Long Time No See, Eh?

Hey guys, it's been a millenia, I know.

Lots of stuff going on.

Microsoft alienating their fanbases, first PC administrators (sorry, Windows 8 is a pain in the ass to administer with all of the extra steps to get to a command line), then gamers with their vague descriptions of what it actually does.

Sony talking about the PS4, and how it really does most of the same stuff as the XBox 360, but they're a bit nicer about it (well, the game lending and no sign-in restrictions is a nice touch, at least).

And me, playing Dynasty Warriors 7 Empires because I don't give a damn.  Yes, I said it, I really don't care about the next system generation.

Actually, I just don't adopt early, and given all of the SKU's of the current generation, I'm waiting until near the end of the next one.  Or at least year 5.

Anyway, on to games, because frankly, the business side is just ridiculous.

I've been playing quite a bit of titles lately, both on PC and console.

So, yes, I've been playing a log of Dynasty Warriors 7 Empires on my PS3.  Fantastic game despite the lack of English VO (and let's be honest, these sucked anyway).

What makes 7 Empires great is the addition of the "Strategems", which are single-use special abilities that can change the ebb and flow of the battle, sometimes drastically.  Some of the achievements are pretty epic, too, like finishing a battle without using your weapon.

That said, it's still too easy on any level of difficulty lower than Hard.   Also, Koei's being really douchy on whether or not they're going to release the final patch in the West that they did in the east.  This patch, called the 1.03 Patch, not only fixes several bugs, but adds more gameplay features.

I asked Koei about this on their Facebook page, and instead of responding with an IM, they deleted my post.  I'm starting to really dislike them, actually.

I've also been playing Doom 3: BFG Edition, also a really damned good game.  Whether or not it has aged well, it certainly has a better atmosphere than most survival-horror games.  It's also interesting playing what is the PC version, and seeing how different it is from the original XBox version.

It's definitely a little longer, but some highlights are missing, such as the first encounter with the Cherubs.  That was pretty disturbing the first time around, but that seems to be missing in the BFG Edition.

I also decided to give the Syndicate (the FPS that many feel was an abortion) single-player game a go on Hard, and I have to admit, I'm enjoying the game quite a bit more despite its cheap boss battles.  Understanding the weapons as well as your abilities really helps there.

And finally, I'm slowly slogging away at Demon's Souls.  I have to admit, I think the game is a bit overrated, actually.  Granted, I'm finding most of the PS3 (and XBox) exclusives are.

 Oh, wait, no, it's not.  Right, for those of you with XBox Live Gold (which I figure after E3, you're considering canceling, and I can't rightly blame you as I'm considering the same), you need to get a gander at this:  http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/games-with-gold.  If you don't have Fable III already, it's free.  I'm also playing that.  It's a good game, but the previous titles were better.  But hey, it's free until June 30th, so why not!

Anyway, MS is running this from July 1st until December 31st of this year (PSN's offering is looking better and better, but next gen, my accounts will be going dark as I refuse to pay to play online through a VPN that I could have set up on my own router)

So that's the console front. And my gripings on that.

On to the PC:

Since replacing my laptop's hard drive, I was able to get DOS emulation running properly.  Many of you don't know that I actually have a lot of DOS games, as I grew up in that era.

Anyway, between my own collection and Good Old Games, or http://gog.com, I've been doing a lot of catching up.

I recently finished Redneck Rampage and the Suckin' Grits on Route 66 expansion, and I just played The Terminator 2029 for the first time in 15 years.

Redneck Rampage is hardly innovative, but it's pretty amusing, and the level design is generally very good and well thought-out.  It has more in common with Dark Forces, actually, than Duke Nukem 3D in that department.

The Terminator 2029 is a mission-based game that takes place in the future between the first two Terminator movies, and goes up to the point where you destroy Skynet from outer space, if I remember right.  

It's an objective based first-person action game that seems to have more in common with Eye of the Beholder than, say, Doom.


I also finished System Shock for the first time.  And I still believe that Bioshock is an utter joke in comparison.  Better controls, but not half as smart.

I've also recently been playing Command and Conquer Renegade, which is actually a pretty neat shooter.  Mediocre level design, but very ambitious and easy to appreciate.


GOG, by the way, is having a huge sale, and the first Torchlight game is available for free until June 20th.  I'd grab it, I hear it's what Diablo 3 should have been.  Plus, it's free.  You can't go wrong with that.

Now, before I finish up, I recently heard that MySpace kiboshed all content except for music.  And gave users 7-days notice by the site only.

According to some of the complaints, people have not only lost memory, but important items such as saved trial testimony.  Why am I bringing this up on my gaming blog and not my personal politics blog?  Because this one probably gets more viewers, and this is pretty serious.

This is a reminder to back up everything you can, when you can.  You never know when someone pulls the rug out from you on a whim until the last moment, so take control while you have the opportunity.

Keep your thumbs on the sticks, and your fingers on the triggers, and if you have to throw something, make sure it's soft.  If something launches anyway, your Wii wrist strap clearly wasn't tight enough.

Gem Number Next

So I finally had time to sit down with Bladestorm: The Hundred Years war.  I've had it since just after Christmas, but I haven't had the time due mostly in part to a) getting accustomed to my new job and b) buying it in the middle of Darkstar One (which I highly recommend, by the way). 

Bladestorm: The Hundred Years War is an original IP in a similar vein as Dynasty Warriors.  However, the similarities end at embellished history and melee combat.  You play the role of a mercenary who participates in real and fictional battles during the Hundred Years War (which, if I remember right, was 113 or 114 years long).  You'll meet real and fictional characters including The Black Prince (Prince Edward of England - not to be confused with Edward II, the son of Edward I, aka Longshanks) and St. Joan of Arc while kicking ass in the name of whatever currency is in fashion at the time. 

Combat is very different in that you control ranged, melee and cavalry support units.  However, you need to unlock different books which you'll find in battle or purchase to use these units.  Further, units are upgradable.  Or you can choose to go it alone, although that isn't recommended.  Hell, you'll get beaten like a baby fur seal in the off-season.

Each unit and equipment type also has special attacks associated with them, so it's worthwhile exploring the different units.  Plus, there's a balancing act between different equipment types and different units, and some of the unit special skills actually mitigate some of these deficiencies.

As far as I can tell, the game is a match of capturing control points, but there are "special requests" that you can complete.  These are usually a matter of beating certain officers or a fetch job of some sort.

So far, I'm finding the difficulty is starting to curve upwards somewhat steeply, so there's either something I'm missing or I'm rushing a little too hard.   Either way, the game is a lot deeper than the "professionals" laid it out to be.

I've also started to play through some of my PS2 games.  I finished Hunter The Reckoning Wayward.  So far, best game structure of the series, but the graphics and controls are utter garbage compared to the XBox games.  This seems more to do with the deficiencies of the PS2 controller, but it could also be that the devs dicked the controls to push the game out sooner.  That is a possibility. 

I've also played the PS2 port of No One Lives Forever.  So far, it's alright.  The dialogue is right out of Black Adder and Monty Python, though, so it adds a great touch of British Humour.

In truth, I've played a little bit of all of my PS2 games; Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy XII, NOLF, Taito Legends 2, Killzone, and HTR: Wayward.  Final Fantasy X, from what I've played, is same crap different day - cool cutscenes, humdrum combat reminiscent of the extremely overrated Final Fantasy VII.  Final Fantasy XII, however...that's looking to show some huge promise.  Taito Legends 2 is an awesome compilation with a terrible menu interface that's about as user-friendly as a beartrap closed on your ankle and Killzone really is pretty mediocre.  I can't believe Sony had the chutzpa to sell that dreck as a Halo-killer, especially since Halo was no longer the shooter to beat by that time.  Halo 2 was, and it's hardly a game that requires much talent to beat, at least insofar as the singleplayer campaign was concerned.

Next up, I want to find the PS2 port of Deus Ex as I hear that it's quite competent.

After Bladestorm, I'm probably going to get to work on my PS3 backlog.  I need to finish Little Big Planet and Resistance 1 and 2.  After that, I'll take on Killzone.  I know Killzone 2 is good; the first 5 minutes of that were infinitely better than the first 5 minutes of Killzone 1, and I'm not just referring to the visuals and horrid audio, but if one can, it's better to tackle a series in proper order.  Couldn't be helped with Hunter: The Reckoning.

PSN Pooched

Date: May 2nd, 2011

By: Nate

As of this morning, 11 days have passed since Sony's major security breach and the Playstation Network was taken down. On day one, they shut the network down and declared an investigation. It was shortly after this investigation that they declared a security breach, and I believe six days had passed before they disclosed that credit card numbers may have been compromised.

So far, the American and Canadian authorities have gotten involved to both figure out how to catch the hackers and possibly to put the screws to Sony.

And things have just gotten worse: Sony Online Entertainment has suffered the same fate as the Playstation Network, and Sony has stated that thousands of credit card numbers may be compromised.

Now, before I continue with this, I will tell you right now that I am not a corporate apologist. Quite the opposite, in fact. Aside from the facts or, what Jean Chretien would call “Da proof is da is da proof”, my analysis comes from IT experience.

So, what's to be said about all of this? First; Sony did the right thing: They pulled the plug on the first sign. Now, with the plug pulled, the users should have gotten a clue that something was wrong with the network.

Second, Sony released information after they knew what was going on and not before. In IT, this is all you can do. You don't want to speculate or assume, especially in the face of potential identity theft.

After Sony initially announced a security breach, users that have credit cards on their accounts should have taken the appropriate measures to protect themselves. They didn't. I'm not saying that the customer is wrong. However, we were all made aware that a security breach took place; we shouldn't sit idly by waiting for the worst to happen and we have a responsibility to be proactive when a service which contains our identification is broken into. Even when Anonymous broke in, we should have been alerting our banks and creditors.

And finally, the government agencies initially went after Sony instead of the organised criminals who broke in after Anonymous initially broke the system. I realise that this probably has something to do with a six-day wait for this information, but again, IT guys don't cry wolf. Unless they want million-dollar servers, then it's okay (no, it's not). Thankfully, this has turned around, but the knee-jerk reactions from the supposedly calm and collected individuals that are supposed to represent us was both premature and immature. As others have said, “stop blaming the victim(s)”.

This debacle is a right mess, but I'm glad that it is being handled, as slowly as that may be. Undoubtedly, Sony will compensate its users, and hopefully you guys who are aware of this breach have already contacted the financial folks that you need to.

Breaches happen, no matter how secure your network is. It doesn't matter if it's cheap wi-fi or a multi-billion-dollar fiber network, it can and will happen. All you can do is shut things down, assess and rebuild. Sony's got a huge network and they have to work around not only the size of their network, but any red tape imposed by Japan's most recent natural disaster. It can't be easy.

I hope that they can resolve this as quickly and painlessly as possible, and I hope you, the customer, remember to protect yourself from identity theft.

When it happens, all you can do is stem the tide.