Blog - Bird_of_Prey

0 comments by Bird_of_Prey on Oct 21st, 2009 digg this super bookmark

I'm been trying to decide which mod to do a feature on and just couldn't pick one so I did nothing. So instead of sitting around in perpetual apathy as new stuff comes out, I'm going to do a round up of all the Generals/Zero Hour mods that have caught my eye. This should be interesting. Since there's so much ground to be covered, the article in question won't go as much in depth as my other have. This is just as well as I think I was trying to put too much into them without enough time to really get more than a general feel. Instead I'll just have a paragraph explaining what the mod's about and then give some quick pros and cons with my recommendation on who should find it fun. I also plan to have videos for each and every one of them. This will take more time, but I enjoy doing it and think it's a nice touch that adds life to the feature.

0 comments by Bird_of_Prey on Aug 18th, 2009 digg this super bookmark

Finally some none FPS releases! Busy time in my world, so I may not have articles up right away, but I will do my best to find a few moments to get something ready ASAP.

 Also, I've been able to diversify my game collection further with some lovely indies such as Mount and Blade, Braid, AudioSurf, Gish and more! Great stuff. The M&B Warband beta has also started, so that should be interesting to see how the game works in multiplayer.

0 comments by Bird_of_Prey on Jun 7th, 2009 digg this super bookmark

My Wesnoth article is FINALLY done! Unless there's something really wrong with it that I missed. I hope not because after a month and a half I don't want to do much else to it. I've already gone through more revisions than I care to remember, the latest one was to cut out about 500 words. Remember those 500 word essays you had to write in school, and how you thought "500 words?! How am I suposed to write 500 words about Pengines?" Yeah, I didn't have that problem. I'm not against being comprehensive, but the gameplay section of my artical was truning into a manual. Also I don't want to be significantly over 2000-2200 words, as that's probably longer than most people will want to spend when they just want to get the general feel for the game.

 Anyway, I'd better get some sleep. Tomarrow I may start on my next artical, if I have time. If not, Monday I go to WAR! (that's a hint)

0 comments by Bird_of_Prey on May 12th, 2009 digg this super bookmark

So I obviously didn't get my Wesnoth article finished before the move. I'd rather it take a little more time than rush it though and have it be garbage. So I've actually been in the new place a little over a week now, but just today got internet back. I was able to do some more writing, but it's currently on a thumb drive that's a little lost in the clutter at the moment. I was pretty happy with everything but the very end so I can work on that and hopefully have it posted up in the new week or two. It's gotten kind of ridicules, I know, so I'll have to rework some of the date spisific stuff. Aside from all of that, the only thing I need is some media. The screenshots won't be hard to get, but I'm affrid that video might be another matter. Since Wesnoth isn't a directX game most capture programs won't work with it. The only one that I've found that will is Growler's Gun Cam, which is $20 US. It's not a lot of money, but it seems kind of a waste to buy it just for one game. Though I may run into others that have the same problem. If anyone hasd any sugestions they would be welcome. Otherwise there may be no video this time.

0 comments by Bird_of_Prey on Apr 17th, 2009 digg this super bookmark

The good news is that I think I almost have my Wesnoth article done. The bad news is that it still won't be up until next week (editing and processing you know). Further bad news is that I won't have time to do any other articles until well into May as I am in the process of moving out of state. However, the great news is that I now have Command and Conquer: The First Decade and The Battle for Middle-earth Anthology! This opens up a whole bunch of great mods to me and I've already got a start on a few of them. I also have something else coming my way that will be article producing, but I'll leave you in suspence about that for now. ;-)

0 comments by Bird_of_Prey on Apr 9th, 2009 digg this super bookmark

Looks like my article on The Battle for Wesnoth is going to be a bit late do to work. At first I though this would be an easy write, since I've been playing Wesnoth since 1.0, but there's a lot of stuff to cover and a lot of the information overlaps a bit. Anyway, it will get done, just not this week.

0 comments by Bird_of_Prey on Mar 23rd, 2009 digg this super bookmark

I finished my Slipstream impressions article but it will be a little while until it's up, due to most of the staff being at GDC. I think I'll wait a little while before writing anything else, as there are quite a few releases I need to catch up on. I also have World in Conflict now, so that should keep my busy. If you don't know yet I was on the latest Modcast so you should check that out.

0 comments by Bird_of_Prey on Mar 17th, 2009 digg this super bookmark

My article is all up and on the front page no less! Wow. I had no idea when I started my humble little blog post that it would end up there! Thanks to stenchy and the ModDB staff. So now I'm working on another one. Hope I can do it again!

 I also made a new header image and avatar. I'm pretty happy with how it came out. If nothing else it's more interesting than just black. My old avatar was just something I'd thrown together just for fun and liked how it turned out. This one fits my screen name a bit better.

0 comments by Bird_of_Prey on Mar 11th, 2009 digg this super bookmark

While you wait with baited breath for my article on MidEast Crisis 2 RC1 (ha ha) you can look at some videos I took of a skirmish as ISF. Enjoy!

0 comments by Bird_of_Prey on Mar 10th, 2009 digg this super bookmark

I'm all caught up on my mod and gaming news, I think. So I've played thought the H.A.W.X. Demo (sorry for misspell in last post) and it's pretty good. I doubt that it will do much to revive the combat flight-sim genre though. The controls are very simplistic when compared to old school Jane's games like F-15 or IAF. While this may appeal to the mainstream more I don't think there's enough verity in the gameplay to keep most people interested. Personally, I wouldn't pay $50 for it. Wait for the bargain bin.
I also played though most of the Empire: Total War demo. First off: HUGE load times. We're talking close to two minutes before you can see the main menu. If you can survive though that then you will be treated to one of the better RTS titles currently out there.

As for none demo related news: I bought six new games! Steam had World of Goo at 75% off this weekend and I didn't want to miss out of that like I did with Mount and Blade. They also had $5 off Unreal Tournament 3, so I got the Unreal Pack. All for under $40! :D So now I have a few more mods I can check out. Fun stuff.

And finally, while I was away, one of the highest profile Command and Conquer 3 mods, MidEast Crisis 2, let loose a little surprise: there first public release candidate. Being a big RTS fan I downloaded it as soon as I found out. For those of you that don't know: MEC2 is the sequel to MEC1, a total conversion for Command and Conquer: Generals: Zero Hour, that puts you in command of one of three factions (UN Peace Keepers, Israeli Defense Force or Gardens of Islam) engaged in a bloody, near future conflict in the Middle East. If you want to read more, check out my article in the Features section, coming soon!