Author: loserx

Skyrim Watch, Part 3

So it turns out Skyrim will feature same sex marriages for your character. Beth’s VP of marketing Pete Hines confirmed it in a tweet.

More choices = better in a Role Playing Game, I say, as long as it wasn’t implemented at the expense of some other aspect of game play. Going by what we know and seen so far though, any fear of that is likely unfounded.

At least, it won’t be anything like that abominable sequel of an RPG, Age of Dragons 2 or something…

Counting on that hoary old saying

There’s a sucker born every minute.

XCOM - Demo Gameplay (Commented) E3 2011 | HD

What is the intended audience of this product? Old X-COM fans are pissed off that the brand has been slapped on a generic FPS. The name isn’t strong enough to attract sales from non-fans.

Honestly, a 60s-era Area 51 themed shooter named anything else? If the reviews were decent, then hell yeah, I’d buy and play it. Putting my beloved X-COM name on it guarantees I won’t even give it a chance.

Skyrim Watch, Part 2

Lots of new information available since my last post about Skyrim, but it is only at Quakecon that we got actual live gameplay footage.

(Quakecon 2011) Elder Scrolls V Skyrim 35 Min Gameplay Fixed Audio [HD 720p]

What I got from this video:

  • The draw distances are amazing. No more trees and structures popping up out of nowhere.
  • At the same time, great detailing on the little things like logs, small plants.
  • The spell effects look good, which fixes one of my pet peeves from Oblivion. I wonder how moddable they are. Hopefully Bethesda is including OBSE-esque hooks for extra scriptability.
  • While the one weapon or spell per hand mechanic looks like it’ll add whole new dimensions to game play (it looks like a super-charged version of what we got in BioShock), it looks like parrying with weapons is off the table, perhaps in the interest of game balance.
  • The areas demoed are the same as in the previously released game play trailer. Would have preferred to see something new.
  • Obnoxious audience is obnoxious.

The Collector’s Edition was also announced at QuakeCon. I’m sorry, but while I am a huge fan of the Elder Scrolls series, USD150 for a PVC sculpture, a making of DVD and an art book is just a rip off.

Edit: the video was taken off. Will be updating the post once a better version is available.

A Dramatic Turn Of Events, Reviewed

One of the first reviews of the new Dream Theater album, A Dramatic Turn Of Events, is now available and, sure the author’s an old Dream Theater fan and so is prone to gushing, but then again so am I and I figure, what he likes, I would probably like too.

Some highlights from the review:

  • ‘Keyboard player Rudess has talked of how he would write sections to fit snugly around John Petrucci’s riffs’
  • ‘The growling vocals have vanished to be replaced with typically complex DT musicality and countless melodies, and critically the album is not immediately gratifying, and requires several listens in order to fully grasp exactly what the band have achieved here.’
  • ‘It also showcases Myung’s talent as a bass player — which many have claimed has been left in the background in the recent past — and it’s a pleasure to hear him so prominent in the mix once again.’

September cannot come soon enough. Only question is, should I pre-order the collector’s edition?

The Legend of Korra Teaser Trailer

Legend of Korra Trailer - HD Version Full 720p

The teaser trailer for the Legend of Korra is now available and it looks great. Even more impressively, they are doing what the Japanese animation industry can’t seem to do, create a strong, smart female lead character. For that, I salute Messrs DiMartino and Konietzko.

Lots to like here:

More information was made available at the San Diego Comic Con.

As an aside, this should have been titled simply Avatar: The Legend of Korra. Thanks for nothing, James Cameron. Also, fortunate the Shyamalan fiasco didn’t kill this franchise dead.

Thunderbird Lives

I’m a pretty big fan of Mozilla Thunderbird. The project has adopted the multi-channel development model of Firefox (which was adapted from Chrome’s) which is a good thing as far as I’m concerned. Instead of the nightly, Aurora and beta channels, though, Thunderbird’s channels are named Shredder (ha), Earlybird and Miramar. With the new names comes new logos, courtesy of Sean Martell, Lead Visual Designer for Mozilla.

I’m almost tempted to use the Earlybird builds just for the logo.

Spaceward Ho!

Finally got around to Mass Effect 2 (which isn’t as good as the first, which I’m not that fond of in the first place). I was doing Jacob’s loyalty mission and came across this sculpture that the natives propped up to worship:

One thing came to my mind immediately.

The Tori no Hito (Bird Human) statues from Macross Zero, of course. I mean, tropical island paradise, the shape…

Probably all just a coincidence though.