Skyward Fire

The past few years have been great for the video games industry. Amazing titles being launched ever so frequently ensured to keep an avid gamer happy throughout the days. Not to forget to mention, the advancement to the next generation of gaming, as the world witnessed the launch of three new consoles more or less around the same time-period. Franchises were really true to the spirit of the game and kept the power flowing by constantly enhancing the graphics, gameplay etc. of upcoming titles. Other than these obvious facts, a certain aberration has indeed been observed. A truly appreciable change in the trend of game-development is that, the designers have begun to experiment with the franchise itself and carve out a game in a whole new genre. This is not a very new thing, but looking at the number of aberrations in so many franchises, certainly forces one to acknowledge the potential of this trend.

Command and Conquer; if we say it out loud, it instantly brings to memory the fast paced tank rushes and full motion video sequences that made the series so intriguing. Somewhat around 2002, a new game hit the stands by the name Command and Conquer:Renegade. Any C&C fan would not leave out a game launched freshly that was obvious, so the game sold over a million copies in the very first month of its launch. What gamers were delighted to see, was that it wasn’t an RTS game. It was a First Person Shooter! How did this happen? A franchise doing so well, that their last game at that time, Red Alert 2 was still selling like hot cakes; changed genres? Quite unnatural, yes, but not an attempt in futility, simply because Renegade was an amazing game. The battle over Tiberium between GDI and NOD was just begging to be made into an FPS. Many gamers fantasized seeing all the action up-close and with Renegade, it was delivered so well.

Killzone on the Play Station 2 was a big let down. It was a good shooter, no doubt but could have been a lot better. When Killzone was announced for the PSP, gamers couldn’t help but sigh out loud, as no one expected it to be anything but an FPS with bad graphics and horrible gameplay, as FPS titles on the PSP don’t really sound as if they would go a long way. Lost Boys (now known as Guerrilla) did a fantastic job by making Killzone: Liberation an over the top , third person shooter, which won the hearts of gamers all over and took portable multiplayer action to a new level.

Same can be said for the Warcraft franchise. World of Warcraft needs no introduction. 12 million users online are proof enough. Starcraft, Star Wars, Quake , Mario, Sonic etc. are some other franchises that changed genres for the better. Sadly, this doesn’t always work. Commandos was a great franchise literally torn to shreds by the horrible execution of its FPS version called Commandos: Strike Force. Its all about hits and misses actually. You cannot expect raging success every time. Nonetheless, it is very creative to change genres and bring a lot of excitment to the table. Lets just hope we see Halo Wars soon!

Take a minute off your busy schedules and ask yourselves this “What is the future of Gaming Industry?” Although being an extremely clichéd topic, it is one question that comes a begging. People constantly rant about “Old is Gold” and “retro gaming rules” and what not. Although I support the idea of respecting older games, I stand here to honestly admit that I am a realist. If one wants to catch up even a fraction of the action, one has to constantly update his PC or get a console. People who don’t agree with me are invited to jump out of the window, from a great height. Just saying “I am satisfied with the past” will not cut it anymore. The gaming era and the industry itself have changed. Wake up. And welcome to the place we call “reality”.

A look at Microsoft E3 Conference will give you a better idea why exactly I am writing this down here. People are too satisfied with what was made 6-7 years ago. I am being specific about the gaming condition in India which is seriously a big let down. Why is CS: Source the most popular game here when games like GRAW and Fallout Tactics are superior in every way? Or is it bad marketing? No. The answer to this ridiculous behavior in all Game Cafes is the simple fact that everyone thinks buying anything above an nVidia GeForce 6200GS would make them bankrupt. This is far from the reality I must say.

A decent 8600 GT can be purchased in less than Rs 5000 and the 8800 GT for Rs 9000. They still won’t put any cards simply because there is no demand. And why there is no demand? Because 70% of the gamers in India have no idea that games like Fallout Tactics or MGS 4 or Killzone 2 even exists. For them, NFS Underground, Cricket 2007, CS: Source and Warcraft 3 is the crème ‘la crème of the gaming realm. Being a hardcore fan and player of Warcraft 3, I must say, it is a great game but, it is not a reason for never trying out Command and Conquer 3 or Supreme Commander or Dawn of War!

I did say I am a realist and will stick to it forever. Therefore I accept that most of the time, Internet gaming for Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter and Gears of War PC are difficult. But it isn’t difficult on LAN! Who on earth stopped Game Cafes from installing these games instead of the 7 year old crap that we are served? I say MGS 4 multiplayer kicks Godzilla ass. Who thinks otherwise? Not because people agree with me. It is because no one has a damn opinion in the fist place. I can go and rant about how I scored 50 Takedowns in Burnout Paradise and people just nod saying “uh huh”. I never got an “Oh really? Wait till I have something to say about that!”

Although the newer games are given very high attention in USA and Europe, in India, the competition is just absent! It may exist on an individual level in a sporadic pattern, but it is not yet a trend which is very sad. The fact that people just shut their eyes and ears whenever something new turns up saying “I am happy with the retro!” is truly annoying. An average Indian would buy a stock PC for Rs 25,000. I agree it doesn’t come with a high end card but such a commodity can be purchased without any trouble and the falling prices only add to the ease of purchase. Too costly you say? No, that’s not the case.

You could get a console. Yes, Consoles provide tremendous gaming potential, if purchased at the right time. I said this just so that some fool doesn’t go buy a PS2 tomorrow and say “What the hell there are no new games on it!” Only a dumb and desperate gamer would go for a PS2 at this time. Although sadly, this is the time when most PS2 consoles are being sold in India because of the convenient price of Rs 6990/- and even as low as 5000 bucks in the grey market. Why exactly do people frown at the PS3 just because it is priced at 20 to 25 K is beyond me. People, this is your wake up call. THIS is the time to get a next-gen console. When a console is launched, it is ridiculously over-priced. The Xbox 360 was priced at Rs 30,000 and PS3 at Rs 40,000 at the time of their launch. Even the games were too expensive. Only after a year, do the prices become reasonable. The X360 is available for about 15,550 bucks and the PS3 for around 25000 bucks. What are you waiting for? This is the best time and price combo you will get. Anything below this would be too late and the console would be obsolete. By “below” I mean next year. There are some great games scheduled for launch on both Platforms. So go and treat yourselves to a shiny console soon.

After saying all this, HOW on earth will I forgive myself for not mentioning the Nintendo Wii? I didn’t mention it because,

1) Getting an original Wii is difficult. You must order it from EBay etc and pay the shipping charges which are quiet high.

2) Poor collection of games in India. Why on earth will someone buy Cricket 2007 and NBA 2008 on Wii? Ever heard of a Low End PC with 256 MB of Ram and a CRT screen? That will run these games. No need to buy a Wii for that. As far as great games on Nintendo are concerned, they are not available here easily. You need to get to EBay again.

3) The English version of the Wii costs double the Japanese version. Why on earth is this rule implied, I have no clue. Even in the grey market! Why would I buy a Wii for 22,550 Rupees when I can get a PS3 for that amount? Clearly the both PS3 and X360 have superior GPUs and faster processors. Unless there is a solid price gap, the future of Nintendo’s new console is pretty slim and mediocre in India.

Allow me to conclude. Unless there is an astonishingly fast change of gaming attitude, the current lineup of games will be poorly accepted or not accepted at all in India. Cybercafés need to start upgrading their game Engines in order to enable gamers to play games like Command and Conquer 3 and Unreal Tournament III. People, graphic cards are not costly. So get a hold of one. Consoles must be bought at the right time to enjoy their great potential. Nintendo hates India and we want Wii (If that was unintentionally funny, please forgive me).

Blizzard. The name says it all. This has been one of those companies which revolutionize gaming and gamers with every title. Launched on 30th November 1996, Diablo was a definitive Earth shattering RPG which gripped us all by the throat and pulled us through its amazing game play, artwork and exquisitely mapped plots and demons. All said and done, it was a screaming success. It spawned countless RPGs from wannabe companies including a slightly appreciable effort by Microsoft when it launched Dungeon Siege. All efforts turned out to be in vein when Blizzard announced the sequel to Diablo. This game shattered the sales of other RPGs which “claimed” to be better than Diablo.

One thing Blizzard glorified was individual triumph. In most RTS titles, we mass armies and lay waste on the enemy base. Warcraft III changed the way we look at RTS titles with the excellent and highly developed hero system which involved making a hero (obviously) and small strike teams and micro managing them, which commanded much more skill and precision. In other words Blizzard is all about innovation. Big news hit the air on 30th June 2008 that the next game of Blizzard has been declared and fans cheered and campaigns popped as we had in our hands screen shots and videos from the next game in line, Diablo III.

Diablo III looks very promising. The moment Blizzard revealed the game play and interface screen shots; fans were in shock that blizzard had stuck to the interface as in Diablo I and Diablo II. This shows that these guys are smart enough to not let a tactic that worked, go waste, three cheers for that. However just putting in HDR and Bloom Effect and a million particles in one effect will not compete with games of today (for example, Crysis). Unless the game has substantial game play to back up the graphical power, it is an utter waste.

That is exactly the doubt fans had, “with all this graphical glory, will Blizzard maintain Diablo III true to the wonderful game play of Diablo II?” Looks like they heard our plea and released a game play video the very next day which showed II classes of characters -The Barbarian and the Witch Doctor. As the names itself suggest, the barbarian is a brutal bad ass who eats demon scum for breakfast. With overwhelming powers and amazingly brutal attacks, he looks like the Blizzard version of Kratos from the God of War fame. The Witch doctor is more of a defensive character with tactics that distract and kill off enemies when they are in clusters or when they are off-guard.

The sorceress in Diablo II could raise a wall of fire. We have also seen walls of rock, ice and bones in Diablo II. Ever seen a wall of Zombies? Some of the spells shown in the game play and the effect they have on the environment are unbelievably amazing. We have the freedom to knock down walls over approaching enemies. In Diablo II, substantial time was consumed in shuffling through the inventory for health potions. Diablo III will have a unique system as every enemy killed will drop small health orbs which increase health by small amount. Nothing huge and earth shattering but as we all know and have seen, simplicity is what drove Diablo II to the place where it is.

While games like Bethesda Game Studios‘ Oblivion and Bioware’s Never Winter Nights have too much loitering around, Diablo has always been an in-your-face-combat RPG. You either fight or you die. Right from the start we all knew Diablo III will be a bad ass gory and fun RPG which will give the player less time to make decisions and be involved in combat most of the time. Laying waste on 10 Million + demons sounds cool but it demands a strong story, since Diablo II almost shut down the plot with the death of Baal in Lord of Destruction. It will be interesting to see what causes Diablo to rise from the eternal death he was confined to. Coming to the graphical section, the game literally shines in this department. The video currently out shows some really nice effects caused from the attacks of both Barbarian and the Witch Doctor. Especially the Bash attack which demolished a door and the particles hit and knocked back the monsters behind it. Better start saving for that graphics card. I would recommend at least an 8800 GT to even try this game.

The reason is that if a game like Diablo isn’t played the way Blizzard intends it to be, and then you will not, I repeat, you will not enjoy it. It is supposed to be played with high frame rates and a good resolution. People, do justice to this requirement. The game deserves it. Also, if you don’t posses a hard core 5.I speaker set or some nice headphones, its time to shell out that extra booty you had been saving for your other half’s birthday gift. About the character classes, I just hope the old ones make a comeback. What is sad though that the Witch doctor will probably replace the Necromancer? I for one do not like this change. The Barbarian has been made very brilliantly and there are male and female versions of each class (they were absent in D2) which is really admirable. One thing which caught my attention was a video playback which was basically a cut scene in the game.

The video had the barbarian talking to his party member and he was wearing the same armor in the video as he was in real time! I mean the armor was totally random as he just got it from killing a demon! And it showed in the video which wasn’t even in game graphics! How Blizzard managed to pull off something like that astounds me. Sadly the game will be out somewhere in the 3rd quarter or 2009. So it’s a long wait. I just hope it doesn’t go the way of Starcraft Ghost!

For more Diablo 3 screenshots, artwork, trailers, news and information, keep watch at the Official Diablo III website.