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Everquest Coming To the PS2
Boone^ writes "CNET's News.com is reporting that Sony is launching their online network with a bang as the most addictive, non-narcotic drug to ever grace a computer screen will now come to you in full NTSC quality courtesy of the PS2. Currently the release date for both the online network and "EverQuest Online Adventure" are TBA." The article points out part of the reason for introduction will be to drive sales of the Ps2 ethernet adaptor. Now, I haven't played since the Kunark expansion, but I'm hoping this version takes advantage of the Ps2's graphic capabilites, rather then what I've seen on EQ before.
EQ PS2 features:
* Crazed loner mode cuts off upcoming broadband connectivity so you can be alone with the voices in your head
* New soundtrack by Ozzy Osbourne and Judas Priest
* Free Paxil to first 100 buyers
Suicide-blaming entertainment is now coming to a console near you!
Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
great. i will finally be able to get my wife off of the pc. but now i will never be able to watch tv :(
I'm confused. I had thought that one of the big problems with all the UQ expansions is all of the RAM needed for all of the new stuff, and all of the possible combinations of character/items that it has to worry about displaying. Doesn't the PS2 have, like, 8 Meg? How is this going to happen in anything but a stripped down version?
"You're never ready, just less unprepared."
I know a lot of hardcore Geeks think only Dorks play these kinds of games, but they really have value and you should check them out. To me EverQuest is an evolutionary step towards what VR environments will be like in the future. I first started thinking that about the Doom/Quake series, but EverQuest took it to a whole new level, albeit in a different genre. The immersiveness is amazing, just don't get hooked on the social crap there.
11*43+456^2
In other words, will PS2 users play in the same world as PC users?
www.HearMySoulSpeak.com
Very doubtful. While the PS2 chipset can drive a good framerate, the minimal memory and total absence of a hard drive would require stripping loads of detail from what you see on a PC. This engine is about a real *bulk* of data, not the small set of detailed models and textures in a typical console game.
Getting that sort of game, designed and optimized just for PCs, to run at all on the PS2 is going to be a real feat.
EQ is a graphical MUD, a chat room with some role playing. It is not an action game, and a poor substitute for an adventure game. Streamline it for console? Hmmm... game is already mostly brain-dead... What makes it worthwhile is the human element provided by chat, and if this is missing from the console version what good is it?
There's two words I've never heard together before...
There's nothing wrong with playing games per se, but I think that games where you do cool stuff you never usually do, like fly jet fighters, and games where you achieve something more than holding a text converstaion with another similar loser, are far superior.
Please tell me where in "real life" I can go slay orcs and dragons, and cast really big pretty magic spells.
When I heard of people getting 'married' in these games, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
I guess being happy for someone actually enjoying themselves is not an option for you, huh. They gotta either enjoy it your way or be pitied by you, even if they're having fun.
Christ all fucking mighty, be nice.
...but I think that games where you do cool stuff you never usually do...
To start, pay attention to what you wrote.
People who do this are living lives they can't live here and now. Maybe they're not attractive. Maybe they're balding epileptics who live in their mother's house and spend all damn day between contracts playing Everquest. Maybe I have good friends like this, and maybe you should back the fuck off. My bud is having it hard, and self-esteem issues like his aren't helped when some self-appointed judge comes along and calls him a loser.
Or maybe, I'm just havin' fun. Dunno.
-eBay stock raises 10 points. .tv domains won't sell, the island of Tuvali announces plans to produce and export Everquest high-level characters.
-After accepting that
-Microsoft denounces Sony's plot to monopolize the online gaming world, giving the PS2 an unfair advantage over Xbox.
-A woman, who blames Everquest for her son's suicide, calls for action against what she calls "an incoming genocide".
-Thousands of Slashdot readers comment. "It's so cool", says some. "So, who cares?", says others. But the predominant opinion is "Microsoft still sucks".
I'm not going to talk about the "use a USB ethernet as a hack", but this is interesting for me.
Please not: this is not a rag on the Xbox. Well, it is, but it's not a rag because it's an Xbox, it's a rag because I like my Xbox and wish MS would stop being shitheads about managing it.
Anyway. Rewind the clock about a year to last years E3, where the Big Three (Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony) were sitting up, talking about their new consoles. I remember this discussion:
Interviewer: So, tell us about your online gaming plans.
Nintendo: Online gaming? We want to make fun games. We'll include online gaming if we need it.
Sony: We have a deal with AOL, and we're going to crush everybody online! Bwahahahaha!
Xbox: We have a built in Ethernet port into the Xbox, so we'll be online out of the box instead of having to buy expensive peripherals, and we'll crush everybody online! Bwahahahaha!
Now, fast forward to November, when I picked up my Xbox, and read in the help manual (page 15 I believe) that said:
Broadband support is coming in June of 2002. Deal with it.
Now we have Sony about to bring out their Ethernet/Hard drive adapter for the PS2. Will it make it as powerful as the Xbox? Probably not - unless you have the Linux kit, you won't be able to rip MP3's to the local hard drive (though I'm sure software developers will get that out), nor can you save games to the hard drive (unless the game is specifically programmed to do so - I could be wrong on this, but I don't think I am.)
Anyway. The point here is this:
Sony, at this rate, will beat the Xbox to true broadband Internet support without using a 3rd party hack. They will do so with Everquest behind them, Final Fantasy XI, and Star Wars: Galaxies. I can plug any standard USB keyboard/mouse into it, and it will work perfectly.
We still don't know what the Xbox plans are. While it has an Ethernet port, it only works on a local UDP network (unless you do some hacking with routers/Gamespy Arcade to get it online). Maybe there will be an update to add simple TCP/IP support, but why this support wasn't out of the fucking box I'll never know. (Come on - isn't the TCP/IP stack BSD license based? This should have been a no brainer, even if they had to put support in the Flash Bios or something instead of the hard drive. And they wouldn't have to worry about those "evil" GNU folks spoiling the party, since BSD doesn't make you share code.)
The Xbox will have... Seriously, I don't recall. Probably Morrowind (maybe - that's a single player game only right now), Halo of course, and some other games. I can't plug any USB things into it, so I have to spend more money for an Xbox keyboard/mouse (which I haven't seen announced yet - they could be out there, I just don't know.)
I like my Xbox - once I replace the controller, I'll like it even more. But I love my PS2, and Sony's making it hard not to like it more. And while I can't stand MMRPG's (experience, level, lather, rinse, repeat), I'm just interested enough in some of them (Final Fantasy XI), in the hard drive, and other bits that make me think that Sony's going to continue to stay in the lead.
Now, if we can just clear up their RIAA issues, and I'll really like them....
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
I wonder when the 512 MB memory upgrade for my Playstation 2 will be availble? :)
I hope your "friend" gets real better soon.
El Karma: excelente(principalmente la suma de moderación hecha a los comentarios de los usuarios)
No, no, no!
You have to learn to speak like a marketing person.
You don't say 'killing off our users'
You do say 'we're experiencing a reduction in dissatisfied users'.
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing -- Emo Phillips
that these games that 'simulate' real life are a BIG waste of time
/. itself is another form of that as long as you're a poster (gee, look, you are - and a rather prolific one as well). Social interaction hasn't been limited to face-to-face meetings ever since the invention of writing. The Internet, in all its varied forms, is just another version thereof.
In no way, shape, or form does EQ, UO, AO, DAoC, etc. simulate "real life". They don't even vaguely attempt to.
They do vaguely attempt to simulate a fantasy world, but most of the nitty gritty stuff that makes life real is not simulated.
Talking to people online isn't simulated either. The fact that you seem to think so shows just how vapid and shallow you really are. There's a real person on the other end of those pixels, who has feelings, thoughts, and motivations just like you do. And therein lies the rub, and the reason why EQ and other MMORPGs have a following that eclipses pretty much every other game out there. Because not only do they allow you to "do cool stuff you never usually do", but they allow you to make friends, chat, and have the social interaction that is lacking in most other games.
Yes, yes, scoff if you want at the concept of social interaction. Then realize that
If you haven't played an MORPG (which includes MUDs) then you won't Get It. Quake and the like aren't the same - the little interaction there is mostly trash talk. IRC, Instant Messanging, and so forth are pretty similar to MORPG's though. All of them allow the intellectual excercise of talking to an intelligent being that is not yourself, and who may agree or disagree with your goals, thoughts, yada yada yada. Yeah, I know, seems all mystic-y and crap, but that's a lot of what human interaction comes down to.
Why do "losers" (your term, not mine) gravitate toward online interaction? Because for introverted personalities (which most geeks are), it's easier to hide behind a persona than it is to go out in real life. It's a matter of comfort and of being able to distance yourself. And to lower those facades at a speed you feel comfortable with (and yes, they do come down as you get to know people better).
All of the crap that occurs in face-to-face interaction - bickering, rumormongering, petty feuds, etc. happen online as well. All of the good stuff - friendships, loves, happiness, etc. can happen as well.
When I heard of people getting 'married' in these games, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Shrug. I've always thought these things were rather silly myself. Most of the real life couples I know who are married aren't married "in-game". Probably because it's assumed they're married.
And I know people who gotten married to people they met online. Most of them don't have "in-game" marraiges either. I don't.
People are dying to play Everquest. What are you waiting for?
- This is not EverQuest as you may know it. This world will not overlap with standard EverQuest. There will be a limited race/class selection, and the world will not require zoning. You will also not get to interact with the rest of the EverQuest player base
- EverQuest in its current form has much improved graphics over what you're used to from the days of Kunark (which was release something like 2 years ago).
- If you haven't tried EQ since Kunark, you're missing much more than just graphics. There's a new playable class (Beastlord), a new race (Vah Shir: the cat people), post-60 advancement, new types of quests and scripted events (zone-wide wars, ring quests/scripts), chat channels (user created), and many more nifty features that older EQ players may want to come back and try out.
If you decide to come back, come look me up. I'm on 7th Hammer, and play Miskaton or Deepone.Dear Lord Ender,
I'm not sure what this everquest is, but my staffers tell me its a video game. I remember when my husband was addicted to Pong I had no quaters left over to do laundry!
There are two ways you can deal with this.
Its almost may, and the way it sounds your roomate will be placed on academic probation and most likely not returning next semseter. So if you can hold out a little longer...
The second way to deal with this is to be firm but fair. Let him know that you are concerned that he is damaging his grades and social life. And let him know that his behaviour is damaging your chances of hitting the nappy-dugout. All work and no play makes Jack an angry, vindictive, revenge-monger.
If there is no change in his behavior (and your ability to get some) here is your plan: wake up early (10 am) one morning. Your roomate should be passed out from sheer exhaustion. remove his hard drive. remove his mother board. remove his net-connection. re-format his drive. Or just plain remove his computer. Leave a note in its place. He will be forced to go on a scavenger hunt to reclaim his lost computer! His ram is in a locker at the bus station down town.
His mother board is duct-taped to the bottom of a bench. His hard drive is hidden on the roof of the physics building. Have the clues hidden amongst people he must talk to/interact with to get.
This should take at least a few weeks, keeping him out of the room and giving you valuable "together time" with your honey.
Hope this helps!
Signed,
Ann Landers
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
Whats that sound? Thats the sound of every >18 year old rushing to out to cancel their accounts to avoid all 12 year old "suxorsmedonkee" players about to get an account.
They will, in one quick swoop change EQ from a MMORPG to a MMO???.
Oh well, im waiting for PlaneShift or the (really far out it seems) WorldForge -- though it seems the latter is FAR to ambitious to produce any playable MMORPG anytime soon.
Heh I'd have modded you up if you put the link to that documentary, /.'s search engine blows sometimes ;)
I'm the big fish in the big pond bitch.
It seems most people have missed the point that the EQ for the PS2 will not be the same "world" as the EQ for the PC. This means (thankfully) that current EQ players don't have to deal with the PS2 players who have significantly decreased interaction, or with the limits the processing power and graphics of the PS2 would impact on the main development tree.
In essence, I see EQ for the PS2 as something that will be the same in name only.
Now what was that L/R/R/U/D/A/B combo for dragon punch to Tormax again?
Fear: When you see B8 00 4C CD 21 and know what it means