Author: Martyn Zachary

Breaking News: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky

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Though Clear Sky has not fared all that badly in reviews so far – despite complaints of show-stopper bugs and ubiquitous brokenness – scepticism has begun to rear its ugly head in terms of the probability of GSC Game World’s ability to salvage the game with patching, and not in the least because of claims that the game still contains bugs that were already present in the original Shadow of Chernobyl.

The general atmosphere of the GSC Game World forums currently resembles that of launch-day BioShock forums (Nabeel, having been a moderator there, can surely testify): A vocal, angry minority (“Angry Internet Folk”) of customers feel they’ve been grievously wronged by a second failed launch in the row and that GSC should have learnt the lesson by now.

A moderator on the forums has confirmed that the project manager for Clear Sky, Anton Bolshakov, has been fired and replaced by Ruslan Didenko, the main game designer.

Despite the aforementioned shortcomings, a second patch (1.5.04) has already been released for the Russian version of the game. Adding fuel to the fire of confusion is the way version numbers are incremented for the Russian/UK releases of the game (1.5.x) and ROW (1.0x). For instance, the 1.01 patch takes the game to 1.5.03 UK. It is my understanding that both patches break save game compatibility.

I jumped relatively late on the Shadow of Chernobyl bandwagon, and played the game with the 1.0.0.6. patch. In that shape, the game worked well and only suffered from one or two broken quests and bogged-down performance. I’ve decided to take the same route with Clear Sky as I did with Shadow of Cherobyl, namely: Wait.

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Lorne Lanning: The Problem with Consoles

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In a recent interview with GameDaily 1)http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/features/interview-lorne-lanning-discusses-state-of-gaming-new-oddworld/?biz=1, Lanning controversially purported that

…anything that makes development more expensive, rather than better, faster, cheaper, I think is a step backwards. … I see [the PC] allowing for more smaller games to be sold that can be delivered to anyone who’s connected at much lower price points.

I’m always pleased to discover a name designer’s aversion for triple-A titles – you might still remember how I wrote out my disappointment in my post on Braid over the fact that even Blow’s so-called indie title had an incredulous $180,000 price tag! With purported falling PC platform game sales 2)http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Infotech/Software/US_video_games_sales_fell_7_pc_in_September-NPD/articleshow/3606564.cms, however, it’s not altogether impossible to envision a relatively smooth transition from AAA all the way to a more budget-priced gaming future on the PC.

Lanning also discusses the emergence of “connected” gaming (the article discusses MySpace and other similar social networks); Although he does not explicitly define the word, it seems relatively clear he is referring to the so-called, oft-maligned HC/PC gamer crowd that intently follows industry news, frequents gaming sites and is generally in the know. In fact, he even laments how “…a marketing exec at a game publisher will look at my demographic and say, ‘Oh, they’re not buying games anymore.'”

It’s worth nothing, however, that Lanning’s recent output has not been all that ‘core’: He’s already pursued something less puzzle-oriented with Stranger’s Wrath (XBOX/2005); Oddworld Inhabitants have also long attempted to diversify their brand and branch out into animation and movie-format projects. In the meantime, Lanning remains relatively close-lipped, so only time will tell whether he still shoots for his hardcore demographic, or if he’s simply lamenting the fact that we’re “not buying games anymore”.

Then there’s always Peter Molyneux, who thinks to himself,

“‘Jesus, we’re spending so much f—ing money.’ Millions and millions of dollars. Sometimes I can start saying ‘my god, I can’t believe this is costing this much.’”

References   [ + ]

1. ↑ http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/features/interview-lorne-lanning-discusses-state-of-gaming-new-oddworld/?biz=1
2. ↑ http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Infotech/Software/US_video_games_sales_fell_7_pc_in_September-NPD/articleshow/3606564.cms

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American McGee’s Grimm

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So far I’ve had the delight to try out – for free, if I may add, the defining characteristic of this endeavour – the first and fourth chapters of American McGee’s Grimm, the new episodic series published on GameTap. To get the monkey off my back, both episodes, Puss In Boots and A Boy Learns What Fear Is, have felt perfectly fine to me. In the answers section of his personal forums, McGee writes that

[Grimm] was designed to be played by people who’ve never played a game before. Of course this means that hard core gamers are going to literally *hate* the experience. But that’s OK.

Though I full well understand the defensive attitude, and considering I would probably have to label myself a “hard core” gamer, it’s somewhat surprising that my biggest (sole!) gripe so far would be that I keep on forgetting when a new episode is released. I’ve therefore missed the more platform-oriented, sea-scaped The Fisherman and His Wife and the classic Little Red Riding Hood.

GameTap offers you the possibility of downloading the first episode as a stand-alone installer, subsequent episodes will have to be downloaded via the GameTap interface or through the recently introduced TryGames. The fourth episode racks up around 300mb. Though McGee promises more download services (I’m sure some users are “Steaming” by now) shortly, it remains to be seen what will happen to Grimm and GameTap now that Time Warner have decided to sell off the service.

Well That's a Bitch
How Grimm.

The basic starting point for the game series is that the team reimagines an old Brothers Grimm story. Check out the pictures and the rest of the review after the jump.

(more…)

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A Braid Backlash?

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Everyone’s talking Braid, huh? Incredible, incredible praise has been heaped upon the game, and even before its release, the game and its maker were often both heralded as the Indie Saviour (if you don’t mind the term): Two years before its release(!), Braid received the IGF 2006 “Innovation in Game Design” award.

Braid was a long time coming, and when it came, it was nothing short of veni, vidi and vici – Braid delivered. But even the best of games sometimes receive an ounce of backlash – remember the Gears of War commentary from Mike Capps or Alain Tascan? – It’s as though all memetic excellent games receive a hint of backlash sooner or later, just like all good memes turn sour with overexposure, and begs, in my mind, to be presented by applying Leigh Alexander’s (of Sexy Videogameland and Gamasutra) four-month bell curve: “fever-backlash-bottom-out”. The timeframe remains to be seen and discovered, of course…

If you’re interested in analysis on the design of the game, you could take a gander at a very thoughtfully analytic discussion over at The Brainy Gamer. But what about the merits of the game – outside the box? (more…)

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