http://cabal17.com/index.php Our directives must be reassessed en william@cabal17.com Copyright 2010 Pivot Pivot - 1.40.6: 'Dreadwind' Fri, 12 Feb 2010 22:37:28 -0600 60 http://cabal17.com/pivot/entry.php?id=28 http://cabal17.com/pivot/entry.php?id=28#comm Download them now. ]]> 28@http://cabal17.com/pivot/ Zeitgeist Fri, 12 Feb 2010 22:37:00 -0600 http://cabal17.com/pivot/entry.php?id=27 http://cabal17.com/pivot/entry.php?id=27#comm Currently Listening to:
Rammstein's Liebe Ist Für Alle Da, Infected Mushroom's Legend Of The Black Shawarma
Currently Watching:
Doctor Who
Currently Playing:
Team Fortress 2, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Currently Reading:
Andrzej Sapkowski's The Last Wish ]]> 27@http://cabal17.com/pivot/ Zeitgeist Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:06:00 -0600 http://cabal17.com/pivot/entry.php?id=26 http://cabal17.com/pivot/entry.php?id=26#comm
Strategy Game of the Year - Dawn of War II
Relic unleashed yet another ground breaking RTS game. Although the game actually has more in common with their Company of Heroes series than the previous Dawn of War game.

RPG of the Year - Dragon Age: Origins
Bioware's fantasy epic as usual features defined characters and an interesting world. What is impressive is the shear amount of content making it one of the most fully featured RPGs I've played in years.

Action Game of the Year - Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter
Yes, its a remake, but it is still one of the most intense FPS games ever. The remake keeps everything great about the original and just ups the graphics fidelity, just the way it should be. If you never played the original, and haven't tried the new version, you're missing out.

Fighting Game of the Year - BlazBlue
The fighting genre was packed this year with the return of Tekken and Street Fighter (which almost got the top honors). But I had to give it to the Guilty Gear successor for its beautiful 2D graphics and lightning fast gameplay.

Casual Game of the Year - Plants vs. Zombies
PopCap once again delivered a time sink that will destroy all productivity. Plants vs. Zombies is also the most absurd and funniest game they released yet. And the theme song will never leave your mind.

Indie Game of the Year - Killing Floor
In a world with Left 4 Dead and World at War's Nazi Zombie mode, who would image there was room for one more. Killing Floor is what you get when you cross Counter-Strike sensibilities with zombie survival. The game is a bit rough around the edges, but Tripwire continues to pour love into the game ensuring enjoy for a long time to come.

Handheld Game of the Year - Scribblenauts
Scribblenauts is pure joy. Nearly anything you can think of can be spawned to help (or hinder) you through the games many puzzles. It also has the distinction of having the most main menu screen you'll ever find.

PC Game of the Year - Left 4 Dead 2
For what many people decried as a simple expansion pack, Valve really packed in the major changes. Its amazing how much the melee weapons and the other changes radically change the way the game plays. Its actually hard to go back to the original now.

PS3 Game of the Year - Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Uncharted 2 takes every thing that was great about the first game and fixes most the flaws. The improved melee combat makes it a more viable choice and the more varied environments helped alleviate the sameness that plagued the first one.

Xbox 360 Game of the Year - Shadow Complex
A HD Metroidvania game with a story penned by Orson Scott Card. This is the type of game many people have been wanting to see return to the home console for years.

Wii Game of the Year - New Super Mario Bros.
2D Mario returns to the home console, this time with crazy multiplayer. Nothing is quite like 4 player Mario, it is something that has to be played.

Multiplatform Game of the Year - Batman: Arkham Asylum
A game based on licensed property with this amount of polish is usually just a pipe dream, but Rocksteady did the unexpected. The mixture of combat and stealth is perfect, and both are satisfying to use. If I had a single Game of Year Award, this game would have most likely taken it.

Most Disappointing Game of the Year - FEAR 2
Sadly, there was a heated competition between FEAR 2 and Modern Warfare 2 for this spot. But I had to give it to FEAR 2, since other than the poor PC version with MW2, its still a decent followup to the original. FEAR 2 on the other hand takes everything great about the first game and throws it out the window, the combat was watered down, the scares were weaker, the graphics were not as realistic, and like MW2, the PC version was a bad port. ]]> 26@http://cabal17.com/pivot/ default Thu, 07 Jan 2010 14:58:00 -0600 http://cabal17.com/pivot/entry.php?id=25 http://cabal17.com/pivot/entry.php?id=25#comm Alien Vs Predator for PC will support dedicated servers after all. ]]> 25@http://cabal17.com/pivot/ Zeitgeist Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:22:00 -0600 http://cabal17.com/pivot/entry.php?id=24 http://cabal17.com/pivot/entry.php?id=24#comm 24@http://cabal17.com/pivot/ default Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:42:00 -0600 http://cabal17.com/pivot/entry.php?id=23 http://cabal17.com/pivot/entry.php?id=23#comm Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 would not support dedicated servers despite all the previous games doing so. And to say that the PC community took this poorly would be an understatement.

Many saw that this was not done for a technical reason, but as a way to force PC users to buy downloadable content. The system that Call of Duty will be using is similar to that of Halo 3 on Xbox 360, there are a series of playlists you can select from. The problem with this is traditionally on the PC you could select a server that is running the exact settings you want, and since the servers are community controlled they could even run custom made maps and modifications. Several famous PC games even started this way, both Team Fortress and Counterstrike were originally mods for Quake and Half-Life respectfully. As more detail about has come out about the new Call of Duty, it is apparent that the whole thing is designed to force PC players to accept the way things work on consoles.

If this was an isolated incident it would be bad enough, but it seems Call of Duty is the start of a trend. It has been announced that both thenew Alien vs. Predator game and id's upcoming game Rage will most likely not support dedicated servers. This is a worrying trend; we are losing a part what makes PC gaming great in the further consolization of the gaming industry. Note that this is not a knock at consoles, I enjoy playing on consoles and have enjoyed how each generation they become more like PC gaming, but I was hoping that they would continue to move towards PC-ness with dedicated servers and such instead of the weakening of PC gaming in an attempt to force overpriced DLC and other unwanted console developments on the PC crowd. We need to put a stop to this now before it’s too late. ]]> 23@http://cabal17.com/pivot/ default Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:22:00 -0600 http://cabal17.com/pivot/entry.php?id=22 http://cabal17.com/pivot/entry.php?id=22#comm Currently Listening to:
DJ? Acucrack's Killing Mobius, Terrorfakt's Teethgrinder
Currently Watching:
Fullmetal Alchemist, Gundam 0083 Stardust Memory
Currently Playing:
Shadow Complex, Battlefield 1943
Currently Reading:
Conan by Robert E. Howard & others (I can't find the exact book online) ]]> 22@http://cabal17.com/pivot/ Zeitgeist Fri, 04 Sep 2009 10:14:00 -0600 http://cabal17.com/pivot/entry.php?id=21 http://cabal17.com/pivot/entry.php?id=21#comm twitter not too long ago. Normally, I'm not much for social networking, but I've actually grown to like Twitter quite a bit. Funny part is that I started using it to see how it works so I could use it for promotion for Pressure Blind, but I have yet to actually do anything with their account.

In other news, I've finally updated the Dark Light page. There is a new introduction, but other than that it's just the same portion of the story with a few tweaks; mostly with the grammar.I've been working on Dark Light one and off for a few weeks, but I think I need to make some major changes to the setting since it was firmly set in a dystopian future based on the trends of the time which seem outdated now. I probably need to rework it to be more abstract. Also, the more I think about Dark Light, the more it seems like the weak videogame plot with some (at the time) interesting ideas like it originally was. Now I know why most videogame movies suck. Videogames tend to gloss over things that are necessary in other media forms, and the reverse is also true. It doesn’t help that I writing it in a pseudo stream of consciousness, so I have to fill in all the boring blanks I normally wouldn't have to worry about. ]]> 21@http://cabal17.com/pivot/ default Fri, 04 Sep 2009 10:01:00 -0600 http://cabal17.com/pivot/entry.php?id=18 http://cabal17.com/pivot/entry.php?id=18#comm Currently Listening to:
Nothing in particular.
Currently Watching:
Dexter, Texhnolyze
Currently Playing:
Resistance: Fall of Man
Currently Reading:
Transformers The Veiled Threat by Alan Dean Foster, Deadpool Classic ]]> 18@http://cabal17.com/pivot/ Zeitgeist Mon, 08 Jun 2009 10:27:00 -0600 http://cabal17.com/pivot/entry.php?id=16 http://cabal17.com/pivot/entry.php?id=16#comm You decide. ]]> 16@http://cabal17.com/pivot/ Zeitgeist Fri, 08 May 2009 15:28:00 -0600