Where are my Satellite Guy's gamers at?

[king3pj]

Also it should be noted that this isn't a Skyrim MMO, and people are already saying the game has a ton of growing pains. I got accepted into the beta, and even downloaded the game files, but I never got around to actually playing the game honestly. It is surprising to see companies STILL use the pay once and then pay monthly model. Hell even WoW has abandoned that by allowing free entry, and then free access up to level 20. And there's so many F2P MMOs out there now that you need more than name recognition to gain a good following. Not even Star Wars could thrive with the old WoW model, and that's STAR WARS. And how ironic that you CONSTANTLY see the headline, "MMO goes F2P, sees X% increase in revenue."

The only MMO I ever got into was WoW, but that lasted maybe 6 months, and that was back when you paid for entry AND paid monthly costs. And given my time constraints with having 2 (soon to be 3) kids and a full time job, I need an MMO like I need an infection.

Even as a guy who has never been into MMOs I could see myself giving this a try if it weren't for the subscription fee. I guess I could see plunking down $60 for this and then paying $15 monthly if you know you will be really into ESO and pretty much ignore everything else out there. The problem is that if you are going to pay $15 per month to play one game you need to invest most of your gaming time into it to make the fee worth it. I just have to many games that interest me to lock myself into one for the next several months or even years.

The PS4/Xbox One version of this would make me especially nervous. How are those systems going to support a player base of monthly subscribers for an MMO? How many people will buy one of the new consoles only to ignore most of the games that come out and stay hooked on this enough to keep their subscription active? Has there really been a successful subscription based MMO on consoles before? Even with the Elder Scrolls name recognition I think that's a tough sell on consoles.

 

[yourbeliefs]

The PS4/Xbox One version of this would make me especially nervous. How are those systems going to support a player base of monthly subscribers for an MMO? How many people will buy one of the new consoles only to ignore most of the games that come out and stay hooked on this enough to keep their subscription active? Has there really been a successful subscription based MMO on consoles before? Even with the Elder Scrolls name recognition I think that's a tough sell on consoles.

Depends on your definition of "successful." The Dreamcast had Phantasy Star Online, and that was ported onto the Gamecube and Xbox (along with a newer version currently in Japan, waiting to be released here.) Playstation 2 had Final Fantasy XI, but that required purchase of the HDD and modem, both of which were incompatible with the slim PS2. Hell even the Wii has an MMO with Dragon Quest X in Japan (which is being ported and brought over here as well.) And don't forget that the PS3 currently has DC Universe Online, as well as Final Fantasy: A Realm Reborn (Which is also set to launch on the PS4 next week.) I may be omitting a few, but I don't feel like searching this late.

So yes, there apparently is a market for MMOs on consoles, although it's obvious to see why they're not as prevalent on them as they are on PC.

 

[Scherrman]

Have you guys seen this sweet little device by amazon yet? http://www.latimes.com/business/tec...-video-20140410,0,5831014.story#axzz2ybtFEVnB

 

[king3pj]

Have you guys seen this sweet little device by amazon yet? http://www.latimes.com/business/tec...-video-20140410,0,5831014.story#axzz2ybtFEVnB

For gaming purposes this is probably only good for indie style games. Since I have lots of other platforms that can play those same games I don't have much interest in it. It's still pretty cool that someone who doesn't have a gaming PC or console can buy a $100 streaming box and play games like The Walking Dead though.

 

[yourbeliefs]

For gaming purposes this is probably only good for indie style games. Since I have lots of other platforms that can play those same games I don't have much interest in it. It's still pretty cool that someone who doesn't have a gaming PC or console can buy a $100 streaming box and play games like The Walking Dead though.

Well the Telltale deal is somewhat deceiving. Telltale is FINALLY bringing their games to Android now, which is what the Amazon device uses. So basically you can play it on your phone or tablet if you want, along with other Telltale games. Early reviews say that the gaming isn't quite where it should be. Many games are just bad ports that aren't very optimized. Many have compared it to the Ouya, which is a device NO ONE wants to be compared to. Finally, this device is a media streamer first and a gaming device second, as evident by the fact that the game controller is a separate purchase, as opposed to the Ouya where it's game first and media second.

I don't really see this device doing much. The Ouya proved that people aren't up for Android gaming on their tv, and this device doesn't offer much that the Roku, Apple TV, PS3/360/One/PS4 and many Smart TVs don't already, including access to Amazon's streaming library. It's a fun concept, but until it can offer something that other devices can't aside from better hardware specs I feel it's destined for failure.

 

[king3pj]

Well the Telltale deal is somewhat deceiving. Telltale is FINALLY bringing their games to Android now, which is what the Amazon device uses. So basically you can play it on your phone or tablet if you want, along with other Telltale games. Early reviews say that the gaming isn't quite where it should be. Many games are just bad ports that aren't very optimized. Many have compared it to the Ouya, which is a device NO ONE wants to be compared to. Finally, this device is a media streamer first and a gaming device second, as evident by the fact that the game controller is a separate purchase, as opposed to the Ouya where it's game first and media second.

I don't really see this device doing much. The Ouya proved that people aren't up for Android gaming on their tv, and this device doesn't offer much that the Roku, Apple TV, PS3/360/One/PS4 and many Smart TVs don't already, including access to Amazon's streaming library. It's a fun concept, but until it can offer something that other devices can't aside from better hardware specs I feel it's destined for failure.

I don't think the box itself will be a failure. I think it will fail as a gaming platform but like you said, it's a streaming box first. The Kindle Fire sells pretty well even though it is really just a locked down Android tablet. Amazon is huge enough that a streaming box pushed by them will probably sell pretty well to people who just want to stream Amazon Instant and Netflix.

Sure, those services are on literally everything now. I just did a quick tally of devices in my own house that offer Netflix streaming and came up with 14. I have never once streamed Netflix on most of them but it's still there. There are a ton of existing players in that market. The streaming market is still growing in popularity and Amazon is a big enough player to sell streaming boxes though. I bet the average American still doesn't know what a Roku is so there is still plenty of future market share available for Amazon to grab.

 

[king3pj]

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/04/introducing-steam-gauge-ars-reveals-steams-most-popular-games/

There were some interesting stats posted a while back about how much games were actually played on steam. This article is a more in-depth look into that as well as the most popular games on Steam. The first page basically explains how they came up with this data with a few stats at the bottom. Page two is where most of the interesting stuff is though. There are all kinds of different stats with graphs and chats showing how popular they are on steam or and which games were purchased the most but never once played.

Here is a direct link to page two which is almost exclusively stats if you don't feel like reading everything on page one. I think the whole article is worth a read but I can see how some people would just want to go straight to the numbers.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/...auge-ars-reveals-steams-most-popular-games/2/

One of the more interesting stats on page two in my opinion is an estimated total hours played on Steam graph. They are showing that the top 6 most played games have racked up as many total gameplay hours as every other game on Steam combined. The top 6 games are Dota 2, Team Fortress 2, Counter Strike Source, Counter Strike, Civ V, and Skyrim.

 

[yourbeliefs]

It's amazing what a powerhouse DOTA 2 is. I'll never play it though because everything I've read seems to say that that and League of Legends have the worst group of players in the world when it comes to attitude. It's so damn competitive that there's no real learning curve and being a "noob" is just a detriment to the point that it'll bring out open hostility.

I'm not surprised by TF2. It's amazing that the game is nearly 7 years old and still has a vibrant community and is constantly updated. It probably also helps that the game went F2P a few years ago (although I got it when it went on sale for the Spy update.) I'll play it every now and again, but it's far from a most popular play on my list.

I don't see myself ever finishing Skyrim unfortunately, which is somewhat ironic as it was the catalyst to me upgrading my gaming rig.

CS:S is fun once in a while, but I usually just play with bots.

 

[king3pj]

It's amazing what a powerhouse DOTA 2 is. I'll never play it though because everything I've read seems to say that that and League of Legends have the worst group of players in the world when it comes to attitude. It's so damn competitive that there's no real learning curve and being a "noob" is just a detriment to the point that it'll bring out open hostility.

I'm not surprised by TF2. It's amazing that the game is nearly 7 years old and still has a vibrant community and is constantly updated. It probably also helps that the game went F2P a few years ago (although I got it when it went on sale for the Spy update.) I'll play it every now and again, but it's far from a most popular play on my list.

I don't see myself ever finishing Skyrim unfortunately, which is somewhat ironic as it was the catalyst to me upgrading my gaming rig.

CS:S is fun once in a while, but I usually just play with bots.

Yeah, I thought about trying Dota 2 a few months ago to see what all the fuss was about. I downloaded it but never launched it due to the same concerns you had. I hear the community is just god-awful.

From what I hear the problem is that matches take about 45 minutes. Having one bad player on your team apparently means you are stuck for the next 45 minutes knowing you have no chance of winning. New players are chastised by the a-holes with 500 hours of game time for 45 minutes straight. Everyone piles up on them making it hard for new people to get into the game.

It sounds like they need to do a better job of matchmaking so new players can be stuck with other new players until they learn the ropes. It's no fun to take 45 minutes of verbal abuse from players who are also destroying you in the game.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Yeah, I thought about trying Dota 2 a few months ago to see what all the fuss was about. I downloaded it but never launched it due to the same concerns you had. I hear the community is just god-awful.

From what I hear the problem is that matches take about 45 minutes. Having one bad player on your team apparently means you are stuck for the next 45 minutes knowing you have no chance of winning. New players are chastised by the a-holes with 500 hours of game time for 45 minutes straight. Everyone piles up on them making it hard for new people to get into the game.

It sounds like they need to do a better job of matchmaking so new players can be stuck with other new players until they learn the ropes. It's no fun to take 45 minutes of verbal abuse from players who are also destroying you in the game.

Also for me requiring 45 minutes of undivided attention is not going to happen. If my kids start crying for me I don't see the players willing to all pause for me while I tend to them. If I'm not allowed to pause/easily leave the game, I'm out.

 

[king3pj]

I played quite a bit of Hearthstone on the iPad tonight. There are 3 reasons I wouldn't normally be into a game like this. I don't usually like touchscreen mobile games, free-to-play business models usually turn me off, and I've never been into card games like Magic. I kept hearing how good this was though and it's free so I decided to give it a try.

It is a Blizzard PC game that just made it's way to the iPad. The game is identical on both platforms and you can play against people on either one. I played a couple hours and haven't felt pressured to spend any real money yet. I've been steadily unlocking new card packs. I'm doing ok against other players. I still lose more than I win but I feel that it's because I haven't figured out all the strategy yet. It doesn't feel like the games I lose are because someone else just spent money when I didn't. They best me with some of the same cards I have in my deck.

If you have a PC/Mac/iPad it's worth a try. It's free so you can always just delete it if you don't like it. I can't imagine the system requirements being too high. This will probably run on just about anything.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[king3pj]

What are you guys playing right now? I'm still working my way through inFamous Second Son on the PS4. I am still planning to complete 100% of the content in inFamous and maybe try for the platinum trophy. I really like the game but I've got myself stuck on a detour too.

I fired up Dragon Age Origins on the PC. I have been seeing the recent trailers for the new Dragon Age game coming out this fall and I got 1 and 2 on sale a while back. As people here know, Mass Effect is my favorite game franchise so this is something I always wanted to play but never tried it for whatever reason. Well now I'm hooked.

The combat is a clunky click fest and some of the voice acting is terrible. Like Skyrim and many other RPGs, your character's dialog isn't voice acted. This always feels weird to me after playing Mass Effect and it certainly takes away the cinematic feel that the Mass Effect franchise did so well. It still has enough of that KOTOR/Mass Effect feel I love so much to keep me hooked even with it's problems. Now I want to play through 1 and 2 before I get to Inquisition.

Strangely, I think a clunky RPG from 2009 has replaced the game I was most looking forward too since it was first shown off at the PS4 reveal event as the top game on my priority list. I'm still mixing inFamous in from time to time but Dragon Age Origins is typically the first game I want to play when I sit down for the night.

 

[yourbeliefs]

I've been meaning to fire up the Dragon Age games. I played the original on PS3 a WHILE ago, but only did it for like an hour. Maybe when I get back on an RPG kick I'll fired it up, but for now they're just sitting in Origin. Not sure I want to get into a time sink like that with Watch Dogs just over the horizon. Right now I'm on a story based kick. Recently finished "Shivah." Was a bit disappointed because of its incredibly short length (if not for the annoying puzzles you could finish it within 90 minutes), unintuitive puzzles, and underdeveloped plot. It's not all bad though. May be worth a look if it's ever free or discounted to $.99 (I got it as part of the last mobile bundle.)

Still plowing through BTTF and just started the last episode. Need to get back to "The Novelist." Also have Sonic: Lost World waiting to be put in my Wii U, but I keep wanting to finish BTTF first.

 

[Zookster]

After Mass Effect (my first RPG) became my all-time favorite franchise, I looked into Dragon Age, watched some reviews, and played the one-hour free trials for both DA: Origins and DAII on PS3. Ultimately I decided to go with DAII when I saw it on sale for $8 a couple years ago. I really enjoyed it (doing two complete runs) even though most RPG fans say DA:O is the better game and story. If the DA:O Ultimate Edition, that includes all the DLC, had been available for <$30 on the PS3, like when it first came out, I'd be all over it. I just checked Amazon, and it's selling for $50-$70 for used copies. However, the PC version is only $11.49 right now. FU PCGMR! lol

Earlier this week I finally started The Wolf Among Us, completing the first of the three episodes that are now out. Though I'm enjoying it, I can't seem to pull myself away from Bioshock Infinite, which really does lend itself to a second playthrough due to the nature of the story (some of those Voxophones are making more sense now). But of course I'm not doing just any second playthrough; I'm jumping from normal difficulty to 1999 mode (not using Dollar Bill machines so I can get the platinum trophy). Because I'm trying to conserve $$ to buy the best upgrades as early as possible, I'm restarting every checkpoint I fail rather than pay the $100 for the resurrection-continue. And did I mention I suck at FPS games? lol After a great deal of trial-and-error, I finally reached Hall of Heroes, and now that I have the shotgun, RPG, sniper, and the bucking bronco vigor, I think things will go a bit smoother. I've been researching online and planning my strategy and upgrade purchases very carefully instead simply buying the first ones that become available in the game, as I did in my first playthrough, wasting tons of coin in the process.

 

[king3pj]

I've been meaning to fire up the Dragon Age games. I played the original on PS3 a WHILE ago, but only did it for like an hour. Maybe when I get back on an RPG kick I'll fired it up, but for now they're just sitting in Origin. Not sure I want to get into a time sink like that with Watch Dogs just over the horizon. Right now I'm on a story based kick. Recently finished "Shivah." Was a bit disappointed because of its incredibly short length (if not for the annoying puzzles you could finish it within 90 minutes), unintuitive puzzles, and underdeveloped plot. It's not all bad though. May be worth a look if it's ever free or discounted to $.99 (I got it as part of the last mobile bundle.)

Still plowing through BTTF and just started the last episode. Need to get back to "The Novelist." Also have Sonic: Lost World waiting to be put in my Wii U, but I keep wanting to finish BTTF first.

Yeah, even as I was firing up Dragon Age for the first time I knew that if I got into it I would never be able to send inFamous back in time to get Watch Dogs day one. I think I'm ok with that though. I'm still excited for Watch Dogs but here is the list of AAA games off the top of my head that I have finished since last Fall.

Saints Row the Third, GTA V, Assassin's Creed IV, inFamous, Ryse Son of Rome, and inFamous 2. The common thread there is that they are all open world games except for Ryse. I have played several indie games and all the current episodes of The Walking Dead Season 2 and The Wolf Among us and I might be forgetting some AAA games too. Plus I have played quite a bit of Killzone Shadow Fall and Dead Rising 3 too but I haven't finished either of those yet.

I liked all the games I listed and Watch Dogs looks great. Dragon Age is just a refreshing change from what I have been playing lately. I think I could have just as easily gotten hooked on Skyrim or The Witcher or one of the other great RPGs in my backlog. I think that's why I have been curious about Dark Souls 1 and 2 lately too. Dragon Age is probably going to eat up a ton of hours and push Watch Dogs back later into the summer for me but I'm ok with that.

Who knows though, maybe once I get that RPG itch scratched for a few days I'll get hooked on inFamous again. I'm still playing it pretty often but Dragon Age is probably getting 2 hours for every hour of inFamous right now.

 

[yourbeliefs]

After Mass Effect (my first RPG) became my all-time favorite franchise, I looked into Dragon Age, watched some reviews, and played the one-hour free trials for both DA: Origins and DAII on PS3. Ultimately I decided to go with DAII when I saw it on sale for $8 a couple years ago. I really enjoyed it (doing two complete runs) even though most RPG fans say DA:O is the better game and story. If the DA:O Ultimate Edition, that includes all the DLC, had been available for <$30 on the PS3, like when it first came out, I'd be all over it. I just checked Amazon, and it's selling for $50-$70 for used copies. However, the PC version is only $11.49 right now. FU PCGMR! lol

Earlier this week I finally started The Wolf Among Us, completing the first of the three episodes that are now out. Though I'm enjoying it, I can't seem to pull myself away from Bioshock Infinite, which really does lend itself to a second playthrough due to the nature of the story (some of those Voxophones are making more sense now). But of course I'm not doing just any second playthrough; I'm jumping from normal difficulty to 1999 mode (not using Dollar Bill machines so I can get the platinum trophy). Because I'm trying to conserve $$ to buy the best upgrades as early as possible, I'm restarting every checkpoint I fail rather than pay the $100 for the resurrection-continue. And did I mention I suck at FPS games? lol After a great deal of trial-and-error, I finally reached Hall of Heroes, and now that I have the shotgun, RPG, sniper, and the bucking bronco vigor, I think things will go a bit smoother. I've been researching online and planning my strategy and upgrade purchases very carefully instead simply buying the first ones that become available in the game, as I did in my first playthrough, wasting tons of coin in the process.

Going from Normal to 1999 is a pretty steep jump. Playing the game on Hard was quite a challenge, to the point where I gave up on the last part of the game because I kept having ammo issues. Also, you'll develop a new unbelievable level of hatred for the Handyman...

 

[Zookster]

Going from Normal to 1999 is a pretty steep jump. Playing the game on Hard was quite a challenge, to the point where I gave up on the last part of the game because I kept having ammo issues. Also, you'll develop a new unbelievable level of hatred for the Handyman...

Well there was a point where I would've dropped the difficulty to Hard, but the game won't let you without starting a new game. However, I am feeling somewhat encouraged by the fact that when I jumped from Normal to Survivor difficulty in the first Bioshock, I got stuck toward the end of Neptune's Bounty and changed the difficulty to Hard. But when I beat the final boss, the trophy for beating it on Survivor popped, because apparently I didn't properly save the change in difficulty setting I tried to make early in the game (that game let you change difficulties mid-campaign). So I beat the game on Survivor thinking I was playing on Hard the whole time. I am indeed totally dreading the Handyman, but I did discover some cheap insta-kill strategies for those three battles against a certain spectral foe (you basically lay down 10 Devil's Kiss mines where it spawns and never have to fight the minions).

 

[king3pj]

One more minor gripe I forgot to mention about Dragon Age. The PC version of this was clearly not designed for those of us who like to play on our TV. I originally had it set to 1080p but all the font was way to small to read from the couch across the room. I don't remember the exact resolution I picked but I had to choose the 16:9 resolution that was a step down from 720p to get the font big enough to read. It's an older game that doesn't look outstanding to begin with but playing on a resolution that low isn't ideal for a PC game.

This isn't just a knock on Dragon Age though. This has been a common problem I have seen with older PC games. I guess it wasn't typical for PC gamers to play on their TV back then. Even worse is that there are some newer games like Diablo 3 that are still doing this. Luckily the vast majority of my PC games do have console sized font that can still be read from across the room when playing at 1080p.

 

[king3pj]

http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/04...tered-by-sony?abthid=535aa724b39334f53e00001d

Speaking of Bioshock, It looks like there is a chance of the Bioshock movie being resurrected. Sony Pictures has been registering internet domains like bioshock-movie.com lately. I actually think this could be a cool movie but who knows if it will ever get made.

 

[yourbeliefs]

One more minor gripe I forgot to mention about Dragon Age. The PC version of this was clearly not designed for those of us who like to play on our TV. I originally had it set to 1080p but all the font was way to small to read from the couch across the room. I don't remember the exact resolution I picked but I had to choose the 16:9 resolution that was a step down from 720p to get the font big enough to read. It's an older game that doesn't look outstanding to begin with but playing on a resolution that low isn't ideal for a PC game.

This isn't just a knock on Dragon Age though. This has been a common problem I have seen with older PC games. I guess it wasn't typical for PC gamers to play on their TV back then. Even worse is that there are some newer games like Diablo 3 that are still doing this. Luckily the vast majority of my PC games do have console sized font that can still be read from across the room when playing at 1080p.

This mod may help: http://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/73/?
And you're not alone in your suffering: http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/58/index/105277/1