Slashdot Mirror

I enjoyed this article because it relates to me. There's a reason why I don't own a gaming console. I haven't owned one since Atari 2600. Due to my four fingers on my hands, lack of thumbs, and inablility to hold game controllers in mid air, I cannot use those console controllers very well. I have to use them on tables to hold them. This is why I do better on computer games because of keyboards, mice (small light ones like those old two/three button ones), and simple small joysticks (think of those old one/two buttons one like those old school Atari 2600 joysticks). I currently have a Microsoft Sidewinder joystick, but they have too many buttons and too big for my hands, so I don't do well when flying (I avoid flying in Battlefield games ;)). :(

I also have speech and hearing impediments, so I don't use Teamspeak or any voice communications. I tried it once in Day of Defeat (original version) and obviously, no one knew I was saying (even my friends whom I talked to!). Hearing is another problem since I don't hear well with my analog bone conduction hearing aid (mono -- one microphone and can't determine audio directions). I love games that use closed caption/CC and suititles like in Half-Life 2 games (only use the dialog ones) and F.E.A.R..

Why would the Day of Defeat community ban picturephones for security reasons?

Day of Defeat is cool, but I dunno if the WWII motif is gonna help them as much as, say, the Desert Combat BF1942 mod would...

Play a halfway realistic game like DOD, then. Like various other decent multiplayer games, it started as an independent, non-commercial project. I can say from experience that running around with a rocket weapon in that game does not give one an advantage over a rifleman. The rockets are for destroying tanks and blowing holes in walls, and carrying one around makes one very vulnerable. Ability to aim, maneuver using cover, master your weapon, and support your teammates are the vital skills.

Yeah,

I was wondering why they would make this free, I am not going to complain though, since I play Day of Defeat a lot(check it out if you want a good mp ww2 game) this should be a fun game to try out.

HL was a cool game in MHO, but it was never as cool as Quake or Quake 2. The bigges thing HL has going for it is the modding.

I play Dayofdefeat (DoD) for about an average of 3 or 4 hours a day! Yeah i have no life, but who here on /. that reads more than the headlines can not say the same?

DoD is such a cool mod, I'd buy a new version of the Engine just in the hopes that it might happen again.

Plus DoD is being picked up by Valve and Activision as an official MOD, so it is will be given the support of the likes of CS...!!!

(dod_avalanche, look for "[dgx] Fist", I'll kill ya later.)

Runs on older machines (2 years old spec), ultra-realistic, good team play. And you get to shoot Nazis!!

Dsanfte is Right on about game companies not wanting to assist gamers about various issues.

I'll provide two examples as well, Two good and one bad.

I've never played Everquest so I can't comment on what this person is going through but I can comment on the following games:

No One Lives Forever 2

007: Nightfire

Day of Defeat - a Killer World War II Half-Life Mod

Both of these games have a predecessor that have had sucess in it's previous incarnations.

The 007 Games have had a standard to live up to ever since the console game 'Goldeneye' was released. This game gained it's popularity with the awesome multiplayer aspects on the console. IMO this was the predecessor to all the on-line console games that are out now.

No One Lives Forever 1 (NOLF1) was an amazing game with a multiplayer aspect that immensely enhanced the single player game and was the major reason that this game won all the awards that it did. (Running over people with Snowmobiles is sooo fun)

When NOLF2 was released the reviews on the single player was favorable but nothing was said about the multiplayer aspect. I began researching this game for a possible purchase and began vewing the Sierra Forums and noted Two problems:

1) All MP aspects that made NOLF1 a great game, was removed for a 'co-op' multiplayer version. The 'Co-Op' version was essentially teams of online players playing against an AI Opponent.

2) The MP code was buggy. People were complaining of too many dropped packets.

Sierra'sattitude for #1 was initally "If you don't like it go buy another game that has on-line player vs online player this is not what this game is about". (These threads have since mysteriously disappeared)

After player after player were complaining about the lack of the cool MP aspects that made NOLF1 famous and the fact that people were mad that couldn't return the game (they were all expecting the same MP aspects of NOLF1 in NOLF2), news came out that a new patch would be coming out to add DM maps and better MP code.

Needles to say this alienated players and left sour tastes in peoples stomach. This reason alone and Sierra's initial atitude/response to this issue are the reason why I didn't buy this game and I laugh when it received Game of the Year Award by Adspy..er GameSpy.

007: Nightfire is EA/Gearbox's entry into the James Bond Game arena. This game is based on the Half-Life engine and has an original storyline. The Single player is amazing and has all the cool elements of a Bond Flick. The Multiplayer blew me away by the maps and mods it released. (Imagine a CTF/DM map that is a near perfect recreation of the Fort Knox Scene in 'Goldfinger'.)

Granted, when this product was initially released, there were issues with the game (MP Exploit, No Server manual, No MP manual for N00bs who don't understand the concept of Team-Killing). EA/Gearbox provided two methods to give feedback about this game (EA - E-mail and Gearbox Via their forums) and they (after about amonth of the PC version being released) are releasing a SP 'after the new year'.

In addition, with immense interest in Modding for this game (our clan is looking into creating MP maps that are recreations scenes in Bond Movies. We're looking to create maps for all the Bond Movies.), There will be a SDK released after the New Year as well.

Day of Defeat is probably the best Mod I've ever played in MP (not a big counter-strike fan). In short, this is a World War II mod with the Axis versus the Allies in various map situations. The weapon Recreation, maps and the general popularity is slowly growing every day. I beleive one of the main reasons why this is is that The Day of Defeat MOD team has a direct link to the public through their forums and are looking for contunuous feedback on how this game can be improved.

I will always be a fan of this MOD because of the direct link to the developers.

My advice to anyone who have problems with various games is to browse/Post to the game designers forums or e-mail the company with your concerns, more often than not the various companies will listen to the customers for they are the people who will come back tothe various companies for their next release of a given game.

Granted, you may not always find forums with direct link to the developersfor Games (ID Software is a good example of this) but if you do, utilize these resources.

My advice to Game companies is to listen to your customer base and give them a foum to give feedback for they pay your salaries and they dictate wether or not your game will continue to sell.

Issues with games are easy to fix, runied reputataions over a given game are next to impossible to fix.

Dolemite

Dsanfte is Right on about game companies not wanting to assist gamers about various issues.

I'll provide two examples as well, Two good and one bad.

I've never played Everquest so I can't comment on what this person is going through but I can comment on the following games:

No One Lives Forever 2

007: Nightfire

Day of Defeat - a Killer World War II Half-Life Mod

Both of these games have a predecessor that have had sucess in it's previous incarnations.

The 007 Games have had a standard to live up to ever since the console game 'Goldeneye' was released. This game gained it's popularity with the awesome multiplayer aspects on the console. IMO this was the predecessor to all the on-line console games that are out now.

No One Lives Forever 1 (NOLF1) was an amazing game with a multiplayer aspect that immensely enhanced the single player game and was the major reason that this game won all the awards that it did. (Running over people with Snowmobiles is sooo fun)

When NOLF2 was released the reviews on the single player was favorable but nothing was said about the multiplayer aspect. I began researching this game for a possible purchase and began vewing the Sierra Forums and noted Two problems:

1) All MP aspects that made NOLF1 a great game, was removed for a 'co-op' multiplayer version. The 'Co-Op' version was essentially teams of online players playing against an AI Opponent.

2) The MP code was buggy. People were complaining of too many dropped packets.

Sierra'sattitude for #1 was initally "If you don't like it go buy another game that has on-line player vs online player this is not what this game is about". (These threads have since mysteriously disappeared)

After player after player were complaining about the lack of the cool MP aspects that made NOLF1 famous and the fact that people were mad that couldn't return the game (they were all expecting the same MP aspects of NOLF1 in NOLF2), news came out that a new patch would be coming out to add DM maps and better MP code.

Needles to say this alienated players and left sour tastes in peoples stomach. This reason alone and Sierra's initial atitude/response to this issue are the reason why I didn't buy this game and I laugh when it received Game of the Year Award by Adspy..er GameSpy.

007: Nightfire is EA/Gearbox's entry into the James Bond Game arena. This game is based on the Half-Life engine and has an original storyline. The Single player is amazing and has all the cool elements of a Bond Flick. The Multiplayer blew me away by the maps and mods it released. (Imagine a CTF/DM map that is a near perfect recreation of the Fort Knox Scene in 'Goldfinger'.)

Granted, when this product was initially released, there were issues with the game (MP Exploit, No Server manual, No MP manual for N00bs who don't understand the concept of Team-Killing). EA/Gearbox provided two methods to give feedback about this game (EA - E-mail and Gearbox Via their forums) and they (after about amonth of the PC version being released) are releasing a SP 'after the new year'.

In addition, with immense interest in Modding for this game (our clan is looking into creating MP maps that are recreations scenes in Bond Movies. We're looking to create maps for all the Bond Movies.), There will be a SDK released after the New Year as well.

Day of Defeat is probably the best Mod I've ever played in MP (not a big counter-strike fan). In short, this is a World War II mod with the Axis versus the Allies in various map situations. The weapon Recreation, maps and the general popularity is slowly growing every day. I beleive one of the main reasons why this is is that The Day of Defeat MOD team has a direct link to the public through their forums and are looking for contunuous feedback on how this game can be improved.

I will always be a fan of this MOD because of the direct link to the developers.

My advice to anyone who have problems with various games is to browse/Post to the game designers forums or e-mail the company with your concerns, more often than not the various companies will listen to the customers for they are the people who will come back tothe various companies for their next release of a given game.

Granted, you may not always find forums with direct link to the developersfor Games (ID Software is a good example of this) but if you do, utilize these resources.

My advice to Game companies is to listen to your customer base and give them a foum to give feedback for they pay your salaries and they dictate wether or not your game will continue to sell.

Issues with games are easy to fix, runied reputataions over a given game are next to impossible to fix.

Dolemite

Yes, that mod was very popular. In fact, I ran a popular AQ2 server (Ant Farm's Action Quake2 Movie Set) when team play was introduced in this mod. First at LAN parties (before teamplay), this mod wasn't popular. Eventually, it did (two full Linux servers!) :). Ahhh, the good old days.

I dislike the new AQ2-related sequels (Action Half-Life and Reaction Quake3). I am currently into these mods: Day of Defeat (HL), Urban Terror, and getting into Navy Seals (Q3A) :)

Counter-Strike used to be great, and while it continues to provide others with hours of entertainment, I found Day of Defeat to be much, much more enjoyable. If you would like it, its availible here.

Do Counter-Strike or Day of Defeat mods count? Personally I think both are better than Half-Life because they have real-people and I've been addicted to them for the last 8 months.

Jeff

DoD Web site. I think it is gaining more players and to me, this mod is much funner.

For example with Day of Defeat mod for Half-Life, HL is like a few years old and yet the mod is very popular. v3.0 beta just came out a few days ago and I am in awe with this mod.

Sure, the game engine uses outdated engine, but the fun is there. Now, if I could just play this awesome WWII mod in Linux (no Wine and stuff). :)

They treat us MOD developers (like Day of Defeat) VERY well, giving us resources, channels to communicate with each other (and them), tools, plus PR.

If you've ever read the Clue Train Manifesto, I think you might agree with me that they follow some of the Cluetrain Rules. Open things up, allow players and developers to talk, etc. How many game companies run mail lists where their own coders get involved with discussions with mod developers? If you didn't look at the 900 pound gorilla behind them, you'd swear it's open source or something :^)

Recently, the latest Day of Defeat version came out, and I took a look at it - even considered running a server for it. Everyone was raving about how realistic it was and how much more fun than CS it was. So I played it for a while, and found that indeed, it was realistic. Storming the beach, for example; spawn, walk two feet, headshot from sniper rifle, dead, spawn, walk two feet, headshot from sniper rifle, dead, etc..

Highly realistic, I'm sure. My history isn't as strong as it probably should be, but if you believe the beginning of Saving Private Ryan to be fairly indicative of events, it's reasonable to assume that the allies were cut down in their thousands before moving more than a few feet.

Is it fun to play? Er, let's see.. NO. Realism in a game is all well and good, but if it's done at the expense of the playability, what's the point? I play games to escape. To unwind after a hard days work. The last thing I want is to be frustrated that the game is too realistic. I'm sure there are DoD players out there who will tell me I'm a n00b who doesn't know how to play the game properly. Maybe so, but I'm not going to make the effort to improve at a game that appears to make no effort to be fun to play.

Having said that, I'm sure there are circumstances where realism is a good thing, but then it comes down to what sort of product you're dealing with: Is it a game? Or is it a simulator? There's a distinct difference there, and my expectations go right along with how the product is projected.

I think FPS are the ones that will start innovating, now. The mod community is very large, and "adding another feature" is being done faster than game producers can think them up.

Modding is our friend in video games. It requires that the next game you sell needs innovation. Otherwise, you'll just be beat-out by a mod.

I'm surprised Wolfenstein and Metal of Honor are selling copies with mods like Day of Defeat for halflife. Same "general" idea, but the mod is free if you own halflife (if you don't its only like $5.00!).

From: FmlyTreenutATaolDOTcom
To: (various DoD developers), cssupport@vuinteractive.com
CC: hovatterg@emh1.ftmeade.army.mil, LanhamP@tioh.belvoir.army.mil, haasw@tioh.belvoir.army.mil, HonoringVets@aol.com
Subject: Day of Defeat
Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2002 11:11:16 EST

Dear Sirs:

Due to the fact there are laws protecting the use of military insignia and
due to the fact your membership has shown absolute lack of respect for those
laws and to the veterans and current military personnel who have earned the
right to wear those insignia, I am asking that you implement the following:

1) That, in the future, if any of your members or players choose to
participate in your on-line combat game, that, as a rule, they will be barred
from playing if they use the official names and insignia of military units
and divisions.
2) That a disclaimer appear on your website making it clear the use of these
insignia and names are in violation of the law.
3) If any member or player has used your game to discredit, disrespect or
misrepresent any of these military units and divisions, that they also be
barred from participating.

These requirements will only enhance the on-line game experience and will
also eliminate any possible law suits that might be filed against your
company for the illegal and unauthorized use of military insignia. They will
also enhance the on-line experience in that they will further educate and
honor those military units that you represent in your game.

I thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Marsha Sears

Honestly, why spend the money if you already have Halflife? It runs on linux (well), and with the Day Of Defeat Mod, you have a better game then RTCW (although the DOD mod is multiplayer only right now).

Honestly, I didn't think RTCW is all that, and don't know why people are going nuts about it. Its living on name alone, IMNSHO.

Most Halflife, Quake, and UT mods have already explored most of the FPS phenomenon if you just check them out...

a game i've become addicted to recently is Day of Defeat, a Half-Life mod. i've stopped playing Counterstrike entirely, because of this game. each player would need different cd keys to play on the net, but not for a lan game, i think. it is about a 100mb download, tho, and is in beta.

i've never tried it at an actual lan party, but since you mentioned starcraft, try age of empires 2. cd cracks are readily available, even if you don't have the excellent expansion.

Seriously, though, I too am in this situation. I will be graduating in May, and I find myself just wanting to be a writer. I hope things do get better.

Quake 3 is fun in its own respect, but slapping a World War 2 mod on top of it and marketing it as something brand new is pushing it a little, methinks.

Of course my gameplay has been slightly limited - I certainly haven't logged more than a few hours at most

- but I can't help but compare it to the superbly executed (and free) Day of Defeat. I guess it has more to do with realistic damage than anything else; I like the (generally) one shot one kill rules of DoD,

and it seems silly that in Wolfenstein I have to shoot you with a Thompson or MP40 many times before you go down.