posts by golden jew
golden jew

Gamers Want Everything, but don’t want to pay for it

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A leak from the price testing of Rock Band fills gamers with shock and awe on two points:

1. Rock Band’s peripherals are expensive
2. Gamers don’t like paying for expensive stuff and in fact want everything free

Being a jew, after hearing Rock Band announced, I had two reactions–this game would be awesome, and many peripherals would be expensive. Seeing as guitars for guitar hero are rapacious in price (my wallet cries “my anus!”), and extra microphones for karaoke revolution aren’t exactly free either, it’s no surprise that a game with a microphone, two guitars, and a DRUM SET is clocking in at a lot of money. The drum set in particular scared me, since the congas from Donkey Conga (or however it’s spelled) weren’t exactly cheap. Making a larger drum set that is convincing and fun to use is not going to clock in inexpensive.

This is going to be a big challenge for Harmonix, one that if they can’t conquer is going to potentially undermine their success. →  Are you a bad enough dude to rescue the article?

Will Blizzard get blown out the airlock?

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Everyone is quivering with anticipation at Blizzard’s upcoming “major” announcement. They have been hiring MMO developers, and they have a terribly neglected (but still hugely popular, especially in Asia) franchise in Starcraft.

Although an RTS Starcraft 2 might be desired by some, Blizzard has no choice in this matter but to go MMO. First, the revenue opportunities of even a mediocre (by Blizzard standards) MMO are far superior to a blockbuster RTS– a fact most likely first and foremost on Blizzard’s parent company, Vivendi’s, mind. Now that Blizzard has established itself as such a cash-cow, they will be held to those standards until they fail (capitalism is great…just ask the USSR). Just to give you a flavor of what we’re talking about, the WESTERN MMO market broke $1 billion in 2006, according to this report with WoW accounting for 54% of that marketshare.

Second, because of all this success, Blizzard already has the infrastructure and the core competency of running an MMO (call centers, billing systems, international infrastructure, etc), so to continue to support MMO creation. →  You had me at read more.

Lost in Space: Looking for a worthy 4X Game

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I love the 4X genre. It’s most likely a combination of the fact that I’m a huge geek and love space, and the fact I was beat up a lot in middle school and high school and didn’t kiss a whole lot of girls back then (see the first two reasons of my 4X love if you’re unclear on why that is). My love of the genre started on the old Mac II with Spaceward Ho, a game that lives on today in Palm Pilot versions (which are quite badass). Then came Pax Imperia I, followed by the graphically enjoyable but gameplay poor sequel. I tried other games along the way, such as Hegemonia, but nothing really stuck. Like every player of the genre (except for the ones who fail at life) Master Of Orion 2 was my lord and savior. And, since I’m a Jew, I can call it my messiah and it’s less blasphemous than if I were a Christian. →  Ridge Reader V

Eve Update: Little fish in the Ocean

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Have you ever looked at the food chain in the ocean? Take an anchovy, for example. The anchovy actually isn’t at the bottom, that job belongs to plankton. Anchovies are eaten by things such as the spotted sea trout. The spotted sea trout is eaten by tarpons, which in turn are eaten by bull sharks. Why am I boring you with the details of the food chain?

It’s been about a month since I started playing Eve. Ambition, combined with some purchased in-game currency (it’s so cheap I can’t help myself), led me and my merry band to try to go to “lowsec” space–where PvP begins. Our interest wasn’t in PvP, but rather in mining the more precious materials found in lowsec space. Accordingly, we attempted to arm ourselves–encouraged by some GTC supplemented ISK, we thought our fancy ships and fancy equipment would allow us to play with the big boys.

In the past weeks, we’ve collectively died multiple ways. From NPCs, to not understanding game mechanics, to PCs on a warpath, to PCs who decided they didn’t appreciate my smack talk to someone I chased off for picking a fight with me in the first case: our losses have been catastrophic. →  Welcome to read zone!

Eve Online : First Impressions

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It’s hard to write “first” impressions of a game that’s four years old, but nonetheless, this is where I find myself. Burnt out by World of Warcraft, ranting and raving about my addiction on this site, and swearing off MMO’s for good is where we last left off.

Well, I’ve at least kept part of it up; I’ve resisted the Burning Crusade completely. But I find myself once again sucked into the MMO world, having started playing Eve Online.

Eve Online is very different from other online games I’ve played. For starters, it’s set in the future, in a space base universe. But rather than being first person, like almost every MMO, the game is entirely ship based. In fact, until an upcoming expansion (and keep in mind there have already been several expansions), you can’t ever actually “get out” of your ship.

Behold space in all its…blueness.

The best way to describe the game graphically and conceptually is Homeworld-esque. →  I’m gonna take you for a read.

Best Game Ever – Master of Orion 2: The Battle at Antares

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Master of Orion 2: The Battle at Antares was probably the defining game in the 4X genre (explore, expand, exploit, exterminate); it set the standard for a decade of games. Featuring a robust tech tree, intricate ship design, active ship combat, a big, goodie filled universe, and intense colony management, MOO2 had it all. Despite being well over a decade old, the game still has a level of depth that has been unmatched by its successors. Additionally, even though Microprose is long out of business (gobbled up by whomever), the game’s support has been taken over by fans (Lord Brazen, for those interested), who have kept the game playable on KALI and have steadily eradicated the last remaining bugs in the game. As exciting as it is to have a game so old with such a following, it also depresses me that the industry has yet to produce a worthy sequel.

I didn’t know my mother was in this game.

 →  Apply directly to the forehead.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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From the gang at videolamer.

Here’s hoping 2007 bring you awesome video games, the money to buy them with, and the significant other to give you head while you play them (works for boys and girls!).

Best Game Ever – Warcraft III: Defense of the Ancients

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It’s hard to classify this review. On the one hand, Defense of the Ancients (DOTA) is a custom map for Warcraft 3 that has been around for four years. WC3 itself has been around for almost five years. This might qualify it as “best game ever” status (and it indeed received this status). The flip side is, DOTA is still actively maintained, has a huge community, and has a number of sponsored leagues, including at various Blizzard events. More bizarrely demonstrating the cult status of DOTA is the work of Swedish DJ Basshunter. Accordingly, given the active maintenance and evolution of the game, it’s hard to give it the necessary dinosaur status a Best Game ever has.

Regardless of what you call it, DOTA has been amusing gamers, including myself, for a very long time. It is, by an order of magnitude, the most popular Warcraft 3 custom map. The ongoing support and development of the map, particularly in today’s age of ADD gamers and game mod writers, is amazing. →  Sly 3: Honor Among Reads

I’m the king of the world!

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Just ask the few remaining people at Jay’s party last night, who were the Apollo Creed to my Rocky (in Rocky 2), the Frazier to my Ali (the two times when Ali won), and the whoever to my Tyson (back when he was a good boxer and a rapist, as opposed to just a rapist).

Yes, that’s right, the Golden Jew gave into the Wii, at least for one night. Although disgusted by the fact my persona was referred to as a “Mii” in Wii Sports, I was amused by the fact I was punching out a woman Mii. I think that might have been what fueled my victory. She also had glasses. Unrealistically, they did not break and force shattered glass into her eyes.

I was very impressed with Wii Bowling, finding that the ball actually curved the exact same way it does when I bowl for real. In fact, I was able to take advantage of this the way only a gamer can to eventually assure myself multiple spares in a row. →  Eh, I’ve got nothing better to do.

Recovering from World of Warcraft Part 2

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Continued from part 1

What ultimately made me stop playing WoW wasn’t so much the new content or the failure in clearing it, but rather the monotony of clearing the old. Let me explain for those not familiar. When you kill a boss in WoW, it drops 2-4 pieces of loot. This can be class specific armor, or a weapon, or jewelry, or whatever. Your average dungeon has 7-12 bosses. A raid dungeon is typically cleared once a week due to reset timers. A raid group has 40 people. Each player has 19 slots of possible gear that can be worn at any time, not to mention extra sets of gear for certain battle roles (such as resistances, damage absorption, damage dealing, etc). There are also special “recipes,” and other miscellaneous items. You can do the basic math–and get the idea of how long it takes to gear a raid force. There is a huge amount of competition for scarce resources. →  Fine, but this article then no more.