Rather Infrequent Open Thread
Over at Rock, Paper, Shotgun, there’s a video posted in which it is explained in detail why PC gamers should be given the option to alter their games, and why modding makes everything better.
Just when I thought I couldn’t despise Activision-Blizzard any more than I already do, they come up with something like this:
Diablo 3 will sport a couple of in-game auction houses to sell items from player to player. One will be run entirely with in-game gold (very similar to the current WoW Auction House), and one will let players sell and buy items with actual money.
…Yes, Diablo 3 players will be able to spend real money on in-game items, but rather than a traditional item store, Blizzard plans to create a system wherein players sell items to each other — the eBay of Sanctuary, if you will. Players will be able to put items up for sale in each of the game’s various regions around the world (with a different real-world currency for each), and other players will be able to spend real money to buy them, with the real-world money going back to the original item owners.
Blizzard will take fixed fees (as yet unrevealed, though they’ll be “nominal”) out of the sale price both when an auction goes up for sale and when it is actually sold. And when an item is sold, players will either be able to keep earned money in a Battle.net account for spending on Blizzard products and services, or cash out entirely, with another, percentage-based fee through a not-yet-announced third-party payment provider.
Sales of items in MMORPGs and other online games have been going on since the days of Ultima Online, so it’s not as though Blizzard is offering anything new and novel here (they never offer anything new and novel anyway). Instead, they are simply moving something which other MMORPGs frown upon and/or forbid in their Terms of Service inside the game.
Why? Blizzard’s “on paper” reasoning is that moving the transactions into Diablo 3 instead of allowing them to happen on third-party sites will increase the security of the process for players. Personally, I think it has more to do with the fact that they charge three “nominal” fees per item sold. Methinks Bobby Kotick has decided that it’s not enough to have pillows stuffed with Benjamins; he wants a money-stuffed duvet as well.
More details: here, here, and here!
Bonus: Diablo 3 features always-online DRM; you can’t play it without an Internet connection.
All that said, it does look like a sweet game.
I mentioned Hard Reset previously…
…and the first gameplay trailer for it has arrived since then.
Just for reference, this is the game being built (in Poland, I think) by newly-formed studio Flying Wild Hog (which, in turn, is comprised of industry veterans who worked on such games as Bulletstorm, Sniper, and The Witcher 2).
…Ars Technica presents a handy guide on how to ruin the PC port of your game in five quick steps!
Windows XP finally loses its majority share amongst Internet users!
This is the happiest day on the Internet. I declare it to be so!
Interview with David Gaider: The Writing of Dragon Age 2
Gamasutra examines the writing process that went in to BioWare’s Dragon Age 2 and looks at how its team wanted to focus on telling a darker, edgier story. Which, frankly, is a trend in fantasy writing that I (for one) think needs to be curbed right now.
Did Metal Gear Solid 2 predict Facebook?
Well…sort of.
Tired of hearing me ramble on about Free-to-Play?
Epic Games president Mike Capps doesn’t think it’s all that, and doesn’t expect the F2P model will become an industry standard any time soon.
Win a chance to playtest Battlefield 3 in Sweden!
Sorry I don’t seem able to shut up about this game.
Earth has a “Trojan asteroid”!
Nothing to do with Spartans or sex, though; a trojan (in this context) is an asteroid that shares an orbit with a planet, at a stable point either in front or behind said planet. A few planets in the Solar System are known to have trojans, and now it appears that Earth does as well.
Yes, your smartphone can take incredible photos…if you know how to use it.
It’s true (to a large degree, at any rate) that a professional with a crappy camera can usually take a better picture than a n00b with the most awesome camera and lens on the market. A lot of that comes down to just knowing the finer points of composition and how to control the shot and the subject(s).
Equally, though: the pro who is handed a crappy camera can spend a few minutes messing around with said camera and probably figure out what settings to enable (or disable) in order to get the best image possible. The n00b with the awesome camera, by comparison, probably has no clue what half the damn buttons and dials do in the first place, and wouldn’t know the first thing about e.g. why changing the aperture setting can make the difference between a moderately-sharp image and a razor-sharp image.
Don’t be the n00b; learn how to use your camera! Learn what its strengths and weaknesses are, learn what you can do to eke a bit of extra performance out of it. Even your smartphone can take a striking image if you know a thing or two about its tiny little camera.
Tonight’s post brought to you by stabbing yourself“planking”:
You would think this sort of thing would be obvious! Spiky fence...pointy ends...no? No? Anyone?
Bonus:
I guess this is an improvement?
Diablo 3 features always-online DRM
It’s more than that. The game is essentially implemented as an online game, albeit one in which you can play alone.
Considering what Blizzard’s business model has been for the past 7 years, it’s not surprising that they would do this.
I get the feeling I won’t be buying any Blizzard games any time soon. I rarely play games online, and I generally don’t play multiplayer games either.
No great loss, I’ll be playing Grim Dawn instead:
http://www.grimdawn.com/
Perhaps a Diablo Online, free to play model would have worked better? Especially if the monetization of item sales works out in a big way (no reason why it can’t, and in fact it may actually be a good idea)
As for the writing of Dragon Age 2 – I haven’t played the game, but I seem to recall people didn’t exactly sing it’s praises. I’d suggest much of the problem with the Dragon Age games is the lack of forethought to the entire setting. Dragon Age: Origins had many moments which made me think they hadn’t spent long enough considering the setting/plot etc..
I wouldn’t suggest the world of Dragon Age was darker and edgier than the Forgotten Realms/Baldur’s Gate world. That whole trend has been going on for a while, and it works best in my opinion when there is a contrast between darkness/light and edginess/normality.
Finally, I read something on the Rampant Games Blog about world creation in games, and LateWhiteRabbit had said the key things to remember are: ASPIRE –
Arts/Aesthetics
Social Structure
Politics
Intellectual Achievements/Science
Religion
Economics
I’d recommend checking that out: http://rampantgames.com/blog/?p=3148
Ok. Prepare for more Thepal complaining:
Skyrim has been put on Steam for preorder and the Collector’s edition has been announced. And the prices:
Steam Skyrim Normal Edition:
US – US$59.99
AU – US$89.99
Collector’s Edition:
US – US$149.99
AU – US$209.10
Absolutely bloody ridiculous. The Collector’s edition price is bad enough in America, but adding on an extra $60 for Australians?! I think Bethesda’s prices are now officially worse than EA’s for Australians (in fact, EA seems to have been getting better).
Thepal:
I imagine all Australians quickly make an American buddy online and pay them the US price (using Paypal) in exchange for gifted games.
It works out as somewhere around £130 here in the UK, Thepal. So no, I’m not getting the Collector’s Edition either.
Infinitron: I’ll be paying around US$45 for the normal version of the game (with the pre-order cloth map) from the UK. I figure we unfortunately need to put Australian game retailers out of business (or close to it) for things to change.
I wonder. Do modern First-Person/Third-Person-Chase RPGs (Elder Scrolls, Mass Effect, etc.) have container objects (like cabinets and lockers) in their game worlds that actually act like an inventory screen rather than a box with objects inside (ie rendered always).
Well, I think I figured out a way to add inventory-like containers into Ultima IX. Would be pretty easy to store equipment in the Avatar’s room then.
Elder Scrolls games have containers that act like inventory, yes.
I’m not sure which I prefer actually. I kinda like being able to actually open the chest/whatever and see what is inside (rather than just getting a list)
Dono if this is old news yet, but the CRPG Addict has started his blogthrough of Ultima 5.
If you haven’t heard of the CRPG Addict, he is a good writer who is attempting to blog his way through every CRPG ever made in chronological order. Obviously, he has already blogged Ultimas I, III, and IV (I believe he skipped II. As one commenter puts it: “Jarjar Binks, Metochlorians and Ultima II are all things that we like to pretend don’t exist”), and I believe Ultima IV has his highest review score to date (tied with one other game – a rogue-like if I recall). Give it a read!
http://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/