The Game Invasion Sessions - April 27, 2007
Welcome to the Game Invasion Sessions. While there are plenty of folks who work on Game Invasion, Derek, Ruben and Mike are the ones constantly arguing about games, the industry and the everyday news bits that matter.
These are verbatim IM sessions - screen names have only been changed to protect the innocent.
Amongst the minutia, in this session we discuss New RTS Franchises, Turok, and 'World of Warcraft' pricing.
Buddy Chat Session initiated
April 27, 2007
Derek: hey there, gents
Derek: does this make for a good RTS?
Derek: WWIII?
Ruben: Wii?
Ruben: Well, if nothing else, World War III is topical --
Mike: I'm tired of all these war games.
Ruben: So, an experienced crew of FPS programmers are supposed to make me excited about an RTS?
Derek: we don't know that it is going to be an RTS (real-Time)
Derek: however, it will be a strategy game
Ruben: Aren't they all --
Derek: you know what I mean, funny guy
Derek: Now the BIG Question --- can a good developer bring a good strategy game to a console?
Derek: has there ever been one?
Mike: I guess we will see with 'Halo Wars.'
Ruben: Well, it seems most of my RTS-gamer friends find the joystick makes unit control and assignment far more difficult than with a mouse.
Derek: that is a good point -- However, is 'Halo Wars' ready to se the bar?
Ruben: In sales maybe....
Derek: Ensemble Studios DOES good strategy
Derek: does good team + AAA franchise = good game?
Ruben: Not really -- depends on both parties (licensor and publisher) being on the same page.
Mike: Turok had a good team and great franchise and look what happened to it
Derek: the first two turok games were pretty good
Mike: I'll give you the first one, but not number two
Derek: wrong -- 'turok 2: seeds of evil' was terrific
Mike: did you even play it?
Derek: stop right there - I still have my copy, do you?
Derek: that's a 9.0 killer
Ruben: Ah, Acclaim -- we hardly knew ye...
Mike: Okay, but the 10 other ones were disappointing. Hopefully Disney will bring the upcoming version back to its glory
Ruben: Or maybe Tom Clancy can bring back the Turok comic-book and it can all come full-circle
Derek: totally agree -- looking forward to that one
Derek: now Ruben has a point -- although I did have to look super deeeeeeep to find it
Derek: can an older franchise compete these days?
Derek: who cares about Turok by Disney when I've got 'Army of Two' coming?
Ruben: I'd totally mark out for a 'Popeye' next-gen fighting game --
Mike: well I'm just happy its not another war game. A next-gen FPS with dinosaurs has to rock.
Derek: o yeah - no war games? from the kid that plays Call of duty all day long
Derek: if COD 4 came out tomorrow you'd be first in line to buy it
Mike: true, and I will still be buying 'Medal of Honor Airborne' and 'Call of Duty 4,' but I still want a different FPS genre.
Derek: ...with dinosaurs
Derek: How about a "Flintstones" FPS
Mike: I just recently went back to Oblivion and I'm loving it
Mike: I have over 100 hours in that game, that's the most I've ever played one game ever, and I've been gaming for 30 years
Derek: ...we don't need your resume
Derek: yeah but if the expansion did not come out for Oblivion that game would be quite dusty
Mike: true, that did get me back into it, but that's what publishers need to do to remind people their games are still relevant.
Ruben: Yeah, and talk to me when you finally play an MMO.
Mike: 'Gears of War' constantly comes out with new downloadable content, and its just keeps reminding the consumer to come back again and again
Ruben: two years playing WoW, I can do 100 in a month
Mike: I'm scared to play an MMO
Mike: A month? You played almost a 100 hours of Burning Crusade in one week!
Ruben: well, I was on vacation...
Derek: that sounds like a good vacation -- get any sun?
Ruben: yeah, it came in through the window
Derek: time to put a blanket on that is
Derek: after WOW - what's next?
Ruben: Sleep?
Derek: 'Lord of the Rings Online' came out today
Ruben: Fresh Air?
Derek: overrated
Ruben: So I hear...
Ruben: I can't get excited about 'LotR Online' until I can roll a Ring Wraith character....
Ruben: For that I go back to pen and paper D&D
Derek: because you can't play as one of the dark minions you are not interested in Middle-earth?
Ruben: absolutely -- unless you're a LotR fanboy, I can't imagine wanting to play a hairy-footed hobbit, a boring looking human or an elf over a fearsome goblin, a behemoth ogre or a spectral ring Wraith
Ruben: Although the graphics are spectacular, I'll give it that
Derek: yeah -- it does look amazing - I am waiting to get in there
Ruben: heh -- Day One of a new MMO is like the Western Expansion. Tons of folks running around looking to complete the same quests...
Derek: like that Ron Howard move?
Derek: tom cruise and kidman?
Ruben: Far and Away --
Derek: that move was bad.
Ruben: It was no 'Eyes Wide Shut,' -- although that would've made for a cool video game
Derek: I just remember that all of the 'land rushers' wanted the plot by the creek
Ruben: It was kinda GTA-ish
Derek: didn't they have many other problems to solve
Derek: again - that flick was bad.
Mike: What did you boys think of the leak video of the Halo 3 beta?
Ruben: Clearly, not worth getting fired over. Dude couldn't wait 2 more weeks for the open beta?
Derek: it's 'halo' all right
Derek: did you expect anything different? I like the indoor environment
Mike: It wasn't the most impressive graphics, but it still looked really good
Ruben: It was the moral equivalent of a bootleg movie...I refuse to watch it --
Derek: ..I agree with Ruben - although I could not look away
Mike: rumor is Bungie is going to make the game run at true 1080p at 60 fps. I would like to see them do that
Derek: is there a chance the beta will turn gamers off? that it is not so super next-gen graphically?
Mike: The multiplayer game on 'Halo' has always been about gameplay, and that game definitely has it
Ruben: First, the dude wasn't even playing one of the beta maps -- he was playing another map based on the Halo 2 'Zanzibar' map...
Ruben: So, the final effects may not have been implemented yet
Ruben: Then, the game doesn't come out until Q4, so they have plenty of time for bells and whistles.
Mike: True, it still made me want to play it
Ruben: Well, you'll have all of 3 weeks to play it --
Ruben: Hope it was worth the price of 'Crackdown,' which will litter the Used Games bin, the day after beta closes
Mike: I played the crap out of 'Crackdown,' and liked it a lot. it was well worth it
Derek: there will be so many kids crying when that beta ends June 6th
Derek: I there will be at least tree of them in this office
Ruben: I'm waiting for 'Age of Conan' beta invite...unless you can decapitate peeps in 'Halo 3'
Mike: Conan looks impressive, but I'm not too sure on how it controls.
Derek: I really hope 'age of Conan' lives up to your violence expectations
Ruben: Hopefully they'll include evisceration in the release build...
Ruben: nothing says next-gen like oozing guts --
Derek: ...or bleeding wallets
Ruben: Well, good thing kids aren't spending their money on silly things like...oh, books
Derek: look at what 'World of Warcraft' is selling for
Derek: I didn't think it was legal to distribute crack
Derek: pretty soon that game will be free -- and then all kinds of hell breaks loose
Ruben: Yeah, great time to start playing WoW, when virtually everyone is working on end game content...
Derek: if you are a new WOW player what will it take to really have a good time in the game?
Derek: because it is so populated are noobs at a total disadvantage?
Ruben: Only at making friends....
Ruben: Actually, I've leveled my character almost completely solo -- and quite enjoyed it, despite being part of a guild.
Ruben: So, it's really up to what a new WoW player is looking for.
Ruben: There's an accommodation for most every type of game interest. Which in my opinion leads to a game that offers a lot of variety, except everything tastes the same.
Ruben: Although, it's hard to be all things to all people. There is no one game to rule them all (sorry LotR fanboys) --
Derek: yeah -- I like lotr but that doesn't mean I wouldn't get into WOW
Ruben: The most noticeable difference is the graphic 'look and feel'
Derek: what do you guys think is the reason for his dismissal
Ruben: It's hard to swallow when your creation goes from #1 to #3...
Ruben: Although this explanation puzzled me: "pursue his dreams beyond PlayStation and to accelerate his network vision"
Derek: yeah this has got to be a tough one for Sony to swallow.
Derek: it is not easy to "admit" the ship was sinking like this -- or is that what they are doing?
Derek: is the PlayStation 3, as it stands now, a mistake?
Ruben: Only in that in has a shipping crate for a case...
Mike: As it stands now...maybe. There are currently no "must have" exclusives or games, or no real online presence....but if you want an inexpensive Blu-Ray player, this is it
Ruben: And if it's cold, they do make for nice defacto space heaters...
Ruben: But really, give them some time to get more titles out and really put the Xbox 360 to the test.
Ruben: Right now it really is too early. Balk at the price point if you will, but how many people did a double take at the 360's initial cost.
