It appears that Nintendo may have even doubted itself and the Wii against the much anticipated Sony Playstation 3 and Microsoft’s XBOX 360. Many believed that Nintendo’s more simple gaming system didn’t stand a chance against Sony and Microsoft’s newest high end gaming machines. Nintendo’s President, Satoru Iwata, admitted that the shortage of the Wii console was “abnormal” and promised to increase production of the Wii which would increase deliveries in the upcoming months.
Many predicted a short lifespan for the Wii console due to its tough competition. Sony Playstation 3 and Microsoft XBOX 360 both offer state of the art graphics, high definition gaming and an option to play high definition movies. Although the price tag for these two systems is record breaking for the gaming world, they have had no problems selling their own systems. Out of the three gaming manufacturers, the biggest surprise has come in the popularity of the Nintendo Wii. Although it doesn’t offer some of the high end features of its competition, it offers a new style of gaming that gets users off the couch and more involved. The gaming control has changed form a paddle to a want which can be used for different purposes depending on the game. The wand is motion sensitive so you can swing it like a golf club, tennis racket, sword or other object to control your player on the screen.
Nintendo has definitely enjoyed this new found popularity as its sales have nearly doubled due to the demand for Wii and DS portable, their handheld gaming machine. Nintendo’s net profit boosted $1.74 billion. Nintendo Wii encountered some early problems with their controls because the motion sensitive wand would often fly out of the gamers hand resulting is some damaged walls and TV’s. Nintendo quickly resolved the problem and has not felt any effects of this slight road bump. The Wii has outsold Sony Playstation 3 which encountered some of its own, more serious production issues. Part of Nintendo’s Wii success is its aggressive pricing, making it a much cheaper option than its competition. The Nintendo Wii starts low at $250 while the XBOX 360 starts at $399 and the PlayStation 3 tops the list at $599. Both the XBOX 360 and PlayStation 3 offer two different customizations of their systems, hard drive size being the biggest difference. The Wii’s low pricing makes it an attractive option for those non-hardcore gamers that are looking for more traditional graphics and a new approach to video game consoles. Nintendo also has a strong following from its many years of video game production.
Nintendo seems to know what the video game world wants. In addition to the Wii production, Nintendo currently produces 2.5 million DS portable game machines every month. They have sold more than 40 million since it was introduced in 2004. The DS gaming machine has its own unique style like the Wii featuring a touch panel and easy to play games for users of all ages.
Quake III Arena, the game that spawned the interests of many in multiplayer first-person shooter games, was released on December 2nd 1999. The game is commonly referred to as Quake 3, Q3A and Q3. This game had set new standards in FPS ( first person shooter ) games making them at par with other popular game genres. It is the third game in the Quake Series and surpasses the previous games due to the fact that it excludes the simple single player characteristics and focuses on the multiplayer action. The single player experience is similar to Unreal Tournament (UT) and deals with the player versus AI (Artificial Intelligence).
Like many of the first person shooter games, the main objective of Quake III is to kill other characters ( whether AI or other players ) which in Quake III terms is known as “fragging.” The points which a player gathers, depend on the game mode which he is playing in. As soon as a player’s health meter reaches zero, the character (avatar) which the player has been using gets fragged. It can then respawn at another area and carry on playing with its health meter back to full. The only thing which an avatar loses after getting fragged, is the weapons and power-ups, which he has gathered. The game finishes at the moment when the player or the team gathers a pre-defined score, or when the time limit of the game ends. With the speed of the game, it is enjoyed enormously by people who like fast moving action packed games. So if you are one of these, be sure to try your hands on Quake III.
The single player mode of the game constitutes the same effects, which are done with AI bots. The game for the first time featured improved AI which contained many different difficulty levels as each bot was made up usually with a humorous personality. This personality came out with the pre-scripted chat sentences which were “spoken” by the bot during the gameplay and made the game more interesting (funny to be precise). The bots pass scorning comments on the opponent when they were fragged and bragged themselves on fragging others.
“Quake III: Team Arena” was an expansion pack launched for Quake III by id Software, and was released in December 2000. It created many new player models, new weapons and items and also made significant changes in the team gameplay by introducing new game modes. But such additions had already been released and implemented by fan modifications and thus the expansion pack was criticized due to its late release. “Quake III: Gold” also followed after some years, which bundled together both the main game and the expansion pack and was re-launched with great advertising.
Quake III Arena’s multiplayer advantages led to the development of a large community of Quake III addicts and like the former games of the series, this game too was used a lot in professional tournaments. The end story is that if you are a hardcore action FPS fan, be sure not to miss Quake III. 
If you’ve enjoyed the earlier 3 Grand Theft Auto games, then you’ve seen nothing yet. The 4th game in the series, San Andreas offers more gaming experience than all 3 put together. Unlike the previous GTA games, the main character may now choose his own set of clothes and customize every part of his personality as well. The main character development is a complete RPG on its own. The progression of the storyline relies mainly on the main character’s ability to influence everyone around him. Each aspect of his personality influences the way people look at him. This is broken down to the way he dresses, his personal habits such as going to the gym, swimming, etc. and as always the choices he makes. The actions of the main character not only influences the way the game goes but changes the way he looks as well. For example, if CJ (the name of the main character) eats a lot and goes to the gym less, he becomes fat. If CJ goes to the gym more, he becomes muscular and attack stats increase as well. The character’s appearance also affects the way people respond to him. As such with other gang members, they show more respect if CJ is in good health. Other options also include having a haircut and getting a tattoo.
The main character, as before, will go through different missions to steal and kill. The difference in this GTA game is that if the character starts attacking one of the bystanders, the other ones will also react. In the previous games, only the attacked ones react while the others simply go on without noticing. In this game, other civilians may run and hide while others may gang up on the main character. Because the game plot is based on gangs, friendly gang members also help the main character when fighting occurs. As always, the main character can fight with bare fists and kicks or use different kinds of weapons. Because this game story is all about gangs, the police now not only chase after the main character if he commits crimes, but also go after rival gang members as well.
The story objective is to gain more money by claiming as much territory as possible. Gang wars will start if the main character goes into enemy territory alone or otherwise. If the main character survives the bloody war and kills 3 or 4 opponents in the area, the territory is claimed. Fellow gang members will come to occupy the area and claim it. Likewise, enemy gangs will try and take over your territory areas so you have to fight them back to retain the territory.
In this GTA game, the main character can now even swim. Plus there are a lot of minigames included in the package such as pool and other arcade games. In addition, the main character may also participate in drag races just like Need for Speed. The game offers a lot more unique features that I haven’t even explored yet. GTA San Andreas is a really good game to look forward to; you should definitely try it for yourself.
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Everyone knows how annoying it is to have to lag through a game when all you really want to do is pull out whatever gun you may have and shoot some zombies / Nazis / floating ducks. It is therefore essential to keep your computer clean and quick to allow you have the best gaming experience possible. By following a few simple steps you can be sure to save space and make your computer faster.
Defragment
Every time you install a program the individual files get scattered around somewhere in your hard drive. Over time and after more and more programs are installed, your hard drive has to search for each fragment of the file just to open it. This may lengthen load times. By defragmenting your hard drive you are grouping all these pieces into one part so that your hard drive can retrieve the information it needs faster. After not defragmenting for over a month or two, once you complete the process it is almost guaranteed that you will see an increase in speed. To defragment:
- Click Start
- Go to ‘All Programs’
- Accessories
- System Tools
- Click Disk Defragmenter
- Select your main hard drive
Defragmenting may take a long time depending on how much there is to clean up. However it is more than worth it.
Graphic Settings
Goodness knows that if you crank the graphics of your game all the way to maximum, the game will most likely look spectacular. Unfortunately, not everyone’s PC can handle the stress needed to create the life like images of the game. By lowering the graphic detail such as the shadowing or render detail, you can often speed up the game. It is worth losing a few pixels over running a smooth game. As well as this, pushing the game to optimum speed if your computer can’t handle it often leads to crashing.
Unnecessary Programs
Before starting up your game you should always close any large programs you are running. This includes photo and graphic editing programs as well as most other windows. By looking at the taskbar you can see what other programs are running in the background. Close the ones that take up too much CPU time.
Tip: When running MMORPGs or playing games online, if you really want to get the best out of your computer, close all chatting programs such as MSN Messenger or AIM. While the change may be slight it may just be the difference between a frag and a death.
By pressing Ctrl + Alt + Del, you can open up your task. By looking under processes and arranging the processes in terms of CPU time they take up, you can end the processes that take too much CPU energy. However, you should never end processes unless you know what their function is. Critical processes that keep your system running are also included in that list. For any process that you do not know, research it.
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WWF Smackdown, as one would expect, is a game heavily loaded with action and would be a relief for Smackdown lovers because this is one thing for which we can say, “Please do try this game in your computer!” The game has been developed based on the game show “Smack Down” by THQ, and has proved its worth by getting 8.8 out of 10 in rating. The rating is mainly based on five different factors (all are rated to 10) Game play (9), Graphics (9), Sound (5), Value (8) and Tilt (10). The graphics is the main highlight of this game and a lot of combo moves have been included.
All the characters in the game are a replica of the ones that appear in the game show. The specialty of this game is that, as in the game show, every player that you select would have a special finishing move, and only when the player is in grog state (not steady) one can apply the finishing move. This makes the game tougher and realistic because you need to hit the player in order to make him unsteady and it’s not going to take place in just one shot. The most attractive feature of this game is that while any player properly connects his finishing move, the camera takes a 360-degree rotation around the players in slow motion, clearly focusing on the players and the move that has been done. This makes the visual effects more appealing to the players.
To add more beauty to the game and characters involved, users can select costumes for the players and apart from this, users have the privilege to create players of their own choice. There are a lot of properties which users can add in order to create their own players. The properties include height, weight, body type and moves, based on which the profile of the player is varied. One good thing about such player customization is that as and when the user changes any one of the properties of the player, it is automatically indicated as a change in the prototype that appears in the right corner of the screen. This helps the users create their player and keep track of any change being made more easily.
Now the main attraction that will steal the heart of the people is that, the user can play all kinds of matches that he/she sees in the game show. For example, Wrestle Mania, TLC matches and many more. As usual, users can play in the single player mode against the PlayStation 2 player, but what makes this mode better than the one present in the previous version of the game is that, the difficulty level has been increased and there are situations wherein the referee can be a special guest and he can form an ally with your opponent. This makes the game more realistic and tougher. Apart from the fight and matches, there is also a huge collection of intro videos that the users eyes can relish upon. As the subtitle suggest all users by now must know your role that is to enjoy the game!
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After years of delays and setbacks, this horror / adventure / RPG / FPS / action / exploration game hit the shelves. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was a definite step forward for the video game industry and it made several advances in a time where most video games are carbon copies of one another. This game was definitely less than it could have been, but it still did a lot of things right.
The atmosphere that this game creates for the player is amazing. The environments and overall effects cause the player to have a steady feeling of unease. There was also a genuinely scary feeling to most of the interiors. There is nothing much more frightening than seeing a squid-faced bloodsucker suddenly appear next to you and start ripping away at your face.
The game has great immersion value. The player can actually start to feel like they are in the zone. Your character is a vulnerable and somewhat realistic human. Your travel weight is limited to 50 kilograms, which equates to about one rifle, one pistol, a few hundred bullets for each, a little food, and some medical supplies. This really makes you think about what to bring to each mission, and it requires you to actually think about what you are looting. You are also not superman. You can only take a few hits before you die, and most of the anomalies can severely hurt or kill you. You’ll go through a lot of medpacks if you aren’t careful during every second of the game.
The combat in the game is another plus. You really have to think on your feet and observe your entire environment. Taking cover and engaging a group of bandits with your rifle is well and good, until one of them flanks you and blasts you with a shotgun at close range. Straight run-and-gun will also result in a relaxing dirt nap. The challenging AI makes sure that each gun battle is a challenging game of cat-and-mouse that requires you to switch tactics and watch your ammo. The guns are very inaccurate at the start, but it is pretty easy to adapt. It only takes a few fights before you realize that just lining up the iron sight isn’t enough. The guns are your friends, and you’ll slowly learn what you have to do with them. You’ll also have a decent opportunity to learn, because most of the bandits at the start are pretty bad shots too.
The environmental AI really sets this game apart from the crowd. As soon as you see this game live, you’ll love it. There are tons of things that the AI can do without a specific script. A group of five dogs desperately fought two boars that were moving in on their territory. Six heavily armed bandits led a raid on a military checkpoint (and were slaughtered). About 10 bandits attacked a stalker camp in the Garbage and managed to kill all but one of the loners defending it. Just as they were closing in to finish the kill him, an experienced stalker runs down the road and kills the last four. Camps under attack send out distress calls, and this one brought a patrol down the road. They even set up a defensive post in the bandits’ old camp. This was completely unscripted.
This game is good and it could even have joined the ranks of the truly great, but it fell short in several ways. The stealth element was effectively removed from the game. It is almost impossible to actually sneak up behind an enemy and knife him. The soldiers seem to automatically sense the player approaching them. It also suffers from a lack of direction in some places. The side missions are mainly uninspired “kill this guy” “protect this camp” missions, and all that they give you are worthless artifacts or money. Herein lies the lack of direction. Money is effectively worthless in the game. You find just about everything that you’ll ever use and there are only a few good sellers in the game. The patch tried to fix it by making armor de-generate, but this only puts a Band-Aid on the problem. The AI also has some really dumb flaws. Stalkers will bump into campfires and set themselves on fire (without even reacting, of course). This is the reason for the piles of corpses around campfires (if anyone was curious). They will also handle animals badly. It is really weird to see a heavily armed and armored ex-military stalker get mauled by two dogs. They should have also made it possible for the npcs to actually use the first aid kits that they constantly carry with them. The rest of the bugs are just annoying. For example, it is pretty much impossible to actually join one of the factions due to a main quest being completely bugged. There are also accounts of the AI engine just not turning on occasionally. These problems will hopefully be fixed in an upcoming patch though.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. gets a 7.8/10 overall. The game is really good, but it could have been so much better. If they can fix a few of the bugs, then it might approach greatness. Gamers can also look forward to several mods that are being released soon. If all else fails, this should at least help the game reach its full potential.
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Age of Empires III (also called AoE III) is a real-time strategy (RTS) game developed by Ensemble Studios, and published by Microsoft. It was released on October 18, 2005 in North America, and on November 4 the same year in Europe. It is the third title of the Age of Empires series, and the sequel to Age of Empires II: The Conquerors. The game covers the European colonization of the Americas, in a time frame approximately between AD 1500 and 1850.
The game has made a number of innovations, both in the series and the genre, such as the addition of the Home City, which combines real time strategy and role-playing game (RPG) features; and an advanced physics engine to animate it, making battles more realistic. The game has been accepted in general by all the age groups ranging from eleven to more than sixty and works as an excellent means to spend time at leisure.
The Main Deck
Age of Empires III, in the style of previous titles of the series and the genre, requires the player to develop a European nation’s colony from a basic settlement to a mighty empire, progressing through “Ages,” —stages of technology representing time periods—and destroying the enemy base(s). There are two main branches to game play, the economy, and the military; winning a match depends on the mastery of both. This is a boon to both the genre of players i.e. those who like aggression and those who want to live a peaceful city life.
There are three modes of game play: the story-based campaigns, single player skirmishes, and online multiplayer skirmishes. Single player skirmishes take place between human players and computer personalities, conforming to rules that are set up before the game. The map, difficulty of the AI, and each player’s resource gather rate may be modified. It should be noted however that the most difficult rate is tough to crack through, so this means that even professional players will have a great time breaking the barrier.
As in most RTS games, the player can advance through technological phases, which provide access to greater improvements, units, or buildings. In Age of Empires III, these phases are called “Ages,” and represent historical time periods. They are: The Discovery Age, Colonial Age, Fortress Age, Industrial Age and Imperial Age.
Similar to the Age of Mythology minor gods system, Age of Empires III utilizes a Politician System as a method of granting bonuses on a successful advancement to another age, since they offer a certain shipment to recover the price used to age up. Initially, all civilizations have two politicians as their choice while advancing; more are unlocked at the rate of 1 every 10 levels of the Home City. The game thus carries the contents of ideal RTS games while including some new features as well.
New Concept of Home City
Age of Empires III is the first game in the series to introduce the “Home City Concept.” The Home City functions as a second city, a powerhouse that is separated from the active game. It cannot be attacked or destroyed, although an Imperial Age upgrade called Blockade stops the player’s opponents from receiving Home City shipments. Similar to a Role-Playing Game character, the Home City is persistent between games, meaning that upgrades gained through many games can be applied and stay applied for as long as that particular city exists (cities only cease to exist when they are deleted by the player from the game menu). Multiple Home Cities can be created and maintained, although each Home City supports only one civilization.
The game with this new concept has grasped the player’s attention towards maintaining the city more rather than battles, which is perhaps the core part of Strategy Games.
The Campaign
The story-based campaign mode consists of related scenarios with preset objectives, such as destroying a given building. In Age of Empires III, the campaign follows the Black family in a series of three “Acts,” which divide the story arc into three generations.
Instead of playing as one of the standard civilizations, the player takes command of a special civilization that is linked to the character or period that each Act portrays. This type of campaign includes the characteristics of RPGs and thus grasps the attention of a larger community.
Awards and Critics
General reception was good, though not as positive as its predecessor, Age of Kings. The game received a 91% score from the American version of PC Gamer. GameSpy presented the game with two awards in 2005: ‘Real-time strategy game of the year’ and ‘Best Graphics.’ Other awards, including an ‘Outstanding’ from GameZone, reflect the positive critical reception of the game. In December 2006, the Governor of Texas chose Age of Empires III as his “featured game of the month.”
It can be safely said that Age Of Empires III is a critically acclaimed game and covering generally all the aspects of RTS games and including the RPG characteristics too. With good graphics the game looks appealing and the campaign gets the players attention. The game can be pretty addictive, so our advice is that, play it well and prepared to get hooked.
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