Grey Guard Clan

CoD 5: World at War gets PunkBuster!

Even Balance, Inc.
Monday August 4th, 2008

Activision has contracted with Even Balance, Inc. to integrate PunkBuster™ Anti-Cheat software into the game Call of Duty®: World at War™ developed by Treyarch. Activision and Call of Duty are registered trademarks and World at War is a trademark of Activision Publishing, Inc.
All rights reserved.

Sexuality Equality Comes to FPS Gaming

Giving a whole new meaning to "First Person Shooter" this new simulator is just the thing to get your wife, girlfriend, daughter for fun, or your small son as a training aid.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/superpiipii.html?cpg=70H

Don't ask me how I found this link - let's just say I have some very weird friends from my offshore days . . . . .

I guess it doesn't take Einstein to see where THAT accessory will be heading in the near future . . . . I guess we already have "Ladettes" as they call Footballer's Wives in the UK, so why not . . .

Crysis Review

I recently finished playing the game Crysis and would like to offer my opinion/review on the game.

Graphically, Crysis is simply spectacular in almost every way. Indoors and outdoors look almost realistic. From the water to the trees and grass, to indoor areas, the whole area in which the game is based is very believable. I was playing it on high settings in Windows XP and DX9 (highest are only available for VISTA and DX10) and I can only imagine that they would be better. Halfway thru the game I did download a "Natural Mod" which allows you to get DX10 graphics to a certain extent (don't know how), and the outdoor atmosphere improved slightly more over strictly DX9. The aircraft carrier portrayed in the game is incredible inside and out. Character models looked very good as well, although only a few of them were extraordinary and as good as the preview screenshots you may have seen prior to the games release. Still, those few looked very human (as you can currently get in a game) up close and the others were definately nothing to sneeze at.

The environment is probably this games strongest point. You can pickup, move, shoot almost anything in the game. Many (not all) things are destructable to a point. You can pick up rocks, sticks, frogs, sand crabs, chickens, canned food, etc etc. Many buildings (except concrete sections) are destructable, individual vehicle parts, and thinner trees as well. That flock of seagulls flying overhead?...yeah, you can shoot them. Gas cans, oil drums, etc can all be used to effect in the game and during combat.

Weapons and armor are very well done. The Nano suit you wear is believable with its armor, speed augmentation etc and it helps make it believable you can take fire and survive. The cloaking feature it temporarily provides can come in very handy when infiltrating enemy positions. Good selection of weapons that are believable as well, with attachments such as flashlight, grenade launchers available for some as well other futuristic weapons. (some exceptions...see gameplay/combat).

Red Faction: Guerrilla?

The following is from a Press release from THQ:

PRESS RELEASE AGOURA HILLS, Calif. February 20, 2008 - THQ Inc. today announced that Volition, Inc.’s critically acclaimed Red Faction® franchise will make its open-world, next-generation debut with Red Faction®: Guerrilla™. Set 50 years after the climactic events of the original Red Faction, this third-person open-world action-shooter will return to Mars and once again re-define the limits of destruction-based game-play.

Red Faction: Guerrilla is currently in development for Microsoft Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, Sony PLAYSTATION® 3 computer entertainment system, and Windows-based PC, and is scheduled to ship in THQ’s fiscal year 2009. "Red Faction is one THQ’s most successful and critically acclaimed original franchises to date, with a huge global base of loyal fans waiting to join the new revolution," said Brad Carraway, director of global brand management, THQ. "With the game’s unique pairing of true physics-based destruction, fast-paced guerrilla warfare style combat, and a massive world to explore – Red Faction: Guerrilla will redefine the limits of open-world gaming.” “Red Faction: Guerrilla expands the signature destruction elements of the series and pushes the boundaries of next-gen gaming on a massive, terra-formed Mars where gamers can literally tear down the enemy EDF presence brick by brick,” said Mike Kulas, president of Volition, Inc. ”

Brain Powered Gaming!

Saw this and thought of us. One can only hope they develope it so that it stimulates the pain receptors...muahahaha!

Brain control headset for gamers

By Darren Waters
Technology editor, BBC News website, San Francisco

Gamers will soon be able to interact with the virtual world using their thoughts and emotions alone.

A neuro-headset which interprets the interaction of neurons in the brain will go on sale later this year.

"It picks up electrical activity from the brain and sends wireless signals to a computer," said Tan Le, president of US/Australian firm Emotiv.

"It allows the user to manipulate a game or virtual environment naturally and intuitively," she added.

The brain is made up of about 100 billion nerve cells, or neurons, which emit an electrical impulse when interacting. The headset implements a technology known as non-invasive electroencephalography (EEG) to read the neural activity.

Ms Le said: "Emotiv is a neuro-engineering company and we've created a brain computer interface that reads electrical impulses in the brain and translates them into commands that a video game can accept and control the game dynamically."

Headsets which read neural activity are not new, but Ms Le said the Epoc was the first consumer device that can be used for gaming.

"This is the first headset that doesn't require a large net of electrodes, or a technician to calibrate or operate it and does require gel on the scalp," she said. "It also doesn't cost tens of thousands of dollars."

The use of Electroencephalography in medical practice dates back almost 100 years but it is only since the 1970s that the procedure has been used to explore brain computer interfaces.

The headset could be used to improve the realism of emotional responses of AI characters in games
Tan Le, Emotiv

The Epoc technology can be used to give authentic facial expressions to avatars of gamers in virtual worlds. For example, if the player smiles, winks, grimaces the headset can detect the expression and translate it to the avatar in game.

SOLDIER OF FORTUNE (3) PAYBACK

Lion here chaps. Another review of a new FPS that I am very much enjoying. It is called "Soldier of Fortune: Payback" and is in effect SOF 3 as this is a game that has been around for a while and this is it's third version. Instead of WW2 or Modern warfare, although it uses modern weapons its subject is mercenary fighters and as some of you will know "Soldier of Fortune" Magazine is the most famous publication catering to that community and even on occasion recruiting mercenarys.

This FPS is very similar in look and feel to COD 4 except that it has even better and much much gorier physics. Body damage from grenades or heavy gunfire is horrifyingly realistic, limbs and even heads come off, blood gouts everywhere, screams are gruesome and death is generally grizzly. Also the "last 6 shots from your pistoil before death" perk is built in if your wound is only near fatal, followed by bleeding to death rapidly. One of its best features is the very large range of weapons available, all excellently modelled and in general much louder and more dramatic than those in COD 4. Although this may not be that accurate it certainly adds to the immersion and drama. SOF Payback is vicous and adrenalating and the single player (on maximum difficulty setting) very hard indeed. IN many ways this is a mercenary version of COD 4 and it suffers many of the same problems as there are way too few maps and all of them would be better of they were far bigger. However, as this is being sold as a budget game, it is unliekly to attract enough community interest to get the MOD crowd making new independent maps for it, which is a pity. The positive side of that is that it is accordingly very cheap.

MOH: Airborne

I just played through the DEMO. Here are my initial thoughts:

The map was almost entirely non-constrictive, meaning: that you were not made to attack the objectives as the game makers designed as in most FPS where the map is made so you have to take a specific route to go through all obstacles placed in your way. So you can choose your route to objectives, flank the enemy, etc......

I liked parachuting in, having some control over the decent and landing. The gameplay was very high pitch and exciting. I think this will be the Gem in the crown of the MOH series.

SHUT UP AND PLAY Modern Weapons Mod!

New from Fritz Goot of the NMB (Numb-Nuts).
If you want to have some UO Modern Weapons Fun, check out this new Mod from the guy that brought us the Un-scoped Springfield.

The server IP is : 69.12.96.130 : 28960

Check out all the info at his website by Clicking HERE

LIONMAN in ARMA

Well Virtual Comrades, I think I may just have found what for me at least, might just be my next FPS!

It has just come out, brought to us by the same guys who did Flashpoint and is in my local GAME store right now.

It is called ARMA: Armed Assault and is a modern warfare FPS on massive and I mean really awesomely MASSIVE maps.

http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/747/747624p1.html

http://uk.media.pc.ign.com/media/748/748793/img_4086058.html

http://www.computeractive.co.uk/computeractive/software/2173325/review-arma-armed-assault-game

http://www.armedassault.com/

Here is the best and most comprehensive review I could find.
http://www.gamingtarget.com/article.php?artid=6363&pg=1&comments=full#comments

This could be a great game for our hard core "true =GG= style players" who seek a virtual battlefield in which realistic tactics, comms, tactics and strategy can be employed on every mission, in the same manner that they would be in real life. True "Virtual Soldiering". i.e. a "think before you move and plan your mission" game rather than a "jump in and go as long as you just survive for a while" approach, like COD2 and BF2.

Plan Aims To Raise WWII U-Boat

There is an ambitious plan to raise a U-boat from the seabed off County Donegal

I was completely unaware of the treasure trove that lay on the seabed just off the coast of Donegal, until I came across this earlier today.