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FaceTrack No IR in an Apache (in ArmA2)

Sir, You Are Being Tracked

There is something about having an independently controlled noggin in a game that appeals, I first encountered the ability in IL-2 Sturmovik… I have many a memory of using my right hand on the joystick (probably a Logitech at the time) and my other hand on the mouse, controlling the pilots head to keep a bead on the bogey. This persisted with games like Wings of Prey, with their sights attached to the cockpit (rather than the centre of your viewpoint) – I became an avid proponent of that functionality in all simulator like games that I thought would benefit from it.

Anyhow, I later played ArmA2, around this time I became aware of TrackIR (I do believe Dslyecxi was demonstrating it), having played the original Operation Flashpoint (OFP)… I was somewhat familiar with the feel of the game, and as I got a bit more involved I became immensely happy with the discovery that the Alt key held down turns on mouse-look in ArmA2 (double tap to toggle)… I can assume this was probably in OFP but I have no memory of it… I was probably a tad young and we didn’t quite have the internet yet.

Back to TrackIR, I remember being mesmerised by the possibility when I first saw it, but somewhat put off by the price. I kept an eye on the situation, and no commercial competitors have seemingly risen to the challenge yet. Though the Open Source / DIY community did, creating FreeTrack – which required an IR sensitive webcam, some wires, a battery and some LEDs (IR of course).

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Rock Steady Networks

If your household or small business network is anything like ours, then chances are it works pretty well out of the box; and you might have had a few people handy with networking set up some static IPs and leased addresses for servers and guests respectively… while there also making sure the default security settings are beefed up a little. If your network is anything like ours it probably functions 24/7 without much maintenance or complaining; but crucially it is a little more advanced than many basic home networks, and a chain of recent events led a morning lost sorting it all out when something went wrong. In this article I’ll cover to cover a few things people could do to save themselves a whole world of hassle with their networks.

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Far Cry 3, Sunset Drive

Thoughts on Far Cry 3

Far Cry 3 has been a pleasant surprise, anyone who has broached Far Cry 2 with me knows I didn’t get on particularly well with that game in places and I’m yet to finish it. The third game in the series has been a solid improvement over its predecessor, and now the story is over for me I’ll throw some opinions and tips out (I’ll keep spoilers to a minimum and forewarn of them, if they appear).

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Tower's Radar

Tower’s Radar – 2013

2013 has got into swing with spring on the way (for those who have seasons anyhow), a few games have popped up but few have impressed. I’ll cover the last couple of months changes and what is buzzing around, but also what I’d like to see this year. This one features aircraft, xenomorphs, space-ships, armies, and floating cities… read on below the click!

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Some views on Mass Effect 3

Disclaimer: story spoilers for all games ahead. Moaning and whining also included out of the love of games; rather than pure bile.

The first in the series caught my attention for its story and its scale, there was nothing quite like landing on that planet and seeing Sovereign take off through the clouds. Exploring the citadel in all its intricacies, landing on planets and scooting around in the Mako even with the associated problems. Then there is the cutscenes, the epic scene of the fleet trying to stop Sovereign as you battle Saren in the council chambers and the various in-space sections as you clamber along outside structures.

So Mass Effect 2, yeah, that left a slightly sour taste – all the exploration replaced with loyalty missions and probes. The ending was even more anti-climatic, fighting a giant reaper in the image of humans; it felt cheesy to say the least given the epic scale and adventure of the first. I also feel some of the best content was likely stripped for DLC, arguably saved for later and more attention in development… but I generally avoid DLC having been burned a few times already.

Heavy Mass

Finally, my gaze swings around to Mass Effect 3 – I’m not going to criticise the ending, for I haven’t actually achieved that moment… I’m not sure I even want to. I died fighting off far too many special enemies, running out of ammo and medigel as I try to launch missiles into a reaper stood in our way. It almost feels like a secret ending, thrown in by the fore-thinking developers who may have had a hidden dislike for the ‘proper’ ending. Throw so much at the player in hopes they don’t continue; serving as a warning about what may come, “beware all ye who may enter”.

It certainly grabbed the scale of the first though, and surpassed it, but it still lacked the exploration; perhaps a given that you are supposed to be racing against a clock of sorts (there is no timer, its the implied one given by the stories). My main focus instead turns to the multiplayer, hard to believe if you’ve made it this far, right?

Lots o’ Mass

So beside my love of great, epic stories and cinematics, and edge of my seat scenarios or situations – I also really love multiplayer; specifically co-operative play. In time alone I have effectively got my moneys worth from the co-operative play, receiving far more of my attention than the singleplayer. It hits most of the right buttons, besides the lack of even mini campaigns or storylines.

Except the store, it could be likened to a collectable card game (see Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Football Players (?)) – without the obvious and necessary benefit of the ability to trade said cards. Basically boiling down to complete random chance, which is fine, if your perceived luck is good at least a quarter of the time. My worry is not for Mass Effect 3, though I think it could benefit by allowing more choice with less chance of random pot-luck.

My worry is if they follow this up with something much worse. While they allow ingame currency, it also allows spending of BioWare points (another practice I’ve put in the same basket as DLC, real money to point currency, it stinks of gambling theory); and I hope that we don’t see a system of random packs like this in something like Battlefield sometime down the road unlocks are already frustrating enough as it is.

To Summarise

Mass Effect 3 is a beautiful game, which goes to capture its roots to a degree and throws in a few great moments, whichmighthave a bad ending – throwing in a fairly solid co-operative game-mode with a somewhat silly unlock system based on chance, which in turn can quickly arrive in “unlock hell” for some people, but is likely otherwise deemed as fine by those more fortunate.

No game lasts forever of course, but you expect least that the factor which is most likely to stop you from playing out of frustration is to be the unlock system rather than having your fill of the shooty goodness within.

Revisiting: Violence in Games (Part Deux)

I’ve covered the industry and ratings in my last posting, although since then it has been confirmed the PEGI rating will be used in the UK – which in my personal opinion is not clear or obvious, and can likely leave room for error; the traffic light method resembling something I’d expect to see on food or a child’s toy – not a piece of entertainment that could risk being worse than the most gratuitous film in terms of it’s content.

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Vertical Lines of Doom

Picture this, a problem which has persisted across multiple graphics cards, numerous motherboards and many, many games. Occasionally interspersed with the blue screens of death (BSODs) and the odd system death.

To be fair, system deaths seem to be something I encounter often – but then when you gaming rig is also your work system and gets used as often as mine does, it’ll probably happen sooner rather than later. The BSODs have often been cleared with a reinstall of Windows, or culminated in the aforementioned system expirations. No, this problem is much stranger.

The Mystery Machine Curse

Armed Assault 2 – A Rough’un

Armed Assault 2… anyone who was a fan of the original Operation Flashpoint (by Bohemia) will have at least had an eye on ArmA2 at one point or another. Indeed if I was to don my rose tinted glasses… they do share a few similarities; the most notable being that slightly wonky communication. Regardless, that is all by-the-by, there was a point last year, seriously disappointed by Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising’s rather overtly buggy nature, that I decided I’d see how the veterans did.

Sure enough, I was initially impressed… enough to convince my clan mates to have a crack at it themselves. So once we had a merry band of 4, we dived into the campaign in a co-operative jolly. It didn’t last long, it must be said; starting with the instant failure upon the permanent death of any one team-member. Continuing with AI piloting skills, often proving somewhat lacklustre; often finishing with flourish atop a tree or two.

Finally, the seemingly terminal bugs in the campaign – resulting in sitting around waiting, wondering whether that foe, transport or team-mate will actually show up; and that vague sense of helplessness as you haven’t the faintest clue about whats going on.

Many months later…

That was sometime late last year, perhaps even as far back as summer. We haven’t touched the ArmA2 games in quite a while – out of the blue I decide to pick it up again, but this time, in singleplayer. The experience, while not perfect by any means, is a darn sight more smoother – the AI pilot skills are still fully in swing (from a tree); yet most of the bugs we encountered disappear when in singleplayer.

Furthermore, with just the one player controlling all 4 troops, there’s no scope for variation – chances are if something needs doing, the whole squad goes, or the player takes the squad leader while the others cover. In otherwords, they’ve missed a trick by not allowing the squad leader to ‘nominate’ another squad member to venture out and do their task; mainly regarding the participation of other human players.

In effect, the playthrough becomes more likely to succeed; less prone to a human assuming something will happen when it won’t. Perhaps an oversight on the developers’ side of things, perhaps the largest reason for many of the community falling back on creating their own custom missions, something perfectly capable of being achieved – but less likely when the community in question is small.

On that note

I must say, ArmA2 has impressed me, the moment I realised I could load Stinger missiles, Javelins and SMAWs into the boot of the Humvee (HMMWV), amongst other equipment and weaponry… I suddenly had a game crush; I could take my small special operations squad in a vehicle packed full of the stuff I might need on the field.

After you’ve fought through the system requirements, the bugs, the AI’s various transport skills and of course the games quirks, there’s a little gem in there; it just needs a great deal of cutting and polishing to get it refined… which is why now, so late into ArmA2′s life have I become rather excited for Armed Assault 3.

This, perhaps, to remind folks that although DayZ has propelled ArmA2 yet again into the media for another nice spotlight, the game itself does have some things to offer too.

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