The Gamer's Quarter

[Ketch]

[Dracko]

I certainly didn't get that impression. What is it about the gravity gun that you found so jarring?
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[Ketch]

[J.Goodwin]

[SuperWes]

[dhex]

for the record i may be the only person who doesn't notice the no arms can thing, but in my defense, ultima underworlds 1/2 and system shocks and etc.
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[Dracko]

To your credit, rather.

[Lackey]

Yeah, but none of the games you reference there really aim for suspension of disbelief, at least not in the way that Half Life 2 tries to put you in it's universe.

I found some of the worldly detail in the game really grabbed me. Things like the old computers and empty paint cans and other miscellany in the offices and abandoned houses were so true to objects I actually see on a daily basis that it just made everything seem that much more concrete. This is a half finished thought, I may come back to it, but somehow it made the fantastic things seem more believable.
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| Little bird fighting against a bat sect game |

[OtakupunkX]

[Shapermc]

[Ketch]

(Talking of plumbers and turtles, I just found out that most of Bowser's children are named after musicians Iggy (Pop), Roy(Orbison), and Lemmy (Kilmeister ie. from Motorhead), Ludwig Van Bowser (duh!).)

[Cryoburner]

I felt the gravity gun fit HL2's world quite well. This a world where technology exists for bending space and time, allowing beings to travel vast distances, even to parallel universes. It seems feasible that a portable tool capable of warping space enough to levitate small objects could be developed using the same research.

Having invisible arms and legs is a bit weird though, during the few instances when it's really noticeable. I can see how they pose issues from a technical standpoint in terms of collision and animation, but more games need to work on those issues rather than just ignoring them entirely. In Oblivion though, one can at least attribute the floating objects to telekinesis. ; )

As for cut scenes, I definitely prefer the type in Half Life 2 to the traditional non-interactive variety. This especially holds true for first-person perspective games, where leaving your body completely ruins the immersiveness. In third-person games this isn't so bad, and in some cases, like with the Final Fantasy RPGs, the scenes are beautifully done, making them beneficial to the game. I don't usually skip cut scenes, but I could stand to do without them most of the time.

I do agree about the slow NPCs in Oblivion. In some situations, it's downright annoying. The quest where you save the Argonian girl from the cult village was one such case. After bringing her to her horse, she proceeds to move incredibly slowly on horseback all the way back to her home town. You would think that you would at least make an effort to get away from your captors at a moderately brisk pace. She instead is slower on horseback than she was walking to the horse.

[Dracko]

The new Brothers in Arms game is aiming for more tangible corpo-realism by having the player interact in first person view within a real model in the game, in what the developers call a first person actor. The same degree of material credibility will also apply to objects your character will hold, guns or otherwise. I don't expect to see this in the episodic segments of Half-Life 2, but maybe for a potential Half-Life 3? It's certainly the sort of innovation I expected to see from next-gen material, along with, hopefully, more room left to choice and exploration in titles like BioShock and The Outsider.

In-game footage can be seen here.

And Ketch, I still find it somewhat surprising that you disliked the Gravity Gun on the grounds that it felt real enough as part of the world it was in. And frankly, I don't see how the DS is bringing much in the ways of innovation, just like I don't predict the Wii will succeed in this either. Old concepts with new controls are still old concepts.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[Lestrade]

[Shapermc]

[Dracko]

The DS still does have a lot going for it, but it's not surprising it's not as popular in the West as it is in Japan. New Super Mario Bros. was all the lessons of the original platform series rolled into one, and even though the 2D Castlevania series has been utterly derivative tripe since they tried to repeat the success of Symphony of the Night, I'm looking forward to the new one, if only because it's a sequel to Bloodlines, one of the best games in the entire series. That's not all of the good stuff it has on display, of course. As a hand-held though, it's a slightly eclectic little piece with true brilliance on it, though less due to the stylus than most acknowledge. It's hard to deny how often some of the greats on it have resorted to the touchpad as simply a forgettable gimmick. I certainly find it more interesting than the PSP.

The Wii is just a repackaged GameCube. Hell, it uses the exact same GPU. Will we see interesting things on it? Sure, just like you'll find something oddball on any platform. But just look at the announced library: An action shooter, a 3D platformer, a Tony Hawk game, a Jap hammer hitting game. It's like the PS One all over again. And whatever your stance is on Microsoft or Sony, the PS3 and 360, as well as the PC, display far more power and offer larger environments to make something truly new and intriguing. Adding a wand to an already tame carrot-chopper or tennis game can't truly be called innovation, let alone invention.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[SuperWes]

[J.Goodwin]

[Dracko]

[J.Goodwin]

FWIW, I don't regard Spore as being anything other than iterative.

However, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Pretty much all artistic content is iterative, has been since the first story was told.
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Gamertag - FalcomAdol -- Don't Click Here 触手
Playing - Ninety-Nine Nights - Xbox 360

[SuperWes]

[OtakupunkX]

[Cryoburner]

Even outside Japan, the DS is currently the fastest selling game machine. I'm thinking of getting a DS Lite in the next few months, sometime after Onyx Black becomes available. I'm seeing a lot of great games for it, and the DS touch screen works well from what little I've tried. I never saw much of a reason to get a GBA, since it didn't really offer any innovative features over my Gameboy Color, but the DS seems like a change for the better. The PSP, on the other hand, is only offering more of the same. The only real thing it has going for it from a gaming perspective is its faster hardware and larger screen, which mostly only equate to prettier graphics.

The Wii is also something I'm considering getting, but I'll probably wait a bit for that. After it hits retail we'll have a better idea of how well it works. I personally think it will be a nice console, even if it lacks the graphical capabilities of its competitors. The XBox360 and PS3 don't really interest me as much right now. They seem mainly like faster, prettier versions of consoles from the prior generation. Maybe after they get a collection of good games, and drop in price, I'll consider one, but right now they don't really offer anything I can't do on my PC.

[ApM]

[helicopterp]

[dhex]

the only time genre pieces can be bad is if you don't like the genre. (i.e. japan is my least favorite genre)

or if you expect the wii to like, change the universe or something.
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[Shapermc]

[J.Goodwin]

[Shapermc]

Next you'll pull out Dino the last Dinosaur.
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“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

[SuperWes]

[J.Goodwin]

[helicopterp]

[OtakupunkX]

[Shapermc]

[Mister Toups]

[J.Goodwin]

[SuperWes]

[J.Goodwin]

[Shapermc]

[SuperWes]

[J.Goodwin]

[dhex]

[SuperWes]

[SuperWes]

[Mr. Mechanical]

I can't imagine the Wii giving you anymore strain on your arms or wrists over a lengthy period of time than say, a five hour session of Halo multiplayer already does.

[simplicio]

I wonder if it will all mean an increased focus on shorter games with greater replay value? Using Jungle Beat as an extreme example, anyway.

[dessgeega]

i hope so.

i still havn't played jungle beat.
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[Harveyjames]

It's pretty good. It's surprisingly hardcore, considering the DK Bongos were designed for people who don't normally play games.

[dessgeega]

that is basically the description of my perfect game.

i am feeling the urge to play some warioware twisted soon.
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[simplicio]