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Posts Tagged ‘multiplayer’

Urgent Evoke

Monday, February 28th, 2011

Jane McGonigal knows that gamers are the most motivated towards success and that through games we are trained to win. This is a potent factor that lead her to the creation of EVOKE.

Changing the world seems like an unbearable task. However, EVOKE agents are on a mission to prove that individuals can network together and do it, and make it fun, too! Forming groups, and encouraging creatively inspired new ideas to combat against real problems that the world faces. This is a game developed by the World Bank Institute and they choose to use Jane as the director because of her incredible alternate reality game mastery. Season One of EVOKE was dedicated to helping improve situations in Africa. Its success earned it the #1 Social Game of the Year award. EVOKE agents tackled the real world problems of food security, energy, water security, disaster relief, poverty, pandemic, education, and human rights. (more…)

28 Minutes Later: Episode 2

Sunday, November 21st, 2010

This week’s 28 Minutes Later features a discussion on multiplayer experiences. Listen in and then tell us what your experience with multiplayer has been, whether it’s co-op or competitive, with friends or with strangers online.

28 Minutes Later Episode 2.

Make it Happen!-Star Wars Battlefront 3

Monday, November 8th, 2010

This is basically the nerd bible

George Lucas aside, Star Wars is awesome. No other series has garnered the intensive level of nerd love as the epic tale of one hillbilly moisture farmer’s rise to become a champion of greatness in a galaxy far away and long ago but somehow in the future.  The series has not only garnered much praise for its films (the original trilogy, Jar Jar be damned) but has also spun off a number of successful video games based on the franchise, one of the more successful of those being the Star Wars Battlefront series.

Now, I love Star Wars. Maybe not as much as the people who edit Wookiepedia, but I’d still say that I’m a huge fan of the universe.  Being as such I absolutely loved getting together with a friend and playing though some of the greatest battles in fictional history.  From the icy terrain of Hoth to the teddy bear-infested forests of Endor, nothing was quite like reliving parts of some of my favorite movies from a completely different perspective: the soldiers on the ground.

I think that’s what I like about the series the best. You see, most of the time I think people associate every part of Star Wars with the Jedi, and in many ways, every single game that you play, you play as one of the Jedi or a person who will become a Jedi.  Now, I know that that’s not always the case (you can also play as a fighter pilot), but it was nice to play in these epic battles of my childhood as a member of the basic troops.  So why haven’t we seen more from this series?

The answer is, I don’t really know (what sane person can understand George Lucas’ brain?). I mean, at one point they were creating a third Battlefront game, but then for some reason they just stopped.

(more…)

Multiplayer-Why Nintendo PWNS

Friday, November 5th, 2010

Nintendo is rich as hell.  That’s just a fact, the Wii and the DS have outsold the competition by far.  That’s why we’re seeing Sony and Microsoft releasing this new motion control peripheral for their systems- because they want some of that there Nintendo money.  The thing is, I would argue that the motion control isn’t necessarily the thing that is causing Nintendo’s success; rather, I would say that what Nintendo has going for it is a greater emphasis on multiplayer.

Now, allow me to make a clarifying statement here.  Nintendo has almost no real online support for its videogames. In fact, they just don’t really have any support for it at all, and that does piss me off, but what Nintendo does have is local multiplayer.

Local multiplayer is awesome, and it sells games.  Seriously, what’s more fun, pwning random nubs on X-box live while some 12 year old Korean kid berates your skills and electronically humps your dead body, or pwning your friends while electronically making love to their corpse while they sit next to you trying to keep their dignity and curse you?  I don’t know about you but I find necrophilia so much more appealing when I can actually look into the eyes of the nub who I just freakin’ owned and giggle childishly at.

(more…)

The Language of Gamers part 1

Tuesday, September 14th, 2010

sentence diagramming is stupid as hellIf there’s one thing you learn as an English major (aside from how to pull a seven page paper out of your ass in a few hours), it’s the importance of language. And it’s not just how language is IMPORTANT, but how precise you need to be to be fully understood. We use words to stand for a lot of larger concepts that are understood by others who speak the same language. It keeps us in sync. It gives us the feeling that, from being understood when we communicate, that we are part of a larger concept. Language not only explains ideas, but facilitates the growth of new ideas.

But when language breaks down, it causes a standstill. New ideas are stunted as they are kept in improperly-worded confines. It’s a travesty of thought and communication. And I firmly believe that issue has cropped up in our own little sector of culture in the form of “Casual Gamers” and Hardcore Gamers.”

These words don’t work anymore, and I intend to understand exactly why.

(more…)

News – Red Dead Redemption DLC coming late June

Sunday, June 6th, 2010

Rockstar Games has announced the first DLC that will be available for Red Dead Redemption just a month after the title’s release. The Outlaws to the End Co-Op Mission Pack drops on June 22nd to both Xbox 360 and PS3 owners for the low price of Free.99. Check out the press release for details and screens:

The Outlaws to the End Co-Op Mission Pack will feature six all-new cooperative multiplayer missions to play with 2-4 players.  This will be a completely free download that we will have ready for you to download and play at some time in June.

These six explosive and epic missions will play out across the game world, including:

“Walton’s Gold”
Walton’s Gang have taken control of a mining camp rich with gold.  Fight through the camp and load your mine cart with as much gold as you can carry and get out as fast as you can – Walton’s boys have rigged the place to blow!

“The River”
Ride a raft down river, taking out rebel encampments along the way until you reach the rebel stronghold of Nosalida and a final epic battle for the town’s massive weapons caches. Watch out for Gatling gun-equipped enemy rafts.

“Ammunition”
The Mexican Army has the town of Tesoro Azul under siege.  Storm the gates under heavy cannon, Gatling gun and sniper fire to destroy the Mexican artillery placements.

Plus three more missions to be revealed in detail soon.

The Outlaws to the End Co-Op Mission Pack will also yield additional multiplayer XP rewards, and brand new Achievements/Trophies to unlock.

Screens:

Taking back the town of Tesoro Azul in "Ammunition".

Engaging the Walton Gang from an advantageous elevated position in "Walton's Gold".

Heading downstream towards the rebel stronghold of Nosalida in "The River".

By the looks of it, Rockstar is putting just as much effort into developing the multiplayer element of Red Dead as they have in the single-player.

- NB

(via Rockstar Games)

Nice Guys Finish Last and Screen Lookers Prevail!

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

The other day my roommates and I were playing a pickup game of Halo 3 and I kept getting sniped, stuck and assassinated. The frustrating part was that there was no radar and some how people kept finding me, and I consider myself up to par with the FPS genre, so it was not like I was running around dumbfounded. Well my friends I kept getting killed partially due to screen lookers. What is a screen looker you say? (more…)

News Reach Multiplayer Beta Trailer Released

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

News Reach multiplayer beta trailer released

Wednesday March 3, Bungie released its first trailer for the highly anticipated Halo: Reach. Unfortunately the trailer is only under two minutes, but provides a lot of insight and what Halo fans can salivate over for the next two months. (more…)