Honestly both the new screenshots and the old Diablo games look equally shitty. Not everything has to look like either a Candyland board or a Marylin Manson album cover. Some original settings and more imaginative environments would probably be appreciated even more than the typical crap blizzard has already ran into the ground with all their existing IPs.
I know some VC titles are bound to sell extremely well for 7-10 dollars, for example SMB3, mario kart etc... But they could offer some package deals that would attract more buyers to the less popular titles. Maybe packs of 10 snes games for 30 dollars. Even a subscription-based system that would grant access to all VC titles for 8-10 dollars a month might work well.
...but CLEARLY Portal was the better game - more innovations and a much better ending. I enjoyed Bioshock very much but I cannot remember being this enthralled with a video game as I was when playing Portal. It felt like it was 1994 again and I was playing an FPS for the first time.
The second movie will be a TV special entitled: "The Lord of the Rings Holiday Special", in which Gandalf and Frodo visit the shire to celebrate "Life Day". Meanwhile the town of Hobbiton is being overrun by ringwraiths who try to ruin everything but eventually learn the true meaning of Life Day. Also includes Liv Tyler singing the main theme of "The Lord of the Rings".
No, the place for 'game design' grads is more likely to be the shoe department in Target.
The people who design quality games are experienced codemonkeys who work extremely long, hard hours. Not some doe-eyed frat boy who thinks big explosions would be neat-o. I suggest people read the biography on Carmack and Romero. Carmack spent hour after miserable hour doing nothing but write code for months to get out each doom and quake engine. Romero, however, was the poster child of the "gaming game-designer", he did a lot more playing than designing and towards the end of their partnership was much more of a burden than a contributer. The people who come up with innovative and fun gameplay mechanics are usually the boring, technical geeks and not hardcore players.
Ouch, at that level you are looking at at least 100+ hours of gameplay to get there.
I beat bioshock with the bad ending and had gone back and completed all the way up to the last level on the good ending when one of my friends deleted BOTH of my saves... it was depressing enough to make me not want to play it again all the way through again just to see the good ending.
I'm amused that they would go so far back to compare the loot system to Diablo just so they do not have to compare it to World of Warcraft, which is essentially, exactly the same thing.
With the success of the DS in Japan and 50 million units distibuted worldwide... why isn't there an MMORPG for the DS out yet? Integrated wifi and stylus control makes the system ripe for this genre of game!
I agree. I have gotten so used to doing all of the fine tuning that's been required whenever I buy a new PC game that I would still triple check every little related componant and setting for the game that I have installed before I fire up the.exe for the first time. Games for Windows is only good news for the young kids and the console neanderthals who cannot be bothered with tuning settings and hardware.
At one point they had him on the ground, and instead of cuffing him when they had the chance: they shot him. I don't see what the issue is here? If he is not physically complient in the first place, that is grounds for immediate arrest.
Police are trained to forcefully apprehend suspects if they are resisting. I am no expert on the subject, but I have seen an officer do some pretty clever arm-twisting and tripping maneuvers on COPS and other reality shows, let alone four officers on one kid.
In reponse to your snarky remark, yes, if the cops were too incompatent to cuff the student otherwise and they decided to beat the hell out of the kid with their fists then I personally would prefer that to a taser. Tasers are cruel instruments of torture and have even proven to be fatal in some cases.
So four cops couldn't take down one scrawny journalism student and cuff him without using a god-damn taser? I'll be the first to admit that the kid was trying to get attention by pulling a stunt, however, the actions of these cops are nothing short of barbaric and excessive. These stories of police brutality are getting FAR to common. There is a much larger percent of are police force made up of garbage like these pigs than most people would think.
Everything that you describe here is almost word-for-word what Warhammer online is aiming for, a completely dynamic server where the achievements of the faction is represented in ownership of territories.
With that said, I think the reason many people are driven to WoW is bacause it is very "carebear" friendly, even on the PvP servers. I think the majority of the players are exactly the opposite in that they do not want an unpredictable environment. I happen to be with you and want more rewarding PvP, that is why im jumping on the Warhammer bandwagon.
It's pretty clear to me that the MMORPG has not finished running its course as the leading game genre.
If were to guess I would say that whatever Blizzard's next MMORPG is will probably be the next leader in the industry because they currently hold a growing pool of 9 million customers in their grasp and have a had an extremely long time to perfect the genre. They also have the popular Starcraft and Diablo universes left to MMORPGify.
With that said, there are many alternatives releasing in the next six monthes that also have the potential to become the next big thing in the gaming world, such as Warhammer Online and Age of Conan.
Slashdot Mirror
Honestly both the new screenshots and the old Diablo games look equally shitty. Not everything has to look like either a Candyland board or a Marylin Manson album cover. Some original settings and more imaginative environments would probably be appreciated even more than the typical crap blizzard has already ran into the ground with all their existing IPs.
I know some VC titles are bound to sell extremely well for 7-10 dollars, for example SMB3, mario kart etc... But they could offer some package deals that would attract more buyers to the less popular titles. Maybe packs of 10 snes games for 30 dollars. Even a subscription-based system that would grant access to all VC titles for 8-10 dollars a month might work well.
...but CLEARLY Portal was the better game - more innovations and a much better ending. I enjoyed Bioshock very much but I cannot remember being this enthralled with a video game as I was when playing Portal. It felt like it was 1994 again and I was playing an FPS for the first time.
The second movie will be a TV special entitled: "The Lord of the Rings Holiday Special", in which Gandalf and Frodo visit the shire to celebrate "Life Day". Meanwhile the town of Hobbiton is being overrun by ringwraiths who try to ruin everything but eventually learn the true meaning of Life Day. Also includes Liv Tyler singing the main theme of "The Lord of the Rings".
I lol'd, but unfortunately for you somebody who doesn't play WoW decided to use their mods points in a WoW article's comments.
No, the place for 'game design' grads is more likely to be the shoe department in Target.
The people who design quality games are experienced codemonkeys who work extremely long, hard hours. Not some doe-eyed frat boy who thinks big explosions would be neat-o. I suggest people read the biography on Carmack and Romero. Carmack spent hour after miserable hour doing nothing but write code for months to get out each doom and quake engine. Romero, however, was the poster child of the "gaming game-designer", he did a lot more playing than designing and towards the end of their partnership was much more of a burden than a contributer. The people who come up with innovative and fun gameplay mechanics are usually the boring, technical geeks and not hardcore players.
What?!? You mean all those kids with a degree in 'Game Design' from Devry University really didn't know what they were doing?
"I think this guy should move over this way..."
"Whoa, dude. We should like, totally use that sound effect from the last level..."
"You mean this one?" *bleeerp*
"Yeah, man!" (high fives)
Ouch, at that level you are looking at at least 100+ hours of gameplay to get there.
I beat bioshock with the bad ending and had gone back and completed all the way up to the last level on the good ending when one of my friends deleted BOTH of my saves... it was depressing enough to make me not want to play it again all the way through again just to see the good ending.
You would like Fark.com, I suggest checking it out.
Aw dammit you beat me. I believe my dad has the original 3.5 floppy version of Pipe Dream in his basement. My mother was completely addicted to it.
Pipe Dream
As a recent IT grad and employee as a network admin, "The Obsolete Man" episode of the Twilight Zone comes to mind.
I'm amused that they would go so far back to compare the loot system to Diablo just so they do not have to compare it to World of Warcraft, which is essentially, exactly the same thing.
With the success of the DS in Japan and 50 million units distibuted worldwide... why isn't there an MMORPG for the DS out yet? Integrated wifi and stylus control makes the system ripe for this genre of game!
I agree. I have gotten so used to doing all of the fine tuning that's been required whenever I buy a new PC game that I would still triple check every little related componant and setting for the game that I have installed before I fire up the .exe for the first time. Games for Windows is only good news for the young kids and the console neanderthals who cannot be bothered with tuning settings and hardware.
I think I just heard the sound of the 7.6 million "Ocarnia of Time" owners go "MUUUAAAAHHHH???!?!?!?"
...well, at least the ones who haven't dropped dead from 72 hour gaming marathons...
At one point they had him on the ground, and instead of cuffing him when they had the chance: they shot him. I don't see what the issue is here? If he is not physically complient in the first place, that is grounds for immediate arrest.
Police are trained to forcefully apprehend suspects if they are resisting. I am no expert on the subject, but I have seen an officer do some pretty clever arm-twisting and tripping maneuvers on COPS and other reality shows, let alone four officers on one kid.
In reponse to your snarky remark, yes, if the cops were too incompatent to cuff the student otherwise and they decided to beat the hell out of the kid with their fists then I personally would prefer that to a taser. Tasers are cruel instruments of torture and have even proven to be fatal in some cases.
That is one of the most poorly assembled group of words I have ever seen put together.
So four cops couldn't take down one scrawny journalism student and cuff him without using a god-damn taser? I'll be the first to admit that the kid was trying to get attention by pulling a stunt, however, the actions of these cops are nothing short of barbaric and excessive. These stories of police brutality are getting FAR to common. There is a much larger percent of are police force made up of garbage like these pigs than most people would think.
"World of Warcraft 2: The Search for More Money."
It's extremely common in asian RPGs, but I'm with you, that kind thing just doesn't fly in the US or EU hardcore markets.
With that said, I think the reason many people are driven to WoW is bacause it is very "carebear" friendly, even on the PvP servers. I think the majority of the players are exactly the opposite in that they do not want an unpredictable environment. I happen to be with you and want more rewarding PvP, that is why im jumping on the Warhammer bandwagon.
If were to guess I would say that whatever Blizzard's next MMORPG is will probably be the next leader in the industry because they currently hold a growing pool of 9 million customers in their grasp and have a had an extremely long time to perfect the genre. They also have the popular Starcraft and Diablo universes left to MMORPGify.
With that said, there are many alternatives releasing in the next six monthes that also have the potential to become the next big thing in the gaming world, such as Warhammer Online and Age of Conan.