You're not going anywhere, the game is.

I just had to post this part of a project update from the Kickstarter by Bare Mettle Entertainment about the game they are making with the help of their Kickstarter.
The game is called Sui Generis, you can read more here on Kickstarter.

"We feel that in recent years the focus of most CRPGs has shifted from creating an immersive world to providing a streamlined gameplay experience. Rarely is there room for subtlety or engaging your wits. Games have been evolving into something where anyone can play for a while and feel they've achieved something. Ultimately though, our achievements are purely virtual, and we didn't even have fun. You're not going anywhere, the game is. You're just along for the ride and nothing you do really matters. We don't exactly come out feeling like we've accomplished something, more like we've satisfied some addiction. It's easy to forget, but we know that games can be genuinely fun, worthwhile and stimulating.

The kind of roleplaying experience we dreamed of and hope to create is one that hasn't been possible without a human game master who can intelligently respond to all your actions. We want your actions to have meaningful effects, not as pre-scripted "choice and consequences" over which we have no real insight or control, but as a world that is affected realistically by everything you do. We want you to be able to make mistakes, to fail and to feel that your successes are your own. We even want you to accomplish things that we as designers have never foreseen. We want a world capable of supporting your most creative strategies, where hypothetical scenarios turn out to be real. We're talking about roleplaying, immersion, being master of your own character in a world that can make you believe it is real".

This quote exactly captures how i have been feeling about gaming and games, no matter how great they were and i thought i liked them.
No matter how much i loved games like Mass Effect or Dragon Age, i still have to finish a second playthrough, i mean i want to but i just can't, i allready know what's going to happen, what my choices are going to be, so you allready know how the game is going to end.
And to be honest games like Skyrim and Oblivion are much the same when it comes to questing, the only difference (and reason i still play them) is that you can still just roam around in the world and add lots of stuff through mods.

The same thing goes for MMO's, it's all one big scripted adventure with an outcome allready set, the developers have allready made up the story for you and you are just along for the ride, in the end you know you will be the hero of the world, the saviour of the galaxy.
The path has allready been layed out for you, the only choice you get is path A,B or C (Good, Neutral or Bad) but the end result is always the same.

 Quote: You're not going anywhere, the game is.

In the end it should be a choice i made, not a multiple choice answer given to me by the developers.

So, yeah i am kind of excited to see if Bare Mettle can pull this off with Sui Generis and i am glad i backed a game like this.
It would be awesome to blog about my game progress and know that i have a completely different story than anyone else playing the same game.

Until then i'll just keep dreaming...

Commander Shepard says hi.

Haven't blogged in a long time...
So my 6th year "blogging anniversary" (on Feb 18th) went by without me noticing..
So to make that up i am posting this picture of Commander Shepard :)

Now that's something you didn't see ingame did ya :)

This is one of the things i am doing lately, i made this in a program called XNALara and it's all done with models from the game (Mass Effect.. duh) and a lot of patience trying to pose them :)

Anyways i am still alive, just very quiet when it comes to blogging and gaming.
Been playing some Sims and... well that's about it, i guess i am just tired of gaming mostly, i am tired of MMO's, it's all the same just with some new pretty graphics, blah, blah..

The only games that i have some interrest in right now are basicly RPG with a really good storyline or the really big open world RPG's like Skyrim, Fallout etc.
I really like to be able to change anything in the game i like, so it becomes a game i like and not a game that someone thinks i like.
Also one of the reasons i played a lot of the Sims lately, you can just about change anything you like in that game with the right mods and of course the same goes with games like Skyrim &  Fallout New Vegas.

And then there is my latest "addiction" messing around in programs like XNALara or Gmod, importing models form games and.. well just pose them around in different scenery's and take screenshots :)
I've also been checking out stuff like 3DS Max and Blender, but for now that's kinda out of my league.
Been trying to import my own custom Shepard from Mass Effect but so far this is all i got:

I've managed to import everything from my custom Shepard, like the head, hair and body but so far i have not managed to get the textures on the model right..
But it's always fun to learn new stuff and hopefully i will manage to get it right sometime :)

This blog is not dead (yet), just a little quiet. Who knows there isn't much i am looking forward to this year in gaming, apart form some Kickstarter stuff, but i might show up here every now and then.

Mass Effect MMO a possibility?

A really interresting article on Penny Arcade (The doctors from BioWare discuss the Old Republic launch, ending a trilogy, and a Mass Effect MMO) were they interview the doctors and of course eventually come to the "rumor" of a Mass Effect MMO and eventhough they are not saying yes, there is also not a no in there, so jumping the conclusion: yes a possibility.

Of course the biggest question, besides will it happen or not, is how they would pull this off, i mean imagine a 1000 Shepards running around going after the same mobs.

But then again if anyone could pull this off, it would definitely be BioWare.
The Mass Effect universe/lore definitely has a lot of potential for making a great MMO.

Keeping my fingers crossed for a Mass Effect MMO :)

Mass Effect 3: More FemShep

Eventhough i initially felt like i didn't wanna spoil anything by playing the demo (i allready pre-ordered), i am somewhat glad i did, i really think they are not giving much away with the demo, which is good.

You initially start at the beginning of course, which is somewhat of a tutorial on how to move and such and it sets up the story (invasion of the reapers).
After that tutorial you basicly advance to a later part in the story (you are suddenly level 14 i think) and play one level and that's it.

I did however like the fact that i could import my Mass Effect 1 & 2 character into the demo, by using the character code.
Apart from the hair color, i am pretty sure my character was a redhead, she looks pretty good.

It felt really good to see her again and can't wait for the release of the full game and see what trouble she gets into now :)

In Honor of #FemShepFriday

Just a few screenies of my FemShep as i played her through Mass Effect 1 and 2, in honor of #FemShepFriday.

Mass Effect:


Mass Effect 2:


And another cool one from Mass Effect 2:

Commander Shepard Needs Our Help!

If you are a big fan of Mass Effect you probably heard of, or seen Holly Conrad around, she is the (awesome artist) female Shepard showing up on cons and, well anywhere on the web.
Check out some of her (and Crabcat's) awesome work here.

Normally i wouldn't post stuff like this but i really felt like making a post.

I follow her on twitter (@HollyConrad) and recently she tweeted the following:


And a couple of hours after that:


Yes Shepard needs your help, you can go to her page here and if you can spare some money donate and help her get back up and running (i did).
Even if you can't spare some money, you can still help by spreading the word!

Afterall we need Shepard (FemShep) to save us from the Reapers.

No really, it's the rain.

I am not crying, i am Shepard dammit!!

Earlier this month i finished the Arrival DLC for Mass Effect 2, i had put it off because i didn't wanna finish the game, but not playing doesn't make sense either, does it?
It felt pretty short but a really cool story to link ME2 to ME3.

Still sad i finished the game, but also looking forward to ME3.

In other Mass Effect news, i have been reading the Mass Effect books, so far i have finished both Revalation and Ascension and they are really cool stories, Revelation is the prequel to ME1 and Ascension takes place between ME1 and ME2.
Next Mass Effect book on my list is Retribution, which i think, is taking place just before Mass Effect 3.

If you love Mass Effect (and it's lore) these books are definatly a must read.
I really hope BioWare will be continuing with the books long after ME3 comes out, as i am really enjoying the lore of Mass Effect.

It's also my wish for Mass Effect to be an open world RPG (like Oblivion), but yeah, not much chance of that happening is there?.. Unless.... yeah let's do it, make a Mass Effect MMO. There i said it!

Finishing Mass Effect and Broadcasting my gaming sessions.

Went through Mass Effect for the first time, really loving it.
Started another run right after finishing it the first time.

Also finally found out why the Xfire broadcasting didn't work for me...
Apperantly Xfire doesn't work too well if you have Fraps running, have to exit Fraps to be able to broadcast through Xfire, major bummer...

So now that i have that working you might be able to see me game live, just goto www.hauntshade.net and it will forward you to my Xfire broadcast page and you can see if i am broadcasting or not.
The first time you visit this page it will ask you to install a plugin to be able to see the video though.
I have been watching some broadcasts and been broadcasting myself and have to say it works great and awesome quality, a lot better than the way i did before using Ustream.

Bring down the sky

Got kind of bored with KOTOR 2, somehow i just didn't like it as much as KOTOR 1, i guess the storyline just didn't "capture" me, so i decided to get Mass Effect instead :)
I allready played it on the Xbox but i am really a PC gamer, don't like playing long sessions on the Xbox.
So i went to D2D and got Mass Effect, it was a lot cheaper (almost half the price) than getting it in the shop.

So far i am having a lot of fun playing, it was an awesome game on the Xbox but i think it's a lot better on PC :)
Also got the downloadable content, "Bring down the sky" for free with the order

Test Drive Unlimited with Mass Effect

The last few days i have mostly been playing on my Xbox 360, having fun with Mass Effect and i am completely hooked to Test Drive Unlimited, it's a lot of fun driving around (and doing races) on Hawai.
Did finally get my Tabula Rasa keyset for my Zboard for my PC, but there seem to be some problems with it as it is not detected (as it should be), haven't found the time yet to start looking into it, but i hope i can get it to work..