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Промоакции для игроков не только в шутерах — воспользуйся промокодом Vavada от наших партнеров и получи бонусы, которые подарят азарт и атмосферу, сравнимую с игровыми победами.

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Games I wanna see remade

Reminiscing with Syncaine about Syndicate (that’s a nice pair of Syns) on my previous post reminded me about those games that urgently need to be made again for the enjoyment of today’s spoiled achievement and gamer card generation.

– The aforementioned Syndicate, because it was godly fun. A squad of four cybernetically-enhanced agents packing miniguns in a dense urban area? Sign me up.
– Crusader: No Remorse. Just think of all that property damage riding on top of a modern engine with physics and particle systems. Yum.
– X-COM (Or UFO: Enemy Unknown, depending on which side of the pond you are): Because it was one of the greatest games ever  and pretty much the noble granddaddy of the tactical squad games.
-Paradroid. I don’t expect you whippersnappers to know what I’m talking about, but running around as a robot in a derelict spaceship hacking and assimilating other robots to stay alive was way too much fun.
– System Shock. This one is pretty much self-explanatory. I wouldn’t mind it one bit if someone remade System Shock 2 either.
– Deus Ex. No, don’t tell me about Invisible War. That was a bad sequel. The original Deus Ex was fraggin’ lightning in a bottle that needs to be caught again. At any cost.
– Ultima V. I know I’m getting into tenebrous territory here, but Ultima V was to me one of the high points of the series. I’m not getting into arguments about which one is better.
– Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2. A dark horse in this list. Did everything right, this one. Later installments were hit or miss.
– Carmaggeddon. Good luck getting this done in today’s saccharinized society.
– Supercars 2. An awesome, awesome little top down racer with violent vehicles.
– Transport Tycoon Deluxe. Often imitated, never surpassed.
– Elite. And no, don’t tell me I can play EVE for my Elite fix because it’s not the same and you damn well know it. Also, while I’m at it, I’d just like to mention that Frontier was better than most people gave it credit for. It just had a ton of bugs. Still, remaking Elite (and remaking it properly that is) is a tall order.

I also want my very own magical pony and a Secret of Monkey Island MMO. There, I said it.

Unlockables versus Items

How many mounts do you have or have you had? My Hobbit seems to be collecting ponies, and she does not get rid of them when a new one comes along. She has a Bree pony (low-level, slower), a blonde sorrel (first real mount), a chestnut (faction mount that survives more hits), a gray pony (white horse reward for finishing Volume One), and however many seasonal event ponies she has (plus tokens for more). These will soon be replaced with a Nimble Goat, which can be used in Moria.

I could sell a pony every time I get a better one, but they are ponies. My wife might never forgive me, and maybe today I want to ride a different pretty pony. What I would prefer, rather than having an inventory item for every possible mount, is to have a single mount item or power. When I get a new mount, I get a new option for that single mount. Give me a drop-down menu on my character to set my mount choice. (I am aware that I just asked for a pony menu on my paper doll. You cannot have my man card.) If the mount color is not considered PvP-relevant, I should be able to set the appearance to any mount I have unlocked — separate functionality improvements from appearance options, and leave me all my appearance options.

That is a general principle. As with most appearance issues, City of Heroes does it right. You start with a variety of options for what your sword looks like, and when you get a new option, you get a new sword appearance option on your list rather than a new sword to carry around. You unlock costume pieces through badges, task forces, microtransactions, and veteran rewards.

If you have item sets for each class, make that a deed, accomplishment, badge or whatever you call it. Once you finish the set, you permanently unlock that set appearance. You already have a cosmetic equipment tab, don’t you? Have another option on it: pick a completed item set from this drop-down menu.

Or better yet, everyone start using a system like the City of Heroes costume designer. I am looking forward to what Champions delivers. I still need to see The Chronicles of Spellborn’s version, once my addiction to The Lord of the Rings Onlineâ„¢ Volume Two: Mines of Moriaâ„¢ fades.

: Zubon

More than the sum of its parts

I’m still in a circular mood (360, circular, get it? har har). Got Fable 2 recently just on the strengths of its many positive reviews and because I generally tend to like Peter Molyneux’s games a lot. Yes, even back to Populous. I played it when it came out. I’m old.

Well, it doesn’t disappoint and most of the praise thrown in the game’s direction is well warranted. Fable 2 does a lot of things very right, and a few things wrong. However, the more I play it I’m finding out those wrong things were done wrong essentially because they had no choice. But all in all this is one of those games in which the general feeling of the whole being way more than the sum of its parts is really strong and noticeable.

Thoughts follow.

Continue reading More than the sum of its parts

Hunters as Crowd Control

Yesterday was all about DPS, but Hunters have a secondary function in crowd control. They are a tertiary CC class, but let us look at the toolbox anyway. Hunters have the best rooting options around. They have decent fear, several slows, and minimal mez. Their abilities also require extra planning, setup, communication, or expense.

Rain of Thorns is hard to beat. There is not a lot of area effect crowd control available, and Rain of Thorns is an instant-cast, 30-second AE root at maximum range. It does, however, require a legendary trait and six focus. Continue reading Hunters as Crowd Control

DPS Balance

The Lord of the Rings Onlineâ„¢ Volume Two, Book Seven patch is on test. There is much to discuss, and my heart goes out to Captains, but right now I want to talk about Hunters. Because my main character is a Hunter, and everything is about me me me.

Ranged DPS classes are hard to balance. Turbine has it easier because there is no ranged AE class, but consider the problem. High DPS and long range are both things that get your defenses cut, so the plan is to burn something down before it gets to you. Once it gets to you, your primary defense is a robe, and nothing slows your casting times like being smacked in the face. The ranged DPS class fares relatively poorly against ambushes and unexpected respawns. Your primary defense is to kill it before it can kill you, ideally before it can hit you.

Based on that threshold value, “kill it before it gets to you,” a ranged DPS class is a god or a weakling. Continue reading DPS Balance

Infringement Meme

A comment at The Volokh Conspiracy, pointed me to “Infringement Nation,” a paper discussing the gap between copyright law and our social norms. The part you should go read is IV.A. “Infringement Nation,” which starts on page 8. Due to extensive footnotes, the 1000 words are spread across six pages.

The shorter version is that common activities are technically illegal, and the only things stopping billion of dollars of lawsuits (per person, per year) are good will and the difficulty of enforcement. If you include the text of an e-mail in a reply, that is an illegal reproduction of someone’s original work. If your game or music volume is too loud, that could be an illegal public performance of a copyrighted work.

On one hand, hey, can we track down those jerks who copy others’ blogs to generate faux content around a bunch of ads? Every single post on there is a potential $150,000 offense. How about those jerks who play their car radios loudly enough to rattle your windows? Illegal public performance, clear infringement.

On another hand, how many gaming blogs are posting their sixth screenshots? Did you contact the publisher for permission to reproduce artwork from their game? You are also making a derivative work, and your chat box may show infringement of other players’ copyright in their (short) textual creations. You are also distributing said illegal works, and engaging in contributory infringement by linking to other infringing blogs. Given the web of sites participating, there may be grounds for conspiracy or racketeering charges. That the developers want your free publicity right now does not mean that they have granted you legal permission to violate their copyrights.

Many people take the high ground on not stealing music or engaging in file sharing. Have you considered how you might be “a little pregnant” on violating copyright law?

: Zubon

If you read this post aloud, you created an unapproved derivative work. If someone else was around, you also conducted a public exhibition. Where is my royalties check?

Okay, 6 Makes Sense

I have commented several times that, if you want to fill your deed log, The Lord of the Rings Onlineâ„¢ expects you to run each instance six times. You can tell this by comparing the deed amounts to the number of enemies in the instance.

This is reasonable given that you have a team of six, with one drop at the end. If your team runs one of the hard mode instances six times, everyone has the radiance piece. Surprise, you also get the associated slayer deed. It is a reason to stick around and help others, although it does mean you are committing a solid day of your life to some instances.

This is less reasonable for the three-person instances, but old habits die hard, and they are pretty quick anyway.

: Zubon

DDO Turns 3

Then:

Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach will launch in North America on Tuesday, February 28th, 2006.

Developed by Turbine and published by Atari, Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach is the first and only massively multiplayer online roleplaying game based on the Dungeons & Dragons brand franchise from Wizards of the Coast.

Now:

DDO is celebrating its 3rd Birthday! As part of the celebration, we’re giving out bonus XP and Loot!

Starting this Friday, February 27th, and running through March 1st, DDO Players will gain a 50% XP bonus and +1 tier bonus to loot quality! But the fun doesn’t stop there! Once 50% XP and +1 loot are over with on Sunday March 1st, starting Monday March 2nd, enjoy 10% bonus XP for 2 weeks!

Happy Birthday!

– Ethic