Great, now Toto SOUNDS like a chick too.

Ventrillo (which kicks your voice chat clients ass by the way) has a nifty new app that let's you sound like someone else. Now you can stare at hot underpants perverts on screen all day and sound like them too! Creepy.

There's actually some interesting stuff that'll come out of this. I've always used voice chat (good 'ole Roger Wilco anyone?) for communicating with close friends while I stick to role playing for the most part in chat. I know, I'm a munchkin but honestly, I dig on the role play. Klomp dem tin kanz! Ahem...

Voice chat has always kinda been the bane of roleplaying in many peoples minds but I always felt that it was an excellent Out Of Character communication medium, much better than text: "OOC: Go Cowboys!". I thought the two always worked great together. Admittedly I am a terrible typer so that may come to into play.

You should go try this thing out, pick a sweet girly voice and maybe you can get your furry on with a new twist. I wonder which one Richard will choose...

Link

Cryptic Indeed

Toto dropped a note to the Rat's List today pointing to an article about Cryptic signing up with the devil Microsoft Gaming Studios to publish the Marvel Superhero game. Pause. There are so many interesting things to say about that. Do we need more superhero games? DC and Marvel think so and obviously Cryptic and MS are willing to take money if they can. Isn't that market saturated already, I mean they already have a superhero game right? WoW, as the hindsighters will point out, sunk the myth that we didn't need any more fantasy games. And let's be honest gentlemen (and ladies), can we ever actually have enough hot chick underwear perverts running around?

The independent Cryptic has only one game and when they started, they we're pretty much only interested in making that one game. I heard an ADC talk a few years ago by Jack and was thoroughly impressed by his background in classics and desire to make a video game. He was out of his element, completely devoted and had a very good grasp of what and why he was going to make what he was making. So if you are Marvel or DC and you're going to make a superhero game, who better to make a pass at? The question then for Cryptic is, as long as you are going to be splitting market share, isn't it best to split it with yourself? DC and Marvel ARE obviously going to make super hero MMOs. The E! people there can help but fall prey to those kinds of buzz words. I mean c'mon, it's as obvious as "Jason X".

The NC Soft guys tend to agree with them too. Robbie G recently extolled on the greatness of keeping players within the fold in the Escapist (warning, very ugly Flash based page). SoE has been doing it for a long time with the Station Pass concept. Once you realize, so the saying goes, that your players are going to turn over in 10 months on average, and if you can assume they are going to go somewhere else in the MMO space, then logically, you should try and have many destinations for them to land at. Hmm. ORLY? Sounds kinda like GM to me.

The smart one here is Cryptic. Using that same indie status that created a great game and sold it to a publisher to turn around and do the same thing all over again. Reminds me more of the casual gaming space where you get Coke to pay for making a game then you reskin it and sell it to Cheetos. Guess you know what I had for breakfast.

So here's to all you independent, fence jumping, non-stable-of-games, underwear perverts who do what you do because you love to do it. Have a Coke and a Cheeto on the publisher. Cheers!

Invasion from the Beach!

Lately we've been talking in depth about how landing craft fit into the game and what sort of vehicles are appropriate for our time period. This invariably leads to discussions about the Americans. Ah the vaunted yanks. The stuff off marketeers wet nights. How, of great gods of war shall we fit them into our game. Here's a clue! Let history be your guide!

But I have not come here today to speak of such things. No, the invasions I reference are invasions of culture. Virtual cultures to be exact. Anyone who has spent time around the motley lot that is our rabid fan base knows that of which I speak. Our exploits are legendary. Other virtual communities pale in the light of our fanaticism. Those WoW monkeys who complain about class war and dropping their iPods in toilets hold no candle.

This, then brings me to a new online virtual world. The kind of stuff that makes TerraNovans get all hopped up on Starbuck's and prattle into the wee hours. This my friends is the second coming of a second age. Or at least a really silly rip off of There.com based on an equally silly TV show made for the latest derivative of the MTV generation. Sure to be an internet classic combining all the stalking of MySpace, the Furries of Second Life, the drama of LARPing and hopefully some of that old timey magic that brought us PK's in UO. Ah the memories. Is it then, my lads, time to make new? Beware, for the launch of the SS Virtual Laguna Beach is at hand!

Let the invasion begin!

Edit: I have recently been alerted to a possible culture strike against Tribal Wars. Good game that.

Air Show in Fort Worth

The beautiful and talented Shannon called last night to tell me that there was an air show coming to Fort Worth and she thought it would be fun to go. That gentlemen, is a fine woman. With an attitude like that I'm keen to look over her NASCAR fetish, not the least because it gives me time to game. The country mucic thing though still needs to be worked on.

If you're thinking about going, drop me a note and we'll try to get our WWIIOL cabal together. I can probably swing some t-shirts for you if I know in advance.

ALLIANCEAIRSHOW.COM

UltraCorps

Remember when we all went NukeZone crazy? And by we I mean I and by crazy I mean played a hundred hours a week and started a OT zerg into the game that was only mollified when we offered to host all of his images in america for him.

Wee I've tried the gamut of web games. Puzzle Pirates is pretty slick but...well...it just ain't my cup 'o grog. Daniel James dressed up as a peerat is the gig though so if you haven't checked it out, please do. Bang Howdy is a nice romp as well, that's their western puzzle game. I got many a weird look when I was playing that instead of working you can be sure but hey, inspiratino comes from many places, Even Raph's poetry. You tell anyone I said that, you die.

So then web games. Well, Tribal Wars haas a nice sorta MMO meets early RTS meets PBM feel to it. It still doesn't quite capture the sheer destructino one can get frmo NukeZone. I've also played a few others and the best of them really just left me with the feeling that I'd been penetrated by nasty Russian porn viruses. Not that I mind that sort of thing...

Then comes along the legend, the man himself, the maker of all things Car Wars, Steve Jackson. Ahh. It's like mana from heaven really. Did you know that Bloo once wrote a book for the man? Some Gurps - Traveller stuff. Too brainy for me.

Anyhoo, this new game of his called Ultra Corps looks like the business. To me, this is the meta game that layered on top of EVE would actually make it my game for life. Check it out.

About UltraCorps

Letters From the Fans

Next to reading the daily report log, which I really should start sharing with you, nothing is better than getting letters from the players. God if the office wasn't all packed up I'd share a couple real doozies. This little gem hits the mark pretty close but in all seriousness, we get some much wackier stuff. Thanks Bloo.

N-Europe: Special: Gamer PALs

Game teh Vote!

Too busy today to get into this much so this is mainly a reminder for me to blab about this if I get the time. There are very few issues where I think voting can actually make much difference but this is one of my hot spots, obviously.

Video Game Voters Network

E! People Do NOT Get It.

QJ.NET - MMORPG Blog - 24/7 Coverage of the Latest MMORPG News - Article Detail: "It turns out films and MMOs are not that different,. That shouldn't be too surprising, though. After all, what we do as filmmakers is create virtual worlds...Both our industries build experiences that have the same goals."

I'll go into this more when I review the AGC panel where I got to stare dumbfounded as Lee Sheldon proved he's about the only one from Hollywood who gets it. The divide between games and movies is HUGE. Movie people, much like the artists preceding them think that writers and directors are artists of a higher caliber than us mere house painters in games. Reminds me distinctly of being in art school and wretching as my fellow fine art majors looked down on those poor slobs doing "commercial" art. Like they totally missed what Warhol was saying.

Movie guys are kinda in a similar boat. To them games are a marketing and merchandise exercise there to heighten the artistic merits and reception of the next "perfect!". Gimmie a freakin B.

I'm sorry I missed the keynote on this one. Really, there must have been some gems:

"He added that the virtual world should influence the movie, let it feed back into the process and provide riches and depth. However, MMOs won't replace great directing or flimaking, but rather the ones who create those games may become the next generation of directors or writers."

Uh dude. We don't WANT to be writers and directors in your moving picture celebrity circus but it does indeed sound like you want in on our gig. No worries, there's plenty of room for a couple hundred more of your ghastly interpretations of our successes and we'll take your cash to make Spiderman games. Ok that's really a bit cynical of me but I'm serious, these guys do not yet get it. I keep thinking maybe they do but they don't and you know why? Because as I heard at this very panel from a guy new to the gaming culture, "once I started having these interactive experiences, I just couldn't really sit down and watch TV anymore." Guess that's why Lee don't do Charlie's Angels no more. Pity that really.

Home PCs and laptops are on "death row" - Brown-Martin // GamesIndustry.biz

Home PCs and laptops are on "death row" - Brown-Martin // GamesIndustry.biz: "In 2010 the desktop computer will be dead, and laptops will be on death row."

I'm not entirely sure what they are smoking over there in the land of whiskey...Oh yeah...That's probably it then. I thought this was a bit amusing having just come back from AGC and hearing about how great PC gaming is getting and then seeing Sams talk about how Battle.net kills XboxLive. PCs going the way of the Crocodile Hunter you say? Do tell. Perhaps his mobile authority has figured out the bane of mobile entertainment devices? Ya know, like the screen and junk? Vernor Vinge had a lot to say about that and much more and he hadn't' touched a drop of whiskey...That I could tell.

(Disclosure: I just got turned on to 3pointd so I'm not sure I should be linking to it. The concept of using Web2.0 as a design goal for the future of virtual worlds is all sexy and E! but it sounds more like Raph or Second Life territory. Click at your own risk.)

Live from Austin

Hoowah! AGDC. A time for us to come down to the capitol, drink a few beers, shake a few hands and see some old friends. Oh yeah, we're also here to learn a few things and as long as we can stay away from such mental blow jobs as the MMO rant, we're likely to do so.

Bloo and I got in last night and true to tradition, hit B.D. Riley's for dinner. Mistake! Consider tradition forever broken. Unlike our usual Wednesday night arrival the con is now 3 days, the food was terrible (usually the fish and chips are amazing) and of all gawd forsaken things it was OPEN MIKE NIGHT! Whoever invented that should be shot.

Well we're off to the keynote by that guy I never heard of who designed WoW. There seem to be a few of those guys but it promises to be fun. If you're in Austin, drop me a comment and we'll see if we can hook up.

Austin Game Conference