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Read the rest of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Beta Tidbits and Image Gallery (38 words)

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with 2 comments on 07/09/2010.
Posted in: Beta, Featured Tags: Blizzard, Cataclysm, World of Warcraft

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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

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

Yes, we continue to beat this dead horse.

Continued Reaction
We are now living in a post sparkly ponyoclypse virtual world, and the blogging community has weighed in. Many are still beating this dead horse, as I am, but I think it is a pretty important topic that speaks to the future of gaming. The reaction has played out pretty much as I expected, with a pretty equal split between those that liked it and/or thought it was harmless versus those of us think that it means “something wicked this way comes”. I am in the latter of that group, but I understand and sympathize with both points of view.

On one hand, ActiBlizz is both bold and ingenious. On the other, they are sinister and greedy. To paraphrase Genda from a Ventrilo discussion a few nights ago, “Blizzard worked very hard to establish the market dominance they have, and ultimately only they have ability to do this on such a scale.” That is likely an inaccurate quote, but I think I’ve captured the basic idea. You see, pretty much no one but Blizzard can do something like this at this level. No one else has the insanely large subscriber base that they have. It’s like an economy of scale, but in this case different. Rather than sell a bazillion really cheap items to many people, they sold relatively few of them at a higher price point to less people. It’s not like an expansion, where 99% of the player base will fork over whatever their asking price is for Cataclysm. The target audience is much smaller.

More Numberology
Let me elaborate for a second. If these kinds of things only appeal to 5% of Blizzard’s 10 million + subscriber base, that’s at least 500,000 people that they can sell this stuff to. We saw that happen with the steed and new pets, with at least 140,000 in sales just from people waiting in the virtual check out lines. The number is much bigger (probably closer to that 500k number) because many people purchased without having to wait, and many more will purchase later. The 140k is the only solid number we’ve seen, so we have to consider it’s actually bigger due to the other situations described above.

Basically, their customer base is so big that these kinds of things only need to appeal to a very small percentage of the overall base to be extremely effective in additional revenue generation – because the price of the item is so high. Look at it this way; if any other game with 100-300k subscribers tries to do this, they have a much smaller percentage of players to sell these items to, and therefore make very little profit on it relative to what Blizzard is seeing. Again, only Blizzard can pull of something so astronomical, no celestial pun intended. These numbers are unofficial and estimates are all over the place, but one thing is clear: in one day Blizzard generated several million dollars of extremely high margin profit with those pets and mount. The other thing that is very clear to me is that this trend will definitely continue, and Activision would be stupid to not try to continue to rake the willing for their cash.

What’s next in “macro” transactions?
In this model, there’s nothing “micro” about them and the macro transaction label has begun to surface. $25.00 for a virtual item is alot more than most expansions have cost us over the years. So what will we see? More pets and mounts for sure, but I think the armor and weapon skins are coming. If the premise of the Celestial Steed is that it does what the exising mounts do, but just has a more appealing texture and has no game impacting functionality, then there’s no reason that they wouldn’t do the same thing for other existing items. Why not sell a celestial breastplate? It could merely act as a texture change to your existing breastplate, and keep the same stats. There would be no game play impact, but the sparkly effect would sell millions.

Let’s be honest, one of the most brilliant things Blizzard did was to make huge shoulderpads with flames leaping off of them, swords with electric animations, and a host of other cool effects and animations. Why not sell these textures and animations through the store, ala celestial mount? There’s still no game play impact, but boy do they look freaking awesome and OMG I MUST HAVE ONE…

And voila, another 200,000 people in the queue to buy the sparkly breastplate of doom upgrade. They’ve already demonstrated that there is a huge interest in appearance items, and oh by the way they are already planning this for Cataclysm with the overcloak concept. Those appear to be tied to in game achievements, but I predict we’ll see other items in the Blizzard store soon. Don’t be surprised to see something like an Orb of Deception for sale. I’d bet you a Celestial Steed that sort of stuff is coming…

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with 4 comments on 04/19/2010.
Posted in: Analysis, Featured Tags: Blizzard, Cataclysm, World of Warcraft, WoW

This is so full of win I don’t know where to start…

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with 2 comments on 04/15/2010.
Posted in: Featured, Funny, Video Tags: World of Warcraft

Operation Gnomeregan is imminent

Apparently the event that will have the Alliance taking back Gnomeregan is about to happen.  The World of Warcraft official site just updated with the news confirming that Operation: Gnomeregan is Imminent.  The article indirectly references bombing run quests, and some event that only level 75-80 can participate.  It also mentions that there are ways to contribute for all levels, but you can hit the link above to check out the full article for yourself.

I’ve already declared the Cataclysm beta to be coming soon, so this just further cements that line of thought.  Finally we have something to spice up the game pre-Cataclysm.

~br3ntbr0

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with No comments on 04/08/2010.
Posted in: Featured, News Tags: Cataclysm, World of Warcraft, WoW

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

As World of Warcraft: Cataclysm nears, I find myself pondering what things we can expect not already announced by the folks at Blizzard.

Will there be any cool new features that will shock us on release? Let’s hope so.

As I while away the time waiting, I’ve come up with a list of “blue sky” features that I can almost guarantee will NOT be in the expansion. These are completely fake and preposterous notions brewed up in my mind whilst playing in WoW.

So humour me as I present to you my:

TOP 10 MOST UNLIKELY FEATURES of CATACLYSM:

1. A new hero class will be introduced: Magelock – combining the abilities of Mage and Warlock into one class. The rivalries can now cease!
2. The new Worgen dance emote will be from Teen Wolf
3. The new Goblin dance emote will be the break dancing
4. All variations of the name “Quark” will be banned for Goblins
5. All variations of the name “Jacob” will be banned for Worgen
6. A new style of PVP and guild housing will be introduced called Guild vs Guild (GvG) where rival guilds can attack each others’ guild home base.
7. If a player gets kicked from a PUG three times in a single day, their character will have a large “L” hover over their head for the rest of the day.
8. Paladins will be nerfed, just for kicks.
9. Pandaren Monks will be introduced into the game, but you’ll need to have a level 80 of each class to unlock it, but damn will it be worth it!
10. If you unlock the Pandaren Monk, the game will automatically shut down and the following message will appear every time you try to log back in:

“You have completed this game, now go get some damn sunshine”

- Rackham

© Posted by Rackham for Im Talkin Games with One comment on 03/16/2010.
Posted in: Comics, Fail, Featured, Funny Tags: Blizzard Entertainment, Cataclysm, World of Warcraft

I’ve never been a big fan of RTS games, primarily because I don’t multi-task well and managing all those units and construction and such is usually a bit too much for me. Throw in competitive play and I’m bound to have one sad losing experience after another. I guess that explains why my first foray into Blizzard’s games was with World of Warcraft, and it’s RTS style titles. Regardless, I’m throwing that all to the wind and giving StarCraft II a nice long look when it comes out.

Closed beta recently began for SC2, and a few lucky people have been getting their hands dirty with Blizz’s newest toy. Below we have footage of someone’s time in beta, but it’s not what you think. The video shows less of the game and more of another new feature that Blizzard is rolling out; the new Battle.net. This clips shows how tight the integration is with the new service directly into the game:

That clip got me thinking about implications for World of Warcraft, and even further ahead for their new-yet-unannounced MMO title. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit to see Blizzard’s new rated battlegrounds in Cataclysm run by just this type of Battle.net integration, and perhaps even arena matchmaking and dungeon/raid grouping. Of course this is speculation on my part, who knows what the real implementation will be like. Blizzard has however hinted at a possible patch before Cataclysm to bring out some Battle.net functionality, so this could be a harbinger of news to World of Warcraft players.  At minimum it leads me to believe that the next batch of Cataclysm news from Blizzard might be spiced with some Battle.net info as well.

~br3ntbr0

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with No comments on 02/18/2010.
Posted in: Analysis, Beta, Featured, Video Tags: Blizzard, StarCraft 2, World of Warcraft

There has been allod alot of buzz about Allods Online recently. The game just launched after several weeks of closed and then open beta, and the game has plenty of promise. Many will put the game in the “WoW clone” category, and others will defend it’s twist on the proven themepark mmo formula.

This is not a review of the game per se, but so far my opinion is that it is solid and worth giving a shot. There is great value in the game, especially since it is free to download and play but also because it has a level of polish akin to Blizzard’s 800 pound gorilla. The main point of this article is to say that gPotato will likely see large numbers of players in the game early on. That is nothing new really, since the MMO crowd flocks to just about any new game when it launches (see Warhammer Online, Aion) only to retreat to safer worlds after a month or so has passed and the pain of a new MMO has set in.

I think the MMO crowd has also flocked to Allods online, but for different reasons apart from the shiny and new factors. For starters, Allods is launching at a great time. There are few (if any) other mmo titles launching right now, and the existing franchises (apart from Age of Conan) are releasing very little. The big kid on the block is also at a stagnant stage. Blizzard is famous for it’s long development cycles, leaving anxious regular players with daily quests and repetition until the next big patch or expansion comes out. Currently, the WoW player base finds itself in just that spot, as the Lich King is now dead on just about every server and the populous awaits Cataclysm expansion release. The time is right to lure players away to a new game, and Allods Online is a low risk alternative to that segment of the MMO player base.

I usually prefer buffet style MMO’s, I want all I can eat for one monthly fee. Let me pay 15 bucks and give me access to everything. Don’t nickel-and-dime me to death to be able to experience whatever part of your game is gated behind your item shop. However, if done right the free to play model shines. I can’t say if Allod Online’s model will be good or bad in that regard, but so far it seem to have no impact on how I can play the game. I’m sure at some point I’ll want to buy something from the item store, should I commit to the game, but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Combine the zero risk and great timing factors into Allod’s Online pretty smooth launch, and I think they have a good thing going. Agree? Disagree? What say you!

Check out the trailer below and come and join us on the Nezeb server, Empire side:

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with 2 comments on 02/18/2010.
Posted in: Featured, Impressions, Opinion Tags: Allods Online, Blizzard, gPotato, World of Warcraft

1.  PVP and PVE balance

Dismiss one play style or the other at your own peril.  There is a reason that games like Call of Duty have single player campaigns, and World of Warcraft has battlegrounds.  Both styles of game play provide a good mix of experiences for the player, and draw a wider range of gamers to a given title.  Having both in an online game seems just about mandatory for today’s games.

2. Apprentice/Sidekick System

For games with level based progression, this is vital.  This has more to do with traditional MMORPG style games than anything, but with a max level will ultimately have an end game to suit that level of player and probably some alternate method of progression to go with it.  For new players that come into a game where the player base is already mature, a sidekick/apprentice system is a godsend.  While you might still be largely left to toil away at your questing and mob killing anyway, you don’t always have to be left out of the fun your higher level friends are having.These systems aren’t perfect, but still very needed.  Even if your level and statistics are bumped up to your friend’s level, your gear or available skills are usually still that of the lowbie that you actually are.  In the end, you are usually a weaker version of those who are actually at the level you’ve been brought up to be.  There’s no developer that has pulled this off flawlessly (yet) but it is much better than not having the option to run that higher level content at all.

3.  Single Realm/World

While it is naive to think that these types of games are actually only supported by a single physical server, some games only offer one world/realm/shard selection.  They do this with with a complex configuration of servers, and it usually necessitates heavy use of instancing.  While some game developers pull it off better than others, there’s no mistaking that dealing with a bunch of instances or “zoning” is a headache for some players.

8. Integrated Voice chat, anti-cheat ware, update management, digital distribution, social networking and game play recording

These are all awesome features by themselves.  I’ve bundled them together here because there are already a few platforms out there that bring every single one of these to the table already.  Every game needs something to help manage player profiles, provide matchmaking capabilities (where applicable), manage their games, and to help players find and play with friends.  I can provide no better example of this than Valve’s Steam.  Blizzard plans to roll out a similar tool with their revamped Battle.net, and Xfire seems to be moving in this direction as well.  Having one place to log in and manage your games, your profile, groups you belong to (and much more) just brings so much value to the gaming experience that it is a must.

You also need tools to fight cheaters.  Blizzard has the controversial Warden.  Valve has VAC.  Others use Punkbuster, Hackshield, Gameguard or something similar.  Every online game needs a security measure built in, otherwise the cheating/hacking twirps of the world will begin running rampant in game.  Wall hacks, teleporting, speed hacks, currency and item duplication exploits are all things that will very quickly send the game into ruination if left unchecked.  Having the game’s launcher or other game management platform (think Steam) manage updates and patches to the game are also so very useful that they should be key parts of the game upon release, especially if you need to quickly distribute a patch to fix an exploit.

Recording game play from within the game is not a tried and true feature for online games.  However, the explosion of video sites and game related videos posted to them makes this something I’d personally like to see every online game provide.  New games like APB are setting themselves apart by adding the capability to record moments of the game and seamlessly add them to YouTube.  How cool is it to catch your guild downing a boss or capping that critical capture point for bragging rights?  Screenshots don’t do justice to the action in most games.

You need a platform to build and supply these services.  Basically, you need Steam or something like it associated with your game.  Not only are many MMO’s sold via Steam, but some new ones are Steam Powered, meaning the game itself is integrated with Steam’s features and benefit from all the platform brings to the table.

9. Game Integrated Web Site and Services and Apps

This probably has alot to do with the item above, as a full platform of tools like Steam would help with this, but not fully.  Features that should be offered like realm transfer (hopefully not necessary, see the single realm/shard paragraphs above), faction transfer, character customization change, name change, and other associated services should be available.  Character, guild, and item look ups should available along with zone, quest, skill/spell abilities, and bestiary.  See everquest2players.com and wowarmory.com for wonderful examples of how to extend an MMO to the web.  Consider a mobile phone app out there too, as Fallen Earth and World of Warcraft have done.

10. Variety of subscription/payment options

Last but certainly not least, flexible payment options are needed. Many people are tired of being tethered to a $15.00 a month subscription fee, as it may limit their ability to play multiple games.  Others like buffet style pricing and don’t want to feel “nickle-and-dimed” by item shops and constant sales pitches.  Modern games need to be flexible enough to provide both, lowering the barrier to entry to everyone yet still proving the stability of established subscription games.  I can find no better example of this than Dungeons and Dragons Online.

Do you agree or disagree with these items?  What features do you want to see in your games?

- br3ntbr0

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with 6 comments on 01/26/2010.
Posted in: Featured, Opinion Tags: All Points Bulletin, BioWare, Blizzard, Cataclysm, Global Agenda, Modern Warfare 2, Steam, Valve, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft

Need help with your short game or end game? Suffering from an embarrassing rash of altitis? Can’t tell the difference between a noob, a newbie, and a n00b? Then pose your conundrum to Syp, the MMO Master, and prepare yourself to be rocked by advice from a gamer who truly knows what “/afk” means. No question is too serious; no answer is too silly!

Dear Syp,

Every day that I’m at work, my co-workers ask me what I did the previous night. Now I know they’re expecting answers like “went to the bar” or “watched Grey’s Anatomy”, but I play MMOs instead. I’m getting tired of trying to creatively change the subject. Should I just tell them that I play MMOs?

Sincerely,
Feeling Foolish in Feralas

Dear Feeling Foolish,

You know that awkward pause in the conversation when you casually announce that “you had worms” but “the doctor got most of them out with laxatives”?  Yeah, admitting that you play MMOs is sort of like that, but with more social ostracization attached.  People will immediately start sizing you up for serial killer potential, and that’s a headache you don’t need.

Sincerely,
Syp

Syppy, baby, answer me this,

I know for a fact many RPers roleplay for a degree of escapism and wish fulfillment, some to an unhealthy degree. Is there any tactful way of breaking their bubble and, if not, is it morally reprehensible to do so?  Repeatedly?  As your favorite pasttime in a MMO?

Sincerely,
Omacron of Azeroth

Dear OMACRON,

It’s a proven fact that roleplayers are social deviants, like congressmen and late-shift managers at Denny’s.  And as such, they should be treated with kid’s gloves (you can get these from any kid, just ask), because you don’t want to incur their wrath by shattering the carefully-crafted illusion that virtual worlds aren’t as real as planet earth.

Instead, give wide berth when you see a player apologizing to a mob that they’re going to kill it, because that player believes the mob’s soul-spirit will be reincarnated into a raid boss later on in the game.  If you don’t, they will suck you into their RP, and that’s a black hole from which few people escape.

Sincerely,
Syp

Dear Syp,

Where did all of these people come from? And where’s my damn pie!?

Sincerely,
Hung-over Hobbit in Bree

Dear Hung-over,

Man, did you see that movie The Hangover?  With the baby and the tiger?  HAHA, that was funny stuff!

Although I never figured out how the chicken factored into it all.

Sincerely,
Syp

Dear Syp,

My friend says WoW isn’t the first MMO and didn’t invent MMOs. Is he right?

Sincerely,
Captain Oblivious of Muradin

Dear Captain O,

Let’s back up a second and re-read your question.  Your friend is stating that not only is WoW not the first MMO, but it didn’t invent MMOs?  As in, invent itself?  Games creating themselves… man, that is a dark alley you do NOT want to go down.

Your friend’s an idiot.  There are no other MMOs than WoW, not before, not since.  WoW is the be-all, end-all.

Sincerely,
Syp

Dear Syp,

Do you think Star Trek Online might be biting off more then it can chew with ship fighting, and avatar fighting? Do you think it’s trying to do too much, and will fail and go the way of Pirates of the Burning Sea. Which I feel tried to bite off more then it can chew, and ultimately failed?

Kla’peth,
General Chang of Kronos

Dear General Chang,

Really, the only way that Star Trek Online can fail is if they neglect to include the holodeck as a feature, allowing players to recreate their favorite fantasies and wildest dreams, most likely without pants on.  Then the ESRB rating will shoot through the roof, and nobody will worry about space and ground combat, because nobody will leave the holodeck (which will become the new Second Life).

Sincerely,
Syp

ATTENTION: Do you have a question for the MMO Master? Then ask, my child, in the comments section below, and make sure to sign it “[name] in [game world/game city]”!

© Posted by Syp for Im Talkin Games with One comment on 01/25/2010.
Posted in: Advice, Featured Tags: World of Warcraft

Are you a fan or a fanboy?

In most dictionaries, a fan is defined as “an enthusiastic devotee, follower, or admirer of a sport, pastime, celebrity, etc.”  A fanboy as defined by the Urban dictionary, is “a passionate fan of various elements of geek culture (e.g. sci-fi, comics, Star Wars, video games, anime, hobbits, etc.), but who lets his passion override social graces.”

How does this affect the MMO world?  People can become very passionate about their game.  Those that play MMO’s, for instance, tend to spend a lot of time in their virtual world, developing a passion for it that can become addictive.  But that doesn’t make them a fanboy, does it?  They are enjoying their pastime and just happen to be devoted to it.  They aren’t necessarily so passionate for their game that they might disregard or override social graces.

So why do people lash out at others who choose to play a different game than them?  What is the reasoning behind the whole my game is better than your game attitude?

Are fans predestined to become fanboys?

Do people that play ” game A” have to hate people that play “game B?”  For instance, do people that play EVE automatically have an animosity towards people that play WoW or EQ2?  Can they curb their feelings and be civil to each other without all the mud-slinging and name-calling?  Do we really need to choose sides in this so called MMO vs MMO conflict, or can we just say that both games win because both companies get our hard earn money every month?

I enjoy playing World of Warcraft, but I don’t spend my days trolling Everquest 2 forum sites telling people how they should dump their loser of a game for something as exciting and rich as World of Warcraft or spend my free time pointing out how superior WoW is over their game.  I respect that people have different tastes and some people favor Everquest 2 just as I would expect them to respect my enjoyment of WoW.

Will I defend my decision to play WoW?  Of course, because I enjoy the game, but that passion for WoW doesn’t make me a fanboy, it makes me a fan – someone who will enjoy the game for what it is a simple mmo game.  Sure I’ll be cheering its accomplishments, but I’ll also be telling people when developers screw up and do something stupid to break the game, because being a fan means being able to criticize as well as praise something you enjoy.

The truth is you can be a fan without being a fanboy.   The trick is to not become so passionate that you forget your social graces or common sense.  You can have a difference of opinion, but you can also be civil to each other and understand that there is no us against them mentality when it comes to gaming.  We are all MMO players no matter what game we play.

- Oakstout

© Posted by Oakstout for Im Talkin Games with No comments on 01/25/2010.
Posted in: Commentary, Featured, Opinion, Uncategorized Tags: World of Warcraft

Why is World of Warcraft so successful?

Raptr, a social media networking tool for gamers has clocked 4,070,029 play hours in their database at  an average of 35,000 players daily. These numbers are staggering when viewed in the realization that 35 thousand players (just in Raptr alone) have clocked 4 million hours of game time.

Now if we could see Blizzard’s database numbers for all 5 years the game has been out, multiply that by all the average 14.99 monthly subscription numbers and then the ‘additional’ services they offer at a highly over priced 25$ for realm, character, fraction, re-characterization options, I’m sure the numbers would make Bill Gates scratch his head in awe and wonder.

How many companies do you know of (or heard about) that have been as successful as Blizzard has been?
Let’s take a look at what Blizzard has had to offer to the gaming community.

Time Line of Blizzard Entertainment

Feb 1991- Silicon & Synapse was created by 3 UCLA students to concentrate on creating game ports

Nov 1991- S&S release ‘RPM Racing’ for SNES

1992- Interplay Entertainment develop and release ‘The Lost Vikings’ and then S&S develop ‘The Lost Vikings 2’ a puzzle/platform video game which released in 1994

June 1993- S&S created ‘Rock n’ Roll Racing’ for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and Super Nintendo
*this title was also released for the GBA in 2003.

1994 Silicon & Synapse change their name to Blizzard Entertainment and there shortly afterwards was acquired by distributor Davidson and Associates.

Nov 1994- ‘Warcraft: Orcs & Humans’ a Real-time strategy game (RTS) is released. Developed by Blizzard and published by Blizzard and Interplay Ent.

Dec 1995- ‘Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness’

April 1996- ‘Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal’ (Expansion Pack)

1996- Blizzard releases ‘Warcraft’ series for the Macintosh OS

Nov 1996- ‘Diablo’ is released

Nov 1997- ‘Diablo: Hellfire’ (Expansion Pack)

March 1998- ‘StarCraft’ is released

Nov 1998- ‘StarCraft: Brood War’ is released (Expansion Pack)

1999- ‘Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition’ is released

June 2000- ‘Diablo II’ hits the market

June 2001- ‘Diablo II: Lord of Destruction’ releases

July 2002- ‘Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos’

July 2003- ‘Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne’ releases to US

Nov 2004- ‘World of Warcraft’ a MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Roll Playing Game) is thrust upon us

Jan 2007- ‘World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade’ (Expansion Pack)

Nov 2008-‘World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King’ (Expansion Pack)

2010-‘World of Warcraft: Cataclysm (Expansion Pack)

Man that’s a lot of time line, but the one repeating factor in this is dedication and persistence, along with a solid title. Warcraft like every other game was created; fabricated from the minds of individuals for the enjoyment of one’s time. The key to its success was and is a solid foundation to the core of ideas it was derived from. Lore and creativity begat more lore, a good story began to unfold, and you know what? Blizzard didn’t jump on high horse and grind it till it was dead. They fostered it, nurtured it, and marketed the crap out of it in a way that many other companies have not been successful in doing.

See from the release of Warcraft, Blizzard has done one thing and one thing only, and that is develop the idea WoW; luring you in with expansion after expansion, deepening the plot and creating memorable characters to pull you in.

It really is like a good book series, but in a video game. That is the reason why Wow is what it is today. It’s that great book you’ve read a hundred times over, and though sometimes you don’t finish it, you constantly go back to and start over or pick up from where you left off.

$$ And as a developer you couldn’t have asked for anything better. $$

Creativity + Original/ Sound Ideas = Success

*All dates are accurate as cited on Wikipedia to the best of my knowledge.*

Game On!
~Kaldeem

© Posted by Kaldeem for Im Talkin Games with 2 comments on 01/23/2010.
Posted in: Analysis, Featured Tags: Blizzard, Cataclysm, World of Warcraft, WoW

The active rumor out there is that the Curse client has a keylogger in it. Curse asserts that their client is clean, AS LONG AS YOU GET IT FROM THEM. It seems a lot of people don’t want to pay for the added convenience that is in the Curse Premium Client, and have been downloading a “cracked” version from other sites, including torrents. Guess what, that kind of stuff may contain keyloggers. If you don’t want to pay for added functionality that is your prerogative, but if it causes you to get your account hijacked and all your virtual goods stolen, then I have no sympathy for you. Shame on you for stealing the intellectual property of others, and congratulations on your just desserts.

These examples I noted above which are anecdotal reports are just part of the discussion though. WOW.com reported a couple of weeks back that Blizzard is so inundated with trouble tickets from this kind of account and virtual goods theft that they just can’t keep up with it any more. They have taken to offering players a “Care Package” which contains gold, emblems, and items to get them back up and running again. That’s fine for a lot of people but if you get your guild’s stuff taken and you want it back then you are looking at weeks before they get to you to do an investigation and the possibility of recovering your items.

To battle this, rumor has it that Blizzard wants to require everyone to use the Blizzard Authenticator to log in to their accounts. I’d be interested in how they want to roll that one out to the user base. I think requiring hardware at this point would necessitate them distributing them at no charge, or including them in the box in Cataclysm. Some additional in-game benefit should be given to those of us who have already spent our $6.50 to secure our accounts. That concern is minor though.

What is the driver behind all of this account theft? Gold sellers. Gold takes time to farm. Time=money. Delays in delivering cause canceled orders. So if you are running a gold-selling business you can staff up and spend real money to have real people generate your fake money, or you can buy a keylogger and find a way to get it into wide distribution. Then all you have to do is log in to accounts that you capture and steal the gold, then sell it for real money to those who want to purchase it. Kinda pokes a hole in the “victimless crime” argument that proponents of gold selling like to make. There are real victims here. Blizzard is a victim. People who are inconvenienced or lose enjoyment are victims.

In part, Blizzard is a victim of their own policies. I lay part of this problem at their feet for banning bots but not being able to do the same with gold sellers. Part of the problem is how the battlenet login reduces account security by also giving the thief an incentive to also hijack the user’s email account. At least with bots, they sellers were in a perverse way earning their gold. Now they are just stealing it. So bots are getting crushed, demand remains the same or continues to rise, depending on who you believe, and all that gold that is getting sold has to come from somewhere.

What’s the solution? Increased account security with an Authenicator is an absolute minimum. I have checked the box on the launch page which remembers my account name, so I don’t have to type it in. If I never type it again, no key logger can capture it. Make sure your email account has a different password than your game account. It’s not that hard to change it up. And NEVER share your user name and password with anyone.

Blizzard needs to keep developing their tools so they can more effectively track and ban accounts that participate in theft activity, as well as the down-the-line accounts where the proceeds end up.

I guess it’s a testament to the power of the gaming sphere that a stolen WoW account is now worth more on the black market than a stolen credit card number. We wanted gaming to be mainstream and now we are living with the criminal element that comes with anything that has potential monetization.

For all of us gamers, be careful out there. Don’t let one of these common criminals ruin your day.

-Genda

© Posted by Genda for Im Talkin Games with 6 comments on 01/21/2010.
Posted in: Advice, Commentary, Featured, Opinion Tags: Blizzard, World of Warcraft

As gamers we’ve all experienced the anticipation of a new game that we are really looking forward to playing. With that anticipation, we usually devour all the information we can get about a title. When a game company releases a cinematic intro for our anticipated game, we drool over how awesome the game will be based on how well the cinematic was done. Great cinematics for many games have been released, and I can tell you not one of them gives the average player a decent idea of what the actual game play is like. Game cinematics need to go away.

These cinematic movies are like concept cars at auto shows, they are merely showing you the future that will likely never come to pass. These cinematics often don’t accurately portray game mechanics or visuals, and I get that they usually aren’t intended to. They are there to get people excited for a given game, to raise interest and ultimately sell the game. They may serve that purpose somewhat, but they are misleading. They are the result of classic advertising, like the hamburger you see on TV looking nothing like the one you get served in the restaraunt. These cinematic intros are also expensive to make for the development studio, and are often done by a 3rd party.

I am far from an expert on high end cinematics, but it seems that these clips generally employ large amounts of computing power for high resolution graphics and animation. I also assume that the consumer level gaming rigs that could run a game with cinematic style graphics just doesn’t exist at an affordable price point. At this point, I also assume that it’s still to expensive and time consuming for game studios to even think about creating a game with these kinds of jaw dropping visuals anyway. If all those assumptions are even somewhat correct, it’s safe to say that these movies are unrealistic representations of the games they are made for, and there’s no way the game will come close to the visuals and epic feelings conveyed in most of these movies. For the most part, they are an injustice to the game and tough for the developers to live up to. See Warhammer Online’s first cinematic and gauge that against actualy game play and visuals. That cinematic featured two classes that didn’t even make it into the game at launch. Great cinematic quality, but poorly represented the game.

The most recent uber cinematic of recent memory is that of Star Wars: The Old Republic. I’m sure everyone under the sun has seen it, but if not you should take a peek at it to see my point:

The video above shows nothing of how the game will actually play or what the game actually looks like. However, the first time I saw this it got my heart racing. It is so well done, so epic feeling, that my fanboy meter shot through the ceiling. For this very reason, cinematics (at least for large AAA productions) are likely here to stay.

I think the perfect middle ground lies with the machinima artists of the world. Using the game’s very own engine and assets to produce a movie is a better bet in my opinion. That way, the graphics are not as misleading, and good story telling can still bring an epic feeling into play. I’ve noticed such a trend with Blizzard entertainment for example. While they have done the high quality cinematics before, they seem to be turning away from that and using their own game engine to produce the movies made for the game, ala Wrath Gate.

Do you agree? Should cinematics go away, or are you ok with them as they are? Should they change? Holla back.

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with 2 comments on 01/20/2010.
Posted in: Commentary, Featured, Misc, Video Tags: BioWare, Blizzard, Star Wars: The Old Repbulic, World of Warcraft

So the wait for SWTOR is almost over right? Wrong. It was widely rumored from EA chief John Rittecelo’s recent statement during an EA earnings meeting that SWTOR’s target launch date would be in the spring of 2011. I didn’t know how to feel about that statement as SWTOR wasn’t specifically named in his statement, but it was obvious that he was talking about that game. EA doesn’t have any other MMO with an equal or higher production value to potentially impact EA’s earnings the way SWTOR can, so that had to be it.

Today, BioWare confirmed that target date. Upon reading this I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced:

While we have not announced a specific date, we can confirm that we are targeting a spring 2011 release for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. We’ve got a lot of exciting updates and reveals planned throughout 2010, including the first-ever hands-on testing for the game. It’s not too late to sign up to be a game tester, so go to www.swtor.com/tester and sign up today. We can’t wait to share more about the game with you as we progress through the year, so make sure you stay tuned to the official website for details.

This one caught me off guard. I was fully convinced that BioWare had made more progress than they were leading on. They had announced beta sign ups a few months ago, released information on all the classes and most of the planets. I was sure beta would start in Q1 2010 and the game would launch mid to late 2010. To hear that their target date isn’t this year, confirms what many have predicted. SWTOR won’t launch till 2011, and possibly late in 2011 if typical MMO developers have shown us anything. Don’t be surprised to see that target date slip, EA has too much riding on SWTOR for it to be anything less than stellar so I’m sure BioWare has all the time they need to get it right.

Looks like 2010 is Blizzard’s year, again.

~br3ntbr0

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with 5 comments on 01/12/2010.
Posted in: Commentary, Featured, News Tags: BioWare, Star Wars: The Old Repbulic, World of Warcraft

I’ve written many times about how I’ve been simply amazed by World of Warcraft. The game’s almost unbelievable subscriber base, the way it has expanded and popularized MMO gaming, and especially the way it continues to be a relevant game 5 years later are all topics that blow me away any time I think about them. World of Warcraft is the Shaquille O’Neal of gaming; an unbelievable specimen that dominated its competition and still demands your attention even in it’s old age. Yet it is far from perfect; for years new games have been able to release and bring those imperfections to the forefront.

Games like EverQuest 2, Warhammer Online and others have been able to flaunt very robust guild management systems for example. Blizzard’s game has always lacked good management features and tools for it’s guilds, despite guild play being a huge cog in the WoW machine. Recently Bobabouille at mmochampion.com posted a wrap up of some of the known information that was released at Blizzcon in regard to certain upcoming features, and Cataclysm’s upcoming guild management functionality appears in the first recap. Looking at these great (and very, very overdue) features got my mind churning. Could Blizzard have possibly left something like this off of their to do list intentionally?

Could it be that Blizzard was smart enough to identify all the really good pieces of functionality that need to be added to the game long ago, yet put them on the development back burner purposely? It could be that adding such great features at this point in time make great selling points for a new expansion, which makes sense. But it also makes sense that adding key features like this 5 years after the game has launched are things that continue to make the game relevant despite its age. The guild management tools in particular seem to knock out yet one more of those key features that other developers can highlight in their game since World of Warcraft doesn’t have it.

Mythic introduced queuing for a scenario from anywhere, later Blizzard introduced the feature to World of Warcraft. Not to be outdone, they eventually added the same queuing functionality to PVE instances. EverQuest 2 (and other games) showed some of the best guild management tools available, and in Cataclysm Blizzard will bring many of the same tools to World of Warcraft gamers. They seem to be going a bit further by facilitating tools for guild recruitment in game, something I’ve always thought should be done in game rather than spread across various guild web sites.

Blizzard is catching up to other games in areas that it has been lacking, and in many ways leapfrogging the functionality that other games have done so well. I think that Blizzard’s dominance and late age relevance is pictured perfectly in the survey on this site’s sidebar. With over 200 votes, Blizzard’s Cataclysm expansion is the 2nd most anticipated game of 2010 despite being pitted against totally new and highly anticipated games. What do you think? Does my theory of Blizzard intentionally holding back on features and functionality hold water? Are you looking forward to Cataclysm and all the known (and probably many unknown) features it will bring?

Merry Christmas!

-br3ntbr0

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with 3 comments on 12/23/2009.
Posted in: Analysis, Featured, Opinion Tags: Blizzard, Cataclysm, World of Warcraft

Need help with your short game or end game?  Suffering from an embarrassing rash of altitis?  Can’t tell the difference between a noob, a newbie, and a n00b?  Then pose your conundrum to Syp, the MMO Master, and prepare yourself to be rocked by advice from a gamer who truly knows what “/afk” means.  No question is too serious; no answer is too silly!

Which WoW gold guide is worth the money? How do you make gold in World of Warcraft if you have little time to play?

Sincerely,

NotAGoblin in Tanaris

Dear NotAGoblin,

Okay, time for basic economic theory 101 – if you’re spending money, it means you’re not taking in money, right?  So if you’re buying a guide, it’s actually assisting you in the exact opposite direction of where you want to be – making more money.

There are several lucrative opportunities for gold acquisition in WoW, depending on how far you are willing to debase yourself and your dignity for the cause.  Poorly-spelled begging – “Can I haf ur gold plz?” – broadcasted city-wide on a repeating loop is irresistible to many.  People just want to help you and your greedy nature out!  And then there’s always dancing in your undies on a mailbox for tips.  After all, they don’t call it a “moneymaker” for nothing!

Finally, you could invest in the Azerothan stock market.  Make sure you invest in Mankrik’s Private Investigation Agency, as that’s an up-and-coming organization with lots of promise!

Sincerely,

Syp

I’ve been having this trouble for some time now, and I don’t know what to do. You see, I want to stop playing MMOs, but I just can’t help it, and keep trying out different games.

Worst of all, even if I did want to stop, I always try to do it in one big gesture, rather than gradually, and end up subscribing again when a new expansion comes out.

For instance, LOTRO has a new expansion out, and while I do want to stop playing, people are saying it’s got a great experience. And then there’s Cataclysm, which begs me to not miss a world-rending event.

I don’t know how to stop, and I need your help to stop because it’s hurting my general productivity in life.

Any advice you can offer, I would be most grateful for.

Sincerely,

Maligned in Many Worlds

Dear Maligned,

As any counselor would tell you, the fact that you’ve admitted that you have a problem is the first step to recovery.  The second is to cancel your internet, take an axe to your computer case, and stand outside Best Buy with a picket sign warning people against the dangers of MMOs.

Or, if you want to take the easy way about it, you could take a cue from people who are trying to quit other habits, like overeating and chain smoking.  The trick is to have someone hold you accountable, and to prepare a substitute activity in your life that is interesting enough to fill that immediate void left by cutting out soul-crushing grinds in games.

You also seem to need to learn moderation, and here again is where an accountability partner would come in key.  If you quit and then felt the urge to go back into these games in the future, put limits on your gameplay hours, and fill the rest by reading this column.

Sincerely,

Syp

I’m currently in the market for a new gaming desktop/work from home computer and was curious of your thoughts on what type of system to look at that would be usuable for 3-4 years and wouldn’t break the bank. Do you have any guesses on how fast a machine needs to be in order to run a new MMO in say 3 years?

Sincerely,

Haven in Guild Wars

Dear Haven,

Seriously, just about anything.  Really.  I’ve read reports that these teeny-tiny netbook computers – the ones that look as though a Nintendo DS could beat them up in a school fight – have enough oomph to run World of Warcraft.  What many MMO developers are finally wising up to is that most of us don’t have gobs of money to keep spending on top of the line computers, and if they want the largest subscriber base possible, they need to make sure it runs on less-than-premium machines.

What’s almost more important than how “fast” your machine is, is a good graphics card (which you can easily snag for $120 or less) and a decent amount of RAM, which is also cheap.  For the record, my current gaming computer is four years old at this point, and I’m still keeping up with the current releases just fine.

Sincerely,

Syp

I be askin’ yer help. I gots me a bit of a problem.

While shootin’ and grenadin’ those accursed foul greenskins, I spotted one of them Witchelves, and I’m ashamed to say, my heart is all aflutter. I know it aren’t right and I should jus shoot ‘er and be done and go back to me loverly beardy wife, but well, I jus cannae. How can I dispell meself of this unnatural infatuation?

Tanks lad,

Tirni in Ekrund

Dear Tirni,

Was… was that English?  Of any recognizable variety?  Were you just trying to bludgeon me to death with apostrophes?  It’s actually easier to just go ahead and type the “g” in many cases – you don’t want to exhaust your pinky finger like that.

As far as I can ascertain, you have developed a crush on Witch Elves, which I can’t understand – they’re really the hags of Warhammer Online.  All that exposed skin and black makeup?  It’s like you’re at Hot Topic during a swimsuit sale.

Dude, be faithful to your wife.  Remember that her beard completes you in a way that a sulky goth laugh cannot.  And in any case, isn’t that why dwarfs invented ale?  To forget and to addle the memory?  Sounds like it’s time to drink yourself into a stupor!

Sincerely,

Syp

Everyone says PvP is the most popular thing in MMOs. Is that true?

Sincerely,

Heidi in Camelot

Dear Heidi,

Yes, yes it’s true.  PvP is the nadir of excellence, entertainment and excitement in MMOs, and anyone telling you different is just trying to sell something.

Besides, PvP mimics some of the most beloved activities we experience in real life.  Rush hour traffic with cars cutting you off and people flipping you the bird?  PvP!  Arguments between  you and your significant other as to whose turn it is to wash the dishes and walk the dog?  PvP!  Gang warfare sparked by competing drug dealers on your street corner?  PvP!

It really does just bring out the best in people.

Sincerely,

Syp

© Posted by Syp for Im Talkin Games with One comment on 12/18/2009.
Posted in: Advice, Featured Tags: Game addiction, Guild Wars, PVP, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft