Replay Review: Half Life 2 series

For some reason, some games kind of burn themselves in your brain. You know them. They are the ones that start interesting trends, catch phrases, etc. I decided to replay one series over the past week. That’s Half Life 2, the 2 episodes spawned from it, so far, and its offshoot game, Portal. All of them are by Valve Software, created on their Source Engine. They’re definitely not your standard First Person Shooter (FPS) series, though many have copied it.

I have a firm belief in STORY. This series certainly delivers that in spades. From the moment your train arrives in City 17 at the beginning of “Half Life 2”, to the last parts of “Portal”, where you defeat the Computer, after it tried to lure you to your death by promising you cake. Granted, there is a lot to go through, and enough play to where you may be playing these for a couple of weekends, hoping people would just leave alone, until you get through them. I have to admit, however, this is a storyline that sticks to your ribs like your favorite comfort meal.

The engine that powers this series, the Source Engine, has been used by several other games out on the market as well. If you can market a real good game, with a real good story you can follow, and market the gaming engine, so others can use it to make their own games, gives people real inspiration. Going from, “I want to get through this cool game.”, to, “I make my own cool games.”, really gives this a PLUS.

Since I am playing these for a second time, as opposed to playing them once, then uninstalling them for good, that really says something to me. I would strongly suggest trying them out

Go to the Valve Software’s website HERE.

GP2X WIZ Review

S. Korea has been known as more of a gaming capital within the past few years. E-Sports are the official sports of S. Korea, with Blizzard’s venerable Starcraft being the #1 game played. With Seoul being a high-tech leader in Asia, it doesn’t surprise me that they would try to take a stab at the global market the Japanese have taken the lead in since the Nintendo Entertainment System was released in North American in 1985, and since the Game Boy was release in 1989.

Game Park Holdings has released their third hand gaming device, in the form of the GP2X WIZ, a successor to the original Game Park GP32. It is smaller than its predecessors. Its underlying OS is Linux-based, and it accepts SD cards, unlike most of their competitors, who tend to use proprietary formats. The console also has a touch screen, and includes a stylus, much like the Nintendo DS.

You can’t go to any major retail chains to get this gadget. For the most part, it seems to have almost a purely online profile, regarding sales. The device also has a proprietary charging cable, which is USB on one end, and its own unique plug on the other. Unlike the competition, it has no Wi-Fi access. Also, games specific to this device are very limited, though all of them I have found are currently free for download.

The one redeeming trait for the WIZ, regardless of its down points, is the fact that it is made, from the ground up, for the homebrew community. Unlike the PSP, which owners must jailbreak to get home brewed software to work, and gets bricked at the next firmware release, the GP2X WIZ requires no such activity.

There are a number of emulators on the Internet tweaked for the WIZ: arcade, computer and console emulators spanning the mid-70s consoles, up to the mid to late 90s. Since the CPU can be overclocked, the emulators tend to take advantage of this, and you can tweak this setting, in case you need that extra speed, to keep the game you are currently playing from slowing down.

I haven’t played the MAME emulator for it yet, but I have played Commodore 64 and Amiga, Atari 2600, 7800, and Super NES emulators. Some ROMS have difficulty, but, in general, most do quite well on the WIZ.

I can’t forget that GPH does sell accessories, such as a leather case, an accessory pack, with strap, stylus, and silicone SD card case, screen protector film, and protective stickers, to give the WIZ a different look.

Hopefully, later models will incorporate easily accessible, replaceable, rechargeable batteries, and incorporate Wi-Fi.

Outside of what I would categorize as the cons of this device, I still believe it is a step in the right direction, and I would still give this device a THUMBS UP.

The current selling price of the GP2X WIZ is around $179.

 

CLICK HERE FOR THE GP2X WIZ WEBSITE

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