Gamer, geek, Israeli gay teenager, high school student, C#/Java developer and poet.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
BioShock Infinite was recently announced by Irrational Games, the geniuses behind the first BioShock. Being a diehard BioShock fan, I acted how you would expect: I freaked out. (In the good way!)
Infinite is a prequel that takes place in Columbia, a steampunk city floating in the sky, at 1918. Yes, the BioShock franchise is leaving Rapture! As much as I loved Rapture, I do think it’s time to leave it. 2K Marin still managed to make great use of Rapture in BioShock 2, but they were squeezing the last drops. We all know Rapture already, using it once more will not do any good to the franchise. It was a genius move to replace Rapture with the entirely opposite Columbia: up in the sky versus down in the sea, visible to all and a symbol of humanity’s technological progress versus hidden to everyone and secret & brutal and harsh versus “calm” and bright. In addition, Infinite’s Columbia is just as amazing and exceptional as Rapture. It’s not as scary, but it’s seems like the best replacement.
In Infinite people don’t attack you unless you stir up trouble. They don’t just jump on you like they don’t like the shirt you’re wearing, as seen in the first game. In addition, the scuba-diving Big Daddies are replaced by much scarier, mechanical steampunk giants powered by what appears to be a human heart. Also, according to the story you are an agent sent to Columbia to track down Elizabeth, a woman who was kidnapped and is held prisoner in Columbia ever since she was a child. This brings me to the next point - in Infinite, you gain a companion: Elizabeth! The two of you combine your Plasmid powers to unleash devastating attacks on your enemies and progress through the game. The rest of these changes can be found on Shacknews’s (excellent) article “BioShock Infinite Reveal Preview”.
Being a diehard fan, there’s already a 90% chance I’ll pre-order this game. Sadly, we’ll have to wait until 2012 to get it. :-(
P.S.: I see a “Games for Windows” logo but I don’t see the “LIVE” logo! Yay!
Using iOS push notifications to advertise your other apps is bad.
This is the second time this has happened in 2 days, and I’m sick of it. An unknown person (who I’ve blanked out) has invited me to play a game I’m not even interested in with him, through another app. ngmoco:), if you’re reading this: this is unacceptable. At least I don’t have instantaneous notifications (I’m using an iPod touch), so it’s not that bad, but I’m sick of getting these “invites” which are essentially pop-up ads for your other apps.
I’ve already contacted ngmoco:) through Twitter two days ago, and they’ve yet to respond, so I reported it as an issue on their Get Satisfaction site. If you’re sick of it too, or just play any of ngmoco:)’s games and don’t like this idea help me by voting in favour of removing this “functionality” from GodFinger and others. You can sign up to Get Satisfaction, or just sign in with your Windows Live ID, Facebook account or Open ID account.
Apparently, you’re never young enough to play PC games. I love how this kid understands Mirror’s Edge and Portal so well. Smart kid!
(These games are fine for a 3-year-old, really. Portal is focused on puzzles and doesn’t actually have any violence and Mirror’s Edge is mainly focused on running and solving puzzles. Besides, if the kid understands the difference between fake violence and real violence it’s ok.)
This is why I love Microsoft’s Xbox 360 Controller for Windows.
Even though I’m not an Xbox 360 gamer, but actually a PC/PS3 gamer, I just love the 360’s controllers. Yeah, I know that sounds weird, but that’s the case. I like to play a lot of games with a joystick, specifically Psychonauts, Trine, Overlord: Raising Hell, FLOCK!, Braid, GTA IV and Mirror’s Edge. Mirror’s Edge is the only FPS I like to play with a joystick, mostly because you don’t need the high precision you get with a computer mouse, and because it feels better to play it with a controller.
First of all: they’re very, very comfortable. I like how the first joystick is placed on the top-left part, rather than at the bottom-left part like in Sony’s controllers. Sony’s “buttons-here-joysticks-there” approach doesn’t work these days. Every game has joystick control, and in most cases it’s mandatory, or just so bad with the D-Pad. You hear that, Sony? Improve your controllers! They’re lacking. It’s so much more comfortable to use the 360 controller, because of that, and other reasons.
Another reason is the controller’s overall design. Not only does it look better, but it also feels better in your hands, better than any generic controller, or at least Sony’s, in my opinion.
A third reason is controller rumble and pressure-sensitive triggers, which most generic PC controllers don’t have. Having pressure sensitivity is a great thing, like in GTA IV: pressing the trigger just a bit enters free-aim mode, and holding it stronger enters auto-aim mode. This makes toggling or having a button for each seem bad and primitive, huh?
The last reason is the best one. I love these controllers because they introduce a new, well-needed standard for PC games: controller support and auto-configuration. Every time I enter a game that supports these controllers and switch mine on, it automatically configures the buttons and changes every key indication on-screen appropriately.
Like with Mirror’s Edge. I open the game, turn on my controller, and… BAM!
BAM!
BA—Oh, right.
What do you think of Microsoft’s controllers? Do you play PC games, usually
Steam’s Early Holiday Sale
See Steam’s Early Holiday Sale page, containing each day’s deals.
Steam, Valve’s great content delivery system for games, is having a five-day sale of games for the holidays. Every day 6-8 other games are discounted for 25%, 50%, or even 80%. I personally adore Steam (I’ll write my opinion blog post in the coming days) for its ease-of-use and great prices, since games are usually sold for 150% their U.S. cost here in Israel, and because Steam has great weekend and midweek deals. Today’s deals are Left 4 Dead for a mere $7.49 instead of $29.99, Resident Evil 5 for $24.99 instead of $49.99, SPORE for $19.99 instead of $39.99, Ghostbusters: The Videogame for only $9.99 instead of $19.99, Trine for just $9.99 instead of $19.99, Borderlands for $33.49 instead of $49.99, Order of War for just $9.99 instead of $39.99.
Of the above, I personally recommend Left 4 Dead (4.5 stars), Trine (4 stars) and SPORE (4 stars). I’ve played those three and can definitely say they’re great games: Get Left 4 Dead if you like action-packed shooters that unlike the other 80% don’t take place in a military environment. Get Trine if you like puzzle platforming games, and have a thing for retro sidescrollers. (It’s a beautiful ”3D sidescroller”.) Get SPORE if you like smart simulation games.
(This post has been redone from a link with a description, since my theme apparently does not support link descriptions. I’ll add it in myself later. >.>)
