Wat zal gebeuren wanneer de speciale gevolgen niet speciaal anymore zijn? [Verticaal]

Mijn zoon en ik ging zien De romp toen de nieuwe film van de Studio van het Wonder onlangs in de Stad van Oklahoma, opende en wij allebei indruk gemaakt op met de naadloze aard van de elementen van CGI in movie. Aangezien wij vanaf het theater dreven, begonnen wij over hoe te spreken de filmtechnologie heeft geëvolueerdl, makend films als De romp en Ironman mogelijk. Ik vertelde hem over `gee-whiz' voelend ik had toen ik zag De Oorlogen van de ster voor het eerst in een klein movie theater in Sugarland, Texas terug in de recente jaren '70, en wij begonnen brainstorming over de toekomst van film. Spoedig, zullen de populaire sterren zich ontwikkelen die volledig worden gecre�ërd - namelijk zullen hun stemmen en eigenschappen volledig geproduceerd worden door computers. Met de onvermijdelijke verbeteringen die in CGI voorkomen, spoedig zullen movie-goers niet het verschil tussen levende actoren en door de computer geproduceerde karakters kunnen vertellen. En plotseling, zullen wij actoren `' hebben wie het zelfde voor letterlijk honderden jaren kan kijken. Veronderstel een storyline die een paar eeuwen een - of zelfs millennium - het kon gebeuren overspant.

But what happens when the ‘gee-whiz’ wears off? My grandchildren will take CGI technology for granted, because they’ll grow up in a time when it’s the norm, instead of something that’s new and exciting. I’ll admit, I’ve gone to a few films where the only redeeming quality was the power of its special effects. But what will happen when special effects aren’t ’special’ anymore?

That’s easy - writing will become more important again. The story will become more critical to the success of a film than its visuals. Hollywood comes full circle.

Just think about the ‘website craze’ when the Internet was relatively new to public use. A million sites sprang up that had plenty of flash - but no real content. Predictably, those content-poor websites withered on the vine, and justly so. As the World Wide Web has become more mature, the emphasis has shifted away from sites with scrolling marquees to sites that are content-rich. Only the strong survive.

The same thing will happen in film. Great CGI effects won’t be enough to keep an audience’s attention. In fact today, the best movie is the one with both: great special effects and a great storyline. Marvel’s Spider-man franchise is a good example.

So, I’m excited about the future of film. As a person who would rather read a well-written book than see a poorly-written movie, I’ll welcome the soon-to-appear improvement in scripts and dialogue.

And besides, with all this new CGI wizardry, maybe someone will be brave enough to make a movie of the Foundation Trilogy. You could stretch that excellent storyline over a couple of centuries!

PTD @ Defcon 7

Are you ready to join PTD in the areas largest Sci-Fi and Anime convention in the state? If you said Yeah!” or even “Uh, maybe” then mark your calendar for Tulsa Defcon 7.

PTD is going to be hosting the 72 hour PC LAN party this year (we’ll be opening registration shortly) and would love to meet our local readers at the event. We’ll be posting more details as we get them, so keep your browser tuned to this channel for more information.

[UPDATE] Registration is now open, please use the orange button below to reserve your seat.

Join us in the forums with any questions or comments, and do make sure to pop in and let us know what games you want to be playing.

Tournaments will be held at 8:00 PM and 12:00 AM (midnight) on Friday and Saturday night.

Join the PTD Staff for TF2 tonight!

It’s Friday night, dear reader, and that can only mean one thing. We’ve spun up a new Team Fortress 2 dedicated server and are ready to frag you to oblivion. If you’ve got a copy of Team Fortress 2, point your server browser to tf.ptdmagazine.com and join us starting at 9:00PM CST. We’ll play until our eyes bleed or the sun comes up, which ever comes first.

We’ll also be awarding random “door prizes” to players, so make sure you pop in and see what’s up.

Army of Two

There was a lot of hype surrounding Army of Two, so I was pretty excited when it finally came out.? After watching a lot of the trailers and commercials, and then actually playing the game, I can assure you that this is just one of far too many examples of how style and hype can supersede substance and quality. ?

The story follows the adventures of Salem and Rios, two ex-Army Rangers-turned-mercenaries hired to do the government’s dirty work.? As you go on missions and complete your objectives, you receive cash rewards so you can pimp out your armory.? As you start following the “story,” you soon discover that someone within your organization is trying to sell you out.? Shocker!

There are some good gameplay concepts.? One example is that if you’re too wounded to fight, you can be dragged away to safety by your partner while you provide covering fire till he takes you to cover so he can heal you.? Another is the simultaneous snipe, which you and your partner can do to take out one or two targets at exactly the same time.? You can also give your partner help in overcoming obstacles, like giving him a boost to get over a wall or by pulling him up out of a hole.? The biggest element of note is the aggro system.? It’s much like a typical MMO, except the bigger a threat you are, the more aggro you generate, attracting more fire towards you, which frees up your partner to flank them and take them out.? The biggest problem I ran into playing co-op with the computer AI, however, is that when you order him to generate aggro, he does it for about five seconds, thus leaving you exposed in an open area as you try to maneuver for position, thus having to have your partner come in to drag your sorry butt back to safety.? And of course you can praise your character by giving him a high-five, or if he does something stupid you can give him a backhand across the face.? Not very useful for the game itself, but you can get a kick at smacking the crap out of your partner.

As a tactical shooter, I couldn’t say it’s even sub-par; the computer AI is horrible, both for your partner or the enemies.? I had enemies run right past me or my partner and neither would take a shot.? What the heck?!? And then I’m starting to wonder who’s the better shot.? It seems the terrorists were trained at the Marine Corps Sniper School.? When I run and gun, I couldn’t hit the broadside of the bus.? The only way to effectively take out your targets is doing a precision aim and taking a head shot.? In all, the gameplay is unbalanced and extremely frustrating. The game’s only saving grace is that it has some decent graphics.

In the end, Army of Two attempts to capture the magic of Gears of War or any of the Tom Clancy games - and falls way short.? As a multi-player, I’m sure that Army of Two would have been decent, but I have to admit that I didn’t get that far.? This game left me so bitter that I didn’t even bother trying to play its online co-op features.? Do yourself a favor, go pick up Rainbow Six: Vegas 2; or better yet, wait for Gears of War 2.

Why is my toast burnt?

Ah yes, the pyro update explains it!

As if we needed more reasons to play the Pyro, Valve rolled out the second update to the critically popular Team Fortress 2. The second update include two new maps, as well as the much anticipated achievements and weapons upgrades for everyones favorite pyromaniac.

If you’ve not had a chance to try TF2, you’re not doing anyone a favor. The game is available for free-play this weekend, so grab a copy and jump in the BarbeQueQ.

The PTD Forum is now online

You’re probably wondering why I’ve asked you here today. The answer to that question is simple, so I’ll be blunt: the new PTD Magazine Community Forums are now available.

Now you’re probably wondering how you can get the jump on your fellow readers — how you can get the highest post count and win the game. Are your fingers twitching with anticipation? If they aren’t then you’ve probably already been beaten by the happyclicking meat sack down the line. Too bad, really. I had high hopes for you since day one.

Here’s the link, you know what to do.

Endless Ocean

I have been known to be obnoxiously dismissive of “sandbox games”.? “GTA III isn’t really a game,” I’d sniff over a glass of port and a bit of Stilton, “but more of a toy.”? It’s thus with some embarrassment that I admit that Endless Ocean has me hooked.? It’s a toy, but what a toy.

Endless Ocean is a scuba diving simulator. The purpose of the game is to swim around underwater, look at pretty things, and occasionally interact with different types of marine life.? That’s it.? There is no shooting, no danger (the sharks in this sea won’t eat you), and no sense of urgency whatsoever. The only plot is various assignments, such as to escort a wealthy donor on a dive, pointing out their favorite fish to them.?

The game is structured in such a way that information opens up to you through experimentation and exploration.? You interact with animals in various ways (poking them, feeding them, writing in front of them with an “underwater pen”, and so on), and if you reach a certain level of interaction you earn an entry in the encyclopedia for that creature.

Some of the most intriguing experiences were the underwater caves. In a game where there is no way to fail, these beautifully created and realized caves still managed to introduce both grandeur and drama through natural splendour.? Douglas Adams describing Fjordland, New Zealand once wrote “one’s first impulse, standing on a cliff top surveying it all, is simply to burst into spontaneous applause.”? That’s the best way I can describe some of the sights I’ve seen in Endless Ocean. You can dive day and night, and the seasons vary offering subtly different experiences.

There are minigames going on all about you, but they are not intrusive and are easily ignored.? The music is soothing, lyrical,? apropriate, and reason enough to lazily explore the sea-floor.

You have a variety of tools to bring with you on dives.? The whistle can be used to summon any friendly sea creatures such as a dolphin. The camera is used to take photos for certain missions? or simply to add detail to your scrapbook.

There are also a number of “off-screen” locations that you can unlock through the course of the game.? For example, a local aquarium may ask you to stock one of their tanks; you decide what sort of marine life should live in the aquarium.? As in most of Endless Ocean, there is no particular reward or reason for this beyond pure esthetics.? And that’s just fine.

Some might pick nits about the accuracy of the game.? There is the aforementioned lack of danger.? There is the setting, a fictional sea which conveniently has flora and fauna from every ocean in the world.? There is the ease with which complicated diving manuevers can be performed.? But these complaints fundamentally miss the point.? Endless Ocean is a simple world meant to evoke wonder and joy simply by existing, and by being interesting and beautiful.? And that’s more than enough to make me happy.

Super Mario Galaxy

For some, this was the next venture in a line of 3-D Mario titles; others were anticipating the true successor to Super Mario 64. One thing’s for certain, we all were excited. Mario is once more tasked with saving Princess Peach from King Bowser, but this time the quest puts the entire universe on the table. So was this the game we’ve all been waiting for?

Galaxy is instantly familiar, drawing a clear influence from past Mario titles while maintaining a powerful unique touch. Each themed galaxy has between one and six stages (each stage has a star) which can include hidden and ?comet? (extra challenge) bonuses. While most stages were quite linear, they still allow a varying degree of free-roaming. The linearity was by no means a bad thing, however. These stages, ranging in difficulty, were about the puzzles and getting from one obstacle to another to reach the end than searching an entire world for where to go next.

The free-roaming level select hub works just as Peach’s Castle or Isle Del Fino did previously, but in comparison is dull. Most of the levels accessible through the hub are standard adventure levels, however some are less traditional, forcing a new control style. The most intriguing of these was the use of the Wii remote in a pestle and mortar fashion to guide Mario through an obstacle course as he stood atop a big ball.

Perhaps one of the most intriguing aspects is the lack of disgruntlement from playing. We?re faced with moments in some games when we just don?t feel like playing anymore because we ?die? too much. Spare lives are spent almost as quickly as they?re harvested - quite efficiently courtesy of the abundance of collectible star bits - in Galaxy, however, as a result these classic inconveniences aren?t actually that discouraging courtesy of interesting level design, well-placed spawn points, and the never-looming fear of a game over.

Frankly, at first this oddly controlled universe presented more hardship than thrill. Often I found myself craning my neck to deal with a difficult camera angle or to cope with running upside-down. Thankfully, these discomforts were short-lived and my noggin soon enjoyed a familiar upright stance. I could finally begin to really enjoy the game.

Bar the aforementioned temporary displeasures, the game controls are brilliant. The set of moves Mario can execute has been reduced to only necessary ones and a new do-all activated by flicking the remote. While uneasiness may precede using this seemingly gimmicky function, it is actually refined, fluent, and natural to use. The amount of perfection put into controlling Mario is incredible ? not once is something a fault of the game. At times, there is the rare annoyance such as pulling off a side somersault which requires a painfully specific execution. What an awful complaint to make ? the controls are too perfect. Super Mario Galaxy is a finely polished gem exhibiting a perfect balance of traditional and motion control on the Wii console.

Team Fortress 2

I have a simple mission.? Jump out the window without getting shot, land without breaking a leg.? After that I need to swim under the enemy bridge and find my way into the sewer system spilling from their base.? Finally, after I’ve made sure the basement is clear of people that want to kill me, I need to setup shop with defenses, a dispenser and, most importantly, a teleporter.? If all goes well I should be done with this in about 30 seconds, and the filthy Blu base will be teeming with my compatriots.

Team Fortress 2 ships as an integral part of the Valve’s Orange Box, and I can safely say that TF2 is worth the price of admission alone.? I would even go so far as to conclude that some of you will never make it past TF2, since I know it gripped me for over two weeks before I finally shook my head about and looked at what else was in the ‘Box.? TF2 is that good, and if you were looking for a team-based shooter to wean you off BF2142 this is your ticket.

Taking everything a FPS gamer loves and ditching the boring in-between stuff, TF2 is multi-player gaming distilled into the purist form possible.? Throwing game types out the door, Valve stuck to the tried and true “capture and hold” game play mechanics that made the original Team Fortress an overnight success.? Players pick a side, pick a class and jump straight into capturing and defending points.? It’s a simple formula that works.

The class-based system seems to be fairly balanced.? Heavy hitting classes are less agile than their lighter brethren, and the special classes such as medics and engineers can easily turn the tide of a tug of war match.? Like many class-based titles, Team Fortress 2 provides players with a number of different playing styles to suit individual taste.? You can sneak around as a spy or zerg-rush as a scout.? Pyros, demos and heavys all pack a serious punch, and snipers can head-shot players from across the map.? Regardless of which class you select, the developers have gone to extra length to make abilities and weapons very intuitive.

Like many of the games based on Valve’s Half Life 2 engine, TF2 scales very well.? I had no problem playing the game on any of the test machines in our lab, and I was extremely pleased by the 200+ FPS I achieved on our SLI test-bed.? With a little anti-aliasing and motion blurs, the cartoonish graphics (think Incredibles) of TF2 come off as a tasty chunk of high-polished eye candy. ?

Team Fortress 2’s blend of fast paced, class-based action is a shining slice of the Orange Box, and I would have happily paid full price just to play it.? Couple that with the solid gameplay of HL:E2 and the stellar, if not short, performance by Portal, and you have a collection that belongs in any gamer’s library.? I play UT3 as well, but it hasn’t stopped me from coming back to Team Fortress 2.? If you’ve got a fairly recent PC with a real video card, do yourself a favor and Steam (or buy retail, caveman) a copy of The Orange Box.? I look forward to sappin’ your dispenser!

Assassin’s Creed

From my perch on the highest point of the synagogue, all of Jerusalem stretches out in front of me.

This is an experience that I shared with the protagonist of Assassin’s Creed countless times while I reviewed it.? Before we dive into stories and gameplay and graphics, it’s a point I want to make as clear as the developer made it to me:? Assassin’s Creed is a technically astounding game.? The sheer size of the world, and the eagle-eye view from which players take it in, is easily worth the price of the title.? If you’re thinking of picking up the game on the 360 (I reviewed the PC version), I can see it being an excellent reason to buy a monster TV as well.

As you might have guessed, Assassin’s Creed is the story of an assassin.? While that would normally be enough to pull in the gamer love, Ubisoft went the extra mile to create a story that combines both the present day and the time of the Crusades in the cradle of civilization.? I’ll not spoil the plot for our readers, suffice to say that the story didn’t appear as usual to be slapped in at the last minute by a motley group of drunk developers.

The title falls into no genre, although we imagine that Assassin’s Creed must have been meticulously cross-bred from the likes of Splinter Cell, the Grand Theft Auto series, and Heavenly Sword.? Players find themselves slinking around a large realm, making contacts with allied ne’er-do-wells and learning more about each of the nine targets the game presents for assassination.

Players are given a choice to avoid guards and ruffians with a small arsenal of sneaking techniques, or throw caution to the wind and kill every obstacle in their path.? Do you want to sneak up on your mark and dispatch him with a hidden blade, or are you feeling lucky?? Why not waltz right into his sanctuary, in front of 10 guards, and draw your blade?? Assassin’s Creed let’s you decide, and though we found stealth assassination to be more “in character”, it was a blast to usher on your opponents and leave no man standing.

The game thrusts players into the combat system when an overly anxious guard spots you or you cause a disruption in a crowd.? Galloping through a group of jar-carrying peasants will do it, as will jumping on the roof in the presence of guards.? Regardless of how it happens, once the combat system is tripped the player has two choices: fight or flight.

The combat system is a combination of swashbuckling and Jujitsu, and players deciding to shed blood are given an arsenal of fighting techniques that makes a field of dead soldiers seem commonplace.? Swords and the occasional lunge can be countered with deadly blows, all presented in theatrical angles that look great and stamp the ESRB rating M all over the landscape.

If bloodshed’s not your cup of tea, you can also bolt like the sissy-coward you probably are.? To make a clean getaway, however, takes more than skills of the foot.? Players must first break line-of-site with their pursuers, then blend into the city through a variety of hidy-holes and busy crowds.? As fun as the combat is, the real action takes place in flight.? There’s no better cardio workout than running across the roofs of Bethlehem like some sort of crazed circus performer, and I’m talking about your heart racing, not the assassin’s.

Each assassination bring players closer to unraveling the overlying plot, which spills out in modern day throughout the game.? More importantly, perhaps, is that each dead boss increases your arsenal of weapons as well as your combat repertoire.? As players approach the end sequence, they’ll have a somewhat overwhelming series of options as to how to accomplish each mission.? At the end of the day, however, these options are what make the title worth playing. In fact, the one option you don’t have is passing up this game.

Assassin’s Creed is all of the good things we’ve enjoyed in action-based sandbox games, with a measure of stealth thrown in for taste.? The immersive landscape and killer combat systems make for a great game, and the only thing to complain about (which I didn’t, I might add) was the occasional minor PC camera issues that source from the game’s origin on a console.? If you’ve got a copy of Steam running, or just want to run to Wal-Mart today, pick up Assassin’s Creed and burn up a weekend or two.? Never mind the mess afterwards, the peasants will clean it up.

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