Popular Gaming Culture

Alien Arena - Free deathmatch game

2007-10-13T22:44:00.000-04:00

Never heard of Alien Arena? Neither had I until I stumbled across a piece on slash dot pointing to a review of it.

So what is Alien Arena?

If you're a gamer but not familiar with Alien Arena, think of Quake III or Unreal Tournament and you won't be far off the mark. If you're not familiar with those icons of the first-person shooter genre, think massive, sustained, unrelenting, ankle-deep-in-blood, kill-or-be-killed carnage which can be enjoyed solo, just you against the bots on your PC, or, if your taste in killing tends toward living targets, in multiplayer mode on a network server. - Source

If nothing else download it and give it a try. What can it hurt?

Unreal Tournament 3 screen shots

2007-10-13T09:34:00.000-04:00

Here are some screen shots from Epic's upcoming Unreal Tournament 3 release.

Halo 3 has been released!

2007-09-25T02:51:00.000-04:00

Halo 3 has been released!

About 2 hours ago I was walking past a local store that sells video games on my way to grab some Mexican food. It didn’t occur to me that the line represented months of development work by Microsoft’s gaming division on the much hyped and ballyhooed supposedly final release in the alien shooter series, Halo. In this latest release annouced at E3 2006 with a special video trailer, we once again find ourselves immerersed in Master Chief’s world. This is the third in the series, appropriately titled Halo 3.

Anyhow back to my story which started with me walking past that store… I quickly realized what the line was for. Mostly due to the kid who kept shouting “Ha-mother-f’n-lo, wooooooo!!”

Read the rest of the article over at A Blog about Nothing

Protesting America's Army

2007-09-06T19:49:00.000-04:00

About 90 Iraq war veterans, dressed in black shirts, stood in formation Saturday afternoon in front of military recruiters at America's Center and shouted their protest message three times: "War is not a game!"

They were referring to the large military simulation game set up by Army recruiters at the Missouri Black Expo. The group of veterans, known as Iraq Veterans Against the War, were in St. Louis for their annual meeting this weekend when they decided to stage a brief demonstration at the Expo. Source

Can we really blame them? The only question I have is why aren't they protesting other war games that simulate and glorify war? Here's the video.

Farcry 2

2007-09-05T00:20:00.000-04:00

If you're not familiar with the original Farcry check out this video.

Well it seems that Farcry 2 is just around the corner. Developed once as was the first by the folks at Crytek using the incredible "CryEngine"

Unfortunately at this time there isn't a lot of information available about Farcry 2, but if you enjoyed part 1 as I did keep an eye on the official Farcry 2 site.

BioShock

2007-09-01T17:07:00.000-04:00

I'll admit I wasn't too keen on this game when I first heard about it, but now that the hype is building to nearly frantic levels (at least in the reviews I've read) I'll certainly have to give it a try. I'm curious if anyone else out there has had any experiences with it, particularly the PC version?

From the pictures it looks pretty intense if not a little gory.

America's Army

2007-09-01T13:20:00.000-04:00

If you're like me things that are free appeal to you. Especially things like video games. More appealing is when those free video games are worth our while. Which is the case with America's Army (AA).

Many of you have probably already heard of if not tried out AA in the past. For the most part you won't find anything new here, but for those who haven't this post is directed to you.

What is America's Army?: America's Army is a video game developed using the Unreal Engine by the United States Army for public relations and recruiting purposes.
What kind of game is it?: America's Army falls into the genre of game known as first person shooter (FPS). In this kind of game you interact with the gaming world as if looking through the eyes of the character you are playing.

Beyond that it is an online based game meaning that you play against other people over the internet. In fact if you don't have an internet connection playing this game will be very boring as there is no single player mode.
How graphic is the violence: A lot less than you'd expect from a game like this. In fact parental controls allow you to turn off even the barely visible misting of blood that occurs when you hit a target.
How much does it cost?: America's Army is free. Meaning you don't have to hand anyone money to get it (unless you order a CD instead of downloading it), but it is paid for by taxes as part of the US Army's recruiting budget.
Where can I find this game?: The best place to go is to the download listings on the official website. Just be sure to download the full version and not a patch. Even if you already have the game it is always best to reinstall from scratch after a full and clean uninstall of the previous version. Just be certain to backup critical .ini files so you don't lose all of your configuration settings.
What are the system requirements?: The official system requirements can be found here. Myself and many others have managed to run the game on systems that fall far below these requirements but as with anything else you mileage will vary depending on the hardware you have, the skills you have, and just plain dumb luck.
What is game play like?: One thing that differentiates America's Army from other FPS games is how real it feels. Just firing a weapon can be a chore as they have realistic amounts of recoil. You get tired running, a head shot will take you out in an instant, and last but not least there is no respawn. When you die you sit out until the end of the round.

There you have it a quick rundown of America's Army video game. If you like free stuff I encourage you to try it. Especially considering that the quality is superior to many of the highest rated commercial games. Meanwhile enjoy this video from youtube.com featuring one of the best clans in the game Instruments of God

Recording a gaming demo

2007-09-01T02:41:00.000-04:00

Recording a video of yourself playing a computer game is fairly simple. The biggest hindrance to you aside from knowledge will be your hardware as recording the video can put some stress on the system. If you are able to run modern games on your PC you shouldn't have to much trouble recording a demo.

First you need to choose a recorder that you will use to capture the video. Personally when I want to record I use a program called FRAPS. The other one I have used is called Game Cam. Which one you choose is a matter of personal opinion.

There is a free and a paid version of FRAPS. The free version will suffice in most instances and works just as well as the paid version. Differences between the two are as follows -

Length of clips

Full Version - Unlimited

Unregistered Version - 30 seconds

Watermark

Full Version - No

Unregistered Version - Yes

I won't get into the details of exactly how to use the program as it is very dependent upon the system you will be running it on. One thing to keep in mind is that FRAPs records in raw data format. Meaning there is no compression (you'll need a program such as virtual dub to handle compressing it).

If you'd like to take a look at what FRAPS is capable of I've retrieved a bunch of search results from www.youtube.com In the meantime take a look at this video that someone other than me recorded. You'll be able to get an idea of what FRAPS does from it.

Halo 3 - Poised for failure?

2007-09-01T01:36:00.000-04:00

"‘Halo 3’ is much more than a video game release; it’s the biggest entertainment event of the year," said Peter Moore, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business. "On Sept. 25, we intend to deliver a finale that will go down in entertainment history and leave people around the world with an experience that will be shared and enjoyed for years to come." - Source

I don't know why, but whenever I come across that kind of self-serving bravado I have a hard time taking it seriously. "The biggest entertainment event of the year", Peter? I guess it all depends on your perspective and I suppose from yours it just might be that. As for the rest of the world it will be just another video game. The original Halo was trend setting. I have my doubts that anyone can say the same about this one.

Greetings and salutation

2007-08-31T14:24:00.000-04:00

Greetings and salutations

Welcome to the first post ever on Popular Gaming Culture! I just wanted to take a moment before we dive into the meat and potatos of this blog to let you know how much I appreciate you taking the time to stop by and check things out!

Beyond that I just wanted to give a quick run down of what this blog is about. As you probably guessed it is dedicated to gaming. When one says the word gaming usually in todays culture it invokes visions of computer and console games. That is only one interpretation of the word and while we will certainly cover those kind of games we won't be limited to them.

That pretty much covers what I wanted to say. I hope you enjoy your time here and if there is anything I can do to improve the experience let me know with an email and I will be more than happy to take a look at it and see what I can do.