Call of Duty: World At War Map Pack Sells 1 Million

Multi-player mp packs seem to be the latest fad in the online gaming community. Every game with good multi-player these days is always adding new map packs to their games for consumers to enjoy. Gears of War 1 had its map pack, Gears of War 2 had the flashback and combustible map packs and just added the other day its latest installment, the “Snowblind” map pack. Even the Halo franchise has some. But despite the large variety and insatiable consumer appetite for them, no map pack has ever done as well as the first map pack for the widely popular Call Of Duty: World At War.

The popular World war II first-person shooter, which spans the PC, Xbox 360, and Playstation 3, just set a landmark. The new map pack released for download sold 1 million copies in just its first day of release! This is the very first downloadable map pack for the game from developer Treyarch.

This download, which only costs around $10, or 800 Microsoft points, hit the Xbox LIVE marketplace and the Playstation Network last Thursday, March 19. This pack comes with four new maps: “Nightfire”, which has you fighting through the burning streets of Berlin; “Knee Deep”, which has you taking positions in fortified Japanese Bunkers; “Station”, which takes you through a bombed out underground train station; and finally, a new map for the ridiculously popular Nazi Zombie mode entitled “Verruckl” (Zombie Asylum) which features more weapons, new Perks-a-Cola machines, and electro-shock defenses. What is the deal with the zombie infatuation these days? The only thing missing is our own real life zombie apocalypse. Then our dreams would come true!

This game is one of the most popular games on the market today. Not just in sales, but in the online community as well. Which is obvious seeing how the very first map pack has already done so well. The only map pack released for the last Call of Duty game, Modern Warfare, took over nine days to reach 1 million packs sold. However, publisher Activision has an answer to that. The map pack released for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was released on a staggered schedule. It launched one day on the Xbox 360, and other days on the PS3 and PC. This map pack for World At War was released on the 360 and the PS3 on the exact same day and has still yet to be released n the PC, which only further magnifies the popularity of the game. Details on the PC release are said to be “coming soon.”

Needless to say this is without a doubt the best any map pack download has done. These kinds of statistics prove why the gaming industry is the top entertainment industry in the world.

written by: Zack Duncan

Left 4 Dead

If there is one thing out there that people are more fascinated or more terrified of, it’s a zombie apocalypse. There are an incredible amount of zombie movies out there like George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead and Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later. And while Hollywood likes to make movies out of games, they definitely don’t need to with Left 4 Dead.

Left 4 Dead is the new zombie apocalypse game for the Xbox 360 and the PC. However, unlike some zombie games, you are not trying to eradicate the infectious hordes of the undead. Your one and only goal is simply to survive.

In this game you play as one of 4 survivors of a zombie apocalypse that has turned a vast majority of the people into flesh eating monsters. You are one of a handful of people immune to the infection plaguing the streets. This new game from creator Valve, is different from any experience you’ve ever had. The game is constructed almost entirely around cooperative gameplay. The game does have a single player mode that lets you play the game with bots, but it just doesn’t compare to playing with intelligent humans. Since there are four survivors, you can LAN or play online with up to three other people including yourself where each one of you takes the role of a survivor.

The characters are as follows: Zoey, a young girl with attitude; Bill, the grizzled war veteran who just wants to shoot something; Louis, the middle-class office worker; and Francis, the tough biker who wants to crush some skulls. The game has four different scenarios, or levels. The scenarios do not coincide with each other, meaning you do not need to play them all to get the whole story. Each scenario plays like its own game. The interesting thing is, each scenario is played out like a movie. There is a movie poster at the beginning that shows the cast(survivors), and if you survive until the end, you will be rewarded with ending credits. The ending credits are basically a score card. Statistics include things like who killed the most zombies, had the most head shots, inflicted the most friendly fire, etc… Some humorous aspects are things like how many zombies were harmed in the making of the film and, granted that any of the survivors didn’t make it to the end, the film is dedicated to those who didn’t survive. The scenario names even have links to the level, even if they are a bit corny. There is Blood Harvest, where you take refuge in an abandoned farmhouse, Dead, where you fight your way to an airport, No Mercy, which takes you through a hospital, and Death Toll, where you fight your way to the docks.

To add to the intensity of a zombie apocalypse, valve went and made these zombies the fast terrifying ones, as opposed to the staggering slow ones from the old movies. The zombies are also resourceful. They sprint at you, climb fences, and break down doors to get you. Although hey aren’t geniuses, they attack fiercely in large numbers. As an added bonus, the normal zombies aren’t your only threat. The horde has five classes of super zombies each with its own special ability. First is the tank. This one is pretty self-explanatory. Its big, strong, and hard to take down. The tank can absorb an incredible amount of ammo and deal a great amount of damage. Next is the Smoker. The smoker has a long tongue, like Toad from the X-men. It uses its tongue to get a survivor by the throat, drag him in and hold him like a worm on a hook. The Boomer is a disgusting blob of a zombie who attacks in two ways: it spits up bile onto you or explodes, damaging you and spilling its bile on you. The problem with this is that the bile is like freaking cat-nip for zombies. It temporarily blinds you while attracting every freaking zombie around directly to you. The hunter is one of the scariest things to see in the game. The hunter is capable of leaping incredible distances and pinning a survivor to the ground. Nothing compares to seeing a hunter fly at you from 200 yards away. Finally there is the Witch, an incredibly powerful creature capable of taking down a survivor in a single swipe. The best strategy for a witch is to not encounter one.

This game pushes you to the max. You will run low and health, you will run low on ammo, and you will be overwhelmed. There is a great variety of weapons in the game. You will encounter everything from shotguns, to assault rifles, sniper rifles and pistols. There are also make shift weapons in the game. You will get pipe bombs and Molotov cocktails and even the environment is deadly. You can grab propane tanks and gas cans and blow them up or make traps for the enemy.

This game is not, however, perfect. One of the only flaws is that the game is incredibly short. There are only the four scenarios already mentioned and that’s it. Plus, each scenario can be completed in around 30 minuets. Yet the replay value of eaqch scenario is unparalleled. You can play the some mission 20 different times and get 20 different outcomes. This is due to a built-in “director” system that manages different aspects of the game. For example, if you are doing really good in the game, the director might throw more and more zombies at you. On the flip side, if you are doing bad, the director might choose to give you more ammo and health packages.

Another negative is that in versus mode, where a group takes control of the special zombie classes and a group takes control of the survivors, can only be played in two scenarios, Blood Harvest and No Mercy. When playing as the zombies, the game automatically selects you as a boomer, tank, hunter or smoker, the witch is left out. Your goal as the zombies is simple, don’t let the survivors reach the safe house. It takes alot more coordination and team work to play as the zombies. If you attack as a team you will be unstoppable. But, separate and you will leave yourself vulnerable.

A good aspect of the game is your bot AI and the sense of realism. While playing in single player, your bot companions will assist you, cut down on friendly fire, and heal when necessary. One of my favorite aspects is what happens when you get knocked down. his is when you’re wounded but not dead. You sit on the ground, unable to move but you can still shoot. This allows you to protect yourself and your teammate as they try to rescue and heal you. And if you do end up dying, you simply respawn somewhere in the map. The other survivors then have to track you down and let you out of whatever locked room you are in.

The graphics are another thing to talk about. While Left 4 Dead does not have the latest cutting edge source engine, it more than makes up for it by having incredible environments packed with clutter and detail. And let’s talk about the lighting. On word: incredible. This may sound dumb, but the game has some of the best flashlight mechanics seen in a game since Doom 3. For instance, you can be in a pitch black room and the only light you have is the small cone of illumination emanating from your flashlight. Since the light is attached to the muzzle of your gun, when you got to reload, the light is forced onto the ceiling o wherever your gun is pointed, which adds to the realism. There is also a strobe light affect that occurs when you fire your weapon. In a dark room, the flash of the gun will illuminate the zombie faces in front of you for a brief second in multiple flashes.

There is also great audio work in the game. There is a good deal of voice acting in the game. Each character has a big list of sayings so it doesn’t get repetitive. here are also quirky little sayings each character has for different situations, like how they talk about a fallen comrade. Even the different zombie types have their own special sounds that let you know they are near. The witch, for example, starts to weep hysterically. So whenever you hear female crying, you better high tail it out of there. An added bonus is the music. The score shifts dramatically to accompany each situation.

This game works great on either the PC or the Xbox. The source engine is around four years old, which has given it plenty of time to be tweaked and perfected. However, the PC version does look a little bit better at higher resolutions and has faster load times. Not to say the Xbox version sucks. The 360 version also looks incredible but the slow load times are something to be desired. Every time you hit a safe room you are required to sit around and wait for a while until the next part loads.

This game is pretty amazing. despite its few flaws, it makes up for it in gameplay, uniqueness, and replay ability. Be warned though, to get the full experience intended by this game, it is best played online or LAN with multiple players because, let’s face it, playing with humans is just better.

written by: Zack Duncan

OnLive: The End of Console Gaming?

The video game industry is the fastest growing industry in the world. More and more people are buying games, consoles, going to video game creating schools, colleges are having classes about it, it is taking over the world!

In the world of video games, there are 2 ways you can play them: PC’s and consoles. There are three different types of consoles on the market today; the Microsoft X-box 360, the Sony Playstation 3, and the Nintendo Wii. To play a video game these days you have to have one of these consoles, that is, until now.

With a new device simply called OnLive, you can stream any top-named video game, from either the PS3, 360, Wii, or PC, straight to your television just like a youtube video to your computer. At least thats the vision of Palo Alto, startup for OnLive., which plans to launch this revolutionary gaming service this winter. A small box, roughly the size of a Nintendo DS, will sit upon your t.v. This box plugs into your t.v. and your home broadband network. From this point you can start playing games exactly like those found on a console. The best thing is that there is no installation time or download time and the OnLive box can be continuously updated meaning you will never have to buy the latest and greates console whenever it comes out.

You are probably thinking “How? High-profile games won’t work like this.” Well, the fast-paced racing game Burnout Paradise worked without a hitch and the PC game Crysis: Warhead, which typically takes a high caliber PC to run also worked fluently. It is very easy to start playing games too. OnLive has a nice interface that requires only a few hits of the buttons and you’re off and running.

There are also things on OnLive that resembles that of your home DVR. OnLive has a replay feature which allows you to rewind the last 10 seconds of gameplay and save it so you can send it to your friends.

OnLive’s services can also be accessed from your Mac or PC Computer which works the some way as the t.v. version. The company also boasts that OnLive’s hardware requirements are so low that even the top-notch PC games will be able o be played on a $300 notebook. The company has already signed deals with industry big names like EA, Ubisoft, and Take-Two. OnLive promises to have an up-to-the-minute selection of game titles like Grand Theft Auto IV, LEGO Batman, and Mirror’s Edge, just to name a few.

Now while this all sounds too good to be true, well, it might be. There is one catch to OnLive. Because OnLive is an online streaming service, your box will only be as good as the internet connection you have. High-Def resolution will require you to have a higher-end broadband connection. Also, if your connection is prone to drop put unexpectedly, then you might become a little frustrated. Plus, all the streaming videos might give you some unwanted attention from you ISP’s modem users.

OnLive won’t talk price. The only thing they did say was that their price will be competitive with subscription services like Xbox Live. The company says the box itself is cheap and easy to make and that it is easy to see it getting thrown in with subscription prices like a cable or satellite set-top box. Games will most likely e available to to be rented or bought, and most games will have free demos that do not require a download.

So is this the end of console gaming as we know it? Or just another chapter in the infamous “console wars”? Personally, I don’t think OnLive will replace console or PC gaming. The market is to strong and people fear new, unknown products. If this device gets the backing of a big name industry representative or strong gaming media coverage, then it might do well. This is kind of the same thing as companies like GameFly or other game renting companies like that. They’re goal was to stop people having to go to the video stores, causing the stores to close down, and that isn’t happening anytime soon. So, I think OnLive will get a lot of service, like those game rental companies, but I don’t think it will be anywhere as big as killing console gaming altogether.

written by: Zack Duncan

Mac Pro Not A Gaming Powerhouse

You may want to think twice about gaming on a Mac Pro

Apple had just recently released a newer version of its Mac Pro. With a price tag of $3,499 you can expect to be getting a great system. The specs for this desktop are pretty much amazing.

Mac Pro Specs

• Two 2.26GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
• 6GB DDR3 RAM (6x 1GB)
• 640GB 7200rpm Hard drive
• ATI Radeon HD 4870 Video Card

With a spec sheet like this you would expect this to be an amazing gaming rig. If I were to guess on the performance for a desktop like this in a game like COD 4 I would almost guarantee 60+ frames per second. Everything in this rig is perfect for gaming, the only thing that would be holding it back is the CPU speed of 2.26GHz and since no games support 8 cores you will not see a performance gain from the extra cores. Overall though I would definitely think it would get 60+ fps. Well CNET also thought that maybe this new Mac Pro would be a gaming powerhorse also so they put it to the test playing COD 4. Well the results as you will see are far from Gaming Powerhouse.

chart from cnet.com

All of these tests were ran at a modest resolution of 1680 x 1050 with 4x anti-aliasing. The results are an improvement over the GT 120, but only get up to a meager 35 fps. Many people speculate that the low frame rate is caused by the OSX versions of these games, claiming that they are bad ports because the Radeon 4870 is one of the best cards on the market and there is just no way that it would perform this badly in a rig such as the Mac Pro

Bottom line, even though it is not made for gaming, any rig that costs $3500 you would expect much better performance.

Alienware Area-51 M15x Gaming Laptop

Alienware is one of the top names in quality gaming computers and that quality extends to laptops as well as desktops.

The Area-51 M15x is one in a long line of great gaming laptops pumped out by Alienware. This laptop is a monster with loads of features, upgrades, and everything you need for ultimate gaming.

First of all, the M15x is a laptop so it needs portability. This computer sports a size of 14.6×10.7×1.3 inches and weighs a reasonable 7.1 pounds. The M17x has a few differences from previous Alienware computers. It has a plastic, blocky case which feels very weak, like it would break under the slightest strain (especially bad for hot-tempered gamers). The matte-black spinal ridges, like those on the Area-51 M9750, have been smoothed out to a glossy finish and topped with the Alienware insignia emblazoned with LED eyes.

But that’s just the outside, the inside is where everything is at. The M15x is packed with booming with hardware. It has a 2.8GHz Core 2 Extreme X9000 processor for lightning fast gaming. It also comes with 4GB of DDR 2 memory as well as a 200GB hard drive with a 320GB removable hard drive. Since the M15x is a gaming laptop, it needs a good graphics card. The Area-51 M15x has the upgrade option of the nVidia GeForce 8800M GTX (512MB) graphics card, but comes with the Intel P965 chipset. The 8800M GTX is the real deal. It can run up to 96 frames per second (fps) on some games, like F.E.A.R.

Since this computer is packing so much under the hood, it isn’t really a huge surprise that the battery doesn’t last too long. The average battery life is around 1hr 22mins respectively. Alienware tries to manage the computer’s power consumption with two key components: U/D GFX and Stealth mode. The Stealth Mode touch button tries to curb power by scailing back CPU and GPU use. Some reports have noticed that the M15x would bump you into stealth mode while gaming which would cause performance problems. But this was easily fixed by hitting Alt-tab and turning off stealth mode. U/D GFX gives you the option of toggling between the 8800M GTX graphics card and the integrated Intel P965 chipset through the F7 key. The only problem is that this requires a system reboot and there is no indicator to tell you which mode you are running. The only way to tell is to take a look at the Device Manager.

The M15x is also very nice to look at. It has a nice 15.4inch screen with a 2-mega pixel webcam. As you look below the bezel, you will notice power, wireless, volume, and system touch controls. The touch pad is surrounded by an LED border. There is also a multitude of LED lights built into the backlite keyboard, which is a $50 dollar upgrade option, and encircling the case lid and emblem. All the lights can change color independently using the Alienware Command software, however there are no strobing or color shifting options available.

Like most notebooks, the M15x sports an up-to-date variety of ports including a 802.11b/g/n wi-fi, mic and headphones, and Gigabit Ethernet as well as 3 USB 2.0 ports, one firewire port, an SD/MMC memory card slot, HDMI port and ExpressCard slot. The M15x also plays Blu-ray movies with beautiful picture, and also hooks up to your HD t.v. via a HDMI port which displays in stunning 1080p HD resolution.

Needless to say this thing is ridiculous. It is packed with so much that it is no surprise that the Alienware Area-51 M15x laptop is the undeniable best laptop on the market. This thing does not come cheap though. The M15x has a starting price of around $2,149, which isn’t unreasonable for a quality gaming computer. However, if you choose to upgrade it with the features it offers, expect to pay anything around $5,000 o less. Despite the price this is definitley a computer to look out for.

written by: Zack Duncan

Game Developer’s Conference 2009

The Game Developer’s Conference, or GDC, is the largest yearly gathering game developers, which focuses on learning, inspiration, and networking. The event is made up of networking events, awards shows, and an expo with a plethora of lectures, tutorials, and roundtables by industry professionals that focuses on game-related topics like audio, production, programming, design, business, management and visual arts.

The GDC is considered by industry personnel to be the most important industry event of the year with most people stating the show is essential. What has become the most popular developer event in the business, started out as a gathering of around 25 people in the living room of game designer Chris Crawford. Over the years, the event grew to become a mulit-million dollar event and became so established and financially set that it even sponsored the creation of the Computer Game Developers Association in 1994. GDC also hosts a variety of different awards shows. Some of the arads shows displayed at GDC include the Spotlight Awards, Independent Game Festival and the Game Developers Choice Awards. The Game Developers Conference also hosts the Game Design Challenge. Created by Eric Zimmerman, the Game Design Challenge was set up to give everybody an idea of the process behind game design, and to attempt to get everyone thinking about new kinds of games. The goal is not to build a game, just design one. Zimmerman has a specific guideline for each challenge. The second one was to design a game based on Emily Dickinson, which was won by Will Wright, the third was to design a game worthy of the Nobel Prize, which was won by Harvey Smith.

Each year the Game Developers Conference is held in California. The past few years it has been in San Fransisco and apparently will remain there. Every year, GD has a variety of special events and speakers. Special events this year include a deeper look into the developmental approach to directing the camera in the widley popular Prince of Persia video game by Jonathon Bard of Ubisoft Montreal and a look at the Art tools and techniques of Killzone 2 by Jan Bart van Beek of Guerilla Games. Industry representatives will also be happy to see Keynote speakers Kideo Kojima, head of Kojima Productions, with “Solid Game Design: Making the ‘Impossible’ Possible” and Satoru Iwata, President of Nintendo, with “Discovering New Development Opportunities”.

The Game Developers Conference is the largest, most popular, and most important industry event of the year. With many different events, award shows, presentations, and keynote speakers, GDC is definitley the must attend event for any game developer or industry representative.

written by: Zack Duncan

Logitech G-series G19 Gaming Keyboard

Earlier in the year Logitech announced its new line of products at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show.This included its new line of gaming peripherals including the next-generation G-series keyboard simply entitled the G19. The new G19 was designed to provide gamers with a high performance, highly featured computer, peripheral that could help them improve their gaming skills. The G19 is an LCD gaming keyboard which features 12 different programmable keys with 3 macros per key. It also has light up keys which seem to be a necessity for gamers these days. A very cool feature is a 320×240 min-display that will provide gamers with in-game statistics among other details that could give a gamer an extra advantage over the competition. It works with over 60 different games including the addictive and widely popular World of Warcraft. The screen can also sho pictures, video, void data, and computer details. The keyboard also includes details on VoIP Caller ID, video playback, or image sideshows without requiring the gamer to exit his playthrough.

Along with this keyboard, Logitech is also releasing the G35 surround sound headset and the G9x Laser Mouse. The Logitech G19 is the premier in PC gaming technology. It’s features are enough to make any gamer start drooling. Now this keyboard is not on the market yet. It is expected to come out later this spring, sometime in March. However, Amazon.com has now listed the G19 on its pre-order list. This amazing keyboard will not come cheap though. The G19 sports a hefty price tag of $199.99. However, if you are interested in the G19 keyboard, the G35 surround sound headset, and the G13 advanced gameboard as a package deal for $400 which is pretty hefty for most but is worth it if you spend most of your time destroying people online. But if you think about it, the G19, with its 12 programmable keys, 320×240 min screen and all its other features is well worth the $200 price tag it displays. If you are a hard core PC gamer and you want the latest in gaming technology and a step up on the competition, then you will definitley want to check out the Logitech G-series G19 Gaming Keyboard.

written by: Zack Duncan