UXO: It's not quite dead yet...

I've been watching everything I can about E3 this year, and was really happy to see that Adam and Morgan had a huge banner of themselves on the side of the convention center. I'm hoping this is a sign to G4 that they really shouldn't tamper too much with X-Play as it is so much better than any of the G4 shows I've watched so far.

What I have also noticed is an obvious lack of UXO, aka Ultima X: Odyssey.

A quick trip by their website will show a lack of updates since 3/26, and a visit to UXO stratics will show you that several team members have left ship with the recent dissolving of Origin into EA.

We've of course been promised that the project isn't dead, but once rigamortis sets in all you can really do is dig through the pockets for loose change.

Team members have been posting on Stratics however, which is amusing to me that they talk there before their own home page, but... Regardless, the assure the public that the lack of updates is strictly due to moving the office to EA's home office.

My question is: Does it matter anymore?

While the game looked like it would introduce some promising new concepts, most of what we've seen from other vendors is offering even more.

The graphics look fabulous, but in a few years we'll have the Unreal 3 engine out there. (A quick Google should get you a copy of the demo film for that... Mindblowing. A must see.)

That coupled with a lack of housing, crafting, etc, an alienation of the main Ultima base, and Garriott having nothing to do with the project, I have to ask now, what's the point?

I'm sure I'm not the only one asking that either. EA has to be thinking the same questions along with:

The game has already been delayed due to staffing changes from the move.
And delayed further from the sheer time it takes to move the 'stuff' (Code, desks, files, etc).
We'd be cutting into our other Ultima base.
Why are we doing this again?

And with that... it fizzles. The options are, they close it, or they push it out hoping someone bites.

Probably for the best, EA's hands in UIX was hard enough to take.

Discussion: Should MMORPGs charge for expansions?

In one of the comments under "Upcoming MMORPG Wars" Ozmodiar192 poses the following:

If someone showed me the financials behind it maybe I'd understand better. There are more than 250,000 subscriptions to SWG, which equates to at least $3,750,000.00 a month for Sony. That seems like plenty to me, but I honestly don't know what the bandwidth and server bills are.

What do you think? Should MMORPGs charge for expansions? Should they charge a monthly fee? How much is fair?

I say No, Yes, and less than $20.00

So anyone else out there have some comments, I'd really love to hear a lot of responses to this.

Personally, I have to go with Occasionally, yes, and $25 for the box with < $20 monthly.

Stupid Google Tricks

I have a love/hate relationship with the Internet. Never before have so many people been brought together with no way of disseminating the brilliant from the half-wit. One of the things that makes the Internet worth using is Google. Sweet, sweet google.

Google has more functionality than just a search engine. It can do conversions from one unit to another. Just enter it into google like this:
1 foot = ? inches
Google will tell you how many inches in a foot. It will also tell you how many angstrom in a meter, how many seconds in a fortnight, and how many lightyears in a parsec. It will tell you how many gallons in a cubic mile. Do you know how big a cubit is? Google does.

It can also calculate. Just enter your math homework in and google will tell you the answers. Unfortunately, it does not show it's work.

Google can also find things in your local area. Just go to local.google.com and enter what you're looking for and the address. Google will find things near you and list them by distance along with any related links. It will even display the results on a map. Do you have any idea how many massage parlors are near my home? HUNDREDS! Unfortunately none of them contain the phrase "happy ending" in the description. But we can't blame google for that, can we?

Google can also search synonyms. For instance, let's say you're looking for Giant Killer Robots. What about the huge killer robots? Don't the emense killer robots deserve a spot on your search results list? It's simple! Just add a ~ in front of giant and search for ~giant killer robots.

Google also has a shopping service called Froogle. Froogle is pretty well known but even people "in the know" often fail to use it. Just go to www.froogle.com and type in what you want. I found 362,000 pages of Precious Moments figurines. If you doubt the abilities of froogle or the horribleness of the consumerism in this country just give it a shot. 362,000 pages of those awful little dolls of ugly children. Just a warning though, I searched for "Golden Girls" and got nothing but porn. Lucky for me a coworker stopped by my cubicle and I was able to pretend I was looking for porn rather than Golden Girls merchandise.

Google can also define words. Try
define: viscosity

Google can also find file types. Just specify what you're looking for and filetype: and the type of file. Try iso (cd images) and torrent (bit torrent files). Bit Torrent is awesome, but that's another post. You can search for a variety of file types. PDF, XLS, DOC, TXT, etc etc. Some are shadier than others. Here's some examples:
two towers filetype:torrent
programmer resume filetype:doc

You get the idea.

Google can look up certain types of numbers. Try entering a phone number and google will offer phonebook results. The next time you order something just plug the tracking number right in to google and it will tell you the status of your package. Try the VIN number of your car or the UPC from your favorite product.

For a better list of things google can do, try this page

Upcoming MMORPG Wars

I can only play one MMORPG at a time. Honestly, I can barely play one. In a handful of months I'm going to have to choose.

I currently play Star Wars Galaxies. SWG is a great game - the player classes are more or less balanced. It seems there's always an ebb and flow of power among the classes and skills in MMORPGs and SWG is not the exception. My philosophy on such matters was best put into words by the 1990's rap group Digital Underground: "Do whatcha like". And right now, what I like is smuggling and pistols.

The graphics in Star Wars Galaxies are great and the engine has room to grow graphically. If you turn on all the graphic bells and whistles in SWG you WILL kill your video card, which tells me that I will be satisified with the graphics in SWG for a long time. The sounds is also very satisfying - all your favorite Star Wars sounds are present. Yes, even the GONK of the Power Droid. The guns sound cool, too. Cool sounding guns is important to the ten year old that lives inside me.

SWG is by no means a perfect game. The interface seems too transparent. It's hard to describe, but I feel as I play the game I am very aware of how the game engine is working. On some levels that's a good thing - I like know how my character will react, I like being able to macro commands, etc. However, the small issues with the game tend to break the mood. For example, if you kill a storm trooper who is lying on the ground and shooting you with a rifle, he will stand up to complete his death animation. There are also a lot of clipping issues. It seems the developers have sacrificed realism for convience in regards to clipping. You can walk through A LOT of things in Star Wars Galaxies. Players, monsters, items, you can walk through them all.

The current thorn in my side regarding Star Wars Galaxies is the upcoming space expansion, which will let players pilot spacecraft. Space travel was supposed to be a feature of the game when it was released. I understand how software releases work so I wasn't terribly angry when it was missing from the game. Now, however, they will be charging for it. It's not the money (it won't be too expensive), it's the principle.

That brings me to the upcoming MMORPGs. Right now I'm interested in Tabula Rasa, Worlds of Warcraft, and Guild Wars.

Tabula Rasa appeals to me most because Richard Garriot is involved. Richard Garriot could plan to release boxes of his feces and I would have it preordered on Amazon. Garriot knows what makes games good or bad and you can tell that he tries to maximize the good and minimize the bad.

Tabula Rasa promises in game voice communication, multi-objective missions, and a "completely unique advancement system". One of the trends I like about the newer MMORPGs is instanced environments. Instancing means that, when I go into a dungeon or house, that dungeon/house is unique to me and my party. No more dealing with spawn campers, looters, and shoddy missions that have been done by every player in the universe. In TR, every player will have their own instanced house.

Unfortunately, I don't think the graphics in Tabula Rasa look very good at this stage. They seem too reminiscent of the ill-fated 3d engine that was released for Ultima Online many years ago. The characters look as if they stand out from the background - like the textures aren't properly shaded or lack depth. The textures also don't seem to mask the polygons of the models very well.

Another feature I'm on the fence about is the armor system. The developers wanted each character to be fully customizable in regards to appearance. Garriot said this: "One of the insidious traps with armor is that eventually somebody figures out the best combination for any character class. That's when you end up with everyone looking alike because everybody wants the +5 Holy Plate Mail." I like that the appearance will be fully customizable, however I like armor. I like seeing armor I've never seen before and wondering what it is. I like people seeing MY armor and wondering what it is.

I'm also looking forward to Worlds of Warcraft by Blizzard. Blizzard and God have many things in common, the main one being they don't make no junk. Anything they release is going to be good. I would bet someone else's life on it.

WoW will also have instanced dungeons. The environments in Warcraft are highly stylized and the graphics look incredible. I've seen movies of the gameplay and the animations all look very smooth.

A feature that I feel has been under-hyped in WoW is the customizable interface. You will be able to use XML (eXtensible Markup language) to change the interface to your liking for those who like to tinker.

The feature list of WoW is long. Some of the most interesting include: 8 races (orc, human, etc), 9 classes (paladin, druids, demons, etc), quests that offer multiple rewards (you can choose what you want), quests that are themed for the area and encourage you to explore the game world, and a huge number of monsters.

Finally, Guild Wars. Guild Wars is being released by ArenaNet, a company made from former Blizzard employees. Guild Wars may be the most impressive looking of the new games, although the (unaltered) in-game screen shots lead me to believe Guild Wars may suffer from vasaline-on-the-lens-itis. Here's what the fine people at AreaNet have to say about this: "We use a distinctive glow technology that gives a fantastical appearance to the game." The models in Guild Wars look incredible and the environments are beautiful, even if they do look like a commercial for douche.

I honestly haven't read much about Guild Wars. They say it will be free to play. I don't know how they will stay in business supporting a MMORPG world and developing it on a budget of nothing but they obviously know something I don't. I would much rather pay 10.00 a month and have the world evolve and develop. As I said, I don't know the business model involved. I'm just saying.

Guild Wars prefers to refer to itself as a CORPG (Competitive online role playing game) rather than a MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game). Personally, I'm not interested in semantics. Guild Wars proudly proclaims that it wants success in the game to be based on skill rather than hours playing, a concept entirely new to MMORPGs or CORPGS or whatever this thing is. It sounds like the developers of Guild Wars want to provide a wide variety of play for people who like adventuring alone, in groups, PvP, etc.

That's pretty much it for me. The debate in my head rages on along with all the fanatasies about killing people in traffic. Right now it could go any way, which is good. It's important for game developers, and especially MMORPG Developers, to remember that if you screw up your game or it's junk, we can and will go somewhere else. I'm not talking about that 14 year old on the message board screaming about nerfing his player class, either.

Enough, you've got me hooked already...

More news on features in TR:

In game speech is in. Hands free communication with the group kids!

Combat moves become more fluid and effective as you improve.

Nice.

Tabula Rasa

Well, for those that don't know already, the Tabula Rasa website is up: here.

Graphically it looks good, but not stunning so far.

The home page itself so far isn't making me jump with joy or change my wall paper yet.

Even the fact that it's comming from the mighty Lord British wasn't enough to get me all hot and sweaty.

Now if you go to the "Press Links" under the "News" section of the site, you'll see an aritcle from GameSpy at E3 this year.

Now, I'm hot and sweaty.

Instanced houses available from the start, instanced missions that give different rewards depending on how you complte them. Primary and secondary objectives that are not always mutually obtainable, but the possibility to replay the mission to obtain both anyway. An expanded back story that actually sounds INTERESTING.

Some extra screen shots, but nothing too different from the main site.

All in all, it looks like Garriott has put a lot of hard work and thought into where games should head. The last time he did this we got Ultima IV and V and gaming was changed forever.

As a disclaimer, I'm a professed fan boy of Richard Garriott, but the last several Ultimas have felt like attempts to make money. I've been willing to chalk a lot of this up to EA so far. With TR, however, there will be no money monster to hide behind. It will rise and fall with him and Starr Long.

Superman Rant

Lets start with my gripe, about a growing trend in games. Most players have started to get spoiled.

You heard me. Spoiled.

As an ancient gamer, # of play hours required to finish a game was a selling point. 10 hours, not worth my money, 40 hours, eh, getting closer, 100+ hours, I'm in. Now, people want to be uber players with less than 10 hours of total play in 15 minute increments.

pppttthhhhhbbbb!

Games should be an experience. I don't think it should take 10 hours to figure out how to play it, but I think that a long game, with a lot to do, and that is fun to do is great. Deus Ex was fabulous in this regard. Long game, lots of twists to explore and lengthen your game, fun to play in different ways, not boxed in... Mwa! Master piece.

But it didn't hand the player a super god and let them live out some prepubescent fantasy about sticking it to the man by stroking the player's Superman complex.

For those of you who've never heard of the super man complex let me break it down for you. A strong invincible guy going around beating up people who never stood a chance of hurting him simply because they don't live up to his ideals. That is the underlying theme of most modern games. Even if it's taken in reverse like Grand Theft Auto.

I understand that hard core gamers are a bit of niche market when it comes down to it lately, but that's like dumbing down good literature because most people won't get it.

Most people play solitaire. Let them. Give me a good solid game. Big, long, and hard. Just like I like my m..... coffee.

Allow my character to build up slowly.

Let me think he may actually not succeed. If even for a moment. Save and reload is boring, but so is there in not having any real challenge.

Well, that's my first rant.

Enjoy.

Welcome...

Welcome to the Ancient Gamer's Blog.

I decided to start this up as a way to share my many years of insight in computer/video gaming with you the adoring massess. It might grow into something, it might not. I may add other writers, I may not.

In the end, it will be a place for discussion of different views on the gaming world at large, what I think should happen, what I think about what has happened, etc. I'll give preiviews when I can, reviews when it's warranted, and generally just throw my opinion out there.

Enjoy.