The way we play and where we play has just changed for ever ! wanna play real full blooded PC Retail games on Facebook , avec friends ,or from a browser on pcs, apple macs and phones ?well that's the promise of Instant Action
For proof why don't you play some of The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition from this post!
So old bean , every one who is anyone , is playing The Great Gatsby Nes game on the interweb . As long as one's browser is as Bohemian and Flash (10.2 that is ) as the man himself .... feel free to get some culture , let's hope they adapt some Shakespeare next , a NES Macbeth would be inThane! Here it is being played on the Joojoo tablet in portrait and landscape orientations .... no Android or iOS required just pure Flash!
768 by 1366 on the joojoo Flash 10.2 Windows 7 and the touchscreen keyboard
That's no mod ..... it' a Space Combat Opera TACTICAL MMO RPG ....
Hey there fellow Freespace, Wing Commander and X-Wing veterans , the game seen in the above 5120 by 1600 images and Joojoo tablet video below, is not one of those excellent free mods we have been playing longer than both Battlestar series runtime combined .It is the view from my Star Fury , doh ! it is the view of my Colonial Viper Mark II , though it would be nice if someone could give Babylon 5 the same treatment ... OK .. notice the browser tabs? Battlestar Galactica Online ,the game that you see thegameveda playing on pc ,joojoo and Toshiba Libretto in this article ,is a space combat opera MMO RPG fans dream girl /guy of a game , all running through a humble browser window , with detail and speed that will enchant fans of the series ,as well as gaming veterans that understand space opera does not refer to Teutonic or Italian weight challenged warblers falling off cliffs as the curtain goes down ..(breathe).. No , "Space opera" is one of the grandest pc genres , your grandpappies carpal tunnel syndrome and super strength grip come from years of making things go boom clinging for dear life to road drill vibrating Forcefeedback pro joysticks and memorizing 109 keyboard controls , with epic multiple choices leading to branching epic cut scenes revealing branching epic back story plots and endings. And all this came on around 12 cdroms , 10 DVDs or 50 floppies and required several thousand dollars to run! With Battlestar Galactica Online you can do all that with ONE finger , from a browser! Yes ...really ...there is no Big Box , map ,novella or key chart...revolutionary!
Witness the power of this fully operational Browser powered MMO
BGO runs thanks to the power of Unity and the cloud: Most impressively Battlestar Galactica online runs in a browser , with simple yet elegant controls , you can control the combat with a mouse , you can if you have a netbook or tablet handy take your Apollo, Kara Thrace or 6 obsession everywhere you go . And controlling the game entirely through your magical touch screen device (no not that one...) you can play the entire game with one finger!
Beedi Beedi Beedi ..What a body.. Buck!....
For a Beta Battlestar Galactica Online is very advanced and stable , the only slow down I noticed was at the fleet hub on the first day , this seems to have gone through optimisation and is faster now, but hey that is what a Beta is for! . The in game engine is surprisingly detailed and fast , all the missions including the impressive Cylon and Colonial/Human intro missions , which involve the Galactica it's fleet , and a Cylon Basestar are impressively fast , whether playing at 5120 by 1600 on a desktop , 1366 768 on an ion powered joojoo (below) , or a dual screen libretto playing 1024 by 1400 across 2 displays! ... the three machines I have tested the game on so far .
a joojoo with a 12.1 inch 720p touch screen display perfect for arm chair Battlestar Galactica Onlinage!
Wilma or Ardala? White spandex or horned helmet? Great MMOs start off with great obsessive compulsive decision making , minute details like the number of indentations on your chin , or the number of chins on your chin . Battlestar Galactica online lets you mess with stuff like this but it has something more :
Now that NDA shackles are off , thegameveda can reveal the single most game shattering Gods damn ,heart breaking dilemma that all Battlestar Galactica Fans are going to face on booting up the game in a browser (impressive). The cool thing is how in forcing you to make this decision the game immediately transfers your love and adoration the TV series into the creation of your avatar and his/her place in the games virtual telling of some lost chapter in the Battle Star Galactica saga.
Of course there is really nothing that deep going on , what it comes down to is who you fancy more:1. do you adore Kara Thrace's Starbuck , if yes you will pick a human character , she will lounge around in front of you giving you advice on missions .. calling you nugget in her Bogart/ Ghost Valkyrie manner.... 2. If however you are obsessed with the Cylon frame that comes with 6 , then you know you need to be an evil God seeking Cylon Machine ... and you probably cannot wait to utter "by your command " to 6's text prompts ..on the Cylon Basestar...who will you let go ? remember to let her down gently ......Of course you can also have your Cylon cake and eat it , just click on the Cylon tab when you log on and follow 6 ,8 and all your other favourite toasters on their journey.
What you should take home is that Battlestar Galactica Online hooks you into it's universe better than other Scifi based rivals. No watching Vader's shuttle take off and land whilst a gathered audience dances with their pets ... no Battlestar Galactica online connects you to the main characters directly:
Here I am getting a jolly good talking to from Apollo and Starbuck in the rec room of the Galactica..
stop looking at her cards! screen cap at 5120 by 1600
the same scene captured on the Joojoo looks like this
still with the staring at her cards?
this is what it looks like on a joojoo in your hands
nominee for best use of a chair in a video game ever
and here I am with the old man in the CIC
I know what you are thinking am I about to pull a Grace Park on the old man.....
Galactica Hangar
Walking round a Cylon Basestar is none to shabby too :
First lets begin with setting up one's toaster :
and then lets go visit with 6 on the Toshiba Libretto :
meeting 6 : screen cap from Toshiba Libretto (portrait orientation) nominee for best use of a table in a video game ever
and here it is with the Libretto in the vertical book orientation , surfing the Battlestar Online website in one screen whilst playing with Cylons in the second screen.
If you go to Za'Ha'Dum ....
On mission : there are many types , the thing to note is Bigpoint have a game here that is just as majestic as all those X Beyond the Frontier games , you know where you stop in awe and survey the beauty of space .. Battlestar Galactica has many of those moments , in fact you may find yourself wishing for more moments of peace to explore : check out some 5120 1600 shots of the an early Colonial mission
Not such a bad pilot myself....
Control is great , the simplest space combat mmo rpg controls I have yet to come across , you can pilot the ship in the style of your favourite space jock or click on controls to autopilot fire and manoeuvre , all the rpg aspects , menus and options are all available from the main screen.
Trying the game out on a maxed out gaming PC is most impressive as expected , but would not impress Katie Sackhoffs Starbuck , which is why I decided to play the game on some tablet pcs , oh yes running Windows of course , you are not going to see this running on iOS or Android platforms ....yet..
What you really need for this game is a fairly fast Internet connection , more and more AAA games are going to be cloud based and you may have the fastest gpu cpu combination but what really powers the game , a browser based game is the speed and stability of your internet connection. I played the game on wireless 50 meg connection , on a desktop with dual screen setup for 5120 by 1600 and an nVidia Ion /Intel Atom powered Joojoo tablet, and finally a Toshiba Libretto W100 ( Cylon's dig Librettos....)
The interface of Battlestar Galactica Online is surprisingly suited to touch screen tablets , it is way more satisfying touching a target, touch/slide weapons and speed controls and interface , the menus are sleek and simple , all accessible from one screen , and as the ship can be controlled by the right mouse button it is possible to play the game without a keyboard , you just hold your finger down and drag where you want to go , or move your finger around the screen to rotate the view . Pinch to zoom also works . It may not be the most efficient way to play the game , but I can tell you it is just as revelatory as the first time your Force Feed Back Pro jumped into your hand as you entered Hyperspace in Xwing Alliance.
You can form squadrons , fly with wingmen , everything a nugget could need has been catered for.Just remember if you are on EU server it helps if you are fluent in over 6 million forms of communication....
Check me me playing the game below , filming with one hand because I lost my tripod! , first on the joojoo and then on the Libretto
trying to take on the Cylon Tyranny with 1 finger and a Fusion Garage Joojoo
Cylon night time operations on the Toshiba Libretto :just me and 6 vs all mankind ....
Toshiba Libretto Dual Screen capture can you spot my raider? NB it is not the giant Basestar !
the 8 sided dice bit : the dice are hidden, the rpg experience and skill upgrades are made from the main game screen with ease ,whilst you fight and die and die again your experience purchased skills develop. So eventually you will fight and win!
The story... it is too early to tell how good the story will be, but you are going to have a lot of fun living in this game universe ,so much in fact that you really may not be paying attention to what's supposed to be going on. There's a beautiful Battlestar Galactica sandbox to mess around with here and for a significant amount of gamers averse to traditional mmorpg grinding the draw will be playing in a sandbox filled with Cylons and Humans and ....????
No Gods darn Daggits in my game ....
Another stand out feature of Battlestar Galactica Online is the absence of pets , specifically a Daggit pet ,just like the new series , I was worried after setting up my human character , who naturally by the time I finished , turned out to be Dirk Bennedict old series styled , that the next screen would ask me to name my pet Daggit , thank the Lords of Cobol the developers of the game , like the developers of the new series , did not go the staple virtual pet way that demeans many a great Sci Fi MMO , Star Wars Galaxies online ....you it is..I mean ..... But hold on, a pet Centurion , or a 6, 7, 8 ... that would be another matter altogether.
When 900 years you will reach... At the beginning of this article I joked about how we used to have to spend 1000s on hardware to play games like this .The greatest achievement of BGO is bringing a full AAA pc game to launch through a browser , a game that you can see in this article happily runs on an ion powered tablet , a ulv powered ultra portable and for those who have yet to escape their basement yes it runs superbly on your uber desktop.
For me after decades of Space Opera , it is frankly amazing to see games with this amount detail launching within a browser window , no 300 page manuals , no joysticks , and no 30gb install. An MMO that actually can be played as a space combat game , with a healthy lack of MMO staples like pets or dancing routines . With a free to play model , and a game I can take anywhere...
These are very real innovations that Big Point have brought to the MMO table , and this is where it already stands out from Star Trek Online , Star Wars Galaxies and the ageing grindfests that are WOW and LOTRO..
If they keep this up Big Point can take on Bioware at their own game , The Old Republic and Mass Effect be warned.....
if you missed the riffs get up with your scifi with Buck Rogers , Star Wars , and the seminal Babylon 5 then you too ...misquote ...the greats... able ... will... be....
Yes video gamings other greatest composer (other than Mr Jesper Kyd) , the man responsible for your favourite 80s and 90s gaming soundtracks including Turrican, all those Factor 5 classics (yes they were), ahh I remember fighting the evil Bydo empire to the tunes of Mr Chris Huelsbeck who is now responsible for the sound track for Star Trek Infinite Space , the latest browser and Unity based game to tempt Appsters away from their high maintenance closed Honeycomb and iOS gardens , and beck sorry back to the good old COMPUTER!
Over 2 decades ago I can vaguely remember Factor 5 coding demos for Amiga public domain , involving Trek ships and renders that took days to complete , what goes around comes around.....!
check out the tunes here and the legend that is Chris Huelsbeck here and his 5th Symphony below.........................
Friends , Romans and Tentacles here is a multitasking Joojoo tablet pc point and click test running Scummvm to play Day Of The Tentacle , the talkie version ,whilst playing Space Quest , Police Quest and Kings Quest and The Black Couldron! at the same time on the same screen using Internet Explorer 9 and the excellent Sarien.net , and after all that playing the Melbourne House ZX Spectrum classic The Hobbit in the Java based Hob! again in an IE9 browser whilst continuing to play DOTT ...with touch ... and the onscreen keyboard ( to better simulate the ZX Spectrum chicklet (no Steve did not invent it) keyboard.... All you need is a tablet that runs Windows 7....
I have no idea how to play this wonderful game, game ? I mean religion , the religion that is Minecraft ( apologies to gaming agnostics) , thegameveda has been trying not to play this game as it is one of those you can lose your life to.. so just a dabble then as someone asked to see it running on a tablet , when my new Iconia dual screen turns up I will give this another go , for now check out Minecraft classic played in Java in an IE9 window on the Atom Ion powered Joojoo tablet running Windows 7 ..no apps needed just a grown up OS and tablet!
Dave Perry`s Gaikai is a work of genius , but then so was Three Weeks In Paradise .. Dave has always been ahead of the curve , while other would be game designer maestros , like our beloved Mr Molyneux promise many things , Mr Perry just goes about delivering very cool games that actually do live up to the hype even the tessellation and infinitely improving graphics engine of Messiah ( the graphics get better with better hardware ... yeah remember falling for that one?) ...Anhyoo Gaikai as you know lets you demo full PC games streamed in browser windows .. as well as advertise them as an affiliate or publisher ... Similar to Onlive but in need of more work , none the less it is on it`s way to change the way we game , here I am using it to test the Lenovo X220T , mostly the Internet connection stability as Gaikai and Onlive require a steady constant Internet stream . This is played over wireless N , 50 Meg Broadband . This test also shows how you can play Dragon Age 2 with Pen , Touch , keyboard and track pad
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Revolution or evolution ,probably a bit of both the Unreal engine now runs in Flash...that is as long as your hardware runs Flash ...millions of iOS users live in hope.....everyone else bow your heads to the Epic game boffins in thanks...
Mighty Ubisoft home of Ezio , have entered the free online game arena and they interestingly choose not to go the usual FPS or MMO route , nay they come bearing RPG Strategy fair , a MMO STRATEGY RPG with 0 install instant browser gaming goodness , one day we will play Assassin`s Creed this way ... well ok you can already if you have onlive ! So what are we waiting for ....play now as they say .. your first quest will be to figure out how to login/sign up for a Ubisoft account ..
The launch of Age Of Empires Online and the beta of Command And Conquer Tiberium Alliances gives me a further opportunity to test Windows 8 on the dual screen Acer Iconia 6120,the filming photo taking and uploading of 1080p video and 5MP pictures using the new iPad ,as well as commenting on what launching free to play versions of two of PC gaming's legends means for gaming kind . And to test Windows 8 multitasking prowess we will throw in a little Windows 8 App gaming with Ultraviolet Dawn and DOS Box Ultima Underworld . The photos taken were beamed to twitter and the 6120 from the new iPad , from which I used the Photobucket Windows 8 App to upload them in the form you see here .SD cards? Where we are going you don't need SD cards! Who says I don't suffer for my art?
This is how we gamers roll in 2012 , first you take your dual screen Windows 8 tablet :
You tap your IE10 browser and in seconds you are playing Command And Conquer Tiberium Alliances free , and with the rest of the world as your neighbor :
here's some 1080p video courtesy of the new iPads camera uploaded to youtube from iMovie ( which is largely useless to me at present)
Tiberium Alliances plays just like your classic C & C , playing is like painting creating then rushing the enemy , and you can lavish hours and days on this , when you log back in you are exactly where you were when you left off , although the rest of the world and your virtual neighbors may have advanced far beyond you !
but playing one updated PC classic on your dual screen Windows 8 tablet is so 2000 and late no? So let us flip the tablet around and play Age Of Empires Online and start multiscreening the way that only Windows 8 can :
Windows 8 does DOS box fine , as you can see from my Ultima Underworld 2 mess around , and Ultraviolet Dawn mot only works in landscape and portrait but also in minimized pane mode . At this point we are using a dual screen Windows 8 tablet PC to play Command And Conquer Tiberium alliances in an IE10 browser ( which we can stretch to 2 screens) , whilst running Age of Empires Online in Steam from the desktop , whilst running Ultima Underworld 2 in dos box which we can also maximise , whilst running a Windows 8 App game Ultraviolet Dawn which we can play in a pane , small or large , maxed out , whilst running other apps . I think my hot new iPad was blushing when it filmed all this …
Windows 8 is frankly liberating , the OS that has those who cannot adapt or relied on past versions of Windows flaws for their income flow quaking . And this is on 1 year old hardware . Developers like EA and Valve are waking up to the possibilities , and the likes of the coders of Ultraviolet Dawn already have their games and Apps taking benefit of Windows 8s unique features .
Re the new iPad I used to get the video and pics , uploading video on youtube is very fast , comparable to any Windows laptop running Wifi that I have . Editing with iMovie is almost insulting , it needs more features . The quality of pictures and video are excellent , of course you have to get used to the weight and size! The iPad serves as a nice secondary device uploading your video whilst you blog, blogging in Google Apps is still HTML only , so come on Google !
The screen is insanely sharp , selecting editing photos and video is a joy , playback of youtube video over the wifi I tested was completely buffer free.
So what is so significant about the release of AOE online and C & C Tiberium Alliances ?
The casual gaming App , free to play and easy to download was seen by some as marking the death of core gaming . This has been true for many a traditional game coder and publisher . For we now live in a world where talented coders like Zipper responsible for the awesomeness that is Crimson Skies ( on PC and Xbox) are being mothballed whilst new kids like Rovio are seemingly taking over the world . Now 2 years into the iOS and Android freemium play casual App assault , the wiser publishers are starting to adapt , in a manner that would make Darwin proud. So we have free to play versions , not iOS or Android Apps , but Steam and browser based games , that sit on our PC , laptops and run rather well on Windows 8 tablets!
Today's gamer is used to freemium games with names or gameplay fondly similar to classic core games , or with those physics teaching feathered pig haters... but now the likes of EA , Valve and the PC coding big league are starting to leverage established AAA PC franchises , in this case Age of Empires and Command and Conquer both of which are more addictive than most banned substances , releasing them as free to play , and you will play , and then hopefully pay for bits and bobs just like you do on all your phones and tablets … and those angry aves …and social farming games that take up your Facebook time.
It has been said that we will soon see the launch of the likes of Skyrim sized games , in a couple of years , but it will happen far sooner if publishers can help it : On the PC there are far more revered games franchises than Skyrim . games that can take months of your time , and did and will so again ...
And so ends my mash up test of using iOS 5.1 with Windows 8 , browser , retro DOs , and Steam based gaming controlled with touch on a dual screen Acer Iconia 6120 … come on people jump in it is a wonderful time to be a gamer !
