Tag Archives: mmo
We Call It a “Video Game”
I saw this on TV awhile ago, and always meant to post about it but never got around to it. Today, however, was such a beautiful day that I thought I’d sit down in front of my computer in our dark basement office and blog.
I’ve seen a few more pieces of video and screenshots come out about this game, and from a graphics standpoint I’m pretty impressed. From how this guy is describing it, though, I’d have to say the developers are idiots. Fans of this blog will remember that I play a game called Eve: Online. I’ve played other MMO’s as well, and have been playing video games for quite some time. It should be no surprise then that my “BS Detector” was going off like crazy through that video. Let me see if I can remember all his big selling points to the game:
- Large Game World with Multiple Sectors- Oh, you mean like Eve that has thousands of systems all on one persistent server? Even World of Warcraft (which has to keep people on different servers) or Guild Wars (which puts you into your own private instance as soon as you leave town) have beautiful expansive worlds with multiple zones. WoW and GW go one step further and make each “zone” truly unique and lush, which is something a space MMO can never do.
- Voice Over IP- Never been done before, huh? While I guess it’s safe to say that MOST games require their users to provide their own VOIP solutions, Eve Online has Eve Voice that has been active (and working well) for a few years now. That’s almost irrelevant though, since most guilds/corps/alliances/whatever typically have their own setup they want to use.
- Multiple Races- Really? That’s a selling point? Do I even need to expand on that one?
- Selectable Classes- I’m pretty sure that’s been done before. In fact, I’m pretty sure nearly EVERY other game that isn’t a FPS has that. And even some of them get pretty close!
- PVP- WOW, people can actually fight each other! 1 vs 1, or 50 vs 50? In WoW that was called taking a walk. In Eve that’s a skirmish. If you want massive battles, you need to start getting close to the hundreds area.
- Action/Combat/Sci-Fi/Space/MMO- So, really you mean Action-SciFi Game, right? Cause I’m pretty sure it isn’t massive yet, and the rest of those terms are redundant.
Perhaps I’m expecting too much by hoping that this studio would have come up with something actually new. Maybe that’s not fair of me. However, I kind of resent being handed some leftovers while some shill tries to convince me it’s caviar. If the graphics in your game are incredible, then by all means tout the graphics. If it’s the story, then do that! Don’t go telling me that you’ve revolutionized the gaming landscape by introducing playable classes! Dungeouns and Dragons did that, and everything since then has had it!
Of course, I’m not an industry expert and this game might do really well! Just in case it does, I’m putting together a game idea about a guy who puts on some sort of special suit and goes to fight aliens. It will turn the sci-fi world on it’s head!
KOTOR MMO On The Way
For years we’ve heard rumors about a third installment in the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series. After a while, these rumors evolved into rumors of a KOTOR MMO. Now it appears that there is starting to be some basis for these rumors. I present the following as evidence.
On July 3, 2008, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Star Wars: Sagas, and Star Wars: Legends were all registered by LucasFilm Licensing with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Nothing too special in an of itself. These could relate to just about anything out there: books, comics, etc. But when combined with information that Portfolio.com is reporting, things get very intriguing.
N. Evan Van Zelfden in Los Angeles warns, watch out World of Warcraft. In an interview at E3 this week, Electronic Arts chief executive John Riccitiello said that EA is working on the next version of Star Wars game Knights of the Old Republic, and it will most certainly have a massively multiplayer online component to it.
“We’ve got two of the most compelling MMOs in the industry in development,” said Riccitiello. The first title, based on the Warhammer property, will launch soon. “And the one that people are dying for us to talk to them about — in partnership with Lucas, coming out of BioWare, which is, I think, quite possibly the most anticipated game, full stop, for the industry at the point when we get closer to telling you about it.”
Does Riccitiello mean the oft rumored Knights of the Old Republic Online? “Yes,” he said.
Now if you take that information and add it to what the guys over at CVG are reporting, it looks like we’re in for some serious fun with lightsabers.
LucasArts and BioWare look set to lift the lid on a KOTOR MMO within the next 30 days.
While it’s not official yet, based on the rumors that are flying, this is a done deal. Hopefully it will be a good game.
An issue with modern games
In any video game, you have to have a suspension of disbelief; that is, you’re willing to let certain parts of it go to the wayside, because you realize you are playing a fictional game. Here’s a good example for people who are new to the phrase:
Example 1 – You are fighting off a zombie horde. In real life, zombies don’t exist . . . and even if they did you’d most certainly die. But since it’s a game, you let it go. That’s suspension of disbelief.
However, it can only go so far. Shows, movies, and games that take it too far end up becoming painful to endure (see Battlefield Earth for what I mean . . . actually, don’t). Keep reading and I’ll give you some of the best examples, in my opinion.
First up is the game I’m playing now, Mass Effect. This game is awesome. I won’t go into a review here, since the game is hardly brand-new and has been reviewed to death already, but suffice to say it should appeal to 90% of the gamers out there. BioWare put a lot of effort into making the game as immersing as possible with characters and dialog that feel very natural. The use of actual professional actors in the voice lineup helps with the game’s quality (as a bad cast can make an otherwise decent game unbearable; see the first Resident Evil).
However, there is one glaring problem with the game world; weapons. Not how they operate, or what they look like . . . but they are EVERYWHERE!!! I’m not kidding either; you break into a safe and there are three sniper rifles inside. Tell me why the safe in the medical clinic had three rifles please! Why does the bug I just killed have two ammo upgrades on it? Why, on a planet that is so anti-weapons that I have an argument with security just to bring my gun with me (Noveria for those who’ve played the game) can I find grenades in the trash can?!
In a game like this, you’d have to be utterly inept not to end up swimming in extra weapons, armor, mods, power-ups, and upgrades. Everything that can hold anything is nine times out of ten holding a weapon.
Penny Arcade
Alexander pointed out a similar situation in Diablo; you’ve killed a skeleton and a suit of armor drops as loot. Where the crap was he hiding it? Why wasn’t he wearing it?
Every game seems to do this to some degree. Even more baffling is why I’m gaining credits for every enemy I kill. Am I a bounty hunter without realizing it? I’m pretty sure that law enforcement isn’t paid on a “per kill” basis, so why it’s this way in games is confusing.
Also confusing is the fact that you are typically rewarded for robbing people. If you see your mouse/cursor/reticule light up, it means you can rob someone. It doesn’t even require skill, so it’s not like you’re Danny Ocean and this is some challenge. You press some buttons, use a hammer, or (in the case of Mass Effect) just over ride it with omni-gel.
Penny Arcade
Perhaps these games occur in a world where human nature doesn’t exist, so no one ever thinks to steal any of their neighbor’s stuff . . . but that seems like a stretch to me.
Even better is who you are stealing FROM. Typically an NPC you can get a quest from has some goodies in their house you can take as well.
“Thank you sir. You’ve saved my daughter from those bandits and scared off their leader.”
“Yup, sure did. I also went into your home, smashed every crate I could find, and stole everything of importance. I don’t need most of it, so I’ll just sell it for gold the next chance I get. Oh . . . I also stole your gold.”
“You are a most honorable and brave adventurer. I wish you well on your travels.”
Can anyone else see the problem here?!
I realize that the player character has to get credits/gold/supplies from somewhere, but wouldn’t it be more interesting if that somewhere had more to do with the player’s actions? If you are hailed as a hero, wouldn’t sword smiths be lining up to give you their best work? If you are some jerk who’s been robbing every person you come across, shouldn’t the law be after you?
Just once, I’d love to see some NPC in a game sitting around, making crates. You can talk to him and he’d explain that everytime an adventurer such as yourself comes through, people lose all their crates. It’s up to crate-smiths such as him to make sure everyone has enough crates for the next time.
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Oh The Pageantry!
So, the Olympics are over. Part of me is sad, and part is happy. I’ve never been a highly competitive person, nor a really great athlete, but I like watching the best in the world give it their all and show us what they can do. I like seeing people from different backgrounds and ideologies come together and compete as equals and sportsmen. I like seeing humans come together for at least a short time and celebrate all we can do with our bodies and what makes us all common.
I dislike ceremonies.
Now, as I write this, the closing ceremonies have just finished. This post won’t publish till Wednesday, so maybe things will change by then. As it stands now, I can’t find any pics of the closing ceremony online. Of course, considering how hard it is to pull up pics of other opening and closing ceremonies online, I might never be able to. [Editor's note: found them!]
I only caught the last half of the opening ceremonies in Beijing for the 2008 Olympiad. I will admit I really enjoyed Li Ning running the entire circumference of the arena with images of sport following behind him. It was a very “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” sort of image, and I think it worked well.
The fake minority parade, fake fireworks, and fake singer were a little annoying however. Even stranger was the closing ceremony, which I can only describe as bizarre; guys wearing bike helmets and power ranger costumes hitting drums, women wearing sleigh bells all over their heads, people riding around in devices I can only describe as “Suessian” (there, I made up a word), and people flying with gigantic wheels of Gouda over it all. Yes, I know they were supposed to be drums, but they looked like cheese.
I read around online and the immediate response in the press is that this was the most spectacular display ever in the history of the world (I may be exaggerating a bit). If you honestly believe that, then ok; I won’t argue with people’s opinions because we’re all entitled to them. My opinion was that it was a big waste of time and energy. I would, however, like to think that the composer and choreographer at least had a sense of humor about it all:
Composer: “I just finished the closing ceremony music! I call it ‘Westerners Will Think Anything Is Art!‘”
Choreographer: “Excellent! It will work perfectly with the sequence I’ve titled ‘Get The Hell Out Of Our Country And Our Affairs‘.”
Before anyone starts thinking I’m biased at all against the Chinese, I’m not. I live in Utah and was very excited to have the Olympics here in 2002; I was down at Washington Square when it was announced we were getting them, I hung out at the awards plaza nearly every night, I went to events, I told my boss to shove off and let me watch my old schoolmate take gold in skeleton. I went Olympic-crazy when they were here, just like everyone else.
Despite all my enthusiasm for the games themselves, though, I had a hard time watching Satan and the KKK chase a poor Mormon boy in our own opening ceremonies. I skipped the closing ceremonies entirely. I heard KISS performed. Ooooh.
An Unpopulated World of Warcraft
Since I’m still unemployed, it means I can’t keep playing my MMO’s (thanks to no longer being able to afford their monthly upkeep) and I’ve had to go back to single player games. Many brand spanking new titles I can’t afford either, and they are now getting to the point that my machine can’t run them without some serious problems, so I’m living it up with all the best games I never played from the last 10 years.
Right now, I’m on Warcraft 3. This is odd for me, since I’ve never really been one to enjoy Real Time Strategy games, and the Warcraft series haven’t been as entertaining as Starcraft was for me. However, I’ve really got to say; this game is a lot of fun.
I’m not about to give it a review now, since many people last played this game a decade ago (and I’m not so low as to review old games out of a sense of nostalgia), but I will highlight some points I like about it.
- The graphics are much smoother than the previous incarnations of Warcraft. I remember this used to be a bad thing, as Thrall’s Chain Lightning would bog my brother’s video card down when it first came out. Now it looks very fluid.
- The storyline is very well conceived. They actually put a lot of thought into the story, the environment, the units, and the dialogue.
- I’m the only one playing it. I don’t have some level 70 shaman (being played by a 9 year old) hopping out of nowhere to gank me.
It got me thinking about my experience with World of Warcraft, and made me realize that I may not have been entirely fair with it. I had never thought that I’d be missing something from the whole WoW gaming extravaganza if I hadn’t played every previous game as well, but I think I was. With the story all buttoned up, certain things in WoW made more sense; the dreadlords, the litch king, and the optional side quests among them.
What I still don’t like about WoW will probably never be changed; the other people playing it. Warcraft 3 was really enjoyable because I was the only one in there. I wasn’t grinding small quests to level up, and I wasn’t having to deal with other people (who, let’s face it, can really ruin any experience). I was given an objective, and I had to do it. Then I was successful and I moved on to the next objective.
It’s that sort of linear gameplay that I think is purposely missing from WoW (and I can understand why). I don’t think it would hurt to try and reintroduce it, however; Warcraft and Starcraft are both games of epic battles between large forces. Why not try and level up your toon in WoW to join the NPC army for whatever side you’re on and take an enemy city? Why is all the fun action limited to instances that simply reset when you’re done with them (I mean, how many times can you really kill Hogger and still be entertained?).
I want to hear back from the WoW fans! Have I completely missed the mark? How many of you played Warcraft before WoW and what are your thoughts between the two?
