George RR Martin Interview: Update on A Dance with Dragons

A new interview with George RR Martin has surfaced and with it, updates to A Dance With Dragons (Book 5 in The Song of Ice and Fire). Listen to the audio/podcast here or catch the notes below.

Key points:

* George has over 1000 finished manuscript pages for his next book, A Dance With Dragons.
* His previous four books in the series have come in between 1100 manuscript pages and 1500 manuscripts pages.
* He thinks the book will be around 1200, although he will not put an expected finish date on the project
* HBO is moving forward with the Ice & Fire pilot. It is going to be shot in October in Ireland.
* Originally, the story of A Dance With Dragons was meant to be the second book of a trilogy, but the first book grew in the telling.
* Sean Bean has been cast as Ned Stark.
* George talks about why Dance is late, due to the complexity of the series and the amount of rewriting he does.
* Listen to the podcast for the rest!

Good news all around.

Vick?

Seriously?

GREEN BAY — Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson’s non-answer to a question about Michael Vick was more than just Ted being Ted.

The team is doing thorough due diligence on the former NFL quarterback and has had legitimate discussions about the idea of signing him, according to sources.

This is a really bad idea and a half way good idea. Aaron Rodgers has more than proven himself as a capable quarterback and given a years experience, I think he's going to start winning more games. So, Vick would be a back up at most.

First, I think Vick is trouble. Green Bay has a tendency to calm even the wildest souls and keep them out of more trouble(Brett Favre was no angel when he arrived in Green Bay). However, Vick's trouble is unlikely to stop following him around anytime soon.

Still, the Packers need a back up for Rodgers and Vick can play. However, his best days are behind him and have since he broke his leg back in 2006. He's never been a great passing quarterback and always relied on his legs to make things happen. I just can't imagine he will get back those youthful legs that impressed everyone in his early years. On the positive side, he could be picked up for a cheap price and quarterbacks are pretty tough to find in today's league.

Once the highest paid-player in the NFL — and now bankrupt — Vick probably wouldn’t cost much financially.

Either way, interesting.

Update: 13 Aug, 2009 - All this Packers/Vick talk and Vick ends up signing a 2-year deal with the Eagles.

Heartless_ View: Casualty of Warhammer

It all started, as so many things do these days, with an Internet news posting.

In 2008, after almost four years reviewing games and covering industry news and events, I lost my job. In my search for new work, I came across a posting for QA/customer service jobs at Mythic Entertainment for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. I didn't have much of a technical background aside from being a lifelong gamer, but I had a few years of customer service experience, so I shot them a resume. I heard back a month later and started at Mythic a week after that.

I initially thought it might be some type of call center job, but my supervisors explained that I would be working within the game itself. The journalist in me thought it would be a fascinating look behind the curtain at a young MMOG. The gamer in me thought it would be awesome to finally have the powers of a GM. I would be like an agent in The Matrix.

So, for those that read the above article, we get a sad story about the state of a customer service position at a company who's product failed to meet expectations. The article is both revealing of what happened with Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR) and a bit annoying at whats implied.

First, the article lays heavy blame at Wrath of the Lich King's feet for WARs collapse. Little is said about WAR's own shortcomings. Granted, this was a viewpoint looking out from the inside, so its understandable why they were looking for reasons or excuses that didn't point any fingers back at themselves. I'm not going to say that Wrath had nothing to do with WAR's faltering performance, but it was a minor footprint to where I lay blame: the fundamental design of WAR was a fragmented mess with no continuity.

Secondly, there is too much effort in trying to make everyone feel bad for the people losing their jobs. Wake up, customer service is a cruel mistress in any career field. I have no sympathy for the guy in the article. He set lofty goals in a volatile position. Strip all the names away (EA, Mythic, WAR) and this story can be sung a million times over for failed projects.

Lastly, I can count on my hand the number of game designers/developers that have come from the customer service realm. Big dreams are nice, but they lead to big disappointments. Goals need to be precise, small, written down, and most importantly, must be measurable. Thus, I have no illusions of breaking into the games industry.

Like Section 7, But Better! Section 8!

An article over at Rock, Paper, Shotgun caught my eye; mostly for vague references to "Tribes" and "Planetside", two games I rather enjoyed back in the day. The new game being compared to the latter is Sector 8.

I want to say up front that I’m having great deal of fun with this. It’s the kind of game I go into for five minutes to take a screenshot, and emerge from two hours later. Read onwards for why.

When people were throwing the “Tribes” word around to explain where Section 8 sat in the big scheme of things, I was unconcerned and not particularly inspired. I assumed it would be another vague sci-fi squib that wouldn’t really satisfy anyone. Tribes-alikes have a habit of not quite hitting the best things about multiplayer gun-violence on the head. As much as I respect the original games, their weapons, physics and environments never quite grabbed me in the way they did so many other people. So you can imagine that I was pleased to find that despite some similarities in the sci-fi, jetpacks and vehicles sense, Section 8 is very much its own game.

Just running down my "What makes a good FPS" checklist:

1. It looks good, both UI and atmosphere.
2. It has classes, not just guys with guns that they shoot people with.
3. The maps look BIG.

Now, does that make it worth the price-tag? Probably not. It is an Xbox360 release, which always makes me leery (For example: Halo was great on Xbox, but sucked on PC). Also, without any apparent digital distribution via Steam or another platform, it doesn't appear that the PC is their primary market. I'm not the only one with the digital distribution question either.

I'd be interested to know if Section 8 will be downloadable at launch on Steam - and if so if there will be a preload offer?

*coughs*I won't mind a free weekend and if you offer one you are bound to sell more copies. But yeah, you'll never do that.*coughs*

+1

So where is the response to this post? Purchasing this game on steam would really motivate me to purchase this game. Direct2Drive and all of the other content systems are a joke.

I would consider purchasing this game in store, but lately I have made it a hobby to secure all of my games with steam so that there is no worry of losing cd-keys and such.

I'll be keeping my eye on the game in the meantime.

Google Library's Book Recommendation Gadget = Genius

Logging onto the Internet this morning, I checked my iGoogle homepage and saw a new recommendation topping my Google Library gadget.


Don't get me wrong; I love to read and I've spent some time with the Air Force, but... nevermind. Google, who the hell would want to read a phone book? Google wasn't kidding when they stated the wanted to scan the entirety of the written word onto the Internet.

Aion Is Pretty

Aion has another gorgeous update out:

The Sorcerer is a Daeva who follows the Star of Magic. They are able to freely wield the destructive power if the natural elements: Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water. A sorcerer is a scholar at heart, evident by the books and orbs they normally carry with them. However, these items can be dangerous weapons in their hands as they help to increase a Sorcerer's power.

The Rubber Meets the Road at PAX 2009

Star Wars: The Old Republic will be demonstrated live, in public, at GameCom and PAX '09.

Star Wars: The Old Republic will be will be bringing the power of the Force to two more conventions this year, GamesCom (Cologne, Germany; August 19-24 ) and Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) (Seattle, Washington; September 4 – 6). During the conventions, the team we will be showcasing the first public gameplay demo as well as giving away Star Wars™ goodies to attendees. Stop by the community cantina and hang out with some of the members of the Star Wars: The Old Republic team.

Here's a quick list of what needs to happen in order to impress me.

1. Combat must look fluid and engaging. The game play we've seen so far leaves a lot to be desired.

2. The demonstration can not be dominated by pre-canned cut scenes. If it is, then I am terrified for what the actual game will be like. I have nightmares about games that start and end with conversation trees.

3. A sense of epic scale. If they don't show off an epic Jedi vs Sith fight followed by the victor jumping into a ship and taking off and then landing in a giant space ship orbiting the planet, I won't be impressed.

To put it plainly, SW:ToR has NOT impressed me. I'm still excited for the game, but my optimism is firmly in check.

The Future, Now! Firefox 3.7 Theme

Firefox 3.5 just launched, but the Mozilla folks are hard at work showing off 3.7. I love the Firefox web browser and get a little giddy anytime there are future updates in the works. Thanks to Boneyardbrew, we have a mock-up of FIrefox 3.7 available for download. However, there are some extra steps involved:

Installing this theme isn't quite as simple as you are probably used to—you'll need to first enable the All-Glass Firefox extension for the Aero effects, the Personal Menu extension to hide the menubar and add the Tools button, the Stylish extension for a tweak that fixes the text, and then drag the mockup theme's *.jar file into the add-ons window to install it.

Once you've successfully completed all of the steps—which are detailed on the download page—you should have an impressive browser style that looks very similar to the screenshot.

Personally, I just downloaded the theme from Boneyardbrew's page and it looks fine to me, minus the tweaks that the other add-ons provide.

Enjoy.

Be A Better Hero: Victory in Victory Village

Victory Village is arguably the best map in Battlefield Heroes. It's my personal favorite and seems to come up most of the time when I hit Play Now. Victory Village is an infantry focused map, with plenty of cover and only two vehicles total (1 jeep for each side). This makes for some wonderful street to street fighting moments and some not-so-wonderful camped in your spawn moments. Fortunately, I'm going to share a tip that will ensure you stay on the wonderful side of things.

Victory Village is comprised of four capture points: Guardpost, Church Square, Road Block, and Orchard. Three of these points provide respawn locations once captured; Church Square being the one that does NOT. However, Church Square lays smack dab in the middle of the first two capture points, making it a tempting target to strike.

Unfortunately, a lot of time is wasted and many lives are lost attempting to take and keep control at Church Square. All of this for little gain as there is no spawn point attached. The lack of respawn combined with a wide open area makes the Square nearly impossible to defend without over-committing players to the area. Not to mention the potential devastation that can be rained down from the Church bell tower and roof overhead.



Most Victory Village matches are won or lost based on whether a team pushes Church Square or Road Block first. Road Block is easily the most important point on the map. It is, distance wise, the farthest point from both starting points. Secondly, when captured it provides an invaluable respawn point. From Road Block, access to the "back alleys" can be controlled via the myriad of tiny bottle necks. Not to mention, Church Square can easily be seen and dominated by sniping Commando's on the hills at Road Block.

The best strategy for securing Road Block early on is to rush to it in a jeep. Unfortunately, access to the jeep is "first come, first serve" and rushing players often times take off solo or rush Church Square. However, in the case you secure a jeep, load up with three players and drive on over to Road Block (best combo being a Soldier and two Gunners). Ditch the jeep short of Road Block and use the crates and walls for cover from incoming enemies.

Once Road Block is secure, defense is fairly straight forward: control the back alley ways! This means Troop Traps at the "doorways" and Gunners and Soldiers behind the walls. Keep an eye on Church Square for Commandos. As players respawn at Road Block, they have far better options on which routes to take and often times a match is all but over after Road Block is controlled successfully.

To recap, Church Square is a nightmare to capture and defend, with little benefit. Road Block is far more important, can easily be reached by a jeep rush, and provides an invaluable respawn point that often determines who achieves victory in the village of victory.

The Real Kieron Gillen Darkfall Review

Unlike my Darkfall, The Lost Review (made possible, unknowingly, by Kieron Gillen), this new review at Eurogamer for Darkfall is real and really written by Kieron Gillen.

The actual 4/10 score aside, I think it's important to look at what Kieron did.

First, he addressed the fundamental problem of the first review and Aventurine's claims the first reviewer barely played the game:

From Eurogamer's perspective, they have a developer claiming that logs show something. Logs which are entirely within their control. I'd be surprised if Eurogamer has a tech guy in-house capable of ascertaining the meaning of the logs. More so, when changing logs is an absolutely trivial task, what the logs say when that tech examines it is ultimately meaningless. If Aventurine was dissembling, Eurogamer wouldn't be able to tell.

As long as the reviewer claimed reasonably that he'd played the game for longer, Tom [Bramwell, editor] had to back him because - really - it was his word against theirs.

Essentially, one side is lieing or the other side is putting too much stock in automated computer functions to keep track of the truth. Scratch that, someone is lieing. From Aventurine's attack on play-time, instead of the merit of the complaints in the first review, I tend to side with Eurogamer's first reviewer.

Forutnately, that can be laid to rest. Kieron played the game and came to the following conclusion after debating what he should do for the review:

1) Engage with the debate around the review directly, and review it in two hours (what Aventurine said was played), 10 hours (roughly what the reviewer said he played) and again, with however many hours I ended up playing in the end. As in, how much can you actually say in such a short period? How valid is it? What changes? What doesn't?

Why I Didn't: Fundamentally not enough changed to make it worthwhile. My experience with the game didn't scale. What I liked and what I disliked about the game were there pretty much from the first moment in one form or another, and it was how they appeared which altered as I progressed. Perhaps the biggest irony about this whole mess: I suspect this is an MMO which you can tell whether you like or not in those first couple of hours.

While there is plenty more to read over at Eurogamer, the above quote sums it up nicely and can be applied to most MMOGs. The play experience within the first few hours ultimately defines the experience for the player and whether they will be sticking around. If that experience sucks, the reviews are going to suck. This isn't 1999, MMOGs don't have the luxury of a patient community willing to stick it out for developers to "patch in the game".

This brings us to the most important part of the review, Kieron's take on how MMOG reviews should be accomplished:

In other words, using a travel-journalism metaphor, a first review of an MMO is whether a destination is a place you'd recommend for a holiday. A second review is a recommendation of whether somewhere is a good place to go and live. I think this provides worthwhile buying advice - the first review says whether it's worth your money, which is the primary aim of a consumer review. I also think this is the best we're going to get.

It's evident now why Aventurine turned down Kieron Gillen's offer to re-review the game. Aventurine knew Kieron would kick them in the balls and show how utterly pointless their argument against the first review was. Aventurine got served.