Blog Posts from "Protagonist" - Gameriot.com

Old School MMO Design: It's On Its Way out

no.spam@gameriot.com (Sol Invictus) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:21:02 -0500

I can't say that I disagree with how they designed the game. It's just a game that you have to get yourself into a specific mindset in order to enjoy and once you're locked into that mindset, you're basically hooked, or addicted to the game. Fanboys might call it 'immersion', but immersion shouldn't make you sick and annoyed after corpse runs, 30 minute griffin rides, repair bills and other forms of assorted crap. They're just things that you deal with as a part of the gameplay experience.

It's A Bag of Hooks

Psychologically, these sinks can often serve as hooks whenever a player 'outsmarts' the game by reducing his death penalties, cooldown times, travel times or develops or even discovers newer modes of convenience, such as mounts and special location binds, further reenforcing his or her immersion into the setting. The player's "mastered" it, so he can't leave it without giving up his mastery of the game world.

It's pretty clever, but after years of playing MMORPGs with the same gameplay 'hook' mechanics, it becomes pretty obvious and veteran players tend to move away from that, hence the reason why newer games like LOTRO and WAR offer so much more convenience with fewer (or negligible) death penalties, faster travel times, no corpse runs and so on. Once the alternatives are there, it doesn't take long for new players with the opportunity to try out both games to be turned off by the old school hooks offered by games like Everquest. It's probably the reason why WOW's being remade into a much more convenient game, bit by bit. Leveling to 60 takes 1/5th of the time it used to take with the new triple experience bonuses in addition to the reduction of XP requirements, for example.

It really wouldn't surprise me if they eventually got rid of durability repair costs altogether and cut down on the flight times, but I doubt they'd do something so drastic in such a short period of time. After all, it did take Blizzard years before they messed around with the experience requirements.

In the meantime, we've got games like Warhammer Online, so who wants to wait for another two years?

WAR: Pitched Battles in Troll Country

no.spam@gameriot.com (Sol Invictus) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 12:36:27 -0400

As you know, "The Witching Night" is upon us in the grim world of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. Ghosts are abound, and certain battlegrounds have turned into locations where pitched battles occur during every waking hour of the day.

One of our casters even bragged about his propensity for 'insane AOEs' after we'd pulled it off. We need more people like him.

It was amazing how well we worked, with most of our "retards" (high-end T2 players) who failed to listen to orders in the earlier battles already in T3, we had only the level-headed players who followed orders around. Split into two warbands (~20 members each), we camped the sides of the hill with our support units who withdrew in waves to coax the Order to push forward, at which point a wave of meleers and healers would surge forwards and strike them all down.

We won the battle with a 30 point difference.

I didn't win any loot, but I did gain a level and the experience of being there was just awesome.

EA Says: 99.8% of gamers don't care about DRM

no.spam@gameriot.com (Sol Invictus) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 21:27:22 -0400

What?Â

Do pirates even care about DRM? I doubt it. They've got cracks to get around it. The only people that DRM affects are genuine customers and nobody else.Â

From the makers of DOTA comes League of Legends

no.spam@gameriot.com (Sol Invictus) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:39:33 -0400

Marketing speak aside, the game definitely holds some interest to me. I've uploaded a trailer of the game with its funky art style for any of you who think that it might be worth a look:

League of Legends Trailer - Uploaded by Sol Invictus to Gameriot.com

If any of you are interested in League of Legends, please reply.Â

One Man Raider - 36 WoW Accounts, Zero Life

no.spam@gameriot.com (Sol Invictus) — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:51:04 -0400

: Dual-Boxing

Tampax meets Quake Live: AdSense for Games

no.spam@gameriot.com (Sol Invictus) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 10:19:08 -0400

Google has announced its venture into game-based advertising via its official blog.Â

The games that theyâ€™re targeting happen to be web-based games like the ones playable on girth plates and Nike-swooshed body armor? You betcha! Hereâ€™s a mockup of what that would look like:

Google's prepared a couple of videos to show you what they think it'll look like in games, but we know better, don't we?Â

Dead Space Banned All Over The Place

no.spam@gameriot.com (Sol Invictus) — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 07:29:16 -0400

I was cruising along the news sites today and picked this one up. Apparently Ve3tro (not to be confused with VE3D) is reporting that Dead Space's release date has been pushed up to October 14th (woot!) but that it's also been outright banned in Germany, Japan and China (****!)Â

Quote: I donâ€™t know if you heard but Dead Space is now hitting stores on October 14th! Weird, huh, we moved it in another week. The team is simply amazing that they were actually able to pull the date in. Some other crazy news I just got that isnâ€™t exactly good news is that Dead Space was banned from being sold (yes outright banned, this time Iâ€™m correct) in Japan, Germany, and China! Manâ€¦Â

What the hell? I just hope this isn't true, but if it is, I don't understand why. It isn't any more violent than BioShock and FEAR, and it sure as hell doesn't approach the level of 'random violence' as Grand Theft Auto IV or Manhunt. Not that I think those games need to be banned either, because they don't. Thailand's just banned the hell out of every GTA game and a lot of other countries are following in their footsteps.Â

Yeah, let's blame games for all this violence and **** while movies like Hostel get shown freely at every theater.

Bethesda vs Blizzard and Why Slappywag Doesn't Get It

no.spam@gameriot.com (Sol Invictus) — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 04:36:13 -0400

I've posted up an article entitled Bethesda vs Blizzard: Bethesda Can Suck It with a grocery list of complaints against the company that's currently butchering Fallout III and why their strategy with the game is d0med to failure, compared to Blizzard's success with the gaming media and the fans with what they've done with Diablo III.

In response to the bottle of that Slappywag's been posting lately, I'm going to say that the article in question is on my other blog/portal that I'm very blatantly linking to in order to drive more traffic from WOWRiot over to Hellforge. It's a new site, and it's a serious article. I think you'll find it interesting, whether you agree with it or not.Â

Slappywag, you don't get it, man. Hellforge isn't just a blog with articles in it. It's also Diablo III news. People dig that ****.Â

Diablo III Timeline, New Media Added

no.spam@gameriot.com (Sol Invictus) — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 03:17:54 -0400

Diablo nerds rejoice! A new Diablo Timeline is now available at the official website.

The timeline covers the events beginning from the rebellion in Hell known as the Dark Exile that sent the three prime evils, Diablo, Baal and Mephisto to the world of Sanctuary. I expect that the demons involved in the rebellion were listening to Rage Against the Machine as all hell broke loose.Â

Also covered are the events that transpire within the first Diablo game, all the way to the end of Diablo II, when the Archangel Tyrael chucked his sword at the Worldstone and shattered it like a fake diamond.Â

In addition to the timeline are four new pieces of concept art and four new screenshots. One of the concept art images appears to be that of an island kingdom. What do you think it is?Â

Jay Wilson Talks PVP, Art and How Whining Amounts To Nothing

no.spam@gameriot.com (Sol Invictus) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 12:36:47 -0400

GameReactor has a new interview from GC2008 with Diablo III's lead designer, Jay Wilson which consists of a 9 minute video.

The first bit is all about Blizzard's core development strategy, and how they want the game to feel.Â Part of that is the new potion system with the orbs, which make it more challenging. Continuing on, the interview also touches base on the game's co-op functionality, with things like individual loot.Â

Jay specifically says it's good game design to enable everyone to have fun, not just a small minority at the expense of others. However, Jay states that Blizzard has plans to add a lot of dedicated PVP later, for players who just want to smack the crap out of each other.Â

The interview then goes into the subject of the game's art direction. Everyone's favorite subject, as you may well have heard of given the uproar it's managed to create in the past couple of months. Jay states that Blizzard actually expected a more negative reaction, because strugled through the same feelings the players have, but now they are so used to it they will definately not change it. (Ha!)

It's nothing that we don't already know about, but anything out of Blizzard isn't a bad thing.Â

I think that what this implies is that Blizzard has got a long way to go with the development of the game. Sure, the story and setting may well be as complete as they've stated, but they've still got their work cut out of them. Not to mention the iterations each phase of the game is going to go through.

Check out the interview atÂ GameReactor.Â

Oh yeah, Lipton's got a contest going on over at his Starfeeder blog. The prize? A ticket to BlizzCon. Man, I would enter that myself if I didn't live half way across the world.Â

DIGG This, WOW'ers! The Top 5 Best Diablo Clones

no.spam@gameriot.com (Sol Invictus) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 22:49:17 -0400

As many of us awaits more Diablo III goodness to be trickle down Blizzard's milky teat, there are more than a few games out there to provide us with our Diablo "fix", as I like to call it. I've written up a list of 5 of what I think are the best Diablo clones.

Digg it here.

Here's a tiny snippet from the full article:

Titan Quest is arguably the one Diablo clone that manages to capture the visceral feel of Diablo's combat and take it to a whole new level. **** goes flying when you hit it with a bat. The only problem with all this hilarious brutality is that there's no blood or dismemberment, so they feel like little more than indestructible ragdolls.

On the one hand, it's very satisfying to see a monster go flying after you swat it with a maul, but on the other hand it's very disappointing when they don't explode into a fine bloody mist or have body parts flying away when you throw a fireball at them. It's simply not vicious enough.

The rest of the article can be read at Hellforge @ Gameriot.

McCain's VP Pick: My Thoughts

no.spam@gameriot.com (Sol Invictus) — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 00:10:32 -0400

As you all know, McCain just picked Palin as his running VP. This picture sums up my thoughts:

The Spirit of Chuck Norris Lives at the Olympics

no.spam@gameriot.com (Sol Invictus) — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 15:27:37 -0400

in a roundhouse move that crunched into Chelbat's pudgy face. Proving that body fat does somewhat help to pad raw physical damage, tournament officials said Chelbat only needed stitches on the left side of his lower lip.

Spectators and viewers were appalled by the referee's decision and as Chilmanov pranced around the stage with his Bronze belt, the stadium filled with boos and jeers and parted the stadium in disgust. Take that, you Borat mother******.

ChinaJoy has the Best Asian Booth Babes

no.spam@gameriot.com (Sol Invictus) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 17:42:54 -0400

The guys over at ChinaJoy know how to run a good video games convention. E3 could learn a thing or two from them.

EA Says: "We thought (Hellgate) would have been slightly higher quality than it turned out to be"

no.spam@gameriot.com (Sol Invictus) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:57:58 -0400

Electronic Arts' David DeMartini has granted an interview to GamaSutra about his plans with EA Partners, and he also touches upon the subject of the failure of Hellgate: London, a game that EA heavily invested in.

So there you have it.Â

Warhammer Online Not Crediting All Developers

no.spam@gameriot.com (Sol Invictus) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:30:33 -0400

I just read on Shacknews that not all developers will be getting accredited for their work on Warhammer Online if they left the company before the game is launched. Honestly, what the ****?

Rough deal.

As Fidgit and video game journalist Tom Chick wrote to me, "Is this Sol Invictus Righteous Indignation Post Day?"

Yes Tom. It is!

The LEGO Olympics

no.spam@gameriot.com (Sol Invictus) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:46:12 -0400

This is pretty damn cool especially for those of you who like LEGO. The Hong Kong LEGO Users Group (HKLUG) built something called the LEGO Sports City to help promote the Olympics in Beijing. Neat!

Thai Officials Want To Hold Game Industry Responsible For Crimes

no.spam@gameriot.com (Sol Invictus) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 05:32:41 -0400

Thailand's government officials want to hold game publishers and developers responsible for any crimes committed by criminals that supposedly 'copycat' events that occur within video games.

This would easily encompass any form of violence in existence, including stabbings, shootings, robberies, and terrorist violence.

Due to recent events, police have since been authorized to immediately arrest anyone caught trying to buy the game.

The government is pushing it further, with the following statement from one Somchai Jaroen-amnuaysuk of the Welfare Promotion, Protection and Empowerment of Vulnerable Groups Office:

When a player copycats a crime he or she sees in the game, the game maker should be prosecuted. Prosecutions will automatically force game makers to act more responsibly.

I think the game industry can bid farewell to Thailand, because nobody's going to want to release games in that country if the imminent threat of arrest looms over every game released in the market.

The New Tomb Raider Girl

no.spam@gameriot.com (Sol Invictus) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 02:41:58 -0400

Have you seen the new Tomb Raider girl?

It's funny to read all those comments on Kotaku and elsewhere about her tan lines or how the picture made them 'lose their lunch'. Right. I refer to this picture (slightly NSFW).

When I picture people typing offensive things about her, all I can think of are some sad, obese, smelly guys wearing a Cheetos-covered shirt sitting in their mother's basement, wallowing in filth.

Right. Like any of them would ever have a snowball's chance in hell of getting with a girl like her. Mm-hmm.

Let's Blame GTA For Everything

no.spam@gameriot.com (Sol Invictus) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:04:54 -0400

Just a couple of weeks ago, one Senator Gayle Slossberg of Connecticut wants confirmation of an alleged rape scene in Grand Theft Auto IV. As anyone who's ever played the game will know, no such scene exists. But that hardly matters. She still wants to introduce 'better warning labels' for all sorts of games.

In her interview with the New Haven Advocate, she admits that she's at a loss as to what kind of warning label and says, "I mean what would it say? 'This game will make you a sociopath'?" While that's all fine and dandy, all it'll do is serve to drive creativity into the ground, by scaring developers into removing blood and gore from their games because of whatever the new warning labels could potentially carry.

In continuation of the GTA blame game, just last week, some psychopath 19-year old in Thailand stabbed to death a cab driver for his money, which he used to spend in arcades to get away from squabbling parents. For whatever reason, Reuters decided to twist the story and write that he committed the stabbing to 're-enact' a scene from Grand Theft Auto IV. As such, the game has been pulled from shelves in Thailand by the game's distributors, no doubt in fear of government legistlation.

But the fun doesn't stop there. Today, three teen arsonists in the state of Georgia were charged with 57 felony counts after a series of car-bombings with Molotov cocktails.

True to the media, it's being reported that these kids allegedly learned how to create Molotov cocktails after playing Grand Theft Auto IV. Yeah, it certainly couldn't have been anything else. Right?

BlizzCon 2008 Site Launched

no.spam@gameriot.com (Sol Invictus) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 13:40:16 -0400

The BlizzCon 2008 official website has launched with a sneak preview of what’s in store, along with the panels that Blizzard will be running during the event, which takes place on October 10-11. You can check out the sneak preview after the jump.

For everyone contemplating a trip this year’s BlizzCon (October 10-11 in Anaheim, California), we’d like to give you a glimpse of just a few items you might find in your goody bag when you arrive at the show.

If you’ve ever been on the verge of finishing off a paladin, only to be foiled at the last second, you’ll appreciate the 16″ inflatable divine shield ball, complete with a paladin inside in the midst of hearthing away. Half of the goody bags handed out will contain the bubble-hearth ball, while the other half will have…

Frostmourne. The very name of Arthas’s runeblade strikes terror into hearts across Azeroth. Now it comes to you in a more convenient package, and you don’t even have to travel to Icecrown Glacier to get it. As you go about your daily activities, whether they be raising legions of the undead or just brooding on your throne, carrying this 48” inflatable Frostmourne will grant you an extra touch of sinister majesty.

That’s just the beginning, though, as both the goody bags and the on-site store will be stuffed with sample products from our licensed partners and plenty more fun and unique Blizzard-themed trinkets, such as Diablo health and mana stress balls, pandaren brewmaster bottle openers, zerg creep, and much more.

And of course, a new BlizzCon brings with it a lovable murloc to welcome into your heart–but murlocs don’t always come alone. This one has developed a taste for speed, and sits astride an exclusive polar bear mount, waving a BlizzCon flag. It’s the perfect way to cruise Northrend in style.

Diablo III's Art Director Leaves: Drama Ensues

no.spam@gameriot.com (Sol Invictus) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 06:23:36 -0400

It all started with Blizzard posting a new entry for the position of Diablo III Art Director its jobs page. But due to the lack of explanation on what happened to Brian Morrisroe, all the drama-lovers jumped to the conclusion that the Diablo III art team was in "total disarray" over 52,000 signatures complaining about the game's art direction not being goth-tastic enough for their darkened souls.

Art Director
Blizzard Entertainment is currently looking for a talented, motivated, and experienced art director to lead the Diablo III art team. For this position, you must be highly organized with outstanding communication skills and proven experience in management. We're looking for a proven track record of shipping AAA products in an art director role. Experience modeling and texturing assets for a diverse visual range of environments and a solid grasp of form, color, and light for both 2D and 3D art assets are also essential. You must be experienced at mentoring a team, able to work well in an environment of artists who are passionate about making great games, skilled in another art task (illustration, modeling, texturing, animation, or concept drawing), and well-versed in related tools (Maya, Photoshop, etc.).

Many sites and complainers alike were quick to jump on the bandwagon and drum up a spectacle over the issue in typical sensationalist fashion.

Brian has indeed quit the company, but as Kotaku reveals, his departure will have no impact over the game's art direction.

Regarding Brian, he recently resigned to form a startup company "outside the game industry", which is why we posted about the open position. That change won't impact the game...we're really pleased with the look and feel that Brian helped create for Diablo III, and the new person we bring aboard will work with other artists on the team to maintain the art style moving forward.

Those complaining about the colors have been denied, once again. Nobody gives a **** about your 52,000 signatures.

The Cow Level: Poorly Designed Mess

no.spam@gameriot.com (Sol Invictus) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 05:19:06 -0400

I've never much liked the in Diablo 2. I always felt like it pulled attention away from the rest of the game by giving everyone a single place to farm and grind, mitigating the importance of the other areas. It was never intended as a farm, being little more than an easter egg. But due to the design oversights of the Blizzard North team at the time, it soon became the only location in the game where one could viably level up at a "reasonable" pace.

Diablo 3's team shares the same opinion via Bashiok.

Yeah, who doesnâ€™t like fighting cows running around with halberds?
Â

I disliked the secret cow level from a design standpoint though. It actually angered me that it existed at one point, maybe it kind of still does.
Â

Iâ€™m not a designer, at all, but in my opinion and from a design standpoint I think the secret cow level was a failure. For a long time it was one of the most lucrative ways to level, and one of the best places to MF. For an easter egg, something fun and whimsical, to overshadow the entire rest of the game was a huge problem, and one that existed for far too long. It was a fun idea, a cool nod to the rumors that spawned it, but in execution it was justâ€¦ game breaking in some ways.

To which, a bunch of people on the Battle.net forums disagreed. His response?

Well of course, everyone wants everything made easier for them, and thatâ€™s effectively what it was. This barrel of fish that not only acted as cheesy way to pull the slot machine lever, but almost rendered the rest of the game unnecessary.
Â

The oversight, I believe, existed in the requirement for the current difficulty to be beaten as well as the Cow King kill. Itâ€™s easy enough to avoid the King or just have the level opened by other characters, and I can only guess that the amount of replay potential of the actual game was extremely undervalued.
Â

Because youâ€™re playing a game, and it should be respected that youâ€™re playing that game. The cow level was not part of the game, it was an easter egg that made leveling and item finding far easier than the actual game. Iâ€™m inclined to almost call it cheating.

I never really understood why people insist on seeing the implementation of some 'cow level' every time an action RPG comes out. Those morons are as singleminded as D&D players who insist on seeing the implentation of 'jaunty caps' in every D&D-based RPG that gets released.

Source: Battle.net Forums

Crying Over Diablo 3 Colors: Blizzard's Jay Wilson Hits Back

no.spam@gameriot.com (Sol Invictus) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 05:03:22 -0400

MTV's Multiplayer Blog has gotten in touch with Diablo 3's Lead Designer, Jay Wilson, seeking his response to the brouhaha over the color and graphics related complaints that emerged shortly after Blizzard unveiled Diablo 3's 20-minute gameplay trailer and accompanying screenshots more than a month ago.

Standing over there, you can’t even tell the difference between him and the zombie. And that’s another player, and when you can’t tell the player apart from the creature, that’s horrible.

- Jay Wilson on crappy photoshops.

Within the interview, Jay Wilson responds to six of the most popular Photoshopped Diablo 3 "before" and "after" screenshots, including the infamous and oft-cited homophobic "Necromancer's Choice vs WOW Gayness" screenshot that spawned the whole mess on 4chan.

Following are some snippets that should rile you up or make you happy, depending on which side of the fence you stand on.

Wilson: A lot of this change is adding noise to the screen. If [the characters] weren’t centered on the screen — like find the witch doctor. Especially think about him as a friend [in co-op play]. Standing over there, you can’t even tell the difference between him and the zombie. And that’s another player, and when you can’t tell the player apart from the creature, that’s horrible.

You’ve got to think that there’s potentially up to seven other people in addition to yourself, and several dozen monsters. All that noise just translates into unplayable, especially when this starts moving. This texturing was actually very similar to one of our previous art styles. But when you started moving and the whole screen just kind of shimmers, you can’t really tell anything that’s going on.

And one on rainbows:

MTV Multiplayer: Just to be clear, are we going to see a lot more rainbows during the game?

Wilson: [laughs] After the announcement, one of our environment artists went to the darkest area in Act One and put a giant rainbow across the whole area. No, you’re probably not going to see a ton of rainbows. But we don’t think the one that’s in there is that big a deal. You know it’s like, it’s a waterfall. My favorite [criticism] is the one that analyzed the light refraction angle, and told us why from that angle seeing a rainbow would actually be impossible. Oh yeah, and it was upside down because the colors were reversed. And we’re like, “This is a whole different world than ours! Who’s to say that light refracts the same in the Diablo world?” [laughs]

We don’t think it’s that big a deal; we just think it adds a lot of interest to that scene. We don’t have specific plans to fill “Diablo” with rainbows. It’s not like we restarted the project and were like “Diablo III — now with rainbows!” Although I will say the pitch that I originally did, once we decided what we were going to do, said “Diablo III — now with pants.” Because we added a pants slot.

I never really understood the whole "rainbows = unicorns" connection. There's rainbows in real life. Where the hell are the unicorns?

Demigod in action: A look at the Demigod trailer

no.spam@gameriot.com (Sol Invictus) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 01:02:42 -0400

As you probably already know, Gas-Powered Games has released the Demigod trailer for public consumption. What was once speculation—based on concept art and the few previously-released stills—has solidified into a breathtakingly beautiful, undeniably action-packed glimpse into the world of Demigod.

With over 80% of the trailer concentrating on combat and gameplay, Demigod fans have a lot to digest. And the game certainly looks ready to deliver to the power hungry. Whether you prefer nature, magic, sci-fi and tech, or even if you just want a show of brute force, Demigod has it all. Smash up your enemies as a giant stone collossus (the towering behemoth knows as The Rook), command armies of treants and vines as a Fairy-type goddess, or burn your enemies to a crisp as the warlord called Torchbearer. The trailer features gameplay footage showing both general and assasin styles of play, with spectacular powers and troops for each. While this is only a tiny preview of what we can expect from the final game, it certainly seems that no one will be left out in the cold.

The action sequences alone are enough to whet anyone’s appetite. But, just in case your’e still craving more—and we know you are—four of the game’s demigods grace the trailer with their divine presence. With no official word yet on the number of demigods to ship at release, the trailer clearly demonstrates four archetypes so far: The Rook, who has become a bit of an icon amongst the game’s fans, shows off his sheer force; a tech-oriented demigod, leading waves of futuristic-looking, artillery-wielding android warriors into combat; the Torchbearer shows off his tele-, cryo- and pyrokinetic abilities with devestating precision against his enemies; and a being I like to call The Naturist, a fairy/druid type creature who seems to wield the mystical powers of plants and animals (is it just me, or does she bear a striking resemblance to Poison Ivy?).

The environments are also finely showcased. Both particle and physics effects seem to come into play as we watch the Rook smash his mighty hammer into the earth, sending enemies, debris and hurricanes of dust in a myriad of directions from the point of impact. Waves of etheric energy appear to literaly pour off of the Torchbearer as he focuses his telekinetic attacks against his opponents. The elements used to make up the environments themselves have a such fantastic style to them, it’s almost like watching a graphic novel come to life.

And just to clear up any possible misgivings about the renderings shown in the trailer, Nate Simpson, lead artist for Demigod, came forth on the Official Demigod forums to say:

We have been enjoying the ongoing debate about the authenticity of the trailer. Yes, every shot in the trailer was taken in-game. We made no custom animations for the trailer. The footage was run through After Effects to apply certain atmospheric effects and film grain, but by and large, what you see is what you’ll get. Steve Thompson, our lead animator, sat down with Jessica Snook, one of our designers, and the two of them camped out inside the game like wildlife photographers. Steve managed to capture some great moments at some very beautiful angles, and then Howard Mostrom composed some gorgeous music to go with it. If you still doubt that it’s actual in-game footage, look closely at some of the shots late in the trailer: we managed to immortalize a bug that was generating persistent splats in midair when angels got shot down by towers of light. That bug has been fixed, so if you could all kindly return the video to us, we’ll go ahead and fix that.

There’s no doubt that Demigod, which is being developed on a variation of the Supreme Commander graphics engine, is poised to be one of the most visually-enthralling games of 2009. With it’s intense action, unique style, and fast-paced gameplay, this trailer has us all eagerly anticipating more.

Darkfall and Other Pathetic MMORPGs

no.spam@gameriot.com (Sol Invictus) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 09:41:46 -0400

What's the big deal? It's not a big name game (Star Trek Online), by a big name studio (KOTOR Online, by Bioware). It doesn't have any "key developers who worked on World of Warcraft" (Red 5 Studios MMO, Carbon Studios MMO). It's just another game in a sea of MMORPGs. MMORPGs that suck.

So what's the big deal with Darkfall? Why does anyone even care about it? It might have excited a few people when it was first announced centuries upon millennia ago but it failed to interest me then, and it fails to interest me now.

Some call it vaporware. I've called it vaporware in the past (well, precisely 5 minutes ago), but I've changed my mind on calling it vaporware and I have instead decided to can it under the "crap I don't care about" section of my brain precisely now.

So the game has permadeath. Does it still have permadeath? Who cares. It's a nice, novel little idea, but it's unapplicable in practice. Not in today's World of Warcraft influenced market. Having your character die permanantly is tantamount to gimping an MMORPG. It'd be like taking out the shortcut keys from an RTS or the aiming reticle from an FPS.

I'd rather not play a game like that, and truer still, I'd rather not play a game that was originally designed with the intent to implement permadeath and later 'retconned' into something else. Games developed in that way, especially without Blizzard's, Square Enix's, or Bioware's time and budget just don't end up right. It's like drinking alcohol and smoking when you're pregnant: your baby's gonna be a ******* retard.

That's kind of like what Darkfall's going to be, especially if they "reimagined" the game to be more successful in the mass market and in this age it'd be stupid not to pander to the Market Forces of the status quo.

It's either that, or it's going to be totally unapproachable to most gamers and appeal to only the 'hardest of the core' (e.g. everyone who gets mad when someone calls it vaporware). Good for those guys... for about a few months until accountant quits his job after he looks at the monthly server costs and realizes the company can't pull in any kind of profit.

Happens to just about every MMORPG out there that isn't WOW. Why do people even try?

Social Networking and Other Ramblings: My Train of Thought

no.spam@gameriot.com (Sol Invictus) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 09:20:45 -0400

I was recommended to this new little social networking platform called Plurk by my buddy Lipton (of Starfeeder) and lo and behold, it's about the easiest, most friendliest 'miniblogger' I've ever had the fortune of using.

Everyone else using it is pretty cool as hell and I'm really enjoying myself using it. It's not much of a chore to type up what I'm doing ever so often, and the fact that there's a timeline and you can see other peoples' "plurks" along with your own and actively respond to them as if they were forum posts is just a huge plus. Each "plurk" can actually consist of dozens of replies. So instead of having a page full of crap you've got a short one liner that, when expanded, can turn into a full discussion.

I for one could never get into the habit of using stuff like Twitter because it was too impersonal, and its interface was counterintuitive to any socializing. I'm not too big on using regular blogs, either -- since you don't really know if anyone reads them, and it's not as if any of us have the time to check out everyone else's individual blogs, especially since we spend the most part of our time on the internet checking out specific websites and forums like GameRiot right here or GameTrailers or RockPaperShotgun or Kotaku.

It's really nice to have a 'one stop' for your online social interaction that doesn't consist of long meaty posts on a forum or live chatting on IRC. I enjoy IRC, but most people don't, since it requires additional software to be installed in addition to dealing with the hassle of registration, channels, etc, and powertripping internet douchebags with @'s before their names, worst of all. Besides that, IRC is way too anonymous. There's nothing personal about it. It's just a bunch of words with no persona attached to it, for the most part.

I've always preferred forums to IRC, by far, because it allows me to post my thoughts at a length and go off on a tangent without 'flooding the channel', as it were on IRC. But there's also times when I'd just like to tell people what I'm up to without making a post about it, and I'd like to see what other people are doing, from time to time, especially if they're interesting to me. Doing this on a forum would just result in spam, and I for one am not about to make a "pub" post like you see on many other forums where people just make a one liner about what they're doing.

So back to my original point: Plurk. I like using it. It allows me to post my minutiae and not clog up anything. It also allows me to partake in wonderful social interaction with other people who use it.

In case you feel like signing up, use this link. It'll use me as your referrer.

Interview with Demigodâ€™s Lead Designer John Comes

no.spam@gameriot.com (Sol Invictus) — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 18:25:42 -0400

With the release of Demigod trailer a few days ago I'm sure a lot of you are excited about finding out more about the game. To that effect, Demigod Guru managed to get an interview with John "Scathis" Comes, Demigod's lead designer.

Here's a small snippet from the 15-question interview about the upcoming DOTA-influenced game.

1. How do you plan to balance General type heroes to Assassins in terms of power and utility? To elaborate, would it be possible for a team full of Assassin Demigods take on a team full of Generals, or will it be necessary to mix and match the two archetypes?

This is a great question! This is one of Demigod’s core features. Because we had the game playable so early we’ve been able to experiment with all types of ways to balance the two types of demigods. A team of generals versus a team of assassins will be a completely balanced, enjoyable and action packed game. We believe we’ve found all the advantages generals have over assassins and vice versa. Once we had this understanding, we’ve given assassins and generals counters to the advantages of the other type.

2. Concerning the game’s RPG aspects, does Demigod feature character levels and items that are purchased from game to game, and subsequently reset in new games?

Demigod gives you the whole experience of seeing an RPG character grow greatly in strength in just a short time. In the matter of 20-30 minutes you can achieve maximum level, buy powerful artifacts and win the day. Then when you play again, you start back at level 1 with nothing and can choose a different skill path, choose a different demigod or a set of different equipment.

Be sure to check out the rest.

Grand Theft Auto IV for the PC?

no.spam@gameriot.com (Sol Invictus) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 02:21:55 -0400

The Malaysian issue of PC Gamer has a cover story on Grand Theft Auto IV, with some apparent insider (or possibly really good speculation) on a possible PC version of the game.

Now it's really no big surprise that the game would eventually come to the PC, but for it to come so soon? It's pretty understandable, since Rockstar didn't have any kind of exclusivity deals with either Sony or Microsoft this time around.

I'm definitely looking forward to all the crazy mods that are sure to come out for the game.

Babes of ChinaJoy 2008

no.spam@gameriot.com (Sol Invictus) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 23:34:30 -0400

Blizzard Guru's correspondent in China, Vivian, attended this year's ChinaJoy gaming expo and while she was there she took a few pictures of some of the exhibition's booth babes.

You can check out the pictures she took here.

Is it less creepy that it wasn't a guy who took the pictures?