vrage

Case in point; In your January 2008 issue, editor-in-chief states in his Gears of War review that his “home clunker” PC, outfitted with 2GB of RAM and a GeForce 8800, “barely ran it” I find this odd, because my machine, which sports almost identical stats (2G8 RAM, GeForce 8800GTS, Intel Core 2 2.4GHz CPU) runs the game almost exclusively at 60-pius frames per second, all at 1680×1050 resolution with the highest possible detail settings. Don’t you people even bother to play these games on more than one machine?

Don’t get me wrong, though - I’m not some idiotic Xbox 360 fanboy trying to push for a perfect review of Gears Cm Just pointing out something that seems odd to me. It’s good that you guys don’t get stoned on the massive hype that some of these games push, and I think it shouid stay that way-Complaints aside, I’m enjoying the last few issues of my free six-month trial of GFW….

Keep up the (mostly) good work!

You know what’s sad? This is my first despite the fact that I’ve been a loyal reader since the days of Dune II and WarCroft II: Tides of Darkness (heck. I’ve even looked up the magazine’s Wikipedia entry). So, why now? I’ve got so many things that I’d like to say, but after playing Counter-Strike: Source recently, I concluded that the CS Beta 4 was far superior. The graphics got better, but now the game is 1.5GB instead of 40MB, and it’s not worth wasting your time. The million-plus CS.’ Source players would probably disagree with me, but here’s what I’ve been wondering: Here I am, a professional “adult” in the work force for about four years now. Maybe games haven’t changed so much. Maybe its me that’s changed.

Maybe a marriage, a mortgage, a long commute, a government cubicle, and the process of becoming a soulless adult have al! conspired to take away that childish wonder I had when I first made it to the Xen level in Half-Life. Or when I sat in church designing WarCroft II maps on the back of the bulletin or dreamed up the ultimate weapon-versusheatsink configuration in MechWarrior 2 or got my first knife kill in CS.

But I’m not giving up on computer games yet. For the past decade, I’ve read about how PC games are dying…and they haven’t died yet. Crysis is at the top of my Christmas list this year and I dropped the cash for a DXlO-ready card despite the fact that the $400 could’ve been worth millions in my 401(k) someday, had I invested it. I guess I’m not a soulless cubicle dweller after all. Maybe my priorities are still in the right place.

In article “Why Do Videogame Stones Suck?’, Orson Scott Card commented that “cutscenes intenupt the narrative flow” of gameplay and make piaypis reei as though they have lost independence or freedom in the game.

I would simply like to state that not all gamers feel the same way as Mr, Card. Cut-scenes give game developers a chance to show off their nifty graphics (I have observed that the aesthetic gap between cut-scene and in-game graphics is frequently noticeable) and, lacking fluent in-game story development, a chance to expand on the plot, characters, and so on. Personally, production skill providing, I would be more than content to sit and watch a story developed through stunning visuals over a long interval of not playing rather than the same story be explained with less finesse in-game (i.e., as a result of my characters actions).

If playing games is spending your life staring at colored lights and clicking a button, what about watching movies? You don t even click while watching movies. Is reading books spending your life staring at ink-printed paper doing nothing as well?

Only the select few who heed the higher calling play games, rid the evils, right the wrongs, or fight the aliens planning to invade. That’s why I often answer cynics asking me why I game with, “Who else, if not me?”

Tnje to the teaching of Descartes - “I game, therefore I am” - I rest my case.

In reviewer Jenn Frank makes the claim “…a throwaway supermarket-novel plot seemingly meant for a Gabriel Knight game…” in regard to Secret Files: Tunguska. Now, if I remember correctly the Gabriel Knight games were some of the most popular games during Sierra On-Line s heyday and for good reason. Even Gabriel Knight 3 had a deep, interesting plot, filled with detailed backstories, regardless of the horrible puzzles (cat pee helps in the creation of a fake moustache?) and awkward gameplay As a huge fan of the series, I would love to know what was going through Jenn Frank’s head when she was writing this.

“It’s…fun, action…drama.

Hey, guys, have you seen that cool new…WWI air-war,..online sim?

Single-player missions…tie into the film…. Brilliant!

Flyboys St7uodron.,.certainly…gets…this flight simulation…online…in this package.,,. The game immerses you in a world rich with the drama and camaraderie of war..,. The delivered game features a…set of 12 individual missions,..and in the first of those, you…even fly the plane.

A few of the later missions pack in…entertainment value… In any case, the film-inspired missions,,lure retail shoppers that dug the movie… It’s..,a…MMO flight sim - if you’re interested in it…you can download it at FileFront.com.”

I still agree with Jeff’s initial sentiment at CGlVs relaunch: It’s the ease of use and connectivity in Vista that will really push PC gaming, and it’s just not there yet. The hardcore will always snub their noses at the idea that improved ease of use constitutes innovation, but everything from the iPod to WOW proves the contrary; let’s hope Microsoft at least makes good on rectifying the embarrassment that the current ideal online environment is a console one.

Personally I’m one of the traitorous legions on a MacBook Pro, but I still love getting GFW on a monthly basis. I do have a copy of XP that’s been sitting on my shelf for a month, yearning for dualboot, but the day that I need more gaming than the combined forces of WOW and Civilization 4 can provide will be…what’s Heilgate’s launch date again?

I was skimming over Warren Specter’s hates in your “Love + Hate” story and was bemused by his Number Seven hate. [For the record, Spector’s Number Seven hate was “All game stories are terrible.”

fd.l Warren has been free to create whatever storylines and games he wanted to. Yet he is guilty of his own so-called “greatest” hate. Look at the most popular games on the market: World of WarCraft, The Sims, and so on. Hell, Microsoft Flight Simulator is quite popular. At one time, Mystwas popular. Looking at these games, only World of WarCraft falls into his Number Seven hate category. However, Sysfem Shock, Thief: The Dork Project, and Deus fx - games he was responsible for - all fit into his Number Seven hate category. Look in the mirror. Warren.

Considering how great you claim BioShock, your elliptical review doesn’t make it clear why. Having few choices and being blatantly manipulated by situations, characters, and level design is hardly new - and usually frowned upon. The strength of reviewer Sean Molloy’s emotional reactions may say more about him than the game, for all I know. Two “surprisingly similar paths” with two endings, one ‘ unfulfilling?”

This is gaming greatness? What makes this so artistic?

Your BioShock review also assumes I’m already familiar with the game. Mostly, I’m not: I don’t have time to pore over previews and discussion boards, and I know from experience that what’s discussed in a preview often doesn’t match up with the final product. The review’s tiny pictures, obscure captions, and undefined references (”plasmids”?) leave me wondering just what BioShock is about and what it’s like to play it. It sounds like you’re preaching to the converted instead of helping a potential buyer decide whether to purchase the game.

Which tips me off to the fact that this is Computer Gaming World in a clever disguise! “These guys?!” I shriek.

Now I’m steamed, as Mr. Green rubs in the fact that I got tricked into buying a CGW mag with a new name. “To pite him,” I think, I will read this rag cover to cover then tell him what I think!”

So now, Jeff Green, I say to you.nice job. Can’t say I cared for CGW, but that hypnotic symbol of evil shining on the top-left of the cover must’ve made me love the new mag 1 would’ve already subscribed, but all the little subscription cards that are designed to fall out of the magazine fell out,..and I can’t find one! Keep up the good work, all. I’ll give you guys my money just like the little logo tells me to do!