Tuesday, March 31, 2009
The Long Lost Prince of Persia Review!
Hey just wanted to start this off by saying how genuinely sorry I am that this review took all most 3 months to get together, from playing the game to actually putting words on screen really did take this long; but there will be tons more reviews incoming and none of the new ones will take this long to write, promise.
Prince of Persia circa 2008 really should have bothered to include a subtitle. Just something like, "A New Beginning" or something because the game is VERY different form any of the other Prince of Persia's that have come before it and really should have been made to stand out, by that fact.
This new Prince, is really different in just about every way except the very core mechanics. Action/Platformer. Yes that it's little box, whether you like it or not. The game centers around the Prince and a woman named Elika who you learn is a Princess. They have to stop this corruption from spreading across their world and heal the land where it has all ready corrupted. The Prince is reluctant and the Princess is a bit naive and headstrong about her, "duty." Maybe a little cliche but it grows on you. Kind of like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, without Short Round.
Through the course of the game the story is revealed to you both through conversations you have with Elika in game and through cutscenes. The point of the new Prince of Persia seems to be to get the player to react when your partner, the A.I controlled Elika gets in trouble or something bad happens to her.
The developers want you to care about her. And if you play to the end of the game, you WILL care about her. Unless your a real heartless jerk(ba&^#@!). Elika is great in the game, she never gets in your way and she is NOTHING but helpful. Her design in every way was probably as perfect as you can get in an interactive experience.
The game looks and sounds amazing with so much detail and really wonderful touches to all of the graphics and art design in general. The game makes good use of all most every palette ranging from the darkness of corruption to the stark daylight of the cleansed areas. The score for the game is excellent both in the areas of mood music for both cleansed and uncleansed areas and also for large areas where things are more or less quiet with only the music filling in a little in back ground.
The voice acting for Elika was wonderful and believable, the Prince could have used some work but he manages to throw in something reasonably human from time to time if you go through the conversation situation controls all the time. Which you can by hitting the bumper button when the little icon appears. It does slow the game down a little but in the end it's worth it. You also get an achievement for it as a bonus. But the core of the game remains somewhat the same; you jump, you swing, you fight. It's good old Prince of Persia. Except you can never die!
That's right this game is a no fail. Elika allows you to do this by allowing you to be reset back at the last ledge or area you were in before you fell. Also she does this in combat, if you are about to die; she "saves" you. Which basically just means you are healed a little and removed from the lethal strike situation. It could be argued that this freed the player to explore and try things that they would not normally have; but it also made the game a little too easy in some places. This could have been a good feature to have under the Easiest option of difficulty. If there was a choice of difficulty that is.
Yes, in Prince of Persia there is ONLY the default difficulty setting. There is absolutely no changing it. You can also save anywhere, however the game has an internal checkpoint system, so you may just have to start back a little if you save between checkpoints. There is no progression for the Prince in this game. His sword doesn't get upgraded, you don't learn new combos to use in battle. The way you begin the game is the way you end it. Elika does get new powers to unlock areas and to help you reach places you couldn't before but that is the extent of her upgrades.
The game has a tendency to try and anticipate your actions while platforming and perform said actions for you. This would be fine, if it didn't usually cause you to actually screw up. Either because you double perform the action because the game tries to anticipate what your going to do or because you think the game is going to do something it isn't going to do. This is more than a little annoying but as a player you do get used to it after a while. I can't help but wonder if this was added to help causal players and maybe the best thing would have been to have both the no fail and this feature on for a low difficulty setting and all of turned off for a higher difficulty setting.
The level design is good, but there were quite a few times I was using the light guide(hitting the Y or triangle buttons allows you to get a light trailed ahead of you to see the proper path) more than I would have liked or felt natural. Many times, I was saying,
"They can't actually want me to do that? Do they?"
Sometimes they actually did, or times was very totally wrong about my choice of direction. But the idea of allowing this guide was wonderfully and it has been used in a lot of other recent games. I think it's a great tool for open world games, so you don't get so lost that you don't want to play anymore. I should also mention here that if you tried to take a jump that was too far for you to jump the screen loses color for a minute to indicate to you that you should hit the Y or triangle button for a double jump.
The combat in Prince of Persia boils down to fighting a few bosses; over and over until you wear them down and finally defeat them. This really grew old quickly as the game often prompted you do quick time actions that DID lead to interesting animations. But I think it would have been more fun to just fight the boss straight up and maybe only use these actions for the FINAL killing move. Not to simply wear the boss's health down. Elika, all ways helpful, would also help you here, by attacking enemies while juggled or even just a straight magical attack to nullify an enemies defense. This kind of co-op play is wonderful but it shouldn't have been used to replace complicated fighting but to augment them.
The game had a tendency to be too concerned with tapping this button or that button to try and get the player to "feel" something. But all it made me feel was annoyed every time the quick time event showed up or when I had to hit the same button over and over; again. The first time but have been good, but after the tenth or twentieth, I was bored with the mechanic.
This was especially true in some combat situations where you wanted to perform a combo but the A.I would keep blocking you. So you kept performing the same actions over and over and eventually you would hit the right timing. Then you would need to do a quick time event to finish the boss off. It wasn't your choice, that's how you HAD to do it. I'm not a big fan of this sort of thing unless it is the final boss, then that's all right.
If you want a challenge try getting the Collect all the Light Seeds Achievement. Once you've cleansed an area there will be all these balls of light that help Elika open up new powers to reach new areas. You don't need all the Light Seeds to do this, but you can get the achievement if you can get to the Seeds. Most of the Seeds are easy to get but there are a few that I STILL am not sure how to get to.
While working through the game and to some extent the review itself. The downloadable content: Epilogue came out for Prince of Persia. This allows you to continue the game after the last scene. It's a great piece of content that I won't REVIEW here. But I will simply say that if you really loved Prince of Persia then it is worth the price of admission to see how it all ends.
In this Prince of Persia story is king. Which is why I didn't include really any of it in my review. The gameplay elements in the game are pretty good but they all serve the story being told by the developers. Perhaps this, and the unique and interesting art style are really what make the player keep playing Prince of Persia. I certainly felt compelled to play to the end even when the puzzles were repetitive or there was some area that just didn't seem accessible to me even after checking the light guide. Some will also bring up that the game is too short. Even with the DLC the game won't take you more than 20 hours to complete. To me, this was a good length and didn't need to be any longer. Just like a novel, whatever number of pages it takes to tell the story; no more.
Prince of Persia won't be breaking any new ground in game design or innovation in Action games. On a purely mechanical level the game is a fail. It might not even be qualified as a game on some people's scales, more of a series of quick time events strung together. But it certainly brings it's own brand of unique art style and reward system to the table. Maybe this isn't a meal I would eat everyday, but every once in a while it could be a tasty treat. I certainly can't wait to see what they do with Prince of Persia 2 or whatever they end up calling it.
(Review scores are gone, sorry kids...READ THE WHOLE REVIEW)
Latest Diablo 3 Madness from MTV!
Here's where these pics are coming from.
Awesome Stuff, I knew there was a reason I signed up for my Battle.net account.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Maybe you CAN'T go home again. (World of Warcraft)
As any one who follows me on Twitter knows, I'm not... Broadcasting Live from San Francisco. Just live from Chicago as usual. But what I did decide to write about this week while not being about GDC(Game Developers Conference) and not even about what I normally regularly write about. This article is about my return to World of Warcraft after not playing for three months and how things were different but still TOO MUCH the same.
A few days ago I decided to return to World of Warcraft mostly due to Blizzard wanting everyone to merge accounts to their new Battle.net accounts. Which was sneaky considering it got me thinking about my old characters and logging back in and seeing how some of the 3.0.9 changes worked out. However, even after a heart felt reunion with my guildies I kind of decided that playing World of Warcraft might not be the best use of my time.
Why you ask? The graphics had improved a little and a few things seemed to work a little better. Although being a Paladin, Death Knight, or Hunter didn't seem too much improved. Also, having played for around three hours that night and having rested XP enough for three more levels I STILL didn't level from 53-54 on my Paladin. Which seemed odd. Also odd that I think I gained maybe one bar of experience or maybe two. This was from a good deal of time spent grinding mobs and even completely a couple of quests.. I did faintly remember it being this grind happy but for some reason back then I dealt with it.
I played a ton of PVP both that night and one other and decided that it was STILL just as awful and inferior as it was two months ago and that is one of things I left WOW for Warhammer Online to begin with. The economy is still messed up, another words anything that isn't from Northrend doesn't sell. Of course, I also left Warhammer Online considering the endgame is kind of messed up.
I really do like MMORPGs but what I don't like is the constant grinding. Games like Fallout 3, Mass Effect, Elder Scrolls Oblivion, and other western RPGs seem to be able to create REALLY nice games that DO have main plots but they also have more MMORPG-like structures. They isn't really any grinding or very little. These games can last anywhere from 40-80 hours. Lasting even longer with DLC. So why do we need to grind? Well, I suppose the reason is that games like World of Warcraft count on people playing for hundreds of hours rather than a 100. Well, that's great... But I'm tired of doing pointless quests for hundreds of hours just to do more pointless quests. I realize that this content is laborous to create and expensive. But if that same labor and money were put toward more fulfilling but shorter experiences it would seem that the average person would be more satisfied about spending their money on keeping it going.
Even worse, I'm tired of playing a PVP experience that while enjoyable offers little to no rewards. If I'm playing KIllzone 2, Call of Duty, or Halo 3; I get medals, ribbons, upgrades, new weapons, etc... What do I get for playing a PVP mode in a MMORPG? A little XP, a little silver, a little honor, or in the case of a LIVE EVENT in Warhammer Online, maybe an event item! Wow, stuff that cannot be used in future PVP games and in most cases is FAR too little to actually make any impact on my play experience, even if I WIN the game. So not only do I get to grind in the PVE experience but in the PVP experience as well.
In the NEW PATCH for World of Warcraft it's being promised that they are re-balancing their Arena Gear and Battlegrounds. Which is great. But it is FAR TOO LITTLE to make an impact on people who even after a lot of work, STILL have no where near enough Honor or marks to get descent gear to be competitive in the Arena. Incidentally to simply get better gear, to be more competitive; etc... And are still not able to get ANYTHING in anyway useful or cool with what little they have.
So what I REALLY love about MMORPGs is interacting with others and having a persistent world with a persistent character and making that character better to play with those people and the world to better effect. But these tiny steps that Blizzard and Mythic seem to be forcing people to take seem kind of crazy and in retrospect seem to be just time wasters while your waiting the "REAL GAME" to start whether at level 80 in WoW or at 40 in Warhammer. The end game or the level cap shouldn't be everyone's ultimate goal. It should be the icing on the cake, not the cake. The journey from 1-Level cap should be the cake.
Other MMORPGs seem to be promising this kind of play. But most, if not all of them seem to be scheduled for the VERY END of 2009 or sometime next year. Both are a LONG WAY OFF considering that at this point it doesn't seem like WoW or Warhammer are going to get THAT much better any time soon.
From a logic standpoint it seems pretty obvious that these structures have existed in both MMORPGs for a while and the fact that I couldn't see either one or I didn't care; seems crazy to me. But perhaps, just like SO MANY other problems people have. I was just too close to it at the time. Except that I left originally for a reason. I think it was mainly due to fact that I didn't seem to be GETTING ANYTHING OUT OF EITHER GAME. Which is sad.
This is not meant as some kind of rant against World of Warcraft or Warhammer Online Age of Reckoning. I think it is more of a rant against what is currently accepted as an MMORPG. Which unfortunately. to me, seems to be kind of pointless in the end and devoid of the kind of satisfaction you get from playing something like Fallout 3 or Mass Effect. There are plenty of ways to do this; but it seems like most current MMORPGs seem to be more focused on the old structures of MMORPGs; like grinding which encourages gold farming; over 30% of the MMORPG population can't be wrong.
While there are plenty of MMORPGs on the horizon that either don't use a payment structure like FreeRealms, which can I guess say, "What do you want for nothing?" Or the next generation MMORPGs like DC Universe, Agency, Champions Online, or Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic that promise less focus on grinding and more on story.
So yeah, I think it's safe to say that in the case of World of Warcraft you can't go home again, even if you might want to.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Wait, When did Standardization and Simple Logic become one in the Same?
There is this wonderful article up on Destructiod, make sure you read the whole thing; and then come back. If you aren't reading the article then, I can't really help you. If you are, then good for you.
The beginning of the article talks about the over sequelizing of the industry and how there are far too many 2s, 3s, 4s, etc... And that gamers as a whole are scared of new IPs and that; just like publishers gamers are mainly drawn to sequels. All of that I can get behind, both from a gamer's perspective and a member of the press who sees SO MANY sequels that after a while it actually made me kind of bummed for the whole video game industry. But then...
The whole article goes off the rails. He starts talking about gamers wanting "standardized controls" and that games like Killzone 2 and Resident Evil 5 shouldn't be critiqued for their control schemes. He says it's the gamers expectations of what the controls SHOULD be rather than what they are that is to blame for this. At this point I was wondering if he was dating someone who is working for Capcom PR.
The developers of Killzone 2 actually put a patch through that CHANGED the controls because they agreed that they responded too slowly for multiplayer. I didn't notice this when playing but obviously others did. Resident Evil 5 however is a totally different animal. I usually play ALL video games with the default controls. I VERY rarely try and change them. I usually find the controls to be perfectly fine. With Resident Evil 5 however, I actually went online and asked for help in choosing a controller configuration because the controls were SO BAD. Why do I need 2 buttons to reload when the game isn't using at least 2 face buttons and one shoulder button most of the time anyway? If nothing else I could just push the analog stick in. Why do I need to push the stick up and hit the A button to run? Why wouldn't I want to aim as fast as possible? Why isn't my character all ways "Quick Turning," why must I trigger it? No dodge button? I guess the dodge is when you hunch over to pick stuff up off the ground. Like ammo... No, I'm sorry, I don't want standardized controls; I would just like controls that wouldn't only make sense to someone who has just marathon played every Resident Evil game before this and then sitting down to test the controls for Resident Evil 5.
He then mentions Bioshock and states that people were mad that there was no multiplayer even though the game was wonderful in single player. Well, there are two reasons for this; first, when you love a game in single player the natural reaction for most gamers is to want to play it in multiplayer to, if nothing else, to show your friends how good you are at it. Also, some people buy games at $60 and they feel kind of cheated when 20 or 30 hours later the game is over. Personally, I would have liked to see some DLC levels or challenges for both PS3 and XBOX 360; or at the VERY LEAST the PC. Because Bioshock IS kind of a short game. Although I maintain it IS the best FPS ever made.
So really, it's not standardization that's needed. It's testing outside of the office that's needed. Of course, developers and in house testers are going to be fine with wacky controls; because hey they have been playing this way for sometimes YEARS. But you want AS MANY PEOPLE TO PLAY THE GAME AS POSSIBLE. Not just the people who are REALLY good at the game, right? So this is something to consider when releasing a game, right?
Monday, March 16, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Fallout 3 the Pitt Trailer!
Is it just me or do these downloadable pieces for Fallout 3 look like games in their own right?
Just When I thought things couldn't get any Crazier! Nintendo is raising the Trade Price of the Wii!
This article from Edge Online explains in great detail the situation. Let's just say this, Nintendo is raising the price that retailers pay for their console in the UK by around $40 USD. Which is fascinating and completely unprecedented. Now, Nintendo says they are justified in doing this given the great demand for the console. I have a few thoughts on this. And by the way, I know I don't EVER talk about the Wii here. Because it is a toy and Hades Times is a VIDEO GAME blog but I just had to comment on this.
First and foremost. The Nintendo Wii is using technology, other than the motion controls; based in Nintendo Gamecube hardware. Which they had plenty of since the Gamecube was a complete failure and they had to stop manufacturing the consoles a full 2 years before PS2 or XBOX stop their production. Also the has no Hard drive, has only 480p support, and has VERY Limited internet connectivity. By that I mean that the console is not technically online all the time. Just when the need for online arises and the user triggers that connection.
Second, the Wii launched at a reasonable price point of $249.99 which was a wonderful buy given the pack in game of Wii Sports. Now these two factors along with the motion control were certainly instrumental in the success of the console with casual gamers and people who were not gamers at all.
Finally, the Wii has been out since November of 2006. They want to raise the price this far after the launch. That would be like a car company raising the price of a car once it's a year old just because it popular.
OK, given all this here is my opinion: The Wii is popular because it's cheap. It's for causal gamers who might not want to invest the money in a more expensive system or maybe have a PS2 and are using as their 2nd console. Also, the Wii is popular with people who don't play video games normally and this price hike will be extremely confusing and upsetting to them. Finally, this console is made up of old hardware that was probably sitting around after they dismantled their Gamecube line and they said from the very beginning that they would be making money on every unit sold. So what? Now, their saying they NEED to make MORE money on every unit sold?
Lastly, if I were going to buy a Wii I'd head over to Gamestop and get a used one, quickly. Because you know that when that base price goes up so will the used prices. And I'm sure given NIntendo's current catalog options that many hardcore gamers have all ready turned in their dusty Wiis for XBOX 360s or PS3s. But hey, what do I know, the last Wii game I played was Super Smash Brothers Brawl and yeah THAT game was good. But two games does not a console make(also check out Super Mario Galaxy).
Friday, March 13, 2009
Battle Forge Open Beta! Have you joined yet?
So a few days ago I decided to spend some time and join the Battle Forge Open Beta for the PC. This game blends collectible card games like Magic the Gathering and RTS PC games like Command and Conquer. If you want to stop reading my article and start downloading the beta(it WILL take a while), CLICK HERE. You will need an EA account to play so get one before you do this or you will just have to go back and do it.
Getting back to the article... The game allows the player to choose a 20 card deck of any number of different types of cards from different factions. These currently are Nature, Shadow, Fire, and Frost. All of the factions have great cards and even your starter deck cards are good for most situations. The best part of the game that makes it very different from most RTS games. The population cap is very large and with only a small amount of management your power wells(which give you points to summon units) make it easy for anyone to build a descent army.
You can play against the computer in PVE mode or another player in PVP mode. Additionally in PVE you are able to play with/against four other people online. This is pretty awesome and fun.
There seems to be a large amount of international support for this title everyone from folks in Brazil to people in Germany seem to be excited over this title. With the lackluster amount of marketing that has been done on this game you might not have realized that this game comes out later this month.
Nothing I say will completely convince you to try Battle Forge. but I don't have to convince you. Head over to the site and play the game for free while you can. Then if you REALLY like it; go a head and pre-order it.
Please Come Back....Please!(Warhammer Online)
"Call to Arms-Reenlistment Page:
- Benefit from major improvements to overall performance and server stability!
- Investigate two new tank classes: Knight of the Blazing Sun and Black Guard
- Check out easy, medium, and hard PQs designed for different group sizes and skill levels
- Enjoy major improvements to Fortress and Keep stability and performance
- Gain rewards from Influence earned in Open RvR
- Participate in our exciting new Live Events
- Enjoy increased experience in Tiers 3 and 4
- Wrest control of Tier 4 zones via our new Domination system
- Earn new and improved Guild rewards
- Explore three completely re-itemized dungeons
- Check out the many user interface improvements for parties and warbands
- Earn free game time and exclusive in-game rewards by recruiting friends and family
- Enjoy the fruits of our labor: over 1000 bugs squashed!"Warhammer Website...
I saw this while looking through my feeds. I was so stunned at the timing of this that I just HAD to post it. So I guess all the worry over the server consolidation is founded considering that they are putting this out in conjunction with a free 10 day trail to returning members as well as in game rewards for reactivating their account. I guess the whole free trail thing never occurred to Mythic until they were in financial trouble and population trouble. Perhaps this would have been a good promotion during Christmas? At this point its more of a shot in the dark than a real promotional effort. As this year there are probably going to be at least 5 MMORPGs coming online, either in the fourth quarter of 2009 or the first quarter of 2010.
Resident Evil 5 gets cool VERSUS MODE, but there is a small catch.(Updated)
"Additional Mode Adds A New, Deadly Twist To RE5 Multiplayer Gameplay
Tired of working together with other players in Resident Evil™ 5? Ready to show your co-op partner exactly what you think of their gaming abilities? Capcom is pleased to announce that a new multiplayer mode for the soon-to-be blockbuster, Resident Evil 5, will be released post-launch as paid digital content via Xbox LIVE and PlayStation Network. The new mode, called ‘Versus,’ adds a deadly twist to Resident Evil 5’s multiplayer, pitting players against each other in a contest of survival, a marked departure from the central co-operative nature of the game."Capcom...
How much is this going to cost? About $3.99 so far. Well, what I want to know is that why are we paying for this content? The game costs $59.99! It's not like it's $40 or even $50. Since publishers have decided that their console titles NEED to be $60 does the customer REALLY need to be paying for content that is locked off with a digital key on the disc. Then being charged extra for the right to unlock that content. Capcom LOVES to do this kind of thing. But this is a WHOLE MULTIPLAYER MODE. Not just costumes, extra maps, or characters. This is an ACTUAL MODE of play that won't be available unless one purchases it. What if Gears of War launched this way. OK, it's $60 for the single player and then another $10 for the multiplayer. I guess these publishers can no longer hide their profits in things like crummy collector's editions so they figure that the end user should just pay for things that are all ready on the disc.
Will I be purchasing this extra mode? I don't know, I will have to wait to see the final pricing. I would recommend that as a customer anyone who buys the game consider this before purchasing this content. If publishers continue to get our money for things like this, the situation concerning this type of thing will get worse instead of better. The only thing publishers will listen to is money. So consider how and why you spend it.
-Devilsalias
Update(3/13/09) OK in an effort to be fair. Capcom has responded to the criticism of the DLC by saying that this mode was not originally in the game and therefore needed extra development and therefore money to make. So I guess they are implying that the mode isn't on the disc. Which DOES mean that additional development was needed and I suppose it might just be unfortunate coincidence that they are promoting the mode so closely to the launch of the game itself. So that's great. I will happily pay the $4 for the mode.
However, the media reaction to the original announcement was underwhelming at best. The reaction to the fan reaction was even worse. Before this announcement by Capcom there were many journalists saying that this was "no big deal." And that fans were EXTREMELY overreacting. I wasn't privy to all the OVER REACTION and I DO know that many people on message boards DO overreact to things. However, the seriousness of the idea that a publisher would charge for multiplayer when it was all ready on the disc seems like something that journalists should be writing about and not dismissing.
Many journalist reactions on blogs or websites consisted of disappointment that Capcom hadn't offered a release date for their package. That was about as far as it went. At the time I thought that to these journalists the announcement wasn't important to their particular sites so the announcement didn't get equal time. Or perhaps they were just copying press releases and that the reactions would be coming later when video game journalists were actually in their chairs.
However, when these same sites waste time and posts on the latest Japanese Otaku toy it seems that they could AT THE VERY LEAST. Bring up the fact that, "Hey, why is Capcom charging for Multiplayer?" So were the fans of Resident Evil 5 overreacting? If they were it was more Capcom's fault than anyones. By writing such a short and vague press release they were inviting such criticism. But then perhaps they figure that any publicity is good publicity. After all, I'm talking about it again.
So what have we learned from all this? Well, probably that Capcom PR needs some help. Which everyone all ready knew because these were the same folks that for how many months had everyone thinking that Resident Evil 5 would have "Gears of War style controls." Which it doesn't.... Unfortunately.
In closing, I would like to ask everyone who reports on video games to really take a SERIOUS LOOK at what you are reporting on and why. Because all too often it seems that things come out of no where and are taken as gospel(i.e. Bioshock 2) and that when your audience simply takes what the press releases say as real and you have no comment. You then critize said fans. If the "professional gaming press" KNEW that this mode was an off disc download it might have been nice to mention that SOMEWHERE. And if the press didn't know, why didn't they ask?
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Mythic Merging Warhammer Servers! Oh NO!(Warhammer)
"Mythic Entertainment laid out plans yesterday to close over 40 North American and 20 European Warhammer Online servers. Characters found on the closing servers will be automatically transfered to another server, and Mythic is offering one free character transfer after that, in case players want to get on the same server as some friends and so on.
While that might not look too healthy, it's probably the best thing for the game. Warhammer Online is a game that only really thrives on populated servers. As someone with a character on one of the soon-to-close servers, let me tell you that playing on a low-population server is nooooo fun. It's hard to do public quests when you're the only member of the "public" around.
This comes among news that the game's first live expansion is getting underway, and Mythic General Manager Mark Jacobs has posted a new "state of the game" message talking about where the game is and where it's going. The game has also rolled out an incentive program that offers bonuses to players who recruit new subscribers.
But it's hard not to remember an interview that Jacobs gave to MTV Multiplayer back in August, less than a month before the game's release, where Jacobs spoke specifically about server reduction while discussing how much money it would take to compete with something like World of Warcraft and his measures for a successful game. Here's the relevant portion of that article:
According to Jacobs, another way to measure success is to look at the number of servers a game has added in a six-month period. “The corollary to that is if you’ve seen a game consolidate servers, you know it’s in deep, deep trouble — that’s not a healthy sign for an MMO,” he said, citing Sony’s January-released “Pirates of the Burning Sea” as a recent example. “It will be the same for ‘Warhammer.’ Look at us six months out. Look at us six weeks out. If we’re not adding servers, we’re not doing well.”Warhammer Online will reach the six month mark next week."Giant Bomb...
Also it might have been relevant to mention that this was the first step in the downward spiral of Age of Conan. There are certainly plenty of problems with Warhammer Online. But I won't go over that all here. I will simply have to agree with Jacobs when he explains that server population and frequency are the keys to measuring the health of a MMORPG. Warhammer certainly needs VERY populated servers to function properly; so this means that the current population that plays on Warhammer isn't large enough to support the current number of servers. Which is not a good thing. So if you like Warhammer and play it with frequency I would say that you will want to make use of the Refer-a-Friend program. Because they need your business, seriously!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Co-Op Lands on Revision3! Awesome! Now in HD!
If you've been putting off watching CO-OP, do so NO MORE! This is easily in the top five of the best web shows about video games.
Friday, March 6, 2009
World of Goo on Steam this Weekend for only $4.99!
Yes, it's true, I'm downloading it right now. You guys NEED to grab this AWESOME Indie for only $4.99. So no matter how miserly your finances are right now you SHOULD be able to afford THIS game.
Resident Evil 5 Mercenaries Mode: Chris
This mode has been in many previous Resident Evils so this is quite a classic feature.
Unreal Tournament 3 Black ONLY $11.99 on Steam this Weekend(3/6-3/9)
Not only is the Titan Pack coming out this weekend which is available today. Good luck downloading it; seems like the sales is creating kind of a rush. But Unreal Tournament 3 Black is only $11.99 this weekend. If you don't have Steam all ready this is a good chance to get it. They have MANY sales like this. A couple of weeks ago they had Left 4 Dead at 50% off. These guys are OBVIOUSLY out for gamers. Nobody slashes prices like this just for the kicks.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Adam Sessler and What He has to Say!
In the past, I believe I have said mainly positive things about X-Play. I certainly have respect for both Morgan and Adam who have obviously toughed it out on a network and in a company that has not all ways been kind to them. In fact, at this point most folks would have gone out on their own and done their own thing. But hey, it's not like that might not happen eventually. But this post isn't about any of that...
Actually this post is about Sessler's Soapbox. An occasional video podcast that up until this evening I had been wholly ignoring. Perhaps many of you out there have been doing similarly. But I decided today, considering I was off and didn't have a lot of other things to do. Or at least that I felt like doing, (that Prince of Persia review is going to write itself, I just know it is.). That I would watch a whole bunch of them. Well, in fact I watched all of them. Yes, I started in 2007 and didn't finish until I hit the last one in 2/25/09. That was ALOT(according to itunes there are 76 episodes) of Sessler Soapbox, indeed. But it taught me a few things and maybe, if Adam is reading this; which I don't know if he is(probably not). Could benefit from my marathon of Soapbox. So here we go...
The best Soapbox's are about a specific topic. Don't wander there Adam, it's probably not a good plan. The worst Soapbox's revolve around an event. Because 9/10 times NO ONE will care about this episode once the event has gone by. Like the E3 or Tokyo Game Show episodes. Just have NO replay value later on. Sorry...
Adam does tend to speak frankly and sometimes without considered thought. Which is fun to watch and listen to; but usually leaves one saying,
"Hey man, it's not a big deal. Calm down."
Which is cool sometimes, but not all the time. Even if the kiddies like it.
Also, Adam does SOMETIMES seem like he is JUST talking to other journalists or other folks in the industry. Which is cool. But a lot of people that AREN'T in the industry might say something like,
"Huh, that seems dumb." or "So what?"
Which could be said of any insider conversation in just about any industry except perhaps national security.
So what am I saying here? Well, I'm saying that no matter what you think of X-Play or G4, WATCH SESSLER'S SOAPBOX!
Why? Because Adam is an intelligent man who has been around for 10 years in the video game industry and his comments are usually worth a listen. Even if you disagree with him or think that maybe he doesn't think enough before he speaks. Which I think is probably true for all of us at one time or another in our lives. He occasionally brings things up that are hot topics in the industry and sometimes even seems to be on the pulse of discussion in the industry or in game journalism. So that is pretty freaking cool, no matter who you are. Besides these episodes are a maximum of 7 minutes. If you don't have seven minutes to devote to some video game culture then you REALLY aren't a gamer.
Also and this is to a MUCH lesser degree. But during the time I've been watching X-PLAY I've all ways found both Morgan and Adam to be very enigmatic in the sense that it is sometimes hard to tell if they are really acting the way they do in real life or is this all just for television. Are they really this funny, cool, and edgy in real life? Well, probably not. But then that's showbiz. But in the episodes of Soapbox, Adam does, for the most part; show the real Adam. At least the most real we are going to see when a camera is on him. But there are hints in every Soapbox of the person that plays the part of Host and game journalist. It's cool to see and maybe you don't care. But considering I've spent SO MANY years watching these folks it's nice to get to know them. even if it's just a little.
So this post might be a random pile to people who are following this blog for videos or the latest news on the Warhammer Online patch. But for those of you who are TRULY HARDCORE GAMERS; I know that is a horrid title of late. Go over and give Sessler a try. He really does bring up some good points and if nothing else you find that you TOO have new found respect for him.
In closing, I have to mention one thing. The revamped X-PLAY IS THE BEST SHOW ABOUT VIDEO GAMES on television and the mere idea of destroying that for WHATEVER reason the corporate folks have is absolutely heretical on the same level as destroying a fine work of art just as it's completed. If I had worked SO HARD to create something SO GOOD; I tend to believe I would quit before allowing it to be destroyed with my help. But then, that's why I'm out here on my own instead of working as an intern for IGN. I don't like being told what to write and when to write and how. So that's just me. Sorry Joe Q Public, but I found a long time ago that life wasn't fair and that I wasn't ready to bend over for it, if I didn't absolutely have to.
But then, that's just me....
-Timothy Pecoraro (Devilsalias)