Posts by Erratic

  • The elephant in the room - Kane & Lynch reviews :D

    Quote from ^Slick

    PCGamer UK gave Kane and Lynch a great 60%. Wewt @ PCGamer UK - calling it how it is.

    Along with the rest of the media pretty much.

    Game scores really need to die, and fast. They just seem to satisfy the aggregate sites and the impatient at this point. They used to be fun, back when they didn't appear to have too much of an impact on a game. I remember reading through old PC Gamers and not running for the hills screaming when a game got a 70%. I just bought stuff cause I knew what developer it was coming from or a friend recommended it. Or if it simply looked cool.

    Sure, I was probably less informed back then, but I don't recall being let down anymore than I am these days with game purchases. If anything, I agree with games being too overhyped.

    Just seems like too much depends on, what is after all, a single person's opinion. These Guys seem to be the few with their head in the right place. But, you might actually have to, y'know, read, to take in any of their content. And I don't think publishers want anyone having to read to find out if their game is worth a purchase. God forbid there be any sort of mixed reaction.

    Grr, hate review scores :ssj:

    *this wasn't directed at you Slick, just the first part

  • HL2 sdk update tomorrow morning

    Brothers in Arms looked like it was coming along in a direction pretty far off from the 'usual' look of the UE3 games being developed. It seems like it's just a case of licensees building certain types of games on the tech than another. Also, checking out the

    wiki list, Army of Two and Medal of Honor looked to do alright with a different aesthetic as well...

    A lot of it depends on how much work the developer does to the engine as well, I imagine. But I suppose there are certain thing's inherent to the technology that may lend itself towards a certain look, like how lighting is setup/calculated for a level or what kinds of post processing affects it seems to exploit the most.

    But I do agree there is a tendency for most every engine to carry with it a certain look, regardless of the developer behind it.

    And more so than just a similar visual design, like bulky characters and exaggerated environments.

    Take HL2 and Dark Messiah. Two totally different games visually, yet you still get that Source engine look from DM. I guess the question would be could the average gamer pick out these similarities, rather than people who have screwed around with the technology a bit? They may not see these similarities because they don't know that brushes are the basic means of construction between both games, and that brushes tend to provide more angular shaped geometry. Or that UT and Gears use mostly imported geometry, which tends to be a bit more high poly/rounded/detailed/whatever because that process is best for that kind of stuff.

    I mean, how many gamers can pick out that 'displacement map look' from the Source engine games?

    [edit]sorry for the edits[/edit]

  • Hitman movie

    Quote from dux

    Yeah? I guess after every possible game movie concept has been exhausted they will finally realize making games to movies is a suck idea. They're never good! I thought the trailer was shite.

    Silent Hill was alright, but just very average. They may have closely matched the visuals but seemed to really kill the tone and subtlety that made the series so good.

    I doubt I'll see Hitman.

  • Mass Effect

    I've really tried to like the Bioware RPG's of the past (NWN & KOTOR mainly) and can never bring myself to play for more than a couple hours. Mass Effect looks really impressive, I just fear it'll have the same affect on me as the others.

  • Mario Galaxy...

    The most impressive thing is its simplicity, I think. They've managed to pull back from some of the complexities of of Mario Sunshine and still make the game feel like something more.

    46/120 Stars and counting

  • Blending textures of different sizes in Source

    I can't remember if this was possible but I think I recall someone on the INS team doing this (or at least discussion of it; Bluestrike I'm looking your way ).

    Is it possible to blend two textures of different dimensions in Source (1024x1024 with --> 2048x1024) without having one texture stretch or shrink based on the size of the other?

  • Dreaded Fist banned by hitler

    Quote from Dreaded Fist

    It's mac, from the legendary 90 minute mcdonalds commercial "mac and me". It's a horrendously horrible movie and I love it. Youtube search it to see the best scene in the movie that involes a kid, a wheelchair, and a several hundred foot drop!

    Don't forget that the Aliens drank Coke out of the ground as it is there home planets naturally occurring beverage.