Everyone wants to be wanted

I love Retribution:

RvB POS bash

Someone drops a player-owned station in RvB's AOE. RvB declares war on the POS owner's corp. RVB fleets up and shoots the POS 'til it's dead. Unfortunately, no war targets wandered through that particular region of space just then.

It's more fun than it sounds. But, I wouldn't want to be doing this all day in 0.0.

BTW:  I did 463,749 points of damage in my Coercer ... but that was only 0.79% of the station's total HP.

(Click to enlarge image.)

For the love of god, stop shooting

This is what panic does to you.

A member of RvB-Blue lost this monster during a "kitchen sink" weekend. He undocked, he aggressed, and for some reason, he stayed aggressed when a Red fleet of 20+ ships landed on him. He could have turned off his guns, and docked after 60 seconds. But he didn't. Depending on whether you go by the kill board or the in-game kill mail (I have no idea why they're different), that's 330 to 430 million down the tubes.

My ship only shaved 1.16% off his 180,044 EHP, but my ship costs less than of one of his guns.

Kill (yourself)

This is the ship's kill mail. This is the pod's. Taken together, that's almost 65 billion Isk. From the  information available about the "battle," the pilot was AFK in a 0.0 system. He didn't move, he wasn't aligned, he never fired, and he never launched his drones.

I put the fitting and the pod into Pyfa. Including drones and implants:

DPS = 1679

Volley = 6860

EHP = 132,000

Of course, those numbers assume the ship has a pilot.

Oh, and by the way: one of those guns costs more than a Vindicator.

A review of a game

Before you read the rest of this post, go read John Walker's review of Medal of Honor: Warfighter at Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Note that the review only deals with the single player mode.

The review is exactly what you'd expect from a guy that didn't want to play the game in the first place (and with good reason). The lack of enthusiasm is understandable. Electronic Arts has long been obsessed with knocking Activision from atop its modern military shooter throne, to the point that it reflexively grafts single player appendages onto otherwise fully-functional multiplayer bodies. In the race to the bottom of the modern warfare abyss, EA just can't help itself. Committing finite resources away from the core competencies of Battlefield -- and the rebooted MoH -- has become a habit.

This is not, however, a reversal of the "tacked-on multiplayer" trend of years past. The path that Call of Duty has blazed demands an EPIC single player campaign, full of showy explosions and toppled buildings, overwrought dialogue and oppressively scripted game play. There's nothing tacked-on about it. It requires a massive investment of money and developer time to produce those five or six hours of single player drudgery. 

Welcome to Medal of Honor: Warfighter.

The reviews have been unkind: MoH:W's metascore is sitting at an abysmal 55 as of this writing. Given that the publisher declined to distribute review copies until mere hours before the game was released, EA may have known that the single player was garbage. Maybe it realized -- just a bit too late -- that the format has atrophied. Or, the delay might have had something to do with the massive day one patch. Either way, the decision was clearly a defensive one. 

EA has taken too long to realize that its shooters aren't just competing with Call of Duty. Rather, both Battlefield and CoD are threatened by every new game that doesn't seek to reprise the modern military shooter formula. There are a lot of them out there. It started, perhaps, with the asymmetric multiplayer of L4D, and games like Borderlands, Portal, Metro 2033, and Dishonored have carried the banner of the truly original IP to ascendancy. Maybe, just maybe, EA's business model of chasing the money is finally backfiring.

We can hope.

Natural Selection 2 is here

It's all good to go, folks... Launch happened yesterday. I pre-ordered this game over 5 years ago, and it was worth the wait.

Think Starcraft or Warcraft (1 2 or 3) where the minions and units are all real people.  Aliens versus marines in a fight over a mining colony.

As the aliens take over the map, their biological "infestation" begins to cover the walls and floors.  The marines must fight this back, along with the aliens, to be able to control resource nodes needed for researching and creating weapons and equipment.

Play as a marine with options for jetpack and exosuits, and weapons from MG, shotgun, grenade launcher and flamethrower.  Play as alien and be a "skulk" that can climb on walls and ceilings, leaps and bites, a "lerk" who flies and bites, and shoots spikes or poison gas, a "fade" who kind of teleports or phasewalks and slashes, an "Onos" which is the giant rhino and can stomp the ground knocking over nearby marines or the "Gorge" who builds and heals, and has a spit that erodes marine structures.

Then there's the commander for each team who gets a top-down view, decides the research path to use and provides orders and support to the team.

This one's for Stinky:

http://www.ragecry.com/images/102153/a-dea-officer-stopped-at-our-farm-yesterday/

First Borderlands 2 DLC

It's called "Captain Scarlett," and it will be available for ten bucks on October 16.

Details are few, aside from a new vehicle dubbed the "Sand Skiff."

PLEX spiking

I thought I was being clever speculating on PLEX about a month ago. I should have waited another month:

I would have made another 37.5% profit if I had held on to my stock until today. At this rate (it won't last, but in theory), one PLEX will get you a billion Isk in the December.

Quoth the Raven ...

... nevermore.

It has never been my mission in Eve to suicide gank anything.  But when a Caldari Navy Raven is just sitting idle on a gate in your home system, what are you going to do?

Answer: fleet up with a dozen arty Thrashers, a Tornado, a Hurricane, and assorted hangers-on, and whore your way onto a kill mail.  That's what.

And you do it in a Condor:

http://rvbeve.com/red/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=319346

Nuff said:

First solo kill

ATRON vs. KESTREL

(I was the Kessie.)

I didn't even know that I'd been targeted until I started taking damage. He was a hell of a lot faster than me (3700 vs. 2456 m/s), and that's what killed him. He had no tank, 46 less DPS, and no tank, and he flew right up my tailpipe.  

It was a no-skill kill ... and I'll take it.

And yes:  his buddy killed me 10 seconds later.

Can't wait to get home to Borderlands 2?

Then play the prequel in your browser from work!

Next: Minmatar Destroyer

Tier 2 Caldari Destroyer

Swoon.



Coming this winter.

Red vs. Blue: "Kitchen Sink"

RvB fleets usually field cruisers, destroyers, and frigates, and mid-slot ECM is not allowed.  

Except when the weekend theme is Kitchen Sink:

I kited my way onto a couple of killmails, then escaped when something melted my shields. We were out-shipped pretty badly, but it was still the most fun I've had in Eve thus far. 

In fact, I'm still shaking.

Early Borderlands 2 review (IGN)

Read it here.

Black Mesa has arrived

You thought it would never happen.

RvB GANKED!

No, it's not a battle report.  

"Ganked" is a regularly-scheduled event sponsored by Red vs. Blue, open to everyone (even war targets) that wants to die hilariously in null sec. If you're interested in some background, check out this article on TheMittani.com. If you're interested in participating, the CTA is here.

This particular Ganked roam will honor the memory of Sean Smith/Vile Rat, an Eve luminary who lost his life in Libya a few days ago.

Integrating EVE

I've added two widgets to the sidebar on the right.  The first is a list of the Eve blogs I read on a daily basis. The second is a series of links to Eve news and information sites. The search bar is now at the bottom of the screen (be aware: Blogger's search functionality still blows). Also note that I've pared-down the general "Gaming News" list, as it was getting a bit unwieldy.  

Now I just need to start posting more often.

Ubisoft's DRM future: one-time activation

That's the word from John Walker at Rock, Paper, Shotgun, the man that finally got this interview with two very uncomfortable people from Ubisoft.  Here's the quote:

We have listened to feedback, and since June last year our policy for all of PC games is that we only require a one-time online activation when you first install the game, and from then you are free to play the game offline.

The rest of the interview really isn't worth reading, as it's mostly a series of very good questions followed by sanitized corp-speak.*  But, the news is still good, and credit is due to Ubi for finally taking the path of sanity (at least for now).

Ubisoft has been on my "do not buy" list for about two years now.  That blacklisting mostly came from their DRM policies, and the abysmally stupid public statements Yves Guillemot and others have made about DRM and piracy (as recently as late august of this year).  I can't say yet whether this news changes my stance towards the company, but it does give me something to think about.

I suppose I'm ready to forgive them for Splinter Cell: Conviction, at least.

_______________

* To be fair, Ubi has been living a PR nightmare for a long time now. I can hardly blame them for being over-cautious.

Scout v. Witch

The loveliness of Source Filmmaker:

So, yeah ...

... I did something today:

http://rvbeve.com/red/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=296541

At 60 km, I was way outside the range of his guns.  Took him to about half armor, then the rest of the fleet showed up, pointed and webbed.  He popped, and I called it a night.

For my first night out in a Drake, I'll take it.  The sun shines even on a dog's ass once in a while.

Ludicrous speed ... GO!

I thought I was a badass getting my Condor up to 5km/s.  Nope:

Eve Online Ice Price Tank

Remember when I said that the new Eve Online patch was going to cause market prices to tank on minerals?  Well that didn't quite happen - but only because I didn't realize that the real miners only mine ice.  The change was that with the huge ore holds on the Mack and Retriever, you can set up to mine and walk away.  No need for a Hulk and a transport alt character in order to do your high-yield mining.    Today I literally went to an ice field with my retriever, clicked to start mining and came back later to have 26 chunks of ice in my hold.  Those 26 would have sold for close to $300k isk a month ago, now will go for around $120k due to the market saturation. Check out this graph to see what I mean about the price of ice.  The component materials it refines into have seen a similar drop in value but not quite as severe:

Borderlands 2 GeForce GTX PhysX Trailer

Let's just say the difference is noticeable:

Come and Get Me

Pandora's new head honcho Handsome Jack explains how fruitless your quests will ultimately be.

Team Fortress 2 co-op

You read that right.

It's called Mann vs. Machine, and it's coming tomorrow:



General (nuts) details here, and more specific (bat shit crazy) details here.

Borderlands 2 trailer

Love at first blight.

War in Delve

Finally. We can put aside all the cartel bullsh*t and watch a real war occur. I hope it lasts for a while.

It looks like the main players are:

Pandemic Legion + TEST + Clusterf*** (has Goons)

.....versus 

Nulli Secunda + Against All Authorites + SOCO + Raiden + Solar,

with additional allies and mercs being recruited by the minute.

Here's the Goon call to arms:

"We – and 'We' means 'Everyone' – are going to Delve, and it will burn. No mercy, no respite, no 'freeports', just brutal conquest – conquest which will not stop until this threat to our bloc is extinguished. If that means that we must set all of Catch on fire to remind this ex-NC, ex-IT, ex-BoB excrement of their proper place in the universe, so be it." – The Mittani

And here's the first propaganda vid:

Unity 3 to Support Linux

We may just be seeing the beginning of a perfect storm.  Unity 3 Game Engine will be supporting Linux:

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2012/06/unity3d-4-will-be-the-first-mass-market-games-engine-to-support-linux

I had no idea

But this seems pretty serious:

http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/spectrum-crunch

Diablo III account hacks

If you haven't heard already, all the information you need is in this one sentence from RPS:

And so: hackers! Diablo III's official forums are currently rife with tales of items and gold going missing and characters even being hijacked wholesale. 

Yay! for always-online DRM as a "security measure."

You know who this is for

You know who this is for...

W*A*R*N*I*N*G

http://www.howtogeek.com/114037/researchers-prove-tin-foil-hats-boost-receptivity-to-government-signals/

My New Wallpaper

My new wallpaper: http://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=143009  I didn't make it, but that's an awesome site it's posted on!

The Epic Game From The Epic Studio on Epic Street

No Elves.

Evochron Mercenary Review

Evochron Mercenary is a pleasant surprise, but it isn't without it's faults.

Essentially the game is an offline or friends-only (up to 32 players) version of Eve - but it's not. Your missions and the majority of other ships that you will interact with are handled by NPC's. Player vs Player combat is allowed and you can even group up into "clans" and battle it out at will.

Space is endless. No "jump gates" required to get from one "room" to the next, you can simply fly there if so inclined. I've not ventured out beyond the starting system yet, but that's what others have stated.

The first thing you'll notice is the 15 minutes of tutorial audio "missions" you can optionally do before jumping into the game. I recommend them. Since both average piloting and combat is handled from a first-person cockpit view it's much more difficult to play than simply point and click Eve. There's almost as many controls to bind as there are keys and I find myself wanting to write a cheat sheet or program multiple sets of buttons on my gaming keyboard.

I say it's first-person and it really is best played that way but it does offer a third person view as well so you can see your own ship.

Ship customizing goes above and beyond anything seen in similar games. Not only can you pick the superframe, but you pick your wings, engines, cargo hold, etc. within the limits of what the superframe can hold. You can even go a step further and configure not only the position but the XYZ size of each of those components. Don't want engines in the traditional rear of your ship? Stick them out on one of the wingtips and stretch them out long for a sleek racing look. Want a fat belly on your ship? Expand the cargo hold diameter.

I chose a mining / cargo track for starters to get familiar with flying so my missions have been pretty minor. So far I've mined diamonds from asteroids, oxygen from a planet's atmosphere and water from lakes. In addition to spaceports you can also land on planetary bases or even just do flyby's and use your tractor beam to suck water off the planet's surface to transport and sell elsewhere. There's a complete commerce and merchant system similar to an MMO.

There's a free server to download (Winblows only, but I'm going to see if it will run in Wine) and they say with a higher end server and a good Internet connection you can have up to 32 players connected to the same server. There's also a resource editor tool if you want to replace textures or audio files with your own.

Things you do in single player carry over into multi-player and vice-versa, so developing your character and building an awesome ship in single player is useful for group combat as well. Got a mission that's too tough to do alone? You can join a server and ask for help!

On the down side, the learning curve is pretty darn steep. I ended up Googling a few things like how to find a waypoint on your map for a mission. Turns out your auto pilot automatically locks onto them, just activate it. The tutorial helps but is long and rather dry. I lost interest in it quickly. I also found it much too easy to die due to silly things. For instance, F1 opens the map. F3 opens your cargo hold inventory screen. F2 initiates jump drive. Don't hit F2 when mining an asteroid and trying to open your cargo hold - jumping through an asteroid really doesn't do well for the complexion, unless you like explosive orange. F6 sets your weapon fire mode, but F7 self destructs. I unbound self-destruct and bound jump to F7 after the third time I jumped headfirst into something accidentally.

The autopilot also doesn't seem to mind if there's something between you and the destination. Like a planet. You have to make sure you're clear of nearby obstacles before initiating autopilot. Tick off 2 more deaths due to that. Entering the atmosphere at more than 1000 meters per second is also a bad idea as you tend to pop like a fire cracker. Check off 2 more deaths.

The graphics are not bad, especially considering the game is about 300 MB. The nebula backdrops are gorgeous, but the cockpit framing aliases a bit for me.

All in all I found it well worth the money, even if I just play it single player mode. It scratches the "Eve Online" itch without all the crap that goes along with Eve. I still haven't connected to any servers, but I only played for a couple of hours.

I Know Some of You are Gun Aficionados

No, it's not a 3D render. It's a real double-barrel .45 cal pistol.

"In other words, it was about 4000 grains of payload sent downrange in about five seconds."

"Contagion" alpha gameplay trailer

Indie title by a team of Source modders (Zombie Panic: Source) gone pro.

ME3 Day One (Addendum)

+ I want to ass-punch every member of the Council. STFU noobs.

+ The Alliance "retrofitted" the Normandy. That means they added a few new rooms, and broke most of the light bulbs. It's dank.

+ Big surprise with EDI. I did not see that coming.

Battlefield 3 Flashlight Unlock

ME3 - Day One

I've decided to blog my experience with ME3 day-by-day. It's a long game, so a review -- coming only at the end -- would exclude too much "present sense impression" material. Conversely, a single "first impressions" post would prevent me from tracking changes in my thinking about the game over time. For whatever reason, I'm guessing that will be an important thing to do.

I will make no effort at either structure or chronology in these posts. Expect a series of lists.

So, Day One:

+ The intro is rather terse. The Reapers are finally here to bring the genocide, and Shep-messiah is let off the leash.

+ The first thing I notice: everybody has bigger boobs.

+ The tutorial mission is also brief, and apart from some rolling and jumping stuff, the blunt force trauma lesson is this: people are going to die.

+ Anderson is still the most likable guy in the galaxy.

+ Ashley, despite the boob job and the hairdo, is more masculine this time around. And she's still two mental leaps behind everybody else.

+ The FOV appears to be locked between 65 and 70 degrees. The result is claustrophbic and somewhat disorienting at times. There must be a way to change it.

+ New skill system: like. New inventory/upgrade system: do not like.

+ Combat is balls, as usual. I knew that was coming, so I'm playing the game on "tell me a story" difficulty. I've been standing out in the open for the most part, and my shields haven't gone down yet. I may have to rethink that choice.

+ I'm already regretting choosing the Infiltrator class. Combat is faster than it was in the previous games, and there's a lot more CQC. Should have been a Vanguard.

+ Voice acting is a mixed bag, but still stronger than most games. The pauses between lines, though small, are becoming more noticeable.

+ This game has some incredible vistas ... if you happen to see them. Restricted FOV fail.

+ As expected, the first encounter with the Illusive Man borders on parody. He's already well into the transition from enigmatic mastermind to obtuse megalomaniac.

+ All our hopes rest on an uber-machine. I can already see a "Contact" -like scenario developing.

+ The first romance dilemma comes early and abruptly, and ends up being rather wooden. Meh.

+ Garrus is still a more witty -- and more Turian -- version of Anderson. Good character.

+ Udina is much more of a bro this time around. Good move.

+ The pacing feels slow thus far. Millions of little Earthlings are being slaughtered as I stand around bullshitting with various minor players, but I feel no sense of urgency.

I have ME3...

...because I have to see how it ends.

I bought the game because I wanted closure, which should be enough of an endorsement for any fan of Mass Effect. But -- and this is a huge but -- there are so many ways Bioware could get it wrong. I've never bought a game that I expected to disappoint me before, but that $60 is gone now.

I have been at war with myself these last few months, because of the publisher, because of the DLC, and because I don't believe Bioware when they say that the multiplayer (nothing more than a honey pot for yet another microtransaction market) won't impact the singleplayer.

Will closure be enough? I'm about to find out.

Gamer Girl...

The "Steam Box" Rumor

I honestly don't know what to make of this:

Exclusive: Valve said to be working on 'Steam Box' gaming console with partners, could announce at GDC (by Joshua Topolsky at theverge.com)

Here's the gist:

Recently there's been chatter that Valve — the company behind the massively popular gaming service Steam — has been considering getting into the hardware business. Specifically, there have been rumors that the company has been toying with the idea of creating a proper set-top console which could potentially pose a threat to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Valve co-founder Gabe Newell even recently told Penny Arcade: "Well, if we have to sell hardware we will." 

At a glance that would simply be interesting fodder for a gaming forum debate, but we've uncovered information that suggests that not only has Valve been secretly working on gaming hardware for the living room, but that the company is actively pursuing a strategy which would place Steam at the center of an open gaming universe that mirrors what Google has done with Android. 

On the hardware:

Apparently meetings were held during CES to demo a hand-built version of the device to potential partners. We're told that the basic specs of the Steam Box include a Core i7 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA GPU. The devices will be able to run any standard PC titles, and will also allow for rival gaming services (like EA's Origin) to be loaded up. 

Part of the goal of establishing a baseline for hardware, we're told, is that it will give developers a clear lifecycle for their products, with changes possibly coming every three to four years. Additionally, there won't be a required devkit, and there will be no licensing fees to create software for the platform.

What it might mean:

Gaming consoles -- and the forthcoming Apple TV product line -- are closed platforms. The GabeCube would be something else entirely: a PC-grade, upgradable hardware layout with a console form factor, designed for the living room. Only an internet connection and a (free) Steam account required to play PC games. A PC-grade OS (wouldn't Windows be required for DirectX?), with PC-grade media and internet functionality. Most importantly: a baseline hardware and driver standard for the development of PC games. 

What it doesn't mean:

That any of this is real. I am enormously skeptical that even Valve has the money to subsidize the production costs of such a system. And seriously, how the hell would you get OEM Windows on the thing?

Operation Explosion Canonz

How to almost play Skyrim without killing anything. Total kills? Two. One undead, one dragon. Expert difficulty, and a lot of near-naked townsfolk.

My First Skyrim Mod

That's where I've been the past two nights is conjuring up my Mage's tower. I still have some interior decorating I want to do yet, and I haven't figured out how to make a working bookshelf yet. Otherwise it's good to go.

This mod will provide CyberMage's Tower just east and across the river from WhiteRun. It will add a fast-travel location to your map. Since I'm a fan of fast travel, from inside the tower (except the basement) you can fast-travel to other map locations despite being indoors.

Inside the tower is a forge, workbench, grinder, tanner, enchanter, alchemy workbench and shrine. Mostly for convenience. Also are 9 weapon racks, three mannequins and several chests and sacks. All containers (except two upstairs, see the journal on the upstairs table) are flagged to NOT respawn items, so it's safe to store items in them.

There are two "game-changer" things about it you should know. If you don't want to "cheat" then don't use them. In the upstairs bedroom are two respawning sacks filled with ingredients for a restore+fortify health. Also upstairs is a drastically overpowered dagger on the weapon rack.

Download it here:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/17380416/MagesTower.esp

From the empty wine bottles in the basement you can tell that Messiah has been there. And Stinky really shouldn't go in the basement. It's dangerous for him. ;-) And Blake gets three large noble style bookcases for his book collection.

Natural Selection 2 Releases "Onos"

The "Onos" is the giant rhino-like alien. And by Giant I do mean Giant... there's a lot of map locations it doesn't fit. And talk about armor! You get a good glimpse of a pissed-off Onos doing a stomp move at 1:48. The stomp causes infantry on the ground to stumble and freeze.

That was the patch I downloaded last night. I haven't played it yet, though.

Keep in mind this is not like any other FPS you've played. This is essentially Command and Conquer with real people instead of bots, so each team gets a strategic commander who sees a top-down view of the gameplay and delves out resources. If it has one flaw, it's that it is too ambitious.

Skyrim Creation Kit Out This Tuesday

https://twitter.com/#!/DCDeacon/status/165536529895272449

"For our Skyrim PC fans, the Creation Kit is on track for release on Tuesday. And, we also have a special surprise with it. "

Scum and Villainy

From Kotaku: Hackers Brag That They’re Banning Innocent Battlefield 3 Users

The people at the game-hacking site Artificial Aiming can't stand the anti-cheat service Punkbuster. One of their members is going on the offensive today—aggressively. 

One junior member says he and his anonymous hacking team are banning innocent Battlefield 3 users—"framing" them, as they put it—to show their disdain for Punkbuster, a service that PC players of the popular first-person shooter are compelled to install when they start the game. 

The hackers have narrowed their target to Battlefield 3 users who are playing on servers that are tied into the cheat-detecting service GGC-Stream. 

"We are bringing back the unerring of punkbuster back for a 3rd season," Artificial Aiming user anonpbspoofer boasted in a forum post yesterday. 

"We have selected ggc-stream as the target since they have the most streaming bf3 servers and makes it very easy to add fake bans. In 2011 we hit them with a mass ban wave and now were are banning real players from battlelog while ggc-stream is totally unaware. We have framed 150+ bf3 players alone."

I hate people.

Posted by Stinky in TS

I'm a bit worried about Stinky after what he put in Teamspeak chat tonight:

<19:43:32>
"Stinky Sack": I'm f*ing POSSIBLE hard on, I'm horny giant Viagron, Coz my precious adviser Is a boner pill by Pfizer!

Skyrim in Real Life

The Adventures of Joe the Mammoth - Chapter 1

Joe the Mammoth is the true Dragonborn. No one saw that coming.

Here begin the chronicles of his journey through Skyrim...

Part 1:  Joe arrives in Skyrim

d00d playz too much shooterz

Favorite comment in the youtube page: "I used to be an epic gamer like him until I took an arrow to the knee."