Homeworld 2 is one of my favorite Real-time Strategy games. It came out in 2003, and I hadn't played it since 2004. You fight in 3D space with a range of ships. I just started getting back into it. Check-it out and let's play!
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
I played Too Human. My Impressions...
I like Too Human, it's a great game that I've been longing to play. I just downloaded and play the Demo all the way through. It's just a demo and the graphics weren't really that great, but good enough for me and this type of game.
There are a couple of things I didn't like which I hope do not happen when the game ships next month. First, there seems to be lots of invisible walls I run into. They aren't even faked that well and stop me usually about 3-4ft from a wall or rock instead of bumping into it. This happens in some doorways where it feels like the actual graphic has an invisible outer shell which is part of the unseen door and blocks my run path.
Ninja Gaiden II gave me zero issues with the camera and worked perfectly not to mention there are tons of menu and in-game options to tweak the camera, but people complained... I just didn't see it. If people want to complain about game cameras in Too Human, I can understand. Te camera in Too Human was a little annoying. I wanted more control over it as I walked into a big room where I knew lots of monsters were going to come out.
But then I just said, ok, I'm gonna just trust the camera movements and things turned out well. So you just have to trust the camera in Too Human. You also have multiple zoom levels to view closer and further away from your character.
The leveling up skill point system is less complicated than I thought. And works out quite well.
You level up pretty fast and makes killing the mechanical beasts all the more enjoyable. I have
yet to play with upgrading and modifying my weapons.
Also, probably because I'm lacking the complete story, but some things didn't make sense from a gameplay perspective such as, teleport to this area... move this block to point at door number #2, then when I teleport back into reality, door #2 is opened in reality. Repeat the process for the other two doors. Logical, but why?
This demo isn't one of those tutorial demos and pretty much just let you get right in the action, and some of the story although you get the occasional tip about the basic buttons which is great but doesn't stop the game. I missed one tip because I was pressing buttons but I hope it was a tip about fighting the big, mechanical monsters. I discovered that the 'A' button let's you climb on top of the big beast when you're close enough to it (like in the trailers). But once you're on top, then what? I think, but I'm uncertain that when you're on top, if you can balance your left stick well enough and don't fall off he will do his finishing move instead of losing balance and throwing you off his back. But that's just my guess through trial and error.
Fighting was cool though, and I like the controls with the right analog stick as your main attack method in different directions. You attack a lot in Too Human, and in many directions, so the analog stick fits perfectly... better than trying to map to buttons or even just having to tap the A button repeatedly for hours.
There are even combinations you can do like pressing up/toward something with the left-stick then pressing up/toward in the same direction with the attack right-stick and that does a special move.
The music in the game is really nice too, giving it a more epic feel during battle and the actual moves themselves have nice sound effects as well.
Overall, Too Human is a great game and I hope they fix some of the minor issues I pointed out above. Too Human introduced cool and new gameplay elements which you will probably get used to pretty quickly and I'm sure once I really start customizing my character I will become attached. I will definitely buy this game.
There are a couple of things I didn't like which I hope do not happen when the game ships next month. First, there seems to be lots of invisible walls I run into. They aren't even faked that well and stop me usually about 3-4ft from a wall or rock instead of bumping into it. This happens in some doorways where it feels like the actual graphic has an invisible outer shell which is part of the unseen door and blocks my run path.
Ninja Gaiden II gave me zero issues with the camera and worked perfectly not to mention there are tons of menu and in-game options to tweak the camera, but people complained... I just didn't see it. If people want to complain about game cameras in Too Human, I can understand. Te camera in Too Human was a little annoying. I wanted more control over it as I walked into a big room where I knew lots of monsters were going to come out.
But then I just said, ok, I'm gonna just trust the camera movements and things turned out well. So you just have to trust the camera in Too Human. You also have multiple zoom levels to view closer and further away from your character.
The leveling up skill point system is less complicated than I thought. And works out quite well.
You level up pretty fast and makes killing the mechanical beasts all the more enjoyable. I have
yet to play with upgrading and modifying my weapons.
Also, probably because I'm lacking the complete story, but some things didn't make sense from a gameplay perspective such as, teleport to this area... move this block to point at door number #2, then when I teleport back into reality, door #2 is opened in reality. Repeat the process for the other two doors. Logical, but why?
This demo isn't one of those tutorial demos and pretty much just let you get right in the action, and some of the story although you get the occasional tip about the basic buttons which is great but doesn't stop the game. I missed one tip because I was pressing buttons but I hope it was a tip about fighting the big, mechanical monsters. I discovered that the 'A' button let's you climb on top of the big beast when you're close enough to it (like in the trailers). But once you're on top, then what? I think, but I'm uncertain that when you're on top, if you can balance your left stick well enough and don't fall off he will do his finishing move instead of losing balance and throwing you off his back. But that's just my guess through trial and error.
Fighting was cool though, and I like the controls with the right analog stick as your main attack method in different directions. You attack a lot in Too Human, and in many directions, so the analog stick fits perfectly... better than trying to map to buttons or even just having to tap the A button repeatedly for hours.
There are even combinations you can do like pressing up/toward something with the left-stick then pressing up/toward in the same direction with the attack right-stick and that does a special move.
The music in the game is really nice too, giving it a more epic feel during battle and the actual moves themselves have nice sound effects as well.
Overall, Too Human is a great game and I hope they fix some of the minor issues I pointed out above. Too Human introduced cool and new gameplay elements which you will probably get used to pretty quickly and I'm sure once I really start customizing my character I will become attached. I will definitely buy this game.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
FF XIII coming also to XBox 360 from day 0
You may have noticed in the bullet points in my previous post that I said Final Fantasy XIII, which used to be a PS3 exclusive is also coming to the XBox 360 on the same day. Well, some fans are not happy with that and questions Square's "loyalty."
This has to be one of the funniest things I've seen on the net in a long time...
This has to be one of the funniest things I've seen on the net in a long time...
My E3 2008 favorites!
Microsoft over-delivered at this year's E3 and there too much information to try a summarize it all. Instead, I want to share my favorite announcements in no particular order.
* Gears of War -- They will have bots! (games tend not to have bots these days). Also "Horde" mode
where you have 5player coop fighting off waves and waves of enemy hordes (who will be the last
to survive).
* Fable 2 online coop. We knew there was offline, but now online! Great!
* Red Alert 3 -- New faction "Rising Sun (Japan)". Looks beautiful. Canceled on PS3.
* Avatar system -- I welcome this new system. And I think this is just the first step
in a greater plan for social networking embodiment
* Dashboard update -- up to 8 people in a private chat room (you can all be doing different things like playing different games, doing nothing, watching a movie, and still be able to chat together). You can also share games, videos, and other stuff of on hard drive with other users. Truly the next step in social networking for consoles. Yes, blades are still there. ;)
* Netflix integration a no cost. Wow! If you have a netflix account and xbox live already, then
at no extra cost, you can queue up movies and get the downloaded straight to your XBox. Awesome strategic move by Microsoft and Netflix. Everyone wins.
* Portal: Still Alive (Portal 2). Exclusive sequel to the popular Portal coming to XBox Live Arcade this fall.
* Fallout 3 producer Todd Howard stands up and says that Fallout 3 will have substantial exclusive DLC for XBox 360
* Geometry Wars 2 with 4player online coop... That's right! Woohoo. The best $5 I've spent in my entire life
* Resident Evil 5 will have online coop so you don't have to be afraid alone
* id Software (John Carmack) partners with EA
* Final Fantasy XIII is coming to the XBox 360 and releases on the same day as the PS3 release. ZOMG!
I should note that bungie.net has yet to release any info regarding the Halo universe. Their countdown clock has about 24 hours left so be sure to see new udpates soon.
* Gears of War -- They will have bots! (games tend not to have bots these days). Also "Horde" mode
where you have 5player coop fighting off waves and waves of enemy hordes (who will be the last
to survive).
* Fable 2 online coop. We knew there was offline, but now online! Great!
* Red Alert 3 -- New faction "Rising Sun (Japan)". Looks beautiful. Canceled on PS3.
* Avatar system -- I welcome this new system. And I think this is just the first step
in a greater plan for social networking embodiment
* Dashboard update -- up to 8 people in a private chat room (you can all be doing different things like playing different games, doing nothing, watching a movie, and still be able to chat together). You can also share games, videos, and other stuff of on hard drive with other users. Truly the next step in social networking for consoles. Yes, blades are still there. ;)
* Netflix integration a no cost. Wow! If you have a netflix account and xbox live already, then
at no extra cost, you can queue up movies and get the downloaded straight to your XBox. Awesome strategic move by Microsoft and Netflix. Everyone wins.
* Portal: Still Alive (Portal 2). Exclusive sequel to the popular Portal coming to XBox Live Arcade this fall.
* Fallout 3 producer Todd Howard stands up and says that Fallout 3 will have substantial exclusive DLC for XBox 360
* Geometry Wars 2 with 4player online coop... That's right! Woohoo. The best $5 I've spent in my entire life
* Resident Evil 5 will have online coop so you don't have to be afraid alone
* id Software (John Carmack) partners with EA
* Final Fantasy XIII is coming to the XBox 360 and releases on the same day as the PS3 release. ZOMG!
I should note that bungie.net has yet to release any info regarding the Halo universe. Their countdown clock has about 24 hours left so be sure to see new udpates soon.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Get a Virtual Haircut: Realistic 3D Sound enviornment
Wear headphones and click the "Play" button at this site: ( I know it's Portuguese, but you can find the play button under the number listing. )
http://www.gmoura.com/blog/2007/05/vai-um-corte-de-cabelo.html
There's also an option to download the mp3 fileby Right-clicking, Save As.
http://www.gmoura.com/blog/2007/05/vai-um-corte-de-cabelo.html
There's also an option to download the mp3 fileby Right-clicking, Save As.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Back home (Zune, Wii Fit, Cam-Trax)
I just got back from a week trip to the U.S.A. I miss living in my country. But at least I brought some goodies back with me...
Zune
I finally got my long-awaited Zune 80 and I'm more than satisfied. I actually bought the Red Zune 80 for myself and my wife. After doing much research on it, having it in hand looks much better than all those YouTube videos I watched over and over again. And the Zune Marketplace, like the Xbox 360 Marketplace, is a fantastic and enjoyable software to work with all made with Flash (It has that flawless, bubbly feel). My wife has one because she loves to listen to music throughout the day, which means I also get a chance to experience many of Zune sharing features like transferring songs, video podcasts, etc. It worked flawlessly. I can even sync my Zune with my PC wirelessly, yep. I also downloaded several XNA Zune Games for free made with the XNA Game Studio 3.0 CTP (community) release. Some of the games I downloaded are multiplayer, so my wife and I lay and bed and battle each other wirelessly using our Zunes all the while listening to our favorite tracks in the background and sounds effects of the game.
Wii Fit
I've also stocked up on some new Wii games (Boom Blox, Metroid, Mario Kart, Zelda, etc) and I was lucky enough to get a Wii Fit. Big thanks to my older brother for working his special channels to get me one which are still on a very limited bases. The kids just love to play on the Wii Fit. My top three games on the Wii Fit are hula-hoop, the marble madness looking balance game, and the soccer head-butt game. Definitely fun.
Cam-Trax
Speaking of fun peripherals like the Wii Fit and Wii Zapper (with Zelda), someone shared a great video of a team of folks who uses Image Recognition to turn almost any type of object into a game controller. Even a soda bottle. I've embedded the video below.
Zune
I finally got my long-awaited Zune 80 and I'm more than satisfied. I actually bought the Red Zune 80 for myself and my wife. After doing much research on it, having it in hand looks much better than all those YouTube videos I watched over and over again. And the Zune Marketplace, like the Xbox 360 Marketplace, is a fantastic and enjoyable software to work with all made with Flash (It has that flawless, bubbly feel). My wife has one because she loves to listen to music throughout the day, which means I also get a chance to experience many of Zune sharing features like transferring songs, video podcasts, etc. It worked flawlessly. I can even sync my Zune with my PC wirelessly, yep. I also downloaded several XNA Zune Games for free made with the XNA Game Studio 3.0 CTP (community) release. Some of the games I downloaded are multiplayer, so my wife and I lay and bed and battle each other wirelessly using our Zunes all the while listening to our favorite tracks in the background and sounds effects of the game.
Wii Fit
I've also stocked up on some new Wii games (Boom Blox, Metroid, Mario Kart, Zelda, etc) and I was lucky enough to get a Wii Fit. Big thanks to my older brother for working his special channels to get me one which are still on a very limited bases. The kids just love to play on the Wii Fit. My top three games on the Wii Fit are hula-hoop, the marble madness looking balance game, and the soccer head-butt game. Definitely fun.
Cam-Trax
Speaking of fun peripherals like the Wii Fit and Wii Zapper (with Zelda), someone shared a great video of a team of folks who uses Image Recognition to turn almost any type of object into a game controller. Even a soda bottle. I've embedded the video below.
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