October 2006 - Given To Gaming

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Given To Gaming - October 2006

Dungeons, Dragons and Module Toolsets?

October 31st 2006 02:33

The original Neverwinter Nights (NWN) released in 2002 was one of the best games released that year and was without a doubt the best role playing game (RPG) of the year. According to the developer Bioware’s official site for Neverwinter Nights the game won around 86 awards from all over the world from; ‘Best Roleplaying Game of 2002’ by PC Gamer; to ‘Best Roleplaying Game E3 2000, 2001 and 2002’ by E3 Games Critic Award. Much of its popularity, unlike its other Dungeon and Dragons predecessors such as Baldurs Gate and Planescape Torment, was due to its highly accessible and addictive modding component (Though don’t call them mods, call them ‘modules’ the community gets pretty anal about that).

The NWN 2 'Electron' Toolset

The number of modules created by gamers around the world numbers into the hundreds (if not thousands), with several of the most popular ones being sold by Bioware themselves online. The fact that the toolset, the program used to create these modules, was so easy to use complemented it considerably. The sequel, NWN 2 to be released in Australia on the 9th of November 2006 is also going to be using (basically) the same style of program. With some added bonuses of course.

•Gone is the limited tiles that you saw in the original toolset, now you have total artistic freedom to create whatever (and wherever) you like. No more of having to have each individual area bordered in by fake looking scenery. Moulding your scenery is also possible with the click of a button.

•Almost every individual object can be tinted to a different colour. Want your goblins to be a sexy hot pink instead of vomit green? You got it.
•As with tinting almost every object can now be scaled to whatever size you want, from giant children to miniature giants. If you want your farm animals to be as large as the farm house then so be it.
•The number of armour sets is now almost limitless, with individual sets different creatures and races. Along with customised hair, faces, belts, cloaks, shirts, helmets and boots, there are a large number of extra armour attachments.
•Now you can use static cameras to create your very own NWN 2 cutscenes to include in your modules. These can be easily previewed in the editor and added to any node in the dialogue.

There is a huge list of new extras in the NWN 2 editor that I could ramble on for days about (I especially like the idea of easily made cutscenes, bring on the mini-movies!). NWN 2 looks set to challenge Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion for the RPG of 2006, if not game of the year. The modding community’s excited and so am I, come on November 9!

Is modding the future of gaming? Let giventogaming.com know what you think, or if you know of any good mods out there leave us a comment!

*Image sourced from the following wikipedia.org pages
Electron Toolset

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Posted By: Joel - Category: Gaming News

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Unfinished Products?

October 30th 2006 23:48

Since a couple of Wednesday's ago (18th October) I’ve been addicted to the latest online game to come out, Battlefield 2142 (Designed by DICE; Produced by Electronic Arts) the third in the series followed by Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield 2. I just can’t stop playing it, maybe it’s the thrill of chasing down cyber enemies piloting my giant walking robot (reminiscent of the giant walkers in Return of the Jedi), or working together with thirty odd others to take down a giant flying Titan (a sort of hovering air craft carrier on land). The fact that the more you play the more of the game you can unlock and the higher your rank goes is another factor for those of us in cyber land who like to stand out. As much as I like this game a lot, for every positive thing about it I seem to find two negatives. The biggest problem? It seems like I’m playing a Beta test.

I think I got the budget version...

Having bugs when a game is released is one thing, but Battlefield 2142 is borderline ridiculous. There are clipping issues; account problems; random crashes; the whole ranking system randomly resets itself so that you can go from playing as a Sergeant while next game you’re back to a recruit. It took me an hour just to get it installed, patched and running. I even got the typical ‘CD key invalid’ problem that seems to plague so many Electronic Arts (EA) games. Finally after reinstalling, repatching and creating a new account I was up and running. Here’s a list of problems/bugs I found with my copy of Battlefield 2142.

*Game doesn’t install properly, the patch cannot find install folder.
*My CD key is ‘invalid’ and I can’t login to my account.
*When killed anywhere on a titan my body would sink into the model of the ship almost as though it was made of water. This seems to randomly occur and makes it impossible for your soldier to be revived by medics (I’ve seen dead bodies fall through the roof and land next to me, then proceed to fall through the floor into the next level).
*Game crashes to the desktop. No explanation.
*My rank randomly goes from say a Corporal, all the way back to Recruit. I lose all game unlocks and experience points. Re-loading the game or logging out then in again fixes it most of the time.
*The terrain goes black.
*The load screens fail to load graphics.
*Game becomes incredibly laggy when the commanders move the titans too close to each other.

How much would you expect to pay for an unfinished game? One that is basically the same as its predecessor with a new flashy makeover, $20? $50? $80? How about $109.95 AUD. Quite possibly one of the most expensive games I’ve ever had to pay for on the PC. Hell I wouldn’t mind paying that much for it, I can surely see the future potential for the game (even though it is just an expansion pack of Battlefield 2 in a sense). But to be asked by EA to pay about $110 for an unfinished game is disgusting; already the word around the net is that people are returning the game en masse. Battlefield 2142 will be a great game, I love it a lot, but it’s not a finished game and to try and sell it as one is an insult to the entire gaming community. Come on EA and Dice get your act together.

If you think Joel is a whiny girlie gamer who cries in the corner when he finds game bugs then giventogaming.com wants to know (If you also do the same then let Joel know he’s not alone). What does the rest of the gaming community think about ‘unfinished/buggy’ games?