Dear Lord, please give the police and media a brain! (Parents too!)

Dear God, Santa, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, and The Wizard of Oz:

Today I am writing you because of a very important issue. Here in America, there has been an increase in the amount of people shooting other people up in public places. There was the crazy Virgina Tech shootings, the Halo 3 Killer, the Mortal Combat killer, Columbine Shooting, and now this...you get my point. Have mercy on the killers and all, but that's not why I'm writing today.

Today I am asking that you give a brain to the media, police investigators, and some half-wit parents who can't seem to understand that children can be mentally unstable. (By Children I mean anyone under the age of 18.) Being a teenager can be hard. They think that their life is the center of the universe, and that no problem in their life will be more important than anything they have to deal with now. Some times, kids can't cope with their drama trauma and they steal a gun and shoot a person.

But how come the cops, the government, the parents, and the media all want to find a scape-goat and not blame the fucked up children? We are so quick to judge these days that we don't really look deeper than the surface. Sure, that dude shot up Virginia Tech, but he was a basket case. It was't because he played Counter-Strike for 30 hours a day. He played counter-strike because he was fucked up in the head(everyone knows Counter-Strike players are weird fuckers). Joking aside, before we jerk our knees into our faces, lets actually look at the facts. There are millions of well adjusted teens playing video games all over the nation. These kids aren't shooting anyone but their friends' digital avatars. Most kids know when fantasy ends and reality begins.

If you read the news articles, you will see that the 24-year old killed him self at the end of the shooting spree.(I'm speculating he had some issues.) It also said that he was quiet and stuck to himself. Referencing back to the movie anger management, (paraphrase) "there are 2 types of people, explosive and implosive. Explosive is the person yelling at the casheir because their coupon expired, and implosive people keep their emotions bottled up until they burst, shooting up every thing in the store."

For me, video games are a release. It allows me to blow stuff up in a controlled environment, so I don't act out my aggressions on my wife, my coworkers, or random people at a night club.

So, whom ever may be listening, please let the authorites, news media, and lame ass parents, find a brain, wether it be used, new, or somewhere in between. Let them see that Video Games are not fucking up our children. The answer lies deeper than you think.

The Rage; It's Filling Me Up

OK, we got some interesting things to discuss today. The Rage Quitters. Do you know what that is? Apparently it is someone who gets mad when they get their ass whopped at an online video game (specifically Left4Dead) and leaves in the middle of a game. While playing earlier last week, we encountered this to a frightening degree. People dropping left and right just after getting slaughtered 5 feet out of the apartment door.

I think it's time for you kiddies to learn to take a whoopin'n. Maybe its because when I was a kid I got a belt to the ass when I was bad. Maybe its because I'm playing against the instant gratification generation. If they can't win, they storm off and pout.

I think I'm ready to see the Xbox Kiddies grow up. Maybe not. That could possible be bad.

Example:
Employer to interviewee: "Mr. Smith, I see you have quite the impressive resume, but I really don't think that you would be a good fit for our firm."

Interviewee: "WHAT?!? YOU FUCKING JERKS! MY SKILLS ARE 1337! NOONE CAN DO THE JOB LIKE ME. I FUCKED YOUR MOM LAST NIGHT JERKASS. KISS MY NUTS DOUCHE. I FUCKIN' PWNED YOU AND YOUR RETARDED COMPANY!!!!"

I'm not sure what it is, but when there is a power vaccuume on a team, I will try to fill it. If you can give a team direction, it usually helps alot. Most of the time you have 4 wondering idiots trying to shoot their way through a pile of zombies. At the first sign of trouble, some one will sneak away and run to the safe house. If i was one of the last 4 people on planet Earth, I don't think I would be running away from my pals, even if it meant certain doom.

What would Jesus do?

Left 4 Dead Update

Looks like Valve went ahead and put out the patch for L4D. Getting rid of some of the annoying shit that was plaguing the PC verision for a while now. Here is a partial list, hit the jump for the full scoop.

Hunter

• Easier to pounce a Survivor who is meleeing
  
• Increased Minimum damage a Hunter pounce does
  

Smoker

• Fixed Smoker tongue tolerance
  
• Smoker now has to be killed or the tongue destroyed for the tongue to break
  
• Survivors cannot bash someone off the tongue until the Survivor being pulled is paralyzed or hanging
  
• Tongue attacks that fail to paralyze or hang a Survivor will use the shorter ability delay timer
  
• Fixed cases where the ability timer was not using the correct time
  
• Fixed case where you could point at a Survivor but not register a tongue hit
  
• Fixed Smoker tongue not targeting and landing properly through PZ ghosts
  
• Smoker tongue does damage every second while dragging paralyzed Survivors
  

Tank

• Bashable objects now appear with a red glow
  
• Tanks hitting a car with an alarm disables the alarm permanently
  
• Tank frustration timer is only reset by hitting Survivors with rocks or fists
  
• Reduced autoshotgun damage against Tanks
  

Witch

• Witch spawns at the same % through the map for both teams
  
• Avoids spawning within a certain % of the tank
  
• Fixed an exploit where the Witch could be woken up and tricked into attacking Survivors

January Goodness

Well, word on the street is that we are going to be getting a L4D game update this week to removes some bugs/exploits from the PC version of the game. We are also awaiting a content update for L4D for both PC and 360 that will be released at the same time. Although due to Live Marketplace rules, Valve is going to have to charge for content via the 360. The DLC will be free as always on the PC.

Not sure if any of you are 1up.com readers, but it looks like the UGO.com network has gobbled up 1up.com from ZiffDavis. Aparrently about 30 employees were booted that day, including Ryan Scott from the "LAN Party/PC podcast" that I really enjoyed listening to.

Crayon Physics is finally a full game. The tech demo that was released a few months back was able to finish the game, and now look for Crayon physics deluxe for purchase. Here is a link to the download via RockPaperShotgun.com

Remeber, we have a ton of good games on the horizon for the upcoming months including StarCraft 2, Dawn of War 2, and Mirror's Edge.

WHOOMP! THERE IT IS!

I don't like to say 'I told you so,' but in this case: "I told you so!" Battlefield Heroes is delayed untill sometime in 2009. HA! This after going off on them for saying that the game was already out. BIG MISTAKE. Remember the perrills of Duke Nukem 4? We'll its almost 10 years later and still no game. Not sure who they are targeting with DN4? I'm hopeing they can pack it with fun gameplay instead of cashing in on the fanboys who buy the compolsory copy. DICE still owes for a BF2 patch by the way. They had a release a while back and still no sign of it.

Tonight is the eve of Left 4 Dead release. I think I am going to test it out at 12:01 AM. Hellz yeah! I got L4D to tide me over untill DICE can get thier game together. Thanks Valve!

Fun With the AI Director

Well, clever little gremlins seem to have found a way to somewhat cheat the AI Director. On the No Mercy Demo, we decided to fool around this evening. We found a way down from the roof of the first scene totally bypassing the building. However, the AI director does not seem to like that very much sending a horde of nasties flying at you from every direction. Your teammates on the roof can do little to defend you so they must rush through the building at their own peril. It always seems that in these times, when the group gets split up that really bad things happen. We've been pinned down, with all for bosses flying at us. We have yet to see a tank on the first act, but things can get nuts. I think the game is playing us so to speak.

Left 4 Dead

Alright. I'm convinced. This game rocks. I think I've played the demo more than 40 times. I'm still not bored of the game. I think I'm calling it Game of the Year. I guess it might be a bit too early to start saying that, but the AI director is pretty sweet. Every game is different, even though you are playing the same level. I wasn't planning on pre-ordering, but holy crap, its pretty amazing.

I wrote Gabe Newell an email the other day. I was just so impressed by the 5 minute video. Well tha game is the same way. I told him that Valve games are not made, they are crafted.

PROs:
-4 player co-op mode for story mode.
-AI Director: Every game is custom tailored to your performance.
-The game immerses you from the start. Dripping with atmosphere.
-Team work is a must. Lone wolfing will get you a hunter on your back or a smoker around your neck.

CONS:
-Demo's interface is too much like the console. I'd much rather have total steam integration for chatting and game finding.
-AI team will take pills and health before letting players get powerups.
-No Melee weapon! (hehe)
-Users cant effectively draw the attention of a tank from a teammate.


I feel really sorry for the zombie panic source mod, because this blows it out of the water. With a 4 player co-op game, the action is focused and you can't neglect your team.

BOOYA! Sorry to be such a fan boy, but I think this game is going to give PC game a good shot in the arm. I think anyone playing FallOut 3 is going to drop what they are doing and head to L4D. However, on the console side, I think the story is a bit different. The console version of L4D is going to have to be toned down so much because the lack of freedom to move and aim. The controler severely limits reaction times. Fighting the rush of zombitos coming at you from behind is going to be difficult when you turn about as fast as a roast duck on a spit. Also, i think that the console market is flooded with shooters constantly. If you got a gaming PC and activly purchased games, you'd save money by sticking with the PC than the 360. 44 dollars vs a 60 dollar price tag. Not to mention, im getting exclusive access to the demo before the douches in 360-land can even touch celophane.

Well, I shouldn't be celebrating untill I'm out of the city, cause I just crossed the street.

"Groovy"

Zombies: Check; Oh and Rainbows Too

Wow! That pretty much sums up my expirience with it. Today Valve posted the 5 minute intro video to Left 4 Dead. If you thought the "TF2 Meet the:" videos were good, this will blow you out of the water. I don't know who is doing the videos for Valve, but they sure as hell know what they are doing. Its a five minute clip, but the action is just nonstop, and to tell you the truth, builds a lot of tension in that short time. I'm really looking forward to the AI director. Random spawns of baddies in a 4-player co-op environment sounds awesome.

A few of us just picked up Rainbow Six: Vegas 2. We saw it on Steam for a meager 20 bucks. Not a bad price for a console port. It uses the Unreal 3 engine. Runs well on my machine even though its a few generations old. The game is less tactical than other R6 games. You don't have to do the mission planning and way points. In the single player mode its already laid out for you. I think its neat to have online Co-op for the single player story mode. You can jump in and jump out of games online. We've been doing quite a bit of terrorist hunting lately. Pings good, even playing with pals 3/4 of the way across the country. R6V2 uses a similar cover system to that of Gears of War. It makes for interesting fire fights, taking cover, making sure you're out of the line of sight. The AI is questionable at times, but for the most part delivers a solid performance. They try to flank you, ambush you and curse you out. "That's pretty good assholes!" For 20 bucks I can't find any qualms. It's crashed to desktop a few times, and there are some minor sound glitches with a machine gun sound sticking. Other than that, check it out!

Grabbag and Potpouri

Well a couple of topics to cover today. I already got my rant out of the way. Time for some gaming news. We are now post-TGS. All kinds of Wii music announcements and Nintendo shit was made public last week. Nothing too spectacular to talk about there unless you like all the import RPGs.

It looks like "Good Old Games" has gone live with a public beta. You can get access to all the cool games of the late 1990's such as MDK and Citizen Kabuto and newer games like Colin McCre Rally 2005. It looks like its a game tap type setup, except no monthly fee, looks like you pay per game. $5-10 is a reasonable price for an older PC game when a NES game is going for $5 dollars on Wii's Virtual Console.

Rumors abound that Legendary Pictures is looking to purchase Epic Games. Epic's Mark Reign is trying to quell the rumors saying that the speculation is all false. This comes on the heals of the public announcement that Legendary and Epic are teaming up for the Gears of War movie. Reports say CliffyB is looking for a "Clive Owen" type to play the lead roll. Interesting.

MMO news out of LucasArts this week. It seems EA and LucasArts are departing on a MMO adventure of the StarWars kind. The Old Republic looking to be the next step from Bioware's Knight of the Old Republic standard RPG released a few years back. Could be good, could be bad, the recent rash of StarWars licenced games have sucked. (I'll make an exception for Lego StarWars.) The MMO space has a lot to chew on with WoW's 10 million users and growing.

Lord of the Rings Online's new expansion "The Mines of Moria" is due out November 18.

Valve's zombie-survival coop game "Left 4 Dead lands Nov. 18 as well. L4D is looking to be the multiplayer game of the year if it can make it on time.

Finally! Little Big Planet? Anyone play this yet? Looks kinda neat.