Update Schmupdate

So I haven’t posted in the last few days, which is a long time for the interwebz. It’s due to a combination of things, mainly the fact that I have exams starting in a few weeks that I’ve been revising for. Also I’ve been spending most my comp time buried up to my neck in Source Recorder tutorials and unplayable demo files, worrying about framerates and other geeky stuff like that (more of that later).

This isn’t a post that has anything to say really, just that once my exams are over I’ll be back on form. Stuff I’ve got coming includes reviews of the Synergy and Jailbreak mods for Half-Life 2; in fact I’m thinking of making mod reviews a regular feature on here (not at all an idea stolen from Chris Livingston’s “The Demoman”). Since mods are always in development, I’ll keep track of a few at a time and post any interesting changes up here. Any potential title ideas? By the way, I’d appreciate any help people want to give in terms of playing the mods with me, especially Synergy as it’s all about co-op.

Something else interesting I found the other day is FakeFactory & Ogg’s High Resolution Pack for Half-Life 2. It replaces most of the textures in-game to higher resolution versions, that actually make it look a lot better. For a free little package it adds a surprising amount to the game, for one thing the incentive to go back and replay it and be reminded of it’s amazingness. Only minor gripe I have is that the new texture changes the faces of some of the characters. Of course, that’s the point, kinda, and most look similar enough to not be annoying. With any other game this wouldn’t be a problem in the slightest, but in Half-Life 2, a game whose characters have such expressive facial animation and developed personalities that you genuinely feel a connection to them, it’s a little unsettling. That’s all.

Old and new Barney comparison:

Ok, so they really aren’t that different. Whatever.

On a side note, the new Vortigaunt skin textures are lovely:

Moving on, I’m in the process of creating a video for my squad CP-Phoenix. It initially was going to be just footage from one scrimmage back in April, us vs “1337 a55 pwnrz” (stupid name I know, we whupped them thoroughly), but I’ve decided to take footage from any forthcoming scrims and stick it together to showcase the squad’s MAD SKILLZORS. Ahem.

I’ve been getting frustrated by the fact that whenever TF2 updates the old demo files become unplayable, and as such I can’t capture any footage from them. It’s kind of learning experience though because I’ve had to learn the ins and outs of demos, and how to use source recorder and VirtualDub, not to mention a chance to get to grips with my new editing software. The video should be finished some time between now and death, and of course I’ll post up here about it, as well as on the Control Point forums. Believe me, I’ll want to pimp it out as much as possible

That’s about it for now. If this blog interests you then the only sensible thing to do is keep hitting f5 over and over and over and over and over and over again until I update. You know it makes sense.

McSpaced and all that

As you may have heard, there been a bit of a hoo-ha over the American remake of Spaced.

For those of you who don’t know the context I’ll fill you in: Spaced was a sitcom that appeared on Channel 4 in 1999 and 2001. It was written by and starred Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson (now Hynes) and was directed by Edgar Wright, who went on to make Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz with Simon and Nick Frost (also a cast member). I could wax on for hours about it’s influence on modern sitcoms, it’s hilarious and wonderful characters, it’s superb direction… but I won’t. It’s just very, very good. Watch it. I’m serious.

Anyway, plans were made a while back to remake the programme in the US. This is saddening, not to mention pointless, but not actually surprising. Spaced is so good that it was only a matter of time before someone saw it’s potential to be put through the wringer, altered beyond recognition and prostituted to Americans in fruitless attempt to recreate the magic of the original.

It has been appropriately nickednamed McSpaced by the internet.

The fuss that’s being made is due to the fact that none, I repeat, none of the original production members were contacted for their input, approval or even thoughts on the project. They were not aware of it until it was annouced to the public. Of course, it wasn’t strictly necessary. Not strictly. The rights were not owned by Edgar, Jessica or Simon, of course. It’s just common courtesy.

Basically, Simon Pegg wrote a big post about it on his fansite, ad he can express what’s going on much more eloquently that I, so I’ll just copy/paste it here:

I had hoped I would only have to do this once. Despite, feeling extremely disgruntled by the whole affair, I never wanted the issue of the Spaced remake to turn into a public slanging match. I intended my original statement to be a definitive outline of my position on the whole thing. I have hardly mentioned it publicly since, with the exception of a few interviews during my Run Fat Boy Run press when I was drawn into discussing the subject, most notably on EW.Com. These few occasions are negligible compared to the amount of times I have deflected the issue toward my original comments. The Observer Newspaper in the UK chased me for an interview which I did not give. They ran the article anyway, using passages from my statement, in lieu of exclusive content. However after comments made on Hollywood Deadline by someone who may or may not have been Robert Green from Granada USA, I feel I should respond to the criticism leveled at me personally, as an emitter of “bullshit”. The post insists that we have been repeatedly “reached out” to and have petulantly rebuffed their attempts at communication like spoilt children. For the record these attempts to reach out were only ever made after the announcement in the trades and indeed after production had started on the pilot episode. That we are being blasted for not accepting these attempts at communication so long after the damage had been done is ludicrous. I don’t think I can put it better than Sarah, a poster over on the Hollywood Deadline talk back.

“Green’s comments are akin to taking a shit on someone’s doorstep,
then getting all hurt and aggressive because the owner of the house not
only complains but also doesn’t help clean up the mess.“

The incredibly offensive insinuation that those who have expressed their sympathy and concern are cum gargling “idiots” represents extraordinarily misguided aggression by the the poster, whether it be Robert Green or not. The internet, with the establishing of Spaced-Out.org.uk and latterly Peggster.net, Frostitution.net, Edgarwright.co.uk, Jessicahynes.co.uk and others, have been largely responsible for bringing together a huge international community of Spaced fans, many of them in areas where the show isn’t even available on domestic DVD. The defensive response to this situation has been amazing. At best it has been hugely empathetic, light hearted and heartfelt, at worst it has engendered unseemly anti-Americanism, from narrow minded people who equate US television with poor quality, inexplicably failing to recognize the sheer historical weight of outstanding American televisual output, which I for one, consume avidly and with a sloppy chin. Despite the latter’s unwelcome presence in our corner, the support from you “website idiots” has been extremely touching, to say the least.

Edgar has had a conversation with McG. I have phoned him a few times and to be fair, he has returned my calls, but after missing each other several times and the ball once again in my court, the wind has somewhat disappeared from my sails. I’m not sure what I have to say or indeed what can be said at this stage. The fact is, the Spaced remake went into production without our knowledge and that was upsetting. It is as simple as that. Now we are being criticized by the perpetrators of that upset for expressing regret. Even now, there has been no apology, only excuses.

This issue has only ever been about courtesy, never about money or credit. Also, how can anyone claim that Spaced is something we want left in the past, when we have spent the last few years trying to secure the release of the DVD in North America, Canada and other territories and the last few months compiling new artwork and commentaries to give the release some extra Spaced specialness. Also, despite time and circumstance conspiring against us, we have never categorically ruled out the possibility of more. Tim, Daisy, Mike, Brian, Twist, Marsha and Colin all have destinies locked in mine and Jess’s collective grey matter, who’s to say they won’t some day be played out.

If you’ve skipped to the end, here’s the simple summation. Somebody stamps on your foot then complains when you say ‘ouch’? To adopt a little “website idiot” parlance, WTF?

Simon Pegg

I’ll continue to post up stuff about McSpaced whenever anything happens, and I’ll probably review it when It’s out, if I can watch it on the internet somewhere.

In the meantime, remember: Say No To McSpaced!

You’ve Got To Keep Moving, Boy

So, TF2 was patched. As you probably know. It’s already been discussed on many good blogs.

New medic weapons and achievements, a new map, and most importantly new melee weapon animations. Now you can do a double-handed kukri swing!

I’m not going to copy/paste all the details, but they’re all on the Steam news page for your perusal.

I actually really enjoy Goldrush. It has a Dustbowly quality that appeals to me. And the new achievements are awesome. At first it was possible to unlock them with console commands, but Valve patched that after a few hours. Good thing too, I was getting sick of there being a cacophony of celebration sounds every six seconds.

But Gold Rush, yeah. It is Gold Rush, not Goldrush. I like it. I was especially impressed by how Valve incorporated Ep2’s cinematic physics into the end of the map. When the bomb reaches the end it falls into a pit and explodes, pretty awesomely too.

However most of my post-update playtime was spent grinding for medic achievements, which personally I don’t have a problem with because it actually takes a lot of effort. Not least trying to get people to co-operate. There’s one achievement to heal 10,000 points in one life, and I heard many a groan of anguish as someone was inadvertantly bonesaw’d at 9800.

After about 4/5 hours total play I have the Ubersaw and I feel… meh. I realise that I didn’t want the weapons for their usefulness as much as just fulfilling my completist needs. Which sucks, really, because that’s not the goal. And I am really a completist. I can’t think of a game I’ve played that I haven’t made a concerted effort to reach 100%.

Madlep seems very angry with Valve for making people do achievements to unlock the weapons, and to some extent I agree with him. I’m kind of torn between my desire to unlock everything (I’m glad I don’t own an Xbox 360, or I’d spend all my time getting achievements), and the fact that, as a PC gamer, I’m used to free, no-strings-attached content updates and I don’t appreciate having to make extra effort to get things that should be mine.

The upshot is that even if Valve continue with this achievements for unlocks system, I’ll still keep grinding despite my previous reservations, just because I have a strange need to 100% complete games.

To be honest, I shouldn’t begrduge Valve the props they deserve for this update because a whole lot of work has gone into it, and it’s natural that not everyone will be pleased - that would be impossible. Whenever I have a minor gripe with Valve, I just remind myself that they’re not EA: they do care about their product and it’s community.

So I’ve made up my mind: I like this update. And Valve. And TF2. Obviously.

A little side note: I like the fact that the Ubersaw fills up with team-coloured gunk when you’re ubercharge is charged. A nice touch.

Videogame Name Generator

So I was browsing my bookmarks and came across this. I can’t actually remember how I found it in the first place, but I remembered how much fun it was. It’s a little nondescipt webpage that generates names for video game (as you might expect). It’s strangely moreish, as it provides minor amusement with minimum effort.

Here’s a list of some of the best ones it came up with within minute or five of clicking:

- Tony Hawk’s Quiz Gladiator

- Brain-Damaged Beast Babies

- Drug-Induced Kart Wars

- Obsessive-Compulsive Chicken Stars

- Blasphemous Octopus Palace

- Bewildering Manlove Legends

- Star Trek Wheelchair Choreographer

- Aero Sushi - Hot Pursuit.

The list goes on.

It’s probably old news for a lot of people, but I thought I’d post it up anyway.

I’m off to play Blasphemous Octopus Palace.

EDIT: Oh, the best one yet: Everyone Loves The Horse Racing Expert.

New Spaced Doovde

Edgar Wright announced on his blog the other day that a new Spaced DVD boxset will be coming to North America this July, with new commentaries! Excited! I as a massive spaced fan, I can’t wait for this.

From the blog:

“Patton (Oswalt) just did 3 commentaries with me on Tuesday for the new SPACED DVD - hitting North America this July.

Also featuring on the commentary tracks along with me, Simon and Jessica are Quentin Tarantino, Matt Stone, Kevin Smith, Bill Hader and one Diablo Cody.

That’s some line up.

The new DVD will feature all 14 episodes with no music changes (!), all the extras from the UK 3 disc set, plus a great video of our NFT SPACED marathon. And new artwork from Jim Murray.”

Ossim.

Never saw Juno, opinions on it? Might be worth a rental I guess.

Only gripe is that it’s Region 1, so I’ll have to import, which makes me a less than joyful bear of the Ailuropoda Melanoleuca persuasion.

Hmmmm, I hope my laptop can play Region 1s. I’ll have to check that.

Anyway, exciting!

One Missed Call

I went to see One Missed Call the other day, so I thought a review would be in order. First one! Yay! So…

Oh man, where to start.

*breaks out thesaurus*

The second worst film I’ve seen this year.

A hackneyed, laughable, shambling mess of a film. Doesn’t so much borrow from Ringu-type films as rape, pillage and fire to the place on the way out. The characters less than one dimensional, the plot elements stilted, the ending so ludicrous it makes you despair.

…

You know what, I can’t even be bothered to waste any energy reviewing this film. I just can’t articulate my digust well enough.

Ok, how about this instead: Punjabi Fury’s film/filmmaker ratings™ out of 10, 10 being the highest.

WARNING! The following are my personal opinions. So just as a disclaimer…

Hehe, I made that in about a second. I made it once, saved it, uploaded and everything, then realised it said “falme.” Aggravation. Anyway…

10 - Some Scorcese. Kubrick. Hitchcock. See, you know they’re good because they’ve earned the right to be referred to by their last names.I’m not just flow-going with, I genuinely think they’re good directors.

-Raging Bull/Taxi Driver? Good.

-2001/Dr Strangelove? Good.

-North by Northwest/Vertigo/Psycho? Good.

See? I also have a soft spot for Edgar Wright. Shaun of the Dead gets 11/10.

Ah, ok back on track:

9 - Sam Raimi (Evil Dead days), The Coen Brothers.

8 - Gus Van Sant, Lasse Hallström.

7 - David Fincher, Luc Besson (I don’t count The Fifth Element).

6 - Quentin Tarantino

5 - The Wachowski Brothers, apart from the first Matrix.

4 - Steven Spielberg. YES I SAID IT.

3 - Michael Bay.

2 - The guys that made Scary Movie.

1 - Uwe Boll.

0 - Whoever made One Missed Call, I don’t even want to know.

That sums it up nicely.

Oh and:

She dies, obviously. And thank God.

And by the way, the worst film I’ve seen this month is 10,000 BC.

Don’t even get me started.

SMOD/WeGame

Just though I post a few lines about SMOD, probably my favourite Half-Life 2 mod. Basically it lets you play through the game with new weapons (like 30 more - no exaggeration), new enemies, and a few gameplay tweaks such as iron sights, bullet time and a melee attack. Download from here

Yes, that is a PSP. That launches explosive UMDs. That gives you some idea of the awesomeness of this mod. There’s not a whole lot to say about it really, obviously the story, game structure, etc is the same as HL2 standard, so SMOD’s really just for messing about with the weapons. Alternatively, it provides a great challenge if you do it properly because of the new enemies. Interesting side note: there’s a command line you can add (it might be default actually…) that makes gibs edible. And give you health. Considering that the gore is hugely increased (you can make ragdolls explode by kicking them), this makes for an interesting distraction.

I stumbled upon the site wegame.com the other day. It’s kind of like a youtube for gamers. The best part is that it comes with free video capture software to record and upload game videos without any extra stuff.

So yeah. I have combined these two things in the form if THIS VIDEO BY ME:

EDIT: Ah, no WeGame embedding allowed, eh WordPress? Not cool. Oh well, the page is here.

Not quite as enjoyable is it? As just having the video embedded. Hmmm. I’ll email them or something asking for WeGame support. They should really, WeGame is about to take off.

Glarglarsnafflepop

This is my first post.

Sooo…

Errr… errrr. Ok… quickquick, topic. Topictopictopic. Errrrr….

OK! How about this:

INSURGENCY: Modern infantry combat.

For those who don’t know, Insurgency is a mod for Half-Life 2. It’s still in beta, but is being publicly tested and can be downloaded here.

In a nutshell it’s a realistic modern-day tactical multiplayer FPS. It is rare among FPS to be set in real places, among current events. Insurgency is set during the Iraq War, and the two teams are the USMC and the Iraqi insurgency. Potentially controversial, no? Yes. They might have well called it Iraq: The Game.

But despite how much I horrified at the developers’ blasé approach to the setting, I am equally impressed by… the developers’ blasé approach to the setting. Let’s put this in perspective. Insurgency is not exactly America’s Army when it comes to political correctness, and there’s no single player campaign filled with flag-waving, terrorist-killing, oorah-spouting marines.

Enough about the politics, though. I’m too tired for it right now. There’s a time for political debate & dicussion, and ten to midnight on wednesday isn’t it. So on to the gameplay:

Insurgency is good. Very good for a mod. Very very good for a mod that’s still in beta. Whenever I find something about it that’s less that good, such as missing animations, I remind myself that it’s still in beta, then remind myself again that it’s also a mod. It’s something that has been developed using an SDK, pretty much from scratch, by a small team in their spare time without being paid. I’m truly impressed that it is so comaprable to similar games out there like Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Call of Duty 4 and Counter-Strike: Source.

And comparable to them it is. It brings the elements that are now a staple of realistic FPSs, iron sights, sprinting, limited HUD, etc. Yet it also manages to add it’s own twist to the basic gameplay that makes teamwork and tactics necessary rather than optional. Each team is made up of two squads, each of which has a designated leader that is marked on the HUD of each squad member. Squads are comprised of classes such as Marksman (Sniper), Rifleman (Assault Rifle), Engineer (Shotgun) and Grenadier (Burst-fire rifle with grenade laucher), and choosing the right mix of classes is essential for success.

The squad mechanic is unique in itself, but Insurgency also brings other aspects to the table. Each team has a limited number of respawns, called reinforcements. Reinforcements are awarded by capturing points, and similar. Once all reinforcements are depleted, no players can respawn, so having an adequate supply of reinforments available is everyone’s business. In addition to reinforcements, each team has a designated Commander. I’m not sure how the Commander is chosen, but it’s probably to do with points (more on that later) or play, time, or something. The Commander has the ability to give specific orders to team members, such as what point to attack, and can also order emergency reinforcements. So far I haven’t found the usefullness of the commands, as they’re nothing that can’t be done via VOIP, but I’m sure they’ll be made useful or removed in future versions.

The maps are pretty solid too. I haven’t had a huge amout of time to properly test all of them, but I will. They’re named after specific Iraq locations such as Haditha and Baghdad, ramming home the realism point every time you load the game.

I’ll post a proper review of it when the mod get a proper release, but until then I highly recommend downloading it if it’s your kind of thing.

I’ll continue to review/discuss HL2 mods in future (SMOD soon!), because some of them are very high quality and worth a look.

Oh by the way, to download Insurgency all you need is a source engine game, so HL2 or CS:S. I don’t know if DoD:S will work.

So that’s the first post over, how did it go?