Video Games – Page 315

E3 Returns to LA Convention Center

After this year’s miserable E3 fiasco, I’m so grateful to hear that E3 is returning to the Los Angeles Convention Center on July 15-18th, 2008. If E3 stayed in Santa Monica it would have surely died a horrible death. Even if booths will remain less about flashy showings and more about industry reflection, isn’t that a good thing? Being able to see and discuss video games with fellow developers will only help the industry.

The event is still closed to the public, but that’s why we have the new E For All Expo. If you’re still angry about E3 being closed off to the public first remember that it always was a private industry event and secondly read this post for more information why E3 cracked down.

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PS2 Rock Band Getting the Shaft

Rock Band has not yet been released for the Playstation 2 although recent reports have found out that when it does, it will be a much watered down version of the game.

Obviously, the game is not going to support any online play as well as downloadable content, unlike the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions. Some things that were a little less expected are the fact that the World Tour mode is going to much different in the sense that it is very linear as well as the fact that you will not be able to customize characters or gain cash and fans.

Personally I feel like these features are the some of the main differences that caused the game to stand apart from Guitar Hero. Without them, I don’t really feel like the game is worth purchasing.

Hopefully Harmonix and MTV will at least be able to release expansion patches for PS2 owners so that they can get new songs because I’ve already played through them all on my 360 version and if I knew that there were no more songs, I would be pretty pissed.

Harmonix, Activision brawl over Guitar Hero PS3 controllers

In what is a most amusing series of events, Harmonix and Activision are fighting like kindergarten kids over who’s responsible for not releasing a patch for Rock Band.

Harmonix, with some help from MTV, thought that releasing a patch for Rock Band, which would allow Guitar Hero III controller compatibility is a good idea. The idea did, after all, come after thunderous public request. However, it didn’t go down as well as they had expected. Harmonix’s patch was approved by Sony, but not by Activision, who supposedly objected to the patch.

This makes Harmonix and MTV heroes who want a free and liberal gaming area and where everything is good and compatible. Activision is suddenly a dark, evil EA-esque villain who wants the depraved gamers to buy Rock Band controllers. And because we need a fine background for a fight, we have Sony and their PlayStation 3.

Sony promptly replied that this is a matter out of their hands, and one that should be “amicably resolved” by Harmonix, MTV and Activision. Well, at least Sony has nothing to do with the whole fiasco. Then again, it’s the ill-fated, all-cursed PlayStation 3 that serves as a setting for this tale.

Activision struck back yesterday by saying that MTV/Viacom is unwilling to participate in a healthy ~~tussle~~ discussion about the issue. According to their press release, Activision were the good guys all along and Harmonix/MTV have been the ones who were not talking with Activision about their technology.

This fight is almost like the Silicon Knights/Epic brawl, except there’s no legal matters here and the subject is ridiculous. What’s bad is that the gamers are suffering in the long run. They are the ones who haven’t gotten the patch yet, while the big corporations talk about how they love gaming and want gaming to be accessible.

How will Harmonix/MTV respond? Is the PS3 really cursed? Isn’t watching this silly fight fun? Comment and conquer!

Best of 2007 – February

Continuing with our Best of 2007 series, we take a look back at February. This month was the official start of the blog so from here on out we’ll have some fairly long lists of our top posts.

Best of 2007:
January – February – March – April – May

February

The Divine PR Exposition
The Divine is a PC game that a group of friends and I were working on. At 1am we launched a PR campaign with tons of screenshots, a trailer, wallpapers and random other stuff. That was an exciting and fun day. All day long we rushed to complete everything as the countdown clock ran on the website. To bad we missed our own deadline by an hour.

The Divine

StuffWeLike.com Video Cast #10
This makes it onto the list because this video cast episode was the last time Spencer Beebe was a host. We’ll miss you Spencer!

Welcome to 7.0
StuffWeLike officially launches version 7.0 of the website. This version includes the blog, although back then it looked totally different!

Fantastic Four 2 – Better than the FF1?
At the time it seemed as if Fantastic Four 2 could really kick ass compared to the first one. With the death defying Silver Surfer the movie looked solid. To bad trailers lie.

The Pipeline Has Bad Music
When we first started The Pipeline we had it automatically load and blast some music. Apparently people don’t like coming onto a website where music automatically begins to play. Who da figure?

News in The Pipeline
The Pipeline was the reason why I jumped on and changed the focus on StuffWeLike in 3 days. It was a very drastic move, but I just feel in love with the capabilities of the player. One of the first things that I tried was posting text press releases in the player itself rather than the blog. I thought it was cool, but later I found out that no one cared. Yay for me.

Video Game Music Channel created
Still experimenting with the boundaries of The Pipeline, I created one of my favorite shows on it the Video Game Music Channel. Ever since I started StuffWeLike, I’ve always wanted to do a internet radio show. While I did have a brief experience in that realm with version 2 of the website, this was the first time that I had full control over every aspect. Thankfully no lawyers have come knocking at my door yet!

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Half Life 3

[Update #2]

We would like to mention here that “Half-Life 3” is speculation, as we only have confirmation that Half-Life 2: Episode 3 will not be the last Half-Life game. It has been confirmed previously that Episode 3 will end the current Half-Life story arc, but not the franchise, nor the episodic medium.

There is perfect chance that there will be a series of episodic Half-Life games after Episode 3 (but unconnected to the current story arc). Then again, we cannot deny the possibility of a full-fledged title like Half-Life 3. Hell, for all we know, it might even be a prequel!

[Update]

We have had a number of comments wanting a confirmation of our sources. While this should not be required, the writing credits of the StuffWeLike.com staff can be confirmed. The writer of this piece Ted Stokes is the main game reviewer for Ireland’s main PC magazine PC Live! In the magazine’s current issue he has an interview with Assassin’s Creed Producer Jade Raymond.

The Founder and Editor of StuffWeLike.com, David Rodriguez, is known for his contributions to the independent video game community with his indie game publisher Packom Interactive. He has distributed several titles such as Ethereal Darkness Interactive‘s Morning’s Wrath and Wadjet Eye Games‘ The Blackwell Legacy.

StuffWeLike.com was created back in 2002 as a website that dissects and entertains the internet generation.

——————

[Original Post]

In an exclusive interview we at StuffWeLike.com have had official confirmation that there will be a Half Life 3.We are not talking about Half Life 2: Episode 3 but a Half Life title after that one.

Our confirmation comes after taking with Doug Lombardi the guy responsible for all those PR pieces you have seen and read recently about Half Life 2: Episode 2. While discussing the game mechanics that run the Orange Box Portal game the topics of future games came up. These interview pieces are below and we do have permission from Valve to release it to you guys. Even though its not much in terms of details even getting a confirmation that there will be another game is a first!

Doug Lombardi

TS-SWL: With the ending of Episode 2 going directly to help the feeling of “must play Episode 3 now” could you give the current estimated date for Episode 3’s release?

DL: We haven’t announced a date for Ep Three just yet.

TS-SWL: Are there any current plans after Episode 3 to have a Half Life 3?

DL: We haven’t announced anything specific, but Half-Life won’t end at Episode Three – hang on to your crowbars!

TS-SWL: For Portal, can you explain in layman’s terms how the engine allows the mechanics to make it so you can go from one point to another? Does it duplicate the room after a portal location is selected or is it something else?

DL: A portal is two planar rectangles in 3D space. When both portals are placed we build a mathematical formula that converts position and angle values from one portal to the other. Rendering the portal is done in a separate pass where we use that formula to covert the player’s view position and angles to the view they see through the portal.

We also generate special collision data to represent the portal hole by grabbing collision data near each portal, combining them, and carving a rectangular whole through the center. When the player is near the portal they use this collision data instead of the standard data, allowing them to pass through the wall. We then use the conversion formula to teleport the player to the proper position after they’ve gone more than halfway through the portal.

It’s of course a lot more complex than that, but that’s the basic idea.

[Extra Reading]

No Half-Life 2: Episode Three at E3!