PCGP Episode 68
Greg, Kristen, DJ, and Gaz report back on the Games for Windows event with impressions of Vista, Live Anywhere, and a ton of games; Halo 2 devs rip on their own game (forgetting the PC version has yet to launch); Burning Crusade breaks sales records; Gaz reviews his new 8800 and a Dell 24″ widescreen monitor; Q&A and playlists!
January 26th, 2007 at 1:16 am
Really enjoyed the show this week guys. It has become a highly anticipated part of my week. After buying the magazine sporadically since 1994, I’ve finally subscribed. PC Gamer is the ultimate toilet reading.
You’re really feeding my enthusiasm for PC gaming overall. Ive even been thinking of trying an RPG after playing FPS almost exclusively since the days of shareware Wolfenstein 3D.
Thanks for commenting on the experience of computing with a 30 inch, 4 megapixel display. It really is a whole other level. At the start of 2006 I had a 19″ Westinghouse A90 CRT. I upgraded to the Dell 24″ and then returned that for the Dell 30″. This has been the most satisfying purchase I’ve ever made. I refuse to run games at anything other than native resolution. 90% of my gaming time is devoted to BF2. Playing BF2 at 4 megapixels with full surround sound is immersive beyond any game experience I’ve had to this point. Oh and as a graphic designer, I too have noticed it’s impractical to maximize most windows. Although it’s awesome to run complex interfaces like editing software or 3D suites at the highest resolution possible.
Anyhow, keep up the good work. For my money, you have the most enjoyable gaming podcast out there right now.
January 26th, 2007 at 1:37 am
Great podcast again……
Well, looks like Unreal Tournament 2007 is now Unreal Tournament 3. And suprise..suprise, it’s now coming to the 360 in early 2008. Thankfully, the PC will get a demo in the next couple of months and will be released before the PS3 version, apparently early Fall of 2007 according to Oceaniaut.
http://www.oceaniaut.com/
Can anyone over at PC Gamer confirm any of this? Or when we will get a demo? Much thanks.
January 26th, 2007 at 1:44 am
Oh, and about the Widescreen monitors, once you go Widescreen, you never look back. I picked up a 24″ HP LCD Widescreen almost a year and a half ago and haven’t looked back. I couldn’t believe I played with a CRT for as long as I did. People really need to see it sometimes, instead of reading about it, in order to get a full appreciation for the experience. Surround sound just puts the icing on the cake as far as I’m concerned.
January 26th, 2007 at 2:14 am
Dual monitors kicks ass, I have two 17″ monitors hooked up to a GeForce 6200 one LCD and one CRT. The only thing that sucks about it is some games don’t seem to like the dual monitor setup and you can move your mouse onto the second monitor by accident and that can cause you to not have such a good time.
January 26th, 2007 at 2:43 am
interesting vista benchmarks:
http://techgage.com/article/windows_vista_system_performance_reports
January 26th, 2007 at 7:24 am
I love the sense of humor in this podcast really made me laugh a lot when you were talking about the.. ahem.. Screen sizes.
But i am 100% on DJ’s side when he does not like the controllers and the detail on the 360. ive seen the difference with quake 4. It took like an entire 2 whole seconds for someone i know to even AIM but that could be because he sucked. also the difficulty seemed a bit toned down?.
But yes Mouse and keyboard is all i ever use and i dont intend on changing, the xbox 360 pad is just.. why? it confuses me almost i used it once and never again, it took me so long to aim and shoot i just got frustrated. nothing beats the reaction times of the mouse. So DJ. dont let anyone argue with you stand up for what you believe in!
Finally I have to admit i am pure. I have not touched world of warcraft in my entire life! because im highly addicted to games where you level up and such so it would become my life and i dont think that would be wise heh. There i said it. Now back to high adrenaline fps games!
January 26th, 2007 at 9:59 am
I have to agree with DJ with his sentiments on a lot of games ought to control better than they end up doing on KB&M. I’m always disappointed whenever a game which has been designed for both xbox/pc has some very dodgy pc controls. Dreamfall springs to mind as a game that should have done very well with KB&M and ended up with a really bizarrely convoluted control system but I guess a better more recent example is probably Star Trek: Legacy which should have been perfect on KB&M and ended up a complete mess. But thankfully it’s not always like that, playing Tomb Raider: Legend recently, I was so grateful that they’d taken the time to include excellent support for PC in a genre (action) so frequently neglected to us PC gamers.
And saying why spend the extra money is a horrible arguement. Why bother adding higher rez textures for PC? Why bother supporting DX10 features? Why bother including a cohesive save game feature? Because you’re trying to make a good product. If you want people to come back and buy into your brand or your studio, do the best job you can. E.g. I will be extremely wary of buying my next EA product simply because of my horrendous experiences with Battlefield, wheras Valve will get my money up front, no questions asked for any of their content.
Also, 24″ Dell is pure sex. I bought mine after Greg’s recommendation, I don’t regret it for a second. I just kinda need that 8800 I guess
Is that fullscreen windowed mode a WoW only thing?
January 26th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
I agree, the majority of you seemed to be thinking backwards about why you should include mouse and keyboard control in all PC games. You should include it because you are publishing a PC game and there are many PC users like myself and Dan who avoid gamepads. To me it’s the same reason I avoid, say velcro shoes and don’t watch wrestling. I need a bit more control and depth.
I bought both Star Wars lego games for my nephews on Gamecube this Xmas. Looks like it would play well with either gamepad or mouse+keyboard. PC users should definitely have the choice.
I’m sort of annoyed that games don’t suppport more control options overall these days. I’d really like to use my driving wheel in BF2, but the way the throttle is set up in that game makes it impossible.
January 26th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
Hell Ya! Go Dan! PC Gaming will always trump the console crap. Controls, Graphics, and now live?! WOOT! (loot)
January 26th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
awesome podcast you guys.
happy hunting in azeroth
BTW dan, rogues are great soloers, I started up a new rogue with BE and I’ve been having a breeze slicing through mobs and about downtime of rogues… have you heard of bandages + food? Also, vede might want to try playing a hybrid class such as shaman, druid or a pally. They’re good at soloing because they have aspect of healer, caster, and fighter all inside them. While they don’t kill things very fast, they have ability to survive more situation than say a mage or a rogue because they lack healing of any kind. (well, rogues have vanish, but that has a 5 min cooldown). Anyways, I really love rogues, I love sneaking around, pick-pocketing mobs, sapping one and garroting other, or just plain ambushing them for incredibly amount of damage. They’re like Sam fischer except they have a license to kill. I don’t know about soloing throughmost of the contents though, it’s more fun playing with group of close friends. my friend and I quested together through even the single stuff and it made quests more of a breeze and fun (most of the exp comes from quests so finishing them faster = faster leveling). Also, skipping out of instances are a bad idea. Especially because some of those dungeons are incredibly beautiful and fun. Also, you get the best loots from the dungeons. So, maybe you should play on same server with gaz and Jeremy, have them start up a new BE or dranei character with one going healing, tank, and a dps class. that way, you’ll have most fun. And try some challenges, my friends and I before TBC, 3 manned LBRS to the ogre boss.
btw, http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2007/021/worldofstarcraft716_screen.jpg
January 26th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
My behind is stronger
January 26th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
FOR THE HORDE!
January 26th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
Best possible video game movie?
Deus Ex, definitely.
January 26th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
PC Gamers should have a choice on controller. But I go with the thought that some games lend themselves to certain controls better than others. Like KB+M for FPS, RTS, Point and Click, etc. Gamepads are better for platform type games and in my opinion Lego Star Wars is a platform style game. You can play it with the keyboard but it’s just more optimal on a gamepad. It’s just like RTS games on a gamepad it’s just more optimal on KB+M. Going further when I play a fighting game I would prefer to play with a fighting stick like in the arcade and driving games are obviously best on a driving wheel. Use the best tool for the job.
January 26th, 2007 at 6:24 pm
Now for live anywhere for the PC. Will there be the live price tag like the xbox and 360? I hope not. Even though 50 bucks a year, isn’t bad, I just don’t want to pay for a PC….
January 26th, 2007 at 6:54 pm
DUKE NUKEM FOREVER. Liek OMG! Screenshot! But it seems faked by 3DR.
January 26th, 2007 at 7:11 pm
Nevermind… it’s real.
GB said this on the 3dr forums:
“I guess I’ll reconfirm what I said last night. That’s an in game, real-time shot of Duke standing in a random hallway. It was really done as a small teaser for a job ad on Gamasutra.com. Nothing more.
I’m glad some of you enjoyed it, and we’ll show more later as we start to wake from our slumber and decide how best to show the game off.”
January 26th, 2007 at 7:34 pm
omg, no more Duke stuff… who cares at this point…
supreme commander, spore, bioshock, UT3, my year is booked already. Sorry duke you were slotted in my day planner for 7 years ago…
lol, of course i’ll still get Duke Forever if it gets good reviews.
and my Monitor is a mere 19 inch CRT.
no plans to upgrade it until it breaks, it still works, and the game doesn’t change based on screen size… well at least it shouldn’t…
would i like a 26 inch monitor? yea, but i’d rather upgrade my computer first.
oh and i prefer to use keyboard and mouse for everything. But thats more so because i have no free deskspace, and i’m too lazy to pull out a joystick/gamepad/wheel…
January 26th, 2007 at 8:36 pm
Hey Dan,
In regards to your question about Oblivion crashing on you, I used to have the exact same problem and this fixed it for me.
I have a SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS, and however unrelated it may seem, updating my sound card drivers to the latest version from the Creative website virtually eliminated the problem of the game crashing on me.
I dont know if you have a Creative card or not but at any rate the problem seems to be audio related.
I was going to e-mail you but decided to put it here because it seems to be a quite common problem. Hope that helps.
Great podcast as usual.
January 26th, 2007 at 8:48 pm
Thank you Dan for standing up against the zombies! Using a mouse & kb is 9 times out of 10, simply a better way to control a game. Many games are limited and crippled by a gaming pad scheme. Requiring 360 gamepad support is little more than a way to sell gamepads. I have a perfectly good logitech gamepad (but gathering dust) that’s widely supported on PC. I damn well better not need to buy a new MS gamepad just so it can gather dust as well.
January 26th, 2007 at 8:56 pm
I care about DNF… that’s all that matters. And I hate Unreal Games… all of them have sucked in my eyes.
M&K FTW.
January 26th, 2007 at 9:37 pm
Speaking of controllers on the PC… http://www.wii60.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11019 How about a Wiimote and HL2?
January 26th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
I had a 19″ CRT that I really liked for a total of about a year. First the cable got tweaked and I had to spend $40 to replace it, then something got inside it and one day it made a loud pop and went black, now I have my trusty 17″ LCD that the stand broke on right about the time the warranty expired (it used to fold up for easy transport).
As far as control schemes in games goes, I think that both a gamepad and the keyboard and mouse should be supported, but gamepad support should only be if the developer wants to do it. Why should I be forced to buy GamepadX to play a game just because the box has Games for Windows on it? That’s like saying you can’t play my game because your computer doesn’t have a Cyrix chip in it.
January 26th, 2007 at 10:01 pm
To be honest though since my favorite genre is FPS most of the time I’m using keyboard and mouse and I’m still not convinced that anything is better even the Wiimote. The Wiimote still seems about the same controlwise as a thumbstick when it comes to turning. Like I said though I’m all for choice especially for certain games. I don’t think a game should absolutely require a gamepad (or other) controller if you aren’t willing to get one but it still doesn’t mean that some genres are not best played with one.
You know what is something I have heard somewhere else that I don’t want to believe. The thought that Microsoft is doing things like putting live on vista to ween people off the PC. That’s something that I would like to just say, “That’s just crazy talk!” to.
January 26th, 2007 at 11:13 pm
For the person who was asking for tips on getting oblivion to run faster I have this tip. Apart from upgrading your computer or finding tweaks for the game. It may seem obvious but they should make sure they are not running a billion things in the background\in their system tray and make sure their computer is clean and isn’t running a ton of spyware and sh…tuff.
January 27th, 2007 at 8:44 am
The new Bookworm game that Gaz mentioned is Bookworm Adventures. It’s pretty cool…I’ve been addicted to it for a week or so, after I saw the review in…er, a competitor’s mag. You basically fight monsters by spelling out words and it has RPG elements where you can level up, collect items and such.
I agree, it does me feel smarter when I can spell out words like “granulate” and “hosteling” that I rarely use in real life. However, I wish that the game’s dictionary included modern words like “metadata” and “blogger”. My favorite was when I…drained all of Medusa’s energy with “orgasmic”. Oh yeah!
January 27th, 2007 at 11:52 am
You guys messed up in the latest issue. Serenity Now was an Alliance guild. Not a Horde one.
January 27th, 2007 at 5:39 pm
PC games should be playable with the mouse and keyboard. As a 15 yr old who doesnt make that much money, i dont fancy the idea of having to go out and pay 30 dollars just the one hockey game a year i buy and the occasional game like lego starwars of which ill buy every other year, along with the 30-50 dollar price of the game.
January 27th, 2007 at 6:24 pm
Hey Jeremy/Dan, since you like to play Flash Games, this one’s for you: http://www.wowddr.com/
January 27th, 2007 at 8:50 pm
HELL YA GO DAN. CONSOLES SUCK BALLS
January 27th, 2007 at 8:51 pm
PLAYSTAION 2 IS THE SHITTIST CONSOLE EVER
January 27th, 2007 at 8:51 pm
PC RULES
January 27th, 2007 at 10:49 pm
One i just saw the new Crysis trailer, and wow…
i need to upgrade my PC for it…
i mean hot damn that game just looks amazing…
January 28th, 2007 at 10:19 am
No I’m not 12….
January 28th, 2007 at 5:55 pm
Sweden to open an official embassy in Second Life
http://www.thelocal.se/6219/20070126/
January 28th, 2007 at 10:31 pm
Playing Lego Star Wars with WASD and mouselook is about the most grotesque gameplay experience I can imagine. If your disdain for all things console related runs so deep that you’d volunteer for such a completely ass-backward setup, I actually feel kind of bad for you.
January 29th, 2007 at 9:07 am
Great games that can be turned into films:
METAL Gear solid the game is practically a film and it would be such a great film
Rainbox six las vegas
Splinter cell (maybe)
Also i dont think there should be any more MMo created because it game thats to controlling i mean it has taken away people from playing other great games. Fair engough it might have brought in like a whole shed load of new players to games but if we have anymore mmo i think the market for normal games will shrink.
oh yea and GET A LIFE
January 29th, 2007 at 11:58 am
Regarding the automatic patching thingy that you’ve talked about, its been there in Neverwinter Nights and recently, NWN2. Oh, and it lets you skip the update too!
Great ‘cast guys, keep it up
January 29th, 2007 at 12:20 pm
autpatching thingy’s been around for a long time. Blizzard had it with Bnet since diablo 1… I don’t know why it took the game industry so long to copy it… Also many compare copany of heroes online service to Bnet, but its nowhere near Bnet IMO. Best part about Bnet was that it connected people not only playing the game you were playing, but people playing other games such as TFT,SC, and even warii Bnet ed. Relic online only connects people playing CoH, bit disappointing.
January 29th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
Gosh this podcast was like the 1up yours podcast as far as dirty jokes go. Now all you have to do to complete the picture is:
1.Have debate on hot button issue.
2. Take sides
3. Hate the other side, and everything they stand for.
4. Make it personal
5 Yell real loud.
Then you’ve got the 1up podcast. Its still entertaining though
January 29th, 2007 at 4:44 pm
It’s just the Bizzle’s fault.
January 29th, 2007 at 8:33 pm
Lol, i personally loved the dumb ass jokes
January 29th, 2007 at 8:42 pm
There are a couple of problems with Half-Life/Half-Life 2 as a movie:
1) Has anyone noticed? THE MAIN CHARACTER DOESN’T TALK! You have to admit, it would be kinda bad if Gordon talked in the movie. It would take away what makes Gordon… Gordon.
2) If Barney gets killed in the Half-Life movie, don’t worry! There’s another one right around the corner!
3) All the scientists look the same!
4) I don’t think the guy playing Gordon can fit all those weapons up his ass. It’s not like Halo.
5) Nobody knows how all the characters (except Gordon) got to City 17.
January 29th, 2007 at 8:50 pm
This is for Garry:
(The storyline of Half-Life 2):
Easier way to understand: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/24/7hourswarHL2.jpg
The Seven Hour War is a fictional conflict appearing in the back-story of the 2004 computer game Half-Life 2. Although never discussed directly in the game, the war is mentioned briefly by Dr. Eli Vance in Black Mesa East if the player stares at the newspaper clippings long enough and more details can be gathered through newspaper clippings and conversations. The war is to be the basis of many upcoming Half-Life 2 mods, likely due to it being the “blank gap” of the Half-Life storyline, that allows it to be interpreted in different ways.
The portal storms, believed to be caused by the death of the Nihilanth, raged, (and still do according to Marc Laidlaw[1]) spreading Xen life forms across Earth causing the people to move into cities for protection. These portal storms attracted an alien empire known as the Combine that defeated all of Earth’s armed forces in only seven hours. Dr. Wallace Breen apparently negotiated a surrender on behalf of the entire planet, saving the survivors at the cost of their freedom. Breen was appointed ruler of Earth, but remains under the control of the Combine.
At the beginning of Half-Life 2, the G-Man makes a brief reference to the war, telling Gordon Freeman that “all the effort in the world would have gone to waste.” This is generally understood to be a direct reference to the war, the establishment of Dr. Breen’s terror state, and the reasons for Freeman’s stasis. Despite Freeman’s superhuman triumph at Black Mesa, there was nothing that he or the entire human race could have done to save Earth from the superior forces of the Combine empire.
Half-Life 2 begins an undisclosed number of years after this war, after the rule of the Combine has been firmly established. There is, however, some evidence from the Half-Life 2: Episode One official website indicating that Half-Life 2 takes place nearly two decades after the Black Mesa incident.[2] Such a time frame is logically consistent with the aging of the series’ characters between Half-Life and Half-Life 2. It also explains why there are no children in the game, the Combine having set up a reproductive suppression field a short time after the war preventing any further reproduction for approximately 20 years until the events of Episode One, with the suppression field being disabled after the damage the Citadel has taken.
January 30th, 2007 at 10:58 am
What happened??? I had to check twice to make sure I wasn’t listening to the Console Gamer Podcast. OMG, could you guys have flipped sides more obviously, the xbox controller the best controller suited for that type of game, WTF!!! I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, ok so likewise are there going to be a keyboard and mouse for the xbox? Cause you know that might be the best controller for a certain game time.
I will never purchase a game that requires me to purchase an xbox controller to play on my pc. I have an xbox, but will never get a 360, why the game control was slow, sluggish and I could never target will no matter how much I practiced or changed the settings for the controller.
Come on PC Gamer Podcast stay focused!
January 30th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
Agrees with Fredericks first post.
Half-Life certainly has an interesting mythology, but it’s story is not at all suited for a movie adaptation. The story is there, but its very quietly working in the background, and you have to work a little bit to find it…and I fear that any attempt to make it into a movie would end in a John Woo style gun/crap fest. For this same reason, im really concerned about the upcoming Hitman adaptation, which is one of my favorite franchises of all time. (Please Luc Besson…dont fail me!)
I think a game needs a vivid, jump right out at you story to make a good movie. Something like Deus Ex, Max Payne, or Metal Gear Solid. Something that has enough thematic elements in the game to go straight to film without having to rely on Hollywoods sh*t for brains script writers to come up with a crappy new story with which to soil and dishonor our favorite game characters.
It sounds so simple, but can you think of one movie that’s been based on a game like this? Cause I can’t…and i suspect its why all the game to movie projects so far have acheived nothing higher than flaming pile of sucktitude on the quality scale. I think all three of the games I mentioned have movie’s in the works, and I just hope that when they’re done right, it’ll show hollywood that this is something that can be done if you have the right game and the right people (i.e. Not Uwe Boll)
January 30th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
Hey everyone, lets get an Xfire guild/clan going on for PC Gamer Magazine/Podcast/Forums etc. etc… If there is one, let me know, but I couldn’t find one that’s relevant to this site. I would start one, but I think it needs to come from the top, maybe Norm or someone who has a “Mandate” can start an official one. Whadayasay?
January 30th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
Is there going to be mouse and keyboard for the xbox? Yes.. the adapter is all over the news. Doesn’t mean it works as well as it does on the PC.
But seriously things like what controller you prefer for certain games is just a matter of personal preference. I see people argue about which is better but it all boils down to what you are most comfortable with and usually preferences like these don’t have anything to do with what’s better. So even if one might be technically better than the other some people don’t care. Some people (not me) even prefer to control a FPS with a gamepad believe it or not. I agree that PC Games shouldn’t absolutely require a gamepad but I don’t see why it should not be an option for those who prefer a certain controller for a certain game.
January 30th, 2007 at 8:42 pm
There is another way to get the most out of your system regarding Oblivion. A little while after Oblivion was released, many people realized that is was too much for thier current computers, but weren’t in a position to, or didn’t want to upgrade right away. There is a mod out for it called “oldblivion.” Before I go any further, I must say that I have NOT tried this mod, but I HAVE heard many many good things about it. You can find it at: http://www.oldblivion.com/ and there’s a nice write up of what it does here: http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Articles.Detail&id=46
)
Hope that helps. Oh and DJ, if you’re looking to get the most out of Oblivion yourself, look for mods on that last site. For me, Oblivion was kinda ‘meh’. It had wonderful eye candy, but really it was more like an FPS than an RPG. There are so many ways to get the best experience out of that game now. Just check out the top user rated mods (make sure they have more than like 2 votes too
Cheers.
~Sabin
January 31st, 2007 at 3:30 pm
WALE!!! DC RAP MOTHA FUCKAS
http://studio43group.com/
February 1st, 2007 at 12:37 am
There’s a trailer for the Postal movie up, looks like it’s going to be a comedy if nothing else.
http://www.postal-the-movie.com
Also it looks like Boll is going to be poking fun at himself in this one saying something about his movies being financed with Nazi gold.
February 2nd, 2007 at 1:20 am
I know Priests aren’t the obvious choice for a soloing WoW character, but I recommend them. My priest has solo’ed quite well with the ability to heal/shield himself, and he’s also in demand when I want to group. If you can persuade one of the other pcgamer staff to start a lowbie you can pair with almost anybody and have a good duo. My wife’s mage and I have done really well… she does the damage, I shield her and keep her alive.
February 3rd, 2007 at 7:38 pm
Jeremy,
what is the name of the new podcast you mentioned in the show, and where can I find it?
Also, what other podcasts do you do, apart from Next Gen, OXM and PcGamer? I listen to all of these, and really enjoy them.
Cheers.