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Archive for the ‘rts’ tag

Gaming Podcast 11 - With A Vengeance

Posted on 30th Mar 2010 at 17:20 by Podcast with 5 comments

Podcast
After an incredibly long break caused by a mixture of holidays and laziness, we're back with another Custom PC and Bit-tech.net Gaming Podcast. Yay!

Our 11th episode unfortunately kicks off with some sad news as Clive, Harry and Joe say goodbye to Richard, who has embarked on stranger tides for lands afar. Well, after a stopover in Wales anyway.

Not ones to dwell for long though, they quickly move on to other topics and set themselves to discussing all the latest topics the games industry has to offer. Ubisoft DRM! Just Cause 2! Why C&C4 is rubbish! And, um, The Witcher!

On top of that we announce the long overdue winner to the last Guess The Screenshot competition, wade through your emails and tweets - and Clive even takes the time to try his hand at tech support. It's all thrilling stuff, so use the links below to choose how you want your ears to be assaulted and then let us know your thoughts in the forums.

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Gaming Podcast 4 - The PSPgo, Dreamcast and future of RTS games

Posted on 1st Oct 2009 at 14:01 by Podcast with 12 comments

Podcast
The fourth Gaming Pocast from the CustomPC and bit-tech team, again hosted by Joe and this time with Clive, Mark and Antony joining in for plenty of discussion about the latest events in the games industry across all platforms.

This week they discuss the future of the Japanese games market, why none of them will buy a PSPgo and why the Dreamcast was so great. Also, rants about the evolution of the RTS genre and a chance to win a copy of Zeno Clash, plus the usual reader mail.

If you've got questions you'd like to see answered in the next podcast feel free to send them to the usual address or drop them in the forums.

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Games I Own: Dungeon Keeper, Theme Park, Theme Hospital

Posted on 26th Sep 2009 at 11:38 by Joe Martin with 16 comments

Joe Martin
I was never any good at Dungeon Keeper – and when I say ‘not any good’, I really do mean that I was seriously pants at it. Something to do with being only 12 when the game came out and not really being interested in strategy games – which kind of begs the question of why I played it at all.

There are two answers.

Firstly, it wasn’t my game. It was my brothers and, while I can’t remember if it was a present or something he actually bought, I do know it was his. In the days when the family shared just one PC and my brother and I shared every game, it was inevitable that I would play it. Likewise, it was inevitable then when he stopped playing PC games and I moved out that I would steal it from him, along with about ten other games. Sorry, Sam!

Secondly, making people think that they liked strategy games even though they didn’t really was one of the things that made Bullfrog such a successful company.

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Is it time for RTS games on consoles?

Posted on 6th Mar 2009 at 10:45 by Clive Webster with 9 comments

Clive Webster
Last Saturday night, any insomniacs with radios might have happened listened to myself and Mike Channell from Xbox 360 Mag talking on Radio 5’s Up All Night show about why there’s a glut of RTS games at the moment. And more specifically, why two of these are aimed squarely at consoles.

RTS has never been a particularly successful genre on consoles, and it’s fairly easy to see why when listening to the chaps from Halo Wars and Stormrise. The Whip Select control mechanism of Stormrise is purported to be ‘faster and more efficient than a keyboard and mouse,’ while the chaps behind Halo Wars have opted for a more simplified control system than you’d find in a typical PC RTS. Essentially both companies agree that it's the limitations of the joypad that hinder the enjoyment of RTS games on consoles. But no longer, it seems.

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You Have No Heavy Calvary

Posted on 24th Feb 2009 at 09:29 by Cliff Harris with 17 comments

Cliff Harris
I've just finished my first play of the demo of Empire: Total War, and it reminds me of my original motivation for the design of Gratuitous Space Battles.

I'm a big fan of the Total War games, although I don't devote much time to the campaign game and certainly don't get time to play them as much as their true devotees. They have, for me a single major frustration. Although I might go to great lengths to field a decent army against my enemy, although I may pick a good formation and a decent time and month to fight, the moment the two armies come into contact it becomes an almighty uncontrollable scrum where almost anything could happen.

The basic dilemma is ranged units. If your guns can fire one metre further than the enemies, just ensure you are always at maximum range and shoot at him till you win. This may sound simplistic, but it's how a lot of real world battles were fought. The US & Buddies pulverised Saddam's army because their tanks could fire from further away. In the open tank battles of Gulf War 1 and 2, hardly a single tank shell of Iraqi origin hit anything.

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Custom PC Issue 101

Custom PC Issue 101

We take Intel's new brutally fast 6-core processor out for a spin. As it uses the new LGA2011 socket we also Labs test seven new motherboards, seven coolers and seven memory kits to find out which should accompany your new CPU.

Get 3 Issues for just £1
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PC Hardware Buyer's Guide September 2011

Our monthly guide to getting the best components for your PC build,...
Hardware 29 – We are not Server Admins

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