Not a map, but please enjoy the German translation of Metastasis 1 and 2, once again gracefully provided by the Sarmatia Project. Google Analytics reports that an implausible proportion of the MINERVA website's visits are coming from Germany, so I'm certain it'll be appreciated.
To celebrate, behold the colossal flag image which I constructed!
Well, it looked bigger when I was working on it, I'm sure. Sorry.
I am also reliably informed that Italian, Russian and Spanish translations are distinct possibilities. And maybe even Polish. I'm sure they'll be far better written than my amateurish English original... ;-)
***NACHRICHT ENDE***
:-)
I'm already imagining a no-killing patch for HL2. All the weapons would be set to 'stun' or 'freeze' or 'teleport far far away.'
Joking aside, we do miss non-lethal weapons in the HLs arsenal., such as nets, plastic bullets, tasers, glue guns, etc. The engine can probably support this.
or drive a crossbow bolt through them, and nail them to the wall. man that's sweet.
or toss a frag into a crowded room and watch those metrocops bodys go hopelessly flying about the room.
or grab up any peice of crap larger than a baseball and flail it at them with the gravity gun.
if i ever get my own country, there will be a law against not playing games in which you must kill extremely realistic humanoid characters. everyone will have to play at least once a day and log at least 100 kills. headshots will print coupons out of your computer, redeemable at Macy's for nice housewares, and if you really brutalize someone, you'll be entered into the sweepstakes... you could take home a new car!
Funny you should say that Locworks, as I remembered somone finding just such a weapon in Episode One. I don't know whether it could be classed as non-lethal, but I wouldn't like to imagine what shape you might be left in at the other end ;-).
There's a video of it in action here:
http://www.joystiq.com/2006/08/06/the-hl2-episode-1-black-hole-grenade
I have a feeling, Vecima, that you are a prime example of exactly what our Legislators are hoping to expunge from our societies!! ;-)
You live on the East Coast right? Well you might well find yourself looking for your own country if this kind of thing catches on:
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37035
So much for a Free Society, eh?
I could get a Hebrew translation for you. Should I do so?
What was once belief/speculation is now knowledge ... and things concerned to be belief/speculation will become knowledge ....
I've played Gears of War .... I still play HL2, CS:S, etc. ... Violence in Germany (i think it's true for the whole EU) is treated in public like sex (words; porn; etc...) in the USA ...
Short after the massacre in Erfurt (Germany; shool; 17 people killed) a lot of politicans discussed, whether CounterStrike and games alike should be banned from the market or at least restriced .... almost nothing happend ... and as we Germans belief (or do we know??) in science: Violent games do not turn you into a murderer or terrorist (it's unlikely).
So much for a no-killing patch or restriced games .... do not worry ....
I think I'll check with a developer friend of mine, before I go on dreaming about stunning Combine soldiers, freezing the wildly gesticulating fast zombies, gluing the hopping rollermines to the ground and taking down the choppers with a few well-placed EMP charges. It wouldn't turn the FPS we love into Barbie's Modeling Studio. :-)
I should have probably written "mod" instead of "patch". It would be an option rather than a mandatory update.
If you are visiting German Web sites dedicated to fragging, would you consider posting about the German language pack and post the link to the news post? I'd rather keep on working on the other language packs. :-)
I'm looking forward to a Russian translation. It's something I'm quite fluent in.
If I'm not mistaken that black hole grenade video on you tube was smod in action. I don't think it's an addition of Episode 2 as the fanboys put it. God bless those Japanese.
As much of a reason I should be worried of our government for threatening to tighten conventions for playing and buying video games, these bills never succeed and they never will. Whatever is coming of it, it won't last long in the predominantly democratic New York. I live in New England anyway.
"Violence in Germany (i think it's true for the whole EU) is treated in public like sex (words; porn; etc...) in the USA ..."
That's a highly opinionated notion you've just created. Americans as a whole have strong conservative values on the subject of sex, even though our self criticizing tone may try to say otherwise.
Slightly random comment, but I just saw this:
http://www.amphibian.myzen.co.uk/css_sci_fi/
Basically, Counter-Strike: Source maps - but single-player and Combine-oriented objectives. Sounds like a magnificent hack-job, and could be fun.
And no, I haven't played it. Too busy working on this other mod-thing. ;-)
Ich liebe MINERVA!
Now work harder on it. D:<
asmodeus, that "black hole gun", in the console command called "hopwire", is not EP2 thing nor smod thing, it is a EP1 thing, you can enable it with console command, just like Baffled said.
I'm wondering if the crossplayer thing's a bit complicated (it's human-controlled co-op versus expendable, human-controlled deathmatchers or AIs, essentially) - but I rather like the setting. Or settings. I suggest you watch the video first:
http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/8615
http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?pager.offset=0&cId=3156558
Oh, and Baffled? "France is collapsing under the weight of its own government..."
This game sounds rather excitingly good, as far as I am able to understand it.
This new gameplay element sounds really challenging. The idea of trying to sneak up on AIs and kill them before they are able to summon "natually intelligent" (ha!) human players on their radios adds a real element of tension to the single-player component.
The story apparently involves two dystopian versions of France, one chaotic and ungoverned, caused by the triumph of Medieval unreason; the other dominated by an authoritarian Government waging a war on terrorism. Hmmm, what are we to make of that? It couldn't *possibly* be that the only alternatives to the EU would be a Medieval madness (militant Islam) or Governmental oppression in the name of Freedom (Bush), could it? The frightening thing is they might have a point. :-(
Well, I think that there's a real possibility that one of those goons trying to kill you on the streets of Paris in the near future, will be me because I'm definitely buying this. ;-)
If I ever visit France and get killed by you, when I respawn in the airport...
IT IS OONNN!!!!
I hope that Crossplayer pans out like it should. I always wait a while before buying a game to hear if it is actually worth it or not. Lately I have been on a streak of bad buys.
How many good games have a setting in France by the way?
The beginnings of a Minerva Cult/Clan, perhaps? *Rubs hands together evily*
The only one that springs to mind would be Deus Ex.
(Sorry for the DP but you'll notice the adjacent time stamps)
From the 1up preview: I -LOVE- that building with the orange curves on the side. It just naturally draws your eyes upwards, but the brushwork is so simple and efficient. It seems so iconic, so stylish... so French. ;)
Though graphics-wise, I think everything looks kind of stale except for the art direction on the environments. Source is starting to show its age in some aspects - not that it really matters when you're in-game and blasting people.
It has already begun -
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8402758415229672162
In my opinion, source is evolving far beyond it's half life 2 origin. Unlike most other games that came out around hl2's release, valve has been adding onto the source engine ever since. The only thing people manage to overlook are the models. If you watch the Half Life 2 DirectX9 effects trailer and compare that with Rainbow Six: Las Vegas, the only thing keeping RS: LV above hl2 in terms of gfx are the detailed character models and vectors. SMOD and SMOD Tactical have even managed to bring (for the most part) effects from f.e.a.r. into the source engine.
I just remembered that the MOTY awards should announce starting today...
Here's hoping we have inadvertantly gotten 'The Creator' a new computer and spending money...
:P
Kind of waiting for a map to compile, but...
"The way that's gonna work out is you'll go to church, and when you exit that church, everything will look the same but slightly different. We're going to revisit the same exact areas, twisted."
I've spotted two distant, real-world churches in the trailer. The world closer to ours, Sacre Coeur:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacre_Coeur
... And in the more distant world, the ~1260 Notre Dame:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre_Dame_de_Paris
I'm wondering if the inclusion of these landmarks is deliberate.
(As for ModDB, sure it's not next weekend? And then the rappers: I think they took a too-literal translation of 'in da hood'. ;-) )
I've watched the trailer a few times, I think they blundered a bit when creating the so called ghetto's. The fact that the first reality shown was crowded with yellow and pink apartment complexes may have subtracted from the whole theme of desperation. I think a post-industrial look might have been better suited for the setting.
The Reason for my earlier comment was due to reading this part of the MOTY section:
http://awards.moddb.com/2006/awards/
I'm going to guess though that they will more likely be both released on the 25th...
The question becomes why a Thursday?
I agree that the coloring for a 'Country Falling into Anarcy' needs to have more darkened and faded buildings. Not to mention more dilapidated structures...
Through in some police tape for good measure!
It'll all depend on if they can pull off dumping your average random counterstrike player into what looks like quite an atmospheric single player game as enemies without ruining things.
All in tho it's an interesting way to get round the limitations of AI, reminds me a lot of "The Diamond Age" by Neal Stephenson.
I wonder if there'll be an option for offline play, in case the kiddies shouting "n00B!" at you get too much.
Oh and the black hole grenade in EP1 isn't a mod, try it yourselves.
In the console:
hopwire_vortex 1
--then
give weapon_hopwire
fire to throw, then fire to trigger (run a long way away first)
(sorry for double posting, but I'm daft)
It does seem likely that the environments in The crossing have been designed with some historical detail in mind:
"...everything is built in a way that's totally believable. We use history, but we're not trying to give a history lesson."..but then again.."It doesn't matter if you don't know anything about French history."
And they go to great lengths to distance the game from the fantasy genre of Dark Messiah:
"...it will be two realistic worlds with zero fantasy...It can be very realistic -- so basically, it's just as real as a real reality." Gosh, it's really real then?
"It's not a fantasy world; it's not a medieval world. We don't roll back in history where everybody talks in special British accents or something." I beg your pardon?!
Let's just hope that it doesn't stray too far into Dan Brown "faction" territory.
As for Asmodeus' French rappers, I can only get down on my knees and pray to all that is holy, that it was an example of the famous French love of irony. :-O
I disagree with some of the above comments made about the environmental art direction; every single game and its mother is going for the same wartorn dilapidated industrial look. Right now it looks fresh, though maybe too similar to City 17 because of the large towering projects and some of the reused textures.
Well, I won't dispute originality. It's just that the art direction doesn't fit in with this type of dark setting. Why not even leave the complexes white without the pink and yellow and add a mosque or something unique?
@baffled on friday (man you people have gotten chatty since then): that legislation is completely pointless. why should the US (government or any state) be allowed to FORCE people into REAL LIFE violent situations that are 18+, but only allow them to have PRETEND violence if they are 30?
also, there was a comment somewhere about americans and treating sex like taboo (or did i interpret wrong?) ... that's intirely mislead. There are a group of americans i like to call the idiot squad who (until quite recently) were completely in charge. all these idiots got together and decided that media companies should have to pay a fine if something 'indecent' (like they find sex to be) is broadcast, and decided that we should lie to our children in public schools (we already do it in private ones) and tell them that sex is wrong, and condoms are wrong too. i think those guys lack the mental capacity to carry out basic logic.
most of america however lives in the real world, in which we realise that without sex there would be no humans. but don't let the idiot squad taint your view of all americans... plenty of us, such as myself, are easy going, violent game playing, sex loving people.
@Vecima
Hurrah, Vecima. Hurrah.
As for sex, drugs and rock and roll... I quote a little known British film. "Aye, except we can do without the drugs and rock and roll!"
I must admit to my opinion of Americans being tainted by those you call the idiot squad. I thought it was mostly the gamers that were normal people out there. Wow, that feels so weird to say...
Like I said, that article you posted on the inquirer doesn't show the debate between conservatives and liberals. It simply states New York is trying to pass a law that keeps people under thirty from buying video games.
This, of course, will never work out. If jack thompson can't promote anti-vg violence in the southern states (which are largely conservative), what makes you think northern states on the east coast (predominantly liberal) will let this law pass? Not without a say from the New York Times.
@vecima, that media debacle was instated by a horde of angry mothers. Mothers didn't approve of tele regulation and started complaining to the FCC by the thousands. I think they were also part of a corporation; I don't remember.
As long as you live on the coast, east or west, you should be fine.
Btw, are there Germans on this board? _Wizard_ perhaps? I'm curious as to your opinion on Bushido.
Glad you spotted the CSS SCI FI mod. The whole thing was an experiment in editing without Hammer, to see how much you can do. Quite a lot it turns out, provided of course that the map already exists.
So far it seems to be making a big splash in Hungary: http://www.gamestar.hu/kommentek.php?sid=26063
but I can't tell if they like it or hate it.
As for the other debate in this thread, I recall a story a German friend of mine told me about trying take his young son to see a recent Hollywood movie (can't remember which). In the USA they couldn't go because there was too much sex, and in Germany they couldn't go because there was too much violence. In both places it was the same film!
@fitzroy_doll:
Exactly what I meant/thought. In Europe it seems to be violence ... in the US it seems to be sex...
@asmodeus:
1) I'm what someone may call a German. To be honest: I'm from Austria... Is my English that bad?
2) My "theory" about "violence" in Germany and "sex " in the US, is a bit opinionated! But this violence/sex discussion seems to be true (at least at it's "roots"). Why, do I think so? To give an example: The news (it was N24 ... owned by an US news company) told me a few days ago, that politicians in the US think about introducing a law, which permits sex under the age of 29!
In Germany (as I wrote) the administration thought about total bans of violent video games.
That's exactly the same ... nonsense!!!
I also had a chat with a guy from the States, who told me that this whole "sex-issue" (There seems to be no apropriate word??) is important to a few "groups" of people in the US, but not to him ... Well, I can only speculate. I also have to differ between the opinion of seperate individuals and the opinion(s) propagated by the media.
I'm sorry if I insulted anyone here.
Back when I played Neocron, I once found out that in the USA version, the strippers were clothed, and the swearing was uncensored. In the European version, the strippers were nude, and the swearing was either censored or less strong (I forget which). That's always how I've thought of the differing sensibilities.
The MOTY awards just came out...
Minerva won nothing...
But it was given an honorable mention...
Bittersweet to say the least...
What'cha mean honourable mention?
She got Fifth Place!
5th place!
http://features.moddb.com/287/mods-of-2006-players-choice/?fpage=1
Sodding-hell-I-beat-Garry's-mod, but Minerva is (a) female, not male and (b) who said anything about artificial intelligence?
Oh, and so far I've released two parts of a planned *nine*. Not three.
Twits! ;-)
I mean, I knew that the map we've all been rabidly waiting for was the final part of one section and that there was a couple more, but nine? Hot damn... Awesome. Although you might need some clones or we'll need canes.
I kid, I kid :D
It may only be fifth place, but it is still richly deserved. Seriously.
I say again... *choking* nine!? I had no idea.
It's first place from us :P
God damn it... I'm going back in! *Jumps back onto the Island.*
"Finished already? Well, you've uncovered some secrets, so don't
complain. A minor headcrab production plant, for a start.
But you still want more, don't you? The biggest secret of all -
the unimagined, unimaginable world behind that plated alloy door.
Well, there's good news for you.
The clock is already ticking."
I think making 5th place with a mod that's less than a third complete against whole teams of semi-pro developers is an impressive feat!
So well done you!!!
You sound a little peeved though, possibly due to the "clearly stolen" calumny, and the arrogant tone of the writer assuming he had seen through the plotline. Of course it might have been our fault, as the AI line was a favourite theory here, and he probably missed the imfamous post about our being "catastrophically wrong". He does refer to Minerva as "her" though, unless he's edited his piece since...
The Moddb entry for MINERVA states that the mod is currently 20% complete. Now allowing for the "trilogy in four parts" complication, I would gather that Metastasis will account for 33%-40% of the whole, depending on how big Depth Charge and Pegasus end up being.
Anyway give yourself a pat on the back, or a trip to the Pub or both, you did vey well indeed, and there are always later years. Imagine how the final, completed MINERVA will fair, with Episode Three assets and effects....!!!
( I hope that last bit doesn't depress you; all the work that will involve! But the price of success and acclaim is ......expectation.;-) ).
Congratulations. I think this shows that a painfully slow drip feed of quality is more highly regarded than a barrage of mediocrity.
Think about it this way, with the release(s) you are going to do this year, it will likely climb ranks.
Although to be honest, the cult following I've seen of Black Mesa will gaurantee it first place should it be released...
Some money is better than none though right?
(Not suprised by nine part comment, read it in three places already, I plan to be here for a long time... :P)
seriously quite an accomplishment from a solo effort...but we already knew how good Minerva was by now :) i mean, being invited to go chill with Valve IS a pretty good sign of your success...
The Hidden was one that I also voted for...sadly, I can't remember what my third vote was for at the moment, lol.
Anyhow...if things continue to be as impressive as they have been, then I fully expect to see a return to the top for this year.
No, you haven't insulted anyone at all. The point I was trying to get across was that opinions on sex in the U.S. differ between areas. I've only guessed you were german mainly because of all the references you made on violence in germany. Infact, your english is better than the average here I would say.
Never fear, Adam, your efforts have not gone unnoticed by us. We know that you deserve better than 5th place...especially with all circumstances considered. Look at how much you've been able to accomplish BY YOURSELF and compare that to what some entire teams can't seem to get done!
Minerva is a lot like a good series of books still being written. It's so good you tear through the ones already written voraciously(sp?), only to arrive at the end and find there is not yet another volume to devour.
Nesretep - everyone's favorite (or favourite) blog lurker!
I think I've figured out why MINERVA did so well. Apparently Garry's Mod, Natural Selection and Red Orchestra - all previous winners of the competition - have all gone commercial in one form or another. Thus disqualifying themselves from anything more than honourable mentions.
Although I did hear that explanation on the ModDB games radio show thing they had online - which in a demonstration of its levels of accuracy claimed I was named Adam Smith, and was French. Both incorrect, as far as I am aware. So who knows, maybe MINERVA actually is deserving of a fifth place... ;-)
Huge thanks for everyone who voted for MINERVA, by the way - and it looks like it'll be well worth investigating the other mods they have listed. I would, but I'm kind of busy!
In other news, I just had a quick run-through of metastasis_3a. It's a bit fundamentally broken in places, but I ... think I've got it. Architecture is complete, it's more just adding and fixing more scripting, and padding out and tuning the gameplay.
(Yes, I've been quiet - but this award thing has been a hell of a morale-boost. Hooray!)
hey, man it's been a while!
i was wondering if we were going to see you again.
how you been?
In the words of the hallowed Strong Bad:
*DELETED!*
(Yes, gaps in comments are possibly due to spam deletion. Please do no worry.)
vecima: I'm assuming that you are talking to me, so...I'm doing well, just busy. Usually just get a little time to stop by to see what everyone else is talking about now, the latest complaints regarding the anticipated release of Metastasis 3 taking too long, as well as checking for Adam's latest update. Not a lot of time for a thoughtful response though. I prefer to not sound like an idiot and just spew something into the blog a then regret it later. I kinda miss the old forum. Good conversation...rampant speculation...those were the days! We should see if we can talk Adam into resurrecting the forum leading up to the release of Metastasis 3. Kind of a launch party thing...
good idea, nesretep. i'd like to see that thing again
uhh... actually i was replying to a bot post that adam subsequently deleted.
but um... glad to hear you're doing well!
vecima: Now I feel sheepish...[baaaaa!]
Well, here it is:
http://www.hylobatidae.org/minerva/forum/
Have fun. You have less than four weeks. And no, it's not a countdown to the release of that ever-elusive third episode... ;-)
Which of course means nothing :P It could be more than four weeks, could be less. We shall only know when the world begins again.
Oh, and don't mind their sudden, oppressive appearance - they're just a bunch of friends, drafted in for moderation duties.
If you all behave, then you never know - the forum might get an extended stay of execution. I've seen far too many disappear into unwholesome ranting and flaming, so I've got this one under heavy observation from the very start of its new beginning.
Just remember, any misdemeanours shall be punishable by Death!
(Or if you're really bad, Deletion. Except we don't like to talk about that one. Oh no.)
Article is now closed for commenting.
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1. Die folgende Episode von MINERVA ist…ein Gefängnissatz ?
Posted by Baffled at 4:30PM, Friday January 19 2007
German fans of MINERVA may have to be careful as a new law has been propsed there that may effectively criminalize the playing of any game depicting violence against "human looking characters". Apparently this may even extend to killing zombies! I'm guessing that the gas mask worn by the Combine may not be sufficiently dehumanising to escape censure either. The law is in its early stages but still...
What's INFINITELY worse is that the legislation will apply equally to developers and distributors. This could mean that Adam could be jailed or fined for inciting violent tendancies in Die Jungen!! I mean how would the plot of MINERVA play to a jury....
...well there's this mysterious female character who sent me text messages telling me to kill everyone I meet on this island...
http://videogames.yahoo.com/newsarticle?eid=497053&page=0
In case you think this is another Daily Mail special, the original was in The Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/germany/article/0,,1969920,00.html