Monitoring Your Community During the Holidays

Community management is a role that demands 24/7 attention toward the community, especially during the holidays when they are most likely playing your game. What do you do when everyone else is out of the office and you are alone to patrol the player gauntlet?

The reality of the holidays is that they can be as much work for you as normal office hours, at least if you are not prepared remotely. You might be on a team that has no resources to hire either internal or contracted moderators from services like Metaverse Mod Squad. Here are some quick tips and resources for keeping the community in line, and your sanity in check.

Don't Leave Home Without It

The best way to mitigate potential issues and put your mind at ease is to ensure you know who to call, and what tools you need when issues arise. Have these following tools at the ready (keep in mind your company's policy for sensitive hardware and software):

• Contact list of the following individuals:
  • Your direct manager
  • Everyone on your team
  • Other department leads, especially CS, IT, and PR
  • International and other location office main numbers
• Sync with customer service on what you need them to be aware of (known unruly players, reoccurring spam attacks, planned server down times)
• Status of in-progress builds (game, website, and all other active resources)
• Recent and upcoming build notes
• General software you can install on a home computer (your company may provide all full-time remote workers with a computer here)

Your Community Eyes & Ears

Find those reliable community members that can keep you updated when you are busy opening presents. Get them together on a central chat server such as Discord or Skype. This will allow them to discuss potential concerns and instantly communicate them to you.
Especially if your community is large enough, see if there's someone interested to help lead monitoring (but not necessarily moderate) in each of these areas:

• In-game chat and general game server status monitoring
• External chats, including store sourced hubs like Steam
• If an open world game, general in-game wanderers
• Official website and discussion forums
• Social networks like Facebook and Twitter
• Other networks like Reddit, Digg, Instagram, etc.

Preparing For The Worst

Here's a list of scenarios that may happen during the holidays. I've listed them from absolutely going to happen, all the way down to the very unlikely but definitely not impossible.

Consider each of these and who you are going to call if something needs to be dealt with that is beyond the toolset that you have. Make a list, check it twice, then find out who's naughty or nice...

• Player concerns and questions about their game account
• Positive praise of some kind (an immediate response may not be needed, but don't neglect upstanding community members upon returning to the office!)
• Unruly players needing a suspension/ban
• Spam on all social platforms and in the forums
• Game wide peformance issues
• Game/server crash
• Website/registration crash
• Leak of unreleased content
• A dev account was hacked, or someone is impersonating them
• Someone in the company or on your team spills the beans on an unreleased item, or worse, starts an argument with the community on balance or other concerns.

The last item should be impossible, but unfortunately it can happen. Before you leave for the holidays, be sure to fully brief everyone that has posting privileges so they understand what to say, and what NOT to say, to the community! Remind other departments as well of the general policy.

Data Driven Monitoring Tools

Aside from boots on the ground, there are also tools that can help automatically alert you to problems. Subscribing to the following will cover most areas:

• Internal software: In-game, forums, and any official game blogs
• Social networks: Reddit, Twitter, and Facebook as primaries
• Website analytics: Hootsuite, SproutSocial, and Ninja Metrics

If something goes wrong or needs your immediate attention, you will find out on one of these platforms or through your community, even if the issue occurs elsewhere. If time permits though, due check every key area of your community... just in case.

Mobile Is Your Friend

Nearly every tool that you use on your main office computer has a wonderful app you can quickly download to your phone. Both Android and iPhone versions are likely going to be available for:

• Google suite (Docs, Sheets, Calendar, etc.)
• Social Media: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, Vine
• Team Tools: Basecamp, Confluence, JIRA, Trello
• Analytics: Google, Hootsuite, Salesforce, SproutSocial, Topsy, and all social networks

Don't Neglect Dessert!

"I think the line is a lot more fuzzy than it used to be in terms of tools/access. As such, CMs find it harder or are not expected to actually “disengage”, which is healthy for them and their community once in a while." - Nova Barlow, Community Manager

Community can certainly have their cake and eat it too, so know when to take a break. You need time to decompress from the past year's craziness. Community management is stressful enough on a normal day, so take time and enjoy family festivities during the holidays!

To follow more of Mathew's ramblings, visit his website or follow him on Twitter @mathewanderson.

A Primer on eSports Communities

ESPN, a popular sports TV network, aired an eSports event for the first time earlier this year. Some of their viewers balked at seeing kids playing games, instead of their much more serious physical sports players. Regardless of this knee-jerk reaction, the airing was an all-around success, and signaled that eSports is not just a passing fad or a niche game industry term.

The game industry is just starting to push against the notion that sports are only a physical activity. While eSports is similar to your garden variety physical sports on the competitive level, it's all played in electronic form, thus the 'e' part of the name. While you still have the physical component in super-fast mouse clicking reaction times and hotkey presses, eSports games are almost entirely intellectually grounded. Mind over matter truly takes on a new meaning here.

What is an eSports community?

The great thing about sports of any kind is that they brings together players in a fun and competitive environment. This is usually on a reoccurring basis in such a way as to build a community around the players. Everyone is involved and collectively engaged from match to match, season to season. eSports communities are just as involved as traditional sports communities in this regard, they simply play in front of a computer instead of in the stadium (though this is changing too).

An eSports community differs from other online game communities the most for two reason that tend to go hand-in-hand; heightened competition and live broadcast coverage.

Heightened competition is the combination of the player base and game itself both developed around a competitive environment. Nearly all MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) games are of this nature, such as DotA, SMITE, Heroes of the Storm, and League of Legends. Starcraft 2 is another prime example that fits into the RTS genre. There are also FPS games like Unreal Tournament that have this capacity with more genres seeing games developed for eSports every year.

Live broadcast coverage started with pre-recorded matches uploaded to sites like YouTube. Combined with the ever increasing power of computers and faster Internet connections, Twitch and other broadcast services quickly grew in popularity, providing true live action to anyone around the world. Watching online matches is now even easier than your traditional sports event via television.

Building a community from the ground up

Building an eSports community begins with many of the same tools and resources you will build any community by, but with the same above emphasis on competitive play, as well as ensuring that competitive atmosphere doesn't become toxic in the discussion forums and other social areas.

If you are part of a studio looking to build your first eSports community, a few starter ideas and tools will be critical in supporting players looking to both spectate and be spectated. I've listed out some of the more immediate ones below:

Suggested starter tools:

- Pre-emptive rules and guidelines for the entire community
- A subset of these rules with legal backing for tournaments and other competitions
- Additional supplementary rules that focus on mitigating toxic players
- Multiple moderating tools both on the website proper, and in-game
- Livestreaming website (Twitch or YouTube are prime choices)
- Livestreaming software (OBS or XSplit are good choices)
- Preferably two shoutcasters (not necessarily from the community dev team)
- Programs that engage the wider community from the core competitive players
- A thick skin when things get ugly or go horribly wrong (which they will)
- Support by the studio to empower you to do all of the above, including a recording space

Recognizing community leaders

Expect community members of all types to be participating in the forums, on Reddit, and other social networks you've established. While forum trolls are always going to be right around the corner waiting for an opportunity to disrupt the community, so too will the more positive community members that want to help make it grow. These other members are the ones you want to empower.

Recognizing toxic players

Toxic players are those that either intentionally or inadvertently cause problems for the rest of the community. Not only that, but the behavior can quickly go viral and cause others that would not normally exhibit such behavior to become toxic themselves.

Select examples of toxicity:

- Attempting to corral other players to promote a negative message to others.
- Shouting profanities toward players, regardless of direct intent toward another player.
- Calling out new players in a way that excludes them from being part of the community.
- Continually dropping out of games, feeding points to the opposing team, or otherwise disrupting the normal flow of gameplay.
- Any other type of behavior that doesn't promote a positive community response.

As long as you have the tools above and an experienced community team ready to handle toxicity, your community will grow. Keep in mind though that toxicity may never entirely go away. Having the tools to manage it with the community recognizing that you have the power to handle it, is what's most important.

The eSports future is bright

The industry is starting to see eSports spectatorship that goes back to what gets fans of traditional sports communities so excited; the live stadium. More room is made every year at events like PAX, gamescom, and Tokyo Game Show for eSports tournaments.

Whether players are competing in a physical showdown in real life, or virtually between their minds and the more than occasional press of the mouse button, is all indifferent to the results of the event. It's a sport, and that's what counts... including the final score of course.

A fun little fan art project

I love games from the family-friendly Monopoly board game, to the dark and gritty Hello Kitty Online Adventures (kidding). While my work and passion focuses on Real-Time Strategy (RTS) and Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) games at the moment, I get a lot of excitement out of others genres as well, such as the core of my career in Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG). Turn-Based Strategies (TBS), First-Person Shooters (FPS) and Simulation (think SimCity) are other favorite genres.

As a community manager at work and a guild member at night, I can't stop creating and sharing content for these games I am having a joy at playing. I don't have enough fingers to count how many upcoming games I am looking forward to, but three in particular are striking my fancy with one I had recently created a fan art piece for, Shroud of the Avatar:

After taking awhile to get around to getting into the game again, I've been playing Starcraft II and Diablo III. I am also highly looking forward to Sony Online Entertainment's EQ Next MMORPG. There are others, but this is a blog, not a diary :).

So many games, so little time!

Attending the Largest Game Guild Conference in the World

I recently wrote a post on Gamasutra about my attendance to the yearly guild convention, SyndCon. The convention is put on every year in a different city by the MMORPG gaming guild, The Syndicate. They are the only guild that I know of that has lasted over 15 years and have a consistent member base of over 500 players between Ultima Online and World of Warcraft.

I've attended the last three conventions and am a close friend to many of the guild members. They prefer to call me by my last name, 'Mr. Anderson'. It's stuck for good I think to my place in their history. In getting closer to the guild over the years, I finally made the plunge and officially joined them in a right of honor at SyndCon 2013.

Visit Gamasutra to read the entire blog post and my experience at the guild convention. If you want to learn more, you can signup to the guild at llts.org.

Go LLTS!

MMO, G, RPG, Single Player, Multiplayer...

Acronyms... they have the power shorten our sentences and get a point across much quicker than using complete phrases. The troubles is, acronyms have this nasty habit of being misinterpreted, placed out of context, or simply used at the wrong time.

Game acronyms are fairly consistent, except for those darn online game acronyms. Which ones should be used? Here are my views as to the limits of these acronyms. First, The individual letters and what they stand for:

M = Massive or Massively
M = Multiplayer
O = Online
R = Role
P = Play or Playing
G = Game

Most often we see "Roleplaying" as one word, which is appropriate enough in most situations. So the "O" and "R" are really to be considered one word. Should we be using "MMORPG" all the time though? Not always. Here are those games that qualify as "MMORPGs":

* Ultima Online
* EverQuest
* Star Wars Galaxies
* World of Warcraft
* Lord of the Rings Online
* ... (and many others)

MMORPG is the term used for the tightest focus in online games. Take away the RP and you have games like The West or Hello Kitty Online. Take away Massive and you have games like Guild Wars or Neverwinter Nights. Take away the Multiplayer and you have a single player game. Take away 'online' and you have a LAN game at best.

Roleplaying is associated with online games that have the opportunity to act out a character beyond simply showing off an avatar. There has to be some interactive feedback with other live persons and their characters. Otherwise you're simply playing a game... not roleplaying.

What are some games that are NOT MMORPGs? How about I list a few that are sometimes thought of as MMORPGs, but are not:

* Guild Wars - (Even though a lot are playing it, they are not playing it at the same time in one location, ever... it's all instanced, no persistent world truly exists, thus NOT an MMO of any kind, but simply an online game).

* Diablo - Same exact overall concept as Guild Wars. The only thing Guild Wars expands upon is the ability to stand idle around town with more people.

* Neverwinter Nights - A multiplayer game only. This one is farthest from any MMO concept you'll ever see. Some consider it an MMO, and even an online game, which is a complete joke and are neither. Is an Internet game of Quake an online game? No.

A massive multiplayer online game isn't a game where you connect with your buddies across the Internet, but no one else can pop in or out of the game world at will.

A massive multiplayer online game is a world that always exists and has elements that are NOT instanced, more than just the town centers like you see in Guild Wars.

A massive multiplayer online game consists more than just your immediate friends. While numbers can be debated, a game which allows only 24 individuals on a a time is NOT massive.

Guild Wars is most interesting, as I would consider it a Hybrid Online Game, or a "HOG" for short. The key within all of these acronyms is the 'Massive' term more than any others. 'Massive' only counts if you can connect with a lot of players at one time, or it's not massive in any way.

I hope I helped clarify anyone's doubts about what 'MMORPG' and other terms really mean. While these are purely my opinions, as no one has the law on terminologies, I think I have a reasonable enough set of guidelines to help anyone not sure when to use them. Feel free to convince me otherwise though!

Following the MMO content release strategy

This is the kind of content strategies I like to see in non-mmo games, like Fallout 3:

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6201670.html?tag=latestheadlines;title;1

What we're beginning to see in all genres is increasing support for regularly updated and newly introduced content. I'm not talking about the periodic, once a year expansion you go to the store to purchase, if a game provides any new content at all. I'm talking about the kind of regular updates you see in MMOs on a monthly or even weekly basis.

With services like STEAM and console connectivity to the Internet, it is becoming more "fluid" in how we obtain and update our games. This works the other way as well in how the developers are able to provide us with fresh content at minimal cost. I can't count the times I've spoken with developers about their previous games and how they wished they could go back and provide new content for those that still play them.

I'm sure Indie developers are praising these services for their ever expanding reach into markets that were previously off limits because of exorbitant marketing costs.

The only thing I am concerned with in this model is the continual burying of fantastic games that simply don't get the market visibility they deserve. While providing product lists and easier methods of retrieval direct from the Internet surely helps everyone out, it is still up to marketing to ensure that the game is visible on these lists in some strategic, yet sensible form.

"Never judge a book by its cover". Who thought of that phrase anyway? While I do not exclusively judge a book by its cover, I have a high chance of passing it up if the title is confusing or seriously conflicts with the vague and blurry graphics on the front. And you can guarantee I won't pick it up without an obvious title, no matter how mysterious it is supposed to stand out.

It's really too bad developers often don't get a chance to revisit classic games that still have an audience. Yet another win for Indie developers I think.

Fallout 3 = FPS/RPG = FAIL

Fallout 3 is a fantastic game overall. It has a lot of detailed RPG elements that transition relatively smoothly in a FPS system. The problem is that some of them are so blatantly bad you can't relax and enjoy the rest of the game. The saying goes, "It only takes one to ruin it for everyone else." 10/10? Hardly, 9/10? Maybe, 8/10? Yeah, I could go for that ratio in how good the game is overall.

I am getting sick and tired of reviews that are so biased they can't see beyond their own paychecks. Take a look at magazine reviews from ten years or more ago and see the quality and depth they provide (as well as the porn advertisements on the back). What happened?! What business do these reviewers have in giving a game a 10/10 when you have inconsistencies like this happening?:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIEqcRtVVpk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iHjfVYbgIU

If you'll notice carefully, the enemy took over twenty bullets to the HEAD even after the shooter buffed up everything he had! One could argue that "It's just a game!", but that doesn't cut it, quite frankly. If the designers couldn't figure out a better system for such an unrealistic situation, I'm definitely not giving this game a 10/10, even if there were good reasons behind the decision.

Sure, a lot of games' characters take a beating unrealistically, but this is blatantly BAD. Check this out to wrap up my point:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/282542.html

Yeah... some designer missed the mark big time in that one. Things like this make me think about what goes through designers minds at this stage of gameplay. Do they even PLAY their game after designing it, ever going "Hmm, that seems odd..." in the slightest? This tells me not, and this is just one of a few blatant examples in the game of missing the realism mark.

Again, I love the game overall, except for these little "bumps" in the realism road. I see too much of this in movies and other situations that really make you wonder how much they notice these things in-house, or if they do notice them, what the reasons are for not resolving them. There is always a reason I'm sure... no more development money, timetables, marketing, not enough sleep...

Game Review 005: Braid

PROLEGOMENAN

Every year it seems like there are fewer games out on the market that truly stimulate, excite, and even shock those who play them for the first time. It often takes several years to develop a game with a rich atmosphere like that found in the Diablo series of RPGs. The risks are high and the rewards uncertain, especially for Indie developers, even with a good team and solid scope. Several types of genres will on occasion bring about these fresh perspectives gamers desire, from first person shooters, turn based strategies, racing, and of course RPGs.

I have discovered a unique game on Xbox Live that truly excited me from the moment I saw it, to the very end-game gameplay. I can safely say that no game has done this in over a year now, and quite possibly never quite to the level that Braid has done. While there are components to the game that resemble those of Mario World, you quickly move past common themes to those that fill yourself with imagination as you race to solve each puzzle, quite literally. In the end I still don't give it a 10/10, where you'll see why shortly.

GRAPHICS, SOUND, INTERFACE

You will immediately note the beautiful splendor that is the Braid world. It is a world not made of realistic colors, nor of candy textures as World of Warcraft is made of as I like to call them. Braid is a world of vibrant yet pleasing colors and textures that look exactly like they were painted with a handbrush, from the flowers on the grassy ground to the multi-colored sun in the sky. Braid sets you about in a world of pleasant scenery that wraps itself around music you could fall asleep too.

There have been some really annoying games I've played when it comes to music and sound effects. It doesn't take much to overdue this very critical component of gameplay, yet more often than not you see games that should have a light piano sound and instead come with a rock band singing something straight out of a rapper groups album. All game elements must be in harmony or one begins to notice flaws about each individual component, and eventually ignores the point of playing the game altogether!

Braid has a theme you wouldn't quite expect, but does it right. As with the happy world feeling, you are greeted with pleasant piano, violin and other orchestra sounds that are just enough to complete the world without sounding harsh or disrupting. This is especially important in a game that requires a sharp focus in completing puzzles and advancing through difficult objectives. What's more annoying when concentrating than harsh sounds, kids yelling in the background, dishes crashing on the floor... you get the idea.

As for the interface, nothing too special here as the game is using Xbox 360's proprietary control. Forward, backward, jump, menu, etc., all have their places on the game pad. You are even given a brief in-game tutorial that helps guide you through some of the basic commands, including one very special command that no other game has yet implemented -- time reverse and forward action buttons. The tutorial is a subtle but to the point, reflecting a bit of the puzzle-like attitude that the game is based upon.

GAMEPLAY

That's right, you are given control over the flow of time, an essential component to the game that is at the very heart of the gameplay and how you will manage to solve some of the most challenging, yet fun puzzles I've personally seen in a console game for some time now. Time is also not only part of the gameplay but part of the story. If you can conceive of moving backwards in time to reverse actions you've previously made that produce a net forward effect, you have a start at understanding the Braid world.

Moving backwards in time has two essential functions when completing puzzles and advancing through the game world. The first is that of error correction. Let's say you made a mistake, died when hitting a creature, or some other event that you wish to reverse. If only in the real world we could reverse time and start fresh. In most games you can simply hit the reset button, but in Braid you simply hit the reverse time button (or hit the reset button anyway if you really want to)!

The second is of puzzle solving. Moving backwards in time is often essential in adjusting the scene to ensure it is at a point where you can complete a puzzle properly. For example, often times you will be forced to jump off a cliff to retrieve a key. The only way to get back up is to reverse time, keeping the key with you as you reverse. There's a hint in there for those that play Braid and wonder what the special green sparkly items are for versus those that don't have that effect...

WRAPPING UP

I love puzzles, so any puzzle game is a bonus for me when I can get my hands on it. Combine that type of gameplay with beautiful graphics, pleasing music and sound effects that don't disrupt your concentration, and a storyline that interweaves nicely with the gameplay and you have at least one happy customer.

The only caveat I have with the game is that as you advance through the puzzle worlds you are forced to use the reverse time feature so much it almost becomes a distraction in itself. Imagine trying to solve a puzzle by constantly reversing time and moving forward over hundreds of attempts to get a sequence of objectives completed just right. Everything reverses, including the music, and as a result your ability to focus on the task at hand quickly is lost in frustration.

My respect for the developers grew ten-fold when I realized the game was developed not from some huge studio with millions of dollars in funding, but from a small independent group that simply wanted to make a different kind of game than was ever seen before. They certainly accomplished their goals and I think exceeded their expectations for such a successful Indie product as.

PROS:

- Unique time reversal gameplay with challenging puzzles
- A storyline that interweaves directly with the gameplay
- Graphics and music that are pleasing to the eyes and ears
- Cheap and quick to access over Xbox Live

CONS:

- Advanced puzzles require too many frequent time reversal adjustments
- A relatively short game after you understand its mechanics
- Only available on Xbox Live

FINAL OVERALL RATING

8/10

My 2008 Christmas game wish list

1. Fable II

While I'll be forced to play this on the Xbox360, the game is set to be a fantastic sequel to Fable and Fable: The Lost Chapters. It is an action role-playing game that has similarities in a much more complex setting from games like The Sim. I just hope the vast exploration opportunities don't lend themselves to a lack of item acquisition along the way.

2. Far Cry 2

A sequel to the fantastic first-person shooter Fry Cry, Fry Cry 2 "almost" goes the way of those millions of World War II games that just don't stop coming out. While the original game had a scientific theme to it, I'm worried that Far Cry 2's more "realistic" theme will set it up as just another war shooter. At least it's in Africa this time, which should make this a bit more interesting.

3. Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3

As expansive as any series has ever been, Command & Conquer has inspired my real-time strategy urges since I can remember. I believe the first time I touched a C&C was around 1998. As with previous premises of the series, time machines and altering of World War historical events is the theme with C&C: Red Alert 3. I love the series, but each game that comes out feels relatively the same as previous. We'll see how this one changes the series, if any. Still, I'm hopeful.

4. Prince of Persia

Another awesome series, the Prince of Persia games take you on a journey through the Persian landscape in the middle-east, with you playing the Prince throughout his alcoholic, girl seeking adventures in the hot desert. What I love about this game is the crazy stunts and acrobatic tricks the Prince can do as you guide him through some pretty fantastic challenges. Add a sprinkling of magic and humor to the game and it's a great bit of adventurous fun. At least I hope this new sequel will be like the previous games in the series in this way.

5. Fallout 3

I'll get my hands on any role-playing game these days, especially when it's in a post apocalyptic scenario. The last game in the series was made almost a decade ago, so the hype to complete this awesome isometric gameplay of Fallout 1 and 2 is at its peak for me right now. However, Fallout 3 is going to be more of a 3D perspective, much like the roaming RPG that Elder Scrolls series is set in. I love the series as well, so if Fallout 3 has this expansiveness too, this will be a great buy.

6. Damnation

I love playing games that display alternate versions of the United States and what may have come about if things were just a bit different than they had turned out in our universe. What is particularly intriguing about Damnation is the way they turn a first-person shooter into some fun and complex gameplay. The terrain is varied and complicated, leading to having to incorporate strategy into advancing through areas, not just mowing down enemies.

Another interesting aspect of Damnation is its gun slinging cowboy style combined with some fantastic 3D graphics. I've been viewing screenshots of some of the areas you'll be able to adventure in and may find this more simply an adventure than a first-person shooter.

A good review is unbiased

As I sat in the plane on the way to Austin... well, it was headed to LA, where I connected with a flight to Denver, where I once again connected to a flight that this time actually flew me to Austin. Austin Game Developers Conference was soon to start and I was ready to greet the conference with my fortitude in one hand and a business card in the other.

I was writing the last few pages in my book on the plane, which is also about computer games, when I realized the book was actually almost complete. As I had written in a previous blog, it sometimes it is difficult to actually finish a project. What overshadowed that concern now was the excitement that I would be completing another item off my checklist of items to do in my life.

Taking a brief break, as I wasn't used to the physical writing, I took out the only good magazine available on the plane, the first edition of (insert game magazine name here) that I had brought with me. The magazine is for massive multiplayer online game readers. Flipping through the pages, I came to the Warhammer Online section after quickly passing by Age of Conan. I knew enough about AoC and I was currently a community manager for WAR, so was particularly interested in what the writer had to say about the game I have been watching for the past three years.

The magazine was put together fantastically, yet I can't help but feel I missed something in the review of the Warhammer Online article. Something that I most definitely caught while reading about Age of Conan. It wasn't until I had my Quiznos sub in the Denver airport that it dawned on me. Nothing is perfect, and yet this article essentially made out WAR as if it was the second coming. Too bad the game isn't quite getting the level of publicity that AoC received, a game that has so many problems it's a miracle there aren't more fans leaving it than there already are.

WAR isn't perfect, but when I read reviews that don't cover a game in a balanced perspective, I begin to worry. Take a look at magazine reviews from ten years ago, and while they were sometimes biased as well, it was often with at least some good criticism that made you realize the game had limitations. Articles, whether you find them online, in a book, or in a magazine, just aren't the same quality and depth as they used to be.

As far as WAR is concerned, I don't care how much I love the game I still want to know all the negative elements about it. Without understanding the negatives that need to be included in reviews, the game will do its own job of turning me off once I play it. (insert game magazine name here) is a great magazine, but it shows trends in the industry that we should really be looking at changing.

Warhammer Online at PAX 2008

Every show has surprises. A surprise for me at PAX 2008 were two MMOs that I didn't even knew existed before arriving at the show and seeing their booths and games on display. Yes, even an MMO buff such as myself cannot know of each and every MMO in today's marketplace. Sad, but true. Alright, I'll give everyone a hint... one of the MMOs has the letter 'a' and 'n' in it. And no, I am most certainly not referencing W a rh a mmer O n li n e.

My appointment was for 3:30pm, but I arrived about a half hour earlier to see if I could grab a spot on one of the demo computers while waiting. I stood in a strategic spot watching two of the demo stations at the same time. One had a smaller kid attempting to play the game, but failing miserably because he seemed like he was more interested in how the controller was designed than the actual gameplay. The other station had two older teenagers yelling at each other over where to go in the game. After a while, I was about to politely ask the smaller kid to check out another booth, when the two teenagers suddenly stopped yelling and walked away. I heard the trailing one say, and I quote, "It's just World of Warcraft, what is your problem?"

"It's just World of Warcraft"... what?! For starters, World of Warcraft borrowed elements from the Warhammer universe. So to set things straight once and for all, and to be nice to each game's sources, they simply compliment each other. By the time the drama at the two stations had dissipated, it was 3:40pm. I was introduced to Carrie and a few other team members. They took me through lush forests, rolling plains, and creepy underground chambers, many of which I had not yet seen in the public beta version of the game. This is not to say they weren't in there, but from what I can tell the graphics of WAR, on the whole, are leaps and bounds beyond WOW (in realism), and I would also say beyond their previous efforts in Dark Age of Camelot.

Carrie was extremely helpful in showing me the more mechanical components of the game. If anyone is coming from World of Warcraft, you will be glad to know that WAR will support a lot of user generated content, specifically centered around the user interface. This is all based on a Lua/XML API, much like WOW. Another thing I love about WAR, and that was shown in the demo on several occasions, are the public quests. Sharing each others' accomplishments and working together on a common goal is what excites me about MMOs. Public quests allow you to do this on a level that gives you some control over whether you want to meet those you're helping, or remain in your own area away from everyone else.

One of the things I still wasn't clear about is what the developers did with the other four capital cities during their recent content cut announcement. Carrie showed me that instead of removing the cities entirely from the game, they have been shifted as an object of commerce to an object of realm vs. realm, scenario based combat. The developers were actually more excited about the results of the change than the way it was previously established. There is still complete RvR combat for each of the army pairs. The capital cities are a focus of capture, with the fighting being taken right into the cities themselves.

Warhammer Online has been through four E3's, starting in 2005, has had booths setup at the past few Gen Cons, GDCs, and of course at PAX. Being able to collectively view all of this, I can see how everything has matured with the game since the very beginning, including the confidence in the developers who presented it to me. Everything is in place, the pieces of the puzzle are glued together, and now we have a picture that speaks not a thousand words, but just one. Waaagh!

Game Review 004: Rise of Nations

PROLEGOMENAN

With many ground-breaking games we see expansions and clones from other companies that attempt to duplicate what was original and unique about that first iteration of success. This applies to any genre, especially first person shooters, but also just as much to real time strategy games. While Age of Empires was an original in its own right, it came from a successful series that eventually spawned an evolutionary product, Rise of Nations. I love when expansions help to create a better game, but it’s truly exciting to see new games successfully build upon their predecessors. Rise of Nations has done just that.

GAMEPLAY

Rise of Nations reinvigorates the entire genre, including its own predecessors, because it brings together the RTS and turn-based strategy genres into one gameplay experience. While Age of Empires was exclusively RTS, Rise of Nations adds just a bit of TBS, which creates a healthy complexity to the game. TBS strategy comes into play when you choose where you are positioned on the world map in comparison to your enemies, much like more action-oriented combat games are setup. This gives you breathing room when plotting initial strategies, instead of only knowing where you are located on the map when the game first starts.

The largest difference in Rise of Nations compared to previous games in the genre, is the way you manage your civilization’s infrastructure under a new constrained type of system. Previously, Age of Empires let you happily build any building where you sought fit, within reason. You couldn’t build a barracks on the water, but you could place it right in the middle of your enemy’s territory, if you could manage to get through their defenses. Rise of Nations changes this with management limits on just about everything you produce, especially when it comes to building placement rules.

Town centers are still the heart of any area of production, but you can only build so many of each type of building around each town center. Also, in order to expand and build more towns and produce better items within these buildings, you have to research “Tiers” of advancement. In contrast to Age of Empires, there are not just one but five separate technological categories. For example, if you wish to advance your military to beef up defenses against an oncoming onslaught, you have to research the next military tier. Of course this takes time and resources, so you have to ensure which upgrades you want are best for that moment of development.

Someone might look at these limits as too restrictive, but I find it rather fun and an overall enjoyable experience that really adds to the gameplay. Sometimes having too many choices can be a bad thing. In Age of Empires I’d often find I had built way too many farms, had way too many citizens cutting down trees, or too many military units that were doing nothing but polishing their swords. With Rise of Nations, I knew I couldn’t go over a certain limit for each category, and when I was overproducing something it was easier to identify what could be cut back, without cutting back too much.

GRAPHICS, SOUND, INTERFACE

Graphics are much better than much older games like Age of Empires. The trouble with assessing graphics in an RTS is the viewing perspective. Unless there are serious issues that should have been resolved before release, graphics aren’t as high of a priority in this genre versus first person shooters, or any full 3D game for that matter. Rise of Nations doesn’t impress me, nor disappoint me. Its graphics simply fit within the advances you typically see in RTS games produced today. The same goes for sound. Everything is as you should expect it, no surprises or disappointments, although the voice commands are a rather hilarious improvement over Age of Empires. Type 100 for the voice commands and you will see what I mean :).

The interface is one of the best features in terms of visual quality for the game. You’ll have no trouble identifying important elements on the world map, as well as navigating through the menu system placed along the edges of the screen. It is much like Age of Empires and other RTS games, but with its modern graphics enhancements, it has an easier to understand interface that helps you along the way when learning where you can and cannot expand your empire. Many players will argue that the interface is what makes an RTS game successful over similar games. You only need to look at Age of Empires III's horrendous first build of their UI to understand how it can completely disrupt gameplay if not designed well.

WRAPPING UP

With the new innovated restrictions in building management in place, Rise of Nations is a much more interesting gameplay experience than past games like Age of Empires. You now have more time to focus on expansion strategies and how to best dominate your opponent, instead of worrying about having too many woodcutters on a particular stretch of forest, or too many farms around a town center. You’ll need this extra time when playing the AI on hard, as I’ve found the AI to be exceptional in its strategy when compared to many other RTS games where their AIs, while perhaps difficult at first, are much more predictable towards the end-game.

The AI, graphics, and other gameplay elements have all been tweaked and streamlined in order to ensure a proper gameplay balance. Playing any of the civilizations is a rewarding experience. In Age of Empires balance was a bit more of an issue in some cases, as civilizations like the “Huns” were found with little advances in the later part of the game, which led to many multiplayer games being played without them. There are advantages and disadvantages for each civilization in Rise of Nations, but as long as you know how to play them the balance issues aren’t as severe.

PROS:

- Adds a lot of strategic gameplay through the new restrictions
- City border limits add diplomatic strategy not possible with Age of Empires
- The sound, graphics, and user interface combine into a comfortable gameplay experience that doesn’t distract.

CONS:

- Lacks a story campaign that so many other RTS games emphasize
- As interesting as the gameplay is, I am beginning to tire of RTS games that don’t provide completely new and fresh content, not just rule differences.

FINAL OVERALL RATING

9/10

My history playing video games from: Codemasters

This is the first article in a series reflecting upon my history in playing video games. The way I wanted develop these articles is not through individual games or their series, but through the companies that are behind those games. Many games that we play are often the result of a dedicated team that has produced dozens of games throughout the years. What better way for me to write about my game experiences than to summarize them into as logical of a category as their respective companies. The first company I am starting with happens to be one of the oldest, named Codemasters.

Back in the early 90s while sitting in my living room playing Super Mario Bros. on the NES console system, I remember my friend Eric knocking on the door and come rushing in with a large bag that he promptly threw down next to me. He seemed hardly concerned with my efforts at playing the game as I attempted to listen to him about some sort of new console gadget that he wanted me to try. The first thing that came into my mind was a joystick for Duck Hunt, but I was wrong.

He pulled out of the bag what looked to be about the size of another game cartridge. I reluctantly paused Super Mario Bros. as I stared at the new box in his hand that looked rather unremarkable and didn’t excite me one bit. He turned to the NES console lying on the floor, resetting it, which of course reset my game progress from the past hour. However, intrigue quickly spread across my face as he connected the Super Mario Bros. cartridge to the new device, which then plugged into the NES console itself. He had my attention now!

What he brought with him wasn’t another game, but a game assistant of sorts. It was called the Game Genie (previously known as the “Power Pak”). It allowed you to enter in codes that modified the core programming of the game, which gave you the ability to cheat your way through or to enhance the game in various other ways. We quickly discovered that the Game Genie codes we entered usually made the game unplayable, rather than enhancing it. But that was our fault for entering in random codes when the Game Genie codebook that he brought with (that we didn’t read initially) had proper codes included.

This was the beginning of my game experiences with Codemasters (at the time known as “Code Masters”). It all started with games that I twisted to my will using the Game Genie system and then quickly grew to such classic games as the Dizzy series, later on the Colin McRae Rally series, Operation Flashpoint, and many others that are still continuing to see sequels. Codemasters has had a long and rewarding development path that has lead to the extremely fun MMORPG, Lord of the Rings Online, to which I am currently a community manager at the Allakhazam Network.

I used to actually work for Codemasters in a support role through Alchemic Dream, LLC. Until the Alchemic Dream position I hadn’t realized the complete development history behind Codemasters and that I had played so many games created by them. I have since been exploring additional games created by the company and have come to both love and hate a large collection of them. Some of my favorites are DiRT, GRiD, Operation Flashpoint, and Overlord.

As seems to always be the case, there were a few that didn’t excite me so much, such as ArchLord and TP: Fall of Liberty (TP stands for “Turning Point”, btw). TP: Fall of Liberty was a rather typical shooter that sported rather long load times and a storyline that I found a bit hard to follow at times. ArchLord is much of the same in the repetitive department, but goes above and beyond this in duplicating a lot of MMORPG aspects, without the “O”, which stands for “online”. It a single or multiplayer “offline” game, and when things become repetitive in games you can only share with your immediate friends or small groups, it becomes boring fast.

Alongside those that I found less than stellar, they all remain classics, where many are still in my game library today.

Game Review 003: Diablo Series

PROLEGOMENAN

Fewer and fewer newer games out on the market continue to stimulate, excite, and even shock those who play them for the first time. It often takes several years to develop a game with a rich atmosphere like that found in the Diablo series of RPGs. Several types of genres will on occasion bring about these fresh perspective gamers desire, from first person shooters, turn based strategies, racing, and of course RPGs. Blizzard is one such company with the dedication and talent to create a truly unique game that sets it apart from the rest.

GRAPHICS, SOUND, INTERFACE

Set in a classic magical medieval environment, Diablo uses an isometric top down view which lets you walk around a 3D like world without using up vast amounts of computer power for the graphics as you would find in games like EverQuest or many FPS or MMORPGs (with the exception of World of Warcraft). Most Diablo enthusiasts will confirm this simply by the resolution settings. The games are beautiful in all their visual aspects, and the sound effects create a complete setting wherever you are in the game.

However, with Diablo 2 for instance, you are only able to run the video resolution up to 800x600. Until recently, the lack of graphics detail has often been one of the pitfalls of games (for those that cared more about the graphics than the gameplay anyway). Even though players often will explore games based on the story and depth, you still have a vast majority that look for the visual effects before anything else. If Diablo didn't have such a simple and unique gameplay style, the detail of those graphics and other interface settings would have damaged its potential that it has secured over the years.

Take Neverwinter Nights for example. A game similar in concept and perspective as Diablo, but with vastly updated graphics. The reason it hasn't gained quite as much status as Diablo is because some games which are simplistic and first to be at the idea, often turn into classics. This is what happened with Diablo, and will continue to do so with the third installment in the series due to be released sometime in the next year or two.

The interface is simple enough to use that you just click your way around the game world. A shortcut keyboard layout is provided for those wishing to speed things up even more. Players have no trouble locating objects lying on the ground or identifying buildings up ahead. In fact, as you journey around the world an overlay map shows you areas you've recently discovered. One gripe that I have about this radar map concept is that it does not provide enough detail for the areas that you've already explored. Terrain detail, monster detail, and areas-of-interest information would be a welcome addition to the radar map. Clutter can become a concern here, however, simply adding "turn off" options would help to solve this problem.

GAMEPLAY

Blizzard always sets you in an amazing storyline that encourages you to play their games from start to finish. Diablo is one of those games that creates a story that is simple enough to understand, but complex enough to really make you feel a part of the world and its characters. As you progress through the levels, end monsters unfold a plot that propels you to the next level of exploration. When you reach key points you will often know what to do next and what to expect. This is important in a game. You don't want your players to wander around forever looking for items simply because you want to make it "difficult". The worst mindset for a player to be in is when he is confused about what level or mission he is on! Make the mission itself difficult if you have to, not how to get to that mission. Progression through the world should be fun and challenging, not tedious and repetitive.

While Diablo aims at a clear direction and simple choices overall, it does provide some welcome twists to this paradigm. A unique map generation system effectively changes each area every time you log on to play. While it doesn't change it to the point where you become completely disoriented, it still brings about enough of a change to be stimulating, for a short while. This should continue with the third installment, adding even more detail than ever before due to (I hope) graphics details higher than the 800x600 previously set in Diablo 2. The game series is aging as it is now over eight years old. Fans of the franchise would love to see a sequel, and after this much time Blizzard is finally set to deliver.

Some recommendations that I would like to see in Diablo 3 that are different from previous Diablo games are:

*Updated system capabilities with resolution choices you see in game like Neverwinter Nights.

*Maps that allow you to change your view from isometric to third person or even first person views.

*A world that is longer lasting than the current Diablo 2.

WRAPPING UP

The one reason Diablo 2 is still popular is because of its easy-to-play mentality, much like you see in World of Warcraft and later Blizzard games. Players will often play through areas over and over simply to gain levels with their buddies. While this is fun for awhile, it becomes tedious because you end up seeing the same areas over and over again. A better map generation system would provide an expansion to the world without adding on tons of manpower as you see it in continuous games such as many MMORPGs are using.

While Diablo 3 is still far off on the horizon, I don't mind going back to the original series' games and playing through them once in awhile. Sometimes newer games aren't better than older ones, and I am reserving judgment on whether or not Diablo 3 will be able to deliver enough to satisfy those dedicated fans of the franchise, without turning them off while appeasing to the new generation of gamers that want more hack-and-slash and less in depth gameplay.

PROS:

- As yet unchallenged unique gameplay experience
- Expansive maps that change slightly each time you play through them
- A simple yet diverse enough set of characters to choose from
- An interface that allows you to fight through tons of creatures without becoming overwhelmed with too many shortcut keys to deal with.
- The sound, graphics, and overall atmosphere combine into a very pleasing gameplay experience.

CONS:

- Graphics resolution are extremely low and don't offer the best detail
- Make sure you have a good connection for battle.net. It's free, but not the fastest online gameplay service around.
- Saving gameplay is limited, as you have only "waypoints" instead of a "save wherever" feature.

FINAL OVERALL RATING

9/10

Cheating in an online game, offline

We all play games for a variety of reasons. Some of us may be inclined to play to explore virtual world environments, discover lost treasures from some ancient civilization, socialize with friends from around the world, compete in a tournament, or blow off some steam after a hard days work at the office. Whatever the reason, games allow us to fulfill many of our fantasies that the real world prohibits us from realizing. In rare cases they may also challenge us intellectually, if the developers are savvy enough to add these elements into the gameplay.

A few days ago I was watching one of my friends play World of Warcraft. I also play WoW, but I'm a more casual player due to my interests tied to other MMORPGs at the moment (namely Warhammer Online). While watching him run around the world, I began to notice a difference in the surroundings than from what I remembered while playing. First, he was walking much faster than he should have been. There were also no other players around besides him and his buddy, what-so-ever. MMOPRGs, even during off-peak hours, will produce a crowd in the most congested areas, such as banks and auction houses.

I asked my friend what he was doing, and why there were no others around. He was playing on a private server, of course! I should have seen the signs earlier, but I never thought my long-time friend would play on such a server. You see, these private servers are entire MMORPG game worlds wrapped up into one package you and your friends can play on, completely isolated from the public masses that generally inhabit the servers you normally would play on. My friends seem to enjoy it, so I set out in joining one of these private servers to see what the rage was all about.

After playing for several days, I have come to the careful and fully thought out conclusion, that private servers are an 70 percent waste of time. I do not go all the way to 100 percent because there is a nostalgic quality about them, and I can see for WoW specifically the wish to get away from the underage crowd that needs some serious lessons in online gameplay etiquette. If the real servers were to be shut down, it is great to have these private server capabilities to help one remember the "good old times". They are also free.

The entire point of playing online games is the very fact that they are online, which naturally means that others will also be playing these games. They aren't single player, nor are they 8-player multiplayer games either. I've seen my friend with a bunch of buddies on one of these servers. While you can get in some good, unhindered practice sessions on private servers, it just doesn't offer the "I'm showing my character off to the world and making a difference on some level" kind of feeling that public servers offer.

When it comes down to private servers, I personally will never likely join one unless I am dead set on killing a mob and wish to practice first in peace and quiet, or for the nostalgic value after the public servers are shutdown (which is inevitable at some future date). And unlike my friends, I most certainly will not join private servers just to cheat my way through an online game, enabling faster run speeds and instant gold options. I'll save those for my single player games, thank you.

Game Review 002: GTA IV

PROLEGOMENAN

When playing on the console platform, racing games have always been a favorite of mine. I don't know if it is the extensive library of racing games available, the wheel and pedals that make driving that much more realistic (but unfortunately in some cases a bit too realistic), or simply the fact that I can play on a 50" plasma screen TV instead of a measly 22" LCD monitor. I really should hook up a media PC...

Racing games have also been a great multiplayer experience for me as well. Just about every weekend I would gather all my friends to my home, where I would have a nice LAN setup that allowed PC, console, and card/board games to be played simultaneously around the house. If you got bored with playing GTA IV on the console it was no problem to join in on the latest Supreme Commander game on the PC, or try your hand at a game of poker at the card table.

Unfortunately, even though racing games were a theme at LAN parties in the past, they have often lacked great multiplayer experiences. Don't get me wrong, there are some fantastic games out there, including GTA games previous to GTA IV, such as Wipeout, Ultimate Race Pro, Carmageddon, and others. Many previous games lacked either large multiplayer support, realistic and enjoyable physics when driving vehicles (Carmageddon for example), or simply very bad gameplay that was filled with bugs (again, Carmageddon...).

Fortunately, GTA IV seems to have to at least partially lifted the negative veil surrounding muliplayer racing games. Behold, as I give you my brief review of what everyone else seems to want to rate as a 10/10 game. Do I hold it in such high regard? Take a look...

WHAT IS UNIQUE

I'm going to go right ahead and throw out on the table the worst negative about this game... its unique qualities, or lack-their-of. While it has excellent gameplay as I will describe below, I found it to be lacking anything that hasn't already been introduced into previous GTA games. Is this necessarily a bad thing? No. Read my previous blog post about how I absolutely hate games in a series that are altered so severely they shouldn't even be related to said series.

What is unique and rather exciting to play are the stunts. While stunts are a trademark of GTA, GTA IV has introduced some exciting new ones that bring a breath of fresh air to those that want to go off the beaten path from the game's storyline and just mess around town with their car. How much punishment can some of these cars take when twisting through the air? Quite a lot. The "Broker/Bohan", "Alogonquin", "Alderney" island area stunts that are my favorites. Each stunt is fairly typical in design, with ramps and straight-a-ways that require you to jump over obstacles. It gets really interesting when attempting to make the correct landing, as many of the landing points can really throw your car around when you land improperly.

GAMEPLAY

The ability to shoot in any direction from within a vehicle is a quality I love about GTA. Chasing down other cars is now far easier than previous games, since you can shoot out their tires with greater accuracy than before. It can be a little awkward to pull off, but then you'd expect firing any sort of gun while retaining control of your car to be difficult. Some of the scenarios in the game even require you to practice this art of control.

On foot, shooting is even better. It used to be a real inaccurate mess even more so than when driving, but GTA IV is a vast improvement and brings it on par with some of the best FPS games. Your character can lock onto targets, with shooting guidance provided for better accuracy. The best part about this is that assault rifles and other heavy guns are as useful as a simple pistol. Elaborate shootouts are now far more feasible, with some excellent scenarios built within the game that are great fun with these larger weapons.

What I hate to waste is time. I cannot count the times in MMOGs and other games where I'd be searching for a particular item or location for hours on end. What is the point of wasting so much time when you could be enjoying the game's next scenario or storyline element? There comes a time when the headache of wasting time is not worth the time. Fortunately, in GTA IV the reduction in the time you waste driving around is minimized through the use of features that allow you pass an area when the game knows you're just not cutting the mustard on your own.

If you drive around endlessly and ultimately fail in a mission due to exceeding the time limit or some other repetitive waste of time, you'll get a text message giving you the option to immediately return to the point just after the initial cut scene. The game also autosaves after you complete each phase of the scenario. Simply getting to the next scenario marker is another area where time can be cut down; your character can now take a cab directly to a location, which can save you from taking a wrong turn when driving down the streets at maximum speed.

GRAPHICS, SOUND, INTERFACE

I was really annoyed with previous GTA games that provided less than stellar graphics. There always seemed to be something about GTA graphics that broke up the realism of driving through the city streets. The best way to describe the problem is to describe how each element in the game flowed with the others. Buildings would end too abruptly with the next, with colors and textures conflicting with each other. Lighting was poor, so shadows and reflections highlighted these problems. It's as if the designers didn't know what the words "transition" or "refinement" meant.

The series has never had and probably never will feature groundbreaking visuals, but fortunately this time around they obviously exceeded previous games with better graphics and a more fluid style. I think the designers this time found the word "refinement", but still got "transition" confused with "step". There are still glitches that are annoying, but when driving down the streets in GTA IV you get a sense of warmth and comfort in watching scenery pass by, instead of asking yourself why the tree branches looked like they came from a 4 year old's crayon drawing.

As far as what is brought to you via the interface, nothing too much has changed here thankfully. It's a racing game, how much do you really need to change? We have the radar, overview map, some indicators, and that's about all you need. The game's mini-map does combine some valuable health and statistical information about your character, as well as indicating how close you are to losing the police. When you're on the run, a blue circle appears on your radar and once out of it, your wanted level will lower after a certain length of time. Previously it was next to impossible to tell when you might be clear of the police.

Audio in games across all platforms has been advancing at a near snails pace over the past decade. Some attribute this to audio technology simply not needing any more advancement, but others argue that audio isn't an important factor in games beyond simply stereo output. I couldn't disagree more with the latter comment. When you have a racing game like GTA IV, not to mention FPS games in general, it is essential you have great surround sound support to know when and where someone is shooting at you. Or in GTA IV's case specifically, when a car might be coming up behind you to run you over.

Lastly but surely not least, there are the countless hours of licensed songs that are available over a dozen radio stations that give you music enjoyment as you bash up your vehicle or take down some poor soul on the sidewalk. Some of the radio channels are a bit "drab", in that they don't provide the greatest musical tracks. For example, there are too many soul, pop, and classical channels instead of rock or trance. This is taste preference though I suppose. Of course you have numerous talk radio shows, with the same sort of comedy that you'd except from the previous games.

WRAPPING UP

GTA IV provides expansive racing at its best, without the endless circles and mindless speed contests that are often associated with other more mundane racing games. While these other games are fun at times, how can you possibly beat a game like GTA that involves great music while driving, interactive gameplay, and in-depth storyline and objectives that bring you into the world better than any drag-racer game could ever do?

PROS:

- As yet unchallenged unique gameplay experience
- Expansive maps that are extremely detailed
- Plenty of cars to buy, or steal
- Controls and accuracy are refined from previous games
- A great way to unwind after a hard day at the office

CONS:

- Almost too many mundane radio channels to choose from
- Some minor visual quirks
- Loading times can be extensive on the PS3 version

FINAL OVERALL RATING

9/10

Diablo III announced

Today at the World Wide Invitation for Activision/Blizzard, Diablo III was announced to the public, a game speculated to be in production for quite some time. For awhile we had rumors running wild of another MMO (like we need another WoW), and even entirely new games (*gasp*, new games, is that possible anymore?). But alas, one of the most popular series ever to be produced on the PC (originally anyway) is debuting a third installment.

The question now is, will this truly be a Diablo game at its core?. I've been disappointed three too many times when it comes to hype about sequels and the way they implement fresh content. Take for example the Heroes of Might & Magic series. I love it, even the latest installment, Heroes V. However, its greatness was its interface and style of interacting with the world. Take that away from a game series' roots and you might as well title a "sequel" something completely different.

Tip for all game designers out there from a still-player based community member -- don't change what isn't broken! Or more to the point, don't change what works well and players enjoy. Add onto that, tweak, gain player feedback before implementation, but nothing more. If you want more, title the game something else or you risk losing your core fanbase and spoiling an entire series.

Movies have countless examples of this. When the third 'Neverending Story' movie came out I was extremely excited. Of course I ended up extremely disappointed in that they dumbified the series so much to focus on young kids, I hardly recognized it for what it was supposed to be based on.

Even so, we shouldn't shy away from attempting to create great sequels. Sequels keep us in the game world that would have eventually been forgotten, reminds us in just a slightly different way how great the gameplay experiences we've had in the past were, and gives us a glimpse into the future as to what potential a growing industry can bring to already successful, and perhaps bring up not-so-successful, game titles.

I for one am looking forward to Diablo III, and if anyone can produce a successful sequel it is Blizzard (crossing fingers on this one, as I have to admit Starcraft III was just "ok").

Game Review 001: Heroes of Might & Magic Series

PROLEGOMENAN

This is the first official game review I will have posted on my blog, so please be kind of I haven’t worked out the review “kinks” yet. An oddity you might also want to ask is why I am reviewing a game series that is rather outdated by many standards. Two simple reasons; the series is one of my favorites, and it is remarkably unique in numerous areas. A truly innovative product that I feel is still yet to be challenged in turn-based games to this day. And thus begins the review…

It is a fitting name for such a series. “Heroes” of Might & Magic is exactly about commanding your heroes in a mighty battle against other heroes, all of which are wielding powerful weapons and armor and commanding spells that not only of combative types, but also spells that allow you to quicken your pace around the game world. Impatient for a battle with the green colored enemy that has a castle type you want? Cast “Fly” if you have it and you can soar over mountains to reach new areas that would otherwise have taken you an extra three or more turns to reach. This all sounds extremely dramatic, but remember, it’s a turn-based strategy series and uses limited viewing perspectives.

WHAT IS UNIQUE

I like to start this with a description of what is unique about the game, as this will set the stage for everything else to follow. When reading a game review I find myself always looking for those unique elements, sometimes skimming past the mass of “filler” material that accompanies most reviews. Especially when you are reviewing a sequel I find only around twenty percent of the gameplay content and mechanics are unique. I like to compare this to the book industry, especially when considering textbooks. How much is really changed from the fourth to the fifth editions? Not much.

The Heroes of Might & Magic series, or known as HoMM for short, was designed with an isometric perspective. While this isn’t unique in itself, what contents lay on this perspective is unique. Most isometric maps consist of a very basic set of elements, such as a building, city icon, forest cluster, paths connecting each area, and so on. HoMM sets itself apart by sprinkling a little bit of all the things you will interact with and use right on the map in an “in-your-face” method. Many of these elements are extremely detailed in a 2D way and are more numerous than you’d expect for a game’s map layout.

For example, as you see your hero journeys around the map you will see treasure chests with experience or gold in them, artifacts that render new powers to you, creature buildings to purchase additional armies with, and much more. This makes it extremely easy to figure out where you are and what your immediate goals should be. There isn’t much second guessing in the first few turns of the game, thus the learning curve is relatively low. Complexity and critical think, however, will mushroom after about your tenth or eleventh turn, so be ready to start thinking like a chess player.

The developers really went wild with packing in this content. Since this game is turn-based your heroes each have a set limit of spaces they can move on the map. Let’s pick an arbitrary number and say they can move in the best of circumstances twenty paces. In this amount you may have half a dozen treasure chests clustered together, two or three artifacts sprinkled in-between, static neutral creatures to fight, and a few resources to build up your cities. Each map is different, however, so some maps will be more conservative in this packing of content than others. If you get bored with the predefined maps there is the map generator that does a fairly decent job at creating fresh content. However, don’t expect it to be too complicated or detailed.

GAMEPLAY

New games start with choosing the map type, your hero and castle, and an extra resource to help you get started. There are additional settings for minor difficulty changes and a few interface options you can also change in the game. Once in the game you will see your starting castle and the hero you originally chose. These two items are at the very heart of what HoMM is all about. Castles provide creatures and support for your heroes, and in times of trouble they can also provide additional protection from advancing enemy heroes. The heroes under your command themselves are your mobile armies, moving around the map and from castle to castle acquiring artifacts, spells, additional creatures, and experience that further enhances their powers.

The entire game series is about acquiring better spells, more castles that house your armies, resources, and hero experience. Due to the nature of the game, depending on the map style and size you chose, you will find that you tend to “eat up” the areas you explore. Once you’ve acquired treasure chests, resources, and killed off static creatures, there are a limited number of these that continually exist. After the map is explored you can easily take these over if they are in enemy hands. This is interesting for awhile, but the real fun is exploring new areas. Difficulties can especially begin to occur when you need an additional hero to help command a large map, but you’ve already eaten up all the resources in your area. Thus it may be difficult to get them to a high level without journeying far away from the protection of your castles.

Because the series is turn-based, the developers initiated a “fog of war” to the map that forced you to more cautiously navigate new areas. This is common in most games of this type, even real-time strategy games. A few castles, and even some heroes, will be able to re-establish this fog of war the following turn, even after you’ve been through it already. This is where thinking ahead and strategy come into play. Take one too many steps in one direction and just beyond that fog of war could be an enemy waiting for you. If your turn is up and you have no movement points left, be lucky to be able to retreat after the battle begins if you become overpowered.

There is a multiplayer option, but be warned on playing on too large of a map. As with many turn-based strategy games, a complete game on a large map with the goal of destroying all your enemies completely can take literally days to accomplish. Thankfully, if you’re in for such a long and drawn-out battle, the game has a multiplayer save option that you can continually go back to for future gameplay sessions. Take caution though that anyone you play with can easily load his or her own save of the game later on, without a multiplayer connection established, and take a “peak” at what you’re doing.

GRAPHICS, SOUND, INTERFACE

Until Heroes V came along and completely changed just about every element of the game from the graphics, sound, and viewing perspective itself, the previous games sported simple interfaces that gave you statistics on just about anything you need in one or two mouse clicks. It is simple to adjust any settings you need and to view what armies and land are under your control. Don’t expect much customization though, even with unique mod-packs such as Wake of Gods for Heroes III. Heroes V will give you more control over settings, but even in such a modern game it still keeps it conservative.

Graphic details are really good in most of the series games, although it is clear that improvements were significant after Heroes IV and particularly Heroes V were introduced. Before then you were stuck with a 2D interface that was relatively static. Was this a problem for immersion? Absolutely not! Considering the overall content detail that the maps sported in these earlier games, you were sucked into the gameplay in such a way that you didn’t mind the abysmal frame rate of the tree motion or the simple hero motion as you moved them across the map. For the era that each game in the series was introduced in, the developers did quite well in introducing unique graphic styles.

WRAPPING UP

I keep coming back to the HoMM not for its uniqueness, but because it provides a level of replayability that I have found lacking in many other games. Even so, I wish the game had better multiplayer options that provided fun gameplay on a scale of an hour or two instead of a day or two.

PROS:

- As yet unchallenged unique gameplay experience
- Expansive maps that are extremely detailed
- Plenty of heroes and castle types to keep your interest
- Replayability through random map generator
- Simple and effective interface

CONS:

- Series is “aged”, so don’t expect any updates if you encounter problems
- The latest game, Heroes V, deviates too much from the classic design
- Interface settings and adjustments are limited
- As with many turn-based games, the multiplayer fun factor is limited
- Game copy protection on discs may prove a problem on completely valid discs, especially with Heroes V.
- Limited to the PC for many of the sequels, sorry MAC users

FINAL OVERALL RATING

9/10

My favorite unique games of all time: Part 2 (Console)

I wrote a few weeks ago about all of my favorite PC game series and which game I thought stood above them all in uniqueness and originality. Today I'm going to list those series and unique console games that I think truly stood out amongst the console scene, and had a special place in my collection.

While there were barely enough "unique" PC games to select, I found it almost as difficult to select ten from the entire console platform's library of games. This is perhaps only an admission that my console experience is "limited", so feel free to add in your own favorites here:

1) Dragon Warrior Series (NES)

2) Final Fantasy Series (Multiple)

3) Mario Series (NES/SNES)

4) Zelda Series (NES/SNES)

5) Metroid Series (Multiple)

6) Starfox Series (Multiple)

7) Shadowrun (SNES)

8) Pitfall (Atari 2600)

9) Donkey Kong Series (Multiple)

10) Star Wars Series (Multiple)

Interesting that ALL of these are from console systems over five years old. What does that say about my perception of current console games? Don't assume I think they are all "crap", but I have a hard time finding any recent games or genres that deserve a "Top 10" spot on this list. Being chosen for my top ten list is a true privilege :).