The Dark Souls II trailer is out now. The game is evidently set in a different world (universe?) at a different time. As far as one can tell, the new game is totally unrelated to Dark Souls. So, really, it's more of a spiritual successor (a la Demon's Souls -> Dark Souls) than a proper sequel. Sort of like Final Fantasy (sans the weird true-sequels like FFX-2).
That said, I'm really excited for a new Souls game. I skipped Demon's Souls and my backlog is so large it's unlikely I'll ever get back around to it. A new game with Dark Souls' focus on dog-eat-dog multiplayer and brutal difficulty is something many players are really looking forward to.
I'm starting to wonder what system(s) Dark Souls II will be released on. PC, hopefully, but if this game is one year or more out in the future, there seems to be a chance it could also ship as a launch title for a next-generation console such as the successor to the Xbox 360.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Planetside 2
Having spent a little bench time behind Planetside 2, I can now report some observations. First, it plays very similarly to the original Planetside. This is a very, very good thing. Controls are snappy, gunplay is satisfying, and the graphics are pleasant. It doesn't look or feel like a typical F2P title.
My first questions when approaching an F2P title are: what can I purchase, what do I need to purchase, and how much does it cost? Well, you can purchase improved equipment and weapons at your leisure. Most of them cost between $2 and $8 or so. Interestingly, you can purchase every item using in-game earned currency. You don't have to spend real money unless you simply want to acquire something more quickly (i.e. without earning it). The single greatest feature of the shop in Planetside 2 is the try-before-you-buy option. That's right, you can rent a purchasable item for 30 minutes before making a decision to purchase.
That said, I haven't yet found the need to purchase anything new. After about 15 minutes of play I caught on to the feel of the game engine enough that most players were little challenge to beat. Of course, Planetside 2 just came out. It's really new to a lot of players. I have a slight advantage in being a Planetside veteran and a heavy FPS gamer. Who knows, maybe I'll take a few weapons for the 30 minute test drive to see if any items are really worth spending money on. I think the game is still too new for the actual, relative value of items in the shop to have really settled out. Players generally spend a month or two exploring all a game has to offer before standing value is solidly established.
That said, I haven't yet found the need to purchase anything new. After about 15 minutes of play I caught on to the feel of the game engine enough that most players were little challenge to beat. Of course, Planetside 2 just came out. It's really new to a lot of players. I have a slight advantage in being a Planetside veteran and a heavy FPS gamer. Who knows, maybe I'll take a few weapons for the 30 minute test drive to see if any items are really worth spending money on. I think the game is still too new for the actual, relative value of items in the shop to have really settled out. Players generally spend a month or two exploring all a game has to offer before standing value is solidly established.
Friday, November 23, 2012
Did You Really Enjoy Half-Life?
I never really finished Half-Life when it came out in 1998. I'm not sure why, but I grew bored around the Blast Pit and stopped playing the single-player campaign. It just wasn't doing it for me.
So what made Half-Life so popular? Why is it widely known to be so good? It has an honest, solid, single-player campaign. It's marginally innovative, has a decent (though confusing and irreconcilable) story, and the physics engine is solid. The AI is certainly impressive, particularly given the release date in 1998.
These points make a respectable and highly successful game, but they don't make a blowout like Half-Life turned out to be.
My theory is that community mods made Half-Life. Action Half-Life, Science and Industry, Day of Defeat, Frontline Force, and of course Team Fortress Classic were, at the time, prime selling points for the game. I personally bought Half-Life because I wanted to play TFC, after all. Half-Life was just an add-on in my teen eyes.
After playing TFC competitively in a clan for over a year, I learned about Counter-Strike. It was in beta at the time, but you could tell it was going to be something special. As soon as 2000 rolled around and Valve started assisting with Counter-Strike development, the mod took off like a rocket. Today it's still one of the most popular multiplayer shooters out there. Gamers play it over Counter-Strike: Source, even.
Sure, Half-Life is a solid game in its own right. But it wouldn't have been a real blockbuster without its community mods. There's really something to be said for providing APIs and modding tools to your customers.
So what made Half-Life so popular? Why is it widely known to be so good? It has an honest, solid, single-player campaign. It's marginally innovative, has a decent (though confusing and irreconcilable) story, and the physics engine is solid. The AI is certainly impressive, particularly given the release date in 1998.
These points make a respectable and highly successful game, but they don't make a blowout like Half-Life turned out to be.
My theory is that community mods made Half-Life. Action Half-Life, Science and Industry, Day of Defeat, Frontline Force, and of course Team Fortress Classic were, at the time, prime selling points for the game. I personally bought Half-Life because I wanted to play TFC, after all. Half-Life was just an add-on in my teen eyes.
After playing TFC competitively in a clan for over a year, I learned about Counter-Strike. It was in beta at the time, but you could tell it was going to be something special. As soon as 2000 rolled around and Valve started assisting with Counter-Strike development, the mod took off like a rocket. Today it's still one of the most popular multiplayer shooters out there. Gamers play it over Counter-Strike: Source, even.
Sure, Half-Life is a solid game in its own right. But it wouldn't have been a real blockbuster without its community mods. There's really something to be said for providing APIs and modding tools to your customers.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
PlanetSide 2 Release
Back in 2003 Sony Online Entertainment released a uniquely interesting massively multiplayer online role-playing first person shooter known as PlanetSide. A couple of friends and I played for a few months. I think it was my first MMO, and I didn't even have a credit card. We payed with those pre-paid game time cards you could buy in a store.
What stands out most about PlanetSide is the sheer scale. The worlds are huge, the warring teams are massive, and the scale of the constant planetary war is awesome. On top of that, the game is simply fun. It's a shooter to the core, and you can shape and grow your character as you choose. It's a bit of an RPG in that respect; you earn experience and spend it on skills and abilities.
Astonishingly, PlanetSide is still active today. You can download and play it, though there's still a monthly fee.
A few years ago PlanetSide 2 was announced, but I never expected to actually see it come out. MMOs don't seem to be Sony's deal anymore. Let's face it, the days of Everquest are long gone. Not to mention the fact that an MMOFPS has limited appeal.
Interestingly, it's not necessarily a bad thing to sell a product with limited appeal. Just look at EVE. It may only have 400,000 subscribers but they are fiercely loyal and stick with the game for a very, very, long time.
Anyway, PlanetSide 2 sneaked up on me. It came out today, and I'm pleasantly surprised. I have numerous misgivings about it being free to play, but I'll give it a shot. Stay tuned.
What stands out most about PlanetSide is the sheer scale. The worlds are huge, the warring teams are massive, and the scale of the constant planetary war is awesome. On top of that, the game is simply fun. It's a shooter to the core, and you can shape and grow your character as you choose. It's a bit of an RPG in that respect; you earn experience and spend it on skills and abilities.
Astonishingly, PlanetSide is still active today. You can download and play it, though there's still a monthly fee.
A few years ago PlanetSide 2 was announced, but I never expected to actually see it come out. MMOs don't seem to be Sony's deal anymore. Let's face it, the days of Everquest are long gone. Not to mention the fact that an MMOFPS has limited appeal.
Interestingly, it's not necessarily a bad thing to sell a product with limited appeal. Just look at EVE. It may only have 400,000 subscribers but they are fiercely loyal and stick with the game for a very, very, long time.
Anyway, PlanetSide 2 sneaked up on me. It came out today, and I'm pleasantly surprised. I have numerous misgivings about it being free to play, but I'll give it a shot. Stay tuned.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Weekly Report - 11/23/2012
This report is sort of a two-weeker; since this week is a holiday and whatnot. Some progress in Half-Life these past two weekends, but next to nothing was accomplished during the weeks. It's been a bad month.
Following a bout of real-life paintball last weekend, the group gathered for some DayZ. After spawning in disparate parts of Charnarus we spent roughly two hours merely to meet up in-game. Fortunately we all have a respectable sense of direction so we did eventually find each other. The most amazing part of our DayZ experience is the amount of items and equipment we found. After about three hours of raiding everyone had full inventories and backpacks - one of us even had a full ALICE pack. Very few other players were online, however, so we called it a night. I have to say the DayZ experience is undoubtedly superior when playing with friends. There's simply no contest.
After DayZ we pulled up Half-Life 2: Deathmatch. We always start playing gravity gun-only for hilarious, toilet-throwing fun, but someone always picks up the bolt thrower or RPG and suddenly it's an all-out free for all. This match lasted almost two hours and ended well into the early hours of the morning. If you haven't played HL2DM, I highly recommend it (with friends).
Following a bout of real-life paintball last weekend, the group gathered for some DayZ. After spawning in disparate parts of Charnarus we spent roughly two hours merely to meet up in-game. Fortunately we all have a respectable sense of direction so we did eventually find each other. The most amazing part of our DayZ experience is the amount of items and equipment we found. After about three hours of raiding everyone had full inventories and backpacks - one of us even had a full ALICE pack. Very few other players were online, however, so we called it a night. I have to say the DayZ experience is undoubtedly superior when playing with friends. There's simply no contest.
After DayZ we pulled up Half-Life 2: Deathmatch. We always start playing gravity gun-only for hilarious, toilet-throwing fun, but someone always picks up the bolt thrower or RPG and suddenly it's an all-out free for all. This match lasted almost two hours and ended well into the early hours of the morning. If you haven't played HL2DM, I highly recommend it (with friends).
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Retail or Digital Download?
Reports of the second disc in the Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 PC retail package actually containing data from Mass Effect 2 got me thinking about distributing games via retail versus digital download.
It seems certain owners of the Black Ops 2 PC retail package cannot install the game from disc. Once the installer prompts for disc 2, their PC reports that disc 2 is instead minted with the Mass Effect 2 installer.
It is more likely the real Mass Effect 2 installer a few years ago erroneously triggered Windows to mark its installation package file types as ME2-specific file types and these BO2 users are running into just that: a BO2 disc in actuality, but Windows thinks it's ME2 due to some error in the registry caused long ago.
In the event the discs actually are mixed up, someone, not at Treyarch or Activision or Electronic Arts, but at the manufacturing plant responsible for minting the discs has made a huge mistake. If this is the case, I feel real sorry for the users who received a copy of the game with this error. Retail stores won't take it back, because the package is already open (even though you have to open the package to read the license agreement which, if you disagree with it, you yet again cannot return the product to the store). Their only hope is a 6-8 week turnaround from the game publisher. I bet the consumer will have to pay shipping, too.
I generally buy retail so I have a physical copy of the game I can keep in case the digital distributor later goes out of business or pulls the game and I can never re-download a copy. But if the game must be activated online upon installation anyway, there's little point in buying retail unless you just don't have the bandwidth to download a 15GB game.
It seems certain owners of the Black Ops 2 PC retail package cannot install the game from disc. Once the installer prompts for disc 2, their PC reports that disc 2 is instead minted with the Mass Effect 2 installer.
It is more likely the real Mass Effect 2 installer a few years ago erroneously triggered Windows to mark its installation package file types as ME2-specific file types and these BO2 users are running into just that: a BO2 disc in actuality, but Windows thinks it's ME2 due to some error in the registry caused long ago.
In the event the discs actually are mixed up, someone, not at Treyarch or Activision or Electronic Arts, but at the manufacturing plant responsible for minting the discs has made a huge mistake. If this is the case, I feel real sorry for the users who received a copy of the game with this error. Retail stores won't take it back, because the package is already open (even though you have to open the package to read the license agreement which, if you disagree with it, you yet again cannot return the product to the store). Their only hope is a 6-8 week turnaround from the game publisher. I bet the consumer will have to pay shipping, too.
I generally buy retail so I have a physical copy of the game I can keep in case the digital distributor later goes out of business or pulls the game and I can never re-download a copy. But if the game must be activated online upon installation anyway, there's little point in buying retail unless you just don't have the bandwidth to download a 15GB game.
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Weekly Report - 11/09/2012
Another very light week for gaming. At least I finished Arma 2 and Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead. The final mission of Arma 2 is an absolute bear; I think it took me over four hours to complete.
Arrowhead, on the other hand, was shorter - the whole game - than the final mission of Arma 2 alone! I finished the game in less than three hours. The only improvement I could find over Arma 2 is the addition of the apache chopper. Flying is great fun, but it's pretty challenging too. I recommend a joystick for flight.
After Arma I played a round of one of my favorite games ever - Left 4 Dead 2 - and decided to look through my backloggery for an unbeaten title to tackle. Turns out it's time to finally beat Half-Life.
Arrowhead, on the other hand, was shorter - the whole game - than the final mission of Arma 2 alone! I finished the game in less than three hours. The only improvement I could find over Arma 2 is the addition of the apache chopper. Flying is great fun, but it's pretty challenging too. I recommend a joystick for flight.
After Arma I played a round of one of my favorite games ever - Left 4 Dead 2 - and decided to look through my backloggery for an unbeaten title to tackle. Turns out it's time to finally beat Half-Life.
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