Gaming in Windows

I was quite suprised this Friday when I opened my steam client.  This was staring me in the face.

All I can really say is that I view this as a good sign for PC gaming.  Steam has become the defacto delivery system for many PC gamers today.  EA used to segregate their games to the online store and EA downloader that they run.  It is a smart move for them to get the software out where more people might purchase it.  I don’t know if the infamous DRM has been removed from the titles on Steam or not.  I would probably guess that it has not.  I wish they moved the content on Steam a month ago.  I purchased Mass Effect for the PC and played through it.  I would have bought it on Steam if they had it available when I wanted to buy it.  I hope EA launches all future titles simultaneously through all distribution channels.  I don’t want to wait to have to get it through the delivery system I choose to use.

The sooner PC gaming embraces one content delivery system the better.  Having a unified place where you can buy or play any game that comes out is good for building a community.  Steam already has community building features integrated into it.  The crowd of PC gamers is gathering there.

In other news.  Games for Windows Live has finally been released on a stand alone client.  You finally don’t have to be in the interface of a game to interact with it.  I downloaded it to check it out.  It currently isn’t worth the download.  You can’t see your friendslist, send messages to other people in Live, or even launch your games.  All it seemed like you could do was download some trailers from games.  GFW Live is late to the party and seems to be moving at a snail’s pace on development.  I don’t think there is any way for them to catch up and be the main community for PC gaming.

Bioshock is currently on sale for 50% off the regular price in Steam until July the 28′th.  It works out to $14.99.

I’ve been meaning to play this game for a long time.  My computer wasn’t up to snuff when the game was intially released.  Since then, I’ve upgraded the computer but have been preocupied with other games.  When I saw that it was on sale, I purchased and had the game downloading in under 5 minutes.  I’ve been playing it quite a bit tonight.  I’m almost finished with the Neptune’s Bounty area.  This is one of those games that you don’t want to rush through.  You want to see everything and absorb all of the atmosphere.

The game has an old-school 50s kind of vibe that fits it perfectly.  There are snippits of old songs that play in the background as you roam through the undersea city.  The art direction in the game is perfect.  The sound and art all fit together to create some heavy ambience.  You feel like Rapture is a real underwater city, and you’re clawing through it for your life.

The game is a shooter, with some supernatural power elements thrown in (they are called plasmids).  It’s pretty standard fare as far as shooters go, until the first time you tangle with a Big Daddy.  The magic of the Big Daddy fight is that the player triggers the fight.  The Big Daddy (and companion Little Sister) roam the city in a pattern.  They are unconcerned with your presence until you act in a hostile manner towards them.  Then, Big Daddy gets mad, his eyes turn red, and you better be ready to hit the health packs.  This creates an interesting situation where you can set up traps and attack him in an area of your choosing.  It is a great strategic element that most shooters lack.

I’m still digging into the game.  It will be a while before I finish it, and then I’ll probably play through the game again.  There is a binary choice you can make to harvest (and kill) or save (and get less loot) the Little Sisters.  I’m being the good guy this time, and I’m sure I’ll play through the game as the bad guy when I’m finished.  I’ve read that the game has two different endings, depending on the choice to harvest or save the Little Sisters.

It’s an amazing game so far.  It would be unfortunate for any PC gamer with a decent computer to miss out on it.  It would be a downright shame to miss out on it at 50% off.

Diablo 3 has been announced by Blizzard.  It, as well as Starcraft 2, are currently in development.

I spent many days and nights playing everything that Blizzard has released since the original Diablo.  In my mind, they are the premier developer for the PC platform.  I can’t wait to see more on both games.

Here is a gameplay video that was released on the official webpage.  It shows two of the classes that are going to be available in the game: Barbarian and Witchdoctor.  Since this game has finally made the leap to a true 3d engine,  you will be able to choose the gender of your character.

I downloaded a game a couple of days ago.  It’s called Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy.  The game, if you don’t remember it, is a Playstation 2 and XBox era console game that was ported over to the PC.  It is now sort of free on fileplanet.  The game is ad supported.  You view a short commercial (it has been a shoe advertisement for me) every time you start up or exit the game.  Beyond that, if there are ads, I haven’t noticed them.  It isn’t too terribly intrusive.  You can download the game here if you are interested.

 You are a soldier who has had his memory wiped (how convenient!).  You have paranormal abilities that remanifest as you play through the single player storyline.  I’m not too far along in the game yet, but I can already use Telekenesis to move objects remotely, and remote view, which is like stepping outside of your body for a stroll around.  It is an interesting twist on the standard shooter faire.  At times the telekenesis seems vastly overpowered, because the enemies you lift and throw around do not shoot at you as you hold them aloft with your mind.

Graphically, the game shows its PS2 and Xbox roots.  The highest resolution that the game supports is 1280×1024 (4:3 format).  I’m not the biggest fan of 3rd person in a shooter game.  I prefer 1st person point of view.  However, the 3rd person camera in this game hasn’t caused me any problems yet.  It was obviously designed as a console game.  It has auto-aim assist turned on, which is a common practice for our gaming cousins from the wrong side of the tracks.  The controls feel a little sluggish at times.  I think that is also by design, in order to smooth out controlling the game via analog sticks.

All irritating factors aside, it IS a free game (well, sort of).  That fact alone is hard to beat.  I’d really like to see more of this type of business model in the future.  Games like Psi-Ops, which have reached their practical end of life as a revenue stream can be used to generate goodwill in the gaming community.  Midway published this, and I’d like to give them a big thumbs up for taking the time to give us this game.  Also, thumbs up to Fileplanet, for hosting and promoting this type of business model.  I still think the premium fileplanet memberships are a rip-off, but I do like the free games that they are hosting!

I want to take this post to talk about a great example of how to do a Windows game properly.  I’m talking about Peggle Deluxe from Popcap Games.  I played Peggle for many bleary eyed sessions on my old computer.  After building the new gaming rig, I decided to redownload it and set the game up.  I have become completely readdicted as a result.

For those of you who have yet to become Peggle addicts, Peggle is one of the simplest games that I’ve ever played.  Yet, It is also one of the more addictive ones also.  The playing field is simply comprised of a single square in your window that is filled with a pattern of orange and blue pegs.  There is a gun at the top of the screen that fires out a ball.  Your goal is to clear the screen of all orange pegs.  If the ball bounces against a peg, it lights up and dissapears.  You get 10 shots per round, unless you earn more.  Once you fire the ball away, you have no more control until the ball falls off the bottom of the screen.  Then you can fire another ball, and watch it plink its way down, lighting up pegs as it goes.

There are different characters you can play as.  Each character has a special power that you can use by hitting special pegs.  There isn’t too much in the way of complex strategy.  It’s certainly not a deep thinker’s game.  However, it touches on something that most people seem to find inherently fun.  The simple act of trying to light up the pegs with the bouncing ball is fun.  I can’t really explain why.  To me, it is fun in the way that pinball is fun.  Pinball has more interaction and skill involved, but Peggle seems the same fun buttons for me.

The first thing that Peggle does right, is execute on the fun of it’s concept.  The game doesn’t get in it’s own way.  Peggle also gets the feel right.  It’s splashy, big, bright, cartoony, and pretty to look at.  Every game doesn’t have to look dreary and be set in a cave, sewer, or industrial factory.  Art directors for games are starting to grasp on to this.  The music and sound effects are more perfectly matched to this game than any other game I can think of.

The final thing I want to talk about Peggle getting right is illustrated in the image below.  As of my playing last night, Peggle has been released for over a year.  Take a look at the product version number.  Version 1.0.0.1.  Peggle gets everything right without falling into release it now and patch it later syndrome.  Three cheers for Popcap Games.

If you want to check the game out, there is a demo available on Steam, or you can download it from Popcap’s webpage.  (The full version costs $19.95, they even got the price right!)  I’m warning you though, the game is more addictive than Pringles.

I’ve been longing for a new computer for a while.  I hemmed and hawed about it.  Waiting for the perfect time and the best deals to show up in the Fry’s ad.  Finally, last weekend, I broke down and purchased the parts to build an all new computer.  I haven’t had a new machine for nearly 5 years.  The old one could still play most of the games I wanted to play, but it was struggling with them.  I was wringing every bit of performance I could out of it, and it just wasn’t enough anymore.  I also have the goal of using my old machine as a dedicated recording system for my little home music studio.

As we rolled into Fry’s, I had a few goals in building the system.  I wanted to get a dual core processor.   I wanted to go with an Nvidia 9600GT videocard.  I wanted to get Windows Vista.  I also wanted to make sure that I got a motherboard that was set up for Nvidia SLI (dual videocards).  Having some upgrade headroom was a major factor in what components I picked out.  In the future, when performance starts getting borderline, I will be able to throw in another 9600GT and have them work in tandem.  The processor can be swapped out with a faster quad core chip in the future as well.  After picking up all of the components that I needed, the total worked out to $1029 after tax.  The only things recycled from my old setup are mouse, keyboard, optical drive, and monitor.  Besides those components, this is a full system for just a hair over a grand, including the cost of the OS.

I think this is the first time I didn’t draw blood while assembling a computer.  I used an Antec case, and was very pleased with it.  They did a cool thing with the hard drive mounting.   The drives don’t actually contact the frame of the case.  They are supported by screws that run through rubber grommets.  These grommets act as a cushion that helps absorb shocks and vibrations.  I don’t plan on throwing my machine down the stairs, but it’s a nice touch that they didn’t have to add in there.

After building the machine, I set up Vista.  The only drivers that I had to add manually were the video adapter drivers.  That was no big deal, I would have updated those to the most recent version anyways.  Right out of the box, with no hassles, Vista detected every other component and had it all working for me.  I checked my internet access, it was working properly.  So I hit up the download for Steam and then told Steam to download Eve Online and Team Fortress 2.  I set up my e-mail and such while waiting for Steam to set the games up.  Then, when they were downloaded, I checked them out on the new system.  I was completely blown away by the difference in performance and graphics fidelity with this new computer.  Everything I tried to play ran as smooth as silk with every graphics setting turned on maximum at my monitor’s native res of 1680 x 1050.  The most demanding thing I tried was Team Fortress 2.

On a whim, I threw in a TV tuner card that I had in an old computer.  I haven’t messed around with it too much yet, but so far, I’ve had a great impression of the Media Center functions in Vista.  Vista also supported the card (Hauppauge WinTV PVR PCI II) with no hitches.  That was a pleasant suprise, because I expected some issues with a card that is a bit more obscure than your average soundcard or graphics card.

It’s amazing to me how cheap computer components are for the performance you can get.  When you look at the bang for buck factor, building your own pc is still the way to go as long as you know the technical stuff to do it and are willing to support it yourself.  This system is no slouch in performance, and is cheaper than the cheapest Dell XPS Gaming Desktop system (XPS 630) (it also has better components in it).

Recently, I’ve pried myself away from Team Fortress 2.  Why in the world would I do that, you ask?  Well, it is because CCP has released Eve Online on Steam with a 21 day free trial.

Anyone who knows me personally knows that I’m a huge sci-fi fan.  Regardless if the medium is books, movies, games or whatever,  it is the setting that always seems to draw me to it.  Eve Online is set in the sci-fi setting.  You’re a member of one of four factions in the huge expanses of space.  The future is far flung and everyone has a superluminal starship.

The game is quite flexible.  What you do with your life is up to you.  There are many paths you can choose to take.  Miner, Pirate, Bounty Hunter, Archaeologist, and Corporation Manager are only a few of the viable options.  You choose which skills you want to train, and then tell your character to train them.  Now, here is where we’ve reached something that makes Eve special.  You can train these skills while you’re offline.  I think that this feature is something that we will begin to see in future MMO games.  It’s very convenient to tell my character to train something that will take 8 hours or more, then go off to work in real life, knowing when I return that I will have a new skill trained.  When you think about the concept of a subscription based game, the offline skill training fits in nicely.  Why not allow the players to make progress during the entire time they are paying for the game.  This seems like it could be a game breaking thing, where the game basically plays itself.  However, in the way Eve is designed, you have to make use of the skills that you’ve trained in order to actually better your character’s ship or standings.  The skills simply create the potential in your character, you have to exploit that potential for fun and profit.

At first, I thought the interface in the game was a mess.  But, one you spend a day or so figuring it out, you realize that it is actually quite flexible and efficient.  One of my favorite features of the interface is the ability to bookmark a location and easily return to it later.  For example, say I find a sweet asteroid belt with dense veldspar asteroids instead of the usual regular veldspar asteroids.  I can right click on one of the asteroids and bookmark the location.  Then after I return my cargo of ore to the space station, I can simply right click, go to bookmarks, and tell my ship to warp back to the asteroid belt.  It takes much of the tedium out of travel.

Speaking of mining, that is the aspect of the game that I’ve been enjoying the most so far.  It’s quite relaxing and it allows me to surf, read email, write blog posts, feed the dog/cat, or whatever, while still my ship is mining asteroids inside the game.  Each zone has a security rating that tells you if you’ll recieve police assistance if you’re attacked.  So I simply stay in secured space and mine my asteroids for profit.  If I’m feeling adventurous, I warp to a solar system that is has less police patrols and try to mine better asteroids.

One of the nice features of the game is the fact that there are no classes.  If, later on down the road, I decide that I’m sick of mining.  I can pick new skills and start training those.  You don’t have to completely throw your character out in order to do something different.

I think this is one of the better designed MMO games on the market.  It’s been around a long time and seems quite stable.  They’ve launched an upgraded graphics engine that my computer can’t handle.  So the game may look better on your computer than it does on mine.  It is still a gorgeous game, even with the older graphics enabled.  The game is quite soothing.  I think that has to do with some combination of the way I’m playing the game, the “Hearts of Space” music, and the visuals.  Overall, I think this game is going to hook me enough to get me to subscribe for a while.  The 21 day trial probably won’t be enough.  If you decide to give the game a shot, I warn you now, that you will hate the interface at first.  But, just give it some time and do the tutorial missions, then you begin to see the elegance in the interface.  Also, the game just won’t be everyone’s cup of tea.  It’s more of a “make your own fun” game than a funneled experience.   That’s part of what makes it great.  Where some MMO games seem like a trip from one Disneyland ride to the next, this actually feels like a world.  I’m sure I’ll be blowing some suckas up in TF2 on the side, but Eve is great for when I want to veg-out and relax while gaming.

A long awaited patch has gone live on Team Fortress 2 this weekend.  The patch adds a new map called “Gold Rush” to the game.  This mode has one team escorting a bomb through the map, and the other team defending against it.  Standing next to the bomb cart causes it to propel forward.  If it sits long enough with no forward motion, it will begin to roll backwards.  I played it a little today and had a blast.  In this type of game, the more variety you can have, the better.

Medic specific achievements were also added with this patch.  Unlocking the achievements also unlocks new weapons that you can use with the medic.  The new weapons are balanced with positives and negatives.  Again, more variety is a great thing in this type of game.  It keeps things from getting boring.  So far, I’ve unlocked the 14 of the new medic achievements.  That unlocked the first new weapon.  It’s a syringe gun that steals life, but cannot get critical hits.

Valve has made this weekend a TF2 free weekend.  So, even if you don’t own the game.  Just download it through steam and you can play till the 5′th of May.

Team Fortress 2 has been the big cheese on my hard drive for a while now.  I’ve been trying to get my gaming buddies to try out the game too.  So far, the only person I’ve talked into trying it is my wife.  She was reluctant at first, but now loves playing the game.  The over the top, cartoony visual style seems to draw in people who aren’t usually interested in this type of game.  I think they took the old Team Fortress ideas and boiled them down to exactly what makes the game fun.  It’s an all out throw-down between the red and blu teams.  I’m glad they didn’t include a straight deathmatch mode with the game.  The focus on teamwork is part of what makes this game great.

The game has 9 different classes that you can play.  Each type has a different twist on gameplay.  This allows you to choose which class suits your personality.  For example, if you like playing defensively, you can create turrets as an engineer.  If you always find yourself on the front lines, then the scout or soldier might be more your style.  I believe they have a class for everyone.  You don’t have to be a rocket jumping, rail gunning, FPS master to be an asset to your team.  This design also keeps you from burning out on the game too quickly.  If you get tired of a class, you can switch to any of the other classes and have a vastly different experience.

The game keeps statistics on your performance while you play.  After you die in the game, while waiting to respawn (usually less than 20 seconds), the game will report any “personal records” that you’ve broken or nearly achieved during the last life.  By comparing your stat against yourself, instead of the other players, the game hooks you with the goal of beating your best records.  This also has the chance of turning dying, a negative thing, into a happy moment as the game informs you that you had more kills with a sentry gun during that life than you ever had before.

In general, the maps are fast and free flowing.  It takes less than a minute to get into the frontline action after you respawn, in some cases it’s just a few seconds until you’re back in battle.  There are giant flashing arrows to show you which direction to go on the more confusing maps.  These arrows don’t seem out of place at all, because of the cartoon environment.  There are custom maps, but the ones Valve provides with the game are Control Point (stand on the control point until it turns your team’s color), or Capture The Flag (grab the enemy’s intelligence briefcase and return it to your base).  So far, I prefer the Control Point maps.  CP_Well and CP_Badlands are my favorites.  Michelle really likes CTF_2Fort.  Which is based off one of the most popular Team Fortress maps from the old Quake mod that started all of this madness.

The multiplayer features in Steam really elevate this game.  There is integrated voice chat for each team in the game.  The chat works well, but the quality of the commentary varys wildly.  The friends list in Steam makes it really easy to find what server your friends are playing on and join up with them.

Valve has put Team Fortress 2 on sale this weekend (through April 21st).  The regular price for stand-alone TF2 is $29.95.  You can get it this weekend for $19.95.  If you check it out, look for me on Steam.  My Steam ID is jessestephens.  Now if I could just talk the rest of my gaming friends into trying it out.

This sucks. 

Games for Windows - The Official Magazine, formerly Computer Gaming World, has gone “online only”.  The print version of the magazine has been shut down.

I’ve been seeing posts on message boards that say they saw this coming.  Saying people are stupid for buying the magazine because they could “get reviews for free on the net”.  Well, reviews were not what this magazine was about.  Although I enjoyed them, I didn’t read GFW (and CGW before it) for the reviews.  I read it for the type of videogame articles that you can’t get anywhere else.  It went deeper than the usual game reviews and sneak peeks.  There were articles about gaming culture in other countries, online gaming issues, the culture of cheating in games, the state of storytelling in modern pc games, ect.  There was more to this magazine than videogame tips and review scores.

The editors of GFW are still employed.  However, they are transitioning into a role of providing online content at 1up.com.  Now the good stuff, if it’s continued, will be buried inside the pc section of yet another random webpage that I can’t read at work.

The general thinking now seems to be that it doesn’t make sense to provide content to gamers through a magazine.  People are saying that PC gamers are online now, so deliver your content to them through that medium.  That line of thought doesn’t fit me, because I enjoy reading the magazines when I’m at work or away from my computer.   I’m a pc gamer.  When I have free time on the pc I tend to actually PLAY pc games.

Besides the convenience factor of being able to enjoy reading about my hobby away from the computer, there is the issue of the loss to pc gaming as a whole.  Microsoft has been pushing “Games for Windows” as a platform that will compete with other gaming platforms (Playstation, Nintendo, ect…).  With the loss of GFW’s magazine there is less presence for the platform on newsstands and it will be easier for people to dismiss the platform as small potatoes.  The word is that Microsoft gave Ziff-Davis their blessing on moving GFW to online only.  If that is the case, I think Microsoft needs to take another look at their strategy for marketing the best gaming platform on earth.

Jeff Green’s Blog about the closing. (GFW Editor-In-Chief)