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Showing posts with label basketball games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label basketball games. Show all posts

Friday, February 10, 2012

Best PC Games 2012

Game-Dragon Age
Dragon Age

When was the last time you felt totally lost in a fantasy gameworld? When was the last time you played a game with such a well-crafted and enjoyable story that you knew you'd remember it for a long, long time? Dragon Age: Origins is that kind of game, so rich and involving that you are powerless to resist its wiles and whims, so touching and triumphant that your mind and heart will be moved. In the fictional land of Ferelden, you meet memorable characters and fight for a cause you believe in, and it's this backdrop that makes.

When was the last time you felt totally lost in a fantasy gameworld? When was the last time you played a game with such a well-crafted and enjoyable story that you knew you'd remember it for a long, long time? Dragon Age: Origins is that kind of game, so rich and involving that you are powerless to resist its wiles and whims, so touching and triumphant that your mind and heart will be moved. In the fictional land of Ferelden, you meet memorable characters and fight for a cause you believe in, and it's this backdrop that makes developer BioWare's newest role-playing game so extraordinary. Dragon Age is more than a well-crafted story, however: It's a lengthy, intricate, and thoroughly entertaining adventure that's easy to fall in love with.

Dragon Age's plot, which deals with the impending invasion of a horde of demonic creatures called the darkspawn, isn't where the story's biggest surprises lie. The shocks, the joys, and the disappointments spring from the repartee among a number of remarkable characters; they lurk within books of lore and stories of martyrs; and they burst forth during spine-tingling moments when you must choose from a selection of difficult choices that affect the tale's direction--and the way your associates interact with you. Ferelden is a colorful and fascinating kingdom that takes enough cues from well-known fantasy tropes to be familiar, but bends enough conventions to feel original. Dragon Age features dwarves, but their caste-based society and the social paragons that rise above it twist the norms enough to keep you intrigued. Mages remain under the constant watch of templars, a restriction that doesn't sit well with those who view such policing as virtual slavery. The role of religion in human circles is of particular note. Chantries provide refuge to those worshiping the all-powerful Maker, and chanters recite the holy word near their houses of prayer. But lest this world sound too serious, don't despair: One such disciple slides food references into her chant, and a few dwarves warn you not to fall into the sky. Small, humorous touches like this are plentiful. Even if you aren't the literary sort, Dragon Age may inspire you to read every note, every character bio, and every creature description, thanks to the richness of the world and the consistency with which it's presented.

You'll learn even more from the companions who join you, and you'll grow to care about them on your quest for glory. There's Morrigan, the cynical apostate mage bound to your cause for reasons that become clear only late in the journey; Sten, the strong, silent type who isn't so quick to reveal his innermost thoughts; and Zevran, a darkly mischievous would-be assassin with a wild streak and a playful disregard for the law. There are others too, including Alistair, a wisecracking, vaguely insecure member of the Grey Wardens, an elite group of champions that recruits you early on. Great dialogue and fantastic voice acting make these characters leap off the screen as if they were real friends, and the way they interact with one another feels authentic. Morrigan and Alistair banter about the role of templars in the lives of mages, and the sweetly devout Leliana tries to communicate with your trusty canine cohort in some amusing exchanges. You may even develop a romance (or two) before all is said and done. The course of love isn't always a smooth one, though it can be a bit steamy, in a PG-13 sort of way.

Relationships must be nurtured; in the world of Dragon Age, love doesn't develop at first sight. Rather, you must improve your standings with available party members by giving them gifts and fulfilling quests in ways that please them. Doing so opens more dialogue options and may even reward you with unexpected gifts beyond the private pleasures of your tent. Your personal relationships aren't all you need to worry about when facing a difficult decision, however. On significant quests, you'll encounter complex choices that force you to weigh the risks against the rewards, even as you try to stay true to your own vision of your character. Are werewolves heartless killers, or is there a method to their madness? Should you wholeheartedly embrace a political candidate, or will some unexpected information have you playing double agent--or just killing the opposition? Such open-ended quests have become staples in many similar RPGs, but few make these decisions feel so momentous. The anxiety that results when you encounter important choices is a result of superb writing and character development: When you care about your destiny, decisions have more weight.

Even Dragon Age's initial moments present important decisions that affect how your adventure plays out. You'll customize your own avatar's look from a variety of presets, but more importantly, you'll choose a race and class. The choices may seem initially limited, but your options eventually expand. Later, you can choose up to two subclasses once you reach the necessary level requirements, and there are a few different means of unlocking additional skill trees. Your initial race and class choices don't just determine the kinds of skills and spells you will have access to, however; they influence how the first few hours of the game progress. You will experience one of six different "origin stories" that follow the events that lead you to the elite Grey Wardens. Every origin story leads to the same place, but that doesn't mean you leave these events behind for good. Characters you met early on will cross your path again, and crucial moments of your origin story will continue to haunt you. The varied origin stories not only provide plenty of replay value, but allow you to see familiar characters from a different angle. A prisoner you meet within a dank dungeon may not have much impact on you if you are playing as a Dalish elf, but if you play as a human mage, this encounter is a bittersweet reunion.

You aren't a lone adventurer, however. You can take up to three companions along with you, and eventually you will meet more willing (or unwilling, as the case may be) darkspawn slayers. You can switch out party members back at your camp or in other friendly areas. Party members you don't use will remain at camp, though they thankfully level up even when you don't take them along. Your comrades aren't just AI-controlled henchmen; you can take full control of any party member at any time, though how you do so depends on the platform. PC owners get the most versatile and rewarding experience in this regard. You can zoom the camera in to a close third-person view when exploring and conversing with non-player characters, or pull the camera back to a tactical view, which makes it a breeze to quickly and easily micromanage every spell and attack, in true Baldur's Gate tradition. On consoles, you always view the action from behind a single character, and you use a shoulder button to switch among them. It's a great way of experiencing the buzz of battle, though occasional pathfinding quirks are more apparent in the console versions, simply because you experience the action from a single perspective at a time, rather than while managing four characters simultaneously.

If you've played a BioWare fantasy RPG in the past, you'll feel right at home with the combat system. By clicking on your target or pressing the attack button, you don't just swing a sword, but you approach your target and queue up your attack. Once your party has gained access to a good number of spells, stances, and skills, battlefields explode with bright colors and raucous sound effects, and it's a lot of fun to switch back and forth between party members, managing your abilities and taking advantage of various spell combos to wreak havoc. There are dozens of different types of enemies to slice up, from giant spiders and darkspawn, to ghosts and walking trees, to demons and, of course, dragons. Allies will join you in the biggest battles, and the best of these, particularly those toward the end of the game, are thrilling. On the PC, they're particularly challenging, and many battles benefit from frequent pausing and tactical thinking, so that you can queue up attacks across your entire party. The same battles on consoles are noticeably easier.





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Wednesday, December 07, 2011

Euro-league Basketball: Nancy loses big against Fenerbahçe

basketball
Euro-league Basketball
AFP - Nancy has lost much of his illusions in Euroleague basketball in his room leaning heavily against the Turks of Fenerbahce (53-73) Wednesday night at a great shortage of offensive.


The champions of France are now virtually condemned to win their last two matches to hope to qualify for the Top 16, this second phase that no club has not seen since ProA Pau-Orthez in 2007.




That is to say how Wednesday's defeat, his first this season at home, is expensive to Sluc who had run after the score throughout the game and never actually digested anemic first period (25-32) .


Denied by the pace of basketball academic "Fener" players Jean-Luc Monschau never managed to break free of their chains. Expelled from the Turkish bat, they tried their luck from distance, but were too clumsy (30% in the two-point shots, 22% three!) To hope for better.


Stronger after the break, they managed to return a moment to a point (40-41, 28th). But as soon as they sniffed the equalizer, their opponents took up the wide, taking advantage of their awkwardness and their waste in the game to impose a night Lorraine terribly frustrating.


Orphans of Nicolas Batum, left in the NBA, players Nancy did not receive much support from their new winger Kenny Gregory. Arrived only the night before the United States, the former Manceau did with the means at hand but did not logically that weighed (8 points).


Victor Samnick and Adrien Moerman is even less inspired, the Sluc tried to rely on Jamal Shuler (17 points) in an attempt to erase its chronic deficit in the wings. But it would have taken much to trouble Wednesday as serene as a Fenerbahçe Sluc was the draft.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Euroleague Basketball: Nancy already under pressure

Basketball
Basketball
AFP - After initial setbacks Cantu (69-80), Nancy no longer has any room for error against Bilbao, received Thursday (20.45) during the second day of the Euroleague Basketball Men -ball. With eight games still to play after this one, it might seem premature to speculate on the future and the champion of France. The Sluc have ample time to recover from the first two defeats. Yes, but here it is: Cantu and Bilbao are a priori the two teams are relegated to the locals as behind to hope to become the first French team since Pau-Orthez in 2007, reaching the Top 16.

Other clubs in Group A, Fenerbahce, Olympiakos Vitoria and seem well above the rest. Although the Greeks have done something wrong last week in ... Bilbao, winning 76-61. The indication that this is not a small team that comes Thursday night in Lorraine, while Bilbao is participating for the first time in the Euroleague. The Basque club last season reached the final of the Spanish Championship, after having eliminated Real Madrid in the semifinals, and had only yielded to the great FC Barcelona, ​​with no demerits. "Bilbao is now even better with the arrival of new players, good players who have experience in the Euroleague. After their victory against Olympiakos, who can doubt of their potential," says coach Nancy Jean Luc Monschau.
While inside the Belgian Axel Hervelle, injured his knee before the Euro in Lithuania, is hardly restored and should leave a few minutes from the bench, the team coached by Greek Fotios Katsirakis has many other advantages . 

Always dangerous offensively, Spanish winger Alex Mumbrú should provide an interesting challenge to Nicolas Batum. Croatian winger Marko Banic, MVP (best player) of the Eurocup in 2009-2010, was the leading scorer (23 points) against Olympiakos. But Nancy shall not overlook another player, who had many hardships to the team of France in the Euro: the leader of Latvia Janis Blum, author of 32 points against the Blues. To beat the Spanish, Nancy must first be more regular than Cantu. In Italy, he managed the first twenty minutes of top flight. But Cantu had then found a way to slow the tempo of the match and were locals as runaway.

"We're a little disappointed because we had the means to beat them at home," observes Adrian Moerman. "But you learn ... There is still a little young in the Euroleague." "It will lose less balls (20 to Cantu, Ed) and play better in the second half," takes the power forward. The private Sluc will always be the young pivot Abdelkader Sylla. Injured left wrist, it is still available for two weeks.