I am finishing my job this friday

then free
I am going to use this blog to post my comics review
Which I am going to start next week

I have compile a list of comics that I will buy and possibility

I mean this week I think I bought Final Crisis Aftermath Dance #1 and Batman Battle of Cowl #3 what a waste I don't have the second battle of Cowl.

HI

I been really busy these few months
working and all
now school is over and i have a job well
i would have more time to update

Browser Ganes

Just Play some of them to relax

ikariam
Tribal War

Star Wars: The Old Republic First Details

We head to Austin for an exclusive, in-depth look at BioWare's new MMO!

by Steve Butts

October 21, 2008 - It may have been one of the worst kept secrets in the industry, but the cat is officially out of the bag today. After rumors based on corporate cooperation, speculation about job postings, and even an outright acknowledgement by n high-ranking executive, LucasArts and BioWare have finally officially announced their joint massively-multiplayer online game at an event in San Francisco today. Titled Star Wars: The Old Republic, the new game is the first MMO for BioWare and the second Star Wars MMO for LucasArts.

Though the official announcement is today, we were recently down at BioWare's Austin studio for an exclusive look at the game. We'll be exploring many facets of this game over the next few days, examining the setting, the intriguing moral gulf between Jedi and Sith, and the stylized visuals. Today we're going to focus primarily on the issue of story and the concept of companion characters.

The Old Republic finds itself threatened once again by the Sith Empire.

While in Austin, we had the chance to sit down and speak with many members of the Star Wars: The Old Republic team. Creative director James Ohlen and principal lead writer Daniel Erickson gave us a broad overview of the design goals, while senior content producer Dallas Dickinson and art director Jeff Dobson filled in some of the specific details. VPs and co-studio directors Rich Vogel and Gordon Walton, themselves veterans of previous MMO launches, helped to define the game in terms of the practical needs of launching and maintaining an MMO. BioWare's director of marketing Leo Olebe and LucasArts' PR manager Amy Stojsavljevic were also on hand to discuss the franchise as a whole.

Before we began talking with the designers, we chatted with BioWare founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuck about the new project. Ray admits that they've "wanted to make an MMO for a decade" but were just looking for the right partner, the right developer and the right IP. Now they've found it in LucasArts, BioWare Austin and the Knights of the Old Republic setting.

Set 300 years after the events in Knights of the Old Republic (and featuring some familiar faces), Star Wars: The Old Republic will put players on either side of a massive war between the Republic and the Empire. "It's not a day-in-the-life of Star Wars," Ray emphasizes; "It's about being a hero." They want the game to fit the scale and proportions of a conflict that spans the entire galaxy. The game will follow BioWare's emphasis on "choice with consequences" with room for players to be ambiguous or conflicted about their motives. In short, Greg says, it's what BioWare fans want: a perpetual RPG that delivers the full BioWare experience.

The battle rages from the capital of Coruscant to the far reaches of the Outer Rim.

BioWare roleplaying games are typically built on four pillars -- combat, exploration, progression and story. The first three are already a big part of the MMO landscape and are areas in which BioWare has excelled. But the excellent stories that BioWare has consistently delivered in their single-player roleplaying games haven't really found a reliable expression online. Ray and Greg want The Old Republic to focus on the fourth pillar of adding story and character within the MMO genre. Moreover, they actually want the game to leverage the social aspects of the MMO to drive the narrative in ways that haven't been possible in their single-player games.

Fans who are concerned that they're not going to recapture the magic of the original Knights of the Old Republic may be comforted to learn that The Old Republic team is made up of many veterans, not just of Knights of the Old Republic, but many of BioWare's roleplaying games. James Ohlen seems to have had a hand in designing every game the studio has made, from the original Baldur's Gate right through to Jade Empire. Not surprisingly, we've been told to expect that The Old Republic MMO will feel and operate like a BioWare game. There will be a big focus on character, on digital acting, on moral flexibility, on a lively and reactive world.

The sense of scale, however, will make Star Wars: The Old Republic different from every other BioWare game. In response to community pressure to scrap this game and just make Knights of the Old Republic 3, the team suggests that there's enough content in Star Wars: The Old Republic to call it "Knights of the Old Republic 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9." At first hearing, it's easy to suspect that is just marketing hype, particularly since it was delivered to us more than a couple of times by more than a couple of different people. Nevertheless, it seems to be entirely accurate to claim that, in the team's words, this is "the biggest and most ridiculous BioWare game ever made."

Twelve full-time writers have been working on the content for this game for years already. The writing department was the first priority when it came to staffing so these writers have been working on the game longer than anyone. There's a whole galaxy to tell stories in, and unlike Star Wars Galaxies or The Lord of the Rings Online, The Old Republic isn't tied down to an intricate series of events and settings. As a result, they have a bit more liberty to fill in some of the dark places in the lore and to draw interesting connections between the elements that already exist in the Extended Universe.

The writing team is not concerned just with the quantity of the content they're producing. They're not even just concerned about a lot of high-quality content. The writers for The Old Republic are going one step further by focusing on the way that players experiences the story. That's not merely a matter of making sure the story is "clean, efficient and crisp." It's also a matter of making sure that the BioWare storytelling approach fits the MMO format.

Unlike most MMOs, The Old Republic gives each character their own unique story.

The problem is that the success of the stories in Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire and Mass Effect relied on scripted interactions, a dramatic pace and a sense that the player's actions had a lasting impact on the game world. BioWare admits, "common sense says you can't approach story this way in an MMO." As they see it, the problem with most MMOs, even those that have large story arcs for their characters, is that they try to apply a single story to a wide range of classes and attitudes. In designing content that works equally well for both saints and scoundrels, many MMOs are left with rather generic stories where the only real roleplaying is whatever the player projects onto the action.

The solution is to give each class its own story arc. While it means the writers have to create a lot more content, it also pays tribute to the fact that "not everybody's fantasy was to be Luke." There's plenty of opportunity to tell equally interesting stories for other possible character types like smugglers, bounty hunters, politicians and moisture farmers. Okay, well, maybe not so much with the moisture farmers, but those other possibilities seem like they'd have experiences that are every bit as exciting as you'd get as a Jedi.

In creating a specific story for each class, the writers can actually heighten the drama and highlight the key moments and moods that work for the type of character you're playing. So your class story will start right away with you being introduced to your class, not based solely on the mechanics of gameplay, but in terms of what motivates your particular class and how you should start thinking about your opportunities. That's not to suggest that each player of a given class will be forced into a scripted motivation; as we'll see in tomorrow's feature, BioWare will be giving players tremendous freedom to set their own sense of value and priority in the game. But the point is that your class story will provide a relevant framework for you to exercise your own choices throughout the entire life of your character. And then you can carry that sense of identity out into the rest of the game's content that's not directly tied to your class experience.

Each class starts in an appropriate area that lets players learn who they are.

Perhaps the most intriguing benefit to this approach is that your own actions can begin to have a lasting impact on the game world. BioWare wasn't ready to provide us with concrete examples, but we can imagine the watershed moments for certain characters based on the typical Star Wars experiences. Each moment builds your character's identity and creates new opportunities that are consistent with your past. To preserve this sense of coherence, the writers have promised not to reproduce content from class to class, or even between similar classes on different sides of the war.

BioWare is careful to point out that, though the classes are relatively insulated from each other in terms of content, that there's the larger arc of the war between the Republic and the Empire above it all. Han and Luke each had their own agendas and priorities in the original films, but their stories intersected at key points in the larger story of the Rebellion. The designers of The Old Republic want to recreate that dynamic and use story elements to bring players from different classes together for these big moments.

Being in a group with other players not only opens up these larger story elements, but they also allow you to experience the story from a slightly different perspective. Without providing any specific details, BioWare suggested that it provides a new context for you to understand your own role in the galaxy. Even if you're not a player who cares about establishing your place in the narrative, there are places that you won't be able to go and things you won't be able to do unless you join a mixed party.

Still, nearly 40% of MMO players, including asocial types like yours truly, tend to play solo. Since BioWare doesn't want friendless types to be any more lonely than we already are, they're including companion characters that you can bring along with you during your adventures. They'll offer their own content, combat abilities and comments on your actions and attitudes.

Always bring a friend to a fight, even if your friend is a mining droid.

As in BioWare's single-player games, you'll be able to pick from a wide range of companions in The Old Republic. We expect that the options will include all the standard Star Wars types -- the resourceful droid whose fussiness is actually kind of endearing, the loyal alien friend who seems terribly exotic but is really alright once you get to know them, the tentative love interest who hides their true feelings behind a mask of hostility, and the scoundrel who acts like he doesn't care but really does. Though they're bound to use many of these familiar archetypes, BioWare's likely to put their own spin on the companions' identities just to avoid being too predictable.

You'll get to choose who you want to bring with you during the course of the game, but BioWare cautions that it's more rewarding from a standpoint of story and new content to spend lots of time with one companion than it is to spread your time evenly among them all. Because your actions can influence your companions' behavior, you'll have more of an impact on one if you keep him or her by you at all times. Players might be a bit terrified that there are no options to reload your game here and BioWare admits that it's possible to "blow it big time" with certain companions if you aren't living up to their expectations. If you play your cards well enough though, you may be able to actually change your companions' expectations.

The rational behind the companion characters is the same as it's been in the other BioWare games; they provide an emotional anchor and a mirror for the player's attitudes. Because you're actually traveling with these companions and working alongside them, you'll develop an attachment to them that you simply can't have with the legions of NPCs you encounter. And when the companions start offering their own comments on your actions, and in some cases actually challenging your decisions, you'll begin to get a real sense of their usefulness as a moral compass in the game. Some of your companions may not even like you, which, if you're a Sith, may be a completely reasonable basis for your relationship. In fact, the way that Sith sometimes recruit their companions practically guarantees it.

The Force-resistent Dashade are the only companions announced so far.

Though we can only guess at some of the general types of companions that characters will have access to, the team at BioWare offered us a look at one specific type. The Dashade are the last survivors of a world that was destroyed a thousand years ago. Taking advantage of their natural Force resistance, the last remaining Dashade have been employed to assassinate Jedi throughout the galaxy. Fans of Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords will remember the Dashade being mentioned there, but they were also apparently in a scene that was cut out of the original cantina sequence from the original Star Wars.

Naturally, having a Force-resistant assassin by your side is bound to come in handy during a fight. BioWare's not yet willing to reveal the full details of the companion control system, but they were willing to let us know that you can either give your companion tactical orders or set them to fight autonomously.

If we seem to have focused exclusively on storytelling and companion characters today, it's because those are two of the more obvious innovations that BioWare's bringing to the MMO genre. To be clear about it, BioWare is just as committed to supporting the types of gameplay seen in any of the current top-tier MMOs like World of Warcraft, Warhammer Online or The Lord of the Rings Online. In doing so, they're hoping to build on the systems they've already created in their single-player games.

Unfortunately, BioWare's not yet willing to discuss the specifics of combat, exploration or character progression. Combat is probably the biggest question mark right now but BioWare is making some big promises. From what we've seen of the game in action, the combat is definitely exciting and heroic enough to meet the Star Wars standard. There's a sincere sense of connection in the lightsaber duels, and it looks like the characters are really fighting each other rather than simply swinging at the air.

But the designers admit that it's more than just the animations; Star Wars combat is about heroic effort. And having six players standing around swinging swords at a lone Force Pig^TM just doesn't meet the standard. It's more in keeping with the spirit of the franchise to have individual player characters facing off against large groups of enemies at once. We saw one lightsaber fight between a single defender and a number of attackers and it evoked the feeling of the films very accurately.

Having appropriate enemies is also an issue. You won't ever find yourself in a large group fighting against a single Jawa, for instance. In fact, the team promises that even the low-level creatures will present a credible threat, at least in terms of their appearance. Even starting Jedi will find themselves facing off against giant K'lor Slugs. We're not sure how they're going to scale up from that to provide challenges at the upper end of character development, but it's a good start.

The K'lor Slug is what you start fighting.

In terms of character progression, we do know that they're going to include visual markers to distinguish the different stages of character progression, at least for the companion characters. Whether that means newer or more high-tech gear will probably vary from character to character. One of the more difficult challenges is finding a way to highlight the power and prestige of a veteran Jedi without embracing a stylish flair that's completely at odds with the Jedi mentality.

Exploration is another big unknown, both in terms of player mounts or vehicles and the possibility of space travel. Those elements certainly seem to be an important part of the franchise, so we're curious to see how BioWare works them in to the mix, or justifies their absence.

Be sure to check back the rest of the week for our continued Star Wars: The Old Republic exclusive coverage. Tomorrow we'll be taking a detailed look at the overall setting for the game, including a breakdown of the recent war and uneasy truce between the Republic and the Empire, a look at two of the starting worlds and an examination of some of the moral questions that will confront players of Jedi and Sith. On Thursday we'll talk in depth about the game's visual style and share art director Jeff Dobson's thoughts on the various screens we've posted this week. Finally, we'll close out Friday by talking with LucasArts about their other MMO, Star Wars: Galaxies, and discuss the potential impact of BioWare's project.

The fights are thrillingly cinematic.

I been waiting for this for so many years
Buy PC Gamer Holiday issue
From IGN

Resistance 2 (PS3)

One might glibly summarize PlayStation 3 launch title Resistance: Fall of Man as the "alternate WWII, but against aliens!" first-person shooter where the Chimera extraterrestrials stood in for the Nazis. Resistance 2, then, is the "gosh, them aliens sure are big!" FPS. While it's obvious that Resistance 2 draws from a large pool of influences -- both movies and games -- the overriding homage is definitely the visual impact of scenes from Godzilla, Cloverfield, Clash of the Titans, and War of the Worlds. Simply put, Resistance 2 will go down in history as the shooter where most bosses are at least 20 -- if not over 300 -- times bigger than you are.

This sense of scale goes a long way toward making Resistance 2 a more cinematic, grandiose, and vastly improved sequel. The narrative kicks off immediately after the first game's ending, with Sergeant Nathan Hale assigned to the Sentinels -- a rowdy bunch of fellows also infected with the Chimera virus (instead of fully converting into Chimera soldiers, they -- like Hale -- survive the infection and are essentially humans with regenerating health and weird glowy eyes) who serve as an elite Special Forces team. The prologue finds Hale arriving at the Sentinels' Iceland base, where the Chimera (the series' big, bad aliens) stage an assault -- whose effects come to fruition when the timeline jumps forward two years to a Chimeran blitzkrieg on America, which takes up the rest of the single-player campaign's seven chapters. The story's serviceable, but due to the lack of a narrator, understanding everything requires a bit of legwork -- you only know as much as Hale does, and scattered, collectible documents flesh out the background details. The two words that popped into my mind again and again during my playthrough (roughly a nine-hour affair on normal difficulty) were "immensity" and "variety."

Click the image above to check out all the Resistance 2 screens.

The "variety" comes primarily in Resistance 2's improvements to the original's brown-and-gray color palette and settings. The campaign jumps around from San Francisco to Chicago to Idaho, and the different locations allow for unique campaign scenarios -- such as a vicious firefight in a California redwood forest, a quiet (and unsettling) alien-infested Idaho town, and a frantic zombie invasion in Chicago. The locations allow for some gorgeous visuals, such as the assault on San Francisco or the destruction of a Chimeran ship. Both "variety" and "immensity" come from the enemy population; whether it's a screen filled with rabid Grims (Chimera that seem inspired by the fast-moving zombies in 28 Days Later), a battle against hefty Titans (who sport rocket launchers now, by the way), or a boss fight against the Leviathan in Chicago, the enemies all do a pretty good job of making you feel small. The wide range of foes makes for interesting combat situations, such as burly Ravagers propping up energy shields to provide cover for smaller Hybrids, or upgraded Stalkers machines backed up by shielded Attack Drones and Hybrids for a conceivable combined-arms force.

Since the Chimera attack takes place just two years after the first game, your weapon arsenal doesn't undergo a drastic overhaul, but it does see some welcome additions. While Resistance 2's gun rack still doesn't have the same sense of joy and creativity as the array of guns you'd find in one of developer Insomniac's Ratchet & Clank games, the firearms feel very unique. The Bullseye still fires homing bullets, and it also comes in a more powerful "Mark II" mode (it fires blue bullets that inflict more damage than the regular yellow-bullet-belching Bullseye), and the Auger's...well, augmented with a thermal sight that lets you track targets through walls. As for the new toys, I particularly like the Marksman (a Chimeran assault rifle that blurts out a three-bullet statement and also fires a weird lightning-ball thing), the Wraith (a minigun with a force field), and a new grenade (a weird Chimeran grenade that spreads out a sticky web of ignited napalm...seriously, that's the best way to describe it). Chain saw aficionados should appreciate the Splicer, a sort of Chimeran buzz saw that handily serves as a way to slice through hordes of Grims. The varied secondary abilities -- and how the A.I. (friend and foe) correctly utilizes most of them -- makes for some entertaining gunfights.

Click the image above to check out all the Resistance 2 screens.

Because the campaign -- with its lavish production values, interesting enemies, and terrific boss fights -- is so much better than the one in Resistance, its annoyances become more prominent. The most aggravating: Ninety percent of the time, the enemies only target you specifically. That's fine if you're the only guy around...but when you're with a squad of fellow badasses, it's a bit illusion-shattering. Two of your buddies are pelting a Titan with rockets and gunfire, and somehow the Titan makes a beeline to you -- even if you're not doing anything. The Chameleon -- a Chimera straight out of Predator -- only decloaks to attack you, brushing by two redshirt A.I. soldiers and swiping you with a one-hit-kill swing. Grims come rushing out of the woodwork -- and, hey look, they all swarm right toward you! It's damn annoying.

On a related note, the campaign occasionally dips into "learn by death" territory, affording extremely little leeway to accomplish the task at hand (detect Chameleons before they attack, make a certain series of jumps) before you're killed...and your death served as a "gotcha, you shoulda..." moment instead of a legitimate tactical error. Also, curiously, the previous game's vehicle sequences -- which served as a nice way to break up the gameplay -- are completely absent.

On a positive note, the aforementioned immensity applies in equal measure to Resistance 2's multiplayer elements. First off, the competitive multiplayer gets a nice size boost (freaking 60 players!), and it's still gratifying to see a bunch of numbers pop up onscreen every time I kill someone, supplying me with precious experience points to purchase upgrades or abilities. Even though a 60-player match sounds daunting, Resistance 2 smartly divides the session into distinct, objective-based matches between smaller squads, which makes things manageable in such a large game (or you can go off-objective and just run around, plugging as many foes as you can). And while I haven't actually seen any full 60-player brawls yet, online games with around 40 players perform admirably.

Click the image above to check out all the Resistance 2 screens.

The co-op campaign, too, is completely overhauled -- it's now something of a mix of a World of WarCraft raid and a Team Fortress 2 match. Players take on the roles of Medics (healers), Soldiers (tanks/damage sponges), or Special Ops (heavy hitters) and run through scenarios as a team. Said scenarios are somewhat randomized, and they scale based on the number of players; two guys might fight a bunch of Grims, while a full party of eight would go up against three Titans in that same location. The discrete scenarios give that "jump in for an isolated match or two" feel of a Counter-Strike or a Team Fortress 2, while the class balance and teamwork directly echoes WOW. This mode's really designed for friends and otherwise cooperative players who really wanna function as a team -- I definitely didn't have as much fun in idiot-filled pickup groups. And while I like the unique approach, I'm disappointed at the lack of co-op in the single-player narrative. Hale's frequently with his squad (or at least another soldier) for a good portion of the campaign. Why not throw a live buddy in there?

That's the main disappointment, if any, behind Resistance 2. It's a clear "we're improving upon our predecessor" type of title, and it succeeds on that front. If you're really picky, you can quibble about certain aspects -- not as many cool visual effects as you'd hope for in a modern shooter (while stuff like depth-of-field, motion blur, etc. are present, they feel somewhat underutilized) or occasional slowdown (mostly when respawning after an active firefight), to name two. But, overall, Resistance 2 is an extremely well-assembled FPS, with an improved campaign, fun competitive multiplayer, and a damn neat take on co-op. I wouldn't go as far as to say this is the definitive PS3 game, but it's certainly one of the best PS3 exclusives I've played. Plus, I gotta give props to a game that loves giant monsters as much as I do..

From 1up

Very nice Game

Testing smth

Click this my Mini City here

August 6

I have been working on a Napoleon script on the Napoleonic wars. Now still on the first coalition and the grand army organisation. Good Luck to me