Little Big Planet - MacGyver moment

I have seen quite a few articles about Little Big Planet  (LBP) on the Internet. I didn't take time to read so I had no idea what this game is about.

Well, Little Big Planet is

Unique game combining an amazing platform adventure with a huge social community enabling consumers to play, create and share their gaming.

The world of LittleBigPlanet is unlike anything you have visited before: a

— handcrafted landscape made from

recognizable materials together with pure imagination! Instead of the pre-scripted gameplay normally seen in platform games,

LittleBigPlanet uses an advanced physics system which takes full advantage of the PLAYSTATION®3 systems power. Shapes, materials and objects all react exactly as you expect so balls roll, sledges slide and springs go boing.

So it is quite different and gives players a very nice playground. You can start small with decorations and get into more serious stuff later on. How serious? Depends on the ideas and free time.

I saw the video (see below) that simply amazed me. Beginning is quite simple and does not look very impressive. And then second half of the video is the revelation.

LittleBigPlanet 'Giant Calculator' gameplay

Not that it is a working calculator but it is a mechanical one! Upsilandre managed to get his/hers head around workings of mechanical calculator but also managed and organized over 1600 mechanical part, 610 magnetic switches, 500 wires and 430 pistons.

For me this is a definitely a MacGyver moment!

I wish this video is available in high definition... 

Diablo III new monster revealed - Dune Thresher

Diablo III seems to be doing just fine. It is quite far in development and according to some rumors it will be released before Starcraft 2. Apparently Diablo has a lot larger development team. Good news for Diablo fans, not so good for Starcraft.

Back to this beast. It hides in the sand and looks it is quite fast. It charges quickly to it's pray.

It is very sensitive to vibrations and sounds.

They'll jump right up onto these rocks and drag you down. An experienced hunter could survive an attack, but someone like you will be lunch if you keep stomping around here, making all that noise.

Starcraft II - Terran gameplay short video

Gametrailers.com have a short trailer of Terran base under attack from Protoss (Colossus). It is only one minute long but it shows a level of details in game and pace of the game, not created for a demo purpose. There are some audio commentaries from observers (as usual everybody think they knows what to do better than the guy playing the game).

 

 

You can also notice he had some trouble with resources. It would be nice to have some longer footage.

 

Somehow I missed another video, this time it is an interview with Frank Pearce, VP of product development. It does not reveal any new information but summarizes Blizzard's vision and the goals for the game. As expected they are not announcing release date.

 

Starcraft II gameplay videos and info

Gametrailers has a new gameplay video showing Zerg base and Terran rushing in. Unfortunately, Zerg is destroyed very quickly but it does show the details of Zerg and Terran units.

Here is the video

There are few details I would like to mention. Pay attention to units and building names and you will notice some changes. This is an opportunity to check out the unit animations (or at least the current ones). One of new units is a Spine Crawler as replacement for Sunken Colony.

Just after the mid point of the movie there is Creep Tumor which I don't know what is doing yet.

In addition to this video there is a post on Kotaku describing their experience with Starcraft II playing as Zerg.

The most interesting points from their perspective are

• Zerg units may be hard to distinguish from background
• Zerglings felt as underpowered unit
• Spine Crawlers can be relocated on creep as needed
• Queen and Corruptor are available early in game
• Hydralisks cost more and are available later in game

And their final comment:

After finally getting our mitts on the Zerg, we're more excited than ever about StarCraft II. We simply can't wait to annoy you via Battle.net with our crushing waves of Zerglings.

Here is another video (too short), this time of Protoss and building of the base. I like the Pylon animation and warping of the Gateway.

Just for an eye candy here is another video - crystal harvesting (Terran) and Protoss attacking Zerg's base.

That's it for now. I hope more videos will be released now when Leipzig Games Convention 08 has finished.

Stop the press! I just found another gameplay video. Have fun watching.

Mar Sara, another planet in StarCraft II universe

Another planet is added to the  StarCraft II universe - Mar Sara. This planet is second inhabitable planet in Sara system. It was always is the shadow of the more prosperous Chau Sara. In addition to that it was the first planet where Confederation fought Zerg.

Fighting was done by local militia forces who were later arrested for the same reason. Arcturus Mengsk, leader of rebel group Sons of Korhal solved the injustice by freeing the prisoners.

Arcturus obtained and revealed information about Confederation knowing about Zerg arrival and the sacrifice of Mar Sara in order to test a secret weapon that incited the Zerg invasion.

 

 

To make things better Executor Tassadar of Protoss incinerated the planet, just as he did with Chau Sara.

Bombarding of the planet has changed the minerals on the planet so they are unique. (maybe we'll see yellow crystals here...) 

 

Terrans are now returning to Mar Sara and establishing several outposts. There are some reports of Zerg sightings...

 

Some statistics about the planet:

• Population: 80 000 Terran, Zerg - unknown
• Allegiance: Kel-Morian
• Diameter/Gravity: 9265 km, 1.09 standard
• Axial tilt/Climate: 13.5º, ±34ºC, very low humidity
• Geography/Major settlements: 18 small dust seas, 28 upland regions, 12 major settlements, 86 mining outposts, 12 refineries
• Moons: Pyramus, Thisby (gray, medium size, over 2000 km diameter)
• Dominant terrain form: Wasteland/mountain/desert
• Dominant life form: Human - Kel-Morian Combine/Terran Dominion
• Indigenous life form: None/Zerg infestation (minor)
• Imports: Mining equipment, personnel, food, water
• Exports: Refined minerals, unrefined ore, vespene gas, terrazine gas, scrap salvage

 

From the description Mar Sara will be rich in minerals and gas so resources should not be the problem. Here are the screenshots for this incinerated desert planet.

 

StarCraft board game

Well, I am a year older now and a proud owner of the StarCraft - The board game. This was my birthday present from my family - really, really cool one!

This is the first board game based on the computer game that I have seen from close up. I saw Doom while ago but never heard anyone how it is to play it.

What's inside?

Let's see what is inside the box. This is a big box and there is a lot of stuff in there. Well, on the top there is the manual "Rules of play".

This is quite demanding reading with 43 pages of descriptions, rules, examples and tips. It is very nicely done in usual StarCraft look and feel.

Now, there are 12 boards with various elements - planets, navigation routes, variety of player tokens, base and order tokens, depletion tokens, conquest track and markers. Below are shots of all boards before tokens were removed from frames.

We also have "Faction sheets". There are six cards and they are for

• The Queen of Blades (Zerg)


• The Overmind (Zerg)


• Aldaris (Protoss)


• Tassadar (Protoss)


• Jim Raynor (Terran)


• Arcturus Mengsk (Terran)

These are very important and they show faction's special abilities, victory objective, what can you build. It also represents your base configuration. Face of the sheet contains brief biography of the character while the back is used during the game.

Here is a closer look at The Queen of Blades and The Overmind faction sheets.

Next lot of 6 cards is a set of Reference Sheets. They contain useful summaries of the effects of the various order tokens, as well as each player's special victory objective. They also summarize units' statistics and list their average attack values.

Cards - there are quite a few cards in the box. The cards are divided in four groups:

• Resource



• Combat



• Technology



• Event

Now comes the cool part - game pieces! There are six sets and the colours are blue and red for Terran, yellow and orange for Protoss, green and purple for Zerg. Game pieces are quite nice but there were some broken pieces - joint with stand for flying units are relatively fragile so I'll have to do some fixing.

Here are close up shots of each faction.

Zerg

Protoss

Terran

So, this is firs look at the game content. How does it play? Well, I had a test "game" with my nephew last weekend and it is hard to play it for the first time. I'm sure we will get it right eventually and have a lot of fun.

When I figure out how to play it properly I'll try to explain and describe it in separate post.

If anyone would like to see a something in close up view (e.g. Hydralisk :)) I can add more images.

Zeratul's biography added to heroes section

Zeratul is a rebellious one that didn't want to be submerged in Protoss mind link. He is also known for slaying a Zerg cerebrate.

Zeratul went on to fight alongside Tassadar to bring about the destruction of the zerg Overmind during the invasion of Aiur, and then helped the protoss evacuate the planet as it continued to be overrun by the zerg. When the Swarm followed the refugees to the dark templar world of Shakuras, Zeratul helped recover the Khalis and Uraj crystals, which allowed the protoss to activate the xel'naga temple there and wipe out the invaders. Later, when the dark archon Ulrezaj threatened to destroy the Aiur protoss "violating" Shakuras, Zeratul was instrumental in thwarting Ulrezaj's schemes.

 

He has a bit of history with Zerg, Queen of Blades.

Zeratul has a long and bitter history with the Queen of Blades, having been manipulated and betrayed by her more than once as she destroyed the remaining zerg cerebrates in order to secure her control over the Swarm after the Overmind's death.

One could say he has some of the human (Terran) characteristics...