Blogs - NinjaTheory

When I'm not off saving the world, I'm normally playing videogames. Currently I'm in the middle of Blue Dragon, Infamous, Crysis 2, and Magicka. I just finished Portal 2 and Mortal Kombat, so I'll be reviewing those!

Thinking With Portals

Portal 2 was an extremely entertaining ride, constantly causing me to just stop and laugh, stop and think, or just stop and smell the testing. I've seen a LOT of fan reviews saying the game is bad, but I think they may be missing the point. One reviewer even complained about how GLaDOS doesn't sound as robotic. Well, if he payed attention to the story, he'd have found out why that happened. The game is roughly 6 hours on a first play through, getting down to less than 4 after depending on how fast you go and how much you remember.

Thankfully they only mention the whole cake thing once, and not outright, since that joke was worn out a long time ago, but they do introduce a whole new meme to the world.

The Coop was extremely fun! I was playing splitscreen on my 50inch and the constant failure and "oh, let me try, I think I got it!" kept the experience alive. And of course GLaDOS' scheming. Rest assured, we saved science.

There isn't too much you can say about this game without spoiling bit of the story. Let's just say Valve thought of everything.

Fatality

Next up is Mortal Kombat. It's very much the Mortal Kombat you've grown to love. The biggest thing that keeps it separated from the myriad of other fighters out there is the solid story. Most fighting games have some loose story mostly meant only as a bridge between fight, but Mortal Kombat's Story Mode actually takes you through the lore, giving the characters reason to fight. There is still a bit of disbelief that must be suspended, but it's all taken in stride.

Outside of the Story Mode there is a 300 level challenge tower, a similar Co-op tower, Arcade Ladders, Tag Ladders, Versus and Xbox Live. Unfortunately I can't really talk about fighting on xbox live, as my internet over here is rather shitty. For a country that has the highest level of internet access, you would think that they could make it good.

Portal gets a 10/10
Mortal Kombat gets an 8/10 (If you don't like fighters, you still won't like this)

Hmm, after a bit of a hiatus concerning Ringleaders technical issues and the missed February beta launch (and the slew of game releases that have occupied my time) I'm refocusing back on getting the HSI beta out.

At any time I could be deployed on Operation 'tomagachi' to help out after the Tsunami in Japan. Even got a new rifle (M16A4 with trijicon, named her Revi) and have done a bunch of nonsense classes just in case I get to go. Oh, and not to mention the RETARDED class on the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Until you are in that class you just don't know who in your command is completely ignorant and judgmental. Ooh, and I MAY become a Martial Arts Instructor sometime soon.

Anyway, after the gym tonight I'm going to work on an outline of what I want for the beta launch when it does happen, as well as assess what I have and what I need to keep everything successful. I could talk more about what this requires but I might give a way a little bit too much ^_^

so...that's it.

Semper Fi
Do or Die
Dead Babies
Don't Cry

I'm starting to pack up all the February HSI update content, and trying to get the beta build finalized (yipee!!!) But lately my time has been consumed by Minecraft, idk what it is, but that game is crazy addicting!!!!

So lets see....uh...got 3ds MAX setup, finally!!! So now we can start showing off the untextured models RL has put together, since I won't let him post any half-assed renders that he can make, so I have to do proper model renders. Been messing around with FRAPS and Adobe Premiere to see about doing a nice little developer diary thing for the BETA launch....maybe....It's something I REALLY want to do, but if things don't add up right, It won't come to fruition because I don't like releasing things looking worse than awesome!!!

oh, and it's official. I'm stuck on Camp Hansen.... permanently.... and there is nearly nothing to do in Kin, as opposed to Naha, the capital of Okinawa, which is conveniently close to Camp Kinser. That will help me save money, and work on HSI though, so it's not all bad!

I barely know what I'm talking about anymore, I just felt like posting something here. This is the one public place I don't really give a fuck about presentation.

Oh well, Feb is fast approaching and tensions are high among the HSI team! But it will all be worth it!

Yesterday, Ringleader passed me the Core content to be packaged into the Closed Alpha we're setting up. It was also my first opportunity to see the game running, as the last build he gave me crashed constantly. I installed it on my secondary homeworld 2 folder, where I test this mods files (I use my main install purely to test installation methods and for other mods).

I was first turned off by the rather awkward Slipspace effects used at the start of a game, but when the blinding light faded, what was left took my breath away. The ships are beautifully done, reminding me of EVE in the level of intricate detail. I then panned my camera around them, and despite the SAVAGELY increased quality, there were no frame rate drops like in my moments spent with the public release of Halo: Homefront.

I ran through a bunch of quick tests, since I was still on a deadline to get the Alpha ready for the testers, and only one issue came up: Capital ships don't like working together. Everything ran awesomely until I group selected my destroyers and told them to move. All they did is twitch slightly away from eac hother and stay where they were. But that's about it.

After making the Covenant race unplayable and double checking that there are no Covenant files in the Alpha build (The Alpha and Beta are going to be UNSC only) I got the bigfile made and fired it up to ensure no glitchy archiving. This time I fired up one of the custom maps available in the Alpha: Reach Orbit. Soon after I was looking at my ships, with Reach's surface displayed in all its beauty behind them. There was a noticeable drop in framerate when gazing upon its majesty, but considering I use a non-gaming notebook, that's nothing to worry about.

After double checking the bigfile, I got the installer set up, and sent messages out to our Alpha participants concerning their invitation.

Once they all have their Alphas set up, my attention will go to coordinating between the team and the testers to get any issues addressed before the public release in February. I'm kind of partial to a Valentines Day release, how about you?