Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans was an adventure game.
it was axed because adventure games suck.
in order for an adventure game to be good it has to be an oscar-worthy movie. games that play out like movies suck.
Starcraft Ghost is at the very least, a stealthy adventure game, which is a hell of a lot better than a movie. If you've ever played the Hitman series, or anything remotely similar, you'll know that they are a very different kind of game from an adventure game. The same premise is there: there's a plot, and you can't deviate from it. However, the execution of just about every single one of them (and there have been MANY) has been near flawless.
To put it quite bluntly, in order to screw up this game Blizzard would have to hand us some other game. The spin they put on this announcement is complete BS.
they want to revamp the game with better graphics, they want to tweak the nipples on the protagonist, and it will be out sooner than you think, because it's going to work and work well. The only obstacle to the sales of the game are going to be the in-game screenshots, and if they are less than flawless you're going to see many many magazine articles that complain about it. Blizzard was railed for having such poor graphics in Diablo 2.
Blizzard makes good games that play well, are error-free (with a few exceptions, the big one being WoW), and are loads of fun. Oh, and the cinematics are unmatched. To fail on any of those fronts would be like making a game for another company.
That being said, the announcement does disappoint me. After WoW, I was actually looking forward to Ghost, if for no other reason than that it looks like a cross between Bloodrayne, and... something. Hmm, maybe I'll just go play that.
...After reading this article I'm actually interested in the game. When the designer actually has the guts to redesign the game completely because it isn't working out, that's a good sign. I don't think I've ever heard of a game where someone tried this, with the exception of SWG (but that was when they took a good game and completely destroyed it, so that doesn't count)
On the other hand, those of you who remember Guild Wars back in E34E (E3 for everyone) will remember that it was, quite simply, the best game ever made. Even people who don't like guild wars now will admit to that, and there are plenty of them. There were quite a few changes made to guild wars to add "life" to the game so that people wouldn't get bored with it (They had to make it harder to obtain skills, for example), and since it ran counter to the original design goal, it in a way detracted from the experience.
In any event this is a very interesting story, and I look forward to playing the demo/beta/whatever when it comes out.
All 5 of the characters who had been in my party at the end of BG, (when I was finally capable of finishing it) were dead and replaced by: a) generic hot chick. b) annoying girl and annoying elf. c) comic relief.
characters that I had offed in the first game returned just to die dramatically.
and the entire opening dungeon was "yoink! got your nose! and your wallet!" followed by an assortment of annoying fights and traps.
The game was open-ended, yes, but there was only one real solution to all the quests.
I had more fun finding innovative ways to get through Icewind Dale, and got so fed up with BG2 that I went back to it.
This is not to say that I disapprove of how much you liked it, I mean, more power to ya, but I had much more fun when there was freedom involved in it, and the game didn't play me.
note: in Baldur's Gate, there's this big underlying plot. You are the child of a dead god. *spoiler warning* However, should you so choose, you could play the game like that wasn't true, and just pretend like you're "just some other person." Playing the game as an evil character is VERY fun, especially since upon entering any town an infinite number of near-invincible guards spawns regularly, and goes after you - but only if you hang out near heavily populated areas. Not only does this create a believable atmosphere, but it adds depths to the NPC characters in the game. suddenly those guards are willing to cause civilian casualties to bring you down, and will make you look worse while doing it.
In baldur's gate 2 there is absolutely no way to play the game in any way other than the "desired path" where you accept your destiny, blah blah blah, and go about doing one thing after another until you're done. yes, you can choose what order the quests are done in, but... and this is a big but... you can't choose who you are. That, in my opinion, is what matters the most in any game, especially an RPG.
meaning if you stick two of your fingers across a car battery, you might be safe, but if you use both hands, you could die.
Not that you should try that.
Nevertheless, putting water, electricity, and flammable materials in the same space is very dangerous, and any lawyer can spin that into a multi-dodacadewhateverploillion monetary-unit-of-your-choice verdict. As the person you responded to pointed out.
The idea of a water-cooled piece of computer equipment is dangerous, and "Performance" should come second in any endeavor like that.
TAKE NOTE THAT the article says it's "liquid-cooled"...
but the slashdot headline says "water."
this is how controversies are born, ladies and gentlemen...
It's just as viable as hiring someone for your business to smooth out the distribution of your operations.
if enough people bought the card, it might devise better ways for computers to connect to each other throughout the internet, which would benefit EVERYONE. so, ideally, it's a very viable and lucrative opportunity.
I, for one, am very interested in seeing how it would work.
The fact is that as long as Hollywood has money expressed in scientific notation, they will keep producing big "blockbusters" to keep the illusion that the big-name directors, producers, and studios are still in charge.
In fact that's the only reason they're still around. All of those advertisements at the theaters? Guess what advertising does... it protects monopolies and oligopolies. That's its only purpose. It's a barrier to entry into the industry, and the "indy" directors only have difficulty getting into theatres because of it.
Movies have already been completely and totally destroyed by the computer and video game industry. Every single movie you can see is outdone by a mediocre game. Granted, there are old classic movies which are still amazing - must-see movies like "It's a Wonderful Life" can't be replaced with a game, but that's because they're stories. Movies don't add anything to printed stories. Interaction does.
Hollywood is dying, and the only reason we'll mourn its absence is because the lack of vice on the news will make for some boring TV dinners.
the single biggest problem with the paladin is this: it is not possible for me, a skilled paladin, to melee in end-game pp or in raids. (wow, that's 100% of the end-game content!)
oh, sure, it's POSSIBLE, but it is far too easy to take a paladin out of the fight. all you have to do to negate their damage is to walk away. and if I start casting a spell, if counterspell hits me I'm out of the fight permanently. because in the 12 seconds of complete spell lockdown, I have 0 defense.
and in raids? being in melee combat only accomplishes one thing: I die faster.
don't give me any of this "learn to play" bullshit. I have PLAYED my paladin with the INTENT of enjoying it and it doesn't work. When I play a paladin from level 1-59 and suddenly I am no longer capable of doing ANYTHING that I did from levels 1-59 and I can only play the game as a 100% support character (whereas previously I was 50% support) there is something wrong.
Democracy fails because of one thing: "None of us is as dumb as all of us." every single democratic decision is DOOMED to fail.
it always develops into a two-party system because people quickly figure out that they can form an Oligopoly of political power just by agreeing to focus their efforts on a few key issues at a time. And then the entire other 50% HAS no choice but to directly oppose the behemoth that is the stupid people in a large group.
take a look at the democratic and republican parties. right now they've devolved to the point where they're more concerned about preserving their political control of issues than actually dealing with them.
example: abortion.
the vast majority of americans believe that abortion is mean, and that women should have the right to choose. (by vast I mean over 60%)
simply put, that's the majority view.
now, the republicans say they work for family values and want to take measures to discourage abortion. that's vague enough to gain favor with the people without actually opposing their views.
the democrats claim that they are fighting for less government involvement and the woman's right to choose. clearly what the public is ready to accept.
now, the actual PROBLEM is that women are having abortions, for some reason. note that nobody out of these two parties has ANY plan to stop whatever is causing this problem.
instead, they CREATE an artificial controversy, making it look like you have to join one of these two sides and duke it out or your side (whichever one that is) will lose.
Thus, the two parties abuse this issue at the same time to leech voters. and the end result is that people have a real hard time deciding, and the voter turnout gets closer and closer to a dead heat tie.
When that happens, ONLY the extremists' votes really matter, because everyone else's votes get canceled out.
the potion thing was designed so that 1v1 pvp would be nonexistant. You can swing away but it will take hours to kill someone and ultimately (s)he with the most potions wins.
in RFO, there is no one-shotting. That is probably going to be the big selling point for the game.
In all fairness though, there are far too many MMO's out there for this to work. RFO will be heavily populated, after all it is a Korean MMO and for some reason people are willing to shell out cash for it, and more power to them, but it's not for me or most of you guys who read slashdot.
I got sick of WoW when my pally hit 60 and I was forbidden to participate in melee combat ever again (it does nothing but decrease my hp), and I have no desire to pay money for an MMO based around grinding to get to the fun part that -*gasp* isn't there.
We've got two examples here from people in jobs working for lawyers.
Now, lawyers are not hired because they are nice to people, or because they are polite and chivalrous. They are hired for being direct when necessary, devious and cunning when not required to be direct. They prize their punctuation, spelling, and grammar, and their ability to piss off masses of people by doing very little.
Of COURSE these emails are going to help their career. Show us a programmer that "accidentally" sent the entire company a link to goatse and got hired for it, THEN we'll be surprised.
Slashdot Mirror
*cough* Warcraft 3 has an editor. you can do that already by creating your own custom models.
even if the custom model is a big floating purple box labeled "Battlecruiser".
Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans was an adventure game.
it was axed because adventure games suck.
in order for an adventure game to be good it has to be an oscar-worthy movie.
games that play out like movies suck.
Starcraft Ghost is at the very least, a stealthy adventure game, which is a hell of a lot better than a movie. If you've ever played the Hitman series, or anything remotely similar, you'll know that they are a very different kind of game from an adventure game. The same premise is there: there's a plot, and you can't deviate from it. However, the execution of just about every single one of them (and there have been MANY) has been near flawless.
To put it quite bluntly, in order to screw up this game Blizzard would have to hand us some other game. The spin they put on this announcement is complete BS.
they want to revamp the game with better graphics, they want to tweak the nipples on the protagonist, and it will be out sooner than you think, because it's going to work and work well. The only obstacle to the sales of the game are going to be the in-game screenshots, and if they are less than flawless you're going to see many many magazine articles that complain about it. Blizzard was railed for having such poor graphics in Diablo 2.
Blizzard makes good games that play well, are error-free (with a few exceptions, the big one being WoW), and are loads of fun. Oh, and the cinematics are unmatched. To fail on any of those fronts would be like making a game for another company.
That being said, the announcement does disappoint me. After WoW, I was actually looking forward to Ghost, if for no other reason than that it looks like a cross between Bloodrayne, and... something. Hmm, maybe I'll just go play that.
And it's a real shame. I played it when the game was released and it was actually fun.
Every craftable item is useful.
Anything you need, another player can make.
You don't have to be some sort of gunman, swordsman, or fighter to have fun.
Can you believe they trashed that?
"Last Man Standing Co-Op"? ...That sounds like FUN!
...After reading this article I'm actually interested in the game. When the designer actually has the guts to redesign the game completely because it isn't working out, that's a good sign. I don't think I've ever heard of a game where someone tried this, with the exception of SWG (but that was when they took a good game and completely destroyed it, so that doesn't count)
On the other hand, those of you who remember Guild Wars back in E34E (E3 for everyone) will remember that it was, quite simply, the best game ever made. Even people who don't like guild wars now will admit to that, and there are plenty of them. There were quite a few changes made to guild wars to add "life" to the game so that people wouldn't get bored with it (They had to make it harder to obtain skills, for example), and since it ran counter to the original design goal, it in a way detracted from the experience.
In any event this is a very interesting story, and I look forward to playing the demo/beta/whatever when it comes out.
Free. Karma. Points.
I never failed to get bored playing BG2.
The game began with this:
All 5 of the characters who had been in my party at the end of BG, (when I was finally capable of finishing it) were dead and replaced by:
a) generic hot chick.
b) annoying girl and annoying elf.
c) comic relief.
characters that I had offed in the first game returned just to die dramatically.
and the entire opening dungeon was "yoink! got your nose! and your wallet!" followed by an assortment of annoying fights and traps.
The game was open-ended, yes, but there was only one real solution to all the quests.
I had more fun finding innovative ways to get through Icewind Dale, and got so fed up with BG2 that I went back to it.
This is not to say that I disapprove of how much you liked it, I mean, more power to ya, but I had much more fun when there was freedom involved in it, and the game didn't play me.
note: in Baldur's Gate, there's this big underlying plot. You are the child of a dead god. *spoiler warning* However, should you so choose, you could play the game like that wasn't true, and just pretend like you're "just some other person." Playing the game as an evil character is VERY fun, especially since upon entering any town an infinite number of near-invincible guards spawns regularly, and goes after you - but only if you hang out near heavily populated areas. Not only does this create a believable atmosphere, but it adds depths to the NPC characters in the game. suddenly those guards are willing to cause civilian casualties to bring you down, and will make you look worse while doing it.
In baldur's gate 2 there is absolutely no way to play the game in any way other than the "desired path" where you accept your destiny, blah blah blah, and go about doing one thing after another until you're done. yes, you can choose what order the quests are done in, but... and this is a big but... you can't choose who you are. That, in my opinion, is what matters the most in any game, especially an RPG.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrocute
100 V measured across the human heart can kill.
meaning if you stick two of your fingers across a car battery, you might be safe, but if you use both hands, you could die.
Not that you should try that.
Nevertheless, putting water, electricity, and flammable materials in the same space is very dangerous, and any lawyer can spin that into a multi-dodacadewhateverploillion monetary-unit-of-your-choice verdict. As the person you responded to pointed out.
The idea of a water-cooled piece of computer equipment is dangerous, and "Performance" should come second in any endeavor like that.
TAKE NOTE THAT
the article says it's "liquid-cooled"...
but the slashdot headline says "water."
this is how controversies are born, ladies and gentlemen...
They must have run the experiment when Enceladus was on the other side of saturn. :)
I, for one, can't wait to entertain my holodeck addiction.
but they were playing the game before, it's just now that they can join a like-minded guild.
Better than "Blizzard CEO Lays Gay Guild to Rest," that's for sure.
"SOE - Socially Dangerous Element."
WoW!!!
That's such a hilarious coincidence.
Ever wanted to have a map or a guide on your lap instead of open in another window on your computer?
There are at least a few games where I preferred getting the strat guide to printing out something off the internet. (but I HAVE done both)
It's just as viable as hiring someone for your business to smooth out the distribution of your operations.
if enough people bought the card, it might devise better ways for computers to connect to each other throughout the internet, which would benefit EVERYONE. so, ideally, it's a very viable and lucrative opportunity.
I, for one, am very interested in seeing how it would work.
"...People who horde mobs that drop..."
I see this spelling error all the time, and just to point it out so that people realize it, this is NOT the correct word you're looking for.
it should read "...People who hoard mobs that drop..."
The fact is that as long as Hollywood has money expressed in scientific notation, they will keep producing big "blockbusters" to keep the illusion that the big-name directors, producers, and studios are still in charge.
In fact that's the only reason they're still around. All of those advertisements at the theaters? Guess what advertising does... it protects monopolies and oligopolies. That's its only purpose. It's a barrier to entry into the industry, and the "indy" directors only have difficulty getting into theatres because of it.
Movies have already been completely and totally destroyed by the computer and video game industry. Every single movie you can see is outdone by a mediocre game. Granted, there are old classic movies which are still amazing - must-see movies like "It's a Wonderful Life" can't be replaced with a game, but that's because they're stories. Movies don't add anything to printed stories. Interaction does.
Hollywood is dying, and the only reason we'll mourn its absence is because the lack of vice on the news will make for some boring TV dinners.
"Researchers Make Gasoline From Cow Dung"
BULLSHIT.
Note that our friend here has mastered the first art of creating a secret backdoor! ...deny that it's there!
No matter, we can find the back door quite easily.
*A loud explosion blows a huge chunk out of the backside of vista*
And that concludes our lesson for today in how NOT to make your backdoor seen.
yes, but if they're wrong and they say it won't hit us and it does and the world blows up they'll get sued and that would be bad.
I quit WoW *because* of the talent review.
the single biggest problem with the paladin is this:
it is not possible for me, a skilled paladin, to melee in end-game pp or in raids. (wow, that's 100% of the end-game content!)
oh, sure, it's POSSIBLE, but it is far too easy to take a paladin out of the fight. all you have to do to negate their damage is to walk away. and if I start casting a spell, if counterspell hits me I'm out of the fight permanently. because in the 12 seconds of complete spell lockdown, I have 0 defense.
and in raids? being in melee combat only accomplishes one thing: I die faster.
don't give me any of this "learn to play" bullshit. I have PLAYED my paladin with the INTENT of enjoying it and it doesn't work. When I play a paladin from level 1-59 and suddenly I am no longer capable of doing ANYTHING that I did from levels 1-59 and I can only play the game as a 100% support character (whereas previously I was 50% support) there is something wrong.
Sony? build MMO support into the PS3?
YA THINK?
"Democracy doesn't work because of greed."
replace Democracy with Capitalism, noob.
Democracy has nothing to do with greed.
Democracy fails because of one thing: "None of us is as dumb as all of us."
every single democratic decision is DOOMED to fail.
it always develops into a two-party system because people quickly figure out that they can form an Oligopoly of political power just by agreeing to focus their efforts on a few key issues at a time. And then the entire other 50% HAS no choice but to directly oppose the behemoth that is the stupid people in a large group.
take a look at the democratic and republican parties. right now they've devolved to the point where they're more concerned about preserving their political control of issues than actually dealing with them.
example: abortion.
the vast majority of americans believe that abortion is mean, and that women should have the right to choose. (by vast I mean over 60%)
simply put, that's the majority view.
now, the republicans say they work for family values and want to take measures to discourage abortion. that's vague enough to gain favor with the people without actually opposing their views.
the democrats claim that they are fighting for less government involvement and the woman's right to choose. clearly what the public is ready to accept.
now, the actual PROBLEM is that women are having abortions, for some reason. note that nobody out of these two parties has ANY plan to stop whatever is causing this problem.
instead, they CREATE an artificial controversy, making it look like you have to join one of these two sides and duke it out or your side (whichever one that is) will lose.
Thus, the two parties abuse this issue at the same time to leech voters. and the end result is that people have a real hard time deciding, and the voter turnout gets closer and closer to a dead heat tie.
When that happens, ONLY the extremists' votes really matter, because everyone else's votes get canceled out.
the potion thing was designed so that 1v1 pvp would be nonexistant. You can swing away but it will take hours to kill someone and ultimately (s)he with the most potions wins.
in RFO, there is no one-shotting. That is probably going to be the big selling point for the game.
In all fairness though, there are far too many MMO's out there for this to work. RFO will be heavily populated, after all it is a Korean MMO and for some reason people are willing to shell out cash for it, and more power to them, but it's not for me or most of you guys who read slashdot.
I got sick of WoW when my pally hit 60 and I was forbidden to participate in melee combat ever again (it does nothing but decrease my hp), and I have no desire to pay money for an MMO based around grinding to get to the fun part that -*gasp* isn't there.
We've got two examples here from people in jobs working for lawyers.
Now, lawyers are not hired because they are nice to people, or because they are polite and chivalrous. They are hired for being direct when necessary, devious and cunning when not required to be direct. They prize their punctuation, spelling, and grammar, and their ability to piss off masses of people by doing very little.
Of COURSE these emails are going to help their career. Show us a programmer that "accidentally" sent the entire company a link to goatse and got hired for it, THEN we'll be surprised.