Games of 2010

Topics related specifically to video gaming.
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C-A_99
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Games of 2010

Post by C-A_99 » Fri Jul 02, 2010 7:12 am

E3 just passed a few weeks ago and while Xbox's Kinect (Project Natal) looks excessively gimmicky and lame (the difference being that the gimmick still sells, unlike the Bio-Ooze), there's a ton of pretty good sequels coming around.

If you haven't already, look around youtube and/or visit http://www.gametrailers.com/

Personally, I'm looking forward to Halo Reach, Gears of War 3, Portal 2, Crysis 2, and possibly CoD Black Ops despite the slight distaste I have for where the Call of Duty series was taken. I may also catch onto Bioshock 2 but I never finished the first one. There are tons of other games around and most I haven't listed.

Nintendo is doing some slightly-above-the-usual releases. I was a bit surprised to find a new Donkey Kong Country since Rare had the rights to it a while ago (and prevented Nintendo from releasing more Donkey Kong games) though there's also a new Goldeneye 007 being released. Nintendo's also releasing a new Legend of Zelda game: Skyward Sword. However, the releases don't look to be as big as they sound, especially with Goldeneye. The graphics are terrible for this generation, slightly worse than Gamecube quality (which defeats half the purpose for remaking one of the best shooters ever) and it looks like multiplayer is still limited to 4 players though I can't say for sure.

I haven't paid much attention to what's going on with the PS3. Their own motion control system is pretty much like the Wii's except with the addition of the Eyetoy and actually has enough buttons to work with. I haven't paid attention to their upcoming games too much though.

Even though the shooters I'm looking foward to may not contribute a huge amount to their genres, they are a nice continuation of their stories and expand on pretty good game worlds. Halo Reach's gameplay mechanics and customizability are undergoing a haul as dramatic as Halo 3 did. Each Halo game has added much more to the Halo universe than many other games' sequels do to theres. Hopefully my new gaming rig won't crumble with Crysis 2 too much; I invested a little less in its graphics card than I maybe should have. (Though the card I have, the 5770, is completely substaintial for most 3D applications I work with and is great for games that are less graphically intensive than Crysis.)

What games are you all looking forward to play later this year?

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cantab
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Re: Games of 2010

Post by cantab » Fri Jul 02, 2010 1:26 pm

I was looking forward to Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep. But after a certain recent action by Sony, which may be unlwaful in multiple jurisdictions, along with Sony's previous actions, I'm never buying any hardware made by Sony again, not even second-hand. I just can't trust Sony any more.
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Re: Games of 2010

Post by zeda.beta » Fri Jul 02, 2010 4:30 pm

The reach beta made me not want to buy the game, and Black ops looks to be a money vacuum released just for the sake of bigger pockets.

But Portal 2 looks amazing, and so does the 3DS. (Mainly for OOT.)

Donkey Kong Country and the new 007 game also look worthwhile, and all of these will keep me busy for a year or two.

Oh, and all of the motion control stuff from Microsoft and Sony looks crappy. I mean really, if the Wii was a flop with gamers, then how does microsoft expect to attract people with Natal and, (This is actually one of the games,) "Shopping Cart Frenzy." No joke. It's just sad, and the new sony controller is a blatant copy of nintendo's, just with a stupid light on the end. And no, I am not looking forward to Epic Mickey.
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TheTyphoon
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Re: Games of 2010

Post by TheTyphoon » Fri Jul 02, 2010 5:11 pm

Can not WAIT for Reach. Firefight 2.0 is going to clear everything else away in terms of shooter games on the 360, and with some Beta feedback they'll likely finetune the Matchmaking experience too (tone the fucking Magnum down!!!! It's too powerful!).

And of course, the Campaign, because I'm an avid Halo fan. ;)

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Re: Games of 2010

Post by cantab » Fri Jul 02, 2010 5:38 pm

Epic Mickey does interest me, mainly to see how it compares to the Kingdom Hearts series. I don't think we yet know whether to expect a similar action-RPG experience, or something totally different.
zeda.beta wrote:I mean really, if the Wii was a flop with gamers, then how does microsoft expect to attract people with Natal and, (This is actually one of the games,) "Shopping Cart Frenzy."
The Wii is easily the most successful of the current consoles in general. Maybe MS are hoping for a piece of that? Then again, project Natal is expected to be stupidly expensive. For it to compete directly with the Wii, it needs to be a lot cheaper - so that the price of an XBox 360 + Natal is not too much more than the Wii (I'd say ideally less than 50% more). Then the XBox 360 could tap into some of that kind of market, bringing the benefit as compared to the Wii that it does HD. A lot of people own HD TVs, they aren't big gamers, they might look at the Wii but if the XBox 360 can unlock their television's full potential, while the Wii cannot, there's a draw there.

In actuality, I expect Natal to flop primarily on price. On the other hand, if the next game in any big series is made to require Natal, gamers will feel the "must have" effect and get it. But it would actually hurt sales of the game (compared to if it was Natal optional), so I can't see any game other than one made by MS doing that.
I work on Windows. My toolbox is Linux.
Arsenal:
Super Soaker: XP215, 2xXP220, Liquidator, Aquashock Secret Strike M(odded), Arctic Blast M, CPS1200, CPS2100, SC Power Pak, 3l aquapack, 1.5l aquapack
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Others: Waterbolt, The Blaster, Storm 500, Shield Blaster 2000, generic PR gun, generic backpack piston pumper (broken), 3l garden sprayer M, 10l water carrier:

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Re: Games of 2010

Post by C-A_99 » Fri Jul 02, 2010 7:19 pm

It's quite clear that both MS and Sony are hopping on the casual gaming bandwagon. Unfortunately, a growing majority of those who game are casuals, people who are easily amused by Wii Fit minigames and the like. Most mainstream gamers never paid much attention to the Wii and probably won't regard Kinect nor PS3's Move very much, unless they're trying to get girlfriends into gaming or whatever. Otherwise, casual gimmick games with no depth generally have little or no appeal to mainstream gaming.

As for HDTV's, current generation consoles almost never "unlock the TV's full potential"; the vast majority of content and games for the 360 and even the PS3 run in 720p. You want full 1080p, hook up a gaming computer and a blu-ray player. Still 720p is an enourmous difference from the crappy 480p the Wii supports. (And the Wii doesn't even come with component cables; they have to be bought seperately for ridiculous prices.)

HD is mostly important for FPS games especially when playing in split screen. It's simply impossible to see snipers or see much of anything on 4-player split screen in 480i "standard" definition.

The way the Wii was released has raked in huge profits. Not only does the casual gaming appeal to larger audiences, the fact that they were able to sell a console with vastly inferior hardware for a whooping $250 even as the Xbox 360 Arcade dropped to $200 shows just how well they handled the market. The console is no more than an upgraded Gamecube which emulators have shown. (When Dolphin, the Gamecube emulator went open source, it was able to play Wii games shortly after.) Thus with cheap hardware, graphics capability, etc. they got even more money from being able to mass-produce the consoles cheaply while keeping the hardware reliable and of course, shiny.

I don't see Kinect getting into mainstream gaming. Unless it can tell when fingers hit invisible buttons, has almost no latency, and is percise, then the controller will stay as the best method available to control games for the 360. (They will probably never add mouse/keyboard support since players who integrate the 360 into their desktop setup will have an advantage over those who play in the family room, though they have no problem with the considerable advantages of playing in HD.)

The Halo Reach beta was pretty crippled and Bungie themselves told us that the beta was very behind but they were unable to release their later versions. Tons of bugs in the beta had already been fixed when the beta launched and I can say for certain that the full game will be very well polished. The Magnum works just fine as it is; as a medium range weapon. The crosshair bloom (recoil) prevents it from working effectively at longer ranges and it can get mowed down easily at closer ranges. Plus the same old tiny 8 round magazine doesn't help either. However, it's much better than the Halo 3 Magnum which was very difficult to use and was completely useless in most situations. (It only had use when dual wielding, otherwise it could be easily taken down by any other weapon.)

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Re: Games of 2010

Post by zeda.beta » Sat Jul 03, 2010 3:49 am

That's what I meant, causal people are not considered to be gamers in my book. And the Wii isn't even marketed as a gaming console. It is a Home Entertainment Machine, so that they can draw in other people. When a console isn't even called a gaming console, then it cannot have a chance at getting a piece of the 360 and PS3 action.

BTW, I am not biased against any console, I own a PS2, Gamcube, Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360, PSX, (Soon to have a DC), and many portables. I am just fed up with the performance and attitude of every manufacturer right now, as they are only caring about making a bigger profit.
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Re: Games of 2010

Post by C-A_99 » Sat Jul 03, 2010 4:20 am

Like Hasbro's decline, the new appeal to "casual gaming" is profitable and successful. I'd have to question the profitability of Hasbro's low quality approach considering how many expensive gimmicks didn't sell. Either way it's all the same; quality is traded for profits, thanks to the people who don't actually give a crap about water guns or gaming.

The Wii still has a few series and games worth playing IMO, but only a handful. The 360 still carries more good series than the Wii has games. It's unfortunate when you get the occassional nice Nintendo game but can't play it at a half-decent resolution.

I'd say the PC is my favorite system to play on; graphics, framerates, resolution, sound, processing, etc is always ahead of the consoles, you can take screenshots and video with ease, and dedicated servers run the best. However, I've actually been spending more time on Xbox Live as I don't have many great online PC games I feel like playing at the moment. I haven't found as many console exclusives I liked on the PS3 but there's definitely some good ones out there. However, the vast majority of people I know have a 360 and most of them only have just that. I could only afford one console, the 360 had the most games I like, and since so many friends have one, it's the easiest to organize LAN parties with. (And believe it or not, PC LANs would be the second easiest for me to organize, especially if we play old games with very low system requirements.)

With that, I would say I'm quite biased towards the PC and 360 but those systems aren't without their problems or limitations either. 360 peripherals and online play is pricey (you have to spend $40 just on HD cables, but you can find them for cheap if you know where to look, but the wireless network adapters are ridiculously expensive.), and PC games are sometimes buggy. I wouldn't consider PC upgrading to be a real problem because consoles have to be replaced entirely within their own time periods too, and PC's have the ultimate in backwards compatibility. (Though some old games often require patches, tweaks, workarounds etc. to play.)
Last edited by C-A_99 on Sat Jul 03, 2010 4:26 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Games of 2010

Post by cantab » Sat Jul 03, 2010 2:05 pm

zeda.beta wrote:That's what I meant, causal people are not considered to be gamers in my book.
Why not? What defines a "casual" gamer as compared to other sorts of gamer. And why you do you think you can draw a black-and-white line?

These days I don't game much, and my only current-gen console is a DS. I might put in a few hours on Gran Turismo 4 or load up GTA:SA and go messing about for a bit. I've played through a fair few games on the DS not too not long ago but not doing much with it at the moment. At any point I might decide to start a new playthrough, on either a new game or an existing one (eg most any of the Final Fantasy series), and then I'm suddenly end up back to gaming 10-20 hours a week again. So right now you might call me a "casual gamer", but I'm not part of the Wiimote-swinging crowd and my games shelf probably looks like most PS2 owners'.
I work on Windows. My toolbox is Linux.
Arsenal:
Super Soaker: XP215, 2xXP220, Liquidator, Aquashock Secret Strike M(odded), Arctic Blast M, CPS1200, CPS2100, SC Power Pak, 3l aquapack, 1.5l aquapack
Water Warriors: Jet, Sting Ray M, Shark, Argon M, Tiger Shark, PulseMaster
Others: Waterbolt, The Blaster, Storm 500, Shield Blaster 2000, generic PR gun, generic backpack piston pumper (broken), 3l garden sprayer M, 10l water carrier:

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Re: Games of 2010

Post by zeda.beta » Sat Jul 03, 2010 4:34 pm

Okay, sorry about the classification, but none of the people who like to play only casual games, at least that I know, call themselves, "gamers."

And yeah, every hardware has a place, and every game has a place as well. That is why I feel that people can play anything they want, and call themselves gamers if they want, because it is a free country.
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Re: Games of 2010

Post by TheTyphoon » Tue Jul 27, 2010 9:52 am

Nah, the Magnum fires too fast. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate the Magnum, I just didn't enjoy getting spammed by newbies on the Beta, when they got close and just pulled the fire trigger as fast as possible, resulting in my shields popping in like, half a second, and then dieing, even though I was using the close-range Assault Rifle against them.

Mind you, they didn't stand a chance against me further than close-range....gotta lurve that DMR. ;D
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C-A_99
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Re: Games of 2010

Post by C-A_99 » Tue Jul 27, 2010 4:10 pm

The Magnum's pretty useless at medium-close range; anyone with a PR or AR could easily mow down anyone spamming the Magnum's trigger. At very close range, you might as well use a plasma 'nade or melee. (Or melee and get a headshot with the Magnum after, which actually takes skill but can be effective if catching a target off-guard.)

Anyone here into Gears of War?

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Re: Games of 2010

Post by Comrade117 » Wed Jul 28, 2010 6:52 am

I do not play gears of war, but I heard it is awesome.
Magnum may be weak against AR in close combat, but it is too fast. In old Halo: combat evolved it was much slower and totally ineffective in medium-to-close combat (was not named magnum, it was pistol). It was too slow so Bungie made it faster in Halo 2, and again, it was too fast.
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Re: Games of 2010

Post by TheTyphoon » Thu Jul 29, 2010 1:34 pm

You clearly didn't play the beta, or at least not more than a few games.

Up close, Recticle Bloom doesn't matter, and that's the one thing that keeps the Magnum in check. So as soon as you're in range, say 7 or so metres, you can spam the trigger and only have to put that last shot to the head. 5 shots is all it takes from the Magnum, and the community have found it rather frustrating that the Assault Rifle - generally a close-medium range gun - can be beaten by what is meant to be a secondary weapon due to its R.o.F and power per shot.

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Re: Games of 2010

Post by zeda.beta » Wed Aug 04, 2010 10:00 am

GoW is awesome.
Btw, if you think that the pistol sucked in the first game then you have never played it. I could take out a tank with it, so they nerfed it and added speed.
I reject your reality and substitute my own.
Quack damn you.

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