Impressions: Left 4 Dead

I'm a bit late to the party with this one I guess, the second one is just around the corner and I'm just trying this one out. I'd played the demo version on Xbox Live when it was first released and didn't think much of it. This week I've been fairly desperate to find a game to play to keep myself busy so I picked it up for PC this time and the difference is huge.

One of the funnest FPS multiplayer games I've played in a while.

I only played one of the campaigns but it was very well put together, some of the scripted events were brilliant. I usually play FPS games on console so I'm used to 13 year olds screaming in my years because I'm not doing what they want me to, or I'm just pwning them. Wasn't the case with L4D (at least so far...) I explained to the team I was a noob and they accepted it, I quickly learnt the ropes and we were on our way.

Teamwork played a huge role in the game, running off on your own or hording med packs just doesn't work, staying together and watching each others backs was the only way to go. I noticed it straight away with the guys I was playing with, nobody knew anyone in the group yet we played like we'd known each other years, sounds corny but you get the point, the game forces you to play nice.

I've only played the Dead Air campaign but I'm looking forward to the others. I'm not usually an achievement whore but I've a feeling I'll be trying to get as many as I can in this. I moaned about this game when I first heard there was only 4 campaigns on the disc, saying that it wasn't worth the money, I take it back now. I can imagine going back over these campaigns on different difficulties to 100% it.

For anyone who hasn't played it and is looking for a game to play, definitely worth checking out.

A new game to keep an eye on

I remember a few weeks ago the main complaint of the STO community was that there wasn't enough information about the game to keep interested in it, Cryptics response was to host some developer chats where the fans and gamers could ask questions about the game.

For the most part this new stream of information has dashed some of my hopes for the game and has had me looking for other games which I might end up jumping ship to get my sci-fi fix. Black Prophecy could be one to keep an eye on.



I've only been introduced to this game in the past week or so. I've been trying to gather up a bit of information on it, by that trailer alone the game looks awesome, now just have to wait and play it for myself, they are accepting beta registrations at the moment so head over to http://blackprophecy-game.com/ and check them out.

AoA has also set up an IRC channel dedicated to Black Prophecy which you can find at #blackprophecy on the GameSurge network or by clicking here

EvE Online Butterfly Effect

Seems like CCP are currently on a PR drive to get more players into EvE by releasing a new trailer which explains how one small thing you do can effect the outcome of the entire in-game universe aka The Butterfly Effect or in EvE's own words, the "Sandbox"



I have to admit, trailer did what it was meant to for me, made me want to play it unfortunately I've been duped by EvE before, great hype until I get into the game and it feels like I'm playing Microsoft Excel.

If EvE was to ever get a bit more interactive with its controls and maybe a more user friendly UI I think I'd be all over it like herpes but for now, I can only hope that STO will keep me happy.

Impressions: Trine

The only reason I even knew that this game existed is because GameTrailers reviewed it, after watching it I decided to check it out for myself and it was really awesome.

It's hard to categorize the game, it has the makings of a platform game, an rpg and an MMO style class system, I felt like I was playing Diablo in side scrolling mode at first but then as I got into the game I settled on the fact that it is indeed a platforming game.

The premise is to solve puzzles in a side scrolling level to get to the end. Sounds simple enough but the catch is some puzzles can only be completed by 1 of the 3 characters you control which can make things a bit confusing. I found that most the puzzles I came across were simple enough to figure out which character I needed to use, but some of them weren't as easy to figure out, while others could be completed a few different ways between all 3.

The three characters you control are. The Wizard, The Warrior and The Thief. The Wizard can move objects and create blocks. The Warrior can attack and block with his shield and the thief can shoot arrows and use a grapple hook.

Graphically the game is gorgeous, it might not be on par with the likes of Crysis but it's very stylised and runs great on lower end computers as well as high end. It has a steampunk feel to it which in my books is great.

I suggest that anyone that likes RPG's, puzzles and side scrollers to check it out, it's fun to play and a good time waster.

Review: Moon

I don't usually have any interest in reviewing things, I either like it or don't but this film is the first one in a while that I feel people really need to go and see.

I'll try and keep the spoilers to a minimum but some might trickle through so if you want to avoid them, might be best to go see the movie first then come back and read :)

My friends know that I'm a sucker for sci-fi related movies, they rarely come around anymore, thankfully director and writer Duncan Jones was up to the channel and brought one that I think will stay with me for a while.

The premise of the story is that Sam Bell is just about to finish his 3 year contract for an energy company who harvest helium-3 from the Moon. He is the the only employee working on his station where his sole companion is Gerty a robot which regulates the stations processes while catering to Sam's needs. Being alone for that stretch of time starts doing odd things to Sam's mind which causes an accident.

It's one of those movies that might not sit well with everyone, without trying to spoil, not a whole lot happens and for some people it might be a little bit predictable but that doesn't take away from the fact that the movie is very good to watch and you really relate to the characters and by the time the movie is over, you're happy to walk out with pretty much the same you came in with.

When I read the description of the film before seeing it, I was convinced it would be a horror film but I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't. Sam Rockwell did a fantastic job keeping my attention throughout the film, being the only real flesh character that we see, there wasn't a moment where I got bored watching him. Kevin Spacey who plays the voice of Gerty was also brilliant, very dry and robotic but with a hint of emotion and love for Sam.

The ending was very anti-climatic but great, going any further I think would have hindered what the film was trying to portray.

The director only had 1 film prior to this under his belt and hes right up there with the best of them in my opinion. Funnily enough from checking his IMDB page he also worked on a game called Republic: The Revolution which I wasted a summer playing and fell in love with it back about 6-7 years ago. I hope he sticks with the science fiction genre because so far he hasn't disappointed me and I can only hope that his next film is a further refinement to his art.

Score: 9/10

Sunday Funny Picture 26/07/09

I think the internetz is fine with you...

Thanks Cryptic...

*Warning - Rant incoming*

Well it seems I've lost even more respect for Cryptics community management team. They've pulled out of the STO channel on the GameSurge network

"We’re happy to announce the official IRC channels have moved to the Coldfront IRC servers. Due to feedback from the community, we felt it was important set up our own official channels, in a way that would allow us to monitor the servers ourselves and enforce our Usage Guidelines."

Being an operator in the previous "official" STO IRC channel I'm not afraid to admit that I'm upset by this because of the time and effort put into the channel by the other operators and myself and simply because of the way that Cryptic dealt with the matter. I won't name any names but I think the people involved know who they are started stirring up trouble because they were bored and eventually it caught on with other members who might have been a bit jealous they weren't chosen as operators.

This feedback that Cryptic received was never mentioned to any of the operators in the channel so that it could be discussed and resolved. Cryptic simply disappeared over a week from the channel and announced the new incarnation on a different network.

There was some tensions before this whole "feedback" notion came around due to the type of network GameSurge is and it's ability to provide certain services which to my knowledge was solved.

Cryptic boasts that they are professional development studio and I would agree that the majority of the staff are. But if their CM's or more specifically Nicole Hamlett (CrypticAwen) doesn't have the common courtesy to give an explanation as to why they abandoned the channel we moderated and kept alive for the past 3 months then it's no wonder that the community has been falling apart. Lead by example is the saying, it seems she is leading the community into the ground.

A tip to any of the new operators in the new channel. Don't expect any special treatment, in fact you're probably worse off than normal users if Awens leadership skills is anything to be judged by.

A simple explanation would have been nice.

Thanks Cryptic.

*End Rant*

EDIT: Sorry if I might sound a bit bitter here but for me and the rest of the ops I think it's fair

STO: Klingon Ship of the Line

Finally people will be happy to see that Cryptic are showing the Klingon's some love by giving us a Klingon SOTL.

We are introduced to the Vo'Quv class starships which if I was to guess is a tactical goliath.

I think we're looking at the Federation equivalent of the NX-91001 judging by the description and story that accompanied the article.

It was hinted at that this ship will only be available to higher ranked players in the following line

"The KDF is assigning its most decorated captains to Vo'Quv ships, and many admirals and generals have claimed them as flagships."

I guess that also gives us a possible confirmation of the two ranks "Admiral" and "General" but who knows.

It's nice that Cryptic gave us a Klingon ship to look at, it's just a pity that the ship isn't much to look at. Compared to the base configuration of the NX-91001 the Vo'Quv is a very ugly looking ship. It's kind of like a deformed pregnant Bird of Prey. I hope that it's very customizable for any wannabe Klingon's out there because I don't think I'd want to look at that all day.

100th Blog!

100 posts already...I guess I have a lot to say :P

Thanks to all who read and lets hope we make it to 1000 posts.

The Macbook Pro Trackpad

So far I've really been enjoying my Macbook Pro. As with all laptops I've found that I'm a bit slower moving around since I'm not using a mouse. One thing that has made things a whole lot easier is the multi-touch trackpad.

For those who might not know what I'm talking about, the following video will explain.



I've found that the most useful ones is the two finger movement to scroll through pages and the three finger swipe to left and right to go back and forward.

Eventually I will end up using a usb mouse for more complicated things like Photoshop and 3dsMax but for now I'm very happy.

Mac: Gaming with Shaun White Snowboarding

As I mentioned in my first Mac Gaming article, I'd be testing out a few different games on my mac to see how well they work when ran on Windows 7 via bootcamp.

First up is Shaun White Snowboarding. The reason I picked this is because the requirements were fairly high and the game was pretty cheap so here are the specs needed to play

• 2.2GHz Dual Core Processor
• 1GB ram
• Geforce series 7 or above

I've already mentioned the spec mac I picked up here so how did I get on?

Pretty well, the game ran on high without any problems on 1440x900, the controls were a mess but that wasn't anyones fault except Ubisofts.

So there we have it. If you decide you want to pick up Shaun White Snowboarding for your mac or a similarly spec'd game then you will be fine to play it on high settings.

Sunday Funny Picture 19/07/09

It's best that you wear a condom at all times lads...

Mac: Movie Editing and Rendering with iMovie

I've been planning on testing out a good few features on the mac that I will eventually be using on a regular basis starting from September onwards.

Mac OSX is shipped with a collection of programs called iLife which includes software to edit photos, create websites and make movies. I decided I'd check out iMovie first because I like to upload videos of different games to YouTube.

I didn't have any games that needed recording so I decided I'd just take some random footage of the view out of the various windows of my house with my Lumix TZ5 in HD mode.

This is what I came up with



I apologise for how cheesy the opening and ending are but I couldn't help myself :P

iMovie seems pretty good, I need to look up a few tutorials to get my head around adding effects and transitions but overall I think it has everything I need for my videos. I encoded the video at 1280x720 for HD viewing and it took less than 4 minutes to encode which is fantastic, my PC took about 30 minutes on the same length video with same settings using Sony Vegas.

Extremely happy!

I'm seriously losing faith...

I recently wrote a blog about the acceptable rate of information and hype for MMO's. I used Cryptic as the bad end of the spectrum for releasing information. I also mentioned that they have been taking peoples complaints about this on board and been working to get information out to us at a faster rate...Well it's been a good month since they promised that and we've still got diddly squat.

Meanwhile Bioware have been releasing trailer after trailer for The Old Republic, they may not show too much in-game footage but I think they have the right idea about keeping peoples interest on the game. Video grabs peoples attentions faster than anything else.

Both games were announced around the same time as each other. STO has it's debut trailer and a character creator video, TOR has 9 videos related to the game, with the latest showing us gameplay from the perspective of the player which includes UI and skills.

I know a lot of people hate the thought of comparing these two games games because of their genre and I agree, the games are completely different from each other but I'm comparing them development wise. Cryptic are an MMO based company, Bioware are an RPG based one. So far Bioware are dominating.

If I was to choose Star Trek or Star Wars it would be Star Trek first but if I was asked to pick between STO and TOR I think TOR has the advantage.

Mac: Gaming

So this morning I decided I'd take the time out and install Windows 7 via Bootcamp on my Macbook so I could try out a few games. I traveled up to Northern Ireland yesterday looking to pick up a few cheap things.

Stupidly I used a €50 note and got back the change in pounds so I decided I had to spend those pounds before I left and so my great plan came. I picked up a few games over the spectrum in regards to the specs needed to run them with the idea of testing them on my Macbook Pro.

Here's what I picked up from lowest to highest spec

• Starcraft
• Thief: Deadly Shadows
• AudioSurf
• Universe at War
• Shaun White Snowboarding

I know that some of these might not be instantly recognizable as great games but I was on a budget and was going for specs.

On that subject the spec Macbook that I picked up is the following

• 2.8GHz Intel Core Duo
• 4GB Memory
• 500 GB Hard Drive
• Nvidia Geforce 9400m + 9600m GT 512mb memory

Check back over the coming days to check my progress.

Google Web Illustrators love Zelda

Most people love Zelda, including me. Great RPG's that keep you occupied for a while and then you've got to wait another 5-10 years for the next.

It seems that some of the web illustrators over at Google like Zelda too since they've been secretly adding a triforce to a lot of their special Google illustrations



There are plenty more which you find on Blogoscoped

Looks like we're getting the shit end of the stick again

Most people in Europe are used to getting thing a bit more expensive when it comes to gaming. A good example would be Rock Band. This game was delayed over 6 months in Europe and when we finally got news of it hitting, the game (including all instruments) was €200+, about 50 euro more expensive than it was when it launched in the states.

It seems the same will be happening with Modern Warfare 2.

The UK edition of the standard edition of the game is going to be £55. That might not sound bad to any of my Irish readers considering we pay €60 for new releases, in the UK they are usually £40 or less. "The Prestige Edition" is going to cost a whopping £120 which equals roughly 130 euro.

I said in my earlier blog that I would be buying it...it could still be true since I really want me some night vision goggles, but €130 is a lot, plus we will most likely get it bumped up to €150 just because we're Irish.

Anyone else planning on getting this or am I the only one who can't see a reason to own night vision goggles? Leave a comment below!

I wish we could all vote on this

On my usual trip to Kotaku I was surprised to see that they were talking about a new Yakuza game. I'm a fan of RPG's so I'm really hoping that SEGA will release Yakuza 3 to the West.

What caught my eye about this article was that SEGA are running a competition for female actors to be in the game, even more so what caught my eye is that a one of the women looking to get in the game is actually a porn star.

With such titles as "Squirting Young Wife" and "Let's have sex at school" she has my vote any day.

For anyone interested you can check out her blog here but be warned, it's NSFW

It's a pity DQIX isn't an MMO...

I wrote a blog the other day about Dragon Quest IX's opening trailer making the game look like an MMO. I guess it's a pity it's not.

Famitsu have given the game a perfect score 40/40. Only 10 other games have gotten it so congratulations to Square Enix who occupy 3 of those 10.

Read Kotakus article here

STO: Zinc hints at new "classes" available after launch

Tuesday heralded a new dev chat with Zinc, the topic was ship customization. A lot of the information was already available but it's always nice to get a 100% official word from Zinc himself.

One line really caught my attention was this

Bizarro_Rekhan: Will ships have defined purposes (eg Science- Nebula)
CrypticZinc: So - there are three different "types" of ships (at launch) - Escort, Cruiser, Science.

I guess it's nothing we didn't already suspect but it's nice to see that Cryptic are thinking ahead about adding other "classes"

I also have to give props to BannedAccount for catching Zinc's eye with this little gem

CrypticZinc: this sounds so much like guild wars
CrypticZinc: How so?

Leave it to BA to make an enemy of Zinc :P

Make sure to check out #STO on the Gamesurge network for all the latest news!

STO: The MT Saga Continues

BannedAccount has brought to my attention a post made by a Cryptic Dev on the Champions Online forums that goes into a bit of detail regarding micro-transactions

"I know everyone has questions about microtransactions – what are they, how much are they, etc. I’m sorry we didn’t post something earlier; we’re really heads down in development right now. We’re going to release a WHOLE lot of information in the very near future about not just about microtransactions, but pricing in general. That said, here’s some basic principles about microtransactions to at least answer some of your concerns:

1) Microtransactions enable us to have a larger development team
2) Microtransactions are mostly aesthetic (costume pieces, pets, etc.)
3) If a microtransaction does have any sort of in game effect, then it can be also be earned in game."

The most important things to notice here are "mostly aesthetic" and the 3rd point made.

The excuse that Jack gave was ridiculous, how micro-transactions let them have a larger development team before the game has even shipped is beyond me.

It's looking more and more likely that I won't be needing a beta key at this rate.

Dragon Quest IX opening has a very MMO feel to it

Browsing through GameTrailers I found the opening movie to Dragon Quest IX, I got a very distinct MMO feel to it, the team work to defeat the monster, having drinks in the pub afterward.

Check the video out for yourself and tell me if I'm losing it

I generally don't play handheld games but I wouldn't mind checking this out to pass time.

Modern Warfare 2 to include WORKING night vision goggles

People who follow me on Twitter might have realised that I made a post about the prestige edition of Modern Warfare 2.

Time to explain my "omfg" feeling.

It comes with working night vision goggles. Usually the stuff that comes with these limited editions are pretty stupid, you get the art book which is ok and the making of documentaries which I find interesting since I'm into game development. And then sometimes you get some kind of toy, for example the Limited Edition of Assassins Creed came with an action figure of Altair which I guess was pretty cool, but not night goggles awesome.

Check the video to see what I'm talking about and for those too lazy, there's a screenshot included too.

FBI investigates kid who threatens to hijack a plane

Kotaku has listed a story on their website about a kid who was playing World of Warcraft and started spouting off that he was going to hijack a plane and attempt to kill as many Americans as he could. He is now under investigation of the FBI. The kid said he did it because he didn't expect the police to be called.

I know first hand how Blizzard deal with these cases. I worked as a GM for a few months leading up to the release of the Burning Crusade so I'm well aware of what happens.

We never dealt with "terrorist" threats, but suicide was a major thing and as I found out a lot of people who play WoW are very depressed. The rules were, if when dealing with a ticket and the player either gives the impression or outright says he is going to kill himself, you immediately call a senior GM, show them the chat log and then decide between the two of us if it was a serious threat.

If it was, we continued to talk to the player and try keep them happy or more importantly, keep them occupied. While that was happening the senior GM would look up his account information, find where they live and call the local police, who would go to their house and make sure everything was ok.

With the way national security is dealt with in the states after 9-11 I have no problem believing that the FBI kicked this kids door in thinking he was a terrorist.

Kotaku's original article

Office 2010...The Movie!

Daeke on Twitter was nice enough to link me to the following video. I think Microsoft are really trying too hard with the "We're hip and cool" advertising campaign. Seeing Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld going shopping was bad enough :P



Awesome ad all the same :P

What's on my Dock

I've decided to show what I've got running on my dock at the moment for anyone who might be thinking about changing over to Macs in the near future. So far I've found these programs to be the most useful and they are as close as you're going to get to their PC equivalents

I can't take the credit for this idea since it's all over YouTube. Until I get some screen capture software sorted out a blog post will have to do.

Firefox: I think everyone knows what this is, at least I hope you do.. It works nearly identically to the PC version and is just as secure.

TweetDeck: People who speak to me through AoA or #STO know that I sure do like to use twitter, again this program is pretty much identical to the PC version so it's just as useful.

Colloquy: Thanks to the guys in AoA who put me on to this one. I used to use Chatzilla which is an IRC plugin for Firefox, I found it a bit harder to use with the layout of Leopard so I changed to Colloquy which so far has been great, nice use of styles and there's options to use scripts too, highly recommended.

iMail: Forgive me if that's not the correct name - I used to use google talk to keep track of new emails coming in but since there isn't a version for OSX I've been using this. I'm still importing my emails at the moment which is taking a long time (4000+ emails and counting)

iChat: As I said, Google Talk isn't compatible with OSX so iChat is the next best thing, I haven't had any problems with it.

iAntiVirus: A lot of people think that Mac's can't get virus' well they're wrong! iAntiVirus is free and very lightweight. Definitely worth picking up.

There are other things on my dock but they are applications that where there already and I haven't even touched yet, so check back soon for when I eventually get to them

The Macbook Pro story so far

Now that I've managed to install a few things on the laptop and play around with it for a bit I can finally chill out and write a few things that I've noticed with it so far.

Overall I'm very happy with it, it's a sleak looking laptop that is equal, if not better than my PC desktop right now. There are a few problems I've noticed but it's nothing I won't get over.

The first problem stems from the fact that I've been using PC's for the past 10 or so years so I'm used to hitting "Ctrl+C" to copy, not "Cmd+C" which is located in a different place on the keyboard, I know it sounds very stupid but my fingers aren't impressed.

Another problem I did notice too which falls under the same category is that there is no pound (#) key which can be a bit troublesome for the likes of IRC, a quick Google search sorted that one out though. (It's "Alt+3")

And finally, the one thing that is really annoying me, the @ and " signs aren't in the right places, I've looked all over the Internet and managed to find a blog full of Irish and British people complaining about it, someone made a their own keyboard layout for it but I couldn't get it to work :(

It's definitely safe to say that the majority of my problems are coming from the fact that I've barely ever used a Mac before so it's going to take me a while till I'm comfortable to do some complex things. Takes me back to not knowing how to get to the games on Win 95...

Check back soon for some more adventures into Mac OSX

Yum...Apples

I remember back in the mid to late 90's it was pretty embarrassing to have a Mac, they were the artsy computer that couldn't do anything or more specifically it couldn't play any games. I remember a friend who's dad promised him a PC if he did well in school, he studied up and got those good grades, only to have a Mac waiting for him. He wasn't very happy.

Today is a completely different story, Apple as a whole is a very popular company and is slowly gaining a foothold in the PC market again. Simply put it's popular to use Apple products, I've been watching from a far and contemplated getting one every so often but ended up putting it down because they could play games or they were very limited with 3rd party applications.

Bootcamp seems to have cleared a lot of the fuss up now since Mac's are based on Intel technology, Windows can be installed and run in a dual boot setup, which settles the application side of things and the 2009 models of the Macbook Pro come with dedicated Geforce 9600m GT graphics cards for gaming.

Since I'll be going back to college to study Games Design in September a new laptop would be useful for work, since Mac's are supposed to be good with media editing...and stuff.... so I decided to buy one...


Apple were doing a deal where if you bought a computer you could get an iPod Touch practically free so I got one of those too


So to commemorate me buying a Macbook Pro and an iPod Touch I've decided to add a new section to the blog for all things Apple, once I get back onto my PC I'll update with the new banner.

New Section

Originally when I started writing this blog I really only planned on writing stuff related to FFXIV and STO but it has grown to include other things which is why I'll be adding some new sections over the next few weeks. Today I'm adding a funnies section. Anything I find online that is funny will be have the funny tag.

Sounds simple enough so don't forget to check back to see some funny stuff rolling in!

We didn't start the flame war...

I don't think I really need to say much here, title really says it all for me.

Sunday Funny Picture 12/07/09

This weeks picture is a classic

Acceptable rate of information and hype?

A lot of people automatically assume that MMO's are money printing machines ever since World of Warcraft came along. Sadly this isn't the case and in reality World of Warcraft is probably the only MMO that comes close to being a money printer.

Obviously the first thing that comes to mind when you wonder why an MMO isn't successful is that the game itself is crap which is true probably 7 or 8 times out of 10, but there is one other thing is rarely looked at. Hype and information flow.

I'm using Star Trek Online and Cryptic Studios as my example of the negative side here but it has to be noted that they have listened to the community and are getting better on this but not quite there just yet.

MMO's generally have quite a long development life due to the size of them so the time from when they announced to when they are actually released is a long time. The only way to keep people interested during the development cycle is to release information which usually show up online in the form of interviews, screenshots and trailers.

What is the acceptable rate of new information? Cryptic Studios I would class as being on the bad side as I said earlier because we don't get a lot of new information about their games. Star Trek Online has been in their hands since January 2008, they announced they were working on the game with a trailer in August and since then they have released roughly 20 screenshots and a few interviews and a trailer showing off the character creator. 1 year and 7 months into development and that's all they have to show.

You might think that I might be being a little harsh but unfortunately this is the norm for Cryptic. Champions Online is to be released in the next few months and they don't have many screenshots or trailers for that either.

I think the main problem is a lot of companies believe that since its a good game in their eyes or because its already a famous franchise that they might not need as much publicity as other companies. This isn't true at all.

I've been a Trekkie since I was about 5 years old, played pretty much all the Star Trek games I could get my hands on and even I'm starting to lose faith in STO. I'm an operator in the official #STO IRC channel and I notice it a lot there too. People are sick of talking about the same information we've pretty much known since the game was announced. One thing would change that.

A gameplay trailer showing off the latest build of the game would boost my interest in STO and would probably give us another 2-3 months worth of debating, arguing, killing each other over which would keep the community happy.

I think for an MMO to be successful a gameplay trailer showing something new needs to be shown 2-3 months at a time with screenshots and interviews filling the gaps between them. Cryptic have been great by having dev chats in the IRC channel and the OCR's do chat every once in a while but as nice as that is, solid visual information and hype is what is needed to keep a game alive while its being developed.

Do you agree with me? Think I've left something out or just think I'm full of crap? Leave a comment to let me know!

Funcom GM caught cybering a player?

It seems that a Funcom GM has been caught in the act of cybering a player that he was meant to be helping with a petition. I've worked as a GM and worked closely with a CSR department in another company and in all honesty I don't know what this GM was expecting to happen, either he wanted to quit and felt that was the best way to go or he was very naive in thinking it would be private.

I think this screenshot sums it up

New Screenshots for STO

Rekhan was kind enough to point us to 3 new screenshots for STO which can be found here

It was nice to see a bit more of the ground combat and some Cardassian space combat but I wasn't too sure about the miranda? explosion one. Thankfully we are pre-beta so things can be worked on. So that's my note to Cryptic, bit more work on the explosions and we're moving ahead well :)

Micro-Transaction MMO's Part 2

I wrote an article the the other day where I was very cut and dry with my expectations for STO. This time around I plan on being a little more open minded but not by much unfortunately.

I started a thread on the official STO forums that you can visit by clicking here

I'd like to thank the people posting on the thread for keeping this civilized, if anything that's what will get Cryptic to give us an answer, if we start bitching or killing each other they're just going to ignore us.

So, as I said in the last article, the chances of me playing STO if it becomes an MT based game is very slim. There is only 1 exception I would make.

• If the MT items are exclusively vanity items only eg. Diamond encrusted Warp Nacelles

My main worry is balance. Once you bring in items that can give a player a distinct advantage over everyone else it makes things unfair. The game no longer becomes based on the skill of the player, it comes down to who has the bigger wallet.

There are arguments and valid points like "What if I can't spend the time needed to get through the game" Unfortunately that's just a way of things. MMO's are time guzzlers and you shouldn't really be playing them if you don't know that already. I hate to sound like I'm telling people not to play the MMO genre, there are plenty of MMO's out there that cater to the more casual player, STO isn't one of them.

Got anything to add or would just like to say hello? Leave a comment below!

Multiplatform MMOs Part 5

Reasons to fail

Controls

Graphics

Networking

Conclusion

In my mind, when I think of an MMO it is always PC first. I know I might have sounded a little one sided towards consoles in this article. The reason for this is, the current generation of consoles can keep up with the market of MMO's that are released right now and that are planned in the near future.

I can only speak for myself when I say this. I wouldn't play a multiplatform MMO on a console unless it was developed for the console as a launch platform and even then, I would choose PC over the console version simply because it's more comfortable to me.

I would like to see a console only MMO where the entire game was developed specifically for that platform but besides that, I'd stick with PC.

So that brings an end to this 5 part long article on multiplatform MMO's. What do you think about it? Leave a comment to post your thoughts and ideas!

Multiplatform MMOs Part 4

Reasons to fail

Controls

Graphics

Networking

Conclusion

I don't really expect this section to be very big. Networking isn't really an issue when it comes to the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, they both have their own subscription services that are high speed and fairly stable.

The one area I could see a problem is with the Xbox 360 already charging a subscription to Xbox Live so that would mean paying that subscription plus the subscription of the MMO which is a lot of money if you don't have it. This isn't so much a problem for the Playstation since it is free to access the Playstation Network.

Technologically there isn't much that a PC can do that the consoles can't when it comes to networking.

Check back soon for the conclusion to this epic 5 parter.

Multiplatform MMOs Part 3

Reasons to fail

Controls

Graphics

Networking

Conclusion

I'd be very ignorant to say that the current generation of consoles are qual to PC's because it's not true. PC's will always have better hardware simply because they can upgrade. Thankfully though MMO's are not graphically stellar games. It's well known in the games industry that getting a game to run on as many different setups as possible is the route to better sales. This is probably the #1 rule for MMO's.

Let's look at the majority of MMO's on the market at the moment.

World of Warcraft

• Even when this game was released the specs were very low, I had a pretty bad computer when it was released and it ran flawlessly

EvE Online

• Was a bit jumpy with certain areas but for the most part it ran on very low spec machines

City of Heroes

• Very low specs, my crappy PC had no problem playing this at all.
  

Age of Conan

• The computer I played this on was mid range and it did have some problems on high settings.
  

Graphically I don't think the PS3 or 360 would struggle to play any of those games. The graphics and processing power on this generation of consoles is a big leap compared to last generation.

I can see peoples rebuttal to this opinion by saying that if the game was solely developed for the PC things could be bigger or better graphically or a PC's processor could do way more things behind the scenes etc. Of course this is true. Like I said before, PC's are always going to be better but that doesn't mean consoles can't keep up with the current generation of MMO's on the market or ones coming out soon.

Check by next time for the next section where I talk about networking.

STO Free to Play?

Interesting news has broke on MMORPG regarding the use of something called "Cryptic Bucks" in Champions Online. The description of this item is

"5 Cryptic Bucks which can be used to purchase a variety of premium in-game goods."

This would lead us to believe that Champions Online will be a micro-transaction game which usually means they are free to play or at least subscription-less. I don't really know what to make of this, I'm all for the ability to play games for free. I did QA on 3 different f2p MMO's and as casual games it was fun but for the likes of Champions Online and even more importantly for me, STO this could be a disaster.

I've nothing against f2p but with STO I'm 100% against it. I'm saying this here and now

I will NOT play Star Trek Online if it becomes a micro-transaction game.

I've no problem paying a subscription because everyone has to pay it, a standard fee that everyone who wants to play has to. Think about if they took that away and and made the game free by bringing in certain items that give you a +20% experience boost for a day or maybe huge stat boosts but the catch is you pay with real money or more specifically, you pay with Cryptic Bucks which is obtained by spending real money.

Simply put if you plan on playing competitively you are being forced into buying items which eventually end up costing more than a monthly subscription.

Multiplatform MMOs Part 2

Reasons to fail

Controls

Graphics

Networking

Conclusion

The controls of an MMO is a huge thing which on PC isn't so much a problem with the use of a keyboard and mouse. Consoles are made to be played with controllers. But lets take a look at the basic MMO controls.

You've got WASD to move, and mouse to control camera. Everything else is open for keybinding. A standard keyboard has between 101-105 keys on it, so that leaves between 97-101 keys open.

Now lets look at an Xbox 360 controller. We've got the a left and right analogue stick, a d-pad with 4 directions, 4 face buttons, 4 shoulder buttons, a start and back button and the Xbox Guide button. So for an MMO if we use both analogues for movement and camera control that leaves us with 17 buttons, 16 of which are usable.

I can only speak for myself but I don't think I've ever needed more than 16 skills at one time mapped for an MMO. I've also mentioned in the first part that you can also use a USB keyboard with the Xbox 360 and as far as I'm aware you can do the same with the Playstation 3.

So the only main difference is the use of a mouse.

Check back soon for the next article where I look into graphics and specs.

Multiplatform MMOs Part 1

Reasons to fail

Controls

Graphics

Networking

Conclusion

Originally I was writing this as one whole big article but I soon realized it was getting too big so I've decided to cut it up into smaller sections.

The #STO channel has had a few people talking about STO potentially not being released on consoles and it seems a lot of people are happy with this. The general consensus was that the PC version would suffer if a console version was to come around. I don't believe this is the case as long as the game has been designed to be a multi-platform MMO.

First I'm going to look at why a console game would fail.

If a game is ported to a console I think it's safe to say it will most likely fail. The only real example we have is Final Fantasy XI which has been on the PS2 and the Xbox 360. The game was developed with the PS2 in mind as can be seen by the way that the menus are controlled on the PC version. I've played the PC and Xbox 360 version and I hated it on the 360.

The lack of a keyboard and mouse just made it very hard to play. I've only recently found out that you could actually use USB keyboard but it wouldn't have helped me much since I didn't have one back then anyway.

The next article I'll be talking about control schemes and keybindings so check back soon!

Star Trek Online Cancelled for Consoles?

One of our #STO users came across something very interesting on the STO website which may lead us to believe that the game is no longer planned for consoles.

The FAQ on www.startrekonline.com had a question regarding the game being released on consoles to which Cryptic said there was nothing technologically stopping them. That question is gone now.

Does this mean that STO won't be coming to a console near you? I'm not sure. Cryptic have said that they are working on the PC version of the game first and foremost so nothing has really changed just yet.

Log into #STO on the gamesurge network and chat with us!

Brent Spiner has me blocked on Twitter!

Where do I begin... It's kind of heartbreaking to think that an actor who I've followed since I was about 5 years old took the time out to send me a direct message to tell me that he was blocking me on twitter.

I guess it was my fault really so here's what happened.

It all started very innocently, Brent Spiner is known for his eccentric tweets where he usually speaks about himself in the third person or in this case he was talking about his reflection in a mirror. Not expecting to get a reply from him I just said to my friends/followers that his material might be getting a bit old.

The next thing I know, I get a pop-up on the bottom right of my screen "Direct Message from Brent Spiner" I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited. I'm not a lunatic stalker fan but someone I've watched on T.V most my life took the time out to say something directly to me.

Instead of telling you what he said I'm going to post a screenshot.

I was delighted about it at first, thinking wow someone "famous" spoke to me but then I actually read what he said, eventually it dawned on me that I'd been blocked and the bitterness snuck over me. I guess I must have hit a nerve saying that his stuff is getting old.

It's a bittersweet affair. The man who played Data on TNG spoke to me, but only to tell me that he was blocking me on Twitter.

Thanks to all the people on twitter for their messages and support, I think I'll survive :P

STO: Fleet Activities

There hasn't really been a lot of information regarding how Fleets will operate or what they will be able to do beyond being a channel for people to talk and a name below their name.

Craig Zinc did mention something for the Klingon side of things which was directed at PvPers but I think will have to do with Fleets which will most likely be called "Houses" on that side. Internal Faction PvP is a brilliant idea and a good activity for Fleets to take part in.

What does that leave for our Federation friends?

They might end up getting a war game simulator like in that episode of TNG. I do hope that there will be some kind of fleet wide activity that can be done besides taking on Borg fleets or PvP. Eventually when Starbases can be built by Fleet's I'd like to see it be a quest to gain one instead of just buying it.

Got any ideas on the types of Fleet activities you'd like to see? Leave a comment below!

FFXIV: Economy

The economy in an MMO is a massive part of the game. There are some people who play MMO's solely to play the market. Recently I've found myself to be one of those people, since I've just come back from playing WoW where at level 10 I already had 100+ gold.

I was never able to do that on FFXI. I think it might have been because I didn't fully understand how it worked but I also know I wasn't the only one that had troubles with it.

Trying to earn gil when you just start playing the game is nearly impossible which makes upgrading armor and weapons just as hard which in the end either leads to

• People stopping playing the game
• Begging for gil
• Buying gil for real currency

It does get a bit easier the higher in level you go because you can farm items from lower level monsters which brings us to that point. I 100% agree with the idea that you need to work for making big amounts of currency in a game but the amount of farming involved in a lot of Asian MMO's I think is a bit ridiculous.

A lot of people don't have the time to play all day to get enough money for items or armor, for a lot of people they get 1-2 hours per day to play and that's it.

The #1 thing for an MMO to grab new players is to make it easy to play for the first 10 or 20 levels and that includes introducing the economy. I think this is one major mechanic of the game that Square Enix need to look at if they plan on making this a commercial success out of Asian territory.

Sunday Funny Picture 05/07/09

Each week I'm going to post at least 1 picture I found funny online, starting with...
I nearly died laughing at this.

Next picture goes live next Sunday ;)

Theft of in-game items

With the majority of MMO's being classed as roleplaying games is the theft of in-game items or money really all that wrong? I myself wouldn't do it but I have known a few people that do. For example if a person was to roll a need on an item he couldn't use and win it, should a GM take the item off him simply because he lied?

CCP the company who owns EvE Online believes the answer to that is no. There is nowhere in their terms of service or use that says you cannot steal items or money from other players. The only exception would be if that person was stealing money to sell for real currency which would result in their account being banned. The BBC recently covered a story where a player in EvE robbed a bank in the game of 8% of it's value and sold it for real money. You can read that article here.

Blizzard on the other hand don't look kindly upon people who do it but are selective about who to come down on. Depending on the case they'll either take the item back or they won't.

I wouldn't like for someone to steal an item on me in the game and probably wouldn't play a game that openly condoned it but since it is a roleplaying game, the thought of being a thief isn't so absurd.

Runes of Magic Videos

As promised earlier here are a few videos of me playing Runes of Magic enjoy!

Runes of Magic Impressions

The only reason I think heard about this game before it was released is because I have 2 friends who have worked at Frogster on the QA/Production team and even when they told me about the game my first thought really was it was a WoW clone.

Funnily enough I don't think Frogster has even attempted to hide the fact that it's a WoW clone, their website is similar, graphics are similar, controls are similar...I think you get the point. I don't think this is a bad thing though. I've said it before and I'll say it again WoW is popular for a reason, and the biggest flattery is imitation.

The one difference being is that this is a free to play MMO which is good and bad. It's great that you don't have to pay to play but there are items you can buy with real cash that is going to make your gaming a lot easier and give a huge advantage so if you're planning on PvP'ing expect to have to pay to keep up with the competition.

The game plays very much like WoW so anyone who has played it before will feel right at home, there is also the option to control your character with right clicking the terrain on where you want to go, not my thing but a nice option for those who prefer it.

The starting area quests are very simple and ease you into it which is great for absolute beginners and it's not so bad for the more experienced. Once you reach level 10 you are given the option to have a secondary class which gives you access to better stats and more skills. Like FFXI you need to level these classes up separately and only certain things carry over from each class.

The highest level character I ended up with was a 18 Mage / 15 Priest.

Overall my opinion of the game is that it's an nice alternative for those who might not be able to afford a subscription MMO but I don't think it's a substitute for one either. It's a nice time waster.

Here's a few screenshots to check out, click on them to make them bigger.

Check back soon for some videos!

Broadcasting Options in an MMO?

I've been very interested at the thought of being able to broadcast my progress in an MMO out onto the Internet for other people to watch. I'd also love to be able to see some of the "leet" players do their magic so that I can learn from them. I think everyone has at least once looked at someone in one game and said to themselves "how the hell did they do that?"

EA have added a very interesting thing to their sports games. As with a lot of sports games there is an instant replay option, but now they've added a very simple video editor to change camera angles, colors, effects etc and upload them to EASportsWorld.com where everyone can watch your exploits similar to YouTube.

Obviously an instant replay system wouldn't be ideal for an MMO but it's a start!

Xfire has an option where you can stream your gameplay while playing, its not limited to MMO's either. It's great that they offer this service and I think it's something that developers should be looking in to. Apart from PvP everyone loves nothing more than showing off and instead of making people go off and have to get fraps or install unwanted programs, developers could make something that optimized for their game, which would end in better quality and less lag or framerate drop.

Final Fantasy XI had a live stream of one server up on their website (they still might have it there) That game is quite old now, I'm sure the likes of Blizzard and Cryptic could come up with something themselves ;)

WoW Addiction is over...

I haven't really updated the blog in the past few days because I've been too busy playing World of Warcraft or as I like to call it World of Warcrack. That's all about to change now though, I got to level 30 and got my Chocobo Hawkstrider and now the game just doesn't seem to be as appealing anymore.

I've worked as a GM for WoW, played the game for years and now I think I'm officially over it for at least another year. The only reason I'd even think about going back is if a new expansion caught my eye but even then it would take something epic.

So expect updates a bit more frequently :D

Console Nostalgia

I was browsing GameTrailers and came across a user video supposidly showing every single console that has been released since 1972. It's a long video coming in at just over 20 minutes but it's definitely worth the watch. It brought back so many different memories.

I've had my fair share of these consoles. I remember playing the Rocky Horror Show on my Amstrad, it even had the music!