Posted On Monday, November 17th, 2008 By Jay
DISCLAIMER: Let’s leave Muds out of the equation. We know MMOs as a genre are catching up to MUD in tech.
DISCLAIMER: DK spoilers
Dynamic character state, or RPG, is easier then dynamic world state. Historically, looking at the amount of MMOs with dynamic character progression is par for the course. World events, that actually change the world, ala Final Fantasy 3, are extremely rare. In addition to rare, they almost never affect the game world in a permanent way.
Imagine my surprise, while firing up a Death Knight that the new phasing technology actually creates the impression of “affect” on the game world. Progressing through the story line began with a town being scouted byt he scourge. Continuing to the final conflict where the town is burned to the ground. This happened while I was playing. Yes, it happened LIVE!
This is fairly significant. And I also realise this happened COMPLETELY under the radar for the average player. No one knows and very few people are talking about it. I wanted to point out that Blizzard has some interesting technology that has the potential to put the player in control of their world.
With a new blizzard MMO around the corner(3-5 years), my hope Continue Reading
Posted On Friday, November 14th, 2008 By Jay
Over the past quarter there have been many news stories about studio closings.
Flagship Studios, developer of Hellgate:London and the acclaimed Mythos was recently closed over a year long fight. Emsemble Studios, developer of the critically accalimed Age of Empire series, was closed by Microsoft, with a new studio to form. THQ is also closing 5+ studios in the past quarter, due to fiscal reasons. And there are plenty more.
With all these closings, its a wonder that video game sales are up and projections look great! Ultimately, we’re asking the question; What does this mean?
What does it mean when a studio is closed? What products were they working on? Who was formally employed? Was it a necessary closing?
As the economy continues to correct due to global market corrections, it was only a matter of time before the video game industry felt a little pinch. And that’s what’s happening. We’re feeling a little pinch.
You see for the longest time many studios were putting out crap, and many studios continue to do so. Here’s a list of really questionable titles, released in the past 6 months. None of that list are over a metacritic score of 50. Here’s a number that many game Continue Reading
Posted On Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 By Jay
Left 4 Dead is possibly the single best FPS release since Portal. I imagine Valve will win many awards for this game. Playing with 3 other buddies against a horde of zombies, fighting every step of the way gets my adrenaline going.
Hats off to you Valve. You’ve consistently delivered games far beyond anyones expectations! BRAVO!
Posted On Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 By Jay
I just got my collector’s edition! Its staring me in the face! I’ll be rolling a Death Knight immediately, level him/her to 70 and dual boxing my way to 80. Fun fun!
Can tomorrow come any quicker please!
