While I think Guild Wars also looks awesome, it's not really a MMO in the same way as EQ or WoW. In practice it works the same way as Diablo II, just with more limitations on how you enter games, and with a big 3D town with stores and the like instead of the chat rooms.
For a large company, at least, your preference is achievable, and profitable. Blizzard does this. They know that the most important thing for sales of a game is initial release, yes. That's quite obvious.
Still, a huge part of what creates fan loyalty, and hence increased sales for the next game, is their incredible post-release record. They patch bugs like no one else. They release expansion packs that revitalize their games, but are by no means mandatory to continue enjoying them. In the cases of StarCraft and Diablo II, they even added fairly major features in VERY post-release patches. I think it was 1.07 or 1.08 for SC, and of course it was 1.10 for Diablo II. The D2 patch was big enough news to actually cause a massive spike in game sales, starting even before it was finished.
I'd guess that Blizzard's excellent support and follow-up on their games is an indispensible part of their success. But still, you DO need to get it right on the first try, as well. Post-release support is useful is that it keeps the game fun even as it ages. It doesn't help when a game is no good to start with.
Blizzard's prior record makes me wonder how incredibly good their support will be for an MMORPG.
True. You must remember that Sony releases numbers not in decimal format, but in a proprietary format. That way, only people who buy their special number reader (the PSP) can read their true values.
As others have said, it doesn't really fit into the mold of traditional MMORPGs. If I understand it right, the towns are what you'd expect. Filled with people and shop owners. But then, to fight mosters and level, you make a party and go into an instance together. In essence, you're joining a Diablo II game. The big town is really just like the bNet chat area.
Still, I like it. Just wanted to make sure that was clear.
I'm an absolutely rabid Blizzard fan, and yes, they usually delay the hell out of games, and I like it. But this is an exception to that rule.
WoW is most definitely not going to release at a 'finished' state, at least not by the conceptions of the developers. This list of things they plan to add in patches is fairly massive, and is growing as things that they wanted to include simply get pushed back by more important things.
That said, it seems to me that they're under quite a bit of pressure from Vivendi right now...I wonder if Blizzard has a say at all. Still, from what I've heard (mostly from biased people, I freely admit) WoW is more polished than EQ2 anyway.
I thought Powell was just as guilty of the Big Lie strategy than Stern. He repeatedly said that the fines were fair and had nothing to do with Stern's popularity. Then, afterwards, he admits that Stern is just a poster boy.
On the Beauty and the Beast DVD release (which belongs to my younger sister) there's a game that actually involves timing. On slow DVD players, like mine, it doesn't even work -- and it's required to access many special features! (Unless you have a method to cheat around it, which said crappy player doesn't.) I got to the stuff using the computer, but that was terrible design.
(Disclaimer: I know the above was a joke. It was funny.) You know, there actually is already a Star Wars Monopoly game, and a very nice one at that. Episode 1, though. No Greedo.
And because all Slashdotters seem to realize this, I assume that next time something similar is posted about Windows, we'll have 75% of the posts there pointing that out too!
You're a moron. I'm pretty much exactly the average weight for my height. My ideal temperature is about 68, wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Above 75, I get really uncomfortable. Adjust for additional pieces of clothing.
Usually, a...er...larger person is more likely to feel colder, not warmer, because they usually have much slower metabolisms than a skinny person. It's the skin that gets cold first, not the fat-insulated internals.
In the atmosphere, it's difficult to deal with, because the concentration of it is so low. There's just not enough of the stuff in any one location to do much about it. If you create it without dispersing it, that's far easier to deal with.
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While I think Guild Wars also looks awesome, it's not really a MMO in the same way as EQ or WoW. In practice it works the same way as Diablo II, just with more limitations on how you enter games, and with a big 3D town with stores and the like instead of the chat rooms.
For a large company, at least, your preference is achievable, and profitable. Blizzard does this. They know that the most important thing for sales of a game is initial release, yes. That's quite obvious.
Still, a huge part of what creates fan loyalty, and hence increased sales for the next game, is their incredible post-release record. They patch bugs like no one else. They release expansion packs that revitalize their games, but are by no means mandatory to continue enjoying them. In the cases of StarCraft and Diablo II, they even added fairly major features in VERY post-release patches. I think it was 1.07 or 1.08 for SC, and of course it was 1.10 for Diablo II. The D2 patch was big enough news to actually cause a massive spike in game sales, starting even before it was finished.
I'd guess that Blizzard's excellent support and follow-up on their games is an indispensible part of their success. But still, you DO need to get it right on the first try, as well. Post-release support is useful is that it keeps the game fun even as it ages. It doesn't help when a game is no good to start with.
Blizzard's prior record makes me wonder how incredibly good their support will be for an MMORPG.
True. You must remember that Sony releases numbers not in decimal format, but in a proprietary format. That way, only people who buy their special number reader (the PSP) can read their true values.
As others have said, it doesn't really fit into the mold of traditional MMORPGs. If I understand it right, the towns are what you'd expect. Filled with people and shop owners. But then, to fight mosters and level, you make a party and go into an instance together. In essence, you're joining a Diablo II game. The big town is really just like the bNet chat area.
Still, I like it. Just wanted to make sure that was clear.
I'm an absolutely rabid Blizzard fan, and yes, they usually delay the hell out of games, and I like it. But this is an exception to that rule.
WoW is most definitely not going to release at a 'finished' state, at least not by the conceptions of the developers. This list of things they plan to add in patches is fairly massive, and is growing as things that they wanted to include simply get pushed back by more important things.
That said, it seems to me that they're under quite a bit of pressure from Vivendi right now...I wonder if Blizzard has a say at all. Still, from what I've heard (mostly from biased people, I freely admit) WoW is more polished than EQ2 anyway.
This is Slashdot. Seeing nipples is a big deal for people here.
I thought Powell was just as guilty of the Big Lie strategy than Stern. He repeatedly said that the fines were fair and had nothing to do with Stern's popularity. Then, afterwards, he admits that Stern is just a poster boy.
On the Beauty and the Beast DVD release (which belongs to my younger sister) there's a game that actually involves timing. On slow DVD players, like mine, it doesn't even work -- and it's required to access many special features! (Unless you have a method to cheat around it, which said crappy player doesn't.) I got to the stuff using the computer, but that was terrible design.
(Disclaimer: I know the above was a joke. It was funny.) You know, there actually is already a Star Wars Monopoly game, and a very nice one at that. Episode 1, though. No Greedo.
Yeah. There's no way that sexual advertising would appeal to the people that say Nintendo games are bad because they aren't bloody enough.
Members of Congress are supposed to swing with public opinion. That's what it means to be a good representative.
Hate to nitpick (clearly, that's a lie), but Final Fantasy predates Doom by six years. Four if you only go by the American release.
He was on Leno last night. I was laughing. It was pretty bad. I couldn't tell what he was singing.
And because all Slashdotters seem to realize this, I assume that next time something similar is posted about Windows, we'll have 75% of the posts there pointing that out too!
Wait, why are you laughing?
My opinion is that the in-game reaction was okay, except that a lot of it was directed at messing up the game, not the character.
However, the pages-long tirades on how the developers are offensive? Absolutely mindless.
Hah, funny. 145lbs, 5'8".
It's nice to hear that to you $200 is 'next to nothing.' Thank you for the ego boost.
You're a moron. I'm pretty much exactly the average weight for my height. My ideal temperature is about 68, wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Above 75, I get really uncomfortable. Adjust for additional pieces of clothing.
Usually, a...er...larger person is more likely to feel colder, not warmer, because they usually have much slower metabolisms than a skinny person. It's the skin that gets cold first, not the fat-insulated internals.
Seriously. Rochester is rough. Incredibly unpredictable weather, too.
I personally think that suits and dress shirts look quite ridiculous.
If you have to use something like knoppix to fix your system then you're probably the cause of the break in the first place.
So if your system breaks, it's what, automagic?
You do realize that by this logic the only solution is to kill everybody?
In the atmosphere, it's difficult to deal with, because the concentration of it is so low. There's just not enough of the stuff in any one location to do much about it. If you create it without dispersing it, that's far easier to deal with.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with CARBON. In fact, the carbon goes into sugars. You know what humans can do with that? They can eat it.
Presidential campaign staff, apparently!