My gaming machines- Then & Now

Throughout my childhood I played on a very low spec PC. This PC was only just capable of running games on the lowest graphical settings with playable FPS. unfortunately I do not remember the specs of this PC.  However at this day of age i have upgraded this PC with the latest parts that allows me to play top tier games on high/ultra video settings. My current PC build consists GTX 970 and a Intel i5 4460 3.20GHz. The 970 was released on the 18th of December 2014 where as the processor was released

 Over the years peripherals and monitors have also improved a lot. I currently play with the corsair K40 keyboard RGB along with the corsair M65 RGB along with a turtle beach headset. The monitor I use now is a 144Hz 1ms response time 27" AOC.  Having this PC is great as there is there is no game I cannot play with nice graphics where as my first PC was very limited. The keyboard and mouse of a PC allows more smooth movement and gives the player more control on what they are doing. In the future I plan to upgrade either my CPU or GPU. To either an i7 or a gtx1070-1080.

Because of this issue I fell in love with a FPS called Counter Strike. At the time this game wasn't as popular as it was today but it required very little power within your PC making it great for what I had. Still to this day I still play counter strike. I upgraded my PC as valve released new counter strikes. Currently I am playing Counter Strike: Global Offensive. The reason I love counter strike as much as i do is because each match played is different to the previous. Its never the same and always gives a new experience, jam packed with intense scenarios. I attend multiple LAN's every year for this game and compete with teams. Often we get out of group stages but get destroyed from there on out.

There are many advantages and disadvantages when it comes to PC over console. The advantages include: Playing in higher resolutions, playing on higher graphics(4k), the fact that your PC can be upgraded at any time. You could also modify the games to make then better or funnier.

Whilst playing on PC I use a platform called "Steam" and "Origin" to launch my games. I play other games such as League of Legends, H1Z1: King of the Kill, Over Watch and Rocket League. 

Differences between what i played on what i play now:

Counter Strike 1.6

Counter strike 1.6 was released on the 19th of July 1999. This when the counter strike legacy began because the counter strike developers teamed up with valved





Counter Strike Source

Counter strike sources was released late 2004 on November the 1st. This game wasn't such a big hit as 1.6 as players didn't want to move on.

Counter strike Global Offensive
Counter strike Global Offensive was released late 2012 on August the 21st. CSGO was a huge hit within the gaming community on PC and has became a huge Esport.

Game play:

CS 1.6 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf5B_YfL0cnAj1p5WGK3jxA

CS:S https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCptOnK5mPmcn0b29qST_lRw

CS:GO https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC36MGPfPwOWafAXauiV4LdA

Game Art Styles

Level 3 Games Design

UNIT 78: Digital Graphics for Computer Games. 

Game Art Styles.

Photo Realism:

Photo realism within a game is when they bring a piece of scenery such as the background/foreground or an in game character alive by using real life sources. For example photographs and recordings.

 The reason behind this is to make the game look more appealing. In this example on the left you can see a picture taken in real life where as on the right you can see a screen shot within the game itself. The screenshot is very easily mistaken for a real life picture due to the high graphics. Games like these take this particular style to help involve the player. The reason behind this is is to make the player intrigued and wanting to explore the game itself.

Exaggerated:

 The game art style "Exaggeration" is popular within Japan. It is when the artist of a game enhances something natural that much it looks unnatural. A well known example of this is Hello Kitty. Her eyes are made out to be huge and her hands are made up to almost look like mittens.

How ever as this about games i will be using a well known fighter called Tekken as an example. Within the game fighters are made out to look very muscular to the point where it doesn't look natural along with crazy hair styles. The muscular guys make out for a very fast paced competitive game.

Abstract:

Abstract is a very unique art style within games. The reason for this is because you can do so much with it. Usually Abstract games combine the usage of very bright vibrant colours alone with geometric/random shapes. They also often use random patterns. 

An example of abstract gaming in this case is Geometry Wars. This games uses a lot of vibrant colours within it to portray the fast paced action game its designed to be. This type of game will hype the player and get the adrenaline going so they are able to keep up.

Cel-Shaded:

Cel shaded games are non photo realistic. The reason for this as majority of the games within this style look hand drawn. Games that represent Anime/Comic books are mostly made with this style. A well known game that uses this style is Borderlands. Borderlands is a game that has a very unique look compared to other FPS.  

Retro:

Retro games are often known as "old styled" video games, they are often 2D with very basic shape structure. However the use of vibrant colours is visible. A very popular example of this art style is Pac Man. Pac man is a 2D game where it is your job to collect all the orbs without coming in contact with the ghosts that are AI based and move as they please. 

CSGO Game Review

Counter Strike: Global Offensive 

In this section of my blog i will be reviewing my favourite E-sport game Counter Strike: Global Offensive. It is a featured PC game but can be played on the XBOX. I have been playing the counter strike series since the age of 6 and haven't disliked it within the 10 years of playing.

CSGO for short is the third counter strike of the series. It is a team based strategy first person shooter where you either defend or attack a bomb site or work as a team and defend/rescue multiple hostages.

There are many known maps within this game that stretch out within other games. For example the well known maps De_Dust2, De_Inferno and De_Mirage. Also known as De_CPL_Strike. There is a huge professional background within this game as people play this competitively for money. I myself have attended several LAN's playing for a well known organisation called Team Penguin Overlords (TPO.Dev) in the UK scene.

However this game has a HUGE community that reaches from trolls and hackers to serious gamer's that are very good at it. Opinions of this game vary between the worst game ever and the best FPS out there. I can state a lot of issues of the top of my head within this game that create these negative reviews. For example the poorly designed maps. What i mean by this is the poorly generated sky boxes and clippings that prevent smooth movement when it comes to climbing stairs and slopes etc. This is a major factor within this game as this puts you at a huge disadvantage against a good player. The video below hows this:

There is also a problem with the hit registration within Counter Strike.Valve is a corporation that makes millions from their game launcher Steam and being the owner of Counter Strike and other big games such as Dota and Team Fortress 2. The fact that they are making so much and doing so little to make Counter Strike the game it should be players are left angry as they get out played by a game error within the game. Instead of adding new sounds to replace the old classics FIX YOUR GAME! The video used below is will show these errors with hit reg and say what needs fixing:


However fatal errors to the side, Counter Strike is still an amazing games. I would 100% recommend this game to anyone as it is never the same and can give countless hours of fun with your friends with no boredom. There are multiple well designed character models within counter strike for each side that are unique between the players. The teams Counter Terrorists and Terrorists both use their stereotypical assault rifles, this is the M4A4/M4A1-S and the AK47. They both also have access to two different Snipers. The "Scout" and the AWP. Both guns require high levels of skill to be accurate.