During the development of team fortress 2, play testers could not figure out “why” they were being killed, after the enemy player had been fragged. For some reason the play testers could not figure out that the enemy player had primed a grenade, and when they were fragged, their dead body dropped the grenade. So the grenades were removed from team fortress 2.

The marketing campaign of TF 2 said that the grenades were removed because of grenade spam. But if you listen to the developer commentary, its made very clear that “grenade spam” was just a very small part of the reason.

When people that were new to the team fortress community listened to the reasons “why” the grenades were removed, those player seemed to have developed a bad attitude about games that had grenades. The long time team fortress players know that grenades and team fortress go hand in hand.

Grenades balance the game, but you have to have real skill to us them. Prime – count – toss takes a little more skill then to run up behind someone that hit them in the back of the head with a bat.

The development of Fortress Forever took too long – people lost interest, they got tired of waiting, developers moved onto other projects,,, it points to a lack of good management.

People around the project have speculated that FF should have been released 1 – 2 years before its actual release date. During this “waiting” time, people moved onto to other games.

When Fortress Forever was released, the map 2Fort was not included. This made a lot of old time Team Fortress players say something along the lines of “no 2fort? lol, 10 lols!!! How can you release a team fortress game with no 2fort?”

When Fortress Forever was released, it had a lot of problems – for a game that took so long to develop, it sure did have a lot of problems.

One annoying bug was that when the player respawned, they were looking sideways. When the bug was reported, one of the developers commented “I thought that had been taken care of”.

The over powered medic is another problem, but this is one that the developers refuse to fix. Its as if the medic is some kind of sentry gun killing super man. The super nail gun can take out a sentry gun before the engineer even has time to respond. The developers have been accused of favoring the medic, but most of them will not comment on the issue.

The heavy weapons guy has gone through lots of tweaks. People that play the medic complain the HW is too powerful, people that play the HW complain he is not powerful enough. With the developers favoring the medic, which one do you think won?

The attitude of a lot of the Fortress Forever Players – is less then mature. In fact, its quit disgusting.

Awhile back there was a problem with porn sprays in public games. When this issue was brought up in the Fortress Forever forums, a lot of the players said “so what”? So what???? As a parent, I do not want my children playing games where they are exposed to that kind of stuff.

There is a major conflict between the adults that play Fortress Forever, and the children. One group that has taken a zero stance on abusive behavior is the Old Timers Clan. A lot people complain that OT has helped ruin the FF community. But its just the opposite, the people complaining about OT have ruined the community. If more server admins acted like the people from the Old Timers Clan, the Fortress Forever community would be better off.

There have been a lot of factors that have harmed the Fortress Forever community. If I had to pick out just one issue that has harmed the Fortress Forever community the most, it would have to be the behavior of some of the players. This goes past simple picking around, it is nothing more then cyber bullying. I think that is a good analogy – some of the players in the Fortress Forever community are bullies.

Nobody wants to play a game where they are constantly ridiculed, embarrassed or made fun of. But for some reason, its ok for a lot of Fortress Forever players to act in such a manner. This has driven away a lot of players – myself included.

Please post your comments in this forum thread about Fortress Forever.

While Wolfenstein 3D might have created a stir, it was Doom and Quake that created a revolution.  Doom with its use of satanic symbols, and Quake with its built in TCP/IP and internet multiplayer support.

Over the past few years I have noticed a disturbing trend with game developers. This is just my personal opinion, but it seems to me that game developers are focusing more on eye candy then actual quality gameplay.

Example 1 – Companies like id software focus more on making shadows work right, then on making quality maps. Its gotten to the point where it looks like the maps, graphics and everything else is overdeveloped, but the actual gameplay has been forgotten.

The maps in Doom 3 and Quake 4 were both confusing. How can “backtrack and find a key” or “backtrack and escort a medic” really be considered quality gameplay? It can’t be.

Example 2 – Could you just imagine having to backtrack in Left 4 Dead? The gameplay would be ruined. Just think about getting 1/4 way through the map, and then only to be told you have to go search the dead zombies for a key?

But ID Software would have us do just that?

Example 3 – The release of Half-Life 1 killed the “find the key” style of gameplay established by Doom and Quake. Players got a better gaming experience with straight through designed maps with limited side quest – such as having to turn on a power supply in the basement.

But for some reason, the developers at ID Software refuse to give the players what they want. Its as if they refuse to change with the times.

When you compare games like half-life 1, half-life 2 and left 4 dead to Doom 3 and quake 4, the game made by Valve software are the clear winners.

Left 4 Dead offers better designed maps, solid gameplay, good weapons (just not a lot of them) and good graphics.

Doom 3 had poorly designed maps, too much backtracking, weak weapons, and what looks like over developed graphics.

This is probably why I stopped buying ID software games, and now buy Valve Software products.

• Why did Y2K use gamespy for the multiplayer?
• Why are the really cool weapons only found after the first play through?
• Where is the software developers kit?
• Where is the dedicated server option?
• The skill tree seems a little “limited”.
• Where are items like combat vest, gloves, helmets?
• I guess all we get is a shield?
• Why are the sniper rifles so underpowered?
• Why does the mic stay on all the time? Seems like a waste of bandwidth to me.
• Why does the world have seams?  Another way of saying that – why do we have the loading screens between the levels?  In case nobody told Y2K, loading screens died out with Doom and Quake 10+ years ago.  At least we dont have to run around looking for colored keys to go to the next level.

Even though Borderlands has some shortcomings, its still a great game. Here are some of the things that I like about Borderlands.
• The graphics and futuristic settings are jaw dropping
• The detail to the background is amazing
• Almost unlimited quest offers almost unlimited replayability
• Skill tree is nice, even though it is kinda limited
• Being able to drive a car is cool
• Massive amount of weapons – its like a dream come true
• Open world – its really nice being able to explore an area
• Unlimited amount of stuff to kill – and that is awesome

Overall, I think Borderlands is well time and money for at least a couple of play throughs. Please post your comments in this thread on Borderlands over at the forums.

In todays gaming market, rarely do I see a modification that gets the attention like what capture the flag, team fortress, rune quake, quake world and rocket arena did. Its as if the fan made modifications get very little attention. And thats really sad, because modifications like Fortress Forever are truly great games.

I miss the days when games actually worked when they were released. Take left 4 dead 2 for example – it suffered from crashing to desktop bugs for 2 weeks after it was released.

Quake and Quake 4 – either have a story plot, or dont have one.

Quake – no story plot, but still a great game
Quake 4 – 1/2 a story plot and terrible game.

How long with the war go on? Its been 10 years now – Quake 2 – Quake Wars. Its about time to find a new story plot dont you think id software?

I miss games that paid attention to detail. If you take Doom and compare it to Doom 3, in my opinion the developers of the original doom paid more attention to details then the developers of Doom 3. If there was one thing that I would compare between doom and doom 3, it would be the sky boxes. Such a simple thing can greatly add to the atmosphere of the game. Doom 3 has terrible skyboxes, while Doom has some great skyboxes. What is the problem here? Its like Doom 3 went backwards in time at least 15 years with one simple little feature.

When half-life was released, it had an epic story plot, some epic introduction cut scenes,,,,, it was several things added together that made half-life one of the greatest games of all time. Now we have left 4 dead and left 4 dead 2, which both have great graphics, great skyboxes, but the story line is sketchy at best. Why couldn’t left 4 dead have started off by showing the scientist that might have caused the disease? Or showing the people from the government doing their research into some kind of strange new disease? Would half-life have been as great if gordon freeman after the accident? Nope. One of the things that made half-life so great is we saw everything that took place that morning.

Half-life 2 had an “ok” story plot, it goes along with the way left 4 dead tells its story. You know “something” has happened, but exactly what that “something” is your not 100% sure of. HL2 – some kind of war has happened and humanity surrendered. L4D – some kind of virus has been released that is killing off the human race.

If you want to talk about a game that develops an awesome story plot, the winner has to be Diablo, and not diablo II – I mean the original Diablo. By the time the player is 3/4 of the way through the game, he/she knows just about everything that has happened in the past 1,000+ years. Everything about the holy war, and the soul stones is spelled out for the player, what more could you really want?

Post your comments in the I miss the games from the 1990s thread of the forums.

Doom II: Another legendary first person shooter that looks like crap today.

Final Doom: Another legendary first person shooter that looks like crap today. Idsoftware was too busy working on Quake, so Team TNT did the development of the Final Doom.

None of the Doom series had mouse look – where you could use the mouse to look and down.

Duke Nukem: Kinda like doom, but your fighting some kind of alien invasion. Duke always has some kind of smart remark to make about something.

Fallout: Even though its not a first person shooter, I would like to say “screw you interactive” for making a game that most people could not play. Fallout was a couple of years ahead of its time in cpu requirements.

Quake: Looks slightly better then Doom. The original tcp/ip support was crap and caused massive lag. That is why quakeworld came about. Quake made names like multiplayer deathmatch and quakecon an everyday word.

Team Fortress: Some silly game where 9 character classes fight over a stupid flag for points.

Quake II: Slightly improved graphics over Quake, but the gameplay sucked big time. Weapons were under powered, strogg looked stupid, no moving clouds or interactive environment. Enemy AI sucked big time.  Screw you ID Software for making Quake II one of the most overhyped games of all time – I want my money back.

Hexen II: Cool game where you get to run around and kill sheep. Crappy maps, crappy story plot, but at least there are lots of stuff to break and plenty of sheep to kill.

Unreal: One of the first games to make you say “holy crap” with graphics that were ahead of their time. The only problem, a lot of the computers at the time could not run the game very well.

Red Neck Rampage: You play the role of a red neck hick that fights an alien invasion. Its the one game where your character can get drunk and start throwing up. The levels got a little boring after awhile.

Half-life: You play the role of a nerd by the name of gordon freeman. Gordon leaves his scientist buddies behind to die in black mesa as the troops are brought in to kill all of the survivors. half-life is a good example of how the strong survive and the weak die. Gordon basiclly says “screw yall, I’am outta here.” Even though half-life used the quake engine, the graphics were like “wow”.

Team Fortress Classic: Like the original team fortress but with better graphics. The teams are still fighting over a stupid flag, what is the deal with the flag? Once its stolen it just goes back to the base anyway. If the enemy wants the flag bad enough, sell it to them and make some money.

Counter-strike: One of the few games where you get to play as a terrorist and kill cops. Graphics look like crap today due to the quake 1 engine.

Quake III: Attempt made by valve software to cash in on the quake name, and is multiplayer only. Well, you could play with bots, but they get really boring after awhile. This game was boycotted by a lot of loyal quake fans that wanted some kind of single player game. Idsoftware took out the single player side and replaced it with a bunch of eye candy.

Doom III: Screw you id software for ruining the glorious name of Doom. Nobody at id software has ever heard of “duct tape”? Its this stuff you can use to attach a flashlight to a weapon. The original release of doom III was not even finished, you had to download a patch to finish the game. Did anyone that worked on doom III even play the original?

Painkiller: Your killed in a car wreck, your soul is sent to hell to kill demons so you can rescue your wife,,, or something like that. Music gets old. Awesome maps though.

Half-Life 2: Gordon freeman comes back, but this time he is forced to save a city called “City 17″. Gordon blows up part of city 17 and runs for his life before the combine can catch him.

Counter-Strike:Source: Now when you shoot a counter terrorist, you can see the blood spray on the walls. Gun Games modification rocks.

Quake 4: ID software was too busy to develop this game, so they let raven software do it. And one more time I would like to say “screw you raven and id software. Quake 4 sucks.

STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl: You play someone who was in a car wreck and does not remember who he is. Quest system sucks, weapons suck, radiation sucks, maps suck,,,,,, cool game though.

Fortress-Forever: Most awesome team fortress game ever made. Except that the medic is some kind of overpowered super man, who kills sentry guns at the speed of light.

Team Fortress 2: Screw you valve for ruining the name of Team Fortress. What id software did to Doom III, valve did to team fortress II – I want my money back.

Quake wars: When someone figures out what this game is about, let me know, please.

Unreal tournament 3: Grab a weapon and start killing people. Screw you interactive for using gamespy for the multiplayer part.

Left 4 Dead: You get to play some kind of mutated zombie and hunt the survivors down. The problem is, the survivors have guns, so you have to be careful.

Bioshock: Guy survives a plane crash, only to find an undewater city where he has to kill people who have too much lead in their water pipes. Its like everyone you run into is crazy and wants to kill you.

Left 4 Dead 2: More mutated zombies to kill the survivors with. But this time, the survivors get more weapons.

Borderlands: You run around killing these strange looking dogs. Good thing PETA has not seen this game. Closed maps with load times between maps, sorry multiplayer setup,,, this game rocks, but could have been so much better.

Post your comments in a candid history of first person shooters thread of the forums.

For those of you that mised it, you missed some really good deals, like STALKER for $2.00, ID pack for something like $23,,, butu oh well, there is always next year.

The package includes:
Commander Keen
DOOM 3
DOOM 3 Resurrection of Evil
DOOM II
Final DOOM
Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders
HeXen
HeXen II
HeXen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel
Master Levels for Doom II
QUAKE
QUAKE II
QUAKE II Mission Pack: Ground Zero
QUAKE II Mission Pack: The Reckoning
Quake III Arena
QUAKE III: Team Arena
QUAKE Mission Pack 1: Scourge of Armagon
QUAKE Mission Pack 2: Dissolution of Eternity
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Spear of Destiny
The Ultimate Doom
Wolfenstein 3D

Even though this is a great package – the most recent game is Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil, which was released in 2005. Where is Quake 4, where is ENEMY TERRITORY : QUAKE WARS? Even though Quake 4 and Enemy Territory Quake Wars were not developed by ID software, they are still part of the Quake series.

Even though the package does not include some of the more recent games, for a little over $1 a game, in my opinion – its well worth.

Post your comments in the Steam Deals thread of the forums.

A special thank you goes to Criken2 for posting this video on youtube.

When a company starts on a project, they hire people with certain skills.  By hiring a role playing developer, that points in the direct of either an RPG, or some kind of massive online game.   Since Valve produces First Person Shooters, maybe they are getting ready to develop a Massive Multiplayer Online First Person Shooter?  Keep in mind, this is purely speculation at this time.

With the huge popularity of Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2, is that going to be the direction the game could go in?  Or maybe Counter-Strike 2 as a MMOFPS where the terrorist and counter terrorist are in a constant battle with each other?

Post your speculation in the is Valve software working on a MMOFPS game thread of the forums.