A Softpedian's Blog

Fallout New Vegas Box Shot

As we approach the end of October, we receive more and more games that need to be reviewed. Civilization 5, Sonic 4, Enslaved are already online and Medal of Honor will be released in a few days – meanwhile, we’re going to publish a few diaries.

Fallout New Vegas just came through the mail and it looks pretty awesome, if you ask me. I’ve been playing it for about 15 minutes and I’m impressed, cool graphics, no bugs and an interesting concept. It’s nice to see this type of FPS/RPG games gaining so much ground… To be honest, I didn’t expect STALKER, Mass Effect and now Fallout to receive such positive reviews, but, on the other hand, I’m not that big of a fan. Don’t get me wrong, I love FPSs, but combining them with RPGs is not something I can appreciate as much as other might.

Anyway, while playing Fallout, I couldn’t help but notice how much the graphics have been improved. Of course, they’re not “Crysis material” and, for now, they shouldn’t even think about going that far. All things considered, it’s great to see RPGs going from poor to awesome graphics. It was long overdue and the fans surely deserve it.

But enough about that, let’s get back on track. As I was saying, the MOH and Fallout New Vegas reviews will soon be online and be prepared for the… Vanquish review, of course. Hopefully, it will be online in a week or so. The schedule is still under debate, as newly arrived Lionheart: Kings Crusade must also be reviewed… As I was saying… so MANY games, so little time!

Next month, we’ll also post two overdue (unfortunately) reviews: one for Serious Sam Second Encounter HD – which recently went “live” on XBLA – and Lego Universe. We’ll start working hard on those reviews as soon as we’re finished with the ones we’re facing right now, “the big guns”.

In the end, a short clip I’ve made during my first 15 minutes of playing Fallout New Vegas. I’ve removed the gameplay part, as I’ll leave it to the in-depth review to reveal its beauty

Symantec

When the Microsoft Security Essentials interview went online, someone suggested we should make an interview with the guys at Symantec.

Little did that person know, we’d already done that: the questions were sent and we were waiting for an answer, which, as you’ve probably guessed, arrived this week.

The person who asked about this interview will most probably be disappointed. Why? Well, despite what a lot of people might expect, the answers weren’t as `uptight` like the ones sent by Microsoft.

Stefan Wesche, Technical Expert Norton Products at Symantec, didn’t seem to have a problem answering our questions, although Ionut and Lucian didn’t limit their questions to Symantec’s flagship software.

So, if you liked the previous interviews with Avira, ESET or Panda, you’ll surely notice Symantec’s answers are pretty straight forward and to the point. Let your prejudice aside and enjoy a cool interview about Norton products!

Recently, Softpedia published the pictures of its software editors. Among them were, of course, the guys in our Games department… But, of course, a picture won’t tell you how much fun these guys are sometimes…

In most cases the fun moments are impossible to capture, but there a few rare cases, when one of us get the chance to take a picture.

Liviu VS Baby

For example, in this case:

Liviu had to test a game involving the close care of a baby.

You can easily see how careful he is, not to screw anything up.

Why? Well, he managed to almost kill the baby a few times, so now… he was being EXTRAcareful!

The great Elmer Fudd used to say Sssssh, I’m hunting wabbits!

I can only say… Sssssh! Liviu bathes the baby!

Anyway, no need to worry, Liviu doesn’t have any weird… inclinations and babies were NOT harmed in the making of this mobile shot!

As for Liviu’s pride… well, that’s another story, but not a tragic one.

The game finally found its way on Softpedia.

As for the other picture… well, it proves beyond any doubt the bond between Liviu and his colleague, Alex.

If you don’t see what’s so funny about this picture, you just need to look closer… at how exactly they’re bound

PS: A free, virtual beer for anyone who’s able to identify the model

The bond between Liviu and Alex

Alpha Protocol

Last month the guys at SEGA were kind enough to send us a review copy of their latest “hit”: Alpha Protocol.

We found the game very promising and, as you probably know, we rated it with a 9 (out of 10) and started a series of Alpha Protocol diaries.

But that’s all in the past (and in my previous post for that matter), now let’s talk about what’s ahead…

SEGA contacted us again with a GREAT idea that we kept under wraps until now: a surprise competition!

We initially thought about making it a blitz-contest (and keep it online for this weekend only), but heck, that would have taken the fun out of it.

So, in a few hours an exclusive competition will start will Alpha Protocol as our main star.

It

Last week, the guys at Sega were kind enough to send us a copy of Alpha Protocol, they’re latest RPG release.

As you can imagine, the reviewing team was all over this as soon as it arrived and now a review is online. And for those who are just interested in the numbers: Alpha Protocol scored a 9 out of 10, so it’s definitely a game worth playing, especially if you’re into espionage and such…

So, here’s the review and if you’re interested in reading a step-by-step series of articles, detailing some of the less known facts about Alpha Protocol, feel free to have a look at Softpedia’s Alpha Protocol diaries

On the other hand, if you’ve never heard of this game, here’s a little incentive:

Either way… Enjoy!

Whether you visited the Windows area or the News area of Softpedia, you’ve surely noticed the exclusive interviews with world renown AV companies.

Until now, we’ve got Avira, Avast, AVG, ESET, MSE and Panda. Who’s next? Who’s stepped in the line of fire? While Bitdefender is next!

Catalin Cosoi, Bitdefender’s Head of the Online Threats Lab, was kind enough to answer some of our question regarding both current and future PC threats, but also the company’s future plans and products.

I hope you’ll enjoy it…

Update: And here it is!