Category: Gaming

Any gaming post.

Classic Sierra games re-released

Headline stolen directly from Joystiq.  I don’t have any more information than what is in the Joystiq article, but you can bet I’ll be watching for these.  Full article follows.  Hit the article for links to Amazon listings of these compilations.

Point and click adventure gamers rejoice! If you’ve been struggling to (legally) complete your collection of Sierra classics, Vivendi Universal is finally ready to give you just such a chance. They are releasing “compilations” of King’s Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest, and Leisure Suit Larry, available March 30th through Amazon, Target, and who knows where else.

There is almost no other information about the compilations, except that they run on Windows XP. Have they been ported or are they running through an emulation layer like Sarien? Does the compilation include all the games in the respective series? At $20 each, this could be a great way to build that collection. Then they’ll just need to release Gabriel Knight and Quest for Glory… then maybe LucasArts will get in on it…

[tags]Sierra, Retro gaming, Classic adventures[/tags]

Playstation 3 may or may not be late – collective yawn heard

This is covered all over the gaming web.  According to a report by Merrill-Lynch (warning – PDF file), the PS3 will be late and more expensive than originally expected.  Then, Sony says not true.  Then, Sony announces the PS3 may be delayed because the Blu-Ray specs (Sony’s optical format for the PS3) haven’t been finalized.

How can a product with no firm release date really be delayed?   The best we’ve ever gotten from Sony is Spring 2006, and I’ve not seen a single site that believed that.  From what I can gather, gamers world ’round are reacting to this non-news with a great big collective “So?” or something like that.  AsI have often done, I’ll point you towards Bill’s commentary for a better write-up of this non-event.

[tags]PS3, Playstation 3, Sony, Yawn[/tags]

Ubisoft signs Shaun White for snowboarding game

I’ve been watching snowboarding in the Olympics.  I enjoy it more than most other events.  Otherwise, I wouldn’t post this, because I’m probably the only person reading this site who cares about this.

In order to accurately recreate Shaun White’s world-famous snowboarding style and differentiate from rival titles such as EA’s SSX series and Microsoft’s Amp’d games, Ubisoft’s forthcoming snowboarding game will focus heavily on the half-pipe, as opposed to the traditional downhill slopestyle.

[tags]Shaun White, snowboarding, Ubisoft[/tags]

Making a real world living in a virtual world

And my wife told me gaming would never get me anywhere.  Well, OK, so it hasn’t gotten me anywhere, but it has helped some people.

Grinnell’s shop, Mischief, is in Second Life, a virtual world whose users are responsible for creating all content. Grinnell’s digital clothing and “skins” allow users to change the appearance of their avatars — their online representations — beyond their wildest Barbie dress-up dreams.

Within a month, Grinnell was making more in Second Life than in her real-world job as a dispatcher. And after three months she realized she could quit her day job altogether.

[tags]Second Life, Linden Lab, Gaming[/tags]

Oblivion official specs released

Over at the Gaming-Age forums, there is a post with official specs for the soon-to-be-released Oblivion.

Recommended:

* 3 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent processor
* 1 GB System RAM
* ATI X800 series, Nvidia GeForce 6800 series, or higher video card

Minimum System Requirements:

* Windows XP
* 512MB System RAM
* 2 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent processor
* 128MB Direct3D compatible video card
* and DirectX 9.0 compatible driver;
* 8x DVD-ROM drive
* 4.6 GB free hard disk space
* DirectX 9.0c (included)
* DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card
* Keyboard, Mouse

Supported Video Card Chipsets:

* ATI X1800 series
* ATI X1300 series
* ATI X850 series
* ATI x800 series
* ATI x700 series
* ATI x600 series
* ATI Radeon 9800 series
* ATI Radeon 9700 series
* ATI Radeon 9600 series
* ATI Radeon 9500 series
* ATI Radeon 9000 series
* NVIDIA Geforce 7800 series
* NVIDIA GeForce 6800 series
* NVIDIA GeForce FX series

[tags]Oblivion, Elder Scrolls[/tags]

Blizzard and the whole GLBT thing

Very nice post at Joystiq that consolidates a lot of the information and discussion on Blizzard’s shutting down a GLBT guild.

Sara Andrews was recruiting players for her gay-and-lesbian-friendly guild when she received a warning from Blizzard that if she didn’t stop doing that, she’d be banished from the game.

Blizzard’s argument in making this threat: bringing up such touchy subjects in the game world ultimately devolves into a nasty shouting match that creates a negative atmosphere for all players. By forbidding public discussion of such topics, Blizzard believes the game will be a more pleasant place for everyone.

I don’t know where I stand on this, really.  I believe Blizzard really is trying to prevent harrassment of the people who would join this guild, but I also think the proper way to handle this is by going after the harrassers, and not the harrassed.  Blizzard seems to be trying to prevent griefing, but doesn’t seem to be doing it in the smartest way.  Read more of the Joystiq commentary and the other web sites linked off of that post for a better understanding of the whole affair.

[tags]GLBT, WoW, Warcraft, MMO[/tags]