I was lucky enough to get into the Starcraft 2 beta and will post a short first impression on it. So far it looks very polished already. I'm playing the Terrans. Starcraft 2 should be coming out sometime this year.
News Section
The results are in, and we have a clear winner. Thanks to everyone who participated. We hope to read your entertaining stories again next year. Here's the World of Pwnage Video Game Fan Fiction Contest Winning Entry by Carlo-Jesse Miozzi, titled "The Death of the Lion". Enjoy.
The Death of the Lion
By C.J. Miozzi
“Shields up; hold steady!” commanded Lieutenant Turalyon as the ogre lumbered forward, a towering hulk of naked flesh that barrelled towards the soldiers with the elegance of a charging elephant. Turalyon and the men at his flanks hefted their shields and braced for the impact. All around them, the clatter of human swords against orcish armor, orcish axes against human shields, resounded off the dark slopes of Blackrock Spire.
The ground trembled as clumsy footfalls thundered towards the steel wall of shields. “May the Light protect us,” said the footman to Turalyon’s left as he glanced up to the grey sky.
The golden-haired paladin scowled. Now was not the time for prayer. “Trust in your shield. Faith will not save you,” he grumbled. Outnumbered five to one, little hope remained in Turalyon’s mind of surviving the orc ambush – but the paladin intended to die with honor, thinning the Horde’s numbers so the Alliance may win the Second War.
The ogre crashed into the steel wall with the force of a tidal wave, rocking the men like rowboats on high seas. Turalyon’s shield smashed against his own mouth, splitting his lip. The ogre’s nauseating stench struck nearly as hard. Anvil-sized fists hammered down on footmen’s shields as the men rallied and surrounded the behemoth.
Tasting copper, the paladin spat out a mouthful of blood. “Swords!” he ordered as he tore his blade from its scabbard with the ringing of metal, a ringing echoed by the blades of his men. “Attack!”
The soldiers skewered the plump flesh again and again, their blades soon drowned in blood, but the juggernaut did not falter. Shields warped and arms shattered under the devastating blows of the battering-ram-like fists.
A flash of blue caught the paladin’s eye – the battle standard of commander Lothar. The flag danced in the air as Lothar clashed with a titanic figure in black plate armor. Turalyon’s heart sank – the armoured figure was Orgrim Doomhammer, Warchief of the Horde. The green-skinned pig traded blows with the Lion of Azeroth, the spiked Doomhammer pitted against the massive Blade of Stormwind.
A crumpled footman fell at Turalyon’s feet, pounded into oblivion by the ogre, but the paladin could not tear his attention away from Lothar. He should have remained at his commander’s side, fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with the wizened veteran as he had during the previous days’ skirmishes. Bathed in blood from their wounds, Orgrim and Lothar betrayed their fatigue in the sluggishness of their thrusts and swings.
A terrified yelp drew Turalyon’s attention back to the fight at hand. With one fist, the ogre held a footman in the air by the chest. With the other, he reached for the man’s shield arm – and with a sickening pop, tore the arm from its shoulder.
These men needed the paladin’s leadership – but he could not let Lothar fall to the Doomhammer. Nothing would break the Alliance soldiers’ spirit more than seeing their great leader slain. With a heavy heart, Turalyon shouted, “Keep at it, men. The beast cannot bleed forever,” then started across the battlefield for Lothar.
As the paladin marched forward, two orc grunts leapt at him, brandishing their jagged axes. Turalyon grit his teeth and brought up his shield in time to deflect a blow aimed for his neck, then pivoted on his heel and smashed his blade’s pommel into the other orc’s face.
The grunt’s nose exploded in a shower of blood, and as the orc reeled, Turalyon drove his sword into the green chest. While the body sank to the floor, the paladin’s gaze shifted back to Lothar. As long as the commander lived, there would still be a shred of hope in the hearts of the men fighting to their deaths.
An orcish axe whistled through the air, and Turalyon ducked just quick enough to avoid decapitation. Shavings of short, golden hair fluttered to the ground. The paladin rammed his shield into the three-hundred-pound orc with the full force of his body, stunning the grunt, before he swung his sword down in a wicked arc that split the orcish skull open.
The paladin turned back to Lothar at the sound of shattering steel – the Blade of Stormwind’s remains lay on the black rock at the Lion’s feet. Lothar, now weaponless, on one knee before Orgrim, stared up at the wicked Doomhammer, stared up at his impending death.
Turalyon scrambled across the uneven ground, heedless of the axes swung his way. He wrestled his way through the musky orcish masses, fighting desperately to save his commander, his hero.
The Doomhammer came down.
Lothar’s helmet caved at the blow. His body slumped to the ground.
The Lion of Azeroth lay dead.
Turalyon stood frozen, unable to breathe, transfixed by the sight of the greatest man to ever set foot upon Azeroth lying still on the battlefield. His gut felt as though he had been disembowelled.
Orgrim stepped back, a satisfied grin painting his ugly face.
Turalyon wrenched himself into motion. He dropped his sword and tossed away his shield as he fell to his knees at Lothar’s side. There was no mistake – Lothar was dead, his skull crushed. Turalyon’s breath came in shuddering gasps as his body trembled with rage – rage at the Horde for the ambush, rage at Orgrim for dealing the killing blow, and rage at himself for leaving Lothar’s side.
A churning in the paladin’s stomach worked its way up his chest, to his throat, erupting in a roar of primal fury that echoed across the battlefield, louder than any bloodlusted orc’s war cry.
Silence descended as both man and orc alike stopped fighting and took notice of the fallen Alliance commander. A chill wind blew across the ebon landscape.
All was lost. Turalyon clenched his teeth, fighting back tears. The Alliance soldiers’ morale would die with Lothar. Orgrim won this battle by taking down one man. There was nothing else to turn to for hope.
The world is much bigger than one lone soul; and while the world can change a soul in a day, it takes much more time for one soul to change the world.
Scripture from his studies at the Church filtered into Turalyon’s mind through the cloud of rage.
Only through tenacity can a servant of the Holy Light hope to affect the universe.
The veil clouding the paladin’s judgement was lifted. The Light had made his path clear.
Lothar would not die in vain.
Turalyon grabbed in one gauntleted hand the jewelled hilt of the shattered Blade of Stormwind and Lothar’s battle standard in the other. He climbed to his feet and raised the standard high in the air for all to see.
“For Sir Lothar!” the paladin bellowed, holding his mentor’s name on his tongue until the Alliance soldiers joined him in his war cry, a chorus that bore testimony to the soldiers’ devotion to their commander.
Orgrim’s grin melted away and his eyes grew sullen as Turalyon and his men charged forward with renewed vigor.
Orcs drew away from swirling human blades as their comrades fell before the vengeful Alliance soldiers by the drove.
Without a shield, with only a two-inch blade fragment remaining on the hilt of Lothar’s sword, Turalyon marched toward Orgim as grunts scattered at the sight of the battle standard waving to and fro with the paladin’s gait.
The Horde Warchief stumbled backward in an attempt to flee from the paladin, but Turalyon’s vengeance-fuelled strides caught up to the orc within moments. Orgrim raised the Doomhammer high in the air, and Turalyon dashed forward. With a swift thrust, the paladin stabbed the shattered blade into Orgrim’s exposed armpit.
The Warfchief howled in pain as he dropped the Doomhammer, which thunked against the black stone at his feet.
Turalyon piked the battle standard into the ground, then reached up and grabbed the collar of Orgrim’s breastplate. He pushed the crimson-stained stump of a sword against the Warchief’s throat.
Steel-mailed figures surrounded the two warriors, their swords directed at the Warchief. Orgrim glanced about – green figures fought off human footmen in the distance as they retreated up the slopes of Blackrock Spire, and a fleshy mountain lay with its entrails spilled in a bloody mess in the midst of dead soldiers – the remains of the ogre.
Shoulders sagging, Orgrim lowered his head with a sigh.
Turalyon could have easily slit the Warchief’s throat, repaying blood for blood. But having rediscovered his faith, he knew killing the orc now that he was defeated would only serve to darken the universe through anger and hatred.
#
After Orgrim’s capture, Blackrock Spire fell to the Alliance, a victory against all odds. Lothar’s legacy lived on in the hearts of his men, and Turalyon found solace in the fact that the soul of one man, one great man, would shape the world of Azeroth for generations.
***
This neat little trick that not many people know about to help you with recoil control. This will help you learn the spray /recoil patterns of the guns /weapons in Counter Strike Source.
Make your own server then type these console commands into console:
sv_cheats 1
sv_showimpacts 1
Now when you shoot something in Counter Strike a red square will appear for 5 or 6 seconds showing you where you hit, this is great for practicing how to control your spray from the ak 47 or m4.
I use it alot for practice to see where I am hitting on the other side of doors and walls note: this is only for practice in your own server as it will not work in public servers where sv_cheats is not enabled but none the less it is a great way to learn spray patterns.
In an age where free PC games are becoming increasingly common, the burden falls on us hardcore gamers to try out all games and figure out which ones are worth our time. League of Legends (LoL) by Riot Games is one free game that stands out among the crowd as being very fun, competitive, and graphically beautiful to behold. Essentially, it’s a stand-alone Defense of the Ancients (DotA) game, which is a highly popular Warcraft III The Frozen Throne custom map.
There has been a demand and rumor for a stand-alone Defense of the Ancients for a long time. Coincidentally, two games are being released in a very short time. League of Legends was released only two months ago, while Heroes of Newerth (another DotA like game) will enter open beta very soon. League of Legends consist of minds such as Guinsoo, a previous designer of DotA, and Pendragon, the administrator of dota-allstars.com.
In LoL, your team consists of one to five players, depending on the map and game, and each player controls a Champion. As of right now, there are 43 champions to choose from, which invoke a lot of variety and replayability. Each champion has their own persona with their own set of powers. So it’s very interesting to try out the different Champions, based on their characteristic (such as Tank, Figter, Mage, Assasin, Support, etc) and choose one as a favorite. Chances are, you will want to try out all the Champions to learn their powers so that you don’t get surprised in-game against a cunning opponent. Each Champion has a set of 4 ability powers, and can level up to 18th level, having the chance to improve one ability power each new level.
Your basic objective is to destroy the enemy headquarter, or Nexus. To do that, you have to destroy the towers along each lanes (one map has 3 lanes, the traditional DotA map, and the other map has 2 lanes). Periodically minions will spawn and head towards the towers. So it’s your job to aid your minions and push them towards the enemy tower to clear the way. As easy as it sounds, the enemy will be trying the same thing, which makes it all the more fun.
Other RPG elements include buying items with gold (you accumulate gold constantly and also through killing enemies). The items further diversify LoL, because of the endless possibilities of customizing your Champion. While LoL offers you item recommendations for each Champion, you might want to build your own sets of items depending on how you play. A notable difference from DotA is the inclusion of only one item shop in your base, where the items are neatly organized into categories. First tab includes Attack, Defense, Movement, Consumables; each tab is farther subdivided, for instance Attack tab contains Life Steal, Attack Speed, and so on. Furthermore, if you click on an item, you can see what advanced items you can build from this one. In fact, if you have enough gold, you can build an advanced item simply by buying that. This saves a lot of time rather than buying each individual item before buying the advanced item. All these features make LoL a very newbie-friendly game and takes away some of the steep learning curve associated with DotA.
Another interesting inclusion in LoL is the Summoner system. As a Summoner, you gain experience and influence points for playing each game (practice games earn you less). Your stats are also tracked through your Summoner page. You can also buy Runes to modify your Champion powers. As your Summoner gains levels, you can unlock new Rune slots. Each new Summoner Level also gives you a Mastery point, which you can then put into Passive skills that improve your Champion’s stats and spells. The Mastery, reminiscent of WoW, contains of three sections: Offense, Defense, and Utility. Personally, the Summoner system is a nice touch, as it encourages finishing a game to gain Summoner levels. You don’t gain any XP or IP for leaving.
League of Legends has an interesting matchmaking system that pits players of similar Summoner levels against each other in a 5v5 game. So far, I haven’t been disappointed in this, even though sometimes it can take a while to find a game. The Practice games room, on the other hand, is almost always filled with players and open games to join. While Practice games do earn you slightly less XP, it’s a quick way to jump into a game and have fun. The chat and messenger function is nicely integrated as well, and serves its purpose wonderfully.
Graphics-wise, League of Legends looks beautiful with its cel-shaded animations. It certainly has a stylized unique feel to it, and is definitely a much better update to DotA. Each character looks unique and fresh and the spell effects are wonderful while not being a pain for the eyes. With a decent graphics card, you should be able to run the game at a full 60 fps without any stutter and beautiful images. The map has two modes, Summer and Winter, and the graphics of each mode is gorgeous to behold, Winter being my slightly higher preference.
The sound effects of League of Legends are awesome. I love the effects of each spell, some of which are very unique. The music suits the mood of the game and delivers an intense feel while you are in the heat of battle. The Champion selection screen has a particular drum beat music that reminds me of ancient wars and sets me in the mood every time. While the amount of voice acting for each Champion is limited, they are still original and entertaining most of the time.
The only drawback of League of Legends is the lack of content; we know that much more will be released soon, via in-game options and website news, but it’s all very teasing. For instance, we are promised ranked games, more champions, more items, and better features. At this stage, the game should be safely called to be in open beta. You will see that not all Champions will be available to you at once; you can either buy the digital version to unlock everything, or win IP and buy them. It’s possible to play League of Legends without paying a single dime; only cosmetic upgrades cost real money.
Overall, League of Legends is a very addicting and fun filled game that will certainly draw DotA veterans who want an improved game. It will also draw a lot of players who wanted to try out DotA, but never had the courage to overcome the steep barrier amidst cussing from the hardcore DotA community. Either way, expect LoL to be filled with players online at all times. League of Legends is a game that promises to grow, and I hope they reach a final stage very soon.
2009 saw the third installment of one of the most popular video gaming franchises of all time, The Sims. The Sims 3 did not disappoint gamers as it improved a lot on The Sims 2 while maintaining part of the familiar and charming content and gameplay. There were more socializing options to interact with other Sims, items to furnish your home with, and goals for your Sims to achieve. As if these weren’t enough, late that year we were gifted with an expansion pack, The Sims 3: World Adventures, which added new content to keep gamers busy for hours.
The Sims has always been about maintaining your virtual people in a virtual community. While in the previous games you had a neighborhood with different Sim families living in it, the community never felt very connected. However, this game introduced a new seamless method of traveling in your town. Everything feels related, and gone are the loading times while switching between locations. Now you just have to zoom out in the City view and choose your location. You could walk, bike, or call for a taxi. You could visit diners, libraries, or other neighbors. You could even invite neighbors to tag along with you. This is probably the biggest advancement in The Sims game play, and it makes enjoying the virtual community even more.
Graphics wise, it doesn’t feel as gorgeous as most of today’s games, but it’s still beautiful to behold in its own right. While there are jitters when you zoom in, the animations are hilarious. It’s so much fun to see your Sims take part in various daily activities and interact with others. Your Sims now reacts in more accurate ways and their “Simlish” is as hilarious as ever. The amount of fun to see and hear your Sims argue with other Sims, or fight with them cracks us up. If you want to be cruel, you could try putting your Sim in a doorless room and witness the desperate pleas. You could also let your Sim do something they enjoy (something related to their goals), and their face brightens up.
The goal system has been developed. Even though you are not strictly required to adhere to your goals, fulfilling them rewards you immensely. The smaller goals are very easy to fulfill and provide instant gratification, whereas longer goals like becoming a superstar or a famous musician takes quite an effort to achieve but are supremely satisfying. To reach your goals, you need to choose the correct career path, and need to advance in that path. New to the system is managing your Sims while they are at work. You don’t get to control all the moves of your Sims while they are at work, but you get to make key decisions. For instance, you could get to know your colleagues better or learn something else while you are at work. This is a very simplified version, but it makes the game feel a lot more real than before and enhances the fun.
You can now create your Sims with many new options; it’s possible to customize a lot of details, so it’s very possible to create a miniature version of you. You can then choose their traits and their long term goal, which makes them behave accordingly in game. While at home, you have to maintain your Sims basic needs. They need to eat, drink, sleep, clear their bladder, and entertain themselves. And to advance their career, they need to develop their skills, which can be done in various ways. Musicians can practice the guitar or go to the park and play for people. Chefs can read books and keep cooking. The amount of possibilities is fun to explore and perform.
Fans of the Sims series might think the expansion World Adventures is a throwback to The Sims Vacation. To some extent, it is, but it’s so much more. World Adventures allows you to travel to France, Egypt or China, and explore wonderful sceneries and dungeons. It’s a very interesting twist, as the “quests” make you feel like you are in an RPG game, solving puzzles, finding the right person to talk to, and collecting hidden loots. All the while, you have to make sure you are tending to your Sims’ daily needs. It can’t get any more fun than this. Once in, you will feel hooked to this expansion for a long time. The loots you collect can be used in your home as showpieces, or you can sell them for a good amount of money. These travels even pertain to your careers, which is a nice touch. For instance, you might be asked to learn an Egyptian song which you would be able to perform and teach others.
The Sims 3 promises endless hours of gameplay with all its fun factors and rich content. If you are a control freak, or want to get lost in a world filled with funny people demanding your attention, then The Sims 3 is for you. No matter what type of gamer you are, The Sims 3 will keep you busy and entertained, being one of the best games of 2009.
