Goodbye and thanks for all the fish.

This blog is now officially dead.

It’s always difficult to put to sleep something that one has invested time and effort into. This applies to Barts News as well, since I have put quite a bit of my time and soul into it. Nevertheless, everything must come to an end and so does this little blog (that could). Barts News started as my little pet project in late 2006 as a result of my review being rejected from a gaming site (for the record, it was Dungeon Siege : Throne of Agony for PSP, you can read more here). I wanted to write about games, I wanted to share my little review with the world and I also wanted to have something to occupy my mind with, since I was badly ill and on a verge of depression.

Blogging turned out to be quite fun and not only did it work out quite well as a therapy of sort, but it also broadened my gaming knowledge (indie games, background information, development process etc.), connected me to many interesting folks in the industry and even took me to Tokyo Game Show. 2007 was definitely the best year at Barts News, what with TGS, many cool games, meeting Jessica Chobot and so on. 2008 was way more calm, but some of the posts that I am most proud of date back to that year. 2009 was much more hectic, with a lot of interesting posts from different fields. In 2010 I was already shifting gears, but I got quite a bit of pocket money out of the blog, thanks to a certain sponsored article on poker games (there’s only one on this site, so it’s rather easy to find). 2011 saw me give up on regular posting in favour of occasional updates, which then stopped. Unfortunately, I don’t have neither time not motivation to blog in English anymore. Why?

First of all, I am writing for two major Polish gaming websites owned by two different publishers and to what I consider to be the best independent gaming blog in Polish. I also get my reviews and articles in print every now and then, which is probably the most rewarding thing when writing about games (right next to being paid for it, which is now happening on a regular basis, too). Secondly, my writing in Polish is much better than my writing in English. I am not a native speaker and I will never be as good as folks from RPS or Eurogamer in English – but I can be quite good when writing in my mother tongue, which makes it very fulfilling. I simply like what I am writing in Polish much more than what I could produce on this blog. Thirdly, there’s money – there isn’t any in blogging, but there is quite a bit in selling my articles and posts. Fourthly, I have changed my job last year and this year – which resulted in having much less time for anything, including gaming and writing about games. If you can’t beat the system, join it – and in the times of crisis having well-paying job is a must.

As a result, I have made the decision to put Barts News to sleep. It was fun while it lasted, but I don’t have time or the motivation to continue. Actually, October 2011 marks full five years of this blog, so it's actually not too bad. So what happens next with Barts News? Well, not much. The address will change at some point, because I won’t be paying for domain name if I am not using it. New address will probably be its standard Blogspot one: bartsnews.blogspot.com. I believe you can remove Barts News from your RSS readers, since I do not plan to be writing anything soon. Those of you who are actually still following this blog all know me, so if you want to stay in touch, you know where to find me. Those that don’t, well, I’m surprised you are still reading this post...

So, thank you for all the comments, tips and whatnot. It’s been a pleasure.

Barts signing out.

Status update - July

PC gaming

I had to surrender the borrowed PC I mentioned early, which means I didn't get to play Witcher 2 after all the trouble I went through in order to run it. On a positive side of things, it has given me the prod and I finally completed Dragon Age: Origins. I consider this game to be one of the best role-playing games ever - it definitely jumped into my personal top ten.


In my version of the tale, Alim, my elf mage, romanced Morrigan, but finally fell in love with Leliana. He has seen the leave of both Morrigan (no agreement for forbidden ritual) and Alistair (disagreement over recruiting Loghaine). Anora became queen, Loghaine redeemed himself by slaying the archdeamon. Alim sided with Mages in Broken Circle, managed to save Connor from his Deamon, helped Witherfang and werewolves (convinced elf lord to end his life), protected Andraste's Ashes and killed the cultists, sided with Lord Harrowmont in Orzammar and destroyed Anvil of Souls, allowing the Golem to rest in peace. In general, my hero was a good man, but sadly lost his best friend and first girlfriend on the way to repelling the Blight. Fortunately, he lived to tell the tale, received well-deserved respect and went on to travel with his redhead love. All in all, excellent bitter-sweet ending, although I am still sad about how the Alistair's story arch ended.

PS3 gaming

First of all, I finished Batman Arkham Asylum - it turned out to be a rock-solid game, although I don't think it would be that much fun to play on keyboard and mouse (similar to my impressions from Mirror's Edge). I was indifferent to incoming sequel, but after comleting the first part and seeing two brilliant trailers (check them, seriously - one is here, the other here), I am now impatient to play it.


I bought and started playing Grand Theft Auto IV, but it has to convince me yet. I mean main character is interesting, the city is pretty and large and graphics are quite fine, but the story is disjointed, framerate is chugging when there's a lot happening (police, fires, lots of cars) and resolution is mere 720p. I am continuing to play the game, I am doing my best to like it and not to nitpick, but I quite frankly don't understand why it sits on the top of Metacritic PS3 all time best list - it's just yet another GTA with slightly better graphics and slightly less obnoxious protagonist.

I also restarted Dragon Age: Origins, right after the aforementioned PC was taken away from me. Why, I hear you ask? For one, its story can change so much on different playthroughs that I wanted to give it another go. Secondly, I was curious how it would play on PS3 - turns out of strategic top view and changed user interface result in a completely different game experience. Additionally, it looks really nice on my huge tv, so I guess the addicition isn't over just yet. The fact that I am so eager to replay Dragon Age: Origins right after having finished it speaks volumes of its quality.


I have revisited Flower and sweet Buddha, what a lovely game it is. It deserves all the praise it got and then some more. When winter comes in Poland and it's dark, cold and snowing outside, the fact of having a huge window into warm grasslands full of floating petals is warming my heart. Right now, in rainy Polish summer, I just enjoyed how beautiful it all looks, especially the level where player can paint the grass with their petals. It is a brilliant game and I will absolutely buy Journey when it comes out, no doubts about it.


Other highlights include Limbo, the game that was one of the first things I wrote about on this blog. I think it is somewhat symbolic - the beginning of my blogging in 2006 coinciding with announcement of this game and now its downfall in 2011 highlighted by the game finally being released on a system I own. As for Limbo itself, it is absolutely great - beautiful, eerie, unsettling, stylish and with some really smart gameplay. Obligatory game to have, no matter what hardware you play it on (note: Limbo is also available on Steam). Oh, and by the way, I completed it, only using walktrough two times.

Other than that, I played Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (geez, what a long name), Little Big Planet with my girlfriend (this game is absolutely brilliant, charming, funny, sweet and uplifting), quite a lot of Mortal Kombat demo with a friend (when this game gets cheaper, I am so buying it). I have Virtua Fighter 5 queued (my brother comes visiting, if you get my point), Red Dead Redemption on my radar, thanks to this extremely cool trailer, as well as Mass Effect 2 (Bioware RPG, I want more!). The only problem is I don't have time to play them all!

Status update - June

Just a brief note to wrap up June.

My PC gaming was quasi-nonexistent, mostly due to spending too many hours struggling with running Witcher 2, which I didn't play then, as I was sort of disheartened. I played maybe half an hour of Witcher 2 altogether - not much, really. I still haven't gotten around to complete Dragon Age: Origins, which I might get to do during next weekend and on the double - because it seems that I will have to return my borrowed PC all of a sudden.


As for gaming on PS3, the situation was much better. I finished Uncharted 2, which turned out to be bloody brilliant (it really deserves a separate post on how cinematic it can get), I played quite a bit of Batman: Arkham Asylum, also an excellent game on many levels. I have also gotten myself Little Big Planet as a part of Sony's Welcome Back programme in order to play it with my girlfriend - but it is her who spends more time with the game in the end. The other title I have downloaded was Dead Nation, a co-op zombie shooter, which I didn't really fall in love with - should have gotten InFamous instead.

My PSP also received some loving, if only due to my holiday trip. I didn't have time to prepare the gaming library, so I played some Lumines (always cool), some Tales of Eternia (pretty, but yawn, how cliche the story is) and some Persona 3 Portable ('cause it's great, period).

My other gaming-related activities included drooling over Playstation Vita, writing yet another batch of articles and a script for video-feuilleton on Zelda and finally reading Bissell's Extra Lives, which I have found to be largely overrated. All in all, a good month.

E3 2011 - Day One recap

Trailer bonanza

This year I have mostly been following excellent GameTrailers stream - all the information from E3, with only slight delay (and they use remixed jingle from Lumines, don't think I didn't catch that!). Let's start chronologically, with Microsoft conference. I don't have Xbox360 and I don't really care about the games on the system, but I watched the stream nevertheless and here are my thoughts:

Mass Effect 3

I got bored by Mass Effect 1 (despite having made my mirror image in it), so I was rather indifferent - until I saw the video which showcases how Kincet can be used to catch voice commands. What's so impressive about it? Well, for one, player can actually choose Sheppard's responses by reading the lines from the screen and secondly, they can give squad orders by shouting in front of their console. Seriously: advance, fall back, fire! Immersion level goes throught the roof, it is like physically being there. I didn't expect myself to say that about Kinect - but it was incredible.

Tomb Rider

A very stylish debut trailer that was shown a few days back did restore my faith into the reboot, but E3 video showing actual gameplay solidified this. I am now officially looking forward to this game.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Skyrim got me sold on it the moment I watched the trailer that contained the music that had tones and melody from both Oblivion and Morrowind. Tear of nostalgia, feeling of coming back to fantasy reality I have known and long forgotten. Now, having watched some gameplay, I think it is going to be better than Oblivion and might even be on par with Morrowind. I love the trick with assiging two hands to shoulder buttons, allowing for dual swords wielding or powerful two-handed spells - it is a simple patent, but noone thought about it earlier.

Sony Conference

I have already written that I want PSVita aka Next Generation Portable. After seeing Sony show, I stand by that opinion. Price point seems reasonable: 250EEUR for Wi-Fi version is okay, especially when compared to Nintendo 3DS. There are mentions of crossplay with PS3 (Wipeout), continuing PS3 game on PSV (Ruin), backwards PSP compatibility (wonder how GoW looks on this?). Frankly, how can you not love it?

Announced games:
Wipeout 2048 - selling point for me, love Wipeout series (trailer).
Uncharted: Golden Abyss - I am not that much of Uncharted fan, but it looks great.
Little Big Planet - as happiness-inducing as always.
Oddworld Munch's Oddysee and Stranger's Wrath - I still didn't have time to buy Oddbox.
Super Stardust Delta - brilliant shooter, loved PS3 and PSP versions.
Little Big Planet - hapiness-inducing as always.
Blaz Blue - neat beat'em up.
Ruin - Diablo-like dungeon crawler that looks rather pretty.
Bioshock Vita - not sure what it is exactly, but come on, Bioshock Portable!
Dragon Crown - Golden Axe / Dungeons & Dragons beat'em up clone with sweet 2D graphics.

Other various news

Not strictly E3, but somewhat Xbox360 related, apparently there are signs that Limbo is coming to Steam. Would love to see that happen!

Ubisoft announced that there will be no Beyond Good & Evil 2 before next generation of consoles - but maybe they mean PSVita? It is next-gen after all, right?

Desktop Dungeons gets a proper standalone version for Mac and PC, as our ever-vigilant Gnome swiftly informed us (and IndieGames blog, too). You can play the E3 demo online for next three days, too.

Not bad for one day, eh? I don't know if other days can top this first one.

I want NGP

me want nao

A whole slew of Sony's newest child, NGP aka. Next Generation Portable aka. PS Vita, has hit the street. You can read previews of games: Uncharted, Wipeout, more Wipeout, Sound Shapes, more Sound Shapes, Super Stardust Delta and much more. You can listen to Sony boasting (and rightly so) or read hands-on impressions from Eurogamer or Ars Technica (two best gaming websites out there). But for me it was enough to see this movie:

...and now I want NGP. I know it's silly, I know that it's too large and too expensive (probably), that I don't even have time to play my current games on PC and PS3, that I am turning into Sony fanboy and general no-life, that I am an adult and should be more rational about my spending choices. I know all that. But I can't help it. I want one.

It would be amazing how one neat trailer can turn me into a drooling fanboy, if it wasn't scary. And I thought my gadgeteering days were behind me.

Status update - May

April, May, decay

May has been an extremely busy period in my life, especially on the professional plane, which meant having even less time than usual for gaming and writing. There are a few things to share, though.


The fourth Film Music Festival in Krakow was a highlight of this month. Beautiful music, famous artists (yes, I consider Hironobu Sakaguchi to be an artist), Distant Worlds and Joe Hisaishi - it could hardly get better than that. I congratulated myself for buying tickets early and paying for good seats (11th row, very close to the scene, two rows behind Sakaguchi-san). Read more of my impressions here.


Mirror's Edge - let me repeat myself: this is a brilliant game. I have beat it again, on hard this time, something that I don't do often. The thing is, Mirror's Edge is more of an experience than a story and the whole running-and-evading-bad-guys thing chills me out and provides fun. I also love visuals and music. I think this game deserves a special note, maybe a retrospective here on Barts News, maybe an article somewhere else. I really feel sad that such an original thing didn't get praise it deserved.


Persona 3 Portable - I finally received my collector's edition via mail. Persona 3 is another brilliant game and if you remember my review here on Barts News, I was totally charmed by it. I have played a few hours as a girl (you can chose female main character), but only a few, due to time constraints. I have to say, though, that coming back to the imaginary world of Gekoukan High and Tartar was a pleasure comparable to revisiting classic games of old times - which means P3P has officially become one of my favourite games ever.

PSN failure - spectacular and epic fail. Not only I could not buy Outland, I also had to invalidate my credit card (just in case) and suffer snide remarks from Xbox360 fanboys and morons who only use prepaid cards, instead of embracing XXI century. I've heard that there will be free games from Sony to make up for that (I'll probably get LBP and that zombie shooter), but really, the whole thing was ridiculous and left me with bad taste in my mouth.

Witcher 2 - now with all the love and admiration I have for this title and its authors, this was the embodiment of why I have grown to hate PC gaming. Hours spent on struggling with patches, updates, drivers, papadongs and shit - instead of playing. I will write more about the game itself when I finally get to play it.

I still need to finish Castlevania and Dragon Age: Origins. The first one has become a little too difficult for casual gaming, the other one has become a grindfest and since I need to go back a few hours due to particularly bad choice I made along the road, I have hard time motivating myself to do it. The story calls me, though, and I really would like to finish this game. Well, both of them actually.

To wrap this post up with a teaser of news to come that you won't find anywhere else, I have become involved with a certain indie game event - but I will write more about it as the whole story unfolds. 'till next time, folks!

Problems with Witcher 2

AAAAARRRGGGGHHH

This is one of the main reasons why I have grown to hate mainstream PC gaming. I have bought Witcher II last week, eager to give my money to brave Polish developers from CD Project Red. On Saturday I sat down to play it on a powerful PC - what could go wrong? Well, a lot of things.

I installed the game for the first time, then downloaded the patch. Patch refused to install, claiming the version of the game is wrong. Right, I did install English voices, maybe that's the problem. Oh, there's now way to remove them without removing the whole game? All right, uninstall, reinstall, patch. What, still wrong version? Googling, googling... ah-ha! I have English version of Windows 7 and need to install Polish character encoding for non-unicode something. Okay, I will. It is a little strange that a Polish game has problem with Polish diacritic characters, but I will. What, I need to restart computer after that? In XXI century? Whatever.


I finally get to run the game. Five samey animations reeking of standard After Effects effect? Mmkay. Menu - wow, pretty. I can't see the actual menu items, but it's still pretty. I start playing, see Geralt running, then tortured, then someone asks him a question and game hangs. No, wait, it didn't hang. The game is actually waiting for me to chose an answer... but I can see them! Yes, each line of text only shows itself when I hover above it with cursor. Dammit.

So I quit the game, run it again a few times with different settings, nothing changes. I chose to install newer ATI drivers then, which turns out to be a big mistake. Blusescreen of death. Two hours and four different drivers later I give up and fall back to system restore. Unfortunately, the only option is to go back to before Withcer installation. Which means another reinstallation, once the restore process is over. After two more hours of furious googling and one more restore, I finally find a way to install ATI drivers without bluescreen. Another hour goes by trying to find a combination of Witcher and Catalyst settings that would allow me to see dialogues and menu items - but to no effect.

Let's sum it up: half a day on Saturday plus one or two hours on Sunday, lots of nerves, lots of googling - and I still didn't get to play the game I paid for. It is not entirely CDProject Red fault, of course, ATI and Microsoft are also to blame for crappy drivers and hopeless operating system, but the outcome for me is that I have just wasted a chunk of my life.


Why I wrote "mainstream PC gaming" in the first sentence? Well, strangely enough, I rarely had this kind of problems with indie games or consoles. Some might say that it is due to their simplicity, but frankly, I don't care. What I know is that each time I want to play AAA title on a PC, I get into seventh circle of hell, full of drivers, reinstallation, patches, dlls and wasted hours.

As for Witcher 2, I still am very much rooting in favour of its authors and the game itself. I am glad I could give them my money, I would have done it even if I did not have a PC. But the fact that I can't really play it due to combination of bugs and drivers being shit is really sad.