GameWorld Middle East October 2010

OCTOBER 2010

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FEATURES INSIDE GAMEWORLD THIS ISSUE...

ZOMBIES V NINJAS 26 BLOOD SPLATTER FROM MIKA MOBILE

CONTENTS OCTOBER 2010

MSI GT660 30 IT’S LIKE A CADILLAC, GET IT? ASUS 5870 32 GREAT GAMING GRAPHICS STARCRAFT 2 34 OPUS OF VIOLENCE, FIRE, AND FLAWED HUMANITY LIMBO 40 DIFFERENT BUT AMAZING

REGULARS

COVER STORY - HALO REACH 12 THE LATEST CHAPTER IN THE SPACE SAGE HAS ARRIVED

BELKIN GAMING 42 SAVE YOUR WRISTS FEATURE: ASUS 43 COMPUTERS AND COMPONENTS

EDITOR’S LETTERR 07 GAMES10 CONCLUDES IN DUBAI NEWSR 08 INFO ON ALL THE LATEST HAPPENINGS IN GAMING CRYTICAL ANALYSISR 16 WE TAKE A LOOK AT ALAN WAKE

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LOCHAL ARCHADE 24 THE GOOD, BAD AND THE USELESS LAST WORD 46 JUST RETURNED FROM TOKYO

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16 WWW.GAMEWORLDME.COM

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EDITOR’S LETTER

THIS MONTH...

Commercial Director Richard Judd richard@cpidubai.com +971 (0) 4 440 9126

GAMES 10 CONCLUDES IN DUBAI

Editorial Director Dave Reeder dave@cpidubai.com +971 (0) 4 440 9100

Games 10 has shaped up to be a must-visit event for anyone interested in gaming in the Middle East. This year, according to one of the organisers, some 50,000 people visited the three-day event in Dubai’s Festival City mall. The venue shifted from last year and it was bigger and better.

Microsoft and Sony dominated of course with Kinect and Move respectively but there was plenty else to try as well. And that’s one of the key benefits of events like Games 10, that gamers gets to experience games hands-on without having to buy. Especially with motion-controller technologies like Kinect and Move it’s hard to just explain to gamers what it is all about. A hands-on session of just a few minutes can do much more to convince someone than any amount of articles or videos can do.

Comparisons with the big gaming events around the world are of course inevitable.

Games 10 will never be like E3, Tim Stokes of Sony told me and I agree. A gaming event in the Middle East, Games 10 or something else, will never and should never be like E3 or Germany’s GamesCon or the Tokyo Game Show, to name a few. I’ve actually never been to any of those events and although I hope that I will be able to go one day I also hope to see Games 10 grow and mature even more in the coming years. For example, perhaps mobile gaming can be included next year.

Even Gitex is betting a lot on mobile this year with an entire section dedicated to mobile apps, app development and the app ecosystem.

The organisers of Games 10 told me the event got started three years ago as a way of pooling their resources together and create one annual event with more impact than what their multiple, individual events could manage. That seems to have been a good approach as visitor numbers as well as amount of publicity has increased year on year. With the Middle East gaming market being like it is- very diverse, fragmented and still maturing- something like Games 10 is particularly important to bring the necessary focus to gamers and gaming.

I’ve been part of organising similar events in the past so I have some understanding of the amount of work that has to go in to making it all happen. On behalf of the gaming community around the region I’d like to thank everyone involved in Games 10 and say that I hope the event will be even bigger and better next year. One thing that will hopefully change for Games 11 is that GameWorld will be a part of it. We want to help the gaming community because we’re a part of it. This year it was too late for us to be involved but we’re already getting ready for next year. See you at Games 11, gaming fans.

Senior Editor Magnus Nystedt magnus@cpidubai.com +971 (0) 55 883 2009 ADVERTISING Sales Manager Crystal Nystedt crystal@cpidubai.com +971 (0) 55 2020 227 CIRCULATION Database and Circulation Manager Rajeesh M rajeesh@cpidubai.com +971 (0) 4 440 9147 PRODUCTION AND DESIGN Production Manager James P Tharian james@cpidubai.com +971 (0) 4 440 9146 DIGITAL www.cpilive.net www.broadcastprome.com www.cpidubai.com Webmaster Tristan Troy Maagma troy@cpidubai.com +971 (0) 4 440 9141 Web Designer Jerus King Bation jerus@cpidubai.com +971 (0) 4 440 9143 Web Developer Elizabeth Reyes eliz@cpidubai.com

Published by 1013 Centre Road, New Castle County, Wilmington, Delaware, USA

© Copyright 2010 CPI. All rights reserved. While the publishers have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of all information in this magazine, they will not be held responsible for any errors therein.

Publisher Dominic De Sousa

Head Office PO Box 13700 Dubai, UAE Tel: +971 (0) 4 440 9100 Fax: +971 (0) 4 447 2409 Printed by Printwell Printing Press LLC

MAGNUS NYSTEDT EDITOR 2010 October

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NEWS MICROSOFT AND SONY were the main exhibitors at Games 10, which took place September 16-19 in Dubai Festival City mall. Now on its third year, Games 10 is a joint project by Microsoft, Sony, Red Entertainment Distribution and Pluto. Nitin Mathew, Marketing Manager, Red, said that early estimates points to around 50,000 visitors to Games 10.

Microsoft’s presence was dominated by a big stage where Kinect was showcased during the three days of Games10.

They also had areas set up where visitors could try out Kinect games like Adventures, Joy Ride, Sports Central and Kinectimals.

Aman Sangar, Product Marketing Manager, Interactive Entertainment Business, Entertainment & Devices Division, Microsoft Middle East said that they certainly feel that Games 10 is an important event for them to participate in. He said that Microsoft’s participation in Games 08 started as a bit of an experiment to see if such an event could make it in Dubai and it has “worked very well.”

“It’s almost like we owe it to the consumers, to put together an event that give them the opportunity to try the latest and greatest and not just that but products that haven’t even launched in the region,” Sangar added.

On the Sony side, visitors could try 8

October 2010

GAMES 10 CONCLUDE IN DUBAI out Move with games like Racket Sports, Singstar+Dance, Sports Champions, Kungfu Rider, Start The Party, Superstars, and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11. Sony also dedicated some space to their portable offering, the PSP. Tim Stokes, Sales & Marketing Director PlayStation Divison, Sony Gulf, said that Sony has been very happy with how Games10 developed. It’s a way of pooling resources, he explained.

Before the annual event was established in 2008 the four main players in the Middle

East gaming market were doing their own thing, each one not reaching any critical mass in terms of reaching customers.

At the beginning the event was focused on media and retailers and it gave those parties one focused event to get together. It was particularly difficult for retailers before Games started, according to Stokes, when they had to go to perhaps different events to meet all the parties. “These things are always difficult to measure in terms of absolute sales

EPIC GAMES DELAYS GEARS OF WAR 3 EPIC GAMES announced a new date for Gears of War 3 and it is not good news for fans of the series. Epic Games and Microsoft Game Studios shift Gears of War 3’s release date from spring 2011 to winter 2011. The announcement was made via the game’s official Web site this morning. While the reasoning behind the push to late 2011 Epic Games uses is rather vague, it seems that the company just needed more development time. “I know fans are going to be disappointed with the new release date, but rest assured that this is a business decision between partners, and not a quality issue,” Epic Games Executive Producer Rod Fergusson said on the Gears of War Web site. “Gears 3 was on track to be the most polished Gears of War game ever when it released in April, and this additional time allows us to polish it that much more before it hits shelves next fall. Next week we have a major multiplayer press visit at Epic HQ, and I’m really looking forward to the fans seeing and hearing about Gears 3 versus multiplayer for the first time. Lots more exciting news to come.” Epic added that a major multiplayer press even is scheduled at its headquarter next week.

The full statement from Epic Games can be found at gearsofwar.xbox.com.

but we see increasing excitement from consumers. They come to expect this every year and it’s going to get bigger and better each year,” he added.

“We’ll never be quite the level of E3 in LA or GamesCon in Germany or even the Tokyo Game Show but I think consumers, industry and media appreciate the fact that we’ve created an event that brings all that together in one place every year in the region.”Among the titles exclusive to Sony’s platform that could be previewed

at Games 10 we find Killzone 3 and SOCOM 4. On the Microsoft Xbox side visitors could try out Gears of War 3 and Fable 3. Among the cross-platform titles available was Assasin’s Creed: Brotherhood, Tron Evolution and Vanquish. Inside the first exhibition area Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock dominated with a music band setup complete with guitars, drum set, and more.

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NEWS SONY LAUNCHED MOVE FIRST IN UAE SONY LAUNCHED the Move controller in the UAE September 9, ahead of the rest of the region as well as both Europe and US. They were trying to get it into stores just before the Eid holiday, and early reports show “good numbers,” Tim Stokes, Sales & Marketing Director PlayStation Division, Sony Gulf said.

Sony is clearly hoping to use the Move to capture the interest of some groups of customers who have so far not been that interesting in console gaming. Stokes explained that they are looking at attracting non-gamers who have previously rejected consoles because they felt it was not for them, it was too complicated or some other reason.

Introducing the Move is also a way to create excitement for the PlayStation 3 platform, in effect extending the life of it, Stokes said. The PS 3 was announced in 2006 right about the same time as the Wii and about a year after Microsoft’s Xbox 360.

Nintendo’s Wii motion-controller has been on the market since 2006 and questions have been raised concerning why the big two, Microsoft and Sony, have taken so long to get competing technologies out.

Stokes said as far as Sony is concerned it’s a combination of factors. Technically, he said, the camera technology has pretty much been there for a long time but there are solutions in the Move controller that have taken have been complicated to develop and get right. Apparently the “precision-accuracy” that the Move offers, which is critical to the gaming experience, took time to get right, according to Stokes.

Games that use the Move controller will come in two categories: Move exclusive games, which require the Move to work and Move compatible games where the player can choose between using the Move or other controllers.

Move launched with four games: Sports Champions, Start The Party, EyePet and Kung Fu Rider. Then there will be another three games coming in October: The Shoot, TV Superstars and SingStar Dance. Stokes said we can expect around 20 Move-compatible games to be available before this year’s holiday season and the selection will expand quickly after that. Some existing games will also be Movecompatible via downloadable patches.

GAME CENTER LAUNCHES VIA IOS 4.1

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eems like all we’d seen of Game Center came from an Apple event held earlier this month where Epic Games demoed Project Sword -- but now we can get our hands on Game Center for ourselves via the iOS 4.1 update.

Downloading the 4.1 update should automatically plant Game Center on your home screen. Users then have to login with their Apple ID and create a nickname to share with friends (for multiplayer purposes). From there, it’s not unlike Xbox Live what with the friends-list-creating and leaderboards.

We’re not exactly sure how Game Center can help with the discovery problem most games suffer from in the App Store, but at the very least, it’s a dedicated hub for users to navigate just for games. Note that the iOS 4.1 update only works on iPhone 3GS and beyond and iPod Touch 2nd Generation and beyond. Find out more on Apple’s official Game Center site.

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MEDAL OF HONOR REPORTEDLY SETS SERIES PREORDER RECORD

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A claims that the reboot of firstperson-shooter franchise Medal of Honor has set a franchise record for preorders on the cusp of the game’s PC multiplayer open beta. Medal of Honor debuts October 12. EA says that preorders have not only set a record for the 11-year lifespan of the franchise but are also in-line with other top-selling EA action games.

While its preorder record may be newsworthy, gamers are likely more interested in the game’s PC multiplayer open beta.

The multiplayer beta offers two new maps - Kunar Base and Shahikot Mountains. Kunar Base is a Sector Control multiplayer map where two sides struggle to control sectors of the map. Shahikot Mountains shows off the Combat Mission multiplayer mode in which players must accomplish a set of objectives to defeat the opposition. Both modes use teams of 12 players.

BY MATT CABRAL

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n epic story, incredible pacing, and a spot-on mix of old and new elements make Reach’s campaign Halo’s best yet. Oh, and when you’ve finished the story mode, plan on spending a large chunk of your life in the massive online universe. Any way you cut it, Halo: Reach is a fantastic swan song for Bungie, and it leaves behind a Spartan-sized set of

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boots for 343 Industries to fill.

Shortly before Halo: Combat Evolved landed like a Gravity Hammer on the original Xbox, a novel titled Halo: The Fall of Reach introduced fans to the sci-fi universe that would forever change the face of console firstperson shooters. Nearly nine years, five games, and countless action figures, comic books, and yes, even energy drinks later, the

video game, depicting the start of the epic human-versus-alien saga that followed, has finally arrived. But Bungie’s final Halo hasn’t come to finish the fight-Master Chief handled that task in Halo 3; on the contrary, Reach is here to start the fight. A prequel to the original Halo, Reach’s narrative conclusion is revealed right in the title of the previously mentioned novel.

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So, it’s a great surprise that a game with a not-so-secret ending manages to unspool the greatest Halo yarn yet. Despite going in knowing Reach will end with humanity on the brink of extinction, the game still consistently nudges players to the edge of their seats. This is due in no small part to a much more emotional, human-driven story than we’ve ever seen unfold in the series. As Six, a member of Noble Team, it doesn’t take very long for you to become attached to your new Spartan family.

You fight along side these Master Chief-like warriors for much of the campaign, so when you witness the sacrifices they make on the battlefield and the bravery they display against seemingly certain death, your heart becomes as engaged as your trigger finger. There’s also some great surprises in the story and a few end-game revelations that will send the most hardened Halo fans’ jaws to the floor.

Supporting its well-crafted narrative even further is Reach’s cinematic pacing, which begins to reveal itself the second you hit the start button. As the story opens, your Noble team member spies a Spartan helmet with a crater blown in its visor, just before he pulls on his own protective headgear; this minor, but effectively ominous moment almost makes you feel like you’ve just signed your own death certificate. Continuing on, you pass black smoke-spitting Warthogs, blood-stained rocks and fresh corpses, as rain spills

out of a darkened sky. By the But it’s the scene before you’re time those first red blips scatter actually picking Covenant fleets on your HUD map like roaches from the stars that you again feel in a lit room, the tension’s been Reach’s pacing take up residence ratcheted to near intolerable in your anxiously beating heart; levels; you’re five minutes in and as you ascend the staging area of itching to unload some the Saber starship, strap THE rounds into anything into its cockpit and GAME with a pulse. await blast-off, your Another similarly senses are stung MANAGES TO affective moment with equal amounts UN-SPOOL THE comes later when of apprehension GREATEST HALO you engage in space and excitement.

YARN YET combat, a wellReach is filled with publicised new addition moments like these, to the series that I’m happy making you feel as though to report officially makes Halo you’re experiencing a true epic cooler than Star Wars [Matt’s rather than a smaller scale ODSTopinion on this matter does style spin-off. not necessarily represent those Complementing this furtherof the GameWorld editors, so -and courtesy of a brand new please don’t send us any hate engine--is an eye-popping mail telling us we’re wrong.--Ed.]. presentation that brings a

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Halo series total logged hours on Raptr: 2,082,180

H A L O

T I M E L I N E

1991 Bungie is established in Kirkland, 1991 Washington, USA. 1994 The first game in the Marathon 1991 series of Mac games is launched, 1991 by many seen as important 1991 precursors to Halo.

1995 Marathon 2: Durandal is released 1991 in a Windows as well as 1991 Mac version.

1997 Myth: The fallen lords is 1991 released, pioneering what’s 1991 usually called real time 1991 tactics gaming.

2000 Microsoft acquires Bungie.

2001 Halo: Combat Evolved becomes 1991 the launch title for Microsoft’s 1991 Xbox, instantly making the game 1991 a hit around the world.

2003 Halo: Combat Evolved is 1991 released for Windows and Mac. 2004 Halo 2 is released adding online 1991 multiplayer support via 1991 Xbox Live.

2005 A script for a movie based on Halo 2005 was written. The film, scheduled 2005 to be released in 2008, is still not 2005 in production.

2007 Halo 2 for Windows is released.

2007 Halo 3 is released, wrapping up 2005 the Combat Evolved story line 2009 Halo Wars, a RTS game 2005 developed exclusively for 2005 the Xbox 360 (but not by Bungie) 2005 is released. Combat Evolved was 2005 initially envisioned by Bungie 2005 as RTS but that changed after 2005 the acquisition by Microsoft.

2009 Halo 3: ODST (Orbital Drop 2005 Shock Troopers) bring the series 2005 back to Bungie and takes place 2005 during Halo 2 and 3. It quickly 2005 becomes the top-selling Xbox 2005 360 game worldwide.

2010 Halo: Reach is released 2010 in September.

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new expansiveness to the Halo universe. Sweeping vistas, waterfall-dotted cliff faces, and battlefields whose combatants look like specs from afar, continually remind you of Reach’s ambitious scope. While much of this screen-stretching beauty serves as a backdrop to the action, there are also moments when you’re right in the middle of it. One level in particular, which sees you piloting a Falcon chopper above an impressively rendered skyscraper-filled city, wouldn’t be out of place in a big budget science fiction film.

Of course, Reach is still an FPS at heart, so as much as I appreciate fighting among postcard-pretty environments, it’s filling Covenant scum full of smoking rounds that ultimately makes me happy to put on the Spartan armour again. Thankfully, Reach goes above and beyond in this regard as well, staging some of the most breathtaking battles in series history. I’m not sure if it’s the inherent nature of Reach’s against-the-odds storyline or Firefight mode’s infectious influence, but Bungie’s latest is absolutely brimming with pulsespiking melees where every hard fought victory leaves you with a handful of bullets and your health firmly in the red zone.

The best of these battles has you defending specific areas as swarms of Covenant come at you with everything they’ve got, while their “Wort, wort, wort!” battle-cry menacingly pierces the atmosphere. Whether you’re defending a landing zone as Grunts endlessly pour from a drop ship, or protecting an interior elevator as rampaging Brutes funnel in through all available entrances, you’ll find

Bungie hasn’t lost the ability to craft firefights that raise your blood pressure beyond any doctor recommended level; on more than one occasion you’ll experience the reward--and relief--of just barely surviving with your ass in one piece.

Epic battles aren’t particularly new to the sci-fi shooter series, but some of Reach’s weapons, vehicles and enemies are. Flying the aforementioned Falcon and Saber offers a fun change of pace from the ground-based action, turning Wraiths into charred metallic heaps with the Target Locator--which makes Gears’ Hammer of Dawn look like a pea shooter--is a literal blast, and facing Elites, coded with enhanced AI, offers a whole new reason to improve your aim with Plasma grenades. Then there’s the new armour abilities, upgrades you can switch out that add enhancements such as temporary-use shields, jet-packs and an incredibly cool hologram that sets your enemies’ sites on a decoy of yourself.

These new additions only scratch the surface of the fresh discoveries you’ll make throughout Reach’s 12-plus

RE Participants in the Halo: Reach multiplayer beta: 2.7mn

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Number of Halo video games sold: OVER 30 million

hour campaign. I haven’t even busy. But it’s the dangerously mentioned the planet’s towering addictive Firefight that will indigenous tusked beasts; lead to a lot of sleepless you can decide for yourself nights. Building on the killer whether or not they’re friendly. version found in ODST, Bungie’s Reach also grants gamers enhanced their live-as-long-aswith credits throughout the you can gameplay in a variety of campaign which can be cashed ways. Along with full matchmaking in to customise your Covenant support, Firefight can now be ass-kicker’s armour down played with preset rules, such to the tiniest detail. as the self-explanatory Recently playing Rocketfight or FIREFIGHT multiplayer against Gruntpocalypse, in CAN NOW Bungie’s Executive place.

BE PLAYED Producer Joseph Best of all, you WITH PRESET Tung, I was slain can create your own RU LE S by his personalised Firefight variants by Spartan, which tweaking enemy waves, looked like a red Tie weapon load-outs, match Fighter Pilot--very slick! durations and skulls. Creativity Speaking of fragging friends is further encouraged in the online, Reach supplements its all-new Forge World, an overhaul solo campaign with a staggering of Halo 3’s popular map editor. amount of multiplayer content, Offering tons of new options and adding fresh elements while items, as well as a much more refining old stand-bys. New intuitive interface, I found Forge competitive modes, like World accessible to even a novice Headhunter, which has players map-maker like myself. Whether scoring points for literally you’re a purist content to score capturing the opposing team’s headshots in Reflection, a shiny skulls, will certainly keep fans new remake of Halo 2’s Ivory

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Tower map, or you’re determined to dream up the dumbest Firefight variant, Reach’s overflowing online options have something for everyone.

If you play Reach only for the campaign which, by the way, also supports 4-player co-op with scaled enemy AI, you’re going to get your money’s worth. But if you go beyond the highly-polished, immaculately-produced solo story, you’ll discover one of the best deals since Wendy’s Dollar Menu.

Counting Halo Wars, Reach is the series’ sixth standalone entry, so sure, there’s plenty here that will be familiar to anyone who’s picked up a Plasma Pistol or piloted a Warthog. But Bungie’s also injected their tried-and-true formula with enough fresh ideas and refinements to make this the best Halo entry yet; and that’s saying a hell of a lot given the absence of Master Chief’s boot prints on planet Reach. The only thing missing from this impressive entry is a number “4” in the title, because for all intents and purposes, Reach feels like the next big thing in the GAMEWORLD RECKONS Pros: Expertly paced storytelling and carefully crafted gameplay, all wrapped neatly in Spartan armor, delivers the best Halo campaign to date.

Multiplayer fans get even more bang for their buck with Reach’s bottomless suite of online options.

Cons: It’s still Halo, so if you didn’t like it before, Reach probably won’t change your mind.

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AMBITIOUS AND UNIQUE, BUT ULTIMATELY FLAWED, REMEDY’S PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER ALAN WAKE FOR XBOX 360 DIDN’T QUITE LIVE UP TO EXPECTATIONS. IN THIS IN-DEPTH REPORT, WE TAKE A LOOK BACK AT HOW ALAN WAKE WAS RECEIVED BOTH CRITICALLY AND COMMERCIALLY.

BY JOHN DAVISON

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FORMAT XBOX PUBLISHER MICROSOFT TYPE ACTION ADV.

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fter the huge success of its Max Payne franchise, beginning with the original game for 3D Realms in 2001 and later with its sequel in 2003, it’s safe to say that Remedy Entertainment’s follow-up was highly anticipated by gamers.

Originally announced at E3 way back in 2005 as a PlayStation 3, PC, and Xbox 360 title, the studio’s “psychological thriller” has taken nearly six years to complete, and its gestation was plagued by delays and strategic rethinks.

To the chagrin of PS3 fans, Remedy revealed that the game would be an Xbox 360 and DirectX 10 PC-exclusive at E3 in 2006, and the Finnish studio has spent the intervening years polishing a brand new game engine, and working on an elaborate episodic story that would mimic the narrative flow of a TV show. In a surprising move earlier this year, Microsoft both shocked and deeply irritated

October 2010

PC gamers when it revealed that it would not be publishing the Windows version of the game, despite indications from Remedy that development had been completed.

Not only was its production troubled, but Alan Wake’s release was also rather bumpy: In an unfortunate twist of fate, it released on the same day as Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption.

Thanks to the glowing praise and positive word-of-mouth of heaped on Rockstar’s old-West title, Remedy’s opus found itself overlooked and left out of the broader gaming conversation, despite garnering generally positive reviews from the press.

Metacritic pins its aggregate score at 83 per cent based on critiques from 99 different outlets, with the score range topping out at full marks of 100% to a low of just 60.

GamePro gave the game a solid four-out-of-five, and reviewer Xav de Matos noted that it boasted a “strong story and haunting conclusion,” while bemoaning an over-reliance on video game style repetitive combat, and characters that “take on typical ‘horror movie character’ qualities.

CLEAR LYNCH CONNECTION The excitement prior to release, and indeed the bulk of the enthusiasm from critics, has focused on the game’s narrative

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structure and the episodic approach that has drawn comparisons with David Lynch’s Twin Peaks. Sam Lake, the lead writer on the game acknowledged the Lynch connection in a recent interview with GamePro, but noted that “it was also influenced

by The Twilight Zone. Other shows like Northern Exposure, The X-Files, and Buffy: The Vampire Slayer served as additional inspiration.” The Buffy influence is something that, as far as we can tell, none of us noted and at first glance seems specious. In retrospect though, it’s clear that the visual effect when the bad guys are dispatched is aesthetically very similar to that of a staked vampire in Whedon’s tour de force.

The game is divided into six self-

active kids, it was great finishing an episode, walking away from the game to play with my sons, and then later coming back and getting refreshed on what’s happened.

This made everything flow and kept the confusion level to a minimum.”

By the end of the game, I’d been bombarded with so many unexplained, contradictory scenes that I didn’t know up from down anymore.” -Chris Kohler, Wired Wired’s Chris Kohler disagrees about the level of confusion contained installments that slowly caused, and serves as a great unravel the titular protagonist’s example of how polarised critics story, and the overall focus is very have been of the game. In his much on providing an immersive six-out-of-10 review, the lowest story packed with both action and noted in Metacritic’s aggregation, simple environmental puzzles. he noted, “By the end of the game, They also serve as a convenient I’d been bombarded with so many structure that comfortably unexplained, contradictory scenes accommodates the that I didn’t know up from down older audience at anymore. Some major plot ALAN which the game revelations later in the WAKE’S is aimed. “Having game introduce a whole RELEASE WAS an episodic game universe of possible RATHER is a difficult but explanations. And why ingenious idea and not, when we know the BUMPY I actually felt like main character is just making I was playing through it all up as he goes along? this twisted little television show When presented with an infinite complete with awkward moments, number of possible resolutions, quirky characters and terrifying any answer is going to feel sequences,” says a GameWorld arbitrary. Alan Wake starts strong reader. “As a dad of two very but finishes weak. Neither the

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gameplay nor the story deliver on their potential by the time the credits roll.”

Kotaku’s Brian Crecente couldn’t have expressed a more different sentiment. “I am open to the potential of the year’s games, but I still can’t imagine that Alan Wake will be topped in 2010,” he gushed. “It tells a story that is engaging, and yes, emotional. It makes you care, it delivers scares. But most importantly it redefines interactive storytelling. More aptly put, Alan Wake finally delivers on a phrase so overused that it has become a joke.”

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NARRATIVE FLOW Much of the praise for the game focused on its narrative presentation and characterisation, but like many games that have pushed the medium in this direction, like Heavy Rain or Indigo Prophecy, it’s the tension caused by creating an interactive story that presents the greatest problems for Alan Wake. The narrative flow is constantly interrupted by elements deemed necessary to make it a “video game.”

The Onion AV Club’s John Teti noted, “Alan Wake is undermined by the developers’ fear that, after they spent five years on the

game, players might not get it.

This neurosis is embodied by the protagonist, whose patronising narration overexplains even the most minor turning points. No allusion goes unexplicated: Wake notes, David Brent-style, that an ax murderer chopping at the door is ‘like Nicholson in The Shining.’

He also manages to spoil the already-easy puzzles. ‘The Viking boat looked imposing, almost like a battering ram,’ he intones, 30 seconds before you use a Viking boat as a battering ram. It’s the stuff of drinking games-take a shot every time Wake says something that any sentient observer would

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It stumbles when it tries to shoehorn traditional game mechanics into the experience. already know. The exposition is a minor distraction at first, but it’s so clumsy, frequent, and predictable that it becomes a hilarious sideshow. Not exactly the right vibe for a thriller.” Despite giving it the highest-scoring review from any outlet, The Escapist’s Susan Arendt also had trouble with this aspect of Alan Wake. “Alan Wake nails its story perfectly,” she writes, “but stumbles when it tries to shoehorn traditional game mechanics into the experience.” In a featured post on Gamasutra, contributor Marc Bell echoes this sentiment. “Alan Wake is a good game,” he says. “But with all its problems it can never go past that for me. There were constant reminders that I was playing a video game, and the world never got a chance to take hold.”

Core to these “video game” elements that were so evident are two specific mechanics that drew commentary from many.

First is the way that the game grapples with the notion of light and darkness as an arbitrary gameplay mechanic. Spookily “possessed” townsfolk and objects can only be defeated after being bathed in light to subdue them.

Fortunately, Wake has a flashlight at his disposal, but the use of it introduces a clumsy resource management element in the shape of its battery power. “The light and dark mechanic was terrifically executed,” says GamePro reader Phillipe Bosher. “But it didn’t feel like a game changer something Remedy promised when comparing it to their previous use of Bullet time in Max Payne.”

IT’S ONE HELL OF A STORY Second was the way that the game offers the opportunity to collect pages of manuscript that foreshadow upcoming events in the game, while also fleshing out characters and providing some

much-needed explanation of individuals’ motivations. Critics were torn on the effectiveness of this concept, and many noted that while it encouraged the player to deviate from the (usually quite obvious) linear path through the game, it broke the narrative tension in favor of a simple collection mechanic. GamePro’s Xav de Matos also complained that the completist behavior encouraged by this is unnecessarily punitive due to the fact that “some of the manuscript’s pages can only be collected in the game’s ‘Nightmare’ difficulty setting -- Alan Wakes’ ‘very hard’ mode -that only becomes accessible once the game has been completed.”

The Official Xbox Magazine’s Francesca Reyes was less critical of the concept in her nine-out-of-10 review. “Ultimately, how much you enjoy Alan Wake’s rollercoaster ride depends on how invested you become in its sophisticated yarn,” she explained. “And it’s one hell of a story, capped off by a quiet, breathtaking denouement that makes good on the opening lines of Alan’s initial descent.

Everything in between is just a trail of breadcrumbs leading you back to what you slowly realise you already knew. Accomplishing this narrative sleight of hand is rare in video games, and Remedy’s success at it is a testament to what imaginative storytellers can do with the medium.”

Though quite a different kind of game, it’s clear that Alan Wake shares much with Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain. Both games boast hugely ambitious dramatic concepts that are held back by a desire from their creators’ to satiate what are thought to be the “needs” of gamers. While admirable in its intent, Alan Wake suffers when it underestimates the sophistication of its audience.

2010 October

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ON THE GO...

5 IPHONE GAMES EPICWIN $2.99 IPHONE/IPOD TOUCH

EpicWin is one of the rare non-games to make it onto this series of articles, and it only earns the honour by being a strange but ingenious cross between a task manager and a role-playing game.

The app works similarly to any other todo list manager on the App Store, but for each task you create you’ll set the experience value by determining how epic it is. Everything EpicWin has to offer is completely artificial, but also absurdly fun. If you’re looking for a creative way to kick yourself into gear and begin getting things done, EpicWin is the app for you.

DON’T BE A SCROOGE, ADD THESE AMAZING GAMES TOO...

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MONSTER DASH $0.99

SPLODE $0.99

AQUA GLOBS HD $1.99

GUNS’N’GLORY $2.99

IPHONE/IPOD TOUCH Halfbrick Studios has earned their spot atop the App Store charts with the massive success of Fruit Ninja, and their newest game, Monster Dash, earns the pre-release hype it’s gotten. In the game you’ll play as Barry Steakfries, a man with surprising stamina and a whole lot of buckshot. Barry will have to constantly run to the right and jump between buildings and use weapons and power-ups. Monster Dash is easily one of the best iPhone games released this year, and if Halfbrick is as generous with updates to it as it has been with Fruit Ninja, this game can only keep getting better.

IPHONE/IPOD TOUCH/IPAD Splode is a quick and quirky puzzle game that’s easy to pick up and hard to put down. The goal of the game is to pop all of the “Splodes” in each given level. You’ll accomplish this by touching the screen to cause a ripple of explosive energy. Splodes are magical little creatures that fill the world with colour and music whenever they pop, so instead of feeling terrible whenever you end their sad lives, you’ll end up inexplicably happy. The game is beautiful and has some fantastic sound design.

IPAD ONLY (IPHONE/IPOD TOUCH VERSION SEPARATE) Much like the aforementioned Splode, Aqua Globs HD is an action-puzzle game with simple touch controls, a great aesthetic, and gameplay that’s great for quick pick-up-andplay sessions. As you play, multicoloured globs will fly in from the sides of the screen.

Aqua Globs HD another enjoyable game that could only be possible on an iOS or touchscreen device, and I highly recommend it.

IPHONE/IPOD TOUCH/IPAD Sometimes it’s fun to be the bad guy, and Guns’n’Glory is a tower-defence game that takes shameless advantage of that fact, placing you in the shoes of the worst criminals of the west. You’ll hire despicable desperadoes, grenade-lobbing hombres, and cannon-toting cretins to put hundreds of innocent settlers to their deaths as they vainly attempt to run to safety. I take issue with the individual levels of Guns’n’Glory for their absolutely absurd length, but it’s worth looking into if you like to play for long stretches at a time on portable devices.

October 2010

THIS MONTH FROM LOCHAL ARCHADE THE LEGACY OF QUAKE

BY KHALID ALHURAIZ

I STILL REMEMBER way back when: we had just bought Quake for our computer, must have been in 1996.

We let it install and it took up a whopping 50MB of space. Then the gaming with Trent Reznor’s music blasting from the speakers in audio CD quality, dodging enforcers and getting blasted by ogres. Little did we know that this game was laying the foundations of countless shooters to come.

Sure, it didn’t create the genre, that medal goes to Wolfenstein 3D, and it also didn’t bring much new ideas since it was basically Doom but in 3D graphics, but what it did to the game industry is what sets it apart from the rest.

First of all, modding. Mod is short for the word modification, and it means a modification created by someone not part of the team of developers who made the game.

Quake had so many mind-blowing mods that many of them ended up as games of their own, like Team Fortress, or became standard multiplayer game modes, such as Capture The Flag.

Secondly, making the game’s source code available to other developers and to the general public. It’s very likely that some of the games you’re playing right now can trace its roots all the way back to Quake. That’s right- you’ve been playing a 1996 game all along, technically speaking, anyway. It still feels funny knowing that all of Valve’s games were based on Quake 1.

Speaking of leaving the game’s source code open to the public, there’s Nexuiz, an open source multiplayer FPS based on Quake. It’s 24

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rather popular with Linux users because it’s a free game that plays and looks good, and now there’s also an Xbox 360 port in the works.

Other than the game itself, Quake also happened to have started Machinima, with the replay saving function in the game. Machinima is basically creating a movie within a game engine. It’s something very popular today, with the most notable being Blue vs Red, using Halo 3’s built-in Machinima tools.

I might come across as an old man ranting about the glorious old days, but seeing that so

many things we take for granted today has its roots in games from more than a decade ago makes me think: what are today’s games doing in terms of innovation and expanding game development, apart from prettier visuals and technologies that make games look better?

FRAGILE DREAMS: FAREWELL RUINS OF THE MOON (WII)

BY MOHAMMAD ALHURAIZ FRAGILE DREAMS: Farewell Ruins of the Moon struck a fair first impression to me. It is a mix of three gaming conventions that I adore, but is mixing three good things really, well, a good thing or is it a matter of Creme Brulee on Steak and Four Cheese Alfredo in one dish?

This game borrows elements from Silent Hill, Zelda and Fallout 3, three games I adore.

The game plays much like an adventure game with a few RPG elements and some exploration thrown in. So far it sounds good, right?

In theory it sounds great, but in practice you get an awkwardly disappointing game.

Let’s talk about what’s bad about this game.

Leaving the corny and plot-holed story aside, it really seems like whoever made this game have forgotten they were making a game in

the first place. The weak fighting mechanics makes it really hard to hit anything. You’re not the only one that will be suffering from this issue since the enemies barely hit you back. Not that it really matters since all the enemies are easily avoided, so you’ll spend a good share of your time just running away from non-threatening monsters.Speaking of running away, the game designers made a really sloppy job in elongating this game, the game could have easily been 10 hours shorter.

In no shape or form is this game fun, I was expecting a good game, but I was disappointed that this hunk of garbage was just like the rest of the shovelware out there, avoid this like the plague and think nothing about it.

Really, you’re better off getting one of the games Fragile Dreams is trying to be.

Lochal Archade is a Dubai-based video game community, concentrating on underrated or underappreciated games.

Instead of just covering the latest and greatest, they go out and find good games that may not have been in the headlines. On the Web site www.lochalarchade. com you can find their podcast, discussion forum, blogs and more.

BARGAIN TRACKER

Halo Wars: Collector’s Edition + Ninja Gaiden 2 + Gears of War 2 Xbox 360, Dhs 199, Sharaf DG

You read it right, 3 big games for the price of one, you don’t see this one often, grab it!

League of Legends: Collector’s Pack

50 Cent: Blood On The Sand

Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 1& 2

PC, Dhs 15, Sharaf DG (Deira City Center), Carrefour (MOE)

PS3, Dhs 69, Carrefour, Century Mall, Dubai

PS2, Dhs 49 (each). Carrefour (MOE)

If you enjoyed Defense of the Ancients, a popular Warcraft III mod, this game was made by the same people who made this mod.

Blood on the Sand is mindless fun, even if you’re not a fan of 50 Cent. If you liked Gears of War, you might find this game a pleasant surprise.

Two parts from the long running RPG series, specifically very hard to find, very interesting story with a very strategic battle system

Crush PSP, Dhs 59, Geant (Ibn Batuta)

A very underrated puzzle game that tests your wit and depth perception, you play with perspective and dimensions in order to reach your goal

bargain tracker is an ongoing service provided by lochal archade. you can find more bargains and talk about gaming at www.lochalarchade.com or by following @lochalarchadebt on twitter. the details above are correct at time of going to press.

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Q&A WITH MIKA MOBILE

Mika Mobile (mikamobile.com) may not ring a bell but I’m sure you’ve heard of Zombieville USA and OMG Pirates. If you haven’t you should immediately head over to the App Store and spend a few dollars on both of them as they are easily among the most fun as well as addictive games available right now for iPhone.

Noah Bordner, co-founder of Mika Mobile, answered a few questions we had about the company and their games.

BY MAGNUS NYSTEDT

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Q: THERE’S NOT MUCH INFORMATION ABOUT WHO’S BEHIND MIKA MOBILE ON YOUR SITE. TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT WHO YOU ARE. A: Mika Mobile is composed of Noah and Kelli Bordner, a pair of artists who play a lot of video games. Between us we represent several years of animation and game development experience, and in early 2009 took a crack at indie game development.

Q: IT SEEMS ZOMBIEVILLE HAS BEEN A GREAT HIT, HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE IDEA FOR THE GAME? A: Zombieville USA was actually a side project that Noah had developed in art school many years ago.

The original version was authored in Macromedia Director and was very crude, but the general idea was the same - fight off increasingly difficult waves of zombies as you move from house to house accumulating cash and weapons. It seemed like a good candidate for an iPhone game that would be both simple, fun and reasonable easy for us to make as a first app.

Version 1.0 took about six weeks to develop - we never could have guessed it would still be a top seller more than

Q: WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO USE UNITY FOR ZOMBIEVILLE? WHAT DOES IT OFFER THAT ALTERNATIVES DON’T? A: We originally discovered Unity years before developing Zombieville with it, and had been playing with it as a hobby. We used to use Director or Flash for little game projects (many of which we’d never finish) because they afforded a relatively artist-friendly environment for game development - neither of us are master programmers by any definition.

After trying Unity for a couple weeks though it was clear that it was an incredible tool, and so began years of noodling with it whenever a creative urge struck.

I’d say the thing it offers that no other tool I’ve ever used can equal is that it simplifies so much of the process of game development without taking any control away from you. It gives you a running start with its amazing content pipeline, efficient 3d rendering engine, dozens of built-in shaders, and useful tools for handling common tasks such as collision, sound playback, animation, etc. The sheer speed with which you can get your ideas prototyped is unparalleled.

And yet, its incredibly extendable.

For example, there’s a built-in particle system, but it didn’t offer the exact controls we wanted for Zombieville’s blood and bullet effects, so we built our own with relative ease.

Q: YOU NOW HAVE TWO GAMES OUT, ZOMBIEVILLE WAS FOLLOWED BY PIRATES, WHAT’S NEXT FOR MIKA MOBILE? A: We have a third game in production, though to be honest we’re taking our sweet time with it. We’re targeting a universal iPhone/iPad release with it, but I can’t put a date on it or give any real details, sorry.

2010 2010 September October

27

Win an Internal Drive

WD hard drives and solid state drives are just about everywhere that digital information and content is found, from computers to external and portable storage devices. WD customers are some of the largest companies in the world, as well as you, who could be using a WD drive right now.

Courtesy of Western Digital, you can win one out of three highperformance internal hard drives.

Go to http://bit.ly/wdcompetition, enter the details and you’re in for a chance to win one WD internal Drive.

We’d like to say a big thank you to WD for providing the drives for the competition.

REVIEW THE GT660’S CORE COMPONENTS ARE ALL TOPNOTCH

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While the MSI GT660, with its powerful Nvidia GPU and forceful looks, is aimed squarely at gamers, it’s also a surprisingly competent desktop replacement laptop. Look past the slightly over-the-top styling and you’ll not only find great performance, but outstanding input devices and state of the art connectivity. The only downside is that the 1366 by 768, 16-inch display doesn’t allow full-resolution 1080p HD playback.

BY JON L. JACOBI

THE MSI GT660 is reminiscent of a 50’s era Cadillac (in a good way) or American muscle-car than. Put another way, it’s more Grand Theft Auto or Mafia II than Halo.

Across the top of the deck are several buttons bounded by a v-shaped chrome stripe which is largely responsible for the antique Caddy vibe. The buttons allow you to enable/disable the wireless, Bluetooth, Eco mode (different power saving/display settings for playing movies, gaming, presentations, etc.) and Turbo overclocking modes, as well as the unit’s running lights, i.e., decorative LEDs. The GT660’s core components are all top-notch: an Intel Core i7 Q740 running at 1.73GHz, 6GB of DDR3 memory in three slots, an Nvidia GTX 285M GPU with 1GB of dedicated GDDR3, and twin 500GB Seagate hard drives running as a 1TB striped RAID array under the control of an Intel RST RAID controller. Everything on the periphery is state-of-the-art

as well: 802.11n W-FI, gigabit Ethernet, HDMI, and a couple of USB 3.0 ports. If you haven’t backed up to a USB 3.0 hard drive yet, you’re in for a treat.

It’s nearly as fast as eSATA and you don’t have to reboot for the unit to recognize a drive.

MSI makes a fuss about the GT660’s great audio, and if you don’t interpret that to mean great bass response, it’s true. High frequencies are present in abundance and uncolored by the excessive mid-range you’ll find in the average laptop. However, even with the SRS TruBass cranked up in Windows Media

WorldBench score and Unreal Tournament gaming rates approaching 150fps at medium detail and 90fps at high detail.

The GT660’s carrying weight is a bit over 3.5kg including the power adapter.

What might surprise some is the quality of the GT660’s input ergonomics. Gamers won’t put up with shoddy keyboards or pointing devices, and the GT660 has neither.

The semi-chiclet keyboard has a crisp feel, and the touchpad/rocker button combo is large and responsive.

There’s also plenty of room on the deck to rest your palms

media has reminded me that it’s good idea to have two copies of your un-verified recovery media on hand.

While marketed as a gaming machine--a role in which it excels--the GT660 is a great all-around laptop. Performance, great input ergonomics, the latest connectivity, it’s got it all. Unless, of course you don’t dig classic cars or want a 1080p-capable display.

CARRYING WEIGHT OVER 3.5 KG CORE I7 Q740 1.73GHZ 2.5 HOURS BATTERY LIFE Player, you’re not going to get anything even approximating a thump. Video playback is excellent as you’d expect from a unit sporting this kind of horsepower. Alas, for some reason the HD Web cam wasn’t recognized by the Windows 7 Home Premium operating system that the GT660 shipped with, so was left untested. Battery life versus performance is always a tricky trade-off, but two and a half hours isn’t at all bad for a notebook with a 108

without the front edge of the laptop digging into your wrists.

MSI ships the GT660 with a nice software bundle that includes utilities for overclocking and the Webcam as well as WinDVD8 for DVD\Blu-ray playback. MSI provides a program to burn recovery DVDs. Do yourself a favor and use it--twice.

As with most such utilities there’s no verify function; Recent experience with bad

GAMEWORLD RECKONS Pros: Great hardware specs and design; highquality keyboard and touchpad Cons: Display is less than full HD; weak bass Info: bit.ly/bxO70c Price: Dhs 6,700

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REVIEW

MORE POWER!

BY JOHN BATESON

PHICS CARD

UM GRA IN T A L P 0 7 8 5 IX R T SUS MA

A

ter, excluding a personal compu on ed m or rf pe er I ev 48k, for those The first upgrade for my ZX Spectrum e ac rf te In k tic ys cated the Kempston Jo vances, was a dedi ad l ca gi lo no ch te ber such of you who remem essing power! ring 8Mhz of proc ge ag st a ith w rd graphics ca

SINCE THEN I have tried to stay on the financially savvy side of upgrades, always favoring building and upgrading rather then buying off the shelf and with a mind to get a couple of years worth of use out of any component.

How apt is it then that the first item I am asked to review is the new Asus Matrix 5870 Platinum graphics card featuring the ATI Radeon HD 5870 with an awesome 2GB of GDDR5 memory.

Installation was easy once I had removed my current cards to free up a PCI Express port. It should be noted that as with all of the high end graphics cards, the 5870 platinum is a power hungry beast and requires a minimum of a 600 watt power supply to support operation. So the four power cables that were feeding my twin cards, were adapted (using the provided 32

October 2010

cables) to supply just this one.

With the power fired up the card illuminates nicely and for those of you with pimped cases, the cards’ illumination actually changes on the fly to show how hard it is working, from a pastel aqua green all the way to a fiery red.

This card supports almost any display you could wish for straight out of the box, with connectors for Dual DVI, D-Sub,HDMI and HDCP. They even provide several DVI display adaptors should this vast array not be enough for you.

Although there was an installation disc provided, I went directly to the AMD website and download the latest supporting software and drivers (72MB combined), and once installation was complete the gaming, erm, testing, could begin.

One of the biggest problems I have faced with pushing

graphics cards to their limit, is the amount of heat that they produce. It is for this reason that I purchased a high air flow (HAF) case and then still had to change the factory air cooling on my Nvidia cards to something that didn’t threaten to melt in the middle of a frag fest.

So I was very interested to see how this card, with just one relatively small fan, would stand up. The answer in one word is brilliantly With my monitor limited to a resolution of 1,680 x 1,050 this posed absolutely no problem for the 5870 which will work all the way up to 2,048 x 1,536. A quick check of the Windows Experience Index where my twin SLI linked Nvidia cards with a combined 1.5GB of memory ranked a 6.9, a single Matrix 5870 Platinum blew this away with a score of 7.7.

Playing both Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 and Just Cause 2 with maxed out settings caused the card little problem, although I did notice a little random pixelation during some more of the heated moments, it was nothing major and at no time looked like causing a system failure. Just a shame that there was no game included that would show off the cards ability to run Direct X 11.

Heat was also no problem, the fan obviously doing exactly what it is supposed to do even when the real time loading monitor (AKA the pretty light on the side of the card) was showing a glorious red.

This great performance meant that there was no need for me to play with the very easy to use over clocking software that is provided. For those of you who would want to play around there is a safe

mode reset on the back of the card to return the default settings just in case.

Using the HDMI connector, Blu-Ray movies were as crisp and clear as you would expect on a big screen running at 1080p although sound has to be taken out separately as there card is limited to video only.

In summary, this is a great card which does exactly what it says on the box. Either as

part of a new system or as an upgrade, used as part of a media system or high end gaming rig, the Asus Matrix 5870 Platinum should be well placed on your wish list and I think will prove to be a card to beat.

So it is with great reluctance that I must hand this great card back and just hope that they give me something else just as good, and very soon.

GAMEWORLD RECKONS Pros: Top quality performance; Easy and safe to tweak and over clock straight out of the box; Exhaust heat is pushed directly out of the case reducing thermal build up; Card will keep your system up to date for the next few years.

Cons: $100 price difference between the standard and platinum version is hard to justify; Aimed at the high end gamer looking to push the envelope.

Info: bit.ly/atvwkL Price: $440

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STARCRAFT II IS AN OPUS OF VIOLENCE, FIRE, AND FLAWED HUMANITY. AFTER YEARS OF DEVELOPMENT, BLIZZARD HAS DELIVERED ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL SINGLE PLAYER CAMPAIGNS IN RECENT MEMORY, A STORY WITH SURPRISING NARRATIVE WEIGHT AND VARIED, COMPELLING GAMEPLAY. STARCRAFT II HAS ONCE AGAIN RAISED THE BAR.

BY CHRIS HOLT

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n space, everyone smokes cigars. Space cowboys sit in bars, listen to country music and drink whiskey by the gallon. The Terran space marines in StarCraft are a weathered, dirty bunch. You remove their machine guns and body armor and suddenly StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty isn’t an epic sci-fi real time strategy game, but a western opera. What has always separated Blizzard’s StarCraft universe from Warhammer 40,000’s similar story of humans, space elves, and insect-like aliens is the characters. Warhammer is all about the war. StarCraft is all about the shifting alliances, moral failings, and complex relationships of the far future.

StarCraft II is an opus of violence, fire, and flawed humanity.

After years of development, Blizzard has delivered one of the most powerful single player campaigns in recent memory, a story with surprising narrative weight and varied, compelling gameplay. Thanks to an equally strong multiplayer, StarCraft II has once again raised the bar for all others to meet.

EW

FORMAT PC/MAC PUBLISHER ACTIVISION TYPE RTS

Information www.starcraft2.com

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THIS IS ONLY CHAPTER ONE. When Blizzard decided to split up StarCraft II into three parts, many people whined it was a money grab. You get to play as the Terrans in Wings of Liberty, but the future expansions will detail the Zerg and Protoss campaigns. Why pay for only one race, one campaign? It better be one hell of a campaign.

And it is.

THE STORY StarCraft II picks up four years after the events of Brood War, the expansion to 1998’s StarCraft. Jim Raynor, the embittered Terran hero from the first game, has now been reduced to mercenary work for a company seeking mysterious alien artifacts. Blizzard is able to offer a compelling story while offering the player various choices that have a real impact on the story.

Do you save or purge infested colonists? Do you knock out an enemies air support or take out their underground reinforcements?

These aren’t illusionary choices: they have a real impact on the game. In one mission, you can choose to throw your lot in with Tosh, a mysterious voodooinspired black ops “Spectre” who has offered you missions in the past and has been part of your crew. Only problem is he may be psychotic. The other choice is to listen to Nova, a spec ops ghost working for Mengsk, and instead turn on Tosh. Each result nets you a different video, but also grants you access to different units. You can always save your game and see which result you like best.

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THE GAMEPLAY I know I wasn’t the only critic who feared that StarCraft II would just be the first game with a facelift. While the fundamentally sound gameplay returns (as do most units), the Terran campaign reveals a much richer array of units and some fundamental changes in a player’s strategies. With the

exception of a couple missions where you must merely blow up certain locations on the map, the single player campaign for Wings of Liberty features a number of unique twists and some really great set pieces.

On one mission, you can break out some rogue agents out of a prison. In another, you use a stolen weapon to disrupt

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CERTAINLY MORE THAN JUST A COSMETIC FACELIFT

a press event. Still others let you evac civilians, hold the line, rescue persons of interest, and even outrun a firestorm before it consumes a planet. Traditionally, the multiplayer component of a strategy game is just a mirror image of the single player campaign, but Wings of Liberty changes that by giving Jim Raynor and his crew many “classic” units from the

first StarCraft that don’t appear in the multiplayer. The firebat, a flamethrower infantry unit and fan favorite, appears in the single player campaign, but has been replaced in multiplayer by a fast-attack buggy called the Hellion. Similarly, the Wraith fighter is not featured in multiplayer, but appears as buildable alongside the groundassault Banshee and the anti-air

Viking fighter in the single player campaign. The Viking and Banshee are both new units and combined with the “med bus” transport, offer the Terrans a formidable upgrade in the air.

Yet, I still found it frustrating that many of my favorite units (the Medic, the Vulture, the Wraith) weren’t available in multiplayer, though Blizzard had taken the

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time to develop and insert them into the single player game. Though the limitations on the units make for a more flawed, unique force, I support a larger variety of units that will allow me more flexibility in my strategies. Let’s hope Blizzard brings factions to more factions to the multiplayer beside the standard Zerg, Protoss, and Terran unit sets Despite the improved graphics and retooled armies, there are some fundamental problems with Blizzard’s approach to strategy games that StarCraft II didn’t address.

The game is more tactical than strategic, meaning you have to micromanage everything if you want to succeed. Your units

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have the self-preservation instincts of teenagers in a slasher film and I still encountered some pathfinding issues. While many strategy games have introduced the ability to dig in or move into different formations, StarCraft remains fundamentally simplistic in its unit functions--that’s the good and bad news.StarCraft has a dedicated online community and StarCraft II will deservedly get its own. But multiplayer battles are remarkably limited in their tactics and very similar in how they play out: they’re usually decided within the first few minutes and it remains a game of economics and build orders. The strategy “turtling,” or building a large base and playing defensively, is impossible in StarCraft and Warcraft. Your resources will run out, you must

expand, and therefore you must expand fast or your opponent will have you surrounded. This funnels the player into certain strategies that may frustrate some players.

I say this despite beating Macworld’s Jason Snell in less than ten minutes. Twice.

THE PERFORMANCE On my Core i7 iMac, the game looked great and didn’t so much as sneeze when I had my army pushing 200 units against an equally large force. The graphics are a major step up from Warcraft III, but on the whole I wouldn’t consider the in-game battles a huge leap forward for the industry. The videos and interactive menus, on the other hand, speak to the high-amount of polish and effort that went into

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the game. Just as X-Wing Alliance made me want to explore an Alliance starship, StarCraft II made me want to explore Jim Raynor’s battleship.

The controversies surrounding Battle.net, Blizzard’s online gaming service that encompasses StarCraft II’s multiplayer, deserve a separate article. On the whole, the interface is intuitive and setting up games was a breeze. I thought I’d miss LAN games, but I was able to quickly add friends to my party and remove the ability for public players to hop in. I understand why Blizzard eliminated LAN, but at the same time I also understand why people are angry that such an iconic part of StarCraft (everyone setting up a LAN game in a house or dorm) is now gone forever.

My quibbles about limited strategies and the elimination of certain units are minor, comparatively speaking. After playing ten years of games trying to be StarCraft, it’s nice for Blizzard to come back with StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty and once again raise the bar on sci-fi real-time strategy. The multiplayer is similar enough to the original to keep the puritans happy, while the single player campaign is a beautiful, complex, replayable, and epic journey into a world that gets more interesting every time I enter it. Oh yeah, it was worth the wait.

GAMEWORLD RECKONS Pros: Deep storyline; compelling gameplay; strong multiplayer support; powerful single player campaign Cons: No LAN support; some units not available in multiplayer; limited tactics in multiplayer battles

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FORMAT XBOX LIVE PUBLISHER PLAYDEAD TYPE PUZZLE PLATFORM

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here are a lot of words I can use to describe PlayDead Studios’ LIMBO– genius, eerie, and haunting, for instance—but the more I think about this incredibly crafted game, the more I realize that all those words simply don’t do enough to describe the essence and feel of this Independent Games Festival standout. More than anything else, LIMBO struck me as being helped make LIMBO a downright wonderfully macabre. It seems chilling experience. That the almost obsessed with the idea of world feels so alive despite being death, not as a punishment for completely devoid of color is an failure, but as a necessary and incredible achievement. Light and inevitable tool. In one weekend, shadow is used to tremendous I’ve seen the nameless child hero effect in every section of the of the game electrocuted, game, with backgrounds that dismembered, ripped merely hint at shapes LIM BO to shreds, drowned, rather than explicitly STRUCK and beaten to death, defining them.

ME AS BEING which would almost Although your inWONDERFULLY game interactions deal be funny if it weren’t MACABRE so unsettling. exclusively with items It takes a powerful and creatures in the game to cling to your world’s foreground, the emotions long after you’ve layers and layers of scenery – turned the console off and trees covered in fog, the faint gone about your day-to-day life, outline of old decaying buildings, and in that respect, LIMBO is and creaky, decrepit machinery – indeed mighty. The entire world give a great sense of depth to of LIMBO, and the darkness, what would otherwise be violence, and silence it contains, sparse environments.

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LIMBO HAS BEEN ON OUR RADAR EVER SINCE WE FIRST GOT A GLIMPSE OF PLAYDEAD STUDIO’S STRANGE, COLOURLESS WORLD, AND EVERYTIME WE WERE GIVEN A DEMO OR SHOWN A NEW LEVEL, OUR INTEREST GREW. NOW THAT THE GAME IS FINALLY HERE,

BY MCKINLEY NOBLE

DISTURBINGLY LIFE-LIKE Every object in the game, from massive boulders to neon-lit signs to brittle twigs, benefits from an astounding physics engine that makes each action in LIMBO disturbingly life-like. Everything behaves realistically, but the game plays some really clever tricks that lead to some surprising moments (but I won’t spoil any of those here). Some truly brilliant sound editing also helps flesh out the world: tufts of grass crunch beneath the main character’s feet, metallic grinding can be heard from afar in industrial settings, and the music crescendos subtly whenever some appropriately life-threatening danger arises. The game has a sad and morose feel to it, and will no doubt leave an impression. And there is plenty of danger to be

found in LIMBO. As you control this fragile boy on his quest to find his sister, there are a number of challenges to overcome. The world of LIMBO is fraught with various hazards including giant spiders, gunfire, sharp blades, and bone-crushing boulders, and the only tools you have to at your disposal are quick reflexes and even quicker thinking. LIMBO’s gameplay is almost entirely based on platforming, so every puzzle is solved by some variant of a welltimed jump, or a useful platform being dragged to the right place.

LIMBO provides no hint system for helping you figure out how to cross seemingly impossible (and often booby trapped) caverns, but each section is wonderfully designed with visual and audible clues that give you all the tools you need.

Each section is a “eureka” moment waiting to happen, and though some puzzles require a bit more thought, and as I mentioned above, a few sacrificial deaths—each solution makes “sense.”

GAMEWORLD RECKONS Pros: Excellent physics, immersive atmosphere, amazing sound design.

Puzzles are ingenious, memorable, and fairly challenging.

Cons: Somewhat short, not much replay value beyond Achievements.

Plot doesn’t really provide a definite, satisfying conclusion.

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REVIEW: WHAT IS IT EXACTLY?

BELKIN NOSTROMO N52TE IF YOU’RE WORRIED ABOUT RSI OR JUST WANT TO BEAT YOUR FRIENDS, BELKIN HAS WHAT MIGHT SAVE YOU

BY MAGNUS NYSTEDT

THIS IS NOT A KEYBOARD nor is it a mouse and it has a name that’s more cryptic than the Enigma of World War II. Apparently manufactured by Razer for Belkin, it’s a specialized piece of hardware, which you can use instead of or in addition to your keyboard depending a bit on what types of games you play.

Technically it’s a specialized control pad with a cluster of keys, which basically replaces the WASD layout that FPS players commonly use. In addition there’s a scroll wheel and a hat switch with which you can change the point-ofview. The unit connects via USB to your PC and yes; this is a device just for PC users as there is no Mac driver and control software as far as I know.

Resting my left hand on the n52te feels very comfortable and my fingers, despite my hands being rather large, fall naturally into place on the keys and controls. There’s a padded wrist support that makes using this device for long, all-night gaming sessions much less painful. After configuring it for my own personal taste and tweaking some settings I found a new experience when playing my favorite FPS games. Basically with the n52te I can control more aspects of most games without moving my hand around. Instead it can stay put on the device, which makes my arm and hand more relaxed and I hope I can perform better while playing.

I mentioned configuring the software and it’s a must with the n52te. If you’re a gamer you’re used to configuring keys in some kind of software and it’s no different in this case. The software is easy to use and lets you assign functions and 42

October 2010

macros to each of the keys. Each game you play can have a different profile and the software automatically switches to the profile for that software when it launches.

Whether you should spend your money on the n52te really depends on how much you play games and what type of games you play. If you’re into FPS, RPG and RTS and you play a lot then try it to see if it suits you. That’s the bottom line though, whether it suits you because even if you’re a heavy gamer it may not be what you want.

There’s really nothing much wrong with the n52te, it’s just that do you really need it? Also keep in mind that it takes some preparations especially in tweaking the settings in the software. This is not a plug and play kind of device. The old adage of you get out what you put in is true in this case.

GAMEWORLD RECKONS Pros: Can enhance your gaming experience; all keys and controls configurable with easy to use software; padded wrist support Cons: Only for really serious gamers of FPS, RPG and RTS games; may not be worth the money for you Infomation: bit.ly/ccf8Ab Price: Dhs 169

FEATURE

ASUS COMPONENTS AND COMPUTERS FOR SERIOUS GAMERS

BY MAGNUS NYSTEDT

GAMEWORLD TALKS TO ASUS ABOUT THE COMPANY’S HISTORY, PRODUCTS AND GAMING ASUS, or ASUSTEK Computer Incorporated as the full name reads, is a multinational producer of computer systems and components based in Taiwan.

They make a wide range of products including motherboards, graphics cards, notebook, netbooks, desktops and smartphones. In addition to making components for their own systems, Asus also makes components for other computer manufacturers including Dell, HP and Apple.

With a wide-ranging product portfolio and a well-established profile in the gaming market, I wanted to look closer at Asus and their products. To

help us straighten out some question marks I talked to Saqib Hussain, Country Product Manager UAE and GCC at Asus Middle East FZCO.

LEADERS IN TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION

Technology is a fast moving market and perhaps even more so in graphics, processors and motherboards. If a company doesn’t stay one step ahead of the competition they’re part of the pack without any distinguishing competitive advantage. Concerning how Asus stays competitive, Saqib said: “Asus has been leading in terms technology innovation. Whether it’s in

systems or components, our engineers and designers work together to come up with creative solutions that appeal to our discerning customers. We always look for user friendly features and cutting edge technologies and solutions which implement in our products.” He added that Asus has a growing base of loyal customers. They keep coming back to Asus for their technology needs because they have ease of mind when it comes to performance, reliability and quality. As an example of Asus’ committment to quality, Saqib mentioned that the company was awarded 3,268 different awards in quality and service 2010 September

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MOTHERBOARDS worldwide in 2009 alone.

THE NETBOOK CRAZE Gartner Group puts Asus at fifth place on a list of worldwide PC vendors for the first quarter 2010, measured in terms of shipped units, with 4.6 million computers sold. At first place is HP with 15.3 million units, followed by Acer, Dell and Lenovo. Notable, Asus is not in the top five list for the US, where Apple takes the number five spot. They are however number four in the EMEA market, where Acer takes the top spot.

According to Fortune, Asus’ revenue was just over $21bn in 2009 putting them at number 436 on the list of global fortune 500 companies. Although we’re focusing on components for gamers in this article it’s impossibile to talk about Asus without at least mentioning netbooks.

This is because June 5, 2007, stands as a major milestone in Asus’ history.

That’s when they announced the Eee PC netbook at Computex in Taipei. Starting the netbook craze and selling an estimated 300 million units in the first four months, Eee PC made all other computer manufacturers take notice and most of them follow suit with netbooks of their own. Statistics by DisplaySearch shows that in 2009 33.3 million netbooks were shipped worldwide, more than doubling the 16.4 million shipped in 2008. The figure for 2010 is estimated to be almost 40 million. Asus has since the introduction of the netbook followed the very successful Eee concept with the Eee Box mini desktop PC and the all in one Eee Top PC. The Eee-series of computers are not exactly thought of as gaming material though so let’s look at what they offer for gamers.

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REPUBLIC OF GAMERS Born in 2006, Repblic of Gamers (ROG) is Asus’ brand for gaming hardware be it motherboards or graphics cards.

ROG is all about delivering the most innovative and highest performing PC gaming solution to power users, said Saqib. Although ROG started with motherboards and that’s still a key part of the ROG product line, graphics cards are playing an increasingly important role and a line of notebooks have also joined the ROG family. With ROG, Asus is trying to create a brand that will stand for innovation, high performance as well as community. They’re hoping gamers around the world will recognize the brand as a trusted source of top-quality gaming products. Saqib explained that ROG is very important to Asus and that we should look for more additions to the ROG family in the future as Asus is committed to the brand. But they will do so very carefully, he said, making sure that all the ROG products live up to the high expectations of Asus as well as gamers.

At the end of last year, Web site CanardPC.com reported, just over 29% of PCs sold in the preceding year had a motherboard from Asus, making them market leader. Saqib said: “Motherboards and high performance motherboards is synonymous with Asus.” Packing more functionality into the same or smaller space seems to be the name of the game in motherboards as in technology in general. Of particular interest to gamers is of course performance, said Saqib.

“They want is to squeeze out every little drop of performance out of their system. Whether from CPU or Graphics card.” The Republic of Gamers motherboards are divided into three segments targeted at three different user scenarios, explained Saqib. The “Extreme” series is aimed squarely at overclockers, users that want to get the maximum performance possible out, and Asus provides the tools for doing just that with the motherboard. The “Formula” series is for gamers who want the best performance not just in terms of graphics but audio as well. The “GENE” series is a series of mATX motherboards, which aim to bring serious gaming performance to the small formfactor.

Core Unlocker, first released in a motherboard earlier this year, is one of the more interesting developments from Asus. Introduced in the M4A89GTD PRO motherboard, based on AMD’s 890GX chipset, core unlocker is designed to circumvent functionality in certain AMD multi-core processors, which disables a core in manufacturing. With the flick of a switch on the board the user can attempt to enable that locked core, making their system run faster. It should be added that “attempt” is the key, as Asus doesn’t guarantee that it’ll work and AMD is staying mum on whether

this core unlocking voids warranty.

That said, it’s hard to see how Asus has introduced this feature without at least some understanding from AMD. ROG Connect is another unique Asus feature that may inspire you to try to get more out of your hardware.

Featured on the Rampage III Formula motherboard, it ROG Connect enables remote tweaking from a PC of another PC’s motherboard via a USB cable. This is for those who want to squeeze as much performance out of their hardware as possible.

It appears that Asus is not happy with just taking components from other manufacturers and putting them together into products and slapping the Asus brand on them. Saqib mentioned in particular DIP, Dual Intelligent Processors. “Asus is not only making motherboards. We’re now also into making processors. It’s not that we’ll compete with Intel and AMD. We’re making processors that take certain tasks away from the CPU so it can work more on other things,” Saqib said. He added that DPI consists of two processors: TPU and EPU. Asus claims that the The TurboV Processing Unit (TPU) can add up to 37% speed and that Energy Processing Unit (EPU) can cut power drain by up to 80%. DIP is available in a range of Asus motherboards, including P7P55D-E Deluxe (Intel) and M4A89TD PRO/USB3 (AMD). According to Saqib, predicting what features will coming in next six months is difficult let alone few years: “In recent years we have seen audio and networking come as standard on the motherboards and then we saw jump to 8 channel HD Audio, and HD Video.

Recently Gigabit LAN, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and HDMI connectivity are all becoming standard on mid to high end boards.”

We’re sure to see developments in motherboards continue without slowing down anytime soon.

GRAPHICS CARDS

One area where Asus is particularly active is graphics cards and it’s something of critical interest to gamers obviously.

Under the ROG brand they currently sell three cards, Ares, Mars, and Matrix.

The Ares card- a limited edition product- has been dubbed “the fastest graphics card ever” and published tests seem to back this up. It features two Radeon HD 5870 GPUs with 1600 stream processors running at 850MHz and each of the GPUs is paired to 2GB of GDDR5 memory for a total of 4GB VRAM. To further reinforce the image of the “fastest...” the Ares ships in a metal briefcase put inside a very large box. GameWorld staff is fighting between each other to be the first to try out the Ares. We hope to return with a report on that soon. Although the Mars card has also been called the “fastest in the world,” it’s been dethroned by the Ares. Mars is, like Ares, available in a limited edition but also has a unique serial number. It features dual NVIDIA GTX285 processors and Asus claims it’s 23% faster than generic GTX295. In the Matrix series, which may sit below the Ares and Mars in terms of price and performance, we still find high-end graphics cards, which would satisfy even demanding gamers.

For example, the recently introduced Radeon HD 5870 GPU stands out with 2GB of GDDR5 RAM at 4.8GHz, and 1600 stream processors. Make sure you check out GameWorld’s review of Asus Matrix 5870 Premium graphics card earlier in this issue. Asus seems to go all out with design and engineering of their graphics cards and add features and functionality that is actually useful for

gamers and other hardware enthusiasts that want to get every last bit of performance out of their cards. One example of this, said Saqib, is the Super Hybrid Engine (SHE) technology, combining a chipset on the card and software utility.

Asus claims that SHE gives 19% increase in performance by reducing GPU power noise by 54%. SHE was introduced by Asus for notebooks, giving users the possibility to better balance performance and power efficiency, and now they’ve brought it over to graphics cards as well. Saqib added that we should see many more graphics innovations from Asus in the future. Whatever they come up with GameWorld will be right there to cover the latest, review it and tell you all about it.

MORE THAN A COMPONENT MANUFACTURER Asus clearly is an important player in the components market, including gaming. Other computer manufacturers may sell gaming-oriented notebooks and desktops but as any serious gamer knows, to get the best performing gaming computer and to get what you really want and need, you have to build your own. Asus seems committed to providing DIYers with plenty of powerful and flexible gaming hardware for years to come. Read more about Asus and their products in the next issue of GameWorld Middle East.

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LAST WORD Mohammad Alhuraiz has the last word every month.

This time he talks about Lochal Archade’s recent trip to Japan and the Tokyo Game Show.

I’VE JUST RETURNED from Tokyo and it’s a struggle to come up with the energy to write this. It’s also a struggle to put about 500 words down on paper about my experience at Tokyo Game Show because there’s so much flying through my mind about it.

TGS is one of the main events for gamers around the world and it’s one that I’ve wanted to visit for many years.

It’s known for many things including the cosplay, the merchandise and, most importantly, the games. Now I can tell you from experience that you’ll see a lot of games at TGS, which you won’t see elsewhere.

This was my first time to TGS and it was quite the experience.

There was much to expect and to put it briefly it met those expectations and much more.

We were the only people from the United Arab Emirates covering TGS as far as I know. Even though I’m not very used to covering events like this I tried to prepare. Not only did I print business cards specifically for this but we also went to the event wearing full national attire.

I’m sure we made quite an impression in kandora, ghutra, keffiyeh and agal. People who saw us probably wondered what characters from what game we were trying to look like.

THE GAMES Of course I have to mention all the games that were on display at TGS, the main reason for going there in fact. Some of the games that I knew would be available for us to try there were pleasant surprises.

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Deus Ex: Human Revolution was only shown as a demo so I couldn’t play it but as a big fan of the first Deux Ex I’ve been very excited about this latest installment. The demo only showed one scene where the hero was running around in a warehouse, fighting a giant robot. It did a good job showing off the excellent mechanics.

Even though I couldn’t play the game and the video was very vague, it only made me even more excited about this game.

RPG fans of the PlayStation 1 era would know 3rd Birthday as the much-awaited third part of the Parasite Eve series where you once again take on the role as Aya Brea.

3rd Birthday plays much differently than its prequels. It’s a lot more streamlined and plays more like a third person shooter, which is usually something to get worried about with PSP’s limited controls for genres that require dual analogues (like third and first person shooters). However, after my brief test of this game at TGS I can tell you this won’t be a problem.

Virtual On 4 Force was a playable demo and as I’m a big fan of this series since Sega Saturn days it was really nice to try out. It doesn’t seem very different from Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram (the sequel) apart from support for four players and new

Mohammad Alhuraiz wishes he could give up his day job to just focus on gaming and other forms of tech. He likes finding and playing under appreciated games, which didn’t necessarily capture the big headlines. If he’s not hanging out at www.lochalarchade.com you can catch up with Mohammad on Twitter as @asatiir.

characters but I’m excited about this all the same.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow was another playable demo and it’s a great looking game. For the skeptics, yes, it plays much like God of War, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. GoW is a good series and this plays just as well.

Not only is Castlevania very fluid, it is also a good looking game with tons of great cinematics as a bonus.

There’s so much more to tell you about TGS but that will have to do for now. If you’re a gaming fan and especially if you’re into anything related to Japanese gaming, comics, movies etc. you’ll be very pleased visiting TGS, I’m sure.