Zyklonbzombie • Comments

• Metal Gear Rising Revengeance confirmed for PC

• Zyklonbzombie 17/05/2013

  Good news, since I was thinking about buying this soon for PS3 - but will now get the PC version. Not that it will be much superior - I was amazed at how pretty and buttery smooth it was on consoles when I played the demo. Reply +2

• Damned looks like a randomised, asymmetrical multiplayer take on Slender

• Zyklonbzombie 11/05/2013

  As fatigued as I am by the whole first-person "horror" craze every indie developer and his dog is jumping on right now, this actually sounds interesting. Aside from the odd exception (AvP), it's surprising how few multiplayer games really embrace the idea of players inflicting fear and panic on each other. Reply +2

• American McGee working on Kickstarters to revive Alice and make and Oz game

• Zyklonbzombie 08/05/2013

  @darkmorgado Yes! It amazes me how many people regard his 13-year-old-goth's-deviantart-account "aesthetic" as some sort of mindblowing innovation. Reply +11

• Wheelchair-bound gamer banned from Twitch.tv after accusations he faked disability

• Zyklonbzombie 15/04/2013

  Has he actually responded to any of this? Using a wheelchair doesn't necessarily mean someone can't walk all the time. He could also suffer from body integrity identity disorder for all I know.
  
  Did he ask for donations on the basis of him being disabled? If not, I don't think it warrants refunds or the fraud accusations, however much of an asshole he may be for faking. Reply -14

• Former BioWare boss: PS4 and next Xbox unlikely to cure "sick market for old-school gaming"

• Zyklonbzombie 10/04/2013

  People tend to think whichever generation they got into gaming with is the golden age and the epitome of the art form, and decry everything since as some terrible decline/'dumbing down'/the death of gaming. So there will always be a market for 'retro' gaming, and there will always be vocal gamers loudly declaring anything new as irrelevant and destructive.
  
  In reality, the new consoles will turn up, they will sell well, we'll see great new games made with the technology, some not so great new games, and we'll be hearing the same 'gamings dead, olden days was best' rubbish when the next next generation starts to rear it's head. Reply +1

• First Thief trailer confirms new voice actor for Garrett

• Zyklonbzombie 02/04/2013

  As much as I liked the original Garrett, am I the only one who thinks pretty much all american accents (especially, strong gravelly voiced ones) sound totally out of place in medieval/renaissance-ish settings, even fantasy ones? It just has a tendency to kill the atmosphere for me. Reply +3

• Elder Scrolls and Final Fantasy are top-five finishers in Classic FM Hall of Fame

• Zyklonbzombie 02/04/2013

  I don't think it means game music will "now be taken more seriously by a wider audience", since Classic FM is basically "Soundtracks FM" anyway, and isn't exactly considered an arbiter of good taste.
  
  And as @Schnide says above, it simply demonstrates that gamers have a strong internet presence, and the inclusion of stuff like this (not that these soundtracks are bad) is mostly reflective of their abilities to use social networking and the net to rally support. Reply +2

• Jade Raymond's Ubisoft Toronto collaborating on new, unannounced Assassin's Creed game

• Zyklonbzombie 29/03/2013

  It's probably a handheld spinoff, which is not unusual to coincide with the major console releases. Reply 0

• Metacritic score-weighing process revealed - report

• Zyklonbzombie 28/03/2013

  @DrStrangelove People are much quicker to voice complaints than they are to voice satisfaction. I'd trust the aggregated scores of people hired and paid for their ability to give a reasonable indication of a games quality over furious anonymous commenters on the Internet. Reply +1

• Zyklonbzombie 28/03/2013

  @LLJaf Since most of us can't afford to just buy every game that comes along, reviews are handy for deciding which titles are less of a gamble. It's also handy having a resource that compiles reviews so you can get a general idea of a games quality.
  
  I really don't get all the metacritic rage. Can someone fill me in as to why its so reviled?
  
  Also, facepalm @ the update and the very first comment here pointing out the article is rubbish, which loads of folk seem to conveniently ignore in favour of foaming at the mouth. Reply +2

• Mass Effect 4 will be a Frostbite 3 game, but will Dragon Age 3?

• Zyklonbzombie 27/03/2013

  @Lrub People were whining about those games back in the day just as much as people whine about awful Mass Effect is today.
  
  In ten years time, once all the bandwagonism and hysteria has moved on to whatever games are popular at that time, I'm fairly certain we will be remembering ME and Dragon Age pretty fondly. Reply +3

• Battlefield 4 screenshots hit the internet ahead of debut trailer

• Zyklonbzombie 27/03/2013

  @TackyCheeba I don't ever remember a time where the majority of FPSes were anything other than pretty linear.
  
  There were plenty 'tactical' shooters, which, when you take your rose tinted glasses off, amounted to 'shoot all the bad men in this building', and were very simplistic. Games which are dwarfed in terms of scope, tactics and diversity by the likes of Arma, and most large scale multiplayer shooters (especially BF3). Reply 0

• Zyklonbzombie 27/03/2013

  @FiReTiGeR2K No. Most people don't like a few of their business pracices. A few hysterical people completely dismiss everything in their catalogue as objectively "shit" because of it. Most EA titles in recent years have been pretty well recieved otherwise, despite what an incredibly vocal minority (with worldviews somewhere between that of a snobby muso/cinephile and a full on conspiracy theory nut) would have you believe. Reply +2

• Zyklonbzombie 27/03/2013

  @FiReTiGeR2K The best way to make money is to make games people actually like. It's never an issue when that suits peoples personal tastes. When it doesn't, It's "pandering". Funny that.
  
  It's just something people do to feel better about themselves. "Gosh look how brainwashed and hypnotized all those people having fun are! Not me though, I'm immune... I'm far too clever to fall for it". Reply 0

• Zyklonbzombie 27/03/2013

  @FiReTiGeR2K People dismiss ANYTHING popular which they personally don't like as "pandering to the masses". Most people I know think BF3 is an excellent game, and they're not screeching 13 year olds. Call of Duty even gets plenty adult, genuine praise, and it's pretty much the arch scapegoat for the whole imagined downfall of gaming. Not to mention the likes of ArmA.
  
  Games have never been so diverse as they are today, yet people still whinge about what a crime it is that popular titles aren't tailored precisely their specific individual tastes.
  
  The most immature people in gaming are the ones who dismiss the press as corrupt, and gamers are sheep, for daring to like things. The people who think the gaming industry is involved in some terrible conspiracy to make games as bad as possible and somehow trick the world into enjoying them, you know, just for the lols/because they're evil. Reply +3

• Zyklonbzombie 27/03/2013

  @henrysaint-dorour I'm getting a bit fatigued by people complaining about the abundance of modern warfare shooters. there really aren't any more now than there have ever been, nor are they more common that plenty of other genres. There just happens to be two major franchises right now, making it an easy target for "back in MY day"/"everything is shit now!" types.
  
  That said, a new WWII (or perhaps vietnam) Battlefield title would be welcome. Maybe EA will try and rescue the Medal of Honor series by going back to its roots. Reply -4

• Mass Effect 3 writer talks of industry "resistance" to creating diverse female characters

• Zyklonbzombie 20/03/2013

  While I agree that the industry itself is a barrier, a quick look at, say, an IGN or even Kotaku comments section reveals that gamers themselves are indeed a bit of a problem.
  
  There's still a prevalent attitude out there that sees talking about issues and the mere existence of characters not aimed at white males as having social causes "shoved down our throats" - and publishers/developers have to tiptoe around this. Look at the reaction to gay characters in various Bioware titles. They constantly had to try and appease the backlash by emphasising how totally optional they were. Can you imagine the uproar if a major game appeared where you have to play a pre written gay hero? Or a middle aged Arab woman?
  
  Gaming will mature when developers and publishers have the guts to stand up to gamers and just say "if you don't like it, play something else". Reply +3

• Father mods Donkey Kong so his daughter can play as Pauline rescuing Mario

• Zyklonbzombie 11/03/2013

  @CaptainF He left the bad guy as a naked, genderless ape. Was he supposed to mod in tits and a pixelated vagina? Reply 0

• Lord British launches Kickstarter for oldschool RPG Shroud of the Avatar: Forbidden Virtues

• Zyklonbzombie 08/03/2013

  Am I the only one who thinks this looks utterly generic? Like Mount & Blade minus the interesting combat or historical authenticity.
  
  I get that there was a period where 90s/early 00s style RPGs simply disappeared, and it was nice to see them make a comeback recently - but it has already turned into a ridiculous bandwagon, with kickstarters for "old school" RPGs popping up everywhere. Reply 0

• Aliens: Colonial Marines has been patched on Xbox 360, PS3

• Zyklonbzombie 08/03/2013

  I played through it on PC, had a good framerate, and encountered none of the bugs or glitches mentioned above.
  
  It was still atrocious.
  
  If they had released this as a budget downloadable title, and removed most of the cringe inducing dialog and ill advised fan service (i.e. a certain character from the film), I could probably have forgiven it for most of its flaws. Reply +5

• Thief 4 screenshots leak ahead of possible reveal

• Zyklonbzombie 05/03/2013

  Been excitedly waiting for this ever since the underrated Deadly Shadows. I just hope to god they don't ruin it by turning into a throatstabfest like every other 'stealth' game in the last few years. Reply +23

• EA cans Dead Space series following poor sales of Dead Space 3 - report

• Zyklonbzombie 05/03/2013

  @Darren - Yeah, I think the game was kind of sabotaged by its own fanbase.
  
  People jumped on it for moving away from "horror", as if it wasn't just an action franchise in the first place, with tedious 'horror' elements (dark corridors and screeching baddies) which would have seemed very old if they dragged them all out a third time.
  
  Then people jumped on it for including microtransactions, which don't impact on gameplay at all and are entirely ignorable. But it's EA, so I guess any ammunition will do. Reply -7

• Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag preview: how Ubisoft plans to hook you back in

• Zyklonbzombie 04/03/2013

  @ZuluHero I agree completely. I love the look, feel, gameplay, atmosphere etc. of the AC games, but every time I run into a giant futuristic glitching wall or get transported back to present day, it just kills it dead.
  
  I'm sure I read somewhere that AC3 would be the last non-purely-historical title, but the logo at the end of that trailer suggests otherwise. Reply +4

• Parents refused refund by Apple after son spends £1700 on free iPad game

• Zyklonbzombie 01/03/2013

  @Capn_Franky Apple are free to do what they want. 'Making an example' out of a family with kids who lost a pretty big chunk of money probably isn't going to win them many customers, however.
  
  I'm definitely no Apple fan - but if they use a bit of discretion, understanding and compassion dealing with customers who make mistakes, good for them.
  
  And I highly doubt this happens so much, and that it's so difficult to rectify, that it's much of a burden.
  
  Gamers whine and moan about consumer rights, and the right to refunds and being ripped off all the time. And now you are all whining about a company actually deciding to show a bit of goodwill, because you've deemed the recipients 'stupid'/'undeserving'.
  
  Losing close to 2 grand is going to have a pretty bad impact on most people's lives. It's certainly not something I'd cheer on - especially with a family with young kids - for the sake of making a point. Reply -2

• Zyklonbzombie 28/02/2013

  @PlugMonkey This is an important point. People are incredibly quick to come down like a tonne of bricks on the parents for their lapse of judgement, as if that absolves developers of all responsibility for making apps aimed at kids, advertised as "free", and full of expensive microtransactions.
  
  Sadly, a lot of parents are ignorant and uninformed of the technology they are handing off to their children, but it doesn't justify developers exploiting this fact. Reply +2