The PC Spotlight 12.11.08
Posted by Chris Vicari on 12.11.2008
Darkfall Online a supposed savior, WotLK chastised for a particular quest, patches galore, and much more. Check it out!
Welcome back to another Thursday with the PC Spotlight. With two weeks left to the day until Christmas arrives, I hope your gift shopping has gone smoothly. With all major PC releases now over, we can look to next year's release storm which arrives sooner than you may think. Currently, I'm looking forward to Empire: Total War, due in February, and the upcoming "revolutionary" MMO, Darkfall, coming sometime in January. Despite the time of the year, the media machines have been cranking out stories like mad this week, and there should be enough to satiate any PC enthusiast. There's also one or two sales left over and you can be sure they'll be somewhere on this page.
Now that everything is settled, let's move on shall we?
Darkfall Online: The savior of sandbox MMOs everywhere?
The war between Sandbox MMOs and Theme Park games rages on, but will Sandbox fans win the day with their upcoming revolutionary title?
Since Darkfall Online's early beginnings nearly eight years ago, fanboys and sandbox enthusiasts alike have been putting tons of pressure on the game because they believe it will revitalize the entire MMO genre. Often called "Theme park" MMOs because of player hand-holding, lack of challenge, and the linearity of moving from one area to the next, doing the same thing over and over again, a majority of Darkfall fans believe World of Warcraft and all of its clones are a step backward for the genre. On the opposite side of the fence, Theme Park fans believe Sandbox games are too open, lack consistent action, and are too challenging to be any fun.
If you do a little investigating, you'll find unparalleled chest pounding and elitism in nearly every thread that mentions the game. But are Darkfall fans correct? If Darkfall succeeds, will it revitalize interest in Sandbox MMOs, and provide the golden age of online gaming?
In my opinion, it's a little hard to swallow, but the potential is there. As experience has taught me, developers never deliver everything as promised, but Darkfall fans are betting against the house on that one. The game is being hyped like mad and through my 17 years of gaming experience, there's been only one which lived up to my expectations and that was Left 4 Dead. The game's toughest challenge yet is selling itself to many Theme Park fans who abhor unrestricted PVP and free looting, which make up a majority of MMO gamers. Darkfall fans will confidently say that the game isn't for players like that, but you don't want to go around saying that too much. Like every other game which utilizes these two features, Ultima Online and EVE Online being two prime examples, Darkfall will have serious issues with griefers and PKers. There's no way around that. If the game does well and capitalizes on all its strong points though, it'll send a clear message to developers that Sandbox MMOs work just as well, whether it has a enormous subscription base or not. If it doesn't perform to expectations, Sandbox games will be even rarer, and that will be a travesty.
As a fan of both styles of games, I say Darkfall will be a tough sell, but I wish it all the best. I'm looking forward to playing it.
What are your thoughts?
General info about the game
Darkfall Online is an unreleased sandbox MMO which has been in development since 2001. At first, many people believed it was going the way of Duke Nukem Forever, but Adventurine, the game's developer, has been releasing screenshots, feature information, and gameplay movies since the beginning. Darkfall is currently in closed beta and has an expected release date sometime in January.
Several unique features include:
1. Contains unrestricted PVP, similar to Ultima Online and EVE Online, but has no safe zones.
2. A real-time combat system with FPS-style manual aiming & blocking.
3. Full looting and upon player death, all players can loot your belongings. Again, similar to UO and EVE.
4. Sandbox-style gameplay letting players do whatever they want.
5. A non-instanced game capable of supporting 10,000 players per realm.
You can find more info on the game's Web site if you're interested.
FCC commissioner blames World of Warcraft as leading cause for college dropouts
In a speech by FCC commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate to the Practicing Law Institute on telecom policy and regulation last Friday, Tate made reference to WoW and its affects on college students.
With the explosion of educational resources available online, one might think parents would be 100% pleased with the internet's role in their children's lives. But surveys show just the opposite: a late 2006 survey that showed 59% of parents think the internet has been a totally positive influence in their children's lives-- down from 67% in 2004.
You might find it alarming that one of the top reasons for college drop-outs in the U.S. is online gaming addiction - such as World of Warcraft - which is played by 11 million individuals worldwide.
Mrs. Tate's "study" was conducted by college dropouts preventing her from presenting the findings to her audience.
Richard Bartle, the creator of MUDs, offended by WoTLK Torture Quest Story courtesy of boingboing and GamePolitics
According to boingboing, an electronic news outlet and blog, MUD inventor Richard Bartle finds fault with a particular WoTLK quest. The quest is called "The Art of Persuasion" and it involves torturing a victim with a poker of some sorts.
This is what Mr. Bartle had to say:
Basically, you have to take some kind of cow poke and zap a prisoner until he talks.
I'm not at all happy with this. I was expecting for there to be some way to tell the guy who gave you the quest that no, actually I don't want to torture a prisoner, but there didn't seem to be any way to do that. Worse, the quest is part of a chain you need to complete to gain access to the Nexus, which is the first instance you encounter (if you start on the west of the continent, as I did). So, either you play along and zap the guy, or you don't get to go to the Nexus.
I did zap him, pretty well in disbelief — I thought that surely the quest-giver would step in and stop it at some point? It didn't happen, though. Unless there's some kind of awful consequence further down the line, it would seem that Blizzard's designers are OK with breaking the Geneva convention.
In the lands of Azeroth, Alliance and Horde forces are beset on all sides by enemies. Players slaughter countless monsters, animals, and demons to ensure their kingdom lives on. In the newest content, players get to decimate hunters trapping defenseless animals and execute several members of a PETA-like group because of their methods. I find it hilarious Mr. Bartle finds such issue with this one particular quest because it involves torturing. Funny still is the fact you don't even have to perform this quest either. All it does is provide a flight-point to the actual instance, as it is not required to enter the place. You can just run there on a mount too.
Mr. Bartle has received quite a bit of negative criticism since he made his thoughts public, and I can't say I don't understand why. I hope he was being sarcastic when he made the Geneva Convention reference. Seriously.
Mirror's Edge PC Specs
For those still looking to pick this game up, here are its system requirements:
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP SP2/Vista Processor: Intel Pentium 4 3.0GHz or 100% compatible equivalent Memory: 1GB RAM Video Card: 256MB memory with Shader Model 3.0* HDD Space: 8GB DVD Drive: 1x DVD Drive Soundcard: Soundcard with DirectX 9.0c compatibility DirectX: DirectX 9.0c Network: An online connection is required for access to Leaderboards
Mirror's Edge also supports Nvidia's PhysX technology and releases this coming January.
GTA IV patch incoming. Hurray! Story courtesy of Rockstar and IGN
With all the commotion about the myriad of technical issues and graphical problems GTA IV owners are experiencing, hopefully we can put it all to bed. This past Monday, Rockstar announced it has completed the first patch for the game, but since the game is labeled under Games for Windows, Microsoft has to certify the patch before Rockstar can distribute it. Sadly, no ETA on the patch's arrival, but rumors abound point to no later than Christmas.
Here are some of the fixes below:
• A fix to the crash after legal screen that some German customers were reporting.
• Numerous improvements to the video editor: Smarter naming of videos, improved rendering quality, better FX during replays
• Fix to bowling while using certain sensitive mice
• Fix for ATI 1900 shadows
• Overall savings to memory
• Graphic improvements to particle systems and mirrors
• Multiplayer character settings are preserved
• Support for DirectInput controllers. Note: The current hack way of supporting these controllers may not work with the improved functionality. So we recommend you remove the hack before upgrading to the patch.
Quotes from a Rockstar Dev:
Issues with power management software have also been fixed (slow speed, double speed issues). Even after the patch comes out setting power management software to maximum performance is recommended. We've seen cases where power management software does not detect the game is running and puts the CPU in green mode.
Besides the patch we've also improved the way the Social Club handles data this should have greatly reduced or eliminated the MMA10 error. If you are still receiving this error after logging in and out of Social Club we would like to know as much info as you can about it.
I think I can speak for everyone when I say, "It's about time."
Top 10 Most Pirated Games of 2008 Story courtesy of TorrentFreak
A fair bit of old news, but last Thursday TorrentFreak, a blog dedicated to reporting on all things BitTorrent, released the Top 10 most pirated games of the year. They are as follows:
Of course, it is no surprise seeing Spore at the top of the list, seeing as how it practically kick-started the whole DRM debacle. I'm shocked that Fallout 3 wasn't higher up on the list and I can't believe The Sims 2 made second place. I can only imagine the numbers for GTA IV, if they're ever released.
The piracy issue continues to spiral out of control, and the faster we move every game to a Steam-esque distribution system, the better off we'll be.
New ATI Drivers help alleviate some GTA IV issues and improve other games Story courtesy of Voodoo Extreme
Posted only yesterday, ATI released its 8.12 version graphics drivers. According to Voodoo Extreme, the drivers attempt to fix a variety of issues concerning GTA IV, as well as improving the performance for a myriad of other games. Here's a list of the fixes below:
• 3DMark Vantage DX10 – Performance gains of up to 5% for Single and Crossfire mode. Performance gains were noticed on HD46xx, HD4550 and HD4350.
• Call of Duty: World at War DX9 – Performance gains of up to 21% for Single and Crossfire mode. Performance gains were noticed on all Radeon HD48xx.
• Crysis DX10 – Performance gains of up to 25% for Single and Crossfire mode. Performance gains were noticed on all Radeon HD4xxx.
• Crysis Warhead DX10 – Performance gains of up to 13% for Single card mode and up to 16% for Crossfire mode. Performance gains were noticed on all Radeon HD4xxx.
• Devil May Cry 4 DX10 – Performance gains of up to 6% for Single and Crossfire mode. Performance gains were noticed on all Radeon HD4xxx and HD38xx.
• Fallout 3 – Performance gains of up to 15% for Single card mode.
• Far Cry 2 DX10 – Performance gains of up to 10% for Single card mode and up to 57% in Crossfire mode. Performance gains were noticed on all Radeon HD4xxx and HD38xx.
• F.E.A.R. DX9 – Performance gains of up to 6% for Single and Crossfire mode. Performance gains were noticed on Radeon HD4870X2 and HD4870.
• Hellgate: London DX10 – Performance gains of up to 6% for Single card mode and up to 10% for Crossfire mode. Performance gains were noticed on all Radeon HD4xxx.
• Left 4 Dead DX9 – Performance gains of up to 10% for Single card mode and up to 5% for Crossfire mode. Performance gains were noticed on all Radeon HD4870 series.
• Lost Planet Colonies DX10 – Performance gains of up to 10% for Single and Crossfire mode. Performance gains were noticed on all Radeon HD4xxx and HD38xx.
• Prey OGL – Performance gains of up to 15% for Crossfire mode. Performance gains were noticed on Radeon HD4870 1GB products, HD46xx, HD45xx.
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky – Performance gains of up to 10% for Crossfire mode. Performance gains were noticed on all Radeon HD4xxx and HD38xx.
• Unreal Tournament 3 DX9 – Performance gains of up to 18% for Single card mode and up to 15% in Crossfire mode, especially in cases where AA is enabled. Performance gains were noticed on all Radeon HD4xxx and HD38xx.
To get the proper set of drives you need for your ATI graphics cards, click here for a full download list.
Spotlight Briefs
Best-selling PC Games during Black Friday week
1. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Expansion Pack
2. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe
3. Spore
4. BioShock
5. The Sims 2 Deluxe
6. Left 4 Dead
7. Call of Duty: World at War
8. Assassin's Creed: Director's Cut Edition
9. World Of Warcraft: Battle Chest
10. The Sims 2 Apartment Life Expansion Pack
EA cuts back due to lower-than-expected holiday earnings
EA announced this past Tuesday that the company lowered its net revenue and earnings-per-share guidance for its fiscal year 2009, which runs through March 31. No figures were revealed, with EA saying only that it would provide updated fiscal guidance as part of its third-quarter report, which is expected in early February.
"While we saw significant improvement in the overall quality of our key products this year, we are disappointed that our holiday slate is not meeting our sales expectations," EA CEO John Riccitiello said. "Given this performance and the uncertain economic environment, we are taking steps to reduce our cost structure and improve the profitability of our business."
Part of the blame falls on the poor sales of Mirror's Edge, Rock Band 2, and Need for Speed Undercover. Additional layoffs, studio consolidation, and SKU reductions are soon to follow.
EA squashes Old Republic microtransaction rumor Story courtesy of Shacknews
If you haven't come into contact with the rumor yet, there was an EA conference call held last Tuesday where EA Ceo John Riccitiello hinted that BioWare's upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO would utilize a microtransaction model. Yesterday, a day after the conference call took place, Shacknews reported the opposite. According to an EA representative, "No statements have been made about the Star Wars business model." Basically, Riccitiello shot from the hip.
Midway divulges $240M debt Story courtesy of Gamespot.com
After reporting abysmal earnings reports over the past few months, many analysts and gamers believed their Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe would be the company's saving grace. At first, it appeared the company would be able to dig itself out of its slump, but the game's performance, attaining lukewarm reviews but decent sales, didn't save the day. Last Friday, Midway filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission with a $240 million in debt, which is almost $73 million more than the companies current $167.5 million in assets. According to a senior Midway PR rep, the company continues to stick to its 09 release schedule.
Far Cry 2 gets some free DLC courtesy of Intel Story courtesy of Intel
Thanks to Intel and their gigantic advertising budget, we get some more game out of Far Cry 2 with a couple of free bonus missions. Supposedly adding three hours of game time, and hopefully you won't spend most of it driving to the missions, but here they are as follows:
Mission 1: the Morrocan
This mission sends you into the most heavily guarded region of the Leboa-Sako territory. Hiding out at the old Legion fort is a Moroccan who might be able to help you locate the Jackal. Your objective is to locate him and find out what he knows.
Mission 2: the American
Your predecessor has tracked down the American informant to the Dogon village in the rocky northern ranges. Your objective: follow his trail and find out what the informant told him."
