@THREAD

Format war to come to an early end?

Warner Bros has announced it will unveil a videodisc at CES next week, dubbed Total HD, that plays in both HD DVD and Blu-ray drives.

Makes sense each is a different depth on the media why not put both on one?

@BrianK

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Lack of freedom to move around like in most other TPS games

Correct, I don't care if the game would be compared to other games of gernes though, such as the good old Mario64 or GTA: San Andreas, compared to those you will feel caged and events feel too scripted. Right at the beginning of the game there is this huge damage to the prison building and you peak outside through this huge hole. I wanted to jump outside, I didn't care this would kill me or not. I felt caged as I was unable to move beyond a certain point.

I was also dissapointed that I couldn't fight the huge monster near the villa. I was impressed the first time I was too slow and saw a huge baddy in the distance. So the next time I moved quicker but sadly the gameplay was interrupted by video instead of gameplay.

I was impressed by the water falling on the face in the building where it was raining, however it was dissapointing this wasn't exactly accurate. Just standing near the water dropping you see the water hitting in middle air. OK, with regard to the latter I am nitpicking as in general the game is well polished (albeit a bit dark at times...).

@MikeB

Did you every try it in co-op btw? (GoW)

It's a pretty awesome experience. Far more fun than just single player. Even if your friend running into certain areas in act 2 again and again can be a bit frustrating ;)

@Trezzer

Most of the time at nights and evenings I am with my gf, if you think I am harsh she would rate Gears of War 0%, yes that's what she said. We did enjoy playing Kameo in 2 player though. While testing Gears, she was usually playing Edgar's Warblade.

I wouldn't mind playing online with you and other Gears fans in here though.

I wonder have you ever played Half Life 2? I will likely buy Episode Two for the PS3.

@MikeB

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I wonder have you ever played Half Life 2? I will likely buy Episode Two for the PS3

You rip on GoW for lack of story? Come on is HL2 any better? Half Life 2 is a scientist that somehow gets really cool weapons and turns himself into a fighting machine. Yeah I remember college fondly all the guns we got to test in the Chem Lab.. That's gotta be one of the worst storylines since the MacVirus took out the alien spaceship in Independance Day.

@BrianK

Planet Sera with humans threatened by strange species coming out of the ground all of the sudden saying BOOM BOOM.

vs

Experiments go wrong at Black Mesa Research Facility creating a time-space catastrophe opening a portal between Earth and Xen.

It's not only the story that's IMO better, it's also the story telling and evolving plot. IMO starting with the intro sequence the game sucks you in.

Last edited by MikeB on 04-Jan-2007 at 10:15 PM.

@BrianK

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really cool weapons

He didn't get that cool gravity gun in part 2 just like that. It was used for moving heavy stuff around the compound. The gravity gun is a nice part of the overall story and you get to play fetch with a robot called "dog" to learn how to use it. Parts of Half-Life 1 & 2 are meant to be funny and IMO does this pretty well.

@MikeB

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I wouldn't mind playing online with you and other Gears fans in here though.

Maybe we can set a game up one of these days.

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I wonder have you ever played Half Life 2?

Yeah, but I'm not a big fan of the Half-Life series in general. I tried to get into the first game, but I'm immune to most horror so I was just bored by it really.

I just tried out the demo on my MacBook to see how well it ran (surprisingly well actually), but didn't feel like playing more than that. I was considering getting HL2 pack for the 360 just to give it a shot again, but I doubt I'm going to. I guess it's the same package that's coming for the PS3? (Half-Life 2 plus Half-Life 2: Episode One, Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Team Fortress 2, & Portal.)

@MikeB

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We did enjoy playing Kameo in 2 player though.

Kameo was originally going to become a Nintendo GameCube game, an interesting quote from Sony on the latest Rare developments:

http://ncroal.talk.newsweek.com/default.asp?item=414002

"For seasoned industry observers, the only surprise about yesterday's news that Rare founders Chris and Tim Stamper had left the company was that it had taken this long. Yes, Microsoft's 2002 purchase of the company surely represents one of the company's least successful acquisitions.

During the course of our Playstation 3 reporting last October, we asked Playstation worldwide studios boss Phil Harrison for his thoughts on Rare. Here's our previously unpublished exchange:

This question is a bit separate from your bailiwick, but I've got to take advantage of your insights while I have you here. Being based in the U.K., you're obviously plugged into the local development scene. Why do you think that Rare hasn't been able to regain its former glory?

[Long pause.] Rare is traditionally a very closely held company, a very secretive company. The founders, the Stamper Brothers, almost never gave interviews. They were very private individuals. In fact, before Rare, they had a company called Ultimate, which made games for the 8-bit home computers that were popular in the the 1980s, like the Spectrum and the Commodore 64. I remember that their approach to journalists and reviewers was that if you want to review our game, well, you can go and buy it in the store. They had their own game publisher, that was very successful.

Then they started working for Nintendo, who were themselves a very secretive organization. And so I think that they became quite insular and quite inward-facing, and they missed some of the trends that were going on in the business generally. Now also, if you sell your company to Microsoft and get hundreds of millions of whatevers, currency in the bank, it does tend to defocus management a little bit. But Rare, and prior to Rare, Ultimate, are responsible for some of the best games ever made. And from an industry point of view, I hope they continue to make good games, because they're an inspiration to many of us in the business. I'm sure they'll get their groove back."

Last edited by MikeB on 04-Jan-2007 at 10:50 PM.

@Trezzer

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Yeah, but I'm not a big fan of the Half-Life series in general. I tried to get into the first game, but I'm immune to most horror so I was just bored by it really.

In 1998 there never was a FPS game like this before, with over 8 million PC copies sold it's the best selling PC FPS game ever.

@MikeB

Yeah, Rare haven't really rocked all that hard recently. While Grabbed by the Ghoulies was pretty fun it wasn't exactly a blockbuster. As awesome as Conker's Bad Fur Day was, it was just a remake with added online multiplayer. Perfect Dark Zero was ok but not exactly mindblowing. Kameo was decent enough but ... not enough to get me interested. Viva Piñata is the first to have a real sense of Rare magic and Banjo-Kazooie looks promising.

I hope we're seeing the first steps of a glorious return.

@MikeB

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In 1998 there never was a FPS game like this before, with over 8 million PC copies sold it's the best selling PC FPS game ever.

I'm guessing Counter-Strike has a whole lot to do with that though. Maybe even more than the main Half-Life game.

As for then contemporary shooters I enjoyed SiN a lot more - even if it was mainly for its multiplayer component.

I'm not saying Half-Life wasn't a good game. It just wasn't a good game for me.

Last edited by Trezzer on 04-Jan-2007 at 10:55 PM.

@MikeB

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In 1998 there never was a FPS game like this before, with over 8 million PC copies sold it's the best selling PC FPS game ever.

And McDonald's is the best selling hamburger...

Seriously HL2 will come to the 360 and PS3. It'll be an interesting game to see how the ports work on each console and what the differences are. It's an okay game but I like other games more. Right now I'm with Trezzer - Viva Pinata is keeping my interest.. Thank you Santa.

@BrianK

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The average user in the average American home has a viewing distance of 8-10 feet from the screen. A few people can notice a difference between 1080p and 720p around 50" and most everyone notices the difference if the screen is 60".

Perhaps this is for watching movies, but is this also true for gaming?
Perhaps I'm not average but when I watch a movie at home (I guess I won't be home for 6 months, but that's a different story) I watch it from a comfortable Stokke Peel chair at something like 10 feet, but when I play games on my PS2 I am at something like 3 feet, same TV.

Last edited by jiyong on 05-Jan-2007 at 02:58 AM.

@BrianK

For the PS3 I think there will be keyboard and mouse support in Half-Life 2.

BTW, Logitech's new Cordless MediaBoard keyboard for PS3:
http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/04/logitechs-new-cordless-mediaboard-keyboard-for-ps3-eat-that-ph/

Nice, but I prefer to use a mouse instead of a touchpad. Playing games on my laptop with its touchpad usually is less fun for me.

Burnout 5 should be released around the European PS3 launch as well:

PS3 screenshots (I know the URL suggests otherwise):
http://files.xboxic.com/xbox-360/burnout-5/burnout5-1.jpg
http://files.xboxic.com/xbox-360/burnout-5/burnout5-3.jpg

“At heart, my guys, the Burnout guys, we’re kind of specialists on the Sony system. Because it was always that way on Burnout.

“There’s a lot of negativity everywhere now on PlayStation. And it’s just ’cause people haven’t got it, haven’t seen it. People forget the astonishing stuff Sony have done, not just in the business, but the great software they’ve brought to us, the great hardware they’ve brought to us.”

I expect the European launch to come hand-in-hand with some very positive PS3 reviews, unlike we have seen from most US media. Dozens of launch titles are likely to be available around the European launch and the system is sheduled to receive a major software update to polish the PS3 system software.

@Trezzer

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Rare haven't really rocked all that hard recently

IMO like Microsoft's purshase of Bungie, the purshase of Rare is a real blow to consumer choice. Microsoft does not allow Rare to re-release its Nintendo classics for the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console. Their classics affected include Perfect Dark, Jet Force Gemini, and Banjo-Kazooie. Luckily GoldenEye 007 is copyrighted by Activision and Donkey Kong series by Nintendo.

The best programmers in Rare had already left when Nintendo sold it to MS.
The guys behind the Time Splitters series (Free Radical) are former Rare employees. There is also another development house made up of former Rare employees... Others went to Zoonami.

When Nintendo sold it off to MS, Rare had ideas (and original I.P.) but not much talent. Nintendo ain't no fool.

There are alot of disgruntled Rare ex-employees.... http://forums.advancedmn.com/showthread.php?t=857

Now Nintendo was able to whip Retro Studios (makers of Metroid Prime 1, 2 and the upcoming 3) into shape. Retro employs some former Amiga developers...

ps,
Star Fox Adventures was an excellent game. Only Star Fox fanboys, that believe it should only involve "flying" missions, didn't like it. Same goes for SF Assault...though Namco did Star Fox Assault...for Nintendo.

@Lou

Nintendo had a 49% minority stake in the company, they sold this after the Stamper brothers sold their 51% interest in Rare to Microsoft.

Last edited by MikeB on 05-Jan-2007 at 12:23 PM.

@MikeB

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Microsoft does not allow Rare to re-release its Nintendo classics for the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console.

I don't see Nintendo's classic games on Xbox Live Arcade. That's a real blow to consumer choice.

Do you see how ridiculous that is? It's not a blow to consumer choice - it's your choice as a consumer where you put your money, and I'm betting that if you want classic Rare games you'll just have to get them on the 360 - or just play them in the form where they are already available. If I, as a consumer, want classic Nintendo games I'll either pick them up on ebay or get a Wii. I don't whine about them not being available on PS3 or Xbox 360. There are exclusives and that's the way the business works. Get over it.