After finally recovering from last week I'm now ready to tell you all how awesome last week was.
The Computer Games Boot Camp has finished for another year. It was a week of celebrating gaming culture, playing games, winning consoles and hearing almost 2000 people chant the meme "Dental plan, Lisa needs braces." It has been described as the E3 of the southern hemisphere. It certainly is the biggest gaming event in the southern hemisphere, however we'll have to wait and see if EB expo coming up in October will beat it.
The Australian qualifying leg of the Call of Duty tournament was a long and brutal tournament with the winners being ArchaicMSi who will be flown out to L.A in September to play at the Call of Duty XP million dollar tournament. It was some of the best playing I've ever seen and I'm certain that ArchaicMSi will represent Australia well this September. Come on Aussies put your support behind our team.
Aside from all the modern games like Halo and COD I was really surprised at how popular the retro games were. In particular Power Stone 2 on the Dreamcast and Baku Baku on the Sega Saturn. Although these are really great games that deserve to be ported to more modern consoles especially Power Stone 2. That is one addictive game both to play and watch. It's basically all the fun bits of Super Smash Bro's but without all the complexity.
CGBC is about more than just tournaments, memes and free stuff (although all that is really cool) people from all across the gaming industry came down and gave presentations on a range of topics. One worth pointing out is Damian Scotts' talk on how to make use of the Unreal engine for machinima and his up coming movie based on the story of Darth Bane from Star wars. Another would be Sony's presentation on the Playstation Vita and what it can do. I tell you what I want one after seeing what it has to offer (plus virtual pool looked really cool).
I'm really looking forward to next year. If you are interested in attending check out the CGBC website and register for CGBC 2012.
Till next week,
Peace.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
CGBC is on (sorry for not saying more)
I was going to write about how we're at the tail end of CGBC 2011 and how awesome it has been so far but it's just because of that I can't. I am absolutely knackered and I've been up late working along with my good friends at Level 3 to make it awesome.
So I'm just going to say sorry for no post or even some back up news but I promise that next weeks post will have the lot. But in the mean time feel free to watch all the action live online here.
Till next week I'm gonna get some sleep,
zzzzzzzzz
So I'm just going to say sorry for no post or even some back up news but I promise that next weeks post will have the lot. But in the mean time feel free to watch all the action live online here.
Till next week I'm gonna get some sleep,
zzzzzzzzz
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
CGBC is back
The Computer Games Boot Camp is on again. I'm really looking forward to attending this epic event. Those who don't know about it CGBC is a week long event running July 9-15 for high-school students over 15. It's held at Monash universities Clayton campus in Melbourne. The space is huge and has had to expand every year because of how popular it is. Not quite as big as E3 but almost. Close to 2000 people are booked to be there this year. I personally have attended this event since the first one back in 2009 and it has grown and really become the biggest gaming event in Australia.
The week consists of speeches from some of Australia's big biggest names in gaming, tournaments for a wide variety of games, workshops, competitions and more prizes get given away then there are people to accept them. Thermaltake, IAH Games, Autodesk, Sony and Adobe just to name a few will be there to give talks and give away some prizes.
Exclusive to CGBC will be the Australian leg of the Call of Duty tournament. The winning team will qualify to go on to LA to play in the finals for a chance at one million dollars USD. The tournament is open to any team of four with all its members over the age of 18. Details are still being announced regarding the tournament so stay tuned for more information as it comes to hand.
Registrations are still open so feel free to register your interest now Here but the event starts this Friday so do it fast. Keep up with all of the latest news from the event you can join the conversation on facebook. If you can't attend but you still want to see whats going on Level 3 are doing an all day live stream of the event from start to finish. So you wont miss a thing. Read more about the live stream here.
I hope to see you there and if you see me (which wont be hard my face is the logo for this site) feel free to come up and say hello.
Till next week, peace.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
What I think of Brink (Hey that rhymes)
Brink is one of those games I had my doubts about. Because of its unique seamless blend of singleplayer and multiplayer. I wasn't sure if it would work. But it does and it works so very well. All the doubts I had before I played Brink are now gone.
Brink at first appears to have a rather straight forward storyline. A civil war on a floating city called the Ark built as a way to save humanity from extinction due to global warming and rising sea waters. There are two sides to this fight. Ark security who are fighting to maintain control of the Ark. And there's the Resistance who are trying to get off the Ark and contact what's left of the outside world. Each side has its own storyline that will crossover with the other. Each campaign comes to its own different end and afterwards there are some bonus 'what-if' spin off missions you can do. These missions are usually levels in the campaign that you play from the opposing side. Usually in games that allow you to choose sides by the end of it you have a good idea which side you should be on. Even after playing through both campaigns I still don't know which side to be on. This isn't a bad thing. Brink just gives you all the facts and allows you to make up your own mind on what you think is right.
While I have ranted on a bit about the story don't let that scare you. Every cutscene can be skipped and while it does set up the gameplay it doesn't get in the way of it. The major parts of the story are told in the campaigns but if you want the whole picture you're going to have to unlock all the audio tapes. Similar to the holotapes in Fallout 3 audio tapes give you an insight into what the major players on the Ark are thinking. So if you're like me and love a game with a good storyline this gives Brink a lot of replay value.
The whole focus of the game is how it plays. I've heard people say it's Mirrors edge with guns. This isn't entirely true. Mirrors edge focused on movement and discouraged you from using guns whereas Brink puts its focus on combat. It doesn't matter what kind of gun you have movement is still the same. Character customization however does have an effect on movement but there's a fair trade off. When you customize your character you have the choice of three body types: light, medium or heavy. The light body type can move the fastest and jump higher than the other two but it also has the least health making them easy to take down. In contrast the heavy body type is the slowest and least agile but has the most health and is the only body type that can carry heavy weapons. The medium body type has a good mix of health and finesse and is a perfect starting point for new players. Depending on your own playstyle you will discover what works for you. The rest of the customization options for your character are purely cosmetic so unleash your inner 5 year old and play dress up. Like Rainbow six Vegas you gain XP both offline and online. As you level up you'll unlock more outfits and earn ability points to upgrade your characters skills. Like Team fortress 2 skills are divided into classes: Soldier,Engineer, Medic and Operative. There are universal skills that can be purchased and used no matter what class you choose but to get the really cool stuff you need to decide which set of cool stuff you want.
Weapon customization is a bit disappointing but still better than almost any other game. What I do like is that weapon add-ons can all be unlocked before you start either campaign. They can only be unlocked through challenge missions. Challenge missions are separate missions from the campaigns and I recommend you try them first. Not only will you unlock cool doodads for your guns but they also teach you how to play Brink.
Objectives are very flexible. Each level has a list of objectives that your team has to complete. These range from defending a certain spot, blowing up something to repairing or building defenses. The interesting thing is that you can complete these objectives in any order. There’s one main objective and the rest are secondary to it. Depending on how you want to play will determine which objective you'll want to do. As long as you're doing something you will be helping out your team. This means that those people who prefer to be lone wolves won't make it any harder for team players or people new to the game. All objectives are class specific. This means in order to win a game you can't all go engineer and spam place turrets and mines everywhere.
Every level is unlocked right out of the box. This is because there is no separate multiplayer section of the game. Every level can be played either online or offline or you can open up your game and let people jump in whenever they like. I recommend for the first playthrough of the game you play it in order and leave the what-if missions till last. This is definitely a game that you'll want to play with friends or other people. Maybe it's just because I'm terrible at shooters but the A.I on your team is terrible and the opposing teams A.I seems to have been programmed by a super genius.
Brink at first appears to have a rather straight forward storyline. A civil war on a floating city called the Ark built as a way to save humanity from extinction due to global warming and rising sea waters. There are two sides to this fight. Ark security who are fighting to maintain control of the Ark. And there's the Resistance who are trying to get off the Ark and contact what's left of the outside world. Each side has its own storyline that will crossover with the other. Each campaign comes to its own different end and afterwards there are some bonus 'what-if' spin off missions you can do. These missions are usually levels in the campaign that you play from the opposing side. Usually in games that allow you to choose sides by the end of it you have a good idea which side you should be on. Even after playing through both campaigns I still don't know which side to be on. This isn't a bad thing. Brink just gives you all the facts and allows you to make up your own mind on what you think is right.
While I have ranted on a bit about the story don't let that scare you. Every cutscene can be skipped and while it does set up the gameplay it doesn't get in the way of it. The major parts of the story are told in the campaigns but if you want the whole picture you're going to have to unlock all the audio tapes. Similar to the holotapes in Fallout 3 audio tapes give you an insight into what the major players on the Ark are thinking. So if you're like me and love a game with a good storyline this gives Brink a lot of replay value.
The whole focus of the game is how it plays. I've heard people say it's Mirrors edge with guns. This isn't entirely true. Mirrors edge focused on movement and discouraged you from using guns whereas Brink puts its focus on combat. It doesn't matter what kind of gun you have movement is still the same. Character customization however does have an effect on movement but there's a fair trade off. When you customize your character you have the choice of three body types: light, medium or heavy. The light body type can move the fastest and jump higher than the other two but it also has the least health making them easy to take down. In contrast the heavy body type is the slowest and least agile but has the most health and is the only body type that can carry heavy weapons. The medium body type has a good mix of health and finesse and is a perfect starting point for new players. Depending on your own playstyle you will discover what works for you. The rest of the customization options for your character are purely cosmetic so unleash your inner 5 year old and play dress up. Like Rainbow six Vegas you gain XP both offline and online. As you level up you'll unlock more outfits and earn ability points to upgrade your characters skills. Like Team fortress 2 skills are divided into classes: Soldier,Engineer, Medic and Operative. There are universal skills that can be purchased and used no matter what class you choose but to get the really cool stuff you need to decide which set of cool stuff you want.
Weapon customization is a bit disappointing but still better than almost any other game. What I do like is that weapon add-ons can all be unlocked before you start either campaign. They can only be unlocked through challenge missions. Challenge missions are separate missions from the campaigns and I recommend you try them first. Not only will you unlock cool doodads for your guns but they also teach you how to play Brink.
Objectives are very flexible. Each level has a list of objectives that your team has to complete. These range from defending a certain spot, blowing up something to repairing or building defenses. The interesting thing is that you can complete these objectives in any order. There’s one main objective and the rest are secondary to it. Depending on how you want to play will determine which objective you'll want to do. As long as you're doing something you will be helping out your team. This means that those people who prefer to be lone wolves won't make it any harder for team players or people new to the game. All objectives are class specific. This means in order to win a game you can't all go engineer and spam place turrets and mines everywhere.
Every level is unlocked right out of the box. This is because there is no separate multiplayer section of the game. Every level can be played either online or offline or you can open up your game and let people jump in whenever they like. I recommend for the first playthrough of the game you play it in order and leave the what-if missions till last. This is definitely a game that you'll want to play with friends or other people. Maybe it's just because I'm terrible at shooters but the A.I on your team is terrible and the opposing teams A.I seems to have been programmed by a super genius.
The soundtrack is small but really good. The songs don't get in the way of the rest of the game and it really sets the tone for what brink is all about. Probably not going to make any one's soundtrack to buy list though.
The graphics really convey the point that you're in a distopyian futuristic society. You really get the sense of how small and fragile the Ark is. In terms of cutting edge though it's fairly average. It can be a bit rough in some areas and maybe its just me but the grenades just don't look quite right.
I had great fun playing this game. It was good to play a game that is so flexible and that just gets to the core of what an FPS is and gets out of the way and lets you do what you want.
8 out of 10
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