Gaming

Next-Gen Xbox Details (well, not so detailed details)

Jason Olson — Thu, 10 Mar 2005 09:33:00 GMT

At the GDC, evidently someone named “J Allard” talked a little about something called an “XBox” that is rumored (and I emphasize, *rumored*) to have garnered some interest from gangly, pale people who often refer to themselves either in the third person or, perhaps more frequently, as “geeks” (don't even get me started on the whole “nerd” thing, sister!!!!). If you're interested (and I have a feeling some of you out there in my audience might fall into a category from above), you can find a link here. Enjoy (or don't enjoy (in which case, do not pass goal, do not collect a hundred dollars, and proceed straight to a prison cell and meet you new room mate Bubba (they don't call him “stretcher” for nothin'))).

Tablet PC and Gaming

Jason Olson — Tue, 14 Dec 2004 20:39:00 GMT

Well, well, well. According to this article, Microsoft is getting ready to release a Tablet-PC Gaming SDK. Very interesting, indeed.

Classic Gaming

Jason Olson — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 03:54:00 GMT

I found this site. Most of the games hosted on it are shareware, but it certainly took me down memory lane.

A New Managed DirectX Resource

Jason Olson — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 20:45:00 GMT

I just got an email about a new Managed DirectX website that went up. The site is “The Z Buffer”. It has a good number of resources for anyone interested in Managed DirectX, and it looks like ZMan has gotten off on the right foot. He just posted an interview with the lead developer from Tin Soldiers: Alexander The Great, the first known retail game released using Managed DirectX. If you want to stay up on the news posted at “The Z Buffer”, you can find the RSS feed here. Enjoy, I know I will :D.

In The Zone

Jason Olson — Wed, 24 Nov 2004 21:21:00 GMT

I love moments like these.

Halo 2 - How the AI works

Jason Olson — Thu, 18 Nov 2004 17:43:00 GMT

Stuffo has an interview up with Chris Butcher of Bungie Studios about how the AI in Halo 2 works. Check it out.

Halo Addiction

Jason Olson — Sat, 13 Nov 2004 08:48:00 GMT

Well, I'm officially addicted to Halo 2 and XBox Live now. I just finished playing a bunch of games online with Scott Hanselman and some others. What a blast. The last game was particularly fun.

We were playing “1 Flag CTF” where there is one flag and each team takes turns as defenders and attackers. The map was Zanzibar. Zanzibar is an incredible map. Very fun and very fast passed. It particularly takes pretty good team work if you want to pull of a smooth win. The game was four-on-four and we finally came together and played like a team. My job was to open the gate in the energy plant. Scott and the other guys hopped in the vehicles and got ready to fly into the plant when the gate was open. All times we were on offense, I found it particularly easy to open the gate (although I expect that it wouldn't be so easy against other people with higher experience than me). The last flag capture of the match was particularly beautiful. I opened the gates and dropped down and cleared out some of the enemy. As soon as the gates were open, Scott and the warthog came flying into the base. A teammate grabbed the flag and jumped up in to the warthog and it took off back to the beach for an easy victory. What a thing of beauty.

If I wasn't totally addicted before that game, I'm entirely hooked on it now. When a game goes that well, it's eerily like a potent line of crack cocaine (not that I would actually know if this is a valid comparison mind you).

So far, all the game types I've played have been very enjoyable. Slayer is actually my least favorite because I prefer the team-based game types. I didn't think I would like 1 Flag CTF when I first heard about it because I was so used to normal CTF, but I have to say that after playing a few rounds, I think I like 1 Flag CTF better than the old-fashioned CTF. Territories was a great game type, very strategic. And also Team Oddball is pretty fun. All in all, I have to say Bungie nailed the multiplayer experience down very well. It's really cool to get some good multiplayer action in without having to leave the house or try to get everyone together. Just find a couple friends online and you're set. I give you two thumbs up, Bungie :D.

Maple Story

Jason Olson — Sun, 31 Oct 2004 04:45:00 GMT

I think all of you gamers should check the game Maple Story out if you haven't already. It's a 2D side-scrolling RPG and is quite the looker. I think that this game proves how a game doesn't need to be 3D and photo-realistic to be fun. Download it and check it out now, for real!

Where are the game development articles going?

Jason Olson — Sat, 02 Oct 2004 22:47:00 GMT

I wanted to let you all know that I have started up a website on gamedev called Managed World. That will be the main hosting place for my game development articles. Why have I done this? Well, the experience that I've received over the last year has led to me to believe that while dotText works wonderfully as a blogging engine, and as somewhere to post a couple of articles here or there, it doesn't suit my needs very well when it comes to a game development site.

I will still be doing regular blogging here for sure, it's just that any current and/or future game development articles will reside over on Managed World. I'm hoping to make Managed World a good place to go if you are wanting to learn about game development and architecture in .NET (starting with C# and Managed DirectX articles (and maybe I will move on to VB articles and/or OpenGL articles)). I'm hoping that this can be one of the resources to go to for learning game development with .NET.

I would quickly like to thank Chris Sells for a comment he made to me on the phone the other day. I was complaining about the lack of content on the DirectX Developer Center, and Managed DirectX in general, and he said something along the lines of “well, perhaps an enterprising 3rd party should step up the plate and fill in the void”. I've never been a Type-A person, but perhaps it is time to get up off my lazy butt and do something about it.

I hope you will see a lot of interesting things from Managed World in the future. Now, however, I need to crank out my other commitments so I can have the time to get Managed World up off the ground. Stay tuned for more!

Ciao!

Red vs. Blue, meet The Sims 2

Jason Olson — Fri, 01 Oct 2004 00:58:00 GMT

Apparently, it looks like the guys behind Red vs. Blue might be starting up a project using The Sims 2. Hmmmm, now that could be interesting.

[ Update: You can find the site here: http://www.strangerhood.com/. Evidently, they've posted the “intro“ already! ]