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First Person Shooters (Games)

An Early Look At Next-Gen Shooter Bodycount 238

If you ask fans of first-person shooters what feature they'd like to see in a new game, their answers — now and for the past 15 years — probably involve destructible environments. Game developers have tried to satisfy this demand with scripted events, breakable objects, and more crates than you can shake a rocket launcher at. However, Bodycount, an upcoming game from Codemasters Guildford, is aiming to deliver what gamers have wanted for so long: the ability to blast apart whatever you please. Quoting the Guardian's games blog from their hands-on with the game: "... it's not just about effect, it's about access. In Bodycount, you can blow chunks out of thinner interior walls, allowing you to burst through and catch enemies by surprise. You can also brilliantly modify cover objects – if you're hiding behind a crate and want to take out enemies without popping up from behind it, shoot a hole in it. Bingo, you've got a comparatively safe firing vantage. The difference between this and say, Red Faction or Bad Company, is that the destruction isn't limited to pre-set building sections. It's everywhere. This should, of course, grind the processor to a halt, but the team has come up with a simple compromise to facilitate its vision. 'The trick is that we're not running full physics on everything,' explains lead coder, Jon Creighton. ... This is tied in with one of the best cover systems I've ever seen. While in a crouching position (gained by holding the left trigger down), you can use the left analogue stick to subtly look and aim around your cover object, ducking and peeking to gain that perfect view of the war zone. It's natural, it's comfortable and it's adaptive, and it will surely consign the whole 'locking on' mechanic to the graveyard of cover system history."
Programming

Sid Meier and the 48-Hour Game 58

MMBK writes "Sid Meier is possibly the most influential game designer ever, having developed the Civilization series, among others. This video documentary looks at his past while he travels to the University of Michigan for the 48-hour game design competition, which was hosted by his son."
User Journal

Journal Journal: Windows Reduced Media Edition

The "Reduced Media" edition of Windows is all over the news. Frankly, I just don't see the point. They yanked out the Media Player, and so what?

Here's the arguments of the pro side, transposed into a different domain:

User Journal

Journal Journal: Alternative career for old GMs?

Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten reports that in criminal circles there are some people that put together "robbery packages", comprising reconnaissance reports of the target, lists of equipment needed and a detailed "how-to" for the heist. They sell the package to someone willing to risk it, and collect a cash payment as well as a dividend of the eventual loot.

As an old GM, I could do that... :)

User Journal

Journal Journal: What does it take?

What does it take to do a good job as a programmer? I'll list some points, maybe I'll elaborate later:
  • Don't assume: Assumptions are the root of all evil. In many case studies on SW reliability and safety, failures can be traced back to an assumption done by a programmer in lieu of hard data.
  • Know your tools: Not taking the time to learn to use your editor, CASE tool, debugger and other tools effectively is as stupid for a programmer as a chef that never sharp
Slashdot.org

Journal Journal: Signatures

[Hmm, a journal function. What does it do? Klickety-klick...]

One small thing that's been bugging me; why can't people put a seperator between their signature and the message body? Or at least put the .sig in italics or something? Sometimes the signature and the message are hard to tell apart, especially since many people actually have a message in their .sig.

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