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Star Wars Galaxies - Fact-Checking, Fan Style
Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to this interesting LA Times article regarding Star Wars Galaxies. As well as plenty of background information, the piece talks about how detail-orientated beta testers of the forthcoming Sony-published PC MMORPG are, and includes this choice quotation: "..a German fan was outraged that the cockpit dimensions of an X-wing star fighter varied from those in the movies. Blackman looked into it and found that the game's version was indeed off -- by 6 centimeters."
Life... anyone?
That's what they get for having a tape measure in the default inventory. First?
Then he's gonna be _really_ pissed when he finds out the Millennium Falcon's size is off in all published Star Wars stuff from that of the movie set by about 40%!
:)
Still, it IS the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy, so allowances should be made.
What's next? Wookies don't make the wookie sound right? The pull of gravity is off in comparison to the total mass of the planet they're on? Hyperspeed is measured in incorrect units? Light saber power sources have incorrect yields?
Sony is messing with the wrong kind of geek here. Unless they get it just right they're not satisfied. Between Star Wars and Star Trek you can't get a more hardcore geek.
You're right, I wouldn't steal a car. But if it were possible, I sure as hell would download one!
"a German fan was outraged that the cockpit dimensions of an X-wing star fighter varied from those in the movies. Blackman looked into it and found that the game's version was indeed off -- by 6 centimeters."
[Long, slow whistle, as if passing by a train wreck.]
[Very, very much like a train wreck, actually...]
My
Limekiller
It seems absurd to create a universe in which the players have absolutely no control about the future of it. There's no heroism when something just "has" to happen. For example, if no one joins the rebel alliance, the rebels will still win. If no one joins the imperial army, the rebels will still have a tough fight. Why not just say, this is the star wars universe but things could happen differently than in the movies? Wouldn't it be more fun if you could try to kill Darth Vader even if you had only a small chance of succeeding?
-- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
Kill Darth Vader You May Not
What would Yoda say? The upcoming 'Star Wars' online game limits players' actions to adhere to creator George Lucas' vision.
By Alex Pham, Times Staff Writer
Can the virtual flutter of a mynock's wings change the course of history in a galaxy far, far away?
Kurt Goetzinger knows the answer is no, but that won't stop him from trying anyway.
Like thousands of "Star Wars" fans, Goetzinger has spent the quarter-century since George Lucas' science fiction legend premiered trying to re-create a slice of that galaxy in everyday life -- such as the "well over $1,000" he says it took to make his own suit of Imperial storm trooper armor.
This summer, Goetzinger will get the chance to work, play and fight in a virtual galaxy created just for fans like him. "Star Wars Galaxies," the first multi-player online computer game set amid Lucas' mythical star systems, will let fans work the vapor farms of Tatooine, tend the cantinas of Mos Eisley and even skirmish with Imperial troops.
What it won't allow them to do, though, is vanquish Darth Vader, destroy the Death Star or marry Princess Leia Organa. Or anything else that might somehow knock off course the scrupulously controlled story of the Skywalker bloodline.
Multi-player online games have flourished in recent years because they allow players to create their own legends as they slay dragons and conquer evil. But in "Galaxies," the legends already have been written in indelible ink.
That doesn't deter Goetzinger, who relishes even a bit part in Lucas' grand drama.
"Some people believe their fate is always determined," said Goetzinger, a 35-year-old executive at a Nebraska nonprofit. "So why try? Why not just chill and play games? But we do try."
From the outset three years ago, the programmers and designers assigned to "Galaxies" knew that setting an online game against the backdrop of "Star Wars" would be both a blessing and a curse. And as one of the most recognizable stories in popular culture, "Star Wars" would attract players.
But that story is so guarded by Lucas that every creature and relationship in "Star Wars" -- from the butterfly-like mynocks to the romance between Han Solo and Princess Leia -- is canonized in the company's official 12,000-entry database to ensure consistency in the ever-expanding body of movies, novels, comic books and video games.
"Video games have to allow for multiple outcomes," said Howard Rothman, president of Lucas Licensing Ltd. "There's no way to make a game with a predetermined outcome because it would be boring. So how do you open it up to create a fun and rich experience and still hold true to the universe?"
With earlier Lucas games set in the "Star Wars" universe, designers simply wrote the story and players followed it. For instance, if the game called for players to attack an Imperial base, they either succeeded or failed. And they could play over and over until they won.
Multi-player online games are different. In games such as "EverQuest," which does not have to fit within the confines of an existing story, more than 400,000 players from around the world pay $10 a month to create virtual communities. If someone wants to be a warrior, the games include plenty of quests on which to embark. But if a player wants to be a merchant and just trade goods, he or she can do that too.
The attraction is the interaction between players and the ability to create history, even if it all unfolds on the silicon of a computer server. That's possible in a fantasy role-playing game such as "EverQuest," which started with a clean slate.
Lucas executives, though, feared the chaos unfettered "Star Wars" fans could unleash. What if players decided to create a Wookiee boy band that sings stupid tunes? What if players staged plays that depict Yoda as a drug dealer? What if they started a religious sect that preaches Han Solo is a coward?
Most game proposals are 25 pages long. Not so for "Galaxies
Everything I say is a lie...
What I find amusing about topics like this is that fanatics will get into nitpicks like that, but won't get into conversations that make the universe seem weaker.
A huge huge discrepency in all three of the original movies involves the speed of light and how fast ships travel in relation to it. Most of the rebuttals are like "It's space jargon" or "if you read this book, then it rationalizes it completely." or "Uh he really didn't mean that." etc. Well there's a much simpler explanation that doesn't require reading a dull book. The Star Wars galaxy is very small. Small, as in "The Galaxy is on Orion's Belt" small. Scale everything down like that, and suddenly the speed of light is better than warp-drive. You can travel inter-stellar with a disabled hyperdrive to go visit your back-stabbing buddy. You can even survive a fall out of a moving vehicle or a 30-foot drop to the ground while tied together with a group of people without breaking bones!
I've had a difficult time getting people who'd be interested (aka fanatics) in this idea, mainly because they don't like the idea that the Empire couldn't possibly take on the Federation from Star Trek. I shit you not, they are overly sensitive to situations like that. Suddenly, making sense is no longer important if Captain Picard wouldn't even be able to see Darth Vader!
I have to admit, though, that the most amusing thing about this idea is that people will actually call me names over it.
"Derp de derp."
For those people (read americans) who use evil imperialist mesurements and are too lazy to check the conversion rate:
2.54 cm = 1 inch
6.00 cm = 2.36 inches
and includes this choice quotation: "..a German fan was outraged that the cockpit dimensions of an X-wing star fighter varied from those in the movies. Blackman looked into it and found that the game's version was indeed off -- by 6 centimeters."
As is oft heard on The Bob and Tom Show, Bob (Bobcat) Goldthwait said it best about rabid Star Wars fans:
"Have any of you nerds ever seen a vagina?! Because if you had, you'd throw that Stormtrooper cookie jar right out the window!!!"
Ed R.Zahurak
You know, oblivion keeps looking better every day.
That is nice considering space travel isn't in the game so would be kind of hard to measure the cockpit. Also how did he measure it? Just eyeballed it in comparison to his character hight?
Opened up the model in a different program and measured the pixels?
The "nerds need to get laid" joke (using the term loosely) has been done so much that it's just as easy to make fun of the anti-nerds that still use it.
Funny they don't mention the people that complain that the game just sucks? That it crashes 3 times in 30 minutes? Or the fact it sucks and crashes always? How the only beta testers who arent nuts are the same people who camp for 3 weeks to see the second star wars and refuse to believe it sucked? Err wrong crowd to preach to?;)
Blackman looked into it and found that the game's version was indeed off -- by 6 centimeters.
Just to be evil, they should adjust the cockpit size by only 5 centimeters.
"Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
As someone who is in the SWG beta, I must say over all, it's pretty damn boring and unstable. I think in the end there are going to be a lot of disillusioned and disabppointed SW fan freaks. Like all the MMOs today, it will have a long way to go at release, and hey there's already an expansion in the pipes to add the star part of the "Star Wars"