So by now you’ve heard that everyone’s favorite Russian is the new crewmember to get the update treatement in TF2. While reading 1Fort today at lunch, I noticed that Chris was discussing ideas about what kind of weapons the Heavy might get, following Valve’s internal criteria for the Heavy update.
I figured that I haven’t [...]

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While I would like to investigate what GLaDOS says in this section (I invite players to unpack the audio and listen for themselves, or play through the final sections of the game again), I wanted to first explore what GLaDOS does throughout the game of Portal for this final critique and analysis of the game, [...]

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That is the question.
Recently 1up looked at the new Fallout 3 build at Bethesda, and while the internet is up in arms about the new 500 possible endings (no, you read that right), what I’m most amused about is that fans are evidently getting into a fit over the idea that the new V.A.T.S. system [...]

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Just about every game hits a point where they need to start talking about fine tuning the balance of how their combat works, and oftentimes, guns are usually brought up as the proper way to get the balance ball rolling. Normally, this is a pretty good argument to base a balancing conversation on, but [...]

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Seriously, Riggs.  Like the elderly ignoring the internet and cellular methods of communication, I feel as if I’m hitting a wall when it comes to “new” games and their control schemes.
I tried playing Super Smash Brothers Brawl (SSBB) at work last Friday, and while I recognize the appeal and the quality, I had a hard [...]

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One of the things I’m noticing in my playthrough of Assassin’s Creed (although they aren’t the only ones doing this) that is bugging me a lot lately is this mis-placed idea that the character animations always have to “line up” with what he’s really doing in the world.  Somehow “next-gen” has come to mean “more [...]

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I managed to finally get my mitts on Assassin’s Creed and began a playthrough of it today, and a buddy of mine brought over Mass Effect just so I could look at it.
I’ll have some larger notes as to what each one’s getting right and wrong later, maybe some full critiques, but for now there’s [...]

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I was pointed at Eric Willaims’ blog (combat designer on God of War) today by our team lead for his essay on Combat Cancelled, which is an insanely in-depth look at cancels in combat animations, and how they make games more fun.  I wish he’d have called it the 2-in-1 system (and later the 3-in-1 [...]

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But the tanks? A serious disappointment. They were obviously nothing more than armored pickup trucks with a turret attached to them, as far as the code was concerned. They didn’t do anything that an actual tank could do. Hell, sometimes, they couldn’t even drive in reverse uphill, and I won’t even get into the “friendly” AI driving worse than a NY cabbie. Still worse, the optics on them were non-existent. I.E. they had none. A current day Abrams tank can accurately hit a target two miles away. Crysis takes place, what, ten years in the future and I can’t get a set of optics on the thing even half as good as a sniper rifle? Hell, I’ll even take the assault scope optics here. Just give me some optics. But none? Completely inexcusable. On foot I’ve got my choice of two different scopes and a pair of smart binoculars with a laser/shotgun microphone. Am I to believe there was no room for a pair of binoculars on this tank?

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Awhile back I mentioned that my number one rule in game design is: Gameplay is King. It will always be king. There is nothing that should ever trump it. Not the art, not the license, nothing.
Except for one thing: Jedi.
It goes without saying that Jedi are extremely popular in geek/nerdlore/culture. [...]

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