Added by megalowho on Sept. 19, 2008
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This post relates to:
Warhammer Online is alive. What's your experience with the game been so far?
It's good stuff so far, and an MMO I'll likely stick around with for a bit. Lots of classes to experiment with, almost too many, and it'll be a while until I know exactly what I want to play as my main. I'm new to the Warhammer universe and while I'm not enchanted by the overall mood and feel quite the way I was with WOW at first, the game looks to be steeped in lore so hopefully I'll get more into it as I explore and level. Lots to like though. The Tome of Knowledge is something I never knew I wanted in an MMO, it's great. I look forward to taking breaks from combat and checking up on what's been added from time to time. The map and quest log features help to cut out a lot of aimless wandering, which is always welcome.
Last night I had my first memorable RvR experience, very seamless and easy to get into and it really got me looking forward to some larger scale RvR down the road. The public quests have all been fun as well, both these aspects of the game help distinguish WAR from the competition. Even so I really do wish Mythic had tried to innovate a bit more, a lot of the presentation in WAR is by the book MMO stuff and it all can feel a bit familiar. Still it's getting more fun the more I put into it and I'll be going back in shortly to work on an Engineer and a Bright Wizard.
Added by megalowho on Sept. 15, 2008
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So Spore.. yeah. Not so much. I purchased (no pirating here!) and played it quite a bit through the weekend, and after spending some time with the game you can put me firmly in the camp of those who appreciate the ideas behind Spore but find so many faults and missed opportunities in the game that it's hard to enjoy as a whole. The camera control is awkward. The interface is dated and the art direction is just not hitting home for me. And even though Im having fun with Spore at times there's no real hook that keeps me wanting to continue to play the game.
thing #1
It's easy to talk about what Spore is not, considering the concept behind the project is so vast and ambitious. It's not a sandbox game at all, first off. You do similar things to achive your goals in each and every play with very little room for overall creativity. Spore is also not a toy - at least Spore The Game is not. The creature creator is for sure, and the toolset you are given to make creatures, buildings, and vehicles from scratch is very impressive and addicting. But when you get to the game itself you get a very linear, very focused path through the designated stages. The space stage opens things up a bit, to be sure. But once I learned the direcitons the game pushes you in I found no fun in seeing what happened to the creatures I created. Becuase Spore is also not that deep, it's dissapointingly simple. In the Sims you create complex personalities with multiple needs that constantly change. In Spore your species can be either Really Good, Really Nice or Always Trade. And if you mix it up I find it's just a slower experience with no real reward. Civilization IV has dozens of resources that the player can consume, horde, trade, gift, or build with. Spore has two - food in once stage, then spice. And so on and so on.
Most importantly, and most dissapointingly, Spore is not a game about evolution. It's better described as a game about intelligent design. I think it's rather brilliant how Will Wright makes a case for both schools of thought with his game, really. The thing is every decision about your character's evolution, from cellular to fully evolved, is controlled by you directly. What I wanted, and what it looks like a few others did as well, is a game like this based around controlling the environment and variables around your creature - creating different situations that over time induces a more procedural evolution, determining the ultimate outcome of your species' look, personality, ambitions and skills. That is something I could keep coming back to, and I hope a guy like Will Wright makes that game someday as well.
Look, Spore is pretty fun. It should be in every computer lab in every elementary school. And maybe I've just been having fun screwing around with ecosystems in Viva Pinata, which IMO is a better game, and I'm trying to turn Spore into something it's not. But if I had to recommend it to someone my age who plays a decent amount of games, I'd say wait until it's either $20 or we see Spore the MMO expansion or the Evolution expansion hit the shelves.
Added by megalowho on Aug. 17, 2008
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I have a recurring problem with my gaming habit at times, and that is impulse buying things which I know will have little redeeming value in the long run, but god damn I just have to own that shit right now regardless. It happened with the Wii, which I picked up at the Penn Station K-Mart simply because it was there. It happened with a number of XBLA titles like Heavy Weapon, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Soltrio Solitaire (ugh). It happens every time I see a cheap Genesis cart on ebay. And it's about to happen again, and there's little I can do to stop it. I want a PSP and I'd like to get into another MMO.
Nevermind the fact that there's very little I'm actually interested in playing on PSP, and still plenty of worthwhile DS games I could play if I need a portable fix. It doesn't really matter that I have a stack of 360, PC, PS2 and Wii games that need finishing, a few of which even need starting. And it's besides the point that I don't even play games when I travel much anymore, the iPod is much easier to work with on a crowded subway. I'd like a shiny new toy, and for whatever reason the PSP seems to be it. I'll pick one up this afternoon and surely regret it in about a week or so. Probably try my hand at some Monster Hunter Freedom 2, FF Tactics and Crush when I get one. Maybe God of War as well. Bank account what?
Then there's the MMO bug, which has been buzzing around my brain lately. Having a PC has opened many new doors in this regard - as a previous Mac only user I loved my WoW time but can safely say those days are behind me. So why am I looking into Guild Wars, LOTRO and Age of Conan? Do I really care to know what Tabula Rosa is all about? Maybe Warhammer Online could be fun, though I've never been the biggest PvP fan so I'm inclined to hold out and see just what kind of content they're planning on delivering there. I'm sure I'll be dipping my toes into one of those waters soon enough, maybe even fire up my WoW account. And unless I'm presented with something amazing and brilliant it'll be forgotten about soon thereafter.
Things could be worse I suppose, I could lack the disposable income to satisfy my gaming urges. And it'll all go into the collection, so one day I'll look back and be glad I own all this stuff. Anyway right now all I can think about is that cross media bar and some hybrid mage builds I'd like to try, so off I go to Gamestop to see what I can see.
Added by megalowho on July 22, 2008
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Giant Bomb, eh? Not bad, not bad at all. In fact, this has the potential to be a pretty amazing gaming website when all is said and done, whenever that may be. Which is to say never, and the concept behind a site like this is very appealing to me and the main reason I see myself sticking around for the long haul. Start with the proven wiki format for generating massive databases of stuff, fuel it with the zealot enthusiasm that a lifetime of gaming induces from as many users as possible, celebrate everything from the historical to the most inconsequential minutiae, add in a few dashes of social interaction, a fun layout, quality editorial content, stir forever. An army of rabid, internet savvy geeks, rolling the proverbial katamari around, gaining hints of satisfaction as we watch our small contributions combine and give shape to this giant, wonderful hobby that we all have in common.
Not that this is a completely new idea, and as it stands Wikipedia and Google are fine resources for most things that will probably end up here. They serve as a solid reference point for fleshing out Giant Bomb as it is. But once things start to slow down, after the games have been cataloged and the connections established, that's when things will start to get really interesting. Personally I can't wait to write entertaining, in depth articles on here, to the point that I wouldn't dare throw up any old slop without some research and the time to do a topic justice. What I do know is this already feels like a worthwhile place to write about games, learn about games, review my games and hopefully talk about games (as it stands, the forums are wait and see for me. Got to let things cool off a bit, see what kind of community takes shape.)
A bit about me I suppose, I'm a long time Gamespot user (I know there seems to be lots of us floating around, but don't hold it against me! Take my wife, please!), I used to go by the name
Viberooni around those parts. Still do, and I always enjoy browsing the GGD over there. But times change and so do websites, and now here I am. I've been gaming since the mid 80's, I owned a Sega Master System instead of an NES, I love early 90's PC games and I like to think I've become a reasonably intelligent adult at this point, so those are the kind of folks I like chatting up games with. Feel free to add me as a friend if you recognize me or feel the same, I'll do my best to keep this blog interesting if not constantly updated.
Time to edit a few small things, fix up my user page a bit and get some sleep. Here's to the launch of Giant Bomb, may you become the bottomless well of procrastination and general nerdetry that we all see the shining potential for.
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