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GeekNights 070403 - The Battle for Wesnoth
Tonight on GeekNights, we review a turn-based PC strategy game that you definitely should be playing: The Battle for Wesnoth. In the news, we have X-Box Elites and PSP Price Drops.
Scott's Thing - Mario Tapestry
Rym's Thing - Desktop Tower Defense
Comments
A lot of new HD sets can't do 1080p over Component. So it's not so much a matter of noticing a difference between analog and digital (which most people wouldn't, fer sure), but actually being able to use it at all. Then again, not a whole heck of a lot -does- 1080p (Virtua Tennis 3, anyone?) so it's really more for future proofing than anything.
People are mostly pissed off at Microsoft for lying to them, even in recent memory, about the need for 1080p and bigger Hard Disks. As recently as -this year- Microsoft was telling people to buy another hard drive if they were running out of space on their original one. Yeah, that worked out well...
Hey Scrym, I think she needs some of your big anime cock. Stop putting it in her eye though, she clearly needs you to put it somewhere else.
See, when you run a Linux distribution like Ubuntu you get the vast majority, usually all, of your software from a repository. So the Ubuntu developers go out and get the source code to all of the open source software they want to provide to the users. They compile that code into binaries and package it into .deb files. They then put those debs in the repository. This is what allows you to type the commands
sudo apt-get updateandsudo apt-get install wesnothto install the latest version of Wesnoth without having to go get it from the Wesnoth website or compile it yourself.Now, when you have different versions of your distribution, like Ubuntu does, you have separate repositories for each version. Dapper Drake is being officially supported through 2008. Therefore, they will keep putting security and bug fix updates in the Dapper repository for a long time to come. However, they aren't going to ever upgrade significant versions of any of the software in Dapper. If a program isn't available in Dapper, it never will be. Let's say apache3 or MySQL6 came out tomorrow, Dapper users can go get this software and install it on their Dapper machines manually, but it won't ever be in the official repository. They have chosen to use an older version of Ubuntu which is known to have stable and safe packages. The consequence is that you are stuck with the old software.
Here's another example for you. Edgy has Linux kernel version 2.6.17-11. It might be updated to 2.6.17-12 or 2.6.17-13 to fix bugs or security problems, but it will never be upgraded to 2.6.18 or higher. Feisty has 2.6.20-13, and the same applies. Feisty will never get Linux kernel version 2.6.21 or higher in the official Feisty repository.
Edgy has version 1.1.8-1 of Wesnoth in its repository and Feisty has version 1.2.3-0. These different versions of the game can not play against each other. If you want to play against someone who is using a different version of Ubuntu than you are using, you must manually upgrade or downgrade your version of the game to match your friends version. You might have to find a deb package and install it by hand, or you might have to compile the source code of the version you want. You might even make your own deb package. Whatever you do, you will not be able to find the older or newer version in the official Ubuntu repository.
The reason things are done this way is to avoid the Gentoo situation. Gentoo is a very different Linux distribution from Ubuntu. One thing it does differently is allow you to update across major software versions. This can sometimes result in problems for the user. Lets say you were to update from MySQL4 to MySQL5. This could break all sorts of things on your machine and might require lots of work from the user to transfer databases and such. Instead of dealing with this, Ubuntu just keeps you with the same version. To get the newer versions, you upgrade to the next version of Ubuntu. This way you can't break anything just by updating the packages in the version of Ubuntu you are already running. That is, as long as you don't do anything unofficial.
You very likely won't run into problems. If you do, just go to the web site and download whatever version you need.
That sums up my feeling on Wesnoth.
Screenshot from the current version, 1.2.
This is more like 0.2.
[Edit] *Stagers* I didn't even know a game could look that bad.
Central kill-zone surrounded by Typhoon Towers with a Quake Tower at maximum surface area in the center and a Blizzard Tower just before. Two Storm towers, plus those Typhoons, took out the flyers.
Here's a few pointers:
- optimize your maze. Your pellet towers should always be the minimum distance apart. Simply make a back-and-forth maze, like you're mowing the lawn. No need for diagonals. Have the entry point be as close to the upper left corner as possible. Use straight lines the whole way through.
- put your special towers near the center. It's okay if your early towers can't hit people until they've gotten through some of the maze. When you upgrade to ICBM towers, they'll be destroying people as soon as they enter.
- don't let your ICBM towers include mobs' spawn point. You want the missiles hitting the two monster streams after they merge.
- position freeze towers to slow mobs down just as they enter the range of your ICBM towers.
- screw the new-fangled "bump" tower or whatever it is. ICBM tower is the kind of AOE, and the water tower is the king of single-target damage, period.
- upgrade first. Before you have 2 water towers, you should have 1 awesome one. Etc.
- watch those damn fliers. If you just barely manage to beat the normal fliers, the bosses will pwn you. Best defense against fliers, really, are multiple typhoon towers. They also do nicely against bosses.
- before the flying bosses come out, make sure you have multiple typhoon towers and hopefully a storm tower oriented along both axes. Of course, you need a few freeze towers to slow them down the whole way. Level 1 freeze towers freeze just about as well as fully-upgraded ones, so that's not an issue.
- land bosses are a joke. Only the ones near the very end should be at all difficult, but if they are, use this simple trick. Wait until the boss is almost through your maze. Then, open a new path near the beginning of the maze, that would have been much faster if it were there from the start. Then, block off the old exit they've almost reached. They will turn around and go all the way back. They'll do it again if you reverse the process. You can pen them in indefinitely.
Rym and Scott, you can both die in a fire!
PC gaming is not dead. Neither of you have even participated in PC gaming for years. It made sense when you were cheap college students. Now you, Rym, wear your ancient computer as a mark of pride. It's nothing to be proud of. It makes a great case for Linux, but nothing for your knowledge of PC gaming. You both know nothing about PC gaming, and you defend your lack of knowledge by pretending that it's dead, or somehow less important than your precious Nintendo consoles.
You clearly both enjoyed the same mid-to-late 90's shooters that I did. They were awesome, this is true. However, apart from the potential awesomeness that Team Fortress 2 could (maybe, possibly) be, these are dead. Shooters keep getting slower, more "realistic", and more oriented around strategy and "teamwork" (aka letting the guy who's good at tanks get the tank every single time) than individual skill. I doubt I'll ever have the opportunity to run around head-shotting 16 guys at a time in Action deathmatch to get the exponential frag modifier. Instead, I guess I'll be directing a mass invasion of an entire planet using vehicles, nukes, and god knows what else. Which brings me to my next point.
Real-time strategy has taken over PC gaming. I honestly don't know what all these gamers are thinking, since RTS games peaked with Starcraft, but these Age of *** and Rise of *** games are just pure crap. It seems like every god-damn game that comes out is an RTS. Oh look, a new space game! Maybe it's finally a successor to Freespace 2 or TIE Fighter! No, it's a strategy game. It seems like the only genre that maintains even some of its identity is the shooter, but even that has been so corrupted by strategy elements (like vehicles) in a pitiful imitation of some of the last, great shooters that it's almost unrecognizable.
Pick a brand name that has a lot of games, like Star Wars. I defy you to find a title in their vast library that is neither an RTS nor an FPS. Not so easy.
There are a couple RPG's. Mostly this "action RPG" has taken over, which is nothing but an ever-weaker series of knockoffs of Diablo, which (gasp!) wasn't that good a game to begin with. It's like playing a small, unimaginative MMO...by yourself. If you thought Dungeon Siege was fun, you have the mental faculties of a gnat.
Meanwhile, there are a couple of very, very small genres that are doing quite well. First, you've got your Sim games. This single-brand genre owned by Maxis has been selling crazily for two and a half years. The Sims 2, straight up, 2.5-year-old game, is still selling off the shelves like a hot new release. And I like the Sims. It's neat. It's usually good for a week or two, then I put it down and pick it up for another week a year later, maybe. That's more than I can say for most PC games.
Finally, of course, you've got your World of Warcraft. MMO's as a genre are doing fine; even the shitty ones pull in enough monthlies to dog other game sales. But, in the US, WoW is so much more popular than all the others combined that it isn't worth even mentioning them.
WoW has replayability like no other game. I've never played a game for PC or console, even in my game-obsessed, non-social childhood, as long as I've played this game. It's not using chemicals or some kind of mind control ray, it's just that fucking good. Period. And neither of you have played it, so you don't know what you're talking about when you criticize it. I know. I've been there. I was an MMO hater too, until I put my money where my mouth was and actually played them for myself. The others were no good, but this one's a keeper.
See, you feel threatened. WoW is the only game that can compete with your precious consoles. Your Wiis and your Xboxes, with their pitiful "networking", a feeble imitation of what computers have been doing since Famicom was but a gleam in a few mens' eyes, may not be able to hold out against the ever-growing juggernaut that is WoW. Your assertations that "PC gaming is dead" fall on deaf ears, because those ears are covered with the crust of unwashed hair on the heads of gamers who haven't left their PC in weeks, all to get that precious Exalted rep with the Cenarion Brotherhood.
Playing any game too much can have negative effects, no matter what system it's for. But there is no law that says you can't play games a lot. It's just an activity. A free person can fill 100% of his time with whatever the hell I want. The tendency of some (rare, unusual) WoW players to play the shit out of it is not a reflection of how bad the game is. If anything, it shows how GOOD it is.
Look, neither of you know what the hell is up with the game. To anyone who's played it, your arguments are clearly ignorant and unreasoned, like creationists trying to use "science" to denounce evolution. You're just insecure, because you know the game is successful, and you're not in on it. You're shit-talkers.
Yes, PC gaming is full of bombs. And this is different from console gaming how? Go to CompUSA, and look how many games there are there. Why the hell would you go to GameStop or EB? Most of the games they sell are used, that's how they do their business! You can't really sell used PC games. That's why there aren't so many. And Wal-Mart? Since when is Wal-Mart the shibboleth of the industry? They just sell what they can move. I doubt a large percentage of gamers would deign to shop at Wal-Mart.
The people who say it's dead are just pushing a pro-console agenda. Anyone who likes computers should favor PC gaming. Look at Battle for Wesnoth! There's no way this would work on any console, including the fabulous, exalted Wii. The sheer amount of options you have in gameplay is anathema to a console. While consoles certainly have their place--I enjoy me some Smash Brothers and SSX, and I'll have a Wii as soon as one of those are out--PC's should always been considered the platform of choice for computer-savvy people. Why?
You can't contribute to an open source console game. You can't mod it. You can't hack it. Consoles are unsuitable for many genres; perhaps the Wii will finally make for decent shooters and strategy games, but it has yet to be proven. (And anyone who thinks thumb-joystick-based FPS's are good, I've got some sad news for you: the game is playing itself while you watch. You suck, and I will destroy you with a keyboard and mouse. Sorry. Had to be said).
Oh, and...consoles ARE computers! I think the fact that you can run linux on more than one of them should be proof of this. Every single computer that can run games can do EVERYTHING a computer can do. Very few consoles can do ANYTHING a computer can do. So the Wii can kinda sorta browse the web and this is a revolution? So they have emulators now? They are selling you shit you had decades ago, and you're loving it! God, I've had computers comfortably hooked up to my HDTV for years now. Free, normal, full-power web browsing, emulating, and media playing, no strings attached. My first HTPC cost less than a Wii. Seriously.
Isn't the constant trend toward making consoles more and more like computers proof that the computer is the superior platform? After all, why gravitate toward PC's if consoles were already superior? And how can anyone say consoles are in a dominant position when 0 out of 3 current leading consoles are really in their final form? The 360 is just barely picking up speed, the PS3 can't decide if it's going to sputter out or make a slow comeback, and the Wii is likely about 2% of the way through its useful life. Who knows how it will turn out? You don't think PC's are going to make a few leaps in that time frame?
I like consoles. I respect them. I don't normally go around bashing them. But if people start to talk about one system being "better" than another, then I've got to break out the facts. Technically, at least to me, a tech-savvy person, computers have been superior gaming platforms since day one, which, for me, was 20 years ago. Consoles have often been more convenient, and have had more money poured into them. I've bought myself a few console games, but I've done far more with computers, in terms of productivity and gaming, by an overpowering landslide. There's just no comparison. One is for gaming, the other is for gaming *and* everything else a computer can do, without any compromise to the gaming.
PC gaming is fine, and isn't going anywhere. The great grand-daddy of console gaming will live on in perpetuity.
100%
Kenjura, you're quickly becoming my favorite read on the boards. Your argument was well-planned and articulated.
Frankly, the overwhelming popularity of console games can only be attributed to their accessibility. That's really what you're being sold when you buy a DS -- a guarantee that every title you buy will work when plugged into a DS. That computers are designed to be upgradable, handle any manner of A/V or processing task, and to circumvent proprietary restrictions makes them slightly more complex; and that means the legions of zombies out there are stumped when it comes to deciding whether any given game will work on their machines.
We've hit a wall with computers where in the 90s they were primarily used by people who were capable. Now they are used by everyone, but very few actually know how to harness the power of their machines. As soon as PC literacy catches up -- and I think it will -- then it's the console that will be on the way out.