COD, eat, COD, sleep. Repeat.
By Ben Salter
”Period Pains?.. Try getting knifed in the back on COD!” This is one of thousands of groups to appear on Facebook about none other than the almighty COD. Call of Duty, including Modern Warfare, but more-so referring to the more recent Modern Warfare 2, has become an epidemic. No longer is it just a videogame, it’s a way of life. While the same can be said for games like WoW, COD is different. It isn’t played exclusively by dedicated gamers. Everyone knows what COD is.
COD is compulsory in a young man’s life. It seems that every male in their teens and twenties plays Modern Warfare 2. From the hardcore gamers, to the casuals, to siblings, relatives, friends, non-gamers and even the people who once ridiculed you for being a gamer. Yes, you’ll probably find the very people who called you a nerdburger for playing games in primary school are now addicted to COD. And to make things worse, if you’re a serious gamer, they’re probably better at it than you. Why? Because you play other games. I play heaps of games, all diverse and different to each other. As a result, I’m only just about to hit level 50 in Modern Warfare 2. At a party last week I talked to a couple of guys who’d probably spent a grand total of 10 minutes in their lives playing games before the Call of Duty phenomena, and to my surprise I found most of them were at least 2 times prestige.
Of course, most of these guys are playing on consoles. That said, a few that I spoke to were playing on PC - where the game is hated with a passion by serious gamers. Now, said gamers claim it’s all down to the lack of dedicated servers. I agree that this is annoying, but it’s no reason to completely boycott what is otherwise a decent game. As each day passes the PC gamers that boycotted MW2 are becoming increasing pleased with their decision. However, I believe this comes down to the COD epidemic. When a game becomes more than a game with the general public, outside of the gaming community, serious gamers must revolt. To an extent the same thing is happening in the console community. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is a great game (albeit too many snipers for my liking), but I believe its fast take up is because COD is becoming too mainstream. Face it, you don’t non-gamers hanging out on your turf, and you especially don’t like them dominating. It’s one of the main reasons serious gamers love to hate the Wii. Sure, it’s got too much shovelware, but there are some gems that you won’t find on other consoles. A number of dedicated gamers are willing to overlook these because the Wii has become too mainstream for their liking.
COD, COD, COD, COD!The outbreak of Facebook groups relating to COD says more about its status in society than anything else. I’d wager that almost everyone reading this article had joined, or seen their friends join, COD related groups. I’m perfectly aware that first person shooters are played by girls. Apparently close to half of Halo 3’s online players are female. I don’t have any problem with that, in fact I think it’s great, but COD is not in the same boat. According to my stats page, I’ve played 20 odd hours of Modern Warfare 2 online. I wouldn’t be surprised if I’d never played with a single girl. The COD epidemic is overrun by men. It’s taken gaming back to the pre-Wii and PS2 days, when it was considered to be a boys thing. In saying that, it’s still had an affect on better looking half of society. Most of my female friends have joined a group along the lines of “If a guy texts you while he 's playing CoD, he really likes you”. They’re all very much aware of the power of COD, and no doubt are under the impression all we do is play Call of Duty. You know, like how all males think girls strip down to their underwear and have pillow fights in their spare time (it happens!).
I could go on for days. COD has become more than a game; it’s a social requirement. Serious gamers are, or will start, becoming increasingly threatened by their turf being taken by a bunch of cocky non-gamers. As such, I think more and more will look to rival titles such as Battlefield. However, the pull of COD will be too great. We’ll end up heading back there as its stranglehold over the universe continues. COD - it’s a freaking epidemic!
12/03/2010
Compiled by Ben Salter
No, I’m not talking about games that were so bad you exploded in a fit of murderous rage (see Superman 64). I’m talking about games that were actually scary; games nobody in their right mind would want to play alone on a dark stormy night.
I’m sure there are heaps of others out there. Unfortunately, I don’t get to play as many PC games as I do console, so no doubt this is a relatively untapped medium for me. As such, post any of your scariest games below!
5. Dead Space
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Release: 2008
Dead Space is the most recent game on my freak out list. It takes the best of the survival horror genre, throws you aboard a giant spaceship infested with a bunch of monsters that have a thing eating your face, and creates an extremely tense atmosphere.
I expect some people to yell (or type loudly) “weak”, but play through Dead Space on a lonely winter’s night and you’ll see what I mean. Its relentless scare tactics have you on the edge of your seat until the very end, making it one of the scariest games released this generation.
4. F.E.A.R.
Platforms: Windows PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Original Release: 2005
At first glance, name aside, F.E.A.R. doesn’t appear to be all that frighten. It seems to be a stock standard FPS, and you can’t be scared in a game where you can let the bullets fly, right? Wrong! Apart from the fact enemies are near impossible to defeat on the hardest difficulty, you’ll soon discover that F.E.A.R. is an FPS if with an extreme horror twist.
The game designers have said F.E.A.R. was inspired by Japanese horror, and that they wanted the atmosphere to get under the player’s skin. The central scare tactics are focused around a little dead girl, who’s far too lively to be dead for my liking. The whole thing has a “The Ring” feel to it, and I for one will take a giant fire breathing monster over a freaky undead girl any day of the week.
3. Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem
Platforms: GameCube
Original Release: 2002
Any game that tries to trick you into believing you’ve deleted your own save file means trouble. Eternal Darkness is another one of those games that tries to scare the living daylights out of you by getting into your head. In fact, it came complete with a sanity meter that measured the mental state of the protagonists onscreen. You could actually watch, almost helplessly, as your onscreen avatars took another step towards insanity.
The sanity effect had you (or your characters) hearing things that weren’t really there; they saw things like the walls bleeding and all of a sudden the volume would drop and a fake television volume indicator suggested everything was fine. Then, of course, the game pretended to delete your save file. Nintendo liked the idea so much that they actually went out and patented videogame insanity, and have recently renewed their patent for Eternal Darkness.
2. Resident Evil
Platforms: PlayStation, GameCube, Wii, PC, DS
Original Release: 1996
In a top 5 list of the scariest games of all time at least one Resident Evil game had to be here. Compared to some more recent titles perhaps it isn’t as pants soilingly scary as it once was, (perhaps it’s because I’m an RE fanboy) but it’s the series that started the horror craze, and deserves a spot in the list.
When I reviewed the Wii port of the GameCube remake I criticized the game’s poor controls and terrible camera angles. Today we expect survival horror games to scare us in a range of diverse and interesting ways that don’t impact too heavily on the gameplay experience. However, back when Resident Evil was released these things are what made the game so intensely frightening. You often had no idea what you were walking into, and when you finally released the clumsy controls often made it impossible to escape. Furthermore, Resident Evil gave everyone a temporary phobia of jumping dogs. The second you heard the sound of a zombie dog preparing to pounce you knew it was all over.
1. Silent Hill 2
Platforms: PlayStation 2, Xbox, PC
Original Release: 2001
I can’t quite put my finger on one specific aspect, but Silent Hill 2 is the scariest game I can remember playing. Its relentless psychological scare tactics have you almost crying for mercy. Like Resident Evil the Silent Hill series is largely responsible for the success of the survival horror genre today.
Silent Hill 2 had an extremely engaging plot for a horror game. You wanted to find out what would happen next, but most of the time you were too fixated on surviving to pay it the attention it deserved. Horror games are all about atmosphere, and Silent Hill 2 had a great one. Like most of the other games I’ve mentioned, it’s mostly psychological; there’s nothing scary about about 100 enemies on screen, it’s all about the unknown.
Notable Mentions
- Silent Hill (1999 / PS1)
- System Shock 2 (1999 / PC)
- Doom 3 (2004 /PC/Xbox)
08/03/2010
Written By Stephen Heller
While the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP have been enjoying their supremacy in the handheld market this generation, Apple’s iPhone is really stepping it up. With graphics that are better than the Nintendo DS, and an easy to access App Store, one has to wonder what is next for the multi function device.
The recently released Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition from Lucasarts has found it’s way onto the App Store, and with all the features intact from it’s Xbox 360 and PC counterparts. Weighing in at a mere 350mb and a measly $9.99 you can purchase a fully fledged game that will last 5-10 hours, for less than a quarter of the price of a new release Nintendo DS game.
Other developers are really backing the platform, EA releasing hand held versions of The Sims 3 and Spore, classic games such as Uno and new unique titles such as the ever popular Tap Tap Revenge. Even classics such as Wolfenstein 3D are making an appearance on the app store.
Will the iPhone replace the Nintendo DS or the Sony PSP? While the iPhone does rival such devices, it doesn’t make a sale purely as a gaming device. The fact that Nintendo and Sony tailor their experience purely as a gaming device will suit games better. What the iPhone does manage to do is open up the door to quality games for casual gamers.
What are your thoughts on the iPhone becoming a formidable force in the world of handheld gaming?
26/07/2009
Return of the Adventure?
Written By Stephen Heller
Adventure games dominated the PC gaming scene in the early 1990’s. Their complex stories, memorable characters, uncanny ability to sit on the edge of clever dialogue and puzzling challenges seemed to be the formula for success. Companies such as Lucasarts and Sierra On-Line ran ahead of the pack releasing what are still today, some of the greatest adventure games of all time.
With the ever increasing popularity of the First Person Shooter with the phenomenal successes of Wolfenstein 3-D, Quake and Doom, and of course the continuing increases in home console development and market share, Adventure Gaming seemed to be a dying art by the end of the 90’s. Lucasarts pulled out of the race entirely, closing up their adventure department and cancelling popular series sequels such as Sam & Max Freelance Police which left fans of the genre with a sombre outlook on their beloved genre.
Yet the past few years have seen an ever increasing buzz in the world of adventure gamers, and now with the release of a new Monkey Island series one has to wonder, could we be seeing the return of the adventure?
Telltale Games have become the front runner with their largely successful Episodic adventure games, already releasing two seasons of new Sam & Max adventures, a series of Strongbad titles, Wallace and Gromit and now a return to an old Lucasarts classic Monkey Island. Gamers across the globe have revelled in the nostalgia value of continuing on with a beloved character in Guybrush Threepwood, and newcomers alike are loving Telltale’s new series so much they are wanting to sink their teeth into the previous titles in the series.
With that in mind Lucasarts are releasing a new “re-imagining” of the original Monkey Island sporting new graphics, with an option to go back to the original graphics of yesteryear. It’s a great concept, and Lucasarts have claimed that if it sells well, we can expect more to come.
With the recently released Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings gamers had the ability to unlock the ability to play through the classic point and click adventure Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. Is Lucasarts testing the water to see if they can make a comeback to the genre after abandoning it so long ago?
Just last week Lucasarts made an important announcement from the Twitter account, stating that they will be releasing their catalogue of titles across the STEAM platform for PC users. One of the first games available was Fate of Atlantis making this the second time it has been re-released this year alone!
Aside from the frontrunners there has been a slew of popular titles in the adventure genre lately with titles such as So Blonde, Zack & Wiki and A Vampyre Story which prove that the genre is really picking up the pace.
The world of adventure gaming has been abandoned for far too long, and with recent investments into old series such as Monkey Island, along with new adventures such as A Vampyre Story it begs the question is this going to be the return of the adventure!
13/07/2009
Back in the early 90's PC gaming wasn't just all FPS shooters and solitare, many developers were taking charge of a genre known as Point and Click adventure games. Some of the major players in the genre included Sierra, and Lucasarts, who were responsible for bringing some of the greatest games in the genre to our PC's.
Lucasarts really ran away with the genre with successive hits in the Monkey Island series, Sam and Max Hit The Road, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Day of the Tenticle and their final swan song, Grim Fandango.
Many of these titles are constantly listed on peoples top games of all time, and rightly so. They intorduced us to memorable stories, zany characters and gameplay that required a little more than run and gun tactics.
As gaming evolved it seemed that there was no need for the genre any longer, and major developers dropped out of the race. Yet we are slowly seeing a resurgence of point and click adventure titles on not only the PC platform, but also home consoles.
Telltale Games are really leading the pack with a series of critically acclaimed titles which include the Sam and Max series, Bone series and most recently the release of the Wallace and Gromit series.
Does this mean that a genre that seemed all forgotten still has a place in this gaming world of ours. Could this truly be the beginning of another "Golden Period" in gaming, with more on offer than just your average FPS, RTS and Puzzle title?
Do you have memories from the old point and click titles? Have you been one of the gamers who have only recently had a chance to experience the genre?
Stay tuned for a Lucasarts Point and Click retrospective in the next few days
19/04/2009
Well there seems to be a growing trend of PC case modding on MyFrag.com.au with a number of members deep into or just starting a custom case build of their own. Nothing as extreme as the mod pictured above but given that we’re all beginners at this sort of thing the learning process and gradual evolution of our projects is starting to encourage others to give it a try. The common goal amongst the members of MyFrag is to take an old out of date PC case and bring up to today’s standard. There’s a sense of personal satisfaction when you’ve taken an old discarded case are reworked it to your likings by using just your basic off the shelf supplies and tools.
It all started when a thread was started about modding thumb drives emerged a couple of months ago and as the days rolled by some pretty clever creations were posted, and that motivated me to get off my ass and start building a custom PC case that I’ve been thinking about doing for some time. To further add to the motivation we recently had a cool give away of a Custom Super Nintendo on MyWii. Hmmm…seems like the flavour for the year is “custom” because we’ve even seen current consoles attacked with some artistic talent. Lets hope this is an ongoing trend across all sites that will keep growing, but to stop myself digging up more info and further side tracking let me show you what the guys are up to over at MyFrag.
Project Rat Rig
This is what I’ve been chipping away in my free time. Thread: Project Rat Rig
It’s pretty much finished but there’s still a few more things I would like to add before I say “It’s finished!”
Viva La Liberation
This is what Slicingman has put together. Thread: Project Viva La Liberation
Before
After
Project EPIC FAIL (Skuttbox!)
This is what our resident MyFrag admin Skarteh has started working on. Thread: Project EPIC FAIL (Skuttbox!)
Before
Keep an eye on this project because it’s just getting started but some interesting design ideas have already been thrown around.
Project Lemonade
This is what Pongo has started working on. Thread: Project Lemonade
Before
Some very interesting ideas are in plan for this little case
xCaRmiNEx's Case Project
This is what xCaRmiNEx has started working on. Thread: xCaRmiNEx's Case Project
Before
Also deciding to give it a try is xCaRmiNEx who has already got a stripped out case to work with.
Pop into MyFrag and check out what’s going on, make some suggestions or even give case modding a try for your selves.
18/04/2009
F.E.A.R 2: Project Origin has simply grabbed me by the throat and dragged me in this week. I've been creeping down hallways and blasting my way through this horror FPS for this whole week and I'm still loving it! Monolith have proved once again that they are masters when it comes to creating atmosphere. Check out our full review for the PC version over here
Exciting games are starting to pop up this week with Street Fighter IV making a rather positive impression on me. It has a way of bringing about a nostalgic feeling, yet manages to stay fresh and exciting. Street Fighter IV drops for the Xbox 360 and PS3 this Thursday.
And last but not least, the one thing that is going to keep me occupied, at least until Killzone 2 drops next week, GTA Lost and Damned for the Xbox 360. This piece of DLC is sure to blow us all away! Sorry PC/PS3 fans, you miss out this time around. So glad I got that Xbox after all!
So what is keeping your attention at the moment kiddies? Let me know :)
17/02/2009