The superhero game lends itself so well to the idea of the cash-shop and the foundations of this were established by the booster packs that Paragon Studios had introduced over the past few years. If you want a new costume part then just purchase that one part or the whole outfit if you prefer, or perhaps you’ve seen a new cape someone is wearing and decide your character would benefit from owning it.

Despite being a paying member (VIP) the shift move to the freemium model truely sank in with the release of the “Street Justice” powerset, which requires a cash shop purchase. Of course the cost was more than the 400 points that are given for being a VIP player. So you either have to wait 2 months or stump up the extra cash for points.

That said the cash shop items are nearly all cosmetic and thus don’t impact your gameplay if you don’t acquire them.
But to make the perfect costume you may have to buy some extra parts rather than using just the vanilla sets.

The general thoughts people have about the shop are very positive, even when compared to existing games that sport cash shop models.
Have you tried it out yet? What are your thoughts?

Humble Origins

As we’ve all come know, EA is pimping its own distribution platform big time with the Battlefield brand which means this game isn’t available on any other download retailer. The install from disc is rather confusing as Origin carefully tells you it’s now downloading the game, until you are prompted to insert disc 2.

What is really strange as all Origin appears to do when you attempt to launch the game is to open a webpage which is where you make your choice about what game-mode to play, view your stats or choose a Multiplayer server.

Not only do you need Origin but then you have to install a browser plugin to allow the BattleLog website to interact with the game. The strange thing is that EA have stated that Steam was too restrictive but in my experience the MMOs on there use Steam purely as a method for purchase and download, once installed the MMO is standalone and will update itself using it’s own software/network and the any dependency on Steam is non-existent.
I have no idea why that couldn’t be the same here.

Campaign

Within 5 minutes of starting the game I was rather frustrated by a number of quick time events.
Don’t get me wrong, when used correctly QT events can bring fun to a game, Space Marine used them very sparingly and they were pretty much dynamic in their occurrence. BF3 uses them as scripted events in the linear timeline, so when you have to repeat a section you have to endure them again & again.
I’ve been enjoying the story so far, but a combination of the re-living events via the medium of the “Flashback” and jumping between people & places gives you a dis-coordinated telling of a story. And kind of makes you feel like Dr. Sam Beckett.

Multi-player

I broke my rule and have started playing the multiplayer before completing the single player campaign. I am really glad that I did as the MP has redeemed the game for me somewhat. Here are the best elements for me:

• First up it’s nice to have a game that allows prone positioning and movement, It really gives an extra element to the battles and makes everyone a little more on edge.
•  The second item that is nice to have is Team death match, this game mode wasn’t in BF:BC2 and I did miss it. You see the squad death match isn’t want everyone is looking for, I for one just wanted a Team V Team without capture points being involved.
•  The maps (think I have played them all now) are nicely designed with balance being a good part of them. The maps increase or decrease depending on the server capacity/game mode. There is a mixture of Range long (good for aircraft) and close quarter maps which means you get some great combat in places.

That said, there are some serious lag spike issues at the moment that appear to be impacting all players. This often makes playing the game unbearable and I hope they get sorted out soon or it’s going to put people off.

Last Point

My final bugbear is with the use of the Origin/BattleLog webpage at launches the game for you.

Imagine you are playing on a conquest game server and fancy swapping to a Team deathmatch game. In any normal game you would exit to the menu selection and find a new server and connect.
BF3 is far more cumbersome in it’s design, you play each map which loads the resources into memory, but when you exit the that server, it exits the game and unloads everything from memory.
You then find your next server and connect at this point the game is reloaded and as you enter the server all the resources have to be loaded into memory again.

It’s a horrid method and results in having to open and close the game multiple times in one sitting.
Not a massive problem, but when I have a finite amount of time for gaming I really don’t want to spent it looking at a loading screen.

As I sit here writing this post with my broadband connection that averages over 15MB Per Second, I can download a game 10 times bigger than the size of my hard drive of 12 years ago, in a ridiculously short amount of time.

Since Broadband arrived I’ve always tried to choose an internet service provider that offered packages that favoured my gaming habits, low latency, lower contention rate, little or no traffic shaping. Not an easy task as many of  the smaller brands either folded or were bought by large companies, which meant customers where transferred over  to new terms and networks.

After experiencing this with my ISP, I decided that I needed to choose an ISP that wasn’t all about bundling my phone-line or offering me 100GB download limit, but I could only really use the service early in the morning due to data throttling. Almost every day I hear of others people’s experiences and problems with their internet package, of course on closure inspection and I’m stunned  by how many opt for the cheapest/Best-deal they could find.

My ISP is Zen, I have to admit they do may charge slightly higher prices that others and they may have traffic caps, but I’m more than happy to have those elements if it means the service I pay for is there when I need it. When I finally begun to experience the full ASDL2, I had a number of issues related to the quality of the phone cable in this area. Zen were very helpful and coordinated with BT to get the problems resolved as quickly as possible.

Of course this isn’t anything new to the genre, potions and medkits have been stable component of our games for many years, However I’ve always been frustrated by cool-down systems that games use to limit the speed of consumption of these items,excluding PVP balancing I struggled to find a clear reason for this implementing this in PvE, other than slowing me down.

Using a health potion every 3 minutes isn’t ideal, for me it will often result in death. Mainly due to my fondness for soloing but I also like to face obstacles that offer me a challenge. I don’t want to be limited to. Grey mobs just because I play a supporting class.

I know may will argue that “it’s a multi-player game for a reason, find a healer”.
Of course finding a healer that wants to spend an evening playing whack-a-mole is never that simple and I want the ability to play a character that is able to solo between grouping.

So I use up twice as many health potions, but my enjoyment of the game increases too.
Anyone else with a similar opinion or am I just being awkward?

I completely agree, but what can we do to help combat this?  What’s needed are methods that would enhance interactions and communications within the gaming group, what’s more that group could be best friends or just a random PUG.

With every new game we see “recycling” of features that have been tried and tested in other games. No matter the origins, beneficial functions in one game, will generally benefit players in another, so they get included.
Players also come to expect similar feature to be included otherwise they feel that a game isn’t catering for their needs.

Many games have systems for easier levels, or group questing, tournaments, yet there is a lack of systems that aid games with their interaction with other players. There is one such feature in Planetside that for me is one of the games crowning glories, yet it remains the most underutilised across the multi-player gaming scene.

Voice Macro System

Now on the face of things, you may think that a system such as this isn’t suited to more RPG style games, but when you boil down the needs of the players the truth is very plain to see. Players want an easy method by which to communicate, interact but one that doesn’t mean having to stop everything to type into the chat window.

The basis behind the voice macro is that by using a number of keystrokes (between 3 and 4) you can quickly inform those in your group (and maybe other players nearby) of various information.

• V-V-T = Thanks
• V-D-C = defend our Control console!
• V-N-R = We need Repairs!
• V-W-C = Cloaked Enemy detected!
• V-S-R-G = I will repair our Generator!

Initiating the voice macros menu by pressing V you then choose the topic for the message

• A = Attack
• D = Defend
• N= Need
• R= Repair
• S= Self
• T= Tactical
• V= Quick (Commonly used)
• W= Warnings

Nearly all of these keys are located near the WASD keys cutting down on the amount of movement needed from the player and when you’re in a PVP game where the action is pretty continual, those few seconds matter.

Real benefits

As you can see the Planetside system uses a simple tree structure that allows a number of benefits to be realised:

1. Quick process that is easily learnt & ultimately becomes muscle memory driven
2. As well as display text allows for a macro to play sound files, good for those that struggle to read in game text
3. Easily configurable for different languages, allowing more cross language interaction

What use

I see many games that could benefit from using a system such as this, Any games with large public raids/fights such as Warhammer or Rift.
I would have enjoyed being able to have been able to communicate with other raid members in Rift but not having to type everything to them.

I’ve played World of Tanks recently which has a basic alerting system in place but could use something to that’s more detailed and allows other players to co-ordinate easier and more fluidly, of course this removes any barriers that exists due to language and ultimately gives the players a more enjoyable experience.

The final use would see players in PUGs being able to interact in an easier manner,

I don’t think that every game needs a massive list of commands and some games would just be unsuitable for this type of system, But I’d like to see this creeping into more games in the Future.

Original Planetside Manual entry

Those that know me will already be aware that my memory is shockingly bad, I can barely remember last month, let alone last year. So it always comes as a surprise to me that I have many vivid recollections of seemingly common events from my past.

I’ll try and starting at my first gamer related memory:

• Waking up at 5 o’clock in the morning to sneak downstairs and set-up the new ZX Spectrum+, only to find that my mum had the same idea. I remember going through the manual, entering in the commands, switching the background colours and drawing circles all over the shop. To a 7 year old, it was a fantastic form of magic.
• Magic was also needed to calibrate the cassette player.
• The first big game I remember getting stuck into was Combat Zone, which was a wireframe 3d Tank game, the bigger bosses were rather tough and I remember the day I was able to take down and progress passed those diamond shaped menaces.
• Another major time sink was the turn based Chaos:Battle of the Wizards, this game had so many set-ups,options and outcomes it was a different game each match.
  If someone was to turn it into a Facebook game I would be doomed and loose all my free time.
• Chase H.Q. – need I say more?
• We upgraded to a ZX Spectrum +2 a number of years later, it came with a light-gun and remember getting cramp from spending too long playing Rookie and Operation Wolf with the lightgun that came in bundle.
• I recall we also played the Bullseye game to death, although I never knew the answers to the questions but it was a real family game. Who needs a Wii?
• I remember rushing home once a month to find what games were on the cover of the monthly Crash magazine. You HAD to load each in turn and try them all out, plus try out any pokes for games I owned.
• I recall playing Gauntlet (not sure of the platform) for what felt like 8 hours straight on one rainy day at a friends house. I was epic and I was told the following day that I was sleep talking shouting about have to get the gold.
• There were a number of arcade machines that I really played to death in my early teens, they were each located in different shops & cafes in my town, so once you got a turn you aimed to play until you ran out of coins. I have many memories of spending afternoons hogging the titles:
  • Double Dragon
  • Altered Beast
  • WWF Superstars
• Finishing R-Type on the SEGA master system, ok not all that great but the the plastic DPad on the controller had broken off and I had to use the pressure pads for movement.
• I bought my cousins NES with a bundle of games a few months before we moved to France, I have to say that other than learning all the secrets to Super Mario Bros . 3, The Battle of Olympus & Rygar.
• Next was the MegaDrive, it’s look was futuristic when compared to the Master System and definitely the NES.
• I had the triple game cartridge that was shipped with the console and I happily completed Streets of Rage 2, in what felt like a mammoth sitting, but I may have left the console on overnight.
• There were a number of fantastic games on the Mega Drive, but I remember each of them with a fondness reserved for those games that frustrated & delighted you simultaneously, the list includes but isn’t limited to Earthworm Jim, Duck Tales,Corporation, Aladdin, Dizzy, Jungle & Desert Strike, the fantastic Flashback.

Well that’s it for part one, I have most likely missed too many to mention, but I had a great time wading through all those old titles.

As I was finishing writing this up, I spotted a post over at the Ancient Gaming Noob, which I thought was in a similar nostalgic theme, so please give it a read.

Is it wrong to add Triple play versions to my wishlist despite not owning a Blu-ray player and with no clear plans to get one in the immediate future?

As it appears that Blu-ray only options are be coming scarce, it seems like an extra £4 is the cheapest option to future-proof a film collection.

Anyone else had this same dilemma?

Echo Bazaar is a web-based game that uses social networks (Twitter and Facebook) for sign-in authentication. Of the countless games on my radar that grapple for my free time this one only asks for 10 minutes at a time, but I have a tough time deciding what to do with those minutes.

Setting

The game is set in Victorian London that has been pulled into the earth and now resides in what is commonly known as the ‘Neath. For what purpose? Well I’ll leave that for you to discover but I can tell you that this isn’t the first city to have been ‘acquired’.
The are many common elements that appear familiar but often have an unusual twist in this game.

Gameplay

You are limited to a maximum of 10 actions at any one time, these gradually refresh 1 every 6 minutes, you are also limited to a total of 60 actions in one day.

The type of actions you can perform are defined by your location and by your progress in one of four skills. These shape your character and the path they follow, new tasks are unlocked and old ones vanish as you gain experience in each skill.
Additionally there are also opportunity cards that can be played at any location.

Interactions

Although it uses social media for sign in, thankfully it doesn’t demand that you pressure your friends into playing to increase your enjoyment or bombard your social feeds with information.

The only messages are sent with your full knowledge/permission, messages to friends on twitter are sent via Direct message rather than appearing in your timeline.

Summary

The tales found in the game are entertaining and each new thing you discovers gives a little more insight and knowledge about Fallen London and it’s inhabitants.
There are many avenues to travel in order to progress the stories, whether it’s joining a lynch mob, lecturing at the University or spending time in the local pub, each is unique and unlocks more clues or mysteries.

The game isn’t without niggling issues that frustrate players, sometimes there is a lack of options and you need to grind the same content for a level, there is much that can be done without purchasing any in game premium currency (Fate), but without it some areas are locked from you.

That said  I still find the game really enjoyable, I’ve been playing on and off since early 2010.  You can ask friends to help you out, normally at the expense of their sanity, but that’s all part of life here in what remains of London.

Sanctum is a Tower Defence game blended with elements of a FPS, set in the futuristic landscape of Elysion One, your goal is to defend a (power) core from hordes of aliens.
You achieve this by controlling the path of the enemies and building towers to inflict as much damage as possible on said enemies.

It follows a standard defence game format:

• Setup time (build)
• one wave of enemies(fight!)
• Repeat

The first person perspective allows you to blast away alongside your turrets, tackle those troublesome enemies before they become a bigger problem.
This certainly gives the game a fun and different slate on the defence genre, but sometimes the maps are awkward to traverse, this is overcome by instant teleporters.

The Unreal engine works nicely and the soundtrack is well designed to match the games tempo.

I’ve not really had much chance to try out the co-op/multiplayer mode so this write-up is purely from a single player perspective.

Playability 3 | Graphics 3 | Audio 3 | Longevity 2 | Originality 4
Total 15 out of 25

The orignal game isn’t huge and you can burn through it rather fast, there are some alternative game modes that extend this briefly but the core gameplay won’t take more than 5 to 10 hours depending on the
difficultly.
However the game has some DLC including a few new maps available for purchase, however I believe that a newly released gold version of the game includes this DLC.

I take it most places and generally fit in some reading each day, whether it is on the bus journey to work or during
my lunch break.

I have to admit I was nervous of adopting the Kindle in favour of paper-based products, but I really do enjoy the flexibility it offers.
Whatever my mood I can find a book to suit and it’s certainly easier than carting a number of books around in your bag.

I think that samples functionality is great, allowing you to browse the Amazon site for books & send samples of those that interest you to your Kindle.
Samples allow you to expand your reading landscape without having to spend anything, they are a great way to find new authors, genres or forgotten favourites.

Owning a Kindle causes a number of odd things to happen:

1. Random people will just start talking to you about books, not
   always a bad thing.
2. People who are interest in Kindles expect you to try and sell the product too them, very odd lines of questioning.
3. Other Kindle owners seem to only read free books, you feel like the only one purchasing books.
4. I read things that I’ve not bothered to pick-up before now
5. Visiting WH Smiths & Waterstones become an exercise of picking out title you may like for later.
6. People expect it to be a touch screen and I laugh.

Many people still seem uncertain about buying Kindle, they seem to see it as a question of Kindle or new [Insert Pad Device Here], with the new Kindle (without keyboard) is bringing the device closer to peoples price range, I hope to see more family and friends with one.

In my experience it?s changed my reading habits for the better, even if it?s a little pricier due to the VAT being charged for online books (except when you notice how they compare to hardback prices on new
releases).