DOTA 2 beta quick thoughts and horrible ideas (part 1)

Since my invite dropped in a few weeks ago I have clocked 43 hours in it and so far I am not dissapointed, in fact im impressed. There are however some minor (personal) issues i have with it. Since HoN is the only other MOBA I have played it will the the only MOBA which i will reference below.


First off, there is no conceding option. There is no way to end a game other than destroying one teams ancient or leaving. So far in my 43 hours I have played maybe four games with all ten players still active when the game ended. Until yesterday (I believe) there was no penalty for leaving games, now however you will be placed in low priority when in queue for matchmaking games.

This is a step in the right direction but it is still not enough in my opinion, there are a lot of games that are incredibly lopsided and are basically over at 30 minutes but drag on for 20 more because nobody in the losing team wants a leave-penalty and the winning team wont push for some reason or another.

Although HoN also has its flaws I always liked the option to concede games that are obviously over and I strongly believe it should be added to DOTA 2. But have the time required to be played before the option is available should be extended to maybe 20 or even 25 minutes to better fit DOTA 2s gameplay. Of course the concedesystem has its flaws aswell but honestly to me its worth it over the time wasted.

Expect more posts about the beta

The Thing (that should not be)

                                              Obvious post-theme

I feel like I should say something about The Thing remakaprequel and the constant re-usage of concepts in Hollywood. I can understand how hard it it to write something new, i've tried it myself- just look at the activity in this blog. Imagine if every word you typed was critized and picked apart by millions of people, thats a shitload of pressure.

But is the answer to fall back on older, proven ideas? Financially, yes. Creativily? fuck no.
Because even if you make an OK movie based on someone elses movie that is still just a carboncopy of something we have already seen before. This is why mainstream music and movies are all the same, its proven concepts proving their worth over and over again.

Change comes from the people that dare think outside the box and dip their tippytoes in uncertain waters. Of course everything i've written so far is blatantly obvious but i was just digressing from my original point.

Ask yourself, why was this movie made? The prequel that is. Did it need to be done? Did John Carpenter want it to be made? Did it even need to be fucking suggested?


No. People thought it was easy money to replace a few words in the original script, put in a talentless female lead, replace the animatronics with cheap cgi and then throw the dismembered remains of a masterpiece at a new generation. You even see the fucking face of a castmember get disfigured in the trailer revealing that he is the Thing, removing all doubt and suspense (which has been found to be good things to have in a horror movie).  


 

DOTA 2 Beta key raffle! (Over)

A few days ago i was invited to the DOTA 2 beta, i have already given away one of my bonuskeys but i still have one left.

Now you have the chance to win it. all you need to do is to leave a comment with your steamID in it, i will use random.org to pick one of the comments to gift the key to.

The raffle ends Tuesday night, good luck!

Leaked Mass Effect 3 footage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tfz1DppIDC0

Thats the first 14 minutes of ME3 on a hidden YouTube video, massively effective!
For now we can probably not call anything we see in this video final, but as i mentioned in earlier posts, as a fan of ME and ME2, i am worried.

Batman: The animated series

Just look at that intro, from the very first second it sets the mood perfectly and prepares you for whats to come. The music is by Danny Elfman who also made the intro for The Simpsons.

From the intro to the titlecards, Batman TAS had a very strong and unique style that as far as im concerned probably never will be surpassed, because of the attention to detail and the use of classic influences (compare for example Gothams silhouette to the city in Metropolis posters or Harvey Bullock to Mike Hammer) 

                                                         (title card)

the Title cards give either a vibe of art deco thanks to the use of the retrotech-ish fonts, or the titlescreens of horror movies of old. But the series holds a very strong noir-feel throughout and its dark, holy shit it is dark, remember this was a kids show. I doubledare you to find something that holds the balance between grim and menacing and playfully corky at times as well as this show did. The show also benefitted from having the best protagonist ever - what separated Batman: TAS from every other superhero show of the time was at the end of the day, the source material.

Batman didn't become a superhero by chance like Spiderman or even Superman
(Superman would just be Regularman on his own planet). Batman became a hero because he had to, shit had to be done and he rose to the occasion. Because of Batmans hardcore nature he also had to have the baddest motherfuckers antagonizing him, and the list of bad guys is amazing; the dynamic between Batman and The Joker is just downright awesome. They're each others polar opposites and perfect enemies. Batman cant kill Joker, thats his only rule, he'll fuck everybody up but no deaths, Joker knows this and uses this to his advantage constantly.

The formula usually goes;
Joker does something evil in a hilarious manner
Confrontation
Joker gets caught and sent to Arkham (or skip to next)
Joker escapes and starts plotting new pranks

The real point is that he always comes back.

                           Have i ever told you the definition of insanity?


Its the struggle between clinically perfect and clinically insane, Batman may come and go but he always plays by the rules while Joker just flips the gameboard upside down and laughs.

Ghostbusters!

Just wanted to give any readers a quick heads up: Youtube is adding a lot of movies to their site for renting, but you can now watch Ghostbusters for free (providing its available in your country)

Mass Effect 3 simplification and a new single from In Flames

So yeah, Earth is attacked and its up to Shephard to save it, most of us saw this or something very similar coming miles away. What most of us didn't expect though, was this.

 The interview in short, says Bioware wants to attract more buyers by making Mass Effect more shooty. This might give some a feeling of deja vu because isn't this exactly what happened to the second one?

I felt the removal of inventories and the new skill system in ME2 made it feel less like a RPG and more like a squadshooter, I dont like the prospect of the third one getting any more streamlined, with Bioware claiming that they want a bigger market by making the third game more like a shooter, i cant help but think they just want to steal some of CODs customers for a little while.

                                                     Moving on to new markets!

After DA2, can Bioware really afford making another casualised sequel? At least we can find some comfort in that the two games are developed by two different teams. With all that said, I am excited about ME3, I thuroughly enjoyed the two first games and it is too early to judge, but you never know.

                                                       In Flames - Deliver us

Sound of a Playground Fading is the dramatic, and non-sense-making title of the upcoming CD, and the first single is called Deliver us, sounds great and I have no doubt Flames will deliver again.

First blogging experience and the decline of singleplayer-only games

 As this is my first time blogging in any sort of way anyone who stumbles on this blog can pretty much expect it to be a mess for some time. How active this blog will be only time will tell, as of now its not much more than a five-in-the-morning-decision,anyway.

Portal 2 is one of few AAA-titles lately that has put a lot of thought into co-op multiplayer and at the same time delivering a first class singleplayer experience. However in this article on Kotaku we learn that Valves signature singleplayer shooters might be a thing of the past. A lot of gamers are worried by this because we've seen how bad a non-necessary multiplayer component can turn out of it is "tacked on" (think Bioshock 2).

I admid I have mixed feelings about this, co-op to me is the very essence of gaming, and the most enjoyable part. However games that rely heavily on atmosphere such as Half-Life and any survival-horror series (such as RE, which is also getting a multiplayer title) can easily lose a lot of its charm without the feeling of solitude and might cheapen the encounters with friendly characters. But on the other hand we have just as many games coming out with a tacked on singleplayer (Section 8: Prejudice, Homefront) and honestly I have a hard time deciding which one is the lesser of two evils, all I know is Valve found a good balance in Portal 2 and I think (and hope) we can pretty much expect them to keep up the good work.