Looks like I missed this book as it has been out for about a month now, but this review gives an excellent overview of its strengths and weaknesses.

The main thing that caught my eye in the review is apparently Barton considers Baldur’s Gate I and II the greatest CRPGs of all time. That is enough to get me to buy the book as I enthusiastically share this opinion. Yes, I weidu.

I would also think the era from 1996 to 2001 to have produced the best CRPGs to date. From Infinity Engine games (Baldur’s Gate, Planescape: Torment and Icewind Dale) to the Fallout titles and Arcanum among others (does Jagged Alliance count?), it can’t be denied that time period bore sweet fruit for CRPG fans.

Having not read the book, I do not want to go on about Barton’s opinions, but I would address one thing that Aeonite seems to take issue with: Barton’s apparent loathing of the Diablo series.

While both games receive more or less equal time, it is a bit hard to swallow Barton’s dislike for Diablo in the context of a historical overview; nowhere else does he editorialize quite so much, or so vividly. While at first he simply declares that Diablo’s consideration as a CRPG “remains a divisive subject,” he quickly moves on to less thinly-veiled potshots. At one point, he refers to “hordes of badly behaved teenagers (and middle-aged men, no doubt) scampering to Battle.net, ‘pwning’ each other and seeking out the latest cheats and hacks to gain an unfair advantage.” Later, Barton expresses a “pang of regret over the overwhelming triumph of (the Diablo) series, since it seems to have come at the expense of the older, more sophisticated CRPGs of past eras.”

Certainly Barton has considered the sub-designations of Diablo and Baldur’s Gate as Action RPG and Strategic (or Tactical) RPG, respectively. I suppose this statement is contentious in itself, since some might not consider any ARPG a real CRPG and others may not consider a title like Baldur’s Gate or Arcanum a SRPG. I also find it a bit disconcerting that Barton doesn’t seem to separate the actions and memes of a game’s community from the game itself. I suppose I will see when the book arrives.

Diablo was (and I would wager still is) rife with the shenanigans he writes of, but that really has little bearing on the game itself. I doubt the more serious of us would judge the merits and quality of World of Warcraft based on Barrens chat, the official forums or the Glider community. Diablo, as an ARPG, has still to be topped in quality of gameplay despite numerous clones. Though I have to admit Titan Quest was pretty fun before the old carpel tunnel set me packing.

To me also, comparing Diablo to Baldur’s Gate is like comparing apples to oranges - sure they are both fruit, but that is where their similarities end. And personally I do not think that the ARPG genre has hurt the SRPG genre nearly as much as it has been hurt by MMORPGs, which in their turn have also hurt traditional ARPGs like Diablo, or say, TitanQuest. And SRPGs have been also been hurt by games like Neverwinter Nights 1, Elder Scrolls and Vampire: Bloodlines, which are arguably more strict CRPGs as they take out the strategic element of managing an entire party of adventurers. (I was personally thrilled when I found out NWN2 allowed for party management taking the title more into SRPG territory.)

Or perhaps, genre-wise, it’s all relative. How would one class Guild Wars or Dungeon Runners? They have their roots planted firmly in the ARPG genre, yet you could also argue that they are MMORPGs. It is not at all uncommon to hear people refer to Guild Wars as an MMORPG.

Though you could say the SRPG genre is suffering (in North America and Europe, apparently not at all in Asia) for whatever reason, it can’t be overlooked that some of the biggest recent CRPG titles - namely Bioware’s KOTOR and Jade Empire - could also be considered SRPGs. What I am really waiting for is a more strict SRPG like the Infinity Engine games translated into the MMO experience - being able to control entire parties would certainly take PVP to a whole new level.

Regardless of anything, I am looking forward to reading this book. If you want to get started on this book while you’re waiting for it to arrive, you can read a sample chapter at Gamasutra.

The most popular scam method lately seems to be finding new and inventive ways to deploy trojans laden with password-stealing software. Well friends, that practice is about to come to end once and for all.

Blizzard has recently announced they will be adding an extra security feature into accounts in the form of an encrypted passcode generated by a physical dongle. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was largely in response to the recent wave of account thefts made possible with an exploit in Flash (Which has since been fixed).

The Blizzard Authenticator is an optional tool that offers World of Warcraft players an additional layer of security to help prevent unauthorized account access. The Authenticator itself is a physical “token” device that fits easily on a keyring.

For only $6.50 at the Blizzard store, you can by an Authenticator which you link to your account. Once your account is linked you will need a security token generated by the device as well as your name and password to access your account. They are even letting people link one device to multiple accounts.

This may not completely stop more traditional con jobs from taking place, but having one of these will definitely shield you completely from the threat of key-loggers because the security number will change every time you log in.

So when I first heard about Age of Chivalry, I was pretty interested. A total conversion mod for Half-Life 2, Age of Chivalry puts you in the thick of battle in a setting nearly identical to the Europe of the Medieval period. Swords, maces, crossbows and spears are your trusty tools here.

And unlike other “medieval” games there is no hint of magic or fantastical monsters to be found - just sweaty peasants in chainmail beating each others’ brains in. Very refreshing considering your main alternatives are beating up aliens, terrorists or dragons. Check out the official game trailer below:

This is a free mod, meaning you only need to own Half-Life 2 to play it. The current version is 1.1 and, while still technically in beta, has very smooth gameplay with a handful of well-designed maps. In fact, the maps are connected to each other in what Team Chivalry calls “Story Driven Multiplayer.”

Our unique way of allowing the players to continue writing the story depending on the outcome of the battles. You can siege the shore and push them back into the deep forests of their lands. If your strength is great enough you may write history and destroy their lands and lay siege to their town’s castle to completely destroy your enemy through a sequence of map cycles leading you through the epic storyline.

While the game features maps with connected objectives and you can choose from three classes with varying equipment setups, this is no RPG, however. Rather it is very similar in spirit to Team Fortress 2 - another big bonus for me (and a lot of other players, I would wager).

AoC was also chosen as an editor’s pick for the ModDB 2007 Editor’s Choice Awards. Below you can see why from the actual gameplay:

OK English-speakers, this video is a German game tutorial but you can get the picture of how the actual gameplay works. This has become one of my favorite Source Mods and if you are a fan of realistic medieval wargames it will definitely become one of yours also.

• Age of Chivalry Home Page
• Official Steam Group
• ModDB Page

I just came across a little wiki tucked away in the vast tubes of the Internets where you can find numerous leaked screen shots and information about where the most anticipated game expansion this year is headed: WotLK Alpha Official Wiki (something tells me this should be called the “UN-official” wiki).

There is numerous leaked information already giving you a snapshot of Northrend, Death Knights and life after 70 in World of Warcraft.

Periodically I will be highlighting a community-made game or project I find interesting and that I think you will also. For the first Spotlight I have chosen a project that thousands of MMO players around the world have wished for yet few seem to know about: the Star Wars Galaxies Emulation project. Or projects, rather, as of right now there are three which show a great deal of promise.

Throughout its life Star Wars Galaxies has been no stranger to controversy: first, with the difficulties balancing the Jedi class and the path to obtain a Jedi character and later with Sony Online Entertainment’s horrendously miscalculated NGE and, to a lesser extent, the Combat Upgrade of 2005.

The Combat Upgrade, which changed character progression in the game from skill-based to combat-based progression, followed by the NGE which (among other things) reduced the playable classes from 34 to nine, very nearly killed the game and resulted in a mass exodus of most of the player base. To this day SWG does not enjoy the same subscriber numbers it did from 2003-2005 (although subscriber numbers and demographics have been subject to debate from the beginning as well).

Though SWG has nowhere near the player base it once it enjoyed, the game is by no means dead. However, the extremely far-reaching bad word-of-mouth has made SWG (and by extension SOE) synonymous in the MMO world with failure. There is, however, a rather numerous group of players throughout the world who remember the glory days of Star Wars Galaxies and are working hard to create an environment where they can relive those pre-Combat Upgrade memories.

Three predominant groups have sprung up over the past two+ years who are attempting to reverse-engineer SOE’s pre-CU servers. By reverse engineering the servers from scratch and using official (i.e. bought from SOE) SWG clients they hope to side-step the obvious legal hurdles encountered by those who maintain private servers for existing games.

SWGEmu - The only community of the three who maintains a public testing server that anyone can join. While the game is still not entirely playable, you can see that they have been making huge strides. In my opinion this is the community to watch for the future and offers the most for those of us who would like to contribute but aren’t coders. Their focus on creating an open source emulator and the dedication to keeping the community informed sets this group at the forefront.

SWG:ANH - Another strong group working to create a server emulator, SWG:A New Hope does not currently operate a public test server. They keep the community informed largely through screenshots and videos. A much more tight-lipped group that is developing their emulator as closed-source, they still have a lot of promise for those who just want to play. And with the addition of the core members of the SWG Pre-CU development team, that promise just got a lot brighter.

SWG Pre-CU - The future of this project is currently unknown as their core development team recently left for SWG:ANH. In the coming weeks we should learn more about whether this project will die or be picked up by a new dev team.

Whatever is in store for these projects, one thing is certain: SWG vets and noobs who long to play the game as it was first designed will be getting the chance in the not-too-distant future.

Today the folks responsible for bringing the phenomenal (free) Half-Life 2 mod Zombie Panic: Source have announced the mod has been fully migrated to the Source 2007 SDK and to generate some interest they are staging a level design competition with some pretty sweet rewards.

Enter your Zombie Panic map into the competition by July 15, 2008 and if it is chosen you will receive:

1st place - $300 US cash, choice of one Noesis Interactive product, choice of either Assassin’s Creed™: Director’s Cut Edition or Frontlines™: Fuel of War™ via Steam, release of their entry with the next released version of Zombie Panic: Source, and a chance to join the Zombie Panic Development team!

2nd place - $150 US cash, choice of one Noesis Interactive product, release of their entry with the next released version of Zombie Panic: Source, and a chance to join the Zombie Panic Development team!

3rd place - $50 US cash, choice of one Noesis Interactive product, release of their entry with the next released version of Zombie Panic: Source, and a chance to join the Zombie Panic Development team!

While having some extra cash never hurts and getting a free game on Steam is positively delightful, it seems like the best reward is getting your foot in the door of one of the better mod teams out there right now.

If you want more information about this contest or see what maps have already been submitted a forum for the event was created.

I found Portal to be the right blend of challenge and streamlined gameplay. Once you master the portal gun and if you are already familiar with the typical Half-Life puzzle style this game could be considered downright easy. Still, I got stuck twice during the game to the point where I had to consult a guide before I was able to proceed - I’m lame like that. If you are stuck on a level you can find the solution among these videos below made by Mmac2797.

Levels 00-05

Levels 06-12

Level 13-15

Level 16

Level 17

Level 18

Level 19

Level 19: Final Boss

Advanced Levels

These video walkthroughs were made by YouTube user GLFZero91.

Level 13 Advanced

Level 14 Advanced

Level 15 Advanced

Level 16 Advanced

Level 17 Advanced

Level 18 Advanced

Zombie Panic: Source (official site) is a multi-player mod for Half Life 2 that pits human survivors of an undead holocaust versus ravenous flesh-eating zombies. Though officially still in beta, it is quite playable and is already loads of fun.

UPDATE: The issue below has been fixed as of version 1.2b - You can download it here.

There are, however, still some kinks that need to be worked out. For instance, as a zombie you will always see survivors aiming to the side even though they are shooting at you - though it’s not hard to ignore, this graphical bug can be disorienting when you’re chasing down your dinner - I mean other players. Poorly-designed maps and getting stuck in place are other such experiences. But after all the beta version of the mod was just released less than one month ago, so in time these issues will be worked out.

A rather huge bug that the mod currently suffers from is the lack of player-mute functionality. In other words, when “Techno Master” decides to play house music for everyone and “Adolph” begins rapping about sucking cock - well, there is nothing you can do short of disconnecting from the server.

This will almost surely be fixed in the next patch, but until then (and just in case it isn’t fixed), here is an easy way to fix the player list and enable muting in the game. This comes from Schizo, a ZP developer, on the Zombie Panic forum.

First create a text file the directory \Steam\SteamApps\SourceMods\ZPS and name it PlayerListDialog.res. Open this empty file and paste in the following code:


"Resource/PlayerListDialog.res"
{
"PlayerListDialog"
{
"ControlName" "CPlayerListDialog"
"fieldName" "PlayerListDialog"
"xpos" "168"
"ypos" "55"
"wide" "467"
"tall" "388"
"autoResize" "0"
"pinCorner" "0"
"visible" "1"
"enabled" "1"
"tabPosition" "0"
"settitlebarvisible" "1"
}
"MuteButton"
{
"ControlName" "Button"
"fieldName" "MuteButton"
"xpos" "173"
"ypos" "326"
"wide" "144"
"tall" "24"
"autoResize" "0"
"pinCorner" "2"
"visible" "1"
"enabled" "1"
"tabPosition" "3"
"labelText" "#GameUI_MuteIngameVoice"
"textAlignment" "west"
"dulltext" "0"
"brighttext" "0"
"Command" "Mute"
"Default" "1"
}
"PlayerList"
{
"ControlName" "ListPanel"
"fieldName" "PlayerList"
"xpos" "28"
"ypos" "38"
"wide" "410"
"tall" "279"
"autoResize" "3"
"pinCorner" "0"
"visible" "1"
"enabled" "1"
"tabPosition" "1"
}
"Button1"
{
"ControlName" "Button"
"fieldName" "Button1"
"xpos" "352"
"ypos" "352"
"wide" "86"
"tall" "24"
"autoResize" "0"
"pinCorner" "3"
"visible" "1"
"enabled" "1"
"tabPosition" "4"
"labelText" "#GameUI_Close"
"textAlignment" "west"
"dulltext" "0"
"brighttext" "0"
"Command" "Close"
"Default" "0"
}
}


Save, close the file and open Zombie Panic. After joining a server you should now be able to see the player list along with the mute button. You get to this list by pressing ESC and selecting Players (not the list accessed with TAB).

Hopefully until this bug is fixed in a normal patch, this fix will allow you to enjoy Zombie Panic:Source with a minimum of headaches - though losing your head to a hungry zombie is still likely take place.

The term “mouse look” refers to the ability to move your character simply by moving your mouse. This is a feature found in many types if 3d games (an rpg example is Oblivion), and is a predominant feature of the fps genre. WoW’s default mouse-look mode is activated when you press and hold down the right mouse button while moving it.

A really easy way to enable mouse-look mode is through the simple macro:


/run if IsMouselooking() then MouselookStop() else MouselookStart() end


Clicking this macro will cause your pointer to disappear and your mouse will behave as if the right mouse button is being held down. To disengage mouse look with this script, simply click your right mouse button and the pointer will return. Because this is a macro, you can also easily bind this to a spare mouse or keyboard key.

Now while this feature works great in general, World of Warcraft was not designed for it. If you attempt to keep this enabled all the time, you will quickly run into a few annoyances - the biggest one being that you are unable to target or click on npcs, mobs or other players.

The lack of targeting is not a problem at all for pve play and a minor inconvenience (depending on your skill level) in pvp. To target and engage mobs or pvp players simply use your TAB button and normal action keys; you can also rebind your auto-target (TAB) to another button if you don’t like TAB. As far as your action keys are concerned, if you are a clicker you will probably just want to ween yourself from that habit.

There doesn’t seem to be any option for using mouse-look mode in your day-to-day interactions with friendly npcs, vending machines or the mailbox. But we can chock that up to being a necessary limitation of the WoW UI.

Unless you live under a rock you have heard about Valve’s Orange Box, the blockbuster title that features all three Half-Life 2 games, Team Fortress 2 and Portal, which is fast becoming a gaming legend in its own right.

Totally sweet, right? Well, not if you you are unable to get Steam, Valve’s online community/activation service, working on your Windows-based computer. Even if you buy buy the game at a physical store, you must install and run Steam to play any of the games included in the Orange Box.

However, I was not able to run Steam on my XP box for quite some time; I always got the damnable MS Visual C++ Runtime error. So what to do?

I tried everything. I made sure not to run any conflicting applications, in fact I made sure not to run anything else at all. But that didn’t work.

I cleaned my registry, I applied a Microsoft XP hotfix, I ran memtest after memtest … nothing seemed to work. Until that is I finally ran across a random post suggesting the issue might be due to corruption of files in the local computer’s user account.

I made a new user account on my machine and wouldn’t you know it? Steam started right up like a charm. If you are unsure how to create a new user account, simply click the “Start” button then find and click the option “Control Panel.” You will see an option called “User Accounts;” this is where you can create a new account. Make sure to give it administrator privileges since you will probably want to start using this new account in place of the older, corrupt account.

If you are having this same issue, I highly recommend giving this a shot before you go so far as to reformat your drive and re-install XP. Now I just want to know what caused the corruption in the first place. I think this solution may have also “fixed” a problem with my Photoshop CS2 tools palette, but I haven’t confirmed it for sure yet.