Not really. After the horrible first few months of Anarchy Online I think the general public lost all faith in the game. While it may be great now, nobody really trusts Funcom anymore.
Everquest, on the other hand, has (for the most part) been stable for years now. Despite how many bitch about EQ's terrible service, after playing for two years I can sincerely say it's a pretty solid game.
I came pretty close to buying an Advance Wars 2 guide the other day when I saw it at Wal-Mart. As has been mentioned a few times already, the big advantage is the large screenshots included. You can't really get those in a text FAQ. Unfortunately guides still cost an upwards of 15 dollars, which completely turned me off of purchasing one. For that price I could almost afford a new game.
Is that what they were going for? It sure didn't seem like it. I was under the impression they tried to take out the non-repetitive elements. There was hardly any story in the single-player game, and the completely removed the story in the multiplayer verson. It was just running around watching your characters kill things for hours. Worst 50 bucks I've ever spent.
I disagree. I don't think it's much of a hope for MMORPGs.
While I think the game itself can be great, I can't imagine the players will be bearable. Look at Battle.net. I've played every Blizzard game released for long periods of time, but I don't recall ever running into anybody very mature when playing random games. Aside from the very small groups of people that generally only play with eachother, the players I've run into have been quite childish. It might not be as big of a problem in an RTS, but it will definitely cripple a MMORPG.
I think they should have just included the adapter with the GBASP. From what I've seen it's quite inexpensive. They knew before releasing the system that people were going to be pissed off about no headphones, and they knew they'd have to make a small, cheap add-on. Sounds like their decision was purely based on making more money, not on being worried about adding more volume and angering customers.
I never played Animal Crossing, but I did play Pokemon Red/Silver/Saphire. It's not necessary at all to buy cards, the scanner, or a link cable to get a lot out of the game. Sure, it's frustrating sometimes not being able to get that elusive trade-only pokemon, but there's still tons to do and many ways to win without it. I think it's good on Nintendo's part to do things like that for the hardcore gamers who want a little something extra and can afford it. If they didn't, we'd all be sitting here saying, "Wouldn't that be cool if..?"
The use of PunkBuster(TM) Anti-Cheat software is optional and has always been provided without direct cost to our users.
They don't have to provide any kind of support. They have no official connection to any of the companies who produce the games they're trying to fix, and they're not even being paid to create their software. Whoever made the game in the first place doesn't need to create a fix either, because they don't run the servers and whoever does can deal with it by booting whoever's cheating.
People don't have that luxery in MMORPGs. They're paying to play on Ubisoft's servers, and they have absolutely no control over others who are doing the same. When a group of people hacks the game and starts running around killing everybody, the producer of the game has to do something quickly or they're quickly going to start losing customers and damage is going to be done to their world. Also, in Everquest for example, if you're high level and you get killed, you can lose hours of time. One doesn't just respawn like they do in an FPS. They can't just run off to a different server like in an FPS either, because your character is bound to the server that's currently being attacked. As a result, they had to pay to send somebody to fix it immediately which shouldn't have been necessary in the first place.
You're a bit hazy on the concept of a MMORPG. They weren't available features. It's Ubisoft's server that these guys affectively ruined for a few hours. Just like hacking a commercial website, employees had to spend extra hours fixing the problem, and (arguably) customers may have been lost.
... Except cheating in Counterstrike doesn't really have any effect except pissing people off. It doesn't cost anything to boot somebody from a Counterstrike server. These kids actually disrupted a server which people were paying to use, and employees who are being paid to work had to spend extra hours fixing it.
Not if they implement any kind of hotkey grouping system, as many RTS games have. How many units you can select at once really isn't a big deal. Hit 1, Hit Attack, Click. Rinse and repeat.
I agree that the game is friggen about micromanagement. There's no question there, and I think Blizzard did a great job with the gameplay.
I played for a long time before quitting a few months back, and from my experience there were only a few ways to effectively compete in every game you play. Sure, you could do an off the wall strategy and sometimes you might catch the guy off-guard, but I'd say the majority of the time if you just used a popular build and pumped out a single unit as fast as possible, you'd have a pretty good chance of beating somebody who tried something different. The balance simply wasn't great. I quit right around when massing sorceresses became popular after the AMS nerf, and it was incredibly difficult to beat them. Same with quite a few other units.
Plus... one of the characters dies before much of the action takes place, and meanwhile shows up in the modern era as well.
I definitely remember this being explained, but I don't remember what the story was exactly. Something quite lackluster though, if my memory serves me right.
Is Amy a lesbian?!
Last I checked, lesbians don't have sex with men in automobiles.
But in the end, Half-Life 2 is just going to be another updated fps. Sure, the improved AI might be cool, but that's not really innovation. Improved physics isn't innovating either, it's simply more updates on something that's been done a shitload of times already over the years. Same with voice acting and new faces. In the end the game is just running around with a gun shooting things, just like many other games we've already seen.
I actually just finished the game a few days ago, and I couldn't help but think the game was a little too short. There was a huge number of side-quests and places to explore, but it seems Nintendo concentrated a little too much on that instead of the main quest. It just didn't seem like it had much story compared to OOT. Only five dungeons? Come on.
Hopefully this sequel will be a little more like OOT instead of concentrating so much on open-endedness. Side-quests are great, but when the main storyline is much shorter because of it, I don't think it's such a great thing. I guess I shouldn't get my hopes up though if it's going to be anything like Majora's Mask was, which was sort of a flop.
I really enjoyed it, actually. It made the world seem huge, even though it was simply many small islands spread across the sea. Besides, one has the capability to get the teleportation song pretty early in the game.
I agree that the crowd aspect definitely seperates arcades from most other forms of gaming. Sure, nowadays arcades aren't nearly as popular as they were years ago, but I can still manage to pull a decent crowd with DDR:)
Online gaming is picking up on the excitement of crowds, however. One of the main reasons I played Warcraft III for so long was because of the observer option. I played with a group of about 20 guys, and when we had 1v1 games with 10 observers commenting on the players and having a good time, I'd say it was nearly as good as the arcade experience.
Slashdot Mirror
Crossfire! You'll get caught up in the.. Crossfire! CROSSFIRE! CROSSFIIYAHH!!!
Everquest, on the other hand, has (for the most part) been stable for years now. Despite how many bitch about EQ's terrible service, after playing for two years I can sincerely say it's a pretty solid game.
I came pretty close to buying an Advance Wars 2 guide the other day when I saw it at Wal-Mart. As has been mentioned a few times already, the big advantage is the large screenshots included. You can't really get those in a text FAQ. Unfortunately guides still cost an upwards of 15 dollars, which completely turned me off of purchasing one. For that price I could almost afford a new game.
Get off my internet.
Is that what they were going for? It sure didn't seem like it. I was under the impression they tried to take out the non-repetitive elements. There was hardly any story in the single-player game, and the completely removed the story in the multiplayer verson. It was just running around watching your characters kill things for hours. Worst 50 bucks I've ever spent.
While I think the game itself can be great, I can't imagine the players will be bearable. Look at Battle.net. I've played every Blizzard game released for long periods of time, but I don't recall ever running into anybody very mature when playing random games. Aside from the very small groups of people that generally only play with eachother, the players I've run into have been quite childish. It might not be as big of a problem in an RTS, but it will definitely cripple a MMORPG.
I think the question is "Why is the XBox so popular in the states?"
Or a professional Slashdot moderator?
The Nintendo website says the release date was March 24th. Sorry.
I think they should have just included the adapter with the GBASP. From what I've seen it's quite inexpensive. They knew before releasing the system that people were going to be pissed off about no headphones, and they knew they'd have to make a small, cheap add-on. Sounds like their decision was purely based on making more money, not on being worried about adding more volume and angering customers.
Why? It's pretty common nowadays that developers will do this. I know Blizzard's been doing it for years.
Mario 64!? You mean there's already been 63 other Mario games? What's going on here!?
:P
Cubic = Lode Runner on the Gamecube. Duh.
I never played Animal Crossing, but I did play Pokemon Red/Silver/Saphire. It's not necessary at all to buy cards, the scanner, or a link cable to get a lot out of the game. Sure, it's frustrating sometimes not being able to get that elusive trade-only pokemon, but there's still tons to do and many ways to win without it. I think it's good on Nintendo's part to do things like that for the hardcore gamers who want a little something extra and can afford it. If they didn't, we'd all be sitting here saying, "Wouldn't that be cool if..?"
The use of PunkBuster(TM) Anti-Cheat software is optional and has always been provided without direct cost to our users.
They don't have to provide any kind of support. They have no official connection to any of the companies who produce the games they're trying to fix, and they're not even being paid to create their software. Whoever made the game in the first place doesn't need to create a fix either, because they don't run the servers and whoever does can deal with it by booting whoever's cheating.
People don't have that luxery in MMORPGs. They're paying to play on Ubisoft's servers, and they have absolutely no control over others who are doing the same. When a group of people hacks the game and starts running around killing everybody, the producer of the game has to do something quickly or they're quickly going to start losing customers and damage is going to be done to their world. Also, in Everquest for example, if you're high level and you get killed, you can lose hours of time. One doesn't just respawn like they do in an FPS. They can't just run off to a different server like in an FPS either, because your character is bound to the server that's currently being attacked. As a result, they had to pay to send somebody to fix it immediately which shouldn't have been necessary in the first place.
You're a bit hazy on the concept of a MMORPG. They weren't available features. It's Ubisoft's server that these guys affectively ruined for a few hours. Just like hacking a commercial website, employees had to spend extra hours fixing the problem, and (arguably) customers may have been lost.
... Except cheating in Counterstrike doesn't really have any effect except pissing people off. It doesn't cost anything to boot somebody from a Counterstrike server. These kids actually disrupted a server which people were paying to use, and employees who are being paid to work had to spend extra hours fixing it.
Not if they implement any kind of hotkey grouping system, as many RTS games have. How many units you can select at once really isn't a big deal. Hit 1, Hit Attack, Click. Rinse and repeat.
I agree that the game is friggen about micromanagement. There's no question there, and I think Blizzard did a great job with the gameplay.
I played for a long time before quitting a few months back, and from my experience there were only a few ways to effectively compete in every game you play. Sure, you could do an off the wall strategy and sometimes you might catch the guy off-guard, but I'd say the majority of the time if you just used a popular build and pumped out a single unit as fast as possible, you'd have a pretty good chance of beating somebody who tried something different. The balance simply wasn't great. I quit right around when massing sorceresses became popular after the AMS nerf, and it was incredibly difficult to beat them. Same with quite a few other units.
Plus... one of the characters dies before much of the action takes place, and meanwhile shows up in the modern era as well.
I definitely remember this being explained, but I don't remember what the story was exactly. Something quite lackluster though, if my memory serves me right.
Is Amy a lesbian?!
Last I checked, lesbians don't have sex with men in automobiles.
Even more than a job having sex with the PSX? Ahem.
But in the end, Half-Life 2 is just going to be another updated fps. Sure, the improved AI might be cool, but that's not really innovation. Improved physics isn't innovating either, it's simply more updates on something that's been done a shitload of times already over the years. Same with voice acting and new faces. In the end the game is just running around with a gun shooting things, just like many other games we've already seen.
I actually just finished the game a few days ago, and I couldn't help but think the game was a little too short. There was a huge number of side-quests and places to explore, but it seems Nintendo concentrated a little too much on that instead of the main quest. It just didn't seem like it had much story compared to OOT. Only five dungeons? Come on.
Hopefully this sequel will be a little more like OOT instead of concentrating so much on open-endedness. Side-quests are great, but when the main storyline is much shorter because of it, I don't think it's such a great thing. I guess I shouldn't get my hopes up though if it's going to be anything like Majora's Mask was, which was sort of a flop.
I really enjoyed it, actually. It made the world seem huge, even though it was simply many small islands spread across the sea. Besides, one has the capability to get the teleportation song pretty early in the game.
Imagine a cluster of...
Oh.
I agree that the crowd aspect definitely seperates arcades from most other forms of gaming. Sure, nowadays arcades aren't nearly as popular as they were years ago, but I can still manage to pull a decent crowd with DDR :)
Online gaming is picking up on the excitement of crowds, however. One of the main reasons I played Warcraft III for so long was because of the observer option. I played with a group of about 20 guys, and when we had 1v1 games with 10 observers commenting on the players and having a good time, I'd say it was nearly as good as the arcade experience.