rock-paper-shotgun posts

A depressing look at Team Fortress 2 achievement grinding

by Samuel Axon Jun 22nd 2008 @ 6:00PM

Rock, Paper, Shotgun has since its inception set the standard of excellence for intelligent PC gaming-related blogging. A recent piece there called "Pyro Maniacs: Achieving Nothing in TF2" is no exception.

In the article, RPS regular Alec Meer describes his experience logging into a Team Fortress 2 server designed specifically for grinding achievements. There was no legitimate competitive gameplay on this server. No, it was just an elaborate "obstacle course" for nailing achivements as fast as humanly possible. And if that's not horrific enough on its own, the conduct of the players on the server took digital douchebaggery to a whole new level.

It's a story about the very worst the community has to offer -- achievement grinding that makes Asian MMOs look tame by comparison, immature shouting matches filled with obscenities and latent insecurities. It's everything that's wrong with modern gaming, all in one article. A must-read.

Filed under: Culture, Action, Team Fortress 2

Resolution mod makes classic Black Isle RPGs beautiful

by Samuel Axon May 30th 2008 @ 8:30PM

There's a mod out in the wilds of the internet that scales classic Black Isle RPGs like Planescape Torment, Baldur's Gate, and Icewind Dale to any resolution you want to play them at. Previously, these games were only playable at extremely low resolutions such as 640x480. If you haven't played them at all before, this is the perfect opportunity. Black Isle was the successor to BioWare, and its titles paved the way for games like and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect.

The "widescreen mod" (a deceptive name, as it will also scale to resolutions in any aspect ratio) is developed by modder the_bigg, in association with the Gibberlings Three group. It doesn't just stretch the graphics; it expands the viewing area dramatically, so players can experience these classic RPGs in panoramic, true high resolutions.

We discovered this mod through an article at Rock, Paper, Shotgun and were so impressed we decided to host it at Big Download. If you're an old fan of Black Isle's RPGs, download the mod and revisit them!

Download the Black Isle Widescreen Mod from Big Download.

Filed under: Downloads, Mods, RPG