How much thought went into designing that hockey puck mouse or the current one ovoid one? Both of those were, in my mind, defective products, dangerous to the health of their users and productivity killers in the office. Apple has often chosen to go with flashy designs, sometimes at the expense of the lifespan of the product or the convenience of the user. How many burnt out, overheated "cubes", dangerous mice, broken "sunflower" arms or un/difficult to upgrade products will it take for the consumer base to realise they are not being well served?
Apple has a history of poor design. That is why their products make up such a small share of the market. Hopefully they will be able to make the transition to linux distro and continue the excellent work they have done with BSD in the past few years.
I think that live action role playing Pong would be more fun than online Pong. Pong just isn't the same without the impact of the ball against your bar.
There is at least one post apocalptic MMO in the early stages of development, but I remember reading that it probably wasn't gonna make it to market. And of course Interplay still is sitting on the online rights to Fallout, so that would be the license of choice for a post apocalptic RPG.
I play Star Wars Galaxies and a lot of folks who have left the game lamented the non-existence of a Shadowrun MMORPG. Shadowrun is all ready to go as a MMORPG from a plot/story backround, even taking place mostly in a single city, Seattle. Anyone who played the game can tell you that it had really good skill sets, and the Matrix system was awesomely well designed and would easily translate to a MMO. Also, although it has a heavy magic element, it takes place in a postmodern, urban society, with huge tech elements. There is a stunning lack of good Sci-Fi MMORPG's in development, and not everyone wants to hack and slash in their spare time. Some of us would rather use automatic weapons than two handed swords, chummer.
I can't believe that Mechwarrior or Battletech isn't on this list. Engines alerady exist for online Mech Combat (instanced battles). All that is needed is to fill in the details of FASA's gritty "outside the mech" world. I would love to build a full Mercenary company and fight bad ass coordinated Mech Battles. The only problem I would see is lag, lag, lag.
I have been waiting for a sequel or remake of this game for years. The best of the Civ series if you ask me. The graphics were top notch, AI was good, awesome diplomacy, customisable units, great movies, etc... Top Notch!
The problem is that the Dev team is not doing their job in a wayt that serves the end users right now. They have limited resources and they have chosen to spend them on other, possibly less critical, systems at this time. The amount of programming and art resources that have gone into the Jedi profession, and are going into the Dancer/Musician professsions is a misuse of valuable resources. At this point it is difficult to imagine them getting this right.
I noticed. They have a very aggressive policy of ignoring and destroying evidence of player concerns about signifigant issues in game. Every one of their Dev team is like a little PR person saying "Everything's Great!"
Star Wars was seen as the license that couldn't fail to bring in 1 million players, and they are probably down to the low 200k or even high 100+K players now. After a year of playing, becoming leader of a major guild, going to the Fanfest to meet with the Devs, I can safely say that SWG is apparently a hugely understaffed, poorly managed MMORPG. The response time from the Devs for serious gameplay issues is astounding and there are numerous bugs that date from launch that are still making life crappy for everyone.
The absolute inability for SOE to hire enough coders to do the job that they have obligated themselves to do by releasing a MMORPG this complex is shocking. There seems to be a total disconnect between their perceptions of how the game should work and how it is currently working. At fanfest, one of the Devs would repeatedly tell players who felt that there was an imbalance in the game mechanics that favoured/disfavoured one profession over another "You are not playing right" or "You have a role to fill, that's what you do." He seemed totally agog that players might not do exactly as the Devs intended them to do. A very naive statement, if you ask me.
Many, many of us are simply waiting for WOW at this point. Hopefully future MMO developers can learn from SOE's mistake.
It is one of the worst games I hve played this year. Hands down. The total lack of quality control in this product alone is shocking, and the interface is so awkward that it is difficult to believe that they did any internal testing or market research before the release. I fear that the console market may start being touched by the "unfinished game launch" scenario that plagues the PC gaming industry.
Despearation makes people or companies do stupid things. Like realise that their next game is unfinished, unplayable, hugely expensive and that they need a big "opening weekend" before players catch on and kill it with word of mouth, in order to recoup their investment.
We got Driv3r in the mail Saturday, and boy did it suck. Shading issues, clipping, poorly envisioned and executed code, terrible animations for charaters, the list goes on. The worst part was that we wouldn't be able to get the piece of crap in the mail until Monday, thus annhiliating our chance of any new gaming fun this weekend. I cannot believe that any reviewing body or publication would not advise ATARI to open up that mine where they dumped all of those E.T. cartridges and top it off with Driv3r.
Actually, I believe that only the core engine was 90% complete. They still have a tremendousamount od scripting and art resources to get done, for Fallout 3.
As to Troika's games Arcanum and The Temple of Elemental Evil. Both of these games had serious flaws that were indicitive of poor product testing. Arcanum had an awkward interface and the storyline of the game seemed tacked on to most folks. The Temple of Elemental Evil actually contained a bug at launch that could REFORMAT YOUR HARD DRIVE or something along those lines, under certain circumstances. I have no idea what is wrong in their development cycle, but t doesn't bode well for Troika in the long term either.
That doesn't totally suck and has the magic storylines of the original series. I love turn based games, but frankly, they are going the way of the dodo and I want Fallout 3 to succeed in the mss market so it can stay alive.
A Fallout MMO would be hard to do. Key to the whole Fallout feeling is being the Chosen One and wandering the wilderness alone, ala Mad Max. I don't want to play a fallout game with folks spamming "selling power armour, 100k caps!" in the center of every town.
Fallout was all about the mystery of discovering a wonderfully crafted, funny, post apocalyptic world, alone. Bring the magic back one more time folks.
Hell yeah, they need to make Fallout 3, I would play a Fallout MMO in like 4-5 years, when the market is right, but Interplay needs to make use of the valuable Fallout license ASAP, and save their sorry butts. I can't endorse the idea of making Fallout 3 enough. I just replayed Fallout 1 cause it kicks so much ass. Even had a great ending.
Second Life is not the issue. I don't like Second Life, but I am referring to the fact that this seller was selling SWG and EVE online goods. On the SWG server I play, at least one major greif oriented guild is basically propped up by one individual's mother's credit card. I am very much against the selling of online goods if it is in violation of the TOS of the game/virtual world involved. Selling Second Life goods is fine, but maybe if the seller involved wants legitimacy as a business, he should stick to dealing in Second Life virtual goods/currency only.
I didn't want to suggest that all PvP players are Sociopaths. I play SWG am the leader of a large guildm and I PvP most of the time I am online. I think that PvP, is the best part of any online game, at any level, from the competition for resources and guild influence on a server to one on one fights between high end players.
I have observed, however, over the past few years of online gaming, that there is a small portion of the PvP population that behaves in a manner analagous to a sociopath. That is other players, even their guildmates, don't exist for them in a real sense anymore, they become pieces on a chessboard to manipulate and use for your own enjoyment/advancement.
I am not concerned about greifing. The guild I helped found and run has a no greifing/exploiting policy, and I still comfortably rank in the top 20 of my server's PvP players. I manage to be incredibly successful in the PvP arena by being smarter, better prepared, and cooler under pressure than some 13 year old L33T kiddie. I manage to do this without forgetting that the people I play with and against are actual people, sitting at keyboards.
Unfortunately for MMO's there are people who may have problems in their regular life. They may be helpless fat kids who only have power in an online world. They may be unsuccessful in their jobs or personal life. I just know that there is a small but vocal and influental portion of any PvP oriented MMO who seem to be absolutely out of control, who have left all social responsibilities behind when they log on. And online worlds suffer for it.
I think that the illusion of anonymity that maves folks, especially in PvP, act differently than they would in real life is a two edged sword. On one hand it creates personal and group dynamics that are vastly different thatn the ones that people form in the real world. But, on the other hand it encourages a kind of Sociopathic behavior in which players fail to realise that the other people playing with them are actual people and instead, objectify them. This allows some players, who may not be in the best mental health, to essentially ignore that other people are not objects. This cannot be good in the long term for either a MMO or for the player who has essentially become a Sociopath.
The behavior of these players is often the most disruptive to other players, as they are incapable of being aware of the consequences of their actions. In my experience, these folks tend to band together, as they become socially ostracised from groups of "normal, non-sociopathic people", and form groups and alliances of players who's sole function is to inconvenience/annoy/grief other people.
It is true that City of Heroes does this one thing well, but as a MMO player, I have never seen so many of my pals try out a game and be so dissatisfied immediately after launch. I know lots of folks who didn't make it past their first week of gameplay, due to total boredom and the pathetic chat system.
IMHO the chat system is one of the key building blocks of any online game, since basically online games do 2 things.
1) allow people to manipulate objects in a database via an interesting interface.
2) allow people to talk to each other.
looks like one A$$hat in the Virtual Sales industry has been both Pwnd and Griefed by someone with even less morals. The one thing that MMORPGs have taught me is that in the absence of consequences, someone will always be willing to sink lower at the expense of others. Not that I think this will stop folks from selling Virtual Goods or change anything.
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How much thought went into designing that hockey puck mouse or the current one ovoid one? Both of those were, in my mind, defective products, dangerous to the health of their users and productivity killers in the office. Apple has often chosen to go with flashy designs, sometimes at the expense of the lifespan of the product or the convenience of the user. How many burnt out, overheated "cubes", dangerous mice, broken "sunflower" arms or un/difficult to upgrade products will it take for the consumer base to realise they are not being well served? Apple has a history of poor design. That is why their products make up such a small share of the market. Hopefully they will be able to make the transition to linux distro and continue the excellent work they have done with BSD in the past few years.
Just think about the world changing possibilities of this guys. Dare to dream!
I think that live action role playing Pong would be more fun than online Pong. Pong just isn't the same without the impact of the ball against your bar.
There is at least one post apocalptic MMO in the early stages of development, but I remember reading that it probably wasn't gonna make it to market. And of course Interplay still is sitting on the online rights to Fallout, so that would be the license of choice for a post apocalptic RPG.
I play Star Wars Galaxies and a lot of folks who have left the game lamented the non-existence of a Shadowrun MMORPG. Shadowrun is all ready to go as a MMORPG from a plot/story backround, even taking place mostly in a single city, Seattle. Anyone who played the game can tell you that it had really good skill sets, and the Matrix system was awesomely well designed and would easily translate to a MMO. Also, although it has a heavy magic element, it takes place in a postmodern, urban society, with huge tech elements. There is a stunning lack of good Sci-Fi MMORPG's in development, and not everyone wants to hack and slash in their spare time. Some of us would rather use automatic weapons than two handed swords, chummer.
I can't believe that Mechwarrior or Battletech isn't on this list. Engines alerady exist for online Mech Combat (instanced battles). All that is needed is to fill in the details of FASA's gritty "outside the mech" world. I would love to build a full Mercenary company and fight bad ass coordinated Mech Battles. The only problem I would see is lag, lag, lag.
I have been waiting for a sequel or remake of this game for years. The best of the Civ series if you ask me. The graphics were top notch, AI was good, awesome diplomacy, customisable units, great movies, etc... Top Notch!
Let's hope Troika gets a shot at this one in the end.
The problem is that the Dev team is not doing their job in a wayt that serves the end users right now. They have limited resources and they have chosen to spend them on other, possibly less critical, systems at this time. The amount of programming and art resources that have gone into the Jedi profession, and are going into the Dancer/Musician professsions is a misuse of valuable resources. At this point it is difficult to imagine them getting this right.
The balance issues have nothing to do with faction. The imbalances apply to the core combat systems.
I noticed. They have a very aggressive policy of ignoring and destroying evidence of player concerns about signifigant issues in game. Every one of their Dev team is like a little PR person saying "Everything's Great!"
Star Wars was seen as the license that couldn't fail to bring in 1 million players, and they are probably down to the low 200k or even high 100+K players now. After a year of playing, becoming leader of a major guild, going to the Fanfest to meet with the Devs, I can safely say that SWG is apparently a hugely understaffed, poorly managed MMORPG. The response time from the Devs for serious gameplay issues is astounding and there are numerous bugs that date from launch that are still making life crappy for everyone. The absolute inability for SOE to hire enough coders to do the job that they have obligated themselves to do by releasing a MMORPG this complex is shocking. There seems to be a total disconnect between their perceptions of how the game should work and how it is currently working. At fanfest, one of the Devs would repeatedly tell players who felt that there was an imbalance in the game mechanics that favoured/disfavoured one profession over another "You are not playing right" or "You have a role to fill, that's what you do." He seemed totally agog that players might not do exactly as the Devs intended them to do. A very naive statement, if you ask me. Many, many of us are simply waiting for WOW at this point. Hopefully future MMO developers can learn from SOE's mistake.
And don't forget Fountain of Dreams.
No, it does not. You have to have an existing Sony Station account, though.
I imagine he has no idea how many legitimate uses a P2P application has, especially inside large corporate networks?
It is one of the worst games I hve played this year. Hands down. The total lack of quality control in this product alone is shocking, and the interface is so awkward that it is difficult to believe that they did any internal testing or market research before the release. I fear that the console market may start being touched by the "unfinished game launch" scenario that plagues the PC gaming industry.
Despearation makes people or companies do stupid things. Like realise that their next game is unfinished, unplayable, hugely expensive and that they need a big "opening weekend" before players catch on and kill it with word of mouth, in order to recoup their investment. We got Driv3r in the mail Saturday, and boy did it suck. Shading issues, clipping, poorly envisioned and executed code, terrible animations for charaters, the list goes on. The worst part was that we wouldn't be able to get the piece of crap in the mail until Monday, thus annhiliating our chance of any new gaming fun this weekend. I cannot believe that any reviewing body or publication would not advise ATARI to open up that mine where they dumped all of those E.T. cartridges and top it off with Driv3r.
Actually, I believe that only the core engine was 90% complete. They still have a tremendousamount od scripting and art resources to get done, for Fallout 3. As to Troika's games Arcanum and The Temple of Elemental Evil. Both of these games had serious flaws that were indicitive of poor product testing. Arcanum had an awkward interface and the storyline of the game seemed tacked on to most folks. The Temple of Elemental Evil actually contained a bug at launch that could REFORMAT YOUR HARD DRIVE or something along those lines, under certain circumstances. I have no idea what is wrong in their development cycle, but t doesn't bode well for Troika in the long term either.
That doesn't totally suck and has the magic storylines of the original series. I love turn based games, but frankly, they are going the way of the dodo and I want Fallout 3 to succeed in the mss market so it can stay alive. A Fallout MMO would be hard to do. Key to the whole Fallout feeling is being the Chosen One and wandering the wilderness alone, ala Mad Max. I don't want to play a fallout game with folks spamming "selling power armour, 100k caps!" in the center of every town. Fallout was all about the mystery of discovering a wonderfully crafted, funny, post apocalyptic world, alone. Bring the magic back one more time folks.
Hell yeah, they need to make Fallout 3, I would play a Fallout MMO in like 4-5 years, when the market is right, but Interplay needs to make use of the valuable Fallout license ASAP, and save their sorry butts. I can't endorse the idea of making Fallout 3 enough. I just replayed Fallout 1 cause it kicks so much ass. Even had a great ending.
Second Life is not the issue. I don't like Second Life, but I am referring to the fact that this seller was selling SWG and EVE online goods. On the SWG server I play, at least one major greif oriented guild is basically propped up by one individual's mother's credit card. I am very much against the selling of online goods if it is in violation of the TOS of the game/virtual world involved. Selling Second Life goods is fine, but maybe if the seller involved wants legitimacy as a business, he should stick to dealing in Second Life virtual goods/currency only.
I didn't want to suggest that all PvP players are Sociopaths. I play SWG am the leader of a large guildm and I PvP most of the time I am online. I think that PvP, is the best part of any online game, at any level, from the competition for resources and guild influence on a server to one on one fights between high end players. I have observed, however, over the past few years of online gaming, that there is a small portion of the PvP population that behaves in a manner analagous to a sociopath. That is other players, even their guildmates, don't exist for them in a real sense anymore, they become pieces on a chessboard to manipulate and use for your own enjoyment/advancement. I am not concerned about greifing. The guild I helped found and run has a no greifing/exploiting policy, and I still comfortably rank in the top 20 of my server's PvP players. I manage to be incredibly successful in the PvP arena by being smarter, better prepared, and cooler under pressure than some 13 year old L33T kiddie. I manage to do this without forgetting that the people I play with and against are actual people, sitting at keyboards. Unfortunately for MMO's there are people who may have problems in their regular life. They may be helpless fat kids who only have power in an online world. They may be unsuccessful in their jobs or personal life. I just know that there is a small but vocal and influental portion of any PvP oriented MMO who seem to be absolutely out of control, who have left all social responsibilities behind when they log on. And online worlds suffer for it.
I think that the illusion of anonymity that maves folks, especially in PvP, act differently than they would in real life is a two edged sword. On one hand it creates personal and group dynamics that are vastly different thatn the ones that people form in the real world. But, on the other hand it encourages a kind of Sociopathic behavior in which players fail to realise that the other people playing with them are actual people and instead, objectify them. This allows some players, who may not be in the best mental health, to essentially ignore that other people are not objects. This cannot be good in the long term for either a MMO or for the player who has essentially become a Sociopath. The behavior of these players is often the most disruptive to other players, as they are incapable of being aware of the consequences of their actions. In my experience, these folks tend to band together, as they become socially ostracised from groups of "normal, non-sociopathic people", and form groups and alliances of players who's sole function is to inconvenience/annoy/grief other people.
It is true that City of Heroes does this one thing well, but as a MMO player, I have never seen so many of my pals try out a game and be so dissatisfied immediately after launch. I know lots of folks who didn't make it past their first week of gameplay, due to total boredom and the pathetic chat system. IMHO the chat system is one of the key building blocks of any online game, since basically online games do 2 things. 1) allow people to manipulate objects in a database via an interesting interface. 2) allow people to talk to each other.
looks like one A$$hat in the Virtual Sales industry has been both Pwnd and Griefed by someone with even less morals. The one thing that MMORPGs have taught me is that in the absence of consequences, someone will always be willing to sink lower at the expense of others. Not that I think this will stop folks from selling Virtual Goods or change anything.