Category Archives: Gaming

Nov
24
2008

No Mechanics, Valkyria Chronicles, Rambling

There won’t be a new Mechanics this week but hopefully one of the many DS/PSP games I have for the forthcoming Thanksgiving break will be absurd enough to write about (like Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror was in a trip a month and a half ago) to make up for the lack of content I’m providing [...]

By mittens | Also posted in Ramblings | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (1)
Nov
13
2008

Mechanics 6b: Unnecessary Vehicle Segments

I hate them.

By mittens | Also posted in Mechanics | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (3)
Nov
04
2008

Elemental: War of Magic Announced

The game I’ve been working on since I started at Stardock more than a year and a half ago has finally been announced. The game’s official site is at http://www.elementalgame.com/ and it contains several screenshots and pieces of concept art.
Elemental is due out in February 2010.

By mittens | Also posted in Programming | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (2)
Nov
03
2008

Mechanics 5: Vault-Tech Assisted Targeting System (V.A.T.S.)

With the development of Fallout 3, Bethesda Softworks faced a dilemma: they had to make a first-person RPG engine that was typically used for high-fantasy RPG/adventure games handle the intensity, gore, and statistical probability of the gunplay in Black Isle’s cult-legend Fallout and Fallout 2 in such a way as to not annoy either first-person [...]

By mittens | Also posted in General, Mechanics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)
Oct
29
2008

Sony is Making Me a Hater

I don’t really use my Playstation 3 the same way that I use my Xbox 360. My Xbox 360 is my console of choice; it has hardware upsampling, Microsoft absolutely nailed the community features, the online matchmaking and in-game friends list integration is consistent through almost every game, and the controller feels fantastic. It’s gotten [...]

By mittens | Also posted in Ramblings | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (3)
Oct
27
2008

Mechanics 4: Integrating User Interfaces

Interfaces of all sorts are one of the most game-specific features of any entertainment medium; there’s never an ammo counter on-screen when watching John McClane do Die Hard thing or a health indicator attached to Forrest Gump’s forehead in his movie — that would be ridiculous. Yet throughout the history of the gaming industry UIs [...]

By mittens | Also posted in Mechanics | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)
Oct
23
2008

Video Games

Fable 2 and Far Cry 2 were both released this week and, of the year’s releases, these two are amongst the top three games that I was looking forward to playing. Having them both at the same time is fantastically confusing. I started off the evening continuing my Fable 2 game because I wasn’t happy [...]

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