Month: November 2009

The Borg

Martyn Zachary 1 Comment

Pandemic Logo N4G

“Optimism need not suffer – only naïveté”

The news today is that Pandemic Studios is being forced to close up shop, with its founders, Josh Resnick, Andrew Goldman and Greg Borrud already let go some days before. This comes mere days after 40% of Mythic staff gets cut 1)http://twitter.com/Athryn/statuses/5565314202.

With shaking hands, I bust out my very special Devil’s Advocate crystal ball, and take a hesitant look into the future. In five years’ time, I can see it now, gamers will exhibit the exact same feeling of dismay as we did, just there and then, combing over archives of video game history. Putting the ball aside, I come to realize that we should not focus so squarely on the now – it is a global recession we have here on our hands, after all, and the ends should justify the means.

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From Unigine to Project Offset

Martyn Zachary 1 Comment

Unigine Heaven BenchmarkWith all this engine talk up in the air recently, Richard and I thought to sample Unigine’s demo benchmarks. You might already know Unigine from its association with Afterfall, the on-again off-again post-apocalyptic RPG – most other titles using the platform were admittedly unfamiliar to us.

In any case, while waltzing through their newest DirectX 11 -supporting “Heaven Benchmark”, I was struck by massive déjà vu: I could have sworn I’d seen a project of this type some years before – one that had been riding a considerable wave of hype, indie credibility and a touch of megalomania no less.

I’d completely and conveniently forgotten its name, though, and nobody seemed to remember what I was talking about.

After spending considerable time booting up and patching my Swiss cheese of a brain – enough to get some Google on – I was able to pin down my hunch: Project Offset! Can you think of a less demarcating, less descriptive codename for a fantasy project? How is one supposed to go about searching for that, exactly? Gawrsh! Naming conventions aside, the most relevant question obviously is:

What’s happened ‘tween 2007 and 2009?

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Quote of the Day: Martin Mystère

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M: I was resting a bit, mmh I don’t get much sleep at night….
You interrupted one of my nightmares
T: Sleep depravation [sic]
You should go see a doctor!
M: I know

In other non-news, we’ve just introduced our YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/slowdownvg – we’re not at all certain as to what we’ll be publishing over there, but this is as good a starting point as any, right? All new videos should be published over to our Twitter, too.

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Out of Hell Is, Well, Out

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Halloween has become the de facto standard release date for the zombie mod, and this year turned out to be no different! Four months ago, we briefly discussed how the one-man UT2K4 total conversion, Out of Hell, had been slowly inching its way closer and closer to release for the past seven years. You can guess where this is heading, right – the ageless, timeless project has indeed been released! In his development blog, designer Long “Chicken+Ribs Combo” Nguyen outlines his feelings about the release:

“After 7 years of work, Out Of Hell has finally been released upon the masses! What can I say? I feel…weird!…and floaty! I always thought about this day, but now that it’s here, it feels as though I’ve been sleepwalking for the last 7 years and am now just waking up!” 1)http://eveningofthewalkingclinicallydeceased.blogspot.com/2009/11/hell-has-been-unleashed.html

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