RANDOM VIDEO GAME NEWS THREAD!

[mkreku]

In unrelated news, some people are making a graphical remake of Outcast and apparently a tech demo has been released. http://www.openoutcast.org/wp/

Aww! I thought for a minute that someone had figured out how to do those voxels on the GPU and that it would be possible to play the original game in higher resolutions.. but it turned out to be a Crysis Wars mod. BOO! I want my voxels!!

[WorstUsernameEver]

Completely forgot to post this but :

 

Dragon Age Anime movie deal revelead.

[Oner]

Completely forgot to post this but :

 

Dragon Age Anime movie deal revelead.

I can see the doujinshi already.

[HoonDing]

Dragon Age Anime movie deal revelead.

[Nepenthe]

Completely forgot to post this but :

 

Dragon Age Anime movie deal revelead.

 

do not want

[Tigranes]

Whore out for money, more money, more money.

[Purkake]

 

Alpha Protocol 3D animated movie coming next?

[Slowtrain]

[How is having to retreat and stand around for your health to regenerate inferior to having to travel all the way out of a dungeon and back to town to buy health supplies? Essentially both of them are time sinks; both characters have the risk of running into enemies before they've fixed their health. Sure you could choose to go on and keep progressing in the hopes that you find a health kit, but you can also do the same with health regen and just hope that you regen more health than you lose in subsequent fights.

 

Seems to me the only difference is whether you get to push a shiny button to heal yourself or not.

 

 

You're comparing bad design to bad design. I think having to run off back to town constantly to get health is just as bad as regen health. The former is probably worse actually since it is somewhat punitive.

 

Regardless, I wouldn't have praise for either mechanic.

[Nightshape]

[How is having to retreat and stand around for your health to regenerate inferior to having to travel all the way out of a dungeon and back to town to buy health supplies? Essentially both of them are time sinks; both characters have the risk of running into enemies before they've fixed their health. Sure you could choose to go on and keep progressing in the hopes that you find a health kit, but you can also do the same with health regen and just hope that you regen more health than you lose in subsequent fights.

 

Seems to me the only difference is whether you get to push a shiny button to heal yourself or not.

 

 

You're comparing bad design to bad design. I think having to run off back to town constantly to get health is just as bad as regen health. The former is probably worse actually since it is somewhat punitive.

 

Regardless, I wouldn't have praise for either mechanic.

 

And how does slowtrain suggest the world deals with health?

[Bos_hybrid]

Completely forgot to post this but :

 

Dragon Age Anime movie deal revelead.

 

[Amentep]

[How is having to retreat and stand around for your health to regenerate inferior to having to travel all the way out of a dungeon and back to town to buy health supplies? Essentially both of them are time sinks; both characters have the risk of running into enemies before they've fixed their health. Sure you could choose to go on and keep progressing in the hopes that you find a health kit, but you can also do the same with health regen and just hope that you regen more health than you lose in subsequent fights.

 

Seems to me the only difference is whether you get to push a shiny button to heal yourself or not.

 

 

You're comparing bad design to bad design. I think having to run off back to town constantly to get health is just as bad as regen health. The former is probably worse actually since it is somewhat punitive.

 

Regardless, I wouldn't have praise for either mechanic.

 

Not sure I see why either is bad design. The design when a player gets themselves into this situation is typically because the player was less cautious than the scenario intended. And even if they are both bad design, you have expressed a preference for health kits, based on your previous statements.

 

Either one is forcing you to manage resources (either your health bar directly or your health kit inventory) and both encourage you to be cautious during gameplay. Both offer penalties of time and/or in-game-money for trying to bull ones way through the game.

[Meshugger]

Completely forgot to post this but :

 

Dragon Age Anime movie deal revelead.

 

Oh my

[Slowtrain]

[How is having to retreat and stand around for your health to regenerate inferior to having to travel all the way out of a dungeon and back to town to buy health supplies? Essentially both of them are time sinks; both characters have the risk of running into enemies before they've fixed their health. Sure you could choose to go on and keep progressing in the hopes that you find a health kit, but you can also do the same with health regen and just hope that you regen more health than you lose in subsequent fights.

 

Seems to me the only difference is whether you get to push a shiny button to heal yourself or not.

 

 

You're comparing bad design to bad design. I think having to run off back to town constantly to get health is just as bad as regen health. The former is probably worse actually since it is somewhat punitive.

 

Regardless, I wouldn't have praise for either mechanic.

 

And how does slowtrain suggest the world deals with health?

 

 

*shrug*

 

There's many variations depending on the game design. Ultimately you reward the player for doing things/movng forward, and you put the rewards in front of them, not behind them.

 

Pretty straightforward really.

 

 

Not sure I see why either is bad design. The design when a player gets themselves into this situation is typically because the player was less cautious than the scenario intended. And even if they are both bad design, you have expressed a preference for health kits, based on your previous statements.

 

Either one is forcing you to manage resources (either your health bar directly or your health kit inventory) and both encourage you to be cautious during gameplay. Both offer penalties of time and/or in-game-money for trying to bull ones way through the game.

 

 

Regenerating health is a very passive; it offers little in the way of encouragement to do anything except stand there. Breaking off from what you are doing and running off for health refills on a regular basis is just busy work. Those are general statements, fo course, good game design can make any mechanic work if it integrates it properly into the gameworld.

Edited June 8, 2010 by Slowtrain

[Amentep]

*shrug*

 

There's many variations depending on the game design. Ultimately you reward the player for doing things/movng forward, and you put the rewards in front of them, not behind them.

 

Pretty straightforward really.

 

I'm sorry but I'm failing in thinking of anything that would entice a player to keep going forward short of having no health at all and have the choices be Live/Die.

 

The only health mechanics in games I've played are either regenerating health or health kits. So I'd really like to know what the alternative is.

 

Because if you're low on life the ONLY encouragement to go forward is either (a) not being able to go back or (b) being able to see a merchant in front of you yelling "health, get yer free health here!"

 

Not sure I see why either is bad design. The design when a player gets themselves into this situation is typically because the player was less cautious than the scenario intended. And even if they are both bad design, you have expressed a preference for health kits, based on your previous statements.

 

Either one is forcing you to manage resources (either your health bar directly or your health kit inventory) and both encourage you to be cautious during gameplay. Both offer penalties of time and/or in-game-money for trying to bull ones way through the game.

 

Regenerating health is a very passive; it offers little in the way of encouragement to do anything except stand there. Breaking off from what you are doing and running off for health refills on a regular basis is just busy work. Those are general statements, fo course, good game design can make any mechanic work if it integrates it properly into the gameworld.

 

So basically what you're saying is that you hate regenerating health and health kits except for when you don't? I'm confused.

[Malcador]

Never really liked regenerating health in the games I've played it in. Some times it doesn't make much sense in-universe to have it (like Vegas', not to mention cheapens the whole tactical shooter aspect).

[Amentep]

Sometimes I wonder if "health" when used in a regenerating system would make more sense identifies as more of a luck/ability to dodge injury on things that should normally hit (ie it expresses a fatigue factor that will eventually cause a blow to hit and kill the player).

 

Anyhow its an abstraction and you kind of have to figure on that sort of thing in games.

[Slowtrain]

My preferred method of health "management" is to allow the player to carry a quanity of health with them, which can be used as neccessary until depleted and refilled at various points along the way.

 

But again that's just talking in a vacuum. One part of game a game's mechanics works with other parts so different solutions may fit better depending.

 

Also, I'll just reiterate that regenerating health is not enough to make me not buy a game. It's merely a negative mark on the ledger, such as level scaling.

 

All games are a balance between the good and the bad; as long as the good outweighs the bad, then it's all right.

 

 

Personally, I've never played a game that wa 100% good nor 100% bad, not even Oblivion.

[Nightshape]

[How is having to retreat and stand around for your health to regenerate inferior to having to travel all the way out of a dungeon and back to town to buy health supplies? Essentially both of them are time sinks; both characters have the risk of running into enemies before they've fixed their health. Sure you could choose to go on and keep progressing in the hopes that you find a health kit, but you can also do the same with health regen and just hope that you regen more health than you lose in subsequent fights.

 

Seems to me the only difference is whether you get to push a shiny button to heal yourself or not.

 

 

You're comparing bad design to bad design. I think having to run off back to town constantly to get health is just as bad as regen health. The former is probably worse actually since it is somewhat punitive.

 

Regardless, I wouldn't have praise for either mechanic.

 

And how does slowtrain suggest the world deals with health?

 

 

*shrug*

 

There's many variations depending on the game design. Ultimately you reward the player for doing things/movng forward, and you put the rewards in front of them, not behind them.

 

Pretty straightforward really.

 

 

You'd think wouldn't you, this can work, but in the case of an FPS this actually enforces pure run and gun gameplay, enemies drop health, player pushes forwards.

 

Health regen promotes whack a mole style of shooting... Hiding behind cover allows you to regen health, this allows the AI to try and flank etc...

 

How you give a player health actually fundementally changes the way the player will play, particularly in regards of firefights. If you run and gun with regen, you usually end up dead quickly. Likewise you end up dead if you don't get from behind cover to pick up health packs.

 

So no, it isn't straightforwards at all.

[Slowtrain]

How you give a player health actually fundementally changes the way the player will play, particularly in regards of firefights. If you run and gun with regen, you usually end up dead quickly. Likewise you end up dead if you don't get from behind cover to pick up health packs.

 

 

 

I think I said that all ready:

 

 

But again that's just talking in a vacuum. One part of game a game's mechanics works with other parts so different solutions may fit better depending.

 

 

So no, it isn't straightforwards at all.

 

It's motivation through reward; as a concept it's extremely simple, and is not specific to video games in any way.

[Oner]

Mortal Kombat Reboot Live Action Trailer!

[Serrano]

Mortal Kombat Reboot Live Action Trailer!

 

 

*groan*

 

And why do they keep killing my favourite character? The fact he can't even make it past the trailer now is just insulting.

[entrerix]

this is just cornball, but i DO hope that they make another mortal kombat movie.

 

i just enjoy the "characters" because i'm still an overgrown 11 year old...

 

an ultraviolent action/horror movie would be just awesome imo. don't get the director of spawn, or uwe boll, or any anderson but p.t.

[Serrano]

I like the visual style and the way they've reworked things like Scorpion's hook to be more plausable. The dialog is just horrible though, even by action movie standards. I think it might end up having the same problems as the original in that the action is quite good but everything else is just... ugh. Hopefully I'll be proven wrong.

Edited June 9, 2010 by Serrano

[Bos_hybrid]

Mortal Kombat Reboot Live Action Trailer!

 

Those 9 minutes were more interesting then MK:Annihilation. Pity it won't be a movie.

[Calax]

Infamous 2 is now the cover for Game informer in July. New location (based off new orleans) and a revamped Cole. Cole because in the first one he was kind of... unplesant even if you were a good guy. They've simplified his overall look, and given him hair. They've added weapons (like being able to pick up a wrench and electrify it when you swat stuff), and it certainly looks more visually diverse than Empire City.