Curmudgeon Gamer
27 August 2007
JohnH on difficult games, jvm on NPD
JohnH had a rather lengthy article on Gamasutra this past week called Game Design Essentials: 20 Difficult Games. Since he wouldn't post about it, I figured I would. Apparently it was a hit on Digg and melted Gamasutra's servers at some point.
Also, my July 2007 NPD analysis for Gamasutra went up this morning. I ended up taking the weekend to get things right instead of hacking something together on Thursday night to have ready for Friday morning. My gut tells me that ended up being worth it.
Now I'm going to do what I missed out on this past weekend: playing a videogame.
Also, my July 2007 NPD analysis for Gamasutra went up this morning. I ended up taking the weekend to get things right instead of hacking something together on Thursday night to have ready for Friday morning. My gut tells me that ended up being worth it.
Now I'm going to do what I missed out on this past weekend: playing a videogame.
--jvm at 21:21
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[ 2 ]
24 August 2007
New media for the new gamers
When people discuss the effect that the Wii is having on the market, they say things like "bringing non-gamers to games" and "reaching the casual gamer" and "growing the market". Let's assume that at least some of that is happening.
What media outlets will cater to those new people? Maybe I'm just a stick in the mud, but I have a hard time believing it will be sites that think it's appropriate to use the words "sloppy seconds" in a headline.
Will the older set of nontraditional gamers really want that kind of sophomoric humor when all they want is news about new Wii games? How about all the younger kids who might be attracted to the Wii because it's easier to control than a standard gamepad? (Yeah, they shouldn't be on the internets unattended anyway...)
It's not uncommon to read about developers having to rethink how they develop games because of the Wii and the audience it attracts. Maybe that new audience will also bring some changes in the media that serve us.
What media outlets will cater to those new people? Maybe I'm just a stick in the mud, but I have a hard time believing it will be sites that think it's appropriate to use the words "sloppy seconds" in a headline.
Will the older set of nontraditional gamers really want that kind of sophomoric humor when all they want is news about new Wii games? How about all the younger kids who might be attracted to the Wii because it's easier to control than a standard gamepad? (Yeah, they shouldn't be on the internets unattended anyway...)
It's not uncommon to read about developers having to rethink how they develop games because of the Wii and the audience it attracts. Maybe that new audience will also bring some changes in the media that serve us.
Labels: media
--jvm at 08:44
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[ 3 ]
21 August 2007
Review: Tomb Raider: Anniversary (PS2)
Crystal Dynamics stuck close to the source material for this remake of the original Tomb Raider. As she did over 10 years ago, Lara Croft ventures through tombs and learns the dark secrets of the Scion of Atlantis. Along the way she runs, jumps, and climbs past devilish traps and hungry wild animals.
The original levels have almost all been reimagined in Tomb Raider: Anniversary, and they often look quite good. Regrettably, some vistas lack the grandeur that this dedicated fan would have liked. Lara herself is generally responsive, but the precise controls of the original have been replaced with the less predictable control system from Tomb Raider: Legend. In brief, the game doesn't allow you to do whatever you want whenever you want. (See the bit about magic at the end of this journal entry.) And while the manual grab is an option, some difficult movement puzzles betray a developer's bias for automatic grab. The Quick-Timer Events are almost uniformly poor, as they were in Legend.
While the remade levels are fitting updates to the originals, I think that Crystal Dynamics should have taken more liberties with their material. What was brilliant 10 years ago simply isn't strong enough by today's standards and some completely new ideas would have served the game well. (If a Tomb Raider II remake is considered, Crystal Dynamics will have to indulge itself in rethinking huge sections of it, in particular the Venice levels. Too bad it wasn't done here.)
The outline of the plot is essentially unchanged, but the changes within that framework are welcome. Specifically, how Lara kills is treated with care, an issue I've raised many times before and which I'll tackle once more in a future post. What struck me, however, is that this is merely an improved story told in precisely the same manner used 10 years ago. It is revealing that the cutscene-action-cutscene loop is practically unchanged after a decade of new products from an industry that likes to tout its innovation.
The original levels have almost all been reimagined in Tomb Raider: Anniversary, and they often look quite good. Regrettably, some vistas lack the grandeur that this dedicated fan would have liked. Lara herself is generally responsive, but the precise controls of the original have been replaced with the less predictable control system from Tomb Raider: Legend. In brief, the game doesn't allow you to do whatever you want whenever you want. (See the bit about magic at the end of this journal entry.) And while the manual grab is an option, some difficult movement puzzles betray a developer's bias for automatic grab. The Quick-Timer Events are almost uniformly poor, as they were in Legend.
While the remade levels are fitting updates to the originals, I think that Crystal Dynamics should have taken more liberties with their material. What was brilliant 10 years ago simply isn't strong enough by today's standards and some completely new ideas would have served the game well. (If a Tomb Raider II remake is considered, Crystal Dynamics will have to indulge itself in rethinking huge sections of it, in particular the Venice levels. Too bad it wasn't done here.)
The outline of the plot is essentially unchanged, but the changes within that framework are welcome. Specifically, how Lara kills is treated with care, an issue I've raised many times before and which I'll tackle once more in a future post. What struck me, however, is that this is merely an improved story told in precisely the same manner used 10 years ago. It is revealing that the cutscene-action-cutscene loop is practically unchanged after a decade of new products from an industry that likes to tout its innovation.
Labels: ps2, reviews, tomb raider
--jvm at 20:36
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[ 1 ]
Sim City Anticipates Chinese Government Anti-Pollution Measures
Great title, eh?
China recently mandated that it would be forbidden for many (all-ish?) private vehicles, apparently nearly 1.3 million, to hit the Beijing streets for a four-day test, hoping the move would make the air quality just good enough to host the Olympics. It worked fairly well, if you believe all you're fed.
Here's a quote from an Associated Press story posted to ESPN:
Let's pretend for now those readings are valid and can be used at face value.
China's move reminds me of what I used to do, years ago, when one of my high school teachers decided Sim City was educational, and we could hit the LCs to play a bit after our work was done. After playing through a few times, I didn't build roads, just mass transportation. It worked great. Sure, the people clamored for "more roads", but I simply ignored them and my congestion and pollution problems never cropped up.
Let this be a lesson to those like Bob who feel games similar to Civilization can't be educational, though AD&D for a college level mathematics can (I may have overstated his case a tad). Sim City encourages techniques that the Chinese government believes are effective. There's no arguing the usefulness of this sequidecade-old lesson delivered via a game.
China recently mandated that it would be forbidden for many (all-ish?) private vehicles, apparently nearly 1.3 million, to hit the Beijing streets for a four-day test, hoping the move would make the air quality just good enough to host the Olympics. It worked fairly well, if you believe all you're fed.
Here's a quote from an Associated Press story posted to ESPN:
Beijing had an air pollution index of between 93 and 95 during the test days, the city's environmental protection bureau said on its Web site. According to the State Environmental Protection Agency, an index below 100 indicates excellent or good conditions.
...
The index hit 116 Tuesday after the test and was 115 on Aug. 16, the day before the trial began, the Chinese statistics showed.
Let's pretend for now those readings are valid and can be used at face value.
China's move reminds me of what I used to do, years ago, when one of my high school teachers decided Sim City was educational, and we could hit the LCs to play a bit after our work was done. After playing through a few times, I didn't build roads, just mass transportation. It worked great. Sure, the people clamored for "more roads", but I simply ignored them and my congestion and pollution problems never cropped up.
Let this be a lesson to those like Bob who feel games similar to Civilization can't be educational, though AD&D for a college level mathematics can (I may have overstated his case a tad). Sim City encourages techniques that the Chinese government believes are effective. There's no arguing the usefulness of this sequidecade-old lesson delivered via a game.
--rufbo at 18:32
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[ 0 ]
Modeling epidemics in WoW
Michael pointed me to a Slashdot post about a forthcoming paper which suggests that the epidemic in World of Warcraft might be used to model real world diseases. I had precisely this idea at the time and this was the response from Blizzard (through a third party), dated 6 October 2005:
That's my only contribution to WoW discussion on this blog.
From: <*@blizzard.com>
Subject: RE: randomness (fwd)
I researched the logs, and unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any
unique message corresponding to the Corrupted Blood spell infecting a
player. It would definitely be cool to chart this, but it looks like a
no-go...
That's my only contribution to WoW discussion on this blog.
Labels: WoW
--jvm at 12:55
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[ 0 ]
15 August 2007
Apple to 3D gamers: Shove off.
I've been following a thread running through Macrumors.com regarding recent Barefeats tests that have the old iMac revision trouncing the new, aluminum versions when it comes to gaming, and the deal has to be interpreted as Apple really doesn't give a rip about 3D gamers on the Mac. (And I do mean trouncing. Quake 4 fps dropped from 71 to 29. Doom 3 from 84 to 58. Halo from 90 to 40. Good stuff for those who waited to upgrade, right?)
This has happened before within the last month with MacBook Pros. There, the excuse was that the drivers sux0rz'd, and were quickly, but silently, updated. From Mac Rumors:
Apple seems happy to cut corners in the 3D game performance category, and the procrastination hurts. They've now purposefully (and, I suppose, we can more safely conjecture Apple may have done it purposefully the first time with MacBook Pros as well) allowed, even caused, embarrassingly shoddy benchmarks to be taken and posted on well-respected sites with the new iMac, and their willingness to take their lumps on that front shows that high-end, 3D game performance means bupkiss for Apple's QA process and, I'll extend, their corporate culture. If gaming was a priority internally, these sorts of benchmarks would never be taken. At the very least, there would be a warning from Apple to expect less than stellar performance as they continued to "Work Diligently (c)1850" on a solution.
Thanks for the finger, Apple. By the way, where's our Madden?
MacMadden-related Update: I've been half-heartedly Googling off and on for the last week for news on MacMadden 08, and appreciate InsideMacGames.com's owner, Tuncer, blogging regarding the delay. I'll give him a heck of a lot of credit for 1.) Predicting this one at some level and 2.) Calling EA out publicly for the horrible feedback they've given him as the owner of the major Mac games sales website (though Tuncer also credits Peter Cohen, the last surviving Mac Games journalist, for calling them out in a MacWorld piece first).
Just for fun, I'll add this snippet from Tuncer's IMG blog on MacMadden's MIA-ness:
This has happened before within the last month with MacBook Pros. There, the excuse was that the drivers sux0rz'd, and were quickly, but silently, updated. From Mac Rumors:
While Apple does not elaborate on the contents of the update, an analysis of the update package indicates that it contains improvements to the graphics subsystem, with updated nVidia graphics drivers and some updated OpenGL components. Some initial benchmarks of the updated MacBook Pros had indicated some graphics scores lower than its predeccesor [sic].
Apple seems happy to cut corners in the 3D game performance category, and the procrastination hurts. They've now purposefully (and, I suppose, we can more safely conjecture Apple may have done it purposefully the first time with MacBook Pros as well) allowed, even caused, embarrassingly shoddy benchmarks to be taken and posted on well-respected sites with the new iMac, and their willingness to take their lumps on that front shows that high-end, 3D game performance means bupkiss for Apple's QA process and, I'll extend, their corporate culture. If gaming was a priority internally, these sorts of benchmarks would never be taken. At the very least, there would be a warning from Apple to expect less than stellar performance as they continued to "Work Diligently (c)1850" on a solution.
Thanks for the finger, Apple. By the way, where's our Madden?
MacMadden-related Update: I've been half-heartedly Googling off and on for the last week for news on MacMadden 08, and appreciate InsideMacGames.com's owner, Tuncer, blogging regarding the delay. I'll give him a heck of a lot of credit for 1.) Predicting this one at some level and 2.) Calling EA out publicly for the horrible feedback they've given him as the owner of the major Mac games sales website (though Tuncer also credits Peter Cohen, the last surviving Mac Games journalist, for calling them out in a MacWorld piece first).
Just for fun, I'll add this snippet from Tuncer's IMG blog on MacMadden's MIA-ness:
EA needs a wake up call.[emph and chuckle mine]
...
Second. A 3 month Apple exclusive on the first four titles is just plain stupid. EA's games should be available to everyone, not just Apple stores, when they finally launch. Imagine going to Macgamestore.com or Amazon or whatever, and not being able to find these titles.
--rufbo at 21:09
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[ 3 ]
14 August 2007
30 years, 30 defining events
An article of mine on events that defined the industry is up on Next-Gen this morning. I actually thought we'd go through some revisions, but the editors apparently worked with the draft I submitted. So imagine my surprise finding it in my RSS reader this morning.
After I wrote it, I noticed that Sony shows up in a few places throughout, but does not claim any defining event for itself (in my view, natch). I wonder if that's because Sony's contributions are so diffuse that it's difficult to point to any one and say "There! That's it!" or if it's my personal perspective.
Feel free to note events you think I missed or corrections in the comments.
Update (19:47): There was about a 30 minute discussion of the list on the Game Theory podcast today.
After I wrote it, I noticed that Sony shows up in a few places throughout, but does not claim any defining event for itself (in my view, natch). I wonder if that's because Sony's contributions are so diffuse that it's difficult to point to any one and say "There! That's it!" or if it's my personal perspective.
Feel free to note events you think I missed or corrections in the comments.
Update (19:47): There was about a 30 minute discussion of the list on the Game Theory podcast today.
--jvm at 10:45
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[ 2 ]
12 August 2007
The Wii nine months later, good and bad
Things I'm disappointed with concerning my Wii:
Positive things:
- Here we are approaching a year since the Wii's release, and so far Wii Sports remains the only game to use the message board, and only three games use Miis. This is a tremendous opportunity that's being wasted. Hearing about the problems EA had in getting access to the Mii feature for My Sims was troubling. It's not every day that EA even decides to try something new, to reject them for the attempt borders on criminal.
- Staying on the topic, how amazing is it that even now, the Wii game I and my friends play the most remains Wii Sports? We started with bowling (and still play it sometimes), after that we moved on to baseball, golf, then tennis. The only game on the disk whose charm has mostly eluded us is boxing, yet it's possible to see us playing even that.
- While I'm not as annoyed with "waggle" as some bloggers, it remains a fact that tacked-on remote functionality is a big problem. There is no reason that remote-swishing should block laser blasts in Lego Star Wars for the Wii, which isn't exactly a first-person game and was good enough as it was.
- Although their system is more than capable over the internet (and they have, by far, the best web browser among the consoles), Microsoft still easily beats them in online features, and with Nintendo's downloadable games effort still shrouded in scaffolding the 360 has a huge lead over them in new software. Settlers of Catan and Championship Pac-Man are almost enough to make me consider getting a 360 by themselves and are available now, but we're barely even sure what Nintendo's got lined up yet. So far we only have two channels available for download that didn't have placeholders (or full channels) on the screen at launch, and one of them is just a fancy advertisement for Metroid Prime 3.
Positive things:
- I'm more excited over Super Mario Galaxy than I have been over any game for a long time. It's good to see the series return to form. Smash Bros. Brawl is interesting, but we've seen little to indicate that it's going to be very different from Melee. That may be understandable, since in the end Melee was the most popular Gamecube game, but it's not exactly visionary.
- What we've seen in the way of the channels Nintendo has produced have been, generally, well-made. While it was singled out for complaints right after its release, Everybody Votes has been my most-used non-game channel, since there's only so much room on the system for Miis, and for news and weather I generally turn to the internet and the window, respectively. One sometimes learns disturbing things there too: when the world-wide question asked users if they had dreams for the future, "yes" understandably far outweighed "no" in all nations except three: Germany, Austria and Japan, in which places the split approached 50/50. I'm surprised sociologists haven't yet pounced upon this data.
- The Gamecube had a number of excellent games made for it that got dismissed out of hand solely because of the system's third-place position in the market. The second Paper Mario deserved so much better than it got. It is nice to see that, despite their lacking performance at the time, Nintendo is perfectly happy making sequels to those games. Super Paper Mario may not ultimately be the same kind of game, but it's got the same sense of humor and the same brilliant writing. Seeing it break a million units sold is almost enough to make me think justice has returned to the world.
- Finally, the most awesome aspect of the recent firmware update wasn't the clock (by a long shot) but unannounced USB keyboard support. This makes for a big change from the usual Nintendo policy regarding hardware, namely, to make users buy highly-profitable first-party accessories whenever possible. Here's hoping that the Internet Channel gets patched for keyboards soon, and that Nintendo realizes USB drives are a lot more convenient as a backup solution than SD cards.
--JohnH at 22:55
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[ 6 ]
Review: God of War 2 (PS2)
I savored God of War over the course of several weeks. I ripped into God of War 2 and finished in less than seven days. I recommend them both, provided you at least tolerate glorified brutality and some female partial nudity.
All you'll ever need to know about the plot: Kratos is killed by a fearful Zeus, but the Titans save him and send him to find The Fates and change the past. Along the way he kills lots of things (mostly using a fun almost-button-mashing combat system) and earns new powers.
God of War 2 has a more refined control system, which means you'll want to play God of War first. The wider array of weapons in God of War 2 also permits more customization to suit your style and cover your weaknesses.
Regrettably the story in God of War 2 falls somewhat flat. In the original, Kratos played a classic underdog, a mortal taking on a God. While he's ostensibly mortal again, his plight seems far less compelling. His personal need for revenge grounds the character far less than his need to avenge his wife and child.
My biggest complaint with God of War 2 is, I regret to say, a purely technical one. I am distracted by the extent of image tearing, at least in progressive scan mode. I appreciate that Sony's team in Santa Monica pushed the PlayStation 2 further than anyone else has, but I wonder if they could have backed off just a hair and reduced the tearing almost entirely.
All you'll ever need to know about the plot: Kratos is killed by a fearful Zeus, but the Titans save him and send him to find The Fates and change the past. Along the way he kills lots of things (mostly using a fun almost-button-mashing combat system) and earns new powers.
God of War 2 has a more refined control system, which means you'll want to play God of War first. The wider array of weapons in God of War 2 also permits more customization to suit your style and cover your weaknesses.
Regrettably the story in God of War 2 falls somewhat flat. In the original, Kratos played a classic underdog, a mortal taking on a God. While he's ostensibly mortal again, his plight seems far less compelling. His personal need for revenge grounds the character far less than his need to avenge his wife and child.
My biggest complaint with God of War 2 is, I regret to say, a purely technical one. I am distracted by the extent of image tearing, at least in progressive scan mode. I appreciate that Sony's team in Santa Monica pushed the PlayStation 2 further than anyone else has, but I wonder if they could have backed off just a hair and reduced the tearing almost entirely.
--jvm at 22:09
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[ 0 ]
09 August 2007
Madden 08, 360 Price Drops, and Selling Next Gen Down the River
Help.
Here, via a URL at ign.com, is a Microsoft press release. It's full of less than clever rhetoric, like, "Xbox 360 is the only console on which consumers will be able to play all of this year's biggest titles: [game 1], "Halo 3" (Bungie Studios), [game 2], [game 3]." That it's straight from MS makes it more interesting that a link is made between the Xbox 360 price drop and Madden's release. Microsoft, not controversially, thinks Madden pushes "next gen" console sales.
So now we have at least one good explanation why an EA Madden developer blog, here hosted by ign.com (conflict of interest, anyone?) says that the WinPC version of Madden matches the features of the "Current Gen" Madden engine instead of that of the "Next Gen" code. We wouldn't want to compete with next gen console sales, would we?
Strangely, the Windows Madden developer doing the blogging is trying to sell the Next Gen version down the proverbial river. Check this quote.
Two things occur to me:
1.) In the first bolded quote, it's impossible to have Madden on PC match "next gen" consoles' eye candy? Seriously? How many times have we seen engines start on the PC and have to be ramped down for consoles?
I've got to call bull on this one. The only out I can think of for Mr. Kiniry here is that if you have to start from a console engine and port it to the PC, EA's internal deadlines and resources allocated for the Windows version of Madden have created a situation where it would be impossible to port the Next Gen engine in time.
This tells us the PC version is [duh] downstream of the console versions. The issue is that Kiniry is [I assume] wrong to pass this off as a technical issue; it's all 0s, 1s, dollars, and cents.
2.) With the second quote, seriously, the Next Gen versions don't play as well? There's an eye candy vs. gameplay either-or here by definition? The hardware, programming libraries, etc. say that you can either have a game that plays great or looks great but not both? When and how did that happen? Even if you could port Next Gen in time, it'd be a boring game to play on WinPC and is a boring game on the 360 and PS3?
I'm not sure I'm buying that. In fact, I'm not buying it at all. I'll be eager to see how the Xbox 360 version plays (the 360's NCAA '08 is little different than the PS2's, imo, though here that's a sign for the worse).
In any event, if it's an advantage to be Current Gen, why wouldn't I buy the PS2 version over the Windows one and skip boot-up times, driver issues, etc? Ah yes, the Windows version is $10 less. So folks who have Windows boxes and Current Gen consoles get the option to pull in a discount?
I'm confused. If I hypothetically own three Madden-ready platforms, a Next Gen console, a Current Gen console, and a Windows PC, and I'm only buying one version of Madden, which does EA want me to buy and why again?
PS -- Where am I supposed to buy the Mac version again? It's not on ebstore.com, nor even on MacGameStore.com's "Coming Soon" list. What gives? A Google of "Madden 08" Mac gives me nuttin' useful.
Here, via a URL at ign.com, is a Microsoft press release. It's full of less than clever rhetoric, like, "Xbox 360 is the only console on which consumers will be able to play all of this year's biggest titles: [game 1], "Halo 3" (Bungie Studios), [game 2], [game 3]." That it's straight from MS makes it more interesting that a link is made between the Xbox 360 price drop and Madden's release. Microsoft, not controversially, thinks Madden pushes "next gen" console sales.
Microsoft Corp. today kicked off the greatest holiday lineup in video game history by announcing it will reduce the estimated retail price (ERP) of Xbox 360 by $50 (U.S.) beginning Aug. 8. Soon to follow, Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) will release its blockbuster video game title "Madden NFL 08" on Aug. 14. "Madden NFL Football," one of the most important mass-appeal franchises in video games, was the top-selling game of 2006 and is the top-selling franchise of the past 10 years.
So now we have at least one good explanation why an EA Madden developer blog, here hosted by ign.com (conflict of interest, anyone?) says that the WinPC version of Madden matches the features of the "Current Gen" Madden engine instead of that of the "Next Gen" code. We wouldn't want to compete with next gen console sales, would we?
Strangely, the Windows Madden developer doing the blogging is trying to sell the Next Gen version down the proverbial river. Check this quote.
The first question that is going to come up from all the PC fans is about Next Gen vs. Current Gen. So rather then bore you with the details let me say that we are still closer to the Current Gen version of the game. Personally I've been a fan of this choice given the way the game plays.... This really is the great Madden PC debate for the last couple of years: Speed and Game play of Current Gen versus the Look and Graphics of Next Gen (FYI - it just has not been technically possible to do both to date, even though I've been trying).(emph mine)
... I hate looking at screen shots of a game, reading the features, and going "Wow, that is going to be amazing," only to get it home and have it be nothing more then eye candy. Now don't get me wrong I love to push my system at home (why else put two video cards in one PC right?), but really I want a game that will keep me entertained for 60 hours not 60 minutes.
Two things occur to me:
1.) In the first bolded quote, it's impossible to have Madden on PC match "next gen" consoles' eye candy? Seriously? How many times have we seen engines start on the PC and have to be ramped down for consoles?
I've got to call bull on this one. The only out I can think of for Mr. Kiniry here is that if you have to start from a console engine and port it to the PC, EA's internal deadlines and resources allocated for the Windows version of Madden have created a situation where it would be impossible to port the Next Gen engine in time.
This tells us the PC version is [duh] downstream of the console versions. The issue is that Kiniry is [I assume] wrong to pass this off as a technical issue; it's all 0s, 1s, dollars, and cents.
2.) With the second quote, seriously, the Next Gen versions don't play as well? There's an eye candy vs. gameplay either-or here by definition? The hardware, programming libraries, etc. say that you can either have a game that plays great or looks great but not both? When and how did that happen? Even if you could port Next Gen in time, it'd be a boring game to play on WinPC and is a boring game on the 360 and PS3?
I'm not sure I'm buying that. In fact, I'm not buying it at all. I'll be eager to see how the Xbox 360 version plays (the 360's NCAA '08 is little different than the PS2's, imo, though here that's a sign for the worse).
In any event, if it's an advantage to be Current Gen, why wouldn't I buy the PS2 version over the Windows one and skip boot-up times, driver issues, etc? Ah yes, the Windows version is $10 less. So folks who have Windows boxes and Current Gen consoles get the option to pull in a discount?
I'm confused. If I hypothetically own three Madden-ready platforms, a Next Gen console, a Current Gen console, and a Windows PC, and I'm only buying one version of Madden, which does EA want me to buy and why again?
PS -- Where am I supposed to buy the Mac version again? It's not on ebstore.com, nor even on MacGameStore.com's "Coming Soon" list. What gives? A Google of "Madden 08" Mac gives me nuttin' useful.
--rufbo at 18:31
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[ 6 ]
03 August 2007
Stay out of the virtual rare book room. Buy DOOM on CD.
So now id Software has their games on Valve's virtual rare book roomSteam service. Yuck.
The prices of individual games are pretty bad. I'd rather track down a physical CD that I can keep forever and, where applicable, use one of the enhanced clients made from the GPLed source code. The big package of all of id Software's games is a deal, however, if you're cozy with Steam's tentacles.
Which brings me to my big concern: no more GPLed id Software games. Now that DOOM 3 is on Steam and theoretically available for sale forever, perpetually priced at $20, we probably won't see any source release as we've seen for everything since DOOM.
My naive understanding of Steam is that the General Cache Files (GCFs) encapsulate game data and present an extra layer between the user and the data. So Steam users might have to do some extra work to use a GPLed client with the data they've bought through Steam. Moreover, it's possible that id Software has now, or will someday, make it impossible for GPLed clients to play against the client distributed through Steam. I'm still unclear on how mods like Counter-strike and Red Orchestra work through Steam, but I'm guessing that they are close enough to commercial to get special status. (How do lesser mods integrate with Steam?)
Oh well. It was a nice run. Thanks for the games, John Carmack and id Software. Hope this venture works out for you.
Update: From Dustin over at LinuxGames:
Update 2: Be sure to check out Ryan's comments here and here which suggest I'm even more wrong.
The prices of individual games are pretty bad. I'd rather track down a physical CD that I can keep forever and, where applicable, use one of the enhanced clients made from the GPLed source code. The big package of all of id Software's games is a deal, however, if you're cozy with Steam's tentacles.
Which brings me to my big concern: no more GPLed id Software games. Now that DOOM 3 is on Steam and theoretically available for sale forever, perpetually priced at $20, we probably won't see any source release as we've seen for everything since DOOM.
My naive understanding of Steam is that the General Cache Files (GCFs) encapsulate game data and present an extra layer between the user and the data. So Steam users might have to do some extra work to use a GPLed client with the data they've bought through Steam. Moreover, it's possible that id Software has now, or will someday, make it impossible for GPLed clients to play against the client distributed through Steam. I'm still unclear on how mods like Counter-strike and Red Orchestra work through Steam, but I'm guessing that they are close enough to commercial to get special status. (How do lesser mods integrate with Steam?)
Oh well. It was a nice run. Thanks for the games, John Carmack and id Software. Hope this venture works out for you.
Update: From Dustin over at LinuxGames:
Someone beat me to the question about Linux and open source gaming! Carmack is proud of the code he's released, and he will open source the DOOM III engine in the future, and years and years from now, id Tech 5. He also says that knowledge informs their decisions while developing new engine technology. This response got the biggest applause of the session so far, which kind of (pleasantly!) surprised me. :]There you go, Carmack's on record and I'm on track to be wrong. I hope he follows through.
Update 2: Be sure to check out Ryan's comments here and here which suggest I'm even more wrong.
Labels: gnu, id, online distribution, quake, steam
--jvm at 20:47
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[ 6 ]
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