Scrivener

*snic*

The good: It's fast and it's stable. The bad: None of your old DOS games will work on it. The few that will, won't work correctly. Lot's of older Windows games won't work correctly on it either. Postal, for example. [ 03-18-2002, 17:56: Message edited by: Scrivener ]

not just ONCE... but TWICE! Hehe.

I saw RE last night. In lieu of the fact that every other game-based movie ever made has sucked, I was expecting nothing less out of this one. All told, however, Resident Evil rocked! Not just as a movie-adaptation of a game (Which it did very, very well), but as a movie in it's own right. Sure it's kinda far out, but it was very true to the game. Even the city and corporation names were the same! Best of all, it was even somewhat difficult to tell who would die and when. Even the predictable "jump" scenes made you jump (Or squirm, as it may be), despite the fact that you could see them comming a mile away. And, you get to see Milla Jovovich's

Alright, so I picked up the full version after being surprised and enthralled by the demo. Big mistake. Here's the deal: Bridge Commander succeeds at making you feel like you're in an episode of STTNG, but fails miserably as any kind of game. It's shallow. Very, very, very shallow. As the missions go on and on, you'll begin to realize that you're really not doing a whole lot of interacting with anything. Your crew takes care of all the talking and interaction with other captains via the viewscreen. Battles are hopeless unless you turn them over to your crew thanks to extremely stripped-down personal controls... and there's lots and lots of space combat. Think of it as a remake of StarFleet academy with better graphics. The missions are so linear that if you do anything out of the ordinary, you get a plain black "Game Over" message. Don't be fooled by the demo's branching solutions. The rest of the game isn't that good. The nutshell: 1) Star Trek fans may love the chance to be in their very own episode of TNG. 2) Gamers won't find much reason to keep playing. The game is shallow and linear to a fault. Not much interaction (A little better than Majestic was, maybe).

Stay away from MoH unless you can return it for something else. It's good-looking, but short, the AI is on par with Quake 2, and there's no blood. And it's short (One sitting - 5 hours, hard difficulty). The MP is deathmatch and team deathmatch, and you don't get that many levels either! Renegade on the other hand, is a FAR superior game. While it's not destined to be an instant classic (WTF are reviewers smoking?) the MP is the most fun I've had in a while. The single-player campaign is sort of short (10-15 hours) and the latter levels get Serious-Samish (Lots of baddies everywhere) but Renegade is worth the price of admission for the multiplayer alone. The developers are giving the game, mod cmmunities, and fan base an extraordinary ammount of support (Kind of like one legendary indie I know of). Most of the lag issues from the demo are gone unless you join a server with 100+ people. And it's really meant for Broadband anyway. But Renegade is DEFINATELY worth picking up. [ 03-14-2002, 12:37: Message edited by: Scrivener ]

Descent 4? Wouldn't you rather see a Freespace 3... or, more importantly... what will become of Black Isle and Fallout 3D?

Well, there's one the biggest reasons why I don't visit Gayspot any more. CGonline.com and Womengamers.com remain, in my book, the two most trustworthy online review sites available today. Gayspot isn't even worth their weight in horse sh...

It seems that Electronic Arts has officially announced that they're working on a Lord of the Rings game. How did they get away with it (Considering that the last few were killed by the Tolkien Estate)? Why, base the game off the movies instead of the books! Since it's Newline Cinema that holds those rights, they seem to have cut out the whiny, territorial middleman. Well, here's to hoping that EA dosn't botch LOTR up. I'd never forgive them for that.

eXistenZ, actually. It's definately one strange movie. Not very good, IMHO... just strange.

Actually, I returned it. All hail the awesomeness that is EB. Anyhoo, Obi Wan did offer me the most memorable gaming moment of my life: At one point I was so bored of swinging my Lightsaber at the bad guys that just decided to run past everyone on my way from point A to point B. This resulted in about 80 Trade Federation troopers following close behind me. I soon reached a room that was filled with lava, two retractable bridges extending into the center platform. I quickly crossed the first bridge and turned around to look for some kind of switch to pull the bridge. Instead, I simply watched as every last trooper threw themselves off the ledge. ROFLMAO! [ 12-24-2001: Message edited by: Scrivener ]

Obi Wan showed some serious potential before it's release. Unfortunately, what we ended up getting was another buggy, half-finished, uninspired Star Wars game. The concept is a sound one. You use one control stick to move your lightsaber (Side to side, down slash, and block) and the left trigger in combination with the other buttons to perform force tricks. The problem is that those are all the weapons you are going to get over the course of the game. You cannot use any of the Laser weapons, rocket launchers, or grenades that the various NPCs use during the game. Just your lightsaber and the force. Every level is just like the last. Simple, blocky, Oni-like levels that play the same as every level before it. Simply dispatch wave after wave of enemies until you reach point B to exit the level. The gameplay is just not very interesting or fun. Lastly, Lucasarts must have gone out of their way to find a voice actor as bad as the one used for Obi Wan himself. Every other character is at least mediocre, but young Ben Kenobi sounds like a cross between Ringo Star and Christopher Walken. If you simply MUST have a Star Wars game, buy Rogue Leader for the GameCube (Definately a system seller) or Galactic Battlegrounds on the PC. Obi Wan isn't fun and isn't worth your money. And did I mention that sometimes the NPCs AIs will "turn-off" leaving them all dumbly walking in straight lines. What about the fact that when you kill bad guys, sometimes their death animations wont play. They simply scream and stand there stiff as a board, indefinately. Then you, NPCs, and various objects can sometimes get stuck in the air or various polygons as a result of using your Jedi force powers. And sometimes, you cant control your character (He just stands there) until you Force Jump, releasing him some kind of "bug trance."

It is now 11:00am Friday morning and I have seen the movie four times since 12:01am Wednsday. The first time is always critical, and I left both dissapointed and impressed. So I saw it again... this time selectively ignoring the differences from the book. It became officially the best movie I've ever seen (With Moulin Rouge in distant second). Then I saw it two more times for the hell of it. Now for the cynicism. FotR was the most chopped-up movie I have ever seen. It reeked of cut footage. I was a little dissapointed by the lack of Tom Bombadil and the Barrow Wights, but I KNEW those scenes didn't make the cut. So long as the DVD is 4+ hours long, all will be forgiven. Heh. Other qualms: ****************** *****SPOILERS***** ****************** 1) Lurtz (The Orc leader) kept reminding of The Rock... especially after that Scorpion King preview. That bugged the hell out of me. 2) No blood. Dammit, what were they thinking? That we wouldn't notice? The guy that directed such movies as "Bad Taste" and "Dead Alive" forgoes the blood? Did he think we wouldn't notice? Who cares about the movie rating, the book was gory as hell. 3) As far as the movie is concerned, there is no reason that the Hobbits should trust strider at all. 4) Arwen... I think ever man, woman, and child in the theatre booed the first time Frodo saw her. The idea is that she is half human, but since thats NOT the way it is in the books, that needed to be clarified in the movie. She dosn't look very elvish. 5) Passage of time. It feels like all the events in the books took place over the course of two days and one night. It irks me. 6) As far as the movie is concerned, where on earth did bill come from? 7) Where did Strider go when he left the Hobbits at Weathertop? 8) Where did Arwen come from? How did Arwen find them all running around and why should she care about Frodo? Noone told her anything about the situation. In fact, I don't think she even was told Frodo's name. The goods: 1) Getting to see breastsesses during the Spiderman Preview. 2) Galadriel was friggin creepy. Very cool. 3) Elrond was the perfect elf. 4) Everyone (Except for Arwen) looked just as I had imagined them. 5) Balrog!!! W00t! 6) The opening battle scene! W00t! (You could hear "Holy sh*t" being uttered all throughout the theatre during the very first 12:01am showing. Very impressive.) 7) The battle between Saruman and Gandalf! 8) The scene where Bilbo gives Frodo Sting and the Mithril. Hehehehe. Was just cool. 9) The Black Riders entering Bree. 10) The fact that Gamdalf puzzling over the door to Moria (And the tentacled creature) actually made the final cut. I was very enthused. When the door lit up, you could hear the groans of people anticipating a major cut. 11) The transformation of Isengard! *********************** ****END SPOILERS******* *********************** Ok. So almost all of my issues were over missing scenes. And there were LOTS of them. Scenes that you tell were SUPPOSED to be there, but must have been cut for time's sake. So long as the DVD has all those extra goodies, I'll be very, very, very happy. Here's hoping this is the biggest movie opening of all time! [ 12-21-2001: Message edited by: Scrivener ]

I'll put my pennies in the tin marked GeForce 3 Ti500. I just ordered my new Visiontek Xtasy 6964 for $175. Good deal, eh?

Actually, here are some the things I ripped into BCM: 1) Fallout: The Soundtrack - Nothing like lonely wasteland music to beat in the endlessness of space. 2) Delerium - Just because I love 'em! The non-lyrical songs work the best... most of the time. 3) Enya - Orinoco Flow while playing BCM. IMHO, Fallout is the best music for BCM. [ 11-27-2001: Message edited by: Scrivener ]

Return to Castle Wolfenstein was VERY dissapointing, IMO. It comes across, to me, as a highly polished budget title. There is NO gore... guys just fall down when you hit them. Levels are linear and uninstpired... sure it's a castle but there's 1001 things you could do to make it more interesting. Like multiple paths between point A and B (Something Duke Nukem 3D had in spades). The enemy AI is alright, but nothing we havn't seen before. They run away from grenades and hide behind objects. Gee, how innovative. Needless to say, it went back to the store. I used the credit to finish paying off Morrowind and Neverwinter Nights, with enough left over to reserve Call of Cthulhu and Soldier of Fortune 2. As a game in it's own rights, RTCW is about as mediocre as it gets. Not to mention it has a high price tag ($59.99 for std, $69.99 for Collectors Tin Ed) and the SP game is really, really short (Max Payne short - finished it in one day). In summation, there is absolutly nothing redeeming about RTCW. It's bland, uninteresting, short, and just-plain-not-fun. Games like Half Life, Soldier of Fortune, and Aliens vs. Predator 2 put RTCW to shame.

That's partially true. The outdoors areas are few and far between. The indoor areas all look exactly the same, while being both linear, and cookie-cutter. The outdoors areas are brilliant, though. The ones that are in the game are large, while not "huge" and most of the vehicles (Except for the Ghost and Scorpion Tank) are just gimmicky. Your buggy will *NEVER* take damage or explode, btw. Too bad most of the game wasn't set outdoors. It would have been spectacular.

Noone else had better bash BCM for not having multiplayer or there will be some serious helpings of hurt dished out. It's like they think you owe it to them. What really sucks is I have a huge stack of entertainment here and not enough time to play it all. 1) BCM 2) Aquanox 3) Wizardry 8 4) Stronghold 5) Dark Age of Camelot 6) Dark Summit (XBOX) 7) Munch's Oddyssey (XBOX) 8) Takeda 9) Nocturne ($5 in bargain bin) 10) Ultima 9 (Looooonnnnggg game) [ 11-20-2001: Message edited by: Scrivener ]

Battelcruiser Millenium should be arriving in EBs all across the US today! And if, for some sick reason, that's not enough game for you, check out Wizardry 8. It's old-school roleplaying in true-3d. Did I mention that the music kicks ass too?

Ignore all those ninnywit Xbox nay-sayers. The PS2 is old potatoes. A console will never replace my box, but I'd get an Xbox. With the most impressive launch lineup I've ever seen, the future looks very bright for the system. True, PS2 does have some damn good games (GTA3, DMC, MGS2), but MGS2 will also be hitting the Xbox... as well as many other great games. And since the Xbox has hands-down more power than its competitors, its definately the way to go. Not convinced? Read the "70 Reasons you need an Xbox" in XBox Magazine Issue 1 (Available at any electronics retailer). LameCube is going to go the way of the dinosaur, and fast. They way they adulturated Zelda and Metroid just make me sick. With none of the cool features of the other systems and a pinsy number of games (And hardly any 3rd party support), it's going to dissapear and quick.

Since Thursday my life has pretty much been Xbox. With the launch 'n all, I've been going in early every day. When I'm not working, I'm playing games. Anyway, I've come to the conclusion that GameSpy has sold their souls to Sony with their flat-out dumbass reviews. So for those who trusted them, here are some honest opinions... IMHO, the best Xbox games currently are: 1) Oddworld - Absolutely brilliant! Hilarious! This was the last of my three bundled games I tried out, and so far this one is the most original and all-around entertaining. Did I mention the mind-blowing graphics, or should I just assume that it's a given? 2) Halo - The levels are very, very repetitious... to a point that they become boresome and predictable. Nevertheless, the outdoor battle sequences and cut scenes make all that gratuitous monotony worth it. 3a) Dark Summit - It took me a little bit to get past the colorful snow, but when you give it a couple hours you discover that this game is really very entertaining. Inspired by the tone and feel of some of the darker and more sinister comic books, Dark Summit will not impress anyone looking for a real snowboarding game. It's like X-Files+TombRaider+ACMESnowboardingGame. 3b) Amped - For those loosers who want their snowboarding in vanilla. The others: Dead or Alive 3 is pretty to look at, and some of the moves will make you cringe... but I would have liked more locations. This one's fun but not a system seller. Fuzion Frenzy - It flaunts 50 different games. 45 of those involve jumping over stuff... Donkey Kong Classic style. Lame. Not even worth a rent. Mad Dash Racing - A racing game... where you race furry animals instead of cars. Definately a renter, but not worth owning. Oddworld kicks ass. Transworld Surf - I STILL don't understand whose idea it was to make a surfing game. I mean, that ranks right up there with making a game about skydiving (Which has been done, btw). Trans Surf sucks all kinds of ass. The Xbox makes the water look awesome, but unless you want to waste money on looking at impressively rendered water, don't bother. More opinions to come!

Ghost Recon, IMHO, sucks ass. I remember playing that game a dozen times under the names Rainbow Six, Rogue Spear, etc, etc, etc. Not to mention the fact that it run like CRAP on my, the one, the only, the almighty super-computer. Especially when it dosn't even really look that good. Operation Flashpoint just blows everything else out of the water. Although I have recently been too distracted by Civ3, AvP2, Dark Age of Camelot (OMG, I can't believe I'm actually addicted to another MMORPG. Dammit!), and.... my Xbox. I havn't checked my e-mail since Wednesday thanks to that giant, heavy, black-n-green bugger.

I'd go AMD regardless. At this point, I'm a die-hard AMD loyalist. When Intel was milking their CPU monopoly, AMD rescued me with a comparably performing CPU for half the cost. Then they started getting faster. And STILL, they remained the affordibility leader. Now they are spanking the Intel chips like a stepchild. When AMD started passing up Intel with their 1Ghz CPUs, Intel took up mislabling their processors. Those 2Ghz chips that are out are really 1.8Ghz. But numbers on boxes tend to impress stupid people, so they did it (And we should all know that most Americans are sheep anyway). AMD, on the other hand, uses actual banchmark scores to label their processors now. So while those 1800XPs are really 1.6Ghz, they are STILL getting numbers equivalent to a 1.8Ghz processor. Intel is just playing dirty. [ 11-13-2001: Message edited by: Scrivener ]

Well, I guess Halo will be comming out for the PC after all. Possibly the Mac as well. Unfortunately, we're going to have to wait a while (My guess: 6 months). Check out the confirmation here: http://www.cgonline.com/features/011108-i1-f1.html

Well, I was in the market for a DVD player anyway. I have one on my main PC (Creative DVD Encore 12X) but it's really just a gimmick. While I have a nice collection of DVDs, I'd much rather lie back on my sofa than sit hunched over in my desk chair. Of course, I once tried connecting it to my TV, but I had no remote and so had to walk over to my computer and funble around with the software controls every so often. Eck. The Xbox was only a wink more $$... and I really, really, really wanted Halo (As a MS Xbox flagship product, I doubt that it will ever see a single PC... thereby ruining it's exclusive status). And I just like games. I can't give anything away, but you have no idea what MS has up their sleeves for the next year. I think when you start seeing some more exclusive games crop up, you'll think "Damn. That game would be so cool on the PC." Just the kind of response you'll get from Halo. MS pretty much just put out a standard computer that everyone can take full advantage of. It's ingenious. The more I think about it, the smarter it seems.