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Read the rest of DC Universe Online: On The Epic Trailer Bandwagon (Video) (227 words)

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with 4 comments on 07/25/2010.
Posted in: Featured, News, Opinion, Video Tags: DCUO, SOE

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Read the rest of Blizzard Entertainment: A Whole New Level Of Fail (373 words)

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with 19 comments on 07/07/2010.
Posted in: Fail, Featured, News, Opinion, Video Tags: Blizzard, World of Warcraft

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with 7 comments on 07/02/2010.
Posted in: Analysis, Featured, Opinion, Video Tags: BioWare, Blizzard, Star Wars: The Old Repbulic, World of Warcraft

The good news is that there is more good than both bad and meh combined.  I feel a future article stirring in my head on the extravagance that some of these companies putting on for product and/or game announcements.  It’s all starting to feel like Enron, but entertainment is what these people do.  Anywho, that’s a topic for another time.  Onto my picks, after the break.

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Read the rest of E3 Wrap Up: The Good, The Bad And The…Meh (335 words)

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with One comment on 06/19/2010.
Posted in: Analysis, Featured, News, Opinion, Video Tags: e3

I don’t really do formal reviews, mainly because I’m not paid to do so, but here’s a few bullet points on my likes and dislikes about the game from my 10 hours in beta:

Thumbs Up:

• It was easy to pick up and play.  I thought the learning curve for doing missions wasn’t very steep at all.
• Believe it or not, the PVP is consentual.  You can only attack players that have accepted a mission or backup call against you.  Once the mission is over, no one can attack.  If you don’t feel like fighting, ignore the mission and backup calls.
• The customization is beyond fantastic.  Customize your physical character, their clothes, your car, your music…and more.
• Driving is a chaotic affair, just getting from point A to B without blowing up is its own meta game.  Learning to drive is fun, and driving well is a challenge.
• You can catch some major air if you know where to find the ramps and hit them right.
• Enforcers can kill.  They don’t have to arrest criminals, they can just be vigilantes and kill them.
• The matchmaking was nearly flawless.  I got put into groups consistently and was almost never alone.
• Aiming takes a steady hand and can be challenging.  Prepare to die.  Alot.
• Calling for backup often works like a charm.
• Teamwork pays off.  It is awesome to get a kill because the enemy is distracted by a team mate, or they kill them before you get ganked.
• The mix of different mission types was refreshing.  Some times I was guarding an area and the clock was my friend, sometimes I was racing to catch a guy with a critical item in a hectic car chase with the clock working against me.  I never knew what I was gonna get.
• The game has true crafting.  Make your own shirt decals, theme songs, you name it.  And you can sell it in the marketplace for cash!
• There are many unlockables to keep achievers busy.  Many of them help your character stand out in the crowd.
• Unlimited action district time for $10 bucks a month.
• Creating a clan (guild) was painless and easy.

Thumbs Down:

• Performance was iffy.  In two long sessions my system locked up and had to be rebooted 4-5 times due to the game crashing.  Not good, but the game is solid otherwise and can recover if this is stabilized soon.
• Only 80 players per instance might not be enough, but the city map size still kept things pretty action packed if all the car crashes I had with other players was any indication.
• Adding players to my clan was confusing.  What I tried either didn’t work, or I wasn’t doing it right and had no clue how.
• Being limited to only 5 hours of action district time stunk, and there was no way that I could tell to increase it.
• This isn’t an every day type of game (yet) like World of Warcraft .  Right now it feels like doing missions over and over will get repetitive like the early days of City of Heroes.
• What’s the end game?  Getting the best weapon and vehicle?  Then what…more missions?  See the item above this one…
• $10 bucks a month for unlimited action district play will likely not keep many people paying when they can continue to unlock hats in Team Fortress 2 and new prestige emblems in Modern Warfare 2 for free.  Even doing a pay as you go style with rollover minutes may not do the trick.  Can’t beat free in online play where shooters are concerned.
• It lacks mass appeal simply because it is a shooter.  Many people just won’t enjoy getting killed all the time because they can’t aim and shoot fast enough to compete.

With some more depth added to the action style of play, I could see myself committing more time to APB.  I had alot of fun running missions, and at the end of the day games are supposed to be fun.  APB delivered that, and I pre-ordered the game.  It has potential and I’d like to see where Realtime Worlds takes APB in the future.

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with 2 comments on 06/14/2010.
Posted in: Beta, Commentary, Featured, Impressions, Opinion, Reviews, Video Tags: All Points Bulletin, Realtime Worlds

Clone Wars Adventures, coming in fall 2010.

I’m sure you’ve already heard by now that Sony Online Entertainment is releasing a free to play MMO this fall, called Clone Wars Adventures. If you hadn’t, then there ya go.

Featuring mini-games, pets, housing, and more RMT than you can shake a stick at, SOE appears to be trying to capture the magic of Free Realms with CWA. I’m predicting another hit for them, because adding Star Wars to this formula will certainly increase the number of people that try and inevitably play this game. I just may be one of them.

I have yet to see the movie/TV series, but those are on my list of things to watch. I dig the art style, as it is perfect for mass consumption. No one is going to need a gaming pc rig to play this, the whole thing has mass appeal written all over it if you ask me. To that point, I can see this being an MMO I can play with my son and wife. It doesn’t seem to be cut from the old school of MMO design, where it will be light on grind (I think) and heavy on action with mini games. Things like tower defense, droid programming puzzles, lightsaber duels, speeder bike racing and more all seem to exists to bring some very fun elements to the game.

Check out the trailer below:

http://www.youtube.com/v/7xbkf4sQXi4&hl

I didn’t see this one coming. Looks like we’ve got a Star Wars MMO to play this year after all. Hopefully we’ll see no SWG style meltdowns with this one, and SOE can finally redeem itself to MMO and Star Wars fans.

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with One comment on 06/02/2010.
Posted in: Featured, News, Opinion, Video Tags: Clone Wars Adventures, SOE

I want these companions with me in SWTOR.

In thinking about the latest companions update from BioWare I began to ponder the question, “Will companions work in SWTOR”? It is an interesting twist on traditional MMORPG’s for sure. Games like DDO have hirelings and many others have pet classes, but this is likely to be different from those. While being different from other MMORPG’s in that regard, it may be very much like what BioWare has done in previous games like Mass Effect 2. BioWare has even gone as far as to highlight Vette, a companion in the Sith Warrior story.

Some are reserved and some are more accepting of the news. If you’ve played Mass Effect 2 in the last few months, you are likely in the latter group. The questions about how this fits into a classic MMORPG setting are still valid though, and should give us all pause until we can actually see how this plays out when several thousand players are active in an instance/world.

As I understand things, the level 1 though max level experience will be like the World of Warcraft quest style of progression. In that style of play, most people rarely level with another player. Sure, when the server or expansion of the moment is new everyone is out there leveling and there’s alot of interaction and quest partners to engage with. Later in the game though, the experience is different. On a mature server, you might bump into an alt character going through old content and will have a much smaller pool of other players to quest with.

This won’t appear to be as much of a problem with SWTOR. If the leveling up experience is based around their Mass Effect style RPG game play, we have little to worry about. Many of us might not even care if we encounter many other players during this process, as the leveling experience is aiming to be full of story and companions:

You will be introduced to your first Companion Character early in your adventure. But as you become more seasoned, more will rally to your cause. As you travel with your Companions and get to know them better, they will not only become more powerful but they will also introduce you to a unique series of quests and rewards. Furthermore, you will be able to enhance your companions by equipping them with various gear.

One of the big questions still lingering is to wonder if companions are required. Can I opt to do a quest or instance totally alone at a higher difficulty? In typical BioWare RPG style, you’ll be able to choose which of the available companions you want to bring along:

As your team grows and develops, new options, strategies, and tactics will become available. When you’re headed to “The Tomb” on Belsavis, who will you bring to watch your back and help out the rest of your group? Do you bring the hard-as-nails soldier who will help keep your enemies’ attention off of your group, the gifted battlefield medic who can help keep everyone alive, or do you bring your ever-faithful Astromech whose computer skills may be the only hope for completing the mission? These are just some of the choices you will make while you and your Companions roam the galaxy in Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Something tells me that companions are a core game mechanic and will be mandatory, just as they are in Mass Effect. Some people may not like that, but I feel that it will work very well. Maybe I’m just treading that same old dangerous path, where I put faith in the developer to execute well on the system, so here’s to hoping that isn’t the case. I am assuming that the “end game” content will not require companions, this companion system might only affect the leveling experience. PVP and raiding will likely not be impacted. That’s why I think companions will work. They’ll only impact the leveling experience and not much else.

I could be dead wrong, as we just don’t have enough solid information to really know how these systems will work. Which is killing me. We still have another year before we can even think about playing this game. Stay tuned as E3 may bring us some more good info.

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with No comments on 05/28/2010.
Posted in: Analysis, Featured, Opinion Tags: BioWare, Star Wars: The Old Repbulic

The MMO blogosphere has been in a bit of an uproar after Wolfshead decided Blizzard is to blame for the state of the MMO.  I have a response to this article, and it is to say that there are small pieces that I agree with, however  I don’t have to say alot because I merely need to reference Ixobelle, Genda and Tobold.  They’ve pretty much got it covered, enough said.

There, I told you this one would be short

No need to repeat what has been very well said already.  As you were.

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with 2 comments on 05/26/2010.
Posted in: Analysis, Opinion Tags: Blizzard

I guess SOE was a bit envious of Zynga and decided that Facebook was the first platform to launch their game in, and I don’t think I can blame them.  If they can drum up a decent user base in this Flash based Facebook game, that just might translate to some big subscriber numbers of the full 3D game when it launches later.  It is likely a very solid strategy, and could be something we see more and more of in the MMO gaming space.

I am not very big on Facebook “games” but if you try this give us a shout back and say what you think about it in the comments below.

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with No comments on 05/04/2010.
Posted in: Featured, News, Opinion, Video Tags: SOE, The Agency

Call of Duty Online? By Blizzard?

Via Gamasutra, Wedbush Morgan’s financial analyst for the gaming industry was recently quoted as saying that he thinks Activision is set to make some profit this year from Starcraft II’s launch (duh!) and from the Call of Duty franchise continuing to sell well despite the recent Infinity Ward drama.

He thinks that drama will eventually get worked out, and speculates on a new business model.  His speculation (likely a very educated guess) is what is really interesting here for Blizzard fans.

See his quotes below, speaking about Activision’s Call of Duty franchise:

Activision intends to transform the game from a packaged product only to a subscription multiplayer game.

He goes further to speak directly to the Infinity Ward Drama:

We think that the company is on the path to subscriptions, and that West and Zampella did not wish to work on that kind of game, leading to their termination,

This is where I’m going to try to connect the dots with Blizzard.  It might be a stretch, but we know they plan to create a new MMO.  We also know they’ve released almost zero information about this title, and no one knows how far along they’ve gotten on this new MMO.  Perhaps they haven’t started, or perhaps there’s not more than conceptual work?  We know that they wanted to do something very different from WoW’s fantasy genre, and with StarCraft II coming out (and StarCraft Ghost cancelled long ago) it is likely not StarCraft Online.

Maybe, just maybe…Blizzard could be working on a Call of Duty MMO?  If the former IW heads were against developing such a thing, who would be the next best studio to make an MMO on one of Activison’s IP’s like Call of Duty?  Blizzard would certainly be the best, but who knows if that is what Blizzard had in mind or if the Activision guys would even be able to convince them to make it.

It would be a very different MMO from World of Warcraft, and these clues point to the possibility of a Call of Duty online.  The stretch is if Blizzard might be the studio behind it, which would automatically make it a big seller.  Or would it?  I doubt a war based story would have the same kind of mass appeal that Blizzard undoubtedly wants in it’s next MMO, but crazier things have happened before.

What do you think?  Call of Duty MMO by Blizzard likely?

Update: This speculation was put to bed pretty quickly. While a Call of Duty MMO may still be very likely, it seems that it is definitely not the “next Blizzard MMO” that many have spoken about based on the quote found here:

We have nothing to advertise for the new MMO because it’s a shell of a game thus far. We’ve already stated it’ll be a brand new franchise, which means the lore, art, and game play are being developed entirely from scratch. It’s an overwhelming process, but a process through which we excel. Our track record supports this.

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with 3 comments on 05/03/2010.
Posted in: Featured, News, Opinion Tags: Blizzard, Call of Duty

Me want.

I’ve been itching to buy an Xbox 360 for a while now. I found myself with my wife and child at Best Buy last Christmas and I had the Modern Warfare 2 limited edition in my hands, ready to purchase. The sales guy tried to suggest a PS3 since I told him that I also was interested in media center capabilities. He heard that and instantly thought Blu-Ray, but I’m not interested that. Physical media will go by the way side eventually, and it’s not a decision point for me in choosing a console. I was also interested in something to play with the family. I also wanted games on the big screen, playing from the comfort of an oversized bean bag.

I walked away from Best Buy empty handed. Why? Cause I’m a PC gamer, and I get nearly every game I want to play on that platform. It was hard to justify buying that system when I get nearly everything I want through the PC. My wife has our DVR maxxed, and she watches alot of TV on our only big screen in the house. It would have caused problems for me to hog the good TV and put her watching her shows on a scrub TV with no DVR. There weren’t alot of kid friendly games to play with my son. The Wii was the most appealing option for family friendly play, but I couldn’t force myself to buy that system after seeing it played at other people’s houses. I just felt like I’d have to turn in my gamer card if I bought a Wii. My kid now plays flash games on Nickjr.com so he is covered for now. I just didn’t need the Xbox and couldn’t justify the purchase. But the itch never went away.

That said, here are 5 reasons I’m probably going to rationalize buying an Xbox 360 sometime in the near future:

1. The Games: Red Dead Redemption, Halo Reach, Toy Story 3…and more
In seeing the recent footage on Red Dead Redemption, I immediately took to the web to find somewhere to pre-order. I was that excited about the game. I say “was” because I found out it is not coming out on the PC, at least initially. The game will only be available on the Xbox 360 or PS3. No PC version is planned, although many believe it will come later. I still think that game looks amazing, and they are bringing some pretty cool concepts to the game. I’ve also never played any of the Halo games. It’s one of the most popular franchises in gaming history, and the latest Halo: Reach title looks pretty sweet. Last but not least, my kid loves Toy Story 3 and I bet he’d love that game. Hell, I think I’d love playing it with him! I could immediately see me buying these 3 games at the same time I purchase the system.  These are just 3 of the most recent, but there are plenty more.  Fable III comes to mind, which might incorporate something good from #5 below.

2. Exclusive DLC and Offers
I can’t tell you how pissy I was about having to wait several weeks to get the extra maps for Modern Warfare 2. I’m even pissier about Activision charging $15 for the Stimulus Pack, but that’s another story. The point is that just like exlusive titles, exclusive or early release DLC for games is part of the deal now too. Many companies will work with Microsoft to provide incentives to own an Xbox 360, and this is just the newest version of that strategy.

3. Netflix and Social Media
Netflix on the Xbox 360 further opens up the system as an amazing media experience, at least I feel that it should. I don’t have a Netflix subscription, but I hear that Netflix is great and using your Xbox to tap into that just further sweetens the deal for me. I get an Xbox and Netflix gains a new customer. My wife and I now have another source (likely the best?) for spending movie watching time together, so many people become happier as a result. They’ve also integrated Twitter and Facebook, the latter of which my wife would love. I could care less, but it might be a sweetner for you when buying yours.

4. Windows Media Center Integration
My main gaming machine is a powerhouse (well it was when I purchased it) machine with great components enabling me to run games at highest settings. I can connect this PC to my Xbox 360 and enable sharing of music, video, etc. and even further bringing the Xbox to life. Even better, I’m thinking about ditching my satellite TV and using my Windows Media Center PC as my DVR, so I can actually save money in the long run if I can pull this off.

5. Project Natal
I’m interested in Natal for it’s potential as an interface and other non gaming uses, as Steve Ballmer recently stated, not for the inevitable Wii-like games that will be launched with it. I’m definitely sceptical that gaming will be revolutionized because of it, but if it winds up one day replacing my 6 remotes it could just be the next best thing. I’m intrigued by the possibilities to say the least, yet still weary of the hype.

All things considered, I can see myself as a new Xbox owner by the end of this year, likely around Christmas time

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with One comment on 04/29/2010.
Posted in: Featured, Opinion Tags:

Get the early M24 access by playing BBC2.

Looks like the “we don’t like used game sales” strategists at EA are up to it again.  Today we have news from the official MoH blog that you can get access to the M24 as an early unlock in MoH multi-player if you use the same EA account you played BBC2 with.  Unless I misunderstand, if you bought your game used and didn’t get a key to activate on your EA account you’ll have to miss out on this offer:

“The M24 access will be automatically awarded when Medal of Honor releases to all players who have bought Battlefield: Bad Company 2 new and claimed their VIP code (in the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 box only) or played Battlefield: Bad Company 2 online (PC). The same EA account must be used in Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Medal of Honor to make use of the M24.”

I expect that one day soon we’ll see these games become only accessible through online sign in, much the way that most MMORPG games operate. Regardless, it is still cool to get free/early/exclusive items in games. I still need to see more on this game, as I wonder how it will differentiate itself from Modern Warfare 2 and it’s Battlefield: Bad Company 2 cousin.

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with No comments on 04/28/2010.
Posted in: Featured, News, Opinion Tags: Battlefield: Bad Company 2, DICE, Medal of Honor

The Infinity Ward train wreck, sponsored by Activision.

The mainstream gaming media, indie bloggers, tweeps and forum trolls across the net have beat this Infinity Ward debacle to death. And rightly so, as it has proven to be a great drama to watch unfold. It’s been like a multi-car wreck on the interstate, people just can’t help but rubberneck and say their piece on it. I am not immune to this phenomena.

I haven’t said much about it until now due to the excessive coverage of it all, but I recently pondered how this might effect Activision’s primary cash cow Blizzard, and thought I’d get my 2 cents in. I’ve read very little to give me any impression that Blizzard is any danger of Bobby Kotick and gang running them into the ground in such a manner, aside from my sparkly pony prognotications of doom. One would think that you’d leave well enough alone when that company is making you more money than that of most small countries’ gross domestic product. Yet, they did just that with Infinity Ward and the Modern Warfare franchise.

The IW thing just gets worse and worse for Activision every day. By last count there were nearly 30 people that have jumped ship, and now a group has banded together for yet another lawsuit in addition to the one that West and Zampella filed. Very soon, the 3 remaining employees at Ininity Ward will have to give Activision the bad news by telling them that they won’t be able to crank out Modern Warfare 3 any time soon. Eventually Activision will have to admit defeat because of this train wreck and close down one of the most lucrative gaming studios of all time. This is a great lesson on how to shoot yourself in the corporate foot.

I think that Blizzard is precisely the reason that Activision was bold enough to go through with the sacking of West and Zampella. By all accounts things are just rosy at Blizzard HQ. Starcraft 2 is about to release and make more truckloads of cash, followed shortly by World of Warcraft’s Cataclysm expansion. I think those 2 games might be poised to send Activision’s stock value up just a bit. Hopefully, this Infinity Ward disaster might help them to rethink any future conflict that could come about with Blizzard. You think the IW meltdown is bad? Imagine if Blizzard employees started leaving en masse. You could just about follow that up with an Activision chapter 13 filing, because Blizzard is what makes Activion worth a flip financially. It seems to me that with so much reliable cash flow coming from Blizzard, the Activision bozos felt froggy enough to leap at Infinity Ward. Wonder how froggy they feel now?

It just prooves to me that Activision has it’s collective head solidly up it’s rear end. These corporate robots clearly underestimated the loyalty that the IW staff had for the 2 studio heads they so boldly escorted out of the building that fateful day. So Infinity Ward is going to die a slow death despite what they say to the media or community. There’s no way that the remaining staff can be happy or trust the clowns they now work for. IW’s staff have either left, stayed to get all they can before leaving, and/or have updated their resumes and will be gone sooner or later. The talent level will dissipate to that of entry/junior level. Remaining staff may likely be people without the talent, vision and experience to make MW3 as great as the others have been. Infinity Ward is a dead man walking.

I hope EA is watching. Oh yeah, they are.

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with One comment on 04/28/2010.
Posted in: Analysis, Featured, Opinion Tags: Activision, Blizzard, Infinity Ward, Modern Warfare 2, Respawn Entertainment

R.I.P. Bill

Now that I’ve taken a few days to morn the loss of one of the best characters to ever bless a game with his presence, it’s time to discuss the tragedy (or should I say conspiracy?) of Left 4 Dead 2′s The Passing.  If you didn’t already know, I’m here to tell you that Bill does not make it.  If this is news to you and I’m spoiling it for you, then I apologize.  However, I’m only discussing this openly because I’m assuming that all the people that really cared to know have fired up the game by now and discovered this as I did, and I think many of us are just plain mad at Valve.  If you aren’t, you should be.



Why Bill?
In trying to make sense of this I keep asking myself, “Why Bill damnit?”.  It just makes no sense to pick Bill as the guy who bites it.  Sure, he was famous for quotes like “I’m gettin too old for this s#%t”, but Bill really had no quit in him.  He was a grizzled old vet, and he was just the kind of guy you want with you when the zombie apocalypse starts.

Think about it.  The world implodes in a zombie apocalypse.   You are struggling to stay alive and get to somewhere safe.  Who do you want with you the most?  You want the guy who is already wearing his military issue gear for Christ’s sake.  Bill is ALREADY prepared for war, and experienced from fighting in the jungles of Vietnam. He might be crazy, but in a zombie apocalypse you need a little crazy with you to make it.  I don’t want the whiny office worker in a shirt and tie.  I don’t want the questionably gay biker looking guy with me.   I might want Zoe if we have to propagate our species again, but damnit there’s still no one better to have with me than Bill.  We can’t win this without Bill people.  We have been robbed of hope, the zombies will surely take us now.

The Conspiracy
I’m calling Valve out now.  A large company is surely pressured to make “politically correct” choices nowadays, and this is one of them.  Here’s why it had to be Bill.  If you kill Louis, the African American community gets offended.  Sure, kill off the black guy like every other white movie ever made.  Too cliche, so Louis lives to continue politely whining to zombies.  If you kill Zoe, the feminists and gamer chicks come out of the woodworks in protest.  Cries of sexism will rain on Valve HQ.  Zoe lives, and we keep our female audience in tact.  If you kill Francis, either the biker gangs light your building on fire or the LBGT community pickets in front of your facility.  Neither is an appealing option, and Francis lives to parade through zombieville.  That leaves Bill.

Perhaps it’s our fault.  Who cries now that Bill is gone?  Who cares if a half-crazy old guy dies?  Just another disturbed Vietnam vet buried in Arlington right?  Wrong.  Some of us care.  Some of us are just as pissed off as I am that Valve chose Bill to die:

Time to Take a Stand
It’s time the old guys stand up and made some noise too.  It’s time we picket Valve HQ to defend those that defend us, the Bills of the world.  Sure we may need to take some pills and a med pack to be able to picket for hours, but someone needs to do it.  This travesty cannot be tolerated.  Bill has to have died for something, and we need to be heard.

R.I.P. Bill, you’ll be missed.

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with 7 comments on 04/25/2010.
Posted in: Featured, Funny, Opinion, Video Tags: Left 4 Dead 2, Valve

These games are like Old Faithful.

I thought it would be a nice idea to spend a moment on the few games that keep me coming back. Love it or hate it we all have games that are fall backs, right? In lieu of the newest, best or most recent game out, I choose to humbly decline the fever to drop 50$ here and hold out for these faithful titles.

I’m talking GAMES!! (Rubs hands feverishly together!) Let’s look at a few categories of my fall back games:

MMO: In the MMO category despite the many multitudes of games on the market, it is and has been World of Warcraft that continually rises up to be my top MMO of choice.  With the expedient leveling process and readily available gear from honor points and emblems one has few excuses for much of the old gripe that was in WOW: BC. The game is slowly emerging from this fine restaurant caviar and all inclusive ‘Raiders’ and ‘Hardcore PVPer’ to an even mix of McDonald’s dollar cheese burgers and fries, meaning everyone can play if you put forth a little effort.

First person shooter: Killing floor is still my favorite FPS survival co-op game to date. The 19.99 spent in Steam and 3$ in expansions has been well worth it. The perks system adds a bit of flavor to your zombie killing spree with things like faster reloading for shotguns and increased grenade capacity if your perk is support specialist.  Not to mention the ‘critical’ head shot slow motion action thing that happens and in-fact gives you a few seconds to aim and really unload on some zombie mutants!

Single Player Action: I haven’t given this game much time lately, but whenever I’m tired of my other two games; I know I can double click this baby for some single player hard-core gaming action. Ladies and gentlemen last but certainly not least: Mass Effect 2.  The beauty of this game is that it’s a bit of everything, without the need of everything.  First it’s a single player action RPG game that is not only graphically stunning, but has the skill point system giving it a tiny bit of ‘MMO’ feel whilst playing. Secondly is the ability to aim, duck, sprint, and activate special items on the fly like so many typical FPS games. Think Halo or Gears of War game play style. It’s quite fun in short bursts.

World of Warcraft, Killing floor and Mass Effect 2 are three games you can allow yourself a little room to splurge on. They are top notch games with interesting and gripping substance to them that allow for elongated amounts of time playing.  Now if you’re in between on some of these games, I can offer some substitutes that might fill your particular niche.

Substitutions: Ever Quest 2, Eve Online, Global Agenda, Left 4 Dead 1 & 2, Half Life series… and tons more but that’s all I can think of right now.

Well kids, do you have three games that you can keep going back to? Do you have three games that you just love more than anything else on the market right now? Tell us what you’re playing, what you’re thoughts on the gaming scene is right now and anything else your heart would like express!

~ kaldeem

© Posted by Kaldeem for Im Talkin Games with One comment on 04/24/2010.
Posted in: Featured, Opinion Tags: Killing Floor, Mass Effect 2, World of Warcraft

Sparkly ponies print money for Blizzard

I think this will be the straw that broke the camels back for some people. For others many others however, it is yet another way to donate to the pile of money in Bobby Kotick’s already overflowing coffers. What I’m talking about is the fact that World of Warcraft players can now buy our first functional item in the Blizzard store, a new Celestial Steed mount.

First we had the Pandaren pet, and plenty gave their thoughts on the issue for better or worse. For those initial sales, much of the money was donated to charity, but I’d wager we’ll not see such generosity this time around. Many feel that the initial “charity” was just a way to smooth over the virtual sales in a game that people already pay to subscribe, as a way to get some opponents to accept the virtual sales and make much less of a stink over it. As far as I can tell, it worked. People said thier piece, then they all moved on. This time around, we have a celestial steed that gives players a mount they can’t get any other way than to cough up the cash for it in the Blizzard store. And by the way, as soon as it became available, people started buying it. Some opinons are already hitting the net and other pundits will begin posting thier opinions soon, so it will be interesting to see what everyone thinks about this item going up for sale. I suspect negative reactions from bloggers and vocal gamers, but we aren’t likely the target audience for these items anyway.

So why are these things here to stay? Because they sell! Just think for a second how many fathers can gift a celestial steed to their wifes or daughters (yes, I’m implying that you are a sissy if you are a male IRL and riding that thing in game) and how many brownie points they can score. All for the cost of a dinner for 4 at KFC! Hate it or not, this kind of stuff is here to stay. So hang with me for a second while I break down an example for you. Let’s assume Blizzard had only 5 million subscribers in total. We all know they have more than that, but let’s lowball it for this example. If ONLY 1% of their subscribers purchased the celestial steed, Blizzard just made another 1.25 million dollars. In reality, they will make more than that. Much more. They gave away 1.1 million dollars in Pandaren pet sales earlier this year, which tells me they made at least 2 to 3 times that much on that item. They made a boatload of money on Pandaren and Lil’ KT pet sales, and those cost less than half as much as this new mount. You can actually ride this mount and fly around, instantly making it more desireable than a cosmetic pet to most people. They’ll sell just as much, if not more of this new mount – at 2.5 times the price of the ten dollar pets.

It will sell millions, sadly. Again, it just drives home the point that these virtual items are here to stay. The masses have no concept of the greed at work here, or simply don’t care. As long as these people hand over thier millions of dollars for these items, we’ll continue to see them for sale. I think we have no choice other than to unhappily accept this change in the gaming landscape. Nothing is sacred any more and we’ll see cash transactions everywhere, in every type of game, and for all sorts of items. Mark my words, we’ll start seeing armor and weapons in the Blizzard store before it’s all said and done. Guaranteed.

Activision is the new EA, or at least they are another EA. They are corporate machines running good gaming studios into the dirt for shareholder profitability. These companies will sell you a hot turd if you are willing to pay for it. And they wonder why gamers hate them. If baby merlocs weren’t crying before, they certainly are now…

*Update: I swear I had not seen this before I made my calculations in the example above. 70,000 waiting to buy and climbing…crazy…

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with 10 comments on 04/15/2010.
Posted in: Analysis, Featured, News, Opinion Tags: Activision, Blizzard

Cataclysm beta coming soon™

Blizzard is notorious for not releasing any significant details about the development of it’s games until they have completed the initial phase of that work and have solid details to discuss. So what does it mean when Blizzard makes official announcements on their forums about specific changes to it’s character classes (Shaman, Death Knight tanking, schedule) coming in the expansion? It means they’ve completed work on the design decisions (and possibly implementation) relative to the classes for Cataclysm. We’ve already seen dungeon previews and terrain change previews, so we know most (if not all) their environment modeling work is done. Then there’s today’s news that Blizzard is requesting that the press submit the Battle.net accounts of parties interested in the beta by April 15th.

Blizzard has shown us that alot of work is done on Cataclysm. They are talking about class design changes. They are emailing the press about beta interest. If you add all this up, you may just come to the same conclusion I have. World of Warcraft’s Cataclysm Beta will start soon. I’d go so far to say that we see Cataclysm beta in the next 30-60 days, tops. Those of us that have been long time Blizzard customers and playing World of Warcraft know that beta won’t be a short period of time. They have to get started with beta testing this summer if they want to get this expansion completed and shipped by the end of the year.

It’s Cataclysm time kiddos, all the clues are there!

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with 7 comments on 04/07/2010.
Posted in: Featured, News, Opinion Tags: Blizzard, Cataclysm

With gaming conference season kicking off again, BioWare is all over the gaming blogs due to GDC interviews about it’s upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic. I’m sure PAX will bring more info about the game, as will every other conference on the tour, so we’ll eventually see more details about the game come to light. However, I have a rather dreadful feeling about the game right now. This is a great introduction to the dreadful feeling, but I will of course expand on those thoughts.

EA seems to be throwing all their eggs in the SWTOR basket here, and honestly I think they are setting BioWare up to fail to meet their expectations. The core of the problem is that the scope of this thing is too big. AAA mmo’s are a big enough ordeal without trying the full voiceover/BioWare story approach as well. World of Warcraft’s success already sets a crazy feature scope for any new MMO to compete with, so adding your own innovations to that recipe complicates things even further. It requires huge teams, and truckloads of cash to even try to pull it off on a large scale. I saw a video a while back that showed just their writing team in a meeting, and the team was huge. It appeared that they had 12-15 (going from memory here) people on staff just to write for the game. I don’t even want to think of the money they are sinking in to voice acting either, let alone the other costs of development.

Such a big monetary investment is leading to the kinds of unrealistic expectations that give way to statements like this one that say, “…earnings are somewhat depressed due to ongoing expenses of the Star Wars MMO, management has high hopes for this and believes 2M+ subs is possible”. With all that time and money invested, I guess its no surprise that people are making these statements. They’ve put so much into this project that they probably really do have to achieve these kinds of numbers to recoup the investment.

I don’t see it happening. I don’t think the US MMO market is that big. WoW has what, 2-3 million subs in the US? So SWTOR is going to take ALL of those people away from that game? 1 million would be a big deal and something to be happy about, and keeping those after the first month would be an even bigger deal. Blizzard will not part with it’s subscriber base so easily either. I wouldn’t doubt some huge news about WoW or perhaps even about their next MMO that will keep their customer base loyal despite the new shiny SWTOR game coming out. Just releasing a good game will not be enough to dethrone the juggernaught, and let’s face it…they are talking about not only competing with WoW, but flat out beating it. If SWTOR gets it’s 2 million subs, who will be playing WoW? Not many people in that case.

The chances for any game (even one as good as SWTOR promises to be) to get 2 million subs is just an absolute stretch in my opinion. It’s a big bet to be placing, and one that I’d predict to turn out very badly when expectations are not met. The converse is that the market could grow, however unlikely that seems. I never thought the US MMO market could exceed 2 million for a single game back when EQ was making subscription record news of 400k years ago. Perhaps these 2 million subs EA is planning to get are from an expanded market? Or perhaps they are talking world wide subs? Let’s hope that they have something innovative up their sleeves in regard to pricing and subscription models to help this out, because 2 million subs and crazy expectations are just out in space if you ask me. They’d be better off by planning for the limited success that Warhammer Online had.

Will SWTOR be crushed under it’s own weight? Will EA’s expectations create additional problems for this game? This gamer thinks so, how about you?

~ br3ntbr0

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with 6 comments on 03/19/2010.
Posted in: Analysis, Featured, Opinion Tags: BioWare, Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Star Wars: The Old Repbulic, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft

Welcome Apple, your stay in gaming obscurity is now over. Mac gamers will have more gaming options this year than they’ve ever had, and these opportunities can do nothing but spur more sales of Macintosh computers. Personally, the fact that people didn’t make many games for the Mac was the biggest reason why I never bought one. I’m a gamer, and for a gamer it just made more sense to get a PC. Sure, I could play World of Warcraft nativley on a Mac, but that is one game in a large pool of titles I might like to play. I didn’t want to have to manage using bootcamp or parallels or any other tool just to be able to get my game on. The Mac just wasn’t for this gamer. That line of thought was not one that would be valid for long, however.

Big things are happening in game development circles this year. Many of us sniffed out Valve’s intent to bring Steam and Valve’s core games to the Mac several days ago. That turned out to be true, and it opens up a huge digital distribution platform to Macintosh gamers. Very popular games like the Team Fortress and Left 4 Dead series (as well as Portal 2) will no doubt sell very well on the Mac. Now that Steam is working on the Mac, development studios have more impetus to make their games work on that platform as well. The net result is that we will see more and more titles available to Mac gamers on Steam, and for that matter, probably every other distribution platform as well. But the good news doesn’t stop there.

Cloud gaming has the potential to totally change the game, and not just for the PC. OnLive announced today that it’s cloud gaming service will launch June 17th (pre-registration here for those interested) and will have Mac support from day 1. Even indie developers Icarus Studios have announced that they have a Mac client available (beta) for their MMO title Fallen Earth. If they can do it, surely the studios gobbled up by big publishers can too!

The Mac gaming news just keeps on coming, and it will continue to keep coming in my opinion. Once the floodgates open and people begin to realize that one of the ways they can expand their market is to provide their product on multiple platforms, it will ramp up. The herd mentality will provide more gaming on Macs as well. Many companies will see other companies doing it and won’t want to miss that segment of a growing market either. The Mac gaming snowball has started rolling downhill.

I don’t own a Mac, but given the inevitability that the Mac will soon have as much selection as a PC does for games may change that. For people that already invest in Macs and like games, I’m sure this is like an “It’s about time” kind of situation. Regardless, the Macs time for gaming has come.

Now to work out that one button mouse thing…

~br3ntbr0

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with One comment on 03/10/2010.
Posted in: Analysis, Featured, News, Opinion Tags: Apple, Mac, OnLive

I’ve been playing the BFBC2 demo and I have to say that this looks like the next great shooter that I’ll be getting into, although I think I certainly need to buy a joystick for my PC if I’m going to think about flying a helicopter.  Beta saw me attempt to fly these in a fantastical noob style with only my keyboard and mouse, and the attempts nearly always ended in a crash and burn mere yards from the launching pad and lots of kids cussing me in chat for trying to fly.  Crashing and burning aside, I can’t wait to get the full game.  Check the video below, and if this doesn’t get your action juices flowing, I don’t know what will:

The game is set to launch tomorrow, March 2nd and I’ll be running around getting owned by adolescents and juvenille adults with a big adrenaline junkie style smile on my face. Look up Stimulus Package on Steam or in game if you’d like to shoot me as well.

~br3ntbr0

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with One comment on 03/01/2010.
Posted in: Featured, News, Opinion Tags: Battlefield: Bad Company 2