Software Boutique : Software Boutique

Saatnya Original

2008-06-10T07:36:02Z

Saat ini banyak sekali software-software dan game-game bajakan... Piracy??? Of course. Mengapa??? Ketidakmampuan membeli yang original? Memang dimaklumi. Tapi sekarang ini mulai diberlakukan "original", baik software ataupun game... Baiklah, yang kita bahas adalah game original, di Indonesia masih sedikit yang menjual game-game original baik untuk PC maupun console, tapi nanti pasti akan berkembang, banyak toko yang akan menjual game-game original. Harga game original pun tidak terlalu mahal... Kenapa dibilang tidak terlalu mahal? Bayangkan, jika 1 game original seharga Rp300-400 ribu, kita bisa menabung misalnya 1 bulan untuk membeli game original... Kitapun mendapat kepuasan bisa membeli original dan pastinya bisa menghargai para pembuat game yang telah bersusah payah membuat game tersebut, selain kita menghargai dengan membeli yang asli/original kita akan memainkan game tersebut dengan sepenuh hati. Lagipula banyak kemampuan yang didapat dari game original...

Keuntungan membeli Original

1. Better Quality for CD&DVD: kepingan CD/DVD original diburn dari pabrik dengan kualitas yang baik sehingga data pada CD/DVD tersebut tidak gampang rusak karena terlalu lama disimpan atau minor scratch.

(sering kali pada kepingan CD/DVD bajakan, data yang didalam kepingan tersebut dapat hilang atau sulit untuk dibaca bila disimpan terlalu lama atau terjadi minor scratch)

2. Special Bonus or Package: seperti tambahan character, Behind The Scenes, Special Cars, Concept Art Book, Exclusive Event, Exclusive Wallpaper, Official Soundtrack, Limited Edition Merchandise, DLL.

3. Multiplayer Game / Online Game: Bermain dengan teman baik dari dalam maupun luar negeri, dan pengalaman bermain yang berbeda dari sekedar Offline.

4. Better Patch & Bug Fix: dengan menggunakan Software Original, kita akan didukung oleh Patch dan update yang lebih baik dari Software2 Bajakan, dan ada layanan Support dari Publisher.

5. Easy Installation : Instalasi software lebih mudah tanpa harus menginstall software2 tambahan yang terkadang untuk menjalankannya saja membingungkan.

6. Prestige: Reputasi atau Status, dengan membeli original anda akan dipandang lebih baik, bukan hanya oleh Bangsa Sendiri, tapi juga oleh bangsa2 lain.

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cr...re-piracy-rate

(ngak tau deh musti bangga apa malu, Indonesia masuk urutan 4 Besar)

Berbagai Mitos pada Game / Software Original

1. CD/DVD cepat baret/rusak karena untuk main Original harus terus dimasukan CD/DVD.

TIDAK karena CD/DVD hanya digunakan untuk identifikasi apakah game tersebut asli atau bajakan, setelah masuk ke dalam Game, CD/DVD tersebut dapat dikeluarkan dari Player (Kecuali konsol ya).

2. Harga CD/DVD Original Mahal (ini yang paling berat)

Mahal itu relatif, Kami sudah meminta kebijakan dari berbagai Publisher Game yang kami pegang untuk meminta HARGA paling murah untuk di Indonesia dibandingkan dengan negara2 lain, karena daya beli masyarakat di Indonesia Kurang. dan mereka telah menyetujuinya. Oleh karena itu jangan kaget bila anda bisa menjumpai Game2 original dengan harga 100Rb an dengan segala kelebihan yang dimiliki Software Original.

Dan satu lagi kebijakan dari kami, untuk game2 Original yang sudah agak lama beredarnya harganya akan kami turunkan.

Jadi Why use Piracy?? Use ORIGINAL man!!

and don't forget, piracy is a crime!

Di mana bisa membeli Original Game?

2008-06-10T08:09:42Z

www.indosoftwareboutique.com

Mangga 2 Mall Lantai 5 Blok C No.25-26

Jl. Arteri Mangga 2 Raya, Jakarta Pusat

Tlp: 021-30004970 / 021-71010892

atau

Poins Square Lantai 2 No.48-49

Jl. Lingkar Luar Selatan, Lebak Bulus

Tlp: 021-75924189 / 021-75921421

Forum game

2008-06-10T08:16:29Z

Kita bisa bergabung di forum-forum ini:

www.gamexeon.com

forum.chip.o.id

www.indonesiangamer.com

www.kotakgame.com

www.egamesbox.com

DLL

Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures

2008-06-10T10:04:50Z

Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures

by: Eidos

Merupakan MMORPG yang ditunggu-tunggu

Age of Conan has finally landed and the internets (both of �em)
are already filled with the fanboys warring over exactly how awesome
the game is.

And now it�s time for us to throw our opinion in amongst the cacophony
of other voices and tell you what we think about the much anticipated
MMORPG, which is based on the Conan series by Robert E. Howard.

Age of Conan isn�t the standard MMO fare though � it definitely
tries to be a little bit edgier and racier by explicitly aiming for an
18+ PEGI rating. There�s plenty of focus in here on spilled blood and
spread legs � lots of combat and cleavage. Is the MMO audience ready
for such a mature RPG though, or should we all go back to the cartoony World of Warcraft?

Here�s what we think�

Plot of Conan

Age of Conan, or Raarrgh! The MMO
as it could also be known, is a online multiplayer RPG and therefore it
doesn�t really have a firm story in the traditional sense. There�s not
really any linear progression of the gameplay for players to plod
through...in fact, if you really wanted to then you could pretty much
avoid quests altogether and just use the game as an elaborate messenger
service.

That said though, there is still a standard set of starting quests for
players and before the game world opens up and you�re allowed to roam
the greater part of Conanland, you�ll have the usual set of mostly
tutorial quests to jump through.

Regardless of which class or nationality you choose to start as, you�ll
always begin the game as a slave who is shipwrecked outside the Red
Hand controlled city of Tortage and who, more confused than a ninety
year old great-grandmother trying to fix a memory leak, must find a way
to reclaim your freedom.

Unfortunately, these early stages of the game are incredibly dull and
players will find themselves doing more grinding than that ninety year
old great-grandmother trying to climb a spiral staircase with two
broken hips. It�s combat after pointless combat for the first hour or
two at least and it isn�t until you actually make it to Tortage that
you�ll actually get to do some real role playing.

This isn�t to say that the combat is dull though, as it�s clear that
developer Funcom has done all it can to make the combat more than just
the click-and-wait combat systems of other MMOs.

While the controls are pretty much as you�d expect them to be and the
enemies run the usual gamut of grunts and towering bosses, the game has
an interesting shield technique which means you�ll have to constantly
update your tactics to suit the battle. Enemies will guard certain
sides of their body, represented by white shields surrounding them, so
if you want to really deal out the damage then you�ll have to make sure
you aim for the gaps.

Or at least, that�s what you�ll have to do if you�re playing one of the
melee classes. If you�re more about the spell casting and the
long-range attacks then you won�t have to worry about that stuff all
that much.

Classes (along with player nationalities and the like) are a whole new
aspect of the game though. It�s definitely one of the strengths of Age of Conan
for players to be able to tweak their appearance so much, even if the
limited choice of nationality (Cimmerian, Aquilonian and Stygian are
the only ones on offer) do undermine the whole thing.

We�ll get to all that in a minute though, because to really understand
how some of the character customisation stuff works, it may be best to
look at the graphics in Age of Conan first. Flip the page and enjoy our full graphical analysis.

Bump and Grind

So, the graphical engine behind Age of Conan (or Raarrgh,
if you prefer), is obviously quite powerful and nowhere is this
highlighted more than in the character customisation section at the
start of the game.

Where most MMO games enable the player to customise a little bit in terms of height and hair colour, Conan
goes the whole hog. Everything from cheekbones to bust size can be
altered � though given the mature rating slapped on the game and the
audience that the game will therefore unfortunately but inevitably
appeal to, most players won�t venture far beyond the bust size.

This is especially true once those people realise there�s nothing to
stop your character running around in the buff. Well, nothing except a
low armour rating anyway. The fact that hardcore RPG players can�t stop
fretting over their defence ratings is probably the main reason that
the game hasn�t descended into a full on naturist sex festival just
yet.

Well, that and the fact that the dancing emotes are mostly pretty awful
and there�s not much point in a sex festival if you can�t shake your
jubblies properly.

At the same time though, one of the things that really limits Age of Conan
is that there isn�t a huge amount of choice open to players in regards
to character classes. There are only three nationalities for players to
choose from � the Conan-a-like Cimmerians, the bland and non-descript
Aquilonians and the obligatorily evil Stygians.

Each nationality has a specialty; melee combat for the Cimmerians,
magic for the Stygians, but the classes themselves still feel very
by-the-numbers, unimaginative and limited. The only one who really
stands out as remotely original is the summoner class Demonologist.
Everything else is predictable to the extreme and the fact that there�s
only really one ranger type class seems a bit of an oversight.

This really isn�t a huge problem however, as the focus on the game is
very much on the melee rather than the ranged combat. In our adventures
throughout Hyboria, we found that archer and magic wielding characters
were actually pretty rare.

Thankfully then there are other parts of Age of Conan
which compensate for these relatively minor drawbacks. The interface,
for example, is both robust and user-friendly, managing to be both
familiar to hardcore MMO fans and massively accessible to those who
can�t even define the acronym "MMO. "

What might put off newcomers to the genre though is the sheer amount of
grinding to be seen in Hyboria. There�s a sweet spot to be found in Age of Conan
in regards to grinding, as although the first few hours of the game are
nothing but repetitive and intensely dull combat, the core experience
of the game tries as hard as it can to be a bit more than �Gather X amount of Y to earn Z.�
True, the game doesn�t always succeed in it�s attempts to go beyond the
usual grind-fest, but it does try and should be commended for that at
least.

Conclusions

It�s always a painful and futile experience to try
reviewing an MMO. For instance, there are problems with credit cards
and the inevitable fact that we forget to cancel the subscriptions
after the review is done, therefore inadvertently charging a couple of
hundred pounds to company credit card.

Most of all though, the review very quickly runs out of date as the
game is constantly updating and how much anyone enjoys the game is
massively dependent on the calibre of gamers they end up gaming
alongside. That means you�re going to have to take any conclusions we
offer with a pinch of salt � ok? Just so we�re clear.

That said, Age of Conan is a lot of fun once you get into
it � the proviso mainly being that you do have to make an effort to get
into and jump over the initial few hours of boredom.

Game designers seem to be labouring under the impression at the moment that MMO games as a genre have only one aim; to topple World of Warcraft
as Lord of the Pings. To do this, they seem to think that you need a
certain gimmick or hook � PvR gameplay or genre blending MMOFPS action
for instance. So far, that tactic doesn�t seem to be doing to well � so
it�s refreshing to see that Age of Conan bucks the trend and instead focuses on creating just a solid and persistent world to play in.

Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures doesn�t bring anything hugely
new to the table and the only real gimmicks it has going for it are the
franchise behind it all and the fact that you can�t take two steps
without faceplanting into the second biggest pair of boobs you�re ever
likely to see. It�s a fun and accessible RPG though, and on that front
it can�t be faulted.

Assassin�s Creed: Director�s Cut

2008-06-10T10:29:36Z

Assassin�s Creed: Director�s Cut

Publisher: Ubisoft

Platform: PC

Well, I suppose we may as well come out and admit it before we go any
further � this review really was a long time coming. Yes, we know,
we�re a little bit behind here. Fortunately though, it doesn�t matter
all that much since Assassin�s Creed: Director�s Cut is essentially a PC conversion of the console smash hit.

That�s good for us then; it frees us up to spend more time looking at
the graphics and the new content rather than at the usual stuff.

Oh, and if you�re wondering why exactly there was such a delay with the
game, then it is very simple; it�s your fault. We didn�t think ahead
and accidentally gave away all our copies of the game. That, combined with a few distribution problems, put us on a slight delay.

Don�t worry though, we�re not the types to hold a grudge � we just want to get on with the review.

Alt-Eye-Ir

In brief, just in case you missed all of last year�s hype, this the story for Assassin�s Creed.
Your name is Desmond and you are a bartender who is kidnapped by a
pharmaceutical company that wants to explore your genetic memory using
a device called The Animus. They are specifically interested in an
ancestor of yours who was an assassin involved in the Third Crusade; a
man named Altair.

Who exactly this company is and what they want is all very shrouded in
mystery, though you�ll find out more as the game continues. Don�t
expect all the answers straight away though � this is the first in a
planned trilogy after all.

Regardless of plot-twisting details, the basic premise and gameplay is
simple. As Desmond is coerced into exploring his genetic ancestry to
locate a specific piece of information for the doctors, the player will
switch back and forth between time periods.

On one hand you�ll be Desmond as he tries to find out what the hell is
going on and how he can escape. The rest of the time you�ll be the
disgraced Altair, trying to work your way back up through the ranks of
your guild after a mission gone-awry and unknowingly bringing Desmond
closer to the information he needs.

It�s a fairly unique and interesting plot then, in other words. Best of
all, though you might be worried that the mixing of the whole sci-fi
and medieval stuff might be a little forced, the reality is that the
two concurrent plotlines actually work quite well together and make a
curious and not entirely unsatisfying blend � though there are a few
jarring things that ruin the involvement somewhat. We'll get to them
later though.

One might question that the story is diluted somewhat as there are
essentially two storylines. That's a fair point � and the fact the
futuristic is always trying to override the medieval doesn't help all
that much. On the other hand, since the game is part of a planned
trilogy (which seems to be the fashion this year, with Mass Effect and Crysis doing the same) it's really hard to tell how much the two plots should lean on each other. Only time will tell.

Of course, at this late stage the story probably isn�t the major
drawing point. Jaw-dropping graphics are probably at the forefront of
everyone�s minds, so we�ll come back to the new content and gameplay
stuff in a little bit.

Right now, it�s graphic analysing time!

DejaVuDog Day

When Assassin�s Creed was first launched
on consoles it had a very mixed response. Some people felt the game
lived up to the enormous hype around it, while others (including us)
were a little disappointed by the repetitiveness and constant breaks
from Altair�s narrative.

It seemed you couldn�t go more than a few steps in the game without
helixes flashing everywhere and pseudo-science pictograms dancing
across the screen while you desperately tried to plunge yourself into
the mindset of a medieval assassin. It�s unfortunate that many of these
elements remain in the PC version as we would have loved Jade Raymond a
lot more if she�d toned down the flashing lights in the PC version.

Thankfully though, there are some things that have been changed since
the console version of the game and the developers have at least heard
the most cited complaint about the game � repetitiveness. The fact that
each mission was structured exactly the same and involved completing
the same missions really detracted from the overall freedom the game
otherwise presented.

In fact, they�ve done more than just hear the complaints � they�ve gone
a way to addressing them too by giving players a few more investigation
types. If you�ve not played the original game, then let us explain how
assassinations work; first you are given a target, second you
investigate the target by running errands and completing tasks. When
you�ve got enough intelligence from performing these missions you can
then head for the main assassination.

The problem with the original Assassin�s Creed, though,
was that the side-missions were pretty repetitive after the first few
battles, so for the Director�s Cut the developers have added in some
new mission types to help break the back of the boredom.

The result however is a bit mixed. On the one hand, yes, these new
mission types do help make the game a little bit different from the
console version and do help to alleviate a lot of the tedium. On the
flip-side though, none of them are especially inventive and generally
just involve running about as you normally would.

For example, the Rooftop Race Challenge mission makes up one of the
four new missions available to PC players and, though it sounds fun, in
reality it�s little more than a checkpoint race for bored players.
Nothing too inspirational there then, and the other three new missions
unfortunately follow suit. Assassin Escort in particular is very
lament-worthy and is little more than taking an NPC for a stroll. Joy.

Still, it�s hard to be too made at these new investigation types � they
do at least help break the monotony a little and give the player some
more varied objectives, even if none of them are truly new as you�d
probably be doing them all anyway as you sprint through the cities.

Conclusion

Viewed from one angle Assassin�s Creed: Director�s Cut
is honestly a little disappointing. The PC version doesn�t really add
anything all that new, doesn�t make the most of the platform and
carries over many of the flaws of the original game. The Director�s Cut doesn�t offer any new content except for the new investigations, and these aren�t really all that great.

But the game is still quite good.

The thing we really like about Assassin�s Creed
is how good it is for creating player stories. The open sandbox style
means that players can make their own tales in a way that makes the
game great to talk about.

There was the time I killed the Mad Doctor of Acre by climbing some
scaffolding, assassinating an archer, and climbing down in to the
courtyard of the hospital. I leapt from a nearby chandelier and plunged
a knife into his throat, escaping through alleyways with the aid of
some vigilantes and scholars. It�s wonderful and deliciously emergent,
going a long way to address complaints of repetitiveness.

In a nutshell, the verdict lies in a balance of these two opposing viewpoints. Is Assassin�s Creed good? Undoubtedly � but the Director�s Cut
isn�t a massive improvement over the original. You may well love the
new version more than the original, like we do, but the route of that
preference won�t be because the game is markedly better on PC. It�ll be
because your PC is markedly better than a console.

Hellgate: London

2008-06-10T10:34:54Z

Hellgate: London

Publisher: EA

Hellgate: London is a bit of an oddity as far as a I�m
concerned. It�s an action RPG with hybrid elements which can be played
with third or first person perspectives in levels which are dynamically
generated and populated with demons and high-tech weaponry - but I
wasn't massively worked up about it before the launch.

It�s that last bit which is what makes it an oddity by the way, because
normally this type of game is right up my street. Usually when I hear
about games with descriptions along these lines I morph from my usual
Clark-Kent-alike journalist persona into something altogether more
untoward � a hungry supergeek obsessed with the game and nothing else.

With Hellgate: London though, that isn�t what happened and
the game has been one which I�ve known about but never really pursued
an active interest in.

The reason for my being put-off was, I think, the way that the game was
being primarily marketed on the merits of the multiplayer side, which
requires a subscription for players to unlock a lot of key bits.
Inventory slots and storage, for example.

Click to enlarge

That said, when the game landed on my desk my interest was re-kindled a
little and I found myself getting excited about the game once more -
though whether or not that new surge of interest was bought on by the
swanky, flame-covered packaging is an issue for another day. Right now,
I�m more concerned about whether or not the game can live up to the
substantial hype it has managed to build up from everyone else in this
new post-WoW world�

Remember the dead

The premise and story for the game is fairly
simple, which is something unsurprising when you familiarise yourself
with the team behind the game. Hellgate is developed by
Flagship Studios, a developer founded by Bill Roper and a few other
ex-Blizzard figureheads who worked on games like Diablo.

Like Diablo and Warcraft, Hellgate is a game which doesn�t try to hook players in with a startlingly complex and epic story like some games do. Instead, the focus is on gameplay � but we�ll get to that in a minute.

So, the story is this; DEMONS or, to give you the long version: OMG! DEMONS!

Yep, the world has been taken over by demons who�ve emerged from the
titular hellgate underneath London. Personally, I thought the hellgate
was in America, but nevermind.

Click to enlarge

Turns out that this isn�t the first time the demons have tried to take
over Earth either and the game references real-life events such as the
Crusades and the Great Fire of London as efforts to kill the demons �
events which have been cleverly disguised.

The demons are battled by the Knights Templar, a group who have fallen
back into fashion ever since the Da Vinci Code unfortunately found its
way onto bookshelves globally. The Templar were masters of the arcane
and had always fought the demons back when they emerged, but the group
is nothing but a small handful of men in modern times.

Although the Templars do their best to reform and battle the menace,
they are laughed at by the army and the demons manage to take over the
world, starting the process of �hell-forming� it into their idea of
paradise. The remaining Templars join up with the now-shattered armies
( who�s laughing now, eh? ) and fuse their abilities to create blessed weapons capable of pushing the demons back. Hopefully.

This is where the player enters the game as a templar novice in one of
six available classes, ready to take the fight to the demons and take
back the city of London.

The city ain�t pretty�

Now, before I start slipping into my
usual review format and describe the gameplay and basic design pros and
cons, I want to share my initial reactions to the game. Here I go:

�Ew, that looks awful�� I said, a feeling pretty much
echoed by everyone around me. This reaction was swiftly followed by a
glimmer of hope though when I saw that the game had DirectX 10
capabilities. That had to make it look better, right?

Kind of. With all the settings on full, the game ends up looking a bit
better but it�s still not as good as you might have expected given the
level of hype around the game. The animations and textures are
especially lacking and there�s a fair number of clipping problems.
However, with everything maxed out there are some areas where the game
looks good � motion blur for example is pretty well handled.

The game never looks great, but you can get it to a stage where it
looks passable and if you�re into this type of hack-and-slash RPG
gaming then you�ll be ready to look past the dated graphics and utter
lack of bump mapping. Let�s face it, 99 percent of RPG games have never
been praised for their graphics.

Click to enlarge

At the start of the game you have to do the usual character design bits
and run through a brief tutorial. There are six available classes to
choose from and they cover the usual bases � two types of mage, a
sniper, two swordfighters and an engineer. None of them really stand
out as being anything especially interesting and the customisation
options are pretty laughable. You get to choose the build, hairstyle
and facial texture of your character and that�s about it � though there
is an impressive array of camp moustaches which can be dyed purple.

Choosing the right class is pretty important though and is the most
game defining thing you can do with your character because it�s
impossible for you to later branch out into other skill sets. All the
Blademasters skills are based around sword fighting, so don�t expect to
be able to specialise in healing spells later on if you end up not
liking that class.

The game can be played from either the third person or first person
modes, though you can�t play in first person if you�ve got a melee
weapon in your hand. Classes can use both types of weapon and can equip
things in each hand independently. That�s actually an enormous boon to
the game because it means you can really customise your style, wielding
a rocket pistol in one hand and a powerful sword in the other, twin
swords, a single two-handed weapon or any variation of these.

This brings me unfortunately to the core problems in Hellgate's gameplay; the A.I and the weapons. The weapons themselves aren�t that
bad, but they definitely lack power and the firearms never feel very
satisfying to use, plus unlimited ammo is just a big no-no, especially
when guns don�t even degrade over time or have to reload even. The mix
of reflex and RPG elements makes using guns surprisingly interesting
though.

Click to enlarge

The A.I. however is more of a problem. NPCs who try to follow you
usually end up looping round you and bumping into things even when you
stand still and the enemies seem to know only one tactic, called
�charge-in-straight-lines�. NPC voice acting is terribly awful too,
using over-built British accents to give out one-liners while the
actually important dialogue appears as text. Lesson one for developers:
Text OR voice.

At one point in the game I found a merchant who behaved especially
oddly. I clicked on him and the text popped up as usual, saying �Math
is hard. Let�s trade!� at the same time as his voice says (and I quote):

�I envy you so much it hurts�everywhere, but especially in my pants!�

Yes, that sentence did deserve it�s own paragraph didn�t it?

Despite the frustrating NPCs though the game somehow manages to remain
appealing. The interface is incredibly polished and easy to use. More
importantly, gameplay is fun,
like really. It gets dull after a while because the levels are
dynamically generated and re-use the same tile sets a lot, which is
another way of saying they aren�t custom built or unique in any way a
lot of the time, but in medicated doses the game is awesomely
enjoyable.

Being able to make and customise your own armour and weapons with
certain relics and add-ons is a nice touch too and helps bring a new
lease of life to the rather inventive character system.

Multiplayer is fun!

So far, I�ve been pretty harsh on Hellgate: London.
I think that�s for good reason because, compared to other games around
at the moment it really doesn�t look that great or do anything new. In
my book good games should really try to excel in at least one area.

There is one area where Hellgate does well though � one area where the bad graphics and overall design starts to make sense. That�s in the multiplayer.

The multiplayer side of the game makes everything suddenly seem more
tolerable somehow and you start to realise almost immediately how the
interface has been made to closely mimic the set-up of games like World of Warcraft.
The game suddenly becomes detached from the dungeon romp which is the
singleplayer game and suddenly feels a lot more like an MMORPG game.

That, I suppose is the intent. The lack of decent bump mapping and
complex textures is now explainable in that it makes the game much more
scalable and suitable to that genre. The interface, which has small
touches like not pausing the game when you access the inventory,
suddenly makes sense because in an MMO game, auto-pauses would be
incredibly complex.

One thing to bear in mind though about the online aspect of Hellgate
though is that it has two tiers of play. The first tier is available to
everyone who owns the game and is pretty much the usual MMORPG game,
just set in a demon-filled and more ugly than usual version of London.
You run around with other players, completing quests which gradually
increase in complexity until the game slips into grind-city without you
ever really realising. Nothing bad about that and I�m sure it�s quite
good if you�re into that type of thing.

Click to enlarge

The second tier of the multiplayer game is available only to those who want to pay cash up front on a regular basis.
I'm told the fee is around $10 in the US and is �7.99 in the UK. Paying
that fee gives you access to a whole load of extra features, like
fast-travel options which cut down the number of load sequences you
have to go through or inventory slots which let you carry much more
stuff.

I�m honestly quite divided on my opinions to this system. On the one
hand it�s good because it rewards those who enjoy the game the most,
whilst putting money into the hands of the developers and publisher so
that more content can be developed later if it all proves popular. On
the other hand though, this system ends up dividing the playing field
and tilting it in favour of those who just have more money and so on.

I suppose the core question about the premium service is whether or not
it�s worth paying for it. My view on the matter is that if you really
like the MMO side of the game and find yourself playing it over the
singleplayer version then you may want to consider dolling out the
moolah for the extra services.

If you find that you�re more of an anti-social gamer though then it
probably isn�t worth the cash because what you�re paying for won�t
significantly alter the multiplayer game and is more aimed at improving
the multiplayer experience by unlocking extras and removing some
hassles from your way.

Click to enlarge

Then again, I suppose if you were an anti-social gamer then you
wouldn�t want to be playing online in the first place and the added
functions of being able to form groups and chat to other players will
probably put you off the game more than turn you on to it.

However, you have to bear in mind that the multiplayer side of things,
which lets players join together to complete the single-player
campaign, is still growing. EA and Flagship have come out and said that
they�ll be adding more content into the game at a later date and that
the new content will be accessible only to subscribers.

What that means exactly remains to be seen, but we�re betting it�ll be
extra areas, new skills and the usual PvP combat. If that prediction
holds true then the subscription cost is definitely going to be a lot
more tempting as new features work into the game and the singleplayers
get left behind.

I guess it's about time we had a look at the graphics...

Conclusions

Hellgate is a difficult game to score in the
end because it really does feel like two, maybe even four separate
games. The first division comes from the perspective the player takes
in the game � playing it shooter-style with a Marksman really is a very
different game experience to playing it as a third-person warrior or
mage.

The second and more important division though comes from the
multiplayer and singleplayer choice. These really are utterly different
games.

The singleplayer campaign has weaknesses. It reuses the same environments and areas to an extent that would shock even F.E.A.R,
the NPCs are laughable in a bad way and even when the game is fully
pimped out graphically, it still looks like something you�d expect to
find festering inside a scab.

Oh, and the plot is fairly limited too � though there are a few little
treasure-hunting easter eggs thrown in to make things a bit more
interesting. We could say more, but it would spoil it.

The singleplayer has strengths too though. The combat is interesting
enough to get us by, but it isn�t really that awe-inspiring.
Customisation on the other hand is a great thing and it�s nice to see
that players can rip apart old guns to find gadgets that can be used to
boost their more powerful weapons.

Click to enlarge

Multiplayer on the other hand is an entirely different ball game. Here,
the game slips out of action RPG classification and clearly declares
itself as an MMORPG. By that standard the graphics are pretty good,
though still not that great, the plot becomes less skeletal and more
just �streamlined� and the clipping issues are more forgiveable.

In multiplayer the game becomes pretty damn good and there�s the
promise of more to come as long as EA and Flagship follow through on
the plans to add more content for subscribers.

To put it simply, while the singleplayer side of things is on the
lesser side of average the multiplayer compensates by being on the
lower side of really-quite-good, but still remains above average.

When you get right down to it, Hellgate: London isn�t
quite the epic RPG re-imagining that it was hyped up to be and just
goes to show that even a team of ex-Blizzard developers don�t always
produce golden games. That said, the game is still enjoyable and
playable and if you�re after a game which tries to do lots of different
things at once then Hellgate is The Safe Bet.

A jack of all trades and a master of none, Hellgate feels like an odd blend of Knights of The Old Republic and Nethack,
with a touch of FPS thrown in for good measure. Unfortunately, while it
keeps a lot of the good stuff from these games it also retains a few of
the flaws and we�re left with a game that is probably going to
entertain most people for a good twenty or so hours, but which isn�t
really going to rock anyone's world.

The Witcher

2008-06-10T11:11:51Z

The Witcher

Publisher: Atari

Something I�ve been lamenting lately
has been a general lack of new CRPGs on the PC. Now, before you say
anything, I know full well that there are plenty of decent RPGs or
Hybrids to be played on multiple platforms. Mass Effect on the Xbox 360 or BioShock
on 360 and PC, for example. Now, to me, that�s all well and good but
there comes a time when a geek like me needs something new, but also
old, in the same experience. A time for classic role-playing games.

Which is why I�ve been following The Witcher quite closely for the past few months. Well, actually I�ve been following it pretty much since I finished Oblivion and have been hoping that it would be the game to tide me over and satisfy my PC RPG needs until Fallout 3 comes out next year.

In premiseThe Witcher has a lot going for it. Set in a
medieval fantasy world, it�s an open-ended epic story about a single
man and how he approaches the business of�um, witchering. Witchers are
actually just the usual monster killers and hero-types, so why they�re
called Witchers and not just monster hunters I don�t know.

The Witcher is a truly epic story, click to enlarge

That�s just in premise though and, while we could judge a game just on
the premise and initial appeal, we like to take things a little bit
more seriously than that if we can. Which is why I forced myself to
endure 45 minute install times, 20 minutes of patch downloading on a
semi-broken Internet connection and some of the most infuriating
packaging I�ve come across in a long while.

I don�t do that for everyone mind � only for you, loyal readers will I
put up with such annoyances. Only for you do I go through these great
woes. So let�s make it more than a wasted effort and get on with the
rest of the review then, shall we?

The Be-Witcher

The game doesn�t open too fluidly and even after
the mammoth install time I still had to watch a lengthy cutscene which
seemed to have no immediate relevance to anything at all. In fact, not
only did the cutscene have no relevance at all � it tells the story of
one of the main character's most famous jobs � but no sooner has it
finished than we are introduced to the main character, who is now
suffering from amnesia.

Sigh.

Click to enlarge

Turns out that said character, a Witcher by the name of Geralt, has
been presumed dead for a fair while when he is found in the woods by
some fellow Witchers who take him back to the groups stronghold. Here
we are introduced to the various different mechanics of the game in an
extended tutorial sequence which lets players get to grips with the
game at the same time as learning a little about the in-game lore.

The Witchers, once a powerful and feared group of heroes for hire, are
now reduced to a small number of very old and very young men and a
single sorceress who all eek out a meagre existence in a ruined castle
after the Witchers were hunted down and almost wiped out. Why? Because
the Witchers are a little less than human, using an advanced
understanding of science and alchemy to create various mutagens and the
like.

Geralt doesn�t get chance to catch up on all the gossip though because
before he even has chance to start seducing the resident sorceress
(that comes later) the castle is attacked and the Witchers are once
again on the defensive.

Cast a spell on you

As soon as players get
control of Geralt they are plunged into the action, which immediately
sets the tone for the rest of the game. While there are opportunities
in some quests to solve things through dialogue, the vast majority of
the game is focused on the combat. That�s to be expected though, Geralt
is a monster hunter after all, not a monster annoyer.

The game can be controlled from two different viewpoints and in two
different ways, both of which you can (and should) switch between at
any point. The first method of control is the isometric and mouse
method, which puts the camera up high and gives you the most fluid
control via the mouse. Click to go here, click to use that � run of the
mill RPG control.

The second method is the over-the-shoulder camera, which does exactly
what it says on the tin. This method lends itself more to keyboard
players and you�ll be moving around mainly with WASD. In both
viewpoints you can use either method, so if you want to use the mouse
in the OST viewpoint then you can and vice versa.

Just as we said in the introduction though, though the twin control
methods are good in premise, it doesn�t necessarily mean that they work
in practice. That�s pretty much the case here, with neither method
feeling that it works all that well and it being plainly obvious that
the game wasn�t designed to be played exclusively through either
method. The result is that you have to switch between the two
constantly, using isometric views for large battles and outside areas
and the OST view for t�te-�-t�tes battles and indoor areas.

There's plenty of customisation to be had, click to enlarge

Now, as I said before, The Witcher
is a very combat-orientated RPG and the way the combat is handled in
the game is actually quite interesting though a little difficult to
explain.

Geralt is a skilled fighter and can use a selection of different styles
of attack, which must carefully be matched to the enemy. Strong enemies
will ignore light attacks and fast enemies will avoid slower, more
powerful ones, so learning how to use the three styles is pivotal.

What makes the combat most interesting though is how not-boring it is
which, I agree, is an odd thing to say. To attack someone in The Witcher
all you have to do is click on them. One click is equal to one attack.
You can�t just click away though because timing your clicks wrong will
end your current attack and start another � repetitive clicking won�t
attack at all. To stop combat being dull, Geralt can perform combos by
attacking just as the first attack finishes and the cursor bursts into
flames � a window of a second or two.

Now, that sounds boring because it means you�d just end up seeing the
same moves over and over, timing your clicks just right every time. To
combat this though (sorry) you can use your XP to buy new attacks.
These new attacks can either be new moves, such as making your first
attack a more powerful slash, or can be extra attacks in the chain,
allowing you to combo for longer. This, combined with the focus on
combat and the pace of the game, means that the attacks you use will
often change.

The game does get just a little bit saucy, click to enlarge!

Geralt can use spells too, but to be honest there isn�t anything new in
the spells and the selection isn�t that impressive compared to other
RPGs.

One of the other most-discussed features in The Witcher is the sex, which features prominently throughout the game and harks back to games like The Bards Tale.
Ah, the memories. The way it works is this; various women throughout
the game have certain, um�well, let�s call them �win scenarios�. For
some women, such as Triss the Witcher sorceress, it can be as simple as
being nice to her for a bit, while others may require you to complete a
quest or to pay them in advance. There are whores aplenty in this game.

Either way, once you�ve �won� then you�ll be treated to short cutscene.
The cutscene itself is usually pretty tame � a shot of some bare feet
and the clothes on the floor � and won�t get you hot unless you really
like that kind of thing. Afterwards you�re given a tarot card with a
picture of the encounter on it � which tends to be a bit saucier but
still never gets really full-on.

Basically; boobs but no bush is what I�m getting at here, which is
worth bearing in mind if this is on your kids' Christmas list. Anyway,
there�s more steamy polygon-on-polygon action on the next page, so
let�s move on.

Hot Polygon Action

The graphics in The Witcher
are, if I�m going to be really blunt, a little bit schizophrenic in my
opinion. In the screenshots, which are naturally all taken on highest
detail, they look pretty good but in-game it�s a slightly different
matter.

The main problem is clipping and moving around. Using an isometric view
and using WASD to move around is a little bit odd because Geralt will
often start moving before his running animation starts. If he�s
carrying multiple weapons then you�ll spot them clipping through each
other regularly and, let me tell you, it ruins the immersion an awful
lot when you see an axe continuously bounce straight through the blade
of your sword.

We also had a few problems with framerate, despite running Vista with
2GB RAM and a GeForce 8800 Ultra which was freshly swapped into the
system in preparation for Crysis.
The framerate problems were odd in that they only happened
occasionally. We�d be running along fluid as the wind, then the
framerate would drop to a slideshow. I�d stop, restart and return to
the same spot to find the problem vanished.

Crashes also plagued the adventure and the game would often freeze or
return to desktop inexplicably, both running natively and with the
latest 1.1 patch. Either way, we�ve broken down the graphics for you
below so that you can gauge how the game may look on your system. The Witcher uses the Aurora Engine from BioWare.

Texture Detail

There are three settings for the texture detail
slider � high, medium and low. We�ve got screenshots of them all, so
check them out below and read our thoughts.

Texture Detail high (left), medium (centre) and low (right), click to enlarge

We chose this screenshot because the armour of the guard in the picture
perfectly illustrates the effects of this setting. See how his leather
jerkin gets more blurry the lower the setting goes? We�d really suggest
putting this setting as high as possible because the quality of the
textures is one of the things which will be most noticeable.

However, there are some other settings which you may want to give preference too�

View Distance

View distance has three settings to choose from �
far, medium and near. Far is better and will let you see more of the
details on the horizon, but we�ve got shots of all three.

View Distance far (right), medium (centre) and near (right), click to enlarge

The view distance is one of the most important settings in the game,
especially if you play with the OST camera most of the time. With the
view distance set to high you�ll be able to see the clouds and distant
details, but if you drop the setting even to medium then you�ll have to
cope with a grey fog of war which makes it feel like you�re exploring a
word covered in nanite goo.

In other words, view distance is the setting you should probably insist
on having set to full, even if you have to compromise texture quality
as a result. Anyway, moving on let's look at the other settings.

Hot Polygon Action II: Vertex Vixens

We�re not done yet! There
are some other graphical settings to bear in mind which, in our
experience, make a dramatic difference to how the game looks and feels.

One thing I noticed which is worth pointing out though is the different
graphical styles used in the game at various points. The start of the
game has a rather stunning opening sequence which is shown with CG
graphics that are suitably enthralling and beautiful, betraying a
vaguely water coloured quality.

Soon enough though we�re shoved into some in-game cutscenes which use
the game's engine to render. If you�ve set the settings then these
cutscenes can use effects like depth of field (the only place we could
definitely spot DOF in use though), but bizarrely these cutscenes will
refuse to use anti-aliasing and can look a little jagged as a result.

After this cutscene is done you�ll be dropped into the game proper, the
appearance of which will be decided by the graphical settings you�ve
decided on and will use AA if you tell the game to do so. Speaking of
which�

Anti-aliasing

Anti-aliasing is the process by which edges of
objects are smoothed out to appear less jagged and sharp. Normally in a
game we want sharp, crisp edges, but not where aliasing is concerned.
AA comes in three flavours; none, 2x and 4x and the larger the
multiplier the better the effect.

AA 4x (left), 2x (center) and none (right), click to enlarge

The AA setting may not look like it makes a big difference in these
pictures, but in game where the edges are constantly moving it�s a
different story. The game can get by with low or no AA and still look
pretty good, especially if you�ve got the other settings pushed high.
However, as always we suggest putting it as high as you can whilst
still keeping a decent framerate.

Grass Detail

An awful lot of The Witcher is spent
running from one peasant village to another, hacking away at monsters
and seducing (wooing, even) damsels. As such, you can expect to see an
awful lot of grass. There are four settings to choose from � high,
medium, low and off. We�ve only shown high, medium and off here because
we reckon that if you�re going to have to go to the low setting then
you may as well turn grass off and push up something more important.

Grass Detail high (left), medium (centre) and off (right), click to enlarge

With the grass set to high the world looks suitably populated by flora
(not the butter, though that would be awesome) and the farmers fields
are filled with crops which makes me homesick.

Flick it down to medium and the game still looks good, but the ground
is a little less welcoming. For the record, this is more true on the
low setting and you�ll start suspecting that the farmers are having a
bad year. With the setting turned to off all the grass sprites and
crops disappear and you�ll have to cope with flat textures and untiled
ground.

Now, the grass setting isn�t all that important and you could
definitely scale it down if you wanted. We definitely think the view
distance is the most important setting, but as always it�s mostly a
matter of personal preference. Much like the conclusion, which we come
to next�

Under your spell

So, let�s recap. So far I�ve told you The Witcher
is a graphically inconsistent game with a few annoying bugs, but an
interesting combat model and the possibility of nipples. Is there
anything more to be told?

Actually, yes.

One of the most important things about the game is the pacing, which is
both slow and fast in just the right areas. Combat? Fast pacing, with
plenty to do and lots to keep you occupied as you hack and slash.
Story? Slow pacing, especially in terms of quest resolution.

What I mean by that is that you�ll rarely find out the consequences of
your action straight away and it can be hours later before the results
become apparent. For example, you may be in one quest (and this is
hypothetical so that we can remain spoiler free) where you are given a
choice. A murderer is on trial, but you know his �murder� was a
sympathetic one.

The choice is simple, come forward and help him or let him die and
leave his family without a head. There�s no obvious right or wrong, no
matter what Hollywood would have us believe and, just like in real life
you may never fully see the consequences.

Click to enlarge

For example, if you let the man die then his family would be left
destitute and his son, bitter with rage, may track you down much later
in the game and attack you. This is exactly the type of timing you can
expect to see in the game and the type of reaction too. With no clear
right or wrong, you may do the thing you think is best only to have it
bite you in the bum about four hours later. You may try to be evil,
only to be seen as a hero by the time the game is over for you.

Obviously this gives the game a massive amount of re-playability, with
players having to fully explore their motives as they make these
choices. It�s a difficult thing to fully convey in a review as the
consequences necessarily feel immediately connected to the described
actions, but in-game events unfold both beautifully and slowly. The
delay really is an elegant and important piece of the game design in The Witcher.

Conclusions

Has The Witcher successfully cast a charm
spell on our hearts then or did it mess up with one of the ingredients
and accidentally turn our souls to stone? It�s time to decide.

Drawing my conclusion on The Witcher has been difficult
and was actually rather painful for me to come to and not because of my
ongoing problem with RSI either. You see, I want to give The Witcher
a high score so very badly and I�d love any excuse to tell you all to
go out and buy it, but there are just too many problems in the way.

Click to enlarge

This is a bit of a personal conflict, because I�m a massive RPG fan and The Witcher
is exactly the type of game I love. There�s an adult theme, a
complicated but scalable set of mechanics to master and an epic and
inventively delivered narrative � just what gamers like I lust for.
There are problems too though. Poor lip syncing, graphics which border
on schizophrenic and frequent crashes and viewpoint problems � these
are noticeable enough to dissuade the majority from playing the game.

The Witcher isn�t a bad game though, just an unpolished one
which could have done with a little bit more thought and design work.
The bugs and crashes will hopefully be eliminated in the future, but
for the moment they are a semi-serious problem for the game.

Basically it all comes down to the gamer. If you�re a hardcore RPG
gamer like myself then you�ll be able to tolerate or cope with the
problems and have yourself a merry old time. If you�re just a RPG
fledgling though or aren�t sure the basic delayed-consequence system
interests you though then you may do better to avoid The Witcher
for a bit. It all depends on whether or not you�re really willing to
sit down for a 40-hour game only to play it all over again to get
different consequences � discuss the matter in the forums.

Kungfu Panda

2008-06-18T10:11:11Z

Kung Fu Panda, the video game, will be enjoyable for those
who like other movie-based video games. Relive the plot of the movie with a
little bit more interaction. While the movie is enjoyable by adults and kids,
the game�s target audience definitely seems to be children who enjoy simple
platformers. Because Kung Fu Panda is similar to any other game based on a
movie, I feel that explanations regarding the simple gameplay, blas� animation,
and plot line is unnecessary.

What makes this game different? I reviewed the Wii version
of Kung Fu Panda, and I am happy to report that the Wiimote and nunchuk
controls are intuitive and well done. The game explains how to execute
different moves during the first levels of the game, but the moves are easy to
remember and you don�t have to stand up to do them (yay!).

Although Po the Panda is
not voiced by Jack Black in the video game, the actor that does his voice is
pretty darn close. Admittedly, the male-teenager-valley-girl voice and story
line get tiresome after awhile, but again, this is for the kids and valley
girls out there.

The fun factor is a bit higher in this game than with other
move spin-offs I�ve played. The platforming is closer to Super Mario 64,
meaning that there are objectives to finish and a decent amount of exploration
to be had. The baddies get repetitive though; in the first level alone there
are only two different kinds of wild boars to battle.

Suh-weet? Not so much. There is nothing notable to say about
the graphics or soundtrack, other than they are just okay. There is a
multiplayer aspect to the game for up to four players.

As an adult, are you going to throw a Kung Fu Panda party?
Don�t think so. As a kid, you�d be better off playing Mario Kart. Compared to
other movie-inspired games, Kung Fu Panda does it all better. Does that make it
a great game to someone over the age of eighteen? Most likely, not.

Game Strategi: ORDER OF WAR

2009-09-04T07:53:49Z

ORDER OF WAR, game strategi perang buatan Square Enix dan Wargaming.net's akan release di bulan ini. Bersetting World War II-based real-time strategy dengan nama Wargaming.net's Order of War akan siap dirilis.

Membawa suasana perang dunia ke II di Eropa pada tahun 1944. Game ini memberikan kemampuan player untuk mengendalikan pasukan
Sekutu atau pasukan Axis. Player dapat memerintah pasukan sampai 1000
unit, yang terdiri dari pasukan darat (ground troops), tank, APC,
artileri dan berbagai jenis pesawat tempur. Order of War juga
menawarkan two single-player campaigns, serta online multiplayer mode.

Karena belum direlease, maka baru tersedia versi demonya yang bisa didownload di sini:

www.orderofwar.com

Untuk versi PC akan dirilis pada 22 September 2009 di US.

source: Gamexeon

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II yang ditunggu-tunggu

2009-09-04T08:18:36Z

Dengan plot perang di musim dingin akan memberikan suasana berbeda di dame Call of Duty yang satu ini. Kendaraan berupa motor salju bisa dikendarai di dalam game ini. Efek-efek baru pun diberikan di dalam game ini, seperti, cipratan darah akan terlihat di layar monitor jika Roach (karakter utama game ini) tertembak.

Music pendukung game ini dari 50 Cents, rapper terkenal yang sudah banyak mengisi dunia game seperti 50 Cents Bulletproof dan 50 Cents: Blood on the Sands. Game ini didukung juga oleh pujian dari director Bethesda, Ashley Cheng, yang meyakini game ini akan menjadi sebuah game FPS yang akan mengalahkan kompetitor lain.

Siap-siap akan kedatangan game ini......... :D

Game ini selain dibuat versi Standard Edition dibuat pula versi Prestige Edition