bad company 2

Real Bad Company 2 Gamers Don’t Need Functionality

by Bryan Sharp on March 10, 2010

Dice, the developer of Bad Company 2, wants you to know that you’ve been spoiled. They want you to know that your fancy friends list and reliable server browsers have made you soft. Real PC gamers don’t need sophisticated multiplayer options that function properly. REAL PC gamers are happy with a keyboard, mouse, and something on the screen to strafe around.

At least that’s what it feels like Dice is trying to say with the frequently broken, sorely lacking multiplayer interface for Bad Company 2. [click to continue…]

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The intraweb is blazing over the recent dispute between money-sucking-soul-crematorium Activision and the previous heads of Infinity Ward, Jason West and Vince Zampella. Basically, Activision, after probably spending an obscene amount of time investigating a legal way to bury West and Zampella up to their chins next to a fire ant mound, decided to just fire them under a cloud of vague accusations.

Luckily, the dispute gives the public a glimpse of how a big developer like Activision, who some have accused of acting like a giant asshole that extrudes video games after leeching away everything awesome and fun about their development, handles internal personnel problems.

I’ve been following the situation closely, and I’ve compiled a list of tips for other organizations aspiring to be seen as huge dicks. [click to continue…]

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steam for apple

Valve’s Steam for Mac?

by Bryan Sharp on March 3, 2010

Valve software, the company comprised of renowned tricksters, jesters, and gypsies who are pretty good at making video games, hit the emails of a few blogs today with teaser images for an upcoming announcement. Shacknews, Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Mac Rumors, Mac NN, Eurogamer, and Macworld have each received one of six images. I feel a little left out that Gamebane didn’t get an image, but it’s probably for the best. Given my luck, my Valve image would still be stuck in my spam folder or mistakenly deleted with all incoming mail in a scorched earth tactic adopted in desperation to remove large quantities of pornography.

I even use Gmail filters. It’s become a real problem. [click to continue…]

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the settlers 7 box art

Is The Settlers 7 EXTREME Enough for America?

by Bryan Sharp on March 1, 2010

Most game developers know that it is hard to move retail units in America without instilling a sense of selfish-badassness in the average American consumer. But how do you accomplish this if your game is called The Settlers 7? “Settle” is right there in the game’s title. Americans don’t settle for anything because doing so probably means that someone else is getting something better and more awesome.

Since The Settlers is already an established franchise, it’s a little late for Ubisoft to change the name to something more American like The Pilgrims: LAND, TAKE, EAT, FUCK. But the marketing team came through with the box art. [click to continue…]

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steam ui beta

Stop Guilt Tripping Me, Steam UI Beta

by Bryan Sharp on February 26, 2010

Steam may be the best thing to happen to PC gaming since Ethernet, but the platform could use an upgrade. Hearing my thoughts, Valve recently started a beta for Steam that lets users test a new interface and new features for the platform. I, in the interest of science and in the hope that my friends list would stop crashing, joined the beta.

The next Steam definitely looks shinier and is more user friendly, but Valve decided to give me information that I was trying hard not to know. [click to continue…]

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Starcraft 2 Beta to Last Three Months

February 25, 2010
length of starcraft 2 beta

To uphold my reputation for bringing my readers the latest Starcraft 2 beta news after every other website has already reported it but in a charming voice that several critics have described as “impish,” I have some information via the latest BlizzCast.
Rob Simpson, Dustin Browder, and Chris Sigaty discussed a variety of Starcraft 2 beta [...]

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According to DICE, a Usable UI is a Unique PC Feature

February 25, 2010
battlefield bad company 2 pc game

I feel bad about ragging on DICE. They are one of the few big developers who seem to appreciate the act of developing a game for the PC. Don’t worry — this doesn’t mean that I’m not going to rag on them, because I am. I just want to make it clear that all of [...]

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Where to get Your Starcraft 2 Beta Fix

February 24, 2010
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I still don’t have access to the Starcraft 2 beta, and I’m too dehydrated from constantly checking my email to keep crying, so I decided to post a list of Starcraft 2 beta content from around the net.
These Starcraft 2 beta streams, videos, and podcasts won’t do much to fill that hole left by your [...]

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The Starcraft 2 Beta is Making People Crazy

February 23, 2010
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The Starcraft 2 closed beta test went live last week. Blizzard is conducting the Starcraft 2 beta like every other Blizzard beta by sending out beta invites in waves. This is a process that some eager fans aren’t handling very well.
Starcraft 2 is probably my most anticipated game release of all time, so I can [...]

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The Army Spent a lot on a Video Game

December 9, 2009
Thumbnail image for The Army Spent a lot on a Video Game

America’s Army, the free war game put out by the United States Army that’s less popular than games costing money, has racked up a pretty impressive development cost. Initially, the plan for the game was a five-year development cycle costing about seven million. No one is sure when the US Army deviated from that mission, [...]

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