Brain Hood

There had been a lot of anticipation in video gaming circles regarding Doom 3, which recently turned into uncertainty regarding whether it’s even going to happen.

After revelations of there being a patent issue with the Doom 3 source code last week, there were concerns that it’s imminent source code release might not be so imminent anymore. However apparently there was a minor workaround for the offending code, which John Carmack himself implemented. According to him it required adding only four lines of code and changing two. And now of course, Doom 3 is finally open source!

This code release has been triggered by the release of their next-generation id Tech 5 engine in Rage, which was released just last month. The id Tech 5 engine too will eventually become open source when id Software creates its replacement and releases it in a commercial game.

The open source nature does not extend to the game data as well of course, and to play Doom 3 you will still need to purchase a license for the game. People can, however, now create their own games based on the engine, or modify the Doom 3 engine itself and use it to play the game.

The open source gaming community has benefited greatly from the source code opened by id Software, and there are now numerous open source games that use the quake3 engine and its derivatives.

The Doom 3 engine, or the id Tech 4 engine first appeared in Doom 3 back in 2004, and was also used in Quake 4 soon after. While the engine might seem rather old now, it is still a huge advancement over the id Tech 3 engine and the Enemy Territory engines that were available till now. Also, the id Tech 4 engine has been used in recent commercial games; Brink, an id Tech 4 based games was released just this year, and Prey 2 an as yet unreleased game coming in 2012 also features the id Tech 4 engine.

The source code for Doom 3 is hosted at the popular GitHub code hosting site and is available under the GPL3 license, which permits anyone to create derivatives of the code and distribute them as long as the modified code is distributed as well. While it has only been a few hours since it was made available, already they are hundreds of people watching the project, dozens of forks, and one commit for XCode 4 support.

The gaming multimedia industry is all set to infect everyone with a serious case of ‘sequelitis’ this year. Major gaming franchises make their mandatory yearly appearance, some return after a couple of years, while others, long-forgotten, attempt to make a dramatic return to the world of video games. Then there’s Grand Theft Auto V. Enough said.

Season for Seconds: Video Gaming Fun

Serving its way to the top of this article is EA Canada’s Grand Slam Tennis 2. Hoping to capitalise on everyone’s Australian Open fever

Grand Slam Tennis 2 is one of a long list of sequels that are expected to brighten 2012 u for video gaiming fans

(or hangover, as the case may be), EA’s first foray into the next-gen world of the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 (the previous version was a Wii-only title) promises licensed players in the form of current ATP regulars such as Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray as well as legends, including Pete Sampras, Bjorn Borg and Boris Becker. WTA players are included as well, so don’t fret. The game’s features include a career mode that spans ten years, fully licensed Grand Slams, classic matches and Playstation Move support on the PS3. You can enjoy all of this and more on February 10.

Also out in February is the highly anticipated launch title for the Playstation Vita, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, a game that is set before the events of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, where everyone’s favourite bounty hunter Nathan Drake is looking for the truth behind the massacre of a Spanish expedition. Golden Abyss promises great locales, treasure and lots more of the same action that garnered the Uncharted series’ critical acclaim and made it a hit with the gamers, while incorporating the PS Vita’s dual touch controls, accelerometer, hopefully delivering an unparalleled hand-held adventure gaming experience.

In early March, the next chapter of Bioware’s space opera will unfold through Mass Effect 3, a follow-up (which will offer closure, hopefully) to 2010′s critically acclaimed Mass Effect 2. ME3 will be back, bigger than ever before, sporting overhauled combat mechanics, an improved cover system, co-operative multiplayer and for Xbox 360 players, Kinect support with voice recognition which allows for commanding your squad of virtual human and/or turian and other alien squad mates (Garrus, flank left!).

If ordering your Xbox to do some killing on your behalf isn’t enough for you, you can take matters into your own hands in three action sequels that are set to invade your living room: Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto V, Max Payne 3 and Square Enix/IO Interactive’s Hitman Absolution. The GTA series returns after a three year hiatus, taking us back to the state of San Andreas, last seen in the Grand Theft Auto game of the same name in 2004. The fifth episode will be set primarily in the city of Los Santos (based on Los Angeles and regions of Southern California), and is sure to feature some of the spectacular writing and open-world gameplay, the series is famous for.

Penning both GTA V and Max Payne 3 for Rockstar Games is Mr. Vice President himself, Dan Houser, arguably one of the best writers in gaming. He showed us he could do gritty (Red Dead Redemption) just as well as the satire and humour that we see in GTA; something a character of incredible depth like Max Payne is sure to benefit from. On the opposite end of the spectrum, stone-cold killer Agent 47 will shoot bullet holes in television sets later this year, going toe to toe with brand new arch-nemesis Blake Dexter in a series of stealth/action gaming missions sure to be set in all corners of the world.

It has been a while since we introduced you to the concept of cloud gaming and how it has evolved from the emerging technologies for cloud computing, to become a market unto itself, with its own demand dynamics and target segment; even in this infant stage, gamers have begun to clamor for it. We also gave you an idea of just why video game news publications are raving about it. Let us now take a deeper look at cloud gaming, its origins, and what it requires to enjoy cloud gaming.

Cloud Gaming: Where  it All Began and Current Operators

The idea of cloud gaming was first broached by a Finland firm named G-cluster, and hyped by several video gaming news journals and blogs. Since then, several firms have banked upon this technology and have been working towards it. Some firms like OnLive, Gaikai and PlayCast have been among the few to come out with a sound revenue model that they have implemented straightaway and are already operational. These operators are now working hard to bring their hardware (and thus services) to a level where they can meet the high expectations and effectively challenge the consoles. As the client base expands, they expect to be able to bring costs down and thus reach out to avid game lovers even more than before.

Games such as Assassin’s Creed and Prince of Persia are one of the most popular games played on the internet these days. Even the requirements for these aren’t much and you just need a PC, Mac that could access the internet.

With cloud gaming, code processing and video rendering done at the server-side you can play any game on any system including DOS/Apple/Commodore/Atari games, arcade games, console games, Windows games, Apple OS games, and phone app games. Any game can be put on server and it is the capability of the server that allows multi users to enjoy those games at the same time.

Limitations of Cloud Gaming

The main limitation of Cloud gaming is the network quality. Due to the difference in the network quality at the end of different users depending upon their distance to a game server of the cloud users may experience several problems while playing games. Some people might get disconnected while playing games due to these issues. It may irritate a player if he/she gets disconnected every now and then.

Another limiting factor may be ability of local computer or system to properly render a video stream. Video compression codecs and technologies may be used by a gaming cloud to reduce amount of data required to transfer over bandwidth, and it takes sufficient amount of processing power to decompress and/or decode such a video stream.

Cloud gaming is to retro gaming what Email is to Letters. When emails started it was feared that the letters would not exist after some time but they survived in their own category. It may be the future, it may not but one thing is for certain we are not there yet.

It will be exciting to see the choices gamers make when the next generation of consoles and gaming multimedia come up against fully operational cloud gaming services.

For now, that’s all we have on cloud gaming; keep following us for more video game news updates and game reviews.

When we bring the latest news from the world of gaming multimedia on our gaming blog, we consider it a duty to bring you the most unbiased opinions. We’d really like you to remember that. That’s why we tried to find any reason not to give Batman: Arkham City a perfect mark, and not because we get a thrill out of nitpicking. There’s that too, but mostly it is the duty thing.

So we went in looking for flaws, for mistakes. But hours passed and turned into days. Twenty-six hours of gameplay later, and only 67% complete by the game’s telling, we admit defeat.

You win, Rocksteady. Arkham City is perfect.

The City’s Slicker

This game, were you somehow not aware, is a direct sequel, building off of the already superlative Batman: Arkham Asylum in 2008. Essentially the entire combat system and most of the gadgets from the original make a return, immediately available to the player from the start. Still, improved AI makes things a bit harder. In return, however, each room has ever more ways to sneak around, unseen, picking off foes individually. The additions to Batman’s arsenal, meanwhile, are excellent: new, expanded movements off of the stun action, a dive bomb technique while gliding, and a vastly improved grappling hook that makes slinging around the city a breeze.

And what a city it is. Arkham City is a masterpiece of art direction, bringing to life a world even more fully realized than that of Nolan’s iconic films. Every section and building is wholly unique, every alleyway bristling with the Riddler’s well-placed trophies, every street a battleground between the warring factions of supervillains in Arkham City.

Though stalking through the claustrophobic corridors of Arkham Asylum was undoubtedly fun, the player won’t feel like Batman but could be any action hero with some dazzling array of gadgets; however, in Arkham City, things were different.

Cast and Crew of Arkham City

Being Batman, however, is not so nearly as fun without his cadre of supervillains with which to contend. Arkham City, its very nature precluding any possibility of contrivance, manages to squeeze nearly every major ally and antagonist in the history of the franchise into one, glorious campaign. Revealing the specifics should be considered, of course, spoiler territory, but it’s worth mentioning that several major villains don’t even make an appearance until you tackle their particular side missions. These completely optional objectives feel so fleshed out and rich that you would be hard pressed to tell them apart from primary story missions.

The story is well deserving of the license, and opens with such production value that you wonder if you should rent out a local theater just for the experience. With regard to performance, Batman: Arkham City has brought together possibly the single finest voice acting ensemble in the history of gaming. Mark Hamill, of course, is a ludicrously talented standout as the Joker, but every voice of every villain brings with it gravitas and panache to Arkham City.

The Knight of Arkham City

While the primary campaign is more than enough, there are dozens of distractions to keep you otherwise occupied during your stay in Arkham City. There are, of course, Riddler’s brainteasers and trophies making a return from Asylum, as well a pseudo-achievement system that rewards the player well with experience, which is then used to upgrade any number of devices from Mr. Wayne’s arsenal. There are dozens upon dozens of character dossiers, stories, and various other items of bonus content unlocked constantly throughout the game.

Arkham City: The Final Verdict

Batman: Arkham City is a game so good that we’re amazed it wasn’t programmed by alien wizards. Truly, it deserves every accolade it is so sure to receive, every perfect mark it is so sure to tally.

We’ll certainly be bringing you more video game news in the future, but we’re already certain that no game review would be as effusive as the one we’ve written for Arkham City.

Uniquely, the Trauma Center franchise almost has an entire genre to itself. Seemingly content that Atlus has the ‘surgery sim cum fantastical bioterrorist soap opera’ sewn up, few developers have attempted to impinge on its territory, with DS title Lifestyle: Hospital Affairs about the only notable rival.

This may have led to Atlus taking its eye off the ball somewhat, with recent titles suffering more than many sequels from the law of diminishing returns. After all, there’s only so many times you can drain the cytoplasm, slice out the tumour, apply the gauze and rub in the antibiotic gel before the sudden need to perform CPR becomes the predictable norm rather than a shocking mid-op twist. While the games have always suffered heinous delays making their way to Europe, the fact that the still-enjoyable DS iteration Under The Knife 2 shows no sign of being localised two years after its US release perhaps tells its own story.

Sensibly, then, Atlus has decided a reboot is in order with this new Wii game, splintering the narrative into six pieces, each focusing on a different doctor and a different discipline. Gone are regulars Derek Stiles and Angie Thompson, and noticeably absent (for the most part) are epidemics of bizarre synthetic diseases. The result is the freshest Trauma title since the first Under The Knife, and perhaps the series high point to date.

Naturally, there’s still a fair bit of ‘normal’ surgery, or as normal as surgery gets when you’re controlling a red-eyed amnesiac with indie-band hair who’s currently serving a 250-year sentence for mass murder thanks to his apparent involvement in a bioterrorist attack. The mysterious CR-S01 (if CR doesn’t stand for Chiral Reaction, I’ll eat my forceps) is offered the chance to slice a mere two years from his sentence if he assists in a particularly tricky procedure that’s actually child’s play by the series’ rigorous standards. As it wouldn’t be much of a game if he immediately returned from whence he came, he naturally stays on for a few more ops, each gaining in intensity until you’re defibrillating an eight-year-old with the FBI about to burst through the ER door.

Paramedic Maria Torres gets arguably the trickiest tests, including one blistering mission where you have to keep several patients alive until backup arrives.

There’s nothing here that will be unfamiliar to franchise vets, but the controls feel more instant and precise than ever. Additional icons over wounds act as helpful reminders of which tool to pick up next, eliminating the awkward fumbling that could occur in the previous games when you forgot whether this was the GUILT strain that liked to lacerate internal organs, or the one which liked to disappear and cause random tumours. It’s as much fun as it ever was, with the frustration factor significantly lessened. A good start.

After Sakura Wars: So Long My Love, paramedic Maria Torres is the second feisty and shouty Latina with enormous bosoms I’ve played as this year. Her First Response procedures are essentially surgery combined with plate-spinning as you switch between patients at the scene of explosions, crashes and collapsed Ferris wheels. With a limited toolset you often need to improvise, jamming biros down throats, applying tourniquets to stem bleeding, and cutting victims’ jeans off to reveal that yes, they have got huge pieces of metal sticking out of their legs.

You’ll occasionally need to talk to patients to find out where they’re hurting, but often they merely shout that their friend/daughter/second cousin is trapped in the rubble, thereby giving you another ball to juggle but an extra chance to improve your score. It’s a real balancing act, perhaps slightly tougher than most disciplines, and certain to appeal to those who’ve aced the ultra-hard X missions in the previous games.

Our sister publication, Edge, does not hand out the perfect 10 scores lightly. In fact Bayonetta’s was only the 12th in the mag’s 17-year history. But now Super Mario Galaxy 2 has scored the 13th.

It seems we can put away any fears of Super Mario Galaxy 2 being merely more of the same, or a lazy, Yoshied-up rerun of the last game. According to Edge, the game is bursting with ideas and at least as inventive as the first Galaxy.

‘This is a game that refuses to bore you, that can take you to the 60-star mark before asking you to do the same thing twice’, says the review, describing SMG2′s packed idea bag as ‘gratuitous’.

And those who complained that the first game was too easy? It seems you’ll have reasons to be happy too, as according to Edge ‘it’s hard, but only for the best reasons.’

And even more promisingly, they go on to explain that the difficulty boost is ‘a by-product of the new knots in which the designers want to tie your brain’. We’re excited. We were excited before, but now we’re really excited. Check out Edge Online a now for the full Super Mario Galaxy 2 review, and join us in our childlike giggling.

Remember back to E3 2005 when the Wii really made its debut? And remember all the marvelous colors Nintendo first showed?

And yet we in the US have been stuck with plain old white for nearly four years. And even though white consoles historically dominate we have been craving more diversity in the USA when it comes to our Wiis. Both Japan and Europe got their hands on the sexy black Wii last year, and at long last it seems like North Americans will get a taste.

According to a report, several retailers, including GameStop and Target, indicate they’ll be getting a black Wii bundle that includes the console, a matching black Remote, Wii Sports Resort and Wii Motion Plus packed in. Many have been anticipating this, as black versions of the of the Remote and Wii Motion Plus have been available stateside for a long time, so it would only follow that we would get the console eventually. Rumors say it will launch May 9, a Sunday, which also is very believable, as Nintendo times most of its major releases for the Sabbath. Expect to hear something official soon.