Neon Turtles

And... I'm back.

2010-01-28T15:02:00.004+08:00

I have returned from my dual holiday to La Reunion/Japan, and will now get back to playing games and talking about them. This is more just a heads up than anything else, but I will just add that the reason the site has had.. limited content recently is also due to Michael, Mark and I's inherent laziness. As we are teenagers, we cannot be blamed for this.

I also said I would do a BF:BC2 Beta preview, but unfortunately I only played about 2 hours before having to leave to Reunion. As such all I can really say is that it's pretty similar to the first Bad Company; if you liked that you'll probably this.

BFBC2 Beta Release Imminent!

2010-01-27T23:36:00.002+08:00

If you're anything like me, you're more than interested in the new Bad Company game being released in March. After all the problems associated with the "hack proof" and "user friendly" IW.NET *cough* Bullshit *cough*, many players from MW2 are interested in the game which will offer a graphically awesome experience, intense online multiplayer and dedicated servers for PC users.

A beta for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 on PC will be released on the 28th of January (US Time) which is the 29th for Australians. If you've pre-ordered BFBC2 then you'll be able to get access to the beta. If you're Australian, Steam is selling it for $55 Australian which is damned cheap for any game over here. PS3 users have already experienced a beta and with a PC beta coming up, we'll be providing you with a preview of the beta soon.

For more information see the BFBC2 blog here.

We're [Not] Dead.

2010-01-24T19:23:00.003+08:00

Exactly what the title is implying. NeonTurtles hasn't been giving you guys a good dose of gaming news recently for a number of good reasons:

- Mike and Dennis (Possibly Mark as well) are all having a vacation in Japan, last time I talked to them they told me they were going snowboarding.

- I've just come back from visiting Hong Kong and Macau.

- I'm staying in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia where traffic stands still and internet is scarce.

On behalf of the team, I humbly ask you (The reader!) to pardon us for the lack of activity.

Now with that aside let's look what's coming up in what is possibly one of the greatest years of gaming we have ever known.

With ground breaking sequels such as MASS EFFECT 2 and BIOSHOCK 2 being released very, very soon; you guys can expect Michael, Dennis and Mark to do whole hearted reviews of them once they get back.

Titles such as Halo: Reach, Dead Space 2, Alan Wake and Dead Rising 2 and many more are going to make us all dive our hands into the depths of our pockets in order to keep up with the flurry of excitement that will eventually hit the shelves sometime this year.

On a side note; Valve has launched its Team Fortress 2 Contribution site. This is where all the ideas submitted by the community regarding new weapons and hats will be checked by Valve to see if they'll make the grade to be used in the game. So if you have a niche for modelling, concept art and game design; make yourself heard now!

TF2 Contribution Site: http://www.teamfortress.com/contribute/

2010 is going to be a significant year for gamers, so it'll best for you not to miss out.

Game of the Year, 2009

2009-12-21T19:19:00.005+08:00

Hey guys,
I'm currently sitting at a laptop in a random house in Reunion, a small French-owned island near Mauritius, off the coast of Madagascar. The keyboard I'm using looks like this, so it's taking awhile to type this out. Anyway, as a result of my current geographical location, I won't be involved in anything possibly until February comes around, apart from this; my top 5 games of 2009. Enjoy (or don't).

5- Plants vs Zombies
Popcap was introduced to me through this game. I now own, in one form or another, every Popcap game, but only Peggle is as good as this. I spent countless hours on Plants vs Zombies, growing my Tree of Wisdom higher than I would like to say. I have no idea why this game is as fun as it is, or as addictive, but there you go.

4- Dragon Age: Origins
Mark and Michael love the shit out of this game. And despite what may seem, so do I. I've always enjoyed RPG's, and Dragon Age is a fine example of a traditional video game refined and turned into something extremely enjoyable. A nicely original story and a brillantly realised world combine with challenging and enjoyable combat, and the best party interaction I have ever seen, to create what may well be the most replayable RPG of all time.

3- Flower
Many of you may not know what Flower is. A downloadable title put out on PSN by thatgamecompany earlier this year, Flower was on release heralded as a brilliant example of how the Sixaxis could be used well as a control device. It is also, however, a brilliant game. I recommend you go and watch a video because it will explain it far better than I do. Flower really wins the award for best experience with a game I've had this year, and also the award for most beautiful.

2- Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Nathan Drake is fucking awesome. The first chapter of the Uncharted franchise was, in my humble opinion, an excellent game, but it really doesn't compare to Among Thieves. I enjoyed every minute of Uncharted 2; one could say it's a rollercoaster ride in digital form. Uncharted 2 also sets the bar for story telling in video games, and it raises it pretty high. Finally, it looks quite pretty.

1- Assassin's Creed 2
Somebody always calls each and every year the ''Year of the Sequel'', but I would bestow upon 2009 a different title; the ''Year of the Sequel that is really fucking good''. Assassin's Creed 2, in my mind, is the perfect example of just what I sequel should be. In every way improved over the first game, AC2 wins my game of the year because it not only does a lot, it also does everything right. I don't really feel like I need to say anymore; Assassin's Creed 3 will have to be really good to keep up.

Valve News, Medal of Honor and Halo Reach

2009-12-18T13:50:00.009+08:00

Some exciting news that has emerged this week regarding Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress 2, Medal of Honor and Halo: Reach.

Valve’s marketing director Doug Lombardi has announced plans for the first batch of Left 4 Dead 2 DLC which will collide with the 360 and PC on (American) Spring 2010. Said to contain a new campaign dubbed ‘The Passing’ it features Left 4 Dead 1’s original survivors meeting up with the cast from Left 4 Dead 2 in one big zombie slaughter game set in a small rural town of Georgia. Full co-op, scavenge, survival and versus compatibility will be included along with a brand new melee weapon, firearm and uncommon common infected. The exact pricing details for the DLC is to be decided but it is assumed to be free for the PC as an update and available as a download from the Xbox Live Marketplace... For a price. Aside from the DLC, for all those modders out there who have been living under a rock; the Left 4 Dead 2 Authoring tools has been seen undergoing a private beta test by several users in the steam community so expect seeing the full release sometime near the abridged future.

The ‘War’ Update is finally here for Team Fortress 2 that gives the Demoman and Soldier more gear and you the ability to craft weapons and hats from blueprints with all those spare items that have been littering your inventory. The new gear includes new shoes for the Soldier, a more defensive sticky bomb launcher, new achievements and even a SWORD AND SHIELD for the Demoman. Pay the TF2 Blog a visit for full details and be sure to check out the comics they have posted. Now the only class that’s left without an update is the engineer.

TF2 Blog War Update: http://www.teamfortress.com/war/part1/index.htm

Medal of Honor has a new game and trailer! It is now following in the footsteps of its Call of Duty predecessor by shifting from the war torn country sides of Europe to the conflict in the middle east. Looking like a Hollywood blockbuster movie; it is worth checking out the trailer via YouTube and might be of interest to all those folks who unnaturally get bored with Modern Warfare 2. Let’s just hope you don’t have to play as an undercover CIA agent.

Watch the Medal of Honor trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsOUMavabM4

In case you have missed it, Halo: Reach has a world premiere trailer that looks so ever sweet and showcases Spartan team Noble; the supposed main characters. It is a must-see for Halo fans and is one of the best trailers I’ve seen this year.

Watch the Halo: Reach Trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9ez7iNjoVg

Sorry for the late news.

Internet Censorship FTL?

2009-12-18T09:59:00.002+08:00

The Federal Minister for Communications, Stephen Conroy recently announced that the government would go ahead with its controversial introduction of a mandatory internet filter for Australia.

I for one, believe that the internet speed in this country is pathetic at best, and we don't need to have a political point scoring filter being introduced to slow it down any further.
This filter is said to block 1 in 10 legitimate websites. The only other countries that censor the internet in the world are: China, Iran, Burma, Cuba, North Korea, Syria, Egypt, Vietnam, Tunisia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. That is not a list Australia should be added to. Furthermore I'm a little irritated that the government needs to tell us what we should and shouldn't be able to see, when we're all capable of putting a filter in place if we want one. On top of that, cyber crime devisions of the AFP would no doubt benefit much more from the money that would be spent on this filter.

If you're as pissed off/biased/internet loving as I am, head to this website; the GetUp Campaign is letting us e-mail Senator Conroy, so he can experience the power of people complaining over the internet (it's a beautiful thing, isn't it?).

BFBC2 Beta

2009-12-09T19:31:00.001+08:00

I got in it. Preview to come.

Mass Effect 2: A Minor Preview

2009-12-08T09:39:00.001+08:00

I suppose I could be called a Bioware fanboy. I wouldn't have thought so before the release of Dragon Age: Origins. Another game being released by Bioware is Mass Effect 2, which is surprisingly the sequel to Mass Effect. ZOMG RLY?

Everyone here at Neon Turtles has played Mass Effect. I don't think Dennis has finished it but has still been enjoying it. Mark and I enjoyed it but agree there were flaws. Flaws we hope to see fixed in Mass Effect 2. Bioware has slowly been releasing snippets of what is to come in Mass Effect 2. They have revealed new characters such as Subject Zero and Thane- to name a few -and teased the possibility of returning characters such as Garrus and Tali. These videos (except Subject Zero's) probably have made most Mass Effect fans squeal like a little girl.

Additionally to the clips of characters, Bioware has done a few developer walk-through videos with big game sites showing off new game-play mechanics such as the new reloading system that replaces the overheating weapons system. Most recently they have done interviews and videos around the revamped classes such as Biotics and Engineers. Which brings me to a criticism of Bioware. While I understand by boosting abilities and powers they are too increasing the fun of the game. But as seen with the Subject Zero trailer I am starting to see a trend by Bioware of selling their games through boobs and violence to appeal to a wider audience than RPG fans (they did this with Dragon Age too). While I don't mind them doing this, or changing the game-play to further become like an action game, I just pray this doesn't have a negative effect on the RPG side of things.

Besides all the mumbo-jumbo in relation to the game itself, Mass Effect 2 on Xbox 360 will feature two discs.
“Even though there is a disc swap, it occurs at a carefully planned place in the game (that does not interfere with gameplay) and is done once,” Priestly wrote on the Mass Effect 2 forums. “You do not swap back and forth. 1 swap and then done.” - Bioware
So it doens't sound like a problem, and having two discs gives me the impression that it is going to be a long game which in my opinion is a good thing, and won't have an effect on the PC version which I plan to get. To rap this up Bioware have also changed the Boxart for the standard edition to this. I feel that this new cover is trying to appeal to action gamers opposed to the Mass Effect boxart which had a similar feel to a blockbuster movie cover.

Having just talked about everything Bioware has revealed, I feel there is so much more to be found out too. Such as are Liara and Ashely going to make returns? Will the explorable planets/systems have more depth? Will there be elevators? Australians will know the answer when Mass Effect 2 is released here January 28th next year.

Dragon Age: Origins Review

2009-12-05T20:30:00.004+08:00

To be honest, I finished Dragon Age a few weeks ago, but I am one of those gamers who: A)Likes to sit and think about a game they have just finished for a little while, before touching it again. B) Doesn't typically play games a second time.

Now I think I am ready to tell the imaginary readers of our blog what they need to know about Dragon Age: Origins. For a start, Dragon Age is a game I will be playing again. It is an excellent video game that I would definitely recommend for christmas if you're a fan of RPGs. The lore and history of the world is in depth, the writing is mature and complex and the combat most tactical and enjoyable I've seen in an RPG to date.

Let's start with the combat. It is not a particularly new idea to have 4 party members working together to take down waves of enemies, but Dragon Age is certainly the most engaging tactical experience I can remember from an RPG point of view. It is not at all uncommon to fight 10 enemies at once, with this spiralling up to 20 now and then, not counting massive battles. For this reason you will need to use the four members of your party (who can be a warrior, rogue or mage) in tandem with one another to defeat a wide variety of reasonably intelligent enemies. Because you will be pausing a lot, I would recommend getting the game on PC, as the console versions don't really allow for the tactical top-down view that can be useful in massive fights. There are a wide range of spells and abilities as well as class customizations which means there's lots of room for replayability (I'd like to know if that's really a word).

Speaking of replayability, let's have a look at the replayability value of this game. You can choose from 6 different origin stories which define your character's position in the world. Each origin gets a 2 hour starting story before branching off into the main quest and does not only affect the opening hours of the game. I for one am aware of several quests I missed because of my origin choice, and one very cool ending to the game which requires you to have a specific origin story. Long story short, this is quite possibly the best game in terms of value for money I have seen for a long, long time (it's only $60 dollars or so on steam). I racked up 60 hours on this game before finishing it and I didn't even get the achievement for finishing 75% of the side quests.

The music in Dragon Age also deserves a mention, it contains an excellent score by the world reknowned composer Inon Zur, who has done the soundtrack for many Triple A titles. The music is used well by the game to create some very cinematic moments that you'd struggle to find in most modern day films. The graphics also deserve a mention, they're not top notch, but you should be able to run them on high settings if you have a modern PC, and you will probably only see lag during some of the extremely large battles.

Let's move on to my favourite part of this game, the story and the writing. BioWare is well known for its writing and Dragon Age is no different. The story is engaging and interesting from the beginning of the tale and the choices you make in this game are so interesting you'll want to replay it just to see what happens when you do one thing instead of the other. On top of that, the characters in this game are very well done. The party members at the beginning of the story all give interesting impressions, but once you go beyond the surface you'll find that none of them are exactly as you thought they were. They all are complex people with very complex opinions and feelings. The plot feels the same way, in that not all of the choices are black and white, and there really aren't good or bad choices in the game, as opposed to what you think is the best option.

Summing up, there aren't enough games out there like Dragon Age: Origins. Great storyline with interesting party members and dialogue, coupled with an interesting new world and fun combat is not something you see everyday. There's only so much about it I can repeat before you need to see the game for yourself. If you like RPGs, especially BioWare RPGs, this game is a must. Christmas isn't that far away, so if you don't have a copy already and then go grab one or guilt trip a relative into it!

Sup Y'all

2009-12-04T21:57:00.003+08:00

Sorry to all that I haven't been watering the blog much recently, and that no podcast went up this week; I've been working, Mark is staying at Michael's house, and life is generally getting in the way of our sorry excuse for a gaming blog. Anyways, the reason I actually started this post was to talk a little about Assassin's Creed 2, which I beat this afternoon.

To start with, a big comment on just how good this game has already been mentioned; I beat it quickly, in fact before I had beaten both Dragon Age and Borderlands (getting there guys). This second installment really does propel you through it, with much tighter pacing than the first, and a much more interesting story. I do have to say that playing the Assassin's Creed 1 will really help you understand "what.the.fuck." is going on (there's a reason I put that in quotes, you'll see).
All in all, AC2 always gives you something to do, and feels shorter than the 25 hours or so that it is(which is a good thing, to clarify).

I've already talked a bit about the mechanics that underpin the action in this here video game, and my thoughts earlier on were more or less correct; everything has been made just a little bit better, though the climbing is still occasionally unwieldy. Of the new armaments in the game, namely poison, a gun and TWO WRIST BLADES, only the one in caps is really important.

There are a stack of other improvements, but I don't need to list them; suffice to say, Assassin's Creed 2 is fantastic. On one final note, the game has one of the more cliffhanger endings you'll see in a video game, much like the first, but guess what? Assassin's Creed 2 has by far the best end game credits ever. Nothing even comes close.

This is Dennis, saying go buy that game.

Alien vs. Predator Banned in Australia...

2009-12-04T13:16:00.004+08:00

Some of you may or may not be aware that Sega was planning to release an Aliens vs. Predator game for 360, PS3 and PC in February of next year. It seems at this point Australia will not be receiving that game. It has just been refused classification by the OFLC and Sega decided not to attempt to tone down the violence factor for a similar case with German censors. Refusing classification means that the game will not be able to be sold on Australian shores.

The OFLC claims up close and gruesome decapatation and other violent acts are the reason for the ban. Some of the things in the game definitely sound worthy of an R 18+ rating, which of course Australia does not have. In our next podcast we will be discussing a few things to do with R 18+ ratings and the OFLC, and gamers' favourite Attorney General, Michael Atkinson.

If you're interested in the game or the ban, be sure to check out this report.

BFBC2 PC Specifications announced!

2009-12-03T17:23:00.003+08:00

If you're as excited about Battlefield: Bad Company 2 as we are, then you'll be interested to know that the minimum and recommended PC specs are out. There is already a PS3 Beta for the game and a PC beta will be starting early next year, according to the game's blog. The recommended specs include a quad-core processor and a 512MB Graphics card, so you might want to consider an upgrade or two before March next year, if you're a die hard fan.

Click here for the full list.

DLC for Major Titles Inbound! (Also, we're not dead!)

2009-12-02T10:12:00.002+08:00

The good news for gamers this holiday season is that their favourite games do not have to end. Both Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed 2 and BioWare's Dragon Age: Origins will see DLC this summer, with 2 new DLC downloads becoming available for Assassin's Creed early next year and several DLC pieces planned for Dragon Age. Assassins Creed 2 will see "the Battle of Forli" and "the Bonfire of Vanities" which still lack more details, while Dragon Age will see "Return to Ostagar" in which the player returns to an early area of the game to learn more about the ruins of Ostagar and get some new epic loot!

Additionally, as a blog we are not dead, just playing a lot of MW2 and a few other games. We will start updating the blog regularly as of now....I hope. And fear not! A new podcast is coming up before the end of the week.

So stay tuned for more ranting and occasional gaming news!

PodTurtles Ep4 - Holidays Go

2009-11-23T22:38:00.003+08:00

Yes we are lazy.
Not really, we all had exams (I still do) and thus our gaming playing abilities were severed. Alas Mark, Dennis and I have all been playing Modern Warfare 2 and Dragon Age: Origins. Dennis has also been playing Assassins Creed 2 and has tried the Left 4 Dead 2 Demo, Tropico 3 Demo and the Gyromancer demo. Due to lack of material we also talk about things that aren't games.

You can listen to the podcast here with the embedded player or alternatively download it here.
The podcast is 49 minutes and 30 seconds long, so ignore any lies to podcast puts upon you.

AC2 thoughts

2009-11-23T14:18:00.003+08:00

Assassin's Creed was an ambitious game. A massive city, a free running assassin, blades hidden in wrists... The game had it all. What it lacked, however, was any real mission variety that could keep a player from getting bored after the first 3 hours. The game had a fair few other problems too, though I must say I ultimately enjoyed it quite a lot.

The problem of repetitive missions and very little to do are gone in the second Assassin's Creed outing. For those not following, the series follows one Desmond Miles, bartender extraordinaire, who in the first game is kidnapped by an evil corporation run by Templars who force him to relive the life of an assassin that exists in his genetic memory, in order to learn the location of a "piece of Eden", the items that have allowed them to rule over the world. If you didn't get all that don't be too fussed, as the second game opens with a cinematic explaining (far better than I did), the plot of the first game.

AC2 opens with Desmond leaving the Templar's offices with the help of Lucy, an assassin(who by the way are the sworn enemies of the Templars in this universe). You are then promptly put back in to the life of another ancestor who killed people, this time one Ezio Auditore, an Italian upper-middle class citizen, who (for very good reasons), begins murdering rather a few Templars.

The story I will not go into more than that, but it's suitably well written stuffed with conspiracies. The real reason you should be here is to learn about how un-boring the second Assassin's Creed is; in short, it is in every way superior to it's predecessor.

To begin with, the character of Ezio. This guy is actually a man before he is an Assassin, and unlike Altair, who while incredibly badass was ultimately just a cipher, Ezio really is a character. His job as second son in his family seems to involve a lot of womanizing and fighting, and the development of the young man as a rascal to a hardened killer is noticeable; the game's plot spans a number of years.

Moving on from character, we have all the shit you can do in AC2. The main story still involves assassinations, but no longer are there mandatory eavesdropping missions before hand. All of the side quests really are side quests now, and are completely optional. Not only are they optional, but there are a hell of a lot more of them, including actual assassination missions.

The second big addition comes in the form of an economy, and a village. You can now buy new weapons and armour for Ezio, and pickpocket civilians to earn the money you use. You also earn money from the completion of missions, of course, and as income from your wonderful villa. This is a big addition; about two hours into the game your Italian countryside castle is opened up. You will slowly nurture the aging mansion, and it's included village, back into a popular tourist destination. Essentially, you invest money into it, and you get money back. The system works nicely; you go back every once in a while to do some stuff and collect your rather large bags of money.

The actual gameplay remains much the same as Assassin's Creed the first, with the only real addition to combat being disarming. There are some new toys, such as smokebombs, and additions to the wristblade; you have two of them, they can poison fools, and shoot people in the face.

I'm kind of getting tired of writing, so I'll continue this later; suffice to say, Assassin's Creed 2 is pretty good.

Podcast?

2009-11-16T16:04:00.002+08:00

For the 18 imaginary people who listen to our podcast, PodTurtles, and the one real person who does (me), there is no PodTurtles this week. We're all in the middle of exams, and also there are a lot of games that we're playing, rather than talking about. You can expect another PodTurtles next week, with Modern Warfare 2, among other things.

Sorry guys.

Torchlight thoughts

2009-11-14T19:50:00.002+08:00

Torchlight is a Diablo clone. You should know this upfront. It's developed by the same guys that made Diablo, the music is written by the same man who wrote the music for Diablo, and the game kind of just is Diablo. That's not a bad thing, however; Diablo is still a great game, aged as it is, and loot-whoring never seems to get old.

The journey starts with a choice of one of three classes(mage, warrior, rogue), and either a cat or dog as a pet. The game opens in the only town you'll see, Torchlight(don't know what the name has to do with the title, but whatever). From there you progress through the paper-thin story and into the game's one and only dungeon. 1 dungeon may sound like you'll not be seeing much change in scenery, but the weirdly changing mine actually has a fair bit of variety; lava, jungle(complete with rain), and more.

The game's mechanics involve a lot of left clicking, but there's been a fair bit of streamlining from the Diablo of old. You can bind any skill to your right mouse, remove gems from gear to reuse the gear or gem (but not both), receive set bonuses from armour and weapons, and more. A big part of this streamlining is your pet, which is the only real innovation in the game; your little guy has an inventory, and will run back to the town to sell all the stuff you put in it, if you want him too.

He's also a fighter, though, and can be equipped with loot of his own. Spells are where it's at when it comes to your pet, for example giving him a buff, or a summon, which he will cast completely autonomously. When your pet is giving you rock armour and summoning skeletons, you're set.

Apart from that, there's not much more to say about Torchlight. It's a cheap ($20), purchase off Steam that I highly recommend if you're into loot, and don't find Borderlands appealing enough.

MW2- Another perspective

2009-11-12T09:44:00.003+08:00

Considering Dennis openly admitted that he hasn't really even played the first COD4, I thought it would be prudent to tell you what I thought of the game, seeing as I recently racked up 1000 hours of COD4 MP on Xfire, and have played the first game singleplayer so much that it hurts.

The singleplayer experience is similar in length to the first game and essentially continues where the last singleplayer left off. Unfortunately, if you've played COD4, you're going to be finding a lot of stuff in here repetitive. Things that were fun to do or watch the first time round don't bring that much enthusiasm and you only really start to get interested in the second half of the campaign. This could be put down to a lack of innovation on IW's part. Sure, you get to fire some predator missiles now and then, but for the rest of the time you will be seeing things that have already been tried and tested in COD4. By far the most interesting new part of the singleplayer are the all too brief vehicle scenes where you can control a snow mobile for example.

Dennis said the game is well written and I suppose this is true, however it is not very well explained in parts. Relationships between members of your squad are not fully understandable if you haven't played COD4 and there are some major plot points where there is a lack of explanation to the player as to what has just happened. This is still a fun singleplayer game, but it doesn't feel like a proper sequel as much as episode two of the same game.

I'm going to skip to graphics in general now, and simply say that the graphics have been tweaked. They haven't developed a new engine or anything, but that doesn't bother me because they still look good. Just don't expect to be blown away by new graphics or anything.

Multiplayer is an interesting mixture of good things and bad things. The maps and gameplay are new, plus new weapons and killstreak unlocks mean you will never want to stop playing. The problem is, it's likely you'll be forced to stop playing all the time. If you and a bunch of friends want to play together you'll have to make a party and try and join up with another bunch of people wanting to play. Private matches are also at the moment completely obsolete, because you can only get points through matchmaking.

Also, if one of your friends is disconnected from the server you're playing on, the matchmaker will sometimes find a replacement and you'll all have to leave to get back into a game together. On top of this, these "lobbies" have only ever lasted 6 maps at MOST for me. It is very irritating having to spend so much time on menus instead of transitioning smoothly between each map and staying with the same player group. The only problems in terms of gameplay is that fact that there is no lean button on PC anymore, which doesn't seem that irritating until you try it.

If you can get into a game, you'll enjoy it immensely and I would still recommend buying the game, I simply couldn't resist adding a dolop of negativity to Dennis' cake of awesome.

I am an idiot.

2009-11-10T21:44:00.004+08:00

I got Modern Warfare 2 today, at 10.00am. It cost me 100 dollars. I then came back home, and sat down to play "just a little" of the singleplayer. Problem is, I didn't stop.

The game is amazing. I have played the entirety of the singeplayer campaign, which just goes from one crazy set-piece to another. It doesn't stop, it doesn't slow down, and it's a hell of a lot of fun. The story is over the top too, but very well written, and there were plot twists I actually didn't expect. Despite what the title of this post reads, I am not an idiot(in this respect), and almost always guess what's going to happen. As should you.

The shooting itself feels very similar to the first Modern Warfare, from what I've played(I never actually owned the game), and there's a large variety in guns that means everyone should find something they like killing dudes with. The graphics are better, but certainly not on par with some games of this generation(and before you ask, everything was on highest). On the whole the singleplayer is one of the best experiences I've had all year, while remaining similar to the first game in the series.

The multiplayer is similar to the CoD4 as well, with some tweaks and improvements that, well, improve it. Deathstreaks are fun, especially for me, and according to GiantBomb, shooting down UAV's is awesome. I wouldn't know, but Mark and Michael certainly will. I have yet to try out the spec ops mode, though judging from the rest of the game so far, it will be awesome. Despite my deep hatred of Activision, I've got to admit that they've published a damn fine game.

So why am I an idiot?
I have two exams tommorow.

Modern Warfare 2 Inbound!

2009-11-09T19:05:00.002+08:00

This time tomorrow those of us in Australia will have our hands on Modern Warfare 2, one of the most anticipated and controversial games of the decade. Our dedicated team will disregard their real lives and impending exams to bring you updates to the minute on how the game is, if it's enjoyable and if it is worth your hard earned cash (let's be honest, you didn't do any hard work for it all, did you?). Stay tuned to ze blog for updates!

PodTurtles Ep3 - Dragon Age, and nothing else.

2009-11-08T20:38:00.004+08:00

PodTurtles Episode 3 arrives! Filled with family fun, for the whole family, and a chance to win a trip to Hawaii!

Nah I'm just fucking with y'all. We talk Dragon Age: Origins, a little bit of Borderlands, Battlefield Bad Company 2 and Australia's lack of an 18+ rating.

Or Download it all here.

FYI podcast is actually 52 minutes and 48 seconds long, the embedded player lies.

Additional pwning by Michael. (Editor's note: Michael added the embedded player)

High General Exalted Chancelleor Editor Mark's Note: Nobody cares about the editor's note.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2: The Beta Annoucement Trailer

2009-11-08T17:34:00.003+08:00

As mentioned in the forthcoming Podcast, here is a trailer about the Bad Company 2 Beta!

Looks epic, just like the good old BF2 days.

The Dragon Age toolset arrives.

2009-11-07T18:23:00.001+08:00

And so it was that a fantastic RPG released it's mod creation software. And so the writers of Neon Turtles did raise their hands to the skies, and cry out in joy. For theses people had plans, plans to use the hallowed software to create reasonably shitty mods.

Yeah... We're planning a mod. Like that'll turn out well. Anyway, it's out, you should get it if you have Dragon Age: Origins for the PC, and make actually good content. If Neverwinter Nights is anything to go by, there should soon be some seriously good user-created stories available for all. You can find the toolset here.

MW2 Launch Trailer

2009-11-05T16:26:00.003+08:00

Makes the singleplayer look like an epic movie! At 1.00 you see a space scene from a first person view...I wonder if you can play that or if it is just a cinematic?

Dragon Age Combat

2009-11-04T23:11:00.002+08:00

Ok, I'm about 4 hours into Dragon Age and let me tell you: it isn't a cake walk. Sure, slaying people and decapitating them is easy enough, but eventually you're going to run into tactically placed enemies, such as archers behind warriors. This means you're going to need to use tactics and your whole party in order to take them down. Dragon Age has thrown up to 10 enemies at me at a time, in the first few hours and it really makes you appreciate your life when you defeat a giant and rather disgruntled ogre. This is some of the most thoughtful and addictive combat I've ever seen, you'll need to pause frequently to stay on top of the hard fights, but if you pull it off, you feel incredibly satisfied with yourself. More on Dragon Age later, assuming one of the other two don't shut me up in time.

Let the epic journey begin!

2009-11-04T06:02:00.003+08:00

I woke up at 5am this morning for a little game called Dragon Age: Origins. I probably wouldn't wake up at 5am for my own wedding day, so it shows you just how excited I am about this game. I'm currently installing the 1st day DLC that BioWare has released (you get most of it for free if you purchase a new copy of the game) and so far the interface and online account idea is working really well. Essentially to get your DLC you need to register on the BioWare Social Site and redeem your codes. But you can also log into this site from the game, and keep track of your friends and their characters through this new hybrid of facebook and a games website.

Dragon Age: Origins is a massive game, so it'll probably be a while until we review it properly, needless to say though, we'll be updating you frequently with the awesome adventures we experience in Ferelden.

WTF of the Week: Aussie L4D2 players being kicked from foreign servers, not for ping?

2009-11-03T21:44:00.000+08:00

Well through internet chat it has been brought to my attention that the censorship of Left 4 Dead 2 here in Australia has further ruined the game. There are reports from many Aussie gamers with the L4D2 demo on the steam forums claiming that they have been vote kicked off foreign games by other players with the normal version of the game.

Why? It appears that the censorship of the Aussie version has removed a special zombie from the game, the Riot Cop. When an Australian (or German) plays with players from another country with the normal version of the game, the Australian (or German) prevents the Riot Cop from spawning in that game. People have joined games, the other players get suspicious when the Riot Cop does not spawn, and then vote kick the Australian or German player with the censored version of the game.

This thread here on the Steam forum highlights all the problems/arguments related to this discovery. Here is an example of foreign players already looking for a way to ban all Australian and German players from their servers/games so that their gameplay experience is not ruined.

Borderlands thoughts..

2009-11-01T21:43:00.002+08:00

I figured I should stop playing Borderlands to talk about it for a bit. For those unaware, this GearBox(the guys behind Brothers in Arms), developed game is described by them as an RPS(role playing shooter), combining skill trees and loot(in the form of a bajillion guns), with actually good shooting mechanics(I'm looking at you, Fallout).

I've only got a level 26(out of 50), so don't take my word as everything(and why would you anyway), but Borderlands is awesome. It's focused on co-op, which is always fun, and for lovers of loot(like me), this game is fantastic. The art-style is sexy(no, not in that way), the shooting really does work, and the netcode(though sadly through Gamespy), is still good enough to connect with your buddies and have a rip roaring good time.

I'd love to say more, but i have midgets to kill and quests to hand in. Go and buy Borderlands, unless you don't have any money, or hate games(or all these god damn brackets made you sad).

PodTurtles Ep2 - Games a'Plenty

2009-11-01T19:28:00.003+08:00

Second Podturtles is here! Topics from this PodTurtles include games we've been playing, previews of some big titles coming up and micro-transactions in video games.

You can listen to it right here using the DivShare embedded player or download the .mp3 from the DivShare website here
Run time is 63:36 (mins/seconds)

Assassin's Creed 2 hyped with live action movie.

2009-10-30T21:58:00.004+08:00

In the coming month of November, gamers will be able to purchase some of the most anticipated games of 2009. Apart from Dragon Age, Modern Warfare 2 and L4D 2 we will also be able to purchase Assassin's Creed 2 (actually on the same day as L4D 2..).

If you haven't played or at least heard of the first Assassin's Creed (although you'd have to be Helen Keller for this to be the case) then you should probably try the game out. Similar to the first game, in AC2 you play an assassin with a wide and entertaining variety of weapons and killing techniques available to you. AC2 is set in Italy during the renaissance and so the player has access to a few more awesome gadgets (including some kind of flying contraption).

Anyway, in order to get possible players hyped up and to delve a little into the backstory of AC2, Ubisoft has released a short live action movie on YouTube about the protagonist's father, who is also an assassin. This movie comes in a few parts (2 or 3) and the first has been released. It's not particularly great, although it does give an interesting insight into the background of the plot. Fans of AC2 should definitely check it out.

The video can be found here.

Eufloria thoughts

2009-10-29T19:32:00.002+08:00

Some of you may have heard of Eufloria, an indie game developed by Rudolf Kremers and Alex May (yes, I know; actual people). You may have seen screenshots on Steam, and thought something along the lines of- "Huh. That looks pretty neat."

And it kind of is. The game is essentially a very basic RTS/ space sim. You have asteroids on which grow trees. The trees make seedlings, which you can tell to go to other asteroids and make more trees. If there are bad seedlings on the other asteroids, your dudes will fight them. One of you will win, and get to plant your trees on that asteroid.

That's the entire game, more or less; there are different types of trees and such, but it never gets overly complicated (or hasn't yet- I haven't beaten it). The art style looks pretty amazing, and some of the procedural generation stuff is pretty cool. The soundtrack is nice too, with a very ambient, calming quality to it.

The problem lies in just how slow this game is. The enemies NEVER attack you. I played the first five levels in full screen, but after that I windowed it and just waited for my seedlings to build up (I'm actually doing that right now). It's really such a basic thing that it's not even really a distraction, as everything is automated, pretty much. This means that you're not really playing a game, in the end, but rather doing a few clicks a minute, and listening to the music (which I have since turned off to listen to my own).

It's a shame, because the game looks like it could be so much more. The AI just really isn't up to scratch though, and having to wait 5 minutes to build up an army big enough to take out their defences just sucks. If the game had multiplayer, it would be way better. But it doesn't.

A disappointment, in the end. A nice idea, poorly thought through.

Borderlands delayed.

2009-10-27T23:12:00.003+08:00

You know that game that I was excited about? Called Borderlands? Fuck that game.

Not really, but it does annoy me that a game four hours away from release got pushed back 3 days (and yes, I know 3 days isn't much). So I ain't playing it right now. But I will be. And then Dragon Age 3 days after that. And then Modern Warfare after that. And then Assassin's Creed 2. And then Left 4 Dead 2. And then...

There are a lot of games coming out, people.

Windows 7 Released

2009-10-27T20:38:00.003+08:00

Microsoft's new and (hopefully) improved Operating System has been released in recent days and I thought I'd give a quick run down of how it will be different from XP or Vista, and what effects it will have on gaming.

Windows 7 has been described essentially as how Vista should have been when it was released. There are less bugs, it is supposedly more user friendly and it runs newer games a little better than older OS'se's'es's (that is the correct grammatical expression, I checked with a French guy...).
The main thing you'll find with Windows 7 game wise is that it supports Direct X 11. This isn't exactly an awesome feature at the moment, but I wouldn't be surprised if in the future we saw a lot more games coming out that utilized that feature to its full potential. This essentially means that a purchase of Windows 7 will help you if you want to future proof your PC for gaming. Other cool features of Windows 7 include automatic split-screen, allowing you to view two folders side by side (something that I can see thousands of uses for) and other cool little user friendly quirks like that.

The only downside to Windows 7 may be compatability issues, however I've spoken to several people who were in the Windows 7 beta and most of them reported that it ran well with their games including the all important COD4. For users of Vista I'd recommend the upgrade (which may be free for some or most of you, I can't remember) and for users of XP, this is certainly a much more worthy OS that deserves serious consideration when you next upgrade your PC.

Modern Warefare 2 predicted to sell 16-18 million copies

2009-10-26T16:15:00.003+08:00

An analyst has predicted that Activision's highly anticipated Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will sell between 16 and 18 million copies within the first year of its release. It's predecessor, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, sold 13 million units (and probably a bit more because that's just a figure off the top of my head). That certainly isn't record breaking in terms of game sales (Nintendogs sold 22.7 million units on the DS) but it certainly does make me spiteful towards Activision and Infinity Ward. They're obviously already rolling in cash, so it irks me that they would introduce the new IW.NET system to combat piracy when they'll still be making millions of dollars.

An article on the prediction can be found here.

Sweet.

2009-10-25T21:17:00.004+08:00

So we have this guy called Albie now. And he can actually draw. It's the best thing ever.

This has nothing to do with games. It's just awesome.

...Fine. I've been playing pretty much what I said before. Uncharted 2 will be the first game I get all achievem- sorry, trophies(dude they're totally different), for.
Borderlands in 2 days, Dragon Age a few days after that... I may also have exams at some point, but there are more important things to do.

I feel like recommending some iPhone/iPod Touch games:

Peggle (you -need- this one),
Bloons Tower Defense,
GeoDefense,
Fieldrunners (you may notice a theme),
Dungeon Hunter,
FlightControl,
WordFu,
Worms,
Pocket God,
Zen Bound,
GeoDefense Swarm,
Mass Effect Galaxy,
Crayon Physics.

There are, of course, many more. Those are just some of the gems in the huge tidal wave of shit that is the App Store.

PodTurtles Ep 1- And So It Begins

2009-10-24T17:03:00.007+08:00

The first podcast. We talk about games we've been playing, and Modern Warfare 2's lack of dedicated servers. I feel I should probably add that we certainly do not advocate piracy.. But we do hate Activision.

Here it is finally! You can just listen to it here using this nifty embedded player or download the whole podcast as a .mp3 file here

Dragon Age: Origins Goes Gold!

2009-10-24T10:43:00.003+08:00

Big news for fans of Dragon Age: Origins today, the game has finally gone gold after 5 years of development time. Dragon Age: Origins is an in-depth high fantasy RPG from BioWare, that has been continously hailed by BioWare developers as "A spiritual successor to Baulder's Gate". BioWare's strong writing and excellent plot development are sure to stand out again, with developers telling us that we won't see the typical "Good, neutral and bad choices" but rather choices in the world that are shades of grey. This new, dark and realistic world, combined with intense tactical party based combat similar to the RPGs of old promise to bring an excellent game which is rumoured to be 80 to 90 hours for an average player. Dragon Age: Origins will be released on November 3rd for the U.S and November 5th for the rest of the world on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.

For those interested, the reuters article on the release can be found here.

Dungeon Hunter

2009-10-24T00:09:00.002+08:00

Just finished recording the very first podcast. It was fun but I'm sure it'll sound like three demons crying into the abyss. Actually that would be kind of badass.

Anyway, I recently purchased Dungeon Hunter ($9), for my iPod Touch, off the recommendation of a friend. It's by Gameloft, a company well known for it's shameless ripoffs. This one is no exception, using just about every fantasy cliché it can. That said, it's also pretty good.

A straight up RPG(rocket propellened gonorrhea, for those unaware), Dungeon Hunter has everything one would expect; quests, a story, equipment, experience, graphics, etc. What's so impressive is the amount of stuff in it. I haven't played all that much, but this really does have everything you want from an rpg; nothing has been lost(except a map, weirdly), in the process of making an iPhone hack n' slash Role Playing Game.

It's not perfect, but it's pretty impressive, and has given me some solid funtimes. For those who like the genre, I recommend buying it(or just steal it, I know all you fuckers have jailbroken your handhelds).

Rumour: Blu Ray Coming to 360?

2009-10-23T22:44:00.000+08:00

It is now obvious that Blu Ray has defeated HD-DVD, there are now rumors that 360 will join its PS3 rival in using Blu-Ray to enhance games and movies being played on the console and so on...

Microsoft's Steve Ballmer has been quoted saying that we will be able to play Blu-Ray movies on the 360 'soon'.
The CEO was quoted after being quizzed on if Blu-Ray was coming to 360 or not and added 'I don't know if we need to put Blu-ray in there—you'll be able to get Blu-ray drives as accessories'

For more information on the rumor visit Gadgetreview.com

I personally think this will be great idea as it would save me from having to buy a blu ray player.

What do you guys think?

Update: The Xbox 360's go to guy, known as Major Nelson has cleared up the rumour, stating comments made in an interview were made in regards to PC accessories. He also said there were "no plans for Blu-ray on 360". His statement can be found here.

Additional pwning by Mark.

What else?

2009-10-23T20:58:00.001+08:00

Other games I've been playing, with some quick thoughts:

Sacred 2: I felt like playing a Diablo clone, so I did. And it is. This is the PC version, by the way. It's a fine game with basically what you'd expect, if you expect an uninspired Diablo clone, but some of the systems are a bit obtuse. Just get Borderlands. (Preloaded on Steam. 4 days...)

Batman Arkham Asylum: ..wow. Definitely the best superhero game I've ever played (and I've played Spiderman), I would strongly recommend this one. Batman is a bad-ass, the story is presented well, the various different aspects of the gameplay are all done very well... Fantastic game, go buy it if you either a) Like Batman, or b) Like games.

Majesty 2: I freaking loved the first Majesty (I was 7, though), and I have to say I'm on a bit of a nostalgia trip with the sequel (finally). It's pretty much the first game, if you've played it, including the same guy doing the voiceover of your royal advisor. It is by no means a fantastic game, but the concept of such a hands-off, simulation style RTS is still interesting enough to kind of carry it, along with some very straightforward charm. Some parts are frustrating, as crazy Russian 1C games often are- the AI is less than great.

Uncharted 2 again..

2009-10-22T01:10:00.002+08:00

Finished it. The feeling that game gives you when you finish it is akin to a very very good film. Suffice to say I liked it a lot. And you should go and buy it. I'll play some more multiplayer and talk more about it later, but it's 1 AM. I need to sleep.

League of Legends thoughts

2009-10-20T18:10:00.002+08:00

So LoL. In case you don't know, League of Legends is the new DoTA game from the creators of... DoTA. If you don't know what DoTA is, this next part isn't going to make a whole lot of sense.

The team at Riot games has finally decided to move away from the limitations of the Warcraft 3 map creator and build a new game from the ground up. This new game is in many ways similar to the old, but there are some key differences; heroes are much tougher than they are in DoTA, encouraging aggresive play, skills generally cost less and they have removed denying (killing your own creeps), from the game.

So what does all this mean? Well for me personally, LoL is a much more fun experience than DoTA. It is more of a noob-friendly experience (and I am certainly a noob), and I love the new cell-shaded cutesy look. Messing around with friends in the beta(which is growing more and more open), has so far been a good time for all. For those looking for DoTA without the worst community on the internet, and a gentler learning curve, I recommend LoL.

Introductions

2009-10-19T08:08:00.001+08:00

I suppose we should say who we are. I'm Dennis Venning, an outspoken bastard with a penchant for disagreement. He's Michael Morrissey, essentially a comic relief character in human form. We are both 16 year old Australian nerds who've been into games for a fair while. In terms of preference, he has a 360, I have a PS3 and a Wii, and am looking to purchase a 360 if I can get the money. I don't consider myself a fanboy, but my Uncharted 2 column was pretty high on it.. I'll get Haze and rage about that.
Venning out.

WTF of the Week: MW2 No dedicated Servers!

2009-10-18T22:46:00.000+08:00

I have played Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare with passion over the last two years and ever since World at War did not live up to the COD4 standard (though still being a solid game), I have been looking forward with hope to Modern Warfare 2. Modern Warfare 2: A game with no flaws, so perfect, so crisp, with an epic singleplayer story line with strong multiplayer competition that was anticipated to surpass COD4 multiplayer due to new perks, more guns, maps, more levels and superior graphics. These were my thoughts yesterday.

Enter Sunday morning. I wake up and after doing some jobs around the house and homework due to the internet being down (a common occurrence here in Australia), I check my clan's forums. First up I see a new thread titled 'Bad News about MW2 for PC'. Clicking on it and expecting to see some news about a delay, which wouldn't bother me at all since it means MW2 wouldn't be released during exams. Instead I find some news about MW2 having 'No dedicated servers, no modding, no server lists, no ability to host.'

Great. Just Great. Up until this day I had thought Infinity Ward to be superior to their Treyarch counterparts. But this news is far worse than COD3's existence. Whether or not this move by Infinity Ward was due to pressure from the new evil Activision is debatable. It does not matter to me. All that matters now what on Earth are PC gamers going to do? By removing server lists and dedicated servers and replacing it all with a new system called 'IW.NET' which we are meant to rely entirely on for matchmaking services, we (PC gamers) are brought down to the console level of gaming which many gamers purposely avoid by playing online games prominently on the PC.

This brings us to our next problem. What is going to happen to the clan and modding communities which have existed since Call of Duty? If there are no dedicated servers then there cannot be modded servers nor a server equipped with competitive mods. They have basically reduced the life of the multiplayer game right there. Competitions and mods bring additional life to the multiplayer aspect of the game, why would they want to remove that? Maybe Rob Bowling knows, but he was too cryptic and didn't explain with good reasoning why Infinity Ward thinks this is a good idea or anyone for that matter. With the matchmaking system a single player hosts the game which will lead to more lag when compared to people playing on a dedicated server. Also if the single person hosting leaves the game, the game has to stop while the host migration occurs. Where does LAN fit into all of this if all online multiplayer games are made and found through match making? Are they going to include a LAN browsing element?

BASHandSlash.com who covered this story first have started calling this day (which was Saturday for America while Sunday for Australia) 'Black Saturday' and the 'Day of infamy' and complaints have come from all corners of the internet with many Infinity Ward community members public announcing on the forums that they are canceling their pre-order. There is also a petition now here,which should be signed by all to raise to the attention of Infinity Ward that their latest plans suck. BASHandSlash's article 'MW2: Our game has changed forever' can be found here. It basically summarizes all the changes to how the MW2 multiplayer will now work.

I don't think I've ever been so saddened by a video game before, this is truly a sad day for PC gaming aswell as the gaming industry as a whole.

If anyone would like to share their comments/rants/rage feel free to comment.

Uncharted 2 thoughts.

2009-10-18T21:20:00.000+08:00

So I've been playing Uncharted 2 since Thursday (it's Sunday now), and man... That game is pretty good. I'd been messing around in the multiplayer beta for a while before launch, but have yet to go back to it. Why? The single player experience is amazingly well crafted; it's the first Uncharted, but better. In every way.

For a start, the graphics. I'm not a graphics whore (or at least I don't admit that I am), but wow. They're quite something. The claims of "best looking game ever" are not true; that's still Crysis in my humble opinion. That said, some of the stuff it does is really impressive; the way Drake gets wet, or covered in snow. The depth of field effect also looks pretty; focusing on something close up, then switching to a far away object can remove one's breath. The character animation is fantastic, too, adding even more personality to the fantastic Nathan Drake.

This is really where the strength of Uncharted lies; Nathaniel (is that his real name?) and his supporting cast. The story is actually pretty good, but it's really a by the numbers swashbuckling tale, and it's the characters that draw you in. The movie like presentation of the whole piece is just done so well; I would say no game has ever told a story this well.

The action is pretty fantastic too, and such a huge improvement over the first game; enemies no longer soak up bullets, but go down "realistically". The number of guns is just about right to give each a different feel, but still has enough that Nathan isn't stuck with one weapon for multiple hours.

Not that he could hang on to them anyway; the game is really about the continuous stream of more and more ridiculous action sequences; running from a helicopter, fighting dudes on a train, or running from a tank. The game doesn't stop (much), and it really is a blast to play.

But hey, I've still got 3 chapters to go, and they might be shit.

Ok... So...

2009-10-18T21:15:00.000+08:00

Me and my friend Michael decided to create a blog this afternoon. We're kind of into video games and stuff, and decided it's time we started organising our ideas so that people can hate us categorically. Not that people will actually read this. Anyway, we'll post about games, maybe post about other things... I don't know, I'm making this up as I go along. If this actually gets some views we might start up a podcast. Or something. Venning out.