Archive for February, 2008

Seems like the PlayStation loyalist are getting some love sent their way, what with eagerly anticipated titles such as Metal Gear Solid 4 getting a launch date and exclusive console bundles too! Adding more cheer to the parade here, is Gaming Indians, who have come with mega triple offer for both, the PSP and PS3 fans, in form of God of War: Chains of Olympus and Patapon for the PSP and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue for the PlayStation 3.Under this offer, you get to save INR 225 on each of the Patapon and GoW:Chains of Olympus and INR 270 on GT5 Prologue.

Interested?

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Did You Just Wet Your Pants?

Who said gamers don’t have a social life? For all those skeptics out there who believe gamers are those species who just camp in the dark basement and game all night jacking off to the barely-clad Japanese RPG chicks, ten of us hardcore gamers from Bangalore got together to prove them wrong!

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If you haven’t guessed already, this week’s feature deals with the Best Real-Time Strategy Games of all time. Clearly it’s something incredibly hard to decide, especially considering just how many awesome Strategy games that are out there right now, not counting eternal classics that have withstood the test of time to this day. No, I’m not talking about ancient pieces of history like Dune II or Civilization. Indeed, for a long time the only seeming piece of strategy a computer was considered to exhibit was a simple (yet incredibly complex) game of Chess.Chess was where it all began; simple white vs black, a set piece of units and a board to play on. Many early Strategy games were surprisingly, simply digital versions of Chess. Back then, whole computers were dedicated to making veritable opponents for human players and for a while it was truly the first ‘Strategy’ game for what was considered ‘digital media’ way back in the 1960s and ’70s. This, of course, has been ever changing up to the more recent (and more famous) Deep Blue and its prodigious cousins. Granted, the entire thing would be considered more of a console Strategy Game if you want to be a technical bitch – but they are Strategy Games nonetheless.

Of course we aren’t here to discuss centuries old games that have withstood the test of time. No, we’re here to discuss the very best of RTS games – the ones that have excelled in game play, story and/or just sheer awesomeness that allows them to stand out amongst the crowd of copy-cats that inhabit most genres these days. Without further ado, on with the show!

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Games improve your memory. Research has proven that people who play games have higher levels of concentration than those who don’t. Games help develop strategic thinking. Games help surgeons improve hand-eye coordination skills. Managers leverage games to help build and develop team dynamics at work.

BULLSHIT!

This one believes claims like these hold about as much water as the allegations that games inspire violent and psychotic acts. It’s a simple fact, that the roles games play in our lives are the roles we choose to assign to them, just like the roles movies, books or music play! Games are a means of entertainment, a story-telling medium, and by their own right, works of art in the interactive space. Analyzing their contribution to society from a utilitarian perspective is just a vain attempt to hook the nay-sayers in, and dispel (VERY widely held) notions that games are “a waste of time” and “meant for kids”. Honorable intentions for sure, but this just ain’t the right way to go about it!

Hit the jump for more of this drivel.

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As the popular myth goes, gamers really don’t have a love-life, a sex-life or a life of any kind to speak of. Gamers are just meant to guzzle on Game Fuel while they live out their Master Chief fantasies, all the while Googling up “Cortana-Master Chief sex” search strings. Valentine Days are meant to be celebrated by the mushy types. A hardcore gamer would rather prefer a well perforated and bullet ridden alien rather then a beautiful red rose. And lets face it: Who needs women except for when you need a quick sandwich between your COD4 MP breaks?

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Red Alert 3 is coming.

You heard that right. Command & Conquer Red Alert Three will be probably revealed in a PC Gamer Exclusive in there special April issue. While RA3’s existence isn’t completely new (there were several unofficial announcements way back in 2004 and 2005), a sneak peak in an English magazine (the other rumor floating about was in a Belgium magazine) to find out just what EA is doing is definitely worth a look. Now all I gotta find is an issue of PCGamer waaay out here in the middle of nowhere and I’ll be all set. Until then though, I’ll probably just have to satisfy myself by taking a look through the scant few screenshots available that can be found here.

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The market place is teeming with vibrancy and life to a point where you actually feel you’re in 11th century Jerusalem. However being an assassin in such troubled times means only one thing, you’re in the city on business. Your target, a town preacher with a hidden agenda.

You wait, watching from the roof tops as he makes his way to a secluded spot after spewing his half-baked propaganda. As soon as he’s alone, you descend from the sky, his back facing you as you hurl a few punches at him, beating him into submission. No one said this would be non-violent, or so god damned involving.

While he puts up a feeble resistance to your super-human combat skills, the trees sway, creating shadows that dance across the stone buildings in the mid-day sun, you can almost feel the breeze. The city crier concedes and vital information changes hands. You draw your sword to reschedule his appointment with god.

All seems well, until, from absolutely nowhere, a burly man decked in 11th century couture decides to amble down this lonely spot and manages to miraculously walk in between your blade and the victim. And come out unscathed. David Copperfield’s ancestor perhaps?

It’s amazing how an anomaly can reduce an experience like this to the rank of a mere video game with flaws et al.

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