Hell yes!
- December 26, 2007 - 6:03pm
Well it finally looks as if Unknown Worlds is working on Natural Selection 2. I have been waiting for far too long. :) If you are a FPS/Strat lover and not familiar with NS, then you have been greatly missing out. Natural Selection takes a multi player FPS and adds an RTS overlay with a commander. So at the beginning of a round someone takes up the commander seat and views the entire game on a flat down birds eye view. He/She can set way points for the other players, drop them health, ammo, etc. Also, he can drop turrets to help them hold corridors. This is of course assuming the team has obtained and held control of resource gathering locations, which allow the commander to do drops, upgrade weapons, unlock new weapons etc. It is a Half-Life mod, and they are now working on the Source version. You should check it out here: http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2
Comments
ʊien
Graphics Designer
ɤphotofroggy
Remembers What Arcades Are
ӝspot
Chief Instigator
I, Gamer!
ɤphotofroggy
Remembers What Arcades Are
ӝspot
Chief Instigator
If our achievement system was in place I would deduct points just for being anti-pc.
Bad Froggy! Bad!
I, Gamer!
ɤphotofroggy
Remembers What Arcades Are
Also; hoshi- plz don't deduct achievements?
If anything you should be criticised for being anti-console!
Bad Spot!
ӝspot
Chief Instigator
Well, I don't hate them. I just started greatly disliking them after publishers starting doing stupid things like making what look like badass games _ONLY_ for consoles!
I actually was in a four month war with Blizzard support through email about Starcraft: Ghost only going to consoles.
Grr!
I, Gamer!
ɤphotofroggy
Remembers What Arcades Are
ӝspot
Chief Instigator
It is much like what we were talking about with frameworks vs. hard code.
When a developer is writing code/creating art assets/sound assets/etc. there are many things that constantly have to be taken into consideration. And if you are working on code/art/sound for a console, you have a big leap forward because you know EXACTLY what cpu/gpu/memory/media space/etc that you have to work with. As opposed to PC's where you have to write your system to predict and work with a growing immense plethora of hardware/system setups.
So when they are coding, they have a dev version of the console sitting on their desk, and when they run their code and get XX frames per second, they _KNOW_ that the end user will have the exact same system, and therefore get the exact same performance.
Also, PC gamers are, on average, much more picky gamers. They want way more controls/graphics/audio/content configuration options, and they still want the game to run just the same no matter what they pick.
So it is a matter that it's less hassle for the development studio, less support overhead for the publisher, less art assets (because 99.9% of consoles have no need for different texture size packs), and therefore the cost-to-gold goes way down.
In exchange for all of this, we get games some shitty controls, a lack in the story quite often, and all around dumbed down at times.
Which for some games is fine. I will admit that playing a fighter like Virtua Fighter on a PC would kind of dumb. I would rather play it on a console. Also some platformers are the same way. I am a huge Ratchet & Clank fan. I could play that on a PC, but its just easier with a controller.
The problem sets in when you have large companies start using consoles to push forward their goals and ignore the PC market. Halo is a great example on multiple sides. It is a FPS, and those do not _belong_ on consoles. Do they work on consoles, sure. Do they work remotely as well, not at all. I was joking around with Chris Bolt (who has an XBOX and 360) a few years back and linked him to a little adapter which would let me plug my mouse and kb in as an XBOX controller. I said I should get that and then I could play HALO2 when it came out. His response was 'Yeah, you can, but everyone would hate you.' and I replied with mixed confusion, until he told me 'With a mouse and kb you would rape everyone online. A controller is not made for FPS, the amount of reaction time you get from a mouse is so far beyond a controller stick, it is almost incalculable.'
If that is not a good enough example, this next one is so funny it's almost not funny.
Halo Wars, is an RTS. I will say this again, an RTS. Microsoft made a good call and gave this one to Ensemble Studios. They are based here in Dallas and have a long track record of great RTS work. All of the Age of Empires games are to their credit and they know what they are doing. They have also never released Age of Empires on a console. Do you know why? Because an RTS __REQUIRES__ a mouse. Can you get an RTS to work on a console? I'm sure you can with some innovative hackish thinking, but that is not the point. It is not meant for a console, in this case Microsoft is trying to push a square block through a round hole.
Oh, and guess what!? Halo Wars is _exclusively_ on the 360. No PC.
It's this bullshit that has be so pissed at consoles. Not that they exist, but that a large amount of people believe they are the next revolution in video gaming. And even that is fine, whatever. Have your fun everyone, but to make things exclusive? Come on, that is just fucking stupid.
I, Gamer!
ɤphotofroggy
Remembers What Arcades Are
Gears Of War used to be an Xbox 360 exclusive, but they recently released a PC version which can allegedly interact with xbox live, THAT is the way forward.
Personally I don't give a crap if you can move fast with a mouse, I can manage just fine with a controller
I reckon that if I had more time and money, I would get a beefy PC, with a mouse and whatnot, and buy FPS games for it, because Unreal Tournament is one that is obviously for the PC, it's so delicious
That said, I would still have my Xbox 360 close by, because consoles offer features which PCs don't have (afaik), mostly due to the points you have mentioned. But I dunno, I really do just prefer a controller these days because I've become used to it. Also; look at what Nintendo have done with controllers. You can do pretty much anything with anything and make it work, so you can push controllers further than Nintendo have done if you put your mind to it.
Also, I think Nintendo has always been playing around with controllers and such; they had a glove controller at one point, which had a keyboard attached... lol. The controller was pretty fail, but I reckon with the Wii (giggle here plz) they have shown that you can do more, and use controllers in a far more appropriate manner. In FPS games, I imagine that using the Wii controller would be like a optical mouse of some sort
People really should keep their eyes on Nintendo more...
ӝspot
Chief Instigator
Also, you do just fine with your controller because you have never had use that controller to play against someone using a mouse.
I, Gamer!
ɤphotofroggy
Remembers What Arcades Are
ӝspot
Chief Instigator
I, Gamer!
ӝspot
Chief Instigator
I, Gamer!
ɤphotofroggy
Remembers What Arcades Are
¤Sangue
Is laying mines for the good of all.
Napalm Riot's News Babe.
ӝspot
Chief Instigator
I, Gamer!
¤Sangue
Is laying mines for the good of all.
It's actually quite fun, if you are more into playing a fun game than you are concentrating on how "good" the graphics look.
Napalm Riot's News Babe.
ӝspot
Chief Instigator
Ien and I looked at Spring and it looks like its purely fighting. Is there no base-building component to the game?
I, Gamer!
¤Sangue
Is laying mines for the good of all.
I think you'd enjoy it, once you found a Mod you liked.
Napalm Riot's News Babe.
ӝspot
Chief Instigator
I, Gamer!
¤Sangue
Is laying mines for the good of all.
It's version 5.91, I think. http://www.unknown-files.net/spring/
Napalm Riot's News Babe.
ӝspot
Chief Instigator
I, Gamer!
¤Sangue
Is laying mines for the good of all.
Napalm Riot's News Babe.
ӝspot
Chief Instigator
I, Gamer!
ɤInfog
Rushes With Zerg
I would always want to be commander!
ӝspot
Chief Instigator
An experienced commander with a team who will listen to him/her is completely unstoppable. It's wild the difference it makes.
I, Gamer!
ѻmick-mick
All Your Base Are Belong To Me
I'm a gamer, He's a gamer, She's a gamer, We some gamers,
Wouldn't you like to be a gamer too?
ӝspot
Chief Instigator
I, Gamer!
ѻmick-mick
All Your Base Are Belong To Me
Oh man.. I'm gonna love this.
I'm a gamer, He's a gamer, She's a gamer, We some gamers,
Wouldn't you like to be a gamer too?