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Elder Scrolls Panorama Shots
Johnny wrote to mention new images up on the Panogames.com site, for the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Enjoy some late-night images of sprawling countrysides and dank dungeons. They also offer images of Half-Life 2 and Need for Speed : Most Wanted.
In that second panorama, in the forest, everything looks absolutely beautiful. I feel like running around, exploring the surroundings, maybe going into that deep forest and hunting for things. And then I turn and see this stupid cat woman standing there. Flashbacks ensue. She'll probably want to give me a vague quest. Or maybe just hand me a 500 page book on the history of the Village/Forest People that has nothing to do with anything. Or maybe just sell me some potions.
Of course I could kill her. But that would be so incredibly unsatisfying, since she is just a random NPC with no special significance. Killing her wouldn't generate any story, just problems with the local guards. Yawn.
They call this an open ended game, but I still see the same old staples - the same old quests, pointlessy wordy trivia tomes, magic mushrooms...
Funny, I was going to say just the opposite. Who wants to read freakin' cookbooks about imaginary ingredients which make imaginary food? What's next, a game where you pretend to clean your imaginary house? Oh wait, that's right.. the Sims. I'm going to write a game -- I'll call it a programming simulator -- where people write programs to run on my "virtual machine," relinquish the rights, and pay me for the privelage. Each week I'll make a new challenge, like "backend database solution for a fortune 50 company," and the first person or persons to submit a viable program win a badge, or a title in front of their names or something. Maybe some boots of the whale. And if the submitter's program has more than 3 critical flaws, or 10 minor bugs, they lose the prize and their maximum typing speed is reduced by 50% for 24 hours.
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