The “new generation” game consoles are stacking up to be pretty impressive. All of them are based on variations of the IBM Cell processor technology. The first out was Microsoft’s XBox 360, soon to be followed by Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo’s entry which was, until a few days ago, code named “Revolution”.
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Oblivion was only released a couple of weeks ago, but it has already spawned a number of hacks, innumerable tips and hint commentaries, and one (two more to follow) “official” add on.
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I have spent every spare waking hour of the day lately playing Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. Its an awesome game: if you like deep, open ended single player computer role playing games, then Oblivion is definitely worth a look.
Oblivion is set in the Empire of Tamriel in the world of Nirn, a world that may be familiar to people who have been playing computer games for a few years as the setting for the Elder Scrolls. The Elder Scrolls series has been around for a while, starting over a decade ago with Elder Scrolls: Arena. The last release in the series before Oblivion was Morrowind in 2002, a role playing game that was lauded for its open ended style, huge size, and depth of backround materials. It also received some knocks for its initial bugs (most of which were fixed in subsequent patches). I personally played Morrowind- it was a very good game, but I found it hard to get engaged- it was, for me, a bit *too* wide open. I couldn’t really find a plotline to hook on to. I played it for weeks, but never finished it, and have no idea to this day what “finishing it” would have looked like. That’s both good and bad- good, because I had weeks of gaming and came no where near completing the game. Bad, because I never really felt like I was “part” of the game’s main plot.
Oblivion seems to have kept all of the good features from Morrowind (open ended, massive game world, incredible depth) and ditched some of the less than positive features (lack of hooks into the main plotline, game ending bugs). Right from the start, Oblivion’s story line is pretty obvious. But you can still veer off into the open country side, read hundreds of books, go off on your own adventuring paths…and, with the help of the quest journal, find your way back to the main plot easily.
WARNING: some spoilers follow
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I was really hoping it wasn’t true, but apparently it is: Alienware is being bought by Dell.
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I was reading today about Sony’s legal battles with Immersion regarding game controllers that vibrate. The story itself is the usual: Immersion patented certain technologies that make game pads and the like go “bump”, and Sony apparently used the same basic technology without paying Immersion’s licensing fees.
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I rarely actually finish big RPG games. You know, the ones that take 100 hours of play time to complete. Generally, not finishing the game makes me frustrated and a bit disappointed in the whole process…and less likely to buy the next one.
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I’ve played D&D Online a grand total of maybe 15 hours. I was part of a stress test and now a preview of the game. Apparently the non disclosure agreement has been lifted, so I can make a few comments.
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Dungeons and Dragons Online- Beta/Preview thoughtsRead More »
I’ve heard people say that they prefer the graphics in World of Warcraft over those in EverQuest 2. The discussions I’ve had with people about why they feel this way seem to boil down to a description of the characters in EQ looking “plastic”, “like corpses”, or “not cool”.
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I downloaded the demo for F.E.A.R. today. Talk about totally smashing any hope of getting into the Christmas spirit! The demo is impressive: if the rest of the game is as good as this preview, the game as a whole must be as good as Halflife 2. Assuming you liked Halflife 2, and if you didn’t then what the heck is wrong with you?
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I play a fair number of computer games. Many of these games have a difficulty setting when you play them: Easy…Normal…Intermediate…Difficult. I usually pick either Easy or Normal.
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