gamingtalk-blog

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really worth taking a look at.

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Apologies!

So... once again I'm posting to apologize for our lack of posting. Spring break is coming up and school has been killer for us both. We will try and post as soon as we can!

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So, apparently Valve has dropped the ability for PC, MAC and PS3 players to cross-play the upcoming Counter-Strike. Although this concept was widely accepted by gamers for the sheer fact of finally playing cross-platform, it's for the better. the game play would be seriously hindered by dealing with all platforms, especially dealing with updates. All in all, this is a sad loss, but will soon be forgotten when we all get to enjoy the game ourselves.

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Rumour: Diablo III releasing April 17th

Rumours surrounding the release of Blizzard Entertainment’s blockbuster RPG have resurfaced today.

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Take a look at this game! It looks amazing and seems like it could be a very interesting adventure. It’s definitely on the artistic side rather than an action based type of game but even this review alone kind of draws me into it. 

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I've earned all these medals - except for dreamcast, fuck that.

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With a video inside :O

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If only I still had them all..

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Valve said to be working on ‘Steam Box’ gaming console with partners, could announce at GDC

According to sources, the company has been working on a hardware spec and associated software which would make up the backbone of a “Steam Box.” The actual devices may be made by a variety of partners, and the software would be readily available to any company that wants to get in the game.

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Valve's Games in an Nutshell - Vaughn 'hunos' Elkourie

So, I've been way to busy with school but I figured I could give a run down of Valve's games for those who may be looking for some new games to play.

Half-Life - Solo Campaign (HL1, HL:BS, HL:OF, HL2, HL2:E1, HL2:E2)

If you're into solo campaigns with intense action fighting aliens, alien zombies, the army, and an futuristic oppressive government using an arsenal of melee weapons, ranged weapons, explosives, and even alien weaponry, then this is probably the game for you.

Half-Life is centered around the most well known PC game hero, Gordan Freeman, a scientist at Black Mesa who is trying to reach the surface after conducting the test that begins a cataclysmic alien apocalypse to occur on Earth. The Half-Life series includes a sequel and two episodes that occur after Half-Life 2. Valve even made two expansions for Half-Life 1, Opposing Force and Blue Shift. These two expansions place you in a different point of view of the "Black Mesa Incident;" playing an army grunt in Opposing Force and a security guard in Blue Shift. These games provide different "training" options unique to that game. with excellent dialog, game play, and visuals, the Half-Life series is a 10/10 in my book; way better than Bungi's Halo series...

There have been many rumors about a possible Half-Life 3 in the works, especially with a recent image of Gabe Newell, founder of Valve, showing of two knives with a very interesting image on his monitor..

Portal - Solo Campaign/Co-op Campaign (Portal 1, Portal 2)

Portal is yet another solo campaign created by Valve, but instead of in your face action, this is more about solving puzzles and discovering the truth.

While Half-Life begins from the science facility, Black Mesa, Portal revolves around Black Mesa's competition, Aperture Science. Both facilities are competing in the field of portals/teleportation, along with various other things. Sadly, Black Mesa has shown dominance and thus won over all the government funding - Aperture Science was no more. Well, no exactly. GLaDOS, short for Genetic Life-form and Disk Operating System, is left alone to conduct tests and run maintenance over the facility.

The game revolves around the test subject, and heroine, Chell. As Chell, you are guided through different test chambers by solving puzzles and trying to escape using the portal gun. The dialog in this game if phenomenal - it's witty, hilarious, and even malicious at time (much like dark humor). Portal 2 follows the same path of solving puzzles to escape, but taking place right after Portal 1, there is much more information about the past explained, as well as many more interesting puzzles and some more amazing dialog (especially from Cave Johnson!).

Again, Valve produces a ground breaking game. 10/10

Counter-Strike - Multiplayer (CS 1.6, CS:CZ, CS:S)

It began as a mod from HL1 and became one of the most played online video game in the world. I could go on for a while about this game, but I'll be dedicating a separate post to this game entirely. 

Counter Strike places two teams, the Counter Terrorists and the Terrorists, against each other in a battle to detonate the explosives or save the hostages. Counter Strike has a plethora of weapons and equipment to utilize in the game, incorporating a buy system in order to acquire them.

If you are looking for a great, modern FPS that takes skill and teamwork, and has a large community for both competitive play and casual play, then this may be the game for you.

There is a BETA out now for the upcoming CS game, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. I'll be trying to get the BETA key so I can play it and blog about it in comparison with the current CS games.

I will have another post about Counter Strike sometime in the future, but to save time, this is a quick rundown. 10/10, again. 

If YOU have the BETA, send me your review of the game and I will include it in my future CS post.

Team Fortress - Multiplayer (TF1, TF2)

Team Fortress is the epitome of a crazy video game. Following a two team basis, Red vs. Blue, the game allows you to choose between 9 different class types to win the game. The class types include: Scout,  Soldier,  Pyro,  Demoman,  Heavy,  Engineer,  Medic,  Sniper, and  Spy.

There are many different game types to choose from, including CTF and Point Capture.

Personally, this game is fun and can be addicting, but I am not the biggest fan of it due to how you can now spend money to gain the advantage on other players, which seems stupid to me. Regardless, it is a fun game with a constantly growing community. 7/10

Left 4 Dead - Solo Campaign/Co-op Campaign/Multiplayer (L4D1, L4D2)

Like zombies? Like killing zombies? Like killing zombies with weapons like shotguns, assault rifles, chainsaws, and frying pans? Or how about killing humans while playing as an infected? If you answered yes to any of these, then this game is perfect for you.

In Left 4 Dead, four "immune" survivors of the zombie apocalypse fight through cities, forests, and even swamps to escape the zombie horde chasing them. You can play by yourself, or with three other people through these different campaigns to safety. you can even play as the "special infected" to try and stop the survivors from escaping. 

This is an easy game to pick up, but a hard game to put down. Very fun and very intense. 8/10

Day of Defeat - Multiplayer (DoD, DoD:S)

Day of Defeat, a WWII style FPS, is a multiplayer game similar to that of Team Fortress and Counter Strike in how the game is played and the mechanics of the game itself. With Team Fortress' big team battle and class system, and Counter Strike's game play, this is indeed an interesting game to play. Although I am not big on WWII games, this is a great historic FPS.

If you love Big Team battles and WWII FPS games, then this is a great choice for you. 7/10

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Future Posts to Come!

Hey! So, school has been kind of tough on us recently, but here are a few future topics that we will post on.

Games from...

the Halo Series

the Call of Duty Series

the Starcraft Series

the Elder Scrolls Series

the Legend of Zelda Series

the Knights of the Old Republic Series

the Final Fantasy Series

Games produced from Valve

and many more...

We will also have comparison/contrasts with certain video games, and more pros/cons

if there is anything you would like to hear about, ask us and we will do our best to respond!

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Dark Souls - Trevor "Fafnir" Woods

Dark Souls, the long-awaited sequel to From Software's Demon's Souls, definitely lived up to its predecessor in my eyes. As soon as I saw an article in GameInformer saying From was going to be making a sequel to a game I put nearly 150 hours into, I began patiently waiting for this game to be release. When Dark Souls was finally released, I started playing it non-stop, putting nearly 100 hours into it before two weeks had passed. Other than a few places where I feel they could have made better decisions, this game improved upon Demon's Souls in many ways. Dark Souls was addicting, fun to play through, and held my interest from the moment I started until I completed it.

Improvements:

Rather than relying on Demon's Souls level-based system that kept the player on-rails following a set path, Dark Souls allowed players to explore any portion of the world from the beginning of the game. This allowed players confident enough in their skill to dive right in and attempt more difficult areas before they were supposed to, adding an extra sense of challenge to the game for those who wanted it.

More variety in every aspect of the game. Demon's Souls had a wide selection of weapons, armor, and items available to the player, but many items were worthless as certain sets were far superior to others. However, they slacked a bit in the enemy department, which led to enemies feeling a bit repetitive and simple. Dark Souls added an even wider variety of useful armor, weapons, and items, making the player make tough decisions as to which would be the most effective in different scenarios. Enemies were also improved upon greatly, in variety and difficulty. Each area had a different set of enemies, and each enemy would change act differently, making it difficult to choreograph their attacks.

Dark Souls increased the incentive to participate in PvP(player vs. player) combat. Demon's Souls had PvP, but there was no real gain to participating in it, other than the satisfaction of beating someone else. Dark Souls fixed this by granting rare items and bonuses to players that participated. I found that this increased the occurrences of PvP in Dark Souls compared to Demon's Souls, and I loved that.

Where they could have done better:

One of the things I loved about Demon's Souls was its difficulty level. Many people complained that it was too harsh with its punishment to players that did poorly, and it's evident that From toned it down in Dark Souls. Dying in Demon's Souls could ruin your day, and pretty much ruin your game if you couldn't get back to where you were when you died. Dying in Dark Souls was just a small inconvenience that really didn't have much of an impact on your game. Don't get me wrong, the enemies and bosses in Dark Souls were still on par with their brothers in Demon's Souls, but dying to them and learning from your mistakes wasn't as significant as it could have been.

There were too many gimmick bosses in Dark Souls. Demon's Souls had epic bosses, each of them were difficult and had a wide set of possible attacks which kept you on your toes as you fought them. Even the one gimmick boss in the game could kill you if you stopped paying attention. Dark Souls had a few difficult bosses, but too many of them were "Stand here. Wait. Hit the boss. Repeat." or "Stand here. Wait for the boss to do something. Kill it in one hit." When you can beat a boss by learning its pattern, it loses some of it's luster.

While I said they improved the PvP earlier, they also completely messed up a few aspects of it. Demon's Souls has dedicated servers, so you could pretty much always find someone to PvP with if you wanted to, but Dark Souls was hosted on a P2P system which made it hard to connect and PvP with anyone outside of your region. When the game was released, certain aspects of PvP didn't function at all as they were supposed to, and From said they had no plans of fixing it. This severely limited an aspect of PvP which would have been very fun if implemented properly.

In summary, Dark Souls is an incredibly fun and addicting game that I would recommend to anyone that is looking for a challenging, yet rewarding experience from a console game. There were areas in which the game could have been better, but overall was a very adequate sequel to one of my favorite games of all time.

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truth^

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indecisiveoppression:

This game will revive the CS community and bring back the life of competitive gaming! Way better than COD.