to add that content to the original, as was arguably promised.

I call bullshit on the entire thing.  Valve outright lied to consumers, and in the vein of the Call of Duty franchise, is cashing on an what is looking to be an annual series (something else I have a problem with, but that’s another post entirely).  Activision, however, for all its flaws, did not lie to consumers about the content of its games – which stand on their own as completed titles - nor did they make any secret about the yearly release plan with which Valve blindsided consumers.

That’s not to write off their accomplishments, of course.  Every game with Half-Life in the name has ranged from definitely worth playing to amazing, The Orange Box was a spectacular deal containing only amazing games, and TF2 has received free content updates since it came out.  On the whole, though, in the past few years Valve has adopted the greedy, money-grubbing corporate policies one might expect from Activision or EA, and it’s a lamentable turn of events.

Minus The Bear are awesome. They were better this time than the last time I saw them.

Dnia dziesiątego października, roku pańskiego dwa tysiące siódmego, miała miejsce światowa premiera gry Team Fortress 2 w wydaniu The Orange Box. Dziewięć dni później, 19 października, miała miejsce polska premiera zestawu. W dniu premiery Orange Box kosztował 140zł, teraz można go dostać za niespełna 40zł.

Te dwa lata, przyniosły nam wiele zmian w wersji Team Fortess 2, a także na kolejne dni, zapowiadane są dalsze zmiany. Klasy postaci, także zostały ulepszone, pomijając trzy:
-Soldiera
-Demomana
-Engineera
Czy one też zostaną ulepszone ? To wszystko zależy od Valve.

Chodzą plotki, o tym, iż Valve, po ulepszeniu wszystkich klas, planuje wprowadzić nową, jedenastą postać.

Spodziewany, następny update klasowy, to update engineera. Ale, ostatnio w jednym, był update Spy’a, i Snipera. Czyżby Valve chciało ulepszyć naraz, pozostałe 3 klasy?

Tego wszystkiego się dowiemy, w przyszłości.

This is an awesome video…it is hilarious but, you wouldn’t understand it if you haven’t played Portal…and if you haven’t played Portal what box did you crawl out of? Certainly not the ORANGE BOX. lol. I made a funny.

Para ampliar clique aqui

Videogame
★ 1958  † 2005

“Viverá para sempre em nossas memórias e em nossos corações. Obrigado pelos ótimos momentos juntos. Vá em paz, velho amigo”

Welcome back Mr Freeman we missed you since your last adventure in the first Half Life game, and it was with much hesitation that I picked up a copy of Orange Box for the Xbox 360 so that I could further follow your adventures in Half Life 2 and Episode 1&2. And I was pretty skeptical on how the gameplay would translate from a PC over to a console, and I must say all my skepticism was blown away instantly as I was welcomed back into the familiar world of Half Life that I first experienced back in my days as a PC user when playing the original game. Now if you will excuse me I am going to go beat some very scientific results out of the enemy with my trusty crowbar.

1) Continued support. I’m just waiting for the Engineers update so that my 85 hours of play aren’t completely wasted.
2) The voices. Each of them is perfectly matched to their character.
3) Critical Hits. Whether it’s the Pyro’s Backburner, Jarate, Headshots or Backstabs, you can really feel the buzz as your enemy drops.
4) You don’t have to play the game itself. Like all good games, you can just do daft things like setting up Spy Crab Towers.
5) While a lot of you may have no idea what I’m talking about, there are people all over the world who agree, and are just waiting to follow me into the slaughter. Gentlemen?

     I own Half-Life 2 for the PC and have played through the campaign back in 2004 when it was released and it comes as a surprise that such an old game would be released on a next generation console even with the new episodes and other game modes. The game has aged somewhat well for a game that was released four years ago on the PC as of 2008. The Orange Box consists of Half-Life 2, Episode One, Episode Two, Portal, and Team Fortress 2 for about $25 new as of August 2009. Half-Life 2 is the direct sequel to the original Half-Life and contains two expansion episodes as well. Portal is a puzzle game and Team Fortress is a team based multiplayer game with modes such as capture the flag and control point.

Graphic and sound:

Although Half-Life 2 has aged well, it has aged and it is evident. Characters are a bit blocky around the edges and textures are not high-res or crisp when viewed up close even with the anti-aliasing performed on the Playstation 3. The exceptions are the other four games in the package, which were released on the PC numerous years after Half-Life 2 and look much better. The voiceovers in the Orange Box are one of the best as has always been the case with the Half-Life series. Unfortunately, those with optical audio output will not be able to enjoy the game in surround sound as the Playstation 3 version has some issues with optical cables. It is unknown whether this issue was ever corrected or not.

Gameplay and controls:

Half-Life 2 is a single player 1^st person shooter that takes place after the events of its predecessor and has two expansions: Episode One and Episode 2, which subsequently follow the completion of Half-Life 2. Half-Life 2 has an excellent story line that will thoroughly engage the player in its politics. Portal is a single player puzzle game in which the player teleports himself and items to an exit point throughout various levels. Team Fortress 2 is a multiplayer team game with two modes of capture the flag or control point to choose from. The player can choose from nine character classes that range from scout, soldier, pyro, demo man, heavy weapons guy, engineer, medic, sniper, and spy. Having a variety of classes that complement each other on a team is the key to victory. Team Fortress 2 has lag issues when trying to connect to a match online.

Overall thoughts:

The Orange Box is a great compilation game package for the money even at $60 when it was released and now even more so at $25 new. No other company has released such an extensive set of games for such an affordable price. Yes, Half-Life 2 is four years old, but for those that have never played the series, it is a great bargain especially with expansion episodes, Portal, and Team Fortress 2 bundled up together. This is a must have for any gamers’ collection.

Arghh!! En seriooo... te digo cof! cof! que no pueedo argh! argh! haablar al res.. cof! cof! pecto de HL2 EP3.

La información acerca de este nuevo capitulo dentro de la [caótica] vida de Gordon Freeman es escasa y esto porque Valve así lo ha manejado, con total hermetismo.

A pesar de esto tenemos unos datos interesantes los cuales menciono a continuación:

• El tiempo de desarrollo del Episode Three será mayor al tiempo que tardaron en el Episode Two.

• La trama se desarrolla en el carguero de Black Mesa Borealis Aperture Science el mismo donde transcurre Portal y se rumora que aquí es donde Freeman encuentra la pistola de portales y lo cual uniría estas 2 “partes”  del universo Half Life.

• Los episodios 1,2 y 3 son “tomados” como Half Life 3 para sus desarrolladores.

Lamentablemente aún no hay una fecha definida para este nuevo episodio [3] y al parecer les falta mucho por introducir a este, probablemente a finales de este año 2009 sepamos más al respecto de esta zaga mítica de los videojuegos y que, a pesar de haber muchos títulos de FPS en las consolas y pc’s Half Life es uno de los pilares y que tiene un gran número de seguidores, sedientos de saber que le depara el futuro a Gordon Freeman.

Source | ºwikipedia.orgº

Com esse post vou começar uma série de posts falando sobre os 3 melhores jogos de cada console(ah, nesse caso são jogos disponiveis em mais de 1 console), quem definiu os melhores jogos de cada console foram os membros ativos da comunidade do orkut ARENA GAMER. Então começando, os 3 melhores multiplatafomas!

Desenvolvedora: 2K Boston

Publisher: 2K

Lançamento: 21 de agosto de 2007(PC e 360) / 21 de outubro de 2008 (PS3)

Gênero: FPS

Metacritics Score: PC: 96 / Xbox 360: 96 / Playstation 3: 94

Lançado em 2007, com uma história diferente e uma jogabilidade que mistura elementos de FPS e RPG, Bioshock alcançou um enorme sucesso com o público e com a crítica especializada.

Bioshock foi inicialmente lançado para Xbox 360 e PC, o jogo fez muito bonito em termos de vendas e em 2008 também foi lançado para Playstation 3, aparentemente para preparar o caminho para a continuação também na plataforma da Sony.

Além das ótimas notas nos reviews, Bioshock venceu o prêmio de melhor jogo de 2007 de alguns sites e revistas, sendo o de maior de destaque o GOTY da Spike TV.

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Desenvolvedora: Infinity Ward

Publisher: Activision

Lançamento: 6 de novembro de 2007 (PC, PS3 e 360)

Gênero: FPS

Metacritics Score:  PS3: 94 / Xbox 360: 94 / PC: 92

Modern Warfare é a primeira aventura fora da segunda guerra mudial da já consagrada série Call Of Duty. Com uma jogabilidade muito fluida e se passando nos tempos atuais, Call of Duty 4 conseguiu uma base imensa de fãs, e é considerado por muitos o melhor FPS de todos os tempos.

COD 4 até hoje é sucesso nas partidas online, sendo um dos jogos mais jogados tanto entre os donos de Xbox 360 quanto entre os donos de PS3. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare recebeu vários prêmios, o mais importante foi o jogo do ano segundo a AIAS(Academia de Artes Interativas e Ciencias).

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Desenvolvedora: Valve(PC e Xbox 360) / EA UK(PS3)

Publisher: Eletronic Arts / Valve

Lançamento: 10 de outubro de 2007(PC e 360) / 11 de dezembro de 2007(PS3)

Gênero: FPS / Puzzle(Portal)

Metacritics Score: PC: 96 / Xbox 360: 96 / PS3: 89

The Orange Box é uma compilação que trás 5 jogos, Half-Life 2 e Half-Life 2: Episode 1, que já haviam sido lançados, e os novos Half-Life 2: Episode 2, Team Fortress 2(somente multiplayer online) e o que aparentemente foi o maior destaque do pacote, o puzzle original Portal. Half-Life 2 é um clássico dos jogos de tiro, o jogo de 2004 é parâmetro de comparação até hoje, Team Fortress 2 é um jogo feito exclusivamente para multiplayer online, com visual “cartunizado” é um jogo onde o foco total está na “diversão”. Portal é o título mais diferente de todo pacote, é um puzzle onde vc tem que abrir portais nas paredes para superar os obstaculos impostos pelo cenário, um jogo diferente e original que conseguiu arrebatar uma ótima base de fãs, o que acabou rendendo uma continuação(Portal: Still Alive).

The Orange Box foi outro grande sucesso de 2007(que aparentemente foi o melhor ano dessa geração), vendeu muito bem, teve ótimas notas e também ganhou mutios prêmios.

EDIT NOTE: FOUND OUT HOW TO SET CLASS LIMITS, SEE BELOW ON UPDATES OR LOOK AT COMMENTS. THANKS EVERYONE WHO HELPED! =

It seems the only updates that Valve can afford to send XBox gamers their way are the bad ones. Today they introduced class limit to us and are not even telling us how or if we can use it. Seriously. (Found out how to do it, see Updates below!) And so we stay the abandoned children of Valve, having to pay each month to play thanks to Microsoft, yet unable to get updates because of limited memory space (or so I’m told). However, they will take the time to install a class limit, not even bother informing us how it works, and then make us play nice with people now limiting whatever class they think is “0V3RP0W3R3D!!!!” (overpowered in idiot) making some areas literally impossible to get by when barricaded because you can’t have more then one soldier and no demomen or heavies. Yet another reason to pass on this game for the XBox and hit it up on the PC.

Like it? Digg it!

UPDATES:

7/28/09

-Found out how to limit classes!

As the host of a game go under settings (corrected) while in game and scroll down, they’ll be a class limit options. Thanks to whomever posted that on the Xbox forums, even though I can’t find it again. =(

-Edited the above post (7/30)

Ben pointed out I had a couple things wrong on the above UPDATE, sorry about the confusion people and thanks Ben! I would have gotten it straight sooner, but my XBox has issues hosting actual games. (Probably cause of my router.)

For This

…and more hoodrat stuff that I haven’t planned yet. Anyway I leave tomorrow morning and I’ll be there until Saturday. I’ll be reppin’ TSS at the event so you know we’re gonna be doing big things out there. Keep it locked here just in case I deside to drop some dimes in the upcoming days.

Now lets get to the failures of the moment…

Lebron James and the Lebronettes

flick from Getty Images

All the Nike/Gatorade/NBA/and various sports media hype couldn’t buy a W. The Lebrons fail because Lebron did all the work and Mo Williams was nowhere to be found. Let’s not forget Mike Brown never changed his strategy after game 1 which was basically pray they don’t hit a 3 or let Dwight dunk on D and iso on Lebron on offense. Plus we got robbed from seeing Lebron VS Kobe on the NBA’s biggest stage. Instead we’re getting….Trevor Ariza VS Mikael Pietrus???? GARBAGE!

Lebron especially fails for running to the bus after the game without talking to the media. Way to lead your team MVP. Yeah I’m disappointed in dude. I understand that he lost and he has a right to be mad as hell considering his team didn’t show up for most of the series. Still though man up B! Don’t exude bitchassness when you don’t get your way.

It’s really a shame because I liked most of those Lebron/Kobe puppet commercials.

Rafi losses to Soderling in the French Open

flick from nytimes.com

I don’t watch Tennis a lot but I know that Raphael Nadal runs the French Open. He was 31-0 at the tournament and was going for his 5th straight title….until today. He lost to some Swiss dude named Soderling in the 4th round. That’s not even the quarterfinals folks. Yeah Rafi you’re wack as hell for that one. I watched the most of the match in disbelief on some “isn’t this guy supposed to be the best?” I understand upsets happen but damn that’s embarrasing as hell.

So now I can’t watch ball until Thursday. Plus I’ll be looking forward to what looks like a pretty awkward if not boring series. Oh well, at least i’ll be on the West Coast for the first time ever by tomorrow evening. In the meantime I’ll pack at the last minute and contemplate on playing even more TF2 (the new update is amazing). I’ll catch yall later…

]]> http://chriswardzala.com/2009/05/30/team-fortress-2/ Sat, 30 May 2009 23:14:59 +0000 Chris http://chriswardzala.com/2009/05/30/team-fortress-2/

I’ve never played TF2.  I hear about it all the time, and I am told by many people that I would enjoy it, and that I should really play it, but I never got around to it.  With school, and a few million other things to deal with, it wasn’t very high on my list of stuff to do.

I am extremely organized.

Now that I am done, and with the latest updates to the sniper and spy class, I am about to give it a run through.  I have it on my list of things that I need to do now that I have time to do what I want to.  I have been looking over blogs and game sites to try to get up to speed on everything that I have missed in the long delay.  I even checked out the Wikipedia page about it to get as much info as I could.

So I need some more reviews, and I need some tips from people who have actually played and love the game.  I don’t want to go into this the same way I went into Halo 3 multiplayer.

Ouch.

Currently though, I am playing through inFamous, which I absolutely love.  It is for sure a great reason besides Blu-ray for owning a PS3.  Its the first game that I was excited about for the PS3, and also wanted to Pre-Order.