Have a Little Faith

I've been playing a little bit of Mirror's Edge lately and there are a couple things I've noticed. The first is simply that Faith, the game's protagonist, has man hands, (and arms)... (click for full size image)

Also, for a city where the police frown upon people running around on rooftops, advertisements seem to be placed in locations where only rooftop couriers will see them. (click for full size image)

Something Fun, Halo 3-style

I took a screenshot of a Halo 3 match a while ago because I wanted to show off my fly grenade-hat. That's right, I like to roll up on my enemies with a grenade on my head cause I'm hardcore like that.

Dead Space

It's 1:30am and I'm wandering the corridors of a derelict mining ship. The only sounds are my own ragged breath, muffled by my helmet and an occasional metallic clank as the ship falls apart. I am Isaac Clarke, an engineer sent to repair the Ishimura, a huge 'planet cracker' class starship, but I have bigger problems now. Most of the crew of the Ishimura is dead, missing or worse. It seems some sort of infection has turned many of them into monstrous creatures who want nothing more than to paint the ship red with my blood. To make matters worse the shuttle I arrived on has been destroyed, most of my own crew are dead and my girlfriend is somewhere on this ship, hopefully alive.

I've finally found time to play Dead Space and I'm midway through the fourth chapter. As I played through the first chapter I had doubts as to whether or not I'd be able to get into it, but the further I progress, the more I'm drawn in. Between the audio, video and text logs and my communication with the remainder of my ship's crew, I feel drawn in not only to finding out what happened on the ship and escaping with my life, but also interested in the several subplots that revolve around my own crew and the crew of the Ishimura.

If I wanted to say there is a gimmick to the game I guess it would be be that each enemy has specific points that must be targeted, but it doesn't feel like a gimmick. In fact, I find it to be an inspired decision on the part of the designers. Not only does it make you adapt your strategy based on what sort of enemy you are faced with, but each time you encounter a new sort of enemy it becomes a miniature boss battle where you must find the weakness and exploit it.

I also find myself enjoying the adventure/RPG aspects of the game. Between being a completionist and the habits I've cultivated having played many adventure and survival horror games I explore every nook and cranny of the environment and I am generally rewarded for my efforts not only with the usual health and ammo packs but schematics for new weapons and armor and nodes. In Dead Space 'nodes' are what allow you to upgrade your weapons with greater damage, ammo capacity, rate of fire, etc. or armor with more health or oxygen capacity. The weapons you use and how you use them can be customized to fit you style of play. I have opted so far to put all my nodes into my armor and the starter weapon: the plasma cutter because I like to play defensively, often luring one enemy down a hallway at a time and wearing them down as they follow me.

The only thing that has bothered me about the game so far is the ridiculously contrived situation that my character is in where he has to go from one point to another on the ship fixing every damn system imaginable. I know that this is a common theme in sci-fi suspense movies and games, but if there is a single working system on the entire ship the Ishimura, I am not aware of it. The game so far has been one of 'go here and fix this immediately life-threatening problem... oh now that you've fixed that one, this other new urgent and possibly fatal problem has cropped up so fix that one too.' I can let it go but it would be nice to throw some variation in.

As I said, I am only on the fourth chapter, which is only about one-third of the way through the game, so I certainly cannot comment on the total package. I am confident, however, in saying that any fan of survival/horror or sci-fi/horror/suspense films, (Alien, Sunshine, Event Horizon, The Black Hole, etc.), will want to give Dead Space a shot. Beyond that, I'll have to hold off until I've finished the game before giving my final opinions.

about 1Up.

Upon hearing that 1Up was purchased by the Hearst Corporation last night I felt much as if a good friend had died, or to be more specific, I felt like I'd been sucker-punched in the gut with a sledgehammer. After several years with 1Up always always being there for me when I called on it to entertain or inform me, finding out that not only had the website and magazine been purchased, but that the majority of the writers who made it all what it is had been laid off was a hell of a shock. Of course how I felt must be nothing compared to how the forty or so talented employees, (many of them writers I look up to) felt upon learning that they had lost their jobs.

Frankly, what a fucking disaster. As Jeff Green, (formerly of GFW and 1Up), said on his blog, 1Up will not be the same anymore. 1Up was made what it is by the people who worked there and they are gone so 1Up as I lovingly knew it is dead. What 1Up becomes may well be worthwhile but it won't be the same. I don't care if anyone tries to tell me it's "still the same 1Up," it just isn't. In fact, where 1Up is now reminds me of the son in the movie Changeling.

So here's a toast to 1Up and all the folks who made it what it was. This comes from the heart:
Thank you all for being writers I can look up to and for people who understood the value of your community and for being champions of the value and relevance of video games. Thank you for entertaining, informing and interacting with all of your fans and readers. Thank you for not bending to the will of the lowest common denominator straight to the very end. Thank you all and the best of luck in all your endeavors.

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Former 1Up employees who are now without a job

The PC in '09

Is PC gaming dead? No. Is PC gaming dying? I don't know, but the lineup of quality PC titles set for 2009 makes for a good argument that PC gaming is still alive and will continue to thrive. Here are just a few of the biggest PC titles of '09. (note: Diablo 3 and Dragon Age: Origin are rumored to be recieving console ports)

PC Exclusives
-StarCraft 2
-Dawn of War II
-Diablo 3
-Battlefield Heroes
-Dragon Age: Origin
-Star Wars: The Old Republic
-The Sims 3
-Empire: Total War
-Demigod


Multiplatform games coming to PC
-Bionic Commando
-Wolfenstein
-Ghostbusters
-Rage
-Prototype
-Alpha Protocol
-Alan Wake

It's going to be a good year for PC Gaming.