#Command & Conquer Series

[wolfleblack]

A new Command & Conquer remastered collection is being hinted at

Command & Conquer fans got some good news this week. Over the years, the Command & Conquer series has been spread out across multiple digital platforms, with the only place to get all of them being EA’s own much-maligned Origin storefront. But in the last few days, EA has added all of the remaining C&C titles to Steam, meaning you can now own all of the games in the series on the biggest PC…

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #432

Top Ten Games to Remaster

As we continue June’s videogame-themed series of Tops Ten – during what would normally have been E3, but is still something of a prolonged Videogame Announcement Season – I turn my attention once again to great games past. This has been exacerbated by the release of Command & Conquer Remastered Collection, a hi-def spit-and-polish re-do of two of the greatest PC games of the nineties. I have very fond teenage memories of both C&C and its pseudo-sequel, but Red Alert in particular strikes an important chord as one of “the” games that deepened and broadened by love of gaming as an art form. In the way that really only happens when you’re a kid, I absorbed Red Alert, not just completing the campaign and playing hours and hours of skirmish, but also talking about it extensively with friends, designing my own levels, and even going so far as to modify the source files to create my own super-units (nuclear tanks ahoy!). As such, it utterly delights me to declare that C&C Remastered is a phenomenal undertaking, the graphics painstakingly remade to fit modern displays, the interface masterfully tweaked to appease modern sensibilities. But at the same time it offers so many pleasing, knowing, considerate hat-tips to fans, such as a re-imagining of the classic DOS installation prompts. All in all, it’s a must-buy, bringing a 25-year-old series of games more-or-less bang up to date and preserving their legacy for a new generation.

Anyway, all this got me thinking of other classic games, and how it’s so difficult to play them nowadays. Maybe they’re mired in rights issues. Maybe it’s a technological minefield to get them to run on modern systems. Maybe elements of modern gaming – be it graphics or design – have simply passed them by, making them a far more difficult and frustrating experience than they would have seemed Back in the Day. Whatever the reason, these are games that – like classic films from the 40s and 50s – should be celebrated and enjoyed by the young’uns, not left to gather digital dust on forgotten floppies the world over.

So, with no further ado, here are ten games that I would love to see given a bit of digital TLC, renewed and revigorated for the ultra-wide monitors and liquid-cooled systems of tomorrow. In most cases these are just one game that I’d like to see spruced up and re-released, but there are a few “collections” here too, whether it’s a C&C-style pairing of a great double act, or a  celebration of a series, a la Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

Oh, and I’m on about remasters here: not a full-on remake or reboot. Stuff like Perfect Dark on the Xbox 360, not Doom 2016. Old games made good on modern hardware, not a reimagining of the property.

Regardless: have at it, games industry.

Lemmings (1991) and Lemmings 2: The Tribes (1993): I definitely think they should be a double-pack, because whilst the first is a well-regarded classic, the second refines the formula, makes it more user-friendly, offers skirmish-style training modes, and amps up the comedy. But they’re both ancient by now, and despite mobile do-overs in recent years, the originals are very difficult to play. Upping the resolution whilst still keeping the character of the scantily-pixelated sprites would be difficult, but it’d be worth it to once again sample one of the gods of gaming.

Sam & Max Hit the Road (1993): other LucasArts classic adventures have had a spruce – most notably the first two seminal Monkey Island games – but it’d be good to see this cult comedy classic come back to life. I don’t know if the backgrounds ever existed in higher resolution, but I’d love to see the sprites re-drawn to more closely resemble a cartoon version of Steve Purcell’s artwork.

The Jedi Knight Series (1995-2003): I’m bundling all four Jedi Knight games in together – that’s the original Dark Forces, plus Jedi Knight, Jedi Outcast, and Jedi Academy – but let’s be honest, it’s the first two we’re really after. DF gave us a compelling mission-based “Doom Clone” (back when Doom was a genre), and one which would be amazing to see tarted up to 4K with texture filtering a-go-go; but it was its 1997 sequel, Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, that struck serious beskar. Huge, expansive levels, in “true 3D” (as we used to call it), full-motion video cutscenes, finally getting a lightsaber and Force powers, but most of all the Light/Dark Side dynamic offering (very basic) morality and a branching storyline. Again, giving it a glossy hi-def sheen would do wonders to preserve the legacy of one of the greatest Star Wars games of all time.

The Quake Collection (1996-2005): really it should be called The Quake Qollection, no? Encompassing all four mainline Quakes. Although, again, let’s be honest: there’s something deeply iconic about the first three, so no one would complain if we just forgot about part 4, yeah? Anyway: Quake was a stunner, a gorgeous 3D technical juggernaut, offering sumptuous lighting effects and gorgeous architecture. Part II came a year later and offered us coloured lighting and a coherent sci-fi story, whereas Quake III Arena in 1999 gave us a sublimely crafted multiplayer shooter and a character that was an eyeball doing a handstand. Despite being graphical powerhouses in their day, getting them to run can be a drag, so it’d be lovely to see them dragged into the 21st Century, especially if they could offer us ray-tracing on next-gen consoles, a la Quake II RTX.

Tomb Raider (1996): we’ve seen the series rebooted in (generally) excellent fashion, but at the same time it feels it lost a little of the majesty, mythos, and merriment of OG Lara. One of the first truly successful 3D games, it was like nothing before it. A subtle update to increase its resolution, filter the rough edges, maybe offer the option to move beyond the rigid grid-based movement structure, and possibly up the poly count so blocky Lara more closely resembles her rendered box-art cousin, would be terrific. Imagine the dinosaur in 4K…!

Descent (1994): one of those games that’s slipped from public consciousness, this was a full-3D shooter a couple of years before Quake shambled onto our screens. Piloting a craft in zero gravity, it offered full freedom of movement as well as a tense shooter dynamic coupled with some mild, X-Wing-style space sim elements. It was funky, fast, gorgeous, and messed with your head. I’d love a remake that kept the levels as-is, simplified the often-complex controls for modern sensibilities, and just in general made it look prettier. I worry that a contemporary “re-imagining” might lose too many of its crazy rough edges, though.

Syndicate (1993): there have been a number of efforts to re-do Syndicate over the years, but apart from its excellent sequel Syndicate Wars in 1996, none have matched the dark joys of the original. rather than try to go all modern and 3D, I’d rather see the artwork redone, redrawn at a higher resolution, perhaps offering subtle 3D touches such as dynamic light, shadow, and ray-tracing. The fiddlier aspects (getting into cars?!) could be tidied up, but the look and feel should remain the same. I honestly think this could be a big deal.

Total Annihilation (1997): if C&C can get remastered, why not the game that was arguably the first real challenger to its sci-fi RTS dominance? TA had 3D graphics, a new and refined model of base construction, and tactical touches such as line-of-sight and elevated terrain. But the comparatively low resolution of late-nineties machines meant that the robotic units could often appear slightly indistinct, turning into a grey melange; boosting the res and the poly count would do wonders, but – like C&C – the gameplay itself should be kept as authentic as possible.

Warcraft I & II (1994-95): I know, I know; they just did a remaster of Warcraft III that wasn’t well received and got everybody’s backs up. But I barely played Warcraft III (I barely played Warcraft I for that matter). Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness was the fantasy yin to C&C’s sci-fi yang, and it was great; clear, bright, fast, fun. The cartoony graphics were gorgeous and the units had bags of character (reinforced by the humorous soundbites when you kept clicking on them). I’d want to see the sprites re-drawn in hi-res, with the units given some gorgeous new animations to match their character. Other than that? Keep it broadly the same. It worked 25 years ago, it’ll work now.

Fantasy World Dizzy (1989): I nearly didn’t have a game this old on the list. For one thing, I thought pre-16-bit games would require far more retooling for modern audiences, becoming essentially the sort of reboot I said I wanted to avoid; I can’t imagine a new Skool Daze being too similar to its original. Also which Dizzy do you choose? The one I played the most was probably Spellbound (1991). But I think Fantasy World may be the most iconic. Its Amiga port was almost a remaster anyway, giving it gorgeous colour graphics. A modern version would up the resolution with all-new art assets, obviously, and perhaps could offer a more user-friendly jumping dynamic (and maybe – maybe – I’ll allow scrolling). This could be a lovely way to re-introduce audiences to the character of Dizzy, who should really be held up more as a British gaming mascot, without having to go all-in on a brand new title. Egg-cellent (sorry).

So there we are. There are a couple missing here, obviously; Simon the Sorcerer was nearly there until I realised they did do a gentle remaster in 2018. The Settlers would have made the list, except they are remaking that, although in my opinion it looks like a full-on reboot rather than the upgraded version of the original that I crave. Fade to Black just dropped off the bottom on the grounds that I barely played it in its original form, but a third-person 3D Flashback is still on my Most Wanted list (Flashback itself, sadly, has already had a disappointing remake). And the best Star Wars game of all time, Knights of the Old Republic, I decided not to include as – again – I think we’re going to see that reimagined and folded into the new official Disney canon in some form. Maybe that should preclude me imagining the original game in 4K with updated character models, dynamic shadows, and ray-tracing, but – hey – that’s just me. At least that is one game that I’ll still be able to play fairly easily on an Xbox Series X, even without whistles and bells. Here’s to dead old games!

[stormkeepergu]

Twitch Stream starting soon (05/07/20)

Twitch Stream starting soon (05/07/20)

Note: It appears that I’ve lost the ability to schedule on Steempeak as well (brilliant), so everything I said about the 3 platforms now also applies to Steempeak until further notice as well!

[Preamble] Okay folks, welcome to the first stream of July, and hopefully, one where I can start to nail down certain elements regarding my stream, especially when it comes to the pre-stream blurb! As I…

[snarktheater]

Series review — Game of Thrones (Season 7)

Yeah, just because I decided not to snark every episode individually this year does not mean I'm happy about where Game of Thrones is headed any more than I was last year. It's actually kind of worse. Season 6 felt somewhat better than 5, but this is a nosedive. And the problem is, it's not exactly a nosedive in quality, which makes it increasingly frustrating to talk to people who still like the show. Not that it hasn't been frustrating for the past few years, but it certainly got worse.

But hey, who am I if not the guy who hates the cool stuff? Well, I'm still a lot of other things, but for the sake of the joke, let's pretend otherwise and talk about this season. This mercifully short season, yet still too long, in that it exists at all.

When I review something, I like to stay as nuanced as possible, which usually means being very…wordy. But when it comes to this show, I can easily summarize what went wrong. Namely: the showrunners ran out of books to adapt, and they did not understand the story they were making in the first place.

I'm not saying that as a book fan butthurt that they changed things (although…I am that too, kind of). This issue should be apparent even if you did not read the books. Because the show has basically become a completely different story. I'm gonna have to go on a tangent to explain this further, so bear with me, please.

A few years ago, South Park made a triple (triple!) episode mocking Game of Thrones (and promoting their then-upcoming video game). The main point of criticism they threw at the show, aside from daring to include male frontal nudity (which��you know what, it's stupid and I won't go there), was "when do the dragons show up?" There was a measure of self-awareness, since it was children asking that question. And yet, to someone like me monitoring people's reactions…it seemed to be a recurring one. When do the dragons show up? When do the White Walkers attack and we fight them?

But the show was adapting the books with relative consistency at the time. I could forgive minor changes, because I try to keep an open mind to adaptations and give them a shot at telling their own story and adapting to the new medium. So I let it slide. And the dragons or White Walkers showed no signs of coming sooner than the books planned, so it was fine.

However, if there's one impression season 7 has left me with, it's that the lovingly-called D&D (the show's creators) were probably those little boys asking "when do the dragons show up?" They had to bide their time, but as soon as they ran out of books, they made their move to get to "the cool stuff". Or what they perceive as such anyway.

Now, Benioff and Weiss are not completely incompetent storytellers (…I don't think. Yet). So this paragraph above is an oversimplification. They merged characters and plot lines in season five, leading to the horrendous Sansa marrying Ramsay moment, and padded others like Jon's to get everyone roughly on par. Then season 6 worked towards one goal: blowing. Shit. Up.

Literally, but also metaphorically. With the Sept of Baelor, all of Cersei's political enemies were wiped out in one fell swoop. Dorne was taken over and made its moves. The Ironborn were brought back to be relevant and immediately split into two neat factions. Arya completed her training but also retained her identity and went back home. Daenerys breezed her way through gathering all Dothraki under her command, and Meereen's pacification was wrapped up by her and her entourage. Jon was brought back to life and unified the North, and even became King!

For a show that had been able to maintain a dozen plot lines, some of them seemingly unrelated safe for taking place in the same world, Game of Thrones sure did a good clean-up job. Season seven barely even has multiple plot lines running in parallel at all.

And the problem is, this creates a binary, dichotomic story. The framing is clear: in Daenerys and Cersei's fight for the crown, we should root for Daenerys because she's "hope for a better future" while Cersei is ambitious and ruthless and doesn't care for the people. Every major player but Jon has chosen a side, and of course, all the sympathetic characters are in favor of Daenerys. And Jon is all about saving the entire world from the White Walkers. And of course, guess who he goes to ally with early on in the season too. But we'll talk about Jon in a moment.

A Song of Ice and Fire isn't a dichotomic story with clear-cut good and evil. Hell, Game of Thrones wasn't one either. Even the Others/White Walkers aren't evil; they are simply death, which plays into bigger themes about what makes life meaningful. But in this season, we have a clear "Jon and Dany good, Cersei bad, White Walkers worse" thing going on.

This is what I mean when I say it's a different story. Thing is, it's a story I could actually like. For the longest time, my number one favorite books was The Wheel of Time, and in many ways, this season has a similar structure to the later books of that series, with factions being forced to come together and ally against evil. We even have the Cersei-esque antagonistic faction.

Problem is, The Wheel of Time was aiming that way the whole time, and it built up the dynamics so they could end there. While I don't doubt that A Song of Ice and Fire will at some point feature a battle against the Others, I sincerely doubt that the lead-up to it will be as simple as "all the sympathetic characters decide they should fight them together because it's the good thing to do".

Another issue with this polarization of the previously grey morality is that characters drift away from who they were. Daenerys is the most blatant example: the season even has trouble at times reconciling her established character with who they want her to be, so she's torn being hope for the future and being…a woman who wants to conquer a land because she views it as her birthright. The showrunners have apparently forgotten that Daenerys's opposition to slavery was driven from personal experience, not her innate desire for social justice everywhere.

But of course, the worst part of falling into the Good versus Evil cliché fantasy story is that…that story has a very clear protagonist. Which the show didn't have. Or, rather, every time a character looked like the fantasy protagonist, that character died (see Ned and Robb Stark).

So it's baffling, and somewhat infuriating, what is happening with Jon Snow. Not only is he confirmed again (repeatedly) as Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark's son, as per the popular fan theory. Not only is he King in the North. No, now the showrunners have added that Rhaegar and Lyanna were married, y'all. He annulled his previous marriage, and Jon's real name is Aegon Targaryen, and he's the rightful heir to the Iron Throne, even before Daenerys!

Oh, also, because he's now the Bland Male Fantasy Protagonist, he's not just the lost heir to the throne, he also gets a love interest in the form of the prettiest, highest-ranked girl of around the same age available. Also known as Daenerys. Her aunt.

Okay, there's a lot to unpack there, and I won't even touch on the incest as a moral issue because…I don't really care about that? I do care that the showrunners have once more taken Dorne as their victim, though. I mean, that annulled previous marriage is with Elia Martell of Dorne, a woman of color who had two kids with Rhaegar. One of those kids was named Aegon. Their death fueled the Martell hatred towards the Lannisters, but hey! No big deal at all, let's just pretend Rhaegar would just name another son of his the same way.

No, I don't think it's a coincidence that the showrunners are sidelining a woman of color's relationship with a major backstory character in favor of a white woman. I don't think they're actively racist, but I am fairly sure that that decision is motivated by racism. Unless it's motivated by sexism, of course! After all, the other biggest victim in that is Daenerys, since every argument she has for claiming the throne would also give Jon precedence.

There's another problem with Jon, though, regardless of all of that. Specifically, he's…a Mary Sue. Yeah, shocking, I know, the Bland Male Fantasy Protagonist is made into a Mary Sue. Who knew!

So after establishing Daenerys doesn't take well to defiance, Jon shows up, and…defies her, refuses to acknowledge her as his queen, and gets away with it. That last part being the one I take umbrage with, just to be clear. Then he sticks around to try and convince her to help against the White Walkers, and…he does. Even though Daenerys has everything to lose in that process and the show even built a scene in the second-to-last episode of the season where Dany sees the White Walkers and realizes the threat they post?

Oh, but it gets worse. That second-to-last episode is impossible to summarize in how many events should lead to Jon's death, but don't. He makes one mistake after another, survives everything, gets one of Daenerys's dragons killed, and yet not only is she an even stronger ally, but she also falls for him over this.

Just to be clear, the issue here isn't Dany falling in love with Jon. Well, it is, but only in so far as Jon faces no consequences for his errors, and instead, gets his way. Literally: the season ends with Dany renouncing on taking the throne until the White Walkers are dealt with. If there's anything more Mary Sue than doing everything wrong and facing no consequences for it, I…haven't heard of it yet.

It would be bad anywhere, but it's especially bad in a show where a man of honor (Robb Stark) fell in love with a woman and rallied her to his cause once led to him dying. And the thing is, I don't even like that they changed Jeyne Westerling into Talisa, because it completely undermines the tragedy of Robb's character arc (book!Robb dies because honor is his fatal flaw and he had to marry Jeyne for honor; show!Robb dies because he couldn't keep it in his pants). But that change means there's an even starker precedent for why, if this was still the same story, Jon should die.

And yet…this is also exactly what I'm worried won't happen. Because Jon is now our Bland Male Fantasy Protagonist/Mary Sue, the chances of him dying are…fairly low. The issue is: he is now fucking his aunt. While I wouldn't put it past the show to revel in that (they have dabbled in Targaryen exceptionalism…a lot), I think the backlash might force them to kill the ship, even if it hadn't been the plan. So who will die: the Bland Male Fantasy Protagonist, or his love interest who can give him ManPain™ by dying? Yeah, I know where I'm placing my bets. And just for the record I'll be happy if I'm wrong.

Jon is a microcosm of all the things that went wrong. Another example is the Lord of Light, who this season is treated a whole lot like the "one true religion". Characters eventually all start acting like they all serve the Lord, and…do I really need to finish my thoughts or can I just end here and say "Christianity"? Because it sounds like that's what they're going for, and that they're also equating that with being good, and once again erasing all the moral complexities of the various religions in the world of ASOIAF/GOT. Bonus points because Jon was brought back to life by a priestess of the Lord of Light, effectively making him a literal "chosen by god" trope.

This season was…well, unfortunately, it was exactly the sort of hackneyed developments I expected from the show based on the past two seasons. And yet it's also kind of worse? I just really want this to be over. I also really want to come out of this still able to like the books.

It does make me temper my expectations for whenever that Wheel of Time adaptation comes out, though. Is that a good thing, remind me not to overhype myself for other things? I'll take it as a silver lining. Another silver lining being that I can stop thinking about Game of Thrones until…whenever the final season comes out.

[thefreecheese]

The Free Cheese Episode 352: Mouthwash You Can Drink

The Free Cheese Episode 352: Mouthwash You Can Drink

This week on The Free Cheese, decades of development for Dreams.

We ready ourselves for the first look at PlayStation 5 games with a few predictions of what we expect to see. We discuss the impact of EA releasing source code for Command & Conquer and get excited about Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles.

Matt finds solid footing within Witcher 3 as its narrative builds and he creates new…

[yourgodmoments]

Christ’s Foot Soldiers - part 6

So far in this series, we have discussed how to deliver the gospel, what to convey in that delivery, and have handled some of the objections that those we would evangelize to, may toss our way. Let’s press forward in ways to handle three other concerns of those whom we would lead to salvation, as we bring this series to a close:

4. ‘I believe that when you’re dead, that’s it.’

‘The question of whether there is life after death has been pondered since the beginning of humankind. Fortunately, God has richly revealed the true nature of His eternal disposition of the dead. The first thing to get a hold of, is that everyone is resurrected:’

…the dust returns to the earth as it once was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. Eccl. 12:7 CSB

Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake (resurrect), these to everlasting life, but some to disgrace and everlasting contempt (abhorrence). Dn. 12:2 AMP

“…for a time is coming when all those who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and they will come out – those who did good things [will come out] to a resurrection of [new] life, but those who did evil things [will come out] to a resurrection of judgment [that is, to be sentenced].” Jn. 5:28, 29. AMP

‘As we can see, there are only two paths for God’s eternal disposition of resurrected humankind – heaven or hell. The good news is, that you have complete control over which way God renders His sentence.

You can ignore God’s directions for how to live your life, which is living in a form of disobedience (i.e. to commit unrepentant sin). Consequently, as you’ve just seen, you will live out an eternity in God’s contempt, sentenced to exist in His absence, in hell, without love nor any chance of redemption through Christ. Not a good place to be:’

‘Then He will also say to those on the left hand, “Depart from Me you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”��� Mt. 25:41 NKJV

“…to be cast into hell fire – ‘Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’” Mk. 9:47, 48. NKJV

‘There is no way to dress up the final destination of the devil and his followers. And be certain of this, you are either following God or chasing after Satan. There is no in-between.

So, you could instead make the choice to walk in God’s instruction, most importantly the part about accepting His Son, Jesus Christ as your Savior, so that all the times that you have slipped up, are slipping up, and the times that you will slip up, will not incur the penalty of being eternally marooned as a tormented soul:’

“…through His name everyone who believes in Him [whoever trusts in and relies on Him, accepting Him as Savior and Messiah] receives forgiveness of sins.” Acts 10:43 AMP

“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life…” Jn. 3:36 ESV

‘Eternal ‘life’ is a heavenly life. Yes, there is a heaven:’

…the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed… Dn. 2:44 NKJV

‘The ‘kingdom of heaven’ is the same as the ‘kingdom of God’ – a kingdom only open to those who accept Christ. It is a spiritual / inner kingdom on this earth where God’s children dedicate themselves to forward that same kingdom, by filling its ranks.

Yet, it is also a kingdom that we aspire to spend eternity in, in its final manifestation:’

For the outward form of this world [its present social and material nature] is passing away. 1 Cor. 7:31 AMP

…the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth. Eccl. 7:1 NASB

For surely there is a hereafter, and your hope will not be cut off. Pr. 23:18 NKJV

‘Jesus Himself prepares a place in heaven for every child of God:’

“In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.” Jn. 14:2 NASB

‘At the end of time, there will be great havoc and wars; yet God will separate His children, (those cleansed by the salvation blood of Christ), from the lawless, and deliver them from the final destruction of earth into His blessed presence. And they shall be transformed:’

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing. Is. 35:5, 6. NKJV

‘Wrapped with new immortal, indestructible bodies:’

It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. 1 Cor. 15:42 – 44. NASB

‘We will be living LARGE in our heavenly home forever:’

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth…the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God…And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people…And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Rv. 21:1 – 4. NKJV

5. ‘Why does a good God allow such injustice, cruelty and suffering?’

‘God did not plan for a world with these conditions. The world He created was a paradise:’

And God blessed them [granting them certain authority] and said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subjugate it [putting it under your power]; and rule over (dominate) the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and every living thing…” Gn. 1:28 AMP

The LORD God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. Out of the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food… Gn. 2:8 NASB

‘Everything was gifted to Adam and Eve. God also gifted them (and us) with free will. He did that so that they might love Him, because conscripted love is not love. Unfortunately, they used that free will to choose to rebel against God’s authority. Because of Adam’s sin, (the taint of which is carried through all generations), we all die – as God had told them would happen if they made that choice. Thus, the problem is not God, (He’s just being true to His word), it is humankind.

God does not plan anything evil:’

“It is impossible for God to do wrong, and for the Almighty to act unjustly.” Job 34:10 CSB

‘All we had to do was follow God’s instructions:’

“If you want to live securely in the land, follow my decrees and obey my regulations. Lv. 25:18 NLT

‘Why? Because God loves us:’

Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. 1 Pt. 5:7 NLT

‘God’s hands are tied when we turn our backs on Him, because God will not violate our free will. Therefore, we are left to experience what we bring upon ourselves.

Yet God is loving and merciful as well. He sent Adam and Eve out of the Garden, having atoned for their sins (with respect to its immediate effects upon them), onto a new path for redemption.

However, within ten generations later, humankind rebelled against God again, this time on a global scale. Again, God would not violate their free will to wantonly violate His commands. He left them to their own designs, which ultimately resulted in a sentence of death.

There was only one family of eight people that was following God, led by Noah; which was fortunate for us, because again we behold God’s mercy, when He uses them to give humans a do-over by repopulating the earth from their seed. (Gn. Ch.6 – 10.)

Many generations later, in spite of many human-induced bumps along the way, God preserved His people, creating a seed-bed that would bless all generations all over the world. (Gn. 22:17, 18). He sent them a mighty prophet, Moses, who would lead His children into the Promised Land. Moses spoke for God, who gave him the Ten Commandments to teach the people. Thus, there could be no further confusion regarding how they were to live their lives, nor any excuse for being in violation of them.

Once again, the people rebelled. (Ex. Ch. 32; Dt. 9:24.) Subsequently, an entire generation was denied access to the Promised Land; but God’s mercy never wanes. Their children were given admission.

They too rebelled, over and over. God sent them more prophets to try to turn them back to His ways, and to inform them of the price to pay, if they didn’t. They propped up human kings, trying to usurp His authority. The people practiced pagan rites, including the killing of their own children. For these things, God gave them over to their circumstances – allowing them to be conquered and enslaved. Yet, after a time, He brought His people home.

Still, the rebellion never ceased. The people favored the voice of Satan, (the author of their rebellion), over their Creator. (By the way, the devil was not created to be evil; he chose to be that way). People don’t realize that the enemy hates them:’

And the great dragon was thrown down, the age-old serpent who is called the devil and Satan, he who continually deceives and seduces the entire inhabited world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Rv. 12:9 AMP

…the god of this world [Satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelieving to prevent them from seeing the illuminating light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 2 Cor. 4:3, 4. AMP

‘God has never wavered in His purpose: to wipe out evil and restore the earth to the paradise it was before the wayward people corrupted it, and to fill it with those who love Him for eternity:’

“Now judgment is upon this world [the sentence is being passed]. Now the rule of this world (Satan) will be cast out.” Jn. 12:31 AMP

“…the God of the heavens will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed…” Dn. 2:44 CSB

“…for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure…” Is. 46:9, 10. NASB

“Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them…” Rv. 21:3 NASB

‘Even now, with the majority of the world still resisting God, denying Him and defying His commandments, He sent a final doorway, an entrance into heaven – His Son, Jesus Christ. Our part is to confess our sinful state, repent to the best of our ability, accept Jesus in our heart, and make Him Lord over our lives. Then, and only then, will our slates be wiped clean:’

“I am the [only] Way [to God’ and the [real] Truth and the [real] Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” Jn. 14:6 AMP

‘So, is God an unfair God? Hardly…’

The righteous will inherit the land, and dwell in it forever. Ps. 37:29 NKJV

…according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 2 Pt. 3:13 NKJV

6. ‘Christians don’t act any better than non-believers.’

‘Many times, that is unfortunately the case. We all must battle our sin nature, and often, everyone will lose some of those skirmishes:’

…for there is no one who does not sin… 1 Kn. 8:46 CSB

‘Yet, a Christian is acutely aware when they sin, through the conviction of Christ, who mercifully leads them back to Him for confession and repentance. Christ went to the cross so that we might receive His forgiveness for our sins, and be given the grace to avoid an eternity of condemnation:’

We know [with confidence] that anyone born of God does not habitually sin; but He (Jesus) who was born of God [carefully] keeps and protects him, and the evil one does not touch him. 1 Jn. 5:18 AMP

‘It’s a matter of living in God’s grace, doing the best that we can, and Christ will make up the difference.

The important thing to realize, is not to throw that first stone, because we all have to answer to God for our own behavior:’

So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. Therefore let us not judge one another anymore… Rm. 14:12 NKJV

This to my dear readers: I hope that you feel better-equipped to share the gospel. What a privilege it is, to contribute to the human soul, through serving the living, loving God…

Goodnight and God bless.

[kaos-sverige]

Torchlight Frontiers - Alpha First Impressions - TheHiveLeader

Published on Mar 8, 2019

Torchlight Frontiers just dropped their NDA! That means it's time for TheHiveLeader to talk about one not only one of the most anticipated MMOs, but one of the most anticipated sequels to a franchise! So how is it? You'll have to watch to find out! SUBSCRIBE - http://goo.gl/vdWSw0 DONATE PATREON- http://goo.gl/OGRk2N DONATE PAYPAL - https://goo.gl/7C5fD3 TWITCH - https://goo.gl/JthVeb DISCORD - https://discord.gg/0YXwdzGUSwffhVkG TWITTER - http://goo.gl/kUfe7d FACEBOOK - http://goo.gl/D1bIs9 MERCH - https://goo.gl/tTebg9 TORCHLIGHT FRONTIERS Torchlight Frontiers combines the heart of the beloved Torchlight series with a shared, persistent, and dynamically generated world. In true Torchlight style, players will team up with friends and devoted pets to hack and slash their way through a vibrant world, discover ancient ruins of lost civilizations, and brave dungeons filled with dangerous creatures, deadly bosses, and of course, loads of loot! FAST-PACED, INTENSE COMBAT It wouldn't be Torchlight if you didn't get to hack, slash, and plunder your way through seemingly endless enemies and conquer vicious bosses. Experience heart-pounding action with new skills, new characters, and new gear! STAKE YOUR CLAIM On the Frontiers, it's time to rebuild - and that includes you! Enjoy your very own fort, where you can construct stations to sharpen skills, upgrade gear, and renovate your fort to show off to your friends and the world! Build shrines, pet stables, and more! ALL-NEW CLASSES One of the hallmarks of the Torchlight series is its unique character classes and designs, and Torchlight Frontiers is no exception. Select a class below to learn more! Dusk Mage Forged As a Dusk Mage, you must command powerful forces of darkness and light, carefully maintaining a balance lest you are consumed by one or the other. The Forged builds up steam power before unleashing a devastating explosive attack. Torchlight Frontiers incorporates an all-new design philosophy on character building we're calling Horizontal Progression. It's a unique way of creating your character that gives you ultimate flexibility and adaptability. You'll need the right tools for the job when progressing through the wide array of Frontiers. Fortunately, you have a diverse toolkit at your disposal that lets you design you character by mixing and matching class abilities & passive powers, great pets, your fort, and more!

[theclarkystuff-blog]

That Xbox problem

With E3 2017 just around the corner and details starting to emerge about what to expect and with knowledge who will be there, I usually cast my mind upon what the big three, Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft will be showing casing. I expect Sony to have a good show, bringing a mix of AAA titles and indie projects on stage with no mention of the Vita and a small focus on new VR games coming to PSVR, a reminder of titles coming up like God of War and Spiderman and a few new reveals. Nintendo needs to have a big showcase if they expect to continue building off the good momentum they have been gaining since Switch launch, with previous big games like Arms and Splatoon 2 hopefully launched around E3 I would hope Nintendo reveals more about little known games like Xenoblade 2, Super Mario Odyssey and Fire Emblem Warriors which are still scheduled with a 2017 release date despite my feeling that they may not release this year. A look into what Retro has been working on for the past few years would be great and maybe a surprise announcement of a new game or 6. Microsoft I feel are in a familiar situation to one which they were in many years before although I feel conflicted about what path they have been going down and wonder at points about how this may effect the whole console business going forward. To understand my points about Microsoft I feel like we need to explore their past and how they have made a shift from being a so called Windows side project to a huge and popular brand. 

In 2000 when Sony was preparing the PS2 for launch and Sega was getting ready to drop out of the console business after the Dreamcast had failed to recover revenue lost after a line of hardware blunders such as the Saturn and add on’s like the 32X, which turned off it’s audience with expensive hardware and little mainstream support. Microsoft seeing a gap in the market decided to drop the gauntlet and start work on it’s Direct X Box, which would later be shortened to the Xbox, the brand we are familiar with today. Boasting impressive specs with a custom Intel Pentium 3 CPU, Nvidia NV2A video chip, 8GB HDD and 32MB of RAM, the Xbox would be the first console to come equipped with an hard drive which would be used for game saves, being able to rip your own music CD’s so you could listen to custom tracks with games that supported the feature and later to store DLC content, which we just in its infancy at the time, the closest method of expanding games at the time only being on PC using expansion packs for popular titles like Half Life, Quake and Command & Conquer. Microsoft would launch with big launch titles such as Halo : Combat Evolved, Amped, Dead or Alive 3, Project Gotham Racing, and Odd World: Munches Odyssey. They would also drum up other exclusive games with the likes of Sega bringing Shenmue 2, which hadn’t previously been released in the US on Dreamcast, alongside new games such as Crazy Taxi 3, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Jet Set Radio Future, and Sega GT 2002. It was easy to see Microsoft had a war chest and it was happy to do what was necessary to make sure it’s debut console was going to be success, they would try brave moves such as shaving 100GBP from the launch price of the Xbox in the UK and compensating those who had bought it at full price with two free games and an extra control pad, the bundled controller with the console would change to a redesign aimed at the Japanese market making it much slimmer and easier to hold, buying studios like Rare Ware and Lionhead, as well as launching its paid online service, Xbox Live. Microsoft over time would gain more third party support resulting in new games such as Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon, Star Wars : Knights Of The Old Republic, Ninja Gaiden, Conker Live and Reloaded, Forza as well as ports of popular games like the Grand Theft Auto series, Metal Gear Solid 2, Madden and Fifa. A combination of Halo 2 and EA support MS was able to make Live a success hitting up 2 million paid subscribers by July 2005. The Xbox would also be home to an underground scene which would support features commonly seen as standard in modern consoles such as being able to install and play games from the built in HDD, replacing the original HDD with one of higher capacity, media players such as the ever impressive XBMC (which would later become Kodi), and access to a variety of emulators designed to play console classics from other consoles and arcades. Microsoft seemed to have made a success for themselves, being able to take over Nintendo’s GameCube in sales, they would have a mammoth task catching up to the impressive sales of the PS2 which had managed to shift 100 million units world wide by 2005 compared to the 16 million MS had managed to shift. It would be easier for them to set sights on  new ventures and be the first one to  enter the next generation, an idea that was only spurred on when their deal with Nvidia went sour due to a refusal to drop the price on their video chips, a move which would get Microsoft to begin work on its successor, the Xbox 360. 

Within a relatively short time Microsoft managed to release its new IBM powered Xenon CPU, ATI designed Xenos GPU chip, 512MB GDDR3 RAM, wireless controllers, upgradable HDD’s and having a launch line up consisting of new titles like  Project Gotham Racing 3, Ace Combat 6, Perfect Dark Zero, Kameo, Ridge Racer 6 and some definitive ports like Burnout Revenge. Microsoft would also expand it’s portfolio for game releases with the launch of its Xbox Live Marketplace, allowing people to buy much smaller and cheaper games online and play them from the HDD including the likes of Jet Pac Refulled, Shadow Complex, Geometry Wars and ports of retro classics such Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, X-Men and The Simpsons, Castlevania Symphony Of The Night, Banjo Kazooie, Banjo Tooie, Perfect Dark, many Sega’s own classics such as REZ HD. Microsoft would also work on a built in emulator to allow people to play games from its original Xbox, some which allowed graphics to be enhanced slightly with up-scaled resolutions although not all games worked, and not all games ran properly as intended. Microsoft had managed to build a powerful console with a growing library home to popular titles games like Epic’s new Gears Of War, Halo 3, Mass Effect, Forza 2, Fallout 3,Guitar Hero,  EA Sports titles, and Call Of Duty. Many gamers in light of the Wii being “too casual” and Sony being arrogant with it’s expensive PS3, the Xbox 360 seemed to be the banner they they would all run to as the system most often got all the games they wanted to play and most often definitive editions, which would either look better or at a better performance level compared to ports and versions available on other platforms.The 360 wasn’t without its faults and was infamous for its Red Ring of Death, a hardware fault with the original design due to a lack of good cooling on the GPU, the 360 would see many hardware revisions and eventually an extended warranty program to combat against this bad PR. I think it was around 2010 when Don Mattrick would lead the Xbox division and Microsoft would take a weird slant with it’s gaming audience, no longer did it look like was interested in working hard to stay ahead of the pack and instead focused its strategies in entertainment, pushing for a change of the familiar dashboard to one which would focus on avatars similar to the Mii characters Nintendo was using on it’s Wii system, we would see a rise in Xbox Music and Video, the implementation of Kinect, with its impressive concept at the time would fail to live up to most gamers dream, instead becoming what most often looked like a new Eye Toy, Microsoft with seemingly become safe with there lineups. With previous partner Bungie teaming up with Activision to give birth to there new Destiny IP, 343 games would continue to bring life to the Halo series and see Forza and Gears of War continued to be milked with MS giving to no marketing on smaller games it had while putting pressure on partners who previously it worked hard to build relationships with, such as trying to get Bizarre Creations to release Project Gotham Racing 4 by 4 weeks to rush it to market. The Xbox brand had started to feel like more of a brand that focused on being a jack of all trades rather than being a console with additional functions, they had managed to win over all kinds of gamers, many who had flocked from the PS2 install base but would soon find some of these fans move back to Sony’s line of hardware as they had worked on making there PS3 an attractive platform, with its free online service, its subscription based PSN+ service which gave its users access free access to a line up of games ranging from small indie darlings to massive AAA hits, to financing a range of interesting a new titles like Little Big Planet, Uncharted, Resistance and Infamous, it worked hard to reduce the pricing of its platform to make it competitive at the cost of hardware backwards compatibility with PS2 games, the Xbox was beginning to become bland and was interested in chasing a boring casual audience.

The division and tone deafness would be on full display for the masses in 2013 when the Xbox One would be unveiled to a divided fanbase, with a console that seemed more focused on being your new DVR box with sports subscriptions and talks of making a Halo cinematic entry with Steven Spielberg producing, a DRM system which required players to be online at all times, locking discs to your Live account, the bundling of Kinect 2.0 with the console which boosted the price and was treated as some intrusive spying device, Microsoft managed to scare off a fan base, alongside comments defending the always online approach “ We have a product for people who aren’t able to get some form of connectivity; it’s called Xbox 360.” being delivered by Xbox CEO Mattricks, it seemed like the Xbox brand that worked hard to compete and deliver fresh original content had wanted to against the attitude that helped them succeed and limit the ability of its audience to be able to buy, rent or borrow second hand games rather than focus on more positive aspects of there policy such as the family sharing, which would be a praised and welcome addition to Steam when it would be rolled later. 

It seemed in trying to please all, Micrsosoft ended up in pleasing few, exclusives such as Ryse, Killer Instinct, Dead Rising 3 and Forza 5 they didn’t seem big enough to entice players MS was now losing to the PS4, a console which had focused on what its audience wanted with third party support, a wide range of interesting 1st party exclusives, a cheaper console that boasted more power than Xbox One and with no DRM bullshit, Sony had worked hard for its successful console, while MS had become lazy and arrogant. Microsoft in an attempt to win over people again have made some drastic moves involving setting up their Games For Gold program, similar to PSN+ that would give subscribers of its service access to certain games while membership is active, removing paywalls like Xbox Live membership for apps like Netflix and Hulu, removing the Kinect from the console bundle in a move to make it cheaper despite screwing over developers who had made there games in mind for the Kinect like Fantasia by Harmonix or D4, game streaming with Windows 10 that would allow people to stream games from there Xbox One to there PC, Xbox 360 BC on the Xbox One despite many complaining it would be impossible, the Play Anywhere function they have allowing people to buy games with cross buy support for Xbox One and Windows 10, the Xbox Game Pass, opening its servers to Sony to allow for crossplay, the refund policy which allows people to claim full money back on a game they don’t like as long as they haven’t played longer than 2 hours and within 2 weeks of purchase.  

Despite the Xbox One managing to keep enough relevance in the current console market they managed to lose out a large portion of their 360 audience to PC gaming and PS4 owners so the steps they have taken can only breed goodwill for their next line of hardware, the Scorpio, which honestly feels like it is suffering from an identity crisis. With the list of specs boasting a new CPU and a much more powerful GPU, more RAM and support for 4K Bluray the console sounds like a wet dream in terms of power but at this point what consequence can this bring about? I am still unsure at this point if we are dealing with just an upgraded Xbox One or if this new box is designed to be the stealth successor to the Xbox One? Prices for Scorpio seem to range from estimates anywhere between 400USD to 700USD it makes me has be believing this is aimed at the “hardcore” who desire nothing more than buttery smooth performance on there games yet I’m thinking surely these kind of people are already playing these games on the PC on better hardware already? I only way I see PS4 owners jumping off there bandwagon is if the Scorpio offered some fantastic looking games you could get no where else and it has to be something besides Halo or Gears of War. As E3 comes hopefully we can get more details on what the Scorpio will finally  because I fear while games coming out will be designed around with maybe the Switch or Xbox One being the minimum developers can design their games around will the Scorpio only see enchanced versions of these games? Will games be designed more with PS4 Pro and Scorpio specs in mind which could leave behind owners of previous models with inferior or unplayable games similar to Hyrule Warrior Legends running sloppy on the O3DS while the N3DS was playable.

Despite years of promising to make more of an effort on the PC format, we are now seeing MS releasing its flagship titles on Windows 10 via its own store, with Gears of War Ultimate, GOW4 and Quantum Break being fully to Windows 10 users these efforts seem conflicting yet again as MS for most part refuses to bring its biggest games to the PC with the Halo : Master Chief Collection and Rare Replay staying exclusive to the Xbox One, other titles that do come can only be bought via the Windows Store and lack options to mod games, which could be used to fix errors left behind by the original devs or to flavor the game to more of your own personal tastes. Valve at this point offer the the biggest PC video games marketplace with its huge range of options, easy convenience and frequent updates and deals has become the format of choice for gamers to use so when you have MS doing good moves like bringing their software to PC community, it doesn’t do any favors when you expect these same people to drop their prefered system to bring in one of your own that doesn’t necessarily offer PC gamers any advantage. I’m not saying I don’t appreciate MS giving player access to these games but I don’t see why they could not offer their software on Steam and try to build up their own services in time to be able to compete, the same way GOG can offer DRM-free version of games on sale on Steam and EA will honor game keys from Steam on their Origin system. I don’t know why MS couldn’t advertise the Games Anywhere service better and make it clear that if you bought a game on the Windows Store it would give you access to the same game on Xbox One or Windows device. I feel all is in place for this to happen, just that the actions of higher ups in MS would go against the audience they are trying to pander to. My only other desire for MS would be to perhaps try and be braver with its lineup besides professional racing or shooting aliens. I see no reason MS couldn’t have had Fable compete with the likes of Breath of the Wild or Horizon, I see no reason MS couldn’t have had Rare make a plat-former classic with Banjo Kazooie after the kick-starter success of Yuka-Laylee or even try street racing again with PGR. I feel they have all the ingredients needed to unique and favored among the gaming world but when you have a box which only offers a handful of exclusives and misses out on the likes of Uncharted 4, Until Dawn, The Last Guardian, Yakuza, Crash N Sane Trilogy, Detroit, God Of War, Last Of Us Part 2, Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8, Arms, Xenoblade 2, Mario Odyssey, Splatoon 2 or countless many others, it is hard to answer the question of why anybody would choose an Xbox One over any other console on the market. I would like to feel excited by MS again and hope Scorpio will be enough to start turning things around with them compared to anything they have tried with the Xbox One, but a lot is riding on if they have learned the right lessons from the Xbox One flop or if the only difference they saw between them and the PS4 was specs. Let’s have a happy E3 and hope to see you lot on the other end.

[takunomistudio-blog]

Blow up some Shit - Then Tell a Story

It's probably not a huge risk to say that better technology begat more expansive storytelling in video games. I've probably written before that I both like stories in games, and find them distracting to what games do well1. Long running series often show this transition really well, with early games being almost arcade games, and eventually, detailed 3d graphics almost begged the designers to write stories with character development and twisting narratives.

A weird thought though, is that sometimes, what games does do really well, can be distracting to what games do really well.

The instant gratification that older games (and some still today) give, is because they let us go from beginning to action almost from the get-go. Look at Command & Conquer. It's a real-time strategy game, but so many of the complex systems and details present in todays RTS games just don't exist yet. On the other hand, it's definitely a huge step up from the completely unaccesible Dune 2 before it.

I want to strive towards a middle ground from all of these (Who the fuck wouldn't? Saying you're trying to stay balanced is a huge fucking cop-out): The first Command & Conquer is such a fun experience to just enter and play. Yet role-playing games like Final Fantasy defintely don't really get fun until FFV where a system with some depth enters the mix, and allowed me to become engrossed in the mechanics of the game. Story is hard to pinpoint. I've often read the argument that some games don't need stories, like puzzle games, but Clash of Heroes for the Nintendo DS really showed how even that type of game can even more of a thrill to play, if you care about the situation.

Thinking about my own game, I've been trying to give the player a reason to become invested and some degree of story just seems like the correct way to go about. It's an abstract kind of world, but it's not a totally abstract game (like Tetris), so this idea of going back in game history and seeing when games slowly transitioned from light exposition to gradually more complex dramas, helps me understand how much is needed to tell a story in an abstract world.

The games from the NES, SNES and GameBoy definitely have a lot to offer in that department, but I hope to more, even in newer generations as play more games.

Give us complex systems to play with and master, helped by computers to be easy to interact with. ↩︎

[stormkeepergu]

Twitch Stream starting soon (21/06/20)

Okay folks, this is your 15-minute notice that the stream is going to start soon! Full details in blog post below.

Okay folks, this is your 15-minute notice that the stream is going to start soon!

[Preamble] So this is my second stream in a row, after starting my stream later than planned, given that I had technical issues! To this end, I’ll be rebooting my PC into Windows each time I play C&C Remastered. I will also say that the starter game is making a return, but as I haven’t been in Windows since last…

[stormkeepergu]

New Streaming slot

Update post about my first revised weekly streaming slot (Sundays), and what will be played first.

Okay folks, so I’ve decided to start streaming on a Sunday instead, with a view for me to eventually move out of that slot to be replaced by the ‘Super Sunday Stream’ in the future. This means that I have 3-6+ more months to plan out my solo streaming slots, whilst getting people used to the idea of a stream being on a Sunday, although the SSS will only be fortnightly, rather than weekly. The…

[stormkeepergu]

Updates and stuff

Updates and stuff - talking about some updates regarding streaming, my PC upgrades, and Raspberry Pi stuff! #stormkeepergu #raspberrypi #pcgaming #streaming #pchardware

I’m pretty annoyed that I’ve had to write off an entire day pretty much because my internet was knocked out, so I was unable to do certain things earlier on! On the plus side, I’ve now at least picked up BerryBoot, and PINN, so if nothing else, I can at least install them onto my Micro SD cards for my Raspberry Pi projects (even if I’m knocked offline!), as moving forward, multiboot or not, I…