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24 Jun 05
Evil, evil Fry's. Putting Battlefield 2 on sale for $38 this weekend. Judging from Battlefield 1942, it could be a year or more before we see that price again. They tempt us, yes they do, my preciousss. We'll see how the willpower goes. The Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 expansion is on sale too. Evil Fry's.
I should clarify from yesterday. 25 to Life does allow the player to choose to play as the police. That option did not suffice to quell any controversy. It's coming out for Playstation 2 and Xbox this fall (meaning none of its critics have played it yet).
I wanted to briefly go over the 3DGamers saga. It was one of the great independent file sites. It got bought out by the IGN/Gamespy corporation. They promised nothing would change. Nothing changed for a while. Suddenly file waiting lines were introduced along with a premium service. People left in droves.
I had a few too many fond memories of the site to just abandon it. Well, it turns out there's a middle ground there. They have a free registration program. You sign up (in a similar fashion to posting here), log in and boom, you have access to the registered servers. The wait times are much better than the public servers (but obviously not as good as the paid member servers). It's a good compromise that keeps the community going.
Beyond altruism, I have a reason to tell you this. I recently mentioned the free expansion pack for Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield. It's called Iron Wrath. You can get it from 3DGamers as a registered (but still free) member. Check it out Here. Make sure you get your license key code before you download.
Have a great weekend. Don't forget to write up some of your Battlefield 2 experiences. Even if it's just a cool moment, a squad coming together or a commander doing something neat, give us a blurb. Tempt away, you sirens.
Jason
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23 Jun 05
Don't let it be said, that I don't listen (unless you're my wife, in which case you may have an argument). I may not be in the Battlefield 2 game, but that shouldn't stop you. As requested, I've opened a Battlefield 2 specific forum. You could probably change my mind with some quality stories, after action reports and tales of daring do (or derring-do if you prefer). Let me know if you need any additional support.
Sorry if I was a bit maudlin yesterday. I'm sure you understand. My wife reminded me of a saying the U-2 pilots used to have. "It's called the Dragonlady. You never know if you'll get the Dragon or the the Lady."
I saw that Senator Schumer is not alone. Poor Eidos. The game doesn't even interest me, but I may have to pick up a copy for solidarity's sake. You'd think they would have avoided some of the controversy by giving the player the option to play as the cops, but no.
In some industry news, 51 non profitable Game Crazy stores will close. They're the ones tied with Hollywood Video. For some reason, I was thinking they were referring to Gamerush stores (tied with Blockbuster Video). I guess I figured that since the Gamerush stores were the ones with all the sales and deals, they must be losing money on demon customers. But I was wrong. As the article notes, Gamestop seems to be doing just fine so it doesn't appear to be a market wide slump.
Jason
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22 Jun 05
Look, I know I'm not one of the big gaming sites. It's not what this place is about. Still, we have a news section. I try to keep it up to date. I've signed up for all the press release mailing lists. Yet, I still have to dig through the web to find some of the press releases. You'd think they'd want people to know this information. That is to say, I updated the news section.
Some of you may recall me mentioning my time in the U.S. Air Force. One of my first jobs was logistical support for the worldwide U-2 reconnaissance operations. Of course, during that time I met a lot of the pilots in the ops group. Some of them were even at my wedding. It always chokes me up to read news like this.
Flying a U-2 is tricky business. It has a huge wingspan, poor visibility and lots of things that can go wrong in flight. That's why they have such a stringent selection process to get in as a pilot. They may not get the glory of the fighter jocks, but some of the best pilots fly those touchy planes.
There is some bonus for flying the U-2. They know they'll always be needed. No matter what level of peace we've found ourselves at, U-2's have had an operational mission. There are always pilots somewhere in the world feeding vital information back to the Pentagon.
The down side (beyond the difficulty of flying) to the U-2 is the tedium. They often fly long missions in an uncomfortable space suit. Most of the data collection is automated. Most flights yield little new information. It's kind of like the lotto. They keep going up until they find what they're looking for.
As far as I know, they haven't released the pilot's name yet. I don't know if I've lost a friend, but I do know America has lost another hero.
Jason
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21 Jun 05
It's the first day of summer (at least in the northern hemisphere). You'll never guess what that means here in Houston.
Actually, I think my body decided to get the annual summer cold out of the way as soon as possible. I'll keep this short so I can get some rest.
Quick David update. He got his first two teeth in. He'll sink them into flesh any chance he gets, strong jaw on that boy. But he refuses to open his mouth for pictures.
The early reports of the death of any hope for a unified next generation DVD format may be exaggerated.
Analysts expect the gaming market to continue to grow. And they're predicting dedicated shelf space will grow along with it. It was amusing to note that Best Buy's "Customer Centricity" initiative started about the same time they were badmouthing "Demon Customers."
I resisted the urge to put up a headline on the news section reading, "Microsoft scales back Xbox 360 plans." Maybe I'm still holding out hope they'll send me a review version. Anyway, on their way to selling a billion 360's, their goal for the first year to sixteen months is a modest ten million. That may seem a lot considering they've sold around twenty million Xbox's. It is impressive that they plan to sell 990 million units after the PS3 launches.
Finally, if you need some reading, Gamasutra has their latest question of the week responses up. They take a look at digital distribution. I couldn't help noticing there seemed to be a divide between the academics and the people working in the real world. Imagine that.
Jason
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20 Jun 05
I should clarify what I meant by a bias against EA. As I said, I'm not a fan of boycotting publishers. I won't lower review scores or reduce coverage of EA games. So all it really means is a small change in my personal buying habits. If a game is a borderline purchase, coming from EA means I won't buy it. I say that voting with our dollars (or currency of choice) is our best response. I also think that supporting good games is more important than denying publishers we disagree with. So that's where I'm stuck.
I saw that Senator Shumer of New York is blasting an unreleased game. It's interesting to note that he assumes that all games are marketed to children. I'm not exactly looking forward to 25 to Life, but I think calling on Sony and Microsoft to cancel all deals with Eidos is extreme. Still, it does reflect that the industry as a whole is doing a remarkably poor job in educating lawmakers about the gaming market.
This week's game is one you can try right now since it's in an open beta. It's Trash (official site) from Inhuman Games. Trash is a post apocalyptic 3D RTS centering around trash. It's the ultimate resource, and opposing factions (humans and mutants) battle to control it. Humans build machines while mutants rely on their powers for victory. Trash also has an interesting resource mechanic in pipes. To transfer resources (even around your base) structures must be connected with pipes. This affects base design in both layout for convenience and increased vulnerability if your pipe is exposed. Trash will be available for sale whenever the free, public beta ends.
Jason
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