GamersCircle

Ask Cryptic: Star Trek Online

andy — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:28:37 +0000

How much interaction will be allowable with the NPCs representing new life found on strange new worlds? Will it be a case of clobber everybody then a text message providing a clue to the next step (like CoH/ CoV), a series of dialogue selections (Interplay’s Star Trek 25th Anniversary and Judgment Rites), or something completely different.

This is a universe at war, so combat will be a major factor, but there will also be a large component of exploration. You will get to meet new species, some of which you’ll fight against, some of which you’ll protect, and some of which you’ll ally with. There won’t be extensive dialogue trees, but you’ll get to explore and have missions that don’t involve just clobbering everybody.

There has been discussion on the art direction. Can you tell us why you chose to design your characters and environments with bright, solid shade colors (for lack of a better word "Cartoony") rather than a more realism style like say, Oblivion or Age of Conan?

We’re aiming for a fantastical style, not a “cartoony” one. It’s going to look realistic, in terms of planets, environments, and characters, but we want to take it up a notch and make it feel more fantastic. We’re going to give it that sense of wonder and vibrancy that you expect from Star Trek.

What kinds of physics are governing the movement of ships? Will the physics engine be realistic with the "correct" mass and thrust ratios for each ship? I would like to see this as much as your physics tech allows, so we may enjoy authentic movements during space flight.

Turning radiuses, acceleration, deceleration, and general maneuverability will all be dependent on the size of each ship. Smaller fighters will be able to fishtail and maneuver quickly, while larger ships will have gradual turns, slower acceleration, and slower stops.

Will my custom species be one-of-a-kind or will the species be taken and seeded on other planets for other players to encounter?

At Cryptic, we really like including user generated content into our games. This, for example, is a great idea and we’ll look into it.

Is there a way to keep a ship you like and be able to upgrade it to be the equivalent to your avatar’s level? For instance, if I want to stay with a Defiant class but my character is at Sovereign class level - is there a way I can get it to match a bigger ship’s capability?

The answer here is yes and no. You’ll start with a Tier 1 ship and you can certainly upgrade it and trick it out so that it’s comparable to a mid-level Tier 2 ship. However, a top of the line Tier 2 ship is going to be much better than even the most tricked out Tier 1. It has to do with growth capacity. There’s just more room for growth built into the higher tier ships. Of course, your skills and the skills of your bridge crew also affect how much you can do with your ship.
However, you do get to keep your ships. So, if you find yourself in a situation where an earlier ship would be more useful, you can switch back to it for that encounter. For example, you might want to shift back to a smaller and more maneuverable ship for running a blockade.

CES 2009: Halo Wars demo coming to Live on Feb. 5

andy — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:26:37 +0000

Microsoft’s entertainment and devices boss, Robbie Bach, revealed during the company’s CES 2009 keynote that a demo of Ensemble Studios’ Halo Wars will hit Xbox Live Marketplace on February 5. Additionally, Bach announced a February 28 ship date for the full game, which fits nicely with what MS had previously announced.

If the demo is anything like most others — i.e. the earliest parts of the game — it will likely contain a lot of what we played just a couple of months back.

Gallery: Halo Wars

Source: Joystiq

FFG discuss Mutant Chronicles Warpacks

andy — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:25:26 +0000

Fantasy Flight Games have posted an article by Mutant Chronicles developer Nate French looking at the upcoming Mutant Chronicles Warpacks, terrain tiles and maps.

Source

Microsoft to push IE8 as an automatic update

andy — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:13:25 +0000

Microsoft has announced it plans to offer IE8 via Windows Update. In a move that will likely anger rivals such as Apple and Google, Microsoft will be pushing Internet Explorer 8 via Windows Update. Google raised concerns back in 2006 when IE7 was originally released via Windows Update. Apple received negative press last year when it tried to push Safari to iTunes users. Many users never had Safari installed but it was listed under Apple’s software update program for install. The IE8 update will be released as the highest priority update for each operating system. For Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, it will be listed as Important.

McG to Direct 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

andy — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:08:35 +0000

Terminator Salvation helmer McG will direct 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Captain Nemo , a family film that is being fast tracked by Walt Disney Pictures.

Source

Ziff Davis Sells 1up, Closes EGM

andy — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:03:13 +0000

In a surprise move, following rumors yesterday, Ziff-Davis, the publishing giant, has sold 1up.com, and closed the legendary gaming magazine EGM. After 20 years, the January issue of EGM will be the last ever. It is the end of an era, folks, it seems print is dead, or almost dead. The buyer of 1up.com is UGO, a member of the Hearst publishing network. 1up should continue to function.

"The acquisition of 1UP, with its authentic voice, tenured editorial personalities and bustling user community, allows us to expand our base of quality content and represents a major step forward in UGO’s mission to become the leader in the games space."

Watch All 17 Original “The Prisoner” Episodes On-Line

andy — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:45:14 +0000

If you’ve never seen the original 1960’s mind-bending series “The Prisoner” or just want to catch up on the series before AMC’s new series airs later this year, you’re can check out the full run of the series over at AMC’s The Prisoner web-site.

The cable outlet, seeking to generate interest for the series’ revival later this year, has posted all seventeen episodes on-line for fans to view again.

The site offers full episodes, a blog, trivia and areas for fans of the Patrick McGoohan series to debate the many, many intricacies of the show (including the never-ending debate over in what order one should view the episodes).

John August’s Shazam! Not Happening

andy — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:07:22 +0000

Screenwriter John August ( Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ) is speaking out on his blog about his long-in-development Captain Marvel project, originally for New Line and then taken over by Warner Bros. during the merger last year. Based on the Fawcett Comics character created by C.C. Beck and Bill Parker in 1939, Shazam! was going to be directed by Get Smart director Peter Segal. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like Warner Bros. is interested in John August’s comedic direction for the character anymore.

360 Records Its Biggest Year Ever, 28 Mil Sold, 17 Mil Live

andy — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:05:47 +0000

Microsoft has released a statement that claims 208 was the biggest year yet for the Xbox360 console. They claim that 28 million consoles have been sold to date to the end of last year, with 17 million new Xbox Live members. The price cuts for the hardware that MS decided on this year certainly helped, as well as the availability of used hardware, we suppose.

REDMOND, Wash. — Jan. 5, 2009 — Despite a tough economy, the gaming industry held strong in 2008 and Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system recorded the biggest year in Xbox history, with more consoles, games and online entertainment experiences sold than any previous year. It was a year in which life-to-date unit sales of Xbox 360 systems climbed to 28 million consoles worldwide — expanding the product’s lead over Sony PlayStation 3 to more than 8 million units. The Xbox LIVE community also grew to more than 17 million active members, as online consumer spending increased 84 percent from last year. Since the launch of the Xbox 360 three years ago, more than $1 billion has been spent on Xbox LIVE. This amazing growth was fueled by the launch of the New Xbox Experience1; the broadest selection of hit games, TV shows, and movies available; and mass-market price points, starting at $199.

Electronic Arts Goes Scrabble, Hasbro Game Crazy

andy — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:04:36 +0000

Electronic Arts will bring several more Hasbro properties including Scrabble, Battleship and Connect Four to gaming platforms this year, the publisher announced today.

In North America, Scrabble will be released for Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable, while under the banner of Hasbro Family Game Night, Xbox Live Arcade will receive Scrabble (North America only), Boggle, Battleship, Yahtzee, Connect Four, Sorry! and Sorry! Sliders.

Source

Upper Deck launches Battlegrounds for WoW Minis

andy — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:00:43 +0000

Upper Deck Entertainment has announced a new in-store organized play program for its World of Warcraft Miniatures Game. Starting in January, players can participate in their local hobby stores’ World of Warcraft Miniatures Game Battlegrounds events for a chance to win an exclusive preview figure for the upcoming expansion set Spoils of War. Winners will receive the Horde Blood Elf Warlock Daxin Firesworn, plus a foil version of his character card.

In addition to the preview figure, Battlegrounds events will feature additional prizes, including foil versions of the Action Bar cards Fog of War and Curse of Agony. Each month, new Battlegrounds prizes will be available, including new preview figures and foil Action Bar cards.

For more information and locations, please visit http://WoWMinis.com

Used Game Prices Dropped 23.7% by End of 2008

andy — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:27:48 +0000

In yet another indication of the myriad ways the recession is effecting the videogame industry, Video Game Price Charts reports (via Gamasutra) that the average price for a used game saw a significant drop in 2008, ending 23.7 percent lower than where it started in January.

As you can see in the chart above, the average price for a used game started at $12.69 at the beginning of January last year. But by November 3rd, the price tumbled to its lowest point of the year — $8.57, a 32.5 percent decrease from the starting price. The average price ticked up again in the remaining days of 2008, and finally ended at $9.68, which was a decrease of 23.7 percent.

What’s particularly interesting about these numbers — and where you see the real effect of the recession — is when you compare them to the price fluctuations of 2007. As you can see in the chart below, the average price of a used game saw a similarly downward trajectory in 2007, indicating a decrease over the year is natural. But the extent of the drop was far less drastic than that seen in 2008. The lowest point of the year was a 30.4% drop from the starting price, but then the price ticked back up by 26.6% for a total loss of only 11.8% of the starting value.

Source

What REALLY Hard-core Xbox Fans Drive

andy — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:26:58 +0000

Check out this insane melding of Xbox and automobile spotted on Flickr. Some modder integrated not one, but two full Xbox 360s into the interior of his Suzuki.

Source

Halo 3 tops XBL activity in 2008

andy — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:22:19 +0000

Microsoft dubs Bungie’s sci-fi FPS as most-played online Xbox 360 game; Castle Crashers crowned Arcade champ.

D&D 4th Edition Character Builder hits Open Beta

andy — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:21:02 +0000

Remember back in the day when we saw a first glimpse of D&D Insider, a suite of computer tools for D&D 4th Edition that included everything you ever wanted: character creators, monster creators, map editors and even a 3D game client to play the slick new edition with your friends across the country? Yeah, well none of that was ready in time for the product’s launch.

Now Six Months after release, Wizards of the Coast has posted an Open Beta of the D&D Insider Character Builder, which will not be free at launch so we highly recommend that you try them out now while they’re free.

We’re afraid to say that from the get-go we weren’t impressed with the level of craftsmanship of this release, even in beta. Most of our beef comes from the installer:

First it defaults to installation on your Desktop, which is probably one of the worst places to install anything by default. Oh wait, it wasn’t installing! It was just downloading more files and then automatically installing where it wanted to. Super, and strike 2. Then after a long pause the installer claims to require a reboot..! Are you kidding me? We’re shopping for a top notch character generator here, not something that hooks into our Windows System. We’re beginning to wonder just what other payloads were attached to the installer that required a system reboot. Ugh. We ignored the request, launched the Character Builder, and started poking at it with a stick anyway.

The Editor itself has a clean look to it. The flow is a bit off in some places with numerous subsections per pane, and that may confuse some users first time through. However, once someone quickly learns the flow, the tool is quite powerful.

The system provides a sidebar that is a well-formatted entry of any highlighted race, class, ability, skill, equipment, etc entry pulled straight from the applicable source, whether it be the D&D 4th Edition Player’s Handbook or another piece of source material. It also provides a link to the D&D compedium which currently holds the same information, but in the future will also include user generated content, hints and tips about how to use the specific feature and ability in your game, etc. Some details are currently missing for some of the more obscure abilities and gods, for instance. But hey - it’s beta, and we’re not that die hard to cry foul on any missing entries we came across.

The Generator also does a good job of fading out the abilities and feats that aren’t yet available to your, or the weapons that he/she isn’t trained to use. It’s still difficult to fully appreciate the prerequisites for the feats, and so mapping out a goal to get your character to a specific feat still remains quite difficult in the current formatting.

As a nice bonus the Character Generator also allows you to select some of the monster races; and we put it through it’s paces by making a Kobold Devout Cleric just to see how it panned out. It went completely smoothly, so that opens up all sorts of great quick one-off NPC creations for DMs as well.

The Absolute Best Thing of All ™ is that the generator creates a full fledge character sheet, with all your stats, etc precomputed. The best part is this though - an additional sheet is generated that includes all of your abilities, character attribute bonus, and the the official text and rules of each ability one slick little sheet. You can either print it as is, or cut each ability out to use them as tap-able cards in encounters which is our current style. We’ve been looking for something like this for a while, and now that we have the official version of it in our hands, it’ll be hard to go back to anything else.

In the end - is the Character Builder as it exists in beta worth a monthly subscription? Probably not on it’s own, unless you keep pushing your character to the brink of destruction and take that extra step into death. After all, how many characters do you plan on making per month?

However, as part of a larger service, we could see this being one of the many great little features that come within a suite of many. And with the still unreleased DM tools subsisting as the major bulk of such a service, the question still remains if D&D Insider would be worth the dough.

Source

GamersCircle

Ask Cryptic: Star Trek Online

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