November 2004 Archives

Since I couldn't get 'Half Life' to run, I thought I would try the next game on my list. 'Vampire: Bloodlines' was more than a pleasant surprise. It dragged me into its dark and sexy atmosphere as efficiently as a good movie, and left me with a strong feeling to continue the story even after a few days away from it.

Forget about the fiasco that is 'Half Life 2'. Released in the shadow of Valve's hit, and sharing the same Source graphic engine, 'Vampire: Bloodlines' is arguably a lot more interesting to play.

Instead of a graphically intense shooting gallery like 'Half Life 2', 'Vampire: Bloodlines' offers an immersive game, with an interactive world to explore. It follows the same tradition of role playing games as 'Deus Ex 1', 'Pandora Directive' and to some extend 'Morrowind', even though it doesn't go as far in creating a self contained world. The game mechanics are non-linear, leaving it to the player to decide whether pursuing the main story or explore the world through smaller quests.

One of the main features of this game is its story. Right from the opening scenes, the creative storyline and imaginative side quests create the illusion of a coherent world. The game remains faithful to the role playing game that inspired it by weaving a complex web of clans, sects and races (vampires, werewolves, ghouls, ghosts and other monsters). It is so faithful in fact, that it features definitely mature content. It is refreshing to see violent and sexy content used maturely at the service of a story and not just as an excuse to be offensive.

The second most important feature of this game is its incredible gallery of characters. Although the game does reuse some models in order to generat crowds of secondary extras, the main characters in the story are individuals. They are expressive, with a personality, an attitude and highlights in their eyes. I have rarely seen characters in a game that I could so easily care about.



Interestingly enough, the graphics in this game take the back seat. Even though they do not feature as many bells and whistles as 'Far Cry',' Doom III' or 'Half Life', they contribute to create a solid atmosphere. And guess what ? The story is so good that I could care less about using the latest shading or lighting technique.

Of course, the game is not perfect. I already found a few technical glitches, stuttering sound, some lag in cut scenes (a little like 'Half Life 2' issues, probably due to the shared graphics engine, but not as bad).

Add to this a dark and gothic soundtrack and you have the elements of a great gaming experience. 'Vampire:Bloodlines' is a perfect illustration that a game doesn't have to be gorgeous, cutting edge or perfect, as long as it is fun to play.

A recent increase in the amount of web based Spam is forcing me to shut down comments areas in the gallery and blog section of my site. The blog comments are now restricted to registered users only. Gallery comments are simply disabled for now... until I figure out a way to allow registered users as well.

Ads are already a cancer to every published medium. Spam is the nastiest form of this cancer. Unfortunately, as long as nobody's copyrights are threatened, chances to see a real criminalization of this practice will remain remote. Kids sharing music are a much easier target than people paid to write automated junk mail generators.

I'm sorry to report that, at least in my experience, Half Life 2 has been nothing but a series of disappointments. So far, the ultimate experience promised by the game is seems as unreachable as the top of that blue tower dominating City 17.

Over the past week, I have barely played a total of 4 hours into the game. This time was not spent at once, but it was spread out over multiple attempts.

Here is how these attemps ended :

1- Sound glitches. One security guard dismembered with polygons for arms and legs orbiting around his head. PC freezes.
2- Sound glitches. PC freezes during a scripted sequence. Sound stuck in a loop during the freeze.
3, 4 ,5 - Dead end. New level not automatically loaded. Menu scrambled - impossible to quit. Had to reboot.
6- Game freezes just before loading a new level. Sound stuck in loop.
7- PC reboots by itself just before an explosion in the game

Attempt #7 was the last time I could play. Since then, saved games won't even load. I can't get past 80% of the loading progress bar before the game crashes back to the desktop with two 'beeps' from windows.

I tried the game with and without Norton running. I tried it with and without sound. With low and high graphics settings with no result. Now I basically have to shelf the game until they come up with a patch which, hopefully, will make it functionnal. In the meantime, I will have to take a seat and watch the news about Half Life issues and monitor the Steam User Forum.

Needless to say, I am less than impressed for a game that has been hailed so far as the Second Coming by every game site I could find. Have any of these places experienced any glitch so far ?!

Between the Steam platform and the game itself, I have never seen such a convoluted installation procedure. Valve should have spent a little less time trying to block piracy attempts (that will happen no matter what) and invested more time into making sure the game would just work.

In no other industry are we willing to live (and spend money) on deficient products. I know bugs cannot be avoided, but there has to be some limit to what you put on the market.

Is that so much to ask to have a game that just works ?!

The wait is over. Gordon Freeman is back, with his crowbar and hoards of crab head zombies.

You can believe all the hyperbolic reviews that have started to appear all over the place. This is it - the best first person game ever.

But first, a reality check.

Before getting back to the goodness of playing this game, let me give you a little spoiler. As good as it is, Half Life on PC does not fare better than FarCry or Doom III as far as first impressions are concerned.

It is as expensive (about $60 with tax) and as frustrating to install as the other block busters.

First disappointment, the game requires a network connection to unlock its content through the creation of an account on Valve's Steam system. The experience of setting this up is as chilling as the oppressive totalitarian atmosphere the game is supposed to create. This activation system means that, in the (unlikely ?) event Valve goes down, you may not be able to install the game in the future. You can also forget installing the game behind a strict firewall or on a stand alone (offline) machine.

The activation phase itself is slow, partly due to the overwhelming response to the game. Apparently, Valve and Vivendi Universal did not anticipate there would be so many people trying to activate the game at the same time. After an aborted lauch in September 2003 and a year of wait, what did they expect ?

About 45 minutes and a few downloads later, the Steam platform is installed and Half Life ready to run. The game starts smoothly and the train station of City 17 appears in all its glory.... that is until one of the characters starts losing polygons and ends up dismembered in a spectacular freeze of the game.

One reboot later, a second attempt is a little more successful. After about half an hour of game, a teleporter sends Alex, one of the main characters, in a flashy... freeze and crash to the desktop.

Playing one last time after this second crash goes a little better. Loading times are long. The game stops for a couple of seconds from time to time and the audio skips a word here and there. These little glitches spoil te atmosphere and give an aftertaste of imminent crash. Not a good thing for a game where suspension of disbelief is key.

Hopefully, these glitches will be resolved over time. That would really make Half Life the best first person game I ever player.

For the rest, like I said, you can believe the reviews. The story is captivating, the music and twists send rushes of adrenaline through your spine. The atmosphere is deliciously oppressing. And the graphics are simply stunning, even though it is not always safe to stop and admire the view.

While I was away at a conference a few weeks ago, I found myself surrounded by researchers and students all typing away on their cool Mac laptops. Seeing the eyecandy of Mac OS-X, I wished I could find the same vidual comfort on my windows XP desktop. A few weeks later, I found the right combination of desktop gadgets to break away from the dull default XP theme.

First, I had to find a desktop skin closer to the brush metal look of iTunes. This was possible by installing StyleXP, a nice little utility to facilitate skins on windows. That allowed me to install a Brush Metal look found on ThemeXP.

Next stop - cool visual gadgets. The recent release of Konfabulator! to Windows made that possible. This utility includes a remote control for iTunes that can blend in with your desktop.

So far, the impact of these gadgets on the whole system is negligible and the impact on my morale invaluable.

When I first came across Kishars in Expose 1, I was amazed at the amount of details in the character. I just assumed most of the scene was digital painting - I was wrong. The work of Hyun Kyoung Up is actually made of incredibly detailed 3D models as displayed on his website.