Archive for the ‘Video Games’ Category

Tiled Maps for XNA – Full support for the Tiled Map XML specification!

So yesterday I came across a very basic loader for Tiled Maps (*.tmx) made with the Tiled Map Editor. It only supported the basics–Tileset loading and Layer rendering–so I took it upon myself to complete the loader by adding support for the rest of the features that were left out.

Sin & Punishment – Treasure struck gold with this Virtual Console release.

I was totally blown away by this fantastic game! It’s got style, it’s got gameplay and it’s got some actual challenge to it. It’s not hard, so much as it makes you actually think about what you are doing. It’s not just a point and shoot action game, you have to think about how you can most effectively stop your enemies form stopping you first. Once you figure out what you need to do, it’s just a matter of doing it, unlike many modern shooters that seem to be more based on luck than actual thought and skill. You feel a much greater sense of accomplishment when you figure out how to beat a boss in this than you do in other games when you finally manage to live long enough to fill the bosses with enough bullets to drop a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

My 360 has returned! Rejoice!

Just now my Xbox 360 arrive in the mail from it’s quick trip to the repair center after my bazillionth RRoD since I bought the thing. >.>

…and by ‘quick’ I mean ‘did Microsoft buy out the Aperture Science labs? Because that was bloody fast compared to last time.’

Revenant Wings – Portable roleplaying done right!

I picked up Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings when it came out and man was I ever surprised by this game! I’ve come to expect pretty much everything with the Final Fantasy name attached to it to be an instant classic, but even so, I still felt some skepticism of a roleplaying game on a handheld. Good handheld RPGs just plain don’t exist–or so I thought until I plugged this little plastic cartridge full of win into my DS.

Sir RRoD the Second.

My Xbox 360 has, once again, gone to game console heaven. I’m really starting to think I should just get this all over with and get a PS3.The Xbox 360 has better games presently, but I’m sure they’d be even more fun if I could actually play them instead of staring blankly at the box and cursing Microsoft under my breath. I guess for now I’ll have to survive on Crysis and Wii or PS2 games…actually, that doesn’t sound half bad. Maybe this time Microsoft will take their time and send me a new 360 that’ll actually work for more than half a year. I love my Xbox 360–but seriously, Microsoft; learn to build a less failure-prone game console.

How To: Make Crysis even more freaking amazing!

If you don’t know what Crysis is you have probably been living under a rock for the past year; it is the biggest shooter in years. The graphics are like nothing else–but the physics are where it really shines; you can cut trees in half with bullets and leaves actually move around when they are shot at! Coming from the same studio that made Far Cry, it is to be expected that the lighting looks a little on the overly colorful, slightly fake side. It’s not really a problem, it still looks fantastic, but if you want that extra little bit of realism keep reading! I’m going to walk you through the Sandbox Editor that comes with the demo.

Why does piracy exist?

Reading around on the internet lately, I have seen a great deal of talk about piracy and how it “negatively effects” the economy and the companies involved. I am strongly of the opinion that such a statement is complete and absolute bogus. If anything, piracy has helped the economy and companies. I myself have downloaded plenty of things that I didn’t own. Why, might you ask, have I pirated things? Well; how else am I going to find out if it’s actually any good?

Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep – A glimpse into the futu…err…past.

It’s rumored that the extra video in the secret ending of Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix is a trailer of the next Kingdom Hearts game, Birth By Sleep for the PSP. This rumor actually has some strong backing based on the various details revealed at the Tokyo Game Show.

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