It All Makes Sense: Brett Favre Owns Mythic Entertainment

Wish I could claim credit for this: I'm convinced Brett Favre owns EA/Mythic.

Think about it...

Packer fans have been waiting months for news on Brett Favre.
WAR fans have been waiting months for news on WAR.

The packers announce a news conference yesterday, and packers fans are still waiting today to hear this news.
Mythic announces news is coming yesterday, today we are still waiting for this news.

Football season is closing in.
WAR release date is closing in.

Brett can't make up his mind about retiring.
Mythic wasn't sure if they wanted 6 cities or 2.

Conflicting stories about Brett from Brett and the Packers.
WAR has an NDA.

Brett Favre is on the cover of every EA football game.

Is all this a coinscidence? I think not.

The Road to WAR

The battle lines have been drawn, the objectives decided, and now all you have to do is walk your pansy ass over that hill and down the Road to WAR!

When you get there, don't forget to mention that heartlessgamer [at] gmail.com sent you.

Caution, there may be Casualties along the way.

Action Burn Out

Well, my plan of action is failing. I tried to make it to the Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning launch without having to resort back to playing an MMO.

Call of Duty 4, Day of Defeat: Source, and Team Fortress 2 have kept me busy, but not busy enough. I am bored in most of them and it directly affects my performance, which was not great to begin with. My twitch FPS days are well past me now.

Oh, and Spore isn't here yet.

In reality there is only one MMO I would even consider and that is World of Warcraft. We'll have to see how I warm up to the idea over the next few days. I am not really sure I want to.

Maybe I'll just read some books instead. Yes, my wife would like to hear that.

Gamestop Pre-order Details for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning

First, Gamestop e-mailed a release date and server-up time announcement for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning.

“Please Note: Servers will not go live until 10:00am EST on 9/18/08.”

Now, they've emailed details about a pre-order deal that gets players into the thought-to-be only for collector's edition orders Head Start event.

Reserve Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning and receive:

Open Beta Access: Be one of the first players to experience the glory of battle and the thrill of WAR! Open Beta will run from September 3, 2008 at 10am EST until September 12, 2008 at 10am EST. The Open Beta will level capped and content restricted.

Live Game Head Start: Reserve customers will get a 3-day head start on the battlefields of WAR. The Live Game Head Start begins on September 15, 2008 at 10am EST.

Bonus In-Game Items: Equip your characters for the journey to the frontlines with Rittenbach’s Portable Camp and Sentinel’s Amber Band.

Universal Fighting System Battle Deck: The Emperor Karl Franz and Tchar’zanek, dread Champion of Tzeentch, go head-to-head in this exclusive collectible card game deck from Fantasy Flight Games.

ONLINE/IN-STORE PICKUP CUSTOMERS: You will receive a code for the bonus items. Please provide a valid email address at time of purchase.

STORE CUSTOMERS: All bonus items will be available in store at time of reservation. Items available in store week of August 4. Please call ahead to confirm availability.

August 4th shall be very interesting.

Oh, and a card game? Interesting, I thought that was SOE's thing. Oh well.

Word of the Day: Hypocrisy

It would be a sin if Mythic charged players, in the form of a paid expansion, for the four cities and classes removed recently from beta.

It would be a sin if Blizzard charged players, in the form of a paid expansion, for hero classes that have been talked about since beta.

See what I did there? Which statement can be found circulating the MMO blogosphere currently?

Sadly, the MMO blogsphere is in a state of hypocrisy. Loud mouths are shouting off left and right that it would be absolute heresy for Mythic to charge for items perceived to be cut from beta. However, no one, aside from myself, is talking about Blizzard charging for an expansion that will introduce the first epic hero class to World of Warcraft (WoW), something discussed since WoW's beta.

I recently listened to the Shut Up We're Talking (SUWT) #30 podcast where the hosts used some very choice words about the idea that Mythic could charge for the extra classes and cities later in an expansion. Yet, in the same show, the hosts discussed how other, older MMOs need to add "carrots on a stick" to their expansions to actively promote players to buy them and therefore continue playing.

Not to mention, they discuss how MMOs need to be careful to ensure expansions don't become treadmills, continually wiping the previous accomplishments of players out. Yet, the idea that Mythic has the exact content to create a horizontal expansion, which would add to the game without taking away, that they would charge players for is absolutely preposterous to the show hosts.

To all of the SUWT hosts:

"Every man alone is sincere. At the entrance of a second person, hypocrisy begins."- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Anyways, moving on. Fortunately, for the WAR faithful, Mythic has come out and stated that they do not intend to release the content in a paid expansion.

Folks,

I would be very, very angry, how’s that?

Now as to my reasoning. First, during the development process of most creative ventures, things get cut and changed. That happens in games, books, films, television, etc. Secondly, for examples, things such as scenes that are cut from a movie are then are put into a “Director’s Cut” or “Special Edition” etc. I don’t think that it is wrong for a filmmaker to cut things out of his/her own film in order to make the film great and then offer them on a special DVD. Now, I wish they would put them on the same DVD as the original film is on but I have no real problem with the practice. While some people may disagree, it is a widespread practice and one that I don’t have any problem with morally, ethically, etc. Making a game, especially an MMO, is no different in that respect. We cut out things, change things, etc. during a development process and when the development process is three years long, well, even more can get cut and changed. However:

We have been talking about these classes and the cities for quite a while. And while I absolutely believe that we have the right, if we so choose, from every ethical, moral and legal perspective to cut them out totally or put them in the game in a paid expansion, that doesn’t mean that we should do that. We’ve always tried to hold ourselves to a higher standard. No, we’re not perfect, yes we make mistakes and yes, yes, yes we are also a business but just because you can do something doesn’t always mean you should do something. In this case, what we want to do and what we will try our best to do is to make sure that if/when we bring back those classes and these cities (sorry for the if, don’t read more into it, just being careful) that players will not have to buy them from us as part of a paid expansion but rather just part of the content updates that we did so well for DAoC.

And that’s why I would be very angry because we tried to do something and for some reason(s) we couldn’t make it happen. And that always pisses me off…

Mark

But let me guess, Mark Jacobs just left the door open for Mythic to commit the sin. That's fine. I'm not a hypocrite and have no issues paying for an expansion that would feature the content perceived to be cut from WAR, just as I would have no problem buying Wrath of the Lich King to play the first Hero Class.

Massively Overrated

One quote is all it took to tip my anger against Massively.com:

"With recent news of other games opting to release "on time" with minimal content, we can't help but scratch our heads at this type of situation. It's been asked a million times before, but we'll ask it again: would you rather have a partial game released now, or a complete game released later?"

Other games being specifically Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. They can call me a raging fanboy, and probably will. I am sick of this constant belief that WAR is somehow releasing an unfinished game because some people had promises magically transplanted into their brain.

I think it is due time that I give up reading Massively. Between the gratuitous self-linking and biased news sniping, I would begin to believe Massively a professional news organization.

I apologize to the better Massively.com posters, who take care to post actual news in news postings, not biased snipes based on uneducated guesswork.

Oh, and I'm not the only one. Keen found a pretty wonderful stinker on Massively as well.

“WAR strikes me as WoW mechanics wrapped in different lore plus a couple of new features. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Clearly Blizzard got a lot right with WoW, but it doesn’t do much for those of us looking for that “new” experience again.”

Book Thoughts: His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire, Book 1)

Title: His Majesty's Dragon
Author: Naomi Novik
Genre: Fantasy, Alternate History
Publisher: Del Rey (March 28, 2006)
Quick-Hit Thought: Fast, good read for those interested.

His Majesty's Dragon is the first book in a series by Naomi Novik that injects dragons into the Napoleonic era. The main character, a British Naval captain, finds himself in a pinch when his crew captures a dragon egg in transit to France. Pinched further by the egg hatching and the baby dragon being able to speak, the captain is pressed into harnessing the creature and therefore becoming bonded to it. The story follows the captain, named Laurence, on his transition into the British aerial corps with his extraordinary black dragon, Tremeraire.

The story was compelling to me as I am both a history fan and a member of the Air Force. As a member of the Air Force I picked up on the subtlety levied between the various British military branches, during a time in real history that navies dominated. The British Navy is rigid and structured, where as the aerial corps is often portrayed as open minded.

In the corps, women serve equally as men, subordinates are more likely to protest, and all because the dragons are the most important military tool available in the book's alternate history. This makes for some very fresh reading as Laurence transitions from rigid sea captain to rigid dragon pilot in a less-than-rigid aerial corps. I actually had to laugh a few times in the book at the way aviators are treated versus the ground crews that maintain the dragons, as it is very similar to how pilots and ground crew are treated in my experiences within the Air Force.

The book delights for the history buff as well. I haven't checked the time line of the book against actual events, but all seems to be in order from a cursory glance. The rigid life of the British Navy is well detailed and much thought is put into how the various dragon breeds fit into the period and available technology.

My criticisms of the book start with the action sequences, which are short and not very gripping. The characters are wonderfully built up, but feel fairly forgotten in favor of dragon slashing during battle. Unfortunately, the focus of the books is not on action, but more of how society and the military has formed around the presence of dragons. It is equitable to my experiences with the dragons of the Pern series, where the author spends a lot of time crafting a wonderful dragon-based society instead of detailing the raw damage that the beasts can deploy in battle.

Secondly, time passing is often left up to the classic "Six weeks later" approach. I'm a subscriber to "the journey is just as important as the destination" line of thinking and the book falls down on that point. However, this does make it for quick reading, which is always a plus when enough detail is leveled to ensure graceful flow.

Overall, His Majesty's Dragon is a pleasure to read for history and dragon buffs alike. I wouldn't recommend it to someone who was uninterested in both, but for any casual fans in either area I give a hearty thumbs up.

Best Movie Ever?

The phrase, "Best Movie Ever", appears thousands of times in the IMDb reviews for the new Batman thriller, The Dark Knight. Fans and critics are gushing praise for this movie, citing mainly the late Heath Ledger's performance as the iconic Joker as justification for the best movie title. However, there are a few questions I have to ask if The Dark Knight is going to be treated as Hollywood perfection.

Be forewarned, SPOILERS ahead!

Question 1: What motivates the Joker? He shows up in the first scene, robbing a mobster-controlled bank. His actions against the mob are never justified in the movie, other than that he wants Gotham to have a better class of criminals. The writer of the movie cited The Killing Joke graphical novel as motivation for this iteration of the Joker, yet I don't see any of that back story coming through.

Question 2: Where is Rachel Dawes' body? It would only make sense that Harvey Dent would want some sort of evidence of her demise before going completely against everything he ever stood for. There was mounting reason for Dent to go Two-face, but his conversation with the Joker in no way sold the flip-flop of character.

Question 3: Is Harvey Dent, aka Two-face dead? He fell a relatively short distance, which didn't seem to kill anyone else during the course of the movie. Actually, Batman specifically planned that height not to kill anyone earlier in the movie! Plus, the conversation Batman and Gordon have leans towards him being shuffled off as a hero, not a dead hero.

Question 4: The police are proven throughout the movie to be completely corrupt. Yet, once the Joker is captured at the end of movie, Batman leaves him tied up to be arrested by the possibly corrupt police force. What makes this even more asinine, is that the Joker just orchestrated an escape from the most secure police stronghold in Gotham, so why the hell is Batman not escorting the Joker off to a privately, Wayne Enterprises funded, holding facility?

Question 5: The Joker easily sends the people of Gotham into a frenzy, who in turn start trying to kill the Wayne Enterprises snitch. Yet, when those same generic citizens are put on a ferry and faced with certain death, they calmly take a vote whether they should blow up or get blown up by some convicted felons? Oh, and since when do super hero movie felons act rationally?

Question 6: Why is a completely out of place piece of technology, the cell phone sonar, added onto the end of the movie? It really ruined the movie for me, and turned a very key situation for Batman from dynamic and unpredictable, to canned and planned.

Question 7: Where did the League of Shadows disappear to from the first movie? Funny how the bad guys always put their eggs into a single, poorly planned basket. Kind of like the Joker's ill-fated ferry demonstration.

Now, don't get me wrong, I loved the movie. I thought it was a great sequel and deserves consideration as one of the better super hero movies. The performance by Heath Ledger as the Joker was phenomenal. His iteration of the Joker will be the definition of movie villain for many years to come. However, I actually think his performance slightly detracted from the movie, because it was so far above other key players.

Two-face, aka Harvey Dent, was the true villain, ironically portrayed hero, of the movie, but was completely trampled by the exceptional Joker played by Ledger. The performance by Ledger led perfectly into the Two-face transformation, but the plot was just not there to capitalize upon it. The new Rachel Dawes basically phoned in her performance, only marginally better than the flat Katie Holmes of Batman Begins. Christian Bale, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Caine were all solid, as they always are.

Overall, I think there are enough super hero movie traps that The Dark Knight falls into, that it can't be considered for the best movie of all time. The loose ends that scream sequel, the obvious writing off of characters that didn't sign on for the next movie, the use of super-advanced super-technology to save the day, and the complete lack of solid conclusions to any of the character's plot lines all spell good summer blockbuster that is worth the price of admission and a review on my blog.

The Dark Knight is not the best movie ever, not even close, but don't let that stop you from going to see it.

Surveys, the Silent Truth

The fall-out from the Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning class cuts continues, but Mythic is not sitting idly by. They are staunchly defending their decisions, unlike so many companies that make decisions and tell the community to shut up. The part that amazes me about all of this, is that so much of the change was directed by Mythic's stellar beta feedback systems.

One of the tools being used is surveys, which allow beta testers to provide feedback immediately from inside the beta test, right after an event occurs. A system I hope will make it into launch. I've argued in the past that the feedback mechanisms in beta tests are often lackluster and generic. Most games just put up a forum, e-mail address, and a standard feedback form. All of which are susceptible to the loud minority taking over.

Not so with surveys, and this quote from Mark Jacobs, WAR's top dog, really highlights the power of a good feedback:

I am really disappointed in losing the Choppa. Choppas are great. The Choppa rocks. However, in certain terms, the class wasn’t rocking. It’s so funny, because even on our Beta boards people are saying, "I cannot believe you’re taking it out. I know the feedback wasn’t great on it, I know that it wasn’t exciting, but why are you taking it out?" Well, that’s the whole point! We’re taking it out because we have gotten this kind of feedback, because we know that people aren’t playing them.

This happens all the time on boards. You get a small percentage of the population acting like they speak for the entire population. However, this time, we’ve got the data. We know just how many people were playing the Choppa or the Hammerer. We know just how long they took to level. We have the surveys. We have all this data going in. There was one post on the forums that said, "I know I have provided a lot of hard feedback on the class…" Well, that's the whole point!

Anyone arguing that Mythic is haphazardly, at the last minute, changing key game mechanics is wrong. Mythic is measured and consistent with their changes; with copious amounts of data to back up their decisions publicly. The only lacking aspect has been the rather slow release of information, which should pretty much be done now that Guild Beta is in full swing.

I truly love WAR that much more every time I read interviews from the development team. It is refreshing to see a development team that has been around a while, actually using the knowledge that has been gained through a dozen failed projects, along with the data gained from great in-house feedback mechanisms.

Knights Of The Online Republic

One simple quote has brought the Internet to its collective knees:

“We’ve got two of the most compelling MMOs in the industry in development,” said Riccitiello. The first title, based on the Warhammer property, will launch soon. “And the one that people are dying for us to talk to them about — in partnership with Lucas, coming out of BioWare, which is, I think, quite possibly the most anticipated game, full stop, for the industry at the point when we get closer to telling you about it.”

Does Riccitiello mean the oft rumored Knights of the Old Republic Online? “Yes,” he said.

MMO gaming has NEVER looked better. Anyone that thought that the industry died with World of Warcraft was dead, dead wrong.