According to Gamasutra, Mike Wallis, former producer of EVE Online, has decided to set up a new studio with the intent of building an “original space-based scifi” IP. The game will debut using the HeroEngine, which Mike described as an MMO developers “dream come true”.
What does this mean for us, the gamers? Well for one we get a new MMO that is NOT fantasy based. Second, Mike Wallis seems to be a very dedicated developer with plenty of experience underneath his belt (Sonic, Star Trek, and EVE all come to mind). There is no doubt in my mind that this game will at least bring something new to the table, good or bad.
Unfortuantely, this brings up some other issues. In the last year we have begun to see a surge in MMO developers making sci fi games. So many, in fact, that I’d wager there may even be more sci fi MMOs in development right now than fantasy MMOs (Korea and China aside). This very well could just flip the spectrum to where we will have nothing but sci fi MMOs for the next few years. Nothing is certain right now, but it is definitely heading in that direction in which case a decade or less down the road we could be in the very same situation as we are now. Only time will tell. . .
For those that don’t know what a PhysX card is, it is basically a direct-connect (to your motherboard) PCI-card. It handles all of the physics that would normally take place in a game. Everything you do requires physics, even in a videogame. That feature is now provided for with its own exclusive card.
So the guys over at GamesRadar brought up an interesting point: why do we need a PhysX cards to start running with our games? Its a good question to ask because quite frankly the physics in all my games seem to be working as intended. I shoot at something, it flies back as I would expect in the real world (or as close to it as possible). Well apparently my perception of whats real differs from what a PhysX card can do. Not only does a PhysX card make the physics in a game that much better but it also relieves stress off your already overloaded CPU and GPU which currently handle it all right now. The video above highlights exactly what a PhysX engine can do. Keep in mind that although the changes may be slight, when you are actually playing a game using PhysX you’ll notice a considerable difference as the interaction between you and the objects gets intensified.
Just a note: we are not owned/operated/or have anything to do with GamesRadar. I use their website as a news reference a lot basically because I, honestly, think they are the best, at least as far as PC gaming goes. They are accurate, fast, and to the point. I do have a free membership with their website, but thats as far as our relationship goes. Just a note for anybody wondering why I seem to shill GamesRadar so much.
IGN has recently released an article containing some of the ideas, and technology that will be affecting our fair platform within the next few years. It is, so to say, the future of the PC gaming platform.
As many of you already know multiple cores are the new “thing” for PC computing. In fact, if you have anything less than a dual core your computer is probably obsolete by now, especially if your a gamer. It’s not all that surprising then to find out that quad-core machines are starting to beocme more and more available. Given the next couple years, I’d say its possible that each of us will be sporting a 3.16 Ghz quad core computer. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the same predictions do not bode as well for the future of graphics cards. Sure we use them now, but will we even need them with a quad core machine? In theory we will be able to dedicate one of those cores in a quad core cpu for graphics alone which, if tuned right, will be stronger and faster than any graphics card today. Also there is a theory going on right now about the advantages and disadvantages of needing multiple cores within the already established graphics cards. Personally I wouldn’t be upset about the loss of my Nvidia or ATI cards. They are power-hungry, expensive, and confusing to the average consumer.
In terms of software, the ball is in the air. Naturally we have been seeing a steady decline in PC gaming over the last few years mainly due to the easy and less-complex console platforms. It also serves to note that after you buy a console its good for a few years where as a computer will go obsolete in only a couple years and will show varying signs of degrading from the very moment you buy it. However, thats not to say that PC gaming will die. I don’t think it ever will, to be honest. It’s the one platform where you can program anything on it and sell it or give it away to people. Its an open and free platform to build on. This is all, of course, shovelled along by the likes of Microsoft’s recent push for PC gaming with their new OS, Vista, and Games for Windows franchise. Only time will tell whether those two incentives pan out, however.
Well thats the future, pretty much summed up in two neat paragraphs. Naturally there are a multitude of variables that I did not include but I think in a couple years this is largely where we will be at. Here’s to the future.
What’s in a name? Is it just a label, or does it stand for something more? These are just a couple of questions you had to ask yourself if you decided to take the challenge proposed by Monolith to come up with the name for their next game based on, but not the sequel to, F.E.A.R. I even thought of my own in the fashion of our initials: People Can Gore Iceland or P.C.G.I. for short. Unfortunately, I don’t think it flew. Damn this curse that be genius!
In any case Monolith has released their list of rejects to the populace. Some of them are quite funny actually and as one would expect a lot of them were acronyms. Check out the list below for some of the rejected names:
Wikid - “Winning isn’t killing its dying”
PSYCHIC SWITCHBLADE
FLUTTER and FLURRY
Carnival of Graveyards
Bloody Carousel
Waft from Inferno
Thugmuffins Gangsta Throwdown (This one HAD to be a joke)
The hunt for the Wolf
Little Miss Bloodshine
THE GIRL IN THE KETCHUP STAINED DRESS
Mouth Breathing Bottom Feeders
Personally I thought Bloody Carousel wasn’t to bad. It had a nice ring to it. Like a carnival. Then again I don’t think their next game will take place in a Carnival-like-atmosphere. Rats. As always click the picture for a larger image.
Or at least according to the American Medical Association (AMA) I do. Hopping on the general populace’s crusade against the evils that be video games, they now want to declare video game addiction as a mental illness. They go on to say that anybody who plays video games for more than two (2) hours a day should be classified as a “heavy user”. Have we really been reduced to drug abuser status? I’ll sit and play video games for 6 hours if its a good game. It is rediculous to try and classify people based on their hobbies. Should watching TV, building models, or reading be considered a mental illness as well? They are all anti-social hobbies typically involving only yourself.
I am sick and tired of having my hobby, my best relief from stress, come under attack from people who have no clue about what they are talking about. Obviously there are people out there with a problem with video games, but there are also people out there who have a problem with television, magazines, and even collecting pine cones. There is bound to be somebody who has an “addictive”, and I use the term loosely, problem with anything out there. Its just the way our mind and body works.
The way things are going it should only be a matter of time before each of us are wearing a straight jacket while we go through video game hypnotherapy for virtually obsessive behavioral apathetic anti-social agression disorder, or as I like to call it VOBAASAD.
Lets face it guys, our paltform is crashing. We are on a downward spiral to oblivion from which we can not recover, at least not in our current situation. It is certainly not helping that past PC exclusives are now making bold moves into the world of consoles. Fallout 3 will be heading to the consoles, Gothic 4 will be heading to the consoles, Half-Life 2 is debuting on the consoles soon, BioShock is headed to the Xbox 360. . . I fear we will not be left with any support soon enough.
I can’t say I blame people, though. PC games are complicated and require expensive and often faulty hardware, but that doesn’t mean it has to crash completely. It will only take a few certain moves by the PC gaming developers and the PC building industry in order to rescue what is left:
Standardize the physical format, DVDs or nothing. (It is a safe bet that if you still have a computer that only uses CDs then you aren’t able to play any current games anyways)
Comply with the Games for Windows standard, even if you don’t want to use their Live service. (The 1 to 10 scale really helps for non pc gamers)
Build stock computers with more umph…$299 computers are not good. Even non gamers end up tossing those junk piles after a few months.
Standard video card in all stock computers. (Video Cards aren’t just for games, I think its justifiable to the average consumer)
Its not terribly hard, and everybody has something to gain from PC gaming revival. Even PC companies like Dell, HP, Gateway, etc have something to gain by increased PC gaming.
In a world of technology that moves almost as fast as the speed of light, or so it would seem, the PC gaming world always seems to lag behind their console minded counterparts. Take, for example, the physical format that we buy our PC games today. I would bet, out of the last 10 PC games you bought, at least 5 of them were on CD. Our format has yet to even move completely onto the current format of DVD which holds 5x more space than a CD.
This comes at a time when consoles are even beginning to move onto the next generation of format. The PS3 currently uses Blu Ray discs for its physical format, where the Xbox 360 and Wii both use the standard DVD. And you can bet that the Xbox 720 will be using HD DVDs, or Blu Ray depending on the winner. So why has the PC world been so slow to move onto the DVD format? Why are we still plowing 5-6 CDs into our computers to install a game?
To be completely honest, I have no idea. Surely CDs are cheaper than DVDs but probably not by much at this point and the PC gaming companies should have established some sort of standard by now. When you look at it like this you can’t help but wonder why PC gaming is still doing as well as it is now, even with the annual decrease in sales. Get it together guys. DVD or nothing.
Looking to get into the industry? Want to make some video games? If you do then IGN has recently posted a couple videos which you may very well want to take a look at. I personally haven’t checked em out, but thats because I don’t have any desire or talent to actually get into the industry. I am perfectly content to just write about the happenings of PC Gaming here.
When you think MMO you think RPG correct? I know I do…however you get a different point of view when you mention jst the acronym: RPG. However, according to Obsidian Entertainment CEO Feargus Urquhart that may not be the case for too much longer unless something within the RPG industry is set to differentiate the two. Urquhart believes that traditional RPG games are no different from MMORPG games now and that within a few years we could see the end of the traditional RPG.
In some aspects Urquhart is right. I mean a lot of people play MMOs because it gives them that communal feel and they are able to act and react to other people playing the game. However, traditional RPGs have their own unique feel to them, one that any MMO out today cannot give you, and that is the ability to act and react to your environment. You see in an MMO everything is the same from the moment you step into the game. You kill this boss, but 30 minutes later he respawns and you are able to kill him again. The world does not recognize you as an individual, where as in traditional RPGs it can and does. If you kill this boss in a traditional RPG, he will be dead, and the world will react to that effect. Personally I don’t think traditional RPGs are going anywhere for a long time.
Have you ever wondered what games other cultures are currently playing? I mean it is obviously going to be different. Europe, America, Asia. . . we all play different games and have different gamestyles. Its just what makes us unique by our own right. In any case we bring you the top 10 PC games bought by Aussies last week! It actually isn’t very different from what I’d imagine our own would look like. Sadly, in this day and age, people mostly only buy MMOs or some variation of The Sims for their PC. Its actually kind of sad considering so many games come out for the PC every week and most will be doomed to obscurity.
Its a nice pleasent surprise to see Command & Conquer at the top, but really a poker game made the top 10? Are we really going to let a game like that be 1/10th of the games that define our platform? Its bad enough we have 5, count em, Sims games up there, we don’t need any poker games rounding it off.
According to Gamasutra, Mike Wallis, former producer of EVE Online, has decided to set up a new studio with the intent of building an “original space-based scifi” IP. The game will debut using the HeroEngine, which Mike described as an MMO developers “dream come true”.
IGN has recently released an article containing some of the ideas, and technology that will be affecting our fair platform within the next few years. It is, so to say, the future of the PC gaming platform.
