Loading ...
Yeah, so the last article I posted didn’t actually say Part 2, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t!
In part 3 of our WCG 2007 (and definitely our final article on this event, we bring you an interview with one of the WCG participants - Ajay Chekalia. We also interviewed another gentleman who pretty much kicked ass at Counter Strike : Amitoj Duggal, however, due to extremely fucked up audio, there’s no way we can put it up here.
We spoke to Ajay about the event and what he thought about it. He shared some interesting insights with us and explained the advantages of using a wheel for racing games, the super-quantum flux theory and why Freud dreamt of trains going into tunnels.
An interesting (but we found amusing) point he made, was the fact that once you’ve played 1 racing sim, you’ve played them all. Ajay came 2nd on day 1, in PGR3, considering that the only other contender was his friend, but overall he ranked 4th in the Delhi leg of the tourney - but this was the 1st time EVER, he’d played the game. So all his practice hours were pretty much spent with NFS Carbon. Yeah - you got it. NFS Carbon is the shit!
Overall, this guy pretty much knew what he was talking about and we found it quite a delightful experience talking to him. Good luck in Mumbai, old chap. Have a jolly good time and bring us back some goodies. Perhaps we’ll invite you over to a cup of Earl Grey, lad!
Download the video here.
What is Demo Night?
Demo Night is an event organized by the New York chapter of the IGDA, and provides local game developers with an opportunity to present work-in-progress or recently completed projects to an audience of their peers.
Drew Sikora from gdnet has a great article covering all the details of the event with a lot of videos as well, so head over their and check it out
I was back in the city once again to attend the this year’s second Demo Night, the sixth one overall. I reported earlier this year on Demo night V, which was a great event and I wasn’t dissapointed this time around either. Six great games were demoed in the space of 3 hours, and once again Heavy Melody was on hand with the video equipment to cover the event as well. Thanks to them you’ll get to see video clips instead of having to read my boring text. Three cheers! The developers behind the six games are all from the New York City area and nearby cities, making it a great showcase event for the NYC IGDA Chapter. Not only are developers showing off their games in development, but they’re also revealing a lot of information about the games and their development as well. Kind of a pre-postmortem almost.
The games that were demo’d
- Frontlines: Fuel of War
- Blackwell Unbound
- U.B. Funkeys
- Marathon: Durandal
- Casablanca
- Dogfights
Sorry for the delay folks - but finally my internet connection is back up and I can show you guys the video interview TAP did with Cyril Ferry - Head of Marketing; Indiagames.
We asked Cyril a bunch of questions ranging from the absence of CS : Source in the WCG to the current state of gaming in India. We also spoke about the lack of console based multi-player games and also about a certain game magazine that (no-surprise) wasn’t invited to cover the event!
So sit back and watch. Our apologies for the poor audio though. As you’ll see, we got an all access pass to everything backstage, and that’s where we ended up - backstage - so there was a lot of noise to be had. Therefore, video best watched with a pair of headphones on. To preserve quality, we haven’t uploaded it on Youtube or similar, but provide it as a direct download from this space exclusively.
And if you like the intro tune, remember to download Frets on Fire.
Download the video here.
[youtube 0RWQ7R555i4]
Remember poor old Master Chief and his horrible experience with the Halo 3 beta? Well, things aren’t looking up for the lil’ guy, thanks to the Arbiter taping over his favorite Halo 3 ads with reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond and finding out that the beta is, sadly, no more.
Contemplating suicide, the EmCee redeems himself with some good old fashion forum trolling, Halo 2 team-bashing and a lot more awful spelling mistakes. Sure, it’s not as funny as the original was, but hey, anything to dull the pain of BioShock not being here yet. That, and, “mastr chƎƎf’s suiside note” kicks ass!
How I hate my stupid 256k connection. Been downloading the BioShock demo since 9 AM and the damn thing still isn’t done. Of course, until I wait for the remaining 31% of the demo to complete, I need something to do. Thankfully, for sorry blokes like me, 2K Boston, formerly Irrational, have released the launch trailer for BioShock, which is, eerily, set to the upbeat tune of Frank Sinatra’s “Somewhere beyond the sea”, even as the video shows off the Big Daddy holding and (comically, yet painfully) shaking the player’s head with just one gigantic hand. Ahh, good times, although I must say, I don’t like the Little Sisters’ red eyes. They were a lot more creepier when they looked like regular, sick 12-year old girls who kept yelling “Look, Mr. Bubbles! Adam!” and “Get him, Mr. B!” Oh well!
BioShock Launch Trailer - HD Windows Media [GameTrailers]
And oh, in case you are a PS3 owner and still wondering if the game will hit your favorite Piano Black console with the Spiderman font on it, well, sorry, chumps. Ken Levine has pretty much stated that BioShock will stay exclusive to the PC and the Xbox 360. Looks like you’ll have to spend money on that shiny PC upgrade after all.
Strangely though, for a game that has been generating tremendous applause ever since it was first announced, it looks like the game almost didn’t get made, according to senior designer Joe McDonagh. Speaking to CVG about the game, Joe said:
“Bioshock was a long time in the making. Ever since System Shock II the team had talked about everything they wished they’d done differently. Ken (Levine) spent years pitching the game to publishers but no one was interested, incredible as that seems now. I joined Irrational in December 2004 and my first job was to get a publishing deal for the game (I worked as the Business Development Director for the first six months). I remember pitching the game to one publisher who later told a friend of mine that it was ‘just another fucking PC FPS that’s going to sell 250,000 units.’”
Just another fucking PC FPS? Looks like BioShock might go the way of System Shock 2, which is probably one of the greatest games ever made in the history of gaming, but sadly, didn’t too well at the market. Of course, one hopes that won’t be the case, since the future of a lot of my favorites, including the “Shock” and the SWAT series depends on Irrational scoring big time with this game. Time for FPS fans and jaded game publishers to take their heads out of their ass and start seeing the quality that’s around them instead of sinking more funds into a brain-dead Need For Speed franchise!
“Mr. Frodo! Look! It’s an oliphant!” Well, no, not exactly. But we have elephants! After not having the awesome mammoth creatures to squish, gore and destroy enemies in Ensemble’s Age of Empires franchise for a long time now, the upcoming expansion to the third AoE game, The Asian Dynasties, is all set to bring the mighty elephants back in the Indian campaign. Being an Indian myself, I can’t put into words how awesome it is to see my 8th grade history lesson come alive on my PC and how, years after that forced-labor camp called school (I kid, I kid..) I am learning more history through a PC game made in the United States… hmmm.
With a new bunch of hi-def videos touching upon the Japanese and Indian civilizations in the game, Big Huge Games’ CEO Brian Reynolds talked about how players would get six different elephant units, two camel units and a number of other special units like the Gurkha, the double-sword wielding Rajput, the Mansabdars and the Sepoy musketeer to take the fight against the East India Company in India’s first struggle for independence. Talking about the elephant units, Brian detailed the mahouts, with their powerful “splash damage” melee attack, howdahs full of archers, flail elephants that take on buildings and siege units and the all powerful siege elephants, with cannons mounted on their sides.
The interview spills a number of details about the Indian campaign, including how it’s the last of the three campaigns in the expansion, (hence seeing some of the most dramatic and challenging chapters in the game) the unique Home City cards system for India and the Indian wonders including the Taj Mahal, the Agra Fort and the Charminar Gate. Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties is scheduled for an Autumn 2007 release date.
The Asian Dynasties Updated Q&A - Details on India [GameSpot]
The Asian Dynasties Updated Q&A - Details on the Japanese [GameSpot]
HD Video - The Indian Civilization [GameTrailers]
HD Video - The Japanese Civilization Featurette [GameTrailers]
No news on the beta still (Announcement / Details) and Infinity Ward has promised all those with their keisters parked at the CoD4 website that they will give us a big heads-up long before the beta is about to be released, and even put a monster countdown timer till sign up opens. So please, keep your panties on for now, we will let you know the instant the sign up announcements are made, as well as mirroring the countdown timer right here.
In the meantime, amuse yourself by checking out the latest Perk video, called Ghillie in the Mist, which shows off the UAV Jammer and Extreme Conditioning. More details straight from the overworked souls at IW:
We’re doing things completely different with this video. Instead of showing off one awesome perk, we’re showing off an entire Sniper class. This video is triple the length, showing off double the perks, and did I mention it’s all Ghillie action? In this video we’re showing off UAV Jammer and Extreme Conditioning, two perks which are great for snipers, but work in pretty much any scenario. We decided to make this video epic, to do that we played in Hardcore Mode, which explains why there’s no HUD on the screen, no Kill Cam, and increased weapon damage. We also decided to film in some 3rd person perspective. You’ll never play in 3rd person perspective, but when you’re spectating, you’ll be in 3rd person following people.
In the video, our Sniper is lurking through the overgrown brush (ever wondered why we call this map Overgrown?), where he makes contact with three enemy troops. After taking out their point man, the enemies call in an air strike on his position, which is when the Extreme Conditioning perk comes in handy; allowing him extended sprint to haul ass out of the area before the jets come in and devastate it. Once barely escaping the air strike, the Sniper utilizes the environment with his Ghillie suit and UAV Jammer to stay off enemy radar as they rush over to clear the area and look for any survivors.
The rest… speaks for itself.
In the end, UAV Jammer allows you to remain undetected on enemy radar, while Extreme Conditioning allows for extended sprinting time. As you can tell, pretty useful perks for just about any class.
Click the links below to download the video.
HD Flash Video (Requires Flash Player)
HD Quicktime
HD Windows Media