Impressions on the Far Cry demo in OXM?

[Purity]

Anybody have any thoughts on the Far Cry demo in this month's OXM? I didn't renew my subscription, but I'd love to hear what people have to say about it. I'm pretty psyched about the game, especially the map editor. I saw some videos of the map editor and it looks amazing and pretty intuitive. It's definitely near the top of my list of Xbox games that I want to get that are still coming out this generation along with Half-Life 2, Battlefield 2, Starcraft:Ghost, and Blazing Angels:Squadrons of WWII among others.

The one thing I was pretty disappointed with in a trailer I watched online was the amount of cussing. Some bad language here and there won't necessarily keep me from getting a game, but if the whole game is bleep this and bleep that, I'm not sure how I feel about that. Anyway, some thoughts on the demo? How do the controls feel, how are the graphics, what's fun/not fun about it. Thanks!

[Tolkien]

I've been meaning to get a subscription to OXM and just haven't yet. A friend of mine said that it's awesome though.

Click here (http://www.grownupgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5559) for a thread where some people are discussing it. They can let you know if it's worth playing better than I could.

[Purity]

Thanks for the link... looks like a cool site. I had a subscription since the Xbox launched. It's well worth it for the demos. The cost of the subscription has more than paid itself by saving me from buying some games after I played demos that were junk. I know that you can't always tell a game by it's demo, but if I can keep from wasting $50 on a game, then the subscription pays for itself. The only reason I let my subscription run out is that I figured it will probably start being filled with mainly 360 demos. I'm going to have to wait until a price drop or two to pick up a 360.

[Pilgrim]

I'm going to have to wait until a price drop or two to pick up a 360.

Me too :)

[Malohaut]

I'm currently testing Madden 06 for Xbox 360. :) Can't say anything more.

[SirThom]

I'm currently testing Madden 06 for Xbox 360. :) Can't say anything more.
WHAA?!?

How'd you land that, Malohaut? Do you work for MS, or some other testing firm, or were you just randomly picked off of Xbox Live to be a beta tester? =D

[Malohaut]

I work for EA Sports as a QA tester. My first project was Madden 06 PC and now I'm on Madden 06 for XBox 360. I really enjoy it. :D

[SirThom]

I work for EA Sports as a QA tester. My first project was Madden 06 PC and now I'm on Madden 06 for XBox 360. I really enjoy it. :D
Awesome!! =)

[Pilgrim]

Sweet.

[Purity]

That's very cool. I've heard that's a tough job though. If you enjoy it, that's awesome. I know you can't talk about the games you're testing, but what are some of the goods and bads that people (you don't have to talk about you specifically) find about being a QA tester? I'm just curious. Playing games for a living is a pretty unique thing.

[Malohaut]

Its a fun job and you're right, its not for everyone. God prepared me in advance because 1. I've played computer games for many many years (since the Kings Quest series) so I know games pretty well. 2. I'm very familiar with computers and programming, so I understand the basics of graphics and interface. 3. I spent several years in a past job troubleshooting computers.

So you have to know the difference between a bug and what was intended to be in or left out of the game. And that's not always easy.

The good part about it is that its a fun job. You get to see the games before they come out and you have a lot of fun with the guys next to you. Its a very casual environment so long as you keep focus and remember that you're there to test, not to play. Its kind of like being in World of Warcraft, playing with the guild, except instead of having everyone you know all over the world, they're all together in the same bay. So that's cool. And of course when you're done testing and the game is complete, your name goes in the credits.

The bad thing is that the pay isn't perfect. But what do you expect? You're sitting down looking at games. And the hours can be very long though (which helps with overtime). When comes time for Beta or the end of Beta, you may end up working up to 80 hours a week if necessary. That's not good if you have a girlfriend or wife (and I don't have either. :( ) And its not without stress as you have to keep testing well and you're under stress to help finish this game before the deadline.

So like any job, it has its perks and its issues. But all in all, I'm happy here. :D

[Purity]

Thanks for the response. That's some cool insight on your job.