I had to admit I was wrong a few weeks ago. I refused to accept any of the hype leading up to the launch of Starcraft 2 and I insisted that I wouldn’t buy it. That the game was simply a rehash of the original being that the style of the RTS is mostly unchanged and the majority of the units are identical. However, Starcraft is not pretending to be anything that it is not. Starcraft is a refinement of the classic RTS formula and the way the game has been updated graphically and the tweets to the units and introduction of new units have made the multiplayer balance almost perfect. It is the most fun RTS multiplayer experience I’ve had in a long time. Not intense. In terms of intensity Supreme Commander 2 far out shines Starcraft but Supreme Commander lacks the polish and refinement of Starcraft. It is a polish that only a company like blizzard can implement and it is difficult to put into words.  The multiplayer games have a flow and structure that is able to take the set amount of units and three races and make it infinitely complex and enjoyable. Each game becomes completely different even if you try and play it the same exact way. You need to adapt and change with the pace of the game, think and rethink what your opponent is doing.

The multiplayer infrastructure is also far superior to anything attempted outside of steam before. The matchmaking is fast and accurate, a feat many have promised in the past and no one has been able to deliver. Not to mention the rich campaign which features a non-linear storyline and some of the deepest story I’ve ever experienced in a real-time strategy game. I’ve been playing mostly multiplayer but desperately want to finish the campaign, It has become hard to juggle the two. >_<

I didn’t want the game, I want to make that clear, but after playing the seven hour trial I found myself wanting more and had no choice. For a great read on the history and growth of StarCraft check out this 1up article. If you want to add me to your friends list just use my email: Gundampilotspaz@gmail.com Now I have to go back to climbing the rankings.

And no, I didn’t bite the bullet and buy Modern Warfare 2.

While the real advances in Modern Warfare 2 are in its extensive multiplayer the design is clearly meant for a console experience. No more dedicated servers, no more custom game mods, and a player limit of 18. Granted the design of the multiplayer is meant for only 18 players it still doesn’t excuse the lack of features that PC gamers have enjoyed since early in the Internet era. They even increased the price of the PC version to $60. $10 more than the standard PC game but equal to the average PS3 title. So while I am in protest of this trend away from PC gaming and towards the more controlled, stable environment of consoles I want this game. I should play this game.

The game is being celebrated by fans and critics, has broken or nearly broken most sales records, and at this time will probably be the most successful game ever made. Not buying the game because of lack of features is futile. If PC gaming actually want to participate in activism they should actually buy the game and show Activision that there are still a strong PC community willing to spend money on their game.

I am so conflicted! Bu the single player is what really drives me to the game. I’ve been replaying the original Modern Warfare (The original Call of Duty 4… look what they’ve done to me!) which has reminded me exactly how amazing the game play is, how breathtaking the story is, and the presentation is the best I’ve seen in a game since Half Life 2. But every time I go to buy MW2 I stop. I can’t seem to make it past the landing page.

I know all this seems silly. But I just can’t seem to shake it. MW2 represents a disturbing turn in the future in multiplatform shooters where the PC is neglected. The PC version of GTA4 and Batman Arkham Asylum got later and less commercialized releases. But this has never happened with a shooter.

- Destructoid

I’ve recovered a bit from my funk. Still don’t feel like doing much work. My 18th Century British Lit. Professor allowed us to keep our papers for an extra day but I only mangaged to find two or three small things I wanted to change. I probably should have just handed it on and forgotten about it. I’m catching up in Logic, after falling way behind due to Italian taking up so much time. Tomorrow I’m just going to send the last few homeworks (one required, one optional) and hope my midterm grades come out all right. The second half I should have much more time to focus on that class… and I only took it because I figured four classes were too few! I really overestimated my motivation this semester.

A Tweet from John Hodgman lead to me finding this gem:

Brings tears to my eyes.

Abbey Road on Beatles Rock Band tomorrow. Looking forward to it!

Thanks to the kindness of @serial I was able to get a Google Wave invite. Unfortunately Google is holding onto most of the user invites for now. According to twitter people who have been invited by wave users, not google, are starting to get their invitations in their email. So I’m impatiently waiting on Google. I’m hoping that wave can not only replace email but also instant messaging. I’m just board with all the instant messaging clients out there. They haven’t evolved at the same pace that my use of the web has evolved. So instead of sitting and having a conversation with a single person on IM I’d rather just hold conversations within twitter. I’m always on twitter so there is no chance of me missing your message. I can view your message at my leisure and return it at my leisure. There isn’t the stigma of having to talk to a person right NOW that comes with instant messaging or SMS. So hopefully Wave will combine the convenience of real time with the distance of twitter.

Katamari Forever Teaser

I got the new Katamari on Tuesday and have been playing it almost exclusively. Thanks to missing class Wednesday due to a cold I was able to play though each of the levels. I also recently played though the original Katamari recently so I can compare the two without factoring in nostalgia. There is no difference in the feel of the game. But the art style and the new resolution are absolutely gorgeous. The ability to see the items I was rolling up clearer made a huge difference in my enjoyment of the game. Granted the rank went from delightful to phenomenal there really isn’t much they could have done to make Katamari more fun. The new Global rankings feature adds a new level of addictiveness to the game. I’m not only competing against my self and my friends but against the whole world. Which, while it makes me try harder, also makes me feel painfully inadequate.

The Polish military has finally  been able to secure the African coast, recruiting troops as they captured cities and sending these rookie troops into battle so they gain experience. Now with all North African nations under polish control with the exception of Egypt, controlled by the Ottoman Empire,  we have a staging area and nearly four thousand experienced troops ready to launch an attack on the southern territories of the Empire. The European armies in the  north are moving into position to launch an attack on the Ottomans from Russian controlled territories forcing the Ottomans into a two front war . This will prevent them from overly fortifying the individual cities under siege and will prevent a possible second wave of attack when we defeat their northern armies as they bring troops up from the south.

A more complete attack would be to include a sea based attack on Ottoman controlled Greece to further harm their infrastructure and lower the possibility of counter attack following our first push into the massive territory controlled by the Ottoman Empire. On top of the harm done to the Ottoman’s infrastructure but they will be forced to then split their forces into three. If the early battles of this war go well and our faithful allies Russia and Austria join in the effort the Ottoman Empire should fall under polish control in ten years or less. The much more difficult task of bringing the citizens into the Polish Empire and converting them to Catholicism begins then.

Did I mention I’ve been playing a staggering amount of Empire: Total War?

It felt like someone completely pulled the rug out from under me. I was enjoying Grand Theft Auto 4 very much, but all of a sudden my progress grinded to a halt. I had taken the mission called “Last Interview” and had to wait for a phone call before starting on the mission. But the call never came. I wait a week and a half of in-game time, not an insignificant time in real life, and nothing. What made it worse was that all the other story missions were complete and I wasn’t getting any phone calls to do any more jobs from any of Liberty City’s criminal underground.

With a little research I found people who had reported the bug on all versions of the game going back to when it was first released. No resolution had bee found. It seems that if you do missions in a strange order (the order I happened to do them in) this glitch happens and you cannot continue the game. You are literally stuck. I had overwritten my only save before I started the mission by trying to make time pass quicker (saving causes six hours to pass) so I could not go back. Almost ten hours of work gone.

Most other games I might have said Screw it, returned it, or put it aside and attempted to beat another game before restarting from the beginning But I wanted to proceed with the game! I liked the story and characters! The game plays much better than those made with the GTA 3 engine, everything from the combat to the vehicle controls. (Actually, with the GTA series that pretty much IS everything)

So I started over. I zoomed passed the parts I’ve already did as fast as I could and did the missions in the order I found online. No problems. In fact, when I got the “Last Interview” mission I received that phone call almost instantly.

RAGE!

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