We have a friend, Andy Thissan, visiting BlizzCon today and he'll be sending minor updates as he visits the convention.

 Day 2

 2:39 PM  Ok i just have to say 2010 is too long to wait for SC2. This game is incredible.

 1:15 PM

 

 Day 1

 2:56 PM -  so we all want to know where is the beta key?

 2:10 PM - Waiting by the main stage for announcements.  the buzz is the wow expansion and that there will be alot of Diablo details

 

 More...

It needs to be said: Duke Nukem was the Jean-Claude Van Damme of the gaming industry. At first he was ubiquitous; his face everywhere, and the starring vehicles were pretty darn good. Then, just like Mr. Van Damme, the Duke underwent some changes during his storied career, and eventually wound up homeless. While it looks like Mr. Van Damme has kicked the coke for good, gotten off the street, and found happiness with his third/fifth wife; whether the Duke will find redemption is anything but clear.

But why should we care that the Duke is no more? It all comes down to the thing that makes the world go ‘round (and I’m not talking about love); Money.

In an age where the cost of development is so high for AAA titles that only the biggest companies can afford to develop new top level titles, it’s sad to see the probable death of a top name in the industry. Not because Duke Nukem Forever would have a guaranteed success, or even a good game for that matter. But simply because of the sheer amounts of money that has been poured into the title over the last 13 years.

At some point along the way, it had to become clear to someone at 3DRealms that the Duke was never going to see the light of day again. When that occurred, some form of a “Plan B” should have become the immediate course of action.

The first option clearly should have been to pin down what worked in the development done so far then break down the plot into segments and go episodic. This is clearly a workable plan these days. Selling the first 1/3^rd of the game online would have brought in scads of money to continue the next segments. When this was decided against, it should have triggered a “sell off” of game assets to either the publisher (as 3DRealms tried to do before shutting down when it was far too late) or another development house, to get as much out of the completed work as possible.

It’s not at all that DNF will never see the light of day, it’s simply that there are a tremendous amount of very good titles coming from small shops that could be made even better, or marketed more actively with just a little additional funding. And while small shops struggle to get their great work noticed, 3DRealms was like a giant black hole for millions of dollars worth of cash. If more of that money had been put towards other titles, we’d see more “make a great game, and you’ll find a big name publisher”, like The Witcher.

Let’s hope the industry learns from this lesson, and that companies stop pouring money into vaporware titles, and focus on products that can achieve something more than being the butt to a ton of industry jokes.

Mynxee, CEO of all-female pirate corporation Hellcats, blogs about Capsuleer 2.0 in "Big Hits, Near Misses and Windfalls." The iPhone app, which I'd downloaded on my reinauguration-into-EVE day about one week ago, is personally invaluable, not to mention sensually faithful in positing the EVE Online aesthetic into your palm. "Long story short," Mynxee says,"me likes!" And I would echo her sentiments completely.

Developed by the prolific Roc Wieler and partner in crime PyjamaSam, it's entirely possible that these two individuals have been ordained from on high to preemptively save my marriage and my day job. Familiar to anyone with an EVE account, keeping a frighteningly close eye on the tick-tock of your character's skills is an exercise (and revelation) in obsessive behavior. As we speak I'm sliding my iPhone open, thumbing the Capsuleer icon, tapping the refresh button in the lower right-hand corner, and noting that -- taking BattleClinic's New Player Guide to heart -- I'm currently training Learning 4, with fifteen hours, two minutes, and twenty-two seconds to go.

I stare at Capsuleer's silent, soothing countdown. Untouched, the iPhone gradually fades to black. Without second thought, I'll check again in ten minutes.

My previous stint in EVE, during Exodus (circa 2004), was short-lived by many standards, but it was the longest I'd ever handcuffed myself to any one MMO. I believe I stayed aboard for merely three months. You don't know me, but if you did, you'd know that's too long a time in any one game for my tastes. And you still don't know me (I'm of course working to remedy that), but if you did, you'd know that constitutes a minor addiction by my own set of demarcations and parameters.

During my time in Exodus, I'd diligently set buzzing alarms on my phone, waking me up at the witching hour, to queue up my character's next skill. My lovely wife was duly unimpressed with my dedication. I also began packing my home laptop to work in order to have EVE at hand for the same purpose. My diligent manager was likewise unimpressed with my divided attention. One man's multitasking is another man's lack of focus.

But now, with Capsuleer, I have an even more discreet solution for monitoring Billy Blame's skill progression -- aside from the option of having EVEMon sit studiously on my Start bar. But, more importantly, the Apocrypha expansion has introduced the Skill Training Queue. This is truly the life-saving device I required. CCP has gained insurmountable respect from this returning player for making this singular concession to their otherwise brilliant skill training mechanic. With it, I may indeed go out on a limb and keep Billy Blame active for longer than my previous earth-shattering three-month record.

You don't know me, but if you did, you'd know that those unlikely words make for an ironically strong promise, coming from me.

A couple of months ago one of our readers emailed me and asked about high end gaming audio headsets. He mentioned that most gamers don’t have the opportunity to try most of the products used on the Pro Gaming tours, and most don’t even have a presence in mainstream retail. He asked about a specific product, the Tritton AX Pro, and if I could perhaps do a head to head review comparing it to the Astro A40. Well, here at GN, we aim to please.

Between wedding planning and now preparing for a mid-summer move to the east coast, I’ve been a little behind, but aside from my BlackBerry, the AX Pro is probably the thing I’ve used the most the past few days. For me, stress requires gaming, music, or both. And what could be better than a Dolby Digital Surround Sound headset to cover both of those needs?

 

This is just my first impressions, and I’m saving most of my head to head comparisons to the other headsets I’ve reviewed for the final review, but I do some high and low points I want to cover in basic.

 

First, the construction and form factor. The AX Pro is really light, but at the same time is built solidly. In fact, of the high end headsets I’ve reviewed (and I think I’ve covered them all now), this one is easily the sturdiest. It even looks more rugged than the others.

 

The cords are thick but not obnoxiously so, and even with a lot of options (which I’ll leave the details of to the review), the headset and decoder are easy to assemble, configure and attach to PC, 360, and even my iPod (for grins).

 

One of the cool features I like that the integrated volume control on the headphone cord uses color LED backlighting  to display the relative volume level of each pair of drivers. This is particularly awesome in the dark and matches nicely with my Saitek Cyborg keyboard.

 

And those drivers…. The sound from this thing is REALLY FREAKING GOOD. It’s sometimes difficult when you’re playing a game, or listening to music to really tell the difference between one headset and the next. But for units like the A40 or the AX Pro, it’s obvious they are heads and shoulders above most headsets in the marketplace. Left 4 Dead in particular took advantage of the surround sound.

 

The two negatives I have so far are in regards to configuration. The first is that the unit requires 2 power adapters to use the headset and the decoder box. In the age of green technologies and high energy costs, this is not something I would have expected.  Second, it doesn’t have a battery option for the decoder. Other units may eat the batteries for breakfast, but I’ve found this feature to be very useful, as you can just unplug without untangling from the headset.

Despite Gravity Bone's blocky facade, this (short, thrilling) game of spy vs. spy won't be confused with the LEGO series.  Keeping itself focused, the action gets quickly rolling as you descend in an elevator to some millionaire's Frank-Lloyd-Wright-styled club in the hills.  The blockheaded crowds are already parsed off into gabby circles, black masks marking this as a stiff-necked masquerade, while busboys swiftly balance platters of wine flutes through the crowds of privileged wealth.

 There's a flashcard-sized piece of paper in your hand with simple, typewritten instructions:  "THE SATURDAY CLUB.  Business initiative.  Wetworks.  Go to the FURNACE ROOM."

Assuming you accept your mission, you're in for a brilliantly-paced 20 minutes-or-so rendering of a contract killer's 9 to 5.  There's more than just a hint of Portal in how the game directs you across the levels and in how it congratulates you for a job well done.  All of which is an entirely welcome homage.

Download Gravity Bone from Blendo Games.

It's not always easy to stretch out our legs as gamers.  I'll raise my hand on that one.  I'm guilty.  In the past year there was more than one game I picked up that was suffixed with a Roman (or Arabic) numeral II, III, or IV.  But, in contrast to the times where it can be hard to stretch our legs, at times it's even harder to sit.  And be still.  Criminally few games bestow you with that simple pleasure.  There have been many times with many games that I've marveled at screenshots, or paused a pixelated video, all in the name of soaking in more details than could ever be possible caught midswing in whatever momentous direction I'm barreling towards, whatever endorphin-soaked booster shot a game has injected into my backside. 

But The Graveyard isn't that kind of game, if the ever-inadequate term "game" can even be used with a straight face in this instance.  In this case, we can don a polite countence and use the even more nebulous term "experience," were we so inclined.

Developed by the independent Belgian studio Tale of Tales and launched in Spring of last year (I only caught wind of this game when I saw the nominees for the 2009 Independent Games Festival), The Graveyard posits itself as the antithesis to what is conventionally perceived as a videogame.  And as with many things, some of the greatest depths can be plumbed from the simplest premises.  

You're an old woman clad in the vestements of old age, a cane gripped in your left hand to help along the hobble.  You're at the entrance of a graveyard.  And you make your way into the graveyard.  I make no apologies for that, because the brilliance is in the details, and The Graveyard has the ability--if you're of the disposition; perhaps the planets simply aligned for me just right this evening--to make you contemplate the fragility of the human experience.  (I will also, strange as this sounds, recommend that you play the demo through to completion, and then play the full game.  The full game will stir you and capture you unawares in what was seemingly a finite, understood, and unsurprising moment.)

As I traversed the graveyard, the gameworld slowly uncurled its fingers, one detail at a time.  In no particular order, my senses unerringly began to take in the sights and sounds of the graveyard.  Pigeons cooing, followed by a rustle of feathers.  Cicadas buzzing in the monochromatic warmth.  Clouds in relentless pursuit of one another, their shadows in pursuit of them.  The uneven crunch of gravel underfoot.  The distant barking of a dog.  Etched stone versus engraved skin.

I'm not going to give you the pleasure of hearing some caveat that goes "This game isn't for everybody!"  Because, to preempt the question as to whether you are or whether you aren't the type of person this game is meant for, you already know.

Over at Gamers With Jobs (an intelligent and articulate group of guys, but thankfully never all-knowing), co-founder Sean "Elysium" Sands is commencing a "Horizons Broadening Project - 2009."  Once a month he'll be going out of his way to play a videogame genre that he wouldn't normally.  Hey, you can't like everything in the first place, so I certainly don't judge.  Sean picked out Birth of America II for his project in January; it's one of those games where "deep" is an obvious understatement when it comes to descriptors for the level of strategy-building involved.  He'll play for a month and then do a write-up. I'm not nearly so committed, but I'll humor the idea for now.

To follow suit with the "deep" strategy genre, one that I've never dipped my toe into (sorry, Sid Meier, your games are so easy they play themselves after a while) I picked up Europa Universalis III - Complete.  The original is about a year old, but the Complete version comes with the In Nomine and Napoleon's Ambition expansion packs. This game is no joke.  Even the tutorials--which are so vague that they have the gall to provide "hints"--assumes I've already had four cups of coffee and roll with an IQ of 120 or greater.

Deep breath, Randy.  You can do this. 

I've only had time to dabble for a few moments in the full-length singleplayer campaign, so I hopped around a few times just to get a feel for my options.  The results were less than flattering...

As England

Without Cassus Belli (justification for an act of war), my allies in Portugal were disgusted with my decision to invade Ireland, even though my advisers were whispering into my ear that Ireland was incapable of ruling itself, and so it was my duty (divine right) as England's ruler to bring it under the Crown.  I sieged one of Ireland's southeastern townships, and after 427 days of pounding on their walls, that city fell to my cannons--or actually, fell to eventual starvation and disease.  But not before France sent an emmisary with a warning for me to cease and desist--which I didn't--so France handed me my hat and kicked me out of my satellite colony in Southern France.  Confused by this turn of events (and since I haven't gotten all the rules down yet), the Irish city I waylaid sued for peace and bought their town back for 45 ducats, a paltry sum.  Plus, my people would've been feeling the initial effects of war fatigue, but I'd hired Geoffrey Chaucer to be one of my righthand men, and his literary skill--sheesh, he was something of a national treasure--must've been like bread & circuses for the unwashed masses.

As Maya

Another time, I ruled the Mayan empire in Central America's Yucatan Peninsula for a few rounds.  I managed to marry off a daughter to the Mixtec people's of Central Mexico, and ally myself with the Aztecs of Northern.  Then I sat stagnant, unsure of how to advance my nation's economic and technological bars.  With nothing more than 1,000 troops at my disposal and a daughter married off to a powerful rival, I retired early and, due to my inactivity, was declared a "mad" ruler.

As Spain

Before that, I took control of the Spanish crown, and quickly declared it a heresy to speak out in any way, shape, or form against God, Jesus Christ, or the Holy Scriptures.  My advisers thought this was a brilliant move, then told me to erradicate every trace of non-Christianity from the Iberian Peninsula (modern day Spain).  I marched thousands of troops south to face a city full of Moors.  Those Sunnis up from Africa soundly curb-stomped my face into the Rock of Gibraltar.

This game is nuts.  I've cracked open maybe 5% of my options as a national leader.  The learning curve on it is more like a learning Mt. Fuji.  If that makes sense.  I'm excited to grow more--even if the game insists I learn through its school of hard knocks.

The Prince can’t find his ass with both hands.

To be more specific, he’s looking for his donkey, Farah, and hasn’t been able to locate her.  And despite the Prince’s “Dude, Where’s My Car?” banter, it isn’t long before Princess “Don’t Call Me Princess” Elika comes along as a bona fide Daxter to his Jak.  Or Clank to his Ratchet.  I’m not sure which.  But she serves as a foil to his frat boy yearnings and sitcom sense of comedic timing.

Give yourself an hour with these two and you’ll stop rolling your eyes at the loquacious rhetoric, instead embracing the growing warmth between their cold shoulders.  The Prince isn’t interested in disclosing his past, while Elika exhibits textbook knowledge of the gods, magical and natural balance, and geographical history.  The Prince moves across inhuman environments with fluency, tempered between times with a workman's wit, while Elika comes in with the no-game-over-screen saves if the Prince’s stellar parkour training stutters a bit.

Give yourself that same hour to acclimate to the Prince’s controls.  I came for the artwork, but I’m staying for the momentum.  Altair in Assassin’s Creed is not 100-percent comparable to the Prince after you’ve taken him through some trial and error.  Ubisoft Montreal often equated Altair’s movements to that of a car:  You held down a trigger and “steered” through the environments.  That equation seems fair enough, but I’d offer that Altair’s “car” was an automatic – while the Prince’s vehicle is a stick shift.  In Prince of Persia, deft but patient thumb presses are required to navigate.  And though his initial steps in any direction feel like they’re in quicksand, the Prince dutifully leaps, wall-runs, ceiling-runs, slides, climbs, and shimmies at a formidable pace.

It feels fantastic when you’re dialed in, using Elika’s magic to enhance your jump across a cavern, then digging your claw into the cliffside to slow your descent, springing towards the opposite wall and coming to a two-point landing on a sand-dusted platform.  It also feels fantastic when you wall-run along a chasm lost in darkness, grip a wall-ring to extend your wall-run further, skitter across a patch of ivy to reach some horizontal wood railing, then run along the ceiling to a nearby vertical post.

But strangely enough, as fantastic as those moments are the first time through, they get even better on a repeat run.  This time, armed with the slightest bit of foreknowledge as to what obstacles approach, the parkour gets tighter, your movements more calculated, and Elika comes to your rescue far less often.

I was, admittedly, quite intimidated before I picked up Prince of Persia today.  I went into it knowing that I may very well not possess the hand-eye coordination to make this a valuable purchase for me.  And after playing the demo of – and being severely discouraged by – the fall-and-fall-again Mirror’s Edge, I thought that the Prince was also here to kick ass and chew bubble gum.  Thankfully, the Prince didn’t run out of bubble gum.

With frequent breaths to take between acrobatics, there’s also plenty of time and space between sword fights.  They operate on a set of timed combos; and while I’m too lazy to learn the myriad combos already available to me (Normal combos, Elika combos, Lift combos, Acrobatic combos, Throw combos and Aerial combos) the early stages patiently taught me one or two that have served me well in the one-on-one combat.  I can get lazy quickly when that many combos are at my disposal – there’s something to be said for Fable 2’s one-button combat, to be sure – but the fights are so beautifully animated that I’m starting to sneak peeks at that combo list again, hoping one or two more will sink in.

The only moment of confusion I had was in the open-world but not-quite-open-world map.  Paths spoke out in four directions from a central hub, and given the advice to essentially “go wherever you want to go” I went entirely too far in one direction right off the bat.  Prince of Persia wanted me to taste each direction, get a little bit of each level’s spice on the tip of my tongue:  Not charge whole-hog in one direction with a completist attitude driving my compass.  I wanted to sweep the map from one end to the other, west to east, no fog of war left defogged.  But that strategy won't work.  And Elika, along with her little magical “follow me!” comet that leads the way (when asked) to objectives, won’t automatically turn you around.  I was simply told “pick another destination” on the branching map, when in fact only 4 of the 24 other destinations were honestly viable.

But the journey is still young, and though there are imminent fast-travel options back to already-visited locations, I’m enjoying the journey as much as the destination.  Clearing the land of a black corruption unleashed by a dark god – since the good god is pretty much on vacation– makes for thirsty work with plenty of free-running left to do.  And when it comes to companionship, even though I can’t play a Fable 2 game of fetch with Elika (or emote with her in any other way), it’s great to be splitting the mileage along with a driving partner.

I used to love, love NVIDIA cards. Lately, AMD is kicking all kinds of major ass with their Radeon HD 4800 series of cards. Here's a nice little video to explain the current situation for everyone. Some of the terms and jokes might go over non-techy heads but it's still cute.

 

 

I have to admit that the rules (or at least the procedural flow) isn't being made explicit.  

Two new tanks are rolling out to the field of battle in Warhammer Online during a two-week long Heavy Metal event that began yesterday.  The Empire Knights of the Blazing Sun are the veritable poster children for WAR, while the Dark Elf Black Guards have enough spikes on their armor to serve shishkabab at a Chaos warhost high school reunion.  But to be fair, both look downright gaudy in their peacock-plumage of overlapping metal plates, curvy spikes, and thickened feathers.

But how you get your hands on one of these bad boys, exactly -- that's what's not being made explicit.  The press release simply instructs people to "successfully complete the quests associated with the Heavy Metal event" to be given week-early access to the two new classes.  Well, after logging in this evening, I found no further instructions on how to unlock this new class.  I'll admit, I'm still having too much fun setting the roof on fire with my Bright Wizard, Pitchfork, but that doesn't mean I don't want a peek at these two guys that are crashing the party in such a high-profile manner.

Trashing enemy players at the Reikland Factory -- a new realm vs. realm scenario opened up especially for this Heavy Metal event -- is the only breadcrumb I've stumbled across.  And after playing through Reikland Factory a few times with Pitchfork (scoring 3rd, 4th, and 7th in number of kills -- not bad for being 5th level when 10th level players are on the field, and doubly not bad when there's 36 -- 18 vs. 18 -- people duking it out), I'm still feeling no closer to completing the "quests associated with the Heavy Metal event." 

I'll keep eyes and ears (not to mention a few scalps) peeled. 

EDIT:  A-ha.  I guess when it comes to the Warhammer Online site, I'm not so much with the reading.  Here's what I've found to answer my own question:

"When the Heavy Metal live event begins on November 18th, players who log into WAR will see a new tab in the Tome of Knowledge. Clicking on this tab will open the Live Events page, where each day we'll place a new daily task. Completing these daily tasks earns influence, just like you'd earn in a public quest. There are rewards for Basic, Advanced and Elite influence, culminating in the ultimate prize: the chance to play WAR's new classes a full week before they're released to the public! This last reward won't be easy to earn, and players who want to get to the Elite level will need to log in each day and complete on the daily event."

Very well then.  Question answered.  Crisis averted.