Game of the Year

• Assassin’s Creed 2
• Batman: Arkham Asylum
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
• Left 4 Dead 2
• UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves

Studio of the Year

• Infinity Ward
• Naughty Dog
• Rocksteady Studios
• Valve

Best Music Game

• DJ Hero
• Guitar Hero 5
• LEGO Rock Band
• The Beatles: Rock Band

What are your picks for this year? Given my passion for Valve’s recent work, I’ll let my bias speak for the first two categories: Left 4 Dead 2 and Valve for the win! Oh, as for the Best Music Game, I’ve always doubted the “greatness” of theme-games, so it’s really a contest between DJ Hero and Guitar Hero 5. Given the six-string instrument’s more classic feel, and the fact that I’ve never played DJ Hero, the fifth Guitar Hero installment should win the award.

What about you? What are your picks for this year, biases and all? For the rest of the awards, visit the event page at spike.com.

Post from: The Gadget Blog

We begin with the first video, where our hero Criken tests the waters. The new special infected make their debut off-screen, but you can already hear the telltale sounds they make:

The second video is more revealing, at least in terms of gameplay mechanics. Criken intentionally(?) puts himself in bad situations, and shows us how to deal with the new Charger and zombies enjoying bullet-proof protection. He even reveals his “single favorite weapon in all the Left 4 Dead games”. The video ends on a sad note, with a Smoker committing the coup de grace on the fallen group of survivors:

In the third video however, our intrepid hero finally finds the right way:

And ends the final level of the demo in a selfish manner, once again letting his teammates die before entering the safe room alone.

So what do you think? I love the melee weapons, the same but Bayou-nized music, and the new special infected. Boomer-Smoker-Jockey combos already swirl in my head.

Post from: The Gadget Blog

More than one person finds the scale of such an undertaking scary. What if say, over a hundred-thousand people want to play benchmarking-crown Crysis at the same time? Wouldn’t you need massive CPU and GPU computing power? Probably less than we think, and most likely not too much as to threaten Valve’s massive R&D and marketing budgets.

Valve already has the the user base (like over a million members?) and the resources to implement a cloud gaming service successfully. It’s a relatively simple matter of creating a server environment that works, then tying that into the current Steam ecosystem. Valve already practices cloud computing with Steam to a slight degree, allowing users to access restore their settings and even saved games from any computer they use, so why not roll out a large-scale implementation?

Imagine if there was no longer a need to download a game to start playing, since the game is already available on Valve’s servers; all you’d have to was log on and direct the service to load the game you plant to play. You’d also hear less complaints about games that simply do not want to run on a user’s particular computer, as presumably the servers would be configured to run Steam games properly.

The point is that if Valve can pull this off, they’ll be on the market for this much earlier than present and future competitors. And instead of coming out with optimistic PR snippets design to get the internets writing, they can just prove the concept by actually presenting a working service. Opp

What do you think? Should the Valve come up with its own cloud gaming service? If so, how much should it charge? How much are you willing to pay?

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Courtesy Left 4 Dead blog

Since I’ve been having so much fun on Left 4 Dead lately, here’s a post simply containing info related to the game, and its upcoming sequel, Left 4 Dead 2 (duh):

• You can become a Facebook fan of Left 4 Dead here.
• …and for Left 4 Dead 2 here. To paraphrase one supporter: “screw the boycotters”
• Hands-on previews of Left 4 Dead 2 are available here and here (includes video). Snippets:
  

  “But on the evidence so far, it’s hard not to be thrilled all over again by the prospect of headsetting it up with chums and pounding through the new locations, with the new characters and weapons. And in the meantime, once the blistering heat and SEGA-blue skies give way to familiar concrete grey misery, I suspect more than a few will still be locked away in dark rooms romping through the original.”

  “Left 4 Dead 2 is shaping up really well, and with four new characters, the group dynamic has changed once again. We played as Coach, a huge dude with an attitude; and Rochelle, a smaller female character. There was also the white-suited Nick and the jocklike Ellis. We loved our time with the game, especially playing with other journalists in the LAN setting. While Left 4 Dead 2 certainly doesn’t do anything drastically different, we’re confident that it will offer another highly addictive experience of the zombie apocalypse. The full game is out on the PC and Xbox 360 in November, and we should be able to bring you more between now and its release.”

• The Left 4 Dead blog is here. Kooky reason behind Left 4 Dead 2 logo (pictured) here.
• Nice third-party maps available here.
• And of course, you can buy Left 4 Dead here.

Now leave me alone. Need to get back to my squeeing.

Post from: The Gadget Blog

Yet that should now be practically impossible, thanks to the efforts of Steam forum user sciss0rz, who’s taken it upon himself to update other forum members with information on—you guessed it—the latest discounts and price drops on Steam! The list (found here) also includes information on Steam game packs, compilations of multiple titles that are usually available at a lower total price (sciss0rz does not list packs that represent no savings).

Even more important however is region availability. Lots of Steam customers have complained about the inconsistent availability of games worldwide. Specific games aren’t available in certain regions and countries, and you can see who misses out on what.

Nevertheless, the “Price Reduction and Sales!” thread is a very useful resource that any Steam user should bookmark. Heck, I’d even suggest making it your browser homepage, if only not to miss out on any new promos cooked up by Valve’s sales team.

Post from: The Gadget Blog

Of course, you could’ve bought The Orange Box, a five-in-1 package featuring three Half-Life 2 games, and TF2, when it was $10. But I can assure you that even getting Team Fortress 2 all by its lonesome for $10 is still money well-spent. Besides, misery loves company; I thought I got a good deal when Valve was selling Left 4 Dead for $20. About a month or so later, the company discounts the game again—selling it for $10!

Post from: The Gadget Blog

Concurrent with an update announcement for Team Fortress 2 was Valve’s re-explanation of their Steam Hardware Survey. Perhaps noticing the privacy concerns raised regarding their data collection service (which has no opt-out), Valve decided to point out its benefits in their own special way.

First, they list their current setup:

• EVGA 780i SLI FTW Intel Motherboard
• Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 2.83GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor
• 4GB PC2-6400 DDR2 1066MHz ram (Crucial, Kingston)
• 1 x NVidia GTX280 1GB – OR – ATI 4870 1GB graphics card
• 1 x 250GB 7200RPM SATA HD (Seagate, Western Digital)
• 1 x 500GB 7200RPM SATA HD (Seagate, Western Digital)
• Antec Sonata III desktop case
• Zalman CPU Cooler
• 850W Antec power supply
• 1 x Dell 3008FPW-HC 30″ LCD – OR – 2 x Dell 2001FP 20.1″ LCD monitors
• Vista 32bit

Then matter-of-factly reveal the new setup they’re rolling out now:

• EVGA X58 3X SLI Intel Motherboard
• Intel Corei7 940 2.93GHz Quad-Core Processor
• 12GB PC3-10600 DDR3 1333MHz ram (Crucial Ballistix, Kingston ValueRam)
• 1 x NVidia GTX285 1GB – OR – ATI 4870 1GB graphics card
• 1 x 250GB 7200RPM SATA HD (Seagate, Western Digital)
• 1 x 500GB 7200RPM SATA HD (Seagate, Western Digital)
• Lian Li P60-F Case
• Intel CPU Cooler
• 850W Antec power supply
• 1 x Dell 3008FPW-HC 30″ LCD – OR – 2 x Dell 2001FP 20.1″ LCD monitors
• Microsoft Vista 64bit

So Valve’s saying “See? We need accurate stats on our average user, because if we used our own machines as the benchmark, our games would totally own your asses.” Heck, even their old system was already to drool over! Yet an important question remains: would you got for the solo 30″ setup, instead of the dual 20.1″, even if the former’s $400 more expensive?

Post from: The Gadget Blog