RipTen Videogame Blog » windows

Xbox LIVE is Coming to Windows 8

Chris Carlson — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 02:15:48 +0000

Microsoft has confirmed that they will be bringing Xbox LIVE to the PC on Windows 8. Major Nelson broke the news today on his blog, along with the keynote and a first screenshot.

“We are very excited about Xbox LIVE coming to Windows 8. Xbox LIVE brings your games, music, movies, and TV shows to your favorite Microsoft and Windows devices. Bringing Xbox LIVE to Windows 8 is part of our vision to bring you all the entertainment you want, shared with the people you care about, made easy. At BUILD we are showing that it is easy for developers to create games for Windows 8 that take advantage of the power of Xbox LIVE. We have much more detail to share about the capabilities of Xbox LIVE on Windows and look forward to the opportunity to do so in the near future.”

Battlefield 3 Will Not Run On Windows XP

Aaron Alexander — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 02:57:41 +0000

It seems as if the people still running Windows XP for gaming are slowly being phased out as more and more games are requiring DX10 at the base level, and it would seem as if Battlefield 3 will be no exception to that growing trend.

A rendering architect for DICE by the name of Johan Andersson, tweeted earlier;

Frostbite 2 is primarily developed for DX11. XP & DX9 is _not_ supported, 64-bit OS is recommended. Lots of time to upgrade if you havent!

Of course the typical rage ensued, with people all over defending Windows XP and fighting for it’s relevance. One thing’s clear, DirectX 9 wont be supported forever. So if you haven’t yet, make the jump for Windows 7, it’s a great OS and DICE seems to agree.

To check out some of the idiotic Facebook rage, just click here for the PC Gamer Facebook post. Follow me on Twitter and let me know what you think about this move by DICE – @iamaaronalex.

Telstra Windows Phone 7 – First Impressions

Bryce Wilson — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 02:10:52 +0000

Disclaimer: I was lucky enough to be selected to participate in the Telstra Windows Phone 7 HTC Mozart Social Review program. The opinions below are mine and mine only, and do not reflect those of Telstra or HTC (or RipTen). I recieved my HTC Mozart completely free of charge.

About a week ago I was lucky enough to actually have some hands on time with the HTC Mozart at the local Telstra store; however I didn’t think I’d ever be able to purchase one. I went back home and looked at going on the $49 Monthly Cap but luckily enough I saw the Social Review, signed up, and got accepted.

After having the device for just less than 24 hours, I am blown away. From the sleek responsive interface, to the amazing functionality and even just the small things like the Facebook app, it’s all culminated to make an amazing device.

Hardware

After using the Nokia E63 for the larger part of a year, the HTC Mozart is a big hardware leap for me. First and foremost, the 800×480 multitouch display is amazing. Responsive, bright and crisp to the eye, it’s something I just love playing with. There’s 8GB of inbuilt storage, however it is non-upgradable. This isn’t a big deal to me, but it might be to some consumers who have large music databases or heaps of video content. Something that negates the low inbuilt memory is the ability to upload all your images to Skydrive, then you can just download them whenever you want.

There’s an inbuilt 8MP Camera with a Xenon flash (Essentially makes colours look more lifelike instead of washed out like LED). Something myself and a number of other reviewers love is that the Camera button actually works all the time. So no longer will you miss that happy snap of your mate throwing up in the garden after a bender!

Below the touch screen is three touch sensitive buttons – Back, Windows and Bing. All of these are pretty self explanatory, and I love just being able to hit a button and instantly search the internet through Bing, plus the cute backgrounds are always good! My only gripe with these buttons is the location. I have accidentally hit the Windows button and back buttons a number of times. A functionality lock would be good, so that you could disable perhaps the Windows button when in a full screen app.

The onboard keyboard is responsive and great to use, and I’m already texting and typing like a 90 word per second secretary! I prefer using it in a landscape fashion as opposed to portrait, as it frees up a tiny bit of extra key space. There’s no landscape support for Facebook though, which I really didn’t like. For all you twitheads out there, you’ll be happy to know that the Twitter app does support landscape typing.

With all this functionality and awesomeness, I am a bit disappointed with the battery life. I’ve had to charge the device twice within the 19 hours I’ve had it, however I thrashed it with constant Facebook, SMS’ing, phone calls, Twitter and even a session of Rocket Riot.

Software

The Windows Phone 7 user interface is amazing – almost perfect in fact. I’ve used iPhones in the past and I hate the “simple” interface, and I didn’t really like the app-centric approach that Apple has essentially taken with their devices. Microsoft has cut through all of that and completely shook up the general interface and it’s paid off big time. Microsoft and HTC has billed this as “your phone”, and it really is. You can move tiles around, delete tiles, just do whatever you want to give yourself the best experience possible.

Everything revolves around a number of “hubs”, the main one being the People Hub. From here all your Facebook and Windows LIVE contacts are culminated into a one stop location for social networking. Comment, upload, like, you can do it all from here. I’ve been mainly using the Facebook app, but if you’re on the run and you want to check your friends in a quick and easy manner, well the People Hub is definitely the way to go.

The People Hub might sound complicated, but that’s the Windows Phone 7 experience – it isn’t. Everything is simple, straight up, it’s honestly the easiest to use system I’ve seen on a mobile. Setting up the People Hub is as simple as entering your Windows LIVE ID and it’s done. No more entering in 300 accounts, then finding some don’t work. Unfortunately the People Hub lacks Twitter support, however it could be introduced during the January 2011 update (fingers crossed). I was disappointed to see no MSN Messenger application, which is surprising considering the huge social network involvement of the Mozart.

The app market is fairly stark at the moment, but I heard during the Telstra conference that there’s currently 15,000 developers, so I wouldn’t expect that bare market to be bare for much longer. I like the official social networking apps, specially Facebook, however the Twitter one seems to be slow at times. The biggest feature of the Windows Phone 7 apps is Xbox LIVE. Microsoft has done an amazing job of incorporating Xbox LIVE into the device, and it works flawlessly. Want to pimp your avatar with new clothes? Go ahead and do it on your way to work. Check your messages, brad to friends, it’s all possible on your Mozart and any Windows Phone 7 device.

Not all of the games include Xbox functionality, however all the Microsoft ones do and they’re amazing. I literally can’t wait to see what happens with this, and best of all, the games are decently priced which has surprised me – no offense Microsoft.

All in all, the phone is amazing. After a few more days I will be doing some in-depth tips and tricks, and including some of my favorite features. I will say this though, Microsoft is back and in a big way.

Make sure to follow the talk of all the social reviewers via the hashtag; “#TelstraWP7″. All the guys and girls in the program are awesome and will be happy to answer any questions or queries you may have. Check me out on Twitter: @DrjftGaming and FaceBook.

Ripten Retrograde: Fallout (1997)

Gavin Bard — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 20:00:38 +0000

I guess I should explain what this is.

This isn’t really a traditional review of a game, because video games just advance too quickly to do a traditional bullet-point type review of these older titles. Sure, there is a score at the end, but that is just because most people need to grind up quantified scores and inject them into the webbing of their toes or else they get the cold sweats. I don’t like when people detox during my articles, it lowers my hit counts. Don’t be fooled by the score though, this “Retrograde” experiment isn’t so much a review as it is a stream of consciousness commentary on interesting screenshots from gaming’s past. Sometimes there will be anecdotes or personal stories, other times I will actually discuss the game, and at even other times I’ll probably just make borderline offensive jokes, beat a running gag into the ground, or spoil the ending for you. Think Mystery Science Theater 3000 meets me looking for an excuse to dick around playing awesome retro video games instead of doing real work. This might seem familiar to the three and a third of you who follow me on Tumblr, and it generally seems to entertain one of you, so what the hell, let’s slap a fresh coat of paint on this lemon and call it a Chryslus .

Ah, Fallout. I was around the tender age of 12 when this game came out, and it was one of the first games I can really remember knowing inside and out like it was a warm Tauntaun. I played and beat this game in every possible combination, and fully believe that it deserves it’s place as a near holy relic of those glorious PC gaming salad days. Oh, the 90s, you sure sucked for mainstream music and fashion, but you were awesome for computer RPGs.

For people who haven’t played the original Black Isle (not yet called so) developed Fallout games and are only familiar with the more recent FPS variants of the series, you may be surprised by how familiar a lot of the stuff in this game really seems. Even despite Fallout 1 and 2 being completely different games from a different publisher than Fallout 3 and New Vegas, the attention paid to keeping the lore and atmosphere intact across the entire series is really impressive to look back on.

The plot of Fallout revolves around the Vault Dweller, a member of Vault 13 who is sent into the unknown wasteland to find a replacement for their malfunctioning water chip. What makes the game quite unique, especially for 1997, is that you initially only have 150 days to do it. The wasteland is a huge and dangerous place, so this can be quite challenging on the first playthrough … unless you just Google it or something, but that would make you a time traveler since this game out 13 years ago. You’ve also got to figure that the corpse three feet away from the Vault door probably wasn’t the best first choice for this mission. What possibly could have killed him? Was he deathly allergic to rocks?

All the traveling in the game is viewed through your trusty Pip-Boy, and going from one point to another is what takes the vast majority of time from your main quest. Many of the important destinations can be discovered through talking to NPCs and can help cut your travel time a bit, so it really encourages you to absorb as much of the atmosphere as you can.

At first I thought it seemed really asshole-ish of the Overseer to sit in a huge cyberpunk throne well above the people he is in charge of, but then I realized that in his free time the Overseer fights Sonic the Hedgehog in that thing.

Hey, I didn’t know your mom was in this game. HAH! Burn!

The references to the post apocalyptic inspirations for Fallout are purposely noticeable. Whether it be A Boy and His Dog or Mad Max, you see a lot of little winks and nods to the movies and novels that helped inspire the universe. Two men enter the waist high wooden gated enclosure and one man leaves the waist high wooden gated enclosure.

Darkwaters? Then why isn’t that scantily clad Morrigan chick selling me guns? Wait, that was Darkstalkers. I think I’d rather do my shopping there.

The dialog is one of the strongest points of the game. Fallout brings the wit as well as Wu-Tang brings the ruckus. It’s so hard to resist picking some of the more ridiculous options even though you know they are going to get you into trouble. It makes it easier if you tend to roleplay as a raging asshole though.

Skum Pitt. Still sounds classier than the places I usually go to.

By far, the most impressive part of the first Fallout game is the atmosphere. Every single piece of the game just exudes nuclear wasteland. From the caravans and the trader communes to the insane cults and technology hoarding armies, the aesthetics combine to make this really feel like the retro-futuristic apocalypse it is supposed to be.

Suddenly, I have the overwhelming urge to watch some Troma films.

Meanwhile, on the set of Starship Troopers…

Now I know how my black friend feels anytime he visits the south.

Another aesthetically pleasing strong point is the game’s voice acting. While there isn’t a ton of it, and only a handful of characters have rendered animation or voice acting, the parts that are there are highly professional. You’ll probably be doing the whole, “Where do I know that voice from” thing plenty of times, so to save you some time I’ll get that part over with for you- Hellboy, MacGyver, The Lobe from Freakazoid, Monk, Raymond’s brother from that show about everybody loving him, Childs from The Thing, Bull Shannon, and Mortanius. This has been a public service.

Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it Boba Fett, stay away from that Sarlacc pit!

The combat plays out in a strategic RPG fashion. Depending on a number of factors, you or your enemy will start the battle, at which point you have a number of action points to spend on things like using your inventory, shooting your weapon, and even reloading. For those who have only ever been exposed to the franchise through Fallout 3 or New Vegas, VATS is present in its original form here and helps to add another level of tactics to the game. The combat isn’t overly deep, although there are a fair amount of weapons to decimate the games various mutated baddies with, but it is certainly deep enough. Oh, and if you said, “That’s what she said,” chop yourself in the throat for me.

One of the best things about Fallout is how organic the world seems. Whether through the rich dialog, clues in the surroundings, or just good ol’ fashion history collectin’, pretty much every aspect of the game you would be curious about is explained or, at least, made to make as much sense as can be made in a world where radioactive ghouls and super mutants roam the land.

This is actually exactly what it looks like when you cross the Benjamin Franklin Bridge into New Jersey.

“You may be a doctor. But I’m the Doctor.”

Like any good game of this type, most of the major quests have plenty of different ways to finish them. There are some hiccups with this, as there seem to be in every Fallout game, and some of the quests are as fragile as Sam Jackson in Unbreakable. The littlest misstep can make quests impossible to finish no matter how far through one you are. Sometimes it is a bit on the realistic side, most people won’t give you money after you make fun of them even if you did kill a horde of raiders, but more often than not it just seems like programming loose ends.

Figures. It’s the end of the world and they still have Republican National Conventions.

Doesn’t this guy know what happened to the last person with a name like “Mr. Handy” when they got sexual? At least he wasn’t asking for a horse right! Haha-

…ha.

In the end, Fallout is really one of the best PC games ever made. In the wasteland of PC gaming, Fallout is living a lavish existence in a cobbled together village with games like Deus Ex, Diablo, and Planescape: Torment. With a ton of concentrated atmosphere, engaging gameplay, and a great story with an appropriately wow-the-world-fucking-sucks-doesn’t-it ending, this is definitely the classic that all the cool kids always said it was. If you haven’t played this, you probably should or else you might lose your geek license. In fact, you should play through it before you even start New Vegas, just like I’m doing. That way you don’t have to write about anything substantial or important and can just make tasteless jokes relating to screenshots you took of a 13 year old game.

I mean, uh, I’m a serious journalist!

Fallout was developed by Black Isle Studios and published by Interplay for DOS, Windows, and eventually the stupid Mac like a hundred years later probably, amirite! The game released in North America, the best America, on September 30th, 1997. The copy used in this review was for Windows and given to me by my dad for Christmas 13 years ago, even though my mom totally wasn’t happy with me playing a mature rated game which probably lead to their divorce or something. Fallout was played until completion infinite times for around My Entire Adolescent Life hours.

Next time: Fallout 2

Phantasy Star Online 2 Announced for PC in 2011 (New Trailer)

Garrett Hartman — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 06:52:18 +0000

That’s right…PC Phantasy Star fans have cause for celebration! Sega has announced Phantasy Star Online 2 as a 2011 Windows PC release. Surprisingly, no mention for the Xbox 360 or PS3.

Does it mean PC exclusivity? Not exactly sure but it probably makes more sense to release it for consoles too.

Enjoy the trailer below:

Top Ten Games to Play on Your Netbook: Part 2

Sam Naylor — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 19:11:09 +0000

It’s August now, and that probably means you’re heading away on holiday. Obviously, this will be a big worry for gamers like us. That’s why we were given handheld gaming systems- a way to stave off the withdrawal symptoms from being away from some sort of pixel or polygon for too long. However, handheld consoles aren’t the only thing to keep the babies off the ceiling. There’s also the much-overlooked netbook.

Netbooks are essentially tiny laptops- meaning you can do with them what you would do with any laptop, including installing PC games on them. Obviously they’re built mostly for browsing the web, and as such can’t exactly handle something like Crysis (although oddly people still seem obsessed with benchmarking it on their netbooks, if only to impress people). However, most netbooks are actually fairly decent machines, and I’ve decided to run down a few games that you might want to load up your netbook with to take on holiday with you.

All of these games should work on a modern netbook; I’ve tested them all on an Acer Aspire One. Obviously everyone will have a different configuration and level of technical skill, so it can’t be guaranteed that they will run with your netbook. Besides, it’s just a guideline. I’m sure you’ll be thinking of something that I’ve missed out of the list- so leave a comment. This is the second part of a two-part series: click here for the first five.

Plants Vs Zombies

Plants Vs Zombies is a tower defence style puzzle game which has you defending the left side of the screen from hordes of shuffling zombies- with some plants. As with World of Goo, this game is based on a simple concept, but has a level of depth you won’t believe until you play it. The game may start out fairly easy, but in no time it ramps up to some excellently designed levels that will really test your strategic thinking.

There are so many different types of plant to shoot, eat, or blow up zombie with, with as many types of zombie to be shot, eaten, and blown up. The visuals are packed full of charm and humour, despite hardly taxing your system at all, so this game is perfect for netbook play. You’ll also be able to switch the game on, play a level or two, and leave; great for those moments where you need a quick gaming injection to stave off the pains. Beware, however: you may never be able to stop playing.

Plants Vs Zombies runs perfectly well in Windows, and can be bought from Steam, so you should have no problems there. The game is rated Platinum for running under Wine, so you shouldn’t have any problems using Linux either.

Time Gentlemen, Please! and Ben There, Dan That!

You might not have even heard of these two games. Well, shame on you- they are some of the best adventure games available to you. Monkey Island would run on your netbook, sure- but why play that for the fortieth time? Time Gentlemen, Please! and Ben There, Dan That! were created by Dan Marshall and Ben Ward of Zombie Cow Studios, and are genuinely some of the funniest games since the best days of adventure gaming on the PC.

Packed full of crazy puzzles, self-referential humour, and a wonderfully silly storyline, these games are definitely worth a try whether you’re an adventure game fan or not. If you like laughing (and let’s face it, who doesn’t?), then Time Gentlemen, Please! and Ben There, Dan That! are going to give you a great time. What’s more, the first game in the trilogy of two (Ben There, Dan That!) is free, so you’ve got ample time to try it out before deciding to buy the second game.

The games will run perfectly well under both Windows and Linux with Wine, so you there’s no trouble about compatibility. The games are also available through Steam, if you prefer to run them that way- and there’s no worry about your system not being up to scratch. The games only have a bout 2 graphics between them. Don’t let the extremely basic visuals bother you, though- there’s a lot of fun to be had here.

Civilization III

If you’re looking for a much deeper strategy game to play while mobile, Sid Meier’s Civilization III is definitely something to look into. Grow your Civlization from nothing into a huge empire, and everything in between- on a tiny netbook screen. The Civilization games have always been known to cause heavy addiction among strategy aficionados, so why stop when you head off on holiday? Keep the demons away by playing some Civilization on the road.

Civilization III is getting on a bit now, so the visuals can be a little off-putting, but there’s as much game behind them as there ever was. For some players, it may even be a nostalgia-induced trip as well as the gaming equivalent of crack cocaine. If you’ve got a beefier netbook and you’re looking for an even better Civilization experience, you could look into Civilization IV, but for most that may not run too well on your machine. Plus, with Civilization III being so old now, you should be able to find it for a very affordable price.

The Steam edition will run fine in Windows, but there is a little tweaking to be done to get the game running in Linux with Wine. You can pretend it’s a puzzle and get it working yourself, or just go here and follow the instructions. Your call.

The Sims

Come on, everyone has played The Sims. It’s one of the most popular games of all time, and for a good reason. You’re tasked simply with keeping a family (or person) alive, and nothing more- but the experience is so much more than that. Create your dream home, create mischief in a neighborhood, create a friend in Sim form and play out their life, or just kill Sims in swimming pools- it’s up to you.

Everyone has a tale to tell of the time they killed a character in The Sims. The only thing more fun than removing the ladder from the swimming pool is doing it while you’re sitting by a real swimming pool on your holiday. Although the visuals aren’t exactly beautiful any more, the game is certainly still playable, and it’s also a lot of fun to play with mates or family. Everyone loves the Sims, and it might be just the thing to get your companions on holiday with you convinced that you’re a genius for bringing a gaming netbook with you.

There is a problem, however: if you’re running Linux on your netbook, don’t hold out too much hope. The game will only run in Windows officially, and getting it running under Wine is a huge task. There are a few methods of getting it running but it’s probably not going to be worth your time or money. Apologies to Linux users, but really you should be blaming EA and Maxis for not releasing the game on Linux, the bastards. Incidentally, I was not able to test The Sims on my own netbook- but I felt it should get an entry on this list anyway.

Trackmania Nations Forever

Trackmania is getting on a bit these days, but that doesn’t mean that it’s no longer the best racing game available on PC. The racing is all based around beating lap times, and earning medals for doing the crazy courses in the fastest time. It’s the crazy golf course of the driving game world. The racing is fast paced, a lot of fun, and really addictive; great for when you’re looking for an adrenaline rush when you’re gaming on your netbook.

There’s more to Trackmania, too; you can create your own tracks. The track editor is as extensive as you could ever want, and creative types will spend many hours perfecting the craziest track they can muster. There are also online modes, if you find yourself with a stable internet connection. Best of all? It’s a free game. You can get it from Steam here [http://store.steampowered.com/app/11020/], if you so wish. The full game, Trackmania United Forever, is expensive, but adds more modes, track styles and car types.

The game should runs perfectly well on most netbooks running Windows, thanks to it being pretty old- but it’s still a good looking game. Getting it to run on Linux may cause you a little trouble, but there’s evidence to suggest it will run just fine. Plus, the game is playable with just one hand, so there’s no fiddling about with mice our touchpads.

Well, that’s it for Ripten’s list of the top games to play on your netbook. Thanks for reading- we hope you’ve enjoyed it. Obviously this is a far from comprehensive list; feel free to leave a comment and put in a good word for your favourite netbook game if we’ve missed it out!

Lemmings Ported to Four Different Platforms in Just 36 Hours

Sam Naylor — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 17:08:11 +0000

Mobile 1UP developer Aaron Ardiri has managed to port a PalmOS version of the classic game Lemmings over to four different platforms in a space of just 36 hours.

Ardiri managed to port the game and get it up on the iPhone App Store and Palm App Catalog, Windows, and Mac (click to download- all versions are free).

A video of the iPhone version can be spotted below. It’s a huge feat to port and entire game over to another platform in a day, let alone four in 36 hours. You should be very impressed, and then go and play Lemmings to celebrate. What’s that? It’s a bit shit nowadays? Shh! Don’t tell him.

Frontlines: Fuel of War has 90 Dedicated Servers at Launch

Dylan Duarte — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 22:54:31 +0000

Those worried that Frontlines’ epic 50-player online wars would wreak havoc and destruction on Xbox Live can worry no more. In celebration if its recent launch, THQ has set up 90 dedicated servers for the game’s online play.

Unfortunately, only one map currently supports 50 players, but THQ has said that there is a possibility of more maps in the future that will allow massive wars.

Frontlines: Fuel of War was released on Monday, February 25th, and should have hit most retailers yesterday.

Via Xbox360Fanboy

Frontlines: Fuel of War to Support 50 Players Online

Dylan Duarte — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 23:52:04 +0000

Those who were somewhat unimpressed with the demo for Kaos Studios’ new action title Frontlines: Fuel of War may be interested to hear that the game’s online multiplayer will support up to 50 players.

The Xbox Live multiplayer demo supports 32 players right now, but 50 is a pretty big leap. A developer on the official forums stated that they actually reached 73 players when testing, but they are “taking baby steps” right now.

With all of the stellar first-person shooters available right now, I wasn’t very taken with Frontlines. However, now I feel like I at least have to try the full title when it hits.

Frontlines: Fuel of War hits Xbox 360 and PC on February 25th, 2008.

Via Play.TM

Rumor: Halo Wars Coming to PC with Cross-Platform Play – UPDATE – Denied!

Dylan Duarte — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 00:47:06 +0000

According to the folks over at the Angry Pixel, their source at Microsoft informs them that the upcoming Halo RTS, Halo Wars, will make its way to PC as well as Xbox 360 and feature cross-platform play via Microsoft’s Games for Windows – LIVE.

Not many games currently support cross-platform play, with Shadowrun and Universe at War: Earth Assault being two of them.

While this is good news for PC owners who don’t own an Xbox 360, I can’t imagine that playing an RTS on your 360 against an opponent on a PC would be very fair at all. Even though Ensemble Studios, the developers behind Halo Wars, have stated that they’ve worked out the kinks in controlling an RTS on a console, I can’t imagine that it’s anywhere near as fluid or as easy as using a keyboard and mouse.

UPDATE: When asked about a PC version of Halo Wars, a Microsoft Rep told IGN this:

“Halo Wars is being developed from the bottom up for the Xbox 360 and its control scheme to ensure that we deliver a groundbreaking console RTS experience. Given that, we have no plans to develop ‘Halo Wars’ for Windows Vista at this time.”