April 1, 2010
SMH gives choice: pro-filter or pro-rape
Sydney Morning Herald appears to of only just gotten its head out of the sand, with a story released yesterday using the Japanese game, RapeLay, as a catalyst for more pro-Internet Filter propaganda. The article drips with unsubstantiated claims that the game has gone viral across the internet and puts forward that the proposed internet censorship would put prevent Australians from getting their hands on it. With countless quotes from Women’s rights groups etc, stating that the internet filter is necessary, it seems like a compelling argument. Fortunately the wool isn’t held over our eyes for too long though, as spokespeople with “Communications” or “Online” actually in their title, stated that the filter would be futile, if you blocked one url then 3 more could easily of appear in its place. And with most game piracy occurring through p2p the proposed filter wouldn’t even block the reasons put forward for its instigation.
It ends with a poll,
Do you support mandatory internet filters to block material such as sites offering downloads of the game RapeLay?
and with that it does feel like another attempt to increase Pro-Filter support. Especially with the fact that only a day before, a poll ran on the same SMH site asking,
Do you support the government’s internet filtering policy?
With the results showed a not-so-surprising 96% of the 45154 voters stating a resounding NO, its understandable that pro-filter correspondents may twist the question again in an attempt to provoke a more pleasing result; again to no avail.
The pole that was so worded as to guilt trip voters into being Pro-Filter still resulted in 78% of the 32600 voters being against the filter. When will people wake up to the fact that we’re the people, we have minds, we’re smart, and we’re not falling for it. When you bring us old news we already know the facts about and try to manipulate it to suit your agenda, we’re not impressed and you yet again will be caught out.
Articles, BestGN, News | 27 comments
March 19, 2010
After Hours Returns for Series 2
ZOMG Can it be possible? Yes it is. After Hours is returning for Series 2 here in 2010. Beginning Saturday March 20th from 10:30pm come listen to all the banter, all the lolz, and all the fun from Bench, Josh and the netGameRadio team. Not to mention a variety of guests dropping in from time to time throughout the series.
Series 1 listeners would recall we regularly had our hang out spot at BestGN TF2 #2, alas no more. However don’t fret for we will be at BestGN TF2 #8, thanks to BestGN. So fire up your games and tune in Saturday Nights for After Hours, exclusively here at netGameRadio, the voice of online gaming.
Articles, News, netGameRadio | 3 comments
December 8, 2009
Modern Warfare 2 [PC]
It’s the game the name of which is on the lips of the pc and console communities during these the final moments of 2009. Simultaneously being one of the most successful games of the year and also one of the most controversial, Modern Warfare 2 (MW2) from Infinity Ward is the next installment in the already hugely successful Call of Duty series. Recently released in November on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, as well as the PC through Steam, Modern Warfare 2 has already sold over 5 million units worldwide. Developers Infinity Ward were responsible for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, where players first tasted the thrill of COD in a modern setting, and now with MW2 continue the story from where COD4 left off.
“You go on ahead, this may take awhile”
Single Player for the Call of Duty series has been renowned for being saturated in a gripping storyline, with Call of Duty 4 being the pinnacle thus far, and although MW2 is a follow-on from that original Modern Warfare storyline it seems to be trying a bit too hard to live up to “expectations”. Alas there’s twice the twists and turns of it’s younger compatriot, and yet less of the interaction between the parties involved. Nevertheless still a thorough and intricate storyline whichever way you look at it.
Every moment in Modern Warfare 2 is visually stunning
As the Single Player progresses, players get to play as a number of different characters, from secret undercover units to ranger squads. The different characters offer up varying perspectives of the proceeding battles, spanning continents and evidently spreading resources thin. We see some familiar faces from the original COD4 storyline, as well as some new faces which we grow as easily fond of as what we’ve experienced previously. The difficulty of which is COD has a habit of killing off the players you grow attached to, similar to an episode of Lost where all the hot girls seem to die at the worst possible time. Damn it! However MW2 drenched in so much Testosterone it’s hard to stop playing regardless, if only to prove you can single-handedly win a world war on the hardest difficulty, if such an option existed in real life. To put it simply Single Player can become a little addictive.
Race down a mountain on a snowmobile, make the jump to safety
Fortunately the change in environments helps keep you immersed, ranging from firefights in the Middle East to covert operations throughout Russia, from sand to snow and everything in between. The change from the standard “run and shoot” paradigm also helps, with players also having the opportunity to man the turret on a convoy, snipe from a helicopter, race through enemy fire on a snowmobile, control remote missiles, and much more.
Modern Warfare 2 also provides a plethora of new and exciting equipment to truly bring you into modern times, and this is translated through co-op and multiplayer as well. Guns now feature new attachments like the heartbeat sensor, a sonar-style radar that detects friendlies and enemies, the thermal scope to be able to take down your foes through the thick of smoke, and for some weapons there’s Akimbo where two guns become an option if you don’t like looking down the sight.
Don’t mess with Ghost, or he’ll be the last thing you see, if you even see him coming that is.
This new technology and setting is accompanied by Special Ops, short missions with a variety of gameplay styles and scenarios, playable with one or two players working cooperatively. Each mission has specific objectives, of which each will earn you a certain number of stars. Earn enough stars in one section of missions to unlock the next section of more challenging missions. However although most are playable as a single player, such as defending against wave upon wave of enemies; some require two players such as a mission where one player must run through farmland to make it to the extraction point, while the other player sits in an AC130 and defends their ally against the swarms of enemies. Spec Ops Missions range from Stealthy covert sniper vs sniper scenarios, to the Rambo style shoot everything with as much as you can.
Battle through a variety of urban environments
However where the Call of Duty series has shined has been in its Multiplayer. Whether playing on console or computer, its evolved over each release to become more intricate with even more gametypes. In MW2 the focus is on killstreaks, with the player being able to choose and unlock from a dozen or so different killstreak rewards, each of which is unlocked after a certain number of kills of course in a killstreak. 3 kills can get you a UAV, 4 can get a Care package in which a random reward is contained in a box that’s dropped from a container. As the kills go up so do the potential rewards, with Sentry Guns, Predator Missiles, various Airstrikes and Helicopters at your disposal. 15 kills will acquire you an EMP, which will knock out all electrical devices, helicopters, etc. In Call of Duty 2 the might not have mattered but in Modern Warfare 2 you don’t realise how much runs on electronics. Then we get to 25 kills, if you have it unlocked and equiped, you will get a tactical nuke. Yes a Nuke, the stories are true. It’s an easy Insta-win for your team and the end of the game in the bright flash of your once tranquil gaming environment becoming a radioactive wasteland. In Call of Duty 4 25 kills without dying was easily achievable for the above average players, however the maps have been redesigned so it’s even more difficult to get this. Granted with a party of similarly minded Schwarzenegger-induced gamers, seeing nuke after nuke win each round doesn’t become a total fantasy.
Covert operations require a covert entry, might as well enjoy the moment though
Obviously the big thing for PC players is that Dedicated servers have been removed and now games are created via a IWNet Matchmaking system, similar to what console players have had most of the time. The result is that for half the time you sit around either waiting for players, or the system breaking. Not to mention in game obviously one of the players is the host, and if they have bad internet or just live in Hong Kong, everyone else has bad ping and bad lag. Another general occurrence is Host migration, in which the host leaves and so a new one must be found. This situation can be quite frustrating, like one instance when I’m just about to watch my rocket blow up this helicopter when Host Migration occurs, the game starts up again everyone still in their place, but where’s my rocket? Disappeared and I only had one, what a futile attempt. However minus all the problems that exist in the system it’s still got some positive notes. Running on steam means parties are easy to start so you can at least play with your friends on the same side, also it’s now all VAC secured rather than Punkbuster so it’s much more easy to use. Though running on steam means that the one instance in which Steam needed to update just as my internet broke resulted in being unable to play the game. No getting the disc out and playing, no you’re dependent on Steam.
The other big multiplayer thing is the perks for multiplayer, special abilities that are unlocked as you go up in ranks. The standard fast reload, more damage, Last Stand etc. as well as some new ones including unlimited sprint, resupplying from dead enemies, and even reductions in kills needed for killstreaks.
With the variety of different game types available in Multiplayer, the only problem becomes finding the people to play and hoping they don’t go around spamming machine pistols or Akimbo shotguns.
Play in environments sporting familiar landmarks, if a bit dirtied up.
Although Call of Duty : Modern Warfare 2 has its faults, more prominent within the PC Multiplayer system, overall it’s a game as satisfying as the original Modern Warfare. The varying change in pace and scenery keeps you entertained, and the different unlocks, gameplay styles and scenarios will keep you coming back for more.
Worth a purchase.
Storyline – 4/5 (A deep storyline that is filled with twists and turns, perhaps too many to follow though.)
Gameplay – 4/5 (The change in pace was a breath of fresh air, but multiplayer still dissolves into spam when you actually manage to play.)
Presentation – 5/5 (Visually pleasing from start to end and everything in between. Each environment was stunning.)
PC, Reviews, netGameRadio | 28 comments
December 4, 2009
A Chapter of 10%
7 years ago I sat in a classroom as our teacher informed us of a cultural paradigm, one which stated that after high school you’d only really see about 10% of all students from your graduating year level, ever again. Looking around at the time, I didn’t believe it would happen. Being one of 80 students in my year level, we were all quite close knit. A tightly woven bunch of young adults with similar characteristics; which I was to find out years later was something that most young adults in our general geographical location seemed to have in common.
Today I sat in a church pew several rows away from the first student of our Year Level to get married, and this previously mentioned paradigm managed to wriggle its way to the front of my head. For the fleeting moments that proceeded, while the soundtrack to “PS I love you” played in the background, it seemed time slowed down and reality hit. 2 years on from graduating and it was the first time I was with such a large number of school friends. For me this chapter of my life had involved less than that 10%.
However those many years ago I believed we would cause a revolution, a paradigm shift and though that may have occurred for some of those old students, it hadn’t for me, at least not in the way I would have predicted. Nowadays the lines have blurred, with sites such as Facebook and Twitter we’ve all kept connected, but those connections aren’t as deeply grounded as what previous generations may have become familiar with.
I have a couple of couches sitting in my room, facing a blank yellow wall. Perhaps the only way I will be able to use it with my current social groups is if there’s a webcam on the wall. What has happened for about half of the people I associate with several times a week to be people who don’t even live in my area.
My internet broke on Monday, and for the next two days I was disconnected. And in the end it wasn’t the lack of email access, Facebook, YouTube, or the plethora of community forums I have some involvement in; I had been disconnected from everyone bar those I live with.
There was a reading at Mel & Ben’s wedding that spoke of the greatest thing to experience was truly love. Now I love my job, I love what I do, but it’s not about that. Those moments that broke the perpetual cycle of a seemingly monotonous life revealed the underlying fact that it’s all about love, and all I really want to do is be about to share it, to express it.
So maybe you need to take a step back and think about the 10%s of your life, whether you’re too caught up in this thing we call life. As part of my job I obviously write reviews as a lot of you know me from that, but again time and time again I find myself having writer’s block for no apparent reason. Life isn’t easy, and it’s made even harder by being alone. Sure with the internet we’re never really alone, but imagine if you were disconnected. Pick up the phone, call someone, go fly a kite, play a board game, or watch something with a bunch of friends; all things that I’ve done recently and had more fun doing then sitting around trying to review some game. Work is work whatever way you look at it, and it’ll always be there waiting for you. But it can do just that, wait.
I guess my purpose for writing this is firstly because I’m writing this Modern Warfare 2 review and it’s going slow, so needed to wet my literacy appetite with a dish I know will leave me feeling fulfilled at least in part, but also because hopefully it’s provided you with my perspective of one thing we tend to miss while staring at the facade of life.
Congrats to Mel & Ben on their wedding.
Blog | 85 comments
November 24, 2009
Atkinson targetting MW2
Alas yet again I find that South Australian Attorney-General Michael Atkinson as a topic of discussion amongst the news writers and readers of the gaming and eSports communities. This time it’s in regards to Modern Warfare 2, the recently released installment of the hugely successful Call of Duty series. Previously MW2 has made headlines around the communities in regards to Dedicated Servers (or lack of for PC players) as well as the apparently controversial “No Russian” scandal which resulted in Infinity Ward providing a “Disturbing Content Notice” in which if you wish to play ALL the levels as intended by the developers, you have to select “No, I will not be offended”. However this seems like a curious point-of-call for Atkinson as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has already been released on both Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and the PC through Steam as well as retail. Currently it is rated MA15+ but with Atkinson appealing the rating, there’s obviously some pretty significant consequences if he gets his way as the only other option is RC (Refused Classification).
Which begs the question, what is Atkinson expecting to achieve? With over 5 Million units already sold worldwide and generating over $500 million in revenue the potential hysteria and complexity to achieve a recall for all of Australia is too astronomical to imagine.
“It doesn’t surprise me. The Classification Board in Australia does everything to try to get games in under the radar. But just because the system is not being applied properly, it does not mean that the principles of the system are wrong.
“What I want the Classification Board to do is to apply the guidelines properly. What I don’t want is the extremely violent, sexually depraved, drug use games in Australia at all. At the cinema, we can stop people under 18 going in to see R18+ rated movies. We can’t stop these games that are extremely violent and depraved from getting into the home or getting into the hands of children.” Atkinson stated during an interview with Radio National.
I cannot understand his thinking, R18+ dvds are just as available as R18+ games would be. The difference is, in my opinion, it would be harder to get R18+ games as you can easily download an R18+ movie, but with a game more often then not you do need some form of key to install.
For those who know me, this R18+ topic does frustrate me more than most other topics. It’s hard to believe that Atkinson is trying to get rid of a game that I’ve just finished playing for the night, with over 40 hours worth of in-game time. And I’m not feeling inclined to go on any murdering sprees or anything like that, so it has obviously not effected me to the extent that one certain Attorney-General might believe.
Perhaps the word ‘exaggeration’ might be used at some point to describe the suggested effects of these so-called ultra-violent video games.
We’ll just wait and see what happens with what probably is a futile attempt at best considering the momentum of MW2 at this point in time.
Articles, News | 13,130 comments
November 5, 2009
Got bored, made a Blog
SO if you haven’t noticed, this particular blog has cropped up from absolutely nowhere. If you had asked me two days ago whether I’d today be writing on my blog I’d be like, “what are you talking about, I don’t have one”. Well what a fool I was because randomly it has spawned into existence. Well; respawned as for those who have known me for quite a length of time would know that I did originally have a blog that evidently I did stop posting on around the time I started up Bench Studios. But yesterday it was a spur of the moment thing to build a blog in a day and then sprinkle it with all the articles and reviews I had written previously, which I did.
Now you can find all the game reviews I’ve written, the event and news articles I wrote, as well as all the latest (not really latest but you get what I mean) from my GotGames Column “News Around the Watercooler”.
For those who dabble in graphics and the such like I do, I’ll be planning on putting my tutorials up here as well. Hopefully moving into video for them so you don’t have to put up with big long paragraphs of text, although if you do like big paragraphs of text or just don’t want to wait for things to load then i’ll aspire to make a text version available as much as I can.
Granted all this is just a precursor to the Creative Benchmark site which won’t just be me, there’ll be a lot more that I won’t get into right now, so sit tight for that because it’s going to be awesome.
Finally I’m apparently a GFX Mod for CyberGamer now. Bringing the total to around 5 different sites that i’m either a GFX Mod, GFX Designer, or Graphics Manager of; which is kinda cool. Those wondering about the others, currently from what i remember they’re: netGameRadio.com, GotGames.com.au, B1GLeague.com, ClanGFX.com, and now CyberGamer.com.au.
Speaking of which I am a journalist/columnist for 4 of those 5 sites, ClanGFX.com being the odd one out. So if you’re wondering why the different posts on here have site names as a category, it’s because that’s what site those particular articles or reviews were released on.
Sweet, well if you’ve found this then awesome, stay tuned, in fact…tune in on Saturday for the final episode of the After Hours show on netGameRadio.com hosted by yours truly. Had quite a good chat with Andrew “Velicoma” March last night, planning on interviewing Andy Wells, from GameArena, tomorrow so long as i’m actually home.
Reminds me, my local exchange has almost finished installing ADSL2 on my exchange, which is good for me because they have a 100Gig/month for under $50. TPG if anyone is wondering, though check if your exchange is eligible first. I know I’m sick of having to run my internet via hamster wheel.
Blog | 7 comments