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The Disturbingly Awesome Zombies of Valve Games

Happy Halloween everyone!  What better day to play some scary games than this?  Maybe you're planning on taking a tour of the mansion in Resident Evil 1, or making your way through the fog in Silent Hill, or turning off all the lights and visiting Tingle Island in Wind Waker.

Seeing as this is the time for the rising dead, how about we take a look at some video game zombies?  Not just any zombies, but the zombies in Valve games.  This is because I find that Valve puts a little more creativity into these creepers, rather than copy-pasting the standard shuffling brain-eating undead monster.  With that said, let's start off with the Half-Life games.


Headcrab Zombies (Half-Life series)


End my suffering...release Episode 3!
Well there is definitely shuffling and brain-eating going on here, but not in the usual sense.  Headcrab zombies are the result of the inter-dimensional alien invasion that occurred in Half-Life 1.  These zombies are created when aliens called Headcrabs latch onto a person's head, bite through the skull, and then take control of said person's brain.  The result is that the host is alive and fully conscious while he is under control of the Headcrab.  The zombies come in a few forms, such as the standard Headcrab zombie pictured above, as well as the "fast" zombie (this is more of a Left 4 Dead type of zombie that can run and climb):

Note that the Headcrab probably forced the host to tear off his own skin.
And even a zombie that gives other Headcrabs a piggy-back ride:


Disturbed enough yet?  No?  Great!  Because it's time to move on to the Valve series dedicated completely to zombies, Left 4 Dead.

The Infected (Left 4 Dead series)



 Keeping with what seems to be a Valve zombie tradition, the zombies in the Left 4 Dead games are not undead.  The Infected are people who have contracted a fast spreading virus which is kind of like rabies, only much more extreme.  The Infected are alive but have lost their humanity.  They can't speak, they can't use tools or weapons, and they kill non-infected survivors by beating them down with their bare hands, all while growling and grunting like the sick beasts they have become.  The Infected can still feel pain but that doesn't stop them from charging at you even after you've shot off an arm or blown a gigantic hole in their stomach.

The most disturbing and cool zombies of the bunch are the special Infected, which are mutated forms of the regular zombies, but with their own special abilities.

For example, there's the Smoker, who has an extremely long tongue which it uses to entangle survivors and pull them to their doom:


There's also a special Infected called the Boomer, who vomits all over the survivors, which attracts huge hordes of the standard Infected:


In my opinion, the most disturbing special Infected is the Spitter, an extremely mutated Infected who coughs up burning acid which has done a number on her face:


There are plenty more special Infected in the Left 4 Dead games,and as you can see, they are all fitting to give you nightmares:


This concludes our quick look at some of the uniquely disturbing zombies in Valve games, hope this was able to contribute to the Halloween spirit!
Happy Halloween everyone!  What better day to play some scary games than this?  Maybe you're planning on taking a tour of the mansion in Resident Evil 1, or making your way through the fog in Silent Hill, or turning off all the lights and visiting Tingle Island in Wind Waker.

Seeing as this is the time for the rising dead, how about we take a look at some video game zombies?  Not just any zombies, but the zombies in Valve games.  This is because I find that Valve puts a little more creativity into these creepers, rather than copy-pasting the standard shuffling brain-eating undead monster.  With that said, let's start off with the Half-Life games.


Headcrab Zombies (Half-Life series)


End my suffering...release Episode 3!
Well there is definitely shuffling and brain-eating going on here, but not in the usual sense.  Headcrab zombies are the result of the inter-dimensional alien invasion that occurred in Half-Life 1.  These zombies are created when aliens called Headcrabs latch onto a person's head, bite through the skull, and then take control of said person's brain.  The result is that the host is alive and fully conscious while he is under control of the Headcrab.  The zombies come in a few forms, such as the standard Headcrab zombie pictured above, as well as the "fast" zombie (this is more of a Left 4 Dead type of zombie that can run and climb):

Note that the Headcrab probably forced the host to tear off his own skin.
And even a zombie that gives other Headcrabs a piggy-back ride:


Disturbed enough yet?  No?  Great!  Because it's time to move on to the Valve series dedicated completely to zombies, Left 4 Dead.

The Infected (Left 4 Dead series)



 Keeping with what seems to be a Valve zombie tradition, the zombies in the Left 4 Dead games are not undead.  The Infected are people who have contracted a fast spreading virus which is kind of like rabies, only much more extreme.  The Infected are alive but have lost their humanity.  They can't speak, they can't use tools or weapons, and they kill non-infected survivors by beating them down with their bare hands, all while growling and grunting like the sick beasts they have become.  The Infected can still feel pain but that doesn't stop them from charging at you even after you've shot off an arm or blown a gigantic hole in their stomach.

The most disturbing and cool zombies of the bunch are the special Infected, which are mutated forms of the regular zombies, but with their own special abilities.

For example, there's the Smoker, who has an extremely long tongue which it uses to entangle survivors and pull them to their doom:


There's also a special Infected called the Boomer, who vomits all over the survivors, which attracts huge hordes of the standard Infected:


In my opinion, the most disturbing special Infected is the Spitter, an extremely mutated Infected who coughs up burning acid which has done a number on her face:


There are plenty more special Infected in the Left 4 Dead games,and as you can see, they are all fitting to give you nightmares:


This concludes our quick look at some of the uniquely disturbing zombies in Valve games, hope this was able to contribute to the Halloween spirit!
reade more... Résuméabuiyad

The Rise and Fall of Handheld Console Battery Life: A Modern Tragedy

After hearing the news about the Playstation Vita's 2012 U.S. release date, I again began to debate whether this handheld is worth waiting for, or if I should just take the plunge and buy a 3DS.  Inevitably I decided to compare the reported battery lives of the two handhelds, and the results were not too satisfying.  Both the Vita and the 3DS have an approximate battery life of 3-5 hours, meaning you'll be spending a lot of time with your good friend Mr. AC Adapter.  Apparently I'm not the only one upset about this.  Whatever happened to the good old days of handheld gaming?  Remember when changing batteries in your original Gameboy seemed like a rare occurrence?

With that in mind, I decided it would be interesting to look at the battery lives of some of the more popular handheld gaming consoles over the years.   Let's graph these suckers:

Click to expand.
Well you can thank the Sega Game Gear (3 hour battery life!) for ruining my hypothesis that battery life had improved up until a certain point, after which there would be a steep drop.  But still, look at that 30 hour battery life of the Gameboy Color then compare it to the approximately 4 hours of the 3DS.  Portable gaming just isn't so portable anymore.  Until battery technology catches up with modern hardware, we will still end up tethered to a power outlet most of the time.
After hearing the news about the Playstation Vita's 2012 U.S. release date, I again began to debate whether this handheld is worth waiting for, or if I should just take the plunge and buy a 3DS.  Inevitably I decided to compare the reported battery lives of the two handhelds, and the results were not too satisfying.  Both the Vita and the 3DS have an approximate battery life of 3-5 hours, meaning you'll be spending a lot of time with your good friend Mr. AC Adapter.  Apparently I'm not the only one upset about this.  Whatever happened to the good old days of handheld gaming?  Remember when changing batteries in your original Gameboy seemed like a rare occurrence?

With that in mind, I decided it would be interesting to look at the battery lives of some of the more popular handheld gaming consoles over the years.   Let's graph these suckers:

Click to expand.
Well you can thank the Sega Game Gear (3 hour battery life!) for ruining my hypothesis that battery life had improved up until a certain point, after which there would be a steep drop.  But still, look at that 30 hour battery life of the Gameboy Color then compare it to the approximately 4 hours of the 3DS.  Portable gaming just isn't so portable anymore.  Until battery technology catches up with modern hardware, we will still end up tethered to a power outlet most of the time.
reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Odd Peripherals: The Playstation Reality Vest

There are a ton of peripherals in the gaming world, which range from useful to lame to what-were-they-thinking.  A few posts ago I talked about the Steel Battalion controller, which was incredibly expensive and impractical (due to only being compatible with the Steel Battalion games), but you have to admit it had a certain amount of coolness.

While I could fill pages and pages of this blog talking about all the completely weird and pointless gaming peripherals in existence, today we are going to look at just one, the Reality Vest for the Playstation 1.

It's such an obscure accessory that very few pictures exist online.

The Reality Vest was compatible with all Playstation 1 games that made use of the Dualshock controller.  The vest is essentially a giant wearable rumble pack that jolts your whole body around whenever a monkey is beating your ass in Ape Escape.  That's reality for you eh?

So for those of us who can't afford a reclining chair with built in vibration, here's your cheaper alternative!  Seriously though, I see no point in extending the rumble function from your hands (via the Dualshock) to your chest.  Unless this thing can pick me up and toss me into a wall every time I drive off the track in Gran Turismo, it has no business being called the Reality Vest.  But I guess we now know what the vibrating exercise belt scam evolved from.

Out of curiosity, are there any weird peripherals that you have bought during your years of gaming?
There are a ton of peripherals in the gaming world, which range from useful to lame to what-were-they-thinking.  A few posts ago I talked about the Steel Battalion controller, which was incredibly expensive and impractical (due to only being compatible with the Steel Battalion games), but you have to admit it had a certain amount of coolness.

While I could fill pages and pages of this blog talking about all the completely weird and pointless gaming peripherals in existence, today we are going to look at just one, the Reality Vest for the Playstation 1.

It's such an obscure accessory that very few pictures exist online.

The Reality Vest was compatible with all Playstation 1 games that made use of the Dualshock controller.  The vest is essentially a giant wearable rumble pack that jolts your whole body around whenever a monkey is beating your ass in Ape Escape.  That's reality for you eh?

So for those of us who can't afford a reclining chair with built in vibration, here's your cheaper alternative!  Seriously though, I see no point in extending the rumble function from your hands (via the Dualshock) to your chest.  Unless this thing can pick me up and toss me into a wall every time I drive off the track in Gran Turismo, it has no business being called the Reality Vest.  But I guess we now know what the vibrating exercise belt scam evolved from.

Out of curiosity, are there any weird peripherals that you have bought during your years of gaming?
reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Portal Mania

For all you Portal fans out there, now is your chance to grab Portal 2 at a great price. Steam is having a midweek sale, with Portal 2 priced at $15!

I also wanted to share an interesting video that my friend sent me. The video is about a Portal-type game created in the Unity 3D game engine, using a different approach to the portal gun we all know and love. In this game you take a snapshot of the screen, and then project the snapshot onto a wall. This allows you to step through the projected snapshot into the area you took a picture of. It's kind of weird to explain, so here is the video:


What's really interesting is that the portals allow you to travel back in time to the moment you took the snapshot. I hope Valve is keeping an eye on this, it would be a great feature to have in Portal 3!
For all you Portal fans out there, now is your chance to grab Portal 2 at a great price. Steam is having a midweek sale, with Portal 2 priced at $15!

I also wanted to share an interesting video that my friend sent me. The video is about a Portal-type game created in the Unity 3D game engine, using a different approach to the portal gun we all know and love. In this game you take a snapshot of the screen, and then project the snapshot onto a wall. This allows you to step through the projected snapshot into the area you took a picture of. It's kind of weird to explain, so here is the video:


What's really interesting is that the portals allow you to travel back in time to the moment you took the snapshot. I hope Valve is keeping an eye on this, it would be a great feature to have in Portal 3!
reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Gaming Questions That Have Yet To Be Answered

We all know that games are fantasy worlds where anything goes. The laws of physics can be laughed at, respawning is second nature to us, any conceivable creature or object can speak and act like a human, and so on and so forth. Sometimes you can't avoid questioning some of these design choices (I for one can be nit-picky at times). For example, I'm sure everyone who has played a Zelda game has wondered how Link can carry a ton of items at the same time without being burdened the slightest bit. Today we look at some similar questions from gaming over the years.


1. Why is Pacman being chased by ghosts?

 
Seriously, think about it for a second.  What's the story behind Pacman?  Is he exorcising a haunted house?  Strolling through a graveyard on Halloween?  Apparently Pacman is the first survival-horror game ever created.  Not only that, but the main character makes protagonists from later games seem like a bunch of sissies.  After all, this spherical badass can eat ghosts.


2. Why are Dr. Robotnik's technological creations so powerful, yet so vulnerable to being jumped on?

It seems that over the years Dr. Robotnik has created every sort of metal monstrosity known to mankind/hedgehogkind.  How is it that machines which are capable of burrowing through solid rock, or being fully submerged in lava, are brought to their knees when a tiny hedgehog jumps on it?

Maybe the lava weakened the armor plating?

The rock is no match for the hedgehog.
You'd think that after getting his ass kicked multiple times in Sonic the Hedgehog 1, Robotnik would have invested more into his R&D department.  It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Sonic dies when he touches metal spikes, just cover your machines with these to ensure world domination!


3. Why does Rayman have no limbs?



Ok maybe I'm starting to nitpick a bit much here, but seriously, what's going on here?  Is he the result of top secret government experiments?  Maybe he's a relative of Andross from the Star Fox games, or even Homestarrunner.  If his hands and feet are truly not connected to the rest of his body, then Rayman has a command of the Force that even Yoda would be jealous of.


4. Did anyone play-test Superman 64 before it was released?


Actually this one's pretty self-explanatory.

That wraps up our quick look at some of gaming's (mostly) unanswered questions.  If you have gaming questions you would like to see featured in a future blog entry, drop me an email at: strangegaming86@yahoo.com.
We all know that games are fantasy worlds where anything goes. The laws of physics can be laughed at, respawning is second nature to us, any conceivable creature or object can speak and act like a human, and so on and so forth. Sometimes you can't avoid questioning some of these design choices (I for one can be nit-picky at times). For example, I'm sure everyone who has played a Zelda game has wondered how Link can carry a ton of items at the same time without being burdened the slightest bit. Today we look at some similar questions from gaming over the years.


1. Why is Pacman being chased by ghosts?

 
Seriously, think about it for a second.  What's the story behind Pacman?  Is he exorcising a haunted house?  Strolling through a graveyard on Halloween?  Apparently Pacman is the first survival-horror game ever created.  Not only that, but the main character makes protagonists from later games seem like a bunch of sissies.  After all, this spherical badass can eat ghosts.


2. Why are Dr. Robotnik's technological creations so powerful, yet so vulnerable to being jumped on?

It seems that over the years Dr. Robotnik has created every sort of metal monstrosity known to mankind/hedgehogkind.  How is it that machines which are capable of burrowing through solid rock, or being fully submerged in lava, are brought to their knees when a tiny hedgehog jumps on it?

Maybe the lava weakened the armor plating?

The rock is no match for the hedgehog.
You'd think that after getting his ass kicked multiple times in Sonic the Hedgehog 1, Robotnik would have invested more into his R&D department.  It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Sonic dies when he touches metal spikes, just cover your machines with these to ensure world domination!


3. Why does Rayman have no limbs?



Ok maybe I'm starting to nitpick a bit much here, but seriously, what's going on here?  Is he the result of top secret government experiments?  Maybe he's a relative of Andross from the Star Fox games, or even Homestarrunner.  If his hands and feet are truly not connected to the rest of his body, then Rayman has a command of the Force that even Yoda would be jealous of.


4. Did anyone play-test Superman 64 before it was released?


Actually this one's pretty self-explanatory.

That wraps up our quick look at some of gaming's (mostly) unanswered questions.  If you have gaming questions you would like to see featured in a future blog entry, drop me an email at: strangegaming86@yahoo.com.
reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Crazy Controllers: Steel Battalion

Recently I came across a preview for a game I never thought would exist.  The game is Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor for the Xbox 360.  We all remember the first game in the series, Steel Battalion for the original Xbox.  Well ok, we don't remember the game itself so much, but it's hard to forget the incredibly crazy/awesome/expensive controller that came bundled with the game.

And to think, so many people were complaining about how huge the standard Xbox gamepad was.

It's obvious that Capcom was very serious about creating a proper mech simulator.  This incredibly complex controller had 40 buttons, which performed in-game actions such as starting the mech's engine, firing the weapons, and even washing the windshield.   Let's not forget the almighty eject button; if your mech was on the brink of destruction, you had a limited amount of time to hit the eject button, or else your saved game would be automatically erased.  Brutal.

This controller was required to play Steel Battalion, so those of us who couldn't afford the $200 price tag were left out of the party.  Out of curiosity I did a quick Ebay search to see what these controllers were going for these days, and the price range seems to be $70-$100.  Not bad if you want to see what you missed back in the days of the original Xbox (I for one have always wanted to try this game out).

For the newest installment in the Steel Battalion series it looks like Capcom is doing away with monstrously complicated controllers.  The game will use Kinect to allow you to interact with all the controls in the mech's cockpit.  The Kinect is still a bit pricey at $150, but on the bright side it can be used with multiple games, as opposed to paying $200 for the original Steel Battalion setup where the controller was only good for Steel Battalion.

This concludes an installment of Crazy Controllers, hope this brought up some nostalgia!
Recently I came across a preview for a game I never thought would exist.  The game is Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor for the Xbox 360.  We all remember the first game in the series, Steel Battalion for the original Xbox.  Well ok, we don't remember the game itself so much, but it's hard to forget the incredibly crazy/awesome/expensive controller that came bundled with the game.

And to think, so many people were complaining about how huge the standard Xbox gamepad was.

It's obvious that Capcom was very serious about creating a proper mech simulator.  This incredibly complex controller had 40 buttons, which performed in-game actions such as starting the mech's engine, firing the weapons, and even washing the windshield.   Let's not forget the almighty eject button; if your mech was on the brink of destruction, you had a limited amount of time to hit the eject button, or else your saved game would be automatically erased.  Brutal.

This controller was required to play Steel Battalion, so those of us who couldn't afford the $200 price tag were left out of the party.  Out of curiosity I did a quick Ebay search to see what these controllers were going for these days, and the price range seems to be $70-$100.  Not bad if you want to see what you missed back in the days of the original Xbox (I for one have always wanted to try this game out).

For the newest installment in the Steel Battalion series it looks like Capcom is doing away with monstrously complicated controllers.  The game will use Kinect to allow you to interact with all the controls in the mech's cockpit.  The Kinect is still a bit pricey at $150, but on the bright side it can be used with multiple games, as opposed to paying $200 for the original Steel Battalion setup where the controller was only good for Steel Battalion.

This concludes an installment of Crazy Controllers, hope this brought up some nostalgia!
reade more... Résuméabuiyad

The Gabepire Strikes Back

This week amidst all the chaos of Mark Zuckerberg continuing to manipulate the masses (i.e. Facebook has been updated yet again), I happened to come across this picture on Facebook:



Seeing as I'm a huge Team Fortress 2 fan (as well as a Star Wars fan), I couldn't help but create my own version of this picture, using every Valve gamer's favorite punching bag: Gabe Newell.

These aren't the delayed games you are looking for.
It's very easy to draw parallels between Facebook users and Team Fortress 2 players, seeing as both sets of people complain like mad whenever a large update is released for their respective platform.  I for one am glad that Valve continues to support TF2 nearly four years after the game's release, but sadly I have at times been among the complainers.

When item trading was first introduced, I absolutely loathed it, mainly because the chat topics on the servers immediately switched over from strategizing to weapon trading.  This greatly ruined the TF2 experience for many weeks until finally players created trading servers for such things, and strategy chat made a triumphant return in the regular servers.

Also, while I now accept that new weapons are added to TF2 every couple of weeks, I still miss the days when new weapons were a special occasion.  Fellow TF2ers know what I'm talking about; new weapons were released every few months or so, and to unlock them you had to complete achievements.  None of this random drop nonsense.

But anyway, Team Fortress 2 is still awesome, no matter how much the Newell team messes with it!
This week amidst all the chaos of Mark Zuckerberg continuing to manipulate the masses (i.e. Facebook has been updated yet again), I happened to come across this picture on Facebook:



Seeing as I'm a huge Team Fortress 2 fan (as well as a Star Wars fan), I couldn't help but create my own version of this picture, using every Valve gamer's favorite punching bag: Gabe Newell.

These aren't the delayed games you are looking for.
It's very easy to draw parallels between Facebook users and Team Fortress 2 players, seeing as both sets of people complain like mad whenever a large update is released for their respective platform.  I for one am glad that Valve continues to support TF2 nearly four years after the game's release, but sadly I have at times been among the complainers.

When item trading was first introduced, I absolutely loathed it, mainly because the chat topics on the servers immediately switched over from strategizing to weapon trading.  This greatly ruined the TF2 experience for many weeks until finally players created trading servers for such things, and strategy chat made a triumphant return in the regular servers.

Also, while I now accept that new weapons are added to TF2 every couple of weeks, I still miss the days when new weapons were a special occasion.  Fellow TF2ers know what I'm talking about; new weapons were released every few months or so, and to unlock them you had to complete achievements.  None of this random drop nonsense.

But anyway, Team Fortress 2 is still awesome, no matter how much the Newell team messes with it!
reade more... Résuméabuiyad