Hello again

Sooooo, Guild Wars 2 is about to launch. It will be a huge deal at launch, obviously, and I think it will do well after for a good while too. Not exactly a shocking statement I know, since no sub fee should by default ensure so. Of course like most of ya'll, also I know plenty of folks getting all excited about it. However I'm well and truly back to not bothering with it at all. I just don't have the time, I'm in 3 betas that I'm very keen on and I tend to dabble with those when I have time for gaming. So little point in spending £50 on a game I won't play at all.

Situation remains as it was... Only games on my eventual horizon are free to play anyway, Planetside 2 and Mechwarrior Online. There's still nothing else inspiring me, that I can talk about yet anyway ;) Well I say that, I will dabble with others, but don't let that count as me giving two turds about them. For example.......

Star Wars (SWTOR) is going free to play. Yeah, good move. I enjoyed it whilst I leveled through it and thought it was pretty good, as a single player game... It lacked interest and most importantly motivation to continue as a multiplayer game, so a sub fee was always going to become an annoyance. When it turns F2P then I will reinstall and dabble a bit, but can't see me spending any money on it. Sure plenty of folks will though, at least if BioWare are clever with their cash shop and don't make it too aggressive a sell, if you get what I mean.

Oh and Vanguard has gone F2P I believe. I've never played it, but I might try it out of curiosity. I'm not expecting much.

All this prompts a question... Why the fuck is WAR not going F2P? Seriously.

Mechwarrior Online - In game footage

Lots of excellent news for mechwarrior/battletech fans recently. MWO is very much being made as a simulator and looking to be extremely familiar to those of us with mech history. Much of what's on view or being said may not appear to be that much of a big deal to those who haven't played these games before, but believe me, it is all good so far. All very promising for another MW game with great depth and flexibility. I'll talk more about this when I'm not half cut from a night in the pub.

Get More: GameTrailers.com, MechWarrior Online - GDC 2012: Role Warfare Interview HD, PC Games, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

A mixture of hope and apathy

At the moment I’m kind of adrift on an uninspiring sea of MMORPGs. There’s no siren call strong enough to tempt me into paying a subscription fee, I’m just not finding anything particularly alluring. Too much of the same old same old I suppose. So instead I’m just fiddling about with single player and F2P stuff, whilst I wait for one of the more interesting online games on the horizon.

As always I am tempted to return to EVE, but also as always, it’s just not life style friendly enough for me and my regular AFKing. Alas, I can’t see me being able to play EVE the way I would like to anytime soon. Though it’s probably a positive thing that real life prevents me from doing so, as I know EVE can devour you like a Sarlacc with the munchies. For now I’m mainly playing Star Trek Online. Just nipping on for an hour here and there to play through episodes or missions and set my next batch of Duty Officer assignments running. It’s free to play, quite engaging and I’ve always had a soft spot for STO. That said, the game won’t ever be my long term MMO love affair, but is more of a regular casual flirtation, perhaps with the occasional tongue. Flashing eyes across the office, the odd late night drinking session, but not quite worth a divorce.

Oh, I've downloaded RIFT again and will dick about the free 1-20 bit. Not logged in yet.
The only other online game I’m playing at the moment is Tribes: Ascend. It’s free to play, the cash shop is not essential and most importantly, it’s fun. This reimagining of the classic Tribes 1 and 2 is getting better and better and I recommend people try it out. Just be warned that it is not like your normal online shooters. It’s MUCH faster and you have to learn to lead your shots a lot more than normal. It’s all about predicting people’s movement and it can take some getting used to. Anyway, it’s a good game and recommended.

At some point soon I will be making use of my 2 weeks free in both WAR and DAoC, but I doubt very much I would subscribe to either in the near future. Obviously I’m a fan of both games, or at least what they once were, it’s just that WAR would really need to do quite a lot to make up for the Wrath of Heroes disappointment. The less said about that the better. Actually, as I write this I’m changing my mind slightly regarding DAoC. There is a bit more chance that DAoC could persuade me to take up a month’s subscription. It did grab me last year, surprising me how well so many things still played and looked. I swear if that game had a decent UI update it could see a reasonable resurgence.

Aside from those retro distractions, for me it’s all about the upcoming games; Planetside 2 and Mechwarrior Online. There’s a load more Planetside 2 news appeared in the last couple of days, which I’ll gather up and post about soon. Mechwarrior is continuing to drip feed news at a slow steady rate, though we’re still waiting to see some in-game footage. I hear we may see something soon however. Mechwarrior isn’t a MMO of course, but this blog is about stuff that interest me, so meh whatever. Oh and Hawken looks great. Me like mechs.

Elsewhere, I’m not totally writing off Funcom’s “The Secret World”, yet I don’t find myself particularly caring about it either way. To be honest I’m not quite sure why. Despite my many misgivings regarding Funcom, I do like what they try to do and certainly TSW has many features that tick my boxes. My apathy confuses me slightly. If I don’t get on the beta then I doubt I will try it until well after launch.

And on the subject of apathy… If for a moment I take off my Hat of Trolling+3, yes Guild Wars 2 has much potential and does look like some serious PvP goodness. That doesn’t change the fact that it will never be a game I get excited about and I still find it hard to motivate myself to write about it, but it’s certainly one I would like to see realise its PvP potential. Obviously Kill Frenzy and I will try it out.

Hopefully sometime soon we’ll start to get more news on Dark Millennium Online and World of Darkness. Both games are perceived as being on rather rough seas, what with the challenges faced by THQ and CCP, but I guess we just have to wait and see what news arrives. I still have high hopes for both games, purely due to their settings. Actually that’s not true. I have some confidence in CCP to deliver something interesting and hopefully sandboxy. Plus THQ have some excellent 40k games in their stable, so we know they’ll do the 40k universe credit when it comes to atmosphere at least.

I think that’s it for major MMOs of interest to me, can’t think of anything else. There are a few small games I have an eye on, but they’ll get posts of their own at some point. Oh and for the record, Diablo 3 I’m indifferent to and World of Warcraft Panda bear stuff just doesn’t work for me. Sorry Blizzard, as if you care lol :D

Mechwarrior Online - First trailer

And we have the first trailer :D

update... grrr their embed code is knackered :(



No shock that they went for the Atlas. It is one of the iconic inner sphere mechs.

MWO - The Commando

This week sees the announcement of yet another mech in Mechwarrior Online's starting line up: The Commando. It's an interesting choice of mech; very humanoid (for want of a better word...) in it's appearance and proportions. Actually I'd say the original designs look a bit more like it should be a Transformer.

Thanks to Sarna.net for this classic image

Once again Piranha have slapped the original in the face with their Legendary Sword of Modernisation+3. We see a new design that holds true to its roots whilst looking perfectly acceptable by 2012 standards. I'm liking this quite a lot.

Gameplay wise the Commando is classified as a light mech. Actually you could say very light, at a mere 25 tons. Fast, maneuverable and with short range weaponry, we're talking about a scouting mech that should excel in urban or dense terrain. In previous Mechwarrior games there has been a lot of people that go straight for the huge assault mechs every time, they just can't see past big guns. Those people miss out on some of the most entertaining gameplay and they nearly always suck. With MWO putting even more emphasis on scouting, information warfare and synergy between weight classes, I'm expecting this mech to be one of the most exciting to play.

MWO - role warfare, hmmm yum

Piranha have posted up Dev Blog 3 "Role Warfare". It's well worth a read and gives a great insight into the tactical possibilities that Mechwarrior Online is aiming for. Particularly when you put it alongside the info from Dev Blog 2 "Information Warfare". In many ways it sounds similar to how scouting works in World of Tanks, just expanded a lot, which to be honest was exactly how it worked in MW3-4, if you played in proper premades. So when you think about the "thinking mans shooter-simulator" nature of Mechwarrior games, it would suggest that if Piranha do manage to put their ideas into play... Well, we just might see a game with an unrivaled focus on teamwork, tactical play, information sharing and of course player skill and experience.

Of course it's early days and it would be unwise to make statements of assured success (oh haaaaai GW2 :P ). So far all we have is the (excellent) concept art, the game engine concept video that prompted the whole thing and a lot of good and reassuring ideas from devs. However, as anyone that's been around gaming for a while will know... devs say a lot of stuff. Delivering them is a whole other kettle of fish.

Regardless, this is currently no1 in my MUST-PLAY-NOW!! list for 2012.



HD link

MWO - Another mech revealed and it makes for a good comparison

And it's the Centurion; a 50 ton medium mech that typical has a rather mixed array of weapons. Medium Lasers, LRMs (Long range missiles) and a big old AC10 (Auto-cannon projectile weapon). Though with the Mechwarrior games typically immense customisation options and the many variants within the lore itself, the standard weapon load out probably won't mean a great deal. Whatever happens, this should be a reasonably quick and quite potent medium mech. This could be my new Uziel ;)

This particular mech is a really good example of how Piranha's concept artist is bring the old designs smack up to date. If you look at the original it's a very flimsy looking thing that when viewed with a modern eye... well it just doesn't seem even vaguely feasible.

Thanks to Sarna.net for the classic old image btw.

Whereas the new version is much more convincing. Fleshed out, chunkier and just a whole lot meaner looking, this new Centurion looks like a proper war machine that might actually be able to take some punishment. 

That's the thing with bringing battletech designs up to date, the old stuff just looks so flimsy. This of course is not helped by the concept of walking tanks in itself being ridiculous, certainly for bipedal ones. Weapon impacts, kinetic energy and gravity don't lend themselves well to the idea, but then it is make believe. ;) As mechwarrior has a gritter, more "real world" feel than most mecha-style-gundam-cock, I imagine it's quite a challenge for an artist to make it look cool but not leave the common-sense side of your brain screaming DUMBTARDED!

So far I think Piranha are doing a cracking job. Everything is sounding promising for MWO, early days of course, but I do like what I am seeing.

Official Centurion announcement

MWO - Mech no5 revealed

The Catapult, one of the absolute classic Battletech mechs, gets brought BANG up to date with it's redesign for Mechwarrior Online.

click to enlarge

I've always liked the style of the Catapult, but it was one that I was a little doubtful on how good it would look today, as much of the older Battletech artwork has dated very badly. Thankfully and once again, I'm very impressed with how Piranha are making the old mech designs relevant.

Can't wait to see some in-game screenshots!

For reference here's how the Catapult looked in Mechwarrior 4, screenie thanks to gamespot.

SWTOR, MWO and X news.

The big news right now is Bioware have announced that SWTOR's early access has been pushed forward to starting from the 13th December (depending on when you pre-ordered). However, it's also come out that there will NOT be a grace period for people to enter their codes after the official main launch day. It's a little concerning how much of a shambles they appear to be with dates, since they've been saying the 15th for a while now and they did also say that there would be a grace period. They also haven't updated all their images and posts, which means sometimes they have things saying 5 and 7 days headstart on the SAME PAGE. Bioware don't appear to be the most organised company in that department, or at least that's how it looks...

Also not having a grace period when your game is launching over the Christmas period (helloooo delayed postal services!) is to be honest completely and utterly retarded. From a purely selfish point of view, I don't care, the early access is all that matters to me, but loads of people are raging and some will not get their game until very late. So basically Bioware are choosing to inconvenience some players and generate a load of bad press for no real reason. Sure, they're probably trying to stop people doing the old "cancel pre-order but play headstart" trick, but seriously... All told it's just a silly thing to do by Bioware.



In other news, Mechwarrior Online's latest blog post details how their Community Warfare will work. Basically this is a galaxy scale campaign system that links to the battles we fight in, our results change who controls the Inner Sphere's vast array of systems. Also Mercenary Corporations (player guilds) can attack and claim planets, which sounds quite intriguing:

"Mercenary Corporations can bid and fight for occupation rights of border worlds throughout the Inner Sphere. Merc Corps must bid on a planet’s occupation rights via a system of contracts generated by the game.


A match or series of matches are set up between the defending Merc Corp and the challenger. The victor is determined from the results of each match, and takes control of the planet. They are rewarded with an immediate contract payout, and will continue to earn rewards while they occupy the planet."

Of course this could all work out a bit like a glorified dynamic map on a website, but we'll see. Putting my general cynicism at everything ever aside, it does sound quite promising.

Elsewhere, Egosoft have announced the imminent (as in just weeks) launch of X3: Albion Prelude. With X: Rebirth coming out next year, I don't think anyone was expecting Egosoft to release another X3 standalone expansion beforehand, so I'm more than a little surprised. Fair play to them I say, a nice surprise and they're even giving it away free to certain customers and discounted to others.

"For owners of the X Superbox, X3: Albion Prelude will be available as a free download on Steam, while for owners of X3: Terran Conflict it will be available at the 'add-on' price of €9.99. For players new to the series, X3: Terran Conflict and X3: Albion Prelude will be available for purchase as a bundle. Time your purchase right and you could enjoy substantial discounts in the Steam holiday sale too!"

So us X3 fans are proper sorted until the release of the lovely looking X: Rebirth.

MWO - Cockpit view concept art

Now bare in mind that the plan is for MWO players to primarily play using the in cockpit view (exterior view is not currently in the game, but is being considered) and I think you'll be encouraged by how potentially cool this looks. It's also worth noting that the current plan is for the various dials, screens and so on to actually work and be useful, rather than just gimmicky fluff like in most games with a leaning towards simulation. Click on the images to expand.

Every mech cockpit is expected to be different, and this is likely to mean some more restrictive in view than others, which in itself will provide an interesting difference in how easy some mechs are to pilot over others. A slightly different element to the "class" balancing act developers have to deal with eh?

Pew Pew Classics

You might think that the iconic gaming sound effects of 2012 will be the pew pew of blasters and the crackling hum of lightsabers, For many folks you’d no doubt be right, but for me no bloody way. Like any self respecting 30 something I like a good bit of Star Wars action, but personally 2012 is all about the return of the SCHHHHAAAAPEW!!!
 
That isn’t some combat caption from the Batman TV show, oh no; this glorious uber-pew is the distinctive sound of a Particle Projector Cannon (PPC) mashing shit up with ionised particles of death. You could say it’s the BFG of Battletech. So whilst the announcement of Mechwarrior Online brought back many excellent gaming memories, for some reason at the forefront of them is the sound of the PPC. When thinking about mechs for some reason I just can’t get it out of my head… SCHHHHAAAAPEW!!! That’s a credit to the people that did the sound effects I think. So often with games we talk about graphics, gameplay and the music, but it’s good to remember the sound effects are a huge part of the gaming experience and sometimes are just as classic as anything else.
 
So what are your classic sounds from games?

Latest Mech in the lineup revealed

Another Battlemech has been announced for Mechwarrior Online. The Dragon, a heavy class mech that generally specialises in long range combat. The announcement and a bit of lore fluff can be found here.

So the list so far is:

• Atlas
• Dragon
• Hunchback
• Jenner

I must say that I am totally loving the art for these new versions of classic mechs. A lot of the old battletech art looks very dated, but this new stuff looks very current indeed.

Mechwarrior Online, what we know so far

• It's scheduled to release summer 2012
• It's F2P with cashshop, etc.
• The plan is to avoid Pay2win and make it Pay4Options (we'll see... but I have hope).
• MWO is being made using the Crytek engine.
• It is not an MMO and you do not play within a persistent world.
• It will be instanced battles you take part in like the old MMO games, but with a bit more of a scenario/battleground twist.

• It does have a persistent campaign system that your battles will influence.
• There is a focus on "information war" and making lighter mechs very important.
• Old Mechwarrior games had very open terrain, MWO will move away from this into much denser and tactically important terrain. Bye bye circle strafing.
• Gameplay will be sticking as close as possible to the tabletop game and will be a shooter-simulator again.
• It is primarily being designed to play from within the cockpit, though how to add external views without it being a dodgy advantage are being considered.
• The cockpits will have working and useful instrumentation, scanners, etc that provider information beyond the neural UI link thingy.
• The game is being set in the year 3049. In Battletech terms this is just before the Clan invasion and means the game will (initially at least) be focused on the Inner Sphere. However going forward the Clans and other major events will feature in a big way.

• Players will be able to level their pilot and gain skills of some form (I suspect like the specialisations in Mech Commander).
• Players will be able to form Mercenary Corps (guilds).
• This is a PvP game but they are looking into adding some form of PvE too.
• Piranha (the developers) are aiming for bi-weekly content patches. Yes you heard that right... New content every 2 weeks... I'll be amazed if that actually happens, but it's a positive thing for them to be aiming for.

There's a fair bit of other info out there too, but those are the key points for now.

A classic bit of Mech to tickle your memory

Classic MW4 into :)



And here's the trailer from a while back for the game that has turned into Mechwarrior Online

Oh hellllllllloooooooo! Mechwarrior Online

I've just been provided with a massive e-boner from a tweet by @Jeff_Skalski who spotted this baby.

I am a huge fan of the Mechwarrior games, particularly Mechwarrior 4 and I've spent many, maaaany hours pew pewing lasers in it's multiplayer awesome. Seriously, it's one of my joint all time fave online PvP games (alongside XwA, UO and DAoC). I can't wait to have a go on it.

Official site here: http://mwomercs.com/
PC Gamer article about it here.

Happy Bootae is happy.