7/27/2011 LanOC Gaming News

Details: Category: Gaming News; Published: Wednesday, 27 July 2011 00:28

Hopefully everyone survived the heat wave that the midwest just went through. Steam has set some awesome numbers about how much they have made and their top ten games. Batman Arkham Asylum is this weeks Midweek Madness sale and finally I have finished Duke Nukem Forever with some great screenshots. Its Wednesday and that means Gaming News is a go!

Steam:

This week, news has been coming in from Forecasting & Analyzing Digital Entertainment about how much Steam has made in the first half of twenty eleven. They estimate that Steam has revenues around the range of $468 million dollars. I will let everyone guess what game led that charge, yep, Portal 2. With an estimated 1.1 million units sold for 56.4 million dollars. Other notables on that top ten list are number two, Magicka with 789k units, Monday Night Combat with 264k and the one that caught me off guard was Borderlands with 204k units sold. Anyone wanna comment on how PC gaming is dying? Nope, didn't think so. I would like to thank Valve for all that they do with Steam. We couldn't of picked a better service. Gratz to Steam for a great first half. I would like to see them hit 1 billion in revenue before the year is up.

Midweek Madness:

Batman

As much as I despise Games For Windows Live this is a great game. At this point you might as well pay the $7.50 for it and finish it before the next one comes out. Hopefully Rocksteady Studios wises up and uses Steamworks for the next game. Until then though play Batman and add it to your collection of games that are finished. As always, Midweek Madness sale's are good until Thursday at 7pm EST.

Duke Nukem Forever:

Duke-Nukem-Forever

After a long, drawn out process I have finally finished it. It was a great journey and the reviewers need to get off their "High Horses". For me, Duke was an enjoyable experience. Sure, it wasn't Crysis or Metro 2033 but it was a great game to mess around with. The best section by far for me was the monster truck driving. As I have always said in the past it's the little things that make the difference. During that sequence of driving you can hear the "blower" on the truck. For me, this adds to the gameplay. I just really can't fathom how people took a dump on this game. It's not the best game that I have ever played but its far from the worst. People need to rethink how they review games in my own opinion. Overall though I couldn't be happier with Duke Nukem. Probably my favorite line was "I've got balls of fail". I did take some time to take some screenshots, here ya go.

DukeForever_2011-07-26_16-48-48-43

The Freeze Ray

DukeForever_2011-07-26_17-07-02-54

The Ripper with a great photo in the back

DukeForever_2011-07-26_17-29-43-88

Railgun, anyone for a cigar?

DukeForever_2011-07-26_17-34-11-14

You try drawing with a mouse

Great Thread:

This thread is just awesome. Post up anything and everything that you pick up. You might be surprised on what your fellow LanOC'ers are buying. Don't be shy either. None of us our professional photographers so don't worry about the quality of the picture.

It was a short Gaming News this week and I am sorry about that. I have finals this week so wish me luck, one more semester until I graduate! Don't forget our Mini-LAN is this weekend. The best part is its free! Also remember that LanOC V9.0 is coming up soon, please sign up as soon as possible so we can get a firm head count on how many people are showing up. And if at all possible try and pay when you sign up. It is so much easier that way. See you at the end of August.

I hope everyone has a great rest of the week. Looks like i'm heading out to King's Island here in the next week or two. I haven't had that much "me" time in the last couple of months. Also, make sure and follow your staff on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Foursquare to get the latest updates about reviews, news and PC gaming. You will be amazed at the stuff that we share.

Until next week, Wingless is out!

Author Bio

Author: Wingless92

Posts in discussion: 7/27/2011 LanOC Gaming News

drpain replied the topic: #17105 27 Jul 2011 15:47

Hail to the King....

You are right about people needing to get off Duke's back and I think the reason people are being harsh is that they probably weren't around in the glory days of Duke or they think the game needs to be like another hand holding FPS clone with a Michael Bay script.

Duke Forever played like a Duke title. Guns, Babes, Corny one liners and nonsensical puzzles.

Kurzuul replied the topic: #17106 27 Jul 2011 15:59

As for DNF getting poor reviews: I'm guessing it's because, you know, it's completely outdated in terms of game mechanics. And it took ten years to make while still being pretty much mediocre. Also, if every game has to be another clone, wouldn't Borderlands have gotten a bad score?

It's just not a good game, and it was a terrible idea to ever dig it up from its grave.

drpain replied the topic: #17108 27 Jul 2011 17:45

Kurzuul wrote: As for DNF getting poor reviews: I'm guessing it's because, you know, it's completely outdated in terms of game mechanics. And it took ten years to make while still being pretty much mediocre. Also, if every game has to be another clone, wouldn't Borderlands have gotten a bad score?

It's just not a good game, and it was a terrible idea to ever dig it up from its grave.

That's the thing do games these days need to hold peoples hands and have shit blow up constantly on screen like a Michael Bay film? I think that is the problem with a lot of games this generation in that it removes you from having to think and everything is scripted to point where its just a linear shot from A to B.

At least Duke's puzzles made some people have to think about what they need to do instead of follow way point A to get way point B and hey look pretty pictures.

There are the few games out there that are a challenge or require one to think but majority of it just spoon fed to you.

Leonresevil2 replied the topic: #17145 28 Jul 2011 07:29

Arkham is on sale so often. And I wonder if the Summer Sale was included in the Steam profit prediction. And if they are making more money under the TF2 banner by just selling items instead of that and the game.

As for Duke and the implementations on gaming, I think people expected more for a game that took so long and didn't have CoD attached to it. People enjoy games that aren't just explosions, hand holding, and guns. Look at those Portal 2 sales. Look at how indie games are doing online.
Often, it's not the most voices, but it's the loudest voices are heard the most. And those tend to be the noobie teens suckling off the CoD teet and hating on everything else that requires a brain capable of memory and nostalgia. Duke was decent and functional as a FPS. The mechanics may have been flawed, but it wasn't super easy, and some players want that. I think some reviews didn't look at it well simply because it had hype behind it without a big name company that would bribe them for good reviews.

Wingless92 replied the topic: #17280 29 Jul 2011 21:48

Thanks for the LINK!!!! Shacknews

Duke Nukem's arsenal is about to double, ladies and gentlemen.

According to Gearbox Community Manager (and Shacknews alum) Chris Faylor, a patch is currently in the works for Duke Nukem Forever that will increase Duke's inventory slots, allowing him to carry up to four weapons at once during the single-player campaign.

Leonresevil2 replied the topic: #17330 30 Jul 2011 05:44

Sweet, brings it closer to how classic games were. I miss carrying an arsenal and feeling like a badass.