Raw Consciousness

VIDEO GAMES - Resident Evil 4 addendum....

If you know Spanish - beware- the game's rating is Adult and they are not kidding. I was totally surprised to hear in relatively well spoken Spanish some hardcore insults.

I had to glance and the machine that was running this game... Nintendo has truly relaxed some rules....

VIDEO GAMES - Resident Evil 4

I have only played about 10-20 minutes, but my first impressions can be summed up as this:

10.0+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

- Raist

VIDEO GAMES- PSP ownage...

While I am sure there will be some Nintendo DS cool games (hey, Konami announced Castlevania and frankly, I would have bought for that game alone) the PSP lunch titles look mighty interesting.

Wireless Twisted Metal? Wireless Wipeout?  ARGh.

Really, this machine will have a better library it seems than the Nintendo DS at that time with the time it had in advance.  Reminds me in a weird way if it can be compared at all of the Saturn/PS1 launches....

I can only see PSP ownage.  Probably the DS will like the N64 get a larger user base over time but the PSP will be the king.

(or ironically the gameboy advance SP).

VIDEO GAMES - Nvidia doing Sony PS3 graphics...

Yup. It's official.

Nvidia link.

What I find interesting here is that if Xbox 2 is running on ATI hardware and so will the next Nintendo home console... and when you think about it it seems like what these three consoles are going to be using is a "next" or "next next" generation gpu from ATI or Nvidia, the hardwares may not be all that different.

So other components of the machine become the differentiator, hardware wise, more than the graphics, which have been traditionally a big differentiator (compare say Genny vs SNES, PS1 vs Saturn, etc).

I wouldn't be surprised Nintendo would be the one to put forward a particular more obvious difference in their console...

VIDEO GAMES - DS not a Virtua Boy...

Please ignore the PSP bashing by Nintendo in this link (Nintendo has often bashed their competitors in press events like these) and concentrate on the Nintendo DS sales figures:

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=5888

I really think this means the DS will indeed sell (well it already SOLD but I mean like sell as a viable strong platform).  I also wonder about the technology comment.... when you think about it, it makes sense *to an extent*.

VIDEO GAMES - World of Crack...

If Everquest has been dubbed "Ever Crack" I think World of Warcraft will be or can be dubbed "World of Crack."  I don't have experience playing Massive Multipe Online RPGS's (MMORPG's), but I did buy this game... I am such a Blizzard fanboy... but I truly *FEAR* this game.

Why? Well, I pretty much don't have a life at many times during the year as it is... this game will pretty much seal my fate in that direction. I bought the collector's edition only because I wanted the movies on DVD, extra art book, game soundtrack.  And I played a bit. 

The biggest surprise of all is HOW FAST and nice it plays on my laptop. That's 1024x768 w/ all Nvidia effects for you.  Hey, it has an Nvidia "The way it's meant to be played(tm)" kinda thing...
It also loads very fast. If I had to guess, I would guess that these guys must be managing their own memory quite well.

So played for a bit... I can see how the addiction can build... and as much as I would like to "go in" my commense says "no... be carefull, uninstall..." And that I probably will...

VIDEO GAMES - Buyer's remorse...

Many people that know me, know very well I go through the cycle of "but cool stuff" and then pretty much immediately and perhaps even to the purchase event itself, I get INSTA-BUYER'S REMORSE™.

I believe I have improved on this issue in my life (my last Fuji japanese F710 camera and the very laptop I still own are good examples of ZERO buyer's remorse), but in more than half the ocassions I still get it.

So today after being pumped up from some conversations with co-workers and seeing that little new machine itself, I went with them and we all three bought a Nintendo DS.

To make some story on this, this machine has virtually sold out everywhere. I went at lunch to Best Buy, they had a box with 20-30 machines.. held one in my hand and decided "not to buy."  But then in the evening talking with some co-workers we all got pumped up for it, went to that Best Buy and "We are sold out. we sold the last one 1 hour ago."

We called Frys- same thing. I called the Best Buy were I live - same thing. It ocurred to me then that the normal populace wouldn't think of a place that carry them... that there will be a "lag" until they realize they also sell it - we called Circuit City... they had 6.

We got into our cars ASAP and went there.  I piked one, my other two coworkers picked theirs.  And I knew it, I saw it coming - bang! buyer's remorse.

But why the buyer's remorse?

My thinking:

* I really don't have much free time in my life lately... and...

* I have a Gameboy SP with two games to play... the SP is still nice and far more portable with better battery life and...

* There really isn't any killer DS titles yet (except for Mario 64 for those who haven't played it yet)... and...

* It's $150 friking bucks. That's some cash even if the machine "it's a good deal" and...

* The machine looks ugly, though not anywhere near as ugly as in a website or pictures and...

* I know already..  I know it will happen, that I will *HAVE* to get a Sony PSP even if the battery life is a scant 4 hours (if it's less than that then I'll reconsider).  For all the dual screen boasting Nintendo does, the PSP's wide screeen more than makes up for it. I already saw a game using an area for the game and the right 1/5th of the screen to show some stats/map/whatever... it's like having a "dual screen" but as a single screen....

So... well... um....  The DS's nice it's just that um... GRR.. I hate buyer's remorse.

I

VIDEO GAMES - Half life 2 finished.

So I could play it on my laptop afterall. Depending on the scenarios I found myself compusively cranking the settings all the way up to admire the beauty of the levels I could run fine at that setting, and near all the way down (or to the middle, more accurately said) when I wanted the gameplay to take charge.

Best thing this game does: throws you in a believable environment.  Physics engine used to very good effect for the gameplay, not as a "look, we can break stuff just because we can!" kind of show off way.

But not only the physics help here, but the characters, the level art/modelling, the scripting, the events.

Worst thing: The game really doesn't explain much of many things that truly demand an explanation. I just can't see the connection in a logical fashion of what is going on in City 17 and what happened at Black Mesa.  And if they intend to explain it all in Half Life 3 in 5 years.. well... sorry..  I am dissapointed actually.

The ending of the game has a nice climax, but it leaves just so many unanswered questions....  So that to me was a let down.

- Raist

PS: This is a game I intend to replay when I get a new machine, eventually.

VIDEO GAMES - Half Life 2...

Ok ok.. I gotta say there's one thing that has surprised me so far more than anything, and I have only played for a scant 1 minute...

APPARENTLY THIS GAME CAN RUN QUITE DECENTLY WELL ON MY LAPTOP WITH FAIRLY HIGH SETTINGS!

Wow.. I gotta say who would have thought such a feat possible.. 800x600, 32 bits, on a 2.2 P4 -M with a geforce 5600 FX Go.... it apparently *CAN* RUN.  The only "advanced" settings I am missing here is the "water reflects everything" (game recommends the most simple reflections) any antialiasing + any kind of anisotropic filtering.

Maybe my standards have lowered but frankly, considering the game defaulted everything else to high from models to pixel shaders, I am pretty impressed.  Allright, I have only played a scant 1 minute but I remember the Doom 3 experience: 8-12 fps from the get go at 640x480.

VIDEO GAMES - Deception...

I gotta say I am really looking forward to read the reviews and buying Mortal Kombat: Deception. I just read it went gold. Why is this? Because at the last E3 it basically promised to solve all the problems and pet peeves that I had with Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance.

Basically Mortal Kombat Deadly alliance was probably the best fighting-gameplay of all Mortal Kombats, but it was surprisingly a "light" on the usual myth, gore and dark art that makes Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat. Imho of course (I still bought it).

But Deception from what I saw at E3 really seems to address all those concerns, so I am really looking forward to it. At this point when I play a fighting game I want to see some nice art with an "environment" and character development...