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December 31, 2004
Now THIS is what technology is supposed to do for you...
My gorgeous wife got me some fantastic things for Christmas, but today...wow. I finally got around to configuring my Harmony 688 Universal/Programmable/Holy Crap it's amazing remote!
Sure, universal remotes have been around for a long time, so what's so great about this one? Well, I'll tell ya! To configure it, you connect it to a PC via USB and then use a wizard on the harmony website and BAM! You're done. In 1/2 hour (from the time I cut open the box to the time I was done) this thing replaced *5* remotes, including my Sirius Satellite and Xbox remotes. Hot Damnz.
Links...
Original Harmony Website
Logitech Harmony Website
Nothing like hitting the "Play DvD" button just to watch it turn on the DvD, TV, and Reciever, then switch the reciever to DvD. Coool...
Posted by SunSword at 11:25 AM | Comments (1)
December 24, 2004
UO isn't dead ya dummies
So, every year premature predictions of UO's demise are made (and I make a lot of money on those odds ;) ). This year seems to be no exception.
Now, it's one thing for someone who actually plays the game to exhibit concerns based on their actual experiences in the game, but it's another for people who are clearly out of touch and make have only made a cursory examination to make claims about Britannia... (woo, the 2 year old expansion can be downloaded for free! holy bajeezus, the game must be dying!)
Now, I'm not naive enough to think that people who post on "intellectual" news sites are likely to be less smarmy than the journalists that work for the taboloids... but I would expect them to be less obvious in the tactics they use to get attention...
Y'know, I'm not even going to link to the article because I don't want to give the guy anymore traffic, but I will link to some related articles, so I'm sure some of you will find your way there.
Ubiq, former Lead Designer of OWO (formerly UO2), an interesting article about his experiences trying to make a sequel to such a unique experience.
I think he hit the nail on the head when he said:
" I’ve told people that if UO hadn’t come first and whet people’s appetite, Everquest would have capped at 75-100K, WoW never gets greenlit, Shadowbane never kicks off, and MMOs would be one of those wacky things the Asians do, like robot dogs and panty vending machines. Ultima Online got people excited about persistent world gaming. "UO is fundamentally a different beast than almost every other MMO available, which is why it has weathered the launch of so many competitors so well. You see, first UO wasn't going to last more than 3 months. Then EQ was going to kill it, then EQ + DAoC, then SWG, and finally EQ2 and WoW. I'll tell you this, SWG is the only game launch I've seen that had any noticeable effect on the metrics by which we measure the health of the service. Why? Because SWG is the only significant MMO that tried to do the kinds of things UO did. I wonder why? :)
Anyway, don't believe the hype, because even if it's being delivered by a PhD, it's still hype.
Ubiq's post made me also want to talk about the whole "sequel" thing. As you may know, previous attempts to make a sequel for UO have failed for many reasons, not the least of which was execution, but in many ways, I'm happy those sequels weren't made. In my mind, they weren't "sequels" at all, rather, new games with the Ultima franchise in the name.
Perhaps I should start another thread on MMOs and sequels, but heck, since I'm here...
I don't agree with the way other MMOs have sequelized their games (namely, AC2 and EQ2). As a player, I don't want to have to make a choice between playing my game and the next game with the same name. Obviously, there are huge differences between making a sequel for a normal retail game and an online one, but I can tell you this, every RPG sequel I've ever played that let me import my characters from the previous game made my day.
Don't make me choose. If I like the game I'm playing, but it's time for some major new improvements that merit the term "sequel", give me a way to keep the investment I've already made.
Now, obviously, there are challenges with the "let me keep my stuff" plan, but y'know, MMOs are HARD, and if you're going to make a sequel, you should think HARD about those problems and solve them.
I can think of a couple of ways to make a sequel for an MMO that let's you keep your stuff...one is to change the world "in place," give me the new client or whatever, but on launch day, I log in my character and BAM, new graphics, new gameplay, whatever. EQ has done this with graphic upgrades on occasion...
Another way is to make version 2 shards that have copied over the character database, so if I buy genericMMO2, when I go to log in, there's a version 2 of my server with a version 2 of my characters. The obvious problem here is that now my buddies have to decide which one they're going to play, it could fragment the community.
There are about a jillion variations that allow me to keep my character and some amount of my stuff (my house!) when a sequel comes out, and I think that regardless of execution, if a sequel isn't true to its predecessor, or requires players start over, it shouldn't be made, or at least shouldn't be called a sequel.
P.S. - The sequel should have "new shards" for people who don't want to compete with the 5 year vets.
Posted by SunSword at 11:58 AM | Comments (11)
December 23, 2004
Happy Holiday's from the Edge.
'Nuff said...
Posted by SunSword at 02:25 AM | Comments (2)
December 11, 2004
There's sooo much that I don't post here.
I tend to err on the side of caution with my blog, particularly with regards to games and the game industry because as a Producer at EA, what I say carries certain implications. I often find myself staring at some rant or thoughtful post with the mouse hovering over the "publish" button. Like today.
I usually hit cancel. It's feels a bit like giving a speech with one hand covering my mouth.
So, instead of actually commenting, I'm just going to list the several items I've written about today and then cancelled:
* IPY
* WoW & EQ2 and the lack of interesting MMOs to play
* All the speculation about "the secret UO project"
BAH.
So anyway, since I'm not actually going to express any opinions on these matters, I might as well link to some people who might. I'm updating my links with some thoughtful folks, Lum and Ubiq.
Posted by SunSword at 11:32 PM | Comments (2)
Milestone for Trinity
Trinity rolled over lastnight, right before Kim and I went out for the evening.
Kim put Trinity down on her tummy, right in front of me. She generally doesn't like to be on her tummy, but she was in a good mood. She pushed WAAAY up to see my face and then teetered over on right side, so I Araceli and I moved to stand over her and cheer her own, just outside of her peripherial vision to encourage her to roll over. She pushed and jerked a few times, but then began to tire as we called "C'mon Trinity! You can do it! Rollllll on over!"
Then Kim came over to see what was going on and got into the game. That's pretty much all it took. Trinity heard momma's voice and flopped right over! It was a nice family event.
Posted by SunSword at 10:01 AM | Comments (0)
December 07, 2004
I suppose my tastes have changed
It's been a while since I took the old Bartle's Test, and while I'm not a big advocate of the system, it can be an interesting platform for discussion...anyway, here's where I stand these days:
Thanks for taking the test. You are person number 289025 to take it.
Your type is: KEA. 3% of respondents so far fall into that type.
The numbers below represent percentage of how many times you selected a given suite when given the chance. Since there are 15 questions for each suite out of 30 total, the number will add up to 200%. 50% thus means average for each suite, and 100% is the maximum score.
Your answers were split as follows:
Killer 73%
Explorer 73%
Achiever 46%
Socializer 6%
Perhaps that's why I play all those FPS games...or maybe it's a meaningless silly test that changes depending on my mood...hmmm?
Posted by SunSword at 12:29 AM | Comments (1)
December 02, 2004
Thought I should share this bit of Texas history.
Perhaps this is where my desire to teach comes from?
My Great Great Grand Father, James E. Guinn.
"James E. Guinn, a Fort Worth native, was the oldest son of eight children. His father, a former slave, moved to Texas in 1863 after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued.
...
Mr. Guinn became principal of the Southside Colored School in 1900. The school hat two rooms, with a capacity for 100 children in grades K-4.
On January 3, 1907, the City Council agreed to build a permanent building for the Southside Colored School. Sadly, Mr. Guinn died on July 11, 1917, before construction could be completed. Later that year, the school was renamed the James E. Guinn School."
History of Black Education in Fort Worth, Texas
Did you know, that when my parents got married, they had to do it in my father's state, because it was illegal in her home state? Just think...if some intolerant people had their way, I wouldn't exist.
Posted by SunSword at 11:33 PM | Comments (2)
December 01, 2004
We're hiring Content Designers for UO!
If you think you've got what it takes to design worlds and fill them with interesting people and places, now's your chance. We're actually hiring 3 individuals at this position.
This is a great opporunity to work with a large team on a major new project for UO.
Check out the job description Here!
Posted by SunSword at 03:56 AM | Comments (1)
Well, I've managed to reconstruct the blog
Upgrading was a pretty huge pain, and obviously I still haven't gotten the style-sheets and templates back the way they were, but all the data is here, the back-end interface is working properly, and the new comment system is up and running. If you don't have a "TypeKey" account, and you comment without logging in, your comments make take a while to appear because I'm manually reviewing them...too much spam.
Posted by SunSword at 03:49 AM | Comments (0)