Tribes: Ascend Gameplay Commentary – Part 1
Hi-Rez Studios delivered the goods at this year’s QuakeCon in Dallas, TX. Tribes: Ascend is the upcoming free-to-play edition of the classic jetpackin’ FPS series of yesteryear, and it was playable for the masses at the convention. A diehard Tribes 2 player back in my high school days, I naturally spent the week of QuakeCon drooling over the first shakycam uploads I could find. The below video is about 2 weeks old now, but try to enjoy it and my Joyce-like meanderings anyway.
All You Had to Do Was Stay on the Damn Surface, CJ!
Yesterday evening, reddit pulled me from whatever important task I was engaged in at the time (as is reddit’s wont) and presented me with an intriguing diversion: GTA IV San Andreas. It’s a mod for the PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV that ports the world of San Andreas over to the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE). Having just gone into public beta, there are understandably some kinks to be worked out. I’ve recorded a short and sweet glimpse of one of the more humorous of these and embedded it below. Join CJ as he fails to follow the damn train, instead plummeting endlessly beneath a blood red San Andreas sky while doing an uncanny Niko Bellic.
Your Guess Is As Good As Minecraft
Having just returned from an epic two-week vacation in Indonesia and Thailand, my typing fingers are relaxed and ready for action. (Or perhaps stiff and ready to ossify. Time will tell.) As I was saying: marvelous locales, Indonesia and Thailand. One of my favorite places was a small beach near Krabi, Thailand called Hat Tham Phra Nang, or “Holy Princess Beach,” or just Phra Nang Beach. Here’s a photo, followed by the parts actually relevant to gaming:
The First 50 Pages of Crysis: Legion
Unless you’ve been living under a rock – no, that wouldn’t do it – you’re probably aware that long-awaited sci-fi FPS Crysis 2 came out this week on PC, Xbox 360, and PS3. I’ve taken a break from sneaking around snapping a neck or twenty to catch up on the status of Crysis: Legion, the simultaneously released book adaptation of Crysis 2 penned by the #winningest author in hard science fiction: Peter Watts. Charlie Sheen, arbiter of literary excellence, would surely approve.
I was pleasantly surprised to learn the following two things yesterday:
- Peter Watts is doing a four-part guest blogging series at Suvudu.com in promotion of C:L. The subject? Nanosuit 2.0, explained in far more technical detail than you’ll get in the game itself. Lorehounds take note.
- Del Rey Spectra have released the first 50 pages of Crysis: Legion for your viewing pleasure. I’ve embedded it handily below. You’re welcome.
If you find Watts’ take on the Crysis universe to your liking, pick up the paperback for $10 at Amazon. A final caution: “liberal” fails to adequately capture Watts’ use of the f-bomb. Having read the 50 pages, all I can say is this: Welcome to hard sci-fi.
What is “Gamocracy” and How Could It Be Better?
One thing I’ve learned as a Community Manager is that gamers love telling game developers how to do their jobs.
Turning the tables constructively on this vocal majority, Swedish indie developer The Bearded Ladies have launched Gamocracy – an experimental game design project that puts creative responsibility in the hands of average gamers across the globe. In collaboration with Sony’s Official PlayStation Community, Gamocracy invites players to submit original ideas for a 2-D action platformer (think Super Mario Bros.) to be developed for PlayStation 3 and PSP by The Bearded Ladies. Check out this quote from their Facebook page after the break.
More like #PostAMonth2011…
As I’ve learned from countless fits and starts over the past 30 days, blogging is really hard. My New Year’s resolution to publish a single blog post per week epic-failed before it even started, and I watched it happen one day at a time.
FRAPS Rage
First ragecomic… got mostly blank stares posting this on r/gaming. But it was fun to make, even if it doesn’t make sense. Derp!
Rhymes with ‘theme’
Look familiar? As soon as I saw the subdued gray and olive green of “Emire” (WordPress’ 54th most popular theme, a-thank-you) I knew it had to be mine. Here’s my inspiration:
The original color palette of Valve’s Steam software really resonates with me. I remember my friend’s gleeful anticipation during auto-updates of Counter-Strike 1.6. Before the added depth of Friends lists and Community features, before the pocket-emptying Midweek Madness and Holiday sales, Steam was not so much a service as a tool. A means to an end.
That simplicity has become somewhat diluted now. I often find myself loading Steam just to chat with people, or checking it reflexively at work to monitor my Gameplay Stats. It’s still an amazing service and offers more pure entertainment value than I could use in 10 lifetimes of 24/7 gaming (oh sweet benevolent zombie Jesus, if only) … but my fondest memories of Steam were those of gray and olive green, of sharp window corners, of that iconic progress bar…
Here’s to you, old Steam.
Welcome!
This is an experiment.
Starting a blog is my New Year’s resolution for 2011. I love video games and have plenty of thoughts on the subject, but have never taken the time to write them down until now.
I’m painfully aware that the interwebs are currently hemorrhaging gaming blogs like Ebola. I have no intention to attempt to clamber up that steaming pile. WASD in Translation is just my subtle way of saying ‘thanks’ to the industry that defined my adolescence and recent adulthood (I’m 23). Also, the name is too awesome so I had to reserve it 
So long for now – I hope by the time anyone actually reads this there’s something worth reading here!
Thanks for visiting,
Walker
P.S. Good grief, that alone took 45 minutes. I need to write more!
