Game server outage

On January 06 2015 between 12:30 and 18:30 UTC the game server will be down for maintenance.
( Jan 07 11:30pm till 7:30am NZT as a rough guess )

Affected services:

• Teamspeak
• Minecraft
• Starbound (Unstable)
• Forge

2014 - Legends return

2014 was a good year for those who grew up with gaming since the 80's

A lot of old classics returned as reboots sequels or spiritual successors unlike the Movie industry's though these ended up being good.

Elite - Elite Dangerous

I first played elite some time in the 1980's on my C64 but didn't really get into it until 1991 when a friend suggested I try it again.

Since then I have played them all, Frontier, First encounters and now Elite Dangerous which was recently released.
To me Elite is one of my favorite games as it tackles a subject I value in gaming. Exploration. In this case its the entire universe.

When I first saw elite it was a flickering black and white image coming from my C64. It wasn't the first time I had seen 3D graphics having previously played Mercenary ( Which was released after Elite ) before getting to play Elite but it was the first engine i had seen that did occlusion of back face planes ( no more see through polys ).

Elite Dangerous is a perfect upgrade of the classic with all the features. The future for elite looks good with promises of being able to walk on ships and stations and eventually planets.

Wasteland - Wasteland 2

Another game from the 80's which I played on my C64. Wasteland looked dated when I first got to play it, it remember thinking its graphics weren't that great but back then and still today it should never be about the graphics but I was comparing it to Sentinel Worlds: Future Magic which had much better world map art style.

The game itself and story were just so much fun. Challenging but fun. Having to survive in a post apocalyptic world scavenging ammo just got get though the next battle. It was brilliant that with a skill system that allow for many different solutions to a single problem really created a fantastic roleplay experience.

Before Wasteland 2 was released  I was replaying the dos version which came with the pre-order, I was supposed at how addictive it was after nearly 20 years.

Wasteland 2 brings all this back with dated 3D graphics .... but still with enjoyable combat and skill systems. It lives up to the original and brings us back to the Wasteland I remember.

Gauntlet - Gauntlet

The original brought many hours of coop gameplay on my C64. The secrets, glitches, bonus. I can't remember how far we ever got but the rumor of a dragon kept us going.

It was simple, 4 players go into a dungeon maze, shoot monsters. Remove monster generators and all the while your heath is ticking down.

For a arcade conversion the C64 did a decent job. Limited to only 2 players.

Gauntlet reboot has enough of the old classic to make it nostalgic but it is a different game from the original. Less maze running and more arena style room fights. Starting it up and hearing the title music was fantastic.

 

Not Released but coming soon

Ultima - Shroud of the Avatar

Ultima 5 - C64, my perception of  what a RPG is was warped from this day on. RPG's should be about exploration, dialog, living worlds to immerse yourself into full of living npcs that have names, jobs and other quirks. Full of little details like clocks with working hands showing in game time and beds with pixel blobs to show when someone was sleeping. This is what Ultima was about and I followed the series up to 9  but never got into the online version because it just felt dead compared to the worlds before it.

Shroud of the Avatar

This is the spiritual successor for Ultima and booting up I feel like I have stepped from Ultima 9 into a new Ultima series. The way the game feels, its just a sense of discovery the old style conversation system of typing keywords is back ( you can click if you can't type ), You can sit, and interact with the world, dragging items around. Its not quite Ultima 7 but its close and much more than what you expect in a online game. The game is currently in pre-alpha but what I have played feels more complete than a lot of other early access games.

Wing Commander - Star Citizen

Wing Commander showed us how to create a story and have characters. Its game play was simple compared to other simulators at the time and it ran on a terrible game engine but that didn't stop it from being one of the best space combat games of its time.

You felt like part of the Carrier group, running missions and proceeding though the war where the outcome of your mission effected the way the game branched. The thing that got me first time playing it was how you were dumped into combat with horrid music. I almost quit at that point that I blew up but that's when the game goes ' fooled you, that was just a arcade, here is the real game '

I played all the wing commanders up to 3. Skipped 4 and played 5 which was a bad idea. I have 4 on gog its just a matter of getting around to downloading it. The series though lost something when it stopped being about the Kilrathi war.

Star Citizen

This game is still way far too off to get a feel on. It has a lot of promises which sound fantastic but progress seems to be slow. I was in the first wave of backers for this game. I only put down the amount for the box price entry and nothing more. I was hoping to have at least seen Squadron 42 ( The reason I backed the game ) but all we get is basically arcade mode and soon a FPS. Maybe someday I will boot it up and it will go Surprise, here's the real game like the original did. Don't get me wrong, I want this to be what its hyped up to be.

Elite Dangerous Launchs

Almost missed it because I am too busy flying around with my pimped out Cobrrrraa 

From the offical GW2 Twitter

Where the Rytlock teaser was found:

Yeah its still better than 3rd ........

Guildwars 2 Teaser

No update for Guildwars 2 living story next week due to Xmas. But they did leave us this:

Elite Gamma 2.0 is out

This is problery the final content update and what release 1.0 will be like:

NEW FEATURES/CONTENT

• Add Lakon Type 7 playable ship
• Add Adder playable ship
• Route planning added
• Alliance stations now have their own colour swatch
• Scenarios in system updated on state change
• Slavery missions and commodities added

Full patch notes here:

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=71785

Elite: Dangerous Trailer

Warning: This trailer is like a Eve online Trailer in that what they show is exaggerated by 10x and not quite as exciting.

1. You can't walk on stations yet.
2. No more than 1 AI will mine a astroid.
3. Supercruse is slower than shown and less seamless.
4. You can't fight around stations.
5. You can't turn that fast with flight assist off.
6. If you saw that many anacondas on screen then it would only be players.

Other than that the rest of the game is correct. I still love the game, but like to point out Bullshot trailers when I can.

Elite: Dangerous is not being wiped

At release they aren't wiping the progress from the gamma test.

This is slightly annoying because they said they might a while back and so I didn't take it seriously. I am 100's of light years away from my free eagle at the ass end of the galaxy in a hauler.

Now I realise, I am stuck here unless I wipe ( loosing a ton of money ) or digging in and making a name for my self here.

I wish Frontier had communicated clearer there intentions with the gamma and save games.

Bloodbowl 2

This is the only sports game I enjoyed, besides TV Sports basketball ( Amiga ) and SpeedBall 2 ( C64/Amiga )


The Sequal is looking like its going to be a lot of fun.

Mount & Blade Warband Viking Conquest DLC Relase date

The game will be unlocked on Steam and be made available for download on 11th December next week.

A bloody live action trailer has been released as well:


I can't wait

Force awakens - George Lucas edition

Interstellaria - Beta

This game is inspried by one of the greatest games ever made, Starflight and since I discovered it I have been follow its progress.

Its on my buy as soon as its appears on steam list.

Next week in Guildwars 2

Elite: Dangerous Majestic Class Interdictor

Elite Dangerous tips

Things I have learned in the past year of playing the beta:

Docking Tips

Learn to dock
Docking is something you do a lot in the elite series. This time around the Docking computer is quite terrible and not worth buying. Luckily docking is no where near as challenging as the first game.

1. Afterburners should only be used to get closer to the station. It may seem cool to come in full speed but you look like a idiot when you smear yourself against the hull of a Anaconda.
2. When learning, lower you gear early. This slows you down quite a bit making it easy. It also disables afterburner.
3. Coriolis Stations show arrows on the target view pointing which direction the docking port is
4. The compass radar will show the direction of the landing pad once requested. Handy inside larger stations if you get assigned one right near the entrance. 
5. Lights on the side of docking ports show which side you should be on. You should always be on the green side.
6. Larger ships can fill the entire port, always check its clear before entering/exiting a station
7. There is a docking tutorial, which is a lot less expensive than trying to dock in the game.

Ship Control

1. Go over your key mappings. With my setup I have mapped a button to engage/disengaged the frame shift drive with a single click. Moved Afterburner to the stick for more Battlestar Galactica feel and remapped some misc keys like lights to other switches on the controller.
2. Fly you ship like a plane, always keep moving, don't stop and turret in one place.
3. Roll not yaw. Rolling so your target is above you and pulling back is the fastest way to turn.
4. The blue area on your speed hud shows where your optimal turning radius is.
5. Learn to use your lateral thrusters. If flying towards a target, you should also be moving another direction so your not so easy to hit.
6. You can avoid interdiction. First you can see ships approaching on your radar and avoid them. Second if you get interdicted then look for the escape vector and chase it. If its not in front of you slow to optimal turning and turn in the direction your hud has turned. Once its in view, throttle up and keep it in your cross hair.
7. When in frame shift / supercruse, watch your ETA under your cross hair. Try to keep it between 6 - 10 seconds to avoid over shooting.
8. If avoiding pirates don't fly the direct route to the destination. Fly off at a angle and then correct 50% of the way there. Speed is the key with pirate systems so don't worry about overshooting to much and watch for any ships appearing in front. 

I'll be doing some more tips on trading and missions once I have a good understanding of the changes since the beta. So far missions seem to pay a lot more than beta 3 and I have in under half a hour gone from the starting 100c to 13,000c

Elite:Dangerous gamma launch

The universe is open if you want to find me I am currently around this region:

The official Yamama Elite private group name is QUANHAN.

I would like it to have been called Yamama or something but then I would have to be known as CMDR: YAMAMA

Version 1.0 is the 16th. If you don't have the game I would wait until then as another wipe after gamma hasn't been confirmed but is very likely.

Elite Gamma launches tomorrow

We only had 3.9 for less than a day and now the Beta is going Gamma soon with the launch in a few weeks time.

There has been some controversy over the offline mode being pulled weeks before launch. This doesn't effect the way the game has been in the beta as the beta always required a internet connection and solo play is still a feature just 100% offline / no internet has been dropped.

I am a little concerned about the feature being pulled, not for what it was but just the back tracking on a Kickstarter Promises and it has me worried about the 'expansions' coming after the games launch. Which is EVA game play and landing on planets. I pre-paid those in support of the games development and after the offline issue, I would be upset if they get pulled for being ' Too Hard 'or ' Lack of funding '

As for the game itself, its fantastic for what it is. Its Elite, its space and its space combat done in a way which is skillful and interesting.

The universe is fun to explore, the ship simulation is fantastic. There is a lot to do:

Trading
Mining
Hauling ( Different from trading as you don't have to buy goods just move them some where ).
Exploration
Bounty Hunting
Pirating
Faction Warfare

I haven't experienced any missions yet but they are in 3.9

Whats missing:

Decent group play tools. This is sharing bounty's and missions.

This makes multiplayer feel a bit weak and tacked on.

I'll do another post after gamma has launched. The game data gets wiped with most releases, so I am going to have to say goodbye to my viper again.

Goat Simulator MMO

Mount & Boat

Not Mount & Blade 2 , but this DLC should keep me busy:

Next week in Guildwars 2

Elite Dangerous: Tuesday 16th December 2014

This is really surprising, I was expecting the game to go for another month or two in ' Gamma ' but it seems the game launching next month.

The game is ready at the moment but some more polish will be good on the multiplayer front but if it was out today I would have plenty to do.

If development halts after the launch then there will be major issues. Currently the game has its core in place, Combat, ship customisation, mining, missions and trading. There is plenty to do but if your a 'end game' kind of person you will struggle with the game.

They have released the future of Elite video which talks about the planned Expansions. Which is getting out of your ship and exploring. I am one of these people who doesn't require a point for leaving the ship. I just love the idea that I can if I want some down time from flying and staring at my ships console.

Blizzcon 2014

10 Years of WoW, 20 years of Warcraft and what did we see ?

Cards, Dota clone, full priced expansion pack and Blizzards brand new IP Xmen vs Team Fortress 2.

The highlight for me was spotting Duncan and Shin in the crowed and as I don't want the Yogscast any more I'll leave that up to you as to how exciting that is. 

Arma 3 Takes on Helicopters

The Helicopter DLC is out for Arma 3 and it is looking quite good. Dslyecxi has made another video based on the changes from beta to release which is quite interesting:


The flight model was relased as a patch today and doesn't require the DLC so you can try it out yourself. I gave it a spin and found it vastly improved over Take On Helicopters. It was also good to find something else to use my X52 Pro with.

As for the DLC, I think its worth it if you are into flying. If not you can still enjoy the features from the DLC just not fly the two new helicopters.

Finally

Finally got Elite to link up for group play =D

Elite: Dangerous Beta 3

Next weekend in Guildwars 2

The next session starts:

Xwing & Tie Fighter on GoG

And more to come.

http://www.gog.com/news/new_publisher_disney_interactivelucasfilm

Hopefully fixed versions of Xwing vs Tie & Xwing Alliance show up. Also Rebellion.

My RPG Check list

This is what I use to rate how good a RPG is:

1) Day & Night cycle
World has to feel alive so having day night is essential. If a RPG doesn't have day night it feels static and shallow. MMO's even more so.

2) Weather Effects
They don't have to effect game play but if it does even better but the effects can't be static and preset up. Has to be dynamic

3) NPCS doing stuff
Walking, talking, sleeping, eating and reacting to the world. If you can sit back and just watching them do there thing really makes the world better

4) Sitting, Sleeping, World Interaction
The background needs to be more than a background. If there are chairs ( and I really hope there is, I played some games devoid of chairs full stop ) you need to be able to sit on them. Bioware games are notorious for having non interactive worlds eg Mass Effect, lets feed Shepard's fish.

5) Food, provisions, sleeping, micromanagement
I love having to track provisions and supplies. It makes resting something that just a key press. Do I have enough food, should I break off this quest and try and make it back to town or maybe there is some bread in this run down tomb.

6) Clothing
Its fun to play dress up

7) Not all combat
Everything doesn't have to kill you 24/7 having ambient animals that run away or just NPCs in towns to talk too.

8) Open world
No linear paths, or you have to be this tall to explorer here. Being able to just go any direction and find stuff to do and not be artificially held back.

9) My character not yours
Making your own character is essentially. You can talk for me but I also don't mind text for my character. I also do not like complete silence. If the characters are interesting they can get a pass, eg The Witcher.

The only game which has really fitted all this is Ulitima 7 ( Part 1 & 2 ). This game is my RPG benchmark. The Elderscrolls series also fits in nicely with most of these.

I don't mention stats To me these are the weakest part of most RPGS. Stats, talent trees and min/maxing do nothing for me. They are just systems to limited my fun in the game. JRPG's focus on this way to much, and games like Dark Souls ( which I personally enjoy as a game ) get called RPG's when really they are a action game with stats bolted on.

These are what I feel make a good RPG. A living, interactive world where you can get lost and absorbed into and sadly hard to find these days. Some came close like Divinity but while good games fall short on being near perfect.

Currently the most enjoyable RPG I am playing is Legend of Grimrock 2 and while it misses a few things from the above list its well worth getting if your into old school dungeon crawlers.

Revan back, back again

Elite Beta 2.0 is out

And what little time I could play it before the servers went down was amazing. The upgrades in only a few short months are staggering.

Docking training stations - At the edge of the known galaxy

The game looked good before, it now looks mind blowing amazing and i will need to try this out on the Oculas Rift again.

Windows 9 is now called Windows 10

The name change is weird but I am not going to be too hung up on it.

From what I can see the changes are good. It has all the good stuff from Windows 8 but dumps a load of the annoying parts by bringing back a start menu and letting fullscreen metro apps run in scalable windows.

I will be upgrading to this OS when its released some time next year.

Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord engine video

Assassin's Kittens Unity

Difference between Elite & Eve Online

Source

Allegedly Destiny killed the Titan star

Blizzards Titan has finally been canceled, it will no longer be worked on after nearly 7 years and who knows how much money.

The rurmor is that Destiny a game published by Activision/Blizzard was too simlar in scope and that Titan just wans't fun.

So what next for Blizzard ?

I guess they can put all their focus now on printing more Hearthstone cards cause it not going to make Warcraft Expansions or that final Starcraft expansion get done any faster =P

Direct X 11.3 is coming

Around the same time DirectX 12 is being released but this begs the question as to why there is such a thing as DirectX 11.3

What this might mean is DirectX 12 is limited to Windows 8+

So really the question I should be asking instead is why is DirectX 12 a thing.

If DirectX 12 is not on windows 7 you will see the same sort of split you had back between Diretx 9 ( XP ) and DirectX10 ( Vista+ )

To this day I usally play games in DirectX 9 mode as in most cases you get better preformace. Some games DirectX 11 is better ( Civ 5 )

The replacement for Raiden has been unveiled

The Return of Longsword fighting

Razer Surround bundled with Wasteland 2

If you get Wasteland 2 when it installs it askes to install the Razer Surround driver.

Click NO

I can not see this to be any benefit over the surround sound that Unity provides and this driver is from Razer a company that can't even design a mouse that doesn't break ( see my Razer Naga saga ) or release a bit of software that doesn't collects metric infomation about you and your computer.

This whole thing feels like adware/spyware to me. They even ask if you wish to go to the Razer website after not installing the driver and its a bit sad that inXile included it with the game.

Final Fantasy XV

I don't even know where to start ......

Legend of Grimrock 2 Next MONTH !

No hype, no kickstarter, no early access just heads down and deliviering the game;

Mojang $2.5B Deal Confirmed

And I am  fine with this. You be a idiot not to sell something like Minecraft for 2.5b

https://mojang.com/2014/09/yes-were-being-bought-by-microsoft/

If I was in that situation I would do the same. Just in my case I would hold onto certian IP about Characters and World but for 2.5b you can have the rest of the game.

Archeage: Second Impressions

I was extremely harsh on the game with my first impressions. Part of this was a mmo that promises  so much then presents the first thing you see as something worse than the worst Warcraft clones.

Turns out once you get past this hump there is a interesting game to explore.

So I tried the game again, this time doing something I never do. I rolled a human player.

My experience with Warcraft taught me that beast races can get the short end of the stick and while the cat area does get  much nicer once you get out of the valley, the begin is horrid.

Humans on the other hand get a lush, green environment with trees, bushes and its near the ocean.

The human starting area seems to show off the game much better. You get a horse quicker and shortly after the horse you even get a row boat and its the boats that have won me over in this game.

Boats are proper vehicles, you can stop at any time, stand up and walk around on them. Even light the lamp on the front. You can also take passagers.

Row boats are impressive, the bigger boats even more so. With harpoons and canons.

Rowing around the bay was the most fun I have had in a mmo in a long time.

The impression I get from Archeage is its a new Ultima / Vangard. The world is massive and seamless with lots to explore.

Combat is still clunky, labor points the gated crafting mechanic needs to be dumped and I haven't experienced the world pvp yet so I may still endup not enjoying the game but thanks to boats I will be playing this a lot more when its released. So I try my recomendation to give it a go when released.

Archeage beta impression

A new post has been done with my second impressions which are better. I left this post here as some of the issues rased are still vaild.

http://www.yamama.co.nz/2014/08/archeage-second-impressions.html 

I finally got a invite to the Archeage beta after so many emails of them saying " Hey buy this, play the beta this weekend  "

I am glad I didn't fork over any money. I was quite hyped about the game but in the back of my mind I knew it was going to live up to expectations

Everquest Next

SOE Live is on this weekend and more details of Everquest next are being released.

http://www.twitch.tv/soe/b/558411156

The above video shows a lot of new content, including combat. Which looks utterly fanatisc and what I want from a mmo.

Sadly, I had managed to kill all my hype for the game but now, its all back and I am itching to play the game.

Next week in Guildwars 2

Next week in Guildwars 2: The Dragon's Reach

Alien Isolation: Crew Expendable

I I am a big fan of Alien. I think its my favourite of the series. I love the visuals, setting and pacing.

Now  I hope this isn't a case of the DLC being what I want the full game to be. It makes me wonder why they didn't just do the whole thing with the original crew. If Creative Assembly is listening, I will buy more DLC if they put out more levels like this.

Next week in Guildwars 2

Civ: Beyond Earth gameplay

Looks like a mod, but then thats not saying it will be bad. Colonization was a lot of fun, but this doesn't quite look as good as Alpha Centauri.

I'll be keeping a very close eye on reviews when its released. 

Arena commander access

I got my invite today.

Am I going to play, NO

Why, because the downloader just wants to such all my data away and I have much better things to do than download 10gb patches ( then 2gb patches, then 7 gb patches to remove the 2gb you just downloaded )

I don't have unlimited data.

I rather play elite which is doing 17mb patches !

Elite: Anaconda action

The Anaconda is currently the largest playable ship in Elite and it was interesting to see how it worked in combat.

Space hulk: Deathwing

Looks good, I buy almost anything with games workshop logo on it.

Elite Beta starts on the 29th of July

I should have waited, I could have saved so much money =P

The Standard beta is still expensive running at $75 USD and it doesn't include any of the promised DLC. The DLC 'session' pass is another $50 USD

Still with how fast the game is going you may want to wait for the full release which is $50 USD.

Also they have updated the patcher and are patching the game every few days with fixes. Each being only a few mb  in size.

In other news, I found where the screenshots have been going so here are a few screenshots from the latest beta, in orbit around Vulcan

Elite Dangerous: Premium beta 2

The beta was updated today !

This game is everything I ever wanted in a space game and to think I wrote it off as being a money grab back when it appeared on kickstarter.

As I felt it was a case of the boy who cried wolf after waiting decades for Elite 4

The game is utterly fantastic to play, but I don't recommend paying the $150 USD for the beta just yet. Unless your a long time fan of Elite from 1984. Wait until friends list and more content has been added as at the moment there is a only a limited amount of things to do.

Wait for it to get cheaper as more  features are complete.

I myself couldn't hold back and I don't regret it but if anyone was to buy it its unlikely we would be able to intect act with each other online.

I'll be posting more updates as the game matures.

Guildwars 2: The Gates of Maguuma

This is going to be exiciting !

Teamspeak 3: There and back again

I have switched back from Mumble to TeamSpeak 3 on the server. So thats why mumble is not responding.

Witcher 3 Trailer

Arena Commader V0.8 Released

Guildwars 2: Living story session 2

 Starts the 1st of July, I know what I will be playing, Elite Dangerous =P and this as I am quite invested in Guildwars 2 now.

While this could be a zone portal anywhere it looks like the rumors about the  Maguuma jungle are correct and the only NPC type missing from the band of heros is a Sylvari

The HiveLeader on ArcheAge

Star Citizen Arena Dog Module Commander Fighter on the 29th

Maybe,

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/13883-Arena-Commander-Weekly-Report-May-12-16

I don't know, does seem like they are trying to beat Elite. Just the difference is this is the first game play piece of code from RSI where Elite has released 4 alpha builds.

What I am trying to say is I don't have my hopes up that they will release the Arena Commander game on time.

Not that I am worried, I'll be playing Elite instead, unless, it gets delayed as well !

Elite Dangerous - Alpha 4.0

I would have raced out and brought Elite after seeing this if not for one thing. I already brought it a few days ago =P

Being in the beta phase, I don't get to do any of this until the 30th

Unreal Tournament 2014 Announced

From epic:

Here’s the plan:

• We’ve created a small team of UT veterans that are beginning work on the project starting today.
• From the very first line of code, the very first art created and design decision made, development will happen in the open, as a collaboration between Epic, UT fans and UE4 developers. We’ll be using forums for discussion, and Twitch streams for regular updates.
• If you are a fan and you want to participate, create a free account and join the forum discussion.
• All code and content will be available live to UE4 developers on GitHub.
• The game will be true to its roots as a competitive FPS.
• Development will be focused on Windows, Mac and Linux.

So what’s the catch?

• It will take many months until the game is playable by gamers. This is real development from scratch.
• When the game is playable, it will be free. Not free to play, just free.
• We’ll eventually create a marketplace where developers, modders, artists and gamers can give away, buy and sell mods and content. Earnings from the marketplace will be split between the mod/content developer, and Epic. That’s how we plan to pay for the game.

 So this makes me a potential Dev for UT2k14 as I have devopler access to the UE4 source code. The question I am asking myself is what could i provide to be included with the game.

Jedi Academy ?

May the 4th turned out better than I expected. I am surprised at how the server has been used most of the day.

I am now pondering in also setting up a Jedi Academy server as well.

Minecraft and Starbound are in idle mode also Forge offline while I redesgin the entire network engine so I have plenty of resources left to run more. If they stay used, I'll keep them running.

May the 4th

In celbration of May the 4th, I have restarted the JK2 server for the weekend. Its a bit basic at the moment, running jedi mod and standard maps. I'll be digging though my configs to try and setup the server as close as it used to be to a classic Yamama setup.

As always, the easiest way to connect is to type /connect server.orac.co.nz into the console.
The game is also currently $4 on steam due to the Starwars Sale for May the 4th:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/6030/?snr=1_614_615_StarWarsMay4Sale_421

The Dev that cried hype

CCP announced today a new game called Project Legion. A Dust 514 style game for the PC.

They are calling it a free for all PvE game with Open world PVP.

All I can say is 6 years from now when its released, it better not be a nice looking but empty planet ( no players ) where they give you a gun with no ammo.

I know that after walking on stations, World of Darkness and Dust 514, I just don't care what CCP says and they need to switch to telling us what they have to show now, not what they hope to have in the future.

Buy to alpha

Recently the trend of paying to test has been creeping in.

First it was minecraft with its buy now, play now but pay less alpha. This model was good because it rewarded early access  users with the game at a cheaper price. Then these people told their friends. As the game added more features it got more expensive to new players. It worked and it was fair.

Then came the Kickstarter early access games. That is, give the dev enough money, usually the full box price and gain access to the game. Star Citizen, Starbound etc.

Now you have the premium alpha/beta games, this is your Elite Dangerous and more increasingly Free to play MMO's like Archeage, Neverwinter and Everquest.

Archeages price seems a bit of a joke, the include items in the bundle are limited. Your $150 gets you:

• $75 worth of in game currency
• 4 day head start
• A database text box entry, I mean title
• 90 Day subscription
• 6 lottery chests
• 10 Teleport stones
• 10 Disenchant Stones
• Sparkle Glider
• Armor
• Crest for armor
• 10 Pet potions
• Cloak

Problem I have is most of this stuff will just run out and you will be left with nothing more than a title cloak and glider for your $150.

I am sure people will see value in this but on a game which I have no real knowledge about I am reluctant to dump money on.

Now if you got access to a beta / alpha before having to pay money it might be different and I could end up throwing money at the game.

I am sure the montization of Archeage will put me off. I don't want a free game, but I want a reasonable priced game that makes me want to spend money on it.  Not sell hats for $75 or tools which cost $10 for 5 ( stones ).

As for Elite: Dangerous, that is another story and I am fighting myself over dumping $200 onto its beta.

E.T Landfill found

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_video_game_burial

YOU ARE MOVING

YOU ARE MOVING

YOU ARE MOVING

YOU ARE MOVING

YOU ARE MOVING

YOU ARE MOVING

Yeah Wildstar, your combat sucks as well.

Wildstar First Impressions Live Blog

8:20 Put left over hot cross buns in the oven

8:26 Logged in, no issues

8:27 Frustrated with character creation
Wildstar seems to not have looked at mmo's in the last decade and annoying issues which can be solved with simple fixes.

The biggest is character names. Playing guess what name hasn't been taken is the worst part of a mmo. Most modern MMO's have fixed this issue, ether with @accountname ( Star Trek / Neverwinter ) or allowing for a last name ( Guildwars 2 ).

8:30 Choose name HotCrossBunnie
At this point I discover that once you set a name and click accpet, the game launches and I was a random green character.

8:33 Deleted HotCrossBunnie
And recreated

8:45 Logged out
So utterly bored. This game is warcraft in new cloths and I am so done with that style of game. The graphics aren't impressive, the animation seems over done. I played for around 10 mins and found nothing to do but run between fedex npcs and watch cutscenes with tired cliched characters.

So glad I tried the open beta. If I brought this game I would have been so disappointed. I am not sure why I expected something different than Warcraft.

8:48 Removed Hot cross buns from oven and watch Adventure time
Far better use of my Saturday morning.

Guildwars 2 sPVP is fantastic

Structured PVP ( sPVP ) has always been in the game, but in the past I had only ever played it once. This was due to the game completely separating it from the main PVE part. Anything earned in sPVP was only used in sPVP.

With the recent feature pack update they altered the reward system for sPVP. Now you can unlock dungeons and then gain those rewards while playing sPVP match's.

Now I have incentive to play.

What I enjoy the most is how accessible the game is. Gear doesn't mean nothing, its all your characters skills and your ability to use them. Currently I am getting pwned, but not as hard as I would as a fresh max level in Warcraft.

The pug setup seems pure random and I haven't read of people being able to game the system  to form teams. Because of this teamwork is more fair and less likely you will hit a group of people on teamspeak.

This is really what I like about it the most, that i can just play with no pre-made team and have fun. Theres no stress in winning or loosing, I am just having fun like I would if I was playing JK2 or Quake 3.

World of Darkness MMO cancelled

I guess CCP has problems doing anything that has walking in it .....

Orcs must Die goes Free to play & Dota

And while it problery not the first, its great they are going 3rd person. I can never understand why Dota clones are always top down, there is no reasion what so ever not to explore a 3rd person mode.

Starcitizen Pax Demo

This is the first real playable footage from Starcitizen and visually it looks great. There is some nice features being showed.

I like that they are trying to tackle the bane of Online space combat and that is endless turning fights. The G-Force mecanic is a good feature to tackle this issue.

When playing online space combat, the entire game becomes trying to get in behind your target. As that is what your target is doing, the whole thing is like when a cat  chases its tail. In a Aircraft combat simulator this doesn't happen as much. There is still turning duels from time to time but as your turn your aircraft you spend speed energy to change direction. Eventually you can bleed enough speed that you stop flying and start spinning then hit the ground.  Space doesn't have this problem. Singleplayer combat doesn't have this issue as the AI will opt for more of a 'Zoom and Boom' tactic. Racing away from you at full speed ( as usually its balanced they are faster ) then turning and coming head on.

The other issue is that there isn't alot of substance in this demo. They dressed it up really nice but you are just flying in a box.

Unfortunately, the demo isn't available at all to backers. This seems a bit weird to me as I expected access to all content no matter what state it was in. Backers will get a different version of the game 'in the following months'.

Watch_Dogs Nvidia trailer

This looks close to what was shown as a playable demo at E3. Unlike the recent console trailers that I have been posting.

Mount & Blade Mod: Star Wars Conquest

Just when I thought these kinds of mods had nearly died. That is the total conversion which utterly changes the way a game looks and feels:

http://www.moddb.com/mods/swconquest

It is for the orginal Mount & Blade , not warband.

Age of Mythology: Extended Edition

I am liking these updates more than sequals / reboots. Age of Empires 2 HD was a great update making the game work well on modern computers. But I always enjoyed Age of Mythology more.

I can't wait. Its relesaed next month.

Guildwars 2 Merges into a MEGASERVER

See, I am not scared of using the word merge in a mmo =P

This is a fantatsic move as the engine has always felt like it should be doing this and I have no idea why they didn't do it from launch.

A mega server means every one doing PVP is basicly in the same area. Kind of how Guildwars 1 worked but more like Star Trek Online. You will seamlessly be put into zones where you friends / guild and other people who are related to you in some way ( language ).

Its basicly overflow 24/7 just with no notifcation and how all the holiday events worked.

I can see this upsetting some people who world boss ping pong between realms and it might be hard to sync world boss timers but who cares.

Also they are  nerfing the Champ train in Queensdale ( level 1 - 10 zone ) to get people out of doing the easiest path and exploring the world.

Elderscrolls online also has a Mega server system and Star Trek Online / Neverwinter.

I am also hoping they will give us a chance to change our world server for free. So that I can try and group us all together for WvWvW.

Full details on the feature pack for Guildwars 2 can be found here:

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/feature-packs/

NB. Google spellchecker wasn't running when this was posted, expect spelling mistakes.

3D-Coat 4.1 Released

This is my fav 3D program and the only reasion full stop I have been able to create textures. 4.1 looks fantastic and just in time for the migration to Unreal Engine 4.

All its lacking is some rigging and animation tools and I would dump blender and switch to this as a complete modeling tool.

If anyone reading this knows a good Animation / rigging tool to replace blender drop me a email. Maya is out of my budget range but I would be willing to put around $1000 onto a good tool. Bonus if it supports Nvidia Apex.

How to land with Flight Assist off

More on Elite Dangerous Docking

Watching this makes me a little sad that I backed Star Citizen and not this game. In truth, I thought this was the boy who cried elite again after giving up on Elite 4 over a decade ago.

But this game is Elite and is so much more impressive than Star Citizen. I am watching for the beta, and will properly back the game at that stage.

What I really like about Elite is they aren't whoring the game out for ships. Instead actually getting down and building the game. You pay a premium to access the alpha ( nearly $400 NZD ) and beta access doesn't include DLC.

This is how you build your game. My fear with Starcitizen is all theses ships which they are selling is going to ruin the game when it comes out. Because one of two things will happen.

1) Paid for ships will be overpowered creating a pay to win model
2) Paid for ships will be nerfed causing whine from those who threw money at Star Citizen every time they posted a new ship.

All we get from Starcitizen in the way of videos is pointless wastes of time that hardly ever show anything from the game. This can't be cheap to do and seems like a utter waste of funds.

Anyway enough of Starcitizen, this is a post about Elite.

Docking looks fantastic, the station is great, the UI looks like its been taken from the original, I recognise all the readouts and instantly understand whats going on. The depth of thought put into design is also great. This is no Mass effect lets make something cool, this is instead lets make something realistic. The Babylon 5 design mantra. If they pull off walking on stations / walking on ships / walking on planets, I think I will never need another game ever.

Not having the game is making things even more exciting. Its like when I first read about Frontier First Encounters ( Elite 3 ), it drove me insane and bugs aside was a fantastic game. And the first time I took off from a planet and flew around it was one of the best gaming experiences of all time.

Planets in Elite are part of the DLC so won't be in at launch. Hopefully they don't get shelved as they are needed to breakup space travel.

If final Fantasy 14 came out on the SNES

Square have put together this great video showing the MMO as it would look like on the SNES:


There is always one noob that stands in the wrong place.

Trion announces ArcheAge Free To Play

Finally some good news after the whole greedy ZeniMax euro thing.

ArcheAge will be free to play in the west.

"Both Trion Worlds and XLGAMES want ArcheAge to be a free-to-play sandbox that fits our 'no tricks, no traps' vision and will make development decisions to achieve that goal in Trion's territories."

 This games back on my radar again. 

Re:Note

Starbound server is now up to date.

Confirmed: Kiwi's pay euros for Elder Scrolls Online subs

I have read some disturbing rumors that New Zealand customers are being charged Euro's for a Elder scrolls subscriptions.

To us this is the diffrence of paying $17.95 for a game to paying $21.95. Thats one less cup of Coffee a month !

While not alot this is a very disturbing trend and is greedy way of scooping the pool for more money. We already pay more for box releases, the game itself is selling here for $75 USD.

I have emailed ZeniMax for a offical responce and will post the results here if any.

Update:

This has been confimed by ZeniMax:

At this time Currently, players located in New Zealand will be prompted to purchase the game in Euros. If we are able to support alternate currencies such as the New Zealand Dollar, we'll update the storefront at https://account.elderscrollsonline.com for the appropriate regions.

The diffrence here is after a few months you have accually payed them for a month of usage that you don't get. This is not acceptable.

I like how they completely avoid the orignal question about why USD is not a option.

Note

I need to update the Starbound server ...... Its way out of date.

Watch_dogs Story trailer

Not to be confused with:

Age of Wonders III

Only a month to go !

How I play Thief

When I got thief installed and the game started in the first room. My heart sank. The entire room was lit up like a Xmas tree with everything that could be taken. Everything glowed with a horrid shine, way points nudged me on a linear path. It was depressing as it was designed for the player to do little to no thinking. It was insulting and demonstrated this plague that has gripped gaming.

Then I hit the options menu and turned it all off:

Just leaving interaction prompts as the first window I hit that need a Quick time event to open had me stumped and Journal updates as well as the light gem, which is key to the thief series.

The game is now harder, much longer and more of a adventure. Also it feels like classic Thief now. This sense of not known where to go.

I did the same with Dishonored which was a boring game until I turned off all the hand holding and cheat abilities.

This plague is in MMO's now as well, Neverwinter is so much better if you disable the sparkle trail.

Developers: Let us think again, let us explore you games and most of all, let us turn off your fisherprice features so we can do the above.

Last thing, I would like to say that Thief's PC only features are very well received, I liked that you have taken the time to let us tweak the game. It saved your game from being shoved at the bottom of my steam list to being instead one near the top.

Only with MODS !

WARNING - AUDIO NOT SAFE FOR WORK

Star Trek Renegades Trailers

Priceless

$19USD      - World of Warcraft Battlechest
$19USD      - Mists of Pandaria digital download
$14.95USD - Subscription per month
$60USD      - Instant level 90 character to bypass all the above because the game has badly desgined top heavy linear content model.

PRICELESS

Join now and Pay to play then pay not to play the game !

Space Engineers 1.0.18 update

The custom entrance for smaller ships would have driven me over the edge on buying the game if I didn't own it already. That's so awesome, and such a tiny change.

Penn Jillette talks sense

Three of these things belong together
Three of these things are kind of the same
Can you guess which one of these doesn't belong here?
Now it's time to play our game (time to play our game).


I am not a huge fan of Penn's work but he was the biggest voice of resion I have ever seen on any talkback on this topic

Good job !

Steam tags were good idea, then users abused them and now devs

The prime example was Line of Defense by DEREK SMART.

Sure it was copping a lot of flak but the tag, 'Overpriced port of a moblie game' was very truthful even if he is spending to much time trying to defend that it isn't.

As stated in the FAQ for steam tagging beta:

Q. What if I don't agree with a tag that has become popular for my game?

A. Tags can be a good indicator of when there is a mismatch between how you perceive your game, and how your game is perceived by customers. Often this is simply because there is some piece of information regarding the game that customers feel is missing from the store page.

The game is perceived to be a mobile port. It screams of it on the store, the very first screenshot is this:

But don't worry, the PC version includes 1000 CEP as part of the price .....

Still this isn't a post about what is and isn't porting. Its about the tagging system and how people perceive games.

Here are the current tags on the store page:

Scam might be a bit harsh, Overpriced yes, but its not a scam. Also I can't comment on Desktop Commander as that would require the game to exit to the desktop with no error or warning. Something that is very hard to do using Unity.

One thing that could cut down on targeted tag abuse would be making that only those who own the game can tag it but I don't think the tags should be so easily removed. Unless they are offensive in nature. 

Anyway, tagging still has potential to be a great system. I have been tagging Unity built games ( like the one above ) so long as negative tags can be added without fear of being removed.

Civ 5 - Arstotzka mod

Adds the nation of Arstotzka to the game complete with a unique unit, building, custom dialogue and music.

Arstotzka is lead by the "Glorious Leader" due to the lack of a proper leader being established in Papers, Please.

Custom Unit - Border Guard;
A riflemen costing no maintenance and with a 50% Combat bonus in friendly territory, outside of friendly territory the Border Guard is a far weaker version of the rifleman with a combat value of only 55. However the Border Guard is cheaper.

Custom Building - Border Checkpoint;
Acts as a buffed up police station, reduces enemy spy stealing rate by 33% and costs no maintenance. Also has 3 Immigration Inspector, specialist slots.
The immigration inspector specialist slot when worked provides 3 gold per turn.

Custom Trait- Glory To Arstotzka;
+1 Production per 5 Citizens. -1 Food per 5 Citizens. -1 Hapiness per City. 1 Free Worker per City.

Now includes Cobrastan as a City-State! 

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=223772176

New Age of Wonders 3 video

Still looking great

First 13 mins of The Stick of Truth

Well, this sold the game for me

Dungeon Keeper - Free at Good Old Games

Get the orginal Dungeon Keeper from gog.com

Also digging is free as well >=D

Zeus - First DLC For Arma 3 and it is FREE

The Elder Scrolls Online NDA

Has been lifted, the flood tides have been released. Seen nothing that interests me in the game. Call me once it goes free to play / buy to play.

We all own Warframe

Just a spin on the title of I now own Warframe, as this is a free to play game on steam. So we all have it.

I am still not quite sure what to think of the game. I have put 6 hours into which these days is classed as a compiling FPS experience, but in the scale of warframe I am still a complete noob. Where abouts if this was Call of duty the end credits would have finished a hour ago .....

Space Pirates and Zombies 2

First game was fun, but got repeative quickly and needed multiplayer. the second version is 3D, has multiplayer and still looks like fun.

Razer Naga's are terriable

The design is good which is why I brought a second one, but now this naga is suffering from the fate the last naga had.

The left mouse button becomes glitchy. In click and drag can be imposable as it clicks on and off. I still have my old naga so I might rip it to bits and try and see whats going on.

Not sure how long I have had this one, about the same time as I have been playing Planetside 2. I am going to get a Logitech again. The MX500 I had lasted years before its mouse button wore out.

Also this day in age of mmo's you no longer need a keypad on the side of the mouse which was my draw to the naga in the first place.

Dayz Update

And my character is gone, just like Jarhead, I never got to fire my gun, but I did get to use my axe ALOT !

The rage over the combat logging and server hoping fix is funny.

Patch notes after cut:

I now own Dayz Standalone

I wasn't going to get his orginally. I played the mod, enjoyed the game but the patching system was annoying.

Then the tales of the horrors of game appeared. The roving gangs, holdups and pants bandits.

But then I released what Dayz was really about. Its a Roguelike, Dwarf fortress class of game, where you are setup to fail. Once you have this mindset you endup enjoying a difficult frustrating game where its up to you to make or avoid mistakes.

There is a old game called Robinson's Requiem. When I read the previews for this game  in magazines I was hyped. A survival simulator ( maybe one of the first 3d ones ) on a alien planet where you have to scrounge up gear to survive. The actually game itself was brutal and not alot of fun. I made it to the desert but  that's about it. When Dayz standalone announced more survival features, I realised this is the game I wanted Robinson's to be. 

All the times I have died ( which is alot ) have been to bad choices. Sneaking to a well but not checking behind the fence for the zombie. Trying to defend myself when I should have just run.

The sense of discovery, risk and reward in the game is what draws me in. It can be frustrating to search 20 houses and find nothing, but then when you do find other buildings that haven't been cleared and start finding better clothing, hats and weapons it makes it all worth it.

The Inventory system and clothing system is ported from Arma 3. This is by far the part I love the most. Clothing value for me is based on how much gear I can stuff into it. 6 Slot cargo pants and a hoody is the best I have found so far. Hats and gloves and glasses are also cool. Also detailed items like med kits full of all sorts of lovely items. Nothing makes me more happy than to find some water or food.

I have been going in wiki free, learning everything as I go. I do have some background knowledge of the map having played Arma 2 a lot but this is a more detailed map with more buildings to enter.

The zombie break is a bit limited with only 1 or 2 zombies scattered around the map, not the 800 odd I used to see displayed on the server status.

The game is in early alpha. I had swore off early alpha games as most of the singleplayer ones I had been part of were just glorified demos. As this is multiplayer its not quite so bad.

Still there are some major problems. One is the server owner community. The game is running on a upgraded Arma 2 engine ( not Arma 3 sadly ), which prides itself on its weather and day night cycle. The server owners though feel the game should be 24/7 day clear or as they community put it 24/7 daycare. This means the Realsky system from Take on Helicopters never gets used and you never really experience night time. No fog and no rain. It kills the atmosphere of the game. I find night to be good time to move as zombies have a harder time seeing you as well as players.

Other complaints is the clunkyness. I don't have to much of a issue as I am used to the Arma controls, the biggest problem is switching from Arma 3 keyboard shortcuts back to Arma 2. Double tap shift to walk instead of pressing W+S.

Ladders are death traps, doors can jam you into places you can't get out. Also I have been neck deep in sand. The game is alpha, but I don't hold my breath that all these issues will be fixed. It is Arma.

Network has been good, Arma used to always give me the dreaded red broken chain which I think means BAD NETWORK. And while i have seen it in Dayz, its rare.

So do I recommend this game, well its up to you. If you don't like buggy games with glitches and asswipes appearing to steal all your stuff ( or worse, character wipes due to patch's ) . Then don't get this game yet. If you want a country side walking simulator with the odd zombie then this game is perfect.

If you own Mount & Blade check your steam list

Because you might now have a free copy of Magicka: Wizard Wars

http://www.incgamers.com/2014/01/paradox-parts-ways-mount-blade-hands-free-wizard-wars

Min / Maxing

You guys are ruining games !

The reason for this rant is the Startrek online anniversary event. This event has two types mini games that can be completed. The first one is a shells type game where mini Q hides under a coloured box and you have to guess which one he is under. This one takes time and you can get it wrong.

The second game that can trigger has Q turning into a mob and running away, you then catch him. This requires no skill and is easy to complete.

The Min/Maxs of cause want to do as little as possable for the max gain. So they run around like idiots tagging all the Mini, Q's. If they get the  shells game they just run off to the next Mini Q looking for the chase  game. This causes those who don't care to find all the Q's triggered.

The funny thing is, you can accually finish the quest faster if you just do what ever event is triggered. I seen people run around endlessly getting shells and if they just do the 5 needed they be done.

Everquest Landmark Launced for paying user

Everquest Landmark alpha is out for those who have brought a founding pack. I myself haven't purchased it as it is basically paying for a alpha test of a dev tool.

It did look tempting until I realised all the bonuses were for Landmark and not Everquest Next.

I rather wait for landmark to go open beta which will be free than fork over cash to play something buggy and unstable.

I am still keen on Everquest:Next and could see myself buying a founding pack for that but not for Landmark.

Guildwars 2: Edge of the Mists

The carebares are upset, ' NOooo how dare you add a PvP map and link it to the living story, how dare you force us to set foot into a large chunk of the game which we ignore, noooooOoo '

I am very excited about this new map, as I lead a balanced live in Guildwars 2. 

South Park: The Stick of truth - Behind the scenes

Age of Wonders III - Rogue Trailer

I can't wait for this game !

SOE shuttering Vanguard, Clone Wars, Free Realms, and Wizardry

Clone Wars could be because of Disney owning the Starwars licence.
Free Realms, I don't quite understand unless its just not profitable.
Wizardry is a stain that needed to be removed, only true Wizardry is the Sir-tech series.
But Vanguard ?

They only just started to fix it. Its kind of sad, even though I lost interest after I got a boat. Its like one of those goals that seemed imposable but when you get there you go, hmmm, what was the fuss  about.

Anyway I will miss Vanguard, its massive world was fun to explore.

This does make me concerned for Everquest Next. Sony now have a bad habit of shutting down MMO's, why invest time and money into a game when it can be gone for good.

Random Encounters

I read a story today about how Bravery Default allows for you to increase or completely stop random encounters in a RPG.

Random encounters, the JRPG kind are just terrible even if you can turn them off.

I have only briefly played the demo of Bravery Default and was put off by dudes called Ringabel who look like 10yr olds. So I didn't get to see much of the combat system but it was the old walk a field, get ambushed a ton of times with battles which you can sleep though. No challage, no skill, just click the same button.

Random mob placement is important, but you need to be able to see them, avoid them but more importantly this is a RPG, they need  to have some point of being where they are.

Ultima 7 which is my opinion the best RPG ever made, places its enemies where you expect to find them. They do respawn but you can avoid, run away or talk your way out of a encounter. Encounters are in the main game map, there is no battle screen and combat can be completely unexpected.

Skyrim also has logical creature encounters.

Both of these games  are what I call a RPG games. Proper immerse games where your characters don't have retarded names.

Having a option to turn off  random encounters is just a bandaid for a already infected sore that should have been cured years ago.

Arma 3 Episode 2 is out today

I now own Space Engineers

Been holding off on this game until they released multiplayer, turns out multiplayer was added last week.

So far its been fun, the game is still a long way away from being a proper game but it offers something no other game does:

Build huge ships and smash them into things.

This game is a Space Lego Simulator or Minecraft in space.

There is no dedicated server yet or even plans for a linux server so hosting one might be difficult but multiplayer itself seems to work really well. You can just open your game up to the public ( not recommended ) or your steam friends.

While I have sworn off early access on steam, this game I made a exception too. Its just way too cool not to get and muck around with. You can grab it from steam

http://store.steampowered.com/app/244850/

SOE new subsciption plans

Originally the earlier announced plan didn't go down very well.

They were removing the 500 station cash a month and instead replacing it with a choice of a item worth 2000sc. If you didn't pick a item, you would loose out for that month.

People complained, whined and moaned and surprisingly SOE listened.

The new plan sounds great:

They are removing the $19.95USD all access plan and making the standard $14.95USD subscription the same as All Access. This means if  you subscribe to SOE you get subscription benefits for all their online games ( excluding console games ).

That's Everquest 1& 2, Planetside 2, Vanguard and many more.

As well as 500 SC.

The weird thing is you need to claim your station cash each month. All of the above games are still free to play as well.

Good job SOE for listening to your players. I'll be looking at the subscription when Everquest:Next is released.

Starwars, if it was a Anime

2014

A new year a new banner, I have no idea how long its taken to finish the 'renovations' but its been a few years.

I opted for a classic version of the original Yamama banner which had Jedi Knight 2

This was the earliest banner I could find on my archives and was dated in 2002. Over the years the banner changed to feature models from other games. The new banner features models from my game.