So I'm at work today, and I hadn't checked games.slashdot.org in a while and I go there. I see some fairly positive press on the game that I play; Age of Conan. Then I see there are 50-some-odd comments. After what I've been through in defending AoC across this internet, I asked myself, "Dare I? Dare I read this thread?"
Well, dare I did, and once again I just shook my head. I was completely unsurprised to see that the entire thread was largely negative towards the game, just like every other comment-driven site on the Net. I have come to the realization that it is now chic to dislike this game, and that is the most unfortunate thing of all. It's not just the negativity that irks me. I mean, I get it that some people don't like the fundamental aspects of the game. It's 90% of the other writers out there that post in this hyperbolic fasion and absolutely 100% subjective. Saying things like 'worst game ever' and 'UI is totally sucky' is just an opinion. Others I read are straight up lies. I mean, absolute fabrications about certain aspects of the game. I just don't get it. I don't get the animosity. I don't understand why people care to hate this game so much, if that makes any sense. It boggles my mind.
Anyway, I want to tell people who are interested in this game to please give it a shot. Try to not be blinded by the almost constant stream of negativity that you read around the internet by players with a chip on their shoulder. This game has a graphical depth that is unparalleled. The music at times is haunting, and the combat system is visceral and dynamic. The fundamentals of this game are sound and unique, and over time, I am confident it will continue to be rewarding as fixes and content get added to the game. It is a good game. It is a unique game. Nothing out there compares to it's combat system, and class system. I look forward to seeing it flourish once again when the time comes and people meander back to see what's new. I will let the game speak for itself, but it's up to you to come in with an open mind, and not clouded by someone else's loud, obnoxious opinion.
I don't like you, gobbo. You're too smart, and you're making me feel bad about dedicating weeks of my life to being able to play "Blackened" from Metallica on Expert in Rock Band.
... is it bad that my 2 year old's first word was 'DA-TAR!' (guitar)
Exactly! I'd wager that it was video games that got most of us computer professionals (IT, programmers, etc) into the world of computing in the first place.
Maybe I'd had been bothered but I would certainly try not to make an ass out of myself in front of my fans.
No joke. I mean, if anything this would help sell a few of their old albums. It's freaking publicity that they otherwise wouldn't have gotten! The last time someone did this it was...
...oh shit...
umm... Can someone please check on Metallica and see how they are doing? I hear they have a song on this game. We must remain vigilant.
There was/is nothing like a mid-air rail shot of a guy in-between grapples (tarzan-like) and seeing not only the flag spring out of the dead body, but also the rune he was carrying. It was like a firecracker. Absolutely awesome.
The same goes for competitors to WOW. I laugh at the claims "we aren't here to compete with WOW" or "we don't consider WOW competition" . This is almost like an admission of failure. If your not going to aim high why bother taking the shot? This is especially true for known names who are releasing new games.
I just wanted to hit upon this one bit of your otherwise nicely written post. The other companies say things like "We aren't here to compete with WoW", not as an admision of failure, but as an attempt to portray their game as being unique to WoW. This is an important distinction that some companies feel must be made if they want to compete with WoW since players aren't likely to go to a game that is simply a WoW-clone. Why should they when they are currently playing WoW?
The most perfect Guitar Hero songs is old Metallica music. I'm talking pre-Black Album. I cannot think of a more perfect blend of lead guitar and rhythm that would go perfectly well with Co-op mode.
(my local BB has signs up all over saying, "WE HAVE THEM!" and the signs are actually getting dusty they've been up for so long...)
Give me a break. It ain't easy opening the store at 8AM after an all-nighter consisting of water bongs and Chee-tos while pondering the futility of life with my friends. That sign just ain't a priority, man.
As much as I hate to say it, Sony has no chance, and the fact that they have to do a price drop on their console this early in its lifespan especially when they're taking a huge loss on it already, proves it.
Why is this Insightful? What does it prove exactly? It doesn't prove anything! "They have no chance".. come on! That's just straight uninformed opinion. There's nothing "insightful" at all about that. Any blowhard who reads the summary at the top can say, "Oh yeah... they're screwed. No chance at all this billion dollar company is going to win now." Got any stats to back that up? Maybe you have some inside information, perhaps? Can you cite an example as to why you think this? Give us something more that will warrant your +5 Insightful comment so I can once again believe in my/. post filter. Jesus.
Aside from that, Sony could be making the right move here. I can't speak for anyone but myself, but if that thing drops a hundred bucks I'll start buying it. Easily. That would in turn make me buy games that I wouldn't have bought before. Why not a PSP while I'm at it to interface it with my new PS3. My point is, there is nothing wrong with bringing your product down to a competitive level once the initial Must-Have-Shiny-Object-Immediately market peters out.
It seems like for some, Sony is damned if they do, damned if they don't at this point.
Anyway, every now and then I think for a few seconds, "hey, I should really get that working again, yea, that'd be cool", but quickly afterwards, I realise that when I did get it working I don't actually have any use for it. Sure I could make it a "file server", or even a web server, but that is just, I don't know, beneath it somehow, like a once great scientist reduced to clearing paper jams from a printer.
I just wanted to point out the beauty of this paragraph. I also was an Amiga user back in the day. It was the single reason why I made computers my hobby/career last has lasted to this day. Incidently, I also read the GP's eulogy back then! However, when I think about purchasing an old one on ebay to relive those magical moments, I can't quite bring myself to do it, and I never understood why until I read your above passage. You are 100% correct. It does seem like an injustice somehow. As if it will make me more sad than happy to go back and play some of those old games. The entire time I would be thinking about what could have been.
Anyway, bravo, mate.
As a side note, I really like how this particular thread is chock full of relatively low Slashdot IDs. You can almost map out the age group that is interested in this particular topic by this number.
I have to add to this that while I am no expert either at this stuff, I can't help but think that after iTunes initial launch, people were building up their music libraries from scratch (hence the huge sales). After a couple of years, I would imagine most people have collected a fair amount of music and have a decent sized library. They are now in 'Update Mode', as they make one or two purchases a week.
I go to a bar in Houston called 'Richmond Arms' every Wed night. There is a plaque over the front door that I look at every time I am sitting there amongst my friends with a cool pint of Guinness in front of me.
The sign reads: "There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn. --Samuel Johnson
Maybe Google knows they make enough money on search and that they just want to release good, useful, user-friendly products that are miles better than the competition, even if they aren't profitable.
*slaps your face*
SNAP OUT OF IT! Don't you understand!? They're here to kill us all! ALL OF US!
I was going to spend the time in this thread just using up moderation points since this is a very interesting topic for me. Instead, I see this post which is nothing but troll fodder because Anarchy Online needs to be defended, by God.
You see, I have always wondered why fantasy is so damn pervasive amongst the MMOs out there. I mean, I've been playing MUDs since 1992 (started on BatMUD). I can say, with all the certainty that is possible to muster on a message board, that I have killed my fair share of freaking Orcs. I have cast my share of magic missiles and fireballs. I have weilded my share of Vorpal swords, and +4 str clubs, and +2 Dex daggers. I have won every kind of God damned armor you can think of. Banded mail. Chain Mail. Plate Mail. Mithril Mail. Leather. Padded Leather. Cloth. Weave. Hemp. Whatever... If clothes can be made from a material, I will tell you that I've worn it in an online video game. I have see every kind of vista imaginable. I have delved into every kind of dungeon, or crypt, or hole in the ground. Walked through every sort of Elvin city, or Dwarven caverns, or...
I think you get my point...
I have done it all! There is absolutely nothing new you can bring to the table concerning a fantasy setting that I haven't seen before! I challenege you, in the name of all that is Holy to give me something new in this genre.
Then there is Anarchy Online. I am not going to defend their pathetic launch, or the state of the game back then. What I am going to defend is the ingenuity of it _now_. First of all, when it came out, it overestimated the intelligence of the average gamer. I'm not saying that to insult anyone, I'm saying that that's what it did. It attempted to explain, in scientific theory WHY things happened.
Let me give you a few examples. They would describe spell effects as "clouds of nanites.". For those unfamiliar, just picture millions of tiny robots working in unison that appear as a cloud to the naked eye. These nanites would be programed to do various things. Want to heal someone? The 'Doctor' would control these nanites to enter the bloodstream, and increase platelette generation which would help close wounds, etc. Paralyzation? Same deal. The nanites would enter the pores of the skin and arrest the nervous system until their charge expired (think: length of paralyzation). The list goes on and on. This was the problem with the game. It was hard for people to grasp! The "spells" were cryptic with this sort of language, and there were hundreds of them. This game was freaking hard. Top it off with a skill-based system with 200 levels, and you have yourself an unbelievably complicated game.
Tradeskills were the same way. You had to gather materials, and literally read tons of manuals (which you bought) which described creating weapons and armor in very scientific theoretical ways. It wasn't like, 'Get 3 copper and make bars and hit this button, and you'll get a copper vest.'. It was more like 'Get this plasma coil and connect it with this sort of metal, and this particular paste, and blah blah blah'.
Not to mention...
1) They were the first game to introduce instanced dungeons.
2) First game to have linkable items.
3) First game to have random quest generators.
4) First sci-fi MMO (already mentioned that)
5) First game to be truly skill based
So... next time you start slamming Anarchy Online, you have to understand that Funcom had balls. Too big of balls, in fact. That the game hard to figure out, didn't spoonfeed it's audience, and had a horrible launch, Anarchy Online (and Funcom) got the most unfair rap imaginable. Since that time, they have 'dumbed up' the game. The descriptions on the "spells" are now "This heals for +n points of damage" and stuff. They took out all the scientific dialogue and made the game easier to digest. Players who play it currently can probably help me out here. All I know is that it's much easier to get into now, and the bugs are fixed.
I look forward to their newest game Age of Conan with glee, because I know they will take chances, and bring something new to the table. Trust me on this!
Ok, I grew up in arcades when I was a wee tot, so I know my way around them pretty well. I went from Space Invaders, to Pac Man, to Pengo, to Dragon's Lair, to Karate Champ, to Street Fighter craze, to Killer Instinct, to.... you get the idea.
Video games were designed to play against other people. Even in the early days. Don't believe me? Think about it. Even though in those very early games you didn't specifically play against other people, you actually were indirectly. We were all playing to get the Hi-Scores. You were playing against the person who got the previous Hi-score, right? Remember how badass it was to get the top Hi-Score? That meant that your initials (and score) displayed top center all the time!
Video Game designed evolved to match players against other players more efficiently. They got pretty good at it too. Street Fighter II was not the most popular game because of it's single-player mode, afterall. Every modern arcade had a vs. mode, or at the very least a co-op mode.
So, what's my point?
People think that modern graphics advanced to the point that going to the arcade was essentially wasting money. A modern PC/console had better graphics (not to mention higher ress) than the crap at the arcade, so what was the point of leaving your house? But that's really not the entire story. People neglect to mention that multiplayer games had made major strides in PC gaming. Games like Quake brought multi-player to a whole new level. MMOGs like Ultima/Everquest made games like Cadash seem dated and boring.
There was one thing that was missing though, and this was in multi-player fighting games. PCs, or even consoles, could never _quite_ do it properly. Also, nothing beats the arcade controls/buttons when it comes to multi-player fighting games. I'm sorry, but I just never quite got the hang of fighting games using a console controller, nevermind a bloody keyboard/flight stick.
Now, here is what I think arcades should have done to get the one-up on PCs/Consoles. Since graphics will be at least par across both PCs/consoles/arcades, then they should take the multiplayer aspect to the next level.
Think about all the acades, like Tilt for instance (which is an arcade I see everywhere in Texas) all linked up via a nice WAN/LAN. If you walk in, and see an empty Soul Edge machine, you can jack in the queue, and play some other bloke standing at a Soul Edge machine at another location! All players, across all locations are now linked together.
Now, think about a giant electronic board that shows all the Hi-Scores across the _entire_ chain of Tilt stores (it could even be available to look at via the www while sitting at home). You can see who has the most wins in a row in Street Fighter 4. The fastest lap in . The highest score in Michael Jackson's Moonwalker... err... you get the idea.
I mean, Doesn't Golden Tee do something like this?
Anyway, I could go on and on. Arcades rooms really should start linking up their stores, and the arcade machines themselves, and drop all Hi-Scores across the organization into one DB accessable via a badass screen.
Arcades should go back to their roots. Then I would love to go back to the arcades and do a little Hi-Score Hunting!
Well, okay. You're right. Noone is fleecing anyone when they charge 250.00 per ticket. But the original poster does have a point, and I'd like to take it a step further.
What I have always said was that the 'music industry' is just that: an industry. And like most industries, eventually they die, or wither as the case may be.
If you think about it, the "music industry" was started with the invention of sellable media (ie. records). Once people found out they don't have to go to concerts to hear music, and just had to buy this album... BOOM... an industry was born.
That's great, but the problem is that technology is allowing us to evolve away from the needs for physical media to listen to music, just like it was technology that allowed people to listen to music w/o having to guy to a concert. The success of the iPod made that clear to anyone who has half a clue. P2P is simply a result of this evolutionary path.
Of course the music industry is trying everything they can to still make money. They are using technology to fight technology. DRMs, and copy protection. They are even begging the government to stop what is a tidal wave of piracy. [ed. If you think they are right to go to the government for help, think about this: the government does not guarantee a profit margin. See my point above.]
Now, I won't go on and on about this, but I will simply point out something that is very obvious to me. Musicians simply will not be millionairs in about 30 years. I honestly can't see it. The very nature of network technology (faster speeds, higher compression, etc) will preclude this. The writing is on the wall for musicians, and everyone knows it. The multi-million dollar musicians today will be the last products of an economic golden era that supported this.
I went back to SWG after having played it when it came out. The cities were bustling with people. Theed was truly a hang out. I remember walking into the tavern, and there would be so many people dancing, playing instruments, giving table dances, etc, that you couldn't even find a seat.
I went back a few months ago, and saw that everywhere was a ghost town. It was flat out sad. The taverns were empty, save for a few NPC. The city streets were deserted. I stood in front of the once bustling Starport in Theed and could hear my own voice echoing across the pavement.
The problem now is that the servers need to merge. Plain and simple. The problem that Sony faces, is that the design of the game prohibits this. When a game dwindles in population, merging servers is the only way to cluster the remaining people back together so they can actually feel like they are playing an MMOG. Sony, however, cannot do this easily. With the (awesome) ability to place your own house anywhere, and create your own player-made cities, this brings to the front an entirely unique problem.
If you merge servers, what do you do about the cities that overlap? What about people's houses? Who's house takes precidence? Should we just convert everyone's property into items in their bank and have them start all over? Would this piss anyone off?
So yeah, SWG is in deperate need to merge their player base! If they can figure out a way to cut their servers by half (at least), and get people back together (and i'm not talking just together in one particular city), then I'll definitely give it another shot. As it stands now, it's just a sad place to run around in.
They said that the game starts at 60. That is such a crock. There are five instances at 60 that are dooable: Scholomance, Stratholme, Black Rock Spire, and Upper Blackrock Spire (which is really the same zone, different parts), and Dire Maul.
There is also Molten Core, and the new Blackwing Lair, both of which normal players like me will never see since they require 40 people and assloads of organization.
But look...
The point I'm trying to make is, someone did the paper-napkin math and came to the conclusion that Blizzard makes 50+ million dollars a month. That is a crap load. That is plenty to hire a slew of people and start cranking out content.
Let me compare this to EverQuest 2 (and no, I am not endorsing EQ2. Just using it as a comparison). Since WoW opened, we've gotten 3 things: Dire Maul, Blackwing Lair, and Battlegrounds. All of which are very cool and well-designed, make no bones about it. But thats it aside from the tweaks and such that are a given in any MMOG.
EQ2 on the other hand came out just 1 month before it. They have had two addon packs, and an announced complete expansion comming out in Sept. that raises the level-cap from 50-60 amongst a lot of new lands/mobs/items/blah/blah/blah. They have a fraction of the subscriber base that WoW has.
I just don't know what they are doing with all the money, but for now, I'm leaving until they expand the damn game!!
Slashdot Mirror
Nothing like looking at 4" tits in glorious 480x272 ress.
So I'm at work today, and I hadn't checked games.slashdot.org in a while and I go there. I see some fairly positive press on the game that I play; Age of Conan. Then I see there are 50-some-odd comments. After what I've been through in defending AoC across this internet, I asked myself, "Dare I? Dare I read this thread?"
Well, dare I did, and once again I just shook my head. I was completely unsurprised to see that the entire thread was largely negative towards the game, just like every other comment-driven site on the Net. I have come to the realization that it is now chic to dislike this game, and that is the most unfortunate thing of all. It's not just the negativity that irks me. I mean, I get it that some people don't like the fundamental aspects of the game. It's 90% of the other writers out there that post in this hyperbolic fasion and absolutely 100% subjective. Saying things like 'worst game ever' and 'UI is totally sucky' is just an opinion. Others I read are straight up lies. I mean, absolute fabrications about certain aspects of the game. I just don't get it. I don't get the animosity. I don't understand why people care to hate this game so much, if that makes any sense. It boggles my mind.
Anyway, I want to tell people who are interested in this game to please give it a shot. Try to not be blinded by the almost constant stream of negativity that you read around the internet by players with a chip on their shoulder. This game has a graphical depth that is unparalleled. The music at times is haunting, and the combat system is visceral and dynamic. The fundamentals of this game are sound and unique, and over time, I am confident it will continue to be rewarding as fixes and content get added to the game. It is a good game. It is a unique game. Nothing out there compares to it's combat system, and class system. I look forward to seeing it flourish once again when the time comes and people meander back to see what's new. I will let the game speak for itself, but it's up to you to come in with an open mind, and not clouded by someone else's loud, obnoxious opinion.
You must be a VC.
If I had mod points you would get every single one of them, my friend.
I don't like you, gobbo. You're too smart, and you're making me feel bad about dedicating weeks of my life to being able to play "Blackened" from Metallica on Expert in Rock Band.
Exactly! I'd wager that it was video games that got most of us computer professionals (IT, programmers, etc) into the world of computing in the first place.
"Give me the Satan worshipping family down the street. The ones with the good albums."
++Bill Hicks
No joke. I mean, if anything this would help sell a few of their old albums. It's freaking publicity that they otherwise wouldn't have gotten! The last time someone did this it was...
...oh shit...
umm... Can someone please check on Metallica and see how they are doing? I hear they have a song on this game. We must remain vigilant.
I second!
There was/is nothing like a mid-air rail shot of a guy in-between grapples (tarzan-like) and seeing not only the flag spring out of the dead body, but also the rune he was carrying. It was like a firecracker. Absolutely awesome.
I just wanted to hit upon this one bit of your otherwise nicely written post. The other companies say things like "We aren't here to compete with WoW", not as an admision of failure, but as an attempt to portray their game as being unique to WoW. This is an important distinction that some companies feel must be made if they want to compete with WoW since players aren't likely to go to a game that is simply a WoW-clone. Why should they when they are currently playing WoW?
I think (and I could be wrong here) that that is exactly what he is trying to do with Tabula Rasa, innit?
Oh, I get it... this is the obligatory Richard-Garriot-Sucks thread. I would think it would be further down. My bad.
The most perfect Guitar Hero songs is old Metallica music. I'm talking pre-Black Album. I cannot think of a more perfect blend of lead guitar and rhythm that would go perfectly well with Co-op mode.
++Om
Give me a break. It ain't easy opening the store at 8AM after an all-nighter consisting of water bongs and Chee-tos while pondering the futility of life with my friends. That sign just ain't a priority, man.
++Om
Why is this Insightful? What does it prove exactly? It doesn't prove anything! "They have no chance".. come on! That's just straight uninformed opinion. There's nothing "insightful" at all about that. Any blowhard who reads the summary at the top can say, "Oh yeah... they're screwed. No chance at all this billion dollar company is going to win now." Got any stats to back that up? Maybe you have some inside information, perhaps? Can you cite an example as to why you think this? Give us something more that will warrant your +5 Insightful comment so I can once again believe in my
Aside from that, Sony could be making the right move here. I can't speak for anyone but myself, but if that thing drops a hundred bucks I'll start buying it. Easily. That would in turn make me buy games that I wouldn't have bought before. Why not a PSP while I'm at it to interface it with my new PS3. My point is, there is nothing wrong with bringing your product down to a competitive level once the initial Must-Have-Shiny-Object-Immediately market peters out.
It seems like for some, Sony is damned if they do, damned if they don't at this point.
++Om
I just wanted to point out the beauty of this paragraph. I also was an Amiga user back in the day. It was the single reason why I made computers my hobby/career last has lasted to this day. Incidently, I also read the GP's eulogy back then! However, when I think about purchasing an old one on ebay to relive those magical moments, I can't quite bring myself to do it, and I never understood why until I read your above passage. You are 100% correct. It does seem like an injustice somehow. As if it will make me more sad than happy to go back and play some of those old games. The entire time I would be thinking about what could have been.
Anyway, bravo, mate.
As a side note, I really like how this particular thread is chock full of relatively low Slashdot IDs. You can almost map out the age group that is interested in this particular topic by this number.
++Om
I have to add to this that while I am no expert either at this stuff, I can't help but think that after iTunes initial launch, people were building up their music libraries from scratch (hence the huge sales). After a couple of years, I would imagine most people have collected a fair amount of music and have a decent sized library. They are now in 'Update Mode', as they make one or two purchases a week.
Could be, at least.
++Om
I go to a bar in Houston called 'Richmond Arms' every Wed night. There is a plaque over the front door that I look at every time I am sitting there amongst my friends with a cool pint of Guinness in front of me.
The sign reads: "There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn. --Samuel Johnson
++Om
*slaps your face*
SNAP OUT OF IT! Don't you understand!? They're here to kill us all! ALL OF US!
++Om
I was going to spend the time in this thread just using up moderation points since this is a very interesting topic for me. Instead, I see this post which is nothing but troll fodder because Anarchy Online needs to be defended, by God.
You see, I have always wondered why fantasy is so damn pervasive amongst the MMOs out there. I mean, I've been playing MUDs since 1992 (started on BatMUD). I can say, with all the certainty that is possible to muster on a message board, that I have killed my fair share of freaking Orcs. I have cast my share of magic missiles and fireballs. I have weilded my share of Vorpal swords, and +4 str clubs, and +2 Dex daggers. I have won every kind of God damned armor you can think of. Banded mail. Chain Mail. Plate Mail. Mithril Mail. Leather. Padded Leather. Cloth. Weave. Hemp. Whatever... If clothes can be made from a material, I will tell you that I've worn it in an online video game. I have see every kind of vista imaginable. I have delved into every kind of dungeon, or crypt, or hole in the ground. Walked through every sort of Elvin city, or Dwarven caverns, or...
I think you get my point...
I have done it all! There is absolutely nothing new you can bring to the table concerning a fantasy setting that I haven't seen before! I challenege you, in the name of all that is Holy to give me something new in this genre.
Then there is Anarchy Online. I am not going to defend their pathetic launch, or the state of the game back then. What I am going to defend is the ingenuity of it _now_. First of all, when it came out, it overestimated the intelligence of the average gamer. I'm not saying that to insult anyone, I'm saying that that's what it did. It attempted to explain, in scientific theory WHY things happened.
Let me give you a few examples. They would describe spell effects as "clouds of nanites.". For those unfamiliar, just picture millions of tiny robots working in unison that appear as a cloud to the naked eye. These nanites would be programed to do various things. Want to heal someone? The 'Doctor' would control these nanites to enter the bloodstream, and increase platelette generation which would help close wounds, etc. Paralyzation? Same deal. The nanites would enter the pores of the skin and arrest the nervous system until their charge expired (think: length of paralyzation). The list goes on and on. This was the problem with the game. It was hard for people to grasp! The "spells" were cryptic with this sort of language, and there were hundreds of them. This game was freaking hard. Top it off with a skill-based system with 200 levels, and you have yourself an unbelievably complicated game.
Tradeskills were the same way. You had to gather materials, and literally read tons of manuals (which you bought) which described creating weapons and armor in very scientific theoretical ways. It wasn't like, 'Get 3 copper and make bars and hit this button, and you'll get a copper vest.'. It was more like 'Get this plasma coil and connect it with this sort of metal, and this particular paste, and blah blah blah'.
Not to mention...
1) They were the first game to introduce instanced dungeons. 2) First game to have linkable items. 3) First game to have random quest generators. 4) First sci-fi MMO (already mentioned that) 5) First game to be truly skill based
So... next time you start slamming Anarchy Online, you have to understand that Funcom had balls. Too big of balls, in fact. That the game hard to figure out, didn't spoonfeed it's audience, and had a horrible launch, Anarchy Online (and Funcom) got the most unfair rap imaginable. Since that time, they have 'dumbed up' the game. The descriptions on the "spells" are now "This heals for +n points of damage" and stuff. They took out all the scientific dialogue and made the game easier to digest. Players who play it currently can probably help me out here. All I know is that it's much easier to get into now, and the bugs are fixed.
I look forward to their newest game Age of Conan with glee, because I know they will take chances, and bring something new to the table. Trust me on this!
++Om
Ok, I grew up in arcades when I was a wee tot, so I know my way around them pretty well. I went from Space Invaders, to Pac Man, to Pengo, to Dragon's Lair, to Karate Champ, to Street Fighter craze, to Killer Instinct, to
Video games were designed to play against other people. Even in the early days. Don't believe me? Think about it. Even though in those very early games you didn't specifically play against other people, you actually were indirectly. We were all playing to get the Hi-Scores. You were playing against the person who got the previous Hi-score, right? Remember how badass it was to get the top Hi-Score? That meant that your initials (and score) displayed top center all the time!
Video Game designed evolved to match players against other players more efficiently. They got pretty good at it too. Street Fighter II was not the most popular game because of it's single-player mode, afterall. Every modern arcade had a vs. mode, or at the very least a co-op mode.
So, what's my point?
People think that modern graphics advanced to the point that going to the arcade was essentially wasting money. A modern PC/console had better graphics (not to mention higher ress) than the crap at the arcade, so what was the point of leaving your house? But that's really not the entire story. People neglect to mention that multiplayer games had made major strides in PC gaming. Games like Quake brought multi-player to a whole new level. MMOGs like Ultima/Everquest made games like Cadash seem dated and boring.
There was one thing that was missing though, and this was in multi-player fighting games. PCs, or even consoles, could never _quite_ do it properly. Also, nothing beats the arcade controls/buttons when it comes to multi-player fighting games. I'm sorry, but I just never quite got the hang of fighting games using a console controller, nevermind a bloody keyboard/flight stick.
Now, here is what I think arcades should have done to get the one-up on PCs/Consoles. Since graphics will be at least par across both PCs/consoles/arcades, then they should take the multiplayer aspect to the next level.
Think about all the acades, like Tilt for instance (which is an arcade I see everywhere in Texas) all linked up via a nice WAN/LAN. If you walk in, and see an empty Soul Edge machine, you can jack in the queue, and play some other bloke standing at a Soul Edge machine at another location! All players, across all locations are now linked together.
Now, think about a giant electronic board that shows all the Hi-Scores across the _entire_ chain of Tilt stores (it could even be available to look at via the www while sitting at home). You can see who has the most wins in a row in Street Fighter 4. The fastest lap in . The highest score in Michael Jackson's Moonwalker... err... you get the idea.
I mean, Doesn't Golden Tee do something like this?
Anyway, I could go on and on. Arcades rooms really should start linking up their stores, and the arcade machines themselves, and drop all Hi-Scores across the organization into one DB accessable via a badass screen.
Arcades should go back to their roots. Then I would love to go back to the arcades and do a little Hi-Score Hunting!
++Om
Well, okay. You're right. Noone is fleecing anyone when they charge 250.00 per ticket. But the original poster does have a point, and I'd like to take it a step further.
What I have always said was that the 'music industry' is just that: an industry. And like most industries, eventually they die, or wither as the case may be.
If you think about it, the "music industry" was started with the invention of sellable media (ie. records). Once people found out they don't have to go to concerts to hear music, and just had to buy this album... BOOM... an industry was born.
That's great, but the problem is that technology is allowing us to evolve away from the needs for physical media to listen to music, just like it was technology that allowed people to listen to music w/o having to guy to a concert. The success of the iPod made that clear to anyone who has half a clue. P2P is simply a result of this evolutionary path.
Of course the music industry is trying everything they can to still make money. They are using technology to fight technology. DRMs, and copy protection. They are even begging the government to stop what is a tidal wave of piracy. [ed. If you think they are right to go to the government for help, think about this: the government does not guarantee a profit margin. See my point above.]
Now, I won't go on and on about this, but I will simply point out something that is very obvious to me. Musicians simply will not be millionairs in about 30 years. I honestly can't see it. The very nature of network technology (faster speeds, higher compression, etc) will preclude this. The writing is on the wall for musicians, and everyone knows it. The multi-million dollar musicians today will be the last products of an economic golden era that supported this.
++Om
... when you read this article?
9.06 - The Death Of Eric Cartman episode
Linda (Butter's Mom): Butters, what on earth are you doing??
Butters: Well I think... I'm like the kid in that movie! I-I'm seeing dead people!
Linda: Dead people?
Stephen (Butter's Dad): Who's seeing dead people?
Butters: Me! I saw a ghost!
Stephen: Now, Butters, there's no such thing as ghosts.
Butters: But I saw him! Just as plain as I'm seein' you right now!
Stephen: Butters, these things happen all the time. You've got a very active little brain and your mind was just playing tricks on you.
Butters: Ruh, really?
Stephen: Yeess.
Butters: So... so it was just... it was... just my ima... magination then?
Stephen: That's right. There's no reason to be afraid of things that aren't real. There's plenty of real things to be scared of. Like super-AIDS.
Butters: Huh s-s-super-AIDS?
Stephen: That's right. A new form of AIDS which is resistant to drugs. Just one teaspoon of super-AIDS in your butt and you're dead in three years.
Butters: AAAH! [drops his flashlight] Oh Jesus.
Stephen: So now you feel better? Ghosts don't exist and there's nothing to be afraid of. Except the super-AIDS.
++Om
I went back to SWG after having played it when it came out. The cities were bustling with people. Theed was truly a hang out. I remember walking into the tavern, and there would be so many people dancing, playing instruments, giving table dances, etc, that you couldn't even find a seat.
I went back a few months ago, and saw that everywhere was a ghost town. It was flat out sad. The taverns were empty, save for a few NPC. The city streets were deserted. I stood in front of the once bustling Starport in Theed and could hear my own voice echoing across the pavement.
The problem now is that the servers need to merge. Plain and simple. The problem that Sony faces, is that the design of the game prohibits this. When a game dwindles in population, merging servers is the only way to cluster the remaining people back together so they can actually feel like they are playing an MMOG. Sony, however, cannot do this easily. With the (awesome) ability to place your own house anywhere, and create your own player-made cities, this brings to the front an entirely unique problem.
If you merge servers, what do you do about the cities that overlap? What about people's houses? Who's house takes precidence? Should we just convert everyone's property into items in their bank and have them start all over? Would this piss anyone off?
So yeah, SWG is in deperate need to merge their player base! If they can figure out a way to cut their servers by half (at least), and get people back together (and i'm not talking just together in one particular city), then I'll definitely give it another shot. As it stands now, it's just a sad place to run around in.
++Om
They said that the game starts at 60. That is such a crock. There are five instances at 60 that are dooable: Scholomance, Stratholme, Black Rock Spire, and Upper Blackrock Spire (which is really the same zone, different parts), and Dire Maul.
There is also Molten Core, and the new Blackwing Lair, both of which normal players like me will never see since they require 40 people and assloads of organization.
But look...
The point I'm trying to make is, someone did the paper-napkin math and came to the conclusion that Blizzard makes 50+ million dollars a month. That is a crap load. That is plenty to hire a slew of people and start cranking out content.
Let me compare this to EverQuest 2 (and no, I am not endorsing EQ2. Just using it as a comparison). Since WoW opened, we've gotten 3 things: Dire Maul, Blackwing Lair, and Battlegrounds. All of which are very cool and well-designed, make no bones about it. But thats it aside from the tweaks and such that are a given in any MMOG.
EQ2 on the other hand came out just 1 month before it. They have had two addon packs, and an announced complete expansion comming out in Sept. that raises the level-cap from 50-60 amongst a lot of new lands/mobs/items/blah/blah/blah. They have a fraction of the subscriber base that WoW has.
I just don't know what they are doing with all the money, but for now, I'm leaving until they expand the damn game!!
++Om
Tom wanted to help people kick drugs and alcohol.
Yeah, best of luck with that.
"I would kill everyone in this room [tent] for a drop of sweet beer."
++Homer
++Om