I dunno... The only PC game I've played in the last couple of years with a console port was Oblivion. There's still a very considerable amount of games that aren't ported.
Most of the porting I see is between different consoles, not between consoles and PCs. To port from the PC to a console, you basically need to originally design the game to go on a console - to be played with a controller... usually only the real big names do that, and when they do, the results usually suck (see atrocious Oblivion menu system). To port from a console to PC... well, console developers rarely even waste their time with that.
Even if only 2 million of those subscribers were paying the $15/month model, they are still making plenty of money to appear on this list somewhere. Does the "games industry" no longer include PC games?
I agree with most of your comments, save this one:
"You can participate in long, epic PvP struggles."
Sorry, capture the flag on the same map a zillion times is not a "long and epic PvP struggle".
There's lots of people that are considered bald, but still have some hair on their head. You know, the funny looking hedges that grow above the ears but nowhere else.
I don't think he was flaming you and I agree that you aren't making a bold statement, especially when preaching to the choir. Oh sorry, guess I need to take it to PMs as well.
The way I understood it was NPC forces showed up to reclaim the city in waves. The side that destroyed the city basically plays a "resist as long as possible" until the waves become just too powerful to defend against.
Enjoy your dual-wielding shammy though! BC doesn't offer me enough content to last another year, so I'm shopping around now.
PvE and PvP areas are supposedly going to be clearly divided in WAR. If you know the griefers are out there on the PvP side of the fence, there are plenty of things to do on the PvE side of the fence instead. There are also six main battlefronts in WAR, so if you're getting repetitively destroyed in one area, you can pack it up and move to new scenery and not have to deal with those griefers.
I think little of WoW's success has anything to do with the Mac. It's mostly a combination of three big things:
- One of the most popular gaming IPs ever
- An MMO without noticable downtime and very accessible (on the surface) to casual players
- The usual Blizzard game polish
Eliminate mac support from the picture and the game would still be a raging success.
One of the new things on the PvE scene of WAR that I've heard about is public quests. Quests where you walk into an area and everyone on your side is automatically given the same quest whether they are grouped or not. Everyone on your team collectively works on this quest together, so when someone does something to forward your objective, everyone benefits.
There were a couple of examples of this that I read about with varying degrees of PvE-ness.
1) PvE - A giant is having his heels nipped at by a pack of squiggs, kill the squiggs off and befriend the giant.
2) Kind of PvE and PvP - Pour barrels of beer down a sleeping giant's throat so that it will go on a drunken rampage through the nearby enemy race's village.
3) PvP - Rescue more than half of the injured dwarven brethren (NPCs) from the battlefield before the opposing race (other players) finds and kills half of them.
If you really don't like PvP and the thought of fighting in an army against other players doesn't intrigue you, the majority of the game content is not directed at you then and you may want to dodge this one.
"The trouble with wars in a MMO is that you can't win. You can kill all your enemies but they just keep respawning..."
A big part of WAR seems to be that you can capture zones that lead up to the destruction of an enemy capitol as the finale to your side's campaign (or the destruction of your own capitol if the war effort isn't going so good). This entire war cycle could take days, weeks, or months. The other side will respawn and rebuild after you destroy them, sure, but that seems like a worthy victory to me.
If you were to jump into an MMORPG (probably ill-advised), this sounds as if it may be a good one for you since (1) they are claiming that it will be accessible to casual players and (2) it seems to have content you enjoy.
Although, the beta is not yet available so no one can really tell you that for sure right now.
Although I'm a bit bummed it isn't 40K, I read that this basically sums up one of the first quests for the Chaos race:
"You start off attacking a mostly unarmed Empire village. You kill everyone there (some pitifully try to defend themselves). Then you mutilate the bodies. Then you load the mutilated body parts into a cannon. Finally, you fire the cannon into a nearby Empire fort that is under siege to demoralize them."
Ok, I'm psyched. I'll gladly take that over killing 10 desert beetles.
Slashdot Mirror
I get the feeling that this lawyer has no idea how an internet site actually operates.
I dunno... The only PC game I've played in the last couple of years with a console port was Oblivion. There's still a very considerable amount of games that aren't ported.
Most of the porting I see is between different consoles, not between consoles and PCs. To port from the PC to a console, you basically need to originally design the game to go on a console - to be played with a controller... usually only the real big names do that, and when they do, the results usually suck (see atrocious Oblivion menu system). To port from a console to PC... well, console developers rarely even waste their time with that.
Even if only 2 million of those subscribers were paying the $15/month model, they are still making plenty of money to appear on this list somewhere. Does the "games industry" no longer include PC games?
I imagine Blizzard is fairly comfortable with their financial situation for the next 10 years.
"PvP will exist in a small scale form, but is not a major element of the initial launch"
Well then, let me know when it is and I'll actually take a look at your game then. No way I'm signing on for another PvE MMO crapfest.
Agreed. Save the late entry Gears of War, nothing has really caught my eye recently.
So... how much is ExxonMobil paying you?
Whoosh!
The Pirates of the Burning Sea MMO is dancing dangerously close to Duke status. How many years has that one been up and coming?
Thanks for posting "Haven't heard of this one" or some alteration there of for 75% of the games on the list!
I agree with most of your comments, save this one: "You can participate in long, epic PvP struggles." Sorry, capture the flag on the same map a zillion times is not a "long and epic PvP struggle".
Agreed. Third person shooters work much better on the consoles.
Definitely agreed. This would be a big step in the right direction.
There's lots of people that are considered bald, but still have some hair on their head. You know, the funny looking hedges that grow above the ears but nowhere else.
Whoooooosh! (extra o's added for emphasis)
I don't think he was flaming you and I agree that you aren't making a bold statement, especially when preaching to the choir. Oh sorry, guess I need to take it to PMs as well.
Before the buyout, Mythic was absolutely against microtransactions beyond the usual $15/month though... (can't get rid of that!)
No idea where things stand now...
The way I understood it was NPC forces showed up to reclaim the city in waves. The side that destroyed the city basically plays a "resist as long as possible" until the waves become just too powerful to defend against.
Enjoy your dual-wielding shammy though! BC doesn't offer me enough content to last another year, so I'm shopping around now.
PvE and PvP areas are supposedly going to be clearly divided in WAR. If you know the griefers are out there on the PvP side of the fence, there are plenty of things to do on the PvE side of the fence instead. There are also six main battlefronts in WAR, so if you're getting repetitively destroyed in one area, you can pack it up and move to new scenery and not have to deal with those griefers.
I think little of WoW's success has anything to do with the Mac. It's mostly a combination of three big things: - One of the most popular gaming IPs ever - An MMO without noticable downtime and very accessible (on the surface) to casual players - The usual Blizzard game polish Eliminate mac support from the picture and the game would still be a raging success.
One of the new things on the PvE scene of WAR that I've heard about is public quests. Quests where you walk into an area and everyone on your side is automatically given the same quest whether they are grouped or not. Everyone on your team collectively works on this quest together, so when someone does something to forward your objective, everyone benefits.
There were a couple of examples of this that I read about with varying degrees of PvE-ness.
1) PvE - A giant is having his heels nipped at by a pack of squiggs, kill the squiggs off and befriend the giant.
2) Kind of PvE and PvP - Pour barrels of beer down a sleeping giant's throat so that it will go on a drunken rampage through the nearby enemy race's village.
3) PvP - Rescue more than half of the injured dwarven brethren (NPCs) from the battlefield before the opposing race (other players) finds and kills half of them.
If you really don't like PvP and the thought of fighting in an army against other players doesn't intrigue you, the majority of the game content is not directed at you then and you may want to dodge this one.
"The trouble with wars in a MMO is that you can't win. You can kill all your enemies but they just keep respawning..."
A big part of WAR seems to be that you can capture zones that lead up to the destruction of an enemy capitol as the finale to your side's campaign (or the destruction of your own capitol if the war effort isn't going so good). This entire war cycle could take days, weeks, or months. The other side will respawn and rebuild after you destroy them, sure, but that seems like a worthy victory to me.
If you were to jump into an MMORPG (probably ill-advised), this sounds as if it may be a good one for you since (1) they are claiming that it will be accessible to casual players and (2) it seems to have content you enjoy.
Although, the beta is not yet available so no one can really tell you that for sure right now.
Although I'm a bit bummed it isn't 40K, I read that this basically sums up one of the first quests for the Chaos race: "You start off attacking a mostly unarmed Empire village. You kill everyone there (some pitifully try to defend themselves). Then you mutilate the bodies. Then you load the mutilated body parts into a cannon. Finally, you fire the cannon into a nearby Empire fort that is under siege to demoralize them." Ok, I'm psyched. I'll gladly take that over killing 10 desert beetles.