One of the editor’s at GameSpot, Guy Cocker, posted about a visit he had with System 3, the developer of a Ferrari racing game. He mentioned that he got to go for a ride on the Mugello circuit in Italy. (Actually he called it Mugalo.) I thought the name sounded familiar and after seeing the map I recognized it instantly from Forza. I can visualize the course in my head. All the turns, when to accelerate and decelerate. The parts where I lose traction the most often. It’s kind of creepy actually. Anyway, here’s the map.

With the new computer setup I’ve been playing a lot of video games. After the late night I previously wrote about, I continued the trend and stayed up again until 2:30am the following night. The night after that I stayed up until 4:30am and last night I think I stayed up until 1 or 2 again. I’ve been focusing on three games mainly, BioShock, World in Conflict and Supreme Commander.

BioShock

I got a bit of a late start with this one. I had to wait for the new PC before I could dive in, but I’m glad I waited. The environments are the best part of this game. A lot of people have been raving about the graphics.

…the environments you find throughout the game look amazing and practically beg to be explored… In addition to a terrific artistic design that ties the visuals together, the game has a very strong technical side, provided you have a machine that’s built enough to handle it. Unreal Engine 3 is under the hood, and all the requisite bells and whistles are along for the ride. – GameSpot Review

The art style, animations, and special effects create an unparalleled sense of mood and believability. – IGN Review

However, it’s the sound that’s really impressed me. After playing the demo on the 360 I started inquiring about surround sound, but I ended up going for the PC version and I don’t have the desire for surround sound in the bedroom.

I still haven’t made it very far through the story yet but geez those big daddy’s are brutal. I went through all of my first aid kits fighting the last one I ran into. It was pretty brutal. I know it doesn’t really matter if you die as there is no penalty, but I still try to avoid it. I’ve also been ‘rescuing’ the little sisters. I would imagine it makes the game slightly harder maybe since you don’t get as much ADAM, but I don’t really know the difference at the this point. I just know it feels good to ‘rescue’ little girls. Their eyes get so big and watery and they say “thank you mister.” Now how can you ‘harvest’ them after seeing that?

World in Conflict

What haven’t I already said about this game? I’ve played it at every stage so far: alpha, beta and now the demo. It looks gorgeous and runs smooth on my system now. Jules asked me if there was anything interesting about the gameplay today over some pizza. I rambled off a bunch of things but I thought I’d highlight the cooperative nature of the multiplayer component.

When you begin a game, you pick a role: infantry, armor, support or air. You get the rock paper scissors thing going with all the units. A tank is weak against helicopters which are weak against anti-air vehicles which are weak against infantry and so on and so forth. With built it VOIP it is easy to communicate with other players when you need assistance from another class. In addition to the VOIP there is a way to indicate on the screen where you need help and what action you need taken. For instance, if I’m playing support, I can see artillary indicators on my screen when my teammates want a building or area barraged.

If you have a decent computer and enjoy RTS games, I strongly urge you to download the demo and try it out yourself.

Supreme Commander

Last but not least is a game that I have been playing off and on since its release back in February. I wanted to try it out again with the boost to my CPU power. It played well before up until I got hundreds of units on the screen all doing their own thing. It seems to be handling the load much better now.

Also exciting is the expansion Forged Alliance (which is where the above image is from) due to come out in Novemeber.

Yahoo!

And for those of you who don’t know, I started working for Yahoo! two weeks ago. I’ll have to write another post soon about how that is.

This is what I feel like when I’m playing DiRT.

Jules can attest. I probably spend more time watching the replays then actually playing the game.

“Hey Jules look look!”

“Huh? Yeah okay…”

“You’re not looking! Great you missed it. Look!”

“Uhhh”

“There goes my wheel!”

“Uh huh…”

My current gaming platforms include the PC, Xbox360 and the Wii, but after watching the Sony press conference and some PS3 stage demos I’ve come up with five strong reasons to get a PS3.

5. Heavenly Sword

4. Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune

3. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

2. Killzone 2

1. LittleBigPlanet

Why I’m not going to get a PS3… yet

One of the big selling points of the Xbox360 for me was Xbox Live. By the time I picked one up for myself, I already knew a lot of people who had it so I was able to start playing with my friends from the get go. I also picked one up for each of my brothers, which helped. Most of the things I’ve heard about the PS3 network have been negative. It’s either hard to connect with your friends to play, or you have to sit in lobbies or other things.

But the games I’ve listed above, except LittleBigPlanet, are all really meant to be played by yourself. So the real roadblock for me is the cost. Not just the cost of the console itself, but the cost of the HDTV that I’d want to get to take advantage of the games and the blu-ray drive. And really, what’s the point of getting a cheap, mid-sized HDTV? When you get an HDTV you have to go all out! And it doesn’t help that I have coworkers and friends with huge HDTV’s and projectors. Jerks.

It looks like the big gaming month for me is going to be September. Three major games that I’m looking forward to are dropping a week apart from each other.

September 11 – Crysis

I’ll start it off with some gorgeous first-person-shooting action. I know there are people out there who think this will just be eye candy and won’t have good gameplay or a story, but I’m banking on it being more. I think it’ll raise the bar, graphically and gameplay-wise.

September 18 – World in Conflict

I’ve been participating in the multiplayer alphas and betas for this game for a while and I’m excited to see what the single player version has to offer. Another visually stunning game, but this one I know has good gameplay.

September 25 – Halo 3

Despite my better judgement, I’m actually getting excited about this game. I didn’t really play either of the first two installments but online co-op play is a thirst that has only grown more pronounced since Gears of War and Rainbow Six came out.

Carcassonne

Alright, I know what you’re thinking… those games are all violent. Have no fear! I recently downloaded Carcassonne on XBOX Live.

It’s the video game version of a popular board game that I got hooked on while I was in Seattle visiting Jules’ siblings. We recently purchased the physical version as well. So far I’m 0-1 against Jules. >_<

Other games I’m excited about

Assassin’s Creed

It doesn’t come out until November but this game looks like it could be pretty good. The biggest perk for me would be the parkour-esque roaming of the cities.

Killzone 2

I have to admit that the trailer still looked pretty good, even though it’s been two years since they showed the original pre-rendered version. But not good enough to get a PS3.

Metal Gear Solid 4

The trailer was pretty, don’t know anything about the gameplay, but again, probably not worth getting a PS3 + the entertainment system I’d want to get with it.

Even though it’s been dramatically reduced in size, E3 is still where all the big news will drop regarding video games. Here are some games that I’m eager to get more info about. Since GameSpot has finally enabled users to embed their video content, I’ll do that here.

Crysis

From the people who brought you FarCry, this game looks absolutely amazing. I’m basically waiting for this game to come out before I upgrade my computer.

Ace Combat 6

I haven’t played a flying game in years, but this one looks like it may be good enough to get me playing again. 16 player online dogfights!

Call of Duty 4

The last Call of Duty left a bad taste. I haven’t even finished it yet. I don’t feel any connection with any of my squadmates or anything. Call of Duty 4 is taking the game in a new direction and bringing the previously WWII specific franchise into modern times. Let’s see what they do with it.

Grand Theft Auto IV

I honestly have never really been into the GTA series. I never really played them to progress in the story. I had a much better time just driving around the city and getting into car crashes. But I did enjoy playing Saints Row and this should theoretically kick that game’s butt all over the place.

The unannounced game

Can’t wait to see what they unveil this year!