All Posts by Koltrane

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Originally posted by Amathe

I appreciate the Administrator's response and can only hope that my message - that a more objective assessment of games in the future would be welcome - was received. I come to this site for one purpose - to learn more about games I might want to play. My purpose in responding to this "review" was to try and raise the bar for the quality of that information. Obviously I cannot verify that the publication of the review was uncompensated, but I will take you at your word. (The 8.1 score is fair by the way. The review, however, does not match the score).

So far as one poster's suggestion that I apply for a staff position, I already write for a living. I play games to get away from that.    However, I believe those of you who have debated with me here should consider it. I mean that sincerely and without sarcasm. Even though we disagree, at least you have the capacity to express critical thought! This alone places you head and shoulders above the WoW reviewer's article. I would much rather read a review by any of the folks who have flamed me in this thread than this one.

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I have refrained from commenting on the intensely vitriolic flames by Amathe, because he is entitled to his opinion and that's what this site and these boards are about.  I think he takes it a bit too personally, but that's just my opinion, as is the review.

However, in the post excerpted above, there is a noted change of tone.  The previous posts were extremely bitter, while this one is more measured and even a bit conciliatory as to the legitimacy of the numeric score.  There is one particular comment here that I think needs addressing: that of the intent of his message.

Amathe, you say your message was, "that a more objective assessment of games in the future would be welcome."  Is it fair to assume that you have read reviews of other games published here?  If so, it is not evident from your commentary.  I invite you to click on the "Features" button above and then click on the "Game Reviews" tab for a list of site reviews, including several authored by me.  Please read them and then decide for yourself whether they are "drooling," "insipid," "saccarine" (sic), or any of the other derogatory adjectives you have assigned to this piece and, by a fair inference of your comments above, the body of reviews published here.

I have had conversations with site members regarding several of my reviews, including some significant disagreements on positions I have taken.  It's interesting to me that penning a positive review generated significantly more animosity, including flat out insults, than any negative comments I have leveled at other games.

One last thing.  This is my review and I stand by it.  If you do not like what I have to say, no problem.  However, to suggest that either I or this website would write a purposefully positive review in order to curry favor with a publisher or as a result of some sort of financial agreement is way out of line.  Aside from reviewer's copies of some games, I have never received a dime of remuneration from a game publisher.  To suggest otherwise without any substantiation is downright irresponsible. 

I am excited about instances and what we plan to do with them in our game. I love playing them in other games but they still don't seem to really do it for me. Static is the word I am looking for, and also predictable. We are looking at changing this to essentially make instance gameplay more enjoyable. Static and predictable instances *do* work well with games that want an instance to be a place where you do a few quests but is mainly a farming ground for people who want certain drops. So eventually, the players will have predicted every NPC movement and placement in the instance and will easily be able to kill the mobs and bosses to get their loot items. It's ok in my opinion to play the game like this if you like, and it's ok to have some static environments, but it gets old when that's all there is to an instance.

You can read the full piece at MMHell. 

For information on Gods and Heroes, visit the official website at this link.

Sega's US and European arms issued a press release yesterday officially announcing Phantasy Star Universe for both the PS2 and PC platforms.  The game will feature both single-player and massively multiplayer modes.  Fans of Phantasy Star Online from the old Dreamcast days should be thrilled.  The press release follows.  Click on the thumbnails for full size images.

More info on this one as it develops.

The team at Reakktor, the developer of Neocron, sat down for an interview over at Computer Games Magazine.  The subject of the chat was Neocron 2, the recently released sequel.  Here's a sample of what was discussed:

The full text of the interview is available here.

For more about Neocron 2, visit the official website.

[16:34] [AD]Hochka: When attacking a fortress, are there alternative ways to enter, besides ramming the door, and dropping from the sky using a parachute? [16:35] [AD]Hochka: Answer : Yes, you can climb up the walls as well, but beware the archers shooting you from the towers. Their aim is pretty good. [16:36] [AD]Hochka: Will each god play a role defending a fortress with the same frequency for every god, provided people have similar divine faction values? [16:37] [AD]Hochka: Answer : The divine faction can increase and decrease. Divine intervention will depend on how faithful a player is. [16:38] [AD]Hochka: Can some spells grant you the abiliy to fly? [16:39] [AD]Hochka: Answer : There will be no such spell, since we created an important transportation network. [16:39] [AD]Hochka: Can a mounted creature swim? [16:41] [AD]Hochka: Answer : Yes, every creature can swim.

For more information on Dark and Light, visit the official website at this link.

Jack Emmert, Lead Designer of City of Heroes, stopped in at IGN to discuss the upcoming City of Villains.  The interview has a couple of interesting tidbits about the game, a couple of which are excerpted below.  You can read the entire interview here.

IGNPC: We've been told that City of Villains is going to be a stand-alone game. But it's hard to think that it can be completely disassociated with City of Heroes. Frankly that just doesn't make sense to us. How can City of Villains be both a stand-alone product and still work with City of Heroes? Jack Emmert: If a customer doesn't own City of Heroes, yet buys City of Villains, he'll be able to be a bad guy and play all the villain content, but he won't be able to go to Paragon City (or at least parts of it). If a player owns City of Heroes and doesn't buy City of Villains, he'll still be able to enjoy City of Heroes, but he won't be able to fight against villains or travel to the City of Villains. If a player owns both - he can do everything! IGNPC: In City of Heroes, there were bunches of bad guys standing around in the city just waiting for a fight. Will the same be the case in City of Villains? Will there be groups of heroes around? Or cops? Will players have missions that will have them running away from heroes to escape capture? Jack Emmert: There are still criminals on the street in the Rogue Isles -- in fact, that's all there are! Villains, of course, can fight all they like amongst each other, but villains will also be facing Paragon City's police dept., the Freedom Corps and even the Freedom Phalanx.

City of Villains is scheduled for release this year, as per the interview.  For more information, visit the official City of Villains website.

MindArk, the developer of the massively multiplayer Project Entropia, has announced that a lawsuit by the Business Software Alliance has been dropped.  In May, 2002, members of the BSA, including such well-known publishers as Microsoft, Adobe and Macromedia, sued, claiming that MindArk had illegally been using various software packages to run its business.

According to MindArk CEO Jan Welter, "Since then MindArk has shown that all accusations made by theses (sic) companies and the BSA were false and that MindArk always had, and continues to operate legally violating no copyright infringements or software licensing rules."

At the time of the initial raid on MindArk's offices in Sweden, it was suggested that the investigation was an attempt to undercut the development of Project Entropia (Microsoft was the publisher of Turbine's Asheron Call at the time).  While no reference is made to that allegation in the press release, MindArk has indicated its willingness to countersue.  This one may not be over yet.

To read the press release in full, click here. 

You may find out more about Project Entropia at this link.

The developers of Atriarch have announced that alpha testing for the game will commence in July.  Calling it their "Worst-First" test, they plan to start with a small core group of testers and expand from there.  Here's the text from the post on their website:

Worst-First (Alpha) Testing Begins in July: We will begin with a small outside testing group with Atriarch in July. The closest industry term for this phase of testing is alpha. However, a shirt I saw at Game Developer's Conference (GDC) last week captured the essence of early testing phases more accurately. Lucent Technologist and AI Programmer, Neil Kirby, was wearing a project shirt that read "Worst-First Testing Team". I think the phrase speaks for itself, and I decided to adopt the philosophy for Atriarch testing :-) Of course, don't let the fact that we are calling it worst-first testing fool you. We are eager and excited to get the ball rolling again on testing. The sooner we get this into your hands, the faster we get your feedback and know if we are on the right track. While technical aspects of the game need testing, the fun factor is also very important to validate. Woo Atriarch Fun!!! Many of you know that we had a brief flirtation with testing quite awhile ago. It was suspended while we worked out some issues. Now finally, the flirtation has turned into a date ;-) Of course, the original group of testers will still be included in testing, but will be phased in when it comes time for beta. We still have everyone's info and will update you as the schedule moves forward.

To read more about Atriarch, visit the official web site at this link.