The Line Drive 8/29
The Line Drive is a weekly collection of news, links, and updates that didn’t necessarily warrant their own postings.
pastapadre.com
Swedish retailers reaffirm the existence of Far Cry 3
According to Swedish retailer Webhallen and the country’s local GAME web store (via), Ubisoft’s – once Crytek’s – Far Cry franchise will be hitting shelves for the third time this year. Both retailers have listed Far Cry 3 for a 2010 release, and according to GAME, it’ll be set in Africa once again, but with an even bigger world and enhanced with a completely upgraded Dunia engine.
Far Cry 3‘s existence has been “confirmed,” not once, but twice and with a more recent rumor added to the fire claiming the game is in “full swing.” But this being a rumor, hence the lack of any kind of an official announcement by Ubisoft, we still feel we’re a far cry from the truth – excellent pun intended.
The waiting game continues…
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Huxley still in development
Webzen’s dystopian MMOFPS, Huxley, hasn’t gone the way of Duke Nukem: Forever, it seems. The game’s publisher, NHN USA has transferred publishing rights to Webzen, who now plan to self-publish the game.
The game, announced back in 2005, when its Unreal Engine 3 was still something of a novelty, has spent its time in hiding for the good half of a decade, only peeking its head out every once in a while to put its 360 version on hold indefinitely, or just prove to the world that it still exists. Huxley has gone through several closed beta tests since its E3 showing last year and, though there’s still no talk of a release date, is set to come out on PC sometime.
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The State of Commenting
Lately I’ve gotten a few requests to moderate the comment section differently due to arguments that have enveloped discussion threads. So I wanted to get some thoughts on what everyone would like to see done and take those into consideration.
This dilemma seems to be primarily restricted to the NBA Elite and NBA 2K articles which isn’t a surprise. It remains ironic that people clamor for competition yet the one sport that actually has it ends up with everyone taking a side and going at the throats of those supporting the other. The issue isn’t in disagreements or comments towards the games, but in that they get personal and swallow up any decent discussion that might take place. And this isn’t limited to a single poster. While there are certainly a few that get the brunt of the spotlight there are even more that are baiting it to happen.
I’ve always believed the comments should be left wide open (the forum is for more focused discussion) but on rare occasion have had to step in when things crossed the line. To my recollection there have only been two users banned in the 3+ year site history. However in this case it might now require further moderation. Whether that be editing out certain parts of comments or deleting those in question all together. For the time being I’m looking at doing that selectively.
Just to be clear though this won’t represent a change in philosophy. You’ll always have the opportunity to voice your feelings on the games. This goes more to comments that attack a user’s opinion or throw things off the rails. So let me know how what you think could be done to help the comment section!
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University of Florida offers a course on StarCraft II
In literature, music, art, or film you can sometimes find college courses dedicated to individual works. A whole course on every frickin’ detail you’d ever want to know about Hamlet, or maybe a deep exploration of Casablanca and just what it really did for film. Well, video games have started to show up in universities, and now there’s a course on a specific title. Namely, StarCraft II. Go figure.
The University of Florida will begin offering the course “21st Century Skills in StarCraft.” The class’s instructor is Ph. D candidate Nate Polling, and his justification involves potential management skills one can gain from playing the game.
“A student who gets a normal education, gets an MBA, and is in the business world, he could realize that something he learned in his StarCraft course helps him think outside of the box… You synthesize this with an MBA program and voila – you have an innovative business practice.”
Before all you U of Florida students start flocking to register for the course, know that it’s not the most inviting. The course will hold no bearing on GPA for undergrads, and it will only be offered to students in the Honors Program or those already familiar with the game. Being the kind of blog this is… I suppose most of you would meet half the requirements.
While not exactly meant as a deep exploration of game design, it’s pretty awesome that our beloved medium is looked to for potential tools that can lead tomorrow’s business leaders in new directions. Having said that, let’s hope Academia never plays Trauma Center.
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NBA Elite 11 Finally Emerges
With the major changes that have taken place that make up NBA Elite 11, it has been noteworthy that no actual gameplay video has appeared. Understandably that has made those following the game nervous as EA Sports’ MO the last few years has been anything but to shield their games from being seen.
Over at Operation Sports a thread has been ongoing discussing NBA Elite 11 which is actually out on display at “Elite 24″ a high profile high school basketball event. Those who have been able to attend have had the opportunity to get hands on with NBA Elite 11 as well as NBA Jam. So the first impressions of the game along with the very first in gameplay videos is now here.
Needless to say that early thoughts on the game have been less than impressive. Some general reaction has been that it is difficult to pick up and play, the action is chaotic and out of hand, that it is a dunk-fest, that the real-time physics have been pretty much non-existent, many animations are awkward, and that shooting is either tough to get or can become automatic. There are variables to consider though and ultimately the demo and directly captured footage will provide more insight. However this is what we have to work off for now. Seeing Carlos Boozer dunk from the free throw line (:44 of vid #3) doesn’t require much of a breakdown.
Check out the thread over at OS and follow beginning here which is where the impressions really start to roll in. Below is the first footage of the game in action. The videos are rough but that comes with the territory of filming in an environment such as this one. As always feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments!
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The First Templar trailer promises sword fighting, questionable historical accuracy
Betrayal. Intrigue. Religious heresy. One-eyed beasts. Widespread destruction. No, I’m not talking about an episode of The Real Housewives of New Jersey.
Development house Kalypso Media used this year’s Gamescom as an opportunity to release a trailer for their forthcoming historical epic, The First Templar. As the video depicts, the game follows a member of the Knights Templar as he slays man and beast alike across 13th century European landscapes. In fact, the entire aesthetic presented in the trailer strongly parallels the likes of Assassin’s Creed – the titular hero even takes an Altair-esque leap of faith from a high cliff towards the trailer’s end. We’ll have to wait until the game’s release early next year to decide if The First Templar is an AC clone or a meritorious historical saga, though.
