Saturday, May 10, 2008

Man-love for Bioware cemented...

The whole DRM fiasco with the upcoming release of Mass Effect for the PC has had me in a tizzy for a couple of days. I seriously hate that shit. I am also lazy enough to not want to have to find the disk I need to play the game I am currently interested in. Imagine my joy when I found these comments from Bioware... (psst are your listening Will Wright?)

There has been a lot of discussion in the past few days on how the security requirements for Mass Effect for PC will work. BioWare, a division of EA, wants to let fans know that Mass Effect will not require 10- day periodic re-authentication.

BioWare has always listened very closely to its fans and we made this decision to ensure we are delivering the best possible experience to them. To all the fans including our many friends in the armed services and internationally who expressed concerns that they would not be able re-authenticate as often as required, EA and BioWare want you to know that your feedback is important to us.

The solution being implemented for Mass Effect for the PC changes copy protection from being key disc based, which requires authentication every time you play the game by requiring a disc in the drive, to a one time online authentication.

This system has an added benefit of allowing players to seamlessly play the game without needing the DVD in the drive.

Key points---

•This solution allows gamers to authenticate their game on three different computers with the purchase of one disc. EA Customer Service is on hand to supply any additional authorizations that are warranted. This will be done on a case-by-case basis by contacting customer support.

• Games are authorized to the machine when the player installs and launches the software for the first time.

• We’ve all had those times when the discs get lost or scratched and you can’t play a game you’ve bought because you need a working disc in the drive. With the new system players will no longer need the disc to play the game, but can instead simply retain the disc as back up for re-installation.

Mythos

Sign up for the Mythos beta here.

Friday, May 9, 2008

Game plans for the weekend

Looks like a GTA IV, LOTRO weekend for me. Sunday is Mother's Day so I probably won't get much gaming in that day. Sorry for the lack of posts the last few days, I had a minor medical procedure so was out of commission. Look for more Age of Conan impressions soon.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

GTA IV Driving Issues.



I have read some complaints from people about driving being difficult in GTA IV. If you are one of these people, try going to first person mode by hitting the select button a few times. This makes driving much more enjoyable. Keep in mind that the type of vehicle you are using makes a big difference too. I am having no problems driving around the city at speed anymore. This game is really enjoyable and I am not a GTA fanboy. In fact I played all previous incarnations of GTA put together for about 1 hour.

Monday, May 5, 2008

AoC Beta Impressions


I promised some AoC beta impressions so here are some quick thoughts. Keep in mind, I haven't had a great deal of time to play it because I have been putting together Man Room 2.0 so these are impressions from limited play time.

  • The graphics are excellent. They have captured the Conan world beautifully. The only other MMO with graphics this good is LOTRO.
  • The new combat system will take some getting used to. There is no auto attack so every attack and block you do is something you initiate by pressing a button. The only problem is I have no clue how I am supposed to go about it effectively.
  • It's an adult world, which is a nice change of pace from the cartoony games like World of Warcraft. You rescue a scantily clad chick who is chained up within five minutes of starting the game.
  • There is a night time vs a daytime play structure. During the day you do normal quests like any MMO and at night you do instanced quests in the city of Tortage with animated cut scenes which are nicely done.
  • The game client needs a lot of work. It is very buggy and the frame rate can be all over the place at times. Upon loading an instance it isn't uncommon for your frame rate to drop below 10 FPS for 30 seconds
  • The interface can't be scaled in any way. You are stuck with big blocky quickbars which can be annoying and I can't figure out how to turn off or slow down the mouse over info so it doesn't block my view of combat when I am hovering over an ability.
  • I have not grouped with anyone yet. I am having a hard enough time figuring out what to do in single combat in order to be the most effective. I don't need to worry about other people.
  • Over all, I my impression is that the game has a lot of potential. It still needs a good deal of work before the May 20th release date though. I hope the version I am playing is much older than the one the devs are tweaking right now.