Pure Drivel

…from North Carolina.

I’ll be back next week with more drivel.

Now, go stuff yourselves silly.

There is something seriously wrong with this situation, even if the girl consented (although legally she can’t). The most fucked up part of this story?

The father of one of the boys told The Associated Press that no force was used against the girl, and said the allegations have been leveled because the accuser “didn’t want to get in trouble with her parents.”

What!? WTF is that!? 50 CRP MINUS!

Just fyi, CRP = child rearing points. You suck, man.

via CNN

I don’t think I need to say anything.

I haven’t played Super Mario Galaxy yet. I’m still devouring Assassin’s Creed and playing CoD4 multiplayer. Plus, Mass Effect comes out at midnight. But, considering that everyone else is pretty much calling it the best game of all time, I wonder if Variety doesn’t have someone totally unsuited for the job doing their video game reviews. They completely rip the game apart.

Perhaps this is just an example of what Mark Serrels writes about in his comments on Assassin’s Creed somewhat negative reviews last week.

You see, when you have a look at a gamerankings, or metacritic even on the most critically acclaimed games (like Bioshock, GTA, etc) there’s always one idiot that wants to be the ‘big man’ by giving Gears of War a six or something ridiculous. It just so happens that in the case of Assassin’s Creed a whole bunch of these ‘little big men’ have happened to release the exact same review at the game.

Personally, I’m having a great time playing AC, so far. The environments are wonderfully rendered, the combat system is great, and I love the way I can do all sorts of bad-ass moves by holding down two buttons and running around. I previously provided a helpful suggestion for anyone finds Assassin’s Creed becoming repetitive. I think Gabe of Penny Arcade shares my thoughts on why reviewers may have had the opinion that AC gets tedious - namely, they have to hustle through the game as quickly as possible.

This is all rather unlrelated my original point:

Variety’s game reviews suck.

Okay, that’s not entirely true. The problem is that the target audience for the the reviews isn’t ostensibly “gamers.” The reviews target Variety’s normal audience, which consists of upper-class older white people, from what I’ve seen. These are people who, for the most part, have no interest in playing games.

So, unless you’re one of those people, and chances are you aren’t if you read this blog, don’t waste your time with their game reviews. Unless its to, ya know, make fun of them.

I don’t really want to comment on this. I’d prefer you read it yourself and come to your own conclusions.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls; I’ll begin by making a bold statement:

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is unequivocally the best game I have played this year. Better than BioShock, far better than Halo 3, better than Assassin’s Creed. This game will remind you why gaming is your hobby of choice.

I realize the year isn’t over yet. I also haven’t played Super Mario Galaxy, which is supposed to be a life-changing experience, and the beautiful jungles of Crysis await my arrival. Perhaps saving the universe from annihilation next week in Mass Effect will make the conflict in CoD4:MW seem insignificant.

As is, every other game I play this year will be measured against the herculean awesomeness of this game.

CoD4:MW is a homecoming for the series. Developer Infinity Ward created the first two Call of Duty games. But Treyarch developed Call of Duty 3, released last year. That game was essentially a carbon-copy of Call of Duty 2 with added timed button presses. While Treyarch’s effort was certainly loyal to the franchise, the formula was getting stale. Call of Duty set a high bar for the “WWII-shooter,” but we’ve been killing Nazis since Wolfenstein 3D. It’s time to move on - a sentiment that’s been echoed elsewhere.

Infinity Ward took that sentiment to heart by moving CoD into the modern era, and into the Middle East, no less. There’s far less certainty in a this modern war than in America’s finest hour. In WWII, victory meant the defeat and surrender of Nazi Germany. Unless it’s an alternate reality game, the player knows the Nazis lose WWII, evil is defeated, and victory is achieved.

In the war that you’ll fight in CoD4:MW, much like our current situation in the Middle East, the definition of victory changes day to day. Infinity Ward fully realize the fear inherent in a situation where violent zealots wield nuclear weapons that can kill millions of people in an instant, and they use that to create palatable tension. Through it, they tell the story of the men whose job it is to protect not just the United States, but the entire world.

You read that correctly. They tell a story in this game, and a substantive one at that. In fact, I was more moved by the events of CoD4:MW than BioShock. Seriously. Maybe it’s because I guessed an important part of the plot twist in BioShock about an hour in, but there is a unexpectedly gut-wrenching scene in this game that had far more emotional impact than anything in 2KBoston’s tour de force.

The primary goal of the game is to restore peace to the Middle East by killing the extremist revolutionary Kahled Al-Asad, who has destabilized the region by killing the president of an important unnamed country.

In fact, as the opening credits roll, you’ll play as deposed President Al-Fulani as you’re helplessly transported to your execution at the hands of Al-Asad. The level ends as Al-Asad puts a gun in your face, on national television, and pulls the trigger.

You’ll play as four characters as you hunt Al-Asad and the men who aid him. Each character has different mission-types. As Sergeant John “Soap” MacTavish of the Special Air Service, you’ll play a number of covert-ops missions. You’ll also spend one gloriously difficult flashback in a ghillie suit as Soap’s superior officer Captain Price when he was a Lieutenant. These levels contrast nicely with the chaotic, high-intensity front-line missions of Sergeant Paul Jackson of the United States Marine Corps. You’ll also rain down death from an AC-130. This mission, while fun, becomes strangely eerie after a while. You’ll get an idea of how easy it must seem to kill a man when you can’t really see or hear him die.

The game play has remained essentially the same, not that it’s a bad thing. If you’ve played a CoD game in the past, you’ll immediately feel comfortable in this sequel. You’ll have your pick of two different main guns, flash bangs and frag grenades, and you can swing a knife for close-quarters combat. You can also use a grenade launcher, though its usefulness is somewhat less than you’d expect. The renewable health mechanism returns, as well, for better or worse. The physics are pretty much spot on, and the ability to shoot enemies through thin cover is a nice addition. A cover system, a la Gears of War, could have enhanced the experience. Regardless, finding cover still isn’t difficult. Environments aren’t as destructible or as interactive as I’d like, but most of the structures you’ll be moving through wouldn’t be destroyed by small arms fire.

Your teammates and the enemies’ AI is also well done. Flanking, lobbing grenades, and taking cover are done intelligently for both groups. One complaint is that the enemy AI can shoot you accurately from a hundred yards away, while it sometimes seems like your brothers in arms couldn’t hit the proverbial broad side of a barn. Speaking of grenades, they’ll kill you a lot. This is common in the Call of Duty franchise, but it seemed to happen even more frequently in this game than in previous titles.

It doesn’t hurt that the game looks incredible, too. The models and environments are all detailed, and there wasn’t a single moment in the game where I thought, “man, that just looks bad.”

All-in-all, the game feels seamless. The way you “woosh” down from the tactical satellite view, which takes the place of a standard loading screen, and into the action is a stroke of genius. It’s far less jarring than suddenly materializing into the into the level.

Some have complained about the duration of the campaign. It took me about 10 hours to complete on “Hardened” difficulty level (the second-most difficult setting), but it was some of the most intense play I have ever experienced. The difficulty was evenly scaled over the course of the campaign, and only became frustrating once or twice. It only made it more satisfying when I finally got it right.

When the credits started rolling, I felt physically drained. I sat back in my chair, suddenly realizing how rigidly I’d been sitting in my chair. At the end of BioShock I felt disappointed, so anticlimactic was the final act. This game had kept me on the edge the whole time. I watched the credits, listening to the humorously bad rap song that accompanies them. Then, I realized there was a surprise. I don’t want to ruin it for anyone, but if you haven’t sat through to the end of the credits, do so. You’re missing out on something special.

I think the most gratifying part of finishing the campaign is that there’s still so much more to the game. I haven’t even touched the multiplayer yet, which I hear is outstanding. There’s the Arcade Mode to play as well, which gives you two additional game-play modes.

I can’t think of anything truly negative to say about the game that wouldn’t be nitpicking. There are a lot of titles out there demanding your time and money this holiday season. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare should definitely make the cut.

Rating:

So, you’ve decided you’re tired of playing Wolfenstein 3D and you’re finally ready to take a step up to a next generation game.

Chances are you’ve heard about a little game called Crysis, which promises to be one of the most graphically demanding titles to hit any platform. It’s set in the tropical jungles of Korea, a part of which has been mysteriously flash frozen. Problem is, you’re going to need some serious hardware to render every last flower and blade of grass in Crytek’s latest opus.

Let’s start by taking a look at the system requirements for Crysis:

Even the minimum system requirements are pretty beastly, and that’s to play the game at its lowest settings.

I can tell you from playing the single player demo released late last month that the lowest settings won’t cut it for any but the least picky gamers. Moreover, meeting the recommended system requirements doesn’t mean you’ll be able to run the game on its highest settings.

I’m going to give you the breakdown for three different systems, built from the ground up, with three different levels of Crysis readiness.

Good for Everyone

In the interest of convenience, I decided to standardize the motherboard for this project.

I settled on the ABIT IP35 Pro, which retails for about $185. It has two PCI-E x16 slots for dual video cards, if you decide to go that route, and it can support up to 8 gigabytes of RAM. This may seem a little pricy, and I understand there are a number of different factors when it comes to choosing the motherboard that’s right for you. But this is a very solid board that’s somewhat future-proofed for the next inevitable upgrade to your system. Besides, the motherboard is the backbone of your system; you don’t want to skimp on this component.

Because I decided to standardize the motherboard, I’m only recommending Intel-brand processors. If you’d like to use an AMD CPU, I’m definitely not against that; however, Intel currently has better high-end processors, so that’s the reason I went that route.

I also decided not to give our opinion about a particular case, because we feel that’s primarily an aesthetic choice. However, I recommend at least a mid-size tower that has good fan-powered ventilation. The latest video cards are rather large, so you’ll want to make sure they fit inside your case.

So, first up is a machine for those of you who want to play Crysis on a budget.

The Budget Box

Either one of these systems will give you good performance for all of your basic applications and older and recent games, and get you playing Crysis on its lowest settings. The Allendale processor gets you into the dual-core generation at a bargain price. Although newer, faster, dual-core processors aren’t much more expensive.

You’ll probably be okay with the Corsair ValueSelect RAM since you won’t be doing much over-clocking with this system. However, the better timings on the premium RAM may give you a slight performance boost.

As far as sound cards go, the onboard sound for most motherboards is pretty good these days. Unless you want to plunk down for a higher-end sound card, I’d stick with the cheapest option: not buying one at all.

Your motivation for getting the latest generation video card is if you’re planning on upgrading to Windows Vista sometime soon and you don’t want to buy a DirectX 10 compatible card then. Plus, you can add another of the 8600GTs in SLI-mode for a significant performance boost down the road. If you’re planning on doing that, pick up the beefier power supply, too.

Remember that upgrading to Vista will also require upgrading your RAM to at least 2GB.

Now let’s bump up to the recommended settings.

The Workhorse

The “entry-level” specifications laid out above result in a very nice machine, and should get you up to the medium graphics settings in Crysis with no issue. The “upgrade” specifications are all you’ll need to play Crysis somewhere between medium and high settings and almost any other current game on higher settings.

The upgraded system sports a processor with a larger L2-cache; double that of the entry-level system. This, plus the faster RAM, translates into faster data access.

The raw memory boost you gain by choosing the NVIDIA card likewise gives you a boost. Though, better drivers for the Radeon will narrow that gap. Again, if you’re planning on adding a second video card in the future, be sure to take the upgraded power supply. You’ll most certainly need it for running the high-end video cards in SLI or Crossfire.

A note about Windows Vista: although drivers for both video cards have improved, Windows XP is still delivering faster frame rates across the board. You’ll miss out on any DirectX 10 effects, but development for the new platform isn’t very far along at this point. That means you probably won’t miss much by not upgrading to Vista. Windows XP is still the operating system of choice for gamers.

The Sound Blaster card is completely optional, as well. The EAX effects offered by these cards result in a much fuller surround sound experience, best experienced with headphones. But if you want to save some dough (and chances are you do), skip it and stick with the onboard sound.

Finally, we come to a machine that should allow you to play Crysis on its highest settings. I essentially specced it out to have the most rediculous gear I could find. Be warned, the total price of this monster is not for the faint of heart, or the light in cash flow.

The Behemoth

There’s very little that needs to be said about these two systems - they both kick all kinds of ass and to say they’re future-proof is a serious understatement.

In fact, the components included in the “upgrade” column can’t even be used to their full potential. Anything more than 4 GB of RAM is wasted in 32-bit Windows, and the quad core processor screams excess, since most applications aren’t even utilizing dual core processors to their full potential. The gains with the 8800 Ultras over the 8800 GTXs will also be negligible.

As much fun as it is to see what you can do if money is no object, the nearly $4,000 dollar system we priced out is, to put it mildly, overkill.

Wrap Up

Crysis is a fantastic looking game, and first-person shooter fans are in for a real treat… if they have the gear to run the monstrously sophisticated graphics engine.

Remember, too, that you don’t have to build a system from the ground up if you’ve played more recent games. If you have, chances are you’re system has some components that will serve you just fine, e.g., your hard drive, your motherboard, and your processor.

Upgrading your video card and your RAM alone can be a pricey but extraordinarily valuable investment. Just watch out for recommended power supply wattages when upgrading your video card and you should be fine.

I’ll see you in the jungle!

I’m definitely looking for commentary on this piece - lemme know what you guys think about the system requirements and the cost of the equipment you’d need to run this game. Is Crytek taking it too far? Or is this just the price you pay for next-gen gaming?

The reviews for Assassin’s Creed have started rolling in, and I’ve got to say I’m surprised at the widely varying scores for the game. I haven’t yet played it, but you know how it usually goes with these high-profile releases. That there’s anything less than an 80% on Metacritic is actually refreshing.

I can’t help but feel a little alarmed - I put a lot of stock into loving this game. I planned to spend my weekend playing Assassin’s Creed, in celebration of completing the rough draft of a very long academic paper, which I’m currently putting off. The major criticism seems to be that the action gets repetitive and the combat isn’t all that satisfying. The mechanic of scouting out locations then gathering information and perpetrating the crime seems to be the only thing you get to do in the game. That actually sound pretty awesome to me, but I can see how you’d want more. After all, you did pay $60 for the game. Why should you only get to do the same thing over and over again? For those of you who think that may end up being frustrated, I have a novel suggestion:

Take a break and play something else.

I’m not trying to defend Ubisoft for designing a game that ends up being tedious. I’m merely proposing that there’s a way you could enjoy the game even though becomes a bit repetitive.

Game reviewers essentially have to play the game from beginning to end in a short period of time. But we don’t. We have a million other games sitting on our shelves looking for some love. So, if you get bored after the 3rd or 4th assassination, throw something else into your CD tray or switch to a different platform. Better yet, play a board game, read a book, watch some TV or a movie - I can’t believe I’m about to say this - GO OUTSIDE. Then, when you find yourself itching to get back to your part-time assassination career, it won’t seem so repetitive.

Seriously, you don’t have to finish the game in a marathon session.

On a completely unrelated note:

Apparently, there are some strict rules of acceptable behavior for professional bridge players?

So, I just started into Gears of War on the PC. I’ve played through the campaign of GoW on X360 twice already: once alone, once with a friend. I had an awesome experience both times through. I never really played the multiplayer component, primarily because I’m a PC gamer at heart and I think paying 50 bucks a year to play shooters online seems like a ripoff. I’m even starting to think monthly fees for MMOs are kind of rediculous; but, they are most definitely for shooters that don’t provide regular content updates. Also, Xbox Live is full of douche bags.

This is all beside the point.

I really enjoy the way the control scheme has been adapted for us keyboard/mouse loyalists. I’ve only changed one of the defaults so far - I changed the key used for entering cover and roadie running to be left shift instead of space bar. It just felt more natural to me. The difficulty level seems a bit higher for the Windows version of the game, too, perhaps due to increased accuracy from aiming with the mouse. Maybe I’m just rusty though. To boot, the game looks absolutely gorgeous; even better than it does on X360.

But it’s not all good times, unfortunately.

Now, I don’t have a state of the art box, but I’m pretty well equiped. (Insert juvenile jokes, here) Despite my dual-core Opteron 180 and my 8800 GTS 640MB and my 2 GB of system RAM and the fact I’m running XP on a nearly empty, freshly defragged hard drive, I’m getting major stuttering issues and framerate drops, even with V-Sync turned off.

All I have to say is:

FIX IT

There’s no reason I should be having these troubles on my rig, with the game at medium-high settings. I can run the Crysis single-player demo at higher frame rates on medium-high settings. I really, really want to play the Brumak level. But as is, the game is just too choppy.

It’s not like I don’t have other games to play, but come on, Epic. GoW is an experience I want to relive . Just not as a slide show.

Imagine this:

You’re in traffic, driving home from work one day when you hear sirens behind you. You glance in your review mirror and you see flashing lights coming up fast. The police officer who’s been directing traffic at the intersection where you’re stopped holds up his hands to stop everyone and allow the police cars through, unhindered. You wait patiently as you watch as the police cars go zipping by. After they’ve moved past, you start to move your car closer to the curb when you hear three loud noises - CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! You feel a sting and the warmth of your blood spreading across your chest. You see others running up to you, trying to help you. Then your vision goes black.

What would you think about as you sat there bleeding to death? Would you think of your family? Pray to some god to save you?

I know you probably don’t come here to read about the situation in Iraq. Foreign policy isn’t really my forté; I tend to leave that to others. But this story, via the New York Times, made me angry enough that I wanted to say something about it here. From the story, if you’re too lazy to go read the thing:

An Iraqi taxi driver was shot and killed on Saturday by a guard with DynCorp International, a private security company hired to protect American diplomats…

Three witnesses said the taxi had posed no threat to the convoy, and one of them, an Iraqi Army sergeant who inspected the car afterward, said it contained no weapons or explosive devices.

“They just killed a man and drove away,” Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, an Interior Ministry spokesman, said in his office on Sunday afternoon.

…witnesses to Saturday’s shooting said they saw no reason for the guards to open fire on the car, a white Hyundai with a taxi sign on the roof, driven by Mohamad Khalil Khudair, 40.

The convoy came barreling down the exit ramp from the bridge around midday, [Sgt. Ahmad] Hussein said. “We saw them coming, so we ordered the traffic to stop,” he said.

The crowded traffic on the ramp came to a stop, but as Mr. Khudair tried to pull closer to the side of the road, a gun in the rear truck of the convoy fired several shots into his car, Sergeant Hussein said. At least one bullet went through the windshield and struck Mr. Khudair on the right side of his chest, the sergeant said.

I’d like to start out by saying that I cannot even fathom what being a security detail in Iraq is like. It has to be tough constantly worrying that just about anyone could be ready to kill you. However, it’s the job of the men and women who work for these private security forces to work calmly and rationally in high-pressure, high-stress situations. It simply baffles me that they would open fire on a vehicle that they had already passed for no apparent reason. Remember that one of the witnesses is an Iraqi police officer. They had stopped the traffic at the intersection to let the convoy pass. The car was nowhere near the convoy at this point. Then, for no apparent reason to any of the witnesses, they shot at the vehicle.

The guy who speaks for DynCorp International in the story says that the guards reported they shot at the vehicle, but were unaware that anyone was injured.

Why were they shooting at the vehicle in the first place?

This may not be a good comparison, but if a police officer or marine or security detail in the United States opened fire on a vehicle, they’d better have a damn good reason to do so. There are very limited, specific situations when police officer in the U.S. can fire at a suspect. There’s an internal investigation just about every time a police officer discharges his/her firearm to make sure he or she acted within reason. It’s a big deal for a police officer to fire their weapon at someone.

It goes to show that Iraq still has a long way to go before it’s stable.

I wonder what Mohamad Khalil Khudair thought about.