Tag: PC Gaming

Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 Video Interview

Nvidia director of GeForce gaming Jason Paul joins talks about the GeForce GTX 680 in this video interview. Not only is Nvidia’s latest graphics card its most powerful gaming card to date, it’s also the most efficient. In addition to killer performance, the GTX 680 consumes less power and runs quieter than its forerunners. Paul talks about the GTX 680’s numerous features, including FXAA, adaptive vsync, GPU boost, and quad-display support.

For a full review of the Nvidia GeForce GTX 680, I highly recommend checking out this excellent AnandTech article. The chart below comes from the site’s review.

Any of you planning to upgrade to the Nvidia GeForce GTX 680?

Backing Stoic Studio’s The Banner Saga

Kickstarter-funded games are the rage in 2012. Developers love circumventing publishers and gamers love feeling like they’re directly involved with the games they buy. The Banner Saga is a recent Kickstarter project that caught my eye. It combines a few of my favorite things. It’s being made by Stoic Studio, which was formed by several ex-BioWare talents. It has a beautiful animated art style and gameplay similar to Final Fantasy Tactics (still my all-time favorite). Former BioWare peeps, sweet art, and FFT gameplay?!? Sign me up!!!

I’m definitely going to contribute to this project. I just need to figure out how much I can afford. If you have a sec, check out the trailer and let me know what you think of The Banner Saga.

Diablo III Coming on May 15, 2012

Blizzard has announced that Diablo III will be on store shelves starting May 15, 2012. A digital version sold directly from Blizzard will also be available on Battle.net. Every major Blizzard release is a huge deal and surely the release of Diablo III will be a major event for millions of gamers. While going with the digital version provides instant gratification, some of you might want to wait for the goodie-packed version detailed below.

A special alabaster-white Collector’s Edition, sold exclusively in retail stores at a suggested retail price of $99.99 USD, will include the full game on DVD-ROM, a behind-the-scenes Blu-ray/DVD two-disc set, the Diablo III soundtrack CD, a 208-page Art of Diablo III book, and a 4 GB USB soulstone (including full versions of Diablo II and Diablo II: Lord of Destruction®) and corresponding Diablo skull base, as well as exclusive in-game content for Diablo III, World of Warcraft®, and StarCraft® II: Wings of Liberty®.

I’m completely psyched for Diablo III, but I have to admit that seeing Infinity Blade: Dungeons on the iPad 2012 lowered my interest a bit. As many of you know, I love portable gaming and I love my iPad. Certainly Diablo III will be a deeper and richer experience…but I can’t play it on my sofa, in my bed, lying down during a trans-Pacific flight, etc.

I know at least one of you has soured on Diablo III a bit, but I still want to check if any of you are excited for this game. For you Mac guys and gals out there, don’t forget that it runs on OS X too! So who’s down with Diablo III?!?

Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition Announced

Atari, Wizards of the Coast, and Overhaul Games have announced Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition, which will be sold through Beamdog. Both Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate II (and presumably all the expansion content) will be getting enhanced with a modern version of the Infinity Engine. The term being bandied about is “re-forged”, which is a revelation to me since I was always under the impression that game engines were coded, not forged. Here are more details from the announcement page:

Overhaul Games has assembled a talented team of artists, programmers and designers to enhance this timeless classic. To remain true to the spirit of the game, the team includes original Baldur’s Gate developers.

Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition and Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition will feature a re-forged version of the Infinity Engine with a variety of modern improvements.

A few people I chatted with at GDC questioned how well the game will do with Beamdog. Some wondered if gamers would be willing to go with another digital-distribution service just to play these remakes. As for me, hell yeah I’ll use Beamdog to play an enhanced Baldur’s Gate!!! I’m sure hundreds of thousands of people will feel the same and maybe some newcomers will jump into the mix simply because they’ve heard people rave about the Baldur’s Gate games.

How about you? Any interested in Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition?

Source

Coffee Talk #462: What’s the Frequency, Pachter?

The other day an old colleague posted a very angry tweet about Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter. I was actually surprised by his anger. My friend has worked in videogames for quite some time, with staff positions at G4 and IGN. It’s one thing for people that read videogame-enthusiast…

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Verve’s Costa Rica Don Mayo, which NBA team made the best deadline trade, or throwing rocks at people waiting in line for the new iPad, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

The other day an old colleague posted a very angry tweet about Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter. I was actually surprised by his anger. My friend has worked in videogames for quite some time, with staff positions at G4 and IGN. It’s one thing for people that read videogame-enthusiast publications to get upset about Pachter, but it surprises me when people inside the business give him heat about some of the things he says.

Before I explain all that, keep in mind that I like Michael a lot. He’s cool and fun and smart. He might be the highest-paid person I know that can talk to (a scrub like) me about videogames, WWE, and gaming United Airlines frequent flyer program. I completely admit my bias and will gladly defend Pachter’s honor.

Having said that, I totally understand why readers and viewers get mad at him. Some of his predictions are flat-out wrong. Some of the things he says are outlandish. He likes to talk to the press…a lot. Sometimes I get the impression that he enjoys stirring the pot just to see the reactions he’ll get. He’s the most quoted financial analyst that covers games. If you’re judging him based off of his quotes, then yeah, I can see why you’d have heat with him.

However, if you thought about his actual job was and what he actually gets paid to do then you wouldn’t take the Michael Pachter “persona” so seriously.  Just take a peak at the Wedbush corporate site. I don’t see a section that says, “We specialize in riling up fanboys by making bold and sometimes completely wrong predictions to the press.” He’s an analyst! He crunches numbers, sifts through data, writes investor advice, and makes decisions that affect a lot of money. (Yes, I totally simplified his job for the sake of brevity.)

Personally, I find it amusing that so many readers and viewers “hate” Pachter. I’m sure he finds it funny too. When someone with my colleague’s experience has an issue with him, it’s surprising. Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised. Maybe a lot of people inside and outside of the business think that quoted Pachter and working Pachter are the same guy. *shrug*

I’m sure you’ve read a lot of Michael Pachter quotes over the years. I know that a few of you follow him on Twitter. Out of curiosity, what do you think of him and the things he says?

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

Gah! There’s so much that I want to play this weekend! I’ve been enjoying the hell out of Final Fantasy Tactics for iPad. It’s like falling in love all over again. However, I’m going to have to put it aside for a bit when my new iPad arrives today. I can’t wait to see the updated Infinity Blade II with its “Retina Display” (total marketing BS term, fyi) graphics. I also need to find time to play Asura’s Wrath (not that it’s very long); my friends are so split on this game that I need to see what’s up. Of course I’m hoping that those of you with a PlayStation 3 give Journey a shot. It’s such a beautiful experience.

What’s on your weekend playlist?

Valve Working on “Steam Box” Console?

Here’s the frontrunner for the hottest videogame rumor of 2012: Valve is working on a Steam-powered console and could reveal more details next week at GDC 2012. That’s the word from the excellent Joshua Topolsky from The Verge. It will be interesting to see if Valve can succeed as a console manufacturer. Certainly videogame publishers and developers would benefit from a more diverse, flexible, and open system. Valve is a phenomenal developer and Steam is a fantastic service, but selling, marketing, and supporting console hardware is a Herculean undertaking. It would be a huge risk, but it could also reap huge rewards.

Obviously I want this rumor to pan out. The ramifications are just tremendous. Imagine Valve suddenly becoming a major player in videogame development, publishing, and console manufacturing? It sounds crazy, but it would be fantastic to see Valve try to change the “Big Three” of console gaming (Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony) to the “Fantastic Four”. A videogame system that’s a bit more open has the chance to help fix console gaming’s broken publishing model. For that reason alone, I’m thrilled by the potential of a Steam Box.

Are you geeked out by the potential of a Steam Box console from Valve? Do you see a Steam-based console changing the videogame business? Are you interested in buying a “less closed” console from Valve?

Source

What Are You Playing This Weekend? (And Beyond!)

I’m off to San Francisco for GDC on Sunday. I’ll be writing, filming, and editing for SlideToPlay/Padvance, so feel free to update any changes to what you’re playing throughout the week. As for me, I’ve been doubling my Final Fantasy pleasure and will continue to do so until I leave. Of course I’m still enjoying Final Fantasy XIII-2. I reached the last chapter 15 gameplay hours ago; now I’m just running around space and time, collecting items to develop my monsters.

Earlier in the week, I started Final Fantasy Tactics for iPad. The original PlayStation version is my favorite game of all time. It’s frickin’ brilliant that my all-time favorite game now lives on my iPad 2! So far, it doesn’t have the performance issues that plagued the iPhone version. That said, I haven’t had any huge battles with lots of summons yet. The controls definitely feel weird after playing hundreds of hours of the game on the PlayStation and PlayStation Portable. It took me about four hours to get accustomed to controlling FFT with a touchscreen and I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it completely. It’s not a big deal though. The gameplay, art style, and music completely rule!

How about you? What’s on your weekend playlist (and beyond!)?

Baldur’s Gate HD Remake or Sequel in the Works?

Earlier in the week, I posted a link on my Facebook page to this Baldur’s Gate teaser site. As some of you know, Baldur’s Gate is one of my favorite series of all times; I played through the first game 18 times and the sequel 11 times. With that in mind, I’ve been terribly excited by the teased return of this brilliant series. That said, people are split on what’s actually coming. I spoke to a few videogame journalists and opinions were divided; some think that a Baldur’s Gate HD remake is in the works, while others believe that a true sequel is on the way.

Adding to the intrigue is former BioWare director Trent Oster. Taking a page from the Riddler’s book, Oster has been sending out enigmatic tweets on the new Baldur’s Gate project. By the way, he’s now working for Beamdog, which published the MDK2 HD remake. Like Baldur’s Gate, MDK2 was developed by BioWare and published by Interplay. It’s all so…convenient.

What do you think is happening? Is Baldur’s Gate getting the HD treatment? Or is a new game in the works? I’m going to wish for both, but that’s unlikely. Any of you excited by the prospect of playing Baldur’s Gate with an HD version of the Infinity Engine? It’s been too long since I’ve adventured with gaming’s most fantastic brain-addled warrior (Minsc) and his miniature-giant space-hamster (Boo)!

Coffee Talk #459: Measuring the Value of DLC

I’ve been reading a lot of complaints about the “Sazh: Heads or Tails” DLC for Final Fantasy XIII-2. I totally understand people not liking the story elements or not digging Sazh, but I don’t see how people can criticize it for being a poor value. For $4.99 you get some cute touchscenes…

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Verve’s El Salvador Izote, the Windows 8 consumer preview, or rooting for Heejun Han, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

I’ve been reading a lot of complaints about the “Sazh: Heads or Tails” DLC for Final Fantasy XIII-2. I totally understand people not liking the story elements or not digging Sazh, but I don’t see how people can criticize it for being a poor value. For $4.99 you get some cute touchscenes, two casino games, and a character crystal that can be used for the whole game. While I enjoyed the story (not enough single-father-as-the-hero angles in gaming), being able to get Sazh as a support character was more than worth the $4.99. He’s one of the best synergists in the game!

Seeing all the whiners complain about the DLC made me think about how DLC value is measured. Obviously it’s very subjective, but the medium is so new that publishers are still learning how much digital add-ons are worth to gamers. For story-driven add-ons, how many hours of gameplay do you expect from DLC? What’s the right price for in-game outfits? What factors do you use in determining whether or not a certain batch of DLC is worth your money?