ROGAHDAN

Well, I guess I care enough to write an internet post about it on the internet, but really, unless this DLC is a handjob from Jenna Jameson, I’m not too excited.

Now, while L4D2 might be a ways off, I still find myself bored with L4D, even with four maps and the completely underwhelming Survivor Mode.  Previous posts by Valve had said they would be releasing updates more frequently for PC, which they have been, but they’re small and insignificant updates.  Still waiting for the 4v4 matchmaking system (which would fix so much shit wrong with this game when trying to play with friends) and an easier way to download custom campaigns (TF2 supports it, why the fuck is L4D taking a step back in this sense?)

Valve should really just worry about the new game, since this DLC will probably just be some shitty campaign – but they could make it good, like showing the four survivors leaving the city and ending up in the south for L4D2.  But it probably won’t happen.

I hope I’m not bordering on the boycott group territory by complaining too much!

On Steam, of course.  Fantastic time to pick it up if you have yet to play it.  Fallout 3 is one of those games that will get you $50 worth of entertainment and then some, for $25 it’s a real no brainer.

According to Joystiq, Blizzard trademarked the name “Cataclysm” for use in “video games”, “online games”, and “paper-based products”.  And according to WoWWiki, the Cataclysm is also a name for “The Great Sundering”, an event that reshaped Azeroth.  This leads some people to think that maybe the third WoW expansion will be titled “Cataclysm”, although I beg to differ.  The Great Sundering took place ten thousand years before the first Warcraft game, so unless Blizzard is going to do some really crazy time paradox Caverns of Time expansion thing with it, I think it will be a new game.

And if not, what the fuck have they done to their lore?!

A new Blizzard IP would be awesome.  New lore, new mechanics, all that shit.  Just, please god, no faction switching, please.

Creepy eye.

Comic-Con, a nerd convention so popular that it threatens to cause San Diego to collapse upon itself due to the pure concentration of virginity in one area, will be held on the 23rd to the 26th of this month.  I’m looking forward to enjoying it in the comfort of the Internets, for two reasons – The Old Republic will have some sort of presence there, and Cameron’s Avatar is supposedly going to be shown off in a big way.  The hype machine should be fully powered up by then, and I’m looking forward to falling under it’s spell.

Actually, scratch that.  Not only doThe Old Republic and Avatar look awesome, but it will be nice to check out everything the internet says about them without having to push my way through crowds of nerds like Altair from Assassin’s Creed.

Chalk it up to Wikipedia being a piece of shit sometimes ^{citation needed}

According to Frozenbyte themselves, Trine is PSN and PC only pending Microsoft approval:

An XBLA version of Trine is a possibility but nothing more at present time. We would love to have Trine on XBLA and we’ve partnered with Atlus to make it happen, but it needs Microsoft’s approval and there are other factors as well. So it may happen or it may not, that’s really the current situation. Everything else ranging from release date to features is just speculation and isn’t based on any facts.

As soon as we know more we will also inform everyone else

Bummer, man.  At least the PC version isn’t a huge system resource hog, so most everyone should be able to play it.

Huh huh... probe... Beavis, he said "probe".

Zerg

Terran

From Game Bomb.  Surprising to see Immortals that far down the Protoss tree, I always thought they were the Dragoon replacement.  Guess not.

Early on in the PS3 lifespan, most units shipped with a chip that allowed the PS3 to emulate the PS2 through hardware – a chip called the “Emotion Engine”.  After a while, though, Sony figured out that, “hey, this could be one of those things that makes the PS3 so fucking expensive” and removed the chip from newer units altogether, at the expense of backwards compatibility.

For most people, this might be fine, but for nostalgic neckbeards like myself, I do enjoy firing up old Playstation or Playstation 2 games every now and then – stuff like Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy Tactics, Metal Gear Solid 3, and God of War are games that are just too timeless, and it’s a pain in the ass to have to keep two consoles around just to play these games.  Luckily, I grabbed my PS3 when the Metal Gear Solid 4 bundle was released a while back, which included backwards compatibility.  But for people who purchased a newer PS3, they’re shit out of luck.

Or are they?  According to Siliconera, a recent patent filing by Sony points to software based emulation of the PS2/PS1, which would (probably) allow most PS2 games to be emulated through the software without the need for a dedicated Emotion Engine chip.  Hell, Sony had been tooting the PS3’s cell processor’s proverbial horn for quite some time now, its about damn time that it’s put to use.

At any rate, this is just a rumor – but a rumor that could add significant functionality to the PS3 with just a simple firmware update.

Hopefully after the inevitable success of Basterds, Activision will finally hear my pitch for my World War II game, “Call of Jewty”, in which you play as a Jew exacting revenge upon Nazis.

It’s a great idea, I’m not sure why more people haven’t run with it!

Grappling hook? Check.

I’m not a game designer, and it’s probably for the best that I play games and don’t bother making them.  But if I was a game designer, I’d want my game to be like my first taste of Trine.  Had it not been for the demo blurb in Steam’s RSS feed, I probably wouldn’t have even paid it any attention at all.  While you’re reading this, open up Steam and grab the demo.  Seriously.  Its free and you get a good thirty minute feel of what Trine is all about.

Trine is developed by “indie” Finnish studio Frozenbyte.  The game is a side scrolling 3D action platform puzzler, with a heavy emphasis on physics enabled objects, like rotating platforms and weighted boxes.  Stuff like that.

The basic story premise is nothing short of generic – which is the general idea.  A wizard, thief, and knight all by chance meet up at this mysterious artifact, known as the “Trine”, and end up melded together and presumably have to go through the kingdom slaying undead and destroying evil.  Horray.  The nice thing here is that the story is presented in a Fable-esque narrator voice, setting the tone and mood of the game early on.

The story is really just a explanation for the gameplay, though.  You end up controlling the three heroes – although one at a time, running through the kingdom.  Each hero has their own strengths and weaknesses, as well as personality.  The meathead knight has a bunch of weapons (although you only get to use the sword in the demo) and a shield – he’s big and strong, but dumb as rocks.  The thief uses a bow and a grappling hook, which lets her swing to higher, unreachable places.  The wizard can conjure up magical items (mainly boxes, which are used to have other characters jump to new areas, or to hold down floor switches.)

Wizards? Check.

Again, the beauty here is that all three of these characters aren’t used together – the game uses a mechanic where you can switch characters at any time.  Undead coming at the wizard?  Switch to the knight, since the wizard can’t attack directly.  Need to hit a target across a bridge?  Switch to the thief and use her bow.  Its done rather seamlessly, much like switching weapons in a FPS.  Even in the short demo, there were plenty of places I’d end up going back to because you see an item just out of reach – an “Oh shit!” moment.

The nice thing about the puzzles is that they are physics driven – or, rather, Physx driven, and probably the best use of Physx I’ve seen since Nvidia snatched the tech up.  There are multiple ways to tackle puzzles.  For instance, a see-saw midway through a level could be wedged in a ramp position by pushing a box underneath with the knight, and then summoning a second box on top of that one with the wizard – although I could have just as easily used the Thief to jump up and around the platform and over the see-saw.

Knights? Check, and check.

While you don’t get to see it much in the demo, you collect experience throughout the levels to power up and improve the three heroes’ attacks and mechanics.  The two upgrades I used gave the knight and increased crit chance, while I opted to give the wizard the ability to summon two magical boxes in tandem.

Trine’s graphics are excellent for a side scrolling game.  The 3D perspective makes the game feel more modern than Braid.  Graphically, the levels are colorful – lots of HDR lighting and greens and purples to look at.  The soundtrack and the sound effects, from what I’ve heard, are just as good and fit the game nicely.

After an hour of playing, the demo sold me – Trine is quite a pleasant surprise.  If you preorder it on Steam now, you get Frozenbyte’s other game, Shadowgrounds, which is like a top down Doom game, although I can’t say I was all that impressed with the demo of it.

Trine is thirty bucks, and is supposed to be released for the 360, PSN, and PC at the same time, so no matter how you game, you should be able to check this out at some point.  Hopefully the full game is as enjoyable as the demo was.

According to Champions Online Daily News:

We’re still two months away from the September 1 launch of the PC game, so there’s plenty of time to get things done. Within that time-frame, an Open Beta needs to be organized. I can say that a firm date has been penciled in and although it’s not 100% confirmed it is slap bang in the middle of August.

My advice is if you have a vacation to Outer Mongolia, or maybe a fishing trip in the mid-Atlantic planned for central August, cancel it now!

As you’re probably aware, lots of detail has to be finalized before final announcements are made, mostly technical and legal stuff, but also the partners who’ll be involved in the Open Beta.

The Open Beta is really just there to make sure the technical infrastructure works, and there are no Snafus pre-launch. As far as game design and major bugs are concerned, they should be done by then.

Champions Online is from Cryptic, the company that pioneered the Superhero MMO Genre ^TM with City of Heroes/Villians.  The game is supposed to launch in September, so this sounds about right.