SpawnPoint

For those of you who are like me, an MMA game has been a long time coming for Nexgen systems. The previous games that have been created for MMA have been average at best and have pretty much only been aimed at the hardcore fan. UFC 2009 appears to be a game which for all intents and purposes will be for the mainstream market. THQ, the creators of such games as Company of Heroes and WWE Smackdown vs. Raw, have been contracted to make the game. Considering their reasonable success in creating solid WWE games, I believe that THQ should do a great job creating a UFC game. The WWE and the UFC obviously have vast differences, but in terms of creating a video game, they will be very similar. 

The most interesting part of this game will be the controller setup, in MMA there are about one hundred different submissions that a fighter can pull off. Obviously THQ will have to limit this amount, but the method in which they are implemented is a key point of success for the game. Applying a submission and defending one has to be intuitive to users. Moving from the clinch, to the guard, to the half guard, to the mount, to back control is an important part of MMA, how this is done in UFC 2009 will be crucial. 

Overall, I'm pumped to see the release of this game. It is planned to be released for PC, XBOX 360, PS3, PSP and the Wii. UFC 74 is tomorrow night, GO GSP!!!

Here is the UFC 2009 E3 trailer.

Superbad is the hit new comedy from the writer of Knocked Up, Seth Rogen. I saw this movie on Tuesday and was falling out of seat laughing the whole time. The basic plot is comprised of three unpopular high school seniors who are on a quest to bring booze to a party and get with girls. One of my favorite aspects of this movie was the fact that the previews didn't ruin the best parts. I really expected the movie to be average to below-average from the previews; luckily, I was completely and utterly wrong. 

The three main characters: Seth, Evan and Fogell are incredibly awkward, which results in a tremendous amount of comedy. Seth is the fat guy who is the leader of the group. His cursing and sexual innuendos are pure gold. Evan is the loveable loser who is more awkward than anyone else, his sentences go on and on and on. Fogell is the huge nerd who has his wigger talk down and gets a fake ID where his new name is "McLovin". 

I don't want to spoil the movie for anyone who hasn't already seen it; therefore, I'll finish this blog off by saying that this movie is the best comedy to hit the theatres in years. It is better than Borat(and I'm a huge Ali G fan) and it rivals Anchorman.

One thing that has kept me away from FPS games for consoles in the past was the fact that you had to use a controller joystick to aim rather than a mouse and a keyboard. For those of us who were annoyed with this for the Xbox, there was the SmartJoy FRAG, an incredible adapter that allowed one to connect a mouse and keyboard and play games such as Halo2 seemlessly. However, until recently there has been nothing out there for the Xbox 360 to do the same. 

A company known as XCM has created the XFPS 360 and the XFPS 360 pro. I just ordered an XFPS 360 pro yesterday with the total coming to about $100 with shipping. This seems pretty steep, but with the hours and hours that my SmartJoy for XBOX extended the lasting appeal of Halo 2 for me, I think it will be worth it, especially with the release of Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4. 

I've read many reviews about the XFPS 360 pro and I've comprised a list of some of the pros and cons.

Pros:

- Being able to hook up a mouse and keyboard to your xbox 360. I mean it instantly allows you to be quicker and more precise in FPS games. 

- The X and Y precision wheels eliminates most of the deadzone issues from the original XFPS 360. The deadzone is a certain range which Microsoft has imprinted into the XBOX in which the crosshair won't move. This is to account for the slight amount of movement that a joystick will experience. This is perfect for controllers, but a very noticeable and bad thing for a mouse.

- Works with almost any mouse and keyboard on the market.

- Programmable.

- Also allows you to plug in your PS2 controllers and use them for the 360.

Cons:

- You need a corded Xbox 360 controller to run the XFPS every time that you start up your box. The controller connects to the XFPS and initializes the connection. Essentially, this is an extra cost of $39.99.

- There is no headset plugin in the XFPS. Most of us will want to communicate with our team when playing a FPS game. However, there is a solution to this problem. The Microsoft wireless headset will work with this setup (however, this headset has its own problems). This is an extra cost of $59.99..

I'm very excited to give this a try and I'll post an update as soon as I can. Here's a video of the XFPS pro in action:

Well, today I've decided to write about some things that have just been grinding my gears in the form of rhetorical questions.

•  Is anyone else thoroughly disappointed in the direction that the CPL has taken? I mean Counter-Strike has been part of the CPL for as long as I can remember. While the CGS has shot up and taken some very good teams, an event without those teams would still be entertaining. I still see no reason why the CPL couldn't host CS:S and CS 1.6 tournaments. The games are as popular as ever, there's simply no way that they couldn't fill a tournament. The CPL seems to have turned into a completely commercial event, choosing games based upon sponsorship rather than based upon communities. I think it's a shame. The CPL used to be the big event that almost any player who has ever played CS competitively would watch, now it's a bore-fest filled with console games that I'll be happy to miss.
  
  
• Am I the only one who thinks that too many modern games focus on graphics first and gameplay second? Lately I've been playing some NES roms and they have really got me thinking about this topic. It seems to me that the majority of new games care more about their graphics than how the game actually plays. When I look at the source versions of Counter-Strike and Day of Defeat I see far inferior products to that of the original game. When I look at the past five Maddens, all I see is graphical improvements with almost no emphasis put on improving gameplay (that being said, I'm buying the new Madden today, and I am pumped for it, call me a sucker).
  
  
• Is anyone else as pumped as I am for Halo 3? The game is just over a month away from it's official release and I am excited. To touch on my last RQ a bit, I believe Halo is one of the few games where gameplay is truly emphasized. Halo 2 was a vast improvement over Halo and from my experience with the Halo 3 beta, I believe that it will be an improvement on Halo 2. If there's one game developer out there that "gets" modern gamers, it's Bungie(other than Halo 2 Vista, which was a sorry piece of work). Worry about gameplay first and graphics second, the proof is in the pudding(or in this case, the sales).

  

Firearms for source is an interesting project, as there are two teams who are developing the game. One team is creating Firearms 2, the other is creating Firearms:source. The Firearms 2 team is made up of many high profile players from the original game, plus the lead coder from version 2.7 on, Mazor. Mazor did an exceptional job cleaning up the net code and improving the game during his time on the Firearms team, I expect great things from him in Firearms 2. The Firearms source team is lead by Issa (an original mapper/coder from Firearms) and is filled with other longstanding members of the Firearms community.

As I stated in my previous blog the projects originated from the original Firearms modification for Half-Life. They are essentially aiming to create the same game, so for the purpose of this blog, I'll cover them as if they were one.

 

Firearms is a fast paced modern infantry combat game. Players can choose to be part of the Red or the Blue team and from there they have 30 credit points to spend on armor, guns and other equipment. Armor ranges from light to heavy, weapons range from sniper rifles to pistols (with assault rifles being the favorite, particularily the Famas) and equipment ranges from grenades to trip mines to bandages. Firearms is comprised of a decreasing reinforcement system. Most maps begin with each team starting with 255 reinforcements based upon deaths and team accomplishments (such as full captures on push maps), reinforcements decrease.

 

A unique feature of the game is its wide range of the types of maps. The most common type of maps is "ps_", which is short for push. Push maps are maps where you must capture points, consecutively. Another popular type of map is "sd_" which is short for search & destroy. The objective of these maps is to destroy an object such as a truck or ammunition boxes. The final popular map type is "tc_", there is no way to "cap out" in tc maps, they are simply control points, which help speed the decrease of the opposing teams' reinforcements. The most interesting part about the map system in Firearms is that these map types can be combined. The hands down favorite clan map for Firearms was sdtc_balcome, a map which had a control point in the middle, with objectives to destroy near each teams' base. This feature allows mappers to develop with a great deal of creativity.

I am legitimately excited for a release of Firearms for the source engine. It's a shame that these two teams couldn't combine to release one complete game (much more quickly as well).I figure that the team who can get a full release out first will likely gain a true community. Here's a gampelay video from the Firearms:source team.

In the following blogs I'll cover two upcoming HL2 mods. In this blog I will cover World at War; in the next I will cover Firearms 2. Firearms 2 and World at War are two very different mods who share the same background. Both modifications share their backgrounds from the original Firearms modification for Half-Life. Upon the release of Half-Life 2, the original Firearms team announced that they would not make Firearms source and that they'd be transferring over to a new type of game, that being World at War.The Firearms community was still strong and desired a new Firearms for the source engine. Thus, from the player community arose a team which decided to take on the task of producing Firearms for the source engine.

World at War
 

World at War will be one of the first massive multiplayer modifications for Half-Life 2. It will have Battlefield 2142 feel to it, infantry and and vehicular combat will be a part of the game. WaW will not include air or naval combat, though air strikes can be called in. The gameplay of WaW will revolve around teamplay, to get better weapons, to advance your position and to improve your score will all require one to play as a part of the team. The WaW website describes the general goal of the gameplay as follows:

"Map gameplay will revolve around capturing and defending CPs: Control Points. The amount of CPs each team controls determines the amount of Resource Points that every squad on that team is awarded at certain intervals. Also, CPs act as a base of operations. From there, players can spend their Resource Points. Purchased vehicles will be choppered to CPs. Ultimately, squad leaders can spend Resource Points to upgrade their CPs and equip them with artillery, medic facilities, support radios, the ability to respawn there, and more."

A few members of the WaW recently gave an interesting interview to Planet Half-Life.Much of the team is comprised of the best members from the original Firearms team such as AlejandroDaJ and Sulsa, creators of the most played maps for Firearms. Therefore, I expect WaW to be particularly strong in terms of mapping. The maps in this game will be huge, very similar to that of Battlefield, I'll be interested to see how this game can perform in terms of netcode. Long distances in the Half-Life 2 engine usually present netcode problems.

Finally, the game has an interesting leadership system. Upon joining a team you can chose to create or to join a squad (or to go solo if you wish). Being in a squad provides a player with many benefits due to the CP system. The squad leader(creator) will receive additional benefits and will be crucial to success. World at War appears to be an incredibly intricate and detailed modification. My beef with Firearms was the length between updates, I suspect that this could be an issue with WaW as well. There is no current release date for the mod and as was true for Firearms, it is on a "it will be released when it's done" type of timeline. However, once this mod is completed, I believe it will be a mod which will grow substantially within a short period of time.   Next I will cover Firearms 2.

Insurgency is a Half-Life 2 mod based on the war in Iraq, the combatants are the US Marines and the Insurgents. The mod's website (www.insmod.net) describes the game as "a total conversion modification using Valve Software's Source Engine. Insurgency immerses you, as the player, into an intense and realistic online combat experience."

Now, to the point of this blog. Will this game work for league play? Eventually, I think it absolutely will. This is the best mod released for the HL2 engine that's not created by Valve. The gameplay is definitely team driven and with three different modes (battle, firefight and push), there's definitely enough variety to keep clans interested. Although the mod has some outstanding features for teams, the two big leagues, CAL & Cevo, haven't picked the game up yet. Here's some insight from a CAL admin:

"As a player, I must say this game is not ready for CAL competition YET.

I am a HUGE fan of this game though - and I can't wait until the RC's come pouring out.

A few things probably already covered though:
1.) Its still way too early to tell how well this game turns out.
2.) Those used to the America's Army old compass will be happy to see it implemented in this game. Those that don't will whine about there not being a map. Truthfully, play it for a bit, explore the maps. Pay attention to the map when its loading.
3.) There are a number of bugs that are a must fix before this game becomes playable in competition.
There are a number of "stuck spots".
Textures become translucent at a distance, but players behind them don't. Can we say snipers being called wall hackers?
There are a number of spawns that are pretty retarded. I mean who wants to spawn on an objective that is being captured by the enemy. If its being captured, spawn me at the next one. If its the last objective - for gods sakes spawn me somewhere else.
The loading screen is buggy.
The loading music playing after you join the server. FIX THIS ONE FIRST PLEASE!

Other then that, I love the game. Its the first game since DFLW I have actually enjoyed. 

CAL|Louis
CAL Operations "

I agree with Louis' points. I think that Insurgency needs to implement a better HUD or compass. Realism is great and all, to a point. Players, especially noobs, need to have an idea where to go, they need direction. This is simply an area where Insurgency fails at the moment, it is far from obvious for a new player to know where they should go.

I must say though that this mod deserves some real praise. It reminds me of some of my favorite Half-Life mods like Firearms and Frontline Forces. I think that it has a ton of potential and with some updates, more marketing and exposure, it will explode on to the clan & league scene.

Company of Heroes is a revolutionary RTS game; one that finally forced players to rush out of their base, to mix units and which did not have one killer super weapon. In my mind, it is the best RTS ever created. Gamespy gave the game 5/5 stars, IGN gave it a 9.4/10 and CCC gave it 4.8/5 stars. Yet with all of these outstanding ratings, the game appears to be dying. The peak amount of players ever online in COH is 1753 and that was on January 14th (likely due to Christmas)! The COH-CAL leagues are dwindling, with both of the 2v2 and 1v1 divisions sporting less than 30 teams. I will cover a few reasons why I think that Company of Heroes failed.

Lack of Updates, especially early on: As with any RTS, balance and exploits are the two biggest complaints of players. Original releases will obviously never be perfect, hence why timely updates are needed. COH suffered from some brutal exploits early on, the two most notable exploits were the smoke screen exploit for shermans and drop hacking. It simply took relic way too long to get the fixes out for these problems, good players lost interest.

Lack of multi-player matchmaking: The matchmaking process in COH (which was how players would be ranked) was and still is single player only. COH is an excellent team game, to not include this feature was a true travesty and was very devastating for the game. The limited customization options for ranked play was also a deterrent.

Minimum Requirements: While there are plenty of other games which fall victim to this problem as well (FEAR and Halo 2 vista for example), I believe that too many game producers are limiting their market by requiring too high of specifications for their game. This was a much more minor problem in COH, but it is a reason why it didn't explode on to the gaming scene like it could have.

It's really too bad that COH didn't live up to its potential. If nothing else, I hope that it has influenced the future of RTS gaming, as its concept really did increase the long term appeal of RTS.

As most of us know, Halo 3 is due to be released on September 25th. Since the inception of online console gaming, many different organizations have tried to run online leagues. The success has been marginal at best: matches go unreported, disputes are nearly impossible to solve, even victories are difficult to prove. Basically, leagues had to be run on the honor system, which simply doesn't work online.

The Halo 2 stats system on Bungie.net was the first step to alleviating the online competitive scene problems. It gave clans the ability to prove results. However, it still lacked an integral feature that all solid multiplayer PC games have, the ability to record a game(also known as a "demo" for those of us who played Half-Life mods). Without a recording of the game, so many issues were tough to prove. 

Enter the Halo 3 video editor. The video editor allows players to record matches on to their box, upload them to Bungie.net and to take screenshots that can be placed on Bungie.net as well. IGN has written an in-depth article about the video editor.

I think that the implications of the video editor are huge. Finally leagues can hold teams accountable for their actions, exploiters can be caught, every movement of every player can be tracked. Clans can create much better highlight videos or montages than they have in the past. League play finally be on the level of that of PC gaming, where games like Counterstrike and Call of Duty have boomed. I am really hoping that Halo 3 can successfully breakthrough into the top leagues such as CEVO and CAL to the point where there can be echelons of league play, from open to invite.

I recently purchased All-Pro Football 2K8 for Xbox 360 and I have to say that this is the best football game that I've played for a long time. NFL 2K5 was the last football game created by 2K and its influence can definitely be seen in this game. I've compiled a short list as to why you should pick up this game.

1. Bring your own team online: In APF2K8 you create your own team and you can bring them online. This feature is unparallelled in football games in terms of customization.

2. A level playing field: Created teams are all made with the same level of skill. I love this feature. There's no Indianapolis Colts' offence, no New England Patriots, all teams are equal. No matter who my opponent has on his team, I feel that I have a fair chance to defeat him.

3. Multiplayer online: I enjoy playing games with my friends. It pains me when games such as Madden do not allow you and a friend to play online together at the same time on the same box. Playing on a team with a friend at your house is unreal. APF 2K8 embraces this feature in their unranked mode, it's truly a blast. 

4. Amazing animations: The animations in this game are off the charts. They simply make the game feel like reality. It's a huge difference compared to Madden 2007. 

5. Skill:  The most important factor of all. To be good at this game takes skill; it's not the player who can exploit the game the best, choose the best team or make completely unrealistic plays. You will not see quarterbacks who run 30 yards back and then toss it 60 yards downfield on target. It is a game where playing like a real football team (balanced offence & defence) really pays off.    

If you're a gamer who loves competition and enjoys multiplayer, then APF 2K8 is for you.