404 Radio Rage cast “Panda's Pants and Hex's shirt, a Cryptic rant”

404 Radio Rage cast “Panda's Pants and Hex's shit, a Cryptic rant”

Hex and Panda rage at the internet regarding the recent player shafting's by cryptic studio's, this is an EXPLICIT EPISODE, you have been warned, also Bill Roper we hate you.

Listen now http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/404-Radio/~5/zWg0FADvmWY/404radiopodcast-210437-01-30-2010.mp3

Get us over at: http://www.tamworthgamers.co.uk (down at the moment sorry)

we are also hanging out at: http://mmovoices.ning.com/page/404-radio

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Global Agenda: ITS ALIVE

Last night at 20:00 GMT the Global Agenda head start began, as is traditional with all MMO and MMO related games it all went wrong for the first few hours.

As i arrived home a little late for the launch i logged into the game at 21:00 a full hour after the game was officially available to be greeted with random disconnections and the inability to play a match, then there was one or two random server restarts and much a whining about players not receiving the pre-order bonus items.

By about 23:00 the problems had all settled down and the game appeared to be stable (however i have to play in North American servers as every time i select Europe i get disconnected from the server strangely)

However all the usual moaning from the in game community aside the launch was not that bad, i have managed to get one character up to the pre-launch cap of level 10 and earned plenty a credit on he way. i have had allot of fun and other than one or two disconnects i really have had few issues.

 

I am still to receive my promised pre-order bonus item but i really don’t think complaining about a cosmetic item that i WILL eventually receive is really something worth while, the game is playable and fun, the community that is still forming appears to be competitive and angry as is expected in a fast paced PvP themed game, not the most friendly but most the banter is well intentioned.

I will update on Monday when the game is officially launched and all the level capping is over, then we will see the game that we will have for the long term.

At this point i am happy with the launch and am having a great time playing the game. good work Hi-Rez Studio.

 

The above image is my character status at time of writing not a dynamic link, but you can get a dynamic tag thingy over at http://www.agendatags.com/ its a great little site i found linked on the forums

Here is my video, can i have $12,000 now please?

After hearing about the film makers how are trying to raise $12,000 to make a film about Raiders i thought i would have a go with $0

This video is a trial for a longer script i have that requires more feedback from the internet and allot more work. I would love to hear what people think of the trial video

Also if anyone wants to help with the longer version (planning for 35 min’s) please do volunteer, but if not please rate my video on Youtube.

The Instanced Agenda

Ah, Global Agenda, as you know I have been waiting pasiently since Eurogamer Expo last year to get get my mitts on it, and the other day i did.

I took the plunge and shelled out the £31.49 that Steam where asking for it as i could not find a boxed copy anywhere (seems its a Steam exclusive even though the FAQ talks about Boxed codes) and i was happy to receive instant access to the beta (one download later anyway) i have played it, allot and today the NDA was lifted.

So what do I think about Global Agenda? its a mixed back because i think its one of the most solid shooters i have played in ages.

Its a class based (like Team Fortress 2) third person shooter (like Gears of war) and its good at what it does but its an online only game (like an MMO) so there is no story as such to play through (after the training anyway)

Now before i go all negative i really want to say, its a fantastic pile of fun, the Player Vs AI (PvE) maps are very simple, start at point A and get to point B with as few deaths as possible, but the fact that you are always accompanied by other players makes each game a unique experience.

The Player Vs Player (PvP) maps vary a great deal in game modes and are insanely intense, there is not a moment to loose and you feel like your in a war zone, because the game is class based every person does count and working as a team really helps grab a victory.

when you load into the game you are inside a ‘city’ called ‘Dome’ this houses all the shops and auction house as well as a crafting station, its where you get equipped and ready for battle, you then pick the map you want to play and join a queue to get into the fight.

As for performance the game runs excellently on my machine (Intel Q6600 CPU, 4 Gig of RAM and an ageing Nvidia 9500GTX, running on windows 7 X64) i run it at 1440x900 (native Resolution) at maximum graphical setting without any tweaking, i am happy with the performance and the game rarely lags.

The games developer Hi-Rez Studios did a great job earlier last year with a trailer that was uninformative but entertaining with the tag line ‘No Elves!’ where a recon soldier sniper executed an elf while it waited to fill its ‘casting’ bar. it was a great trailer and no doubt will always raise a smile.

The trailer was released at the same time as some information about the game, this is when it was officially announced as an ‘Action MMO shooter’ they have also made it clear many times that this game is not a traditional MMO, its an ‘Action MMO Shooter’ not an MMORPG, they also made clear that there is not massive world to explore and no vast lore to speak of.

this however is where i disagree with the fine people over at Hi-Rez Studios, its not just an MMO-Lite its an MMO-NOT, the game is a great persistent shooter with level ups and equipment but its just not an MMO.

At this point (still Beta remember) i can not group up with others and play together, or at least its not clear from the start how to do it. As far as i can tell there is no friends list at all.

There is a ‘conquest mode’ that requires subscription (the rest of the content is free) this mode from what i can understand is a massive game of ‘risk’ with each area being taken via a match. there are all sorts of complicated items and strategies that are part of it, and to be honest its a little over complicated and does not appeal to most the player i have spoken to (including myself)

If you opt out of the subscription (£7.99 a month) you are missing out on the risk, err, conquest mode as well as the ability to craft and start an agency (guild)

What you actually get for your money does not seem very much, and it will take a while with the servers live before i can really get a feel for how important the subscription is. but at this moment in time, its allot of buck with very little bang.

what the game is missing is a world, quests, story, none of that is there, there is the one city area (Dome) that serves as a hub but that’s it, just repeatable maps.

The game is not what i would call an MMO, and its a little misleading in my mind to describe it as anything other than a persistent shooter.

The conclusion is?

The game is good at what it does an dif at some point they add areas to explore or even a more structured world in any form it will be a vast improvement, but as it stands its well worth the purchase price for a quality online shooter with some really interesting ideas and well defined class combat.

However, its not an MMO and will not replace my love of Guild Wars.

GW BARD: Ahead of the curve

It is true that since Christmas i have played very little Guild Wars, this is mostly the fault of Borderlands and Torchlight, that does not however mean that i have been any less obsessed, with some Guild Wars Related thoughts plaguing me night and day.

Recently we have seen the release of Champions online, one of the first games released that has single server architecture. meaning everyone can play together. – Guild Wars does this already, and always has.

We now hear that Star Trek Online has 50-60 player instanced areas, and a single server architecture. – Guild Wars does this already.

There are rumours flying around the web, unsubstantiated at this point but none the less a popular idea that the up coming Star wars The Old Republic MMO will be free to play after an initial box purchase and that it will have a Real money shot to unlock things. – Guess what game has done that for years already?

I can now say (as the NDA has been lifted) that i am playing Global Agenda, a game that is very different from other MMO’s (and barely an MMO if we are honest) is a PvP game with factions dominating areas of a map (GW, Alliance battles style) and a minor PvE segment that is little more than scenario's (but fun) – Guild Wars PvP is just like this (granted less sci-fi action based) and the original design model for GW was PvE scenario, it was only when the developers fell in love with the environments that it became a more full MMO

what i am trying to say is that Guild Wars has not only been ahead of the curve for the last four years but people actually used these now mainstream features of the game as a reason NOT to play it.

maybe ArenaNet should engineer a re-launching of the game, after all it has all the features of a brand new cutting edge super popular game.

Guild Wars is still playable, still populated and still fun, i hope you see my point here anyway.

Rabbit Hole Express Podcast

Rabbit Hole Express

Episode 4

Telepathy talk and the Norway Spiral.

 

A show about the alternative way of looking at things, yes some say its a conspiracy show, we talk telepathy, the Norway spiral, time travelling vandalism and well paid pyramid builders. 

this episode is a break from the normal style for us as we focus more on the interesting stuff that we have seen on the internet over the past month as well as out main topic. we even review some books.

in the main topic we go in an unexpected direction and talk more than a little about Mentalist's

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thanks for listening. feedback welcome

404 Radio #38, “2009 its over now.”

 

  

Yes its over, 2009 has ended and its time for us to get back on schedule for the new year. this episode is really just a ramble through our gaming habits over the last month and our thoughts of 2009 as a while. we also discuss the lack of love for Global Agenda that seems to have effected the internet and how we hope that it ends in fireworks and undying affection for the game because it is fantastic after all. the thank steam for the wonderful sale and hope we get back on time next week.

Get us over at: http://www.tamworthgamers.co.uk

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Home is where the Monolith is.

LOVE is a game created by one man. one man who has worked on every aspect of this pseudo-MMO

These are no longer the days of the bedroom programmer or the basement nerd who creates an empire, this is 2010 and in its self creating a game on your own is an legendary accomplishment.

The above image is not a touched up screen shot its an actual shot from the game. and even this pointing like piece of art does not really show the beauty of this game. Even when your standing still looking across an empty field your senses are treated to a tingle, the game is procedurally generated (i wont bore you by explaining that in depth) this means that the game its self is generated by, err, its self. there are no textures or models or vast concept art repositories.

The game engine generates a flickering and fantastically whimsical environment that is simply alien in every sense of the word, alien but fantastic. 

The picture above is of player avatars, but the real treat is watching them move, they are again alien looking but at the same time they move like elegant imps at speeds that are impossible to measure.

The games developer has done a fantastic job of manufacturing this world, it is in many ways like a dream and best of all, with all this flickering and strangeness the game is NOT headache inducing like i expected, its really quite relaxing.

Game play.

The game play is where my experience was confused a little. in theory you have to find a stone that lets you create a settlement or join some one else settlement to become part of, once you are part of a settlement you can choose to edit the very world you are in, the landscape and be moulded and bent to your desires allowing wonderful things to be built by everyone.

You must find these stones that become tools and you can learn to swim and communicate and build more efficiently (as there appears to be no levels its discovery that is your progression)

The technology works via communication, if you want your bomb to explore you must tell it to do so and the way it layers with simple tools is again a stroke of pure brilliance.

The objective of the game is to work together with other players and build a settlement then defend it from the evil AI or hunt that AI down and kill it.

This game is still in Beta phase and at this point it has it flaws, they are at this time, large ones.

It has no map system at all, i understand that the world is ever changing but a basic ‘your here’ and ‘your mate is here’ thing would be a blessing, this would have helped me when an issue i had was finding my friend who was using my ‘buddy code’ (lets a friend log on, while your logged in only) no matter how we tried we could not find each other, i know know that this is because of the way the areas are zoned apart but it should have been more clear from the start.

One thing thought that needs work is the start of the game, i had no form of tutorial or guided experience at all, there is a help system but with the game being so unique its just not enough of a help.

How can you play?

Anyone can get in on the action, it costs you 3 Euro’s (£2.75ish) and you get a voucher code that allows you to play for 30 days. usually i would be screaming from the hills that paying for a beta is crazy and the start of an unfair trend in development but with this game being created, published and hosted by one man i kind of want to give him my money, i believe that this is needed to simply keep the game in development and am for once happy to part with my cash.

you can get all the information at the games home page http://www.quelsolaar.com/love/index.html

Conclusion.

This may sound stupid, and i really hope people know what i mean when i say this…

This game is important in gaming history, its a true work of art that will influence games that will come in the future, I’m just not yet sure in what way.

It has proven that you can throw out everything your told about how ‘its done’ and create something that is totally new.

Is it fun? its part FPS with a focus on cooperation but at the same time it needs to be more of this, if your game focuses on community you need community tools and if its an FPS you need more action.

I’m not sure what the game wants to be but I’m having a fantastic time trying to find out.