SiN Emergence review

I recently picked up the first episode of the videgame series SiN, at a bragain price on Steam. Sadly, SiN was cancelled for unnconeccted reasons and only the first episdoes exists. Once I had finished playing, the urge to review what I had bought struck me.

Not that long ago, everyone was abuzz about episodic gaming. About how this was the future. The first big attempt at this was SiN: Emergence, the first episode in a new series. Sadly, the developers, Ritual, were bought out and SiN appears to be dead. Only the first glimpse into this series is available for the world.

SiN is a FPS that draws immediate parallels with the Half Life Series; episodic, on Steam, all first person with no cutscenes. It even has a similar loading bar. But the difference is that while Half Life is perfectly crafted, SiN is pure entertainment. The enemies and weapons are few, and can become repetitive. This is not a flawless game. Nonetheless, its weapons feel meaty, and it is well paced. You will be entertained, through well chosen humour, diversity and tougher sections. Difficulty is something targeted by the game, dynamically shifting throughout, to maximise fun. Hardly noticeable, but that is the point. The game does not break your immersion. Music, speech and sound effects all play a role in this, keeping you involved in this sort game. You sit down, and you play, a pleasure until the end.

The problem with SiN is that it has no end. The final boss is finished with a teaser for the next episode, giving more questions. Who will survive? What is really going on? The potential for the rest of the series leaves me eager for more.

And so all that can be done is to enjoy. Enjoy an underrated great. Don’t be put off because there is no sequel, but enjoy it because it is fun. And hope, that one day, the essence of SiN is continued.

Doctor Horrible

This looks awesome.

I know nothing about this. It is new from Director Joss Whedon, he of Buffy and Firefly fame. It is a musical about a failing supervillain and his attempts to win the girl, and is coming soon.

The first trailer just appeared and looks awesome, so here I am to share it with you.

Teaser from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog on Vimeo.

TF2 - Pyro update

This will be one of the most useless posts ever, because I have not yet played the update, and I do not in the slightest feel excited by it.

Two new custom maps and a change to the (hateful) CTF_Well. Those are nice touches. Changes to a class I have little intrest in playing, but will be swarming around the servers for the next week or so. That is the huge "meh".

On the plus, Meet the Sniper was one of the best things I have ever seen.

J-Film #14- 'The Incredible Hulk (Audio)'

still haven't found out about embedding, please go the the JXM forums and the reviews section for the download link as it wont work here, I will be writing a special film report for the bloghammer soon, so don't worry about that

J-Film #13- 'Gone Baby Gone (Audio)'

cant embed it yet more research is required (please help me!) so heres a download link.

http://forum.j-server.org/showthread.php?p=5584#post5584

well actually thats the link to the JXM forum post but yeah silly rapidshare link wouldn't work

Reflections on Gran Turismo 3

The first game I got, with my brand new, Christmas present PS2, was GT3. It was amazingly pretty, but it was so boring. It was slow, and I was too young to understand that slow equals fast in a true simulation. So I went out and bought something else instead, Bond's Nightfire I believe, and messed about on that.

Recently, I put GT3 back in my PS2. I do not have a new console, but I do have a new TV, and so i spend my time playing through all the games I missed first time around; Metal Gear Solid and Devil May Cry for example.

Firstly, I want to point out how wrong the younger me was. Perfecting cornering is extremely rewarding. Secondly I want to point something out. GT3 is one if the most beautiful games ever. You may be incredulous at this. This is a game from 2001. Yet, it offers wide-screen support, and is truly breath-taking. This, to be fair, is because it cheats. Just like all the best games should, it is very particular about what it presents to you. There is no damage, no weather, limited ocular customisation and no interior for the cars. Because of this, GT3 allows the player to marvel at the tracks, the heat-waved air, and the cars. GT3 is stunningly pretty.

And this is my gripe. The PS2 was not finished. Looking at the life-cycle of a games console, you can see the comparison between launch titles and games from later on. I personally feel that the older consoles could have been pushed further. But they are not. Why is it in Sony's, or Microsoft's, interest to prolong the life of their console. They want us to buy the new one, and this kills the specialisation of the old. Pro Evo is a case in point, the transfer to a new generation has ruined the game on all formats, and will take years to correct. We don’t need the quick turnaround. Anyone remember the 4mb of RAM expansion for the N64?

I am having great fun, and it has not cost me a penny. I just looked to what I already have and took joy in that. Nonetheless, I still want MGS4, and I still haven't started MGS3 yet.