Tegra-Based Android Devices To Get Space MMO Vendetta Online

Incarnate-VO writes "Guild Software, makers of the multi-platform space MMO Vendetta Online, is apparently rolling a native Android port, intended for use on upcoming smartbooks and tablets powered by Nvidia's second-generation Tegra. More information on the port at the Android FAQ page on the Vendetta Online website."

Comments

Had to be said.....

[jpedlow]

...it's no EVE..

Cell data

[Darkness404]

There are two major problems with this, one is the latency issue, according to their FAQ it is supposed to be playable on a modem but it still can't be good for an MMO to have terrible latency. And the second one is data plans on carriers, already AT&T has crapified their data plan to cap it at an artificially low number, could Verizon, T-mobile and Sprint be next? And with an artificial, needless, bandwidth cap, more and more people are not going to be wanting to use their cell network to be playing an MMO.

Re:Cell data

[h4rr4r]

MMOs do not need that much data, and yes really dialup speeds do work. Did you never play everquest?

Kids these days.

Re:Cell data

[timeOday]

How much data does it really take to position the graphical objects that fit on a cellphone screen? It should be a fraction of the bandwidth consumed by a phone call.

Re:Cell data

[Anonymous Coward]

Vendetta isn't a normal dumb-client MMO. It's a twitch-based first-person space shooter. Think Freelancer, but in larger scale. Well, not much larger, as for 3 years it rarely reached above 100 players online at any one time.

In other words, to play acceptably (as in, dueling with other players) is going to take nearly the same amount of bandwidth as any modern FPS will.

When I was playing Vendetta two years ago, I remember having interference at one point on my wireless signal, and it made the game literally unplayable (for fighting, not mining). I could still win via dumb-rocket spam, I just could no longer hit anything with the accuracy-required energy weapons. It was very frustrating, as before that, I was winning 9/10 duels, and after, 0/10.

Re:Cell data

[longfalcon]

you're missing the difference between bandwidth and latency....

Re:Cell data

[MichaelSmith]

you're missing the difference between bandwidth and latency....

If the MMO is on a phone the user will no doubt be driving or operating on people while they play so the latency in the link may not be such an issue.

Re:Cell data

[CyDharttha]

I'm wondering about input methods. I was pretty reliant on a joystick when I played Vendetta Online. I enjoyed the dogfights; good control, good play. Are they developing a touch interface for the game?

Re:Cell data

[longfalcon]

gives new meaning to "AFK kill"

Re:Cell data

[TheKidWho]

I don't believe it, Vendetta is a twitch game, it most definitely requires low latency.

Re:Cell data

[osu-neko]

you're missing the difference between bandwidth and latency....

No, you're failing to follow the thread of the conversation. The person you're replying to was answering a question about how much bandwidth is required. He didn't "miss" the difference, he simply didn't talk about something that wasn't relevant to the question being answered.

Re:Cell data

[J.J. Dane]

Not at present, they seem to be concentrating on android based smartbooks initially

http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/1/23416?page=1 has some good info..

Re:Cell data

[antdude]

Even on 24000-26400 connections? If so, then nice!

Re:Cell data

[sortius_nod]

yep, I played it back when my modem would only sync at 24000 or so (stupid Telstra copper). Worked fine. Latency is different to bandwidth, people need to remember this. Good ISP and a clean line and I was able to compete against cablers on dialup playing Counter Strike beta.

Then again, a crap ISP and crappy line means crap latency even on ADSL. Most of the latency I've ever experienced can be put down to the ISP (I've changed ISP a number of times and seen varying results). So this game would work fine in 3g, I've played Eve and WoW over 3g. A little laggy at times, but otherwise Ok.

That being said, I don't really like Vendetta, it just doesn't look or feel as clean as other MMOs out there - yes, I know, it's only 4 dudes, but really, I wouldn't pay for a sub.

Re:Cell data

[Psaakyrn]

Terrible latency would only affect the MMO if it is real-time. I know there has been very little turn-based MMOs outside of web-based ones, but they do exist.

Re:Cell data

[Lazy Jones]

MMOs do not need that much data, and yes really dialup speeds do work. Did you never play everquest?

Vendetta Online is a "twitch" MMO, so latency will hurt.

Re:Cell data

[Anachragnome]

Conrad crashed through the woods with abandon, his pet bear thundering along behind him. He had even named the bear something highly noticeable--Lord British.
Running through the backwoods of Britannia was a hobby of Conrad's. Some assumed he was looking for dilapidated, old houses--an archaeologist of opportunistic bent. This was not so.

His very name an attempt at concealment amongst a crowd, Conrad strove to blend into his surroundings as much as one could in such a world. His dress was that of a commoner, removed from the corpse of an unfortunate Noble of Magincia. To be there, before your very eyes, yet gone forever in a blink. The bear was a ruse, as well.

Conrad would pass by a residence of the woods, perhaps a lonely lathe and plaster clad hut, or maybe an unguarded small tower, looking for his next meal. He would pass by these abodes in haste, never faltering in his steps. It was the residents that he looked keenly for--the indication of work to be done.

When Conrad spotted someone at home he would continue on his way a short time, stop behind a tree, out of sight--and kill Lord British.

After claiming the strips of bear meat that he would later use to tame another bear, Conrad stealthed. He slowly moved back towards the residence, careful not to move so quickly that his footfall might be heard. He crept up, slowly, watching for movement of the unwary soul inside the house, slowly, until he stood right next to the front door, cloaked in a shroud of secrecy and suspense.

One wrong move could change events for the worse in short order.

Conrad set himself ready for the wait. It could be a long time before his mark stepped into the snare. Uncertainty was the name of the game now. All was in the hands of his mark, now.

The bear was a nice touch, suggested by one of Conrad's fellow nefarians. People see you go by with a bear in tow, they don't expect you to be around without him anytime soon. Lord British existed only to give the appearance of passing by without stopping.

Conrad waited, the sounds of footfalls inside the house, the occasional snipping of shears on cloth--the home of a tailor apparently. The sounds of doors opening and closing, chests being slammed shut. Containers. Always a good sign at times like these.

It happened so fast, Conrad had not the time to be hesitant. Reaction became action.

The owner of the house opened the front door without warning, and without seeing Conrad hidden amongst the hedges, walked a short distance off into the woods and began slamming a hatchet into a nearby tree and piling up wood at the base. Conrad moved like a silk banner of war in the wind, silently slipping through the frame of the door...and was held in place--an unseen force held him still at the worst possible moment, right on the sill of the door he needed to be through quickly.

Worse, the hammering of the hatchet stopped abruptly. Conrad squirmed, the feeling of impending doom upon him. He was about to be caught.

The grip of ice eased slightly--he took a step. Then another. One more step and he was in. With less then a second to spare, the tailoring lumberjack stepped back into the house, gliding past Conrad, missing him by a single step. Conrad held still, not a breath left his lips.

What was that that held him so? Most vexing. Most vexing, indeed. It had almost been his undoing.

Conrad was born to wait. From the day of his birth, he waited. He now got comfortable in his small corner of the room that the hut's front door had opened onto. It was modestly decorated, obviously the home of a craftsman, the tools of his trade hung from the walls. Conrad watched him work. The crafter seemed to be preoccupied, sometimes just standing there for long stretches of time. Conrad waited.

Then it happened--the craftsman simply disappeared. He had gone to sleep for the evening, presumably, and had left Conrad to the darkness of the room. Conrad stepped from the darkness, took a single candle from his pack, set it on the table in the

Re:Cell data

[stephanruby]

Darkness,

What is AT&T's data cap? For either Sprint and Verizon, it's 5GB per month (which is barely sufficient as it is) on their 3G/edge networks (on 4G/Wimax with SprintTV and tethering up to 6 computers, I can only hope that this cap will be lifted entirely, or revised to something like 5 Tera-bytes per month, otherwise that new 4G feature will be completely worthless).

T-mobile doesn't have a cap, but then again they had Google remove all the tethering apps from its marketplace for T-Mobile users (not that T-Mobile users can't find and install those tethering apps manually on their own, and nor did this move disable the tethering apps already installed).

Re:Cell data

[NoSleepDemon]

It's not just the graphical objects though, it's all the players and enemies and other objects in that particular area, and what they're doing, which can potentially become quite complex. For example, a packet of data updating the current game state might include for every interactable object in the same area as the player:

The object's scale, orientation, position, velocity and angular velocity
The current action the object is taking
The object's health, armour and other statistics (e.g. agility, stamina etc, this could include modifiers from debuffs)
Any temporary alteration to the object's state (e.g. debuffs, buffs to display when the object is targetted, or to display visually on the object)

You then have player messages and game announcements (private to you, local to the area, global) which will happen often enough in crowded areas to be sent on most game updates, and any temporary states inflicted upon the game world (effects being played like explosions, changes to the environment etc).

This is just a small subset of the information that may be sent to your phone many times a second depending on the MMO, and considering that people tend to play MMOs for longer than your average phone call, you can begin to see why playing an MMO might become costly for your data plan in the long run. Now having only paid a tertiary glance at Vendetta's homepage, I can't even begin to say exactly HOW costly playing it would be, especially if it is specifically optimised for low bandwidth / data transfer (e.g. you can't control your ship more than clicking where to go, or combat is turn based etc), but it definitely has potential.

Re:Cell data

[eharvill]

I was messing around with my tethered Droid a couple weeks ago and cranked up WoW. Only played for about 10 minutes (running around Stormwind), but the game was amazingly playable. Around 315-375ms latency and less than 20MB of data transfered during that time frame. That seems more than reasonable to me. I'll have to play for a good hour one of these days and get a more accurate reading of how much data was transfered.

Re:Cell data

[NoSleepDemon]

Yep it depends on your data plan as to what you consider a lot of data sent/received. 315-375ms is pretty awesome though! However I think WoW can probably pull off optimisations that would be more difficult for a space MMO - such as not orientating players or monsters in the exact direction they're facing. It'd be cool to see what's under the hood in WoW, just their terrain engine is amazing enough, all that expansive world and barely a loading screen in sight.

Re:Cell data

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

I.e. 33.6 modems, yes, used to play EQ all the time.

I was totally geeked when I got a 112kbaud dual-channel ISDN, then I could finally play EQ on one computer and surf on the other. Previously, loading a web page would start to choke out EQ with lag.

Re:Cell data

[Zen Hash]

How much data does it really take to position the graphical objects that fit on a cellphone screen? It should be a fraction of the bandwidth consumed by a phone call.

According to TFA, cell phone screens are still too small. This is intended for devices with larger screens that will be coming out using a new nvidia chipset and running Android.

Re:Cell data

[Phoghat]

Just tell 'em to get off the lawn, and your not giving them their ball back

WiFi

[ArbitraryDescriptor]

Connecting via wifi would seem to be a solution to both problems.

Re:WiFi

[Darkness404]

Wi-Fi isn't everywhere like 3G though. If I was connecting via wi-fi why wouldn't I just use my laptop? Really, Wi-Fi isn't everywhere, for example, taking the bus, 3G works just fine, Wi-Fi doesn't same with most subways, trains, etc.

If I have wi-fi, I either A) Wouldn't be playing a game (like in a restaurant) or B) have a laptop to play

Re:WiFi

[ArbitraryDescriptor]

Fair enough. The only time my laptop leaves the house is if I'm going on a trip, so I would usually be C) Don't have a laptop handy. Of course, I also don't play Vendetta, know what it is, or have any interest in finding out. So if this only makes sense to people like me... maybe it isn't such a good idea after all.

OTOH

[J.J. Dane]

...they never claimed to be. Think Jumpgate, Freelancer or Privateer ( or Elite for us old types, but without the thargoids )

Never heard of it.

[euyis]

Slashvertisement?

Re:Never heard of it.

[J.J. Dane]

Maybe borderline slashvertisement...

It's one of the few mmos with native linux support, meaning there's a fair few nerds in the playerbase, so they generally send news items to known geek hangouts, slashdot included .

I'd say it's "news for nerds", it may not be "stuff that matters" but these days I could say that about at least a handful of front page items here on any given day :-)

DISCLAIMER: I've been a regular there for the last 2.5 years, originally saw it it mentioned in a Wing Commander newsgroup...

Can we have a shipping platform?

[symbolset]

Please? You don't have to re-announce it one more time. I want to buy the thing. I'm sold. I'm oversold. I've wanted to buy the thing for a year. What I need is a website that will take my credit card info in return for giving me the darned thing. I get it. Tegra II with Android. I'm all in. Now sell me the darned thing! You have it, I want it. You have product and I have money. We should be able to work out a deal. What the heck is your problem?

Re:Can we have a shipping platform?

[anexkahn]

I totally feel the same way. I keep seeing all these awesome things at all these trade shows, and no one will sell them...It's like, look what we can do, but you can't have it!!!!

Def Jam Vendetta the MMORPG

[CrazyJim1]

The very though of it was Ludacris.

broken lua iface

[surbijohn]

they do not have enough players to be called mmorpg. i have heard more unsubbed when they removed functions from the lua api recently, breaking existing player plugins. i was tempted to give it a try for a month or two but not now.

Re:broken lua iface

[Keerok]

well in this case MMORPG could mean Moderately Multiplayer Online Remote Playing Game :) Personally I'd Like Armada Online www.armada-online.com to be playable on this thingy, should be fun.

Re:broken lua iface

[CrazySpence]

LUA interface works fine. Check your facts in the future please. The only plugin that was seriously affected was a plugin that partially flew for you in combat and it was the player base that requested the change.

Re:broken lua iface

[superspoon]

I don't get it. You linked a thread that supports CrazySpence's supposition that the community is the driving force behind these changes and a thread about a bug with the aliases for the game, which have pretty much nothing to do with lua or plugins. How are they supposed to show that anything Spence said is "simply not true"?

Re:broken lua iface

[CrazySpence]

Well if you read only the first post of the linked thread and ignore the entire discussion in it that leads to resolution....Then of course what I say is simply not true. :)

Re:broken lua iface

[drazed]

I call bullshit!! I've written more plugin code for VO then most users combined, and never have I had my stuff stop working due to something the devs did intentionally... The few times they broke my plugins they were quick to act in fixing any issues from their end, and very communicative with me regarding anything I could do to fix on my end (usually as a temporary measure while they patched something on their side). This is orders of magnitude better compared to plugin developtment in WoW where plugins are often broken and need updating after EVERY WoW update, and likewise with many games that offer plugin support (and not even mentioning games where you can't have plugins, eg. EvE). VO plugins and related community is by far the best I've seen anywhere.

more android tablet vapor

[farble1670]

tens of press releases about android tablets, and no actual hardware. this is just another vapor device. hey editors, approval should be contingent on a link where i can buy the device.

You mean to tell me there are Tegra devices?

[default luser]

I was under the impression that, despite all the hubub about "design wins" from last year, very few Tegra devices have been produced, and the highest-profile one (Zune HD) is not running Android.

So what exactly is this port targeting?

Is that a bad thing?

[Drasil]

It's more like spacequake. I've played both and TBH I much prefer Vendetta. Even is too much point-and-click for me. YMMV.

Me Too!

[OrangeTide]

I've used Android on Tegra 2, but as a developer. When I saw the news about a Vendetta port I didn't really care about the game, I just wanted to see if they suggested anywhere I could pick up a Tegra 2 based Android system. Phone, tablet, whatever, I almost don't care. The AP20 I used is a beast but low power at the same time. OpenGL ES bindings for Android Java is exciting and I'm not even a Java guy (C guy).