Epicness (is that a word?)

It's been just over a week since ODST was released and according to Bungie the campaign has been completed about 8 million times over the different difficulties which is a staggering number. I've been achievement hunting since the weekend and I've completed the campaign a good 4-5 times now so I could get each achievement.

I might end up recording a speed run of the campaign to upload on to YouTube when I get a chance, maybe at the weekend, I reckon I could get it completed in under an hour on easy....

Anyway!

I was messing around in Theater mode looking at some of the models for the game to study how they might have been made for class and on the last level I managed to take an epic screenshot that just blows me away due to the scale.

(Click to enlarge)

I think it looks cinematic but its all in-game (in theater mode so I was watching the level I'd just completed) The Warthog (jeep) Phantom (small ship) and Cruiser (big ship) were all fully rendered, no messing about.

I love Bungies art style and this picture I think is just awesome.

3D Airport Scene

So today was my second class of 3D modelling, we learnt the basics of some box modelling and how to make an aeroplane or more specifically a fighter jet.

Here's 3 pictures of a complete scene of an airport that I ended up making today.

Now I know they aren't amazing but keep in mind this was my second 3D class so I'm still learning. We will be looking at basic texturing in 2 or so weeks and we'll be looking at different methods of modelling next week.

New FFXIV trailer

I've been so busy lately that I haven't had a chance to check out some of the TGS news, I haven't heard of any ground breaking news so I don't think I've missed too much. It's nice to get a new trailer for XIV too which you can view below



Even if it was only cinematic sequences the world did look very populated in the bar which is great, FFXI always suffered from feeling barren as if people didn't really live in the places they lived, there was a bit of gameplay footage spliced in too but nothing we haven't seen before.

I really get the feeling that story is going to play an important part this time around. FFXIV had it's main storyline but I never felt too involved with it and there was no real direction towards it either, I remember finding out by pure fluke and went about doing the quests.

I was actually quite surprised by the music, it was a Uematsu song all over but I don't think it really suited the trailer, by itself it was fine but otherwise I'm not so sure.

I'm looking forward to seeing more gameplay footage and basic gameplay mechanics in the future but so far Square Enix seem like they're on the ball.

Browser based MMO's

I'd say about 5 months ago if you were to have asked me about browser MMO's I'd have said they were a pile of crap that took too long to do anything and were a waste of time. For the most part it's still the same but I have a bit more respect for them now.

I'm back in college so my game time has been cut considerably which means playing an MMO full time is nearly impossible (don't worry STO people, I'll be making as much time as I can for that!) One of the guys there introduced me to a game called Travian which I had heard of before but because it was a browser game I never even bothered looking at it. While waiting for the teacher to show up I set up an account and was shown how to play and now I'm on the road to being addicted to it.

The most annoying thing with these games is the fact that it does take so long to do anything and you can be left waiting a long time with nothing to do which is why the play style is so different. You do what you need to do and log out, come back in a few hours do something else and log out again. It's the busy mans MMO.

They are definitely no substitute for the likes of WoW or the million other MMO's out there so don't expect miracles.

Others that might be closer to that is the likes of Runescape and Eternal Earth which are 3D based browser MMO's which frankly are pretty crappy. I know a lot of people live by Runescape but I couldn't stand it (check back in about 3 months when my mind gets changed) Eternal Earth was a bit closer to mainstream MMO's with WASD controls but is still in beta and needs a lot of work from what I've seen.

I've been enjoying my time so far with Travian. It's a 5 minute job and you're done for a few hours, I'm still classed as a noob so I can't be attacked by PKers yet, I'll be back tomorrow to complain that I got destroyed :P

ODST Review

So ODST was released today I picked it up on my way home from college and played through the campaign and now I can talk about it. It's worth noting that I'm completely bias with this franchise so don't expect too much bad stuff :P

I advise anyone who hasn't played through the game that plans to should stop reading now because I'll be spoiling some things.

The story of the game revolves around "The Rookie" who gets drafted into a super secret mission for a secret organization of the UNSC called Oni, or Naval Intelligence that all goes completely wrong. You get separated by your team thanks to events which happen in Halo 2 and you've got to find them again. The story isn't going to make any sense unless you've played through Halo 2 and 3 because ODST is set half way through the events of 2 and right up to the beginning of 3. If you've read the novels for Halo it's going to be that much sweeter because there are quite a few little easter eggs that will be recognisable but for complete noobs to the series you should really start at Halo 1 and move on up.

Unlike the other games in the franchise this one has an overworld map as such where you can wander around and find hidden items, easter eggs and weapons, once you get bored you can then go and do a mission to progress the story. The entire time you spend on the overworld is at night, approximately 6 hours after your original mission goes to shit. You find items around the map which cuts to back to different periods in those 6 hours from the perspective of your other squad members which total 5.

Personally I found the story fantastic, it doesn't really interfere with the other games but still adds to the overall storyline. It's short and to the point.

A lot of reviews have noted that the music and sound effects used in the game was spectacular and I couldn't agree more. Marty O'Donnell has done some seriously great work scoring the game. It's a completely different tone to the main series and is just great to listen to. It reminded me a lot of some Battlestar Galactica music in terms of rhythm and beat so sometimes I didn't want to leave an encounter just so I could keep listening. The sound effects are top notch too, the sound of your character wheezing when he's damaged or footsteps as he sneaks around the ruins of New Mombasa sound so realistic you just get dragged into the experience with them.

Graphically the game is nearly identical to Halo 3 since it's built on the same engine and is technically a stand alone expansion to that game. There were a few areas you can tell them improved, most notably was facial expressions of the characters. I think they allocated a bit more of their budget to facial rigging so they could pull off decent looking conversations in cinematic sections.

I've already mentioned on twitter and on the blog that 3 of the main cast of Firefly are the main cast of this game. I think Bungie decided they were making one huge tribute to Firefly because each of them play the exact same character they did on that show. Fillion is the smart ass leader who gets caught with his pants down too often, Baldwin is the big guns expert and Tudyk is the pilot. There is even a level where they pilot a spaceship together which was very reminiscent of the show. The actual quality of their work was also fantastic, was a joy to watch and listen.

Now on to Firefight. Anyone who has played Gears of War 2's Horde Mode or World at Wars Nazi Zombie mini games know what this is. You are put in a blocked off area with a certain amount of weapons and a certain amount of lives where wave after wave of enemies come at you. I've only played it by myself for a few minutes and I enjoyed it because I knew if I had 3 friends to play with it would be absolutely brilliant. Playing by yourself though does get boring after a while but as long as you stay in a group you'll be good.

Now the bad stuff...

They added 2 new weapons, the silenced SMG and a new handgun, both of them are awesome but during the campaign ammo is far and few between so you never really get to use it. Bungie have gone on record saying they wanted to give the feeling of desperation for ammo but it only seems to be for those 2 weapons as ammo is readily available for everyone other gun.

Firefight doesn't have a matchmaking option so you can only invite friends which may limit peoples enjoyment since they might not have so many friends who play the game.

Bungie were awesome enough to include a multiplayer disc which has the complete Halo 3 muliplayer client with all maps including the DLC map packs but it's on another disc. It's not really a huge problem but having to switch discs to go from classic multiplayer to firefight is going to be a pain.

Some people might be disappointed that the campaign is so short.

Overall I am immensely happy with the game, money well spent. Halo fans need to go out and buy this simply because it expands on the universe and there are 3 new maps for classic multiplayer on the disc but anyone who didn't enjoy Halo 2 and 3 aren't going to find anything new here and should stay away.

I'd give the game a 10/10 but I'd be called out for being a fanboi so to be fair I'll give it a 9.99998/10

See ya in Firefight!

Easy peasy

So I had my first full day of classes today and it went pretty well. Seems like I might have the upper hand on a few of my classmates on the subjects we did today since I know most of them like the back of my hand.

Part of our design module has us create a website using basic html where we have to re-create a few pages of a magazine of our choice. I'm probably going to create one of the STO articles from PC Gamer which should be fairly simple. Some tables and maybe some iframes and it'll be nice and shiny. I edited the layout of this blog myself so I think I'll be fine :P

I also had my first Comp Arch class which is painfully easy. I think they're trying to get it out of the way so that class time can be used for more game oriented stuff so we're having our finals exam in October. The general message across the board from most classes I had today was that we're getting rid of the boring stuff in the first few months first so we can stay focused on the games which is great really. Hopefully by the end of October I'll have something decent to show.

The Halo mania continues

I remember when Halo 3 was about to be released, me and a friend in my old job decided that we'd stay in the office till late so we could go to a midnight launch for the game. We then brought it back to the office, hooked up an xbox and played till we had to work again the next day.

Yes I'm a Halo fanboi.

So it's no wonder that with the imminent release of ODST literally just around the corner I'm starting to get weak at the knees. Yes I know it's really just an expansion but it's still Halo!

It seems to have gotten fairly positive reviews across the board, although that was to be expected really. With a new campaign that is looking to be the same length as the Halo 3 one if not longer, it might as well be a full new game. I'm really liking the sound of the Firefight mode but the reviews did mention that there is no matchmaking service for it which means, if you don't have friends who regularly play you're screwed. I don't think that will cause me much trouble since 90% of my friends list comes from Halo 3.

I've noticed from the trailers of the game from last year right up till now the music has been retooled for the game and it seems phenomenal, the reviews have picked up on this too. IGN USA even gave it a 10 on their review. Marty O'Donnell is a great composer and I've loved all his music so this doesn't look like it's going to disappoint.

I think I might play through the Halo 2 or 3 campaign again tonight just to get myself in the mood (which I don't really need help with) but I'm going to be in a Halo mood and it's gonna be around for a few weeks so I apologise in advance :P

Why did Microsoft decide to release ODST on Monday :(

In Ireland (and the rest of Europe I believe) video games are traditionally released on Thursdays and Fridays which makes sense. People can then enjoy the games at the weekend before going back to school or work.

Microsoft in their infinity wisdom said "fuck that" and are releasing the game on a Monday.

I know that games are usually released early in the week for North Americans but come on... Microsoft have no excuse this time around, we know the game has been ready for over 3 weeks since it's been shipped to some French stores and some people are already playing which annoys me because

1. They're French
2. They're French
3. You get the idea

I'm a big Halo fanboi. The franchise has kept me entertained for nearly 7 years and I hope this iteration can keep it up. I wouldn't expect to see me around for a while (unless you're on Xbox Live and playing ODST with me) starting from Monday.

First Day

Today was officially my first day of classes, or I should say class since I've only got 1 class on a Wednesday. Teacher was out sick so I had a day off, nice way to start the year huh?

I've been quite active on this blog, mostly writing about STO and FFXIV and then I moved on to other MMO's and console games now, we're still only just over 3 months old and I've published 157 (158 including this) blogs and plan to keep up the pace as best I can but my college work takes priority so there might be gaps here and there but I'll definitely still be around.

My classes deal with a lot of the design aspects of video games so I might post some of my work up here to show off and eventually make a portfolio out of it.

So in a nutshell, don't lose interest in my blog if I don't update as often!

DUST 514: 360, PS3 or Both?

We've had a chance now to take in all the information we got from Gamescom, its time to start speculating until we get more information!

We know that DUST 514 is to be a console MMOFPS but one thing that CCP forgot to mention was which console? Depending on how well CCP market this game, I can imagine this being a 360 vs PS3 fanbois wet dream. Simple answer is PS3.

But it's not that easy is it, I have to give a good reason! Microsoft are their own worst enemy is the main reason. Microsoft get very ansy pansy when it comes to games connecting to any other network except Xbox Live and I believe this is why CCP will aim to release on PS3.

I think once Microsoft pens out an MMO service plan which is acceptable to developers as well as the fatcats in their offices then we might start seeing more MMO's on the 360, lord knows they want to be there, Cryptic have a 360 version of Champions Online waiting to go with Star Trek Online being kept in mind as well.

Impressions from PAX: STO Ground Combat

Unfortunately for Cryptic I can also sum the ground based play of STO up in one word too "boring"

As a lot of you might know, I've had my fair share of complaints about STO and as more information has come along a lot of them have been put to rest, others I'll just have to deal with and many that weren't really problems at all. The ground based play of STO on the other hand seems to get a unanimous decision from everyone, it needs some serious work.

Graphically, it's as beautiful as the space combat, the planet in question looked like some kind of desert, we've seen space station, jungles and ship interiors through screenshots too. The animations still need a bit of work. I noticed on some videos the knock back effect of being thrown to the floor had them sliding down slanted geometry or being very jerky just in general.

Due to the lack of source footage, I only have the "shaky cam" versions to work with. I couldn't see the use of skills as such during the ground combat, it seemed just as effective to stand still and shoot, if an enemy gets close you can smack them to the ground, move back a step and repeat until someone dies.

I don't think I've seen enough of the ground combat to really do it any justice but for the time being Cryptic may have over extended themselves in trying to make a fully playable space game as well as a ground game. I'm pretty sure they're going to sort it out by launch but once I get into beta, I'll be making sure to report my thoughts on it straight away.

With the release of Champions Online just passed us, Cryptic are switching priority over to getting the beta train rolling for STO which should happen in the next 4 months.

Casual EvE?

With the announcement of DUST 514 at Gamescom the other week Hilmar Pétursson made a passing comment that they didn't just want to bring EVE to consoles which was a no brainer. EVE is hard enough to grasp on PC, the thought of trying to play it with a controller makes my head hurt.

Console gamers don't have the attention span needed to play that kind of game, even the majority of MMO gamers have a hard time grasping EVE. So it got me thinking, what would CCP have to do to give EVE a more casual or mainstream feel?

Controls: WASD controls would be nice. It breaks my heart when I play EVE and I'm not able to control my ship directly, it looks like it could be so much fun! I don't think it would be a very hard thing to change if they really wanted.

Skill System: I've got to hand it to CCP, their skill system is unbelievably complex, so many different things but to a more casual player it's a disaster to try and figure out. Even though they have each skill under a section. I think to make it more accessible, having each skill in a class section as well would be helpful even if you weren't bound to one class I think newer players might get the hang of things a lot easier (I know I would!)

Interface: EVE has the most unforgiving interface you'll come across, for the most part it's nearly impossible to have everything you need at one point up on screen at once, the fonts are way too small to read unless you have a magnifying glass on hand. Having a beginners and advanced UI with more customization would go a long way.

These are just a few things I think would make EVE immensely more accessible to a casual customer base.

Is there anything else you think could make it a better or think I'm wrong? Leave a comment!

Review: District 9

I know, I know! I'm a bit late on the District 9 wagon, it had a delayed launch in Ireland and then I had to wait for a friend to come back from his holidays to go and see it. So what did I think? Pretty damn awesome film.

20 years ago an alien ship came into the Earths atmosphere over Johannesburg where over 1 million aliens Humans nickname Prawns were trapped and dying. Today they are all packed into a concentration camp known as district 9 where they are treated like animals. The film follows a man in charge of moving the Prawns into a new habitat but manages to get himself into trouble. I don't want to ruin the film for anyone that hasn't seen it so I'll stop there.

The special effects in this movie are absolutely stunning. All the Prawns look so lifelike its unbelievable. The mothership in the sky really looks like it's there and by the end of the film it really does feel like it's meant to be there. All the sounds of the aliens and technology are top notch, the Prawn child was really awesome and I wish I could have him in a non weird way..

One thing that I was very surprised about and they do make a note of it in the film is that the ship doesn't land over Manhattan or London where all the cool stuff seems to happen in the other movies, it happens in Johannesburg which I think was a nice touch and in my mind it was a big "fuck off" to Hollywood which is always welcome.

Unfortunately that big fuck off also causes the main problem I have with the film. The main characters accent. I don't think anyone in the US would really notice this but people in Ireland and the UK definitely will. Whenever the main character says the word "fucking" his accent changes from South African to Scouse. At first I thought maybe that was just how their accent sounded but it turned out that it was only this actor who pulled it off. It was a bit distracting because he does use the word quite a bit and I couldn't stop laughing about it to myself.

The story was really compelling. A lot of people warned me that the film starts off very slowly but I completely disagree. I'm a huge Sci-fi fan, anything with aliens and I'm usually hooked which was the case here. It has sections which are meant to be documentary style interviews and videos which are pretty good to although they were sometimes a bit confusing and misleading which could have been the point or not I don't know. By the end of the movie I really wanted the Prawns to kick the shit out of the human race and with a fairly open ending which could give us a sequel, I'm still holding out for it.

The one thing that amazes me about this film is it's origin. The story goes that Peter Jackson was getting very tired of Microsoft's antics about securing a deal to get the Halo movie underway, when it all went to crap Peter Jackson decided he wanted to do a sci-fi with aliens anyway, got together with the writer and wrote District 9. The fact that it came out of the death of Halo is pretty awesome considering how great the film turned out to be. There is a line towards the end of the movie which I think is a little tribute to that fact where a Halo is mentioned but it could be a coincidence.

I definitely recommend seeing this movie, the only major thing that annoyed me was the main characters accent but other than that this film is absolutely solid and my hat goes off to Peter Jackson for proving to me that King Kong was a fluke and that he really is a good film maker.

Reboot of 2D Sonic...Awesome!

Ever since Sonic 3 and Sonic CD people have been screaming for Sega to keep making 2D sonic games, each 3D incarnation of the series has just been plain crap, some enjoyed Sonic Adventure but overall it was proven that for Sonic to remain in the good graces of the public, he needed to stay on a 2D plain.

Well it finally looks like Sega has listened to the masses and recently released this teaser



I don't know why Sega decided to black out the logo or try make it a bit mysterious, frankly only people touched in the head or under the age of 18 aren't going to know what it is. Sonic 2 was my first console game ever and is probably the reason I'm here writing about games.

I'm really looking forward to a reboot and pray to god that they go back to the original Sonic and not that weird lanky one that's been in the recent cartoons and games.

Anatomy of a good MMO: Conclusion

So to conclude my anatomy of a good MMO series I'll quickly recap on what I expect.

1. Slimline UI which is functional and customizable
2. WASD controls with the ability to jump!
3. A questing system that takes me from the first to last level without the need to grind
4. Interactive guild system
5. Open ended conquest "End Game" content (like EVE)

I think one other thing that's worth mentioning is originality. In the fantasy genre you're guaranteed to get AT LEAST 1 person that says "wow clone" to any new or even current MMO's out there which makes me want to kick them in the face. If someone was to come along and recreate EVE but make it more user friendly I'd have no problem playing an "EVE clone" Lazy companies copy other games great ideas because it's easy. Smart companies copy others ideas and refine them. Lets be honest, thats all Blizzard did with WoW but you don't hear anyone calling that an Everquest or Dark Age of Camelot clone do you?

Anatomy of a good MMO: End Game

It's my opinion that most if not all MMO's miss the mark completely when it comes to end game content. It's something very hard to nail down when you consider that the genre by nature is never meant to have an ending. No matter what kind system an MMO uses, be it a leveling based (WoW) game or a skill point based one (EVE) you are eventually going to run out of things to do.

WoW's route of going about things is raiding and PvP. You raid the same dungeons over and over again in hopes that a piece of armor drops so you are geared for the next highest dungeon and when you eventually get to the last dungeon you are still raiding to get items that unless a new expansion comes out are useless except for bragging rights and even with a new expansion they become useless. Then you have instanced PvP via battlegrounds and arena which you can compete in to gain honor which you can spend on armor. Quite frankly I'd rather play something else.

EvE has it's player driven story and PvP galactic domination via corporations end game going which sounds very appealing...if you have the time and patience for it. If you intend on running a corporation, you need to spend a lot of time preparing for it, organizing and then after it's all set up you need to keep it running smoothly and make sure you don't get destroyed by other corps in the process. I know I say this a lot when it comes to EVE but if it were to become a little more user friendly and more approachable I think this system could be fantastic and it definitely would keep me playing but until I win the lottery or get rich by some other means I can't :(

Impressions from PAX: STO Space Combat

I could really sum this up in one word, "Fantastic" but I should really go into a bit more depth since some people might prefer that (you know who you are)

We've had leaked video which we could see a tiny bit of in-game footage but nothing that had a camera pointed directly at the screen. Thanks to Tamgros and Vmann we've had loads of screenshots to check through and a video showing off the space section of the game as well as some ground combat.

The main source of information for the game has been the Dev chats that Cryptic have held in IRC and unfortunately for them (at least from my perspective) they didn't really speak well of the game. The information was there but not with any excitement or interest which really carried over and made me lose interest. Thankfully what they lack in PR skills they make up in games design and the videos really explain what I think they were trying to do in the chats.

I quickly noticed how familar it looks in MMO terms, we had the quest helper on the right hand side, our skill bars down the bottom and of course we had enemies to kill. One Starship versus a few Birds of Prey. From a graphical point of view it was gorgeous just watching the ships fighting it out. It had a real cinematic quality to it even though a fan was playing, nothing staged. I hope combat will stay that interesting throughout the game because it is usually one of the first things that gets old very fast.

The actual mechanics to combat was great too. I liked the way you charged or loaded each weapon and had up to 30 seconds to use it before it had to be charged again and you can really see how positioning is going to be important in larger scale battles or even against a "higher level" ship.

Exploration is looking like its going to be fun, one thing which is easy to forget (and I do it quite often) in reality the size of your ship is really the same size as a character in Champions Online graphically so the scale of each sector could be massive and judging by the demo on show at PAX it's definitely going to be like that. I know Zinc has said on record that you won't be able to see players on the other side of a sector and I fully believe it now.

There was a quick glimpse of traveling through a sector at full impulse which seems to be fast enough to get through each sector in a reasonable amount of time. They also showed off the animation for warping to different sectors which was cool, it's very true to the TV shows.

It was nice to hear the Cryptic rep in the background of one of the videos speaking of the game telling you when an enemy might be out of your league. I know it's an expected feature in MMO's these days but it unintentionally might have answered a fear that I've been having for the game.

So far STO is looking to be a single player experience. Cryptic have gone above and beyond to make the game as enjoyable as possible for the loners of the galaxy as it will be for everyone else which is great but I really want as many opportunities to have massive space battles as possible where players have to work together to take down a stronger enemy.

Even the ground combat lets you bring your bridge officers who replace real players when there is space on missions with you but I'm saving ground combat for another blog!

Overall the space sections of STO is insanely polished for game that isn't even in beta yet. It could be released as a stand alone game and it would still do very well.

Anatomy of a good MMO: Guilds

I don't think there is a modern MMO that doesn't have some kind of guild system in it. Generally I wouldn't join a guild in a game until I was close to the level cap so I could level up. That didn't work so well for me in EVE since there was no levels and you're basically a sheep surrounded by wolves. With the likes of WoW introducing Guild Leveling in the next expansion and EVE's unofficial requirement for you to join I think it's only fair to say that it's needed.

Yet again WoW tipped my interest in this area with its guild leveling, I don't think it's really anything new but it's the usual thing, if Blizzard implement it, you sure as hell know every new MMO on the block will have it too, so what exactly would I expect to make it good or at least keep me happy? Quite simply, I'd like to see a guild system that is like a character in itself, with its own stats, talents, class and "armor". Blizzard seem to be addressing most of these which is brilliant and I'm really looking forward to more information when it becomes available.

EVE has a perfect system with corporations in my mind, I like the sandbox nature to it, where you make a business (like that bank in-game that is going through it's own recession right now) All it takes is for it to made a little more user friendly and approachable for the average gamer and I think I'd be in heaven.

What I see as a failure in a guild system is where it becomes a glorified chat room. Unless it has a purpose and provides some advantages/disadvantages in your game then I wouldn't see it as useful or fun in any way.

Tamgros Interviews Craig "Zinc" Zinkievich at PAX!

So as promised Tamgros and Vmann were fortunate enough to interview Craig Zinkievich the executive producer for STO. It's cut into 2 parts thanks to YouTube but here you go!

I'd like to thank Kinneas of Hailing Frequency for setting the interview up for us and make sure you check out HailingFrequency.com too





PS - Thank you Tamgros for asking my macro question :D

STO at PAX!

While Vmann and Tamgros are still rooting around PAX, Vmann was awesome enough to take some pictures of the STO booth. Some of them are a bit blurry but with any luck we'll get some good quality stuff once he gets home :)

It's worth mentioning that I was so entranced by Vmann's beard in his picture that I completely missed the fact that he is wearing a t-shirt that I designed. *sniff*

AOA Promotion at it's best!

For those of us who can't be at PAX we only have our friends Tamgros and Vmann to syphon information to us as best as possible but this has to be the best promotion for AoA you can get.

All Out Assault is at PAX!

Just a quick reminder to everyone that AoA's Tamgros and Vmann will be at PAX where they'll have a chance to get a hands on demo with Star Trek Online. They are also lucky enough to get an interview with Cryptic for our All Out Insider Podcast in association with Hailing Frenquencies.

Star Trek Online Closed Beta Signups

The one night I decide to go to sleep early is the night that Cryptic put up the application forms for the Star Trek Online beta. So there you go click here and good luck!

Review: Dancing Barefoot

I have to admit, 6 months ago if you'd have told me I to read something by Wil Wheaton I'd probably have laughed at you and continued on my way. I never really liked Wil on Star Trek, not because he was bad or anything I think I was just jealous that this kid got to play out my dream of not only living in space but being the pilot of a spaceship. 15 years later I've forgiven him and after finding him on Twitter and from there reading his blog I decided to pick up Dancing Barefoot.

The book consists of 5 short stories which detail different parts of Wheatons life, from getting a girl's phone number when he was 15 to going to a Star Trek convention in 2001. All stories get their points across nicely and are a good read but 4 of the stories are summed up in 30 odd pages while the remaining 70 or so are dedicated to Star Trek which isn't necessarily a bad thing but you get the impression that 4 of the stories are only there to add a few more pages to an already short book.

I hate to sound like I'm disappointed with the book because I'm not. I've grown a lot of respect for Wil Wheaton in recent times and this book only adds to that. As I said before the main story is dedicated to a Star Trek convention which includes some very funny stories about cast members and Gene Roddenberry himself as well as some of the crazy Trekkies that are out there which any fan of Star Trek is going to love (at least I did!)

I ordered both Dancing Barefoot and Just a Geek at the same time, it just so happens that I got Dancing Barefoot first. I'm glad that I did order both of them because after reading it I have a serious itch to learn more about the man himself and hopefully get some more insight into what it must have been like being Wesley Crusher as well as a struggling actor.

Overall I'd give this book a 9/10

It's a great read for Trek fans and leaves you wanting more

Anatomy of a good MMO: Quests

I remember playing the likes of Legend of Mir and Ragnarok Online where you're main path to leveling up was grind, grind, grind. I lose interest very quickly with this. Questing was a great invention to hide the fact that you are really just grinding (for the most part) but at least you get a bonus for doing it!

I think while questing is the main issue here, it is indirectly effected by the story of the game too. Some people play MMO's and just take every quest there is available and goes off to do them, while others read each quest and enjoy the story behind them. If I am very serious about playing the game then I'll read each quest and enjoy it.

For me to enjoy an MMO where there is a level system in place, the only way I'd probably max my level is if there was enough quests to do it. World of Warcraft is a great example for this, you can go from 1-80 without ever having to grind outside of a quest and I guess you might say that Blizzard has spoilt me on this now because I expect it from every MMO now.

Check back later where I talk about Guilds.

All Out Assault is heading to PAX!

AoA's Tamgros and Vmann are going to be on hand at PAX where they will have a chance to check out a playable demo of Star Trek Online. They will also be interviewing Cryptic for our All Out Insider Podcast in association with Hailing Frequencies so make sure you check them out this weekend!

Halo 3 ODST Leaked..but in French!

I've been playing Halo since the first one came around back in 2002, it was the first console FPS I think which really nailed the controls down and along with a great sci-fi story I was sold.

Jump ahead to today Halo 3 ODST, the first expansion for Halo 3 is only 2 weeks away from retail and it's been leaked by a French retailer who managed to get roughly 100 copies out before Microsoft caught them, I knew it was only a matter of time before one of those copies managed to get online and today is the day.

The good news, it's region free so all of us around the world can play, the bad news audio is French ONLY! I think Microsoft may be set this all up so on purpose "Hey guys, here's you're leaked ODST, I just hope you speak Français Monsieur" I considered downloading it anyway but realised that I would miss out on some awesome voice acting from Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin and apparently Alan Tudyk which just made my day because that means all the guys from Firefly (excluding the doc, he doesn't really count..) are the main cast of this game which is awesome!

So I'm going to wait for the official release like I'm supposed to so I can enjoy the game in English and be able to play online without getting banned :P

DUST 514

I finally took the time to go and research this new MMO from CCP called DUST 514 and I have to say, I'm very impressed with where it's going.

I've played my fair share of MMO's at this stage now and I've spent time with others who have played a lot too but one thing that seems to be consistent across the board is people don't like the idea of multi-platform games, most giving the reason because consoles are inferior to PC and don't fit the genre. I wrote a 5 part article about it where I did agree that I'd rather play a multi-platform MMO on PC than on console.

CCP are going a different route. Instead of releasing EvE on console (which would probably be a disaster) they are releasing a completely new console only MMO that is going to integrate with EvE. Introducing DUST 514, an MMOFPS game that is it's own MMO but will take place in the same universe as EvE.

During the unveiling of the game CCP spoke of conquering planets being necessary of controlling space in EvE, this is where DUST 514 comes in, the players can be hired by EvE online Corporations to go to a planet and take it over. I think the easiest way to make sense of it this is to think of EvE Online players as the Navy, while DUST 514 are the infantry.

They have also said that it will be it's own MMO, with quests, skills, areas to explore etc. It's been 3 years in development now so I doubt it will be long before we see more information about this game. I for one am very excited to see how it will turn out.

Personally I think the idea behind this game is great and is going to open up EvE to a lot of people who might have found it too complicated or intense to get into. Depending on it's success, it will be interesting to see where this formula will lead in terms of other MMO's.

Modern Warfare 2 Trailer

Originally when I started this blog it was meant to be a place where I could word my thoughts about Star Trek Online and Final Fantasy XIV but I quickly realised that with the lack of information on these yet to be released games and my own itch to write I started writing about MMO's at large and now I'm leaning more toward gaming in general.

So to I decided to open up two new sections to the blog, MMO and Consoles respectively.

To commemorate that here's the brilliant new Modern Warfare 2 which shows us this iterations UI as well as some new features like host migration and throwing knives.



The new UI is really looking slick, it's got a real MMO look to it. It definitely looks like Infinity Ward are planning to have social networking implemented into the game with kill showing a small bio of the killed player, each of which looked customizable.

Host migration is something that should have been in the first game and is definitely welcome, I don't know how many times I roared down the mic because the host didn't like the map and left which in turn kicked every player back to the main menu.

Throwing knives = awesome, that's all that needs to be said.

Anatomy of a good MMO: Controls

So last time I talked about graphics and how animations play an important role in the game for me. This time I want to talk about controls.

The generic formula for most MMO's is WASD for movement with skills mapped to the number buttons and while things like character sheets, inventory all correspond to their first letter. This is a fine system to be perfectly honest and most games get it right...but not all.

If there's one thing I can't stand in any MMO, it's a point and click scheme. I see it (in fantasy MMO's) as a very lazy setup, click a mile down the road and watch your character go there. Asian MMO's seem to be the biggest culprit of this and its something that really puts me off playing. If i can't directly control my character, I don't really class it as an RPG since you lose that sense of immersion.

The same really applies to all MMO's, it was one of the many reasons why I'll never be able to play EVE.

Another thing that is a simple must (I'm looking your way Square Enix...) is the ability to jump! I know it may sound like a stupid thing but being able to jump is a great pass time when you're traveling from A to B

Check back next time when I talk about Quests