Warhammer Online Newsletter #30 - April 2008

	We know that you all have been patiently waiting (well, some not so patiently) for information about Guilds and this is your lucky month! This month's Production Podcast is chock-full of juicy details about how the Guild System works in WAR. Associate Producer, Josh Drescher, explains how this social and competitive system can be an important strategic instrument used to achieve victory for your Realm. He also details many of the new tools we've included with the Guild System to make forming, managing, and growing your guild a simple and enjoyable process! View the video for the dirt! Be sure to check out this month’s Grab Bag for more answers to your burning questions about the Guild System! Welcome to the WAR Grab Bag, where our friendly neighborhood community team answers the most pressing, the most popular, and the most interesting questions from fans. Keep those questions coming, as we’re eager to hear what you have to say! Check out this month’s Grab Bag >> In the future we will collect grab bag questions from a different fansite each month. If you have a question you would like to submit for next month's grab bag please submit your questions on www.warhammerconflict.com dedicated forum page. Prepare for the coming war by pre-ordering the Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Collector’s Edition. You’ll have the chance to gear up with special items and experience the glory of Realm vs. Realm™ combat before the rest of the recruits even set foot in the game world. Only 60,000 units of the Collector’s Edition will be available for North America so don’t miss out. Pre-order your copy today! The Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Collector’s Edition includes: An exclusive Games Workshop Miniature of the Greenskin warboss, Grumlok, and his shaman, Gazbag An original 128-page Graphic Novel commission specifically for the Collector’s Edtion A beautiful 224-page Art Book filled with original art from the game Bonus In-Game Item – The Librams of Insight Exclusive In-Game Content – 12 new quests with exciting item rewards and unique players titles Exclusive Character Customization Options To learn more about the Warhammer Online Collector’s Edition, please click here. The WAR Collector’s Edition is available now for Pre-Order. Special Pre-Order Bonuses Include: OPEN BETA ACCESS Be one of the first players to experience the glory of battle and the thrill of WAR when the Open Beta phase begins. LIVE GAME HEAD START Begin your adventures in the Age of Reckoning before the raw recruits arrive! BONUS IN-GAME ITEMS Equip your characters for the journey to the frontlines with two helpful bonus items! For more information about the Collector’s Edition pre-order program, visit www.warhammeronline.com/ce_preorder. COLLECTOR’S EDITION PRE-ORDER PARTNERS The Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Collector’s Edition is available for pre-order from these fine retailers: This month in the WAR Closed Beta, testers had their first glimpse of the Tier 4 campaign as the forces of the Empire and Chaos battled their way through Tiers 3 and 4! The test concluded with the players ready to take down the gates of Altdorf. A sampling of what players experienced included: - Empire and Chaos Tiers 3 and 4 - In-Game Mail - Siege Testing - Campaign Testing - and Fortresses Twelve careers open, with Career Mastery included: Order High Elf: Swordmaster, Archmage, Shadow Warrior Empire: Witch Hunter, Bright Wizard, Warrior Priest Destruction Dark Elf: Disciple of Khaine, Witch Elf, Sorceress Chaos: Chosen, Zealot, Marauder The first phase of the test focused on updated PvE content, careers, and Open World RvR. Testers began in Tier 3 with Rank 20 characters ready to charge into WAR. The second phase focused on the Campaign itself. Order and Destruction were pitted against each other in Tier 4 with Rank 40 characters to lay siege to Fortresses and Keeps! Next month players will charge into Altdorf to experience sacking, pillaging and burning the city! Here are some exciting insights that testers had as they explored the areas of Talabecland and High Pass: "Nice flow, good storyline, LOVED the talking boss on a floating disc! Eeeep runaway!!" (Level 20 Archmage) "Just the whole layout of everything comes together quite nice. It feels good to be able to wander around and get quests done at the same time, not to mention come across a couple Public Quests along the way. Thanks guys, and keep up the great work!!" (Level 21 Archmage) "I don't have much time to play right now so I logged in to see what changed. This game just gets better and better every phase! The UI looks much better, new abilities are ALWAYS welcome! You guys are great, keep up the work." (Level 20 Disciple) "I love it here! I like how to avoid blowing up in a huge fireball, you need to use ALL your abilities and weave them together. Really makes the class complex and fun." (Level 22 Bright Wizard) "Excellent game play design for the Marauder. The mutations are an excellent addition to the game." (Level 20 Marauder) Check out the latest News From the Front, featuring the Elves, and be sure to keep your eyes posted to the WAR Herald for more news from the Beta! This month we sat down with Anthony Reynolds, the author of the first Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning novel, EMPIRE IN CHAOS, to learn more about the story and what influenced him most while writing the book. Q. How many Warhammer books have you written and how did this one compare to your previous novels? A. So far, I’ve written two Warhammer 40K novels, and three Warhammer novels, though I’ve also written quite a few army books and supplements during my time as a Games Developer with Games Workshop. I was getting to see more and more cool concept art and screenshots from the game while I was writing, and kept going ‘oooh, I have to include that!’ The Dwarf steam train is a good example of that – it wasn’t in the book at the start, but once I saw the shots of it, I just had to include it. Q. What is your favorite Warhammer army? What is your favorite faction to write about? Favorite to play? A. Ah, that’s a tricky one. I have a particular fond spot for several of the races, including Wood Elves, Bretonnians, Chaos and the Empire. To write about, I’d probably say I like Chaos best – there is so much horror and weirdness involved, which really appeals to me (though that probably says something about myself!) In the tabletop game, I’ve always played Vampire Counts (or Undead, before Vampire Counts existed). Q. Which careers are you most looking forward to playing in Warhammer Online? A. I really want to try out quite a few of them before I pick one to stick with it. I’m probably most looking forward to playing an Empire or Dwarf career – particularly the Witch Hunter, or the Ironbreaker. It’s going to be great to actually see all the places I’ve read about for so many years – places like Altdorf, Blackfire Pass, and the Dwarf holds. That is probably what is exciting me the most. Q. What are the main factions the reader will encounter in this book? A. The main action of the book takes place between the Empire and Chaos. Having said that, I wanted to get at least a little bit of each of the six factions into the book – there should be a little bit for everyone. Q. Who do you feel was the most interesting character in the book? A. My favorite character was probably Eldanair, the silent, guilt-ridden Shadow Warrior. However, I found Annaliese’s journey particularly interesting, travelling with her as her faith in Sigmar strengthened to become a potent weapon against the enemies of the forces of order. Q. Do you need to be familiar with the Warhammer universe to enjoy this book? A. Not at all, and in fact I think Empire in Chaos is a good introduction into the Warhammer universe, as is the game Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning itself. I wrote it to appeal to complete newcomers as well as those who were already familiar with the world and its inhabitants, either through the table top game, the computer game, or the fiction. Learn more about EMPIRE IN CHAOS, the first novel in the Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning series, at www.blacklibrary.com. Episode 4: Grovod Caverns and Reikland Hills by Brian Wheeler, Lead RvR Design Welcome, folks, to another episode of Scenarios 101! So far we’ve covered Tier 1, 2, 3 and several tier 4 Empire vs. Chaos Scenarios. This month we’ll be focusing on the last of our Empire vs. Chaos Scenarios: Grovod Caverns and Reikland Hills. Read more from Scenarios 101 >> Swordmaster Career Masteries The Swordmaster fights with magical enchantments to bolster the strength of his attacks and is a deadly front-line warrior. Surprisingly agile with his finely-crafted Elven Greatsword, the Swordmaster is the vanguard of any Elf army. The Swordmaster strings together short chains of attacks in a graceful Blade Dance. With each swing of his weapon he steps into a more balanced fighting position, which allows him to use more powerful attacks, which then increase his balance even further. Swordmaster Masteries Path of Khaine The Path of Khaine focuses on the Swordmaster's signature Elf Greatsword, a massive but exquisite weapon which he can swing with deceptive speed. While no High Elf would ever worship the God of Warfare, a Master of this path acknowledges Khaine as a potent and necessary figure, and the Swordmaster brings swift death to any who stand in his way. Path of Vaul The Path of Vaul is primarily focused on defense, and a Master of this path may very well be temped to lay aside his Greatsword in favor of an elegant Elf-crafted shield instead. The Swordmaster who specializes in this path will be the core that the lines of battle form around. Path of Hoeth The Path of Hoeth is for Swordmasters who have spent much longer amounts of time in the White Tower, honing their innate magical skills and learning how to smoothly work magical power into their attacks. A Master of this path will learn subtle ways to both expose weaknesses in their foes, and to shield themselves in battle. Sorceress Career Masteries The Sorceresses of the Druchii are the true power of the Dark Elf armies. Blades may be turned aside and shields may be crushed, but what soldier can stop a flow of living shadow and darkness? Tearing the Winds of Magic asunder, the Sorceresses bring forth devastation on an unimaginable scale, raining destruction down upon their helpless foes. The weak High Elves teach that the Winds of Magic must be used in balance, through precise and careful crafting, but the Dark Elf Sorceresses scoff at their foolish cowardice. Every Dark Elf knows that when you want something, you simply take it - all of it. A Sorceress uses her Dark Magic to pull power indiscriminately from all the Winds of Magic, driving her magical potency to levels that her weak High Elf cousins could scarcely dream of. The Winds themselves fight back against such overwhelming use of power, however, and reckless Sorceresses will find themselves facing a Backlash against their unnatural use of power, but such is the price of victory - and surely, any Dark Elves clumsy enough to be destroyed by their own Backlashes would clearly be too foolish to live long in Druchii society regardless, yes? Sorceress Masteries Path of Agony The Path of Agony is mainly concerned with slaughtering individual enemies in the messiest and most direct ways possible. This path contains a somewhat equal mix of volatile Dark Magic spells and more stable magic. Path of Calamity The Path of Calamity is favored by the more subtle and insidious covens of Sorceresses, and is primarily focused on longer-duration effects. A Master of Calamity prefers to hinder and wound their enemies over time, until the effects have built up enough that their foes are already dead, and just don't realize it yet. This path has fewer Dark Magic abilities, and relies more on a steady pace of destructive stable magic. Path of Destruction The Path of Destruction is for the Sorceress who believes that killing one enemy is nothing but a waste of time that could be much better spent killing ALL of their enemies. Spreading vast, sweeping swaths of darkness and death across the battlefield, the Masters of Destruction gamble the most heavily on numerous Dark Magic spells. In this month’s teaser for the second WAR cinematic we reveal the the elegant, yet arrogant and deceitful, Dark Elf Sorceress. Stay tuned for more as we bring you another peek at the WAR cinematic next month. Enjoy! Games Workshop recently hosted a Golden Demon painting competition in France and the winner of the Open Category, David Waeselynck, was truly inspired by the original WAR cinematic! That is killer Slayer! Here is the original Slayer from the WAR Cinematic. David’s miniature is spot on! The source of Eataine’s wealth and prestige is Lothern, a magnificent city-state filled with towers of glittering silver and ringed by plazas of white marble. One of the wonders of the Warhammer world, Lothern is a marvel of High Elf craftsmanship and a sight not soon forgotten by any who visit it. Lothern is also home to the Phoenix Throne, the prize that is fixed firmly in the mind of Malekith, Witch King of Naggaroth and arch-enemy of the High Elves. The war between the High Elves and their dark kin rages on many fronts, but the invaders are slowly gaining ground in their relentless march toward Lothern. Now, the battle lines have been redrawn yet again, as Prince Tyrion's forces fall back to Eataine to regroup and take on reinforcements. Where they expected to find respite, however, they instead find a very unexpected battle. Read more about Eataine >> Magus Daemonette Knight of Tzeentch Lord of Change Marauder of Tzeentch Slaanesh Champion Zealot of Slaanesh Warrior of Tzeentch Slime Hound Order - NPC - Gotrek Order - NPC - Felix Order - NPC - Thyrus Gormann Order - NPC - Grand Theogonist Volkmarc Dark Elf - NPC - Beastmaster Join Creative Director, Paul Barnett, and his trusty video phone for a truly unique look at the making of WAR. This month Paul shares with us some Chaos coolness, many shades of green, the first few seconds of a new beta opening and he introduces us to “mutard”. View the Video Blog >> This month in the WAR Closed Beta, testers battled their way through Empire and Chaos Tiers 3 and 4 to fight their way to the gates of Altdorf! Don’t waste any time, sign up now to take part in one of the largest beta tests ever for an MMORPG. More than 600,000 players have registered so far, but we are always looking for new recruits. Sharpen your sword, unleash your inner mutation, and prepare to meet your destiny on the battlefields of Warhammer Online. Sign up for the WAR Beta at: betacenter.eamythic.com WAR is coming! Are you ready? There are a million stories in the Age of Reckoning just waiting to be told. What is your tale? This month we follow a Chosen on his journey into the elf lands looking for possible recruits to supoprt the side of destruction in the war. Read This Month's Beta Journal Entry >> WAR is coming! Are you properly dressed? JUST ADDED – WAR BELT BUCKLE Hold your pants up with style and show the world you are ready for WAR! Do you feel like you’ve been lacking accessories in your WARdrobe? Well not any more! Now available exclusively at the EA Mythic Store is the new WAR pewter belt buckle.* Supplies are extremely limited so order now! Visit the EA Mythic Store! * Offer valid for U.S. residents only EARN A SPOT IN THE CLOSED BETA! Feeling creative? We know we have some talented fans out there and now is the time for you to demonstrate your skills. Send us your WAR-inspired art and we’ll showcase the best submissions in upcoming newsletters. Plus, featured artists will be invited to join us in the closed beta test! Chaos Zealot by C. Coates Druchii Knight by S. Ying Ow Death or Glory by S. Davis The Beta Beggar by Thonn Tzeentch Horror by A. Shkel I hate Mondays by J. Hall „Tödliche Gier“ by Dominik Friedrich ShadowWarrior by Gordan Dzinovic Rozzy by Aiek Priest by Pedroosp Visit the Fan Art Gallery >> Submit your artwork >> "I've collected a seriously unhealthy number of miniatures ... really. There is enough metal in my cubical to crush a small village. Right now I'm obsessing over a massive Ultramarine force with Vostroyans sort of just over the horizon beckoning me to explore the path to Imperial Guard glory. And then of course there's my Inquisitorial temptation ... Ordo Malleus ... " Developer Profile >> "I think WAR offers something more than previous MMO's. PvE and RvR are blended together in a way that makes the experience seamless and engaging on all fronts. In other games, I often find myself bored with static content and my lack of influence on the world around me. With WAR you actually change the course of history in the game as you conquest for your realms dominance." Developer Profile >> The next phase of the WAR Beta is underway and we are debuting all-new content and RvR mayhem! Each month we'll randomly select 20 names from the newsletter subscriber database for entry into the Beta Test.* If you are a current Warhammer newsletter subscriber, then you're automatically entered into the drawing every month. If you are not yet a newsletter subscriber, visit betacenter.eamythic.com to register for the Beta and subscribe to the monthly newsletter. April Winners: B. Roland/North America M. Hamann/Europe N. Powers/North America A. Pegenaute/Europe R. Sandifer/North America S. Demesse/Europe M. Hauck/North America T. Grizard/Europe F. Trovato/North America C. Thomson/Europe G. Daubar/North America G. Lewandowski/Europe R. Rowland/North America D. Garcia/Europe R. Murphy/North America M. Giacomo/Europe S. Gordon/New Zealand D. Wei/Europe L. Mcdonald/Australia P. Mullen/Australia This month, decorate your desktop with more images of WAR. Regular Wide Screen March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 Each month we’ll be shining the spotlight on WAR fan sites that exemplify what we consider to be the best in WAR community spirit. WAR Orbs – Warhammer Info We recently discovered a great WAR inspired game over at www.warhammerinfo.com. Pit yourself against the computer as you work to claim victory using Action Points, Morale, and Tactics. Be sure to check out the tutorial first (brought to you by Paul’s Sunglasses)! Play Orbs here! Is your fan site doing something cool, informative, or fun? Let us know by sending an email to war-community@mythic.ea.com and you could be featured in the next community spotlight. Download the WAR Fan Site kit. The views expressed in the linked sites are the views of the respective owners of each site, and do not necessarily express the views of Electronic Arts, its wholly-owned subsidiaries or Licensors. Electronic Arts does not endorse and is not responsible for content on third party sites, including fan sites. Here’s an exciting chance for you to get into the Warhammer Online closed beta test! When BOOM! Studios' new comic, WARHAMMER: CONDEMNED BY FIRE, hits stands this May, readers will have a chance at gaining entry into the North American WAR closed beta test.* Each copy of WARHAMMER: CONDEMNED BY FIRE #1 contains a special scratch-off which reveals a code giving readers a 1-in-5 chance to get into the Warhammer Online North American beta test.* Not only will you discover some great new Warhammer fiction, but there is also a chance you could be fighting your very own battles online. Pre-order your copy of COMDEMNED BY FIRE #1 today and get ready for WAR! WARHAMMER: CONDEMNED BY FIRE #1 (of 5) Story by Dan Abnett and Ian Edginton Script by Ian Edginton Drawn by Rahsan Ekedal The Witch Hunters come to the fore in this five issue mini-series from the same team that brought you WARHAMMER: FORGE OF WAR. Tireless foes of Chaos in the Warhammer universe, Witch Hunters roam the Empire seeking to stop the spread of dark magic and witchery of all kinds. When Witch Hunter Magnus Gault hears that the nearby village of Loughville has fallen prey to the canker of Chaos, he is driven to investigate. Once there, he finds the buildings rancid and rotted and the villagers wretched and mutated - eager to prey upon any lost soul who should come their way. Can one man stand against this monstrous regiment? Warhammer 40,000 novelist Dan Abnett, multiple Eisner Award-nominee Ian Edginton, and fan-favorite artist Rahsan Ekedal return to bring you another tale from the epic, fantasy realm that is Warhammer! Issues #1 through #5 are available now for pre-order at the BOOM! Studios website: www.boom-studios.com. To find a comic shop near you visit: http://csls.diamondcomics.com/ Heldenhammer Book One of the Sigmar Trilogy It is a time of legends. The lands of the old World are wild and untamed, where the primitive tribes of men struggle for survival. In this time of peril, by virtue of his valorous deeds, a young man claims leadership of the Unberogen tribe. His name is Sigmar Heldenhammer, and his actions will change history forever. This is the story of how Sigmar rose to power, culminating in the Battle of Black Fire Pass, where men and dwarfs fought against the vast hordes of orcs in their quest to safeguard the future of the Empire. Heldenhammer is the first in a ground-breaking new series bringing the history of the Warhammer world to life. Available online here and in Games Workshop stores and all good bookstores. What about the WAR Collector’s Edition are you most excited about? The Exclusive Miniature The Graphic Novel The Art Book The Exclusive In-Game Quests and Items The Pre-Order Open Beta Access The Pre-Order Live Game Head Start What is going on in this picture? Send us your best caption and we’ll send the winner into the Closed Beta! Please keep your captions clean if you want them to be printed! Enter your Submission! Last Month’s Contest Winner Winner: "Hey didn't you say "glowing blue runes is bad".... guys?? guys???" Runners-Up: "... should have gone with plan "B"... " "'My Chaos-sense is tingling...' - The last words of Frank, rookie Witch Hunter." "Sorry, I errr.. thought you were a witch...I'll just be leaving now" Get your hands on the latest build of WAR at one of the following events: Baltimore Games Day June 14, 2008 Toronto Games Day June 21, 2008 Origins June 26-29, 2008 San Diego Comic Con July 24-27, 2008 Chicago Games Day July 26, 2008 Gen Con Indy August 14-17, 2008 LA Games Day August 23, 2008 Penny Arcade Expo August 29-31, 2008 Stay tuned for more information about our upcoming 2008 show schedule! More news and exclusive information from the frontlines of WAR, including: Reveal of the Final Elf Career! New Career Mastery Updates Zone Overview – Dragonwake Exciting Details about Games Day Baltimore Plus, new screens, videos, podcasts, and so much more! * The BOOM! Beta promotional code must be activated by May 31, 2008 to be eligible for the Beta Test. Previous registrants can add the promo code to their existing accounts by visiting the Beta Center. One in five registrants using this promo code are potentially eligible to participate in the Beta test. However, this is dependent upon the registrant meeting specific computer system specifications and the time of entry is not guaranteed. The Beta Test is an ongoing process and registrants will be invited to participate at various intervals until the launch of the game. Offer valid for North American beta test only. Only one BOOM! Beta Code can be associated with a Beta Center Account. In order to participate in the Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Beta you must agree to a Beta Test Agreement, in which you will represent and warrant that, among other things, you (a) are eighteen (18) years of age or older, (b) are not a principal, employee, agent, independent contractor, officer or director of a developer or publisher of video or computer games (other than EA), and (c) are not a principal, employee, supplier, independent contractor, officer or director or of any entity that participates either directly or indirectly in the sale of in-game items, including but not limited to, in-game currency, armor, weapons, etc., whether these sales are to the general public or to a third-party. Please know that at EA Mythic, we don't want to send you information you don't want to receive. If you no longer want us to contact you, please click here to be removed from our mailing list or to change your preferences. You can also write to: Privacy Policy Administrator, Electronic Arts, 209 Redwood Shores Parkway, Redwood City, CA 94065. 'Warhammer' ©/™ and/or ® GW Ltd. Newsletter © 2008 Electronic Arts Inc. All Rights Reserved. EA and the EA logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.All other trademarks are properties of their respective owners. Legal Notices Privacy Policy Terms of Service

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Zero Punctuation Reviews: God of War - Chains of Olympus

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Trend Micro Going Downhill

Over the last week I've been having to spend an inordinate amount of time fixing things, both personally and professionally, and I'm struck how often the twisted and sordid trails are leading to Trend Micro Internet Security.

This tale starts with my acquisition of Trend Micro Internet Security 2007. I've been Running Trend Micro IS v11 (which I think they call 2002) for quite a long time now, and it's served me well over the years. So, I figured that the latest version would be that much better.

I must say I was disappointed in it. An install of Trend Micro 2007 on a private machine caused an excruciating selection of gripes. It garbled the fonts in firefox (but not IE7 oddly enough) such that I had to turn on Clearfonts. Any time I attempted to install something from a disk image using Daemon Tools the installation was usually corrupt. Indeed, sometimes the act of switching disk images would cause a lockup, requiring a hard reboot to fix. At first I was blaming this on the new version of Daemon tools, but then I also noticed that internet connectivity was noticeably slower with TMIS 2007 installed than it was previously. After a while it began to add up, and sure enough, all these problems went away the instant I uninstalled Trend Micro 2007.

Oh, but it gets better. Remember my tried and true, long-loyal TMIS 2002/v11? It has turned on me.

Both at home and at work I've noticed odd problems. I could ping any IP address, but I could only ping certain machines by name but not certain other machines. If an explorer window accessing a network resource is left open in the background, the computer often would lock up. Applications that access network resources by the //server/share naming convention would also frequently lock the system so hard that not even the task manager could open. All kinds of bizarre behavior, all behaving in a contrary manner to how I understand windows based networking to work based upon 10 or so years of professional experience and untold more of private experience. But it occurred to me I could also trace this aberrant behavior to one night a few days ago when Trend Micro (which I naturally keep on automatic update mode) received an update that not only was a new pattern but also altered something to such an extent as to require a reboot. This is rare but does happen from time to time. That update not only happened on all 3 of my home PCs and my laptop, but also the good 50% of the machines at work that also run Trend Micro Internet Security (based on my recommendation, naturally). It was after this update that not only did some of my machines at home start acting funny, but a good many of the machines at work also started paralyzing themselves doing otherwise routine activities.

It took me a little while to put all the pieces together about exactly what the hell was going on (especially since the problem only affected machines with XP SP2 but not SP1 on them), but final confirmation of my coalescent theory came when I used task manager to end pccpfw.exe and tmproxy.exe (Trend Micro's software firewall and proxy, respectively), disabled the network connections, re-enabled them, and magically all the problems went away instantly. I could ping anything by name, access any network //server/share without lockups both in explorer and in our professional software... in other words, removing Trend Micro Internet Security fixed the problem. I reinstalled... and things go ok until I update to the most current version... and pow. Faster than I could say "thank you sir, may I have another" the lockups and misbehavior are back.

This leaves me feeling severely disgruntled, if not betrayed. In researching this problem, I found that trend micro experienced a similar problem back in 2005 (1, 2) where a bad heuristic pattern in a virus pattern update caused the exact same symptoms I am experiencing today. That day, they allegedly fixed it within 90 minutes, but several days after this reboot-necessitating update still nothing is surfacing. And I'm left with egg on my face as the "company computer guy" for having recommended this product in the first place (never mind the years of trouble-free service it has given us previous to this episode).

So now it's time to move on, unfortunately... I'm looking at Kaspersky as a possible replacement, I suppose... but I still feel bummed at the ending of my Trend Micro era. All these years of us conquering viruses and worms together have ended with a bad taste, and it feels to me like that one episode of Dukes of Hazzard where Boss Hogg hired a hypnotist and they planted a compulsion in Luke Duke's mind while he slept to sell the General Lee the next time it broke down, then arranged for the GL to have a rather minor engine stall. And here I am the Bo Duke of this metaphor, wondering why my buddy is now against me, selling off my badass car and leaving me stranded to the mercies of the Boss Hogg viruses of the world.

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Review: Turning Point - Fall of Liberty

Looky looky. Another World War 2 FPS. This one using the Unreal 3 engine. However, I must report right out of the gate that this game is one which further validates the phrase "they can't all be winners." It also demonstrates that you can't judge a book (or a video game) by its cover (or the screenshots posted thereupon).

Does anybody here remember the PC games of the 1990s? There was a game called Duke Nukem 3D. It used a little engine called the "Build Engine." It was revolutionary for its time, and led to a lot of other so-called "Duke-a-likes" that were extremely similar to Duke3D because they used the same engine and the same basic level design and the same basic gameplay such that it felt more like a sprite swapping mod than a new game, and most of these games were god awful.

Return now to present day with this concept, and you have Turning Point - Fall of Liberty. This mediocre (at best) monstrosity is crammed down the gullet of the Unreal 3 engine like a 12 year old forced to eat pâté until he turns green, and any who play it will share in that suffering.

Graphics -
Let's just say this right now. The only redeeming feature of this game is that it uses the unreal 3 engine, so at least some of it is pretty to look at. That doesn't mean the graphics are all good, however. The shadow processing is absolutely abysmal, often causing stairstep-like zigzags in shadows that should be straight such that they don't look so much like shadows as incomplete paint jobs. The Unreal 3 engine makes a valiant stab, dressing up the pig it has been given in the fanciest prom dress it can find and dancing for all it is worth, hoping just to make it through the night without losing its lunch. The models are largely ugly, the physics are surreal, the art design is as bland as a sand sandwich. Even the motion of the enemy models is hilariously bad. Every nazi to run anywhere looks like he's trying to pantomime riding an imaginary unicycle. The nazis often literally mince around like ballet sissies as if lampooning what they represent. The graphical distortion/desaturization that is supposed to tell you when you're taking too much damage often fails to make its presence known because so much of the game is drab and squiggly to begin with.

Sound -
I suppose the sound effects and music aren't that bad. The voice acting is over the top (though that can be entertaining if you're into bad actors trying too hard).

Gameplay -
It's been a long time since I played a game as awkward to operate as this one. The player often gets hung up on corners or changes in elevation.

The game also hamstrings itself by only allowing you to carry two weapons total at any time. No, not two "full sized" weapons plus a pistol and knife, two weapons (full stop). That means a pistol and a rifle. Or a submachine gun and a rocket launcher. Or a shotgun and a large machine gun. Two weapons. So it is very easy to run out of ammo once you find a weapon you like and you may not have a suitable alternate weapon.

TP-FoL also forgoes using the usual save/load system in favor of a series of checkpoints (no doubt because of its bastard console roots) which, in later levels, are much too far apart.

The portions of the game which require climbing and hand-over-hand swinging and hanging to progress might get points for originality if they weren't so badly implemented. I wouldn't say the controls for these portions are clunky and poor, but let's just say your hamfisted big-apple alter ego ain't exactly Lara Croft.

Literally the dumbest thing I've ever had to do in a first person shooter - jump up and down on top of london bridge to shoot rockets at the turrets of a zeppelin... which then somehow did not catch fire from each turret exploding.

This game is good for anyone who ever wanted to be John Wayne in a world war 2 movie and spray a room with bullets, many of which just magically seem to find their target beyond all logic, while somehow not being cut down by the bullets of the 10 people he is shooting with no cover whatsoever to shield him.

It's hard to tell if this game is so bad on purpose or not. It almost could be a brilliant work of self-satire if I didn't know better. Not so funny is the constant hangups and stuttering for loading of new portions of maps.

The Verdict -
It's been a while since I played a genuinely bad game. It was so bad it was funny, and I kept playing all the way through to the end to see just how bad it could get. My answer: very bad. If Mystery Science Theater 3000 did video games, there is no doubt this one would have been in the lineup. My thoughts during watching the closing credits: "Man, a whole lot of people worked on this game for it to have sucked so bad."

Grade: D. The only thing saving it from an F is the Unreal 3 engine.

And that's the word from Bandit Camp.

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Zero Punctuation Reviews - Super Smash Bros Brawl

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Review - Frontlines: Fuel of War

The FPSes are coming out in good numbers the last few months, and one of the ones that definitely caught my eye was Frontlines: Fuel of War. The TV advertising campaign made it look particularly juicy, and made me think how difficult it is these days to tell actual game engine footage from pre-rendered footage. Adding to my salivation was that it was put out by one of my favorite game publishers (THQ). So I got it... but work's been kicking my butt and I had a backlog of games awaiting my attention, and that worked out to F:FoW's advantage in this instance because it gave them time to issue two patches with a followup hotfix each. Thus, this game has a bit of an advantage on the review block as compared to some others, because the others mostly were reviewed before the patches could come out.

Graphics -
The visual experience in Frontlines: Fuel of War is absolutely breathtaking. The models are well-made and high poly. The textures are rich and detailed. The level design shows care and attention has been paid to every little aspect of the game. It's gorgeous. Beautiful. The 3rd person (vehicle and drone) cameras behave well. The post-processing effects also add well to the immersion, particularly the darkening and blurring of the first person view when taking damage. There is a fair amount of bloom-abuse going on, and sometimes motion blur gets a little silly at times, but overall your eyes could hardly ask for more. I particularly also like how the game tries to point out where enemies are firing at you by circling them in red, because sometimes they'd otherwise be a little hard to make out.

Audio -
A fair amount of effort also went into the auditory experience of Frontlines. Not only is there appropriate orchestral soundtracking, but ambient sounds of battle really help to immerse the player into the game. The voiceovers and cutscenes are a little low volume as compared to the gameplay portions, which led me to have to turn it up for the cut scenes and back down during play. The game also likes to push the bass, so if you've got a subwoofer on your gaming rig, prepare for complaining neighbors. While it is also nice that the single player bots are more vocal than in some other FPSes, shouting banter, muttering during down time, and of course describing the position of nearby attacking enemies, their taunts and quips tend to get a little repetitive.

Gameplay -
The controls are the familiar WASD-mouse combo, and perform well. This surprised me, given that Frontlines was another one of those thrice-cursed "console first" FPSes. Usually games that come out on console "and oh yeah, PC too" tend to favor their console roots, and you can feel them trying to interpolate thumbstick movements from your mouse. But not Frontlines.

The game does recycle quite a few things from other titles, but they're good ideas and deserve to be stolen. The "hide to heal" Call of Duty paradigm is used, along with the industry standard "wide crosshairs means innacurate" mechanic complete with accuracy boosts from crouching and going prone. The game uses a "respawn at a base you've taken and let you pick equipment" dynamic that clearly hearkens from Battlefield, with a limited number of respawns per battle. The choice of gear is less limiting than in Battlefield however, because you'll often find things like rocket launchers, drones and sniper rifles lying in enemy outposts as you take them over, and you don't have to "swap out" kits to use them. Conceivably, you could end up carrying every weapon available at once with no penalty really, except that these things can only be picked up once, and if you die with them they are gone. The game also uses a "take, hold and advance" methodry any BF fan will recognize instantly and take to as a duck to water.

The one truly original and novel area of the game is in its use of remote controlled drones. Used for getting around otherwise difficult to breach defenses and such, these tiny tanks, helicopters and cars are well implemented and fun to mess with. It was also a good idea to be able to switch back and forth between drone and soldier with a single right click, and to be able to pick the drone back up.

The accuracy of many of the weapons can be a problem for those who like to run and gun. Even the standard assault rifle needs a fair amount of crouching and sitting still to gain any sort of accuracy over more than a few dozen paces. Shooting while running (or sometimes even standing) often just hoses down a general area. Enemy troops can take a lot of punishment as they're as well armored as you, except even the slightest grazing of their head is good enough for a headshot, which is an instant kill.

Oh and speaking of headshots, I absolutely love how a headshot causes the target's headgear (be it big armored helmet or jaunty little beret) to flip 30 feet straight up into the air like some kind of carnival shooting gallery. It made me grin maliciously every time it happened. Hat's off to ya. Roffle.

The levels themselves are very good. You can tell a lot of time and effort went into the design of these maps. There's also a lot of destructability to the environment, meaning a tank could blow away that sandbag wall the bad guys are hiding behind, and a lot of the junkyard cover can be blasted away as well. A lot of other games make a few dozen standard structure types and "populate" a 2.5D topographical map with them and call it a day. I'm looking at you, Battlefield. You do this some too, Call of Duty, so don't look so innocent. Here, though, the level of detail and planning on each level brought adjectives to my mind as I played through them such as "lovingly crafted" and "painstakingly wrought." Given this, I suppose it only makes sense that the single player experience is rather brief.

Gripes -
Like Call of Duty 4, the single player campaign is a little on the short side, ringing in at around 4 hours or less. It's possible this could be because of the extraordinary amount put into each level, but I can't help but think that some of the blame for both of these games' short campaigns lies on their shared origins as FPSes made with the console crowd in mind. Damn those console tards and their short attention spans... CoD4 got a bit of a pass on this brevity, and largely so does Frontlines.

The story isn't as immersive here though. Your cohorts are largely disposable and interchangeable, and the cut scene characters are cookie cutter cardboard cutout stereotypes from the great big stockpile of banal clichés. This of course prevents you from identifying and commiserating with them even in the slightest, which is something of a pity. Even though I always had at least 4 buddies around me in the single player, I always felt alone, and was particularly unconcerned as to whether the others on my team lived or died, which was not true of other games of this ilk. This indifference was exacerbated by the fact that whenever one of my squad died, another stepped out from around a nearby corner to take his place as if he was waiting just out of camera shot for somebody to die so he could come out and maintain the status quo. It's too bad, because if you really look at it the AI on your squadmates is rather good; they know about taking cover, they shout out where the enemy is, they only occasionally do something incredibly stupid that ends up getting them dead. Also, I'm sure it took some creative programming to arrange so that a replacement squad member never spawned in plain sight of the camera... always just around a corner or behind some other such obstruction.

Most of the bugs have been worked out (including a rather entertaining transparency bug having to do with things hiding behind the sky), but there's still the occasional crash as of version 1.0.2.

My final, and perhaps most poignant gripe is that there are no bots in multiplayer. This prevents you from setting up private games with only a friend or two and getting the full experience. Instead, you have to share your multiplayer time with the unwashed masses of ECKSBAWKS! kiddies out there, which in my not-so-humble opinion hurts the replayability of the game.

The Verdict-
The Good: Great graphics, great feel, great levels, excellent and immersive combat experience.
The Bad: Short single player experience, no bots in multiplayer, trite plot/characters, a little heavy on weapon inaccuracy.

Overall, it's nice to see a game that really shows what the Unreal engine can do (since apparently Epic Games couldn't be bothered to do so). Unreal engine + THQ = nerdgasm, and the proof is in this game. If only it was a little longer or you could fill multiplayer games with bots.
Grade: A-.
And that's the word from bandit camp.

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Review: Depths of Peril

Launching in September of 07, Depths of Peril is a game that got by under my radar until recently. A game from a small, self-publishing developer which mixes action RPG elements with socio/political ones to make a sort of "Diablo meets Command HQ" type experience, it isn't the glitziest title one might play but under the modest exterior the game has an interesting hook that, if it is your particular cup of tea, will keep you tussling at it long past your bed time.

Graphics-
The graphics and user interface, truthfully, are probably the game's only truly noteworthy shortcoming. Using a low poly 3D rendered isometric 3rd person view, the game strongly evokes memories of Diablo, Ultima Online, or other such tile-based old school titles which were common 10 or so years ago to render 2 dimensional worlds in 3 dimensions without having to worry about scaling sprite-based graphics. It seems a little anachronistic, given that the world is actually rendered with 3D models and therefore scales seamlessly and flawlessly, but this of course also conveys the added benefit that the game is not particularly overtaxing to your video hardware. This makes it a particularly suitable game for laptoppers, who usually are limited to the rudimentary Intel 3D chipsets which usually cannot handle the beefier games. However, it will also unfortunately cause some with multi-thousand dollar frankenputers to pass over the game because of the dated look and feel. It is worth noting, however, that unlike certain "newer looking" games, this one has full support for both standard and widescreen aspect ratios of any resolution.

It is nice, incidentally, to see a game that knows how to use Bloom processing without abusing it. You can safely leave Bloom turned on and enjoy the enhanced lighting without have to worry about getting blinded by every light source and reflective surface.

Sound-
The sounds are of uniformly adequate quality and diversity, making the game's auditory experience not stand out as particularly good or bad, though the interface does make use of some subtle yet useful audio notifications (such as the "door knock" sound effect for incoming diplomacy) which do well at standing out and getting your attention without the irritation of breaking immersion.

Story-
The game centers around you, the protagonist, being the head of one of several political factions in the barbarian city of Jorvik. Each faction's goal is to ultimately become the rulers of the city. The road to rulership is fraught with monsters, thievery, infighting, political maneuvering, treasure seeking and lots of hacking, slashing and chucking fireballs. The story isn't exactly linear, as it is mostly produced through who performs which quests first, and though this helps immersion through interaction it also makes the story have a little less depth. But it doesn't matter much, your struggle for life, death and power won't leave much time for you to sit around reading long story exposition anyway.

Gameplay-
Depths of Peril utilizes a point-and-click mechanic most gamers will find familiar. It also adds some "common sense" features that speak well of the designer such as continuous autoattack (which anybody who's ever worn out a mouse button from combat in Diablo can appreciate). Combat is also the familiar point/click/kill with potion gulping with which most of us are already familiar, so the learning curve is very short and gentle. The interface pertaining to diplomacy is manifestly intuitive.

From the start of the game, the race is on. Factions are constantly gaining influence with the denizens of Jorvik based on killing monsters and completing quests, and their levels of influence determine the amount of tax each faction collects over time. Naturally, the influence level is also an important part of the "who is winning" calculation. Other important factors are what level the characters belonging to the factions are, how good their gear is, how well guarded the faction's headquarters is, and so on. In-game graphs and charts are available (and the viewing of them stops time, thankfully) to explicitly gauge the strength of the factions based upon any combination of the deciding factors ranging from one to all.

It isn't enough to just take a pointy piece of metal and go out to skewer orcs. You have to also engage in diplomacy (which also stops time, thankfully) with the other factions, lest your relations with some of them slip so low that your headquarters becomes attacked and possibly destroyed, eliminating you from the game. Of course, nothing says you can't attack first. Which, of course, leaves you open to a 3rd party attacking you... etc. Relations are generally improved by trading (or outright gifting) between the factions. This means you often make decisions such as "should I sell this booty I gathered to a merchant for cash, attempt to trade it to another faction, or just give it to another faction outright?" Factions are also in competition for completing quests first, recruiting new members, and most other things.

Conclusion-
Aside from the aforementioned graphical antiquity, I have relatively few gripes about the game. The only real source of frustration I came up against was when I started a new game with a previously used character, some of the quests I was given were a bit too advanced for me to stand a chance. It made for some frustrating fighting (or rather, swift dying). But that can be largely alleviated by just starting a new character with a new game instead of trying to get a jump on things with an old character. Oh, and I never seem to be able to find the thief in thief quest, despite his supposedly being limited to an area approximately equivalent to the empty lot across the street from the house where you grew up.

The good - Novel concepts in combining action RPG play with political intrigue, intuitive interface, flexible engine leading to diverse game experience, lower than normal price tag.

The bad - Dated graphical look, some quest level suitability inconsistency, no multiplayer.

Verdict - B-. It's hard to get over the dated look, but once you do the game is interesting. And there are far worse "pretty" games of full price you could be subjected to. If Soldak took this exact same game and wrapped it in, say, the Gamebryo engine I have no doubt it would be an absolute sensation.

And that's the word from Bandit camp...

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Off Topic Friday #24 - GraphJam.com

see more funny graphs

Yeah, this is a good place to waste some time.

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Review: Red Baron Arcade

Sometimes the game market seems so choked with multi-year-in-development multimillion dollar budget ubergames that so often fall tragically short of expectations that it's often surprising when a budget title actually brings more fun to the table than many a "real" game.

Make no mistake, Red Baron Arcade definitely is a budget game. At this very moment it is on Amazon for a mere $19.99, and it definitely doesn't have the depth or extras of your average full-price game, but sometimes the extra crap gets in the way of making a game fun... and naked of cut scenes, voices, complex mission structure and other high dollar features, it shows that a game can be fun even if the developers didn't mortgage a nation to make it.

Red Baron Arcade seems to me to be an attempt to take one of the first arcade games ever, Red Baron by Atari, and update it 25 years later. The original was a green and black 4 frame-per-second vector graphic wireframe flier... sometimes I still play it today just to feel the retro coursing through my veins.

In keeping with the quick entrance, immediate action and simplistic design of the original Red Baron, Red Baron Arcade also features lots of shooting and jinking and even some bombing and such. The game is very straightforward and looks pretty nice, although where the game really shines is in cloud rendering... it makes the ground and the structures on it seem a little cartoony in comparison. A better way to keep track of enemies on screen would have been nice too (the targeting brackets around enemy planes blends too easily into the ground), but it's a small gripe.

The game features 23 single player missions as well as online multiplayer through gamespy. It also allows you to set the controls to be either "arcade" or "simulation." The stick behaves more realistically under simulation mode, whereas arcade mode is mostly just point-and-shoot without having to worry about the actual methodry involved in flying a plane. This choice allows the game to appeal to both the casual gamer and the flight sim enthusiast who might want a slightly more realistic experience. But beyond that, there isn't much realism to be found here. Enemy planes often appear out of thin air to join the battle, and of course what biplane or triplane could carry so many darn bombs? There's also an "energy" bar that refills over time that you can use to perform special maneuvers such as a turbo boost, and what my father (who is actually a pilot) refers to as an "Immelman," that is, basically half a loop-de-loop with a twist that makes you nearly instantly change direction. Also, the "powerup balloons" that can instantly repair or rearm you aren't exactly historically accurate.

But who cares!

The point is, you start the game, you start shooting, and you enjoy shooting down planes in fire and smoke. Some of the single player missions can get a little hairy though, pitting you against 20 or more enemy planes (and sometimes alone against them). The zeppelin busting missions and the bombing missions are fun as well. The game also provides 8 different planes to unlock and use, each with different stats, and you can customize the paint scheme of your planes (nice to have a little fluff even in a $20 game). You'll get shot down a lot in this game, but a single click starts the mission again, and it's rare that a mission will last more than 20 minutes anyway so it isn't overly punishing.

Oh, and you're gonna need a joystick for this game. Really. You really would be missing out otherwise.

The Verdict: Grade B+. Ok, it's not the game of the century, but it's 20 bucks and short, casual fun.

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