11.27.2006

PC: A dying gaming platform?

I just read an article, entitled "Did Consoles kill the PC as a gaming platform", over at Playfuls website. Unlike other articles with the same topic, this one presented plenty of statistics that are difficult to debunk and proves that PC gaming went downhill in the past years, and will continue to do so. But I don't think Console has killed, or will kill, the PC. It's the piracy, conformity, and the lack of technical know-how that is threatening the best gaming platform.

Piracy is probably the worst issue PC gaming has right now, and in the coming future. If people stop buying PC games and just starts downloading them, then sales will go down. Meaning, developing studios will start closing or, worse, budgeting will be tighter, resulting lower quality of PC games in the future.

Conformity is also a big obstacle, not just in PC gaming but anything. It really divides the gamers, bundles them up into groups, and PC gaming is left way behind. Why? because excellent games such as Neverwinter Nights 2 or Medival II: Total War don't garner much attention from the media as much as Final Fantasy XII or Zelda: Twilight Princess. So they're not the "IT" games that people play.

The lack of technical know-how is another reason that many people, the so-called "gamers", jumps into the console wagon. In gaming forums, you'll usually see a lot of bitching and whining like: "my screen turns black" or "the game won't start". While other systems indeed do have problems, most are just caused by an old graphics driver or dirty installation of the game. People, the "gamers" once again, usually complains about how long the installation, the defragging, the downloading of the what-nots. But really, if you call yourself a gamer, that would glady quit your job just to line-up and wait for some $600 hardware, which eventually will become obsolete five years from now, I'm sure you''ll have the patience for installing, defragging, and downloading the what-nots.

But my two cents, even if someone presented me with a fool-proof analysis that PC gaming will die eventually, I won't believe it, I refuse to, because it's all speculations. We've been here before and tackled various consoles that came and went. As long as developers will give us games with toolset like Neverwinter Nights 2, in-depth strategy games like Total War, Company of Heroes, and Civilization IV, PC gaming will stay alive.

11.22.2006

Hot Baccardi

Winter is coming, that's why I got the Winter Edition of Perfect 10 magazine. Because what better way to keep warm other than staring at hot women?

Maria Baccardi, a Perfect 10

The Winter Edition is much better than the Fall. The girls here are even more prettier and sexier than the ones in the last edition. Most of them are still from Eastern Europe. Xenia Szabo from Hungary has the most luscious legs I've seen. Curvaceous Luba Shumeyko, a nude model from Hegre Archives website, and voluptous Shay Laren, Penthouse Pet of the Month (June 2006), also have spreads here. But the finest woman in the magazine is the cover girl, Maria Baccardi, from Brazil. She's just perfect and all natural, no muscles from gym work or cosmetics. She also reminds me of a certain girl I used to know.

The articles are still crap, however. Mostly interviews from lamed out/retired musicians (Peter Criss and The Stylistics) and sportsmen (Lennox Lewis). They also have a new feature in the magazine: an incoherent comic strip about the women who runs Perfect 10, they did it without nudity too. But who cares about the prints -and I think the people behind the magazine knows this as well- as long as they keep thier trademark of presenting naturally sexy models, they'll be fine.

11.21.2006

Nothing Much

It's been a while since my last update. But, really, there's nothing much interesting going on with my life right now. Besides, my time has been -and still being- consumed by three excellent games that were released in the past weeks -namely Neverwinter Nights 2, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, and Dark Messiah of Might & Magic. And after six months, nuclear medicine employment is still down. So no news of me being employed soon. No matter, I'll use my current "down time" to enjoy my games.

Although I did apply for a part-time position at Saint Joseph Hospital this morning. The department looks dreary and boring too, my kind of place it seems. I also think I might have a shot at the position, but I'm not holding into anything. If I get the position, awesome and wonderful. If not, then I'm going back to slaughtering Faerunian Undead and foiling the plots of the Masters of Evil.

11.04.2006

First Impressions: Neverwinter Nights 2


This week has been the most "game hectic" for me. I bought Dark Messiah of Might & Magic last Sunday, and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance last Tuesday. However, those games -although good- were only appetizers. So this past Thursday, I went out and bought the main course, Neverwinter Nights 2.

The game is awesome. It's still the Neverwinter Nights I knew and love, though it has something more to offer. There has been some changes, most notably, the controllable henchmen, better storyline, and no more generic tilesets. Though the sounds has been obviously recycled from the first game and there's no more epic levels. The prestige classes are still present, however. There are some new ones as well like the Arcane Trickster and Frenzied Berserker. Character creation is deeper than the first one with added deities and background traits. Other than that, everything here is still intact.

11.01.2006

First Impressions: Marvel Ultimate Alliance


Yesterday, I went to Best Buy to pick up my copy of Neverwinter Nights 2. Unfortunately, their stock hasn't arrived yet. So as a placeholder I got Marvel: Ultimate Alliance -since it was on sale ($30 instead of $40)- to momentarily satiate my gaming appetite.

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance is an excellent game as X-Men Legends II. However, I have a couple of gripes:

  1. You can't assign any skills to use for "Call Allies". So casting boosts can be really awkward.
  2. You can't customize hot keys for quick power use, making it also awkward.
  3. The removed Stat Points distribution, making character customization shallow.
  4. Characters are still unbalanced.
But other than that it's still a fun game. There are various improvements as well, most notably the graphics and new features such as Team Skills and the Outfits