Psychonauts PC Demo out

[Duncan]

They ask you for donations, maybe that was it.

Anyway. 10%.

[nsps]

I agree that Azureus is a better client.

I downloaded the file from Gamespot, and when I try to play it, Windows XP simply shows a timer for a short while, then does nothing. I'm downloading again, this time from Yahoo. Hopefully that'll work. I'm not sure if my video card will work, so it'll be a nice test before the full game arrives.

[tabacco]

Make sure you install Sun's JRE if you're going to install Azureus

http://java.sun.com

[Kolzig]

Oh man, I seriously can't remember the last time I had this much fun with a game demo. Those keyboard&mouse controls worked perfectly for me. No need to buy those thingamajyck analog controllers.

My jaw dropped everytime I saw something move or talk, so I threw my jaw away, it was distracting the game experience way too much. I have seen the light.

Only a week to the release, it's a shame though that I have to wait for 2 to 4 weeks to receive the game from Gamestop...

[Aussie Ben]

I really, really like this demo. This is definitely my kind of game. Combed through the camp and the Coach's training ground by using the arrow keys and CTRL, ALT and space for the main action buttons. (That brought back fond memories of Commander Keen!) However, the control setup confirms that when (if) this comes out in Australia, I'll definitely be grabbing it for Xbox. I definitely prefer the Xbox controller to the PS2 one for 3D explorathons such as these.

Now I'm definitely not in any way at all digging through the sound files and extracting the music in any way at all for sparkling MP3 playability.

No sir.

[vimes]

on a slighlty different note : is there anyway to save the game ? .. because each time I quit the demo and reload it I got to do everything all over again.

[manny_c44]

The demo is short enough so a save system isn't needed, just play it all the way through.

One character I can already tell will be hilarious is the Russian guy, all of the characters are superbly voiced and animated, but this guy is just plain awesome.

[MrHoatzin]

The demo is short enough so a save system isn't needed, just play it all the way through.

One character I can already tell will be hilarious is the Russian guy, all of the characters are superbly voiced and animated, but this guy is just plain awesome.

In the credits I espied a character called Anton Bulgakov or some such amalgam of two Russian authors. Maybe it was even Mikhail Bulgakov... in any case I am sure it was Bulgakov.

Oh, and the controls were quite awful until I opened the ini file and inverted the axes of the mouse.

[ysbreker]

No need to do that in the ini file, kingz, you can tweak that under the camera options. It bugged me aswell. it was the only tweak I had to do.

[MrHoatzin]

No need to do that in the ini file, kingz, you can tweak that under the camera options. It bugged me aswell. it was the only tweak I had to do.

It was hard navigating those menus. I looked for it there, but somehow missed it completely.

As for the game, I only wish it had deeper shadows.

... but I love the Stapleyness™, the fuzziness of the textures of the characters, in spite of the fact that the hyper-detailed Raz seems to stand out against everyone else.

[Wormsie]

It crashes! :\Always at the same point. Too bad, because I was just really starting to enjoy it.

[Jake]

on a slighlty different note : is there anyway to save the game ? .. because each time I quit the demo and reload it I got to do everything all over again.

The real game has save anywhere and checkpoint based autosave.

[ChooseStevo]

Pixel Shaders: My nemesis, we meet again.

Argh, all that time downloading and I need a new video card? Now I read everyone saying how great it is and I hate you all! Tell me though, is it just the camp and Coach Oleander's level? I played that at the GDC and a bit more, so if it's just that I guess I'll feel a bit better. I guess I'll be buying the PS2 version.

[Thrik]

Great demo. It's totally passed my long list of expectations, and I can see a very bright and fuzzy future ahead of me with this game. The controls are surprisingly fluid with the keyboard/mouse combo, although the lack of precision with the arrow keys is kind of a hitch. It'd be nice to have a good PC controller, but I have no idea what to get that (preferably resembles the Xbox controller and) is cheap.

As for the game, I only wish it had deeper shadows.

I had the same thought when I began playing. The lack of a contrast setting in the game itself is the main problem. However, I used the nvidia drivers' per-application colour tweaking to raise the contrast a bit, and then in turn heightened the brightness level in Psychonauts. It's not quite perfect and I'll need to tweak it some more, but it's a little more vivid. Like this:

[tabacco]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3677&item=5184579830&rd=1 <-- just use an actual xbox controller

I have the single-controller model, and it works really well.

[Fum]

And importantly, it would be my little way of telling Microsoft that these kinds of games have a place for consoles.

What's that? These kinds of games (decent platformers) almost never come out for the PC; they're almost always exclusive to one console or another. If you were going to make your choice on the principal of proving marketability on a specific platform, then definitely get it for the PC. PCs need more games like this.

(52% @ 3KB/s)

[ChooseStevo]

On controllers.

I was going to buy the Logitech® Cordless Rumblepad™ 2 because it's got dual-analog, rumble, and it's wireless, though it is 40 bucks. But since I'm not getting it on the PC anymore, I guess I won't.

[Erkki]

Installed it at this new computer we are testing at work, but didn't have time to play. There was a bit of lag -- although everything else is top notch (AMD 64bit 3500MHz or so, 2GB ram etc.) the video card is a Radeon X300.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

What's that? These kinds of games (decent platformers) almost never come out for the PC; they're almost always exclusive to one console or another. If you were going to make your choice on the principal of proving marketability on a specific platform, then definitely get it for the PC. PCs need more games like this.

You wanna buy me a new computer and a new graphics card, then, so I can show my support, Mr. Advocate?

[Thrik]

I've managed to fix my occasional lag pretty much completely by lowering to 800x600, like you did. I never really even thought about trying that, but it's hardly noticable anyway with all the anti-aliasing and stuff enabled. The performance gain is totally worth it.

[tabacco]

It always bugs me that most gamepads seemt oe mulate the ps2 layout, which is actually my least favorite controller layout of the Big Three consoles.

[Fum]

You wanna buy me a new computer and a new graphics card, then, so I can show my support, Mr. Advocate?

Not at all, I think you probably should get it for the Xbox. I was just pointing out that what you said was kind of dumb. That's all.

[Wormsie]

I thought i'd be playing the game with subtitles on, but the lip synch and expressions etc. are so good that I turned subtitles off right after I had turned them on.

EDIT: Not to mention the actual voice acting...

[Duncan]

At this point I am vaguely astounded.

Not so much at the game, because I haven't had a chance to play that yet. No, what happened was that I had to leave the download going in the middle of the night because there was no chance I was going to be able to play it yesterday. So what happened?

The power went out.

This includes my alarm clock, too, so I slept through a lecture I was supposed to go to.

The Psychonauts demo is now officially ruining my life.

Thankfully I'm using Bit Torrent so I get to resume it. 84% percent. Sigh.

[Jayel]

I love it.

I can't wait for the full version.