privateer Δημοσ. 11 Μαρτίου 2009 Μέλος Δημοσ. 11 Μαρτίου 2009 Gears of War 3: What to Do Next Time While Gears of War 2 was a critical and financial success, for most fans of the first iteration in the series, things were a lot different. Upon the release of the heavily anticipated sequel in the Gears franchise, throngs of Gearsheads stormed the official forums, demanding an explanation for the rampant bugs and sluggish matchmaking. Epic remained mum on the subject for quite some time, and while several title updates have been released to remedy a number of the issues, the game still feels unfinished. Resting comfortably at the #4 spot on the Xbox LIVE games charts, Gears of War 2 is far from being dead, but the point remains that somewhere along the line, something went wrong that gave hardcore Gears fans a sour taste in their mouths, myself included. While as a game, Gears 2 might be more sophisticated and the bigger, better, and more badass mantra might hold true for the singleplayer campaign, a lot of the problems stem from what is arguably the game’s most important mode, the competitive online multiplayer. Let’s think about the future though for a minute here. While Epic is toiling away on fixing the remaining problems that currently plague Gears 2, now is the time to brainstorm for Gears of War 3 while both the fans and Epic are aware of what didn’t work this time around. Before discussing what needs to be changed, let’s reiterate what needs to stay. What Worked The Campaign Gears of War 2 is by no means an incredibly deep game, but bringing Josh Ortega onboard to write the story was a brilliant move to further enhance and define the Gears universe. What’s more, the campaign mode was even more epic than its predecessor, moving away from skirmishes and into large scale wars between Locust and COGs. Of all the set-pieces in Gears 2, some of the most memorable come from the full-scale invasions of the Locust’s home turf, where dozens of soldiers are fighting against equal amounts of bad guys. Keeping this pacing for Gears of War 3’s story would be favorable, but maybe sprinkling in some more intimate combat along the way would make the story feel a bit more personal. Unreal Engine 3 Tweaks The lighting was better, the frame rate was much more stable, the cover system was more fluid, and the physics were much improved. The engine tweaks that Epic employed on Gears 2 were a carefully selected and balanced group of improvements that served the Gears franchise very well. One of the best improvements was the near-destruction of the “sticky” glitch, where players would become stuck to walls when moving rapidly in and out of cover (which as a frequent occurrence for hardcore players). Overall, the ambient occlusion lighting techniques that Epic & Co. implemented in what many are calling Unreal Engine 3.5 matched Gears 2 thematically. In order to create a planet that was worth saving, Epic made stunning vistas much more prominent and reoccurring so players were empowered with a sense of purpose and drive. Marketing and Hype The marketing campaign for Gears of War 2 far outpaced that of Gears of War 1, with the exception of the Last Day trailer not quite reaching the Mad World trailer’s popularity or impact. The developer diaries leading up to the game’s release were hugely popular among fans and were perfectly spaced out to give eager gamers their weekly dose of Gears 2 news that they so desperately craved. The advertising and midnight launches were all made incredibly public, and the game sold insanely well as a result, and in a much faster time period than the original Gears did. For Gears of War 3, there is no better template to follow for a marketing campaign. With all that established, it’s time to reflect on the things that tarnish the Gears of War 2 experience. What Didn’t Work The Matchmaking The matchmaking in Gears of War 2 is probably one of the most widely discussed flaws with the game. Everyone from players to IGN have commented on just how shitty this system worked at its debut. While recent title and server updates have sped up the process much, much more, several problems still remain. Players are still being matched up with incomplete teams, mismatched ranks, and terrible hosts. Often times, players end up playing opponents from entirely different countries (for whatever reason) which results in a whole lot of… Lag Without a doubt in my mind, Gears of War 2 is the laggiest game I have ever played in my time with online gaming. Whether it’s the host of the game or just the way that the netcode is written, something is very, very wrong with the online setup used in Gears 2. If this is a result of poor matchmaking host-selection or some other, unknown variable, it needs to be addressed in Gears 3. According to a poll I conducted on the official Gears forums, lag was by far the most desired thing to be addressed in Gears of War 3. Glitches Some of the most frustrating moments of my time with Gears of War 2 stemmed from incidents resulting from some really shitty glitches. Things like standby, shotgun rounds smashing the floor when hipfired, and other game-killing bugs made Gears of War 2 a nightmare at launch. If it hadn’t been for the inherent desire of certain gamers to exploit the game as much as possible, it wouldn’t have been a big deal, but unfortunately, shield-glitchers and other exploiters near ruined the online experience for some who took the game seriously. The chainsaw being damn near unstoppable is something that still hasn’t been seriously looked at, which is a bit troubling. Overall Speed This is perhaps the one element of Gears of War 2 that is truly flawed from a gameplay perspective rather than a technical one. In order to reduce the “shotgun fests” that were rather prominent in Gears 1, Epic decided to scale back the overall speed of the game. This includes everything from movement speed to weapons’ firing rate. Most notably, the shotgun was nerfed considerably. This change took away that distinctive Gears feel: a frenetic, fast-paced, on-your-toes-at-all-times game of violent chess. In addition to the movement speed being impaired, the updated grenades and portable cover turned the game into more about standoffs with Lancers than any kind of close confrontation. Now, this isn’t a bad thing in and of itself, it’s just that there is no other way to play the game successfully than implementing the “hang back and wait for each other to make a move” strategy. Now that that’s aside, it’s time to look to the future. How can Epic remedy these problems for Gears of War 3? It’s all pretty simple (from a design standpoint anyways). What To Do Next Time Implement Client-Side Hit Detection/Dedicated Servers I can honestly say that this one fix would bring Gears of War up to the level of hit multiplayer games such as Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3, simply in terms of playability. If this takes some serious programming overhauling, I will gladly wait an extra year or so to get the promise of a purely lag-free experience the next go around. We were promised a “buttery-smooth” online experience pre-launch, and as everyone is well aware at this point, this promise has gone largely (if not completely) unfulfilled. That being said, if the Unreal Engine is incapable of using CSHD, it only makes sense to go the dedicated server route, a la Left 4 Dead. The fact that Valve put the money into making a consistently lag-free experience into a much smaller (in terms of commercial appeal) game, while Epic decided to save some cash by excluding such a feature is beyond me. The general misconception with dedicated servers on consoles is that it can only be done through players’ Xbox 360s. This is NOT TRUE. Dedicated servers are PC-based machines that host all server information, and allow a multitude of games to be hosted on a single machine. This removes host-advantage, as well as giving gamers the buttery-smooth online experience they have been promised time and time again. “Borrow” Bungie’s Matchmaking System C’mon now Epic, we’re all human. We all make mistakes once in awhile. It’s also okay to accept that sometimes other developers have almost nailed perfection in certain aspects of game design. One of the key selling points of Halo 3 is its strong matchmaking system, which gives gamers both fair and lag-free matches consistently. Let’s put two and two together. Halo is owned by Microsoft. Gears of War is owned by Microsoft as well. Why shouldn’t Epic just do a little reskin of the Halo 3 matchmaking system and throw it in Gears 3? Players know what the matchmaking is actually doing instead of just staring at the screen wondering what the hell is going on behind the scenes. This creates an experience that even casual gamers can get into, which ultimately generates more revenue as the Gears install base expands. Everyone’s happy. “Give it up, Bungie! We need a sweet matchmaking system too!” Create a Public Gears 3 Beta Although it is respectable that Cliff Bleszinski wanted gamers to experience Gears of War 2 in its entirety on their first go-through, this only served to exacerbate the many problems that were present in the retail copy at launch. Many of the issues present in the initial copy could have easily been ironed out through a mass Xbox LIVE public beta, and it’s time to embrace the fact that every major multiplayer game that gives a damn about its online reputation is releasing a beta prior to launch (see: Killzone 2, Halo 3, COD4/5). To make sure that Gears 3 is not a repeat of the glitch-fest that was Gears of War 2 at launch, a beta run will make sure that the exploit-hungry gamers that made Gears 2 a nightmare to play for awhile will have their chance to break the game as they see fit, which gives Epic precious time to clean up any bad code before the game hits store shelves. Again, a win-win situation. Revert to “Classic” Gears Gameplay What’s that you say? Gears of War 2 is a different game, and I need to adapt? Let’s recap for a moment. The gamers that want Gears of War 1’s frantic gameplay back are the same rather large group of players that kept Gears 1 on top of the Xbox LIVE charts for a little more than a full year, whereas Gears of War 2 is holding onto the number 4 spot for dear life as I type this. Bring back the speed of Gears of War 1 in Gears 3, and if the above suggestions are implemented, you will notice that the shotgun-rushing and other exploits will no longer be present, especially without the Lancer suffering from inordinate amounts of lag along with stopping power behaving as a serious part of the game. The “classic” gameplay I speak of also includes the shotgun being reverted to its original status of “ultimate close-quarters destruction weapon”. The chainsaw should NOT beat the shotgun in CQB by any means. As Cliff himself has gone on record as saying, it is the “humiliation” or “last resort” weapon in the game. There are so many things that were done correctly with Gears 2 gameplay-wise, and it’s a shame that most of them are undone by the speed decrease and technical issues. While there are a number of other things that could make Gears of War 3 an amazing game, the aforementioned points are the most critical aspects that need to be implemented in order to bring back the hardcore Gears 1 fans while preserving the current Gears 2 players. Not only that, but by leaning more towards accessibility and technical setups that are becoming standard in popular multiplayer shooters, the install base of the Gears franchise can only expand and benefit from refinement and optimization. Gears of War has been playing catch-up for the majority of its lifespan as a franchise, and with Gears of War 3, it’s time to raise the bar in ways that don’t involve just graphics. Make it happen, Epic. Your hardcore fans are still here, we’re just waiting. http://www.safetys-off.com/2009/03/gears-of-war-3-what-to-do-next-time.html Πολύ σωστό άρθρο. Ιδίως η επιστροφή στο κλασσικό gameplay του Gears 1 είναι απολύτως βασικό για το multiplayer.
privateer Δημοσ. 13 Μαρτίου 2009 Μέλος Δημοσ. 13 Μαρτίου 2009 New Gears of War 2 experience system due 3/24, Snowblind Map Pack coming 3/31 Q&A: Exec. producer Rod Fergusson outlines update's brand-new ranking system, auto-balancing, and achievements; add-on features frosty remake of Fuel Depot, trio of all-new arenas. http://www.gamespot.com/news/6206057.html?tag=latestheadlines;title;1#
privateer Δημοσ. 13 Μαρτίου 2009 Μέλος Δημοσ. 13 Μαρτίου 2009 Some big additions are in the works for Gears of War 2. The first is Title Update 3, which brings a load of improvements and exciting new features to the game, including an all-new experience-based ranking system. That’s already cause for celebration, but there’s more—the Snowblind Map Pack, a bundle of four wintery Gears 2 multiplayer battlefields, hits the Xbox LIVE Marketplace shortly after Title Update 3. Gears of War 2 Title Update 3—March 24, 2009 A culmination of the tireless efforts of the Gears team and mounds of player feedback, this latest Gears 2 update is our biggest yet. Title Update 3 contains a bounty of additions ranging from new features and achievements to exploit fixes and matchmaking tweaks, with highlights below: * New experience-based ranking system: The new system gives you 100 levels of player experience, gained through scoring in Public matches. The game still uses TrueSkill to set up the most competitive matches possible, but skill ranks are now hidden. Players who quit matches early see their experience docked as a penalty. * Public Match autobalancing: Bots now automatically join a Public Match to fill any slots left vacant by players who quit early or disconnect. * Improvements: You get region preference for matchmaking, improved standby detection, playlist optimization, plus nine new achievements—six of which require the Snowblind Map Pack—worth a total of 250 points. * Exploit fixes: Title Update 3 eliminates the ability to mantle greater distances by swapping weapons during cover slide and to melee attack through walls while holding an enemy weapon, plus adding many more fixes. * General fixes: These include more reliable chainsaw interruption detection, improved headshot detection for certain character model heads, improved flag AI in Submission games, plus other fixes. * Balancing: Title Update 3 makes changes to Subway weapon spawns for greater balance, reductions to smoke-grenade stun duration, an increase to the forward angle that triggers chainsaw duels, and several other balance revisions. Of course, that’s just some of what’s in store for players in Title Update 3. For the complete skinny, be sure to check out the complete patch notes. Snowblind Map Pack—March 31, 2009 Don’t worry, that rush of cold up your back is just the Snowblind Map Pack, a winter-themed batch of four new Gears of War 2 maps bound to crank up the heat on your multiplayer and Horde matches. The four maps are: * Grind Yard, a massive industrial complex with low bunkers and high sniping positions. * Under Hill, which takes players through snowbound tunnels and beyond. * Courtyard, a wide-open battle royale. * The popular Gears 1 map Fuel Depot, back with a blast of winter courtesy of Mother Nature, aka Epic Games. Detailed list of fixes: Title Update 3 makes these new improvements: * Adds 100 levels of player experience that you can gain based on your score in Public matches. The game still uses Trueskill for matchmaking to find the most competitive matches, but the skill rank is now hidden. The new level of experience appears next to your gamertag, with levels 1 through 99 displayed as numbers and level 100 displayed as an icon. The game normalizes experience based on match type so that players earn an equivalent amount of experience across all modes. * Adds an experience penalty for players quitting before a match is complete. * Adds bots automatically to a Public Match if players quit and cause unbalanced teams. This ability has always existed in Private Matches if the bot count is set higher than zero. * Optimizes playlists to only have two modes per playlist. Ties are decided by random selection. * Adds map cycling to Private Matches. The first match map is chosen by vote or by host, and when that match is completed, the game transitions automatically to the next match, with the next map selected in alphabetical order. * Adds the ability for teams to talk to each other between rounds in a Private Match. * Adds the ability to save Public and Private Horde high scores after each complete wave, in case the host loses connection. * Makes minor changes to general bandwidth usage. * Adds region preference to matchmaking. * Improves standby detection. * Adds nine new achievements worth 250 points. Progress toward them starts after Title Update 3 is applied. Six of the new achievements require the Snowblind Map Pack, a set of four new maps to be released soon. The nine new achievements: o "Rookie Gear" (10 points): Earn enough multiplayer experience to reach level 5 (Public only). o "Seasoned Gear" (20 points): Earn enough multiplayer experience to reach level 15 (Public only). o "Battle-Tested Gear" (30 points): Earn enough multiplayer experience to reach level 25 (Public only). o "Battle-Hardened Gear" (50 points): Reach level 50 and play a match on each of the four Snowblind Map Pack maps (Public only). o "Veteran Gear" (75 points): Reach level 100 and win a match on each of the four Snowblind Map Pack maps (Public only). o "Never Eat Red Snow" (20 points): Complete waves 1 through 10 on all Snowblind Map Pack maps in Horde (any difficulty). o "Icy Dead People" (25 points): Complete waves 1 through 50 on any Snowblind Map Pack map in Horde (any difficulty). o "Frigid Body Dynamics" (5 points): Play a multiplayer match on each of the four Snowblind Map Pack maps (any mode). o "The Weather Outside Is Lethal" (15 points): Win a multiplayer match on each of the four Snowblind Map Pack maps (any mode). Exploit Fixes Title Update 3 fixes these possible exploits, where under certain circumstances: * A player could swap from a pistol to a two-handed weapon during a cover slide and then mantle greater distances. * Players could kill themselves in Wingman to avoid giving their opponents more points. Now, suicides and team killing will reduce team score. * A player holding a meatshield could melee through some walls. * A player could equip a two-handed weapon with a shield using either the Boltok or the Gorgon pistol. * A player could equip a two-handed weapon with a meatshield using either the Boltok or the Gorgon pistol. * A player could prevent planted shields from being picked up by other players. * Players could launch themselves into the air with a smoke grenade while mantling. General Fixes Title Update 3 fixes these other issues as well: * An issue that caused chainsaw interruption when a player is shot to be less reliable in some body positions than in others. * An issue where a third player could join a Public Wingman party lobby and remove another player from the game. * An issue in Submission games where occasionally the meatflag would immediately run back to the spawn point after being dropped. * An issue where players that were knocked down but not out (DBNO) while planting the Boomshield would appear to be standing. * An elevation-based issue where the detection for a headshot might not align properly with certain character model heads. * An issue that could cause Wingman teammates to have different character models. * Additional miscellaneous bug fixes. Balancing Title Update 3 makes these balancing changes: * Reduces stun duration of smoke grenades. Currently, characters always start to get up after 2 seconds. * Gives melee the same delay after roadie running that shooting received in Title Update 2. * Removes spawn protection from the Horde in Horde mode. * Increased the forward angle that triggers chainsaw duels so that players with Lancers equipped won't be sawn from the side without a duel. * Reduces the delay before a player can climb up after entering low cover. * Makes minor changes to weapon spawns on the Subway map to provide greater balance.
privateer Δημοσ. 24 Μαρτίου 2009 Μέλος Δημοσ. 24 Μαρτίου 2009 Βγήκε το Update. Δυστυχώς το map cycle δεν περιλαμβάνετε λόγω επιπλοκών. Κλασσική Epic:mad:
privateer Δημοσ. 24 Μαρτίου 2009 Μέλος Δημοσ. 24 Μαρτίου 2009 Μάλλον μιλάμε για Single Player DLC. Αναμένετε ανακοίνωση στην GDC
privateer Δημοσ. 24 Μαρτίου 2009 Μέλος Δημοσ. 24 Μαρτίου 2009 When questioned about the new standby detection code Quote:The current standby code is based off of the original from Gears1 with a number of improvements. I wrote both so I know. When asked about lag switching Quote:The punishment does not happen the second that they lag switch. It tracks it and happens later. When asked if there were any standby/lag switch cheaters yet Quote:I need to look at the database to see how many people have been caught. I do know that the code detects the various network hiccups, as the MS networking lab tried all kinds of various cheats. The threshold can be updated by our servers, so we can clamp it down tighter if needed. When asked about region preference Quote:Since many people have asked about the region preferences, I'll explain how it works. It sorts matches by country with your country as being the best choice. If there are matches in your country that have space for you, you will join them before a match from a different country. If no matches are available in your country and there are matches available with a ping of less than 200, then you will join that match. Quote:You don't pick the country. See the official TU3 thread Consequences for quitting a Match: Quote:That's exactly how it works. Quit 3 games and then finish 1 and you'll see -4500 waiting for you. Quote:That sounds about right. The penalty is -1500 per quit. Quote:It's based on points and is scaled by the game type. So Annex does not earn 1 XP for 1 point because you get many more points in that game type. They are all scaled so that you get a similar number of XP irrespective of game type. Sniper Blindfire Quote:You were never meant to be accurate when blind firing. There was a bug that allowed you to get the aiming bonus and that has been removed. When asked about blindfire Quote from SupraDude17 Quote:i thought they were supposed to fix this? i still cannot blindfire and it still seems most of my headshots dont register joeGraf's reply Quote:We absolutely did not change this. That was an exploit and was purposefully removed. When asked if Gnasher spread had changed Quote:Nothing has changed. Sorry placebo effect. When asked about skill matching and if it changed with TU3 Quote:Nothing changed with regards to skill matching. You still are matched by skill, but that skill is no longer shown.
privateer Δημοσ. 25 Μαρτίου 2009 Μέλος Δημοσ. 25 Μαρτίου 2009 GDC 2009: Gears of War 2 - Snowblind Map Pack Hands-On http://gdc.gamespot.com/story/6206688/?tag=topslot;thumb;4 Videos http://gdc.gamespot.com/video/6206694/
privateer Δημοσ. 27 Μαρτίου 2009 Μέλος Δημοσ. 27 Μαρτίου 2009 Snowblind Map Pack: Gameplay [gt]47266[/gt] [gt]47284[/gt] Gears of War 2: Snowblind Map Pack Impressions http://xboxlive.ign.com/articles/966/966740p1.html
privateer Δημοσ. 31 Μαρτίου 2009 Μέλος Δημοσ. 31 Μαρτίου 2009 This item is not available in your area :mad:
tempo Δημοσ. 21 Απριλίου 2009 Δημοσ. 21 Απριλίου 2009 καλησπέρα, κέρδισα σε ένα διαγωνισμό για ΧΒΟΧ360 ένα "Gears of War 2 backpack" έχετε ιδέα τι είναι ακριβώς αυτό? γιατί εγώ δεν μπορώ να βρω... υπάρχει κανένα link με φωτο?
privateer Δημοσ. 26 Απριλίου 2009 Μέλος Δημοσ. 26 Απριλίου 2009 Gears of War 2 Fourth Title Update Confirmed http://n4g.com/xbox360/News-317911.aspx
dp@pa Δημοσ. 28 Απριλίου 2009 Δημοσ. 28 Απριλίου 2009 Gears of War 2 Fourth Title Update Confirmed http://n4g.com/xbox360/News-317911.aspx Κανε μου μια χαρη Please. Κανε copy paste το article , δεν μπορω να μπω απο το λινκ που έδωσες, ειμαι δουλεια. και ενδιαφέρομαι να διαβάσω τι εχει να πει. (λόγου φίλτρα στο websense).
privateer Δημοσ. 28 Απριλίου 2009 Μέλος Δημοσ. 28 Απριλίου 2009 Τίποτα δεν λέει απλώς ένας Mod επιβεβαίωσε πως θα βγει και tu4
jesE Δημοσ. 5 Μαΐου 2009 Δημοσ. 5 Μαΐου 2009 Έβαλα Gears μετά από καιρό, έκανε ένα update, και όταν πήγα να παίξω Multiplayer, μου έβγαζε ενα error, οτι είναι πολλοί παίχτες στο party(!)(?) και πως κάποιο firewall ισως μπλοκάρει την σύνδεση μου. Όταν έπελεγα να παίξω Horde ή Wingman που δεν απαιτεί πολλούς παίχτες, με άφησε να παίξω κανονικά. Firewall δεν έχω, ούτε στο router. Έχει αντιμετωπίσει κάποιος παρόμοιο πρόβλημα? Η σύνδεση μου είναι 6mbps.
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