OOBLIVIOOON (is unrelated to this post)

Anyway, I think playing Half-Life series through should be must to any modern gamer. It "raises the bar" (you know the book? Gordons crowbar? sorry for bad wordplay then)

I listed here few things what I find great in Half-Life 2 and its episodes:

* One of greatest stories in any game, it has very versatile way of telling story e.g. using visual desing effectively

It's at this point you realize the house has been all but hollowed out from the inside. A mortar shell juts from the basement floor, and what would once have been the ground level no longer exists, offering a perfect view through the building's punctured roof to the grey skies above City 17. 

* --as the main character doesn't speak, one of my friend said that "well he is the lamest personality in gaming" but I just said it's something that makes it unique, you know all you need to know about him, he doens't talk because it isn't important.
Besides, who the hell would be good enough to be Gordons voice?

         He's a scientist, but you know... he doesn't really want to talk about it

* Innovative gameplay desing, HL2 mixes puzzles and well made fps game into great being.

* With the Half-Life 2, Valve introduced the best game engine of that time: Source game engine (it's still very good) which is widely used.

      Good game engine was important aspect when creating large modding community and it brings longer life and versatility to Source. Many well made mods are taken to full game and retail, like Garry's Mod.

* The atmosphere is great. You really felt like you were there, specially Episode 2 has given me new benchmark of impressive world desing.
The world is full of details and gives sense of reality. Sure, it's not the most realistic, but still it has given best feeling. I guess I just like the way Source simulates sun, athmosphere etc.

Also I especially love the mountain theme in episode 2

 

I would had awesome screenshots from all half lifes, but my pc is broken and couldn't get them...

SpaceChem

Most puzzles make you feel intelligent when you get level done, but this game makes you float in air like almighty godking whose genius mind is not fit in this world of mortals.

So this game I've resently played is one of best puzzles I've played and good timekiller.
It's puzzle game called "SpaceChem" which I found via steam. Its fanbase is growing pretty fast, even though it's not game for everyone, it has it's own niche.

                                        SpaceChem is all about assembling molecules from simple atoms using a series of programmable commands. You work from a grid and two colored WALDOS that function as conveyor belts. By laying commands on to these belts, you can move elements around the grid, outfitting them as instructed by the level goals, and depositing them in the correct positions.

I do like play good puzzle games, not maybe favorite genre but they'll do.
First time I played this, the time was flying and soon I had working on it for 3hours straight, something unusually long for me to play puzzle game.

I were good in chemistry and other natural sciences at high school, so I though this game propably is easy for me. But boy I was wrong.

Really this game has not much to do with actual chemistry (only number of bonds, correct molecyle structures etc.) as the main thing here is to build a production line as simple and efficient as you can. So no worries if you don't know much about chemistry, it wouldn't help anyway.

You can do really large and complex lines and still you end up with some weird molecyle instead of the specific one. 
But after you have thinking and testing solution for few hours you may come up with maybe some simple change that makes it work like a dream!

And soon after that you just watch in deep euphoria how your production line spits out perfect molecyles. It is really great feeling, something that you can't really expirience in most games.

Also if you feel game is laughing how much you can suck at it, you can run raging in to youtube and put the mission name on search and there is likely to be solution for every mission (I believe), as there is in-build record possibility after you complete level and the video it creates is easy to upload on youtube.

This game really requires thinking. There won't be any hints and desing is not forgiving, the molecyle must be perfect. No just remembering certain patterns in this game, but to think abstract - real honest problem, you will work on problem, refine it and maybe get solution.

So if you feel interested, try the demo from steam or website: http://www.spacechemthegame.com/
Even it's demo, it's very long and sufficient.

Virtual goods market...

So some Australian games site wants to create this website where you could buy pointless virtual stuff.

"Trading of various in-game equipment and perks, for titles as diverse as Farmville and World of Warcraft, already takes place on the site's forums, but site founder Roy Hui hopes to turn that trading into a business model.  "

                         "AWESOME! This is even more fun than virtual stuff!" ...I guess

“Initially looking at the more hardcore gamers, they really want the super-duper noble 21 platinum horse. They've been trying two weeks to get it but there isn’t an efficient way to get that horse — we’ll give them a more efficient way of getting it.” 

  - I would rather say people who wants to buy superdupernoble21platinumhorse should seek help.


I think it's pretty lame bussinesmodel, feels they are bit desperate for some $ ideas.
Theres no need to try make businnes from everything.

I'm not even sure will they sell the trading game card prizes for WoW or those in-game pets Blizz sells itself ? There's already sites trading TCG prizes and why should Blizz take third party for selling in-game pets.

Not that someone even should buy one... Also as I posted earlier, Zynga had his own scamshop opened.

DirectX intentionally blocking PC performance?

          We often have at least ten times as much horsepower (in PC) as an Xbox 360 or a PS3 in a high-end graphicscard, yet it's very clear that the games don't look ten times as good

                          ~Richard Huddy, AMD.

AMD suggested that without API:s like DirectX, we could use full potential of modern pc hardware. Company claims that directx is being held back for the sake of console development. According to Huddy one of the most common requests from developer is to, "Make the API go away."

"Being able to have total control over the machine, which is what the very best games developers want. By giving you access to the hardware at the very low level, you give games developers a chance to innovate, and that's going to put pressure on Microsoft – no doubt at all," said Huddy.

When API was created, it had intention to ensure code can run on as wide a range of hardware as possible. He admits it's not suitable for every developer to remove DX: "I don't want anything to do with that, but presumably it depends on what you're developing. If you're making Crysis 3 or something like that, then it may be exactly what you want."

I don't think he means talking the metal directly but to take away the hand holding that DX, as it can be done lot better than it is currently.


Also here's some finnish reggae again for weekend :