{"id":11110,"date":"2012-06-08T07:29:22","date_gmt":"2012-06-08T06:29:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.badreputation.org.uk\/?p=11110"},"modified":"2012-06-08T07:29:22","modified_gmt":"2012-06-08T06:29:22","slug":"gamer-diary-what-ive-been-playing-may-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/badreputation.org.uk\/2012\/06\/08\/gamer-diary-what-ive-been-playing-may-2012\/","title":{"rendered":"[Gamer Diary] – What I’ve Been Playing… May 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

As promised, I actually played games this month! I started off with Portal 2<\/strong>‘s Perpetual Testing Initiative (which I mentioned last month<\/a>) I tried my hand at the Puzzle Maker to make a few test chambers<\/a>. \u00a0You may notice from my efforts that I might, maybe, possibly, probably, harbour a teeny love of Deadly Goo. \u00a0Having attempted to use Valve<\/strong>‘s Hammer Editor<\/a> in the past to make maps for Portal 2<\/strong>, I can say that the new in-game Puzzle Maker is much simpler.<\/p>\n

Obviously the simplicity has benefits as well as negative points: it’s simpler to use, so therefore more of the community can try their hand at map-making for an extremely popular title. \u00a0This is demonstrated by the fact that since the Puzzle Maker has been available, the number of Steam Workshop<\/a><\/strong> files for Portal 2<\/strong> has shot up to nearly 100,000 (by comparison, Team Fortress 2<\/strong> has close to 5k and Skyrim<\/strong> just over 7k)1<\/a><\/sup> despite being the newest edition to the Workshop repertoire.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/a>

My first test chamber for Portal 2<\/p><\/div>\n

The negatives, I feel, come with the restrictions you face with what is available to you in the Puzzle Maker: e.g. you can’t add extra doors for staged testing. \u00a0Plus, try as I might to create things exactly as I imagine them in my head, it never seems to be quite right as not all the tools are available to you. \u00a0The solution here would be to learn how to use Hammer properly… but for a lot of fans that’s a bit too confusing to contemplate.<\/p>\n

So, you may be wondering why my production of test chamber blueprints stopped mind-May… the answer is Diablo 3<\/strong>. \u00a0This hit internationally on May 15th and domestically (in the UK) May 18th. \u00a0After some very irritating cock-ups from various pre-order suppliers, I eventually got my hands on it for the UK release date.<\/p>\n

I must say I’m sort of glad I didn’t get a copy until May 18th as Blizzard had some serious issues on the international release. Let me explore these. D3<\/strong>\u00a0is both single and multiplayer but you have to be online all the time, on Battle.net’s servers even to play on your own<\/em>. \u00a0No, it doesn’t make sense to me either. \u00a0Couple that with the fact that their servers clearly weren’t ready – nor capable – of handling the volume of people trying to connect. \u00a0Again, just to play single player<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Error 37 screengrabs were plastered all over the internet as eager fans were raging at Blizzard. \u00a0That’s not to say I didn’t escape: I’ve had three instances since I got the game where I’ve been unable to play because the damned servers were having a tea break (or eating themselves, I dunno) with Error 35 taking out the game on May 20th for over 9 hours and Error 37 rearing its ugly head again nearer the end of the month (Error 35 = servers down for maintenance; Error 37 = servers are busy<\/em>).<\/p>\n

That’s the one major<\/strong>\u00a0drawback of the game. \u00a0The interwebs have been awash with rumours of an “offline mode”, but whether Blizz decide to actually do it or not only time will tell.<\/p>\n

Enough of that. \u00a0The game itself is great fun with brilliantly detailed graphics and fun attacks for all classes. \u00a0This is the first RPG of this type (the hack’n’slash<\/a>) that I’ve actually finished – albeit only on normal difficulty – and am now going through it again to try and find better loot (so far unsuccessfully). \u00a0The fact that I haven’t got bored yet is praise in itself as I do have a tendency to just wander off despite all my intentions to play through as every class and on every difficulty. \u00a0Again, time will tell if I do end up admitting defeat.<\/p>\n

Blizz have done OK with the female characters; yes, they start off fairly under-dressed but so do the male counterparts. \u00a0My one criticism is the fem-Demon Hunter’s boots… why would you wear heels (at all!) to fight the prime evil? \u00a0Seriously. \u00a0Oh, and the\u00a0occasional\u00a0armour vs. cleavage fail is a given.<\/em><\/p>\n

In between my battling of evil I made a brief foray into the world of the mod. \u00a0The mod in question is Centralia: Part 1<\/a><\/strong>, which is the opening sequence of a game developed as a mod for Half Life 2: Episode 2<\/strong>. \u00a0I’ve written a more general review over here<\/a>\u00a0but I felt it worth a mention as a)<\/strong> it doesn’t involve shooting guns or killing things and b)<\/strong> yeah, OK, my brother is one of the devs.<\/p>\n

The idea behind it is (I paraphrase) “to make creepy places fun”, so they’ve taken an extraordinary story from real life (Centralia, PA<\/a>) and added some more spooky to the mix. \u00a0Even though it’s pretty short for now, it still managed to make me jump a couple of times.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

A still from the beginning of Centralia<\/p><\/div>\n

It is a genuinely interesting concept for a game and I’d quite like to see where it goes, but to do that I first have to persuade my bro to set up a KickStarter<\/strong> fund, then he has to get funded through it. \u00a0Blah, blah austerity etc.<\/em><\/p>\n

Tropes Vs Women in Games: a cool thing for you to throw money at<\/h3>\n

As I’ve mentioned KickStarter, we here at BR had this <\/a>drawn to our attention. \u00a0Tropes vs. Women in Video Games<\/strong> is the brainchild of Anita of Feminist Frequency<\/a> <\/strong>who is hoping to make a series of films based on, well, tropes of women in video games.<\/p>\n

“The series will highlight the larger reoccurring patterns and conventions used within the gaming industry rather than just focusing on the worst offenders.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n