Mullet with headlights

In case you forgot how much the 80's sucked ... even the stuff you liked:

OK ... I'm interested

First, a tip of the hat to Terminator: Salvation for the very helpful reminder that you can't trust trailers fer shit. That said, the E3 trailer for Pandemic's Saboteur, a WWII stealth game due out this year, has a couple of things going for it. One, the choice of music is outstanding. Two, it has an uncommon competence of style.

And three, I've never, ever seen a glass of whiskey rendered this well:

Out with the new, in with the old

"Govno! Not another sandvich!"

On top of some fixes for the Spy, the latest Team Fortress 2 update restores the previous achievement/milestone system for unlocking the new gear for Spies and Snipers. The random drop system is still in place, but those of us that haven't picked up much of anything so far can get our stuff in the "traditional" way now.

This is good news, as far as I'm concerned. I liked the old system, as it gave me a reason to give a damn about getting achievements. I'd rather earn that shiny new thingy, rather than just hoping it drops in my lap at some point.

Make music

I've already wasted too much time on this. You really have to work hard to make something that sucks.

You can right-click on the flash window and copy the tune you've created, then paste it in a text document. You can then paste the text-string back into the flash.

If you come up with anything cool, post it in the comments.

Perfect realism, in a decade or so

From Shack News:

Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney now estimates that videogame graphics will reach the point of realism in as little as 10-15 years.

When asked for an estimate on movie-like photorealism by Gamasutra, Sweeney replied: "Probably 10-15 years for that stuff, which isn't far at all. Which is scary--we'll be able to saturate our visual systems with realistic graphics at that point."

"We're only about a factor of a thousand off from achieving all that in real-time without sacrifices," he said. "So we'll certainly see that happen in our lifetimes; it's just a result of Moore's Law."

While graphical fidelity might be perfected, Sweeney noted that mastering actual human realism will be a more daunting task.

"There's another problem in graphics that's not as easily solvable," he added. "It's anything that requires simulating human intelligence or behavior: animation, character movement, interaction with characters, and conversations with characters."

Sweeney explained that simulating human behavior is not "a matter of computational power," saying that "we just don't have the algorithms; we don't know how the brain works or how to simulate it."

"And if you could simulate it all, how could you train it to be realistic like a human? Those problems are probably decades away from being solved. Those are things that may not occur in our lifetimes."

BioShock 2 due on November 3

So Shack News tells me.

Save your money, or burn it, but whatever you do ...

... don't buy what Grin are selling:

It's easy to be bitter about seeing Grin's name at the beginning of a game. This is the developer behind the recent Wanted movie tie-in, the updated Bionic Commando, and now Terminator Salvation. These are three big-name licenses, and each one is ripe with potential and promise. What have we seen? Grin has squandered them all, never rising above a "Rent" rating.

ArsTechnica's full review is here, but the opening says all that needs to be said. Well, except for this: "You can beat it in under five hours, if you take your time."

This is why it pays to remember the names of developers and publishers. If you don't have a blacklist in your head when you're scanning the shelves for something new to play, you'll have no one to blame but yourself when you get burned.

I speak from experience.

TF2: growing pains

Since May 21's mega-update, Valve have released two additional sets of bug plugs (on May 22 and again today). Nothing, as yet, for the new unlock system, which many are finding to be rather stingy.

For the moment, it seems that the only solution to a perpetually empty backpack is to sit idle on a VAC-secured server for several hours at a clip.

Modern Warfare 2 trailer

The marketing onslaught begins:

TF2 update changelog

It's a doozy:

Maps

• Added new map, Pipeline. Pipeline is the first map in a new game mode named payload race, which uses two carts in each map instead of only one like traditional payload maps
• Added new arena map Sawmill
• Added new arena map Nucleus
• Added new community payload map Hoodoo
• Updated Dustbowl to fix not being able to jump into the window in the first building of the second stage
  

Sniper Changes

• Added new sniper rifle replacement, The Huntsman. Instead of a sniper rifle, you have a bow that allows you to move around faster while firing, and fire more quickly than the sniper rifle. Works better at medium range than the standard rifle
• Added new SMG replacement, Jarate. If thrown on an enemy they will take more damage for short period of time. Also extinguishes flames on yourself or allies
• Added new SMG replacement, The Razorback. Will protect you against a single spy backstab, and stun the spy for a short period of time. Comes with a 15% move speed penalty for the wearer
• Standard sniper rifle now shoots through friendly players
• Added 54 new Sniper voice lines
• Added 35 new Sniper achievements
  

Spy

• Added new revolver replacement, The Ambassador. First shot is very accurate and will cause a critical hit if it hits an enemy's head. Accuracy is poor for a period after that
• Added new watch replacement, the Dead Ringer. When armed, you will appear in all ways to die to the first damage you take from an enemy. You'll be cloaked for 8 second after taking this damage. Upon de-cloaking you'll make a loud, distinct sound
• Added new watch replacement, the Cloak and Dagger. Your cloak meter is only depleted when you move, so you can stay invisible indefinitely if you're standing still
• Spy name tags now show up properly when disguised as their own team
• Fixed a bug that would cause spectators to see disguise weapons incorrectly
• Fixed a bug where enemy spies disguised as friendly spies would have cigarettes that didn't burn
• Fixed a bug where overhealing disguised spies would show the wrong overhealing amount to the medic
• Made it more obvious on first person view model when your motion cloak is out of juice and you are partially visible
• Also made it more obvious on first person view model when you're bumped while cloaked
• Improved the way your disguise weapon is determined to make it clearer and fix a couple of rare issues
• Spies disguised as enemy spies now get a random mask to help complete the disguise, and their target id will be set appropriately
• Spies disguised as medics now have an Ubercharge: line in their disguise target info
• Spies outward facing "disguise health" now matches their disguise target when they first apply the disguise
• Spies can now pick up health kits for their "disguise health", even when uninjured
• Disguise UI doesn't show up in minimum UI mode (hud_minmode)
• Spies that disguise as a player using an unlockable now show that unlockable in hand
• Spies can now use enemy teleporters
• Added 70 new Spy voice lines
• Added 34 new Spy achievements
  

Scoreboard changes

• Dominations no longer get wiped when teams switch sides
• Dead players draw slightly darker in scoreboard
• Converted class labels to class icons
• All players now display the total number of people they are dominating
  

General

• Fixed a bug that would cause the scout's ball to regenerate at inappropriate times
• Demomen can now detonate their stickies while taunting
• Flamethrower's air burst now extinguishes fire on friendly targets
• Grenades and rockets deflected by a pyro under the effects of Kritzkrieg will now be criticals
• The Heavy and Sniper now have new custom death animations
• Fixed payload HUD not updating properly if you join in the middle of a match and the cart isn't moving
• Engineer's dispensers now give 20%, 30%, or 40% of player's max_ammo (for each ammo type) on each use, based on the level of the dispenser
• Added -sillygibs commandline parameter which will allow the non-violent gibs to be enabled
• Added a new taunt for the Kritzkrieg, which also heals for 10 points
• Improved the deathcam camera handling used when a player plays a custom death animation
• Added missing chalkboard and serverbrowser images for community maps shipped in previous updates
• Removed "Final" from map names in the serverbrowser quick list
  

Servers

• Added "sv_allow_voice_from_file" convar, which defaults to 1. When set to 0, it'll prevent clients from using the "voice_inputfromfile" feature to broadcast wav files over voice
• Enabled "sv_allow_wait_command" convar, which defaults to 1. When set to 0, it'll prevent clients from using the "wait" command